Pairing: Eren/Mikasa

Setting: Knight and Maiden AU; aka I've read too much Game of Thrones

Rating: T (Sexual Implications)

Words: 2627

Notes: Ashley requested for an AU where knights weren't supposed to be in love. Here I made Eren the Knight, whose vows say he can't marry, and Mikasa the noble causing a bit of an issue when they've been in love with each other for years. Its semi (and ironically) based on Jaime and Cersei Lannister who Jaime being a part of the Kingsguard who can't marry and having to watch Cersei being married to other men. The quote in the title is from one of my favorite lines in the TV series.

"What do we say to the god of Death?"

"Not today."

-Syrio Forel and Arya Stark, Game of Thrones

There was nothing like the gates opening and the vast city Eren liked to call home in front of him again. He followed his commander who rode in front down the streets of the city, people coming from all over to watch the guard make their return.

"Don't look so serious, the people are happy to see us," Armin said from his spot riding next to Eren and waving down to a few children who were trying to get their attention.

"I'm exhausted, I just want to go home," Eren sighed, but even he couldn't keep a small smile off his face. It was a long trip, one that was ultimately successful in pushing the boundaries of the city even wider, but still a long trip. Eren just wanted to sleep in his own bed instead of being out under a tent with Connie snoring all night.

Armin nodded. "Well, we have to go by the court first so Levi can announce what was done officially in front of the King and Queen, then we'll have to escort the nobles out, and then we can go home."

Eren tried not to hang his head, to keep the posture that he knew Levi expected from them but it was hard not to. "This wasn't in the job description."

"It was when we got assigned to the inner walls, I suppose," Armin shrugged as Commander Levi Ackerman came to a stop in front of them halting the whole line. Their commander dismounted his horse as stable boys came to take a hold of their horses.

Eren jumped off his horse, his armor clanging together a bit as he moved; it was a lot more difficult to move in when he was younger, but he quickly grew into it, and out of it having needed a new uniform and armor by the time he was eighteen. He followed Levi up the steps of the palace with Armin still next to him and the others fallen behind. The large doors opened right into the throne room where nobles gathered on both sides of the room to cheer and watch the Guard make their report.

It hadn't changed at all, the room looked exactly like it had weeks, almost a month, ago when he last was here. The King and Queen were sitting on their thrones, and when Levi kneeled before them, the room went quiet as the rest of the Guard followed in suit.

"Rise," the King spoke. He seemed to be in a good mood, he must've heard that they were bringing him good news for once.

Levi stood to his feet which was the signal for the rest of them to do the same. Their commander started to speak about the mission and what was accomplished but Eren didn't need to hear it again, he had been there. He instead chose to glance around the room to see who was there.

After years specifically in the Kingsguard, he had gotten to know many of the nobles who were in the court, who had constant dealings with the King and Queen. Eren saw the princess Historia standing near her father's throne, listening attentively to Levi speaking but every so often her eyes drifted to the servants' door. Lady Annie and Lords Bertholdt and Reiner, visiting royals form another country, were standing down a few steps; rumor had it they wanted Reiner to marry the princess and were already working on their two countries joining. Eren was still pretty convinced Historia would rather be marrying another princess then Reiner, or the tall servant girl who Eren always saw Historia with.

Sasha and her Lord father were standing there too, both nobles from a hunting country the King frequented in. Sasha was here as a ward to the King and Queen to keep up peace with her country and her father must've been visiting her at the time. There were a few others here and there Eren knew, but not on a personal level like the others, and then there was one, the one he was looking for since the moment he walked in.

She was standing on the other side of the queen, with her long black hair pulled up into braids. She must've noticed his gaze because her dark eyes met his and a small smile twitched at her lips as she tried to keep her composure for their audience. Eren knewn Mikasa since they were kids along with Armin; they all grew up in the same town on the outskirts of the royal city. It wasn't until Mikasa's parents were killed, which wasn't too common in the town they lived in Eren lost his mom the same way, that a relative she never knewn came to take her away to the palace where he worked in the Kingsguard. While Levi was strict about not letting Mikasa go back to the city, Eren and Armin were allowed to come visit her with the help of Eren's father who worked every so often in the palace as a doctor. It was Levi who helped Eren and Armin join the Kingsguard to begin with.

And it was Levi who was now glaring back at him.

Eren snapped himself out of his thoughts when Armin elbowed him; the nobles were heading down the steps, signaling they were to usher the ladies back to their rooms while Levi followed the King to have a meeting about the newly gained land.

"It's nice to have you back, Sir," Mikasa curtsied in front of Eren before he extended his arm to her. "The palace doesn't seem quite as safe without you here."

"Well," Eren said as he took her out the side door of the throne room and up the familiar path to her room. "As much as I love traveling outside the city, it's always good to be home. Did you have a good month, Lady?"

"As good as any. There's the spring festival coming up so the ladies have been preparing for it. I feel like my fingers are numb from weaving flower crowns." She let out a laugh that made Eren smile.

"Ah, yes, that is coming up soon isn't it."

Mikasa looked up at him as they walked in stride up one of the staircases. "You'll be here, won't you, Sir?"

"I couldn't imagine why not. We'll need to be here to make sure everything goes smoothly."

"Good, it wouldn't be the same without you."

They turned the corner that led to the last hall before her room; she was the only one who lived down this hall so it was as empty as it always was. The moment Eren knew he couldn't hear any other footsteps but their own he halted and turned to Mikasa. He couldn't take it anymore; his hands reached for her waist, pushing her back up against the nearby wall as his lips rushed into hers. He felt her gasp against him, her hands reaching up to tangle in his hair, and her lips never breaking from his. He moved his mouth down, traveling against her jaw and to her neck.

"Eren," she groaned. "I missed you so much."

He hummed against her skin. "I thought about you every night."

Mikasa tugged on his hair pulling his head back up to hers. "Me too," she grinned at him before urgently bringing her lips to his again.

He pressed his body closer to hers; he missed her warmth, the way she fit against him, her hands, her lips, just everything about her. He leaned his forehead against hers. "Can you get Hanji to get you to me tonight?"

Mikasa nodded. "I'll see you then." She reached her hands up to hold his face as she kissed him again, but then she was gone, hurrying into her room before someone walked by.

Eren stared after her, his heart a mix of both joy at being back with her and the ache that always came when she left. He joined the Kingsguard for her, to be close to her, but doing so he had given up his right to marry; it didn't matter to him at the time, the son of a doctor had some holding but not enough to marry a noble like Mikasa. It never stopped him from being in love with her though.

Eren constantly thanked the gods Mikasa made friends with Hanji; he swore that woman knew everything there was to know about the palace and the city. She even knew how to get Mikasa to his room without anyone knowing it was her or that she was gone. Eren didn't know how or why but he really didn't care, not when she was laying next to him in bed, her bare legs tangled with his as the cool air from the open window blew over their slick skin. Mikasa had her head on his chest, drawing designs on his skin with her finger, one of his arms around her. It was the happiest Eren felt since the before he left.

"Was Armin okay on the mission?" Mikasa asked.

"Armin was fine. He helped a lot with the strategies and I think even Levi was impressed."

"I always knew he had it in him."

Eren laughed. "So did I. I think it was just him."

She was quiet for a moment, a silence settling over them. "Eren," she finally said, her voice somewhere between hesitant and questioning.

"What's wrong?"

She sat up in his bed glancing over at him. "While you were away, I was…I was told…" she paused, biting down at her lip.

"C'mon, what is it? You know you can tell me anything."

"The King…the King wants me to marry the young lord of a neighboring country."

Eren tried not to let his heart sink; they always knew this would come one day. He still couldn't help it. The thought of Mikasa married off to some man and being forced to move away was enough to make Eren's stomach turn. "Is this lord on his way?"

Mikasa shook her head. "The King said it would be a bit before he was free to come out here to finalize the plans."

"Then we'll deal with it when the time comes." Eren paused as he looked at her. "What's his name?"

"Lord Jean Kirstein."

Eren made a disgusted noise. "He even sounds like an ass."

Mikasa laughed lightly as she swatted his legs but Eren could tell it was bothering her; he saw it in her eyes. Eren pushed himself up, the blanket pooling in his lap as he gestured for her to come closer.

She inched over to him, placing her head on his shoulder and one arm over his chest. With a sigh he wrapped his arms around the girl he knewn for so long, the one he loved for so long.

"I can't marry someone else," Mikasa said. "I can't just move somewhere away from you and Armin. I knew it would happen someday but it didn't help."

Eren ran his fingers lightly through her hair as she spoke. He made this choice to keep her safe but in the end it was only going to tear them apart. "I could come with you as your personal guard."

"And do what?" she said softly. "Watch me bear another man's children? He's not an old man or even a drunk we could fool. He's a young lord whose never been married before. We'd never get away with it like we did here."

He knew it was true, of course he did; an old man wouldn't be interested passed getting a heir and a drunk could be fooled but a young love struck lord would never work. He'd either see through it or get suspicious enough to sneak around and if they were caught they would be executed for adultery and for Eren breaking his vows.

"Run away with me," Mikasa said breaking his thoughts.

He looked down at her. "What?"

"We could run away." She sat up, her eyes meeting his. "Armin too if he wanted to come."

"Mikasa, I'd be a fugitive and so would Armin. They would hunt us down and get you for being with us too. We'd be on the run for the rest of our lives."

She shook her head not letting it go. "We could change our names, our appearances so they couldn't find us."

Eren wanted nothing more than to find a way out of this but at the risk of their lives? "You know they'd send Levi after us. He's known us since we were kids; there's no amount of name change or appearance change that could make him not know who we were."

Mikasa looked like she was contemplating that but a smile pulled at her lips. "We could go to the Southern Isles. The South is so vast they'd never find us. We've always said we wanted to go, now's the best chance we're ever going to get."

"We'd have to get there without getting killed first."

"Hanji would help I'm sure. She has ways out of the city I'm sure no one knows about." Mikasa sat back on her legs. "But when would be the question."

Eren still didn't know if any of this would work but the temptation was too strong for him; this was their best chance to leave. Years ago he would've never imagined giving up his vows as a solider but giving up Mikasa was far worse. "The spring festival. There will be so many people and so much going on it would be easy to slip away unnoticed till we're long gone."

Mikasa looked up to him again. "You'd leave with me?"

"Of course." He meant it.

She leaned towards him again, wrapping her arms around him as her face buried in his neck.

"We'd have to change our appearance between leaving the festival and escaping the city. I'll ask Armin if he wants to come tomorrow."

"Do you think he'll come?"

It was hard to say. Armin was their best friend but he was also very smart, smart enough to know this was more than a little risky. At the same time, Armin always wanted to leave the walls of the city, just like them. Eren couldn't imagine Armin staying while they ran away. "I think he'd come," Eren said, his hands gently rubbing her back. "The three of us only have each other."

"We'd have a better chance with him."

Eren snorted. "Ain't that the truth."

"I'd miss him too much."

"Me too, I think he'd miss us too."

Mikasa laughed lightly before she let out a sigh. "We can go on the adventures we always wanted to as kids. We can have our life together."

"Provided we don't get killed first. Well, you alone are worth most all the guard so we should be okay."

She laughed as she swatted at him, lifting her head to look at him. "We can make this work, we will make it work."

He leaned in to press his lips to hers. "I believe you. Between you, Armin, me and Hanji, we might have a chance."

Mikasa settled back down against him with a smile on her face. "Not might, we will."

This was a huge risk, a huge danger for them all; if caught they'd be executed in front of the guard and the King's court. Yet was it really any better to watch Mikasa be married to some other man for the rest of her days, never being able to be near her, to be with her again? A risk was all they had now, and a risk was gonna have to be worth it all.