It was Five-Thirty within the afternoon. A ten year old Eren Yeager was sitting on the grass staring at the blue sky. He was completely bored out of his mind. and his green eyes just stared at the floating white clouds for about ten minutes.
"I wish something exciting would happen." Eren muttered to himself. Hoping for some kind of miracle to kill his boredom.
Fifteen seconds later, a young Mikasa had approached Eren. "Eren."
Eren slightly turned his head to the right to see a young Mikasa Ackerman standing before him.
"It's time to come home." Mikasa had told Eren.
"For real?" Eren turned his attention back to the clouds in the sky.
"Yes. Miss Carla says that we have to hurry before dinner gets cold." Mikasa stated to Eren.
"Just give more minutes." Eren tried stalling.
"Miss Carla would not be happy with us being late for dinner." Mikasa said.
Eren remained silent for a moment.
"Miss Carla also told me to tell you that if you don't show up this time, she'll tell Doctor Yeager how you've been behaving lately and will convince him not to let you inside his basement." Mikasa added.
Eren flinched and turned his full attention to Mikasa. "F-for real?"
Mikasa silently nodded.
"Tch!" Eren grunted, then got on his feet. "Fine. Let's go." Eren begun walking towards his house with his hands buried within his pockets. 'Stupid mom. Trying to stop me from seeing what's inside the basement. She knows how much I want what's inside.'
Mikasa followed behind Eren towards the Yeager Residence. She assumed that Eren was mumbling and cursing under his breath.
The duo walked for a total of five minutes towards their home. As Eren and Mikasa were a few yards away from their the residence, the large bell within the center of Shiganshina District had rung, automatically. This caught the attention of both of them and many civilians of Shiganshina that the Survey Corps. were returning.
Eren happily gasped as he realized that the Survey Corps. had returned from their mission. "They're back! Come on, Mikasa. Let's go."
"But... Miss Carla said that we have to get home, before..."
"I'll come up with a good excuse for why we were late." Eren grabbed Mikasa's hand and dragged her. "Come on! I want to get a good view!"
Eren had completely forgotten about his mother's threats and headed towards the front gate of Shiganshina, anyway. He dragged Mikasa along with him, so that they could go together. As they ran for five minutes towards the gate, they both ran into a crowd of civilians and found their childhood friend, a young Armin Arlert within the crowd at the front.
"Eren! Mikasa!" Armin had spotted his two friends.
"Armin! Are we late?" Eren asked.
"No. The gate's are about to open at any second!" Armin happily noted.
"Alright!" Eren said with excitement.
Mikasa looked at the excited Eren. "Eren, listen..."
"What is it, Mikasa?" Eren looked at Mikasa, feeling a little annoyed.
"I looked at a clock two minutes. It said Five Fifty-two on it. We won't make it back home in time if we stay. We should just leave while we can." Mikasa tried to convince him to leave the crowd and forget the Survey Corps.
Eren stared at Mikasa for a moment like she's crazy, then turned to away from her, facing towards the gate.
Mikasa glanced down at the street, looking depressed.
"The gate's opening!" Armin noted as he stared with excitement.
Meanwhile on the other side of the Shiganshina Walls, the Survey Corps. had entered the district through the gate. Once the soldiers in green cloaks entered Shiganshina District, they were met greeted by hundreds of people staring at them. There were people hanging from their open windows to look at the Survey Corps.
"Hey, look! It's the Survey Corps!" A civilian pointed out, as the Survey Corps. walk through the front Shiganshina Gate.
As Erwin Smith leading the Survey Corps. through the streets of Shiganshina, he spotted a young trio of kids standing in front of the crowd on the right column of the street. They were a young Eren Yeager who had the same expression on his face like when he saw Erwin a month prior, Mikasa Ackerman had a normal look on her face. She was neither smiling, nor frowning. And Armin Arlert, whom was also happy. As he stared at the young happy Eren, he then made a facial comparison between the boy and the adult Eren Yeager with the bun. He replied with a smile and waved to the young Eren.
The young Eren happily gasped as he caught the Commander's attention.
'The commander of the Survey Corps. noticed us!' Armin thought.
Hange Zoe rode right beside him Erwin. Many soldiers had bold faces, including Eren. A majority of soldiers had looked at the large crowd around them and were a little surprised to see more than fifty people as they had walked.
As Adult Eren Yeager had ridden on horseback, his ears were able to catch the sound of a few men chattering from within the large crowd. His green eyes glanced at a few guys on his right to see a group of guys chatting amongst themselves.
"Wait, is it me? Or am I not counting correctly?"
"It looks like a lot of them came back this time."
"And they all seem to be perfectly fine, too." One civilian noted.
"Huh. I was expecting there to be a quarter of losses this time. But it looks that hasn't happened."
"Must've been a big miracle, if they all came back alive."
Frieda's attention was caught as soon the word, "miracle" was used. She slightly glance to her right side to see a group of guys chatting as well.
"You gotta be kidding me. They must've just circled all around the walls and simply came back here."
A man chuckled. "Heh. I wish the Survey Corps. never leaving the walls at all was a miracle. Otherwise, a lot of them would still be here."
Frieda slightly looked downwards, feeling a bit sad as she can hear a small number of civilians doubting them of completing their mission.
"Don't worry about them." Eren whispered to Frieda.
Frieda looked to Eren, whom was right beside her on horseback. "Eren?"
"These people have no idea of what happened outside the walls. Just let them think what they want, for now." Eren had told Frieda.
Frieda looked at Eren's face and noticed he had a normal look. "How are you so calm?"
"Trust me. I used to get riled up when someone talks shit about the Survey Corps." Eren said, then suddenly got a flashback of himself as a kid hitting someone's head with a stick.
"Oka-." Frieda murmured.
"Wow! Look at that!" a boy in the crowd had yelled.
This caught the attention of a group of Survey Corp. soldiers in the crowd, including Eren and Frieda. The soldiers turned their heads towards the left column of the street and looked to see a boy with short brown hair and brown eyes with dark casual clothes standing on top of a tall brown barrel. The boy also wore glasses. People in the crowd like Erwin and Levi didn't look.
"These soldiers made it back without a scratch! You gotta be made out of iron to become one of them, they're unstoppable!" A boy within the crowd yelled with optimism.
Some of the soldiers were happy to hear the boy's optimism. They felt like the kid respected them for all their hard work.
Erwin did not look towards the boy, but he did feel encouraged by his words. Ten seconds later, Erwin ultimately stopped his white horse. Which made the soldiers behind him stop in place.
The civilians in the crowd paused and were a bit confused as they saw everyone stop. They chatted among themselves.
Erwin closed his eyes and took a short breather. All of a sudden, he raised his right arm in the air and shouted. "The Fifty-Fourth Expedition is been officially accomplished! The Titans beyond the walls have been all, but exterminated!"
The civilians paused after hearing the Commander's Message and started roaring celebrating humanity's victory. It was the first time humanity has triumphed over the Pure Titans in decades.
"Yeah!" A young Eren Yeager screamed as he jumped up with both arms reaching towards the sky.
Mikasa was the only person who wasn't celebrating their victory. She knew that Eren had disobeyed Carla Yeager yet again. She can imagine how angry she would be, knowing that they were late. 'Miss Carla is going to be really upset.'
Later That Night
The young Eren Yeager was locked within his room by his mother. He wasn't allowed to leave the house for a day for his disobedience. Eren just lied in his bed and tried to sleep. Mikasa can move around freely, but chose to stay with Eren within the house.
Meanwhile, The Survey Corps. were currently partying with the Garrison celebrating their victory against the Titans inside of a barracks in the Shiganshina District. They given an amount of time rest before they would head to the capital of the walls the next morning.
An adult Eren Yeager and Frieda Reiss were the only ones attending to the horses within a ranch. They had buckets of food that meant for horses to eat.
"I'm happy that everyone's alive." Frieda said, feeling generous as she was feeding her horse.
"Me too. Not only is it the first time that the Survey Corp. had ever completed a mission outside the walls... but it's the Survey Corp. had never suffered any kind of casualty." Eren stated as finished feeding his horse food from the bucket.
"Really?" Frieda turned Eren.
"Yeah. We would've never gotten this far, if you had-Ow!" As soon as Eren turned away from his horse to face Frieda, the horse had bitten Eren's bun. His horse assumed that Eren's bun was food.
"Eren!" Frieda cried as she quickly dropped bucket and rushed to him.
Eren could feel the horse tugging and biting down on his hair. He used his hands and grabbed the horse's mouth. 'Let go of me, dammit!' Eren thought as he attempted to free himself from the horse's teeth by opening his mouth. It took him six seconds to release himself from the horse's mouth.
"Eren, are you okay?" Frieda asked, while in concern.
"Yeah, it's just this stupid hor-" Eren had taken a step back and faced the horse. As he did, his foot slipped on something wet and slippery. "Whoa!" Eren fell backwards and landed on the dirt, back first.
"Eren!" Frieda quickly bent down and tried to help him up back on his feet.
"I'm okay..." Eren grunted as he slowly sat up. He took her hand and slowly got up onto his feet.
"Do you need something for your head? You seem to hit it very hard." Frieda noted as she watched Eren slip and fall backwards, seconds prior.
"No. I'll live. I've been through worse than this." Eren replied, while rubbing his head. He suddenly gained a number of flashbacks of himself getting injured and beat up when he was fifteen, like a marathon. From the time Eren slipped and cracked his skull while trying to master vertical maneuvering gear in the Cadet the time he was backhanded by Levi, while trying to save Armin.
Frieda smiles at Eren.
Captain Levi was suddenly walking around the area, then spotted Frieda Reiss in the horse ranch with Eren. He walked
"There you are, Frieda. I've been looking almost everywhere for you." Levi said, while approaching her and Eren within the horse ranch.
"Captain Levi." Frieda responded as she turned to him.
Levi glance at Eren for a moment, then looked at Frieda. "I don't want to interrupt whatever the hell you were doing, I'll just cut to the chase. There's something we need you to do."
Frieda sat the horse bucket down on the ground and laid her eyes on Levi. "What is it?"
"This is an order from Erwin, himself. Once we reach the Capital, Mitras and overthrow the fake monarch. Seeing that you are the next successor to the throne and due to your royal lineage... Which means, you will be the Queen of Paradis."
A few soldiers who were roaming around the area and doing other activities had heard the word, "Queen" and gasped.
"Yes. As the Founding Titan, who successfully stopped the Warrior Unit from breaching the walls and leading us to the ocean and back with zero casualties. The Commander thought you'd be the most suitable person for the job."
"Captain..." Frieda paused as her eyes grow a little bit bigger.
"The expedition beyond the walls was successful, but... the people of Paradis won't follow the military rule forever. We need to give them a good story. One where the true Queen led her people to victory and overthrows the fake monarch."
"Oh, I see." Frieda lowered her head a bit.
Eren looked at Frieda who seemed a bit depressed. "Don't worry about it too much, Frieda." Eren told Frieda as he placed his right hand on her upper left shoulder. "You can do this."
"Thank you, Eren. You've always believed in me." Frieda gave Eren a light smile and placed her hand on top of Eren's right hand, which was on her left shoulder.
Captain Levi bluntly stares as he could see the romance.
"If you really believe in me..." Frieda then turned towards Captain Levi. "Then I'll be glad to take on that role."
"Good." Levi responded.
After the Survey Corps. arrived to Mitras, the Capital of Paradis on the next few days. Commander Erwin had worked and a Coup d'état with other leaders such as Dhalis Zachary and Dot Pixis to expose the Royal Government within Paradis. And it worked. Instead of the royal officials to being sentenced to life in prison, Frieda Reiss used her Founding Titan abilities to erase their memories and placed them in other lines of work.
Captain Levi had made sure to place an arrest warrants on Kenny Ackerman within the walls, due to Kenny the Ripper being too dangerous. Kenny is now on the run from the government, thanks to Levi.
Four Days Later
It was a normal Sunday morning. As the legitimate heir to the throne, Frieda Reiss was relocated to the castle within Mitras. She sat in her new fancy room in front of a big fancy mirror. She had worn white pajamas and used a long black fancy brush to brush her long hair. She was preparing for her coronation which was supposed to be held within two hours in Mitras.
"Everything okay in here?" asked an Adult Eren.
Frieda Reiss gasped as she heard a voice that she was very familiar with. She put the brush down and turned around to see her boyfriend, Eren Yeager leaning on the doorway, with his hands in his pockets. He had worn the same outfit that he had met Frieda in.
"E-Eren!" A blush had appeared on Frieda's face. "What are you doing in here?"
"What? I just came to see how my girlfriend was doing, before she goes out on stage and become Queen of Paradis." Eren replied as he walked closer to Frieda.
"I appreciate you checking on me, Eren. But next time, please knock." Frieda as she sat up from her chair.
"Alright. Next time I will." Eren nodded.
"Was there anything else you needed?" Frieda asked.
"Well, yeah. Now that you mention it... there's something I want to ask you." Eren went down memory lane and remembered the night he and Frieda first had sex.
"What is it, Eren?" Frieda asked.
Eren started scratching his left ear in a nervous way. "Do... you remember the night that you and I shared together in Trost?"
"Yes." Frieda said.
"And during that night, we almost started the rumbling..."
A pink blush appears on her face as she remembers that night. "Yes."
"And after we did it, I said that I wanted to get married..."
"Uh-huh..." Frieda nodded.
"Will you-"
"Yes." Fried said, plainly. She had already knew what Eren was about to ask.
"Really?"
"Frieda nodded. "Mm-hmm. I will marry you."
"That's great. Now I have another question to ask you."
Eren gently grabbed both of Frieda's hands. "Frieda... what am I to you?"
Frieda's light blue eyes begun to spark with light as she stared within Eren's green eyes. The pink blush on her face had turned into a little reddish-pink above her nose and beneath her eyes. She paused for a moment after hearing that question. "Eren... y-you're... everything to me."
After hearing Frieda's answer, Eren gave her a warm and caring smile. Suddenly, Eren released Frieda's right hand and placed his left hand into his pocket. He pulled out an adamant object and held it in front of Frieda's face.
Frieda gasped as she noticed Eren pulling out a small adamant object. "Eren, is that..."
"Yes. It's an engagement ring." Eren answered, revealing that he had a thin silver circular ring within his pocket.
Frieda looked at the ring closely at it and saw the word "Freedom" carved into it. "It says Freedom on it."
"I had a smithy teach me how to forge rings. Carving words were a little tricky. The word Freedom is Symbolizing that you are free." Eren then slid the engagement ring onto Frieda's left ring finger.
Frieda moaned after the ring was slid onto her finger. She could feel the ring's warmth and protection. It filled with positive and thoughts. "It's beautiful..." she seemed teary as tiny orbs appeared on the corner of her eyes.
"It's not the only thing beautiful..." Eren brushed the black bangs behind Frieda's ears so he can get a good image of her face.
"Thank you, Eren." Frieda's eyes were teary.
Eren wiped the bubbles away from her eyes, then brought her face closer so he could kiss her lips. Frieda kissed him back, because she felt happy. They shared a moment together, kissing and connecting foreheads.
"I better get going." Eren said, realizing that he had spent more than enough time with Frieda. "I'll see you out there."
"Goodbye, Eren." Frieda waved Eren goodbye.
Eren smiled, before closing Frieda's door behind him, leaving Frieda alone in the room with the ring that spells out freedom.
Author's Note: I appreciate the comments. Ymir will be in this story and Grisha has not been forgotten.
The Survey Corps. had made it to the ocean, but had yet to encounter Marley. The Warrior Unit wasn't mentioned in this chapter, but they are still in custody.