Or: why didn't Ymir care about Annie or Historia, the Fic

Maria. Her eldest. Her loveliest.

There were only hints of it when Ymir died, but she saw how her children grew while working in Paths. Maria grew into an exceptional beauty, and all of Eldia's warriors strived for her hand.

It wasn't just looks, of course. When her daughters proved they inherited her abilities, they immediately eclipsed any other children of Fritz's. It was some minor revenge against the other concubines, Ymir supposed. Her Maria was heir to Eldia, and anybody who took issue with it could attempt to challenge her…

Despite her eventual station as Queen of the Eldians, she couldn't choose her own spouse. Fritz did. It was one of his braves, distinguished by battles won– well, for minor merit in battles actually won by the power of Titans– and Fritz had an almost paternal affection for the boy. Ymir would know: she had served them both at the same table, saw them interact as she wiped up the spills that boy loved to make. Younger than Ymir, apparently young enough to be seen as a sort of child instead of whatever Ymir was to Fritz.

Maria, like Ymir, lived in the shadow of Fritz. She wasn't the largest of his 'monstrosities' (his daughters) but she was the most powerful. She could reform herself and her sisters, could send requests for Ymir to fulfill. Well, those requests were usually from Fritz, but she was the conduit that brought them to Ymir.

Her daughter could have crushed Fritz like a gnat in her hand, if she so pleased, but she led her sisters in the consolidation of empire. She wouldn't outlive Fritz by much, but she would provide the heirs who would succeed them both. One of the few benefits of their power was negating the risks of childbirth.

Her offspring became kings and princes, winning themselves lauds and titles or getting married off to allied chieftains. Maria became a tool for the empire. She didn't necessarily like her husband, but they fulfilled their marital duties regardless.

Historia…

Historia was a little like Maria. Of course, they shared the same blood, considering that the ruling royal line was Maria's, but it was more than that.

Historia Reiss lived in the long shadow of her father. Saw her mother die for her father. Was told to consume and devour, that she might win his praise and affection.

But she didn't obey. She decided that she and her friends were worth more than her father's orders, worth more than whatever vague, arbitrary good she might accomplish through the power of the Founding Titan.

Ymir watched from some place beyond places, and thought of an older man who loomed over her life and her daughter's.

And if she took a few steps to make sure the pregnancy was smooth and the child healthy… well, she was getting a start on this freedom thing.

Rose. Her middle child. Her strongest.

She was a blonde, much like her sister, but where Maria had turned into a very classic beauty, Rose didn't grow into feminine curves. Gangly and tall, with sharp features and a sharper glare…

With maternal affection, Ymir might call her handsome, but it was her blood that attracted the men and not her looks. Well, a few of them were attracted by her combat prowess.

She was the greatest of her siblings in their Titanic statures, so terrible that her footsteps could form roadways. Skinless and vaguely feminine– Ymir knew the features well. Ymir didn't like having to make such an incredible form so many times, but she did love the woman inside.

Someone else loved her too. Not her father, who loved the great feats she could accomplish and the glories she could win, but one of his warriors. He distinguished himself enough to earn Rose's hand, and did something even more remarkable afterward.

He got Rose to like him. While Rose wouldn't surpass Ymir in lifespan, she did manage to surpass her in having a happy marriage.

(For a while, Ymir had thought the signs of enjoyment– the gasps and the squirming– from Fritz's other concubines were just an act. Another one of their guiles, an act put on to steal the king away. Ymir's first impression of the act wasn't great, to put it mildly. It felt like something that was… inflicted.

But if her daughter found something in it that Ymir couldn't… that was great. Ymir only wished she had more than thirteen years to enjoy. Ymir didn't realize what her early death meant for her daughters, she was so dead to the world at the time.)

The centuries passed, and Rose's blood pulsed in the veins of entire cities. In one of those cities was a girl who suffered under her father. One who was shaped into a warrior by his hands, one who got only the smallest speck of affection from him before plunging into hell.

Ymir looked after that girl. Formed her Titan and repaired it, when it was needed, but she did finer work. Kept the body from failing inside its crystalline prison.

Ymir saw her, and sometimes Annie saw Ymir. She was in a strange state, dipping in and out of consciousness and occasionally finding herself in Paths. She tried speaking a few times, and Ymir regretted being too dulled to respond.

She was a murderer. A killer. And at the same time, a tremendously pitiable figure.

Ymir wouldn't wish a fraction of her sentence upon anyone, but if anyone got close to it, it was Annie. Years spent in that crystal…

Hoping she might see her father again.

That was a hard one to grapple with for Ymir, but she certainly had time to do it.

Joining the Alliance was only natural if she wanted to guarantee that her father didn't perish before a reunion. It made sense.

But what reason did she have to keep on fighting when she had every reason to think her father dead? She couldn't have known of the train, the group of Eldians fleeing for their lives. There was a threshold where she'd reasonably assume her father was dead, but she didn't stop.

Was it revenge? Was it an unwillingness to become a genocidaire? Some feeling towards Armin?

As they fought their way toward the front of the Founding Titan, Ymir began to wonder if it mattered. Whatever mix of factors compelled her…

It was something more than wanting to see her father again.

There was more to Annie's life than Leonhardt, even if she had spent years in a rock.

There was more to Rose's life than her father. The husband she favored– the one who seemed to have a nose like Armin's, funnily enough– and her own accomplishments. The roads and bridges built, the rough places made navigable, the armies routed.

There was more to Ymir than Fritz, wasn't there?

Sina. Her youngest. Her kindest.

Her Titan was, of all of them, the strangest. Malformed and misshapen: animal features like a four-legged stance and thick fur paired with a strange jaw and pointed ears.

She had a spark. The Attack Titan's spark. Ymir couldn't say if that was the distant future coloring her or her codifying what it meant to be the Attack Titan…

Her 'rebellion' was a peaceful one. It was peace, quite literally. Fortunately, theirs was an age where two combat Titans were sufficient, so Maria let her younger sister settle into more of a support role, ferrying their father or other important figures around or moving supplies to wherever they'd find the greatest use...

(Something here about Mikasa growing beyond Eren's violent ways. Comparison of being bent by the Ackerman modifications to the changes enforced upon Sina by her sister and by the Titanic transformation itself.)

This was something I wanted to try. I'm particularly passionate about the Annie-Ymir link and I think it could be built into a stellar oneshot/AU. Something about Annie growing beyond the need to see her father.