Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Reiner Braun

854, Liberio, Marley

Part of Reiner is surprised that he is ordered to be among the welcoming committee for the delegation from Paradis. After all, since his spectacular failure, the few privileges he had due to being an honorary Marleyan had been summarily revoked.

When he wasn’t in the interment zone, living in his mother’s house, sleeping in his old childhood bedroom, he was sent out into the most grueling battles at their other front lines.

It’s his due punishment, and he bears it silently. In fact, he knows he is lucky to still be alive. He had expected that they would feed him to Porco the moment he stepped foot back in Libero.

Instead, however, General Magath had decided that the Armored Titan should rather go to the next generation of warriors. And, at the moment, the most likely candidate for that was Reiner’s younger cousin Gabi.

Upon his return, he had been shocked to learn that Gabi had decided to join the warrior unit, obviously inspired by Reiner’s own seeming success. When he first left for Paradis, she had only been a little girl, talking a mile a minute and trying to climb the furniture in her parents’ home. She’s still a little girl now, really, but she burns with an overzealous hatred of the so-called devil islanders that speaks of years of indoctrination.

Reiner tries to recall whether he had ever fully believed in the tales about how dangerous and blood-thirsty the Eldians of Paradis allegedly were. But, in retrospect, all he remembers is how easy it had been to fit in with them, with the people displaced after the fall of Wall Maria and with the cadets of the 104th trainee corps. 

That’s the worst thing, really. He misses Marcel like he misses Marco. He misses Annie like he misses Mina. He misses Bertholt like he misses Franz. And he aches because he knows that he is directly responsible for their deaths.

Annie, though, is not dead, he reminds himself. Annie’s name had been among those listed in the official missive regarding the delegates from Paradis, and Reiner wonders whether that is worse. Because it means that Annie has defected. 

Magath doesn’t believe that, and Porco doesn’t either. They think that Annie is just acting like her loyalties have changed and that she will return to them in a moment of truth. Reiner doesn’t buy that, though. Annie had always been a shit actress; the only reason why her jig hadn’t been up any sooner when they infiltrated Paradis’ military was because she just kept her mouth shut and stayed away from everyone. There’s no way she’d be able to fool Armin or Mikasa into trusting her again. 

But there had been other names on the list that had made Reiner pause when then council had him recount what he knew about these people. 

First and foremost, of course, there are Commander Erwin Smith and Squad Leader Hange Zoe, of course, neither of whom Reiner had gotten to know personally in his brief time in the Corps, but who he knows enough about by virtue of their reputation. 

And in his initial reports, Reiner had written down as much as possible about Captain Levi, but he’d been surprised that the missive called him Ackermann instead of Sterling. But there was also another man named Kenny Ackermann, so Reiner figured that maybe Levi had just gotten mated. Because, he noted with a catch in his breath, there was also mention of an Elias Ackermann. Mikasa Ackermann, in comparison, would not be among the ambassadors, and neither would Eren Jaeger.  

To the council, Reiner had just briefly reiterated that Elias was Levi’s son and a formidable fighter, hoping that no one noticed his reluctance. Instead, he focused a little more on Armin Arlert, who was to be considered less of a physical threat and more of a strategist.

Then again, Reiner had to caution, he didn’t know whether they had found a way to inherit Zeke’s and Bertholt’s titans. They couldn’t have, not without the titan serum, but Reiner’s luck has been pretty shit so far.

“Are you fretting again?” Pieck asks, when she finds him sitting by the pier. 

That’s the only real privilege Reiner still retains: being able to freely move between the internment zone and the city proper. Like this, he can talk long walks and just stare out at the sea for hours on end. 

“Not fretting,” he claims. “Just thinking.”

“That’s one and the same for you,” she teases, awkwardly maneuvering her crutches to sit down next to him on the bench. She’d only returned from the frontline two days ago, after four months in her titan form, and her legs aren’t working yet.

“You’re thinking about Annie,” she guesses, which is only part of the truth, but close enough, so he gives a tight nod. 

“Annie’s always been a smart girl, and loyal, too,” Pieck reminds him. “I would trust her with my life.”

Reiner resists the urge to openly stare at Pieck, but barely. The likelihood of them being spied on out here are slim, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. He doesn’t want to add treason to his long list of crimes against Marley. 

Pieck knows this just as well, and so she knows to hide the real intent of her words. On the surface, she is saying that she trusts Annie to still be devoted to their cause. But Reiner can read between the lines; in truth, Pieck is hinting that Annie may just have made the right decision in defecting to Paradis. 

He swallows hard.

“The devil islanders are devious,” he tells her. “They get into your head and warp your thoughts. Try to temp you with sweet promises.”

Promises of friendship and freedom. Promises of camaraderie and kinship.

Everyone who joined the Survey Corps had done so of their own volition, despite the risk it carried. Ymir had joined for Krista, and Jean for Marco but, ultimately, they did it of their own free will. 

Jean could have joined the MP instead, like he had always boasted he would. Thomas could have become a baker, like his father.  

But the Survey Corps did not send out their soldiers alone. The commander was always there with them, because he knew there was strength in numbers. He made sacrifices, but he was ready to sacrifice himself as well. 

That was true for all of them, the willingness to die for each other, and Reiner had felt the strength of that certainty course through his veins as he threw that titan out of the window at Utgard Castle, all to protect his friends. 

Who’d protect him here, Reiner wonders. Pieck looks out for him, like a big sister might, but Porco hates his guts. Magath and the rest of the upper brass have only ever really seen him as a means to an end. Disposable. Replaceable. They wouldn’t walk through fire for him. Not like he had for them.

“We’ll have to watch out for their wily ways, then,” Pieck muses, her eyes upon the horizon where the sky meets the sea. “So they won’t get under our skin.”

“Yes,” Reiner says, thinking of Eren’s impassioned speeches and Connie’s dumb jokes and Elias’ shy smiles. “Some of them are good at that.”

Would they forgive him, if he tried to join them? They had taken Annie back, despite her past actions. Is it wrong of Reiner to get his hopes up? Does he really dare to dream?

The delegation would arrive in a month. Until then, Reiner would have to make up his mind. Even if it caused his downfall. But, he is willing to make that gamble. He’s got nothing more to lose.

♜

When the delegation arrives, Reiner is in his dress uniform, hoping that he cuts an imposing picture. He doesn’t need any more familiar faces to look at him with derision. 

In the end, however, there is only one pair of eyes that finds him as the ambassadors step of their ship, and Reiner tries not to freeze under the slate grey gaze.

Elias looks much like he remembers him, a little taller maybe, his hair a little longer, but he is still pretty and somehow ethereal looking, while Reiner suddenly feel like a lumbering ape. 

But then Elias already glances away again, and Reiner chides himself for reading too much into it. After all, there had never been anything between them, and Reiner still isn’t always sure how to tell his memories apart. Maybe, some of the moments he remembers sharing with Elias are just a figment of his imagination. 

So instead, he focuses on the other delegates.

The first thing that strikes him is Commander Smith. The last time Reiner had seen him, the man had just lost an arm to a titan and still managed to snatch Eren away right from underneath Reiner’s nose. Now, though, his arm is right there, which means that he must have inherited one of the titans. Had it been Bertholt or Zeke? There’s no way of telling. If he has the Colossal Titan, though, and decided to transform in the middle of the city, it might spell disaster for Libero. 

At the commander’s shoulders stand Captain Levi and Squad Leader Hange. Hange’s wearing an eye patch underneath their glasses, but they look about the pier somewhat undauntedly, even having the gall to give Reiner a little wave when they spot him. 

There’s a tall man, Kenny Ackermann presumably, and he looks really a bit old to be Levi’s mate. He’s got his hands in the pockets of his dress uniform, looking like he’d rather be somewhere else, and Reiner doesn’t know what to make of him at all. 

Annie is standing next to Armin, and she is not looking at anything in particular, as if trying to ignore the faces in the crowd she might recognize. Reiner hadn’t expected her to throw her arms around him in joy, but her utter non-reaction hurts. Like he has lost her after all. 

“Welcome, Eldians of Paradis!” Willy Tybur welcomes them in that grandiose manner of his, because of course he had insisted on being there. Some other Tybur family members are in attendance as well, and Reiner suspects that that includes the Warhammer Titan, just in case the meeting goes awry.

And Willy Tybur is a bit of a smarmy guy, but he also has a habit of winning people over. 

He is the first to shake Commander Smith’s hand, clapping him on the shoulder like an old friend. The commander smiles back, close-mouthed and diplomatic, not giving anything away. 

“We thank you for the friendly welcome,” he says, briefly glancing past Tybur to assess the rows of soldiers standing at parade rest, with their uniforms neat and their rifles positioned in front of them. They might look like a welcoming gesture to any visiting political party, but the threat is more than obvious. If the devil islander make one wrong move, they will be shot without hesitation.

“May I take this moment to remind you,” the commander says, raising his voice enough that even the people farther in the back will hear him, “That Paradis is currently in the possession of six of the nine titans. Including the Founding. We also have a descendant of the royal family of King Fritz in our ranks. Both her and the Founding Titan remain within the walls. If our delegation does not return by the agreed upon date, they will take action as they deem fit.”

A counter threat, and a much more effective one at that. Yes, Marley could shoot the delegation or poison them or lock them up indefinitely. But Paradis would still have the upper hand and, the next time they reached this shore, they would be much less cordial. 

“Splendid,” Willy Tybur says with a blinding smile, and Reiner knows that this will be a long day. 

♜

It is a long day. 

First, there is a tour throughout Libero which of course, very neatly sidesteps the entrance to the internment zone and instead shows off the city’s artful gardens and grand architecture. It’s probably mostly meant to showcase the overall technological advantage that Marley has over Paradis, but the ambassadors seem barely impressed, politely nodding at cars and airships, as though they had seen it all before.

Are they just bluffing, not wanting to give away any intimidation they might feel? Or are they simply prepared for these wondrous sights, thanks to what Annie must have told them about modern-day Marley?

Then again, Reiner realizes belatedly, the party from Paradis had arrived on a metal ship. Either they had built it themselves, implying that their own technology had quickly caught up since Reiner left the island, or the Eldians had found a way to get in touch with and travel to other nations. 

Certainly, Magath and the rest of the board must be suspecting just as much. And, if any of it is true, it means that Paradis is an even more fearsome foe than originally expected. Them having so many titans was bad enough; but them also having the financial and political support from Marley’s enemy nations would be disastrous. 

Reiner can feel the sweat beading on his brow, though he tries not to show his inner turmoil. It’s hard, too, because he and Pieck have of course been shoved into the same limousine as Annie, Armin and Elias, while Willy Tybur, Commander Smith, Captain Levi, General Hange, and that Kenny guy are in a different one.

“On the left side, you can see our State Theater,” Pieck explains, pointing to an opulent building outside, obviously having accepted the role of tour guide for the time being, if only to take some of the pressure off Reiner. “If you stay long enough, you might have the time to catch one of the performances.”

“Don’t bother, the plays are dreadfully boring,” Annie claims, her voice flat. So far, she hasn’t looked outside even once and her arms are folded in front of her chest, but she’s got one leg crossed over the other and it is bouncing nervously. 

Pieck shoots her a glance, her face neutral.

“They are,” she agrees mildly. “The dance performances in the ghetto are rather more entertaining. We’ll have to see if we can sneak you in later.”

Annie’s jaw clenches. 

“There won’t be any dances today,” she knows. “It’s rest day.”

“Seems like you haven’t forgotten your roots,” Pieck returns, rather more pointedly than before. “I would have thought-”

“Can you stop being so passive-aggressive?” Elias asks, frowning as he looks between the two of them. “I’m getting a headache listening to you.”

Annie and Pieck are obviously not happy at being chastised so, but they do refrain from trading any more barbs. Reiner himself is surprised that Pieck would so bluntly interact with Annie at all, though maybe she is just doing it to test the waters with Annie, see what she is really thinking. 

He is rather less surprised at Elias’ lack of patience for their posturing. After all, this isn’t so different from how Eren and Jean used to snipe at each other, and Elias has never just idly stood aside when that happened either.

There’s not much else to go on in order to judge potential changes in his character yet. Elias has neither glared nor smiled at Reiner, nothing to give away what he might be thinking. Whether he still holds a grudge regarding Reiner’s betrayal back then, or if he understands his motivations, at least to a degree. 

Reiner tries not to get his hopes up, though. He crippled Elias’ aunt. He kidnapped Eren. He caused the deaths of Marco, Mina, Hannah, Franz, and so many others. Why should Elias forgive Reiner, if Reiner hasn’t even forgiven himself yet?

So Reiner tries to distract himself by properly taking in Elias’ physical changes instead, to catalog the details and commit them to memory in case he never gets to see them again.

The most obvious one, even when sitting down, is that Elias has grown taller. Not as tall as Armin, certainly, but at least taller than Captain Levi. 

He has grown out his hair, too, just a little, just enough to pull it into a small ponytail. Like this, his face looks leaner, definitely more mature than Reiner remembers, and his cheekbones are smooth and elegant, like something made out of porcelain. 

He’s always been pretty, but there is something more refined about it now. His eyes, however, are still slate-gray and narrow and- With a start, Reiner realizes that Elias has caught him watching him, and Reiner quickly looks away, though he can feel a flush rising to his cheeks. 

“We’re turning back,” Armin fortunately notices in that moment, as their car takes yet another left, saving Reiner from lingering on his embarrassment. “Are we returning to the port?”

“We’re going to the Mansion,” Pieck informs him helpfully, rather more cordial than when she had spoken with Annie. “It’s like a great hall for state functions. There’ll be a big dinner, a ball, some performances by various artists.”

“Ah.” Armin nods in understanding. “They’re trying to butter us up before the negotiations tomorrow.”

At that, Pieck gives a wry smile. “I guess so.”

“I’ve never been to a ball,” Armin muses aloud, as though he had decided that he shouldn’t be too hard on his fellow Eldians, perhaps reminding himself that the upper echelons of the Marleyans are really to blame. “I don’t even know how to dance.”

“I’ll show you,” Annie promises him promptly, though Reiner is pretty sure that she doesn’t know how to dance either. They certainly did not get any lessons during their warrior training. 

As it turns out, though, Annie does not plan to dance with Armin after all. 

They make it to the Mansion, with its marble pillars and chandeliers, and Reiner cannot help but remember how he used to fantasize inviting his father here one day, to show him that he was not just an honorary Marleyan but a hero as well. 

They reconvene with the other half of the party, Willy Tybur still all generous smiles and careless elegance, while Reiner is pretty sure he catches Levi taking note of all the exits and potential weapons. 

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Willy asks, and Commander Smith gives a rather more tempered smile of his own.

“Of course,” he agrees with a small conceding nod. “Though you’ll have to forgive us, if we do not appropriately appreciate such splendor. We are all soldiers, none of us highborn, and we’ve never quite developed an eye for luxuries such as these.”

He swipes his arm — the arm Reiner knows was lost to a titan — across the view laid out in front of them: the opulent feast bending the tables, the omegas of the elite decked out in jewelry, the pieces of art tastefully spread around the main hall. 

Just like before, his words are simple but efficient. The Paradis Eldians will be neither cowed nor bought. They know Marley’s wealth was largely stolen directly in wars, or acquired somewhat more legally in the form of post-war tributes paid by other nations. No one has ever been impressed by a rich thief.

Luckily, Reiner doesn’t have to endure more conversations like that during the dinner. He is sat between Pieck and Porco, who despite not having inherited a titan yet, still retains some status and has thus been invited. Reiner suspects that Magath also took pity on him, considering Porco twistedly blames all of the supposed devil islanders for his brother’s death.

So between Porco’s glowering and Pieck seemingly having exhausted her tolerance for social interaction for the day, Reiner’s own reticence is probably excusable. It helps that Annie, Armin and Elias aren’t too keen on talking either, neither with each other nor anyone else, even though they are sitting right across from Reiner. 

“The booze sure ain’t bad,” Reiner hears someone comment from further up the table. When he looks over, it’s to see Kenny Ackermann wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, after apparently having taken a large swig of wine. The wine, of course, is not Marleyan, but imported from the sunnier South. When it comes down to it, Marley has produced few things of worth; Reiner himself is the best proof of that. 

Mostly, the dinner is formal, boring and drawn-out. The only reason Reiner doesn’t end up yawning is because he is still unbearably tense and has been since the ambassadors first set food on Marleyan soil. His shoulders are starting to hurt from how tightly he is holding himself. 

It’s not surprise then that he barely stops himself from flinching when Annie suddenly pulls him aside into an alcove. The table are being cleared, the musicians are tuning their instruments, and there is just a bit of a lull in the evening before the ball starts. 

“I’m planning to take Armin and Elias into the internment zone,” she tells him curtly, all promises of teaching Armin to dance seemingly forgotten. “You wanna join?”

Reiner opens his mouth, jaw working silently.

He shouldn’t. He knows he shouldn’t. This was not approved by his superiors, and Magath would surely rip him a new one once he found out. In fact, this might even be considered an act of treason.

But what can they really do to him that they haven’t already threatened ten times over? And, realistically, how much power do the Marleyans even really hold at this point, both over Reiner’s family and the world at large?

“Yes,” he tells Annie and, when he finds that his voice trembles, repeats it with more certainty. “Yes.”

“Good,” Annie says and, for a moment, she looks almost pleased, as though this had been a test and he had passed it, like she knew he would. “Go powder your nose or something. We’re heading out in five.”

True to Annie’s word, Elias and Armin are the only ones joining them. Reiner had seen Elias briefly talking to Levi, but Levi had only nodded and not looked overly concerned. That’s probably a good sign. Perhaps it even means that the ambassadors found Reiner trustworthy as well. Perhaps he stood a chance.

As the Mansion is located at the city proper, the way on foot to the internment zone takes a fair bit. Annie is walking ahead of them, maintaining a fast pace just short of outright running. Trained soldiers are they are, they follow he easily enough, but none of them even attempt any sort of conversation in an attempt to save their breath. 

Getting into the internment zone, however, is even trickier. Reiner, for one, had not considered how they would be getting past the sentries at the gate. Getting out of the ghetto as an Eldian was difficult enough, but letting foreigners see the sorry state of the district was generally also a big taboo.

Annie, of course, has not come unprepared.

“We’re here to show the party from Paradis around the zone,” she tells the soldiers brusquely, as though she had been gone for a day instead of almost a decade. “General’s orders.”

The two betas glance at each other. Reiner is not even sure whether these particular guards would even still remember Annie. 

“We haven’t been informed that the ambassadors should be permitted entry,” one of them, Walter, says, though he licks his lips, as if uncertain. 

Annie just shrugs, hands in her pockets, looking completely unbothered. 

“You can ask General Magath, if you want to,” she offers casually. “Will take a bit to get word from him, though, and I don’t want to let the ambassadors wait. Or interrupt the General during the ball. You know how much he loves the foxtrot.”

General Magath is one of the stiffest, most uptight people to be found in Marley. When they left the feast, he had been standing with his back to the wall, narrowly watching the dancers. He certainly would not set foot on the dance floor himself. 

These two soldiers, however, do not know that. In fact, they probably have never taken a direct order from Theo Magath at all.

“What,” Annie says, when the guards still seem hesitant. “Don’t tell me my status as honorary Marleyan has been revoked? ‘cause I’m still the Female Titan, you know.”

Her tone is casual, but the threat so poorly hidden that the two soldiers visibly swallow. If she wanted to, Annie could shift and eat them in seconds. 

And finally, the men step aside, letting the four Eldians step into what is essentially the prison Reiner has grown up in.

Suddenly, he finds himself hyper-aware of how much it is lacking, especially in comparison to the grandeur of the rest of Liberio. He thinks he catches Armin and Elias cast around furtive glances, taking in the rundown buildings and dirty streets.

It’s dark out already and rest day to boot, so there aren’t really any people out on the street. Some folks glance out through their windows, but no one greets them. Reiner’s fall from grace hasn’t exactly had a positive impact on his reputation among the Eldians either. If anything, it’s only because of his cousin Gabi that their neighbors still show their family some modicum of respect.

So maybe he should thank the night for concealing both the poverty and the shame Reiner has been living in for the past few years. 

“It’s a dreary place,” he speaks up, in a reckless attempt to defend himself nevertheless. He awkwardly clears his throat a little too loudly. “But it’s home, I guess.”

“So were the walls,” Elias replies without missing a beat, and it’s the first time today that he has directly spoken to Reiner. “It was still a good idea to leave.”

“I- Yeah, I guess,” Reiner admits. 

Elias and Armin, he reminds himself, had grown up in the outer ring of the walls. While not quite as bad as the ghetto in that regard, Wall Maria and Rose had still served a similar purpose: to separate the plebs from the elite. 

“This is the school I went to,” Annie points out as they walk past the tiny school building. “And this baker’s bread is really good.”

She is phrasing it like a tour guide, almost like Pieck did in the car, and yet it rather seems like she is doing it for her own benefit, as though to remind herself of this place, the childhood she spent here.

“And this is where Bertholt’s parents lived,” Annie adds eventually, nodding down a side alley, and it is like a punch to the gut. She glances back at Reiner. “Do they still?”

“Yeah,” Reiner forces himself to reply. He visited them a couple of times when he first returned from Paradis, until he realized he was only a cruel reminder that Bertholt had not made it back as well. “His sister got mated last year.”

“Huh,” Annie says, pensive. “Good for her.”

And then she continues marching ahead.

Despite her having pointed out some of the things around them, Annie does not bother taking any detours in order to show off the actual — if humble — sights of the internment zone. She does not seem interested in Armin and Elias getting a chance to see the marketplace with the old fountain or the mural behind the butcher’s, or at least some of the slightly nicer houses. 

“Where are we going anyway?” Reiner demands eventually, after they have walked past his street without Annie even acknowledging as much. 

Truth be told, though, he isn’t even sure that wants his family to his old friends from Paradis; especially little Gabi had eaten up the propaganda about the devil islanders and thus would most likely cause a scene. But still, Reiner cannot help but feel as though he were keeping yet another secret. As though, even now, Reiner the warrior and Reiner the scout were two completely different people.

But at least Annie finally stops dead in her tracks, turning around to stare Reiner down. Despite her being a good two heads shorter than him, it’s still as effective as when they were children.

“My father lives at the edge of the district,” she reminds him, her tone scathing. “I want to go see him.”

Reiner winces. He had not forgotten, of course, but he had also not really thought about it. Annie had always been tight-lipped when it came to matters of family, and her relationship with her adoptive father had often seemed strained. As for Mister Leonhart: he had always been an outsider, even before their warrior unit left for Paradis; when Annie failed to return, he had become even more of a recluse. Reiner had run into him once, at the bakery, a short but unpleasant encounter, for neither had known what to say and thus not said anything at all. 

But of course Annie would want to see what little family she had. If anything, Reiner is surprised that she would drag the rest of them along. 

And Reiner does not seem to be alone in thinking that.

“Oh,” Armin says with a slight smile. “Of course. You’ve been looking forward to it for so long. We can wait here for you, or just meet up again later.”

Reiner tries not to wonder whether Armin is self-assured or simply naive to be willingly left alone in unfamiliar territory. Does he trust Reiner to protect him and Elias, or does he merely trust his own survival skills?

Despite the permission, however, Annie linger. 

“I want you to meet him, too,” she says. Her gaze rests solely on Armin, leaving no room for misinterpretation.

In response, Armin very nearly preens, puffing up like a little bird, before catching himself and exchanging a quick glance with Elias. Elias gives a curt nod, almost as though he had expected this to happen anyway. 

When Armin and Annie wander off together, they do not hold hands, but Reiner suspects that they might as soon as they are out of sight. 

“Huh,” Reiner says, more to himself than anything else. “Did not see that coming.”

“They’ve been dancing around each other for months,” Elias comments, wryly. “It’s about time Annie makes a move, really.”

“Yeah,” Reiner agrees, as though he had been there during those months, and he is acutely aware of how Annie wanting to spend time with Armin now has left Reiner and Elias on their own as well. And that is… not how Reiner had expected to end the night, especially considering how worked up he had been about meeting the ambassadors in the first place. 

Elias, on the other hand, seems surprisingly nonchalant. Faintly, Reiner wonders if this was planned, if Annie deliberately split up their group like this. If Elias wants to be alone with Reiner, too.  

“So,” Elias says, hands on his hips and chin jutting out, but the way he bites his lower lip betrays how his own nerves must flare after all. “Are you going to show me around instead?”

“Uh,” Reiner says, uncertain. He still cannot bring himself to fully meet Elias’ eyes. “Sure.”

They wander around a little, at a much slower pace than before, and Reiner decides to show Elias all the things Annie didn’t.

“The vendors set up their stalls here twice a week,” he explains as they meander across the marketplace. “Most people don’t really have a lot of money, so there’s a lot of bargaining and bartering. Everyone knows everyone, really, so if you don’t have enough to get apples of something, you can usually just pay for them later. It’s kinda nice, really.”

Elias hums thoughtfully, making a show of looking around the empty plaza before glancing at Reiner from the side.

“How about you?” he asks. “Do you have enough money?”

“Um,” Reiner hedges. “I’m still a shifter, obviously, so I get a warrior’s stipend. It’s enough to support me and my mom, and to help out my aunt and her family. It- It was harder, before. My father is, uh, a Marleyan, and he never legitimized me or anything. So it was tough for my mother, raising me on her own.”

Elias hums again.

“Is that why you became a warrior in the first place?” he asks, not pulling his punches, and Reiner sucks in a sharp breath.

“Kinda,” he admits, though he feels so stupid and naive in retrospect. “It thought that, if I became an honorary Marleyan, we would be one happy little family. Obviously, that didn’t happen.”

They fall silent again and, for a few moments, they just keep walking like this. Most of the windows are dark already and there are never many streetlights lit in the internment district, but the moon and the stars are bright enough for them to not stumble over the cobblestone.

Not as bright as in Paradis, though. The skies of Marley seem strangely pale in comparison, because it has to compete with the light pollution of the bigger cities. Reiner still remember their first night out in the desert, just him and Bertholt and Annie and Marcel, sitting underneath a sea of millions of stars. 

That was before Ymir ate Marcel, before everything went to shit. 

“I found an injured bird here, once,” Reiner points out randomly, if only to distract himself from his darker thoughts. “I brought it home to nurse it back to health, but it died after a few days.”

It’s a depressing story, maybe, but he still feels the need to tell it. To remind Elias that he was a boy once, gentle and hopeful and trying his best. 

“Did you know Eren has both the Founding and the Attack Titan?” Elias asks, completely non-sequitur, and Reiner almost does stumble after all, albeit over his own feet. 

He catches himself, straightens up as he turns to Elias, trying to come up with a good response to that. Should he act ignorant and surprised, or rather cool and confident?

In the end, though, he doesn’t say anything at all, just stares at Elias in apprehension. 

A muscle on Elias’ face twitches, perhaps annoyed at how Reiner is not exactly forthcoming with answers.

“He inherited the titans shortly after Wall Maria fell,” he continues. “His father was a Restorationist from the Internment Zone. Perhaps he already told you back then, but your friend Zeke was Eren’s half-brother.”

Reiner’s eyes widen. That is certainly something he had not even suspected, though it explained Zeke’s strange reaction to hearing Eren’s name for the first time. To think that they were not just friends standing on opposing sides in this war, but families as well… 

Zeke’s grandparents still live in the district, Reiner knows, though they were broken people. They had lost both their children, their daughter-in-law and their accomplished grandson whose status as a warrior had afforded them what little prestige was to be had around here. Now, they lived in poverty and regret.

“I knew Eren had the Founding,” Reiner admits, still somewhat reluctant. “I realized it when he sicced the pure titans on us after we kidnapped him.”

At that revelation, Elias’ eyes narrow. “So everyone here knows?”

“No.” Reiner shakes his head. “I didn’t tell anyone. Or rather, Bertholt and Zeke died shortly after and… neither Pieck nor I ever mentioned it to the brass.”

That’s the worst thing about it all, really, at least in the eyes of his superiors. Reiner had been the only one of their four-man cell to return, an incredibly steep cost for an overall failed mission – and he hadn’t even managed to acquire the barest minimum of information. 

With relief Reiner notices how some of the tension bleeds out of Elias’ shoulders. Perhaps, he had been waiting for Reiner to show his hand like this, to reveal that he was not wholly in Marley’s thrall.

For a long moment, Elias just looks as him, as though debating with himself. Then he seems to give himself a push.

“We’ve been working out a plan to stop the feud between Marley and Paradis,” he reveals. “The only reason why Marley and the rest of the world hate Eldians is because Eldians have the potential to turn into titans, right? So what if that potential were removed?”

Reiner frowns. “What are you saying?”

“We think that Eren will be able to use the Founding power to just… eliminate the potential altogether,” Elias explains. It’s a little vague, but he probably does not fully understand how the Founding Titan works in the first place. “No more titans. No more shifters. We’d all just be boring humans.”

Reiner opens his mouth, his jaw working wordlessly.

“We still have better technology than you,” he says at length, even though he immediately scolds himself for using the word ‘we’. He doesn’t have shit. The government of Marley, however, has tanks and bombs and blimps. 

“Do you?” Elias challenges, undaunted. “You haven’t been in Paradis in four years. It might not seem like a lot of time, but we have caught up. We have trains now and new weapons. Our troops are bigger than ever. And you are not the first nation we have been in contact with. We have allies outside of Paradis who will back us up if a war does break out. Marley may have a lot of power, but they also have a lot of enemies.”

It’s nothing but the truth, so Reiner doesn’t even try to refute it. Elias takes a step closer. When he peers up at Reiner, his gaze is steel.

“What do you think will happen to you, Reiner, when you are no longer useful to the Marleyans?” he asks, a latent threat in his voice. “Will they treat you kindly?”

They’ve already stopped doing that, Reiner thinks. In fact, they never did it at all. 

“I don’t believe in the Marleyan’s doctrine,” he says. He clenches his fists at his sides, containing his helpless anger. Perhaps this is not the answer Elias expected of him, but it’s what Reiner needs him to know. “I was raised to hate the devil islanders but, if anything, it taught me to hate myself. There are- There are good people everywhere, and bad people, too. It’s not a question of nationality or ethnicity or religion. It’s- It’s about the choices you make.”

“And what choice will you make, Reiner?” Elias demands, and Reiner knows there is only one truth.

“I want to help you, in any way I can,” he says. “I want to atone for my sins. I want… I want to live long enough to become a better man.”

Elias nods, his eyes closing for a moment. 

“That’s what I hoped you’d say,” he confesses. When he looks at Reiner again, he is smiling. 

♜

Levi Ackermann

854, Coast of Liberio, Marley

“Do you think Armin and Elias will be alright?” Erwin asks, when they finally make it back to the ship.

The stupid pointless ball had dragged on for hours, and Willy Tybur and his ilk had offered them rooms for the night, which they had politely declined. They might be here as ambassadors, but they still didn’t truly trust any of these people here. Even if the Marleyan government was playing along, there might still be some rogue agents with revenge on their mind. And Levi, for once, did not fancy having his throat slit in his sleep.

“Sure,” he says, shrugging in response to Erwin’s question. “Annie will watch out for Armin. And Reiner… Well. Did you see the way he looked at Elias?”

Levi is certain that quite a number of people had noticed how the three youngest members of their party had left the ball early on, but no one had bothered pointing it out. After all, everyone knew that Annie Leonhart was formerly of Liberio herself. It’s no surprise that she would want to sneak off. 

And it’s not like the kids were planning to discover any secrets that would help them in their fight against Marley. No, all they needed had already been presented to them on a platter: Reiner Braun as their appointed tour guide.

Levi had been skeptical at first. They had no use for the Armored Titan, especially if they really ended up doing away with everyone’s titan powers altogether, and Reiner was unlikely to know any state secrets. 

But Elias, Annie and some of the others kids had insisted that it was worth a try and that Reiner deserved another chance. Eren and Mikasa hadn’t been quite so forgiving, but Levi had always known them to hold grudges like no one’s business. 

“It would be good for morale if we could sway Reiner to our cause, too,” Erwin muses. He nods to the soldiers stationed outside their quarters on the ship and then opens the door, letting Levi step through first, all gentleman-like. 

“Ugh,” Levi groans, as soon as the door is shut behind them, tugging at his collar to loosen his cravat, before flexing his shoulders as well. The evening had been entirely too long, and he was starting to get too old for this shit. If they could really prevent this war, his bones would thank him for it. 

The light is still on in the backroom of their quarters, and Levi wanders over to fully push open the door. As expected, Conny is curled up in the armchair, drooling with his mouth open, while Eden is similarly asleep in her crib, though looking rather more adorable.

Levi resists the urge to loudly clap his hands in front of Connie’s face, which would certainly wake Eden as well. Instead, he just nudges his shoulder, watching as Connie slowly rouses.

“Wha-” Connie says, momentarily disoriented, but then his eyes snap open and he shoots up from the armchair. “I fell asleep!”

“Yes, you did,” Levi comments wryly, but then snorts at Connie’s panicked expression. “Relax. We stayed out way longer than expected, so I’m not blaming you.”

“I don’t mind,” Connie says, rubbing the back of his head, as though his hair weren’t already mussed up enough. “It’s good practice for when Historia has her baby.”

Historia had announced her pregnancy just before their party had left the Walls, as a sort of parting gift. Months had passed since then and, by the time they finally got back, she would surely be close to giving birth. 

They might be a little young still, but she and Ymir had been rather keen on having a brat together. The impulsivity of young love, perhaps, but also the fact that technically Ymir’s time was running out. If everyone kept their titan powers, Ymir would only live four more years.

Annie had even less that that left, which too many years wasted in her crystal. It’s no wonder then that she had only started pursuing Armin with any real fervor since Eren revealed he might be able to just eradicate the titan powers once and for all.

And then this nightmare might finally be over. 

By now, Erwin has strolled into the nursery as well, his suspenders slipped off his shoulders and the first few buttons of his shirt undone.

“Report back, soldier,” he says, faux stern, even as he fiddles with his cuff links. 

“Yes, sir!” Connie obeys at once because, as everyone in the Survey Corps knows, babysitting the commander’s daughter is the highest privilege. “I fed her dinner at the usual time and she only fussed a little, but I read her a bedtime story until she calmed down. She fell asleep at around seven, and then briefly woke up around ten. No problems since then, sir.”

“Excellent,” Erwin praises. “Good work, soldier. Dismissed.”

“Yes, sir,” Connie says and then stumbles out the door, clearly missing his own bed, even if the other cabins on board are only about the size of a closet. 

Those are the perks of being the commander’s mate: having a separate nursery and a king-sized bed in the main room. 

“Do you know that you look unfairly good in that dress uniform?” Levi purrs. If their business today hadn’t been so important, he probably would have spent most of the evening just ogling Erwin. 

“I’ve been informed I look much better out of it,” Erwin snortles, and Levi huffs out a breath.

“Oh, yeah?” he asks. “Who the hell told you that?”

“Hmm, one of my soldiers,” Erwin muses. He’s finally managed to undo his cuffs, and Levi helps him roll the sleeves up his forearms. Such nice forearms. Such a pleasant bonus that he had two once more. 

“Subordinates lie,” Levi tells him. “He was probably just trying to suck up to you.”

“Possible,” Erwin acknowledges. “Maybe I ought to get a second opinion?”

“Yeah,” Levi agrees. “You should ask Hange.”

Immediately, Erwin pulls a pained grimace. “They are more likely to vivisect me than compliment me.”

“I’m sure you have a beautiful pancreas.”

“Beauty is on the inside, after all,” Erwin says and finally slides an arm around Levi’s waist to draw him in for a kiss. 

“How about,” he murmurs against Levi’s lips, “We don’t talk about any official business for the rest of the night and instead just… you know.”

“Sleep?” Levi prompts because, between raising an infant and being at the front lines of a cold war, he has never felt more exhausted. 

“Yes,” Erwin says, resting his head on top of Levi’s. “That sounds wonderful.”

“Well, don’t fall asleep standing,” Levi scolds, poking him in the side. “You’re not a horse.”

They throw another look at Eden before turning down the lights and dragging themselves out of the nursery. They undress and set aside their clothes, Levi rather more meticulous than Erwin, and then they finally crawl into bed.

The sheets are unpleasantly cold, as though chiding them for having been away for so long, so Levi curls up in Erwin’s arms instead to share body heat. Like this, the anxiety and worries of the day fade just a little faster.

They still had a lot on their plate, with many variables to consider. But, overall, the day had gone better than they had dared to hope.

Tomorrow would still be dangerous, and the day after that and after that. But, for now, they can sleep somewhat peacefully. 

♜

Armin and Annie are back in time for breakfast, having returned to the ship sometime in the small hours of the night. 

Annie must have finally gotten a chance to speak to her father, for there is something serene about her expression, the usual severity whittled away. Levi is also pretty sure that she and Armin are holding hands under the table, so there’s that.

However, it is only after breakfast, that Elias returns as well. He is accompanied by Reiner Braun and both of them look like they haven’t slept a wink.

“We stayed up all night talking,” Elias says by way of explanation, and Levi gives both of them a once-over, taking in their messy hair and overall rumpled state.

“Talking,” he echoes sarcastically and cocks an eyebrow. “Right.”

Elias blushes but he stands his ground.

“Yes, talking,” he insists. “We had a lot to catch up on.”

“Uh-huh,” Levi says and nothing more than that.

When he glances back at Reiner, he notices how the boy looks absolutely mortified. Good. He should learn early that Levi would come to hunt him down if he mistreated Elias in any way. 

“Did anyone see you leave the pier?” Levi asks him instead, and Reiner’s expression tightens.

“Possibly,” he admits, self-consciously touching a hand to the badge on his upper arm, the one that ostensibly marks him as an Honorary Marleyan, but mostly as just another Eldian. “People around here tend to notice me.”

Of course they do. Considering how Reiner is built like an ox, he would draw gazes wherever he went. At least he had changed out of the dress uniform he had worn last night, and is now wearing a plain white shirt and brown woolen pants. Levi hopes it was a deliberate choice in order to be a little less conspicuous, but he wonders whether that alleged ‘conversation’ with Elias had anything to do with it. 

Whatever. Even if he and Elias were really fooling around, it’s not like Levi could openly give them crap about it. Elias would probably just say something about how Levi has no right to judge, considering how young he had been when he first fell pregnant. Of course, Elias doesn’t know the full story there, but Levi at least hopes that his son will have enough sense to not end up a teenage parent himself.

Fortunately, he is distracted from his train of thoughts when Erwin finally deigns to join them. When Elias and Reiner returned, he had just taken Eden to change her diaper, but now he is all business again – albeit still with Eden cradled against his shoulder who has got her hands tangled in the braiding of his uniform.

Reiner does not quite snap into a salute when his former commander enters, but he does stand noticeably straighter, looking even more apprehensive than before. Elias’ own serious expression, however, melts away as soon as he spots his sister. 

“Eden,” he coos, making her crane her dark head around, and then they are already reaching for each other, Erwin easily surrendering the girl into her brother’s arms. “Did you miss me?”

“Yes!” Eden answers, fondly patting his cheek with her chubby hand, following it up with a big wet kiss. “‘lias.”

“Who’s that?” Reiner asks, visibly confused and a little disconcerted by the presence of a tiny human.

“Oh!” Elias says, his eyes wide, because whatever he and Reiner did last night apparently made him forget mentioning this unimportant detail. “This is Eden, my little sister.”

And, without fanfare, he holds Eden out toward Reiner in an obvious invitation.

“‘ello!” Eden croons, excitedly kicking out her legs.

“Uh,” Reiner says, nervously glancing over at Erwin and Levi. “I don’t know if I should-”

“She’s not gonna break,” Levi tells him, rolling his eyes. He hadn’t known Reiner before he was revealed to be the Armored Titan, but seeing him now makes Levi understand why Elias and the others had been so attached to this boy. Despite all his wrongdoings, Reiner seemed to have some softer and shier sides to him.

And really, when Reiner finally reaches out and takes Eden into his arms, he does so extremely carefully, making sure to properly support her butt.

Like this, Reiner does not look like a titan. Instead, he seems a gentle giant, the perpetual frown on his face melting away as he hesitantly smiles down at her. 

Good. If Elias truly has set his eyes on this boy, then Reiner ought to prove himself a worthy mate. Levi only hopes he won’t be having any grandchildren in the near future. He’d like to at least hit forty before anyone starts calling him gramps. 

“I take it,” Erwin says, calmly looking between Elias and Reiner, “That your presence here means that Elias has managed to change your mind?”

“My mind was changed many years ago, sir,” Reiner replies resolutely, even as he keeps his own gaze on Eden. “Not quite from the moment I set foot within the walls, but the journey began when I began living among your people.”

“So you will fight for us?”

Reiner’s jaw clenches. He glances toward Elias and then finally looks Erwin in the eye.

“I’d like to not have to fight at all,” he admits. “I have been fighting since I was ten years old. I want to kill neither Eldians not Marleyans. If- If you demand it of me, then I will stand beside you, but… Elias mentioned something about… Eren and the Founding Titan?”

Erwin gives a curt nod. “We believe it is possible for Eren to simply remove all titan powers from the world. No more shifters or pure titans.”

“There’ll still be war,” Reiner challenges. “Marley will not just put all of this aside.”

“Probably,” Erwin agrees. “But you and I will get to live a little longer.”

Reiner sucks in a sharp breath and, for the first time, Levi realizes that, while Eren had only found out about his shortened life span a few years ago, Reiner had known since he was a child that he wouldn’t live to see twenty-four. 

“What about my friend?” Reiner asks. “Pieck Finger. She’s the Cart Titan and- Would you let her join, too?”

“If she wishes to defect, of course,” Erwin promises. The Cart by itself isn’t a particularly dangerous foe, but the symbolic significance of having all nine titans on their side would still be immense. After all, Willy Tybur had already assured them that the Warhammer would not be opposing them either.

“And- And my family?” Reiner hurriedly adds. “My cousin is a warrior-in-training. She’s young still and-”

“We won’t hurt anyone who doesn’t try to hurt us first,” Erwin tells him. “We certainly won’t fight against children, if it can be avoided.”

Reiner looks so incredibly relieved that Levi cannot help but pity him. After all, there are never any true victors in war. 

“How about this,” Erwin proposes. “You and Elias bring your friend Miss Finger here, so we can see where her loyalties lie. In the meanwhile, I will be sending word back to Paradis.”

Reiner sucks in a loud breath. “Are… Are you going to tell Eren to take away the titan powers?”

“No,” Erwin assures him, slowly shaking his head. “I just want to inform them that you are once more our ally. For now, I think it’s best if we don’t fold while we have all the best cards. But we won’t let you die when your thirteen years are up. We won’t sacrifice you and Annie.”

Reiner looks like he might just break out into tears, his back curving forward and holding Eden a little closer. He manages to hold himself together, but perhaps only because of Elias gently squeezing his elbow and Eden putting her short arms around his neck. 

Levi marvels a little at how empathetic his children are, but he is once more even more surprised by the change in Erwin’s tune.

Not so long ago, Erwin would have had no trouble making any sacrifices he deemed necessary, throwing away his own life just as willingly as those of his soldiers. One might think that it had been his brush with death in Shiganshina that had made him so, but the truth is that it had been a gradual shift. 

Because Erwin had found hope, true hope, for a life outside the Walls, and that had made him value life in general much more than before. It also helped that he now had a mate, a daughter and a step-son to consider. Family, as Levi had learned when Elias was first placed in his arms almost two decades ago, rather put things into perspective.

“I can go look for Pieck right away, sir,” Reiner says, and his voice only trembles a little. He glances toward Elias. “I mean…”

“We could go,” Elias replies without hesitation, just a tad bit overeager. 

He steps closer to pluck Eden out of Reiner’s hold and hands her over to Levi instead, though not without blowing raspberries on her cheek as a parting gift. Eden giggles, squirming away and fleeing into Levi’s arms where she is only marginally safer, as Levi promptly gives her the same treatment. She squeals, flails, and then flops against him like a rag doll. 

“Tired!” she declares, as she often does whenever she has had enough of a game, and Levi rolls his eyes but respects it, instead just placing a hand over the back of her head to smooth over her black hair.

“We should be back in a few hours,” Reiner says, obviously trying not to look perturbed at seeing Humanity’s Strongest doting on his infant daughter like this. “Pieck is- We already discussed it before. She isn’t happy here either.”

“Good,” Erwin says. “Take whatever precautions you might need. I don’t want either of your families to be endangered over this.”

“Yes, sir,” Reiner says and, this time, he does salute.

Erwin smiles. 

“Dismissed, soldier,” he says, easy as that, and another puzzle piece falls into place.

Elias throws up a salute as well, sloppy and hurried, without waiting for dismissal, because Erwin is his commander but also his step-father, and sometimes that muddles their relationship a little.

He grabs Reiner by the elbow once more and eagerly pulls him from the room, no doubt happy that his parents had more or less given them their blessing now. 

When the door closes behind them, Levi lets out a little sigh and steps over to one of the porthole windows. He is too short to comfortably look outside and watch the water, so he peers up at the morning sky instead, pale and drizzly as it is. 

Once upon a time, no matter what direction he looked, there was the shadow of the Walls looming somewhere in the distance. Now he has not been back in Paradis for months, instead traveling to distant shores, visiting foreign countries the likes of which he never could have imagined before. 

With Eden still so young, he had been torn whether it would be a good idea to take an infant along on such a journey. But the truth of the matter was that, if a war did break out, the Walls would not necessarily be any safer. So Levi preferred to keep his loved ones close, so he could at least try to personally protect them.

“What's the matter?” Erwin asks, coming up behind him to rub his palms over Levi’s shoulder in a comforting gesture.

“Hmm,” Levi hums absentmindedly. “Just… thinking about how we ended up here.”

“I assume you don’t mean our ocean route?” Erwin hazards a guess, and Levi snorts.

“‘course not. But… things could have turned out very different. If you hadn’t survived, for example. Or- Or even if Grisha Jaeger had never gotten me out of Warstein.”

“You’ll drive yourself crazy like that,” Erwin points out, and he probably isn’t wrong.

“‘s just…” Levi says, trailing off for a moment, unsure of how to properly express himself. “I am grateful. For the things I have. The things I got to see. I could have died like my mother. Lived like her. But… it looks like I got lucky.”

“Lucky,” Erwin murmurs, bending down to press a kiss to the top of Levi’s head. “Lucky is not strong enough a word to describe what it feels like to be able to hold you.”

“Good thing you got two arms for that,” Levi cannot help but quip, though he leans back into Erwin’s embrace. In his own arms, Eden seems to have dozed off, her head lolling back and her mouth hanging open. Maybe she has been spending too much time with Connie. 

“Good thing indeed,” Erwin agrees and tightens his hold, though it remains gentle enough for Levi to easily break away if he tried. 

Not that he has ever wanted to. He thinks that, whatever remote place they might travel to yet, he will always feel right at home, as long as he is with Erwin. That’s not just their bond and the mating bite speaking. It’s just that Erwin’s presence is the only thing that truly makes his heart feel at ease. It’s the peace of mind he had previously not known existed. A kind of calm that makes any looming storm feel a little less daunting. 

“I’m glad I found you,” Levi tells him because that is easier to put into words than the true depth of his emotions, the one that makes him feel somewhat overwhelmed at times. “Whatever it took to lead us here, I am glad I found you at all.”

“I’ve never believed in fate,” Erwin admits. One of his hands is holding Eden’s tiny foot, while the other is rubbing lazy circles against Levi’s hip. “But part of me thinks that, no matter how, we were always meant to cross paths.”

“Yeah,” Levi breathes, because he does like the thought of that, sentimental and fanciful though it may be. 

When he was eleven and newly orphaned and about to be sold to slavers, he never thought he would live long enough to find some semblance of happiness. The truth is, though, that – despite all the struggles and the pain – he had found much more than that. 

Perhaps what Erwin had said was true; words like ‘lucky’ and ‘happy’ didn’t fully encompass what it felt like to suffer so much and to still come out victorious. There’s relief and triumph and glee and vindication and breathlessness and haunted looks over your shoulder and smiles that don’t seem to fully fit onto your face, all wrapped up in each other, so entangled that they can never be picked apart.

Happiness is knowing that you can trust the boy who your son had set his heart on. Happiness is having relative certainty that you will see your daughter grow up in times of peace. Happiness is being able to love, even after life tried to force-feed you hatred and resentment. 

“We’re gonna be alright,” Levi says, and the truth of that realization sinks into his bones like warm honey, sticky and sweet. 

 “Yes,” Erwin agrees easily. “We are.”

♖