The Queen of blood and bone

Chapter three - The garden of Eden?

(4 years later)

They have found Eden. Well no, they haven't. Eden is suppose to be a place of dewy meadows and forest laughter and lark song and gold-dappled creeks and warmth and ethereal beauty. This place is cold yet stunning. The ground is grey-blue rocks surrounding a pebble-bedded river that is a few inches deep. The water runs from a monstrous waterfall that creates a soft mist over the deeper part of the river, the sound like a hundred million stars falling from the sky into the depths. So no, it is not Eden.... But it sure is pretty.

December has brought on a cold and unforgiving winter. The vast fields and moors are no longer green with grass or purple-brown with heather but white with two feet of snow. Forests are bitter and aren't alive with deersong but silent like an empty body. The winds are biting and cold is becoming more of a problem than the titans. The merciless chill soaks through the soldier's clothing and skin, settling in the marrow of their bones and making them brittle and slow. But Jean supposes this is what they got after such a precious summer.

"God damn Arthur! thought you quit smoking?"

Connie and Sasha break out into loud, obnoxious but contagious laughter and Arthur Sawyer grins with a cigarette between chapped lips, the smoke circling around his grey-streaked brown hair. Arthur is a veteran, he's palm-scarred and thick-skinned and has seen his fair share of death and has had his close calls with it. But unlike many war-torn veterans, he's not lashed out that hate onto subordinates or gone cold like ice. Arthur is tender-hearted like a father. A badass with a good heart.

"It's the only thing keeping me fucking warm, these coats are fucking worthless,"

"I suppose if they were any thicker we'd struggle with our gear,"

Armin, gold-haired and bright-minded, trots up besides Eren and Arthur on his dark mare, who starts to drink from the fresh river. Arthur deeply tokes his cig and blows the smoke onto the excess ash, casting it off the end of the fag.

"Can't kill Titans when I'm frozen to death on this fucking horse,"

Arthur's steed seemingly understands him and snorts heavily, splashing white fog from its nostrils. The evergreen trees moan and cry as the wind beats against them, bending them till there on the verge of snapping before stopping. Nature's torture if the trees could feel.

Jean is a lot more mature from when he started training, he was all teenage rage and troubled thoughts and ready hands and too cocky of a mouth. But now he's a man. A captain. Respected in a way he'd never thought he'd be. In a way he was told he'd never be. It is... satisfying, to say the least, to prove his long-dead father wrong.

Then he hears it. Over the friendly banter and mild conversations and crashing water, he hears distant footsteps.

"Everyone... quiet,"

The soldiers sink into uneasy silence, eyes either on Jean or darting around in quiet panic. Eren goes to speak but barely gets the first word out before Jean is hushing, creating silence like he is a God in the presence of men who will follow his every command. He listens intently, trying to pinpoint the location of this stalking titan, one hand clutching the reigns and the other on his gear. The footsteps grow louder but the ground doesn't tremble, the footsteps are soft and light unlike the clumsy and heavy steps of most titans.

Jean fears it is another Titan shifter. He doesn't know what he'll do if it is, especially if it has the same nature as the female titan. Annie was unforgiving and merciless and cold like winter.

They all look towards the waterfall and there it is. A Goddess. And Jean internally curses himself for thinking that way about a titan, of all things. But it's strangely beautiful. It doesn't have an inflated head or stretched neck or wonky arms or overhanging stomach, it's not ugly looking at all. It's proportions are completely normal. The titan is sixteen metres tall with the body and form of a young woman, the skin is stretched over the small breasts and strong shoulders revealing red muscle and white sinew. Her face is hidden, and Jean can't believe he's calling it a her, from the black hair that tumbles over her face like onyx snakes.