Her Majesty's Knight

Chapter 15 - Mikasa

AN: Bonus POV chapter. You may want to double-check the name of this chapter again... I will be writing a non-Levi, non-Historia POV every now and then as a filter chapter. It's a tool I often use so we can get an outside perspective on a budding romance between two POV characters, see how their body language matches up, etc, so it seems more authentic.

Besides, I was getting too stuck in Levi and Historia's thoughts. Going from jaded captain to sweet queen the next can be jarring 😂

Song inspired for this chapter: Badass woman by Meghan Trainor because Mikasa is a bad ass woman 😎

Historia begged me to stay after I got Tilly to cry again.

She'd gripped me by the arms and gazed at me so intently with those ridiculously blue eyes of hers, and in the end, I caved. 

So as painful as it was to watch Eren ride back to Shiganshina without me, I swallowed my pride and did what I needed to do.

I'm not about to let that poor child suffer. She needs me after all.

No offence to the queen and the captain, but there's no one better for the job. Historia means well, but she's too kind-hearted. And the captain. Well...

Armin decided to stay too. At first, I wanted him to go back with Eren and make sure he was safe from Yelena, but Jean assured me he would not let that "suicidal maniac" get up to any mischief while I'm away.

Hange let us keep hold of Erwin II, telling us we would need his guidance at such a difficult time. It's not that I believe he's the ex-commander reincarnated, but he was a gift from Kiyomi, my distant relative from Hizuru. So I like keeping him around to acknowledge her kindness.

As the last living member of the Shogun Clan, I have to act as an intermediary and show her that the people of Paradis are worth saving.

Armin and I sit on the porch steps outside the farmhouse while the children run around on the grass. Historia runs amongst them, playing tag, and Armin chuckles.

"Look at her go..." he says.

I hold on to Erwin as he purrs loudly in my arms. I know he's just a cat, but I've still apologised to him about the time I stopped him from getting the injection.

No hard feelings, Commander Erwin. Wherever you are...

Besides, the cat seems fond of Armin, anyway. So I guess he's already made peace with the captain's decision.

He may not have gotten to become the Colossal Titan in the end, but a strange cat from my mother's native homeland.

I close my eyes.

Great, now Hange's got me at it.

I glance at Historia again. A few of the kids tackle her to the ground, and they all burst into laughter.

She's really come around since our Cadet days. I still remember the time she used to put the tap on in the girl's toilets so we wouldn't hear her peeing, but now look at her, running an orphanage.

We also happened to get our first menstrual cycle together too, so we're kind of like sisters, I guess. We were both so scared, but we came around and helped each other get through it. In fact, quite a few of the girls in the barracks started around the same time as us. But unlike the other girls, I used the deadly cramps as fuel to work harder, stronger.