Ymir's Legacy

Ch. 26; The Sea

Once Aila managed to compose herself, she stood and wiped the tears from her eyes, she held onto the book. She turned around and hugged Annie, "Thank you Annie.. I-I'm sorry I just.." "Don't apologize, I understand my love", Annie cut her off. Aila smiled, she grabbed onto Annie's hand and continued on down the street, the houses of her old neighborhood were in ruins. She looked up at the top of the hill of houses to her right, seeing Eren and Mikasa's home, she felt a ache in her heart when she saw their house,crushed by a boulder. Aila and Annie continued on, passing house after house, until finally, she saw her home that was half crushed by a boulder. She froze in front of her home, Annie tightened her grip on her hand, Aila swallowed her nerves and walked into her home. She opened the door, her furniture was still there, dusty and covered in some brush. The only parts of the house that stayed standing were the kitchen, dining room, and half of the living room. She showed Annie the surviving belongings of her home, where she used to sit at the dining table, her favorite area of the living room, everything she could. They walked out of the house, and around to where the boulder had crushed the house, she stopped when she saw a glance of something horrifying. It was her father's bones, she fell to her knees, sobbing as she grasped onto her father's remains, feeling pain in her chest. Annie knew exactly who's remains they were, she bent down and rubbed Aila's back, letting her sob as much as she needed. When she managed to stop sobbing, she looked over at Annie, "Annie I... I need to bury his remains.. I just have to" "If that's what you want then we'll all help you", Annie and Aila whipped their heads around, Mikasa, Eren, Levi, Ymir, and Hange stood behind them, they probably heard Aila's sobs from Eren and Mikasa's home. Aila looked back down at her father, "Thank you.. all of you", Levi and Eren dug the hole near Aila's house, Mikasa and Aila carried her father to the hole and rested them in the hole. Ymir and Hange gathered any flowers nearby and placed them on top of the grave, Aila placed her book on the grave in front of the headstone. Before going back to the wall, Aila stood and said, "Annie, when we can come back and rebuild Shiganshina... I wanna rebuild my home and live here with you", Annie was shocked at first but ultimately smiled, "Of course you dummy". They shot off on their ODM gear and left to return to wall rose.

Aila and the others returned to wall rose, proclaiming their victory of wall maria and over Marley's warriors. Everyone who survived the mission were granted the rank of officer, however, despite these conditions, Eren and Mikasa were still ordered to be incarcerated for thirty days for their minor mutiny against Levi. Sasha was given immediate medical attention and managed to make enough of a recovery to be able to walk by her twentieth day. Ymir and Historia ordered that every orphaned child were to be sent to an orphanage provided by the government, any child that turns eighteen and is still without a home will be given a home and a job provided by the government. Aila and Annie postponed their wedding until Eren and Mikasa were released, they wanted them there since they were childhood friends of Aila and comrades of Annie's. Mikasa and Eren were released from their incarceration ten days early of their given time, Eren was reported to have talked to himself and to see memories of his father's past including memories of the Liberio internment zone and Marley's treatment of Eldians, providing more proof that was backed by Ymir and Annie. Historia and Ymir ordered that the information of Marley's threat was to be released to the public, so they wouldn't repeat the same mistakes as the false king before them. The day Eren and Mikasa were released from prison, they were to attend their award ceremony for retaking the wall, Historia and Ymir were to present the medals to them personally. "Annie are you ready?", Aila asked as she stood ready by the door, Annie rushed out from behind the closet, buttoning her jacket up, "Yeah, let's go", Aila smiled and opened the door for her, letting her fiance go first. They soon were welcomed into the grand hall of the castle and waited for the ceremony to begin, they saw their friends near the wall to their right. "Oi! Mikasa! Eren!", Aila shouted as she and Annie approached them, "Aila!", Mikasa hugged her, happy to see her after being stuck in prison for so long. Aila smiled at the sight of Sasha up and well, "Sasha, how're you feeling?", Sasha smiled and flexed her arm, "Strong as Mikasa! Probably not actually but, y'know", Aila chuckled, happy to see her friend's were alright. "Her majesties, queen Ymir and Historia Reiss!", a head soldier of the castle shouted as the two monarchs walked forth, the ceremony had begun.