Attack on Titan: Revelations

The Eye of the Storm

Three Weeks Later

Y/n: That's everything Niccolo, we're done.

Niccolo: Finally.

I wiped the sweat from my brow as I stowed the mallet I had used to hammer the last of the tiles into my pocket and slipped off the low-hanging roof. Niccolo was already at the base of the large cottage, sitting down on the wooden porch and carving a small piece of wood with his knife.

Y/n: Well that is that then; the house is done.

Niccolo: You should be happy, it's very nice. A good location too.

He waved his hand around us, referencing the surrounding green hills that were now sporting several houses similar to the one we had just finished building. Even as I looked down the new road, I could see many other new modern cottages full of new Eldian immigrants and their families. The wall surrounding the district of Yarkel, only around a half mile away, was as gloomy as the grey sky above us. In the distance, I could see the mountains and the large forests that housed several hunting villages such as Dauper being showered in the sunshine. September was well and truly settling in now and it was just as well that we had finished the house in time for the cold autumn.

Y/n: Well it certainly cost enough.

Niccolo just grunted and continued to carve his wooden stick with a neutral expression on his face, I frowned and took a seat next to him. In the aftermath of Mina's death he had shut himself away, closed his restaurant and shunned anyone away. We had initially left him to grieve in peace, although I did force him to come to Mina's grave, but as his isolation grew into a long stretch of time I had started to bring him along with me to construct the tile roof of my house so we could talk or hopefully make him end his isolation. Unfortunately that had only half worked, he was as still closed off and gloomy as ever. For a while neither of us said a word as we watched the landscape before us and let the cold wind blow in our faces, the silence was only penetrated by a train that pulled into the station outside of Yarkel.

Y/n: We should talk.

Niccolo: About what?

Y/n: You know what Niccolo, we've been out here how many times now? And we haven't even approached the subject of...her. As far as I am aware none of us have been able to speak about it.

Niccolo: I don't want to speak of Mi-...her.

He threw the wood on the grass in front of us and watched three children run by the front gate and out of sight into another house. I nodded solemnly before tentatively pressing onward.

Y/n: I understand...I'm not sure how I would be if it were Sasha that night. Certainly not as well contained as you. But I think that...it's best to talk and get through this, even if you don't want to.

When he didn't respond I continued.

Y/n: It was cruel...you two deserved each other. You should have had long happy lives together, but I guess life doesn't work out that way sometimes. I knew Mina since training, when we were 12 years old. That's now been exactly 8 years ago today since I met her for the first time, even then she was a sweet and kind girl. Even after all she had faced, almost dying in Trost and then later on our first expedition when she lost her leg, she never lost who she was. That's more than most can say.

Niccolo: She didn't deserve it! Why her?!

He stood up angrily and shouted these words which were laced with grief and sadness. He slammed a hand against a wooden beam of a porch and leaned against it with his forehead, I couldn't see but I suspected that he was crying.

Y/n: I...I don't know. Nobody deserves to go out like that.

Niccolo: And the person who did it still hasn't been caught! They're still out there on the run and nobody does anything to avenge her!