Dedicated Chapter Song: Home - Daughtry
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old.
So I'm going home.
(Rika/Anna)
Present Day, Marley
Rika laughed softly at her daughters as they rushed down the street towards the bakery, Aurora giggling loudly while Valentina groaned that her sister was dragging her.
"Aurora, slow down," said their mother. "But they just got a new shipment of macrons from France, Mama!" Aurora whined. "I have to try some! Val ate them all last time."
"Tch. You were being a whiny brat." Val rolled her silver and gold eyes. "So I ate them to teach you a lesson."
"Oh, yeah? Well, don't be surprised if you find worms in your cereal!"
"Girls, settle down," Rika snickered just as the Parisian bakery came into view. "we have time to get sweets. No need to fuss over it. We don't have to be at the hospital until later today."
But Aurora became quickly distracted by a sudden crowd of injured soldiers walking in a line behind one of the Marleyan generals. "Come on, this way." he groaned. "Sheesh, can't you even walk straight?"
Valentina approached the man beside one of her and Aurora's friends Falco. He was a young boy, slightly older than them with short shaggy blond hair. "Mr. Koslo," he spoke, a certain shakiness in his voice. "Are they injured soldiers?"
"Stay outta the way, forehead kid," said the grumpy man. "These are the Eldians that got PTSD out there. They ain't got relatives to boot. They're going to get treated at the hospital here."
"In this country, too?!" Aurora gasped, having ran over to a man with one leg and perhaps one eye. His hair was sloppy and practically covering his face, and his beard was scruffy and unkept. But something about him Aurora felt compelled to stare at.
“Apparently it happens when you have 'em digging at the trenches too long at the front. Ya know 'cause of all the bullets and the bombs flying in like hwooo— BA-BANG!” screamed the pain, sending the veterans into a state of panic and mass hysteria.
(A/N: I bet you guys are sick of that word by now XD)
Aurora gasped and quickly ran to the man she'd been eyeing curiously, as he'd fallen just like the others due to the panic. “Are you alright?” she calmly asked over the panicked screaming. “Calm down, okay?”
“Oi,” Valentina approached the two of them, glaring at the man's armband. “It's backwards.” she sneered. “Sheesh. You'd think victims could at least have the decency to dress properly before being gunned down.”
Aurora leaned over and nimbly twisted the armband on the man's upper arm.“There. All better.” she smiled. “You'll be safe soon. Things will get better...because...” her voice slowly trailed off, and her sister's picked up.
“Because you don't have to fight anymore.”
“Girls,” Rika whistled them over. “Let's let them get back to their routine. We have a bakery to get to.”
“Coming, mom!” giggled Aurora as she stubbled to her chubby little legs and skipped towards the woman. Valentina glanced down and grabbed the man's crutch, holding it out for him. “I think this filthy thing is yours?”
The man stared at her in both wonder and confusion, sensing something familiar in her. “Why are you giving me that look? Creep.” Val sneered, throwing the crutch at him. “I'm going to warn all the young girls about you!” she declared on her way back to her mother's side.
The man uttered a few words as he watched the three females leave. “They're just like them...”

The hospital was always filled with injured war veterans from far and wide at Marley. Rika's pay had never been as great as it was that year with a sudden increase in war. For five years, things seemed to have been dormant, but with new technology and the gain of the Jaws Titan by Porco Galliard from Ymir, things have been much different.
Now innocent beings were robbed of their humanity and forced to be Titans, dropped out of aerial war planes onto enemies. It hurt Rika to have to force her children into the Marleyan military the moment they turned four, forcing them to become soldiers. It was said that one of them was likely to inherit the Female Titan ability if Gabi Braun didn't outrank them.
Rika preferred that Gabi obtain the power as she couldn't bear seeing such a detrimental and dangerous feat go to either of her daughters.
As it seemed, Valentina was very much like her father in both looks and personality as well as her speed and strength. Aurora took more after her mother with a playful personality and appearance but was just as strong as her sister. Rika preferred to keep them working with her in the infirmary rather than out in the field most days.
Since Zeke was a high-ranking officer and their legal paternal guardian, they were cut some slack from training exercises.
“Girls,” Rika crooned as she tied and apron around her waist and over her dress. “Miss Gertrude is here again with her kittens. Would you like to go play with them while I tend to the war victims?”
Aurora’s beady eyes lit up in excitement. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” she cheered, dragging her sister down the hallway to a private room in the East wing.
Rika kept a soft smile on her face as she tied her hair up in a bandana and carried a tray full of medical supplies out into the courtyard where some patients enjoyed the sun beaming down upon them.
Across the grassy field she spotted one of her oldest patients and technically her grandfather-in-law sitting on a bench by himself. Rika drew in a breath and strode over towards him. “Afternoon, Mr. Jaeger,” she addressed him kindly. The slim old man glanced up at her, squinting his wrinkly eyes from the sun. “Rika, doll, is that you?”
“It is,” she smiled, setting the tray of supplies next to him and preparing his daily dosage of medicine. “How many times have I told you to call me ‘grandpa’?” he spoke with a smile, making Rika laugh. “You'll have to keep telling me,” she grabbed a glass of water from the tray and handed it to him, along with several pills. “I'm still not used to being a Jaeger.”
“Even after all this time?”
“It's gone by in the blink of an eye, if you can believe it. Raising my daughters was the only thing that seemed to slow down time.”
“Ah, yes...er...how are they?”
“They're here today, actually,” she said. “They're playing with Ms. Gertrude's kittens again.”
However, upon glancing to her right, she saw that Aurora was actually speaking to the same man she'd helped earlier that day instead of playing with the kittens.
“Um...would you excuse me a moment, Mr. Jaeger?” she kindly bowed her head and excused herself to check up on her daughter.
“Rory,” she said with a motherly harshness in her voice. “What are you doing out here? I thought you were playing with the kittens.”
Aurora pouted up at her mother. “I was going to but Ms. Gertrude said they were old enough to get adopted and that she doesn't have them anymore. They're in a shelter now. So, I wandered around for a bit until I saw Mr. Krueger again.”
Rika eyed the man beside her, then looked back at Aurora. “Where's Val?”
“She’s with Pieck trying to help her get used to walking again.” Aurora giggled. Rika sighed, then glanced to the man again. “Pardon my daughter's intrusion.”
“It's okay. She was just keeping me company.” he replied. Something about his voice seemed familiar to her. Was he a former Masquerader? Or perhaps someone she knew?
“It seems you're not as badly affected as the other soldiers. So...why are you here receiving treatment?” she questioned politely. The man exhaled quietly.
“They have a lot of treatments to help with psychological pain here.” he spoke in an “as a matter of a fact” tone. “But I was just faking it.”
Rika narrowed her eyes. “Eh?” Aurora cocked her head to the side. “Why would you do that?”
“I'm pretending that I can't go home because of memory impairment,” he replied. “But the truth is I don't want to go home. I can't even look my family in the eyes right now.” he glanced up at Rika. “Are you going to snitch on me and tell the other hospital staff?”
Rika fiddled with her apron. “Hey, Rory, why don't you go help your great-grandfather over there?” she pointed to Mr. Jaeger.
“Okaaay...” Aurora hopped the bench and trudged over to him.
“Your secret is safe. For now.” Rika replied, turning back to the man before her before sitting beside him. “Have you...ever faked something, miss?”
She let out a quiet sigh and glanced down at her apron and dress. “I'm faking everything right now. See... I can't go home, either,” she said quietly. “I also wouldn't be able to look my family in the eyes. Tell them what I've done...or who've I've hurt. I think... they'd be shocked to even see me breathing.”
“You seem like a strong woman. I'm surprised you're not in the army.”
“Believe it or not... I was. And I was the best fighter. I got injured, though, and had to give that life up. Now I'm just hoping my daughters don't go through the same thing.”
“Your daughters... Aurora looks just like you. But...your other daughter...”
“Val? What about her?”
“Ah. Nothing. I was just thinking out loud.”
Rika sighed again. “Valentina looks a lot like her father. Many people tell me that.” she lied. “Anyways, is there anything you need that I can provide you? Food? Water? Medicine or bandages?”
“There is one thing you can do...” he pulled an envelope from his coat and held it out towards her. “Would you send this letter for me?”
Rika gently took the envelope and held it in between her fingers. “If I sent it from inside the ghetto, its contents would be checked, right?”
“That's right.” Rika nodded.
“If that happens, they'll find out I'm faking my illness. So I want you to send it from outside the ghetto.” he instructed. Rika nodded with a smile. “Got it. Is it for your family?”
He glanced down. “Yes.” he said quietly, then glanced back up, looking her dead in the eyes. If was as if he was trying to say something to her without actually speaking. “I just want them to know, that I'm here, safe and sound.”
Hours later when Rika went to deliver the letter, she couldn't help herself from meticulously tearing open the envelope and peeking inside. “I knew it had to be you, Eren...” she said with a grin, slipping off her blue diamond wedding ring and placing it into the envelope, then resealing it. “You aren't the only one...who wants their family to know they're okay.”