Hate 36

It had taken a lot of talking and tearing down her defenses, but Ymir found that her relationship with Historia was finally moving in a positive direction. Though...

"Be honest with me. You didn't forgive me just because I got an expiration date and you feel bad for me, did you? "Ymir asked, feigning idleness to hide her concern.

"No," Historia answered as they walked through Trost. "It might have sped it up a bit, but I was always planning to forgive you. Assuming you're honest with me from now on."

"Well, I have a few secrets left. Like where my birthmark is and what it looks like," Ymir said slyly.

"You mean the thing on your butt that looks like the number eight?" Historia asked with a chuckle.

Ymir started and blushed. "How did you know...?" she asked grumpily.

"How indeed," Historai said coyly, finger to her chin.

"Well, Historia is definitely a bit eviler than Krista," Ymir said with a sigh.

"Am I?" Historia asked with a head tilt.

"Don't worry. I like it when you're evil," Ymir said with a flushed grin.

"Oh, so you want me to do evil things to you- And I just realized how that sounds," Historia changed her tune quickly, blushing fiercely.

"Ha! Shame. I wanted to know where you were going with that," Ymir said coyly.

"Well, you two are in a good state it seems."

"HOLY SHIT!" Ymir exclaimed, jumping away from Hange, who had spoken up from right behind them.

"Hello!" Hange greeted, smiling with a wave of her hand.

"Yeah, yeah, personal space, Four-eyes!" Ymir warned with a wary glare.

"Huh? What's wrong, Ymir? It's just Hange," Historia pointed out in confusion.

"Historia, YOU are not the titan-shifter here. You are not the one worried she might go near your butt," Ymir reminded cautiously.

"I mean, I could always have Historia be my hands-on assistant for any experiments regarding you," Hange offered with a knowing grin.

".....I might retract several of my protests if you do," Ymir said, still uncertain. "Might."

"Wait, what? What am I being volunteered for this time?" Historia asked with wide eyes as she looked between them repeatedly.

"Nothing. Yet," Hange answered with a chuckle. "Would you two mind coming with me?"

"Us?" Ymir questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, really just Historia, but you're free to tag along, Ymir."

"Gee, thanks, I feel so wanted around here. So, who is this about? The Golden Prick, the Whiny Bitch, or Boris?" Ymir asked expectantly.

"Why doesn't Boris get a nickname?" Historia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Still working on that one," Ymir admitted with a shrug.

"It actually is about Boris!" Hange explained with an excited grin. "As you probably know, he's healed up and recently started flying again."

"It is a bit hard to miss something that big flying in the air," Historia admitted.

"At any rate, I wanted to research flying works for him, among other things. And I need you to translate for me," Hange explained.

Ymir snorted as they started walking. "You have an interesting job, translating for monsters and keeping me on a figurative leash."

"We could make it a literal leash, but you two might get some interesting looks for that," Hange teased, making the two blush and fall silent.

The trio eventually made their way over to the opening near the breach, where they heard a rather loud snoring echoing over them. They came in and looked over to see Ellie sleeping on a collapsed building, much like a dog would on a rug.

"That can't be comfy, can it?!" Ymir asked over the snorting.

Hange shrugged while looking over to where Eren was. Several others of the Riesenwache were with him and watching Boris as he coiled near the center, flexing his wings while the serpent waited for them.

["Hange, there you are! Finally, I was getting anxiousss,"] Boris said with impatient relief. ["Ahh, hello, Hissstoria, Ymir.]

"Hi, Boris," Historia greeted as they waved.

"Boris, my skyward slithering subject! Are you ready to help me unravel the marvel that is your flying?" Hange asked enthusiastically.

Boris looked mildly disturbed by her energy but nodded all the same. ["I'm not sssure how helpful I'll be. I jussst flap my wingsss and after a point, inssstinctsss take over."]

Hange just chuckled as Historia translated, her glasses glistening in the sun. "Oh, let me worry about that."

"Right," Ymir said awkwardly. "I'm just going to go see what the others are up to while you three do...this."

"Say hi to everyone for me," Historia said as Ymir started to leave.

"I will. And Boris? Give us a shout if Hange tries to violate you or anything," Ymir called over her shoulder.

["Thank you, jussst what I needed to hear,"] Boris grumbled with a headshake.

"I'm never living that down, I guess," Hange remarked calmly.

"You don't sound terribly upset about that, Ma'am," Historia pointed out.

"I am not," Hange admitted with a grin before turning fully to Boris, pulling out a notebook to take notes. "Now, let's begin.  Please open your wings and start moving them in place so I can see how they move...."

"Well, look what Krista dragged in," Connie said with a chuckle, only to get slapped upside the head by Sasha. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"Idiot, it's Historia now, remember?" Sasha reminded with a sigh.

Connie waved her off dismissively. "Historia, Krista, whatever. She's the cute blonde angel of the 104th."

"Trust me, she's not that much of an angel anymore," Ymir said with a knowing smile.

Eren made a call with one of his heads, which nodded in place.

"Eren agrees," Mikasa remarked, sitting up on a nearby rooftop.

Ymir gave Eren a blank glare. "Still kind of annoyed you got to taste her first."

All three of Eren's heads gave her unimpressed looks before letting out a roar towards the trio at the center.

"What?! Ymir, what the FUCK are you telling them!?" Historia screamed from across the area.

Her voice was so loud, it actually startled Ellie awake with a confused whine as she looked around. Seeing nothing was wrong, she settled back down to observe Hange, Boris, and Historia.

"Wow, she really does have some bite in her, eh?" Connie said with a chuckle.

"You prick, what did you say to her!?" Ymir hissed up at Eren, who only snorted. "I didn't say shit, Historia! Eren's just being a prick!"

"He better be, or so help me....!" Historia warned before returning to her work with Hange with a huff.

Hange and Boris shared a look but wisely chose not to comment on the interruption. "Right, could you repeat what Boris was saying again?" Hange requested casually.

"Oh, I am so getting back at you for that one day," Ymir promised, glaring up at the three-headed behemoth.

"It's mainly just his right head," Mikasa informed, glancing at his head.

"Right, the pissy one," Ymir recalled, glaring at the specific head. Einz readily, eagerly glared back "Is this still about nearly biting your neck off? Look, if you want to bite a piece of me off or something, you can! Hell, I'm sure Four-eyes over there would love the chance to watch my regeneration up close and in person," Ymir offered in frustration.

Zwei and Drei looked at one another before looking pointedly at Einz, who growled off to the side.

"The other two would actually like this settled. They don't hold a grudge as much as he does. They'll try and get him to agree to it," Mikasa deciphered, all three heads nodding in confirmation. Even Einz, albeit in annoyance.

"You know, it's almost scary how you can do that without whatever Historia has going for her," YMir said with a sigh. "Where's Armin, anyway?"

"Up here!"

Ymir blinked as Zwei tilted his head down to show that Armin was just behind the horns, holding onto them for stability. 

"Do I want to know?" Ymir questions with a head tilt.

"We're practicing landing and staying on Eren's heads," Sasha informed bluntly. "It is not as easy as it looks!"

"And his scales can fuck you up if you land on them the wrong way," Connie added, holding up his hand to reveal it was covered in bandages.

"Huh. You think we'll ever need to use this?" Ymir asked curiously.

"Look, if Eren comes to save my ass? Be it from titans, monsters, or crazy people across the sea? I'm not dying just because my foot slipped off his shiny ass head," Connie said flatly.

"That would be a lame way to die," Ymir agreed, glancing at Mikasa. "Let me guess, you already mastered it?"

"I didn't know it was difficult for others," Mikasa answered simply.

"Just don't make any jokes about Mikasa stepping on Eren, you'll make both of them mad," Sasha whispered, rather loudly.

Mikasa and Eren mutually and independently decided to let that one go with an eye roll.

"Come to think of it," Armin called out as he descended on his ODM gear. "Eren? How about letting Ymir have a go?"

Einz looked mildly offended by the idea, and so did Mikasa.

"Armin, you trying to cause some kind of weird drama in this mess?" Sasha asked warily.

Armin ignored them as he explained, focusing mainly on Zwei. "I remember from before...everything, that Reiner and the others didn't seem to have any issue with it, landing on your head and everything without falling off. Maybe Shifters have a better sense of balance?"

All three of Eren's heads were mildly intrigued now while glancing at Ymir.

"I....huh. Maybe? I mean, it's not one of those impressive side benefits they'd list off you having, like regenerating and everything, but I can see that being a thing," Ymir remarked with uncertainty as she glanced up at Eren. Specifically, Drei. "Can I get the nice one for this?"

Drei beamed a bit and lowered his head while Zwei kept an eye on Einz, the wrathful head looking away in a huff.

Mikasa decided to leap off the rooftop to take a spot on Einz's head., taking a seat on his brow and patting his head.

Again, many made the wise choice to ignore that while Ymir climbed onto Drei's head.

"Ow, shit! You weren't kidding about fucking up your hand," Ymir said with a hiss as she cut off a hand which was, mercifully, already healed by the time she got up to stand on Drei's forehead. "Well, this isn't so-BAD!?"

Ymir nearly bit her tongue off in surprise as she was brought high into the air, the head ascending to his normal elevation.

Connie laughed. "Yeah, it's like your ODM going off by accident. Real gut punch, right?!" he called up with mirth.

"Shut it, you bald bastard!" Ymir yelled as she steadily stood up. She blinked and realized that even as Drei moved about, she had little issue keeping her balance. "Okay, I guess being a shifter does give better balance. Explains why we were all top of the class."

Zwei gave a growling hum as he observed Ymir in a rather obvious fashion.

Ymir looked to the middle head with a mild look. "You know, you're a lot like Hange. Minus the...Hange-ness."

Drei let out a reptilian equivalent of al augh while Zwei appeared neither amused nor annoyed by the gesture.

"I take it back, you remind me more of the shrimp," Ymirr deadpanned.

Einz growled at that. "He disagrees with that," Mikasa remarked.

"Yeah, I got that," Ymir said with a sigh.

All conversations stopped as a breeze came over them, causing them to look to see Boris finally taking off into the air. His long, serpentine form moved with an almost majesty grace as his wings flapped to take him above the city. Below, Hange's pencil moved at a dizzying pace as she took down her many observations.

"Can you imagine the view from up there?" Sasha asked with a smile as they all stared up at Boris.

Eren could.

A bit too clearly.

The feeling of rising above the mountains and soaring free of gravity itself, to watch the world become a shrinking mass beneath him as he rose higher and higher until the sky turned black and the stars shone clearer than ever he had seen. Truly, to reach that would be...

[[[True...]]]

[[Absolute....]]]

[Real...]

{{{{Freedom}}}}

Eren started at the thought. It was not his own, and yet...it almost had been.

"Wow!" Ymir said as she wobbled on his head. "Hey, what happened? You get your tails in a knot?"

"Eren. Are you okay?" Mikasa asked, glancing from the head she was on to the other two.

Zwei nodded and grunted in confirmation.

Mikasa didn't buy it.

He didn't expect her to.

"Hey, what's up with Boris?" Armin asked out loud, drawing their attention to the sy.

Boris's flight suddenly changed from circling above Trost into a glide towards the west.

"Hmm? What's going on?" Hange asked, glancing at Historia. "Did he say anything?"

"I think he sees something over the walls," Historia answered before calling up. "What is it, Boris!?"

Boris roared back down before he disappeared beyond the wall, and Hange was distinctly aware of Ellie rising in and Eren moving forward, neither of them looking relaxed anymore.

"I guess practice time is over," Ymir said as Drei lowered his head for her to jump off.

Historia frowned as she translated for Boris. "He says it's Grice, he's running back here. Very quickly."

Hange frowned. Something wasn't right. The procedure was for Levi or someone else on his team to give Trost some warning, so they knew it was Grice in advance and not a wild Crawler that came to Wall Rose.

Boris suddenly returned overhead, calling to Historia and Hange once more.

'He says that Levi is....riding Grice? And that they said there is an emergency?" Historia translated, growing worried about the implications.

Hange nodded with a scowl, pocketing her notebook. "I'll go make sure they make it over okay. You stay here with Eren and the others, we'll all meet up here."

Historia nodded as Hange took off for the wall. The blonde glanced up wondering why she had a bad feeling about all of this. Given that Boris was still circling with a nervous energy of his own, she supposed she wasn't the only one feeling that way.

"What's up?" Ymir asked as she came over to her. "What's got the big bastards all spooked?"

"Grice is back, and so is Levi," Historia answered.

"Grice?" Ymir said with a frown. "Didn't they say he and the shrimp wouldn't be back for at least another few days?"

Historia nodded silently, and that was enough for Ymir. Situations like this rarely come with purely good news.

When Hange reached the top of the walls around Trost, she was unsurprised to see Levi there, having already put the soldiers on the wall at ease. "So, you really did ride on Grice?" she asked, her eagerness tempered by what she felt was a serious situation.

"It was a pain in the neck for him, literally," Levi said, looking down at his ODM gear, which had some miscolor and dried blood. "Disgusting. At least titan blood disappears."

"Oh, I'm sorry for bleeding all over the cable you stabbed into me!" Grice said as he climbed up next to them, careful not to step on anyone as the nearby soldiers made room for him.

"It was your idea," Levi reminded.

"Grice, Levi, Hange."

All three turned to see Erwin approaching them. "Sir," Hange greeted with a brief salute, Levi nodding.

"Commander Erwin?" Grice spoke up with a troubled growl. "We have a problem. A big one, and it's coming here."

Erwin nodded. "I understand, but first? What is the status of Krolva and your team, Levi?" he asked the shorter man.

"My team is fine. They're keeping an eye on Krolva in case something happens there again. The city was attacked, but we managed to drive the problem off, with help. Casualties were minimal, thankfully," Levi explained.

"Sir, the RUTOs and most of the Riesenwache are gathered down there," Hange informed, nodding to the area near the breach where the other three giant beasts were gathered.

"Might as well as only tell the story once, right?" Grice remarked, tilting his head at Erwin. He understood the need to keep some information need-to-know, but if anyone should be in the loop, it had to be his fellow monsters and the Riesenwache."

Erwin nodded as he looked down at them. "We'll gather there immediately," he said before glancing at Grice and Levi. "How long do we have?"

"We have no idea," Levi admitted.

"Then I'll assume we have none at all," Erwin decided.

It was only a few minutes later that they had all gathered with the others. In all the commotion, Jean and Marco had arrived with Hannes to see what all the commotion was about. The four great beasts formed a half-circle with their human comrades to one side.

"There may not be much time," Erwin said preemptively before any questions could be asked, looking to Levi and Grice. "Tell us everything."

And explained they did...