Pixis came in and signaled to Erwin for him to close the portal. There was a moment of silence before Nanaba ran over to Eren and me and pulled us both into a hug. She let go and walked up to Pixis and he just kinda rubbed at the back of his neck. "Sorry, I know I said I would come back without a scratch on me, but I guess I broke my promise," he said motioning to his arm. "It's a little more than a scratch, but we are all okay."

Nanaba just rolled her eyes and pulled him into a careful hug. "Thank you for making it back safely." Her eyes were glossy as she tried to hold in all her tears. All the stress, all the grief she had been holding in was threatening to spill out.

She turned back around her eyes, landing on Hassam. She stuck her hand out to shake his. "Nice to officially meet you," she said with a smile and something clicked to Hassam.

"You must be the one who contacted me," he said shaking her hand back.

"Yup that's me. Thank you for helping," she said I could tell she really wanted to talk more to him. Thank him for not killing us, for being a genuine person who just wants to help. I'm just glad she trusted her instincts with him.

I looked over at Erwin hearing his thoughts. Oh no he knows this wasn't a normal mission. He's starting to piece it together. I took a moment hearing other thoughts in the room and I froze. Shit.

I turned around to see Jean and Marco standing there with their arms crossed like a bunch of angry parents catching their kids sneaking back into the house.

"Hey guys," I said awkwardly.

"Hey, guys?" Jean said back with a tone that asked if I was sure that that was what I wanted to say. "You have to be fucking kidding me."

"I thought you guys were going to be spending the night together," Marco said. His tone was less angry and more hurt. He was disappointed, but mostly he just was upset that we didn't trust them enough to tell them the truth.

"Well, technically," Eren said before I cut him off with a smack to the back of the head.

"We're sorry, we weren't allowed to tell anyone."

"Why the hell not?" Jean asked.

"Because they weren't sure if they would be coming back," mom said from the doorway before dropping the stack of letters Eren and I had written on the table.

I felt my blood run cold. I looked over at Eren and he looked just as scared. I tried to stop myself from laughing when hearing Pixis's thoughts. He was wondering if he lost enough blood to pretend to black out just so he could miss the explosive lecture that was about to happen.

"You weren't supposed to see those," I felt myself say quietly.

"Well, it's kinda hard to miss them. I went in there to check up on you and all I see is an empty room with two stacks of notes. The top one reads, Dear mom, I'm sorry that I let you down-" her voice getting louder as she recited the letter she had read over and over again over the last few hours.

"You don't have to continue," I said, cutting her off recognizing my letter.

"I'm sorry that you have to go through this again, I never meant to hurt you but-," she continued even louder than before.

"Stop please," I begged.

She ignored me and continued her voice raised louder than I've ever heard it as tears stung at her eyes from rage and sadness. "I'm going to see Farlan and Isabel sooner than I expected-."

"Stop, just fucking stop!" I yelled covering my ears and squatting down on the floor. I just wanted to shrink away from all this. She went dead silent at my outburst.

You could hear a pin drop in the room as everyone stopped talking, stopped moving, and just stared between the two of us. I felt Eren's hand on my back as he knelt down next to me.

"I know what the letter says. Those words haunted me the whole time I was on the mission. I know what's on the letter. I don't need it thrown back in my face." I felt my legs give out as I fell back on my butt. I pulled my knees to my chest and let my head rest on my knees. "I thought I was going to die. Those words are my heart on the paper. I don't need my feelings thrown back in my face to prove some fucking point."

The silence in the room lasted so long before Nanaba spoke up finally a few minutes later, "I'm going to get Hanji, Pixis needs his arm fixed up," she said excusing herself from the awkward tension in the room.

Mom finally sat down on the floor a few feet from me. She didn't say anything at first. Her thoughts saying it all. Yes, she was pissed, but mostly she was scared. She found the letters and couldn't find us anywhere. She saw Nanaba and Erwin in the room waiting for us, but the look on Nanaba's face said it all. She didn't think we were coming back either. She waited as she went through the stages of grief as she thought about the possibility of losing the people closest to her yet again. Losing another kid under her watch.

She took a deep breath trying to push aside her anger knowing damn well she can lecture us later but knowing that anger isn't what we need right now. We were as scared as she was. We were sure that we were going to die. We have too many emotions going through us to be yelled at. I have never felt so fragile in my life until she started reading that letter, something in me just snapped.

She scooted next to me and tapped my arm with her elbow, "hey look at me." I took a moment before lifting my head a little to peek at her. "You know I love you right? The only reason I'm acting like this is that I was really scared. I thought I had lost you. I can't lose the best things to ever happen to me," she said looking between me and Eren before opening her arms a little asking if it was okay for her to hug us.

I just scooted into her arms without a word and rested my head on her shoulder. Eren didn't hesitate and he scooted in right next to me resting his head on her other shoulder.

"You're my boys and I don't plan to let you go that easy. I will say that we aren't done talking about this, you two are getting that lecture, or should I say you three," she said glaring over at Pixis. "But not tonight. Tonight I'm just glad you all made it back safely."

"Is no one going to explain what's going on or who this is?" Erwin asked, still hesitant about the stranger in the room.

"I'll explain everything, to everyone tomorrow, but for now it's really late and we all need to get some rest."

Nanaba had come back in with Hanji and saw that everyone was quiet and rather than yelling mom was sitting on the floor with Eren and me. "We all good?" she asked as the tension had died down.

"We're all good, for now," Pixis said reassuring her.

"Do you mind getting Hassam settled in one of the guest rooms? I'll introduce everyone in the morning, but tonight we all are exhausted," he explained again to her. Hanji got straight to work on his arm.

Nanaba was about to lead Hassam to one of the guest rooms but she noticed he was frozen in place. She was about to ask him to follow when she noticed him staring at Hanji. She was confused at first but noticed he was watching her power in action.

Pixis's wounds were healing right before his eyes. His mouth was slightly open in awe as he tried to comprehend her power. "Woah," a soft whisper left his mouth.

"So what's his deal?" mom asked, a little confused as she watched him. He clearly wasn't an exile or even a person with powers.

"He's someone who wants to help. He saved our ass back there and he wants to spread our messages and stories to try and gain more supporters for our cause," Eren said, giving her a quick explanation.

"He seems very out of his element," she noted.

"He's confused but he's got spirit," I laughed.

After he pulled his eyes away from Hanji's power he realized Nanaba was trying to lead him somewhere and apologized before following her to one of the spare rooms.

"He doesn't have any powers?" Erwin asked, realizing after watching him. His voice was a low whisper as he marched up to Pixis. "What the hell. Are you trying to get us killed? What are you doing bringing him here?"

"I'll explain later," Pixis shrugged him off, "all you need to know right now is that he's here to help and I trust him with my life."

"You trust him with your life? You came back from this mission with two bullet holes in you and you trust him?"

"If it wasn't for him there would have been way more than two holes in me."

"You might trust him with your life but do you trust him with all of our lives? It's more than your life on the line remember?"

"I am well aware of that," Pixis said standing his ground, "and yes, I trust him with all of yours too."

Erwin stood back and relaxed a little realizing that Pixis was sure this guy wasn't a danger, but even so, he looked at me to see if I agreed. I mean it makes sense I am the mind reader.

"I was the first one to see he wasn't a danger to us," I said, easing the rest of his worries. I watched as he relaxed the rest of the way.

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

"Alright," he took a deep breath and started to head back to his room before pausing, "I expect a full rundown tomorrow."

"Everyone will get the full rundown."

"Good."

"Alright, bedtime you two," mom said before helping us off the floor. "Expect a lecture later. Probably tomorrow," she smiled.

"Alright, I'll bring some paper to take notes," I joked.

She lightly smacked the back of my head and I couldn't help but laugh a little more.

"I'll bring the flowers," Eren said.

"Flowers?" mom asked.

"To put on our coffins after you inevitably kill us."

She just rolled her eyes but didn't deny it. "I'll bring the shovel," Pixis laughed, "so you can bury us easier."

"All of you get your asses to bed before I change my mind and kill you tonight," she rolled her eyes.

"Noted," I said before heading towards our room. Eren and I picked up the stack of notes to go put back in our rooms. We put them away before getting ready for bed. We ended up just sitting down on our bed.

Eren and I just sat there unsure of what to do next. Neither of us expected to make it this far. We didn't expect to make it back. We didn't know what to do now, or what to feel. There were so many emotions running through us. I finally looked up and whispered to him, "hey."

He looked at me and I pulled him into a loving kiss. So relieved that we get to live another day with each other. The adrenaline leaving our bodies made us tired, but we didn't care. We just stayed there sitting on the bed holding each other in a tight embrace, our lips gently pressed together. The last time we kissed it was a somber kiss goodbye, this one felt so much different, full of joy.

"Well aren't you two happy," I heard Jean's angry voice in the doorway. We pulled away and both turned to look at him behind him was Marco. Marco didn't look angry, but he definitely wasn't happy.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, you blew us off and rain checked us, but you seem free now," Jean said walking in and plopping down on the bed. Marco walked over and laid down next to him without another word.

"But you're pissed at us?" I asked. I couldn't help but be confused. He's pissed at us but wants to lay in bed and cuddle?

"Pissed? No. I'm absolutely livid, but I miss my friends, and not to mention I apparently almost lost them tonight without knowing. So get your asses over here and shut the fuck up you morons," he grumbled lifting his arms waiting for us to crawl into bed next to him.

Eren just shrugged and crawled in next to him. I crawled up behind him and got comfortable "I'll finish cursing you out tomorrow," he mumbled but closed his eyes and pulled Eren closer, and patted me on the shoulder lightly. I closed my eyes and let myself feel truly safe for the first time tonight.