*Note: a revised version of the old Ch. 61

"Sasha! Put that down!!!" you yelled as you and Armin chased her around.

Although you couldn't blame her for grabbing the barrel of water, you all were suffering in the heat, building railroad tracks to develop the island. You blamed Eren for opening his big mouth like always.

"Sasha!!" Armin called out as she continued to run away with the water barrel, drinking it as she ran.

"You're not the only one who's hot out here! Save some for the rest of us!!" you shouted. You tackled her to the ground; she ended up dropping the barrel but there was no water left for it to spill.

"Dammit!! Sasha!! o(≧口≦)o" you whined while Sasha sighed in satisfaction. Armin was on his knees, catching his breath from all the running.

"Hey!!" you all heard Hange call out. They, along with Captain Levi, arrived on their horses towards the scene.

"Glad to see you're all working hard! Especially in the heat."

"Yeah, got to watch this idiot over here." Jean looked over at Eren.

"Can we please get more water? Sasha finished it all...(-﹏-。)" you asked.

"Might not happen, Y/N..." Connie replied. You let out an annoyed sigh.

"I blame you for this!" you pointed over at Eren.

"Unbelievable. You're all growing so damn big." you looked down at your captain, not noticing it before.

You did grow taller. Just a long while ago, you were shorter than the captain. Now you were practically a few inches taller than him. He has to look up at you now. Of course your sudden growth spurt didn't go by unnoticed.

One time when you were talking with Eren, his eyes drifted down to your legs. His face became puzzled as he looked up and down your form a few more times.

"Since when did you get taller?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"You're almost as tall as me," he pointed out. You stared at him for a few moments, noticing now that Eren was easy to look at now.

"Huh...I guess I am." you spoke.

"How the hell did that happen?" he asked.

"Don't know actually." your eyes drifted, remembering something that made you chuckle.

"Hange said the same thing to me when I was talking with them. They don't know themselves but maybe it has something to do with the change in diet?" You both remained quiet for a moment.

"...What does that mean?"

"No clue,"

Hange came to deliver the bad news. The initial plan to cause the rumbling and to sacrifice Historia was still the way to go. Your attempt at a different approach of peace was denied, there wasn't much to do to change that.

"They're scared of us. Of what they don't know about who we are." Mikasa pointed out.

"It's hard to change people's minds. Our history is the cause of that. Of course they aren't willing to see now how much we changed..." you added.

"So let's go meet 'em! They won't trust people whose faces they haven't seen. Isn't that what we scouts do!?"

Before you all knew it, you were all on your way down the tracks. While on the way, you all were discussing Hange's plan to make a base and infiltrate Marley from there. However, your friends looked over at you when discussing it.

"That means you get to see your home again, Y/N." Sasha spoke. You were tempted to look at her weird but you knew she didn't mean it like that.

"Sasha...you do realize–" Mikasa began to say.

"Oh...right. Sorry." Sasha apologized.

"No, it's okay. You guys don't have to worry about that. It'll be nice, seeing what home feels like."

"If you still remember anything from Marley, maybe you can tell us what to bring!?" Sasha got excited again.

"If you're looking to try cuisine, you should probably be careful." you replied.

"I forgot you were from a noble family! What kind of food were you served!?"

"Way better than what they served during our training that's for sure." you joked.

"Oooh! Should we bring stomach medicine, a toothbrush–?"

"Sasha, you did hear Hange's plan right?" Mikasa raised an eyebrow.

"I say let her have her fun, Mikasa." you smiled a bit.

"If the world knows we want peace, maybe something will change." Armin spoke from up front. You all fell silent. You wanted to believe that might be the case, but it wasn't.

Your eyes drifted towards Eren, who was also staring back at you. Your lips parted as if to say something, his eyes pleading as you did. You furrowed your eyebrows before looking off towards somewhere else.

You all went into the topic of who was going to inherit Eren's titan. Mikasa was off the list since it will go against the plan of Hizuri's. You and Armin were off the list too since you were both titan shifters and inheriting another one won't increase your years. Jean went on a whole speech, explaining why he will be the perfect candidate to inherit Eren's titan.

"With that being said, my years are running up too. Who will inherit my titan?" you asked.

"Maybe I can?" Connie offered.

"Yeah, no. Not happening. What makes you a good choice?" Jean quickly shut down that suggestion.

"As if you're a good choice too, Jean. We want someone who won't make us lose in 13 years, moron." Connie argued.

"Huh!?"

"You can be a regiment leader. I'll inherit Eren's titan and Sasha can inherit Y/N's titan. Right, you two?" Connie looked at both you and Eren.

"Connie..." Eren spoke.

"Connie that's—" you began to speak.

"What? No, we need someone who's not an idiot to lead us."

"Eh?" Connie asked.

"Don't 'eh' me. We can't leave such an important role up to an idiot."

"...Eh?" Connie asked again.

"Doggone it....I'll inherit Eren's titan. Jean can take Y/N's titan. I've got combat experience, I'm someone you can trust. So, by process of elimination, it's gotta be me."

You became saddened at the revelation. You couldn't imagine any one of your friends inheriting your titan. They don't deserve that burden on them. They deserve to live long lives.

"I dun wanna. I sure dun wanna though."

"Wait, isn't that weird?" Connie asked.

"What?"

"You're more of an idiot than I am, Sasha. Well, you know...you said an idiot's not fit for the role. You're more of an idiot than I am, so you're contradicting yourself."

"Huh?" Sasha asked.

"...Huh?"

You gave both Connie and Sasha a concerned look. Those two were practically twins at this point.

"I don't want any of you to inherit it." Eren spoke.

"Why not?" Jean asked.

"Because you guys—all of you are important to me. More than anything else. I want you all to have long lives."

"Same here. I said this before, but I'm really glad I met all of you. The mysterious mute outsider who came here to escape everything back at home. Despite not being able to talk, you all became my friends regardless. So...thank you all. For being a part of my life." you confessed.

The ride was silent after that, you looked around to see everyone's eyes were off somewhere.All of their faces growing red. Your eyes widened and cheeks grew red as you realized what you've just said, you bursted out laughing in embarrassment.

"Huh!? What are you turning red for!? The hell kind of mood is this!?" Jean asked Eren.

"Sorry," he apologized.

"Jean, it's the sunset. It's making our faces red." Armin tried to play it cool.

You couldn't believe it. You and Eren just said the most sentimental thing ever and Armin could only say it was the sunset!? This made you laugh harder. Everyone looked at you in bewilderment.

"Why are you laughing!?" Jean asked. You sucked in air in order to speak.

"I'm sorry! The sunset!? You all are just—your faces! It's cute!" you replied.

"HUH!?" everyone exclaimed. You laughed even harder.

This was the first time you genuinely laughed before. Sure, you laughed in the past but never this hard, it was usually quiet. But this laugh, everyone heard your voice loud and clear. You managed to calm down. 

It was almost beautiful. 

Your face reddened in both embarrassment and lack of oxygen.

"I don't think I ever laughed that hard..."

"That means you're happy around us." Eren spoke, his eyes on you. You stared at him back, a relaxed smile on your face. 

"Yeah...I really am."

—-

Your eyes remained on your lap as you and your friends discussed the recent events. Jean and Armin brought up the points of Eren suddenly agreeing to go along with Zeke's plan despite being against it at first.

"Whatever the two of them talked about is something only they know." Jean spoke. When he said that, your eyes drifted somewhere. Your lips parted but you closed them back, shaking your head a bit.

"Hey. Did that look like Eren to you guys? Not me, that wasn't Eren.If he's made up his mind to side with his half brother over us..." Connie spoke.

"If he has, then what?" Mikasa asked.

"We've gotta be prepared to cut him down if necessary–"

"I won't let you!" Mikasa cut him off. Connie looked at her in shock.

"Are you siding with them, too, Mikasa?"

"Connie, can we not–?" you began to say.

"It won't come down to that. Eren cares about us more than anyone. You guys should know that. Maybe that's why he's so hostile to anyone who isn't us. He cares too much." Mikasa explained.

"That's not it. No matter how strong you were, the old him tried to keep you off the front lines. But he made Armin and Y/N destroy the port and attempt to take out the Jaw and Cart Titan. And he pulled you into the fight. All of us too, he called us important." Jean argued.

"Then maybe it's because he trusts us. If we hadn't, he couldn't have done it."

"And Sasha wouldn't have died." Connie added.

"Mikasa...when Sasha died, what did Eren do? Did he cry? Did he regret his actions?"

"Connie, stop." Jean spoke.

"He laughed...the bastard laughed...What part of it was so funny to him? What part of Sasha dying? Explain it to me, Mikasa? Why was Eren laughing. Since you know everything about him?" Connie asked.

Mikasa was speechless while you were trying to keep it together. Armin placed his hand on your shoulder.

"We can talk to him. Just me, Y/N, Mikasa, and him. We'll find out his goal."

"No!" you exclaimed. This made everyone turn to you.

"No? Y/N...? What do you mean, 'no'?" Armin asked.

"I..." you lash out like that. Luckily you caught yourself.

"I don't think talking to him would work." you spoke.

"But we have to at least try." Mikasa replied.

"She's right. Will talking to him even help? What if his goals are the same as Zeke's?" Jean asked.

"Now that the military has the Titan serum, we've got options."

"You don't mean–!"

"The option of making someone we trust into a Titan, who would inherit Eren and Y/N's titans."

"...You don't get it." you spoke. Everyone turned to you.

"His mind is already set."

"How would you know that?" Jean asked.

"..."

"Y/N?"

"..."

"Do you know something we don't?" Connie asked.

"W-what!? No! I thought you guys should know this by now. Eren's too damn stubborn for his own good. That hasn't changed. I'm not saying we still shouldn't try though, but I am saying it's going to be hard to find out what his goals are."

*Note: Definitely knows something but is trying to not to raise suspicion.

"Why would he not tell us?" Mikasa asked.

"...I'm not sure. But I'm definitely okay with the idea of trying to talk with him."