The Empire Returns Chapter 18

Hearing Ymir's words made me shiver slightly and I pulled away swiftly to gaze into her grey eyes and only found a teasing but hungry look inside of them that told me all I needed to know.

I was extremely tempted to take up Ymir on her offer. She was definitely not lacking in the department of looks and she did just confess her feelings for me. However, this... well I shouldn't really be doing anything to her. At least not now.

Ymir essentially just broke down and confessed her entire past to me. She is emotional, not thinking straight and doing something serious like that in this moment wouldn't be right. I don't want to use Ymir in any way like that.

I just let a caring smile blossom on my face which quickly morphed Ymir's sultry expression into a confused one. In response I just took her hand off the back of my head and kissed it before saying." Sorry but we should really let the others know before we do anything."

That wasn't really a lie either. Even if Mikasa did say that she was fine with more people coming into our relationship this isn't a decision that should be taken lightly and solely by me. First there's the fact that Mikasa might very well have changed her mind since we last talked about this, Historia's true feelings on this matter and a whole other list of reasons I don't even have to mention.

The point is that I can't just go sleeping around without the knowledge and consent of the woman who I've known for years.

Ymir seems to understand this fact but that doesn't stop her from gaining an annoyed look and scratching the back of her head. She can't hide that tiny smile from me though." Fine. You really know how to kill the mood you know that?"

Her words don't cause my smile to falter in the least and I decide to lean in and give her a chaste, almost innocent, kiss on the cheek. It was a simple but extremely affectionate action which made Ymir feel slightly flustered and even blush.

Still though I finally stand up with a warm and welcome feeling inside of my heart as I offered a hand to Ymir. I looked her in the eye and couldn't help but smile at her." How about we go tell our girlfriends about this."
Ymir stares at his hand for a short moment before grinning at him and taking his hand as she's pulled to her feet.

For some reason I feel like everything is going to be fine.

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Historia tried to keep her mind off the kiss which she shared with Eren in the previous night out of her mind however that was proving to be a more difficult task than she'd care to admit. However, this wasn't a feeling that she should be able to allow to stay, Ymir has made her feelings on the subject clear and the blonde couldn't see those feelings changing anytime soon.

An annoying voice in the back of her head also spoke up. Told her that a Queen shouldn't be having such scandalous thoughts about a polygamous relationship. That she should be ashamed of thoughts that would possibly upset the masses but-

Historia shook her head and frowned at that. For years on end now she's filtered herself down for others, be it her manners, her expressions or even her thoughts, somewhere along the way she lost herself and forgot who she was.

"From now on your name will be Christa Lenz."

Historia's expression only soured further at the thought of her father. Maybe at one point she'd be readily willing to reconnect with her old man, to forgive him for what he's done but... it'd really be for the best if she just let that burnt bridge stay broken. She hardly even kniws the man. All she's ever heard was loose tales of the man Rod Reiss from her mother and that single time where she was being escorted out to come live with the man only for it all to turn out to be a lie and for him to kill-

Her heart seemed to throb at the memory. She didn't love her mother, not truly anyway, she was cold, hypocritical and downright abusive but... at the same time she was her mother, it's hard not to feel some shred of sadness or heartache at the thought of her own flesh and blood parting from this world. That her mother would truly never be able to utter the words 'I love you'. That the woman Alma was someone she'd never get to know. It was... well not tragic but very, very disappointing. She really got unlucky in the parent department.

And here she is as a soldier, perhaps she wouldn't be for long though, she honestly didn't want to be Queen but maybe it wouldn't be so bad, the current monarchy sounds like a bunch of fools so if they can rule over the walls then why can't-

"Historia."

At the calling of her real name Historia feels her feet freeze into place for a moment. Her mind is jumping from conclusion to conclusion at high speeds as she runs through the possible people who could know her real name and she turns around to find that the one who called her name was a very familiar girl. Mikasa.

Her asian friend stares at her with little to no emotion- something which frightens Historia- and simply says." We need to talk."

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Historia and Mikasa both stood face to face in am empty room which they walking into in order to get some privacy from the other Survey Corps members and they both looked rather uneasy.

Historia more obviously than Mikasa. She was assuming the worst and was internally saying her prayers given that she was standing in front of the girlfriend of the boy whom she kissed and it wasn't hard to figure out what was likely going to happen. It's no secret to anybody who sees Mikasa and Eren together that Mikasa is just a tad more than overprotective of Eren and who he interacts with. A normal person would probably be annoyed by it but Eren tries to take it in stride and laugh it off. However, Historia once saw Mikasa glare at a pretty girl in their cadet corp who wanted to approach Eren and the girl instantly backed off and never tried to come near him again. What would she do now that Historia had kissed him?!

It doesn't help anyone how physically powerful the girl is. She's many times stronger than she should be and Historia has no doubt that she could snap the blonde in half if she wanted. She just hoped that it was a quick and merciful death.

However, Mikasa was- contrary to Historia's thoughts- not actually feeling possessive or jealous so much as curious about what Historia wants with Eren. She'd already cleared up the fact that she wouldn't mind sharing Eren with other women, but that didn't mean that it could be just any woman. Whilst she'd gotten to know Historia a good amount throughout those three years that on it's own just isn't enough. She needs to have good intentions when it comes to this relationship and what it will entail.

Besides... Mikasa doesn't really know how she feels about Historia and if she can love the blonde girl in that way. This talk is her way of finding out.

It's time to see if she really has gotten better at emotions.

Historia felt the tension in the air reach it's climax as Mikasa opens her mouth and asks." What exactly are you looking for in Eren?"

Historia blinks at that and feels her anger instantly fade away into confusion about what the Oriental girl ment. Recognising her mistake Mikasa corrected herself and repeated herself." Romantically I mean."

Historia stares at Mikasa for a moment and notices that her eyes and face seem more... expressive than normal. Like she was actually showing what she was feeling instead of just defaulting to her usual ice cold demeanor. It was a small change however it was enough to make Mikasa that much more approachable.

Historia opened her mouth to answer. Then closed it. Then thought about what exactly she felt towards Eren for a moment. She wanted to answer honestly but was also afraid that her honest feelings would incite a violent reaction from the young woman in front of her. Mikasa wasn't exactly known for being the most sympathetic of individuals and the idea of being on the receiving end of her wrath made Historia whilt. However in the end she resolved herself to utter the words.

"I love him."

Mikasa is slightly surprised by the words which the blonde girl in front of her uttered, but not unpleasantly so, and the boldness of the statement. However she couldn't find any signs that Historia was joking or second guessing herself.

She couldn't say that it didn't bother her slightly that another girl could just say that she loved Eren like that, however she also knew just how amazing a person Eren was, Eren was her entire world, the person who she loved most, she could honestly say that she loves him even more than she loved her parents. She can't find it in her heart to deny the girl her love.

But still-

"Why do you love him?" She asks with a hint of curiosity and Historia looks up in surprise at that. She'd honestly been expecting Mikasa to freak out at her words yet she didn't look disturbed at all, in fact she even looked curious to know why exactly she felt the way she did.

And, truth be told Historia didn't quite know how to answer that question exactly. Her feelings for him had built up little by little, bit by bit and she only just figured them out last night.

After a minute of sadness she finally looked into Mikasa's charcoal blue eyes with her own crystal blue ones and could only say." He's a lot like me, he understands me."

And that was true. They both bared a similiar responsibility in this cruel world, they both needed to keep moving forward with responsibility, her's is the crown of the Walls and his is the weight that The Power of The Titans brings, the fact that he does this despite only having eight more years to live is proof of his strength, that despite the fact that he only has so little time he's still willing to fight for them all. She loves him for all these reasons.

Those simple yet genuine words were enough to put a smile on Mikasa's face as she saw the look within the royal girl's eyes and knew that she was being sincere. It's so strange how much you can tell just from a person's eyes.

"I thought so." Historia didn't have much time to process those words and what they meant before Mikasa crashed her lips against the blonde girl's.

Historia's eyes widened in shock from the sudden move by the black haired girl but after a moment she decides to roll with it and so she allows herself to get lost in the lips of her... new girlfriend?

Mikasa was obviously a far better kisser than she was and so she was allowed to take the lead. Historia moaned into the kiss as their tongues danced and saliva was exchanged and Mikasa wrapped her arms around the blonde's waste to pull her closer and deepen the kiss to heated levels.

After just a few moments they broke off with a trail of saliva between the two gorgeous girls lips which disappeared when they both panted heatedly from the exchange.

Mikasa was the first to comment." I've never kissed a girl before."

Historia however was a little more out of breath and so took a moment before nodding and just speaking." Well we should try to do a little more of that later."

Whilst she hadn't really thought about it up until that moment she had to admit that Mikasa was an extremely attractive girl who was apparently a really great kisser too, maybe she'd get more than she bargained for.

However after a moment of silence Historia just remembered something. Ymir hadn't agreed to this.

Historia felt a massive wave of disappointment and criticism towards herself as she remembered her girlfriends words and sighed before begrudgingly saying to Mikasa." I can't though."

Mikasa notices her words and frowns at them. She assumes that Historia means that she wasn't okay with this, that she'd be jealous and possessive and that the relationship might be strained with her involvement so she tries to reassure her." If you mean that I might have problems with you I can assure you that-"

Historia shakes her head and shuts down the idea, seeing where Mikasa was going with this." I don't mean that, I already have a girlfriend Mikasa and Ymir isn't okay with this, besides with only eight years left Eren can-

Mikasa catches those words and immediately backs up the conversation in response to those words." Wait-" Historia halts at those words."- what do you mean by 'only eight years left'?"

Historia just stares at Mikasa for a moment, trying to detect if the lack of knowledge on 'the Curse of Ymir' is just some part of her bad sense of humour, only to find... genuine concern?

Historia's heart clenches as her eyes widen and she realises just what she's done and what she'd revealed to Mikasa without Eren's concent.

With desperate eyes Mikasa grabs Historia by the shoulders and with demanding eyes asks once more.

"What do you mean by only eight years?!"