Ahh guys I'm literally tearing up! I'm so sad that this is ending and then I had to go make this chapter all fluffy and sad and angsty. God I love this story to death.

Nearly took me all year to finish this, can't believe it. Funny how a simple, Eremika smutfic turned out to be so much more.

Enjoy the final chapter! It's short, because there isn't all that much left to say.

Also...

Nice, kinda angsty/sweet then steamy smut to start off as a final gift to you guys.

•

•

"Tomorrow is the last day."

Eren rolls to face her when she speaks, a small, half-hearted smile spreading across his lips in an attempt to reassure her. He wants more than anything to comfort her. Wipe that sad frown from her face and have her smiling, laughing again like she has so many times these past couple weeks.

"I know." he tugs her closer so he can press his forehead to hers. She grasps onto him like he is a lifeline, and he can feel her shaking, if only just so.

"Mika..."

"I'm scared...terrified even." she whispers, "I don't want to go back there, I don't think I'll ever want to." her lip quivers in tune with her voice, and he swipes his thumbs against her fluttering eyelids when a tear or two escape.

"I know how you feel." he says, stroking her hair in an attempt to soothe. She buries her face in his neck, throwing her leg over his and tugging him as close as he can physically be. He presses his lips against her hair, one hand gliding up and down against her back, sliding under the shirt she "borrowed" from him. She shudders under his touch, her skin peppering with gooseflesh. His breath hitches when she starts to kiss at his neck, her own touch feather-light and fleeting.

"Eren?" her breath is hot against his skin, and he exhales shakily in anticipation.

"Yes, Mikasa?" he asks, although he knows what she wants, he still wants to hear her say it.

"Tomorrow is our last day...possibly the last we all spend alive." she says, and he nods against her shoulder.

"I know."

"Eren?"

"Yes?" he's shaking just as badly as she is now.

"Make love to me?" she kisses his pulse point to cement her question.

He nods, "Alright." At his answer she rolls onto her back and waits for him to make a move, hands resting on either side of her head. He smiles as he hoists himself above her, and she returns it ever so tentatively. He tugs the maroon scarf down so he can access her porcelain skin more easily. Her breath hitches when his lips descend to her neck, and a soft sigh escapes her when he sucks sharply at her pulse.

He runs one hand down her side, gliding over her bare, scarred hip and down the outside of her thigh. The motion has her thrusting her pelvis up against his growing arousal, eliciting a grunt from him. He moves to kiss her, softly, tenderly, and she grips onto his nape when his hand glides up the inside of her thigh. Her lips part in a silent gasp when he finally touches her where she needs him to.

Her hips buck into his touch, begging for more than what he's already giving, and he kisses her again to soothe her. She threads her fingers into his hair and gasps for air when he moves his lips back to her neck. "Eren...please." she breathes, voice bordering on desperate. He nods, nose brushing her jaw as he does so. He gently thrusts, entering her easily enough without guidance. They've done this enough that he goes by memory.

She arches up against him, hands gripping at the sheets when he moves within her. He presses his forehead to her shoulder and pants, kissing the sweat-sheened skin every so often. One hand glides between them to stimulate her, and she throws her head back in a moan, each breath afterwards accentuated by a soft "Ah."

Her legs hook around his waist, and she murmurs his name repeatedly as he rubs swift circles against her clit. She comes quickly and without much ceremony, besides the way she chokes on her breath, body jerking beneath him. He gives a husky groan when her inner, silken walls convulse around the length of him. But it is not quite enough to bring him over the edge just yet.

Her chest heaves with her breath, and she reaches a hand up to caress his jaw, thumb running over his lips. He kisses the pad of her finger and brings his own hand up to grasp her hand. "Eren..." she sighs, rolling her hips to meet his thrusts.

He threads their fingers together and pins her hand to the bed, his other hand following suit. She takes her lip between her teeth to muffle a moan as he speeds his pace, following her over the edge shortly enough. He kisses her fiercely when his hips stutter to a stop, jerking once or twice at the spasms of pleasure he receives. Afterwards the room is quiet enough to hear the sweat of his back splash against the shirt she wears in droplets. Along with the noise of their kiss breaking, following by the shaky breaths of both youths.

He moves first, prying his hands from her grip and supporting her hback while he sits up. She comes willingly, hugging him tightly and thumbing the shorter hairs at the nape of his neck. He kisses her shoulder, bared now, as the shirt is too big for her and hangs from her frame at the elbows after their lovemaking.

"You alright?" he asks.

She nods, nuzzling her face into his neck, "I am now." she murmurs, lips brushing lightly against his sweaty skin.

"Don't worry about the expedition..." he says, even though it's all either of them can think of.

"I know. I won't." she pulls back enough to look him in the eye. He smiles, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes, and she kisses him to keep him from thinking too far down that road. "You shouldn't worry either, if you're telling me not to." she admonishes.

He scoffs in amusement, "I'm not."

"Hypocrite." she says, pressing her forehead to his, "You are." she shivers when his hand caresses her newly bared breast, as her shirt has slipped down far enough for it. His thumb brushes over her nipple, and a sly smile begs to be kissed off of his face, so she does just that.

"Mmm..." he hums into her mouth. "I love you." he says in the brief respite she grants from the kiss. And then he kisses her again, tongue delving deeply into her mouth and making her moan appreciatively.

She smiles, genuinely, when he pulls back, "I love you too." he pecks her lips once more and then trails his mouth down her neck in response. She sighs, pleasured, and lets her head loll back, eyes drifting closed as he descends further. He lays her back down, and she shifts in place, "Eren?" she questions as he

"The night is still quite young." he explains, lips latching over a pert nipple and tongue swirling slowly. She gives a light chuckle at that, not in any way opposed to another, obviously more leisurely round.

"Mhmm...yes it is." she sighs when he starts to rock his hips again. "Think you can handle two rounds?"

He releases her breast with an obscene pop and gives her an incredulous look. "I know I can." he murmurs, voice thick and gravelly with arousal. She grins in response, and then gasps as he bites at her jaw, dragging his teeth tantalizingly against her skin before he moves back down to her breast.

She tightens her grip in his hair and lifts her hips to meet his timed thrusts. Breath shaky with her building climax, she flips their positions and places her hands over his when they come to rest at her hips. He immediately lets loose a gasping moan, something she loves about this position.

"I like it...when you do that." she pants, rolling her hips forward sharply.

He bites his lip in response, looking up to avoid her gaze as his cheeks flush with color.

"Eren." she encourages, leaning forward to kiss him, "Stop that." she says upon pulling back. She refers to his biting of his lip, a reflexive move he uses when he doesn't want to be noisy.

He opens his mouth to respond, instead screwing his eyes shut and thrusting up into her when she clenches purposefully around him. "Ah-ahh...!" he moans, and she speeds her movements. "God..." he gasps, short of breath and arching his body up desperately into her.

She leans forward again to lave her tongue against his pectoral, taking his nipple into her mouth. And while he flinches at first at the unfamiliar sensation, he soon threads his fingers encouragingly through her sweat-matted hair.

She feels a stroke of pride and triumph when his following moan is caught in a choked gasp, and he comes for what is likely the last time for this night. His thumb delves between her thighs, and she continues to roll her hips instinctively when he stimulates her towards her own second climax.

"Mmm..." she hums against his skin, finally coming to a stop as her orgasm passes. He lets out one last moan, bordering on feminine in the pitch of his voice, and the sound ignites a brief laugh in her.

He pants heavily, lifting her face by the chin to look her in the eye, "What are you laughing at?" he asks.

"It's just funny sometimes...when I do this-" she rolls her hips again to demonstrate, and he chokes on his breath out of surprise when he moans again. "-and you make those sounds." her voice turns husky with post-coital contentment, "I really love it." she purrs as she caresses his jaw with her lips.

He turns his head away, still quite embarrassed over the matter. "Yeah, yeah." he grumbles.

"Don't you like it when I do it?" she asks, laying against his chest and tracing patterns on his shoulder.

"Well yeah..." he sighs.

"It's the same both ways, Eren." she says, kissing his collarbone.

"I suppose that makes me feel a little better." he rolls onto his side and she yelps when he brings her with him.

"Are you tired yet?" she asks, shifting uncomfortably when he pulls her off of him.

"Mhmm." he nods, eyes already sliding closed.

"Good." she kisses his forehead and gets out of bed to clean herself up. By the time she's finished he's out like a light, and she pulls his shirt back up over her shoulders before she slips in beside him. She takes her turn to admire his resting features, brushing sweaty hair from his forehead and tugging the blanket up to cover his necessities.

She lays down and closes her eyes with a smile, one hand stroking his arm as she lets herself follow him into sleep.

•

•

"Good God!" Armin breathes, shaking his head at the display. Sasha was an animal, ravenous to the point that she was biting Connie! After he made her lose consciousness, for that matter. They eventually had to tie her to the post in the mess hall.

"I think she might have been playing it up a bit." Mikasa says from across the table.

"Nah, you don't know her like I do." Connie butts in.

Armin chuckles, glancing up at the other boy and nodding in agreement.

"Now if you wanna talk about really useless soldiers-" Jean suddenly speaks up, his conversation with former MP: Marlo having previously been too quiet to truly take precedence at the table. "-what about suicidal blockheads who rush headfirst into a fight?" he tilts his head in Eren's direction. "Hmm?"

Armin shrinks in his seat, literally caught in the middle, having sat between the boys. Mikasa shakes her head as Eren pauses in bringing his drink to his mouth.

Eren puts his mug down and glances sidelong at Jean, "And who do you mean by that, Jean?" he asks, a challenge evident in his voice.

Jean smirks just barely, "What other suicidal blockheads do we have?"

Eren's lips twist into a somewhat-irritated grin, "You know, I'm actually a pretty normal person. Trying to goad me into saying that about myself is a real cowardly move."

The table goes silent, and Mikasa presses her fingers to her forehead in anticipation of the next move. Just as she mentally predicts, both boys are up and standing, chairs scraping loudly and crashing against the floor. In their usual, cocky, alpha-dog way, they initially grip each other's shirts and hurl ridiculous insults.

"You think you're hot stuff?!" Jean cries.

"What about you and your stupid hair?!"

"Boar-headed bastard!"

"Jackass!"

Armin yelps as his chair is rocked when the boys scramble into open space for a brawl.

"You son of a bitch!"

"Just don't hit each other's faces guys." Connie says nonchalantly, munching on an overly-thick cut of meat.

Marlo and Hitch's jaws drop, "What are they doing?" Marlo asks Mikasa.

"You're gonna rip it!"

"Ow!"

Mikasa just hums and shrugs her shoulders, scoffing into her mug at Eren's exclamation. A few of the younger Survey Corps members start to egg them on, shouting both encouragements and insults to either party.

"I'm being honest here..." Jean says as he jabs Eren in the stomach, "How many times over would you have died if you didn't have those Titan powers?" he goes to punch him again, and Eren dodges nimbly, "And how many times would Mikasa have to save you?!"

"Augh! Ow...shit!" Eren yelps when Jean nabs him in the ribs.

"You keep acting suicidal and I'll kill you!" Jean yells.

"I'll keep that in mind!" Eren ducks, "And you!" he swings his fist, hitting Jean squarely in the sternum, "Be nicer to your mom...Jean-boy!" another swing to the torso.

"You better forget you ever heard that name, fucker!" Jean exclaims, infuriated.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Armin asks Mikasa, who watches with an expression that declares absolute normalcy.

"No, it's fine." she rests her chin upon her hand and watches, somewhat disinterested. After so long, all the 104th cadets have learnt not to worry about the skirmishes between these two. They're almost always performed for attention, or just instigated by wounded ego's. Nothing to truly worry about.

Eren and Jean come to a brief standstill, panting heavily and sweating profusely.

'Why isn't anyone trying to stop us?' Eren thinks to himself, somewhat desperate for it, as he's running out of steam, and this was only really for show, after all.

'I think I'm going to puke that meat back up...' Jean thinks to himself.

"Hey!"

Both boys barely turn to the source of the voice in time before Levi thrusts his knee into Eren's gut and grabs Jean around the middle, tossing him a few feet. The teen skids across the wooden floor and then promptly follows through with his thoughts and pukes upon coming to a stop.

"All of you are being too rowdy." Levi declares. "Go to bed."

"Yes sir!" practically the entire room shouts in unison, salutes, and then scatters like cockroaches.

"And clean that up." Levi points out as he walks past the retching Jean.

Mikasa and Armin help Eren to his feet, and he winces at the bruising in his stomach.

"I think I need to take better care of myself." the boy sighs as Armin lowers him to sit on the steps outside. "Why didn't you intervene?" he asks Mikasa, gaze accusing.

She shrugs with a slight smile, "I know you'll heal in no time."

"I can't believe you'd betray me like that! And after all we've been through..." he says, a smile evident in his voice.

"You're the one who started it." she says as she sits beside him. He nudges her shoulder, and she responds in kind.

"I noticed that your visit with Shadis kind of drained you..." Armin says, striking up conversation, "You act more energized now." he smiles warmly.

Eren nods, "I'm glad we went to see him. And I'm ready to do what needs to be done on this mission." a soft smile pulls at his lips, "But yeah, I do feel better. I've just been caught up worrying about things I don't need to worry about." he glances at Mikasa, "Like how I'm not all that strong, like you, Mikasa, and the Captain."

She hums in acknowledgment.

"I know I've said it before, but I still get a little jealous because I'm not like you two." he tilts his head and exhales, "But neither of you can win this fight on your own, none of us can. I think I've come to terms with the fact that this expedition will only succeed if we all combine our abilities and work together. As a unit." he glances at Armin, "And I think it's because of times like this, that we are all made differently."

Armin's eyes widen slightly at his pointed message, and he gives a soft smile in return. He looks down and nods, "Yeah. I bet you're right."

"When we regain Wall Maria, and defeat the Titans...do you think everything will go back? Back to those days when we were younger and the world wasn't so cruel?"

Both boys turn to Mikasa when she speaks, and they glance sidelong at one another before Eren answers, "We'll bring those days back if we have to." he laces his hand in hers as he says so. "But it won't all come back...and they need to pay for that." he adds, the fire in his eyes rekindled by his subdued thirst for vengeance against their wrongdoers.

Mikasa nods, "Yeah." she agrees.

Armin sits up straighter, "And that's not all, is it?" he turns to them with a smile, obviously lightening the suddenly somber mood, "The sea, remember?"

Eren and Mikasa share smiles.

"There's more than just the Titans outside the walls...fiery water, fields of snow and lands of ice...and we're going to see them all after this is all over!" he exclaims, standing up and spinning in a brief circle to showcase his excitement. "I joined the Survey a Corps to see all that, after all."

Eren nods, "Yeah, you did." It's nice to see Armin back to his old self like this. All enthusiasm and anxious to see the outside world, a true explorer at heart.

"We'll see the ocean first." he says, "Saltwater as far as the eye can see. And species of fish that you can only ever find there!"

Eren chuckles.

"You still don't really believe that, do you, Eren?" Armin bends down to eye level before his friend. "I swear it's all there! You just wait."

"Then I guess I'll just have to go see it myself, won't I?"

"You will." Armin grins.

(Levi listened to their conversation from the shadows all the while, remembering a time when he and his two friends had been just as optimistic about the outside...)

•

•

While they overlooked the lands outside the wall, a surprising crowd had shown up to wave goodbye from below in the city of Trost. They called up positive encouragement and asked them to take back Wall Maria.

"Tch...how selfish." Levi huffs to himself.

Hanji shrugs, "I suppose they were bound to find out we were leaving after the lift made so much noise."

"Actually-" Flegel pipes in sheepishly, "I ordered the meat from Reeves company."

"Damnit Flegel!" another soldier hisses.

The members of the 104th whoop and shout in response to the send-off. And eventually even Commander Erwin joins them.

Eren turns back around from looking over his shoulder. His gaze roams the plains briefly, and then he looks over to Mikasa on his left, Armin standing just beside her. And, like him, they both gaze out into the plains left behind more than five years ago. Their eyes seek out Wall Maria, yet she is too far for them to see. Eren knows it well, he's stood on this wall before, after all.

He takes Mikasa's hand, offering her a subtle smile and squeezing tenderly. "Time to go home." he says.

She looks up at him in surprise at that, and he thinks he sees tears in her eyes as she brings her scarf up to her face. Her hand reaches for Armin's, and the blonde takes it eagerly, visibly gulping at the prospect of today's mission.

"Yeah...home." she murmurs to the wind.

The outcome of today and tomorrow is a complete mystery. They can only hope, and pray, that they will all three of them make it out alive. It's time to find out the secret in the basement, to make their final stand. To survive. To live.

'Because we were born into this world.' Eren smiles once more as their turn to take the lift approaches.

•

•

A.N.

I did take some creative freedom with this chapter so it isn't exactly like the manga, of course.

After reading the Return to Shiganshina arc this ending just hurts, okay? Hurts like fucking hell.

(ಥ﹏ಥ)

I'm gonna go cry now, bye.

But in all seriousness, thank you so much, my readers, for supporting me. I may start the third installment to this series soon, depending on how the damned manga turns out. Till then, love you all.