The Time Before

Chapter 5: Time

*FLASHBACK TO A FEW MONTHS AFTER HISTORIAS INAUGURATION*

It was warm. The sunlight beamed on Eren's face as he watched Historia run after the kids playing in the fields.

"Some palace," Jean scoffed as he leaned against the wooden fence, "seems like she's better fit to run an orphanage rather than be queen."

"Did you hear the new nickname they have for her? I hear it's the Cattle-Farming Goddess."

"She might look like a goddess, but she's still Historia. Perfectly normal, stupidly honest, Historia Reiss." Eren thought to himself as he watched.

"One of the reasons Historia decided to become queen was to do all this.." Eren said.

"This, meaning?" Armin asked his friend.

"Taking care of the orphans and needy from the Underground to the edge of the walls. And since the captain was raised underground, even he was onboard. When people need help, she said she'll come to their rescue no matter what. That's what she wants to do. That's who she is." Eren said while Jean and Armin stared at him.

"Sheesh I didn't ask for a life recap." Jean said rolling his eyes.

Eren was too busy daydreaming at that point to notice the blonde walking up to them.

"Ugh, you're slacking off again? It's getting dark you know!" she said in an annoyed voice.

Jean and Armin groaned as they picked up boxes and walked away as Eren grabbed some more boxes. Historia grabbed some from him.

"We can set these over there." she said motioning toward a shed in the distance.

The two began to carry the boxes as the sun slowly faded on the horizon.

"I hear your hardening experiments have been going well, yes?" she asked in an effort to start a conversation with the brunette haired boy.

He was different since the events under the chapel. He saw something and it changed him. She hoped it wasn't because of her.

"Yeah." he replied blandly.

"I want to find out more about this world, and why it's the way it is." she said seemingly lifting his mood even if only a bit.

"All that we've done... I don't want to regret any of it." she continued.

They look up to see the children running, laughing, and smiling. Historia notices that Eren has even developed a smile on his face.

"Even the kids from the underground have been smiling a lot lately. This couldn't have been the wrong choice, could it?" she asked. She still had doubts in herself with being put into such an important role.

Eren took notice of this and reassured her, "Yeah. You've done great. I mean that."

"That's not..." she replied looking down as she felt herself blushing.

He also took notice of that amd continued, "Though you DID say humanity should get wiped out."

"I got carried away!" she yelled nudging him in the shoulder blushing even harder.

The two laughed as the arrived at the shed setting the boxes down.

That was the moment when a spark was ignited in each other's hearts.

*TIMESKIP TO WHERE CHAPTER FOUR LEFT OFF*

Eren grabbed his food and sat down at the table. Connie walking into the dining hall with and ice pack in his hand.

"You didn't have to go all out man. I was only kidding." he said sniffling.

Eren just shrugged the boy off in response and ate his dinner.

Everyone else had begun sitting down and eating as well. Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Sasha, and Connie all sat at the same table with Eren. Connie never looked up from his food, still traumatized by the beatdown he got in training.

"You ever gonna admit that you slept at the Queen's place or what?" Jean finally spoke.

"The hell?" Eren immediately responded.

"I mean, how else were you late?" Sasha asked.

"And your guys' first thought was that I slept with Historia?"

"Well, nobody said that. But now that you mention it..." Connie began to speak.

"Connie... are you already ready for round two?" Eren asked glaring and the boy who immediately looked down.

Eren then stood up and took care of bis dishes before proceeding to the boy's dorm. He was tired as last night wasn't the only night he's had those horrific nightmares. Though, the last one was when he truly realized the situation. The boy then decided to call it a day and go to sleep.

This time he slept much better than before. Only dreaming of the blonde he was in love with. How warm she was to hold. He missed her every day.

Eren would typically go to the farm with every free day he had. He couldn't stand being away from her. It was the same on Historia's side.

Sometimes Levi Squad would all go to the farm and spend a few nights there with the children to ease their stress. Times like these were when Eren felt like he was finally free. Him and Historia would run off the whole day and only ever return for meals. Sometimes he would even sleep with her and wake up to go to the room with the rest of the Scouts to prevent any suspicion.

Their relationship continued to grow as did their love. They hated that they had to conceal themselves but they knew it was for the best. Eren's dreams progressively got better as the nightmares became less frequent with the amount of tome he spent loving Historia.

That is until one night, little under a year before Eren's attack on Marley.

Eren was standing somewhere. No, he was floating. There were what looked to be clouds all below him. He looked up and was met with his younger self. The younger version of himself looked to him and said one thing that haunted Eren since then.

"Freedom."

Then, Eren could see through the clouds. Only to realize that they weren't clouds at all. Rather it was steam. An army spanning millions of colossal titans marching toward a place. Marley. The rest of the world.

This was it. His future. The rumbling was a necessity whether he liked it or not.

He awoke in a panic. Nobody else was awoken thanfully. He decided to just stay awake until everyone else was. He cried to himself in the dining hall for hours.

Eren decided to see Historia later that day. They all had already eaten dinner and most were either sleeping or playing card games.

He arrived at the farm to see her on the porch, seeming as she was waiting for him. They hadn't seen eachother in two months and it was the most painful wait of his life. They quickly embraced eachother with hugs and kisses. The two were indeed in love with each other very much.

They played games and danced with each other. It was soon dark out and the two headed to bed. Though neither one of them could actually sleep. They soon found themselves kissing each other. Things began to escalate as they stripped each other of their clothing until it was only their bare skin against each other. They proceeded to make love through out the night. There were moments in between where they would say to each other "I love you." and the other would chuckle and giggle. The interaction was incredibly passionate as they both had peaked and soon fell asleep in each other's arms.

"What a beautiful night it was." Eren thought to himself as he slipped into a slumber.

Sorry if this chapter felt rushed. I'm very tired from school and I've been pretty overwhelmed lately. The timeskip I mentioned last chapter will likely officially start next chapter since it didnt this chapter.

Hope you enjoyed.