𝙎𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙮 | 𝘕𝘪𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰 𝘹 𝘚𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘢

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 18: 𝘏𝘰𝘮𝘦

𝗔/𝗡: 𝗜'𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝟮𝟬 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗰. 𝗦𝗼, 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗦𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝟭𝟲 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝟰, 𝘀𝗵𝗲'𝘀 𝟮𝟬 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲. 𝗔𝗹𝘀𝗼, 𝗜'𝗺 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗶𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼'𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲 :)

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14 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰 (𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬)

"And then the princess married the prince. The end," Sasha's grandmother said, closing the book of fairytales. A youthful Sasha sat next to her, wide-eyed.

"Grandma, being married sounds so nice!" Sasha had said, nuzzling herself into her grandmother's arms.

"It is. I'm sure you'll find someone lovely, Sasha."

(𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬)

~

Sasha smiled at the memory of her grandmother. She twiddled with a ring on her finger, which her grandmother once owned, and looked down at it, smiling. Now, it was her ring, and she was engaged to the most wonderful fiancé one could imagine. The memory was still vivid in her mind, and she could still remember how elated and emotional she felt when she saw Niccolo on one knee. A week after the proposal, Armin had commented on the ring that Sasha hadn't taken off for a while. While Sasha had wanted to keep it a secret for at least a few weeks, she'd told them early. Everyone was very happy for them, of course, and Connie and Jean seemed even more excited than she was.

Sasha clutched the sunhat on her head, trying to keep hold of it as the strong wind blew in her face. She stared out into the horizon, and watched as a small island in the distance slowly got closer. Niccolo stood next to her, gripping onto the railings of the boat. It was summer, and all of the scouts were allowed a months break. After lots of thinking, Niccolo asked Sasha if she would like to go to Marley with him, and possibly meet his family. Although it was nerve-racking, she had said yes. They had to get up early in the morning, as they had to catch a train to take them to a boat that was taking many people to Marley. They had managed to catch the boat just in time.

~

Sasha and Niccolo stepped off of the dock, and began to make their way to his house. After Liberio was cleaned and fixed, people started moving from their temporary houses in the country sides, back to the city (Niccolo's family included). They lived quite close to the sea side, which explained why Niccolo is so good at cooking sea food. Making their way through streets, Sasha noticed how developed Liberio was compared to Paradis. Carriages pulled by horses rolled through the streets, and shops, cafés, and people dressed in fine clothes littered the pavements.

Niccolo pulled her down a wide road and turned to a few houses lined up. He glanced at one with a large blue door, before turning back to Sasha.

"I think it would be best if you just stayed out here for a moment. I told them that I was coming, but I only told my brother that you were coming too," he said, gesturing to a bench in front of a flowerbed. Sasha nodded, and sat down on the bench. Niccolo was the first and only person in his family he had told about Sasha, and he seemed rather ecstatic, despite her origins. He opened the blue door and stepped inside.

Niccolo walked into the sitting room, where he saw three people sat on a sofa, deep in conversation. His mother, father, and brother all looked up at him. His mother instantly broke into happy tears, and stood up and hugged him tightly.

"Nicco, I didn't think you were going to come so soon! I'm so happy you're back home." Niccolo smiled at his mother's words, before his brother and father stood up to greet him. His brother walked over and patted him on the back, before leaning in and whispering something in his ear.

"Did you bring her?" He asked, with a sense of eagerness in his voice. Niccolo nodded, before Austin shot him a cold stare. Niccolo knew this meant that he was still disappointed in him and he felt a sense of regret for bringing Sasha here. Niccolo took a seat on the couch next to them, and felt as if he needed to come clean with them as soon as possible.

~

Sasha, Niccolo, Pierre, Catherine and Austin all sat at the dining table, facing down. Niccolo had quickly told them about his engagement, and his parents had said nothing. Pierre had suggested that they should just meat her, since he was sure she was a lovely girl. And she is, but his parents couldn't see past the fact she was an Eldian. She was a devil in their eyes. No one was talking, and no one wanted to. Sasha had enough, and cleared her throat, putting on her trademark smile.

"You have a lovely house," she said, keeping the smile she wore intact.

"Thank you," Catherine replied. It seemed like they were going to go back into an eternal silence, before Pierre spoke up.

"So, Sasha, what's it like in Paradis?" Niccolo shot his brother a look, clearly showing that the question he asked was a bad question. Sasha still answered, though, with her usual cheeriness.

"It's quite nice, well, when we're not fighting titans," Sasha said, before realising that wasn't the best answer. Niccolo's parents now seemed to be listening to what they were saying.

"What do you mean?" Pierre asked.

"Well, most people have to join the Training Corps when they're thirteen, then go on to train with ODM gear for a while. Then we go outside of the walls on expeditions and fight the titans, trying to take back land," Sasha replied. Everyone nodded, understanding what she was saying. Peace seemed to last a moment in the room, before Niccolo's dad asked a question.

"Why would you fight your own kind?"

Sasha knew this was coming. "What do you mean?"

"You devils can turn into titans, so why would you fight other titans?" Sasha thought carefully about her answer.

"Not all of us are titan shifters. Besides, the titans outside of the walls aren't titan shifters, they're mindless man-eating giants, trying to murder every last human. Those of us that can turn into titans would only use their power to fight those that threaten humanity. I'm not a titan shifter, nor are most of my friends." Sasha hoped her answer would be enough to make them tone down their hatred towards her. She looked straight into Austin's eyes, and saw a look of confusion in them. It was the same in Catherine's. The parents shared a look, before telling Niccolo to prepare dinner. Sasha felt a sense of pride. She felt as if she'd successfully won their hearts over, and that they hopefully would see her as less of a devil and more of a good person.

~

𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵: 1157

𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 <3

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