A Little Bit Human (Erwin x OC)

61: The Sea

The grassy fields disappeared and were replaced by loose sand. It reminded Lillian of the lake Erwin had taken her to for her birthday. Giant rocks were scattered across the land, creating mountains. Just past those mountains, the sea was waiting for them.

A wall much like the one that surrounded them for their whole lives was just up ahead. The wall were so many Eldians were turned into titans. Then as titans they were slaughtered by their own people. Lillian resisted the urge to throw up. It always made her sick to think about the amount of people she's killed. 

The horses slowed their pace as they approached a hill. On the other side lay the sea. Lillian couldn't help but gasp at the sight in front of her, it was bigger than Lillian expected it to be. There didn't seem to be an end to it, even if there was a land that laid just across it. The sun gleamed off the surface, making it difficult to look at because of the brightness.

But the thing Lillian loved the most about the sea was the color. It was so blue. The same shade as her husband's eyes, the same shade as her baby girl's.

"Are you ok?" Erwin reached over and put a hand on her forearm. "You're crying."

Lillian reached up to touch her face, feeling the wet tears on her face. She didn't even realize she was crying. "I'm fine. It's just so beautiful."

Erwin chuckled and squeezed her forearm. "I agree."

The Scouts left their horses and ventured down to the beach below. Most of them rushed to take their shoes off and go out into the water. Lillian stayed on the shore, watching as the water pushed out then retreated back into itself.

She hugged her arms around her chest. The sea was real. That meant everything in that book was real. That meant Erwin only had thirteen years left. That one day she would have to watch Erwin die, be eaten by another. 

"Lily, my love." Erwin took her hand, pulling it out of her embrace. He kissed the top of her hand, then started to pull her to the water. "Do you remember how to swim?"

"Yes." Lillian laughed, her thoughts drifting to happier ones. "Doesn't mean I'm going to swim right now."

"Relax a little." Erwin let go of her hand. He bent down and began to take his boots off. Lillian shook her head but did the same. She took off her own boots, she dug her feet deep under the sand, enjoying the way it felt between her toes.

"Relax a little?" Lillian scoffed and laughed at the same time. They were still in titan territory and Erwin was telling her to relax. Lillian thought for a moment, was it still considered titan country? They had only seen one titan their entire way over here. "Darling, are you feeling ok?"

"I'm just happy." Erwin stood back up to his full height, towering over her. "This has been here all along, Lily. And there's more out there. We couldn't imagine what the sea might look like, imagine the other wonders the world has in store for us."

From the sounds of it, Erwin wanted to travel, go see these things for himself. Lillian however disagreed. She liked the quiet life they had grown accustomed to for those couple of months. After this expedition, Lillian would go back to the quiet life, but Erwin would restart his commander duties. She knew in this relationship she would sacrifice a lot for Erwin's dream. What Lillian didn't expect was for Erwin's dream to change. Perhaps this was his new dream, to travel the world. But Lillian's dream never seemed to change since she was young enough to know about family. She was wrong however, Erwin only wanted what she wanted. 

Erwin watched his wife's face. Everyone else was prancing around in the water, enjoying it. But not Lily, or Levi, or hell even Eren for that matter. Like mother, like son Eren and Lillian were both staring out into the blue abyss thinking about more than just how pretty the water was. He was so happy right now, he wished she could be as happy as him.

By this time everyone else was in the water except for Lillian, Levi, and Erwin. So Erwin took his wife's hand, helped her to her feet, and led her into the cold water. As the summer months rolled in and the weather became warmer and more humid the water was a nice change. 

"Erwin."

"Yes?" Erwin stood behind his wife with his arms wrapped around her chest and his head resting on the top of hers.

"We should bring Carina here. Once she's older of course."

Erwin hummed. "I think Hange said that once we know for sure there are no more titans on the island, we are going to start building a base down here."

"Hm. That would be nice."

A conversation that Eren and Armin were having broke everyone's focus from what they had been doing and turned their attention to the boy who had once been so energetic, who now always seemed to be quiet.

"There's a sea." Eren started to say. "And just across that sea, freedom's waiting. That's what I always believed, at least. But I was wrong. I know what's waiting across this sea now. It's our enemies. Everything we've seen has been exactly as it was in my father's memories." Eren turned back towards his childhood friends, a look of disappointment in his eyes.

He turned back to the sea, and raised his hand, pointing towards something on the other side. "Hey. If we did cross the sea, and we killed our enemies...after that, would we finally be free?"

Everyone stood and stared at Eren in silence. The things he had just said chewed at their brains. The once happy and joyous achievement of reaching the sea was now gone. They were reminded of what exactly was at stake. 

A/N:

Woot! Woot! Finished season three. Hope y'all like it. Hope y'all are still liking the story, we got one more chapter before season four starts. And the next one will again be a fun lighthearted one. There also won't be much on season four for the first half just because our girl isn't in the plot very much. So yeah. :)