21 HOME!!!!

Eren looked at the main road and he saw a single black silhouette coming this way, the silhouette became more visible and its features became more clear, when it got close enough, Eren's body froze in its place like he just saw a ghost, only one word came out of his mouth

" Ace!!!"

he rubbed his eyes to check if he was seeing illusions, the same goes for Mikasa, she too rubbed her eyes thinking she was tired, she gave a faint smile " looks like I miss him so much that I started seeing illusions of him"

Only Armin was sure this isn't an illusion, if so how are they all seeing the same thing, slowly he started walking toward Ace with a somehow fearful and hopeful face, he wants this to be real but at the same time he is afraid it is just an illusion

"Armin?!" Mikasa and Eren saw him walking at Ace who is standing in front of them just a few meters ahead with a faint smile, half of his face is covered by a grey scarf

Armin reached Ace who was looking at him with gentle eyes that expressed the longing in his heart, Armin reached with his hand towards Ace's face. As if the world became silent and everything blurred out just so they can focus on this moment, it was so quiet that the sound of Armin's hand touching Ace's face could be heard making Armin's tears fall down from his eyes without him noticing

Armin, Mikasa, Eren all of them became silent, they clearly heard it, the sound of their skin touching, Frozen in their place like a statue withshocked faces that believes this isn't reality only to be brought back to reality with Ace's voice

"I would prefer to be touched by Mikasa you know" his playful voice made Armin Unconsciously jump in Ace's embrace followed by Eren and Mikasa's dash at with their full strength making all of them fall down on the snowy road

*KSHH*

Mikasa and Armin starting crying like little kids only Eren was able to hold back his tears making Ace burst out laughing " Hahaha!!!! Miss me??" he did get the reaction he hoped for from them

Mikasa looked at him in the eyes while holding his face in her hands with tears still falling down " You are real right? You are really here right?" she wanted more assurance

" Yes, I am here" he ran his fingers down her long hair, Mikasa's face started twitching as her sorrow is leaving and replaced with great happiness before she joined Armin and Eren in their group hug

After leaving the kids to hug him as much as they want which only made happy as the longer they hugged him the more they thought this is a reality, after a long hug Ace decided to end it here, not that he hated the feeling but they can't stay on the cold and snowy ground for half a minute, even the snow under them had melted making parts of their clothes wet and dirty " Alright guys, that is enough" Ace made them stand up from the ground but they still kept being close to him, especially Mikasa and Armin whos eyes are red from crying too much

" Well, long story short, we are leaving, " Ace said his motive for coming here " you're coming with me home? will you??" he asked

" I will" Mikasa jumped to answer, nothing makes her happier than staying beside Ace, she didn't care about anything more than him but as for Eren and Armin they just smiled at them and stayed silent

" I meant all of you coming with me" Ace added, " And I am not taking no for an answer " he took a deep breath and his expression revealed a hint if and " just why the fook didn't you stay with my parents?? Huh?? For fook sake why??" the trio lowered their heads and Eren spoke for them

" we want to join the military training this year, so we didn't want to trouble your parents, especially when they thought you were dead"

"that's right" Mikasa and Armin supported him in that but they only made Ace angrier especially at Mikasa

" Why??" he looked at Mikasa, "my mother thinks of you as her daughter, didn't you think she will be sadder if you too left her?" his words made Mikasa feel terrible at her self " And the two of you…What is the difference between staying with my family mansion and living here?"

"We wanted to train our bodies in this harsh environment so we can withstand the hardship of the military training" Armin tried to explain

Ace didn't care about their reasons, he just wanted to bring them back instead of suffering from this " just leave everything and let us go" he grabbed Mikasa's hand and brought her closer to him

" you can take Mikasa but the two of us will stay " Armin said with determination while Eren nodded meaning he agree yo what Armin said

Ace looked at the two of them with a frown " is this your final decision?"

"yes " both of em said

Ace started rolling up his sleeves as while saying "I said I won't take no for an answer, you thought I was joking?!" he made his way toward them while Mikasa didn't say anything as she knows what he will do, bothArmin and Eren had a bad feeling about this as they took a step back

Ace figure blurred in front of them like a flash, he immediately appeared behind them as he hit them in the back of their head with enough strength to knock them out

both of them fell on the cold white ground with a pained face, Mikasa looked between Ace and them " do you need help??" she asked

"Yeah, you can carry Armin for me" he bent down to pick up Eren on his shoulder and he walked through from the way he came from with Mikasa who is carrying Armin on her back

On their way, Mikasa looked at Ace's face and saw him smiling " what is amusing you" he replied

"what for?"

"I am sure we will have a great adventure from now on, I have always dreamt of it, the four of us " he said

Mikasa found his words strange and couldn't help herself from asking " how can we have an adventure in this cruel world??"

"Hahaha!! It's only the beginning, also, as long as I am alive, I will make this world a better place for us, and the best part of that I will never die"

Mikasa didn't say anything as she focused on the last part of his words " I will never die", she remembered the day he was crushed under the rock, his blood was everywhere even on her own clothes and now when she looked at him, not even a scar can be seen

Mikasa's train of thought was cut by a voice coming from behind them

"OI!! BRATS, WHERE ARE YOU GOING??" a rough voice of a man in the uniform of the military police came from behind, he is a man with brown head and beard, his rifle is on his back, he was out of breath with sweat all over his body

Ace looked at him and said " we are leaving, that's what we are doing"

the man's frown grows bigger as he pointed at the two of them " who are those on your shoulders??"

"our friends" Answered Ace" and I think we should get going, let's go Mikasa" he turned to leave

when he saw them leaving the man gritted his teeth and shouted " BRAT!! STOP RIGHT NOW!!"

Ace become irritated with the man's shouting ' unnecessary shouts' he thought

" What do you want??" he asked, Mikasa too was having the same feelings as Ace

" next month you will start farming, go back to your assigned house and stay there, you are not allowed to leave the farmlands ever" he said with somehow an anxious face, it's like he was looking at his bag of money causing Ace to frown, he remembered his father's words after talking to him before coming here

Ace looked at the man for a moment, no one said a word, only the cold wind of the winter could be heard, as finally took his eyes from the man and look at Mikasa " How much do you get paid each month??" once this question was asked the man's body became stiff for a moment, that didn't escape Ace's eyes

"2 golden coins each month, we are allowed to leave the farmlands each week to buy our food supplies" she said

Ace made a thinking expression on his face and said with a confused tone " I thought it was 5 Golds a month" his words made Mikasa turn sharply at the man whose face became strangely devoided of life, his eyes looked at them with desperation, he slowly reached to his rifle and pointed at them " you should've stayed silent"

Mikasa put Armin on the ground quickly and she got in front of Ace in order to protect him but Ace only found this funny " How are you going to explain the death of us?" he asked as he too put Eren on the ground

" Kids die in the winter every year, that's what happened to you," he said with a cruel smile that came from his desperation

Ace pulled Mikasa behind him and walked to the man who shouted " DON'T MOVE!!!"

Ace didn't mind him and came even closer, the rifle now is on his head making Mikasa afraid as she called his name and tried to come and protect him, he raised his hand at her and said " just stand there"

the man's hands started trembling and his body started to sweat again " What is wrong never killed anyone before??" Ace said to the man before he swiftly reached for the man's wrist and broke his arm

"GHAAAAAA!!!" the man howled in pain as he dropped the rifle and held his broken arm with its bone going to the side " be grateful that she is here today or you will have to die" Ace bent down to the man and said in his ears

"Tell me what is your name??" he asked causing the man to be confused in the middle of his pain, Ace reached his hand to the man's good arm and said " your name or your other hand"

the man felt fear creeping in his heart from Ace cruelty and he shouted in hurry " B-B-BAZ, BAZ MANDA!!!"tears fell from his cheeks with his disgusting snout, Ace rubbed the man's head with a smile " Good boy"

he turned to Mikasa who was watching from earlier, she was tense at first but as soon as he broke the man's arm she relaxed

"Let's go" both of em picked Armin and Eren and left the man on the ground fighting the pain in his arm

after reaching the carriage, they made Armin and Eren sit inside so they won't take much space while supporting themselves on the wall of the carriage, the driver came back when he saw Ace came back and they rode back to the mansion in the Mimiria city

on the way back, Mikasa remembered something and said " we forgot to pick the money we saved "

Ace smiled at her and said " leave the money to the lucky guy who will find and in the meantime, you should focus on something more important don't you think?? "

question marks popped up on Mikasa's head as she tilted her head to the side with a confused look making Ace chuckles at her reaction

"Mother is furious," he said making Miasa feel fear, a feeling she didn't feel in a long time as cold sweat runs down her back