Winners

Numb.

That's what she was. Numb.

Tired too.

Satans, but Sona didn't think she'd ever been this tired.

Had it really been less than half a day ago that Issei had been taken?

It seemed like a lifetime ago. One in which a different Sona Sitri lived.

And the current Sona Sitri was not a better woman for the change.

Sona knew it. 

Sona knew it in the way she had immediately sent her Peerage out to help organize and clean up without even giving them time to rest because there was a genuine chance she could be arrested at any moment, and she didn't want them implicated. 

She knew it in the bend of her thoughts as they had already turned toward the future of political and socioeconomic changes that would come.

The Peace Treaty could fall apart without the ability to provide the angels with more Brave Saint decks.

Reincarnated devils would soon cease to be created. The exact time frame would depend on how many sets of Evil Pieces Adjuka had at hand and their stores of the crystals used to make them. Still, shortly, someone would be turned into a devil only when a previously reincarnated devil died, and their Piece could be used again.

And that was just from the destruction of Agreas.

The death of the Great King and a sizeable force of the ruling class would create a void in governmental positions that needed to be filled... a void Sona had created.

Lilith proper had remarkably little damage to the city despite the numerous versions of the Nine Titans getting past the defenders. But the Underworld now had a gaping hole, still writhing with the aftereffects of Eren's battle with Great Red. 

The material of this... canyon was still unknown, but already a few of the people who had tried to reach the center of the battle were injured by the tears in space, the incomprehensible phenomena that manifested only to disappear moments later.

And then there was the battle itself.

Sona had absolutely zero clue what the fallout from this would be.

A single human had taken on the Three Factions' combined might and... essentially won.

Oh, certainly, the death toll was absolutely nothing compared to the Rumbling of his world. It wasn't even a fraction of a fraction of the damage to the infrastructure, let alone the lives of ordinary people.

But the world wouldn't be comparing this event to one that claimed a billion and a half lives.

No. Once they learned about Eren, the rest of the world would see a human fighting the strongest devils, their entire society, and decimating it. Even the aid of the angels and fallen only served to stalemate the battle.

Eren Yeager, a teenage human, had killed the Dream!

What did you even compare that to?

Gods had died in the past. So had dragons. So had other members of every other race at one time or another.

But the Divine Duo? 

The Infinite and the Dream?

Many didn't believe they could die.

They predated the fucking planet.

Sure, they didn't usually affect day-to-day life, and thanks the hells for that, but they were always there! 

A constant of reality like gravity or magic. It was like a human waking up one morning, and suddenly, the sun was just gone.

And a human did it!

One without a Sacred Gear at that!

Sona looked up at a sunless sky.

And sighed.

There was... no frame of reference to which Sona could compare this. Nothing she could think of that would even hint at what was to come.

Sona could judge possible political fallout for her actions. She could think about leveraging the undeniable impact she and her Peerage had in this battle against the rumours that would start to fly once people started asking questions about why their Lords/Ladies/Ancestors/descendants/family were on Agreas. 

She could see possible avenues for her society's future prospects. The Satans still lived, so it wasn't likely devils would fall into another Civil War.

(A small part of Sona, the one steeped in morbid humour and grim fatalism, asked herself who the Satans would even fight in a Civil War. 

After all, Sona had killed most of their political adversaries.)

But no matter how her mind worked, she just couldn't imagine what the world would look like tomorrow once news got out of Eren and what he had done.

...None of that was why Sona was numb, though.

Eren was dead.

She'd known it when the Titans had dissipated, collapsing and vanishing into steam right before her eyes.

She knew it by the fact that she didn't see her sister among the Satans organizing the cleanup and organization. She'd only seen her once when Serafall checked if she was whole and hale before disappearing again.

The only reason Serafall Leviathan wouldn't be with the other Satans at this critical moment was if something personal had come up.

...Like consoling a grieving Mikasa.

Eren was dead.

Knowing what she did about the Founder, Sona could now see the cause and effect. 

Eren had chosen his moment of death. 

He'd launched an attack that had largely avoided civilian casualties while still killing most of the sort of people he couldn't stand. He'd destroyed the Evil Piece system that he hated. 

He'd killed Great Red. 

As far as deaths went, nobody could say Eren's wouldn't be remembered. 

No doubt anyone with any ambition would see it as possibly the most incredible death of all time.

Hells, for the rest of time, people would study every morsel of information about Eren, fighting over every little detail.

Whatever had finally... got Eren, a final trick from Great Red, her aunt, or something else, it would never eclipse the final few hours of his life in fame and infamy.

But that was only from an outside perspective. A perspective from those who'd learn about Eren Yeager but had never known him.

Who hadn't known the horrors of his past.

Who hadn't hated him for what the choice he gave her, just for a sliver of hope in protecting what she cared for.

Who hadn't admired, feared, respected, taught, and learned from him.

Who hadn't loved him.

Those people who'd look at Eren Yeager's life in this world, his death, and his achievements and not know the boy on the bench. 

The one who dreamed of freedom, who couldn't stop himself from trying to fix a cruel world, and whose entire life had been one of a puppet dancing on his own strings.

They'd never know of the boy who'd once wanted to run away from it all just to spend the last few years of his life with the woman he loved.

Eren Yeager was dead, and Sona was too numb to process.

She wasn't even crying.

Just... numb.

So... she just wandered the killing field where she had fought against his Titans.

Sona wasn't idle as she wandered, of course. 

She helped clean up the rubble, even freeing one of Seekvira's Pawns trapped. She used her magic to help clean off what she could. Directed people to temporary shelters.

She saw devils hugging each other in relief and joy at their survival.

She saw others weeping at the news of a death. Or holding a limp body. Or... a limb.

There were no injuries.

So long as one was alive, Asia had completely healed them when Issei transferred his second Wall Fall to her. 

Even the injured Satans were in perfect condition thanks to the dragon's and former nun's unity.

Sona suspected that Asia would soon have just as much of a cult following as the 'Oppai Dragon.'

Not that either of them cared at the moment.

Sona saw them, too.

Asia was with Irina, Xenovia, and Ravel, surrounding Issei as he hugged a crying Gasper under the watchful gaze of Rossweiss. 

Issei was also crying, though unlike everyone else, Sona doubted he was crying tears of joy for his own survival.

Was he grieving his Senpai? Or had Eren's actions soured that relationship fully?

Sona didn't want to ask.

Rias and the rest of her Peerage were absent.

Rossweiss caught Sona's look and gestured with her head in a direction.

"They went looking for Koneko."

Sona nodded in gratitude, unable to trust her voice at the moment, and went in the direction pointed.

She found them easily enough.

Akeno was slightly off to the side, hugging her father, but the remaining Gremory Peerage were...

"Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?"

Thirty or so clones of Kuroka were frantically shifting through rubble, dirt, and stone. Some were casting spells. Others were digging in the ground with their bare hands. A few were flying overhead, like vultures searching for prey.

The tears in their eyes didn't seem to impede the search for... something.

Amidst the frantic, manic movements of the Nekoshou and her clones, Sona saw the crimson hair of her once rival.

Rias also seemed to be searching, though she was doing it with slow, jerky motions and without letting go of Koneko's hand.

Yuuto was beside them, his movements more fluid but no less slow as he cut through a boulder to move its pieces to the side.

"...Sona," Koneko said, alerting the other two of her arrival.

Rias looked up, but her eyes were vacant and distant.

Was she just as numb as Sona?

"...Hey," Yuuto greeted, his voice hoarse.

"What-" Sona stopped when her voice came out in a dry croak that sounded like a sob. "What are you doing?"

"...Helping Onee-sama look for his cane."

"She said a Titan crushed the clone she had with it when Senpai-" Yuuto closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. "When Great Red bit the back of the Titan's neck. Once she summoned another clone to look for it, she couldn't find it."

Ah.

Sona... didn't know what to say to that.

So she changed the subject.

"I would have thought you'd want to be with Issei."

"They need some time together. Some privacy." Yuuto tried to form one of his charming smiles, but it came out as a grimace.

"The yakitori kissed the pervert as soon as she could." Koneko deadpanned, but there was no joy in the delivery.

"...Has he told you how he... came back?" Sona asked as delicately as she could. "Or what happened with... With Eren?"

She had cursed out his name so often in the last few hours, yet saying it now sounded so... alien. Foreign.

"...No. Not yet. Haven't really had time," Rias finally said, looking over in the direction Issei and the rest of her Peerage were. "I... suppose it doesn't matter now, does it? We survived. We're all here. We won."

Sona wanted to comment about the 'all here' part. Wanted to point out that it hadn't been a bloodless victory by any means. That the dead were still being counted.

But she understood her rival.

Rias Gremory was a kind devil.

But her kindness had become something... personal. Selfish.

And, to be honest, Sona was glad for it.

Rias wasn't feeling the weight of a society teetering on the brink. Her selfish kindness was saving her from all this loss.

"...It doesn't feel like we won," Koneko said, looking around at the clones of her sister still frantically searching for a cane that had probably been destroyed when the Titan crushed Kuroka's clone.

"It doesn't," Rias agreed, tightening her grip on her Rook. Her hand was shaking. Her eyes were on Sona. "I... After... After what he did... What you did... What I did..." 

Rias took a deep, heaving breath. 

The tears finally started to flow.

"Eren's dead. Aunty killed him. Again. We helped. And... I knew he was going to die anyway. Knew that stupid curse was going to get him even if he won. Knew that what he planned to do... HAD done was wrong. He killed a lot of people. He was killing a lot of people. But I... he..."

Sona watched Rias struggle to try and find the right words to convey the absolute mess of emotions she must be feeling.

Sona was still numb enough that the words slipped out of her own mouth.

"I hated him," Sona admitted. "I guess a small part of me still does. Because of the choices he gave me. Because he put Aunty in that position again. Because of... Issei, and the Rumbling, and hurting my sister and my Peerage and destroying so much of what I know and.-" 

Sona stopped herself from continuing to ramble. Took a deep breath as Rias, Koneko, and Yuuto watched her and adjusted her glasses. 

"I hate that I still don't see the point. I still don't understand everything. He-" We. "Killed a huge chunk of the Pillar families. Destroyed any hope of creating new Evil Pieces. And killed Great Red... And that's it? That was the end goal? All this for something that could be accomplished with Ophis' power, well-placed assassination attempts, and one or two Colossal Titan explosions? He didn't even need Issei's Gear! All this death and destruction. It just seems so pointless! And yet! And yet!"

"And yet you didn't want him to die." Rias gave her friend a watery smile as Sona's anger-fueled burst of energy ran out, leaving her numb and tired once more. "Even though he took something precious from you. From all of us. Even though a part of you will never completely forgive him for that. You never really wanted him dead."

"No," Sona admitted with a sigh of profound weariness and loss. "I didn't."

"Senpai... He couldn't stop himself," Yuuto nodded in understanding, leaning against the severed boulder. "I don't think Senpai can ever really stop. Even when he was with us, on the bench, he was still looking toward the future. Still thinking of what he'd do once he discovered the Red Dragon Emperor. And I think... I think if it weren't for Issei being his friend, he would have taken Boosted Gear and fought harder. Killed more people. I think he changed a bit once he talked to us and Ackerman-sensei. But he still couldn't stop. Because it wasn't about revenge. Not really. It was trying to build a better world, and he had to keep moving..." The Knight looked out over the crater of the battle. "...He might have wanted to be stopped."

"... Could'a won," Koneko nodded, rubbing her wet eyes. "Could'a killed us all. Didn't. Didn't want to. Eren was... kind. Strong. Violent. Scary. But... He didn't want to be. He wanted to be kind."

"Just one of those explosions would have killed everyone," Rias rubbed her hand against Koneko's head gently. "He didn't use it though. Didn't really kill Issei. Didn't even fight us at all, except when we attacked first. Eren... He was not a good man. But he would have been a good devil."

Sona considered telling them about the Founder and how Eren had deliberately chosen how this would end. 

That he'd probably been smiling when Mikasa put him down again.

She would have. Even if it would hurt them to learn that Eren had been caught in the horrific trap of the Paths once more, it might give them some closure.

But then she noticed Akeno approaching with her father and changed what she was going to say.

"You have our thanks for coming to our aid," she said formally to the Vice Governor General as Akeno hugged Rias tightly. Both were shaking. "We might not have held out till the end without your aid."

"I couldn't let anything happen to Akeno. Not again." 

There was a lightness to Baraqiel that was missing from everyone else. 

Was it because he'd saved his daughter, didn't know Eren, or was he used to battles so much worse than this one? 

Either way, he had a joviality that seemed so... jarring.

As if everyone should feel as numb and tired as Sona.

He even cracked a smile as he held up his regrown arm. 

"I even got my limbs back out of it. Thank Asia for me, will you? I'll do it when I get the chance to talk to her, but that might not be possible for a while."

"I will," Rias nodded but didn't smile in return.

"You're leaving?" Akeno asked, pulling away from her King.

"There's... a lot to do," Baraqiel's smile turned into a grimace. "Devils weren't the only ones attacked. Thanks to the Satans giving us a heads-up about the possibility, we managed to hold off for a while, and once Michael came to help, we won. Still, a big part of our territory and facilities will need to be managed and, unlike Devils, we don't have that many leaders that can handle that sort of task."

"Er-Titans attacked you too?" Sona asked, surprised despite herself.

"No. Annihilation Maker's creations," Baraqiel's grimace turned into a full-blown frown. "The Chaos Brigade did something to the wielder, a young boy, that caused his Gear to go berserk and then gave his creations part of Ophis' power. We managed to capture him, and Azazel sealed his Gear. He'll need training before he's no longer a risk to himself and those around him, but Azazel is good at that sort of thing. The monsters it summoned were part of the attack on the other factions, so stopping him helped them."

"Other faction? Who else?" Sona asked with a trembling voice, almost afraid of the answer.

"Everyone." Baraqiel's lips thinned as he spoke. "This was the Chaos Brigade's big push. Every part of the organization used it as an excuse to finish their vendetas. Greek. Shinto. Egypt. Magicians. Secret Societies. Pretty much every faction was attacked in one way or the other. As far as we can tell, Heaven and the Hindu Pantheon were the only two that weren't."

"...Fuck," Koneko muttered under her breath in awe.

"We, that is, those who signed the Peace Treaty, got off slightly better than most since we had the warning from the Satans. Others weren't so lucky. A few would have been fully wiped out if we didn't stop Annihilation Maker and that Titan hadn't died with Great Red. The attackers lost Ophis' power and a good chunk of their reinforcements."

Sona felt dizzy.

She'd been ignorant. Myopic.

Eren's problems with the Underworld were well known, and she'd believe he'd simply used the Chaos Brigade to gather what he needed for his own attack, not trusting them to fight with him except as distractions for her sister and the other Satans. 

She'd believed he might have even killed them before he attacked the Underworld as he'd made no secret he didn't like them.

...No. Those were excuses. 

Sona had never even thought of other factions at all, too caught up in the doom approaching her people and her own misery.

At least, those were her thoughts before she discovered he could use the Founder, and she hadn't had time to reevaluate everything in the frantic hours since then.

Of course, he'd use the Brigade till the very end. Of course, he'd use his own death to snatch victory from them right at the last moment.

What else was she missing? What other assumptions were wrong now that she knew he'd experienced this all before ever meeting any of them?

Had... had Sona missed something important? 

Something vital to understanding why Eren had chosen this ending?

"Don't worry about it," Baraqiel seemed to think her disquiet was from fear. "The Chaos Brigade, what remains of it, won't be able to do anything like this again. They failed too hard. Everyone will be on the defensive for a few years or decades as they try and recover. We'll be doing the same. The Hindus won't be a problem either. They keep each other in check. Just focus on rebuilding. The world has changed, but it's not over yet and won't end anytime soon."

Sona didn't hear him, too lost in going over her every memory with Eren, trying to piece together anything she had missed or overlooked in the panic since Issei's 'death.'

She barely heard Akeno wish her father farewell.

She was the only one who paid no attention to Ophis' arrival.

"Kuroka."

The tiny dragon had appeared next to one of the clones...probably the real one. 

"Ophis," Kuroka said, her eyes wild as she continued to search for the missing cane. "I'm busy."

"Where is Eren?"

The search stopped instantly, and Kuroka looked down at Ophis.

The diminutive form of the Infinite Dragon looked back up at her with a blank face but eyes expressing so much.

Confusion. Fear. Loss.

"He killed Baka Red. I, have Silence. But... where is Eren?"

Kuroka's hand started to tremble.

"I, saved Issei. Eren doesn't need to hurt. I, have Silence. We, won. So... Where is Eren?"

"Eren... Eren's gone," Kuroka croaked, collapsing to her knees in front of Ophis and grasping her by her small shoulders. "Just for a little while. I'm gonna get him back."

"Where?" Ophis asked with a tilt of her head. "I, can't find him. I, could always find him. Why can't I find him now?" 

Kuroka let out a choking sob, pulling the tiny girl into a hug as everyone just... watched.

"Is he hiding? Because I saved Issei? Eren should be happy. Because I was going to ask for a Banana Dimension? I'm sorry. I, won't ask."

"No," Kuroka said softly, hugging the girl to her. Her shoulders were shaking. "No. You didn't do anything wrong. Eren's just... just a blockhead. He's hiding from me. Because I want to be a bit selfish."

"Your Evil Piece wouldn't work," a hoarse voice told the crying woman and Sona was finally torn from her thoughts.

Everyone looked over at Mikasa approaching, Serafall right beside her.

Both looked like they had been crying.

Kuroka didn't seem to care about their state, only about what she was looking for.

"Give him back!" Kuroka said firmly, separating herself from Ophis gently.

"For what," Mikasa said rhetorically, her eyes empty and hollow. "He's not coming back."

"You don't know that!" Kuroka snapped, standing in a hurry as she glared at the other woman. "Give me him!"

"Evil Pieces don't work on him," Rias agreed with Mikasa, a complex look on her face as she looked at Leviathan's Pawn.

She wasn't the only one.

Almost everyone was looking at Mikasa with... well, calling it a melange would not be doing justice to their conflicting feelings.

Not that the Ackerman was any better.

She looked... destroyed. Wrecked. An example of misery so complete that Sona had never seen the like before.

"I know!" Kuroka turned her ire on the redhead but froze when she caught sight of her younger sister looking up at her. Kuroka sagged, tears flowing as she looked back to Mikasa. "Please. I know it didn't work for you. But... I have to try."

"It still won't work," Serafall said softly before Mikasa could answer. "The Evil Pieces need an intact body. He... wasn't."

There was a low, keening wail.

Sona didn't know who it was coming from.

It could have been her.

It wasn't Kuroka.

"Please! I need to see it! See him!" Kuroka pressed frantically. Begging. "I need to know if it was worth it! Please, just let me see his smile!"

It clicked.

With a sudden clarity, it clicked for Sona.

It wasn't the smile comment.

Eren might have lied to Kuroka. He had certainly lied enough, and deceiving Kuroka wouldn't have been the worst thing he had done to get the ending he wanted. Kuroka was also fair game for predictions since she supposedly wasn't immune to the Paths like Sona was supposed to be.

Like Mikasa was supposed to be.

No, it wasn't Kuroka or Mikasa that stirred the insight.

It was Akeno, watching the conflict with sharp eyes.

Akeno, who was also immune to the Path.

Akeno, whose words now rang through Sona.

At the time, it had scared Sona stiff, but it had been half-forgotten in the revelations about Eren, his world, and his goals.

"He once told me he'd die on the bench. Alone."

A sentence that took on a whole new meaning now that she knew he could see the future.

"What smi-"

"Aunty!" Sona interrupted, the numbness fading and energy coursing into her as her heart picked up until it was beating so fast she was sure everyone else could hear it. "Did he see you? Did Eren see you?!"

Mikasa blinked numbly, looking at the younger girl.

"Ah. No. I was... I was too late."

"Too late?" Kuroka asked with a growl, stepping forward toward the woman. Serafall looked ready to defend her Pawn, but Sona stopped them with another question.

"You didn't kill Eren, did you?!"

Mikasa looked down at the girl, seeing something in her eyes that made her heart skip a beat.

"No. I didn't. I was too late," Mikasa repeated, more firmly this time as anger replaced grief. "Someone else got there first. Rizevim Lucifer. He..." Mikasa's teeth clenched, and her hands shook. "He killed Eren. I... almost killed him. Would have killed him. But... he had Eren's head. He managed to get away. I'm going to find him and kill him..." The anger at the thought withered and died, once more replaced with grief. "And while I was fighting him, that mist took Eren's body. And Great Red's."

Sona didn't pay any attention to the rage on her aunt's face or on the faces of the other people there.

She just asked one more question, a desperate burning... something in her chest.

"His eyes! Did you see Eren's eyes? Were they grey? Or were they green!?"

Because Eren didn't have to be in his Titan.

And Titans didn't need to be huge.

Mikasa stared at her niece, almost uncomprehending for a second. 

Then it clicked for her, too.

"You think..." Mikasa asked, a note of desperate hope in her voice as she reached for Sona's shoulders, locking her place so they could stare eye to eye.

"Answer the question!"

"I- I can't say for sure. His regular eyes look green if the light hits them right. Or blue. And without the sun..." Mikasa shook her head. "I barely saw him for a second. He was covered in blood, so I didn't see his skin. After Rizevim was gone, I got a better look, but they were pale. I could be wrong."

Kuroka also seemed to get it as she asked her own question, her golden eyes alight with their own fire.

"Was he smiling?"

"Why would he be smiling?" Akeno asked waspishly, not yet understanding what was happening. "He's dead! Eren's dead! You don't smile when you die! Not when someone like Rizevim Lucifer kills you!"

Kuroka didn't look at the girl, just staring at Mikasa.

"No," Mikasa said slowly. "I can't say about his eyes without... without hoping too much. But I can say, with a hundred percent certainty, that Eren was not smiling."

Kuroka laughed.

Loud, long and filled with such relief and joy that everyone had to stare at her as she scooped Ophis up into her arms, pressing the dragon into her breasts and spinning the small girl.

"Sona," Serafall said her name with such calmness that it took the younger Sitri a moment to realize she was also grinning. 

And crying. 

The tears that had refused to fall were now flowing without stopping. Everyone was looking at her like she was crazy. 

Serafall waved her hand, and a magical boundary appeared, separating them from the rest of the rubble of a ruined battlefield.

Once they had their privacy, the Leviathan looked at her sister.

"Tell me what is going on. Or else."

The fact that her sister was saying something like that... It made Sona look at her aunt.

Mikasa looked...

Sona couldn't not explain after seeing the normally strong, dependable woman looking at her like that.

So, Sona put it as bluntly as possible to avoid confusion.

"Eren can use the Founder."

In the moment before the shocked and horrified listeners could ask for... everything, Kuroka added her own bombshell.

"Eren's known the day he dies since he regained his powers," the nekoshou's smile was infectious as she continued to squish Ophis into her boobs. "He told me he dies with a smile, but he never knew why he was smiling. He's been chasing that smile for thirteen years."

"So... You're sure... He's..."

Mikasa stuttered out the words as if not daring to hope to have the final confirmation.

Yet there was also a note of horror in her at the idea that Eren might once more be trapped in the endless hell of the Paths.

Sona gave her aunt a watery smile.

This wouldn't answer everything, and it certainly wouldn't solve the answer of Eren's... status, or whatever you wanted to call this ball of emotion and conflict within them all. Eren had just attacked them, killing a lot of people, and manipulated them to help, even if indirectly.

All this would do was put off the end, the grief, for a little bit.

A little more time to come to terms. To digest. To do things right!

Sometimes, just a bit of time was enough to say goodbye.

"Eren's not dead. He's still alive!"

********

As the privacy spells went up around the Leviathan, her Pawn, her sister, and the Gremory group, Vali tried to ignore Bikou's look.

He failed.

"I thought I told her," the White Dragon Emperor said a bit sheepishly.

Bikou just continued to stare accusingly.

[No. You didn't.] Albion's voice was tinged with exasperation. [As soon as you told them you found Eren, you fought her not to go to him immediately, remember? You spent the entire day convincing her to wait to use the attack as cover.]

Vali did remember. But he also remembered telling everyone that Eren had told him the bench was where he'd die.

[You only told them that after she had already left to find him.]

…Right.

Ok, so it was Vali's fault.

Or at least partially his.

Eren could have told Kuroka he'd die on the bench at any point, so the young Lucifer was only willing to take fifty percent of the blame... Maybe thirty.

He and Bikou returned to Kuoh to see if Eren was there after the battle while Le Fay and her familiars went to find Arthur.

He wasn't there, which probably meant Eren hadn't died yet. 

Vali had been surprised not to find Kuroka looking there as well, and by the time he returned to the battlefield, they'd caught the tail end of her realization that Eren still lived.

"How was I supposed to know he wouldn't tell her?" Vali was starting to get defensive at Bikou's flat look. "He told me right away! Didn't even try to keep it a secret. Didn't tell me I had to either."

Bikou sighed.

"If I had known she thought Eren would actually die in this battle, I would have told her. No wonder she didn't want to fight," Vali ran a hand through his hair, ensuring it was still appropriately styled. "It's not like it mattered. Eren still kicked our asses. Our last shot, all of us together, and we still lost."

"...It was a fun battle, though."

"…It was," Vali admitted quietly, looking out into the distance where the Dream had fallen. "Not knowing if we'd live or die. Not knowing if victory was even possible. And getting to go all out like that without worrying for collateral… It's the most fun I've had in my life… Eren even left us a gift. We can find the Boob Dragon to fight with later."

The pair lapsed into silence, looking out over the battlefield once more.

Then Bikou snorted a laugh.

"What?" What had been funny enough to interrupt their cool moment?

"Nothing. Just…" Bikou was chortling, grinning like a monkey. "Do you think he knew? About Kuroka not knowing he would survive? That she was fighting thinking she was killing him?"

"Maybe," Vali shrugged, not understanding the humour. "I have no idea what he sees. He sees everything the Titans do but has no way of knowing what other people are thinking. Why?"

"I just found it funny that both women he's gone for so far have tried to kill him. One even succeeded. I was wondering if that was his 'type.' Ya know?"

"Probably," Vali smirked. "If that's the case, the entire world would be his 'type' now."

The smirk died as a more sobering thought came to him.

Eren, from even before he met Kuroka, had to have known she'd fight him today. And if he had known she was fighting to kill him…

Was that why Eren could fall in love with Kuroka in the first place?

Because he knew she wouldn't choose him at the end of it all? That Kuroka, when push came to shove, would decide to pursue her own happiness even if it meant it was no longer with him?

…That sounded like Eren to Vali.

"What are we going to do now?" Bikou asked as the silence stretched on.

"Eren still has promises to fufill. I will make sure he comes through."

"Just your promise," Bikou shrugged when Vali looked at him in surprise. "The Hero Faction got theirs. Ophis got hers. Kuroka, Le Fay, Arthur and I got ours. So, you're the only one left."

"Will the Monkey King agree this counts for your bet? Everyone thinks Eren's dead."

"Even if Eren did die, there's no denying that the Old Man isn't the greatest sage to ever live anymore," Bikou said with a mischievous grin tinged with smug satisfaction. "Eren, a sage, killed Great Red. It is literally impossible to top that. He'll argue, but we both know I won."

Vali couldn't really disagree with that, though he did feel a bit of regret at not being the one to finally beat the Dream. 

As a child, he'd often wanted to be the one to kill Great Red and place white dragons at the top of the hierarchy of this world.

"I don't know where Georg is or where he took Eren, so I can't ask him about my mother…" Vali trailed off before shrugging. "I guess all that's left is to hunt down Rizevim. Eren did promise that he'd die miserably."

"Something tells me that we won't be the only ones looking for him," Bikou chuckled, looking at where the group was still talking, protected by privacy wards. "If we do find him, how will we kill him? You can't use Albion for it?"

"I have some ideas," Vali smirked, looking toward his rival surrounded by his… 'Harem' was it? "Let's find Arthur and Le Fay and see if they want to help."

Despite what he wanted the world to think, Eren clearly wasn't ready to die just yet, and Vali honestly couldn't wait to find out what could possibly be a more worthy end than the death of the Dream.