Eren
The boy on his back was pointing towards the the tents of the eastern families. Eren had saved the kid from the merchants. Why couldn't he have just ignored the boy? He was going to kill the boy in the future... so why did he save him? He's no savior... he's a monster.
He finally realized why he saved the boy.
No matter how much he tried to change the future, it all ended up the same way. It was what he wanted, it was in his nature to save the boy. The carnage, the destruction, all of it, he wanted it. Everything his future memories showed him, he... wanted it. Was he deluding himself because he never knew what could have happened if he didn't follow his future memories? No... there's no other way.
Zeke had his plan but Eren can't accept that. It would have been better for all the Eldians to slowly die out. That would mean less people would die... but he didn't want that.
They could have sacrificed Historia to protect the island... but he didn't want that. He absolutely refused to let her freedom be violated like that. She has the right to live a long and happy life along with rest of his friends. She should make a family with someone she loves, not be forced to bear children to be used as tools. He'll save her, even if it means he has to take the weight of the world's sins on his shoulders. He'll throw away his humanity to keep her and his friends safe.
He doesn't have much time left. He has to make sure that every one of his loved ones are safe after he dies. He can't gamble their and Paradis's future on the 50-year plan. He had to become the devil.
His heart ached for what he will do soon. He wasn't a half hearted peace of shit like Reiner. He's so much worse...
He dropped to his knees, lightly holding the boy's shoulder for support.
"I'm sorry..." The boy looks at him in confusion, tilting his small head slightly.
"لماذا تبكي؟" He had no idea what the boy was saying. He didn't care.
"The island... it's to save Eldia... but it's more than that..." He remembered the tragic disappointment when he found out what was on the other side of the wall... when he opened his father's book and saw that photo.
No freedom. Just more enemies. More people that hate them, that want them dead.
"What was really beyond the walls was nothing like the world I dreamed of. It wasn't like the world I saw in Armin's book." He was so sick of fighting but he had to keep fighting. He had to keep moving forward. He just wanted to be free... for his loved ones to be free. Knowing what he would do soon just made everything so much worse.
"When I learned that humanity lived beyond the walls I was so disappointed..." All that fighting to escape the walls... it led to one more wall. The disappointing wall of humanity, that wanted them dead. He thought it would be over as soon as they reached the ocean but he was hit with the bitter reality of this cruel world.
"I wished for it... I wanted to wipe it all away..." If only everyone outside of Paradis wanted them dead. It would make killing them much easier. But he knew that wasn't true. It made everything so much worse. There were also just regular people, just like the small boy he's speaking to now.
He'd give anything for them to live in peace but he knew that wasn't the way the world worked. But... he wanted to hold on his last bit of hope that things can change.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
Tomorrow will decide everything...
...
He had just left the room. The future doesn't really change after all. He had no other choice now. He had to do this on his own. He had to resort to the Rumbling now. He had to warn her...