"Historia, I know I'm asking so much of you right now, but I know that you can do this. You're strong, stronger than most for what you've had to endure. I wouldn't be asking if I didn't think you could do it. So please, for me, take the injection."

Frieda had aged beautifully since the last time Historia had seen her. Frieda had given Historia her memories back earlier, it turned out that Frieda was the one who begged for them to not kill her, she defended her with her own life.

Long gone was the long black hair she once sported, instead her hair was slightly shorter, and it was tied up into a neat ponytail. Her hair was brushed neatly, though there were a few loose strands hanging off the front on either side and over her ears.

In the five years it had been, she had grown so much as a woman, she wasn't in her late teens anymore, she was a fully grown woman. Having grown about two inches taller in those years, though her smile hadn't faded on bit. It was every bit as bright, vibrant and loving as Historia remembered from her youth.

When Frieda taught her to read and ride a horse, it was some of the happiest moments of her life. Now she had the chance to join Frieda and the rest of her family back in the Capital, as one of them.

Historia glanced over to the top of the platform, where Eren was chained down, a gag in his mouth to prevent him from transforming. He was struggling wildly, just like Eren would, never one to give up or surrender at any point in time.

"Historia." Frieda laid a gentle had on her shoulder, relaxing her with her soothing mannerisms. "I know you're worried about your friend Eren, but the truth is that he's suffering a great deal of pain. When we touched him, I was able to see his memories, the trauma that he has suffered." Frieda visibly shuddered as she remembered.

"You would be doing him a great deal of mercy, no human should have to live with those kinds of things inside their head." Both Reiss sisters looked to Eren, who was trying to scream through his gag to no avail.

Historia held the needle to her arm, but she was shaking violently, she was struggling with what she needed to do, until Frieda touched her arm, calming her nerves once again.

"It's okay Historia." Frieda whispered, a small smile on her face. "I'm here now, I'll always be here for you."

"Historia! Don't do it!"

Frieda shot around in an instant, and Historia had lowered the needle ever so slightly, it was Lukas, he was here now.

"I don't know who you think you are, but you need to leave before you regret coming here." Frieda warned him, not recognising him.

"Historia, what are you doing?" Lukas asked, he was confused why she was holding a needle to her arm, why wasn't it Frieda trying to eat Eren? "Why are you trying to make her eat him?"

"This doesn't concern you." Frieda warned him again, her eyes starting to glow a bright purple. "Leave now, and you will be allowed to live."

Before she could even consider anything else, he had his gun drawn on her, pointing at her forehead. "If I see your eyes glow again, you won't even get to use your powers." He warned her. "You'll be dead before you hit the floor."

"You want to test that?" Frieda snarled, keeping herself between him and Historia. "Before you even blink, you'll have forgotten everything about your life... War Hammer."

"Maybe..." He hardened his gaze on her. "But all it takes is a squeeze, and I don't think you could dodge a bullet traveling at three hundred metres a second." He warned with a glare. "I'll give you one chance to give up peacefully, otherwise I'll fight you to the death."

"Historia, take the serum." Frieda tried to hurry her half sister along. "Do it now."

"Don't listen to her Historia." He pleaded with her. "You can't trust anything she shows or tells you. You don't know what's real or fake, you can trust me."

"Trust you?" Frieda almost laughed. "You murdered my mother and brother in cold blood. You murdered a noble and his children with no remorse. Who in their right mind would trust a monster like you?"

"Well normally you'd be right." Lukas conceded, but his face twisted into a creepy smile. "But at least Historia knows for sure that those things happened. You've erased and given her memories on a whim. Who's to say you aren't trying to turn her into a Titan as revenge for her mother ruining your family?"

"Frieda..." Historia now realised one crucial detail from the puzzle was missing. "You said that only I could take Eren's power, but that's not true. You are a Titan, why can't you just take his power?"

"T-That's not how it works for me Historia." Frieda tried to reassure her. "His Titan is too volatile to mix with my power. It has to be you. I promise it'll all be fine, and once it's over, we can go home together. You can live with us, like one big, happy family." Frieda gestured behind Historia, where her father and other three siblings were, an awkward smile cracking on all their faces.

"I see..." Historia's face fell, because she now realised what she had to do. Gripping the needle, she threw it against the floor, shattering the glass and spilling its contents all over the crystal floor.

"Historia... why would you do that?" Frieda yelled into the face of her baby sister. "I told you it had to be you!"

Historia's face twisted into one of anger, and she grabbed Frieda and threw her over her shoulder and onto the floor, a sickening crunch as Frieda broke her back on the impact.

"Happy family my ass!" Historia yelled at her half sister. "You just want it to be me so you can keep living in this fucked up fantasy world of yours! Lukas might be crazy, but at least he's been honest with me! Something the lot of you never were!" With that, Historia grabbed the bag Frieda had brought with them, the fire in her heart that had been missing now set ablaze as she shoved her way through her supposed family, making her way up the stairs to Eren.

Lukas was glad Historia had sided with him, but in the seconds that it had taken for Historia to finish her little speech, Frieda was already healed up on her feet, her eyes filled with a fiery vengeance that needed to be quenched.

"You bastard!"

She had the power of a god at her fingertips, and before she killed him, she'd make him understand just how weak he was in comparison to her. She moved at a frightening speed towards him. Lukas panicked at her speed and shot at her five times before she reached him, all shots hitting, but she shrugged them off like they were nothing.

Her right hand grabbed him by the throat and she lifted him into the air with strength that Levi and Mikasa would be proud of, holding him a good two feet off the ground as her eyes went purple, and his world went to black.


When he shot up from his sleep, he was in a place like no other, there was sand everywhere, it stretched as far as the eye could see, and in the sky were these... paths? Millions, possibly billions of them traveling through the night sky, and to his right, there was a tower of light, where all the paths met at one singular point.

"Took you long enough to wake up." He could hear Frieda's voice behind him. He snapped around to face her, but he was startled by what he saw, she had chains around her wrists, and one around her neck, keeping her locked in place.

"It feels like I've been waiting months for you to wake up, but in reality, this is all happening within the blink of an eye." She explained.

"What is this place?" He asked, looking around some more after standing up, but off in the distance, he spotted a girl wearing rags and carrying a bucket with her. "And who is that?"

"That is Ymir Fritz, the original Founder." Frieda told him the truth. "And as for this place, this is the coordinate, where the Founding Titan comes to use their power." She revealed. "Every one of those paths is connected to a different subject of Ymir, all of them connected to the Founding Titan through one singular point. The coordinate."

"I don't understand." Lukas held his head for a moment. "I haven't eaten you, so how am I here? Why am I here?"

"You're here because I brought you here." Frieda informed him. "As of this moment in real time, I have your throat in my had, ready to crush it and kill you in an instant, but despite what you've done to my family and the people on this island, I feel it is my duty as Queen of the Walls to explain why this needs to happen before I do kill you."

As she spoke, Ymir Fritz had taken up a place next to them, kneeling before Frieda, like she was her master.

"I want you to take our hands." She told him. "I want to show you the truth of this world. How it all really started."

He hesitated when she said that, it sounded like it would be far more fucked up than he could even imagine. "Do I even want to know?"

"I think that it's important you do." Frieda tried to assure him. "The alternative is you die without knowing anything. The choice is yours."

"Fuck you, you cold hearted bitch." He spat at her, meaning every last ounce of disrespect as he took a hold of Frieda's hand, and then the hand of Ymir Fritz.

He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he was stood next to Frieda, who was free of her chains. They were standing in the middle of a field, with armed guards standing around, everyone looking up at one man who wore a golden crown on his head.

"Ymir was part of a tribe that was slaughtered, with the surviving members being enslaved by the tribe ruler Fritz." Frieda told him as they watched the scene unfold. "They had their tongues cut out, and one day, Ymir left the gate to the pig pen open."

They watched as the rest of the slaves pointed Ymir out in an instant.

"Fritz thought it would be fun to hunt her, but little did he know she'd come into contact with something far more powerful than anything else in this world." The scene changed again, now with Ymir running through a forest, an arrow stuck in her right arm as she stumbled inside of the largest tree in the forest, falling into a pool of water.

Lukas felt something in his spine, a sharp tingle, it felt like something had just attached itself to his spine.

"Ymir Fritz came into contact with the source of all living matter, and it gave her the power of the Titans." Frieda said. "With her power, she returned to serve Fritz, she cultivated land, built bridges across mountains, amassed a huge amount of wealth for Eldia. She even conquered their rival, destroying the armies of Marley."

The scene changed yet again, with an older Ymir Fritz standing with three children that looked distinctly like her. "As reward for her services, Fritz took her as his concubine, and they had three children together."

"Maria, Rose and Sina, right?"

"Yes." Frieda nodded, and the scene changed once more, with Ymir thwarting an assassination attempt on Fritz's life, but she didn't get up or heal at all. "Thirteen years after gaining her powers, she died protecting Fritz."

"Then the powers split?" Lukas guessed.

"No." Frieda remembered what happened with disgust. The lights faded in, with Fritz standing behind his three daughters now, all three of them eating the remnants of Ymir's corpse. "Fritz forced his children to eat the corpse of their mother to preserve the power of the Titans. Then he told them to continue giving birth, and to have their children eat their spines to keep Eldia in power. That's how the power of the nine Titans split."

With that, the scene disappeared from view and they were back at the coordinate, Ymir still bowing to Frieda. "Take away everyone's memories of the revolt, the coup d'état, whatever they called it. I want everyone in the walls to become docile for the next few months, and everyone will believe that the Survey Corps were responsible for the Titans getting into the Walls to try and prove their worth."

Ymir Fritz rose to her feet, slowly making her way to the coordinate to carry out her duty to the Founding Titan.

"No, I won't let you!" Lukas stood in front of Ymir, standing in her way of carrying out Frieda's order, he was prepared to fight them both in order to stop this from happening.

"It seems you have mistaken your role in this place." Frieda gestured to the chains that were now holding him by the wrists, with Ymir walking around him and towards her objective. "You have no actual power here. Ymir follows the commands of the Founding Titan alone. It's ironic, she died a slave, only to remain one for two thousand years. This is going to happen, whether you want it to or not."

Lukas struggled against the chains, looking over his shoulder, there had to be something he could do... right?


He continued to struggle against the chains holding him down, he needed to get out of them now. Sure Mikasa was still back there, and he had no doubt she'd continue until Frieda was dead, but he didn't want to forget anything about his family, his life, Petra.

"It's no use." Frieda smirked while he struggled. "My power reigns supreme in this place. You can't hold a candle to me in this place. That is why you failed, why all who oppose the Paradise me and my ancestors have created will fail."

"You're wrong." He told her. "You said this was the place the Founding Titan comes to use their power, and if that's the coordinate back there, then that means my power is here too."

"Don't be ridiculous." Frieda scoffed. "This place isn't physical, your powers cannot be used here. Only powers linked with the mind can be used in this place."

"My ancestor conquered six of the nine Titans all on her own in the Great Titan War. She didn't send your ancestor running with his tail between his legs so I could be tricked into thinking I'm going to die helpless." He pulled harder at his chains. "You may have the power of a god, but you seem to forget that my powers aren't all tied to my physical body."

"What are you talking about?" Frieda's face turned quizzical. "Only the Founding Titan has power here, you-" Frieda's eyes widened when he pulled on his chains once more, and out of the ground came two sharp spires of crystal, severing his chain links and freeing him from her prison.

Frieda was indeed shocked that he'd been able to use his powers in here, but she wasn't that worried, because when he reached Ymir and tried to stop her, she continued walking, she was an unstoppable force in this place, no matter how much he tried, Ymir would always follow the Founders orders, just like a slave.

Lukas tried to stop Ymir, but it was no use, she was either continue pushing him forward or pulling him along with her. Frieda was right, he really had no true power in this place, it was all hopeless.

"Ymir..." Lukas started to speak, arms still wrapped around her from behind, being dragged along the sands beneath them. "I have a dream for this world. After six years of living on Paradis, I'm tired of fighting wars that have no meaning other than hatred. All I want is for the world to live in a time of peace, Eldians and Marleyans alike."

Ymir showed no signs of stopping, continuing to drag him along with her, closer and closer to the coordinate.

"You're not a god Ymir, just because you have all this power, it doesn't make you a goddess or anything else. You're just a girl, a very normal girl who suffered in life." He felt her slow down ever so slightly. "You've been here for two thousand years, slaving away for whatever Founding Titan appears next. You shouldn't have to do that, make your own choices, decide for yourself whether or not you lend your strength to someone. I don't care if you choose to join her, just make your choice by yourself. Don't be a slave to anyone, just be yourself!"

Ymir actually stopped when he finished speaking, she was almost within arms reach of the coordinate, but she had actually stopped when he finished speaking.

Frieda's eyes went wide when Ymir had stopped, this wasn't supposed to happen, she was supposed to follow her commands. She quickly shook it off, the chains limited her movement, but not her voice.

"Ymir! I am ordering you to erase the memories from the islanders about the revolt against the government and blame the Scouts!" Frieda screamed. "You are mine to command! You serve the Reiss Family!"

"Don't listen to her Ymir." Lukas whispered, a huge sigh of relief leaving him when she didn't move. "She's trying to control you by force. You're better than that, you deserve so much better than that." He slowly let go of Ymir and stood up, offering his hand to the girl who's back was turned to him.

"You don't have to take my hand Ymir, I need your help, but I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do." He was honest with her. "Please, just decide what you want to do by yourself, no Frieda, no me, just you."

When Ymir turned around to face him, what had been a depressed look from before, her once closed eyes now open and they were vibrant and purple eyes, tears leaking from her eyes and she threw herself at him, her face buried into his torso, her arms wrapped around him like he was her saviour.

"Y-You..." Frieda trailed off, her entire world was falling apart, she'd lost control of the coordinate entirely. "You took control over the source of my power, without royal blood, you don't even have the power. How did you do it? TELL ME!"

"I didn't take control of anything Frieda." He responded with, his arms now around Ymir. "Ymir took control of her own life, she decided by herself what she wanted to do, and being a slave to your family is not what she wants anymore."

"Huh?" Frieda was confused, she had the power of a god within her, she was supposed to be the strongest being on the planet, in the universe, but she had been usurped by a Tybur, he was supposed to be inferior to her, but Frieda understood now.

Just like she'd told that man five years ago, her duty was to protect the Founding Titan, to prevent it falling into the hands of weak humans who would succumb to the temptation of war and world domination. She now understood, he was strong, much stronger than anyone else in this world, if anyone could realise their dream of world peace, he could.


When he blinked again, Ymir was gone and he was back into the real world, held up by Frieda at his throat, but her strength crumbled in an instant, dropping him as she collapsed in front of him, he presumed she had accepted defeat here, but when she looked up at him, he was very disturbed by the look in her eye.

Her eyes were a bright purple, but unlike before when they had a very aggressive tint to them, her eyes were far calmer now. Frieda struggled to her feet as the bullet wounds from earlier healed, blood getting all over the white top and robe she was wearing, staining it a deep red colour.

Lukas scrambled to his feet, reaching for his gun that had clattered onto the floor when she first grabbed him, but when he had it, he was dumbfounded when Frieda got down on her knees, kneeling before him.

"Frieda!" Rod shouted as he and her siblings rushed over. "What are you doing? Kill him and take his power!"

"Hey! What's going on here?" Kenny the Ripper had finally arrived on the scene, he had his stomach sliced open by that bitch with the scarf when he was fighting Levi, but he wasn't going to let a scratch stop him.

"Frieda, what the hell are you doing on your knees? Are you actually kneeling?" Kenny questioned the Queen of the Walls. "Y'know, when I said you'd be on your knees in front of your Titan lover, this isn't exactly what I had in mind."

"Kenny! You must kill him!" Rod tried to order the tall Ackerman. "Before he kills Frieda, you must-"

Kenny had enough of the fat bastards bullshit, so he aimed and shot Rod in the leg, destroying his left knee, leaving him in a crumpled mess.

"Would you shut up Rod? I'm tired of your bullshit now." Kenny groaned. "I'm trying to establish whether or not the two crazy Titans are gonna go at it before fighting to the death. A man's gotta know these things, I need to know how long I need to turn away for."

"Kenny, please stop." Frieda spoke gently, taking Lukas' free hand into one of her own, bringing it down and kissing the back of his hand. "You have been a loyal servant to my family, but you are free now. You may live out the rest of your days as you please."

"Hold on just a second." Kenny stopped her right there. "I just blew your daddy's kneecap off, and instead of trying to kill me, you continue to bow to him and you kiss his hand like he's your King?"

Kenny's face went from confused to delighted, a sick and twisted smile forming on his face. "Well this certainly got a lot more exciting. I'll keep everyone away your majesty." Kenny proceeded to walk toward where Rod was bleeding all over the floor, noticing that Historia was still struggling to get Eren free from his chains. "Come on now kids. Let's give the two crazy Titans some privacy while you get it on."

"Kenny you bastard!" Rod coughed up blood. "Only the Reiss Family can use our power to its full potential. You need to stop him from killing Frieda."

"What?" Kenny's face fell, reaching down, he grabbed Rod by his jumper, hoisting him into the air. "You knew this whole time what I wanted, didn't you?" He accused him. "All those people you had me kill, all that fun I had was for nothing? You telling me I can't get the power of a god inside of me?"

"No." Rod told him, ignoring the near shock inducing pain that was coursing through him. "That's why you need to-" Rod was cut off by a flash of bright light, and the body of a Titan formed right before their very eyes. From the feet up, the pure white body of the War Hammer Titan was created.

Lukas looked down to his giant hand, in his clenched fist was Frieda Reiss, but she wasn't struggling, instead she was calm. She was beyond relaxed, she was at peace with everything that was happening, for she believed in Ymir Fritz. She chose Lukas over her, so it was only right he be the one to take her power.

Her eyes had been opened to the truth about the world, about what he could do with this power. "Don't worry about me." Frieda tried to reassure him with a calming touch. "I believe you can be the strongest one of all. Now you must do what needs to be done."

"Frieda! No!" Rod watched in horror as his eldest daughter was brought up to the Titan's mouth. Frieda looked back at her father with a smile, as if to say it'll all be okay before the Titan crunched on her spine, swallowing her upper body before her lower half followed down the throat of the Titan.

The cord connecting his Titan to his crystal started to glow, almost like the power was being sucked through a straw towards him, and after a few seconds the glowing stopped entirely, the power of the Founding Titan now residing within Lukas. Though he felt a great deal of fatigue hit him all of a sudden, and he couldn't explain why.

"Wow, he brought a whole new meaning to eating a girl out." Kenny chuckled, though he was caught off guard when Rod punched him in the face, and in reply, Kenny threw him across the floor, sliding all the way to where the broken glass was on the floor.

"Father, Uri, Frieda..." There was still droplets of the serum on the floor with the broken glass. "I'm coming..." Rod stuck out his tongue and licked the floor.

In an instant, Rod began transforming into a Titan, the spine forming and going all the way up to the roof in an instant. His transformation wasn't happening in an instant, it was taking time, bones and flesh forming at a steady rate.

Lukas had a look around the area, Historia had gotten Eren free, but they were flung back by the force of the rushing winds from Rod's Titan. Below the alter, Kenny had already fled, he was very close to the transformation, and so were the rest of Rod's children, they would be burned alive if they were left out in the open and longer.

Moving quick, he grabbed his crystal that was stuck in the floor behind him, he moved forward and slid under the mass of flesh that was building Rod's Titan, he moved towards the rest of the Reiss children, and while they tried to avoid him, he scooped them up in one go, the three teenagers being lifted up onto the altar, where he let go of them and ushered them along to stand with Eren and Historia, lifting his crystal up onto the steps as well.

"Hey! What the hell happened here?" Captain Levi asked as they arrived, though there were some missing, notably Hange, Oluo and Petra. Moblit, Armin and Nifa also weren't here, which made him fear the worst.

"Rod decided to lick some of the serum off the ground." Lukas explained to the Captain through his Titan, with Mikasa checking on Eren to see if he was alright.

"Can you stop him? Or protect us at least?"

"No." Lukas spoke through his real body as he emerged from the crystal, his Titan crumpling to the floor. "I don't know why, but I feel like I'm gonna collapse. I-I can't save us this time."

"Shit." Levi cursed. "That things gonna crush us." He noted as rocks began falling from the roof, Rod's Titan was about to burst through the roof of the cavern.

"We need to get out of here." Jean spoke up. "Get ready to hold on tight." He spoke to Historia.

The heat being produced from Rod's Titan was immense, and he was only getting bigger and bigger. Everyone on the platform was beginning to get very hot, almost to the point where it burned painfully. His children that were left couldn't even cry, they wanted to, it was just so hot in there.

"We'll never make it!" Eren protested. "Just go without me. You'll die if you all stay here!"

"Eren, shut up for a minute." Lukas said, when he ate Frieda, he saw a flash of her memories, she had put something in the bag that Historia had brought up the stairs with her. He stumbled over to the bag, opening it and raking through it for the vial.

"Here." Lukas finally found it, shoving it into Eren's hand.

"What... armour?" Eren read the label, confused as to what it was.

"Apparently I was lying about you not being able to harden." He explained. "Drink this, and you should be able to harden your Titan."

Lukas fell forward, he would've smashed his face off the floor and fell down the staircase had Mikasa not caught him, holding him up before he passed out, and the last thing he saw was Eren sprinting forward followed by a bright flash of light.