Disclaimer: I do not Attack on Titan
Eren Kissed Historia's hand and froze on the spot.
Flashes of the past and future flashed through Eren's head. Each revelation was more horrifying than the next culminating in the death of Frieda Reiss. Eren's anger began to flare up but it was quickly put out by what he saw next.
The rumbling, the answer to his problem, for a free Paradis. A Paradis, free of titans and outside enemies. And most importantly for his friends. He wanted them to live happy and long lives. But the consequences for his goals. He saw the death, he saw the cries, he saw everything. The death of the world beyond the walls. And then he saw the ultimate consequence of actions, his death. He saw Mikasa... swing and darkness ended that vision.
Deep down he realized something disturbing that shook him to the core. Freedom...was...a...-every action he would take from now on would lead to that future.
Everyone looked at Eren, and a glassy-eyed look was stuck on his face and his face was beginning to pale as if the grim reaper reaped his soul.
"Eren?" Historia asked with a worried tone as she looked at him with concern.
But Eren remained unresponsive for a few seconds before saying "Historia, I need a bit of rest, forgive me."
"You may go" Historia responded regally with a hint of worry colouring her voice.
"Thank you." Eren bowed haphazardly before trudging his way out of the ceremony as everybody watched him with mixed reactions. But Eren did not care; he needed some time to sort out what he saw.
Eren has changed, Mikasa observed as she watched Eren shut the door behind him. Everyone knew it. Ever since the award ceremony, Eren has become colder and melancholic. There was no more passion; he was just going through the motions. He was pushing everyone away and nobody could even get close anymore without being ignored, even the commander and the queen could not get to Eren to say anything about the ceremony. It was like what Eren was before, disappeared that day.
Eren entered his room undisturbed, and opened a diary he started to keep write down his thoughts. He knew what he was doing was damaging his relationships, but it was for the best. It would be easier for everyone to distance themselves from him once he started the rumbling.
"What would mother think?" Eren sighed as he remembered their last day together. "Would you approve of this plan even if it's the only way to save everyone? To kill every human beyond the walls to stop the cycle of hate against the Eldians. I guess I will never know, but why did I have to argue with her that day."
Eren stared at his diary and tried to draw a picture of his mother from memory. After an hour, a rough sketch formed, it was nowhere near as beautiful as his mother in life though it would due for now. Eren flipped the page, writing some other thoughts troubling him like his brother.
"I wish there is another way, damn Ymir for setting this up, damn Karl Fritz and... and..." Eren growled out before calming down and writing down his last thoughts for today.
Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.
Now it was time to wait till it was time to take the final curtain call. As Eren went to bed he could only wonder if there was a different path.
When he woke up, he did not find his blanket or bed. He looked around in every direction only to find an empty expanse. A never-ending desert, void of life.
"How fitting." Eren mumbled to himself as he picked himself up from the sandy floor.
The wind picked up for a second whispering to Eren "Keep moving forward." in his own voice.
"Looks like I'm going insane," Eren said to himself as did the only thing he knew how to do, keep moving forward.
He walked around for hours trying to find something whispers in different voices from the past and the future the breeze kept saying "Keep moving forward. You started this story now finish it. He's already special, because he was born into this world. You will become the enemy."
With each new voice, Eren felt the weight on his shoulder slowly increase, as he recognized each new voice. And the wind picked up until it was a dust storm.
"What is the point of all of this," Eren said to himself, before being silenced by the wind and more voices whispered to him.
Eren continued to trudge on until the dust storm finally stopped and a giant tree bigger than any titan stood in front of him.
"What is this place?" Eren commented as he walked by the lush green forestry that surrounded the giant tree.
Eren continued to walk around for a bit before spotting something completely unusual, a girl perhaps a few years older than him was sitting on the edge of a small lake with a weird-looking white worm-centipede insect sitting on her lap like a cat.
The girl looked towards him with her pale violet eyes and signalled him to come to her. Eren narrowed his eyes in suspicion but nevertheless approached the mysterious girl in the white dress. The girl was small in stature with light hair. She had straight-cut bangs with long straight hair that flowed down her back.
Eren dipped his feet into cool water and looked towards the giant tree.
"Welcome to the Paths, Eren Yeager. Did you know every Eldian is connected through it?" The girl said apathetically as she continued to pet the worm creature.
Eren had hundreds of questions running through his mind at the same time, but he was unable to ask any of them as if on reflex he said "I know."
The girl merely tilted her head in boredom and said "You saw Grisha's memories didn't you"
"I did." He responded as his mind continued to process everything around him.
She poked at Eren's side to get his attention. Eren looked at the girl and was met with a devilish smile. "Then how about I give you a hint on who I am?" She said teasingly.
"Hmph, I'm not interested in playing games right now." Eren sighed as he continued to look at the scenery around him.
"I think you would be interested, this tree is where I met my friend Worm-Kun." She said as she gave the creature a soft pat.
Eren looked towards the girl with anger slowly creeping into his features as he clenches his fist "Then you must be Ymir"
"I am-" Before Ymir could say anything else a fist crashed into her face.
"You bitch-why the hell did you set this up, who gave you the right to meddle with my life, why didn't you do anything, why do I have to fucking die to satisfy you and free you?" Eren yelled at the down girl waiting for an answer before deciding if he would punch her again.
Ymir merely wiped off the blood trickling from her lips before answering "Because it was something only Eren Yeager could do, after all you are special for being born into this world."
Eren threw another punch and another one and another and another one until he got exhausted.
"Are you done?" Ymir said dispassionately.
"You bitch, do you have any remorse?" he growled out.
"No" She replied evenly. Eren wanted to throw another punch but he realized his punches barely did anything to her as she just healed the damage from each punch. So he just stared at her as tears began to flow down his face.
"I don't want this, you know what, Ymir, I will do nothing take that." He cried hysterically. Ymir stood up and grabbed Eren by the shoulder making him look her in the eyes.
"Doing nothing will lead to the death of everyone you ever cared about. The world will not stand for the existence of Paradis forever, Eren. You know that, don't you? Besides, you will never abandon your friends, would you? Eren Yeager will keep moving forward to save his friends even if he dies doing it, am I wrong." she said as she bored into his teary eyes.
"No." he resigned. All that tension and anger that has been building up defeated when confronted with the ultimate truth. Eren Yeager cared too much not to do anything.
"Then instead of punching me like a child, let's talk," she said apathetically as she pushed him into the water.
"Wait-"
"Hahaha" She chuckled lightly as she stepped in.
"You said you wanted to talk, not go for a swim" Eren growled as he did his best to avoid looking below her neckline.
"You needed to cool down, and if you want to look there is no need to be shy," She said with coy apathy.
"Let's just get to business," Eren said while ignoring what she just said.
"If I understand this correctly you want to avoid this path put before you right now?" She asked.
"Yes."
"Then let's make a deal, I will grant you a power that will change your fate and save your friends," Ymir said.
"There's always a catch, what is it and what does that power entail?" Eren said dryly.
"You will have to leave Paradis alone and explore the world." Ymir explained.
"What why? What is this power? Why are you even giving me this power, and how could I-" Eren asked rapidly before Ymir put a finger on his mouth shushing him.
"You talk too much, for a blockhead," She said blandly before answering in order "This power will allow you to research a weapon that can lay waste to cities and other weapons more advanced than what Paradis has. To repay a favor I owe you. You cannot. If you accept this power the future memories from the attack titan will not be able to help you anymore. The memories of that future become obsolete, and I will block any new memories from the future."
Ymir took a step and looked at Eren to give him time to decide, but Eren answered immediately with resolve "I will take it, but explain to me why I have to leave Paradis?"
"I want you to experience the world. That is all."
"Fine, I will leave Paradis," He said with finality. Though in the back of his mind, he noticed that Ymir was being very vague with the description of this power, and her reason for him leaving Paradis was suspicion, to say the least.
A confused look graced her face before disappearing altogether. "Eren, I'm, surprised you accepted my offer so quickly." She was sure her explanation would put Eren on guard forcing him to think about the offer.
Eren looked at the tree and then back to Ymir. Before looking towards the empty desert that lay beyond the oasis.
"I refuse to accept my fate currently paved in front of me" He whispered before looking back to Ymir. "There is no other path for me, but to accept your offer regardless of the stipulation" He answered.
"I see" Ymir sighed. "Please come over and stand directly in front of me."
Eren did as he was told.
"Close your eyes." She said. "Good, this path you have chosen will be a tough one, it will path entirely unseen by the attack titan, you are the only one who gets to decide what you do with power once I give it to you, once you make your final decision, the power of titans will disappear, so please do not disappoint me, Eren Yeager, because I will be watching...And I'm grateful for the suffering you endured for me, now wake up to a new dawn."
"I'm Awake" Eren stated. He looked at his surroundings and found his room.
"Was that a dream or-"
DEFCON 5 initiated
183:23:59:59
183:23:59:58
Author's Notes
Just an idea for a long fic that I decided to write the beginning too and of course updates will be at whim. And Note something will be changed to fit the story and that heavy themes will be in play.