Jean felt his knuckles slam into the side of Eren's face as he threw a hard right hook.
"You bastard! How could you do all this to us?! To Armin?! To Mikasa?!"
Eren slumped over onto his side, falling onto the ground as Jean quickly pounced on him, gripping his white shirt in a clenched left fist as he started to slam his right it into his jaw and nose. "You told her you hated her! She loves you! Damn you… you…"
Jean rears his fist back again for another punch, but he finds his heart isn't in it to follow through all the way, seeing a spurt of blood gush from his nose, stray strands of dark brown hair stuck to his bruised cheek. He weakly throws it forward, slow enough that Eren's outstretched hand catches it before it makes contact with his face again. He lets out a pained groan, but it quickly turns into a breathy laugh. Jean's taken aback, seeing the corner of Eren's lips turn upward as his chest rapidly contracts.
"Heh… it's… it's good to see you haven't changed a bit, Jean." Jean looks taken aback, with Eren quickly grabbing onto his left wrist and pulling it away from his shirt. In the process, he shoves Jean off, causing him to fall onto the hard wood floor right on his butt. The two of them are in various states of sprawled out, Jean getting ready to hop up and start going for more. But… he realizes where he is. He's been on this floor before. It's the mess hall from their training days, often used by him and Eren as an impromptu boxing ring whenever their tempers flared up. Soon enough, he realizes that he feels different. He starts rubbing the back of his head; his hair is shorter than it's been in years. Suddenly, as he looks over at Eren, he realizes both of them look about as old as they were at the end of Cadets, no doubt only days before the Battle of Trost.
Eren uses Jean's confusion as a way to stand up and start making his way towards the kitchen area. "I gotta say…" he states, as he makes his way towards a wooden cabinet with a glass front pane. "That's the fastest anyone's hit me so far." Eren slowly opens the cabinet, grabbing a verdant, near-opaque bottle and a pair of glasses. Jean remembers that cabinet; it was where the officers kept their alcohol, strictly off-limits to the trainees. Exactly once was he ever able to get inside the cabinet and sneak a drink for himself. To this day, it was the best wine he's ever had. Whether it was because it was his first real bit of drink or it really was that good, he's not sure. He remembers the bottle, though, and Eren's currently walking out of the kitchen with it, slowly bringing his arm up to wipe some of the blood from his nose. His bruises are already healed, like nothing ever happened. Quickly, Jean scrambles to his feet.
"Eren, what the hell are you talking about?" He asks, his fists still clenched, ready for whatever Eren might throw at him. But, Eren remains peaceful, continuing to walk towards him, before setting the bottle and tall, thin-stemmed glasses down on a table by their side.
"You're in the Paths right now. All of this, it's more or less an illusion. The only real things in this place are you and me, and I've been doing this for the rest of the people I'm close to. Even then, I… took some liberty with our physical forms." Jean watched as Eren sat down on the edge of the table, sliding onto the end of the bench seats. "This is probably the most detailed place I can create for the two of us. My memories are pretty vivid about this time." Jean looked over at him, then back around the room. Yeah, it was the mess hall alright. But, he noticed when he looked out the windows to the black night outside, everywhere outside the building seemed… off. Like the windows were more like paintings of scenery rather than clear glass showing the outside world. However, he figures the illusion Eren's conjuring might be broken if he thinks about it too hard, so he just turns his attention back to Eren. "Sit down", he commands.
Reluctantly, Jean makes his way over, sitting down as Eren uncorks the green bottle and starts to pour the red wine into the glasses. "By the time you remember this conversation, 80 percent of the world will be gone. Give or take, at least. It's hard to be precise when dealing with something like the Rumbling." Jean immediately furrows his brow.
"Eren, how can you even know that? What makes you think we aren't going to stop you?" Eren looks across the wine glasses as he corks the bottle, pausing for a moment as the wood squeaks against the neck. Then, he takes a drink of the wine. "I've seen it. And you are going to stop me." Jean's eyes widen as Eren puts the glass back down. "So wait, you can see the future?" Eren paused, rapping his finger against the glass. "I wouldn't put it like that."
As Jean just looks more confused, Eren decides to follow that up. "Jean, you're smart, so I think you'll understand this." He leans back slightly, as if considering his words. "Everything past, present, future, all of it, it's always existed and always will exist. The way I perceive time… it's like looking at a mountain range. I can see every point, every moment, and go there. Eventually the mountain range ends, but that doesn't mean the rest of the range isn't there. There's a beginning, and end, and everything else in between. It doesn't just start with me, either; I can see everything the other Founders have seen as well."
Jean takes a minute to digest his words, taking his first sip of the wine. Well, it's certainly as good as he remembers it. "So… you've seen your death, then?" Jean probes. Eren nods. "And you'll be part of it." Jean pauses, contemplating for a moment. "Mikasa will deliver the killing blow..." Eren followed up, "... and you'll be her opening." The revelation continues to make Jean stare into the wine glass, the red drink softly resting in the clear cup.
"Well… if you know that…" Jean said. "... why do this? Why don't you stop now, since you know it won't work?" Eren let out a sigh through his nose, deciding to take another drink of the wine. "My plan isn't really to genocide the world. It's… part of my plan, but not the end in and of itself." Jean couldn't help but feel a bit of validation; once Eren went turncoat he racked his brain for months, and he knew that he had to have some kind of ulterior motivation. "Well, what is it, then?"
"Jean… I think you understand that Paradis can't survive as long as things stay like this. The past sins of the Eldians mean that the cycle of hatred will continue until either the Eldian people or the rest of the world are wiped out. At least… that's what I thought for a while." Eren somberly peers into his glass, before lifting his gaze up to Jean. "But as more visions of the future started appearing to me… I… I couldn't take it. I can't justify killing billions and going back home like nothing happened. But at the same time, I can't accept you all being trapped in a hopeless war that ends with all of your deaths. I'm taking a middle ground."
Eren took in a deep breath, clearly trying to calm himself. Jean… he just watched as Eren laid bare his intentions. Once their petty rivalry from boot camp ended and the 104st all got baptized by the fires of the war against the Titans, their hatred gave way to mutual respect. While they were still never too close, old tempers still flaring up from time to time, Jean did consider Eren a good man, and a friend. Hearing of Eren going rogue, and eventually, starting the largest genocide in history wounded him. Shocked him to the core. But this is a side of Eren that Jean's never seen before. He's far cooler-headed. Eloquent. Like his experiences have tempered him into a different person.
"The Rumbling will destroy the world's capability of waging war against Paradis." Eren continued. "They'll throw everything at the Colossals; ships, artillery, aircraft, every last scrap of munitions, in a desperate attempt to stop it. Nothing will, of course, which means that all that equipment, all those logistics, everything, will be destroyed. It'll be years before the world can even think of invading the island, and it'll also be years before Paradis has the capability to take on what's left. In that short window… that's where the survivors will come in."
Eren locked eyes with Jean. "I can't tell you if you'll survive when the Alliance comes to stop me. But if you do… promise me you'll try to end this, the hatred. If we don't, this is going to happen again. Over, and over, and over. It's why I'm setting things up to have the Survey Corps and their allies kill me; if you end the Rumbling, you, a group of Eldians, will be heroes. The Eldian people might be able to coexist with the rest of the world as equals, rather than the oppressed. Or rather, the oppressors." Jean mulled over his words as he took another sip of the wine, his glass now empty. "What do you mean you can't tell me if I survive? Are you going to try to kill us?" Jean watched as Eren's face fell even further, prompting him to lean against the table.
"To make things as simple as possible, Jean… the powers I have aren't fully in my control. Everything I do is by the will of Ymir, and whatever powers she draws hers from. Even Ymir can't fully control whatever is the source of the titans. Considering my plan involves allowing Ymir to let go of her control… the titans will then act of their own accord. They'll do anything to preserve their own existence, and whatever… thing controls them, is going to do the same thing. I can't see past my death; with me, the power of the Founders are gone, surrendered back to the collective of the Paths. Once I'm dead, there is no plan. The only thing you can do is fight."
Jean could see Eren's eyes narrow, continuing to stare directly into his soul.
"Fight, Jean."