Creation began on 05-10-21

Creation ended on 05-12-21

Attack on Titan

The Devil Unleashed: A gathering of sorrow

Eren hadn't seen her before, but he was surprised that she was in his prison cell, sitting on his cot, looking at him with cold eyes.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"Oh, me?" She asked him as she stood up on his cot. "I'm just waiting for the right moment."

"What right moment?"

"The one where all that hope you have in your heart turns into despair, knowing that your ambitions for freedom will be short-lived."

Eren felt threatened by her choice of words, but she had to know that he was the dangerous one in this prison cell.

"Heh-heh. Do you honestly think I even care about your ability to produce a Titan body?" She questioned. "I am not in the least intimidated by you. Do you expect me to feel scared of you? Am I supposed to feel sorry for what's going to happen to the people you betrayed for the sake of your personal ambitions? Well, I don't, Eren Yeager. I don't feel scared of you or sorry for the fate that will befall everyone on this garbage patch of an island you were so desperate to get off of. What can I say? Everyone has something that gives them a sense of pleasure, of fulfillment. It's just as Kenny Ackerman said to his nephew before he died from his wounds; people needed something to believe in just to keep going on. Rod Reiss was a slave to women, Marley is a slave to their past contempt of Eldians because of what was done to them by your ancestors when the power of the Titans was used to create pain and suffering, and you, well…you're just another slave to a goal that will never end well for you…because your fate has been sealed since before you ever even got a small taste of some power. Heh. Freedom. What is freedom? Who has it? Who wants it? Who doesn't? It's an unanswerable question. People can spend all their lives looking for it and know that they'll never get it."

Eren walked over to her, but then felt his feet lock in place, just two feet from her.

"By the time you even realize it, it'll already be too late," she told him, and hopped off the cot and walked around him.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

"I'm just everyone's sister," she answered, "but there's no blood between you or I. I've been around long enough to know that everyone's belief of there being One People is just a belief that not everyone follows or accepts. The freedom you seek is something nobody else will ever possess. The people you keep claiming to want to protect, to live long lives, they're all going to die, either because of your actions or because of the storm that Marley will unleash. Either way, all any of you can do…is accept the end with your dignity. There's nowhere to run. There's nowhere to hide…and I'll be here to enjoy the suffering."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Me? Whoever said I was the one doing anything? If there's anyone to blame for the end that's coming, it's you, Eren Yeager. It was you who attacked Liberio. It was you that slaughtered all of those innocent people that were just looking to have a good time. You could've just taken Reiner Braun's life and walked away, but we both know you weren't going to do that. You and I both know that all you care about…is moving forward. But tell me, how can you move forward…if there's no place left to move towards? All you did…was help to hasten the inevitable. All you did…was motivate Marley to do something that will be agonizing and severe. Once you decide to open Pandora's Box…there's no closing it."

"You talk as though you're looking forward to what's going to happen soon."

"Didn't you hear me? Everyone has something that gives them a sense of pleasure, of fulfillment. Yours is the freedom to do as you please. Mine is the pain and suffering of others."

Eren slowly turned to look at her like she were some kind of animal, and she just smiled at him.

"Oh, don't worry your little head," she told him. "I'll be around…until the very end. We'll meet again. Bye-bye."

He watched as she walked through the bars…and disappear, and then he felt freedom in his limbs return.

Who was she? He wondered.

-x-

Because they no longer had the Colossal Titan, it was up to the explosive transformative powers of the Armored, Jaw and Cart Titans to thaw out as much of the ice as possible. Once enough of the ice had been thawed out, it was hoped that this beast would revive and carry out the hopes of Marley.

Pieck didn't enjoy this, but since Marley had lost much of their power because of Paradis, this was all they could now to prove their loyalty to the motherland. The very sight of the ice wall just gave her the creeps.

Oh, well, she thought as she brought her left hand up to cut it with a knife. Nothing we can do about this now.

"Commence the thawing!" A Marleyan man ordered the three, and they each took their knives and proceeded to cut themselves, triggering the Titan transformation (A/N: Cue to Babidi Casts Spell), generating as much heat as possible to melt the ice.

Pieck needed to transform as many times as she needed to in order to generate as much heat energy as possible. After the initial transformation, she jumped up the wall in her Titans and gripped into it with her arms before separating herself from it, and cut her hand again, generating more heat. The ice was melting as much as possible, and the explosions were causing cracks to form in the wall as the Marleyans present had to get away while they still could.

Galliard, in his Jaw Titan, tore through as much of the ice as he could before he could transform a second.

Boom! Pieck had transformed again for the seventh time…while Reiner's Armored Titan slumped against the melting wall as he prepared to transform for the second time.

Within the ice, feeling some heat for the first time in a long time, the creature was slowly starting to stir. The heat was intense, weakening the ice, but it wasn't enough. It needed more. More heat, more warmth and more freedom.

Boom! Pieck changed again and caused more of the ice to evaporate from the heat her Titan transformation gave off.

Boom! Galliard transformed again and took a huge portion of the ice with him.

Reiner saw that the wall was falling in shards as he no longer recognized it. Within minutes, he could see some of what lay in the ice…and was afraid of it. It was some kind of…golden serpent with red eyes.

What is this thing? He wondered as he watched the eye of the serpent blink, lubricating it as the head began to move.

"Haaaurgh!" It shrieked.

Pieck and Galliard watched in disbelief as the serpent head moved and what little of the wall of ice fractured further.

We gotta get out of here! They thought as they fled from the underground ice cavern.

The three fled up the elevator shaft as fast as they could (Reiner had to abandon his Titan and held onto Galliard's Jaw Titan as he climbed up the shaft as fast as he could.

"Haaaaaurgh!" They heard more shrieking, followed by more shattering sounds.

BOOM! The ground shook and fractured as they finally made it to the surface, just as the sky became darkened by falling snow.

The Marleyans watched as the ground where the Wall of Serpents had been located under caved in, creating a cloud of smoke.

"Did they do it?" Theo Magath questioned.

The answer came seconds later as something rose out from the snowy smoke. It was a…a golden limb with sharp spikes sticking out of it, flexing out as it hung in the air above them. Then, it was followed by a serpentine head rising out of the smoke, shaking off the bits of snow and ice from its neck as it loomed to the right, looking at the world around it. Seconds later, a second serpentine head rose up and loomed to the left, shaking off the fragments of ice and snow. And then a third head came out of the smoke and loomed in the middle.

"Aaurgh!" The middle head roared as it felt energy circulating through its body. "Haaaurgh! Haaurgh!"

"Crrah!" The left head cackled.

"Iiiee!" The right head followed.

Marleyans watched in suspense as the creature emerged from the crater, revealing itself to be a massive, golden, three-headed monster with large wings, two legs and two tails.

"Mother of God," a man beside Magath expressed.

"I don't believe she had anything to do with this creature," he responded.

Spreading its massive wings, the creature took flight and escaped from the frozen wasteland it had been buried in for such a long time.

From a vast distance, unseen by the military, Sister Deception smiled as the golden serpent had been revived from its imprisonment. Now that it was free, things were going to get interesting a bit further. There would be a gathering of sorrow…with a bittersweet harvest.

"My, my," she uttered to herself. "How will this play out in the end?"

-x-

"…So, he's still not saying anything?" Levi asked the Garrison woman that was sent by Commander Pixis to deliver the update from Shiganshina District.

"If he hasn't said anything about why he did what he did after being brought back," she told Levi, "I doubt he's going to say anything to anyone. What of him (she gestures her head to Zeke)? Has he said anything?"

"He's said nothing worth hearing about…other than some claim that he and a few others here have seen a little girl."

"A little girl? Pale-skinned, dark eyes, doesn't really seem to belong? That type of little girl?"

"Yes, have you seen her, as well?"

"Commander Pixis claimed to see her in his office, saying that she seemed to know things that were kept out of the public's knowledge. And then she gave a claim that no matter what any of us do, we can't escape what's going to happen, only that we know whose fault it was."

"Then, this girl's been seen by several people? Maybe she's some sort of hallucination?"

"Or a ghost out to get revenge because of what the Yeagers did. After what happened in Liberio, a lot of people are angry. Marleyans, their allies, the people here. It's not something that's being forgotten about."

Levi sighed as the thought of these brothers running more people into the grave was inevitable…unless they did something to change this.

"You'd best get out of here now," he told her. "Whatever you see or hear, just put it out of your mind. We're cutting the operation short."

"Yes, sir."

As the woman got on her horse and left the forest, Levi turned to face Zeke. The original plan was to feed him to Historia before his thirteen-year term was over so that she would become the new Beast Titan, but now that Historia was pregnant, they couldn't place her in danger. Not that he was willing to put her in danger, even if she had royal blood. No, they just needed to feed Zeke to a Titan and keep his Titan in their possession…and there were a few volunteers here in the forest right now.

I've had enough of these Yeagers, he thought as he approached Zeke.

-x-

Marley didn't have to worry about Paradis, anymore. When word of the discovery found in Kalte Hölle was unleashed, it was the Marleyans' hope that the Eldians would be decimated from the face of the planet. But then this discovery was made: A storm was approaching Marley from where the same place as Kalte Hölle, and it was approaching fast.

"This is insane," said Reiner when he and the others returned, three days later, looking up at the sky. "A storm doesn't move like this."

"Haaaurgh!" That cackle was heard, and Reiner looked up at the sky again, seeing lightning and hearing thunder.

For once, he was relieved that Gabi and Falco weren't here.

"Reiner!" His mother yelled out to him as she held open the door to their home. "Reiner, get inside! Please!"

He did as he was instructed to by his mother, but not before seeing a glimpse of the nightmare he helped to unleash, flying overhead. It was frightening, like a winged demon that was setting the sky ablaze with its hatred.

"Haaaaaurgh!" It sounded as though all three heads were cackling now.

The whole building shook, chairs and tables falling over.

Crack! The ceiling started to cave in, and Karina Braun looked up.

Reiner pushed her out of the way…and the ceiling fell in on himself, burying him under rubble. Struggling to crawl out of the rubble, rainwater poured into the house, along with a deathly chill.

"Reiner!" Karina cried to her son.

He looked up at her…and she lit up in a burst of light in front of her with much of the floor she stood on.

"Aaahh!" He screamed. "Mother!"

When the light show stopped, he could see that it wasn't just his home that was devastated. It was much of the neighborhood; parts of buildings and the streets, the wall that enclosed the internment zone, people, either vaporized or buried under wreckage.

"No!" Reiner cried, and became enveloped in a burst of heat.

Boom! The Armored Titan emerged from the ruins of the house and stood in Liberio, seeing the three-headed creature flying over the city, spewing lightning from its mouths as its mighty wings released strong winds against the city.

It was supposed to attack Paradis! He thought as he saw it fly away. Why is it attacking Marley?! Why is it attacking us?!

Unbeknownst to Reiner and the people that were taking shelter in what little places they could hide in from the storm, Sister Deception watched from atop the wall that segregated the Eldians from the rest of Liberio, smiling as what the golden creature did was like a collage of dark colors and a symphony of mayhem. Whilst the wind blew her hair in the air, she smiled at how the experience felt inside her veins. They were on fire and she felt like she could fly.

I will soar with the next gust of wind! She thought as she could feel the breeze intensifying around her body.

The nearby buildings were blown away as a twister formed within Liberio!

"I believe I can fly!" She yelled…and was blown off the wall. "Whoo-hoo!"

To be continued…

A/N: That last part of this chapter was just for laughs; how many of us have seen Kangaroo Jack and still crack up at the sandstorm and getting blown off your feet? And now Marley has seen that they have made a move that has repercussions to the ones that Eren and Zeke made. As for Sister Deception, she's just enjoying the madness like a sadist.