I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin.
A month came and past and the people of Paradis were ready to begin the very first festival to commemorate the arrival of the first settlers and creation of Paradis.
Under a bright blue sky, the small city of Sicher Bay was beginning to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Paradis. The streets were busy, many stands with few games were standing and children were running down the street.
People walked by and played in any stand that caught their eye.
Ymir had never seen this many people in one place looking so happy. She has vague memories of her former village having some sort of celebration where the adults would make a ruckus all night long, but she had been too young to understand what they did or why they celebrated.
But now while walking down the streets with Eren at her side, she could see many unfamiliar faces laugh with friends and family. She saw many vendors announce many of their products. Fish, bread, some other type of food that look delicate. There were also games, something about throwing a ball at vases. Some other about a ring and some strange bottles, she saw them from afar, and could see that children were happy competing with one another.
She couldn't help the smile etched on her face from growing a little wider at the happy atmosphere the festival had brought to the small city. She turned to look at Eren and see if he too was enjoying himself, but her smile faltered a little when she saw him with a cold expression in his face.
Was he angry? Mad? She couldn't tell. After spending five years by his side, she had seen him open up more. When she met him, he barely smiled and his expression almost never changed. And while in recent years he started to smile more around her, she still noticed that he remained distant with everyone else, only talking to others when needed to.
He seemed to be looking around, but not actually looking at any of the stands or people. More like as if he was looking for something? She had no idea, but she pouted. She had wanted to spend the festival visiting the stands with Eren, yet he seemed too distracted to notice her.
He must have felt her staring and his gaze softened as he looked down at her. She felt blood rush at her face at being caught staring.
He was about to say something when they heard cheering coming from a plaza in the city.
"Men and Women of all ages, be welcomed to the fifth anniversary of Paradis Island!" the both of them didn't see where they were walking and ended in the middle of a crowd in front of a stage. At the forefront of the stage was a man with a cone in his hand to expand his voice, and behind him were white curtains.
Ymir was almost deafened by the cheers from the crowd and the man on stage didn't make it any easier "I know many of the people gathered here today, haven't spent many years in the Island, and some might even just have arrived last week."
"For all newcomers, the oldest people of Paradis have organized an spectacle for all of you…the story of how this great Island came to be"
The announcement brought excitement to her face. They were making a play after them? Well, it was about the island, but even if she had been young, she had been part of its founding.
Strong beating sounds started to drown everyone else and she concluded that meant it was about to start.
"Please take a seat and enjoy the show" the man left the stage and the curtains were lifted. His voice started to narrate the story "Over countless generations, our world only knew violence. We were tribes divided, by race, by culture, by beliefs always fighting." In the stage a group of people appeared and swung wooden swords and spears around as if they were trying to kill each other.
Many of the performers fell, as if dead, until only two were standing "During those fighting years, two rose to the top, and conquered and enslaved all others around them. They were the Kingdom of Marley and the self-proclaimed Greater Eldia" the two figures standing started to pick all the fallen warriors and chained them.
She was actually surprised by the story so far. She didn't know Eldia and Marley went that far back, but how did the performers know? Maybe their tribe was one of the few that still had documented history? She sent a glance at Eren, and even he seemed surprised although he still had that distracted look in his face.
The two men representing Marley and Eldia each left the scene, and so did the supposed Marleyan slaves, however the Eldian slaves remained and started to "work" "For many years, both growing nations exploited their slaves, working them 'til death, not caring for them, only that it made their lives easier."
"But it was this, that after years, and years of oppression, the slaves anger, desire, sadness, and feelings of vengeance towards Eldia manifested in a young girl" all the other performers left the scene and only a woman was left in there.
'Is that supposed to be me?' the woman in question looked nothing like Ymir when she got her powers. The woman was full grown, with brown hair, and tanner skin than her own pale one. Her face must've made some sour expression because she could hear Eren trying to suppress a laugh.
"The slave girl was gifted with great power to enact her vengeance against Eldia. The power of the Titans. The capital of Eldia was destroyed by this woman by taking the form of a giant, hundreds of times the size of a human" behind the woman a shadow appeared, and some things could be seen moving the shadows as if it were a puppet.
A group of 'slaves' entered the scene and approached Ymir's doppelganger "Yet, she was not without mercy, for once her vengeance was satiated, she freed all the slaves and took them towards a safe haven where they would no longer have to suffer at the hands of Eldians" They started walking and boats were brought to the stage, and wavy blue patterns were brought to represent the ocean.
"We were led here…" they got off the boat "…to create paradise on this wretched world…" buildings rose and the chains in the slaves were dropped "…yet she knew many more were in need of help…" her counterpart looked back to where they had come from and began to walk "…and she would help them:"
The curtains fell down, and round of applause came from the end. All performers came from under beside the stage and bowed at the crowd. The announcer once more came to the front and gave some final words "With this the Festival has officially begun!"
She smiled broadly and cheered with everyone else, but Eren wasn't cheering. She turned to look at him hoping to also see him smiling, but instead her smile faltered when she saw him completely distracted not even acknowledging all the noise around them
Once more the crowd cheered and he clapped alongside. It would be strange if he didn't. He had learned to blend in with the crowd, with the populace. It made him sick just thinking that they thought he was like them.
They were all fools. Such gullible fools. It hadn't been hard getting into the Paradis, he had honestly thought an island made entirely of slaves would be more paranoid and actually try to check for any possible spies.
All you needed was some poor ass sob story and they would let you in, give you a place to stay and offer you a job.
Once the crowd started to disperse, he began to tail that bitch and her damn protector. He approached each stand as if interested, but he never let them go out of the corner of his eye.
He knew the bitch was a former slave of his great nation, a survivor of their former capital, a woman who claimed to have encountered two strange people. She gave them a description of the bitch, and how she was using old and worn rags, like all of their slaves. At first, they were doubtful that a mere slave could destroy their glorious capital.
But now it was official, if the play was to be believed, the responsible for their greatest forces being dead was a fucking slave.
However, the play seemed to omit the presence of her guardian. The woman mentioned a man who did most of the talking I their encounter, yet he was never mentioned in the play.
His orders had been to uncover the identity of the monster that has been terrorizing the mainland for months. It had been easy, just wait until it came back. It was hard not to see it, when it causes the ground to shake with each step and can be seen from almost anywhere. It was just a matter of following it.
There he found the guardian. He thought the guardian would be the monster's shadow, but it was the other way around. The bitch followed him everywhere like a lost dog.
He was a fucking ghost. No one knew who he was. Only the very first people that arrived at this wretched place knew his name and who he was to the monster, but no one that knew him closely ever talked, they were loyal to a fault. The only redeemable thing of these bastards.
His targets kept moving, never stopping at any stand, even though he saw the bitch try to plead with her master. He turned his gaze back at the stand he was in front of, just before the bastard turned to look in his direction.
He felt someone looking at him and turned around to see the warriors the Fatherland sent. They weren't that outstanding like others he had seen, but they blended in good enough. He knew of their mission of course. Afterall they got in contact with him just a week after arriving in the island.
They locked gazes for a moment before proceeding to ignore each other.
He was supposed to help them. But the guardian was an unknown factor, so long as he was around the bitch, it was too risky to move in.
This stupid festival was their only chance. With this many people it would help them cover their tracks easily enough.
Now it was only a matter of time until an opportunity arose.
Even as the sun was starting to set and the first stars appeared in the sky, he couldn't shake his feeling of unease. Something bad was going to happen, he just knew it. It was the same nervousness he would get when he went out on missions with the scouts…the same missions when they tried to capture Annie, when Reiner and Bertolt revealed themselves, and when they went to seal Wall Maria.
While he kept his cool demeanor in the outside this time it wasn't accompanied by the fact that he knew the future. And now that he had changed the past anything could go.
He kept looking in the distance, almost as if waiting to see the Colossal Titan appear. 'I'm in the past. There is no Colossal here, but me and Ymir.' The sun was starting to set and some people were starting to disperse, yet a handful were still walking around apparently in some sort of afterparty.
As Eren kept walking he couldn't shake the sudden feeling of déjà vu. Had he already walked by this street? How many times had he gone in circles? He saw a bench in the distance and decided to take a break from all the walking.
Beside him, Ymir sat roughly. Eren in his worry almost forgot she was with him, and she didn't seem happy either.
She had a frown on her face, and was completely ignoring him.
He had to say something.
"What did you think of the festival?"
She seemed to acknowledge his question but her frown formed into a scowl and ignored him. Did he do something? She was cheerful when the festival started, but now she was the complete opposite.
"I think it was a great welcome for new people" he was terrible at this. Ymir wasn't like Mikasa who didn't care about anything so long as he was fine.
He didn't know what else to say. They fell into an uncomfortable silence. His previous worries forgotten by the circumstance he now found himself in.
"You completely ignored me" her voice was low but he could feel her resentment, however he didn't know why she resented him. He ignored her? When?
As if reading his thoughts, she answered "I tried so many times to get your attention. I had wanted to have fun with you, but you just… ignored me"
He just stood there shocked. He couldn't help but feel he was being reprimanded, but he knew that wasn't the case.
"You told me I was free…but am I really?"
No sound could be heard as she said that. It was as if the world had stopped for just a second.
Eren was completely dumbfounded, he couldn't comprehend why she would believe that. He didn't think he ever did anything to make her believe otherwise.
"I've walked beside you for the last five years without complaint and while yes, out of my own free will, you've never encouraged me to leave you… I've known you for five years, but I don't really know you…you won't even tell me about your past" her last remark was close to whisper.
He tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind. He took too long answering and Ymir had her answer.
"I see" she stood up and started walking away, he grabbed her arm, but she quickly puled it back "Please don't follow me. I need some time alone"
She continued walking away. She pulled her hood up and blended in with the remaining people walking around. He just stood there; his previous paranoia forgotten. They had discussed before… but nothing close to this level, it was usually very stupid things.
Even if he was being selfish by thinking this, he wouldn't deny it. He fucking missed being able to see the future. Nothing prepared him for this.
Something happened. In all his years undercover in the island, never before had the bitch left her guardian's side.
This…this was a golden opportunity. He heard some commotion beside him and saw the warriors push some people out of their way, although not to roughly as to attract unwanted attention. They too noticed the opportunity that presented itself.
They wouldn't dare make a move with the guardian around, since he was an unknown factor, but they knew how to deal with the bitch. He at least knew that her powers activated by drawing blood. He had seen so himself, even if from far away.
All the warriors had to do was to knock that bitch out without drawing blood. As son as a single drop of blood exited her body they were as good as dead. He had ingrained that in their dumb skulls and now he had to hope they would remember that.
He walked away from them. He had to secure a way to get off this dammed island.
He didn't worry about the guardian, he seemed to just sit there almost as if shocked. He didn't care, he no longer posed a threat to them so long as he stayed there. Oh wait he is moving
He should stay and keep an eye on him but he had to contact his network. It was time to move. Secure a vessel to return mainland. There were horses in the mainland they could steal and make a beeline for the nearest Eldian settlement.
Yes, they were so close. Finally, he would be able to leave this forsaken place. He would bring glory to Eldia!
Eren walked aimlessly around the town. Half his mind told him to look after Ymir, make sure she was safe. That she would be okay. But he kept remembering her telling him to leave her alone. He had been so distracted by his paranoia and had completely ignored Ymir during the festival.
Now with some time to think he wasn't dumb enough to not know that Ymir had wanted to have fun in the festival with him. She had tried to get his attention so many times but he had discarded her if not outright ignored her. Too worried about any potential threat in every corner.
And why? Because he had a feeling? Nothing had happened. The festival had gone without a hitch. This wasn't his era. No one would try to take revenge for Liberio here.
That was it. He was afraid of another Liberio, that someone or something would decide to turn a happy moment into a massacre to get to him or Ymir.
Even after five years he still thought as if he was back in 854.
Titans weren't the norm and no giant walls existed. The only threats to himself and Ymir were other humans. Humans that didn't know anything about Titans. Humans that didn't know their weaknesses. Humans that couldn't kill them conventionally.
He felt water splash on his feet. He had unconsciously walked to the ocean, it was still as relaxing as the first time he had been there the first time.
Even if the date was different, he stood there under the same circumstances.
Across the sea the enemy stood.
In the horizon he could see the sun rising, the first rays of the day hit his face 'had he been walking aimlessly all night?' he was more distracted than he thought. A cool morning breeze hit his face.
He looked up at the sky just as he had done 9 years ago, but instead of seeing the bright blue sky he saw the morning sky, so similar to the sunset yet so different.
How disappointed he had been back then.
Learning that humanity had moved on without them. That they wasted their time killing each other while they fought for their survival inside and outside their walls. To learn that the rest of humanity wanted them dead for something they knew nothing about.
He stood there for some more seconds but suddenly he could no longer feel the water on his feet.
He opened his eyes and found a starry night sky, whereas just a moment ago it the sun was beginning to rise.
He looked around and found himself surrounded by sand, yet he didn't panic. He knew exactly where he was. For there in front of him was the giant tree of light.
The paths.
Why was he here? When had been the last time he had been here? He didn't have time to wonder, since from the tree a figure started to take shape.
Ymir.
But it wasn't the Ymir he had spent the last five years with. No. This was the Ymir he first met.
The real founder.
Everything was the same as he remembered, her ragged clothes, her hair, her bucket she always carried. However, there was something different. She was smiling. A happy smile. And amused smile.
He didn't show any shock in his face. Even if he could no longer see the future, he knew eventually this day would come. Only she had the power to pull something like this. After all she could see all lives of all the Eldians future and past, dead and alive. Who was to say she couldn't send an Eldian to another time.
"Ymir why am I here?" he wasn't going to waste any time with formalities.
She didn't answer, she just stood there, still smiling.
"I was ready you know" he started "I was ready to take your place in the paths. I was ready to set you free."
Her smile turned apologetic 'I know' she didn't move her mouth, but he could hear her all around him.
"Then why?" he needed an answer. It just couldn't be because she wanted to change her fate. The fact that she was in front of him meant that changing the past wouldn't just make her disappear.
Afterall everything had already happened in another time.
'I couldn't submit the first person who saw me as a human to the same fate as me.'
His expression remained unchanging, and after some seconds he sighed "You knew I wouldn't have minded." He had lived his whole live as a prisoner behind giant walls, and when he obtained the power to change that, he fought for his freedom and he obtained it.
But that living as a prisoner didn't compare to 2000 years existing as a slave with no free will.
'I know, but then you would've lost the freedom you fought so hard to obtain.'
"I don't care! I would've found a way to get it back" he had known the risks.
'You wouldn't have found it.'
"I would have!"
'You couldn't.'
That made him pause, and surprise finally graced his features. His surprise was quickly gone, replaced by a faraway look "So you did try, huh?" she just nodded lightly.
'That is why I sent you here' she turned around to look at the tree 'in hopes that this version of me would never go through what I went, and at the same time so that you would not lose what you fought so hard to obtain.'
He didn't say anything. He needn't to. After 5 years he finally knew why he was here.
'So just promise me' she glanced back at him.
"Anything"
'Please have a long life.'
Eren could feel he was beginning to be sent out of the paths, but he still had a question.
"Wait! Why can't I no longer see the future?"
She stayed quiet for a moment before laughed lightly at him and giving her largest smile yet.
'You already know why.'
He blinked and he was back at the beach. The sun at the same place it had been when he entered the paths. He looed back at the city.
He had to find Ymir.
But before he took another step, a voice entered his head. A voice he had just talked to, yet it sounded weaker, more broken.
'Eren…please…help'
Not a second later yellow lightning struck the ground where he was standing.
Done with the chapter, however I just learned something (like two months ago) and an idea came to my head with this new information. So, I decided to make an omake with said idea.
Omake:
It had been so sudden. No one batted an eye at the change.
But she noticed, however she couldn't fault everyone else, afterall they couldn't sense the darkness like she could.
Just a week ago he had been giving the same aura as always, never completely light, but never completely dark just the perfect balance between the two. However, that suddenly changed and he just gave off complete darkness.
It was intoxicating for her, she had to know what had happened, how he managed that. She couldn't change her aura no matter how hard she tried.
The only problem was she didn't know how to approach, if it even was safe to approach. 'What if he had been possessed by a demon?' she couldn't help but wonder. What if she could finally learn real dark magic? She wouldn't squeal, she wouldn't squeal that was against her nature. Or better yet, what if he was the dark knight she had been looking for. She would deny to everyone that asked that Mikasa Ackerman did not squeal.
Classes had just ended, and everyone was leaving. It was cloudy and many expressed their dislike for the possibility of rain, but she loved when the sun was blocked, for it meant she needn't have to hide under the safe shadow of her usual umbrella.
It seemed her target thought so too, for he too lacked an umbrella and just kept walking not caring at all about the weather.
She followed him, trying her best to not give away her position. They were in passing by the middle of downtown.
There were too many people, she was starting to lose him. No! She had to know his secret to such dark powers. She pushed on forward 'I think I saw him go into that alley' she was a out to follow when she saw four men enter the same alley.
'Oh no! They are trying to harm a fellow follower of the dark' she couldn't allow that she had to hurry.
She stopped dead on her tracks as a flash lightning struck nearby and her eardrums were hurt by the thunder. 'Lightning? But it's not even raining' it didn't matter she had to hurry, who knew what they had done to her knight.
When she turned the corner of the alley, she was shocked at what she saw.
Three bodies all bruised and battered scattered on the ground, all bleeding from their mouths and with bones pointing in the wrong direction.
However, she ignored all that to look at her target. The one she had been following. Eren Jaeger.
He was fused to some sort of giant body, or at least the nape of a body with both his arms completely encased in said nape, and some muscle tissue connected to under his eyes. Connected to the body 'Was it a body?' was an arm that was holding the fourth man in the air. Said man unconscious, maybe from the shock.
Mikasa didn't know what to think or do about this. She couldn't breath at the incredible scene in front of her. So, she did the next best thing she could.
And fainted.
So the omake is basically instead of being sent to the past, OG Eren replaces the Eren of Shingeki no Caste with his powers and all. What would he do in an environment where its no longer kill or be killed?
But anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and omake.
-The knight in dark flames.