Requiem of the Dawn, an attack on titan/進撃の巨人 fanfic

Final Chapter: Requiem of the Dawn

Mikasa was coming for him.

She had swords in her hands, and one of those blades was going to slit his throat in just a few moments. Yet she was smiling, as if they had met under good circumstances for the first time in so long.

As if she was seeing something other than what he was seeing.

The resigned expression on his face told the other half of the story.

Of course, Eren couldn't see his own face. He had nothing to look at it on. But he had seen it, as he had seen so many things, the moment he kissed Historia's hand and the future opened up before him.

So Eren had the feeling, here at the end of it all, that he was dreaming.

He had accepted this since a long time ago. Years.

He had resigned himself to all this since years ago.

And in a few seconds, one of those blades would take his life. He would die as so many Titans had.

A monster being killed for the sake of humanity.

But that was only what was happening in the real world.

In the ghostly world of the Paths, something was also happening.

In the distance, the tree of the roads burned against the black horizon, like a bonfire in the darkness of death. No, that's what it was precisely.

Each of those branches burned with someone's life. In the tree were gathered the lost souls of the Titan Shifters who had died under Ymir's two thousand years of hatred, unable to rest, unable to find peace.

Ymir's ancient hatred was coming to an end. Here and now.

But how things would end was yet to be decided. Under the light of the world tree stood two people.

Or one, perhaps better said. Because it was the same person.

Eren Yeager.

The bearer of the Founding Titan... and the last holder of the Attack Titan. This is the true end of the story of the boy who sought only one thing, freedom.

Eren was sitting on the floor, chained hand and foot, as his brother Zeke had been not so long ago. Rationally, not so long ago. But in his heart, it seemed like an eternity had passed.

That was the nature of the ghostly world of the Paths.

Here, an eternity was an instant and an instant was an eternity. That was why things had not ended here, but had only just begun.

That was why, as Mikasa approached to end his life, he would have all the time in the world...

For what?

To lament his fate and all the sacrifices made along the way. And to hope it would do some good. Because time had run out.

He'd had plenty of time to change things. Years.

Now, fate had taken its course and he was left with no choice but to accept it.

After all, he knew that the "will" that had shaped his future was not the hand of some god ignorant of the human condition, not even that of Ymir the Founder, but himself.

He had brought himself this far.

So, even if it wasn't really inevitable, he could accept it. He could resign himself. And leave hope and the future in Armin's hands.

But...

"Why aren't you doing anything? Crush her! You can do it, can't you?"

Those confrontational words were coming from himself. Eren was looking at himself as a child, so full of life. So full of anger.

"This is Mikasa we're talking about... "

"Why should I care? She's coming to kill us. I save her and this is how she repays me?"

With the boy's expression twisted in rage, Eren couldn't find any resemblance to himself. He found it hard to believe, honestly, that they were the same person, and that he had once been like that. It seemed to him that it had been so, so long ago...

"Damn it. If only I'd known... Do something! What are you waiting for!" There wasn't just anger in his voice, though. The boy's voice was tinged with despair. What else could a normal person feel when coming face to face with death?

The boy approached him. He sank his knees into the endless sand of the Paths.

As they shifted, the chains rattled. They sounded... like a neck snapping.

The boy put his hands on his shoulders and shook him, shouting continuously, holding nothing back, because he wasn't capable of holding back, spitting out his soul. Eren, however, didn't even look back at him.

He had eyes only for the sand and his own chains. It was all going to be over, it had already ended. Those two perspectives of a single point in time conflicted within him, crushing him.

"Damn you! Don't do this to me. Please... I beg you, I can't die like this, like a caged animal. Don't you dare do this to me."

The boy Eren once was burst into tears of pure rage.

Eren finally raised his head and looked into his eyes. There was something there that he thought he had long forgotten...

He wasn't a ghost from the past.

The Founder's power was practically absolute, but it wasn't like he could rip someone out of the past and throw them into the future. The Eren before him wasn't real. It was a representation of his childish anger that the world beyond the walls he had dreamed of since he was a boy was not what he had hoped for, and a representation of his desperate resistance to what had to happen.

Of his hope.

He was as fake as the chains.

The Paths were a metaphysical world, where reality and fantasy mingled.

So these thoughts, these emotions, came from his current self and not from anyone else. They had simply taken this form.

That self that he thought he had buried...

"There's no other way," Eren said, explaining himself even though he knew it would be useless. Well, what else could he do? They had an eternity to share before he died as planned. "But you don't understand. Of course, how can you? For a long time I've been trying to find another way. At least I can proudly say I've tried. ... But there is no other way, there never was. We've never been free."

"It sounds like you're just spouting incoherent excuses. You pathetic bastard. You disgust me! I hate you."

"I know," he said, tired of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. "I know."

That was something they had in common, after all.

"Are you really going to let this end here?"

That question didn't come from the boy.

It was a strange voice, but for some reason, he had the feeling it wasn't unfamiliar. That person's voice echoed through the Paths as if he owned this space.

The first thing he thought of was, of course, Ymir the founder.

But that voice...

That voice was that of a man, no doubt.

Eren looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. The child Eren had frozen. Suddenly he wasn't breathing, he wasn't moving a millimeter, it was as if he had become a statue. He registered that vaguely but thought nothing of it.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, you know that."

And then he appeared. In front of him and to the side.

The three of them formed a sort of circle. The three Eren. Yes, because now Eren was looking at his own reflection. That was the person who had appeared, himself.

But something was different. No, he couldn't be different.

"You're not real. Like that boy, you..."

"I am." The other Eren snapped his fingers, making his child version disappear without a trace. "I'm as real as you are. Because I'm you, after all."

"No.

"I am the last holder of the Attack Titan and the Source of the Power of the Titans, Eren Yaeger."

The source?

Him, not Ymir, not that creature that had attached itself to Ymir? Eren shook his head. There was no point in dwelling on the apparition's words. It was nothing more than a phantom of his mind.

It was said that people saw life flash before their eyes when it was time for them to die.

Maybe this was his own version of that phenomenon. Not exactly, but something like that.

Or maybe not, but it certainly wasn't something more than that. It couldn't be true that he was looking at a self beyond the future he had seen at the award ceremony.

"In the future," the apparition continued, "Paradis will sink beneath a sea of blood. With the freedom you granted the world, with the chance to be better, to forge a bright future, the world chose to repeat the cycle of hatred and vengeance that led us here. Between a rock and a hard place, with no other way out than the worst crime in human history.

"No." Eren put his hands to his head, covered his ears and shook his head. "No. No, no, no."

"Now you're even covering your ears. Like a child refusing to face reality. Don't you have any balls? Who cut them off? "

"I don't have to listen to you," Eren, the real Eren, spat with all his might. Perhaps there was a trace of his former self in the heat of those words. "You're not real. And I'll be dead soon, so I don't mind looking pathetic. Just leave me alone. I deserve at least one last moment of peace. "

"I am real. Everything I've told you is real. "

Eren dropped his hands.

He looked at his mirror image. He shouldn't listen to it, but... something inside him was pushing him forward. The old urge to seek freedom, he supposed.

"If it were true, I would have seen it. But what I saw was Armin and the others travelling on a ship, to discuss peace. I saw..."

"Hope. But it turned out to be just another hell. No, hope is not the right word. It's not that you wanted to give the world a chance to be better, not that you believed they deserved at least that freedom. The truth, I know because I'm you, is that you just gave up, didn't you? Don't try to deny it. Your heart has no secrets from me. Until recently, you were going to do it. Finish what you started. That's why Mikasa is currently living in an illusion. You wanted her to at least experience a beautiful illusion before you killed her, didn't you? You gave up, quite simply, because you couldn't bear the burden anymore. You came so far, but you couldn't hold on. You broke. In this eternity... feeling the Colossal Titans rampaging through the world, killing countless innocents, as if they were extensions of your own body... Eren Yeager died. Even Eren Yeager found his limit."

Eran looked down at his hands again, ashamed. He was right. Of course he was right. But still... even if his motive was selfish... Was it really wrong to want to give the world a chance? To have hope for the future?

Would things really end in such a terrible way?

He was so, so tired.

An eternity was an instant and an instant was an eternity.

"Why are you making such a face? I have no right to say this to you, because I made the same decision you want to make, I also gave up... But you should never have expected anything different in the first place. Look at what we're doing, after all."

"That's different. I didn't have a choice."

"You don't have to explain it to me. I'm you, remember? But the "demons" who bombed Paradis, wiping it off the face of this world, the carrion birds who devoured its corpse and licked the bones... They also believed they had no other choice. They also believed they were justified. And of course they were. They couldn't risk the demons of Paradis finishing the job in your place."

"What are you saying? Now you sound like you agree with them."

"Not at all. I'm just trying to make it clear to you that you have no choice." His other self bent down, took his chains in his hands and snapped them, causing them to return to the sand they were made of. "Stand up, Eren Yeager. You are not the one who started this story. But you have the responsibility to end it."

Eren obeyed his own words, rising to his feet.

"Even if what you say is true, Armin, Mikasa and the others... they don't have to die."

"Not before. But now that you are separated from the creature, they may kill you for real even if you resist, even if you fight to the end. It's too risky to fight with them holding you back. So they have to die, like the warriors of Marley. There is no other way now."

Eren walked past his other self, his future self, and stared at the tree of the Paths. It was still burning brightly, and it seemed possible that its own flame might consume it.

As it had happened to him. The only thing inside him was ashes.

But could he put light a fire upon those ashes, could he really go that far, not just the world, but his precious friends, with his bare hands?

"Haven't you made up your mind yet? Have you forgotten who Eren Yeager is, and why you had the strength to come this far? Okay, let me show you."

His future self put a hand on his shoulder.

And, once again, the world around him changed completely.

On the other side of the darkness, the first thing that reached his ears were the cries of a baby, naked and bloody, fresh from its mother's womb, exposed to the harsh world.

Eren stared at it as if mesmerized. The wraith looked over his shoulder.

"It's a girl," said one of the women who had been helping with the delivery. And with a big smile on her face, she held out her arms, bringing the child close to her mother.

To...

Eren felt as if an invisible hand had squeezed his heart.

To Historia, of course. Who else was he going to show him? She was so beautiful. Disheveled, red, covered in sweat, and in a simple white dress, she was as beautiful if not more so than when he'd seen her in her royal robes.

Or that afternoon. When they had met... When they...

Eren's eyes were wet with tears.

"In the future I have left behind, because of our choice, this child was born into a world that hated her and wished to erase her existence. That was how she lived and how she died. Without for a single second experiencing true freedom. Trapped in a cage without walls, fearful of the inevitable counterattack. And all because of us. "

Eren felt like his heart was going to break.

But a heart that could break was a heart that was still there. He hadn't left behind everything he'd once cared about like a snake shedding its skin.

He had buried nothing. He had forgotten nothing.

Eren Yeager was still alive. Despite everything, he was still fighting, as he always had.

"We've seen so many bad parents, passing their burden on to their children without thought, over and over again. Their sins. Their desires. That is precisely why we have this problem on our hands. That's why the chain of hatred whose first links were forged in Ymir's time is still there, and growing stronger with each passing day. Are you going to become one of those parents? Are you going to ruin everything? Choose, Eren Yeager. Choose!"

Eren's gaze fell on Historia, who was holding their daughter in her arms. The child had calmed down as if she had instinctively sensed that this was her mother.

And all of this... was going to be ruined. The outside world had taken away Eren's freedom.

And, not content with that, not long in the future, they were going to destroy the second best thing. The one thing that had found in his long journey.

Love.

Eren couldn't take it anymore.

He was shaking from head to toe. Eren raised his hands and dug his nails into his cheeks, tearing the skin off. Thick rivers of blood trickled down his face, transforming it into the face of a demon of pure rage.

Eren Yeager howled as if vomiting his soul.

Eren opened his eyes inside the Colossal Titan. The tired resignation was gone from his face.

If Mikasa Ackerman could have seen that, he would have realised that everything had changed. That the unstoppable monster known as Eren Yeager had once again told fate and anything else that tried to control him, to steal his freedom, to fuck off.

But she hadn't been aware of things from the beginning.

From the beginning the girl had lived in an illusion.

It was fitting, therefore, that her end should come with her submerged in the illusion that was all she had wanted out of life.

Eren released vast amounts of steam. He had a Colossal Titan now and could employ it as such. The discharged steam first deflected Mikasa's attack and then sent her flying backwards.

Out of his Titan's mouth, between his open teeth.

Teeth he had opened with a thought, so that she could simply fall and not have to suffer. The Titans of the Walls were standing still around him, but that was unimportant. They didn't have to crush her. The fall would kill her, Ackerman or not.

Mikasa was dead.

It was done, he had killed her.

Eren transformed once more. The Colossal Titan form was convenient, but now that he was disconnected from the source of the Titan Powers, the most he could do was maintain the form he had already used. His transformation into Titan Colossal had been a last-minute thing, before the creature had completely disconnected from him.

The Founder and its powers were out of his reach, for now.

But Eren was the Attack Titan. He didn't need anything else.

Howling as if he could expel the pain he felt in his heart, and the pain he would soon feel, Eren, transformed again, climbed out of the Titan's mouth, which was collapsing through the hole he had made when he transformed.

Eren jumped, landing so that the force of the impact would be reduced and he could recover quickly. That's what he did, but it wouldn't have mattered, even if it had taken him a few more seconds.

Reiner was busy keeping Jean, Connie and Gabi at bay.

Levi hadn't been in a position to do anything even before. It was only thanks to Eren that he had managed to "get the strength" to help Mikasa into his Titan's mouth. Otherwise, the half-dead man wouldn't have managed such a feat.

But now he wouldn't really do anything. Because he was dead.

He had fired the last Thunder Spear and his life, like a brief flame, had been consumed.

Just like Mikasa, lying there on the ground. Broken, bloodied, covered in burns. She was dead too. No doubt about it. At least it had been quick. At least she hadn't suffered.

Eren had been watching the progress of the Rumbling from the distant perspective of a god. Returning to his human perspective was disorienting and contributed to the feeling that this wasn't happening, couldn't be happening, was just a bad dream.

That and it was what he wanted to believe. But it was happening.

He had done this.

He would end this.

Howling with grief and rage, Eren turned to Armin. He quickly scaled his Colossal Titan, running towards the back of his neck.

To crush the life out of his best friend with his bare hands.

Armin's Titan had been rendered immobile, but that didn't mean unusable. No, nothing of the sort. Like Bertolt, he released large amounts of steam in an attempt to defend himself.

Eren howled again. In his Titan's monstrous voice there was now only a determination bordering on madness.

Because she was born into this world...

Flames engulfed his Titan body, countering the steam sent out by Armin, which was hot enough to strip the flesh from the bones of any human being and even severely damage any Titan.

But not his. Not his. As always, there was no fire hotter than the fire inside Eren's soul.

That was his blessing... and his curse.

Fight! Fight!

Eren reached up high and tore the flesh from the back of his neck, forcing Armin to show himself and clear the super-hot steam that surrounded them so he wouldn't harm himself.

He reached out to extinguish the life of his best friend. Who here, at the end, looked at him not him with hatred and fear in his eyes. There was only sadness in those bright eyes that had show him the bars of his prison, so long, long ago.

"Eren..." Armin started to say, but could say no more.

Because Ymir also reached out with Eren, touching the boy who had been by his side since the beginning.

He didn't need Ymir's help to win the fight. But for this he did.

Eren and Armin were as they should be, right now. Together, sitting on the shore, their feet bare, their boots discarded somewhere. The tide was rising and falling, lapping at the soles of their feet.

The sky was clear of clouds and it had a perfect blue. It looked like glass reflecting the sea stretching to the horizon.

In the distance, seagulls were singing, and the world was at peace.

At least in this moment, the world was at peace.

"This is what we've been looking for all this time, isn't it, Eren?" Armin started to turn his head to look at him.

He could imagine it.

His smile would surely be brighter than the sunlight on the seawater, and he would smile at him like an excited little boy, the same smile that had always cheered Eren up in his worst moments. With those eyes, those eyes that had made him wake up. Yes, that's how it would be. Like that.

"This is freedom," Armin continued, finished turning his head to look at him.

But there were no bright eyes.

There was no sweet smile.

His face was shattered, covered in blood, as if he had been hit again and again with a hammer.

The illusion was shattered.

For him.

When he plunged back into hell, Eren was alone.

Armin was still there, of course. In one of his Titan's hands. But that wasn't really Armin anymore. It was just a lot of anonymous blood and a squashed piece of flesh, completely unrecognizable.

Eren went completely mad.

He had never experienced such pain. He raised his head to the heavens and howled as if he was being disemboweled, cursing the world, cursing the chain of fate and curses that had led to this terrible outcome.

But he had not finished doing what he had to do. Not by a long shot.

And there was no turning back. There was no turning back.

The Attack Titan, being devoured by its own flames, lunged towards Reiner who had been overcome by the combined strength of Jean, Connie and Gabi, as he was unwilling to kill them.

At least he thought so, but then Reiner surprised him. Eren vaguely registered that it had been a long time since he had been surprised. This was only the second time in a long, long time.

Now that he was back in uncharted territory, everything was new, everything was a surprise.

What Reiner did...

What he did was put Jean and Connie out of their misery, quickly. Eren felt a pang of pain, thinking that those two had lived out their last moments in the long nightmare that was being a Pure Titan. Thinking that he hadn't even been able to grant them at least sweet illusion before they died.

Reiner had surprised him, but not in this: that he couldn't do the same for his cousin.

He simply ripped off her arms and legs, then tossed her aside. Making her relatively harmless. For the moment.

Maybe just enough to end the fight.

Reiner approached it, slowly, carefully. The creature, resembling a giant worm, was still wriggling in the distance like a fish out of water.

Now, the only one in its path was Reiner.

The Armored Titan and the Attack Titan would meet again for the third and final time.

Yes. As I said, you and I are the same.

He too carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. The same could be said, in a way, of all the members of the Alliance that had formed against him. But Reiner was different.

Reiner had broken Wall Maria, ending a peace that had lasted a hundred years.

The event that had caused his mother's death and started Eren on the path that had led him here. No doubt Reiner felt guilty.

That went for Annie too, or at least that's what he wanted to believe.

That she felt guilty, deep down. That she cared about more than just her father. But again, Reiner was different.

Because Reiner...

He found it hard to put it into words...

If things had been different, maybe Eren would have been in Reiner's place today. That's what he thought. Something like that.

No, things had been different.

A long time ago, Eren had been the hero and Reiner the monster to be stopped.

Eren laughed as if mocking himself.

Through his Titan's mouth, the voice grew grotesque and deep, and sounded closer to a menacing growl than a laugh.

Come on, Reiner. Let's get this over with.

Reiner knocked on the door and waited with his heart pounding. Eren could manipulate his mind, but he wouldn't manipulate his emotions, even if it was to make everything perfect. So this was Reiner's natural reaction to the scenario Eren had built for him.

On the other side of that door lay his family, Gabi included.

But while he certainly loved them, family hadn't often been a source of comfort for Reiner. Quite the opposite. It had been a place that brought him shame and a sense of inadequacy to the forefront of his mind.

Ever since he was a child, he had felt the need to prove himself and fix everything with his own hands.

As if it was his responsibility.

But it wasn't. That was just a curse his mother had passed on to him. If it were up to him, Reiner would reject his mother instead of seeking her approval as he had always done. But it wasn't about him.

This fragile little world existed for and because of Reiner.

Here, Eren was a mere spectator.

The door opened. The gazes of mother and son met.

"Mother, I... I..." He was at a loss for words. Reiner swallowed.

Karina smiled sweetly at him. Eren, as he built up that expression, that reaction, and as he witnessed his work play out, thought of his own mother. The pain almost caused the illusion to shatter prematurely.

"You don't have to say anything, my son. You are home now."

"Reiner, you're back!" And Gabi's voice came from down the hall.

With a small smile of satisfaction, Reiner crossed the threshold. His mother was beside him at all times, smiling at him with a hand on his shoulder.

It was like the act of passing through from this world to the next.

Eren felt a chill.

Light flooded everything.

Falco returned with the others on his back, but not in time to help Reiner. By the time they returned, Reiner was gone forever from this blood-soaked earth.

Since he couldn't give them life, Eren gave them peace. To all of them, without exception.

He wished he had known them better to give them a better vision in their last moments, but he hadn't spoken to Falco and Pieck at all. As for Annie... He had talked to her a lot, but he had never understood her.

Still, he tried his best to give them a sweet illusion in their final moments.

He gave Falco the love of his short life.

Gabi got what Reiner got, what lucky soldiers received. That is, to return home, to be safe and to be able to leave the war behind. Or at least try to. Those children lost in the dark forest that their ancestor had grown would never find their way out, but would sink into darkness forever, here and now.

He gave Annie the only thing he could think of. What she'd almost, almost had for real. A reunion with her father.

For Eren, there was no illusion that could save him from reality, however. Until the last moment, he remained wide-eyed, acutely aware of the physical and emotional reality of his actions.

He killed and killed, feeling that he himself was dying, until he was left alone on his knees, amidst a sea of blood of his own creation. But this was not over. Not yet.

Eren rose to his feet and went to make contact with the creature again.

From the moment we are born...

The Titans of the Walls began to walk again. And the world trembled.

All of us are free.

Their Titans swept through Fort Salta, wiping out all the lives they had gathered there. Eldians and Marleyans alike. The Marleyans in the fort had realised their sins, but too late to change anything, and were reduced to dust along with another symbol of their civilization.

People who reject that, no matter how strong they are, don't matter.

The forces of what was left of the world came to stop the Demon of All the Earth. Even Marley's forces, the most powerful army in the world, had failed. So they didn't stand a chance.

But they couldn't sit around waiting for death.

No one could.

So they flew to meet their death, and went after him with ships, and with everything they had.

Burning water...

The corpses of the fallen ships burned in the water. The screams of horror and of the dying rose even higher than the flames.

...frozen lands, anything will do for me. Whoever sees these things will have gained more freedom than anyone else in the world.

The world was being trampled underfoot. Sent back to nothingness. This was freedom? A destroyed and empty land?

Yes.

He hated to live in a world where things had to end this way, but yes.

Fight! Fight!

But this time, Eren wouldn't look away or give up. From the spectral world called Paths, Eren Yeager would suffer another eternity in hell, until everything was accomplished.

He wouldn't leave Paradis's fate in the hands of destiny.

If it's for freedom...

Eren could be seen at the centre of all the destruction. Reunited with the Source of the Titans' Power, he was once again a colossal skeletal beast, slowly advancing. There was not a trace of his humanity in that body.

Not even in its face, the most human part.

Its eyes were the burning white eyes of a demon and its face looked more like a grotesque mask.

I would gladly give my life.

Yes, Eren Yeager was dead.

Or maybe he had simply never been alive, because he had never once been free. Things had always been destined to end in the worst possible way.

However...

It doesn't matter how terrifying the world is.

The destruction continued.

As nature began to reclaim what was hers, the birds painted shadows on the earth beneath them.

And their voices rose as if singing the requiem for this broken world.

It doesn't matter how cruel the world is.

Yet it was too faint. The power of nature was nothing compared to the power of the demon that humanity had given birth to.

It was nothing compared to the sound of the footsteps that were shaking the world.

Eternity came to an end, and Eren returned to the shores of Paradis.

Eren fell among the bones and smoke generated by his Titan as it dissipated. Through the smoke, though it shouldn't be possible, he saw his self from a future that should never have happened and now would never happen. He was looking up at the sky, or perhaps at Paradis who stood before him, and seeing the destruction that happened in his future more than the sight before him.

Warm tears were streaming down his cheeks. Eren, surprisingly, could see that clearly. Because for some reason he wasn't crying.

He had screamed and howled his head off, he had even laughed, and he felt a sensation in his chest as if it were being torn apart. But yet, at least, he hadn't shed a single tear.

"I am free," he declared to no one in particular, and vanished like the morning mist.

But that was not the only apparition that awaited him among the smoke. Rising to his feet, he spotted the founder Ymir through the smoke.

He tried to find words for her, for this, but he had none. Eren, holding back the urge to vomit, continued to stare at Ymir, who didn't seem to mind his silence. She has waited two thousand years for someone.

For me.

I...

The founder shook her head and smiled softly, like the child she had never been able to be.

"See you later, Eren." And with those words she disappeared.

Only disappeared wasn't the right word. The other Eren had been a ghost of the future, and the future could indeed disappear if you lost sight of it or the future changed.

But the past never really disappeared. It was always there, latent, like the power of a Titan in the hands of a Shifter.

What disappeared, one by one, evaporating, were the Titans of the Walls who had accompanied him to the shore.

The sky filled with their smoke, and it was like an ominous premonition, like the fire that was a prelude to a surprise attack. An invasion.

But there would be no attack, no war of any kind.

Eren had put a stop to that.

Paradis was safe.

As if to replace the Titans that had been his only company for an eternity, the warriors of Paradise appeared, closing in on him. Warriors of the faction that had been dubbed the Yaegerists.

Carrying those weapons, their faces distorted by the smoke that hadn't quite disappeared, they looked like vengeful ghosts.

They looked like a firing squad.

Do it, he thought. Go on, shoot!

That moment of madness passed, however. Eren walked among his own, heading deeper into Paradise. He had a place to return to.

In the tense silence, the obvious question went unspoken. But Eren answered it anyway.

"It's over. All of it. You don't have to fight anymore."

Many shoulders slumped in relief at that, postures relaxing. But still, there was a strange tension in the air.

"Mr. Yeager."

A voice he didn't know. Despite that, and despite the fact that he had that something to do, Eren turned to look at the boy who had spoken. Because he was just a boy, two or three years younger than him even.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

Eren didn't know what to reply, so he simply nodded. And he moved on.

His destination was, of course, Historia's cabin.

He had walked a long way since the last time he had been there. Before this whole mess started, before he left to go to Marley...

"What do you think about me having a child?"

"I have already told you. I won't allow them to use you and offer your son as a sacrifice for this island. That cycle must end."

"No, I mean... How would you feel about me having a child not for this island, not for the plans of the MPs, but for myself?"

"Well, I... You don't need to ask me, but of course I'd be okay with it. If it's your choice..."

And she laughed.

"You're always so serious lately, but sometimes you're as honest as a child." Historia came closer. He felt the weight of her body and her warmth against him. "You don't want me to have a child with anyone, for any reason, do you? It's all over your face."

"I..." Stunned and red as a tomato, Eren could do nothing but stammer out that word.

"Unless it's with you."

How direct. Her words were like an electric shock.

"I see I was right," Historia flashed a mischievous grin more appropriate to the Krista persona. Though Historia didn't usually smile like that, far from it, it suited her perfectly. It was a beautiful smile without a trace of dishonesty.

"You saved me that day, in that cave. From Reiss and more importantly, from myself. Before I knew it, I already had... special feelings for you. But, Historia... I have four years to live... And, anyway, I don't think... I don't think I'll come back alive."

Historia stood in front of him, forcing him to look at her.

She put her hands on his cheeks. Eren felt that electric shock again.

"I know. I know all that, but... I can't help the way I feel, and I wouldn't even if I could. I believe a future with you is possible. I want it. But even if we can't complete each other, at least we can lick each other's wounds. What do you want, Eren?"

"All of it. Everything of yours," Eren said hoarsely, and pushed his lips against hers, wrapping his arms around her waist.

They melted into a kiss.

He could already see the cabin.

As if she had sensed him coming, the door opened and through it emerged Historia with "something" in her hands. And that something was, without a doubt... He didn't finish the thought. Eren's heart raced painfully.

The wind swayed the grass. It pushed him back, as if to tell him that he didn't deserve this. That he didn't deserve anything, not after...

He reached Historia, in that grave silence.

He knelt in front of her and leaned forward until his forehead touched the ground.

"I'm sorry."

The silence lingered long enough for Eren to be convinced it was over.

"Eren. Please raise your head." Historia shifted the child in her arms to better accommodate her. The child. His... It seemed like a sin to refer to such a innocent little thing as his daughter, but she was. "Why do you apologize? The Rumbling... I haven't carried it out, but have you forgotten what I said? Even if we are enemies of humanity, I will always be on your side. Your sins are also mine. So share the burden with me."

Eren stood up.

I don't deserve this. I'm unworthy of all this. But...

Historia extended the child towards him.

"Take her in your arms. She's been waiting for you. Waiting for her father."

Eren hesitated, but took the child in his arms. His daughter.

He had crushed so many lives for an eternity as he carried out the Rumbling, trapped in a world where there was no past, no present, no future, but time: a world where everything blended together.

She was so small, so fragile, he was almost afraid to crush her by accident.

Eren caressed his daughter's face.

The little girl couldn't yet open her eyes, but she reacted to the touch of her father's hand with a big smile.

For a few moments, Eren forgot his urge to vomit even his soul and the pain that threatened to tear him in two, and responded to the smile with a smile.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw "something" that shouldn't be there.

Eren gasped.

More apparitions. Suddenly they were surrounded by Armin, Mikasa, Jean, Connie, by all the precious friends he had killed with his own hands. His brother Zeke... And even strangers, faceless ghosts. He knew who they were though. The Yeagerists who had followed him and died, all for this moment.

They were silently watching. Judging him.

"If you're here..." Historia began hesitantly, "then everyone else...?"

"Yes," he answered simply to something that was far from simple.

"I see. I'm the one who should apologize. But I can't say sorry. I just can't. I don't want to be the kind of mother who regrets the birth of her child."

"Why do you say that?"

"You weren't planning on getting out of this alive. You came back for me. Don't hold back. Tell me the truth, I can take it."

"For you and for this child. But saying that's the reason would be a simple excuse. I did it for myself. Because I wanted... I needed this."

Historia hugged him from behind. She was so small, too, his savior. But also so strong. Strong in ways he had longed to be. Now he was... he'd proven it, but that didn't change his admiration for her.

"Eren. Let's live these four years, every day of these four years, to the fullest. Okay?"

"You told me you wanted to put an end to the Power of The Titans too, but, by the marks on your face, I assumed that... Was I wrong?" There was hope in her voice.

Eren put a hand to his face, feeling around, and found that Historia was right. The marks of the shifter transformation were still there. He lowered his hand and again used it to hold his daughter.

He shook his head.

"The Age of the Titans is over, Historia," Eren Yeager declared.

The ghosts, with their black eyes, were still watching them. They showed no sign of disappearing, as if they were waiting for something.

They wanted to know what would happen with the hearts they had dedicated to the cause, willingly or unwillingly.

They wanted to know the meaning of their sacrifices.

This, Eren thought. This has all been for this moment.

Eren Yeager had never been free. From the moment he awoke under that tree, on the very day of his mother's death, he hadn't been free. No, even before a higher power had pushed him down this path of despair, destruction, and death.

He had always lived with walls around him.

But now there were no walls.

The sun was rising, bathing a world without walls in its light.

Eren Yeager had never been free and never would be, even in this new age that wouldn't experience the curse of the Titans. For the rest of his life, which was likely to be a long one, he would suffer for what he had done and die full of regrets. But...

He held his daughter in his arms. Even as a newborn, he thought he could see the resemblance.

Ymir, the first link in this long chain of hatred, would be the first child to be born into a world without walls around them.

Of course, no one could give back the life that King Fritz had taken from her.

This was but a second chance.

With the death of the Power of the Titans and the world of Paths, a new life would be born. And she would have the chance to live her life for herself, not for anyone else. The chance to choose her own path, and live and die as she wished. Because...

"You are free."

Authors Note

There's not much to say. Well, like many, I was not satisfied with the ending of the series. This little project started as a theoretical exercise of how I would have written the last chapter if I had been in charge of the series. However, when I came across the Black Bird theory, I couldn't help but add in it.

To do justice to all the characters, I feel I should have started rewriting the story from the beginning of the battle with the Founder. However, tbh, it seemed like too much work, and wasn't what I needed during the "grieving" period anyways, so this is a story mainly focused on EHY.

Although that can be seen as making compromise, I'm satisfied with the results.

If you share that opinion, you might be interested in the story I'm currently writing. It's an original work inspired in part by my feelings of dissapointment and frustration with the ending of AoT. It's being released as a web serial. For the unaware, it's like fanfiction in the sense that you don't have to pay to read it, so no harm in giving it a chance, right?

You can read it on my site here, where the story is being released both in English and Spanish: allthedeadsinners .wordpress

Or in RoyalRoad (English only): fiction/43320/all-the-dead-sinners

You can't link to other sites here, so the links don't shown up whole, but copy pasting what's there and googling it the first search result should be the story.

Short summary: A young man named Desmond applies for an elite academy of soldiers, to become one and avenge all he lost, but ends up embroiled far faster than he ever thought in a war where a world of magic and a world of technology collide.