I do now own Attack on Titan or any characters
Warning, this chapter will contain some spoilers for the show. Granted, most of you have probably seen more of the show than me, but on the off-chance you, like me, are still watching then I would suggest getting into season 3 where a lot of questions start to get answered.
Armin's eyes open, wishing he could sleep more but knows he can't afford to. He looks over to his side to see Mikasa still asleep mostly peacefully considering how bad she could get depending on the night. He notices some dried up tears on her face. Strange, he hadn't heard any crying that night. Perhaps it was one of the few nights she had a more pleasant dream that made her happy? It's hard to say. Mikasa hardly talks about her dreams even when he has to wake her up from them. He gets up to get ready for the day to do what needs to be done. He was always the one up in the mornings. Mikasa had protested originally, but he managed to convince her to let him take responsibilities in the morning. What with Mikasa as mentally shaken during the night as she could be, it was best if he handled things in the mornings..
His eyes migrated over to one of their few possessions. A picture of the three of them, himself, Eren, and Mikasa. Eren had some bruises on him from a fight he had just been in with some bullies that had picked on Armin. He still doesn't understand Eren's protectiveness of him, but he would always appreciate it.
I'm sorry so much of our time together was you defending me. You spent so much time worrying about me and my problems. I always felt so worthless compared to you and Mikasa. But no more. If no one is going to take care of us, then it's time to grow up. I'll take care of and defend us just like you and grandpa took care of and defended me. I'm done being helpless.
"Rations aren't being passed out already, are they?" He hears Mikasa inquires. He turns to her to see her eyes cracked open, having awoken to his rumbling around getting ready.
"Not quite yet, the sun still isn't up all the way up. Rations won't be passed out for a bit still so I'm heading out to the line now to hopefully make sure we get some today. They are getting tighter with what they are giving out as we both know, and anything is better than nothing."
Armin looked back over to Mikasa, worry on his face. "How are you? Taking a look, you seem to have had a fairly restful tonight all things considered. If you want though, feel free to rest some more. It's still early so you won't be missing out if you get a bit more sleep. I can handle getting food for the both of us."
Mikasa turns to face him and starts to get up. Armin supposes he expected her to come with him even though she still looked tired. She had a better rest than most nights at least considering he hadn't needed to wake her from a nightmare or anything, but she still gets less rest than he does. Thoughts and regrets about Eren swim through her mind every night. It's all one bad paradox for Mikasa. She hates the nightmares, but she loves the memories. Thinking about Eren easily puts her into one of her mood swings but just as easily gets her out of it.
Armin doubts anything would be changing about her in regards to Eren any time soon.
In the year since the fall of the wall, only once had she gone through a fairly significant change, significantly for the better if he says so himself. He shuddered slightly thinking back about what had happened, but at least he managed to help her. If he hadn't... he has no clue what he would have done at that point.
But that event is neither here nor there. Doing something is the only way to get things done. Both of them knew that. Doing something was also the easiest way to stop your mind from wondering to where you don't it to. Both of them knew that as well.
They both are up and in line for rations. The line is already long as usual. Most people were willing to lose sleep if it meant getting some free food for that day. Those that weren't... would once the hunger got bad enough. Armin just hoped they had gotten up early enough to get some today.
The soldiers had finally started handing out rations. Based on on where he and Mikasa were in line and how much they had brought that day, it seemed like they would be fortunate enough to get rations.
Eventually, they were next in line and were able to get their allotted rations with no fuss. It was looking to be a good day already. Seems like they wouldn't need to go quite as far as some days to take care of themselves, which was good.
While he may not be against stealing to survive at this point like he used to be, he would still prefer not to if it could be avoided. Today was one of those good days where he wouldn't have to resort to crime to take care of himself and Mikasa.
After all, no one else would be caring for them. Not any orphanages. Not any adults. Not even any other kids. Not since they commanded over 2 million people to die in an "attempt to reclaim the walls" around a year ago. Everyone knew it was just an excuse to help with the overpopulation from the refuges after the titan attack a year ago. Both his grandfather and Eren's mom had been sent out as well. And without either of them, who else would have the time to take care of two random kids with the surplus of people? Even after everyone was sent out, inside the walls was still crowded. The only unknown in regards to them at this point was Eren's dad, but he simply assumed Eren's dad was sent as well. He may well have died that day as well for all he knew. It was anyone's guess at this point, but something about it was amiss to him, still.
But boy did he miss having adults that cared for them around. He missed all of them. Having responsibilities sucked, but it was necessary and he doesn't regret having them, he just regrets the situation in which he obtained them.
For whatever reason, though, his mind was hung up on the situation with Eren's dad. Something about it rubbed him the wrong way. He was missing something, he just wasn't sure what. At this point though, he decided to stop thinking about it. It didn't matter to him. Gone is gone.
Dammit! A whole year and still almost nothing to show for it. Yes, the research and experimenting Grisha Yeager had done on himself and his condition had borne some results, but nothing conclusive with the equipment he had available. If everyone is to survive, he had to figure everything out before he died.
One month. That's all I have left. After that it's all over. The Founding Titan will be lost to who knows where. The walls will get overrun. Defeat will be inevitable at that point. Dammit! Without Eren to carry on this legacy, it's up to me to figure it out. I can't just give this ability to anyone. It had to be Eren. He didn't know why, but he just knew.
And now that Eren was off the table, the alternative is to learn how to remove the titans from himself so he can find another successor for the powers.
Eren... I'm so sorry. I wish I had been there to save you. Then you could have saved us all...
When he saw Mikasa and Carla arrive without Eren, he knew Eren hadn't made it. And without Eren, he had no reason to go back to the two of them. Yes he loved them both dearly and desired greatly to go back to them. However, at that point he was stuck in a terrible position in which he had to somehow either find a viable successor in a years time or find a way to remove the curse from himself so he can have longer than a year to find someone to inherit the powers. He just didn't have the time. He needed to go solo.
The gravity of the situation he was in fell on him like a ton of bricks. Grisha Yeager yells out in frustration at his latest results before throwing everything off the table in anger. The latest experiment led to no new information. Nothing he hadn't already figured out in the past. He needed more details or better equipment. He could only afford to get certain amounts and kinds of scientific equipment without arising too much suspicion.
The interior police had killed less important people for much less than what he had done and was currently doing after all. And the lesser the suspicion he had on himself the better. He hadn't even used his own name since the attack.
But it all proved for naught. The situation was hopeless. If he had obtained higher grade equipment, he would have had the full force of the interior police on him within the week. They'd show up even faster if they learn of his true identity after what he did.
Not even considering the fact that if he did obtain higher quality gear, there were still no guarantees he would find his answer in time.
No, there was only one option at this point. Of course this choice probably had an even higher chance of failure. Even as a titan shifter, going through titan territory alone was synonymous with suicide. Yet if he makes it, he can combine what he's learned here with what he already has there; he should be able to construct the answers he needed.
After all, he had had 10 years in Shiganshina. He was bound to take an interest in removing this curse from himself, investigating whether it were possible or not. Who in their right mind wouldn't? And he had some success with it! He curses at his lack of foresight in ensuring he could have taken the knowledge with him when he left, separating out those memories from himself until he got back to the cellar. Unfortunately, the risk of it being stolen was too great. He hadn't had enough knowledge about the situation back then. He had known Reiss didn't have full access to the Founding Titan's powers, but he didn't know exactly to what degree. He couldn't guarantee his victory at the time so he couldn't afford to take that knowledge, as incomplete as it was, with him. As a result, he locked it away to be remembered when he next entered the basement.
Speaking of Reiss, it brought him back to something he hadn't thought about since he had learned of Eren's demise. He knows he got the memories about the royal families weakness from Eren. Which means Eren was supposed to inherit his titan. Yet Eren was dead. The whole situation just didn't make any sense to him. But at this point, it didn't matter. He needed to learn how to remove a titan from a person without needing to kill them. All his research indicates it's possible, but the only way to succeed in his mission is to learn how. And for that, he needed to get to the cellar.
At this point though, what happened in the past is the past. It was time for him to go home.
It was time for him to return to Shiganshina.
Silence. Absolute silence. A gentle breeze blows through the area but besides the breeze there is nothing. No people. No animals. Just one lone titan. Standing completely still, its face as unchanging as ever. No other titans are in the area. Whenever one happens to go past on its way towards in inward walls, there is no interaction in any way.
Just the single, smiling titan with an even emptier-than-normal look in its eyes stands absolutely motionless over the wreckage of the Yeager's house.
Eyes slowly begin to open, everything still a hazy blur. The person tried to move but could not. All it could do is watch and listen and events unfold around it. Its vision begins to clear and horrifying visions beyond those of human comprehension play out in front of it. The depravity of the scene in front of it can't even be described using human speech. Not that the being had the ability to describe anything at the moment even if it could comprehend what it was seeing.
It opens its mouth to scream but nothing comes out.
It faints.
So, I adjusted the timing of Grisha's death by a year in order to make things happen. In my mind, the events of the story essentially take place one year earlier across the board from Grisha inheriting his titan so everything still stays the same but Grisha had one year left of life to spark the rest of the story.
Edit: I also added a detail that is more for convenience than anything. Since titan shifters and whatnot are so closely related to memories, I've given titan shifters the power to lock away their own memories until prompted to remember them since it makes enough sense in the context of the story as a whole. I'm intending for it to come into play again later in the story as well so it's not JUST lazy writing even though that is the inspiration for the detail to be frank.
Also, I got a review about the reviewer having read a story about Eren being the one who got eaten, which doesn't surprise me all things considered. It's just something that I had thought about in regards to how something like that would have affected some of the characters. Then I was wondering if there was any way to justify him managing to come back in a way that would make some sense in the universe. And at that point I figured I'd put enough thought into it that I may as well write something about it.
BUT, if I managed to come up with something like this then someone with actual creativity probably also has. And interestingly enough I found a story with a similar concept to mine as the catalyst for his story but this author seems to be going in a different direction from what I can tell so far.
It's called Hell Overfloweth by AkumaKami64.
An enjoyable story and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys this. I liked reading it myself. Not sure if this is the story the reviewer had in mind, but if it's not then I'd like to know what that person was talking about in their review? Because if I am writing a story really similar to something that someone else has then I don't mind just stopping this one to be honest. No need to rewrite something that's already been written and all that. But until that happens I'll keep updating this occasionally. It's quite fun.