Update
Pov/Eren
Guilt
That was all he felt. The guilt of slaughtering millions weighing down upon him like a stack of bricks, which brought him to his knees.
But those millions of deaths were only part of the guilt which filled him.
His friends. The people who had done this all for. They had turned against him and fought him, trying to kill him. But he had the power of the founder with him. He thought he could subdue them, after all, the power of the founder was absolute. It was unbeatable.
So he used the ancient titan-shifters of the past to stop and subdue his friends, hundreds of titans fought against them, and for a time things seemed to be going well.
But then the ancient titans stopped trying to subdue them, they then started to kill them.
Flashback Pov/Mikasa
She shot up the bones of Eren's massive titan body, trying desperately to escape the onslaught of titans which were overwhelming the remaining Scouts.
Reiner was being attacked by dozens of jaw titans, who were jumping around him slashing at his armoured body with their claws, which broke through his armour with ease. And even though he killed more than a dozen already, another five seemed to just replace them.
Annie was no better. She was being brought down by what seemed to be a group of attack titans and female titans.
Connie and Jean had fallen sometime earlier, with Jean getting sliced in half by the sword of a Warhammer titan and Connie running out of gas and then falling to his death.
Pieck who had tried to kill Eren at the beginning of the fight was crushed under the foot of a beast titan.
Levi had come down from Falco to try and save his comrades, but now he was zipping around his leg covered in blood.
And Armin, who she could only presume was dead after he was taken by an ancient cart titan who fled far from them, and now was nowhere to be seen.
And now the only ones who were safe were Gabi and Falco who was flying around the massive titan.
She finally made it to the top of the bone with Levi waiting at the top for her.
"Captain!" She yelled at Levi.
She dropped down on the bone next to Levi who like her was exhausted from the battle.
"What do we do?" She asked him breathlessly, desperate for an answer.
Levi looked at her with a pained expression.
"We fight."
"But how? We've been fighting for more than an hour and. And we've lost so much!" She yelled at him, tears streaming down her face. "We're both nearly out of gas, and you're on your last blade!"
Levi stared at her for a moment.
"Then what do we do?" He asked her.
"I- I don't know," she answered dropping to her knees.
Below them, the ancient titans had begun to climb up the bone and with every second they drew closer.
Eren… Why would you do this? Didn't you love us? Didn't you want us to live long lives?
Levi looked over the edge of the bone, his face remaining emotionless. But after a second of staring at the horde of titans his head whipped up suddenly.
"FALCO!" He yelled at the flying titan.
"COME PICK US UP!"
"So we're leaving?" She asked him suddenly. "What about-."
"They're gone!" He yelled, cutting her off. "We can't help them."
She knew he was right, below them there was so much steam she couldn't even tell if Reiner, Annie and Pieck were alive anymore.
Falco came swooping down at them with Gabi on his back.
"Let's go," Levi told her grabbing her arm.
She nodded silently.
Levi shot his grapples at the flying titan and fired himself at it swiftly.
But almost in slow motion, it happened.
A dozen rocks made out of titan's bone came flying out from the steam below them and struck Falco with such force that feathers and titan blood went flying into the air.
But the bone didn't just hit Falco.
Gabi had a chunk of the bone rip through her chest and out her back, throwing her off the titan and killing her instantly.
But Levi was hit as well, by a single shard of bone that went flying into his skull, breaking through his skin and skull, and ripping through his brain with ease.
"CAPTAIN!" She screamed out in horror, as Levi, Gabi and Falco all dropped to the ground silently, none of them able to scream.
She whipped her head round to see who threw the bone at her remaining friends, but she already knew who it was.
The body of a seventeen-meter tall ape emerged from the steam clutching another chunk of bone.
She couldn't believe it. Had Eren taken everyone from her? Had he really allowed for them all to die?
She shot her grapples at the beast titan and with even more tears going down her face she fired herself at him.
The beast titan threw the chunks of bone at her, but she dodged them with ease.
She shot straight past the titan they swung back around and shot right back at the titan's nape, not giving him a second to move.
She let out a blood-curdling scream as she sliced the beast titans nape open, which released steam instantly.
The empty titan dropped to the ground steaming and falling apart.
She looked up to see Reiner's titan head being held by a Warhammer-titan, which held a bloodied sword and stood in front of the army of titans.
She started to shoot back up the bone once again. This time alone.
But her gas finally ran out just as she made the halfway point.
She dropped silently with her grapples pulling out of the bone. She passed the ancient titans, which looked on as she fell through the gap in between the bones and to the ground below, where the horde of colossal titans would crush her body.
She had failed. Humanity would be wiped out, but Paradis would be safe.
Maybe Eren can live the rest of his years in peace.
She closed her eyes and finally hit the ground with a crack, her life flashing before her eyes within an instant. And then, there was darkness.
Present Pov/Eren
He kneeled on the ground, staring at the smear of blood on the ground, which was once Mikasa.
"How- How did this." He started before he realised what had happened.
"YMIR! He screamed into the sky. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"
There was no reply.
"Damn you," he muttered. "Damn you to hell."
"I wish I could do it all over... to stop all of it to stop this from happening" he paused "To stop myself… To stop Ymir."
"I saved you," a voice told him.
And then the burnt and scorched ground changed to sand and instead of the sun in the sky, there were only stars and the endless night. The sea of sand was lighted up by a beacon of light that stretched towards the sky.
The paths? But why am I?
"Eren Yeager," the voice continued, cutting him off.
He looked towards where the voice had come from, and there as she had been for 2000 years stood Ymir who had come forth from the beacon of light.
"Ymir!" He shouted standing up.
"I saved you from your friends," Ymir replied calmly.
"I had the ancient titans with me," he explained walking towards her. "I was going to subdue them, I didn't need your help."
"You would have failed. Your friends would have killed you," Ymir told him. "As you saved me from my endless fate, I saved you from death."
"So now what Ymir! The world is gone and Paradis is safe. Are you happy that you killed all those I loved," he shouted at her angrily.
"You have Historia, you have your daughter."
"You're right," he said dropping to his knees. "But how could either of them accept me, knowing that I killed millions?" he asked her.
"Maybe she will. Maybe she won't. But you both live, and she is safe. Paradis is safe. Eldia is safe."
"Yes they are, but I have two years left to live. Even if I break your curse… How can I live with it?" He explained. "I killed millions, the innocent and guilty it didn't matter, I killed them."
"But was it worth it? Would you have rather left Paradis's fate up to chance?"
He let out a sigh before replying.
"It was worth it. But that doesn't help."
"Then shall you end it? Right here and now? I shall not stop you, I will leave you here in this barren wasteland for your body to rot away. But that is not the only way. You can do it again, and try to stop it from ending like this?"
"What. What do you mean?" He asked her.
"The power of the founder can do anything with Eldians," Ymir explained walking towards him. "I can send you back, into the past where you can try again. Do it all over and save those who you love."
"But I would have to leave Historia, and my daughter, behind."
Ymir nodded before replying.
"Yes, you would. But that is the price you must pay if you wish for this."
He walked towards Ymir and looked down at her.
"I accept your offer," he told her.
Ymir smiled softly and looked up at him.
"Well then, I hope we meet again," she raised her hand and tapped him on the head with a single finger.
"Eren Yeager."
A flash of light engulfed his vision blinding him momentarily, but after a second his vision returned to him, and he was met by the faces of the past.
So, it really happened, I was sent back in time. He looked around at the faces of those who died years earlier, and those who had betrayed and lied to him.
Mina, Milieus, Marco, Sasha, Ymir, Thomas, and dozens more. The people he couldn't save. The people he failed.
In front of the stood instructor Shadis who was looking at the rows of cadets with distaste, his eyes staying on him slightly longer than the rest.
"Arlet!" The voice of instructor Shadis called out to Armin, who stood next to him beads of sweat running down his face. "What the hell did you come here for."
He stopped paying attention to the voice of the instructor and instead looked at the cadets who he had known for years. But yet they didn't even know his name.
Too many people here had died because of him, he started to reminisce of the old times, before the fall of Trost and before he had discovered his shifting abilities. But these memories had not yet happened and he was just another face in this crowd to them.
Three people caught his eye as he looked around the crowd. The same three people who had caused his childhood trauma and the deaths of hundreds of thousands
Bertholdt, Reiner, and Annie. The warriors from Marley. They had caused so many deaths and would cause even more in the future, how could he stop them? He could go to the scouts but… They would think of him as a mad man. He would just have to try to find a way he could stop them without giving away his knowledge of future events.
"What's your name magot" Shadis yelled at jean, drawing his attention back to the instructor.
He thought back to what Shadis had said years back
'But in the end, I could not change a thing, I am just a bystander.'
"Jean Kirstein from Trost district, Sir!"
"And what did you come here for?!"
Jean froze for a second, seemingly deciding whether to tell Shadis what he wanted to do.
"To get into the Military Police Brigade…" he paused for a moment, "And live in the Interior Sir" he finished.
"I see! you want to go live in the interior, don't you?
"Yes Sir." Jean looked relieved at Shadis's statement, but the relief was gone within a second as Shadis's head came down upon his head.
Jean immediately collapsed on the ground from the headbutt.
"Hey! who gave you permission to sit down?!" Shadis shouted at Jean who was still trying to get back up from the dirt
"You think someone who folds here! Is going to be allowed into the MPB?!"
He chuckled silently as Jean rose from the ground, causing Shadis's head to whip around at him.
Change Pov/Shadis
He walked towards the cadet, who he knew the name of, being friends with his parents. And even though he felt sorry for the child he couldn't bring himself to show this affection publicly, or privately.
"You!" he shouted at the Eren knowing the boy's name but he decided against using it, "What is your name?!"
Eren saluted before speaking, "Eren Yeager, Sir".
He looked into the boy's eyes and shouted at him again
"And why! Did you come here?"
Eren looked straight back at him, his eyes no longer burning with the same rage which they had been mere minutes earlier.
His eyes seem… Older than they should be.
"To liberate my hometown and leave the walls, Sir."
I enjoyed writing this, as before what happened to Mikasa, Armin and ect just a bunch of exposition from Eren, it is now a full flashback from Mikasa.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, tell me what you think, is this better or worse than the original. The update for chapter 2 will be out within a couple of days.