Creation began on 09-12-18
Creation ended on 09-19-18
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Hope from the Sky: New Loyalty born of Vengeance and Redemption
A/N: Can the enemies of an enemy ever be friends…or are they just enemies?
"Reiner Braun," Reiner heard his name being called by one of the guards in his prison cell, "Bertolt Hoover, Annie Leonhart and Zeke Yeager."
Bertolt, despite actually cooperating with the Eldians and having no intention of going against them, chose to be incarcerated alongside the others of the Warrior Unit because he didn't want to cause trouble with the people that knew him and feared him as the Colossal Titan from over five years ago.
"What is it?" He asked the guards.
"The Survey Corps have returned from the internment zone of Liberio with Eldian members that wanted to leave it," another guard explained, "but there were thirteen of them brought along that we're not sure were part of freedom seekers that were left for dead by Grausam Zanki."
"Why should it matter to us if he hurt thirteen of the Eldians?" Zeke questioned, not caring for a bunch of Eldians he probably didn't know.
"Jonathan and Madeline Yeager," the third guard uttered, "Arnold Leonhart, Nicholas Hoover and Karina Braun. Do these people mean anything to you four?"
"Nicholas Hoover is my father!" Bertolt shouted. "What did Grausam Zanki do to my father?!"
"What did he do to my mother?!" Reiner demanded; a line was crossed in his heart after he heard his mother's name being mentioned as someone left for dead by the Titan Doctor.
"The information we received is sketchy at best, but it would seem that…they and other members of your families were…exsanguinated by him," the first guard explained. "They're being transferred to the hospital for further blood transfusions to try and save them, which is why Queen Historia is having us escort you over there."
That bastard, thought Zeke; he might've hated his parents, more so his father than his mother when he was little, but he treasured his grandparents, and to hear that Grausam Zanki had harmed them actually put tears in his eyes. What did he do?!
-x-
They didn't have time to do analysis on blood types and just did transfusions with blood taken from random members of the Survey Corps that donated to try and save the people as they were being taken to the hospital. It was a miracle that they were still alive when they were found.
"Reiner," uttered the little girl, Gabi, weakly as she was being subjected to another transfusion from a member of the Garrison within the building. "Where…where's my cousin?"
Outside in the hallway, the Survey Corps members, Shinji and Kaede, now accompanied by Historia and Ymir, observed each member of the thirteen victims that Kaede had suddenly started recalling from the memories of the former Titan Shifters they had in custody as though they were her own memories.
"He's gone too far," Kaede said.
"Yes," Historia agreed with her, "he has."
If I had known he was going to do something like this, I would've killed him outright. I should've killed him when the opportunity presented itself.
"I don't understand, though," Historia stated, "if he wanted their blood, why did he make Ms. Pieck take a decoy truck that she thought had it?"
"My father says he did this sort of stunt every time," Kaede explained; she and Shinji spoke with Sig as soon as they returned to the island and received a chilling revelation about his father's behavior. "Whenever he wanted to protect something he considered had value to him, he would have someone take what they thought was the valued item…while he hid the real one elsewhere, deceiving the thieves and everyone else in the process."
"He must think this is some sick game that he's playing," went Ymir in response to hearing this.
"If it is nothing but a game to him, he's the only one enjoying it," said Shinji, "so we gotta make the game terrible for him…and put the Devil back in Hell."
"We gotta find out why he wanted their blood first," went Levi. "Marley doesn't have any means for blood banks, do they?"
"Based on what the liberated Eldians told us, Marley has never heard of a blood bank," Kaede told them. "They just do transfusions whenever necessary. They don't store blood for later use."
"Whatever the reason, it may relate to what we're going up against in the future," stated Erwin, reminding them that the inevitability and inescapability of war was upon them.
A woman came over and informed them the four former Titan Shifters of the victims were now inside the building.
"Okay, thank you, ma'am," Historia praised her.
-x-
"I heard you went up against a Titan and was almost killed by it," Grausam heard a man behind him say as he worked on the process of commingling the Eldian blood with his revised Jaeger Serum to begin the trial stage of granting Marleyan soldiers the ability to become Jaeger Titans temporarily.
"Almost killed doesn't come close," he responded to the unseen man as he focused more on the glass vials and tubing and individual containers of blood around the room. "The next time I see that particular Titan, it will be with an army of versatile soldiers. Retribution against what remains of Eldia will be obtained for Marley."
"We have lost the last of the Warrior Unit…and we have lost the Cart Titan you improved. All we have left…is the War Hammer Titan, and we can't risk losing it to anyone."
"Except you've had the War Hammer Titan for centuries and have never used it. I question not the fact that the Tybur family has never involved themselves in the war against Paradis, but the fact that you're talking about a Titan I've never seen before…so I can't be sure actually exists. But make no mistake, for my loyalty to Marley is without question. The Eldians that remain in your possession will be sacrificed for the greater good."
Does this man even hear himself talk when he speaks like that?
-x-
This was a side of the former Titan Shifters that Eren hadn't seen before. He'd seen their brutality, their spite, their warped perception of how they were taught the people of Paradis were evil when it was actually they that were committing the evil against them, but now he was seeing something different from before. There was grief, heartache and the fear of loss. The fear that the people they love, that love them, would be taken from them in an instant, and all because of one man that had betrayed his own people…and hated them just as much as the Marleyans did.
Reiner, sitting in front of his mother as she was trying to recover from the heavy blood transfusion, felt rage towards this Grausam Zanki guy that put his hands on his family. A fire in him was lit that wanted to burn down a forest until the guy was burnt beyond recognition.
Annie, holding her father's right hand, fumed over the fact that he was all she had left in life, and if anything happened to him, she wouldn't have anyone left to live for. The man that hurt him would have to be taken care of in due time.
"Hey," went Zeke as he got up from beside his grandmother's bed, walking over to the door and outside where Historia and the others stood with security and a pair of Eldians blessed with the knowledge of medicine. "I don't need to be deceived by false promises. Please, just tell me… What are their chances?"
"If we were able to get to them in time, they have a chance at a full recovery," a female doctor explained, "but they'll need rest for a few days. We think the little girl got the worst of it."
"Gabi," they heard Reiner say as he stepped out. "Her name is Gabi Braun."
"If you're going after that bastard," Zeke uttered, "I want to kill him. He crossed a line. You don't ever target one's family, not even a Warrior or Warchief's family. He's not an Eldian… He's not even a Marleyan… He's just evil."
"I want to kill him, too," Reiner expressed. "Whatever I gotta do to kill him, I'll do it."
"I want him, too," they heard Annie's voice as she stepped out of the room.
"Not if I get to him first," said Kaede to them as Bertolt stepped out of the room, "and you're not the only ones that have a vendetta against him. You want to get him, take it up with the higher-ups in the Survey Corps and the Queen of Eldia themselves. Everyone's an enemy in Grausam Zanki's eyes and mind."
"What'd he do to you?" Annie asked her.
"Like with you, he put his hands on her and hurt her," explained Shinji, keeping it simple, not even caring if they saw his face and heard his voice and put two and two together. "Would you be angry if he touched you without your permission?"
Reiner looked at him, somewhat confused by his very appearance; the guy had to be around their age, but he had a look that…almost seemed like Mikasa's, only more. And the way his voice sounded… He was positive that he heard it from somewhere before, but he couldn't tell where.
"You're him," went Annie, also recognizing him by his voice. "You're the one that controls that purple giant that isn't a Titan."
"What?" Zeke uttered, looking at Shinji. "You mean, this boy? He's the one that's been helping the people that used to live behind the Walls?"
"Back off, Zeke," went Eren to his half-brother. "Now's not the time to be nursing a vendetta against someone that helped us escape the Walls."
"I was defeated by Eldians…that were aided by some Asian. I thought Marley had killed all the Asians over a century ago because they sympathized with the Eldians' reversed treatment by the Marleyans that overthrew them."
"Surprise revelation, Zeke Yeager," Shinji told him. "I'm not just some Asian. I'm an Asian that serves the Queen of Eldia of his own volition without a second thought."
"You're the reason my grandparents are even here among you," he uttered…and then bowed his head to him, showing respect. "You got them away from Grausam Zanki before he could think about doing worse to them. Thank you."
Hearing that was a surprise to Shinji's ears. A guy that was in charge of leading a small group of former Titan Shifters that served Marley against Paradis…giving him thanks for bringing his grandparents here before Kaede's step-grandfather could've done worse than drain their blood. It wasn't something he expected to hear from someone that was an enemy they were showing sympathy to because they suffered an emotional blow.
"It wasn't just me," he responded, making sure it was heard who was involved. "You owe thanks to the Survey Corps and the Dark Titan."
This was true to Reiner, Bertolt and Annie, too, if they owed thanks to those who brought their relatives here to try and be saved. And they couldn't deny it, even if they wanted to.
-x-
Three days had passed and Grausam had finally got together a prototypical variant of his new Jaeger Serum and a Marleyan volunteer.
Herb Prast was a fifty-seven-year-old, gray-haired Marleyan war vet from thirty years ago that had lost his left arm who volunteered on the condition for a year off on paying his home rent if this experiment yielded the desired results of temporarily bestowing the power of the Titans onto him. He was literally putting his life on the line by doing this for his family and country.
"I'll be giving half of a standard dosage only to see if it causes any change in you," Grausam told Herb as they stood out on the proving grounds where he once stood to prove his original variant did what it could to bestow him power. "If nothing pans out, I'll use the rest of the injection and see where that takes us."
Holding up the syringe, Grausam injected Herb in his right arm with half the serum and then backed away and waited for a reaction.
"Do you feel anything?" He called out from a safe distance.
"Nothing," Herb responded, looking at the empty space where his left arm used to be.
A few more minutes went by, but the man didn't become a Titan.
Grausam returned to him and injected the rest of the serum variant.
"What about now?" He asked Herb.
"I feel like my skin is on fire," Herb answered.
Backing away again just in case it was a delayed reaction, Grausam expected a flash of light like with any Titan transformation. But what did occur was not what he anticipated.
Herb, feeling like he was going to explode out of his skin, spat out vomit before feeling like a bolt of lightning struck him out of nowhere.
BOOM! A dust cloud was formed, obscuring the results of Grausam's attempt at giving Marleyans Titan powers.
Show me something, he thought as the smoke cleared to reveal Herb…who wasn't looking very impressive. Well, it's a crude, first effort that shows room for improvement.
Herb had become a Titan, but it was only eight meters, not as toned or filled out as some of the ones assumed by the Eldians, and had skeletal arms.
"Rrrraaurgh!" The Titan howled at the sky, raising its arms up as it stood.
"Herb Prast!" Magath called out through a megaphone. "Can you understand what is going on?"
The Titan looked toward the military commander…and nodded in the positive.
The next ten minutes had the Marleyan Titan being tested to demonstrate cognitive functions and where its abilities needed to be improved…along with how long it could remain active before it had to stop. Then, when twenty additional minutes had passed, the Titan began to emit more steam as it fell to the ground.
"Grrrraurgh!" It roared out, its head lying on the ground as its skin evaporated.
From the back of its neck emerged Herb Prast, damp from the sweat on his body…and showing minor scarring under his eyes that was similar to the scarring Titan Shifters exhibited after a transformation into their Titans.
"How do you feel?" Grausam asked him, noticing that the man had gotten at least one benefit for the test as the Guinea pig.
Raising and flexing the fingers of his regenerated arm, Herb chuckled as he felt the power of the Titans had given him back something that had been taken long ago.
"I feel good," he told him.
-x-
"It feels like it's been a long time since we were last down here," said Shinji to Kaede, standing outside her prison cell.
"Yeah," she agreed with him as she sat on her cot.
Since they had completed the Eldian liberation operation against Marley, Kaede had to resume the rest of her incarceration sentence. The girl hadn't forgotten about it and had no intention of running away or fighting it. On the brighter side, Kaede only had thirty days left on her sentence before she would be free again.
"Can I confess something to you about Grausam, Kaede?" Shinji asked her.
"Yeah, sure," she answered. "What is it?"
"That was the first time I ever saw him when you saw him…and he's everything everyone with an opinion on him has been right about. And when he transformed, it was as though he opened a doorway to Hell itself. He went from being an Eldian…to a Marleyan…to something else entirely vile. The guy's not human. I mean, he's not even an animal. He's just…just…"
"Akuma no keshin," Kaede uttered, and Shinji sighed.
"Yeah," he agreed with her. "He's exactly like that."
"What does that mean?" They both heard Ymir ask as she had arrived to escort Shinji out to see Historia again until his next visit. "What Kaede just said, I mean? What does…Akuma no keshin…mean?"
"In my language," Shinji explained, "it means 'the Devil incarnate'."
"And the Akuma Titan is referred to as the Devil of the Titans, a giant that literally wants to be remembered as the greatest of demons."
"And the Devil is the greatest of demons due to having the most authority and power. My Eva was actually modeled after an oni, a Japanese variation of the Devil, but Grausam, he makes it seem like an action figure rather than a demon."
"And that's a bad thing?"
"You weren't there, Ymir, so you don't know what the guy's Titan looked like," Kaede stated, "but even if he looked like a regular person, he couldn't hide his wickedness from me."
"What did his Titan look like?"
"A Titan version of how he currently looks," Shinji explained, "only darker and horrible."
"Except Titans rarely ever resemble the people they result from."
"That's not always the case. Before Kaede, none of the possessors of the Colossal Titan looked like people, just giant, skinned behemoths. Even Kaede's Titan looks nothing like her, but it's easy to see past it and straight to her. You see Grausam and his Akuma Titan…and you don't see one or the other."
"They're one and the same," said Kaede.
-x-
"…I heard some of you were feeling better enough to talk for a while," said Historia to the adults of the Braun, Yeager, Leonhart and Hoover families in what was identified by some of the Eldians with an uptick in their knowledge in medicine as a hospital recreational room for patients in recovery. "How are you feeling today?"
"We'll live," said Karina Braun to the young queen, "for the moment, at least."
Behind Historia were Eren, Mikasa, Armin and Levi along with the members of the hospital's security detail in case these patients were anything but strained in their actions.
"So, you're the queen?" Madeline Yeager questioned, somewhat appalled that the Eldian ruler was…so young.
"I am," Historia answered her.
"How'd you get to be ruler of the people," asked Johnathan Yeager to her, "and at such a young age as you are, too?"
"Just…one benevolent happening after another," she responded.
"Benevolent?" Grace Galliard, the mother of Marcel and Porco Galliard, questioned. "I fail to understand how your rise to such an important position stemmed from acts of benevolence."
The door to the room opened and they were accompanied by Shinji and Ymir.
"Hello, everyone," Shinji greeted them, bowing his head.
Gasp! Karina, Madeline and Grace reacted to the sight of the boy.
"What's wrong?" Ymir asked them.
Johnathan raised his left hand up and pointed at Shinji.
"Asian?" He questioned.
It seemed as though the question of Shinji's ethnicity and very existence was becoming something of interest to at least the adults of the fallen Warrior Unit. What was it about his existence that caused them to want to question it?
"Yes," Historia answered, unsure if she should be offended or not. "Meet Shinji Ikari, one of my two advisers. He's been part of the reason we're able to go to Marley in such a short time and was initially responsible for our life beyond the Walls."
"What?" Nicholas Hoover gasped, pointing to Shinji. "Him?! But he's just a boy! How could he possibly have been able to make it so that you live beyond the Walls of this island? Your lands were infested with Titans made from the outcast Eldians Marley sent here to serve a life sentence. It's impossible."
"There's no such thing as 'impossible', anymore," went Ymir to them. "The only Titans left around Paradis are the ones that once made up the Walls and are scattered about doing nothing but standing around, so the former threat they represented has ended."
"How," Madeline questioned, "when it still seems impossible? The First King, he abandoned his people on the mainland and left a threat of war upon Marley should they ever attack this island. The Titans within the Walls would trample the lands until nothing remained."
Historia looked to Shinji, who seemed to understand what needed to be said, and spoke up.
"Do you believe in hope, Mrs. Yeager?" He asked her. "Something that just happens when you least expect it to? As of late, that's what has been happening. People…just started receiving hope, whether it fell from the sky like a gift from the heavens…or made itself known less than a decade ago and fought back against the despair they had. When people have hope, things just change for them and those around them."
"So, what do you intend to do with us?" Nicholas asked them. "Are we prisoners like our children here, just waiting to be executed?"
"No," went Historia in response to his question. "You were almost killed by Grausam Zanki, a rather troublesome man that is causing problems we didn't expect him to. We were only liberating the Eldians that wanted to leave the internment zones since it's clear that war is unavoidable with Marley; we didn't expect for there to be some that didn't want to leave, but we're not going to hurt any of you."
"That's what Grausam Zanki said before he stuck all of us with a syringe," Arnold Leonhart uttered, still somewhat suspicious of the people that lived on this island. "Say you go to war with Marley, and you find this guy, what are the chances that he pays for what he did?"
"Because Grausam Zanki caused suffering to a member of his own family here, and she has first crack at making sure he suffers to the full extent of what she's capable of," Eren told them, making no hint that the man behind the Akuma Titan was no member of Paradis any more than they were viewed as enemies of Marley. "Even your kids want to get him for almost killing you, making it very personal."
"I saw the guy, and he's more dangerous than you think," said Karina to them. "If there were ever someone that deserved to be called the Devil for his wickedness, it's him."
"Yeah," Shinji agreed with her.
-x-
When he was back in his apartment, Grausam confessed to himself that he was disappointed in his abilities, even though he managed to survive his encounter with Kaede. It was because his new abilities were harder to exploit than he had initially anticipated; unlike with the previous times he demonstrated his power, this didn't come easy, like exercising a muscle in order to exercise control over it. And now, here he was, sitting at his table again, injecting himself with his variations of the Jaeger Serum again…because what didn't kill him made him more dangerous. He would've used up every variation he had if he needed to because he needed every edge he could get his hands on.
What doesn't kill me makes me smarter, he thought as a new fantasy surfaced in his mind: Kaede Sogen, his first Guinea pig for his research, getting ripped to pieces by countless Jaeger Titans that were Marleyans that wanted to prove themselves more monstrous than the Eldians they hated more than anything. I'd love hearing you scream as you die from being eaten alive.
After his sixth injection of that moment, he smirked, feeling as though he had experienced the best phenomenon to have ever made itself known to him. It wasn't at all like when he last injected himself; it was a feeling of invincibility, like he had found something that only he was meant to have. And it felt good.
-x-
She was dreaming again. She knew because she was in front of the unfinished mural depicting her Dark Titan in front of the members of the Nine Titans, now numbering eight. The sight of the Cart Titan on the far right was proof that Kaede now possessed its power added to her own, the power…of its endurance. Beside her was the Dark Titan itself, the same as before the Cart Titan was defeated, but it had to have experienced some form of change that was visible.
"Dark Titan," she uttered to it, turning to face it as it turned to face her. "Are you…alright?"
"To ask that…is to ask yourself if you're feeling alright," it spoke, rather evasive. "You fought with the Devil out of the need for both justice and revenge, trying to view both desires as one and the same…but stopped short because you had to remain objective, which was to liberate the Eldians that wanted to be free from Marley. You fought the Devil…and ended the fight in a draw to return to rescue the people."
Kaede looked down in shame; while she might've had the belief that she would get another chance to take Grausam out, she knew she couldn't get her hopes up, not when there were others now that wanted to get revenge upon him for his actions.
"I am sorry," she apologized.
"Don't be," the Dark Titan responded. "You wanted to stop him, but you wanted to help the people more. You also had Shinji to keep you from going over the metaphorical ledge between light and darkness."
"But he hurt those people, all the same by taking their blood, and we don't know what he intends to do with it. Whatever he has planned, we only know that it's not good."
The Dark Titan then turned to the mural depicting it and the other Titans of Ymir Fritz.
Kaede did the same.
"Ymir Fritz was a goddess among her people, to her people," she expressed, due to having the Founding Titan, Kaede could explore the memories of the very first Titan now, and saw her as a very beautiful woman whose features were all divine. "Everything she did was for their sake of a better future. Even as she was approaching her final days, she turned deserts into forests and gardens, mountains into pathways and villages, and trash into treasure. There's no one else greater than her because she was the very first."
"You can be just as great, you know," her Titan told her. "You already are."
"What do you mean?"
"Ymir Fritz used the power she obtained to help her people, the very power you're using to help your people. You haven't had these powers for a long time, but in the time since you obtained and used them, look at your accomplishments. What Karl Fritz once said to you is true; you may not be of royal blood, but there is something in you that more than makes up for it. Whatever it is…one day, you will see it for yourself."
Kaede found herself wondering what it was exactly that made up for her lack of royal blood and what it was about the Dark Titan that allowed for it to accumulate each of the Nine Titans' abilities without succumbing to their weaknesses, which seemed to be absent in her. Beyond being the first of Grausam's victims of his Jaeger Serum and an adviser to Historia, she didn't see or think of anything that made her special. Even her relationship with Shinji didn't mark her as someone of some desired significance; she was, as she had always been, just a girl.
-x-
"…So…we were actually saved by them?" Gabi asked Reiner as they were walking in one of the hospital's hallways. "They don't seem anything like what we were told in Marley. I saw this girl that was reaching out to everyone and she wasn't evil or deceptive at all. And it looks like this city's bigger than the internment zone, even though it's on an island. You and the others never explored the place before?"
"No, Gabi," he answered her as he stopped walking beside her; it was only because his family had been victimized by Grausam and was recovering from their blood loss that he and the other former Titan Shifters of the Warrior Unit were being permitted to be in the building with them until they were declared well enough to no longer require blood transfusions. "It was always about the operation to take the Founding Titan from the people here. I never once considered this city as anything other than a reminder of Eldia's fall from power, except now it's become lived in by people once again, and the Warrior Unit has been beaten by losing all six of its Titans."
"Maybe it's better this way."
"How can this be better?"
"You won't die because of the Titans, anymore…and you're still here. Aunt Karina will be happy that you're alive."
But being seen as Marleyans was everything to her, he thought, and it was the only reason he joined the Warrior Unit in the first place.
That…and because of his mixed heritage. He wanted his mother to be happy, and it was his belief that if they had become Marleyans, then they'd be able to live together with his father. But because of the different factors that led to the end result of the entire Braun family being relocated to Paradis, that goal was unachievable now. And people like this Grausam Zanki that he never met before were the cause of that dream being taken away.
Reiner swore on his family that he would avenge them if it was the last thing he did, Armored Titan or no Armored Titan. Even though it meant that he was going to have to do so without the Armored Titan.
"Do you think they'll be able to find the bad man that hurt us, Reiner?" Gabi asked him, referring to Grausam.
"Not if I get my hands on him first," he told her.
-x-
"…They're all relieved that their loved ones are going to pull through," went Ymir to Historia and the others, "but they want Grausam Zanki now, just like we do."
"Because he inflicted emotional harm on them," Armin explained their reason for desiring revenge. "Anyone would want their own brand of justice if someone they knew and loved was harmed by someone else. They're no exception."
Ymir gave a slight grimace when the thought of the Galliard family wanting revenge upon her for unintentionally causing the death of Marcel Galliard when she was a mindless Titan wandering outside of Wall Maria for decades. It was only because of the fact that not that many people outside the circle of confidants that were comprised of just Shinji, Kaede and Historia. While it was clear that anyone turned into a Titan against their will as a form of punishment or were turned unknowingly were to be exempt from any form of punishment due to not having any control of their actions, being solely attracted to people because they wanted to consume the power of the Titans to return to human form, it was likely hard for most people to understand and accept because Titans were often seen as the cause of so much pain.
"But can they be trusted?" Eren asked.
"Bertolt, maybe," went Levi, "since he's been more cooperative. But Annie and Reiner are a different story, along with Zeke. They might want revenge, but that desire may cloud their judgment and ability to make rational decisions."
"The right to decide the Akuma Titan's fate should be up to Ms. Sogen," Historia suggested.
"It's my job to make sure she doesn't go over the edge when dealing him his fate," went Shinji.
"Then, it should be Ms. Sogen that makes the final decision on who gets revenge," said Mikasa.
-x-
Endurance. That was all it was that made the Cart Titan stand out among the Nine Titans. Each incarnation of it stood out from the two facts that made it unique: It always moved on its arms and legs…and could remain active for longer periods. Whereas the other Titans could remain active for a little over a day or less before the effects of absorption started to hinder the possessor, the Cart Titan could be in used for weeks or longer before absorption began to take effect on the body.
Judging from the memories Kaede had obtained from Pieck that were of her past with the Titan, the longest anyone had ever been in Titan form in a controlled sense was two months. But going back further, she could see that the woman had suffered additional effects from being such a Titan for such an extended period, including a temporary behavior change where she moved on all fours like her Titan. And the worst part of her time as a Titan was how she dared to go longer than two months just to see if she could, only to fail. This was likely not even going to be the case for Kaede, though, as she hadn't even tested her new power yet, being incarcerated and allowing for her to adjust to the new addition.
To be able to remain in Titan form for longer than a week, Kaede thought as she lay in her cot. If every Titan Shifter could do that, everyone on Paradis would've been in greater trouble. Probably why when Ms. Fritz died, her soul knew it needed to restrict each of the Titans spawned from her essence to having specific strengths and weaknesses…and the original size limitation that made them either overlooked or underestimated.
The girl turned to her left side and yawned as she closed her eyes, shifting to a new concern for everyone to worry over. Now that they had finished the liberation of Eldians from Marley that wanted to escape, the reality of war was inevitable. While the number of people from the internment zones raised the dwindling population on the island, this didn't change the fact that Marley was a global power; all Eldia had left to represent its existence was an island…while Marley had the rest of the world and a larger army. No, Eldia had no army, just a small number of veterans from when Titans were viewed as the enemy and young fighters that either wanted to protect the last vestiges of the human race, justice for the victims of the Titans, or because they saw no point in going on unless it was to get out of the Walls…and they might as well as been dubbed a resistance force.
But they're not alone in this, she reminded herself. They have Shinji and I, and we're stronger because of what we have. We have the Eva, the Dark Titan and access to technology Marley never tried to exploit for themselves. And Marley has no hope.
-x-
Two more days went by before the medical staff declared the thirteen victims of Grausam Zanki were fit to leave the hospital and be relocated to either somewhere in the coastal city or a village or former district where they could…adjust to their new surroundings. It was also that Reiner, Annie and Zeke needed to return to their prison cells until it was confirmed whether or not they could be trusted not to harm the civilians like before; Bertolt was being the most cooperative with the former enemy.
"You didn't tell them who you were," Zeke spoke to Eren as he was being put back in his cell.
"Like they'd believe me?" Eren responded; even if they were related through their father, Grisha Yeager, Johnathan and Madeline Yeager didn't know about their only son's second family, and Eren thought it'd be unlikely that he'd be accepted by his paternal grandparents…simply because he was fighting against Marley. "Even if I did say something to them, it's not like we're bound to establish a friendly rapport. You turned on your parents."
"I did what I had to do because he was trying to turn me into a tool for something I didn't believe in, the same as you."
"Well, thanks to the aid of one of the queen's advisers, Father's intentions of having both his sons do what he couldn't were passed to people that could do it without worrying about the danger. And the power of the Titans, for the first time in a long time, is back in the hands of Eldia's most capable. All of the power of the Titans."
"You give the Titan power to nine random people and it's going to be nothing but chaos all over again, because they'll fight amongst each other for more power, even if the Founding Titan is retained by the royal family."
Then it's a good thing that the Nine Titans aren't being used by anyone except the Dark Titan, Eren accepted, and she's more than capable.
Returning his brother to his cell, Eren walked away and passed by Reiner's cell.
"Hey, Eren," Reiner spoke up, getting his attention. "You gotta let us get this Zanki guy."
"Without Titan powers, you'd stand very little chance against him," he told the former Armored Titan, "and even if you still had them, you don't know what this guy is capable of. He practically refers to himself as the Devil…and may very well be so if he was willing and able to do what he did to your family."
"He only did it because the Warrior Unit had become compromised," went Pieck in her cell, reminding them all that she was their new inmate, "and now, because all six of the unit's Titans have been taken, Marley no longer needs the unit, meaning they'll rely more on Mr. Zanki's ability to create Titans with intelligence."
Eren looked towards her cell further down the hall and uttered, "Why didn't he attack your family, Ms. Pieck?"
"She doesn't have any left," answered Annie for Pieck. "She's an orphan."
"Then she got lucky she didn't experience what the rest of you did. There's hardly a desire for revenge if there's nothing or no one left to lose."
"The only thing I have left to lose is my life," Pieck expressed, sitting at the back of her cell. "Who was that gray-haired girl? She looked like she had a darkness to her that nobody's ever seen…and lived to tell about it."
"She's just another person that fights for what she believes in like everyone else on this island."
-x-
"…So, when do you want to tell them about what happened five years ago, Ymir?" Historia asked as her friend and love interest returned to the orphanage village with her.
"How do you tell a family about something as awful as why one of their members is gone?" Ymir questioned. "Or even that you were involved in an indirect way?"
"If you needed us to, Kaede and I could explain it to Ms. Galliard and her son, Porco, and we'd keep you out of it. Kaede has the complete recollection of everyone that ever possessed the Titans in the past, so she knows everything that happened and why they happened the way they did. You'd be protected from the repercussions."
As the sight of the orphans came running over to greet the two women, Ymir sighed and said to Historia that she would explain it to Ms. Galliard herself; just because she had no recollection of committing the cannibalizing act of eating someone with the power to turn a monster back into a human being, it didn't excuse her from her responsibility for being the indirect cause of their death. She owed this Marcel Galliard's family some closure.
"Historia, Historia," a little girl cheered as she came over to them. "Is it true that more people from across the ocean were brought here by the hope from the sky and the Survey Corps?"
"Yes, it is," she answered, picking her up. "I'm hoping that many of them will be happier here than they were over on the continent after a few days."
"It's a good thing," a little boy expressed. "For years, we always thought we were the last of the human race, and now we know that isn't true. I want to be able to see the world beyond the ocean when I grow up."
Historia, even though she knew that it was unlikely unless the issue with Marley was resolved in due time, agreed with the boy and said, "Same here."
-x-
"…If their hatred for Grausam is genuine and they're willing to cooperate with us, then it's possible they can be trusted to some degree," said Shinji to Levi and Erwin later that evening; he had been requested to see them regarding his opinion on the former Titan Shifters of the Warrior Unit and whether or not they could be trusted after their sordid history. "Grausam already has a shipload of people that despise him and want to hurt him just as much as he's hurt them, so it might be right to say that multiple enemies will want to take him out."
"What was that ancient saying regarding enemies having to work together against another enemy?" Erwin asked him.
"Sometimes, it's the lesser of two evils…or 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'. Normally, it's the latter than the former."
"The enemy of my enemy?" Levi spoke, pondering that proverb. "But with these people, just because they now have a justifiable reason to despise someone that embraces hatred like their erstwhile masters do, can they, the enemy of the Eldian people of Paradis Island, of Marley and Grausam, also the enemy, truly be considered our friend because of a shared desire to get rid of the latter of the two…or are they still enemies?"
"Is the enemy of my enemy my friend…or my enemy?" Shinji uttered. "And the truth is no one can ever know…until they do something that confirms whether or not they can be trusted or tolerated, until the critical moment."
"But they can't take back their Titan powers from Ms. Sogen, right?" Erwin questioned. "Even if they did become mindless Titans a second time and tried to devour her, nothing would reverse their situation?"
"It's only based on what Kaede had divulged, but…once she has obtained the power of any of the Nine Titans of Ymir Fritz, they become a part of her Dark Titan permanently. In other words, any Titan she takes into herself becomes hers, now and forever. There's no more Armored Titan, no more Colossal Titan, no more Female Titan…"
"There's only the Dark Titan," Levi stated, getting the picture. "If they have any information that would help with dealing with Marley, I'd take custody of them."
"Are you sure about that?" Erwin asked him.
"No…but what other choice do we have if we can't risk them being around others?"
Shinji wanted to say that he didn't trust them not to hurt anyone else out of spite just because their families had been harmed, but he kept his mouth shut about it. His primary concern needed to be the protection of both Kaede and Historia, the former because his girlfriend had most of the power of the Titans now and the latter because the queen was what kept the people in check.
An hour later, Shinji was walking down the street of the coastal city back to the carrier, trying to forget about the situation with the small group of people that lost their Titans to his girlfriend. Right now, it seemed as though it had gotten easier and more difficult for them all at the same time, and the solutions to their difficulties eluded them. But because war was inevitable, he was with Eldia till the end and would do all in his power to protect the people from the unreasonable hatred of another nation that couldn't let go of the past atrocities.
If they can be trusted, then they can be allies, he thought, but if they have a hidden agenda we don't know about, we should keep our eyes on them.
But honestly, Shinji didn't want to be too trusting of the former Warrior Unit. He was willing to tolerate Bertolt, who demonstrated the most remorse for his actions (guessing that coming close to dying at the hands of his Eva was enough to put the fear of God in him), but there was a difference between tolerance and trust. Tolerance was something given during difficult or desperate times, while trust was something earned; Shinji had earned the trust of the people of Paradis…while Bertolt Hoover was tolerated by the people of Paradis.
As much as I miss the days of simplicity, being involved in situations like this helps me to mature a little each time we're trying to find the least difficult of answers to the hardest of challenges.
-x-
"…Are you still viewing the footage recorded from Shinji's memories every time he was inside the Eva?" Misato asked Ritsuko in Central Dogma, noticing that the faux-blond woman was reviewing some new footage on a tablet that she hadn't seen before.
"Yeah," she answered, seeing that Shinji had seen a man turn into a Titan that was unlike what he had seen before with his girlfriend. "This is something new. He saw this man…and based on the physical responses recorded from the Entry Plug, Shinji was terrified of this particular individual that has a relation to Ms. Sogen."
"Which is?"
"Apparently, he's her step-grandfather. Her mother had remarried over five years ago when the girl's natural father passed away, but this elder is…not on anyone's list of likeable people."
Misato looked at the footage of Grausam Zanki…and already felt disgusted by him, like there was something seriously wrong with him in every sense of the word. For her, the words that fit with the man were "monster", "abomination", "madman", "bastard" and, for some strange reason that was beyond her, "addict".
"This is the first time Shinji's seen him?" She asked Ritsuko.
"Yeah, and every other time prior to this, he's only heard about him from other people that have seen him, most of them being people that used to be these Titans. Titans…that this man created for the military power he serves in exchange for asylum from them."
Ritsuko then rewound the digital record to an earlier point where Shinji was listening to what a man that used to be a Titan had said about this…Grausam Zanki.
"There's no shred of decency within this man," they heard him say. "It's like he's devoid of everything you'd see in other people, but is able to be deceiving to a degree. He doesn't…feel anything for anyone. And his eyes…it's like looking into absolute darkness where all the monsters dwell…with a torch about to burn out…and then they come for you. I don't think there's anything left of this guy that can even be called human…if he was even that to start with. He's a monster."
There were other people, men and women, that Shinji had heard speak about him, and each one was as awful as the last one. There was so much disgust with Grausam, contempt, anger and desire for his death or incarceration. Even Shinji, who had learned of something else from his girlfriend, had to give his best response to a question about the Titan Grausam turned into.
The Devil of the Titans, Ritsuko thought, mentally shuddering at the mere idea of being in the same room as this man Kaede wanted to see dead.
Atrocious Demon Slayer may be what his name translates into in one sense, went Misato, but he might as well be a demon in another sense if he calls himself the Akuma Titan.
The only other footage that was from Shinji's memories was when he discovered that many of the Titans that had a similar skin tones as the one Kaede turned into that seemed to stem from the belief that said girl was the very first of these…Jaeger Titans created by Grausam.
"Does Commander Ikari know about this?" Misato asked Ritsuko.
"No, and even if he did, we're under orders not to interfere with that other world," the faux-blond explained. Even if we could bend the rules, this guy sends a bad chill down my spine. It's like he's a representation of all the things that are what's wrong with people.
To be continued…
A/N: My well of ideas hit rock bottom for the time being, because I couldn't think of an omake for this chapter. But I'm hoping it'll replenish after a while. Review what you think. Peace.