Hope from the Sky

by Traitor of All Traitors

Inspired by the works of other writers that took to it, this is my first attempt. Shinji and Unit-01, victims of the Twelfth Angel attack, find themselves in another world with giants that crave human flesh. Can Shinji offer his Eva's assistance in allowing mankind to cancel their extinction, or will he be joining them? Finally Finished. Bonus lemon chapter now uploaded.

49. Queen of the Titans

Creation began on 12-08-18

Creation ended on 12-14-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Hope from the Sky: Queen of the Titans

For all intents and purposes, Kaede felt like she had finally adjusted to the incorporation of the last Titan into herself after two days. Shinji being near made a difference in that because he wanted her to take it easy and just enjoy her period of relaxation as she became accustomed to the power increase.

As they walked down the street in the city, Kaede noticed how some of the people around them were looking at her.

"Is it just me, or are people staring at me?" She asked him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't notice," he responded, and noticed that some people were staring at her. "Uh, is there a problem?"

A man walked over to them and expressed, "Yes, there is a problem."

"And that would be…what, exactly, sir?" Kaede asked him, worried.

He looked at her…and then bowed in front of her.

"It's not my place to ask such questions, but this man that betrayed us five years ago to escape the Walls and sold us out for the Marleyans… This Grausam Zanki… When will he be dealt with so we can stop worrying about what he'll do next?" He asked.

Two days…and some of the people in the coastal city…and elsewhere around the island…were worried about Grausam Zanki, about when he'd try something else that would hurt them, or when he'd get loose again. This wasn't something Kaede could simply overlook, even if she wanted to; as long as her step-grandfather continued to live and breathe, no one would be spared from the fear they had of him. And worse was this: As long as he was alive, Kaede couldn't put this behind her, couldn't let go of her feelings of hatred towards him and fears that he would harm her family.

In fact, the worst image she had of him actually doing this was crushing her mother and reducing her and her unborn sibling to pulp, frightening her.

"Yes," expressed a woman holding a little boy in her arms. "It's true he's in custody and measures were taken to make sure he couldn't escape, but some of us would rather see him gone if he can't be controlled. There's even a rumor that he can't be killed. Tell us, please, will he be dealt with?"

"Some of us just don't want our kids to live in fear of him," added another woman.

Being Historia's advisers, they had no doubt that the queen was also aware of this and was trying to keep the people assured that Grausam was in check until he could be dealt with.

Shinji could've told them that it was difficult for them to put Grausam down, even though he had used the Eva to step on him repeatedly, but he didn't want them to worry that the guy might've truly been immortal or just hard to kill by the methods they possessed. If there was a secret to his apparent invulnerability to being killed by them, they had to be smart about this.

Kaede, however, felt that the means to defeat the madman were already in their possession, and all they had to do was use them. They just had to find a method that he wasn't impervious to.

"Grausam Zanki's days are numbered, everyone," she told them. "He may have obtained the power of the Titans through different means, but he's a monster that can't outlast any of you, no matter what he does. Don't fear him, pity him. What do you have that he gave up long ago just to escape from here? What do you still cherish that he can't understand at all? He's a lonely man that turned himself into a monster with no ties or claims to anything. His obituary was written off long ago…and all that's left to do is getting rid of his remains."

Shinji looked at her like she had become another person, one more confident than anything he could hope to be. This was probably her response to assure the people that they were in control of the situation and there everything would be fine, but he wasn't sure she would be if things weren't.

"You know, the children have a name for you since they felt your Dark Titan designation was a bit fearsome sometimes," an elderly man with a wooden cane stated. "Heh, they call you the Queen of the Titans. The Titan Queen… It seems fitting for you, as you're the strongest woman on Paradis."

Kaede's eyes widened at the sound of this! Children across the city were calling her the Queen of the Titans? That seemed quite…appropriate and unsettling a little bit. She didn't consider herself a monarch, but to be referred to as a ruler of the former false enemy of the human race…was almost fitting, seeing that she, with her power, was able to control the Titans that used to reside inside the Walls before being unleashed to defend the island.

She simply smiled and walked away, leaving Shinji to follow her.

"That was the first I actually heard of this, Kaede," he explained.

"Heard of what?" She responded.

"Kids calling you the Titan Queen, I mean. I didn't know."

"It's okay. Say, my being called the Dark Titan… It doesn't sound that scary, does it?"

"No. Her name defines her very appearance. She's the night personified into a giant that defended the people once five years ago, albeit unknowingly. Dark hair, dark skin, beautiful, she's a Titan that can't be considered a monster because she fought people that were forced to become monsters as a form of punishment by people that were monsters."

"And yet…those that fight monsters have to make sure that they themselves don't become monsters."

Shinji sighed as he looked away from her.

"Do you think…that we will become monsters…or are we already monsters?" He asked her, wanting her opinion on the subject.

"No, Shinji," she answered him. "We're not monsters. Even if some claim we are…we don't have claws or fangs or sprout wings or have tails."

"Except you don't really need those to be considered one; you just need to willingly embrace violence. And it is through violence that people are forced to do things they never once had to consider doing."

Kaede stopped and placed her left arm on his right shoulder, stopping him from taking another step further as they were now ten blocks away from the block her family lived on.

"Can you tell me what is wrong, Shinji?" She asked him.

"I… Before and after the War Hammer…I got scared," he stated.

"I don't understand."

"I got scared…for you, about what could happen to you…before and after the War Hammer," he clarified. "Not about you having all the Titans created from Ymir's passing, but…what it could do to you later on. I know nothing has happened yet, but I can't stop thinking that…you could lose yourself of your feelings and everything."

"Dead inside, you mean," she told him.

"Yes…and that'll be my fault…because I didn't protect you like I was supposed to."

She held onto him. Maybe he was right about this, that she could, as a consequence of what happened, lose her feelings and be dead inside. It'd be no different from… She couldn't let that happen. If she succumbed to such a possibility, it'd be another way for Grausam to win, killing her inside and leaving her as some empty shell with no sense of passion, of sincerity, of humanity.

"I'm sorry, Shinji," she apologized to him. "I've been dreadful to you. I made you promise to keep me from going down that dark path…and I've been going down that path without even realizing it."

"Not entirely. Not completely. Extinguish the source of dread on that path…without succumbing to the poison of hatred and vengeance…and you can walk away unscathed. I just need to keep you from having to follow Grausam down that dark path."

"And when it's all over… Grausam, Marley…all of it…let's just walk away, Shinji."

He held onto her.

"Yeah," he responded, "let's just walk away."

"…You want to marry him and have kids with him one day?" They both remembered Asuka asking Kaede that day the redhead was returned to NERV.

Can I still do that with him? Kaede wondered. Even if we resolve everything…will he still want to be with me?

-x-

"Grr… Grr… Grrrr!" Grausam grunted as his stumps irritated him.

The metal bands stuck to his body caused the bones that couldn't regenerate to push against the plates that blocked them, causing an unbearable pain. He had never learned to suppress his healing or slow it to a crawl; he never once thought he would have to go undercover so such a skill seemed unnecessary. However, he had mastered speeding up his regeneration to improve his odds against his enemies.

"Yeah, it's very painful," he heard a female voice outside his cell. "Your body wants to heal itself so badly, but there's something in the way, preventing it from doing so. You feel like you have a thorn or something in your arm…and you can't remove it, driving you mad."

"Ah, show yourself, Kaede!" He yelled. "I recognize your voice from the darkness in your heart! Face me instead of hiding in the shadows!"

The sound of footsteps came and he saw his step-granddaughter, who seemed the same as she always did, but had an aura of strength he hadn't seen before, even in her.

"You seem different," he uttered.

"And you look even more insane," she retorted. "I'll tell you, those bands hurt and I had to test one of them to see if they work. Sometimes, I wonder why I agreed to help a woman crazy with the quirks of Titans…although, she isn't as crazy as you are. If there's truly such a thing as polarity to insanity, then she would be a good crazy…while you're just a bad crazy."

"Oh, you believe in there being good crazy and bad crazy? Crazy is crazy, no matter which side of the line you're on. If you think defeating me will settle this old feud between Eldia and Marley, you couldn't be further from the end than you could possibly imagine."

"Marley sent a bigger navy fleet, and we stopped it before it could get within invading distance of the island. I'm not being overconfident, but if they keep sending ships to attack us, they're going to exhaust all their naval power. There is a limit to both the time and resources needed to design, build, rebuild and maintain a number of ships…and the willpower and conviction of people that choose to be soldiers ordered to go to war against someone they were told was evil just because of things their ancestors did time and again, too long ago to remember in perfect detail. Even if they believed in there being a success with a third attempt, they must realize that what they're trying to achieve is impossible. Their possession of the power of the Titans ended when Eldia retook the War Hammer from them and imprisoned its last possessor, and now all they have is whatever means they have that supplemented their use of Titan power. They're as good as beaten."

"Is that what you think? You think that, just because your friends took control of the Nine Titans they obsessed over taking from Eldia for centuries, they're gonna just back out and call it even? Do you truly believe that they're that stupid to give up just because your people stopped their attempts with two fleets and an army of my Jaeger Titans? They're too involved in their operation to wipe out what's left of you! I should know! Before I left, I gave them insurance that they'd be able to continue with the use of the Jaeger Titans by giving them the secret to making them from the blood of you Eldians!"

Kaede's eyes widen from the last words to escape this man's mouth.

"You did what?" She asked him.

"The secret to my Jaeger Serum that enables the Marleyans to use the power of the Titans temporarily…is derived from the blood of Eldians. So I bled as many of them as I could get my hands on, though my superiors insisted that I keep a few of them alive…for the sake of ensuring they would have extra blood for generations to come. Though, I could care less if I left fifty or eighty of them alive just to replenish their numbers. Since I'm in this for the long run, I decided to go for broke. Heh, even if you stop me, there's no stopping Marley if they now possess the power to turn themselves into Jaeger Titans. They are never going to stop. They are going to keep coming at you until either they or you are as history as your shared past is."

Kaede looked down at the ground and uttered, "Just like how you made a deal with the Devil, you got Marley to make a Devil's deal with you, and you really are the Devil. You're as heartless as you're dangerous, whether or not you're confined."

"It doesn't matter what becomes of me. Marley now has the power, just as we do, you and I. Eh-heh-heh! Oh, if I can only see the look of despair on all your faces when you see how futile your efforts to save your crappy island are. I can picture it as clear as diamond! All of you on your knees, realizing how impossible it is to fight them, no matter what you do."

"So long as we have hope, we can overcome any adversary," Kaede sighed as she looked up at the ceiling, "even ones you empowered with your inhumanity. You should never underestimate such a power as hope."

"Oh, your belief in such a thing is entirely overrated! Hope is nothing more than an illusion that weak-minded people delude themselves with! Hope is like fate; she's nothing more than a fickle…old…whore!"

"Then maybe she had a plan for dealing with you as she does with Marley."

"Oh, turn and face me! Say it to my face! Show your determination to me instead of your cowardice! Show me your conviction! Show me that you still cling to your empty promise to protect these mediocre lives you value more than gold or silver! Either way, it doesn't matter (Grausam's voice started to become distorted, as though he were trying to trigger a Titan transformation)! It doesn't matter…because sooner or later… YOUR LUCK IS GOING TO RUN OUT!"

His voice reverberated across the halls outside his cell, making him sound even more inhuman. If there were other prisoners around, they would've been fearful of him, despite his being crippled. Fortunately, he was the only prisoner in this dungeon.

But there were others that heard his voice and reacted with the predictable responses.

"Your voice is just like his, you should know," he heard a voice that sounded familiar to him. "You sound as cold as my father is all the time, especially towards me. You'd probably get along great, if you two were to meet; you both care nothing for family or friends, and you both use people to get whatever you want, going to unforgivable extremes."

Kaede turned to her left and stepped back, allowing a young man to step into Grausam's view. It was that boy that controlled the purple behemoth, her…dummy.

"You know what I think?" He spoke up to him. "I think you're just scared now. You want us to feel like we're fighting an endless war, but it's not endless. Everything that has a beginning must always have an ending. Maybe your life isn't endless, but we can make it seem more painful for you to live by taking away your future in the worst way imaginable. And as for Marley's plans for Paradis? They'll learn. They'll know we're not hopeless or that we're as monstrous as they continue to make us out as because they refuse to let go of their hatred. Because next time, they won't have to worry about coming after the Eldians…or even an army of Titans they'd think would be unleashed upon them for revenge. Next time…they will have to deal with me coming after them as retribution because of their hatred towards the Eldians and their refusal to consider peace between the two nations. But that's a day you won't see. The only thing I see left in your future…is loneliness in the darkness."

Grausam frowned at Shinji, disgusted with his words that the Eldians weren't fighting a losing war against the Marleyans. Worse was that this…Asian was believing that they could stop the greatest global power in history…or even stop him before he could grasp the power that he knew existed beyond the Titans, beyond the two nations, beyond all things belonging to history.

"I'm not afraid of you," he told Shinji.

"It's not me you should be afraid of," Shinji responded. "It's what you don't see coming that you should fear."

Then, the young couple up and leave. This, in and of itself, made Grausam more angry…and more irritated due to his stumps being unable to heal.

"I hope your world burns," he uttered in solitude.

-x-

"…So, he claims he gave Marley his formula to turn their people into Titans temporarily?" Erwin asked Shinji and Kaede in his office.

"He says he did," Kaede answered, "but I can't say for sure if he was lying or not. He simply can't be trusted, no matter what he says, whether it's the truth or not."

"What say you, Shinji?" Levi asked.

"Whether he's telling us the truth or not, he spent five years in a county that hates us as much as any country can hate another…and he just supported their hatred, encouraged it. I think he'll say anything he thinks we want to hear, that he thinks we should hear, whether it's the truth or a bunch of lies. And he's clearly insane. His voice when he yelled back there…"

"He wouldn't tell us anything good, even if he wasn't crazy," Kaede expressed.

"Well, what do you propose…Queen of the Titans?" Levi asked, earning a glare from her because it felt like he was insulting her.

"We do to him…exactly what Shinji did to that redhead," she uttered, "only worse. Exiled far from Paradis…and imprisoned beyond anyone's reach, left to suffer slowly in isolation, a helpless cripple."

Erwin looked concerned; such a punishment of this sort seemed…worse than death itself…and impossible to achieve.

"Even if we could relocate him from the island, there's no place in the world that Marley wouldn't find him," Levi stated; as Marley was a global power, they were everywhere except for Paradis.

"Except their technology is primitive," Shinji reminded him, "and…there are places out there in the world that even Marley can't venture out to. These are places so extreme that no human could survive in them."

"What such places exist?" Erwin questioned.

"In the ocean," he answered. "There are abysses that go miles down into the deep, cold darkness."

"Deeper and darker than what I had witnessed when we found Titans were underwater?" Kaede asked.

"Way deep and dark," he told them. "Find one abyss that goes deepest…and toss him in. If he's incapable of being killed, then we bury him alive underwater and hope to every god that might be listening that he dies from natural causes of age, sickness and starvation."

"I like the way that sounds, Shinji."

"All we'd have to do," Levi said to them, "is to discover where such an abyss is."

"You got access to knowledge and technology that's years and decades ahead of our time. Put it to use in getting rid of this sicko."

-x-

"…DNA tests confirm it, sir," went Ritsuko to Gendo in his office, informing him of the mysterious woman security found in Terminal Dogma. "This woman is Yui Ikari."

Gendo was at a loss of words over this revelation. Ever since Unit-01 was swallowed by the shadow body of the Twelfth Angel and stranded in another universe, he had tried whatever attempts he could to make the Third Child return to their world with it instead of keeping it there to protect some race of people they had no business getting involved with. But now that Yui found her own way back and was free from the Eva, he didn't need to concern himself with the purple behemoth any further; they could simply build another version of it and put the original behind them…along with its pilot. It would seem that with Yui's return, NERV could try to make further use of the two Titans they had.

"Do you think the Third Child had something to this?" Ritsuko asked him.

"It is unlikely that he could," he answered her. "His complete lack of scientific understanding of the Eva, as well as his complete lack of scientific resources capable of working with the Eva or even maintaining it, along with the people, these Eldians' indifference towards its scientific value make it impossible for him or anyone else to be capable of salvaging a soul from within the Eva. It was never for him or any of the pilots to know anything beyond piloting the Evas and defeating the Angels."

"The only other person that may know anything to this…is Yui Ikari herself."

Meanwhile, in the medical ward, Yui was being checked for the thirteenth time; she had yet to inform her husband or former teacher of the shift in the situation that started after Unit-01 entered the world of the Titans and gained increased strength and how Shinji deviated from what had been originally planned…simply by falling in love with a girl that now had power unlike anything thought possible for people to grasp.

"…Yui Ikari, huh?" Misato spoke to the male doctor outside the room the woman was inside. "She's Commander Ikari's wife?"

"That's right," he answered.

"It's crazy that she turns up at a time like this, especially when her son isn't even here."

"You think there's a chance she knows about what nearly happened recently, regarding the ultimatum between her husband and son?"

"If she does know, then she's unlikely to see any reconciliation between the two."

"Yeah… Commander Ikari pretty much made that a definite when his son refused to surrender himself and his girlfriend."

Misato sighed at that definite; as much as she accepted Shinji's decision to remain in the Titan universe, that didn't change the fact that she missed him every now and then. She just hoped that he would be looking at a future where he'd be with Kaede well into the age where they couldn't use their legs no more; the thought of him dying while still young was something she didn't need on her conscience.

-x-

"I think I found where the best place is to dispose of Grausam," said Armin to the others as he found a geographic location on his computer. "An ocean trench called Titania's Abyss."

"What? There's a trench called Titania's Abyss?" Shinji questioned, and then realized why he wasn't finding any recognizable ocean points. "Of course, this world is different from mine, so the geographical and oceanic locations would also be different. Where's this Titania's Abyss located?"

Armin showed him and the other members of the Survey Corps and Garrison on the carrier's screens.

"It's on the other side of the planet," he explained. "At forty-eight-thousand-six-hundred-sixty feet, it's the deepest part of the sea. It's supposed to have an extreme depth and pressure coupled with an almost-subzero temperature to go along with it. Could we put Grausam there and be for sure that nobody would ever be able to rescue him?"

"Unless they have a submarine that can handle the depth and pressure and avoid freezing to death," went Eren to him, "it seems like the best place to exile a lunatic beyond redemption."

"Can the Evangelion get us there in the carrier, Shinji?" Erwin asked.

"It's possible. It got around Marley's internment zones within minutes of each other when we were freeing Eldians that desired freedom."

"Then all we need now…is for Ms. Sogen to handle the containing of her step-grandfather," said Sasha. "Hange should be having a blast with seeing her new abilities."

Levi sighed as he held his forehead with his right hand.

"That's what I'm afraid of," he told them.

"Miss Zoe will likely be smiling hysterically," went Shinji, unsure of whether or not they should be prepared to find the woman near death from excitement.

-x-

"Oh…my…gosh," Hange gasped upon seeing Kaede use her newly-obtained power of the War Hammer Titan to create something she didn't anticipate the girl would be able to make. "This is incredible! This is totally unbelievable!"

In a fifteen-meter variation of her Titan, Kaede, encased within a large crystal of hardened Titan flesh, looked up at the Titan it was connected to by a series of webbed strands of Titan flesh leading to its legs…as she moved around inside the crystal. Behind the Titan was a detailed replica of the base made in the Titan Forest, only without its doors or windows.

"Whoa," Kaede uttered, wondering why she wasn't feeling light-headed because she was certain that her crystal cut her off from the air outside it. "I wonder…"

From under the ground, another pillar of Titan flesh shot out into the air and suddenly expanded into a new shape, assuming curves and aesthetic.

When the shaping was completed, Hange was stunned by Kaede's artistic style; in front of her was a ten-meter statue of herself, right down to the former's goggles.

"Kaede Sogen, I could kiss you right now," she told the Titan Shifter.

"You're welcome," Kaede responded.

Her Titan then held out its hands as its flesh bubbled and expanded, producing something in each that smashed into one and was sculpted quickly into something new. In less than ten seconds, what was in the Dark Titan's hands was a large mallet, identical to that of the previous War Hammer Titan's.

"This…is not a war hammer," Kaede then stated, disappointed in the weapon's aesthetics; even if she never went up against the previous possessor of this Titan power directly in combat, she had to be honest with herself that this sort of weapon was just an embarrassment to the Titan itself. "It can be so much more than the sum of its appearance."

Suddenly, the war hammer shifted its shape and appearance in front of them. The back of it expanded into a pair of curved blades while the front began to protrude small spikes in a neat order, reminding Hange of what a meat tenderizer looked like. In addition, the long shaft of the weapon had generated a handle guard around the left hand, implying that Kaede herself was likely right-handed, using her left hand to hold it while her right hand applied the necessary force to swing it.

"Now, this is a war hammer," she stated.

"Yes, it is," Hange agreed with her. "I think I've seen best degree of what you're now capable of, Ms. Sogen. You have a remarkable degree of control over the sculpting and generation of Titan flesh, the limits of which seem to be based solely on your imagination, and you can now remove yourself from the Titan's nape, effectively making it harder to face in combat, while protecting yourself in a crystal casing. With the other eight Titan powers in your possession, you're practically unstoppable."

"Thank you, Ms. Zoe."

Kaede's Titan then set the weapon down as its form began to evaporate or melt into the ground. Alongside it were the constructs that were also made with Titan flesh. The crystal casing surrounding Kaede began to atomize and melt into the ground around her, leaving no trace of any degree of Titan activity to be found.

"Ah," she breathed. "I gotta say, it's strange being able to control my Titan completely from the outside of it. This…remote operating ability is most remarkable. In addition to the ability to manipulate hardening and crafting whatever you can imagine, I can see why the War Hammer Titan was Marley's greatest asset. If they had used it more than the other six they had, things would've been different for them…and us."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that they decided to wait until the last second to use it. It would've been a challenge to face a Titan like that. It was really fifty meters?"

"Yeah… Four meters…five meters…thirteen meters…fourteen meters…fifteen meters…seventeen meters…and sixty meters. That's the standard height of each member of the Nine Titans back then. It's something I can still do with my Dark Titan, but it's the dominant in any combination of the Titans…and when I'm not going to my extreme height of one-hundred meters."

"I gotta say this, and I mean you no disrespect when I do…but if he wasn't so dangerous…or immoral, he'd be as helpful as you and Shinji have been in the months we've lived outside the former Walls."

Kaede sighed as she sat down on a small rock and nodded her head in agreement. She couldn't overlook the belief that if, even if it were just a small possibility, Grausam weren't such a demented, deranged, incorrigible monster of a man with absolutely no capacity for remorse or guilt, with no redeeming qualities, he'd be a harbinger of hope like she and Shinji were. Maybe even among the best of them. But sadly, this was not how reality worked for them; the guy was a menace and she didn't want him anywhere near her parents, not even to get a farewell from them before he was exiled, not that he needed one from them.

"I've made my peace with what happened, Kaede," Sig had told her, regarding his father and their failed relationship. "He's my father, and, while I have to live with that, I don't have to live with his crimes…and neither do you or your mother. None of us should have to be looked down upon because of a monster like him. So, whatever fate awaits him…is the fate he was dealt with from the very start."

"You and Shinji have to decide how to best deal with him, Kaede," her mother told her later. "If he's dangerous, incarcerate him. If he can't be incarcerated, find a way to exile him. If he still has allies, then put him somewhere where even they cannot get to him. Whichever choice you make, however you decide, I support your decision because you made it not just because he hurt you, but because he hurt everyone around him…and will continue to without any remorse until he's stopped."

Kaede sighed again as she looked down at her left hand, the small cut that she made to trigger the transformation no longer there. She hoped that after disposing of Grausam, she could concern herself with the trivial matters that everyone took for granted each day. One of them of which was whether she'd have a little sister or brother in the months to come.

"I gotta own up to it, Ms. Sogen," she heard Hange say to her a moment later. "I heard some children started calling you the Queen of the Titans, but I have to say… You don't exactly have the makings of a queen. You're just so…well, if it weren't for your Titan abilities, I would've overlooked you along with the other civilians."

"I don't know why, but this island isn't big enough for more than just one monarch, and that monarch right now is Historia. I'm no queen of anything or anyone. Excluding the Dark Titan, I'm just as ordinary as my boyfriend is."

"The children Historia takes care of think differently. They adore you as much as they do her."

"Sometimes, I think it's because I'm viewed as the pretty girl that turns into a giant of various sizes that listens to another pretty girl."

"Better you than Annie, I guess."

"Why, Ms. Zoe?"

"Well, uh, I didn't know…and still don't know her…but she's not exactly…social."

"When she was in the Warrior Unit, she followed her Marleyan mission to the point where she ignored every other impulse known to people. She, Bertolt and Reiner were loners against a bunch of people they thought was the enemy until they saw how we lived. She didn't want to consider any possibility of making friends. But now that she no longer has the Female Titan and can't fight back against her fellow Eldians, she has all the time in the world to reevaluate her life."

"How do you know all of this?"

"When I got possession of the Titans, I got access to the memories of the people that had them over the generations. At one point, a man once had possession of the Female Titan. The guy that became the Female had a hard time differentiating between himself and the Titan."

"That's messed up."

"Yep."

"How do you do it, though?"

"Do what?"

"You have the memories of the Titan Shifters of the past, going back to the time of Ymir Fritz…and you haven't gone mad with any of them. How do you keep from going crazy?"

"Because I know who I am. I am me, Kaede Sogen. I'm not Eren or Zeke Yeager, Frieda or Uri Reiss, Reiner Braun or Karl Fritz. I'm a fourteen-year-old girl, soon to be fifteen, gray hair that was inherited from my father, never had that many ambitions besides just living a simple life, got outside the Walls, even tore the Walls down, and am the girlfriend of the island of Paradis' hope from the sky and may one day be more than his girlfriend."

"Best of wishes to you with that in mind, Ms. Sogen," Hange told her.

"Thank you."

-x-

With the plan set into motion, Historia, through the magic of video technology, was able to meet with Grausam Zanki to state his penance.

"Grausam Zanki," she went through a tablet that Levi held in front the crippled man as he was about to be removed from his prison. "While this is only the second time we've met, I must stress that this pains me to have to do this to someone as atrocious and dangerous as you have proven yourself to be."

"Skip it, lady," he responded, not even the least bit curious by the fact that he was speaking to a girl through a strange device. "I'm still the one person your ridiculous lackeys and slaves can't kill. You can't kill the Devil, no matter how hard you try."

"Whoever said anything about executing you? This isn't execution. This is banishment."

"Like it even matters? You can't stop me forever."

"Despite your gifted intellect and ability to do what we once thought was impossible, you have shown, time and again, to be devoid of any heart and cannot be trusted around anyone. Also, you've ended the life of at least one person during an escape attempt, which indicates you won't hesitate to do so a second time if given the chance. To ensure the safety of everyone else on the island, you have been sentenced to life in exile without the possibility of return from it. And, as you have sided with Marley to commit genocide against the Eldian people of Paradis, your exile shall be served in Titania's Abyss, far from Paradis and beyond the reach of Marley."

Grausam's head tilted sideways to his right.

"Titania's Abyss?" He questioned.

"In short, you're to be buried at sea," Erwin informed him. "The extreme depth and pressure of the abyss, coupled with its subzero temperature, will keep you confined until you do die of your own accord. Even if you were a Titan ten times the size of the Colossal Titan, you will never see the light of day again…and Marley will never find you in the deep darkness."

Then, before he could try anything, Grausam, who opened his mouth in protest over his penalty, was ball-gagged by none other than Sasha Blouse.

"Grrrraah! Rrrrraaugh! Aaaaurgh!" He went, unable to speak his mind coherently.

"And despite your only blood tie still in existence," Historia told him, "you are no longer recognized as an Eldian native to Paradis or a citizen to its cities, towns or villages. Commander Erwin Smith, you and the Survey Corps may now remove the exiled man from our land and dispose of him."

"Yes, ma'am," Erwin responded, and Eren, Mikasa, Sasha and Connie picked up Grausam by the chains that held him bound so that his stumps couldn't move as much.

-x-

"…How are you feeling?" Fuyutsuki asked Yui when he came to see her in the medical ward.

"Fine," she answered him. "How are you?"

"Under stress, but that comes with the job."

"And…how is the job?"

"We're on indefinite standby since the last two Angels went to another universe to attack an Evangelion instead of coming there to take down NERV. We might be out of a job if there are no other Angels left, meaning that we're no longer necessary."

"We've been that way ever since Shinji ended up in the other universe," Yui expressed, though not without bitterness.

"What do you mean?" Fuyutsuki asked her.

"Shinji's unexpected relocation to the world of the Titans changed everything…and his initial decline to be rescued because he was asked to help the Eldians there just made things worse. Even if he did come back here, things would still be the same."

"Not everything, Yui; the lack of a relationship between your husband and son is permanent due to Gendo causing a situation that forced Shinji to choose between here and there…and he chose there when his father threatened to harm the people."

"And then, there's Ms. Sogen…and her Dark Titan."

"She saved his life during the Angel attacks in their world."

"And after she obtained the power of the last Titan she needed to take from this Marley nation, her Dark Titan became the most powerful being alive. The first thing she did, without her knowledge, was to banish me from the Eva and send me back here."

"You're saying…Ms. Sogen released you from the Eva?"

"No. Not her. It was her Titan."

"I don't understand."

"The Dark Titan…has a mind of her own. She does what she does mainly to protect the girl and the people she loves. She only cast me out…to spare Shinji of having to make any difficult choices later on. "Who do you think he'll choose to follow if presented with such an extreme choice: The straight and narrow path that led him to his relationship with Kaede Sogen…or the labyrinth of deceit that leads only to the parents of the past that failed him?" The Dark Titan had actually asked me, as though she knew more than she let on. "Kaede cares deeply for Shinji, more than I shall ever comprehend because her heart is like a vast meadow of wild flowers and small animals that represent her passion and gentle nature, stained only by her hatred towards her step-grandfather for hurting her years ago when he brought me into her life. I would do anything to spare her the possibility of having to part ways with the young man that returned to her the hope she thought she lost in her heart, even if it means I have to do things that others may not agree with because they feel something should happen. And last Kaede recalled from her sharing of past tragedies with Shinji, you died when he was too young to recall anything and remembers only the hurt he got in the end when his father, your love interest, up and abandoned him for over ten years. The only similarity between Kaede and Shinji in this case…is that they've both been hurt by select members of their families due to hidden ambitions they knew nothing of that could've been everything they wanted nothing to do with. But if the people responsible are unable to hurt them further, then they needn't be concerned over what could've been…but never was." She wasn't being cruel when she forced me out of the Eva… She was just being protective of the girl."

"Like a split personality?"

"Yes and no."

"But if you're here, then doesn't that mean the Eva no longer works?"

"No, the Eva will still work, it just won't work the way it was intended to later on in the future. It's just a…glorified robot used to eat the Titans and protect the people. It's not a clone of a god, anymore."

"We've been able to monitor Shinji through the Eva's synchronization, even exploring his memories from the times when he isn't piloting it. He's actually… Well, he's been doing greater over there. He actually smiles more."

"Yeah… He smiles more, the people give him thanks for freeing them from a life behind walls so high that they block out the world beyond them, and a young queen looks to him and the Sogen girl for advice or aid while giving him more authority than he's ever had before…and he doesn't even assert it over anyone except for Ms. Sogen's step-grandfather, who's probably the only person over there that he hates so far."

"Even so, with everything else that has happened…and everything that has yet to happen… Do you really intend to try and put Shinji through what was originally intended all over again?"

"I couldn't, even if I knew it needed to be done; what was once believed to be destiny has been cut down and rewritten to the point where the pen has no order with which to lay the ink on the pages. Shinji's very life is in his own hands to decide how he lives it and who lives it with him."

-x-

Her Dark Titan embodied the features of the Jaw Titan as she had her arms held out to produce a large, saucer-like platform out of Titan flesh that had up to eight indent pockets around a center one. This was done by Kaede to make sure that when Grausam was dropped into the abyss, he would sink no matter what.

"Put him in the center," she told the corps members.

Eren, Mikasa and Armin did as instructed and deposited Grausam into the center of the saucer.

Marco, Jean and three other corps members then began filling the pockets around Grausam with rocks and bricks, applying additional weight to his new prison as Kaede manipulated the flesh surrounding him to encase him inside of a sphere. And when they finished, they got back as she turned the saucer into a larger sphere the size of a small house…and then encased that sphere within another, much larger sphere until it was four meters in height.

"Check its density," Levi ordered Eren and Mikasa, who took out their blades.

Clang! They struck the hardened flesh, but couldn't leave any dents in it.

"It's solid, sir," Eren informed him. "He's not getting out."

Looking up to the Evangelion, Erwin took up a megaphone and announced, "We're ready to proceed when you are, Shinji Ikari!"

"Yes, sir," Shinji responded, and activated the Eva. "It's onward to Titania's Abyss."

The Eva expanded its AT-Field and raised the carrier out of the water and directed it towards the aforementioned location at a fast pace.

Within her Titan, Kaede looked at the sphere of crystallized flesh that imprisoned her step-grandfather, wondering what he was thinking upon realizing that he was going to be cast into the abyss like a rock in the desert. Of course, she accepted that whatever he was thinking about in there was either too bad for him or too deceitful; he would've said anything to them, anything he thought they wanted to hear, playing with their desires, just to avoid this fate he was being dealt with.

"Okay, Shinji, we're here now," said Armin to the Eva, and the carrier stopped moving and was set down into the water.

A chill crept past each member of the Survey Corps on the deck and they reached for their shoulders under their cloaks. It was as cold as the night was…and they realized that while it was daytime near Paradis, it was nighttime where they were on the other side of the planet. All around them were miles and miles of water and darkness. And below them was more of the same.

This…was Titania's Abyss, the deepest point on the planet that nobody could venture.

"Wow," went Sasha as she shivered, looking out at the vastness of water. "I wish I had a camera…or at least a camera phone."

"Would you care to do the honors, Ms. Sogen?" Erwin asked the Dark Titan.

"No, sir," she responded. "I would prefer it if Shinji did it instead."

Everyone stood back as the Eva grabbed the sphere of flesh and raised it off the deck.

"Never again will you harm another soul, Grausam Zanki," Shinji spoke to the man within it. "Even if you never die down there, I hope the ghosts of your past weigh you down with your guilt as the rest of the world forgets you ever existed. Let whatever gods you believe in have mercy upon your twisted soul as we now condemn you to the darkness below."

The Eva then moved the sphere over the deck of the carrier and released it from its grip, letting it fall into the ocean around it.

Splash! A wall of water was sent up that lasted for three seconds as the sphere of flesh sank like a rock into the dark waters.

Within the sphere, Grausam struggled hopelessly as he couldn't tell because of the opaqueness of his prison where he was outside, but had to guess on the color of the background that it was night and from a sudden impact upon the sphere that he'd been put into the ocean of this Titania's Abyss, and was now sinking to the bottom.

No! He screamed internally, unable to transform until his body healed…and unable to heal with the bindings on his stumps. I'll get you all for this! I'll get out! And when I do, you will all die! I promise you this! You will all DIE for this!

But try as he might, he couldn't get free of his bindings, and as his sphere of flesh sank deeper and deeper into the abyss, his vision began to dim. And soon after, all that could be heard…was the sound of his own breathing in the haunting silence around his sphere. If only he could…the inescapable Hell he had been placed in by those that found a way to get rid of him without killing him.

-x-

"You did it, Shinji," said Kaede to the Eva as the carrier was being returned back to Paradis at the same speed that had taken it to Titania's Abyss. "You kept me from having to cross the line and go down that dark path."

"Are you okay?" Shinji asked the Dark Titan; he wanted to know how his girlfriend currently felt about the aftermath they were now dealing with.

"I'm not feeling exactly as I thought I'd be feeling after getting rid of him like that," she confessed, "but I'm relieved that he's gone now. I'm relieved that we're finally free of him."

As sunlight came within their reach, Shinji responded, "I'm glad that you're free of him, Kaede."

-x-

Walking down the hall to her family apartment, Kaede sighed as she tried to think of the best way to tell her parents that their black sheep was no longer a problem, but the words never got into the right order for her to sound like it was not making her seem like she was affected by the disposal act that indicated a degree of regret. Did she regret not throwing Grausam off the carrier and into the abyss herself? No, but she was glad he was thrown in. Was she still coping to the fact that he, the man behind the viciousness of the Akuma Titan, an incarnate demon, was finally gone and beyond the reach of anyone? Yes, she was…and would be coping with letting go of her hatred of him one day at a time until it was no more.

She took out her key and let herself in.

"Mother, Father, I'm home," she called out as she locked the door behind her.

Christine came out from the bathroom and saw her daughter.

"Welcome home, Kaede," she greeted her. "I heard the carrier came back four hours ago."

"Shinji and I walked around the park and then to the beach before we parted for the rest of the day. He went back to the carrier while I came back here. I'm sorry if I made you worry."

"I take it that…you two and the Survey Corps were able to do away with Grausam?"

"Yes, we did. If we couldn't execute him, then we could at least contain and dispose of him elsewhere, and we did just that."

"And are you…okay now?"

Kaede pressed her back against the wall behind her and nodded in the positive.

"I thought I'd be content with revenge if he were killed," she expressed, "but I settled for closure and justice instead…and they feel better because my soul isn't darkened by the outcome. I wanted him dealt with before the new baby came because I feared what he might do to all of you. Grausam didn't know, but I could never take the chance that he'd just hurt you for the sake of causing pain… But in the end, I helped keep him from getting out of hand. He was a man that became a monster of the darkness…and he was sent back to where he belongs for good."

"That's a good thing, then. You weren't just after him for personal reasons. You were protecting your family. You protected your family. Only people with noble intentions would do what you did, Kaede. Thank you."

Kaede then yawned and stretched her arms out.

"Say, did you know that some kids call me the Queen of the Titans now?" She asked her mother, which earned a chuckle from her. "I'll take that as in you do."

"I don't know why they call you that, but I know it comes from a place of meaning," Christine told her. "Why, does it sound demeaning to you?"

"Not really, but people will have to accept that Paradis isn't big enough for two monarchs."

"If the island's big enough for the Titans and the people after getting out of the Walls, I'm sure we can handle a young queen that can control the Titans and do with them what she will. Oh, today I think I felt the baby kick while Sig was setting up the piano."

"Really? Aren't you only… Well, you said two months after Historia was made the queen, but it got confusing after a while."

"Yeah, it did get confusing when I said it that way. To correct myself, I didn't get pregnant until two months after Historia became queen. I didn't know I was pregnant until I missed my period for the second time in two months. When I went to see a doctor, I found out, and was trying to find out when to tell you. Basically, I was two months along when you were incarcerated. I'm almost into my second trimester now."

"That makes sense now. Wait, you had Sig setup the piano?"

Christine pointed over to the living room where a brown, upright piano resided.

Kaede smiled and walked over to it. It must've been almost a year-and-a-half since she last played on it. While her mother had insisted she learn to play, Kaede never felt much joy in it. At least not until she came to accept and embrace her power as the Dark Titan; once she was found out by the people, decided not to take some of the things she did for granted…and came to enjoy the lesser things.

"I remember not liking it back then," she revealed. "It was just a trivial thing to pass the time. But nothing we ever do is really trivial, is it?"

"No, they're not."

Kaede then sat down in front of it and gestured for her mother to come sit with her. Then, looking behind them, she noticed that Sig was asleep on the couch.

"That couch is undeniably comfy," she told her mother.

"Some of my friends that are also having children of their own say that it's a woman's best friend when they're pregnant," Christine expressed. "I wouldn't really know, as I've been more of a rocking chair person than a sofa person."

Kaede smiled as she raised her left hand up to the keyboard and tapped a random key, letting off one of the notes to be heard.

"Will you play something for me?"

"What should I play?"

"Anything you choose, please."

Kaede inhaled a breath and began working the keys as one wave of music came to mind. It was an old one, but it always ran around in her mind when she thought of the night (A/N: The chosen music is Gymnopedies No. 1, Lent et douloureux by Erik Satie). As she let her fingers dance along the keys, she let her imagination run free, fantasizing that the people outside in the city or across the island in former districts, small towns and villages were doing the things they loved to do while the music played in the background. Hanging with friends, enjoying a drink, sleeping in, cracking a joke or two, being philosophical, confessing to their feelings or whatever it was they chose.

She even imagined Shinji just looking out at the ocean while on the carrier's island, thinking about her.

-x-

On the island of the carrier, Shinji looked at the ocean, thinking about Kaede as he thought some haunting, sorrowful music could be heard in the background. During the time spent between them when they got back to Paradis, he was concerned that her anger over Grausam hadn't entirely faded from her heart, even though he did what he couldn't let her do. He would live with disposing of the madman so long as she didn't have to because he loved her more when she was happy, not consumed by rage. And so long as Grausam stayed in Titania's Abyss, all of Paradis would be free of him…and Marley would have no means to either find or retrieve him.

"One less enemy, one less problem," he sighed.

"Thank you for saving my soul, Shinji," Kaede had told him when they went to the beach after the park. "Thank you."

Then, looking up at the full moon and stars, he smiled at the thought of the Eldians being one more day closer to being free from Marley's hatred.

-x-

The darkness and silence drove him to levels of madness that he didn't know were possible. He wasn't sure if he was falling or had reached the bottom of the abyss, but Grausam Zanki couldn't escape his restraints or the prison.

Welcome to your personal Hell, Grausam Zanki, a thought came to mind in him, and it had to be true.

He wasn't just in some abyss. No, he was in Hell while still alive. A Hell of his own making after his past actions caught up with him. Even in the darkness, he never felt so defeated like this before.

Meanwhile, outside his sphere of isolation, having reached the bottom of the abyss, there wasn't a single trace of any forms of life. No trace of fauna or flora. Not even the remains of either. No, this was a barren wasteland where only the Devil dwelled now. A Devil…whose only real salvation now…would be a death that may never come to him.

And in the darkness, he waited. Either for his end…or his salvation. All he could do…was hope was an absolution that was beyond him.

To be continued…

A/N: Well, I can't say I feel sorry for Grausam, but what are you going to do about it? There are fates worse than death…and now he has experienced one. Immortality is a bane to those that desire it and come to realize that once they end up in a predicament they can't escape, they long for death that won't come to free them. And as for Kaede, the power of the Nine Titans, including the War Hammer, will be improved and augmented over time as she continues to mature in strength and adaptability, as her use of the War Hammer seemed more versatile than those of the Tybur family ever were.

Omake (Avengers: Age of Ultron-influenced)

It was a crazy meeting of these individuals after what felt like an eternity of conflict with a nation that hated them for the crimes of their ancestors.

Shinji Ikari, Kaede Sogen, Historia Reiss, Ymir, Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlett, Connie Springer, Levi Ackerman, Hange Zoe, Sasha Blouse and Erwin Smith, all sitting around a small table with a Japanese sword comprised of hardened Titan flesh, enjoying a drink or two, just reflecting on the past events that led them to where they were now.

"I still say it's gotta be badass having those abilities to call upon," said Connie to Kaede.

"Oh, it's not," she defended, "but they help to get the job done."

"A girl that has the power of the Nine Titans is not someone to take lightly," went Erwin, a little tipsy. "Or anyone that can have possession of the Nine Titans, for that matter."

"But what about the Eva, y'all?" Shinji asked them. "Whoever can pilot it can fight against an army and stand in a storm while fighting said army."

"Which, of course, means only you, Shinji," said Sasha to him, reminding him that he was the only one able to control the Eva.

"Heh-heh-heh, you are a meat head, Ms. Blouse."

"She hasn't been obsessed with meat ever since after we retook Wall Maria," Eren stated, and then pointed to the sword. "What kind of sword is that called again?"

"Katana, a Japanese sword used by the samurai among other people in the past in my culture."

"Some would say that having a sword of this sort is like having a symbol of one's power," Kaede said, "which wouldn't be all that different from Historia's possession as the queen of Eldia or mine as the so-called Titan Queen."

"Is that right?" Hange asked. "So, what, if I could lift the sword out of the table like how King Arthur lifted up Excalibur back in his day, I'd be like a monarch or so, even for just a day?"

Kaede and Historia looked at each other before facing Hange, and Historia expressed, "Sure, even for a day, you'd have complete authority."

"Great," she responded, and got up out of her seat to grab the sword handle. "I know the first thing I'll do as queen for a day."

But try as she might, she couldn't pull the sword out of the table.

"None of us will blame you if can't get it up, Hange," Connie joked.

"You try it, then," she challenged him, and he got up to try his luck.

"King for a day," he expressed, already thinking of what he could do as King for a day. "Graaah!"

Not even he could do it.

Soon, Eren and Armin were trying to pull the sword out.

"Are you even pulling, Eren?" Armin asked.

"Aren't you my best friend?" Eren countered.

"Just represent, pull."

"Okay."

But they couldn't do it.

"Aaaaurgh!" Sasha howled as she failed to pull the sword out. "This thing must be rigged! Or it's really Excalibur and none of us are King Arthur!"

"Um, Historia? Ymir? Just for the heck of it?" Shinji suggested.

"No thanks," said Ymir to him. "That's not a question I need to have answered."

"Ditto," Historia added.

"How about you, Mikasa? Care to try your luck?" Kaede asked the girl.

Mikasa, the quietest of them all, got up and gripped the hilt of the katana, but it didn't budge from the table…or so everyone thought.

Unbeknownst to them, Kaede saw the sword blade move slightly, as if wanting to be drawn, but couldn't be just yet by the young woman.

It was almost a game right now. Not even Levi could pull the sword out.

"This thing must be rigged or something?" He told them as he sat back down.

"Read the inscription on the blade," Kaede instructed them.

Armin tilted his head and read an inscription he didn't see there earlier.

"Whosoever wields this sword, if they be worthy of the trust of their friends and allies, shall possess the power of Queen of the Titans", it read.

"You have got to be kidding me!" He gasped. "Is this even possible?"

"Historia dared me to do it," Kaede confessed. "Shinji only suggested a sword because there's a lot of history behind it."

Most eyes were on Historia now.

"Even if you can't wield the sword, you're all still good with friends and allies," she claimed before finishing her beverage…and then passed out onto Ymir's lap.

"I doubt she won't regret the hangover she's gonna have later on," Kaede stated.

"Burn," added Shinji.