Creation began on 02-05-19
Creation ended on 02-14-19
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Hope from the Sky: Wisdom and Foolishness
A/N: The meeting of a lifetime!
Agnes Tybur, former keeper of her family's War Hammer Titan, didn't know what was going on or where she was being taken by these isolationist Eldians when they came to her cell and put the blindfold over her eyes. If they were going to execute her after finally deciding how to handle her, this was not how she expected to go out; her preferences of being dealt with were limited to being poisoned, decapitated and being allowed to pass away in her sleep if there was nobody in her family able to consume her to maintain the War Hammer Titan. But now, because she ended up losing her family's Titan to these disgraces, she herself had disgraced her family, a crime punishable by being cast out onto the streets to die.
"Stop walking," a man's voice ordered her as she was being led somewhere. "Sit down now."
Slowly, she sat down and couldn't believe she was on something that felt like…a large sheet over a large bag of rice or something.
"You may remove their blindfolds now, sir," a female voice uttered, and Agnes realized that the voice in question sounded…young, almost like that of a child's.
Light shined across her face as her vision straightened out, allowing Agnes to see where she was. She was in a large room, surrounded by various men and women dressed in strange uniforms with blades on gun handles, sitting in a semicircle with several men and another young women, most of whom were wearing cuffs on their arms and legs to keep them in check (for some reason, one of the young men three people across from Agnes on her left wasn't wearing any restraints). In front of them, sitting a good distance away…was a young girl, probably fifteen or sixteen years old, with long, blond hair and blue eyes and a pretty face (so pretty that Agnes had to wonder if the girl used makeup or was blessed with natural beauty), dressed in a simple, white dress as she was surrounded by two women of similar age to herself and a young man that looked as though he didn't quite fit it because of his complexion; Agnes had never seen a man quite like this before.
"How does each of you feel?" The girl asked them, though no one answered…except for…
"I'm doing fine, Your Highness, thank you," the young man not wearing any bindings responded to her question.
"Your Highness?" Agnes spoke, confused; was this some sort of game they were playing?
"You probably wouldn't believe it unless you heard from one who knows the truth," the man on her right uttered, sounding bitter, "but it's true. This is my daughter, Historia Reiss, the current ruler of Paradis and all of Eldia."
"Reiss?" A second man on her right beside the fat one expressed. "Not Fritz?"
It was Calvi of the Marleyan military.
"That's right," the young queen, Historia, responded. "I'm sure some of you are acquainted with one another, but in case you aren't, introductions are a must."
In the semicircle, going counterclockwise, the individuals surrounded by members of the Survey Corps were: Bertolt Hoover, Reiner Braun, Pieck, Agnes Tybur, Rod Reiss, Calvi, Kenny Ackerman, and Annie Leonhart. In front of them, going clockwise, were: Kaede Sogen, Ymir, Historia Reiss, and Shinji Ikari. This was an unusual meeting of various people, but one that needed to happen to try and resolve things.
"Titan Shifters?" Agnes spoke, pointing to the young men and little girl on her left.
"Former," revealed Annie to her. "Our Titans are gone now."
"Gone?" Calvi questioned. "How did you brats lose the Titans to these fiends? You're still alive! They'd have to eat you in order to take the Titans from you! You're still years away from the end of your respective terms!"
"Mister Calvi," Historia got his attention, "do you really believe that we didn't discover the means to take the Titans of Ymir Fritz from them without needing to kill them? The only people that have been suffering are the men and women you sent to attack us after we came for the Eldians you had in detainment zones or used as expendable soldiers because they desired freedom from the imprisonment and abuse at the hands of the security personnel that would harm them, even for the most debatable of alleged crimes. You'd even harm an Eldian just for breathing in your direction or having a drink on a sunny afternoon."
"Because you're all fiends that deserve to suffer as much as you've made my people suffer."
"Do you really believe they're all bad, sir?" Shinji asked, his voice making Calvi raise his eyebrows. "Is an Eldian woman getting married suddenly bad because she's in love with someone that loves her back? Is suddenly an Eldian boy bad just because he demonstrates an interest in arts and crafts? Is Mr. Hoover here bad because he's turned away from Marley's cause to fight the people of Paradis after surviving a battle that should've left him for dead, but was fortunate to see the next day? How do you know for certain who's bad or good? People that can see and hear something happening or had occurred at some point in time and feel uncomfortable about it, they can perceive that as bad because it might be…or they just don't like what it is or was. Bad is up to interpretation."
"What the Hell are you? You don't look anything like these Eldians."
"That's because I'm not an Eldian. Believe it or reject it, I'm an Asian."
Calvi's eyes widened at the revelation.
"You're a disreputable disgrace," he called Shinji, which earned a glare from Kaede.
Shinji was slightly appalled by Calvi calling him out, but immediately responded, "And how and why is that?"
"You sided with a race of monsters that deserve to be exterminated."
"And I've seen monsters almost all the time since I heard about Marley. Do you have any idea how easy it is to get lost between clarity and insanity, morality and immorality, right and wrong? It's madness when you speak nothing but hate."
"No, it's foolishness when anyone sides with the descendants of Ymir Fritz and has no idea that they're only capable of causing pain."
"Like how you let Grausam Zanki cause pain when you took him in to help your cause?" Kaede asked Calvi, making no hint of her disgust over the issue. "For a man older than nearly everyone else in this room with control over a military, you don't seem to have much comprehension over the fact that hatred is as indifferent to people of both nations as it is to everyone else throughout history. You hate us just for existing, and you don't even know us, just like how some or most, if not all, of the people on this island hate you for sending people to attack us…and we don't even know you."
"Right now, I just hate the fact that I'm in a meeting with this insufferable bunch that lost Marley's Titans, all seven of the Titans, to the likes of you."
Bertolt, Reiner, Annie and Agnes looked at Calvi like he had crossed a line by bringing up their defeat at the hands of Paradis.
"You gave the Warrior Unit the assignment of invading Paradis in order to take the Founding Titan from who you believed to have it," went Ymir, getting his attention, "and it was you that wanted the Founding Titan for the sake of destroying what remained of Eldia…and the cruel thing of it all…is that the man that made the Walls stole the memory of the past from the people here, so while Marley was fed the lies of a man driving away Karl Fritz, what remained of Eldia was made to believe that they were all that was left of humanity in a world ruled by Titans. And the worst part of that falsehood…is that Karl Fritz and the Tybur family of that time made up the lie…just because Karl felt guilty about what Eldians had done in the past."
With her access to all the memories belonging to the previous Titan Shifters that ever had any of the Nine Titans, all the way back to Karl himself and the individual Eldian houses that warred amongst each other to control the others, Kaede confided in Shinji, her parents, Historia, Ymir, the Garrison and Survey Corps. It was so extreme that half the Garrison were infuriated by the fact that the First King had hoped the lie would last for as long as possible so that nobody was the wiser, but the Survey Corps were angry over the fact that part of Karl's lie included the claim that the Wall Titans would take revenge on the world if Paradis was ever attacked, which Kaede confirmed was impossible for three reasons. One was because the Wall Titans were just an attempt to protect the Eldians only for as long as the peace lasted, the second was because Karl had renounced war, even the very idea of protecting his people against an enemy he knew could be defeated or halted against for years, and the third reason was that he had manipulated the Founding Titan with his will to enforce his ideology onto his descendants, making it impossible for them to use the Titans to defend the island or even to cease attacking the people because they would feel this was retribution. The only benefits to Kaede having the Titans in her possession was that she could make the Wall Titans do what Karl never intended of them to do…and she had her own moral compass to follow that kept her from crossing the line.
Calvi looked at the Tybur woman, like everything he had lived for had been nothing more than an elaborate game for the Eldians that lasted years.
"Did you know about this?" He demanded of her, but Agnes didn't answer him.
"You mean to say my ancestor conspired with one of the other families to have us all imprisoned within the Walls…because he felt guilty for what we did in the past?" Rod questioned.
"Instead of trying to find a reasonable balance between the two nations," Bertolt expressed his opinion, "the First King condemned us. I mean you no disrespect, Historia, but this ancestor of your family may have been one of the three worst examples of Eldian people in history."
"No disrespect taken, Bertolt," Historia responded; as much as she now knew about her ancestors through Kaede's power, everyone else that knew as much as possible were entitled to their beliefs. "Including Karl Fritz, who are the other two worst examples?"
"Your father, Rod Reiss here…and Grausam Zanki."
Historia nodded her head and sighed.
"Whatever happened to Grausam?" Calvi asked. "He actually tapped into a variation of the power of the Titans that was most beneficial when he showed up five years ago. Did you up and kill him?"
Kaede looked around before walking over to where Calvi sat and stood there, looking down at him with an expression of mild disgust.
"The very thought of killing him crossed a lot of people here when he showed up," she told him, "except it was almost impossible to do so. So we didn't kill that man, that…monster. Instead, we did the next best thing, which was banish him from the island and sent beyond the reach of anyone that knew him. You were crazy to accept aid from him, though. Do you know what his Titan was called?"
"The Akuma Titan."
"Which, in my language," went Shinji to Calvi, "means 'Devil'. He was the Devil of the Titans. He literally became a demon you made a deal with in exchange for power. Unfortunately, he was more of a wannabe than the literal embodiment he aimed to be. In the end, the deal he made with Marley resulted in repercussions that took him out."
"There's an old saying about making deals with the Devil," uttered Kenny, "and it's that you never should."
"Trust me, I've seen the Devil every time, going back years," Calvi stated. "All of these different ethnicities over the generations that either showed mercy to the Eldian scum or didn't have enough hatred for them to want them dead: Asians, French, Hawaiians, men and women that just didn't understand how much you Eldians were a threat to the world if left unchecked. It's only a matter of time before you start to spread like a weed."
Nobody spoke for a few minutes…until one of them did.
"Like how Marley spread like a weed when Karl Fritz and the Tybur family gave them the power of the Titans and made your people the torturers instead of the tortured?" Reiner spoke up, asking Calvi. "Like how Marley kept insisting that Eldians who weren't granted Marleyan citizenship were disgraceful and deserved to be confined in the internment zones, that our blood was dirty? Oh, how I used to believe in that before Marley did the one thing I didn't expect anyone, not even the Eldians here to do."
"And what was that?" Pieck asked him.
"They let Grausam hurt my family," he answered. "Before the overturn caused by Paradis and their Asian ally, I was still loyal to Marley because I still believed in the mission to take the Founding Titan. But then I get informed that during a liberation mission in Libero, my mother and my other relatives are among those who were bled almost to death by a Paradis Eldian that hated his own people to the point he was willing to kill them, even those that didn't know him. And then they saved their lives. After that, my loyalty to Marley just died like my belief that they were right and worth serving."
Then Annie spoke up.
"I lost my faith in Marley at that exact time, as well," she claimed; in truth, her faith in Marley was less than it was before she received the Female Titan, and only worsened when she found her father in the hospital on recovery from his exsanguination at the hands of Grausam. "Was what you let that man do to our families your order?"
"I don't have to answer your question," Calvi defended.
"Your refusal to answer would imply that it was," Shinji expressed.
"You let a madman bleed their families almost to death," Historia spoke, "and for what? So you could harness the power of the Titans for a few minutes? Your soldiers were defeated and the Jaeger Serum taken away. Any soldiers carrying surgically-implanted explosives have been operated on to remove them. Calvi, sir, now is really the time for us to talk about settling this hatred Marley has for Paradis that is no longer necessary to maintain."
"Like Hell it isn't! So long as you live and breathe, there's no forgiveness for the sins of your ancestors! There's no looking past any of your crimes! And your greatest crime committed…is just existing! There, I said it! That's your greatest crime, your indelible sin! And you, you're the queen? Is your blood really royal blood? If it is, you should know what would be done to you until you breathe your final breath, you…"
SMACK! Ymir, out of nowhere, walked right up to Calvi…and knocked him aside his head's right side.
"What would be done to her?" Ymir asked him, her tone making it clear that she would undoubtedly hit him again if he gave her a wrong response. "Go on, tell me. Tell us all. What would be done to Historia? I dare you to say it. I DARE you to SAY it."
"Zeke Yeager," went Eren Yeager, who was among the Survey Corps members in the room to keep any trouble for escalating. "The only son of Dina and Grisha Yeager, and the last man to inherit the Beast Titan, he had royal blood on his mother's side. Did you know that?"
Calvi didn't answer him.
"Rod Reiss has royal blood, too," Eren continued, "like that matters, anymore, because he's not in control. You hate Eldians, but you'd spare the ones with royal blood in their veins? And what would you have them do? Right now, any one of us would probably get disagreement vibes from the queen's advisors if we suggested something to her that didn't sit well with any of them."
"He kids you not," said Kaede.
-x-
It wasn't something she normally researched, but now Ritsuko Akagi had to make sure that they were up to speed on the Dirac Sea portal that connected this universe to the Titan universe, and so far as she could see, the portal was still stable. Since it was the result of an Evangelion-related experiment, her theoretical conclusion was that the portal would be active for as long as it could.
"…And if it does close up, that's that," she told herself, preferring to be logical over emotional.
There was no point in trying to let emotions get in the way of scientific growth and understanding over morality and understanding. The fact that NERV was, more or less, obsolete because of Shinji's refusal to be rescued in the beginning and the fact that Adam and Lilith were gone, making Instrumentality impossible, all that was left of any possible goals were just living through the current day to the next day and the day after with little to no problem. And, if possible, investigate the alternate world Shinji was in for new resources that could've been helpful for their world.
It's only a matter of what happens next to either upset things or resolve them, she thought as she sent and received information regarding the portal to the NERV branch in Nevada. Either way, we may never have to deal with the Angels until who-knows-when.
-x-
It was a small transition at best, but progress was being made. It wasn't even a proper designation, but for the time being, "Mix-fits" was something to describe the remnants of people from other countries destroyed by Marley out of hatred. They were all mixed because of the constant intermingling over the generations just to survive up to the present.
Calvi couldn't call any of the men or women he was forced to look at one race of people or another race without adding the rest of the races Marley attacked over the years, meaning he couldn't refer to them as anything but the current designation they were trying: Mix-fits.
"None of them are Eldians or Marleyans," said the Asian boy to Calvi. "I honestly can't tell who they were once upon a time. All I know is that they're so mixed up, they could've been French, Caucasian, Indian or maybe even African for all I can guess. Did your hatred for Eldia mean that much to you that you had to take it out on anyone that you decided to hate just as much as them?"
Then, he was shown pictures of where they lived on the island, which was just a small village that had been fortunate to be ignored by the Titans, and he recalled an old story about a rumor stating that some survivors escaped the extermination operations by Marley by actually going to Paradis, something about how if the place was so bad, none of them would go anywhere near it if it was infested with Titans, seeking shelter there. He actually laughed at the very thought of anyone taking their chances of surviving on an island so infested by flesh-eating giants of the damned that he might've almost developed an ulcer.
"I'd stop laughing at the harm your people have inflicted upon others if I were you," said Kaede to him, feeling that he wasn't the least bit affected by anything happening in the meeting.
"Or what, you'll kill me?" He countered, unafraid of her.
Kaede then walked over to Historia and uttered, "Permission to show everyone in this room the Dark Titan, Your Highness."
"Do it," Historia permitted her.
"What in the Hell is the Dark Titan? What, you gonna bring a midget-sized Titan into the room?"
Kaede looked at him…and then searing lines formed on her face under her eyes.
Calvi saw something emerging from the girl's back, a wad of flesh-like material, looming in the air like a serpent, ending in a head that exhibited dark hair and flesh, a feminine facial structure and an upper body with an androgynous appearance. It hovered over in the air in between him and the girl, unaffected by the laws of gravity, and crossed its arms as it looked at him.
"What in the name of…" He gasped.
"Son of a bitch," Kenny cursed.
"Not even Uri or Frieda could do anything like that," added Rod.
"This is insane," went Eren, amazed and frightened by this. This girl is something else entirely.
She can summon her Titan without really transforming now? Armin thought, unable to look away from the girl.
"I…am the Dark Titan, Mr. Calvi," the Titan spoke. "If I was permitted to by Kaede, I'd taste your flesh right now because I can smell your self-righteous hatred of others. Oh, if only I was permitted to. You know all of those Titans that were born after Ymir Fritz's death? The Founding Titan, the Colossal Titan, the War Hammer Titan? They're all gone now. Everything with a beginning eventually meets its end, and I was their end. I'm all that remains. One way of describing me is that I am a new breed of Titan made from Grausam Zanki's twisted research, but am separate from his other Titans. Another way is to call me the new nexus, where all things Eldian intercept and connect, a coordinate, if you will. But I am also one and all, all and one, the Nine Titans of Ymir Fritz within the Titan that wields their power without fail, the Queen of the Titans. Does this frighten you? Does the fact that you're in the presence of each of the Titans you had desired to control for so long make your heart beat out of control?"
"Forget Queen of the Titans," went Hange, looking like she was about to experience euphoria all over again. "You're the Goddess of the Titans, divinity incarnate."
So, that's all nine of them inside her? Bertolt wondered.
We lost our Titans to this girl? Pieck suspected, just as the Dark Titan materialized further, sporting legs and a lower waist.
"My God," Reiner gasped as the Dark Titan was now taller than the girl it had emerged from, almost seven-and-a-half-feet tall, connected by a series of webbed cables of Titan flesh.
The Dark Titan examined her hands and feet, and then looked at Historia, kneeling to her.
"Your Highness," she spoke.
"Always something new with you," Historia expressed, and then her eyes widened as the Dark Titan generated something in her hands that she put on Calvi, causing him to scream in terror.
"Ah, pipe down," the Titan expressed, revealing that it was nothing more than a pair of bunny ears made of Titan flesh. "Nobody's going to hurt anyone unless this meeting goes wrong."
"Heh-heh!" Ymir snickered; the bunny ears on the Marleyan man's head were the first thing she found funny in a bad guy all week.
Then the Titan sat on the floor in front of him and the others on the bean bags.
"I hate you," Calvi told the Titan.
"I can't say the feeling's mutual, because you haven't done anything to hurt Kaede or anyone else in the room she likes," she responded.
Kaede, as the cables of Titan flesh extended with each step she took, walked back over to where Shinji was and sat down.
"This is bound to get weird," she expressed.
"The only thing weird about this right now is just the bunny ears," Shinji expressed.
-x-
"So far, we've got nothing with Unit-01," Maya told Misato in Central Dogma, referring to the lack of synchronization activity between Shinji and the Eva in the Titan world.
Beep! Maya's console went active and she picked up synchronization activity.
"What could he be doing that requires him to use the Eva?" Misato wondered; all they knew about how the boy used the Eva there was that it was either as a sentry for the coastal areas on Paradis, a protector against Marley's forces, and whatever else it was needed for.
When the connected finally established, they saw Shinji doing what was probably another walk around the island coastline at night.
"Let's see what's been going since he last synced," Maya stated, reviewing the boy's past.
-x-
Calvi might've had more military expertise and recognition than any of these Eldians, including the ones that joined the failed Warrior Unit, but Shinji clearly had the last laugh on him by calling him out on how far his sense of hatred seemed to extend and why it was necessary to let go of such an emotion.
"…What…what did you just say to me, Asian?" He demanded of Shinji, which caught everyone's attention.
"I said," Shinji repeated, "you wouldn't be content unless you had someone to hate that wasn't a Marleyan. For you, it's perfectly normal to hate to the point of wanting to cause pain. You must've spent decades hating anyone that wasn't a part of Marley or didn't hate Eldians the way you do. It's not only insane, but it's pitiful. It'd be easier to feel sorry for you and Marley if you all have the same mindset."
Calvi was being…pitied upon by this boy? Was he being…looked down upon with a sense of misery over how he lived?
"Save your pity, boy," he told him. "I have no need for it."
But Kaede looked at the man…and felt the same way. For this man…and any other Marleyan that thought like he did…this sense of hate wasn't just learned behavior. It was a death sentence, curse, a spider's web that they couldn't and wouldn't escape from. There was no other way to describe it if the man cared so much for that he refused to let go of it.
"You're just another idiot, Marleyan," they heard Kenny say to Calvi. "You're a slave to something, just like the rest of us."
"I'm nobody's slave."
"I didn't say you were somebody's slave. I said you were a slave to something. There's a difference. For some people, their poison of choice is drinking. For others, it's something more intriguing. Money, glory, power, women, freedom, or maybe just some truth, but for you, it's hatred. You need to believe in it so desperately, that every Eldian is a threat to your very existence, that anyone that would rather see them live is a threat. Very clever…but very foolish, and you are foolish. And yet, here you are, among a bunch of Eldians with their issues and allies, trying to resolve a problem that has been around for a long time that you don't want to see resolved at all. You'd rather see the situation become anything but resolved where everyone can coexist. Look around you, why don't you? Eldians, Ackermans, Mix-fits, the queen, her advisors, an Asian and a Titan Shifter, young men and women that no longer fight Titans…and you're the only one in here that's too foolish to admit that you're on a slippery slope that's leading you down a lake of fire that you're going to be walled around from escaping."
"You'd rather be walled off from any possibility of peace," went Reiner, "than to cross a bridge without suspicion."
"Just about everyone else in this room except for you is getting wise instead of foolish," added Rod, hating to admit it, even to himself, but knew this man was crazier than any of these young people were.
Suddenly, the Dark Titan placed her hands on the floor and her flesh expanded across it like water, forming a circle that was the size of the small rug. From it, small formations began to take shape, resembling a town or city, surrounded by a body of water…and then a wall on all sides. A bridge-like structure appeared on its southern side, right in front of Calvi, but it broke in the middle, as if something destroyed it.
What was she doing?
"Kaede," went Historia, "are you doing this?"
"No, ma'am," she answered. "My Dark Titan is doing this of her own accord."
"You give yourself too little credit, Kaede," the Titan expressed. "Your thoughts and feelings have impact upon action. Feelings shall speak louder than actions. What you just heard made sense when you think of it."
The circle of Titan flesh continued as it repeated the same actions it started with, as if stuck on a loop, showing everyone that watched it the same beginning, middle and end: A town or city, a wall surrounding it on all sides, and then a bridge breaking.
"You're showing us a visual example of how a wall impedes a bridge," Annie stated.
"It's not just the wall and bridge," Bertolt realized.
"It's the foolishness and wisdom inherent in their representations," Erwin added, also realizing this. "Like Ymir Fritz and her descendant, Karl Fritz, both examples of wisdom and foolishness, respectively. Ymir used the Titans to try and create bridges across different places and people…but Karl chose to build walls to isolate them from each other."
"Ymir was wise in her attempts," Ymir stated.
"But Karl was foolish in his," Pieck finished.
"Both were dumb," went Calvi, still unwilling to give up his hatred. "Neither could do the one thing with the Founding Titan that would've made a big difference for Marley, and that was to exterminate what was left of you. And you try to convince me that the Founding Titan is no longer around, that all of Ymir Fritz's Titans are no longer among you? Your lies won't sway me! Everyone knows that when a Titan Shifter dies before they're devoured, the Titan just transfers to an unborn Eldian brat."
"And you fail to understand that we're not lying to you," Historia told him. "When you see the Dark Titan owned by one of my advisors, you're seeing the last of the Titan Shifters that will ever possess the Nine Titans of my ancestor. The Founder that Marley is so dead set upon taking from us…is no longer around because Ms. Sogen here took it along with the other eight. Marley can't have any of them, even if we could give them up. And as an acceptable drawback, the Dark Titan can't be passed onto anyone upon her death, so when she goes, all those powers associated to the Nine Titans go with her, and you'll have wasted all your time, all your life, for nothing."
"You're wrong," Calvi still refused to believe her. "If you gave all the Titans to this…this girl here, then you have no idea of the power she holds on you."
"What power?" Kaede spoke up. "Don't you know the difference between a queen and an advisor? The regal-looking girl is the one in charge. Everyone looks up to her. I'm just the girl with advice ready to serve her when she asks for it. Do you honestly expect her, him (she points to Shinji) or any of them (she points to the former Warrior Unit and the Survey Corps) to listen to me just because you think I could make them? I couldn't. I wouldn't, even if you forced me to. Even with all the power I have, there would be no point in trying to control them. You'd be no different from a puppeteer and everyone around you would be your puppets. Yeah, I could take away their awful memories of war and maybe eliminate the thoughts of crime from people's minds, but would I be in the right, taking away their right to decide what they're going to do with their lives? Would I be any different from Karl Fritz, Kenny the Ripper here, or yourself? No, I don't think so. I'd be on par with you, trying to decide everything…and I'd leave that stuff to the queen and the people here that know what they're doing. What would you do with the power if you had it, if you could use it?"
"I know exactly what I'd do with it. Maybe you fools don't realize it, but the Foundling Titan is the only Titan that can erase Eldians from existence by sterilizing them with a mere scream."
Everyone's eyes widened at the sound of what Calvi had told them.
"Is that right?" Historia asked him.
"That's right," he continued. "Why else would Marley be so interested in wanting to get rid of you? You Eldians are all that's left of Marley's enemies. With the Founding Titan in our control, all we'd have to do is render you incapable of further propagation. We learned that over six centuries ago, one wielder of the Titan was able to make Eldians immune to a plague that had spread across the world, and all they had to do was scream. If it was possible to grant biological immunity through the Titan, then it's also plausible that inducing sterility is within the Titan's power to achieve. Then we wouldn't have to worry about you, no matter what you do. There'd be no more Eldians, no more Titans, no…more…enemies."
"Oh, dear, that would be bad," Kaede expressed, covering her mouth with her left hand. "A Titan power that can influence bodily manipulations would be extremely invaluable to Marley if they had it. We'd all be dead within two generations if that ever happened. Historia, Your Highness, wouldn't that be bad?"
"Yes, it would be bad," Historia agreed with her. "I trust you wouldn't do anything of the sort to any of us with such a power now, would you, Kaede?"
"Taking away any man or woman's right to have children in the future, including my own? I'd rather save the people from sickness with such a power."
"Are you certain that the Nine Titans are all gone?" Agnes asked them.
"You stabbed me in the back using your War Hammer Titan, miss," the Dark Titan uttered, "and you sealed them away for good when you did so. All that's left of them are their powers and the memories of the previous wielders of each of the Titans. I'm like a bottomless pit for these powers and memories, a well or abyss, something they can get into…but are unable to get out of. Through me, they are Kaede's to use however she chooses. Are you angry…or relieved?"
"I'd choose to be relieved," went Bertolt.
"Likewise," added Pieck. "Nobody has to devour anyone else, anymore to keep the power from being lost. Now, nobody has to fight over it because it no longer belongs to everyone that can take it."
"Meaning Marley really has been fighting for nothing," Annie stated.
"And you know the dumbest part of knowing this now?" Levi said, walking over to Calvi. "This revelation regarding the Founding Titan…would've had much more of an impact…if most of us hadn't already been informed by Ms. Sogen over a month ago about it when she brought it to our attention using the memories that she inherited from the holder of the Beast Titan before Zeke Yeager."
Calvi's eyes widened. They already knew about this power the Founder possessed? They knew…and weren't concerned about it at all because some girl had no intention of using it?
In truth, Kaede had informed the majority of the Survey Corps, the Garrison, Historia, Ymir, Shinji and her parents when she started recalling the memories of Zeke Yeager's predecessor, Tom Xaver, who had imparted this knowledge to Zeke prior to his death, and had to swear upon them that she wouldn't use such a devastating power unless it was to save them from a sickness. The girl would've been lying to herself if she didn't explain that her mother was already a motivational reason for not wanting to use such a power to induce sterility. How was she to be a good example to her unborn sibling if she went and did something so terrible that could harm everyone on the island and across the planet?
"I'll be honest, but I didn't volunteer to help your last naval attempt on Paradis to take the Founding Titan," went Agnes, "just so that I could lose my right to have children of my own one day, even if they were to be seen as Marleyans on account of my family's decision to turn on the rest of Eldia."
"A decision that stemmed from a pact made between Karl Fritz and the War Hammer Titan of that time," Calvi addressed.
"A decision of which enabled the people of Marley to take back their future from the Eldians."
"Except that it was built on a lie," explained Kaede to both of them, "and neither of you seem to have the faintest idea as to how many people died when they didn't even so much as lay hand on anybody that didn't ask to be harmed."
"We do know," Agnes responded. "There were too many."
"Of which were your own people your ancestor and Karl Fritz orchestrated to have sacrificed to give Marley control over the world," Calvi added, disgusted, "like they were pawns in a sick chess game."
"That's not true."
"What is the truth?"
"The truth depends upon one's point of view and interpretation," Erwin stated.
"Marley sees the truth…as a fabricated hero that drove Karl Fritz and whatever Eldians he could save from their vengeance…which was unnecessary because neither side was locked in a state of conflict. During Karl Fritz's reign, there was actually stability between the two countries; Karl just felt guilty over what his people did centuries ago and wanted to put Marley in charge and condemn Eldia to a slow demise that would go on for as long as possible and call it peace in a world ruled by Titans," Kaede revealed, which made Agnes stiffen. "You only know this because of the generations of Tybur men and women that had the War Hammer Titan before you, Ms. Tybur, but you can't admit to the truth like the other adults in your family that know."
"Don't you ever wonder if having all those memories that aren't yours will eventually overtake you?" Agnes asked her.
"They can't overtake her," the Dark Titan told her. "Memories are meant to be a source of education and understanding the secrets hidden by those that wanted to hide something of significance from others. Those memories merely serve as a well of information, not a means to keep the people of the past alive in the present. You know who people are just as well as they know themselves, but you're never them. It's just like with the Titans; the War Hammer wasn't the Armored, the Female wasn't the Beast, the Beast wasn't the Founder…and the Founder isn't me. You know who you are and what you want out of your life, just as everyone else in this room know who they are and what they want."
"And what about you? Who are you and what do you want?" Calvi asked her.
"I'm the Dark Titan…and all I want…is for Kaede to be happy."
-x-
"…So, before his sentry duty," went Yui to Misato and Maya, after she paid a visit to Central Dogma to see what her son was doing in the other dimension, "he was at a meeting with some people?"
"There's this man, Calvi," said Misato to her, "who seems unwilling to let go of his hatred for the Eldians that Shinji protects. The meeting uncovered a lot of secrets and revelations between the two countries that stemmed from a plot made centuries ago…with several repercussions."
"This man was called out by Shinji on not being able to live without hatred," added Maya. "Shinji accused him of being among the number of people that can't live without having someone to hate, regardless of who they were. These Marleyans have eradicated other nations and races off the planet a long time ago and the only survivors of these extermination attempts are a village of people who are the product of mixed marriages and interbreeding. Right now, they're being called Mix-fits. They're so mixed up, you can't tell who they are."
"Sounds similar to the Nazis of World War Two," Yui stated her opinion.
"Except the Nazis lost the war that lasted less than ten years," Misato reminded her. "These Marleyans have been at war with the Eldians, as well as anyone that might've sympathized with them or didn't hate them as much as they did, for centuries, and it was just discovered during the meeting, maybe longer than that, that this guy that was in charge of leading the Eldians at that time, conspired with a family that had one of his ancestress' Titans to put the Marleyans in charge and sentence his own people to a slow extermination that only got overturned because of Shinji's presence and assistance; you can't endanger the people you want exterminated out of hatred, racism or some other reason altogether if they have an ally on their side with an edge to their service in ensuring their survival."
And because the ally has someone among the endangered people that he wants to be with, Yui thought to herself, and watched through the recorded memory where Shinji had excused himself from the room for a few minutes. "Where's he going?"
"Oh, he's just going to the bathroom," Maya answered, and jumped the digital footage a few minutes, just in time to see Shinji washing his hands. "There's no need to see him handling his sanitary business."
-x-
"…What are you doing out of the room?" Shinji asked Kaede as he returned from the restroom, seeing her standing outside the door to the room they were using, the strands of Titan flesh protruding through the back of her shirt and preventing the door from being closed.
"Waiting for you," she explained, "and my Dark Titan is keeping Mr. Calvi in line. It turns out the bunny ears are a lot more than they appear, and not because she put them on his head."
Shinji then bowed his head to her.
"I apologize if I sounded out of line earlier when I called him out," he explained.
"You weren't out of line. You were right about him; he can't see past a life without hating someone that isn't like the people he goes to war with other countries protecting from conflict. He's a racist. If you're not a Marleyan, you're an enemy, and if you're an enemy, you belong in an internment zone or some hole in the ground to be burned away later."
"I honestly can't see any way to persuade him to let go of his old way of thinking."
"Maybe…"
The door opened behind Kaede and Armin appeared with a look of concern on his face.
"Uh, you two need to get back in here quickly," he told them. "Reiner wants to say something about something that might change Calvi's viewpoint about Eldians."
Kaede looked curious about this update and spoke, "I think I know exactly what he wants to say to everyone."
They came back inside and all eyes were on Reiner Braun, who seemed bothered by something he wanted to talk about.
"What, exactly, is it that you want to share with us?" Historia asked him.
"My father," he responded.
"What about your father?" Rod questioned.
"He was a Marleyan," he revealed, which meant that, in the eyes of anyone that knew the truth about his background, he wasn't truly an Eldian…and wasn't truly a Marleyan, either. "I mean, he is a Marleyan."
Reiner Braun, despite his past actions against the Eldians of Paradis, was mixed, a man with a dual heritage as a result of his parents' union.
"What a crock," Calvi expressed.
"He speaks the truth," Kaede vouched for Reiner. "His father's a man of Marleyan descent. It's not the first time anyone had family outside of their known relatives. The previous Beast Titan holder also had a Marleyan family nobody knew about."
"The previous Beast Titan? Tom Xaver?"
"I take it you knew him?"
"I only knew he was the one of the few to discover the power of the Founder necessary to eradicate you freaks."
"So, you knew nothing about his wife and son?"
"Why would I concern myself with an Eldian's personal life?"
"Most people that hate a certain type of other people would want to know whatever they can about them," said Shinji to him. "They'd want to know what their habits are, where they frequent, who they spend their time with, basically enough to map out their daily routines."
"Like, what, stalking?" Bertolt asked him.
"Exactly like stalking."
"That's what the PSA is for," went Annie. "They stalk, harass, even kill if they were in the mood for it against any Eldians. Heard a rumor that they even killed a little girl a few years ago just for wanting to be out past curfew hours to see a blimp."
Kaede sighed and recalled Grisha Yeager's memory of his sister being killed by the people he would grow to hate that despised them just because they were Eldians…and then the day they were killed by his Attack Titan predecessor, Eren Kruger. In fact, several of the previous Titan Shifters had some bad memories of the PSA and how many of them actually abused their authority and were permitted to get away with it by their superiors, a clear example of police corruption and misuse of limited powers.
"I hate police corruption," Shinji expressed.
"And I hate Eldians that think it's okay to intermingle with Marleyans…and Marleyans that think they can deny their romantic involvements, past or present, with Eldians," Calvi added.
"So now Marleyans with a romantic affiliation with Eldians are a no-no? What's next, you're gonna make it against the law for them to just talk to each other, to say Marleyans can go to Heaven while Eldians have to spend their eternity in purgatory?"
"What of you, Asian? You're so affiliated with them to the point where you might as well be one of them."
Shinji, as much as he wanted to hit this man, to knock some sense of morality and a conscience into his head, held his anger against him in check. If he assaulted him right now, nothing good would come about it.
"I just wanted to get the Founding Titan from Paradis in order to get my parents back together," went Reiner, explaining his reason for ever attacking the people over five years ago. "If we were seen as Marleyans, then maybe those two would be able to be seen together without any discrimination. The possibility of them being able to be together was the only reason I decided to join the Warrior Unit. However, that goal is now impossible, and it had nothing to do with Paradis or the Survey Corps. This is Marley's own fault that one, selfish and selfless desire got flushed down the drain."
"How is it Marley's fault?" Historia wanted to know.
"They let a lunatic, a madman, a monster…go and bleed my mother and the rest of my family almost to death, just to create an artificial Titan Serum that could work on Marleyans for a few minutes. What loyalty I still had for Marley died when that happened."
"It's only because the Warrior Unit failed to produce results that Grausam Zanki was allowed to do what he did. We don't have time to tolerate failure."
"You mean you don't tolerate failure at all," said Ymir to him. "People that can't accept failure are people that can't accept that they don't have control over the world, people with God complexes and the like."
"Pitiful," went Kenny. "I actually feel sorry for you."
"I'd feel sorry for all of you that think that this changes anything," Calvi told them. "You honestly think this is over? Do you really think Marley and Eldia will just coexist? You're chasing a lousy dream! You're reaching for the unreachable! You might as well kill me, because I'd sooner die than let go of my hatred for you!"
"Just give me a knife, and I'll make it quick for you."
"No," said the Dark Titan to them. "Murdering him solves nothing. It makes more sense to keep him alive for later. Put him back in his cell…and let him fume until he can't, anymore."
"That actually makes sense," responded Historia, agreeing with the Titan, "and we're not killing anyone right now. We'll postpone this meeting for now and wait until we all have…clear heads to return and resume."
-x-
"…heads to return and resume," they heard Historia say to them as she agreed with the Dark Titan's suggestion.
"How hard can it be to let go of hate and accept people not like you?" Maya questioned.
"This guy is over fifty, so it's difficult to get through to him," Misato explained. "Letting go of his hate would mean admitting defeat, and he'd rather die than admit defeat."
Yui could've said something more in line with her philosophy, but the sight of the Dark Titan in the same room with her son, partially separate from his girlfriend, in front of people that saw it as an ally more than Calvi saw it as an enemy with a power that was necessary to either strengthen a powerful race of people…or destroy it…just made her… It made her hesitant to say anything that would've been misinterpreted as an offense.
And this girl has the power to bless her people or damn them, she thought to herself, which would make her exactly as that girl called her, a goddess incarnate. She has more power than the young queen does…but chooses to follow the queen instead of being followed by everyone.
"Still…hard to believe that Kaede has a power like that," Maya stated, regarding the power the girl had to affect Eldian biology. "If a plague hits them, all she'd have to do is just transform into her Titan, scream…and they're adapted and immune to the disease, just like that. She literally holds the lives of every last one of them in her hands."
"That's a lot of responsibility for anyone to have," Misato believed. "But Kaede's not the one in charge of everyone on that island. She's not even in charge of the people her powers actually work on. She's not the overseer, just the help for the queen, her and Shinji. They look to her and offer advice that she can accept or disregard if she chose to."
On the screens, they saw as Shinji watched the members of the former Warrior Unit were being permitted by Historia to do something different for the time being; the queen was letting Reiner, Bertolt and Annie go to the established residences for their relatives to be with them while the one called Pieck was made to go with the Survey Corps.
"Why are you letting us go to our families?" Reiner asked the queen.
"You're not the Armored Titan, anymore," she explained. "You're not a warrior, anymore. There's no longer any reason for you to fight…and I want to believe that you're capable of forgiveness by the people. This is also wisdom versus foolishness…where I'd rather be wise than foolish to believe in bridges over walls."
Reiner bowed his head to her.
"What are you doing later this evening, Shinji?" They heard Kaede ask as they watched Calvi, Rod and Kenny were being transported by the Garrison members back to their prison cells.
"I'm just going to do another night watch on the coast," Shinji answered his girlfriend, looking slightly disappointed that the Marleyan man refused to be swayed by change. "What are you doing later this evening?"
"Looking to do something helpful, just like you."
"How are things at home?"
"Quiet. I, uh… I'm thinking of actually making my parents a crib."
"A crib, really?"
"I've seen pictures, Shinji. I know I can make one."
"I'm not judging. I'm just surprised you thought of it."
"If it makes my mother relax a little more, it's a good thing."
"You know, I can… I can come by later if you need me."
"I'd like that, but I'll probably be asleep."
"Oh, uh…"
"But your face is something I'd like to wake up to."
"I'll be over after I finish, then."
"Thank you."
Maya then fast-forwarded the footage back to where it was when Shinji was performing his routine of helping to keep watch over the coastal area on the island for a few hours.
"What are the chances of this Calvi never changing his tune?" She asked them.
"Slim to none," Misato suggested.
"Yeah," Yui decided to agree with her.
-x-
"…So, how did that meeting go today?" Sig asked Kaede as they were eating dinner that evening. "Were you able to break down barriers?"
"Some barriers were brought down," she answered, cutting into her piece of roast. "Others weren't as easy. This man that's in charge of the Marleyan military, Calvi…is being resistant to letting go of his old ways that don't work here."
"What are his ways?" Christine asked her, helping herself to a bowl of salad.
"He still thinks all Eldians are cruel…and we learned something new about Reiner Braun, one of the Eldians that used to live in the Libero internment zone of Marley, which revealed another aspect to his hatred. It turns out that Mr. Braun isn't entirely an Eldian. He's only half-Eldian on his mother's side. His father's a Marleyan."
"He represents both nations?" Sig questioned. "That's surprising."
"I don't think he was meant to represent coexistence between Eldia and Marley. I think his parents' relationship was meaningful…until it wasn't, anymore, and Marley's got strict rules regarding relationships between people."
"Marley doesn't like it when some of their own people get involved with some of our own?" Christine questioned. "If people from different worlds can find a way to get along, there shouldn't be anything held against them. I mean, how hard can it be for people to coexist when it's just two people that are involved?"
"Marley being willing to execute their own people when it's discovered that they've been involved with Eldians makes a relationship difficult," Kaede informed them. "Reiner only saw his father a few times in his life and it was hard to read the guy; he looked like he was afraid of his son because of who his mother was. Even though there was hardly any kindness given, Reiner actually wanted to see his parents get back together. I actually feel sorry for him that his one desire…may never get fulfilled because of what happened before Shinji and I went to free the Eldians that were living in Libero."
"It'd be nice to see everyone happy," Sig expressed.
-x-
"…Reiner?" Gabi gasped as she saw her cousin outside the door to the family's apartment in the hallway. "You're here!"
Reiner stepped inside and greeted everyone there.
"Hello, everyone," he went.
"But what are you doing here?" His aunt asked him. "I thought they were going to keep you locked up for attacking them."
"Historia, the queen, decided to let us out because she wants to believe that we can change," he explained. "Wisdom…and foolishness, she had said."
"So…you're not going to fight her?" Karina asked him.
"There's no point in fighting them, anymore, Mother. You were almost bled to death by a madman, and the people in charge of him let him hurt you because they no longer believed in the Warrior Unit. What they had promised back then to those that joined the operation against Paradis…it's no longer for the taking…and I can't pretend that it's still there, even if I did want to fight them again. They see us all as the enemy, even if we do nothing to them. If we had gotten the Founding Titan for Marley, they would've killed us all with it by sterilizing us or making us susceptible to sickness that kills within days or minutes."
"And…what about your father? He's still in Marley."
"That's…something that might not get resolved so long as Marley has hatred against all of us."
Karina sighed and felt she had no choice but to accept this as the truth. While she loved Reiner's father deeply and wanted to be seen as a Marleyan so she could be with him without consequences, the fact that her family had been…targeted by an Eldian exile and left for dead with absolutely no remorse…was forcing her to accept that any possibility of ever seeing him again was unlikey. At first, she hated that they were separated by rules and regulations, then by distance because they were brought to Paradis, but now the only hatred she had was Marley permitting the attempt on her family and their willingness to kill them for their blood.
"Mother," Reiner went, "as long as Marley has it out for all of us, nothing we do for them means anything to them."
"If they were going to kill us once they got the Founder…then what was the point of the Warrior Unit?" She questioned. "What was the point of offering Marleyan citizenship…if it was only like a temporary status?"
-x-
"…Well, despite what didn't happen today," went Ymir to Historia after the children went to bed, serving her a cup of tea in the kitchen, "it seems like we learned some new things."
"Yeah," Historia agreed with her. "I just wish we were able to convince the guy to let go of his hatred of us. If this keeps going on, despite our best efforts to reduce our own casualties, we might be stuck living on this island…and I don't want for anyone here to feel like they can't travel beyond it when they can."
"There are methods we haven't thought of yet, ideas we have yet to implement."
"If you have any suggestions, Ymir, I'm open to them."
"I was gonna suggest that we show the guy around the island, let him see how we've been living since before and after Shinji fell from the sky and changed our lives."
"If we did that for him, we'd probably have to do it for Ms. Tybur, too."
"It's only a suggestion."
"But it's a really good suggestion, Ymir."
"You really think so?"
"Yes. We should give it a try."
-x-
As his night patrol duty came to an end tonight, Shinji looked out at the cold ocean and pondered how to persuade Calvi that this war was no longer necessary, and if it progressed, he already knew that Marley would lose because they were on the primitive side of science and technology. While blood had already been spilt, he didn't want for there to be any more of it.
"How do we settle this?" He wondered aloud. "How do we end a war where only one side will prevail while the other side suffers?"
To be continued…
A/N: There's more in store. I just have to figure out what happens next. What did you think of the meeting and revelations? Review, please. Peace.
Omake (FMA-influenced)
"…You're wrong, Dark Titan," went Kaede, about to stab the unconscious Shinji through the heart with a knife, "I don't know this boy. Marley took my memory of him when they snatched us away from Paradis! These feelings I had for him, they're not a part of me, anymore!"
In her mind, in a whirlpool of emotions, the Dark Titan, in its original state of being before the inclusion of all Nine Titans, looked at the girl that she possessed…and got up in her face.
"Like Hell they did!" She yelled at her. "You're wrong, Kaede Sogen! Shinji Ikari is just like your parents, Historia and Ymir, the Garrison and Survey Corps! They'll always be a part of you! You can't just erase them all from your soul, girl! They were the only part of you that YOU CHOSE! YOU! Not Marley!"
In her mind, Kaede saw Shinji with Historia, her mother and stepfather and the others, looking right at her, as if waiting for her to come over to them.
"Look at them, Kaede!" Dark Titan expressed, pointing over to them. "Can't you see that your very heart cries out to them?! You were going to let Marley kill them all through you, your family and friends, your lover, your whole life! You were just going to throw them all away like they were trash!"
She shook her head in denial as she looked down at Shinji, seeing the small box of tin that he had in his left hand, a small ring had fallen out of it; somewhere in her past, the boy had mentioned wanting to propose to her as soon as the war was over, something she had forgotten about…but was beginning to recall.
"Foolish girl," her Titan stressed, "if you turned your back on something you know you wanted…then you don't deserve all that you have right now! You don't deserve to be Historia's advisor! You don't deserve to be a harbinger of hope for the people of Paradis! You don't deserve to call yourself the Dark Titan!"
"Grrrr… GRRAAAAAAAURGH!" Kaede yelled, dropping the knife and grabbing Shinji, holding him close to herself as she cried at the return of her memories.