Creation began on 06-01-19
Creation ended on 06-10-19
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Hope from the Sky: Tantrum
As she left the orphanage village to return to Paradias City, Kaede, despite the conversation she had with Historia and Ymir being about Eren Yeager's behavior, shuddered a little over how the conversation shifted a bit towards what Ymir had asked her to try and do with her Titan power, since she was the only one that could do it due to possessing the Nine Titans at her disposal. Not only was she a bit embarrassed by the request, she wasn't sure if she could perform such a feat she was being asked to do on a whim, as she hadn't practiced anything beyond the use of Titan flesh manipulation offensively, defensively and creatively.
Something like that can't be used on a whim, she thought as she resided in the nape of her Jaw Titan-influenced Dark Titan, running back towards the city. It has to be practiced, learned and mastered before it can be used at will.
"I'm volunteering myself as the first person to be affected by the Founding Titan's ability to manipulate the body," Ymir had told her. "Whatever you want to try on me, additional fingers, extra toes, white hair, give it a try."
But I didn't want to change her to any extent, Kaede thought as she had relented and tried her hand at using the power she possessed. I know they love each other, but when you exclude the memories of the previous Titan Shifters, my only other education is from the books we were able to discover in that library. My education didn't extend into any other areas of the human body until after we left the Walls.
"Oh!" Ymir had gasped and ran into a bathroom. "Oh!"
Kaede and Historia looked at each other and wondered what the former had caused to change in Ymir that was supposed to be subtle.
I need to practice, but I have to elevate my knowledge first, Kaede persisted as she saw the city limits. It won't matter if I'm the only one that can do this. No understanding of the body means I can screw anything up.
"Okay, you need to work on it some," Ymir told them when she came back from the bathroom. "Can you…remove it now, please?"
Oh, how Kaede had wished Ymir hadn't shown her what she had put there when she used the power of the Founder on her. What she saw was going to be in her head for a while. But at least she was able to remove it and put the older woman back on track.
"I'm going to insist that this stays between us," Historia told them, wanting to forget that this happened today.
If Kaede had more practice and a clearer picture of human anatomy, then she'd know how to do better next time she was asked to do something…that intense.
Getting back to Eren, she thought, stopping a few feet and vacating the Titan body, I have to do whatever I feel is necessary to keep him in check, but I don't want to use methods that I'm uncomfortable with. No matter what he thinks, he just needs to be kept at bay, not punished severely for what hasn't happened yet…and what mustn't happen.
-x-
Willy Tybur of the Tybur family, the first Eldian family of the nobility to turn against Eldia centuries ago, sighed as he looked out at the city of Liberio, wondering if his sister, Agnes, was still alive. After she left with the last of the naval fleet, he kept fearing the worst to befall her and the War Hammer Titan would be back in the possession of the Eldians of Paradis. Not only that, but now that they weren't getting reports of the attempted aerial attack, Marley was now facing a crisis of resource shortage. Having exhausted the majority of the spoils of war for militaristic advancement, the people were left with few places to grow food. While they could support themselves for a few years, the need to take the island for its own resources was a small victory if they had won the war for the Founding Titan.
"You think she's dead, don't you?" He turned around and faced an elderly woman, his mother, who looked sick with despair. "Don't you, Willy? Please, tell me."
"I don't know, Mother," he answered her. "We'd have to go there, but travel to Paradis has been restricted. Marley has no more military ships to use and no more soldiers they can spare. The few that are left are just trainees, no combat experience…and they're afraid to go there."
"Then, please, let me go to Paradis," she begged him. "I don't care what they do to me. I just want to know what they did to my daughter. I can't stand not knowing. Please, just let me go."
-x-
"…Where's Shinji?" Kaede asked her parents when she returned home, noticing that her boyfriend wasn't present.
"He had to go out for sentry duty tonight," Sig explained to her. "He wasn't the least bit happy about it, but he wanted you to rest."
"Sometimes, I think having the power of the Cart Titan doesn't exactly translate to enhanced stamina to go along with the enhanced endurance. Of course, I barely stay in Titan form for more than a few minutes or hours on any given day, depending on what I use my power for, that is."
"Sometimes, it's something else that wears you out," said Christine to her daughter as she set the table. "It can be anything: Overworking, lack of sleep, malnutrition, boredom, anything. Where'd you two go today?"
"Just one of the lakes between here and the orphanage village," Kaede answered.
"I thought Shinji couldn't swim," went Sig as he sat down.
"He can't. That didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the water. He used one of those inflatable tubes."
"Well, at least you two got to have fun."
"Yeah, we did."
"So, Kaede, anything else happened today?" Christine asked her.
"No, nothing much, Mother," she responded; again, she didn't tell her parents the whole truth, just a part of the truth.
She wasn't trying to purposely lie to them to keep secrets, but she didn't want to worry with something that might've been capable of being resolved in a while. And it was only a matter with just one person that was probably just going through a phase in his teens.
Eren Yeager is a teen, so it's likely that he's going through a rebellious phase, she thought, except it's not against his parents. It's against the authority here because we're not trying to fight any further with Marley. There's no need to do that unless it's absolutely necessary. We've already dealt severe blows to their naval and aerial forces. It'd be easier if they just openly declared that they give up and we can go back to a more beneficial solution for everyone. The worst negative outcome…is one where people, instead of seeking peace, purposely seek conflict. And anyone that purposely seeks conflict will do whatever it takes to get it, even if it means instigating it themselves.
Then, without even intending to, Kaede realized one possibility to why Eren was likely to do something unrealistic: It was because the young man was trying to convince himself of a reason to see Marley as an enemy that wouldn't stop being an enemy, that they would always try to find a way to deal in death and destruction to what was left of Eldia because of the age-old hate. And his own hate of them hadn't died down some, but was still buried within him, waiting to be unleashed like before.
I'll need to see him tomorrow, she decided.
-x-
"…Hey, Shinji," went Bertolt, having volunteered to help do sentry duty for the Survey Corps, hanging on the right side of the Eva's neck, "it's none of my business asking, but do you know what's up with Eren? He seems…like something's wrong, but he's not saying."
In his plug, Shinji sighed and responded, "I have no idea, Bertolt. We don't exactly talk a lot. It's probably stress from working long hours."
"Maybe, but it's probably something more. Uh, a few days ago, I had the strangest dream. It was…unpleasant. We were in Shiganshina, the Walls were still there, and we were fighting. The next thing I know, I'm face-to-face with a Titan that looks like Armin…and I die."
"That's very unpleasant. At least it was just a dream."
"Except it didn't feel like a dream to me. It felt like it actually happened, like I was…still fighting everyone here before you showed up. There was no way out for anyone, except through violence and suffering."
"It's war, Bertolt. War is always full of violence and suffering. But we're trying to stop that now. We're at a standstill because neither Marley nor Paradis have escalated since the failed aerial attempt on Paradis by Marley. Could you really imagine Marley winning a war against Paradis, a war that the people of the island, isolated from the rest of the world because of a king's ideology and self-loathing, knew nothing about because their very memory of the past was taken from them? I mean, it's hard to call it a war if one side is completely ignorant of the other and the other doesn't even consider the possibility of the would-be enemy having no actual animosity towards a world they haven't seen outside the Walls that they believed kept them safe from Titans, not people. Can you truly imagine that?"
Bertolt thought about it many times, and came to the same conclusion each time. He simply couldn't see Marley as being victorious in this feud with Paradis, for both the Founding Titan and the island's resources. He couldn't, before or after Shinji fell from the sky and fought for the Eldians that he, Reiner and Annie were attacking.
"Before and after you came," he stated, "I had no guarantee of anything ever working out for Marley. Maybe it was because I didn't expect to see people who had lost their sense of peace after Wall Maria was attacked, or that I'd have to spend the next five years of my life among them, hearing about their ambitions, their dreams to retake the wall, to see the outside world, to get rid of the Titans. I didn't expect for there to be people here that had lives no different from the people on the mainland. The only noticeable difference being that nobody here was harassed on a daily basis by the PSA. After Marcel was eaten, I didn't care about the mission we were on; none of us expected to get eaten by a Titan. I just wanted to go back to Marley, but Reiner…"
"Whatever any of you did back then, no matter which of you were the one at fault, your actions were just an extension of Marley's hatred, not your own," Shinji silenced him. "Did any of you have personal intent to do what you did back then? Did you hate the people you never met before, that didn't even know about you? And during the five years you've had to live with them before you attacked Wall Rose, did you hate them then?"
"No," Bertolt answered him. "I had nothing against them, whatsoever."
"Is there any hatred towards them now?"
"No. I don't hate them at all. After I lost the Colossal, I didn't want to fight, anymore with anyone. I just wanted to go home."
"And what about now after what you were told happened at Marley? With Grausam, I mean."
"You mean the sadistic madman that almost bled my father and all the other family members of the defunct Warrior Unit to death because he was allowed to by the military? It's probably safer for my father here than it ever was in Marley. I lost my mother two weeks after I inherited the Colossal Titan. The only ambition I ever had was for my family to finally leave the internment zone in Liberio, to never be harassed or looked down upon again by Marleyans. If anything happened to my father…there'd be no point in me doing anything I did. I'd have no one."
Shinji could respect that coming from Bertolt. There were many people that did what they did for the sake of others, those that they did even the most questionable of actions for. And the former Warrior Unit, now just a bunch of teenagers that only did the bidding of a bunch of adults that wanted to take whatever Paradis had because they didn't know the truth about what happened so long ago, because they were just a bunch of kids that were dragged into a conflict that made no sense at all, they were no better than puppets that were trying to move on their own.
-x-
Setting her brush down on her desk as she got ready for bed, Kaede let her train of thought return to the possibility of Eren Yeager being a potential threat to Paradis' plans for hopefully establishing peace with Marley now that their forces were dwindled down and their resources to fight were all but exhausted to the point of starvation. With the Founding Titan in her possession, she was able to perfectly recall his memories probably better than he could, from the day he went to the Ackermans' home in the wilderness of Wall Maria, the last day he spent with his mother before she succumbed to her Titan-inflicted injuries…all the way to the night he lost his memory of his father injecting him with the Titan Serum…just so that he could devour him and gain possession of the Founding and Attack Titans.
Even if it was to make sure that those two Titans didn't end up in the hands of people that wouldn't do any good with them, she thought as she lay in her bed, it was a cruel thing to do to him, and he didn't know what was going on at the time. Grisha probably didn't even consider that his son was likely to have very little understanding of how the power of the Titans worked without any guidance or instructions. An inherited memory can only tell you so much if you don't understand it and it's vague at best. But Eren's behavior…it's almost akin to someone trying to turn away from the guidance of their parents in favor of their own knowledge, which is still developing. If he's doing that, then it is a phase he's going through, wanting to do his own thing over listening to people that know more than he does and have strategies that can work if given the chance to be implemented, like with what we aim to do. What was it that people used to say, how those that are angry have a hard time dealing with their impulses? If you let anger consume you, you lose sight of everything. Maybe he needs anger management therapy.
Turning off her bedside lamp, Kaede yawned as she lied down and drifted off to sleep.
-x-
The Survey Corps had a new order of the day: Locate Eren Yeager. The reason for why: Theft of one of the confiscated vials of Jaeger Serum. It was going to be easier said than done, because with the Walls gone, Paradis was a bigger place than originally thought, and a person with ODM gear could've gone anywhere from the coastal city to one of the former Titan Forests.
"What are we to do if Eren injected himself with the serum?" Shinji asked Levi, just wanting his answer on how they should deal with Eren if he did do such a thing.
"If he has taken the serum," Levi responded, "avoid confrontation and make sure you have a supply of the Dark Titan spinal fluid handy."
"Yes, sir," the other members of the Survey Corps present replied and left the building.
"Shinji," went Erwin to the boy, stopping him from leaving so soon. "Since you're the only one capable of operating the Eva, do whatever you feel is necessary to restrain Eren Yeager if he has taken the serum."
"Yes, sir," Shinji responded as he then left. Hopefully, he didn't take one of the variants that turn you into a fifty-meter Colossal/Armored Titan.
"…Any guess on why he did it?" He heard a female member ask a male member up ahead of him in the hallway.
"My only guess is that he doesn't think that Marley can be trusted," the male member responded, "which is insane to think. Several of the Marleyans we have imprisoned are slowly changing their tune. Some of them even started talking about how we're superior to them because of the technology we possess. I mean, with less than half of what we've found and gained knowledge on, combined with the power of the Titans, a handful of farmers are able to grow more crops with fewer resources. And all they need to do that is just a little more space. They practically have a farm the size of Shiganshina now. They could probably feed that, Trost and four different villages for two months. You can't argue with that."
"Yeah, and with access to satellite technology, surveying has become more efficient and greater. There's a whole expanse of desert in parts of the world that buried ancient ruins and could be converted to grow more food, and many of these places Marley saw no use for because they couldn't do much with sand."
Shinji figured the best person to speak to in order to find Eren was Mikasa; wherever he was, she was not far behind…and likely to know what he might do.
-x-
When she asked a member of the Garrison in the city what was going on, Kaede wished she hadn't asked at all. With the Survey Corps looking for Eren, the chances were that they wouldn't find him if he was hiding in an unlikely place. She walked over to a park bench where she could see a couple of children playing ball while their parents or guardians were sitting on the grass eating food and conversing, enjoying the peace that they had together.
"It's so tranquil out here," Kaede sighed, trying to figure out what to do about Eren. Dark Titan, can you talk right now?
I'm always here, Kaede, she heard the voice of her Titan as her consciousness found itself on the sandy, grassy open field under a starlit sky with cloudy streams and mystifying colors. How may I be of service to you?
Eren Yeager, she stated. I need to find him and hope he didn't inject himself with that Jaeger Serum. We have no idea how it will affect his personality as it currently is.
Titans can detect the presence of people through an unseen force, but you can see the force that connects us all together. We're all connected to you now through this force. All the paths that Ymir Fritz developed and remained when she became the first Titan now converge upon you in the end; time, space, will, every factor that transcends the physical plane of existence.
The paths… You mean those strange clouds in the sky?
They're a visual representation of them. Use your power like before with Peppermint, except you're not looking for people through the Titans. You're looking for one person among a legion of people. You have the power to find people of Eldian descent. Just be open to the possibilities.
Thank you, Dark Titan.
As before, I'm always here for you.
As the Titan form of Kaede disappeared, said girl inhaled a new breath and returned to where she was in the park. But her vision was different from earlier; she could still see like she always had, but there was more to see for her. A series of these ethereal threads or strings of energy were showing on the backs, chests or heads of the Eldians around her, leading to a interlocked pair of rings that surrounded herself.
"Incredible," she expressed. "I'm connected to everyone here."
And now she had the ability to track down whoever she chose to go after.
Eren Yeager, she thought as she got up and walked down the street, come out, come out, wherever you are.
-x-
"Well, that was a waste of a possible lead," said Pieck, volunteering to help the Survey Corps try to find Eren as they vacated the carrier after checking it. "What made you think that she knew where he was?"
Marco, aiding in the search effort to find Eren, simply responded, "Mikasa Ackerman is the only other person besides Armin Arlett that is often always seen with Eren Yeager. The fact that she says she doesn't know where he went means she didn't know that he took a vial of the serum. What does she have to gain by lying to us?"
"Not many people have anything to gain by lying."
"Well, the people are aware that we're looking for Eren," said Lynne to them, "and they know what he looks like. But if he's not on the carrier, it's not likely that he's in the city. He could be anywhere on the island."
They felt the ground shake a little from the walking of the Eva as it stood up and moved away from the coastal city.
Why doesn't Eren keep his phone on him? Shinji wondered as he decided to head for Shiganshina; he suspected that not too many people liked to stay too far from home.
Shinji, he heard Kaede's voice in his mind, are you free to talk?
I'm free to talk right now, he responded. I'm just helping the Survey Corps try to find…
I know where Eren Yeager is, she cut him off kindly. He's at Utgard Castle.
He's at Utgard Castle? How do you know he's there? I…I didn't even tell you anything.
Just because we don't say much about what it is we're doing to help the people, it doesn't mean that we're not working on the same matter, only on opposite ends. Anyway, I asked what was going on in the city, and a Survey Corps member explained that Eren might've gone rogue, and I just discovered a new power that allows me to find specific Eldians while out and about. I'm connected to all Eldians through the paths that extend from the Dark Titan's power of the Founding Titan. It's like we're all an extension of her.
Kaede…are you at Utgard Castle right now?
I am.
You know that Eren has a vial of that Jaeger Serum, but we don't know if he took it yet. Whatever you do, don't try to confront him.
Now, why would I confront someone whose behavior may not even be all that it appears to be?
If he took the serum, however his personality is will be affected, resulting in whatever type of Titan he becomes to be the end result of his highlighted traits. He has an attitude as it is.
I won't confront him…but I will talk to him, just to test his conviction.
And with that, the feeling of having Kaede close by Shinji ceased in the plug, and said boy stopped his Eva to look towards the expanse of land that led to where Wall Maria once, recalling that he once passed by a small pair of stone towers near Trost District that he learned was once Utgard Castle.
"Unit-01 to Captain Levi," he spoke into his intercom. "Unit-01 to Captain Levi, are you there?"
"Captain Levi, speaking," the man on the other end responded.
"I have received information on the whereabouts of Eren Yeager from Kaede Sogen," he explained. "He's at Utgard Castle near Trost District."
"How close are you to there?"
"I'm ten minutes away from. Kaede's closer and going to attempt to talk to him."
-x-
Utgard Castle, while not much to look at in terms of its size and structure, was something of a reminder to Paradis that was all former structures started out as being primitive.
Kaede, still using her enhanced sight to see the energy path that led her to where Eren was, sighed as she walked inside the taller tower. Even in the darkness that lingered, the path was as bright as daylight, leading her up the spiral steps.
Do I dare to do anything that contradicts what I told Shinji I wouldn't do? She wondered as she stopped midway up the stairs. I'm just going to talk to him. I don't want to fight him.
She resumed her advancement up the stairs until she came across a small room with a door opened, allowing her to see who she'd been looking for.
"Eren Yeager," she spoke up, getting his attention. "Why do you want to do this?"
"Do what?" He responded, sounding like nothing was wrong.
"I heard about what you did, but I just want to know why. You took something that could be dangerous. You don't know what it could do to you or anyone else if it…turns you for the worse instead of for the better. So why do it?"
"You know, you're not one to talk…and you were the first to receive such a variation of the Titan power…and you're still viewed as a regular person with a simplistic personality. How can you be sure you're not going to stay as you are right now? And you have all the Titan powers that have ever existed with Ymir Fritz's passing, all residing inside you. Are you sure all of those memories belonging to the previous Titan Shifters aren't affecting your mind?"
"If they were affecting me, Eren, it'd be your fault, as well; I'd have your memories up until the moment you lost your powers…and they're meant to serve as an informative guide for the future, not a means to keep the intentions or goals of the previous Titan Shifters of the past alive. Karl Fritz's ideology died the night I transformed into my Dark Titan amalgamation of seven of the Nine Titans. Of all the Nine Titans, the Attack Titan represented Ymir's promise to ensure Eldia's freedom. No matter what the generation, the age or the person, the Attack Titan was always carrying out her promise to keep the people of Eldia free."
"Was that all it represented? It just represented the freedom of Eldia? The Armored Titan was a walking shield, the Female Titan was an all-purpose Titan that could attract mindless Titans with her scream, the Beast Titan was a…a savage, and the Founding Titan could control the Titans and affect the minds and bodies of all Subjects of Ymir. The Attack Titan had no special abilities, whatsoever?"
"Freedom…was its special ability, Eren. Anybody that possessed the Attack Titan was tasked with fighting for everyone's freedom. Freedom…is one of the greatest of powers there ever was to exist in the world. In fact, the Attack Titan kept you safe from the ideology of Karl Fritz when you had both it and the Founding Titan."
"But I couldn't use the Founding Titan unless I was in the presence or physical contact with a member of the royal family, something you were able to bypass without even trying."
"I wouldn't say I wasn't trying. Fighting the will of Karl Fritz was the most intense battle of minds I have ever experienced. There were only two choices in that battle: Win and gain the power that could be used to protect everyone on Paradis…or lose everything, including my free will against Karl's. Nothing about being a Titan Shifter has come easy for me. When it became public knowledge to the Survey Corps that I was the Dark Titan, my very first fear was that they were going to kill me…just because of what I could do. The only person that believed in me using my power to help the people at the time was Shinji, who I am grateful to for all that he's done for us. Didn't you once fear that they were going to kill you when you displayed your power and they found out about you?"
"Not at first," he answered her, "but shortly afterward. Still, the power of the Titans became one of our greatest resources."
"But only when it becomes absolutely necessary to use them."
"Fighting what's left of Marley is no more absolute than anything else right now."
"Why do you think that? There haven't been any further attacks from Marley. They've lost the majority of their manpower. Shinji and I saw to that more than anyone. Over thirty-thousand soldiers from Marley's military factions killed at sea. Even if it was only a fraction of their total population, it's still a critical loss. Now's not the time to persist in conflict. If anything, now is the time to talk about negotiating peace between the two nations."
"Except what if they don't want peace? What if they want to continue persisting?"
"Eren…it sounds more like…you're the one that wants to continue fighting…and you don't need to. Nobody has to, anymore."
"No, you're wrong. We have to keep fighting Marley. They're not going to stop. I've seen what they will do if we let ourselves slip up."
"What do you mean?"
"Marley won't give up just because we've taken out their military superpower. They'll rebuild their forces and come back. And they still have access to your step-grandfather's Jaeger Titan Serum; even if we took it from their soldiers, that's just the amount of serum they had on them, not the total sum. And they're bound to have allies somewhere, sympathetic to their cause to come after us. Even if we had fifty years of safety, it'd be a stopgap at best, so we have to stop them now while we still have the chance to. I see it happen as though I'm living it right now."
"What do you see in what you say?"
"I see myself as a Titan…in a town surrounded by people…and I'm facing another Titan…with a hammer. It's the War Hammer Titan. I defeat it, but everyone looks at me like I've become a monster. I was supposed to be the hero, but they see me as the villain…and I don't understand why. Marley is the enemy…and they look at me as though I'm no better than that nation is."
It's just a memory that relates to what you did in at least one other lifetime, Eren, and it's a lifetime where things got worse because of people like you that chose to persist in seeking violence instead of peace. But that was when you had the power of the Attack and Founding Titans. Also because you chose to follow your brother, Zeke, who had his own agenda that was going to hurt the lives of all that lived on Paradis…just because of how he was brought up by your father, who wanted to save the Eldians. To restore Eldia to power, to render all Subjects of Ymir sterile to wipe out the race within a generation…and to free the people, all ambitions of which came with their own degree of repercussions…because all three of you possessed a degree of issues that weren't resolved and may only lead to pain if any of you were allowed to persist. I am sorry you lost your father and brother, but you shouldn't try to continue reaching for something you don't have to be stressed over, anymore. Everything's different now.
Eren then held out the stolen vial of Jaeger Titan Serum in his left hand, causing Kaede to feel a sense of contempt towards it.
"I take it the very sight of this reminds you of him, doesn't it?" Eren asked her.
"He used that serum to fuel Marley's hatred after we liberated the majority of the Eldians that lived in their internment zones that wanted to get out. He made it using the blood of the Eldians that chose to stay, just so that he could give the power of the Titans to Marleyans for a while. But anyone that dares to use it on themselves or someone else, be it because of a lust for power or as a form of punishment, should be prepared to pay the price for doing so. Before we even learned about the Curse of Ymir, Titan power came at such a heavy expense for any that possessed it. Now, even though the curse no longer exists because the Nine Titans no longer exist, the power to become a Titan for some…just comes at a different expense."
"But it seems like such a small price to pay for power."
"Not at the cost of your soul if your personality doesn't stay the same when you use it. Good people can become great people…and bad people can become worse than ever. Are you sure you know which one you are?"
"I'm a good person, Ms. Sogen. I want to protect the people of Paradis from all possible enemies. I'm willing to lay down my life to ensure that."
"But like I said before, you don't have to. As important as it is to ensure the protection of the people, it's not something we have to devote our lives to forever. We can pursue our individual interests or desires. Think about it, Eren. Can you really see everyone within the Survey Corps keeping this up forever as they get older? And your friends and comrades, they're still young, and surely, they have goals that don't include fighting an enemy that may not be as powerful as they used to be. Even I don't want to fight forever…and neither does Shinji. Now isn't the time to seek out further conflict. It's time to seek out peace between different nations. Peace, which is different from freedom when you think of them, because they are fundamentally different from each other. Peace is the absence of violence…and freedom is the absence of enslavement."
"But…you don't know what might happen if we show them more sympathy than we do right now. If they use deception, we'll be overcome."
"And if we don't seek a way to settle our differences with them…then are we any different from them? Will we still be the monsters they want to see us as…simply because we chose to continue fighting them, even when they were defeated?"
Eren looked down at the vial, still tempted to take it, to become a Titan Shifter again, to have the power he needed to protect the people.
"As much as I want to right now, I'm not going to stop you from taking that serum," Kaede told him, "so you don't need to hesitate from using it. Just get it over with. But I must warn you, the second you do, I will do all in my power to stop you from crossing the line and attacking the Marleyans that can't fight back or defend themselves."
"You would give them mercy?"
"It's not wrong to show mercy to someone that has neither the means nor strength to fight back."
"But mercy is a sign of weakness."
"It is never a weakness to want to value life."
"And you think you can stop me from doing what I have to?"
"You and I both know that I can stop you. It's not because I have the power to stop you, either, but because I have other things to worry about that don't include the actions of a young man throwing a tantrum simply because there hasn't been any fighting between Paradis and Marley since their failed aerial assault that never got far."
"A tantrum, you say? You think I'm throwing a tantrum?"
"Well, you are, Eren. You're trying to rebel against authority and make your own decisions that may not end well for anyone that doesn't agree with your actions. There is a right way and wrong way to do something…and the way you want to do this is wrong."
"And how can you be sure that your way or Shinji's way may be right? They could be wrong, for all we know."
"You're right about that. There are no guarantees in what all strive to achieve. And there are no absolutes, either. Nothing is for certain. But look around you, Eren, and tell me there aren't those within the Survey Corps or the Garrison…or even the disbanded Military Police that was ridiculously corrupted…that want to continue their part in a war that end could sooner than later if we gave Marley a chance to cease on their own after they realize that they can't win, that it's pointless to keep fighting? Try and answer me this: Is there anyone you can think of that actually wants to continue fighting like you feel the need to? I mean, doesn't Mikasa have any dreams she wants to see come true? Doesn't Armin want to explore the world? What about you? Don't you have any dreams you want to see happen?"
"I… Not so soon, that is."
"Sooner is better than later, Eren. To wait too long is to live with regret for never seeing those dreams through. Even I have dreams I want to see come true when this is over."
"Like what?"
"Settling down with Shinji, getting married one day and having children. Some women actually want the simple goals in life, whatever makes them happy."
"That's simple-mindedness."
"So are what we know now as sports, singing, being doctors, firefighters or police officers. We continue to persist in this senseless war, and we might as well kiss every single one of these desires goodbye because we were too stubborn to see any other alternative…like you are right now. So go ahead and throw away your future just because you want to fight an enemy that's exhausted and may not persist. See where it takes you if you can get past me. I'm still waiting on you to inject yourself with that poison that promises power at the cost of your sense of identity. Go ahead and do it. I'm not going to stop you. Carry out your need for violence, for vengeance, for whatever you feel you have to do in the name of freedom just because your father forced this on you five years ago and didn't tell you anything about why he couldn't do it or what consequences it would cause you to partake in."
Kaede considered telling Eren about her conversation with Mikasa during the time that she was incarcerated due to her role in the destruction of the Walls and their near-extermination in the ultimatum, about how the girl was grateful to her for taking away his Titan powers and saving his life, but she doubt he'd believe her. And Mikasa would deny the conversation ever happened. It'd be pointless to let Eren know if he was dead set on taking the serum and going back to being a Titan Shifter, just so that he could try and do what he felt was necessary.
I bet you never even thought to ask yourself the questions that should matter to your life, she thought, still waiting for him to inject himself or just swallow the damn serum, whichever way he chose to get it over with. Who are you, Eren Yeager, and what is it that you want?
-x-
Shinji and a handful of the Survey Corps arrived to Utgard Castle, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary here. What remained of the castle was just a pair of towers, one small and the other large. It had probably been used as a makeshift base, but from the looks of things, it had been abandoned for a long time.
"Eren Yeager," he spoke through the Eva, "we know you're here. We have the entire place surrounded. Please surrender, immediately…or I'll be forced to take drastic action, and I don't want to do that."
His plan was simply to disable Eren if he had taken the Jeager Serum, enabling one of the Survey Corps members to use their capsules of Kaede's spinal fluid to reverse his state back into a regular human. He didn't have in him to risk killing Eren, even if there was a possibility that he was going rogue on them. And he was hoping that Kaede would be able to evade whatever they did because he couldn't bear it if she got hurt in the possible conflict.
Levi got off his horse and got his ODM gear ready in case Eren became dangerous. If he didn't come out and surrender within the next five minutes, Shinji would level what remained on the place with him inside it.
Suddenly, a person was seen emerging from the darkness inside the castle's larger tower, accompanied by another person. It was Eren Yeager, being shown by Kaede, who had his hands tied up behind his back.
"It's okay, everyone!" Kaede yelled, holding up a small capsule in her right hand. "The crisis has been averted!"
She led Eren to Levi, whom she gave the serum to.
"Did he say why he did it?" He asked her.
"No, but I can understand the reason for why he did it," she answered him. "No matter how you look at it, Mr. Yeager here was just throwing a tantrum over the subtlety we've been showing our Marleyan captives as of late."
"A tantrum, you say?"
"Well, yes. When you take his age into consideration, it's easy to forget that he has no other family except Mikasa Ackerman. He therefore has no parental supervision to keep him in check most of the time, making it easy for him to rebel against another adult's authority if he sees the chance to. In other words, a tantrum over what he believes is the wrong way to handle Marley in the future. But I talked him out of it with common sense."
"Is this true, Eren?" Levi asked the captive.
"Yes, sir," Eren answered. "She stressed many reasons over why I shouldn't have tried to do what I wanted to do to handle this matter that may not need force to be handled."
"Is that so?"
"If we persist in a way with an enemy that's exhausted instead of letting them surrender of their own accord, we'd be no better than they were."
Levi then had three of the corps members take Eren into custody.
"Miss Sogen," he spoke to Kaede once Eren was a good distance away. "Did he ever make any attempt to use the serum on himself while you were in there with him?"
"Yes, but he kept hesitating, kept trying to make excuses for why he needed to fight Marley as a Titan again. But in the end, even as I kept waiting for him to do it, he couldn't, no matter how much he thought he had to. A young man that wants to protect his people and home is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure their freedom, but when he doesn't consider the other possibilities available, he becomes blinded by his rage and fear in a war that may end in due time. So he surrendered and gave up the serum."
Levi looked back at Eren as he was being put on a cart and then back to Kaede.
"It's most likely that he'll be questioned and then suspended for a few weeks," he informed her.
"If he's suspended, at least he won't be able to hurt anyone," she accepted. And maybe this will help him to calm down some.
-x-
"Are you sure about this, Mother?" Willy asked as several of the Tybur family's guards boarded the small ship they had to go to Paradis.
"No, but nobody's able to find out what happened to the soldiers that left," she answered him, "and even if we find out, it's not like we can fight back. But I'm not going there to fight. I just want to know what happened to my daughter. If they kill me, then so be it."
Unfortunately, Willy couldn't let her go on her own…and declared that he would go with her.
-x-
"…Well, at least he's going to make the most of his time in mandated therapy instead of just helping around on a farm," said Shinji to Kaede as they walked down the hall to her apartment. "Thank you again for talking him out of it."
"Except I didn't really talk him out of it," she explained to him. "I tried to push him over the edge before any of you showed up, testing his conviction to see how far he really wanted to go through with what he said he'd do. I kept waiting for him to take the serum, telling him that I wouldn't do anything to stop him until after he did so…but he kept hesitating. In the end, he couldn't do it. He was afraid of what might happen to him if he did it."
"So, his tantrum was just…"
"No, he definitely had a tantrum. He just had a harder time accepting the current state of things here because he wants to fight against Marley again after the defeat of the enemy Titans they sent after us. Exactly how many teenagers want to rebel against adults that know more than they do at the time?"
"Are you asking me to answer that?"
"Well, you can if you want to, Shinji."
"I can only assume that a lot of teens want to rebel against whoever's an adult and knows more than they do because they feel they're not being told more of what they think they deserve to know. Have you ever done it?"
"No, never a day in my life have I been rebellious. Why would I turn against any adult I trust enough to listen to? And I don't feel as though I'm being lied to about anything. What about you, Shinji? You've done so to a large degree. I mean, you turned against your father."
"Yeah, him and a bunch of other adults from my world…and mostly because I couldn't face going back to the life I had over there over the one I have here. Not sure if I could call my defection a tantrum, though."
"If you were being forced to do something you didn't agree with and resisted to a degree, that's a tantrum. You refuse to be rescued, fight back against the people you once worked with, even declaring that this world you ended up in is your home and grave… That's akin to an epiphany, Shinji, a realization that comes upon you during a crisis that forces you to make a personal choice…and a personal sacrifice."
"If throwing away my life back in my world was the sacrifice I had to make," Shinji sighs as they make it to the door, "then…it's one I can live with if it means being here with you."
"Likewise on that, Shinji," she told him. "I like it when you're here."
-x-
A four-week suspension and mandated therapy sessions was the price Eren Yeager had to pay for his…tantrum and theft of the Jaeger Titan Serum. Still, it was better that it was four weeks instead of outright dismissal, and it was hoped that the time he would be forced to spend helping out on a farm near Shiganshina would temper his emotions and help him find solace in the current state of things. As he was being escorted to his first appointment to therapy, Eren had to take into consideration that Kaede was right about what most of the people wanted to do after the feud with Marley was over, that not everyone wanted to continue fighting against other people for a long time…like he had believed they would be unless he did something. How the girl had stated that some people would want to be something other than soldiers, like some of what Kaede had mentioned; some of them probably wanted to be scientists, or baseball players or even poets as far as he knew.
"If everyone thought as you think right now, there'd be nobody left to pursue other interests," Kaede had told him as she used rope and tied him up. "We'd probably be no better than Marley if they thought of fighting us all the time. Those who fight monsters must make sure that they themselves don't become monsters. It's a thin line between humanity…and inhumanity."
"Ah, you must be Eren Yeager," went the woman that greeted him in the small room. "Welcome. Are you ready for your session?"
"Yes, ma'am," he responded.
To be continued…
A/N: I bet none of you anticipated that Eren would be forced to attend therapy after something like this happened. What do you think won out in the end: Kaede pressuring him to do it…or Eren's crisis of conscience over how he'd change if he crossed the line? And any of you think the Tybur family will play some role in the future?
Omake (Samurai Jack-influenced)
Kaede, using the power of the Beast Titan, threw debris at the Marleyan airships and tanks that surrounded her and the small group of Eldian children she was there to rescue after they were kidnapped three days ago. But it wasn't her usual calmness that was present when she threw the debris. She was enraged at the memory of how one Marleyan man that was among the kidnappers nearly crossed a line and nearly cut her little sibling out of her mother, forcing her to kill the cretin. It was this rage that drove her to throw debris with deadly intention before they had the chance to hurt the children or eliminate her and the Dark Titan.
"Gaaaaahhh!" She yelled as she ran out of stones to throw, but it didn't matter now.
On all sides, in the air and on the ground, the Marleyan army was defeated, dead or dying, unable to move or speak.
As Eldian friends and allies were on their way to liberate the children, Kaede, her Titan form in a state of exhaustion, still feeling the fleeting rage from her body, howled out, "WHO ELSE WANT SOME?!"
The children were certain that her outburst could be heard for miles.