Creation began on 08-08-19
Creation ended on 08-23-19
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Hope from the Sky: Welcome to Gigante Island
It was somewhat scary to be in the presence of a storm wall that reached high into the sky. So high in fact that it looked as though the storm was breaching the very atmosphere itself. Just looking at it gave the impression that it was like staring into something out of an ancient nightmare of nature's fury.
"It's like looking into the dark side of Mother Nature," Calvi expressed as the carrier was anchored a safe distance from the storm wall.
"In truth, Mother Nature is neutral," said Kaede to him, standing beside Historia and Ymir, making sure they were protected from the Marleyan volunteers for this small visit to Gigante Island. "She doesn't have a dark side. She'll do whatever she wants to do, regardless of the time and place she does it. A storm could happen over on Paradis and all we can do is take shelter however best we can. The same is true for Marley. A storm could happen tomorrow…and the only thing anyone can do there is take shelter as best they can."
"Every few years, we get some bad earthquakes and a tsunami or two," one of the Marleyan women revealed to them. "Eighteen years ago, my former coastal town got hit by a typhoon. Five-thousand-seventeen people used to live there…and less than two-thousand-nineteen survived because they lived on high ground. I had to hold onto a tree for dear life until the storm was over. So…you're right about Mother Nature; she is neutral and does whatever she wants, regardless of where and when she does it."
"We can't risk taking the carrier through this," said Erwin, who was present on the deck with them. "We'll use the helicopters and the Eva to get through."
"What are helicopters?" Calvi and three other Marleyans asked.
Erwin, Levi, Historia and Kaede were reminded of how much the Marleyans didn't know about their technological advances that were made possible through the use of Titan power.
"Flying machines with propellers," they heard Shinji in his Eva. "Uh, they're sometimes smaller, slower versions of blimps or planes that carry a limited number of people."
-x-
"Eren," went Mikasa as she saw her childhood friend working on farming grounds just outside Shiganshina. "How have you been?"
"My therapist tells me I've been making progress," he answers back, setting the hoe he was using to remove some weeds down and look at her. "How are you?"
"The days are quiet, the people are at ease, and the skies and ocean are calm. You could say that these are the glimpses of peaceful times…because they do feel like these are peaceful times."
Eren looked away from her and reflected upon that belief that these were peaceful times. It only felt that way to him because Marley hadn't sent any other invasion forces to the island after the failed aerial attempt. But beyond that…he just didn't enjoy the peace due to not being able to do something more.
"You're not the only one recalling events that haven't happened yet," he heard her say to him, "and they're events that won't ever happen, Eren, no matter what we try to do. They're just old memories of what might've been…and what can never be."
"So…you see things happening differently, too?" He asked her.
"Memories…are a different form of knowledge," she explained; as she came to discover, while knowledge on things and places in the world were beyond her ability to receive due to not being a Subject of Ymir and outside the influential power of the Titans, the ability to receive memories of a different life she led were not considered a form of knowledge she was exempt from. "Eren…that time we were in Liberio, when you transformed into your Titan form… What were you thinking then…and why did you have us hurt those people that never had anything to do with what we went through here?"
"I just wanted to protect us," he answered her.
"But in doing so, you led us towards a war in which we were all going to suffer. You had Armin, when he possessed the Colossal Titan, destroy a port. Your brother was still alive…and you were helping him."
"I was only pretending to help him, Mikasa; I was never going to let him hurt everyone on the island. But…"
"You betrayed Armin and I," she cut him off. "You said hurtful things to the both of us, many of which I learned aren't all true, even for me."
"I… The less either of you knew, I felt the better you'd be kept protected."
"If I was a slave to my Ackerman heritage, to serve the Founding Titan, then I'd be off following Ms. Sogen somewhere, since she took it from you to protect us from Shinji's father that day…but I'm not following her around. I won't follow her around."
"What?"
"That's what you once told me; if I was blindly following you because you had the Founding Titan, then I wouldn't be acting with any other degree of emotions, but I do have emotions to act on whenever something happens. Even Ms. Sogen agreed with me when I confronted her about this before she and the others left to find this Gigante Island to find the tree that's supposed to be there…and she tells me…that there has to be something beyond some factor of heritage that makes me follow you around. And do you know what it is that makes me do something like that with you above all others and why I'll never do so with her?"
He turned to face her, confused. There were times where even he had no clue to why anyone did what they did during times of crisis or calms between storms. He never bothered to question himself on why, out of the people in his life, Mikasa seemed to be the only one that was a constant pillar that stuck to him for as long as possible.
"I once told Shinji that I saw myself as your retainer after reading a book relating to Asian culture," she informed him, "except he told me that I shouldn't let myself be defined as such, that after the conflict with Marley ends, the day that comes after it all…should be viewed as the first day of my whole life and see where it takes me. So…here I stand, about to ask you a question that I hope you can answer truthfully to me: Where do you see yourself after the conflict ends? Where will you be when this is all over? Where do you want to be when this is all over?"
-x-
"…There's an old story about a young man called Icarus," said Erwin to the Marleyans as the Eva erected its AT-Field and levitated the seven helicopters the carrier possessed, then levitating itself towards the storm wall. "His father and he were trying to escape from an island they were on ruled by a king that sent people into a maze to be eaten by a creature called a Minotaur. The father made Icarus a pair of wings of feathers and wax, but cautioned Icarus not to fly too low over the ocean or too high towards the sun."
They felt the shaking caused by the bad weather they were flying through, even with the protection of the Eva's AT-Field.
"But Icarus, due to the exhilaration of being able to fly off the ground, became overinflated in his belief that he could get away from the Minotaur…and flew higher towards the sun. The heat melted the wax off his arms, destroying his wings…and he fell to the ocean and drowned. Now, this is somewhat like the story, but we're better than what was done in the past. We're not using wings of wax and feathers to fly. We're using a blend of industrial metals…and malleable Titan flesh…and a behemoth that fell from the heavens during our times of crisis…and we're breaking through a dangerous barrier…into a world untouched for centuries."
It felt like a minute had gone by as the weather got worse and worse, with strong winds, heavy rain, thunder and lightning, and a feeling of dread that everyone in the helicopters felt…until the Eva broke free of the storm wall and levitated over calm waters and saw over a dozen mountain formations sticking out of the water, covered in random plant life that reached up to the top of each one.
"Whoa," went Historia, looking out the window of the helicopter she and Ymir were on. "It's beautiful here."
The sun was shining over the mountains, reflecting light off the surface of the water below, and giving the impression that this was a piece of Heaven left on Earth.
Flying over a ridge, the Eva carried the helicopters towards an open field of grass.
"Shinji, over there looks sturdy enough," Historia told him over the intercom. "You can set us down there."
"Okay," he responded and made the Eva touch down onto the grass, feeling stability beneath its feet. "Hey… I think I can see it. Titanus Yggdrasilus up ahead."
"Can you really, Shinji?" Kaede asked as she looked up ahead where the Eva pointed as she climbed out of the helicopter she was on, not seeing much of anything due to the clouds present in the air. "I don't see it. There are some nice trees, though."
From a distance, there were rows of trees that looked as though they were up to fifty meters in height, the same height as the Walls before they were taken down.
"I'm only seeing the base of the tree because of the clouds, too, but it's there," Shinji explained. "How do you want go about exploring the island, Historia?"
"We should probably keep the Eva here for now," the queen suggested, "and explore on foot to see how things are here."
"You really want to explore the island without the protection of the behemoth?" One of the Marleyan men questioned the queen's choice.
"That's right," she responded.
"And his behemoth isn't the only one the queen has," Kaede reminded them, pointing her right thumb to herself as her Titan manifested from behind her back.
"Don't be such a scaredy-puss," the Dark Titan expressed, and Kaede covered her mouth, her eyes widened with shock; clearly, the girl didn't prefer the terms like what her Titan uttered.
Shinji ejected the plug from his Eva after kneeling it and climbed down after reaching back inside the plug for a plastic bag full of clean clothes to get him out of the plugsuit.
"We're hoping there are people living here that we can be friendly with," he told the Marleyans as he walked behind the left leg to change. "We're not trying to start a conflict with them."
Kaede walked away from the others and spread out her hands. If they weren't cut off from outside world, she'd contact her parents with her phone or a tablet (she wasn't sure if using her Titan power to communicate over vast distances was the right way to use her abilities for what she felt was an improper use of such a power) and tell them that the outer portion of the island they had seen so far was very beautiful. She felt a breeze go past her face like a hand caressing her cheeks.
"All I wanna do is see you turn into a giant woman," she uttered to herself.
"Who wants to see you turn into a giant woman?" A Marleyan woman asked, surprising her by being so close by.
"Aah!" She gasped, turning towards her as she backed away. "Oh! Uh, I… It's just a song I recently heard. Nothing that really relates to the Titans, but…it sounds nice to hear. It's just about a boy that wants to see two of these three magical women that he lives with merge into a giant that represents their best, individual aspects when put together. It's only after he's placed in danger that the two become the giant woman he wants to see them turn into."
"A giant woman, though? Usually, young boys' role models are large men."
"A young boy's role model can actually be anyone that they think of as one of the best examples of people. Anyone can be anyone's role model, their ideal person, their inspiration or hero, whatever. Who is or was your hero?"
"The fabricated hero of Marley, Helos," she told her. "Of course, my reason for admiring him was because he was said to have brought the empire of Eldia to its knees so long ago. Who's your hero? Who became your role model?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Kaede asked her, looking back towards Shinji as he stepped out from behind the Eva, wearing jeans and a blue, short-sleeve shirt under a white, long-sleeve, button-up shirt. "It's my boyfriend, Shinji. He's my hero."
"I must be honest about what I think about him, and he doesn't appear anything like a hero to the people. And even after I've seen his face, he doesn't even appear close to the level of a threat to anyone. I mean, he looks like he's made of glass or ceramics; someone could break him at any given moment without breaking a sweat."
Kaede turned to face her and responded, "That might be true, but people have a type of strength inside them, buried deep beneath the surface of their lives, that can emerge during the most difficult of times…and show those that have either overestimated their ability to take control of a situation…or underestimated the person or persons that they're dealing with. Shinji was underestimated over three months ago by his own father, who threatened the lives of everyone on Paradis, people the man didn't even know or care about, just to hurt him if he didn't surrender himself and I over to his group of people that he used to serve. Shinji refused to obey his father, defected from his own world and was willing to throw his life away to save as many of our own as he could when his old man threatened to drop bombs on us."
The woman sighed heavily as she said, "Sometimes, selfless duty forces one to give up their own needs…just to do whatever it takes to protect those that matter to them."
"Who said that?"
"My great-grandfather did."
"Well, that's true, and he made the hardest of choices that, for him, wasn't too difficult for him to make in the end."
"But…if the choice wasn't entirely difficult for him to make…then how was he able to make such a choice when he was threatened by his father with your lives?"
"Because in the end, there was no guarantee that his father wouldn't harm the people we protect, even if we had surrendered. The more some people thought it over, the more they knew they couldn't trust his father. He had no mercy, no respect, not even honor. If someone threatens to kill another person in front of you, but promises to let them live if you tell them what they want to hear, whether it's an enemy secret or the location of something they want and you tell them, only for them to still kill the person they promised to let live, that's nothing more than a lie. So…as my boyfriend took a huge risk that didn't promise him anything, I took a similar risk that held no promise for me to help protect the people. I took the Founding Titan into myself and fought a battle of wills against the ideology of Karl Fritz. It was a battle where I put everything on the line."
Shinji ran over to Kaede and handed her a flower he found on the ground. It was red and blue in the petals and had a short stem.
"Thank you, Shinji," she praised him and put the flower in her hair over her left ear. "How do I look to you?"
"Beautiful," he told her as he walked with her ahead of the others.
These two are like children right now, running around in a toy store or something, the Marleyan woman that saw these two advisors to Historia thought.
Historia turned to Commander Erwin and bowed her head to him as she and Ymir left the base camp; Erwin and half of the half of Survey Corps and Garrison members would remain behind here while Levi and the other half would go with the queen and her advisors. Since Shinji was not bringing the Eva, he was just a noncombatant advisor for Historia, meaning that Kaede would be the big protector when it became necessary, so Levi would be extra security.
"Are you sure you'll be alright around the Tyburs and…them?" Erwin asked her, concerned for her safety. "Shinji won't be…much help without his Eva."
"If I'm not," Historia told him, and Ymir tilted her head up in gesture that she would cross the line if Historia was placed in danger. "But I'm confident in Shinji being able to help in other ways if we need him."
Erwin looked up ahead, watching Shinji and Kaede as they looked at the tall trees further away from them, wondering about their reliability if things got bad.
"Try to stay in communication while you're out there," he told them.
"Yes, sir," Ymir responded, and they walked away.
"And, if possible…please send back pictures of Titanus Yggdrasilus."
"You got it."
-x-
These chemical substances that SEELE had in their possession were remarkably identical to the ones Marley possessed that enabled him to further develop his Jaeger Serum. While the joy of science and technology that aided in his ability to escape from his past and embrace the future wasn't something Grausam normally considered when he was with the Marleyans, being able to redevelop his Jaeger Serum…and modify it further to provide additional abilities to whoever it was used on…and to modify his own Titan abilities with his new allies' other chemical resources…did put a smile on his face.
"How can you be certain that your formula will work on us?" A woman that served SEELE asked him, keeping watch over him as he worked.
"I made it work for Marleyans by using Eldian blood," he answered her. "Since I'm the only one here with Eldian blood in their veins, I'll use mine to enable you to wield the power of the Titans like they could. How you use it for the time being is solely up to you."
"How do you use it?"
"First, you shed blood to release the power from within you, which then generates the body of the Titan from the mass and energy that transcends the physical realm we inhabit, and finally connect yourself to it and assume control."
"You make it sound so easy to achieve."
"It's not easy. You have to have a goal in mind before you turn; a transformation without a reason behind it often results in wild behavior no different from a Titan devoid of conscience. Sometimes, a complete lack of a goal or a refusal to commit to a goal or belief results in not being able to trigger a transformation at all. Why the sudden interest in the serum when it hasn't been finished yet? Were you ordered to execute me?"
"No such order was given to me, sir. Curiosity begs clarity."
"I was joking, miss, and that's a rarity from me."
Grausam then placed a tenth vial of his recreated Jaeger Serum on a separate desk and began work on another vial to fill with it.
"Tell me, what was your first experience being able to turn into a Titan?" The woman asked him.
"My first experience as a Titan was just to escape my life in a caged environment," he answered. "Getting free of my past…was defying the fate my ancestors were dealt by a monarch I never met or cared for. Knowledge is a form of power that enables people to learn from their mistakes…and some of those mistakes are in need of being corrected."
"Including…"
"A young girl whose very existence has become one of my own life's greatest disappointments because she should've been put down the second I got my results on my original formula needed to escape from those damned walls from using her as my first test subject. I will not make the same mistake twice."
Meanwhile, up on the deck of the ship, Gendo looked up at the dark sky and examined the aurora borealis that was present, something nobody could see any longer in the world he and the old men were from, and something his son never got the privilege to see anywhere except for here in this world. During this time waiting for Grausam to reproduce his Jaeger Serum, Gendo didn't think that Yui, despite their reunion, would understand the seriousness of the situation that their son started by coming here to this world and associating with a group of people he had no right to associate with in the first place; the sooner he dealt with Shinji by removing all that he cared for to the point of betrayal towards NERV, their world and themselves, the sooner all three of them would be able to sit down…and talk about going back to how they put this all behind them…whether Shinji agreed with their intentions or not. Not that Gendo intended for them to all be present when this was over; dead or maimed was his intention towards the reclamation of the boy that betrayed their plans for a new future that could never be now.
-x-
Unlike the forests on Paradis, the gathering of trees here on Gigante Island so far had vines growing on their branches and trunks, resembling a lush jungle. And the path itself was smaller and tighter, as though nobody was using it for anything bigger than a few horses and no carts or trailers.
"What a beauty, this forest," said Anastasia as they examined the trees.
"You'd never see anything like this in Marley," Agnes agreed with her mother.
"You mean, not even on those grand estates you have?" Shinji asked them, examining some leaves on the ground.
"Marley is mainly urban areas with few places that are green," expressed Calvi. "The people need to be civilized and in control of their environment. Any signs of disorder must be dealt with to ensure stability."
"That sounds too depressing," said Ymir to them. "Everyplace should have a few trees and flowers around. There would at least be a small degree of balance between the natural areas and the artificial ones."
Suddenly, Kaede stopped walking and turned toward a dense thicket on their left side, looking as though she were hypnotized by a hidden presence nearby. There was a silence that crept up on her, shutting out the rest of the world around her.
"Uh, Kaede?" Historia asked, but the Titan Shifter didn't respond. "Kaede?"
Ymir and Shinji looked at where Kaede was looking, but didn't see what was so special about the thicket of trees nearby.
"Kaede?" Shinji tried shaking her. "Hey, Kaede, snap out of it."
"What's wrong with her?" Levi questioned.
"She just looked at some thing over there and then nothing," went Ymir to him. "She's unresponsive."
Levi looked over at the thicket…and brandished his ODM blades.
"It would seem that Ms. Sogen has become hypnotized by something hidden in the thicket," he realized, walking over to the trees.
"What?" Agnes spoke. "It doesn't look like there's anything there."
Slash! Levi sliced through one of the trunks and exposed something within.
It resembled a classic hypnotism device that was disc-shaped and colored black and white in a swirl made to mesmerize people.
"Ah… What happened?" Kaede asked as she shook her head, feeling like she had lost a gap in time for a while.
"You were hypnotized by this," Levi revealed, showing her the device. "It was hidden by the trees, so we couldn't see where it was."
"I can't believe I was hypnotized by something so simple."
"Simple…but it's not too old when it was set up here."
"What do you mean?" Shinji asked him.
"This device was made recently…and the tree trunk it was hidden behind was cut through recently, as well."
"A subtle booby trap, you mean?" Anastasia suggested.
"Yes."
"But…who would leave something like that around here?" Calvi questioned.
"If it was recently made," went Historia in realization, "then that only means one possibility: There are people besides us that reside here on the island."
"We should probably get out of the forest now," Kaede suggested, upset over the fact that she got stuck in a subtle trap just by looking elsewhere.
"Yeah," Shinji agreed with her.
-x-
Eren couldn't believe his fortune…or rather, his misfortune, when Mikasa left him at the farming grounds. Not only was their conversation very revealing, but Mikasa had just left him with a warning that was deep and breaking to the soul. At first, he wanted to think that Ms. Sogen might've set Mikasa up into saying what she said to him, but then there'd be no point in her manipulating Mikasa into doing anything, no matter what she told her. Then he wanted to suspect that Shinji might've put ideas into her head about whatever it was that she read that she had discussed with him, but then had to accept that while the boy was smart in his own way, he wasn't someone that intruded on other people's business or used his authority granted to him by Historia to force the people to tell him whatever he wanted to hear about them, even if he could. No, what Mikasa told him…was of her own volition…and she made it very clear that there was no way out for either of them if the warning wasn't heeded by him.
"Kaede saved you from the repercussions of having the power of the Titans after your father forced it upon you," she had told him, "and I am grateful that she did, even if you were bitter and angry over her deception. Even if you didn't die, you wouldn't have the power for too long, and you'd be reduced to an invalid that would be exhausted all the time. There's no going back for you to being a Titan Shifter again, even if you did take Grausam's Jaeger Serum. The price would've been too high…because power isn't worth you possibly ending up with your worst character traits brought up to the forefront like that man's was. So…I'll make this clear to you. Regardless of how I feel, if you ever try to go off the reservation again, and I mean trying to turn yourself into a Titan Shifter all over again, just to go to war with Marley when it is unnecessary, and lie to us, to me, about why you think it's necessary for you to do so…then you won't have to worry about what the Survey Corps, Historia or her advisors might do to you. Because I'll make sure that you end up with me if you cross that line, right there and then…permanently."
It wasn't just the way she said it, but how she meant it.
Eren wasn't sure why, but he got the feeling that Mikasa was willing to cross a line if he so much as considered crossing the line she set down on him. If he took a wrong move towards power and became no better than the man behind the Akuma Titan himself…then she would most likely kill him and then herself.
Just my luck, he thought, wondering if he should be afraid of Mikasa now after she, more or less, painted a target on him from all sides.
-x-
"…What is this?" Rod Reiss asked Hange, looking down at two graphs displaying DNA information, confused by their being labeled with his and Historia's names underneath them.
"That would be your DNA and Historia's," she explained. "See where the strands overlap? I was able to isolate the markers that show your royal lineage. Quite impressive how some DNA markers actually show who's of royalty…and who isn't. But this took years, generations of bright minds and information gathering to develop the technology to track down people based on their blood, saliva, hair, prints, you name it. And then, there's this I discovered recently."
Hange showed him another graph with Kaede's name written underneath, highlighting a similar overlap that confused Rod.
"And this here?" He questioned.
"Kaede Sogen's DNA," she answered. "See the overlap where the marker for your royal lineage is? This is where I have to ask you something that I'm not sure I can ask Mrs. Sogen about, as I checked her DNA earlier…and she doesn't possess this marker. I find it confusing…that out of everyone still alive that lives on this island…only you, Historia…and Kaede Sogen…possess this marker for royalty. Now, we know about your affair with Historia's mother…but was that your only one?"
Rod had a look of scorn on his face now.
"I don't know what you're thinking," he started up, "but there's no way I have any relation to the Sogen girl."
Hange then smirked; of course, she knew ahead of time that there was no way that Rod was Kaede's father. That would've stuck out a little more than usual, and as far as she could determine, nobody in the Fritz/Reiss family possessed any of the markers that allowed for gray hair, which made Kaede (and her father, this Hagan Sogen that Christine had met in her earlier years) unique among the people. But the only match that stuck out in the Dark Titan possessor was the royal marker, which didn't make any sense; it was like Kaede was affiliated with the royal family…but didn't live like they had, being a commoner.
"You can chill out," she told Rod. "I was testing your honesty…and you passed. Your DNA doesn't support any markers for Ms. Sogen's unique hair coloring. Not even Historia's DNA has any markers for gray hair. So, the next question is…are you sure there weren't any members of your family's ancestral background that possessed gray hair?"
"All the members in my family had or have blond or black hair, I swear."
Hange believed him, but this didn't add up with Kaede, which meant there was only one other possibility that was also unlikely, and her suspicions would've been crazier.
"What kind of person was Kaede's father like?" She remembered asking Christine after taking a swab of her saliva.
"Hagen was…well, he was one of the nicest people you'd ever meet in this life or the next one," Christine had explained to the young woman. "Sig and I knew him since our childhood years."
"And he always had gray hair?"
"Yeah, he always had gray hair. Why?"
"What about his family before you and Kaede? I mean, what of his parents? His mother or father. Any siblings that had gray hair like his?"
"Just his mother, Gwendolyn. Hagen was an only child; his parents tried for a second child, but the baby didn't make it."
"That's depressing to hear. So…just Kaede's paternal grandmother, her father…and herself have this trait?"
"I've always considered them to be unique. They're the only ones that stand out of all the people I've ever known or met. Why the sudden curiosity about my daughter and her hair coloring?"
"Just a theory that I'm hoping is just a coincidence."
"If you look into something too much, it becomes much more than a coincidence. There are too many convergences, too many things that happen that relate to the matter that makes it too much to be just something."
Chalking it up to the uptick in knowledge distributed to the people, Hange agreed with her that her suspicions were becoming something close to a possibility. But she needed more information about the Sogen family's unique members that possessed the unusual hair color.
-x-
"…Not even Paradis' forests have scenery like this here," went Levi, as he and the others stood before a space within the forest that possessed what could only be referred to as ruins.
There were broken, moss-covered, vine-covered, single-story structures that were probably once a small village built right inside the forest, with curved sides and roofs. The exact age of these structures were likely somewhere in the triple-digits. It also made the possibility of finding people here unlikely.
"If people used to live here, it was a long time ago," said Historia as she and Ymir took pictures with their phones.
"Maybe in this forest," Shinji suggested as he and Kaede took pictures of the plant growth around the structures, "but who knows if they lived anywhere else on this island."
Kaede lowered her phone as she bent down to examine a piece of structure that appeared different from the surrounding ruins. It resembled a statue, completely intact, but covered in moss and vines, about three meters tall, sitting on the ground beside a damaged building. There was something about it that seemed…off. She wasn't sure, but it rubbed her the wrong way.
"Kaede?" Shinji got her attention as he came over to her. "Did you find something?"
"Maybe," she responded. "Does this statue seem…off to you?"
"Off?"
"Sometimes, a statue that's been left alone to the elements for centuries would wear down over time and even lose pieces of itself due to many factors…but this statue looks fine. I mean, with the exception of the moss and vines covering it, it doesn't look like it's seen bad days."
Shinji looked at the statue, getting what his girlfriend was meaning about it. But then he noticed something else that seemed off.
"Kaede…doesn't this statue seem…emaciated to you?" He asked her.
Suddenly, the head of the statue moved slightly, facing them.
"Uh-oh!" Kaede gasped.
"Titan!" A Marleyan woman screamed, and everyone was in a state of panic.
Then the trees and ruins began to move slightly, revealing that there were at least five Titans, all three-four meters in height, severely emaciated and covered in filth and forest growth, rising to to their feet. They surrounded the group on all sides, but that wasn't the least of their problems.
"You gotta be kidding me," went Calvi, pointing towards the feet of one of the Titans.
It was a…man, covered in moss and vines, perfectly camouflaged to blend in the surroundings, wielding a spear aimed directly at them. Beside him were…others, also camouflaged and wielding spears. The Titans didn't seem to notice them.
Kaede then summoned her Dark Titan from behind herself and let her grow to fifteen meters, just big enough to be more intimidating than they were; the power of the War Hammer Titan applied to enable her to summon the Titan while still outside of a protective crystal was only due to her being in such a confined space. Because there were so many people around her, she couldn't endanger them with her power in the more brash ways that they were used.
"You don't want to make a scene here," the Dark Titan expressed to the smaller Titans. "We don't want to fight."
Levi brandished his blades along with the other Survey Corps members present; while what the Dark Titan said appeared to contradict their current reaction, it was safer to be armed and ready to fight in case these people didn't think twice about coming at them.
"Whoa!" Someone shouted. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop! Everyone, stop!"
Someone swung down from the trees on a vine and landed in front of the visitors. It was a woman, wearing a green dress with brown trousers, with short, brownish hair with a silver streak in the middle of her head, probably in her late-thirties.
"This is quite unexpected," she expressed. "When they said someone from the outside had shown up, their first reaction was to observe you and see if you were a threat. Hardly anyone comes around here. Actually, nobody comes around here. Gigante is cut off from the world outside the storm walls. Depressing, but not a bad way to stay safe from invasive wars. So, Eldian, Marleyan, German, Russian, Hawaiian or some sort of mix-breed people are some of you or most of you?"
"Uh, Eldian, Marleyan and…one Asian," Historia explained. "Who are you…and who are they?"
"Frenzia," the woman greeted. "Frenzia Fritz of the Frenzy Tribe…and they're the Frenzy Tribe. We're…not crazy."
"Fritz?" Kaede asked her. "Fritz as in…you're a member of the royal family affiliated to Ymir Fritz, the original Founding Titan?"
The woman, Frenzia, nodded her head in the positive, but then looked at her like she was something else entirely.
"Gray hair," she uttered. "You have…gray hair."
The people of the Frenzy Tribe backed away and the Titans sat against the trees.
"This way, please," Frenzia told them, walking through the ruins to the other side of the forest.
"Historia," said Ymir to her as they followed the woman, "what do you think of her?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean…she's like you. She's related to her."
Of course, Historia understood where Ymir was getting at. Because this Frenzia Fritz was also related to Ymir Fritz, that made her royalty, able to rule the Eldians like she did.
The Dark Titan returned to Kaede and the others followed Frenzia, followed by the Frenzy Tribe members, the Titans left behind in the ruins.
"Is it really safe to leave those Titans alone?" Calvi asked them.
"You should consider yourselves lucky," one of the tribe members uttered. "They're not the kind of Titans we let out of the forest, for better or for worse."
"Were they…bad at one point?" Shinji asked them.
"Let's just say…not very long ago," a female tribe member stated, "they were once men and women that you wouldn't want to leave your children with, even for a day, and becoming a Titan was their penance for their misdeeds."
Anastasia and Agnes suspected that the forest Titans used to be Subjects of Ymir that exhibited inappropriate behavior and had to pay a price for it. Probably nothing like what the Subjects of Ymir of Marley's internment zones were said to have done to end up as Titans on Paradis, but still very bad.
Making it to the other end of the forest, they were presented with an open field of land that was occupied by small buildings surrounding the base of the colossal tree they were here to see.
"Even from here, that thing is massive," Levi spoke.
"Welcome to the former village we used to live in," Frenzia told them, walking over to a large rock on the ground. "But we don't live there, anymore. Titanus Yggdrasilus needed to be protected through people's absence."
Stomp-stomp! She brought her foot down on the rock, which made a thunk sound in response, indicating that it was hollow.
The rock moved and revealed a large tunnel leading down.
"But we didn't stray too far," she explained.
-x-
"…You think that Gendo might be hiding something?" Fuyutsuki asked Yui when she came to the base to inform him about her husband's current behavior.
"I think he might actually be up to something that…isn't what I'm fearful of him doing," she stated. "We haven't been…talking much."
"Be honest, Yui… You think he and SEELE's remnants might try to go to the other universe through the portal in Nevada, don't you?"
"Well, he did tell me that he'd be gone for a few days, but that could mean he'll likely be gone for a longer time period. But even if they did go there, why would they want to go there? It wouldn't be to try and…establish some sort of peace between our two worlds, not when one of the two nations left in one is, more or less, a corrupt example of a wannabe master race or a racist nation where they're motivated by an age-old hatred against the other nation they have a shared history with. And…I really don't want to consider the other possibility that he might try to go after Shinji just because he chose the Eldians over us."
"Over the years I had to work for him, I have never known Gendo to simply…forgive and forget about anything or anyone if he feels they went against him."
That's when Yui had to consider the alternative that she didn't want to. Despite really loving her husband, she had to fear the likelihood that he might, even if he tried to deny it, try to hurt Shinji out of spite, directly or indirectly. And if he couldn't get to their son, there was no denying that he may try to get to him…through the Sogen girl.
"And if they were going to go after Shinji?" She asked Fuyutsuki, wanting his opinion.
"No matter which side of the line they reside on, some people in that universe are going to get hurt…or worse, and all because some people from this universe can't let go of their ambitions that were hazardous to everyone else," he answered her.
-x-
Levi had read up on something a month ago called the Hollow Earth Theory, and was starting to see why it was based on actual occurrences rather than just a theory. In fact, he suspected that the Underground of Mitras on Paradis had to have been inspired because of this old theory, as it was nothing but a giant, underground cavern that people have lived and survived in for over one-hundred years.
"Welcome to Yggdrasilus City," Frenzia introduced them to their underground residence.
"Wow," Historia gasped, amazed by the sight in front of them.
Yggdrasilus City, much bigger and more lived in than the Underground on Paradis, looked like it was bathed in or glittering with hardened Titan flesh on the cave walls and sides of the buildings. And at its center…the massive roots of the tree that reached deep into the ground, either entangled around some of the buildings or spread out onto the streets below. The whole place had to be as large as Paradius City and the former districts put together, bathed in many bright and dark lights, like a city at night.
Shinji looked at the landscape and felt like he was seeing a perfectly-cobbled together version of all of these great cities that once existed in the world, all in one place, but with the addition of different-sized Titans here and there, looking no different from statues.
"There are Titans in the city," he pointed out to Frenzia. "Do they…do anything?"
"Not unless they have to," she stated cryptically. "Most of them used to be regular civilians that had volunteered to become Titans. Others were…not very subtle about having to become Titans and didn't go quietly onto that path."
Frenzia and the Frenzy Tribe members led the group down these stone steps on the side of the cavern walls.
"So, how long have you lived here?" Calvi asked her.
"Thirty-seven years," she answered. "The different lifestyles here pass the time and the people have gone through one hardship or another. Sometimes, we just get people that didn't plan on coming here…but end up here because they want to live to see old age. You probably haven't encountered some of the wild animals out there, but they're a lot bigger than they used to be because of the plant life that grows around here. There's deer as big as a car and wolves as big as people, like werewolves or something. They're part of the reason we live down here most of the time, but life is still good."
They made it to the bottom of the city, where they saw some people that looked as though they didn't belong entirely.
"Mix-fits?" Kaede questioned.
"Mix-fits?" One of the tribe members beside her repeated.
"A mixed person that we can't tell apart."
"We just call them people. To label someone by their ethnicity is pretty pointless because they don't speak a language you don't understand or spread a madness that is born of hate."
Kaede nodded and resumed following the tribe members leading them around…and she noticed Frenzia looking at her again. Or more specifically, looking at her hair; if there was a reason behind the observation, she was going to ask about it later.
"…Frenzia!" They heard a male voice yell out, sounding like they were yelling gibberish. "Or should I just ask you if you've found new faces out there with your tribe?"
They all looked up and saw a man dressed in a black outfit looking down at them, holding a large sword, accompanied by two women in silver dresses.
Frenzia sighed and uttered, "Nice to see you, too, Richard Fritz of the Spearhead Tribe."
The man, Richard Fritz, looked at the people that were clearly not from around here, seeing the lone Asian boy…and a girl with gray hair.
"She has gray hair," he pointed to Kaede.
Frenzia turned to Kaede and simply said, "The more certain people see you, the more they wonder about you."
"But…why all the talk about my hair being gray?" Kaede asked her. "It's not like I use hair dye or paint or anything to mess with it. It's always been this way."
"A…always?"
"Ever since I was a baby."
Frenzia gave her a friendly smile, but Kaede started to suspect there was something going on that was about more than just her hair color.
"Today might actually be a good day after all," she expressed.
To be continued…
A/N: A confusing revelation, but it's only a fraction of what's to come. A poll relating to this story is currently in limbo right now because it's tied with two votes apiece, so that aspect of the story can't progress until more votes break the tie. But I hope this feeds your imagination until the next chapter. Now, onto the omake!
Omake (Aki Sora-influenced)
"Shinji," went Kaede as she held up the soapy sponge, "raise up your left arm."
"Heh-heh! That tickles, Kaede," Shinji chuckled as he did as instructed for his girlfriend as they were bathing together, and then felt her chest on his back again. "Say, Kaede, did you get bigger again this week?"
"Huh? Hey! Don't ask me that! I can never tell! Want to feel them?"
"Uh, no. Not right now."
But Kaede didn't give him much of a choice. She grabbed his right hand and placed it on her left breast, causing him to feel some discomfort.
"If we're going to be comfortable around each other, Shinji, you should be able to touch me here sometimes," she told him. "I'm comfortable around you."
Shinji gave in and gave her breast a light squeeze, trying to get used to this degree of comfort.
"Uh, may I…" He spoke, deciding to go further.
"You may," she answered him, giving her permission, and he lowered his mouth onto her right breast, feeling his lips and tongue on the nipple. "Ah…ah…"
Even though they were still under a year of getting to know one another as a couple, some would say that they have advanced so far because both were so close now.
"Kaede," he spoke, looking up at her face, "you do like me for me, right?"
"I love you for you, Shinji," she responded.
"I love you for you, too."
A large blush formed on the girl's face as she smiled.
Still, there was still the bridge they had yet to cross…where they couldn't just avoid the last aspect of their personal space.