Chapter 39
Eren, Dina, Peter, and Odom stand momentarily speechless over the burned body of his childhood friend, Armin Arlelt.
"I should've known this would happen, but I had no other choice but to rely on you, Armin." Eren says with tears in his eyes. "Why... don't you run away?"
Just then, they see the Cart Titan with Zeke on it. Dina gasps and says, "Zeke..."
Zeke notices Eren and the group, but he is shocked to see Dina with them. "No way... I thought you turned into a Titan!"
Dina says, "Zeke... so it is really you..."
Eren grabs Bertolt and holds his sword at the boy's neck as the Cart Titan lands on his roof. "You just try coming closer! Make one move to take him and he's dead!"
"And you... are you Eren Yeager?" Zeke asks. "The one who is bound with Aya Neumann?"
"What did you do to her? I swear if you do something to her-!"
"You look nothing like your father." Zeke says.
"Believe me, I know what you're going through. We're both victims of your father. You've been brainwashed by him." Zeke says.
"Leave Mother and Dad out of this! They know their mistake and they have never forced anything on me and Katrina." Eren growls back.
"Eren..." Dina says softly. "Zeke, please listen to me. Your father and I...we put too much pressure on you. We treated you terribly. I'm so sorry."
Zeke doesn't know why, he also feels his eyes watering, before he can say anything, Levi and Aya arrive.
"Argh... You're kidding me! They chased me all the way here?"
Aya yells, "Eren! Let's do it now!"
Eren nods, Aya rushes towards him as Eren throws Bertolt to Peter before rushing at her. Levi is also rushing beside Aya to make sure the Cart Titan doesn't interfere.
"Let's call it a draw, Levi. We're in no shape to fight." Zeke says as he turns to Bertolt in Peter's hands, "Bertolt. I'm sorry, but I think it's the end for you."
Then the Cart Titan is about to leave as Zeke says, "Eren, Mother, someday, I'll come back to rescue you!"
Then they leave, and Aya yells, "Get back here! You still haven't paid for what you've done!"
"Aya, that's enough." Levi says. "That's the last of our gas. I'll chase him! Hand over your gas and blades!"
Eren begins to comply when he hears Armin gasp for breath.
At the same time, Hange and the others are by Reiner's side. Hange asks about a metal case that was in his chest pocket. He tells Hange that it is a letter written by Ymir, and that the Scouts need to deliver it to Christa. Hange agrees, but only after they inspect it. They would like to ask him more questions, but draws their blade, feeling that he is not inclined to talk. Reiner does not disagree.
However, when Hange begins to cut Reiner's throat, Jean says, "Are you sure? We might be able to steal his power."
"I don't think all the conditions for that have been met," Hange says and Reiner spats blood again. "We don't know the situation with Levi and the other side. Neither do we have the time to go confirm it ourselves. The reason is there's no way for us to gauge the full depth of their powers! Even if I cut his head off, we can't be too sure!"
"But we still have Eren and Aya. We can take his powers first before killing him." Jean says.
Hange considers and asks Mikasa Ackermann to meet up with Eren and Armin to check out their situation, then refill her gas and retrieve the injection from Levi. If she cannot, then she is to fire a signal flare as a signal to end Reiner. Mikasa agrees and flies off to find Levi.
"Armin's breathing again!" Eren says as Mikasa arrives, seeing her friend's state, she can only let out a gasp. Aya says, "Dad! Hurry, give me the syringe!"
Levi, after a moment's hesitation, agrees and pulls out the case with the injection. Seeing this, Mikasa fires a signal flare as directed, but before Hange can kill Reiner, the Cart Titan gallops up behind them.
Jean quickly fires his ODM gear and pulls Hange out of the way before the Cart Titan can eat them.
"Reiner was taken, Hange!" Jean yells.
Jean curses and blames himself for intervening when Hange was about to kill Reiner, but Hange reminds him that ultimately they made the call. Hange decides that they should regroup with the others.
At the same time, Katrina and Floch are inside an unbroken house in Shiganshina, "With my Titan powers, I manage to minimize the damage to Commander Erwin. It seems like he doesn't take a lot of damage." Katrina says while using the clean needles and strings to tie up the abdomen.
Floch asks, "Hey... are you sure you can heal him? Why don't you just finish him off instead of getting him back and healing him? It's because of him that the others were killed! On the other side of that Wall, there's not a single living soldier. Everyone died when the Beast Titan threw boulders at us. I didn't think anyone could be saved. But Commander Erwin was the only exception. He thought of a plan for us to bite back at the Beast Titan and we did. We were smashed to bits just as planned. And I'm sure the last thing they felt was pure fear."
"I know, but remember this. The only one who can lay waste to the Titans is a devil! And if I can bring back the devil, that must be my mission in life! That has to be why you survived like a coward when everyone else died! Now find me a pair of clean cloth, Floch."
Floch is thinking about her words, and he quickly finds a pair of clean cloth upstairs. Katrina is still focusing on Erwin until Erwin starts to cough. "Commander Erwin! Stay calm for now..."
"Is everyone..." Ewrin asks.
"All of the recruits are dead except for 1, and that doesn't include Captain Levi, Aya, and me." Katrina says. "Just stay calm. I have already injected medicine and right now I need to treat your wounds."
"I... shouldn't have lived..." Erwin mutters.
"Don't you want to see the basement of our house?" Katrina asks, "And you are still our Commander of the Survey Corps. We all need you to live and we need you to lead us."
Erwin says nothing until Floch arrives and gives Katrina the clean cloth, then she starts to tie the wounds and she says, "Commander Erwin, just take a rest. Floch, find Commander Hange and bring her here."
"Yes!" Floch nods as he quickly leaves.
Bertholdt wakes up in time to see a small blond Titan looming over him. He begins to struggle and notices his former friends watching from several rooftops away.
"Guys! Help me!" Bertolt screams, but none of them move as he is brought closer to the Titan's mouth.
Bertolt continues to scream and shake. "Annie! Reiner!"
The Titan places Bertolt's head between its teeth and bites down, cutting off the boy's screaming. Just then, Armin falls to the ground and starts to recover.
"Thank goodness..." Peter, Odom, and Mikasa rush toward Armin, Eren and Aya are about to go before they hear Floch approaching.
"Guys!" They turn and Aya asks, "Floch! You're still alive?"
Floch says, "Captain Levi, I finally found you. Commander Erwin..."
This causes them to widen their eyes, "What happened to Commander Erwin?" Hange asks.
"Katrina and I bring him here, and right now Katrina is healing his wounds. He is still alive." Floch says.
Everyone gasps in surprise as Eren says, "Katrina is still alive, take us to them now!"
After everyone arrives at the house, they see Katrina watching over the sleeping Commander Erwin. Levi asks, "How is he?"
"Captain, he's asleep for now. I manage to stop the bleeding and give him the medicine." Katrina says. "But I can only do easier ones since we still need a real medical treatment."
"You've done well." Levi says with a frown, "But I don't have the syringe with me after using it on Armin."
"Wait, what?" Katrina asks in surprise. "You mean Armin is a Titan shifter like us?"
"He ate the Colossal." Hange says.
Just then, they see Erwin struggling to get up. "Erwin, you should keep resting..."
"No, I'm fine..." Erwin says as he slowly stands up. "Thanks to Katrina, she saved my life... where are the others?"
"They're on top of Wall Maria. Armin and Sasha are resting." Hange says.
"I see... Bring me to them." Erwin says.
Atop the wall, Armin wakes up to find Eren and Aya. "You're awake! I'm glad... you're back!" Eren says.
"Aya? Eren?" Armin mutters in surprise. "You're awake." Dina also uses her ODM gear and gets up.
"Ms. Yeager? What in the world happened here?" Armin asks. "I remember Bertolt becoming a Titan… What about the others?! Are they okay?!"
After an explanation, Armin asks, "So you say that there are only 16 of us who survived?"
"For the time being. The fighting ended four hours ago, we've been looking for survivors, but none yet." Jean says.
"S-So, after we managed to seal the gates of Shiganshina, Reiner, the Beast Titan, and another Titan escaped. Bertolt was captured. And I turned into a Titan and…ate B-Bertolt." Armin mutters. "But why didn't you use the Neumann's powers?"
"It was a heat of a moment..." Aya says, "After seeing how the Hange Squad almost wiped out, we were too angry..."
Commander Erwin frowns, "On the bright side, I'm glad we were able to take one Titan power..."
"But why me? Why not other people who died out there?" Armin asks.
"You have a certain set of skills that no other human possesses. I have no intention of regretting my decision." Levi says. "However, don't make these guys regret it. Nor anyone else. And above all, don't regret it yourself. Those are my orders for you."
"Alright." Hange stands up. "If Armin's fine then it's time to press on. Aya, Katrina, Dina, Eren, Levi, Erwin, and I will investigate the basement."
"The others will keep watching from atop Shiganshina's Wall." Erwin says as the others nod.
While walking on the road, Eren, Mikasa, Aya, and Katrina start to recall all the memories in the past, and then they finally arrive at their broken house.
"Hey, Dad!" Eren stands by his father's chair. "When will you show me what's in the basement"
Grisha turns his attention away from the newspaper. "Who knows? Perhaps when you realize the most important thing of all."
After observing the place, Hange says, "Luckily, the fires didn't make it this far."
"So this is where you lived..." Dina frowns.
"Yeah..." Eren frowns as they finally find the gate to the basement. "Right here. Under this are the stairs to the basement."
After moving the boulders away, they open the basement and walk downstairs. "It's a relief. It's not flooded with water." Erwin says.
"Let's go." Mikasa says as they all head downstairs.
When they reach a door, Eren tries to use the key, but he says, "This… This key doesn't go to this door."
"What?" Hange says, confused.
"But…that's the key Dr. Yeager always carried," Aya says.
"Move out of the way." Levi waves Eren off, stepping into his spot. "I'll open it."
Levi kicks the door and it breaks, and just then, they see a study in there. Katrina says, "Damn it... if he has those books and things, he should've taught me those things here instead of bringing the equipment to my room..."
"It almost feels like a study down here." Hange observes the room.
"My dad was a doctor." Eren explains, seeing the glass jars full of medicine in a cabinet. "He was always cooped up down here mixing medicine. Sometimes he will teach Katrina in her room as well."
"I see." Hange picks up a small, brown glass bottle. "In fact, if this medicine is all labeled correctly, it's stuff that's widely available." She put it down and faced them while Levi flipped through a book. "And since all the books here relate to medicine, at first glance, it's just a doctor's study."
"Well, if he was trying to hide anything from the Interior Police, we won't be able to find it with a cursory glance. 'There's nothing suspicious here.' It's like that's what he wants people to think." Levi says.
"There has to be something here." Erwin says while continue searching.
When Mikasa accidentally knocks over a cup, she bends down to pick it up and discovers a small keyhole in the side of Grisha's desk.
"Eren, there's a keyhole right here." Mikasa says.
Eren tries his key in it and opens a secret drawer with a false bottom. Beneath it, they find three books. When Dina opens the first book, she finds a portrait."
"This is..." Dina says with tears starting to form. The others look and find that it is a picture.
"Is that you, mother?" Katrina asks.
"But how did someone draw that detailed..." Aya asks.
"This is no illustration. Instead, this uses light reflected off a subject and burns the image on special paper. It's called a photograph." Dina says.
They read the contents and they find out the truth about Grisha's sister's death and how his parents do nothing about it. And then how he is persuaded to join the Eldian Restorationists and meets Peter's mother Jenette and Odom's father Wade. And then how Dina and Aya's mother Sarah come into the picture.
Dina and Grisha eventually get married and have Zeke, and how they didn't treat Zeke as a son and how Zeke eventually betrayed them. And eventually, how the Owl, the Eagle, and the Shark, three of the leaders of Eldian Restorationists hiding in the shadows, save Grisha, Sarah, Jenette, and Wade while giving them the Titan powers to infiltrate the walls, the names of the 3 Marleyan spies are called Eren Kruger, Odom Arkansas, and Peter Sebert, and their 13 years are up as they pass the Titan powers to Grisha, Sarah, and Jenette. They also inform them that they have to save Mikasa and Armin, with the Attack Titan's powers to go back in time.
There is also the story of the Neumann bloodline. They respectfully served under King Fritz and fought for peace...their duty and honor was for the world to hopefully come to a complete and utter state of peace. They seemed to have always strived for peace, each generation of Neumann's fought in each and every war the world had to offer.
The Founder Ymir is a good friend of a soldier named Eve Neumann, and after Ymir gains the power to the 12 Titans, she has been experimented to hold the power of the 12 Titans in her blood, thus causing her hair color to change pure white. She could also choose a soldier to change into a Titan and even take it away, but it can't be given for the second time. 13 years later Ymir's death, it is also when Eve Neumann died at the same time, Ymir was eaten by 3 of her daughters, as for Eve, she was thrown to the forest so that the beasts could eat up her dead body. After Karl Fritz becomes the king, not only he made the renouncing vow, but he also wanted the Ackermans and the Neumanns to be killed, which is why they were prosecuted. However, thanks to Dina's family, they manage to hide the sole survivor, Sarah Neumann, from her family.
"So if Aya gets 12 Titan's powers, then her hair color will truly be white. And it doesn't seem like the Ackermann family interferes with the power of Neumanns as well." Erwin says.
"But now we understand the power of Neumanns... and also about what happened to Zeke in my father's perspective..." Eren says.
"Yeah..." Dina frowns.
Everyone cheers for the Survey Corps' return, and they also have the three books with them. They also send Ymir's letter to Historia, who reads it and laments about how Ymir never gets close to her.
And then they have a meeting as they talk about the journals of Grisha Yeager.
"If we announce this to the public, the wall will crumble into chaos." "That's right. We still haven't fully grasped the magnitude of this situation."
"Then will we deceive the people again?" Pixis asks. "You wish to follow the lead of King Reiss and ensure the people of the Walls stay domesticated and ignorant? If so, then by what ideals did we rise to take the crown from Kind Reiss?"
"Let's announce it." Historia says. "After all, we're just returning the memories King Reiss stole, back to the people a century later. We all share the same fate as people of the Walls. We must unite as one and bring our entire strength together."
After announcing the news to the people, all of the surviving Scouts kneel before Historia who presents each of them with a medal. At the same time, Floch approaches Katrina and says, "Hey... I want to say that I'm sorry."
"What are you apologizing for? I want to thank you because you helped me save Commander Erwin." Katrina says.
"I'm glad..." Floch mutters, "But I still don't get why I'm the only one who survived, Marlo and the others..."
"The one in the wrong is Marley and the World. That's why we have to revive the Eldian Empire. We're going to save all the Eldians from their suffering." Katrina says, "Floch. Do you want to join us? Together, we'll make sure all the Eldians like Marlo and the others won't suffer..."
After showing her hand, Floch is surprised, but he takes it. "I'll help."
Time passes, and by the time winter arrives, the giant sled crushing the Titans outside of Trost District grows silent. In spring, the military announces that the Titans inside Wall Maria have been eradicated, and a year after the attack on Trost, the refugees are allowed to return home. Now, a full six years after the first time the Colossal Titan appeared, the Scout Regiment is finally able to explore the land outside Wall Maria.
They have been changing the pure Titans back to normal now that Katrina has the equipment from her father's laboratory, and they see the wall where the Restorationists had been pushed off and transformed into Titans.
They finally arrive at the sea, everyone is delighted to see the giant body of water. Eren is standing in the water and Aya asks, "Eren?"
"At the Medal ceremony... I saw more memories..." Eren says, "On the other side of the sea... is freedom. That's what I always believed. But I was wrong. On the other side of the sea... are enemies."
Dina asks, "Eren?"
"I was thinking if we kill all our enemies... over there... will we finally... be free? And that was what caused me to do the Rumbling..." Eren says. "And I saw it...the aftermath..."
"Aftermath?" Mikasa asks.
"I have to be killed... to get all the Titan powers away..." Eren finishes.
Here is a new chapter, and as you can see, this is the end of the Season 3 part. And the next chapter will begin the Season 4 part with a lot of changes. Some will still be the same as the anime, some won't. I hope you like this chapter.