Chapter 40

Everyone gasps after hearing what Eren said, and Peter asks, "Eren... what are you talking about? What do you mean we have to kill you to get rid of all the Titans?"

"Maybe I should show you about it instead." Eren says as he turns to Dina, after holding her hands, all of them are teleported to a place with night and sand.

"What the... where are we?" Armin asks.

"What is this place?" Jean asks, "I thought we were at the ocean..."

"This is what we called the Paths." Eren says, "Here, the Founding Titan is the Coordinate where the paths of all Subjects of Ymir and Titans cross. It has the ability to alter the memories of Subjects of Ymir, change the body composition of Subjects of Ymir, transform Subjects of Ymir into Titans, and command all other Titans."

They also notice the girl making Titans with sand and Aya asks, "Is that..."

"That's Founder Ymir. Right now I can't reach her because I'm not in full control of the Founding Titan." Eren says. "She can grant the Founding Titan wishes, because... she is a slave."

"A slave you say?" Levi raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Eren says, "You all know the story of the Neumann family, so let us tell you the story of Ymir. Around 2,000 years ago, Ymir's village was attacked and enslaved by the Eldians, who also murdered her parents and cut out the tongues of the survivors. One night a pig escaped from its pen and Ymir was blamed for it. As punishment, Fritz the tribe's leader released her into the wild in order for his men to hunt her for sport. Wounded and desperate, Ymir found an unusually large tree with a chasm at its base. Seeking shelter, she stepped inside and, not knowing of the sinkhole beneath, fell down into a pool of water. There, the source of all living matters fused with her and turned her into the first Titan."

Everyone is surprised at the words, and then Katrina says, "With her newfound power, Ymir returned to serve Fritz and used her Titan to cultivate the land, build bridges, and amass wealth for the Eldians. Under his command, she also vanquished the armies of Eldia's rival, Marley. To "reward" Ymir for her service, Fritz took her as his concubine, and together, they had three children: Maria, Rose, and Sina."

"That's the same name as the three walls..." Hange gasps.

"Thirteen years after acquiring the power of the Titans, Ymir died while thwarting an assassination attempt on Fritz, but then found herself in a mysterious, barren land. King Fritz then forced his daughters to eat their mother's corpses in an attempt to preserve the power of the Titans. He commanded his daughters to continuously reproduce, to have their children eat their spines upon their deaths, and perpetuate this ritual from child to child so that Ymir's blood would not die out and Eldia could rule forever with its Titans." Peter says.

"And the rest is actually the same as you know..." Aya says.

"But why? If she has the powers of the Titan, why would she still serve King Fritz?" Armin asks.

"Simple. She loves King Fritz." Eren says, causing them to widen their eyes. "And she could've survived the assassination attempt, however, the King never treated her as a person but a slave..."

"How cruel..." Mikasa frowns as the others are also sad at the Founder.

"But we can ignore her for now, the reason I bring you here is that I want to show what I actually saw after I activate the Rumbling."

Everyone gulps as they find themselves in Eren's memories, and they also see their future selves.

"Are that Mikasa and I?" Armin asks after seeing them on the roof.

"There is me and Jean." Connie says, "But where's Sasha?"

"Commander Hange, Captain Levi, and Commander Erwin aren't here as well." Katrina says.

"Over there!" Aya says as they find Eren rushing towards Zeke with Reiner trying to fight against the pure Titans along with the Cart. But just then, they see a girl shoot Eren as his head flew toward Zeke, and it is then the spindly substance connects Eren's decapitated head with his body, showing the Founding Titan form of Eren.

And at the same time, the walls are breaking as then every Eldian hears Eren's voice, "To all the Subjects of Ymir. My name is Eren Yeager, I'm using the power of the Founding Titan to address all of Ymir's subjects. The hardening of all the walls present on Paradis Island has come undone, and all Titans entrapped within them have started marching. My objective is to protect the people of Paradis, the place where I was born and raised. However, the world wishes for the annihilation of the people in Paradis, the hatred that has been swelling up for so long will certainly not end until not just the Paradisians. But all of Ymir's subjects have been eliminated. I reject this wish. The Wall Titans shall trample all earth outside of this island underfoot. Until all life existing there has been exterminated from this world."

After that, all of them find themselves back on paths. Eren is breathing heavily and Commander Erwin asks, "So that is what you saw in your memories?"

"Are you crazy? I know you want the best of us, but do you really have to go this far?" Hange asks.

"This is just the beginning... there is more to come..." Eren says.

"More? What do you mean?" Mikasa asks.

And suddenly, they see Mikasa, Jean, Connie, Armin, Levi, Reiner, and Pieck on the other side of the sand. Connie asks, "What is Reiner doing here?"

"Yeah, and who is that other girl?" Jean asks.

"That's Pieck, the Cart Titan." Eren says. "Now listen."

The older Armin yells, "Eren! Please listen to us! You've done enough! I'm sure that no one is going to lay a hand on Paradis for centuries to come now! That's just how much fear and destruction you've brought! You can still agree to a non-aggression pact and end this! You don't have to kill anyone else! The island is fine now! We were wrong! We're the ones who forced you to this point!"

The older Jean yells, "Eren! We'll figure out the rest from here! So... you don't have to keep slaughtering people for our sake!"

The older Connie yells, "Yeah...that's right! Eren! I hated you over what happened to Sasha... but I know that you must have been sad as the rest of us, right? And yet... I never even considered what it must've been like to be in your position!"

When they hear the older Connie's words, Sasha asks, "So I was dead, huh?"

"No way..." Connie mutters in shock. "How did it happen?"

Eren frowns, "We were careless, she was shot by our enemy."

"I see...just like the others, huh..." Sasha says with sadness.

The older Mikasa says, "Eren! I... I want to share the burden of your sins with you. We're all guilty... of the same sins. So please... stop avoiding us like this... Eren... Please, come back to us!"

The older Levi says, "Hear that, Eren? Stop now and I'll let you off with an ass-kicking. Hey... are you gonna make us do all the talking?"

"Dad..." Aya mutters as the current Levi just stares at him, wondering what is going on in his future.

"I will not stop the Rumbling." Eren replies. "I won't leave the future of Paradis to fate. I will keep moving forward."

Then they see the younger Eren with Founder Ymir.

"Why can't you stop it, Eren? Are you saying you can't trust us?" Older Jean asks.

"Then why are you still letting us use the power of the Titans? We can talk all we want now that we're here, right? So talk to us! We were always going to be together! So please, don't go any further away from us than you already have! Eren!" Older Armin yells.

"To hold freedom in my own hands, I must take freedom from the rest of the world. But, I will not take anything from you, you are all free. You are even free to defend the rest of the world, and I have the freedom to continue moving forward. So long as we have our own unbreakable convictions, we will collide. Therefore, only one thing remains for us to do. Fight."

"Then why? Why'd you call us here?" The older Armin asks.

"So I could speak to you. And tell you there's no need for us to speak. If you wish to stop me from doing this, you will have to stop me from breathing."

Then all of them are gone, and the others turn to Eren. Aya asks, "Eren... deep down inside, you wanted to be stopped, right?"

"And I'm going to show you the final one." Eren says as they see themselves on some sort of battlefield. They see a centipede-like appearance as Jean asks, "What the heck is that?"

"That's the source of all living matter." Eren says, "It gives the power of the Titans and it has been living in the Founding Titans since 2000 years ago."

Then they see it shaking and causes all of the people to become Titans, everyone is shocked to see what is going on, and Jean and Connie are shocked to see themselves in pure Titan form.

"Did that thing just change all of us into Titans?" Connie asks.

"Not all of you, those who are already Titan shifters, the Ackermanns, and those who aren't Eldians don't..." Eren says. "Aya, since you didn't exist in this memory, it seems Mikasa has taken your place..."

"I see." Aya frowns a little. Then they see Mikasa and Levi using their ODM gear to reach the Colossal Titan Eren's mouth, and then suddenly, a giant explosion occurs, and all the Colossal Titans are gone, and everyone turns back to normal. After the smoke disappears, Mikasa appears with Eren's head.

"Mikasa... killed you..." Katrina gasps.

Mikasa widens her eyes as she starts to form tears, "No... It can't be..."

And suddenly, all of them are back in the ocean. Dina asks, "So that's... what the Attack Titan saw in the future?"

"The Attack Titan can only see pieces, but with the help of the Founding Titan, it becomes clear." Eren says. "This is also why I want your help, I want to find a way to stop the hatred between us Eldians and the World."

"What about negotia-" Before Armin can finish, Eren says, "It won't work. The world wants us to be the source of all evil so they can unite, in my future memories, I also witness how the Tybur Family gathers all the delegates of the world and ask them to unite so they can all declare war on Paradis."

"But it isn't fair..." Katrina says. "Just because we have the ability to turn into Titans..."

Dina says, "If anything, the fault goes to the 145th king of Eldia... Karl Fritz. If he didn't give Marley that much power, we won't have to suffer. That's why the Queen has decided that we're going to revive the Eldian Empire. Our first step is to take back all 12 Titans from Marley."

"So far we have 7 of the powers, we need the Armored, Cart, Beast, Jaws, and the War Hammer." Hange says. "But how are you going to get the powers?"

"We'll wait, I'm sure they will be back to Paradis. And when we have the chance, we'll use Aya and Eren to take their powers." Erwin says. "For now, all of you should take a rest since you deserve it."

"I guess you're right." Peter says.

Aya walks toward Eren and says, "It must be painful for you to watch all of that happen, right? You don't need to worry anymore. We'll be by your side and we'll find a way together."

"I know." Eren says with a soft smile. "Thanks to you guys, the future is not set in stone, and I'm sure we'll find a way to overcome everything."

And here are some spoilers of the original season 4 ending, but starting from the next chapter, but now everyone knows the truth, the future is starting to change. I hope you like it.