Souveräne Historia Jaeger und Eren Jaeger Die Usurpatoren

by XA - U

Eren and Historia together have a connection with the truth behind the world and the various paths it has taken, over time leading to the memories of different ages being unveiled to them, along with the awaiting future. Eren and Historia seek to avert their oncoming fate and something beyond their fated ending against humanity. Slow-build, canon based AU. Note on Spoilers inside.

20. Chapter 20 - Unendliche Ketten

I suppose this is the longest dead time I've had on this and will be a while again before I can continue the next set of chapters but here is the overdue part for the time being!

"speech"

'thoughts'

' "speech" ' - thinking about someone else's words

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Chapter 20 - Unendliche Ketten

Late Fall of the Year 852 - Mountains of North Paradis

6 years left to live…

He stretched tenuously in the morning dawn. A few years ago he would have immediately got to work on his extra morning training, grasping at any chance to become stronger.

'How futile it all was...' Eren mused, slumping back down onto the wooden porch in complete relaxation.

The entire year was warmer than the previous, even here on the brink of the cold season. As the summer heat had began to cool, a temperate warmth had set in over the entire island.

Historia had told him how much of a big deal such a small thing had stirred, apparently the biggest news of the month. But then, after all, with people being given permits to see the ocean beyond the wall for themselves for the first time, it was the next biggest news they seemed to have.

The Titans were gone, the condition of other nations beyond the wall was a military secret, and the island was truly more peaceful as it had ever been…

'Not a single thing about it makes me happy…' He concluded, his mood turning sour just as quickly.

"Hup!" A small blonde jumped on top of his chest like a flightless bird whilst he was laying on his back.

"Hump…" He coughed at the girl that made every irritation vanish with a single touch, "did you get even lighter…?"

She hit the side of his face with her bare foot, repositioning herself to kneel on both legs from on top of him and arching her head over her shoulder with a wicked smile.

"That was-OW, a compli-OW-ment. Ow-" Now lazily murmuring every time she dug her foot in his throat and ground her knee in his stomach, he gave in to his fate. 'Aren't women supposed to be happy if they're told that…'

"It's just safer if you don't say anything about weight from the start," Historia stood up fully and put her weight on top of him.

"Well it's true anyway." Without any effort, Eren raised his back up, intending to slide her down into his lap. "What the-?!"

Disappearing in a flash, he took a second to realize she must have jumped when one foot was pressed on top of his head and another brushing his shoulder unnoticeably.

"Oh!" Historia looked surprised herself, balancing perfectly on top of him with extreme agility, before she quickly turned to play smug, "looks like you've been slacking in your training. Should I have someone discipline you for your indolence?"

"It's supposed to be 'should I punish you myself for mulling over me all day?'," the Titan shifter retorted, trying to grab at her ankle.

"How would that be a punishment then? And if that's what you're spending your time doing instead then I guess I'll have to forgive you." Gracefully landing at his side, she twisted behind the door with a smile, "lunch's ready."

Nodding harmoniously to her rhythm, he got up and traced his hand over the wooden door, checking over the woods and staring at the bright midday sun in the centre of the blue sky.

It was cloudless but windy as usual, scattering dried up leaves that split and disintegrated in their last flight.

6 years left.

The mountain hut now had 2 floors, although it was mainly just an attic space added above. He had redone the hardening with the Titan form they had used to arrive this very morning. There was still only the two rooms really, the kitchen and dining room in the front and the bedroom in the back.

They had moved much of the kitchen food and other tools they brought into the attic to make space and added a large water collector in the attic which was fed by several pipes over the roof, directly above the stove and sink. It wasn't working completely as intended but as a result, it did give them warm water once the fireplace was left burning long enough.

It was just a small addition, but it definitely made the place feel a lot larger. They had even started a garden outside, although it was just a few rows of simple vegetables which they had planted in the spring.

Historia was uncertain how well they would grow when they were in the mountains but the woods around them was filled with various plants which had managed to thrive. She had only pulled out a few of them so far, although the potatoes seemed to have come out small, the carrots were of average size as was the corn which had sprouted out from the ground.

They still relied on the food they brought from within the walls but it was not impossible to live out here entirely.

'Not that we could anyway…' He wasn't sure why the thought kept coming to him. It wasn't like he would run away from Armin, Mikasa and everyone else forever.

This was a refuge, for the two of them.

Away from everyone else, a brief respite for them to rest without worry in the instance they would have the time.

It was their home.

The two of them.

Eren chewed between mouthfuls, inhaling the smell of sunlight and wood beaming through the windows.

Getting here wasn't as tiring as it had been before either. He didn't think he had much better endurance in maintaining his Titan than a year ago but perhaps he was wrong.

He hadn't had anything or anyone to test his skills on after all. At least not in the heat of battle.

But for one reason or another, it made everything all the more pleasant. Even then, Historia had made him rest for the morning and would throw something at him if he didn't listen.

He turned to his lover, noticing she had a bit of food still on her lips. Rising from his chair, he crossed the distance as fast as he could but Historia beat him to it. "Ah..."

She licked her lips, wiping it away and peaked at him teasingly, "what's wrong?"

He growled a little but that didn't stop him crossing the remaining half of the table to press her soft, succulent lips.

Her hands roamed through his ever growing hair and pulled him down, half tempted to roll him onto the floor but decided that it would be better to not knock the table down.

If it wasn't his imagination then the sun had just become twice as bright.

Their tongues strolled against each other, battling playfully before becoming more forceful and passionate, settling into an equilibrium.

After becoming short off air, the brunet had the desire to battle her for dominance instead, forcing himself to roam deeper, but the blonde pulled away with a giggle. "S-Save it for tonight..."

"I was planning to," he muttered, rubbing his eyes a little and stifling a yawn.

"Oh dear, seems like you might be too tired for that?" She finished up and put the bowls to wash.

"Oh we'll see about that…" Dodging a slap, he pulled on his longcoat again, and took notice of the growing number of dresses Historia had added to the wardrobe.

He picked out a light blue one in the end after her insistence, and helped out with cleaning a little.

"Now then," she wiped her hands on the cloth, "shall we get going - again?"

"Yeah," the green eyed man prepared himself as well. "… Again…"

Shouldering the larger bag, he offered out a hand to the small woman who gratefully took it with elegance, they walked hand in hand like a true escort and lady.

For about 2 minutes.

"… Hey…" Eren growled, drenched in the small river whilst Historia skipped away quickly putting out some distance. 'Why didn't I see it coming…'

Although he had a good sense when to expect her little pranks and jabs, for some reason he always let his guard down at the wrong moment, often entranced in staring at her from the corner of his eye or whenever his head was just completely preoccupied with thoughts of what he could do to make her happy.

"Come on, watch your step or you'll slip on the rocks again," she teased him from afar, jumping away when he cooped the water from his hands and tried throwing it at her.

"Stop tripping me up, this is starting to get old." He decided to try pretending to be upset, struggling to keep the corner of his lips from smiling. "Oh-"

He happened to notice a small fish fluttering on the ground where he had just thrown the water out.

"Oh nice," Historia noticed as well, skipping back over to his side, "it's small bu-EEN!?"

In an instant, Eren whipped off his now soaking wet coat and threw it over Historia's head before grabbing it at the ends and holding it tightly over her whole head as she frantically tried pulling it off.

"That's what you get." He squeezed over the ends causing the water to drain out and soak over Historia's hair and blouse as she punched his chest with a fist.

Once she was sufficiently dry, he let her free and smiled satisfied at her now messy hair whilst she glared back deviously.

Shrugging his shoulders, he bent down to pick up the still fluttering silver fish.

At that moment, a familiar animal jumped out of the foliage with nary a sound.

"Ahh… you again," Eren pulled back, met with the dark beady eyes of the small black bear.

It opened it's mouth and huffed softly back with it's tongue out in greeting, scuffling about as it looked from the fish to the pair.

"Hey, look who it is!" Historia cheerfully waved much to his confusion whilst he narrowed his eyes forward.

"… Don't give me that look. You can catch your own fish," Eren maintained eye contact with the bear as much as he could

"Oh come on, what's the harm? We've got enough to eat for now," she rustled the small bag she carried. "Besides, we've got work to do. Go feed her."

"… Fine," Eren picked up the small fish as the bear instantly raised itself to stand on it's hind feet, leaning forward as he put the fish to the bear's mouth.

He almost instinctively fell backwards again as the bear, now upright and about as tall as his shoulders, stumbled forward and managed to take the small fish into its mouth, swallowing it whole.

"You're really scared of this harmless lady?" Historia pressed on the opportunity to tease him as she gave the 'lady' bear a pat on the head as it continued to smack it's lips before continuing their walk.

"No way, I just… don't want it to start thinking I'm going to start feeding it from now on…" He glanced back over his shoulders as he followed behind her. "Oh great see, now it's following us this time."

They both stopped in it's tracks and look as the bear halted instantly as well. They took another few steps forward and the bear did the same, mimicking their paces.

"I'm sure she's just worried about us." The blonde happily accepted the new company, "besides we have someone else to talk to now."

"… Oh yeah?" Eren turned his shoulder and pointed to the mountain peaks eastwards, "hey you, don't you live over there? You can go on home now."

The bear walked a little more before gazing at his arm and then following it look at the mountain, which were now shining white after being completely covered in snow. It then growled loudly.

"She says 'Do you want me to freeze to death?!'," Historia called back, jumping up a steep rock after he gave her a boost.

"No it didn't…" He took her hand again and pulled himself up whilst the bear jumped up on it's own with ease. "And shouldn't bears be hibernating…"

He had given up trying to understand this one anyway, it appeared like she was an odd case. They hadn't seen another bear besides it around here so far either.

They made a few more conversations and debates over what the bear was really saying before they all slowly fell silent as the cave entranced came into view again.

A stone entrance with a wooden texture. Each time he saw it, he kept noticing it's strangeness.

Pulling up their bags on the last steps, the pair prepared to go inside once more, pulling out a couple light crystals from the Reiss caves which they used as lamps. The bear had stopped at the entrance, making small whines that echoed through the cave, but refused to go any further.

"I'll go in front," Historia prompted him once more before he caught her shoulder.

"No." Eren grabbed her strongly as she frowned at him and took the lead, carrying the larger bag in front of him which knocked against the cave walls from time to time.

Behind him, Historia was holding the light source over his shoulder when suddenly it went dark.

"… What's wrong?" The brunet looked over his shoulder as Historia had hidden the lamp behind the back and then brought the light straight back into his eyes. "Oh, hey…. It hurts when you put it up close.

"It also hurts when you don't listen." She pouted playfully, showing the light properly again. "Didn't we agree that I'd go in first."

"No we didn't." He stated, remembering the journey through the morning. "You were just talking and talking the whole way whilst I was carrying you."

"I asked you to respond if you had any objections," she flicked the back of his head and revealed a small smile, showing she wasn't that angry,

"I can't speak in Titan form… " He had considered shaking his Titan's head at the time whilst Historia had been on his shoulder, holding his hair for support. But he was worried in case one of his hairs might hit her at the time.

It would probably not hurt her but he would probably have been in trouble if it did happen on the off chance.

"But… I really can't let anything happen to you." Returning here already made him dread what had happened in that accident.

"It'll be alright. I'm not going to be caught out again, this is our third time, we know the cave now." The blonde pointed as they came to the point where it split into two tunnels, one to a dead end, the other to the pool of water. They took the left route. "It's not like the cave can go change by itself."

He nodded slowly, knowing what she said was true.

It had been just an accident, but one where he felt the world crashing down on him for a moment, like a terrible dream had just replaced reality.

They wouldn't make the same mistake, even now whilst casually talking, they were watching all the corners of the tunnel, the floor through which the stream flowed and were ready to move at any indication that something else was present.

But even so… The last thing he wanted was to have her go in front of him.

He continued to remember as their count reached to zero, and they passed the single flower growing out of stone and then gazed down into the pool of water, steady and reflecting them perfectly.

"Well doesn't matter now," Historia squeezed his hand and he pulled the bag off his shoulder as they opened in, never taking an eye off the water.

They had packed a whole collection of the crystals that had been dug out from the underground of the Reiss Chapel. After being mined by the excavators, they had been smoothly cut down and refined over time and were now cut in the smallest shape possible that still gave out sufficient light.

There were so small that Ere could fit about three or four in one hand and so they had managed to pack around 50 of them.

Picking out the first one, he held it out over the water and let it drop smoothly with a small splash as it sunk downwards, illuminating the crystal clear water and the tube walls below it as it fell.

The crystal stones weren't particularly heavy but it had sunk fast enough, a few metres every second.

"It's deep… very deep." The light kept growing smaller and smaller as it continued it's descent for over a minute before it finally seemed to stop, the light now reduced to a minuscule flicker in the depths.

Their reflections had become more translucent, fading into darkness as they began to drop more light emitting stones. around the edges which revealed it had a number of ledges where many of the stones got caught on as it illuminated a bit more of the unnatural spiral pattern that twisted around the whole water shaft.

The whole cave and underwater pool was now well lit, giving them view for a few metres. The water was almost completely clear now and there was nothing to be seen at all as far as the farthest lantern went.

"Hmm… really, since you're certain it was glowing, we should be able to see it even at the lowest point if there was anything there…" Historia leaned in a little further than he would have liked, studying the small twinkling lights.

"It was… It was definitely glowing…" Eren reassured himself, trying to recall anything he could no matter how little he wished to remember. "The water… has to come from somewhere, right?"

"Yeah, there might just be another ledge which the stones at the very bottom got caught on, or maybe the shaft bends." She chewed her lip a bit, and tried dropping the last couple of stones they had left, one after another so that sank vertically in the same place.

After a minute passed again, they rotated a tiny bit on top of each other before stopping as they hit the bottom as well.

They waited a little while as planned, watching for any movements before the Titan shifter pulled out the last idea they had come up with.

"Ready?" Eren held out the explosive, attached by a wire to a detonator.

It had been about 4 months ago when another Marleyian scout ship had signaled in on the radio and Eren had been lying await in his Titan form to capture it. At that time, one of the soldiers had recklessly tried throwing one of these explosives, connected by wire whilst he was carrying the ship.

However the throw had missed his arm and splashed into the water. Despite that, the soldier had yelled the usual curses before pressing on the detonator which caused a small explosion near his foot. At most, it only made him lose a part of his toe, before he dropped the ship on the shore.

And so he had taken the soldier by hand, who had been preparing another of these 'wired explosives' and dropped him to the side. He had picked it up a day after where he had left it on the cliff and hid it amongst the other provisions when the Scouts returned to the walls.

"Ready," she confirmed, feeding the wire over to him. "Even though I'm still against trying to blow anything up while still in a cave."

Eren nodded. He was already ready to take Historia and run if the cave began to shake but he had been informed the explosion wasn't that strong, only capable of damaging an individual at point blank, an already slightly outdated weapon that had been left on the ships.

He let it drop into the water as it quickly began sinking. The wire was about 200 metres long, the bundles wrapped around a cable reel, apparently designed for trenches and set as traps on the battlefield.

Bubbles burst up a few times before stopping as it fell past the majority of the underwater lanterns and continued deeper, stretching out the wire until it stopped, unable to go further.

It had not hit the bottom and couldn't be made out anymore.

"Alright, let's get behind there." He pulled up the cable a bit as they moved back several metres, ready to run if the worst came to pass. Now that he had actually set it all up, he realised just how reckless it was compared to when the idea came up.

If it had been him in the past, he wouldn't have hesitated for a moment. The hand of the person who he now looked out for and was ready to die for clutched his.

Historia knelt down as they hugged the wall of the narrower section, giving a stroke to the same peculiar flower that was still standing out as she hummed a little tune before stopping when Eren placed the detonator on the ground.

Historia nodded to him and he took hold of the handle, pushing it down. Instantaneously the sound of an explosion occurred and the water from the spring burst up and rushed through the cave floor as they lifted their knees off.

The cave shook gently but quickly stopped just as the sudden flush of water stopped and left the cave down the now even smaller stream of water.

They poked their head into the room, the walls now dripping from the splash, and peaked down into the pool. Most of the stones which had been caught on the ridges had now fallen and were collecting down at the very bottom which shone brightly but much too small in the distance.

Eren sighed and crouched down, waiting for the minutes to pass. He had half hoped he might find something dead which would float upwards to the surface.

"The water is rising…" Historia pointed out to him. The blast had sent a bit of it flushing out the cave and so the surface was about several centimeters lower, but now it quickly rose again to its original level.

Once it reached the same level as the floor, it began dripping out, continuing the small stream of water which left the cave and flowed down through the woods around their home.

But again, nothing which he was hoping for had happened.

"Well that's about everything, unless you want to go swimming again." She gave him a playful pat as he scooped some more water and flicked it at her.

"Not a chance I'm letting that happen. I'd rather try digging up the mountain," he mused, sitting down on the floor, not caring how wet it was.

"…" The blue eyed girl kept studying their reflections in the water as she crouched down next to him. "… I truly cannot remember anything when I fell in."

"You don't need to," he reached out a hand to stroke her hair as she leaned into his shoulder. "I just… want to find something out about it. And what the hell it was after…"

He had drawn her a picture of it to which she began making fun of his drawing and comparing it to a wriggly snake with tongues all over it's body.

'… "But it looks a little like… the shape of a spinal cord?"…'

That was the only impression they could have of it. They weren't even able to come up with a name for it when they struggled so much to try and compare it.

There was no animal that resembled it in all the books history had brought from the capital's library. The closest thing to it was some myth about a wyrm that guarded it's treasure until the hero of the story slays it.

They had found treasure after all in the ruins of the nearby mountains but it didn't appear related to them.

Historia had been a little downcast when she informed him she could not translate anything from either the word in the ancient village they first found nor the text on the tomb in the ruins.

Everyone she consulted with had either laughed her off as a made up language or had never seen the writing. There wasn't really anyone who studied or knew of different languages until now when the Marleyians had come. The only thing someone had confirmed was that the writing styles seemed to be very different.

They hadn't been able to find any new memories and none of the old ones had given any hints forward.

Everything they found always seemed to come to a dead end.

The route to understanding any further was always cut off or long lost with time.

"A tree of light in some other world…"

The words echoed through the cave as they froze and looked at each other.

"Eh?" They blinked and pointed to one other.

Just at that moment, they had spoken the exact same words without meaning or thinking about it.

"Why did I…" The Titan shifter's head hurt for a moment before stopping again. The dark figure of a past subject of Ymir with a spear in hand that led him towards the tree of light. "… A dream… no wait… what was I…"

He gulped trying to remember again before he grit his teeth in frustration and slammed the wall. "Dammit! For a moment I thought I remembered something-"

Historia reached out to his hand which began steaming the smallest bit from scratching the rock wall.

Then a bubble arose on the surface of the water.

They snapped their heads immediately bringing their lights close. There were still a few light stones showing parts of the downwards tunnel but they revealed little.

A water droplet suddenly fell from the ceiling again, hitting the surface and causing a bubble. They glanced upwards and saw that the ceiling was still occasional dripping water, most of which had instead traveled back down the walls.

They both took a deep breath and sighed in unison before chuckling emptily at each other.

"Let's go." She prompted him after checking his hand which had quickly healed. "For now, there's nothing else we can do."

Eren nodded and picked up the remains of the detonator box and the cord, taking a last look down into the depths.

They left the tunnel behind them with Eren watching the rear again as the tunnel leading to the wellspring was engulfed by the darkness once more.

Within it the stones made from the Titan hardening crystal, which were made beneath the ground of the Reiss chapel at the centre of the island, continued glowing without change in the still waters.

The familiar material attracted that which dwelled under the island, deeper and deeper still than where any of the natural waters run.

The black bear growled at them when they returned, jumping up and down with it's heavy body before stumbling off down the mountain a little and then waiting for them.

"Looks like she wants to show us something again." Historia readily followed with a smile whilst Eren wasn't so keen.

"How are you supposed to know?" He sighed and descended down the rocks after her, taking Historia's hand once more. "Let's tale this stuff back first… why do I feel I'm starting to get used o this as well."

The bear stomped again as it waited for them at the bottom of the slope, as it ended up going back towards their house anyway.

It was late in the afternoon when they all sat down on the porch and ate lunch before the bear began walking in circles around the tree in the clearing and then rolled about the flowers a bit more while waiting for them.

Eren maintained eye contact as Historia finished washing the dishes and folded her arms. The brunet was purposely eating as slow as possible whilst looking directly at the black bear that waddled over to him impatiently, trying to give it the message that he didn't want to go anywhere.

Pulling a smile, the bear turned to look at her as she pointed at Eren's back and brought her arms to her mouth with an exaggerated eating expression and then pointed at Eren again.

The bear sniffed and opened it's mouth, pouncing at the Titan shifter and lounging forward.

"Hey-!" He tried to get up but stumbled backwards onto the porch as the pastry he had been munching on was sucked out of his hands and swallowed whole.

"Good girl!" Historia clapped her hands and playfully tapped Eren's thigh with her foot, "come on, get up and let's go."

"… Fine." He had actually been enjoying the pastry they bought from the interior's bakery. Once he dusted off, indicating he was ready, the bear lifted itself and stretched its paws on the wall of their house. "Yes, that's our house. We know about it already since we're the ones who built it. Is that all you wanted to show us?"

The bear repeated the motion several times, panting a little before doing an about face and started moving into the woods again.

"… It seems the winter will be worse this year," Historia looked up at the mountains which were shining white, "the whole peaks are already covered in snow."

"Eh? Oh yeah… it's definitely colder this year." He recalled, glancing back to see her still in one of her dresses with no jacket, "you sure ain't cold."

She shook her head and took his hand, pacing side by side with him.

It sniffed between some reeds, revealing a tiny flow of water, separated from the main river as the bear sniffed and moved them over, growling them over.

They hadn't noticed the deer grazing silently a few metres away until they crept right past and they shot away after seeing their guide. Despite that, the bear did not even give them a second look, continuing the patrol like it was the usual day for her.

Somewhere near the south part of the woods, although they had gone around it once, they found an abundance of other small animals that scurried away at their appearance and some squirrels and birds that didn't pay them any heed.

"Ah!" Historia got on her knees and pulled up a grove of mushrooms from near the bear's snout. "They're safe to eat…"

Checking over their underside, they seemed familiar to the woodland mushrooms they had sometimes come across back in their training.

Eren looked amongst all the trees, finding many twigs setup in bird nests all over, holes and borrows all over the ground and trails leading in various directions through the bushes. 'Seems like a popular nesting ground.'

They only picked as much as they could carry and sensing they were finished, the bear rose up and set off again, pushing itself into the bushes that the couple had to walk around.

At one moment, Historia winced when a bit of her blonde hair got caught on a twig before the brunet quickly swatted it away from her blonde locks.

Before long they were back at their house but the bear was far from finished. Instead of focusing on them, it began circling around the clearing and picking up branches in its mouth which it collected and deposited all in a pile.

"Hey you're making a mess…" Eren complained, shoving the sticks out from the vicinity of their garden, "we don't need any sticks for anything."

When it saw the brunet trying to move them aside, stick by stick, it began picking them back up and throwing it in the same direction back onto the pile with a fling of its head.

"Come on… what do you want from me?" He sighed when the bear whined at him, "care to translate miss bear whisperer?"

Historia was watching curiously with a smile, whilst casting a thoughtful look between them.

The bear turned rolled down after it had accomplished undoing all of Eren's movements and scratched at the ground a little, throwing up a bit of dirt in the space between the garden and the clearing.

"Ohh! I got it!" She boldly smacked her hands together, "she wants to build a den right here too!"

"… What? Why?" Eren looked back and forth, as the bear stopped and sat down, apparently aware they were talking again. "Doesn't it live up in the mountain by those stones?"

"Maybe… but perhaps she just wants a new place?" The blonde shrugged, not minding either way. "So – get to work."

"… Do I have to?" He mumbled, "besides where does a bear even live if not a cave…"

She slapped his back and he obeyed, getting to work as he looked around. They still had some wood piled up in the attic which he brought down and took out the tools, getting a rough measurement of how big to make the pen whilst Historia stroked over the animal's head.

"Now don't be afraid, Eren's about to turn into a Titan so it may be surprising, but Eren's really not scary at all!" She encouragingly spoke to the bear, hoping it would understand and now panic. "Well… actually he can be scary if you get on his bad side… but he's really gentle on the inside."

The bear watched curiously as Eren nodded to Historia and cut his hand with a knife, causing the light to flash by them as his Titan form came into being. He immediately looked over to check on Historia who waved back with a mile, giving the OK sign.

Without even flinching or being surprised at all by the sudden giant that came into form out of the air, the bear just stared and followed his movements by turning it's neck back and forth without surprise.

If anything it looked completely unsurprised like it had already seen the same thing a hundred times before.

"Pfft," the blonde giggled every time Eren glanced over to them, quickly levelling the ground the pressing the foundation rocks around the ground, seeing the confusion in his Titan's eyes due to the lack of reaction he was getting. "Ah, he seems a little down, let's give him a clap!"

Historia raised her hands and mockingly smiled at him, as the bear looked over to her. "Just press your hands together like this- eh?!"

The bear stood up and then sat on it's rear before raising it's hands and imitating her, pressing it's paws together as it shook, making a quiet clapping sound of it's own.

"Wow, you got it immediately!" Historia laughed and continued as the bear clapped when Eren finally finished building the rough structure and stared at her in annoyance.

She glanced upwards as the short sun began to set on the slightly bizarre scene of the three different individuals working together on the woodwork as they completely the little animal hut, preparing it for winter.

The seasons turned in an instant, the length of daylight flicked back and forth, all the while Historia kept throwing glances at the Titan shifter whom she had chosen to be with.

Time was always short for them.

But not a single moment here felt like a waste.

---

Early Winter of the Year 852 – Marley's Old Schvartland Continent

In a glow of painful brightness, a surge of heat was swept across the beach camp. Not one of the soldiers was able to look at it with their eyes until it was over.

Just half a minute ago, the cheers were ringing out when a new Marleyian navy had pulled into the port with reinforcements ready.

The explosion sent waves splashing up against the shore and flooding all the way up the banks.

Since he tried staring into the light at such proximity, the Titan shifter's own eyes were burnt slightly, blinding him for a short while as steam quickly fumed up to rebuild his retina layers.

Being blinded for a few seconds didn't feel any different from seeing this world anyway.

Men all around him fell onto their backs and some even began fleeing away in fear of the island being the next target.

A single explosion had destroyed Marley's largest ship, an enormous sized super-dreadnought that had been commissioned for the war.

The result of Marley's entire technological ability and bets had been put into it, the great ship gone before it had barely seen a battle.

If he wasn't so disconnected, perhaps he may have felt more shock to it.

It was no small defeat after all.

Marley's fleet had all amassed together on the gulf led by it's new flagship, a super-dreadnought which had only been put into commission after being re-designed for this war.

It had only been the third day since the battle began and only a couple smaller ships had received enough damage to withdraw and for the most part the two navies kept firing at each other just out of range, apparently hoping for a lucky shot.

A few ships of the Mid-East Alliance had decided to be a bit more bold and turned into formation grasping fortune's favour.

The centre of Marley's great flagship had blown up, and close to it, another large dreadnought and received the blast of the explosion and also followed up with it's own explosion.

Debris fell in all directions, largely into the bay whilst a bit also ended up shooting all across the shore where the soldiers had gathered.

Another explosion of light followed, awakening the Marleyians from their shock. This time an armoured giant had raised itself, blocking a piece of the metal plates which bounced off his body.

The two ends of the ship raised themselves into the air as they began to slowly sink under the water in the bay, the few remaining men who had not been blown away desperately climbed and hung onto the edge.

It took a few kicks off the seabed to keep his head above the water but the Armoured Titan grabbed hold of one end of the ship, stopping it's descent into the water.

Pulling it forth, he freed it from the other end which was already fully submerged and pulled it back onto the water surface, furiously kicking backwards as he pulled the remaining side of the broken ship onto the shore.

There were barely even a dozen men remaining who had survived as the soldiers quickly pulled out their wounded comrades.

Standing upright on the beach he kept his eyes on the enemy ships who were already falling back, their distant cheers of victory traveling over the ocean wind.

They had dealt the blow they needed, destroying the short lived pride of the Marleyian navy.

A whole new navy would have to be quickly rebuilt at great expense, and Marley's leadership would likely turn back to the land battles to make a breakthrough the trenches.

With this, Marley's port cities were almost completely exposed and he had

"D-D-Do something you useless devil!?"

His Titan's head creaked as he turned to look down at them, the many condemning soldiers shrieked and scurried away when his jaw armour fell off, showing his lipless jaws clenched together. 'Oops.'

His armoured was battered and dented all over but the Mid East Alliance had been using explosive shells in the bombardment to obliterate the warships, not the armour piercing rounds.

Even then, he was missing a leg and was holding balance against a military building which he had covered. It was an unquestionable disaster, and he had been deployed too late, already spent from defending another port city this very morning where he used up his Titan power twice.

The one standing on the beach was unable to do any more.

Watching over the beach, amidst all the cries of confusion and panic, the Armoured Titan stood as a reminder of Marley's only hope to all the soldiers who had witnessed the scene.

Protected by the one they despised as a demon.

'How fitting…' Reiner genuinely felt comforted by it.

Before the burning harbour, he lowered his Titan down to the ground and pulled himself out.

With all the soldiers pulling a wide distance away from him, he returned to the officers in charge of his transport.

"Heh, I guess that's all you can manage, don't think you can escape responsibility for this, got it?!" The commander here would naturally be able to avoid punishment for his indecisive actions by blaming it on an Eldian. "You'll regret if you try telling anyone that I had forgotten to send your orders alright?! Bah, well not like anyone would believe an Eldian."

The blond shifter looked to the sea in the direction the fleet was continuing to travel along the coast, while men were searching and pulling out survivors from the debris of ships.

There was nothing in his power that enabled him to fix what was destroyed, predict a certain way to counter-attack nor oppose what punishments awaited.

But there were just sometimes a few contrivances he could play.

"I am able to continue." Reiner stated.

"… Haah?" A commander of Marley was in charge of only a small region across this coast. "The hell did you just say?"

"The enemy fleet is moving further along the coast to the next major port. I am prepared to depart at once in order to make up for this failure." He actually wasn't able to transform into a Titan for at least several more hours, but there was no way for men like these to know. "To demonstrate the continued strength of Marley, a successful defensive needs to be shown now. A pre-emptive move into position would reflect well after a defeat."

The Marleyian commanders would be acknowledged for their actions and might further win promotion just by simply declaring an order whilst the individuals beneath them would be disregarded, such was the natural military structure. But in this way, even an Eldian could avoid oncoming reasonless blame.

"H-Huh… o-of course, you don't need to tell me that devil," he growled and looked around before dismissing everyone. "W-Whatever, I'll deal with this later."

If they did redeploy one of the Titans so promptly, they would then need someone else to pin the blame on but without a convenient Titan shifter, on whose shoulder's Marley's strength is based on, the commanders would be held accountable.

The command structure was decadent, largely unchanged following their triumph over the Eldian empire and filled with political games and mismanagement.

"Uhh? Someone is need of a devil elsewhere?" The pilot crew that carried him across the contingents by airship threw him some clothes on receiving orders off their departure. "You gotta be kidding me, we just got here."

Seated in an isolated cabin while under watch, he looked out of the window as they began ascending. The port was still filled with shipwrecks, and men pulling amongst the wreckage that had no end.

To struggle forward after being beaten back and decisively defeated… that was said to be a display a nation's true strength.

The Titan shifter glanced down and found his hand shaking. The room was vibrating slightly from the engines but he had noticed his hand was shaking more often.

He wasn't sure when it had happened, but noticed it growing steadily worse as his time was slowly growing to a close.

Everything had passed by so quickly despite dream filled pasts, none of which envisioned that he would still be like this with only more battles yet to face.

Clenching his hand with his other fist, just like he had done so in the past as a warrior and as a soldier. If it was still that old him, he'd clench his fist to himself and vow to train harder.

'How pointless...' He vaguely wondered what he had been after. 'Was it something so small that I'd forget so easily…'

For instance, if he had wanted to grow stronger, was that the goal? Or had getting stronger only been a means to an end, and he had wanted to accomplish something with that strength? Or was the desire to get stronger an escape, and he was just trying to avert his eyes from what he needed to be facing?

'… Oh right, so that was it...' On the brink of sleep, he could just vaguely recall it.

The moment that his childish wish probably overtook him.

---

Mid Winter of the Year 853 – Mithras Convention

"They say, beyond this sea which I have never seen, that our world has existed for over 100 million years. Perhaps as close as half a billion by some estimates, according to those who have come here from beyond our island."

In the centre of a great public hall within the capital's assembly buildings, a large crowd had gathered, mainly consisting of Paradis's own researchers, inventors and wealthy citizens. A spokesman had been chosen to read from the script that had been prepared by the accounts of the Survey Corps commander from both Hizuru and interrogated Marleyian prisoners.

"Half a billion…" Historia whispered in amazement hearing it for the first time herself, seated in one of the chairs to the side of the room.

"… So a billion is… seven zeros?" Eren gave up on trying to count.

He felt Jean staring at him from the side, eager to call him an idiot but he ignored him.

"Nine zeros," Hanji corrected him, "but half of that is nine figures but eight zeroes."

"Huh…? Half of nine is eight?" Eren gave her a doubtful look before sensing the blonde snigger under her breath.

"Here, it's like this-" Not being disturbed, Hanji borrowed a transcript from one of the numerous reporters at the scene and began writing the figure continuing to talk and explain the whole time as Eren feigned attention.

They were lucky to get special seats at the convention, which was squeezed in tight with as many people as it could fit. Some of the reporters who were getting lost in following the speech turned to Hanji for assistance as well, asking the chief organiser for her comments. The full account has already been prepared for publication in the newspapers for the next day.

"This classification system follows the Marleyian scientific principles of evolution that show how the Founder of Eldia, Ymir Fritz was no God, performed no miracle, and created not a thing." The man had pulled down a hand drawn diagram which was sent amongst the works from Hizuru. "Humans, here named Homo. sapiens. are descended from an older form of mammal in the centre of the continent which they call 'apes'."

Although it was an understatement with how vehemently the role of Ymir was bespoken, and how Eldians were classified as a separate line that branched different from 'modern humans'. The topic was widely ignored in the information received and the actual nature of Eldians were still disputed.

Even so, in the current field of study, all 'Eldians' were treated as their own species, a human subspecies born of the devil that took the same form as 'humans'.

All that of course had been carefully chosen not to be revealed. There had been a bit of controversy amongst the military council over whether this event should proceed but in the end it was agreed to proceed,

While it wasn't the full details being given here, what had been removed was nothing they hadn't learnt before.

They already knew how the world beyond the sea viewed them. There was no need to repeat what was already clear and stir further resentment.

Eren's green eyes stared a little longer of the new diagram displayed on the board of an 'ape'.

It was a strange connection to make but the more he looked at it, the more it seemed to vaguely fit in it's bipedal shape. While such a creature did not exist on Paradis, he knew it from some old children's tale.

An ape was a hairy human like creature that lived in the trees and spoke riddles to some knight on a quest. He glanced at Historia who probably knew it better before the lecture continued.

"The age of outer space that resolves around the sun, our solar system, is even older at a few billion years old. These are the known planets that are all close to earth that had been found at the age of the ancient Marleyians centuries ago." He gave the names from Mercury through to Saturn, and then another two planets which had been found by devices called telescopes in the past century. "It's been confirmed how the stars are in fact suns themselves in the distant reaches of the dark, who have their own planets, who have their own moons. There exist towers within which massive telescopes observe the unreachable lands and explore this science called 'space'."

After an hour had gone by, Eren had began to feel himself distant. His head lost in the papers drawn across the board one after another, not even half of which he understood.

He never had particularly listened in class when it hadn't been related to Titans, but this felt familiar in a way.

Glancing down, he could still see Armin furiously taking notes in the front row even though he had already heard the stories first hand from the Marleyians and Yelena's volunteers.

It was about the outside world that he had dreamed of. Even if he was told the same story three more times, he'd probably still be excited over it.

It was the world which Armin had dreamed of.

Although Eren too continued listening to the presentation, the was a lack of enticement compared to the way Armin had explained the stories within the book 10 years ago.

While it was all valuable information, he couldn't help but filter through everything which was being spoken.

But he vaguely got an image of what all of it was like.

This 'world' which they lived in, the vastness of it which could neither be reached nor touched directly.

This 'history' that predates humanity, riddled with forever lost gaps and fragmented beyond restoration.

This 'existence' brought about by miracles, the result of science and chance and unexplained by reason.

All of it added and took away different thoughts the more he had heard about it.

He was waiting outside the doors once the presentation had ended and people had began filing out from the doors in vivid conversations.

There was a number of people who had stayed behind to question the spokesman more causing the commander and captain to have to join in the explanations.

The Titan shifter noticed a number of other individuals had set up displays and began calling for their own smaller presentations in many of the rooms that had been prepared for the convention.

"Eren," Mikasa called to him, brushing his shoulder as she pointed, "they have something on display over there. The captain said you can't leave the building but we can still look around."

"No," he looked around and saw a banquet hall as well open in the corridor, "I'm hungry, maybe later."

"Ah- I'll come with you," she quickly followed as they both picked out plates from the table and picked out some dishes before Sasha soon arrived at the scene.

Mikasa gave a small smile and cast a glance to Eren who stared impassively whilst eating a meat bone and staring at him.

"What's wrong?" They were standing to the side of a hall with only small groups in silent conversations, making him aware of just how much he stood out as people passed by in whispers.

"Oh, nothing…" She went quiet, pursuing her lips. "… Actually, I was thinking of maybe getting my hair cut. What do you think?"

"… It's fine for now isn't it? You could grow it out more and try tying it up or something." He already thought it was a pretty suitable length, remembering he did suggest to her about it many years ago. 'She's already the shortest between Armin and me. Any shorter and she'll look like I did a decade ago.'

"Ah, alright… thanks." She muttered softly as they continued eating in silence.

As soon as Eren finished his plate and placed it down on the clearing table, he quickly began to leave after giving her a small parting wave. "E-Eren. It's the first time we can both be off duty, I just thought we could walk around together."

The brunet stopped and looked back at her, wondering if she had something important to talk about. The matter of Hizuru was set aside for now and they had also discussed it between with Armin between the three of them a few times. Mikasa naturally had no intention of parting with them but it was different if the three of them might be able to go instead. At least that had been Armin's suggestion, which caused Mikasa not to outright reject the idea.

"If you want to talk then this isn't the best place," he looked around but could only see Jean and Connie trying to make Sasha behave. "Let's find Armin first."

"Oh no… it's nothing like that," the black haired woman blushed a little, "I just wanted to spend time with you."

"… Sorry, now is not a good time." Eren tried to refuse her gently for now. 'At all.'

"Mihkasha!" The brunette huntress grabbed her shoulders for support. "Hwelp me!"

"Damn it, learn some manners already!" Connie struggled to hold her back whilst Jean tried pulling out the meat which had been his out of her mouth.

"I'll be with Armin." Eren thanked the opportunity and got away.

"Ah… yeah." She nodded and started as he disappeared around the corner to the exhibit she had suggested before instead of the main hall where Armin was.

The room he stepped in was filled with a number of noblemen and merchants who looked carefully and listened to the explanations of various developed inventions based on the new technology from the outside world. Some were looking for investments whilst others were already keen to hire the skilled individuals and develop them into their industries and businesses.

He walked past the popular exhibits which stood out and stopped at a timid young man at a table with a small contraption, operating it in the hopes of attracting attention. There was a woman watching at the side in silence but he appeared to not even notice her.

Even when the Titan shifter leaned down to look over it, he kept his head down as if embarrassed and spinning a handle around continuously which caused a weak light to flash on and of inside a glass bulb..

"… Is this the lamps used on Marley's ships?" He guessed. When he had first seen them on the enemy's scout ships, it made them an easy target even from underwater. The lamp here however was much smaller and seemed to require constant manual turning to stay on.

"Y-Yes sir, thank you sir for taking an interest!" Eren felt awkward hearing himself be addressed like that, but nodded along to the overly quiet voice that was almost just murmuring without looking up at him. The man had large spectacles that seemed to weigh down his head even more and cover his eyes, "T-This here is just a simplistic electromagnetic generator, it provides alternating current by magnetic induction through these disks. Y-You'll see the popular professors over there with much more complex designs, b-but there are issues when this is done manually, the current must be continuously provided at the same rate just in order to keep some lights running, l-lots of generators would be needed in close proximity for transmission, a-and the whole conversation process is very inefficient at the moment. T-The difference with this, is the secondary generator which can transform…"

Eren opened his mouth a few times to ask a few questions as the man just continued, barely stopping between sentences and decided to not interrupt.

"You sure kept me waiting." The woman whispered to him whilst they both continued listening to the explanation.

"Sorry, we're probably being watched right now." He could feel a few stares watching quietly from behind them near the entrance. He glanced to look at her for a moment before refocusing. 'Her hair is already a nice length. Even though it's in a bun right now.'

"Well that's not a problem anymore, besides we just coincidentally bumped into each other here." She smiled a little sadly. "We've stopped having regular meetings anymore since you're needed at the harbour."

"I was meant to be there now, but I can barely come to the capital even once in a week anymore. I had to beg and pretend I was interested in the convention." In the end, Yelena had assured the commander that Marley couldn't afford to send any more ships at this time, especially in the winter, although they had an emergency line of communication established in any event. More than anything, it showed just how much they relied on their radio communication and trusted the Volunteer's judgement.

"Indeed, I'm quite glad I got to work on setting up this whole thing. But you know…" She leaned down and poked the device's gauge meter with a finger. "I really do find this interesting."

"A-Ah that's a miniature prototype that my mentor had begun, I… changed certain aspects so this would specialise in using steam instead to generate electricity." The inventor glanced around to the sides, "y-you'll see my s-seniors over there that have made use of s-static electricity and magnetism, a-and the much more popular regular steam engine right now b-but they really aren't able to meet higher power requirements and are inefficient. I-It stills needs adjustments but on my mentor's hard work, I swear that it can be a b-better alternative..."

They patiently listened as the man continued into silenced mutterings and looked over the strangely shaped metal model that had many different components they had never seen.

"This… device generates electricity...?" She carefully placed the contraption back down after inspecting it for a single thing that might be recognisable, though the only thing she could comment on was that it seemed rather heavy.

To Eren, the appearance somehow reminded him of the metal boats of other countries, it even had funnels to let out smoke from the top.

"It's a turbine… It uses our steam technology to spin rotors for the electrical generator…." They tried to comment on something to no avail so the inventor began explaining more again. "C-Compared to the stories of the countries beyond the island… they say that we are still almost a century behind in technological advances because of the old government. But… if there's one field that has been continued to be improved, it's in our application of steam technology. The factories, locomotives, motors and the ODM gear of the military… all of it causes and makes use of high pressure steam which is mostly ventilated and wasted. I-If it could be reutilised, and a convertible electric system is used, then there could be a stable supply of electricity…"

"I see…" Eren stared at him questionably. "So you use this to get electricity and power the lights instead of spinning that thing by hand?"

The man nodded several times, before frantically putting on some large spectacles as he disconnected some wires, opened up the boxes and began connecting different things together. "A-Allow me to demonstrate the difference from a less effective device, p-please note this is still a work in progress but it works in the same way of using kinetic energy in a series of stage, though it can only last f-for so long at the moment."

They both tilted the head at the failed device which looked the same as the ODM gear, only larger and with many more funnels and had its components all re-arranged, almost as though it was five different gears combined into one.

After putting in an unusually small amount of iceburst crystals, and starting the machine, it began humming with life and instantly attracted the attention of other passerbys.

The steam hissed out, and the whole lights system shot to life, easily with far greater intensity than before. Not only did it seem to outshine the lights in the hall now, but it the man began fiddling with the trigger and different exhaust fumes left from different tubes.

Looking back on it, Eren realised the man had arranged the lights in five rows with five in each line on purpose. First the lights all turned then off and on again together, then just the first row, then the second, the third, the fourth and the fifth right after each other.

"Woah, it's like a wave…" The lights indeed made an illusion as though they were jumping across unconnected lines, out of one connected set of lights bulbs and into the row below them.

Then the pattern repeated back up in the same way, afterwards with one click of the machine after another, and different rows began lighting up in any number of combinations.

By now a large crowd had formed, attracted to the flashing lights which cast shadows all across the room.

"That's pretty good..." Eren couldn't help but acknowledge the pretty little sight with something that seemed simple. The young man seemed to light up himself as he began to nervously make a speech with everyone's attention.

Electricity and light.

He was a little confused to hear that they were separate types of energy. To his eyes, it was like the light travelled came out from the generator from one set of lamps to another through the wires and jumped between them, but that was just the flow of electricity.

An invisible power that could not be perceived, but could be felt.

When it flowed into the lamps, the lightbulbs would shine, giving off the intense light and heat when they lasted for too long, shining brightly and warmly.

The light came from electricity the flowed invisibly in the wires.

The electricity came from and returned around to the generator.

The generator created electricity from the movements of spinning turbines within.

The turbine spun from the high pressure and entrance of steam.

And the steam came from the fuel when burned from that heat, the iceburst crystals.

Like a converting misunderstood power, it changed it's form through all the connected stages in a controlled system. The lights travelled in waves and multitudes of patterns, possible to send hidden signals or make shapes of pictures when multiple lights arrange themselves in proper fashion.

Just for a brief moment, the Titan shifter forgot himself, wondering why the whole sensations seemed familiar.

It was something he didn't fully understand, might not remember by tomorrow, and surreal in some way.

Yet it felt like an important piece of the time and age,

Once the fuel was used up and both the steam and lights stopped, the pair applauded along with the crowd and the inventor bowed his head bashfully, unexpecting the positive response.

"Hey, so what is this?" A fancy dressed couple suddenly began asking the same questions they had done before.

"A-Ah, well-" With the little display, he had captured the attention of everyone in the room. "This is the technology of the people over the sea..."

Before the pair could try to give their praise, the crowd had already grown to thick and taken over the conversations as the two slipped out without able to get another word in.

"He sounded like he knew what he was talking about." Eren said plainly, "think that guy had a good idea?"

"I think it's worthwhile to see more of his input," she was still pondering over it, "he did make some valid points… at least the ones I understood were."

"Good, so it wasn't just me." He looked around the other tables throughout the room "he put a lot of effort into his designs too, I dunno why nobody else asked him first."

"With kind of timidness, and his voice was a little squeaky, he didn't seem confident in making his presentation. Unfortunately first impressions are what these people look at." The situation now however had reversed, with many other older developers scoffing at the junior inventor's sudden popularity. "Hmm, you know what… I think I will try recommending that person."

The Titan shifter nodded as they listened to the last presentation in the room, another design of a cannon that could store lightning when hit and shoot it out like an arrow in a scribbley drawing. The man seemed to puff out his chest with pride as people looked awkwardly at his drawing of the stick-men being destroyed by electricity. "I'd definitely do the same thing if I were you… anyone else you want to check out?"

"There is…" His green eyes picked up a few stares. "… we should disappear for a little."

"Oh… isn't that her Majesty. Isn't she walking with the Titan, Eren Jaeger?" The whispers from the crowd caught them off guard.

"So it is, I saw them were sitting in attendance together too." The observation quickly turned into further gossip. "I do believe the Survey Corps often paid visit to the palace, perhaps the two are set up for partnership."

"Hmm~ I do fancy them, they would make for a splendid pair." Apparently more than a few seemed to agree without hesitation as though it was not a new topic. "The Saviour of the Walls and the Guardian of the Island, I hear that among many other names is what they are called in the capital."

Unable to look around or appear conspicuous, they continued walking slowly before turning around the corridor and instantly grasping hands.

/.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../.../

In that moment, they almost disappeared from sight.

Ever since they had encountered it, there were thankfully only minor, even desirable effects that had occurred.

When they touched hands for a while, and even up to a long time after letting go, nobody they passed could see them.

At least at first, it appeared they had both become invisible.

When they tried talking to someone, they were not heard either. The noise of footsteps or their own conversation did not reach anyone's ears.

"Pretty useful at times like this…" It just so happened that this corridor was far more crowded.

"Why is everyone just blocking the way…" He complained as they walked to a completely lined up centre of the hallway.

It was there that the key effect would happen.

They weren't invisible, it was more like they were deflecting everyone's attention.

When they came into stepping distance, the crowd simply parted, pulled away by the pair.

The people split themselves apart and moved to the side, parting a way for them instead.

Even though the people complained at each other for pushing against others, not a single one saw anything wrong or unnatural in the movements, and returned back to normal after they passed through.

Another crowd was walking towards them, taking up the space of the entire corridor but the people separated and walked to the sides of them without taking notice of them or recognizing their own movements.

Unable to be seen nor heard, as though there was an invisible bubble around them, all other people really did seem to be repelled by an invisible force when they came into their proximity.

"It's like we're in our own little world…" She passed him a mischievous smile which he returned.

"I'd be happy to spend all the time with you, but..." Eren had gotten in trouble a couple of times for disappearing on them. People were still naturally aware of where they last saw them but were unable to interact with them.

It was a bit startling at first, but they found it was easy to break the spell.

All they had to do was reach out and touch another, a split second and easily missable spark would flick through their fingers, and they could be seen again, often startling people by their sudden appearance.

They didn't seem to need to touch them by hand either, a simple passing brush of their sleeves would cause the electric tickling sensation and they'd be visible to all once more.

People were only repulsed from a roughly circular distance when they come to a footstep's or stride's distance to each other. They could still easily reach out their hands to them and break the strange effect by making contact with someone.

Animals could still see them, and they couldn't yet confirm if it was all humans or just Eldians who were affected by this, although Mikasa had not been able to see him either when he tried, the nature of the Ackerman clan was still an unknown.

It was in some way like how people would make way and part for the King, an idea that could be easily realised with the full power of the Founding Titan.

Still, he didn't think it was a coincidence it happened after it had made contact with Historia. She was no Founding Titan nor held any other Titan power.

Instead it felt like something else… like being connected by an overlapping connection of a higher invisible rank.

"Oh, over there." Eren pointed out at the very end of the hallway where he had been taking her.

A rope had been pulled up, indicating that this sector was dedicated to the art exhibition and provided a general route for the visitors to take to see all the paintings.

Most of them were hang up on the display whilst others were placed on stands, decorating the bright red walls, with golden or black frames.

While there were no Marleyians in this part given the lack of security, there had been travelers that settled in the southern port and seen the ocean and steels ships which had been docked.

It was only natural that word and visual accounts had traveled and numerous pictures depicting the blue expanses of water were drawn and the ships had many curious designs.

"Is that supposed to be the sea in yellow there…?" Eren doubtfully wondered, squinting at the details before realising. "Oh, that's a sun right?"

"That's what the label says," she pointed out amused, "does the sunset look like this…?"

"Sometimes… but it's more orange-y." He didn't really spend time with the others in the evening that went to watch over the sea.

Just from looking at it, he felt himself drawn into the waves that were ready to consume him. The ocean really had become something he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed when looking at it now.

In his Titan form, he could swim beneath the water without boundaries blocking him… and without any goals to carry him.

"We'll go see it in due time," the blonde squeezed his hand and led him along, pointing out both the funny and imaginative shapes and sizes of boats which the Titan shifter was confused by. Only a couple properly resembled the destroyers which had been captured.

Turning around the corner, the paintings subjects became different.

"Well look who it is." Her blue eyes were smirking on their own as Eren trembled in distaste. The painting was of him, in Titan form whilst holding the boulder which was used to seal Trost district, only with notable exaggerated differences.

"Why am I twice as tall as the walls, no wait… who are those two? They're almost half as tall as the wall themselves." He scrutinized the unclear details, presuming they were meant to be Mikasa and Armin even though they were both looked identical and had brown hair. "Hold on, what's… doing there."

The most peculiar detail though was in the painting's background, Bertholdt's Colossal Titan could be seen in the middle of the city, fallen to one knee and reaching out after his Titan form, which now that he looked at it, seemed rather devilish.

"Perhaps they were trying to be imaginative and mixed parts of Shiganshina's battle too." Seeing his disgruntled face, she pulled him along once more. "The recent success are quite popular for artists. See, there's the final charge of commander Erwin."

"Ah, I never did imagine what it was like…" Compared to the previous one, this painting had much more realistic proportions and used darker colour. The Beast Titan was at the background, aiming stones at the Survey Corps that had rode out on the other side of the wall on that day, and the shadow of Captain Levi could be seen approaching on the Titans that were at his sides. "I guess I can't say what it really was like."

"Mhm, neither can the painters when they weren't there, if they are even going for a realistic image. Although there's a common habit of making the battles appear as glorious victories to those who see them." He nodded to her words and she pointed to another. "And there's you again."

"Huh..." His eyebrows fell completely. Whilst he was simply making observations and hadn't meant anything critical against the paintings from before, this one was far too comical.

In his Titan form again, the drawing that seemed a lot more rougher, had him lifting the Armoured Titan with one hand who was a fraction of their size and spinning in a weird dance before throwing them into the sky after a flying Female Titan.

The label simply stated 'Our Country's Triumph', and the design choices were questionable at best.

"Right… so what's the explanation for this one…" He scratched his head. When it came to throwing Titans, it had been them on the receiving end in that unpleasant memory. In the drawing, the whole situation appeared like a bit of the reverse of that, only made his Titan look like a musclehead with a weird flex and the other Titans weakly goofy.

"… This… might be inspirational or maybe meant to be some kind of propaganda…?" She guessed off-handily, clearly having no idea herself.

"How is this meant to inspire anyone… I look like a donkey." He decided to shrug it off as the blonde almost snorted and looking around. While he did find a few that he liked in an acknowledging way, the war arts felt a little bitter when that war was unsettled.

The next section was more of the natural world, showing animals and wildlife in forests, plains and inside small villages.

There was one of a family of lizards in the desert which reminded him of that past, and another of colourful birds in the skies which they tried to identify.

A drawn map of the world as provided through the Volunteers had been enlarged and was shown at the centre of the exhibition.

The entire event was partially an exchange between arts and technology between their island and of Marley although it was predominantly a show of what they had uncovered. Only a few of the Marleyians were around with one of the commanders with them.

"Look at that detail, there and even there…" A group standing in front praised an indeed highly detailed painting which even on it's surface impressed them.

They waited besides them, not wishing to push in between even though it wouldn't cause any problems, and looked around at the other paintings from the same group of painters.

"Heeeh, quite… surreal, isn't it?" Historia made a mischievous grin.

"Yeah… whatever that means…" Eren frowned deeply whilst trying to make out another particularly detailed painting.

On the upper part of this piece, there was a floating land which had the letters blended into the shapes of the buildings and walls, indicating it as 'Heaven'.

Then in the centre, was another floating land, this time it gave the impression that one end was causing it to rise up diagonally, with the corners of this land marked as 'Earth' by the shapes of the people hanging on and tumbling off. On the other hand, to someone else it may look like the land of 'Earth' had broken off and was falling away from the land of 'Heaven'.

Below it and in the background were several more worlds, each of them either in the same level or below the land of 'Earth' in the foreground.

"Do you know what is painted here?" The blonde pointed a finger to the top, on the corners of the land of 'Heaven'. Next to a clear figure with a crown, was another man also with a crown but hidden behind his back. "At first it looked like the succession of a new King but then why are there two crowns with one behind the back…"

"… Maybe a King and Queen?" Eren suggested, scrutinizing his eyes but seeing both men on the edge of 'Heaven' had beards. "A really manly Queen. Or maybe after finding out the Queen was actually a guy all along, the King over here couldn't believe it so he's hiding the crown."

"Out of shame? That whole scenario is just way too silly," she laughed softly. "It could be some leadership issues but… it really does look like two kings. One hiding the crown… they are holding their hands out like that with no weapons, unlike these other figures here…"

She pointed out little differences as Eren began to study it with more interest as well. The people on the tilting land of 'Earth' held weapons while in various positions since they made up the shape of the letters.

"They are dealing or just talking to each other… while this king with the longer beard is hiding the crown…"

There was no artist name or signature compared to some others but a few where made by collaborating groups, and the title didn't add anything to the peculiar detail.

'Sea of Worlds'.

Despite the name, it didn't shown many signs of water or being in the sea, rather it looked more like the worlds where floating in the sky or falling beneath sight, into the gaps.

"It looks like they wanted to draw pieces of land more, at least that's the main focus right?" He moved a step back and his green eyes took in the whole picture. She had only pointed to a small detail on the whole painting, the two kings not being particularly highlighted at all in the grand scheme of things. "Could have just been something to fill in a small little space."

"I guess so… but even then, two kings seem a little strange…" The blonde mumbled before shrugging in agreement. "But you're probably right, the painting is about the state of these worlds."

A still moment captured in time.

An unclear meaning, if any had been intended at all.

Even so, the idea of two kings came into his mind as he continued on with exploring other paintings.

The crowds were thicker in this section and they listened to the impressions others made as well, freezing when they entered the next section largely made of portraits of clothless people and remaining in silence as they walked through it before smiling awkwardly to each other at the end.

There were other antique arts shown from private collections and general arts of the recovered territories of Wall Maria and beyond.

Towards the closing of the exhibit, they found a lone painting in the back corner of the halls, tucked away that most would easily overlook it.

"…" Historia's lips stretched broadly to her cheeks. "How sweet…"

"Yeah…. It is…." Eren likewise felt the corners of his mouth squeezing.

There was nobody left in the hall except for them now.

The piece wasn't attached to any other section or related to the event and was different from a single art piece since it was split through the middle into four equal sections.

The first part showed of a small family, the children playing in the garden with their parents involved, trying to keep up with them.

The second of the children now older, waving farewell to the parents and leaving down the road.

The third of the parents, visiting their children's families and bringing gifts to their grandchildren.

And the fourth with everyone gathered around inside an old collapsing house with the youngest child and oldest parent sitting together with a book in their lap.

The title was a collection of old childrens' tales out of a number that had endured through all the times.

'The Winds of Change'.

---

Late Winter of the Year 840 – Marley Cadet Warrior Camp

When it rained heavily, the earth would turn into a great heap of slopping mud in all directions that could not be escaped. When it also became frozen overnight, and began melting in early morning, it would cause an even greater mess.

In some parts the irregular ground was easy to trip over, in others too sloppy and sticky to keep a steady foot on, and in some parts, the top would have frozen whilst beneath it was fluid and acted as trap holes for the heavy footed.

Weighed down by baggage almost equal to their own weight, running through a messy and constantly changing uphill ground, desperately competing against everyone else and the time limit, the ending was still nowhere in sight after being taught drills all night before this.

"H-Huu… H… H-Hu… ff…" The blond boy collapsed to his knees, barely able to catch any breath. His lungs hurt as though they were cracking and his stomach felt ready to spill open.

Reiner had come out dead last.

All of them had made it an hour ago, completed the second and third drills already and returned to standing at attention before he even made it through the first.

"Seriously why is he still here…"

"Don't you just feel embarrassed? Just give up already."

"Man, why do you do this to yourself?"

His hands turned into fists, wishing he could yell at them. The whispers followed him everywhere when the instructors could not hear it.

Reiner wheezed and slouched against the rifle which he used to hold himself up as he filled up the final row just as the instructors finished the speech.

"BRAUN! GALLIARD!" The sergeant yelled seconds after dismissing the warrior cadets. For a moment the blond had panicked that he was about to be excluded. "You two stay behind!"

He tensely pulled himself on his feet as everyone was looking at him, many smirking and enjoying that he was in trouble once more.

'… Huh, Galliard…?' He realised a moment after everyone began dispersing with Marcel and Porco as well hesitantly looking at each other.

"Sir, which one…?" Marcel asked after giving a respectful salute.

"WHICHEVER ONE MISSED THIS MORNING DRILL!" The Marleyian snorted in annoyance at being questioned but excused it when it came from the top candidate of the whole program.

"… Ah!" Reiner was filled with mixed relief and worry. At least it seemed unlikely he was being removed if that was what he was being blamed for.

As everyone dispersed, he noticed to his surprise that Marcel kept reassuring Porco and waving him off. It was the first time he had heard of Marcel skipping anything.

"Why do you still have your bags?!" The sergeant yelled at him to return his unloaded rifle to the storage before leaving to lock it afterwards.

After he came back, Marcel had already began dragging the coils of barbed wire from a cart which also held a number of steel posts and sandbags.

Their punishment was very mild compared to his past experiences, perhaps since it was the first case of their top cadet. They had been left with setting up the barbed wire across the crowd which the Marleyians had indicated with dragged lines in the ground.

It was likely that the enclosure would be used for other training exercises, perhaps even on their next examination.

"GET TO WORK!" The blond recoiled from looking over the bumpy ground.

"Sir!" They both saluted and began immediately, hauling all the remaining coils of wire which prickled them a few times and began unrolling the heavy metal poles one part at a time.

The ground was hard and the snow had settled, causing them to clear up the space with shovels first, and then dig up deep, narrow holes to drop the metal poles through to mark the boundaries of the wired enclosure.

"O-Ouck…." His skin stung again when another bit of the small spikes dug under his skin and left a small tear in his clothes.

Whilst Marcel had finished his side and was laying out the coils at a certain height, Reiner needed twice the time to complete his side until he could begin tying up the spiked net so it hung horizontally above the ground.

"PUT IT HIGHER!" The instructor yelled at him after he had failed the first several attempts and had to restart the whole thing.

"Y-Yes sir!" He frantically undid the coil, causing more of the small spikes to dig into his skin and scratch his clothes when he fumbled with them.

His hands had turned sore, and smelt of metal both from handling the wire over and over again and from the sweaty mix of blood from all the various scratches.

An hour had passed and he knew his mother would be worried that he was being kept back again. But by the next day she would reassure him that it was a good sign that he was being acknowledged and that it was just a special test for him.

'That's right… she'll be right…' Reiner reassured himself of her words. 'It will all work out soon…'

He tried to wipe away the prickling pain he could feel all over his skin but it became hard to tell where it came from.

"Pretty tough, huh?" Marcel broke the silence, resting when the instructor had left, perhaps for a smoke break.

Compared to himself, Marcel was barely sweating or appeared tired at all.

"Y-Yeah…" Reiner refused to complain and didn't stop no matter how badly his arms ached and the other warrior trainee rejoined him.

His movements were becoming dull from fatigue and sloppy, but all that was just natural by this point. There was nothing he could do to change that except to repeat the process again and again until his body was used to it.

Over-strained by the day, riddled with constant anxiety, and being demanded more.

For him, that had just become the norm.

"I-I…" Reiner's voice was quiet and he considered pretending that he had just been mumbling. "… I'm surprised you were late this morning…"

His aunt and uncle had been in an incident and he ended up arriving at the start of the endurance training after being waved off and pushed forwards before he could explain himself.

"Oh, some things happened you could say," Marcel did hear his voice clearly. "Guess we're lucky the instructors are in a good mood."

"… They wouldn't punish you." He stopped when he realised it came across a bit too bitterly. "I-I mean, you excel at everything so they'd forgive you when you're perfect."

"Aha, I don't think anybody's perfect." The brunet reassured him. "Everyone's got at least a fault or two somewhere."

"..." Reiner wanted to object. From everything he had seen, in his eyes Marcel was the perfect warrior.

In physical strength and endurance, he was unmatched.

In firearms and combat techniques, he was exceptional.

In exams and planning strategy, he was equally excellent.

His leadership skills stood out and he was just as loyal. There was no field he had ever seen Marcel lacking in.

If there was a fault to be found anywhere, it would be…

'No… that's not a fault at all…' Reiner thought to himself. He had pulled up the net of barbed wires and was now catching up on the next section where the coils would twist as he followed Marcel in lining it up properly.

After stopping to sweep away more of the snow again, they raised the poles and refilled the holes in which they were placed after he dropped the shovel on his feet several times.

He could feel them swelling already and painfully throbbing with every step, but hurriedly moved to keep up with Marcel.

It began to rain.

The ground began turning to mud,

Once he had corrected his side again at the instructor's command, the Marleyian had left for the shelter at the corner of the training camp.

Seeing that, Marcel had finished his side of the work and began helping the blond, despite having been told not to do so.

"… Hey," Reiner hesitantly tried to warned him. In truth though, it was a much needed relief and was motivating him in a way he didn't fully understand.

"It's fine, we'll be done quicker this way." The brown haired boy gave him a reassuring smile, "let's finish before they check on us again."

Just to help someone without any hidden reasons, Marcel would lend his strength for another with nothing to gain from it.

That was the one fault he could think of when it came to Marcel. At the same time, he couldn't think of such a thing as a fault at all.

It was the necessary feature of a hero.

"Just like you…" The blond whispered to himself softly, working just slightly faster. "A hero just like you…"

If there was one thing he had seen all the heroes have in all the stories he had read, it was definitely that characteristic.

Strength and loyalty, both supported by that genuine quality.

Without the latter, the makings of a hero would be for naught. Without a real heart, there wouldn't be a genuine hero.

A simple title or pre-desired ambition was just fake.

"I'll be a hero just like you…"

His body shivered a few times when he tried to stretch too much and his joints burned painfully.

"Is that why you signed up to be a warrior?"

The clear words rang in his head which he nodded slowly, his consciousness filled with a dull banging.

They were almost done now. Just a bit more was left.

"… Yeah…" He vaguely responded and pulled his hands around the metal wires. "I'll finish this on my own… You don't have to worry about me, I'll be just like you someday…"

"… In that case, you're already stronger than me." The brown haired figure continued to help him.

"… There's no way that's true… I'm..." He bitterly bit his lip and saw the other boy waving to his side.

"See? I'm still shaking too…" Marcel showed him his arm. Trembling just as he said.

"… Well, that's…" Reiner doubtfully turned away.

His eyes were blurry and he was struggling to feel his legs which were scratched and all the strength had left them.

There was no way he could be sure he was seeing or hearing things correctly right now.

The blond rested his legs down for a moment just to relax them for a little.

Reiner blinked for a while after falling down. He was shaking slightly when he realised he was no longer at the training ground and Marcel was carrying him on his back

"H-Huh?!" He tightened his arms around the brunet's neck, choking him accidentally.

"A-Ah, it's alright." He patted Reiner's arms to loosen up before regaining balance again. "Relax, you ended up collapsing."

"E-Eh… r-right…" The blond looked around, seeing them approaching Liberio already almost completely dark. "T-The task though, I-I need to get the work done or else-"

He couldn't recall reporting to the instructor at all either and they were already far from the training camp.

"Don't worry, we got it all done." Marcel reassured him. "You managed to finish it all off before you passed out."

"… Oh… I see…" Reiner fell quiet whilst trying to think back. He was sure he still had more left before.

With calmly walking paces, the brown haired boy didn't seem affected at all by the added weight he had to carry.

A few times he tried to reposition himself, with his legs caught under Marcel's hands, only to realize that his movements where only slowing them down more.

Even though it was somewhat embarrassing, he had little strength left in his body, certainly not enough to argue anymore.

The lands around Liberio were all flattened and run over, almost like a single wide road that connected to the split city separated by a small wall which grew just a little larger the closer they got to it.

"Our next examination will be coming up," Marcel reminded him, casually shifting his weight, "after that they'll only be a dozen trainees left."

"… Right." He couldn't think of a single reason why Marcel had to worry about that. "I'll compete in the race against you for the top spot."

"You bet." The brown haired boy smiled reassuringly and without any mocking, as though he understood perfectly that Reiner was simply trying to motivate himself.

There was not much he remembered from that day.

Aside from some casual conversation, he couldn't remember anything important that either of them said. While he couldn't say if it exactly say if they had formed a friendship, a comfortable silence continued for the rest of their way home.

The only thing that remained with him for certain was the boy carrying him on his back.

A born hero.

Unlike him, someone who would have been able to accomplish great things.

Someone else who could have accomplished much more if not for him.

---

Early Spring of the Year 853 – Scouts Headquarters

Jean covered his mouth as he yawned walking out of the bathroom and back to the dormitories, enjoying the quiet morning.

Although nowadays, quiet mornings had become the norm, but he felt today was especially quiet since Eren was away for the time being.

Over the past few years, the port city which was now their new headquarters had been reinforced, the captured Marleyian prisoners were housed amicably and the surrounding sea was watched.

"Man, I hope every day will be like this," he scratched his stomach, still feeling groggy from the previous night when commander Pixis had started a drinking competition with all the new garrison members assigned here.

For once, he was glad Sasha had ensured he didn't start on an empty stomach. '… No, that sounds like she's my mom or something now.'

He annoyingly stepped on some stones and kicked them aside. The new Scouts recruits were also put in charge of Captain Levi and had to deal with all the main cleaning duties too.

'Mhm, things are pretty nice one way or another.' He concluded, turning around the corridor. He was in charge of the recruits firearm training in the afternoon and would usually spend the mornings lazing around if he could.

"Boo." The quiet voice sounded lazy but it was enough to make Jean burst in shock and almost trip.

"NWEEGH?! What the hell?!" The ash haired soldier jumped out of skin as he grabbed at the wall to prevent himself from falling. "When did you-"

"I've been here the whole time." Eren curved his eyebrows at him, "you walked right past me even when I tried talking to you."

"HAH?! Don't be stupid, there's no way you were standing there!" Jean paused for a second, blinking a few times as his blurry visions subsided. "No well… I did drink too much but that doesn't matter! You did that on purpose didn't you bastard?"

The brunet Titan shifter shrugged his shoulders. "You really must have drunk too much."

"…?" At that moment, Mikasa was walking down the corridor with Sasha and Connie behind her. She looked questioningly at the pair. "Is something wrong?"

"Jean... did you just go 'neigh'?" Sasha called out to him.

"No I didn't idiot!" He snapped back, dusting himself off as the group loosely began walking together.

"Aaah Jean, keep the neighing between you and your other friends." Connie also yawned.

"See?" Sasha encouraged on, causing Jean to turn around and glare at them. "Everyone thought so."

"Shut up! When will this joke grow old already?!" He growled before smirking and pushing a hand through his hair which he spent many mornings tending to. "Hmph, I've changed in these last years as you can see."

"Woah, you really made it look like a horse's mane." Eren sarcastically clapped as everyone looked at him before Sasha and Connie began sniggering.

"It does not!" He screeched, clicking his teeth, "hah, and what's with you being here so early? Recently you seem to be in a good mood."

"…" Eren paused for a moment. When he thought about it, he did feel slightly easier when speaking to others again. Although he didn't feel himself smiling very often here. "Nothing really…"

"Oh? You sure spring hasn't come for you?" He avoided a light kick to his waist and backed off.

"What are you talking about? It is spring." Tilting his head slightly, and appearing innocent and unaware of the implication while everyone stared at them impassively.

"No that's… not what I mean- ah forget it…" Jean snorted in annoyance.

"… I think," Mikasa carefully said, "I think it's a bit too early for that…"

"Hmph, I'll do it before Eren does anyway…" The Titan shifter coughed to Jean's comment which for some reason caused him to tremble. "And stop sneaking up on me, I'm starting to think there's a ghost here."

"Huh? Jean… how old are you? You still believe in ghosts?" Connie scratched his head. "Oh but I know what you mean about Eren, I dropped a basket on my foot when he appeared behind me."

"It was just an empty basket." He defended himself. Connie had been the first person he found unloading everyone's clothes in the laundry room when he returned.

"Right right, he was messing around with me too!" Sasha covered her face with her shaking hands. "I was in the kitchen after Nicolo had finished placing everything out but the food kept disappearing!?"

"No, actually you were eating two dishes at the same time." Eren had been particularly hungry at that time too but wasn't sure if Sasha would share at that time. "I just had one or two dishes."

"… Me too." Even Mikasa had gotten surprised when Eren appeared behind her. "He's been doing that a lot lately…"

He had done it to test if she was able to see him either with her mixed descent.

"Yeah exactly, he's just being real quiet until he appears." Jean complained as a frequent victim, "hey, see! So I wasn't drunk after all!"

"No, you totally walked right past me. It's an open hallway, where do you think I'm going to hide?" Eren replied, fixing his hands in his pockets as he looked out into the courtyard.

As they disappeared inside, he noticed Floch who was accompanying some members of the Volunteers from the radio room.

---

Mid Spring of the Year 853 – Marley Mid-War Briefing

"Currently we face an unprecedented situation for the first time in decades," the man addressing them was Admiral Calvi, the man with the highest rank in the theatre and who had taken over command. "To turn this situation around, we will begin a new campaign."

With multiple generals in charge of different frontiers now having experienced the different offensives of their enemy, Marley was now beginning to coordinate its attacks.

"We will make a general advance to capture several key cities." The light projector displayed a newly updated map but with many enemy positions still left blank. "From the east, the rivers connect the following places and will allow small ships which will be disguised as commercial vessels to pass through under the bridges."

The risk of being uncovered was great, in which case the mission would be aborted and they would suffer great criticism.

But it was much better planned out than several months ago. Perhaps it had been a long time since Marley had seriously recognized a committed enemy.

'About time.' He glanced to the side from the slashing lights when he saw a mirror nearby, reflecting his expression in it and showing the facial hair that grown since the last time he looked at his face.

After a while, the mirror turned away, reflecting light again onto the wall where the next units structure was shown.

He would be assigned with another Titan shifter to complete the task.

Porco Galliard, was the name displayed next to his.

Looking around, he couldn't see the man around.

'Perhaps that's for the best.' It was quite possible that he would avoid him.

They would be making a pincer attack from different camps, would be watched over by different groups and would be briefed in opposite ends of the battlefield. There was no need for them to converse or be in the same area.

The brother of the boy of a hero that died too soon because of the very fault he had. Porco had chosen to save him instead and that was what it cost him.

The Armoured Titan and the Jaw Titan.

---

Late Spring of the Year 853 – Paradis Island

The sun had come out early this year, one could indeed say spring had come and gone quickly to some people, and the temperatures had soared up to a point where standing all day would make them collapse.

Instead the senior members of the Survey Corps were working in the open wasteland, laying down the railroad ties along a dug out subgrade.

Stretching from the harbour to Wall Maria, the railroad was now being extended on through to Trost district.

"Haah… has anyone mentioned how hot it is yet?" Sasha cried with her head in the ground after she tripped and decided to stay laying down.

"This winter was too cold, now this spring is too hot, what's it take to satisfy you?" Connie complained, fanning himself with his hat.

"Shut up, you're sweating so hard your bald head is shining." Jean replied half-heartily.

"You shut up, I've got hair now anyway." He reached up and pulled more wooden planks from the wagon.

"And besides," Jean dug the nail into the board and hammered it down with a tired swing, "it wasn't just this winter, last winter was the worst too."

"Eh, I really would rather some snow right now…" Armin voiced his complaints too, struggling to stay standing even after he tied his hair up.

"Hmph, let's all spend every moment remembering who w have to thank for this!" While angrily continuing to pound with the hammer, he was able to work slightly faster but more much more sloppily.

Wonky nails had been left in many places and some had been missed entirely as Eren checked over them, shaking the floorboards with his feet to see how fixed they were.

"It's not Eren's fault…" Mikasa didn't sound convinced herself but still felt she had to say it.

"But why couldn't we wait until evening…" Although his childhood friends spoke out for him as usual, there was no point in trying to convince anyone.

He accepted their glaring irritation at him and kept moving carefully amongst the tracks which were pulled out.

In the moments were nobody could see him, he slipped his hand amongst the other supplies on the wagons, leaned down beneath the boards and set up what he needed to beneath the rails.

Glancing up, Wall Maria was within sight. But since it was midday, there was no hope of receiving any shade from it.

The railway tracks were nearing completion now, able to be seen by the new settlers of Shinganshina district.

Approximately 200 metres left.

From this far away, he could easily see the mounted cannons and flying flags, an ideal distance to land against any invaders.

The sun trickled between his fingers with his hand covering his eyes as he stared on.

The Titan shifter blinked, his green eyes staring at the simple iron bars which were now starting to rust.

"..."

24 hours had already passed and the rest of the group should likely have finished the railway by now.

"Are you tired now?" The cell door was already opened by the annoyed guard and Historia was waiting with her arms crossed.

Since he had not slept the previous night before traveling here, he had found a suitable royal guard skipping out on work, knocked him out cold and used him as a cushion to lay his back on.

"I'd tired of the fact I still can't see you every day." The brunet realised he must have dozed off and ended up in the cell again.

He almost doubted if he really had manged to set up the section of the railway yesterday or if it had just been a daydream.

"I see your friends have been released now." She called him back to the present. The whole prison had already been cleared out by now and the only regular occupant had become their hero of Paradis. "I wonder how much time you spent marking all these walls."

In his spare time while waiting for Historia, he would often go looking for trouble to clean up around the palace and was then invited to the cells where he etched the walls

"It's pretty much the standard entrance procedure now." The brunet always had to arrive early and could only wait until she finished her tasks which often overrun into the appointed meeting time without her choice. "Don't you like breaks from paperwork to come see me anymore?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking of leaving you here permanently if you love visiting those prison bars so much." She smirked mischievously. "Oh that reminds me, why don't I officially make this whole place your house? That way we could live together here as well."

"That's very thoughtful of you," he responded musingly as he got up. "I might just take you up on the offer."

His hand touched the bars of the cell and he froze.

The metal was hot to the touch despite being a level underground.

As he puzzingly held it, the sensations became colder, like he was just imagining the sensations.

"… Prison bars… that reminds me…" The Titan shifter mumbled, looking across all the empty cells, in an empty prison, in a full cage.

"Hm?" Historia turned to look behind her.

"These prison bars… they're like those train tracks…" Brushing a hand along the metal again, he scraped along the wall.

"…Eh?" She tilted her head, glancing around the prison. "… Like the train tracks you volunteered your whole squad to install?"

"… Yeah… when we were traveling on the steam powered wagons back down to the harbour after getting as far as we can towards Shinganshina… traveling across those rails… I kept looking back while we were moving away from Wall Maria… I just thought they looked similar…"

"..." The blonde wonderingly stared at him, "… I see."

She could roughly imagine the strange visual image he was thinking of, somehow reminiscent of an art piece they had seen.

Perpendicular metal bars, running vertically and horizontally as though they could be connected by a missing spiral.

Like the prison bars were just a sign of another place for him to travel through again someday…

Being pulled from one prison within another and back.

The strange vision ached in his head, trying to burst out.

"Come, sleepy head." She held out her hand to him with a smile. "Let's go."

He walked forward to close the distance and took it gently. He then smiled and pulled her in, sealing the contact between their lips.

This was not a dream.

The images from a future only grew clearer in his mind.

---

Early Summer of the Year 853 – Trost District

It was the day that the railway was officially being opened. A celebration was being held just outside the walls where a station had been built and the newly constructed train would start making journeys back and forth to Shinganshina all day.

The Volunteers and the Marleyians who had helped in its construction had been brought to Trost as and under only formal supervision as a token of appreciation. Although, not all them were participating at the new station gate.

By now, most of the streets around the edges of the city were empty, and nobody took notice of the two soldiers who simply appeared to be on a patrol.

"If you have a problem then you should say so now." Eren prompted him. He had felt the single pair of eyes staring into the back of his head this whole time.

"… No, it's nothing… I'm just surprised, no actually…" Floch stumbled over his words, thinking them over as they passed a few more civilians that glanced at them before continuing. "I've thought for a while that you don't seem to confide in your two friends, well maybe you do but it's not like before right? Actually I never really paid attention to it, it's just…."

He continued to listen. He had never particularly paid attention to Floch either, although he knew that there wasn't anyone left that he was close to, and had noticed him sticking at his back a few times. He had also noticed Floch forging relations with the new Scouts, and was trying to find those who could be his allies. "Well, you are right about that. I don't confide in Armin and Mikasa anymore."

The Titan shifter answered him. Floch had been helpful to him in the past, even if he probably didn't agree with his past decisions, he didn't seem to agree to the way the Scouts were operating right now.

"Oh, so I wasn't wrong…" He picked up the pace a bit more. "So I'm the only one who knows what you're doing right now…"

"That's right," Eren lied, having informed Historia about the reason he wouldn't be at the opening ceremony. 'Dammit, we could have met up afterwards and gone for pastries instead… maybe if this doesn't last long, I can still make it back in time.'

He hopefully prayed before wiping away his optimistic mood. He already knew this was an important matter and had been waiting for this chance since a year ago.

"I'm glad…" Eren blinked and glanced to Floch who seemed a little red in the face, "I agreed to this hoping you might stir the island into action, but I'm glad that you also must have felt the same way."

'… The hell?' The Titan shifter was getting a strange vibe from his red face but hoped it was just some childish excitement. "That will all depend on what Yelena has to say… and what Zeke is really after."

"Oh of course," Floch nodded along, opening his mouth to say something again a few times before realising they had arrived.

The location was in one of the old houses in the city which was demolished in the battle 3 years ago.

"I'll take over." Floch quickly informed the garrison soldier at the door who nodded and left without a word whilst Eren hid and went around to the back door.

A moment later, Floch had unlocked it and led him inside, sitting down to watch over the stairs as Eren entered the room, climbing up the wooden stairs.

The floorboards creaked to announce his presence, rolling back the hood of his longcoat and quickly checking the room.

Yelena was leaning against the wall, the only person that had declined to take part in the celebrations.

The house had only been partially repaired and there was rubble left on the floor. It was only a few metres to the stairs, so Floch would be able to hear them easily enough if he listened in. Just as Eren had told him to do.

"I'm glad we could finally meet today." Yelena spoke confidently, holding out her hand just like when she first saw him.

"There's no helping it. Your whole group is much more closely guarded than I ever was." He accepted the handshake formally,

"Yes… it seems despite what we've offered, it wasn't enough to trust us." The tall woman made it sound like she truly thought it was a pity. "But I'm sure it wasn't any different for you. From the stories I have heard when I placed myself under their supervision, I was told how you were treated even after retaking this city."

The brunet blinked for a moment and faltered a little. He had come expecting for Yelena to try winning him over in some way. Instead, he paused to realize his surroundings once more. In what felt like an age ago, this had been the place where, what was believed to be the remainder of humanity, had driven back the Titans for the first time.

Here, in Trost district at the heights of Wall Rose, the outer reach of the territory left back then.

"Despite that, the one who saved them all was you." She lightly bowed her head with respect. "The one that carried them forward has been you all along. Without you, there will be no hope for this island."

'No, it wasn't me that...' He certainly didn't think it was him, they had gotten to this point thanks to the actions of many. 'But…'

At some point however, everything had slowed.

He had fully been aware of it for a while, and he couldn't exclude himself from being any different than anyone else. '… Except for Historia.'

"Eren…" Yelena kept her head bowed, imploring him. "If they keep postponing a decision for Eldia, then it will be too late. The military government needs to be stirred up."

"I agree." He knew that a choice had to be made for the sake of the future. "Waiting any more than a couple of months will be too late."

She nodded. "At present, Marley is engaged in the war with the Mid-East Alliance, though as I'm sure you're aware. they should not be considered potential allies either."

"I figured, if anything there's a need to side with Marley for their victory." Eren mused. If the Mid-East Alliance won, both sides would emerge weakened with the Marleyian empire suffering from far greater turmoil which would drag it into further wars and possibly even the breakup of its empire in the extreme case.

If things went down that road, the situation with Paradis would not be able to be settled. The further conflicts would last for many more years, after his death and become the issues of the children of future.

He had no idea what the situation would be like but he could only imagine the gap between the island and the rest of the world only growing.

In that way, for the sake of his own plans, Eren was supporting Marley to win as soon as possible.

"Indeed, all that said, Marley's victory is absolutely firm in the ground." Yelena smiled and reassured him, "so long as Zeke is on their side, it is only inevitable in due time. His plans are weaved by the divine hand of fate."

"And…" He could see that Yelena was fiercely devoted to his half-brother and decided not to cast any doubts on the reality of the courses of a war. "… what is Zeke's real plan?"

Yelena's eyes lit up and she smiled broadly, delighted that he had caught on. Ever since he had spoken over it with Historia many months ago, it had been bothering him. but he was still not a single step closer to figuring out what Zeke's intentions could be.

"Then as agreed, I will tell you everything about Zeke's plan…" She turned her back to him and walked over towards the window as he watched her loo out across the city were the celebrations lights could be seen and heard faintly. "… is the euthanization of all the Eldians."

"… Euthanization…?" He blinked again. It was not a response he was expecting again. "What does that mean…?"

"To convey everything that Zeke had planned to get this far would be a disservice, that is something Zeke wishes to tell you himself." Yelena expressed her own wish for the two brothers to speak themselves. "But to summarize simply, with the power of the Founding Titan that is only possible through Zeke and you, just like the Founding Titans of the past who altered memories, controlled their population and averted disease… you too will have that power. By changing the structure of body of all Eldians, it is possible to save all Eldians from the future!"

'… That's really the salvation…that you have?' His clear mind became captured by old and new feelings which he couldn't sort through immediately.

It was not any answer he had imagined to hear.

He was prepared for something that could endanger the world, some secret ace or knowledge that could he could learn, or being asked to partake in a gamble that would sacrifice the future of this island.

"… All Eldians?" He doubted it once more, not knowing how it related to the two wolds split by the ocean.

"Yes, the Eldians of Paradis, under Marley and in all other countries across the world. And not only them, by saving all Eldians, it would also save the world from the Titans." While maintaining eye contact, Eren never saw her eyes lose their glimmer, nor change at all. "To the last children born now, within another 100 years, they will have passed on peacefully by that time and so too would the power of the Titans."

…

'…!' With a sudden flash, an image of a scene came to his mind.

'Children.'

The idea certainly passed through his head many times when he was in a relationship that was part of his life now.

It would be a lie that he never thought about what such a family might look like.

The child's hair, the colour of their eyes, their expression… if anything he could picture it all too well.

He could see it.

But such a thing could never happen until the future was decided.

Now… the plan that he was listening to…

"Until that time, this island can be kept safe if you put on display a small scale rumbling. Working with Hizuru, you won't have to worry about Paradis who will catch up to the rest of the world in half that time, just like in the proposed plan we first revealed to you all." From how it all connected, she made it sound like they had told them the truth from the start, but not the whole truth.

But from the start there was one detail that he could never agree on.

"And what about the inheritance of the Founding Titan?" He managed to keep himself together unlike how he first learned of it. "What you're talking about is wiping out all Eldians from being born… then, does that not include the line of royalty?"

Compared to this, everything else truly felt secondary.

"I am glad you felt so strongly about it. Just as I thought, you and Zeke are truly brothers." Yelena hadn't stopped smiling for a while, openly admitting that it would be a contradiction. "Since you refused so strongly back then for that one reason, there is another alternative possible. Rest assured, that was merely part of formal plan for Paradis's military government to assure them of the island's security for the next half century. The alternative is simple. Destroying the military might of Marley and all other nations so that they cannot recover for the rest of that time."

"That means, using the Titans within the walls to destroy their armies?" The idea lit him up slightly but he still kept his guard down.

It was something they had thought of amongst the many talks between himself and his lover.

"The warships, artillery, manpower, weaponry, command structure, ammunition and leadership can all be wiped out with the miniature rumbling instead of only using it as a display of force." Yelena grew more delighted as she caught his recognition. "There is no way any nation would ever commit all it's forces but just dealing a significant blow especially on the forces, which can only travel here in a fleet, would be enough to bring them to financial collapse. To gather all their forces on one place to attack this island, if we can provoke them with this aim, the result will ensure this island's safety until it is ready to stand on its own."

There was no way to predict how quickly or easily it would occur, and there was the great risk of instant retaliation if the blow is insignificant, but it was the same alternative he had been pondering on.

He had half hoped to be told some elaborate plan to enter the war and cripple all the sides but that seemed too optimistic now.

"If this is what you really think then…" Eren paused, relaxing his expression to appear as sincere as possible and hide the tumult of thoughts behind him. "I am willing to help Zeke."

"I swear upon my life and as a follower of Zeke." He didn't feel he had prepared well enough for what Yelena had revealed but he felt he could read her well enough at least. "All that I have said to you is the truth."

Eren was ready to cooperate. But only for the sake of a future he could accept.

Only for a future with everyone he still cared for in it.

"When Zeke comes to this island at last, the military will need to be reformed." He nodded to her. Knowing what she really meant by that. "The upper management won't be able to oppose you two brothers. They have now all drank enough wine containing Zeke's spinal fluid by now."

"What…? His spinal fluid…?" He faltered for the first time. Suddenly, he sensed that the trap that had already been sprung.

"That's right, rest assured none of you and your comrades have had it." She continued to explain how Zeke's Titan powers worked, with only him and Floch there to listen. "Right at this very moment, in the ongoing festival, we are sharing those gifts with the high ranking officers. So long as they quickly understand their situation and accept to act as hostages when the time comes, there will be no opposition against you and Zeke here."

It was already too late to try for him to say anything about this. It had already begun.

"Seeing this through is the only way." She stepped forward to him, her pleasing eyes watching him carefully. "The wine spiked with spinal fluid has only been given to the top ranks of the military. The ones who'd get in the way of our reforms."

He fell silent for a while before nodding once more.

"… Eren… Zeke believes in you…" Yelena spoke up again after he went quiet. "You should do the same for him…"

He had said that he would cooperate. But as Yelena picked up on, he had not explicitly voiced his faith about the cause.

The plan of euthanization. What Yelena had told him made sense if only in the sense that it was a realistically achievable solution so long as the enemy was stalled.

For all the time after his term came to an end.

For the Founding Titan to be used one last time, to prevent it from ever being used by anyone again.

For a solution that refuses any choice, belief or freedom to the Eldians that existed in this day, for the sake of a single method enforced upon them.

No matter how he looked at it, he knew he would never follow such an idea.

But… 'Changing the nature of all Eldians… if that's really possible, then couldn't Titan power be erased from the start- no, there has to be some limitations… If anything could have been done, then any of the past kings could have lived past 13 years…'

There was no way to figure out the scope of the power for certain but at least the curse of Ymir could not be undone.

'But what about the power of the Titans…' He realized something. All the past rulers of the Founding Titan that could use it fully, must have tried testing the limits. At some point, they must have progressed the Titan power from an earlier stage and refined it to what it was now.

What they could and could not do.

Lacking that information as always, it was why the roads he could see before him were few, and there was only a single future down a single road.

'Hah… It's still not too late…' But that time too was swiftly coming to an end.

With that, the green eyed man nodded. "I'll trust in Zeke as you said."

"Thank you, I am glad you two are of the same mind." The tall woman extended her hand once for another handshake that he accepted before opening the brunet mouth again.

"There is one last thing…" Eren pulled out the folded piece of paper.

---

6 ᛈᚨᛏᚺ

By this point, he really was getting tired of this empty scene.

A wasteland of dust, a pitch black sky and a single path of light that split it in half, stretching on in both ways further than the eye could see.

Despite having already decided there was nothing he was gaining from spending his dreams here, he still ended up at this place against his will.

Pulling himself off the ash, he saw the dark figure of his guide still largely covered in darkness, the armoured king's spear resting in the ground nearby with nothing better to do than to wait for him.

The existence that referred to himself as Subject F-88 was not exactly a conservationist, just from the few times Eren had tried to ask him about his past, he only gave simple information and never about himself aside from being the Founding Titan from around 850 years ago.

It also annoyed the brunet how he insisted on being called by some letter and number, and would never give Eren any name, as though the individual considered himself as a different being from whoever he might have once been.

"Shall we be off?" Subject F-88 raised himself with his spear acting as a walking cane. Even though the figure bothered him a lot, he had gotten used to treating him as a shadow, seemingly as he wanted.

The brunet shrugged his shoulders, telling him to pick some direction. He really didn't see how it'd make any difference this time around.

It was an empty land which only ever served to lose time in.

"Do whatever you want," The green eyed man didn't have much other idea what else to do. "Unless you feel like telling me more of that Christa Fritz or whatever vague experiment you were talking about."

Continuing on after the figure, he followed the hazy dream-like direction that his legs would take him.

Although he was prompting the shadow to talk, for some reason he felt the more he listened, the faster the time here would pass. It was not up to him when he would fall asleep and next awaken to this world. By now though he had heard the general tale, lost interest in most of it and got the general gist of it down.

"Vaguely for there is little that it is known, and all that I know is what I've told you." Subject F-88 pointed his spear in the direction the line of light traveled through the sky. "Subject F-7 begun an affair with a Marleyian noblewoman, their offspring became hailed at the dawn of the Eldian empire as its saintess for the various stories I've described, whatever the truth may actually be."

Christa Fritz, a kind girl that in her long life, did all the typical good girl stories that he had heard in other stories already.

While he acknowledged practical aspects in the claims that she provided citizenship to Marleyians and other races with the same rights, and establishing a time of peace before the empire's aggressive conquests, everything else seemed to cover her apparent image.

"Following in what was begun by Subject F-7 in a believably futile search for extending his life, Christa Fritz continued the experiments with the 9 and all others subsequently selected in an attempt to create a second Titan of Origin." Even to those in the past, they knew little about the truth of the Founder Ymir. He had heard all the details of the attempts to search for the source of Ymir's power, replicate the existing Titan powers or trying to find an alternative method of inheritance. "All that bore no fruit and as her lifetime came to an end, the then subject F-13 of the time made a pact with the Founder for the future inheritors and the Eldian royal bloodline to continue what that girl left behind. However, for whatever occurred in the centuries after, in the time from there until my forebearer, the past memories have not been passed down in a complete state."

The issue had bothered Eren at first. He understood why he himself could not see the memories of the past Founding Titans, lacking royal blood himself for better or worse, but Subject F-88 had once been an inheritor with the full power of the Founding Titan and yet he claimed he could not learn of that part of the past either.

But after he had talked through everything with Historia, it seemed to make sense disappointingly.

Just like the will to renounce war of the 145th king prevented any of the Reiss family including her sister Frieda to divulge the reasons of Karl Fritz and prevented them from ever using the Wall Titans, the same could have happened in the past any number of times.

The wills of an earlier ruler was imposed on his inheritors.

Binding any future Founding Titan with the Founder Ymir as part of a deal that could not be broken.

That was the nature of the royal bloodline from what they had gathered, from what Historia's sister had become driven by.

"All of this is as I've told you, merely what I've gathered through my time here." A land that had been created at some point and was now serving some use for some possible covenant. "I know neither reason for the Founder Ymir to be the one that brought you here, nor why you did not speak to that girl if you came here at her beckoning. But the only difference I can see is that you claim to be of the present."

"Yeah I am…" Eren sighed. It was just what he had been told before. A tale lacking a start and a conclusion, the leftovers of something long lost and without any further use.

The shadows of the past that had added on from individuals that had nothing to do with him or his own time.

'Christa Fritz.'

That's the only thing that he could gather, that an individual by that name was involved. The name stood out for obvious reasons but there was no connection he could see to him.

"… Is this really all that there is…?" He didn't understand why he had gotten involved in this, why he was dragged here in his sleep, nor why he kept coming back. "Then what's the point… this can't be all that there is to it…"

"Would a beast born in the pen understand the intentions of its master's rearing any better?" As though suggesting that a pet could never understand its owner, Subject F-88 waved off his question.

A beast collared and bound to its own separate world.

Locked within a cage, wall or fence, with an interconnecting world outside its own.

Eren tilted his head and felt himself losing balance for a moment as the image played through his head.

Perhaps amongst all those pens, there may be some who would seek out what lay outside and some may be lucky to escape.

But if what they might be seeking was anything like the freedom he once sought for, there was no guarantee they would not find it in the world of its masters.

There was no answer to be found here.

As though that was the shadow's answer to this world, the brunet stopped in his tracks. The armoured figure wandered further in the proclaimed pointless pursuit before digging the spear into the ground and glancing back at him.

"Even if we never know the full truth…" What he sought then and what he sought now was different. What he wanted was to know the reason he kept appearing in this dream world. What he wanted was some solution to the future now that the time to make another choice was slipping by. The shadow of the past could only tell him parts of stories and unconfirmable impressions of a time long ago. "Even if we can never understand what happened in the past that caused the problems there are left now… if it can be useful even slightly then tell me… otherwise, what's the point of me being here."

A past of conflict which shackled the world in the united memory and hatred of the Eldian empire.

Locked to this day in an unchanging cycle that continued to slaughter Eldians, Marleyians and victims of all races.

"There shall always be an inequality between beasts and masters, even amongst themselves and in all worlds." The shadowed figure avoided an answer again. "Even if the beast escapes from its own world, it has no way of going beyond the walls of its master."

"It should just grow wings then," the brunet sarcastically replied, gazing across the empty sky, empty ground and borderless world. "… But in that case, then this beast… would have to surpass that world."

"… Surpass the world? …"

"If that's what it takes." Eren shrugged, trying to think seriously. "Since you say you don't know anything about it, I'm no closer in understanding what this whole dream world is about… but at least I don't think it's a problem for me right now. What I want is some other answer now that my real world is about to change… a solution to all to all its present and future repeating problems… when I say it like that, I guess it really would take some power that could surpass all the issues and limitations of the world."

"That is… truly impossible. No one can surpass the world. Not even the Founder. The power that created just this world… is merely something that surpasses humans." For the first time, Eren watched as the shadowed figure seemed to lose composure and talk. "This is merely a lesser world that clings to the past… and overlaps between the humans descended from old Eldia. The true world… is not something that could be simply surpassed by what it has birthed in this age."

The way it sounded really only made it sound more like an actual dream world, but founded with the Power of the Titans in some form.

"Yeah… maybe that's all. But it's enough." Eren concluded, taking a step ahead before being closely followed behind by the speared warrior. "I might never understand why you or this world continues to exist… but even if it's some lesser world like you call it, if you say it's something which involves Eldians then that's enough. I guess… it really is humanity that I'm mean by 'the world'..."

Facing against the rest of humanity, a way to resolve the hatred, prejudice and oppression of the world without overriding their own will and freedom.

"However if that's what it takes, I will find a way to surpass the world. This world created by the Founder, humanity's world of conflicts and… the world where all is born." His body sparked with a strange sensation, speaking his mind with ease at the obstacles before him that he was opposing. "I'll surpass them all."

The firm decision backed by his full will was laid down in the land of ash.

The declaration had suddenly turned into an oath.

The goal which he would not give up on now.

"… No, it is impossible. For 2000 years, no one has even been able to accomplish the state that the Founder had at the peak of her powers." Subject F-88 raised his voice for the first time. From the way he spoke, Eren felt as though he was talking of personal experience. "No one could make such an effect on this world, let alone surpass the world as the origin of originator's powers could. It is impossible for anyone to accomplish."

"Yeah, for you it is impossible." Eren stated pitifully at the shadowed figure.

"…"

"It was impossible for all of you… because you were still shackled by the memory of everything the subjects of Ymir continued to do in your age." That had been the key difference from the start, the reason why there was still hope in using the power of the Founding Titan without interference. "Because you were born into a world ruled by Titans, a superpower whose course had been set from the time of Ymir, a world captured and shackled by the effect of that power. A world in which it's truth wasn't hidden behind Titans, behind Walls, behind traitors. A world which witnessed the Eldian empire."

He had not seen the age of the Eldian empire and knew nothing of what the past might have been like. But even so, he could tell the vital differences.

"I'm sure there were some that prospered and rejoiced for every day they lived in the Eldian empire… but I'm sure there were those who wished to seek change. You guys that tried to change the world… because you decided to confront it's unchanging nature that was pre-established by your direct ancestors you never could find a way to surpass it."

He had never seen the shadowed figure's face behind the armoured visage nor knew what the individual now calling himself Subject F-88 had done in his past.

But from the small exchange, he felt that this Eldian king had once tried to oppose what had been caused by the Eldian empire and his ancestors.

"The only ones who can surpass the world… are us, who are born into it blind from the truth."

Only in the present situation was there hope, with the power of the Founding Titan in someone outside the royal bloodline along with another Titan with royal blood.

"... How?" The shadow around the past memory of the man begin to unfurl slightly more.

"I don't know… so, I'm going to seek the answer in whatever happened in the past of Ymir."

---

The earlier sections ended up being considerably longer than the latter ones in the end but well… the events wouldn't have fit to the timeline if I tried separating the main sections more and things were getting long as usual lol.

Amongst the deleted parts during the Jean/Eren talk, I had intended for the Scouts group to see some passing female recruits to which Jean boastfully asks them who they found more attractive between him and Eren in the hopes they would prove his side. The girls would then awkwardly look at each other before pointing at Eren, killing Jean's spirit for a while and skipping away in flushed giggles at seeing the Titan shifter up close. Basically to hint to Eren's fanclub lol, which was mainly men from the looks of it anyway but the scene kept feeling too animeqsue in the end.

---

A Beast bound in unending chains for us long as it lived.

For all that were born into this world, limitations existed from the beginning to forevermore.

They were natural chains that affected the course and result of the life of beasts.

Just as it was to the tired man, facing off against an idea that was rooted in the world.

Trying to fight against the will of humanity, the chains would only add up and drag him down into the depths.

But he had chosen to carry that weight of the oceanic chains until the day came when he could realize what he dreamed of before 'that sight'.