"The battles you face alone are the worst."
Anonymous
Chapter 16: My War
Mercury couldn't stop pacing. Ever since he and his friends entered the room, he just paced around the hallway more times than he could count. Emerald and Nora couldn't help but watch with pity. Ren, however, simply stared at the ground. Nora explained what had happened, earning Emerald's sympathy. Mercury, however, was too busy worrying about Vernal to care about Ren's father.
"Mr. Black?"
Everyone turned their heads to look at a deer Faunus in a white overcoat holding a clipboard. Given his status as a doctor, Mercury ran an injured Vernal over to him and his other assistants at Kuroyuri's substitute for a hospital. And now, he was ready to hear the news.
"How's she holding up?" Mercury asked nervously.
"Her pulse has gotten much stronger. We have her hooked to an IV and she's resting."
"Thank God." Mercury felt a pat to his back, which led him to turning to Nora and her usual smile. Smiling back, he turned back to the doctor. "Can I see her?"
"Before you do, there's something else you should know." The doctor looked at his clipboard. "Vernal seems to be in a deep coma."
"Coma?" Mercury began to worry again. "Aw, man. For how long?"
"I'm afraid only time will tell. But rest assured, we'll be watching her closely while we deal with our other patients." The doctor looked up from his clipboard. "Now, if you'll excuse me, other doctors and patients need my assistance." He left the teenagers alone, and Mercury's first instinct was to rush into the room and see Vernal.
Her pale skin wasn't going away like the veins. Along with that, there was no way to tell how her eyes were. And Mercury couldn't help but feel pity and his heart break at the sight of her changed body and inability to wake up.
"Hey."
Mercury turned to Nora, who comfortingly held his hand. "She's still alive," she reminded him.
"...Yeah," Mercury agreed. "Yeah, that's right." He looked back to Vernal. "You mind giving me a few minutes?"
"Sure. I'll be right outside."
Nora, left the room, leaving Mercury alone with his gravely ill girlfriend. Taking a deep breath, he moved a chair and sat next to her. "Hey, babe," he said. "Listen, I don't know shit about comas, so I don't know if you can hear me."
"..."
Mercury sighed at the lack of response. "Anyways, I just didn't want to leave without saying this. I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have left you alone, I don't know what I was thinking."
"..."
"Actually, scratch that. I was thinking about... a lotta things. The town, all those people, that flying Grimm. I actually killed it, you know. Stabbed it right in the head."
"..."
"After killing that Grimm, and then seeing you like this, it got me thinking. I'm good at killing Grimm, making weapons for other people... but I ain't cut out for this hero shit. I mean, look what happened to you."
"..."
"Right... sorry." Mercury ran a hand through his hair. "Like I said, I'm no hero. But I really like this place. And killing Grimm's not all that hard." Mercury took Vernal's hand. "So here's what I wanna do. When you wake up, I'm not gonna let anything stand in my way. Next time, I'm putting your needs first." Mercury had to wipe his eyes when he made that promise. "I'm gonna make sure nothing like this happens to you again. Kuroyuri be damned if need be, I'm not gonna lose ya."
"..."
"But I... I kinda need you awake for that to happen. Not right now, no. Look, I know you. You're a fighter. And you're not gonna let some pale skin, which you actually pull off really good by the way, or anything else stop you. So... just make sure you wake up soon."
"..."
Mercury sighed as he stood up. "See ya around, Vernal." Placing a kiss on her forehead, Mercury left the room to see his friends.
"You okay?" Emerald asked.
"Yeah, I'll live," the young man promised. He then began to rub his cheek. "But, y'know... my cheek is killing me."
"Why, what happened?"
"Oh, I don't know. I could have sworn I've been... slapped or something." His eyes moved to Nora, who began to chuckle nervously.
"Merc, I'm really sorry," Nora said nervously as Mercury moved closer. "I don't know what I was doing, it was something in the moment-"
"Aw, don't worry about it," Mercury said as he sat down. "If she actually was... you know... I would have been doing that for nothing. I think I needed that snap back to reality."
"Oh, well... I'm glad I was able to-Ow!"
Mercury had just hit the side of Nora's forehead with his finger, having pressed it against his thumb and releasing it. "There," he said with a smile. "Now, I feel a lot better."
Nora gave him a playful shove. "You jerk!" she said.
"Yeah, yeah." Mercury stood up to look at both Nora and Ren. "But listen, guys... I'm really sorry about your dad."
"..."
Nora looked down at the ground, fiddling with her hands. "Thanks, Merc. I-"
"Don't worry about it."
All eyes turned to Ren, who sat up and walked away after he said that. He had been silent ever since the breach was taken care of and they got to the hospital. Kuroyuri's restored order and calmness gave him time to truly grasp the reality of the situation, that his father was gone. Nora was just as sad as he was, but it was clear he needed more time to grieve properly.
But Mercury didn't seem to know that.
"Ren," he called out as his friend continued to walk away. "I really am-"
"Let him go," Nora asked calmly. "He's... really not doing well."
"It might be how he grieves," said Emerald.
"...Right, sorry." Mercury sat down next to Nora once again. "How are you holding up?"
"I... I don't know." Nora fiddled with her hands once more. "I mean, I shouldn't be calm about it, should I? I cried a little when I found out he was gone, but I just feel... I don't know... empty." Nora looked back at Mercury. "What's that supposed to say about me?"
"..."
Mercury, for what felt like the first time in his life, was at a loss for words. It was hard for him to empathize with Nora, given that he hadn't really lost anybody he cared about. He hated his father with a passion, he never knew his mother, and his girlfriend was still alive, despite her condition. And given how she described her feelings, Mercury could tell that he wasn't in the same position as Nora.
"I don't think you should hold it against yourself."
Nora and Mercury looked back to Emerald, who was standing in front of the two of them.
"I mean, yeah, Li would feel bad if it were you or Ren that died," said Emerald. "Ren's pretty messed up, you think you're kinda messed up, so I don't have any doubts he'd be messed up too." Emerald ran a hand through her hair. "Look, take it from someone who didn't have much of a family; it's messed up. And things like this, it's all messed up right now." She pointed to Nora. "You're kinda going with the flow, Nora. And I don't think you can help it. So, don't hold it against yourself."
Nora began to smile again while Mercury was once again at a loss for words. "You know what?" Nora asked as she stood up. "You kinda have a point. And I'm not the only one who's messed up right now." She began to walk outside.
"Nora, where are you going?" Mercury asked.
Nora turned around. "Outside. I kinda wanna clean up the mess. Talk to you later." She then left the hallway, seeing how she could help with the mess Kuroyuri found itself in.
Mercury looked back at Emerald. "Never took you for a therapist," he said in disbelief and with his usual sarcasm.
"I wouldn't call it therapy," she argued. "When you're a thief, you gotta learn how to read a room, and the people in it. Kinda shows who's vulnerable and who isn't."
"Damn." Mercury moved away a little. "I don't feel safe anymore."
"Oh, shut up." Emerald rolled her eyes. "I'm not gonna rob you."
"You mean rob me again?" Mercury crossed his arms and walked out of the hallway. "I got an empty box of chocolate to argue with you."
Emerald found herself walking with him, somewhat allured by his argument. "For the last time, I did not steal your food!"
"You were the only one who knew about my secret stash! I'm careful enough to hide it from Nora, there's no way she would have taken it!"
"First off, nobody uses the phrase 'secret stash.' And second off, didn't you share that chocolate with Eren one time?"
"I gave him some, but I-" Mercury suddenly stopped walking. "Holy crap, we forgot about Eren!"
"What are you-?" Emerald lost her train of thought once she realized what he was talking about. "Wait, you're right! I didn't see him after he went towards the breach!" Emerald reached into her pocket to pull out her Scroll. "Let me try and-Gah!" Her hands were moving so fast that she accidentally dropped her Scroll, which slid on the ground before landing at someone's feet. A hand reached down to pick it up and hand it to two shocked teenagers.
"You dropped this," said Eren, who was covered in Grimm ash. Despite his appearance, Eren seemed to be calm and collected.
"Eren?!" Emerald asked in disbelief. When she got a closer look at him, she began to feel a sense of dread. "Are you... okay?"
"I'm fine." Eren continued to hold the Scroll out, which Emerald finally took. "I had... trouble with the Grimm."
"Uh... yeah, we saw," said Mercury, who was sharing Emerald's bad feeling. "You, uh... kinda went a little crazy out there. What happened?"
"I think... I found my Semblance." Eren looked past his friends and down the hall. "Nora told me that Vernal was here. I wanted to know how she's doing."
Emerald and Mercury looked down the hall as well. When they made eye-contact with each other, Emerald nudged her head towards Eren, wanting Mercury to answer him. "Well... she's alive, Eren," he said. "We think what you did saved her life."
"What I did?" Eren asked.
"Yeah. She was possessed by something called a Chill. When you hit her, the Chill left."
"Oh." Eren scratched his chin. "I vaguely remember something like that. You might be right."
"..."
Emerald and Mercury couldn't help but glance at each other once more, given that Eren's attitude was completely out of place. Nevertheless, Emerald mustered the courage to repeat her previous question. "Eren... are you really okay?" she asked. "They might be busy, but I can get a nurse or doctor for-"
"I'm okay," said Eren. "I came to see how you all were doing. If you're okay... just make sure you take care of Vernal, Mercury." Eren suddenly turned heel and began to walk out.
"Uh... sure," Mercury said. "Yeah, no doubt. You can see her if you want."
Eren stopped walking. "I don't think I have enough time."
"Really? Why not?"
Eren slightly turned his head before walking out once more. "I'm leaving."
"What? Leaving?"
"That's what he said to us."
"What, like, leaving the hospital? We saw him walk outside."
"I don't know. It just... doesn't feel right."
"Well, I think he's heading back home. Let's catch up to him."
Nora led the way back to Eren's farmhouse, where she was followed by Ren, Mercury, and Emerald. She briefly talked with him before going inside, where she was worried about how he looked. And when she heard what he said to her other friends, Nora's concern only grew. While he remained quiet as ever, Ren still followed Nora.
The pace suddenly quickened when everyone saw Eren. "Hey, Eren!" Nora called out as she ran up to him. "Where are you going?"
"Home," he said calmly as he continued to walk. "I need to get my weapons before I go."
"Go?" Nora looked back at Emerald and Mercury, who were nodding. "You told Emerald and Mercury the same thing. You said you were... leaving?"
"That's right."
"Wait, do you mean that you're leaving Kuroyuri?"
"I am."
Eren continued to walk, but Nora briefly stopped when she heard the confirmation. Everyone else followed her lead, also taken aback by Eren's declaration. Once she found her train of thought, Nora ran back to Eren and stood in his way.
"Eren, wait a second!" she begged. "You don't have to do this!"
Eren also stopped walking. "Yes, I do," he said calmly. "I've wasted too much time staying here. I'm stopping the Grimm."
"Stop the..." Nora looked back to Ren, who stared at Eren. Seeing that they weren't alone, Nora carefully took a chance as she asked her next question. "Eren, do you think... she was involved with this?"
Eren slightly glanced at the ground, unable to look his friends in the eye. "...She was."
Mercury and Emerald were confused by the topic of the conversation, but Ren seemed to understand. And he was starting to feel an intense heat build up inside him, one that was ready to go off at any second. Acting on his feelings, he pushed past Nora and looked at Eren.
"How long?" Ren asked. "How long have you known?"
"Just now," Eren confessed. "She sent Grimm to find me, and they did. They came to Kuroyuri to kill me."
Nora gasped while Ren turned his hands into fists. Emerald and Mercury, however, simply moved to the side to talk a little more privately.
"You've been here longer than me," Emerald whispered to Mercury. "Any idea what they're talking about?"
"None," Mercury whispered back. "But it kinda sounds like someone wants Eren dead."
"And they used... Grimm to do it? That doesn't seem physically possible."
"Maybe with a Semblance, I guess?"
"But to send that many? No Semblance can be that strong."
"You'd be surprised. My dad stole other Semblances with his and then used them himself."
Emerald was silent for a moment while she thought about the idea. "Okay, so maybe it's possible. Either way, Eren's in some kind of trouble. Can we help him?"
"I don't-"
*BAM*
"REN!"
Mercury and Emerald turned around to see Eren on the ground, his mouth bleeding. And on top of him was a furious Ren, who had his fist raised above his head.
"My father is dead!" Ren screamed at the top of his lungs. "How did you not know about all this?!" He was about to punch Eren again, but Mercury grabbed him and pulled him off.
Emerald and Nora quickly helped Eren off the ground. "Ren, what the hell?!" Emerald yelled as she looked back at him. When she was met with nothing but silence, she turned back to Eren. "Your mouth-"
"It's fine," Eren said calmly. A light began to shine around his body, and it healed the bruise on his mouth. Slightly pushing past the girls, Eren looked Ren dead in the eyes. "I know how angry you are, Ren. And you have every right to be. I came close to losing something like you." Eren turned to Mercury. "I came close to having something happen to Ms. Fritz and Cinder, something worse than Vernal."
"..."
"So I'm going." Eren turned to face all of his friends. "You're all not going to lose anything else. I promise." With that, he walked away once more, back to the farmhouse.
Everyone was dumbfounded by Eren's monologue, that he truly believed leaving Kuroyuri would be for the best. However, Mercury's first instinct was to look back at Ren and push him to the ground. "The hell you'd do that for?" he asked as Ren looked back up at him.
"Yeah, what's your problem?" Emerald asked.
Before he could answer, Ren saw a large group of people running towards him. Quickly getting out of their way, Ren watched as the people quickly moved past him.
"What the heck?" Nora asked in disbelief. "Where are they going?"
Wanting answers, Ren grabbed the arm of a Faunus he knew, someone who knew his father.
"Mr. Bogs?" he asked. "Where's everyone going?"
"To the Fritz farm!" the Faunus answered as he began to run again.
"The farm? What for?"
"To get some answers."
"Stop it, please!"
"Get away while you still can, Dina!"
"She's not going to hurt anyone! You don't have to be here!"
"But she's one of those Grimm, Dina!"
Cinder couldn't help but cower behind her mother, who was struggling to continue standing. But Dina didn't move from her position, she didn't feel any shame for trying to protect Cinder. After all, a large crowd of people with guns and weapons would scare just about anyone.
Cinder was planning on taking Dina to the hospital when Eren was clearing out the Grimm. However, the townspeople who saw her leave her Titan had come to the farm looking for answers. They were joined by people they told, which included the mayor. The mayor, however, wasn't looking to protect the town from Cinder. He was instead pushing past people to stand up for Cinder.
"Everyone, please calm down!" the mayor begged as he stood in front of Dina. "I too share your confusion, but Cinder has done nothing but protect this town! Whether she was human or Titan, I'm sure that-"
"Let her speak for herself!" a woman yelled.
"Yeah, don't speak for her!" a man agreed. Pretty soon, the entire group was joining in.
"How did she do all that?!"
"Are the other Titans people too?!"
"What about when she almost burned down our houses?!"
"What about the Grimm?! Are they being drawn towards the Titans?!"
Cinder, Dina, and the mayor were all speechless and powerless against the people. Whether they got answers or not, they were prepared to defend themselves against what they saw as a potential threat to them. And the worst part was that there was nobody there to help them.
*BOOM*
An explosion from behind knocked everyone to the ground. Dina felt enormous pain when she fell, given that her legs were badly hurt from the beam that fell. Rather than helping her up, Cinder told her to stay where she was so she wouldn't hurt herself. Given the red light she saw and the steam behind the people, she had a feeling that help had just arrived.
"Everyone... STOP!"
The townspeople screamed and dropped some of their weapons when they looked back on a large Titan standing behind them. Their anger and bravado had disappeared when they felt like ants in the Titan's presence. And whether it was out of instinct or fear, they did exactly as they were told.
"Listen... to me!" the Titan ordered. Just then, it kneeled to the ground and lowered its face. Steam rose on the back of its neck as another familiar face rose up and began to walk down the large body.
"Eren?" one Faunus man asked.
"He's one of them too!" a woman cried out.
"This is getting out of hand!"
"Hey, wait a second! Let's just hear him out."
"Yeah, let him talk."
The mayor pushed past the people once more, stopping close to Eren. "I agree," he said. "Speak, Eren."
Eren simply nodded and looked back to the people. "You came here for answers," he began, much more calmly. "But you're asking the wrong person. Cinder isn't a monster, she's not responsible for any damage you faced. I am."
People began to gasp and whisper among themselves with Eren's confession, wondering what to do next. A Faunus with dog ears was brave enough to ask the first question. "What do you mean... you're responsible?" he asked.
"I'm the one who made her a Titan," Eren answered calmly.
"By choice!" Cinder immediately cried out, causing all eyes to fall on her as she walked up to Eren. "I asked him to do this. I was the first one-"
Eren immediately raised his hand in front of Cinder, in case people were about to charge towards him like Ren did. "I can turn people into Titans when they ask to," Eren continued.
"So you're the first one," a woman asked. "But why do you look like a Grimm? Are you a Grimm?"
"I'm... not sure how I can answer that," Eren confessed.
"Yes or no," another citizen coldly replied.
"...No. I'm human, but... different."
"No shit," one citizen called out. "But... how did this happen? Why?"
When Eren saw the trouble Cinder was in, and the chance he had to confess everything, he wasn't sure just how to do it. He was actually just going to improvise, to answer each question to the best of his ability. However, he had part of a plan of how he could explain Salem without revealing the whole truth. He would be keeping some of his story in the dark, but some of it could also be brought to the light.
"Long ago, I found out why the Grimm are here," Eren explained. "Where they all come from. And the person responsible for making them."
"WWWWHHHAAATTT?!"
"..."
That was one of the reactions Eren expected, as well as the erupted chaos and panic that the people before him were experiencing. Rather than ask for the people to calm down so he could explain more, Eren decided to wait until everyone looked to him for more answers. Once they did, Eren began to piece together the rest of his story.
"The creatures of Grimm are spread across the entire world, from Vacuo to Vale. But I found out where they all come from. I was brought to a place far from here, a place I didn't even know existed. There, I was part of an experiment to create a new kind of Grimm. A Titan."
"Brought there?" the mayor asked. "By who?"
"The Grimm have a master, a creator. Someone who's like them, someone who wants nothing more than to kill us all. Her name is Salem."
"What is she?"
"A human-like Grimm, or a Grimm-like woman. I'm... not entirely sure. All I know is that she was the one who made me like this." Eren pointed at the decaying Titan behind him. "Made me like that."
"But... how did you escape?"
"By fighting, with my Titan. Not long after that, I met Cinder. Then, we met Dina, and... I think you know the rest."
Everyone began to whisper again, remaining unsure whether to trust Eren or not. The story was crazy, and living among apparent Grimm in disguise was an insane idea. Cinder was able to hear this idea through the whispers and decided to help Eren. So she walked up to him again and spoke.
"Everybody, please listen to me!" she requested, hoping to gain their attention. Once she did, Cinder took charge. "You're not entirely wrong, we could seriously hurt someone here. And I almost did once upon a time. But I lost control, and I still regret that accident every day. I've tried to make it up to you by making that moat, keeping you safe."
"..."
"If you're still angry or confused, I understand. And I'm willing to do whatever it takes to gain your trust."
Before anyone could speak up, Eren and Cinder were joined by Nora, who stood in front of everyone. "Me too!" she declared. "I'm a Titan too! The one that can make lightning!"
"Wait, what?" someone asked in disbelief.
"Eren, you made her a Titan too?" another member of the flock asked.
Before she could answer, Ren slowly walked forward. "He made me one too. To protect anyone I could... though Eren may have chosen the wrong person for the task."
"What's that supposed to mean?" someone asked.
"Hey, whoa, take it easy!" a Faunus demanded. "Didn't you hear? Li Ren was killed by that flying Grimm."
"What?" The accuser turned back to Ren, who continued to stare at the ground. "Lie, that's... terrible. I'm... sorry."
Before anyone could say anything else, the mayor stood next to Cinder. "My friends, this is truly a bizarre moment for all of us," he said. "We seem to have gotten our answers, though they may not have been the ones we wanted. But I ask you now, do you see that they are not here to hurt us?"
The crowd was silent for a few moments. People were looking at each other, remaining unsure of the idea. However, one man looked to Dina and had an idea.
"Dina lived with two of them under her roof," he said. "For about seven years now. They haven't seemed to have done anything to hurt her."
Dina tried to stand again, but needed the help of two more people. "I found out a long time ago," she explained. "I knew something like this would happen, so I kept it a secret. In that time, I was able to see who Eren and Cinder really are." She looked towards them and smiled. "My children."
Eren and Cinder smiled at the notion, and were about to thank Dina. However, the sound of footsteps moving towards them made them look to see Mercury walking towards them, who said one thing.
"I found out too."
Everyone gasped, including Eren and the ones by his side. Only he was able to find his voice and ask another question. "Mercury? What are you talking about?"
"I found out about you guys too," Mercury said. "Well, not all of you. Just Eren and Cinder."
"But we were so careful," said Cinder. "How did you find out?"
"On the first night we met," Mercury explained. "Don't you remember? When my old man thought it was a Semblance and tried to steal it with his?"
Eren and Cinder thought back to that night. They knew Marcus Black knew there was more to the Titans than a mere Semblance, which was another reason why Eren couldn't let him live. But they had no idea Mercury was watching them at the time.
"Merc..." Cinder said in shock. "Why didn't you-?"
"That doesn't matter right now," Mercury insisted. "What matters is that you've used your Titans to do nothing but help other people. And it seems you guys could use some help now. Am I right?"
"..."
Mercury looked back to the group of people. "I said, am I right?!" he cried out.
The townspeople began to nod and agree with Mercury, although another Faunus spoke up. "I'm not sure how we can help you, though," he said. "This is... This is big."
"It's huge," Eren corrected the man. "Which is why it's not your fight. I'm going to finish it, I promise. You don't have to be afraid of us, the Grimm, or anything else again. You have my word."
Everyone began to nod and whisper to each other once again. When silence followed, a voice called out and made everyone look to see a familiar man approach them.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I can still see one monster among us!" said August Cedar, who heard the majority of the debate while walking to the Fritz farm. Before anyone could protest his claim, August moved aside and let two members of the defense team walk with a bound and gagged Winter Schnee. Everyone gasped in surprise, along with Eren.
"Who's that?" a member of the crowd asked.
August raised a Scroll into the air. "I'll tell you who this is!" he declared. "This woman is part of the reason our troubles this past week began! She's Winter Schnee, who we found trying to climb up the first wall with her Semblance!"
Eren looked back at the house, remembering where he left Winter and Ymir before leaving. Given that her makeshift cell was laying on the ground, Eren figured she must have escaped when it was destroyed. Seeing how the people wouldn't take the news of Eren hiding an Atlesian very well, he made some alterations to his story.
"We found her last night," Eren declared as he walked up to Winter. "I was going to bring her to you, but then the Grimm attacked."
"Well, you did the right thing, Eren," said August. "We'll take it from here." As he was walking away, Eren pulled out his Scroll and briefly showed a message to Winter when he held it below his waist.
"We'll talk about Ymir later."
The townspeople finally left the farm, taking Dina and Winter with them. Cinder was prepared to go as well, to see if there was anything she could do to help her mother. However, she was immediately stopped by Nora, who told her what Eren's plan to stop the Grimm really was.
"Leaving?" Cinder asked. "Without you? Without... us?"
"That's what he keeps saying," Nora explained. "He wants to go after Salem alone, because the Grimm were here to kill him."
"And we know how that went," said Ren, who was looking at the ground.
"I'll go talk to him." Cinder looked back at Emerald and Mercury. "Look, I know how crazy this all sounds. Mercury, I still can't believe you knew about us, but there's still a lot you don't know."
"Understatement of the century," he said. "But I get it. You go talk to Eren, we can talk later." With that, everyone walked back to the rest of Kuroyuri and left Cinder alone. Given that his old room was broken into pieces and all over the ground, Eren was looking through the pile in order to find Soaring Freedom. He only stopped looking when he saw Cinder approaching.
"I didn't mean for all of them to come after you," he said, attempting to apologize for what happened with the townspeople.
"It was bound to happen eventually," Cinder replied. "Whether it was you, me, Ren, or Nora." Cinder stopped walking when she was arm's length from Eren. "Thanks for explaining everything. I don't think I was ready for all of that."
"I wasn't either." Eren moved back to the pile on the ground. "But I'm ready now. Salem's not going to get away with this."
"So... that's it? You're just... leaving?"
"Yeah."
"When did you decide that we'd be doing this?"
"I decided I would be leaving when Salem attacked me."
Cinder took Eren's arm to make him stop looking. "Attacked us," she reminded him. "We were all hurt too, you know."
Eren looked back up at Cinder. "You weren't the target, Cinder," he argued. "You never were. Salem has no idea you even exist, and I'd like to keep it that way."
"But that means we have the element of surprise. She won't be expecting all of us to go to her."
"..."
Eren knew the advantage was a good one, that Salem wouldn't be expecting an attack on more than one front. But he also knew the risk of losing her, as well as everyone else. He knew that them staying and protecting Kuroyuri would be a thorn in her side enough. So when he looked down and finally saw Soaring Freedom on the ground, he moved past Cinder and picked it up.
"She'll be expecting something," he insisted. "Something that I'm not going to risk your lives over. Salem's out for blood. Now more than ever."
"But this is why you gave us Titans! This is why-!"
"That was before she did all of this." Eren began to dust off his weapon and attach it to himself. "This isn't bandits, a Grimm invasion, or Atlas making a power play." He turned back to Cinder and looked her in the eyes. "This is war, Cinder. My war."
"..."
Cinder was trying to find an argument to show that she was ready for anything, but it was hard to do so when her achievements with Eren were outweighed by an actual war. The Grimm invasion when they were kids was something not uncommon, the Branwen Tribe were just a bunch of greedy outcasts, and Atlas couldn't even rival the power Salem had in her grasp. Maybe Eren was right, maybe she wasn't ready to fight a war.
Before she could say anything else, Eren quickly wrapped his arms around Cinder, catching her completely off guard.
"I wasn't going to leave without saying goodbye," Eren promised. "And I wouldn't be leaving without you if I knew this wasn't a war. But you mean too much to me to just be a life I have to risk. You always did."
It was at that moment Cinder began to grasp the true gravity of the situation; this would be the last time she would see her best friend. The truth was too hard for her to hear, and too much for her heart to bear. Tears came naturally as she returned the hug, and her legs turned to jelly. Eren lowered himself as Cinder kneeled to the ground, crying into his shoulder and holding him as close as she could.
"I'm not ready," she confessed. "I'm not ready, Eren."
"I know," Eren said. "But it's not your fault." He slightly pushed away so he could look Cinder in the eyes once more. Even though the sight of her tears made his heart ache, Eren didn't falter from his decision. "You're a great fighter, Cinder. Probably better than I ever was. But you're not a soldier. And you shouldn't be. This isn't your fight."
"That's... That's not what I meant." Cinder dried her eyes, but more tears fell down in their place. "I'm not ready to be without you."
"..."
Eren wasn't sure if he was ready to be without Cinder either, or anyone else in Kuroyuri. But he knew that there wouldn't be anyone to miss if he didn't do what had to be done. Nevertheless, he decided to make a compromise.
"I don't think I'm ready either," he said as he stood back up with an extended hand. "And I'm not sure I can leave Kuroyuri like this."
Cinder took his hand and stood up. "You... You mean-?"
"Helping the town one more time? One last hurrah? We can talk later."
When night finally fell onto Kuroyuri, everyone was still hard at work. While he was convinced to stay and help the people recover and rebuild, Eren was still prepared to leave once he was confident nothing could easily hurt the town once more.
He found himself taking a break once Cinder called him on his Scroll, saying that Dina was out of surgery and that she wanted to talk to him. So he made his way into the hospital and gently knocked on a door.
"Come in," a familiar voice called out. Eren slowly opened the door and saw a smiling Dina laying on the hospital bed, both her legs in casts. "There you are."
Some of the weight came off Eren's shoulders when he saw how she looked. "You're looking better," he said as he stood by the door.
"I'm feeling better too. Although..." Dina rubbed both her legs. "The casts are starting to itch."
"I can imagine. I'm sorry about-"
Dina's smile quickly disappeared. "Eren Yeager, don't you dare be sorry. You saved my life, and I can always get the house fixed. You have nothing to apologize for." She suddenly got an idea. "But if you feel that you need to owe me something, I'd like some company."
Eren slowly walked over to the bed and pulled up a chair. "Is Cinder still here?" he asked.
"She went to go get some food," Dina replied. "I actually wanted to talk to you privately."
Eren slightly looked down. "So you remember what I said back there."
"As clear as day. And Cinder explained the rest."
"Then you know why I have to leave."
"I don't think I can argue about that. I always knew this day would come, ever since you told me your whole story. So if you think you're ready... I won't stop either of you from leaving."
Eren looked back up with a slightly dropped jaw. "I told Cinder she can't come with me," he said.
"I know. I also know that you were going to talk about it later with her." Dina moved closer to Eren. "I still remember what you told me last night. How you really feel about her."
"That's exactly why I don't want her to come." Eren stood up. "Losing Cinder would be... would be too much."
"Eren, I-"
"And I'm not talking about just me here." Eren moved towards the window. "She has friends here that would feel just like how I would feel if she died." He then pointed to Dina. "And she's your daughter. I know what it feels like to be without a parent... and I wouldn't want to know how it feels to be a parent without their child."
"..."
"You see? I don't want to lose Cinder, I don't want to lose anybody anymore."
Dina looked towards the door for a minute before answering Eren. "You're right," she said calmly. "Cinder's the daughter I've never had. She's my whole world, just like you. And if something happened to her, as well as you... I don't know what would happen to me." Dina began to move to a wheel chair next to the bed, hoping to move closer to Eren. But when he saw this, he immediately moved back to his seat.
"I feel the same way about her," Eren confessed. "Ren already hates me for what happened to his dad, but I know I'd hate myself more if I lost Cinder, or any of my friends."
"There's more than one way to lose someone, Eren. I lost Zeke the day I let Grisha make him a Warrior."
"..."
Dina put her hand on Eren's hand. "If you leave without the people who want to go with you, wouldn't that be the same as losing them?"
"I... Maybe," Eren said, feeling more unsure and indecisive than ever. "But I don't want to make the same mistakes back home. When I left Paradis, people got hurt. People died."
"What do you think your mistake was? Was it keeping Mikasa and Armin in the dark? Was it not telling them what you had to do? What exactly don't you want to do?"
"..."
Dina took one last look to the door before moving in for the kill. "You don't get to make your friend's choices for them, Eren. If you were to ask Cinder to leave with you, do you think she would choose to do so?"
Eren opened his mouth to answer, but a different voice answered before he could.
"Yes."
Eren turned around to see Cinder standing in the doorway. She walked into the room as she continued to talk. "You can choose to leave, you're right. This is a war, you're also right. But I'm choosing to come with you. You making that choice for me isn't fair."
Eren stood up. "I wasn't trying to be unfair," he said. "I just don't want to see anyone else get hurt. You're too important to me for that to happen."
"Right back at you." Cinder stopped walking when she was in front of Eren. "I think your friends back home would say the same. They might have... stopped you. But losing you without being there... that'd be worse than just losing you." Cinder put a hand on Eren's cheek, which he instinctively leaned into. "If you die when you leave... I want to be with you, soldier or not. It would break my heart, but I'd still want to be there. Because there's no other place I'd rather be."
Eren smiled. "Same here." Out of instinct, he wrapped his arms around Cinder. His smile grew when he felt her do the same. After a few more seconds, their arms started to fall down. However, Eren couldn't help himself but take Cinder's hand once he moved back. He then turned around to look at Dina. "I guess... this is goodbye."
Dina nodded. "Thank you, Eren," she said. "For being a part of my life."
Eren nodded. "Thanks for being in mine."
Dina then looked at Cinder. "Cinder, sweetheart... I can't even begin to tell you how much I..." Her eyes became heavy with salty tears, but she didn't do anything to stop herself. "I..."
Cinder let go of Eren's hand and moved closer to Dina. "Mom..." She also began to feel tears come down her eyes. "If you keep..." The tears began to pour down her cheeks. "I'm gonna cry too!" She immediately hugged Dina, who wrapped her arms quickly around Cinder. The two of them wept together, sharing an unbelievable amount of pain and love.
Eren saw how much the goodbye would hurt the both of them, so he left the room to give them some privacy. Following a gut feeling of his, he walked down the halls of the hospital to Vernal's room. Once he opened it, he saw Mercury sitting by the comatose girl.
"No change?" Eren asked calmly.
Mercury looked up from Vernal. "Oh. Hey, man," he said as he looked back down. "No, not really."
"Mind if I come in?"
"It's a free Kingdom."
Eren walked inside and sat down next to Vernal. Looking down on her condition with pity, Eren saw a new reason to leave and fight Salem; to make sure this never happened to anyone else.
"Cinder told me everything."
Eren looked back up at Mercury, who was still looking at Vernal. "I mean, I kinda got the gist when you made that speech, but... she gave me the details," he explained.
"I still can't believe you knew," Eren admitted. "And you kept your mouth shut all this time."
"There were a few things that my dad taught me that I stuck with. One of them was making sure you clear your debts."
"Your debts?"
Mercury finally looked away from Vernal. "You saved my life that night. Finally gave me a chance to split from that asshole. You really did me a solid."
"I wasn't going to leave that cabin without killing him."
"But you took me with you. And it was clear you didn't want to talk about your... Um..."
Eren leaned a little closer. "My past?"
Mercury snapped his fingers. "Well, that and your Titan. Yeah, it didn't take a genius to know you wanted to keep that a secret. So I kept my mouth shut. Figured we would be even."
"Well..." Eren stuck out a hand. "I appreciate that."
"Don't mention it." Mercury gripped the hand and let go. "And cards on the table... I can see why you're leaving."
"...Yeah. Listen, Mercury... I wasn't being fair to you earlier. I just... didn't want anyone else to die."
"No, I totally get it. If you feel you need to leave, I ain't gonna stop you."
"Right. But you offered to help." Eren stood up. "Mercury... if I asked you to come with us, to help us stop Salem... would you come?"
Mercury looked up, his jaw dropping from the sound of that question. Eren wasn't wrong, he did want to help Eren. But the reason for his second thoughts was laying in a bed right in front of him.
"Eren... I can't believe I'm saying this right now, but I... made a promise to Vernal," he said as he looked back on his girlfriend. "I'm not cut out for this hero shit, let alone saving the world."
"Because of what happened?" Eren assumed. Once his friend nodded, Eren sat down once more. "Listen, I understand. Back home, I was losing people from left to right. I had to watch people get shot, eaten... it was something out of a horror movie." Eren pointed at Vernal. "You're really lucky she didn't die."
"Thanks to you." Mercury suddenly realized what that meant. "Wait, you're not expecting me to cash in or anything like that? Listen, I really-"
"No, no, there's nothing to owe here." Eren looked at Vernal once again. "What did you say you promised her?"
"That I'd... start putting her needs over anyone else. Whether it's the town, yours, or anybody else's." Mercury squeezed her hand. "It's all I could really think of, at the moment."
"It's a good promise. She'll appreciate it when she wakes up."
Mercury looked back at Eren. "Only thing is that I'm not sure what she needs now. When she wakes up, I should be here. Try to calm her down once she sees... what happened."
"But you're also thinking about Salem?"
"Yeah. If what you said is true, about this... war she's declared on you... things will get worse for everyone. Regardless if you stop her or not." Mercury sighed. "I'm not sure what to do, but I'm open to suggestions."
Eren sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Look, Mercury... I'm not gonna speak for Vernal here. But having you come with us would be great. You can kill Grimm, we all saw it. And that Wyvern? I'm pretty sure you're invincible for surviving a crash like that."
Mercury chuckled. "I told Emerald we could do it."
"And you did." Eren stood up and extended a hand to Mercury. "I know you blame yourself for what happened to Vernal. But you saved lives today. You got what it takes to help people. As well as her."
Mercury looked back at Vernal, who was still sleeping like a baby. Mercury couldn't deny what he did and what he didn't do, and Eren had a point. His entire time, his entire work at Kuroyuri, it did nothing but help the people around him. Maybe it was the town growing on him, but Mercury felt that not doing anything else would be weird. It just... felt right.
"If we go after Salem... could stopping her help Vernal?" he asked. "Maybe wake her up? Or find the Grimm that did this?"
Eren moved closer to Mercury and offered a hand. "Take this from someone who didn't know this world existed until seven years ago; anything is possible," he said.
Mercury smiled and took Eren's hand, shaking it as he stood up. "I'm all in."
Once the two let go, a new voice filled the room.
"Me too."
The boys turned to the door to see Emerald walking inside.
"Emerald," Eren said in surprise. "Were you-?"
"Oh, don't worry." Emerald stopped walking and leaned on the window. "I only heard everything."
Mercury sprang up from his chair. "Why didn't you say anything?" he asked.
Emerald shrugged. "I liked hearing your sob story. The moronic inventor caring for his lost love. You know, there's probably a poem somewhere in there."
Mercury rolled his eyes. "Jerk."
"Wimp." Emerald turned back to Eren. "Listen, Eren. I think I should come with you too."
"You know we're fighting a war, right?" Eren asked calmly.
"Yeah, Cinder told us what you said. But she's going with you. And that's good enough for me."
Eren sighed. "That shouldn't be your only reason."
"It's one of my reasons. The rest doesn't really matter. But really, do you want my help or not?"
Eren moved closer. "Given what you did with that Grimm... and we could use all the help we can get... we'll be leaving tomorrow." Eren placed a hand on Emerald's shoulder and gently pushed on it as he left the hospital room.
"Seriously, how much did you hear?" Mercury asked.
Emerald smiled as she walked closer. "Your promise was pretty deep. Deep for you, I guess."
"Yeah, well you better get used to it." He began to make a circular motion with his index finger. "See this? I'm tightening all my feelings, right where they should be."
"And here I thought you couldn't get more ridiculous. What's next, the world's smallest violin playing for you while listening to me?"
"Just you wait."
Content with his visit to the hospital, Eren decided to check in with someone who he avoided earlier. Given that their house was still standing, Eren had a good feeling he would find Ren and Nora at their home. So he gently knocked on the door and was greeted by Nora herself.
"Eren," she said in surprise. "It's... good to see you."
"Sorry to come by like this," he said. "I was hoping we could talk."
"Oh, sure." Nora stood aside. "Come on in."
Eren obeyed and moved to the kitchen table. There he saw An Ren, who was looking at a picture of her husband with candles surrounding it. When she heard footsteps, she turned around and smiled. "Good evening, Eren," she said.
"Ma'am," Eren addressed his hostess. Looking back at the picture made him remember something else he wanted to do. "I'm sorry about Li."
"He's in a better place now." An looked back at Nora, who was sitting at the table. "I'll give you a few minutes." She left the room, specifically heading towards her bedroom. Eren joined Nora, who was looking out the window.
"Where's... Ren?" Eren asked cautiously, unsure what state of mind he was in.
Nora sighed as she rested her cheek on her hand. "In the backyard," she said.
"Wait, what?" Eren turned to the window that led to the backyard. "What's he doing out there?"
"I wish I could tell you. When we got back home, Ren didn't even want to come inside. He just... stood at the door for a minute before going out back."
"How long has he been there?"
"A few hours. He took a blanket with him."
Eren stood up from the table and moved to the window. There he saw Ren facing away from the house, resting his head on stone and covering himself in a single blanket to protect himself against the cold. Eren was no stranger to mourning, given what he saw back home and the various reactions everyone around him had when their friends died. But this... was something else entirely.
"She had a lot of questions for us... when we came back home," Nora explained, talking about An. "I tried to answer them the best I could, Ren just stayed outside."
"Did he... explain how it happened?" Eren asked as he moved back to the table. "Did he... see it?"
"...Yeah. It's weird, though. I'd give anything to trade places with him, just so I can at least see him feel a little better. But I don't envy the position he's in."
"No arguments here. Listen, I probably should have explained things better. So that An could understand-"
"She was more worried about why we chose to be Titans. There wasn't anything you could have done." Nora suddenly lifted her head off her hand. "About that... are you still planning on doing something? You're... still leaving, aren't you?"
"I have to. But listen." Eren leaned closer on the table. "I had a really long talk with Cinder. Despite telling her not to, she insisted to come with me. And you know how persuasive she can be."
"Oh, it's more than that." Nora leaned closer and began to smile. "She's got you wrapped around her finger."
Eren chuckled. "I wouldn't say that. She just knows me too well. Just like I know her."
"Well, that's what happens when you've been together like that." Nora's eyes suddenly widened. "Well, I mean not... together together, but... you know how it... Sorry, I'm talking nonsense right now."
For some reason, Nora's loss for words had piqued Eren's curiosity. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I mean, two people who've gone through that much? People might think there's... more going on?"
Eren began to ponder the idea, which actually made him quite embarrassed. "Well... I... Uh..."
The heat on Nora's face and the sight of Eren's cheeks growing red made Nora stop her rambling. "I sound like a crazy person," she said as she lowered her face on the table.
Eren began to laugh again. "You actually sound like Connie," he said, remembering all of the jokes and nonsense he would talk about.
Nora raised her face off the table. "Oh yeah? Who's she?"
"Oh, Connie's not a... Never mind." Eren wiped the sweat off his brow as he continued to talk. "As I was saying, Cinder's coming with me. And so's Mercury and Emerald. And I just wanted to know, if I were to ask you to come with me, would you do it?"
Nora's eyes widened. "Me?" she asked in disbelief. "You'd want me to come with you?"
"Why wouldn't I? You're the Electro Titan, something that can really pack a punch. Salem won't be expecting thunder to rain down from the sky. Don't tell anyone I said this, but you might be the strongest Titan I've made."
"You really think so?"
"Definitely." Eren started to get a bad feeling when he was seeing how surprised Nora was. "Why, you don't think so?"
"Well, I can't help but feel that our fight with the Wyvern said the opposite. It took everything I had to get it out of the sky, but all it really took was Merc and Em. You're making a good choice, taking them with you."
"I wouldn't hold it against you," Eren said assuredly. "That thing practically turned my Titan to mush, along with Cinder's. You're always going to take hits in fights, Nora. The important thing is to make sure you get back up when you fall. And you're still standing here, aren't you?"
"Well, I'm actually sitting."
"..."
After a few seconds of keeping a straight face, Eren couldn't help himself but laugh again. Nora joined him, also finding humor in the situation. He actually couldn't remember the last time he laughed like that, when he was happy and found something in life that was funny. It was enjoyable, and it made a part of Eren feel even more connected to Remnant than before.
"Standing or sitting, you're still here," Eren said as he stopped laughing. "So do you think... you can help me?"
Nora silently pondered the idea, as well as the rest of the town. All day long, she was able to see how scared everyone was. The fear she saw and the stares she received from people broke her heart. She didn't hold it against them, Nora pitied them instead. They felt powerless, hopeless. Nora felt those feelings long ago, and they always disappeared when she had Eren and her friends. And given the fact they were fighting a war, fear for them would be inevitable. And if being with Eren would ease that fear, Nora was prepared to do so.
"You got it!" Nora yelled with her usual smile. "Salem's not gonna know what hit her!"
Eren smiled once again, standing up and offering his hand. But rather than shaking or forming a grip of strength, Nora hugged Eren. Quickly relaxing, Eren hugged Nora back, feeling more grateful than ever to have friends like her.
Once they separated, Eren asked a question. "I was going to ask Ren the same thing. But do you think I should wait?"
Nora opened her mouth to answer, but a voice filled the room.
"I want to kill them all."
Eren and Nora turned to the window again and jumped back at the sight of Ren, who was staring into the room with a neutral gaze. Behind this face was nothing but pain and anger. But where negativity was present, there was also determination for Lie Ren.
"Tell me when you're ready to leave," he said as he moved away from the window, back to where he was laying down.
"..."
Eren looked back at Nora, who was just as disturbed as he was. While Nora was disturbed by the fact she never saw her best friend act like this, Eren was disturbed by the fact that Ren was acting just like him, once upon a time.
And in time... maybe Ren would become too much like Eren.
"Please watch him, Nora," Eren begged. "He's not meant to think like that."
"I'm not sure if I can help him," Nora sadly admitted. "But I'll make sure he doesn't get himself hurt. Or... hurt himself."
"..."
Content with the team he managed to create, Eren made his way back to the farmhouse. When he got there, he remembered that the Wyvern had destroyed his room. He would have left and try to find another place to sleep, but a text from Cinder made him do the opposite. Instead, he made his way inside and carefully avoided the wreckage. Following a hunch he had, Eren moved over to Cinder's door and knocked on it.
"Come in," a voice on the other end called out. Eren opened the door and saw Cinder reading in bed. "Hey, Eren."
"Hey," Eren said as he closed the door to prevent cold air coming in. "I just wanted to let you know that I talked with everyone else. Mercury, Emerald, Nora, and Ren all want to come with us."
"Really?" Cinder put down her book and smiled. "That's great! I told you they'd be willing to help!"
"It's actually good you mentioned that." Eren moved closer. "Because I went to go see Ymir again."
Cinder stopped smiling. "And?"
Minutes ago
"So that's it?" Winter asked. "You're letting Kuroyuri decide what to do with me?"
"I talked with the mayor," Eren explained. "Given the fact your father pulled out of his deal, you shouldn't even be here. You'll be given a fair trial, and then-"
"Trial?!" Winter jumped from her bed and ran to the cell door that stood between her and Eren. "There was no crime committed here! I was upholding the law!"
"There's more than one law around here, Winter. Given the fact the SDC is gone, you shouldn't even be here."
Before Winter could say anything back, she looked to the side. "What was that?" she asked. "You want me to... Right. Right, I get it." Winter looked back at Eren. "You shouldn't be here either."
"Don't worry. I was just leaving." Eren began to walk away.
"That's not what I'm talking about," Winter called back, causing Eren to stop. "You shouldn't be here, on Remnant. Isn't that right?" Eren turned around. "There's more to that story than you let on. I don't know what happened to you, but I know you're not like us."
"I'm still human," Eren said as he moved back to the cell.
"So am I. And so was Ymir. Think, Eren. What happens when we're on that stand, able to defend ourselves. Ymir's in a mood to let a few things slip."
"I don't think anyone's in a mood to listen to you." Eren turned to walk away once more, but Winter's voice stopped him.
"General Ironwood is."
Eren turned around once more. "Who?" he asked.
"The one who sent me here," Winter explained. "The one who knows about the Titans." Eren's eyes widened when he heard this, and Winter simply continued to talk. "Nobody in Atlas really knows what attacked them that night. But we knew there could be more of them, and we were right. Our scientists have called you 'Subject T-01,' but we still know the name 'Titan.' And now I can tell the General who you are and what you are."
"Impossible," Eren said, calling her bluff. "Not from in here, not when the people want to see you dead."
"You said I would be given a fair trial. And Mayor Xing doesn't seem to be someone who believes in capital punishment. At most, I could spend the rest of my days in here. But Ymir's escaped from prison before, she can do it again."
Eren began to see what that would lead to. "And then... you'd actually be willing to-"
"Find the other Titans," Winter finished. "All of that could happen... but I might be willing to make an alternative."
"You'd be willing to put your Kingdom's orders second to what you want?" Eren chuckled. "Maybe you and Ymir are meant for each other."
Winter sighed in disgust. "This is... a special circumstance. One that I'm going to see through to the end. With your help."
Present
Cinder moved closer. "So she's blackmailing you," she said.
"Yeah," Eren confirmed. "I know how we feel about Atlas, but a war with them isn't something we can afford." Eren sat at the foot of the bed as he explained further. "She'll be coming with us, to see if we can help her and Ymir. But I've set up some ground rules."
"Like?"
"She'll be handcuffed at all times, she's not going anywhere near any weapons, and she'll do what I say when I say."
"..."
Eren could tell that Cinder was starting to grow uneasy. Not that he blamed her, having the threat of Atlas looming over their shoulders would be something to fear. So Eren moved closer as he made Cinder a promise.
"If she breaks any of the rules, if she does anything to hurt you... then our deal's off. Along with her head."
Cinder's jaw slightly dropped. "But... I thought you wanted to help Ymir," she reminded him.
"This is more important." Eren instinctively held Cinder's hand. "And like I've said... you're more important."
Cinder smiled once more, as well as attempt to pass off the heat that was rising to her face. So she gently grasped Eren's hand and nodded. "Right back at you, Eren."
Eren smiled again and stood up. He was about to make his way to the door, but remembered the state his room was in. So he looked back to Cinder for help. "My room's, uh... still destroyed," he reminded her.
"Oh, yeah," Cinder remembered. She simply shrugged and looked back at her book. "Oh, well. Sucks for you. Goodnight."
"..."
The apathy Cinder just displayed made Eren's jaw drop. More importantly, he had absolutely no place to sleep. His bed and the couch were both outside, and he wasn't entirely comfortable sleeping in Dina's room. Nevertheless, he began to move to the door.
That was when he heard loud laughter.
"Eren, I'm just joking!" Cinder said as she continued to laugh. "You should have seen your face!"
Eren looked back at Cinder and held his finger out. "You... That was not funny!"
"It's funny when it happens to other people." Cinder moved her finger towards herself, gesturing for Eren to come back. "Come on, you can sleep in here."
"Okay." Eren moved back into the room and laid on the ground. "Could you hand me a blanket?"
"..."
The silence made Eren look back up at Cinder, who was moving closer to the side of the bed. "You can sleep here if you want," she insisted.
Eren stood up and slowly moved to the side of the bed. "You sure?" he asked.
"I'm not letting you freeze to death on the ground. And I'm certainly not going on the ground." She tapped the empty side of the bed. So Eren moved into the bed and laid down. Cinder immediately moved her back to Eren. "But you still smell like Grimm."
Eren smelled his arm, which smelled like Grimm. However, that smell was being blocked out by something stronger. "Why does your bed smell like perfume?" he asked. Taking another sniff, Eren quickly covered his nose while laying on his side. "Aw, man. Now it reeks of perfume."
Cinder laid on her own side, her back facing Eren. "Well, go sleep in Mom's room then. She's not here."
Eren simply smiled as he grabbed some of the blankets to his chest. "Nope. I think I can deal with it."
Cinder did the same thing, while her face became hot. "Yeah, well... I can deal with the Grimm."
The next morning, Eren and his friends were outside the Fritz farmhouse. Rebuilding had just begun, so there were people brining tools and fresh wooden planks all over. But rather than helping with the construction, Eren was looking over a list he made.
"Okay, let's see," he said as he looked up from the list. "Sleeping bags?"
Emerald lifted two duffel bags. "Check," she said.
Eren looked back at the list. "Ammo?"
Mercury took off a gray duffel bag he was wearing on his shoulder and opened it, revealing numerous bullets and tools. "Locked and loaded," he said. "The tools are here in case we break something."
"Good thinking." Eren looked back at the list. "Food?"
Nora and Ren showed two bags to Eren. "This will be enough for two weeks," she said. "Then, we get to go shopping!"
Ren continued to hold out his bag. He then began to move it up and down. "Nora, this bag feels lighter than the time we filled it."
"..."
All eyes shifted to Nora, who was blushing and laughing nervously. But nobody joined her. Instead, they gave her the bag and told her to get more food.
"I'm sorry," Ren said. "I should have-"
"It's fine," Eren said as he went back to the list. "We're not in a hurry. Okay, where was I? Oh, yeah. Money?"
Cinder reached into her pocket and took out a wallet full of Lien. And when she opened it, most of the money fell out.
"Whoa, check it out!" Mercury said as he picked up one card. "This is a hundred Lien!"
"There's more right here!" Emerald said, who had never seen so much money in her life.
"I was thinking the same thing as you," said Cinder. "Even though I told her not to, Mom gave us more than we need."
"Wow, that was nice of her," said Ren.
"More than that," said Eren. "I'm pretty sure these are her life's savings."
"Damn," said Mercury. "Wish she was here to see us off."
"Me too," said Emerald. "Well, the least we can do is thank her."
"I can tell her you guys said thanks," said Cinder. She took out her Scroll and sent a quick text to Dina. After a few minutes, she texted back. "Mom says good luck. And that she'll miss us."
"We'll miss her too," said Eren. "How's she doing?"
"She's not in any pain. She's just... trying not to think about it. Which makes sense." Cinder looked back to the path that led to the rest of Kuroyuri. "Am I the only one who feels sad about this?"
"No," said Eren.
"Of course not," said Emerald.
"Not a chance," said Mercury.
"I too never thought I'd be leaving," said Ren.
"..."
Everyone shared a moment of silence as they acknowledged the fact that things would be changing for all of them. And leaving Kuroyuri was just the start. However, Eren was feeling like he had done all of this before; leave his home to achieve a goal for his friends. He knew the mistakes he made were all necessary, all part of the plan to make things the way he wanted them. But now he had no set path. No connection to the Coordinate, to tell him what not and what not to do. All he had to go on was what he thought was best. And he had to have faith in the friends he made on Remnant.
But he knew that wouldn't be a problem. After all, he had faith in them already.
*BAM*
All of a sudden, Nora fell right in front of everyone. She had come running back with more food, but tripped on her shoelaces in her hurry. Regardless, she looked up and held out her bag of food.
"You can cross off food!" she said with a smile. Cinder helped her stand up while Eren looked back at the lair.
"Okay, the last thing is... a map," he said as he looked back up. He then snapped his fingers. "Oh, wait. I have the map." He opened it, which showed a trail marked in red.
Cinder looked at the map and recognized the trail. "It says we're going deeper into Anima," she said as she looked back at Eren. "Is that where we'll find Salem?"
"No. I heard there was a working airship for sale here. That money might come in handy."
"Do you think we'll really need one?"
"Definitely."
"I don't think we can fly one of those things."
Eren looked up from the map. "No. But she can." He pointed towards two men who were escorting a handcuffed Winter Schnee towards him. Eren told everyone how Winter was involved and how he was going to make sure she would help them as much as he would help her.
"We heard about what you said to the mayor," said the first man, a Faunus with horns. "But are you sure about this?"
"Yeah, it still seems dangerous," said his partner. "For both of you."
"I'm sure," said Eren. "Remember what I said to the mayor. This will be her service to the community she almost destroyed."
Winter sighed as she heard this. "For the last time, I didn't-"
"No one cares!" the Faunus yelled into her ear. He then pushed her towards Eren, who held her arm. "She's all yours, then."
Eren took her arm and silently watched the figures walk away. Nobody said a word to Winter as they began to walk out of the town, and Winter didn't say anything either.
However, this silence was broken when a vast majority of the town moved to the front gate. All anyone could do was cheer and wish them good luck with Salem.
"Goodbye!"
"You be careful out there!"
"Show that bitch who's boss!"
"Come back safe!"
"Take back our world!"
Cinder, Nora, Ren, Mercury, and Emerald were all waving and saying their goodbyes to the people while promising they would be back and stop Salem. The only one who was quiet, however, was Eren. He was once again having a flashback to his life in Paradis. This time, it was before the Survey Corps left to retake Wall Maria, before they lost Erwin Smith and learned the truth about the world.
Eren couldn't help but think about what his journey would be like. Death was highly likely, and perhaps they could learn something new about Salem. Maybe the God of Darkness himself. It seemed the past would be repeating itself once more.
"Oh, Eren. Ever since I met you, you always seemed to live in the past. I think after everything we saw, everything we lost... we've earned a chance to enjoy the present."
Dina's wisdom came out of the blue for Eren. Perhaps it was him reflecting on his past, or just his desire for things to go fine. Regardless, he realized that it was time to start taking that advice.
"YYYYYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Eren yelled at the top of his lungs in enthusiasm. He then turned to all of his friends. "Let's give it everything we got!"
Everyone else either smiled or joined Eren's yell. Winter rolled her eyes as she stood to the side, not making any attempt to escape without her swords or Scroll. Cinder stopped cheering and hugged Eren tightly, her confidence almost soaring through the air. And Eren happily hugged her back, glad that she was by his side.
Author's notes: hey everyone! Hope you're still enjoying the story. We found some extra time to put this together, so that's why we were able to update pretty fast.
Avenging Titan and I still have our poll up if you haven't voted yet. And feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments. And this chapter was sort of the start of our next arc, so we really hope you're looking forward to the rest. Because this one's gonna be a wild ride.
Here's a little glimpse of what we mean.
Even while they continued to walk, the people of Kuroyuri continued to wave and shout at them, praising them for their efforts and wishing them good luck. Once again, the hope of Kuroyuri was united and placed in the hands of Eren Yeager and the friends he made on Remnant.
And somewhere, beyond space and time, another set his vision on their departure.
"Excellent," the God of Darkness declared, who was able to see that Eren was finally taking the fight to Salem. His years of patience had left the deity more excited than before, and now he had every confidence that his efforts would not go unrewarded. All that he had to do now was sit back and enjoy the show.
But before he had the chance to do so, Darkness sensed a disturbance. Turning around, he saw that his red and black world was in the presence of a new color; gold.
Walking closer with his hands behind his back, Darkness watched as the gold began to take form. A body like his began to appear, faceless and also sporting a pair of antlers. Darkness could recognize the sight anywhere. His brother, the God of Light, was now in his presence.
Displeased with the intrusion, Darkness used a surprisingly amount of willpower to contain his rage and act natural. "Brother," Darkness said as he stopped walking. "This is an unexpected visit."
"Indeed," said the golden visitor. "Despite the fact I wished to see you, I did not expect having to travel to this... place."
"Oh, this?" Darkness spread his arms. "I suppose you can call it my home away from home."
"An impressive feat. Though the barren wasteland is not very elegant."
"I never shared your concept of elegance, brother. I thought that would be obvious by now."
"It is."
Darkness turned around in annoyance. "Did you pay me this visit to insult me? Or were you simply lonesome?"
"I must confess, the period of waiting has become lonesome," the God of Light confessed as he joined his brother. "But I have not come here out of a search for companionship, but of concern."
Darkness turned to Light. "Concern?" Darkness chuckled. "I'm touched. But you needn't worry about me. I've never felt better, out here by myself."
"Exactly. Your content has left you vulnerable, brother."
"It has?" Darkness dropped his bravado and paid close attention to his brother. On the inside, he was worried how his plan was falling apart just as it had gotten on track. But on the outside, he remained calm as ever and attempted to play off the idea. "How do you figure?"
"I've sensed a... difference, brother," said the God of Light. "A creation. But not your home away from home. No, this one was... familiar. All too familiar."
Darkness had a good feeling what the intruder was referring to, but had no idea how he could have detected it. He had been careful, cautious, and made sure not to leave the smallest trace. And yet, here was his brother saying otherwise. All he could do now was make sure that these suspicions wouldn't lead to discovery. Once he calmed down, the god began to take control of the situation.
"Brother, you should know me better," said Darkness. "I've honored our agreement. The Nexus remains untouched."
"I am aware," said Light. "But I sensed a fragment of our power, one we have used before." Light moved closer. "It would be wise to be honest with me."
Now it was Darkness' turn to move closer. "Is that a threat?"
"A suggestion. But if it is a threat you wish to hear, then you should know I have no intention of leaving without an answer."
"...Very well." Darkness moved his hand, causing a white light to suddenly appear. "You got me." Turning around, Darkness stared at a large white tree, with its branches reaching the sky. "Are you happy now? Behold, the spoils of your hunt."
Light moved closer to the tree, gazing and observing its various features. However, his wisdom and experience with creation couldn't lead him to understand what it was that laid before him. "The source... Is this..." Light turned around. "What exactly... have you done?"
"I have done what I please, brother," said Darkness, who moved closer to the tree. "You may bask in the powers of creation, but you do not own them."
"That does not answer my question."
"Very well." Darkness raised his hands to the sky, specifically to the branches overhead. "These are what I call 'Paths,' which lead right back to the source of the Coordinate."
"And do what?"
"Tell a story." Darkness pointed to the trunk of the tree. "As I have said, the Nexus remains unaltered. But it is capable of something we did not previously imagine. Like you, I often wonder what could have become of our experiment. This Coordinate starts from where we left it..." Darkness moved back to the branches. "And shows us what could have possibly become of it."
Light moved his head back and forth from the tree to the branches. "You made a way to see what may have possibly happened?" Light asked. "If one thing or another was done differently?"
"Yes, brother. Each branch tells a singular story, some go on while others end. Beautiful, is it not?"
"It is... impressive." Light began to reach his hand towards the main branch. "I too would like to see... what could have become of the remnant we left behind."
"I thought so. But I'm afraid you cannot."
Light turned his head back to Darkness. "You intend to keep this creation for yourself?"
Darkness walked while moving his hands. One movement made the tree disappear. "I did consider sharing with you. But that was before you came uninvited, accusing me of breaking the rules we agreed upon."
"..."
The God of Light found himself at a loss for words. He would call the act of hoarding this creation nothing more than a childish action, one that he would expect his brother to perform. And yet, his reason for doing so were not untrue. Light indeed arrived unannounced and was proven that his claims were nothing more of paranoia and distrust. Perhaps this would serve as a kind of punishment, a reminder that his brother had certain rights like him.
"Perhaps... you are right," said Light. "I apologize for any distress I may have caused."
"You can apologize by showing yourself out," said Darkness. "And knowing I have no intention of breaking our deal."
"...Very well."
The golden figure disappeared, leaving a content and relieved Darkness. He mentally reminded himself that he should be more careful, unsure how his brother could have sensed his actions. Regardless, he also felt a sense of pride for his actions, being able to pull off the performance of a lifetime.
