"Eren" Marlowe said slowly as said man sat in front of him "do you want them to hang me?"

The young shifter just closed his eyes. He knew that his fellow scout was already on board with his plan. He just needed a little push in the right direction.

"The queen is with us" Eren replied after a short pause "it is unlikely that you will face any repercussions."

Marlowe didn't seem too convinced by that.

"What if the officers do something?" He asked reasonably "they still have some hold over the military…"

"Most of the army consists of new soldiers" Eren explained "whatever resistance we shall face, is not going to stop us."

The fellow scout considered everything for a little moment.

"What about Erwin?" He finally asked.

Eren looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I understand that he hasn't been himself ever since the battle of Shiganshina" Marlowe elaborated "but does he really stand in our way?"

The young shifter just looked straight into his eyes.

"Was it all for nothing…?" His fellow scout pleaded with a weak voice "would it be better if he just died right then…?"

"No" Eren responded simply "thanks to you, our current path had emerged."

Marlowe gritted his teeth once he heard that.

"Fine…" he exclaimed angrily "I will become who you want me to be…"

"Just please… tell me… will Hitch live…?"

The young shifter closed his eyes once again, trying to visualise the right memories.

"The three of you will survive…"

Marlowe's eyes widened in shock.

"The three of us…?"

Eren was sitting on a bench as he looked back at everything that happened so far. The war with the Mid-East alliance had ended and thanks to the turmoil it caused, he managed to sneak into Liberio as one of the veterans.

During that time, he would spend days living and sleeping under the same roof as the enemy. The truth was, they weren't any different from his own people. Both Marleyans and Paradisians had their own hopes and dreams, their own families and their own seas of troubles. It almost made Eren reconsider putting his plan into motion. However, every time he would think of doing just that, the face of little Armin appeared before his eyes.

If he was to save his nation, he would need to get rid of his altruistic side. Nothing was more important than this. Indeed, Eren was at the point of no return.

"Ah" he suddenly heard from behind "excuse me mister, I think you might be someone I know…"

Eren turned around to face his half-brother. He looked much older and much more tired than four years ago. Nevertheless, he seemed to be happy to see him. That was good.

"Who knows" the young shifter responded "sorry if I can't remember…"

He was currently at the hospital within the internment zone. His cover up was that he lost a leg, an eye and all of his memory, so he needed to keep the appearances up.

"I'm fairly certain that I know you" Zeke exclaimed "if you don't have anything against it, I would like to talk for a moment."

The undercover shifter took his crutch and stood up with difficulty. Upon seeing that, the blonde warrior reached out to him.

"That's alright" Eren said firmly, before his brother managed to help him up "I'm okay."

Eren didn't know why he said that. Something inside told him that it would put his plan at risk, so he just complied with the attack titan.

"Okay" Zeke slowly responded as he pointed in a direction of some empty alley "let's go there."

Once the two brothers got to their secluded spot, Zeke started to talk for real.

"Thank you for going through with what Yelena told you" he said "I assume no one saw through your disguise, right?"

The young shifter thought for a second about the answer.

"If Marcel or any of the warriors who saw me before ever got here, there could be problems."

Zeke adjusted his glasses at that.

"You don't have to worry" he affirmed "none of them ever come here. Have you talked to anyone else?"

"Only the little Falco" Eren exclaimed "he's very eager to help me with delivering letters to our contacts…"

"Hmm" Zeke pondered once he heard that "I heard you had a little encounter with Grandpa Yeager."

"Oh yeah" the young shifter admitted "he was very lovely."

"You shouldn't be talking to him nonetheless" Zeke spoke up "he won't be able to recognize you, but you can never be sure…"

"I got it…"

Silence filled the air once again. The blonde warrior sighed out.

"Eren" he said, "do you have an idea of why I wanted to talk in private?"

The young shifter didn't actually know the main reason, but his powers told him that to follow the path, he would need to come here.

"Not really" he responded.

"There is a way to bypass the vow of pacifism."

The shocked expression on Eren's face was real and as soon as he heard that, he turned to look at his brother.

"How…?"

Zeke closed his eyes.

"If a person possessing the founding titan is unable to use its power, another person who is capable of turning into a titan can enable him to do so, provided the other shifter has the royal blood."

In that very instance, a new path has unveiled before Eren. As all the new information was running through his mind, Zeke looked at him in a weird way. Almost as if he could sense that something was wrong.

"Eren…?"

"I'm alright" said man quickly responded as soon as the memories aligned themselves "if you knew that, why didn't you tell us before?"

His brother took a deep breath.

"Because, I have my own agenda" he exclaimed as he looked towards Eren "did you ever think about what would happen if we managed to beat Marley?"

"Not really…"

"This cycle of hatred would just continue. Eldians around the world would still be suffering, even more than usual. And the Eldian empire would eventually fall into the state of internal war, once again."

Eren took a moment to think of his answer.

"You may be right" he started "but what are we supposed to do, then?"

"The only humane way to end this cycle" Zeke elaborated "would be to take away the ability to reproduce, from all Eldians."

The mere thought of that proposal disgusted Eren to the core. What kind of sane nation would ever do that? But he needed to keep up the façade.

"Would that even be possible?" He asked after a moment of consideration.

"Long ago, one of the kings used the ability of the founding titan to end a horrible plague. This can only mean that the coordinate possesses the ability to not only manipulate memories, as Karl Fritz had done to Paradisians, but even more, it can change the physicality of Eldians as well."

Eren closed his eyes upon hearing that. He needed to play this out well, or else the path would perish right then and there.

"In the past, I was stupid and reckless" he started "I made a child together with Historia, thinking I was doing something good."

"But once I saw my old man's memories, I realized that no matter how many times I look at little Armin, he reminds me of those kids that Grisha Yeager crushed in his hands…"

Having said that, he made a serious face and looked Zeke right in the eyes.

"It would be better for all of them if they had never been born" Eren exclaimed "I will help you with your mission…"

Upon seeing tears of joy within his brother's eyes, he knew that the path had been saved.