"Alright" Yann exclaimed as he bottled the liquid "that's it for today…"

Dina turned to lay on her back and looked weakly at the man.

"How does that work exactly…?"

The medical engineer wrote a label for the vial.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"One day…" the blonde woman started absentmindedly "…one day, Eren drank some weird serum and gained a new power…"

Yann brought a hand to his chin, thinking intensely.

"Hmm" he spoke after some time "that's probably connected to the royal blood."

"What…?"

"You've unlocked a new power through your obvious contact with your own" he explained "that's what Zeke had done in the past and that's what we're going to do with all your serum."

Dina couldn't focus entirely on what he was saying. What did it all mean for her?

"…If I had some of Zeke's…" she started after a moment "…would I unlock some brand new, unknown power…?"

"You already unlocked one" Yann said "it is unlikely you'd gain anything…"

"If it wasn't me…" Dina spoke weakly "…if it wasn't me, would that be a possibility…?"

The man picked up his belongings and walked over to the door.

"Who knows" he responded "Marley never knew about Zeke's royal blood. We never really experimented with other shifters…"

"Do you, have it?"

The medical engineer looked at her with wide eyes.

"Have what?"

"Zeke's serum" she elaborated "do you have it here?"

"Maybe…" he said, opening the door "…you should rest."

With that, Dina was left alone in the lab.

"We're definitely getting closer!" Onyankopon exclaimed when the air around the plane suddenly got all steamy.

They've been flying for a good few hours now and Dina was surprised to see just how fast the air travel could be. The general direction of Fort Salta was still a long shot, but they could already see that something huge and deadly preceded them on this track.

The waves were unnaturally rough, and the foam was all over the ocean. The steamy air was making it extremely difficult to pilot the vessel and it was getting unusually warm with each minute. They couldn't see the land, however the thick mist all over the horizon, couldn't mean anything good.

"What is the plan?" Levi asked, nervously.

"The rumbling started when Eren connected with Zeke" Marcel spoke "maybe if we break that connection, everything will stop…"

Dina looked nervously towards the fog.

"And just how will we do that?" She asked after a moment of hesitation.

"We localize Zeke and then we eliminate him" the brown-haired shifter responded.

Here she was. The only way to save world was to kill her own son. Two sons, actually. Either she was a horrible mother or a horrible person. Probably both.

Before she could think of anything more, she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Erwin.

"You don't have to be the one to do it" he said with a warm smile.

"Thank you" Dina responded "but it doesn't really matter right now…"

"We're here!"

The skeletal beast was even more huge than Dina remembered. The wall titans were all around it, shielding it from any enemy attack. There was so much steam, that the land was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, she saw a little movement around the monster's spikes.

Before she could realize what was happening, Marcel shouted at the top of his lungs.

"WATCH OUT!"

A barrage of projectiles barely missed the plane, after Onyankopon pulled off a dangerous maneuver to evade it. Everyone fell flat on the deck because of the sharp turn.

"Is that Zeke?" Erwin asked, trying to stand up.

"Looks like it" Marcel responded, focusing on the figure standing on the giant titan "but real Zeke would never miss like that. Something's off about it…"

Indeed, upon a closer inspection, the beast titan was made of white, clay-like bony substance. Almost like another foe that Dina encountered in the past.

"This is the power of the war hammer titan" she explained "it's not a shifter. It's just Eren, trying to keep us away…"

"We have to get closer!" Marcel yelled "as long as we don't know where Zeke is, we have no way of stopping the rumbling!"

"You got it."

As the plane flew forward, they could see that the white figure materialized another huge boulder in its hands.

"It's getting ready!" Erwin cried out.

All of a sudden, Dina saw something unusual. It seemed like a body was sticking out of one of the monstrosity's spikes.

"There he is!" Dina yelled, pointing towards the abnormality.

In this very moment, the beast titan threw another salvo.

They were way too close to avoid getting hit. Onyankopon tried to make a quick barrel roll, but one of the projectiles hit the plane.

The turbulence shook the crew. As Dina looked out of the window, she saw that part of the left wing was missing.

"We're going down!" Reiner cried out when the nose of the plane started to point towards the ground.

"Alright!" The blonde female yelled, taking out Zeke's serum "plan B!"

"What's the plan B?" Marcel asked.

She held out the bottle to him.

"Jump out and drink it!"

He looked at her with shock.

"What?!"

"It's a special kind of serum!" She explained "I think that beast titan's royal blood is enough to unlock a new power within you!"

"Why don't you take it yourself?!"

"My titan is way too big! You are the only one who can pull this off!"

Marcel gritted his teeth and took the bottle.

"Alright" he responded slowly "I trust you…"

The brown-haired shifter walked over to the door and kicked it open. The wild wind got inside the cockpit, but it didn't stop Marcel from leaning out of the plane.

"I hope he didn't keep it in his ass…" he cried out as he placed the bottle in his mouth.

A moment later, he jumped off.

Everyone looked down, to see if it worked.

Suddenly, a yellow flash of light erupted from beneath the vessel. From the cloud of smoke, a different kind of jaw titan emerged. It had wing-like hands, covered with feathers. In place of its skull-looking mask, there was a powerful beak.

The titan flapped its wings stabilizing the flight.

"It worked!" Dina yelled "everybody! Jump down!"

Shifter after shifter, they all safely landed on Marcel's back. The blonde female looked at the only other member of the crew.

"Onyankopon!" She shouted towards the pilot who was still sitting by the controls.

"Just go!" He yelled at her "I'll drive this plane into Zeke, and everything will stop!"

"What are you talking about?!"

"Outside of this plane, I'm useless to you!" The dark-skinned man shouted back as he aligned the vessel on the collision course with her son's body "I'm just doing my part!"

The woman was frozen in place.

"Go!" Onyankopon screamed, bringing her out of stupor.

She jumped down and landed right on the jaw titan.

"What is he doing?!" Levi asked her.

Marcel tried to reach the flying boat, but another barrage from the beast titan flew right at them.

"Take cover!" Erwin screamed.

Dina watched as the plane flew right into the spike that contained Zeke's body.

A giant explosion ripped through the air as all the energy stored within the iceburst stone got released in a single moment.

The spine of the monstrous creature collapsed, and the beast titan figure fell down.

A huge cloud of dust filled the air as the skeletal monster was destroyed, and its remains hit the ground. Suddenly, all of the wall titans stopped in their tracks.

"Did we win?" Reiner asked with a surprise.

It really looked like it. The connection between Eren and Zeke was broken, and the rumbling has stopped.

"Yeah" she responded "I think we did…"

All of the sudden, all the wind around them ceased. The sky got dark, and the clouds had gathered above them.

"This isn't over yet…"

Suddenly, a barrage of lightning bolts struck the place where the monstrous beast was standing, just a moment ago.

In the spot where they had struck, a new titan appeared.

It looked like Eren's attack titan, yet there were substantial differences between it and his usual form.

It was just as tall as the colossal titan. Bones were protruding from its chest, and the face was lacking its usual features.

ROAAAAAAAAAAAR!

The powerful sound it made, sparked a tingle of electricity within the shifters.

"Did he just use the power of the founder?" Reiner asked.

What could Eren possibly be doing? Zeke was dead, so his plans had ended right here. Was he still able to draw on the power of the coordinate?

Suddenly, the titans started marching forward, yet again.

"What's going on?" Pieck asked "we severed the connection!"

They were in a difficult situation. But Dina had one last idea in her mind.

"Marcel!" She started "could you fly above Eren?"

The rest of the team looked at her with a shock.

"What are you to pull off?" Erwin asked her when the jaw titan flapped its wings to position itself right above the new colossal titan.

"I am a titan with the royal blood" Dina explained, looking down at their enemy "if Zeke is dead and Eren is still capable of using the power of the founder, maybe I'll be able to take it away from him…"

It sounded crazy, but what other options did they have?

"I just need to touch it…"

When Marcel was right above Eren's neck, Dina jumped down.

It wasn't a long fall, and it didn't take her long to be within reach of the titan.

'I'm going in!' She thought as she held out her hand.

Momentarily, she had entered the same dreamy, unknown place for the third time in her life.

Dina looked around the white desert. Just to the side, there was a child playing in the sand.

When she walked over, she noticed that it was a kid form of her older son.

"Zeke…?" The blonde woman asked disbelievingly.

The boy turned to look at her.

"Mom…?"

"Oh Zeke…!" Dina ran over to her little son.

"Mom!" Her child cried as he embraced her.

"I'm sorry mom!" he exclaimed between tears "I've been a bad son!"

"It wasn't your fault" she said comforting the little boy "it was mom who made mistakes…"

"I saw dad's memories, mom!" he elaborated as he cuddled into her arms "Eren has shown me… I saw his memories too…"

"Zeke" she started, wiping the tears off his face "we need to stop your brother…"

The boy looked up to face her. He turned around and pointed towards some person she hadn't noticed until now.

"It's Ymir" he explained "you need to convince her to give you the power…"

"Thank you, Zeke…" Dina said, kissing the top of her son's head.

"Mom…" the boy exclaimed weakly.

"What is it?"

The silence was killing her. Seeing her own son in such state, was enough to break her heart.

"I don't want to die…" he said with teary eyes.

The woman held her son even tighter.

"You're not going to..."

"You're lying…" he sobbed "I know my time is coming, mom…"

She sighed out.

"If you had a second chance…" the boy started hesitantly "…would you take care of me like you did with Eren…?"

"I would do anything to take back my actions, Zeke…"

Her son smiled at her.

"Thank you, mom," he said as he nuzzled into her chest "I love you…"

"I love you too, Zeke…"

A moment later, she felt that she was alone. Her arms closed in on the space that her son was occupying, just a few seconds earlier.

Dina wanted to cry. She wanted nothing more than to scream at the cruelty of this world. But she still had things to do.

And so, the woman stood up and walked over to the other female.

"You're different" Ymir exclaimed.

"So, you say" Dina replied slowly.

"That weakling was your son?" The great mother asked with a doubtful expression "weird. The two of you are not similar at all."

"His name was Zeke…"

Ymir looked at her with a surprise.

"The other brother was way more alike" she started "strong, determined and full of resolve."

Dina just stared at the other woman. In a moment like this, she felt no fear.

"Just like you" the great mother continued "just like me…"

"Do you really think so?" The blonde female asked.

"I can feel that you're even more like me" Ymir exclaimed with a sense of respect "perhaps if it was you who came here and not that failure of a man that was your son, I would give my power to you, instead…"

"You keep saying how similar we are" Dina said "I don't get it…"

The great mother pouted at that.

"Oh" she exclaimed "I guess I'll just have to show it to you…"

The Eldian goddess held out her hand. Dina had a rough idea on what will happen, but if she ever wanted to convince Ymir to give her the founder's power, she needed to do this.

"Alright" she exclaimed, taking the hand of her progenitor "show me…"