"There's an island!"
The team has been drifting through the ocean for a few days, now. Dehydrated, tired and starving, they followed Eren's path on the back of the cart titan. Not to mention that their morale was extremely low as well.
Dina looked towards the horizon. The patch of land in the distance seemed to be uninhabited. It was reasonable for her son to choose it as the final point of his rampage. They've gone so far away that she couldn't even tell where her home was, right now.
As Pieck set them down on the beach, the blonde woman tried to stand up.
Nobody else was as eager to do so, right now, but she just had to do this.
Dina walked forward. She didn't know where to look for him, so she was trying to pick the easiest path. If he came here before them, he must've been in a similar state, after all.
It didn't take her too many steps up the rocky cliff, before she finally saw him.
Eren was lying on the small patch of grass that covered the top.
Right now, he wasn't dangerous at all. After he completed the rumbling, he sent all the titans towards some unknown direction. Given all what he had done in the past few days, she figured he wouldn't recover from this.
"Eren" she spoke, once she was standing over him.
The young man looked at her weakly.
"Why did you do this?" Dina asked, with a shaky voice "why did you destroy the whole world?"
Eren just averted her gaze.
"There was no other way" he finally spoke.
"How can you be so sure?"
"I've seen all the possibilities" the young shifter responded "if I hadn't done it, Paradis wouldn't survive the next fifty years…"
So, this was the true power of the attack titan. He could break all limits known to men and apparently, this meant time as well.
"And how long do you think it's going to last now?"
Her question didn't seem to bother him that much.
"It is in human nature to protect those who we care about the most" Eren explained "the rest, doesn't matter."
"You have a son."
"With time" he replied "Armin will understand. After all, I did it for him too…"
Dina fell to her knees. She didn't want to feel sympathy for the murderer that her own child had become, yet something inside her hurt, more than ever.
"I'm sorry…" Eren whispered.
"What?"
"I was a bad son."
The blonde woman felt a pang in her heart.
"In Shiganshina, you said that…"
"I know what I said" he interjected suddenly "I'm sorry…"
"My mother died a long time ago. I wasn't able to save her, then. But after that, a new mother took me in."
Upon saying that, he looked her straight in the eyes.
"You…"
Why was it that she had to watch both of her children die right in front of her?
She kneeled down and put his head in her lap.
"I'm sorry, Eren" Dina said "I'm sorry for letting your friend die, back then…"
"If you hadn't saved Erwin" he responded "Armin Arlert would have done absolutely everything to stop me…"
She looked at him with wide eyes.
"D-does this mean…?"
Eren looked to the side.
"I would have to kill not only him, but all my other friends as well…"
This revelation shocked Dina to the core. Was the rumbling her fault?
"Don't blame yourself" he spoke, noticing what she was thinking about "I was the one who destroyed the world. And I'm going to be the one who will pay for this."
"What?"
Small drops of water ran down the young man's face.
"If the pacifist king was right about anything, that would be the power of titans. It is so dangerous that no man should ever wield it. And no man will ever do so, again. It dies here, along with me…"
For some strange reason, she felt peace. Not because she was happy with the outcome of this war, but rather because she was just glad it was all over.
"So, this is a goodbye…" Dina stated.
"Yes" the young man responded, as he looked at the woman who had become his mother.
"Thank you for everything, mom…"
"Eren…"
And with that, his eyes closed.
Warm tears fell down on his face. Dina was desperately trying to keep everything in and not cry for the murderer of humanity. Yet, that murderer was her son.
She lowered her lips down to kiss his forehead.
Suddenly, the blonde woman was somewhere different. It was a beautiful meadow, full of colourful flowers.
"Dina…" she heard from behind.
To her surprise, it was her husband.
"Grisha…"
"Dina!" The man cried out, running up to embrace her.
The unexpected reunion brought a little bit of much needed happiness into her heart.
As the couple laid back on the grass, she looked right at the sunny sky.
"How is this possible?" Dina asked her husband.
"In his last moment, Eren enabled me to meet you" Grisha explained "that was the last thing he promised me, before I died."
"I remember now. You said that we would meet sooner than I expected…"
"That's right."
"So, he really manipulated time…"
"Yes…"
Silence ensued on the sunny meadow.
"So" her husband started after a moment "who is this Erwin, that I keep hearing about?"
Her cheeks took a new shade of crimson.
"No one…"
"Relax, Dina" he said with a chuckle "I'm dead, and you deserve happiness."
The blonde woman was flustered.
"I never thought about it before" she spoke slowly "I never thought I would make out of all this, alive…"
"Well," Grisha exclaimed as he suddenly stood up "you have some time for yourself, now."
"Dina!" She suddenly heard someone cry out.
It took her a few moments to notice that she was still on the cliff, with Eren's body.
As she turned around, she saw that it was Erwin who came up to her.
"Is he…?"
"Dead" she responded simply "yes. I saw him pass away."
"All of a sudden, Pieck's transformation just ended" he elaborated "does this mean…?"
"Yes" Dina affirmed "the power of titans ceased to exist…"
"Oh."
The two of them, sat on the cliff. It was already late in the day. The sun was slowly setting, and the clouds took a beautiful shade of purple. In the distance, they could see a small ship, sailing towards them.
"Let's just go home…"
