As the young warrior cadets entered the larger room, Ymir Fritz grabbed her head in pain. There were millions of voices screaming in pain and terror. As quickly as it came, it stopped. Her eyes widened and she quietly slipped out of the room. She made her way upstairs to see Yugo crouched over 'Eren' who had curled up in a foetal position. Yugo heard her footsteps and walked over to her.

"Ymir. I'm guessing you heard that too."

Ymir nodded, "Yugo, what the hell happened?" She whipped her head around. "And where is Azadi?" Yugo hesitated causing Ymir to pale. "No. He didn't go back there."

Yugo sighed and nodded, "He's working with the other keepers to stabilise the stacks and cut off the rifts. SNK is getting too unstable. The power of it is way stronger than most of them can handle. The Call is going around to anyone who can help. Sadly, 'Erens' reality just cracked. Anyone left alive there is dead. That was the screaming we heard earlier."

Ymir's jaw dropped. "W-What about the other realities?" Yugo's face said it all, but he confirmed her fears. "It's starting. SNK is ripping itself apart. If those rifts aren't closed off, the universes connected will get hit by the energy. To put it in perspective, if this plan doesn't work, thousands of universes will be destroyed and trillions will die."

Yugo's face hardened as he glared at 'Eren'. "All because somebody decided to send his memories through time." Yugo turned back towards Ymir, "Azadi said to show them Levi. It's the only thing we can show before anything else. No funny business now."

Yugo wiped the tears running down Ymir's face, "Azadi will come back. Trust in him, like we both trust in you."


As Reiner, Annie and Bertholdt got settled with the younger cadets, Erwin turned towards Mike and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Mike." He started.

Mike shook his head, "I just... I froze. I froze because that hairy bastard talked. And I left my team to die alone. I'm a coward." The man was shoved from the other side.

"Hey sniffy. You're the first person who encountered a talking titan, I don't even know if I would've kept my cool for a few moments." Levi said, his face taking on a scowl.

"You upheld your duty until the end, trying to fight the Beast Titan with a chomped up leg. You're as suicidal as the rest of us Scouts so don't push yourself down so hard." Hange added.

Before Mike could so anything but smile at his friends, Ymir came back into the room and without a word, sat down and gestured to the screen as it started playing.

Raindrops fell onto the screen. "Our sole salvation..."

A bloodied Zeke was shown, eyes almost closed. He was being pulled on a cart by Levi.

"...is Eldia's euthanization.

Mike smirked, he knew Levi would be able to take down that hairy fur-ball.

The cart stopped and Levi stood up, "You say something? Euthanization? You're about to find yourself in a Titan's mouth, listening to what it sounds like to be digested."

A cable was attached to Zeke's neck, "Compared to how you stole the lives of my comrades, it sounds like a pleasant way to die."

"I didn't steal... I saved lives." Zeke replied tiredly.

Levi looked down on him, indifferent to his words as Zeke continued, "The lives of the children they would bear..."

"...from this cruel world."

Pieck glanced at Porco, both of them wondering what he meant. It wasn't like Zeke to ramble like that.

Levi spoke over Zeke's final sentence and pulled his blade out.

"Looks like your legs are growing back."

"Isn't that right..."

Zeke's eyes widened and rose his voice, "...MR KSAVER?! I HOPE YOU'RE WATCHING!"

Magath frowned. 'Zeke's predecessor and mentor? Why would he be important?'

Zeke bent backwards, pulling the cable.

Time slowed, raindrops fell past Zeke's head as one of Levi's eyes widened.

The cable pulled out of the spear. Two droplets fell onto wagon, echoing. Zeke and Levi both pulled away, Zeke's eyes closing, Levi's eyes widening.

Hange cocked their head. 'What is that? And why is shorty so... Surprised? No, worried? No. He looked.. shocked.'

Kenny's eyes widened as he realised what that was, having seen the blueprints for it in the interior police's workshop. No! NO, NO, NOOOOO!

A huge fiery explosion blasted out of the spear, destroying the cart.

"HOLY SHIT." Reiner screamed.

"OH MY WALLS!" Connie bellowed.

"What was that thing? Is the Captain alright?" Falco asked Colt.

Captain Levi flew through the air, broken pieces of wood flying around him.

There wasn't a sound coming from the Scouts, the Cadets, the Marleyans, the Officers or the Commanders. Even Kenny was quiet.

Mike watched, his jaw gaping. No, there is no way that just happened. This was Captain Levi, humanity's strongest. He'll just get up, shake himself off and beat the shit out of that blonde bastard.

Meanwhile the blonde bastard in question, face palmed, why is it showing me in such a bad light. I've killed two of their officers now, who's next? Their commander?!

Rain quietly pattered onto the ground.

Mike shook himself. Levi probably just had a few burns and it would show that he was getting up.

The screen faded into two bloodied cut-off fingers in a broken blade.

A horrified gasp rippled throughout the room. Oluo's eyes widened. He couldn't believe it. Wouldn't believe it. But it was proof in front of him. A man he idolized for years had died to some form of explosion. Oluo shook his head, there hasn't been a body yet, there was still hope.

Hange's shocked face appeared, an eyepatch over their left eye, with rain or tears dripping down from their chin.

The noise of the rain increased as it showed Hange holding Levi's bloodied body. The right side of his face was completely bloodied, shrapnel piercing multiple parts of his body.

Oluo's hope had been sucked right out of him. Levi was a hero to him. An idol he tried to reach, tried to be like. He deserved all the attention and the highest degree of preparation. Not to die on a river bank, his own blood soaking the ground.

Erwin's mouth was dry. He didn't dare look away because in his heart, he hoped with everything he had that it was all a joke. Levi was a tough soldier. He saw him tank the swinging arm of a titan once and walk away with a slight limp that was unnoticed seconds later. Mainly to maintain his image but even so, the man was durable as hell.

Levi would grunt, scrunch his face in pain for a second and then he would struggle his way up, a curse at the tip of his tongue ready for Zak or Zeke or whatever his name was.

There was no way…he would continue to lay there…

Two men in Scout uniform stood behind Hange, but their faces were blurred and their voices were garbled. They appeared to move forward but Hange's words stopped them in their tracks.

"He's dead. He got caught in a Thunder Spear explosion at point-blank range. He's in worse shape on the inside, as it's ripped his internal organs to shreds and instantly killed him.

Hange was not entirely aware of their surroundings. It was like their ears and eyes stopped working. The buzzing in their head covered everything while the past few seconds were ingrained on their irises on repeat. Their mind was trying again and again to untangle the images, to comprehend where exactly things went wrong. It was a futile effort as everything was the same; the fire was blinding them and it was a painful contrast with the still, dark shape on the ground.

They had never seen Levi so unresponsive. Even after crashing in his bed, completely exhausted after a several days of butchering titans, he was nevertheless twitching, grumbling or scowling. It wasn't like that in that moment. Levi was not awakening, he was not briefly stunned or comatose. He was dead. Their friend was dead.

Kenny felt a painful sensation in his heart. In front of him he could see the Yeager kid almost ripping his hair out, "No! S'not true-s'not true-it's…not…true…"

Glancing to his left, he could see Gunther and Eld staring dumbly at the floor.

There's no way that just happened. Kenny blinked again and again, trying to get the image of his nephew's dead body out of his eyes to no avail. He took a shuddering breath and slid off the sofa. Nile, Pyxis and Shadis half glanced at him, before staring back ahead, trying to come to terms with things themselves.

Kenny covered his face as tears, something he had never felt before, leaked out of his eyes. I failed you Kuchel. I'm so sorry.

Levi rubbed his face. Well, that was certainly unexpected. I never really saw myself dying like that. He looked over at Erwin, expecting him to make some speech and bring the morale back up, only to see the stone-faced Commander was unaware of his surroundings. Levi looked around to see most of the crowd were either silent or panicky. He arched an eyebrow in confusion when he saw Kenny on the floor, covering his face.

Levi sighed, stood up and cleared his throat. "ATTENTION!" Many of the Scouts straightened at the commanding voice of the Captain. The Marleyan Warriors and cadets were included.

"We'll continue to watch this weird future shit until the end, and once we're done, we're going back to our lives stronger and more knowledgeable then before. Are we not Scouts? Have we not lost great soldiers before? Have we not tasted defeat again and again? There is nothing that will put us down, especially not an overgrown hairball who thinks he owns everything, right?" The Scouts roared. War cries and encouragements filled the room making the Marleyans flinch at the violent outburst. "So let's show these devils our hardened spirits, our iron wills and fearless hearts. The Survey Corps will always prevail!"

What followed was chaos. The Marleyans were lambasted with undistinguishable yells and tears of pride from a crowd of extremely agitated, extremely emotional Scouts who thankfully were weaponless. Levi nodded and sat back down. Erwin looking at him in a mixture of pride and awe.