March 4th, 851 - Paradis Island
"I don't believe we should hide it this time." Alto told Eren.
Alto was sitting with Eren, overlooking the construction of the fortifications. 75mm Pak 50 cannons were being wheeled into artillery escarpments and bunkers. Engineers dug out trenches and built bunkers into the cliffside.
"They won't touch Historia, since I'm not only Royal-Blooded, I can also just pass it on to one of my descendants, nor will I or any of them, die of the Curse of Ymir." Alto explained, and Eren nodded.
"You might be right." Eren said, "But what will we tell them? We can't exactly say - 'Hey guys, so turns out we all die in four years' or something like that. Particularly since now we've changed several key aspects of the future. Namely Erwin's and Alexander's death, we have no idea how things will go now."
"We say that we already told Historia, and we were unsure about how to proceed from there. So we simply kept quiet."
Alto looked up, and sighed. "It's almost time. We have about three days."
Eren nodded, "We should tell them before it happens."
"Woah, woah, woah." Hanji said, "Let's backtrack, you guys have had this figured out for months?"
"Well, not figured out per-se." Alto explained, "We never tested it. But after the ceremony, I suspected as much."
"Are you kidding?! Think about it! With a snap of your fingers, we could have freed all the Eldians in the walls!"
"Or, we could've activated the Rumbling prematurely, and caused the end of the world." Alto countered.
Hanji sighed, "Fair point. Erwin, what do you think?"
"I think that it's too great a power not to utilize, but Eren and Alto were justified. There are too many unknowns with this ability." Erwin thought for a moment, "I suggest a trial run. There are still several hundred titans in the northern mountains, let's try freeing them first."
Eren and Alto looked at each other, and shrugged. "Worth a shot." Eren said.
The next morning, Mitras
"So…let me get this straight." Historia sipped her tea, "Erwin is taking you to explore the Founding Titan's power?"
"We're trying to free all the Titans in Northern Paradis." Alto told her, "That's the task he's set for us."
"Isn't that a bit lofty?" Historia asked,
"It is. But I managed to activate the Rumbling with no prior experience." Eren said
"That took the combined power of you, Ymir Fritz, and Alto." Historia stated, "And two of you died in the process."
Eren looked down, unable to argue.
"Erwin is right, we need to learn everything we can about the Founder, even if that means going back to the basics. Go with him." Historia told them.
Eren and Alto bowed, "Sieg Eldia."
Historia's mouth curled up in a slight smirk, "Sieg Eldia."
'We will succeed…I'm sure of it. No matter how many times it takes. No matter how far back we have to go. Paradis - no, Eldia - will prevail.'
As the train left Mitras to head for Orvud District, Mina and Alto took two seats next to each other.
"Hey…Alto." Mina asked,
"Yes, Mina?"
"Do you think we'll really have to go to war?"
Alto paused at her question, then, slowly, nodded.
"Yes."
Mina looked ahead, "I thought so."
"We've lost too many lives to them, there's too much hatred, on both sides of the sea." Alto continued, looking out the window.
Mina looked up at him, "Will we win?" She asked.
Alto stared into her black eyes, and saw the worry in them. But not for herself, but for him, and their future. He desperately wanted to reassure her, to tell her that they'd destroy Marley, but after what he saw…he couldn't form the words.
So he told her the truth.
"I don't know Mina. I don't know."
Several hours later, reclaimed Northern Wall Maria - Helrich District
"Alright you two! Take it steady!" Hanji shouted in encouragement.
As if there was such a thing as 'taking it steady' with the Founder.
Eren inhaled, "You ready?"
Alto nodded, and in a swift motion, the two touched hands.
There was a spark, a flash of light, and then suddenly, they were in a desert.
"The Paths." Alto identified. He looked in front of him, to find Ymir staring at him, her eyes covered in the shadow of her hair.
Eren reached out for her, gently caressing her cheek, "We will free you, I promise." He said to her, she gave no signs of response.
Eren straightened himself out, "Ymir! Bring all the Titans to the outside of Helrich, and free the Eldians trapped inside them!"
She nodded, before touching the both of them. Even though it was a light tap, it felt as if they were being shot as they left the paths.
"Holy shit…" Levi muttered.
Thousands of Titans rushed towards the district, in levels unseen since Shiganshina.
"There were this many just wandering the mountains?" Erwin remarked, "How'd they even get this far north?"
They lined up in a formation, looked up:
And all at once, fell down. Their napes steamed as the disoriented Eldians pulled themselves out of their former Titan bodies.
"It's one thing to read about it….but to see it in person…" Hanji thought of all the Titans they'd killed.
"You were doing them a kindness." Eren said, "They were in a living hell of hunger and cruelty."
Hanji turned back to the Eldians.
Alto inhaled, and bellowed.
"Hear me! Subjects of Ymir!"
"I am Alto Burke, and through the power of the current Founding Titan holder - Eren Jaeger - we have freed you from your Titan prisons!"
"One hundred and thirteen years ago, Karl Fritz abandoned you, and left you at the hands of your Marleyan oppressors. He then proceeded to steal our memories of the outside world, making us ignorant of your suffering. He lied to the world, stating that he would rumble them all if they refused to leave us be, in reality, he was a coward. He would never have rumbled the world, all he wanted was to lead a life of luxury for a few brief years before the Eldian Empire was crushed once and for all."
"I know you despise us. You believe we abandoned you, left you suffering while we lived lives of plenty. And I will not deny these claims, there are those among us who - despite retaining their memories - left you to suffer."
"I assure you, those traitors to Eldia have been dealt with."
"However, there is an even greater threat than the destructive pacifists of Paradis. Marley! has done you a great injustice, many of you did nothing wrong, content to merely live out your lives in peace. However, Marley denied you even that. Like how they denied that to us over six years ago!"
"Marley justifies their actions by stating that it is no less than we deserve. That we should pay for our ancestors' crimes with our lives and families."
"To that, I ask them this: If your father was a murder, and your grandfather a murder, does that make you a murder? I say no! Our ancestors' crimes were their own, and no one else's! I do not deny Eldia has a blood-stained history! I do not deny that the Eldians of the past have committed crimes! But that does not give them the right to pass the punishment to us!"
The Eldians watched in awe as the sixteen-year-old boy spoke with the voice of a Titan.
"They say we should lie down and die! That they treat us with more kindness than we deserve! I say to hell with that! I will fight! For our people! For those who have been left behind across the sea! For those we were forced to release from the hell of titanification! For Eldia! Sieg Eldia!"
The freed Eldians, still disoriented, were hesitant to take up the call, however, slowly but surely, "Sieg Eldia's" were echoed throughout the crowd, before it became a tidal wave of a single call.
"Sieg Eldia!"
Kavalan, Marley
As Reiner ate his lunch, a flash of electricity shot through him, the other warriors, and every other Eldian in the world at the same time, as a cry permeated their minds.
"Sieg Eldia!"
He covered her hands over his mouth, as one horrible fact became realized.
Eren and Alto…had activated the Founder.
A/N: I swear, I've written like - 4,000 words in a single day - so I could not only release this double chapter, but also the Stained Glass Valentines special. If I wasn't in a Writers High right now I would not be able to do this.
Speaking of - please check out Attack on Titan: The Flare Titan - Stained Glass. It's essentially a collection of one shots with no real order (but likely to follow either different perspectives of current events in the main story).
Official Wiki Link:
the-official-flare-titan .fandom. com
