Creation began on 01-20-22
Creation ended on 02-06-22
Attack on Titan
Attack on Titan: Absolution
It wasn't everyday that people saw the Colossal Titan a third time, the Armored Titan a second time, and another Titan that, unlike the previous Titans encountered in the past, possessed a feminine appearance. However, it was also not everyday that people saw a trio of Titans appear and give the impression that they were there to surrender, either. Then, the Colossal Titan made a gesture with its right hand…and pointed towards a space away from Shiganshina, where there was ample room to move around in the open, and it moved beside the wall.
"What's going on here?!" A man demanded.
A lot of people were wondering the same thing. Just what was it that was going on here?
-x-
Strange vehicles that moved in the air fell from the sky as they were hit by debris in random scatter shots made by the Titan that had attacked Liberio. They struck the ground and exploded minutely as it continued to move about. Looking down in front of it, it saw a man and woman trying to crawl out of the rubble it created from the demolishing of a building…and brought its left foot down on them.
Ensure no one that can become a threat at a later time, thought the young man within the Titan body, caring not for the fact that they were injured or helpless, only that they could become a threat later on, despite how impossible that seemed.
Gathering another handful of debris again, the Titan hurled it across the air and watched as it caused several more of these…aircraft to get damaged and fall from the sky.
-x-
"…This isn't some mindless Titan!" A man yelled at several other men in a room. "It attacks people and buildings! It took potshots at our aircraft!"
"It decimated Liberio within only a few hours," another man stated. "It killed everyone it could get close enough to. It had to have come from Paradis!
"But to send just one Titan? If it were more than one, and the size of the Colossal, we'd have the Rumbling on our hands. This one is just fifteen meters…and barbaric."
"Barbaric or not, fifteen meters or not, it's killing our people wherever it goes! We need to dispose of it before it moves beyond Marley!"
"So far, it's been moving southwest, starting with Liberio," an older man understood as he pointed to a map on the table. "It hasn't progressed with the towns and cities in the eastern parts of Marley yet. Contact the Tyburs."
Gasp! A collective gasp from the other men was heard.
"All our other Titans are currently on Paradis," he reminded them. "We are defenseless without the Titans we can control, and if they're compromised, we don't have any alternatives. We will require the aid…of the War Hammer Titan."
But…it was easier said than done, the strategy to defend what was left of their nation. They weren't sure what sort of Titan they were dealing with; for all they knew, it was an abnormal one that had enough recollection in its past to act with violence towards others and make random moves that bordered on strategic thinking. Unless it was one of the Nine Titans, it was one they had little knowledge of; with the limited understanding they had of the Founding Titan, they knew next to nothing about the other Titan that they never had the chance to acquire in the past: The Attack Titan. All they ever understood about that particular Titan…was that it eluded their grasp for over a century, being handed down from one Eldian to the next, in secret, and hadn't been seen by anyone.
-x-
They were…evaporating like the Titans that were slain did, but upon kneeling down and exposing themselves, there was a sight that not many expected to see at any point in their lives. There were…three people emerging from their necks. Two guys and a girl, dressed in the uniform of the Survey Corps and Military Police, respectively.
"No way," Hange expressed, unable to believe what she was seeing.
Levi, prepared to take out his blades if they tried anything, also couldn't believe what he was seeing in front of them.
The two men and woman raised their arms up in surrender in front of the Survey Corps and Garrison members.
"We just want to talk," the blond-haired man uttered to them.
-x-
During the commotion, Eren had slipped away from the town and went over to the Survey Corps base where the Titan they had captured was being held. It was exactly as he had remembered it when he saw it five years ago; as a giant with a twisted smile, it wasn't something he could just forget due to the fact that it murdered his mother before it ate her. But Eren wasn't here right now for revenge. No, revenge would've been self-satisfactory, without any aim towards helping others. Right here and now, Eren was set on doing something else that was different from what had once been desired by him years ago.
What you did wasn't your fault entirely, he thought as he approached the bound and weakened Titan. In this state, you don't have a choice in anything you do. I understand that. Still…I can't stand the sight of you when you're like this. You're repulsive…and you don't deserve to be.
Nobody was around; because the Survey Corps had taken every precaution to ensure that this Titan was kept away from sunlight and restrained, and the fact that it didn't move much right now, this gave Eren ample time to do what he was here to do. He raised his right hand to the Titan's head and made contact with its flesh.
Flash! He felt himself drawn back to that place again, standing before the tree of light where the girl was standing.
You came for her, he heard the girl's voice in his head.
"And you…just as I promised you I would," he uttered.
If you release me now, the powers that be within the Nine Titans born from my death will be loose from restraint, meaning the other half of you that possesses the Attack Titan…will be unbound by any further limitations set upon the Titan.
"Even so, the power of the Titans will depart this world once all Eldians that could exploit them have been made to realize that such a power is only malevolent when hatred and revenge become excessive and intoxicating. And the curse that befalls all that use the power will be undone, enabling them to live a full life rather than one that has a shorter timeframe."
Your darkest side will not stop, even if his life has been spared from a fate far worse than what was decided upon long ago. He will not cease his attack on the world. He will not stop unless stopped by others.
"And I will help stop him."
Neither can truly live while the other one continues to survive. So long as light and dark are distant, there will never be a unified soul. Forever must the light overcome the chaos of the darkness…and forever must the darkness be kept in balance by the purity of the light. Will you sacrifice…your future to ensure that those that have suffered…and continue to suffer…will have a future?
"I believe…that my future was already forfeit the day I received this power from my father. I must do whatever I can to protect my friends from the worst side of me that has no pity or remorse, no fear or compassion…and no sense of mercy. Ymir Fritz…I release you from your eternity within this place. You are free to move on. Move on, find peace, reincarnate into another life that promises a future more gratifying than the one you had before. I grant you your absolution, which has been long overdue. You are free now."
The girl smiled at him upon hearing those words. It was a long time ago that she fell into that pool inside the tree and became the host of a creature that latched onto her and gave her strength, power, which she then used to serve a man that knew nothing of love. For thirteen years, she served him, gave him daughters, and died for him, and then…she was still bound to him…because she had hoped that, in one way or another, she would receive the love he had denied her. But now…having been released from her eternity by a man…or rather, half a man, unbound by such desires, and he was willing to give up his future if it meant protecting the people from his other self that would destroy them. If she ever made the choice to live again in the world, she would hope that, in one way or another, he would be in it, as well.
Thank you…Eren Yeager, she praised him as she vanished from sight.
Moments later, Eren was back in the base on the mountain, slightly dazed by what he had experienced. He looked in front of himself…and saw a naked woman with blond hair on the ground, covered in sweat as she groaned. Removing his cloak, he lowered to his knees and covered her with it.
"Welcome back to the world…Dina Yeager," he greeted kindly as she looked up at him.
"How…how long…" She tried to ask, but was exhausted.
"Less than twenty years, over thirteen years."
"Has it really been that long?"
Helping her up to her feet, Eren nodded that it has been this long. There was other information he would need to confide in her about, but only after she had recovered from being a Titan for such a long time. He could still feel the power of the Founding Titan within him, but it was different from before; what was once a requirement of its usage was no longer valid, but tied to his very life now…and if he died, the power would follow him to the grave, or if he was consumed by another Titan, the power would be transferred over to them for them to exploit. It was a hard status to have, but he accepted it due to two things that were now fact because of his choice: The curse of Ymir was no longer in force, removing the thirteen-year reduction in living…and those of royal blood no longer needed to be exploited to possess the Founding Titan.
-x-
"…Talk to Eren Yeager," said Reiner to Erwin as he, Bertolt and Annie were sitting in front of the leader of the Survey Corps, chained. "He'll confirm that we speak the truth."
"Eren Yeager?" Erwin questioned.
"A former cadet from the training corps," said one of the instructors that had to vouch for the three people that revealed themselves to be Titans that attacked five years ago. "He also graduated in the top ten like these three, but he joined the Garrison. Why would he vouch for you three, anyway?"
"Because he convinced us to surrender after learning something terrible," Bertolt explained.
"Something terrible?" Levi responded, suspicious.
"Do you believe in evil twins?" Annie asked him. "That is what we're dealing with now."
"Is Eren Yeager an evil twin?" Erwin demanded from them.
"No," Reiner answered him, "but he has one."
"Find this Eren Yeager."
-x-
Something had happened. The future was different from before, but still the same in terms of outcome. Yet…something had happened to change the present. Or rather…someone had changed something in the present; he once felt connected to a source of power, his means to obtain freedom, but now that source had disappeared. He still felt the power, but it was less than what it used to be.
Everything feels heavier for some reason, he thought as his Titan body stopped in its progress towards the next city on this continent. What have you done? What have you done?!
"You are free now." He heard a voice say to someone, and he grew enraged because that someone wasn't himself.
Someone has been set free…but not I. Not I! I will be free! Nothing will stop me!
The Titan resumed its course towards the next stretch of civilization, its rider angrier and more dangerous than ever before.
-x-
"…So…you're Grisha's son?" Dina asked Eren as he led her back to Shiganshina District. "He's remarried?"
"He was remarried," he explained, "but only because he was following a last order from the group you were both affiliated with…from your contact, this…Owl."
"He's dead, isn't he?"
"Yes. Five years ago…when he followed the last memory that led to his demise. Five years ago, we were attacked by the Titans from Marley…and there were casualties, including my mother. My father tried to reason with the royal family that held dominion over the Founding Titan, but because of the ideology of Karl Fritz being a dominant force within the Titan, nobody in the family that had the Titan could use its power to do anything, including protecting the people of Paradis Island from invasion or genocide. And so a memory of myself from a future forced him to kill most of the family to obtain the Founding Titan (he sees Dina's face full of fright). I know, it's not something I condone, either. Anyway, when my father took the Titan, he came for me and turned me into a Titan…so I would inherit the Founding Titan and Attack Titan from him. His plan, however, hit a crossroads. He did pass on the two Titans, but I only received one Titan."
"I don't understand."
"I was split in half. There are two of me. Twins, if you will, but we're not…we're not the same person, anymore. There's good and bad inside each of us, but when something happens to separate the two within the person, there's no telling what the bad side will do once let loose. I'm the good part of who Eren Yeager once was…and the keeper of the Founding Titan. Out there in the world, wielding the Attack Titan, is my bad side…and he is beyond reasoning with. He only desires one thing, and that's freedom. He'll do anything to be free, including murder other people, especially people he's never met. Once he's taken out most of the world beyond Paradis, he'll return for me, the only actual threat to his life."
"Why would you be a threat to him? He's you…and you're him."
"When someone has a twin that isn't…well, not as restrained as they are…or in my case, not as self-controlled, anymore, it becomes a fight for one's own right to live. And according to Ymir Fritz, in her words, 'Neither can truly live while the other one continues to survive. So long as light and dark are distant, there will never be a unified soul. Forever must the light overcome the chaos of the darkness…and forever must the darkness be kept in balance by the purity of the light'. He's chaos…and I'm order. He's darkness, I'm light. He's willing to do whatever it takes to obtain freedom…"
"And you're unwilling to harm others, even for the sake of freedom?"
"I believe in peace, which includes freedom, but if it's denied to any one person or race or nation, you may as well deny it to everyone everywhere. And I wouldn't say I'm unwilling. I am willing to fight for the sake of others, but I'd rather do so when I have no other choice…and there's this part of my heart that tells me…that there's always another choice that can be made. Whatever future there was to be led to, it no longer has to be the only future. We can change the future, the past, the present, ourselves. We don't have to be bound by whatever it is that people believe we're bound to. Do you?"
Dina wanted to believe that they were able to change their future, but there was a reason why she ceased to believe in that: Her son, Zeke's betrayal of them all, made her think that they were unable to change the fate of their people. But Eren Yeager, or at least this part of him that possessed the Founding Titan, held onto that hope.
"I want to believe," she told him.
"Then believe," he told her. "I do."
-x-
The Titan was different from before, even in the ashes of death and destruction, fire and darkness. Any that saw it instead of running for their lives could see that it was unlike any Titan they had ever heard of or encountered before. They had never seen a Titan that was just so full of…rage and hatred towards the world. It was as though…it had embraced the evil in the world and succumbed to its might…and made it its own.
SMASH! It swung its right arm against a building and shattered it, sending its debris all over the streets and against other buildings.
"Rrrrrrrraaaurgh!" It roared, stomping its feet on the ground, fracturing it several meters ahead of itself. "Rrrrrraaurgh!"
Other people further away ran for whatever shelter they could find away from this monster. None of them watched as it scooped up as much of the debris on the streets and threw it all their way.
Just die, the man inside the Titan thought, watching as the street up ahead was littered with new corpses. Just die!
-x-
It took a while, but the Survey Corps was able to find Eren Yeager, who was seen helping a woman that nobody else had met before, and he was escorted to the building where the three teens that revealed themselves to be from beyond the Walls were being confined for the time being. Once they could confirm what Eren knew about them, they could figure out what they needed to do with the three.
"…So…you can vouch for the three?" Erwin Smith asked him as he sat in the chair in front of himself, Levi and Hange.
"Yes, sir," Eren responded, nodding his head in admittance. "They didn't show up until five years ago, in the aftermath of the attack on Shiganshina District. They used the disorder of the aftermath to infiltrate with one goal: To capture the Founding Titan and return it to their nation, a goal that is now moot."
"What do you mean, moot?" Hange asked him. "Reiner Braun had explained that part of the reason they couldn't take this Founding Titan, if it even exists, is due to the assumption that their nation has been attacked by a Titan from here. Do you have proof?"
"It depends on your acceptance of what is the truth."
"The girl, Annie Leonhart, claims that the Titan was someone like yourself," went Levi, "that you have an…evil twin running around."
Eren sighs and responds, "That's right."
Erwin looked for signs that this was false, that this was just a game…but he saw nothing to indicate that this young man was playing them. He was too calm, too…in control of himself…to be trying to cause a panic.
"I can explain what I know," Eren told them. "A lot has changed in the last few days."
"Do enlighten us," Erwin replied, and the young man told the three what he knew.
It only took Eren five minutes to cram all the calamity that occurred five years and further back, which only made what these three understood from Reiner, Bertolt and Annie…more problematic than they had figured. The nation known as Marley, the royal family that had an ancestor that instigated a slow-motion genocide of a race of people that could be turned into Titans, the Nine Titans, the revelation that there were people beyond the Walls that despised them for crimes they had no knowledge of, and the knowledge that Eren's father was also from Marley, used the power of the Attack Titan to make the journey to the Walls, was guided and goaded by the memories he received from whoever he received them from, learned that the attack on Shiganshina was going to happen before anyone else knew, became desperate to prevent it from happening, learned that the memories the Attack Titan received were not as helpful as the memories received from having one of the other Titans…and turned him into a Titan to inherit the Attack and Founding Titans…only for something to go wrong and result in Eren being split in two, each half possessing only one of the two Titans, but split between his light and dark aspects. To learn that the Titan they were hero-worshiping a little was Eren's dark side, and that he only focused on freedom, which compelled him to fight against others, regardless of intentions…was difficult to fathom. What made Eren revealing this knowledge harder to fathom…was what he revealed that occurred not too long ago; his encounter with their founding ancestress and her release from this servitude she was forced into by her master had undone most of the repercussions of the power of the Titans, making it difficult to exploit Subjects of Ymir any further now that they couldn't be turned into Titans, and the curse of Ymir, a thirteen-year death sentence…was no longer in play, meaning whoever had the power of the Titans currently wouldn't die any time soon, but it made those that had possession of the power currently a threat to those that desired more power.
"Just…how much do you know about what's going on, Mr. Yeager?" Erwin asked.
"I won't say I know everything," Eren replied, "but I will say that I know enough to know that my dark twin, the darkest side of me, unbound, won't hesitate to harm anyone he considers a threat to his personal freedom. In his mind, freedom is all that matters. Peace, coexistence, acceptance of others and their beliefs and opinions, none of these matter to him."
"Evil twins have no shred of compassion," went Hange. "They're out for themselves, regardless of what they could do for others."
"Getting back to the three that attacked us five years ago, what makes you think they can be trusted and their crimes against the people overlooked?" Erwin wanted to know.
"They were being manipulated with a pretense by the people that exploited them," Eren explained; releasing Ymir Fritz from her eternity had the unexpected consequence of expanding his awareness of many things. "Marley offered those that served them and brought back the Founding Titan Marleyan citizenship outside of the confines of their walled-off ghettos. However, because of the original time limit they had to live because of the curse of Ymir, and the fact that my dark twin has attacked their country, whatever Marley promised them is something they can't give, anymore."
"But…if this Founding Titan is so powerful," went Levi, "why not just have it stop this Attack Titan? Why not have it get rid of the Attack Titan?"
As much as Eren wanted to do that, he couldn't; the Attack Titan wasn't only too far away to be removed from its current holder, but the Titan itself, despite having come from Ymir Fritz herself upon her death, was the only member of the Nine Titans that was, in a word, stubborn as this violent side of himself was. The Attack Titan, not even once in the history of its existence, never listened to those of authority, as submitting meant relinquishing its freedom, something it refused to do. While the Founding Titan could safely remove the powers of the other Titans, maybe even return the Titans asleep within the Walls back to human form, the Attack Titan would be a major problem…until it returned to Paradis.
"When I say that the Attack Titan is stubborn, I mean, it's really stubborn," he explained. "Anyone that has it would view listening to anyone in positions of authority as being subservient, surrendering their freedom. In essence, the Attack Titan can't obey, even for an instant, anyone that tries to order it around. It only knows two things: Fighting and freedom. It fights to be free…and to remain free, it fights. In other words, stubborn."
They've faced abnormal Titans before, but what was more dangerous than an abnormal Titan…was one that was actually a person, just like any of them, that could create a Titan body and use it as an extension of themselves. A Titan with actual intelligence…was more dangerous than a mindless Titan because they could actually harm you…on purpose.
"Why did you choose to join the Garrison over either the Survey Corps or Military Police, Mr. Yeager?" Hange spoke. "From what two people that claim to know you, you had ambitions to join the Survey Corps from an early age, but then you chose not to. Is there a reason?"
"I don't want to control anyone," he explained. "Attempting to control people places people in danger, taking away their free will. I tell someone to go right when they believe left is the better choice, I could put them in jeopardy. I joined the Garrison…to keep watch from a distance. I still care about people, but not so much to decide what they will or won't do. I…I won't exploit such a power I have to make people follow me. It wouldn't end well for anyone if that happened."
Unbeknownst to any of them, Eren could see such a future that sickened him. He saw a darkness spreading across the planet, death and destruction without limit, and leading the madness behind it…was himself in the body of a Titan far bigger than any he had ever encountered before, even greater than the Colossal Titan, surrounded by scores of Titans that were almost as big as that one. In one sense, this was not the future that would happen, but just a future that could've happened, just a potential outcome due to the factors that were involved in it, and these were factors that could be neutralized, undone. And he would do all that he could to undo this future; he wanted to protect the people, no matter what it cost himself, even if it meant his own life and personal freedom.
"Just die," he heard his own voice, full of spite towards everything, yell at someone. "Just die!"
Not everyone deserves to die, he thought as he saw his twin's Titan devastating another city, people and all. You project your own hate onto those that don't even know who you are. They see you, and all they see is something awful that wants to kill them before they can even consider wanting to kill you for some reason or another…and that carries on to the rest of us that have done nothing wrong.
"I will kill you!" He heard him yell again, this time directed at himself. "I WILL KILL YOU!"
It was really the first time he actually feared someone that was really himself, only worse because of the rage he had in his heart that refused to leave him. Even if it was a benevolent thing that he cleared the majority of the Titans from within the Walls and enabled the people to reclaim Wall Maria, it was only one good deed…and his one act of righteousness didn't make up for what was, more or less, a long road of wrongs he was committing. Even if some people, the like-minded, were to side with his dark side, it would be countered by other people that saw right being greater than might.
"…Eren Yeager?" He heard Levi speak his name.
"I'm sorry," he responded, "you were saying?"
"We were asking you," went Hange, "if you'd consider joining the Survey Corps?"
-x-
Rod was at a loss for words right now. If what he was told by Frieda was true, then they were in trouble…because it was never thought possible before. The source behind the power of the Titans, Ymir Fritz, had been set free, making the negatives of having the power of the Nine Titans a thing of the past, but it also meant that their family couldn't take it back, no matter what he tried. Even if he revealed that the Reiss family was the true royal family of Paradis, the Founding Titan, the greatest power they possessed, wouldn't belong to them again.
"Father," Frieda had told him, "there's no longer any reason to pretend she doesn't exist…and our family has been tarnished, both by our ancestors, yourself and the man that took the Founding Titan from us and everyone else we loved that night. We need to bring her into the family where she belongs now. We can't echo the mistakes that were made."
Frieda wanted to bring her half-sister into the Reiss family, as she was his daughter outside of wedlock, but Rod feared doing so. Even if their family had been cut down due to an outsider that stole from them, the mere knowledge of his infidelity would cause problems…if there were other problems that were already in motion to affect the order that still remained. He wanted to keep the truth about his other daughter quiet for as long as he could, at least until he could identify the man that had slaughtered his family that night and make sure the person that picked up where he left off and make them pay for his crimes.
-x-
Even with the power of three Titans at his disposal, he still felt the frailties of the human condition, such as fatigue, but he could now rest within his Titan. As the daylight loomed over the ruins of the city, he could only believe in one thing, that what he was doing was only possible because he was willing to go to extremes to take what was his to have.
To be free is to fight, and to fight is to be free, he thought as he drifted to sleep for a while. Those that can't fight can never be free. You fight, you live. You don't fight…you don't deserve to live.
To be continued…
A/N: Okay, this was quite a shocker for me because I didn't really expect to do certain things that made the plot more intense than I already made it. But what do you think about what has happened? There are many things we can take from this chapter, mostly bad, but everything else is viewed as good. Read and review when and if you can. Until the next chapter.