This is an excerpt from my Attack On Titan Changes fan fiction, from chapter 14: "See you later". If you want more context or are interested in the full story you can find that main fan fiction in my profile. But if you are only interested in my rewrite of chapters 127-135 of the original manga, then this small excerpt was made for you!
Extra PS: however there will be elements in this that were introduced earlier in AoT Changes, so you will be spoiled about those if you ever decide to read AoT Changes in full. [Time-jumps and timetravel are a main element for example.]
Cheers!
C.T.
.
.
The Titan Realm
Somewhere, sometime, in that cursed dimension
Ymir was concentrated, staring at her precious bright blue tree as always. She couldn't even tell there was someone approaching her.
"It's quite a show you are putting out there," Az said and she startled. Ymir turned back to look at him with a bright and happy smile.
"You're here!" she cheered in much excitement. Ymir then came over to greet him.
Az slightly looked down to the side for a moment, checking up his scabbard and the sword inside. He then looked back up at her with a timid smile.
-.-
- Year 854 - October 31, The Queen's Farm
[amidst the chaos in the orphanage]
Historia sighed with relief. But she soon started to feel the labour pains once more. The queen was desperate as she weakly leaned on the wall of that small corridor. She couldn't hold it any longer, the second child was coming. Historia screamed as she felt that unbearable pain again and again. The queen screamed very loudly while given birth, Historia had blackened eyes and felt completely delirious.
As the queen gave out her primeval cries, she hoped for protection and the Founding Titan granted her wishes: the Yeagerist soldiers outside were transformed into Pure Titans and started to eat the cadets fighting for the Survey Corps. It was pure chaos.
Commandant Shadis had finally made his way into the building. He barged into rooms, going through the corridors, door by door. He eventually made his way into the Queen's quarters and, although empty, he saw an unforgivable image.
Hange's lifeless body was laying on the ground.
She seemed peaceful, but a little frightened and reflective, as her last thoughts had consisted on her curiosity about death and the possibilities or impossibilities of life beyond.
Her blood was all over the floor and Shadis rushed to hold his good old comrade, his friend. He held her with desperation and the broken man cried with Hange in his arms.
Shadis reflected on that horrid day and the chaos outside, and of everything they had been through in those last few days and weeks. He thought of all the lives that were lost, so many souls. And he questioned himself about what all that had been for, and what they had actually accomplished, if anything. 'What was all this for?' Shadis thought desperately to himself.
The man cried in pure grief as he held Hange's cold body in his arms.
Suddenly a giant arm came crushing through the window and destroying part of the wooden wall. One of the mindless Titans then grabbed the old Commandant. And like almost all of his young cadets, he was eaten.
..
Gabi was paralysed. She didn't know what to do, she just watched all those soldiers being viciously eaten while hiding herself behind some boxes near the building. She wasn't thinking straight and even if she had been, Gabi had nowhere to run, she knew it was just a matter of time until those mindless Titans ate her too. When one of them finally spotted her and slowly came and extended its hand to grab the small human. Gabi was motionless.
..
The Queen had finally given birth to her second child, and she had done so completely alone. Historia sighed with relief once more and smiled. The mother then reached to the blooded floors to hold the small newborn as Ezra cried for her. She held him with much care and love. Historia smiled at her baby in pure happiness, holding him very close.
As soon as Ezra was in the warmth of his mother's arms, the newborn felt safe and even if with closed eyes, he smiled. A sweet and small newborn smile. And the momentary curse bestowed upon the Yeagerist soldiers was lifted: all the Pure Titans started to go back to human form.
..
Gabi had closed her eyes, she was preparing herself for the dreaded moment. But nothing happened. She was expecting for that gigantic Titan arm coming her way to grab her, and for the Titan to eat her. The twelve-year-old was fearful and confused. Gabi finally opened her eyes again, and saw nothing.
There was nothing beyond many curtains of smoke all around the field; as the momentarily cursed men came back into human form and had their Titan flesh steaming away into pure smoke. Gabi looked around quite perplexed. "What just happened?" she asked herself in a confused, small voice.
- Year 854 - October 31, near Tybur Castle
[Mid-Rumbling]
'I need to end this,' Armin thought as he kept fighting the equality giant Titans 'We can't keep fighting these things forever! There's too many of them! I need to find away to stop this!'
Armin suddenly found himself in that cursed dimension again. "Perhaps I could be of some help," he heard a strangely familiar voice say. It was coming from behind him and Armin turned to look.
He saw a man. A quite broken man, and his appearance was familiar. "Do I know you?" Armin Arlert asked, confused.
"Well, perhaps not. But I certainly know you," the man replied with a half-smile. "You remind me of Ode… and a little of my own self," the man disclosed.
"You're him!" Arlert opened up his eyes wide in realisation. "You're Armin!"
"No," Armin Tybur smiled. "We are Armin," he joked.
And Arlert smiled as well, a half-smile, he was feeling confused and also a little broken. He passed his hand through his hair while considering a few things. "I-I have seen your memories, at least some of them, I think," he stuttered slightly.
"Well, I lived a good life, at least until my last couple of years in that Earth. So let us hope that those good memories will be what you can concentrate on, whenever you think of me, in your future," Tybur pleaded. He then looked to the side, and to the bright tree of light in the distance. "It's enough that I have to live for eternity here with my mistakes. I should hope not to disturb any other souls who might inherit my curse with my guilty conscience," he let out.
"But you shouldn't feel guilt," Arlert argued.
"We both know I am guilty," Tybur replied.
"You were tricked," Arlert insisted.
"No, I was not." Armin Tybur revealed. He then proceeded to explain: "War and death, so much death. It can make us desperate," he sighed. "I vowed to protect life, to protect people. And I really thought I could do that somehow. But look out there," he said more brokenly, "those things… they are just built for destruction, they were built for killing."
"Still, the Walls protected our people for over one hundred years! Without that, who knows? I wouldn't even exist! Most Eldians would have been exterminated," Armin Arlert argued, "who knows if Ode would have survived the War? In a way, you protected him."
"And what good was that for?" Tybur smiled in disbelief. "It just delayed the inevitable for a century." He then smiled more ironically. "You should be glad you don't have any siblings."
"Why?" Arlert asked in confusion.
"Ode was protected in the end, yes, but I still regret not living my life with him. I chose power before I could know what was like to have and love a family," Tybur decided to disclose some of his darkest regrets. "My brother was supposed to inherit the War-Hammer Titan, not me. But I took it. In the end he had his revenge. And I died young and completely alone, if I hadn't wished for that power, Diana and I could have grown old together and I could have seen Ode grow up," he disclosed very longingly.
"You can't know that, we can't know what would actually happen if somehow we have made different decisions. That's why we shouldn't dwell in those things-" Arlert was arguing when Tybur interrupted him.
"That wasn't my point." he protested.
"Then what is your point?" Arlert questioned.
"Power," he answered. "I chose power once again. I chose to consume the Colossal Titan power, when all Shifters know we shouldn't do such a thing. It is prohibited to take another's Titan, and I knew that, still I wanted the power," Armin Tybur explained. "So my point is: I deserved my fate. All of our fates are made from our own decisions. So please, don't pity me, because I do not pity myself."
Tybur then became more thoughtful. "Where is your son now?" he questioned Arlert.
"I have no idea," Armin Arlert replied, quite sincerely.
"I've been watching your life from up here," Tybur disclosed, then questioned: "tell me, how many times have you left him in the care of others, just to fight in doomed battles and eventually a doomed war?"
"I-I…" Arlert stuttered, he found himself without words.
His great-great grandfather then admonished him: "I should think my life, my thirst for power and my blindness should serve as a good lesson for those who came after me."
Arlert remained silent, he was feeling guilty.
Armin Tybur smiled at him. "You know, you have a terrible habit of trying to mend other people's messes. What is happening down there, that is my mess, and I should fix it," he declared.
"How?" Arlert asked in confusion.
"Well, usually things would be very different around here. And I would be trapped in some dark corner of this ghastly place. But it seems we are out of management," Tybur explained.
"What does that mean?" Arlert questioned.
And Tybur proceeded to explain. "The witch is no longer here, or maybe she is, but she is completely distracted. And when the cat's away…"
"Are you saying you can take control of the Pure Colossal Titans?" Arlert asked in excitement and pure hope.
"Well, not exactly," Tybur disclosed. "But I can stop this madness. It shouldn't have happened in the first place."
He raised his hand in Arlert's direction then stopped for a moment. "Before we do this I need you to promise me one thing: that you will leave this battle, this war, and will go straight to your son. Hold him. Love and take care of your boy. Be the father I could never be."
"I will," Armin Arlert promised very solemnly.
He nodded and Tybur nodded back at him.
"Good," Armin Tybur replied. He then raised his hand again. "Oh, and don't forget to get out," he added.
"Get out?" Arlert asked, confused.
"Before it closes, we wouldn't want you to be trapped inside your Titan for countless years," Tybur explained as his eyes started to glow very bright.
Tybur then touched Armin Arlert on the chest, a little under his shoulder and Arlert looked down to see. He felt confused and he could feel this burning, right where he'd been touched.
The Colossal Titan looked down to see this dark titan crystal forming on its chest, a little under its shoulder, in the very same spot.
He then looked around the battlefield, and all Pure Colossal Titans had the same dark titan crystal forming in their chest, in the very same way. The dark crystal was rapidly involving them again, wrapping them inside. The fight was over, the monsters became nothing but only statues once more. And those statues would be spread out around the Marlean continent, for many years to come.
Armin was a little dazed and confused with what was happening. All of the soldiers and other Shifters were as well. The dark crystal was closing in around his Titan and he had momentarily forgotten what Armin Tybur had said to him in the very end. Armin was slowly being covered in crystal and was about to be trapped inside his Titan for the unforeseeable future.
Mikasa quickly noticed the situation and she came crashing in over the Titan's neck and tried her best to take him out of there. "Armin!" she shouted for him to wake up.
"It's okay, I'm fine, I'm right here," Armin answered as he came out of the nape in the very last minute and she hugged him and help him remove himself completely as the dark crystal enveloped the titan completely. "I'm sorry about that, I felt like I was in a trance for a moment," he apologised.
They all looked around, towards the statues and destruction they had caused.
The millions of monstrous creatures had stopped moving. It was finally over.
Tybur Castle - In the highest tower
Reiner had taken Eren up to the highest tower in the castle, slowly dragging him through the floor and up the countless stairs. He dragged his enemy's half-woke body near the tower ledge, pressing him against the barricade. He showed Eren the destruction with much anger, Reiner wanted to confront him about it all.
"Look at it!" Reiner yelled. "Look at the amount of lives you took away! All that you have destroyed! All the people you killed!" he then came closer to Eren's tired and motionless face. "I'll make sure you will pay for it." Reiner leaned in closer his ear. "I make sure you'll suffer. I'll make sure you'll die a slow and painful death."
Eren finally gave out a reaction, he laughed then looked straight into Reiner's eyes. "Who do you think you're talking to?" he asked Reiner with a weak voice and an evil smile. "I know you," Eren said. "You're nobody's hero. You're just a villain. A monster, just like me."
Reiner looked at him with disgust and anger. He punched Eren straight in the face, and the young Yeager fell unconscious again. Reiner then stood up to look at the destruction all around him.
He stared at it all very solemnly, with a small tear falling down his face.
Somewhere in the Castle's garden
Mikasa and Armin were walking around the gardens. They wanted some time on their own, to talk, while the others were outside of the Castle, discussing other things.
"We need to go find Azzy," Armin told her, "it's our first priority."
"And you think I don't know that?" Mikasa replied. "Of course it's our first priority," she added.
"Good," Armin continued, "where did you send him?" he asked.
Mikasa looked confused for a moment. "Can't you do that titan thing you do and just locate him?" she asked back.
"Are you saying you don't know where he went?!" Armin became worried.
"Come on, it's Azzy! He could be anywhere," Mikasa argued while crossing her arms.
And he sighed. Armin could sense Shifters around that cursed dimension and locate them with correlation to their world. It was one of his Titan gifts. The odd thing he had learned, was that it worked not only with Titan Shifters, but with those of Ackermann blood as well.
Armin then sat on an olden tree trunk and closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on their boy's essence. "I can see him, he is in the orphanage." He told Mikasa, still with his eyes closed. "So did you tell him to go back?" he questioned.
"No, I just told him to hide," Mikasa replied.
"Well, he is hiding," Armin confirmed.
"With the baby?" Mikasa asked more apprehensively. "Can you see that?"
"It appears so," Armin replied. He could see more than that, he could see the darkness surrounding that newborn child, it was very different than his own child's blue and bright spirit. Armin decided not to mention that, he never mentioned it to anyone.
"Good," Mikasa sighed with relief. "We need to go back for him." she stated.
"Of course," Armin conceded. "We need to find a way back to the Island," he added.
Armin was considering a few things, he knew their best option was using the airplane for that. For it would be the fastest way and he was eager to see the boy. That timeless conversation with his ancestor had finally opened his eyes to something his best friend had warned him multiple times: that Armin had never took his fatherhood seriously until that point, or at least not seriously enough.
He was contemplative about all those things and Mikasa was looking for the best words to continue their conversation.
"Now, our second priority," she stated, a little timidly. "I need to tell you something."
"You sound a little ominous," he joked.
"I don't," Mikasa said while expiring. "And it is something we have been through before, so I should hope you won't make a fuss of it," she warned.
And Armin assured her. "Fine. I won't make a fuss of it-"
"I'm pregnant," Mikasa interrupted. "Again," she added.
Armin opened his eyes very wide.
"What?!" He asked in a slightly high-pitched tone. "And you decided to only tell me this now?! Why?"
"You are making a fuss," Mikasa noted very somberly.
"Well, how could I not? Why wouldn't you tell me this before? You-you were in danger out there! W-Why tell me just now?!" the man started to stutter, he was lost for words.
"Because now things have calmed down and we can finally talk properly," she explained more softly. "I knew it would be a distraction for you if I had told you before," Mikasa added, with a small but dry tone.
"Distraction?" Armin was beside himself. "It's something incredibly important! Why would you put yourself in so much danger-"
And she interrupted. "We both know it only makes me stronger and better protected. And I would not stop fighting, especially when it meant protecting the world our children are supposed to grow up into," Mikasa argued.
"Better protected?" Armin repeated and then came closer. "Are you saying you can regenerate again?" he asked, almost in a whisper.
"Why would you be surprised? We should be used to all that mess by now," Mikasa replied, slightly annoyed.
Armin sighed. He was too confused and too tired with everything that had happened in those last few days. It was all just too much. "I don't think I can ever get used to anything anymore, not after all that we've been through here," he confessed.
Mikasa put her hand over his shoulder, very lovingly. "We need to go get Azzy and rebuilt our lives again. So we can wait for this next one, in peace," she told him very softly, considering their now expanding family and their future. Mikasa smiled. "I know things will eventually go back to the way they were-" she said in pure hope, but he bluntly stopped her.
"No they won't," Armin interrupted her very firmly. "Mikasa, you are still very naive and blind if you can't foresee the impact that all this distraction will have in our immediate and broad future. Things will never be the same as before." he told her very sternly and that struck a nerve.
"I'll make they be. I'll make things be just as they were." she stated very seriously. Mikasa was determined to have her life back. She then looked around the garden. "Do you know where Eren is?" she asked.
"We should probably see about that with the Captain or one of the Warriors. They should have him imprisoned somewhere around here," Armin considered, "if he is still alive," he added under his breath.
"Can't you just do your thing again and locate him?" Mikasa questioned.
Armin sighed. "Fine," he said, and closed his eyes again. Armin then pointed up. "He is in the tower, and so is Reiner," he said and they both looked up.
Tybur Castle - In the highest tower
Reiner was there, watching over the distraction very reflective. He would look over to the side from time to time, to make sure his war prisoner was still unconscious. Eren had a black eye and many scars that hadn't healed; not only his signature Titan marks, but a giant scar across his neck. The younger Yeager looked quite tired and completely defeated. Reiner looked quite defeated as well. He was tired and very regretful for they hadn't been able to save all those lives, over half the Planet was gone.
He looked down to the side to see Armin and Mikasa arriving, the two of them rapidly climbed over the tower with their ODM gear.
They all looked at each other and said nothing for a couple of minutes. None of them knew what to say, both Armin and Mikasa were used to view Reiner as their core enemy, it had been like that for many years.
Now they had fought on the same side. And the one they both had in their trust, in family and fellowship, had betrayed them completely, and everything they stood for. Eren had destroyed many lives and Armin cold never forgive him, he was full of anger and wasn't completely sure of what to say. In a way, Armin was glad Eren was unconscious, and he secretly hoped his old friend would never wake up. 'Maybe it would be better that way,' Armin thought, only to himself.
Mikasa rushed over and checked his pulse and his slowly healing wounds. "He is breathing," she declared quite coldly.
It was difficult to define what emotions Mikasa was feeling in that moment, for she seemed quite stern and somber as always. But she was happy to confirm that Eren was still alive, for Mikasa still cared for her brother very deeply, in spite of everything.
"Can you give us a moment?" Armin asked Reiner very solemnly.
The Warrior thought for a moment then nodded, he then used his ODM gear to climb down the tower.
He had left Eren, Mikasa and Armin alone, the trio hadn't been together in quite sometime, and the circumstances were much aggravated since the last time they'd met. And certainly completely different from their good friendship and camaraderie they had cherished for so many years.
Mikasa broke the tense silence with her proposition. "We need to take him with us, back to the Island."
And Armin lectured her very sternly. "You have got to be kidding me. Can't you still grasp the absurdity of all that Eren has done?! We can't protect him from this!" he shouted. "I won't protect him from this. We will turn him to the right authorities to be tried," Armin stated. "To whoever authorities might be left in this wretched world. He has to pay," he added.
She looked at him with cold fire in her eyes.
"And what about our child?" Mikasa asked very somberly while crossing her arms.
"What does he have to do with any of this?" Armin questioned, still angry.
"Where is he now?" Mikasa asked back, as cold and sternly as always.
Armin scratched his head slightly confused and complained: "we just talked about this. He is somewhere in a cupboard-"
And she interrupted his confused thoughts. "With Historia. In a place crawling with Yeagerists," Mikasa reminded him.
The mother was beside herself and she decided to argue her point.
"You took our child and placed him in a lion's den, with the argument that he would be safe there. You are to blame for him being there and you are to blame for all the mess that the Survey Corps later did in that place! We don't know what happened there but we know it can't have been good!" Mikasa stated.
The mother then came closer to him, to make her threat. "If any of those Yeagerists out there hurt my son, if they use him to threaten us; if they murder him, it is all on you. If my baby boy dies, I will kill you, and I will blame you forever."
Armin was stunned and dumbfounded. He had been so preoccupied with all that was happening around them and their own mission that he once again had failed to think about the boy. The old Tybur sure had a point, and so had Eren, for they both had warned him how careless he was with his own son.
"So they me, Officer Arlert, how are we supposed to get him back?" Mikasa questioned him.
And Armin looked down in disillusion. He then looked to the side, to his old friend who laid unconscious on the ground. Armin realised. "Do you want to use Eren as bargain?"
"I thought you would never get there," Mikasa complained of Armin's slow reasoning. She pointed at Eren's unconscious body. "He is our ticket. We give them Eren and they give us our child unharmed," she argued.
"Oh," Armin was stunned. "Have we just switched places?" he considered with a timid laugh.
Mikasa sighed. She looked at her brother again, and then to all the destruction in the horizon. That high tower gave quite a view.
The mother knew she wasn't being fair but she also knew it was her safest bet to have her baby boy back.
"I realise how selfish all this sounds, but my family will always come first to me," Mikasa let out, and then considered: "and I know you will find a way around it." she told Armin, for she hoped they could trick the Yeagerists into believing the bargain would be complete. "Only once Azzy is safely in our hands," she added to emphasise the importance of their child's safety.
"I'll think of something," Armin replied, he was already making his plans.
"Good. You'll have the whole flight to figure it out," Mikasa said as Armin went over to carry Eren's unconscious body.
"Don't you think it's better if I do that?" Mikasa suggested.
"I can manage it. You'll have to deal with Onyan, I don't have the heart for that," he said as they both climbed down the tower with their ODM gear.
Outside the walls of Tybur Castle
"Do you guys hear something?" Jean asked the group. He was sure he could hear a faint sound of a motor.
They all looked up to see their ride home flying by, going incredibly fast. The airplane climbed up and up into the skies and quickly disappeared into the distance.
"What is Onyankopon doing?!" Reiner shouted in disbelief.
"That is not me!" Onyankopon protested while running in the distance, coming towards them.
He stopped near the group, gasping for air. "That woman is crazy! I'm pretty sure I have a concussion!" he added while holding his head with a cloth.
They were all quite confused for a moment, staring at each other.
When Annie crossed her arms and looked straight at Reiner. "Where is Eren?" she asked very sternly.
He shrugged with some swag. "I left him there with Thing One and Thing Two," he said nonchalantly and pointed towards the tower. "Up the... tower," Reiner added while still pointing up and slowly realising what was happening.
"Well, they are far gone now," Onyan remarked.
"Those idiots!" Annie shouted in frustration. "I knew this would happen! You shouldn't have left him out of your sight!"
"I genuinely didn't expect they would do something so stupid," Reiner argued, completely staggered.
"Can't we use Falco to follow them?" the Cart Titan suggested, for the Jaw Titan was right there and he too had wings.
"We can't catch up to that air machine's speed, I'm sorry," Onyan explained.
Levi sighed. He was extremely disappointed with those idiots, and he was also very very tired of all that mess.
"There's nothing we can do for now. We will look for shelter and rest, and hope to live another day. We have done more than enough in this day, so be proud of where you stand," the Captain advised and then assured: "and don't worry about it. We will get to that island somehow, and I will go after Eren myself."
- Year 854 - October 31, The Queen's Farm
[in the aftermath of the chaos in the orphanage]
They boy was scared. He had just returned from a land he didn't understand, it was an odd place made completely of crystals. A place too fantastical and otherworldly for such a small brain to fathom. Somehow Azzy knew they were now safe, and he returned to the farm. Still the boy kept himself and the sleeping newborn in his arms hidden. He was waiting for his mother, for she had promised she would come for him.
Louise walked around the large supply room with her gun raised. The battle was over and the Yeagerists were now looking for the traitors that had survived and were hiding around the orphanage building. She could see the boy's blue eyes stare at her from the crack between the small doors of that small armoire.
She smiled and opened up the cupboard, it was all too sudden and the toddler startled and looked up at her very scared. Louise couldn't understand why he was there or why he was holding the tiny newborn in his arms. She put the gun away and slowly kneeled down and tried to make herself look more pleasant and soothing.
The boy tilted his head slightly. He'd noticed his mother's sweet jasmine scent, it was coming from the blooded scarf the Yeagerist was wearing. Azzy was quite fixed, confusedly staring at that scarf.
Louise looked down and passed her hand through the old and blooded fabric, and smiled. "Right. It's lovely isn't it? Your mother gave it to me, we are good friends," she lied to the boy.
It was quite convincing, but the toddler was still wary. "Everything is fine now," Louise assured him. "Can I hold her?" she asked and extended her arms, to hold the tiny newborn.
Ymir was sound asleep in his arms and the toddler looked at the small, red thing once again. He then looked up at Louise with a little more trust and offered her the baby to hold. And so, the Yeagerist took the princess from the toddler's arms.
That's when Louise felt a cold metal object pressing against the side of her head.
"Step away from the child," Hitch ordered while aiming her gun at Louise's head.
The Yeagerist then slowly stood up, whilst holding the newborn. "I can't exactly put my hands up," she teased.
Gabi cocked her rifle, on the other side of the room. And Louise turned to look.
"You can if you put the baby down," the twelve-year-old argued very sternly while aiming her weapon. She gestured to a basket, sitting over the wooden table.
"You're surrounded," the MP stated. "Put the baby in that basket," she ordered.
Hitch then looked at the toddler very lovingly. "Come on," she said and the boy ran towards her and hid behind Hitch's legs. Azzy was very confused, and she was the only familiar face there.
"Don't try anything or we will shoot and incapacitate you," Gabi warned, before the Yeagerist could try any retaliation. "Put the baby in that basket," she repeated Hitch's words.
"How dare you threat to harm our princess and true heir of Eldia?" Louise asked quite solemnly.
"We are not threatening the baby, we are threatening you," Hitch corrected her and Ymir started to cry.
The newborn baby had been quite safe since she had arrived into this world. First resting in the warmth of her mother's arms, and then resting in the reliable arms of her old, but in that moment, brand-new friend. Now, the princess had found herself in unsafe arms, the arms of a stranger. So she cried quite loudly and intensively.
"And your princess and true heir clearly doesn't like you," Hitch pointed out with some charm.
"Put the baby down," Gabi repeated once more, from the other side of the room.
Ymir was crying more and more.
"You are not going to shoot me because I am not going to put the baby down," Louise stated. She knew they wouldn't risk harming such a small child.
"So who is threatening the baby now? You are insane!" Hitch let out.
"You think you have me surrounded," Louise said while looking around the room, at Hitch and then at Gabi, further away. "But it's only a matter of time until the other guards get here and then you will be the ones cornered."
Hitch and Gabi looked at each other, quite unsure of what to do and Azzy hid himself a little more behind Hitch's legs. It was a very tense situation and the newborn baby cried louder and louder, she would not stop.
Ymir was scared of the stranger, she was also tired and very hungry. The small baby yearned for her mother.
Louise smiled quite evilly. "I don't even have to use my whistle. I'm sure everyone in this building already knows where we are," she stated, taking advantage of the baby's cry.
And so, she was confirmed right. It only took a couple of minutes for more soldiers to get to that supply room, they came in the dozens, all with guns raised and aimed. "Now you are surrounded," Louise told Hitch.
The Royal Guards soon arrested the traitors.
-.-
Historia was resting. Back in her Royal quarters, she laid on her bed and watched her newborn son sleep in her arms. She had just fed him and now the boy was falling deep into slumber. The maids were doing their best to clean the mess around the room when they all started to hear a faint baby cry.
Louise had arrived at the Royal quarters, holding the small princess. The young Yeagerist asked permission to see the Queen.
Historia smiled in pure joy and relief as the young soldier entered the room and curtsied to the Queen, who immediately extended her arm. 'I knew you would come back to me,' Historia thought to herself when she saw her small baby Ymir.
The baby cried for her mother.
Louise then came closer and offered the princess for Historia to hold. "Here she is, Your Majesty, safe and sound," Louise told the Queen and curtsied once more.
The Queen held the twin girl with her right arm and Ymir instantly stopped crying, for the baby was feeling safe now. The twin boy was secure in his mother's left arm and he was slowly waking up again, for he had heard his sister's cry. Ezra opened his eyes completely and both babies looked up at their mother with pure innocence in their eyes. There are no words to explain the joy Historia felt in that moment.
Somewhere in the skies
The trio was in the airplane, flying high up and in the direction of Paradise Island. Armin and Mikasa were in the cockpit, piloting the plane while Eren laid on the very back of the air machine. He had been secured with ropes around his body, to make sure the unconscious man wouldn't be slapped around in takeoff or landing.
"So, do you have a plan?" Mikasa asked, for they were getting closer to the Island.
"Maybe half of one," Armin said while shrugging, "but we need to know more for it to work. We need to ascertain what is the situation on the ground, as soon as we land-" he was saying as Mikasa interrupted him.
"Don't make up as you go along. The whole point of this is to not put my boy in danger," the mother argued.
Armin sighed, slightly annoyed. "All we really need is for Azzy to see you. We both know as soon as he does, he will jump right into your arms," he pointed out.
"That is not enough for a plan," Mikasa complained.
"Will you just trust me?!" Armin let out.
"Why are mad?" Mikasa asked.
"You said you would kill me," Armin reminded her, quite vexed.
"If something horrible happened to our child," Mikasa retaliated.
"Our child? I thought he was 'your boy'," Armin complained very sarcastically.
"Are you really saying it like this? Yes, he is my boy, my baby boy. How can you be this jealous of your own child?!" the mother let out in frustration.
"It's not that," Armin said, he took a deep breath and calmed down. He turned to concentrate on the controllers and continued more softly: "I just think we are going too far and risking too much-" Armin stopped himself.
"Say it! Just say it." Mikasa let out. "Say that you think we are doing too much to save our own child," she challenged Armin.
And the father retaliated. "It's not like we are saving him! You know what I mean. It's Azzy! If he gets too scared he will probably jump back to the Lighthouse," Armin argued. "And if something comes to worst… he can always regenerate," he mumbled in a smaller voice, almost in a whisper.
"Probably? I can't believe you! Are you really willing to stand by and leave our child's well-being in the hands of chance? What? Do you really think a two-year-old can just fend for himself?" Mikasa let out, very angered.
"He is almost three. And you have got to admit that you are being a little unreasonable," Armin complained more softly. "You know… a little overemotional," he added in a small voice again and Mikasa turned to stare at him with fiery anger in her eyes.
"I had forgotten how insufferable you two can be," Eren complained while laying motionless on the back, Mikasa startled with the sound of his voice and turned to look.
"Oh, so you are awake." Armin said in a quite serious tone, he still had his eyes fitted on the airplane console and on the sky upfront. "I had been wondering if you were just pretending to sleep so you wouldn't have to talk to me," the pilot added.
"I told you not to come after me, but you had to ruin everything hadn't you?" Eren said while trying to untangle himself from the ropes they had secured him in.
"Don't tempt me into open that rear door and let you drop from the sky. I have been toying with that idea for hours," Armin warned as Eren was finishing to untie all the knots that kept him bound.
"You are a sore loser," Eren complained in retaliation.
"Loser? I'm the loser?" Armin asked, completely baffled. "I just destroyed your silly skeleton monstrosity and single-handed killed hundreds of Colossal Titans. I stopped those horrible things from stomping the rest of Planet. I stopped them for good. And you call me a loser? You are the loser here." he said with much determination. Armin was vexed.
And Eren smiled, he was ready to tease. "That is not what I meant. You know what I meant," he said with much confidence while trying to stand up. "I doesn't matter the amount of power you might have as a Titan. We both know you can never beat me in a physical fight," he said as he let go of all the ropes.
Armin was beside himself with anger. He immediately drove the plane into a nose-dive and Eren ricocheted right up to the back wall of the airplane.
"What are you doing?!" Mikasa shouted with much concern. She was feeling nauseated. "Stop this!" she shouted.
The pilot then came into a halt, pulling the nose back up again and Eren fell to the floor of the plane very violently.
Mikasa looked to the back, still very concerned. "Are-Are you okay?" she softly asked her brother. Eren looked very dizzy and in some pain.
"Seriously?!" Armin turned to her with the complaint.
"You mustn't let him get to you!" Mikasa admonished Armin, for he was acting extremely irrationally.
She softly placed her hand over his as he held the control wheel and looked into his eyes in her lovingly and motherly way, and Armin eventually calmed down. Eren did know how to hit his nerves.
Eren stood up and walked quite dizzily towards one of the seats, he looked out the window very longingly. "So are we going where I think we're going?" he asked Mikasa.
"Yes," she replied. "We are going home." Mikasa said as they saw the Island appear in the distance, under the clear skies and the white clouds.
Eren smiled as he watched the Island down below. "I wasn't sure if I would live to meet my children," he confessed.
"Children?" Mikasa turned and whispered to Armin. "Plural?" she added, still whispering.
Eren looked through the window quite reflectively, he was eager to be home.
"And don't worry about Azzy," he added. "You both should know by now, how I would never let anyone hurt him." he assured them. "I wouldn't want Sunny to grow up without her older brother," Eren casually mentioned with a smile.
"We hadn't named the baby yet," Armin complained.
"I had," Mikasa told them and smiled, she turned to Eren: "how did you know?" Mikasa asked.
"I always know," he replied.
"Now you are the one who is insufferable," Armin complained under his breath.
At the Queen's Farm
"You can't just keep us here!" Hitch shouted very loudly as she banged on the wooden door. They had been locked in one of the rooms of the fifth floor, the highest of the building. She then went over to the windows and looked down from the iron bars. "If only we could remove those we could get out," she told Gabi.
"We are very high up," Gabi argued. "And what are we supposed to do after that? There's a bunch of guards outside," she pointed out while sitting on one of the beds.
Azzy was already quietly sitting there and he came closer to her. He raised his hands, asking for Gabi to hold him and she took the toddler in her arms. The boy was feeling very alone, he laid his head on the girl's chest, looking for comfort.
Hitch was frustrated. She came back towards the door. "Where is the Queen of the Walls now? There are no longer any Walls!" she shouted. "You're a bitch, Christa! You're a proper b-"
"Don't talk like that," Gabi admonished her while protecting the toddler's ears. "That's a bad word," she added in a whisper.
"And this is also a bad situation," Hitch replied while pacing around the room.
"Do you think they will put us in jail?" Gabi asked the MP. "Or even kill us?" she added in a whisper.
"Normally we should have a proper trial. But with things as they are, I don't think those Yeagerists will fall into very humane protocols," Hitch explained as she paced around the room.
"Do you think the others made it?" Gabi softly asked and Hitch stopped.
She sat down on the bed in front of Gabi and looked towards the windows, very reflectively.
"I should hope so," Hitch told the girl and then laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Or else what we had done here was for nothing."
-.-
Historia couldn't stop smiling as she gazed at her two very small children. She decided to place them on the bed, right in front of her, and she carefully did so. The Queen slowly put the twins side by side and admired them with pure love in her eyes. 'You are perfect,' Historia thought. 'Completely perfect.'
The mother laughed softly when she noticed the two small things were vaguely acknowledging each other. Historia then moved them closer together. The two babies then found each other's hands and interlocked them, they wouldn't let go once they had confirmed that they had found again their womb companion.
Historia was delighted to see such tiny newborns so aware of their surroundings and admired the twins' instinct to look for each other. She then tilted her head slightly. 'What is this?' Historia thought.
The Queen had never seen such a strange energy. She was frightened to see that wave of darkness emerging from her small children. And from that moment on the Queen knew: they shouldn't touch.
Back in Tybur Castle
There was an eerie feeling in the air as the group walked around castle grounds. They could sense something was off. That's when they looked up to the skies to see complete brightness. Their world was slowly fading away. They could all feel their very existence being lost. Their time was coming to its end.
Falco grabbed one of the flowers in the garden and stared at it very reflectively. He then startled when seeing it disappear into pure brightness.
"What is happening?" Annie asked the others, slightly desperate.
Reiner just sat on the grass, feeling quite troubled.
Jean and Connie looked at each other stunned and confused.
Levi rested his head on one of the tree trunks and looked up to the bright sky. It was all almost completely white. "I don't know," he replied to Annie's question. "But it doesn't feel very good."
Pieck held her head very worriedly. She then stopped to examine the brightness around her hands, and then looked up at Jean. "Has this happened before?" she asked him, quite confused.
"What do you mean?" Jean asked back.
"I know exactly what you mean," Onyankopon told her and the rest of the group. He looked up to the pure bright sky. "Déjà vu," he said as they were all engulfed into nothingness.
At the Queen's Farm
Historia had placed her babies slightly apart and she played with both of their fingers. The mother was extremely happy until she saw the brightness out the window. The Queen knew what that meant in her subconscious and it made her extremely upset. She looked at her children with worry, Historia was starting to feel a little desperate.
She could see these brightness spots all around the room, for every molecule of that world was being erased. Historia held her children very close, she held them one last time.
-.-
Hitch rose herself from the bed once she saw that strange object out the windows. It was quite far away and high up in the sky, coming towards the orphanage.
"It's the air machine!" Gabi said with excitement as they came towards the window to have a look. She held Azzy even closer in her arms. "They came back for us!" she cheered.
They both noticed how bright the sky was and how that brightness seemed to be following the airplane as well, slightly engulfing it. Gabi turned to look at the toddler in her arms and saw that same brightness deep inside his pupils.
The boy hugged her very close, he seemed terrified. Azzy was feeling very scared.
Gabi looked at the boy's eyes again and saw how they were now engulfed in a bright blue light.
Hitch and Gabi startled when they saw all that bright blue energy that was starting to form around the boy and how their entire room was getting brighter and brighter. They could both see those brightness spots around their own arms and their entire bodies. Their world was fading away.
The boy then completely disappeared from Gabi's arms, he was taken away by that pure blue energy.
"Where did he go?" Gabi asked confused and looked down her own body.
The brightness was engulfing them, they would soon be gone too.
"This is the oddest day of my entire life," Hitch let out.
It was the oddest and also the very last, in that world, of course.
In the airplane
The airplane was getting close to the Queen's farm, and they were preparing to land. They hadn't noticed the brightness following the air machine. When they were suddenly surprised by the bright spots surging all around their surroundings and around themselves.
Mikasa seemed to be in agony as she started to twist herself, she then drop forward, leaning over the airplane console.
"What's wrong?" Armin asked her, very concerned.
"My head," she answered. "It feels like is going to explode."
He became fearful as she turned towards him, Armin looked into her eyes, and they were emitting a bright yellow light.
Armin looked around the insides of airplane to see all those bright spots and how they were slowly being engulfed by them. Slowly fading from existence.
He turned to the cabin to see Eren, who seemed to be much more calm. Eren looked around all that brightness engulfing them, he knew it was the end of the line, for now.
He then smiled at his best friend as Armin stared at him in desperation and confusion.
"I'll see you on the other side," Eren told Armin as the airplane was completely erased from existence.
-.-
The Titan Realm
Somewhere, sometime, in that cursed dimension
Ymir was concentrated, staring at her precious bright blue tree as always. She couldn't even tell there was someone approaching her.
"It's quite a show you are putting out there," Az said and she startled. Ymir turned back to look at him with a bright and happy smile.
"You're here!" she cheered in much excitement. Ymir then came over to greet him.
Az slightly looked down to the side for a moment, checking up his scabbard and the sword inside. He then looked back up at her with a timid smile.
"We both know I can't stay here for very long," he told her while trembling slightly as he looked down at his dissolving hands. His body was slowly dividing itself into grains of sand, as if he was sickly melting away into that desert.
"I guess this place doesn't agree with your constitution," Ymir concluded. "Does it hurt?" she asked softly.
"Of course it does," Az replied, staring at his hands and arms, and passing his hand around his face with caution, he was slowly crumbling away. Az then looked at her again. "And can you not look like that? It's creepy," he complained. Ymir looked like her thirteen-year-old self.
She smiled evilly and disappeared, and then reappeared again right behind him, in her adult form. And in the same regal beauty she looked right before she died.
Ymir stared at him very playfully with her bright green eyes. "I can do this trick too, in here at least," she joked, shrugging slightly.
Azzy scratched his head quite timidly and decided to confess. "Is it wrong of me to admit I find it odd when other people do it?" he asked.
"No it's not. That's your 'thing' after all so you're right to exert some envy," Ymir replied.
"And what is your thing?" he decided to bring up the seriousness of the situation. "Destroying everything? Killing innocent people?" Az confronted her.
"Oh, don't start," Ymir complained and rolled her yes. "Have you gone soft after all these years?" she asked back. "We're just having a bit of fun, father and I," Ymir added with her evil smile.
"Ymir, those people are suffering," he explained softly.
"They made me suffer, all of them, that lot," she complained, quite vexed.
"You need to stop this nonsense!" Az told her firmly.
"I will not. This is my life long plan," she retaliated.
"Life?" he asked, and looked down his melting hand, thoughtfully.
Az was in quite a lot of pain and he was having trouble to concentrate on his mission. Being on that dimension was too harmful to him.
"And never mind that, you are here! After all this time we could finally meet again," Ymir said, very happily. "I know how difficult this must be," she added, for she could tell he was in pain. "But you finally came to see me, and that's what matters!" She said very cheerfully and came in closer, to hold him. "I've missed you," Ymir said as she affectionately played with his sand melting fingers.
"Don't you want to move on?" he asked.
"Move on?" she asked back, confusedly.
"Ymir, you need to accept things for what they are: you died. You are dead," he told her very sternly, and that was something Ymir didn't want to hear.
"Don't you say that!" she exclaimed very angry. Ymir let go of his hands and took a couple of steps back.
He continued. "You need to let this place die. What's the point of keeping this illusion? Of all this suffering?" Az questioned her and Ymir just shook her head, she was stunned and confused.
She then became angry.
"No." Ymir said very firmly. "They need to pay! They all need to pay for what they have done to me. To our children!" she shouted then came closer to him again, "to you," she told him very brokenly.
Az shook his head, feeling quite upset. He continued his argument. "You'll never find peace, even after all of it is done, you know that. Don't you want to see the girls again?" he questioned her. "We both know they are not here, in your own nightmare; this wretched, cursed place. They've passed on, they are in heaven, real Heaven. Don't you want to be with them? In peace?" Az asked her very softly.
"What makes you think I'll be going there? After all I've done?" Ymir questioned him back quite sternly. She then reflected for a moment, one could see the wheels turning inside Ymir's eyes. "We can start over," she proposed quite boldly.
"What?" Az asked, baffled.
She looked down with a pout and caressed his arm - it was slowly crumbling into sand - Ymir looked up at him, looking quite excited. "I can touch you here," she pointed out.
He removed his arm and stepped back, away from her. "So?" Az questioned, he was not very sure of where she was going with that.
"You promised you would take me home one day," she reminded him.
"I think we are passed that," Az replied, a little worried.
"We can jump out. You can take me with you," she proposed. "You promised," she added as he shook his head in disbelief "Don't you think I want to see my family again?" Ymir questioned, she wanted him to feel guilty of his past mistakes once more.
"Ymir…" Az trailed off, feeling conflicted.
"It's my birthday," she said with a smile. "You were able to return to Earth in your birthday as well, if I recall," she argued. "Your soul was brought back, your body was reformed. A real body, of flesh and blood."
"We don't know if that will happen to you," Az argued back.
"But what if we tried? There's no harm in trying," Ymir kept the suggestion. "We could start all over, in our own time. Have the life we never had, near our families. We could be happy, like we should have been in the first place," she told him coming near and holding him close again, touching him in the arms and shoulders as they slowly dissolved in sand.
Az felt nervous, that physical contact with her ghostly body made him fear he would fall trapped in her affections again. He tried to contain himself, unfortunately Az couldn't help but stare into those beautiful green eyes. He was already under her spell.
Ymir continued more softly, while holding him very close. "If somehow is in my power to end this curse. We could live normal lives, grow old together, surrounded by our loved ones. And one day, when the time comes, we could pass on and see them again, our beautiful girls," Ymir proposed. "Don't you want that second chance?" she then asked very softly.
"H-How are we supposed to do any of that?" he asked, still a little wary, but completely spellbound.
"You can take me there, to our safe place. Where you took me when we were children and placed me in the waters." Ymir suggested, staring right into his eyes.
"I don't think it's safe for us to go there. We don't know much of that odd dimension and things could end up worse-" Az was trying to explain with caution, but she interrupted him with a kiss.
He was still wary at first but he then responded accordingly. It was the intense, long-awaited, and long-lasting kiss they were both yearning for.
Ymir pulled back and looked at him quite timidity. "Do you still love me?" she asked in a small voice.
"I will always love you," he replied without hesitation.
"Then save me," she said while holding his hands once again.
Az embraced her and started to built up his energy. It was quite painful to do so in that dimension but he went through with it: he jumped away from there, taking Ymir with him.
But the witch was still completely bound to that place, and so her essence and most of her soul remained. She would never be free of that hell, for it had been of her own making.
A land made of crystals
They arrived in that land again. Now for the third time, the first had been when Azzy was a small toddler and Ymir was a very tiny newborn. They eventually returned when he was almost seven years old and she was four. And that time was the one when things didn't end up very nicely. Which explained the eeriness Az felt when going back there a third time.
"I don't feel very good," Az complained, he was feeling quite dizzy and odd.
Ymir ignored him completely. She was looking for something as they walked near the rivers and the low and thin clouds. "There it is!" Ymir exclaimed in pure excitement. She had sighted the giant and ancient tree. And Ymir ran towards it.
That odd dimension made of pure crystal was an ever-changing entity. It so happens that around the year 854 it had been located deep underneath Tybur Castle, but it is unknown for how long it had been underneath that particular region and how long it remained there. The land made of crystals would often rematerialised in different spots underneath the Earth's crust. In the moments when it was on Earth, of course.
The particular location, in that particular time was what brought the toddler into that place for the very first time. For his mother had advised him to search for a safe place to hide and that was the safest place near that castle, according to Azzy's otherworldly instincts.
The toddler and the tiny newborn didn't spend much time there. Azzy felt very uneasy in that dimension and he eventually decided to jump back into the farm. And not long after that, that same toddler and that same tiny baby returned to that odd dimension. But of course, for them, ages had passed.
Ymir was very happy to have found that ancient tree once again. She looked down into the dark waters deep underneath the tree's cave with much wonder and excitement.
"You know, that tree doesn't like me very much," Az joked. For he had the painful memory of being thrown high up in the air when rejected by that tree's otherworldly force field.
He passed his hands around it and near the field, to show Ymir the sparkles it gave away, shocking his hand. "See?" he asked. "That's the reason I couldn't follow you that time," he explained.
Ymir smiled at him and put his hand down. They both looked into the depth of the tree's cave. Az was fearful and confused but he turned to see Ymir's eyes, she seemed eager and astonished.
She looked up at him and their eyes met. Ymir then kissed him once more. It was a wet and long-lasted kiss, like many they had before. But for Az it also felt cold and stale, it seemed like Ymir wanted that to be their very last; a proper farewell kiss.
"Thank you," Ymir said as she pulled away. "You have been very helpful."
She smiled quite evilly then threw herself on her back quite charmingly.
"No, wait!" he tried to stop her but it was too late.
Ymir quickly fell deep and deep into the portal, inside the ancient tree cave. She disappeared completely.
Az tried to leap forward to follow her, but once again, he was thrown far back and with much force. He fell back into the crystals and stared into that cursed portal with much anger. He couldn't believe his own stupidity, the witch had tricked him and he fell for it, he had completely fallen under Ymir's spell.
He built up his energy once more and jumped out of there, to follow the witch his own way.
- Year 845 - Shiganshina
A boy was lying on a field
Eren was sound asleep. He slept quite peacefully, underneath the shadow of a small tree. His dreams were peaceful but only for a while. For unfortunately, the poor boy was cursed. He not only was of Eldian blood, he was also a Titan child, son of a Titan Shifter.
The ten-year-old had inherited some of his father's premonition powers and those powers would often haunt the poor boy's dreams. Eren saw himself in a complicated and sorrowful future, a future he couldn't escape from. He saw a small soul who kept trying to reach him, as if to ask for help. His nightmares were intense, but he knew deep down that it would all be okay eventually. For the boy forgot his dreams completely, from the moment he'd wake up.
Nine years later - Year 854 - Shiganshina - Before the Crumbling of the Walls
[When Time ran back]
Eren fell to the floor. His hand was extended, but it wasn't enough to reach his brother. Gabi couldn't believe it: she had actually shot him.
The twelve-year-old had shot Eren with a rifle, and the bullet had lodged inside his neck. Eren fell to the ground, bleeding profusely. Zeke was mortally wounded as well and he desperately tried to reach for his younger brother. The War Chief had tears in his eyes when he noticed Eren was lifeless. Gabi could also see that his eyes had fallen dead. Eren looked completely empty.
Eren had found himself in that cursed dimension. He had never been able to reach it before, but he was there now. He gazed at the beauty of that bright tree, it was made completely of light and Eren felt at peace while admiring its beauty.
When he noticed a soft shadow near him, someone was approaching.
"I've been waiting all this time to see you again," Ymir told her father.
She hadn't seen since she had been four years old. Nevertheless, Ymir had watched him grow up, she had watched him become the man he was now. The poor soul had even tried to reach him in his dreams. But only now and even for that brief moment - in that cursed dimension - they could finally talk.
-.-
Eren was completely out, he was dead and Gabi could see it in his dead eyes. But that only lasted the entirety of two seconds. The younger Yeager suddenly found himself alive again. Eren had regained consciousness and his eyes turned to stare straight into Gabi's. The girl startled. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
His entire body then started to emit and sparkle its signature Titan energy. Eren was about to transform.
That's when the whole of Shiganshina and the fields of Wall Maria felt immense and thunderous earthquakes. And from a smallish tree, in the fields outside of Shiganshina, the eldian goddess emerged.
All the people of the Walls were in awe as they saw it in the distance. It was like the fields had given birth to a monster.
After two thousand years, Ymir had finally returned to the Earth in her Titan form. She was the Original Titan and she had finally found the strength to reach her transformation powers to completion: Ymir was a gigantic Titan, she stood at three hundred meters high and had giant and beautiful wings. Her wings and body were coated in crystal. Ymir had very long blonde hair and very bright green eyes.
A frightening regal figure, she rose up and up into the skies. To not only the view of the terrified spectators of Paradise Island, but also to the view of many nearing ships and other regions and other islands near by.
A little further away, in the fields outside of Shiganshina, Azymondeus watched it all unraveled. He was completely enraged for being used like that. He should have known better, he should have killed her when he had the chance. The witch had tricked him and he was ready for his revenge.
Az looked around the fields of Wall Maria once more and started to build up his energy, for he already had a plan. And so, he jumped out of there.
The Marlean Continent - A few days before
General Magath was vexed and worried about his next steps. For they hadn't foreseen that Eldian attack and that battle had left them with great loss. Marley hadn't lost that amount of civilian life and war assets since the Titan War, a hundred years prior.
He walked around the dark corridors of the partiality destroyed building in the middle of the night. The busy military man had done a lot during that day and he still had many tasks to finish during that night. When he passed through one of the fancier offices and noticed something was off. He first thought he had seen an apparition, a shadow of a person and he then walked back to look once more. Magath entered the office to see a man sitting on William Tybur's chair.
"Who are you? You can't be here," Magath complained in deep military fashion.
But the man said nothing, he just stared out to the window, looking at the destroyed harbour. It hadn't been long since that Titan attack and they were still trying to find bodies underneath the wreckage.
It was quite dark in the room, with only some of the city lights and the moon illuminating them from the windows. Magath tried his best to take a good look, trying to identify the man, and all he could tell was that he was a similar figure to Willy.
"Are you a family member?" the General asked the man.
"Just a distance cousin," Az replied while fixing up his sharp suit and adjusting himself better on the chair. Almost as if he had been the one to have called the General for an appointment.
"I'm sorry for your loss," the General gave out his condolences. "I believe many of the more senior members of the Tybur family were killed in that horrid day.
"I'm aware of that, yes," Az confirmed. "And I do apologise for not coming to all the funerals and vigils and all that," he added. "I'm not really a man of weeping or mourn, I am more of a man of action."
"Is that why you are here? Do you intent to take your cousin's place?" Magath questioned.
"I assume you are preparing your retaliation to the Island," Az carelessly supposed.
"That is confidential," the General replied very sternly.
"Let me help," Az suggested and the man said nothing.
Magath was thinking, he was trying to read the stranger, but it was difficult. The man had a very emotionless face, he seemed very dry and it was hard to tell what laid behind his eyes.
"I can give you what you need and so much more," the Tybur man offered. "It's clear Marley had lost many soldiers and supplies in this latest attack. You need all the help that you can get if you want to launch a successful retaliation to Paradise Island."
"I haven't confirmed any retaliation attack, so please, don't put words in my mouth," Magath told him very sternly.
"Eren Yeager killed my family and I am ready for revenge," Az told the General while standing up. "But, General Magath, you better decide here and now if you want my support. This offer won't stand for long," he declared, trying to negotiate.
Magath stared at the man, quite undecided. "What is you name?" he asked, for the man had failed to present himself.
"Azymondeus Tybur," Az replied and offered to shake his hand.
And the General reached to meet his hand for the handshake. "Azymondeus? Like the cartoon character?" he asked, teasing slightly.
Azzy sighed. "Just call me Az," he suggested.
"So, Mr. Tybur, what is your proposal?" the General asked.
"You know we have to act fast," Az said.
"Yes," Magath replied, slightly careless.
"No, I really mean it. Time is not on our side and the danger that island represents to the entire world is far too great," Az explained very solemnly.
"So, what would you have us do?" Magath questioned, more concerned.
"We are going to burn that island to the ground." Az replied.
End of Chapter Fourteen: "See you later"
End of Arc II: "The Castle"