Chapter 10: Unrealised Future

Mikasa leaned on Eren as she quietly slept. Eren knew she must be emotionally drained after that experience; he went through the same thing when they had died in his original reality. So, he tried to move as little as possible to not disturb her rest.

He closed his eyes and lost himself in his thoughts. How does he move forward? The priority, ever since he had arrived here, was to retake Wall Maria, and now that has come to pass. Where does he go from there? It's all still waiting for them; the hate, the inevitable fight between Paradis and the nations of the world, all that was still waiting.

Paradis did not have the technology to compete with any of the nations around the world, let alone Marley. For that reason, the use of the Founding Titan was essential but even with the Founding Titan, in a few years, the rest of the world would have technology on the verge of surpassing the power of the Titans and this meant that the Wall Titan's may have to be used, something which Eren decided against after Mikasa's death in his own reality.

With Marley's second failure to capture the Founding Titan, the Marley Mid-East war should start soon. This was the best time to develop Paradis and prepare.

'Would Zeke's future followers still offer their help?' mused Eren.

Zeke's alliance allowed Paradis to thrive and develop into a more modern country, but if Zeke does not offer the same help, they needed another way to reach that same goal. Another development the alliance had brought was the Azumabito family, who was a major factor that allowed Paradis to compete with nations around the world and completely turned the tide in the battles between Paradis and the enemy forces of the world. How were they going to meet them without Zeke? All that technology and advancements they had made in his own reality, it all leads back to Zeke and as much as Eren didn't want to rely on his half-brother, he could not deny that at this moment, he was needed.

"Titan!" one civilian shouted.

Eren felt a jolt as the wagon came to a sudden stop, causing Mikasa to wake up abruptly. His eyes flew open and flicked towards the panicking civilians before following the direction of their pointing fingers, and who he saw made him freeze.

"I-Isn't that…" Mikasa stuttered.

Eren gripped the wagon, his knuckles turned white as his nails dug into the wood. 'Dina…'

Eren climbed off and began walking towards the Titan, alarming both Armin and Mikasa, who both quickly climbed off to follow.

"Eren, what are you doing?!" shouted Armin.

Armin received no response from Eren, who had stopped moving, now simply looking ahead as the Titan got closer.

"Eren?" Armin tentatively called his name, now standing next to him.

Mikasa turned towards Eren, gauging his reaction. Surely, Eren would want revenge, right? The death of his mother was one of the biggest driving forces that made Eren who he was.

"Eren… we should kill it," stated Mikasa, feeling progressively more anxious as the seconds ticked by.

Eren shook his head. "Don't you two remember? In every Titan, there is someone just like us. Someone is alive in there," Eren said. "I've nearly forgotten, but this Titan… I know her through my dad's memories and killing her is the last thing I want to do."

"But we can't take it back to headquarters, it's too far away," said Armin.

"I know that, but with the power of the Founding Titan… there is something I could try," replied Eren.

"Try what?" asked Armin.

"Turning her back into a Human," replied Eren.

Armin looked at Eren in surprise. "Is that even possible?"

"We'll about to find out. Stand back and do not intervene," he said when he noticed Mikasa's hand twitch towards her blades as the Titan's hand got closer. He reached out and placed his palm against the hand of the Smiling Titan, when it reached out to grab him.

Eren closed his eyes as he felt the power of the Founding Titan surge through him. He felt nothing out of the ordinary happen to him, but when the feeling of flesh disappeared from his palm and the breeze that blew gently against his face had all but became still; he knew he was no longer standing on the grass of Paradis.

When he opened his eyes once more; he was met with endless amounts of earth that seemed to stretch beyond the horizon. However, something bright… something powerful had caught his attention. In the distance, he saw a tree-like structure with thousands of branches that seemed to stretch across this realm. It cackled with energy; he could feel its power go through his body.

'What is this?'

His eyes widened when he noticed an unmoving body close to this tree-like structure. 'Could that be…?' he moved closer to confirm his suspicions, it became clear whose body it was.

'Dina…'

He crouched down beside her and gently prodded her shoulder, hoping for a reaction, but nothing came. He did not even know if it was possible to turn her back, but perhaps Ymir can.

'Where is she?'

Eren perked up when the noise of a bucket repeatedly banging against something reached his ears. He moved his head towards the direction of the noise, and he felt his spirits rise when he realised who it was.

"Ymir!"

Eren looked on in confusion when Ymir did not seem to react to the shout of her name. He stood up and jogged towards her. "Ymir! Hold up!" he shouted, furrowing his brow when she continued to ignore him.

Once he was close enough, he reached and grabbed her shoulder. "Ymir, why-" he did not finish his sentence as he was flooded with memories.

Memories of a girl who had been treated like a slave for all her life. A girl who was blamed and hunted by the people around her. She ran only to return to the one that hunted her because of the power she had gained. For the rest of her life, she would serve as a slave to this man, known as King Fritz.

She had no will.

No freedom.

She was the reason Eldia prospered; by building bridges and roads, cultivating wastelands, and was used as a weapon against the Marleyans, but never by choice. All she had ever known were orders, but she followed them because she did not know any better. She would then go on to start the era of the Titans and was forever known as the Founder.

Eren reached a hand up to his head, gently rubbing it as a headache started to set in. 'What the hell? What was that? Were these… your memories Ymir?'

"She won't respond to you."

Eren turned around, startled by the sudden voice.

"Ymir?" he looked between the girl who just appeared behind him and the one who had not responded to his shouts. They were identical.

She nodded. "It has been a while, Eren."

"I came here to see you! But… I hadn't considered that this world has another version of you," Eren said.

"Every world has their own paths, Eren," Ymir said.

"Every world? You mean there are more?"

Ymir pointed at the huge tree-like structure. "You see that?"

Eren nodded. "What is it?" he asked.

"I've never given it a name, but you can call it the Coordinate," said Ymir. "It is what connects all my subjects together, but every world has its own Coordinate and each of those Coordinates are connected to each other. It is why I could send you here, to this world."

"So, the… Coordinate is why I was able to come here?"

Ymir nodded. "Yes, that's right. There are a total of nine worlds, and each one is different from one another."

Eren turned towards Ymir, a frown on his face. "So, why this one? Why did you send me to this one?"

"Unlike the other worlds, this world was destined to be crushed by the millions of Titans that rest within the walls on Paradis Island, and I thought you could save this world from that fate," explained Ymir. "Perhaps, it is to also give you a chance at the life you wanted and to save those you had lost on your journey to me."

"I don't understand, why me? If I exist in the other worlds, why did these different versions of you decide to not send the 'me' of their world to save this one?" asked Eren.

Ymir turned to Eren. "To do what I did for you, the Coordinate must be put back in its original state. To do that, all nine Titan powers must be held by one person, so that they can be returned to paths at the point of their death," she turned to the Coordinate, pointing at the thousands of branches that stretched as far as the horizon. "You see those branches? We know them as paths, or specifically the path in which a subject takes in their life; from beginning to end. Every decision, emotion, memory, anything that represents life is represented as a branch and it is the gateway that allows the power of the Titans to manifest itself. When you reunited the Titans and returned them to the paths realm of our world, the Coordinate changed, and all the branches merged into one. In a way, it was 'complete'. This branch is what we know as the branch between worlds and as far as I know, no other person except you had done so in the other worlds."

"So… it's like a bridge and because I had satisfied the requirements, it was then 'complete', allowing me to cross it," Eren said. His mind was working overtime as he tried to process Ymir's words. "Is that right?"

Ymir tilted her head, pondering over Eren's simplified explanation. "Hmm… I guess that's another way of explaining it."

"But how did you figure that out?" asked Eren.

Ymir chuckled lightly. "I've spent millenniums stuck near the Coordinate in our world. The Coordinate is all I have known in all that time… it reaches out to you, pouring your mind with knowledge and memories of my subjects. It connected me to my subjects, not just from my world, but the others too, though not as strong, and I have no doubt Ymir here is experiencing the same thing."

After a few moments of silence, Eren spoke once more, "Ymir, what did you mean this world was destined to be crushed? Are you saying everything… is predetermined from the start?" the idea made Eren sick. If everything was already decided, then freedom never existed.

"In a way… yes, but the choices people make are still their own choices. No one is controlling them, but if you were to simply go back in time and observe, then the same choices will be made again and again. Do you understand?"

Eren shook his head. "Not completely, but I think I know what you're saying… The choices are of our own free will, but once it's chosen, they cannot be changed."

Ymir nodded. "In normal circumstances, yes. But your Titan, the Attack Titan, has an ability that can change that."

Eren's eyes widened in surprise as he looked at her expectantly. "So, there is one! I've never been able to figure out what it was…"

"The Attack Titan has the ability to send memories back to previous holders of the Titan, and those people are able to see the memories of its successors, and the Eren of this world used it."

Eren's face scrunched up in confusion. "Used it? What do you mean 'used' it? I thought the 'me' of this world was supposed to die after the battle with Annie. How could he have already known about this power?"

"I intervened," replied Ymir.

Eren froze. "Intervened…?"

Ymir paused for a moment, contemplating her next words, before speaking. "The Eren of this world wasn't supposed to die during that fight."

Eren's eyes widened. "You mean… you-"

"Yes. When I say I intervened, I mean I made it happen," admitted Ymir.

Eren subconsciously took a step back. "You killed him?"

Ymir looked thoughtful. "I guess you can say that… but can it really be considered killing? I merely planted the suggestion in one of this world's subjects to force the outcome. I don't actually have the power to fully control the Eldians of this world, but if I did… it would have made the job easier."

"But that's wrong! He should have never died," argued Eren.

Ymir looked at him sharply. She stepped closer and pulled Eren down to her level. "I wonder if you can say the same after what I'm about to show you?" she ignored Eren's look of surprise and confusion as she placed her forehead against his.

Eren gasped when he suddenly lost his vision, and he was taken out of the paths and into…

Hell.

Eren's lack of vision only lasted a moment, but when it returned, it took all his willpower to not freeze in shock when he saw multiple Colossal's approaching him. They stomped their way through everything: the buildings, the roads, the cars, the people.

Multiple terror-filled screams reached his ears. He snapped his heads towards the horrible sound, just to see four kids, no older than ten, bundled up together as they cried and screamed in terror as an enormous shadow loomed over them.

'They're going to get crushed!' Eren internally panicked as he scrambled towards them, but the rumbling ground tossed him all over the place. His body skidded across the concrete ground with each rumble, but he wasn't giving up, as he used his nails to claw at the concrete, grabbing onto anything he could hang onto and he crawled.

"What are you doing?! Move! Run!" Eren shouted as loud as could, hoping it would trigger some sort of reaction.

But it did not. It was inevitable now; it was too late. Eren knew this as he closed in on the group of kids. The foot of the Colossal was mere meters away from crushing them.

"Run!" shouted Eren as he dived forward, his body moving by itself as he dived right underneath the foot of the Colossal.

Then it went dark.

Eren clenched his eyes shut, just waiting for the inevitable. It never came. He gingerly opened his eyes.

Blood.

Bones.

Flesh.

His breathing intensified as he scrambled back from the mess of crushed bodies.

"What the fuck?!" exclaimed Eren. "What the fuck is happening?!"

"The Rumbling. The path you never took. This could have been you."

Eren turned towards the intruding voice. It was Ymir. "Me? H-how could I ever make this decision?! I could never-"

"But you did, well not you, but Eren Yeager made this decision," Ymir looked at Eren sharply. "I think you know that deep down if pushed far enough, even you have the capability for this. There is one thing that is constant across all nine worlds and that is Eren Yeager is capable of being the devil but it's not as simple as that… the Eren of this world saw memories sent back by his future self and whatever he had seen pushed him to take this course of action."

Eren opened his mouth to deny that accusation but closed it when he couldn't really deny what she said because it was true. Deep down, he knew he could be a monster, a devil.

He looked away from Ymir. Taking a moment to look at the surrounding destruction.

"So, this is the rumbling… this is the path I nearly headed down?"

He looked into the distance and his eyes widened when he laid them upon the largest Titan he has ever seen, but for some reason, it lacked a lot of flesh, its size made up of mostly bones and its face… it looked oddly similar. Where had he seen that face before?

'No way…' Eren shakily stood up and took a few steps forward.

"Is that… me?" he asked, his fingers pointing towards the Titan who seems to be part of the skies themselves, with its large form looming over the destruction beneath it.

"Yes," replied Ymir.

Eren's arms dropped limply to his sides. "What about my friends? What happened to them?"

Ymir stepped forward, now standing next to Eren. She grabbed his arm. "Let me show you," she said before the world around them seem to shift. Everything around them fell away like it was sand, to be replaced by a new location.

Eren blinked.

"A ship?" Eren looked around in confusion.

"Your friends, they're inside," Ymir gestured toward the open doorway that led to the ship's interior.

Eren released a shaky breath, suddenly nervous. What were his friend's thinking at this moment while his other self was bringing hell to this world? To think this could have been him…

He shook his head. 'Stop. No. I won't let that happen.'

He walked towards the entrance, stopping momentarily when he saw his friends, along with Reiner, Pieck, and a few others. They looked older, much closer to the age he had last seen them in his old world. He scanned the wary faces around the room, some even looked hopeless… something he never would have associated with his friends; people that pushed through every situation, no matter how dire it was, but this… What had he done to them?

He clenched his fist as anger surged through him.

"What do we do?"

Eren held his breath when he heard Jean's familiar voice.

"I don't know…" replied Armin, who had his face buried in his palms. "If I can just talk to Eren, maybe I can make him see reason…"

Mikasa nodded, agreeing with Armin. "I- we can bring the old Eren back, we have to tr-"

"It won't work," Annie said. "You know it won't work, it's hopeless…"

"What is there to talk about?" Eren questioned, knowing none of them could hear him. "You have to fight! It doesn't matter if it's against me or anyone else!"

Eren walked up to Armin. His face was no longer buried in his hands, but the troubling look remained on his face. "Armin… if I have already been pushed to the point where I have made the choice of killing all life, then you know, deep down, there is no way for you to talk me out of it… I don't know what he saw, but I know you will make the right decision, you always have… "

Eren chuckled humorously to himself. "What am I even saying? You can't even hear me… If only you could hear me…"

Eren felt a sudden surge of power before the scenery shifted once again, sending him back to paths but this time, he wasn't alone.

"Eren?" Armin slowly stood up, his face showing his surprise and shock.

It wasn't just Armin that came, but so did Mikasa, Jean, Connie, Hange, and Captain Levi with the latter looking barely conscious. They could all see him.

"H-how? I'm not really here…"

All at once, they all started calling his name. Their voices were full of desperation and anguish as they called out to him.

"Eren?!" shouted Jean. "Eren, you have to stop this!"

"We can talk this through Eren, you don't have to kill everyone else for our sake!" begged Armin.

"Stop this Eren… I hated you when Sasha died but it must have been hard for you too, wasn't it?!" Connie shouted with tears leaking from his eyes.

"Eren, it was my fault that we never found a way forward from this mess… I could never replace Erwin as the commander but this… he would have never wanted this, we can work this out together, just like old times," Hange said.

"Eren…" Mikasa called. "Please, come back to us..."

"Stop!" shouted Eren. "Just… stop…"

Silence followed his words.

"Eren… please," begged Mikasa.

"No... you don't understand, I can't stop this," replied Eren. "I'm not who you think I am. I'm not the Eren Yeager that you know."

Armin stepped forward. "I don't understand…"

"I have different memories and I made different choices in my life. Eren Yeager started the rumbling, but I didn't. I'm not the Eren that you had grown up with. I come from a world where war has ended, and Paradis has started its journey towards peace. I'm from a different reality, one that is similar to this one but slightly different," explained Eren.

Armin looked surprised. "An alternate reality… I've read about the theory but never thought that it could be true. But... why come to this one? It sounded like the Paradis of your world managed to achieve something we have failed to achieve, so why come to this world? Why leave a world on the verge of peace?"

"In my world, out of everyone here, Jean was the only survivor of the war along with me. So, when I was given this opportunity by the Founder, I saw it as a chance to make up for my failures and give you guys the life you deserve…" Eren breathed in deeply, trying to keep back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"We died…?" Armin said, mostly to himself.

"And it was all because of me," Eren said, his voice laced with suppressed anguish. "Every day I wonder if I could have saved you if I had taken another path. If I had just made a different decision, maybe all of you would have lived a long life, doing the things you wanted, but that was taken away because of me!" he mirthlessly chuckled. "Seeing you guys alive and breathing, it's like seeing a bunch of ghosts..."

Eren exhaled heavily, his eyes downcast as he tried to keep a lid on his emotions.

"Eren…" Mikasa called softly.

She was met with silence, so she walked up to him until they were face to face.

"Do you remember that night?" she asked out of the blue.

Eren raised his head and looked at her in confusion. "Huh?"

"The night you saved me when we were nine, it happened in your world too, right?" she asked.

Eren nodded.

"Even now, I have so much guilt for not being able to do anything when those men killed my parents and when I was lying down; hopeless and alone, you came. You came and saved me when I had already given up," she reached into her jacket and pulled out her scarf. "I had just lost my parents, but when you wrapped this around me, I knew I was going to be okay and from that moment onwards, I never stopped fighting."

She stepped closer to Eren.

"If the Mikasa of your world was in any way similar to me, then she would never want you to blame yourself for her death because no matter what you say, you saved her… you saved me. People die but that's the world we live in but it's no one's fault, the world is just cruel that way, but we fight till the very end, that's what you taught me," she averted her eyes. "I-I'm sure even in her last moments, she…" she trailed off.

"She loved me," Eren finished for her.

Mikasa looked up at him, surprised. She opened her mouth a few times, but the words kept leaving her.

She was taken back when Eren threw his arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug. Her arms just dangled by her sides for a few seconds before she hesitantly wrapped her own arms around Eren, clutching onto the cloth of his shirt.

"She told you…" she whispered.

"I'm glad she did," responded Eren in an equally quiet voice.

Mikasa's breath caught in her throat. She gripped Eren's shirt even tighter after hearing his response. She pulled away but continued to look up at him. When was the last time he looked at her so gently?

After a few seconds, which felt like an eternity, Eren pulled away completely and took a few steps back. He looked at the faces of each of his friends, who remained silent during the moment they just had.

"I won't let this happen," Eren said, full of conviction.

"But it has already started," Jean said.

"Unless…" Armin started saying. "This hasn't happened for you yet, has it?"

"No, it hasn't," confirmed Eren.

"Eren… are you saying you can change the course of history?" Hange looked at him in disbelief.

Armin's face brightened with hope for only a moment before realisation dawned on him. "But what happens to us? The people who are living in this time?"

"I…" Eren didn't know what to say. "I don't know…"

"This future will cease to exist; it's disintegrating this very moment," explained Ymir, who stood a few metres behind the group, unbeknown to them.

The group turned to her, surprised by her presence.

"Who are you?" asked Jean.

"She's the Founder, Ymir Fritz, from my world, she's the one that sent me here," Eren spoke for her.

Armin took a step towards Ymir. "Am I right in saying we will cease to exist too?"

Ymir looked at him sympathetically. "I'm sorry," she replied.

Eren looked at Ymir in alarm. "What?! What do you mean? How can they just disappear from existence?"

"Eren, this future... no, this path is disintegrating, it will cease to exist because you have already changed the past and all the people will go with it," she replied. "There is nothing I can do to stop that."

"Eren," Mikasa called out softly. "It's okay… and I'm fine with it because we're still with you, right? In your time, that's still me, not one from another world but me, is that right Ymir?"

Ymir nodded.

"But-" Eren started saying.

"Eren," called Armin. His expression was sad, but it was hopeful. "It's the only way. We must prevent this future, no matter the cost, and if my existence is the price, I'll gladly pay it."

"But Armin-"

"I agree," Jean interrupted. "Don't get me wrong, I don't like the idea of not existing, but if it's the only way, I'll pay the price."

"Jean…"

"Tell me, Eren, will you do everything you can to save Sasha?" asked Connie.

"I won't let her die," replied Eren. "With my life, I will not let her die."

"That's good enough for me," replied Connie, who for the first time in a long time, smiled. A world where Sasha was still alive and tasting all the food the world could give her was infinitely better than the nightmare they're living in.

"And it's not like we will die, will we? We're still there for you," reasoned Armin.

"Armin…"

"I don't think we have much time left," Armin said, seemingly out of the blue, but without Eren noticing until now, everyone else except Armin and Mikasa had disappeared. "Just the three of us now… when did I hear that before?" Armin commented humorously.

Eren blinked, and Armin was gone too.

"Wait..."

Mikasa stepped closer to Eren and looked up at him. She grabbed his hand as she spoke. "I know I'm not dying, I know I'll be there in your time, but it feels like dying, so before I go-"

"Don't say that," begged Eren, who shook his head in denial.

Mikasa only smiled. "Before I go, I just wanted to say…" she trailed off.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down towards her, pressing her lips gently against his as a lone tear rolled down her cheeks.

For her, it felt like an eternity, but the moment lasted only a few seconds before she pulled away and looked at him with a smile that didn't really reach her eyes.

"Eren, I lo-" she started to say.

Eren blinked, and she was gone, the rest of her words forever silenced.

"Wait… not yet… you can't go yet," he dropped to his knees and grabbed a chunk of the earth she just stood on.

Ymir stood over him. "Do you now understand why I intervened? I connected with this world's Eren Yeager before you had come to see me. The Coordinate showed me his future. His memories. After watching you struggle so much to honour your friend's memories as you fought for not only your people's freedom but also their future. I couldn't stand by and watch men, women, and children suffer… when I could get them help. It was selfish of me to not give you the complete truth, but you know it now.

"So, I'm giving you a choice. I can send you back to our world, let you pass on, and let this world play out the way it always had, or you can stay and fight knowing the truth and what I did to allow you to come here. This world is nothing like ours, the fight will be unforgiving. What will you choose?" Ymir said.

Eren slowly stood up. "What do you think," he growled out.

Ymir smiled. "Good, I knew you would."

"Are you able to turn Dina back?" he asked.

"My powers are limited in a world that isn't mine, I do not have complete control over these subjects because they are not connected to me directly and to close Dina's connection to paths? That's beyond my capabilities here, but they are connected to the Ymir of this world," she explained.

"Don't I have full access to the Founding Titan's power? I've met the requirements and have made contact with a Titan of royal descent,"

Ymir shook her head. "The royal blood allowed you to connect with Ymir, but she will still only obey someone with royal blood."

Eren clenched his fists. In his eyes, no one should ever have to obey anyone. "Take me back to the coordinate," he requested.

Ymir noticed Eren's quiet anger. "What will you do?" she asked.

"I will free her."

Eren breathed in deeply and remained still when he felt Ymir grab his hand. A few moments later, his vision went completely blank.

When he could finally see, he was greeted again by the bright light of the Coordinate. The Ymir of this world was now building a Titan. Her movements were slow but precise. It was as if she were playing with sand as she moulded and sculpted the Titan from the ground up.

Eren turned to Ymir. "Thank you for your help but this, I need to do alone."

Ymir nodded. "Good luck, Eren," she said before she slowly faded away into the Coordinate.

Eren walked purposefully towards her and when she was within touching distance, he stopped her moving by grabbing her by the shoulders. He looked sympathetic as he looked into the face of the enslaved girl that knew no freedom all her life.

"Ymir," Eren called, keeping his tone gentle. "All your life, you have been given no choice and no freedom. Everything you have done; you did not do with your own free will… but that's wrong. With everything I have, I believe from the day we are born, we are free... your life is yours and all your decisions are for you, and you only, to make. You're a human who craved love, who should have experienced the pain and the joys of life but that was taken away from you, but I promise, I will free you from this prison. So, please lend me your power and help me prevent this nightmare," Eren pulled her into a hug. "It is your decision and yours alone, but no matter what you choose, I will come back for you and I will free you."

Silence followed his words.

Then he heard a sniffle. Then he felt the girl in his arms shake.

"Liar," she whispered.

"What?" uttered Eren before a set of chains emerged from the ground and latched onto his neck, before forcefully yanking him back, sending his body flying across the air before landing heavily next to Dina.

She stalked towards him. "Liar," she said once again.

"Wait! Ymir!" shouted Eren.

"You're not him!" she screamed. "Liar!"

Breathing became impossible when the chains around his neck tightened.

"Ymir, stop," he gasped out. He could feel tears forming at the corner of his eyes as he gasped for air.

But she didn't stop.

It continued to tighten further and further until the corners of his vision started turning dark. The last thing he saw was a crying Ymir, who stared at him with an expression that didn't match the angry scream he just heard. It looked like longing.

'No matter what… I'll free you,' was the last thought to enter Eren's mind before everything turned dark.


"Eren!" shouted Mikasa and Armin when Eren suddenly collapsed.

Mikasa pulled out her blades, intent on killing the Smiling Titan, but before she could, the Titan collapsed and its body slowly disintegrated.

"Armin…" Mikasa called in disbelief.

Armin, who was checking on Eren's vitals, looked up and saw the mess of disintegrating bones from the Smiling Titan but he soon saw why Mikasa sounded so shocked; in the middle lay a small naked woman, with short blonde hair.

"Is that…" Armin couldn't believe it.

Mikasa sheathed her blades once more before she tentatively got closer to the blonde woman. Once she was close enough, she crouched down and checked her pulse to confirm that she was indeed alive.

"How is she?" asked Armin.

"Alive," was all Mikasa said, unable to take her eyes off the face of the woman in front of her. She looked so… normal. 'I knew they were human, but to see the Titan who killed Eren's mum like this… how am I supposed to feel?'

Mikasa took off her cloak and covered Dina's body, making sure she was decent.

Eren inhaled deeply before exhaling with a fit of coughs, his eyes flew open at the same time. His hands shot up to his neck in panic, inspecting it clumsily.

'Where am I?' Eren continued to panic in his delirious state.

"Eren!"

'Who's calling me?' his vision was clouded and he could only make out the blurry outline of someone's face.

"Eren, can you hear me!"

He felt someone grab his arm and his hands instinctively clutched onto the cloth of the intruder's shirt, roughly pulling it.

"Eren!" shouted Armin. "Calm down! You're fine, we're here!" he said, trying to calm Eren down.

When Eren's vision finally cleared, his clenched fist instantly softened when he recognised the person in front of him.

"Armin," he coughed a few more times before he attempted to sit up, but the sudden movement caused the world around him to spin and he fell on his back shortly after.

"Take it slowly, I've got you," Armin placed a hand on Eren's back, supporting him as he tried to sit up once more.

"She turned back?" Eren said, feeling surprised when he noticed Dina just a few metres away from them, with Mikasa beside her.

"Eren, you did it, you turned her back," Armin said, clear elation in his words.

Eren shakily stood up with Armin's help. "Let's take her back to headquarters."

He brought a hand up to his neck, massaging the area where the chain latched onto. 'Why did you help me?'


The main training field at headquarters was void of any activity, with the sole exception of Jean, who took the opportunity to relax and let his thoughts wander, but he soon found that his thoughts kept returning to Eren.

'There's just something different, and I don't understand why it bothers me,' Jean considered himself to have a good understanding of others, especially of those close to him but ever since Eren returned to them, he hadn't been the same and it was just unnatural for someone to change their personality like it was just some sort of switch.

But was it a bad thing? He couldn't deny the change in Eren's personality was a huge driving force that brought about the progress they had made over the last few months. If it benefited them, why should he question it?

"But the way he looks at me sometimes… like he's disappointed I'm here, what the fuck is that about?" he muttered to himself, feeling slightly miffed that anyone could look at him as if he was some disappointment.

"Talking to yourself, Jean?"

"What are you doing here, Annie?" asked Jean, slightly annoyed the quietness was interrupted.

Annie sat down beside him, shifting slightly when she felt the soft grass before settling down. She wasn't even sure if approaching Jean was a good idea. It was stupid really, but if she were to fight alongside Jean, she needed him to trust her and for her to trust him.

"Just wanted to talk," she simply replied.

"And you came to me?" Jean asked incredulously, feeling the heat of anger rising inside him.

She shifted awkwardly, her hands idly played with the surrounding grass, pulling on them and throwing them away while they sat in silence.

Jean exhaled deeply once his anger subsided. "Thank you by the way," he suddenly said, breaking the silence.

Annie looked at Jean in surprise, whose eyes were now open and looking at her.

"Huh?" she did not know how to reply to that, it was the last thing she expected Jean to say to her.

Jean sat up, now sitting in a crossed-legged position, with his hands supporting his body as he leaned back slightly. "For plugging up the wall in Shiganshina when Eren couldn't," he explained.

"Oh."

"Oh?"

Annie shifted uncomfortably, feeling a little speechless. "I uh just don't know what to say…"

"Just accept it," replied Jean. "It's simple."

Annie meekly nodded. "Okay, well… It's uh no problem," she replied, unsure of herself.

Silence followed the exchange, neither knowing what to say.

"Tell me about your life in Marley," he said suddenly.

Annie seemed surprised. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, but no words escaped her.

Jean rolled his eyes. "Well, come on, you wanted to talk, right? We barely get any free time, it's no better time to learn about what we're going against, maybe it will help us."

"Where do you want me to start?" she asked.

Jean tilted his head slightly as he pondered the question. "Hmm, how about your journey to becoming the Female Titan? Sounds like a good place to start."

Annie steeled her resolve as she recalled the unpleasant memories of her journey as a warrior, but regardless of how she felt, she still opened her mouth and just let the words escape her as Jean listened, his attention fully focused on her, making sure he digested every detail he could.

It felt nice in a way, being able to express herself and have someone listen to her.


Reiner was chained against the cracked wall of the prison cell, one which looked specially designed for Titan shifters. He sat there, hopeless, with cut-off arms that could never fully heal because every time his arms reached a certain length, one of the guards would come and chop it off again.

How did they fail so miserably? How did this happen? He banged the back of his head against the wall in frustration. 'I'm useless!'

"Reiner, stop," Pieck ordered, who was in a similar state to Reiner. "Hurting yourself isn't going to make this any better. At least the War Chief escaped…"

"Tch, how are we getting ourselves out of this one?" An annoyed Porco muttered.

Pieck looked down at her chained, incomplete limbs. "I don't think we will Pock. With this failure, our enemies will take their chance against Marley and without us there… who knows what will happen?"

They collectively stopped speaking when the prison cell door opened abruptly. A blonde muscular man walked in, flanked by two others, one much shorter man with black hair and slanted eyes. The other was a woman, with eccentric brown hair, that wore square-shaped glasses. The blonde man's expression exuded calmness, but when he looked at them with his icy blue eyes, it felt like he was staring into their souls.

"Now, let's get down to business, shall we?"


A/N Please leave a review!