Chapter 15

Try


Screams filled the air as he ran down the stone path, almost tripping on the fallen debris of houses and pieces of the wall.

Eren Yeager could only hope his mother had been out of the house when the massive rocks fell. Whatever that titan was, there was very little they could do about it now but try and run. Frankly, the child cared little about it now, as all he wanted to do was find his mother and run to the safety of the main wall before they closed the gate as he could already hear the panicking masses rushing for it.

He turned a corner, ran down several steps, moved down an alleyway that had a single child cowering in fear.

No time to help bystanders, right now it was every man for himself.

No time to think or worry about the massive titan that had attacked the wall, right now he couldn't do anything about it.

No time to even think, just act.

Turn another corner and...

And there it was.

A massive piece of debris was on it now, and to his horror, his mother was struggling to get out from underneath it.

"Mom!" he hollered, realizing she was alive but trapped.

He called for Mikasa.

He ignored his mother's protests as she urged them to run.

He felt despair as she told him her legs were crushed.

He fought against it.

He remembered feeling hope when Hannes appeared and promised to save them all... but then...

Then the cruel world took his mother away and set him down the path he was in now.

...

Silence filled the black void around them like a blanket.

The dark-haired girl kept a level gaze with him, a confident smile still in place. Despite the seemingly friendly demeanor of the girl in front of them, there was a tangible layer of tension that worried the two scouts, not that they vocalized it.

No one spoke.

What else could they say?

Ilse's look of concern didn't vanish.

Levi's studious eyes didn't leave the mysterious woman.

He was certain he had seen her before, from a distance. But ever since those early days after the gate opened up, he hadn't seen her before, nor did he know why she had allowed him to see her.

Eren finally asked, "What are you talking about?"

Rory Mercury's smile vanished at the words and the woman only sighed then.

"Of course... well, I'll play along for the time being. Please, come inside... it's rather... odd out here, isn't it?"

"W-wait, what did you mean by Devil of-?"

Levi silently following the woman silenced Ilse's protests, as she dutifully followed her superior.

Eren only stood there, staring.

The mysterious woman turned and said "I only have this chance to talk with you now, Eren Yeager. If you wish to stay outside through the duration of this period, then that's your prerogative... but I encourage you to reconsider."

Eren didn't reply, eyes suspicious as he looked around the empty desert he was in and followed the dark-haired woman into the...

...well-lit and comfortably cozy room?

Granted it was rather bare, but it was comfortable inside.

The walls appeared to be made of marble, though the roof was clearly covered in heavenly-looking clouds, with a sun-like light glowing in the center.

Rory sighed, gesturing to a table as she said "I haven't had human company in here for a long time. Go ahead, I'll get the tea. Captain, what tea do you prefer?"

Levi sat down at the table but did not reply.

Rory's smile vanished, as she said "Right... apologies... I'll get to the point as soon as I can, but we have all the time in the world in here."

Ilse finally snapped, saying "Can you tell us where exactly here is?"

"Why you're in the afterlife!" a high-pitched voice replied.

All eyes turned to look above, a cage hanging from the clouds above.

Rory reached up and tugged it down in anger, saying "You said you would be quiet!"

"I can't help myself!" the creature shouted back.

Rory growled something in a language Levi didn't understand, Ilse turning and whispering "Captain, what's our strategy here?"

Levi only said "She summoned us in here. Whatever she's up to, we're here because of her. We can't exactly do much more than play along... whatever she is."

Eren didn't reply.

"E-Eren?" Ilse asked then.

"Ah?"

"Any idea as to why she called you-?"

"We'll get to that!" Rory said, suddenly placing a platter of tea on the table.

"Please excuse Hardy... I don't trust leaving her to her own devices, so where I go, she goes now..."

"H-Hardy?" Ilse asked, the perpetual stare of a worried parent on her face.

"Indeed! Wretched little creature, isn't she?"

The tiny, impish creature sat dejectedly in the middle of the birdcage, eyeing the guests with disappointment.

"But first, I need to formally introduce myself... As I said, I'm the one who opened the gate that connects Paradis to New York-"

"Why?" Eren finally asked.

Silence for a moment.

Rory asked, "Why what?"

"Why did you open a gate and connect our worlds?" came the question in a not quite hostile but not quire friendly tone.

The imp muttered, "Probably because she has a soft spot for your kind."

Rory didn't deny it, and said: "A variety of reasons... primarily because of what's happened to your world on other occasions..."

"What are you-?"

He stopped when she pointed upwards.

From the clouds, several bubbles the size of baseballs began floating down.

No one spoke, now knowing their questions would be answered.

"These let me see into other worlds... or... realities. As the goddess who now controls the Gate-"

"Goddess?!" Ilse half yelled.

Rory shrugged, smiling awkwardly, saying "I don't really like that term, but it's one way to describe me that isn't entirely dehumanizing... certainly better than being or entity... Still, I'm not omniscient or omnipotent, I just have access to powers beyond most human comprehension... for example."

One of the bubbles moved to the center of the table, floating in place before growing to the size of a bowling ball, images reflecting off of it quickly being replaced with a different image.

Eren noticed the impish creature grin.

Then, upon looking at the floating bubble, his heart sank as an image of two people he had once considered friends appeared. They were both arguing about something, the taller one somehow appearing smaller despite his height.

We don't have a choice anymore!

But-

If we go back to Marley now, without any results, it's all over for us both and we'll never save Annie!

"That's-" Ilse began, but Rory cut her off.

"Yes. This is a recording of a world that was exactly like your own... where I didn't open the gate... here's what happened then."

And so, they sat in silence... watching as a little boy had nearly everything ripped away from him without warning one day and how it lit a fire that would never be put out.

I'll kill them! I'll kill every last one of them!

Eyes fixed on the images as they saw their past lives, including the grinning, optimistic family the now jaded captain had once known.

Levi, bro! You can rely on us!

Levi frowned, staring at the death of his first team, and arguably his closest family even now.

No one spoke.

But then... Ilse Langnar appeared on the images, and no one stayed silent then.

It has me in its jaw! Its mouth is moist and it-

Ilse covered her mouth as she saw her own death, slowly turning to Rory, the so-called goddess staring at the floor as if this wasn't easy for her.

Levi finally spoke.

"So... this is what would have happened if you never opened that gate?"

Rory's face somehow lowered further as she said "No... this is what happened to that world approximately ten years ago."

Silence.

Ilse sank in the seemingly stone chair.

"M-my parents... they-"

"Yes, they found out about your death in that world."

"B-but... why-?"

"I'm sorry... but there is unfortunately far more to talk about."

That was too much for the young cadet.

It had been one thing to face death with the faint hope of helping humanity. It had been another thing losing her squad that fateful day, come to terms that she was likely doomed but choosing to not give up and push forward anyway. She could at least understand that. It was a cruel world, after all. Why should she have been special? She had a job to do.

It was another thing entirely to know that someone had been watching her and done something about it then.

She snapped and said "No... why... why did you save me?! Why not intervene sooner? Why not stop the colossal and armored titans?! Why not prevent the fall of Wall Maria? Why-?"

Eren finally said, "She's not a god... that's the reason."

Rory turned to look at the teenager, smiling slightly as she said "It's nice to have someone acknowledge my humanity... he's right. I simply hadn't found your world yet. I'm not omniscient, and by the time I found it and was made aware of its unique circumstance... things were already in motion."

"Can't you just open a gate between all worlds?"

"Unfortunately, Miss Langnar, there are strict limitations on the Gate... I didn't make it, for starters... this bored creature did."

"W-what?"

Hardy said "Come on! Show them all the action already!"

Rory then spoke with mild irritation.

"In fact, when she was in charge of the gate, she would only connect worlds for entertainment... for instance..."

She showed a second bubble, one where men with assault rifles mowed down men clad in Roman armor and with swords and shields. An angry prince yelling something they didn't quite understand, a white-haired girl sneering as he spoke, plotting his destruction... guns and swords collided, explosions destroyed entire armies, men with swords cut down civilians, arrows were shot, the earth shook, and then...

They stared in silence, still unsure of what to make of things.

"That was my world... back when it was connected to another earth, similar to this one... I met a young man then... before I became... well... an adult, I suppose."

The faces of the three humans in the room slightly shifted, as if made uncomfortable by the line.

"Don't look at me like that, you'll make me feel like a grandmother talking about her past love! Ugh..."

As Rory appeared to revel in the more human interaction, Ilse had another question.

"Another Earth... wait, are there-"

"No, there are not infinite versions of earth, there are not infinite worlds... however, new worlds are made constantly, with many existing at the same time, and I can more sometimes find some in need that I can connect to another, but... well..."

Another bubble showed a cheerful young man making an odd pose as he declared... something... to a white-haired girl who seemed to find him amusing as she giggled.

Another bubble showed several children laughing as an older girl with strange numbers tattooed on her neck watched them from a distance, smiling warmly.

"...Usually, most of these worlds have what we would call heroes... Even the version of Earth you all came from had many heroes that steered things in a more... positive direction... Perhaps they would never achieve a perfect world, but... they seem to have the proper tools for at least bettering things themselves."

There was silence as they observed the images on the bubbles for a moment before the strange anomalies floated away.

"However, as I soon found out, your world... and worlds like it... they have a... very unique situation."

"Are you saying our situation was hopeless?" Eren growled.

Rory said "No, plenty of other worlds have hopeless situations no matter what is done, but even those can at least work to somewhat better themselves. I've seen people pull back from the brink of total destruction more times than not, Eren Yeager, the same goes for your world. But without some form of intervention, the events set in motion millennia prior to your birth-"

"Millennia?" Levi asked.

Rory clenched her jaw.

"What are you not telling us?"

Rory glanced past them, a dark expression on her face.

"Well... your world isn't entirely bereft of goddesses is the easy answer, but... what do you think the original Ymir was?"

The three were silent for a moment, Rory eyeing Eren who seemed to take insult to the implication he knew the answer.

Levi said "Why are you asking us any questions? Just give us the answers already."

Rory said, "I would like to enjoy my first human interaction in a long time, so forgive me if I'm a bit more patient, captain... you haven't even told me if the tea was any good..."

Levi didn't reply, his stone-cold expression remaining firmly on his face.

Rory said, "Fine... the original Ymir Fritz... the original Founding Titan... she lived two thousand years ago in your world."

A bubble dropped and a forest was seen on it.

...

She ran...

She ran as fast as her adolescent legs could carry her, slowed down by the arrows stuck to her leg and arm, tears streaming down her face as dogs barked behind her and men screamed and laughed as they egged her on to try and escape.

What was the point?

Her wound had left a trail of bloody droplets that could easily be tracked.

She had seen and heard of men tracking wounded animals for entire days, how in the world could she hope to last even that long?

Everything hurt, but what worried her more was the possibility of suffering further.

After her tribe had been absorbed by another, she'd been one of the few survivors, and like most of the survivors, she'd had her tongue ripped cleanout.

She would never speak.

She could scream.

She could try to wail and cry.

But she couldn't speak.

The gift that was stolen from her so long ago.

She tripped, the arrow embedded in her arm somehow burying itself further upon impact, causing her to cry out again.

Her sobs were ignored as she weakly stood up and tried pushing ahead.

As she did so, she wounded up stumbling upon a clearing.

Obviously, that wouldn't do as she needed to outrun those hunting her. A clearing like that would provide no real opportunity for refuge.

She decided to press onwards.

But as she looked around, she saw a massive tree out in the clearing.

Something about it was... eerie.

Its bark was fat and seemingly dead-looking as if it had been planted from somewhere else and left there, its roots taking up most of the soil and preventing any other trees from growing. In fact, it made the clearing ever more terrifying. As if she was walking on cursed soil.

No animals sang.

No breeze blew.

As she stumbled back on her feet, all she could feel was that she was somehow cursing herself further.

Why even live?

She glanced once more at the frightening tree and stopped.

There was a door-like entrance on the tree!

A large crevice perhaps, but...

With little to go on, she decided to risk investigating it.

As she got closer, she saw just how incredibly large the tree was.

No branches like the regular pines and oak trees around her.

Just a disfigured trunk with moss and a few branches near the top, as if someone had shaved a pine and left it there with a massive entrance into a dark place.

Would she be safe there?

She walked closer, feeling a coolness emanating from the tree.

Perhaps under different circumstances, she would have been frightened by what she felt.

Right now, however, it was only comforting.

Even if she would die there, at least she could be-

She felt the ground disappear beneath her suddenly.

Before she could correct her misstep, her body was already falling forward, diving headfirst down into the tree, all light vanishing as she fell and hit the water.

She didn't know how to swim.

Her tribe had never bothered teaching her.

Why should they?

She was just another slave.

A slave that didn't have any right to live.

A slave who only existed to serve others.

Nothing more.

But she didn't want to die.

She struggled as she sank, sobbing under the water, unable to do anything else... until something latched onto her back.

She didn't so much see the light as felt it.

Something beneath her was caressing her at first, almost like the large head of a horse, nudging her... suddenly she felt what must have been a hundred arrows pierce into her back. A sea serpent?

A fish?

Little Ymir never would have been able to understand what she encountered that day.

No, the science for determining what "it" exactly was wouldn't come around for thousands of years. She hadn't even seen it, so how could she have described what it was? She had no concept of genetic alteration or prehistoric species. She had no concept of ancient worms, or what their biology permitted. And even if she did, how would she be able to explain the impossibility that had happened to her?

All she knew was that her injuries healed, her weakness vanished... and suddenly she could see the light of the sun again.

...

Levi stared indifferently at the skeletal monster the little girl had become. Towering over the trees and easily being the size of the colossal titan, her hair drooped over her skeletal face like a horrifying iteration of the grim reaper.

Ilse didn't blink.

Eren didn't React.

Rory said, "That's the original Founding Titan... she would go on to conquer and defeat many in the name of her abuser... the very king who ordered her torturous death."

"W-what?" Ilse asked.

Eren said "She was a slave. Even with all that power, she probably felt that she had no choice."

Ilse spoke in a defeated tone then. "I... see..."

"What does this have to do with Yeager or anything of what you said before?" Levi asked.

"Ymir set things in motion. Somehow... this leads us to the current holder of the Founding Titan... Eren Yeager."

"Yeah? What does Eren do?" Levi asked.

Eren didn't say anything, staring intently at the woman.

"Can I show them?" Rory asked.

Eren only said "I'm as in the dark as they are. Stop pretending otherwise."

With a sigh, Rory touched the bubble again.

Levi's eyes widened at the sight; Ilse covered her mouth in horror.

Eren only stared ahead.

...

They were, without question, the single largest gathering of military forces in human history. Most if not all of humanity's working warships were there, with Marley's artillery supplementing the recently mass-produced "Anti-Titan" guns near the shore. It was a miracle they had been gathered there in time.

The World Union Fleet lay in wait, the wall of smoke spread from horizon to horizon as a challenge, while their fleet, though massive by any standard, barely stretched as far as the city limits, not even the newly fixed port of Liberio could hold them all, yet miraculously they had gathered there.

It really was amazing what people could do when pushed to a corner.

The sailors swallowed as the wall of steam got closer.

A horrifying enemy was upon them and the question of whether humanity's weapons would be enough to slow, let alone halt the advancing army of death and destruction in front of them was to be answered then and there whether they liked it or not.

Shells as large as some men were already placed into batteries; large, heavy massive tubes that would spit death at anything regardless of size. A complicated process of loading, engineered and perfected by humanity's greatest minds, that would allow continuous fire so long as the shells held out.

The batteries and guns were lowered as much as possible right as the officers realized a mistake too late.

...they were too far off to sea...

Ideally, they would have commenced firing as the enemy emerged from the ocean, as that would be easier, and they had assumed the enemy would commence walking out of the beach the second it could touch the seafloor. Given the estimated measurements, their heads should have already been visible by now, but given the speed of the approaching steam and how close to shore they already were, the answer was obvious.

The enemy wasn't walking, it was swimming.

Perhaps if they'd have more time, they wouldn't have had to guess and could have planned a better strategy, moving the ships closer to shore, giving them more time to fire and force the advancing enemy to stand. Perhaps that would have been enough to land some hits. Perhaps save some lives.

Perhaps not.

But that wasn't an option now.

Gritting their teeth, the order to fire was given by the officers of every ship less on visual confirmation and more on the position of the oncoming wall of steam that gave away the position of the enemy.

Battleship after battleship fired in anger at the approaching, ghostly wall of smoke, the shells detonating as they hit the water, more than enough to lay an entire city to waste in a few seconds.

Maybe there were a few lucky hits.

Maybe they made an impact.

Maybe they succeeded in some way.

Maybe they had only been as successful as a child throwing rocks at a hurricane.

They wouldn't know as several explosions lifted the ships from the water, the heat killing those on board as the massive battleships were torn apart by the oncoming wave, their remains tossed aside like toys to an angry child.

This wasn't it, not yet.

A roar equally as loud as the pounding footsteps of giants revealed the massive lines of artillery that had been prepared on the shore to try and assist the warships, the shells slamming into the colossal titans, detonating or simply embedding themselves inside the beasts.

A 75-millimeter artillery piece fired into the apocalyptic army that was marching on Marley, no... the world. It was joined by 120-millimeter guns, 155-millimeter guns, all the latest in artillery humanity could have amassed on a single beach in the short time they had fired at once.

Dozens of other artillery pieces that were explicitly designed to kill titans fired as well, the soldiers desperately giving their all to at least slow down the dreaded creatures that were now crushing the remains of the World Union Fleet beneath the waves.

Even now it was clear they had never been prepared for the Rumbling, nor could they have been prepared for such a phenomenon.

It wasn't just a line of slow, mindless, walking giants.

It was a line of coordinated colossal titans that were endlessly advancing on their shores, appearing to move slowly because of their massive size, but like normal titans could catch up to most humans in a minute, these could likely crush a continent in a few days. For the soldiers, their only comfort was knowing that the city of Liberio had been evacuated, but that meant little given the deceptive speed of the creatures. Even as they appeared to be slowly moving, their skinless legs and dead eyes moved far faster than any horse and likely saw better than any eagle, and perhaps even some of their cars would be caught up in a short time as the terrain was clearly not much of a problem for the monsters.

Another shell was put into the battery and the gun fired, the order to shoot not even necessary at this point.

It was impossible to miss, but equally impossible to stop.

Off to their left, one shell got a lucky hit on the shrunken head of one of the behemoths, the beast falling backwards before the one right behind it shoved it forward, the head regenerating as the vital spot on the neck had not been destroyed.

One man abandoned his post and ran, followed by two more, and then five, and then some batteries were entirely abandoned in a useless effort to flee from the march of the massive monsters.

A few brave or perhaps stupid souls continued firing, but the range to land the necessary hits had been lost as the monstrous army advanced evermore.

Horror-filled those that ran as the reality hit them.

Liberio would always have been lost.

They should have tried to establish defensive lines elsewhere, perhaps in the mountains, perhaps further inland, ANYTHING to even out the playing field and prevent humanity's extinction under the massive heel of death that was the army of titans... but they hadn't expected it.

Those who had run first turned briefly as one man shouted "Look!"

From the ghostly cloud of smoke and steam that emanated from the oncoming army, an even larger being loomed as it led them.

It was skeletal, almost insect-like, but as it appeared, the way the bones and head were put in place made it appear almost like a religious symbol that had manifested from the depths of hell...

It didn't matter, though.

Another shouted what they had all realized then.

"The Attack Titan!"

And then Liberio was crushed by the advancing army.

And then the nearby cities that hadn't been evacuated as word hadn't reached them.

And as the news spread and people tried to run, the sheer helplessness of the situation was revealed.

There was nowhere to run.

No one would be spared.

Cries and screams were silenced permanently by the force of marching giants that were now led by a boy who had once only desired freedom.

Levi turned to look at Eren without a hint of emotion, the teenager not reacting as Rory appeared to pause the bubble that acted more like a television screen playing a recording.

"This is why I called you the Devil of the Earth... Eren Yeager. This is why I chose to connect your worlds... this is why I'm talking to you three right now." Rory sighed as if disappointed.

It was Ilse who spoke then.

"But... that's... that was- that can't be this Eren-"

Rory shook her head.

"It's not over, unfortunately... if he had stopped here it would be one thing, but this Eren went on to..."

"Enough." Eren finally said.

"Hmm?"

"I said... enough..."

"Hmm... interesting."

Does he not know his reasoning yet?

Levi spoke as well.

"You mentioned that this fate was decided thousands of years ago?"

Rory said, "That's more of a theory of mine based on what I have seen Eren and the previous holders of the Attack Titan say... for example..."

The image changed, now moving to a familiar-looking underground cave that had many glowing rocks lining its walls.

One Grisha Yeager stood there, begging and crying to a girl only some in the room recognized.

Dina Reiss.

"Pay attention, because... this is where it gets... strange."

The three stared intently, not even Eren hiding his interest now.

As Grisha spoke, begging the Founder to simply get rid of the power of the titans... something changed in the man's eyes as they darted behind him... then next to him.

As if he were looking at someone else.

There was a strange mixture of confusion and fear that quickly vanished as he spoke in a shaky voice.

For Frieda Reiss, there was little understanding.

The man had been begging for the life of his children, which was entirely understandable as the poor soul could not understand the grander picture at play. Eldians had been such a curse on the world, that the suffering of a few hundred thousand could never compare to the countless billions that had been exterminated and systematically hunted down, enslaved, and ultimately destroyed in the thousands of years of the old Eldian Empire.

It would be better for the Eldians within the walls, the descendants of those oppressors, to pay for the sins of their ancestors than to cause more death on the world beyond the walls, would it not?

So, she spoke her mind and the mind of the many Founders that had controlled the Founding Titan since the king's renunciation of war.

"We must not run from our sins. For us, the Subjects of Ymir, the day of judgement has come."

The man looked at her as if he were in pain.

"When faced with enormous power, humans are far too weak. This is what I came to realize during the tragedy that was the Great Titan War. Someone must protect the power of the titans from the hands of humanity. If the Founder falls into the hands of a weakling once again, the world will turn to hell once more. In order to save the world, we must accept our original sin."

At the unchanging look of horror in the man's eyes, she concluded with "There is nothing we can do except perish."

There was silence for a few moments, the man staring at her in a strange mixture of shock and understanding, as if he understood her point but could not agree to it.

Then she noticed he breathed and began to talk.

"M-my wife... my wife is right next to the wall that was destroyed! That's where my son and my daughter live! The people who live in these walls have no idea about the crimes their ancestors committed! You stole their memories! Do you think that simply being eaten by titans without knowing the reason why is supposed to be some sort of atonement?"

"No... no matter how much we reflect on the matter, we are unable to bring back the Eldian lives that have already been taken. If we simply feign ignorance and accept the wrath of this world, us Eldian people will die, and that will be the end of it."

The man stared at her, and then... the oddest thing happened.

He looked behind him.

Strange, but no matter.

She continued.

"Trying to persuade me is useless. Also, even if you attempt to steal the Founding Titan from me, you are-"

"I got it."

She paused.

"The fact that I cannot use the power of the Founding Titan..."

What?

"The Nine Titans all have distinct qualities, including the Attack Titans that dwells within me!"

No...

"For some time now the successor of the Attack Titan has not obeyed anyone. I know the reason why! It was all in order to fight against the king's self-righteousness!"

Frieda didn't move, concerned, but not yet worried. The man clearly didn't know what he was-

"That's right... for this moment everybody was led by these memories. The Attack Titan is able to peer into the memories of its future successors. In other words, it has the ability to see into the future!"

That made Frieda Reiss finally feel an ounce of fear.

"The... distinct quality of the Attack Titan? That-"

"I also know that you were not aware of this. The power of the Founding Titan cannot be fully utilized due to the vow renouncing war. Even as a member of a royal family, that goes for you."

The young girl that possessed the Founder swallowed as the man concluded his plan.

"Right here... I will devour the Founding Titan and wipe out the Royal Blood."

As he said this, he revealed he had been holding a scalpel, likely from his office as a doctor. Frieda quickly pushed her family back.

"That is the future on which I have decided!"

The scalpel pierced the man's hand.

"This is the only guarantee I have!" he said quickly.

Frieda went to bite her hand as light filled the room.

Rory sighed, noticing that Ilse appeared to be the only one to react to the horror visible within the bubble. Honestly, she had hoped at least the captain would have lowered his

"So Grisha Yeager killed the Reiss family... we already know that..." Levi said.

Eren was silent.

Rory, however, couldn't help but frown.

"Yes, however... this isn't the Grisha from the doomed world I showed you earlier... Eren... this is your father. The one you knew."

Silence.

Rory pressed the point then.

"Eren, these exact same events have happened in this other world that was nearly destroyed... except for one thing..."

Rory revealed the second bubble and replayed the images.

Again, Frieda denied Grisha Yeager's request on the basis that all Eldians had to pay for the sins of the past.

Again, Grisha appeared to see something behind him before making his objectives clear.

Again, he raised the scalpel to stab himself and activate his power...

But only one Grisha carried it out immediately.

At this, Eren stood up and stared at the scene in shock. Unable to move his gaze away as another version of his father dropped to his knees, saying he couldn't carry out the heavy burden, and remained there, unmoving despite the cries from the Reiss family, begging Frieda to just kill him already.

"W-what?"

But Rory was interested in a different question.

"Why did your father look behind him, Eren?"

As she said this, the Grisha who hesitated shakily took the scalp again, and with a look of grim determination stabbed his hand and transformed.

It was Ilse who demanded, "What are you trying to say here?! Won't a different world-"

"I don't think you understand, Miss Langnar. Both your world and this other world are essentially identical. The 'you from this other world was the same, as was the other Levi, and I believe other Eren. The only thing that changed in your world happened after this, so I ask... why did Grisha look behind him, Eren?"

There was silence.

Sheer silence.

Except for the giggling Imp in the birdcage that decided to say "Oh, you humans are so cute when you don't understand something."

Rory violently shook the cage then, sending the small creature tumbling all over it.

Whether she intended to lighten the mood or not was a moot point as Eren finally said "I... I don't know."

Rory appeared surprised at this.

"But... you have the Attack Titan... can't you use your power to see into the future?"

Eren said, "I barely know how to control my titan, how am I going to use it to see into the future?!"

"Haven't you seen visions of the future or-?"

"No!"

It was Levi who darkly said, "Maybe you can and you've just been lying to us."

"W-what?" Eren asked, the "tough guy" appearance vanishing and the frightened boy revealing himself.

Levi stood up and said "If your father was telling the truth, then you can see into the future... right? Not only that, you could communicate with people from the past by sending them information, right?"

Eren said, "C-captain, I can't do that!"

"How exactly are we supposed to trust you?"

Eren turned to Rory and said, "Can't you read people's minds?!"

"I'm not omniscient!"

Ilse was rubbing her head, desperately trying to contribute something, anything to help the situation.

But deep down, she only felt as useless as ever.

The Survey Corps had always been a beacon of hope, full of young people with idealistic fervor that would push humanity back from the brink.

But the reality was that humanity was never near any "brink".

All the ideals of "fighting for humanity" that the Survey Corps was founded on were based on lies.

She ground her teeth then.

"Miss Rory, why did you bring us here?!" she finally snapped.

Rory turned to her.

"You can't tell us everything, you can't solve our problems... if anything you just dropped MORE problems on our feet! You saved me that day, but you've been out of the picture ever since so why are you talking to us now?!"

With a soft sigh, she said "Well, now, because it was the only time I was able to talk to you now that you're all within the gate. And the reason why is... well... to give you information."

"But all we know is that Eren might be able to see into the future, and we have no idea or way of confirming this! You've only given us a bunch of information we can't even use!"

Rory nodded, but said, "Not exactly... my goal was to give you the information so that you could avoid this-"

"Would avoiding it even be a bad thing?!" Eren suddenly blurted out.

Everyone fell silent and turned to Eren.

The young man stood up, shaking as he said

"They... they all did this to us... why should they get mercy?"

No one spoke.

"Wouldn't that work? Awful as it is, won't... won't it... won't it give us a fighting chance at least?! Even if I don't kill the whole world, won't-"

"We already have a fighting chance! We even had a fighting chance then! Genocide isn't something we can just-"

"They'd do it to us! Why shouldn't we do it to them?!"

Ilse felt her heart sink.

Rory asked, "What happened to all the talk about liberty and freedom, Eren?"

"They want to steal it from us, don't they?! They'd all be perfectly fine if we died horribly!"

"Because-"

"I don't care about their excuses! They're killing us, stealing our freedom, confining us to an island away from EVERYTHING else, doomed to be a hermit kingdom with no hope of ever being able to choose our fate! Even if the Americans defeat them, stop Marley, force a lasting peace, that won't stop people from hating us and preventing us from doing what we want! I read the history books, I know how people are when they're forced to coexist..."

Ilse shakily said, "But- but the progress made-"

"It took hundreds of years, Langnar! And even now... even now people still hate each other... yeah, I figured that much would happen, but... but..."

Eren fell back on his chair, sitting shakily.

"But I don't see any solution... at first I thought... I thought we could force them to leave us alone... but even if we did, how long until they catch up to us and try to destroy us again?"

"Eren, that's..."

Levi finally said "Coward."

"W-what?"

"People hate you. So what? Do you think I like you?! You're a scrawny ass kid with an ugly face. If it were up to me we'd never have to interact."

"C-captain-"

"People hate me, too. I won't pretend I'm perfect. I can only imagine how my own squad hasn't betrayed me given how strict I can be with the sanitation. Same for our enemies. They want you dead. You want them dead. So what? Your solution is to just kill them?"

There was silence for a moment as Eren said "That's the only way... if someone wants to steal your freedom then... then they shouldn't be treated as anything else. Humans value freedoms... that's why we seek it and can define it, appreciate it... fight for it... I'll fight for it, and the only solution there is to people trying to steal our freedom is to steal theirs."

Levi said, "No, that's your solution."

"WELL, THAT OTHER WAY IS THERE, CAPTAIN?!"

Levi huffed, saying "You live with it."

"W-what?"

He growled then, saying "You. LIVE. With. It. You don't let them kill you but you don't give in and kill them all, either!"

"L-live with it? Live with it?! That's just as good as surrendering! That's telling them that they're not wrong-"

"Are they wrong?"

Eren winced.

"N-no... we Eldians can turn into mindless monsters..."

"Then instead of being a slave to that monster, you do the human thing and prove them wrong!"

Eren said, "That's not-"

"Not what, Yeager?! Possible?! Easy?!"

Now Levi got up, grabbing the teenager and lifting him up.

"What are you, Yeager, an animal?! You see an easy out and you take it because that's the only available path?!"

"N-No!"

"Then why are you only going down a set path?! Make your own! Use that God damned freedom of yours and find a different path!"

"But-"

"But what?! It's not fair?! Tough!"

"Captain, that's enough!" Ilse finally said, getting in between the two.

"If what Miss Mercury is saying is true... then that decision... it ultimately falls to Eren..."

"Not at all. We could lock him up, keep him from-"

"Captain!"

"Erwin died hoping for a better future, not one where Yeager here destroys the world!"

Eren stood, saying "My mother died... was killed... hoping I'd live... how can I tell her I'd lived if I just decide to live with the world as it is?!"

"You won't! But to choose a single path... one that ends in so many deaths... it's unacceptable." Ilse tried.

"So, I can only choose in letting the problem continue or try to solve it once and-

Levi said "It won't solve anything! Even if you kill everyone outside of Paradis, even if you do all of that... people will still find ways to hate each other and kill each other."

Eren fell silent.

Rory finally spoke.

"Eren... you didn't succeed in either."

There was an eerie silence then.

Eren could only stare ahead as the girl eyed him, now with pity.

Finally, he said "W-what?"

"All you succeeded in was eliminating about eighty percent of the global population not counting Paradis, and then wiping out the power of the titans from that reality, which... well... gave Paradis a chance, certainly... but at what cost, Yeager?"

The bubbles showed the images of devastation.

The Rumbling truly was a horrifying weapon. The bodies had been squashed, flattened in what could only have been a torturous death, even if it had been a quick one. At least explosions and bullets were quicker. At least a nuclear explosion turned people to dust in an instant.

The sole difference between that Eren's "Rumbling" and a nuclear holocaust would be the aftermath.

The Rumbling allowed for the survivors to continue inhabiting the land, whereas a nuclear holocaust would not, at least not for quite some time.

Eren stared at the devastation.

Levi looked away as a smudge on the ground appeared to be have been holding a toy of some kind.

Smaller details had been spared by the Rumbling as it wasn't a total annihilation.

A lamp post stood in the dirt, a charred corpse holding on to it.

Beams of a collapsed home stood slightly burned.

But in all of it, it appeared no life had survived.

None except perhaps the birds above.

The amount of destruction would likely cause ecological damage that would take years to repair as what few animals survived would lack food for some time, and God only knew how many species had gone extinct in the short time the Rumbling took place.

Shakily he asked, "But... but then-"

"But nothing. He saved his friends but broke their hearts. He killed millions in order to refuse a compromise in liberty, which I would argue was admirable if this wasn't the result... and I haven't even mentioned the concept of The Paths yet..."

Ilse, tired of the exposition dump, said "Please just tell us everything already!"

Rory sighed, looked at her tea with a sour expression.

She turned to them again and said "I don't know for certain, but all Eldians are connected in some form... Zeke Yeager likely knows more details, but whatever it truly is, it exists... in fact, I'm somewhat speaking to you through it right now."

The three raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, this little room is my way of doing this... I can't manifest in other worlds after all."

"What? Then how come we saw you?"

"Because I was observing you specifically. Ilse saw me because she was near the gate when I opened it, but the distance and power needed to manifest and speak... it just wouldn't work. Sure, sometimes you may hear residual thoughts of mine... or Hardy's... if you stand right next to the gate, but those tend to be random and... unreliable for communicating. Regardless, Eren... this is one road you took in another time."

"Y-yes..." he said shakily.

"But you have the tools to find another solution now! You can-"

"How do I get rid of the titans?" he asked.

Rory blinked but finally said, "I don't know..."

"What?"

"All I know is that you did it... right after Mikasa lobbed your head off."

Eren blinked before saying "That... that makes sense..."

Wanting to get back on track, Ilse said "But you know Eren did it?"

"Only because of what Armin Arlert said later on... Eren spoke to his friends through the paths, something I cannot monitor, so whatever was said isn't entirely sure to me... unfortunately. All I know is that once you got rid of the coordinate, all titan abilities vanished from this world."

Levi said "The coordinate... that... centipede thing... is that inside Eren right now?"

Rory only said "It's possible... Eren..."

Eren looked up from the bubble, staring at the lonely figure of Mikasa now sitting by a familiar tree.

A gravestone next to her.

His jaw clenched as he fought back tears.

"Eren... there has to be another way... especially now."

Eren was silent.

With an exhausted expression, he finally said "I kept having dreams I didn't understand... the other night I felt that I had... that I had seen someone try something against Historia... then... then it happened and..."

"You did see the future."

"I don't know, it... it didn't feel like the future. It's all... jumbled until it happens."

Rory said, "Then you'll have to rely on others to figure them out..."

Turning to the bubble, the image of a young woman sitting in a room, reading a book with a tired expression appeared.

Dina Fritz.

"You have the tools this time, Eren Yeager... you don't have to be a slave to"

"I'm not a slave... neither was he... this was a choice made..."

Rory only looked at the teenager with pity.

"I have nothing more to show you... I doubt there's much more I can say to convince you, too." she sighed.

Eren said "It's not about... I just... I just want..."

Rory nodded.

She turned to Levi, worriedly asking "Can you watch him? Even with all of this-"

"Yeah." Levi said, then, turning to Eren, "He won't carry out a genocide... not on my watch."

Rory chuckled lightly, then, turning to Ilse, she smiled.

Ilse didn't smile back, still finding the situation alien.

Rory stood up, saying "I'll be watching... I don't think there's much more I can answer... except maybe... keep an eye out for her."

In the cloudy walls, a window manifested.

Glancing outside, a little girl carried buckets of sand off into the desert.

"That's-"

"Correct... when you entered through the gate, I tried talking normally to you, but... she was in the way. It was using her own rules that I was able to... well... you know the rest."

Eren asked, "Can I talk to her?"

"Not through me... though I wonder if she intended for all of this in a way... I wouldn't know."

"Yeah... you're not a god, you're a human."

"Aw, you flatter me! Is there anything I can answer before you go?"

Levi glanced at the bubbles but said nothing.

Ilse was fast to ask, "How can we convince the other nations of the world? Is there anyone we can talk to? Maybe sympathizers?"

Rory rubbed her chin, saying "You saw Zeke has some allies... I suppose there are some sympathizers as well, but... I don't think there's any real way to convince them."

Eren only said "No... there is."

All looked at him.

"We tell them of the coordinate... we tell them we're going to try to get rid of it... if that doesn't work... then we fight... and we let everyone know their children are being sent to their deaths because their own leaders chose not to steal our freedom... maybe we can... maybe we can make them see that fighting us isn't worth it."

Silence.

Eren said "Please send me back... I need to-"

Rory huffed, interrupting him.

"I know, I know you need to see the others, tell them everything... drink the tea when you're ready to leave."

Eren nodded, turned to the table, and grabbed the cup of tea.

Turning to Rory one final time, he said "I wasn't wrong then... but I'll try to find another way."

Rory only said, "Try."

Eren gulped down the tea and vanished.

Levi didn't say anything, moving back to the table and grabbing his cup of tea, muttering "If the little bastard tries to lie his way out of this..."

"W-wait, captain! I- I have a question!"

Levi stopped to look at Rory.

Awkwardly, she asked "So... Hanji or Petra? It's to settle a bet I have with-"

Levi gulped the tea and vanished.

Ilse glared at Rory, saying "Why would you ask him THAT?!"

"To lighten the mood... and I did have a bet with... someone. Oh well..."

Ilse cringed, saying "You're really just a human with immense power."

"Hey, that's a compliment to me! But I take it you have your own question?"

"Yeah... why did you drag me along?"

"A witness, to have a third, unbiased voice... Levi would obviously be in favor of killing Eren if he became a threat... without a second thought even. Mikasa would be too devoted to Eren to see any possible alternative of him being anything but her broken little angel, and even Armin and Hanji would probably be a bit biased one way or another."

"I see."

"Also..." she turned, smiling warmly.

"In a way, you symbolize the fact that I was able to at least make one positive change."

Ilse sighed.

"I never got to thank you for that day."

"No need."

"But I have to say... I don't know if we'll be able to..."

"The important thing is that you try... you have the necessary tools, and... and I think things are already going down a better path, even if it isn't a perfect, happy ending. Take care, Ilse Langnar."

Ilse nodded, smiled slightly, then turned and drank her tea, vanishing from Rory's realm.

Hardy groaned, saying "Cute as she was, that was too sappy for my taste."

Rory said, "Shut up... I still don't know what Eren will do... that, and..."

A bubble appeared suddenly next to her and a white-haired girl sitting under a white umbrella in an open field cheerfully asked "So, Rory Mercury? Did you speak to the Ackerman?"

Rory only said "Yes, yes... you were right... I'll let you watch whatever transpires."

The white-haired girl chuckled, saying "It's only for entertainment... though I can already guess what will happen. I'll be quiet so that I don't spoil anything."

Rory groaned, muttering "Damned witch... can your Authority tell me if Yeager will-"

"Oh, my dear Rory Mercury, where would the fun be if I merely told you?"

With that, the bubble popped, and the image of the white-haired girl vanished.

Hardy said, "You know, you really shouldn't run around other worlds trying to fix them... creeps like that may inhabit them."

"Oh, you're one to talk..."

Turning back to the window, the young Ymir having now gone, Rory could only hope for the best.

It's all on you now, Eren Yeager.

Outside her realm, things were going on as normal.

Ilse's eyes popped open to a glowing sun as the bus exited the Gate.

She began to stretch when she realized the chaos around her.

"Yeah, no he just woke up... Ilse woke up, too." the CIA woman said over the radio, turning to Ilse.

Levi was getting up, Petra and Eld both asking him questions at once.

Eren was already standing, shaking as Mikasa and Armin kept swarming him with questions.

"What happened?!"

"Are you okay?"

It was Levi who calmly said, "Everyone, listen... we just got some important information..."

Ilse chose to look out the window for a moment, staring at a pair of birds flying by.

If anytime was a turning point, then this was it.

This is madness...

Doctor McCormick scratched the back of his head as he read the information on his tablet.

"They want me to... on a kid?" he asked the agent on the car with him as they drove towards the Gate.

"Yes, sir... you can still refuse, but you'd have to reject the substantial payment."

"No, no, I'll do it, but... a worm-like organism living inside a human spine, it..."

"Sir, we live in a time where an interdimensional gate-"

"Don't give me that, despite the theoretical improbabilities of it all, neither of our worlds really has anything that can qualify as entirely impossible. This is, at best, a wild goose hunt!"

"But you'll do it?"

"Of course, I will, I just... it's just unlike anything I've done before."

"Well, the same goes for us..."

Then they entered the gate and their surroundings faded to black.

He was but one of several surgeons brought in with orders to quickly try and do exploratory surgery on a young man in order to try and locate... a worm of sorts.

They weren't entirely sure, but the description wasn't unlike that of a prehistoric creature only known to biologists as "Hallucigenia", a Cambrian lobopodian worm... which was thought to have been extinct for a long, long time.

But as they exited the gate and drove down the roads, doctor McCormick could only think that it wasn't possible.

Even if this was "another world", things looked just like back home.

There were no alien structures, only military buildings and mostly dirt roads with regular people working on putting posts and connecting cables, likely for communications or electricity.

Progress is being made.

The operating room was hastily constructed far away from anyone in case "something went wrong".

The doctor was aware he was risking his life.

In hindsight, it was funny that he considered finding an extinct worm inside a human spine stranger than the fact most humans on the island he was on now could be transformed into a giant, immortal maneaters. In fact, the possibility of his patient suddenly transforming and killing them not being 0% was concerning in its own right, but he didn't dwell on it.

He had a job to do.

After another while of driving, they passed by a line of M1 Abrams, all aiming their main guns at the building at the bottom of a hill.

The agent that picked him up said "We don't fully know what the attack titan can do..."

"Fair." the man said.

Once at the building, the thing that surprised him the most was just how young the patient's friends were.

They're really teenagers...

He had seen footage and pictures, of course, but he'd never stopped to really consider that these young boys and girls were their nation's top soldiers, and at least one of them, a valuable weapon.

He didn't stop to greet them, quickly moving to the main room where other doctors were already waiting on him.

They were already on a time crunch.

As he opened the door, the first to greet him was a dark-skinned woman with an Indian accent. She was speaking to another pale man, studying a pair of X-rays.

"Doctor McCormick. Good to see you."

"Doctor Anita... any progress since we last spoke?"

She shook her head.

"Whatever it is, it isn't popping up on x-rays."

"Assuming it's real."

"Kid and his captain are adamant about it, and given the situation, his unique nature, and the unique nature of the situation... well, what do we have to lose?"

"I know... hmm... is he prepped?"

"Yup."

"Right... well, let's not waste any time. Hopefully, it won't kill us and we'll all be able to retire by this time next week."

"Hey, if something goes wrong we'll be retiring regardless, eh?"

"Wow, Anita, that's hilarious..." McCormick said, deadpanned.

Anita laughed loudly.

What are they laughing about?

Mikasa kept her gaze at the room the doctor had just walked into.

Armin awkwardly tugged at her sleeve, saying "Hey, Mikasa... we have to go..."

Mikasa said nothing, turning away and walking off.

"H-hey! We can wait outside, we don't need to"

"I need to. I don't want them killing him on accident."

"Yes, but-"

"I won't let them."

She spoke with a sense of finality.

Armin sighed, chasing after her.

They quickly made their way to another prefab building. Given Eren Yeager's unique abilities, many precautions could simply be ignored, including fear of infection or viral transmission given that he was apparently immune to just about anything given his titan powers.

Of course, that only meant there were more risks for the doctors and the people nearby than for the patient.

So, while the surgeons put their lives on the line, everyone was moved to the hills a fair distance away, with a wireless connection into the other room so that the immediate family and military officers could monitor the exploratory operation.

That alone was already a delicate process.

Eren's regeneration had been stopped due to the sedatives working perfectly well and incisions could be made on his back.

It didn't take long.

The doctor had made a small incision with the intention of only looking at a specific section of the spine when something odd happened.

White gas began to emit from the injury.

"Uh... we have something here..." the doctor said over the radio.

"Can you get the camera closer?"

They did.

"There's some... tissue here... hold on..."

Using the scalpel, the doctor moved it away, and-

"What... in the world...?"

It was tiny.

Pure white, likely as long as the spine, but tiny... and throbbing.

It emitted more gas that quickly regenerated the tissue.

"I-" the doctor began to say, unsure if he should try to cut the tissue away once more or not, but the decision was made immediately.

"Doctor, that's enough. No need to risk ourselves further... that's the evidence we need."

General Connor turned to the technicians.

"Get a close-up of the Coordinate and print some photos... we may be able to avoid a war yet."

...

Matthew White felt a sneeze brewing but suppressed it as the American representative stormed past, a binder in hand, a look of determination on the man's face as well as worry as he walked alone down the port.

By now everyone had heard.

The power of the titans has a direct source that can theoretically be destroyed...

The news wasn't entirely a shock. Given the knowledge of the titans available and the concept of "the Founder", the truth was there HAD to be some kind of central source of power that allowed the so-called "subjects of Ymir" to transform into mindless giants. He briefly remembered overhearing discussions of the differences in the genetic makeup of the locals compared to people from Earth.

But now, it appeared the source of this anomaly had been identified, proven to exist, and theories on how to get rid of it were already being drawn up.

The problem was that it was all theoretical at the moment.

And as Daniel Caine stormed towards the small building at the port, where the World Union ambassadors had agreed to meet, he couldn't help but guess that little would come from this, despite his best hopes.

For Daniel Caine, however, this was his one shot at actually getting through to these people.

They'd given both the Americans and every nation that sided with Paradis an ultimatum of a week before official hostilities came into effect.

Now it was down to three days.

He stormed into the building, a fanciful little shack, the ambassadors waiting in the main hall, milling about, hands in pockets, some looking at their pocket watches, others just staring out the window towards the sea.

"Representative Caine." came the recognizable voice of a long-haired young man.

Caine turned and said "Tybur. Let's skip the formalities and get to the point."

He placed the binder on the table, opening it and allowing the photographs to spill on out.

A dark-skinned ambassador muttered "Remarkable detail in these..."

One of the female ambassadors averted her gaze once she realized she was staring at the open back of a young man.

Daniel, however, was interested in Willy Tybur's reaction.

The man looked over the photos, grabbing one and asking "So this is the Coordinate?"

"Our scientists believe it is."

"Curious, but... why would this change our situation?"

"This is the source of the titans, correct?"

"In theory."

"Well, in theory, if we get rid of it, we also get rid of titans all over the world."

The words hung there.

No one spoke.

No one appeared to even breathe.

A world without the possibility of a titan attack? A world where they could develop on their own without having to compete with a nation that could overwhelm them with immortal giants? A world where they didn't have to fear the possibility of a world-ending titan attack?

After two seconds, Willy Tybur asked "How would you do this?"

Daniel smiled slightly, saying "We're working on it, but we think if we continue studying this... thing... we would be able to fully remove titans from the world."

Silence followed.

"So... no working theories?" Tybur asked after a moment.

Daniel said, "I'm not the scientists looking at this, all I can tell you is that it's possible, so we don't have to try to kill each other!"

"Oh, isn't that convenient! Suddenly, mere days before hostilities go into effect, you find a reason to put it off?"

Daniel only said "I'm only giving you the facts. As long as we can avoid war, we should, should we not?"

The older man paused, considering it for a moment. The American wasn't wrong, but...

"Indeed, but how do we know you won't just try to take the power of the titans for yourself? Or perhaps make it worse?"

"We're willing to let Marley and the World Union bring their own scientific teams to help us out."

That offer stunned him along with everyone in the room.

Daniel proceeded, not letting the man get in a word.

"Mister Tybur, we do not want war. My country doesn't want war, none of the countries that accepted your declaration of war want war, and I assume there is some truth to that on your side. If we can avoid war by studying this... coordinate... focusing on eliminating the titan threat once and for all... shouldn't we at least try?"

Silence.

It was then that Daniel's eyes turned to the girl in black standing in the room's corner, observing things with a tired expression.

At this, Tybur said "That's Lara, one of my sisters... Mister Caine, this all sounds... hopeful, promising even, but... as I said, we... we cannot allow another Eldian Empire to rise."

"We have no interest in allowing another Eldian Empire to exist, sir."

"But if one were to... say... come into existence by natural causes, would you prevent it?"

"Eldians want to be rid of titans, too. The queen is willing to sit down and listen to demands, and we're willing to mediate so that-"

"I don't think you understand, sir... if you are not on our side, we have to assume you're on their side."

Daniel fell silent then.

Tybur continued, saying "If we don't have a guarantee that you will work with us to make the Eldian People pay for their crimes... then we simply cannot work with you."

Daniel noticed the ambassadors behind Tybur nod solemnly in agreement.

"There are neutral nations back home with plenty of say in matters such as this. Not every country is siding with Paradis or us. If you want, we can have them oversee-"

"That's still not enough. As I've said before, unless you've experienced what we've experienced, you won't be able to understand. We Eldians... we're a curse on this world... even I wish for nothing other than the destruction of my people... but I still want to live."

"There's nothing wrong with that. But why not try to pursue, even for just a bit, this possibility? If- if my country was told tomorrow that there was a solution to world hunger, we'd at least try it before-"

"No, you wouldn't. Not if the solution required something you are not willing to sacrifice."

Daniel nodded then, saying "True... we're not a people that are fond of being told what to do if it means giving up our freedoms... but we're not asking you give up your freedoms, we're asking you to try and pursue a peaceful option."

"Which we can't because this peaceful option could potentially result in a rebirth of an Eldian Empire."

"Even if it did, would it be as bad as titans continuing to"

"Representative Caine, it is a tempting offer, but if you don't wish to help us ensure the continuation of a free humanity, then I suggest you take this back and pretend this meeting never happened."

All eyes turned to the ambassador of the Middle East Alliance.

Hashim Atassi had a look of a man who was tired of everyone around him breathing the same air, appearing uncomfortable and meek... until he spoke. His dark moustache and Fez made him not unlike an Arabian representative from the old Ottoman Empire, an empire that had a very odd relationship with the United States before its collapse.

Tybur said "Mister Atassi's family was almost exterminated by titans during the Great Titan War. Mister Caine, the amount of suffering we've been through..."

Caine angrily raised a hand, saying "I understand, but we cannot allow the continuous abuse and extermination of a people. You are going to have to compromise somewhere."

"We will never compromise with those devils!" the older man shouted, moving past Tybur and slamming his fist on the table, a terrible sorrow in his eyes that emphasized that this wasn't only blind hate. It had been fostered and supported through historical facts and personal experiences that had been passed down through generations. With only a little more than a hundred years of the Eldian Empire being destroyed, it was no surprise it was still common in the psyche of the rest of the global population.

Hell, the fall of Rome still has some people debating and arguing about it 2,000 years later...

Caine didn't react.

The man said, "I am tired of your people's attitude... you do not see the suffering we have endured; you do not care... you refuse to listen... why do you refuse to listen?!"

"We are listening! But we can't just punish people who didn't do anything to you or your people!"

"Their ancestors-"

"Their ancestors are not their descendants!"

"But someone must pay! Someone must face justice!"

"Punishing the innocent isn't justice!"

"You only say that because you sit atop an ivory tower looking down on the rest of-"

"Enough!" Tybur said loudly.

The older man stepped back, shakily, as if on the verge of tears.

Tybur only said, "The fact is... we will never understand each other."

"Trust me, we understand more than you know."

"No... you don't."

Silence reigned then.

The ambassadors were wholly silent. Whether they were tempted to go along with the peaceful possibility or not wasn't known, the same way it wasn't known if the resolve of these men from another world to defend the Island of Paradis had wavered or been affected in any way.

Tybur finally asked, "Are you willing to give in to our demands?"

"No... are you willing to compromise even a little and allow us to try and-"

"There is nothing more to discuss... good day, sir."

The ambassadors walked out one by one until Caine was left on his own...

Wait, no... someone else was in there.

Lara Tybur was silent as she moved out of the corner she had been standing in, her expression not betraying any emotions she may have been feeling or not, but something in her eyes made the American stay in place.

She didn't speak.

He didn't speak.

She only stared at him.

He stared back, eyes narrowing.

She still didn't speak.

He finally asked "What?"

She glanced out the door, her hands shaking for a moment.

Finally, she spoke.

"My duty is to do the bidding of the Tybur family... I cannot disobey."

"My condolences..." Daniel replied, not entirely sure where the girl was going with this.

She then said, "I don't want the world to be destroyed."

Daniel was silent.

With a tired look, she said "If you can end the threat of titans... please... do it."

Daniel only replied with a tired "It's not up to me."

For the briefest moment, he could have sworn he saw a flash of sadness in the girl's eyes, but she looked away and quickly walked out.

"Hey, if you want-"

She closed the door behind her.

He sank in his chair and stared at the photos from the exploratory surgery.

There really isn't much we puny humans can do at the end of the day, huh?

"Outbursts like that don't help the situation, but I thank you for your support, Mister Atassi."

"These men must be put in their place, sir... I apologize for not being able to convince them properly."

"There's no convincing them... unfortunately." Tybur sighed, an exhausted look coming over him.

...

Eren sat there, looking out the window at the large Gate. Massive crates and trucks were coming out of it.

Mikasa walked over, saying "I brought you some water, but if you'd like the cafeteria got-"

"I'm fine, thank you."

"Eren..."

"Huh?"

"What are you going to do?"

Eren didn't say anything, continuing to look out the window.

Mikasa was a patient girl, so she didn't mind waiting for a reply, even if he didn't answer her question.

Eren finally spoke after a moment.

"Remember how mom would tell you to look after me?"

She was caught off guard by the question, but she answered truthfully.

"Yes, I remember."

There was another moment of silence as Eren seemed to gather his thoughts.

"I never liked how she would rather we be safe and sound than free... I didn't like how she was always smothering me with her worries, but... what did she do to anyone?"

Now Mikasa wasn't sure what to do.

"I keep... running the images in my mind and I wonder... I wonder what she did that warranted a death like that."

Mikasa stayed in place, unsure of what to answer.

"Then I think... Reiner, Annie, and Bertholdt... they... they couldn't have known she would die because they didn't know she existed, but..."

He lowered his head.

"They still carried it out, knowing that there were people over there... they knew people who hadn't done anything to them would die, and the people who ordered them to carry out the attacks knew people would die... but they did it anyway!"

The girl gave him a sympathetic look, and she opened her mouth to try to say something that would help, but he cut her off.

"Now, knowing what happened somewhere else... would I be wrong in returning the favor?"

She froze, unsure.

"Tell me, Mikasa... would I be wrong to return the favor? What do you think?"

The girl stood there, silently.

Finally, she said, "Doing an evil thing to evil people doesn't make it good."

"But would I be wrong in doing so?"

"Reiner and the others... they killed children... I... I don't think I can accept that as any form of solution."

Eren fell silent then.

"Eren-"

"No, I agree... I just... I just don't know what else I can do... Mikasa, I don't see a way out and we have far more benefits than we ever have. We aren't going to get stronger. We have to do what we can we what we've got and I know it won't be enough."

Silence.

With a tired sigh, Eren said "I still can't... can't give up... I want to solve our problems once and for all."

"But... Eren... some problems just..."

She thought back to her dead parents before saying "Some problems don't have a solution."

Eren sat there, never looking at her.

"And that should stop me from trying?"

"No, but... you shouldn't kill yourself over it."

At that, Eren turned to look at the sad girl that always clung to him.

He didn't say anything, but he did force a smile.

Standing up, he tugged at her scarf, saying "Come on, I hear they're bringing in some new tanks."

Again, Mikasa found herself at a loss for words.

How can he be so... childish and yet... not?

She stood up and walked after him.

...

Callahan kept muttering "Move along. Move along." as the massive Army trucks roared on behind him.

Some were carrying troops, others carried boxes of what he could assume were munitions, some were transporting tanks, and somewhat appeared to be airplane parts. He wasn't in the army, but he could guess the importance of airpower in the lands beyond the gate.

However, as he continued redirecting traffic, something he hadn't seen yet caught his attention.

Roe followed his gaze and sighed.

"Who would've thought the Krauts would have landed in New York after so long?"

As he said this, several military trucks carrying German Leopard IIs rolled on, with several trucks carrying troops behind them.

Several of the trucks had the iron cross on their doors.

"Shouldn't they get rid of that Nazi crap?"

"Iron cross goes back before the Nazis."

"Yeah, so did the Swastika."

"Well so did breathing, Roe. Can't exactly expect us to give up everything just because the Nazis did it."

"Watch me... I'll make my own way of breathing and then there will be no excuse."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Like... maybe a reverse CO2 into O2 machine that can let us breathe like plants... yeah..."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah! People will pay plenty for it and be glad not to be like the Nazis! I'll be rich, I'll buy a house in Florida..."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, and you can't come."

"Your wife will miss me."

"Your-"

An American Humvee rolled on with the Americans onboard loudly singing Herms Niel's Erika in a disorderly fashion that would likely have shamed the old Wehrmacht, but with enough of a grasp on German to, perhaps, leave an impression on the Germans already ahead.

Before Roe could say anything, Callahan said "Just focus on the traffic, man."

A fair distance away, near the Gate, several people were gathered, some taking pictures as the transport rolled ahead, most just staring, impressed.

Hobbes only sighed, glancing at his watch, incredibly nervous as the German units began making their way to the new world.

None spoke.

None had to.

This wasn't some grand operation, yet it also was.

It was the first time two worlds would go to war, and the first time Germany had accepted a declaration of war in a long time.

And with final peace talks shattering on the jaggy rocks of hate or fear or whatever motivated the "others", a defense of the island of Paradis, Earth's sole entry into another world, had to be defended.

Hobbes frowned slightly, noting that technically it was America's entry to another world, but the fact was that the portal was in New York, not somewhere so deep into the country that transport of other equipment from Canada or other NATO members would be a problem, which, in his mind, was at least a positive. He could only imagine how awkward the trip would have been if the Gate had opened in one of those "mostly empty" states like Wyoming or Iowa.

He glanced at his phone again, a picture of a tiny German shepherd sitting with an old woman.

As he thought about it, the lights around him vanished and he shuddered, realizing they were entering the Gate to another world.

He swallowed and nervously went over his gear.

His sidearm, a standard H&K USP, was loaded. His rations were organized, his extra batteries were charged...

"Quit worrying yourself, it's just going over to another country."

"Shut up."

"I'm serious. This isn't really another world with different species or aliens... it's more like a trip down to the country..."

"Oh, of course, a trip to the country... where people will be shooting at us."

"Fine, a trip to Baltic, then."

"Johnathan... shut up."

Suddenly there was light again, and the American base in the new world was spreading out before them.

Despite the going constructions and airfields...

Huh... it really is like the country back home.

Willy Tybur watched the ship for a moment, his sister next to him alongside their Germanic guards.

Today is the day...

The Americans in the little building were eyeing them with a great deal of suspicion.

As for where his Germanic soldiers, not that he cared because there were still exactly two hours before hostilities were complete.

Around him sailors were hastily moving about the ship, making final preparations as the ambassadors would then leave to Liberio and commence each of their respective nation's efforts to prepare for total war.

"I really do hope they come to their senses, sister."

Lara Tybur only said, "As do I..."

"It's as if... as if this could all be avoided if they just... but it's not like we're entirely blameless."

"Brother... on the wall."

A small group was moving down from the wall with a girl wearing what appeared to be a trench coat hastily walked down the steps, two scouts flanking her, a lone figure trailing after them.

Once at the bottom, she pressed towards the dock at a steady pace.

"Must be her..." Tybur sighed.

Lara glanced at him but said nothing.

Historia on the other hand closed the distance and stopped three feet away from the man.

She swallowed, clearly nervous.

Tybur smiled politely, saying "You must be Queen Historia Reiss. I was wondering if the Americans would let you be seen."

Historia composed herself, saying "I requested they let me talk to you and... and officially accept your declaration of war if... if you don't intend to..."

"The declaration is final. I only suggest you surrender."

The girl reacted as if the words had stabbed into her heart, but didn't seem to say anything else.

Shakily, she said, "If we surrender... you'll exterminate us."

"Such is the price of past transgressions. I'm sorry someone so young as you has to be the one in charge when the time to pay came, but... but we can't choose when we are born."

Historia said "But still... we don't want war... the old king renounced it, and while I don't agree with him erasing our memories, I completely understand the desire for peace! Please, for all our sakes, don't push for war. We think we may have a way to stop the threat of titans, we may even be able to eliminate the wall titans if you just give us time!"

"And say we do? We have no guarantee you won't just turn and try to attack us. Or use your new friends against us... Miss Reiss, we cannot accept anything but the destruction of Eldia. It's the unfortunate truth of this world."

Historia stared at the floor.

The wood and cement used to build the port had likely come from Marley.

"We don't have to accept that..."

"I wish it were so simple."

"It can be."

"Not under these circumstances."

"What circumstances are needed-?"

"The erasure of the Eldian Empire from reality. If Eldia had never committed such atrocities against mankind... we wouldn't be here."

"But many will die if-"

"We are willing to pay that price."

"You hate us that much?"

"You are just that dangerous... you have giants that can destroy the world. If I were to inhale or taste even a droplet of titan spinal fluid, even by accident, I would become a man-eating monster that wouldn't stop until it was killed... this has to end, madame."

"Then help us end it! We have the coordinate, we can study it, we can-"

"Not a chance... not if it allows Eldians to continue being a threat."

With a pained expression she quickly suppressed, she made eye contact with Willy Tybur and handed him a letter.

"Then, I regret to inform you that... we are at war. As queen, and under the advice of my military officers, we have declared an exclusion zone around Paradis. Any ship coming within five hundred kilometers will be deemed hostile and destroyed unless dictated otherwise."

"Very well, madame."

She winced at the resigned acceptance of the declaration of war.

Tybur said "I really didn't want this... I hope you understand." he said after taking the paper.

He glanced at representative Caine, the man turning away to look at the ocean.

With a sigh, Tybur said, "I wish you the best, Miss Reiss."

Historia only nodded and turned away.

Tybur walked back onto the ship, the horn sounding that it was time to leave.

Once onboard, he turned to the man waiting by the entrance.

"Well... they accepted."

Mister Atassi asked, "Shall I give the order?"

Tybur only said "Do it... we need to see what they can do. Don't use the radio, we know they're probably monitoring that... Oh, Admiral!"

The man in uniform straightened up.

"Send a message to all ships... we must pull back approximately five hundred kilometers from the island. They'll sink all the ships otherwise."

"Understood."

Historia wiped away her tears, with Ilse saying "You did very good, ma'am."

"I hate this. If we won't even talk to us, why do they expect us to listen to their demands?!"

"To be fair, these people have been viewing you as actual devils for a hundred years... they probably see any attempt at negotiating peace as just biding our time... unfortunately war isn't always avoidable." Daniel sighed.

"But it is! It's their choice, not t-"

"That's what I meant... I'm sorry, I'm exhausted, too. I need a drink."

"I agree... I take it the officers are already coming up with a strategy?" she asked Mike.

"Yeah, Hanji is already there."

"Good... maybe then we can-

Suddenly an explosion rang out in the distance.

Everyone turned around, seeing a speck on the horizon suddenly light up just as an explosion rocked the rocky shore several dozen meters to their right.

"Oh, Christ, they're attacking?!"

Historian winced as Mike picked her up, shouting at Ilse "Get her out of here, come on!"

"No... wait... it's not all ships..." Daniel muttered, seeing many more pulling away from the coast.

What in the world are these people doing?!

Another shell landed near the docks, not hitting but certainly too close for comfort.

"Look, accurate artillery or not, everyone, fall back!"

...

"The situation is as follows..."

All eyes turned to General Connor.

"We have men and materiel coming through by the hour, construction of the airbase is about finished and we're expanding for greater aerial operations. Though old fashioned, we're getting some satellites up into this world's stratosphere, which will hopefully give us some early warning of enemy movements... other than that, though, we're going to have to do things the old-fashioned way."

An eerily pale British Commander with the word "Wolf" written on his identification said, "That's where the special forces come in then?"

"Correct... the nation of Hizuru is willing to aid us anyway it can, so the idea will be to send people over to the port city of Liberio for covert insertion. They will commence reconnaissance, gather support... and when it's our turn to strike, it'll be all the advantage we need."

Special Forces after World War 2 had essentially been designed for such a situation and had proven to be effective enough even in modern warfare. Just one look at the earliest American troops to enter Afghanistan in the early days of the War on Terror spoke to their effectiveness.

However, this wouldn't be a fight that could only be won through asymmetric warfare.

"Until then, we're on the defensive. Currently, the island of Paradis has a geography somewhat similar to Madagascar, but the fact is that it is mostly different from what we know. We're already working on mapping it and we have located four locations prime for a defense."

He pointed to a computer monitor that lit up with four images.

One was of an interesting incline of grassy hills that just met the sand of the outer parts of the village, the grass ending at one spot near the top of the hills.

"That's a perfect area for tanks and machine-gun nests... it extends for quite a while and is at a higher elevation than the subsequent sand dunes beyond it. Now, we could make our own line of defense, but speed is key right now, and we're not entirely sure how long we have or how desperate our enemies are becoming, so if an attack comes through the main port in the west... here's where we'll stop them."

The other picture was one of a forest of massive trees, not unlike the giant Redwoods in California.

"This was an impressive find. It's a large forest on the western tip of the island, untouched, just beyond a major river. The trees are far apart enough that we can fit in some vehicles."

"It's excellent for ODM gear as well. We can move from branch to branch with rifles and get clear shots of the enemy." Hanji said in a disinterested tone.

She didn't want to fight fellow humans, but at this point, what choice did she have?

General Connor said "Exactly... we can also form an artillery line just beyond the river and halt enemy advancements if they come through the east, which... while unlikely, it's worth considering."

Nods all around.

"The south and north are easier to answer. There are large mountains on both tips, something the enemy will have to traverse through if they want to reach us... typical anti-infantry emplacements should be enough."

"How are we on air support?"

"If those Typhoon squadrons come through next week... we'll have... oh, a hundred or so fighter-bombers. Not counting our AC-130s, of course. Two are already prepared and sitting pretty on the runway."

"Are you bringing in the larger bombers?" Hanji asked.

"And bombs. Two more GBU-43s were approved to be transported here today... given the major traffic jam to get here, I'll say they'll be here in a few weeks."

The news didn't assure the heads of the Paradis Armed Forces.

The French officer scratched his head, saying "I recommend we prepare defenses in all these areas... we're facing an entire planet after all."

It was Rico who said "I think we can hold the mountains to the south with relative ease... doesn't take a genius to figure that out. Coupled with your artillery and air support..."

General Connor said "Of course... but we need to start soon... We still don't know how long we may have, especially if Annie is telling the truth."

Then there was silence again.

Hanji shakily asked "Is there really no other way? As much as I agree we need to defend ourselves..."

The men from another world, used to conflicts between humans couldn't entirely imagine what she was going through. To be raised with the assumption that mankind was about to go extinct, that the people she saw were all that remained, and that the solution was for everyone to be unified and work together to defeat a larger threat, and to work on a military branch that only managed to work on that idealism and hope for a future where mankind could decide its own fate... to have that reality crash and burn right in front of her eyes so quickly and suddenly, and all attempts at peace brushed aside as easily as the titans had brushed aside soldiers before the Gate opened once... it was almost unimaginable.

But not entirely so.

"Idealism is idealic, madame. It is something that... unfortunately doesn't always contort to reality."

"I know that much... I just..."

Rico placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, saying "Hey, we tried our best and... alright, our goals weren't met, but our goal of building a better tomorrow is still our goal, is it not?"

Hanji chortled, saying "True, but... I shudder to imagine how many will die before-"

Suddenly a soldier came in, saying "Apologies! I bring urgent news!"

All officers turned to the young cadet who shakily said "T-the enemy warships... one of them is firing at our port!"

Matt ran, M4 on his back as he kept his head low. Another round impacting a fair distance away, sending dirt and smoke flying into the sky. The naval guns were clearly not as accurate or even trying to be, it seemed. The shells landed randomly, and only around the dock and the very edge of the beach.

Nanaba glanced over, lowering her binoculars.

"It's just one... why in the world are they firing on their own?"

Matt said "No clue. The enemy isn't replying to our radios... it's not jammed, either... they're making a point of that."

Another shell landed on the beach.

"Not very accurate, is it?" she mumbled.

"I don't think they plan on doing any damage... I think this is them trying to test us..."

"Makes sense... see how much they can get away with. Radio?"

"Yeah, here... keep an eye out, F-35s already got the confirmation to engage."

Matt handed her a radio and ran back.

Nanaba flipped it on, finding it easy enough to operate, and began listening in on the American chatter.

Mike approached then.

"Captain." she acknowledged as another shell impacted uncomfortable close to the evacuated port, though not yet hitting it.

"One of those ships causes this much destruction?"

"It's not as much as the-"

"This is just one ship... can you imagine if that entire fleet fired at once on the beach? We'd have been dead in an instant."

Nanaba fell silent as she began to hear the sound of the jets above.

"That said... at least it seems that now we have a fighting chance..."

On the radio, a particular word was uttered.

"Missile's Away."

The 12-inch guns fired another salvo, their smaller 6-inch guns added to it if anything to try and increase the likelihood of hitting a target from their range.

The captain looked on with his binoculars.

It wasn't entirely the damage a modern navy could wreak on a small port... in fact, his sailors weren't really trying to hit anything as that wasn't their mission.

Still, it was impressive to feel the force of the large guns sending shells flying. The explosions and shockwaves sending shivers of excitement down his back. Oh, he'd been in charge of overseeing a few coastal bombardments here and there, but it had never been against the Island of Devils!

Still, he knew the ship was essentially a sacrificial lamb.

What else would it be?

They needed to know the exact capabilities of these enemies. Otherwise, how could they attack?

The Middle Eastern Alliance had not been formed to merely better relations between the many religious groups in the region. No, it had been created out of a desire to counter the Titan threat once and for all, something many nations had been following, but unable to accomplish due to Marley's Imperialist actions.

Even now, this ship was an older model. Functional, but still deadly. An acceptable loss, but not one that would tell them anything.

He was wondering just WHAT these men from another world would do when it happened.

The explosion that rocked the ship was far stronger than the guns it had been firing.

For a second the captain thought a titan shifter had transformed on the ship's mast, but that couldn't have been it.

Confusion sounded then as men ran from one end of the ship to the next, and black smoke began to come from the ship's starboard.

Turning to his communications station, he quickly shouted "What's the situation?!"

A shaky reply came then.

"No clue! An explosion hit the lower decks! Something punched through us! Ammunition is in danger of catching fire! We're already sending what teams we can, but-"

"Forget it! Abandon ship!" came the immediate order, one he repeated louder to the men in the main deck.

"Abandon ship! Grab what lifeboats you can and commence rowing west!"

He turned to look at the island, a mere shadow in the distance.

Then he turned to the sky as two enemy aircraft flew low enough to be seen, at first not making any sound as they flew overhead, the sound coming after as they flew away as if even sound had to play catch-up with the technology from a hundred years in the future. As the arrow-like planes flew away, uncaring, the man felt the ship tremble under him, as if the fires were spreading.

The man felt his jaw clench, but he continued doing his job and evacuating his teeth.

Oh, they would get their vengeance on these devils soon enough.

His only comfort was that the war had just begun, and the whole world was united against these devils.

Dina Fritz sat in the special building they had given her out, far away from everyone.

Since she hadn't transformed yet due to the risk after Rodd Reiss changing the Jaw Titan, no one, not even herself, knew how much of a threat she could pose if she accidentally transformed without controlling her titan, so now she spent her days trying to find memories of past users that would help both the people helping her and her beloved Grisha's family.

She stared at the open book without actually reading it, her mind elsewhere.

It drifted to her son, her heart shattering every time she saw his hopeful smile after coming home from visiting his grandparents.

Zeke had always loved visiting them.

Zeke, if you're still out there, I'll find you and... and make up for all I did...

...Or didn't do.

She remembered the words then.

I'll find you...

She frowned, gripping the book she was holding tighter.

She knew she had killed Eren's mother... she knew she had eaten other people, but that couldn't be helped and she would be useless if she just fixated on the past.

She had always sought a future.

She had always sought freedom.

So why did something feel wrong about her memories?

Like there's something more to it all...

She did her best to focus on the memories of herself and the previous holders of the jaw titan. Her royal blood allowing her a greater degree of control over such matters, but she had never tried or practiced after her family was killed a lifetime ago.

Dina took a breath and tried to focus.

She couldn't help but see the memories, both of an abused young girl and a tired older brother. There were others, certainly, but those two kept coming back to her alongside something else.

She closed the book and strained her mind, trying to picture the image of what she saw.

It was faint, but...

Just as she opened her eyes, she froze in place as the flash of memory hit her.

A little girl with empty eyes stared back at her for a moment, her back facing away from her as she carried a bucket away. Only a glance of course, but...

She began to shake at the implication.

Why? Why did you want me to...?

She took a deep breath and stood up.

"The Founder... wanted Karla Yeager dead..."

The implication, only one she could infer made her wonder just how far could the Founder reach even after the original had split her power into 9 titans.

She went for the door with only one thought in mind.

I'll find out... Grisha... Zeke... I won't let all you've done be in vain.


A/N: Oof, THAT only took... almost five months... sorry about that. I wanted to wait for the manga to end and... well... end it did! Hey, at least I got it out before April ended.

I do have a lot of thoughts on the Manga, though a primary issue definitely is how much is left up to interpretation, which means... I am going to have to infer the crap out of Attack on Titan in order to give more details of the world outside of Paradis, so... yeah.

Not saying the manga didn't answer some important questions, just that there is still a lot up in the air (like, what is up with Eren killing 80% of the population in two days? Was everyone living in Africa and Asia? Were the Americas just not as colonized? I doubt the titans reached there, but... whatever.) and there were some things I had to change going forward, particularly the whole nature of tensions between our world and the World Union since it SEEMS that eliminating titans is 100% a possibility... we just have to convince Ymir, or kill the "centipede" or get Eren a date or something... the point is, we have a direct solution to the Titan question that isn't just "kill them all" ... but the question then became:

Would the World Union be willing to negotiate if eliminating titan powers was on the table?

Personally, I don't think so. Aside from the reasons presented in this chapter, the amount of hate against Eldians planted for centuries both justified and unjustified would be too much. We're not gods, we can't just snap our fingers and change people's minds, let alone everyone's minds.

So, unfortunately for both worlds, war is still on... how it will go... well we'll see.

Anyway, this chapter was mostly another "set up" for the final arc. Originally I needed to see how the story ended in order to figure out what needed to change for "this version" of the Attack on Titan story.

Regarding the first half of this chapter, I really worry about the character interactions. Levi and Ilse I can kind of portray easily enough, but Eren... Eren left me the MOST questions after the manga. Hopefully, he isn't out of character or... too out of character here. I tried to show that he hasn't seen the memories of the future, but has had the feeling that, given their circumstances, there is very little hope for any non-genocidal outcome, which he seemed to be showing before kissing Historia's hand, but... like I said... Inferring a LOT.

If it felt off, please let me know, though.

I also tried to make it so that Rory wasn't just a Deus Ex Machina, as she can only see what happened in the physical world, not in the Paths "world", so all she has to go on is incomplete information which technically gives Eren and Ymir a minor edge in terms of manipulating things, but also gives the entire cast the tools necessary to reach a slightly better ending. So, she's giving them the tools to somewhat solve their problems, not solving their problems. At least, that was the intention.

Let me know if it worked or not.

The question now is whether or not they'll be able to find a better ending than what happened in the original canon.

Anyway, for the geography of Paradis, I used the map from the anime that showed what appeared to be large mountains on the tips of the island, which are areas we haven't seen yet. There being a forest of giant trees outside Wall Maria is me guessing given they aren't exclusive to one small part of the island (the wiki notes there are several of these forests between Wall Rose and Maria), so why not have a large, untouched one, somewhere in the east of the island? I'm focusing on a more defensive campaign at the moment as it would be the most realistic, in my opinion. The US and its allies aren't here to annex land, just set up relations that would benefit them further, and even if they were, a full-scale invasion of Marley and its allies just wouldn't work at the moment (one gate located in New York already would make logistics a nightmare even for the best army), so, as some of you guessed, we'll be sticking to inserting Spec Ops teams primarily into Liberio as it seems to be the main coastal city and port that Marley and the WU utilize in canon.

As for World Union nations... I'm going to be inferring a lot on their names and possible governments, so please let me know if it works for the story or not, but the big ones will remain, Marley, Hizuru, and The Mid-East Alliance, due to them seemingly having the more advanced weapons at the time.

Right, then, I think that covers most of this chapter...

On to the Reviewer Response (man, I missed these):

Guest: Will ships be going through?

That's the point of Arrowhead, placing a second, larger gate out at sea. How long it will take to be operational is yet to be seen.

Guest: Nukes in Paradis?

Given the "Centipede" coordinate organism in the Manga tanked the Colossal Titan explosion (which is being estimated as a small nuke now) I think a nuke measuring in the megatons will be necessary to keep around, even if the "centipede" is only as big as Eren at the moment. Though, nukes, as a deterrent aren't entirely the best idea if we want to send the "Eldians, don't want to crush the rest of the world" message to a people who very much fear the opposite.

Guest (in Spanish): Read "Ninhoku Shoukan"?

Heard about it, have NOT found it anywhere to read.

TheGamerMarine76: Chalk this up to an international joint-training exercise?

I mean... in a way, sure, but people would be dying and trying to kill our people. Most we would be able to do is execute our moves with greater ease given the technological gap.

Guest: Hizuru and Vocaloids/ modern Japan's pop culture.

Remember when Hatsune Miku made a guest appearance on David Letterman?

Yeah, probably something like that.

Would probably make for a good "Aside" now that I think about it, though... hmm...

Guest: Stem Cell research?

I wouldn't know, unfortunately. How exactly the titans function is such an out-there concept (I know MatPat hypothesized that titans could be made up of yeast but let's be honest, the science behind titans isn't exactly solid) and stem cell research isn't something I've read up on, so I'd have to get back to you on that.

T: black vs white morality.

Trying to avoid that. Being a historian, I know how different people justify their morals and values, so I try to show a varied point of view. Whether that's been successful or not is up to the readers, though.

Guest: Design for the main base at Hill Zero-1 similar to the main JSDF base in Gate?

Not really.

In the original Gate, their main base was constructed with the idea that they would have to be defending from sieges and other forms of attack. In the beginning of this fic, the main threat was titans, which tanks and helicopters could pick off from a mile away with clear terrain, so this base was being built more like other large American bases in the US and Europe, prepared to guard an area in order to eventually establish a military and political foothold for future interactions with the main nation in this new world, and it was constructed as such.

At the moment, think of it similar to Camp Bondsteel with a major airport being constructed in order to accommodate the coming aircraft, but with the ultimate goal being to turn it into something similar to Fort Benning.

Random Person: Internment Zone Uprisings.

...perhaps...

Oh, who am I kidding, it's the CIA we're working with here. The only question is how effective they will be or if it will work as intended given their brainwashing and fear of being turned into titans. It's like trying to convince an internment zone where everyone has C4 strapped to their necks, you're gonna have a lot people likely hoping for it, but probably not as many willing volunteers.

Then again, Yelena does seem to have a way to convince people, so... who knows?

Guest: Future updates?

I'm going to try to go back to one chapter a month (currently writing another fic, something I had tried to avoid, but that one's almost done), but as I said, I no longer have a fixed schedule. I'll try to go back to one chapter a month, but no promises, unfortunately.

Well, with that said, thank you all so much for reading and keeping up with this fic! Remember that reviews are greatly appreciated, especially with suggestions about the story, character presentations, or military tactics/know-how.

Again, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all soon!