Chapter Eighteen
So, this is it. The final chapter. Enjoy!
"Wait!" Ilona raced down the street to Kristoph's retreating figure. "Do you know where they would hold the Jaeger boy, Kristoph?"
She smoothed her purple scarf. She'd dressed fancy for bravery today. They couldn't still remove the rich from her, and that pained her eyes.
"No. Er – is everything all right?" Kristoph may have possessed a long nose and scared cheeks full of painful pustules, but he was a more beautiful sight than many soldiers. She hoped he knew that.
"Nothing more than normal," Ilona said dryly.
"I – I see. Can I help with anything?"
"Help yourself, and go back to headquarters. You're a good soul." Ilona placed her hand on his arm and smiled into his face. Maybe soldiers like Kristoph weren't beyond hope.
No one is. But, oh, there was Gross's smirk before her, and she felt proven wrong.
Ilona stared at the cracked cobblestone beneath her feet. She should see Zeke second, after she accomplished the secret she couldn't even tell her husband. Perhaps the promise of Zeke would give herself the determination she'd need to stay free.
But – just in case – Ilona found herself marching towards Liberio.
"What," thundered Dieter from his ornate desk, "the hell am I reading?"
General Truitt squirmed in the seat facing the mayor. Colonels Otto and Lange sat silent behind their general. "With all due respect, sir, do you really trust your daughter?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," snapped Dieter. The veins in his forehead looked ready to pop.
"Are you also fucking Eldians?" snickered Truitt.
Lange's mouth fell open, and Otto blinked. How dare the general?
"In case you haven't noticed," said a quickly sober Truitt as he rose to his feet, "the military won't suffer for this. You will. Your power is considerably less, thanks to your daughter. Between her wantonness and this article, you seem incapable of governing. It won't be long before your downfall, mayor."
"So screw me over for allowing the rampage for one of my most productive officers. It was only Eldians. I did the best I could for our people, and I don't regret it," declared Truitt.
Lange's bones chilled. He hated Eldians like any normal human, but the cruelty of people like Gross and Truitt –
"Let me take the fall," said Lange.
"What?" All three men turned to him in shock.
"Sirs, Gross was directly under my command. I ought to have done more, sooner," he said with a hard swallow.
"You are only prolonging this man's downfall," seethed Truitt, pointing to Minsk.
"You ought not to count on that," Dieter said, recovering his senses. If he went down, so did the entire council, and they were all selfish enough to preserve each other, that much was certain. Unless he resigned, which he'd considered before – but he wanted to change more first. Actually change, like Ilona would.
"Sirs, I have sinned against Marley by allowing a serial killer and rapist to continue in the Marley military. I hand myself over to you for trial." Lange barely comprehended his own actions – just this morning, he'd hoped to make General after the restorationalists' arrests.
But people like Truitt and Gross could not be in power, and now the mayor had time to counteract them.
Was he noble? Hardly, but it hardly mattered. Lange stood.
"Escort Colonel Lange back to headquarters. As he's graciously turned himself in, let him collect his things before sending him to interrogation," said Dieter. "And you will allow him to collect, because I am still Mayor, General Truitt. Colonel Otto, accompany these fools."
Kruger staggered out of a steaming titan for the first time in nearly thirteen years. Blood and ocean dripped down his face.
At least he'd made Miller's death first and quickest. Still, the horror of his comrades' faces – the horror of those who still did not understand why they were dying, and never would – ate him. Fuck.
He fumbled for the knife in his pockets and broke Grisha's bonds. He pressed Ilona's handkerchief to his nose. "So. I suppose you have questions for me?"
Demons overtook Grisha's face, as if he didn't believe himself worthy. "I don't even know where to start."
Kruger breathed in the flowery scent of his wife. "I'm sorry, but I don't have much time."
"Then who are you – Owl?" Grisha asked softly. A shadow of the doctor emerged.
"My name is Eren Kruger. I have one of the Nine Titans' powers in me…so yes, I am one of Ymir's subjects, just like you." I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. He waited for Grisha's outrage.
"But…but if you infiltrated the government, how did you get past their blood tests?" stammered Grisha.
Practical, doctors were.
Kruger half-smiled. "You only need one cooperative doctor. He too was an Eldian who falsified his own medical records, too. He's long since passed, but…" Kruger shrugged. How could he get through to this man?
"Doctors make good spies. You have the right education and social standing. You have the scientific acumen to study titan chemistry. Really, you did well, leading the restorationalists, having a child with Dina Fritz, even recruiting Zeke. It wasn't a bad plan. I was helping you." He looked down. "But in the end, Grise was right, wasn't he?"
Grisha was silent for a moment. Gulls danced above them.
Keep talking, Kruger wanted to shout, but he found it hard to breathe.
"I was a terrible father, a terrible husband, a terrible man." Grisha glared at Kruger. "Why am I the one left?!"
Kruger was too focused on finding oxygen to respond.
"Dina was special!" Grisha cried. "She could have dominated the titans! Even Marley tells our children that! If you hadn't hidden her heritage, Dina wouldn't be like those mindless monsters!"
"You're right." Kruger swallowed the lump in his throat. How much could he say? Dina was a decision of sentiment, nothing more.
"Answer me, Owl!" screamed Grisha, pounding his bandaged hands into his chest. "Why am I the only one left?!"
Blood dripped onto Kruger's coat. "You might want to consider your fingers."
"Ha! Thanks for the thought, but you weren't concerned earlier when they just had to take one more off," snapped Grisha. He grabbed him again. "Why didn't you stop them? You could have become a titan and saved us all!"
Kruger slumped to his knees.
"Wait! What's wrong? You're so pale," gasped Grisha.
"I cut off thousands of fingers. Tiberius Berg. Women. Children. I thought I did it all to serve Eldia," whispered Kruger.
Grisha knelt before him.
"I'm entrusting you with my final mission: you alone," Kruger insisted. "Can I…Can you let me explain?"
The windows to Werner's bakery shimmered with cracks, and the door was off its hinges to reveal a dark interior. Though she couldn't afford to stop moving, Ilona closed her eyes for a moment, wishing that friendly old man a quick and painless end.
But life. She craved life for all of them. Her jaw clenched as she approached the Jaegers' apartment.
Ransacked, same as the bakery. People had thrown rocks through their window – Eldians attacking Eldians. Just to prove that they were better, that they deserved to stay safe.
"Excuse me." Ilona blocked the path of the old lady brushing past her. "Do you know what happened here?"
"Everyone knows," replied the woman, rolling her eyes. "Don't play me, Marleyan. You won't find me in a particularly cheery mood."
"Mom, don't talk like that!" cried a young woman, clutching the older one. "I'm so sorry, Miss!"
"It's fine. I know, too. Do you know what happened to their son? I heard he was with his grandparent's; is he still there? Where are they?" Ilona clasped her hands.
The old lady spat at Ilona's feet. "Leave him be."
"Mom!" The younger woman sounded panicked. "They live right there."
She pointed to a pretty building adjacent to the Jaegers'.
"Thank you. And I – I mean you no harm," said Ilona.
"Thank you, Miss," stammered the younger woman. Mom was going to get them killed, just like the doctor killed his family.
But as the Marleyan girl stepped towards the Jaegers', another way to save her family emerged: she recalled the sign posted by the gate. A Marleyan secret operative called the Owl…
"I'm such a fool." Zeke sobbed at the table in his grandparents' kitchen.
"No, you're not. I tried, Zeke, I really did," lied Fischer, gripping his pupil's small hand. He had wanted to try. But his reward would have been a trip to Paradis to be a tasty titan snack.
You think that helps now? Mrs. Jaeger pressed a shaking hand to her mouth and turned her gaze away.
"I'm sorry. I know I'm – supposed to be happy – for Marley, and I am, I really am," Zeke insisted, grappling to believe it. "I just miss them."
"They were allegiants of the devil. I know it hurts," Fischer said softly. "It's natural. But we have to know that Marley is just."
"I know. I'm sure someday I'll feel it, too." Zeke straightened. "When I'm older."
Fischer laughed uneasily. "Yes, when you're older."
There was a gentle knock on Grandma's door, and Zeke flinched. They were soldiers come to tell him Mom and Father were dead, weren't they?
But when Grandpa opened the door, Zeke gasped in relief. "Ilona!"
"Zeke," she whispered, her shoulders sagging in gratitude. "You're here."
"Miss – uh, Mrs. Kruger." Fischer stood. He'd seen her from a distance, but he'd never interacted with her. The mayor's daughter. The Eldian-lover. The military wife.
At the sight of an officer, Ilona smiled to mask her distrust. "May I ask who you are?"
"Captain Fischer, ma'am. Zeke is one of my prize pupils."
"I see." For a moment, her eyes scalded him. You did this.
Of course, she comprehended that Zeke's betrayal was more complicated than anyone but Zeke knew, but she hadn't expected to be face-to-face with the man who'd led this child and so many others to ruin.
Fischer fidgeted. "I must return to the academy. I will see you tomorrow, Warrior."
"Yes, you will," Zeke said quickly.
"You've shown tremendous bravery. We're very grateful for your humility and loyalty," said Fischer, with a solemn nod.
Mr. Jaeger noted the infamous Mrs. Kruger's horror. At least Zeke had one Marleyan on his side. His grandson would need her.
"Pleasure to meet the two of you." Fischer nodded to the grandparents, the parents who ought to have raised their son to be a better father, as coolly as he could.
"Oh, Zeke." Ilona threw her arms around him as soon as the door closed.
"It's okay," he said, pulling away. "They were traitors."
"You needn't hide your emotions. You're safe here." Ilona let her tears fall. "I know about the sentence."
Safe. Safe. Safe. Zeke hung his head and sniffled as large tears rolled down his cheeks. He didn't feel safe, not even with Fischer, though he desperately tried. And he was tired.
"I didn't want them to die!" he wailed, grabbing onto her skirt. "I just wanted them to stop making me their savior!"
He wanted to say more, to confess he'd done it for her, to save her. But what if she rejected him?
"I know, I know." Ilona wrapped her arms around him again, and this time, he returned her embrace. What was it Mom had said to her? "You know, Zeke, there's nothing you can do to make me love you less, and I'm sure your parents felt the same way. If mine told me they were still proud of me, even when I nearly ruined them, I know yours feel the same."
"Really?" Zeke wiped his running nose.
"Yes."
"But Sally and Tiberius must hate me now," he whimpered.
"No. No, they don't." Ilona smoothed Zeke's hair. "They're your friends. They won't stop rooting for you. Ever."
Zeke peered up at her, and she winked at him.
Did she know where they were? Zeke's heart soared, and he shuddered. He daren't ask. He didn't want to have to tell Marley.
"Zeke, I have something else I need to ask from you," Ilona began hesitantly.
"From me?" Did she want him to write his parents? Or were they gone already?
"I know you mentioned you have royal blood," she said, noticing his grandparents' suddenly frightened demeanor.
"Yes."
"Don't mention it again. Can you do that for me?"
"Why?"
"Look at you, always asking questions. Good for you." Ilona chuckled. "I'm supposed to say 'because it's not important.' But the truth is I don't know that. What I do know is that even in Marley, there are some very mean people. People who would use you like your parents, except they might not love you. Not all Marleyans are good, Zeke, and not all Eldians are bad."
"Yes, we are. We killed," Zeke said automatically.
Now wasn't the time. Ilona pinched his cheek. "Well, I think you're rather good."
He half-smiled.
"Can you promise me? For now?"
Even Fischer? But he would feel better with no one knowing. If special blood had never existed!
Ilona's dark eyes didn't blink as she pled with him.
Zeke nodded.
"Thank you." Ilona hugged him again. "I have to be off."
"You'll return soon?" Zeke asked eagerly.
"As soon as I can," Ilona promised, determination firing through her veins.
As she exited Liberio, Private Ivan Torvald stepped away from his position as guard. He held up the note he'd received from Otto, signaling the officer across the way. "I'm on it."
"That day…the day I first met you. If I hadn't called out and stopped you, your sister might still be alive," Kruger mused. The breeze caressed his face, like Ilona's fingers, encouraging him to spill his soul.
"I think it's more likely we both would have been killed," Grisha admitted, a thought he'd never told anyone before.
Kruger sighed. "It eases my conscience to know you think that. But I don't know. But then you probably wouldn't have hated Marley so much."
"You picked me because I hated Marley?" Grisha remembered the kindly woman he'd called a friend not long ago. Did he really hate Marley?
"Partially. I was you once. A child watching through the closet as my revolutionary family was burned alive, too scared too move. My father's friends' saved me. After that, I chose my mission to restore Eldia, and I didn't know. I didn't know that meant taking fingers of my brethren, skinning them and kicking them off the wall as they transformed into monsters. The endless slaughter kept me on my mission." A tear ran down Kruger's cheek, the tear of someone who believed himself damned. "Maybe I'm still that child looking at the world through a crack in the closet door."
Grisha's heart chilled. "So what is the mission you have for me?"
Could he refuse?
"Enter the walls and take back the Founding Titan. I'll be giving you my titan power. You'll become a titan and eat me." Kruger hardened his voice at the dismay in Grisha's eyes. "You have to."
"I don't. Why won't you?" demanded Grisha.
"Because I haven't told you everything. The titan powers kill their host in thirteen years. I inherited mine nearly thirteen years ago." Kruger noted the horror on Grisha's face. "You would have hesitated for Zeke if you knew that."
Grisha said nothing. He didn't have to.
"You know what we have to do, then." Raina had met him at the door for his lunch break, and though both of them sat at their long and empty dining table, they'd requested no food from their servants.
"I do," said Dieter, rubbing his eyes. The dark circles had advanced ever since Ilona's arrest. "This won't repay it."
"It can't be repaid," Raina said sharply. "This man – this Gross – raped our daughter. Because she dared to think that Eldians were equal."
"Extreme views."
"Are they?" Raina asked softly. "Don't you feel guilt, too, in your heart?"
"You don't know the half of what I've allowed. My sins against my own kin happened because I allowed so much." Dieter rested his head on the table. "If Truitt takes over, I can't say I didn't deserve it."
"No," Raina said. "Truitt is worse. He doesn't yet feel guilt. At least you do, and you'll act on it, won't you?"
Dieter smiled at his wife. Once more, the spirit that had survived multiple suicides emerged healthy, and he loved her all the more. "When ought we start?"
"Today. Tonight. As soon as you're free. Don't you see, someone has to demonstrate reconciliation. Why not the Mayor?" Raina stood. "I've bought a toy, but I feel that's a meager gift for a child orphaned."
"I'll be out on time. Despite the chaos Ilona's article caused." Dieter hesitated. "Do you think she's right?"
"As in, do I think Ilona did this for revenge?" Raina smiled. "You spent more time with her than I, but you have much to learn about our daughter."
"I look forward to it," he said truthfully. Today, he would return to his office and do the right thing, whatever it was, and fuck the consequences. Today, he would be like Ilona.
"So all the documents you sent were just lies to boost our morale?" Grisha wanted to vomit up the air in his stomach. "What is the truth, then? Tell me!"
Kruger looked at the skyline of trees, across the island of family he'd never meet. "Our ancestor, Ymir, was an ordinary girl who interacted with extraordinary organic material. Or maybe not. We don't know. There is no such thing as truth in this world."
There is, he heard Ilona insisting. Even if we can't know it.
You ruin everything, he shot back in his mind. His heart warmed.
"Anyone can become a god or a devil. All it takes is a credible claim. 1700 years of genocide? We'd have no Marleyans left. Ymir brought nothing but riches? Since when are humans that noble?"
"Is it true, then, that Dina had royal blood? Did that even matter?" Grisha needed to know. He needed to hear why Dina wasn't alive. She hadn't been a bad mother. She'd just been unfortunate enough to marry him.
Kruger lowered his eyes. Grisha would have his answer, wouldn't he. So he did love Dina after all. "It's a fact that Dina was of royal blood."
"Then why?!"
"Because she was royal," Kruger choked out. "They'd force her into their breeding program – a program where they would rape her until she died just so she'd give them a few more powerful titans. I think…I thought turning into a monster might be better than that."
Ilona's sobs rose in his ears. He cursed quietly.
"I never asked her. I know. I know. But…seeing her final moments…I think I was right."
After a few minutes of silence, Kruger shook his head. "I wasn't strong enough to save our brethren. But you are. Grisha, I've done all I can. Now it's your turn."
Ilona swept past the gossiping officers and security just lackadaisical enough to arouse her suspicions. Perhaps they had guessed her plan, and this was a trap. Well, she could work with that.
Outside the military headquarters, an officer huffed to the passing secretary. "Tell Torvald that Eldian bitch was right."
"It seems too obvious," said another.
"Who cares. Prepare," snapped the first officer. "We have the Owl." The more time they waited, the more time she had to blow the place.
Third floor. Ilona scrambled up the stairs, praying to whomever listened for help. She didn't want to hurt her family again. She didn't want to be raped again. She would rather die.
But if her actions today saved Zeke, Tiberius, and Sally, she would gladly suffer the above and more.
Colonel Lange's office was locked, but that hardly slowed Ilona. She'd been taught by Tetrault, their butler, to pick locks when she was seven.
They had to be here.
Ilona rifled throough the papers scattered about the colonel's desk. How did someone with such responsibility keep anything straight?
Ah, but the Eldian Restoration folder lay on his seat – keeping it warm, perhaps.
Ilona couldn't help it. Perhaps Jack's teachings had imbedded deeper than she'd thought. She glanced through it. Descriptions and sketches of Alma, lists of neighbors who could have possibly pieced information together, every letter Kruger had ever written.
She clutched the letter Kruger had written her this morning, the one signed I love you. This too would be sacrificed.
She placed the letter atop the folder and pulled the matches from the secret pouch in her skirt.
Just a few more moments, and they could have her. She almost dared believe they hadn't a plot after all.
"Stand up right now, you."
Ilona raised her eyes to Lenin. The one who'd been excited by the Jaegers' downfall, the one who'd heard Gross brag about his rape.
Kill him. Ilona shivered away her fury, as Kruger must have so many times. He was a young soldier who had the potential to learn. She would believe that, even if she didn't feel so.
"I won't."
"You have to. Or I'll shoot you right now."
"How long have you been watching?" she asked, still crouched on the ground, as if she were talking to her Eldian children.
"Long enough to see you commit another crime. Still betraying your blood, aren't you? And now your husband." Lenin trembled, holding his pistol. "He's a decent soldier."
"Why?" Ilona stayed still. "What makes him so? I guess what I'm asking is, are you?"
"I'll have to kill you if you don't move. I don't want to hurt you; I think that's decent." Lenin's arm cramped. He was scared. But he had already tortured. He would have to kill sometime. Might as well be now. It would be a relief, to know he was a murderer now, instead of wondering when.
"No, I don't think so." Ilona stared at the match in her hand, the match the desk obstructed.
"Raise your hands." He was supposed to say that, wasn't he? How could he have forgotten?
"You hurt me with every fucking insult to Eldians, you know that? And you hurt yourself. Think about it." Ilona shook her head. "When you were five and dreamt of adulthood, did you desire to be a torturer?"
"I'm proud to sacrifice for the good of my blood!"
"No, you're not. It's wrong. Their blood is red like ours, isn't it?" Ilona was ready, but only because she wouldn't think of it.
"It's still different. You've betrayed your kind."
As long as he was talking, she was in control. She scraped the match against the wooden desk, felt her paper confession in her sleeve. I am the Night Owl. I'm sorry – Mom, Father. I'm sorry I can't regret it.
She pressed the flame against the folder.
"What are you doing?" Lenin pressed his finger against the trigger as she lit another match.
"Move, Private." Colonel Lange, escorted by Truitt and Otto, pushed him aside.
"Hello." Ilona didn't stand. She didn't need to. She kept lighting matches. Flame joined flame after flame.
"On your feet, whore!" cried Truitt. Their evidence was burning! "Your libel of Gross wasn't bad enough?!"
"Did you think that by abusing me, you would stop me?" Ilona's heart pounded as she took in a gulp of air. "No."
Lange saw Lenin raise his pistol again – and suddenly he was firing, again and again and again, so quickly the private never got a chance.
And it didn't hurt so bad, Ilona thought, as bullets tore her heart apart.
The gun clicked, emptied of bullets, but Lange tried once more, just to be certain.
"Get water!" Truitt barked to Lenin, who scurried off yelling.
"Well, nicely calculated, sir." Truitt watched Lange stomp on the folder, on the carpet, hit his desk.
When Lenin and ten more privates returned to throw water on his desk, Lange desperately grabbed the folder But oh, only charcoal and indiscernible ink stains remained.
Lange doubled over, gasping. His sole achievement was ash.
"Saving us from this Night Owl might have done you a favor. And myself, too, considering her father." Truitt nudged her blood-soaked body with his toe.
Lange had the distinct urge to wipe her blood on his hands. He'd never killed a Marleyan before.
"What a monster," growled Otto.
"But who do you mean?" asked Lange, exchanging a pointed glance with Lenin.
Lenin swallowed. He had already tortured. It was too late. Lange had merely prolonged his first kill.
But then he watched Lange close the traitor's eyes, her shiny, once smiling eyes, the eyes that knew what he'd done, the eyes of a once revered lady, the eyes of one extinguished on her knees.
Think about it, she had said.
He dreaded he would.
"I'm not right for this," Grisha said quietly. "Look. Look at the man who enjoyed feeding my sister to dogs was eaten alive himself. This should have been my best revenge, and I – no. You asked me if I enjoyed it. How could I? I could hardly stand his screams. He was in so much pain, and you know, I felt the same way when you killed your own men. I guess I'm just a doctor after all…"
Panic rose in him. "I haven't changed, don't you see? I lost my comrades, my wife and child – even my fingers! I would never pay this price again. I – I can't hate anymore, Eren Kruger."
Kruger nodded. "You know, your father was smart. He smiled and nodded as the authorities let a serial killer through, just to keep the rest of his family. But his son didn't learn a thing. His son ruined his own wife and son and everything he had."
"What are you saying?" Grisha's voice shook. He knew that, dammit!
"Stand." Kruger struggled to his feet. "Fight. Ruin everything."
Grisha avoided his gaze.
"Promise me. I don't have time. I need you to promise me you'll fight for Eldia's freedom and dignity – I need you to stand."
"I can't," moaned Grisha, trapped in self-hatred. Because he did hate, still. He hated himself.
"You can." What would Ilona do? Kruger fished out the photograph of the Jaegers. "I took this from your house. Look to them for courage."
"No, I won't. I can't, don't you see?!"
"No will to look. No will to stand. No will to fight." Kruger understood, but he had no time to understand.
"Don't motivate me with hatred. All I have left is the weight of my sins," said Grisha.
Zeke, hatred? Dina, hatred? Was he even listening? "Stop this. I chose you because you went outside the walls. Because you saw a boundary and stepped over it. If you hadn't – you never would have met Dina or had Zeke. You wouldn't have this photograph. Your sister would be married with children now, probably."
"But you went past the wall. You sought freedom, like all of us who have gone before." And he was about to join them. Kruger swallowed his tears. "From the very first day I kicked my countrymen off the wall, from the day you brought your sister outside – those actions will haunt us until they're repaid. Even after we die."
Because right here, right now, as Grisha rose to his feet, Kruger knew after existed, because he would see her again.
As Tiberius and Sally ate a scrumptious meal they'd prepared with Muriel – she'd taught them addition and subtraction with food, the best math lesson of their lives – and a numb Raina appeared at the Jaegers' to hand over a stuffed pony, food, and kindness, because it was the one act of resistance she had, and Dieter wept in his office, the bell chimed above a dingy tavern in Alexandria district.
"Whiskey?" greeted the bartender.
"Water, please," said a calm, plain woman he hadn't seen around before. She'd already spent all her money on the ticket she clenched in her fists, the passage on a steamship to the north.
"Did you hear about the cult?" a barmaid whispered excitedly, pleased to have female company. "They burned down all the records!"
"And the ship is now late to return," the bartender added excitedly. "Looks like those titan pests had one more trick up their sleeves. No one will be able to tell what happened."
"No one wants to; they're all focused on Gross anyhow," said the maid. "Good, if you ask me. Bad Marleyans make Eldians look sympathetic."
"They burned all the records?" Alma's eyes widened. Could she – no –
She looked at the ticket in her hands. If she took care to avoid the Jaegers, she could return. They could rebuild.
Eldians could not forget their value. Her children would see their people rise.
"Have a family," said Kruger as he syringed out the serum. Grisha had the other vial he'd taken, for whomever he'd choose next, thirteen years from now.
"Pardon me?"
"When you live within the walls, have a family."
"I can't betray Dina!"
This doctor was stubborn. He was glad. "Your wife, your children…find someone to love, Grisha. And then take that love and expand it to every person within your town. If you can't do that, the same story will repeat. The same mistakes."
He heard Ilona's voice in the wind as he spoke. She'd taught him everything he knew about love. Now that Grisha was gorged on hate, someone within the walls could show Grisha the power of love.
"Mikasa and Armin…if you want to save them, you have to complete that mission," Kruger said.
"Mikasa? Armin? Who are they?" Grisha glanced at the man behind him. Did titan powers render one insane?
"Huh?" Kruger blinked. "I – I don't know whose memories these are."
"Oh." Grisha's expression was something akin to pity.
"You'll find memories mostly come in dreams." Shaking off his lapse, Kruger walked up to Grisha and pressed the needle against his neck. "By the way, I never thanked you."
"For this mission?"
"No. For helping my wife. You may know her as Ilona Minsk."
Grisha's mouth fell open.
"It's important you know she wasn't playing you as a spy. Every kindness of hers was genuine. She married me despite that." Kruger shrugged. "I imagine she will find a way to help your son, too. Do not despair."
"How – how – " Suddenly, Dina made sense to Grisha. And Zeke, Zeke would not be alone. His son had hope. Tears filled Grisha's eyes. "Thank you."
"If I've said anything of worth here, it probably stems from her." Kruger closed his eyes for a moment.
He slid the needle in and kicked Grisha off the wall as he had so many times before. He felt the explosion, the heat, for the last time.
The stocky titan glowered up at him, the one human in sight.
He had to move before he stopped believing again.
Kruger stepped off the wall and collapsed on the sand below. He waited a mere second before fingers wrapped around his torso.
As the titan's paw lifted him towards the sun, Eren Kruger saw little of the world before them. All he saw was Ilona, smiling the same knowing smile she'd given him the night they met.
You shouldn't be here already, he thought, as pressure crushed his skull.
I told you I'd see you again, she said, grasping his fingers and pulling him out of whatever weighed him down. You're home.
Thank you SO much for reading. 3
…and yes, the stuffed pony is a wink to the highly hilarious "Zeke's Pony" meme on Tumblr, which I think was started by the blog leapingtitan. I meant it as an honor, so please don't sue me? ;)