Chapter 19 Talks before the Storm

Eren's POV:

It is time that we all visit our own prisoners, I'm not alone, Mikasa, Gloria, Peter, and Floch are by my side. When the arrested soldiers see me, some of them are glaring at me. I am not fazed as Hange and Pyxis are the ones who approach us.

"Eren! What's the meaning of this?" Hange asks. I say, "What's the meaning of this? It's simple. You claim that all you're doing is saving our people. But all you've done is harm our own people. And don't you think I don't know how you plan to take away the Founding Titan for your own gain, after all, with the full control of Eldians, I can hear all of your thoughts without any problem."

This causes the others to tense up, and Commander Pyxis asks, "And what are you going to do after your so-called imprisonment of all of us? What do you want to do with the people on this island and the government?"

I say, "Since the first Reiss King wipes out the memories of the people on this island, there are a lot of things that you are unaware of. With the downfall of the Eldia Empire, the true royal families are either persecuted or exiled. The royal families that we overthrew four years ago were fake royal families. And four years ago after the Titans are all eliminated, my own faction seek out the true royal families and the four royal families who refused the Great Eldia Empire in the past. And thus we'll be the new royal government."

"And how do you know the true royal families?" One soldier glares at me, and I reply. "It's simple. The Titans controlled by the true Royal family will be able to use the full power of the Titans that they owned, and they will be able to contact Founder Ymir and remove the 13-year curse. And thanks to one of our Anti-Marleyan Volunteers, Gloria Tybur, we are able to find documents and history books about the true Eldia Empire."

Gloria steps forward and Hange asks, "You're from the Tybur Family? But the attack just before..."

"Forgive me for my rudeness, but I never treat those traitors as my family this whole time. They have the War Hammer Titan and they have never done anything to help our people. 3 years ago, I met Eren Yeager and with my family's authorities, I was able to bring him and some of our faction to negotiate peace with the other nations."

"Besides Hizuru, two of the other nations are willing to achieve peace with us. However, the other 10 nations refuse to negotiate with us and they want genocide of our island." I say. "The declaration of war happened a few weeks ago is proof of that. It's true that I start the attack on Liberio without any warning. But They are the ones wanting this to happen. I'm just giving them what they want."

Then a Military Police member, I think his name is Nile, says, "Do you think that if you take over the government, the people will bow down to you?"

I say, "Are you sure you're going to turn a blind eye to this question? Didn't you see how many people are protesting when they heard the news of my arrest?"

I throw the newspapers at them, and I continue, "During some times when I wasn't in the Survey Corps duty, I was with my own faction of soldiers in the other districts. The best way to have people's trust is by being a doctor and treating all of them. And since the Founding Titan also has the power to change the human anatomy, I was able to cure a lot of incurable diseases."

"But didn't you need Zeke to use the Founding Titan's power?" Pyxis asks, "That's what Zeke told us in the meeting three years ago."

"He's not wrong, with the Titan of the Royal Family, we'll be able to use the Founding Titan's full power. All of us here, except for Mikasa, are from Royal families who can access the Founding Titan. I also have Royal Blood, and since my family's Titan: The Attack Titan, never bows down to the king, the vow is not controlling me and eventually I manage to break it. I could have done the Rumbling 4 years ago, and if you think Zeke is manipulating me, I would have done his plan 3 years ago as well."

"Then what is your plan?" Hange asks.

"The Rumbling still needs to happen, and we'll make sure of that." I say. "I'm not going to let you stay in the dungeon for a long time. In fact, I'm going to let you all out."

This causes them to be surprised, and I say, "However, all of you won't be soldiers anymore. You will all be civilians just like the people on this island."

Then Peter opens the door and lets them all out, another Military Police member yells, "What about the queen? Do you think the queen will seriously let you do such things to ruin the government?"

"Ruin the government? Me?" I laugh and say, "If you don't know, Historia and I were married, she was giving all the authority to us because she is having my child. And if you don't know, I'm already the king of the Hizuru Nation with Mikasa here as the queen, we learned a lot about politics. How many of you know about politics and how many of you are able to learn what's really the best for us?"

This causes everyone to be surprised, and I say, "I also need to mention one thing. Levi already picked the option to leave the military."

This causes them to widen their eyes, "What did you do to him?" Hange demands.

"We didn't do anything." I say. "All we did is asking if he wants to join our true government, and he refused of course."

I turn around and say "Now we're done here, if you want to leave, just leave. But just so you know, the military is not your place anymore."

Then we decide to leave them alone. I am not going to actually care about them rebelling, they won't be able to get the people on their side now that the news has been spreading out like crazy.

And the next thing I do is to visit Armin, the house that we provided to him is located in Shiganshina, his old home. Now Mikasa and I are visiting him and I am surprised that he still treats us like old friends.

"I've heard the speech that you gave to the crowd. But is this really the only choice we have? I know that with your Time manipulating skills, you will be able to see the future... but isn't there another option?" Armin asks.

Mikasa says, "Armin, the same question has plagued Eren for four years, if he really wants to do the Rumbling, he could have just done it four years ago and lied to everyone that he didn't know how it happened."

I say, "All I want is to protect Eldia from humanity, and since I'm also the king of Hizuru, the people there are also important to me as well. We've also been to Stamer and Vilij a lot of times. And they really have them: The Liquid Fire, the Land made of Ice, and the Fields made of sand, those two nations have them. There are some times I wish that you are there to see the sights as we do."

"But how were you able to get Stamer and Vilij on your side?" Armin asks.

"Both of them were having civil wars because of the Eldian treatment. And eventually, the side that wants peace with Eldian wins. And with help from Hizuru, we have a four-nation meeting. We discuss ways to avoid the Rumbling, and ways to help the Eldians. I decide to change the Eldian blood outside of Paradis Island to the same as the other humans, so that blood tests won't prove them as Eldians. And we also use the power of the Titans to help with their cultivation and construction. They are also a part of the training for our own faction of soldiers, so that's why our soldiers can overpower the old regime that easily."

"But still, why didn't you tell me that you two and Historia were a thing as well?" Armin asks.

Mikasa says, "People like us all have their light side and their dark side. I always see the light side of Eren, but I never understand his dark side. Historia is the one who understands, and that's why we decide to have a three-way."

"And besides, I'm also doing everything up until this moment for Founder Ymir." I say, "She has been waiting for us for 2000 years. Activating the Rumbling and eliminating the walls are the only ways to free her. I was prepared to sacrifice myself to achieve this goal, but she doesn't want to let me go as well. Since she used to be a slave with no free will, I was kinda glad that she has free will and she wants me to be her father when she is reborn."

"Father, huh..." Armin sighs. "So I have to guess that the baby inside Historia is Ymir?"

"Yes, and there is still more time." I say. "I'm sorry that I took your Colossal Titan, because we found the true Colossal Titan Royal member and he should be the one to use it."

"I understand, having the Colossal Titan with me is a nightmare... I'm glad that I'm free from that burden." Armin says, "But I also want to ask about your mother. Didn't you see her being devoured by your stepmother? How did you find her alive?"

"She was one of the secretive royal family of the Deceiver Titan. Mikasa and I are really happy to see her again. And after talking for a while, I learned more about her and her family. I was also surprised that she used to be the leader of the Survey Corps before Commandant Shadis."

"Wow..." Armin nods. "But if you all manage to return the Titan powers, what about Annie?"

Mikasa says, "Annie is still sleeping in that crystal. It's just that we're able to take her powers without waking her up."

I say, "Yeah, Aya Neumann is the true Female Titan user. And Armin, are you sure you're not going to help us with the new Eldia?"

Armin frowns and says, "I don't think what you're doing is right... to kill billions of people outside the walls just to save our own people... what about Jean and Connie?"

"They're going to help us with the new military." I say. "If you don't want to, I am not going to force you to."

Armin seems to be thinking for a while before replying, "As much as I don't want to, I still think you need some help. I'll join."

And here is a new chapter, in this story, I decide to have Armin join Eren and the Yeagerist. This is not You Are Free, so this is not going to be the Full Rumbling story. But genocide in this story is still going to happen. And I also decide to spare commander Pyxis and the others, only that they are not going to take part in the government or the military after this. I hope you like this chapter and the next chapter will be back to Falco and Zeke.