Chapter Thirteen
Udo. Zophia. The Citizens of Liberio.
I'm back! Finally. Now that we have some inkling of what was actually going on with the Survey Corps and Eren, I feel like I can start writing again.
Although next chapter might actually kill my heart (you know who).
Grisha and Dina wept at the scene playing out in Liberio. Eren, dedicated enough to sever his own leg, both recognizing and understanding his grandfather.
And saying nothing.
Not that Grisha faulted Eren, nor Zeke. He faulted himself. His children were doomed and dying and nihilistically clung to destruction, but he had set them on this path.
Carla, however, did not weep. She prayed, and chose to place her faith in Mikasa and Armin. Unlike Grisha, who had not the blessing of friends to restrain him in Liberio, Eren did.
"I have faith in Mikasa and Levi," Erwin commented, watching the approaching Eldian airship.
"She's as strong as he is now," Mike agreed besides his friend.
"Reiner!" Bertolt cried out as his best friend placed a rifle in his mouth. "Reiner, wait!"
But was it fair, to tell Reiner to wait with Eren and Zeke's plan about to collapse around them?
Bertolt hesitated, but Ymir's pinch sent him into action.
I'm not the nervous weakling I was on earth.
"Please," he begged Reiner from above. "Remember Gabi, and Falco, and Udo and Zophia. Colt."
He didn't know if Reiner could hear him – in fact he expected he couldn't – but yet, below, Reiner hesitated.
"Sometimes," said the Person's voice, as Reiner stood and left his gun, "Our emotions can still change a heart."
Bertolt wrapped his arms around his knees. Ymir, Marco, and Frieda sat with him, watching Eren lure Reiner and Falco Grice into the basement.
"Not my grandkids." Grice, Grisha's old friend from the Restoration, held his breath.
"Eren would not kill a child," Grisha said dully. "He wouldn't." Eren was not Marley.
Eren Kruger winced. Because, for once, he agreed with Grisha's idealism.
"He'd risk one, though," said Carla, worrying her lip. Baby, it's not too late to turn back. Your friends are here. It's never too late.
As Eren unleashed his titan form below, Faye turned her head away, unable to watch more children perish from a pointless war.
As rocks flew and crashed around kids, Bertolt initially breathed a sigh of relief. Reiner had saved Falco. Reiner could keep living with himself.
But then Marco gasped, and Bertolt looked to the gate to see Zophia standing there, blinking in confusion.
A crowd began to join her, pushing Zophia out of the way. Like a good soldier, she showed no fear. She simply stepped aside.
This time, Bertolt did not hesitate. He stood and walked carefully towards the gate. "Hello, Zophia. Do you remember me?"
Her eyes widened. "Ber – Bertolt?"
"Yeah," he said with a little laugh.
"Am I dead?" she frowned, looking below.
Zophia inhaled sharply. Her body was crushed on the ground. All her training, all her combat skills, had been reduced to nothing by a falling boulder.
"Why is this happening?" she cried.
No, she shouldn't – she was a soldier – but – not anymore –
"It's okay." Bertolt wrapped his arms around her. "Cry if you want."
"Or we'll cry fro you," Frieda called, wiping her eyes from a few feet away.
"Zophia?" A bespectacled boy clung to the gate, as if afraid to enter heaven.
"Udo, you too?" Now Zophia burst into tears.
"Me parents –" Udo looked below.
"It's not fair," Zophia sobbed in his ear. "They just got us back."
"Wait." Udo waved his hands. "Is this death?"
"It is," answered Ymir carefully.
"But…" He swallowed. "Aren't we devils supposed to be in hell? We didn't do much to redeem ourselves."
Ymir sighed. "I'm gonna tell you something, kid, and you're not gonna believe me, but it's true, okay?"
She strode closer and clamped her hands around the two soldiers' shoulders. "You are not devils. There was never anything wrong with you. Nothing more than ordinary human faults."
"You're lying." Udo's voice caught.
"She's not," said Bertolt.
"Look around you," Marco said. People laughed, cried. Families were reuniting, new families forged, and tears shed for the survivors. "Do you see devils?"
"I don't see angels," Zophia said dryly.
"You don't have to be. You just have to be human," Bertolt said, his voice wavering. "And you are. No matter what Marley taught us, we were never evil."
"I can't," Udo screamed. "Is this propaganda?"
"It's true, and you can feel it," Zophia whispered.
"I don't want to! I don't – I don't want to have wasted twelve years – I only had twelve – it's unfair!" Udo clamped his hands over his ears.
He was a devil. Only a devil would scream in heaven.
A Person composed of light, or so it seemed, knelt beside him. "You're right. It's unfair, and it's okay to scream, Udo. Here, you are free, and you are loved."