Creation began on 02-13-21

Creation ended on 02-14-21

Attack on Titan

Redemption or Retribution: Beginning

A/N: I just finished watching the English version of Attack on Titan's episode The War Hammer Titan, and after looking at the poll I've set up to decide what the next story to be made will be like, I've decided to create the first chapter of what could be either one-shots like with author Isil-zha-BLZ…or just another potential story that can go many ways based on the desire. In addition, Brother Correction will be the primary character, so you can expect someone that goes to extremes and subtlety to get his point heard by those that don't believe or refuse to listen to a different perspective.

He has seen these wretched outcomes of violence many times, looking over the vast echoes of multiple planes of existence, each one a near-identical in the river of space and time. You would think he'd become numb to something like this, having been around since long before the names of most people of the newer generations were even thought of, but he wasn't as numb as people wanted to believe. At least those that had seen or heard of him. No, he wasn't numb to any of the pain and suffering inflicted upon people that were innocent once upon a time. The very opposite, he was disgusted when he saw these once-upon-a-time innocent people become as cold and soulless as the ones that initially harmed them.

Agony, he thought as he watched the Attack Titan lay waste to the town of Liberio. Despair. Pain. Bloodshed. Lies. Betrayal. Irritability. These are all avoidable to many extents…but when people feel the need to inflict greater pain upon those they hold responsible for the suffering they had to go through, there's no way to forgive and forget the pain and suffering inflicted upon those that have done no wrong.

Then, he watched the variations of how the Rumbling, the walking of a legion of Wall Titans, took place in every part of the world, acting on the will of a young man driven to kill every man, woman and child that wasn't his people, and the effects it had on them.

"When you throw in with the gang, you own what they do."

"Oh, I'd hurt you."

"Unforgivable!"

"He killed my dad!"

"They killed the boy! They killed me! They're killing everybody!"

"How do you sleep at night?"

"Dead or alive, you're coming with me."

"I hate 'em!"

"What did you do?!"

"You're so full of hatred, you won't stop!"

People everywhere, dying from the wrath, not the Titans, not the people of Paradis Island, but of Eren Yeager himself. This left Brother Correction feeling another measure of disgust towards the young man that had desired to destroy the Titans who redirected his intense hatred towards the rest of the world.

Like a tyrant looking for an excuse to engage in some kind of tyranny, he thought as he looked back to a younger version of the stubborn boy that never knew when to back down, he refuses to relent, to show mercy, even when it is necessary. He wants to be the hero to his own people so much that he has embraced the role of a villain. For him, to save is to kill…and to kill is to save.

He rose from his wooden throne and disappeared with the breeze in the wind. His objective was clear to him, but first, he had to converse with some people whose pain spoke more volumes than those that thought they knew best for them.

-x-

The devastation unleashed in Liberio was unspeakable to some, but to others, it was no battle or even a brief war. Not even a declaration of war. It was a slaughter, a massacre, purposely instigated by one man that was full of contempt, unwilling to believe in other options, even if they took years to achieve. And they were forced to pay the price for his arrogance.

Brother Correction, dressed in thee clothing of the people that lived in Liberio, covered in minor injuries to blend in, walked around the ruins and offered whatever he had to those in need. That's where he found a little girl crying on the streets next to a dead woman.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"My mother…" She uttered, looking up at him, pointing towards the dead woman. "My mother is dead. We…we were at home, having dinner, when… They say it was a man named Eren Yeager. They said he attacked us, along with flying people. I don't understand, sir. Why did he attack us? Can you tell me, please? Why did he attack us? We never did anything to him!"

And that was the truth. This little girl and her mother, the grieving parents and orphaned children and other inhabitants of this town had never even met Eren Yeager, let alone know what he looked like, and thus couldn't form any desire to want to hurt him. They were all innocent, and Eren had committed mass manslaughter, just to steal the power of the War Hammer Titan for his own purposes. Even if he claimed that it was unavoidable, Eren wouldn't have been able to walk away from this, not from the Survey Corps, from his friends, and especially not from him.

"He's a man full of spite," he told the girl, taking the mother's arms and crossing them over on her chest. "People with spite towards anyone, regardless of whether or not they were responsible for whatever harm, real and intentional or even imagined…have no respite for their fate…when all that they've done…comes back on them."

"What…what does that mean, sir?" The girl asked him.

"It's just a way of saying that…people like this Eren Yeager…will pay for their sins…one way or another. When you make a decision, a choice of your own volition, to inflict harm upon another person, whether they did something to you or not, there will be consequences that you must pay for. In the end, those consequences will not be ignored."

-x-

"…But," went Historia to Brother Correction, who had informed her of Eren's actions in Liberio, despite her delicate state right now, because she deserved to know what he had done…and who she was putting her faith in, "you're already going to deal with him, regardless of what I or anyone else says, aren't you?"

He was sitting on the porch away from her, looking at the sunset.

"I can't overlook something as cruel as this, Ms. Reiss," he told her. "If I did…I'd be no different from the man I was before I made the choice to undo the mistakes made by people that either can't or won't atone for or admit that they were in the wrong. It doesn't matter why he did or who he was in league with. He murdered countless innocent people. Families…children…and one way or another, he will answer for that, whether it's a path of redemption…or an eternity of retribution. The sands of time on his life (he conjured a small hourglass and set it on the porch beside himself for Historia to see), his soul…have begun to pour against him. When I leave here, Eren Yeager will become my priority. I will be the hunter…and he will be the hunted. The arrow will be shot, the bullet will be fired…and there will be no mercy unless he chooses to surrender. No pity for the pitiless. No forgiveness for the unforgiving."

"What will happen for the rest of us…if you decide his fate?" She asked him.

"I learned a long time that every choice made in the past affects everyone in the present," he answered her. "Nothing stays the same, for you, for Mikasa, for Levi, nobody. May we meet again one day…in a different life."

He got up off the porch and walked away from her.

"Will I even remember this conversation?" She asked.

"Maybe not…but I can't forget. I can't forget anything, no matter what changes."

Historia watched as he walked away, seeing him disappear like a ghost into the sunset. If he could change what currently was into what could've been and could be, then maybe things would be different from before. The old stories she heard about a stranger that would slip in and out of people's lives and give them either redemption or retribution was something that spoke volumes for those that believed in such a person. A man who was able to bless or curse others, either to lift them up from the darkness…or condemn them to it. And if he could change the past and present…then maybe, just maybe…if it wasn't such a selfish desire, she could have that one person that she missed all the time.

-x-

Hange Zoe was very upset about the current situation that she and Levi were in. The cell Eren Yeager had been placed in for his insubordination and gross misconduct in Liberio was empty, with only a note stuck to the mirror in it. The note speaking only about what the people should pray for.

"Everyone is claiming the same story," said Armin to her when he returned to inform her of what other members of the Survey Corps had told him, "none of them ever came down to see Eren. Not even the guards saw anyone. If Eren made any attempt to escape, there would be signs."

"Meaning that whoever took Eren was very efficient in doing so, able to get in and out without being detected, like a ghost. And they left this note, too."

Armin looked at the note and wondered what awaited Eren from whoever left it for them to find.

"If you can, pray for the redemption of Eren Yeager's heart and soul. And if you can't, then at least pray for his retribution. What he has done cannot be overlooked and ignored. The victims of his actions deserve justice, and he must answer for his crimes, one way or another." The note read, followed by the initials of whoever left it, someone going by B.C.

"Do we know anyone by those initials?" Hange questioned Armin.

"No," he answered her, "but whoever came and took Eren had a reason for doing this, acting on behalf of the people that were killed by him."

"Do you think they'll kill him?"

"I don't know…but I hope that Eren understands the severity of his actions."

"Who took him?" They heard Mikasa ask as she came and found the cell empty after being told that Eren was missing.

"We don't know who took him," Hange explained, "but someone that claims to want justice for his victims is responsible, as they were able to get in here undetected and take him without any struggle from him. Either pay for his redemption or pray for his retribution. That's all their note says about whatever awaits him."

Mikasa couldn't believe this. Whoever had Eren…was either going to set him straight…or do something worse than what he had done.

-x-

The belief that when one was in space where nobody could hear even the loudest scream was as true today as it had been when it was first established. And its following belief that when one was on the ground, no amount of screaming would even matter. This was Eren Yeager's case right now, standing high above the Earth with Brother Correction, who taken him Paradis and, very literally, threw him across the stars. He could've screamed all he wanted and nobody would ever hear him.

"Who are you?" Eren demanded as he got up.

"I am who I've always been," Brother Correction spoke in riddles, "one that speaks for those that can't speak for themselves…and one who will stand for those that can no longer stand."

"That doesn't say much."

"Not for you, hardly then and now."

"What do you mean, then and now?"

"Past and future, love and hatred, faith and despair, trust and treachery, everywhere and nowhere within the eternal present, here and now. Whosoever walks the path of vengeance is destined to destroy all they hold dear. Whosoever walks the path of justice is able to endure the corruption of the world they reside in without being corrupted. We've both seen the future and act on it, but those that know what fate befalls the world will do anything to prevent it, but there will always be those that see the future…and instead of preventing it if it's bad…will ensure it happens, regardless of what their intentions are or were."

Then, despite being over twenty feet away from Eren, Brother Correction closed the gap between them…and grabbed Eren by his neck!

"But you, Eren," he grunted, lifting him up off his feet, squeezing the air out of his lungs, "you see the future…and you tarnish it with your violence against others! Particularly, those that have done you no wrong, that don't even know who you are or what you look like! You purposely murdered innocent people in Liberio, and you must answer for that. One way or another, you will answer for you inhumanity."

"I had no choice!" Eren told him, trying to breathe. "I have to move forward! I will kill all of my enemies until there is no one left!"

Correction tightened his hold on Eren's neck.

"There is always a choice!" He told him, and then threw him away again. "There is always a choice, Eren Yeager! You could've stuck by Armin and Mikasa when the attempt to garner peace and sympathy for Eldians everywhere was failing! You could've stayed on Paradis when things were not going well! You could've showed your father all of your memories of what he was going to do long before that day the Colossal and Armored Titans attacked Shiganshina! But you didn't do any of this at all. You chose not to! That's on you!"

Eren got back up and faced him. Who was he to tell how to do his duty? Who was he to tell him how to live?

"Why, Eren?" He heard his father's voice in his mind, seeing the memory of the aftermath of the slaughter of the Reiss family, excluding Rod Reiss, who escaped. "Why didn't you show me everything, Eren?"

"And you know the worst thing about you right now?" He heard him say. "Is that you only have two choices here. Just two choices…because I'm not sending you back to Paradis. Oh, no, no, no. I will not send you back there…and I will not let you use the power of the Founding Titan to trigger the Rumbling. In fact, I won't let you use the power of the Titans at all right now."

Eren bit into his right wrist, but all he did was hurt himself.

"Stupid," he was called. "Who do you think I am? Where do you think you are right now? Any place that I put you in is my domain. Anything that I choose to do to you is up to me. Right now, I'm the one that makes the rules, the one that makes every threat a reality."

Then, Eren was punched in the gut by him with enough force to knock the air from his lungs, sending him back down on the invisible floor. This man was not an ordinary one, not if he could do what he was doing to him without any restraint to keep him in check.

"With me, you're just a boy trying to prove himself a man. To me, you're not a man, no matter what you say or do. You're not even a victim, anymore."

Eren looked up at him as he turned and walked away from him, turning around again to sit down.

"An hour from now," he heard him say, a large hourglass appearing in front of Eren, "I will explain the two choices you have, and you have to decide which choice to make. There's no third choice. No way out where you go back to what you know. Just one or the other. Think very hard on it."

Now, Eren had to ponder for the next hour on what his two choices were. Whatever they were, he couldn't let this man, this…whoever or whatever he was…interfere with his intentions. No matter what happened, he had to make sure he protected the people of Paradis.

"And don't get any ideas," he heard him say. "No thought you have in your head is safe from me! I know everything you're going to think about doing before you even get a chance to do it!"

Eren decided to test him by thinking of something depraved.

"Oh, God, Mikasa deserves better than you right now," Brother Correction frowned, and Eren decided to keep his mind empty of anything. "That's good. Nothing is better."

Eren didn't counter, talk back or anything after that. He just sat there and watched as the sand continue to pour from the top half of the hourglass into the bottom half.

To be continued…

A/N: This is where I'll stop the first chapter and let you wonder which choice he'll make, whether it's redemption or retribution. At this point now, the story can branch both way, like how they did it in Pokémon: Black and White, creating that two-film set that had Ash and friends go through the same plot, but with different choices and directions. I hope you'll enjoy the next chapter when it gets here. Peace.