Chapter 13 Keep Moving Forward

Eren's POV:

Today is the day when Willy Tybur is going to paint me as the villain, and I am waiting for Falco to bring Reiner to me. When Reiner notices my face, I say in a monotone voice, "Hey. It's been four years, Reiner."

Reiner can't believe what he's seeing, and Falco is confused, "Um, huh? Aren't you three supposed to be old friends? Isn't that right, Mr. Kruger?"

"Yeah. There's so much to catch up on. I don't even know where to start." I say.

"Impossible... Eren!" Reiner looks at me with shock. Falco notices my hand and asks, "Um...Kruger? Did you hurt your hand?"

"Yeah, just a scratch." I reply.

I say, "Sit down, Reiner. They're good seats, right? You can hear everything on stage. The building above us is all housing. It's behind the stage, but it's full of people waiting for the curtains to rise."

I point on top and say, "Directly above us."

Reiner is terrified, never thought I see the day. But I say to him again, "Sit down, Reiner."

Reiner then sits down, Falco says, "Well, I think I'll head back."

"No, Falco. You should stay here and listen." I say, and Falco looks at me with confusion. Reiner says, "Falco... Just do as he says."

"Okay..." Falco whispers.

We stay in silence for a while, until Reiner speaks, "Eren... How? Why did you come here?"

"Same reason you did." I say, and I can see that the day they broke the walls cause Reiner to grab his head with horror. "Don't you get it? The same reason you did. Because we had no other choice."

"What do you mean "we"? Was there someone with you?" Reiner asks, and just then, two more people come out from the shadows. I say, "I would like you to meet Katrina Strum and Adler Grice."

"Your last name is Grice?" Falco stares at Adler in shock. Adler ignores him and says, "Sounds like it started. Not that we didn't know anything about it."

Then we hear how Willy Tybur talking about the Eldian history, and he says, "To eliminate this threat, our motherland Marley sent four Titans to the island, but they were beaten back and only the Armored Titan returned. The darkest blot on humanity's history, the Eldian Empire, is alive and well."

I say, "You hear that, Reiner? Isn't that why you destroyed the wall? You guys were trying to save the world. Weren't you?"

Then Falco starts to put things together and he realizes that I'm from Paradis Island. And just when Willy says my name, he says, "You tricked me... And here I respected you... But you tricked me!"

"Yes, the pain of feeling betrayed. I know very well how that feels." I turn to Reiner, who flinches at the mention. "However, I'm sorry it comes to this, Falco. I needed your help."

"The letters! The ones you had me send! What were they?!" Falco holds his head in horror, I say, "I told you that the letters are sending to my family. I assume you remember Christa, don't you, Reiner? After all, you used to have a crush on my wife."

"You and Christa..." I can see that Reiner feels heartbroken after hearing what I said, I say, "He goes by Historia Reiss now, and she is the current Queen of Eldia."

"Q-Queen?" Falco gasps while kneeling on the ground, "That means... you're the King..."

"It is obvious, considering our highness has the Founding Titan." Katrina says.

"And what Willy Tybur said was right. I'm the bad guy. I might just destroy the world. But to me, you were the bad guys, too. That day, when the wall was destroyed and Titans invaded my hometown, I watched my mom get eaten."

Falco looks at me with shock, and I say, "That day, you broke the wall because you wanted to see how the King would react, and your goal was to take the Founding Titan and save the world. You don't have much of a choice."

Reiner looks away. After a silence, he speaks again, "Back then, you told me: 'I'll make you guys suffer and die in the worst way possible.' Isn't that why you came?"

"Oh, I vaguely remember saying that." I say.

"Huh?" Reiner's eyes widens in fear.

"Just forget it. True, I saw everyone on the other side of the sea as my enemy. But then, we crossed the sea, slept under the same roof as them, ate the same food... Reiner, we're the same as you. Sure, there are jerks here, but good people, too. Across the sea, within the walls... It's the same. But you guys were taught everyone in the walls was a devil. You were children who knew nothing, but it was drilled into you. You were just kids. What could you even do? Right, Reiner? Hasn't that eaten away at you?"

Reiner grits his teeth and falls to his knees in front of me. "No, you're wrong, Eren! That day, when Marcel was eaten, Annie and Bertolt tried to turn back and end the mission. But I... I talked them into it and made them go on! I wanted to be a hero! I wanted people's respect! It's my fault! Your mom was eaten by a Titan because of me!"

Seeing how he's kneeling on the ground begging me to kill him, I turn to Katrina, "The soldiers are outside, deal with them."

"Of course." After Katrina leaves, I turn back to the two of them. "Just like Willy said, we were born into this world, and we were just people of different races and nations. All of you ignore the warning from King Fritz, no matter if I took the Founding Titan or not. You painted me as a villain while we haven't done anything but try to save our loved ones from the Titans Marley sent to us. If I really want the Rumbling to happen, why would I wait for 4 years? I could just start the Rumbling once I broke the vow."

Then I hold my hand to Reiner, "Stand up, Reiner. Like, I thought, I'm the same as you. I think we were born this way. I keep moving forward... until I destroy my enemies."

After holding Reiner up, my eyes are glowing as Reiner gasps, and then he falls to the ground unconscious. "Reiner!" Falco yells.

I turn to Adler and says, "Adler, will you mind introducing yourself to your cousin?"

"Cousin?" Falco asks, and Adler says, "Falco, if you don't know, my father is Kasper Grice, your uncle who was a member of the Eldian Restorationists. He survived and was able to marry my Mom on the island and have his peaceful life until I devour him."

"D-Devour?" Falco gasps, "What do you mean?"

"I, like Reiner and Eren, am a Titan shifter." Adler shows the wound and there is steam from it. "I hold one of the powers of 13, the power of the Sky Titan. My Titan can fly into the air, I can either hide in the clouds or attack the air forces with the beak and the wings that I have."

"But... the power of the 13? How come I never heard of this?" Falco asks.

"The other Four Titans isolate themselves from the whole world because they don't care about the war. However, with the downfall of the Eldian Empire, the whole world still targets them and they are forced to side with Eldia." I say. "If you want to escape the Rumbling, it's better that you join our side and stay on Paradis Island."

"But can't you just not do the Rumbling?" Falco asks.

"And then let my hometown be attacked by all of the nations? You heard from the speech, they won't care if I want to do it or not." I say, and Falco lowers his head with a frown. I say, "Let's think about this way, Falco. You have the Founding Titan, and you don't want to do the Rumbling, but what are you going to do after hearing that speech? They don't care if you want to do the Rumbling or not, they just want to kill you because you might be doing it."

"I..." Falco frowns, and Adler says, "It's simple, if they think we're going to do it, then we'll do it. We'll play their game."

"And besides, Falco. You helped me send those letters to my family, and what do you think will happen once they find out? Your family will be sent to our island as mindless Titans. However, after sending to the island, you will be facing two choices, either being killed by our soldiers, or I will use the power to change you back to normal. What will you choose?" I ask.

Falco is now frowning, and I say, "Well, I'll leave this to you, Adler. I need to go back to my other self."

Adler's POV:

"Okay." After Eren leaves, I turn to Falco and says, "Amazing, right? The Founding Titan can do anything the other power of the 13 can do."

"Adler, right? Are my parents safe?" Falco asks.

"They are safe, I am not going to harm my uncle and aunt after all. It takes me some time to persuade them that Paradis Island is not the Island of Devils that people think to be." I say. "Even though we agree to have King Eren use the Rumbling, we will be picking nations to destroy with it. Sadly, Marley is on the top list of nations that we need to eliminate from the face of the earth."

"So he's really going to destroy all the nations?" Falco asks.

"Not all of them. He's going to spare Hizuru, Stamer, and Vilij, and that's because they are the nations that ally themselves with Eldia." I say. "With Hizuru's help, we tried to negotiate with the other nations for peace, however, no one except Stamer and Vilij wants peace with Eldians."

Falco frowns, then he asks, "And what happened to Reiner? Why hasn't he awake now?"

"Eren took his Armored Titan powers, he is not a Titan anymore, but that means he is free from the 13-year curse and he'll be staying with his mother longer. That is if they survive the Rumbling. Now, what will you do? Are you going to stay in your Warrior Candidate role? Or do you want to escape Marley and have a happy life with nobody threatening you as an Eldian?" I ask.

"To free the Eldians... this is all I want. You said that Eren will protect his own people, does that mean Eldians?"

"Eldians who aren't brainwashed by Marley and the other nations to hate them." I say, "History is not always accurate. To make Eldians in Marley easier to control, they will paint themselves as the victim to make sure that you all feel guilty. My father found a lot of documents with old Eldian language, and after depicting them, it's true that Eldia Empire use Titans to conquer other nations, but they never kill that many people."

Falco frowns and says, "If that's the case... I only want my family to be safe..."

"Good." I say as we bring Reiner out of the basement.

Here is a new chapter, and this is the perspective of the talk with Reiner and Falco. I decide to add some more, and don't worry, Eren will still attack the speech, don't forget that he's Carla's son, and he can also use Carla's Titan abilities. I hope you like this chapter.