Chapter 4

Mikasa and Jean are now back at their house, and both of them look a little depressed after learning the news of Eren's alive. Carla walks to her parents and asks, "Mom, Dad? What's the matter?"

Jean pats her girl's head and says, "It's nothing. We were just tired after today's events, do you want to meet new friends tomorrow?"

Carla looks cheerful and says, "Of course, I want to."

Mikasa stares at Jean and asks, "What the hell, Jean? You're going to let Carla meet Eren?"

"From the looks of it, Eren has been nice to kids, maybe it will make him open to us more." Jean replies. "But still, I think I've seen his wife somewhere before..."

"Her name is Aya Neumann." Mikasa says, then she realizes something. "I remember... she was one of the Scouts who set the bomb under Premier Zachary's chair, she used to be one of the Yeagerists..."

"Wait, for real?" Jean asks with surprise. "That explains a lot of things..."


At the same time, Eren and the rest are now gathering at the fire, with the four kids by their side, Eren was going to tell a story. Gloria says, "So those four that came to your house, you said that they were Mikasa, Armin, Jean, and Annie, four of them played a part in killing you and stoping the Rumbling."

"Yeah, all this time I'm living alone because I try to avoid them. But I can't believe that they still managed to find me..." Eren frowns. "But she seems happier with the Horse-face, that's a relief."

"It seems that she moved on, but she still misses you and she still wants you to open up to them as you did to us." Aya says.

"Probably because she is my adoptive older sister." Eren sighs. "Anyway, I guess it is time that we tell the kids a story."

"Are you sure you're going to tell them that story?" Odom asks with concern, "I mean, it was a story about what you did after all."

"I know, but they still need to know this." I say. "So this story is called, 'The Rumbling'. You four know what it is, right?"

Erich says, "We heard a lot of people talking about it, it was a catastrophic event that killed a lot of people."

Fay says, "But nobody wants to tell us how it happened..."

"And that's why I should tell you what happened." Eren says while opening the storybook. "In the past, there are 3 walls on the island that we live in, they are called Wall Maria, Wall Rose, and Wall Sina. Do you know what the walls are made of?"

"Steel?" "Rocks?" The children decide to ask, and Eren shakes his head and says, "They are made of Titans."

"You mean the Titans who like to eat people from the other stories that you told us?" Fay asks.

"No, they are different. The Titans are all 50 meters tall, and they are able to harden their bodies. People don't know anything about the walls until they are breached by the enemy."

This causes the children to be scared a little, and Eren continues, "And here we have a boy named Grey. He lives inside the walls since born and he always wants to learn what the world outside of the walls looks like. But when his home is attacked by the enemy, he lost his mother and his house, also everything he had. He vows to kill all the enemies outside of the walls.

"Did he do it?" Laura asks.

"Let's see..." Eren says while turning the page. "After the boy grows up, he gets a superpower to see the future. In this future, he will be the one unleashing the Titans inside the wall and having them trample the world, that is the Rumbling. If he doesn't do it, the enemies will gather the world to destroy this island. Now let me ask you a question. What will you choose, do you want to do the Rumbling to save your loved ones? Or do you want to do nothing and die with the whole island together?"

Erich says, "Do the loved ones mean like Mama and Papa?"

"In this story, Grey loses his parents, and the only loved ones he had is his friends." Eren says. "But if he still has his parents, then yes."

Much to everyone's surprise, all four of them want to unleash the Rumbling. Katrina says, "If that's the case, why do you want to unleash the Rumbling?"

"Because there is no way we are going to let enemies kill us." Wade says.

"Yeah, it was their fault for attacking Grey's home." Fay adds. "But if Grey can see the future, can't he just change the future to make neither choice possible?"

"You are right about that. Grey has been trying to change the future, but three years have passed, and nothing he did makes a big change. He begged his friends to help him, but the answers they were given are the same as the future memories. And eventually, he gave up on changing the future and picked the first choice, that is, the Rumbling."

"But it's not far... Grey probably doesn't want to do it..." Laura says. "And what happened next?"

"When the enemy strikes his home again, he finally activated the Rumbling. And the titans start to march outside the world. They are killing everyone in sight, and Grey also follows the Rumbling because he is going to keep moving forward. It is then his friends teaming up with their enemies, they try to stop the Rumbling."

"Why? I mean, why would they help their enemies stop Grey, who wants to protect them by doing the Rumbling?" Wade asks.

"Nobody likes genocide, nobody likes to kill people. The Rumbling itself is a mistake, and not all the people outside the island are enemies." Eren says with a slight frown. "But because there are so many Titans going to trample the world, Grey can't pick some to survive and some to kill. For example, if a father is our enemy, while his son isn't. If we spare the father, then he is still our enemy and he will still destroy us. If we kill the father, maybe the son will turn into an enemy as well. The only way to end it is to kill all of them as well."

"But that doesn't seem fair..." Laura says. "Maybe there is someone who hated his or her family."

"You are right. Let's think about this." Aya says, "Remember that we have gone to the fish market after we finished exploring the ocean? Do you remember seeing thousands of fish there?"

"Of course, Mama. There are a lot of them, and you even buy some for dinner as well." Fay says.

"Then let me ask you. If there are thousands of fish, and you want to pick 3 or 4 of them to release to the wild, how will you do?"

"Can't we just randomly pick them?" Wade asks.

"But let's think about those fishes, what if you the ones you picked as the tastiest meat, and you just release it, while there is some bad meat and they were devoured?"

"But it was really tiring to find the right fish to release into the wild..." Laura says.

"And not releasing any fish seems to be easier, right?" The others nod, and Eren says, "That was the same. Grey is tired of choosing who to live with and who to die, so he decides to kill them all."

"So what happened to Grey after he did the Rumbling?" Wade asks.

"The Rumbling wasn't finished, after killing 80% of the people, he was finally killed by the alliance formed by his own friends and his enemies. But what do you think Grey felt when they killed him?"

"Is he angry because they betrayed him?" Laura asks.

"No, he was relieved. He was freed from the misery of killing to save his own people." Eren says. "And that's the end of the story."

He closes the book and says, "So what do you guys think?"

"I think a lot of people will think what Grey did was wrong. But if we put into his shoes, I guess we would have done the same thing as him." Wade says.

Peter says, "Indeed. However, the sad part of the story is that even until the end, none of his friends who teamed up with the alliance put themselves into his shoes, none of them know the pain of what he has to endure..."

"Do you think they will understand after Grey's death?" Fay asks.

Eren says, "That will be your imagination. After all, this is just a story."

Just then, he notices that Erich has been silent all this time, and Eren asks, "What's wrong, Erich?"

"Papa... may I ask a question?" Erich asks.

"And what is it?" Eren asks.

"You see... Papa, I don't know why, but the story that you told me today matches a lot of my nightmares these days." Erich says.

"What? You have nightmares about the story that Uncle Kruger told us?" Laura asks.

"I don't know why... but I felt like I was Grey in the nightmares, and I could hear the screams of people that were trampled by the rumbling..."

"Was that the reason why you were crying this afternoon?" Fay asks.

"Papa, was that one of the superpowers that made me like this?" Erich asks.

Eren sighs while giving Erich a hug, "Erich, it was not just you, I have those nightmares as well. Or maybe I should say, the Grey in that story... it was me this whole time."

"You were Grey? Uncle Kruger?" Wade asks. "So you killed billions of people with the Rumbling?"

"If I give you an honest answer, will you hate me for doing such a mad thing?" Eren asks with a frown.

"Of course not! You're still the nice Uncle Kruger that we know and love!" Laura says, and Eren is surprised that the children are supporting him. The other adults are smiling since they are glad.

"Yeah, Papa. You did this all for our sake." Fay says. "But if you were Grey this whole time, how were you still alive? Your friends should have killed you, right?"

"You are right, I wasn't expecting that I'm going to be alive. However, let's say the gods from heaven or the devils from hell don't want me to go to either of the places yet. I have to guess it is my punishment for killing billions of people, I have had those nightmares for 14 to 15 years. And they never go away. Erich, remember, you were not the one who did those things, I did. So you don't need to worry about those nightmares as I do."

"Yes, Papa." Erich says.

Now it is time for the children to go to bed, while Eren and Aya are now alone in their own room, and Aya asks, "Just like I told you, you don't need to worry about us hating you. I'm sure they will understand."

"I'm glad that you're always right. That's why I love you." Eren says. Aya smiles and says, "And I love you too. I'm glad I was able to marry someone like you."

The two of them share another kiss before falling asleep in each other's arms.


Here is a new chapter, and this chapter is just Eren telling a story about how he did the Rumbling to the other children. I hope you like this chapter and the next chapter will be Mikasa and Jean bringing Carla to visit.