The Same Old Story
Disclaimer: I do not own "Owl House" or "Attack on Titan". All rights belong to Dana Terrace and Hajime Isayama.
This takes place in an Owl House AU where there is no Demon Realm (or at least the story doesn't take place in the Demon Realm) and many characters who are witches/demons and live in the Boiling Isles in cannon are humans in Gravesfield.
WARNING, THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ATTACK ON TITAN SERIES. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ/WATCHED UP TO SEASON 4. Or do if you dont care.
"Somebody please explain to me what the heck I'm looking at."
Philip Wittebane stands before his destroyed research facility. Infront if it is a gigantic evaporating skeleton. Behind him are several police and army vehicles that were called by Mr. Wrath.
"It was more of a full body before you arrived, Mr. Wittebane." One of the soldiers says. "It had muscle on it but whatever that thing is, it seems to be evaporating fast."
"I screamed when I first saw it." Says another soldier.
"I peed myself." Says an officer.
"Do you have any idea what it is?" The soldier asks Wittebane.
Wittebane remains silent. He figured that someone had broken into the facility and ended up ingesting a large amount of liquid contaminated by the creature, or maybe the bombs went off. Whoever this person was grew so big that they destroyed the facility. Then (somehow) the back of their neck got destroyed and they died, leaving just this steaming corpse left. Wittebane was somewhat relieved, they didn't need a gigantified human in America. But his biggest concern is the creature, the source of the substance responsible for the transformations, the literal and figurative back bone of his experiments.
He walks over to Mr. Wrath, who is being loaded into an ambulance.
"Alright Wrath, what exactly happened?" Wittebane asks/demands.
Mr. Wrath motions for Wittebane to lean in and he whispers into his boss's ear:
"Dr. Clawthorn. Her hot sister. Some other lady and her kid. They broke into the building to steal the shiny centipede thing. I shot the girl and the centipede merged into her spine. She grew into THAT-" he points at the giant skeleton. "-but she still had her mind. The rest of my men ran away as soon as she looked at them. They got in their cars and left while I stayed behind to try and restrain her, but she knocked me out instead. I don't know how she died or what happened to the others. The Blights kid showed up too. She seemed to know what was going on."
Wittebane tenses as he listens to Wrath. He couldn't believe this was happening. Not only may he have actually lost the creature that provides him with the substance he needs for his dealings with the Blights but his entire facility is destroyed. The worst part is that he can't even have Lilith and the others arrested over it because he figured that Lilith would easily expose their experiments to the public and there's no telling what information the Blights kid might have. Confronting them is too big a risk, he needs to keep this under wraps. Thankfully, the giant body is disposing of itself and the destruction of the facility could be passed off as an experiment gone wrong combined with faulty wiring in the walls. Or maybe even an Al-Qaeda attack, yes, Wittebane was sure the public would believe that. He just needed to bribe his guards and the officers here to stay quiet.
"Shall we arrest them?" Wrath asks.
"No, we can't risk what was actually going on in this facility getting out." Wittebane says. "I will bribe the police to stay quiet and you don't tell anyone anything. Got it?"
Wrath nods.
"Good, I need to talk to the detective. Then I will deal with Dr. Clawthorn myself."
Philip Wittebane leaves Wrath to the doctors while he approaches the ruins of his facility. There is already a detective there examining the debris. She is a tall woman with fair skin and long back hair wearing black lipstick. She notices Wittebane approaching her.
"Mr. Wittebane? Hello, I am Detective MacQueen." Says the detective, shaking his hand. "I am sorry about your facility."
"Do you know of any cause?" Wittebane asks cooly.
Detective MacQueen shows him a piece of burnt ceiling plaster.
"It seems like there was some sort of explosion from the top of the building, judging by the fact that all the burnt pieces seem to be roofing materials. Some metal pieces shocked me a bit when I touched them so there was likely a strong electrical current involved. However, I'm really confused by the rest of the debris."
She shows him a piece of bent/broken wood.
"All the rest of the pieces are like this. They are bent inward so whatever destroyed this building happened from the inside at a single point. But there's no burn marks or anything that would suggest an explosion. There are no recovered materials for anything that would suggest a bomb. And there are massive indents in the floor that look vaguely foot shaped." She glances at the massive skeleton. "If I didn't know any better I would say something big burst out of this building."
She then glances over to the white crystals embedded in the nearby trees.
"I've also never seen a mineral like that before. We'll have a forensics team look at it."
"Forget about that, did you find anything alive?" Wittebane asks.
"Thankfully all the other guards managed to make it out of the facility." Detective MacQueen says. "If you could provide me their names-"
"I will provide you with that information later." Wittebane says.
'After I've instructed them to keep quiet for when you inevitably question them.' Wittebane thinks.
"Anything else?" Wittebane asks. "Maybe some large rats? Or some strange organic matter?"
An officer who was removing a large piece of debris screams.
"Uh, found your rats." He says. "God damn! How did they get this big?" He asks as the gigantified mice move out of the rubble unharmed and wander around aimlessly.
"Those are some big rats." Says Detective MacQueen. "And over there is a big body. So what kinds of experiments were you doing at this facility?" She asks Wittebane suspiciously.
"That is my business and mine alone. And I expect you to keep all of this a secret. You will say that a boiler went off or something. Do you understand?" Wittebane asks with a threatening tone.
Detective MacQueen glares at him.
"Now if you excuse me, I have to talk to some friends of mine."
"What about the guards' names?"
"I will email you later."
"Mr. Wittebane you can't-"
Wittebane ignores her as he walks away. Detective MacQueen takes some pictures of the skeleton and takes a sample of the crystal. She was going to have to research who else worked at the facility for answers since she had a feeling the guards wouldn't be much help. The fact that Wittebane doesn't want a thorough investigation means that he knows the real cause and that he's probably guilty of something too. So she's going to figure out what it is.
…
The Next Morning
Luz is sitting in her mother and Eda's office at their vet as they did x-rays on her spine. During this time, Eda and Camilla explained to Luz why they broke into the research facility last night and what exactly happened to her. They would have told her last night, but Luz passed out from exhaustion not long after she entered the van and as soon as she woke up this morning she found herself at her moms work. Amity stayed beside Luz that night alongside King. Amity and the dog are now watching from the sidelines as Luz rants at her mother, who is looking at the x-ray results while Eda prepares to get a blood sample from Luz.
"So you broke into a facility to steal a strange creature you found in Africa that can create cannibalistic giants because you didn't trust Lilith's boss with it and now you're saying that Eli is inside me!?"
"Yeah, pretty much." Eda says nonchalant as she uncaps a needle.
"Should we be worried about Philip Wittebane having us arrested?" Camilla asks.
"I doubt Wittebane will want to draw too much attention to himself and risk exposing what was actually happening in that place." Amity says as she fiddles on her phone. "Pretty sure it would just mean HE would get a much worse sentence. If he does then you can show the judge the video that I just sent you all. It's a recording of the inside of one of my parents warehouse's, the one with the vapor from the creature that they got from Wittebane."
Amity sends the message and Luz, Camilla and Eda's phones ding. Luz is confused.
"But I have no doubt that my parents will ground me forever when Wittebane tells them I was there." Amity laments.
"What was in your parents warehouse that- Ow-!" Luz exclaims as Eda sticks a needle into her arm.
"Hold still. I need to see how much your insides have changed." Eda says.
However, when she removes the needle, the poke in Luz's arm disappears with a tiny wisp of smoke. The blood in Eda's syringe starts evaporating away.
"Well damn. That doesn't help." Eda bemoans.
"Just like the rats at the lab." Lilith says. "Their blood samples evaporated too but when I looked at their spinal fluid I saw changes in their cellular structures. Perhaps we need to-"
Luz immediately places her hands behind her back.
"YOU'RE NOT STICKING A NEEDLE INTO MY SPINE!"
"Ok ok calm down." Eda says. "You're different from the mice anyways. Your body was still intact even after you transformed. Tell you what, next time you go to the bathroom let me know if anything evaporates."
Luz flinches. Then Eda sticks a swab into Luz's mouth.
"I'm already taking a saliva sample, Lily." Eda says.
She pulls the swab out.
"And look, no steam."
"Ok, that works too." Lilith says.
Camilla looks at Luz's x-ray. It shows her entire spine engulfed in an outline of the creature. Its tentacles dig deep into her daughter's nervous system and they seem to spread and meld into it.
"It seems like the creature has merged itself into your spine. I dont think it can be removed without killing you." Camilla tells Luz.
"Not just her spine." Eda says, looking at Luz's spit cells through a microscope. "Your cells have been affected as well. You have an extra genome. The creature's cells must have fused with yours."
"What? How?" Luz asks.
"It's called microbial fusion." Lilith says. "Two or more microorganisms fusing together, mixing components and creating new multi nuclear cells. The same thing happened to the mice I fed the creatures liquid too."
"Wait, does that mean I'm not human anymore?" Luz asks.
"I don't know." Lilith admits. "In addition to the cellular changes the fusion also caused rapid cell multiplication and the generation of new organic matter. But where the nutrients required for such a feat came from STILL continues to boggle me. What's even more confusing is why you kept your original body while every other creature exposed was reduced to just a spine?"
"Maybe it's because the creature bonded itself to Luz?" Amity suggests.
"With all that extra exposure you would expect the degeneration of the original body to be worse?"
"Hey I'm not gonna die or anything, am I?" Luz asks, worriedly.
"You seem healthy." Camilla says. "Your vitals are normal. No abnormal growths that the x-ray could detect."
"And I think your cells are actually working more efficiently." Eda says. "Plus how fast you heal now you might just outlive us all."
Luz places her hand on her chest. She thinks back to when she was shot and she rubs her hand over her smoothed flesh. There wasn't even a scar from where she was bleeding last night.
"Heal fast, huh?"
Luz tenses her hand again and a pair of sparks burst from her fingers. Her mother jumps back as crystals appear and form into the shape of a flower. With a thin crystal stem and curved crystal leafs.
"And look, I got these pretty cool powers now too!" Luz exclaims before handing the crystal flower to Amity. "For you, milady."
Amity blushes.
"Oh Luz." Amity says as she takes it and feels the petals. "Wow, these are actually soft."
"They are?" Luz asks.
"Yeah, the stem is hard but the petals bend." Amity says, amazed.
"Really?"
"Uh, Luz I think you should be more careful." Camilla says. "We still don't know much about your powers or what they are doing to you."
As Camilla speaks Luz creates a Crystal staff resembling the one used by her favorite fictional character.
"Hey look! Now I'm Azura!" Luz exclaims as she twirls the Crystal staff.
Then she creates a bond made out of crystal and hands it to King.
"There you go, buddy."
King barks happily and grabs the crystal bone with his mouth, wagging his tail.
"Luz, this is serious." Lilith says.
"Hey, the rich kid said you can make soft crystals. Could you make, like, a crossbow or something?" Eda asks nonchalantly.
"Eda!" Lilith exclaims.
Luz thinks about this. Then she thinks about creating a yo-yo. Soon a thick crystal strong materializes followed by a much harder crystal chapped like a yo-yo head at the end. Luz lifts her finger and the strong bends just as easily as regular strong. Luz laughs in amazement as she plays with her functioning Crystal yo-yo.
"This is so amazing!" Luz says.
She gardens her other fist and it becomes solid crystal as well.
"I could be like a superhero!" Luz exclaims.
"Luz, that's enough." Camilla says.
"Hey, the kid's learning what she can do." Eda says. "I say let her test it out. Now try a crossbow like I said!" Eda shouts.
"I…don't think I'm ready for a crossbow." Luz says.
Her hand returns to normal and she focuses on the crystal toy she created. It breaks apart into millions of pieces, becomes fine sand before completely fading away. Luz then extends her hand towards a set of beakers at the table adjacent to her. She grunts and stretches but nothing happens and everyone else around her is confused.
"What are you doing?" Eda asks.
"I'm trying to see if I can make myself grow flesh at will." Luz says. "Like to stretch my limbs like Mr. Fantastic."
Luz feels a sharp pain from her head again and she clasps it. She sees flashes of that man in that desert again. He tells her: "You have to cut yourself first. And you have to have a driving reason." As he speaks Luz see's visions of what looks like a younger version of him biting his thumb so hard it bleeds. Sparks appear and he becomes a giant version of him with a skull-like mouth. She sees a vision of him biting his thumb and creating a half-formed giant body that blocks a cannon ball that was flying towards him, an asian girl and a blonde boy. She sees a vision of a younger version of him biting his thumb in a hole, him not transforming, then him suddenly creating a giant arm when he reaches to pick up a spoon. Then she sees a vision of an old guy creating a giant upper-torso and an arm to grab ahold of a man in a hat with a knife. Luz snaps back to reality.
"Mija! Are you ok!?" Camilla asks concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine, mama." Luz says. "Hey, can we scan my brain?"
"Why do you want that?" Camilla asks. "Have you been getting headaches? You did that last night before you came out of your giant body."
"Yeah." Luz says. "Then and now I thought I saw a man."
Everyone looks at Luz confused.
"A man?" Lilith asks.
"There was also a girl with him. She was blonde and dressed in rags." Luz says. "The man, when I grew my giant flesh mech he was the one that told me I was in the nape. He turned my head and I saw how my body was connected to it. And just now-" Luz holds out her hand. "-he just told me that I have to cut myself to grow the flesh back."
"You have to do what!?" Amity exclaims.
"I think I also saw flashes of him when he was younger." Luz says. "He would bite his hand so hard it bled and then he could grow his own giant flesh mech. Or part of one." Luz looks at her hand. "I wonder-"
"MIJA YOU ARE NOT HURTING YOURSELF!" Camilla exclaims.
"Cammy she can heal from a bullet wound now." Eda says.
"That's not the point!" Camilla exclaims. "Luz you are not hurting yourself over based on the advice of a figment of your imagination!"
Amity, however, looks concerned.
"Um, Luz. Could you describe this man?" Amity asks.
"Well, he looked like he was in his late teens." Luz says. "He had long dark hair and gray eyes. He was wearing a black jacket and pants with a white shirt underneath."
Amity signs.
"Oh, that's good."
"But when I saw him and the blonde girl we were in a desert." Luz says. "The sky was dark blue. It looked like there was a tree made of light. And there were sand sculptures everywhere."
"Sand sculptures?" Lilith asks.
"Yeah, they were of the mice that you made big." Luz says. "There were like a dozen of them grouped together. They were the same height and everything."
Eda, Camilla and Lilith stare at her surprised.
"Well that's…weird." Lilith says.
"I think there was also this other sculpture." Luz says. "It was much bigger and it was of a man."
Amity pales.
"Everyone, please watch the video I just sent you all!" Amity shouts.
Camilla looks at her concerned.
"Amity, why-"
"Just do it! Not you Luz, tell us what the sculpture of the man looked like."
Luz thinks.
"Well, it was about ten feet tall. Maybe a bit bigger." Luz says. "Actually I think it was closer to fifteen feet. Yeah, fifteen feet. And I think it also had a horn on the side of its forehead."
Around this time Camilla, Eda and Lilith were taking out their phones and pressing the "play" button for the video Amity sent of her parent's warehouse.
The video shows various canisters of what can be assumed are samples of Eli/the creature's vapor contaminated tank water. There are also many rockets with nozzles connected to the canisters beside them. Some are the kind used in rocket launchers, others are large missiles and even some used for bazooka's. There are even a couple of canisters that are weird like bombs.
"This is exactly what I was afraid of." Lilith says.
"Relax Lily, there's no way that anyone would actually allow the use of a liquid that turns people into man-eating giants to be used in the military."
"I heard Mr. Wittebane say that he was trying to break through legal barriers." Lily says.
"And I overheard my mother mention having a friend in the military who was willing to "pull some strings" and "overlook ethics"." Amity says.
Lilith's eyes widen when she watches the rest of the video.
It shows a giant man chained to the floor with a muzzle on his mouth. The man is around fifteen feet tall and he has the anatomy of a baby doll, like Luz in her giant form. Except he has no exposed muscle or bones sticking out. He tries to move and take a snap at Amity as she approaches him while recording the video, but he is restrained by the chains and the muzzle. He is also wearing a large collar that takes up his entire neck and there are electrodes attached to his head. The scene then changed to Amity showing blue prints to the collar, revealing that it is made out of a reinforced titanium to resist damage while also housing a shock-feature meant to either deliver a small shock right into the spine at the back of the nape (presumably to control the giants actions or train it) or to release a much stronger shock that would destroy the spine (presumably to kill the giant if it went out of control or to "dispose" of it when no longer useful).
However, what horrified Lilith the most was when she saw the giant's blank, creepily-smiling face.
"STEVE!" Lilith shouted in horror.
"Isn't that the friend of yours that tried to investigate them?" Eda asks her sister.
"They…." Lilith is speechless.
She sheds a tear and silently nods, still looking at the screen.
"¡ESA PERRA HORRIBLE! ¿¡ELLA REALMENTE CONVIRTIÓ A ALGUIEN EN UN MONSTRUO!? ¡OK, ESO ESTÁ LLAMANDO A LA POLICÍA!" Camilla clears her throat. "I'm sorry, I said: WERE CALLING THE POLICE!"
"Yes, I totally agree with you there, but you're missing the point." Amity says. "Luz saw a statue of the mutated Steve in her vision and she didn't even know about him until now."
Lilith puts down her phone.
"You're right, there's no way Luz could have known that." Lilith says. "Imagining the sculptures of the rats is understandable because she saw them before but not a giant with a horn on his head."
Luz takes out her phone and cringes while watching the video.
"Yeah, that's the statue I saw." Luz says. "I just got an idea. Maybe because I bonded with the creature that made the mice, and Steve, like that I have some sort of mental link to them."
Eda turns to Lilith.
"I know its a little far fetched but-"
"I'm willing to believe anything at this point." Lilith says, exasperated.
"So if Luz is connected to the creatures affected by Eli, and if she saw another man, does that mean he was affected too?" Camilla asks.
Camilla, Eda, Lilith, Amity and Luz all look at each other, horrified by the implications.
"Does that mean they were affected by the creature too?" Amity asks. "Then how come Luz saw them and not their sculptures?"
"Maybe they could be like Luz." Lilith suggests. "Maybe they bonded with different members of the creature's species and they can do everything Luz can. That's why he was able to give you tips."
"You said there was no other creature." Eda says.
"As far we could tell there wasn't." Lilith says. "Maybe they discovered the place where the creature was found years before and bonded to a different member of their species. Maybe they found their own creatures in different countries. But Luz, if you can connect to them you need to find out anything you can!"
Luz nods.
…
Half an Hour Later
Luz is laying in her bed in her room with Amity holding her hand. They believed that for the best results, Luz should be in a state of comfort when attempting to connect to the "desert" where she met the dark haired man and the blonde girl. There are anime and "Good Witch Azura" posters on the walls, tin-foil swans on her dresser and there is a glass tank that houses Luz's pet garter snake Stringbean.
"Ok Luz, just try to relax." Lilith says.
"But also try to focus on connecting to this desert, if it exists." Says Eda.
King jumps up on the bed and cuddles on Luz's lap. Luz coos and pets him.
"Aw, now this is perfect." Luz says.
Camilla takes Stringbean out of her cage and brings her to Luz.
"Here you go, Mika." Camilla says.
Stringbean slithers across Luz's pillow and cuddles by her cheek. She sticks her tongue out against Luz's skin and the girl laughs.
"Ok, now it's perfect."
Amity bends down and places Luz's head close to her chest. The teenage Hispanic girl turns bright red.
"Ok, I'm in heaven." Luz says.
Her vision starts to fade.
…
When Luz opens her eyes again she is back in the desert.
"It worked. I'm in the freaky night desert again." Luz says.
"This place is called the Paths."
Luz looks around and she sees the dark-haired man approaching her. The blonde girl remains in the same place.
"Where I'm from this place is called the Paths." The man says. "Every Founder and all of their subjects are connected to each other through this place. The three of us are no exception as this place transcends time and space. We can spend hours talking and your family will say you only have been asleep for a mere second. Oh and by the way, we call the giants "Titans". Just something for you to consider."
"Who are you?" Luz asks. "Did Wittebane experiment on you? Are you even real?"
"I assure you, Luz Noceda, me and Ymir are just as real as you are." The dark haired man says.
The blonde girl, Ymir, waves at Luz.
"My name is Eren Yeager." The man says. "And we're like you. Founders. We're people who've bonded to the same kind of creature that you have and gained extraordinary power because of it. But we differ from you in many ways."
"Ok, how so?" Luz asks. "And where are you?"
"Dead." Eren says bluntly.
Luz's eyes widened.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I died years ago and Ymir died long before then." Eren says. "But due to the power that the three of us possess, our minds were able to remain in this place."
Luz hesitantly steps forward, staring at him and Ymir uneasily. Luz sticks out her finger and pokes Eren in the chest. He lets out a small chuckle.
"I'm not that kind of ghost." He says.
"So I have two dead people in my head. Thats freaky." Luz says.
"You know what's even freakier?" Eren asks. "Ymir and I lived in a different dimension than you."
Now Luz was a bit skeptical.
"What?"
"I like your universe Luz." Eren says. "It's so advanced. So full of scientific ideas. It makes my explanation so much easier for the both of us. You and I are from different versions of earth that exist in the same place physically but in different dimensions. Like you're on one side of a cube and I came from another."
Luz nods in understanding.
"Ok. I think I understand enough about alternate dimensions from watching Cosmic Frontier with my mom." Luz says.
"Like I said, this place here transcends time and space. As such, I've been able to browse different worlds through this place. I've found a world that's like mine but me and my friends all went to high school and there were never any Titans. And I've even found a variant of yours where you go to another realm where many of your friends exist as demons and witches."
Luz gasps in excitement.
"Om my gosh that's so cool! I wanna live there!" Luz exclaims. "So what about you guys? Whats your world like?"
Eren turns to Ymir.
"Are you ok with this?" Eren asks her.
Ymir nods.
"Ok." Eren says. "Well Luz, the main difference between our worlds is that the creature that you call Eli was discovered around 2,000 years earlier. By Ymir here."
Eren waves his hand and Luz sees visions of a tribe of barbarians burning down a village and enslaving population. Luz gasps in horror as she turns to Ymir, who averts her eyes.
"This is the tribe of Eldia." Eren explains. "Under the command of their leader, Fritz, they conquered other tribes, enslaved them and even cut off their tongues. Ymir was one of the unfortunate victims of them. She was only a little girl then, they broke her, enslaved her. And finally turned on her."
The vision shows a pig escaping from its pen. Fritz callously asks his slaves who released the pig and threatens to poke out one eye from each of them unless they confess (to Luz's horror). All the slaves fearfully point to Ymir (leaving Luz horrified again and feeling sympathy for Ymir. She asks her if she actually did release the pig, Ymir doesn't answer).
Fritz tells Ymir that she is "free", then Ymir is seen running for her life as Eldian's on horses chase after her shooting arrows.
"These people are horrible!" Luz exclaims.
"They are my ancestors." Eren says.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." Luz says.
"None taken." Eren says. "And actually, I'm Ymir's descendant too. Just watch."
The vision shows Ymir finding a massive tree, similar to the one that Lilith found Eli under in Africa.
Luz's eyes widened at the realization. This is where Ymir met her Eli.
Sure enough, the vision shows Ymir being shot with an arrow again and Ymir falls down a tunnel in the tree. She falls into a lake buried underneath and Ymir sinks, to hurt to move. As she struggles a spine-like creature, just like Eli, laches itself from behind Ymir. Orange lighting strikes from the sky and Ymir emerges in her own giant flesh-mech, or Titan as Eren calls it. Her titan form is similar to Luz's. Except that there is no exposed flesh along the body and she is missing skin and muscle around the face, showing a skull.
"Woah, freaky." Luz says with admiration. "Hey, is your Titan bigger than mine?" She asks Ymir.
"You were restrained by the building." Eren says. "It was your first time. You also subconsciously didn't want to risk crushing anyone. I'm sure if you transform again you'll be at least 230 meters."
Luz nods.
"Ah well, are we gonna see Ymir flick that awful chief like a bug!?" Luz asks.
Ymir averts her face from Luz, ashamed. She walks up to Eren and he puts his arm around her.
"No." Eren tells Luz.
"No? What do you mean "no"?"
"Ymir loved Fritz."
Luz's face contorts into a mixture of horror, disgust and pure flabbergast.
"W-what!?"
"Well, that's what she called it at least." Eren says. "You could say it was Stockholm in your world. I say that she was just so broken, she had been enslaved her whole life she couldn't imagine being anything else."
The vision shows Ymir kneeling before Fritz.
"Fritz used Ymir to build roads, bridge mountains, and cultivate lands. But also to decimate his enemies. Wage wars. Conquer more territory. He used Ymir to turn what was once just a small tribe into the Eldian empire. And then he used her to bear his children."
The visions show Ymir pregnant while watching Eldian soldiers, now in armor, advancing forward. She gives birth to three daughters.
"Ymir now Ymir Fritz, the concubine of King Fritz, was his greatest weapon and most devoted servant."
The vision shows a man disguised as an Eldian soldier throwing a spear at Fritz, but Ymir jumps into the way and takes the hit instead.
"Or perhaps she just wanted an excuse to end her suffering." Eren laments as Luz covers her mouth in horror. "She was a Founder, she could have healed herself if she wanted."
Luz turns to Ymir.
"You poor, poor thing."
"It gets worse." Eren says.
"How can it possibly get worse!?" Luz yells/asks.
"After Ymir's death Fritz wanted to retain her power. So he forced their daughters: Rose, Maria and Sina to cannibalize their mothers corpse."
Luz looks like she is about to throw up.
"Yeah, some of his own soldiers had that reaction as well. All they needed to do to get her power was eat her spine but Fritz couldn't have known that. He learned it later so he decreed that when his daughters died then their spines would be fed to his grandchildren. This caused Ymir's power to be splintered nine ways. Giving nine descendants of Ymir the ability to change into Titans with their own unique traits and special abilities."
The vision shows a small titan with a large jaw and sharp teeth. A titan on all fours and with a long mouth like a lizard. A titan with pointy ears. A titan that has a bronze shell. A titan that looks like a yeti. A titan that is carrying a crystal hammer. A titan that looks female. A titan with glowing gray eyes and a colossal titan without skin.
"The jaw titan. The cart titan. The attack titan, which was mine by the way. The armored titan. The beast titan. The warhammer titan. The female titan. The founder and the colossal titan. However, because Ymir died thirteen years after getting her power, they died thirteen years later as well. And so did every inheritor since."
Luz turns to Eren, shocked.
"Wait, so you died thirteen years after you got your powers?" Luz asks sympathetically.
"Well, I died a bit before my expiration date." Eren admits. "Anyways, Ymir's kids had a bunch of kids. And those kids had a bunch of kids and so forth until most of the Eldian empire was composed of Ymir and Fritz's descendants. The Subjects of Ymir. And somewhere along the line, they found a way to turn Subjects of Ymir who hadn't inherited one of the nine into a regular titan."
"Y-you mean like the rats and Steve?" Luz asks, horrified.
"Exactly. And they could be controlled by the Founding Titan power, which was used by the royal family." Eren says. "Using the power of the titans, the Eldian empire continued to expand their territory over the course of 1,900 years. Eventually, they conquered the whole world, and then the nine started fighting among themselves. It was a horrible time and my ancestors did many terrible things." Eren admits.
Luz places her hand on his chest.
"You weren't around then. It's not your fault." She tells him.
Eren chuckles darkly.
"Wow, I wish there were more people like you in my world." He says. "There were many people who didn't think that way, but there was one that made the biggest difference. The king of that time, Karl Fritz."
The vision shows an aged man, Karl Fritz, shaking hands with an Eldian male and a man in a blue tailcoat and a feathered bicorn.
"Karl Fritz felt that the crimes committed by the Eldian empire against the world were too great to ever be atoned for. He was tired of the infighting and he felt nothing but sympathy for the Marleyans under Eldian domination. So, he conspired with the Tybur family, who retained the power of the Warhammer titan, to help Marley overthrow his own people. So, legend says that King Fritz "lost" the war and that the Marleyan hero Helos and the Tybur family "saved the world from the Eldians". After his "defeat" the king took as many Eldian's as he could and he moved them to the Island of Paradis, a place of land that in your world you would call Madagascar."
The vision shows King Fritz on his knees in his titan form releasing a scream. The use sees countless Elian's forcibly transforming into colossal titans, standing side-by-side, and hardening themselves in a gray crystal to form walls.
"Using the power of the Founder, King Fritz constructed three walls composed of tens of millions of colossal titans and erased the memories of all the inhabitants of the island so that they would think that they were the last of humanity and that everyone else beyond the walls had been wiped out by the titans."
"Why would he do that?" Luz asks.
"He also sent a message to the rest of the world. That if they made a move against him then he would release the titans in the walls and use them to destroy the world." Eren averts his eyes. "But that was just a lie. Like I said, he hated our people for the crimes of our ancestors and he thought we deserved to be wiped out. The truth is he knew, he hoped, that one day the outside world would be strong enough to do so. He just wanted to live out the rest of his days in a quiet paradise before that happened."
Luz gasp.
"That's not cool!" She says. "If he was king and he had that power couldn't he have just told his subjects to knock it off!? If he felt bad he could have released all those countries under their rule himself! He could have used his power to bring 1,900 years of joy and love to make up for the hate! He didn't need to doom his own people! Please tell me his descendants through different!"
"They couldn't." Eren says sadly. "To ensure the penance he placed on Eldia he made a vow that bound all his descendants into following his ideology. Any member of the royal family that inherited the Founding Titan, even if they wanted to change things before, lost the will to do so later."
"Ok that's just brainwashing." Luz says, disgustedly.
Eren nods.
"There were some Eldian's who were not descended from Ymir so they weren't affected by the mind wipe. Those who agreed with the king were given royal titles and those against it were hunted down. He also forbade any talk and knowledge of the outside world from being spoken and limited technological development. All for the sake of keeping us ignorant until our inevitable death. He even put a fake king on the throne while he changed his name to Reiss and disguised themselves as a minor noble family."
"What about the rest of your people?" Luz asks.
Though she isn't sure if she wants to hear more.
"As you can imagine, the rest of the world hated us. The Subjects of Ymir were hunted everywhere except Marley and Paradis." Eren says. "But dont think good of Marley, they kept the Subjects of Ymir confined to a small section of land that they were forbidden to leave. They were forced to wear armbands identifying themselves as Eldians. They used the fact that their ancestors oppressed Marley in the past as an excuse to oppress them. They were treated as second class citizens and kept only to be used in wars, both as regular soldiers and as Titans. They would train nine children to determine which one would inherit one of the remaining nine under the promise that it would bring honor to their families, but even then they were still filthy Eldians."
Luz looks down.
"Eren, this world you came from is…I don't know how to describe it. It sucks."
"Hatred breeds hatred I suppose." Eren says. "And I'm not better honestly."
"So that shows how Ymir got her power, what about you?" Luz asks.
"Well, first my dad stole the power of the Founder away from the royal family." Eren says. "Because he wasn't royal he couldn't use the Founding power himself but he wasn't bound by the vow either. Then he passed it onto me. And then I discovered that if I'm touching a titan or a titan shifter that does have royal blood then I can use the power of the Founder. With that knowledge, I was able to enter these paths and I convinced Ymir to lend me her power." He says looking at Ymir respectfully. "I became a Founder then, like you and her."
"What did you want that power for?" Luz asks.
"I'll tell you later. You have a lot to process right now." Eren says. "But go ahead, ask me what you really wanna ask me."
"What's with all the sand sculptures?" Luz asks.
"As I said, all those affected by the entities are connected to this place." Eren says. "These sands are used to form the titan bodies that manifest as flesh in the physical worlds. To answer Dr. Clawthorns question this is where all the mass comes from. And why hacked off flesh evaporates and heals."
Luz looks around.
"So you're saying that as soon as these mice and Steve got titanified these sand sculptures showed up?"
"Yeah." Says Eren. "You're lucky though, Ymir has to build all the titans in her world by hand. Then again, our creature could release a mist that ONLY affects Subjects of Ymir, so I guess no two snowflakes are the same."
"So then what happens if I destroy the sculptures here? What happens to the mice and Steve in the real world?" Luz asks.
"They should return to normal." Eren says. "And of course as the Founder your power over your subjects is absolute. You could just say no more titans and that's that. Everything goes back to normal. The vapors Belos, I mean, Wittebane have wont work and it's done."
"Really?" Luz asks.
He and Ymir nod. Luz clears her throat.
"NO MORE TITANS!" Luz yells.
Almost immediately, all of the sand sculptures crumble and Luz looks round happily.
"Oh, thank you Eren!" Luz says as she hugs him. "Lilith is gonna be so happy!"
Eren smiles at her.
"You should go back to them now." He says.
"Hey, how's about I come back some time and you can teach me how to be a founder?" Luz asks.
"I would like that."
Luz disappears, leaving Eren and Ymir in the Paths alone. Eren smiles looking at the destroyed same sculptures until he notices Ymir staring at him. Eren sighs.
"I know. I will tell her the truth eventually, I promise. Just, let me enjoy this for now."
…
Luz returns to the physical world where she see's King, Amity, Camilla and Eda staring at her.
"How long was I out?" Luz asks.
"A second." Says Eda.
"Really?" Luz exclaims. "Wow, Eren was right. Time does work differently in the Paths."
"Eren?" Amity asks.
"I have a BIG story to tell you guys." Luz says. "Man, I gotta say that it would have made one heck of an anime series. Oh and I don't think we have to worry about Steve or the extra weapons anymore."
…
Later, at Blight Industries
"HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!?" Wittebane asks as he stares at the security cameras.
Odalia and her husband Alador beside him. Both Odalia and Alador have brown hair, however while Odalia's is neat Alador's is messy and he has stubble on his tired looking face. Odalia is dressed prim and proper, Alador is dressed in a dark gray lab coat with oil stains.
They watch the footage from the security recording showing the Titanified Steve shrinking back to his human form and happily proclaiming he's free, shedding tears of joy. They watch the current video feed which shows the now human-again Steve in a secure room asking if he can be let out since he's "normal again" and "won't eat you now".
"Maybe the effects of the gas are only temporary." Alador suggests.
"Even the mice returned to normal. And it was this exact same time!" Wittebane says. "They have been in their giant forms for years."
"It's not just this." Odalia says.
She clicks on another video recording. It shows some Blight Industries scientists fearfully exposing some of the gas derived from the creatures contaminated water to a lab mouse. However, the mouse doesn't change, to their relief. Then they try feeding it a drop of the contaminated water like Lilith did to her mice. No change.
"And that's from our newest batch." Odalia says. "It's like whatever factor was causing them to transform just stopped."
"But this is a good thing, right?" Alador says. ""I mean we have been trying to turn that poor man back into a human or at least tame him since he broke into the warehouse and accidentally got exposed to the stuff. Now he's back."
Odalia averts her eyes.
"Yes…accidentally."
"But now our weapons are useless!" Wittebane exclaims. "I had just found a general who was willing to buy them in the Middle-East. We could have ended the war in a matter of weeks! We could have demolished any country that serves as a threat to America!"
"And made a ton of money in the process." Odalia says, enthusiastically.
"Don't you guys think that turning people into monsters is kinda sick?" Alador asks.
"I'll do anything to protect our country from evil, Alador." Wittebane says.
Then he mumbles: If only my brother had shared the same sentiment.
"There's also a video recording that's missing." Odalia says. "I have no doubt that it was my daughter Amity's doing since you say your guards saw her. Why would she even be there in the first place?"
Alador averts his eyes. While he knew that their daughter was dating a middle-class hispanic girl named Luz Noceda from her school, his wife didn't. She would throw a fit and ban/blackmail Amity from seeing her if she did.
"I have no idea." He says innocently.
"I have a feeling that Lilith must still have the creature." Wittebane says. "Somehow she was able to use it to cause this."
"And I have no doubt that my obedient daughter shared with them what she knows. Same with Clawthron. We can't make a move against them without exposing our work."
"Indeed, going to the authorities is definitely out." Says Wittebane. "We're going to have to take matters into our own hands."
"And I will be having a STERN talk with my daughter." Says Odalia.
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