[chapter 18 - part 4 of 5 ]
- Year 854 - The Marlean Continent
[ A few days before ]
"So, this is Azymondeus Tybur. He is William's cousin. We only got acquainted recently," General Magath presented his new ally as they entered the war room, to join the others.
Azymondeus stood there, quite a tall and slick presence with his new shiny suit.
"Oh, yes: the Warriors. I am glad to make your acquaintance," Az replied with a big excited smile.
He looked around the room. They were all seated across the center table, looking very serious, but also surprised to see someone replacing Willy so suddenly after his untimely death.
"Let me guess," Az proceeded comically. "You must be the Armoured Titan," he correctly pointed at Reiner and the Warrior solemnly nodded. Azzy smiled, "you have the build for that," he added, widening out his own arms for effect.
"Cart?" Az asked as he pointed at Pieck.
"Correct." she replied, Pieck had her arms crossed.
Az noted she was the only woman in the room. "Where's the Female Titan?" he questioned the General.
"AWOL," Reiner replied.
"Since 850," Pieck added.
Az leaned closer to Magath as the two stood up there, in the front of the war room, near the marlean's paradise map. "This is a problem. Her Titan has some level of control over Pure Titans, that could be very useful," Az addressed his concerns to the General.
"True. Especially now that we lost Zeke Yeager," Magath added.
"He is one of our targets," Az reminded the General.
"Right..." Pieck quietly let out. And Azymondeus turned to her.
"Do you have a problem with that?" he questioned the Warrior.
"No," Pieck replied firmly, putting her hands on the table. "He's a traitor," she confirmed very seriously.
"Ok, who else?" Az continued, clapping his hands together and smiling again. He pointed at Porco. "You?" he asked, unsure.
"I'm the Jaw," he replied, reluctantly and with arms crossed.
"Right, I forgot about you," Az said, "I mean I forgot about your Titan," he quickly corrected himself.
"And you, gentleman over there," he proceeded, "who must you be?"
"I'm Colt Grice, the inheritor of the Beast Titan," Colt replied.
"Well, you can drop that second part," Az advised. "You can't inherit a Titan from a dead man." He noted and turned to Magath: "I guess we'll leave the next Beast to luck."
"Surely it needs to be passed down," Reiner interjected.
"Yeah, we can capture him," Porco added and Pieck remained quiet, only observing it all.
"No," Az countered. "We can't risk it. He needs to die. The only way to end this curse is by killing the Fritz Blood Line completely. That means Zeke Yeager and the Queen must die." Azymondeus firmly maintained while addressing the Warriors.
He turned his attention to the Cart, as she seemed more trepidatious. "You must kill him," he sternly maintained the advice.
And the woman looked to the side, considering it.
"Agreed. We need to stop the eldians from rising again," General Magath confirmed, as he and his new guest were finally sitting down at the center table. "We have had peace for over a hundred years now, we can't risk it."
"Peace?" Azymondeus questioned with a small laugh as he placed his shiny fancy shoes over the table, crossing one on top of the other. "You haven't had peace." He corrected the General. "What you have is control. Not peace. And that's what you Marleans always wanted." He proceeded to expertly explain. "You forget, General, Marley was once a great, merciless empire too. Once much greater than Eldia ever was, and for thousands of years."
'And I was there to see it fall, I brought it down myself,' Azymondeus thought.
"There will never be such a thing as 'peace'. Humans are born at war and die at war. Empires rise and fall and are unceremoniously replaced by other empires. So, there's no need to be so romantic about it all," Az declared.
There was a brief silence in the war room.
"Can you get your feet down from the table?" Reiner broke the silence, looking at the strange man with arms crossed.
"'Peace'," Az quietly repeated with a small laugh as he put his feet down and sat properly.
"Either way," the General proceeded with the meeting, "we need to stop the eldians from destroying the whole world with those Wall Titans."
"What do you bring to the table?" Pieck asked Azymondeus, mistrustfully.
"Technology," Az replied quite smoothly. "Future technology that is."
"Mr. Tybur will gladly lend us some of their family's private gadgets that, according to him, will help us win this war quite easily," the General explained.
"Why hadn't Willy shared this new technology with us before then?" Reiner questioned.
"Not his part of the family exactly," Az replied nonchalantly.
"So are you saying he didn't know?" Pieck questioned.
"I never told him," he shrugged, maintaining, "this project is extremely private, secret. And I haven't seen him in a long time," Az explained, lying of course.
"What sort of gadgets are we talking about?" Reiner asked.
And Azymondeus stood up promptly. He walked towards the map of Paradise Island, looking at the drawing of the Walls.
'Maria, Rose and Sina,' that took his concentration for a moment but he snapped out of it and focused on the mission again.
"The funny thing about Walls is: they are useless against air attacks," Azymondeus turned towards them with his charming smile. "These are nothing against our state-of-the-art airplanes."
"I'm assuming all of this will come with a price?" Magath considered.
"We can sort that out with Auntie later," Az replied.
"Who's auntie?" Reiner asked, confused.
"Kiyomi," Magath replied, "he calls her that."
"Do you know her?" Porco turned to ask the strange Tybur man, also confused.
"Oh, Auntie and I go waay back," Az replied with a charming smile. He then turned to Magath, "but the real price is vengeance. For my family and all those who died. You know why I'm here," he reminded the General while sitting down again.
"We still need to rescue Falco and Gabi," Colt interjected, reminding the others.
"What is he talking about?" Az asked Magath.
"Two of our children that have been captured," Reiner explained.
"We don't actually know what happened to them exactly," Pieck added.
"They have been captured." Colt maintained. "We need to rescue them. Please! One of them is my little brother," the young Warrior pleaded.
"Settle down, man," Reiner advised, for the young man was suddenly very agitated.
"How can I?" Colt turned to question him. "And what about Gabi? Your family must be worried sick too. Are you not?"
"Yes, I'm worried," Reiner confirmed, sounding a little disingenuous. "But we have more important things to discuss, I'm sure we'll get to that," he argued.
"If you don't behave properly you'll need to leave the war room, man," Porco warned.
"You don't get to make that call, Galliard," Magath reprimanded him sternly.
"Sure, we can have a small team to go find them," Az conceded, shrugging.
"I will. Just send me," Colt passionately volunteered himself.
"Yes, yes, sure. I was expecting you'd say that," Az said to Colt, and then turned to Magath. "Put an asterisk in there will you," he asked.
"You're more callous than Willy," Pieck noted to the stranger.
Az leaned back on his chair with much charm. "I can't imagine any William who willingly accepts to be called that to be very callous," he joked about the deceased man's nickname.
"But then again I never really met my cousin, so…" he trailed off, still smiling. Az was very good at amusing himself.
Reiner crossed his arms. "I thought you said you just haven't seen him in a long time," he questioned, doubtingly.
And Azzy scratched his head. "Well I only met him once, actually," he justified, "I think."
"You don't get to laugh at anyone called Willy. You're named after a cartoon character," Pieck made her argument, rightfully so.
And Azzy leaned back on his chair again. "I guess we all get to keep our ridiculously childish names, Peach," he argued back.
"Pieck," she corrected him.
"I prefer Peach," he maintained, flirting a little.
"Ok. So what is our main objective?" Magath proceeded with the meeting, stopping that derail.
"Killing the Fritzs," Az swiftly replied. "That's how we avert the Wall threat. No Fritzs no Wall Titans. We need to erase them from history, completely."
"What about the rumours that the Queen is expecting," Reiner pointed out.
"Well she certainly shouldn't be expecting us, this is being planned to be a highly stealthy operation," Az replied, looking very serious.
"You know he means-" Magath was about to ask.
And Az interrupted him. "Yes, I know he meant pregnant."
"I think he tried to make a joke," Porco noted, squinting a little.
"Badly," Colt added.
"Well what do we do then?" Pieck asked.
"We proceed with the mission," Az swiftly replied. "The eldian curse started with the Fritzs and it will end with the Fritzs," he maintained quite firmly, but all the others just looked back at him either glassy-eyed or just mistrustfully.
Az stood up from his chair. "The important thing is: we need to kill the Queen," he affirmed sternly, with his hands on the table. "And also her second-rate cousin," he added with a shrug and a small smile.
'You're someone's second-rate cousin,' Pieck thought, amusing herself.
Az looked towards the woman, he could tell she was mocking him in her mind.
"You don't trust me, do you?" Azymondeus asked, with his customary charming smile.
Pieck leaned in, reaching further into the table and looked him firmly in the eyes. "I don't trust anyone." she replied.
- Year 899 - A forgotten Timeline
"Look at those birds!" Az crossed his arms with a proud smile. "They are all beautiful," he added.
They were at the giant vessel. In that destroyed future. The enormous ship sailed through the dangerous waters, serving the small island communities and also working as an airstrip for those beautiful planes.
Onyankopon had assembled his squadron, the best of the best. All on display on the deck of the ship. That squadron was in charge of minimising the Titan threat. The gigantic Pure Colossal Titans had been freed many many years ago and they walked all over the Earth. Humanity had resorted to living in small islands hidden across the vast oceans. Only less than one percent of humans remained, and the population continued to drop fast over the years.
The giant ships, like the one they were in now, had been built to transport goods and people and to maintain communication in the many remote islands. That main vessel also transported the state-of-the-art airplanes that were used to try to bring those giant Titans down. Onyankopon was already an old man, and the last survivor of the first alliance. He was old, and quite frankly dispirited, for in so many years they hadn't made a dent on that Rumbling. The power of the King was too great.
"How would you like a target you can actually bring down?" Az proposed to the old man, with his hands on his hips.
"Let's hope that's the case," old Onyan replied.
"Oh, it is," Az confirmed. "Plus they've had more than enough practice," he added, talking about the pilots, who had spent years fighting in the devil's throat - trying to shoot it down. "How about finally fighting for a real Change?" Az maintained his proposal.
"What's the catch?" Onyankopon asked.
"The catch?" Az asked back, a little confused.
"Come on, there's always a catch with these things," old Onyan noted.
"Well," Az crossed his arms again, now more contemplative. "If things work out as they should. And they will," Azymondeus confirmed, gravely. "All of this will be just gone," he relayed.
"You mean all of it will cease to exist?" Onyankopon asked and Az nodded.
"That means you too, and the rest of your squadron," Az explained. "Even the airplanes. Once all is over none of that will have a place in the new timeline."
The old man looked down, contemplative. He looked up towards the airplanes. "We need to tell them. If this is a suicide mission then all my aces need to know, so they can choose if they want to be a part of it or not."
"That's fair," Azymondeus agreed. "Are you coming?" the young man asked.
And Onyan became reflective again. "Even if this doesn't work, I would like to see the word again, as it was. It would be a nice image to take with me, before I go," the old man conceded.
"It will work," Azzy affirmed. "Are you ready to lead your squadron?" he asked more cheerfully.
The devil's throat
The twins were playing in their sand castle, happily as they always were; making their little sand sculptures and smiling together.
Azymondeus jumped to the insides of the giant Founder's head. He walked around, looking for her.
"Does he even know you have him suspended in an illusion?" the time traveller firmly asked as he approached the devil's throat.
The four-year-old girl looked up towards him very somberly, as her brother continued to play happily in their castle. Ymir stood up and tilted her head, looking straight into Azzy's eyes. "All of us see the world the way we want to see it," she justified. "It's always better that way."
"What world?" Az questioned. "You destroyed everything."
"That's the way you see it," Ymir pointed out. "See?" she added.
She turned herself into a thirteen-year-old into that illusion. Ymir proceeded, walking further. "I see it differently. I'm just getting rid of the plague and starting anew."
"Do you agree with her, Ezra?" Azymondeus tilted his head looking further, and asked the small boy, but the toddler just ignored him. Ezra kept playing with the sand, very somberly.
"The world is just cruel," the girl continued. "What good has it ever done to you?" Ymir questioned her old friend.
Az shook his head in disbelief. This couldn't be Ymir, no, the Ymir he knew had died over two thousand years before.
"I'm coming for you," he threatened her.
"I'm right here," she replied, opening her arms with a smile. "Why don't you come closer?" Ymir asked, trickily.
"This 'you' will disappear as soon as I leave this version of reality," the time traveller explained.
"What?" Ymir asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Goodbye, love," Az replied, saying his farewell to that version of the witch.
Ymir maintained her confusion as he disappeared from her sight, taking with him all that reality. It all ceased to exist.
The new timeline - Year 854 - Paradise Island
Azymondeus walked inside the marlean dirigible. He stopped near old Onyan, over the controls, and placed his hand over the old man's shoulder. They leaned in with extra attention, as they had stopped to hear the pilots over the radio. Danso was informing they had sighted the giant Titan, flying in the sky. And Az pressed the button to speak back.
"Give her hell, boys," he ordered.
The squadron flew upwards as the goddess Ymir was distracted with the countless airships down below. She hovered somewhere near the shores of the island, moving her giant, crystal wings with much grace. Ymir looked up to see those small, odd looking airplanes coming down towards her in multiple directions. They prepared their Iceburst cannons, ready to fire.
The future airplanes started to blast the flying Titan out of the sky.
-.-
- Year 871 - Mitras - The Royal Palace
The prince was coming back from yet another training journey. He hadn't been home for weeks. Ezra joked around with his friends from the Special Forces about how glad he was to finally be able to sleep on his own bed and to be able to eat real food again. The prince wasn't exactly the talkative or charming kind, on the contrary, Ezra was on the shy side. But he was so used to these soldiers that he felt comfortable enough to joke and laugh around.
"The banquet is on me, boys," he told the troop as they slowly galloped into the stone steps of the Palace's main garden and they all laughed and kept joking as well. "Or on the crown, that is," he corrected himself as they all stopped near the Queen's beautiful statue, which was majestically positioned in the middle of the entrance garden.
Ezra could also sense something familiar as they all admired the statue and the other soldiers kept joking around. He could sense something in his peripheral vision. The prince turned to see his car, parked on the side of the Palace's garden. The teenager opened his eyes wide. He quickly galloped near the entrance and walked into his home.
He paced quite quickly as a million thoughts went through his head. 'I might steal it,' her voice swirled around his brain. Ezra stopped to look himself in one of the many mirrors in one of the Palace's corridors. He fixed his hair and kept walking, he also discreetly checked underarms. The teenager wanted to make sure he wasn't smelly or sweaty, or untidy. He looked around, he looked all over. Ezra eventually stopped, a little disappointed.
Ezra looked down from the balcony sill, to the car parked down below, near the garden. The teenager sighed, he gave up. 'Maybe Mother just finally decided to bring the car to Mitras,' he considered. The rush was over and the teenager felt a little downcast. It had been a while and he missed that sunflower.
Ezra walked unenthusiastically into their more private quarters, hoping to greet his mother in her favourite drawing room. And to his surprise, there the sunflower was. The prince opened his eyes wide and stopped near the giant wooden doors, paralysed. Blue was engaged in deep conversation with his parents. She looked up from her tea and gave him a smirk, her eyes said everything.
"Oh, dear!" the Queen stood up with a large smile, she put her tea to the side. "You're finally home." Historia came over and hugged her boy, and he barely hugged her back, Ezra was still processing it all, he squinted a little. He expected to see Sonnenblume there from the moment he saw the car, but now his mind was rushing with questions again. 'Why are you here?' He questioned only in his mind as his mother gave him a very tight hug. And Sonnenblume kept the smile, almost as if she could hear his thoughts.
"I said the troop would be back today," his father affirmed with certainty. Eren turned to his niece. "You chose the date well," he added.
"Only because that's when Ezra told me to bring the car around," she responded and looked towards the prince with a clever smile.
They both knew he wasn't allowed to have the car in Mitras. It was almost as if Blue wanted to get him in trouble, either that or she just wanted a faster way to travel. Ezra couldn't decide, he couldn't really see through that smile and find her intentions.
Historia could tell her son was nervous about the car. "It's alright. Sonnenblume brought it through quite a hidden route. It was about time we had the car here, I gave it to you as a present after all," the mother conceded.
"You certainly learned your way around the Island," Eren noted. "And so quickly considering you haven't been here long."
Sonnenblume smiled. "Dad left behind a lot of cool maps, it wasn't too hard," she explained.
"He loved maps," Eren replied, smiling back at his niece. He leaned back more comfortably on his armchair. "We travelled a lot, all over, tracing all those new routes," he remembered quite joyously.
Historia smiled politely at her husband's tale, while still embracing Ezra. She turned to the prince more reservedly. "You should wash up and change," the mother advised. "So we can all have dinner."
Eren stood up. "And I should call your mother and tell her you're here," he told Sonnenblume in a fatherly tone.
"No, uncle Eren, please!" the teenager pleaded.
"Nonsense, she surely is worried about you," he maintained.
"But she'll just send someone to take me away," Sonnenblume argued, sounding quite juvenile.
"Or she could just come here herself," Historia proposed quite regally, holding her two hands together, slightly apathetic.
And the other three all looked at each other, unsure if the woman was being welcoming or threatening. For it was well known that the two mothers didn't get along. Historia and Mikasa hadn't spoken since 859, when both their firstborns disappeared together. And the princess - her heir and the future Queen of Paradise - was declared dead, after the Ackermann boy came back alone.
There was a small silence for a moment and the father decided to break the ice.
"She'll probably send your uncle Levi," he told Blue with a smile and a small laugh. "So good luck with that." Eren raised his eyebrows with a smile and the teenage girl looked miserable.
Sonnenblume buried herself into the chair, looking quite smallish.
-.-
"I'm not sending anyone," Mikasa told her brother over the phone.
"Yeesh! What happened between you two?" Eren questioned, with some humour but also concerned.
"She's capable enough to come back home on her own if she wants to," Mikasa maintained quite firmly.
"Mikasa, she's still a minor," her brother argued.
"So? I'm not holding her hand," the mother rebuked.
"So you are legally responsible for her," Eren reminded his sister.
"At her age we held senior positions in the Army," Mikasa firmly argued. "Again, I'm not holding her hand."
"But surely you must be worried sick about her," Eren insisted. "Come on, I know you, this must be killing you," her brother maintained his argument. "You're the definition of overprotective."
Eren stopped for a moment. "And after everything that happened with Azzy," he added, more softly.
Mikasa raised her shoulders up, shrugging slightly while she heard her brother's argument. "With Sonnenblume it's different," she explained. "I trust her."
"Oh," Eren was surprised.
"Azzy is-" the mother stopped, to correct herself. "Azzy was more complicated. He had always been too impulsive. I blame that damn curse. He always felt so… troubled, so confused," Mikasa explained and reminded her brother: "And we both know where that got us in the end."
There was a moment of silence as the two parents remembered the tragedy that had occurred over twelve years ago.
"How is Historia?" Mikasa asked softly.
"She's great. She- She's doing much better," Eren relayed. "And we've been quite busy with everything as always…" he trailed off.
"I know she blames me," Mikasa said, quite bluntly.
"No she doesn't, come on," Eren countered and sighed. He continued more softly. "You should come here so we can sort out this Sonnen situation and I can also see you. It's been so long, you know I'd love to see you again after all these years."
Mikasa laughed. "I'm not going back to the island just so the Queen can send me to the gallows," she somberly joked.
"You're exaggerating, come on," Eren insisted.
"I'm not going there," Mikasa maintained. "And that's what she wants."
"That's what who wants?" he asked, confused.
"Sonnenblume," Mikasa replied and proceeded to explain. "She is trying to force me back into the island. But she won't have her way."
"Force?" Eren asked, raising his eyebrows. He thought his sister was definitely exaggerating now.
"And you need to be careful with her," Mikasa advised, "she's a bit tricky that one."
Eren sighed. "Alright, but she's your kid," he argued. "I'm not just leaving her to wander the island on her own. It could be very dangerous and not end well. I'll just keep her here in the palace with us." Eren proceeded. "I'm assuming you are ok with me inviting her to stay in the palace."
And Mikasa stopped to consider the proposition. "You need to be very careful on how to phrase this invitation," she advised.
"Why?" her brother asked.
"As I told you, Sonnenblume is a bit tricky to deal with," Mikasa started to explain.
"How should I deal with her then?" Eren asked, curiously.
"She needs to feel in control," Mikasa proceeded expertly. "Don't force her to stay in Mitras, just make her think it was her own decision," she advised with care.
"Alright," Eren considered it.
Mikasa continued. "If she thinks she's being ordered to rather than her staying be her own decision she'll just do the opposite."
Eren smirked. "Opposite, huh?" he questioned his sister with a small smile. "So she is too stubborn and will just do the opposite of what others say…" Eren trailed off, considering. "I wonder where she got all those amazing qualities from," he joked.
"What do you mean?" Mikasa asked, cluelessly.
"Well, it seems you two are at war," Eren noted, "and I'm curious to know who is going to win," he added, laughing a little. "I'll keep an eye on her, and try my best to make sure she doesn't think we are forcing her to stay here," the uncle promised.
"Just be more suggestive and less controlling," the sister started to advise but soon realised it was useless. "Oh, who are we kidding, Eren? You're the king of controlling. She's gonna see right through you and just run away again," Mikasa realised and let out a deep sigh.
"Hey, I'm not-" her brother stopped himself, and eventually admitted. "Alright, what do I do if she runs away from the palace?" Eren asked.
"Nothing," Mikasa replied, "like I said, if she wants to come back, then she will come back to me." The mother hoped further. "And I hope it happens sooner rather than later."
"Okay…" Eren shrugged, reluctant and slightly confused, "stay safe," he wished.
"You too," Mikasa replied and quickly hung up the phone.
Eren stood there, reflective as he processed this conversation while his wife came walking down the stairs.
"Dinner?" Queen Historia asked as she reached the bottom of the stairs, with a lovely smile and a beautiful gown.
"I just had the weirdest conversation," Eren noted while finally putting down the handset.
"With Mikasa?" the Queen asked, tilting her head, somewhat condescendingly and her husband nodded.
"I don't know why you're surprised, Sugar," Historia proceeded firmly in her argument. "The girl ran away after all."
- Year 859 - Mitras - The Royal Palace
[ after the princess' disappearance ]
"That's it. You need to leave," Mikasa turned to her old friend with spite, pointing at the door.
"Leave? This is my house," Historia firmly responded, in complete authority.
The two mothers were at odds. They were arguing in the darkness of one of the many guest rooms in the giant palace. It was the room where the small boy had been placed to rest, Azzy was still recovering.
The boy was visibly troubled, constantly mouthing nonsense and cold sweating in high fevers. Azymondeus was clearly hallucinating, and sparkling small rays of lightning, which slightly shocked his mother, but she didn't care. Mikasa still held his hand throughout everything. "I'm right here," she told him softly.
"I'm not telling you to leave your palace, Your Majesty," Mikasa proceeded with anger and annoyance. "I'm telling you to either stop berating my child or leave this room," the Ackermann mother firmly told the Queen.
"I'm not berating him-" Historia started to argue.
And Mikasa interrupted her. "No, you're just endlessly interrogating a small child who is clearly unresponsive," the mother argued loudly and with anguish.
"I just want to know where my daughter is," Historia argued back in deeper anguish. She held herself, feeling small, tormented, powerless.
"Does it look like he can answer your questions?!" Mikasa maintained her argument, angrily and clearly also feeling tormented.
"He's not a toddler like my child. He's seven, he should be able to articulate-" Historia argued.
"He's six," Mikasa firmly corrected the Queen. "He is still six. And I won't say it again," she walked closer in dominance and protectiveness. "Back off." Mikasa threatened.
Arlert watched the discussion very quietly. He followed the back and forth of the two equally desperate mothers only with his eyes; with arms crossed, Armin was leaned on the giant wooden door. Engulfed in the darkness of the dimly lit room, in the middle of that cold, desperate night.
He quietly reached and turned the knob behind him and walked out of the room as he had heard steps on the antechamber.
"How is the search?" Armin asked his friend anxiously, closing the door behind him as Eren walked into the antechamber.
Eren was carrying his toddler son in his arms as the boy slept soundly. They were all very tired. The father sighed, walking in closer to the large crib. "We have mobilised the entire Army, at least here in Mitras," Eren started to explain.
He gently placed Ezra next to the small girl already sleeping on the crib: his cousin Sonnenblume.
The fathers stared at the two younger children peacefully sleeping for a loving moment. Armin reached to fix the small toy dinosaur Sonnenblume was holding close and tight. And to also caress her wavy caramel hair, gently placing it behind her ear. The toddlers were sleeping soundly, safely. And even if small, that was still a comfort to the parents.
Eren sighed. "Armin, he was found in Shiganshina," he proceeded to explain in a lower voice. "Two days ago," Eren gravely added, raising his head up to stare deep into his friend's eyes.
Armin let out an incredulous half-smile. "Are you suggesting he went back in time?" he questioned.
"That part is clear," Eren hissed back, angrily. "The question is: was it just those two days? Let's hope so," he added in a threatening tone.
Armin looked back towards the bedroom door, trying to visualise the boy in his memories. "He's wearing the same clothes," the father noted. "He looks largely the same as he left," Armin shrugged, with his hands on his pockets. "Unchanged."
Eren looked extremely unconvinced and Armin proceeded, scratching his head while preparing his argument. "Wherever they went they couldn't have been there for long. Even if he has come back before he left, which is new and certainly unlikely."
"His clothes are the same but they are also torn, dirty and wet," Yeager argued back. He expertly proceeded. "They clearly fell into a river or another body of water and also struggled in a forest-like environment."
"If they were together, we can't confirm that," Armin noted.
"Don't play with me, Arlert," Eren advised his friend.
"Have you considered that she could have been just snatched off by one of your many many enemies? Enemies who you keep unnecessary provoking, might I add," Armin firmly argued.
Eren shook his head. "I know what you're doing. Don't try to shift the blame," he firmly argued as well. Eren pointed at the bedroom door. "This is all his fault," he loudly affirmed. "Whatever that thing that is in there," Yeager added.
"What?" Armin questioned, baffled.
"Come on, that thing isn't human, we don't know what he is," Eren maintained and Armin opened his eyes wide.
"How dare you talk like that?" the father replied in anger. "Azzy is just a child," Armin passionately pointed at his chest. "He is my child."
"You and I both know he's not just a child. We've known that from the start," Eren maintained.
"He is just a child. He might be a bit different, but he IS just a child." Armin countered.
"A bit different?!" Eren exclaimed. "Armin, my daughter could be dead," he reminded his friend with much anguish.
"Well, let's hope not," Armin responded, coldly.
"You two," Eren shook his head in disbelief. "You two are cursed," he let out.
"What?" Armin questioned.
"You, Armin," Eren firmly pointed at his friend's chest. "You and Mikasa. Your family, you are all cursed," Eren declared.
Armin laughed.
His throat was scratching and burning, he was readying himself to fire back. His sharp tongue was not only Arlert's main attack, it was also his defence. But he contained himself from saying too much, this was a delicate situation and he knew his friend was clearly hurt.
"Cursed?" Armin asked back softly but still aggressively. "You, out of all people? You are saying we are cursed?!" he questioned, baffled. Arlert angrily sighed. "We are leaving," he firmly told his friend. "For good."
He turned towards the bedroom door and was surprised by Queen Historia storming out of the room in pure anger. Arlert walked in and closed the door behind him.
Historia stopped as she was about to leave the antechamber. She turned to her husband completely vexed, and pointed furiously at the bedroom. "They need to go," Historia firmly ordered. "I want them gone."
Eren crossed his arms and angrily sighed. "You and Arlert clearly agree on something," he pointed out.
Armin walked into the room to see Mikasa leaning over closer to their small son. "Is he breathing?" the father asked anxiously, the boy looked dead.
"Only faintly," the mother replied. She laid her head closer to the boy's head and caressed his hair.
Armin walked in closer and softly placed his hand on the boy's forehead, to check his temperature. "He's burning up," Mikasa added, raising her head and looking up at Armin. She kept caressing the boy's hair.
"I'm sure he'll recover on the boat," Armin firmly said while removing his hand. And Mikasa looked up at him with concern. "We need to leave," Armin told her softly.
'For good.' Those would be the last words Eren Yeager would hear from his friend. Armin Arlert would pass away in a plane crash nine years later, without the two friends ever making amends. And that hurt Yeager deeply.
They never made amends.
The father sighed as he turned to check on the youngest children once again. Ezra and Sonnenblume were both sleeping deeply and peacefully on that crib, they had no idea of the tragedy that had occurred. They had no idea of their parents' extreme adversities, they were just small children. Naive and happy children.
-.-
- Year 871 - Mitras - The Royal Palace
They all joined together again in the dining room. So far Ezra hadn't had the opportunity to be alone with Blue, he really wanted to know what was her whole game, but that wouldn't be easy without a more private interrogation.
"You certainly look like a girl now," he jokingly whispered as he passed near her, raising his eyebrows.
They both walked into the room.
"Well, what did you expect? I wouldn't visit the Queen dressed in rags," she whispered back, maintaining the joke. "I'm a Hizurian Lady," Blue graciously added, reminding him.
"Those aren't Hizurian clothes," Ezra argued with a smile, looking her in the eyes. Sonnenblume's bright yellow eyes were hypnotic.
"Well, I'm still three-quarters Eldian," she cleverly argued back.
They both went over to the table and sat down, joining the adults.
"I talked to you mother," Eren told his niece.
"Does she remember I exist?" Sonnenblume joked, raising her eyebrows.
"She said she knows you'll come back," her uncle relayed. "When you feel ready to."
"Huh…" the girl let out. "So she's not sending anyone," uncle Eren concluded. 'Interesting,' the teenage girl thought.
"Of course you're more than welcome to stay here," Queen Historia affirmed without hesitation. "If you'd like," the Queen added.
"Thank you," Blue politely replied with a small smile. "Ezra had already invited me before. That's why I decided to visit," she explained.
"I thought you came here to ask me about the book," her uncle questioned.
"What book?" Ezra asked, curiously.
"Something my father was working on and I can't quite figure out what it is," Blue replied.
"I didn't know you two had met before," Queen Historia interjected, curious.
"No?" Sonnenblume asked, turning to the Queen.
"Ezra certainly didn't mention anything," Historia maintained.
And Blue then turned to Ezra. "Why didn't you tell your parents you came to meet me in the Lighthouse?" she questioned him with a smile.
"Are you staying in the Lighthouse?" The uncle asked and the girl nodded. "Sonnenblume, that place can be very dangerous, you shouldn't go there, especially alone," Eren admonished her.
"And it is extremely remote," Historia added. "How did Ezra know how to find you there?" she questioned her niece.
"Oh, we've met once before in passing," Blue replied, nonchalantly.
"Right, 'in passing'," the boy quietly and ironically repeated, thinking of how they really met.
-.-
Sonnenblume stayed in the Palace for the next few days; as she did not want to counter her aunt, the Queen, who insisted for her to stay. "For as long as you like," Historia told the small teenager. "We wouldn't want you alone in that big, old fort. Or in any sort of danger." Eren added softly. The girl could tell the parents were immensely enjoying her presence; having a new young girl in their household was almost healing for the two. They treated her lovingly and with extreme care, almost out of guilt.
The place was lovely, a true paradise, and the family was sweet and welcoming as well. But Sonnenblume was starting to feel trapped and the prince could notice it. He knew if he didn't act fast he would lose her again. Ezra didn't want Blue to run away again, so, he had an idea.
-.-
"Do you remember this?"
The prince showed his old playmate the small toy dinosaur they had fought over in that truly cursed playdate they'd had when they were toddlers. For their parents and their older siblings that had been a cursed day alright. But for Ezra and Blue it had just been a lot of fun.
Sonnenblume opened her bright yellow eyes quite widely.
"How can you have it?" Blue questioned it, thinking back to all those years ago, she then softly took it from the prince's hand. "I was pretty sure I took this back home with me..." she trailed off. Blue gazed at the little fluffy thing, inspecting it.
"Well," he swiftly took it back from her hands again. "I took it back when you weren't looking," Ezra gloated.
"Sneaky!" Blue exclaimed with a clever smile. She decided to play with him again. "Well, you're not getting it back now!" She announced, taking the fluffy toy from his hands and running around the corridor, and he chased her like they were children once again.
Ezra knew what she was doing, he was a naive boy but he was clever enough for this. He knew she was teasing him, so the prince quickly cornered her and the two locked eyes and smiles. It was also a good excuse he had to hold her slender waist.
She kept laughing as he held her close. Blue was infatuated while Ezra was completely spellbound. Sonnenblume held her hand with the fluffy toy as high as she could, even though she knew the boy was slightly taller than her, still, she kept the game.
The toy dinosaur was high up in the air and he played the game too, reaching to grab it. Ezra embraced her more as an excuse to hold her down to grab the toy. Blue kept moving the small toy further away and he held her even closer. The two of them started to laugh uncontrollably as he finally reached and took back the small dinosaur to hold. They laughed and laughed but then stopped. The young souls locked into each other's eyes. And the prince decided to steal her a kiss instead.
He reached his face down into her lips, daring but also feeling apprehensive as she might not have liked the surprise. But all his anxiety was gone once she started to kiss him back.
-.-
- Year 854 - October 30, Paradise Island
[ After the second earthquake ]
The entire Island of Paradise was engulfed in pure chaos. Wall Maria had fallen completely and the Titans were trampling all over the region. Wall Rose had broken down in some places and so had Wall Sina. People were desperate and the death toll was increasing by the minute; the earth did not cease shaking after the first two earthquakes, it just trembled more leisurely. The eldians were running desperate, in complete panic. The hospitals were flooded with the injured and many were dead on the streets. People didn't know where to go, it was complete and utter pandemonium.
Some had already given up, they had already started celebrating before, so they just kept drinking and partying, waiting for that doomsday to take them out. The commotion wasn't as stronger on Walls Rose and Sina, as it already was in Wall Maria, not yet. Most of the citizens in Mitras had absolutely no idea of the level of the chaos, they had just felt light tremors. They just proceeded with their day, as regular as ever.
Until the underground citizens started fighting with the Military Police on the last steps, frightening the upper class residents as they walked leisurely on their streets. The brawl erupted, the underground citizens had won; they trampled all over the MP guards as they all came rushing up the countless steps that led down to the hidden community. They came up in droves. Hundreds and hundreds of underground citizens came up from all the steps, in different points of Mitras, absolutely terrifying the noble citizens.
"We have to evacuate!" some of the underground citizens shouted. "We must leave the city!" they shouted. "We need to leave Mitras or that thing is going to kill all of us!" All of them shouted desperately as they ran for their lives.
The underground citizens were warning their fellow Mitras residents, but the upper class just seemed confused by it all. "What thing?" they asked, baffled.
The cancerous creature was rising, coming up from the depths. It destroyed everything on its path and made it its own. It was destroying the insides of the island: Paradise was sinking.
Deep Underneath the Reiss Cave
Eren was engulfed in pure darkness. He was tired and those chains were very heavy. He had lost track of time, the dungeon was dark and also very cold. He couldn't get over the smell of dirt, of deep earth, that constantly reminded him of burials. Eren was starting to consider that dungeon as his own burial.
"Eren," he faintly heard inside his consciousness. "Eren, can you hear me?" Armin asked.
[ to be continued... ]