Creation began on 10-21-23

Creation ended on 10-23-23

Attack on Titan

Attack on Paradis: Unforgiven Hatred

A/N: The poll is closed and the decision has been made.

The people remaining within Wall Sina ran as fast as they could to the other end of the wall to escape from the earth-shaking footsteps that signaled the approaching monster that they believed destroyed Walls Maria and Rose. Even as they fled as fast as their feet could take them, some of the people far behind, they could see the rising head of the beast.

"Rrrraaurgh!" They could hear it roaring as the ground trembled more.

But as they fled, one person remained. It was Frieda, who strayed away from her family and waited for the beast to arrive.

"Ma'am, you shouldn't be here," she heard a man's voice and turned to her right to see a man that had been left in tatters by personal loss.

"Neither should you…Dr. Grisha Yeager," she addressed him, which surprised him. "Yes, I know who you are. I knew of your identity before we even met. And I can tell you knew of my identity before we ever met. What you once thought was worth fighting for, what I once had no choice but to follow… That future no longer exists. It was put an end to long before it could even begin. What do you call a future that doesn't come to pass, even if you've seen it happen? That can never come to pass because it can no longer be realized?"

"A dream that you awaken from," he answers her. "Nothing more than a fantasy. Though, I guess I should be grateful towards this monster a little."

"Why?"

"The future I saw, the future I thought was inevitable…was a future I didn't even want. In a horrifying way, my family was saved from that future by that monster's fury."

"Except this monster doesn't care about us. This monster is a survivor from a past long since forgotten by all except it. The Eldians of old had used the power of the Titans and ravaged the lands belonging to a race of beings of greater power before they could choose to face them…or because they were afraid of them rising up to destroy them. I'm not even sure what the reason really was, only that this beast, this survivor…is justifiably angry with all of us…because of what our ancestors did to its kind. It can't be reasoned with and has waited a long time, recovering from its wounds, nursing its desire for vengeance."

Grisha saw the beast slowly beginning to tear through the wall and thought for a moment that he saw an older version of his son, from a future that will never be.

"The world is doomed," he thought he heard him say. "The Titans are useless against its rage. It was our undoing long before we even saw it."

But it was just wishful thinking on his part, just wanting to cling to the past he used to have…and will never have again.

"Is there anything we can do?" He asked Frieda.

"You can do whatever you choose to do," she tells him, "but I have to try and protect the people left. I have to try and protect my family, my little sister and her future from coming undone. No matter how unlikely it seems, I will protect the people that matter most to myself."

"So, we're facing a hopeless battle against a monster that wants to kill us all?"

"No. Not a monster. A god. And it's not hopeless. As long as we're still alive and can protect the people left to protect…there's still hope."

Suddenly, a section of the wall collapsed…and over a dozen Titans emerged from the dust cloud that formed from the collapse. Each one almost as big as the Colossal Titan, and each just as skinless and grotesque. They turned and faced the monster…and slowly moved towards it.

"Will they be enough?" Grisha asks Frieda.

"No," she answers him, "but I can't release the rest until the people get away. If anything, I'm just stalling."

-x-

It wasn't something he expected to hear, but it wasn't something he expected to be taken serious, either. But he didn't have any say in the order when the survey ship returned from Paradis. As of now, any and all operations involving Paradis were suspended indefinitely. Any attempts to venture there would be seen as treason and punishable to the fullest extent of Marleyan law.

They can't be serious, thought Zeke Yeager as he walked back to his grandparents' house in Liberio. The soldiers on the ship could be lying for all they know. A monster larger than a Titan? There's no such thing. The largest Titan has always been the Colossal Titan, and people are afraid of it as it is. Even their description of it makes no sense. Some sort of dragon? They don't exist except for in fairytales.

But try as he might to make sense of this all, Zeke saw no opportunity to change things without going to Paradis and claiming the Founding Titan for himself. To be defeated before he could even get started on his and Xaver's plan to save the Eldians…was an embarrassment. And the fear the Marleyans now felt about the creature possibly coming here was…unlikely as much as it was likely, given how they were now taking precautions against the possibility of it making landfall on their land if it could travel by sea.

"Zeke, you're back early," greeted his grandmother.

"Yes," he replied.

"Did something happen while you were out today?" His grandfather asks.

"Apparently, all plans to venture to Paradis have been suspended indefinitely," he informs them.

"Why?"

"The survey ship that went there a few days ago reported seeing a monster that was larger than the Colossal Titan and fled as it started to move."

"A monster?"

"Larger than the Colossal?"

Zeke didn't want them to worry about it, but with the possibility of it attacking Marley in the future, he wasn't sure what to tell them. Except what he learned from others that learned of it based on the limited knowledge of those that had seen it. He didn't know how big it was, what it really looked like or what it was capable of, but if he ever did see it, he doubt it could withstand the might of his Beast Titan. But since he had yet to encounter such a creature in person, this was just wishful thinking.

-x-

With the evaporating pieces of Titans scattered around it, the creature looked at the ruins of the district around it as it couldn't detect the presence of the people it came to take judgment on. The Titans had been a distraction it laid waste to in a matter of minutes; with the combination of its regenerated and adapted body and access to new reserves of energy, it had become an unyielding force of vengeance. Nothing the Titans did could harm it. Looking down, it noticed two smaller Titans that had been present during the slaughter…and could see that they were still very much alive.

"Grrr," it growled.

On the ground, battered and feeling like they were near death, Grisha and Frieda, in their Titan bodies, waited for the inevitable moment where this beast would seal their fate.

Please, thought Frieda as she felt that all she could do now was beg for some sort of absolution. What our ancestors did to you and your kind, I am sorry. But the people here are innocent of the sins of the past; they didn't know anything about your existence. If I could change the past, I would spare the people a grim fate. If you still feel like you need to take judgment on the Eldians, then please, spare Paradis for now and go after the ones across the world. There are plenty of them out there that you can take the time to make see the wrongs that have been committed. Or better yet…just take my life…and be down with this. Please.

It looked at them as though contemplating a decision, its eyes lost in the memories of its past. And then it looked up ahead and saw other parts of the large barrier that had remained unaffected by its rage…and and made its choice. It turned around and walked away.

This…isn't over, Frieda heard a male voice say to her. I cannot forgive the atrocities your people committed, regardless of guilt or innocence. You are all guilty of the sins of the past…and you will answer for them. Consider yourselves lucky, for all you've earned from me is a reprieve. A bitter and brief reprieve. I'll be back for you, however long that takes…and there will be no sparing of any of you. That is how far my hatred of you reaches. Until we meet again.

As the Founding Titan body evaporated, Frieda felt guilt over what she had just done in order to protect the Paradis. Even as she lay there on the rubble as the beast left them to do away with the rest of the world's Eldian population, she knew this reprieve would be short-lived. Sooner or later, it would come back and finish what it started. There would be no pity or remorse.

"It could've killed us," went Grisha to her as he stood up. "Why didn't it?"

"Because I bought us some time," she told him. "It'll go out into the world beyond this island…and punish the Eldians elsewhere before it returns."

"What was it? What is it?"

"A surviving member of a great race of beings that had the potential to become incarnate deities…and this one is an incarnation of an enraged deity, displeased with what our ancestors had done to harm it and its kind. It will not stop until we're all gone. There is no mercy within its soul for any of us Eldians, only hatred. What happened to Walls Maria and Rose, that was only a testament to its fury. What will happen to the rest of the world, that will be a testament of how powerful its will to survive and take vengeance will endure."

Grisha looked at the retreating form and could only sigh at the fate that awaited the rest of the world. This was not the Rumbling, but this was a retribution that was brought upon the world by the Eldians of the past…and it would have the same, crippling results the Rumbling promised.

"That monster," he sighs, "will never forgive us."

"No," Frieda agrees, "it won't. Ever."

-x-

"Hey, hold on a moment," went a member of the Military Police holding a pair of binoculars to see from a distance. "It looks like it's going back the way it came."

"It's running away?" Another member of the military branch questioned.

"No, not running. It's changing its direction. It doesn't look like it's coming this way."

Meanwhile, down below on the ground beside the wall, the civilian population was plagued with concerns over how long it would take to get an update from the Military Police on the creature's advancement towards them.

Historia, among the masses, wondered where Frieda had disappeared to…and hoped she was alive and well.

"…I honestly don't know what's worse right now," she heard a girl say beside her. "The anxiety of not knowing anything…or the anxiety of knowing something."

"Is it," she responded, "too much to say that it's both?"

The girl turned to face her, revealing that she had freckles on her face, and replied, "No, I guess not. It's not too much."

It would be another five minutes before the Military Police informed the civilians of the monster's change in direction. And it would be another hour before they decided they could feel a sense of relief for the time being.

-x-

There were more out there in the world than there had been on that little island, and it would condemn them all to the same fate. For now, the island would be spared until the rest of the world had been cleansed of its darkest inhabitants, the descendants of the people that tried to destroy it. It had waited a long time to take its revenge upon them. It could wait a while longer to make the primary link to each of them feel the hopelessness it felt as it waited for its wounds to heal and its power to grow. As it swam through the ocean water, it decided to continue southward, towards the closest source of Eldians, which were dwelling on a patch of land larger than the island it had left.

Forgiveness…is weakness, it thought as it swam faster than it had ever done before.

To be continued…

A/N: Well, there you have it. Until the next chapter, we know that Godzilla's hatred towards the Eldian people will not end until they have all been disposed of, something that threatens the rest of the planet since they're scattered around. How long do you think it'll take before the rest of the world realizes that there is a threat greater than that of the Titans walking around and trampling the land?