*only prologue in first person*

In Between the Ends

An Attack on Titan Continuation

I've always been right here, haven't I?

It felt as though this dream had only just begun, and yet I couldn't remember anything that came before this place nor anything that comes after. Perhaps nothing ever had.

Spanning out infinitely in all directions was the gentle rise and fall of waves. Blue and almost opaque they extended out to greet the horizon, smooth and unmoving in the night.

Wait.

I had never laid eyes on the sea, but the stories I had heard spoke of the ocean as a moving body of water; an overwhelming force that rolled and churned and threw itself at the coastline, yet the large expanse that laid before me was completely still, as if frozen in time.

Reaching down to run my fingertips across its motionless surface, I realized my mistake. Clenching my hand around it, I lifted a fistful and allowed it to slowly slip out of my grasp, forming a small mound at my feet. It wasn't water: it was sand. An entire sea of soft sand dunes as far and as wide as the world.

Though the night sky was dark and full of stars, the ocean of sand was bright. The light that reflected off the trillions of particles was not golden from the rays of the sun, but rather a cool ethereal blue that aided in the illusion of a vast-expanding sea. I could feel the origin of this light somewhere behind me, pouring over my shoulders and passing beyond into the gradual darkness. The pressure of it was subtle yet undeniable, as if begging to be known. I turned almost unwilling, eyes growing wide as I took in my first view of the source.

There before me was a colossal tree composed of pure light. This bastion seemed to pour up from the ground in rivers, flowing up towards the sky where it split off into tendril-like branches that reached out into the night.

It was all-consuming in its beauty, yet dread trickled down my spine and pooled in my stomach. Sweat beaded at my temples as my heart started to race, and yet without hesitation I began taking slow and deliberate steps forward as if a cord had wrapped around my chest, pulled on from the far end by parts unknown. The message was clear:

Come to me.

After a few moments -or perhaps an eternity- I found myself cresting a small dune near the base of the tree; a truly monumental swirling talisman that travelled into the heavens. It was as my gaze slid down from the ever-reaching branches and along the shimmering base that I saw them. Fear prickled at the back of my neck, but it was as if any fight or flight instinct I possessed had left me.

The two figures had their backs turned to me, as still as statues in their silent vigil. A young woman, blonde hair hanging around her tensed shoulders and cascading down the back of her dirty clothes, had her hand resting on the shoulder of a man who was kneeling in the sand. His head was hung as if in prayer, dark hair obscuring his eyes and his hands resting limp and shaking in his lap.

A desperate need stole over me: I had to see their faces. I needed to know what they could see in the light; it was the only thing that mattered now.

Coming to a stop only a few feet to the pairs left, I once again took in the Tree's awesome glory. Hues of transcendent blue rupturing from the earth and reached out to time itself.

This is the center of life. I thought to myself. A smile began to tug at the corners of my mouth. I wanted to share this incredible sight with my new companions, share in the magnificent life force of the cosmos. Turning my head to the side, mouth opening to begin a million questions, the smile suddenly froze on my lips. My blood turned cold and sluggish in my veins and the air in my lungs evaporated. Undiluted fear saturated my body, pulsing hot and thick as I took in their faces.

The woman's eyes were as big as saucers, bulging, staring endlessly into the light. Her mouth was slack jawed in a grimace of pure horror that distorted her still childlike face until it could barely be recognized as human. The man, who's expression was still deep in shadows, started to shake violently like leaves in a hurricane.

The light of the Great Tree seemed to pulse and shiver as the man shook, and the sand that stretched out all around us suddenly began to shift. In the distance massive dark shapes broke through the sand dunes, some so impossibly large that they seemed to drink in the light from the tree and plunge everything into darkness. Panic swelled in my chest until I couldn't breathe. Turning back to the still stationary figures, I screamed.

"We have to run!"

But my desperate plea was lost within the tremendous noise that filled the once silent sea of sand. The man and woman held their immobile stance amid the shifting and cracking of the ground: the crashing, the groaning... the rumbling. Over the catastrophic sound of a world falling apart, a voice rang out, deep and unimaginably sad.

"It never should have been me."

It was both all around and very close. The man kneeling in the sand slowly turned his head until his gaze met mine. Tears poured in torrents from eyes filled to the brim with pain. His mouth hung open in a silent scream of agony that seemed to shake the very foundation of the earth.

"I have never been strong enough."

Though his mouth remained frozen in his soundless shriek, I was certain that it was him speaking to me. His agonizing words swirled around us, painting the air with a deep shade of guilt and shame.

"I wanted to keep them safe!" The voice cried in anguish. The man's hands clenched into fists so tight that drops of blood seeped down his wrists and dripped into the sand.

"I thought it was finally over."

A vast black void erupted from the ground near us, shooting into the night sky and splitting the desert floor into deep canyons.

If the Tree is life, this is death. I thought. I'm standing on the edge of the end.

"I failed. I didn't understand. By trying to save one, I've destroyed them all!"

The man's deranged eyes kept me rooted in the chaos as if all his thought was bent on making me understand his pain. There was nothing left of him besides that overwhelming, horrific truth.

"SAVE THEM!"

The ground fell away from us then as hundreds of thousands of black masses began their eternal march. The man reached out towards me as the ground collapsed inward and we fell into the gaping maw of death.

We fell into the darkness for years. For centuries. Eons. Just as it finally felt as if this was all that was left of existence, his eyes blazed in the dark.

I woke up with a guttural gasp, flinging my arms up as if to fend off an incoming blow. After a moments' pause, I looked around to find myself exactly where I should have been: in my bed. The sheets were damp, and my breath was coming in wheezing gulps. The soft break of dawn was creeping through the window and across the room. Wisps of fog hung low in the barely yet blue sky: the world was about to wake up.

Shaking slightly, I wiped the sheen of cold sweat from my face and hung my head in my hands. The dream was slipping away from me now as consciousness dragged me awake, but the fear remained. In my head rang the words spoken over and over by the man as we fell forever. I could still see his eyes, seared into the back of my mind. Though, by the time the midday sun burned off the last of the morning mist, I no longer remembered who they belonged to.

"YOU NEED TO FIGHT."

An excerpt from "The Rumbling: Fall of Humanity"

By Armin Arlert

Year: 857

"… 80 percent. 4/5th of the world was lost from this extinction event; an indescribable horror that can never be undone. How does a world recover from such a staggering loss? How do we pick up the pieces that were left to us and turn them into a semblance of life? This answer is still not clear to me, nor I think to anyone who still stands. Despite the end of Titan-dom on Earth, we are now faced with the insurmountable task of rebuilding civilization. The titans are gone, their power extinguished from their very source, yet enemies still exist to us.

The island of Paradis, now renamed for Eldia, remains under the constant control and oppression of the Jaegerists. The island people, my people, are terrified of retaliation from the world that remains. Some fear this due to their actual involvement, though most of the population is simply innocent people who find themselves in the line of fire. The controlling parties have rallied many to their cause however, using fear as a weapon to keep the people in check. Their aim is to rebuild their military forces; whether that's solely for their own protection or to make the first move remains to be seen.

Even without Paradis tensions, a feeling of contempt still lies in the hearts of those who survived the Rumbling. Despite no longer having the ability to change into titans, Eldians across the globe still face a constant reminder of their "part" in this dark chapter in history. Internment has been outlawed, and persecution of the Eldian people is no more in the Laws of the Allied Alliance, yet there are some who still hold our entire race responsible for the destruction of humanity. Just being born into this world is enough to fuel the hate they have for us.

How can there be any room left inside us for freedom? For anything other than fear? We are free from titans, but people… That's another story.

We are fighting on so many fronts now. Fighting to rebuild, fighting to keep our heads above water; to be strong in the face of war, desperate to find peace. Everyone is scared. So am I. But I know in my heart that the only way we can be free is to try. To try and to fight for the good that's buried beneath the rubble left by history. We need to try for the people we love and for all that we lost. This is the world that Eren left to us. We can't let it go to waste."

Trials and Tribulation

Chapter One

Beneath the swaying leaves and dappled light of the tree a top that hill, a woman sat alone. Tucked away in the tall grass and wildflowers that wound between the roots of the wide trunk she waited. Buttery sunlight flowed in seams through the boughs to dance on the ground around her in a halo. Leaning her back against the shadowed base, the woman closed her eyes. The air was mild, still damp from the morning mist. It was filled with the fragrant scent of spring foliage; of new growth and rebirth.

A gentle breeze flowed up the curve of the hill, stirring the grass around the tree. Raising her hand instinctually she adjusted the deep maroon scarf more securely around her neck. Most days it sat neatly folded in a deep corner of a wardrobe; save for the time she spent here under the tree. Just as one hand had reached for the scarf, the other had reached out to touch the small headstone nestled against the trunk beside her. Her eyes eased open and she focused on the landscape below.

How quickly the world reclaims what once belonged to it. Though the crumbled remains of Shinganshina still stood, the once vastly populated city now lay under a thick layer of vegetation. Plants sprouted through cracks in the cobbled streets and vines wound through both ruined and sound buildings alike. All around small tree sprouts pushed from the broken earth to one day be as large as the one she was under. It seemed to her that wildlife was now the only occupant of the once bustling streets of her youth.

Being here was painful for her, but not being here was always worse. Falling into memories was a dangerous way to live, made even more true when those memories were stained with years of immeasurable pain, yet she could not imagine a more terrible thing than forgetting. Moving forward, healing, letting go. Those were the things that she could do; forgetting was not. It was a precarious ledge to walk along. How do you honor someone that is gone when the person they became…

She sighed. It did no good to go around in circles over this for the millionth time, torturing herself. Yet here she was, once again thinking of the day she found Eren sleeping under this tree. Was that the day that everything began? He had woken from a dream with tears in his eyes, right here, the place that would someday become his grave. Did he know, even then, the events that would unfold? Was there ever something she could have done or said to have altered this future she was now faced with?

Blinking hard against the tears that were beginning to gather in her eyes, she let out a steadying breath. The coming days were much too important to allow herself to wallow. These thoughts would have to wait.

"Eren," Mikasa said softly. "Everyone will be coming to visit you soon. Isn't that nice?"

Up above, a lone bird flew on the morning breeze.

65 miles away to the south of where Mikasa waited, the great Azamabito envoy ship, The Kasagi, tipped and yawed to and fro on the uncomfortably pitchy waters surrounding Paradis. They had set sail from the newly restored navel town of Cardend the evening before with the hope that they would be able to arrive around midday. The ship was a new acquire from the Hizuru motherland and stood strong against the rough seas, though the passengers aboard were not fairing quite as well.

The sound of someone being sick broke the silence that had gathered around the group who stood on the bow, watching as the island drew nearer. Connie stood up straight and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, face ashen.

"One more for the road, I guess. Like I wasn't feeling nauseous enough about this in the first place, let's just throw some sea sickness on top. Why not?"

Jean snorted from the large supply crate he was perched on. "Maybe it's just because you're a pussy, Con. That would explain everything just fine."

"Are you trying to tell me that this whole thing doesn't scare the shit out of you? If that's it, you've either lost your mind or you're too worried about how good your hair will look." Connie spat over the railing and shot Jean a dirty look.

Jean hopped down from the crate and walked over to Connie, rubbing the top of his head with a closed fist. "No need to be jealous, you keep it up and maybe yours will look just at incredible one day."

Before Connie could protest Annie looked sternly over at them. "That's enough, children. We have plenty to worry about today without you two going at each other's throats."

"Yeah, put a sock in it. Not the time or place." Reiner was leaning on the balcony, inspecting his hands. "We've got bigger fish to fry." He had become even more solemn than he usually was within the last half hour; the sight of Paradis gave him little comfort. Of course, this went mostly unnoticed as Connie had once again begun to turn green.

At the head of the boat Armin stood gazing out over the approaching landscape. After his small speech to the group, he had fallen into a contemplative hush. After three long years, we are finally home. He thought as the Eldian port came into sight on the coastline.

This was going to be a very difficult trip, for more reasons than one. The first and most daunting being the incredibly risky task of meeting with the Jaegerist controlled government body. The six of them might be here on a mission of peace and understanding, but who's to say that the Jaegerists will see it that way. Reiner, Annie and Pieck were outsiders to them, responsible for killed scores of people from the walls both in and out of titan form. Concerning Jean, Connie and himself, the three of them had fled their homeland to aid the enemy and destroyed what could only be referred to as their "deity". This would be nothing short of a miracle.

Like he had said to his friends, they were going to tell them everything they wanted to know; everything stretching from the day Shinganshina fell to the Battle at Fort Salta if they had to: save for one. He knew in his heart that Mikasa was not ready nor willing to part from where Eren lay, if she ever would be. She needed to be kept safe, and if the Jaegerists knew of her involvement in Eren's death she wouldn't be.

Mikasa. He sighed inwardly. They had not spoken in a very long time. Not one of them aboard this ship carried quite as heavy a burden as she did. Armin didn't know what to expect from their upcoming meeting: would he still see the girl he knew when he was young, or would she be as gone as Eren? No, he knew all too well what he would find.

The ruins of Shinganshina swam to the forefront of his mind. How many years did I spend dreaming of the outside world, only to have it be nothing like I hoped it would be. Here I am on the sea, something that for so long only felt like a myth. Have I lost all that hope for a bigger and better life than inside the walls? The world is broken. Do I still have the strength to see it through?

A violent image suddenly came crashing into Armin's head. The colossal titan exploding around him, the ear-shattering crash of Eren's breaking bones. The endless sea of sand that seared the back of his eyes with blue light. His hands gripped onto the railing with pain. No, maybe he didn't cast the final blow as he claimed, but he was more than just an accomplice to it. They all had a part to play in that bloody day.

As the port drew closer, Pieck rolled a piece of her brown hair between her fingers and gazed up at the sky. "Well, they didn't shoot our boat out of the water yet, that might be a good sign."

After a few deep breaths to steady himself, Armin released his hold on the ships railing and turned to them. The members of his Allied Alliance "olive branch" team gave him their full attention now. He shrank a fraction at their intent concentration, still unaccustomed to the station he held.

Although the shoes Armin found himself standing in still felt much too big, not even one of his friends seemed to agree. Hange left me as commander of the Survey Corps. The Scouts may not exist anymore, but I'll be damned if I let her or Erwin down now. He stood up straight and addressed his company.

"Listen up. I know this whole thing is a long shot, but we do this as planned. Though I don't expect any of you to roll over on your backs for them, not one of us is to engage with the Jaegerists in any way. This is a mission of peace." Armin looked at each of them firmly. "In the rather likely event that this goes belly up, we will get the hell out of there and head for the ship. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir!" A chorus of voices rang out.

As their vessel pulled into the harbor, Connie checked over the resource boxes to be taken onto the mainland by cart one last time before docking. The train tracks that once could take them quickly to the walls were still under construction: he tried desperately not to think of the reasons behind that. After a quick inspection, Connie gently flattened the blankets that lay tightly over the crates that contained their ODM gear.