"I'm sorry..." Frieda muttered.
"Frieda?" Rod questioned, as he saw her mouth move.
Five seconds later, Frieda's eyes opened and it showed a shining light light within them. As soon as Rod saw that glance within his daughter's eyes, he gasped and knew what it meant. The Reiss Family paused as her light blue eyes begun to glow.
"Wait! Frieda, no-" Before Rod could yell, his blue eyes had got darker. He had suddenly collapsed onto the ground, face first. And so did the rest of her family, as they passed out.
Frida sighed. "It's done." She then destroyed the crystal wall that her family was trapped in. She looked down at her family, one last time before walking away out of pity.
As she was walking, Rod was half awake, as he saw Frieda's backside, leaving. He tried to reach his arm out towards her. "Fr... Frieda..."
Frieda gasped when she heard her father's voice. She did not look back to him or her family, as she knew it would be sad.
Rod then lost consciousness and passed out on the ground.
A stream of tears fell down Frieda's face, as she continued moving forward, leaving her family behind.
"Hey, Frieda." Eren called, as he opened the carriage door, letting a small ray of sunlight in the carriage, shining on Frieda's face.
Frieda gasped as she had woken up from inside the black carriage. She lied and slept on her side, until she heard the sound of Eren's voice. She slowly sat up from the long seat and slowly wiped her eyes. She yawned, while placing a hand over her mouth. She opened her eyes to see Eren standing with the carriage door open.
"Did you sleep well, Frieda?" Eren asked.
"Mm-hmm, I did. I was dreaming about my family. How I took their memories. But, you seem a bit tired, though." Frieda pointed at Eren's face, as she noticed the light bags under Eren's eyes.
"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine."
"Are you sure? Because I can-"
"Yeah. I've stayed up over night in the Survey Corps. until the sun came up, numerous times." Eren once thought about his experience of staying up with Hange, listening to her stories and theories.
Frieda stayed quiet for a few seconds and looked down. "We must in Shiganshina, aren't we, Eren?"
"Yeah, we're here." Eren replied. "Come on." He stretched his hand towards her.
Frieda slowly crawled out of the carriage towards Eren. She grabbed Eren's hand and climbed out of the carriage, carefully. She took one step at a time to get out of the carriage and set foot on Shiganshina. The sky was blue, a few white clouds hovered within the sky. She looked around, left and right to see plenty of houses and a big river where ferries float on.
"This is your hometown?" Frieda asked as she looked at her surroundings.
"Yeah." Eren looked at his surroundings as well. At the people walking by, at the undamaged houses.
"This town... it looks really nice and everyone looked peacefully, Eren." Frieda commented.
"I know. But sadly, this peace won't last forever." Eren frowned a bit, as he thought about what is to happen later on that day. He stared at the front of the Shiganshina wall and visualized the Colossus Titan being there, grasping the wall. Then, suddenly got lost in his memories as when he was a kid. He had thought about when Bertoldt and Reiner in their Titan forms and breached Wall Maria, letting a number of Titans in and taking a number of lives.
"Eren? Eren?" Frieda walked closer to Eren to catch his attention. She grabbed Eren's lower right arms with both hands, causing Eren to snap back into reality for a moment, as he felt Frieda's grasp on his lower right arm. He looked to his right to see Frieda looking at him. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I just thought about what's going to happen, later on today." Eren told Frieda.
"Don't worry, Eren. We can do this. We can still save everyone." She smiled at him.
"Thanks, Frieda. With your help, I'm sure we can." Eren smiled at Frieda a bit. "We should get going to my old house."
"How far are we from your house?" Frieda asked.
"Not far. All we gotta do is walk a few blocks south." Eren pointed towards the southeast. "It'll take us less than ten minutes to get there.
Frieda looked back at the horses and the black carriage. "But, what about the carriage? Aren't we riding it down to your house?"
"The carriage can't go down rocky pavement-otherwise, the wheels will break off. I only rented it for two days. This is the farthest it can go." Eren explained to Frieda about the rocky and sturdy roads Shiganshina had.
"Oh. Then I guess I'll just get my stuff." Frieda walked towards the black carriage door.
"Let me." Eren said as he walked passed Frieda and reached in the carriage for her luggage. He grabbed it and lifted it over his shoulder again.
Frieda then walked to the horses that pulled the carriage all the way from Orvurd District. She hugged them, individually. "Thank you both for taking us all the way here."
"Someone will be here shortly to get them. I gave the owner the address." Eren said, as he began walking with Frieda's luggage over his shoulder.
"W-wait up!" Frieda said after hugging both horses by their necks. She caught up with Eren in about another nine seconds.
"When we get to my old house, I'm going to be adopting my dad's compatriot's last name. Kruger." Eren told Frieda.
"So you're gonna be Eren Kruger?"
"Yeah. So there won't be a mix up between me and my younger self."
"What would your younger self be doing?"
"Knowing me, my younger self should be out of the house gathering firewood with Mikasa right about now." Eren proclaimed what his younger self to be doing.
Frieda chuckled. "It would be really awkward to run into your younger self."
Ten Minutes Later
After walking, Eren and Frieda had made it towards his old house. They stood in front of his front door and stared at it for a minute. Eren had placed the luggage down beside him. Before Eren knocked on the door, memories of his mother started playing in his mind.
There was nothing but silence for thirty whole seconds, until the door had opened up.
Frieda looked to Eren, and noticed that he seemed to be a bit depressed.
"Ere-" Frieda attempted to speak, but both of them heard the sound of a door being unlocked from the inside. They both stood still, as a woman with long dark black hair, golden eyes had opened the door to see both Eren and Frieda standing at the front porch. She wore a long-sleeved yellow shirt, a dark red skirt, a white apron wrapped around her and brown shoes.
"Hello? How can I help you?" Carla asked.
Eren looked down to the floor, refusing to make eye contact with her. He bit his bottom lip as he heard his mother's voice.
Frieda looked at Eren's face, then to Carla. "Hello. My name is Frieda Reiss. We're here to see Doctor Yaeger. We have an appointment with him today." Frieda told Carla.
"An appointment? My husband never mentioned anything about guests were coming. It's not like him to keep secrets or anything." Carla said to Frieda. "Hm?" Carla then looked over at Eren, whom seemed a bit depressed. "And whom might you be?" she asked Eren.
For a second, Eren made quick eye contact with his mother, then looked down at her shoes. He silently grunted and bit his lower lip, as he remembered the last conversation they had before she was eaten. He remained silent and a bit nervous.
"Hm?" Frieda looked over at Eren, whom seemed depressed and a bit nervous to look at his mother. "This is my boyfriend... Kruger. Eren Kruger." Frieda told Eren, as she grasped onto Eren's right arm.
"Eren Kruger, huh? It's funny. I also have a son named Eren Yaeger. How ironic." Carla said.
"May we please come in and see Doctor Yaeger?" Frieda asked, nicely.
"Hmm..." Frieda thought a bit, as she looked at Eren a bit. "Okay. You can come in." She opened the door wide enough to see let them both in.
"Thank you." As soon as Frieda turned her back, Frieda quietly sighed.
Eren quickly picked up Frieda's luggage and walked into his old house after Frieda.
As Eren walked inside his old house and set Frieda's luggage down by his closed front door. They both sat at the family table across from one another.
"Please wait here and enjoy yourself for some tea and bread. I will let my husband know he has visitors." Carla proceeded to inform her husband, Grisha while leaving Eren and Frieda sitting at the family table.
Eren remained silent and lied his hands on the table for six seconds. He frowned a bit, until Frieda had spoken.
"What's wrong, Eren? You've been quiet ever since we came here." Frieda asked.
"Sorry. I've just been thinking... about the last day I spent with my mom." Eren looked down at himself through the reflection of the tea in front of him. Then he looked back when he was ten years old. "I remembered enjoying lunch with my family. And then, my sister revealed that I wanted to join the Survey Corps. My mom yelled at me, and wanted me to change my mind and find another career. But I was too stubborn. So, I yelled back in her face." Eren suddenly reminisced what was about to happen.
"Your mother didn't want you to get eaten by Titans, so she forbade you from joining the Survey Corps." Frieda said.
"Yeah." Eren's eyes looked down at Frieda's side of the table, near her lower chest. "Then, I ran away from her. Hoping that she would soon approve of my dream of becoming of joining the Survey Corps. But then, things got worse... when the Titans started attacking." Eren remembered when Bertoldt, the Colossus Titan had appeared and breached Shiganshina District. There were many casualties during the first ten minutes. "I quickly ran back home to help my mother from the Titans. But when I got to her, she was already trapped by the fallen debris. I tried my best to save her, but I wasn't strong enough to get her out. I was soon taken away by a family friend. Forced to leave my mother behind in the debris."
"And that was when your mother was...?"
"Yeah." Eren then thought back when a Titan his mother was killed and devoured by Dina Yaeger as a Pure Titan. The sight of watching his mother get devoured in front of his eyes changed his entire world. "After I lost my mother to a Titan, my whole world went upside down. Ever since that day, I swore to get revenge on the Titans and joined the military. So I could avenge my mother and everyone who were killed by them."
"Eren..." Frieda muttered.
"But I realized that if she was still here, I feel that she still wouldn't have let me join the Survey Corps. I never even told my mother how much I loved her, then. What's changed?" Eren stared deeply at the table.
"But, that's why we came all the way here in Shiganshina. To prevent the loss of life. And to save anyone that's left within the walls." Frieda reached her hands across the table and placed one of them on top of Eren's for a moment. "I'm with you, Eren. Before you found me, last night, I was trapped under the Vow of Pacifism for three years. I couldn't protect my people, even if I wanted to without King Karl Fritz interfering. You freed me from that vow. Now we can do what we can to save whoever."
Eren's frown quickly turned into a light smile as he saw Frieda's hand on top of his. "Thanks."
Carla had returned to the kitchen to inform Eren and Frieda. "My husband will be coming down, shortly."
"Ok." Frieda sipped some of Frieda's tea. "I like your tea, Misses Yaeger." Frieda smiled.
"Why thank you, Frieda."
"Where did you learn to make tea from?"
"I used to work as a waitress in a restaurant. I learned how to cook food and make beverages for customers. But that was a few years before I met my husband." Carla explained as she cleaned dishes.
"Maybe I can learn to make food like you, Misses Yaeger." Frieda said.
"And what about you, Mister Kruger?" Carla slightly glanced at Eren.
"Eh?" Eren looked towards Carla's direction.
"What do you think of my cooking?" Carla asked Eren.
Eren pause for two seconds, then looked at the table he was sitting at. "It's fine."
Carla stared at Eren while he was eating bread. She got a good look at his face. In her mind, his face had looked familiar to someone she knew... but couldn't figure it out. Then, she spotted that his left earlobe was red. She remained silent for a moment. Suddenly, Grisha Yaeger had walked in from another room, fully dressed casually. Both Eren and Frieda, whom were both sat at the table had turned towards Grisha.
"Good morning, dear." Grisha said as he entered the kitchen.
"Good morning, Grisha." Carla walked over and pecked Grisha on the cheek. "These are the patients I was telling you about."
Grisha looked over to the table. "Ah, yes. Patients. I'm sure that I can-" Grisha then gasped when he saw both Frieda Reiss and his adult son, Eren Yaeger. His body paused as he stared at his son. Then at Frieda, whom he recognised as the King of the Walls from his future memories. His body paused and slightly shook.
"Is there something, Grisha?" Carla asked, as she saw his reaction.
Grisha's body went from nervous and hesitant to become quickly calm. His glasses were shaded by white light. "I'm fine, darling. If you don't mind, I would like to speak with Mister Kruger, alone." Grisha said as he looked at his adult son.
"Hm? But what about Miss Reiss? She came along with Mister Kruger." Carla asked.
"Everything will be fine. Our conversation won't take long." Grisha gave Carla a false smile. "Please follow me, Mister Kruger."
Eren slowly got up from the table and followed Grisha towards his cellar.
Five Minutes Later
Eren and Grisha now stood face-to-face within the cellar. Grisha let out his emotions of seeing his future son.
"Is that really you, Eren?" Grisha asked.
"Yeah, it's me, dad." Eren replied.
"I... I don't believe it. You've grown up, Eren." Grisha palmed his left forehead. "This wasn't what I predicted with the Attack Titan's power..."
"I guess you can say that time's changed." Eren shrugged.
"So, you made it here, all the way back to the basement?" Grisha asked.
"Took a little over five years to get here." Eren said.
"Wait... where's Zeke?" Grisha questioned.
"Zeke? The truth is..." Eren suddenly remembered his older half-brother, Zeke. He remembered running towards him when Marley attacked. Then he remembered Gabi blasting his head off his shoulders with an Anti-Titan rifle. Luckily, Zeke had caught his head. "I don't know. He could be here in this timeline... or he could still be in the other timeline. But I assume the Zeke in this timeline is in Marley."
Grisha sighed in relief. "Zeke is safe, then."
"Yeah. But he became the Beast Titan, though." Eren informed Grisha, which earned a gasp.
"When I met him here in Shiganshina... five years from now. He tried to convince me that you had brainwashed me and he said that he and I were both "victims" of you. It was as if he held some type of grudge against you, dad." Eren said as he remembered the events of reconquering Shiganshina.
"I see..." Grisha then sat at his desk and thought about the times when he acted as a bad and controlling father towards Zeke in Marley. And then he remembered when Zeke had arrested Grisha and his first wife, Dina. "I was a terrible father towards Zeke. I bred him for his royal blood and used him to gain information on Marley for my own satisfaction. I never listened to Zeke as a boy, until it was too late. Because of my foolishness and naivety as a father, many of my Eldian Restorationist comrades, including my first wife, Dina, were sent to Paradis as Pure Titans."
"Dina ate mom." Eren said.
"What?" Grisha looked at Eren, as he raised his head.
"When the Warrior Unit attacked Shiganshina later on, today... Dina, your first wife found our house. Mom was trapped in fallen debris and Dina found her. She killed and devoured mom right in front of me." The scene of Dina devouring Carla played within his mind.
Grisha's eyes filled with shock. "Oh god..." Grisha then remembered Dina turning into a Pure Titan against her will. "Dina..."
"Five years afterwards, I met Dina again when I was being kidnapped by Bertoldt and Reiner. I soon came into contact with her, while unknowingly awakening the Power of the Founding Titan. I ordered the Titans to tear her to shreds for killing mom and Hannes." The scene of Eren using the Founder had played in his mind like a film. "It's because that Dina had royal blood that I'm still here, today."
'Royal blood... royal blood...' Grisha thought. "Tell me, Eren. The woman you brought, here... is she the King of the Walls?" Grisha questioned Eren about Frieda.
Eren knew Grisha was talking about Frieda. "Yeah. She is. I freed her from the Vow of Pacifism and brought her here to help protect Paradis." Eren said, honestly.
Grisha's eyes widened a bit, learning that Frieda is free and she has full access of using the Founding Titan's power. He then caught a glimpse of Eren controlling all Pure Titans and using them to destroy everything in their path through his Attack Titan ability to see into the future. "Are... are you going to use the King to activate the rumbling?"
Eren remained silent and closed his eyes.
"Eren! Look at me when I'm talking to you! Are you going to use Frieda?" Grisha yelled.
Eren remained silent and thought about the time he spent with Frieda. It had been half a day since he'd known and freed her. He knew that she is a loving and caring girl. He mentally questioned himself, if he could really use her. He then opened his eyes and gave his dad an answer. "I don't know..."
Grisha then got up from this desk and walked over to his adult son. "Then, please. Don't do it."
"You don't get it, dad. I have to protect Paradis, somehow..."
Grisha sighed. "Look. I understand that the whole world fear us as devils. And that you want to protect Paradis. Better than anyone. But, committing mass genocide isn't the answer. There are millions of innocent people throughout the world that has nothing to do with us. If you do activate the rumbling, not just only will the world see you as a devil... but everyone within Paradis will see you as one, too. Now as your father, who is on his last year... I want you to promise me that you won't activate the rumbling. Even after I'm gone. Show me that you can erase the hatred of the world without killing." Grisha demanded.
"Dad..."
"Promise me!" Grisha yelled.
Eren had thought long and hard, if he should listen to his dad. Ten seconds later, he sighed. "Fine. I'll try to think of another option."
"Thank you, Eren. Now I know that I can trust you." Grisha hugged Eren.
Thirty Minutes Later
Eren and Frieda had left the house before a young Eren and Mikasa had arrived there. The two young kids had came home from a long trip of collecting firewood. After storing wood inside of a chimney, Carla had checked his left ear and noted it to be red. He then sat down at a table. As soon as he did, he noticed a certain seat was warmer than expected.
"Mom? Was anyone sitting here?" A young Eren asked.
"Hm?" Carla turned and looked at Eren, whom was sitting at the table. She lightly gasped as she saw a complete resemblance and compared the mystery person called Eren Kruger, to her son.
"Mom?"
"Oh, it's nothing. Your father had some patients come by this morning."
"Patients? Really?" A young Eren questioned.
"Mm-hmm."
A young Eren then looked at his dad. "Hey, dad. Where are you going?"
"I have another patient in the interior. It might take up to a week." Grisha explained that he'd be going to Wall Sheena.
The Yaeger family were fine in the kitchen. Carla was doing dishes again, Grisha was preparing to leave for work, a young Eren was eating lunch and a young Mikasa remained quiet for a minute.
"So, um..." A young Mikasa muttered.