Creation began on 10-14-23

Creation ended on 11-02-23

Attack on Titan

Grausam Zanki, Condemned to be Redeemed

A/N: Is there hope for someone that was so rotten to the core of their being that they can change if given an opportunity to use their skills to contribute to society?

The darkness, cold and indifferent. His restraints, keeping him bound and unable to escape. Time, vast, endless and degrading. He had lost much since his imprisonment in this wretched place that existed beyond the realm of mortality, and this included much of his memory. Over time, he had forgotten faces, places, objects, even particular reasons for why.

But he tried to hold onto one thing above all else: His own name.

Grausam Zanki. He was Grausam Zanki, a former citizen of the island of Paradis, a small nothing of a patch of land floating in the ocean. And long after that, he had been a citizen of Marley due to his contributions to their military powers by providing them with the impossible, the ability to create Titans with intelligence that were independent of their captured Titan powers, making better use of their Eldian servants when they were relying on the last holder of the Beast Titan before they were defeated by Paradis. Them and their so-called hope from the sky. And in the end, he had lost everything to the one person he grew to hate more than anyone else in his life: His step-granddaughter, Kaede Sogen, who he felt had been his greatest mistake ever made.

"Grausam…Zanki…" He utters in the darkness.

Unbeknownst to him, he was being observed by a man whose presence had been around for ages, studying him and evaluating his soul.

"Oh, how the brutal and soulless have fallen in their crusade to take the world," the man utters to him. "But in the absence of power and freedom, there is the hope of defeat to teach the things that those two couldn't teach. One such thing is humility. Another is acceptance of others. You used to understand both once upon a time, didn't you, Grausam Zanki?"

But Grausam didn't say anything to him; he had lost much of his capacity to be social in the time he had been imprisoned.

The man knelt down to his head and placed his right index finger against his temple.

"A speck of light…gives the chance of renewal," he says, and then Grausam raises his head up to look at him. "Do you wish to talk?"

The wizened man looked up to him and uttered the word that he had long forgotten.

"Yes," he said.

"Do you understand me?"

"I understand."

"Do you know who you are?"

"I am…Grausam Zanki."

"Do you remember why you're condemned?"

"I lost to Kaede Sogen."

"Kaede Sogen? Who is she? Who was she?"

"My step-granddaughter. My mistake."

"Your mistake? What did you do?"

"I used her…in my attempt to escape from confinement behind the Walls of Paradis."

"And how did that go for you?"

"I escaped…and I left her to suffer. Once I got what I was after, I had no further use for her. I had no need for anyone else. I was free. Free to live unbound by the chains of my former home. Free to go wherever I pleased. I never wanted to look back."

"Except you did look back. You found out she was alive and decided she needed to be dealt with. You learned that she had adapted to what you did to her, and that she wanted revenge for how you hurt her."

"I never…"

"You tied her down and you injected her with your chemicals until you got the results you were after. She wasn't even ten years old yet, and you planted the seed of vengeance in her that led to your undoing."

Grausam lowered his gaze. His memory was returning to him, and he remembered that he used the girl to regenerate his lost leg. After he had achieved that feat, impressed with the Titans' regeneration abilities, which he believed was what gave them their sense of immortality, he waited for the opportunity to escape, which came the day a Titan larger than the Walls appeared and kicked a hole in it, allowing for other Titans to get in. He remembered the exhilaration he felt when he became a Titan for the first time, the same time his leg grew back, and fleeing whilst everyone else was trying to escape by retreating further inland. There had been no concern for the family he abandoned to save himself, only the unknown future he was carving out.

"Are you the one people call God?" He asks the man.

"Not even close," the man responds. "I am neither God nor Satan. I am neither Vishnu or Zeus, Osiris or Orochi, Behemoth or Leviathan. I am life and death, order and chaos, savior and tormentor. I have been many beings across many lifetimes, navigating the vast ocean that is infinity, driving wedges within existence to create something new…and here I am, at it again."

"Then…you're here to punish me for my sins."

"In a way, yes."

"Even if I believe that there's nothing more that can befall me, I will be forced to realize that it isn't true. I am a prisoner outside of existence, cut off from time and space, locked in this place where all that I once knew is no longer relevant. I accept whatever fate has been dealt to me."

"Don't be so quick to expect the unexpected just yet, Grausam. While your fate has been dealt, I am here to offer you something that may help you return to the grace you cast aside, redeeming your soul as you approach your end."

"So, I must serve in death?"

"No. Not yet. Your death, however long it is from now, is delayed. So, tell me…what would you give to live again in the world? Would you be willing to serve as a pillar within a community…and give people hope during a time of crisis?"

He raised his head back up to look at the man, taking in his features. The man was dark-skinned, with eyes that were so dark, it felt like they could see into your soul. But there was a light in those eyes; somehow, it felt like this man was much more than who he seemed. If this man wanted him to use his abilities to help others like he had before when he was against the people he turned on, it was either serve or suffer.

"I will…do anything you ask of me," he utters.

-x-

It felt like a dream to be walking back out on the streets of this town he had abandoned, even though he was wide awake. But this dream came with a price; the man that approached him took him away from his prison on what he called a probationary period, meaning that if he took a step out of line and did something that so much as hinted at being cruel, he would be sent back and left there like nothing happened. He was brought to a version of Shiganshina District in a world where he had no family members left alive because they either died from sickness or accidents, but he had some resources to help him contribute to the Survey Corps, because his primary purpose in his task was to help them claim the land taken by the Titans. And part of his purpose was to help them before the island was invaded by Marley's Warrior Unit, so this gave him three years to prepare the Survey Corps.

"Everything in life is connected to everything else in life," the stranger had told him after giving him a detailed note instructing him on who to look for on Paradis. "Every choice you make affects everyone else's choices. You find these three people, if you can convince them to hear you out by telling them what they need to hear, what they need to know…and your task will become easier to achieve. Best of luck to you, Grausam Zanki. Don't blow this up."

And so here he was, looking for the HQ of the Survey Corps in the district, looking for Commander Erwin Smith, Levi Ackerman and Hange Zoe. He was also fortunate to learn that if he needed to prove that he could be of service to the Survey Corps, he would be able to show them what he could contribute if it came to that. If they needed a demonstration, he would give them a demonstration.

He made it sound so easy when he said it, he thought as he stopped in front of the building that housed the base of operations for the Survey Corps. For the sake of redemption for my soul.

He inhaled a new breath and approached the front door.

-x-

From afar, atop the wall overlooking the district, Brother Correction watched with interest as the disgraced man he removed from his prison stepped inside the building. He gave a rare few souls condemned by their own negativity a second chance to redeem themselves, and Grausam was simply the latest attempt to redeem people that made a conscious decision to commit their unjustly acts. If Grausam could do right by the people of this world, even just once, then he would've proven that even his soul, no matter how stained it was by his sins would hold some light in the darkness. Not a lot of light…but some.

And he had the audacity to ask me for my help, he thought as he reflected on another condemned soul that was beyond forgiveness for the mere fact that he chose to commit his actions with full knowledge of his fate. Sometimes, people like that get lucky, but not with me. Forgiveness has to be something one actually wants for the right reasons. It can't just be offered. For people like that, their suffering will be legendary, even in Hell. As the old saying goes, misery loves company, and people like that will have all the company they can want where he's going.

-x-

It was an awkward sense of dread here. But still, Grausam was a man on a new mission, and he had to make sure that he carried it out by talking to these three people. All he could do was hope that they would hear him out and believe him.

"Well, speak," went Erwin Smith to him; he had caught the three during the aftermath of another failed expedition.

"I can help your group against the Titans," he told them.

"In what way?" Levi had asked him, unimpressed by this claim.

"I have information regarding the Titans that only a handful know of…and can offer you a method that would allow you to face them on their own ground better."

"No offense, sir," Hange expressed, "but we've been facing these Titans for several years now. What could you possibly know about them that's more than what we know?"

"They're not what you think they are…and the world isn't what you think it is, either. For example, why do the history books fail to say anything about what life was like before the Walls were erected to protect the so-called last vestiges of humanity from the Titans more than a century ago? Why is there no detailed information about where the Titans originated from or what their purpose, if they even have one, is? I can even tell you that, three years from now, there will be an issue that endangers everyone here."

The three were intrigued by what he told them.

"What do you know?" Erwin asks him. "What is the truth?"

"It all started more than two-thousand years ago, in a time of primitive living and harsh rulership…" He started.

The knowledge Brother Correction gave him to distribute to the people was, while different from the history from his own world, was practically the same as it had always been in nearly every other lifetime. He revealed to them everything he was taught and all that he had learned, from the discovery that the first king had enslaved a young girl that rose to power but suffered from lack of free will to make her own choices…to the self-destructive behavior of one of their ancestors who used the power of the Titans to build the Walls and keep the people confined until the rest of the world had developed the means to destroy them all for their past sins against the world…to even the fact that the royal family that held the Founding Titan were enslaved to the truth because the one that held the Titan power was condemned to the ideology of the man that used it to create the Walls and the Titans inside them to be an empty threat to destroy the world beyond the island they dwelled on. He told them what he knew of the Nine Titans, the thirteen-year death sentence each one bestowed upon the person that was turned into a Titan in order to eat the previous holder of the power to return to their human form and access the memories they had up to their death, and what could be expected from the people outside the Walls that had access to superior technology and were decades ahead of them. The most important details he held onto until they desired to know what they could do to defend themselves.

"…So…that sums it up for the most part," he tells them.

Levi found his story ridiculous.

Hange found it beyond her ability to contain her impressment.

Erwin found it within his sense of comprehension. But in the end, all three had to come to the conclusion…that this elder was not trying to deceive them or lead them astray; he had nothing to gain by lying to them and knew he'd be facing the repercussions of inciting their fury if he did.

"Do you swear that everything you've told us is the absolute truth?" Erwin asks him, just as Levi got ready to unsheathe his ODM blade under his left hand.

"I swear," Grausam responds. "I have nothing to gain by lying."

"Okay, say that…that we choose to believe you, what can we possibly do against countries like this…Marley that have exploited the power of seven of these Titans?"

"If you want, I can offer my greatest resource: My knowledge of the Titans was enough to enable me to create my own version of the serum that turns people into Titans at will."

"You can create Titans?" Hange questions, instantly curious at how he was able to achieve this.

"My drive to regain my leg is what led me to commit my own acts of cruelty that gave promising results. The only difference between my version of the Titan Serum and the one used by others to turn people into Titans is that mine is dependent upon the person's most dominant traits to create the Titan that will serve them best…and there is no death sentence. Once injected, the power is yours until the day you die…which is based on how long you can live."

"How are you certain of this?" Levi asks him.

"I injected myself and others long ago…and I still retain the power to this very day."

Unfortunately, despite still possessing the power of his Akuma Titan, Grausam wasn't as powerful as he had been before his step-granddaughter when she rose to power as the Dark Titan and became known as the Queen of the Titans by the masses. In fact, his power had been drastically reduced by Brother Correction to ensure that he wasn't a threat to the people he was being punished to aid, so he was no stronger than a regular Titan if they possessed intelligence; his Titan was fifteen meters like in the beginning, with dark skin and red eyes, but that was it. It had average muscle mass and no access to any internal or external bodily manipulation, making armor and weapons creation impossible. But because he had injected himself with many variations of his serum in the past, the power was in his blood, so once he recreated his serum, he could bestow the power to others to exploit to their advantage.

"Can you give us a demonstration?" Hange asks him.

"Is there an open space you have access to?" Grausam replies; if he was going to reveal to these three all that he could do, they would need space…and privacy.

-x-

"…I'm surprised that you decided to try your hand with this man, brother," Brother Correction heard his sister say to him from behind, but he ignored her.

The little girl that lived to betray others for the sake of her own amusement frowned as she got closer to him and peeped at what he was watching from behind the trees. She could see Grausam standing in the middle of an open field secluded by the trees and was away from the Walls. While unamused by this turn of events, she thought she would see how far the former wannabe mighty had fallen since meeting her brother and getting offered a chance to redeem his soul or face the consequences for his choices that led him down the inescapable road he was condemned to. And then, she saw him cut himself with a small knife and was surrounded by fire and heat, disappearing in a streak of light. She could feel the intensity of the heat from where she stood…and saw the former enemy of the young woman that defeated him…a mere shadow of its former self.

Brother Correction had to make sure that the Akuma Titan was not as dangerous as it used to be due to Grausam's former drug addiction…and was impressed that it looked less than the menace it had been once before he fell from grace. While fifteen meters in height, was of average build, like a regular person that didn't engage in any sort of physical regimes, standing out with its dark skin and red eyes, resembling its possessor without the sense of old age. He could see the three Survey Corps members looking in disbelief as the Akuma Titan began performing a series of exercises with its arms and legs, showing that it was capable of many of the same tasks a human could do, and then used its arms to scoop away dirt to form letters on the ground.

"Are you impressed yet?" He whispered the words that Grausam etched into the ground in front of them; when he reduced the man's Titan power, this included his ability to speak through his Titan like Zeke Yeager had been able to. If they are impressed enough, then all he needs to do now is make sure they have the means to protect themselves and their homes from the enemy they need to defeat in a different manner.

The siblings could see one of the three corps members, likely Hange, throwing their arms into the air and moving around like a crazy person. No doubt they were impressed and wanted to get their hands on the power as soon as possible.

-x-

"Impress" was hardly enough to describe what the Survey Corps had seen from this old man that offered his services to them. "Stun" was the more appropriate word to use in this case. Even though the transformation had only been demonstrated for ten minutes, it was enough to make them conclude that, with the right individuals and their motivations to defend the people from the Titans, they could achieve more than they thought possible. The possibilities, while limited to what they knew the Titans were capable of, were still remarkable. The power, the strength, the regenerative ability to regrow lost or damaged limbs so long as your actual body remained unharmed while in the nape, it all felt like a mighty sliver of hope being offered to them from this man.

"Why do this?" Erwin asks Grausam after getting a list of what materials he needed to reproduce his Jaeger Titan Serum for the Survey Corps' use.

"For redemption," he answers him.

"Redemption?"

"A long time ago…I did many wrongs. Many great wrongs, without any shred of remorse. And now…I need to do what I did in the past for the right reasons. I'm doomed to fall in life, but if I can do even one thing that gives the people hope in a time of crisis…then maybe whatever fate awaits me in the next world won't be as bad as I expect it to be."

"I've actually heard worse reasons than that."

Erwin gave the list to Hange, who went to retrieve the materials Grausam needed.

"If this works for the Survey Corps, your service will be invaluable," Hange tells Grausam.

As much as he wanted to take pleasure in such a belief, Grausam couldn't. Not because it meant he was doing something noble for these people, but because it reminded him of the trust he obtained from the Marleyans when he gave them his secrets to revolutionize their monopoly of Subjects of Ymir more efficiently than before. Although he was doing the same thing here, it was for different reasons that didn't include genocide or world domination. Still, he couldn't accept such praise or compliments from these people, lest he go back to his old ways and become the fiend he was condemned as long ago. And this was only the first step in many that would be taken to change the state of things on Paradis.

First, the Titan infestation had to be controlled, then the government had to be restructured, and finally the world had to know that there needed to be a different way to coexist with a race of people that never asked for this power that labeled them as monsters in the eyes of many when they were people just like the rest of them.

-x-

Even from the shadows of an alleyway, Brother Correction saw Grausam slowly taking his first steps toward the salvation he needed for his own soul. It made him think of what a man once said to another man scarred by vengeance and loss about how the suffering of people would cause those that choose to inflict suffering onto others incapable of peaceful sleep due to their guilty conscience not permitting it. He knew that Grausam would face some difficulties trying to get at least one good night of sleep due to the suffering he caused in the past, but if he stayed on this path that led to his redemption, then even one night of good sleep would do him some good in the long run. For he will have begun the absolving of his guilty conscience before returning to his imprisonment in the Eldian Paths.

"People that suffer will still be able to sleep," he tells himself, "but for those that choose to inflict suffering onto others, their guilty conscience will not grant them peace. Ever. But if those that walk the path of redemption stay on it and do right by the people they must atone to, even one night of a grateful rest will grant their soul a boon of absolution."

To be continued…

A/N: And here is the first chapter of something new where an OC I made is made to turn his twisted skills into hope for the hopeless. In honesty, this was a random idea. How many would try to turn fallen villains into people that create those that could turn out to be heroes? And what do you expect to see happen when the Survey Corps starts to exploit the power of the Jaeger Titans to do more than they thought was possible?