Everyone felt it again.
Every single person in Paradis Island felt a sharp flitch within them. It wasn't particularly unpleasant or painful, but it was noticeable enough that everyone stood still as if frozen in time.
No one was mysteriously transported to a land without time or death, no one saw a tree where every path converged nor did they step on the sands of an eternal, endless realm.
Instead, every single person was taken aback by suddenly noticing a tall figure directly in front of them. It was a man with long hair flowing behind his shoulders, with his back turned against them.
"H-hello?"
"No one beyond the shores of this Island can mean you any harm now. No human will ever feel the humiliation of being caged behind the cramped walls that once surrounded us. No hateful country will ever send a titan to prey on you or your loved ones."
…The rumbling had been a success.
Everyone was too stunned to say anything to the man uttering those words individually to each and every single subject of Ymir, but they all thought about what it could mean.
It meant that everyone outside the Island had been trampled, they had won. Eldia had emerged triumphant from the deepest and darkest abyss it was submerged in.
"That said. Never forget all the lives lost to get to this point, never forget why this had to happen. Honor and mourne those that aren't here anymore, but let the departed be the only thing you cling to from our brutal and horrific past."
The man then turned around and looked every Eldian in the eye, the eyes of the demon who raged with sin and death. Every man and woman took a step back after losing themselves in the depths of green that told the story of someone who gave everything to achieve his dream, who swam countercurrent in a sea of blood.
"But you have choices now. You don't have to bear the weight of what was done, you were a product of our circumstances, and that time is over. You can do what you want, you have no need to be afraid about when someone will come to take everything from you, your peace, your dreams, your freedom…
On the other side of the Ocean, there is nothing but the cooling footprints of the titans I sent, but the earth cares nothing for conflict or war. The landscape and the beauty we yearned to see will heal, just like we will."
After those words were said, Eren Jaeger gave a crooked and warm smile to his people. His eyes still held that fiery abyss of guilt mixed fervor, but some keen observers managed to catch a small softening in his gaze.
"Over there, where the world of men is no more. There will be flaming water streaming from black mountains, earth frozen all year-round and much more. Whatever you find, know that it was worth standing up to this cruel world to reclaim our freedom from it, hell bent on denying us any. You can now keep moving forward, there are no walls or limits anymore.
You are the freest person in the world."
With that, Eren Jaeger faded from everyone's view and they were left with much to process.
"MAKE SOME NOISE PEOPLE!"
"YEEAAH!"
"WE ARE FREE MY BRETHREN, FREE!"
Louise Böhm heard rallied and joyous cries that interrupted the eternal slumber she was cozying up for. She had given her heart and her blood for the lives of her fellow countrymen, including her parents and her newborn brother.
Alas, she had not been strong enough to remain standing, but she was happy to have responded to Eldia's call and trusted Mister Jaeger, Floch and Miss Mikasa to do the rest and win the fight for them.
But now she was being disturbed by such a ruckus. Her eyes fluttered open with some effort, when she managed to glance around she saw a lot of blurry figures of green and some white huddled together, the cheers kept resounding though.
Louise rubbed her eyes and opened and closed a couple of times until she saw the ceiling clearly. She once again turned her head to the right and glanced at the celebrating figures.
It was her comrades, most were embracing each other and crying, some fists were raised to the sky in a display of triumph and everyone was screaming to their vocal cords and heart's content. She saw bloody and raggedy uniforms and shirts, but she got engrossed in the back of one green coat. The wings of freedom in all of their glory made her smile to herself.
Victory was theirs, there would be such a thing as tomorrow for the people of Paradis.
So this was it, she thought as she sat upright in her bed…
She was sitting upright in her bed.
Louise's eyes widened like plates as she unwrapped the bandages around her abdomen that were supposedly barely keeping her in a state of semi-death. And lo-and behold, the wound that the medics couldn't operate on was gone, and she didn't feel the shrapnel was embedded inside her stomach.
To top off the miracle, she didn't even feel any pain, but apparently she wasn't the only one. Telgemeier, a fellow Legion recruit that joined the Jaegerist movement more or less at the same time as her, was also sitting straight, a few beds from her. The boy had tears streaming down his face and a mouth that would catch a fly if he didn't close it. The reason? He was bending and flexing his right leg, a leg that had been bitten off clean by a titan during Marley's assault on Shiganshina.
She tried to stand up from her bed, and found out that she could. She followed it up with some wobbly steps until she managed to gain her balance and re-adapt to walking.
Overwhelmed by the euphoria and unified shouts of victory she decided to walk to an opening where she could take her first breath of fresh air in this world reborn. When she passed the threshold into the building's terrace, she saw wires and hooks flying and connecting all over the rooftops of Shiganshina district. Those who until moments ago were hardened soldiers now were leaping and soaring in the air, carrying with them the laughter of children.
Some others were sitting on the tiles of houses and buildings, holding hands and leaning into each other. Some looking wistfully at the horizon where the wall titans had taken off to, Louise followed suit and directed her gaze towards what was once just a wild dream for everyone.
"Louise!"
She turned around to find a black-haired young man running towards her.
"Wim?"
"Louise! You're… You're alright!" Her comrade exclaimed, smiling at the evident fact that his friend was alive after such a brutal injury. He embraced her tightly in an affectionate manner, intensified not only by personal feelings but relief after witnessing the death of his other friend and brother in arms. This event unknown to Louise.
"We made it Wim, we made it count…we're going to live." She smiled at him, hugging him back.
"I'm just glad you're safe Louise." He brought a hand to her head and braced himself to narrate what he witnessed in the port before the traitors took off in the flying boat. "Holger, Floch… a lot of them didn't make it in the end."
The girl's eyes widened, she thought it was over when she was struck by the blast and shrapnel of a thunder spear. Why were more lives lost? Did the rubble from the walls crush them?
"H-how? What happened to them?"
"Some of the veterans in the regiment… they couldn't resist the thought of staying put and letting Eren finish the job. They allied themselves with the surviving Marleyans and assaulted our position in the harbor."
"Holger was killed by…Mikasa."
Louise stared at the floor, saddened and deep in thought. The loss of a comrade wasn't something new to absolutely anyone in the entire military, but to lose their lives when their survival was more than assured? She was supposed to be the case, but now that she got to live while her friend didn't, it seemed too cruel and unfair.
More so, considering it was Miss Mikasa that had apparently slain their brother in arms.
"...and Floch?"
"Floch, he charged at their entire group alone. He managed to squeeze past two titans, comman- Hange Zoe and those guys from the 104th. Everyone thought a bullet had downed him, but Eren revealed to us what he did. He held onto the ship the traitors were trying to use to stop the rumbling and fought to the very end. There was no need to fight so hard, but he wasn't leaving our fates to chance…
Floch followed through, he devoted his heart so that we could live Louise."
Wim relayed what Eren had revealed to the islanders about the fate of everyone missing after the rumbling was activated which he could not save or heal. Their savior however, purposefully omitted mentioning that it was Mikasa who had finished off Floch Forster, while making sure they knew the last sign of respect Hange Zoe and Jean Kirstein showed him.
Tears raced down the cheeks of Louise, she remembered their redhead superior who had welcomed them into the Legion and filled their heads with dreams about this day. The night of their graduation when they chose to trudge across hell for a purpose.
"The Legion is a place for everybody. Contrary to what I was told when I joined, I think every single one of us is made to be a soldier in the Legion.
No matter how childish or naive your conception of being a soldier is, every single one of us wants to live however we want. Some of you may yearn for a tranquil and calm existence where we don't have to worry about being eaten alive, some of you may seek justice and revenge over those who cannot stand among us today!"
"LONG LIVE COMMANDER ERWIN SMITH!" Another soldier maneuvering through the air acclaimed the thirteenth commander of the Legion, meanwhile Louise felt her fists clench themselves as she remembered the words of the fifteenth that torch-lit night.
"WELL GUESS WHAT PEOPLE! THERE IS ONE WAY AND ONE WAY ONLY TO SEE THOSE DREAMS OF YOURS FULFILLED! AND THAT IS TO NOT FALTER AND FIGHT! OUR PREDECESSORS NEVER BOWED DOWN, DESPITE THE ENORMOUS THREAT THEY FACED. THEY CHARGED FRONT TOWARDS THEIR DEMISE SO WE, THE ONES STANDING HERE AND NOW COULD CARRY ON THE STRUGGLE!
"ACROSS THE SEA, THE ENEMY LICKS THEIR LIPS, THIRSTING FOR OUR BLOOD. IT IS A MATTER OF TIME UNTIL THE WALLS ARE BREACHED AGAIN!"
The once only survivor of the legendary cavalry charge that brought down the beast paused his fiery speech and looked at the crowd of recruits. This band of child soldiers robbed of an innocence and soon to be tossed into the meat grinder were going to be their people's knife in the war tomorrow would bring…they were good enough.
"I am sure that you will all make fine contributions to our survival in the garrison and the military police should you choose to stay and tend to the homefront…
"But if you choose to join our ranks I pledge to you one thing. If we lose a wall, there will still be two more walls, after that there will be the castles, forts and towers. The prison cells and the chapels and the houses. Every last door will be made a wall, every street will be made a fortress. And then the villages, and the cave systems and the underground.
When all of those are lost we will still have our graves as a homeland, BUT NOT WITHOUT OUR TORN BANNERS AND THE WINGS OF FREEDOM AS OUR SHROUDS ON EVERY STEP OF THE WAY! AND NOT WITHOUT THE ENEMY PAYING WITH THEIR BLOOD FOR EVERY CENTIMETER OF LAND AND EVERY LIFE LOST. CERTAINLY NOT WITHOUT OUR REVENGE BEFORE ELDIA FALLS!
ELDIA DOES NOT ASK ONLY FOR THE STRONGEST , IT NEEDS THE WEAK TOO, THE WEAK THAT CAN DECIDE TO PUT UP A FIGHT AND BECOME STRONG. IT NEEDS THOSE WHO CAN DEVOTE THEIR HEARTS TO HER."
In that moment in time, Louise's eyes hardened, she grasped her trepidations and childishness, her adoration for that oriental looking girl who had been the source of her inspiration for years now and her anger against their enemies.
Did she cast them all away? No. She concentrated all of the things that made her passionate and carried her to see another day and visualized them in the palm of her hand.
The redheaded officer asked the question every one came to hear from the recruiters from each branch. Will they join their ranks or not, will they be the ones who carry the torch from the Reconnaissance Legion or not? The officer then gave them a salute with his fist on his heart.
Louise had seen it and done it a million times, it always excited her a little. She had always felt it gave her reassurance, despite it just being a salutation adhering to a chain of command, it had grown a lot on the people of Paradis and Louise due to recent events.
But now, with all of the things that made Louise herself on her hand, she balled a fist and held a firm grip, her left arm placed firmly behind her back and her fist was pressed directly to her heart.
She would devote her heart for humanity's victory and liberation, may this night and this oath be remembered.
Louise's sobs continued but she held herself together, she recreated the pose her body seemed to have adopted out of sheer feeling without command that night, and wim joined her.
"Holger, Captain, everyone…" The boy started but trailed off, with tears streaming from his own eyes.
"Floch Forster, Holger Strauss." Louise said with absolute resolution.
"Petra Ral." A young boy with orange hair and clad in cadet corps attire said behind them, with fist in chest as well. With so many people flying around, someone must have noticed the makeshift but passionate requiem being held for fallen comrades.
"Sasha Blouse." "Samuel Nilsson." "Erwin Smith." "Marlo Freudenberg." "Eduk Lobov." "Anne Grünewald." "Sofia Kropp."
More people congregated on the terrace and names were being honored by everyone until the legionnaires, policemen and garrison troops packing the terrace and nearby rooftops fell silent.
Louise then spoke. "You have devoted your hearts like it was asked of you. You all left us early so that we could see this day, but you also entrusted us with the fight for our survival and everyone on this Island. And it has come, your hearts' sacrifice will ensure the sun rises again and for the foreseeable future over every Eldian alive. You may now rest."
Everyone assembled saluted once again and in unison cried.
"DEVOTE YOUR HEARTS."
"DEVOTE YOUR HEARTS."
"DEVOTE YOUR HEARTS."
After the crowd seemed to have collectively lost its voice, Wim dared to ask Louise with a sore throat. "So what now?"
"Do you have a signal flare?"
The boy was confused but handed her the pistol anyways.
Louise checked the chamber to see what color was loaded in the chamber and nodded.
Suddenly, everyone in Shiganshina noticed a trail of green smoke had been fired towards the horizon beyond the former walls.
Dirty blonde hair flowed with the wind, hazelnut eyes stared at the green smoke at first, but quickly trailed off to stare at the distance.
"We change direction, towards the future. Forward."
Immediately after Eren's announcement, everyone in Mithra's was scrambling to get things done and set out. Under the Queen's orders, soldiers and men from the royal court were dispatched to every city, district and town to announce the formal end of the state of war and let the people know of the sacrifices made.
A national day of liberation and another one for the remembrance of those that gave their lives will soon have to be designated. But that will have to be discussed later.
Now, the Queen of an Eldia without walls was heading towards Shiganshina district in the only blimp in Paradis Island that remained functional, the one that had been used during the raid on Liberio.
Whilst Historia Reiss loathed having to engage in politics and speeches and everything of the sorts, she did swear to uphold the duties that were entrusted to her all those years ago. Joining the soldiers that defended the Island and allowed for the rumbling to happen despite the invader's desperate attempt to stop it was not mere affairs of state that could be treated as a chore.
Those men and women were her brothers in arms, and their fight was her fight. The physical strain on her body due to recent (too recent to ride even one street on horseback) childbirth was not an excuse, she had to be there.
And something in her told her that the little sprog that he she had just brought into this world had to be here as well.
That way, Faye Reiss of Jaeger was aboard an airship.
Down below the view was somewhat poetic, as the blimp with the royal coat of arms descended. Days ago, enemy airships were harbingers of death and the sensation in Shiganshina was that of palpable anxiety.
But now? Now's not the case. Queen Historia would confirm Louise's signal, join in the honoring of fallen comrades and present her daughter to her soldiers and the fires would be put out.
What nobody realized with everyone taking their gazes up to the sky was one Eren Jaeger materializing from apparently thin air and falling on his ass somewhere in the district, now full of life.
REQUIEEEM, REQUIEEEM NAMELESS FLOWERS THAT WILL BLOOM IN THE END! I PRAY THAT YOU REST IF YOUR NAME YOU REMEMBER.
I legitimately felt strong emotions when writing this. Floch and Sasha may be my favorite characters but this is the story I think about whenever I'm walking on the beach.
I'm trying to be more consistent with updating both stories and polishing chapters. I initially thought it was weird that in chapter 1 some guy claimed I made Eren and Ymir sound American, I didn't see it but I did modify their talk since it felt brief and tasteless in retrospect.
In the following days I'll also make a thorough revision of both chapters 2 and 3. One thing that I always do is post chapters as soon as I finish them (very often that being quite late at night xd) and only doing minor corrections if any. I tried to not do that but it is currently 2:48 AM on my side of the world lmao.
Enjoy.