Creation began on 01-21-24

Creation ended on 01-25-24

Attack on Titan

The Pale One: Mishaps of the Forsaken

Pēruwan could see into this young woman's soul…and knew she was enslaved to a will not her own most of the time…but was trying to fight against. Probably around his age, if not a little younger, capable of true greatness if she could break free from the chains of her dark inheritance, but what caught his eye about her was the little girl beside her. The little girl that seemed hopeful…but was hurt and confused.

"As a Horseman of the Restorative," Gaia had once informed him, "you can see into the hearts of others if you let yourself open up to them, to know what it is that drives or rules them. For the hopeful and hopeless, you can see their pain, their heartache. For those whose hearts are tainted, you can see their hate, their anger, their fear. You will see all that they try to hide, to deny, and it'll be up to you to inform them of what awaits them on the path they are on…unless they change of their own volition."

"But Mother Gaia, you said that those with the Attack and Founding Titans are incapable of deviance," he had told her because she had told him once. "How can I change their paths if they are incapable of changing their minds of their own volition?"

"Because you're the only one alive that can walk between the land of the living and the realm of the departed. You are the bridge between life and death, an angel of mercy and a demon of retribution. For you and your predecessors and successors, you're the only ones that possess such a power, to see into the hearts of others, to glimpse into their souls, to know whether they seek to stand in the light…or dwell in the darkness. As for those possessing the power of the Attack or Founding Titans, you can only show them a new path. They have to be the ones to choose whether or not to walk it."

As he was still searching for the Unity within Wall Sina, he came upon this young woman that was the current holder of the Founding Titan…and this little girl that possessed some sort of association with her. While he was also within his rights to brandish his weapons and murder the woman and ensure that the power of the Founder was out of anyone's reach, he looked at the little girl, seeing her hope…and her misery. He saw a woman that, while attractive in her own right, was not a welcoming spirit…but an uncaring demon that had birthed an angel among mortals because she was so bitter and cruel. There was affection and a longing for connection from the girl, but to this woman that was her mother, there was no such desire, no such connection, only…resentment, hatred…misery. He inhales a new breath and speaks the words that needed to be shared.

"I am…sorry for the both of you," he apologizes to them. "Please, rather than dwell over what won't be, focus on what can be, and what can be…is the both of you walking away from pain and misery."

"Excuse me?" The woman asks, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Turn away and live. Live to see greatness. Live to be greatness. Fight back against despair…and live to overcome it."

He walks around the two and continues on to find the Unity. All he could do was hope that they would find peace in the future. And if he could find the Unity while they were still alive, they would have nothing but the future.

-x-

Zeke ran. He had no choice but to run. The Titans that had attacked had caught them off guard. Two of them, one large, the other short, but they were both dangerous when they made their moves…and the price of escape was the loss of the Jaw Titan and its holder. He was in a bind now; if Marley learned of this loss, they would kill him if he returned empty-handed, and he couldn't return empty-handed.

"I know why I was picked," the Jaw Titan's holder had informed him. "I know I'm not useful to Marley. I don't care about that. I care about my family. They're the only reason I chose to accept this. If it puts a smile on their faces and helps them live a better life, then I can live with being expendable in the eyes of the nation."

Damn it, Zeke thought as he collapsed near a tree. "Dammit!"

He should've brought several expendable soldiers with him, turn them into Titans and use them as a personal army. He should've done a lot of things differently, but because Marley was being faced with strange circumstances that hindered their hold on their power, he thought he could take advantage of the situation with Paradis and resolve the matter on his own terms. Whoever or whatever this Restorative was, whether it was an organization or a cult that had influence over the planet, Zeke was unprepared for what was here on this small island. And now the Jaw Titan was gone, possessed by an Eldian that had been condemned to walk around as a Titan for the rest of their days, and only God knew who they once were and what they would do now that they had returned to life. He was, figuratively speaking, up a creek for now.

Only for now, because he had to think of a different way to achieve his reason for being here, even if it meant doing things…vastly different from what he had thought of doing in the beginning. Oh, how it seemed that everything had originally been going well before someone up and screwed the pooch Marley had been grooming to win a championship for the world.

I will get the Founder, he thought as he sat against the tree. Nothing will stop me.

-x-

Sleep was different from the last few times he found the time to rest his body, but it was similar to the time he drifted off while still active in his search for the Unity, as Pēruwan found himself in the realm where the Eldians were all connected to the Founding Titan's power. This time, he was standing before two women, one all grown up, the other still less than a young woman, their faces mildly scarred with strange scars under their eyes and on their cheeks, and bare as the day they drew their first breath.

"You will know you're reborn tonight," he recalls Gaia telling him the day he completed his training to become the new Horseman of Death for the Restorative. "You are no longer a foundling, Pēruwan. Now, you are found. Now, you are walking the path you were meant to take, and it will take you to where you need to be. Go out there and carve your own story."

The woman on his left was a blond who looked like she had been forced to smile so much that her cheeks hurt, and the girl on his right appeared to be tanned with freckles on her face.

"Do…you two…know who you are?" He asks them.

"Who," the blond asks, "are you?"

"Pēruwan. The Pale One."

"Pēruwan?"

"Yes. And you?"

"Dina. Dina Fritz-Yeager."

"And you, miss?"

"I am…I was…Ymir," the girl responds.

"But…it's not your name, is it?" Pēruwan asks her.

"I don't…remember my name."

"I sympathize; Pēruwan is the name I was given to replace the name I lost in my past. If Ymir is the name you were given to replace the name you can no longer recall, then I shall call you Ymir…until the day you can recall or the day you choose to make the name your own."

The girl, Ymir, gave a slight smile in gratitude.

"What is this place?" She asks him.

"This is where those with the power of the Titans come from time to time," he explains.

"The power of the Titans?"

"Basically, the power associated with the Nine Titans created from Ymir Fritz's passing. The Founding, Colossal, Armored, Female, Jaw, Cart, Beast, War Hammer and Attack Titans. Unfortunately, I took steps to ensure that the Colossal, Armored, Female and Cart Titans were out of Marley's possession, which left only the Founding, War Hammer, Beast, Jaw and Attack Titans. The Attack Titan is already in someone's possession, and the Founder is with the royal family, leaving only the Beast, Jaw and War Hammer. Reveal to me…the power you obtained."

His eyes glowed for a brief moment, and he saw something that made no sense to him. In front of him, a large Titan with gnashing teeth and savage claws, see-through like a departed soul, standing behind the two women, its long arms and hands gripping them subtly, like it couldn't choose which one to value over the other. Behind the Titan was a young boy with a sad smile, see-through like the Titan, and half his face mauled, like he had been ravaged by a pack of dogs let off their leashes by a cruel owner. Looking further at the boy's body, he saw that his left arm and right leg were missing, his waist had been shredded, and whatever clothing he had left were bloody. This indicated that he was the previous holder of one of the remaining Titan powers possessed by Marley…and it had somehow been split between these two women, which seemed unusual due to how nobody had tried to divide the Titan powers any further than nine times.

"The Jaw Titan," he expresses. "You two were once Titans…and you devoured a young man to take the Jaw Titan from him. It wasn't intentional, but a young man was killed by you two. His blood is on your hands, even though neither of you have any malicious intent to cause others harm for any reason."

"We killed a boy for the Titan power he possessed?" Dina questions, making sure she understood the ramifications of her previous actions that she had no control over. "Oh, God."

"But as I said, you had no malicious intent to do so," Pēruwan explained. "Yes, you both killed him…but it was during the time you were Titans, deprived of any thought or awareness. You couldn't form any intent or do anything to prevent this act from occurring. His blood is on your hands, but you had no say in doing so, which means you're not completely guilty of killing a life. The people responsible for turning you into Titans are guilty of this. What matters now is…what are you two going to do with the time you have to live?"

"Is there a choice?" Dina asks.

"There is now. I'm giving you a choice. Live and avoid conflict. Live your lives until a new hope is unleashed upon the world. Don't let your lives be dictated by those that want to exploit you or hurt you. You decide how to live. And you both have thirteen years now; while it may not seem like much right now, that's enough time to return to life and make your mark in people's lives. And if Marley doesn't know you two exist, all the more reason to live now with renewal."

The Titan that had once been in the possession of the young boy that was killed vanished, and the boy himself was now whole, but his sad expression remained as he also faded away. Although it was probably not in the best interest of anyone to mourn the loss of whoever might've been an enemy to someone else, Pēruwan raised his left hand in prayer to silently mourn the child's undesired passing; any young life taken for any reason, no matter how just or unjust it was, was just cruel and unworthy of the people that made the choice to take that life.

"Wait," Ymir went. "Are you an Eldian?"

Pēruwan looks at her and responds, "No. I am not an Eldian…nor am I a Marleyan. I am…a horseman. A horseman for the Restorative."

"The Restorative?" Dina utters. "So, it really does exist. I heard stories about it, but I never believed them, that they were nothing but rumors or a false prophecy."

"Oh, the Restorative is real. It's everywhere, carried by those that believe in its cause to bring coexistence to the world once more. It doesn't matter who you are if you believe in the notion that there can be peace between all."

And for a time, Dina did want to believe in that notion, not the notion that the Eldians possessed an empire that fell from grace and could rise again in the future at the cost of everyone else. If there was a chance at coexistence, she hoped to live to see it become a reality. And now, she had thirteen years to find out if it was going to be a reality.

"Will it happen?" She wanted to know. "Will coexistence between all walks of life be possible?"

"If I can find the Unity and use its power," he tells them, "then the desire for coexistence ceases to be what we would understand as a thought or dream…and what is reality becomes the dream that it used to be."

-x-

Gasp! Grisha, as he was walking towards the home of the Ackerman family in the woods, stops as he sees something yet to transpire for the first time in several weeks, his eyes wide with fear as he tries to shake it off.

A Titan, bigger than the ones he knew the people of Paradis regularly feared, covered in fur, with long arms and a rage that coursed through its veins, grabbed chunks of the wall it stood upon and threw them down to the city below, killing or maiming dozens. Based on the background of the day this was happening, it took place during the dusk hours, and he could see his wife and son being among the people fleeing from the Titan, just as it was prepared to hurl another chunk of the wall at the people again. But then, there were two smaller Titans that appeared on either side of the larger one, one with large teeth the other with large claws, and they attacked the larger Titan, just as he appeared and pulled his wife and son to safety.

A memory of what it yet to come, he realizes, but was confused by what he saw in the memory; from he understood of how memories functioned, he was supposed to see memories from the point of view of the person that possessed them, but he saw them from a third-person perspective, from whatever angle was possible. Whose memory was that?

He then quickly ran towards the Ackerman home; the sooner he helped the family he was on his way to provide medical service to, the sooner he could return home to make sure his wife and son were still alive.

-x-

Nightlife in the districts of Wall Sina were different from what he had found in the districts of Wall Rose as he looked down at streets below. The people were all dressed in fancy clothes, chatting like there was nothing wrong, and there were these men and women in military uniforms with the insignia of a horse with a horn on its head. While Pēruwan had little in the way of an opinion towards their way of life, he didn't see any of these people, these isolated nobles…as having any idea of what was going on with the world and how much change was needed to affect the maimed and scattered.

Unity, he wonders as he runs across the rooftops of the buildings, where are you? You seek to be found, hidden in the deepest darkness. You're somewhere within Wall Sina…but where? Where are you hiding? Who has hidden you? And how long will it be before you are found?

-x-

It was only as a precaution, but Grisha didn't like the idea of leaving the Ackerman family alone in the woods, so he had a medically valid excuse to bring the three with him to Shiganshina District. Because Mrs. Ackerman was afflicted with toxemia, making her more susceptible to infection while pregnant, he wanted the family close by so he could help take care of her better to ensure mother and child were healthy. Either way, he was hoping to keep them all safe from danger. The less he had to worry about, the easier it would be to keep an eye on everyone, since he decided that he wasn't going to go after the Founding Titan from the royal family, as his encounter with Pēruwan in the paths had opened his eyes to much more than what he had originally thought.

"The people that possess the Attack Titan are neither friend nor ally," the pale-skinned man informed him. "They serve a belief that is as empty and hollow as a glass cup. The drive for freedom that is as devoid of hope as its drive to move forward into only a future that is without any sense of understanding. That's why anyone that has anything to do with the person holding the Attack Titan is as condemned to an inescapable fate as the holder themselves if all they want is freedom."

But now, Grisha didn't desire freedom. He might've wanted it in his past, but it was for all Eldians that had been treated as less than people by the rest of the world. He didn't want whatever future there was to be one of violence and pain. And he didn't want a future where his younger son walked the path of freedom through conflict, not if he had anything to do about it.

"Excuse me, Dr. Yeager," went the Ackerman daughter, Mikasa, to him, "but what is Shiganshina like? Is it a big place?"

"Not that big, but quite as large as a village," he explains. "A bit noisy, but it's quieter by the river, away from the larger buildings."

"Oh."

-x-

"…So," went a man dressed in white robes with a hood over his face and a large bow on his back, "Marley is down to just one Titan power because they sent two of their remaining Titans to Paradis?"

"That's right, sir," a lowly man tells him. "One of our moles learned that it was the holders of the Beast and Jaw Titans, leaving Marley with the War Hammer Titan as a last defense. The Pale One, isn't he on Paradis?"

"Yes. He's looking for the Unity there. One of us will head to the island and meet with him."

"Which one?"

"Permission to speak, Weißes (White One)," a woman utters, dressed in a brown and white dress.

"Speak," the white-garbed man responds.

"I wish to be among those going to Paradis."

"Do you think it's a wise choice? We can't allow for our personal feelings to cloud our objectives. And you and Pēruwan are…somewhat personal when you're together."

"It has been more than three years since we last saw one another, and I am the healer assigned to him. What are the chances that he will be in a situation where he requires my medical aid or someone that can treat his injuries so that he may continue his duty to the Restorative to ensure a future where all are treated as one?"

"Very well, but Chornyy (Black One) is the one that has the last say in anything until you meet with Pēruwan."

The woman nodded in acceptance; so long as she could provide her services to Pēruwan, she could keep her personal feelings aside until after the worst was behind them all.

"We'll find a boat and head to Paradis in three days. This is strictly a volunteer group of thirty people. Till all stand as one."

"Till all stand as one," everyone within the room replied, placing their right hands over their hearts. "Till all stand as one."

-x-

"Till all stand as one," Pēruwan utters as he places his right hand over his heart, looking down at a woman he had seen in the memory of the little girl's soul. "Till all stand as one."

To be continued…

A/N: Using Google Translate, I came up with the names of two of the other three horsemen in this story. Weißes is German for "White One" and Chornyy is Ukrainian for "Black One". Basically, these are Conquest and Famine, respectively. And what do you think Pēruwan is going to do about the little girl's mother? Any guesses?