The Silent Corps

by Traitor of All Traitors

Inspired by Lost in a Cruel World, this idea goes further because of the many possibilities that can befall the world when just one thing changes that changes everything else. The Survey Corps, due to insufficient results and having a loss of manpower, is disbanded to appease the public. But unofficially, they are still active, but bound to a new course when the world is asleep.

3. Quiet Revelations

Creation began on 01-28-23

Creation ended on 02-23-24

Attack on Titan

The Silent Corps: Quiet Revelations

Grisha Yeager awoke in his study with a shock! Did he really dream that…or did he really see what was to come? It was different from what he saw before, though; as the holder of the Attack Titan, he possessed the power to receive memories from those yet to possess the Titan power he had, enabling him to see events yet to come, knowing bits of the future. But what he saw, or what he thought he saw…didn't match up with what he previously saw before.

I saw myself facing the royal family…but then it changed from would've happened…to something that can't be possible, he thought as he tried to comprehend what it was that he saw yet to come to pass.

He saw himself standing before the Reiss family in his original memory yet to come, but then it shifted, like a breeze in the wind, turning into a memory of himself standing beside his first wife, Dina, and they were on a ship, heading back to Marley. It seemed impossible due to what he understood about the power of the Titans, but then he realized that, because of the Founding Titan, the original Titan power that remained in the possession of the Fritz family, there were many other possibilities that were likely unheard of, including the ability to remove the curse of Ymir from a holder of such powers that come at a cost.

"If the past can be changed," he hears a voice say, "then so, too, can the future…if you try hard enough to deviate."

He looked around his study, but there was nobody present.

"Is someone there?" He asks.

"Behind you," the voice responds, and he quickly turns around, seeing a stranger he had never seen before. "Do you wish to receive a boon?"

"Who are you?"

"I am a friend…and a foe. I am a stranger…and a brother. I am hope and despair, light and darkness, damnation and salvation. Do you wish to receive a boon?"

"A boon?"

"Yes. During an audience with one of great power or influence, it is often customary for one to receive a boon, a blessing, a gift of sorts that is worth more to the recipient than it could ever be to someone else. And in an audience, which is similar to an audit of sorts, an interview, a series of questions, I find it best to understand the person I'm talking to in order to ensure that the boon that is to be granted is to their satisfaction."

Grisha was confused by this man's choice of words. He called himself a friend…but he also called himself a foe, a stranger and brother, hope and despair. It wasn't really an answer of his identity, but he was starting to get the impression that this man was simply not just a man…but something else entirely. And he was here to offer him a boon…after talking with him.

"You're not wrong to think that way," the man tells him, pointing to his right side of his temple. "And as I said, if the past can be changed, then so, too, can the future…but only if you have the will, the courage…to deviate, to stray from the path intended to be followed…and forge a new one that is not traversed as much. The road less traveled, if you will. The path one never takes."

The man walks around Grisha's desk and sits in an empty chair.

"Some believe that the future is not written in stone. Others believe that the future is impossible to predict because it is always in motion. I believe that if a future is written in stone…and if it is not to one's liking at all, then the stone it was written in must be shattered and a new future written. We exist in the here and now, always between yesterday and tomorrow. If you can see the future, Dr. Yeager, or just a future, are you at all impressed by what you see?"

"If I saw the future, I would be concerned by what I did to deserve such a terrible future," Grisha expresses. "If I saw myself about to do something I knew was wrong…and I still did it, I would feel disgusted with myself."

"And if you could change it, would you?"

"If I could change it…yes."

"If you could change just one thing from your past and future, what would you change? What would you want to change? Your greatest dread? Your biggest disappointment? Your deepest, darkest…regret?"

Grisha thought about his greatest mistake from his past. The one that haunted him for the longest time. If he could've changed that day to something better, he would've done everything right next time.

"Tell me," the stranger asks him, "what was her name?"

Grisha looks at him, wondering what he meant by that question.

"I know what you're thinking, but I want to hear it from you," he tells him. "What was her name? What became of her?"

"Her name…was Faye Yeager," Grisha opens up. "She was my sister. She died. It was my fault."

"How was it your fault?"

"We were outside the internment zone, just to see the airship from a distance. We didn't have permits, and when I got home, I learned that the man that was supposed to have escorted Faye home…killed her instead…simply because she was an Eldian."

"Discrimination."

"Yes."

"Racism. It's among the many things in existence that I have contempt for. Its complete removal from society won't exist for many generations to come, but there will be a time when the whole of society is so diverse and messed up that nobody will really care about anyone's background based on race. Men and women who are dyed in the wool of certain beliefs that affect the world negatively are no different from an infestation; they are wretched and refuse to admit that their ways are outdated and need to change. If they fail to change, if they persist in their beliefs, there will be consequences they cannot fathom."

"Everyone everywhere hates Eldians for what was done over a century ago."

"Not everyone hates Eldians for the simple reason that they're Eldians, just as I don't hate a specific individual based on the way they look or talk. Hate is defined by what one does to incite dislike in others that may be disturbed by their actions. But if you spread only hatred from what a single person has done with their life…or worse, what more than one person has done with their lives, then it becomes a part of a society that can not look past what was done and see what can be done later on. An example of such is the talking of peace…but teaching only of violence; if you only speak of peace, but only teach violence, then you don't truly believe in peace, only violence, and violence is not the path to peace. While violence may get you somewhere in life, it is a corrupt path and leads you to a short future, for the hate it breeds will not stop until everyone lays down their arms and looks the other way. Such is a flaw with the Attack Titan and anyone that has it."

Grisha looks at him like he said something that exposed him.

"But you can be different from those that came before you, Dr. Yeager," he tells him. "You could deviate. Forge a different path that leads to peace…if you seek it."

"I…sought freedom for my people," Grisha expresses, "to stop the segregation and slaughter of Eldians. But that's impossible to achieve through the means I sought to use."

"Just freedom?"

"Isn't that what everyone wants?"

"Freedom…is an illusion one deludes themselves with to give them motivation in pursuing their self-interests. There are many kinds of freedom that exist, but if one is never specific enough about what it is that they're after, anyone can misinterpret their goals. What is freedom to you? Only you, nobody else."

"Freedom is…being able to go anywhere in a nation…without being hated for simply existing. Freedom is…the right to have a simple conversation with someone of a different race without exploitation or discrimination and seeing where it goes in the future. Freedom is…knowing you can admit to caring about someone and not be chastised for opening up your heart. That is freedom. That…was what I was after."

"Not bad. Not bad at all. So, tell me…what do you want more than anything else in your life? What would you desire of your boon to be? What…does your heart desire?"

Grisha thought of Faye, of how old she would've been had she lived instead of died. If he had the chance to do that hurtful day over again, he would've changed the outcome. He…would've made sure that Faye got home himself instead of leaving her fate to the cruelty of that man that hated them for simply existing. Even if nothing else had changed for him, even if he still ended up where he was now, he would at least go out knowing that Faye lived to see old age, grow up, fall in love with someone that liked her for her, have a family of her own. He could live his life with that knowledge.

"The life of your sister returned to her," the stranger says as a tear escapes his left eye. "Some men would desire power or wealth, but when a man chooses something that is not even a 'thing' but a feeling and a matter of the heart, that speaks volumes that most words can't describe. A man that chooses someone's life to be returned to them so that they can have a future…is more powerful than they realize when they know that any power to change the world…has to start with something they know has just as much meaning to themselves as any belief or goal. You choose for Faye to live, to thrive, even though yours lives have bitterness because of where you live…because you embrace a power that is stronger than the drive for revenge, for freedom. You have hope, and that is a power not many believe in. Embrace your boon, Grisha Yeager. Deviate from the fate that was dealt that day…and save the life that is cherished dearly."

-x-

Marley was not one for researching old wives tales about a man that might've been an incarnation of God, but because of the randomness of what had been going on, the military was beginning to worry about the possibility that these old stories were actually grounded in fact, not fiction, which meant they were dealing with someone that was, in one simple word, powerful. They were powerful because of what they did, how they did it, and why the people that told these stories chose to believe in them. One Marleyan soldier had expressed it was ridiculous to consider the possibility of such a potential threat to their motherland because he never believed in anything relating to stories of fairies, energy, animals older than the Titans…or the very faith in a belief itself. But if this was the case, and that was a big "if", then it didn't matter what any of the higher-ups believed; if this Brother Correction had any plans to bring the nation of Marley to its knees, he would do so, and they would be on their knees, either begging for mercy or to be held down for the axe at their execution.

"What have you found on your end?" Magath asks a pair of soldiers whose squadron had just returned from an information-gathering mission from the north.

"There were sixty-seven different tales going back over a thousand years," one of them expresses, "each of them diverse and unique, but had one thing in common: Someone that being wronged was met by a man that gave them a chance to turn it all around. For some, it was the chance to save their families. For others, it was a chance at a different life. This Brother Correction guy, he's like…some sort of hero that nobody ever truly sees…but they know he's out there, watching, waiting, planning the next mistake to undo. Some people were reported praying in chapels, underground shrines, even on the streets, believing that he will come and deliver them from the misery they have if they are willing to let go of their hatred towards other people."

"More than half of these stories have men and women that were all shades of cruelty and hatred," the other soldier states, "and the survivors made sure that their tales were recorded. The sons of former kings of tyranny made to realize that their ancestors' actions were harming the people they once ruled over. Other people versed in powers that cheated lives made powerless by a man that had the power to turn dreams into reality…and reality into dreams. He was a tormentor to some…and a savior to others. Seen as both angel and demon, a crusader in the name of justice, salvation and redemption. And those he couldn't save…he would end as a mercy to their souls so that they would live again in the future. One story was how he had to destroy an entire kingdom of people to free them from a cruel queen that refused to release them from bondage."

"Now, I must ask you two," Magath tells them. "Do you believe in this man, this…Brother Correction…and that he may be responsible for what happened to those buildings?"

The two soldiers looked at him before nodding their heads in the positive.

"If this man exists, and he's for real, there's nothing to stop him from doing whatever he wants," the second soldier states. "A man like that, unbound by laws, can do…anything."

If Magath hadn't been afraid of anything except the possibility of the Rumbling before, he was afraid of what someone like this Brother Correction was capable of. A man that was friend and enemy, tormentor and savior, a god and a devil. Oh, he was afraid, and feared that Marley would become nothing more than a memory if this man wanted to erase them from existence.

-x-

Despite his beating, despite Eren Kruger's suggestion that he stay and watch the airship in the hangar, as it was why he was out here, Grisha had insisted on making sure that Faye got home safely, only letting slip that he had a dream about this day ending on a bad note, and that he couldn't let it happen in real life. He made sure that Faye got home, unaware that he was being watched from a distance by the stranger he met in his study.

Brother Correction smiled at how the big brother stayed true to his commitment at making sure his little sister got home, thereby avoiding the grim fate that would've befell her had he stayed behind to watch an airship. And with Faye's fate averted, erasing her dark and short future, Brother Correction decided to pay Mr. Kruger a visit of his own at the airship field.

"You saw something different, didn't you?" He asks Kruger, sitting on the grassy hill, looking at the hangar. "You saw a dark fate being dealt, all for the sake of something else, only it came undone, just like that."

"Yeah," Eren Kruger replies. "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?"

"How would I know? I'm just a face in the crowd, like so many others."

Eren Kruger slowly approached the man, wielding a baton to commence disciplinary action against him.

"I wouldn't bother with it, you know," he hears him say. "What's done is done. A chance was taken and a life was saved as a result of a choice to deviate. If you could save a life that you felt deserved to be saved, would you do anything to save it? Would you change one thing to ensure that life was lived to its fullest? And…I really didn't take you someone wanting to bludgeon someone else with a puppy."

"What puppy?"

"Arrf!" The little puppy in his hand, where the baton once was, barked helplessly as he looked at it, and let it drop to the ground. "Arrf!"

Brother Correction made the ground under it become a deep puddle, saving the puppy's life as it paddled to the edge and climbed out, running over to him and shaking its fur dry.

"This puppy," he tells Kruger.

"How'd you…"

"Oh, I think what's really going to rattle your cage later on is…would you have still tried to hit me with this guy if I had said nothing?"

"Who…who are you?"

"Just a face in the crowd," the man says again. "A face in the crowd, a fly in the ointment, a monkey with a wrench, a thorn in the side for some, a basic pain in the ass for others. Wow, I can't believe I just said all of that."

"Are you…some sort of god?"

"Nope. I don't buy into the worshipping or kowtowing nonsense that people do in the presence of the truest of gods."

"The…'truest' of gods?"

"The ones this world has forgotten…and deserves to remember."

"And…you know of them?"

"Vishnu. Osiris. Zeus. Susano-o. Gaia. Zhi Nu. Pele. Bendis. Before the arrogance of those of the past using the power of the Titans to erase knowledge of all other cultures, there were many great deities across many cultures spanning many, many generations of men and women. These were gods representing many things across many beliefs. Gods of the elements. Gods of simple practices. Gods that gave rise to saints, people that would represent their powers and beliefs onto others that had the choice to believe or disbelieve. Among my favorite of saints is Jude himself. He represented those that were lost to the world, the lost causes. Even when we were lost in the world, we still held value to those that would help us find our way back to where we belong."

Kruger was in awe by what this man said.

"Is there a saint for children?" He asks him.

"Nicholas," the stranger answers. "He represented children. There was another saint by that same name who represented people who would repent for their crimes of thievery, seeking atonement and absolution from the Almighty One himself."

"How do you know of these?"

The stranger turns to face Eren Kruger.

"I give hope to the hopeless…and despair to the deserving," he says to him. "I am the same as anyone else in the world, a humble servant to a greater influence. I serve at their behest whenever asked to…and always to serve a greater good. Do you serve a greater influence that seeks a greater good to come to pass?"

"I…I thought I once did."

"If you're lost in the darkness, you will eventually find your way back to the serenity of the light. In the end, anyone who is lost in the darkness will be returned to the light."

Before Kruger could ask him something else, the man just disappeared, puppy and all, leaving no trace of his presence at all.

-x-

Grisha was returned to his study, holding a photograph that depicted his sister, the life he managed to save. In it, Faye was older, cheerful and beside a young man, holding a little girl of four years in her arms that reminded him of how she was back then. Turning the photo behind, he saw a message written in ink: "Faye, Seraph and Fiona Forever". It brought tears to his eyes.

"Is it a good boon, Dr. Yeager?" He hears the stranger ask him, sitting in front of him.

"The best I'll ever receive," Grisha tells him. "Thank you."

"You can thank me by doing one other thing for me."

"Anything."

"Save Dina."

"Dina?"

"She's still alive…and you can still save her from eternity as a Titan. You can help save everyone this time. What you saw is the new future. What you saw was a new memory of what has yet to come. If you hurry to an unmonitored section of this wall and climb over it…you will be able to save Dina before the Silent Corps choose to end her before realizing that she holds value before sunrise. Look for the light pointing your way to her. Please, go save her."

Then, he was gone, leaving Grisha alone…with a motivation to save Dina. He failed to her once from becoming a Titan and living in darkness with no life and no awareness. He now had a second chance to save her from the darkness and give her back her life. His memory of Faye meeting her and even being her flower girl at their wedding, a new memory that was fresh in his mind because of the one change he made in the past, the first time he ever did something right.

Even if Faye is the only boon I'll ever deserve, he thought as he walked out of his house and into the night towards the inner gate, I can't let Dina live one more day as a mindless monster. I'll save her this time.

It was only a little after midnight, but it was going to feel like a long night. A very long night.

-x-

If he could say a personal opinion about deities, Brother Correction would have stated that the ones that were in existence long before the short-lived reign of King Fritz through the manipulation of Ymir Fritz…were the truest gods of any religious order on Earth. There was no division between them, no old gods or new gods, just men and women that deserved their ascendancy to the rank and throne of celestial power. He would never be a part of such a pantheon, no matter how much good he did to make any world a better place for others, but he didn't have to be, even if it was believed to be a desired ambition by some. No, the rank, level, mantle of a would-be demigod of sorts, that was his position, and he wouldn't trade it away for anything more than the limited divinity he possessed; less than a deity, but greater than a mere mortal, he would forever be able to hold close the sentimental aspects of humanity…and deal in retribution to those that embraced inhumanity.

As he sat atop a roof across the street from another building in Liberio, he allowed himself a small grace of seeing a young woman with a girl walking out of a different building, enjoying the start of the new day. Beside him, known only to him, was the soul of Ymir Fritz.

"You have my word," he tells her as Faye Yeager, alive and well and with a daughter of her own, ran down the street on a jog, "you shall receive your boon within a year. Less than a year from now, Ymir Fritz. The boon granted to the one that will redeem the future has been granted, and the boon to be yours will be bestowed. Change is inevitable, but hope must be spread across the hearts of many."

And then, she was gone, and he sighs again. Like any mortal, it was a challenge to keep hope alive, but a challenge he would face many more times, of his own volition, to ensure that others had it and knew that they would stand together in the sunlight.

"And now comes the real hard work," he utters.

To be continued…

A/N: Getting back to this as best as I can after realizing that it was overdue, like everything else. There are many things to do, and so much time to do them when we try hard. The Law & Order Thursday was spectacular from beginning to end, and I can't wait for the next night of powerful drama. I'd like to hear from you readers how you felt about this chapter and what you expect to see in the next one.