Creation began on 11-23-23
Creation ended on 11-29-23
Attack on Titan
Disorder and Disrespect
Even as he watched from the sidelines as a bystander, he hated the contempt being given to the young people being carted off like they were less than individuals. And as the Yeagerists were showing them off as prisoners of war, he became disgusted with their behavior when he saw one of them shove a young woman to the ground simply for trying to help a man that had fallen down.
"…I heard that some of them are Eldians," he heard a woman in the crowd say to someone else. "What'd they ever do to get taken prisoner?"
All they did was live their lives the way they wanted, he thought, not the way the Yeagerists believe they should be lived. This is just wrong.
Unlike the days of old where the people would silently applaud the Survey Corps for returning from their expeditions, there was no such round of applause for the Yeagerists. Not even the children below the age of ten were willing to cheer for these soldiers that seemed to demonstrate no sense of what a soldier was supposed to stand for. Nodding his head in disgust, the man walked away to do something he didn't think he'd do because he was not permitted to act out against people.
However, I'm not doing anything to anyone here, he decided to believe. I'm just doing something that will not make any difference.
As he walked away from the line of captives being taken away, one girl looked at the people that looked at them and couldn't see them as people any more than the people that captured her friends and her as people. If anything, they were no different from animals; they just pretended to be people, but they did nothing to help them if they knew what was being done was wrong.
-x-
"…You didn't have to come with me, you know," Kaede told her boyfriend as they sat on a ship that was heading towards the rebuilt Liberio.
"I'm uncomfortable with waiting for who-knows-how-long for someone to come back from a trip," Shinji responds as holds two cups of a hot beverage. "Also, I promised your parents that I'd keep you safe if something bad happened and you couldn't defend yourself. Don't think of me as your overprotective boyfriend. Think of me as…your bodyguard."
"My bodyguard, huh? You protect me from whoever tries to harm me, yes…but who protects me from you?"
"The same person that protects the bodyguard from the young lady being protected by the bodyguard, ma'am."
"Oh, is that so?"
Shinji hands her the cup in his left hand.
"Except the person that protects you from me if I ever cross the line will be the very same person I fear and respect and would rather not get on their bad side."
Kaede knew he was referring to the Dark Titan, the promise of the people of Epilogés brought to life through her; he was just a man and stood no chance against a being similar to the lost power of the Titans.
"Oh, dear, we're met with such troubles in our relationship, bodyguard," she tells him before sipping her cup.
-x-
He didn't care what kind of trouble he would be in for doing this, but he was not happy with the Yeagerists right now to care about the consequences. Also, he needed to vent out his frustrations, and this was one of the rare moments he enacted such a vicious move that was just another reminder of how human he was and still is.
"Rotton-ass Yeagerists!" He yelled as he threw a Molotov cocktail at the tree on the hill that held the grave of the person he resented for his choices because they carried a lot of blood that stained the lands. "You will burn in Hell for all eternity! Burn in Hell! Go to Hell! Go to Hell!"
He stood and watched as the tree was set ablaze, its leaves and branches torched to nothingness.
"Aaaaaurgh!" He yelled as he threw another Molotov at the burning tree, making sure he burned everything as much as he could as the people of Shiganshina were alerted to the fire. "Burn!"
-x-
"Hmm?" Sumairu went, thinking she heard someone yell just a moment ago as she slept.
"Did you hear someone, too?" One of the other captives asks.
"It sounded like someone screaming."
"Or yelling," a man's voice utters.
Sumairu became worried. Who was screaming or yelling…and why were they doing so?
-x-
Standing before a group of judges, the dark stranger, his face bruised and bleeding, said nothing in response to the list of charges he racked up last night.
"Arson and disorderly conduct," one judge utters again, "and you have nothing to say in your defense, sir?"
"The only thing I'm truly guilty of," he finally speaks, "is confessing to the feelings I have that I can't keep bottled, anymore. Here is my confession, so let it be known that I am speaking of my own free will. I used to believe that this island was a great place to live, that the people were nice. But in the time I have seen change and how people react to it, I have become disillusioned with any opinion of Paradis Island being a great place. It is anything but a great place. It has become nothing more than a despicable shadow of its former self. The people split between the ill-hearted, war-obsessed Yeagerists…and the weak-willed masses that enable them to do as they please. That is my crime. That is my confession."
The people around him whispered and murmured in response to his choice of words.
"The Yeagerists are tasked with keeping order to ensure that Paradis is safe from future attacks from other parts of the world," a second judge speaks.
"Is that so?" He asks back. "Then how do you explain their wanton acts of venturing off the island and picking fights with other parts of the world that would rather have nothing to do with this garbage heap you call an island? How do you explain the number of people from other parts of the world that the Yeagerists have taken captive? Some of whom are just a bunch of kids with futures far better than anything you could offer here. There's even the rumor that the Yeagerists were responsible for several disappearances over the last five years. You call them your protectors? Ha! I bet the former Garrison branch was better suited to protecting the people! The Yeagerists aren't protecting anyone from anything! They're just a bunch of bullies you, the people who enabled them, gave carte blanche to act however they please! If anyone needs to be protected, it's the rest of the world from this lousy island that has no heart of gold, anymore!"
"How dare you!" A third judge expresses.
"How dare I? How dare you! How dare he! How dare she…for allowing them to do as they please! If you want to condemn me for speaking my mind, then do it! You have no free will, anyway! You've charged people with crimes no less than loitering when someone is simply visiting a friend's house or a woman with resisting arrest when you break her arm trying to put her in chains! I hope there's hope for those of you that have the decency to admit that your new government is flawed. Paradis sucks ass!"
Bang! He was shot in the back of his head and fell to the ground by a gun held by a member of the Yeagerists.
"Justice is served," he utters.
The people that saw this, however, didn't feel like it was justice. If anything, it felt like trying to silence the truth. Among them, Armin sighs at how the stranger, the very same one he spoke with some time ago, was right about everything he said before he was murdered. With the revelation that the Yeagerists had some prisoners from other parts of the world being a shocker to him. Now, he felt compelled to do something about this.
-x-
"…Urgh!" Kaede grunted as she jumped from the banister of the former ship…and onto the deck of the second ship.
"Aah!" Shinji yells as he jumps over and hits the deck beside her.
"Welcome aboard," an elderly woman greets the pair as they got up to their feet. "Where to?"
"Paradis, please," Kaede requests; while the boat they had been on was heading to Liberio, the ship they had met at sea was one of those ships that performed minor tasks of transporting people to places other ships wouldn't at a reasonable price.
"Going to that island these days doesn't come cheap, even though it should," the woman tells them, and Shinji takes something out of his bag and unwraps it, revealing a sandwich of some sort. "And what have we here?"
"This is a sandwich the people in the restaurant I work at are fond of called the Rally Vincent, named after a markswoman who could shoot a target from eighty yards away…without killing them, leaving them only stunned long enough to be captured by policemen closer to where the target is."
"The Rally Vincent, huh? Sounds like a sandwich I can sink my teeth into."
Shinji handed the woman the sandwich and watched her bite into it in front of her crewmen. She chewed and swallowed and smiled.
"If this were any other sandwich, I'd have you walking the plank, young man," she tells them, still smiling, "but then, I'd come to regret it because this is a wonderful sandwich. We should be at the coast of the island before lunchtime tomorrow."
"Thank you," Kaede expresses as she and Shinji bow to the crew.
-x-
Unlike the traditional burial service of the past, the Yeagerists didn't waste time with burying their dead, whether they were soldiers or enemies. For their soldiers, they simply cremated them, and for their enemies, they dumped them into the water at the shoreline, reducing them to fish food. When they dumped the dark man's corpse into the water and left him there, they failed to take notice that he returned to life and crawled out of the water.
"Bastards," he called them as he lay on the sand. "They could've at least let me keep my damn pants when they stripped me down."
Among the more human qualities he possessed, his preference for clothing was a must; it didn't matter if the place he was in had a strict dress code or the people were au natural, he felt more comfortable in casual clothing.
"Are you sure you don't have permission to do anything here?" He heard that familiar voice from over the years, and looked up to see an Asian man dressed in casual clothes comprised of a shirt, jeans and a coat, with a ponytail. "I would gladly send these people to their makers."
Looking at the man, the dark stranger sighs and responds, "I am merely a transient guest here, not a tormentor or savior. I have unrestricted rights to go wherever here, but to change someone's fate, I have no authority."
"You burned a tree down."
"That has nothing to do with anyone's life."
"But it was personal, was it not?"
"Are you wearing that disgrace of a man's face in place of your own personal? I gotta own up to it, Death, the Endgame, I prefer your usual face over the faces of your victims. Please, take that face off and I'll tell you whether or not it was personal for me to torch that tree."
The adult man sighs and his body contorts as it changes in size, clothing and appearance. In the man's place was a teenage boy with ebony hair, pale skin and dressed in a hakama with a bandolier and shotgun scabbard. In addition, the right arm was exposed bone, completely skeletal, and his eyes were a dark brown, almost soulless.
"Yeah, I like you better this way," the stranger told him as he got up and was now dressed in the clothes he had on before he was killed. "Yes. It was personal for me to burn that tree down. It was where he was buried and where he didn't deserve to be, anymore. In the end, Hell was what he deserved, no matter what people thought of him that knew him. He chose to be a monster, and the monster he chose to be deserves to burn in Hell."
"Then I gotta say this: If you hadn't burned that tree down, I would've done so myself. I just wouldn't have made a scene to be caught."
"True, but I had to make my feelings known when the Yeagerists captured those people that did no wrong to any of them. The 'you either fight or you die' choice is utter bullshit."
"That's no choice at all. Not everyone is fit for the life of a soldier, and these Yeagerists are just disgraces to the people that were soldiers before their establishment. A soldier after a war can be viewed as a disgrace or a hero, and a hero that returns home after a war is a person that can either be viewed and accepted as one who served their people and home during a time of crisis…or as an outright murderer or monster with no right to live longer than they did during said crisis. But a hero isn't always one that enlists in the military. A hero can be anyone that does something for someone else. Anyone that does something for someone, even something as simple and reassuring…and holding a lost child's hand and letting them know that they would be all right. A teacher, a painter, a librarian, a firefighter, a doctor…or just a friend that was there for you when you were at your lowest. That isn't these Yeagerists. They are not heroes."
"No, they're not. Is there anyone in this world that is a hero?"
"In the absence of light, let the darkness prevail. A hero, a true hero, will emerge from the darkness and give light to the hopeless. A promise was made years ago, and it has come back to honor its end of the pact forged in the darkest of silence."
"A promise? A promise to who?"
"To the people that desired more than freedom, which was as empty as the ambitions of the young people that always believed they know better than their elders from time to time. Freedom doesn't mean anything to those that don't desire it, just as peace, love and happiness mean nothing to those that don't desire them."
"And these people don't desire them?"
"They do, but their perception of what needs to be done in order to have them is warped…and they don't seek to be enlightened. Their belief is that in order to be free to live however they please, they must take life and freedom from others."
"Except that will not grant anyone freedom. Not in life or in death."
"You mastered death, so you're free. Eren Yeager came close to doing the same, but he failed. Even in death, he will never be free…and he chose that fate. He can't get into Heaven where his parents are due to being damned, not that Heaven would take him, anyway; a soul as dark as his would be a stain upon other souls."
"Is there a soul any darker than his?"
"Many, but not as dark as those that maim the world in ways worse than those that came before them. And so, I burned his grave into oblivion; the future of the tree where his head was buried will never be realized, like a weed that has been removed from a garden because it is a parasite."
"Maybe we should explore other potential realms of existence where this pitiable future doesn't happen at all. A place where one has no permission to act in the interest of the people doesn't seem like your cup of tea."
"Sometimes, I have lost my liking for tea; there's not enough ginger or jasmine in all of existence that can calm my many nerves that expand like roots into the soil of the cosmos."
Death then turned to look out at the ocean and saw, in the vast distance, a single ship that was approaching the island. On it, he could see two people standing out among the rest present.
"The multiverse really is a cracked mirror beyond repair," he utters.
"Or endless ripples in the water," replies his companion.
-x-
She was standing atop a giant wall, overlooking an enclosed city. Turning away from the city, she looks over at the vast greenery in the sunset. It was beautiful and soothing.
"It really is beautiful," she heard someone say to her, and she looked to her right and saw the Dark Titan standing beside her. "Isn't it, Kaede?"
"Yes, it is," Kaede answers it…or her. "Tell me. When we get to the island, will simply talking to these people get anywhere?"
"Only if they listen. If they truly listen. There is a difference between listening…and ignoring what's being said and suggested in favor of what you wish to hear over what you are hearing."
"I just don't…want to cross the line if children are involved. That's a terrible weight on my conscience, the possibility of taking an innocent life."
"This is why you'll be the best, Sogen. You have a conscience. You don't want to endanger people that don't deserve it. Your morality is a strength that most have yet to fully see."
"Not a lot of people demonstrate morality. There's good and there's bad in everyone in the world. It's a black and white world; good and bad, right and wrong, light and darkness."
"But what about the gray?"
"The gray?"
"In between light and darkness, right and wrong, there is the world of gray that only a few can understand. Shades of gray that not everyone can comprehend. Like your relationship with your boyfriend; you two love each other, regardless of what other people think or say about it being impossible for you to be together. You don't really care that he's estranged from his parents…just as he doesn't care that you're an Eldian. Neither of you let other people's beliefs rule over your feelings. There's the belief that opposites attract sometimes, but only if the people that are opposites actually become attracted to one another. Was there ever a moment in either of your lives where someone told you different? That maybe he should forget about you and return to his country and face his parents…or that you should see someone who was an Eldian like yourself? Ever a moment like that at all?"
"Once or twice. Maybe even thrice."
"And how did you take to such suggestions?"
"We told the people that suggested them that it wasn't their business. If you love someone and they love you, why should you care what other people think? I'd like to think that even if Shinji was a woman like me, I'd still be with him. Hell, even if he was hiding from the police, I'd like to think that I'd still choose him over some other guy…and that he'd choose me over some other girl or reconciling with his parents."
"Yeah, you two go together very well. I do wish these Yeagerists could be like the both of you."
"Nobody's perfect, only human. There's no such thing as a perfect human. I have my quirks, the same as everyone else. Some people have birth-related conditions, eating disorders, ridiculous desires, or even just being attracted to someone that others look down on you for being attracted to. I honestly try not to care about any of that. It's not my business. But if these Yeagerists are responsible for my sister's disappearance and for almost killing me and burning the museum down, then it becomes my business…and I will handle it…by any means I find necessary."
The Dark Titan smiled as it turned to look at the enclosed city.
"Sometimes, I wonder how someone like you never existed in the past before the Rumbling devastated the world beyond any measure of forgiveness," it told her. "What would have life been like if someone like you had the power to change the world because you had such a willful defiance towards the assumption that life, freedom and what have you had to be taken from everyone to put everyone else on even ground? Would people have been better off if people that abused their power never were? Would there be peace and happiness? I pray that these people responsible for the current crisis stop as soon as possible…before something other than justice finds them…and they have nowhere to turn to. There is a price to be paid for knowingly doing something that harms other people…and there's no way to avoid it. Let those that willingly commit wrongs toward the innocent, and I mean men, women and children that don't deserve these horrible acts inflicted upon them, answer for their wrongs…and know that they can't run from the fate that awaits them."
"A price to be paid for knowingly doing wrong to someone? Like…a curse? A lifelong curse?"
"An eternal curse. One that will never end for you, even when you wish it would. It's eternal…because you brought it upon yourself to do wrong to those that did you no wrong. If you knowingly take someone's life, you must be prepared to have your own life be taken by someone else, as is the nature of vengeance."
Kaede looks away from the Titan and lets the knowledge sink into her mind. If Sumairu got killed because of these Yeagerists, then all bets were off; she would want the ones responsible to answer for her death. She didn't believe in a life for a life because one life ended wasn't balanced by taking another life. The only way to balance it…was to punish everyone involved in the loss of life…by making sure that they couldn't live the way they used to, anymore. If you disrespected one's life, your life would be disrespected in turn.
"I never thought much about it, Kaede, but our mother is right about you and Shinji," she recalls Sumairu say to her one night in the previous year. "You two should get married soon. You never know when some other girl will try to steal him away from you."
"I don't mind your snide comments, Sumairu, because they can be amusing sometimes," she told her in response to her suggestion, not really angry with her but feeling like she was trying to incite a sense of jealousy in her, "but please, don't you dare try to start with me."
Kaede chuckled at the memory of the sisterly quarrel. It was one of their best moments; even when they had different opinions or interests, they still loved each other.
"Sumairu, please…just be alive when I find you," she tells herself.
To be continued…
A/N: Unfortunately, while I can't have Brother Correction do anything to help Kaede in this story, having him burn down a tree used as a plot for someone's head isn't against any restrictions. Plus, trees get burned all the time; it's not really a loss if one more gets burned away by someone throwing a fit.
