Creation began on 02-14-23
Creation ended on 02-28-23
Attack on Titan
Provoking Aggression
What good were ambassadors going to do in a situation of this sort? They couldn't establish so much as trade routes with Paradis and the world, and now they were either dead or just too old to do anything about the Yeagerists, including just talking them out of paying an unsanctioned visit to some town established years after the Rumbling by people that abandoned the island because of the new government and military. Even as he stood by the old where they used to run, an older Armin Arlert found this life had taken its toll on him as it had done to the others; despite the minor peace treaties with Eldian survivors across the world, nobody wanted anything to do with the Eldians of Paradis so long as the Yeagerists were in charge. The only exception to this had to be the Eldians of Epilogés, men and women that disliked the new governmental regime of the island so much that they packed up whatever they had and left, swearing never to go back to that place and embrace their former beliefs over the ones they refused to accept.
Is this what you wanted, Eren? He thought as he looked up to the tree. Is this your legacy? Your Yeagerists have taken over the island and divided the people into two groups: Those that want to fight and those that don't want to fight. And now they're going to this Epilogés where some refugees went to after abandoning Paradis because they couldn't accept the rule of the Yeagerists. Is this what you wanted?!
"I doubt you're going to get an answer from someone serving the ultimate penance, Mr. Arlert," the elder man turned to see someone walking up the hill. "But maybe someone else has the answer you're looking for."
"Who are you?" He asked him.
"I'm nobody. Just a hypocrite to some…and a believer to others. Unlike most, I go wherever I please, unbound by the laws of the land."
"Are you a Yeagerist?"
"Do you honestly think I'd stoop to an unjust level and hit an elder that never so much as raised their hand towards me in violence? That I'd be affiliated with these men and women that are so like-minded that I don't express discomfort over the most unreasonable of acts? I'm offended just to hear you ask me such a question."
"My apologies."
"Don't worry about it. And in answer to your question, no, I am not a Yeagerist. I could never live with those two choices they give you: Fight or die. There are other ways to live…just as there are other ways to fight. But these Yeagerists…are no different from a corrupted religion; they preach about what you get if you fight, but all they teach you is that violence solves everything wrong in the world. There's no talk about the consideration of peace or acceptance. It has to be fight or die, kill or be killed. They're nothing more than bullies."
Then, Armin saw him take out a book with a hardcover depicting the insignias of the three former military branches of Paradis.
"You shouldn't have that in the open," he told the stranger.
"Why? Because the Yeagerists don't like what I put on my journal of my own volition?" The stranger replied. "They are not the boss of me. If they don't like the old symbols, one of which they have perverted and tarnished with madness, then they should look away where they can't see it. But they won't. They can't. They need an excuse to express their own disgust towards those that embrace the past before they ever came around."
"So, you hate them, too?"
"Hate is a strong word. I dislike the Yeagerists…simply because they don't believe in the right to desire more than just two choices. Not everyone wants to be a soldier. What can a soldier do besides go into a war that they might not come back from when it's a war of choice? Can a soldier bake a simple pastry? Can a soldier write an elegant symphony? Can a soldier enjoy the simple pleasures of life like fishing or riding a bike or…or going out on a date with someone that they have a crush on?"
Armin had to agree with this stranger on such questions. It was hard for a solder to return to the life of a regular civilian once they left the world of conflict. But he escaped from it…a little; the life of an ambassador was just another world of conflict where the weapons of choice were words and common sense. But in the end, he would've preferred a life where he could've been happy without the threat of conflict…and his friends.
"It's not wrong to want that," the stranger expressed. "It's never wrong to want a life free of violence…if you can choose to live without it."
"How…how did you know?"
"Know what?"
"I was thinking that?"
"You're easy to read more than a book is when it's nothing more than depictions of places that you can get to within a day or take over a year to find. I can see it on your face, in your eyes, hear it in your voice, smell it on your breath. It's hard not to see when your heart longs for a solution that works. There are others that longed for a solution that was preferable to genocide. Even attempted genocide, which is as unforgivable as the one that carried it out."
"You sound like you know a lot more than you seem to know."
"Yeah, I get that a lot. I know…only what I need to."
"Do you know…if there was a better way than…what happened?"
"Oh, heh-heh… There were other ways than what had happened all those years ago. There were over eighty ways that were many times better or worse than what happened, but they all required that effort be thrown in on the part of your friends."
"Is there…a way to do any of it over again?"
"Unfortunately, no. As much as I would enjoy seeing you getting to do something better with a second chance, it's not for me to decide this time. You're of the past. Someone else of the present has to step up and take control of the situation. Someone who knows nothing about having only two choices, only the right to choose whatever it is that they want. They have to be the one to change things."
"Who are they?"
"Someone whose heart has more endurance than even they know of. Someone that has no desire for power…and has no interest in either possessing power or controlling those around them or being controlled by those with power in their possession. Someone who has always known what it means to be compassionate."
A breeze came and the stranger sighs.
"It seems that the next few days will be less likely to have smiles when they should," he tells Armin as he turns to walk away. "If you see someone in a dream, you should talk to them if they speak to you."
"What do you mean by that?" He asks him.
"You'll know when you see them!"
He stops to look at the tree…and could only wish that there had been another way to settle this.
But it's not up to me this time, he thought as he walked back to the town. I would give a second chance to those that deserve to change the current state of things in a heartbeat, but now it's up to those that have no clue as to what is going on and what they're going to achieve. But the thing about the past and future is that one is silent and the other is loud…and it's hard to think clearly when the volume is turned up all the way and you can't hear what you need to hear.
-x-
She was relieved to find her parents in one piece when she returned to their home.
"So, you had a bad dream about the town being on fire?" Her mother asked her as they sat at the table for lunch, after she put on a spare pair of boots she kept there.
"Yeah, except that it didn't…it didn't feel like a dream…and when I woke up this morning at my boyfriend's, the leggings on my trousers were burnt. I don't know how I could've explained that if I let him see them before I left him." Kaede informs them.
"I can't believe you just left your boyfriend like that," her father told her; the only thing he was upset about was that she left the poor guy before even eating breakfast. "I like him. You should tie your knot with him before someone else tries to."
"Daddy, it's complicated," she tells him. "He's still struggling to become a chef and find employment. He…he doesn't want…to go further until he has accomplished the goal."
"Sounds like you're committed, though," her mother says. "So long as he makes you happy, I see no problem with your relationship with him."
"Shinji is… Even when he has nothing, I feel like he's someone I can trust with my heart…without any doubts. What did I do to deserve him in my life?"
"Whatever you did, you did of your own free will, Kaede," her father expresses, "and if he's devoted to you, then you know you have his heart."
"Yeah. I…I love him and…I want to be with him all the time. I… Whatever future there is with him, I'd take it and make the best of it with him. But…that dream I had last night… It felt real…even when it shouldn't have been. And the being from my painting that I'm working on…it spoke to me."
"That being in your painting," her mother speaks. "Just what is it supposed to be, Kaede? Is it a person or…some kind of monster?"
"I want to believe that it's a monster, but…when I saw it for the first time in a dream, I didn't feel threatened by it, even when surrounded by fire. It…didn't seem like it was out to do anything wrong to anyone here."
"That's a strange feeling, not seeing something as dangerous," her father states. "Are you sure it didn't make you feel the least bit worried about anything?"
"The only other time I screamed was when it was blown up in front of me," she reveals. "Beyond that, I didn't feel terrified of it at all."
Kaede then looks over to a small table where a small stack of letters laid.
"Has there been any word from Sumairu?" She asks her parents.
"No," her mother answers. "But it's only been two months since her last letter. She's probably having fun so that she hasn't had time to write her next letter. We'll probably hear from her in the next few days. You know how your sister is."
She was barely fifteen when Sumairu was born, and the girl was a wanderer by habit. So much so that when her friends had decided to go on a trip across the continent, she went with them. While her parents were okay so long as they had an adult with them as a chaperone, Kaede felt her share of concerns because of their sisterly bond; she wouldn't have worried so long as she knew where her sister was and what she was doing, but lately, she was worried because it wasn't really like Sumairu to take this long to get in touch with them. She had also met with Shinji and had her opinion on him being a nice guy for Kaede, something she appreciated immensely.
Sumairu, where are you? She wonders.
-x-
The museum was like a library right now, quiet and peaceful. So as he stood before a display case of the Omni-Directional Mobility equipment that had been used in the past, the stranger who had been observing many things and people had an expression of interest as he looked down at the relic that had been kept in pristine condition by the people that worked in the building. He placed his left hand onto the case and imagined himself holding one of the blades that had been designed to dispatch the Titans in the past. It had been a completely different time in the past, back when the monsters were cloaked in the shadows of the day and the night, when secrets were the currency paid for by the masters that held power over others and could rule through fear and violence however they desired.
Except now, it feels like the new masters are in way over themselves and have no idea how to act when in a situation they created, he thought as he removed his hand from the case and walked away to a different display that featured a miniature version of Paradis, complete with replicas of the Walls, something that took over four years to build. Obliterate the past and begin anew without remembrance? That barely works out for some and just hurts most. To truly start anew, the past has to be learned from, not erased. Those who fail to learn from history, the lessons of old that aid the minds of those living in the here and now, are the ones condemned to repeat their mistakes in worse fashions.
"Excuse me, sir," he heard a woman say to get his attention, "which one do you prefer: Military Police, Garrison or Survey Corps?"
He turned to face the lady and responded, "I've always felt like a Garrison member; I could keep watch over the people from a distance and not feel threatened by an external threat. Yourself?"
"Oh, that's easy," she tells him. "I'm a Yeagerist fan, hands down."
He frowned and turned to walk away, but wanted to share words of discomfort with her.
"If you're a fan of that group, what brings you here?" He asks. "This is a quiet and tolerable town that spent a considerable measure of years being established and building roots to a piece of the past."
"This town has disrespected the Yeagerists and must answer for it."
"The Yeagerists wanted Paradis Island. They can keep that island; not many people are even interested in that place for any reason."
"They deserved what they got in the end."
"Is there a problem here?" A security guard asks as he comes over.
Brother Correction chose simply to state the obvious in just a handful of words.
"She's a fascist," he tells the guard, and several other patrons hear.
"Ma'am?" The guard questions the woman.
"The Eldians of this town are liars to themselves if they think the Yeagerists aren't going to burn it to the ground," she responds.
"Hey!" Another woman yells at her. "You can't talk like that about a bunch of crazies that have made life on that island a nightmare coming here to cause trouble for us just because we don't want anything to do with them. My mother had to leave that horrible place when they threatened my grandmother with recruiting her into their ranks. Seven years old!"
"We don't want anything to do with those people," a man expresses as he holds a little girl on his back. "Their beliefs are the reason most of us had to leave that island. We don't want or need that type of madness in our lives."
The guard escorted the woman out of the buildings, but she continued to express her contempt towards the people of Epilogés.
"They're gonna burn this place down and you'll go with it!" She yells at them as some parents covered their children's ears with their hands. "Fight or die! Fight or die!"
Oh, how Brother Correction was disgusted by such a belief that didn't work for the people here. He turned away and walked towards a display case of the uniform worn by the members of the Survey Corps.
"I'm guessing you don't like people like that, either?" A different guard asks him.
"I don't like bullies and people that enable them to become bullies," he replies to him. "I don't care where they're from. If you choose to ride the bandwagon of this miserable, hate-filled excuse you call a life within the military, that's on you, but when you try to incite violence in other people or try to project your beliefs onto those that don't want to express them, you create conflict. You create anger and fear. Nobody here wants that when they have the right to turn away and live their lives on their own terms."
"People that buy into the Yeagerists' beliefs should just go to Paradis and not come back here if they hate it."
Brother Correction then walks to a detailed depiction of the Nine Titans of Eldia's past. It might've been a highly-romanticized depiction of the behemoths, but some people actually preferred that over the actual descriptions. However, Brother Correction noticed that only one the romanticized Titans in the picture was discolored from the rest. The one in the middle of the five knelt down on the first elevated step of the two steps they were on; for some odd reason, he had to guess why this one was colored differently from the other eight.
"Excuse me, anyone?" He asks, and a woman comes over to him. "Yes, why is the Titan in this picture colored different from the rest?"
"Some people believe that this Titan was the Attack Titan, sir," she answers him.
"The Titan that refused to listen to others because it fought for a freedom that simply doesn't exist, no matter how hard you try to fight for it."
"An assumption that left the belief that it was the only member of the Nine Titans that could actually be considered a rogue."
"And the rest?"
"They fell in line and the Founder kept the peace between the families they were a part of in order. While there was still fighting and infighting between the families, it was the Founder that mitigated the potential repercussions of their conflicts."
Of course, he knew of all of this, but he respected those that knew just enough to impress him with such knowledge of the past. It was knowledge of this sort that kept the past alive and carried it into the future.
"So, where are you from?" She asked him.
"Many places," he stated simply. "I don't belong to any one place. I'm a nomad of sorts; no home to call my own. I go anywhere I choose and live wherever I choose."
"That's quite a life."
"To live is to be capable of anything you desire, and it's through that way of living can one truly be free to do what their heart desires without being limited. Free to say what you wish, to go wherever you choose, to hate whoever, to love whoever, to be whatever."
-x-
Maybe she was just being overly cautious, but Kaede worried that Sumairu was in some kind of trouble; she couldn't even walk down the town dockyards like she did on these days without wondering where her sister was.
Sumairu, where are you? She wonders as she sits down on a pier under a light.
There were times they would argue about things, days where they would hours without talking to each other, even moments when they got hurt and knew they wouldn't wish even the most pathetic of their injuries on even the most despicable of people that they disliked for less than reasonable reasons. So, why…why did Kaede have this terrible feeling that her baby sister was suffering a painful experience she didn't deserve?
You worry for those around you, the voice of that being from her dreams uttered in her head. You feel pain from not knowing if they're fine. Those who can admit to feeling concern for others are those that deserve to know the secrets behind the darkness that exists in the day and the night.
Kaede turned her head left and right, seeing nobody else around on the pier, and then sighs.
"I must be going crazy," she tells herself.
If that were the case, you would be running around like a raving lunatic, the voice went again. You're not going crazy. You're as sane as you were the day before and will be the day after. You're just an educated young woman worried about the current state of a younger woman you haven't seen in a while.
Boom! She heard an explosion occur away from where she was sitting, feeling the ground shake a little as she turned her head around to see a plume of smoke in the air.
"What the Hell?" She went as she got up and ran towards it.
-x-
It was just a quiet evening of people from different walks of life, with no hints of disgust beyond what occurred earlier this afternoon, and he was content with this knowledge. But then a building up the street from him suddenly goes up in smoke and people run around in fear and concern for who might be inside the building. He sees some firefighters arrive, but there's not enough of them, less than ten men and three women, totaling eleven from the looks of things. Going up the street, Brother Correction sees that the building being engulfed in flames is none other than the Epilogés Museum of Paradis History.
Well, this is just lovely, he thought bitterly; he knew who was behind this, but he couldn't do anything about it, forced to observe for now. A night of anger and brutality from the bitter hearts of those that create evil.
"Keep the people away!" He heard a male firefighter yell as two more set up a barrier to keep the civilians away from the roaring flames.
But what really concerned the people right now, more than the building being on fire, was the relics and knowledge of this town's Eldian population's connection to Paradis. The building could be repaired or replaced, but its contents were invaluable, and if there were still people that worked inside the building, they would try to preserve as much of the artifacts as possible in their heavily-armored basement in case of a situation like this.
"Hey!" He heard a female firefighter yell out as a woman from the crowd got past the barrier and ran inside the building. "Hey! Stop!"
Dammit! He cursed to himself.
-x-
How reckless was she to run inside a burning building she worked in from time to time? Even if the situation was under control, despite it looking grim, she still had an obligation to make sure that there were no people inside.
"Is anyone in here?!" Kaede yelled.
"Help!" She heard a woman's voice. "Help, please! They're gonna kill us!"
Bang! The sound of a gunshot was heard soon after.
Kaede stopped moving when she heard two more gunshot-like sounds.
"You said nobody was going to get hurt!" She heard a young woman's voice yell.
"It's fight or die!" She heard a man's voice respond, rather devoid of any remorse. "She refused to surrender, and that made her an enemy to Paradis!"
She followed the sounds of the voice, despite the roaring flames near her, and came around a corner where she saw two people in dark clothing. One of them, despite the flames and darkness, she recognized, even from a distance.
"Hey!" She raised her voice at them, and the one on her left, a young woman, looked and froze.
The one on her right, an older man, raised a gun towards her head, but the young woman panicked and tackled him.
"No!" She yelled at him. "Not her!"
It had to be her. It just had to be Sumairu, her sister. But what was she doing here? Why was she with someone that was so…harsh?
"Get off me, you wretched weakling!" The man grunted, shoving her aside and raising his pistol at Kaede again and pulled the trigger, getting her in her waist and sending her falling to her right behind a burning display case.
"No! Kaede!" She heard her sister yell.
It hurt, but not as much as the discovery that her sister was here and with someone else that was not really someone she could see her with in any sense.
"Kaede! Kaede!" She could still hear Sumairu yelling. "Why?!"
"She worked to disrespect Paradis!" The man responded. "An example needed to be set! This building needs to be razed to the ground and those that protect its falsehoods deserve to pay the price in this war!"
"This isn't a war! It's hardly a war! You people are just looking for excuses to justify the fact that you have nobody that wants anything to do with you! My friends were right about you! You Yeagerists are nothing more than xenophobic monsters! The worst kind!"
Bang! Another gunshot was heard…and then nothing but silence.
Kaede tried to move, but her body felt heavy.
"Fire Department! Call out!" She heard the firefighters yell in the darkness as burning debris fell around her.
"R…r…run," she tried to yell, but her voice was quiet; she must've been shot in her liver, which was likely a fatal wounding if she didn't receive medical attention in due time. "Sumairu…"
Bang! Bang! Bang, bang, bang! More gunshots could be heard by her; she wasn't sure what was going on, but whatever was happening, it was an act of violence…and terrorism, committed by whoever was out to make an unnecessary threat to someone else…somewhere else.
"Dedicate your hearts!" She heard someone yell as her vision began to fade.
"Kaede…" Her hearing started to go; she was dying in the museum, not something she wished on anyone…and not something she wanted for herself.
This wasn't how she wanted to go out in her life. She wanted to go out past her prime, someone in her eighties or nineties, in her bed, with friends and relatives and the love of her life around her when she saw that light that people are supposed to see when it's their time. Not this…mockery of Hell she was surrounded by.
Kaede…Kaede… She soon found herself back in her dream of fire and darkness surrounding her on the streets, her fears that this fire was burning her home to the ground. Kaede Sogen, it is time to decide.
She turned around, now standing, and saw the being in darkness as they were both surrounded by fire. But like before, when she admitted that she wasn't afraid of this being to her parents, she didn't feel the slightest sense of fear and the need to run away.
"Kaede Sogen," it spoke to her, "do you want to die here tonight…or do you want to live…to only one day die…on your terms?"
"I don't want to die, but what other choice do I have?" She asks them.
"What lies ahead of you right now. For years, deep within the hearts of the people that live in this town you call your home, they have yearned for someone that would stand up for their beliefs against the people they abandoned to be free to live however they choose. This town has always been in opposition against the tarnished beliefs of Paradis' alleged protectors, nothing more than bullies looking for someone to blame for their imagined slights. To live is to fight, a belief they force upon those that don't believe in their cause, while life here is to live with choices beyond conflict and death. Within their hearts, the ideal promise of a being that would protect their land and preserve their beliefs has always been the one thing they can never erase from their history. But to carry out the silent promise, the hidden prayer they have each night, one must be willing, not able, to embrace the hope that dwells deep within. You are one such being that carries hope, even in the deepest darkness. So I ask you again, Kaede Sogen, do you want to die here tonight…or do you want live…only to one day die…but on your terms?"
"I want to live."
"Do you seek justice for the injustice that has been committed this night? To you, to the people and to your history?"
"I want justice…and to find my sister and know why she was there tonight."
"And will you protect the innocent within the day and the night?"
"Let no unjust crime go unpunished. Let no unprovoked violence repeat itself onto others."
"Then rise up tonight…and be the embodiment of your people's hopes and aspirations. Rise…and be their promise realized. Be…their Dark Titan!"
Kaede frowned, turned away from the being…and then became the very being, born from the darkness, born from the hopes within the heart of the people that lived in her home that had been attacked this evening.
Gasp! She gasped as she came to, feeling a jolt of energy surge through her body as she quickly got up to her feet and became enveloped in darkness.
To be continued…
A/N: Okay, people, this is going to get real intense.