Creation began on 11-20-23
Creation ended on 11-23-23
Attack on Titan
The Darkest of Promises Realized
A/N: I just realized that I didn't write the beginning of the fourth chapter and got started on it.
The people outside the museum watched in horror as their beloved building of their past history was being burned away. And then…the flames started to die out, as if something were smothering them from within.
"What is that in the flames?" One of the firefighters utters as he points to a figure emerging from the diminishing fire. "Oh, my God."
The figure walking out of the flames looked like an incarnation of the darkness, as tall as a human, but they resembled a creature from their past.
"A Titan?" A woman questions as the figure's body had these strange tendrils that shot away from their shoulders and legs, extending towards the places where fire burned…and smothered them before retracting back into their body.
The figure stood before the masses with their arms raised up in surrender, looking at them.
"This building," it, no, she, because the voice was female, uttered in a calm and caring voice, "needs to be rebuilt, but its treasures have been salvaged."
"Are you a Titan?" One of the firefighters asked her.
"I am," she answers him.
"Are you a friend or foe?"
"That depends on who caused this fire to begin with, and the ones responsible have stolen someone precious to my true self."
"Do you…know who caused the fire?"
"I am left to assume that the culprit or culprits responsible for this are the men and women of Paradis Island."
There were several gasps in the background.
"And they will answer for this and everything else they have done. There will be no mercy for those that threaten the way of this town's peace and order."
"Normally, we would leave such a matter to the authorities," a female member of the Epilogés Police Force, a positive group founded mildly by inspiration of the Military Police of Paradis, said to the Titan, "but, as we have no social standing, whatsoever, with anyone from Paradis, this is out of our sphere of authority. However, it is assumed that such limitations we follow don't really apply to anyone with Titan capabilities, meaning you are not bound by such constraints as we are."
"Constraints are only to ensure that we don't succumb to ideals of undesired beliefs that offer nothing but obstacles that one can either ignore or overcome. Epilogés is meant to be a town where the people can be free to make their owns choices regarding their lives and not deciding the lives of others…and I believe it has to stay that way because it gives the people more than two choices to live by, neither of which are worth choosing. Continue to preserve the peace and order within Epilogés. Paradis Island…shall answer to me."
"And who are you?"
"I am…the Dark Titan."
-x-
On the boat that was moving out of the harbor, chained up and sitting beside eight other people, Sumairu Sogen, an unwilling participant of what had befallen the town of her birth and happiness, looked back at the place that had been maimed by these terrible people she was forced to work for. This was not how she wanted to spend her brief period home because of these…soulless people that had an unnecessary grudge against them.
"That was a great hit against the scum," she heard one of the wannabe soldiers with that disgraceful symbol with the wings and firearms say, and she nods her head in disgust. "What's your problem?"
"You shot my sister," she told him. "That was messed up! You people are foul, looking for trouble because you got dealt a rotten hand because nobody wants anything to do with you! You had no business with trespassing in Epilogés, and you will pay for setting the museum on fire!"
"Yeah," added one of her friends. "You think you're the righteous ones? You're nothing more than bullies looking to pick a fight with others, expecting one of them will fight back so you can call it a declaration of war. If it ever happens, I hope you get what's coming to you."
"The Rumbling put everyone on equal ground," one of the female members told their captives. "Even if the Eldian traitors wanted to get revenge for their false history, they're not willing to return to Paradis."
"I hope you're right about that assumption," Sumairu tells her. "Because if you're wrong…I'd hate to be any of the people that lives on Paradis. I'd hate to be any of you that live on that crappy island my sister wouldn't call home."
-x-
The total of deceased pulled from the ruins of the museum were eight, including firefighters that went in to rescue whoever was inside and unable to get out, each one the victim of gunshot wounds, either to the chest or the head.
"Who the Hell would kill these people that just worked at the museum?" One of the owners asked when he was informed of the casualties.
Kaede Sogen, who showed up as soon as the Dark Titan left, and in full view of the people that watched her step out of the building, didn't have time to deal with the questions the police had to ask her, as she had a suspicion on who took her sister and had to go after her. She looked at the corpses of the museum workers, some of whom she had worked with for years, and felt regret towards their murders.
"Miss Sogen," one of the police officers addressed, getting her attention.
"Yes?" She responds.
"The investigators finished the inventory report. While the building will need to be rebuilt, your muffling of the fires preserved eighty-seven percent of the inventory. The museum's damaged, but you rescued the contents with minimum damage."
"Thank you."
But her response was only half-hearted; as much as she cared about the contents of the museum, her concern for Sumairu being in the clutches of those…people from the island of her birth and a terrible stain on her soul because of how the people that took over the place were either young, naïve…or just desperate to be in the right when, as a result of the failures of the people responsible for trying to establish a sense of coexistence, nobody drafted into this cycle of hate and blame was innocent and anyone looking for trouble was guilty.
"And we found this," the officer told her, holding a piece of cloth with an insignia sewn into it. "Do you recognize it?"
She examined the logo. At first, one could easily mistake it for a modified version of the Survey Corps' logo, but nobody that lived in Epilogés would accept the symbol if it had a pair of firearms added to it; that was a derogatory perversion of what the Wings of Freedom were supposed to mean. This…was the symbol of the Yeagerists, a symbol that nobody here wanted to embrace because of their violent nature in making sure there were only two choices: Fight or die. She fumed calmly over the symbol and then handed it back to the officer.
"It was the Yeagerists," she answers him, "the same people I believe took my sister."
"There's more. Last night, a cargo boat was reported stolen from the dockyards," he told her. "One of the guards in charge of watching it was found floating in the water with his throat slit."
If they needed a boat to get away, it's likely they're heading back to Paradis now, she thought. "I gotta go now. Have the families of the victims been notified?"
"They're on their way to claim them."
"Good. Thank you."
Kaede left and began walking home.
Are you still there? She asked the Titan she had become last night when on the verge on death.
I am with you until the end, Kaede, the Dark Titan replies. Do you know where we need to go?
We?
Your problems are my problems. Since this is a matter started by the Yeagerists, that makes it my concern, too. They took Sumairu, and they need to answer for their actions.
Thank you.
Walking down the street, Kaede had passed by one of the food spots where her boyfriend did small meals on the side for the owner.
Your heart yearns for Shinji, she heard her Titan say to her. You really should tie your knot with him. You never know when you'll get another chance to.
Can we not get into this, please?
Because you're afraid of what could happen if he knows? Everyone that was present last night knows who you are…and they're more upset with the fact that people from Paradis did it than they could be with you being a Titan Shifter. Also, you know that deep down, he doesn't want to be with any other girl than you. That's how devoted he is to you.
As much as I appreciate that, I just rather focus on finding Sumairu for the time being and making sure she's alive.
Very well, then. I'm not unreasonable. How do we get to Paradis Island? Nobody wants anything to do with that place, whether it's for resources or coexistence, and travel to and from there is restricted by every nation. However, we are not bound by such restrictions.
What do you mean?
You'll see later tonight.
-x-
"…So, what were you kids doing when you ended in their clutches?" A young man asks Sumairu and her friends, sitting across the cabin from them.
"We were just traveling down the coast, minding our own business," she answered him. "What were you doing?"
"I was on my way to girlfriend's house when these jerks jumped me and threatened to kill my parents if I didn't join them."
"I'm guessing you tried to fight them?" Sarah, a friend of Sumairu's, asked him, pointing to his left leg. "Gunshot wound?"
"Yeah. I may not believe in violence being the answer, but when these people threaten my parents and my girlfriend and her parents, all bets are off."
"So, what'd you do?"
"I told them that if they laid a finger on any of them, I wouldn't hesitate to send them back to whatever god made them. One of them actually tries to go my parents' house just to kill my parents…so I snapped his right leg before he shot my left leg. They just took me before anyone else showed up. It seems like they're afraid of being found out because then, they'd have everyone coming after them."
"If their ruler enabled them, it's on them to have these jerks put in check," Sumairu tells them. "Or worse, they're acting of their own volition because they think they won't get in trouble when they already are. Either way, they're already in a situation they don't have a legal way out of."
"Then…what, we're just hostages for them? Some kind of bargaining chip for them to escape from the repercussions of their actions?"
"Seems like it," said Sarah, "but what makes them think that anyone would care about our lives if they already crossed the line?"
"If my sister's dead, the line's already been crossed for me. One of them shot at her."
"Your sister?" The man asks.
"She works at the museum our town has to house the history of Paradis before the Rumbling occurred…or worked at the museum."
"You didn't see her die, right?"
"No, I was being taken when he shot her, but she was hurt."
"Then…there's hope that she survived."
"How can you be sure of this?" Matthew, another friend of Sumairu, asks him. "The building was set ablaze by them to destroy our past history that we keep sacred."
"Because I'm studying to be a doctor. If help got to her in time, she has a shot of surviving. Gunshot victims are touch-and-go, but so long as they continue to fight for their lives, they have a chance at recovering, even from near-fatal wounds."
"You really think she could be alive?"
"Until you know for certain, you shouldn't disbelieve. Right now, hope for your sister is the best thing you have right now."
-x-
Based solely on the fact that the stolen boat was steam-powered and used paddle wheels, it would've taken them two days to get to Paradis Island. Unless, of course, the Yeagerists that stole the ship decided to dump their cargo and then abandon the vessel if they met with allies at sea. But Kaede couldn't let that possibly force her to give up on finding her sister and whoever else might've been captured by that pseudo-military; she would never see the Yeagerists as an actual military organization. Not when they attacked her home first.
Knock-knock! Kaede heard a knock at her door.
"Kaede?" She hears her boyfriend's voice. "Are you home?"
Setting the map down, she got up from the table in her kitchen and walked over to the door, opening it to see him.
"Hey, Shinji," she greeted him, seeing him with an expression of concern on his face.
"I was worried about you," he explained. "The museum was burned down and there were… I know you don't work on that day, but I was afraid you were… Are you alright, Kaede?"
"Yes," she told him, but then realized she was lying to him. "No. No, I'm not alright. What have you heard about last night?"
"You ran inside, a dark-skinned creature walked out as the flames died out, and some people saying that it was you, that the museum was burned by a terrorist group. Please, what happened last night, Kaede?"
She looked out in the hallway, seeing that he was alone…and pulled him inside her apartment.
"Last night, I learned that my sister was likely captured by the Yeagerists," she reveals to him. "I was nearly killed by one of them, and a dark promise from long ago was forged that night."
"And the dark creature that came out of the museum?"
Kaede walks away from him and stands three feet in front of him as she sighs.
"Try to stay calm, please," she tells him, and feels the darkness of the Titan forming over her body. I hope he can refrain from screaming in panic.
Shinji saw his grey-haired girlfriend disappear in front of him, replaced by a seven-and-a-half-foot humanoid that was androgynous, slightly more feminine than masculine, probably a representation of one who is both athletic and packed with power, with dark skin and hair, whose eyes were dark enough to see into your very soul. And similar to a Titan in the fact that it was bare, but not really showing any body parts that he or anyone else wanted to see right now. In that moment, Shinji wanted to run out the apartment, but he thought of Kaede, and couldn't leave her alone with this…this other person. There was fear on his face, but it was tempered by his devotion to this woman that had snatched his heart from him.
"You're afraid," they spoke, and Shinji recognized the voice as Kaede's, just slightly more…angry than what he had witnessed from her once before.
"I just met you, so I hope you can excuse my concerns," he responds. "Is Kaede still here?"
"She is. She can see and hear everything we say."
"That's good. Are you the reason she was able to survive last night's razing of the museum?"
"I am."
"Then…thank you for saving her."
"You're thanking me?"
"When someone does something you either expect or don't expect, you normally thank them for doing so. I didn't know Kaede would be going to the museum…so I couldn't do anything that would be the right thing to do, like keep her safe from harm. Even if it meant risking my life. So, I thank you for keeping her safe."
The humanoid tilted its head to the right and then nodded in gratitude to him.
"You are welcome," they respond.
Shinji then slowly went to a nearby chair and sat down in front of the humanoid, feeling a little better after doing so.
"You probably know who I am," he expresses, "but in case you don't, my name is Shinji Ikari. Kaede Sogen is my girlfriend, and…I… How do I explain myself?"
"There's nothing to explain," they told him. "Kaede cares a lot about you. My only advice for you two is to cherish each and every moment of your time spent together. Things with Paradis are going to get ugly."
"I know a thing or two about things getting nasty because of people's attitudes."
"Your parents and their intentions…are vastly different from a group of people looking for trouble from other people…but are within the boundaries of similarity. I feel only pity for the poor souls that dare to come after someone from someplace else…looking for trouble deliberately and trying to make themselves seem like the victims when they are not."
"And Sumairu and her friends have been taken by the Yeagerists, then they are the real victims, not the people that captured them."
"And the real victims deserve to be rescued from their captors…or avenged if they were slain."
"You're…an avenging angel of sorts?"
"In a way. I am the promise of the people of Epilogés, to safeguard their right to live however they choose, without needing to fight anyone."
"You're…a promise to the people here? Who…who are you?"
"I am…the Dark Titan."
"The Dark Titan."
As they were conversing, Kaede's mind was wandering around, learning what the previous Titans were capable of and what the Dark Titan was likely capable of to a limited extent. With the power of the Titans gone, this likely meant that the Dark Titan's power stemmed from a different source, separate from wherever the Titan powers originated from. Either way, she had to know as much as she could about her Titan before she could go and rescue her sister from Paradis; until she knew the truth with her own eyes, she had to believe that Sumairu was alive. If anything happened to her and the other people the Yeagerists had captured, then all bets were off…and they would see how far their actions would cost them.
As much as I would rather not go back to that place, she thought, looking at old books and scrolls that, in her mind, were representations of forgotten knowledge relating to the Nine Titans, I can't leave Sumairu alone with those people. Oh? Well, this could be a power that will come in handy if I can use it.
"Please, keep them both safe from harm," she heard Shinji's voice say to the Dark Titan. "Kaede means everything to me, but if something were to happen to Sumairu, she wouldn't be the same as before. Nothing matters more to me than both sisters being alive and happy. These Yeagerists… Just because you live, it doesn't mean that you're happy, and they don't seem to understand or follow that that simple concept."
"They shall learn of it," she heard the Dark Titan say to him in return. "Fighting for an ideal that doesn't guarantee happiness is a falsehood that leads to a grim reality."
"I'm with Kaede…and being with her…even for just a few minutes in any given moment with her…makes me happy. If she's happy about something or someone, anything, anyone, that makes me happy."
"You seem to be a simple-minded man. But because I am respecting Kaede's privacy, I know not if that's one of the qualities she enjoys about you…but it's a quality that other women should take value in."
Kaede sighs and thought about resuming her conversation with Shinji, but then decided to let the Dark Titan continue talking with him.
"Can you tell me something that might be a little…personal?" Shinji had asked.
"Feel free," the Titan responded.
"I'm hoping that Sumairu is alive and well and where Kaede believes she was taken to, but do you believe that she's alive?"
"Do I believe?"
"Yes. Do you have…a personal assumption?"
"I do…and I have to believe that she's alive. Because I don't know what Kaede will do if she's not. I understand the saying of Hell having no fury like a woman scorned, but there are other interpretations of something to set a woman off. So I'll say this: Paradis have no fury like a woman enraged by the unnecessary loss of a family member."
-x-
Thud! Sumairu, who had been asleep for a while, awoke to the sound of something hitting something else.
"Huh?" She went, seeing everyone else around her looking around.
"Get up," a Yeagerist soldier ordered them. "We're here now."
And where is "here"? She wondered as she got up.
To be continued…
A/N: How many do you think that Kaede will rescue her sister and the others captured? And how many of you think that there will be Hell to pay if anything goes south?