1850 AY

"Its called the Attack Titan."

"What? What the hell are you talking about?"

What? Eren thought, pulled out his contemplation. What, where am I? Wasn't I just talking with Krueger? The Ballroom around him turned from a muted muttering into a cacophony of sounds. As if the sound had been turned on, the countless conversations going on continued. The words that had stretched into a droning sensation of white noise, now popped in his ears, blaring through his head.

"What? Where am I?"

"Huh? Are you deaf?" Looking to his left, he could see Jean's dumbfounded expression, his exasperated facial features stretching his face humorously. "We were just talking about the Captain when you zoned out and started mumbling!" Jean reached a hand out and yanked Eren' shoulder, shaking him like a ragdoll. "Hey are you listening? Or are you just gonna keep mumbling you psycho bastard!"

"Thats enough Jean! Get your hand off." Mikasa cut in, putting Jean's arm in a death grip Begrudgingly, he relented as Mikasa then moved in front of Eren as Jean reluctantly stepped back.

"Seriously, are we just gonna let that fly? That's the 3rd time!" Jean looked around to the 104th around him, only to get Connie snickering at him in return, and Mikasa's stone cold expression.

"Crazy bastard, mumbling like a madman and still…" Finally taking a look around, Eren could see that a few heads of the Military brass around him had turned to observe their small situation. The remaining 104th, Jean, Sasha, Connie, Mikasa, Armin, and Eren stood around in the corner of the massive ballroom. Hundreds of people had gathered today. Gathered to see the remaining scouts awarded for the retaking of Shiganshina. The others were littered around the room, Section Commander Dirk, Commander Hange, and Captain Levi were across the room speaking to Commander Pixis and a man with a goatee in a military police uniform. Meanwhile the remaining survivors who had joined before were grouped across the room, they still looked shaken, all except the one with Red hair, who had become far quieter since their return from Maria. If his nails had been any sharper, Eren would have bet his hands would be bleeding from how tight his grip looked.

"Eren, are you okay? It was almost like you were frozen the whole time. Then you just started talking." Eren gazed to his left, to see Armin leaning towards him, whispering in his ear. "Was it…?" The pause told Eren enough. After he had frozen the 2nd time, he had told Armin he had started to see more memories of his fathers. Having someone to talk to about the visions gave him some relief. But no answers.

"It was…I could see my father, and the man he was talking too, Krueger. I could see them both speaking. Like I was in 2 minds at once."

"Really? Was it like when you remembered when your father made you transform? Or when you remembered the Commandant?"

"A little like the latter. But more…the smell, the feeling of the air… I could feel it all. On my skin and face. It was like the memories from before. But I wasn't just seeing. It was like I was in their skin." Eren looked down, gazing at his hand as he looked into his palm. He thought it was his, but was it? He had seen the old hands of his predecessor and that of his father. He had been in their mind thinking their thoughts. All their feelings, their hopes, dreams, fears. He had felt them, they weren't Krueger's or his Father's feelings, they were his. He knew his father's grief and Krueger's sullen soulfulness. "I was them. In almost every sense. Being here now…its…" He couldn't quite find the words. Armin's hand found his chin as his face twisted in thought.

"Strange, perhaps touching Dr. Yeager's journal aided somehow in bringing back up memories. Maybe if I found something of Bertholdts, I could recall some of his. Maybe then we could gleam something about Marley as it is now…"

Eren didn't correct him. Was it the journal itself? Or something in the paths that had opened him to the memories of his father? Even if it was the journal, how did that explain how he had seen some of Krueger's perspective? He doubted the other Titans could feel the memories so vividly. The powers of the Attack Titan to see the future had to be vast. But why had he been able to see the past so well? Was he seeing memories sent to him by someone else? Could he view the past in its entirety? But how?

"Maybe…but…" Eren swallowed and tried to form his words. How could he put this?

"Eren?" Mikasa asked him, with an almost pleading work. She had peeled off from Jean and the others, as they had moved closer to the front of the Palace, along with many others. Eren could see the mass of military officers beginning to congregate towards the throne. As his eyes gazed over the moving masses he saw Mikasa and Armin looking upon him, with questioning looks. "What is it?"

"This power…the coordinate...I think it might be why I can feel my dad's visions so vividly." Armin and Mikasa exchanged a quick glance between them. He had seen it many times before. Some assurance between them, in his younger days he had thought they both thought him crazy whenever they gazed between them. But now…well perhaps he had been.

"If the Coordinate can be used to erase our memories then it would make sense that it could access them somehow." Armin mused. "If thats so, we could use it to mine for information. We could use it to find out about Eldia, perhaps even their plans for the future, or I guess the past now. Maybe we could use it to access the other's memories and see the memories of other Titans. Then we could use Annie to find out more about Marley, and create at least an outline of a plan."

"But we still don't know how to trigger its power." Mikasa replied. "Eren managed to use it when facing the Titan that killed Carla, but we still haven't been able to replicate that effect."

Should I tell them about Dina? Ever since the military committee he had been thinking about telling Historia about how he could trigger the power. If she possessed a Titan, then they could use the power of the Founding Titan. But then…with only 13 years to live, they might need more children of Royal blood. Forcing her to have kids, and then forcing them to eat their own mother. This power was absurd. So many had to be cursed to keep this power going. It was wrong, it was cruel, it was taking their freedom by force and by fear.

With that last thought Eren looked past Armin and Mikasa, now talking about ways to trigger, or rather ways to find how to test to find how to trigger the powers of the Coordinate, to Historia. How would she feel about this. Historia had rejected taking on the Founder, she was the reason he was alive, even when he wanted to die, she hadn't let him. She had refused to take the power of the Titan and committed to living her own life. How could I foist another this power onto her, this curse, after all that. But that wasn't the only option. His brother still existed.

"-no matter what we still know too little. If anyone can help us shed more of our ignorance, it would be the Eldians still left. And assuming they sent the Thomas Ackerman the Commander asked you about, that might be the only lead we have." Armin noted.

"But everything he owned is gone, burned or buried." Mikasa buried her face in the scarf, and lowered her voice to a near whisper.

"There may be another thing we hadn't thought of" Eren chimed in, his friends eyes darting to him. "My so- I mean Zeke, my brother. His Titan works differently than the rest of Marleys, he must know something we can use."

"So do you think its true then? That Dr. Yeager's first wife was of Royal blood?" Armin asked, his eyes widening.

"I know it is. And what's more…" Eren's eyes darted around the room, seeing Levi talking to Hanji, he pushed Mikasa and Armin to an emptier spot around the room, before resuming. "I know that because when I touched her, it triggered the power of the Founder."

"What?" Armin said a little too loud before he slapped his hand over his mouth.

"But when did you? We don't even know where her Titan form is." Mikasa added.

"We do, her Titan was eaten the 1st time I ever used the Founder."

"Eren what are you…" A look of instant shock took over Mikasa's face.

"Wait your saying that the Titan that ate your mom-"

"Not so loud!" Eren cut off Armin, glancing back, he could see a short figure across the hall, glance back at them and begin to move. "I realized it during the committee meeting."

"So thats why…"

"Yeah I realized it during the meeting. But if I told them, then that opens the idea, that since Armin has the Colossal, that we could feed him to Historia, and then we would have it. And thats not something I can…" Eren tightened his grip on his fist as Mikasa grabbed his hand, running her fingers over his knuckles. She looked into his eyes for a second and with a glance and a nod, Eren and Mikasa then looked back to Armin, a common understanding between them.

"We would never do that. We almost lost you once, we won't let it happen again." Mikasa said, her voice hardened like steel. Armin looked taken aback at the sudden statement before his face shifted from a smile to melancholy in an instant.

"Besides," Eren interjected into the brief silence. "We still have 2 other options. My so- I mean my brother in Marley and Eldia-"

"Brats, what's going on here?" The voice of the Captain cut in, and Eren felt his spine straighten in a snap.

"Nothing sir, just thinking about where we go from here." Armin replied.

"Well shove it away for now. Just get through the ceremony. Then we can start to see how we'll replace Erwin." The captain visibly grimaced as he turned and headed back over to Hange, whose gaze lingered on Mikasa, himself… and Armin.

"Armin he shouldn't have-"

"I'm fine Mikasa. The captain didn't say anything we weren't thinking 's something we need to address. The Scout regiment has some big shoes to fill…" Armin looked like he was closing in on himself, his whole body tense even as his words were meant to be reassuring, but Armin couldn't force belief into his own words.

The topic hadn't come up, not returning to the city, not when they made it back to base, not when they were in the committee meeting, and not now. No one said anything. But he could see it in their faces. When they told the committee about Erwin's death Eren could see it on Commander Dawk and Pyxis's faces. He could see it on Flock's face after they had left Shiganshina. He could see it in Levi's face at times. But the worst was when he saw it on Armin's face. Why you? Erwin died in his suicide charge, why didn't you? Floch had been less than quiet about it when they got back to Trost, saying 'Lady Luck missed her shot' when he thought he was out of earshot. No one wanted to come out and say it. Erwin was already dead when Armin was given the injection. But that didn't stop anyone from having that look on their face, whenever Armin was present or when Erwin came up. And it hurt, because nobody had an answer yet.

We'll see the sea, and then we'll save humanity. You're the one who can do it Armin. I know it.

"Hey guys-" Eren turned to see Connie speaking up, "-come on. Its time for the Ceremony to start."

As the 3 of them started making their way down the hall. The white marble of the palace columns passed them as they approached the large windows by the throne. Rows and rows of MPs and Garrison members lined the Palace besides the empty center row. They joined the other 16 surviving Scouts at the front right by the throne. Standing at attention, Eren noted Historia sitting on the throne as the Premier stood off to the side, next to a woman in a MP uniform holding a dark brown box.

With all the Scouts now assembled into 3 rows a knock of a scepter against the ground could be heard as the ceremony was called to order. As Historia rose, Commander Hange fell to her knees and with her the rest of the Scouts.

"We here, arrive now to honor both the living and the fallen." Historia began. "We give honor to those who died for the cause of the Humanity, those who gave their lives and their futures to those who would come after them. To those who died in the pursuit of a brighter tomorrow, to those who died so that we may once again venture beyond the walls, to those who died for Freedom. Today we give honor to those who died, and honor those that carry on the torch they left behind." Another knock of the scepter followed her words.

With a moment of silence Eren could hear an organ begin somewhere in the halls of the palace, providing an overlay on the ceremony. Historia walked first to Hange, picking up a Medal from the brown box, and laying it around Hange's neck. More of a Bolo Tie really. As Historia moved onto the next to be awarded, the other Section Commander Dirk, who had survived, Eren wondered what this was all worth. What did we really find in that cellar? If the whole world hates us for just existing, did we really change our circumstances at all? Historia then laid another medal on another of the surviving Scouts.

Marley is right next door and Eldia is a continent away, we can't reach them. We don't have the ships so how? If nothing changes soon, then our victory will be meaningless. Even with Betholdt and Reiner dead, we just found more enemies. Next time, Marley will come with an Army, not just 4 kids. We're still alone…just as we were before. Historia then laid a Medal upon Captain Levi, and then began moving over to him.

I'd give up my life in a heartbeat if I was certain that in doing so I could make a difference. But…Eren looked up to see Historia standing over him Medal in hand. …I'm not going to sacrifice Historia's. Historia tightened the medal around his neck and put out her hand. He took and prepared to give it a brief kiss as the other Scouts had. I won't put her in the position I was in. But then how…?

A sudden ringing filled Eren's ears. What? The sights around him began to shake, And Eren began to wonder if he was trembling before everything he saw began to shimmer. It was as if what he saw was being reflected from a pond as the water rippled outwards, the light bending all around him. He couldn't move his head side to side and at once realized he couldn't feel his body at all. The light began to fade and Eren tried to reach out to something even as he couldn't feel anything at all.

As the last of his sight faded from his eyes, Eren tried to reach out again. But still nothing came of it. He was alone in darkness, with nothing around him but his own thoughts. What the hell is happening to me! Am I nuts? What is this?

Eren wanted to scream, and as his throat cried out into a empty silence his griped his fist and felt- he felt…Sand? Turning his head he looked to his hand and saw. His hand was holding sand as he lied on his back. As he leaned up he saw that all around him was miles and miles of sand, stretching in all directions. As he turned, a sight caught him by surprise.

A massive structure stretching from the sands up into the night sky, was the Coordinate. Like a massive tree, Eren could see countless streams of light trailing across the sky beneath the stars. The veins of green, purple, and blue countless across the sky. As he turned his head from the sky to the horizon, he could see the paths of the tree branches combine and trail down into the 'trunk' of the tree. It was massive. And exactly like it was in Dad's memories, I'm really here, in the paths. Eren had seen this there, when his father had awoken after feasting on Krueger's flesh. But why? How long have I been here, it feels like just a moment, but like I've been here forever.

"I leave it in your hands now." a strangely familiar voice rang out. It sounded distant but near at the same time.

"Who was that?" Eren cried out, but nothing cried back at him. No even his own echo. As he glanced around he saw nothing, but stars, sand, and the coordinate lighting up the sky.

As Eren looked at the base of the coordinate, and saw the paths began to shift in front of him. The paths began to merge, the space between the different strands fading as they morphed into one large blue mass. But even then, as Eren watched on, one began to pulse green, almost as if it was a beating heart. It looks so close, but isn't it far away?

As Eren reached out his hand, as if to touch the beating vein, he began to hear a low ringing that only grew louder as if his finger grew closer as if he could touch it. But then he did. He touched it, the vein was part of the tree but also right before him. He could grasp it in fingers. The beating of the green being grew faster, and the noise in Eren's ears ceased. As did all the noise. And then Eren could not hear at all, not even the beating of his own heart-

-the head of the man popped open as he pushed his thumb down, popping like a fruit. The red of his armor only growing from the blood. The men in front of him looked up at him in terror. Even though he had crushed the forces at the city's gates, they held him as no saviour. Except for the young man in ornate armor being hidden by the guards, his stubble barely coming in. His eyes held a certain wonder hidden by the best mask of calm he could have summoned when a giant monster had just crushed the life of a man in front of you. As he dropped the body. Gerhold remembered his Father's words, and let his Titan form fall to rest as he opened the nape.

While the steam and the light from direct sunlight to his eyes gave him pause, gazing out across the city, he could see Risestadt though had clearly suffered. The city had worsened since he had last saw it, and seeing it through the eyes of his human form rather than his Titan only reinforced that vision.. But he supposed he should say since his father last saw it. The City had weathered the siege well, the Marleyans had only barely overcome the walls as he arrived. Just as father said it would be.

As he finally jerked out of his Titan, pulling his face from the appendages that held him to the Titan. He saw the guards crowd around the young King, although he still glanced through them. They all stood in the middle of the street by the southern gate, crowded just a ways away from where the Marleyans had breached the wall. But now, now he would have a chance. As his boot touched stone. He slammed his fist to his chest, pulling his left arm behind his back, giving his Eldian salute.

"Your majesty. I have returned the Attack Titan to the service of the true King of Eldia. I pledge my life and my loy-"

"Enough of that." Gerhold glanced at the man next to the young King. He stood with a green cloak around his armor, holding a large axe with deep carvings, though Gerhold couldn't see the exact design from this distance. His face was worn, and the brown hair on his head and face had started to make its change to white and grey. The Gatekeeper. The piercing green eyes honed in on Gerhold as he spoke. "Who are you, and how do you hold one of the Nine?"

"My name is Gerhold Voss. The brother of Thomas Voss. My Brother passed away 4 years ago, and he passed on his Titan to me."

"Why should I believe that? Voss fled East years ago. And no one heard from him since" The man questioned as he approached, leaving the young King behind with a guard as he slowly approached. "I won't deny the Titan and your actions have benefited us greatly. Although you have crushed the Legion here, how are we to be assured of your intentions?"

"Because you don't have a choice." Gerhold man bristled at that.

"What do you mean we have no choice?"

"I mean that Cassian has arrived in Marley with his Legions from the East. He should be marching here as we speak."

"Nonsense. Cassian is in Ptolema. Who are you really-"

"More has transpired. You have been under siege for months. Ptolema has been retaken, Arisus will be carried in a Triumph soon enough. And they hope for all of us to follow."

"And that means we should trust you? For all we know you could be aligned with Sigurd."

"I only seek to help." Gerhold stared into the eyes of the young King, before falling to his knees, lowering his head to the young king, and trying to sound devoted as hell. "King Ehrmich I pledge my life and my loyalty to you. I will help you recover the other 8 Titans using the power of my own, and drive out Marley once more."

"And I'm sure every blonde daughter of Ymir is a gift from god, but we can't-"

"How?" a voice squeaked through the man's speech. Gerhold rose his head to see some of the men had turned to face the young King, as his face lit up red with embarrassment. With a cough he said once more "How will you find the Titans? Nobody has seen them for years. None of my siblings or cousins inherited them after we ate our parents. So how could you?"

"Your Majesty, are you really?" The older man questioned.

"I want to know Lothar. If he can then…"

"But sire…"

"I can give you something to start. I know who holds the Founding Titan."

"And how could you possibly know that?" Lothar cut in.

"Hold Lothar. Let him speak."

"My King. The Founding Titan is currently in your cousin Orvud."

"And you know this how?" The squeakiness of the young King's voice was gone now. An inquisitive look took over his face for a moment, before he adopted his mask of calm once more. He stood as regally as he could, though his pimpled face made it hard to see.

"Because of the Attack Titan you Majesty. Its power has shown me, as it showed our meeting to my brother."

"What do you speak of? Be clear now." Now the hard part. I hope I don't sound as much like a madman as you did Thomas.

"Just as your families Titan can control all Titans, mine can see the future. Thats why I knew to smash the forces in the west first, and then to come here right after. Because I had already seen what I needed to do." Silence pervaded the street as. The man, Lothar, had a certain look in his eye as leaned towards the king's ear and whispered to him. The King's eyes darted from Lothar to the ruins around him, and then back to Gerhold.

"Rise Gerhold Voss." And so he stood, rising above the King, forming his salute once more. "I cannot know if you are telling me the truth, but for the life of me I can't tell why you would come here to put on this farce. I will give you a chance to prove your loyalty and your word."

"Yes my King. I pledge my heart to thee." As Lothar approached from the Kings-

-the green lines came back to him, and he felt himself flying through the space of the web of lines as-

-the path shifted in and out of view, as Vanessa limped along the path, the fall from her room had crushed something in her leg. And for now she bore it as she escaped what had been her home. As she reached the top of the hill, she gazed back out to her home. The fields around the Rhetland's Summer Mansion were covered in darkness except for the burning mansion in the background. Her home lit aflame. 100 generations of Rhetlands had lived in the mansion. What madness had possessed someone to destroy the home of the Family of the Rogue Titan?

Who would have done this? Who would have dared? She would devour them whole as Edmund had when he feasted on the commanders of the Baran armies when they marched on Eldia in their 'holy wars'. She would destroy all they loved as Hellen had when she smashed the strange black box in their holy city when she burned the peninsula. With the Rogue Titan she would…wait where was her Father?

Looking back to the mansion she could see the servants trying to escape the fires as well, others were dousing the garden walls around the mansion with water, hoping to contain the fire before it spread outside the mansion into the forests around it, while some stood still, simply gazing into the massive inferno that covered her home. But as Vanessa gazed around the blaze, she could not see the faces of her family, not of her mother, not her brothers, not even her aunt Petra. But more importantly the holder of the Rogue Titan, Bernard Rhetland, her father, was nowhere in sight. Where did you go? At a time like this, have they caught you?

Just then a hand caught her shoulder, and as terror found her heart, she found the blue eyes and graying hair of her father.

"Dad!"

"Quickly with me."

"But Father-"

"There is no time, we must go now." Her father quickly said as he turned from her and dragged her into the forest. She felt her feet fall forward again and again as she made her way through the forest. Despite herself, Vanessa felt relief bloom in her heart as she finally found something of her home left.

As her father stopped and turned to look at her, she threw her arms around her father. And as his arms took her in, she let the tears flow. The emotion of watching her home burn before her overtaking her heart. She let her sorrow flow through her, but soon it began to burn. She leaned away from her father and took in his shining eyes and his stone expression, hiding all of his feelings behind it.

"I swear Father, we will avenge them, and if we don't before your term ends, I will carry it on and destroy whoever did this to our family father. I will bring them Fire and Bl-"

"Don't." her Father's interjection gave her a shock. His face still held its silence. What did he mean?

"Father?"

"Don't chase after this. It's already done."

"What do you mean done? There is no way this can be explained by an accident. We have to see them dead, whoever did this will die a thousand deaths before they leave this world. I swear it on Ymir."

Her Father's face cracked for a second, as his eyes grew for a second. Tears grew in the corners of his eyes, as his gaze fell.

"Perhaps you will then." His silence alarmed her, her father had always been odd, especially after he inherited the Rogue Titan, his odd creaking laugh becoming a rare thing compared to his glassy stare. But now, his hair had begun to gray in the last year, and as she stepped away from him. She could see it. His skin hung loose, his teeth had begun to rot, and his limp never seemed to heal. He was a walking corpse. "I'm a old man now, close to deaths door. And now I've burned my way to hell."

"Father, what did you-"

"Vanessa, please… forgive me." No. Her father reached out and grabbed her arm, and Vanessa felt part of her mind go blank. Had her…no it was insane. Her father was strange and distant, but he loved her, he loved her brothers and her mother. He even loved Aunt Petra despite her constant unrequested advice. He wouldn't….

"Father…what happened? Who…did… did you…" As her Father kept his eyes on her arm. She couldn't deny it.

"All things end, it the nature of things. One must end for another to begin. It was terrible. Knowing I would be here for so long. Knowing what I had to do." No…no no no no..

"How could you!" She tried to tear her arm from him, to get away from this…murderer in her Father's skin. But his grip tightened. And she could see him bringing out a needle with his other hand.

"When you eat me, I hope you can understand. I hope they show you what they showed me. The names of our successors, I have heard them all, and none of the are ours. We won't free her. It anothers destiny. Just like the Voss raised the Empire, we expanded it, now we leave it to what comes next."

"What are you talking about!? Let me go! Father!" she cried as her father inserted the needle into her arm. No no no no no! She could see the liquid drain, and as it emptied, she felt her skin light on fire. And as light sparked around her, glowing from her own skin, she tried to look at her Father. She was on his knees on the ground, tears falling onto the grass. And as her new form grew, and black nothingness took her mind, she saw her father smile.

-the storm of noise infected his mind. The voices from a thousand men and women melting together like a thousand drunken men singing as-

-As she closed the door, he took a moment to appreciate the Beaumont family's solar. Despite the efforts of the King and his ancestors, Risestadt and the Imperial Palace never seemed to match the raw elegance of what the Elizabeth's family had built in Gaul. From the Glass Halls to the fountains in the front gardens, the private mansion of the Beaumont's displayed the kind of class and high culture the rest of Eldia, and the world really, envied. Even the solar looked like it contained greater expense then his family's full holdings could afford. But that would be fitting wouldn't it? Something about a women's touch that the other Titan's just couldn't pass down.

"I thought my father told you to never come back." her eyes bore into him. Old memories obviously on her mind.

"He did…but I never thought you would be so cold. After all we-"

"I'm not in the mood to rerun old memories. What do you want?" she cut back in. No help from the past then. "If you haven't heard, I have responsibilities now. I can't just run around in a cloak showing up all over the continent. Some of us use our positions as Shifters to rule, rather than run around like a scoundrel." She walked over across the room sitting down behind the large desk covered in reports. "I have enough problems with Marlow'making a nuisance of himself, and the colonial petitions about the rebels. I don't need you skulking about, while I'm trying to find a way to hold the empire together while 4 of the nine Titans are having a grudge match in the east."

"Such a harsh interpretation, and so cold."

"You've earned it." Her words keeping the tension heavy in the air. She kept looking at him with that pinched expression. Despite himself, he walked over the the leather seat on the other end of the dark wooden table and planted himself in it.

"You've heard that Konnor is heading to Magyanne?"

Elizabeth's eyes darted to a sheet on her desk as she pulled out a cigarette. "I have, he'll put Vander in his place." Taking a long drag her eyes darted back to him.

"And you heard that he asked Marlow to help him in crushing the Marleyans?"

"Are we just going to keep repeating headlines now? Its surprising a Tybur would fumble that badly that they needed help putting down peasants. But I'm sure he can handle Marlow if he starts prancing about like Vander is. None of this is news."

"And you don't find it strange the new King isn't getting involved? Even as Vander flouts the rules and claims Nikola's lands?" he knew he sounded a little irritated. He should remember he was getting the inside look at all of this. To her it must look the same as every other Shifter squabble. His father had gotten his fair share with the Armor over the years.

"We have had bad kings before Arthur."

"Not like this." he kept his eyes fixed on her as the smoke left her lips. Her stare seemed a tad more engaged. The hook was there. "Have you met Karl before?"

"Briefly at Anderhoven. A bit overly concerned about the peasantry, but I suppose it makes sense now that more of our forces are professional. I suppose the officers corps will be asking for greater rights in a term or 2."

"Well recently I was in Risestadt, to talk with him about pushing further east. He seemed well, more melancholy than I had hoped. He kept asking about all the lives lost. But then he kept asking if had any memories of eating people alive when I inherited my Titan. It was like he was… probing."

"For what? A hint of care?" she quipped smugly.

"Not so much. But when I left he tried not to touch me. He was wearing thick gloves and all. It was so odd. But what was weirder was that Konnor came in afterwards. He should have been back in Marley, but Karl kept him there. After I couldn't shake a dark feeling so I went to the old roots under the old Voss manor just in case. I jumped in, and well…I saw it.." At that her eyes sharpened. Good, she remembers the conversations about my father and uncle, and how distant they were after they…saw.

"So…what does the Attack Titan say the future holds?" he held her eyes for a minute. As he stared through the blonde tresses of her hair into her green eyes, he wondered if he would feel better not knowing how her life would end.

"Well for starters, Marley rises again, not just the rebels, Konnor is going to come back, with Vander and Marlow's spines. He and 2 new holders then start fighting with Marley. I saw our people being thrown out of windows and thrown in graves by the thousands. Everything was burning, our people marched for miles to reach Paradis, which was covered by millions Colossal Titans and-"

He paused as he saw Elizabeth's eyes widened and darted to her desk. After a blink she looked back up to him, her lips parting as if to speak. Her eyes then darted down and back again before her lips tightened. He gave a pointed look and after a moment of contemplation, she opened a folder and pulled out a sheet of paper, pushing it across her desk.

Standing up, Arthur made his way over to the desk and picked up the file as the Female Titan shifter turned away. Gazing at the paper he began to read, and as his eyes glazed over most of the page, they caught on one phrase. Transformation Serum.

Shipments continuing on schedule according to contacts, Further analysis confirms O'Connell's report that the Royal shipment contains a differing strain of Titan Transformation Serum.

We do not know at current what the cause of the difference is in the strains from Brest and Toulon. But we do know that this shipment is not going to Rigen as detailed on the manifest, but being intercepted in Hispania. There it will be taken onto a number of separate vessels and moved to Paradis Island…

Looking back he could see Elizabeth looking back at him over her shoulder. After meeting his gaze, she sighed deeply. "I wanted to believe you were full of it. About Konnor especially. But I've had my people looking into strange shipments leaving our ports. So much material has been leaving for Paradis, mostly just material for construction. I asked the King and he said he was building a new pleasure Palace there. To escape the constant fighting between the other 8. He seemed…afable about it surprisingly. I was hoping he was just being lazy, trying to let us fight ourselves to death so he could choose new families to inherit the Titans afterwards. That was until this." She stood up and made her way around the table to him, and took the sheet from his hand. "But if these reports are right…" she sighed again before nearly falling against the desk. Her form almost melting onto it. "Then the King is intending something more sinister. Something that requires 100s of semi-shifters. And with your visions…"

"The Tyburs are in on it."

"Yes. Maybe if it was just Konnor killing Marlow and Vander-"

"No, its bigger than that, the Marleyans are helping him. With the images I saw of the graves… this is no longer just some Titans squabble in Ilyria, this is full blown civil war we are looking at, if not a revolution."

A silence permeated the air. Eldia had been troubled for years now. Before Cannons became widespread 200 years ago, the only thing that could kill a Titan was a Titan. Meaning that rebellions were always ultimately doomed to be stopped by Titans. But now with the larger Cannons coming to bear, a Titans nape could be damaged, and soldiers could then kill the man or woman inside. Cannons were unwield and hard to turn fast enough to fight against Titans, as the Mathdis had learned in the wars in the east. But the creation of a weapon that could stop Titans was allowing the Cart's forces to help fight off the Beast in Magyanne. Multiple Titans fighting as one still carried any day, but recently they had been ignoring each other's calls for arms. Except when it gave them all a chance to steal others lands.

"I can see why the Kings kept kicking your family out of Court." his eyes darted back to Elizabeth, her face containing a sullen smile. "All you've ever brought it bad tidings."

"Only a little while ago you said seeing me was the best thing about going to court." To that Elizabeth snickered.

"More than a little while ago now Arthur…" the light smiles on both their faces could only last for a minute. Never reach for the past, isn't that what you always said Mother? The future they now knew weighed heavily upon them already. "By Ymir, what do we do now? I don't suppose you came in here with a plan?"

"We prepare. For the worst." she gazed back up into his eyes with a sad expression. Her contempt for him was absent for the first time in years. It felt…nice, to not be despised by her for a moment. Like old times.

"I'll call my armies to the Alpine. Start guarding the passes while we prepare to crush Marley. You could go back to the Norselands and call your banners, and attack Risestadt and seize Karl. There is a chance we could nip this in the bud."

"If my Father's visions worked the same way then it probably won't work. If Karl is fleeing we need someone who Eldia can rally for, to band the armies together against Karl and the Tyburs. We need to get into contact with Prince Joachim. He would be willing to join us. Then we could get rally support around him restoring Eldia after Karl flees rather than being seen as usupers. It would ease our political problems down the road." Arthur proposed.

"Still if we are seen supporting Joachim, then Richardson will lead Columbia into another rebellion and we can't fight a war against the colonies and a Civil War at once." Elizabeth added. The Columbian colonies had been a problem for 50 years now since the 1st rebellion. "They could help Karl later, and if he-"

"It won't matter, Karl wants to head to Paradis, he won't answer any calls."

"But won't he see to the end of…whatever this plan is?"

"No, he wants his hands washed of Eldia. My own sources said he will soon be on his way to Paradis with his-"

-blinking again he could see the green lights once more. But he couldn't tell if he was in his own skin again. As he tried to look at himself, he could see the sand around him once more, but as he looked across the endless waste. There was another flash of light-

-dammit, McKinnon you couldn't have held the flank for 5 minutes could you? Muotrahk was supposed to have been his masterpiece. The last in a long line of victories by the Attack Titan. After months of running in circles, he had finally caught General Silva and the Marleyan 4th Army. His forces had encircled them and had been pelting the city for a month, before he had ordered the city stormed. Their defeat here would have cracked open the entire theater, and he would have been free to beeline it to Liberio. But now he was here, running on foot, his human feet, through the city that he was supposed to celebrating.

All those visions of a burning city, of vast pastures sure to be his after his victory, and of him kissing the hand of their new queen as she draped him in honors…..How much of what you showed me was a lie? His Father had told him that the Titan had showed them suffering, their visions too painful or too incoherent to make sense of. But when he took on the Titan, everything made sense. He would cross the Carthaginian desert as his grandfather had, he would strike a deathblow to the Marleyan cause, then after Marley was humbled he would turn back and loot the near east. After smashing Marley and the Middle Eastern Federation, he would win the Chancellorship in a no contest, evicting that pompous Arkwright. With the Chancellorship, and a new flow of resources from the Mid East to empower the economy, his Chancellorship would be one that saw the rebirth of a new Eldian Empire, one strong not just because of Titans, but because of him. He would be hailed even higher than Gerhold Voss and Arthur Krueger. He would be known throughout all time as the Damon the Conqueror, his legacy etched into the paths of Ymir themselves.

Of all the times for you to be right Father. He had been told that the Attack Titan was its own beast, that it overtook its users. And when he had looked into his fathers eyes upon seeing him for the first time after the… well he had believed it then. But when he took it on, he felt nothing. No separate presence in his mind. No voices in the night. But maybe that wasn't quite right. How many of my thoughts are my own, I couldn't have really thought McKinnon was worthy could I have?

Now it would be Eldia running like rats, after his Army had been smashed by the Armor. He had seen Julienne ripped straight out of her Titan, fed to some rat who chose to kneel rather than to stand and fight like a proper Eldian. The sophisticated female Titan, riches, art, and history. All ended….by me.

He threw his back to the wall as a patrol passed through the street. The sound of boots meshing with that of drinks flowing freely in the city. While he was wound tight as a spring after his defeat, the Marleyans had been exuberant. For the first time in over a half century, they had stolen Titans from an Eldian. And they drank like it. Drunken laughs of soldiers rang out of every corner and building. This day would be their greatest victory since the Titan War. And if McKinnon had let the front collapse, that meant Arkwright would be facing the Titans alone. And we might lose 2 Titans in one day.

The new family of the Beast Titan had done well for themselves after their sudden ascendancy during the Great Titan war. From peasant Generals to one of the 9. And then to the Chancellorship of Eldia, with no Founding Titan, the royal family had been vulnerable like they hadn't been since the young years of the empire when subjects of ymir were few. And the peasants his grandfather had gifted their Titan had used it to elevate themselves to the leadership of the empire, having a whole new body of governance created to 'help' the royal family administer the realm. Based on the Marleyan Senate of all things. Instead of his family, the real saviors of Eldia rising, it had been up-jumped peasants who had taken the reins of the empire. The sole mistake of his grandfather, one he had sought to correct. But now…

As the laughs of the drunken patrol passed him by, Damon kept to the shadows, as fires around the city kept soldiers revelry long into the night, he made his way south back towards Eldian forces. As the sky turned and light peeped out from the cover of darkness, Damon saw the horizon. And then more.

In a rapid succession, Damon felt a hemorrhaging in his skull and his eyes felt like they were being folded inside out. A flurry of images, of memoires, of sights and sounds that weren't his flooded his mind. Memories of a life that wasn't his, of training that came in the wrong tongue, of passwords and passphrases, of safehouses and drop points. What the hell is this? They keep calling me Krueger but not Damon, who the hell is Eren?

Then just like that it stopped, as Damon looked back across the horizon he could feel something…else. They could remember….they? How could they….how could he? A veil settled in his mind, layers of voices speaking in his mind at once. Each with a different pitch, but all with the same cadence and tone. With one in particular that sounded like…Dad?

Was this…was this what he meant? Were they made new from memories of others? But they weren't from before. He was speaking Marleyan, but he had never learned. Was this how his Father had changed, when he had become more involved in the Empire's politics after his ritual?

Gazing at his own hand, Damon tried to think about who they..he…they was…were? Was he still here? His mind felt tight, like his skull was being crushed. In moments the feeling was gone, but something else replaced it. He felt calmer, like he had done this before. But what? As he stumbled back into a destroyed building he fell on his back, and felt something beneath him.

Rolling over he saw what had obstructed his fall. Lying in the middle of what must have been was a dead Marleyan. Or at least the body of one. Evidently his death was quick, as a small dot on his forehead showed. But a tickle in the back of Damons mind told them to look at the body.

The uniform is still intact. With that note, Damon began shedding his clothes, with a new language, and a new plan in their mind-

-a burning in their skull flared up. The visions that had flooded their mind gave way to crystal clear images that felt painful when compared to the vibrant sights and sounds he had just seen. They flashed before his eyes in an instant. A man with blonde hair that was giving way to gray who possessed the eyes of the founder grinned at him from above, stained glass covering the room behind him. Then he saw a figure bleeding out on the ground, a strange array of metal braces and coverings on top of a black jumpsuit, his body lying on the streets of….Liberio? 2 Titans stood across from one another, the Beast, his brother on one end, and across from him was a stranger covered in white, holding a massive weapon. Is that the Warhammer? An army of Colossal Titans walking into a massive body of water. Finally, there was a massive ball of fire in the distance. It rose from the earth and gre like a tree, its branches of smoke reaching out, as the fire of its roots overtook all the earth below it, turning everything to ash. He reached for the sand beneath, so he could feel something, anything. Then Eren blinked.

He could finally feel again. He realized he was holding something in his right hand. What was it? Was this…skin? The pulsing in his skull grew lighter as the sight of the visions in their mind faded. The sight of the coordinate was not before him. But a hand. Historia?

Their skull rang with a piercing pain. Who were they? Was that their past? Who they had been? Where was he? Where had all those visions come from?

That was the Attack Titan. But those visions had been from the past hadn't they? Couldn't he only see memories from the future? Was that the power of the founder combined with royal blood opening the paths for them?

"Eren?" They looked across and saw Mikasa staring at them with a worried look.

As they…no as he took back in his surroundings. He was still in the ceremony, He could hear the chattering of his own teeth. How long have I been here? How long have I been…

He finally dropped Historias hand, and he could see the concern on her face before she masked it and moved on to the next recipient. As everything in the hall seemed to move past his…episode, he tried to focus on the rest of the ceremony. But one thing drew the focus from his mind. Who was that who had spoken to the- to him?

"I leave it in your hands now." the voice rang again in his mind, clear as it had been before. But when Eren glanced around, nobody was there. So once more he looked down, and waited for the ceremony to end, and for the questions that followed.

But as he put his fist back to his heart, he tightened it, and felt sand slip through his fingers.