AN Merry Christmas!
When Reiner awoke, he only knew one thing was certain.
He had failed.
Not just his mission, but he had failed the entire world. Eren had it now, the Power of the Founder…the power to destroy the entire world.
He had seen them, in his final moments. The Wall Titans emerging from their long slumber like an entire army of Bertholdts.
Bertholdt…just thinking of him made Reiner remember everything. Where had everything gone wrong, when was it too late to change things? When had his failure truly begun?
He wanted to say it began the day Marcel died and sacrificed himself to save Reiner. But the Armor Titan was beginning to suspect he had somehow failed the moment he became a Warrior for Marley.
"Dammit it all..." Reiner whispered in his cell. Somewhere deep underground no doubt.
"Rei...Reiner?"
That broken voice made him jerk up in an instance, his misery and tiredness shoved aside in an instance. He looked out past the cell bars and saw that, opposite of him, was Gabi.
"Is that you?" she called out, looking around slowly, her face a mix of fear and tears.
"Gabi! I'm right here!" Reiner called out. She smiled in relief, but her eyes didn't quite meet his for some reason. And something was strange about them.
"Thank goodness. I thought...I thought you were dead," Gabi said, her body trembling.
Reiner wanted nothing more than to grab his cousin and hug her. It wouldn't be alright, he knew, but he could at least give her some comfort if they were in the same cell.
"Falco is with me. He...he hasn't woken up yet," Gabi informed.
Reiner faintly registered the form lying on the cot in Gabi's cell, but he was more drawn back to Gabi's gaze. "Gabi? What's wrong? Why won't you look at me?" he asked with a frown. If she was ashamed of him, he wouldn't be surprised, but something was nagging at his mind, telling him otherwise.
Gabi stifled another cry in her throat, trying not to sob.
"She can't."
Reiner looked to his left. He couldn't see the man through the wall, but he could hear him just fine. "Zeke?!"
"Reiner," Zeke greeted calmly. "For what little it's worth now, I'm glad you're okay."
"You...bastard," Reiner said, more in defeat than anything. "Why are you here? What do you mean Gabi can't see? What happened?!"
"Yeager," Gabi whispered, her voice trying to summon rage but a terrible horror was all that croaked out of her throat. "Eren Yeager. He took my sight. He just...he just looked at me, and I couldn't see anymore!" Gabi screamed, grabbing her head. "He was in my head, and he took my eyes from me, Reiner! Like it was nothing! Like I was...nothing..."
Reiner could only stare in shock, numbness and terror in his soul.
"My brother has gained the full power of the Founder, free of any vow or requirements," Zeke informed softly. "He now has the power to control and manipulate all Eldians however he wishes. And since we disagreed on how that should be used, we had a...falling out."
"What the hell are you talking about? Eren is sending out the Wall Titans to start the Rumbling, to end the world!" Reiner pointed out in rage. "What did you possibly think or hope he would do if you helped him!?"
"He wanted to sterilize all Subjects of Ymir."
The air seemed to leave their cells as Eren announced his presence.
His voice alone made Gabi lurch away from the bars in freight. She fell to the ground and scrambled away until her back was against a wall.
Eren ignored her, his back towards her as he looked between Zeke and Reiner.
"Eren," Zeke greeted as if they were simply estranged brothers with an awkward relationship and not truly enemies.
"Zeke," Eren greeted him, and his cool tone might be taken for civility.
"Wait," Reiner said, Eren's words finally registering. "Sterilize? What do you...?"
"Zeke decided to take the sentiment of "I never asked to be born" to the extreme of ridding all of us the chance to ever have children," Eren explained casually.
"I stand by the idea," Zeke pointed out. "What you're doing won't change anything, Eren."
"And I think your plan would have accomplished less than nothing," Eren said, giving his brother a meaningful look.
"Hmm?" Zeke tilted his head. "Do you know something I don't?"
Eren nodded. "I figured you should know part of what I saw from Ymir herself."
"Ymir!? What? Eren, what in hell are you talking about?" Reiner asked in disbelief.
"Reiner, please, this is a conversation between brothers," Zeke reprimanded softly to Reiner's disbelief. "I take it you saw the origin of Titans?"
"She bonded with a creature. What it was, I can't really say."
There was a small, pointed pause between the brothers. They both knew Eren was talking about the thing that leaped from Ymir's neck to his own.
Eren continued. "Whatever it was, it had survived long before it had a host. It could survive until it could take another."
Zeke sighed, his shoulders sagging as he did so. "Then my life has been for a futile effort. The Power of Titans is an immutable part of this world, regrettable as it seems."
Eren had no comment for that, but was acutely aware of the feeling of the Source of Titans in his spine and very being, connecting him to all Eldians.
"Why are you here, Eren?"
Eren turned at the relatively new voice. "Yelena," he addressed. "You've been quiet."
Yelena gave a small, ironic smile. "Unlike Brauns, I have manners to not interfere with family conversations," she answered, and it was starting to feel to Reiner like everyone was having some kind of joke at his expense. "Why are you here though, really?"
"The Founder has been..." Eren paused to consider his words. "Renewed, I supposed. Many things about it have changed. Now I have to know the status of the Nine."
"Status?" Reiner repeated incredulously. "What the hell does that mean?"
Zeke smiled, but never reached his eyes. "I do believe my brother thinks he can strip us of our Titan powers without us having to be devoured."
Silence reigned over them.
Yelena, perhaps being the only non-Eldian here, is the one to ask the important question. "That's possible? Marley always believed that could never be done, Founder or not. Is that a power of it or did that secret just die with the Empire?"
"It's never been done, but neither has anything I've done today. It's worth a try," Eren admitted, staring right at Zeke. "I suppose you're as good a place as any to start."
Zeke hummed. "I've noticed Pieck isn't here yet. Is she dead?"
"Not yet," Eren answered.
Zeke accepted that answer for what it was. "Do you have a plan, for after the Rumbling?"
"Did you, for after the sterilization?" Eren countered, utterly unimpressed.
"I had ideas," Zeke mused whimsically. "I was never sure what position I'd be in after that, or how long. I largely planned to step away from the stage. Making sure the rest of the Nine weren't serving Marley was ideal."
"How long would it have been before anyone really noticed no Eldian children were born?" Eren asked with a raised eyebrow. "After you were dead, I'm sure."
"True," Zeke admitted with a snort.
"How..." Gabi's voice came from her cell. "How can you all just...TALK to him like that? Like he's not destroying our home, the entire world!?" she all but screamed from her cell.
Eren still didn't turn to her.
"He's not destroying the world, Gabi. Not yet," Zeke said with a sigh. "My little brother decided that he can afford to give the world a warning, or his version of one."
"Oh?" Yelena asked curiously. "I know you're not naïve, Eren. The important ports around the world, then what? Marley itself?"
"Just part of it," Eren answered.
That was better than Reiner hoped for. It really, really was.
"Liberio...?"
Reiner didn't realize it came from his mouth until Eren looked at him.
"Not this time," Eren answered coldly.
Reiner tensed and felt a million accusations in that answer. Eren wasn't going to destroy Liberio and crush everyone Reiner loved, not like he and the others had done to Shiganshina.
"The fact is, Gabi, is that we've lost," Zeke said with a sigh. "Eren now has the power to do anything. And even the loss of his head won't stop him. I'm sad. I'm heartbroken. Everything I did, I thought was to make the world better. And now, it's all gone. I will die soon, probably down in this cell. I've spent enough of my life trapped in despair or drowning in anger. I'd rather just...be during whatever time I have left."
With that, he stood up and looked to Eren with interest.
"Do you think this will kill me?" Zeke asked idly.
"I'm not positive it won't," Eren freely admitted.
"Ah," Zeke nodded, looking past his brother. "Yelena. Thank you for accompanying me. I'm sorry if I didn't quite live up to all you thought I would be."
"On the contrary, you were every bit and more, Zeke," Yelena reassured with a smile. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised brothers, even two gods like you, must come to blows when your goals run against one another."
"Gods? The hell...?!" Gabi whispered, feeling like she was losing her mind more and more.
"One fool's devil might be another's god, Gabi," Yelena advised helpfully.
Gabi had no response for that, just sitting there with frantic terror in her body, feeling as though the entire world had gone mad.
Eren reached through the bars and, as a bit of mutual irony, Zeke took his hand.
Time slowed around them to a crawl. Zeke had no reason to believe it hadn't stopped entirely, but he felt that it hadn't.
"You know, I can feel you trying to mentally command the Founder," Eren pointed out.
Zeke smiled humbly. "I thought I should at least try until the end, however meager."
"Hmm," Eren acknowledged, knowing he would have done the same if the roles were reversed. "You know? Even if you won, I probably would have found a way to undo it."
"You believe so?" Zeke asked with a raised eyebrow.
"If the Founder could sterilize all of our people, there is no reason it couldn't undo it too," Eren pointed out.
"That is true. And I would have been long dead before you," Zeke mused before frowning.
He could feel it now; a strange feeling in his spine. Not pleasant, just short of pain, and massively unsettling.
"Would you mind showing me something?" Zeke asked with a sigh.
Eren nodded, and didn't need to ask what it was.
The image of the jail cells broke apart, stone by stone. The bars remained, and the stones beneath their feet.
They were now floating in the sky, looking down on a massive trail of steam. And through it, they could see the red flesh of the Wall Titans, marching ever onward.
Moving forward against the enemies of Paradis.
Eren retracted his hand as they both looked down at the Rumbling, partial or otherwise. They were still grasping hands in the real world.
"This cruel story has no end, it seems," Zeke mused sadly. "How long will it take?"
"A few days," Eren answered vaguely, purposefully not giving a precise number.
Zeke accepted that thoughtfully. "Eren, honestly? Have you put much thought into what happens next?"
"Have literally not had the chance," Eren admitted with a scowl.
"If you are no longer bound by the Curse of Ymir?" Zeke started, glancing at Eren pointedly. "You will live to see when our people will push for the return of the Eldian Empire."
"Considering how the world treats Eldians the world over, I might have to," Eren acknowledged. "If I don't want to just be another coward like Karl Fritz, I can't just ignore every Eldian not on Paradis."
"So, you'll save all the Eldians and Rumble the rest of the world, leaving it a barren world for our people to repopulate?" Zeke said despondently.
"That would be the worst-case scenario," Eren admitted without flinching.
Zeke hung his head in despair. "Haven't we killed enough, Eren? Haven't our people ruined enough lives?"
"Has Marley? Has the rest of the world?" Eren retorted. "The fear of us is valid. That doesn't make them right."
Zeke looked up at the sky. "I suppose we have nothing left to talk about."
"No, we don't," Eren acknowledged.
The scenery faded away, and Zeke realized with a blink that Eren had already released his hand. But Eren was watching him knowingly.
With idle curiosity, if nothing else, Zeke reached down to bite his hand, enough to draw blood. As he pulled away, he looked at the wound and waited. But there was no spark, no steam, nothing. The blood just slowly rolled down his palm.
And then it healed instantly, to Zeke's surprise.
"Did it not work?" Yelena asked with a head tilt, watching the exchange.
"It did. I just healed him myself," Eren explained.
Zeke almost smiled, even if he knew it wasn't out of much kindness for himself.
Eren was flexing his own hand contemplatively. "That's enough for now. I'll deal with you later, Reiner."
With that, he began to leave.
"Wait! Eren!" Reiner called out, rattling the bars. "Give Gabi her sight back!"
"No," Eren answered instantly, not breaking his stride.
"You've already won, Bastard! Just let her have that at least!" Reiner yelled back.
But Eren ignored his words, and left them all to themselves, and their thoughts.
Reiner wasn't sure what was worse, being left alone with the guilt of all his failure, or looking at the broken mess his brave, strong little cousin had become.
Meanwhile
"Onyankopon? Can I ask you a strange...possibly personal question?" Jean asked carefully.
"Hmm? Of course, Jean?" Onyankopon answered, having finished discussing with many of the volunteers over if they wished to stay or return to the mainland.
"Why did Marley conquer your homelands?" Jean asked slowly.
Onyankopon blinked at the strange inquiry. "I'm not sure I follow?"
Jean sighed. "Look, a lot of us are still getting used to the concept of countries, let alone there being a competition between them. But during all our tries to find a diplomatic solution, I picked up on a few things, about why wars happen. I wouldn't be really surprised if it was just because they could, but was there something they wanted? Or just another ancient grudge?"
Onyankopon hummed. He supposed he never had told much about his country's history beyond its common plight against Marley. "The official justification was something nebulous; They claimed we sunk one of their warships. The actual cause? Much like they wanted the Founder and materials here, they wanted to possess our coal and iron supplies, our major resources," Onyankopon explained before shaking his head. "Ultimately you are right; they did it because they could. Why are you wondering this suddenly?"
"Something Eren said earlier. He thinks we didn't...comprehend that we've been at war this entire time," Jean explained with a frown. "He's wrong, we did. But I'm starting to think we didn't really comprehend what war was, beyond just more battles and blood."
Onyankopon gave Jean a sympathetic look. "My friend, I can scarcely imagine how you all must feel some days. To go from thinking you're the only remainders of humanity for a century, to one day discovering most of humanity considers you their enemy. I don't mean to sound offensive, but it's easy to forget how, well, alien the rest of the world must be to you sometimes. Then I remember you all asking about my skin," he said with a good-natured chuckle.
"Yeah, not our finest hours, but can you blame us?" Jean mused with a small, hollow smile. "...What do you think of Eren, Onyankopon? Him and the Yeagerists?"
The dark-skinned man scowled, glancing around the room carefully. "I won't say I'm not worried about the Yeagerists. Some of them are wary of us as outsiders. But given Zeke's true plan, I can't exactly fault them, seeing as Zeke and Yelena were our leaders," Onyankopon mused with some uncertainty.
"In hindsight, those two definitely didn't know Eren if they thought he'd agree to that plan," Jean said with a frown. It went unsaid that perhaps they all didn't know Eren as well as they thought.
"I believe the faith in Eren among the Yeagerists is iron-clad now though. And considering the situation, we should hope that our own trust in him isn't misled," Onyankopon mused.
"I'll try to live up to that."
Both of them started, seeing Eren leaning on the nearby open double doors. They were both understandably tense at what he had heard.
"Don't worry. I'm used to people doubting me," Eren said steadily. "I'd earned some of that. And, these days, I sometimes appreciate it."
Jean frowned, not sure what to make of that.
"Onyankopon, I need to talk to you later," Eren said bluntly.
"I- of course. What about, if I may ask?" Onyankopon questioned with a slight sweat on his brow.
"The world."
The answer was needlessly ominous, Jean was sure Eren knew that and was just being a dramatic idiot for the sake of it. He hoped so.
"Where are Hange and Levi?" Eren asked.
"What, you can't just "know" with your Founder powers?" Jean asked dubiously.
"I could," Eren admitted freely. "Or I can ask like a normal human being."
"Oh, you're capable of being one?" Jean asked sarcastically.
"Sometimes," Eren retorted without missing a beat.
"They're still out on the balcony,' Onyankopon informed awkwardly.
Eren accepted that answer with a nod, turning to leave.
"...What was that?" Onyankopon asked with a raised eyebrow at Jean.
Jean himself looked somewhat surprised by the exchange. "It's different. He doesn't rile as easily, but that almost felt like one of our random arguments we used to have."
It was almost like the old Eren. He didn't say it, but his mind thought it.
Onyankopon decided that was a good thing himself, even if he did find Eren eerie at times. He never thought of Eldians as being not-human, but Eren was definitely...stranger than even other Titan-Shifters.
Meanwhile
"Mommy, my arm hurts."
"It's going to be okay, dear."
Armin frowned sadly as he saw the mother with a sympathetic smile holding her whimpering child, a boy that couldn't be much younger than he was when Maria fell. The child had an arm wrapped in a thick tourniquet, stained with a bit of blood.
Eren had been able to keep everyone from dying, but the awakening of the Wall Titans wasn't without injury.
He looked over the area, the edge of Shinganshina on the east end. People had gathered the wounded here, since the Pure Titans had been standing still at the west end originally. Many people were hurt, and many were scared and confused.
But most looked just grateful to be alive. And the knowledge of the Wall Titans heading out was, as much as Armin hated to admit it, a comfort for many people of Paradis.
And all through the place, he could hear one thing being whispered over and over again.
Eren Yeager, Eren Yeager.
Eren's orders or Floch's, the Yeagerists had wasted no time in spreading the news that Eren was in full control of the Founding.
"It's...It's over then? We'll finally be free?"
Armin didn't see who said that in some broken, horrible relief and he was glad he didn't. He had to get out of here. He knew he did. His head was swimming and he couldn't think straight.
Some of the Yeagerists watched him intently whenever they saw him, but none of them stopped him. Most of them just looked...happy…relieved even. Some were laughing, celebrating. He could hear the cheers, "Dedicate Your Hearts!" echoing in the distance.
He blinked as he realized where he was. The same place he had been with Mikasa and Eren the day that...everything changed.
He numbly looked up, staring right at where the wall used to be, where Bertholdt's titan head had peaked over the walls.
And then, his vision flashed, and he was staring over at a wall and even if he was only a little speck in the foreign memory, he saw his younger self in his memory, watching on in horror with Eren and Mikasa.
He snapped back to the present with a jolt, stepping back and absently clutching his face. He didn't realize how far he moved until his back touched the back of a house.
"Armin."
He didn't realize his head was turning until he was staring at Mikasa, almost not registering her face.
"Are you okay?" she asked in concern.
He sighed. "No, no I'm not," he admitted in resignation. "Are you?"
"I think I'm doing better than you," she admitted. By her tone, it wasn't an insult. If anything, it was sympathetic.
"What did Eren tell you, after we left you two alone?" Armin asked softly. "You looked like you..."
"I understand why he was pushing us away," Mikasa said, her discontentment revealing her disagreement. "This power, to see the future? I think it might be more of a curse."
Armin furrowed his brow. "Why?"
"Eren thought he saw a way to save us, and the island. He thought it was the only way," Mikasa explained. "It involved him having to be killed."
Armin's eyes widened. They knew Eren was on a timer, but still. "And he knew we'd never..." he gritted his teeth and hit the back of his head against the wall. "Dammit."
Mikasa said nothing, simply being there for her childhood friend as best as her silent presence would allow.
"I...Mikasa, what do we even do now?" Armin asked, feeling lost. "If Eren does this, I'm not sure we'll ever have peace. And if we do, it'll just be out of fear of the Rumbling."
""Eren is convinced we don't have a choice. Considering everything, do we have a good argument that he's wrong?" Mikasa asked grimly.
Armin remained silent. They had been attacked, again. And the world was uniting against them, pooling their militaries together. Armin could probably plan around all of that, but...
The faces of the people of the Walls, Yeagerist or otherwise, flashed in his mind. How many lives could he justify sacrificing before accepting the use of the Wall Titans?
"Eren..." Armin took a deep breath. "Eren thinks that we forgot. I told him once to abandon his Humanity, to become a Monster if needed. And here I am, lamenting how inhumane the outside world seems."
"The world is cruel and beautiful," Mikasa murmured. "Sasha..."
Armin stiffened at the name.
"Sasha once told me about how she and her father had to hunt down a pack of wolves that were attacking their village. When they did, they had to kill the pups too. She said she hated it, but it was what they had to do. Do you think that...if she was here, she might agree with Eren? Knowing that something is horrible doesn't make it the wrong choice?"
"...They killed one pack of wolves," Armin said softly. "I don't know if Eren will stop at one if pushed."
"I'm sure there were people in her village who wanted to kill all the wolves in the area," Mikasa said. "They just needed to be convinced that was going too far."
Armin frowned. "You think we should help Eren."
"Eren told me...that for the longest time, he's felt like he's been stuck in the same place," Mikasa said carefully. "Eren was always moving so far ahead of us in the past. But now I think we've caught up to him. And he's put the weight of every life on Paradise on his shoulder because...because that's what we've been putting on his shoulders since the day he came out of a Titan's neck."
Armin took a deep breath. "We know Floch and the Yeagerists certainly won't try to persuade him to try any peaceful solutions."
End of Chapter
Okay, so, yeah, Eren is cleaning up more by removing the Beast from Zeke. Gabi is still blind since, you know, she's legitimately dangerous as a prisoner. Still, I loved something about Eren, Zeke, and Yelena being civil and done with everything while Gabi is terrrified and Reiner is raging inhis own despair. Meanwhile, Eren's freinds are coming to terms with everything in different ways.
And all the while, the Titans march on. And this time, Eren isn't sounding the alarm to tell the entire world in advance. Smaller Rumbling, but no warning.
Early viewing of chapters 5-6 avaliable on my pat-reon:
p a treon . com (slash) akumakami64