Attack On Titan: Wings Of Crystal
Chapter 91: The Power Within
The full-scale Hellfire Force explosion lasted longer than everyone was expecting. Almost half a minute from impact, it quickly spread itself outwards from all directions. The explosion detonated around 50 miles away from the mesa that held Fort Salta, and even then, they weren't completely out of range.
The shockwave reached the fort first, slamming against the crystal wall like a battering ram, knocking Michael and Gabi's Titans over and shattering their handiwork. Luckily, they thought to put up another wall around the fort itself before channelling their energy into the outer wall. The people hidden inside the hanger remained uninjured from the shockwave, but when the fire started to spread, it was another story.
Some people succumbed to temporary blindness by stupidly choosing to look outside the windows when they were clearly ordered not to. Fewer people suffered minor burns on their arms for leaning up against the metal beams holding the roof up getting heated by the flames, but nothing life-threatening.
When the explosion finally subsided, thick dust clouds covered the entire area, creating a fog of ash. Erwin instructed everyone to stay inside the building until most of it was cleared. There's no telling if the fog was toxic or not, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Michael and Gabi's Titans slowly recover once things have quieted down. Michael was the first to stand up and inches slowly towards the edge of the mesa, trying to spot Lazarus in the chaos. But he was nowhere to be seen, nor was Eren or the Hallucigenia. He returned to Gabi's side and offered her a hand up, which she graciously accepted.
"I can't see anything in this fog." She thought as she tried to see through it to no avail.
"That explosion was insane! I hope everyone inside is okay." Michael reflected. His Titan slowly approaches the sealed-off hanger and taps on the door a couple of times in a specific rhythm.
Erwin recognised it as Morse code that said, "All clear, safe to come out." But just to be sure, he decided to exit the hangar first. He held his breath in case the smoke was harmful in any way. Michael and Gabi's Titans were breathing just fine, but he's unsure if it was because it was safe, or Titan lungs were giving them a higher tolerance.
It didn't take long for the smog to clear up enough to make the whole mesa visible to him again. He slowly removes his hand from his mouth and takes a small breath through the mouth. The air still wasn't clear, but it wasn't causing any problems for him.
"It's clear! Everyone who isn't a civilian can come out. The rest of you stay inside until we know for sure it's over." He instructed. One of the Marleyans was tempted to speak out and give him a hard time for giving them orders, but Muller gave him a look that scared him into staying quiet.
The Scouts and Warriors exit the hangar and stand with Erwin and the two Crystal-covered Titans at the edge of the mesa. The smoke continued to clear up to the point where they could finally see the result of the Hellfire Force. Their eyes widen with pure shock. They all thought the devastation it wreaked on Paradis was bad, they hadn't seen anything yet.
The crater conjured from the impact was ten times larger than the last one they saw. It consumed a huge amount of the desert that it would be impossible to miss from the sky, maybe even beyond that. It was much deeper than the previous ones ever recorded, so deep that several Wall Titans that had barely survived the blast couldn't climb out of it. Sitting within the crater were hundreds of broken, blackened bones and crystal shards embedded into the scorched earth.
Littered within and around the crater were several blue flames burning without end, illuminating the deep dark centre of the crater. On the edges of the crater were dozens of disembodied Wall Titans who'd been ripped to shreds by the blast. The ones close to The Founding Titan were immediately disintegrated while the ones further away lost a limb or two. Despite their wounds and being trapped in the burning crater, they continued to stand still, waiting for the Founder to give them an order.
"My god… Look at all that devastation," Reiner uttered what most of them were thinking.
"Look, the bones. There's hardly anything left of it. Does that mean Eren's dead?" Connie wondered.
"Nothing could've survived that blast," Levi replied though part of him held some form of doubt. "Nothing except the one who caused it, that's for sure."
"I won't claim to have no regrets, but still, we definitely did the right thing. I mean, we put an end to The Rumbling." Sasha uttered while standing next to Michael's Crystal Titan.
"We did. And yet, I can't shake this feeling that it's not over yet." Michael thought worriedly within the nape.
"Where is Lazarus?!" Annie pushes past Pieck and Armin to try and get a better look at the crater. It was easily seen with the naked eye, but the same couldn't be said for what lies within. "Does anyone have any binoculars?!"
The instant one of the soldiers pulled out his pair, Annie snatched it out of his hands and brought it up to her eyes, desperately trying to spot any signs of Lazarus. Her eyes widen with joy when she finally does manage to spot The Winged Titan lying on its back in the very centre of the crater. All his hardened skin and hair had burned off in the fall, reducing him to a partially burnt corpse-like being.
"There he is! I see him!"
The Winged Titan groaned in pain in its poor attempt to lean upwards. His back and wings were welded to the walls of the crater from all the heat, including the nape, preventing him from exiting his Titan body. The slightest movement caused him to cry out in agony. He could feel his skin tearing from his back muscles with every attempt to pull himself free. It hurt so much, but he can't stay there. He had to tear himself free and find Eren's head.
His mind flashes back to the few seconds before he impacted The Founding Titan Citadel. He caught a glimpse of the Hallucigenia burrowing itself underground to protect itself from the blast. And Eren's head was sent flying over the crater by the shockwave.
There was no telling where it landed, but he couldn't ignore the high probability that he may still be alive and the Hallucigenia would be attempting to reconnect with it again to form a new Founding Titan body. He won't let it come to that. Gritting his teeth, Lazarus used any remaining ounce of his strength to pull himself free of the crater. His Titan roared with extreme pain as he could feel his back skin and wings being violently torn from his body.
Once freed, The Winged Titan stumbled forward and crashed into the wall of the crater. He was forced to climb out of the crater by digging his claws into the rocky walls. Unfortunately, his arms and legs were singed almost right down to the bone, making the simple act of climbing much more difficult.
As soon as he'd reached a certain height, he leaps onto the back of a disfigured Wall Titan laying against the slope of the crater on its front. Climbing up its body was strangely easier than scaling a wall of rock to him for some reason. And the best part was he could use its head as a launch point to finally jump out of the hole he made. He barely grabbed the ledge and used what was left of his strength to pull himself out.
The moment he made it out was the moment his Titan body broke down and collapsed on its front without warning. With his muscle-exposed back facing the sky, Lazarus managed to finally escape the boiling sauna that was his own Titan body, inhaling great lungfuls of air once the cold – or at least cooler than his Titan's body heat – air touched his skin, sighing in relief once he recovered slightly.
Lazarus was mostly unharmed. His Cloud Zero gear had been greatly damaged in the fall, leaving him no choice but to discard it. It would only weigh him down if it served no purpose. His clothes have been torn and burnt slightly from the inferno. They weren't a concern to him as long as he still had the one piece of headwear passed down from his father and the pendant given to him by his best friend. They mattered more to him than anything else he'd ever worn.
"Lazarus is alright! He's heading our way!" Pieck proclaimed proudly, thinking this was all over.
But Erwin noticed something else was approaching them out of the corner of his eye when he was focused on Lazarus. It was the Hallucigenia, just as he'd feared. He should've known it wasn't going to be that easy.
"Don't celebrate just yet. Look over there!" He pointed them in the direction of the translucent beast wriggling at the bottom of the mesa and using its hundreds of arms to scale its surface.
"No way! It's still alive even after getting hit by that?!" Connie stuttered with disbelief.
"Sure is. Just what the hell is this thing?" Jean asked.
"No clue. But I do know that we can't leave it alive." Levi uttered.
Lazarus continued limping towards the mesa, focusing on recovering enough stamina to speed up his recovery so that he could transform again.
"Something feels… different about my Titan powers. For some reason, my fatigue is lowering much faster than usual. My wounds can heal at high speeds, but my stamina usually takes a lot longer depending on how far I push myself in combat. I put everything I had into the Hellfire Force, pushing my Titan body to the brink of collapse. Yet here I am walking it off like it was nothing. Surely there must be something more than…"
He suddenly recalls one specific moment when he first encountered the Hallucigenia during the battle. When wrestling it away from Eren's decapitated head he wound up sinking his teeth into it, trying to obtain the Founder's full power. The fact that it's still alive and trying to locate Eren shows that he failed. But what if he obtained something else from it?
"That thing… I swallowed some of its blood, trying to devour it. It must've given me an energy boost that enabled me to recover at a faster pace."
Lazarus' train of thought was suddenly silenced by another huge explosion going off a dozen or so feet behind him on the other side of the crater. It caught the members of the Wings of Crystal off guard and forced them to direct their gazes away from the giant alien creature and towards the cause of the blast. Another Titan transformation was underway, and they knew it wasn't Lazarus. The blast was far too big for a fifteen-meter.
"Well, that figures. It only makes sense he'd survive as well." Michael thought to himself, knowing immediately that it had to be Eren.
Lazarus turned around and froze with terror at what was slowly emerging from the dust clouds. Its outline resembled that of a Colossal Titan, but it can't have been one of the Wall Titans or any Past incarnations. The smoke eventually cleared out enough to reveal the new threat. It was, as Michael guessed, Eren Yeager back from the dead once again. His decapitated Titan head somehow formed a Colossal Titan body. He still can't understand how Eren managed to survive the Hellfire Force. His head wasn't very far away from the blast zone, he should have been vaporised. Yet there he was.
His presence didn't go unnoticed by the others. Mikasa was filled with so many mixed emotions. Part of her felt relieved to see him still moving forward, but the rest of her was hurting inside. Because now she may have to step in to finish what they started. Eren still has to die in order to complete their final mission.
"Eren…"
"He just won't give up. But that's Eren for you." Armin muttered under his breath. He then directs his attention back to the Hallucigenia still making its way up the cliffside. "This is bad. If we let that glowing worm thing find its way back to Eren, The Rumbling might start again! We must keep them apart and find a way to kill it somehow!"
"If it survived a full-powered Hellfire Force point blank, we can't kill it. The one we should target is Eren." Hearing Levi say that forces Mikasa to hold the sides of her head, tear up and grit her teeth. "You all get that, right? This nightmare won't end until we take him down."
"What about that thing? If we can't kill it, then how can we stop it?" Sasha asked any one of them.
"Lazarus needs to eat it. That thing is still the source of origin for the Titans. It's his only means of curing himself. Perhaps if Eren dies the creature will recognise him as the next closest thing to a Founder." Erwin hypothesised. "Of course, there's no actual proof of this. But it's the only plan we've got. We must free this world from all Titans, including Lazarus' and yours, son."
Michael's Titan turns away from his father and closes its eyes, sighing and eventually nodding. His plan would've been best for everyone, and nothing would ever convince him he was wrong. But he'd accepted that it would never happen the moment their ship docked in Odiha. All that's left is to ensure the success of this one.
Erwin grants his soldiers permission to say whatever needs to be said to their families before rushing back into the fray. They must treat every moment of this battle like it may be their last. They never know when their lives may suddenly come to an end.
Pieck didn't want to leave her father after just reuniting with him, but she still had one final job to do. And Falco wanted to do his part to see this through to the end. "Colt would've wanted that", he told himself.
"Michael! Gabi! Use your powers to construct defences against that thing. Do not let it reach the fort no matter what!" Erwin shouted up at the two Titans who responded with a salute. "Reiner! Pieck! Transform and tell Lazarus to go after the creature. The rest of us will go after Eren on Falco's back!"
"SIR!" They all called out in unison before racing off to face the final conflict. Reiner and Pieck dash and jump off the edge of the mesa and free fall for a second or two before biting their hands and transforming into their respective Titan forms. Michael and Gabi work together to build giant cannons over the edges and aim them straight down at the Hallucigenia.
The cannons fire ceaselessly at the bizarre creature, but the exploding shrapnel of the smoothed-over balls of crystal has little to no effect on it. All it accomplished was knocking it off balance and slowing its approach.
The Armoured and Cart Titans land hard on their knees, causing a miniature tremble in the ground. They waste no time rushing towards their new War Chief who looked like he was just about to assume Titan form himself. Or from what they could tell, was trying to and failing for some reason.
"What's happening?!" He bites down hard on his left hand harder than before. "It's not working?! Why's it not working?!"
"Lazarus, that worm thing is heading for the fort! You've gotta transform and eat it now!" Reiner telepathically called out in a tone of panic.
Lazarus looks down at the bite mark on his hand and is surprised to see it instantly heal. He was even more startled to hear Reiner's voice suddenly address him in his head. "… I don't understand. My regeneration and telepathy are still working, so I can't have lost my powers. Are they being… suppressed?"
Gulping nervously, he turns to look back at the Hallucigenia shaking off the barrage of projectiles coming from Michael and Gabi's manmade cannons. At that moment he came to a realisation, around the same time the Armoured and Cart Titans pulled up beside him. The albino was down on his knees wearing a look of defeat, not acknowledging his friends standing either side of him.
"What are you doing sitting there? Get up, Laz! Transform and stop that thing!" The Cart Titan addressed him.
"I… Can't."
"What did you say?"
"I SAID I CAN'T!" He shouted back at her, only to immediately feel bad afterwards. "That thing is suppressing my ability to transform. It happened when I tried to bite its head off. What was I thinking?! I've cost us everything!"
The Armoured and Cart Titans briefly glance at each other before looking back at their defeated leader. On the surface, their facial expressions can't change, but inside the nape, their users wore a look of surprise and confusion. "How is that possible," they thought. Eren shouldn't have any form of control over The Winged Titan. Lazarus' connection to the Coordinate was severed.
It didn't make sense to either of them or their War Chief. But then Lazarus remembered his final conversation with Zeke in The Paths. "Zeke… He mentioned something about reconnecting me to The Coordinate. It was how I was able to get those Titans on our side… Did drinking that thing's blood strengthen the reconnection to the point Ymir could assume control? I am the greatest threat to her plans. Of course she'd take anything she could get to stop me. She even made Eren a new Colossal Titan body just to ensure my defeat."
"Lazarus, snap out of it!" The Cart Titan roared, startling the albino back into reality. "Something's happening!" She directs him and Reiner back to the mesa. The Hallucigenia was ejecting a huge amount of smoke out of its back tendrils in such volumes that it immediately started fogging up the fort.
"What's it doing?" Reiner wondered what everyone else was thinking.
Back at Fort Salta the civilians slowly walked out of the hangar building and wandered back out into the open. Willy had remained at his family's side throughout this whole ordeal and refused to separate himself from them for even a second. But he didn't feel his kids were safe hiding in the hangar with the deranged Marleyan scientist still tied up only a few metres away. He, Erwin and any other surviving leaders can decide his fate once The Rumbling has ended completely.
Mister Leonhart was the last to leave as he was having difficulty walking due to his injured knee acting up again. Annie rushed to his side and caught him just in time before he could fall over. Seeing her father in this position filled her conscience with regret, remembering she was the reason he had that permanent limp. Back then her father was pleased with her actions, convinced that she could kill anyone with a kick, and she didn't give a damn over what he thought. But now, whenever she looks back on that day she wishes she wasn't so consumed with anger.
"Dad, I-
"I already told you, Annie, it's fine." He replied, cutting off whatever she was about to say. "I noticed you looking. I already told you before, I deserved it for how I treated you."
"Yeah, you did." She admitted without hesitation. "But I still felt like I haven't had a proper chance to apologise."
"You've got nothing to apologise about. I wasn't a good father back then when you needed one. I hope to make up for that by being a great grandfather to your and Lazarus' child."
Annie smiles lightly as she helps her father leave the hangar. Her Titan strength made it easier to lift things much bigger than her. With it gone, she felt like her body had grown too reliant on her powers to the point she forgot the normal level of her strength.
"Need any help there?" Noticing her struggle with her father, Secretary Muller offered his assistance in carrying him on the other side.
Annie was shocked when she saw him. Not only was he a Marleyan offering to help an Eldian with a sincere smile, but she had this strange feeling she knew this man. Like she'd met him somewhere before. But how? She'd never met him in her life until now, yet she recalled seeing memories involving him.
Her mind suddenly flashes back in time and unveils a series of memories involving this man in a first-person perspective. The first one showed a much younger Muller dressed in a fancy black tuxedo with a bowtie and rose attached to his right breast pocket. He appeared to be holding hands with whoever she was looking through the eyes of.
"I now pronounce you, Mister and Misses Muller." She heard a priest say in the background alongside a crowd of people cheering.
The second memory showed Muller and his mysterious wife sitting on a hill far away from any towns and sharing a moment together. The look on Muller's face was full of shock and surprise.
"You- You're an… Eldian?!"
"I am… I figured it would be best if I told you rather than finding out yourself… I know you people think we're just a bunch of filthy devils, but we've been together for two years now. By now you must understand that you're wrong. Just as I know now that not all Marleyans are bad people… Muller? Please say something."
Annie recognised that voice instantly. These memories she's reliving were not hers. They were Lucia's. She first saw them when she inherited The Female Titan from her. They all flew by so fast and sounded indecipherable that she didn't think much of them at the time.
The young Muller gently takes hold of his wife's hands and gives her a reassuring smile. "Lucia, before you came into my life, I was just a lowly Marleyan with no purpose other than to serve my country. My parents raised me to hate Eldians, but I chose not to listen. I don't believe your people are devils, and I do not love you any less for being one of them."
The memory flashes come to an end just as abruptly as they began, causing Annie to let go of her father's arm and stumble back a step or two. "Are you alright, miss?" The secretary asked, showing concern for her.
"You're the man Lucia married." She blurted out without warning, triggering a response from the older man, causing him to let go of Leonhart and dropping him to the ground.
"I'm so sorry. Here, give me your hand."
Leonhart chuckles and accepts his help. "It's alright. I should be fine to walk on my own now." Once he was standing upright he faced his daughter. "You know this man, Annie?"
"I saw him in Lucia's memories. Seeing his face caused them to suddenly appear in my mind."
"Ah, so you were the one she chose to give The Female Titan to." Muller addressed her. He then slowly turns away from them and lowers his head. "I haven't heard anyone say my wife's name for a long time… I miss her dearly. I can't imagine how she would've felt if she saw the world as it is now."
He takes a moment to pull out his pocket watch and open it. Inside, attached to the underside of the lid, was a small photograph of Lucia's face smiling at him behind her big round glasses and her flowing red hair. A single tear runs down his right cheek as he stares at it.
"She and I were living proof that Eldians and Marleyans can learn to get along if given the chance. I'd like to believe she died hoping to prove that to the rest of the world through her student, Lazarus." She turns to look back at Annie. "… And her successor."
Annie and her father close the gap between them and voice her response. "I'm sorry, but I am no longer her successor. I passed The Female Titan onto Gabi Braun. She's the one risking her life out there while I'm sitting back and watching."
"What matters is that you did your part as Lucia once did hers. And now the time has come for the rest of us to do ours. Starting with helping any wounded."
Muller leads the two Leonharts out of the hangar and over towards where the other people are. "I wanted to thank you for what you did earlier." Leonhart addressed the secretary. "If you hadn't stepped up and emptied your gun when you did, I imagine we'd all be at each others' throats even now."
"I've made enough mistakes in my time. Leaving my wife to come here was the biggest of them all."
"Why did you leave?" Annie asked him.
"I was offered a position here at Fort Salta years ago. For a long time, Lucia and I were struggling to keep our marriage hidden from the world. Had anyone found out I'd be executed and she'd have been shipped off to Paradis. Though it hurt so much, we both agreed to stay out of each others' lives for our own safety. In time I became commanding officer of this base and she got to be a Warrior… I wanted to be away from all the hate, but that hatred has given birth to this Rumbling." He looks back to Leonhart. "Let's all work together and overcome this."
As they approached the others gathering outside the hangar buildings, they started to notice the rising white smoke spreading all over the area. Michael and Gabi's Titans back away from the mist and cover their faces with their arms, thinking it may be toxic.
"Why did that glowing thing start spewing out gas?" Sasha asked.
"Did it die?" Connie added in equal confusion.
"No. That's not the smell of a dead Titan." Armin answered worriedly. His gifted brain had been trying to figure out what this gas was from the moment it appeared. They've already breathed it in, so it wasn't poisonous. And the Crystal and Female Titans weren't affected by it in any way. So what could it possibly be? "Wait a second… Could this be the same gas that was used in Ragako Village?"
Levi's eyes widened with terror when he just came to the same conclusion as Armin. "Mikasa, get on Falco! We need to leave!"
"I don't get it. What's going on?"
"I do." Armin intervened. "That thing plans to turn all the Eldians here into Titans. It's summoning reinforcements to protect itself from the cannons."
He was then startled by the sound of something big hitting the ground to his right. Everyone turns in that direction and sees Erwin removing the Founder's Bane gear from his body. "He's right. Ackermans and Titan Shifters are the only ones immune to the gas." He flexes his arms a few times to loosen the stiffness in the joints from holding those heavy guns for a long period.
"Levi, Mikasa. Get on Falco's back and confront Eren. The rest of us will stay here."
Michael's Titan ears twitched in response to the information he'd just heard and realised that Erwin, Armin, Jean, Sasha and Connie could all be turned into Titans alongside the other Eldians up there. He turns away from the Hallucigenia and approaches the others, only to be stopped by his stern father.
"Did I order you to stop attacking that thing, Michael?! I told you to keep it from reaching the fort no matter what!"
"Da- Dad!" The Crystal Titan barely was able to utter that one word from his mouth. That word on its own showed Erwin how much he wasn't happy with the thought of letting him and the others turn Titan.
"I've told you once before that a soldier must not stray from battle just to save the lives of his comrades. In war, you must give everything you've got to win! Saving the world and stopping The Rumbling must come before all else… even us." He turns to Levi. "I'm sorry to put you in this position again, Levi. But I'm counting on you to lead what's left of this alliance into battle against Eren."
Levi sighs in defeat. "I knew it was a matter of time till our luck ran out. Still, I didn't think I'd see you come back from the dead only to end up a Titan. I don't wanna have to kill you, Erwin."
"You won't have to." Armin intervened. "Once Lazarus obtains The Founding Titan, he can change us all back. We just need to make sure Eren and that thing don't make contact before that happens."
"We've wasted enough time! Falco, get clear and transform! You have to go now!" Erwin shouted with extreme authority.
Levi and Mikasa prepare themselves while Falco gains some distance so he can safely transform without causing collateral damage. Erwin leads Jean, Armin, Connie and Sasha away from the others so that they don't cause problems for the Crystal and Female Titans.
Sasha was falling behind because she decided to make a little detour and approach Michael's Titan. She placed her hand atop his crystal-covered fingertip and looked up at him reassuringly. "It's okay, Michael. We'll be fine. If you had any faith in Lazarus, you should know that… Gabi can't handle that thing alone, she needs you. You've done a wonderful job training her, don't screw it up now by worrying about us."
The Crystal Titan groaned and lowered its head to the ground, allowing Sasha to hug his shiny cheek. She could even see her reflection in it. "I know this plan isn't what you wanted, but you know in your heart it's the right thing to do." She pulls away from his cheek and looks him directly in his large deep blue eyes. "I like you better when you're around my height anyway, hehe!"
She quickly runs off and rejoins the others with a satisfied smile on her face. Hopefully, that'll keep him focused on the mission he and Gabi were assigned. Gabi's Female Titan approaches her mentor and places her hand on his spiked left shoulder, prompting Michael to look back and up at her. She motions her head towards the edge of the mesa where they set up the cannons, telling him to get back up and continue pummelling it.
Sasha stands next to Connie and takes hold of his hand. He in turn would take hold of Jean's, who would take hold of Armin's, and finally their most trusted commander.
"So, this is how we go out?" Armin whispered to Erwin.
"For now. But I have faith in our comrades. We'll entrust the rest of the mission to them, just like all the Scouts who came before us did."
"Do you remember, Jean? The night we had to burn all those bodies." Connie whispered.
"…Yeah."
"Well, just so you know, it's your fault that we got stuck having to save humanity."
"I think we all made the right choice," Sasha whispered to them both. "Had we not become Scouts we could've ended up like the Yeagerists… I have no regrets."
"Yeah… Neither do I." Jean concluded.
They all stand together and watch Falco transform in midair after jumping off the far-left side of the mesa. Once formed, his Titan flew over to the other side of the ridge where Levi and Mikasa were waiting. The two Ackermans leapt onto his back as he made his fly by and held on tightly to his feathers. Michael and Gabi watched them fly off towards Eren's Colossal Titan which was now halfway around the giant crater. Had he fallen in, he wouldn't have been able to climb out. At least it gives the Alliance time to stop him once and for all.
When Pieck eventually figured out the purpose behind the gas, she darted back to Fort Salta as fast as her Titan could move. Her father was still up there and just as vulnerable as any other Eldian. She's relying on the false hope that she can get there before the gas and carry him away before he can breathe it in. But the more of it she saw spreading atop the mesa, the lesser the chances of that happening.
As for Reiner, he felt the need to follow after her and help his cousin and Michael stop the Hallucigenia by grabbing it by the tail and summoning all his strength to pull it back down to earth, or at least keep it still so the cannons would have a higher chance of hitting any potential weak-spots it may have.
Lazarus was still on his knees, basking in the frustration of his predicament. He felt so useless just sitting there and feeling powerless to help the others. This was perhaps the first in a long time that he ever felt this way. He's gotten so used to being very powerful – sometimes too powerful – that he'd forgotten what it felt like to be the opposite.
He was drawn to the sky when he heard Falco's Jaw Titan roaring as he flew over his head. He can see that he is heading towards Eren, most likely with some of his comrades riding atop his back. He could also hear the determined roars of Michael and Gabi's Titans as they fought the Hallucigenia.
Right now, he should be filled with hope that they can win this. After unleashing the Hellfire Force, Eren and that creature stood as the last two remaining threats. "This should've been a piece of cake", he thought. But those hopes shattered when he realised Erwin, Armin, Jean, Connie and Sasha would fall victim to the creature's gas. If push comes to shove, the others may have to kill them and the Eldian citizens.
His enhanced ears twitched in response to the sounds of over a dozen Titan transformations occurring all at once. He turns himself around once more and is consumed with horror at the sight of all those pillars of light rising into the sky.
"NO!"
Every single Eldian transforms into a Pure Titan. There wasn't much time to warn the people and spread them out more. The Titans end up cramped together, crushing the ones smaller than them. Many Marleyans were either smashed under their weight or burned to death from the erupting lights.
The Marleyans guarding Ludwig were killed by flying debris, giving the old man a chance to turn tail and escape. "I didn't come this far to get eaten by mindless Titans!" He uttered in between breaths.
Every direction he ran there was a Titan around every corner. They all notice him and glare at him with their empty eyes and creepy facial expressions. But instead of making a dive and eating the mad scientist, they just stood there. This was abnormal behaviour even for them. Pure Titans never hesitate to devour a human being unless they're being controlled by The Founding Titan.
Ludwig looks to his right and catches a glimpse of Eren's Colossal Titan closing in on the mesa. The Titans respond to the internal call of the Hallucigenia and march towards its location, completely ignoring him and the other civilians. Now was his chance to get away and find some way out of the fort, if there was one. However, he ended up tripping over Onyankopon's leg and fell hard onto his back.
"Where do you think you're going?" He taunted whilst holding back his pained grunts from the injuries he'd sustained in the crash. Using his only working arm, he grabs the deranged elderly man and pulls him onto his knees.
"Let go of me, you cursed Courlander!"
"No chance in hell I'm letting you out of my sight." He starts dragging him by the back of his coat collar back towards the hanger area. On the way he comes across the Titan versions of Willy Tybur and his family, even his children. "Willy, no."
A few feet away from him was a downed Muller. He'd only had seconds to get clear of Annie and her father before they too had been turned into Titans. He feared he would die in that moment; eaten by the same man he was helping and his daughter. That he would miss his chance to meet Lazarus and tell him about his connection to Lucia. But they showed no interest in eating him and set a new course for the Hallucigenia.
The Crystal Titan was frozen in place. Michael was distressed at the sight of his father and comrades standing together as Pure Titans. Erwin and Jean were the tallest of them all, standing at the standard fifteen meters. Sasha and Armin were around ten meters tall. And Connie was a measly three meters. He was just as short as a Titan then he was a human. A tiny part of Michael wanted to laugh at the irony behind it, but it would have been inappropriate at this time.
"Dad… Sasha… This- This is absurd! There's no way! This isn't happening. It just can't be!"
All the Pure Titans' heads quickly snapped in the direction of Michael and Gabi and, without warning, dashed straight for them simultaneously. Gabi's eyes widened when she realised that her parents were the ones who reached her first. They latch onto her without a care in the world and push all their weight into her. The Female Titan fought with all her might to push them back alongside her mentor. But the Titans overwhelming numbers inevitably got the better of them and they ended up falling over the edge and tumbled down the cliffside until they reached the bottom.
Reiner and Pieck come to a skidding stop when they see their crystallised allies fall. And now the Titans were diving over the side to join the Hallucigenia at the bottom. Now that it had an army under its control, the creature abandoned its attempts to climb the mesa and wriggled in the opposite direction as fast as it could move, using its many legs to propel it forward.
"It's heading for Eren! Reiner, we've gotta stop it!" The Cart Titan roared.
The Armoured Titan bore its teeth as it stood its ground with its arms stretched to the sides. He was directly in the path of the Hallucigenia. He'll catch the beast and use every ounce of his strength to hold it at bay. The Cart Titan helps out by jumping onto the creature's back and ripping off its tiny arms.
The Hallucigenia lets out a loud shriek that sends a jolt of pain through the Warrior's ears. It hurt like hell, but they refused to let that thing break free. They would soon realise that the shriek they heard wasn't meant to stun them. It was a call to arms.
"Shit! Pieck!"
The Cart Titan was suddenly tackled by one of the newly summoned Pure Titans. And of all the ones that could've done it, it just had to be the Titan form of her father. She refused to believe that was a coincidence. That thing purposefully chose him to take her out. It had a mind of its own as well as a vendetta against her and anyone against Eren and Ymir.
The rest of the Pure Titans started to swarm Reiner and Pieck and were on the verge of tearing them apart and allowing the Hallucigenia to continue moving forward. Michael's Titan groans as it slowly tries to get back up on its two feet again. The fall caused some serious damage to his crystal armour as well as Gabi's. He could feel his whole body aching with pain, but he didn't let that stop him from trying to help his comrades in distress.
"That thing never wanted to reach the fort. It just needed to get close enough to release its gas to summon an army!" The Crystal Titan then decided to stop trying to stand up and fell back onto his knees and punched his fists into the ground. "But you're not the only one who can do that! … Arise again, Crystal Titans of the past! You must stop those Titans from harming Reiner and Pieck! HELP US END THIS WAR ONCE AND FOR ALL! ARISE!"
The crystals covering his body glow brighter than they've ever glowed before as Michael channels his Titan energy into the ground, sending out a wave of Titan crystal that covers the ground around him and Gabi and stretching outwards about twenty feet away from them. Then, from out of the ground, giant cocoons of crystal arise. The crystals only lasted a few seconds before cracking up and shattering, revealing each of the Past Crystal Titans inside them, illuminating the area in their vibrant lights.
"Hold the Titans back, but don't kill them! Lazarus can change them back once he devours that thing!" He mentally ordered them. The Past Crystal Titans all nod and obey his commands, charging at the Hallucigenia and the Pure Titans. Michael glimpsed Noah and Joseph at the front of the charge and felt proud to see them being the ones to lead them.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Lazarus still on his knees with his head lowered. He removed his hat from his head and left it on the ground beside him.
"Lazarus, what are you doing?! Why haven't you transformed yet?! The others are getting swarmed!" He shouted mentally, but Lazarus didn't answer. "OUR FRIENDS HAVE BEEN TURNED INTO TITANS! That thing is using them to kill us! You don't have the freedom, or the right, to mope around feeling sorry for yourself! YOU HEAR ME?!"
There was still no reply. Michael was starting to worry about his childhood friend. It is out of character for him to just keel over and give up for no reason. He's unsure if he can even hear his thoughts right now. The fact that he was just sitting there completely motionless while his hat was blowing away in the wind was enough proof that something was wrong.
"… Lazarus, please get up! Please! Whatever that thing is doing to you, fight it! You're stronger than it! You're stronger than Ymir! You're stronger than Eren!" The Crystal Titan struggles to get back up even more than it did before after the massive drain of energy he used to summon his ancestors' Titan bodies. But he pressed onwards, determined to snap his friend out of whatever trance he was under.
"We can't do this without you, Laz! You're the only one who can save our people! The only one who can stop Eren! Please, for the love of fucking God, GET UP AND FIGHT!"
Lazarus gasps for air like he'd been drowning in a deep ocean when his consciousness finds itself back in the realm of The Paths. He was still in the same sitting position he was in the real world. It took him a moment for his mind to process he wasn't on the battlefield anymore. The silence was a dead giveaway.
"No! No! Not here again! Not now!" He shouted as he urgently scanned the area around him. "Why am I back here? I did what I had to do! I have no other reason to come back. No-
He shuts himself up once he spots his burning tree standing a few feet behind him. The albino scurried to his feet and approached it. Perhaps it may hold the answer to why his Titan powers have been acting up and hopefully find a way to fix it. But as he got closer, he noticed that something was off with his tree. The white flames covering the branches were going out.
The albino stretched his right arm out to touch it. The dying flames danced around his fingers gracefully. He felt no heat coming from them. It was normal for his tree, but the flames were usually big enough to completely consume the branches to the point where he couldn't see them. Now he can and he was getting worried.
"This tree is the representation of my Titan powers. It's dying here as well as out there, and there's nothing I can do about it … What am I supposed to do?"
"… All is not lost, Lazarus."
Lazarus raises his head in response to the new voice alerting him to the presence of a figure from his past. He didn't need to look back to know who it was. Truth be told he felt relieved. It was the one person who could help guide him through this troubled time in death as she once did in life.
"… Lucia."
He slowly turns himself around and faces his beloved mentor and mother figure. It wasn't that long ago he'd seen her here standing alongside his parents, but last time her skin was pale, her eyes were empty and she didn't speak. But now there appears to be a vibrant colour in her cheeks. Her eyes were full of life behind her round glasses, and her smile gave him a warm feeling. One he hadn't felt since the last time he'd seen her alive.
Lazarus instinctively ran to her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. He can't explain why she feels just as warm and solid as her mortal body in the real world, but he doesn't care. All that mattered was that she was here with him right now.
Lucia giggles a little as she returns the hug, gently stroking the back of his head. She soon pulled away so that she could get a proper look at him from head to toe. "You've gotten so tall. You're even taller than me now. How dare you." She teased, causing Lazarus to chuckle in response.
"Part of me always wished I would live long enough to see the man you'd grown up to be. I guess here, anything is possible".
"But how? Why are you here? Not that I'm not ecstatic to see you, I am, it's just… I wasn't expecting it."
"Well, that's certainly surprising considering you were the one who summoned me here."
Lazarus takes a step back, surprised by what she'd just said. "I brought you here?"
"Yes. In the real world, you wanted to be away from the fighting, so you came here. And I'm here because you desperately wanted someone to help you. Someone who understands you better than you understand yourself. Michael and Annie aren't dead yet so the only person to fill that role is me."
"… And Mom and Dad died before they had the chance to know their son." He finished. Lucia nodded with confirmation. "Somethings wrong with me, Lucia! The Hellfire Force completely drained me of almost all my powers. I mean, I still have enough to regenerate and regain stamina, but not enough to manifest my Titan form. And now I know why."
He steps to the side and points her towards his burning tree. "The flames are going out. I think it means that my powers are fading. I think I might be… turning mortal."
"This is what you wanted, isn't it?"
"Yes, but not yet! The Rumbling is still going on and my friends are on the brink of exhaustion. Half of our alliance has been turned into Titans and another third were killed before the final battle even began. Magath. Hange. Bertolt. They gave their lives for our cause and what do I have to show for it? Nothing! That's what I am without my powers in this dire moment. Nothing!"
"You doubt your friend's abilities?" She asked him.
"I didn't say that… I just don't want any more of them to die while I sit back and watch. Marcel was killed because I did nothing. Marco died because I was reckless. And Bertolt threw his life away because I couldn't help him… I wanted to put myself on the front lines and take the full force of Eren's wrath so that the others would have a higher chance of surviving till the very end. I can't do that without my Titan powers."
Lazarus turns his back to Lucia and stares at his tree. "When you were still alive, I wanted to be a hero. But my actions on Paradis turned me into the villain of their story." He shakes his head. "Eren's not the villain here. He's only standing up for himself and his people and ensuring the world pays the price for all those years of hatred and denying him the freedom to be a part of the outside world."
Lucia calmly approaches him from behind and gently places her hands atop his shoulders.
"There are no heroes and villains in the real world, Lazarus. Only people doing what they believe to be right to survive. Nobody told the world to hate Subjects of Ymir, it was just something that developed throughout the ages until it was engrained into their minds. Children grow and develop from the people and the environment around them. Some turn out good. Some bad… Some very bad. And some morally grey… Do you know what it was that motivated me to be the person I was?" She asked calmly.
Lazarus glances over his left shoulder back at her. "What?"
"Love."
Lazarus turned around and gave her a "Are you serious?" look. "You're not gonna tell me I can get my powers back with the power of love, are you?"
"God no! This isn't a fairytale, Lazarus." She shook her head in denial and laughed before clearing her throat to explain herself. "What I mean is, what makes me different from most Eldians is that I was surrounded by loving people my whole life. It was all I've known growing up that it wasn't until my early thirties that I found out what the world was really like."
"And it shattered your perception of what you thought it was?" Lazarus guessed.
"It did. But then I learned a very important lesson. Just because the world hates you for being different doesn't mean you have to hate yourself. Depression can easily take hold of you if you expose yourself too much to hatred. So, I decided to expel my love to anyone I saw on the streets. Whether it's a friendly "hello" and a wave or a simple smile, I know I have improved them a little, even if they don't know it."
"I never had the chance to pass on that lesson to you, so I am doing it now. Don't dwell on the mistakes of your past, Lazarus. All that will do is submerge you deeper and deeper into this belief that you deserve to be unloved. The people who hate you may never forgive or accept you, but you don't need their approval. So what if they call you a monster, a sociopath, or evil? You have people who love you regardless of your actions, like me, Michael and Annie. Their love for you is more than enough to keep you going and vice versa, don't you agree?"
Lazarus pauses and takes a moment to think over everything she'd told him. He always looked back on the mistakes of his past and often wished he could go back and change things. Saving the world from The Rumbling and ending the era of Titans would earn the forgiveness of some people, but not all of them. Lucia was right. Why should he be concerned about those who'll never forgive him when he still has friends who continue to fight beside him regardless of his past?
The young Averbach takes a deep calming breath and lets it out, looking up at his mentor with a smile. He's glad she's here even if she is just a spirit. Talking to her again has given him the closure he didn't know he needed. Mentally he feels ready to rejoin the fight. Physically though, he feels no different.
"Thank you for being here to tell me this, Lucia. I didn't know how badly I needed to hear that until I did."
"It's not only me you should be thanking. It was your mother who taught me that lesson. She and Dante's love for each other and you were what gave them the best possible life in Marley an Eldian could ask for."
"I already had the chance the last time I was here. I'm sure they got the message… There's still the matter of my powers, though. That thing must be draining it somehow. The False Founder serum was made of pieces of the Nine Titans, it makes sense that the creature could take it away. The Winged Titan was never a naturally born Titan, just a beast of science."
"And who told you that, hmm?" Lucia asked, making it sound like he should be questioning himself. "Yes, the serum is manmade, but whoever said The Winged Titan was?"
"You're saying it isn't?"
"It was called the False Founder Project, not The Winged Titan Project. Nobody was certain what kind of Titan would be born out of you, only that it would be as powerful as the original Founding Titan. Its physical appearance was based solely on what you wanted it to be. You are in control of your powers, not that creature or Ymir. This is your power. That thing isn't the one holding it back, you are."
Lazarus' eyes widened slightly. "You're saying I'm unconsciously holding myself back? That can't be true. I've transformed many times without issue in the past. Why is this time any different?"
"Your body had been building up and storing your power for years. Every time you transformed you would expel some of it, but never too much. You said yourself that your power is continuously growing, remember?"
Lazarus' mind flashes back to what he told his comrades on the Flying Boat during the flight to Fort Salta.
"As I grow older, I can feel my Titan power increasing. The stronger it gets, the less control I'll have over it. Ludwig designed The Winged Titan to adapt and grow stronger so that if it were to lose to the original Founding Titan it would keep getting stronger than before. Every time I transform or use my powers in any way as a human it slows the process but doesn't stop it."
From the moment he received that injection, his power had been building up exponentially. He looks back at Lucia with a shocked look on his face. It looked like he was able to figure out what she was talking about.
"The Hellfire Force. I didn't hold back when I unleashed it that time. I poured all of the energy that I'd been building up since the destruction of Eden's Nest. I've severely drained myself."
"Yes, you did," Lucia confirmed.
"That means I can't transform again until I've recovered enough energy. But that could take days! I don't have hours. Heck, I don't even have minutes!" He pauses momentarily once he comes to a sudden realisation. "…But in here I have all the time in the world… I'm gonna have to stay here and build myself back up again before I can return, aren't I?"
Lucia playfully shakes her head again, amused by his continued cluelessness. "Oh, Laz. Despite how obviously gigantic the answer is, you still can't see it, can you?"
Before the albino was about to ask what she was on about now, she turned his head around and pointed it up towards the giant tree of life where all paths converged. He was surprised to see that the flames from his tree were still burning around some of the branches.
"Before you expelled your power, Zeke transferred a lot of it to the Coordinate. The flames have plenty of branches to consume and grow. The fires from both trees are connected. And you strengthened that connection by drinking from its source."
"When I bit that worm thing… So it didn't weaken me after all." Lazarus uttered as he gazed at the partially burning tree of life standing taller than any Titan he'd seen.
"You've already used this newfound connection to free our Titans from Ymir's control. Now we are free to continue to assist you in your mission." Lucia places her arm around Lazarus' shoulders and holds him tightly, knowing that it'll be the last time. "We will give you our power to restore yours… and much more."
"More? How much more could I possibly need?"
"You'll understand when you return to the outside world." Lucia pauses and starts to tear up, which hadn't gone unnoticed by her pupil.
"Lucia? Are you crying?"
She wipes away her tears using her jacket sleeve before answering him. "I just… I wish you didn't have to return so soon. Time does not exist here, but I feel we've only been talking for a few minutes. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to you the day before I died, and I'm still not ready now."
Lazarus pulls her into a warm, loving embrace. Both of them had no desire to let go knowing they would never see each other again once the War Chief returned to the field of war.
"Neither am I. But the people I love need me. I have to be there for them as they've been there for me… This war's gone on long enough. We all deserve some peace." He glances back at the Coordinate. "And I mean ALL of us."
Mentor and student slowly pull away and let their hands unclasp as they back away from each other. In the background the burning branches of the Coordinate tree shift towards Lazarus' tree. The branches of his tree respond in kind and start reaching out for them too, desiring to be reconnected with the flames on it.
"One last thing, Lazarus… When this is over, find my husband and tell him I still love him even in death."
"Your husband's alive?"
"Of course. You've already met him not long ago" She gently lifts her right hand and gives her pupil one final wave goodbye. "… Goodbye, Lazarus… My sweet, sweet boy."
"Goodbye, Lucia… I love you." He uttered just in the nick of time as the two branches had made contact.
The time it took for Lazarus to revitalise his Titan powers passed just as instantaneously as his past visits to The Paths. From the point of view of his struggling friends, he'd just sat in defeat, when in reality he was only regaining what he'd lost in the Hellfire Force.
A tiny bolt of electricity sparked out of the bite marks on his hands. It only appeared for less than a second before it erupted into a gigantic explosion of light that stretched high into the sky, higher than every other transformation the albino had ever had before. The light became another explosion not as powerful as the Hellfire Force, but more akin to Eren's Colossal Titan transformation a while ago. The shockwave of the blast sent Lazarus' hat flying far away until strong winds picked it up from there.
Michael, Reiner, Pieck and Gabi's Titans turned their heads away from the brightness. All the summoned Pure and Crystal Titans also stopped what they were doing to look at the mesmerising pillar of yellow light. Even the Hallucigenia halted its approach and backed away to avoid getting crushed under another explosion. It barely escaped the last one.
"It's about time." Pieck thought to herself as she kicked her Titan father off of her.
"Wait, something's off. Lazarus' transformation has never been that powerful before." Reiner added.
"That blast looks identical to a Colossal Titan transformation." Gabi realised.
"Lazarus… What is going on with you?" Michael wondered.
The sudden appearance of the secondary gigantic explosion almost threw Falco's Titan off course. Had he stared into that light any longer, he would have lost altitude and crashed into Eren's Colossal Titan. Levi and Mikasa looked back at the blast and saw the mushroom cloud forming as it was nearing its completion.
"The hell is going on now? Did that thing summon more Titans?" Levi questioned with a tint of annoyance in his voice.
Mikasa continued to observe the blast and started to see the silhouette within. She could see a giant with six horns and wings. There was only one person who looked like that. "It's Lazarus. He…"
"He's what?"
"His Titan… It's different." She slowly uttered with bewilderment. She couldn't believe what she was seeing down there.
And neither could the rest of the Alliance when the explosion finally subsided and revealed The Winged Titan within. Even Eren's Titan stopped its approach in response to the shocking revelation happening right in front of him.
"No way!" Michael stuttered within the nape of the neck. "Did he just become… a Colossal Titan?!"
As the smoke cleared, Lazarus's new Titan body slowly rose onto its feet. The Winged Titan had taken a page out of Eren's book and transformed itself into a brand-new Colossal Titan variant. Like Eren, his 60-meter body was a lot slimmer than most Colossal's and was all muscle with an exposed ribcage. Its head heavily resembled the original Winged Titan but had longer white hair and elongated horns.
Its body donned pieces of hardened armour that only covered his elbows, kneecaps, shoulders, arms and legs. It also retained its long sharp claws on its fingers and toes. But perhaps the biggest part of it that stood out the most was its draconic wings. Once stood upright, the wings slowly unfold and stretch out to the sides. The wingspan was twice as long as the Titan's body. They were so massive that they cast an enormous shadow over the part of the land they were standing on. The Titans were intimidated by the sheer size of the wings. Was it even possible to fly with them?
The Winged Colossal Titan sucked in as much air as his ginormous lungs could take as it raised its head to the sky. Without warning, the Titan let loose a powerful roar that shook the ground beneath their feet, even the very air around them vibrated with the force of it, prompting everyone in the vicinity to cover their ears. At least everyone capable in the present moment. Alongside the roar was a massive breath of blue fire shooting high into the sky. If Eren wasn't intimidated by the wings alone, the tornado of fire exiting his mouth might do the trick.
To Be Continued