Creation began on 01-05-25
Creation ended on 01-31-25
Attack on Titan
The Dark Titan: Acceptance of Defeat
Seven days. One week. That was how long it took the majority of Marley to realize that they were no longer a superpower in the current world after losing the majority of their usurped Titan powers that had been used for warfare against the Mid-Eastern Alliance upon discovering that they were allied with Paradis Island. But the military higher-ups did not want to give up just yet, despite the public being aware of the knowledge that they were losing, and that the enemy could destroy their lives whenever they wanted to in an instant. Even if they feel they could turn the tide with just the remaining Titan they had left that they have never used since the fall of the Eldian empire.
"…In the court of public opinion, Marley has already lost the war," a soldier says to another soldier as they read the newspaper on the war.
"What makes the higher-ups think that they can still win with a Titan that hasn't seen conflict for the last century?" The other soldier questions. "I don't see how it could help if it hasn't been used ever since the Tybur family swore its allegiance to Marley."
All over the military were those that lost their faith in the nation's ability to win against an enemy that was the amalgamation of other nations that had set aside their own differences and pooled their resources to take on a common threat to their lands. The loss of such faith against the Mid-Eastern Alliance was proof that when people from different walks of life were willing and able to let go of their petty differences and work together in the face of adversity, it was possible to build new bridges between different places. And one such place that a bridge had been built between these different places was Paradis if the stolen Titans were now in the employ of the devils that resided on that small patch of land in the sea. But once Marley accepts the unconditional surrender, the captive soldiers they lost in their later battles would be returned to the nation unharmed.
-x-
"…Are they still thinking it over?" Erwin Smith questions a leader of the alliance, referring to Marley's military leaders as they were stationed on a ship several miles away from said nation's coast in the evening.
"That's what we're getting so far," the man responds, taking a sip from his flask right then and there. "They're probably trying to garner support from what few allies they have left, but it's useless. The sooner they accept that they can't win, the better. I just want to go back home and rebuild my town."
"At the end of any war, that's what most people want to do: Go home."
"So, tell me, is it true that you can fly?"
"The latest Beast Titan in generations that can."
"When you're up there (the guy points up at the sky), what does the land look like from up high? Does it look like the world is bigger than you can imagine…or smaller?"
Erwin sighs and answers, "From up there…it looks like a giant scar in need of medical attention. From up there…it looks a little filthy."
"But you get a better view from up there, at least."
Erwin couldn't lie about that; when he was up in the air, the view was better. Even better than the view from up a fifty-meter wall because he was higher in the sky.
-x-
Shiganshina District, despite its reconstruction, was not the same as it once was prior to the Colossal Titan attacks. Instead, some have taken to calling it New Shiganshina, because it was the first district to be rebuilt from the ground up, and with aid from a Titan with intelligence. As the sun began to rise in the distance, in her room, in her home situated outside of Wall Maria, Kaede Sogen stirs from her slumber and looks out the window. It was a wondrous sight to behold, seeing the sunrise.
"Aah…" She yawns as she sits up and then gets out of bed.
In a corner of her room, she sees Ymir Fritz standing in front of her, as if just watching her as she slept the entire night of the previous day, and Kaede just gives her the silent treatment; the ghostly presence of the ancestral mother of the Eldian Subjects of Ymir hadn't changed for her in the past year since she accepted her situation as a Titan Shifter and embraced it to be free from the depths of her personal despair, and she didn't expect it to cease, no matter how much she wishes it would, because Ymir Fritz was no different from any other bitter person. No matter what she does, there was always going to be someone that was not pleased with her progress, her actions, her very existence.
"What's on the agenda today?" She wonders as she takes a look at her calendar. "It's the twins' birthday today. I can't believe it's been only a year since I saw them that day."
A year. Twelve months of change. Twelve months of turning lives upside-down, inside-out and revealing truths that needed to be shared with the people for the betterment of the whole of Paradis, and Kaede still had a little difficulty believing that it has only been that long since the day Trost District was attacked. That long…and only four months since Paradis was included in the Mid-Eastern Alliance against Marley and its allies in another war. But that was something Kaede didn't really need to be concerned with now that Frieda Reiss was taking an active role in things with her independence from the ideology of Karl Fritz, making use of the Founding Titan and the assistance of the three military branches of Paradis.
The Dark Titan was on standby on Paradis until such a time came for its use in reconstruction projects across the ocean with its allies in the east; when viewing a demonstration of her creativity and versatility in building, several people from across the ocean in nations like Hizuru knew that a Titan like Kaede's could help rebuild entire cities in less time if the war were over within a few months. About every other day of every other week or so, the young lady would be requested to help in setting up the foundation or framework for a new building, something to just get started on and could be finished within a day or two. But Kaede didn't mind this, as she was able to do something to help the people of Paradis every now and then, and she was able to exercise a better degree of control over her Titan power after being given an ability similar to that of the War Hammer Titan, manipulating her Titan flesh in ways that were like in the alternate life she had been forced to live when she was in her month-long coma. And it was always a good thing to use the power she had to do something good that would help the people of her community better.
"I don't think I'll ever get over this happy feeling of seeing a sunrise and sunset," she expresses as she goes over to her closet and begins to change out of her sleepwear.
-x-
"…And how has Hoover been since he started working here?" Sasha asks a man referred to as Niccolo, a former soldier from Marley that was on a ship that one day came too close to Paradis and was captured by the Attack Titan and brought to shore, looking at the former Colossal Titan that was washing dishes in a sink.
"He's been quiet since he started helping around more," the man, Niccolo, reports to her. "How are things looking for him?"
"Marley is near defeat and acceptance of a surrender. Once they give up, Hoover can expect to be a boat back to his home in Liberio with everyone else here."
"Really?"
"Yes. Unlike Marley, we're not interested in keeping prisoners of war or continuing a war when it's better to resolve it with as little bloodshed as possible."
"I hope you're right about this. War becomes Hell for those of that want to escape from it but can't. But Hell is worse when you're unwilling to let go of war."
Sasha smiles and replies, "War creates nothing but fear, pain and suffering for those that have to live with the aftermath of it all. And those that fail to learn from the history behind it all are condemned to suffer it all over again. The sooner we all let go of the drive for war, for bloodshed, death and destruction, the better off we will all be."
"Yeah."
But the way Sasha and Niccolo were talking to one another, Bertolt, simply because he understood that Niccolo was a Marleyan, couldn't help but wonder why it seemed that the two were being buddy-buddy when they should have been at each other's throats trying to get rid of each other. This made no sense to him at all on why they appeared to be friendly or at least civil with each other.
What the Hell is going on here?! He wonders.
-x-
"…Has Kaede shown up yet?" Kylie asks Julietta as she runs out of methods to keep the twins distracted from asking questions, seeing her give a small smile.
"I had to send Mimi out to look for her," she tells her. "What of Charlotte?"
"Charlotte had the distraction gig down on her birthday, but the twins aren't really able to avoid her without getting her angry pout."
Ding-dong! The bell to the house rang, and Kylie goes to answer the front door.
Opening the door, the young woman greets a young woman with long, gray hair, smiling as she steps aside to let her enter the residence.
"Dare I even ask where you were?" She asks Kaede.
"I was helping Mr. Reyes to cross the street," she answers. "Am I the last one to arrive?"
"Yes, but hopefully, the twins haven't noticed yet."
"Oh, they'll notice. They just don't say anything about it."
"Do you really know who Charlotte is?"
"Besides being the little lady that calls me a giant woman, I can't say that I do."
"Funny."
"Giant woman," they both look down the hallway and see the little girl from last year that came to admire Kaede, smiling as the different-haired twin sisters were behind her; the designation of a giant woman was how the girl addressed the gray-haired girl when she became the Dark Titan every other day…or just when greeting her.
"We gotta be honest, Kaede Sogen," went the blond-haired Amanda on Charlotte's right side.
"We didn't think you'd get here," the ebony-haired Rachel finished. "We're glad you came."
"There's no way I would miss your birthday," Kaede tells them.
The twins smile at Kaede.
-x-
The Tybur family estate was very big and beautiful, a contrast to the way much of Marley currently looks due to the final stages of the war, as Magath walks down the path to the mansion. He wasn't sure why he had to be the one to do this, as it was his superiors that desire to make a comeback against the Mid-East Alliance, but he was to request the aid of the family's War Hammer Titan, rumored to be the strongest of the Nine Titans after the Beast Titan. It was the belief that so long as Marley possesses an ace up their sleeve, the war could still be tipped to their favor, but Magath was among the few that believe that it was pointless to continue persisting. As the Mid-East Alliance had gained more support from other nations, including former allies of Marley's, it was becoming clear, even to Magath, that the only way to save face was for Marley to accept the immediate and unconditional surrender. Once the war was over, they could rebuild their war-torn lands and restructure their economy and society.
As much as I find it difficult to believe, Magath thinks as he reaches the front door, it's harder to wrap my head around why Paradis hasn't unleashed the Rumbling upon the world after joining the alliance. It would be easy for them to unleash the Titans that slumber in their walls and devastate the planet.
Of course, based only on some rumors that were spread following the revelation that Paradis had joined the alliance, the idea of the Rumbling was seen as the ultimate weapon to use against one's enemies, but it came at a cost too high to consider. Despite it being feared by the masses, and not wishing to be experienced at all, the Rumbling was discovered by Marley to be real, but reserved only as an absolute weapon of last resort; something about the power to unleash it being kept in the hands of the last person likely to unleash it when peace became impossible to achieve with foreign enemies. If this was true, then it was unlikely that Paradis sought the death and destruction of everyone else in the world if they kept the use of the Rumbling for when nothing else ensured peace. This…and the fact that the alliance was willing to work with Paradis to defeat nations like Marley.
"…Sir?" Magath's train of thought was broken by the voice of the man in front of him.
"Sorry," he apologizes. "Theo Magath of Marley's military, here to speak with the head of the Tybur family."
"Yes, Mr. Tybur is expecting you. This way, please."
Magath steps into the mansion, and sees several men dressed in military uniform that is different from the kind used by Marley, and each man has the same expression: Grim and vacant. It bothers him to know that the Tybur family has access to their own military service and could employ these soldiers like personal bodyguards.
-x-
"…So…how does it feel to be eighteen, you two?" Kaede asks the twins.
"Ask us again tomorrow," Rachel says to her.
"We'll have an answer by then," Amanda adds.
The three were standing beside a window that gave a decent view of the open terrain outside Wall Maria turn to look at a table that had a large cake that had been halfway eaten through by the guests. Despite being a small party, there were twenty of them at the house, and most were just happy to be back in Shiganshina following the completion of the rebuilt and expanded city.
"Every day, it feels like a dream to be back here," Amanda expresses.
"Every day, we're reminded that we're home again," adds Rachel.
"You gotta love the view," Kaede utters.
"Oh, yeah, we love the view," the twins say together.
"We should try the view from atop the wall," suggests Delilah as she and Kylie come over to the three. "Just before attempting to hang glide to the ground below."
"I thought you did that two months ago," Amanda says to her.
"She did," went Kylie. "She just likes doing it."
"Well, the Garrison and Survey Corps have been good with the lessons on how to hang glide," Kaede utters, "and Julietta is said to be one of the best instructors since she was asked to take the job when it was made."
"Although," Rachel begins.
"She does feel she stepped down from the primary duty of safeguarding the civilians," Amanda finishes, and they all turn to look at Charlotte, who had fallen asleep after eating some cake, her head resting on her mother's lap as she sat on a bench in the hallway.
"It's hardly a step down," went Delilah. "It's just a restructured use of military personnel due to the fact that, as a whole, the military of Paradis is not as active on the island as it is with the Mid-East Alliance away from it. Those that have more than five years of experience were the ones drafted into service. Those with less than five years were the ones that stayed behind to safeguard the island. Instead of sending the young out into battle, the young stay behind to watch the house. It's like a reversal of chess in which the pawns go last. Also, can you really see no problem with Julietta having more time for Charlotte?"
This was also true; with Julietta having less than five years of military experience, along with being a teenage unwed mother, her position as a hang glider instructor afforded her more time to spend with her daughter. None of them could really imagine Julietta coming back from a war and leaving Charlotte an orphan.
"Who would want to?" Kaede questions with a smile.
"Not me," the twins respond.
Kaede looks back outside the window and gazes at the sunset. Then, her focus shifts to a view of the ghostly Ymir Fritz, whom she hadn't seen in practically a month but could still feel her presence. The little girl of a ghost still possessed the same expression of disgust towards her for existing, for taking away her power and influence, for outright refusing to accept a future in which the majority of the world is sacrificed before the power of the Titans is erased from it and everything else that she couldn't accept at the cost of so much pain, death and suffering. But Kaede sighs and looks past her at the scenery ahead; Ymir Fritz could resent her all she wants to, but Kaede was not going anywhere or accepting such cruel beliefs when every day was a chance to turn things around and embrace positive change.
"You two never did tell me what you wanted for your birthday gift," Kaede reminds the twins.
"Believe us, if we live to see three more years of this," went Rachel.
"You'll know the gift we enjoy having," Amanda finishes.
"You two… You two are a mystery to me."
-x-
"…Even though we understand the end of the war is inevitable," went Willy Tybur to Magath during the conversation as they overlooked the estate landscape, "and it's bound to end in the favor of the Mid-East Alliance…do you believe that the War Hammer Titan can give Marley and its allies the edge to turn things around? Do you really believe in this?"
Magath thinks about it and sighs heavily.
"Personally," he speaks up, "no. No, I don't believe the War Hammer Titan can turn things around for Marley. As much as I would like to believe that, the fact remains that we're bound to lose everything if we persist any further. An unconditional surrender will protect Marley's people from further destruction, but it will also remove us from our superpower status. We've lost the majority of the Titans we have used over the last century, and most of our soldiers are either dead or captured by the Mid-East Alliance."
"And what are your thoughts on this…Kaede Sogen?"
"Kaede Sogen?"
"You understand that as a Subject of Ymir. Or rather, a former Subject of Ymir, I also received a brief vision of the two women, one of whom was confirmed to be Ms. Sogen, like every other man, woman and child that descends from the woman that was claimed to have traded her soul away in exchange for power. Her claims of wanting for us all to talk are, while understandable, somewhat cryptic from a different angle. What do you think of her?"
"Kaede Sogen… The fact that she has gray hair makes her stand out because a young woman with gray hair is an enigma among the people. And learning that she can become a Titan that doesn't relate to the Nine Titans is also a factor. An eighteen-meter Titan that can persist for several hours is a potential weapon of great power if it ever wandered around on the mainland. However, the girl in question is…an unusual person in that she lacks a drive for violence."
"She lacks the drive to commit violence?"
"According to Reiner Braun and Annie Leonhart, the Sogen girl is no different from a regular civilian unaffiliated with the military. She doesn't like to engage in combat with anyone, and from what they claimed, despite being a powerful adversary, she isn't fit for the life of a soldier. She could devastate our cities with her Titan power in a very short timeframe if she ever showed her face around the motherland, but not once has she ever been reported in any of the battles we lost to the Mid-East Alliance."
"And…you don't believe that this girl is not a threat because she has not been seen participating in any of the battles?"
"So long as someone like her exists, she will always be a threat, and not just because of her power. Her very appearance will spark outrage in public. Young people with gray hair are abnormal at best. There was a rumor once about a young woman that had hair like the ocean itself. The people burned her at the stake, considering her ancestors to have been devils of the sea. And once, there was a man whose red hair was like living fire. He was waterboarded to death. People with hair not considered to be normal are people that send a bad message to the public masses and cannot be allowed to live. They're just as abnormal as these other people whose bodies are warped and twisted. A woman that talks like a man, a man that looks like a woman. God's mistakes."
Willy can understand how this would be towards those that see people like how Magath has described them as being unnatural. These…unnatural people give others nothing but concern and fear that they would become an infestation if left alone. But the Sogen girl he had seen, the very girl that, as far as he understood it, has never once left the island of Paradis, hardly seemed like a threat to anyone other than their beliefs and perceptions of perfection and imperfection. In the past, people with hair like hers were, while not commonplace, were considered a rarity because they attracted the attention of others, but today, most people from misinformed or miseducated backgrounds…scorned these people and others that didn't fit in their society of what people were. If she were ever to step foot in any of their domains, they would kill her just for breathing the same air as them.
"And if you were in the same room as she right now, and all she wanted to do was talk to you," he asks Magath, "would you have words with her?"
It was only a hypothetical question, but one that begs an answer to be heard.
"If she only wanted to talk to me," he replies, "I probably would consider it. It would depend on what she wanted to talk about."
"Probably about anything not relating to hatred or violence. The causal things we take for granted. The weather, the people we have in our lives. If she has no drive for war or death, and is, based on words alone, a peaceful soul devoid of hatred in her heart towards people she has never met and has no reason to want to see harmed by others, there would be no point in wanting to pick a fight with her."
"Still, the fact that she comes from Paradis is enough to give anyone concern for her potential agendas, what she may seek to have done."
"But what is it about this girl that has people upset with her the most? Is it the fact that she comes from Paradis? Or is it the fact that she has gray hair? Or is it something else entirely?"
Magath couldn't answer that question. Not even he knows what it would be about this girl that would make people want her dead. For himself, it is the fact that she comes from Paradis and is therefore a devil of the island. For his superiors, it was the same fact. The gray hair aspect was simply a bonus reason to dislike the girl because of how unnatural it was to see someone with hair of an unreasonable color or detail.
"All of the above," he instead says to Willy. "Her mere existence is a taboo that makes people uneasy should they ever meet her in person."
"Personally, I can't blame a girl like that for being seen as a threat or an abomination, simply because she looks the way she does. To despise someone simply for how they look or even sound, something they can't change because it's part of who they are, it says something about you that is hardwired into your personality, which is something else entirely different." Willy replies. "There is an old saying about people's appearances, and it is to never judge a book by its cover, meaning that you shouldn't judge people simply because of how they look. Judgement should be reserved for how they act, what they do, not how they look."
If only it were that easy, Magath thinks.
-x-
"I'll be honest right now, Kaede," went Julietta as she was walking with Kaede down the street in the evening, carrying Charlotte in her arms, "it's only been a year since everything started changing, but you look little…tired."
"Really?" Kaede asks, wondering if she should be concerned about what she just hears.
"I didn't really notice until an hour back, but you have small, dark circles under your eyes. My grandfather had those when he wasn't getting enough sleep."
"Oh. I guess I should sleep a little more."
"But sleep wasn't the only reason he had those circles under his eyes. He was also under stress. Have you been under any stress that we should know about?"
"Nothing really that bothersome."
"Really, Kaede?"
Kaede thinks about it…and has to admit that there was something on her mind that she didn't allow to ruin this day that was about Rachel and Amanda.
"Every other day for the last three months," she reveals, "I go to see Mrs. Yeager, just to check up on her since she moved back to Shiganshina. It's not really something I have to do, but it's something I do just to make sure she's doing well. I fear she's become a recluse."
"Because of what…happened to you?" Julietta questions.
It wasn't a common thing in Shiganshina, but due to the fact that Eren Yeager was serving a life sentence for trying to kill Kaede, some people that have anger towards the young man for trying to do what he did would secretly take their resentments out on Carla Yeager as a target for their anger. Even though it wasn't her fault for Eren making his choice to commit his crime, Carla has been the mild target due to her relationship to him. It was mostly people that didn't really know the full story behind Eren's violent actions against Kaede, but said girl didn't have any ill will towards Carla for Eren's attempt on her life. But some people were taking longer to realize that Kaede refuses to be vindictive towards people that have done her no wrong in any way whatsoever to deserve her anger.
"I don't hate Mrs. Yeager at all for what her son did to me," Kaede says. "I don't have any animosity towards her or Ms. Ackerman or even Mr. Arlert at all for what he did. I just don't like that some people are hesitant to forgive and forget and move on."
"Well…when we all learned that it was you that was attacked and left for dead, and that he was the one that attacked you, everyone was upset with him, including me. I was willing to tear their house in Trost apart to find something to pin on him. You did nothing to him after you returned him to his mother, shared your peace of mind with her, openly admitted that you have no hatred towards his parents or wish to see them suffer, but Eren was… He's not the kind of person that is able to forgive and forget and move on. With him, his way of forgiving and forgetting and moving on…is when the person he has a grudge against is no longer around to be a thorn in his side…permanently. Also, he had a chance to tell his side of the story and explain why he decided to attack you to begin with, and he refused to come clean about it."
"Yeah, that's true," Kaede says; she didn't get the whole story, but she was told by her parents that Eren was given a chance to make a full confession to his actions prior to his trial, but he chose not to due to because he believed he was not the one at fault. "Was there anything else about what happened back then that I should probably know about?"
Julietta stops and looks at her friend and says, "Nothing you don't already know. I still get nightmares about that day, you know. Even though you recovered and everything, the memory of that day…still left scars that didn't heal. Kylie, Delilah, Selina, all of us feared the worst of what could have happened…all because of one person's…bitterness…and unwillingness to accept that he was not going to get his way…or be someone that could do something to make a difference in other people's lives."
Kaede places her right hand on Julietta's left shoulder, just an inch away from Charlotte's head.
"You make a difference in my life…every time I get to see you," she tells her. "All of you. I don't think I could do any of what I can do without any of you. Five years after the abandonment of Shiganshina…didn't help with my resilience."
"Mine, either. But we're adaptable. I still remember that crazy name Delilah used years ago."
"Eh-heh-heh. Yeah. The Lovely Little Ladies of Shiganshina. I don't think I ever said that out loud before now. But Delilah is right; we are the loveliest ladies of Shiganshina. Do you think you will ever find someone you will settle down with?"
"Unless the next guy is decent, can accept that I'm a single mom, and isn't a jerk, I'm bound for the life of a single lady."
"What about Mr. Kirstein? He gets asked about you every once in a while."
"I'm sure he has other potential interests in mind."
"If I'm being honest with myself here, before he left with the others to help the Mid-East Alliance, he did ask me about you. About what I thought about you, actually."
"Oh? And what did you tell him about me?"
"Only that out of all my friends, you were the most mature because you have Charlotte and that if anyone takes interest in you, they have to accept that you two are a pair that can't be treated like you're both not worth anything when you're both worth the same amount of admiration. If anyone tries to court you, they have to accept that you have Charlotte…and you're not parting ways with her for anything."
"Thanks, Kaede."
"Okay, that's just wrong."
Kaede looks up ahead…and sees the house that was among those built along the side of Wall Maria, the very home that was claimed by Carla Yeager when she moved back to Shiganshina, and sees a man applying paint on the side of the wall.
"Kaede, please hold Charlotte for me," Julietta says as she hands over her daughter to her friend; she might've been an instructor in the Garrison now, but she was still a member of the Garrison, and her job was to protect and serve the people within the Walls, with or without the uniform.
Kaede sighs as she can't believe that someone would persist in targeting Carla for the actions of her son. She really wants to have the people understand that Carla was not someone that deserves to be harassed by anyone for what Eren did to land in prison for the rest of his life. This guilt by association was not something they should go after other people for.
"All I wanna do," she hears Charlotte speaking in her slumber, "is see you turn into…a giant woman. A giant woman."
Kaede chuckles a little; Charlotte may have been the youngest person she knows to know about her status as the Dark Titan, but she may be her biggest admirer.
-x-
"Our latest intel report indicates that Marley is going to use their War Hammer Titan as a last resort," a leader in the Mid-East Alliance informs Erwin, Levi and Hange on a boat just outside of Marley's border.
"If what we understand about the War Hammer Titan is accurate, then its power can't be used in moderation like most of the other Titan powers," Hange states.
"What does that mean?" A foreign soldier questions.
"It means the War Hammer Titan can only be active for most likely a few minutes before the user becomes exhausted," Erwin explains; they only had this information because of Frieda's knowledge of prior events before the removal of Karl Fritz's ideology which prevented her from making full use of the Founding Titan. "It uses more energy than the other Titans do, resulting in faster exhaustion."
"But there's something else our intel reports indicate," the Mid-East Alliance leader reveals. "The Tybur family heads, despite their willingness to use their War Hammer Titan, aren't optimistic about Marley and its remaining allies winning the war…and wish to settle this by accepting the unconditional surrender."
"The Tybur family is willing to accept defeat?" Levi asks.
"The Tybur family of the past conspired with Karl Fritz at the time to give control over the continent back to Marley before rounding up what few people he chose to take with him to Paradis," Frieda had informed them during the time they were resolving the issues of Paradis. "What most of Marley doesn't realize, even its own military, is that the Tybur family, a noble family that has been around for over a century, worked up the ranks and became the leaders of Marley, ruling it from behind the scenes…but only to give the people back their freedom and the power to take their revenge. Despite this power shift, the Tyburs are not really cruel or uncaring, and have been working over the decades to instill peace and coexistence between the Eldian Subjects of Ymir and the rest of the world. If the Subjects of Ymir can no longer be turned into Titans against their will, that could help ensure peace further."
And with the continued testing of people's blood to make sure that those that were once Subjects of Ymir were no longer capable of being turned into Titans, there were signs that other nations were no longer able to find any reason to be distrustful of Eldians that were wanting to live harmoniously with them rather than assume control over them.
"Not everyone seeks to control or destroy," Erwin, Levi and Hange all remember Kaede saying to them at one before they left Paradis to aid in the war efforts, "just as not everyone wishes to be free if it's not the freedom they're actually after."
This…and what Frieda had told them about Eren Yeager that had originally been foreseen by her and every other holder of the Founding Titan for generations since Karl Fritz's time…had explained some of what the young man's violent actions against Kaede…and why he had been desperate to get into the Survey Corps and why he was upset that the gray-haired girl had gotten in, despite having no desire to enlist in any military from the beginning. With the original future no longer valid, none of this was really important, but had to be taken into account when dealing with people that had ambitions that were, lack of a better word, obsessive, and that was Eren Yeager when driven to do things that went against other people's wishes or expectations. Even though none of this had anything to do with his life sentence, it was still something difficult to put behind them upon learning. It was like being told that someone you admire was nothing more than a crook that hid their unjust acts under their good deeds.
"Is there any way to get in contact with the Tyburs to discuss the unconditional surrender with them?" Erwin asks.
"There's a party taking place in Marley's city of Acier in two weeks. Everyone from Marley's allies, past and former included, will be in attendance there. The heads of the Tybur family will also be in attendance, too. That's a good place to meet with them."
"A lot can go down in two weeks," went Levi in response to this discovery.
"It only depends on what can and will happen in that time," Erwin replies.
To be continued…
A/N: It is difficult for some to admit that they're defeated because they don't want to be seen as pathetic or something of the sort. It's easier to persist when you still think you can grasp victory from the jaws of defeat. And the giant woman part of Charlotte's speech, it stems from how easy it is to impress children with someone that is capable of something nobody else can do and idolize them. Look forward to the next chapter.