2025 Update
Pov - Eren
Guilt.
Eren was overcome by it. What he had done. The deaths of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people crushing him. He could still hear their cries as the Colossal Titans crushed them, their screams deafening him even now when it was all over. The sight of cities being crushed and thousands of years of history being wiped out was still fresh in his eyes, and in that moment the overwhelming weight of his actions was too much to bear.
Eren fell to his knees, the scorched ground beneath him cracking and crumbling as he fell upon it. He had done it to save them, his friends, his family, and his country. But the cost of victory was too high.
Paradis would live. They would flourish with no one to stand in their path, and Eldia could reclaim its old glories, retaking the continent they fled so long ago. There would be only one nation, one people on this earth, and the discrimination they had suffered for so long would be gone.
But Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Connie, and all the others had perished. The people he had held so close had fought against him, trying to stop him and the Rumbling.
I gave them the freedom to fight or to flee, and they chose to fight. But they weren't meant to die, I lost control of them, the army of Titans. Or someone else was controlling them.
Eren stared up into the smoke-filled sky with tears blurring his vision and running down his cheeks as he reflected on their battle against him. They had arrived so hopefully to stop him, but their carefully laid out plan had fallen to insurmountable odds.
Reiner had been the first to fall, brought down by half a dozen Warhammer Titans, each of them stabbing and slicing into him with their crystallised weapons. But even as they wounded him time after time, he fought on with all his strength until they finally felled him.
Annie followed soon after, trapped on his back with no way out and surrounded by countless Titans. By the time the Ancient Titans finally butchered her, she was surrounded by their steaming corpses, having fought till her last breath.
Connie didn't even have time to react to his killer, one moment he was shooting through the air like a bullet and the next a Titan's jaws clamped down around his body and ate him in a single bite.
Jean and Pieck fought a brutal and bloody battle as they tried to reach the detonator and bombs wrapped around his neck, but the Titans were beyond count and both were cut down as they made their desperate dash.
Armin died trapped in the mouth of a Titan, unable to transform as he was suffocated by its enormous tongue.
Captain Levi fought like a demon, even with his severe injuries he cut down Titan after Titan shooting around bones and ribs until a lucky Titan finally caught him.
And Mikasa, slaying countless Titans until she fought on her own, and even then with no hope and no friends left she fought even fiercer. Despite this, the Titans merely outlasted her, and when her gas had sputtered out and her thunder spears and blades were all used up they butchered her as she lay on the ground defenceless.
It was like a dream watching them die, the memories of both past, future, and present fogging my mind. All I could do was look on as they were cut down one by one, unable to move, unable to scream, unable to fight.
Only the brat and Falco had escaped, fleeing up into the skies and back to the fort. From there Eren watched as they took their family and fled further into the distance, desperate to escape the rumbling.
But they did not matter. The Colossal Titans marched onwards to victory, crushing Fort Slava and with it all hope of victory against the Rumbling. They continued marching to all the lands beyond it, to distant places he had never seen and destroyed it all leaving only devastation in their wake.
Day after day the Titans strode forward like an unstoppable wave across the earth until finally, and suddenly they halted. In a barren empty field of no significance to the world, the army of Titans stopped moving, and all across the world, they did the same. And what followed was silence.
It became obvious what had happened. It was over. The Rumbling was complete, and before he could think much more about it he fell into a dreamless sleep, and when he awoke Eren found himself on the ground an unknown amount of time later with no recollection of how he got there.
He stood up gradually, weak after the transformation that had lasted so long, but looking around he could see nothing through the steam apart from vague shapes of various sizes. He took several steps forward, the sound of burnt earth crunching filling his ears with every step.
I know that steam and the smell too well. It's unforgettable.
And as he walked through the vapour Eren confirmed what he already thought. Bone. Masses of chunks and shards of bones covered the landscape all around him. Some were from his Founding Titan body, but other chunks looked like they were from the bodies of Colossal Titans.
The masses of bones sizzled and hissed as they dissolved, their eerie sound the only thing breaking the silence of the earth. No wind blowing, no mass of thumping footsteps and no people screaming out. The world was having a moment of silence for all those who died, but then he heard it.
"Hello!" The voice called out, and with that one word, Eren recognised him. Zeke, he's alive? "Anyone! Am I all that's left?"
"Zeke!" He called out in return. "I'm over here." For a moment there was silence, but then the sound of footsteps stepping on crumbling dirt rang out through the silence of the earth.
Through the vapour and steam, he finally saw him. They came face to face and Zeke stared at him with hatred and pure rage.
"Eren… You bastard. What have you done?" Zeke asked, but in his eyes, Eren could tell he already knew what had happened.
"They're all dead," Eren replied simply, though as he spoke a pang of regret coursed through him. "All life beyond Paradis has been quenched. Eldia, our people, are safe."
Zeke didn't reply. A thousand emotions and thoughts crossed his face as he stood in place seemingly unable to accept what Eren had done.
Before Eren could react Zeke punched him in the face with all his anger and remaining strength sending Eren to the ground.
"We had a plan Eren! You promised me that we would end Eldia's suffering without bloodshed like this." Zeke screamed at him as he got on top of Eren and placed his hands around his throat.
"Do you not understand what you've done?" Zeke shouted again, his hands squeezing tighter. "How many people you slaughtered? DO FEEL NOTHING?"
Before Zeke finished his sentence Eren smacked him in return causing Zeke to loosen his grip around his neck. But he did not let go, so Eren hit him a second time, then a third and finally on the fourth Zeke let go and fell to the ground with a bloodied face.
Eren quickly got off the floor raising his hands, ready to fight his brother. But Zeke did not leave the ground, he gazed up at Eren from the floor with tears and hatred in his eyes.
"Eren. Why?"
"Because I will not let Paradis be destroyed. Not if I have the strength to stop it." He replied.
"Paradis wouldn't have been destroyed, they wouldn't have even suffered. It would have been painless," came Zeke's reply. "The Eldians would have flickered out and the world would have been better off without us."
"We would have suffered till the end. We were caged, trapped in those walls for a century. Your plan would have left us to rot in there. We would have laid down and died without giving a fight and perished without ever seeing true freedom."
He walked towards Zeke and squatted down to eye level with him.
"Your plan." He began, almost spitting out the words. "Is as bad as what Marley had planned for us."
"And what of yours? Your plan has left a billion dead. The blood spilt could fill oceans and has left enough bones to make mountains." Zeke replied, stopping for just a moment. "But they're not the only ones who were butchered, were they?"
Eren didn't reply, breaking eye contact with him instead.
"I couldn't see or hear anything." Zeke started. "But somehow I had a vague sense of what was going on. So tell me Eren, was your 'true freedom' worth the lives of your friends."
Eren continued his silence trying to come up with something to say while suppressing the guilt and regret that coursed through him.
"I… It wasn't meant to happen that way." He finally replied. "They weren't meant to die. The Titans began acting on their own, and all I could do was watch as they were butchered."
"You see Eren. Your plan forced them to fight against you, it caused their deaths. You can call the sterilisation of Eldia cruel if you want, but you know in your heart..."
"The Rumbling was the only choice left to me," Eren replied, cutting him off mid-sentence. "But I'll admit, it didn't go to plan. Someone else interfered."
"Someone? Who has the power to do that?" Zeke replied, deep in thought as he spoke. "Unless… Ymir?"
Eren didn't reply, instead looking around the desolate and barren waste that surrounded them. The bones, steam and smoke were mostly gone now and the full scale of destruction was revealed to him.
The barren plains stretched endlessly it seemed, with no landmarks in any direction. No hills or lakes, nothing. If there was ever anything to begin with it had all been crushed.
It must have been her. She was the only one with the power to control those Ancient Titans. But why?
"Ymir! Did you do it? Did you kill them?" He shouted out before sobbing out a last word. "Why?"
The answer came suddenly, and in a single moment, Eren found himself no longer staring out across barren wastes but instead looking out across endless seas of sand. The once bright sky darkened to night and filled with countless stars. And at the centre of it all, where all paths met was the Coordinate.
The tree of light stretched up into the night sky, impossibly tall and wide with dozens of tendril-like branches spreading out across the night sky. It was something so incomprehensibly vast that even after seeing it a dozen times over it never ceased to amaze him.
"I want out of here quickly," Zeke demanded as he stood up, gazing up at the Coordinate alongside him. "I have spent enough time here."
Ymir stood at the foot of the Coordinate and for a moment there was silence, but then as sudden as a lightning strike came to her voice, echoing out across the desert and through their heads.
"I saved you." She started. "You were holding my Titans back. I gave them the freedom to save you and defeat your friends."
"They didn't have to die," Eren replied.
"If my Titans had not killed them then your friends would have slain you. I choose to save you."
"It was not your choice to make," he spat back angrily.
"It was. You freed me Eren. You set me free after I spent countless years as a slave. With it, I choose to save you. It was the least I could do after all you have done for me. Those years you felt caged inside the walls of Paradis are barely a moment compared to my time here. Endlessly building Titans and walking these sands, listening to the commands of kings who gave no thought to me. But now I can finally make my own choices, my own decisions."
"You still have a life beyond this Eren." Ymir continued. "Return to Paradis and live out your days there with Historia, your daughter and those who remain. I can then strip you of the curse and you may live out your days in peace."
"Your daughter?" Zeke asked suddenly, a look of complete confusion plastered across his face. "With Historia?"
"If you want it you can bring him with you. If not then you can leave him. It is up to you."
"What? You can't be." Before Zeke could say anything else Eren finally replied to Ymir.
"I do not want to go back to Paradis."
"What do you want?" Came Ymir's reply, and with it, Eren thought deeply for a moment before replying.
"I want to save them. Mikasa, Armin, and all the others. I refuse to let them die like that."
"There is no way to save them now. I cannot bring back the dead and even if I could bring them back would you want that? They would hate you, despise you utterly and completely for what you had to do."
"I know." He replied. "I know. If I could do anything though, I would go back. I would try again and prevent this from happening."
"Hm. That I think I can do." Ymir stated much to Eren and Zeke's shock.
"What? They both exclaimed before Eren continued. "You can do what? Send us back to before all this?"
"Yes, I can," Ymir said again, though sounding more confident than before. "If you choose to go through with this I will cast you back with all your memories and into your younger body. However, by going back you will lose the world here and will never be able to return. It will be a one-way trip."
"What of Historia? What about my child?" Eren asked.
"They will remain here." Came the dreaded reply followed by silence.
I'll never be able to see them again. My child will never know who I am and I will never hold them. But, to stay here means everyone else will stay dead alongside the rest of the earth.
"What of me?" Zeke asked. "Are you going to send me back with Eren? Or will you leave me here to suffer as you have?"
"You will be returned to Paradis in this world. That is all you deserve. Believe me, I only do this to pay back Eren for what he has done for me."
Zeke merely nodded at Ymir, accepting his fate before turning to Eren.
"Eren." Zeke started, grabbing him by the shoulders and looking deep into his eyes. "Do not burn this new world. This is a chance to make it right, to not purge it of life. Do the right thing or the same thing will happen again. Promise me you will do better."
"I'll do better, Zeke, that I promise," Eren replied after a moment of making his mind. "But I will never follow your plan."
Despair crossed Zeke's face as Eren finished speaking, but before he could say anything in reply he was gone in a flash of light, sent back to the world to wallow in his despair.
"Well then Eren? What is your choice?" Ymir asked him, but Eren suspected she already knew his answer.
"I'll do it," he replied simply, looking her dead in the eyes.
"Very well, I shall send you back seven years to the beginning of your training," she stated, not giving him an option. "And Eren, you will only have the powers that you had seven years ago, just so you know. When you are ready, walk into the Coordinate."
No Warhammer and no hardening. I can live with that.
He only nodded in reply before starting to walk forward slowly, what felt like a dozen emotions coursing through him with each step. Fear, doubt, hope, but as he reached the base of the tree he stopped for just a second.
I can do better. I will do better. It's not a choice. I'm giving them up to start again, and I will make it worth it.
As he stepped into the Coordinate he was blinded by lights and felt as though he was falling in all directions. And as he fell Ymir's voice rang out one last time, filling his ears.
"I hope we meet again Eren Yeager."
It felt like he was falling for an eternity and yet felt like no time was passing either, as if the moment was being stretched to last years while passing in an instant.
When it ended he collapsed to his knees, sweat trickling down his face and his stomach twisted. He wanted to lie there and wretch on the ground till it all went away, but Eren did not get the chance.
"Recruit, did I give you permission to lie down?" Shouted a familiar voice from in front of him. "Is this already too much for you?"
When he opened his eyes he was staring at a bear of boots, and as he looked up at the man he recognised him immediately. Keith Shadis, Ymir really did do it. A second chance, I've got to be the first to ever get one on a scale like this.
"Are you deaf recruit?" Shadis shouted at him. "Get on your feet now maggot, I won't have soldiers collapsing like this on the first day."
"Sorry sir. I just.-" Eren started as he stood up but was cut off before he could even form an excuse which he was half grateful for.
"I do not care about whatever is wrong with you maggot! What is your name?"
"Eren Yeager sir, from Shiganshina sir." he started, slamming his fist into his chest, but as he spoke he could almost feel the other recruits' eyes boring into him from all around him.
"And why is filth like you here?"
"I want to be free from the walls sir," Eren replied instantly, staring back at Shadis, who upon hearing his words almost smiled but stopped it quickly.
"Well you have a long way to go yet maggot if you can't even stand for 10 minutes!" Shadis shouted back before standing up straight and moving on to his next victim.
Letting out a minor sigh of relief he looked around at his fellow cadets out of the corner of his eye. He hadn't seen most of them in so long he struggled to remember their names, so many dead. He caught Mikasa's eye who gazed back at him with concern.
He broke eye contact with Mikasa and continued to dart his eyes around all the cadets till he finally saw her. Historia. She won't even know who I am. But It was a sacrifice I had to make, for everyone's lives.
"Jean Kirstein from Trost, sir!" The words drew Eren from his thoughts as he heard the voice of another person who died.
"And why have you come to the cadets?"
"To get into the Military Police sir, the best of the best," Jean replied quickly.
"I see. You want to go live in the interior, don't you?"
"Yes Sir." Jean looked relieved at Shadis's statement, but the relief was gone within a second as Shadis headbutted him. Jean collapsed immediately from the hit, falling to his knees and the dirt.
"Who gave you permission to sit down?" Shadis shouted at Jean who clutched his head while trying to stifle the groans of pain. "You think someone who folds here is going to be let into the Military Police?"
Not too far from Historia, he saw his once greatest adversaries, Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie. The three of them stood looking forward and after barely a moment he looked away.
They'll be my biggest problem for now. I suppose I could try and take them out during training, but if all three of them were against me, I wouldn't stand a chance. I'll just have to wait till the time is right. I'll play the long game.