Chapter 139: For you, 2,000 years ago

“Why?”

Armin’s voice rang out from behind Eren, who slowly turned around. He looked at Armin for a moment, before turning his gaze down to his reflection in the water. This is the person that he thought had understood him the most out of anyone else. His best friend.

“Eren, why didn’t you confide in us about this?” Armin asks. He places his hand on his chest. “We could’ve… we could have come up with a plan, together! Instead you went and trampled on billions of innocent lives!”

Eren looks up at Armin, before letting out a quick sigh.

“Let’s go for a walk, Armin.” He turns around and begins trudging through the bright, blue water. Armin watches him do this for a few seconds, before following behind him.

“A walk to where?” He asks. Eren looks behind him.

“A walk to the founder, Ymir.”

…….

The area around the two transforms into a large forest. And in that forest, a small girl is running. Her right shoulder has an arrow wedged into it, and blood is leaking out of it. She grips her shoulder as her feet pound on the ground and she pants heavily, looking for a place to hide.

Armin stands next to Eren as they watch from a tree next to the girl.

“Is that…?”

“Yeah. That’s Ymir. This day was the one where us Eldians were given the curse of the titans.” The pair follows behind Ymir, as she continues running, until she eventually arrives at a large tree. She heads into it as Eren opens his mouth once again. “Ymir will keep running, until she eventually falls into a large hole in the tree. And when she falls in there, she’ll meet…a creature.”

“A creature?” Armin asks. As soon as he asks that, Armin sees Zeke sitting in front of him, describing the creature that birthed life and the process it took to get there.

“Life took new forms in order to multiply…adapting to every kind of environment and eventually leading to us as we are now. It sought numbers. It sought to spread. It sought abundance.”

“Wha- who’s memories are these?” Armin grips his head and gulps. “What…am I seeing?”

“Those are your memories, Armin. I’m showing you the truth. The future.” Eren explains. “Soon, you’ll have all of your memories, and you’ll have seen the outcome of this battle.”

“Why are you showing me this?” Armin asks. Eren stares at him.

“You’ll… you’ll see. In any case, Ymir will meet a thing that you probably know of,” He pauses for a moment. “You probably know it as life.” Armin’s eyes widen.

“How did you-“ Armin stares at Eren, with a confused expression on his face as he recalls what Zeke had told him.

“And so, that is to say that the purpose of life…is to multiply”

“And the name of life…” Eren says. “Of that creature…is Halucogenia.”

……

A roar is heard coming from underneath the ground, before the tree comes crashing down. And from the remains rises a towering giant. The giant roars as Eren and Armin look up at it. Eren looks over at Armin, who has sweat dripping down his face.

“That…that titan is bigger than almost all of the titans that I’ve seen!” He looks over at Eren and points at it. “Is… is that the first founding titan?” Eren nods.

“Halucogenia bonded with Ymir, which produced the first titan, 2,000 years ago.” He looks over at the Eldian soldiers heading towards Ymir, shocked at the monster that they were seeing. “I don’t know how many of the Halucogenia exist out there, but they’re there. And they wait until somebody stumbles upon them. Somebody they can bond to. Somebody weak.” He watches Ymir step on trees and on the soldiers as she continues to roar with anger and confusion.

“Somebody like Ymir.”

“Bu- But-! How did Halucogenia create Ymir’s titan?! It couldn’t just give her superhuman powers like that randomly, right?!” Armin asks. Eren sighs.

“It’s simple. Halucogenia granted Ymir her powers based on the emotions she was feeling. And Ymir was afraid. So she wanted to be powerful. And in the end, she got her wish.” Eren explains.

“But then, why did Ymir follow King Fritz? What reason was there for her to do that? Was there something holding her back, maybe?” Armin points out. Eren slowly sits down on the grass and watches the events unfolding in front of him.

“Yeah, something was holding her back. And it was simple.” Eren raised his hand, before snapping his fingers. The paths changed its scenery from the titan in front of them to Fritz’ throne room.

Numerous children clinged to Ymir as Fritz was surrounded by beautiful women, who seduced him right in front of the person that had given birth to his children. Eren proceeds to stand up, before beginning to speak.

“Ymir hated King Fritz more than anything. However, before she could figure out how to use the power of the titans properly and kill King Fritz, she was forced into being the mother of Fritz’ children.” Eren explains. He watches Ymir play with the children, pretending to be full of happiness, even though she’s burning with rage.

“And so, even though Ymir hated King Fritz more than she could ever understand, she loved her children.” Armin watches with wonder as the paths unfold in front of him, and he sees beautiful lime lights dancing in the dark blue sky. And in front of that sky is Ymir with a pail, pouring sand onto the hardened giants in front of him.

“…Loved her children?”

“Yeah. Ymir loves all of us. From her children, to her descendents. She’s been here, in the paths, for us. You see, Armin?” Eren turns around and looks into Armin’s eyes. “Ymir has always cared for us. She’s always been here for us.” Moonlight shines down upon Eren as he stares at Armin.

“And it was because we were born into this world.”

……

“But Eren, even if all of this is true, I still don’t understand why you had to start the rumbling! I mean, at the very least you could have just destroyed the world’s military, not trample on millions, no, billions of innocent people!” Armin yells. He stomps over to Eren and continues yelling at him. “The full scale of this can’t even be comprehended!”

Eren continues to look at Armin, before turning around and looking up at the sky.

“The full scale of it can’t be comprehended? Armin, by the time you and the others catch up to me, the rumbling will have killed 80% of the world’s population.” He says, coldly.

Armin stares at Eren, utterly terrified at what he had just heard. However, he quickly shakes his head, grits his teeth and raises his arm, slamming it as hard as he can against Eren’s face. Eren stumbles backwards, before falling down into the sand covering the ground.

“You bastard!” Armin shrieks. “If you had just told us about all of this-!”

“What the hell did you want me to do, Armin!? I waited for four years, but none of you could come up with a single solution that could actually save us other than the rumbling! This massacre is the only way to save Paradis! To save us Eldians!” Eren screams. He lifts himself back up and starts yelling once more while curling his fingers into a fist.

“I did this for you! For Historia! For Mikasa, Jean, Connie- all of you! I’m saving all of you! You just don’t understand, Armin!” Armin stares at Eren in disbelief, before he walks right up to Eren and begins yelling back.

“Even if you did this for us, Eren, you’re still committing genocide! You have no excuse for this!” He begins to pant, but still yells through his heavy breathing. “If you really did this for us, why did you let Hange die?! I can see it now too! You let Jean and Connie get turned into titans by Halucogenia! Why would you let that happen, Eren?! Tell me the truth!”

Eren looks at Armin, before he begins to chuckle. Armin’s eyes widen as he notices that Eren’s eyes are beginning to water. Eren begins to back away from Armin, eventually falling down into the sand. He starts to laugh as tears begin to stream out of his eyes. Armin looks at Eren with bewilderment as he continues to laugh. After a few minutes, when Eren has stopped laughing, he sniffles and opens his mouth once more.

“I…was disappointed.”

“Huh? Disappointed?” Armin asks. Eren looks up at Armin.

“I was disappointed with what was beyond the walls…” Eren looks up at Armin, remembering Ramzi. “I thought…that freedom was what lay outside the walls. A whole new world!” He slowly gets up as the sand around him shifts into the sea once more. “I wanted to see the world where I could finally unchain myself from those damn walls and experience everything I’ve always wanted! But…there was none of that.”

Armin could see it now too. Memories surrounded him. Memories of suffering. Children starving and dying. Men getting set on fire and burning alive. A young girl getting teared apart by dogs as a man laughs at her. A firing squad shooting down men as they scream and cry. A lady getting kidnapped and sold as a slave. A small boy getting tortured. He saw it all. The cruelty and horror of it was too much for him to even begin to describe.

“You see it now too, right Armin? There was no new world for us. No freedom at all. All that’s left…were chains.” Eren states. Armin looks over at him, his eyes are filled with pain. He gulps quickly, before beginning to speak again.

“Is this…is this what you’ve been seeing, Eren? These…things?” Eren chuckles again.

“I’ve seen everything, Armin. From the outcome of our battle to Paradis’ demise. That’s why I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I wanted to wipe it away. Not just for Paradis anymore. Not just for you guys.”

Armin stares at Eren, before he watches the ocean around him turn into the walls where they grew up. He looks down at his hands, which have shrunk. He then looks over at Eren, who’s now turned into a child. He looks around and sees that the area surrounding them is Shiganshina District. He gulps and looks back at Eren.

“Then who did you do this for, Eren?” He asks. Eren looks down at the river they’re sitting above.

“Armin, I did it for myself.”

Armin is shocked. He stares at Eren as despair hits his face for a quick moment, before anger returns once again.

“You- you did it for yourself!? You killed billions of people, just so you could “be free”?! God, I can’t even… Eren, you’re selfish! I hope you know that! You’re selfish!” Eren looks away from Armin, placing his hand on his face. He can feel tears coming closer and closer to his eyes once again, but he won’t let them out.

“Yeah, it was selfish…but I’ve finally achieved what I’ve always wanted…! Don’t you see, Armin!?” Eren stands up as Shiganshina district transforms into a gigantic cesspool of memories. Clouds float around the two as memories of everything Eren has seen slowly move around them, all of them shaped like shards of glass.

“The world I saw in your eyes…it was like you saw something I could never understand! You should get it more than anyone else, Armin! I wanted to see everything-! And I have! It’s all spread out in front of me!” His hand reaches out into the inky oasis of memories as it all separates to show him standing above everything in the form of a child.

“I’ve finally-!” Armin raises his hand and hits it against Eren’s face. His face curls with anger and disgust as he looks at what his friend has become. Eren looks at Armin with shock before scowling. “Why are you looking at me like that…?”

“You’re disgusting, Eren…was beating the shit out of me and telling Mikasa that she’s a slave done for yourself too? Was betraying us, working with Zeke and turning almost all of the military into titans all for you too?” Armin asks, his voice seething with anger and frustration. Eren looks down at the ground. He gulps and looks up at Armin.

“I did it…to distance myself from all of you…” Armin stares at Eren for a moment, before he laughs.

“To distance yourself from us?! Oh, so was getting Jean and Connie turned into titans done to distance yourself from us too?!” He reaches his arm out and grabs Eren by the collar of his shirt, before pulling him towards him. Eren jolts as Armin pulls him up, but makes no attempts to escape his grasp. Instead, he turns away, attempting to not look Armin in the eyes. Armin shakes Eren, before he yells again. “Answer me, Eren!”

Eren closes his eyes and lets out a weak whisper.

“No, I… I didn’t want it to happen-'' Armin sends his fist into Eren’s face, sending him flying into the ground. The memories around the two begin to disassemble and the ground turns into sand.

“You…didn’t want it…to happen?” Armin mumbles. He starts to walk back and he can feel something crunching beneath his feet. He looks down to see sand covering the ground. “Sand…” He crumbles onto the ground as he begins to laugh. “You didn’t…you didn’t want it to-” He mutters as he begins to laugh more and more. Eren stares at Armin, his eyes begin to shake and he reaches his arm forward for a moment, before he pulls it back.

“Armin..” He whispers. Armin begins to scream, which becomes even louder laughter.

“SO THAT WAS IT!’ He yells. “I GET IT! YOU KILLED MILLIONS, NO NO, BILLIONS OF PEOPLE JUST SO YOU COULD BE FREE! YOU TREATED MIKASA LIKE SHIT AND CALLED HER A SLAVE, SO YOU COULD DISTANCE YOURSELF FROM US, RIGHT?! HANGE, JEAN, CONNIE…ALL OF THEM DIED! BUT YOU DIDN'T WANT ALL OF THAT TO HAPPEN! RIGHT!? AM I WRONG, YOU BASTARD!?”

Eren looks at Armin while feeling chills coming down his back. He looks down towards the sand on the ground and gulps.

“Armin, I’m sorry…but I had no other choice.” He grits his teeth and looks up at Armin. “I had to do this. All of this was set in stone, from the very beginning. From the moment Bertholdt broke down the wall, to this final battle, I couldn’t change any of it. I had to go along with it.” He places his hand on his chest and tears begin welling up in his eyes.

“I’ve tried, Armin! I’ve tried so many times to change it all, but-!” Armin shakes his head.

“Stop with your justifications, Eren! First, you said you did this for yourself, then you said you didn’t want to do any of this and now you’re saying all of this was set to happen?! You’re a hypocrite, Eren! Accept it!” He screams. Eren stares at Armin, before burrowing his hand into his forehead.

“No- that’s not true…”

“It is. I don’t know which reason is the real one, or if any of them are real at all, but I do know one thing, Eren Yeager. You’re a monster. Hopefully, Mikasa will move on from you, and hopefully the world forgives the Eldians for what you’ve done.” He says, calmly. Eren looks up at Armin as a look of sadness is drawn over his face.

“Mikasa…”

“Oh, so now you care for her? What happened to that care when you started the rumbling?! Were you just going to wipe out humanity and come back to Paradise hoping Mikasa will love you?!” He yells. He stands over Eren, seething with anger. “Is that your plan?! To end up with the girl you called a slave!?” Armin says, mocking Eren. Eren keeps his gaze focused on Armin, but it takes everything he has to be able to look at him in the eyes.

“That’s not it, Armin… It’s just, I never loved her like that. She’s my family. I want her to move on, but…”

“But what?” Armin asks. Eren finally breaks his gaze away from Armin and once again looks at the sand.

“She…she can’t move on. Armin, what I said before was true. The Ackerman are slaves.” Armin’s eyes widen. “And… I’ve seen everything. Mikasa won’t move on. I’ve seen it too many times to count…”

“No…how do you know this?!” Armin yells.

“The founder. I’ve seen everything. And I know that the Ackerman is a bloodline of slaves. Once they awaken, they really do attach themselves to their hosts. Levi was a slave to Erwin. No…he still is. However, unlike Levi, Mikasa will never break free. I’ve seen it-” Armin slaps Eren in the face and pants heavily as Eren reels from the impact. Armin stares at him.

“What do you even know about Mikasa?! Shut your filthy mouth! Even if she is a slave, I know she’ll be able to move on! That’s what makes her different from you, Eren! She can move on!” He screams. Eren begins to get back up, but Armin kicks him back down.

“I’ve seen it all, Eren! I’ve seen how this battle will turn out! The memories are now all in my head! Levi will kill Zeke! The rumbling will stop! Mikasa will cut your head off, and this hell will finally end!” He howls, as he kicks Eren again and again.

He keeps on kicking him, and Eren doesn’t retaliate. He waits until Armin’s done, groaning with each kick knocking the wind out of him, until he eventually spits out blood. When that happens, Armin stops kicking Eren, and pants as he backs away.

“You’ll lose, Eren. We will stop you-”

“You can’t,” he pauses and groans as he attempts to stand up. Eventually he gets up and wipes the blood that he had coughed up off of his mouth. He looks up at Armin.

“You can’t see it like I do, Armin. That is the past. You haven’t seen our future, yet. I’m telling you right now, Armin.” He raises his arm and points at Armin. “All of you have a choice. Every single one of the people that are fighting me right now have the freedom to know about this choice.” Eren explains. Armin stares at him, confused as to what Eren’s saying.

“A choice…? What are you saying, Eren? What does this “choice” mean?” Armin asks. Eren sighs.

“If you make the right decision, Paradis will be safe at the expense of the rest of the world. We can end this circle of hatred and start from a new beginning.” He walks towards Armin, stomping on the sand. “But if you make the wrong decision, you’ll see the future that I see.”

“Future you see? What future do you see, Eren?!” Eren shakes his head.

“I’ve shown you how this battle should play out. But any of you can change that simply by just not doing what you need to do for the past to happen.”

“All of us!? You’re showing this to everyone else, too?!” Armin asks. Eren nods slowly.

“I’m going to erase all of the memories you guys got while you were here in the paths with me, other than knowing that you’ll need to make a choice. It’s going to be a key moment for each of you. You all have memories of the future, use it wisely.” Eren says. Armin gulps.

“...Memories of the future…?” Armin mutters to himself.

“As for Mikasa and Levi…” Armin’s eyes widen.

“You can’t influence Mikasa’s memories, right?! Same with Levi! They’re Ackerman-!”

“That doesn’t matter. Ackerman in the end are slaves to the founding titan in someway or another. I can use it to suppress their memories, not erase them.” Eren explains. Armin feels chills on his back as a horrified look appears on his face.

“Then…that means…”

“Yeah, there was no reason to persecute the Ackerman clan in the first place. The king of the walls made a mistake.” Eren explains as he walks up to Armin, before he places his hand on Armin’s shoulder.

“Listen, Armin. You’re my best friend. So can I ask for something?” He asks. Armin stares at him.

“...Ask for something?” Armin whispers. He looks up at Eren. “What..do you want?”

“I’m going to get rid of the titan curse. No matter what choice you make. But please, make the right one. Think about the island and everyone on it. For Historia, Mikasa and the rest of Paradis…” He leans in and hugs Armin.

Armin stops thinking for a second and his eyes point towards Eren. He sees tears welling up in Eren’s eyes, and he can feel himself at the verge of tears as well. He smiles and wraps his arms around Eren.

“Listen, Eren… I’ll never be able to forgive you for what I learned here and for what you’re doing… but you’re still the one person I can trust the most.” He closes his eyes. “I’ll never be able to truly understand why you did this… but I promise you, I’ll do my best to not let this mistake go to waste.” Eren’s eyes widen and a small smile appears on his face.

“Thanks, Armin… I’ll see you later…”

“...Yeah…”

……

Everything goes black for a moment, before Armin opens his eyes on the founding titan.

“THERE’S NO POSSIBLE WAY! WE JUST HAVE TO ACCEPT WHAT THIS MEANS!” Jean yells.

“...Huh?” Armin mumbles.

Wasn’t I just…?

He looks around for Eren, but sees no one there. Jean looks over at Armin and grits his teeth.

“ARMIN!!” Armin gasps and shakes his head.

“I KNOW!!!” He yells back.

Where was I just now, Eren? What did you tell me?

He looks up at Levi, Pieck, Connie and Mikasa and gulps.

“WE’RE BLOWING THIS PLACE APART IN ONE MINUTE FROM NOW! WORK WITH THE CART TITAN TO GET AWAY!” He screams upwards. Everyone looks at him with shock for a moment, before nodding and jumping away.

What choice do I have to make?!

……

Steam spread out throughout the world, covering the skies with it’s dreary gray vapor. The colossal titans were now nothing but rotting bones and extreme amounts of vapor coming from it, while the titans were disintegrating into skeletons and steam went up, towards the sky. The titans that had been destroying the world up until now, had become former shells of themselves. People watched with amazement and horror as the collosal bones came crashing down on the ground, running and pushing each other out of the way to escape.

The founding titan was nothing but a bunch of bones on the ground as the gigantic skeleton face hits the ground, shaking the Earth around it. The force that was felt when it hits the ground is what wakes Armin up. He slowly gets up, grabbing his arm and groaning. Everything hurts. He feels as if he had just fallen asleep, but had also been beaten numerous times over while he was sleeping. He places his hand on his head and sighs.

“Eren…” He mumbles. He looks around and sees smoke obstructing the bright blue sky. “...Smoke?”

“Armin.” Mikasa’s voice pierces through the air. Armin looks up to see Mikasa’s figure emerging from the smoke, cradling Eren’s head in her arms. Armin stares at Eren’s head, before looking down at the dirt. “Do you…remember what Eren told us?” She asks. Armin nods.

“Yeah, I do.” He scowls. Mikasa nods, before she kneels down in front of Armin.

“Are you okay?” She asks. Armin nods, before he lets out a sigh.

“Eren told us…that we have to make a choice. But everything still went the same as it had in the memories he had shown me…” He looks up at Mikasa. “So what choice did I have to make?” He stares at Eren’s head for a moment, before he turns around. It’s an attempt to keep his emotions inward, but it doesn’t work.

“I…I’m not sure what the right choice was. But when I see Eren like this, no matter how horrible the actions he committed were, I just can’t help but feel like we made the wrong decision.” He sniffles. Mikasa stares at him, before nodding her head.

“I think…I’m going to take Eren back to Paradis. I’ll give him a proper burial.” She says. Armin growls and looks back at her.

“A…proper burial? Mikasa, what’re you saying?! Didn’t you meet him in the paths?! Did he not tell you everything?!” Armin yells. Mikasa tilts her head downwards and nods.

“He told me that he did all of this to save Paradis. He had no choice, because everything was set in stone. All of this was going to happen no matter what he did. So in order to distance himself from us, he had to do things that would make us resent him.” She pats Eren’s head. “Like call me a slave.”

Armin’s eyes widen with shock and disgust. He stares at her, before shaking his head.

Eren…why didn’t you tell her what you told me…? Why did you lie to her? He thinks. Mikasa stands up and sighs.

“He told me I had a choice…and I’m sure that I made the right one.” Mikasa says. She turns around and begins to walk away. “Nothing you say will convince me to not give Eren what he deserves. Didn’t you hear him, Armin? He did this for us.” Armin grits his teeth and pushes himself off of the ground, before turning around to the opposite direction.

“Mikasa, just go. Nothing I say will change how you feel about that maniac.” He doesn’t look back and instead begins walking away, towards Fort Salta. “I’ll see you soon.”

Mikasa gasps, and for a moment stands there, watching her friend disapear into the smoke.

“Armin..” She whispers, before she turns around and begins heading away.

“Eren, don’t worry. I’ll find a boat or plane and we can head back to Paradis…” She slowly moves her hand across his head with a smile. “It’s the least I can do…after you had wrapped that scarf around me.”

……

Levi leans back against a lone rock in the hot stretch of land where he had just fought. He looked up, towards the bright blue sky. Smoke was coming from the titans’s corpses, and began to surround Levi, who groaned.

“You…you did it for yourself, Eren?” He remembers his first encounter with Eren, a little boy in a jail cell, with eyes full of hate and determination. He gulps. “So…that was it…” He raises his hand and looks up towards the sky with a sigh.

“If that brat is right…I’m free now, right Erwin? Or at least, I will soon.” He smiles as the ghosts of the survey corps surround him. “At least I finally,” He coughs and stops for a moment, before continuing. “...carried out your last order…I’m sorry that it took…so long.” He apologizes, as his soul begins to leave his body. He moves his left arm down and hits it against his chest one last time.

“I dedicate my heart…” A single teardrop drips down from his face as he closes his eyes.

“To…humanity…”

……

Reiner stares at Hallucigenia as its body begins to disintegrate into steam, which heads into the air. It screams and wriggles as it continues to attempt to crawl towards Eren’s head, before it eventually completely disappears.

The titans that were just attacking Reiner, Annie and Pieck disappear and disintegrate into nothing. Reiner grips his head as Annie lays on the ground along with Pieck. They look at the gigantic amount of bones surrounding them, before Pieck jumps up.

“Dad!” She screams. Annie’s eyes widen and she pushes herself up, before following Pieck. Reiner groans.

“Eren…what kind of…monster are you…to do this?” Reiner mumbles.

“Pieck! Stop!” She runs behind her and grips her shoulder. Tears fall out of Pieck’s eyes as she struggles to break out Annie’s grasp.

“Stop it, Annie! I’m trying to save my dad! I don’t know where he is… I need to find hi-!”

“Stop, Pieck. He’s dead.” Pieck’s eyes widen. She gasps, before falling to the ground.

“No… he can’t be… what did I do all of this for? What…” She looks back up at Annie. “How do you…know?” She asks, while wiping away her tears. Annie stares at her, attempting to keep herself from crying.

“Eren told me. He ended the titan curse. Every titan around the world…has disintegrated into steam and bones.” Pieck screams as tears continue to break out. Annie stands there for a moment, before falling to the ground and burrowing her head into her knees. “I… I didn’t even get to talk to him…”

Reiner slowly pulls himself up as he looks around at the bones on the ground.

“Jean…Connie…Gabi…” Moments with all three flash through his head as he begins to walk around in the titan graveyard. “Mom… where are you guys?” He asks. He looks around, and in the smoke, he sees a silhouette of his mom. He reaches out, only for no one to be there. His face contorts into an emotional mess as he begins to cry.

“Not again…” He hits his head against the ground. “Not again! Not again! NOT AGAIN!” He screams as he repeatedly bashes his head against the hard dirt. Eventually, he stops and lays down, staring at the sky.

“At least, tell me, Eren…” He sniffles and covers his eyes. “What choice did I have to make…?”

Falco stares at the titan’s corpses as he sits on the ground, before he eventually bends down and begins pounding his fists against it.

“Gabi! No..please! Please, Gabi! This-” He pulls his head up and screams once more. “GABI!”

As the Pieck and Annie begin to pick themselves up and look around the field of skeletons, holding onto the hope that their father’s are still alive, Reiner continues to lay on the ground. His arm covers his eyes, but he moves it when he hears footsteps. He looks over to his right to see Armin, who walks over to him and sits down right next to Reiner. He stares out at the field of bones and sighs.

“So he really did reverse the titan curse…” Armin mumbles to himself. Reiner looks over at Armin.

“Armin…what choice was Eren talking about? Do you know… if we made the right decision or not?” He asks. Armin continues to look at the smoke for a moment, before he sniffles and comes falling down to the ground.

“I don’t know…! I don’t know what Eren meant! Jean, and Connie…he turned them into titans! And he set Hange on fire! He murdered 80% of the population! And…I’m still doubting myself!” He cries out through his tears. “I really am pathetic, aren’t I?! I still have reservations about killing a man that’s already dead!”

Reiner watches him, before he places his hand on his head and groans. That’s when the sound of a gun is heard behind the two. Armin quickly turns around to see two armed soldiers pointing their guns towards him and Reiner. All across Fort Salta, the remaining Eldians have guns pointed at their heads with soldiers ready to shoot.

“You don’t need to shoot that…!” Armin tells the soldiers. “We won’t hurt you! We can’t! None of us can turn into titans anymore!” The soldiers shiver with fear, staring at Armin and the rest of the surviving Eldians.

“Don’t shoot!” Secretary Muller walks in from behind the two soldiers. He stares at Armin for a moment, before opening his mouth. “What’s your name?” He asks. Armin looks at Muller quickly, and then looks over at Reiner, who nods. Armin nods and looks back at Muller.

“My name is Armin Arlert. I am the man that killed the devil, Eren Yeager.” He states, as sweat rolls down his forehead. Muller continues to stare at Armin, and then looks over at the soldiers.

“Put your guns down, soldiers.” He looks Armin in the eyes. “Can you prove that you can’t turn into those things anymore?”

“Yes, all of us remaining Eldians can do blood tests. We promise not to retaliate in any way, shape or form.” Armin says. Muller nods.

“Alright, handcuff Arlert. The warriors are fine.” He looks over at Armin. “I trust you have no complaints?” He asks. Armin nods. Muller raises his hand. “Find any Eldians that are still here! Bring them with us! We’re going to do a blood test!” He yells. The soldiers nod in understanding and head out all around the fort.

An hour later, the Eldians sit inside of Fort Salta as Muller and the soldiers stick needles within their arms and take the blood from it. As Armin had just finished his test, a soldier burst through the door with Levi on his back.

“Secretary Muller, we found this man lying on a rock near here.” Armin looks over at the soldier and the corpse and his eyes widen.

“Captain…Levi…” Muller looks over at him.

“Arlert, do you…know this man?” He asks. Armin nods.

“That’s…my captain…” He says. Muller nods and walks over to the soldier.

“Is he alive?” He asks. The soldier shakes his head.

“He died a while ago.” Armin falls down, tears slowly piercing through his eyes.

“Damn…it…! Not you too, captain…!” He yells. The warriors look over at Armin with pity. Reiner pulls on his hair and groans.

“Not Levi…even him?! Even…” His mind flashes back to Levi attempting to kill him four years ago during the mission at Shiganshina. “Even someone that strong…” Annie looks over at Armin and gets up. She walks over to him and kneels down right next to him, before pulling him into her embrace. Pieck and Falco watch for a moment, before they turn away.

“Annie…I…I had to have failed! I didn’t make the right choice, I’m sure of it! I let Hange…Jean…Connie…Levi… All of them are gone!” He sobs. Annie sighs and presses her head against his.

“Armin, it’s okay…we’ll get through it, together.” She says.

……

The news came the next day. The Eldians couldn’t turn into titans anymore. Tests were done to see if this information was accurate, including injecting Armin Arlert with spinal fluid, but all of it failed.

The remaining survivors of the world were now left with the information that Eldians can’t turn into titans anymore. However, fear still remained.

The surviving leaders of the world held a meeting three weeks after the Rumbling had concluded. In that meeting, these leaders discussed Paradis. Is it a threat, or not? A vote was held on what must be done regarding Paradis, and despite Secretary Muller attempting to bring up the option of peace, the world had decided on one thing.

“Paradis is a threat. It must be exterminated.”

And so, two months after “The Battle Of Heaven And Earth”, the world had come together as the allied forces and brought their anger and hate upon the small Island where devils were raised.

Armed soldiers arrived and were ordered to kill every single one of the Island Devils. Horrible actions were taken by the soldiers, as women were used as sexual slaves before being killed, and men were shot down and set on fire. Houses were burned down and children were beaten.

The queen of Paradis, Historia Reiss, put up a valiant effort to keep the allied forces from massacring her people. But in the end, even she became a victim. She had escaped to a farm where the man that had been chosen by her to take care of her daughter lived. She wasn’t able to escape, though. Instead, the allied forces broke down her door, shot her child and beat the man. They then shot him in the crotch and let him bleed out until he died.

Historia was taken by the allied forces as a prisoner of war, to be executed. She was beaten every night by the guards put in charge of her, before she eventually had her head sliced off in a public execution.

She smiled right before her death and mumbled:

“Goodbye…Eren.”

Mikasa Ackerman perished during the attack on Paradis, next to Eren Yeager’s grave. She was asleep, leaning against a large tree on top of a hill in Shiganshina District. A soldier bombed the area, and then shot her upon finding her alive. The red scarf that she had been wearing that had been given to her years ago disappeared in the bombing. Pieces of it were found laying around in the area around the bombing.

In the end, a bit over a million people were counted to be dead in the attack. Most of the Eldians that had survived the rumbling were allowed to mix in with other races, but they must keep their armbands on. Some of the Paradisians were able to escape their fated demise, and have retreated to unknown locations.

In the end, the allied forces had succeeded. The “Island Devils” had been eradicated. Only a few remained, including Armin Arlert, who sat within a cell in the country of Indan, awaiting his fate.

……

Reiner sits alone in a room, holding a rifle in his hands. He stares at it for a moment, before he presses it against his head.

Bertholdt…Krista…Gabi…Connie…Jean… He closes his eyes as his finger goes to pull the trigger. Mom…I’ll be with all of you soon. But as he’s about to pull the trigger, an image of Falco appears in his head. He gasps and the gun falls from his hands, hitting the ground. He stares at it, before he places his hand on his head.

“No…I can’t do that to him…” He sighs. “I won’t do that to Falco…” He gets up, and changes his clothes, throwing the rifle away and into his closet.

……

The sun sets upon a small beach in Indan. And in that small beach, is a bench. A bench where Annie and Pieck sit together.

“So…I guess we saved everyone, but Paradis.” Pieck says, leaning back. “And we couldn’t even save our fathers, huh?” Annie nods.

“Yeah…my father was the only thing I really cared about… And now he’s gone.” She says, as her hand reaches out towards the sky. “I was so close too… but then that bastard…”

“But Annie, don’t you still have Armin?” Pieck asks. Annie looks at Pieck, before blushing.

“H-huh?! Wha-”

“Both of you obviously like each other, so you still have him. Go talk to him!” Pieck exclaims. She looks up towards the sky and sighs.

“Pieck…what will you do…?” Annie asks. Pieck looks back at her and smiles.

“I’m not really sure yet, but I’m sure I’ll find something, like you did.” Annie smiles back.

“Yeah.”

……

Falco stares at his ceiling, as memories of Gabi float around in his head.

“Gabi…” He puts his arm over his eyes. “What am I going to do now?!” He cries. At that moment, he hears a knock on the door. He continues to stay on the bed, until he hears the knock a second time. He groans and gets up, wiping away his tears as he proceeds to open the door.

Standing there, is Reiner. He raises his hand and smiles.

“Falco, do you want to go out?

……

“Eren…is this what you meant?” Armin whispers to himself, while lying down on his bed. “We made the wrong choice, didn’t we?” The newspaper with the headlines of Paradis’ destruction lay on the floor, with a picture of Historia waiting to be executed right beneath it.

“We saved all of them…but they still went after Paradis…” He mumbles. “This…was what you saw…right?”

“This massacre is the only way to save Paradis! To save us Eldians!”

“...You were right. That was it. That was the only solution we had left.” He slowly gets up. “And…I was wrong. But I can still never accept it…” He cries, sinking down to the cold, hard floor.

“I can’t accept genocide! I just…it’s still wrong! To crush so many lives! But there’s nothing left!” He yells. He pounds his fists against the ground as his tears wet the floor.

“...I’m so weak…so…damn weak….” His arms give out and he falls down, face first. He lays there, crying. “But, …I understand…” He looks up, and his eyes widen. For a moment, Eren is standing in front of him, with a look of shock on his face. Armin’s hand reaches up, towards him.

“...Eren…you’re the monster I could never be…”

Someone who can’t sacrifice anything, can’t ever change anything.

“And you may be in the wrong…”

That to defeat a monster,

“But you had no other option.”

You have to be willing,

“So, I’m sorry for asking this…”

To throw away your humanity.

“But please…don’t let my mistake…go to waste.”

……

Eren stands in front of Armin as the cell that surrounds him begins to disappear. In a few seconds, all that’s left is the tree of the paths. It spreads out before Eren as he sighs and falls to the ground.

“Damn it…Paradis…Historia…Mikasa…” He looks up as his face contorts with emotion. “No…I won’t…let it end like this.”

“But please…don’t let my mistake…go to waste.”

“Don’t worry, Armin… I won’t let it happen again…” He pulls himself back up and moves towards the tree. “I won’t let all of these deaths be in wane, this time…” Eren moves his hand towards the tree, and presses it against it. Electricity circles Eren’s body as he grits his teeth. “This time, I’ll finish what I started!”

A bolt of electricity strikes Eren and he closes his eyes.

……

“Where…am I?” Historia asks, as she looks around. “Wait…is this…?”

“Yeah, it’s the paths.” Historia’s eyes widen and she turns around to see Eren standing in front of her. Tears start to well up in her eyes as she smiles at him. “Eren…”

Eren stares at Historia, before he sits down on the sand, next to her.

“...I thought you were dead.” Historia says. “It was all over the news.” Eren sighs.

“I am. Not here, though. The moment that the titan curse ended, Ymir disappeared. And I’ve taken her place here. I’m omnipotent now. I exist all over time.” Eren explains. Historia looks at the path tree and sighs.

“So you’re basically a god now, hm?” Eren nods.

“Yeah, in a way.” He looks back at her with a frown. “But in any case, it seems like you’re going to die in a few minutes, aren’t you?” She nods.

“Yeah. I’m waiting for them to execute me right now.” She says. “They…they killed our baby…” Eren digs his hands into his face as he looks down at the sand.

“It… it’s my fault. I let them come and kill me… and I didn’t finish it.” Historia sighs.

“That’s fine, Eren. Not even you could go and kill all of those people.” Eren shakes his head.

“That wasn’t it. I don’t know why…it was just…I still can’t go through with it… because I know that if I do, I’d have to kill Armin and all of them too…” Historia looks at Eren and groans, before raising her hand and slapping him in the face. Eren falls down and looks up at Historia.

“Wha- what was that for?” Historia shakes her head.

“I knew you couldn’t do it! If you weren’t going to finish it this time, then why did you go out there anyways?!” She yells. Eren gulps and looks away. ‘Don’t you dare look away from me, Eren!” She grabs his hair and pulls him towards her. “Do you really want to keep doing this forever?! Either finish it, or just don’t do it!”

Eren’s eyes widen. He looks at Historia, before pushing her hand off of his hair.

“Yeah, you’re right. Next time, I’ll finish it. And I’ll secure our future.” He says, as he pulls himself up. Historia sighs, before smiling.

“Eren…” She leans in and hugs him. “Listen, I don’t care how it goes, but just remember…” She moves her face towards his ear and whispers to him. “I’ll always be there for you.”

Eren’s eyes widen, before he sighs and smiles.

“Yeah…I’ll see you later, Historia.” His arms press against her back, pressing even harder than before. Historia closes her eyes.

“Goodbye…Eren.”

……

Eren floated in his memories, as he watched them swarm around him.

He watches all of them, before noticing a specific memory stick out from all the rest.

His mother getting eaten by Dina. His eyes widen as he stares at it, before the shard slowly transforms into Historia being executed. Eren stares at it as he places his hand on his head. And then, he looks at the memory and grabs it. He grits his teeth and closes his eyes. Everything he’s ever seen or heard flashes around him.

“…but I do know one thing, Eren Yeager. You’re a monster.”

I don’t care.

But please…don’t let my mistake…go to waste.”

I won’t.

“I’ll always be there for you.”

And I will too.

“Usurper, Eren Yeager. Do you have any last words?”

Yeah…

I’ve done this….over and over again…and I never…finished the job,,,

But this time, I’ll do it differently….

I promise you….

Historia.

“I did this for you!”

I’ll save you…and our child…because this…is the story...

“Armin, I did it for myself.”

I…

“No, I…I didn’t want it to happen-”

Started…

“There is someone among you…”

For you…

“...who set the pigs free.”

2,000…

“Eren, what would you think…”

Years ago…

“...about me having a child?”

……

“EREN!!” She yelled out.

“Mm?”

‘Wake up. It’ll get dark if we don’t go home now.” She said.

“...Huh? Mikasa… Aww, when did your hair get so long…?”

“Were you really so sound asleep that you were still dreaming when you woke up?” She asked, while walking away.

“No…but I feel like I just had the longest dream…” She looked back, before seeing something on his face. “What was it? Now I can’t remember…”

“Eren?”

“Huh?”

He looked up, but for a split second she wasn’t in front of him. Instead, a tall man with long, black hair stood there.

“Wha-?”

But he still heard her voice. And at that moment, the man had a look of longing on his expressionless face.

“Why…are you crying?”

END OF ATTACK ON TITAN