- Year 867, Autumn, Hizuru - The day after the vigil
It had been a long night, and the sun was rising once more on the shores of Hizuru. The old friends talked and drank around the fire, on the beach:
"Do you guys want to see some magic?" Connie joked and threw the rest of his drink in the bonfire, which made it rise way up in the air like a crazy curtain of fire.
They were all at awe for a moment, staring at the risen flames. The group was very light-headed, they hadn't slept in two days, and none of them wanted to.
"Careful," Annie advised him, putting Connie's hands down, away from the fire. "Or you'll burn your hands. You can't regenerate."
"Well, neither can you," Connie replied and laughed.
"Sometimes I forget that," she commented.
"Sometimes I forget it too," Reiner confessed as well. They laughed.
"Well, you shouldn't." Pieck told the two. "Or you'll end up dead somewhere without even noticing."
Annie looked around the empty beach. "I'm glad this whole thing is over." She stretched herself in the sand. "It was very crowded."
"It was nice to see so many people show up in such short notice," Reiner commented.
"And with all those photographers, it will be good for the history books," Jean added, then drank a little more from his bottle and continued: "He is really gone. I can't believe it," Jean paused for a moment, reflective. "Imagine if that curse is still effective somehow, and there's a baby somewhere who has just been born with the Colossal's abilities," he wondered.
"I hope not," Reiner replied. "That would mean that whole curse-breaking was a waste."
"Who would've thought that out of all of us he would be the first one to go," Connie remarked, a little saddened.
"I'm sure we all had our bets on it back in training days," Jean joked, harmlessly.
"Come on! Eren was on top of that list. You joked about that more than anyone," Reiner reminded him, laughing.
"I don't really count Eren in anything anymore," Jean replied, annoyed.
"Really? Are you over him?" Reiner asked, jokingly.
"Please don't embarrass me in front of my wife," Jean pleaded, Pieck gave him a little smile.
"The sexual tension was strong," Reiner gossiped to her in a whisper, with his hand over his mouth.
"You are drunk, Reiner," Annie complained, rolling her eyes.
"And you are here," Reiner replied. He put his arm around her, affectionately, while holding his bottle with the other hand. "C'mon, you always act like you don't care about anything or anyone. And yet here you are. So don't tell me you didn't care about the little fella," Reiner told her. "And by that I mean Armin, not you know who," he added. Making a devilish hand sign they were all familiar with and often used to each other whenever they wanted to refer to Eren without saying his name.
"I admired him a little," Annie confessed. "I guess I can say that now, after all this time. One thing I learned all those years back is not to underestimate the intelligence of dippy pubescents." She joked. "He was smart, I'll give him that."
"It's been so long since those times," Jean choked a little while reminiscing. He turned to Connie and continued: "When I heard the news I froze. That feeling of shock, it was the same as the first time. It felt like we were on that rooftop again. I still feel so helpless."
Connie lowered his head and became reflective, they all stayed silent for a moment.
"Maybe we shouldn't talk about this," Annie advised. The last thing she wanted in that moment was to think about Bertholdt. She turned to Reiner, looking for affirmation, but he avoided her eyes and stared down at the sand, with much sadness.
"So," Pieck decided to change the topic. "Do you think it was Eren?" She asked the group carelessly while sipping her drink. Pieck was referring to the tragedy, and the speculations that it had actually been an attack rather than an accident.
"I would say I couldn't think Eren would ever stoop so low, but then I remember he already has," Connie pointed out with some irritation. He crossed his arms, thinking of the mass-murderer.
"If it is true Mikasa will come for his head," Reiner joked.
"I don't think so, this whole thing really broke her." Jean replied, he sighed. "I don't think she has the strength to fight back, even if she knew the assailant responsible," he added.
"I never thought I would live to see Mikasa Ackermann defeated," Reiner confessed.
"Man, imagine being married to someone for that long, and knowing them even longer, just to have them suddenly die, it sounds brutal," Jean explained further.
They all became reflective for a moment.
"I feel bad for the kids," Annie remarked.
"True, but they seem well-equipped to handle things, I think they will be alright," Pieck replied.
The old friends keep reminiscing about their lives and their lost friend. They watched the sunrise together.
-.-
Hizuru - Two days before, on the shores of Azumabito:
The group of friends set off to Hizuru as soon as they heard the tragic news. They went by boat of course; by plane it would be much faster but with all those rumours circling around, they all decided it wouldn't be a good idea. They travelled all night, and arrived in Hizuru in the early hours of the morning. It had been a very reflective and melancholic journey for them all.
Sonnenblume greeted them at the door. The poor girl's eyes were red and dry, she had cried all night on Kiyomi's shoulder. Levi hugged his young niece as soon as he saw her, he kissed her in the head as the twelve-year-old held him and cried in his arms. The good friends stayed in the house talking and reminiscing about the past and about the friend they had just lost. After much reminiscing they decided to get down to business.
"I'm sure your mother is not in the mood, and we don't blame her for it. But we have to discuss what kind of proceedings we should have," Kiyomi told the small girl.
"It's okay," Sunny dried her tears for a moment and composed herself. "My father-" She took a deep breath. "My father was a public figure so I understand there should be some sort of public vigil. But I would prefer to be something small and quiet," the girl said in a soft and very political tone.
"Do you want to wait a few days?" Pieck asked.
"I don't see the point," Sunny replied. "And I don't want this to drag on," she added.
"So how about tomorrow? It doesn't give much time for others to dislocate towards Azumabito, but you said you prefer a small affair, so it might be better to do it sooner-"
"Calm down, P," Jean softly warned his wife. "You are coming in too strong," he whispered to her ear. "She can handle it," Pieck whispered back.
Connie went in the direction of the corridor and looked around. "Is your brother with your mother?" he curiously inquired the girl while looking around towards the back of the house.
"I don't think so," the girl replied. "He might be upstairs too, but my mother wants to be left alone so I wouldn't think he is there, he's probably on his own too."
"That's understandable," Reiner commented in a soft tone, to appease the young girl, she seemed troubled and resentful.
"How is she doing?" Annie quietly asked Kiyomi while bringing her to the side.
"Like the girl said, she is a little unresponsive," the older Lady explained. Kiyomi sighed and continued: "I understand this must be extremely difficult for her. But I hope she comes out of that darkness eventually, if not for her, but for the children. They can't become parentless like that."
"-No, I don't wish for it to be recorded." Sunny was explaining to Pieck and the others she didn't want any film or tape recording of the event. "Photographs are more than enough," she continued: "even the mere memory of it is enough for me."
"We still need a place to hold the vigil," Kiyomi noted.
"It would be better to be somewhere near the house, I don't want my mother having to go very further away from it," the girl explained.
"What about the Hangar?" Connie suggested.
"No, that would be in bad taste," Pieck pointed out.
"The beach," the group heard a serene voice coming in from outside of the room.
They all turned to see Mikasa walking very quietly into their presence. "We will do it on the beach. He would like that very much," she disclosed in a very broken and shy manner.
The group of friends nodded, it seemed like a good idea. They all gave her sad half-smiles and motioned in closer, as if to come and greet her. Mikasa quietly raised her hand from under her shawl and made a small gesture for them to stop. She wasn't interested in being hugged or in making small talk.
"Just tell me the time and I'll be there." She told the group. Sunny looked at her, she was glad to see her mother had finally come downstairs, Sonnenblume hadn't seen her since they'd heard the news, the day before. Mikasa looked into her daughter's eyes and gave her a broken smile, the mother left the room and went back upstairs.
The young girl stayed there a while longer, Sunny was tired and was starting to get confused with all the things those adults were discussing among themselves.
"I'm sure you can organise eulogies and other proceedings on your own. I trust you all knew my father and respected him well enough," The twelve-year-old girl told the group.
"I told you she could handle it," Pieck whispered again in Jean's ear.
"Now excuse me," Sunny continued. "I need to go looking for my brother," she told them in a presidential tone and left their presence.
-.-
[Still] - Year 867 - Azumabito House - In the garden:
Falco and Gabi were older now, and more mature. But they weren't as involved with the proceedings so Gabi suggested they walk around the garden while the others talked. It was early evening and the colours of the sky were just magnificent! A mixture of pinks, oranges and blues. They stayed there, admiring it all from a small bench in the garden. The house was sited on a small hill so one could see the beach and the ocean down below.
Also very visible from that bench was the airstrip. Falco could see it in the distance, the place Armin had departed from for his last journey, just the day before. He stared at that runway very reflective. "It's odd isn't it?" he asked Gabi. "To think our life can end just like that. Just gone. Like smoke in the wind." he reflected on it.
Gabi sighed. "It is very sad. But life is just odd sometimes," she explained. "Anything can happen at any moment," she added.
The young man was a little shaken with the suddenness of death. He looked at Gabi's eyes and thought of how fragile life was and how it could all end like that, in a brisk of fate. Falco decided to finally go for it, he had been in love with her for far too long at that point. He leaned in for a kiss and she responded accordingly. The moment was quite special. His fears were gone and the only thing he could think of in that moment was that he should have done that far sooner.
The garden was gigantic and beautifully illuminated. And quite a few meters up from where the young couple was seated - having their special moment - up in the Balcony, two teenage siblings were having a life-changing discussion:
"Do you want to go out there?! To the middle of the ocean to look for him?!" Sunny shouted at her brother with much frustration. "We can't do that!" She exclaimed.
"I can." Az replied to his sister in a very dry manner. "And I can do more than that." he added.
Sunny looked at him confused. She had no idea what he meant by that.
"I won't just sit by and let things stay as they are." Azzy said defiantly.
"What do you mean by that?" his sister asked him very confused.
"I'm bringing him home," Azymondeus replied.
Sunny watched as her brother disappeared from her eyes. Azzy had jumped up to the roof to build up enough energy to go back in time, he was very determined: he was going to save his father.
As the boy ran across the rooftop a spark of light surged and quickly grew from inside him. And not just from him, that odd light surging occurred around the house.
..
"I'm sorry, but do you always glow like this?" Kiyomi asked the old captain, with a hint of humour but also a little unsettled.
Levi looked down to his chest while holding his cup of tea. He did feel a little burning but he wasn't expecting to see that. His body was in fact glowing and so were his eyes. He looked up at Kiyomi confused, he didn't have an answer for it.
..
"What the hell?" Jean exclaimed in the other room, very startled. He looked at his friends and pointed at the mirror. The former Warriors looked at themselves, also confused. Reiner, Annie and Pieck were all emitting a bright light. They looked around their arms and down the rest of their bodies, feeling extremely disoriented.
..
Falco could feel that burning coming from inside his chest, from within his very essence. He opened his eyes midway through the kiss, they emitted a very bright yellow light. He held his chest as his entire body glowed in the same manner.
..
Mikasa was laying on her bed, in complete darkness as she felt that burning too. She quickly rose up with her eyes burning very bright and her head aching very painfully. The mother made her way across the room and towards the window. "No!" She said very quietly, Mikasa couldn't find the strength in her voice. 'Please don't go!' She thought in her mind as she watched the boy jumping from the rooftop. Az was burning very bright.
She looked up the sky as that bright light blinded the whole house and surrounding areas. Mikasa looked up to the lonely moon and wept in silence. Her baby boy was gone.
The odd energy outburst messed around with the electrical circuits of the Azumabito house as well. The intensity of the bright light was confusing to everyone in that household and it went as fast as it came, the moment was quickly over.
..
"Well, figures," Levi said while shrugging and went back to drink his tea.
..
"Did you guys see that?" Connie came shouting from another room with a bunch of cookies in his hand. He was in awe with all that light. "Something must've gone wrong with the generator!" He said with his mouth full.
"Yeah, the generator," Jean replied, side-eyeing their other friends. "Weird," he added.
..
Gabi was over the moon. Rejoicing at that much awaited moment as she slowly pulled away from the kiss and smiled.
"That was… odd." Falco said, worriedly holding his own chest after the freakish moment had interrupted their first ever kiss.
"Odd?!" Gabi asked, feeling a little offended. She hadn't noticed the light show and got the wrong impression. She crossed her arms disapprovingly and Falco scratched his head, he was feeling very confused.
- Year 867 - Paradise Island - Mitras - in the Royal Palace
"You are still awake." Historia noted with a broken voice. She could tell, even if she was turned to the other side of the bed.
"I can't seem to close my eyes," Eren complained. He was firmly staring out of the window, at the stars in the night sky. He rose himself up and stayed seated on the bed for some time, very reflective of everything. Eren looked up the window, to the stars again and decided to go out the balcony.
"It's freezing out here," Historia remarked as she walked out the balcony as well. She had followed him as she was worried about his grieving state.
"He's really gone," Eren said in a quiet voice.
"I know he meant a great deal to you," Historia replied.
She came in closer and held him. Eren finally let himself cry, holding Historia very tightly. She didn't say a word, just stayed there very solemnly as Eren cried quietly on her shoulder. The broken man slowly descended and kneeled himself, holding her and crying over her lower chest. Historia kissed his forehead and caressed his hair, she held him tenderly letting him cry.
Back in Hizuru:
"You know, I'm not your butler," Levi complained while persistently knocking on the door, he knocked in not the most gentle way. "I have food here for you and letters from loved ones. You know there are a lot of people starving in the world outside, you are doing them a disservice." He continued to jabber while knocking but there was no reply, only silence. "I'm sure Armin would love to see you defeated like this," he added, sarcastically. And yet he still had no answer from the other side. "I could kick this door down pretty easily if I wanted to," he threatened but he still got no answer. "Fine!" He finally gave up and left the tray there, walking away, down the corridor.
Mikasa waited for him to go, she then quickly opened the door and looked around the tray, she took only the letters and closed herself in the room again. She carelessly threw most of them at her table until she found the one she perhaps was expecting to find. It was fancy and embroidered, coming from the Royal Palace. She sat near the fire to read it.
"I know I am the last person you want to hear from now. And I don't blame you for it. I always loved you both more than I should have and more than is reasonable. I hope you haven't forgotten that. Even if we were apart I always wished him well, and I hoped you two would be happy wherever you were, in spite of everything. I find myself crying to the point I can't even draw breath, I never thought I would feel this amount of pain since our mother was gone. I had to write down these words so I could sleep. I need to be sure to tell you that I would never do anything to harm him. And I need to know that you believe me-" Mikasa stopped reading her brother's words. She threw Eren's letter in the fire and watched it burn away.
.
- Year 867 - Somewhere in the middle of the Ocean:
The boy was getting tired and extremely frustrated. He kept jumping around in the middle of the air but he could never get close enough. He could never find the right moment. Time kept pushing him away, telling him he was not welcome there. He was drowning, completely submerged under all that salt water and that made him glitch more and more. Azzy had water on his lungs and all over his body and every time he tried to jump again he would just get further away.
He could see the explosion in the distance, but he could never get further and before. His frustration was immense and he started to lose notion and consciousness.
"How did you get here?" he heard his father's voice asking him. The boy startled, for a moment he saw himself on the backseat, inside the airplane. But it could all have been an illusion at that point.
He was in the middle of the air again and, again, he could see the explosion, now from a much closer range. The boy had lost patience and his heart was too broken to keep trying. He had lost count of the amount of times he had jumped.
Azzy was falling fast into the ocean, so he jumped out of the way once again, further into the sky. He was feeling sick and out of balance, physically and mentally sick. He was angry. He hovered for a split second, watching those calm waters in that vast ocean. Azzy cried and yanked away the golden watch from his pocket, he threw it away in exasperation. He threw the watch into the ocean and jumped out of the way, one last time, before he could hit the cold waters.
.
- Year 870 - Paradise Island - in the Lighthouse
Azzy woke up on the shores of his old home. "Why am I here?" he whispered to himself as he slowly raised his head to realise where he was. The old house looked abandoned and haunted. He was completely alone in an area of Paradise that no one ever went near, the Lighthouse was a fort in the middle of nowhere. Az was still feeling very dizzy and weak. The boy didn't want to move, he coughed a few times as his lungs were still filled with salt water. He then rested his head on the sand again and closed his eyes, feeling tired and frustrated, very angry with Time and with his own limitations. The boy fell into a slumber, to recover the absurd amount of energy he had lost in his failed rescue attempt.
.
≃2000 years ago
[Five Years after the first appearance of The Titan]
"What's this?" Ymir curiously asked Az while holding a small notebook she had found around his things.
They were laying under the starry sky, near the riverbed they were used to going to. It was a cold night but they had each other and their campfire to keep them warm.
"It's just a small book that I write things on," the young man explained.
"What kind of things?" She asked, still curious about it.
"Just some notes sometimes, about important things," he replied very vaguely while scratching his head.
Ymir smiled. "You have a diary! That is so sweet!" she exclaimed, smiling even wider while going through the pages.
"It's not a diary." Azzy complained, gently whisking it from her hands.
"Sure." She replied with a small laugh. "Do you write about me?" Ymir asked with tease, but genuinely curious about it.
"Did you ever eat someone?" Azzy asked, quickly raising himself and also quickly changing the subject. He swiftly put the small notebook back under his things while Ymir was stunned by his question. "What?" she asked back, confused.
"You know... In one of those 'rituals', or maybe just casually at lunch, I don't really know how it works honestly," he joked about that ancient culture's tradition.
"You are hilarious," she said sarcastically. "Of course they're not just a regular occurrence. Those are rituals and only warriors can participate in them." Ymir explained.
"And you are not a part of it?" Azzy asked, confused.
"Why would I be? I'm not a warrior. I never have been, I've never even killed anyone while in human form," she pointed out.
"Right," he nodded, then realised: "Wait. Does that mean I have to participate?"
"Welcome to the Eldian Empire," she said to him again with an evil smile. Azzy looked at her with much disgust. "Hey, you are the one who said you would do anything for me," she reminded him and gave him a small kiss on the lips.
"Yeah, but that's just... a bit too far," he complained.
"I'm sure you'll find a way around it, if it bothers you too much," Ymir pointed out. "But you have to be careful or the other soldiers will say you're a coward," she added.
"Eldians are so weird!" he complained once more, embracing himself and his knees.
"We are eldians," she reminded him.
"Technically yes," Azzy replied. "But not really," he added. Ymir looked at him unconvinced. "I mean, it's been far too long to consider," he tried to explain.
"You just don't want to be counted as a cannibal," she argued.
"I rather not think about it," he replied. Azzy reflected for a moment longer then shook his head disapprovingly.
"What?" Ymir asked with a smile, teasing him again.
Azzy continued to shake his head. "You are becoming too close to these odd people. Be careful or you'll find yourself too attached to them."
"Hey, I'm just looking out for my future, you should do the same really," Ymir advised him.
"Well, you shouldn't put too much work on it. I mean, you should only look after Torin, he is more likely who you descend from," Az pointed out.
"I hope not! He is ghastly and he hates me!" Ymir disclosed her complaints.
"He hates everyone," Az reminded her.
"Besides, Fritz has seventeen children, so we never know…" Ymir pointed out.
"I thought he only had nine," Az interjected.
"Legitimate." Ymir explained. "Need I remind you that my mother wasn't a legitimate child? And what's worse! The oldie might not be done having children! We need to make sure he is protected, make sure that all of them are! The last thing I need is to be erased from existence out of my own negligence."
"Good point." Az concurred. He wondered about it all for a moment and decided to bring out a question he had been reluctant to ask, but constantly meandered through his mind. "You would tell me right? If... If they ever tried anything on you?"
"They would never. They are all too scared!" Ymir laughed. "They think I'm cursed and evil and not human!" she explained with her claws extended in a threatening way, but Ymir looked more like a small cat than a proper witch. "They think I might poison them or destroy them with my magical powers," she added with some dramatisation.
Azzy laughed, but pointed out: "You do have some sort of magical powers."
"You are the one to say. Imagine what they would do if they ever found out what you really are," Ymir tossed back at him.
"Really? And what am I?" He asked her very charmingly, leaning in for a kiss.
Ymir pressed both his cheeks with her hands and looked at him with a pout. "I'll tell you. You are a little boy trapped inside a grown man's body who thinks we are still playing hide-and-seek."
"Hide-and-seek?" Az interjected. "I thought we were just running."
"And isn't that the same thing?" Ymir replied, leaning in to meet his lips. They kissed.
Az pulled away with a slightly confused expression in his face. "Then why marry the old booby?" he questioned her. "I mean I don't get the point. How did that even happen?"
Ymir smiled that evil smile again. "He was very pleased with the success of the Titan. After all that conquering he told me he would give me anything I wanted. So I told him I wanted the throne." She explained in a cold tone.
"Okay, but is it really worth it though? What if the oldie decides he wants his rights?" Az asked further.
She rolled her eyes. "Even if he got past the 'cursed witch' thing, I don't think he would climb all the stairs of my tower," Ymir pointed out. "He would probably die of exhaustion if he tried! Which wouldn't be too bad," she laughed about it.
Ymir lived in the new castle's tower so she could be safeguarded while in human form. That seemed to be the main reasoning behind it, but it also made it crystal clear that she was their prisoner. If only she could see it, but Ymir never realised that. "And besides, he has more than enough concubines to spend his time." she concluded.
"I don't know. I think you are too confident about all this, I'm just saying you need to be careful," Azzy replied with a small hint of jealousy.
"I'm all yours, sweetie. And that's all that I will ever be," she told him smiling and gave him a long, wet kiss.
Azzy smiled. "I've got you something," he said, reminding himself of a trick he had just learned. He presented her with a mesmerising red rose that slowly materialised on his hand, coming to form in a mist of blue sparkles. "It's for you," he said in a charming way, giving her the rose.
"How did you do that? Where did it even come from?" Ymir asked, confused, and looking around the dark forest for a clue. She slowly reached for the flower, a little scared of the trick but also curious to inspect the small sudden gift.
"I saw it in a garden earlier today. Isn't it beautiful? It made me think of you-" Az tried to explain in a romantic way before being interrupted.
"But how did you make it appear like that?" She asked again, spellbound.
"It's just something new I've been trying," he replied casually.
"It's fascinating!" She said with excitement, staring at the red rose. "You are fascinating, baby," she told him and awarded him with another warm kiss on the cold night. "I will hold this forever," Ymir promised, with the rose near her heart. They embraced each other and laid together, under the moonlight.
.
- Year 870 - Paradise Island - in the Lighthouse
"Why am I here?" Azzy asks himself as he walks around his first home. The lighthouse that was once magnificent now looks old and abandoned, haunted even. The boy walked around the corridors looking for his old room. His toys were still there, in the same way they were left. Azzy passed his hands on the shelves and took the children's book he was named after. He held it with a smile on his face, his mother used to read it to him, and he had vague but fond memories of that.
The boy started to realise something as he went through the illustrated pages. Az decided to go to their family's library, for some extra research. He had a bad feeling on the back of the head, it was more of a subconscious fear, but it was slowly growing and emerging up his clear consciousness.
After finding the Lighthouse's library to be a bit limited, Azzy decided to visit an old, familiar place, where he knew he could find more answers. He jumped straight to the Royal Library. He had fond memories of that place as well. But, of course, they were memories from another time, in a completely different world. He used to hide there and immerse himself in those books.
- Year 870 - Mitras - in the Royal Library
Azzy wandered around the giant halls of that empty library and even wondered if his good ol' friend Patrick was ever even born in this time. He started to wonder about Time itself and how dangerous could be to mess with it. Azzy starts to get nervous again as he scrolls around some history books. So, he decides to slow down. He decides to take a moment, like his sister once suggested. 'Go see the sun for once!' He reminded himself of that conversation, it felt like so long ago to him.
He walked around the library, in the direction of the open area. It was an indoor garden, illuminated by a giant glass dome. That marked the center of the magnificent structure. Getting closer to the garden, Azzy realised what or who was at the very center of it. "I miss you," he thought with a broken smile. Az walked closer to the lost princess' statue. She looked so sweet and graceful. "I really do. I wish I could see you right now," he thought out loud. The boy stared at that statue feeling like a completely lost soul.
He stayed there, completely still and dazed, with no notion of his surroundings. Azzy suddenly felt a cold metal object pressing against the back of his skull. He startled, finally coming back to his senses.
"How dare you come here?" The prince asked, defiantly. Ezra had his finger on the trigger, ready to fire. Az quickly moved away and turned to face him. "That's a fancy gun you got there!" He joked.
"Thanks," Ezra replied sarcastically, still pointing the weapon at him. "I got it for my birthday."
"You still look the same as when we were kids," Azzy pointed out, smiling. He still had his hands raised because of the gun.
Ezra laughed out loud. "I look the same?! I'm sixteen. You are the one here looking much scrawnier than you should. Aren't you supposed to be at least a couple of years older than me? Did you forget to grow up?" The prince teased him.
"Wait. Did you say you are sixteen?! That's impossible. I'm fifteen," Azzy said, confused. "This is 867," he added.
"Are you drunk?" Ezra asked while putting his gun down. "We are in 870." he said with certainty.
"That-" Azzy stopped himself with eyes open wide. "T-That can't be!" he stuttered while covering his face with both hands. "I can't believe I did this again!" he let it out in desperation. Azzy thought he must've had locked himself out of his own time once again, like he had done before. "Why do I keep screwing this up?!" He asked looking up to the skies then angrily kicked some grass and some flowers near him.
That made Ezra extremely confused. "First of all. Stop kicking my mother's flowers. Second: don't come to me with all that time travelling crap because I don't believe in any of it." The eldian prince said very firmly.
"You don't?" Azzy asked with a smirk then quickly space-jumped, reappearing behind the prince.
Ezra startled, but quickly pointed his custom made gun again at his target. Right on Azzy's head. The boy closed his eyes in fear, but slightly opened the right one after a couple of seconds, to take a peek. "Is your gun shaking?" Azzy asked, looking confused. But also injecting a bit of humour in the dark situation.
Ezra couldn't pull the trigger. He was bad-tempered at times, yes, but he wasn't a killer. It wasn't in his nature. The young prince had a good soul.
"Are you going to kill me or not?" Az asked sincerely, but his tone still sounded slightly like a tease. "Come on, you should be the one to do it."
Ezra looked very determined. He pulled the trigger, or he tried to. The eldian prince ended up slicing his palm open instead.
'Wow.' Azzy thought to himself, but didn't say a word. He just stared as the prince composed himself, placing a small white cloth around his right hand and changing his gun to the left. Again, he aimed at the intruder.
"All done? Good. Now we can go back to you shooting me. You need to go for the head," Azzy advised. "It's probably for the best," he added, closing his eyes, waiting for the blow.
"What? Now it just feels like you are playing with me," the prince replied, putting the weapon down once more.
Azzy opened his eyes again, he sighed and decided to explain: "If I'm supposed to die for what I've done, I think you should be the one to do it. Out of anyone in this time, you were the one who suffered the most."
"Even more than my parents? More than my mother who gave birth to us?" Ezra questioned.
"What I'm saying is that they are adults, and can handle things better," Azzy replied.
"So I am a child?" The prince retaliated, raising the gun once more.
Az decided to sit down on the grass. "You were. And I know you two were close, inseparable! I destroyed all that." he let it out.
Ezra put his gun back in the holster, finally. He sighed and sat next to Az. "Why do you want to die? Why now? After all these years?" he asked.
"I need to know if I can." Az replied.
"And you can't do it yourself?" Ezra asked back.
"I'm too much of a coward for that." Az explained his broken reasoning.
"It's much easier to take the coward's way out than living with pain and guilt, isn't it?" Ezra got rattled again. "But that wouldn't be the right thing. It wouldn't be fair," he pondered for a moment. "An eye for an eye. The right thing would be for me to kill Sonnen and you having to live with it. Then you would feel what I feel." He said in a strong and threatening way, but with slight humour.
"What makes you think I killed your sister?" Azzy asked.
"Because I know you did. I know she's dead. I can feel it, I would know if she was still alive." Ezra explained. He held his own heart for a moment.
"You guys are so weird," Azzy complained. "I'm glad I'm not a twin, honestly. Anyways, she is not dead. Well, she is now, but she lived her life… Just… not here, she lived her life in a different place," Az fumbled trying to explain.
"I don't understand." Ezra replied.
"I know, it's difficult to explain… But it's not my fault… At least… I don't think it is," Az danced around his words.
"You don't? Really? So what are you doing here?" The prince inquired.
Azzy thought for a moment. "Maybe I'm looking for answers, I'm not sure… Maybe I just needed to talk to a friend."
"Who is the weirdo now?" Ezra laughed evilly. "We are not friends." He told Az, firmly.
"What if you were in my place? If you really wanted your father back, and you had tried multiple times to save him, and failed every single one. What would you do? Would you keep trying? Would you give up?" Az asked, genuinely looking for advice.
"Is that what you've been doing for the past three years? Since you disappeared? Going back to that day over and over again?" The prince asked, flabbergasted. Az nodded, Ezra felt bad for him.
"To be fair it hasn't been that long for me. At least I don't think it has. I just got lost in it, I think." Azzy tried to explain, sounding very uncertain.
"I really don't understand how these powers of yours work. It's all very odd." Ezra replied.
"I don't understand them either," Azzy added. "I'm just not sure how long has it been, sometimes I get very confused."
"Well, you shouldn't mess with time like that. It clearly went to your head." Ezra lectured and continued more softly: "But I think I understand, it must be difficult losing your father like that, I don't know what I would do in your place."
"Would you try to save her?" Azzy asked with a broken voice, about Ymir, the sister the prince had lost.
"Well, I don't really know," Ezra sighed. "My whole life I believed she died that day, and I hated you for it. I devoted most of my energy to that: to blaming you and hating you. Now you are telling me she lived a full life, just away from us. Away from our family. I'm not really sure how I feel. The sceptic in me thinks you are definitely lying, that you are trying to trick me. But the hopeful in me wants to believe that it is all true. That my sister lived a happy life, just somewhere else. It makes me feel good, even if it's just a devilish lie. A devilish lie from the devil himself." He looked straight at Azzy.
"I am not lying. She lived her life, just not here." Azzy explained.
"Am I right to say she was happy?" Ezra asked, very hopeful.
"Well you should ask her that… not me…" Azzy replied, nervously.
"I can't." Ezra stated.
"The only thing I can tell you is that she lived on her own accord and died on her own accord. That I know for sure." Azzy told him.
"How can you know that?" Ezra inquired.
"Like you said, what I can do… is a very weird thing. It's all here for some reason." Azzy said, pointing at his head. "I don't really know where all this information comes from, but I have it, I just have it. It's a freaky thing."
"I guess we are all weirdos… all of us." Ezra laughed.
"Yeah, even Sonnen as it turns out, even little miss blume." Azzy said of his sister, jokingly.
"Oh, is she?" Ezra was curious to know more about it and what Az meant by that.
"Sunny!" Azzy jumped in realisation and excitement!
"Yeah you said it." Ezra became confused.
Unfortunately, Azzy didn't form any more sentences, he just left. Before Ezra could finish any thought Azzy jumped away. In a blink of an eye, he was just completely gone.
Ezra stood up and looked around the garden, bewildered. "What just happened?" He asked to himself.
He still looked around the small garden for a while longer, very confused. Once the prince was sure he was completely alone, he decided to check his wound. The young prince removed the white, blood soaked cloth from his hand to examine it. He looked around, checking his surroundings once more. He was alone, so he decided to take care of the small wound. Ezra watched as his fresh wound slowly burned in regeneration, releasing its signature titan steam.
- Year 854 - Tybur Castle - In the relics room
"It is quite a distant relation," Willy noted somewhat condescendingly. "But you are still fit to have your place in our family's book." He told his distant kin, but Armin wasn't paying much attention to his host, he was more interested in the old relics displayed in the room they were in.
"I don't really mind," Armin replied while checking around a pompous glass box with a tiny book inside.
"Are you saying you don't deem it necessary?" Willy asked again, while leaning over the giant family book, he didn't want to mark it for no reason so he took Armin's distraction as fortune and decided to move on.
"What's this one? It looks interesting," Armin asked his distant cousin about the small book in the glass box. They were both in the old relics room - in Tybur Castle - since it was the place where the Tybur Family kept their Book. Armin had never been to a proper museum before and so he was fascinated by every little thing in that room. He had been fascinated by every little knowledge piece he'd encountered since he'd arrived in Marley, actually.
"That is just an old, very ancient book in fact. It is full of inscriptions that no one seems to have been able to decipher over the centuries. It's just a family relic at this point," Willy commented with some disdain. "But it does look good in a glass box," he added. The nobleman looked back at his guest again, checking his manner once more. "You seem to have relics of your own," Willy noted, pointing at the golden chain coming out of Armin's jacket.
"Oh. Yes, this is actually the only thing I have," Armin explained while removing the watch from his inside pocket. "The only thing from that time, I mean."
Willy took the small thing to examine. "It's quite a piece," he commented while holding the watch and extending its chain. He looked closer to the fascinating mechanism again. "I've seen this before," Willy realised.
"How is that possible? This watch has been inside the Walls for a hundred years." Armin replied, unconvinced.
"Follow me." Willy invited him outside that old relics room and into the corridors again, and Armin motioned to do so. But before he could leave the room, he turned back again and looked at that small and ancient book underneath that glass box. Armin's curious soul was very interested and tempted with the mystery.
Willy had stopped in one of the large corridors, in front of a very nice painting encased in a very bulky golden frame. The painting was of a pleasant looking man carrying a small baby in his arms. And in one of his hands, he also carried a golden pocket watch, with the signature Tybur seashell carefully engraved on the small piece.
It was evident to be the same watch as the painting seemed very precise. Armin stared at the work of art with appreciation. It is not every day one sees such a realistic and carefully made portrait.
"Who is the little girl?" he asked, about the baby in the man's arms.
"The little girl is a little boy," Willy explained. "He is the one who got lost, with his mother in those forsaken walls," the nobleman added and continued in his condescending tone: "I truly feel for you. And I'm surprised they kept the watch-"
Willy stopped himself, he noticed Armin was smiling while observing the small inscription at the bottom of the frame. It said: "Ode, you are my poetry." And Armin repeated the words out loud in a soft tone.
"Yes that is quite sweet, I suppose," Willy commented carelessly.
"Ode was my father's name as well," Armin explained with a smile.
"That makes sense, that's usually how we do things," Willy told him and continued: "It's like seeing a ghost isn't it? Imagine living in a castle with hundreds of paintings like those, it's like the stare right into your soul."
"Do you know what happened to them?" Armin asked.
"You tell me." Willy replied. "There's not much we know about the war, especially what happened within the Walls."
Armin looked at the watch very reflectively. "If he was your family's Titan at the time, then what happened to it?" he bluntly asked.
"Who told you he was my family's Titan? Let alone that this family is related to that tradition?" Willy retaliated defensively.
Armin ignored the small fit Willy was throwing and continued with his deduction: "Clearly there was ever only one Titan within the Walls, the Founding Titan. So if he died there, how was it passed down?"
Willy sighed. He was annoyed but he decided to play: "It could have been reborn in a random eldian child like the curse suggests or it could have been lost for good. We don't really know what kind of deal he made with the 145th King. The important thing is: our Titan was lost to us." The nobleman explained with much decorum, but Armin didn't bite, he knew the man was lying. William Tybur lied in a very similar way as he did, Armin could recognise his own cheating eyes staring back at him.
"But again: How did you even know about my family's Titan history?" Willy insisted with the question.
"It's my family too," Armin vaguely replied, he didn't want to explain where his knowledge of any of that came from, so he didn't move forward with it. He just turned to look at the painting again as he now knew exactly who was in it. He looked at the baby again and Willy was right, it was like Ode's ghost was staring back at him.
"I never actually met him. He had already passed by the time I was born, but my father used to talk about him all the time! How strong and determined he was," Armin commented with a smile. 'How he believed he would fly away from the Walls one day.' Armin thought only to himself and continued: "He was sure he would find a way out of those Walls. At least, that is what my father used to tell me."
"That cursed island truly must feel like a prison. Even more so for the generation who wasn't born in it." Willy commented.
Armin stared at that baby again, contemplative. "He didn't get out, like he dreamed he would. And neither did my grandfather, or my father-"
"But you did," Willy interjected. "And you were right on time, that island won't hold for much longer."
"What do you mean by that?" Armin heavily asked. William's tone made him instantly drop his customary charismatic act.
Willy smiled a wide smile and put his hand on Armin's shoulder, affectionately but with a hint of scorn. "I like you," he said with that wide smile while Armin stared with heavy eyes at Willy's hand resting on his shoulder. "And you are provincial, but you're still blood. So I'll give you this advice: Stay here in Marley. Take your family, if you have one, and stay in the continent. It's probably best for you," he told the distant cousin in a threatening and quite phoney way, but still sounding somewhat concerned for Armin's wellbeing.
William Tybur stood there solemnly and waited for an equal response.
Tybur Castle - In the drawing room
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Lady Tybur asked. She had entered the room and noticed Mikasa staring out of the window, into the lake, beyond the garden outside.
"It's a very nice view," Mikasa responded with a half smile. She was contemplative and a little saddened.
"I apologise for the intrusion, but you seem troubled. Is anything the matter?" Lara asked.
"Not specially." Mikasa earnestly replied. "But this place, there's something eerie about it," she added.
"It's an old castle. There are bound to be ghosts around," her host joked and continued: "My family has lived near this lake for hundreds of years," she tried to make conversation but noticed Mikasa was too focused on the lake outside. "I never thought I would see a real Ackermann in my lifetime," Lara commented and that got her guest's attention.
"We are not some sort of exotic species," Mikasa replied. "And how would you even know I'm an Ackermann anyway?" she asked.
"We know more than you think. We've heard a lot about the pair who keeps destroying our ships and killing or capturing most of our crews," Ms. Tybur explained. "You and your brother have done quite a lot of damage with your bare hands."
"He is not my br-" Mikasa interjected but stopped herself. "It doesn't matter."
Ms. Tybur came in closer, "I know why you and your friend came to us. My brother might play the fool but I won't-" she said in a soft yet threatening tone. "If Eren Yeager was in our possession he would be long gone by now. Believe me. And the Founder would have been restored to its rightful place."
"And with whom would that be?" Mikasa asked softly and yet defiantly.
"Never you mind. Your allegiance will be passed down to the rightful holder as well. Isn't that what you are worried about?" Lara bluntly replied. "Are there many of your kind left?" she also bluntly asked.
"Of my family you mean," Mikasa politely corrected her.
"It's fascinating. I am sure Marlean scientists would love to have their hands on one of you. Who knows? Maybe you are the key for what's needed." Ms. Tybur remarked.
"The key?" Mikasa asked, confused. But they were interrupted by the gentlemen coming into the room.
"I'm afraid our guests are leaving us," William told his sister as they walked into the room. Mikasa looked at Armin's eyes and she knew: Eren wasn't with them.
"How unfortunate. Why so soon?" Lara commented.
"I'm sure you have a lot to see now that you are here in the continent," Willy told the pair.
"Yes, we sure do," Armin confirmed as they motioned to leave.
"You can come by any time, of course. This is your house as much as it is mine," Willy said with open arms, but yet again Armin could see those sardonic eyes staring back at him.
"Thank you," Armin replied and Mikasa slightly bowed. And so they left the Castle.
As they walked away from the giant construction the pair of siblings sinisterly watched them from up the castle windows.
Mikasa stopped again and stared at that lake once more, it was like it was calling to her. She felt something extremely eerie about it and it made her very sad.
"Hey," Armin cheekily called for her attention with a whisper. He showed the small book hidden under his coat.
"Why would you grab this?" Mikasa asked, also with a whisper as they both walked away from the Castle. She pulled him by the hand so they could walk faster and Armin almost clumsily dropped the precious artefact, but he then safely secured the small notebook back under his coat again.
"I don't think they care enough to even notice it's gone," Armin justified his stealing with a smile.
"But why?" Mikasa asked again in an admonishing tone.
"I'm just curious to see if I can figure out what's written in it. No one seems to have been able to so far," Armin explained his curiosity. "And, I don't know how to explain it, but it was like it was calling to me."
"Calling to you, I see," Mikasa repeated, then looked back at the lake again. She stopped very contemplative and shed a small tear without even noticing it.
"I know you are upset but we will find him, I know we will," Armin promised, he hated seeing her cry.
"It's not that," Mikasa angrily cleaned the tear from her face. "It's this stupid lake."
"What do you even mean?" Armin asked, confused.
"Let's just leave this place," Mikasa replied while grabbing his hand again so they could walk faster. Armin looked back at the calm lake confused, "you know, that's just water," he pointed out but noticed she was not just agitated. He noticed Mikasa was deeply upset, so he dropped his cheeky smile and stayed quiet as Mikasa pulled him away from the Castle grounds.
"Why can't you just track him? You can see where Shifters are," Mikasa reminded him in a whisper as they finally left the Castle fields and entered back into the city.
"That's the thing. I can't seem to track The Founding, it's different somehow," Armin explained.
"Well, Eren clearly doesn't want to be found," Mikasa complained, she was still agitated about the eerie lake business. "I want to go home," she confessed.
"Mikasa, we can't just leave things as it is," Armin retaliated. "He could be in danger. And you know how it works, if he is in danger, we all are." he admonished her in another whisper. "You know what our next step is," he reminded Mikasa while looking around the alley and the city streets with much worry. They were in enemy territory.
The next step was trying to find Zeke Yeager and figure out if he was the one keeping Eren. Armin was particularly worried about that prospect, because that could confirm his friend had left them out of his own intent rather than being forced to. He was afraid Eren could change his allegiance, even with the closeness they both shared, even after so many years of such close bond, neither Armin nor Mikasa were Eren's blood. They could not compete with what tied him to his distant brother, even if only half-brother.
"Eren is old enough to take care of himself," Mikasa whispered back to him. "And I know he would never make any rushed decision that could put any of us in danger. He would never do anything going against what we all believe."
"I'm not sure Eren holds the same beliefs we do, not anymore." Armin responded. He held her by the hand and they continued walking, to proceed with the search.
On the ship back to the Island:
Mikasa was finally at ease. Sure there was still the matter of her stepbrother missing, but they were finally going home, to regroup and decide what to do next. She was concerned but happy, as she was finally going to see her baby boy again. Mikasa had never been this far away from her child and certainly not for this long. This failed rescue mission had turned into a messy nightmare, and being away from her child had left her in great distress. But she was aware of her job and duties, so she kept it all to herself.
They were finally on a ship, sailing home. Armin had been chatting his way around the deck for a while when he finally came to join her at their table, at the restaurant.
"Remember when you got all emotional on that lake," Armin reminded her while sitting down.
"Forget about that, I'm just in a mood," she replied.
"Well, I asked around and some people told me that lake was a water burial site," Armin explained with an odd smile. He was a little curious about more morbid topics and was also glad to know his wife wasn't crying for no reason.
"What?" Mikasa was confused, and a little disturbed by that conversation.
"I'm saying many people were buried at the bottom of that lake through the centuries, and maybe you felt upset about it, unknowingly," Armin explained. "Some people are more sensitive to these spiritual things, maybe you are just one of them," he added.
"Maybe," Mikasa conceded. It could be the reason, but that wasn't all of it. She felt there was something else and she didn't lie when she said she was in a mood. They said no more about it, for a while.
Armin left the table momentarily and she decided to test it. No one was looking her way and she was extremely curious and a little frightened to know. But she had to be sure. There was a reason that could explain better how she felt. Mikasa took a sharp knife from the table and quietly made a small cut in her hand, she had to know. The cut healed itself immediately. Mikasa sighed. This had happened before. She was pregnant again.
Sasha could see how troubled her friend was from across the room, so she motioned in closer, to give Mikasa some comfort.
"I'm sorry about Eren, I know how upset you are with all this. But we will find him, I know we will." Sasha told her friend with a sweet smile while sitting at the table.
Mikasa gave back a half-smile, looking concerned and distant as Sasha sat down. "We did what we could. Now I just want to go back home and see my boy." The mother replied. Mikasa had never been away from Azzy for this long before.
She felt conflicted between her worry and concern for her brother and the yearning to have her beloved child back in the safety of her arms. It was a true conflict between the primary family she'd grown up with and learned to love. And the family she now, as an adult, had chosen for herself. But a mother's love is stronger than anything, and always speaks louder in such circumstances.
Sasha smiled sympathetically and reached for her friend's hand to hold. And so the experienced hunter quickly grabbed the knife to hold instead, Mikasa was too distracted with her own thoughts to notice.
Braus held the knife closer to her eyes and saw a bit of the red liquid steaming away from it. "Did you stab Armin with this?" She asked curiously and with a small smile, but also a little disturbed. Mikasa swiftly grabbed the knife again and hid it inside a white cloth as her friend watched it all extremely confused. Sasha was still waiting for a response, so the young Ackermann pondered about it.
"If I tell you something, do you promise it will be our secret? That you won't tell anyone?" Mikasa whispered closer to her. Sasha smiled, "you know you can tell me anything," she whispered back.
.
- Year 754 - Paradise Island - in the Underground
[A hundred years before the Rumbling, and over a decade since the Sealing of the Walls]
The boy walked with uncertainty, he was in unknown territory. He walked clumsy between the taverns and odd houses. The Underground people could tell in an instant that he didn't belong there, they gave him stern stares of spite and disdain. The fifteen-year-old had shaky hands and he carried a small piece of paper with himself. The paper contained directions to "The Red Brick". An inconspicuous building that housed the most famous tavern in the Underground.
He finally got to it. The teenager looked up at the odd, reddish building. Ode took a deep breath; he had found what he was looking for, hopefully. So he walked in.
"Are you lost, boy?" the man behind the bar instantly asked him.
"I'm looking for Mr. Walterson," the teenager bluntly replied. That took the bartender by surprise, for it was a code not many knew or dared to use. He raised his hand and, with some trepidation, pointed at a man sitting alone at a corner table. The boy then walked in the direction of the supposed Mr. Walterson.
"I don't deal with children," the man told the boy, sounding irritated. Even so, the daring boy pulled up a chair and sat in front of him. Lewis checked the boy's clothes and appearance and laughed. "Boy, are you far from home!" he exclaimed and laughed more, the others at the bar joined him in laughter. "Be careful, a fancy lad like you around these parts… You might get mugged, killed or worse!" he joked and they all laughed even harder.
"You can trust an Ackermann to know the ways of robbery and murder, that I'm sure," Ode teased him in a quiet voice, so that only the man could hear it.
Lewis swiftly rose up and aggressively grabbed the teenager by the collar. In a blink of an eye, the poor Ode already had a small dagger almost puncturing his throat.
"Do- do you want me to clear the area, boss?" the man behind the bar asked with a stutter. Lewis nodded so he proceeded to remove the drunken men from the small tavern. "And close the door behind you." Lewis added to the man while still staring sternly into the boy's eyes. "Who are you? How did you find me?" he finally asked once they were alone.
The boy struggled to get out of his grasp then took an old, creased paper out of his coat. "My mother drew this," he said, unfolding the paper and giving it to the man, it was a very nice portrait. Lewis stared at it, the drawing looked like a much younger and ingenuous version of the old and scarred man he had now become.
Ode sat down again, carefully observing the broken man. "She says this is the man who helped us get away from Fritz, or should I say from the Reiss Family," the boy explained.
Lewis was still transfixed, staring at the drawing of a much younger and less tired self. "Your mother draws very well," he commented.
"She also has a very good memory, which is something I can't say about most people living within these Walls," he warily remarked. "I'm Ode!" The boy cheerfully extended his arm for a greeting. The bitter man reluctantly met Ode's hand for a handshake. "I'm Lewis," he replied.
Ode snorted and held his laughter. "What?" the man asked aggressively. Ode tried to compose himself. "Nothing. It's just not what I expected, for an Ackermann to be called Lewis. It just doesn't sound like a name fit for a 'fearsome warrior' and 'sword of the king', all powerful Ackermann and all that," the boy tried to explain. "I get why you would go by Mr. Walterson, but is it 'Lewis' Walte-"
The boy was still blabbering when the Ackermann grabbed him by the collar again.
"What do you want?" Lewis asked very firmly.
"Are you going to stab me with that dagger?" The boy asked defiantly. The Ackermann pondered for a moment.
"No." Lewis replied, he let the boy go and they both sat down again. Lewis put down his small blade and grabbed his glass of whiskey. "Only because of your mother," he added, raising the dagger again and pointing it at the boy in a disciplinarian way. "It wouldn't be fair to her, to be left on her own in these forsaken Walls."
"So you do know why I'm here then. You know that there's only the two of us," Ode concluded.
"Just say it," Lewis replied, he knew why the boy was there.
"I want to know what happened to my father," the boy told him.
Lewis grabbed his whiskey glass again. "You know he is dead, right?" he said carelessly.
"Yes, I know that," Ode replied.
"So what else is there to know?" The Ackermann complained.
"I need to know what happened to him. I want the truth." Ode replied very sternly.
Lewis sighed. He stared at his glass. "Do you want some?" he raised the bottle offering the boy some alcohol. "I'm fifteen." Ode reminded him while crossing his arms.
"All right then," Lewis replied, filling up his own glass again. "Be as you may, but if you really want to know this story you need to assure me you can take it," he told the boy.
"I can handle it," Ode confirmed.
Lewis looked to the side contemplatively. Going back to that time was going to be very difficult for him, but he owed it to the boy.
- Year 741 - Paradise Island - City of Mitras - in the Royal Palace
[Two years before the Sealing of the Walls]
"This has always been quite a construction," Armin pointed out as he walked down the halls of the palace with his friend. "It is a good renovation, you've done well my friend," he complimented the Eldian King.
"One must do what is best to conserve one's home," Karl replied with a small smile. "But this tiny home doesn't compare to the wonders of Tybur Castle, of course," he added. "Come war and destruction and that place still stands, remarkable."
"It is like you said, we do our best to preserve our home," Tybur replied.
"It's clearly a place to salvage many memories, and much more," Fritz said, cryptically. He looked his friend in the eye and carelessly continued: "Tell me: Have you heard about the immortal man who haunts the streets of Geranium? They say he looks for his crystal heart, and if ever found, and broken, it could give away eternal life."
"That's a good one!" Armin laughed. "Have you heard about the one with the boy and the beanstalk that could reach up to the heavens and into the Giant's castle?" Tybur joked back to him. "I've always loved that tale."
"You make it sound like fantasy, my friend," Karl replied.
"Because it is fantasy." Armin firmly argued.
"Well, then I'd like to imagine I would be the one who found it. Being immortal, can you even imagine such a blessing?" Karl said in a soft and yet greedy tone.
"You shouldn't be chasing old tales," Armin advised and sighed. "But I understand why you are thinking about all that. Facing death is difficult, especially for us, for we know when is coming. And you have one more reason for not wanting to die now, and I understand that too," Tybur finished the speech as they were walking into a bright and beautifully decorated room.
"Armin!" Charlotte cheerfully exclaimed as they walked into the room. "How good it is to see you!"
The young Tybur holder bowed to the Eldian Queen, she then gestured for the maids to leave and give them more privacy. "How is Diana and your boy?" she asked very pleasantly, the Queen wanted to make conversation.
"They're well, and safe at the Castle. Ode is growing so fast!" Armin replied with a smile.
"They would be safer here," Karl advised. "But we can discuss this further in another time."
The King, Queen and their guest walked closer to the crib, at the center of the room. Where the small baby princess was laying. Karl took his daughter to hold.
"She is very precious," Armin complimented the heiress.
"We named her Maria, after the goddess," Charlotte told him. "That's what he wanted," the Queen smiled at her husband.
"My pure and sweet Maria. She will reign with peace in the Island of Paradise," Karl prophesied.
Armin took his friend to the side, Karl still had the sleeping baby in his arms. "I know you have your plans, and I understand you want what is best for her. But it's difficult to imagine a scenario where Marleans wouldn't invade this island. They are coming for you," the Tybur holder reminded the King.
"I will do everything in my power to keep her safe and away from this wretched world. Not only her, but all of our people. And you are going to help me," Karl told his friend and held Armin by the shoulder. "We will keep them safe, my friend," he added with certainty.
"I'm glad to see you are so confident about it. But I still don't understand how am I supposed to help." Armin replied.
Karl smiled a smile full of teeth. He then gave the small, sleeping baby for her mother to hold and walked away from the room with his friend. "Come, I'll explain everything."
-.-
Armin sat very reflective on the Palace's garden, he didn't say a word for many minutes. "So you are unsure?" Karl complained. "Here I am offering you so much power and a chance to mark yourself in History, to become our people's protector and you still look at me with doubt."
The young and naive Tybur passed his hands through his hair very nervously. "I don't know… It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that none of this has been done before," he replied.
"Then we will be the first!" Karl Fritz said, excitedly.
"And to have another Titan, this seems unsafe, and disrespectful to their Family-" Armin argued. "Armin-" Karl tried to interject. "And what about the girl?" Armin asked.
"She will be fine," the King firmly replied.
"But she is so young-" Armin said.
"And inexperienced with the Titan, she won't be fit for it, you will." Karl interjected. "Her family is on our side and aware of our plan," he added.
"I'll feel more comfort when we meet in the chapel and talk all this through," Armin proposed.
"You are not meeting her, at least not conscious anyway," Karl denied his request.
"It doesn't seem right to sacrifice a young soul for this," Armin set his doubts once more.
Karl lost his patience. "She will die in thirteen years. And we will both die much sooner. Isn't it fair that we leave our mark? To do something good with this cursed ability of ours before we go? We have the unique opportunity to protect our children and all the future generations! To create a true Utopia inside the Island! This Paradise will reign forever." he cheerfully argued.
Armin stayed silent throughout that speech and didn't say a word after either.
"And Ode will be so proud of you! His father 'the Eldian Hero', what an honour." Karl finally touched in the right strings in the most devilish way.
Armin looked a little more convinced, but still uncertain. The King sighed, he'd thought this part would be easier. "I can't do this without you," he confessed and held his friend by the shoulder. "I know it's a gruelling sacrifice-"
"She's too young." Armin protested again.
"And so troubled," Karl added with fake concern. He sighed and continued: "Some even if chosen, are too overwhelmed with what our lives become. It's a burden to carry. Some can't take it and decide to relinquish their thirteen blessed years to others… I believe she feels this is the right thing to do. A noble sacrifice for the good of our kind." The King said very solemnly. "And this is not the first time you are going through this. You had to do this once before, and so have I, and her! It is just how things must be in this tradition." he added.
"But no one had to do it twice," Armin argued.
"At least she is not your own blood. Let's do this: we can go to the chapel and on the way, and once we get there, you can pray for our goddesses to show you the way." the King proposed.
The reluctant Tybur yielded in the end. The man was troubled but he believed all that sacrifice was for the greater good. And so he accepted the sacrifice offered by the King and, apparently, the young girl's family. The War-Hammer Titan holder ate the young Colossal Shifter, in the cerimonial cave, where their ancestors had passed down the Titan curse for almost two thousand years.
Armin woke up in a rage. This had been different from his first transformation, this time he could see the young girl's memories perfectly. He knew she had been kidnapped, that no one from her family knew where she was. And that she was completely unconscious and unaware of the ceremony or the sacrifice. The poor girl woke up with a shock in the mouth of a Titan, only to be devoured without even knowing what was happening. That was the main memory hanging inside his head and it was driving him insane with guilt and anger.
He walked up to the chapel's altar to confront the King. "You are a coward! How dare you take away someone's life like this?!" Armin shouted.
"I didn't take anyone's life, you did." Karl replied softly.
"You tricked me! She was a good person and she didn't deserve to die like that. You killed her!" Armin pointed at him with anger.
"It is unfortunate, but I needed that power and she was in the way," Karl explained his motives in a very dry manner. He looked up and down, checking his friend with some disdain. Armin was breathing heavily and red with anger, not only that, he was steaming a little, an unfortunate side effect of the Colossal Titan abilities he had no idea how to control yet.
Karl decided to tease him. "Don't tell me you are not enjoying this. All this power. What a combination you now have in your hands, my friend! We shall take great advantage of it."
"What?" Armin confusedly asked, as he felt something piercing his chest from behind. He looked down to see the tip of an arrow coming out from near his heart. He lost consciousness immediately and fell to the floor: his heart was bleeding.
Karl calmly walked down from the altar and stared at him on the floor. He kneeled down to check the man's pulse, near his neck. "It took you long enough," Karl complained, looking up to the gallery. Lewis gave him a wide smile.
"Tell me about it, I thought blondie was gonna blow us all to hell." The Ackermann complained while checking his crossbow and putting it back to the side. He quickly jumped out of the gallery to join the King on the chapel floor. "Sorry, Your Majesty. I needed time to find the perfect shot," he apologised with a grin.
"You should have been watching him in the first place," Karl complained.
"I'm no one's babysitter, Kay," Lewis retaliated. "And who would've thought he would wake up so soon? And aware of everything? This wasn't part of the plan."
"Well, I'm glad you didn't kill him," Karl replied, looking at the breathing man's slowly moving chest.
"I wasn't trying to," Lewis added.
"Good. Because that would defeat the purpose of it all. He will start to regenerate soon, take him down the cave before he regains consciousness." The King ordered.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Lewis bowed and carried the poor soul all the way down the dark dungeon, many meters away from the surface. Karl Fritz demanded his prisoner stay as far away from the sun as possible.
- Year 754 - "The Red Brick" - in the Underground
"You shot my dad?!" Ode asked, bewildered.
"I was doing my job, kid. And he clearly survived," Lewis pointed out.
"You shot him with a crossbow! And you put him away underneath the Earth! Why?!" Ode exclaimed.
Lewis sighed. "Look kid, you asked me to tell you this story. Sure it's difficult to face it, but at least you know I am telling you the truth." Lewis pointed out while drinking some more from his glass. "I have no reason to make any of this up!" he added.
"Did my father die in that dungeon?" The boy timidly asked. "All alone in that darkness?" he was heartbroken.
"Oh, he was not alone," Lewis replied and Ode looked up at him in hope. "There were at least three or four hundred of my soldiers guarding that dungeon," he added. "And there was also Orla."
"Who is Orla?" The boy asked.
Lewis sighed. "My sister," he replied.
- Year 741 - in the dungeon - Deep beneath the Reiss Chapel
"You could just eat me and end this for once," Armin angrily said from under all those heavy chains that bound him. He couldn't move. "But it is as I said: You are a coward." he told Karl defiantly as the King's helper withdrew as much spinal fluid from the poor man as he could master. Armin continued defiantly: "I bet you couldn't withstand this amount of pain, I bet you can't even stub your toe without crying, coward."
"I actually am going through this process myself," Karl felt the need to defend himself. "But I don't need as much of my own spinal fluid in this concoction as yours. Just enough to control my creatures without fail."
Armin gave out a small, crazy laugh. "You told me that poor, sweet girl was doing all of that, giving away her life out of her own will. Lier! You also told me all the soldiers who are going to be transformed are also doing this out of their own volition. Of course that was a lie as well! Thousands of Pure Titans! Slaves at our disposal." Armin turned to the helper with a sickly evil grin, "I bet even you will become one of his monsters," he bluntly told the man, who worriedly put the syringe away and bowed to the King before leaving his presence.
Karl walked in closer and kneeled near his prisoner. "Not thousands," he whispered into his ear. "What?" Armin asked, confused. "Millions." Karl replied. He stood up and cleaned his clothes with disdain. "You are going to be here a long time, my friend."
"I can just stop regenerating, and die. What are you going to do about that?" Armin said in anger.
"You know that's not how this curse works. Even if you try to stop yourself from regenerating your survival instinct will just manifest itself, and you won't be able to die. That's just our shifter nature," The King explained. "I'm sorry about this, I know this is too difficult for you, painful and exhausting. But just think of the good we are doing you and I!" Karl Fritz cheerfully said and Armin looked up at him in pain and unconvinced. He said nothing.
Karl sighed. "You must think I'm a monster, but I'm just doing what is necessary. All those filthy humans outside will be shaken with fear. They wouldn't dare to threat our peaceful island, not when our retaliation could be as strong as this. These Walls will be the mark of a new beginning! A restart for our kind. A blessing from the goddesses themselves! I told you we would build Paradise, and so now we shall." The King gracefully gave out his speech.
"I don't think you're a monster, Karl. I know you are." Armin replied.
- Year 743 - in the dungeon - underneath the chapel
Armin was in that darkness again. It was claustrophobic and very dark, and he could only see a faint flame very far away, but the flame was slowly extinguishing itself. He wanted to shout but he had no voice. He was alone, completely alone. The pain was unimaginable: he couldn't move, he could barely breathe, and even that was painful. The chains that bound him were very heavy, and even after all the time he was there, he still couldn't get used to them. He couldn't even cry, he had no strength for that. He just wished he could give up on his life for once. He dreamed with death and relief. That's when he heard that familiar step, coming towards his cell. Armin smiled.
"It's time for supper," Orla said cheerfully as she opened the heavy gate.
"Argh! Don't get me wrong, but you make me feel like a child every time," Armin complained.
"We are not having this conversation again," she replied, laying the tray on the dirty floor.
"You could just loosen up my chains a little so I could feed myself like a grown man," he suggested.
"I'm not falling for that." Orla told him sternly.
"It was a joke," he replied, waving his stubby arms at her with a smile. "I can't eat like this!" he laughed.
"Oh. What happened this time?" she asked while closing the heavy gate.
"They thought I was getting too energetic so they cut me hands to slow down my regeneration a little," he joked, waving again. "They cut me feet sometimes too," he kept the jovial tone. "I don't think I even feel the pain anymore," he lied.
"I told you to stop joking around. And also to stop playing around like you are concocting crazy escape plans. People here can be very cruel!" Orla admonished him.
"Aren't you cruel?" He asked. She didn't respond, instead, she concentrated on her job.
"Open up," Orla said, with the spoon in her hand, she started to feed him.
"So, are you seeing someone tonight?" Armin casually asked.
"What did we just talk about?" she admonished him again.
"I'm just making conversation!" He exclaimed.
"Exactly!" she shouted back, without containing her smile.
"Well excuse me for trying to live a little! Even if it is through someone else's eyes." Armin protested.
"How could you even tell if it is morning or night anyway?" she asked, for they were very far underground.
"Oh, I can't. I was just guessing," he clarified.
"You guessed right, it is 'tonight', and no, I'm not seeing anyone. And I also know you are very much married." Orla declared, while still feeding the poor and broken man.
"I wasn't asking for me, I'm pretty sure - What is it? - I think it's syringe guy number 3 or 4, Jack or Lucious or something. I think he has a crush on you." Armin explained himself.
"Funnily enough, I think I know who you are talking about," the young Arckermann considered for a moment.
The Tybur holder suddenly became less jovial and more reflective. "I wish I could see them again, one last time. Before I die in this place," he confessed, saddened. "I don't even know how old my son is now."
"He is four," Orla replied.
Armin immediately looked up at her. "How do you know?"
"We have to keep tabs on everything. It's my job." she explained.
"Do they know where I am?" he asked brokenheartedly.
"They have no idea, no one does." Orla replied as she stood up to leave.
"Do you believe in him? Do you believe in the king's plan? Do you think it's right what he is doing to me? And to sacrifice so many people?" Armin desperately asked.
Orla turned back to face him. "I shouldn't discuss my personal beliefs with you, as I said, this is my job," she replied very sternly.
"Damn, you are cold. Then again, all Ackermanns are," he pointed out. "Which is funny considering the sun thing."
Orla didn't expect for him to know her family's name, but she said nothing.
"How far down are we again?" Armin asked.
"About 200 meters, but you already know that." she replied.
"Right. Doesn't that affect you too? I know you Ackermanns need the sun more than we Shifters do." He started to deduce. "Do you spend much time this deep underground? I bet you don't, otherwise you would be much scrawnier. Like me!"
"I'm not discussing my daily routine with you," she told him while crossing her arms.
"How strong are you?" He asked. "I bet you could set me free if you wanted."
"I can't actually break metal chains," Orla laughed.
"That was not what I was going for, I was gonna say you could always get me the key," he explained.
Orla pondered for a moment and gave him a smile. "Trust me, with the hundreds of guards outside, you wouldn't get very far," she told him. Armin looked down, very saddened. "You will never give up leaving this place will you?" she asked softly.
"Would you?" he asked back.
Orla took the tray away and opened the heavy gate again to leave.
"I'm not dying here!" He shouted in affirmation as he could still see her shadow though the gaps of the heavy door.
"I will see you again," he said under his breath, promising to his family. The young Ackermann could still hear his whispers.
-.-
Orla walked the city streets very troubled, she was reflecting about everything. She could sense something was wrong. So she swiftly took her dagger from her coat. "Who the hell are you and why are you following me?" She asked defiantly while pinning the strange man to the alley wall. "Say something! You've been following me for three days! Don't you think I would notice?"
"Hey," he raised his hands, "I am just here to help my friend. And you are going to help me." the man told her.
- Year 754 - "The Red Brick" - in the Underground
"Who was she talking to?" Ode asked, curiously.
"I never actually met him, but trust me boy, that's when my troubles began." Lewis complained. "He is the man who took your father away from the Walls."
"So he made it out? He didn't die in that dungeon?" Ode asked with hope.
"He convinced Orla to help your father. And she convinced me," the Ackermann explained. "And believe me, I regret that more than anything."
"Why? You helped someone unjustly imprisoned. There's nothing wrong in that," Ode retaliated.
"Nothing wrong? Let's see: I was the General of the Eldian Army, 'the sword of the king', and now here I am, trapped in the Underground and watching from afar as the Royal Family slaughters the entirety of my family. Killing anyone who dares to use the Ackermann name. Do you think this ended well for me, kid?" Lewis bluntly asked the boy.
Ode stayed reflective for a moment. "What was the part that you played in saving him?" he asked.
Lewis laughed. "Oh, no. My part was the actual difficult part of the plan. Saving your father was actually the easy bit." he drank some more out of the bottle and sighed. "And I couldn't go through with it."
"Did you have to kill Fritz?" Ode tried to guess.
"No. I had to kill something before it even started," he said, then furiously threw the glass bottle onto the tavern wall. It shattered into a million pieces. "And I failed." Lewis confessed.
- Year 743 - in the Reiss Chapel
They quietly came out from the darkness of the tunnels, to the Reiss cave. And through that, the pair finally emerged in the chapel flooring. The plan had been successful. They made as little noise as possible, killing only a few guards to avoid any suspicion. The man was right to choose the young Ackermann to help, for she knew the ways of the tunnels and the dungeon. And she was quick to kill anyone in their way, without any noise. And so, they made it into the surface undetected. The poor prisoner was too weak, and completely unconscious, travelling on the man's shoulder.
"Thank you," the man told Orla, sounding very sincere.
"You are on your own now. And you don't have much time before they figure out what we've done," she warned. "Please take care of him," Orla pleaded.
"I wouldn't have gone through all this trouble just to not take care of him, miss," he said and slightly bowed, turning to leave.
"You're one of them aren't you?" Orla asked softly.
"Excuse me?" he turned back.
"One of the Shifters. You must be the holder of that lost Titan, the one no one ever sees," the young Arckermann gave out her suspicions.
The man stayed silent for a moment, he gave her half a smile. "Have a good life, miss," he wished her, and left on his merry way, carrying the Tybur holder with him.
- Year 754 - "The Red Brick" - in the Underground
"Life is a crazy thing, one second lost can mean a lot. If I had made my decision a second sooner, then perhaps things would have been different. But I hesitated." Lewis told the boy.
"So you were supposed to destroy the serum?" Ode concluded.
"He caught me red-handed," Lewis disclosed. "I was about to strike. It was just glass, I don't know why, it was supposed to be easy-"
"But you hesitated." Ode interjected.
"And got arrested," Lewis added.
"By your own soldiers? That's ridiculous! Why didn't you fight them? You're an Ackermann!" Ode complained.
"Because Fritz was there, he is the one who caught me red-handed." the Ackermann explained.
"And you couldn't do anything about it?" the boy asked, sounding confused.
"He was The Founder, kid."
"So he could control you?"
"Control is a strong word, kid. It is not as simple. But yes, he can stop me, he can shut me down. That bastard sent me to that same dungeon, to rot in there," Lewis revealed. "I never thought I would miss the sun that much."
"How long were you in there?" the boy questioned.
"Long enough that when I got out those things were all over the island. Millions of people, incarcerated into giant walls… Who'd have thought he'd actually go through with that." Lewis replied.
"But how did you get out?" Ode was curious.
"Orla." he replied with a smile. "She came back for me, she killed over two hundred soldiers that night, just to get me out."
"She must really love you then," the boy pointed out, quite impressed.
"She was angry, mad. We all were! Fritz had decided to go after our people, after my family," the Ackermann explained. "I also knew it was just a matter of time before they got to your mother."
"So you decided to protect us?" he asked, Lewis nodded. "Why did we come here in the first place? Even Dad got a way out! And now we became stuck inside these walls!" Ode sounded very upset.
Lewis sighed. "Your mother was making too much noise. Contrary to most of your family, she didn't believe your father had died in the war, like it had been told. Fritz knew it was just a matter of time before things got out of hand. So he invited her here, and she came, bringing you." he explained.
"Why would she fall for that?!" Ode questioned, frustrated.
"Desperation?" Lewis considered, and continued: "Fritz drew her here with the promise to find your father, and to be protected inside the Walls. She actually believed she would see your father again. I was the only one who knew Fritz meant to eliminate you both, because I was supposed to be the one to do it. So, when I came out of that prison, you were my first thought."
Ode stayed silent for a moment, taking it all in. "Thank you," he timidly replied.
"It was the least I could do. To save two lives, after helping millions to be doomed. It was the least I could do, kid." Lewis replied very solemnly.
"What about your sister?" he asked, curiously.
"We lost contact," he sighed. "I haven't seen her in a long time." Lewis replied.
"Are you sure the man who came and- and took my father away-" Ode sounded uncertain. "How are you sure he was a Titan?" the boy asked.
Lewis leaned back and crossed his arms thoughtfully, "Orla seemed sure, so maybe they talked about it."
"And you are sure he took my father away from the Walls?" The helpless boy kept showering the man with questions. "A- Are you sure they left in time?"
"Yes." the Ackermann replied sternly.
"How can you be sure of that?" Ode asked.
Lewis leaned over and spoke much quieter. "Because only one Titan remains in the Walls, and it is the Founder," the whispering man continued: "Of course only people like us know the truth. For all those folks outside, this-" he spoke more openly, gesturing around the empty room. "- this is a brand new world!" Then he turned back to his lower tone: "With absolutely nothing beyond the Walls. A true Utopia, don't you think?"
- Year 743 - In the outskirts of the district of Utopia
"He has leprosy, sir. I'm just taking the poor man out into the woods, to live the rest of his days in peace." The man solemnly explained to the guard who had stopped their small cart, the soldier wanted to know why they were leaving the limits of the district.
"You go ahead and do that then," the soldier replied, immediately removing his hands from the carriage, afraid of being afflicted with such terrible disease as well. "But be careful out there. You might get lost out in these harsh winds."
"Don't worry, sir, we'll be just fine." The man reassured the soldier and moved on with his carriage, carrying the dying man inside.
-.-
The sun was slowly starting to rise, hidden under the heavy wintery weather of Utopia. Armin opened his eyes and he couldn't believe it, for the first time in so long, he was waking up above ground. He looked at the sun hiding itself between the clouds, he didn't even bother with the cold. He was just happy to be freed.
"Ezra! What an honour, to be rescued by the Attack Titan himself!" Armin cheerfully joked. The man didn't reply, or acknowledge him, he just kept driving their small carriage.
The young Tybur sat up straight and started to look around their surroundings. "So, I guess we are leaving through the north of the island, to avoid suspicion. Since no one is crazy enough to actually travel in this climate." he concluded.
"You're very sharp for someone who looks half-dead." Ezra finally spoke.
Armin opened up a smile. "Thank you! I know you risked a lot coming after me-" he said, leaning over slightly.
"Please don't hug me," Ezra replied, moving back a little.
"I wasn't going to, I was just trying to find my bearings." Armin explained, a little embarrassed. He let out a small grunt while holding his neck.
"I don't think you'll ever heal that properly," Ezra pointed out, examining the nasty wound.
Tybur sighed. "I know, and I don't care. All I want is to see my family again," he let out.
"Yeah, I'm not taking you there," Ezra revealed.
"Why?" Tybur asked.
"I don't know if you heard, but there's a war going on," his friend reminded him.
"The Castle is safe, it always has been," Armin argued with certainty.
Ezra stayed silent and reflective for a moment. "If you want to go there, you are on your own," he advised.
"What do you mean?" Armin asked, confused.
Ezra sighed. "The others are gone, Armin," he revealed.
"Gone? You mean they died? Before time?" Tybur asked, dubiously.
"Died, been taken… Who knows? Fritz clearly showed it's not that difficult to imprison someone like us," the Attack Titan pointed out.
"Even so, we are Eldians." Armin argued. "And the knowledge of our traditions is safeguarded in between only a few of the families. I certainly do not believe Marley would be capable of trap, let alone properly capture a Shifter-"
"They pit us against each other. And we fell for it." Ezra interjected.
Armin stayed reflective for a moment. "Are you sure all the others are gone? Truly gone?" He asked.
"They've disappeared." Ezra explained. "I came here knowing it was where you were, and we both know what happened to the Colossal," he noted and Armin lowered his head, in regret. Ezra continued: "Fritz is somewhere in the island with the Founder, that we both know too. But that's it. All of the others, they've disappeared, all five of them."
"C-couldn't you have warned us? You know everything!" Armin protested.
"I don't know everything." Ezra replied, sternly.
"You know the future! You can see it," Armin argued.
"Not all of it. And certainly not all the time," Ezra objected.
"What does that even mean?" his friend retaliated in confusion.
"It's difficult to explain. But I did know I had to get you out, before things got even worse," Ezra revealed.
"Right. Thank you for that." Armin replied, sincerely. "But why do you say I shouldn't go back home?" he asked.
"Because I believe your family is involved. Your brother… What you said about Marleans knowing our secrets," Ezra argued. "You lot have always been second to Fritz, and hungry for that power. I believe your brother must've finally found a way to seize it for himself," he declared.
Armin passed his hands through his hair, confused. "C-can you prove that?" he asked.
"No. But I have done my own investigation, I can only watch it from afar, of course-" Ezra replied.
"Just take me home, and I'll have it out with him." Armin interjected.
"If that's what you wish," Ezra replied, meditative.
"Do you see something bad coming out of this?" his friend asked in trepidation.
"I can't tell," Ezra replied, sounding uncertain.
"What about you? Where will you go?" Armin asked with concern.
"I'll just disappear, on my own terms of course. I'm good at that." his friend replied.
Suddenly, they started to hear tremendous stomp noises, coming from within the island. Armin stood up slightly on their carriage. He could see giant shadows in the distance, amidst the snow. "Err, that idiot! I knew he wouldn't go through with it!" Ezra complained under his breath. Lewis hadn't followed through with their plan.
"What- What is that?" Armin asked, open-mouthed, in complete awe. He felt it burning down the back of his neck and a chill running up and down his spine.
"What do you think?" Ezra replied, pointing at his neck, Armin then held his own, worriedly and regretful. "Damn it!" Ezra exclaimed. He checked his watch, his compass and his map once more. "We gotta make it. If those things catch up with us, we'll be doomed into this damned island! He exclaimed, rushing the horses.
"We can transform," Armin suggested.
"Then Fritz will know where we are! Can you even transform to begin with?" Ezra questioned him. "And have you ever transformed into one of those?" he pointed at the colossal monsters.
"No, I haven't. I wouldn't even know where to begin," Armin replied. He sat down, frustrated. "You are right."
"Don't worry. We can make it," Ezra affirmed. "Those things are slow anyways- And-"
"And what?" Armin asked.
"Well, there's a lot less than it should have been. Fritz sure is pissed about that," he continued as Armin stared at the figures in the horizon, all those lost souls. Ezra explained: "He wanted to cover up the whole island with those things. That was the real plan: millions upon millions- Crazy! That would take many more years of course, I believe he wanted to take your serum until you died naturally. But now that we got you out, his plans have been, well, rushed. Sure, he probably could make a few millions of those things, but still, it will only cover a part of the island now, a very small part."
Armin was overwhelmed, he could see the unimaginable right there: concretised. He felt his responsibility in it all and also felt deep regret.
"Don't worry. We will make it out, and you will see your boy again," Ezra promised.
"I hope so," Armin wished.
As they kept the journey and the day went on, the Titans started to get closer and closer. The giant creatures were slowly walking very near. "Why are they staring at us?" Armin asked very bothered, the Pure Titans were staring him in the eye.
"They are not staring at us, they are only staring at you," Ezra pointed out.
"I am sorry!" Armin shouted in desperation. "I am not the one who doomed you! Please, believe me! I am not the one who doomed you," he affirmed to the monsters, and to himself.
The Titans suddenly stopped and Armin jumped out of the cart. "What are you doing?!" Ezra shouted, bringing the horses to a halt.
"It won't work," Armin wished out loud as the Titans held arms together. The Titan Shifters could see a curtain of dark crystal coming from both sides of the horizon, covering the Pure Colossal Titans and forming the immense wall. "It won't work!" Armin continued in disillusion. "It- it can't work! Only Tyburs can master crystal like that."
"Wasn't that the whole point?" Ezra pointed out, finally getting near him.
"No, no, no. No! No!" Armin said to himself as he watched the dark crystal involving the entirety of the Titans that were in front of them. And so, Wall Maria was formed.
He couldn't believe it. Armin angrily punched the crystal wall with as much force as his weak body could muster, and he broke his hand in doing so.
"Come on," Ezra said softly, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder. "We need to leave."
They both went back to their small carriage, and carried away through the wilderness, going to shore.
The Attack Titan looked back one last time at the giant Wall. "And so, Eldia closes itself to the world," he said. 'And it shall be like this, for a hundred years,' he thought.
- Year 743 - "The Sealing of the Walls"
The small boy held his mother's hand. "Don't you dare let go!" she said. "I can't afford to lose you in this crowd." Diana was firm with her boy.
They were walking in, with thousands of people, into the new Paradise enclosure. The King had promised that he would keep all his people safe there. Safe from the war.
The small boy had just turned four years old; he didn't enjoy walking very much, especially around so many people. The young Ode was feeling tired and lost.
He gripped his mother's hand. She'd promised him they would be happy there. They were going to see his father again. Ode thought about it and gripped the watch tighter. He was holding his pocket watch on his other hand; it was beautifully crafted and it had been a birthday gift from his father. The small golden watch shimmered for a moment, and Ode hid the small present deeper inside his grasp. His mother would take it from him. She would say he would lose it. But he would never lose it. He would show it to his father, so his father could be proud.
The small Ode was happy with the thought. He smiled at his mother, but she looked worried. They were already inside as the last Wall started closing in. Hundreds of immense creatures locking hands together and disappearing into a curtain of dark grey crystal.
The boy looked up to his mother again. She shed a small tear. Her heart was broken. Diana shouldn't have lied to her son.
.
- Year 754 - "The Red Brick" - in the Underground
'A true Utopia, don't you think?' Lewis' words echoed on the teenager's head.
"It's true. The common folk have no idea what is really going on, they have no idea there's a whole world outside," Ode contemplated.
"Don't go meddling with all that, kid. You might get in trouble with the Crown. Trust me, I have some experience there," Lewis advised.
"I won't. But I won't stay here either." the boy replied, sounding determined.
"What do you mean?" the Ackermann asked.
"I'm leaving these stupid walls, and going back to the real world!" Ode had decided, there was nothing for him inside those walls. He took out his small golden watch to check the time.
"You should get rid of that," Lewis advised him, "A boy who looks like you around these parts, carrying something fancy like that? Like I said before, you're bound to get robbed."
"I can't, this was a gift from my father. He always loved the stars!" The boy reminisced. "He said when I was a baby I would stare at them, wondering. My father was glad I loved the stars too, so he had this made for me," Ode told his story with a smile.
"That's cute. But you still need to get rid of it, if you want to live in these parts," Lewis maintained.
"I already told you. I don't want to live here. I want a way out," Ode said again with determination. 'I'll make my way out,' he thought.
Lewis sighed. 'Teenagers,' he thought. "Good luck finding one. Now get out of my face! I already wasted too much of my time with you, boy." he said very grumpily.
- Year 754 - Somewhere in the outskirts of Trost
[A few days later]
"Are you sure you want me to erase it all?" The goldsmith asked, with the golden pocket watch in his hand. "It's a shame. It's a good message," the old man added.
"Yes, like I said, I'd rather not have that inscription. This is why I asked for you to erase it, please," Ode repeated sternly.
The inscription said: "To you, my son. Be the master of your time. - Armin Tybur."
"It's truly a shame," the goldsmith insisted, he could see it was something sentimental. He looked at the boy once more, at his manner and looks and thought about. "I could erase the name, and leave the nice message if you prefer," he suggested.
Ode considered for a moment, he passed his hands through his hair thoughtfully. "Maybe," he cogitated. He knew he should only be wary of his family, and his name. "Yes, it could be best that way," he thought of his father and how he didn't want to lose that memory.
The goldsmith proceeded with the watch next to the fire. "Wait!" Ode exclaimed, the man stopped. "Just- just the surname. You can leave the first name," he stuttered.
The goldsmith proceeded, erasing the name completely. The fire burned through the gold and made it new again, with no crease or mark, like the word was never there.
It now said: "To you, my son. Be the master of your time. - Armin."
The boy walked away, to the outskirts of town. He was determined to start a new life for himself, with a new name. An eagle watched him from a small post, he looked at it and smiled. He watched as the majestic bird opened up its wings, lifted up and flew across the sky. He watched as it effortlessly flew over the Wall. Ode smiled again. 'I will fly away too,' he thought.
.
- January, 29th - Year 877 - The Lighthouse
An old and broken watch washes on the shores of the Lighthouse. The muddy and corroded piece no longer shimmers, the gold that encases it is dingy and the inscription is now hard to read. The small pocket watch had been made to last and it had been made with precision. And impressively enough, even after ten years deep in salt water, even after ten years rocking with the waves, it still 'ticked'.
The small watch washed upon the shores of the old building, where the owner stood, admiring the waves, thinking of life and the past. Waiting.
The Lighthouse owner couldn't believe when seeing it: the small pocket watch was right there. It felt like an illusion. A hand reached for it, to grab it.
.
- Year 820 - Somewhere in Paradise Island - inside the Walls
The old man was feeling tired, he knew his time was coming. These were his last days on Earth, he was preparing to rest. He took a portrait from the window, from amongst the portraits of his family. He smiled as he passed his hands over the image of that beautiful and stern-looking woman. "I will see you soon, mother," he said. It was a picture of his mother: Orla.
He could sense a figure forming from a shadow, coming into his room. It was his eldest grandchild, arriving for one last visit.
"And I here thought you had forgotten about me," the grandfather said.
"I would never," his grandchild replied, suavely walking into the room with a new coat full of bloodstains and a ferociously tamed manner.
"What do you want of me? I'm too far in life and in death to give to you anything of worth," the grandfather ascertained.
"Talk to me, grandpa. Aren't you just about to die anyway?" Kenny replied.
End of Chapter Ten: "Tybur"