And so, it is done.

With a single strike, his head was decapitated from the inside of the Colossal Titan mouth. Mikasa, still blinded by a thousand emotions, finally departs her lips from her beloved's. As reality sets in, she accepts with a bitter look what has just occurred. She killed him. She stopped the devil of Paradis. Her cherished childhood savior, Eren Jaeger.

As the Titan begins to crumble - its holder now detached from it - Mikasa leaps in a flash of agility. The cables of her 3D maneuvering gear hook themselves onto the nearest teeth, and the Ackerman makes her escape. Eren’s head, of course, is held firmly against the woman's chest as they take off. Strangely, Mikasa feels as if she could notice a mysterious, child-like figure, facing her as she heads for the exit. But the vision vanishes, and Mikasa’s questioning on the matter along with it. For indeed, there remains within the woman no headspace for any more speculations. Her head is clouded with nothing but a single thought. Eren. 

Mikasa jets out of the massive jaw. She spirals around the falling Titan body, soon carrying out her landing upon the unstable ground. The scarlet giant collapses behind her. 

Mikasa gazes at the severed head once more. Eren's eyes are peacefully closed.

Ah yes, Eren. The single most important person in her life. And yet, also her victim. What a twisted turn of events, that one is. For Mikasa knows that this liberation from unrequited love, deep within, will never be enough to overcome the guilt of killing its vessel.

However, these dark thoughts are halted as Mikasa notices something which puzzles her. 

Armin’s Colossal Titan, in the same fashion as Eren’s, is stumbling over. Almost as if the commander of the Survey Corps had lost control over the God of Destruction. Could he be exhausted from their fight, Mikasa wonders. But before she may deduce the answer, the monster's shadow engulfs the Ackerman. The soldier bolts away in a dash of steel, leaving Armin’s Titan crashing behind the motion. 

« Armin! » Mikasa shouts in worry. Just a moment ago, he was battling by her side in the hopes of stopping Eren's madness. What could have possibly happened to him, in so little time?

By a splendid vertical maneuver, Mikasa propulses herself upwards. Dodging the hot steam exuding from the fallen Titan, she settles upon the nape of the red being. The scout reaches out for her last remaining blade - the one used to condemn their friend, still damp in his dark blood.

As Mikasa averts her gaze, she slices the back of the vast neck. And in a a burst of smoke, Armin’s body emerges out of the gash and becomes exposed.

« Armin! Are you alright?! » the woman asks, hurrying to the commander's side.

At first glance, Armin's body appears intact, and his breathing sustained. Yet, something is... off. Armin fails to react to his comrade's calling. Instead, the boy remains dormant against the visible spine of his Titan. « Armin? Armin! » Mikasa persists. Blade now returned to its case, the scout uses her one available hand to shake the young man’s back in an attempt to awaken him.

Just as Mikasa begins to panic, she picks up on a discrete mumble. Armin is talking.

« Thank you… mass murderer… for our sake… » What? What could any of this mean? Mikasa catches a glimpse of Armin’s face. He is... sleeping? In what world? How could he have so suddenly entered a slumber this deep?

As Mikasa's baffled visage contorts in fright, a sudden zipping buzz carries its way towards her.

« Oi, Mikasa! What the hell is going on? You killed Eren, right? » Captain Levi appears as confused as she is. The man, landing on the back of the immobile Titan with pitiful clumsiness, slowly limps her way. He notices Eren’s head being held beneath one of Mikasa’s arms, but does not pay much attention to it. The Captain seems much more preoccupied with someone else’s fate. « Shit. Armin too? »

« What do you mean? »

« You haven’t noticed? Well, I guess you couldn’t see much from inside that dirty Titan mouth. » Mikasa stares at Levi with complete bewilderment. « Hey, don’t look at me like that. I got no clue as to what’s going on either. As I destroyed the teeth on Eren’s Titan to let you pass through, I started noticing some strange things. I managed to fly my way around, somehow. But when I faced in the other direction... every single Titan had suddenly stopped moving. »

« What? »

« I told you, I don’t know. But all of them started falling like flies. I didn’t have time to go check if they’re still alive either. Maybe I could’ve, if it weren’t for these damn wounds… Hey, do you think it’s got something to do with you killing Eren? »

« I'm not sure... But Armin isn’t dead. I heard him speak! He looks asleep. »

« Asleep? So what, did they all decide now was the perfect time for a nap? Listen, even if that were the case, it can't be good. Everyone besides you and me was affected. »

« Everyone?! »

« Yeah. All Titans. As in, even the Pure ones. » As Levi finds himself plunged within his own speculations, a sudden and terrifying thought thunders through his mind. « Shit! The Worm! Where is it?! » Troubled, the Captain spins and scouts out the horizon.

In the opposite direction, slithering through the faraway distance, the Worm indeed remains unscathed. And with Reiner - much like all other Titans - now unconscious, no one may now be there to stand in its way. It charges forth, squirming towards the unbudging Founding Titan body. « That damn thing! Who the hell knows what’ll happen if it gets back in there! We must stop it at all costs, you hear me Mikasa?! » The adrenaline rushing in as soon as it had left, Mikasa nods with determination.

« Yes! » Without even bothering to listen to her answer, Levi speeds off ahead. But judging by his unbalanced soaring, the man's injuries won't allow him much more of a fight.

Mikasa regains her footing, resolved to leave Armin’s body for now and assist in defeating the Worm. After all, she has a mission to complete.

That’s right. She accomplished all of this because she chose the Alliance. Because she trusted Armin’s decision. That the Rumbling and Eren needed to be stopped. No going back now.

Without wasting any more time, the remaining Ackerman tightens her scarf and holds Eren’s head ever closer.

Yet, as she does, Mikasa is assaulted of a sharp pain in the palm.

Under such torment, she tenses her body backwards - and Eren’s head is unintentionally released. The head falls down against the flesh of the Colossal Titan and rolls on for a few meters.

« Eren! » But as soon as Mikasa yells the infamous name, she grows stupefied.

Smoke. Outpouring in abundance from the severed face.

The head… It is vaporizing. Not unlike a defeated Titan's body. As confused as ever, the scout peeks at her hurt hand. It is of a bright crimson, as if burnt. Could it be? The hot steam emitting from Eren’s head is what caused this? 

Then, what of the body of the Founding Titan? Is it melting away too?

As Mikasa stares at the skeletal leviathan, however, she spots no hints of the boiling fog that should have begun emanating long ago.

Next to the bone structure, the Worm can be recognized racing ever nearer to its neck. And around the beast, a miserable silhouette swings from one side to the next, desperately attempting to distract it.

« Eren… What’s going on? » Mikasa asks the scorching head.

How odd. Much to the woman's amazement, it would seem that Titan shifter bodies vaporize too, once killed.

No, that cannot be right. If it was, then why was there no steam upon Captain Levi's beheading of Zeke Jeager? Could this then mean…-

The Ackerman's eyes widen.

She finally understands. 

A cold, yet calming breeze comes blowing through Mikasa's hair. She drops to her knees, as freezing tears begin cascading down her cheeks. 

« Eren. You’re… »

Even though Mikasa should fall to despair, nothing but relief is felt.

She is glad that she did not actually do it, in the end.

 

 

As this dreadful spectacle ensues, another one is soon to commence. Leaving behind the former, one's attention is drawn to the very end of the Founding Titan’s body. There, behind this gargantuan array of ribs, concealed from anyone’s sight by the tip of a massive spine, lies something in secrecy.

The veil of smoke from the halted Colossal Titans of the Rumbling let a vague cylindrical silhouette be distinguished. Its presence veiled, yet not fully masked. The further along this shape extends for, the clearer it becomes to the eye. This mysterious object keeps on trailing backwards, soon leaving the corridor of steam and revealing itself. A long, white cable. A thick string, half-hidden under the ground. It somehow found a way to partially dig itself into the harsh soils of the continent, only ever being noticeable if one were purposefully looking for it. This curious rope extends on for an unimaginable distance, its length being nothing short of ridiculous. 

As the gaze of the most curious of birds follows this line of white, the animal is eventually faced with the ocean itself. And with it, the strand goes from camouflaged to undetectable. For as the land becomes sea, the cord is plunged within the dark depths of the abyss. Inside it, impossible to notice its unfitting nature. But for the most intrepid of flyers, this is no too great an issue. For, waiting by the other side of the  blue horizon, can only be found a single destination. Paradis Island.

And once the beige of the beach is observable once more, so is the thread. It sprouts out from the bowels of the ocean, before resting beneath a subtle sheet of sand. And as these grains turn to dirt, strange scars carved into the soils of the island accompany its path. Amidst the uncountable massive footprints left by the Rumbling, what appears to, in fact, be marks of some gigantic hands and fingers, may also be distinguished. Almost as if some of the Colossal Titans had went out of their way to conceal the string beneath the earth, whilst the rest of their kin remained preoccupied with flattening the world. Creation in destruction, perhaps. 

Dissimulated inside the genocidal army's mist, no one could have ever discerned such labor.

It stops. The cord does not advance any further. It ceases its impressive journey, right here and there. In the middle of a devastated city. By these parts, the outline of the once towering walls have been buried by the stomps of the Rumbling. And, unnoticed amongst the debris and the dead, is nestled an object of immaculate shine. A bright, pale crystal. Large enough to contain a person. Seemingly, it is cracked open. If something, or someone, was ever concealed inside this shell, they left it, not so long ago. 

 

 

Somewhere, amidst these apocalyptic ruins, a man can be observed walking. Surrounded alone by the destruction he has caused. His gait, unbalanced and erratic, could make one assume he would lose his footing at any moment. For these lumbering steps make the Eldian appear as if carrying the world's heaviest burden. And he might very well be.

As the sun begins to set, the man's torn apart, fuming visage reveals its insides. The red flesh of his face makes for a disturbing contrast with his long, waving dark hair. A sudden breeze blasts the ebony backwards, fully exposing under the solar spotlight his bones and muscles. Translucent tunnels of steam gush out from these. And, finally, his skin gets replenished down to the last missing fiber.

His head has successfully regenerated. Instead of vaporizing away, very much unlike the other head is doing.

The man reaches the fields which rested behind the now razed Wall Maria, but a few hundred meters away from Shinganshina. Only now do thoughts start kicking in by the dozens - the horrors of his acts begin dragging the man's soul into insanity. Under such turmoil, most would have already crumbled under the weight of these haunting feelings. 

But not him. The Devil of Paradis remains determined on arriving to his destination. He keeps moving forward. With for only drive left his burning desire to fulfill his promise.

 

 

« Keeping quiet would never be hard for you. I know you can do it, because you’re the one who saved me that day. The worst girl in the world. »

Terrified even just a moment ago, Historia now finds herself devoid of any sense of distress. Instead, she is met with surprise, which oddly calms her down. The Queen stares longly at Eren, unable to respond.

« Historia, » Eren continues, « I never wished for you to be dragged into this. If you can keep quiet until I start the Rumbling-  »

« Why even tell me this? » Historia asks. « It’s not as if I could be of any help to your plan. And I am the Queen. I could order to have you arrested right here and now, you know? »

« But you’re not going to, » Eren retorts. Historia sighs, as she watches the vast open fields before her be caressed of the wind.

« You’re doing this for the island, how could I ever? » she says. « In the name of our people, you are ready to go this far. As the Queen of Paradis, I can do nothing but support you. Even if it’s… so wrong. » Historia faces the man once more, trembling. « Are there really no other options?! » But Eren’s silence, along with his facial expression, speak for themselves. « Then why tell me? »

« I wanted you to know, before everything starts. »

« What do you mean? » 

« I needed to make sure you know about the Military Police. So that you may protect yourself. It is impossible to predict what the government might try once I leave the island. But, more than that, I wished to let you know why I’ll do it. I won’t get another chance to. Not after everything starts. » 

« Surely you do not mean... » 

But Eren prefers not to respond.

« Eren! » Historia asks, jumping off the fence. « Don’t tell me…! The Rumbling doesn’t require the holder of the Founding Titan to sacrifice themselves in the process, does it? Why would you ever have to... to die?! » 

« When I kissed your hand,» he replies, « back in the ceremony, years ago, I saw them. »

« What? »

« Memories of the future. My Attack Titan can foresee events that have yet to occur, Historia. I cannot escape the realities presented to me. Whichever path I choose, I know what outcome it shall lead to. And the Rumbling is the only option. » The young man’s fists shake under their own strength. « Nothing else will ensure Paradis’ safety! Nothing! »

« But what does this have to do with dying! » Historia shouts. 

Eren's visage strains, the gritting of his teeth leading to a drop of blood, his shaking eyes to one of tears. 

« I saw them in the memories, my friends.  Mikasa. Armin. And everyone else... I will not be able to live with myself after this. Even if I'm not killed, I will just die from the guilt! » 

« Impossible… » Historia utters. 

For long and suffocating seconds, nothing is said, and the both of them struggle their best to dam their anguish within themselves.

Eren breathes in deeply. 

« I’ve already come to terms with it. As long as you and the island are free at last, that is enough. The rest is an acceptable price to pay. » 

Historia scoffs.

« Maybe for you, but not for me. » 

« Huh? » 

« Let me get this straight! » Historia grunts. « You come up to me out of nowhere. You confess to the ludicrous plan of a global genocide. And then, you say you'll just commit suicide?! » 

Suddenly, a flashing motion smites Eren's face. His head tilts to the right under the force. ...Did Historia just slap him?

« Are you joking?! Now I’m mad! » As Eren redirects his gaze upon her, he witnesses the incredible frustration written all over the Queen's pinkish face. « You’re about to perpetrate all these atrocities, and still expect to avoid the consequences through a cowardly death?! » Seemingly unable to go on while remaining still, Historia begins to circle around Eren, pursuing her uncontrolled rant as she violently flails her arms around. « Listen to you! You’re pretty pathetic, right now. In fact, this is no different from that day back in the cave! Here I was thinking you’d grown. But look at you! In the end, you’re still the same damn crybaby! »

Historia concludes her rambling by the other side of Eren, short of breath.

« If that is the case, » she says, growing more serene, « then I will have to stop you. I’ll wake you out of it! Just like back under the chapel, and for as many times as needed. I’ll stop you once more from wanting to die, you idiot! » 

Historia recuperates her energy. She sighs longly, and sits by the fence once again.

« You’re always protecting me these days, » she pursues, « even against what I might otherwise say. Honestly, you’re so stubborn. » Historia chuckles to herself. Her gaze avoids Eren’s, whilst her hands traverse her golden hair. « But I’m grateful. In the end, you're the only one who ever stood up for me. »

For a moment, Historia does not add anything else. She turns her head. The pair they form simply lose themselves in each other's gaze.

« If the guilt is too much to handle, then let us bear its weight together, » she says.

A radiant sunset highlights their shared moment of tranquility.

« So, Eren. » Historia continues. « What would you think… if I had a child? » 

« There’s no need for that, » Eren answers, frowning. « I already told you, distracting the Military Police with a child would only postpone their scheme. »

« Eren. » 

The man sighs. He’s not stupid. He knows fully well what the woman means.

« If I were to get a child, » she continues, « would this help you come back alive? Would it... Would it give you the drive? » 

« Even if it did, it’d be too much of a selfish reason. I refuse to use a child as a tool. »

« Then come to this child, not to save yourself, but to save them. Fight, struggle, survive, all to ensure their future. Do it for them, and every other newborn that shall see the day upon this island. » 

« ...What about you? »

« I have always wanted a child. Being a mother; this sounds like the type of life I would be proud of. » 

« I will always be your ally, » the Queen continues. « Even if this includes saving you from yourself. »

« Promise me, Eren. 

Promise me that you'll return to this child. 

That you’ll return... to us. »

 

 

The man is nearly there.

His feet traverse the grass pushed by the return of a familiar breeze. Ahead, his destination, a small wooden house, rises tall by the center of a farm. As the Devil approaches, the faraway silhouette of a surprised individual, whose face is barely noticeable from under the shadow of his beret, spurts up from the domicile’s porch.

« Mr.Jeager! » With relief, the author of the Rumbling finds his subordinate, indeed present at the planned location of rendezvous.

Arthur waves with tears shining from his unnoticeable eyes at he who he admires. Such enthusiasm is understandably expected of any devoted Yeagerist, and Arthur is no different. Furthermore, the double-agent's presence is a testimony of the plan's success. Floch was proven correct; no one would ever suspect finding royalty inside such a discrete abode. And with the additional precaution of Arthur's recruiting, there to act as a decoy in the eyes of the government, pretending to be a normal farmer, as well as a secret bodyguard, Floch had done well indeed.

She is well, the advancing man concludes with respite. This entire time, even though left behind in a vulnerable state, she, they, remained protected. 

And in fact, there they both are. Sitting upon a chair atop the porch. The woman's golden hair stands unmissable, even from afar. The man carries himself before her gaze. The Queen remains sat, letting the visitor approach. He notices that within her arms rest a young child wrapped in royal sheets. Although she is crying, Historia cannot help but smile. 

« Welcome home, Eren. »

Eren does not dare respond, captivated. He has committed such inexcusable atrocities, and yet, here he is, somehow allowed to bask in the ray of hope which lies within this child. Historia gently hands over the newborn baby. Of a careful reach, as to not disturb the sleeping being, Eren blankets his shaking hands around the daughter.

 

A flash of golden electricity bolts within the dark.

 

Eren blinks. He has been transported to a completely different location. An absolute void of utter nothingness. Thin sand now lies beneath his bare feet. And, towering from the center of the dimension, a blinding beacon of light exceeds all; the Coordinate.

Eren sneers in stupor.

He successfully retuned to the Paths.

« My final trial lies ahead, » Eren murmurs. Even though he is no longer holding the child, the Eldian remains in the posture of doing so. Breaking out from such a pose, he begins stepping towards the core of the dimension.

Yes, my last struggle, he thinks, before I can finally obtain it. Freedom. 

Curiously, this time around, Eren is not as besieged by his thoughts. This second walk, while still painful, is also remarkable of an achievement. Everything, this entire plan, went as he had intended.

The fact that his child inherited the Beast Titan is possibly the riskiest gamble he had to take. But without this Titan of royal blood, he would never have been able to gain access to the Paths again.

There were a few close calls, still.

Everything was almost lost as Gabi shot Eren's head off with a riffle. Luckily, Eren had transferred his consciousness down his spine, if only barely in time. His rival of old, Reiner Braun, was believed in a report from the battle of Shiganshina to have done so, to save his own life. Once Eren got a hold of this information, it took but some practice to master the same technique. But, to think his people could have lost everything because of some little girl with a gun, is amusing, to not say plain absurd. 

It will have been one great journey. All these years of training. All his fallen comrades. All those who perished for him to live. All the anger, the hatred, the betrayal, the joy, the sorrow, the hope. It is all coming to an end. 

And at last, Eren stands before it. The Coordinate. Through it, he sees it all. That scenery. The sight of these dozens of Titans, completely fallen asleep and vulnerable back in Fort Slava, as well as the stopped Colossal Titans. Everything he last saw before his fake head was severed. 

Whilst Eren was focused on activating the Rumbling and regenerating a new head within his Warhammer Titan crystal, the Founder Ymir took care of the rest. She summoned the previous Titan shifters to defend the Founding Titan’s head as a distraction, reducing the odds of the Alliance, which travelled from the skies, to notice the flesh cable connecting the Founding to Paradis. Indeed, the Alliance fought tooth and nail to stop this tragedy, unaware that all their struggling was meaningless. Eren had won the moment his head had touched Zeke’s hand. 

The strange Worm which started this all also acted as expected. It left the Fouding’s spine, before, out of fear for its survival, turning all nearby Eldians into Titans. That way, their memories and dreams could be altered. And now that it has seemingly found its way back inside the Fouding Titan’s body, the power of the Rumbling may be activated once more. 

Yes. Now, from inside the Paths, all which Eren has left to do is to command for his army's second march, and watch as his troops of doom finish what they started. All he has to do is wish for it.

Eren drops to his knees.

He collapses onto the white sand of the Paths, trembling. 

« I… can’t… I can’t do this! I told Ymir to let everyone dormant by transforming them into Titans.  To give them fake endings to cope with reality, to spare them from the horrors of this world. But even then... I can't do this to them! " 

As Eren says so, the obscurity of Paths contort, shaping into floating shards of falsified dreams. They circle all around the distraught man. Connie will return to his mother. Jean will achieve an easy life inside the walls. Pieck and Annie will return to their fathers. Reiner will become the hero of Marley. Armin will save the world. And Mikasa…

Even amidst the swarm of visions, none are to belong to Mikasa. 

Eren returns his vision to the Coordinate, observing within the trunk of light a crumbled over Colossal Titan. There, right next to the sleeping Armin, she sits still. Almost as if she has accepted her defeat. « Why isn't she sleeping? » Eren asks. From faraway, he notices a single soldier flying towards her; Captain Levi. Could it be? Did Ymir not succeed in offering them the same peaceful end? No… This is… 

Of course.

Ackermans cannot turn into Titans.

From his miserable pose, Eren blares in sorrow like he never has before. His entire body quivers as he screams for his friends’ lives. Just as he thought this final decision was already far too insurmountable, only does it reveal truly unimaginable of a task. 

A warm feeling settles itself around Eren. Still petrified, an unexpected source of comfort wraps around his body. The traumatized man finds himself blanketed within a child’s arms. This gesture soothes him. As he looks to his side, he recognizes the Founder Ymir. Crying.

« The Founder? » Eren mutters. As always, she does not utter a sound. She simply holds Eren close. « Why are you crying, too? »

The Founder Ymir, softly, settles in response her hands upon Eren's face, before colliding her forehead with his. Surging visions emerge from the contact, all spiraling through Eren's self. The things she had already showed him once, upon the first activation of the Rumbling.

There suddenly lies the reason behind Ymir's own struggles, for these past 2000 years.

The reason she obeyed King Fritz, despite having more power than he could ever dream of obtaining. The reason she kept the Paths and the curse of the Titans alive. The reason she held on to her shackles of slave despite the despicable, torturing orders of the royal bloodline.

It was all because she loved her children unconditionally.

Every single one of her descendants, the Eldians… She loved them. And she knew that in a world without her powers, they would perish.

Everything, all in the hopes that, one day, her people would at last be bestowed a fresh new start.

« I feel the same way, » Eren says, eye widens, heart touched. « I desire nothing but freedom for my people, who have been persecuted for the sin of being born. There must be an end to the Eldians getting marginalized, violated, enslaved, disrespected, hated and destroyed! »

« Yes, if I do not do this, it will only keep on happening.  And so, I need to sacrifice them! Every single one of my beloved friends, so that Eldian children may be born in a world free of its cruelty! »

« Let me bring you out of the forest, Ymir!

Fight!

Fight!

Fight! » 

With more determination than ever, Eren rises from the sand.

He knows what he must do. He always did. It’s just as Armin told him. Only those ready to make sacrifices may bring change to this unforgiving world. The only way to win; it is to toss aside your own humanity. To fight!

« Ymir, reactivate the Rumbling! » 

Instantly, the visions portrayed by the Paths change, and the Coordinate begins to glow of a million lights.

The Colossal Titans… have started moving again!

 

 

Mikasa has not moved for what feels like eternity. She sits calmly upon the back of Armin’s Colossal Titan, her hand brushing his unconscious shoulder. She awaits, settled in silence, for what she knows to be inevitable.

Eren’s fake head has been reduced to a fuming skull, and with this brings the confirmation that he is still alive. Otherwise, his human head would have remained intact. Such news would terrify anyone on this side of the Rumbling. But not her. Yes, she is glad she did not do it. She did not kill Eren. 

Her eyes semi-closed and her face covered in tears, she awaits. 

Behind her, clumsy steps fight their way beside her. 

« He won, didn’t he? » Captain Levi nonchalantly sits on the other side of Armin’s body. « Tsk, that brat. »

« Oh well, » he continues, « at least I kept my promise. I never really cared about all this Alliance nonsense anyway. All I wanted was that stupid ape. I finally did it, Erwin… » Levi’s voice loses intensity. « I guess, in a sense, what Eren is doing will free Paradis. I couldn’t ask for more than that. Fought long and hard for these people. It’s about time they were freed from this shit hole we call the world.»

« I guess in the end you were right to not even bother, » Captain Levi pursues. « I did try stopping the Worm, but the few blades I had left didn’t as little as scratch the damn thing. It got back inside the Founding Titan with little to no problems. Nothing’s happened yet, but it won’t take too long before it all restarts. To think I don't even have any gas left at a time like this. » He takes a long last stare at his last remaining blade, before tossing it aside. « I wasn’t expecting to spend my last moments with you. But ay, we’re both Ackermans, aren’t we? Might sound foolish, but I get to die next to family, in a sense. Something I never had until now. World’s got a pretty shitty sense of humor sometimes. » 

Yes, family, Mikasa thinks. Such a complicated, yet beautiful concept. It is something Eren would agree on, she is certain of it. Even if, in the end, that’s all they ever were. Family.

Suddenly, both behind and before them, the ground begins to rattle. The different rows of giants slowly awaken.

The Colossal Titans… have started moving again.

 

 

Eren is in utter shock. Almost as if he was there, he appears right before them. Captain Levi, Armin… and Mikasa. Akin to when him and Zeke had relived Grisha’s old memories…

 He attempts to call for them,. But of course, they cannot hear him.  Yet, for some reason, it is almost as if Mikasa may see him. At Eren’s feet lies his old vaporized head, the empty eye sockets facing in the same directions as he does - towards his sister. 

« Eren, » she says. The author of the Rumbling is taken by surprise. He scouts around him in disbelief. Captain Levi looks at her with confused eyes, yet accepts the woman’s sudden monologue, for he just did the same himself.

She offers a warm look to Eren’s skull. « You’re here, aren’t you? »

The Colossal Titans have started walking. They move forth, now unstoppable in their goal of crushing the planet. And as the ones behind Eren’s friends depart ahead, the ones in front are sure to soon catch up.

« Mikasa! I’m sorry!» Eren screams. «Don’t leave me! Armin, Captain Levi! Everyone! » But yet again, no response. Eren is met with nothing but frustrating silence. All he may do is watch.

Mikasa… Her face, in this instant, reminds him of the day they had almost died together, as they had confronted Dina Fritz’s titan. Back when Eren first discovered the true extent of his powers. By some perverted twist of fate, the powers he had once used to save her were now going to cause her demise.

« You’ve always been there for me. » Mikasa begins.

The ground resonates as the Colossal Titans approach. « I feel like I could’ve done things differently. Maybe I should’ve acted less like our mom with you. » Slowly, the scouts are shrouded in darkness by the imposing shadow of the coming doom. « And I wish I could have answered some other way, when you asked me. » Eren cannot stand this anymore. This is too much. This is too much! « But it doesn’t look like it would’ve worked out anyway. » She smiles. « Still, I have no regrets. »

A crushing sound bashes its way into the soil just a few meters behind Eren. A massive crimson foot, a step away from the traumatizing finale to this miserable spectacle. Under its force, dust, sand, and Titan blood are scattered in all directions, producing a grotesque rain of despair for this ultimate goodbye.

Levi has accepted his fate. He awaits next to the unconscious Armin. Mikasa’s hair is blasted backwards by the shock.

« And I was glad… I was glad that I could meet you. » 

The Titan’s foot has now left the ground. It makes its way above.

Eren is trembling like he never has. This cannot be happening. This excruciating feeling. This is no different from the day his mother died! The powerlessness, the tragedy, the self-loath-!

« Mikasa! » Eren screams with all of the strength he has left. He leaps forth, as his hand attempts to reach for his sister. 

« Eren. Thank you, for putting this scarf around me. ». 

The Colossal Titan steps down. 

 

 

Eren’s vision snaps back to the real world. Here, less than a second has passed.

He stands still atop the wooden house's porch. The entrance door is half-opened. Arthur must have gone inside to search for beverages and clean clothes. 

Eren cannot believe it. The horrors he has witnessed. The inexcusable sins he is committing at this very moment. There is no chance for him to live through this.

He must die.

There is no other way. Bearing such tremendous weight? How could he? His friends. His superiors. His own sister! All of them! Gone! By his own hands!-

« Eren? »

Historia, still sitting by her chair, gazes upon the man with teary eyes. She rises and comforts one of Eren’s hands with hers. «  You fulfilled your promise. Thank you. Let us live through this. Together. Because we’re enemies of humanity. » 

And Eren’s attention slowly reverts back onto the centerpiece of it all.

The infant. There she sleeps in his shaking arms. Not a care in the world. The very first Eldian to be born in a world that is theirs to explore and experience. An unchained child.

Yes.

It was all for this very moment.

Millions of lives lost. All for the one.

The tears still flowing, Eren takes a long and tender look upon his daughter. 

Of course.

He does have something to live for.

He has her.

« Ymir. »

Eren settles the child upon his shoulder and caresses her soft head. A silent hug between a child and her sinful father. And yet, perhaps did Eren still surpass his own. After all…

« You are free. »