COMRADES • Eren Jaeger

CHAPTER 42: Alliance

Disclaimer: This chapter was written months before Season 4 of the anime aired. Everything you will read is based on the manga, not the anime.

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AS PROMISED, Eren spared you. In all that time you had spent revisiting old memories, hardly a fraction of a second had passed in the outside world. As you slipped back into the skin of your now-healed mortal body, you were thrown back into the real world as Eren's Titan turned into a massive skeletal-like creature.

His last few promises replayed in your head over and over, your horrified eyes fixed on the thousands of Titans that came crumbling down the Walls.

"I will free us, Y/N. I will destroy our cage."

Wall Maria fell for the last time. Eren's new Titan body loomed over the entire district, the Colossal Titans that had been slumbering within the Walls breaking free to follow his every order and walk past the humans beyond the ocean, where his fingers had pointed over the horizon so long ago.

"Hear me, all subjects of Ymir."

The world flashed into the Paths dimension once again, but this time, you were not alone. At Eren's beckon, every last Eldian — the Survey Corps, the Warriors, those in Paradis, those in Marley — stood on the sand, visibly confused and fearful as his words echoed in their minds.

"My name is Eren Jaeger. I now speak to all Subjects of Ymir by way of the Founding Titan's power.

"Every wall on the island of Paradis has been unhardened. All of the Titans buried within them have begun to walk. My goal is to protect the people of Paradis, who bore me and raised me.

"The Titans of the Walls will trample and rumble all the lands beyond this island. Until every life there is eliminated from this world."

Pain engulfed your body when you returned to the real world. Blood, sweat, and dirt stuck on your skin like glue. Smoke carried through the air as you stumbled through the streets, struggling to walk in a straight line like you were drunk. The shaking beneath you made the earth tremble in fear. Each step boasted of power that no mere human could defeat with a sword.

"Mikasa!" you called.

In a quick second, you heard the sharp swing of steel wires and felt familiar arms wrap around you before being lifted up. You and Mikasa stumbled onto a collapsing roof, to see that you were in the middle of Shiganshina District as the world went to shreds around you.

"Your arm," said another. You looked up to see Armin, also on his knees while he gazed at the Titans moving forward. "Eren fixed it?"

"Not Eren," you answered. "Ymir."

"You met Founder Ymir?"

"Mikasa! Armin!" You turned your head to see Jean and Connie, holding a Titan-marked Falco in their arms as they swung through the rooftops towards you. "And — Y/N?"

"Eren is not being controlled by the Founding Titan," you said. You wiped blood from your temple. "I was never controlled by Zeke or Eren. I was a double-crosser, but I couldn't beat him."

"You — what? Double-crosser?" Jean demanded. He took you by the forearms and forced you to face him. "Whose side are you on? Us or Eren?"

"Let her go," said Armin grimly. "Eren is clearly with us. So is she."

"Eren is with no one but himself," you spat. You looked down. "No one can stop him. He's too powerful. There's nothing we can do."

"Who's to say you won't just go back to where Eren is?" Connie accused. "That place he took us to, with the sand?"