Vengeance Of A Human

To The Very End: Vengeance and Freedom

"Those Titans...I'm going to kill them all." I turned to the right, seeing three other kids my age. I recognize them from school. The only blond of the group, wearing a blue jacket, brown suspenders, and a white shirt is the shy but smart Armin Arlelt. The girl beside him wearing a white dress, a tan sweater, and a red scarf around her neck is Mikasa Ackermann, the toughest girl I have ever met. She scared most boys, but I never felt it myself. The last of the trio stands on the side of the boat, his words being the reason I looked over to them. He is black-haired, wearing dark pants, a green shirt, and a red jacket is the hot-headed leader of the trio, Eren Jaeger. He stared at the water as his friends join him, screaming out to the land, "Every single one."

I looked away, down to my hand. A single tear dropped in my palm, and I clutched it tightly. I silently allow Eren's words to dwell on my mind. For my parents...my friends...my neighbors...my hometown...I must fight back and join the military, and the front lines of action too. Not the Military Police who rather stay safe in the capital, or the Garrison who became lax in their protective efforts. I will wear the green cloak of the Scouts, and risk my life to destroy the Titans.

And with that, if I meet the one who will be known as the Armored Titan, I will kill it myself...is what I thought to myself nine years ago.

As I sit on the boat that took us from the infested Shiganshina to Trost within Wall Rose, my smaller frame stands up and wades through the crowded deck until I stand beside Eren, gazing out to our hometown. Many questions run through my mind as I think of how to speak to Eren. Why is he doing this? Does he know what it could lead to? Why am I here? The last thing I remember is setting foot and walking on the ground, just a few meters from Reiner’s Armor Titan.

“It is the only way.” I turn to Eren, who just answered my first unspoken question. He continues to face Shiganshina, his face devoid of emotion. “I told Armin the same not too long ago, before this fight. This is the only way.”

“Why is it? We had other means, Eren.”

“The world accepted me as a monster the moment Tyber declared it. You were there and heard it too. No matter what, as long as they believed me and the Founder to be a threat, Paradis was in danger. It was the reason for what we see right now, nine years past.”

I fold my lips and turn back to the land. “That’s why...you told us to fight. If we took you out, we’d be seen as heroes.”

“Armin said the same, and you are right. I did everything I could to drive you to it, to push you away to the point you would consider killing me to save the world… I’m sorry, but it had to be done.”

“Did… Did you know Sasha would--”

“Yes. I knew Sasha would be shot in Marley. I did not, however, know she’d live. As far as I knew, that simple event would put you against me immediately. So if anyone would kill me with the intent to do it, of my three childhood friends, you wouldn’t hesitate… Yet I never understood why you didn’t kill Reiner that day. You had him right there… I wonder if something influenced that.”

“...The Founder?”

“Maybe. After all, it was me through the future memories of the Attack Titan, or maybe that along with the Founder, that influenced my father to kill the royal family. Bertholdt should have died at the front gate of Shiganshina when Dina Fritz’s Titan entered the town, but he didn’t. Dina went...elsewhere.”

My eyes widen as Eren makes a silent confession. I slowly close them, coming to terms with what he just claimed. “Ever since you triggered the power four years ago, since your touched Historia, you’ve known everything, haven’t you.”