JAEGER WAR (an anime + Avatar fanfiction)

Episode 16 - The Hero of the Story

As Eren crossed the portal, he contemplated the left pieces of Shiganshina.

Where it all started.

He stood there, almost frozen, as the memories of simpler times flooded through his brain...

'Oh, yeah. You're much more of an Eren Jaeger.'

...But there was no room for those times now.

Eren turned to face a young boy with his head shaved and blue tattoos all over his body, sitting on top of a broken staircase. The flying lemur on his shoulder took flight, losing itself in the ruins of the city, the flap of its wings the only sound being heard, echoing across the dead city of Shiganshina.

Eren stared at the boy. 'I take it Floch is dead.'

He nodded, not a single piece of satisfaction on his face.

'This day extracts a heavy toll,' Eren sighed as he walked closer to the staircase. 'Still, he accomplished his mission.'

'You may regret that. He brought you face-to-face with the Avatar.'

'And where do you think he brought you?'

The Avatar looked around. 'Let me guess... your home?'

A sad smile crossed Eren's face, as he raised his left foot to the first step of the staircase.

'It was.'

He clenched the Gauntlet and a red light shone bright. The Reality Stone did the rest: all around them turned into what Shiganshina was many years ago. Cobbled streets full of people, birds singing, the sun shining.

Three kids running down the street. One with blonde hair, the other with a red scarf, and one who would change the world.

'And it was beautiful,' Eren muttered.

Then, an enormous shadow behind them emerged. The Avatar raised his head in surprise, but Eren didn't need to turn. He knew exactly what the boy was seeing.

'But then everything changed when the Titans attacked. Or should I say, when Marley did. When they decided to exterminate my people, my friends and family, just because we were born this way.'

He looked straight to the Avatar's eyes. 'Just like they did with your people. An endless cycle of hatred. That's why I offered a solution.'

'The Rumbling,' the Avatar answered.

'I thought that the only way for the people I loved to live in peace was to destroy the rest of the world. To be free. But then...' He nodded at the boy. 'I discovered I wasn't the only one suffering. I saw your world, Avatar, and the other five. The Fire Nation, the ninja wars, alchemists, demons and demon slayers, heroes and villains. They all were perpetuating the endless cycle of hate. Of war. So I realized that the Rumbling wasn't the solution. That there was another way to bring balance.'

'Another genocide,' replied the Avatar, reluctancy in his eyes.

'But random, dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. To eldians and marleyans. To guilty and innocent.' He paused for a second. 'They called me a madman. And the cycle kept going.'

The illusion vanished. The ruins of Shiganshina spoke for him.

'Congratulations, you're a prophet.'

'I'm a survivor.'

'Who wants to murder millions.'

'With all six stones, I could simply snap my fingers. They would all cease to exist.' He looked straight into the Avatar's eyes. 'I call that mercy. More mercy than me or you have ever experienced.'