Epilogue

<<Armin POV>>

I still couldn't believe it...

'How could there be such a huge titan?! Where did it come from?! How did the Survey Corps not notice that damn thing?!!'

'It couldn't have appeared from thin air, so how?!!!' Various thoughts brushed by my mind as I tried to comprehend the absurdity of this situation.

It had been a few hours since Wall Maria was destroyed and we somehow managed to make it out alive... Although I had lost consciousness, Mikasa filled in the details for me.

After that lipless titan rushed us and dropped quite the motherload, Aunt Carla was stuck under the rubble... Eren was blown away with me while Karl and his mother suffered the brunt of the rocky hail...

In an effort to save her, both Eren and Karl tried to lift the humongous wreckage, resulting in them suffering grave injuries.

Karl seemed to have fainted after overexerting himself, just as Uncle Hannes swooped in and saved us in the nick of time. If it weren't for him, we'd probably...Sigh...

Soon after, another Titan broke through the Inner Wall, leaving humanity no choice but to abandon Wall Maria. The evacuation was haphazard, leaving families to be torn apart with no confirmation on the well being of their loved ones...

Once we arrived within Wall Rose, Uncle Hannes left us in the care of one of his friends called Keith, who brought all of us to this old warehouse.

Of course, once he began treating Karl, who had the greatest visible injuries, Uncle Keith began mumbling about some miracle, saying that there was no way Karl could've survived this long.

Although I didn't understand the specifics of his injuries, I was able to get the gist of it. With fully broken fingers coupled multiple tears along his arms and legs with his left arm popped out of it's socket, Uncle Keith spent the better part of an hour fixing him up.

Also, not to mention the hole in his thigh and extensive bleeding from head to toe, it truly was a miracle that Karl was alive while considering the extent of his blood loss...

Eren had a few broken ribs but no significant bleeding except for some minor cuts and bruises. But, according to Mikasa, the same could not be said for his psyche...

After treating everyone's injuries, Uncle Keith left, saying that he would be back in a while. Mikasa opted to take care of Karl while I did the same for Eren.

Mrs. Ackerman and Arran were relatively uninjured and were sleeping on some hay. With all that had happened these last few hours, they did deserve to take a break...

My Grandpa was also able to get to the ship, but he refused to answer no matter how many times I asked about Mom and Dad's whereabouts... He left a little while ago, saying he'd bring us all something to eat...

'There was no way Grandpa would have left without Mom and Dad, so they must've gotten separated...! He must've gone out to look for them now!' I tried convincing myself desperately, but to no avail...

'Mom and Dad are still alive...! I just know it...!' Yet the whispers of despair said otherwise, growing louder by the minute...

"Stop Karl! You shouldn't move!" Mikasa's voice pulled me out of my stupor as I turned towards them. Karl was seated upright, leaning on Mikasa, for is horribly damaged arms couldn't support his own weight...

Still, he held himself up as he took heavy laboured breaths. Looking around, he stared at the sleeping Eren for a bit, before sending a questioning gaze to me.

"He'll be fine. Same can't be said about you though..." I said, as he turned to observe his own broken body.

Touching his bandaged forehead and arms, he sighed as he shut his eyes for a bit. Suddenly, he clenched his fists tight, taking one deep breath after another, worrying both Mikasa and I.

But, in the end, he did something that none of us understand or even expect...

"Heh..." His face face twisted into a smile, yet his eyes said otherwise.

"Heh... Heh..." Still, he continued laughing in short bursts, coughing from time to time. Soon enough, he coughed up a fit as the sound of laughter shifted into that of sobbing he banged his broken fists on the ground.

With tears dripping slowly from his eyes, Mikasa slowly hugged him as he continued to cry in her arms. I walked up to him and softly patted his back with much difficulty, for the fear of reopening his wounds.

Karl calmed down after a while, slowly looking towards the ceiling. His eyes seemed hollow and lifeless as they continued to stare at the empty darkness for a few long seconds, refusing to blink...

Karl, please rest... Mikasa urged him, finally waking him from his stupor. He gave her a weak smile before asking me a single painful question.

"What about your... parents Armin?"

I shook my head, for acknowledging the truth would be far too harsh on my psyche...

"I'm sorry..." He said as I bit my lips at those words, feeling quite ashamed.

In fact, it was Karl who had to see his mother die right before his eyes. Yet, he was concerned about my parents, while there I was, not even asking about his well-being...!

"Um... Okay...?" I asked awkwardly, unable to form a proper sentence even...

"Yes... I think so..." He said as is eyes darkened, as if he were reliving his horrid memories...

Neither of us spoke any further, as a piercing silence descended in the warehouse. It was quite a depressing hour...

"Eren!! Karl!!" Uncle Grisha rushed in with Uncle Keith in tow. He was horrified as he saw the state in which his sons were, calming down slightly only after an extensive examination, priority being Karl of course.

"Dad..." Karl said as his voice trembled, while Uncle Grisha continued to check his injuries. I had no clue as to what he was doing, since Karl was completely covered in bandages.

Then, Uncle Grisha looked straight into Karl's eyes with a grim yet determined gaze, almost as if he were implying something. But, what worried me more was that Karl had the same expression on his face...

"Dad... I'll do it..." He said, eliciting a strange reaction from Uncle Grisha. After a few seconds of intense staring, Uncle Grisha nodded as he stood up and walked towards Eren, looking after his injuries as well.

With a short sigh, he turned towards me and smiled weakly. Slowly raising his fist, he tapped light on my chest as he spoke,

"Armin, you were always a smart child and now, you're not a scrawny weakling anymore. No matter what, never lose faith in your own capabilities."

"Mikasa..." He smiled at her, quickly pulling her into hug, leaving her absolutely flustered. I could hear him whisper something in her ears, as Mikasa's eyes suddenly widened in shock.

But, she abruptly fainted, courtesy of Karl pressing the back of her neck for a bit...

"She should be up in a few." He said, trying his very best to stand up. But, with that hole in his thigh, it'd be a miracle if he could ever walk again. Then again, Uncle Keith said that Karl being alive was a miracle in itself, so I'd just be jinxing myself by saying otherwise.

"Ugh... Armin, promise me that you won't answer the questions she's going to ask. Please..." He requested as he fell on his ass, rubbing his butt with a pained expression. Somehow, I managed to nod, earning a cheery yet tired smile from him...

Obviously, with his current injuries, he could barely move his legs which still caused his expression to twist into that of pain. In the end, Uncle Grisha picked him up as the both of them left without another word.

Being carried away like a child, Karl looked back at the sleeping figure of his brother, before reluctantly shifting his gaze away...

Meanwhile, I continued to stare at this confusing scene, trying to make heads or tails of it. Uncle Keith vocalized my concerns, earning a look of contempt from Uncle Grisha, shocking me quite a bit.

It was the first time I saw such an expression on Uncle's usually warm face. Also, for some reason, I seemed to be having a lot of firsts today...

Soon enough, they disappeared in the woods, leaving me to my own thoughts. Although I didn't want to acknowledge it,it seems awful lot like a Farewell speech... But, there was no way right?

Just then, I was startled by Mikasa's sudden jump as she observed her surroundings in a flash. She turned towards me with a cold glint in her eyes and spoke a single word.

"Where?" She asked, to which I shook my head. For some reason, I stuck to my promise, earning Mikasa's ire for the first time. Still, even as she shook me and demanded an answer, I still refused to speak a word, as if I had no choice but to do so...

After that, she just slumped down, curling up in a depressed state. Carefully inching towards her, I stopped a few meters away, just as she sent me a hateful glare with a most certain promise of blood...

"What did he say?" I asked, patiently waiting for a reply for the next few minutes.

"To... take care of you guys until he returned..." She said as she sunk deeper into her own arms, actively avoiding me. Instinctively knowing that I shouldn't prod any further, I returned to my own spot, wondering what kind of future would be awaiting us...

If only I knew that I would regret everything I had done that night... That maybe, if I had stopped Karl and tried to reassure him in some way instead of watching him leave, would I have been able to change something?

***

<<3rd Person POV>>

Under the light of a setting sun and the loud yet unnoticed rustling of the leaves of a certain forest, a middle aged man could be seen walking with a child in his arms.

It would have been an ordinary sight, if not for their grim countenance and the obvious piercing silence that weighed down upon them.

If one didn't know better, it could've been said that they were heading to their own deaths while being fully aware of it. A truly bizarre view, in this otherwise picturesque forest.

Soon enough, they arrived by the side of a certain medieval wagon, as the stench of blood reached their noses. Surprisingly, neither of the two had any reaction to that gut-wrenching smell, as if it were a staple in their line of work...

"Can you change it?" The middle aged man, with a wrinkled forehead and tired eyes hidden under his thick glasses spoke out loud, causing a slight twitch in the child's eyes.

"I don't know..." The child replied hesitantly, yet his eyes sparkled with a firm determination. Observing this change, the middle aged man let out a quiet sigh, walking towards the unnatural wagon in a slow pace.

His hands trembled ever so slightly as he clutched onto to the hood, revealing the unfortunate being within to the child in his arms. Still, the child didn't show a single hint of discomfort looking at the mangled corpse before him.

It was that of a young child, fully draped in a loose white robe, blotted with what could be considered his own dried blood. With a twisted neck and multiple broken and protruding bones, the view itself was enough to make a lighthearted person faint.

"Do what you must." The middle-aged man said, as the child pulled out a white bead from thin air. The middle-aged man's eyes narrowed at the phenomena, but he kept quiet while the child dropped the pill in a large pool of the corpse's blood.

Watching the bead sink into the blood, the child nodded as the man pulled away, walking towards a certain dry patch of land. But, he stopped in his tracks, turning to the child who was tugging is collar with a questioning gaze.

"Also, Dad... I want to test something." The boy asked as the middle-aged man, his Father, narrowed his eyes. However, he nodded in understanding the very next instant, setting the child down at the base of a tree.

Then, he extended his hand, curling up the sleeves as he reached into his coat pocket. With a medical scalpel, he cut his arm from the elbow to the wrist without even a single hint of hesitation.

Taking the bead summoned by his son, he stuffed it deep into the gash, brushing off the pain with his stoic countenance, for this much was nothing compared to the times he was tortured within those blood soaked cells...

Due to the unexpected delay caused by the son's request, the duo had no choice but to wait in silence. With a deep breath, the son turned to meet the piercing gaze of his Father,

"I'm sure you have a lot of question so..." The son spoke, only to be interrupted by his Father's fierce yet cold tone.

"Just one."

"Did you ever consider us to be family?" He asked, looking at his "son" with a cold gaze. It was almost as if he were certain that the boy before him wasn't his own, which was absurd considering the obvious similarity in their facial features.

Still, the son understood the reason for his Father's behavior, for nobody would be glad to know that their child's psyche could have quite possibly been usurped by a being that never belonged in that world.

The boy lowered his gaze as he pondered for a bit, while the father's lips trembled ever so slightly. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm himself, for learning of your son's otherworldly origins the day your wife was killed could be quite taxing on one's spirit.

After a while, the boy looked up, seeming quite confident in his answer as the Father waited for it.

"In all my lives, there were only three people that I could genuinely call family."

"First, the headstrong and impulsive Eren Yeager, my twin brother."

"Second, the devoted and caring Grisha Yeager, my father."

"Lastly, the outwardly terrifying yet inwardly loving and tender-hearted Carla Yeager, my Late mother."

The child spoke in a confident tone, yet he couldn't hide the sadness and guilt showing on his face at the mention of his mother.

The Father, on the other hand had dark shadow cast over his eyes. Although he had not seen all the memories of his "son", the tidbits he had seen were certainly the most unpleasant. No child should have suffered for his parent's mistake in such ways...

Although the answer had not fully satisfied him, it had certainly eased the doubts that were eating away at his mind. With a nod, he pulled out the bead, which was now dyed a deep red, from the gash in his arms.

Bringing the other one that was left within the cart, he handed the two red beads to his son, who accepted them as they then vanished without trace.

Seeing that they had dilly-dallied long enough, the Father pulled out an old case from his coat pocket, opening the case as he gazed at the vial and the empty syringe. The vial seemed to have a glittering liquid, that looked more and more enchanting the longer one stared at it.

Filling the syringe with the milky contents, the Father turned to his son, who still leaned on the tree, with a solemn gaze. Contrary to his countenance however, his hand that held the syringe trembled as the other hand did it's very best to keep it still.

Once they were at eye-level, he pointed the trembling syringe towards his son's arm, moving at a pace that seemed to take almost an eternity. Once the tip of the syringe touched the boy's bandaged arm, he leaned closer, hanging his other arm over the neck of his father.

"Thank you... For always doing your very best for me... For all of us, Dad." The child whispered into his Father's ears, just as the syringe's contents were injected into his arms.

With the shadow of certain death looming over him, he finally let go of his facade as he hugged his son, letting the floodgates burst. Still, he had no qualms about his death, for he had been living on borrowed time all these years...

He had too many regrets in his life... Too many unfinished goals... Too many people that he had hurt in ways he could never take back...

But, knowing that he was able to resolve one of those regrets, no matter how trivial, had given him a sense of satisfaction and hope.

The words of his son might seem like a whisper of comfort due to pity, but somehow, he knew that they were genuine. The overwhelming grief his son felt at his own impeding death and the blazing determination to set things right... By some miracle, he could feel the depth of those swirling emotions.

Feeling genuine human warmth for the last time in his life, he closed his eyes as he waited, in what seemed like an eternity of silence. The very next instant, the flash of yellow lightning landed on their being, as his son was replaced by a bloodthirsty seven-meter tall giant...

The events that transpired that night would be brushed off as "Absurd" or "Impossible" by an ignorant mortal, yet it was nothing more than the truth.

Yet, it was on this day, the personification of Mankind's hatred, ushered in by their own arrogance, was born.

It was, without a doubt, the birth of a young Devil, with a simple yet effective motto.

'An eye for an eye, A tooth for your entire damned Country!!'

***

A/N: 2,999 Word count. Another chap will be up later today, mostly an 'Author's Thoughts'

Anyway Folks, with that, Vol.1 is now officially complete! Yay!

Edit: To those who think it will be similar to canon, why? Why'd I write a fanfic if I'm going to follow the canon anyway?

Also, ofc he's gonna WANT to exterminate Marley. But Karl is not an indifferent idiot, i.e., he knows who to kill and will specifically target them.

The last few lines were a small tribute that I wrote for the canon. It's meaningful to me, a newb, who has finished writing a whole volume...

BTW, I never specified who the Devil was...