1 Chapter I: Oblivion

Eren's eyes opened, realizing he was back in the Paths, laying on the sand where Zeke once was. There were no chains this time, nothing holding him back as he saw Ymir look at him in the distance. Her eyes were no longer foggy and white, they had expression and determination in them. He gulps, silently hoping that whatever Ymir has in mind for him, it will just end with everyone saved.

She isn't smiling of course when he walks towards her but she offers her hand. Eren takes it hesitantly, slowly looking down at Ymir, wondering what would happen next. Long ago, after he kissed Historia's hand, he had accepted his fate. But now, all of the things Eren had done made him question what he was leaving behind. People would see him as a mass murderer, someone that destroyed the world because he couldn't forgive what it did to him, what it took.

"This is not what you want, is it?"

No, it never was, all Eren ever wanted was to see the ocean with Armin and Mikasa. To witness all those things that the world offered in the books Armin use to read. "You wanted freedom, didn't you?"

He swallows because he knows that this was always the path, regardless of whether Eren did it alone or not. The silence answers Ymir's question, as she turns back to him, forcing Eren to follow her. Their footsteps echo in the Paths, following each other. "If you want to change your mistakes, change the past, there is a cost to this. Just like the other many things you have achieved for freedom."

Eren stops, looking down at Ymir, waiting for her to say something else, a warning, a demand, a sacrifice to change it all. To do it all over again but differently. "The presence of your past and present selves cannot exist in the timeline. When the time comes and you meet your past self, you must devour them. What mistakes you made in the past can be erased and you can start again. Do not repeat the past, Eren, only you can change it."

Ymir touches his cheek gently, almost like a mother would her child. It reminds Eren of those nights when his mother knew something was troubling him. This was his only chance, the only chance to fix everything that Eren did. He never wanted to hurt his friends, he never wanted to lose Sasha or Hange. He didn't want to die either and here he was, being offered a second chance by the Founding Titan.

"Goodbye Eren, I hope this is the last time we meet."

____________

When he wakes up, he can't quite figure out where he is, only that trees surround him. Big ass trees,as Captain Levi put it once, Eren snorts at the old remark. Looking around, all he can hear is the wind and leaves rustling. His body feels still and mechanical, straps tightening against his body in an uncomfortable way. Eren looks down and freezes, realizing immediately that he's in the gear that was created after the Marleyans arrived. Yelena and her group helped advance Paradis and the weaponry, Hange was so excited, they could barely contain themselves.

He had never really used the gear, didn't take to it very well at first. Eren remembers Jean always teasing him about the gear, saying it was like the old days in the training corps. But then the ground starts to shake violently, the telltale sound of titans approaching from somewhere. Right, titans, Eren stands straight, flying into the air immediately, landing on a high branch just in time too. Titans surround the area that he was once standing in, teeth gnawing on the trunk like dogs.

There are voices down below, and flares are suddenly shooting into the air above Eren. This was the day they found the Female Titan. Annie was here, and so were the rest of his friends, Captain Levi and Squad Levi. This was his chance, and Eren didn't have time to think all the steps through yet. He flies down, hiding behind trees to avoid being seen by the Survey Corps, following them through the trees. He can already spot Squad Levi, running through the path with their horses.

Eren takes a moment to witness that Orou, Petra, Eld, and Gunther are still alive and moving. Despite the Captain telling Eren that his squad dying was never his fault, he always blamed himself.

The Female Titan crashes through the forest, running at top speed to catch the squad. Eren launches into the air without another thought, attaching himself to the steaming skin of the Female as she runs. He follows her, his hooks attaching to her flesh near her nape, causing the titan to startle, halting. Eren spins around, his cape helping him to stay hidden as Annie swerves to catch his wires. With her movements, Eren slices her fingers off first, circling around to cut her shoulder off completely. He does the same with her other arm then her legs, causing her to fall flat to the ground.

There are gasps and wires whirring in the air as Eren lands on Annie's titan form. "Annie, you should've gone home to your father and stayed there. But I can't control what happens now, only I can fix my mistakes, and I'm sorry," he whispers to her.

His blades cut through the nape before Annie can even protect herself, pulling the young girl right out. Eren looks down at her, marks from where her skin was connected to her titan form start to steam. There's shouting in the distance but all Eren can think about is… Annie deserves to go home just like the rest of them. Standing up with her in his arms, Eren looks at her, her eyes closed and no emotion showing on her face. Horses' hooves pound loudly, halting below the steaming titan, the squad stares at him with shock.

"W-who are you?"

"Show yourself!"

"Captain, what should we do?"

There's a whole shouting match happening as Eren stands there, holding Annie while they all stare at Captain Levi. The man stares at Eren with a bored expression, but there are questions swirling in those gunmetal eyes of his. "Show yourself, soldier."

"My apologies, Captain, but I can't reveal myself. What I can do is offer Annie Leonhart to you, sir."

Petra comes forward with her blades, Oluo following her as they both glare at Eren. Those looks of disdain and anger are oblivious to Eren since he's felt them on him for years. Sliding down the steaming flesh, Eren drops Annie at Petra's feet, head tilting to the ground to hide his face. His long hair curtains around him, hiding his beautiful eyes from Squad Levi.

"Come with us! Please!"

"Eren!" Levi snaps at the boy, already knowing he'd expect an outburst from the brat the minute the stranger showed up. The stranger stiffens visibly, footsteps halting as he slowly turns toward the soldiers, only giving a peek of what was underneath. While Eren tries to get the stranger to come with them, Levi stares at the gear that the stranger wears. It's completely different from the Survey Corps', more modern in a way too. He can't help but wonder if the stranger got it done especially in the Underground or did it all themselves.

"Oi, brat, let me speak to him for a minute."

"O-oh, right, sorry sir."

Levi gets off his horse, reaching the stranger that gracefully interrupted their mission to get to Erwin. He already knows Hange will have a field day with this new discovery. They'll beg for Levi to tell them all the details over dinner. "I suggest you come with us, otherwise this could turn quite shitty in a few seconds."

____________

The rest of the scouts causes Eren to flee immediately, disappearing from the captain's very eyes. For the rest of his time in the forest, he lingers, watching every move that the Survey Corps makes. Eren follows Squad Levi closely, and the rest of the scouts as they finally leave the titan forest. Eventually, they make it back to the walls, orders being yelled out as horses are lifted over the walls. Eren can see Annie fiddling with the cuffs they've put her, probably looking for her ring.

The very ring that was now in Eren's hand as he stares, hoping it becomes dark soon so he can enter. Though it might be harder with the Garrison on duty at all times during the night.

Even so, as the sun slowly sets, he makes his move, walking through the dark silently. There is no titan insight and it leaves him to get to the walls quicker, easily getting in. Once inside, he stays unmoving for a moment, noticing that he was in the Stohess District, east of Wall Sina. If Eren could remember right, the Commander made a plan to investigate Annie as she was a suspect after the expedition. There are people everywhere, chatting, dancing, walking home; Eren envies them and their ignorance.

Sometimes he wished to forget everything and to just lay still, feeling the wind brush against his tan skin.

After walking around for a while, Eren finally decides to call it a night, finding a small inn at an affordable price. The room is small but has a decent bed and desk to make up for the size as he sits down. He embraces the darkness as he lies on the bed, eyes slowly fading to nothing but idle dreams.

____________

It's months and months before Eren finally devises a plan to get to Trost and find his younger self. He knows already that being heard and seen has changed the course of this timeline. It's not like it could do much though if Eren doesn't try to find where the Survey Corps were now. There were so many memories to go through and yet he had such a hard time remembering it all now. Ymir said that there would be consequences, was remembering the past one of them?

Eren huffs to himself, going further into the district to find proper clothes and food. People pass him, chatting aloud, children running around, chasing each other. He sits in a small corner, watching as the military police made their rounds, gambling, and drinking.

Joining the Survey Corps could be his best option to get to where he wanted, to get Eren back. For Maria's sake, why was doing this have to be so complicated? All he ever wanted was for the people he cared about to be safe, to have the freedom to not just explore the sea, but the world. Is this enough to get back what Eren sacrificed? The question keeps him in thought for the rest of the night, sitting in his room alone as dawn approaches.

There's shouting outside as Eren snaps out of his thoughts, looking out the window. There were people down there, and by the looks of it, Military Police. Great, this day was starting off so positive already. Eren grumbles to himself as he freshes up, momentarily fixing his long hair in the mirror. The shouting increases as he steps onto the streets, head tilted down to avoid any potential scouts. But then he can overhear the conversation going on with the military police near the corner.

"Buncha' suicidal maniacs, wastin' lives like to go outside the walls! Now they want us to find some damn stranger! I got better things to do than this!"

Eren pauses, eyes widening quickly as he scurries away to hide. Guess the Captain insisted on finding him or something. Or maybe the Commander saw potential in him and wanted to see for himself who the savior of the expedition was. Either way, Eren knew he had to go, he had to do something.

There's more shouting than usual as Eren passes, almost feeling like he was being watched in the distance by someone. Keeping pace with other people, Eren blends into the crowds, a dark hood covering his face from anyone's view. He shuffles through, stopping in an alleyway to avoid any more suspicions. Eren can't do anything though when there's a sensation of a cold breeze above, wind running through his hood.

He detests the silence that follows, the flags of the King swishing in the air. Eren can hear children laughing in the distance, even the moment pebbles meet cobblestone.

A flare goes off distantly, and it's green, shit!

He climbs up a ladder, making it to the roof in time to see scouts flying all over the place. There's no time to think of any alternative plan, leaving Eren to run, the wind blowing his cloak through the air. Grappling hooks almost hit him along the way, scouts flying into the air with their blades. There is no time to play games with them, and Eren saw this as a chance. If he could lead them all in different directions including his past self, Eren could snatch the kid and run. It's risky but it was worth a shot instead of running away empty.

Every time a scout follows, Eren disappears again, hiding in alleyways or anywhere he could.

The Survey Corps was spread out, including Squad Levi, all spreading out to find this mysterious person. To Levi, he found it pretty astonishing that the blonde coconut head, Armin, was able to guess where this figure could be heading. He had to hand it to Erwin to always find the good ones in this shitty-ass world. It also seemed like the stranger was certainly experienced with the ODM gear, letting the Survey Corps split up entirely.

There was something there, something in the stranger that made him seem familiar to Levi in some way.

Eren turns, spotting his past self alone, good, this was his chance to do it. Armin would be proud of him for devising this plan instead of taking action without thinking. He zips past his two friends with a sorrowful look, snatching his past self before anyone could stop him. The titan shifter yanks on the young boy's jacket, continuing into the air with the fifteen-year-old thrashing against him. "Let me go! Or I'll go titan!"

The boy keeps screaming, causing attention to draw towards them as Eren swoops low to avoid being seen again. They land on the ground for a moment only for Eren to knock the other out completely, sighing in relief for silence. It's time for me to go now.

____________

Eren races to the wall, panting heavily while holding his young self on his back tightly. With a commander like Erwin, he'll quickly think of a plan to detour Eren.

He reaches the wall in the nick of time, climbing steadily with the boy in his arms. The shifter is able to calm his breathing for a moment, forehead pressing against the coolness the wall offers him. Eren's muscles quiver, struggling to hold the weight of the young Eren in his arms. Just a few more seconds, just a few more, by Maria!

"Come on, come on, Jaeger! Pull yourself together," he harshly speaks to the wall, squeezing his eyes shut in frustration.

He gasps as a blade nearly cuts his head off, dodging it while zipping down to the ground. Beads of sweat run down his temple as he looks up to see the eyes of the captain. Levi, the name whispers in his mind, the voice almost sounds like Ymir herself, save me please. His grappling hooks snap out of place, letting Eren fall further down, feeling something wet on his left eyelid.

No, this can't be the end already.