Ch 10 – A Bittersweet Goodbye
As Eren, Reiner, and Bertholdt stand atop Wall Rose, the trio looks around the area with wary eyes from the recent events that happened yesterday.
But as they were doing that, a person wearing a green cloak bumped into the three but they simply ignored it, but due to that bump, it irritated Reiner enough to start their reveal to Eren, irrationally revealing their true identities to Eren.
'Bingo.' Freidrich thought, and without them even noticing what happened, a gun appears in his hand while he was with the scouts on top of the walls, shooting three consecutive bullets through Eren, Braun, and Berthold's head and with a stomp to the ground, the hidden fuse activates while he walks forward, exploding the bomb that was hidden right in the middle of the scouts on top of the wall killing most of them including Mikasa.
"That was easy," he mutters, biting his finger, lighting strikes to show a gigantic monkey, crouching down, he grabs the trio, and one by one, he slowly eats the three and the first one was Reiner.
As memories flood his brain, he sees little glimpses of Reiner's life, on how he was bullied, the abuse and pain he felt living as an Eldian. But even with all of that, he simply takes it all in with a cold gaze as his resolve was further strengthened.
'The injustice, the pain, the hopelessness, all of that… it's because he wasn't able to change the world to the one he deems fit. And all of that was due to him being… weak.' He thought, nodding his head as he empathizes with Reiner but his will never wavered.
Picking up Berthold next, he swallows him whole and more memories enter his mind, and finally, he was able to piece what happened on what happened to the Jaw Titan.
'So he died with a random titan, how pathetic for a warrior. Oh well, nothing could change the past.' He thought, reveling in the glimpse of memories he received from Bertholdt, further increasing his understanding of the human mind and how further he gets from the normal human who gets influenced by emotions and such.
Glancing at Eren, he raises his hand to the air and with a pop, Annie's body that was encased in a crystal cocoon appears directly in his grasp.
And using his Load Erasure, multiple spherical balls of wood directly appear all around the crystal, erasing the crystal one by one, and soon, Annie's body was now exposed to the open air, ready for him to be eaten.
'Bottoms up.' He thought, nearing his hand to his open jaw and with one gulp, Annie's body was swallowed whole as more memories enters his mind.
'Mmm, now… it's time for the whole course!' he thought, glancing at Eren's downed body on the ground and grabbing him from the waist, and without struggle, Eren's body slowly slides down his throat and directly into his stomach.
And with a flash, Braun's eyes opened wide and he suddenly appears in a field of sand and colorful branches of light high in the air all leading to a certain tree glowing with a luminescent rainbow of colors.
And as he looks around, he senses a presence behind him, casually turning his head around, he was greeted by the sight of a young girl wearing ragged clothes in front of him.
"Hello, young girl, could you please tell me what this place is?" Braun said with an amicable smile, nearing the girl as his aura changed from a dangerous beast to a kind, nice uncle.
And as he stands right in front of the young girl, she stays silent looking at him with a blank stare.
"The silent type are we? Hmm, are those titans?" Braun mutters, intrigued at the sandy structures in the distance which caught his attention.
"Are you… the one who builds the bodies of titans?" Braun said, glancing at the girl with a glint in his eyes.
"Sigh, it seems like you're the loyal type, I guess I won't be able to extract any info from you. But say… I can see that there seems to be a darkness in your eyes, one that is of pain isn't it?" Braun said, crouching down on the ground to be at the same eye level as the girl.
"I can see the despair, hopelessness, anger… You've been through a lot huh, I could say the same to me, did you know? Your titan went to keep me in their stomach for a few months, crazy right?" Braun said, moving his hands around to make the image much stronger.
But still, the girl stayed silent, silently looking at him with the same blank stare that lacks the glow of life.
"Hmm, hey kid, you want something for yourself, right? Just tell me, and if I can do it, can you give me access to the founding titan's powers?" Braun said, but she still stayed silent.
"Oh well, I can't leave this place even if I want to so I guess I'll just act as your friend even if you don't want to," Braun said, lying down on his back on top of the sandy ground.
Soon, they both just stayed in the same position for a good while until the girl suddenly moves away towards a titan structure near them, grabbing some sand along the way.
As Braun stands up, he watches her with intrigued eyes and watches her go up the titan to build it further.
"You need any help with that?" Braun asks, climbing up the surprisingly solid titan structure to reach the top of the uncomplete 5-meter titan.
But she still stayed silent, continuing to build the titan like a sandcastle with magical sand.
"You got any more buckets I can use?" Braun asks, but she still stays silent leaving him there with a blank stare.
"Okay, I'll just use my clothes then," Braun shrugs his shoulders, jumping down the incomplete titan to the sandy ground below and taking off his shirt.
With his naked upper body rippled with muscles now seen, he scoops up some sand using his shirt as a sack and tying it on his waist to bring it up the titan.
Reaching the top of the incomplete titan, he starts to mold it along with Ymir and following her intended vision, and after a few hours or so, the titan was fully built with the both of them hopping out off it to the ground, and as a beam of light shoots from the branches of light above them towards the titan, the titan disappears from their view towards somewhere else.
"Huh, so that's how Titans are made. Say, how long did it take to design my Beast Titan body? You probably lazed off and gave me less hair right? If I was you, I'd do the same, to be honest," Braun said while walking beside the girl.
"So, we building more titans?" Braun asks, watching the girl slightly nodding her head as he chuckles.
"There we go! I know you would talk to me, so what titan are we going to build next?" Braun asks, and without any answer, the girl starts walking in a certain direction, and soon, they start building the feet, the legs, the torso, body, arms, and finally the head which took them a significant amount of time but while in this place, Braun feels less exhaustion but it was still there so it means the girl beside him has been suffering for a good while.
Soon, another beam of light envelops the titan they built and they watch it get sent to the branches of light in the sky above them.
"Whew, you want to take a break right now? I feel a bit sore all around my body!" Braun said while sitting down on the ground, and without any response, the young girl sits right beside him which made Braun giggle.
"Hehe, you don't need to act so tough in front of me. I know you're suffering, but just know… everything would eventually be fine," Braun said, slowly putting his arm on top of the girl's head and patting it like an affectionate older brother.
Another day then passed, and without the need to eat or sleep, they continue to walk around the sandy lands of this unknown place and build another titan from scratch.
As they build a gigantic 15-meter titan, they stood on top of the neck of the titan as the head still wasn't built yet.
But as they were slowly sculpting the head, Braun sees the girl's foot slipping, and as she was about to fall to the ground, he hurriedly launch forward to grab her arm just before she falls to the ground.
"Hah!" Braun shouts, pulling the girl up back to the platform as their body was fully coated in sand.
"You okay?!" Braun asks, sitting beside the girl while checking her body for any bruises.
"Whew, it seems like you didn't sustain any real damage and only surface scratches. This should heal in a few hours if you rest," Braun said, but as he watches her grab some sand from her bucket and pat it on the scrapes on her legs, he watches them be magically healed and gasps in shock.
"The sand can heal us?! I didn't know that!" Braun said with shining eyes as he also grabs some sand and carefully pats it on the girl's knee and watches it heal, and with sparkles in his eyes, he watches the spectacle with child-like wonder.
With the problem now done, the duo continues to build titans, and soon, days, weeks, months, perhaps even years have passed as the two stayed together with each other in these strange lands.
Slowly but steadily, Braun continues to talk to the silent girl without any problems, and with each day passing by, she starts to show more emotion to Braun from nods to her shaking her head, to crying, and as her eyes slowly regain their glow, they became closer than ever before until eventually.
"Braun! Catch this!" the girl shouts, throwing a ball of sand towards Braun who hides behind a wall of sand of his own.
"You're not going to hit me that easily Ymir! The Mighty Freidrich Braun is a soldier who never faced defeat!" Braun shouts, smirking behind his sand wall which the ball of sand hits.
"That's not fair! Your wall is much bigger than mine!" Ymir shouts while also hiding behind her own little barricade which a ball of sand also hits.
"Well, I have a bigger body than you!" Braun shouts, rolling away from his wall while scooping up some sand, narrowly dodging the ball that Ymir throws towards him.
But somehow, as he lifts his head up with a confident grin, he was greeted by another ball of sand directly hitting his face as a loud shout was heard from the distance.
"Ha! I got you!" Ymir shouts while looking at Braun with the brightest smile she ever wore in her whole life.
Soon, she walks to Braun who lies down on the ground with a defeated smile, and crouches right beside him.
"… Braun," Ymir said with a low tone.
"Hmm?" Braun asks with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm… finally ready to let go… I'm ready to move on, so please, can you fulfill my final wish?" Ymir said, confusing Braun.
"Huh? What are you saying?" Braun said, shooting up from the ground.
"When I give you the power of the founding titan, you will be able to give me a body in the real world… when you do that, I want you to kill me… I want to finally be free from this cruel world!" Ymir said, tears flowing down her eyes as she takes Braun into a deep, tight hug leaving his mouth agape.
"N-no! I-I thought you wanted to live! W-why now?! You have me right?! You can just stay with me! For all of eternity!" Braun shouts, looking at Ymir with wide, dilating eyes.
"Sniff, Braun, I just want to finally be free… you can do that for me right?" Ymir said, wearing the most beautiful smile a being could have.
"… I… will, if it means you can live a happy life, I'll happily kill you and I promise you, when I eventually die, I'll find you to the ends of the earth in the afterlife," Braun said, tears dripping down his eyes.
"Thank you, Braun, thank you… for all the things you have done for me all this while, you were my light in this dark world, so please, bring down your terror to this unjust place and rebuild it from the ground up, change it into a world that you can deem fit and just," Ymir said, kissing Braun on the lips with a spiral of light covering the whole area around them, and with that, they were both shoots towards the branches of colorful lights high in the sky with a beam of an iridescent rainbow of colors, leaving the sandy lands now barren for a devil is born, ready to bring hell over earth and change it anew.
AN: This is 2210 words, you're welcome.
I'm now sad, give me some power stones to cure my sadness.
So is he a pedophile now? Well no, she's thousands of years old, Braun is like more than 20 mentally, so Ymir should be the one going to jail really. And if you're a smooth brain reader, yes, he's manipulating her, it was all a charade.
But then how did Ymir not find that out even though she's basically omniscient? It's because future Braun blocked her access to the visions of the future, because they're currently in the paths, and even if she did know, she would have wanted to keep the act up even though it's fake because she felt genuine happiness.
(May 19, 2022 – 176th day of writing)