by
Let Me Tell You a Story
Sometime during the full rumbling in Chapter 134
The discomfort went from bad to worse to excruciating. With her legs raised up and her hands gripping the stirrups, Historia pushes with all her might. Labour pains wracked her small body as tears ran down her face, her skin covered in a sweaty sheen. She scrunched her eyes in agony, suffering from the inside out, not so much from the pain of childbirth but because of the loneliness. She was surrounded by doctors and midwives and security guards and household staff, but was all alone again, without friends or family.
“It’s alright, I got you,” a gentle, familiar voice was saying. Someone was stroking her hair, dabbing at her face with a soft towel, wiping away her tears.
Could it be? Could it possibly be? If she opened her eyes, would that voice disappear letting her know it was but hallucination on her part? If it was just a dream, she would very much prefer to stay in dreamland and listen to that voice.
But long, familiar fingers were prying hers from the stirrups. “Hold onto me, my queen. Hold my hands. Bite into my arm if you have to.”
Warily, she opened her eyes. It wasn’t a dream. There he was, the man himself: Eren Jaeger.
“Eren! How did you get here? I thought you were in the middle of the rumbling…?”
“Shh, shh,” he said, hugging her, planting a tender kiss on her lips. “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay. We’ve solved it. We found a solution.”
“Solution? How? When?” she asked, confused and in pain, tears running down her face, overjoyed at her beloved being there during childbirth but worried about this ‘solution’ he spoke of.
“‘I’ll tell you everything later. For now, concentrate on bringing our child into this world.”
Sand. So much sand. He had never seen so much sand in his life. The hills and valleys made of sand stretched on as far as the eye could see. How could there be so much sand in once place? What place, exactly, the young man wondered. But he knew why he was here. He had asked to be here, begged and pleaded, to be exact. He could hear the ticking of the clock in his head, the movement reminding him just how little time he had left on the planet. But no matter. What mattered was that he would get to see and talk to one particular child.
He waited with baited breath. Come on. You promised me. C’mon now.
As if someone heard his prayers, there she was. A child. The child.
“Hello, little girl,” he said. “I am the Storyteller.”
“Hello, Mr Storyteller,” she replied without introducing herself.
He studied her, this child of around six or seven years. She had her mother’s golden blonde hair, and her father’s large green eyes and heart-shaped face. There was no mistaking whose daughter she was. If she’d had her head covered and he didn’t know any better, he’d have called out to her with a name he’d uttered thousands of times in his lifetime.
“Princess,” he addressed her. “Would you like me to tell you a story?”
“Yes, please!”
They sat cross-legged on the sand. A part of him simply wanted to stare at her, for she was a spitting image of her father whom he’d known since he was a young boy. But he knew he didn’t have much time left. So he began.
“Once upon a time, there was a boy named Eren. He had a best friend named Armin, and an adoptive sister named Mikasa. He was a happy child who loved his Mum and Dad, but walls surrounded the city he lived in, and he couldn’t help but wonder, what lay beyond those walls? No one would give him a clear answer.”
From his mother being devoured in front of him leading to the Battle of Liberio and then to the rumbling, the Storyteller told the little girl about Eren’s journey. Listening actively, the child asked question after question before letting the young man continue. Her beautiful eyes though still so young were filled with an intelligence and inquisitiveness that was one in a million.
“Eren falls in love with Historia and they make a baby,” he said.
“So Historia has a royal baby, just like her ancestor Founder Ymir and Eren’s father, Grisha Jaeger?” the child said as a short summary of what she’d heard so far.
“Yes, but there’s a big difference here. Historia chooses to have a baby with Eren because she loves him and wants to have a child with him, while Founder Ymir was forced to procreate and gave birth to three children against her will. Grisha married a royal, Dina, but it was more a marriage of convenience because they were fighting for the same cause and wanted to have a royal child to advance that cause.”
“What else did Eren and Zeke talk about in Marley, aside from Zeke’s euthanasia plan?”
“In Marley, Eren asked Mikasa what he meant to her. He was worried she had feelings for him that he can’t return. Mikasa was terrified of saying the wrong thing, and he encouraged her to answer ‘family.’ She said as prodded. But Eren isn’t convinced she spoke the truth, so when he went AWOL he asked his older brother Zeke for his opinion. Zeke conjectures that Mikasa is in love with Eren and asks how he plans to respond to her feelings. At that moment, Eren flashes back to Historia asking him about making a baby. So he deflects with a generic answer about his short lifespan.”
“Why couldn’t he tell Zeke about his relationship with Historia?”
“Because it was a matter of huge consequence. If Eren’s enemies learned of her child’s paternity, they might capture and use Historia to manipulate him. Eren didn’t want to endanger the queen in any way, so they decided to keep the true nature of her pregnancy a secret.”
—— AD - CONTINUE READING BELOW ——
“Why did Eren tell his own sister that he hated her?”
“He lied to her in hopes that she’ll question her feelings for him, and hopefully put their relationship in perspective, and in the end, find happiness with someone else. It was not simply to absolve her from the evil of his full rumbling plan. He lied to her hoping he can free her from her unhealthy obsession with him. He hoped that she’d think for herself and go against his plan instead of blindly following him like she used to.”
“Why did Eren tell his best friend he was being manipulated, and was useless?”
“It’s in a similar vein with Mikasa. Eren wanted Armin to fight him, to not give up on his ideals, to think, to really think of a way out of the situation. He lied in hopes that Armin will question everything: his feelings, his values, his convictions. In the end, Armin came to the realisation that his feelings were genuine and that Eren lied to him for a reason. He decided he simply couldn’t let Eren destroy the world. It forced him to think of how to prevent Eren from doing so. He had an inkling that Eren didn’t want to be given carte blanche, either, because he did not take away his friends’ titan powers.”
“What does ‘carte blanche’ mean?”
“Ah, sorry,” he apologised. The child was precocious, but still very young. “It literally means a blank piece of paper. It means unconditional authority, or full discretionary power. In this case, it means letting someone do whatever they want, no matter how evil.”
“But saying those awful words to two people he loved is too cruel,” opined the child.
“Eren wanted both Armin and Mikasa to come find him, and to bring the others with them, so that together they could find a solution. If everyone simply agreed with him, they’ll just sit in a safe place away from the rumbling and wait for it to finish. Eren didn’t want this to happen. In the end, the three old friends did have a talk, and Eren did apologise for his hurtful words.”
“How could Eren go ahead and kill everyone else?”
“He was doing what a father would do to protect his family: Historia and their baby together. Plus his extended family, of course: his sister and friends and the people on the island. For him, there was no other way. He considered it to be a kill-or-be-killed situation and decided to go to the extreme, out of desperation. His life was bound to end soon, because of the titan shifter curse, so he was compelled to act.”
“Sorry for asking so many questions!” the child said.
“No, no, I love the way you’re truly listening,” said the young man, before asking, “What do you think are the central themes of the story?”
Cocking her head to one side, the child replied thoughtfully, “I think it’s all about freedom. And birth. And family. And friendship.”
He blinked, impressed and saddened at the same time. Happy that she understood, and sad that this would be the last time he could talk to such an amazing child.
“You see, Princess, Eren and Historia’s love story changed everything, destroyed every narrative and ignored every precedent. It was a revolution,” the Storyteller went on. “Founder Ymir bore children out of a sense of duty, and the disastrous results were the three sisters and the cycle of titan inheritance. Grisha also makes a baby with a royal out of a sense of duty, and the disastrous result was Zeke, who hated his own race. Eren, on the other hand, makes a baby with a royal out of love. Love, Princess. Do you see the difference?”
“Love,” the child repeated softly, nodding. “Love. I think I see the difference.”
“This baby will be free in the end, because it was born in love. As Eren Kruger said, love is what will end the cursed cycle. It was this beloved baby that gave Eren the strength to fight and push through with his plan.”
“Are you saying the other Attack Titans before Eren all thought there was no way out of the cycle?”
“Yes,” said the Storyteller. “Grisha had a royal child in order to continue the cycle of titan inheritance. He realised his mistake and when he was given a second chance, he married out of love and fathered a child out of love. The result was Eren, who did not follow in his father’s previous footsteps. When Eren grew up he decided to do something completely different. He falls for a royal and fathers a child with her in order to end the cycle of titan inheritance.”
“It’s the same concept, procreation, but done for different reasons,” noted the child.
“Indeed. There was no way Eren would let his child or its mother become titanized. His love for them was such that he resolved to unleash upon the world its worst nightmare. Because Eren decided to radically change things, he surpasses Grisha. This is also one of the themes of the story: the son transcending the father. Grisha and Dina failed in their quest, but Eren and Historia won’t.”
“That’s amazing,” the child remarked. “You’re saying this whole thing took two thousand years to solve!”
“Yes, yes, absolutely,” replied the Storyteller. “It took 2,000 years for Eren Jaeger and Historia Reiss to be born in the same year and eventually fall in love. And it is their creation, the royal baby, that finally ends the curse.” He looks at the child with a mixture of excitement and expansive joy in his voice. “Two thousand years, Princess. Imagine that! The lore, the legend, the mythology, the incredible, breath-taking saga of Eren Jaeger and Historia Reiss.”
“It does sound epic,” the child agreed, nodding enthusiastically, adding, “I love epic love stories!”
“It’s so epic, if we think about the whole thing. To you, two thousand years from now, Founder Ymir said to Eren in a dream, reaching out to him from the past. To you, two thousand years ago, Eren says to Founder Ymir before he goes to free her from eternal bondage. Eren Jaeger breaks the cycle because he does something completely different from what other men have done in those 2,000 years. Other men have used royal women as a means to an end, ready to dispose of them when no longer needed. Eren loves the very last of the royal women and seeks to protect her. That instinctive desire to protect brought on by the unshakable love he had for Historia, is what changes everything. That, Princess, is the greatest of love stories, a story that took two thousand years to bring to fruition.”
They end up lying with their backs on the sand looking up at the swirling galaxies above, pondering the incredible, breathtaking journey of Eren Jaeger. Long moments pass.
—— AD - CONTINUE READING BELOW ——
“It’s beautiful and awe-inspiring, indeed,” said the child, after a while, “but it’s no longer as beautiful if Eren just went ahead and destroyed the rest of the world.”
“He didn’t have to. In the end, they found a solution.”
“Tell me, please. Tell me everything!” demanded the child, voice trembling in excitement.
“In the middle of the rumbling, all the Nine Titans congregated where Eren’s titan was at. This was the first time in more than a hundred years that all the titans were in one place at the same time. Armin came up with an epiphany. With the Nine Titans all together, he came to the understanding that as long as every single one of them was prescribed to a common Will, they had the power to change the course of history. Up until now, the owners of the Nine fought amongst themselves. If every single one of them agreed to the Will of the Nine, then they could turn back time.”
“But Eren, who carried the Attack Titan, Founder Titan and the Warhammer Titan, wanted to do the rumbling. So it’s three versus six,” the child pointed out.
“Armin convinces Eren to share the Will with them. In the end, all nine decide to give up their titan powers, in exchange for removing titanization from the world, and turning back time.”
“But you mentioned earlier that doing so will kill all the titan shifters, end their lives within a matter of days,” reminded the child.
“Yes, that’s true. But they agreed to do it, and I’ll tell you why. It was because each of the Nine loved someone—truly loved them—more than life itself. All of them agreed a world without titans that was forgiving of Eldians was the best possible world for the people they loved. Annie Leonhart, Female Titan, thought of her beloved father. Reiner Braun, Armoured Titan, thought of his repentant mother. Pieck Finger, Cart Titan, had her precious father. Falco Grice, Jaw Titan, loved his parents and Gabi Braun. Armin Arlert, Colossus Titan, had all his precious friends whom he loved like his own family. Zeke Jaeger, Beast Titan, loved non-Eldians so much and wished for their well-being that he planned to kill his own people in order to save the world.”
“The Nine Titans,” said the child, awed. “They must have been great people.”
“That they were. The Nine deliberated and argued and debated for days and days, turning everything over in their minds, finding and shooting down holes into their suggested solutions, going no-holds barred in their talk of a shared destiny amongst all races. It took a long time in Paths, but was only a blink of an eye in realtime. In the end, the Nine formed a circle around Founder Ymir, and with their hands on her head they freed her from two thousand years of backbreaking labour and heart-rendering solitude. In freeing her they freed the world from titans, a price they paid for with their lives.”
“Only those who have known true love can consider such a thing,” the child observed, with preternatural wisdom.
The Storyteller nodded. “Remember their names, Princess, the ones who made the Ultimate Sacrifice.”
“I will. I shall remember the Nine Titans,” said the little girl, “and I’m going to build a memorial for them. I’ll plant nine fruit trees in a circle, and watch them grow year after year. And when they bear fruit, I shall share them with other children, and tell them all about the Nine Titans, so we can remember and honour them.”
She said this with an earnestness and sincerity that the Storyteller found touching. He smiled, tears welling in his eyes, “That would be lovely.”
What a meaningful memorial, he thought, much better than stone-cold statues. Trees, not merely for their fruit, could provide shelter and refuge year round. Children might learn how to climb on them in spring, frolic under their shade in summer, play with their fallen leaves in autumn. They could build a treehouse on one of the sturdier branches, and spend some quiet moments there reading a book or two. Yes, a treehouse, and a swing, too. Perhaps a birdhouse on Falco’s tree? So many possibilities.
“So won’t you tell me, Mr Storyteller, the favourite fruits of the Nine? Because those are what I shall plant.”
He was at a loss for words, he simply had no idea. What kinds of fruit did the others like? What did he himself like most of all? Apple? Pear? Apricot? Quince? Plum? I only get one tree, I must make a good pick, he thought while grinning to himself. How could such a simple, honest question stump him? Deciding he needed time to think about it as well as ask the others, he delayed answering with, “I don’t know the answer to that. I’ll find out and tell you in a dream.”
She nodded, and they became quiet once more, lost in thought, gazing at the myriad stars up above.
Breaking his reverie, the child, obviously still thinking about the Eren story, asked curiously, “And how did Eren agree to the Will of the Nine?”
“He finally saw the validity of Armin’s plan. Balance could only come to the world if the Eldians no longer had titan powers. The world hated and feared this thing they didn’t have. Removing it once and for all and turning Eldians into ordinary people was the only solution.”
“But without their titan powers the Eldians are helpless against the world’s armies, and unforgiven for their past crimes by the vast majority of peoples!” objected the child, again with that uncanny intelligence.
“That would have been the case, but what Eren did—a thing that no other titan shifter before him had the gumption to do—was actually show the world what a full rumbling was like. He did go ahead and kill nearly everyone outside the island, an unprecedented massacre that would forever be etched in people’s memories. But because of the power of the Will of the Nine, they turned back time.”
“How far back did they go?”
“They could only go as far as the time when Eren and the Scouting Regiment went to Marley as spies. They attended the World Council there, and no one opposed when the anti-Eldian politicians demonized the island and turned it into a scapegoat for all the problems of the world. But when the Nine turned back time, everything was different. The memories of the rumbling were fresh in people’s minds. The outside world finally came to their senses, and thus they, led by the Azumabito clan from Hizuru, rallied on behalf of forgiving the Eldians and admitting them into international society. This time around, the entire world had witnessed exactly what Eren Jaeger could do if the world kept on unfairly targeting the island. They also bore witness to the Ultimate Sacrifice the Eldian Nine Titans had made, selflessly and unhesitatingly. Marley became genuinely repentant, and joined with Hizuru in the campaign for Eldian acceptance as fellow human beings.”
“So they made an exchange then: Eldians gave up their titans and titanization powers, and in return they would receive forgiveness and humane treatment from other nations,” the child summarised.
“Yes, that’s what happened. And all of it was possible because of one boy, a child named Eren Jaeger, who grew up to be the greatest titan shifter the world had ever known. Everyone before him, indeed everyone around him, simply gave up and accepted their fate of being the cursed race. Some railed against it, some simply did nothing about it. But not Eren. He stood up and said, this cycle must stop. And because he and only he had the fortitude to go through the full rumbling, it forced Armin to come up with a viable solution. He could no longer drag his feet, there was no time to stall or be indecisive. Eren’s extreme actions compelled Armin to grow up and face the music.”
—— AD - CONTINUE READING BELOW ——
“And it was Eren’s love for Historia and their baby that gave him the strength to do the impossible,” the child added, thoughtfully.
“Yes, Princess, that is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but. And I simply had to tell you the entire story myself.”
“They do sound like wonderful people, Eren and Historia. I wish I could meet them,” said the child.
At that very moment a voice came through the heavens: “There is little time left.”
Tears sprung in the Storyteller’s eyes. He stood up and helped the little girl to her feet, before going down on one knee and taking the child’s hand.
“You will meet them,” he told her. “Do you not wonder why I call you ‘Princess’?”
“I’ve been wondering the whole time, but assumed you were simply being sweet.”
“No, Princess,” said the Storyteller. “Because you literally are a princess. Eren Jaeger is your father, and Historia Reiss, the queen, is your mother. Soon you will meet them.”
The child gasped, wide-eyed with wonder. “If I have yet to meet them, why am I here? How did I get here?”
“You are in Paths, a place where all Eldian consciousness is interconnected, and where space-time is nonlinear and malleable. I asked your father and Founder Ymir to put me here along with a future version of you, so I can tell you the story firsthand.”
“You wanted me to know all about my parents and how much they loved each other,” observed the child, looking at him with affection and gratitude shining through her clear green eyes. “And you wanted me to know the Nine Titans, and the sacrifice they made.”
Nodding, the Storyteller gently squeezed her hand. “You won’t remember any of this after you are born, but it will all come back to you in a dream when you are nine years old.”
Nine. Nine was the magic number. The rumbling took place nine years to the day since Eren was titanized. Only the Attack Titan with the help of the Founder had the power to turn back time, and he was able to go back to nine months ago. The combined powers of the Nine Titans enabled Eren to do all this. But without his cooperation, nothing could have been done. Nine years ago, Grisha gave him the key to the basement and unlocked the secrets of their world. Nine years later, Eren himself became the key to solving the Eldian Problem, and along with it unlocked the secrets of the universe.
She was thoughtful for a while. “What happens to the Nine after they make their sacrifice? I feel terrible for them, having to leave their loved ones behind.”
“The shifters have nine days to set their affairs in order, to say their goodbyes. Afterwards, they move to a new plane of existence, a different dimension. There are Nine Realms in the universe, and our planet is just a tiny speck in the vastness of these realms; there’s plenty of time-space waiting to be seen and explored.”
“But won’t they be lonely?”
This the Storyteller didn’t have a concrete answer to, because he didn’t know for sure. Loneliness, companionship, sadness, joy, pain, pleasure, love, hate… such feelings were for sentient beings on the planet. Did these exist in other realms, in dimensions yet to be discovered? He could only guess.
“They will exist in a state distinct from your own. There will be no loneliness, no pain, no sadness,” he replied. He was making it up, of course, but it was a lie built upon kindness. Why burden this child when she will have to grow up in a world filled with all these emotions, perhaps too much of them, and all at the same time?
She grinned at him. “I’m glad to hear that!” she said, happily.
The clock was ticking. Again he spoke, making sure he brought his point home.
“I wanted you to know all about your incredible father, Eren Jaeger. There was no one like him, before or since. The greatest man to walk the face of this planet. He not only saved Paradis, he saved the entire world. It was all because of him, and the strength of his will and his true love for his family and friends, that you will be born to a world where you can live like a normal person, an ordinary human being.”
“Is that a good thing, being ordinary?” the child asked innocently.
Inside the Storyteller’s head flashed a horrific collage of scenes from various Eldians’ consciousness: Pixys and his entire brigade transforming into titans who ate their own people; Grisha weeping as he injected his own son with the serum, and the resulting clueless titan devouring him; Ueli Reiss tied up atop a cliff inside a cave waiting for his beloved niece Frieda to devour him; Dina in tears telling Grisha at the edge of the wall that no matter what happens, she will spend her entire life looking for him, and then her finding Eren and devouring Carla Jaeger, Hannes, others; Levi watching in horror as every precious soldier in his squadron titanized in the forest and he had to kill them one by one; Connie weeping over Ragako village and his helpless titanized mother struggling and being unable to convey her love for him and how proud she was of him; Marleyan military kicking bound Eldians off of airships and watching as they transformed and devoured entire cities. Countless images of total mayhem and agonising death and destruction, flashing by endlessly like the devil’s carousel. The Storyteller’s eyes clouded with tears. Ordinary humans were vicious and brutal and nasty, but using a particular mutant race amongst them as weapons of war was beyond evil.
“It is a good thing to be ordinary, believe you me,” he replied, firmly.
“Okay,” said the little girl, nodding her head and believing him.
“There is also something else I want to tell you. You see, Princess, your father has to leave you soon after you are born. Because of the sacrifice, he cannot stay with you and raise you and watch you grow up. It breaks his heart like no other, do you understand?”
The child nodded again, with a sad but understanding look on her face.
—— AD - CONTINUE READING BELOW ——
“You will grow up, Princess, and there will be times when you look around and see your friends with their fathers, and wish your own father was by your side. There will be times when you are sad and lonely and uncertain, and you wish for your father to hug you and hold you in his arms and tell you everything will be okay,” said the Storyteller, tears beginning to fall down his cheeks. “You will wish for your father’s smile and praise when you succeed at something, and long for his feedback when things go wrong. You will want his guidance when you are troubled and have to make difficult decisions. There will be times when you simply want to hold his hand and see him smiling at you, with your love for him reflected in his eyes, and his reflected right back at you.”
Ah, there was little time left. The child seemed to understand this instinctively, and waited for him to continue.
“During these times, when you are sad and lonely and long for your father’s companionship and love, I want you to look up at the stars, little Princess,” he said, through his tears. “Look up at the stars and see your father’s face etched amongst their twinkling lights. Look up at the stars and—despite your pain and fears—please understand one thing, a thing I am most certain of as the sun rises in the west: that Eren Jaeger loves you, more than life itself, more than the universe, more than anything conceivable and known to man.”
“Eren, my father, loves me, and that’s why he had to sacrifice his life,” the child nodded her understanding. “Because of him I no longer have to titanize and devour my own mother. Because of him I can grow up in an ordinary world without titans. Because of him I can be a happy little girl.”
The tears were now flowing freely down the Storyteller’s cheeks. The child understood, and it was all he wanted in the world. He closes his eyes and sighs. At last, he was able to fulfill his final role as the Storyteller. He feels cloth touch his face. The child was gently wiping his tears with the long sleeves of her dress.
“Please don’t cry, Mr Storyteller,” she was saying. “You’ve just told me the most beautiful story I could ever hope to hear. I will surely look up at the stars and remember my father.”
Suddenly there was a voice, an old familiar one: “It is time.”
“I have to go now, little Princess. And you have to go, too. Go and meet your parents.” He kisses her forehead before turning his back and walking away.
“Mr Storyteller,” the child calls out.
He turns around and takes one last look at the marvel child, this wonder of wonders. Had she been worth fighting for, worth dying for? Yes, absolutely, yes.
“Which amongst the characters in the story are you?” she asks.
“I am Armin.”
“Thank you, Mr Armin. Thank you for being my father’s best friend. Thank you for not giving up on him. Thank you for not giving up on the world.”
The young man smiles. “It was my honor,” he says, bowing deeply, “Your Royal Highness.”
“And when you meet with the other Nine Titans before you go on your journey,” the child continued, placing a hand over her chest, “please tell them I love them. Tell them I thank them… that I’m deeply grateful, from the bottom of my heart.”
Gripping Eren’s hand with a strength that amazed him, Historia gave one last push and the baby arrived, crying out lustily, breathing and screaming as if she were saying, here I am, now deal with it.
The proud parents, tears of joy streaming down their faces, breathe out a joint sigh of relief. Cutting the umbilical cord, washing and wrapping the baby in a soft blanket that Frieda had once gifted Historia and which she’d carefully and lovingly kept all these years, the head midwife hands the baby to her mother. She cradles the newborn in her arms, then looks at her beloved.
“Ymir,” she says to Eren, her heart filled with so much joy she felt she would explode.
Smiling back, he strokes her hair, nods his approval, “Princess Ymir.” He gazes tenderly at mother and child, and despite the abiding fear for his progeny that a parent feels deep in his bones, Eren knew he did everything in his power—and perhaps beyond—to secure this child’s future.
The midwives weep with elation, birds burst into song, wild deer in the forest grunt out their reverence, wolves raise their heads toward the moon and howl in deference, bears rear on their hind legs and roar in veneration, and even the stars seem to twinkle twice as bright. A miracle, a true miracle, has arrived and the world is on its knees in adulation.
Eren takes his child in his arms and embraces her, saying, “You are free.”
That’s it for this story. Thank you so much for reading! Please please please take a moment to say hi in the comment section below. It’s so lonely and discouraging to find out I haven’t got any readers. Your comments are the only way I know my stories are getting read. Even just one sentence from you will give me the encouragement I need to keep on writing. Feel free to use a pseudonym and dummy email address. Please say something—anything at all—just to let me know you’ve finished reading. Comments do mean the world to me—THANK YOU. xoxo, hana
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Acknowledgements
Thank you to wonderful readers madquueennhisu and YarunDaNeKokoDe for sharing their ideas regarding the key and the significance of the number 9, respectively, and to countrygal77 for inspiring me to expand on the tree memorial concept. You can read their original comments below. I was inspired by José Ignacio’s seminal essay which I talked about here, with regard to the idea of Eren surpassing his father and having a child to end the cycle of titan inheritance.
See the List of All Fanfic Stories
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Holy motherf*cking sh*t, this should be the canon!! You should just send it to Isayama and we’re gonna petition it to be drawn replacing the current story. Apart from that, there’d no other fanfic I’ve read that come close in quality to this one. I almost shed some tears several times during the last 2 chapters. You’re very talented indeed, what an incredible writing!
Hi blessed_fetus! Wow, that was such a lovely comment. You totally made my day!
Like you, I was incredibly disappointed with the terrible ending Isayama chose to ruin his manga with. I thought it would become one of the GOAT manga ever, with a fantastic, bombastic surprise at the finish line, but it ended up a tropey, pathetic ‘all that matters is Mikasa’ kind of eye-rolling toxic love jubilee. I’m still unable to wrap my head around the gag-inducing horridness of it all. Your coming over to tell me you enjoyed my fanfic take – which is the complete opposite of canon – is the only comfort I have for wasting so much time, money and energy on AoT.
Thank you so much for reading and for taking the time to share your thoughts. It really means a lot to me!<3
this is incredible !!!
You made me cry, it was really good, that Isayama I forgave myself but this was better for me than the final chapter that Isayama gave us, I hope you keep writing, I will wait for your stories with great enthusiasm, sorry if my English is bad but I don’t handle it I have to use the translator an apology for the inconveniences, thank you and congratulations
Thank you so much for reading, Aly_JR! Me, too, I was very unhappy and disappointed with what happened in canon, so I wrote these fanfic stories to give my mind something else to think about xD I’m glad you’ve enjoyed them! I really appreciate your taking the time to comment. I don’t think I’ll be writing any more erehisu stories but there are already some on my blog that are waiting to be read. In Baby Names there’s erehisu and jeankasa; in Taste Taste erehisu is mentioned; in the Jean Chronicles, erehisu have twins and they play important roles in the story. So I do hope you’ll keep on reading! Thank you so much once again<3
fucking AWESOME AND ADORABLE JESUS FUCK THIS MIGHT BE MY MOST FAVORITE FANFICTION EVER
Hi Blee-Bleep! Aww, you’re making me blush! Thank you so much for the praise, it means a lot to me. Now that the manga’s finished I really didn’t expect anyone to bother with erehisu fanfics anymore. You just made an internet writer super happy!<3
Hi hana had a feeling the AOT manga ending was going to be whack based on the pacing.I lot of things made no sense how easy it was for the Alliance to be forgiving of the Warriors,no exposition for farmer kun when required ,was 80% of the world in Marley cuz that was the only area said to have been crushed and so on .Ur ending makes a lot of sense and I’ll take it any day and it’s not because of just the Erehisu part,it had everything going for it.Little Ymir talking to Armin about the Titan history,the use of love ending hatred,The founding Titan with Ymir’s approval for for fixing past events.You worked with what the story offered and I loved it.Thank you for this My favourite Erehisu ending .Sorry for writing so much
Hi Sipho! Please don’t ever apologise for writing too much, there’s no such thing on my blog, a safe place for erehisu/jeankasa shippers. You can write an entire essay if you like and I’ll happily read and respond to it!
Thank you so much for the kind words. I really appreciate how you took the time to tell me you enjoyed my fanfic. Like you, I’m not happy with how the manga ended. I’m glad you can find some comfort in The Storyteller.
When I was a child, I enjoyed a series of books called “Choose Your Own Adventure”, where each chapter the reader (as the main character) is asked to make choices. The characters and overarching storyline is the same, but the ending is totally different based on the choices you make as you read. I loved the concept and really enjoyed making different choices each time to reach all the available endings.
For me, it was my first introduction to the concepts of multiverse and parallel worlds. I really love the idea of the same people living different lives in other dimensions or planes of existence. So, the way I see it, Isayama’s ending is the canon one, of course, but there are many other possible endings out there. One of them is The Storyteller. If you enjoyed my take then you really made this internet writer very happy. We were able to connect on some level, develop a shared understanding, and the thought alone is a huge comfort for me. So I want to thank *you*!<3
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
I had to come back here after reading the, frankly disappointing, final chapter (Not because EreHisu wasn’t confirmed, though that was certainly a shame). Reading this just made me feel so much more than the actual canon chapter did that I just wanted to relive such a clever, cathartic ending such as this one once more.
What did you think of the finale btw?
Figaro, you came back! Thank you so much for the kind and lovely comment! I really appreciate your coming over to cheer me up.
Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed with the final chapter. The whole thing celebrates toxic love, idealizes dysfunctional relationships, and sanitizes mass slaughter. I felt Isayama ruined almost all his characters, Eren included. He turned out to be a manipulative incel asshole, with Mikasa a necrophile ‘tragic heroine’ turned forever widow at the age of 19. As for the rest of the team, licking Eren’s boots for killing 80% of the world’s population, including innocent babies and small children? *Eye roll*
Here’s the good news: I’ve moved on from SnK! Been watching a dozen new anime and reading a whole bunch of manga since winter last year, and amongst them I’ve decided to focus on Jujutsu Kaisen 😀 It’s an amazing manga, with the anime adaptation one of the most perfect I’ve ever seen! I’m so glad to be deep into a Jump piece once again (I used to live on a Jump diet in high school, ahaha!).
Got a promotion at work (our fiscal year starts in April) and have been incredibly busy since then, so no time to write fanfic, but I do hope to get around to it one of these days, especially in the yaoi genre.
What about you, Figaro? What manga have you been reading lately, and any anime that you like in particular?
I’ve mostly come to realize that I can understand what Isayama is going for with everything he did and I can see how it’s thematically relevant to the rest of the story but… I just don’t like the end product at all. I feel like it undermines so many peak moments from previous chapters all to serve an out of nowhere parallelism between Ymir and Mikasa using Ymir’s Stockholm Syndrome as the foundation for said parallel without ever acknowledging how borderline toxic Mikasa and Eren’s relationship is. It’s just soooo stupid but I feel like I can’t even claim that it’s outright bad writing, I just don’t like it at all. (Levi GOAT tho).
Oh and this is also painfully ironic but after I finished Steins;Gate and Berserk over 8 months ago (heavily recommend them if you haven’t seen them yet, or read it in Berserk’s case) I went that whole time without watching any anime or reading any manga, only to start a rewatch of AoT with my brother a month and a reread by myself in preparation for the final chapter and yeah… Just pain. Definitely plan on peeping JJK though, gotta see what Mappa was prioritizing their resources for.
I guess at this point I should just “keep moving forward” until I can either appreciate everything that came before despite of what I feel about the ending once again or just end up forgetting about it like I did with GoT. Sorry, just felt like venting a little bit here since this was probably my favorite fan ending I’ve seen throughout the years lol. Anyway, really looking forward to the next Jean novelization, didn’t expect to get so invested in that series!
OMG Figaro, please don’t get me started on GoT! I’ll need an entire other blog just to unload over *that*!
I was chatting with a manga-reading colleague of mine the other day and he told me he was also unsatisfied with the AoT ending. For him, it seemed to be a “fan service” (“fan” here defined as eremika shippers, 90% of whom make up the fandom) kind of end and not one that ties up all the loose ends and disparate themes we’ve been grappling with for the past decade. He said that instead of the manga-ka surprising us with a bombastic end, he simply decided to go with the ‘safest’ route. But then since Isayama wants a blockbuster Hollywood film, he knows that the way to go is Twilight (Bella ends up with Edward, but of course). So while my colleague doesn’t like the ending, he says he understands why Isayama chose it.
FYI, my colleague and I bonded over our love of Isayama’s love for The Mist film (the original novel by King has a different ending from the movie version). It’s one of our favourite alien movies ever, and years ago we were discussing how incredible it would be if everyone except the main protagonist (Eren) died in the end. That means Eren destroying the world for the sake of his friends, but ending up being alone because all his friends (and everyone else on the planet) have died trying to stop him. It’s a crazy ending no one will like, but looking back, I honestly prefer that ending over the one we were given xD
There’s a part of me that feels the entire AoT story had been cheapened by the “because Stockholm Syndrome” type of explanation that Isayama decided to go with. So like you, I’m still trying to make sense of the choice he made. I’ll accept it eventually, of course, but that doesn’t mean I need to be happy with it. As fans we get to choose how to feel about things, and no one – not Isayama, not the majority of the fandom, not the manga gods – can tell us to feel otherwise. We get to choose how we react, and if we decide we don’t like it, then that’s perfectly fine.
After watching the finale of GoT I cringed and wanted to forget the whole thing. But as the months went by, I was no longer in so much pain. While I didn’t like the TV ending, I still consider Tyrion, Brienne, Arya and some others to be my favourite TV characters, and I’ll readily admit I loved the cinematography and special effects and music and many other things about the show, despite wanting a different ending. Likewise, with AoT I guess we just need a bit of time to process things.
So in the meantime, I think it’s good to put a bit of distance between ourselves and the AoT manga. Let’s talk about something else, such as…Berserk!
OMG Figaro, you’ve just brought back some painful memories xDI read the Berserk manga when I was at uni, and collected the tankobon paperback volumes. Kentaro Miura is my absolute favourite when it comes to manga art; for me, he is peerless. I don’t even care if the story never ends, I’m happy enough to just look at his drawings 🙂 But two years ago I sold my paperback collection when I saw the Deluxe Editions come out. Have you seen them? They look totally drool-worthy! There was a guy on IG who was showing off his new deluxe books and I was so envious of him! Since then I set up a Berserk Deluxe Edition piggy bank and put in a little each month. It might take me years to finally be able to buy the set, but I’ll get there eventually xDAh, Steins;Gate! I’ve heard good things about it for years now, and it’s been on my To Watch list for some time. I’ll try to get around to watching now that you’ve recommended it! JJK is awesome, I very highly recommend it!
Re: Jean novel. Oh, did someone write a novel? Is it officially-approved or just fanfic? If you send me the link I’ll see if I can read it so we can discuss it. Jean will always be one of my fav manga characters ever, along with Levi, Gabi+Falco, Erwin, etcetera.
Please don’t apologise for venting! You can vent as much as you like, and talk about whatever. It doesn’t even have to be manga/anime related: you can talk about your dog, your plants, I don’t mind! It really helps me get the load off my chest, chatting with like-minded friends. For me, the comments on my blog are more precious than the fanfic stories I’ve written! So please type away, I love it!
beautiful ending! thanks for writing it, very comforting to read. for a long time i wished happiness for historia, thanks for giving it to her, she deserves it❤
Hi dreamsnskims! Thanks for reading, and for the kind words<3 The good thing about fanfiction is that, regardless of what happens in canon, we're free to dream up happy endings for our favourite characters. So glad you enjoyed my ending for our precious Queen! I'll keep this story on this blog forever so you can read whenever you like<3
Holy shit this is amazing, possibly better than the real thing!
Aww, thank you so much, Peach! Let’s hope Isayama will treat Historia right in the last chapter. Let’s hope he won’t be unnecessarily cruel to her and baby. All I want is for our poor queen to be happy!
I’m really crying???why can’t Ymir lift the 13 years curse once and for all so Eren can live with his beloved and child forever?????
Oh Sabrina! I’m sorry for making you cry 🙁 Maybe we can hope for a happy ending for Eren in the canon manga? I mean, there’s still one chapter left! 🙂 I’ve always seen Eren as a hero who makes the ultimate sacrifice. He’s the kind of person who’s willing to give up everything just so Historia and baby could have a better chance at life. I’ve had eight years to prepare myself for Eren’s death, so I’m emotionally strong about it. But I do understand how painful the thought can be for his superfans. At present, I’m still in utter and complete denial that my fav character in the entire AoT universe, Jean, has been turned into a mindless titan!?
I love your writing,the manga so far hasn’t really intrigued me so I’ll take your story of EREHISU any day?
Thank you so much, Sipho! Me, too, I prefer *my* Eren and Historia to the ones in canon 😉 I’m very biased in this regard xD Glad to hear you enjoyed my fanfic story, it means a lot to me. Let’s not mind what happens in canon, in our hearts it’s erehisu forever❤
Simply amazing! What a great read. Enjoyed it very much. You’re a fine writer Ms Hana. Keep it up!
Thank you so much for the encouraging words, CosmicUndertow! I get really discouraged when I see my stories getting hundreds of visitors per day but maybe only one comment every six months xD I find so much joy in just a few kind words, it’s what keeps me writing. I really appreciate your taking the time to comment. xoxo – hana
Wonderful story, thanks for sharing. If only this happened canonically! Hands down my preferred ending!!!
Hi randomreader! Thank you very much for the kind words, and for caring enough to comment. It really means a lot to me❤ I would also personally like this kind of ending, ahaha! There are only two more chapters left in the manga and I’m so worried I think I’m losing hair xD Hoping and praying Isayama won’t throw Historia under the bus in the end.
wow this is amazing. love it! english isnt my first language it took me a long time to read this but worth it definitely. thanks for writing it!
Hi jessieinthebardo! I’m so glad you finished reading this story, thank you so much! I really appreciate the effort, and for the kind words in your comment. If there are terms or phrases you find puzzling, please don’t hesitate to message me or ask in the comments, I’d love to be of help.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Did you just spoil the ending of AoT 2 months before its release? Are you secretly Isayama? How do you feel about saunas?
In all seriousness though, I loved, loved, loooved this final chapter. Everything in it just made me nod and go “Yup, that makes sense” to the point where if even one of the things in here happen in the actual manga I’ll be more than content and I’ll be proclaiming it as one of the greatest endings ever. Hell, in the likely scenario that Eren is indeed the father and him and Historia do love each other I might also end up calling it one of the greatest love stories ever lmao. Oh I’m so thankful I found your blog by randomly looking for new EH stories at 2AM. Aaagh, seriously, everything makes so much sense, especially the bits about the number 9 and Eren surpassing Grisha and fulfilling Kruger’s advice.
Also, I want to take an extra moment to gush about the part where the Storyteller starts listing off all the shifters and their loved ones, I could just hear Marina Inoue’s voice (After it was revealed to be Armin, I initially read it with Yuki Kaji’s voice) and I damn near teared up.
Hi Figaro! Thank you so much for the lovely comment. You made my day!
If only I were Isayama! xD I’d give everyone a happy ending: Eren & Historia, Jean & Mikasa, Armin & Annie, the Marleyan warriors, everyone left on their planet. There’s so much death, destruction and tragedy IRL that I don’t want my favourite fictional characters to suffer because there’s already waaaaay too much suffering as it were. If even our fictional characters can’t be happy then what hope do we have as a species? xD
Some fans don’t seem to want the “Eren makes a sacrifice” type of ending because it’s too much like Code Geass’ Zero Requiem. But I really don’t care! I’d rather have him sacrifice himself to bring peace to their planet, instead of just destroying everyone. The ending I wrote does have some ZR influence in it but I still think it’s very different from Lelouche’s plan.
I’m so glad you enjoyed my theory. It makes a lot of sense to me, but then again, we see what we want to see xD I read the chapters and find clues to support my theory, while others see the exact same chapters and interpret them in completely different ways. We are all incredibly biased from the very start xD Having said that, I’m always super delighted to meet like-minded readers. I’m really stoked you found my blog, and am hoping you can find the time to read my other stories. I’d love to hear your comments!
Armin’s the narrator in the anime so I made him the narrator for this story as well. I love that scene of him recounting his adventures to Annie in the manga. I think he’ll be narrating the anime until the very end meaning we’ll get all the Inoue awesomeness we could ever want, but I hope the final voice we will hear is Kaji’s saying: “You are free.” 🙂
Thank you so much once again for your thoughtful comment❤ I think I’ll sleep better tonight knowing I’ve a new friend out there who doesn’t want to see Historia ending up as another breeding cow just like her ancestors. I really do love all the characters in the manga and wish them nothing but health and happiness✨
This was so beautiful!! I really hope the child will be named Ymir, but honestly not sure if Eren is the father.
Hi Ange! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment<3 I’m so glad you liked this chapter. I myself don’t know who exactly the father is; only Isayama knows for sure and we are left to guess. He’ll probably tell us once and for all only in the end, so in the meantime we can make theories and fanfic stories such as this. In my heart Eren’s the baby daddy, but even if he weren’t I’ll still have this erehisu story in my head, written down for fellow shippers to enjoy 🙂
beautiful ending, made me cry. tree memorial for the nine is a lovely touch. my dad died when I was very little. don’t remember him much, but my mom said when they were house hunting he picked our house for its large oak tree out back. dad wanted to build a treehouse and swing for us kids.
would be nice if there’s a swing on pieck’s tree, a treehouse on reiner’s tree. pieck is like the big sis for the warriors. can imagine her pushing the swing for the younger ones. reiner as armored is sturdy and reliable, great for treehouses.
love your story, it shows plenty of empathy. you care for all the characters and it shows. my fav is this final chapter. thank you for sharing, hana ❤
Hi countrygal77! Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment, and for sharing a bit about your life with me. I’m so sorry for your loss. Your father sounds like a lovely person. I do hope you eventually had a treehouse and swing in your backyard while growing up. I can only imagine your father watching over his kids with a smile while they played in that lawn with the big old oak tree.
I’m so glad you like the tree memorial concept. Thank you so much for sharing your idea with me. You inspired me to write the following paragraph, which I’ve added to the chapter:
I hope you like this addition! Thank you once again. I’ve added your name in the Acknowledgement section❤
I love this ending! Very well-composed, very well-thought out. Beautifully Written. I love the erehisu daughter, she is perfect.
Something for you to consider: You should say only Attack Titan has power to Time Travel. This is why it’s very important for Eren to cooperate. Without him there is no Will of the Nine, and no solution to the massacre which already happened. So Eren himself is the key to solving the problem. Before, Grisha gave him the key to the basement to solve the Mystery of titans. In this ending, Eren becomes the Key to solve the Eldian Problem.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! You made my day once more. I can’t stop thanking you <3
Yes, the erehisu baby is perfect; I doubt such a kid can exist IRL, but it's fiction so hey 🙂 I've based her personality on one of the twins who are Eren and Historia's kids in my novela called The Jean Kirschtein Chronicles. In the novela the girl is nicknamed ‘Lily’ (for ‘Little Ymir’), and she has certain odd powers, remnants from the titan days. Here’s me hoping you’d read the stories there, too! 😉
OMG I love your key idea! That’s so true, Grisha gives Eren a physical key to open the cabinet in the basement, which held the secrets of their world. But now Eren himself becomes the key to solve the biggest problem of their world. Like you, I want to believe that Isayama not just added the time travel power of the Attack so Eren and Zeke can go down memory lane, but because it will play a significant role in solving the problem. I love this viewpoint and I’ll be sure to include it tonight when I edit this chapter with the other ideas I received. I’ll add your name in the acknowledgement section. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas with me! xoxo
I’ve just made additions to the chapter, thanks to your great idea!
Before
After
Thank you so much once again for sharing! I added your name in the Acknowledgements section❤
this is really wonderful! i really love this ennding, it’s bittersweet but the baby in ch134 no longer has to die. now my new favorite ending theory!
nine being a magic number is really good.
i think there’s a reason why eren is doing the rumbling now, 9 years after he was turned into a titan.
perhaps we can say this day of sacrifice is 9 months after the world council, so they can only go back to 9 months ago.
they’re constrained by the number 9. it has deep meaning in the manga, i think it borrows from world religions: hinduism, buddhism, judaism, islam, taoism and so on. all have a significant 9 something in their beliefs.
thank you for giving the erehisu baby a happy ending! i really love this whole story!
Thank you for the kind words and wonderful ideas! You’re right, nine is significant IRL as well as the manga; I like to think Isayama-sensei has a very good, mythology-based reason for creating Nine Titans and not any other number.
That Eren is 19 and doing the rumbling at this age probably has significance to the canon story, I agree. I mean, he might as well have been twenty or eighteen or something, but Isayama-sensei chose 19. I’ll add that to this chapter. Thank you so much for this great suggestion!
Ah, I wonder how many months they spent in Marley as spies, and how long ago the World Council was. It doesn’t say in the manga, so we can only guess. We do know they spent *months* in the continent because Hange mentions it in a previous chapter. I’ll add the 9 months to my story, though, because it enhances the importance of the number 9. I truly appreciate your great ideas! I’ll edit the chapter tonight and add an acknowledgement of your contributions at the end of the chapter.
I added the following to the chapter, inspired by your wonderful ideas!
Before
After
Thank you so much once again for your contribution! I added your name in the Acknowledgements section❤
oh hana, i don’t know what to comment because my eyes are full of tears and so many emotions clouding my head! it was such a beautiful ending, so beautifully written! i enjoyed every word, every sentence, every paragraph. you really have such a beautiful talent! <3 i will never tire of reminding you how grateful i’m that you share your stories with us. <3 a couple of days ago i crowned you as the queen of smut but now i also crown you as the queen of agnst and feelings! xD
ps. how beautiful is the concept of trees!
eren would obviously be an apple tree, falco peach (annie too), pieck cherries, zeke grapes, reiner i guess lemons (for all the pain and death, i mean all the shifting titans feel the same but reiner is literally the one who wishes to die the most canonically), armin figs
i don’t know if what i just said makes sense (and if at some point the characters’ favorite fruit came out) but i really relate them to those fruits and the meanings they have
Thank you! Your suggestions are great, thanks for including Krissy’s ideas there. I like them, though Eren needs two more since he has three titans; I’m guessing you want the apple for the Founder, but what about the Attack and Warhammer? Also, I totally understand why you’d want grapes for Zeke: his spinal fluid created the poisoned wine. But the grape is a vine, so we’d better come up with a tree whose fruit can be made into wine (aside from the apple, of course). I love the fig for Armin. I read just now the wiki entry for the fig and this fruit has some serious clout in religion and mythology! 🙂
Nah, I doubt Isayama-sensei has any interest in fruit, so we’ll never know what our babies like in canon xD But thanks for playing along and thinking up favourites with me! xoxo
Oh Myri, thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed this chapter. I was actually worried you’d be upset because I made Piece make a sacrifice. I know you love her and want her to live as long as possible. But with this ‘Power of the Nine’ kind of ending I really couldn’t see a way out for any of the shifters. I doubt very much that this is what’s going to happen in canon, though. There’s a reason Isayama-sensei didn’t kill off the warriors’ families. I think he has other plans for the warriors (maybe to not die but become normal/ordinary once again?). Let’s hope it’s a great ending for all of them!
Thank you, I humbly accept my crowns with deep gratitude and honour 😀 Love you so much!
sorry old friend cant write a decent comment right now its your fault coz im crying how can i write when i cant see the fucken keyboard i love this finale i really do ill just ft you later kay ps fruit tree concept is just perfect annie likes peaches i swear oh n erens apple reiner lemon pieck cherry zeke watermelon wait thats not a tree fuck
Sorry for making you cry! Here’s a tissue, there now.
Hmm, I’m down for all the fruit trees you mentioned, except Zeke’s. You’re thinking of スイカ割り aren’t you? OMG Krissy you’re so bad! Dunno whether I should laugh or cry…OMG you’re really bad! xD xD Anyway, that’s right, the watermelon’s not a fruit tree, it’s a vine, so you better come up with another suggestion 😀
omfg i love this child already now i want a child omfg now im crying again aaaaagghhhh
Oh Krissy! You don’t want *a* child, you want *this* child who is a figment of my imagination. We’ll see more of her in the Jean Chronicles’ The Protegee part, if I ever get around to finishing it, that is xD
omfg if i were an artist im gonna fucken draw this so hard its beautiful why do you write beautiful shit like this makes me cry you happy now that im crying fuck you hanaaaaa
Aww, thank you! It’d make a nice painting, I agree. Eren hugging his child and freeing it, and around them are all the animals and galaxies celebrating the birth and freedom of the newborn. I’ve pictured it in my mind, looks fantastic! Thanks for saying that paragraph is worthy of art, warms my heart <3
aaaaaaaghhhhhh i want eren to be my daddy aaaaagggghhhhh why cant i have a daddy like eren i feel bereft this part was just so so so beautiful and tender i cried like you wanted me to now i feel sorry for myself for not having a dad like this sigh oh sigh now ill just sniffle and wallow in self pity aahhhhhh i cant even lol now
Oh Krissy! Eren as Baby Daddy would be wonderful, but only in fiction! Oh, wait, you meant daddy as in father. Sorry, my bad! xD Unfortunately, old friend, you and I are doomed to be one of them fatherless peeps with huge daddy issues who can’t go through life without their childhood trauma trailing them for eternity and making everything twice as bad as it actually is. So the only thing we can do is re-parent ourselves, be our own daddy (as in father, not *that* daddy).
The other day I was re-watching The Godfather films (for the nth time), and after my bout of self-pity (one of my colleagues just had an entire house purchased for them by their daddy, one of my college friends is taking her doctorate paid for fully by her daddy, and so on) about not having a dad who could help me out, I thought to myself, could be worse xD Maybe you and I should watch the films together! xD
Anyway, thank you so much for the kind words about my writing. Love you always, mwah!
omfg what a tear jerker i cried and cried you happy now hana fuck you lolol
Aw, Krissy, you know I never mean to make anyone cry! Yes, I’m happy that you’re commenting. Told ya you’d need a Kleenex, didn’t I? 😉
this was amazing, like seriously it brough me to tears when the child was listening to armin’s story. you have an amazing talent here hana!! keep it up!!
Hi dyingwithoutanybodyknowingwhy! OMG your username makes me want to cry. I hope this isn’t true IRL 🙁 Are you okay? Please DM me on Instagram whenever you feel like having a chat with a fellow erehisu shipper.
Thank you so much for the kind words in your comment. You put a smile to my face and made the day so much easier to bear. I’m really glad to hear you enjoyed Armin’s conversation with the child. In the anime adaptation he narrates most of the story so I thought I’d give him the chance to tell a bedtime story to his best friend’s daughter.
Things have been awful at work lately, everybody’s having a breakdown and the past few days have been incredibly stressful (You know those times when every single thing seems to go wrong? Yeah, those days). I go home at night completely exhausted, and I often wonder if spending my hours outside of work writing these silly fanfic stories is worth the trouble. But I read your comment and felt so much better. It’s readers like you who make the writing worthwhile. It’s me who should be thanking you. Thank you so, so much for spending time with my stories and encouraging me to write more! xoxo – hana
Hi. I really like your ending. Historia+ baby safe, say goodbye to Eren, who frees baby. This is great. Always want final panel to be Eren and Historia baby. Beautiful idea of fruit trees planted by Princess Ymir. Good to know nine titans have chance to say goodbye to families. Its great ending, Hange can also not die, Levi not get injured. Only thing I don’t like is Falco making sacrifice. He’s too young to die. I don’t like children dying. Sad for Falco to be one of big nine. Also wish you write a scene for Connie mother become human again. Poor Connie. But good for Daz and Samuel not dying in your ending, means Connie cannot feel guilt anymore. Thank you for making Historia happy, it’s my dream in manga. Everyone hate her now but she is my best girl for a long time since Ymir. Love erehisu ending, she has to say goodbye to Eren but now their baby can be happy. Thank you.
Thank you so much for the lovely comment! Me, too, I want that final panel to be Eren and Historia’s baby. I mean, there are other possibilities (Eren freeing baby Eren, Grisha freeing Eren, Eren freeing Founder Ymir, etc) which I’m also fine with, but I would be very disappointed if Hisu’s baby is relegated to a footnote.
Yes, I added the nine days to say goodbye just so they’ll have some kind of closure with their families. I certainly want Reiner’s mum to apologise to him about what she did, and especially for Annie’s dad to see her once more. I thought of adding an Epilogue where they do say goodbye, and Armin is seen holding hands with Annie as they go to Paths and whatever lies beyond, plus, as you say, Connie’s mum goes back to normal and she and her son have a tearful reunion, and also Daz, Samuel, Floch and others all find themselves resurrected. Maybe some day I’ll write that epilogue!
I’m so sorry about making Falco die in this ending. I totally understand, he’s so young and it’s unfair for someone his age to have to sacrifice for adults. I couldn’t think of a way to get him out of it, the Nine being central to the final solution.
Historia’s best girl for me, too! Canon Krista/Historia has always fascinated me, it’s a real shame she got shoved under the bus after her coronation in the manga. Isayama could’ve done so much more with her character! Let’s keep on loving her and ignore the haters. We know better!