Work Text:
The truth of the world was finally revealed. Thanks to the efforts of Eren and the Survey Corp, the Female Titan had been captured and revealed as Annie Leonhart. She was a tough nut to crack, but Hange eventually got her to talk.
The Armored and Colossal Titans are none other than Reiner Braun and Berthold Hoover. The three titan shifters are from another Walled Civilization on the outside world called Marley. Their Walls does not cover as big an area as the Three Walls of Paradis, leading to population pressures, which is why they are trying to invade and take over Paradis.
The Survey Corps apprehended Berthold and Reiner, with Annie’s help, who had defected to the side of Paradis. Those two provided further information about the outside world. The world was once teeming with life, and human civilizations thrived with technology levels much higher than the current time. A cataclysmic event in the far past led to the creations of Titans. The Titans brought great destruction upon the world, and all but wiped out the civilization of man. The survivors of the Titan cataclysm build Walled Cities to protect themselves and most become isolated from each other. Some Walled Cities expanded their territories to become Walled Countries, while others eventually were wiped out by Titans.
Currently, there are still several surviving Walled Countries around the world, but they are few and far in between and under constant pressure from the Titan infested world. Paradis is one of the biggest of the Walled Countries, having three walls instead of just one, or at most two. Marley had two walls once upon a time, but one was breached and fell to the Titans, resulting in many losses of life.
Marley and Paradis are fairly close geographically, but the dangerous Titan territory between the two made them lose contact over the years. Marley discovered the Titan shifters and realized mindless Titans pose no threat to them, which is why Marley wanted to use the shifters to invade Paradis to gain more territory.
Since Paradis now possesses three of Marley’s Titan Shifters, Marley’s power over Paradis is greatly reduced. Marley still has four Titans, but if a war breaks out between the two, the results would be too close for anyone to say which side would obviously win. The operation from the Marley’s side was a distraction from the terrible conditions their populations had to endure, and since the operation ended in complete failure, the government was duly deposed and a new one that’s ready to make peace was ushered into power.
The negotiations dragged on for months. By all rights Marley should be making every concession to Paradis since they were the aggressors, but due to still having four Titan Shifters, they have leverage to press for better terms. Erwin and Armin have been working around the clock to find ways to get the best possible terms in a potential treaty with Marley. Hange was busy trying to study Marleyan technology and to potentially integrate it into the technology of Paradis.
The negotiation period is leading Levi to feel a bit useless. He was humanity’s strongest soldier who’s used to fighting for survival non-stop. Suddenly, there was a possibility of peace. There were still the mindless Titans to kill and push back from the area of the former Wall Maria, but Eren and the three Titan Shifters proved to be more efficient in reclaiming territory, and Levi mostly just has the role of supervisor, and rarely needs to actually fight.
In the mission to reclaim Wall Maria, Eren and Levi discovered that they work great as a Titan killing team. Territory reclaiming is slow, but they are making steady progress, each expedition bringing them closer to Wall Maria. The plan was to reseal the hole in Wall Maria, so no more mindless Titans come in from the outside, then eliminate the Titans around inside the Wall perimeter.
At last, the negotiations were finalized, and a treaty was drawn up. Marley is to use their Titans to help Paradise reclaim Wall Maria, then Annie, Reiner, and Berthold are to return to Marley and reclaim the second wall they lost there. With so many Titan Shifters, they were able to repair the hole in Wall Maria and clear it of Titans in no time.
A celebratory ball was held to commemorate the occasion of Wall Maria being free of Titans and the start of the operation to resettle the territory. In the crowded ballroom, Levi was doing his best to mingle with the higher ups and the nobility of the Inner Walls. Levi does not have very high esteem for those overly privileged, soft nobles, and the first chance he can foist them on Erwin and bail, he did so. Erwin’s not too fond of them either, but at least he can influence them to increase funding for the Survey Corps.
Levi stepped out for a much-needed breather and to his surprise saw that Eren had the same idea. Eren was looking rather melancholic, he had a drink in one hand, but it’s half full.
“Sick of socializing with the snobs?” Levi asked as a way of greeting. Eren looked at him and nodded. “Why so quiet? I thought you would enjoy this type of event more.”
“Annie, Reiner, and Berthold are going back to Marley.” Eren said, “Sasha, and Connie are going back to help their families get back their homes from before Wall Maria fell. Mikasa wants to get some land and start a farm of her own, but I guess Armin will stay and work with Hange’s team to develop technologies. Half of the Survey Corps are retiring, since the Titan threat is gone.”
“What about you?” Levi asked, having an idea of what Eren’s melancholy is about.
“I know I should be happy that it’s all peaceful now and the Titan threat is gone,” Eren said, “but I just don’t think I can stand to live normally anymore.” Levi nodded at that; he is also feeling something similar. “Plus, there is the world outside of the Wall Maria, but it’s completely inaccessible to regular humans.” Eren’s now looking intently at Levi, “But not to me, I can go explore outside safely, and I’m thinking that I should tell Commander Erwin about this.”
Levi somehow knew Eren was not content when there was yet another wall in front of him. “The higher ups and the useless rich bastards would be against it, but I think the Commander and especially Hange would think this is a great idea.”
Eren smiled at this, “I wonder if anyone would want to join. Armin would probably want to go on a few expeditions, although I think he found his true calling in Hange’s lab. Jean? He has his mother to think about. Mikasa would want to go just to keep me safe…” Eren started to list out the people who might be curious about the real outside world.
“Aren’t you forgetting someone?” Levi interjected.
“What do you mean?”
“Aren’t you going to ask me to go?” Eren looked at Levi, surprised.
“I thought you would want to retire and open a tea shop?”
“I can retire after exploring more of the world with you.” Eren’s face lit up at this.
“Then, I’ll tell Commander Erwin about this plan tomorrow!”
Mikasa and Armin showed up then and Eren bid Levi a good night to go with them. Levi smiled fondly after him and shook his head. He was really trying to signal his intent to court Eren, but the brat kept missing it. All in due time, Levi thought. They are going to spend a lot of time alone together, after Levi convinces the entire Survey Corps to turn Eren down.