Chapter Text
With the graduation ceremony over, everyone were celebrating when they heard a powerful lightning. Before they could react, they suddenly found themselves in a large room. They rubbed their eyes feeling a bit disoriented. To their surprise, they found Keith Shadis walking towards them.
"Cadets, pay attention! We have found ourselves in a strange room out of nowhere. I want everyone to stay calm and analyze your surroundings. Bott, take note of the cadets present here. I will be discussing the situation with Commander Smith, Commander Pixis and Commander Dok."
After Shadis goes to a different part of the room, Bott glances across his surroundings and found lot of seats around them. He asks all the cadets around him to sit down and starts counting all of them.
"Armin, didn't it sound just like when the Colossal Titan attacked our home?"
"Yes, but this felt much larger. I wonder what happened."
Other cadets join the conversation. Amidst the commotion, Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie sneak off into a corner to discuss the situation.
"Reiner, what the hell is happening? Do you think this is the power of Founding Titan?"
"Yes, Bertholdt. That seems highly likely. It seems like the opportunity to capture the Founding Titan fell right into our hands before we needed to attack Wall Rose."
"Are you an idiot, Reiner? Look at the situation we are in. We have no idea where we are and we have no idea what the Founding Titan can do. As much as I want to finish the mission quickly and go home, we should be more careful before we take action."
Reiner took a deep breath and continued, "You are right, Annie. We can't afford to make a mistake. Let's go back to the group before anyone finds us missing. I will try to see if I can extract any information from the group and depending on the situation, we will decide what to do. Stay together and be ready for any attack." After that, they go back to the group.
Erwin Smith notices Keith Shadis coming towards him and asks him about the cadet group.
"It seems that many of the cadets from 104th Southern Division are present here along with some other cadets from other divisions. Who else are here?"
"We have squads Hange, Levi and Mike here. We also have some members from Military Police and Garrison Regiment here."
"Erwin, why are most of the officers here from Scout Regiment? Is this your handiwork?"
"Nile, instead of blaming me for everything, we should pay more attention to our surroundings and work together. We are in a large room surrounded by seats made of material that are only used by the nobles but made to seat large amount of people. Mike, tell your squad to canvass the room meanwhile you approach the table and retrieve the paper and the small object on top of it. Hange, your team is in charge of examining the room starting with the large flat object in front of the room. What do you think about the situation, Pixis?"
"We have all been brought here from different locations almost simultaneously. Safe to say, this is beyond any power we have ever seen. This power didn't make any hostile moves other than kidnapping us. But looking at the situation, it seems more likely that they want to communicate with us rather than harm us, especially judging by the paper on top of the table."
As they continued to converse among each other, Mike returned with the paper and the small object on top of it. Erwin began to read aloud for the sake of his audience.
"The object present on top of the table is called a microphone. It amplifies your voice so that everyone can hear it. Use it to convey my message present to everyone in this room. To make it functional, you have press the red protrusion below the microphone. You can press it again to make it stop working."
Just as Erwin was about to switch the mike on, Nile interrupted saying, "Shouldn't we read it first before releasing what could be sensitive information to everyone?"
"As Pixis said, there are powerful forces at work here. We better not take any chances when it is not yet hostile."
Erwin took a glance at the paper and called back the teams he sent for investigation. He told them that they could investigate this later as this requires all of their attenion. He then switched the mike on and started speaking.
"Attention everyone. I am Erwin Smith. I am reading this paper aloud so that I can convey the intentions of the being who brought us here."
He waited a bit so that the commotion in the room died down and continued with his speech.
"The destruction of Wall Maria is the start of a great apocalypse, the world is about to face. I will show you the nature of the future you are facing so that you can avoid the pitfalls faced by your future counterparts. Before we go further, I would like to address some important points regarding your current situation.
- You will be staying in this building for an extended period of time especially in this room. You will not be able to leave this room until the next break during which you can access other rooms of the building but you will still not be able to leave the building.
- However, you need not worry too much about what will happen in your absence. The building is outside the spacetime of your universe. This means that means that regardless of how much time you spend here, you will return to your universe at precisely the time you left.
- To avoid as much as discomfort as possible, I have made all the necessary accommodations for your stay here to be as comfortable as possible which you will find are lot more than what you find in your world.
- To make the watching constructive and even fun, I will occasionally pause at appropriate times so that you can discuss what you are watching.
- The future you are about to see will contain rather unsettling information. To avoid danger to any of you, I have made it impossible for you to harm each other as both Cadet Jeager and Cadet Kirstein can testify.....
What...?"
Shadis glared at them furiously as both of them sheepishly nod their heads and agree, Erwin turns back to the paper to continue reading.
"You may have noticed that there is large flat object called a "screen" in the front of the room. The screen can display realistic moving portraits accompanied by sound. Using that you will be able to see events happening in a way similar but much more realistic version of a drama theater. I hope you will find this helpful to save humanity. Further information will be explained by Lady Ymir, a person of great significance to your world who will appear shortly."
Right as he finished reading, a young woman with flowing blond hair, elegantly adorned in a pristine white dress, appeared in front of the screen.
"I am Ymir Fritz. It is a great pleasure to meet all of you. While I give you time to digest the situation, I would like to have the paper so that I can see what she told you."
"Fritz? Isn't that the name of the royal dynasty?" "Is she part of royal bloodline?" People murmured among each other. Erwin Smith decided to follow her instructions and let Hange ask her the questions.
He silently gave the paper just after he switched off the microphone. Lady Ymir Fritz taking a glance at the paper muttered, "Why didn't you just explain it all yourself? You had to involve me in your story" and returned the paper back to Erwin. While, the rest of the room continued to talk amongst each other not knowing what to do, Hange decided to ask the question everyone was thinking about with a little bonus.
"Lady Ymir Fritz, are you from the royal family? And perhaps the Lady Ymir that Langnar mentioned in her book? How are you related to the Titans? Were you the cause of the that lightning we all saw before we appeared here? Why did you.."
Before she could rattle of even more questions, Ymir interrupted her. "Give me a minute to at least answer one of the questions, won't you? "
Hange rubbed her neck embarrassed and answered, " I am sorry. I tend to get carried away when I am excited."
Then Lady Ymir smiled at her and said, "No problems. You are quite the smart one, aren't you? You have managed to find yourself on the right track despite limited information. I am connected to the royal family but I can't elaborate much more. And please call me Ymir, or Lady Ymir if you insist with the formalities. I don't like to refer myself with the surname Fritz. While, I have connections with both the Titans and humanity as you know it, I can't tell you much more without revealing what you will see on the screen prematurely."
Erwin finds this entire arrangement rather strange and asks Lady Ymir, "While we are grateful for the opportunity, may I ask why are we watching it in a drama format when there are more efficient ways of conveying information?"
Lady Ymir after muttering that she really wished that they could have explained it themselves instead of leaving it up to her and said, "While I have great power and was involved in bringing you here, most of the work was done with the help of an entity out of this universe. While they are mostly benign, their existence as immortal leads them to be constantly bored. Watching over our world, they were attached to the struggles of our world. In appreciation of it, they have made it into something you will watch soon. It is difficult to explain what it exactly is as it made using technology that is not yet discovered in our world.
Coming back to the main point, while they could give you the information straight, they think this would give you a better appreciation of the sacrifices all of you have made. Also, I think they wanted someone to appreciate the effort and dedication they put into making this, although they would never admit to it."
"I don't mean to offend you but how could we trust that we see is real? For all we know the entire story could be made up?" questioned Commander Pixis.
Lady Ymir was more than slightly offended as she said, "I was trapped for more than two millennia before I could be freed from my own mind. Now, that I am free, I would like to help you stop all the madness that has is about to occur. I request you to take this at least somewhat seriously before dismissing all this for fiction. The authenticity of this would be understood as soon as you see it as the true nature of any single person or event can't be faked without being noticed by anyone overtime. This story will follow the perspective of some young cadets who would have eventually shape the future as you see it starting from just before the fall of Wall Maria. You will be able to corroborate this with whatever information you find from them and other information you can get once you reach your own world."
She stopped before she could heatedly continue arguing. All of this is not easy for anyone to understand let alone people whose minds have brainwashed to the extent they forgot the nature of their own world. Perhaps, it was inevitable that people won't believe her. There is no point in........She shook her head. There is no point in doubting herself now. To get people to understand each other, one reach their hearts not just their minds. Only once they are ready to accept the truth in their hearts, their minds will be open to listen. And she can't let Eren destroy himself again. If not anything else, this would help his friends understand him better and support him when necessary.
"I apologize for my earlier outburst. This would be tough for anyone to believe. After all, it is explained as a story full of cliffhangers and twists. It is divided in 20 minute segments with songs attached at the start and end. However, it is made with real emotions attached to your situation. While, this might be tough to swallow at first, I wholeheartedly believe that you will soon accept the truth. I would like to explain this with evidence, but the contract I have with the entity doesn't allow me to explain what could be seen from the show. Once I leave, the show will start and I won't appear unless absolutely necessary. You need to absorb this by yourself without my opinion coloring it. I hope that you will find this experience both instructive and entertaining. I thank all of you for listening to me."
Before she left, she approached Eren and bowed her head in an apology, "This show will bring up your worst memories including the death of your mother and the fall of Wall Maria before we even start with the future which was not easy on you. I hope you can forgive me."
Eren lifted her head up and said, "I am ready to go through whatever hell is necessary so that humanity can be saved. So, please don't apologize anymore for bringing hope to us."
The gesture almost brought tears to her eyes before she shook it off. Eren was the first person who saw her as a human instead of as a tool for their needs. She wanted to say that she didn't want him to go through hell but stopped herself from saying anything else. She thanked him with a sad smile and left.
They all went back to their seats and discussed among each other. While the cadets were excited that they would play an important part in this future, the commanders were discussing the situation. They came to an agreement that this was worth taking seriously and felt that Lady Ymir was genuinely interested in their welfare. According to her, the cadets would play an important role in shaping the future which explains their presence. They have decided that while they would let the cadets freely watch the show and gather their opinion when provided, the seniors will take notes and analyze the situation.
As the discussions started thinning, they have heard a sound from the front of the room. "The show is about to start. I hope you are all ready for it."
They were all able to seat themselves comfortably when the screen flickered to life. People gasped as they saw a book whose pages rapidly fluttered and heard background music that somehow fit perfectly even for a single animation. Things would only go more interesting from here.