Mina Carolina (1)

???'s POV

Mina Carolina. I remember her based on the pictures that my mother has shown me in the past.

Her black hair was tied into two low pigtails, she had fair skin, and her small frame was almost identical to my original body. The only differences were the hairstyle, a slight height difference – she was shorter – and the eye color.

And here I am, standing at a tall wall alongside people who were in their teenage years. My first life ended at a young age, similar to theirs and similar to the person I am occupying at this moment. So, being thrown into this body didn't feel weird at all.

Which is weird in its own way, considering how normal I felt.

According to my mother, Mina was supposed to die during the second appearance of the colossal titan. Her death was as cruel and torturous as most victims of the Titans. So, as Ymir had told me, she wanted to make me see how dirty the world is before I was even born.

It doesn't make sense, though, how Ymir is able to do such a thing. But who am I to question it? After all, I'm simply a mere soldier.

Seeing both my father and mother in their teenage years will feel unnatural, and I will want nothing more than to run up to them and hug both of their bodies. But Mina Carolina wasn't that kind of person. She also was not close to them. So, why should I do it? Ymir only wanted to show me their past, so what did she mean that this was the world where my father properly did his job?

"Mina!"

There was one thing, however, that I immediately learned, and that is Ymir has a sadistic personality.

She threw my soul into Mina Carolina's body right when a colossal titan was staring right at our group. I had never tried to use an ODM gear back in my first life, so I blanked out just when a large amount of air pressure managed to push all of us away from the wall. In addition to that, a metal rod that was used for a cannon was suddenly impaled on my hand. 

So, even when Mina's memories began to combine with my own, I couldn't properly use this gear.

Dying right after Ymir has given me a second life is as embarrassing as it could get. Maybe she won't even give me another chance.

Just when I was readying myself to die for the second time, a strong and sturdy arm was suddenly wrapped around my waist, perfectly catching me from falling towards death.

"Do you want to die?!" The voice, a young man, screamed enough for me to hear. When I finally had the chance to look, there I saw my eyes directly gazing into my own.

My father, Eren Yeager, caught me at the right moment. A second late, and I would have most likely died. 

"I'm sorry!" I hastily apologized and pulled the impaled metal rod from my hand. As Mina's memories began to combine into my own, just like she had done a hundred times, I moved my body to adapt from 'my' ODM gear, eventually pulling myself away from the younger version of my father.

"Don't die!" His determined eyes struck me, almost making me thank Ymir for allowing me to witness such a beautiful sight.

"The wall has been breached?"

I eventually snapped upon hearing those words.

"Not again…" Someone muttered in terror. "The Titans will come inside the walls again!"

After dishing out an unused handkerchief and tying it around my wounded hand, my gaze landed on my father, whose eyes were showing both terror and rage.

"Annihilate all of you…"

Just with those words, he has regained his composure. He said, "Fixed cannon maintenance team 4, prepare for combat! Our target is the Colossal Titan before us!"

He swung behind me in an attempt to pull himself upwards, trying to get a shot at killing the titan who had once again destroyed a part of the wall. "This is our chance! Don't let it get away!"

The younger version of my father was full of rage and vigor. It was the total opposite of how tired and calm he was based on my memories as a kid. It was both interesting and weird to watch him like this. Now I wonder how my mother would look and how she would act like a younger version of herself.

Assuming that I survive today.

How did Mina Carolina die anyway?

Minutes after the colossal titan had vanished, I eventually made my way up. There, I saw my father apologizing for letting it get away.

There was no need to apologize though, because that's how the colossal titan works. I was about to tell him that when I eventually stopped myself from doing so.

This is the past. If I change something here, then it will affect the future as well. Besides, Ymir wanted to show me the world where my father supposedly did his job and where she got her revenge. Changing it would risk the chance of me seeing the predestined future.

And so, I backed away, notifying myself that if 'Mina' is supposed to live, then I should do my best to become someone who wouldn't hinder my father's fate.

That was the most idiotic decision I have ever made in my entire life.

In my second life, I decided to become a 'supporting' character in my father's life, and he ended up being the antagonist of the whole world. 

It was horrifying.

The humans in this world called it The Rumbling.

Thousands of colossal titans were set loose to kill every human that dared to attack Paradis. They said that Karl Fritz created this to end the war between Eldians and Marley.

And it did because the rumbling created the opportunity to eradicate all Titans.

"This is his fate." Ymir finally appeared years after she had thrown me here in this world just when I was standing a few meters away from my mother, who was hugging the severed head of my father.

It was a sight that broke me even more than the devil did in my first life.

"Does this sadden you?" She asks me as rage begins to pile up within my small body. "I was avenged, can't you see?"

"And what about them?" I turned my head to look at her disfigured body, not knowing if my expression showed any sign of terror or rage. "My father… Eren doesn't deserve this!"

"And did I deserve the things that happened to me?" Ymir countered back, scoffing after noticing a tear on my face. "Life is unfair, young one. Light needs a shadow, and peace needs unity. Unification can only happen if someone stronger appears before both parties."

There's no way I can rebut that, so, with trembling arms, I ask, "Are you saying that Eren is that being?"

"Exactly!"

Something inside of me snapped after hearing her reply. This world is too fucking unfair! Why… why did this happen to them? Why is this happening to every world that Ymir oversees?!

And why… did it not happen in my world? 

But instead of answering that question, I screamed. "It doesn't have to be him! Eren… Eren just wanted…"

"To be free!"

Ymir became silent after my outburst as she finally noticed how pained I was from this world - The world that only became united after seeing my father as the antagonist that needed to be eradicated.

"And?" She looked up as I continued what I was going to ask. "What happens after this?"

Ymir horrendously smiled as she pulled my soul apart from Mina's body, eventually making it an empty shell. Before we left, I noticed Jean going near it, trying to wake 'Mina' up. But it was no use because Mina Carolina was supposed to die years ago, and now, her physical body has finally been freed from me.

***