Prologue

???'s POV

To the people caged in a wall filled with humongous man-eating creatures, seeing a place not filled with land and is instead replaced by untouched water produces an unknown feeling within them. It took a while for me to properly gaze at how exquisite this place is since knowing their expressions is more important.

Captain Hange is both bewildered and excited. She was so curious and wanted to know every little detail about the things she saw in this unknown place.

Captain Levi stares at it with his unchanging look, constantly reminding Hange not to touch anything suspicious.

Jean, Sasha, and Connie are playing in it, and their expression soured upon tasting it.

And Mikasa is as beautiful as ever, even when she is nervous about removing her shoes.

Armin… Well, his dream finally came true, so it was no surprise to see him smiling – probably wishing deep inside for his grandfather to witness this majestic sight.

"It's just like I always said, Eren." He spoke, blushing at how beautiful this place is. "A salt lake so big, merchants could never deplete it even if they spent their whole lives extracting salt."

Eren slowly lowered his head upon hearing those words. Armin continued, his eyes slowly tearing up, "It was out here all along, just like I thought."

"Yeah," Eren whispers. "It goes on forever."

Armin smiled, looking back at the shell he picked up. "Hey, Eren, look at this. On the other side of the wall-"

"Is the ocean." Eren finishes his sentence, his voice sounding like that of a tired man. Even as an outsider, I knew how painful it must have felt, as I forced myself not to break down just after hearing how tired he must be. "And beyond that ocean lies freedom. That's what I always believed."

I closed my eyes and tilted my head after noticing Captain Levi's stare, wishing that he hadn't noticed how close I was to losing it. This wasn't how I pictured this moment to happen. Becoming an unknown variable in their lives wasn't enough. In the end, Eren is still…

"But I was wrong." He continues as I tightly grip the side of my pants. "The only thing we'll find out there is the enemy. Everything here is exactly like I saw in my dad's memories."

Then I saw his expression, which tells everyone how chaotic the world is based on his father's memories. Armin and Mikasa might not fully understand, and it pains me how lonely Eren must have felt after witnessing all of those things.

I know because it was the same for me.

The lonely boy slowly lifted his hand and pointed far into the horizon. "If… we kill every last one of our enemies out there, will we finally be free then?"

Gripping my hand as hard as I could and biting my lip till I tasted blood wasn't enough to stop my tears from flowing down my face.

Eren, I'm so sorry.

My dream of seeing the three of you smiling after seeing the ocean is now gone.

Instead of merriment and joy upon accomplishing your childhood dream, what's left in your tattered and bruised body is your pained expression of thinking about how messed up this world is and how cruel it will be in the future.

Is there anything I can do to finally accomplish my dream of seeing you and Mikasa smile?

*****