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Eren pulled against the chains that held him in place, pulled and pulled as he watched the founder walk. As he watched a child walk, under orders of his brother who would never admit that she who was walking was but a child.
He pulled and pulled, ignoring Zeke's words, feeling his flesh start to rip and a burn rocket through his hands.
Eren didn't stop pulling.
He snapped free, thumbs ripped clean off and bolted towards the child. He managed to ignore the burning pain as he ran. And as he ran he managed to ignore Zeke speaking. Something of a, you can't stop her.
Eren ran towards the child, and he knows her story better than anyone. The past and the present flitting behind his eyes. The founder, who is but a child. And Eren knows the truth. The founder is said to be a slave, said to be a god. But Eren knows the truth.
She was a small, orphan born child, who had her tongue cut out, and lost her voice.
She was a small, orphan born child, whom everyone blamed, and lost her faith.
She was a small, orphan born child, who ran with arrows protruding from her back, and lost her will.
She was a small, orphan born child, who sought refuge, and lost her innocence.
She was a small, orphan born child, who died under a tyrant's command, and lost her meaning of life.
She was a small, orphan born child, who found a love not meant for her, and lost her identity.
She was a small, orphan born child, who was only a human.
The founder was a human, named Ymir, who lost her humanity.
Who lost her free will.
Who lost her voice and her sight.
Who did not lose anything, but had everything taken from her.
And Ymir Fritz is only a child.
And Eren is not running towards her to end the world, but to save a child from a tyrant. Eren is not trying to turn the page and reveal the end, but to rewrite the beginning. Because is the beginning, it was a little girl. In the beginning, it was not a child who looked the devil in the eyes and smiled, but a child who was chained and bound to the devil for she was an angel fallen from grace.
Eren never wanted to write the ending; he wanted to rewrite the beginning.
Eren knows Ymir Fritz's story better than anyone, because he knows what everyone else doesn't. Ymir doesn't have to be a slave, and she was never a god either. She was human, promised freedom.
And after the millennia that Ymir has waited, Eren Yeager will be the one to fullfil that promise.
His arms wrap tight around her.
Holds her in place, and she hears another command, but she doesn't dare move. Because she could easily, but he has always been here, pulling free of his shackles and offering to free her as well.
The simple words, whispered delicately in her ear, is all she needs to know that this was who she waited for.
"I can end it."
Some could say he was offering to end the world, people like Zeke. But after two thousand years, Ymir knows better.
She doesn't hear his next words, just feels his arms around her, wrapped around her delicately to mimic the one thing she has never received. A hug. She doesn't hear whatever it is he has to say, because she already knows.
He's not asking for power, as it might be implied. Eren Yeager is asking for her to take his hand. Eren Yeager is her promise, because Eren Yeager is freedom.
Tears stream down her face, and she sees blood on a flower that tells her it has all been for nothing. Tears stream down her face, and she knows, through everything she has endured, that that is untrue.
She turns slowly, dropping whatever it was she held in her hands, and hugged her freedom back.
There's another person here, screaming commands that some part of her brain tells her to follow, but her freedom shatters that piece of her with four simple words.
"You don't have to."
And Ymir Fritz is but a small, orphan born child, who has never known the definition of freedom, but today she does.
The definition of freedom is Eren Yeager.
And the curse is lifted, and her freedom breathes. The curse is lifted and her freedom holds her close. The curse is lifted and in a flash of light, her freedom is holding her in a place that feels of everything good.
She hears the rush of the ocean. She feels the warm rain as it soaks her and frees her. She smells that sweet smell of ocean salt and grass and just fresh air. She smells the soft, barely there scent of her freedom. But most of all, Ymir Yeager feels his arms around her, feels his tears as they drip down his face in a mixture of so many emotions, feels his soft hair and warm coat and sweet smell and Ymir Yeager is freed.
Her freedom, Eren Yeager.