A Sinner With A Smile // An AOT Time Travel AU

A Sudden Interest

Time passed. Eren had now been in this new timeline for three months. In these three months, he learned about the world around him as much as he could, limiting himself to within the walls, for now, something the old him wouldn't have thought to do at all.

When he was young, all he'd ever thought of was the outside of the caging walls surrounding humanity, protecting them, yet also trapping them, keeping them from broadening their world. Now, though, after seeing the outside world, he wanted to know more about the inside, what the people who paid for their ancestor's crimes without knowing a single thing lived.

It was enlightening, to say the least. These innocent people so afraid of the titans outside the walls weren't cowards like he had thought when he was young, but they just wanted to live. Eren had always thought freedom was equal to living, but that wasn't the case most of the time.

Instead, living meant making sacrifices. A mother sacrificed their future to raise their child, a father sacrificed their time for their family, and a child sacrificed their innocence to grow up. Eren had sacrificed millions of lives to ensure his beloved ones lived, yet his sacrifice had been in vain.

So, he had sacrificed himself. Although that meant nothing in a world void of all humans but him, he had sacrificed the little time he had left to live to close his eyes and atone for the destruction he had done.

Who could have known that this atonement came in the form of time travel? Eren certainly hadn't when he had wished to repay all those he killed with his sole life. Not that it mattered any more: that future was just another branch of time, a possibility yet unclear, and Eren had already started to change things to ensure it didn't happen.

The man-turned-to-boy was snapped out of his thought by his mother's voice.

"Eren, breakfast is ready!"

As soon as he heard that, his stomach grumbled, making him snicker slightly, patting it.

"Kids really do need a lot of energy, huh?"

Walking into the dining room, he smiled at his mother beside the kitchen sink brightly, going over and hugging her.

"Good morning, mother!"

Carla smiled, leaning down and kissing him on top of his mop of a bedhead in amusement once the plate in her hand was cleaned. She was used to the change of addressing after being called so for the past three months.

"Good morning, Eren-chan."

Eren helped his mother set the table, then walked to down the stairs to the basement and knocked on the locked door that had taken so much time to reach after Wall Maria's fall.

"Father, breakfast is ready!"

There was a few seconds of silence, before Grisha came out, looking exhausted with the dark eye bags under his eyes, but smiling at him. He locked the door behind him, the ruffled Eren's hair gently, only serving to worsen his bird's nest.

"Thank you for informing me," he told the boy. Then, looking at his dirty hands, he hummed. "Well, I need to wash my hands first." 

Eren pouted.

"Why did you touch my hair if your hands are dirty?" he complained whinily, making his father chuckle at his antics.

"Well, you haven't bathed in two days already, I don't think it matters anymore."

That was true. Since in the war washing had been a privilege he didn't have, Eren had gotten used to staying dirty. Now, being clean felt amazing, but most of the time, he couldn't bother with it. Of course, when he trained his body, which he currently did twice a week, he would wash up, but other than that, going to bed all muddy didn't trouble him at all.