You're Not Alone

•76•

I let out a scream and I feel my body jolt again. When I open my eyes I'm back in the cave, the cold hitting my bare skin.

"Well? Do you guys remember?" Rod asks. "Have you learned of your father's sin?"

I still haven't processed what I've seen. It's all pushing at my mind, the memories being in unbearable.

My eyes begin to sting from staring for too long and I blink them, trying to bring moisture to them. My body gives out and I'm hanging limply from the chains.

From behind me I hear Historia begin to cry.

"What's wrong? Are you alright?" Her father asks.

"How could-? How could I forget? In all that time?" She whispers. "I was never alone. I had her. She was always there for me. She gave me books. Taught me how to read and write. She was so kind to me. So how could I forget her?"

"I take it you're talking about Freida..." he states.

Frieda... that's the girl with the black hair.

"Frieda?" Historia repeats.

"If it was a kind-hearted young woman with long, black hair, then I would imagine that it was Frieda Reiss. She was your half-sister," he explains. "She must have been worried and gone to check up on you from time to time. If she was erasing your memories, know that she did it to protect you."

"So... that's why I forgot here?" Historia mutters.

"That's right. But touching them seems to have brought those memories back to you," Rod informs her. "An unexpected side-effect."

"Father, where is she?" Historia asks and I feel my heart sink. "Do you think we can visit her sometime? I'd like to tell her thank you. If she hadn't been there for me, I- I wouldn't have had anyone. I need to thank her!"

"Frieda is no longer of this world," Rod states sadly. "At one time, I had five children. But five years ago, my wife and our children were murdered... by a man named Grisha Jaeger. Your sister was killed by their father."

I clench my jaw, tears falling from my eyes as I listen to them behind me. I'm so sorry my father took your sister and family Historia... I'm sorry.

"Grisha had the ability to transform into a Titan," Rod begins speaking and I can see the memories resurface from earlier. "I still don't know where he obtained it. But his goal was to steal something from the Reiss family. What Grisha sought to obtain was power. The power of the Reiss family which resided within Frieda."

In my mind I see my father transform into his Titan form, large and muscular. He has a beard and I think was taller than Eren and I. He's fighting against the black haired girls Titan.

"Frieda's Titan was by far superior to all the others. In theory, she had unsurpassable power. However, at her young age, she lacked the experience to wield it properly. And because she couldn't unleash her true potential, Grisha ate her and in doing so, stole her power," Rod explains. "But that wasn't enough. He then turned his gaze to the children. He wanted to eradicate the Reiss family. He started by crushing Dirk and Abel, who were 14 and 12."

I let out a small cry, seeing my father crush the two kids in his hand. They were so young. I don't understand how my father could've done that.