Burdens(Erehisu)

Chapter 22

"We're Enemies of Humanity."

Historia to Eren (Chapter 66, Feb 9th, 2015, Attack on Titan: The Uprising Arc.)

Eren and Historia was the Plot. They were the EndGame. Never forget that.

===

Following behind the figure, the brunet constantly adjusted his black military uniform: stretching, padding, and straightening. "Can you stop doing that?" Jean said in annoyance as he paced beside the brunet. Seeing the soldier getting further, Jean and Eren decided to catch up to him. Eren then casually tapped on the shoulder and asked, "Is this report about the capture of Paradis's Queen true?" The soldier examined Eren's well-dressed black military suit, hesitated for a second, then frowned at him and said, "Of course not. I doubt we captured the filthy race's Queen. If we have, we won't be spreading false information." There was a brief moment of awkward silence between the three after those words before Jean grabbed the soldier's other shoulder, leaned in, putting his face next to his, stared into the side of the soldier's lean face, and warned. "Hey, watch your mouth."

The soldier didn't move. He didn't even look at the person beside him. He simply stared down the street with eyes wide open. In fear. Shocked by Jean's sudden aggression, Eren glared down at Jean and said, "Who are you?" Looking into Eren's disapproving glare, Jean retreated. "Sorry, I got carried away with my belief." The soldier glanced at Eren's hateful glare for a second, then looked at Jean. "And what do you believe?" Jean looked at him, then shifted his eyes to the ground of dust in disgust. "Those devils need to be exterminated from this world."

===

Jean walked behind Eren in silence as they strolled down the sidewalk. Knowing what was on Jean's mind, Eren called out. "Get over it. What you said doesn't mean a thing if you don't believe it." When Jean continued to stay silent, Eren said to no one in particular. "Looks like this is going exactly as I have foreseen." Jean, caught off guard by Eren's sudden thought, stared at the blank sidewalk across the black concrete road.

"What have you seen?"

Turning his head towards the trees along the sidewalk, staring into the pink color flowers, Eren mourned. "Nothing good." Jean gazed at Eren's saddened face. Realizing what he meant, Jean sighed. "So, you gave up?"

Eren turned his body sideways to face the trees, then looked at Jean with half-closed eyes, controlling the irritation of his voice. "Since when?" Jean looked at him and shrugged. Then, Eren gave a tense glare as he approached him, which caused Jean to back away. Jean then stuck out his hand in front of him in panic, telling Eren to stop. Only for Eren to sweep it away and grabbed him by the collar. Pulling Jean's face close to his, Eren continued to glare into him. "Listen here, Jean. I'll be the one to break this vicious cycle. I'll do whatever it takes to gain my freedom. I'll destroy the world and anyone who stands in my path, you understand? Because if I don't, nothing will change. So, giving up is the last thing you will see from me!"

Jean saw the monster in Eren's eyes as Eren hissed at him. The monstrous glare caused Jean to look away in terror as he crumbled under Eren's grasp. Unable to utter out anything, Jean squealed as Eren continued. Seeing his friend's pathetic, sacred face, Eren let go of Jean. Calming himself down, Eren said, "You're pathetic." Jean looked at Eren as he held himself against the wall of the sidewalk. Not saying anything.

"Use your brain. Help me out like you always do in these situations."

Regaining himself from the shock, Jean yelled back. "Damn it, you bastard! You can throw your temper and frustration on me, but don't you dare throw it on Mikasa!"

"Huh, why does this have to do with Mikasa?!"

Jean stubbornly retaliated. "Just because!"

Eren studied Jean, then, with a smirk, said bluntly. "Just confess, you idiot."

Hiding his blush, Jean turned and walked past Eren. "Like it's easy for you to say."

Eren, looking at his friend walking down the street in embarrassment, chuckled to himself. Then, pacing beside Jean, resting his hand on his comrade's shoulder, Eren softly said as he stared into the distance. "Didn't mean to startle you."

===

Upon seeing the illuminating campfire behind the obscured trees, Sasha took out her signal flare and fired a yellow smoke flare into the clear sky. Then, a tall figure emerged behind a tree, which caused a little jump scare. Sasha, recognized the face, then asked, "You guys are here?" The man nodded as Sasha walked past him. Seeing Connie sitting on a log through the red flames in front of her, Sasha yelled. "Connie!"

"Hmm?" Connie replied. Then, recognizing Sasha in front of him, he shot up onto his feet and quickly paced himself towards Sasha and gave her a tight hug. "You led this group, didn't you?"

Taken aback by Connie's sudden warm embrace, Sasha pathetically said, "Huh, uh, yeah, yeah.....I guess so."

Everyone stared at Connie and Sasha's bonding moments in silence. As the two dragged this out, Mikasa asked out of the blue. "Since when?" They both then immediately let go of each other, ignoring Mikasa's question. "C'mon, Mikasa. Let them be." Historia teased as she gave a soft punch on Mikasa's shoulder, walking past her. Looking around, Historia then said, "We should get going before this place gets overrun with soldiers."

As the group was in the process of packing everything up and eliminating traces of evidence, more and more Yeagersists arrived at their site. They reported that they were to protect Historia at all cost until they reached the ship. When Historia asked for their ship's location, they refused to reveal it. Saying it was necessary to keep their whereabouts from leaking out.

Helping Sasha to devise the safest escape route through the forest, Historia asked without averting her eyes from the map. "Where's Eren?" The Yeagersist replied, "We don't know. Floch said Eren is taking revenge on someone." This time, Historia tore her eyes away from the map and looked at the Yeagersist in distraught. "What revenge?! Get him back!"

"Your majest-"

"No, that's an order! At least two of you, I don't care who, sprint back to the ship and tell Floch that the Queen ordered him to bring Eren back by whatever means!"

Historia had to practically threaten the Yeagersist as she ordered them to reveal their secrets and connection with Eren, which they eventually did. But only to her. And when Armin asked Historia about Eren's current motives, Historia said Eren's priority is to get back to Paradis. However, seeing Historia's sudden change in mood, Armin wasn't convinced. He suspected Historia and the Yeagersists now know Eren's true motives.

===

I might have been too harsh on Isayama, now that I think about it. Isayama definitely changed the ending of his manga due to Editors' pressure, so I'll just say this:

Eren and Historia's relationship was built on trust and understanding. Both of them experienced negligence, self-identity and worth, lack of freedom, and belonging. They've repeatedly saved each other and cared for one another throughout the series.

Eren and Historia's relationship and dynamic is the rarest, healthiest, the most genuine relationship that I have seen in Shounen. A genre that's plagued with cliches and tropes. From all the years of reading and watching Shounen, I'm confident that there won't be another relationship like Eren and Historia's. That's why I loved their dynamic so much.

Even though you butchered your story and these two characters in the end, Isayama--especially Eren's--I will never forget my love and time spent on reading, re-reading, and watching this series over the years.

For that, Hajime Isayama, Thank You.

Attack on Titan will always be special to me.