In an Alternate Reality IV

Miscalculations

"What do you think you're doing.... Brat?"

Gabi noticed a large hand holding her rifle. She looked up and was met with tall figure with a pink glow in its eyes. She immediately knew who it was. The man she swore to destroy.

"E-Eren...Jaeger..."

Before Gabi was able to fire, Eren changed the direction she was aiming from so she wouldn't hit anyone. Gabi's hand shook until she couldn't properly hold her rifle. Eren took the rifle from her hand and Gabi simply looked down. Eren's presence was terrifying, and it made the air around her feel heavy.

Gabi stayed quiet for what felt like hours. Everyone just looked at the scene and waited for an order from Eren. Gabi felt a fire ignite within her and used all her courage and strength to at least say something.

"You monsters! You killed my friends! You destroyed my home! I will never forgive you! You are all filthy, heartless, mindless Devils!" Gabi screamed.

There was only silence and Gabi began to tense up even more now. That silence and tension was broken when Eren spoke.

"You're not wrong...We're all monsters... We don't expect you to forgive us. And I don't blame you for hating us. But aren't you Eldian?" Eren asked.

Gabi expected a much rougher or harsh tone from Eren but received the completely opposite.

"That armband says it all. You aren't treated well here. All of us here can understand your sentiment because we have suffered from the pain you have. Trust me when I say this.... Back inside the walls, life is the same for us.... We did this not because we find it amusing, but because what they've done to us. People inside the walls used to cower in fear of the Titans and were oblivious to the outside world. And when we found out what was truly out there and how horrible not only us Eldians, but the rest of the world are treated, we had to do something."

Gabi looked down in denial. She refused to believe any of the words that came out of his mouth. After all, they killed hundreds of innocent people.

"No... You-...You're wrong. You Devils don't care about anything but yourselves.... You are all cold-hearted savages.... That's all you are..."

Eren narrowed his gaze to show a certain level of empathy for the kid. It was clear to him that Gabi was controlled and brainwashed into believing all those lies Marley says about Eldia's past.

"You call us cold hearted savages. You call us monsters. But couldn't you say the same for Marley? Could you say that about the rest of the world? If you had seen the world through their eyes, it would be a different story... 9 years ago, when the Warrior Unit attacked Paradis, I had to witness my mother get eaten alive in front of me. I had to witness people getting crushed by flying rocks. I have gone through Hell ever since that day. After all that time, my heart was of course filled with the same thirst for revenge you hold..."

Gabi's eyes widened at his words. She was left speechless. She stayed quiet and began to calm down. Eren then looked over at Falco who looked worried.

"Hey, you. What's your name?"

"F-Falco, sir."

"Sir? Don't bother. Take care of your girlfriend here. Don't let her act out of order."

"Y-Yes." Falco said nervously.

Eren began walking away and all the soldiers began to clear his path until Floch stopped Eren.

"Eren, what do we do with them? Should we throw them off the ship?"

Eren turned to look at Floch in disgust.

"What is wrong with you? Of course not. Just bring them to the front."

-

Eren was in the front of the ship with the rest of the former Levi Squad. Zeke was on the floor with all his limbs missing when Jean brought both Gabi and Falco to them.

"Gabi? Falco? How did you get here?" Zeke asked.

"What about you? We thought that you were dead." Falco said.

"They took you alive!? But how?" Gabi asked.

No one spoke until Levi walked up to the two who were just a little shorter than him.

"Who the hell are these kids?"

"They somehow killed Lobov then used his gear to climb aboard. This one nearly killed one of ours luckily Eren stopped her." Jean explained.

Hanji stepped out of the cockpit and turned to Zeke.

"Well, Zeke. Seems like everything has played out just like you wanted. Wouldn't you say?"

"I did make a few Miscalculations but aside from that I would."

"Wait, who are these kids? Hanji asked.

"Miscalculations." Zeke simply said.

"Miscalculations, huh? You just had to put on show for your comrades, didn't you? Quite the performance. Coming from a mingy fur-ball....Yeah, well done." Levi said while giving Zeke the death-glare.

"Please don't glare, Levi. You don't wanna make me piss my pants, do you? And you gave quite the performance yourself. Considering how bad you wish to actually kill me."

"I'm the kind of person who saves the best bite for the end of their meal. I can really savor the taste that way."

As the two had their back and forth, Jean was getting pissed by the reckless plan they just followed. 

"God damn it, Yelena. Why did we have to follow such a reckless plan? We killed so many civilians! There could've been another way!"

Yelena was in the corner of the room with a dead look. Eren looked at her with a rather suspicious look.

"Something's up. What's she planning?"

"We now possess the Founding Titan as well as a Titan with royal blood. We have all the power we need to save Eldia. The rest is simple." Zeke stated. 

-

The sun began to rise as the Survey Corps flew back to Paradis. Everyone was sleeping except for Eren and Mikasa who were wide awake.

"Eren...What was that all about?"

"What was what all about?"

"You know. With that kid."

"I don't know it's just that.... That brat reminds me a lot of me...All this destruction. All this killing.... I want to at least spare some people."

A soft smile grew on Mikasa's face to what she just heard. Eren has been depicted as cruel monster, but that was only half of the truth.

"If I was only a second late to that, someone would've most definitely died. She still managed to fire a bullet off but luckily no one got hurt... Zeke called them "Miscalculations" and he's not wrong. Marley brainwashed them to thinking we are Devils and we think the same about them, but that doesn't mean they should be subjects to discriminations...."

Eren then let out a sigh full of relief.

"At least no one got hurt."