Yoroi no Kyojin

Epilogue

Now knowing the origin of our powers and the secrets of the world. Eren and I finally took a step outside the walls.

We were on our horses when we saw it.  We rode through the sand and up the hill. The light of the sun shun on us as we did.

There, we got our first glance...at the sea. Even I was in Awe at the sight. I've seen it before in my mother's memories, but it's much better to see it as myself.

The absolute wonderment and fascination that Armin had in his face, it reminds me of when we were kids. How he would talk about the sea in amazing detail. Describing all that the books he had said of it. The shining, glimmering blue color. Stretching across to the horizon.

We made our way down there....and stepped into the water.

Fay, being childish as always, was on her hands and knees, feeling around the soft sand in the water.

Seeing my mom's memories, I understand our namesakes. Fay was named after Grisha's sister, who died to the Marleyans. I was named after the woman who saved her, Gabi Freiheit.

Conny splashes water at Sasha

"GAAAAAHH!!! MY EYES!!! THEY BURN!!!!!" Sasha yells

Jean tries tasting the water, "AAAGH! THAT'S SALTY!!"

Mina tries to taste the water after Jean, "EW!!! IT IS SALTY!!!"

The water moves in waves, covering our legs and receding back. This is it, what true freedom is. A boundless outside world, ready to be explored. The world Armin and Eren were always so excited to see. And...the world I wanted to see...but was too cowardly to admit it.

Armin picks up a strange rock with a strange hole in it. Almost as if it was intentionally made like that. I picked one up myself. The rocks were way to similar to actually...well...be rocks. They must be some sort of...animal created thing. Or perhaps something naturally created by the salt water or something.

Mikasa stumbles around, funnily. She gets a little embarrassed and blushes when Armin and I catch her.

Armin turns to Eren, who's just staring at the horizon, "You see, Eren? It's just like I told you. A body of water so big that merchants could spend their whole lives and still not get all the salt out."

I smile, knowing this is what my friends have always wanted

"That's what I said we'd find. Now it looks like I was right." Armin says

Eren stays silent for a second before speaking up, "Yeah, the sea. It's so damn big."

"Yeah." Armin says

I look up at Eren, myself.

"And it's just like you said, on the other side of the wall, there's-" Armin says before being cut off by Eren.

"There's a sea. And just across that sea, freedom's waiting." Eren says

My eyes widen a bit as I look at Eren.

"That's what I always believed at least. But I was wrong. I know what's waiting across the sea now. It's our enemies." Eren says

I look down, knowing Eren is right.

"Everything we've seen, has been exactly like it was in my father's memories." Eren says, turning his head around to look at us.

"And my mother's memories too." I say

Eren looks back out and points to the horizon, "Hey...if we did cross the sea...and killed our enemies...after that...would we finally be free?"

I look down at the water. And drop the object I was holding...

To Be Continued...in Yoroi no Kyojin: Final Battle