Late at night, Mikasa opened her eyes.
"Argh!"
"Eren, wake up!" Mikasa sat up, shaking Eren awake. She opened the nightstand drawer, took out a handkerchief, and wiped the sweat from Eren's forehead.
"Thank you, Mikasa." Eren, breathing slightly heavily, wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Did you have another nightmare, Eren?" Mikasa got out of bed, put on her slippers, poured a glass of warm water, and handed it to Eren.
"Yes." Eren nodded, tilted his head back, and drank the water in one gulp.
"I'm going to take a shower." Eren took off his pajamas, went into the bathroom alone, turned on the light, poured hot water from the kettle into a bucket, draped a towel over his shoulder, and, holding a wooden ladle, poured water over his head.
"Eren, I've left your clean clothes on the chair..." Mikasa's voice came from outside the door.
"Alright." Eren replied. He picked up the bucket and poured the remaining water over himself in one go before grabbing a towel to dry off.
Pushing open the door, he saw the clean, neatly folded pajamas Mikasa had left for him. He quickly put them on and returned to bed.
"Are you very tired, Eren?" Mikasa gently caressed Eren's face, resting her head against his chest. "Haven't you been getting enough rest lately?"
Eren patted Mikasa on the head. "I'm fine. Just a little restless."
"Is it because Marley was defeated?"
"Maybe..."
Mikasa looked at Eren's face for a long time before reaching out and embracing him.
"No matter what happens, I'll stay by your side. I'll protect you."
Hearing that, Eren looked at his palms and sighed.
"Mikasa, I only have five years left."
Eren wrapped his arms around Mikasa's waist.
"In five years, I'll die because of the curse of the Founding Mother Ymir. When that happens, who will inherit my Titan power?"
"Three years ago, Gale secretly inherited the War Hammer Titan. He only has ten years left as well."
"It terrifies me just thinking about it."
"It's okay, Eren." Mikasa bit her lower lip. "Isn't that weapon almost finished?"
"But, Mikasa..." Eren said softly, "Should something like the power of the Founding Mother even exist in this world?"
"Right now, I'm the one controlling it, but what will happen after I die? No one knows what kind of person the next inheritor will be. Being able to control the Rumbling based solely on one person's joys and sorrows, and even give the Eldians false emotions and memories... Just thinking about it gives me chills."
"I even... doubt myself." Eren's eyes were filled with confusion. "Am I really acting of my own free will, or am I following someone else's?"
"Eren is Eren. So... don't say things like that." Mikasa hugged him even tighter.
"I told you, Mikasa, the girl I saw in the Paths..." Eren whispered as he tried to remember. "She must have been the Founding Titan, Ymir. All Titans were created by Ymir. I have a feeling she guided me through the Paths, but I can't understand her purpose or what she was thinking."
"What did the Founding Titan want to do? What did she want to see? I don't know anything."
"Can we Eldians truly be considered free?"
"Even now, I still believe my thoughts are right. We should drive all Titans out of this world. But... I can't do anything."
"Eren..."
"Mikasa, promise me one thing, alright? After I die, throw that scarf away. Forget about me. You still have a long life ahead of you, so forget me and live freely..."
"No!" Mikasa protested. "Something like that! I can't do it!"
"Being able to marry you... is the happiest thing in my life." Mikasa cried, finally letting out all of her emotions. "I can't do it. Don't be so cruel to me."
Her tears fell onto Eren's chest.
Eren was at a loss, unable even to comfort her. He only had five years left. That was an undeniable fact.
Once he died, the Founding Titan's power would have to be passed on to the next successor, and the fate of all Eldians, of all Paradis Island, would rest in that person's hands.
He felt deeply uneasy, unbearably uneasy.
...
The next day, Gale summoned Eren, Mikasa, and Dina to the conference room.
"Tomorrow, you'll return to the capital." Gale pulled out a schedule. "Tomorrow morning, a train will depart from the Nuclear Industrial Zone, and you'll arrive in the capital by tonight."
"You'll stay with Historia as before. You must protect her."
"Why... all of a sudden?" Eren asked in confusion.
"The project here is finished, and we no longer need the Founding Titan's power." Gale rested both hands on the table. "For your safety, we're sending you to the safer capital."
"Aren't you coming with us?"
"I'll stay here. The final stage of development requires me, and we may even need the War Hammer Titan's power in the event of an invasion."
"No! I'm staying here!" Eren slammed his fist onto the table. "I can fight too! If something happens, I can use the Rumbling!"
Gale slammed the table even harder and shouted,
"You're not a damn child anymore! Open your eyes and think about what you're saying!"
For the first time, Mikasa saw Gale truly angry, so much so that she felt genuine danger.
The soldiers outside, hearing Gale's shout, immediately entered the room.
"Where do you intend to use the Rumbling? Here? Are you going to trample three years of our hard work into ruins? Crush us and the enemy to death together?"
Gale said coldly,
"Your mediocre mindset, which only resorts to explosive self-sacrifice, is pathetic."
"You haven't considered what it truly means to be on a battlefield. You've never been on a battlefield! To control the Rumbling precisely, you and Dina must be on the battlefield!"
"The power of the Titans is not immortality! If you're killed, Paradis Island will lose the Founding Titan's power. No one knows where that power will reappear. If it falls into the hands of another nation where Eldians live, everything we've accomplished so far will have been for nothing!"
"Anyone with enough knowledge could use the Rumbling and destroy Paradis Island from within. Is that what you want to see?!"
"I know that!"
"You don't know a damn thing. I'd rather lock you up than watch you destroy everything I've built."
Gale would kill Eren without hesitation if that idea in his head didn't disappear.
In fact, there was already an operation prepared for such a scenario, in which Dina, Historia, and the foolish former king would be hidden away. If Eren became the enemy of everything he had achieved, Gale would not hesitate to fight him.
"Gale, Eren, don't fight." Mikasa stepped forward, preventing the two of them from looking directly at each other.
"My orders are clear. Both of you will leave here tomorrow morning." Gale held his head and whispered, "Only Levi's squad, who serve as my personal guards, know that you possess the Founding Titan. Beyond them, only a handful of people know about your power."
"Publicly, we'll let the outside world believe that I possess the Founding Titan. That way, we'll keep the Titan's power out of the enemy's reach."
"Gale..."
"If we can hold out for these four months, everything will be over. Only then will you be allowed to leave the capital."
"So in your heart, in your eyes, I'm nothing more than... just the inheritor of the Founding Power?!" Eren roared furiously.
"No. You're my friends... the people I swore to protect. The only thing I want is for you to live, to be free during the short time we have left." Gale said with a gentler expression. "If you can't understand that, then I have nothing more to say to you. Mikasa, take Eren away first. I have something to discuss with Miss Dina in private."
Mikasa looked Gale in the eyes, clenched her teeth, and nevertheless led Eren away.
Only Gale and Dina remained in the conference room.
"Has... Zeke returned?" Dina placed a hand over her heart.
"He's on his way, Miss Dina." Gale said with a smile. "He'll return to the capital after you. I promise."
"Really!" Dina exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes. Two years ago, he and I made a secret promise." Gale looked the woman in the eyes. "He'll be back soon."
"A promise? What promise did you make?"
"A promise to grant the Eldians true freedom and to erase the power of the Titans from this world."