-Broadcast-
Within the memory bubble of the Rumbling, Eren Yeager's consciousness drifted through his past—reliving every moment of joy, rage, sorrow, and despair that had shaped him into the monster he'd become.
The Sky Screen showed it all.
[Memory Fragment Four: False Hope]
The nun burst through the church door, her face flushed with relief and desperate hope. She pulled Eren and Ada into a crushing embrace, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"We're saved!" Her voice cracked with emotion. "They promised—the soldiers promised to give us a boat! A way out for the children! We're going to survive!"
Eren looked past her shoulder at the world outside.
Flevance was burning.
Not just one fire, but dozens—maybe hundreds—scattered across the white city like malignant stars. The flames weren't accidental. They were systematic. Methodical. Each one carefully placed to maximize destruction while herding survivors toward specific kill zones.
Soldiers in full protective gear moved through the streets in coordinated sweeps, going door to door, executing anyone they found. The gunfire was constant now—a rhythmic percussion of death that echoed from every district.
Eren felt his stomach twist. These are the same soldiers who've been shooting everyone on sight. And the nun thinks we can trust their promises?
But before he could voice his doubts, Ada spoke up, her face pale with worry. "What about Law and Lami? We have to bring them too! We can't just leave them!"
The nun hesitated, clearly torn between pragmatism and compassion.
Eren made the decision for her. "I'll go get them." He puffed out his chest, trying to look braver than he felt. "Nobody knows Flevance better than me. Those soldiers won't even see me coming."
Ada grabbed his arm, eyes wide with fear. "Eren, it's too dangerous—"
"I'll be fine." He forced a grin he didn't feel. "Law's my friend. I'm not leaving him behind."
The nun placed a trembling hand on his head, her expression caught between pride and terror. "Be careful. Come back quickly."
Eren nodded once, then slipped out into the nightmare.
The streets of Flevance had become an abattoir.
Eren pressed himself against walls, darting between shadows, keeping his footsteps as quiet as possible. Every sound made his heart hammer against his ribs. Every shadow could be a soldier with a loaded rifle.
The smoke was thick enough to taste—acrid and choking, mixed with something worse. Something organic burning.
He was halfway to the Trafalgar estate when he heard voices ahead.
Eren ducked behind an overturned cart just as a young couple emerged from an alley, a baby clutched in the mother's arms. They spotted the patrol of soldiers and immediately dropped to their knees.
"Please!" The father's voice was raw with desperation. He pressed his forehead to the cobblestones in a full prostration. "Please, we're not sick! Look—no white patches! We're healthy! Just let us leave! We won't tell anyone, we'll disappear, just please—"
The mother held up the baby, tears streaming down her face. "She's only six months old! She hasn't done anything wrong! Please, just take her! Keep her alive! We don't care what happens to us, just—"
BANG.
The father's head snapped back, a red mist erupting from the exit wound. He collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.
"NO—!" The mother's scream was cut short by two more shots. She crumpled over the baby, trying to shield it even in death.
But the soldiers weren't done.
They approached methodically, rifles raised. The lead soldier kicked the father's body to confirm death. Another pulled the mother's corpse aside to reach the crying infant beneath.
BANG.
The crying stopped.
"Targets eliminated. Moving to next sector."
They walked away like they'd just finished mundane paperwork.
Eren watched from behind the cart, one hand clamped over his mouth to muffle his breathing, the other pressed against his stomach to keep himself from vomiting. Tears leaked from his eyes, but he didn't dare make a sound.
They were begging. They were on their knees. The baby couldn't even talk yet.
And they killed them anyway.
The image burned itself into his brain—the father's ruined head, the mother's desperate final embrace, the tiny bundle that would never grow up.
This is what the world does to the weak, a voice whispered in the back of his mind. This is what adults call "necessary." This is what they call "mercy."
The seed of something dark and terrible took root in his heart at that moment.
But there was no time to process it. He had to keep moving. Had to reach Law and Lami before—
Eren ran.
The Trafalgar estate was in flames.
Eren's breath caught in his throat as he rounded the corner and saw the familiar mansion—the place where he'd spent so many afternoons eating Mrs. Trafalgar's cooking, arguing with Law, playing with Lami—engulfed in fire. Black smoke poured from shattered windows. The beautiful white walls were charred and crumbling.
No. No no no no—
He didn't think. Just ran straight for the building, looking for a way in. A first-floor window had broken outward, glass scattered across the lawn. Eren grabbed the frame and hauled himself through, ignoring the cuts from remaining shards.
The interior was an inferno.
Heat slammed into him like a physical force. Smoke filled his lungs with every breath, making him cough and gag. The visibility was nearly zero—just flickering orange light and choking blackness.
"Law!" Eren shouted, voice immediately hoarse. "Lami! Where are you?!"
He felt his way through the familiar layout, navigating by memory more than sight. The sitting room. The hallway. The stairs—no, too dangerous, engulfed in flames. The master bedroom was on the first floor too, thank god—
Eren pushed through the door and immediately wished he hadn't.
Dr. and Mrs. Trafalgar lay on the floor in pools of blood.
The doctor's body was sprawled protectively over his wife, as if he'd tried to shield her at the last moment. Three bullet wounds in his back. Mrs. Trafalgar's face was frozen in an expression of terror, one hand still reaching toward the bedroom door—toward where her children would have been.
They were good people, Eren thought, vision blurring with tears and smoke. They never hurt anyone. The doctor saved lives. He tried to cure people. Why—WHY—
But grief was a luxury he couldn't afford. The flames were spreading. The ceiling groaned ominously. He had to find Law and Lami, had to get them out before—
A sound. Faint. Almost inaudible beneath the roar of fire.
Coughing.
A little girl's cough.
"LAMI!"
Eren bolted from the master bedroom, following the sound. A guest room—there! The closet door was cracked open, and through the gap, he could see a small figure huddled inside.
He wrenched the door fully open.
Trafalgar Lami sat curled in the back of the closet, her arms wrapped around her knees. White patches covered half her face now—Amber Lead Syndrome was advancing rapidly. Her eyes were red from crying and smoke, her small body trembling.
"Lami!" Eren dropped to his knees. "It's me! It's Eren! I'm getting you out of here!"
Recognition dawned in her eyes. "E-Eren...?" Her voice was barely a whisper. "Brother told me to hide... He said he'd come back... but then there were gunshots and the fire started and—"
"It's okay. I've got you." Eren reached for her, but she flinched back.
"No! Don't touch me!" Tears spilled down her cheeks. "My disease... it might be contagious! I don't want to make you sick too! Everyone says—"
"I don't care what everyone says!" Eren grabbed her wrists gently but firmly. "I'm not leaving you here to die, Lami. Law would never forgive me, and I'd never forgive myself."
Before she could protest further, he turned around and pulled her onto his back. She was so light—too light, the disease already eating away at her.
"Hold on tight!"
Lami wrapped her thin arms around his neck, and Eren ran.
The original entry point was cut off now, completely engulfed in flames. The kitchen—there was a small window in the kitchen that he might be able to squeeze through—
Eren burst through the kitchen door, feeling the heat singe the hair on his arms. The window was above the counter, still mostly intact. He climbed up, used his elbow to smash out the remaining glass, and pushed Lami through first.
"Jump! I'll catch you!"
She landed in the grass below with a small cry. Eren followed a moment later, hitting the ground and rolling to absorb the impact.
Behind them, the entire second floor of the Trafalgar mansion collapsed inward with a sound like thunder. Flames shot toward the sky. Embers rained down around them.
They'd made it out with seconds to spare.
Eren pulled Lami away from the burning building, both of them coughing and gasping for clean air. His skin was covered in soot and minor burns. Lami's condition looked even worse, her breathing labored.
But they were alive.
Now what?
The nun's "Ship of Hope" suddenly seemed far less hopeful. Eren had seen too much tonight. Witnessed too much casual cruelty. The soldiers had been executing healthy people, children, babies—why would they suddenly show mercy to a boatload of orphans?
It's a trap, he realized with cold certainty. The nun's kindness made her easy to manipulate. They're gathering all the children in one place to make the massacre more efficient.
He couldn't bring Lami there. Couldn't lead her from one death trap to another.
"Lami, listen to me." Eren found an alcove between two buildings—a small space hidden from the main street. He sat her down gently. "Wait here. Don't come out for anyone except me, Ada, or Law. I'm going to find your brother and then we'll figure out how to escape. Okay?"
Lami looked up at him with those large, trusting eyes. "You promise you'll come back?"
"I promise." Please let it be a promise I can keep.
"Okay. I'll wait." But even as she said it, something in her expression shifted—a sad, knowing look that no child should ever wear. "Thank you for saving me, Eren. Even if... even if we don't see each other again... thank you."
"Don't talk like that. I will come back."
Eren left her there and ran back toward the church, his heart heavy with a premonition he couldn't name.
He arrived back at the riverside rendezvous point to find chaos.
The nun was arguing with someone—Ada stood close to her, looking frightened. The other orphans clustered together, maybe twenty children in total, all looking confused and scared.
"Eren!" Ada ran to him, grabbing his hands. "Where's Lami? Did you find them?"
"Lami's safe. I hid her. But Law—" His stomach dropped as he processed what Ada had just said. "What do you mean, did I find them? Where's Law?"
The nun turned to him, face pale. "Trafalgar Law was here just minutes ago. He heard us talking about the ship and ran home to get his sister. He left right before you arrived."
No.
The Trafalgar estate was a collapsed ruin now. If Law had gone there after Eren left—
But there was no time to go back and search. Because Eren suddenly realized something else was wrong.
Very wrong.
The riverside wasn't empty anymore.
Soldiers emerged from the surrounding streets in a coordinated maneuver, forming a semicircle that cut off all escape routes. Dozens of them, all armed, all wearing protective suits and gas masks that made them look like insects.
They'd been herded here like animals to slaughter.
Eren grabbed Ada's hand and pulled her toward the back of the group, using the other children as cover. Maybe if we're not in front, maybe if they don't see us—
The nun stepped forward, positioning herself between the children and the soldiers. Her voice shook but she kept it steady. "Please. These children aren't infected with Amber Lead Syndrome. They're too young—the symptoms take time to develop! They're healthy! They're innocent! Just let them go!"
The lead soldier's response was muffled by his gas mask, but the words were clear enough: "For the safety of the surrounding nations and all of humanity, Flevance must be completely sterilized. No exceptions. No survivors."
He raised his rifle.
"All units—prepare to fire."
The nun fell to her knees, clutching at the soldier's uniform with desperate hands. "PLEASE! They're children! They've done nothing wrong! PLEASE DON'T—"
The children began to scream. To cry. To beg in a chorus of young voices that should never have had to plead for their right to exist.
"Don't shoot!" "I don't want to die!" "Mama!" "Please, please, please—"
The soldiers showed no hesitation. No mercy. No humanity.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG—
The gunfire was deafening. Continuous. Mechanical.
Children fell like wheat before a scythe. Bodies crumpled to the ground, small and broken, their screams cut short. Blood spread across the white cobblestones in expanding pools.
The lead soldier kicked the nun off him. She hit the ground hard, the breath knocked from her lungs. As rifle barrels turned toward her, she looked toward the dying children—the ones she'd tried so hard to save—and her faith shattered like glass.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, tears streaming down her face. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry—"
I trusted them. I gathered all the children in one place because I thought I was helping. I led them to their deaths.
The bullets tore through her chest. Three shots. Four. Five.
As the nun's vision dimmed, as her life bled out onto the stones of Flevance's riverbank, she saw two small figures break from the crowd and leap into the water.
A boy with fierce green eyes, dragging a black-haired girl behind him.
Eren and Ada, disappearing beneath the dark surface.
Thank God, the nun thought as darkness claimed her. Thank God my kindness didn't doom them all. Let them live. Let them survive to remember us. Let them—
Her eyes closed.
And Flevance's orphanage died with her.
Beneath the water, Eren held Ada's hand and swam with every ounce of strength he possessed. His lungs burned. His vision tunneled. But he refused to surface, refused to give the soldiers a target.
Survive. Survive. SURVIVE.
I'll remember this. I'll remember all of it.
And one day—one day—I'll make the world pay for what it did to us.
The seed planted earlier had taken root.
And in the cold, dark water beneath Flevance's burning streets, it began to grow.