"Yes, Armin." Erwin and Zeke sat cross-legged, facing each other.
"Erwin, it's been so long, and you still haven't answered me. What did joining the Survey Corps mean to you? What did leading it mean? What was the point of inventing the Long-Distance Enemy-Scouting Formation? And what was the point of going Outside the Walls?"
Zeke lowered his head, staring at the sand on the ground and idly running his hand over it. His eyes held neither desire nor attachment, only dejection and weary resignation.
"As long as we can find the answer, it doesn't matter how long it takes. Besides, there's no time here. We can sit and talk it through." Erwin was perfectly calm, though uncertainty lingered in his eyes.
Looking deeply worried, Armin sat beside them. "Commander Erwin, what exactly is going on? Have you really already... are we all dead...?"
Erwin shook his head. "I thought so at first, too, until I saw Zeke. It seems we're merely trapped here."
"The master of these Paths is the Founder, Ymir. She was the beginning of everything, and the one behind it all from start to finish. It's certainly hard to imagine that a single person has been controlling all our destinies this whole time." Having learned the truth from Zeke, Erwin felt profoundly helpless.
It was the helplessness of knowing that fate allowed only one ending.
"That also means that whatever we do, it's what Ymir wants to see.
"She's impossible to understand. Two thousand years ago, she was an oppressed slave, yet she willingly let King Fritz command her and fell deeply in love with him.
"She seems to have mistaken that twisted attachment to someone who hurt and trampled on her for love. We can't know exactly what her goal is, or why she would