Everyone froze. No one said a word. Their eyes were in complete shock of what just came out of your mouth. 

"Y-Y-Y-Y/n?" Eren asked in complete disbelief. 

You were also in shock. You didn't expect yourself to talk. 

Without any restraint or anything. 

Speaking of the restraint...you feel lighter. 

Like the invisible binds and chains, you wrapped yourself in, finally released you. 

But why now? You had so many chances to talk, yet why do you do it now!?

Maybe seeing the sea again was the closure you needed from your trauma?

Free to speak about it too. 

"You-...you talked..." Eren said, bringing you back to reality. 

Y/n's eyebrows furrowed. You still weren't able to comprehend what is going on!

"N-No..." You softly spoke in denial. Your eyes completely widened as you covered in mouth in shock. 

No...this is real. 

You're actually talking!!

"No way, this is real..." You spoke in a raspy voice. 

"Y/n...You talked...! YOU TALKED!" Eren loudly proclaimed, a smile slowly forming across his face. His eyes watered as he felt like he was going to crying. 

"How is this possible!? I thought something like this was usual permanent in a person!!" Armin said. 

"AAAAA! OUR LITTLE Y/N! SHE CAN TALK! SHE CAN TALK!" Hange squealed while wrapping their arms tightly around you. 

You allowed the tears to fall; you suddenly were filled with regret. You let out a sob and began to cry. 

Out of happiness and guilt. 

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry everyone." You apologized. 

"What are you even apologizing for!?" Hange asked. 

"I've been lying to you. Lying to all of you--!" your voice cracked. 

"Shhh...shhh...It's okay." Hange soothed you. 

"NO! It's not okay! None of you deserved it!" You tried to argue. 

"Enough about that! You're talking! This is the first time anybody has ever heard your voice! Let us sink that in first!!" Hange argued back. 

...

They were right. 

"Commander Ha-Hange, thank you. Am I saying that right?" You asked; hoping you didn't mess it up.

Hange was ambushed with emotions. 

"Who cares if you said it wrong! You still said it!! I'm sorry, my mind is racing right now. I just can't believe it!!" Hange cried out, hugging you again. 

"Y/n!" Sasha came in and toppled you back into the water. This caused Hange to let go and for you to let out a soft gasp. 

"Sasha!" Mikasa scolded. 

"Hey! Sasha! Be careful with her!" Armin said. You looked up and saw Armin's worried eyes looking down at her. 

"Armin! Mikasa! I-it's fine. Really!" Y/n reassured. 

Armin's and Mikasa's eyes widened as their eyes began to water a bit. They sucked in breath, completely not expecting you to say their names. 

Their shock was slowly replaced with a kind one as tears threatened to fall from their eyes. 

"Yeah...okay, Y/n." Armin replied softly with a smile. 

Mikasa nodded slightly in response. 

"Hey, Y/n! Say my name! Say my name!" Sasha said while smiling and shaking Y/n's shoulders slightly. 

What's this about!?

"You all are way more excited about this than I am right now." You murmured. 

"And we have every right to be!" You heard Hange say. 

Sasha stared at you with hopeful eyes, you sighed in defeat. 

"Fine. Sasha..." You said with an awkward smile. Sasha gave you a closed eye smile. 

"Hey, say my name too!" Connie slightly pushed Sasha away so he could face you better. 

"You too!?" You asked. 

"Seriously!? Okay...Connie...!" You gave in. 

"Yep! That's me!" Connie replied with a smile. 

"Alright move it. Give her some space." Captain Levi's voice ordered. 

Everyone dispersed and you got up from the water. 

"Now my clothes are soaked...! ‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·" you whined. 

"Thanks, Captain." You replied. 

Although no one else can see it, Y/n can make out the tiniest smile on his face. 

Your eyes glanced over to Jean, he was quietly sulking at being left out. 

His face was screaming: "Hey, you haven't said my name yet!" 

"You want me to say your name too, right?" You asked Jean. 

He flinched at you suddenly now talking to him and avoided eye contact, blushing a little. 

"You know how to say my name, right?" You found it cute at how desperate he sounded. 

"Fine, only if you stop making that face." You thought. 

Though you wanted to mess with him, and you remembered something that will perfectly do so. 

"Jean-Boy..." You said teasingly. 

"PWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" everyone, except Levi and Mikasa, burst out laughing. All while Jean's face turned bright red. 

"It's Jean! JEAN! Why do you even know that name! Dammit, Y/n!" Jean cursed while burying his face in his hands. 

You gave him a teasing smirk before noticing seeing your reflection in the water again. 

Your eyepatch...

Now that you started talking, it wasn't going to take long until they start asking questions. 

"They need to know. They need to know everything. No more holding back. No more hiding away." You thought. 

You took off your eyepatch and let it drop down into the water. Revealing to everyone your two different colored eyes. 

Everyone, except Eren (who was more concerned), stared at you in shock. 

"Y/n...your eye..." Hange's voice trailed off. 

"Y/n? Are you sure you want--" Eren began to say. 

"No, Eren. It's okay...you all need to know." You spoke. 

"Before I explain, please bear with me. Try not to interrupt me." You narrowed your eyes at Eren when saying that. 

You let out a sigh, clearing your throat. 

"My name is Y/N L/N. And I was a part of the warrior unit, set off to take the founding titan and bring the people of Paradis Island to extinction." you introduced yourself with a neutral expression. 

----

Everyone stayed silent, waiting to hear what you have to say. 

"Truth is, I never lost my memories. I still had them. But back then, I thought of putting on the facade of not talking would help me start a new life and not make me want to talk about myself. Which in the end, worked. I managed to fool out of you."

You could tell they were hurt by that comment, some of them being more obvious than the others. 

"But I want to make it clear. Yes, I admit for building a fake life and deceiving you all was the way to achieve it. But the feelings I felt...were real. All of them were." you blushed a bit. 

"In other words, I'm saying I trust you guys enough to talk about my past and where I came from."

You looked up only to make your situation worse. Your childhood friends were staring at you with awestruck expressions. Their cheeks blushed with red. 

Sasha, Connie, and Jean were no different. All sharing the same blush. 

Commander Hange and Captain Levi were not blushing, but you could tell they felt touched by your words. 

"I---...stop staring at me like that! （ΩДΩ）" You shrieked, covering your red face. 

"Y-you're the one saying all of this mushy shit!" Jean argued, stuttering as he did. 

"I'm being honest! Admitting my feelings and that's your response?!" you retorted. 

Your voice cracked yet again, and you began coughing. Just adding more embarrassment to yourself. 

"Now look what you did, you killed her!" 

"Y/N, don't die on us!"

"She's not dying! Please don't say stuff like that!"

Once you all calmed down, you took in another breath. 

"But I mean it. I'm sorry for deceiving all of you."

"So, all this time. You knew where you came from? All the things Reiner said back then, it was true?" Eren asked. 

You nodded sadly. 

"You've could have easily turned on us. You could have told them who you were, but you didn't. Why?" Captain asked. 

You went quiet, thinking about the question. 

"Guess I was curious. Wanted to see if the people on Paradis Island were really the monsters that history has recorded them to be. But there's more to it which I'll explain later." 

"So basically, this whole time. You could have--" Jean didn't finish his sentence.

"Yeah. I'm going to be honest, if it wasn't for my curiosity. You all most likely would be attacked on the spot the moment I arrived." 

Hange and Captain gave you an unsure look, you caught them. 

"What's wrong...?"

"Sorry, it's just the way you said that." Hange replied. 

"You said it nonchalantly." Captain added. 

"Do you...not trust me?" You asked weakly. 

"What? N-no, of course we trust--" Armin began to speak. 

"I'm not asking you, Armin." You pointed to Commander and Captain. 

"Do you...trust me?" You asked again, a sense of hope in your voice. 

"I'm pretty sure you know the answer to that. I already told you, L/N. If I didn't trust you and if it would have been my way, I would have let the military police have you rot in a cell. Or dissect you for all I care." Captain replied. 

"That's his way of saying he does trust you. I also trust you, Y/N. Always had." Hange clarified. 

You smiled gently, looking away. 

"Thank you..."

"But what I really want to know is what if everything they told you was true? What would you have done?" Captain asked. 

"...I rather not think about it." you replied. 

"What?"

"I said I rather not talk about it." You spoke almost harshly. 

Captain decided to stop it at there. 

"So, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie. You were playing them." Jean said. 

"Yep." you replied, feeling no remorse at all. 

"Isn't that--?" Armin began to ask. 

"Terrible. Yes, it was. But after everything they caused, be glad I don't feel remorseful right now." you replied. 

They stayed quiet, knowing you were right. 

"But yeah...it did hurt. Betraying them like that. They were desperate though, trying to me to remember. Guess they cared about me. Too bad I didn't do the same." your face saddened a bit.  

"My feelings weren't fake for them either. I just knew how to hide my emotions at the time." you rested your head on your hand, looking away. 

You were quiet for a moment, everyone studied you carefully. 

Your body trembled a bit, tears can be seen dropping from your cheeks and into the blue water. You let out a sob laugh. 

"Y/N..."

"I guess my mom was right..." your voice cracked. 

"It was a terrible idea to pass the titan onto me." 

"Wait, pass down the titan? Your titan was passed down through family?" Armin asked. 

It then just dawned on them that you had real family back at Marley. 

"Guess I have to explain that now" Tears were still streaming down your face, you started to laugh. 

Your laughs then turned to sobs, then to coughs. Your throat was burning. 

"Take your time. We're not going anywhere." Eren spoke softly. 

You appreciated Eren's words. 

You calmed down and began explaining to them. 

"What Rod said was true. I have a connection with the royal family. That's because my family are descendants of a noblewoman who worked close with them. Her name was Lady Eveline von Hohenheim, she was an advisor." you explained. 

"She had the ability to sense and interpret emotions, she had a great insight on them. The titan she possessed only strengthen that ability. It connected her to every Eldian in an emotional sense, she can feel and sense their emotions and manipulate it to some extent. The royal family exploited this."

"But she ended up betraying them in the Great Titan War when they found out they couldn't mind control her like the rest. Her and her family escaped and joined forces with Marley so they wouldn't be executed. Since then, the titan has been passed down."

"With that being said, my titan is called the Root Titan," you said. 

"Root? Like a tree?" Sasha asked. 

"It was meant to be metaphorically, my titan is rooted or connected to all Eldians. But like you all have witnessed it before, I can manipulate the body of my titan. But it gets hard since I have to put all my energy and concentration to maintaining my form. So, I only manipulate it to an extent." You explained. 

"Interesting, but if your abilities are simply that. How does that make you a potential threat to the founder?" Hange asked. 

"I guess my ability to be emotionally connected to all Eldians is sort of like a minor ability over the "paths." Along with so many other things." You explained. 

"Problem is, I'm not sure how to use them. I'm thinking the journal that Grisha took from me might help. But if not, I might know someone from back home that can help." you added. 

You thought for a moment, clearing your throat. 

"But...I think I was able to use it before."

You explained your encounters with Captain's old squad and Marco. Explaining how you felt and heard your voices, but not sure if it was really real. 

"Marco....he was actually able to talk to you?" Jean asked in a broken voice. 

"Mhm...he talked to me Jean. He told me to look after you." You replied. 

"Though, I'm not even sure if that was him at all. Maybe a hallucination from near death...." You added. 

Jean looked down at the water. 

"Good to know..."

"And my squad...did they really talk to you?" Levi asked. 

"Yeah, I think so...they pushed me to fight even after the blow I suffered..." You replied. 

Levi turned his soft gaze somewhere else. 

"Well, that's quite an ability. No wonder the Reiss family wanted you dead for it." Hange argued. 

"It also explains the sensations I've been getting."

You explained to them these "sensations" could be a result of your ability over the paths. Each Eldian had one and you are able to feel it. Similar to a pulse. 

"Titan shifters have a much stronger pulse. Which is why I was able to find out Annie was a traitor. Armin, you have that pulse too now that you're a titan shifter."

"Wait! Then that would mean...you guys..,are...?" Eren's voice trailed off as his cheeks blushed slightly red, too embarrassed to say the word, afraid it might be taken the wrong way. 

"Connected?" You asked. 

You then realized how wrong that sounded. 

"Wait--! ⚆ᗝ⚆" You began to argue. 

"WHAT!? What do you mean connected!?" Jean asked. 

"Shameless!" Sasha shouted. 

"Armin! I thought you were the innocent one!" Connie said. 

"Wait! YOU TWO HAD SE-!?" Hange began to ask.

"WERE YOU GUYS NOT LISTENING!?（ΩДΩ）" You screeched, cutting them off. 

"NO! NO! NO! That's not what she means! She means now that I'm a titan shifter, she feels a strong pulse due to her ability over the paths!" Armin's face flushed. 

"The pulse becomes different depending on the shifter. When I kissed Armin's cheek that day, I still felt Bertholdt. Now...I can't anymore." 

It made you sad saying that out loud. 

But apparently that was the last of anyone's worries since some of them became hung over on the fact that you basically admitted out loud this time to kissing Armin on the cheek. 

Armin's face went red again. 

"Oh right...that..." Eren said bitterly. 

"That's what you're worried about?" you accidentally said that out loud. 

But seeing Eren's face was priceless, so you continued from there. 

"Eren...jealous?" Y/n asked. 

"....No?" Eren avoided eye contact. 

"Why did that sound like a question?" you asked. 

"Oh, get off it." 

Hange quickly changed the subject. 

"Y/N, back to your parents. You said they might get killed?"

"I'm not sure if they would. I really hope they don't. I---I never really got to say goodbye to them." Your voice cracked again. 

"They weren't perfect, but---they still loved me." 

You wanted to cry again, but a hand landed on your shoulder. You looked up to find it was Eren. 

He said nothing as you stared at you sympathetically, understanding completely how you felt. 

"It's okay to cry." His eyes said. 

You nodded and allowed a few tears to slip out. 

Eren patted your shoulder lightly before standing up, making his way further into the water.  

"Our enemies out there...waiting for the right moment to declare war." Eren said, pointing towards the horizon. 

"Then why haven't they've done it?" Sasha asked. 

"Because they're waiting, waiting for results of their recent mission. They're going to know they lost two titans." Eren replied. 

"Wait, I don't think they even know Y/N is alive." Armin spoke. 

"He's right. They all probably thought I died. Reiner knows the truth now; word will get out. I'll be branded as a traitor." You added. 

Everyone turned to you. 

"Y/N..."

It just dawned to them that you basically turned against your hometown. 

"That means...you can never go back to your home." Armin said. 

"You can't live a normal life there." Mikasa added. 

"Your family...you'll never see them again." Sasha's voice trailed off. 

"Are you really okay with doing this? Is there a possible way we could---" Hange suggested. 

You shook your head. 

"I've made up my mind. I'm going to fight with you guys..."

"I may not be from here, but I'm an Eldian just like all of you." You stood up. 

"My life here might have been fake, but I actually felt at home here. This is my choice. My own free will. Don't think for a second you guys are forcing me to do this." 

You smiled at them. 

"Allow me to fight alongside with you all." you declared. 

Your smile read hope, but deep down you were shaking. 

You were going to war with your hometown. You took that step and switched sides. 

But you made the right choice. You know you did. 

At home, you were nothing more than a tool. Trying to fight for acceptance but they never saw you as nothing more than a devil. A monster. 

Well then...

This Monster of Marley is going to rewrite her own story.

---- 

End of PART I