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[oh my god Eren. He blushes at that]

You're reaaaaally overestimating how much I kicked there. [All he did was a sleep spell!! Gosh

But he'll think. What hasn't he told Eren yet...]

Anyway, maybe? I remembered more stuff about the civil war. Apparently it was the Nobility versus the Reformists...which I imagine are commoners?

I'm pretty sure Elton was sympathetic towards the Reformists, but him and the others in Class VII decided it'd be better to make a third faction. Apparently they got their hands on a "Divine Knight" that they thought could make a real impact in the war. Though...they weren't sure what impact to make with it yet from what I remember. They were trying to decide that.

[ no i’m not he mutters into the side of elliot’s neck with a smile, adoring his blush, only pulling back to fill his mouth and listen.

a civil war . . . and the smarts to not take an actual side. that was impressive and practical from a diplomatic standpoint. something eren probably sucked at. “divine knight”, though . . . his transformers 4 sense are tingling. ]

Is that the mecha?

[ did you think

he wouldn’t ask ]

[Of course he'd ask. Elliot isn't even surprised. He shrugs]

It might be? I know the Divine Knight's name is Valimar, and it sounds like a legendary weapon of some kind. But I don't know for sure if it's the same mecha I saw before.

[ augh gosh that’s so cool. the pilot needs to be here, so he could completely gush over it. imagine a real life mecha— that he could see at the same height oh my god. eren’s just. day dreaming about super cool mechas while he tries to pull off stringy mozzarella. he wonders how the cockpit looks like, and the gears . . . . ]

They handled the Civil War really well. Not choosing sides. [ again, it was something he wasn’t sure he could accomplish. maybe through some more necessary war fighting, but . . . ] That’s one of the hardest things to do when people separate. Not everyone outside is in favor.

[What a nerd.]

Yeah. Their class had students from really different backgrounds, so I don't think either side had an ideology that all of them could agree to. [Even if from what Elliot could remember, the Noble Alliance were...douchebags...]

But even so, they still wanted to do something. There were too many people getting caught up in the crossfire. [At least three towns attacked, families displaced and separated...they couldn't look the other way. Especially when...] And...I think they felt some responsibility towards what was happening. Because...

[he sighs]

It was someone from Class VII who started the war.

[ now it’s time for eren to react. he finishes half of the slice before setting it down, wiping his mouth with a troubled look. ]

You don’t mean on purpose.

[ something is telling him yes that’s what he means, and it nearly makes his chest chill. ]

I-I'm afraid so.

[he looks down, his hand on his chest]

I don't know how, or why, or even who it was. I just know that it was someone from the class, and that they were deceiving us- them all along.

But what was the point of starting a war between your own people?

[ eren might know the answer to this one— but sometimes? he wants to believe not all of worlds or humanity are like that. ]

I don't know....

It seems like situation has been rocky in Erebonia for awhile, but to make it worse enough to become a war.... [he shakes his head] I don't know why anyone would do that. I can't understand it at all.

[ that’s exactly how he thought. so much that he swore to kill the two traitors he knew countless times. when he shifted out of reiner’s grasp, when he fought with him on a branch, both arms gone, when he spoke to the girl—

and when he ripped bertolt out of that titan’s neck in blind fury.

he also remembers what he did. inside, he knows the answer when he doesn’t truly want to admit to knowing it. eren would condemn that guy here too, but. he’s not sure to which extent. ]

Maybe it was a lunatic. [ he shrugs his shoulders. ] Or maybe they had to.

Maybe... [He has trouble seeing a lunatic being able to trick them that long though] I won't know until I remember more.

[better to leave it at that, then jump to conclusions. He'll go for another bite of pizza]

Your turn.

[ the lunatics are the masterminds sometimes, elliot. the lunatics could always be white wolves among sheep. until they bite someone’s jugular.

his turn, so— while they’re on that topic: ]

We had something like that happen, too. [ he forgets the dissociation this time, realizes during the pause for more soda, before correcting himself through his next set of story telling. ] The walls Junior’s city lived behind was kicked down, once. Twice. By titans.

They only found out after that those titans were shifters. From beyond the walls. Everything I knew just got flipped upside down, after that.

[his eyes widen]

They kicked down the walls? [Crap] W-Wait, that wasn't a wall to protect against titans, was it...?

[WHO WOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT??]

It was. Fifty meters high. The Colossal Titan was sixty. And the Armored Titan was bulky enough to tackle through the district’s safety wall.

[ that was probably . . . the tragedy of tragedies to tell, but here we go. ]

They let all the titans in.

That's...horrible.

[He wasn't an expert on Titans, but he knew they ate people. And he remembers what it was like before Eren got control of his own Titan shift- it was terrifying. To have a bunch of Titans unleashed like that...and to have it be people intentionally doing it]

How could anyone do something like that...?!

[ this is where eren goes quiet, giving elliot an understanding yet melancholy sort of glance, his arm finding his shoulder to pull him closer and rub it soothingly. ]

Because that’s war. They were just kids. [ eren pulls in air to inhale, looking up at the stars. ] And ten years later, Junior did the same thing to their country. Worse, even.

[Elliot was about to argue that that wasn't war, that was a war crime- when Eren drops that next bombshell on him.

Junior...did the same thing but worse to another country. That level of atrocity, he committed...]

That's...

[What do you even say to that? It's a good thing they are using different names, because it makes it easier to separate. Junior did that. Not Eren. Not the guy who was holding onto him.

He takes a deep breath, collecting his thoughts.]

Is...that the memory that changed your mind about the memories?

[His attitude shift in February. Even if it had been a long time coming and there'd been earlier signs- it seemed somewhat abrupt. A bad memory like that would surely make anyone not want to be like that]

[ a deep inhale here, and eren ends up knocking his head into elliot’s, gently for comfort. sure, they're separating everything— it makes things that much easier. but it didn’t mean . . . he didn’t feel. ]

. . . Yeah. [ but after a moment, he feels the need to defend them. to defend all of them, even the people he once called monsters that had broken into his home and . . . destroyed his life. ] I was angry at first. I didn’t get how Junior could do something like that, and I ended up throwing everything at Prompto. For making me remember. [ and— felt the need to keep it to himself for a while. ] But now— I know none of them did it because they wanted to.

All of them did it because they had to.

[ Elliot will pick up that comfort, and nuzzle his own cheek against Eren's. His arm will wrap around Eren's side, letting him be close.

Did it because they had to... Elliot doesn't understand it. It's not in him to understand that level of death. It's one of the reasons he wasn't cut out for joining the military. Even if they found a way around his physical weaknesses, his heart would never be fit.

But he knows that he trusts Eren. That if Eren believes that, he shouldn't condemn them as monsters so readily. ]

...Sounds like a cruel world, if they have to do things like that.

It was.

[ tragic, really— but . . . even if it had been horrible, not all of it was. as little as they were, he still had . . . good memories. he met good people that he wished he could’ve doesn’t more time with. wished that maybe, they didn’t have to meet under the circumstances that they did. ]

But it was still beautiful. [ not the cruelty, far from it! eren says it with fondness, at least a little bit of melancholy. there were good people from there that didn’t deserve what they lived through, but. past is past. ] You’re up.

[that sounds pretty poetic. Cruel yet beautiful. He supposes a world like that wouldn't be all bad, else why would people fight for it. Still, he'd rather Eren stayed in this world. Junior...never seemed to have any real chance.]

Oh, mine huh? Well...

[He thinks on it, finishing off a slice of pizza.]

If I had to guess, one of the things that fueled the war from happening was there was this terrorist group. The Imperial Liberation Front. They were after some Chancellor's head...but I also remember them taking an iron mine hostage...with some nobility's help.

[So..that's not great.]

[ he remembers something as elliot begins to speak, the pause being fleeting and brief. it was mikasa telling him what he had told elliot just now.

what else can we do? this world . . is cruel. they just had to fight for it to keep seeing the beauty. luckily, eren doesn’t space out; he listens. ]

What did the terrorists want, anyway–?

[ to take up places hostage instead of blowing them to pieces probably meant something–?

[Elliot doesn't notice Eren's pause, thinking about his own memories]

I'm not...sure. I mean, I know they wanted to kill this chancellor who had a lot of power. But why or what that has to do with taking over a mine... I don't know. My memories are still too spotty.

I know they called themselves the Imperial Liberation Front though. Not sure how working with nobility would liberate anyone though.

Politics are bullshit wherever you go.

[ is the conclusion he comes to, at this point. but to help piece things together, maybe help him out with trying to remember (because it’s much better to be prepared for something than get hit with disleveling emotional shock) . . . ]

. . . Nobles have money. Money buys a lot of things.

[He makes a slight sound of agreement. Yeah. BS is a good way to put it. ]

Maybe...but the nobles will also arrest you for made-up crimes if they don't like you or even your relatives.

They're not exactly the nice nobility you hear about in fairy tales.

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