Without You (Eren x Reader)

Timeline [44]

The conversation was off to a good start, but eventually there were things that needed to be addressed. Things that both Y/n and Eren knew they could not avoid.

Y/n could tell by the look on her husband's face that he was dreading what would come next, but there was also something else she could see as if he is hiding something.

She reaches out to grasp his hand and he automatically he responds back interlocking his fingers between with hers and his gaze peering towards her. Eren bites his bottom lip before giving his wife a small smile and gently squeezing her hand indicating he understands she is here for him.

The others watched the couple interact with awe seeing how deeply Y/n and Eren care for each other.

"I think this is the first time we're seeing you both act like a couple." Armin says.

The comment results in a smile on both their faces and a blush dusting each of their cheeks.

"Yah I guess we kept it a secret for so long from everyone." Y/n chuckles a little.

"We know." Everyone in the room said in unison.

Eren takes his free hand slapping it against his forehead running it down his face as he tried to conceal his embarrassment. The reminder that him and Y/n were terrible secret keepers.

"Why did you guys hide your relationship?" Armin suddenly asks.

Y/n was first to answer. "We just thought it was easier to keep it quiet from everyone."

"And I was worried she would be put in danger if others found out." Eren adds.

"Is that why you changed her memories? Is that why you made her forget about you." Jean says with an icy tone to it.

"Jean!" Mikasa jumps in knowing he was being too harsh on Eren.

"Mikasa, it's fine." Eren says looking towards Jean. He lets out a sigh. "There was too much running through my mind, and all the things I did – the things I was going to do I was scared that Y/n would be hurt in the process."

Y/n could feel the grip on her hand tighten. She felt sad knowing how hard this meeting was going to be for him.

"You may have guessed what the Attack titan's powers were by now." Eren continues. "It has the ability to see the future. I could see everything that was going to happen. I saw and lived through various scenarios of what was going to happen. It put a lot of anxiety in me."

"What do you mean by various scenarios?" Armin picked up on a key point in the conversation that he wasn't aware before. His question stirred curiosity in everyone including Y/n.

"I saw multiple timelines. Multiple outcomes." Eren says nervously as he peers towards Y/n. "You were dead in most of them." Y/n's eyes widen in shock as she feels the blood drain from her face. It was the first time she was hearing any of this.

"I never told you everything about the memories Y/n. I was stuck in a time loop." Eren's eyes move away from hers as he looks towards his knees letting go of her hand in the process.

"The Attack titan had different futures, many ones at that. Some had similar outcomes while others ended with different ones. I lived through them, and the outcome for each one were a result of the actions I took." He pauses.

"Like what?" Y/n asks feeling herself get nervous.

"In one timeline, Erwin lives instead of Armin and the island gets wiped out by Marley. In another timeline, I run away and live my years in the mountains. Another one is where my head gets cut out of my titan by Mikasa, and I am buried under the tree where I used to nap under as a kid. Each time – each scenario I lived through – I lost count of how many times I woke up again under the tree as my 10 year old self, crying for an unknown reason. Although now I know those tears were from my previous failures and reliving through each nightmare again and again." His voice starts to crack as the memories from before flooding his brain. "And every single timeline I went through – the Eldians were always killed in the end. Even when the titan powers were removed, they were all killed. Either right away or many decades later. I only figured this out when I would live in the timelines where I runaway."