CHAPTER 13: THE RETURN TO SHIGANSHINA
The mission ended.
The Survey Corps returned to Wall Rose with more questions than answers.
The crying Titan haunted their dreams. Its words echoed in their minds.
"The king cursed us."
"He lied to everyone."
Sukuna watched his comrades struggle with the truth.
Armin couldn't stop writing. Page after page. Theories. Questions. Possibilities.
Mikasa said little. But her eyes were sharper than ever. Watching. Waiting.
Jean was quiet. Connie stopped joking. Sasha barely ate.
Reiner was breaking.
"I can't do this anymore," Reiner whispered to Bertholdt one night.
Sukuna heard them from the shadows.
"We have to finish the mission," Bertholdt replied. "We came here for a reason."
"What reason? To kill more innocent people? To destroy more lives?"
"To save the world."
"Is that what we're doing? Saving it? Or destroying it?"
Bertholdt didn't answer.
Sukuna smiled in the darkness.
"The cracks are getting wider," he thought.
Weeks passed.
The cadets trained. They ate. They slept. They pretended to be normal.
But nothing was normal anymore.
One morning, Shadis gathered everyone in the courtyard.
"We have received new orders," he announced. "We're going back to Shiganshina."
Silence.
"The abandoned district. Where it all began."
Murmurs spread through the crowd.
"Why?" someone asked.
"Reconnaissance. The higher-ups want to know if Titans are still gathering there."
Sukuna's eyes narrowed.
"The higher-ups," he thought. "Or the king?"
The march to Shiganshina took five days.
The land was empty. Dead. Ruins of villages. Bones of the dead.
No Titans.
Too quiet.
"They're waiting," Armin said. "They know we're coming."
"Titans don't think like that," Jean replied.
"Maybe not. But something does."
Sukuna said nothing.
He knew the truth.
The Titans were controlled. By Marley. By the warriors. By the king.
"The question is," he thought, "who will make the first move?"
On the fifth day, they saw it.
Wall Maria.
Broken. Crumbled. The gate where the Colossal Titan had kicked.
Beyond the wall... Shiganshina.
Sukuna's old home. Eren's old home.
"It's smaller than I remember," he said.
"You were a child," Mikasa replied. "Everything looked bigger then."
"I was never a child. Not really."
Mikasa looked at him.
"What were you, then?"
"A monster. Even then."
They entered the district.
Empty streets. Broken houses. Rotting wood.
The bodies were gone. Eaten or decayed.
But the memory of death was everywhere.
Armin's hands were shaking.
"My grandfather..." he whispered. "He was here. When the wall fell."
"He survived," Mikasa said.
"Barely."
Sukuna walked ahead.
He knew where he was going.
The Yeager house.
The house was still standing. Barely.
The roof had collapsed. The walls were cracked. But the structure remained.
Sukuna stood in front of it.
"This is where Carla died," he thought. "This is where Eren's story truly began."
He walked inside.
Mikasa followed.
Armin waited outside.
The living room was destroyed. Wood and stone everywhere.
Sukuna looked at the spot where Carla had been trapped.
"She looked at me," he remembered. "She thanked me for being born."
"And you did nothing," Mikasa said quietly.
"I couldn't. Not without revealing myself."
"Would that have been so bad?"
"Yes. I wasn't ready then. I'm still not ready now."
Mikasa stepped closer.
"When will you be ready?"
Sukuna looked at her.
"When I understand this world's power. When I can control it. When I can destroy anyone who stands in my way."
"Including me?"
Sukuna didn't answer.
That night, they camped near the broken gate.
The soldiers were tense. No one slept.
Sukuna sat on a broken wall, looking at the stars.
Reiner approached him.
"Can't sleep?"
"I don't sleep much."
Reiner sat down next to him.
"This place... it brings back memories."
"Bad ones?"
"All of them."
They sat in silence.
Then Reiner said, "I did something terrible, Eren. Something I can never take back."
"I know."
Reiner looked at him.
"What do you know?"
"I know you broke the wall. I know you killed thousands. I know you're the Armored Titan."
Reiner's face went white.
"How... how do you..."
"I've known for years."
Reiner stood up. His hands were shaking.
"Why didn't you... why didn't you kill me?"
"Because you're not my enemy, Reiner. Not yet."
Reiner stared at him.
"What are you?"
Sukuna smiled.
"Something worse than you."
The next morning, Shadis gave the order.
"We've seen enough. We're returning to Wall Rose."
The soldiers packed their gear.
Sukuna looked at Shiganshina one last time.
"I'll be back," he whispered. "And when I come back... everything will change."
He mounted his horse.
And rode away.
END OF CHAPTER 13