Chapter Text
The king stands up in the midst of the destruction he causes. He knew it was his duty as a protector, but most of the time he didn't enjoy the destruction he caused when battling unruly titans who don't know or care for the consequences of their actions. ‘too dangerous. Too many. Need to die’ was the mantra the king repeated in his mind as he recalled the mated pair he had to give an end to. The pair laid many eggs, too many for them to be able to survive, not without taking the world with them. But the pair didn't budge. blinded by their instinct to protect their brood, they didn't listen to reason, to their king, so they face death as punishment.
He tried to feel the energy of the eggs. He knew Ningen were smart, smart enough to be able to grow and survive on the planet without titans to protect them. But they were also dumb, dumb enough to provoke already enraged titans by destroying their nest. secretly he was glad, killing non-hatch was one of his most hated duties. Still, he needed to make sure no egg was left. He was impressed by the lack of energy, Ningen have become powerful, enough to try and face titans. They become Ruthless, Ruthless enough to end a nest full of eggs without questions. ‘Titan soul’ his mind thinks impresses, a familiar yet foreign thought. He put it aside, he can think more while he rest his wounds.
Slowly and carefully the King moves, he plans to move straight to sea, he could still feel the fear of the ningen left in the battleground, better to leave and not cause more fear.
But he felt the energy, a small life in the destruction, he turned towards the energy and saw movement. at the top of one of the construction the ningen have built, one of the survivors starts moving. The king stared for a while, far enough so the ningen couldn't feel the king's eyes; they were too focused on moving the debris. The king could barely feel the emotions, fear, anger, worry, and surprisingly love. They were looking for a loved one in the buried ground. The king thought he could feel a few sources of life where the worry ningen was looking, they would find their loved ones eventually.
He should leave.
Let the other ningen help.
He starts moving again.
Then one of the signals starts to fade.
Like it was using all their force to stay but they were tired. That life was gonna end soon. The king could feel the Kenbutsunin coming, they helped.
‘Too late. Gone’ the king thought.
‘King can help,’ said a voice in his head that sounded like his queen. Without thinking anymore the king moved. Slowly and paying attention to any other life he could feel until he saw the ningen stop their frantic search, they stare at the king with big fearful eyes. The king stared back, lowering their head slowly until they were face to face. They stare at each other for what felt like hours, eventually the king moves his eyes towards the falling construction, he stares at it for a few moments before returning their eyes to the frozen ningen, silently stating his intention and hoping the ningen would understand.
And they did.
Against all odds, they understood, with trembling steps and obvious fear the smaller one moved towards the fallen structure, and pointed towards it while looking at the king. They spoke a tongue the kind didn't understand completely, but he recognized what was being asked of him.
“Help… bellow…help” they spoke out loud, hoping to get the meaning across.
The king moved, slowly but determined, he took the structure with one of his hands and raised it slowly. He was gonna move it completely but the smaller one cried and stopped him.
“Stop!” They cried loudly, stopping with fear of retaliation for speaking to the large one. When the king stopped and nothing else happened, they spoke again “... fall… stay… i.. down… wait… ” they waited for the king's reaction or movement. When there was none they moved fast and determined, they crawled under the small space the king opened.
It felt longer than it probably was but the king would have stayed like that until the end of time. He still felt the life energy of the creatures below. After a few more moments the ningen crawled off again, followed by two others, one way smaller than the already tiny creatures, both were tired, the other big one more than the little, but they were alive. The two others start screaming when they see the biggest creature and recoil in fear, the first one tries to calm them both.
‘A pup’ the king thought, while staring at the smallest in the group and waited for a sign of the ningen that it was safe to put the structure down.
“... good! Everyone… safe!... down!” The first creature spoke Loudly after calming the other two. The king put the structure down. To the shock of the newly free ningen.
He should have left after that. But he could still feel more life, some brighter than others but they were there. And he was here, he could help to heal the damage done, even if just by a fraction of it.
He started to move slowly to the nearest fading life, getting those close to the edge first was important for their survival. He got close to a different structure and turned towards the newly free ningens. The first one returned the stare and held it trying to figure out what's happening, they nodded after a moment, speaking toward the rescue ones, before leaving the fearful ones and moving towards the king once again.
“You move… I… bellow… save…” they spoke loud, with fear and determination.
‘Titan soul’ the king's mind repeats again, he puts the thought aside and starts working on saving as many lives as possible. The pattern repeats many times, lifting structures, crawling, freeing, fear, understanding, repeat. A few ningen join the efforts to save lives, others stay back or leave in fear, it doesn't matter, the king keeps helping.
Until the Kenbutsunin and the Sentōki arrive. Both easily recognizable for the king, the ones who observe him but stay out of the way, and the ones who tried to fight the mated pair before he did. Both groups Alfas were speaking loudly, he didn't understood almost anything but he could get by just by their feelings and what he knew about their packs. The Sentōki wanted to attack and the kenbutsuni wanted to watch. They keep screaming at each other until the first ningen the king recue got close to them and spoke Loudly.
“... save us!” They start while pointing at the king “... Don't… die. Let… go free” they plead, the ningen was tired, still full of fear, still determined to help.
‘Titan soul’ the king thought once more. There was silence while the alfas talked once more, no longer screaming. Kenbutsunin alfa bare their dull fangs towards the tired ningen, the king fear he'll have to battle when the Other alfa start screaming. But his howls only cause his group to move and give a free pass to the king towards the sea.
The ningen bare their fangs towards the king “...leave … good now… tired… rest” they said and moved to the side to give the king space to move freely.
The king starts to move, slowly so as not to worry the ningens. Once he was deep enough in the water he turned back towards the land. The ningens were Still watching, he did the same gesture he saw and guessed it meant something good, the king bare his fangs before moving towards a safe place to rest.
‘Titan soul’ keeps spinning in the king's mind.