[Scene: The Garden Beyond Time]
The air is still here — not the stillness of death, but of eternity.
A garden spreads wide under a warm, golden sky. Flowers bloom in colors that never existed on Earth, their petals glimmering with faint light. And in the center stands a tree.
The tree was here long before Eren and Mikasa were ever born. Its roots dive deep through soil, stone, and the unseen layers of reality — piercing all the way from Heaven to Earth.
This is Armin.
His voice does not come in words, but in the soft rustle of leaves. His roots wind through realms, watching over the two friends he once swore to protect. He cannot walk beside them anymore… but from above, from below, and in every dream, he remains their guardian.
[Scene: Under the Tree – Eren & Mikasa's Garden]
Eren and Mikasa are tending a small patch of the garden. Their home stands nearby — quiet, peaceful, touched by sunlight. Mikasa kneels in the soil, planting seeds. Eren waters them, his expression softer than it has ever been.
At the foot of the great tree lie two flowers.
One is beautiful — vibrant, healthy, glowing softly in the light.
The other is cursed — its petals dark, edges frayed, yet stubbornly alive.
Between them lies a muffler. Worn. Faded. But still warm.
A blue butterfly drifts into the scene, its wings painted like the sky after rain. It lands first on the cursed flower… then the beautiful one. Slowly, the two flowers lean toward each other, their stems brushing.
Mikasa looks at them and smiles faintly.
Eren tilts his head, as if sensing something he can't explain.
[Scene Shift – Armin's Whisper]
From high above, the tree's leaves rustle in a way that only Eren hears.
Armin (whisper): "It's alright now… you can let go of the weight. Live for yourselves. I'll be here."
The wind carries those words into Mikasa's scarf.
[Scene Shift – King Fritz's Endless Cycle]
Far from the garden, in a place without light, another soul suffers.
King Fritz — once the tyrant who built his throne on Ymir's chains — walks barefoot through a wasteland of ash. Each step cuts into his skin, and every time he falls, the world resets. He lives, dies, and lives again — in lives stripped of power, born into the pain he once gave others.
In one life, he is a soldier losing everything in war.
In another, a starving farmer watching his children waste away.
In another, a prisoner chained underground, hearing voices in the dark.
There is no end.
The same pain, the same loss — again and again.
[Final Scene – The Hook]
In the garden, Mikasa looks toward the horizon.
Somewhere far away, a newborn child cries — tiny fingers clutching at empty air. A faint memory of a red scarf stirs within a mind too young to understand.
The blue butterfly lifts off the flowers and begins to fly toward that distant sound.