It was the end of the world as we knew it and all Astrid wanted was a thrice damned latte with shots of charisma for a short buff. Maybe wander over to that cute guild receptionist once she drank some and after asking for any open missions, see if they wanted to hang out sometime. Hell, the young woman wasn't even sure if the person even had a gender since it was always wearing bulky armor and never spoke. Still, whatever they were was nice to her and that deserved favoritism if nothing else.
If that wasn't sad as hell, she really didn't know what was.
All her plans were tossed away all thanks to some dipshits who decided to go to another universe by sacrificing this one. Given the magic sigil spreading beneath her feet, Astrid knew that it was those bastards at the heart of this problem again since she was pulled along for the ride.
"At least I got my latte," Astrid muttered with just as much enthusiasm as this bullshit warranted as she was whisked away to who knows where.
"Well, this is new," Astrid said as she took a sip of her latte. "Never wound up in a void before."
All around her was comforting darkness and suddenly a distant light appeared in the dark, a bright white star that she got pulled towards. As Astrid got closer, it took the form of hundreds of shadow people, the one closest smiling in twisted amusement with its left hand stretched out. A silent voice spoke in the void.
Mental voice, Astrid concluded, with another sip of her drink.
"I know you don't want to do this but you know how those like you think and their preferred habits and plans of attack." Astrid moved closer towards it, floating like a ghost in the dark. "It is a lot to ask you for but if we didn't grab you at that moment then you had the chance of disappearing forever when your reality unraveled from your kind's wish for a better future." She remained silent as the current spokesperson rambled on. After a moment, the figure frowned sadly. "As much as meeting the one we admire is grand, we are in desperate need of your compliance in salvaging future events, Astrid Sinclair."
The reaction to hearing THAT name after all these years nearly sent Astrid into a killing frenzy while making her want to escape and hide from anyone who knew that ancient name in the first place. Instead of either choice, Astrid settled for glaring since it was the least extreme thing she could do at the moment.
"That's not my name. Hasn't been my name for a very long time." Her eyes narrowed at the entities. "I will be getting compensated for this inane plan of yours regardless on whether I complete the current task in whatever universe you guys drop my ass in, right?"
The figure folded his hands and nodded. "Naturally. Given your history, skills, knowledge and your on and off again addiction to adrenaline, it is only proper that we offer restitution for any and all losses, injuries and trouble for the future."
Things were progressing too nicely and that raised flags for her to get the hell out of here. "Anything I was holding on to prior to the Apocalypse bullshit, will remain with me, yes? Along with any skills, knowledge, and material possessions...Those will be carried over?"
The lead entity nodded his head. She was just guessing it was male at this point.
"Am I being dropped in at a younger age, new body, current age, possession of canon characters, time travel or some fucked up hybrid?"
That made the figure blink. "Why are you so sure you would be sent to those kinds of realities?"
"Because the vast majority of those bastards don't possess the know-how, raw power, intense imagination and willpower to create their own universes so they will try to fuck things over in others. The rest have the requirements they are just lazy as hell. As for me, I just want to explore then relax or go on vacation when the plot starts going."
"I see," replied the creepy thing. "It would depend on where you are going next. The first one has you living in that world for almost six years already, though your memories are greatly suppressed due to the horrors you lived through. You will have to make up the history of yourself soon upon 'entry' and we are certain the world will correct things so it will cover any mistakes or holes you may have not foreseen. Your appearance has also been changed a bit so others can not connect you to what they might expect you to seem."
Astrid raised her free hand up in rejection. "You do realize that what you are suggesting is a blatant retcon on whatever world this is, right? Something involving a skill set I haven't used in a long time is untrustworthy at best."
The jerks had the balls to shrug their shoulders.
She sighed deeply then bluntly asked, "I can never return home, right?"
"Your original reality no longer exists except in your memories."
Well, there goes that potential relationship. I swear someone or something is interfering with me in this part of my life.
Her mind raced a thousand miles and hour as she started to link things together. "If I got rid of the problems, can I return to previous realities at a different date?"
"Yes, through there may be a time skip between leaving and returning. And there may be worse problems if you return."
This is really too good to be true. What's the catch?
"What do you lot get out of this?"
The figure laughed. "Many things but all are beneficial and harmless to you, this I swear. We can offer you the chance to visit and possibly save other worlds and become more than you currently are; all you need to do is to grab my hand."
"I'm only doing this because I like living and this place is starting to get on my nerves." She reached out towards it, for an escape from the eternal darkness and endless hollowness. Or maybe it was just her natural curiosity at work. The figures in the light came closer as she floated towards them and smiled wider as she grabbed the hand of the spokesperson.
The figure spoke with a regretful grin, "This might hurt but it will not affect you negatively after this moment. Sorry about this, but we can't risk losing you at this point."
The figure's other hand pierced Astrid's chest and yanked out her heart. The gaping hole spread to the rest of her torso and then to her limbs and head. Organs swiftly liquefied as darkness from all around them was drawn to the emptiness inside her. Astrid's skeleton was crushed into dust and vanished while her blood and brain boiled away into nothingness. Her heart was encased in living shadows and bound in chains of thin rays of solidified light before it vanished.
The last remnants of darkness entered Astrid as sound filled her surroundings and every sensation and sense connected to the poor woman once more.
Astrid woke up to death and destruction and instinctively knew it was only going to get worse from there.
The late afternoon sun shone over the huge trees and threw long shadows onto the leafy ground. Horrified and suffering screams from the dying and broke the serene silence within the forest in the blink of an eye.
Not even the shadows could hide the dark scenery that occurred below the light of the setting sun. The smashed bodies against the tree trunks. Uniformed corpses lay scattered on the ground both inside and beyond the edge of the forest in stains of blood with faces frozen in fright and grim realization. Huge vaguely human footprints lead away from the scene and toward some survivors, blood-red from the carnage.
Suffice to say it was not a good idea to have a picnic here.
In the middle of this mayhem, in the shadows between the trees, a young girl, not more than five or six years old with long ashen hair and amber eyes appeared in the night holding a styrofoam cup with the logo of a fairy on it. She calmly took in her surroundings in an analytical and detached view, while taking the occasional sip of her latte. Once finished with the drink, she tossed it behind her with the brief thought on if it would be found and puzzled over one day. Sensing no one else nearby, the girl stepped closer to the massacre of sight and noticed how long it took her to accomplish such a feat. She glanced down at her body and froze on the spot, only cursing colorfully at her predicament once she realized that this was indeed her own body and not an illusion like she wished it was.
"Tits on Christ!" She spat toward her surroundings before looking skyward in muted annoyance. "This is not how you treat someone you 'admire' nor is it the proper way to drop someone off in any setting. Especially when you all force me to go on this ludicrous mission after saying all that shit."
As she expected, her words fell on deaf ears. Still, she continued her rant just so she could move on after letting off a little steam.
"And this is pretty generic of massacre scenes. It could be any fucking world with bodies like this!" The girl stopped there because she knew from personal experience and seen it happen to others that people like her had the habit of invoking certain habits and tropes and indirectly bring them into being.
For her kind, continuing past that point in any form was far more than simply Tempting Fate, it was just short of raping it. Which in hindsight might explain why most of them do and say such genre blind and wrong genre savvy things, they are all insane and obsessed with being overpowered and fondling Balls of all shorts. The rest, like herself, knew better and acted or reacted in ways that ensured they wouldn't be caught in the fallout that those dumbasses cause. That wasn't the say they weren't insane, have their own unique quirks, or didn't crave power and knowledge. No, that only made them smarter and more efficient.
The sounds of hooves drew her attention to a three dozen wounded soldiers pushing their horses to their limits as if the denizens of their nightmares were right behind them. A glance behind them revealed how accurate that statement was.
One glance at the three former humans turned monstrous giants and she cursed heavily again then took off after them as quickly as she could.
Silly me! Thinking I was going to have an easy hunt, she thought to herself as she willed strength, endurance and speed to her limbs when she noticed they were getting a bit farther than she thought they would.
Honestly she wanted to know why she felt she should intervene in their retreat for their benefit. This was an earlier part of the timeline since she didn't see any decent tactics thus far, nor saw that many of the more familiar corps members, so she shouldn't interfere.
I could save lives and wind up possibly captured and experimented on or even outright killed (which is merely annoying to put up with) or I could just pretend I didn't see anything and sneak inside the Walls later.
Images of her past life watching the characters and how much a fan she was of the series reminded her that this is real and they could die before the plot started.
"Fuck Erwin and his epic eyebrows," she whispered before vanishing from the forest entirely.
The girl reappeared behind the neck and spine slowest chasing titan in the blink of an eye and ripped a good portion of it's spine out with her right hand, the razor sharp demonic claws crushed the offending consciousness and filling her with a rush that she had long deprived herself of: bloodlust in it's purest form. The sudden and lethal blow was enough to end it's life but by then she was already moving to the next closest.
By now the creatures knew that they were under attack but didn't fight back until there was only one left for some reason. Even then it was slow and careful movements meant more to capture or confine her than harm. There was no single-minded need to kill any humans or Titan Shifters to this titan, no mindless bloodlust emitting from them which cooled her own raging emotions. It was more like it viewed her as something similar enough to it and not human enough to pursue.
Of course, that would need further testing in more controlled setting but such a thing would be useful to know. The ways Astrid could use that to her advantage made her excited for the future.
The entire thing was so confusing, especially when the titan didn't give up its original prey that easily. Something that was too good to pass up.
"Well, if you are so kindly offering your back to me, it would be rude of me not to accept it." She whispered to herself as she lightly cut her other arm and bathed the claws in her blood.
It attacked wildly with its arms and it could. The girl blocked some of them with her transformed left arm as she formed a shield made from her inner darkness and blood that negated much of the blows stumbling effect on her tiny body, dodged the rest by jogging up it's arms and started to bind it's movements with both of their shadows.
She watched the titan's incoming arm with a cruel smirk and pulled her clawed one back with a little flexing of the fingers. A rapid thrust forward and the entire left arm on the titan got bisected clean off from the shoulder. Her blood worked better than she expected it would since she was only hoping it would prevent regeneration. It did along with creating a corroding black substance to spread to it's shoulder and chest.
Another thing I will need to research.
She then swung and stabbed her left arm in a fierce attack at it, inflicted more infected wounds on the titan's body as she ran up it. The titan, unable to retaliate from the physical assault and biological attack had it's other arm sliced off once the strange girl was safely on it's shoulder. The monstrous mimicry of humanity growled and tried to reach the girl who vanished from her perch in thin air.
A shadow from above got the titan's attention and it gazed up.
The widely grinning child dropped down from above with a vertically aimed black blade to slice the creature from top to bottom.
A short cry of dismay was all it could utter before it's spine was halfway sliced through. Still it was enough to end it's existence.
The girl dismissed her changed arms back to their normal form, and flipped off from the titan's back, blinking closer to the ground once she realized it was too risky at that height for her current body.
Back on solid ground, she sighed and began following them again.
Three fourths of their return trip back and the Wall to Shiganshina District in distant sight, the girl blinked forward and did probably the most stupid thing in her entire existence. Luckily no one was watching the small section of the wall beside the gate she appeared at, so at least no one can see her bout of self-harm and panic.
Without thinking longer on it, the girl elongated three of her fingers into sharp edges then carefully stabbed her body, two in the chest and one in the abdomen and then reverted her fingers back to normal. None of the wounds were immediately life threatening, just in case she had to get her own ass to safety, but each one was calculated to seem more dangerous that it should and to cause herself to bleed heavily.
Unfortunately, Astrid didn't take in her already exhausted five year old form into consideration when she did this task.
Numbness spread from the wounds and she had a red string of blood from the corner of the mouth. Her body felt heavy and beyond her control. All she could do was collapse to the ground and stare up at the star-filled sky with heavier and heavier eyelids.
It hurt like a bitch and she knew that she was going to scold herself later. If there was a later.
Tears, a foreign experience that she hadn't felt in many years, formed over her eyes as her voice came out more pain filled and harsh than she wanted.
"Help me..."
A silhouette appeared and looked down at her; she could see the blue eyes beneath bushy brows and the indeterminable gaze.
When did they get here?
She tried to lift her hand and reached up to him, to assemble the strength to see him clearly before her eyes became too heavy to stay open. He bowed down and she got an upside down look on the hesitant decision in his face. She didn't care about it. Her body turned lighter as she smiled faintly. The world turned dark as she felt the heat leave her and she closed her eyes and pleaded in an inaudible whisper.
"I don't want to die..."
How ironic. The one time I didn't intend to die from such things and I do anyway.
Her hand fell down on the ground, and she floated away into the dark void with a rueful smile on her pale lips.
A wooden ceiling met her eyes as she rested in a bed, her body wrapped loosely into a blanket. She blinked slowly to comprehend what happened.
I really hope this doesn't start a trend of waking up in unfamiliar places.
"Well, that could have worked out better." She muttered beneath her breath and something stiff rubbed up against her skin as she tried to move around. Her body had been wrapped up with bandages from what she could feel and she frowned. "Unnecessary, though I still am thankful for the check over. But who saved me?"
"So you are finally awake now?"
The voice came from the opposite end of the room and her heart, her non-existent heart Astrid reminded herself, skipped a beat from the sudden surprise. She tried to sit up but failed from the aching pain.
Why the hell is Erwin still here?"
"Don´t try to move, or the wounds might open up again." A voice to the side of the bed lightly scolded in a fatherly way. She turned to face the closer man and noted that it was indeed Grisha Jaegar who was tending to my wounds.
The doctor tilted his the head and asked with a caring and friendly tone, "How are you feeling?"
She found herself too stunned by the fact that she was royally screwed with these guys in the same room as her and looked down in nervousness.
She didn't even need to exaggerate her concern and worry.
"I'm fine. I don't feel any discomfort aside from the obnoxious rubbing of dried blood on my skin."
The survey corps member smiled in response and sighed. The doctor on the other hand frowned in thought.
"Good to hear, but you had me worried there… You took a serious injury after all," Erwin said with a frown. "If it wasn't for Dr. Jaegar here, you would be in worse shape."
The girl frowned and glanced back the mentioned doctor who nodded his head.
"How did I…?"
"Feel lucky that the person who attacked you wasn't good at aiming, but you were still in danger from blood loss, so I did my best to patch you together."
She mentally bristled at the bad aim comment but calmed herself enough to politely thank the good doctor.
"Thank you for healing me."
Her face mellowed at the thought of her 'attacker' as it was mentioned; both men shared a look but it was the Grisha who asked, "Was it someone you knew who dragged you out there? Was it a neighbor? Something close to that?"
Oh, it was most certainly someone I know. Seriously, though what should I say? Bullshit my way or be serious?
"It was one of my Big Brothers from the project. He attacked me near the gates because he knew there was a good doctor inside and that I would be well taken care of. He is smart like that."
Bullshit it is then! Fuck! Well, at the very least I could use the 'project' as an excuse for any odd bursts of powers or knowledge.
Erwin stiffened. "What is this project?"
The girl fidgeted beneath their intense stares for a moment. "It was a project that had several different goals but the main two involved finding alternate ways to eliminate titans with the least amount of casualties and find a way to evolve humanity to have abilities in order to better survive the world."
And the hole gets ever deeper. Wonder if I can dig myself to their equivalent to China if I keep this up?
Grisha closed his eyes in pain no doubt knowing where this lie was heading. "Did they succeed?"
Her laughter was little more than an unhinged giggle at the question but she returned to normal soon enough. "In some definition of the word." She folded her hands. "The general project had been going on for about a decade or so but really became focused on human improvement and Titan elimination when my Big Brothers were captured followed by me when I was a year old. So about five years ago on the first of April for me. They were much stronger than normal humans. I am stronger than normal humans as well but I am special in a way. The three of us were the control group, the bar that was set for the candidates."
Both of them looked disgusted with the idea, so she continued telling her fake sob story. If anything, she could use the sympathy to get a temporary room here.
Why do I feel like this will complicate matters in the long run?
"The children and adults were trained for three years in different weapons and get a education that teaches the young candidates skills like reading, history, writing, math, geography, and even some forbidden subjects and ideas from the outside world. They also received social training while learning to behave and assume any role, everything from nobles to prostitutes for covert missions when they are to eliminate a threat to humanity when they were internal issues. We participated in these parts and got some advanced training as well. Many candidates physically exerted themselves until they coughed up blood or their implants started acting up."
I wonder if Mike can smell the bullshit from wherever he is?
"The implants were made from various parts of a Titan inserted into humans who were adequately prepared but it didn't take the group long to realize that certain areas of the spine provided best results." The girl smiled sadly. "The subjects were also injected with Titan and my own blood and must eat the raw animal flesh or preferably the body parts or blood of titans for their bodies to become fully inhuman. Incompatible blood types and/or organs cause a rejection in the human body and the implants start eating the human portion of the body far quicker than it did with the rest of the people who were tricked into doing this." The girl sighed. "While it pushed the human body far more than it should be in that way, they were also living on borrowed time."
Grisha sighed and asked, "They died?"
The girl shook her head. "They changed. Their Titan implants corrupted their bodies and slowly consumed their human minds until they were gone. They were all different in appearance and ability after that point but they weren't human any longer, and yet they were not titans either. Many of them still thought normally just not like a normal human would see things. The shelf life for them wasn't that long and we were the ones who-"
She looked like she was about to cry again and Grisha tried to help her out of it by a change of topic.
"I think that is enough interrogation for today." He told Erwin who nodded his head in agreement. Grisha turned back to the poor thing who looked like she was on the verge of having a panic attack. "Everything is fine."
The girl stopped trembling and a comfortable silence built between the three of them.
"Why did you save me?" She asked in hesitation and looked back to Erwin. "Humans don't do such things for strangers."
Astrid really couldn't understand. Humans were always tricky confusing beings to her, even back home. Then again she considered everyone who wasn't like her as humans and they feared and resented her kind so it was justified in a way.
He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Why? Because I wanted to. I couldn't just leave you to die like that." Erwin sighed at seeing her understand what he was saying but didn't see how it applied to her. "Let me tell you something: If you died when I could have prevented it, then I am even worse than people who kidnapped you and your brothers."
She smiled at both of them. "You are both heroes to me. Just like my brothers."
The men blinked in confusion.
"Well, that's a first. I have been called many things but never a 'hero'." Erwin muttered.
"It´s true! You both saved me when nobody else could. Just like my brothers took care of me." The girl frowned with sad eyes. "I am sorry…" She looked down in shame. "I have upset you both with my words and for that I deeply apologize."
Erwin shook with the head and raised a hand.
"You didn't upset us in any way. We were just surprised." He paused for a moment in hesitation then asked, "Didn't you three have names?"
Well, fuck. I can't say who one of the fictional people was based off of. The other one is fair game since he was based off of one of my kind that I tolerated, but wouldn't that be inviting trouble?
She nodded her head slowly. "The boys were born and raised outside the project but all I truly knew until recently was in there. I was called Zero as I was empty or blank but filled with infinite possibilities and potential. The oldest boy was at least a decade older than me and the first brought in so he was called One. The second boy who was older than me by six years was Two. We were only called that by others, so our names were sacred and whispered to each other when we were alone. I do not trust either of you enough yet to betray them in such a way."
Erwin nodded his head in acceptance and headed towards the door, when she carefully spoke to him.
"Where are you going?"
He stopped and turned back to her.
"I am going to carefully validate your claims and search for your brothers after I return to my commander and report on your condition. Dr. Jaegar will take care of you and will get you some food. You have slept for two days straight and need to replenish a lot of energy."
I am so screwed...
He opened the door to the main area of the house to leave and stopped as the girl called out after him.
"Thank you but my name is..." He turned around to look down at her. She lowered the voice in caution, "Astrid. Astrid Sinclair."
Ugh. Why did use that surname after all this time?! I'm going to kill those things that dragged me into this mess.
A pleased, but surprised expression crossed his face as he gave Astrid a small smile. "That's a name I have never heard of before. It suits you and I can tell it means a lot to you." His smiled widened the tiniest bit. "My name is Erwin Smith."
Astrid looked to the doctor who smiled a little as well. "I am Grisha Jaegar. It is a pleasure to meet you Astrid."
Astrid nodded her head and smiled back.
Keep up the childish act for now until I can find out what the hell is going on.
They both left the room and closed the door.
Astrid's smile dropped and was replaced by an expression of grim determination. Her mind went through every possible variable of what just happened and what she could visualize the future held for what she just bullshitted.
So I am either a lying troublemaking kid, or a survivor of a project that somehow exists when it shouldn't? Why couldn't I just stay silent or say something more normal? Well, here's hoping things work out.
Astrid rested with her head in the pillow and smiled as she went back to sleep. False and faded memories of two youths and herself flooded her dreams, filling her with an odd sadness and longing despite never seeing them before.
Author's Note: This is just a general idea I have been toying with for a while. A reluctant person cursed with being a magnet to trouble and weirdness due to not using their powers constantly for a long time and then forced to fix other worlds and so on.
Don't worry, the Reality Warpers are generally limited in what their innate power can do or specialize in. Astrid at the moment can only alter herself and her immediate vicinity since she hasn't consciously done anything like that for a while.
Sorry if it seemed a bit overpowered against the titans but I'm going to change things bit by bit including secret advances in weaponry, tactics and so on over the story while remaining close to canon.
There are two (at least) references to different series during her rushed explanation: Shout-out to first people who say where they are from.
I will probably include other such things over time.