Light blasted through his eyes, searing its way past retinas and corneas, snaking its way through those unfortunately place gaps in his skull and piercing a ruthless
shaft of a blade into the soft and unprotected brain matter so cherished by living beings.
Or at least, that's what it felt like. Having had an uncomfortable moment to adjust to the sunlit conditions, Eren surveyed his surroundings with two parts nostalgia and one part bittersweet amusement.
It was high noon or early afternoon, judging by the (truly overdone) amounts of sunlight blasting down from on high, and if it wasn't for that glorious breeze gently ruffling clothing, it would be insufferably hot.
Where was he? Technically, he was nowhere.
However, that (for obvious reasons) wasn't quite true.
Nestled in the foothills of one of the largest mountains remaining in human territory was a small military camp fashioned for the purposes of turning soft, spoiled city kids and hardworking farmers whose skulls are almost as thick as the cows they spend all day raising into calculating titan-killing machines of precise destruction.
Currently he was standing in a line of twenty, one arm clapped firmly on his breast, the other rigidly against his lower back in full salute. An instructor was roaming the ranks, verbally abusing any and all recruits sporting looks beyond grim determination.
So far we've identified the who and the where, but unfortunately the next two are much more difficult to grasp without a lengthy and frankly, quite boring, lecture on the mechanics of time and all those who tamper with it.
To put it into more simple terms: He was not who he should be, nor was he when he should be, but he was still him.
Or, in laymen's terms: Eren Jaeger, last remaining survivor of the titan apocalypse and traitor to the human race had conquered that mysterious fifth dimension, time.
Forcing an unstoppable current of sands back with a combination of brute willpower and his deceased father's alchemical brilliance, he had successfully arrived when he wanted if not exactly where he wanted (he had been aiming for the royal palace after all).
Oh well, it couldn't be helped.
He'd just have to do it the roundabout way, and 'it' of course being a little chat with our dear friend the monarch himself.
And by 'little chat' we mean 'the assassination and replacement of'.
Perhaps this method would actually be a better course of action, as it would avoid the whole problem of forcing people to follow and obey his rule. Or perhaps it would be even better t-
"I'M TALKING TO YOU!" came exploding across his ears, startling him out of his scheming.
He realized with a start he had been so busy reflecting on his actions in a strange and inexplicably expository fashion that he had completely tuned out the instructor, named Keith Shardis, who had spied the smile creeping across his lips without explicit permission and as a result had stopped in Eren's neck of the woods to shout it off.
Off balance, he stumbled over his words but nonetheless managed to force out a
"Sorry Sir! It won't happen again, Sir!"
"IT BETTER NOT YOU SHRIMP-DICKED FUCKNUGGET, WE'RE HERE TO KILL TITANS NOT TO DAYDREAM ABOUT MOMMY! NOW ABOUT FACE BEFORE THE SIGHT OF YOUR UGLY MUG MAKES ME VOMIT." bellowed Shardis.
Snapping into a pivot, Eren wheeled around until he was awkwardly facing the person directly behind him.
Satisfied, Shardis moved on to harass other baby faced recruits, leaving Eren determinedly locking eyes with the one and only- Annie Leonhardt, or, as far as the titans were concerned, 'that one big fat failure who spoiled the whole thing for everyone everywhere'.
However, most humans settled on "traitor" or "titan-bitch".
Eren bemusedly wondered how it felt to love both sides and in return be hated by both.
Although, he supposed that was getting a bit ahead of the situation, as she hadn't technically done anything yet so she was still in the favor of both sides.
Loved by all sides, hated by none.
His unwavering examination of her had not gone unnoticed, and she shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.
Realizing he looked a mite bit conspicuous, he shifted his gaze away, sweeping across the rest of the recruits he could see.
A sudden wave of sadness smacked him upside the head as he made awkward eye contact with people he knew to be dead- people he'd seen die, people whose pulses he'd felt stop as they gasped out last breaths while cradled in his arms.
Pain wracked his chest and for the first time since he'd arrived, the gravity of just how important his task was settled in.
The euphoria of success at traversing the laws of physics and traipsing across time washed away to reveal the stark bone-white fury and black depression of reality.
He had narrowly escaped what could be considered 'ultimate failure' aka the destruction of all things human by what really is cheating, and starting all over again.
This time he must not fail, because the odds of him being able to cheat his way out of the icy clutches of death again are very unlikely- this time its game over if he fails.
