"How are you feeling today?" Grisha Jaegar asked with a smile as he walked into her room with a complete breakfast of fruit, vegetables and dried meat at hand.
Astrid giggled from the cheery mood and sat up in bed with her hands down at her knees.
The stench of death and blood that was on her skin and clothing had vanished as Carla brought in a tub of water the next morning so Astrid could wash up. The white sundress she had was too ruined to clean so she was given some clothes that didn't fit their own child anymore. At first Carla wanted to help wash the young child but Grisha pulled her aside and summed up what she had been through and how skittish she could become.
I'm just going to ignore that.
Astrid smiled up at him and answered. "Much better now that I am clean again."
Grisha nodded his head then looked around to make sure his wife or curious son wasn't nearby. Satisfied that they weren't, he sat down on the chair beside the bed and looked at her seriously. "There's no easy way to ask this but, why don't you have a heartbeat?"
Oh fuck...
"Shit! Promise you won't freak out or attack me?" Astrid asked with a twitching smile.
Grisha slowly nodded and Astrid took off the loose top and visualized her chest opening up to the darkness forced to reside within her. Instead of looking away like she wanted, Astrid continued to look at the doctor to see his reaction.
Her chest opens revealing fleeting glimpse of a gloomy crevice and blossoming ribs. In the place of her insides that were stolen from her, there was only Death's devouring nothingness. An empty shell of a child forced to live in a world that would despise her. An empty chest without a heart to call her own.
There was no disgust, fear or hatred that she could sense from her reveal so she returned her chest back to how it should be.
Grisha pushed his glasses up and said, "Thank you for trusting me with this." He paused then asked, "Is that why you healed so quickly?"
No, it's because I'm like you, a literal monster in human shape, was on the tip of her tongue but self-preservation won over the need to be sarcastic.
Astrid shrugged and was about to properly answer when she was interrupted by an excited boy who entered the small bedroom and started asking questions.
"Where does the food go? Did it hurt when your chest opened up like that? Why were you bleeding?"
"That's enough Eren." Grisha scolded with a deep frown.
"But..." Eren mumbled, his green eyes dimmer at being told off.
Astrid laughed a little at seeing his dejected expression. "I don't mind." She closed her eyes in thought then opened them again. "I think the food converts to energy I can use, with eating more building up a reserve. No, it didn't hurt. I think my body acts like a normal human because I thought it was normal to begin with."
Grisha sighed and introduced Astrid to his son who smiled at her.
The breakfast began and Grisha watched while the two children shared the food and talked about anything that came to mind.
But once breakfast was finished, the serious question rose up.
Grisha asked her with some concern, "Do you have any relatives?"
Astrid's eyes filled with a heavy gaze and bowed her head. "I only have my brothers and they aren't blood related to me. I also don't know where they are now."
"Are you sure? None in other districts or…"
"Nobody cares about the people who were born in the Underground." Tears appeared in her face as she shivered.
A part of her applauded her acting. Another part told the first one that it wasn't that much of an act if was true.
She cried slowly and Eren put his left hand on her shoulder as comfort. "That's not true."
"My big brothers were all I had to call my own in this world and I lost them." Her tears flowed down along the cheeks and sent the voice into a tremble, filled with sorrow as she talked between the sobs. "I was so scared when they suddenly woke me up and got me out of there. They were fighting for some time, and I wanted to go with one of them but my other brother dragged me away from him. There were bodies everywhere and all I could do was run. Run and hide and pray that I wouldn't be caught unaware." Astrid cried in rivers while she held her head with both her hands. "It's all my fault. If I wasn't found then the project would never have went down that path."
After a few more minutes of crying and remembering her own experiences back home, Astrid calmed down considerably. Her eyes regained their brightness as determination and curiosity shone in them.
"Do you think I'm inhuman?"
"Why would I? Would something inhuman worry about that?"
Astrid snorted at the childish but honest answer she got from Eren. "Thanks, Eren." She turned to face Grisha and asked, "Is Erwin coming back?"
"He should be back in a few days." Grisha smiled at both of the children. "Why don't you show her around town and introduce her to your friend?"
Eren grinned widely at Astrid as he yanked her out of bed and started pulling her behind him. Astrid narrowed her eyes at the older man and motioned with her free hand that she was watching him and said what he did there.
It was rather reassuring that Armin Arlert was in the similar situation to when he was first introduced. Younger versions of the bullies were harassing the precious cinnamon roll who could make plans to kill and get away with it.
Eren growled and began to charge when he was roughly grabbed and restrained. Angry green eyes widened at the cruel twist to her smile and the burning despise in her wolfish gaze.
"They will keep on doing the same things unless something forced them to always be reminded that this is a bad thing." Astrid started with confidence as she went over the idea she had in store.
Eren grinned in excitement as he walked over to the group alone. Once he was close enough to the group, the brown haired boy cried out, "Armin! Fancy seeing you here."
The looks of utter astonishment at seeing the hot blooded boy talking to them kindly nearly sent Astrid into a laughing frenzy but she stopped herself since it would break her cover.
Slowly she moved the shadows in the alleyway to her position and started building images in her mind of how to block out the small area for the ease of manipulating their senses.
"Eren?" Armin cautiously called out at the boy who only said not to panic.
Then the sun that was pouring down into the alleyway was blotted out by darkness and shadows casting the children within it's confines into the abyss. After a moment the void was replaced by a schoolhouse room or classroom. The lone door was behind Armin and windows facing the void were the only exits. Empty desks sat in rows before a blackboard that started to be written on by an unseen force.
"Morning, mindless lambs to the slaughter. Sit your worthless asses down." The five children sat down in the front row. "Everyone seated? Finally."
The board was wiped clean by an invisible hand.
"Today I'm about to school you shitty bastards about a subject near and dear to my existence: Reality Warpers. These are the guys that change reality based on perception, curiosity, knowledge and willpower. I've spent my long existence living under the radar or training these fuckers to control their powers only to wind up chasing them down to end their chaotic fancies. At least things are rarely boring."
The writing vanished after the kids paled at the underlying meaning to the words.
"You little shits pissed me off by harassing my friends all the time, but I am merciful. Instead of harming you consider this your first and last warning." Warning was underline three times. "First of all, I want you to take a look at the door to the classroom room. Notice something about them?" All of them glanced quickly at the door then back at the blackboard. "Look closer numbnuts. Nothing anything missing~"
"The doors are gone..." Armin whispered with wide blue eyes.
"Yes, Armin. The doors are gone. Take a closer look if you want. Touch them. They're not there. The doors have literally disappeared." The echoing voice took on a gentle tone like it was consoling the kids. "But that's okay, right? You can still get out the windows if you want. Except there's one small problem." It changed to a childish mockery of wonder. "There aren't any windows in this room either, are there? All the windows are gone. There's nothing but four blank walls, a ceiling, and a floor. No way out. But how did you get in?"
Even Eren was starting to become worried at how things were progressing. He just kept reminding himself that she promised no permanent harm would happen to any of them.
"Starting to freak out a bit? Don't worry, just take a deep breath. It's not like anything worse is happening. I mean, it could be worse, right? At least you're safe in here, just like you are safe inside the walls, am I not right? It's not like the pieces of furniture are coming alive to kill you now, is it? Oh wait, yes they are. The FUCKING DESKS ARE TITANS AND ARE GOING TO EAT YOU ALIVE."
The desk tops morphed into the heads of titans with the legs of the desk being altered into short arms that grabbed the children to stop them from getting away. The head was restrained by chains so all it could do was lunge at the terrified brats and bite the air. Arms busted brought the ceiling, walls and floor clawing at the boys.
"What you gonna do? HOW YOU GONNA SURVIVE? THE GODDAMN ROOM IS ALIVE AND GOING TO EAT YOU. WATCH FOR THOSE FUCKING TITANS, THEY HAVEN'T BEEN FED FOR A WHILE! I can see some of you think that this is a dream. How cute. Unfortunately for you, THIS IS REAL. THIS IS A REALITY WARP, my reality crushing yours, and you could cease to be quite easily."
Two of the bullies were trembling in fear but their leader stood up and raised his hands as if to throw a punch.
"Oh, I see, a real TOUGH guy, huh? Do you really think that unarmed combat will work out against a REALITY WARPER!? I could make your arms melt off your body. I can rearrange all the orifices of your body. I can make you slaughter your family and offer yourself to titans for lunch with happy thoughts and a smile on your fucking face. LIE THE FUCK DOWN ON THE GROUND, YOU FUCKING RETARD."
One of the sniveling bullies cried out, "What do you want monster?"
"What do I want? WHAT DO I WANT!? What the hell do I need from a fucking piece of human refuse like you? I don't want ANYTHING that you can give me except to be my plaything. And that's ALL you fuckers are gonna be! There is NO escape, NO respite. You will LIVE when I say LIVE, you will DIE only if I allow it. I reject your poor excuse at an reality and substitute it with my own!"
The classrooms vanished and the alleyway returned in the blink of an eye. The only signs of the trauma were the bullies on the ground cradled into a fetal position long after the three children were browsing stores in peace.
Astrid stopped before small stall selling rare herbs and common plants. The owner of the stall seemed to recognize the young girl and immediately went over to her. He bowed to her in apology.
"I'm sorry to say this little lady, but your special order is still being collected since some of the components is fairly hard to get. In compensation, I will get you some common herbs for ointments."
The owner of the shop put a very odd emphasis on the word special, and Astrid audibly groaned when her mind connected the details.
Normalcy was nice, boring but nice, when it lasted.
Armin frowned at the old man. "I'm afraid this is a case of mistaken identity since Astrid didn't order anything from this store nor meet you before."
The wizened man simply smiled and nodded at the lone girl of the group. "Certainly, young lady. I understand completely. I don't know you. As you wish." The man winked twice at the young girl who dragged Eren who looked like he was going to beat up the old guy and Armin who was deep in thought out of the store. Astrid only let go of them when they were a good distance away.
Armin was the one who asked her what that was about, "Did you know that man?"
Astrid shook her head. "It's one of my lifelong problems. A condition that is at times beneficial, sometimes tolerable and occasionally harmful to myself or others." She paused before adding with obvious hesitation, "It's a side effect of when I don't use my abilities constantly or for a while. It builds up and when I am forced to do such things, everything is over the top."
Eren frowned as he asked, "Is that why you were worried about how we would react?"
Among other reasons.
Astrid nodded.
"What is this condition exactly?
She looked at Armin who accepted her internal oddity quickly but given his love for knowledge, unusual things and the outside world, she wasn't that surprised.
Astrid rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. "How to phrase this... Fuck it." She sighed. "Strange, unnatural, unusual and simply bizarre things happen to me with alarming frequency. Demons will stop terrorizing the region and hold philosophical conversation with me. Weird items with disturbing properties and strange people with odd connections or obsessions with me or something else will always find their fucking way to me and screw up my life. The only talking animal in this screwed up reality will come to me with its problems and stick around just to be a jackass. Gates and portals to different realms which were sealed or lost for centuries will crack open when I near it just so I can be bathed in it's essence and level up."
Seeing their blank faces, and reminding herself that they were still young children, Astrid summed everything.
"Like calls to like. Or weird shit attracts weird shit. Both works."
It doesn't help that her kind screws with reality by simply existing. If anything this quirk of hers was just a way to get back at her.
"Pretty much," Astrid muttered as she saw several crows watching her from the rooftops.
She was half expecting the crows to caw out, ""Evil Crows..." Weirder things have happened.
The trio of friends went over to Armin's house and spent time going over the forbidden books the resident old man and the blond's nutty parents collected. The more she looked over the collection the more firmly Astrid thought his parents were conspiracy theorists who went around the bend without their tinfoil hat.
An hour after the attack, Armin finally came to terms with what happened. He forcibly closed the book about tectonic plates, ley lines and natural elemental forces like huge things of water and fiery rivers that Astrid was reading.
Thousands of years of knowledge lost in this hellhole of an environment. I hate this place already.
"How were you able to do that Astrid?"
Seeing Armin struggling a little with what he witnessed she decided to respond give a more mundane and inaccurate name to what happened. It would explain enough until he could accept the truth. "Hypnosis."
Both boys eyes lit up at her response and she regretted it right away.
"Hypnosis," Eren repeated with a tilted head. "What is that?"
"Mind, willpower and senses manipulation," Astrid grimly admitted. "Not one of my favourite things but it has it's uses. Especially in the hands of someone who knows how to use it effectively."
Armin nodded his head in thought. "How did you use it at that time?"
"The usual way for me," Astrid muttered beneath her breath then switched to an more audible tone to answer his question. "It depends on the person and their preference. For me, I see the human brain having two layers: the consciousness layer and the subconscious. Thought and reason for the first and instinct and true self for the second. By bypassing the layer of reason and attacking the layer of instinct and self, I can manipulate feelings memories and the like even if I can not speak their language. Most of the time it is subtle and long lasting to the point even I don't know if the affected is doing it out of desire to help or because I suggested it to them." Astrid shrugged. "There are limitations at what I can do which this. The most obvious is it has to be used in close combat range so it is dangerous to use during battle."
Armin ruffled a hand through his hair. Maybe it was just that strange part of him which had already been convinced, despite only hearing of such things in his grandfather's bedtime stories but...
"It seemed like an hallucination but it also seemed as real as we are now," Armin admitted with a shy smile. "You'd think there'd be some kind of more dramatic mental event associated with finding out that everything I believe as impossible and possible being wrong."
Eren nodded his head agreement.
The young girl was smiling benevolently upon them, looking quite amused. "Would you like a further demonstration?"
I know I can still shape individual body parts, but can I change my entire form into something else at this point? And would Armin be alright with it?
Even though Astrid wasn't positive, she had the feeling she could still easily accomplish such a feat. Shapeshifting was one of the most basic skills in a Warper's arsenal but she avoided those sides of her for many years.
"You don't have to," Eren automatically replied. "You mentioned that you were keeping a low profile for a long time so you probably aren't used to such obvious displays."
Armin hesitated. He couldn't help himself. Actually, under the circumstances, he shouldn't be helping himself. It was right and proper to be curious about their new friend. "What else can you do?"
Astrid turned into a fox.
Armin scrambled back unthinkingly, backpedalling so fast that he tripped over a stray stack of books and landed hard on his bottom with a thwack. His hands came down to catch himself without quite reaching properly, and there was a warning twinge in his shoulder as the weight came down on his thin arms.
At once, the overly large snow white fox morphed back into a shoeless, short and light top wearing little girl. "Sorry about that Armin," said the warper, sounding sincere, though the corners of her lips were twitching upwards. "I should have warned you."
Armin was breathing in short gasps. His voice came out choked. "You can't DO that!"
"It's only a version of shapeshifting," said Astrid. "An animal transformation, to be exact."
"You turned into a fox! A LARGE fox the size of a full grown adult human! A human mind can't just visualise a whole animal's anatomy and change into it without problems. How can you go on thinking using a fox-sized brain?"
Astrid's lips were stretched out in a foxy grin now. "Magic, Will, and luck?"
"There is no way that is enough to do that! You'd have to be a god!"
Astrid blinked then groaned. "I despise being called that. Nothing good ever comes when one of my kind gets such delusions. Doubly true when it becomes an accurate description to their existence."
"Your kind would be-"
Astrid interrupted Armin's inquiry with a silly grin as she said, "I'm a Reality Warper, Eren and Armin."
A tense silence followed until the three children started laughing at once. When they managed to calm down enough to talk, Eren bluntly said, "You are insane, Asty."
Astrid sobered up and shrugged. "Most likely. That's why I have you two to keep me from going down too many rabbit holes."
"I have the sinking feeling that if we ever leave her alone to her own devices for longer than a few months, we will reunite to your house only to find a crater billowing green smoke, a depopulated district surrounding it and a plague of flaming titans terrorizing what remains of the Walls." Armin whispered to Eren who nodded.
"Eren! Armin! How mean!"
Astrid had the feeling that she, and by extension the rest of the group, were being observed by some invisible presence constantly over the course of the week following her waking up to this hell. Since Astrid sensed no malcontent and other negative emotions from their stalker, she pushed the feeling to the back of her mind.
Each day she spent hours with the Energizer Bunny in human form Eren and 3000% done with everything Armin (who was getting mildly annoyed by how hyper the other boy was now that he had someone who could keep up with his energy), then separated from them for her own exploration of the area only to return for dinner or bedtime.
This exploration served many purposes aside from the obvious knowing where stores, important locations, and decent places to hide herself or stolen goods were.
Her hands shook slightly from the restraint she had to exhibit when seeing valuable objects that could be turned for profit were just lying around, begging to be taken to a better home.
Map exits first then I can indulge in my kleptomaniac habit, Astrid mentally reminded herself as she walked away from a pawn shop within Wall Maria. She decided to head back to the district for the day after seeing how late it actually was.
Getting in and out of Wall Maria was surprisingly easy since no one saw her as a threat or nuisance. Wall Rose was just a bit harder to enter but it soon became easy as well when the guards at the gate she used became familiar with her.
Subtle hypnosis may have been used to get faster results, but since no one can prove she did anything wrong it didn't matter. Besides, chances were they were going to die in a few years anyway.
The constant traveling revealed to her how big this cage really was and how screwed things were and will be soon. Most of the farmlands were indeed in Maria, so she would need to get money and find a way to preserve the food for several years with the most amount of lives intact. The forests were huger than she expected and made her feel insignificant for the first time in her life.
Then there were tactics to consider. Erwin will revolutionize the strategies they use but there is still an appalling body count. Astrid hadn't seen such piss poor management since her days in the military when talents were first introduced into the battlefield, and she really hated that time.
So that has to be changed.
Weaponry would need to be improved drastically to make the plan forming in her skull work and obviously people will block that route. Thankfully, such obvious obstacles can be removed or paid off without much difficulty.
"What's so funny, Astrid?" A cheerful voice asked.
The girl abruptly stopped laughing and grinning widely, realizing she was doing such obviously evil things. The moment she composed herself enough to function, Astrid turned to face one of the other reasons she was exploring for so long and often.
"Hey Mikasa!"
Yes, meeting other characters before it was time was a side goal but she needed to see what resources that were at her disposal or she would be screwed during the construction and design phases.
That and seeing a cheerful and happy Mikasa was so surreal Astrid just had to get involved with the nearly friendless girl. The little black haired girl huffed goodnaturedly at my greeting, her black eyes dancing in glee.
Astrid glanced above and over Mikasa's shoulder and realized she was in front of the small bakery her parents ran. Of course she would run into the girl here.
The thought of a Ackerman baking always amused her.
"What was amusing you so much that you didn't hear me call out?"
The ashen haired girl thumbed her fingers together and grinned in the cheesiest evil way she could think of. In other words, she mimicked how her kind often looked.
"My plans for world domination amused me, my dear Mikasa." Astrid lowered her head in apology. "Forgive me for not hearing you."
Mikasa scrunched up her face at hearing the odd words but the youth was already adapting to Astrid's eccentricities. Hence why the half asian humored her by asking if there was a role for her in those plans.
"Of course! You are my Dragon. Well, Co-Dragon but I have yet to meet the other half. Eren is the Brute and Armin is the Evil Genius."
Mikasa just smiled lightly at the other girl's excitement and nonsense words. She was taken aback when Astrid clapped her hands suddenly.
"Why don't you come over to meet them tomorrow morning? They would love to have you as another friend!" All of a sudden the girl stiffened and looked around wildly until she turned her golden gaze skyward and saw night approaching faster than she thought it would. "Gotta go back for today. Night, Mikasa."
And just like that the strange girl took off running leaving her acquaintance gawking after her. From within the bakery, two parents watched the scene with mixed feelings.
"I made back before the last days of the sun vanished. I can not be grounded," Astrid huffed out between huge gulps of air. Upon not hearing anything, the girl stood up and saw an unexpected guest in the form of Erwin Smith.
Astrid opened the mouth to greet him but stopped as she noticed the loose paper clutched to his side. There was no friendly greeting and only a stoic expression of heavy lament in his eyes.
Oh, fuck my luck. It didn't happen and I am about to be killed or interrogated. Shit, think of something to say.
"I have it on good authority that you can't prove anything."
Damn my habit of bullshitting and trying to be witty!
Erwin sighed heavily, though she liked to think there was a slight hint of amusement in his gaze. "Is there someplace the three of us can discuss this privately?"
Grisha nodded and got up from. He looked at the terrified expression on Astrid's face and then saw the grim determination on his son's own and nodded to himself.
Carla pulled Eren away to force him in helping her cook dinner.
No one spoke for a short while as the group followed the older man into the basement. A part of her took notice of how all his items from his past life were recently boxed up, but her main focus was on the two adults.
"You were correct about everything you said." Astrid held her breath in with utter disbelief when Erwin didn´t look back at her after dropping that bomb on her. "It was hard to get the information I have due to the recent massacres that has been going on for the past nine days, and the military police's attempt to keep things quiet, but what I found was interesting."
Astrid's hands shivered as her body grew tense and her non-existent heart appeared to pound once before growing still once more. Images of rare smiles and comforting embraces and words assaulted her senses despite it not being possible.
This shouldn't be possible!
Unless...
I made this happen. Would it be considered Causality Manipulation or Vocal Narration in this case? I told them a lie that reality made into truth... Does that mean the 'other survivors' are who I think they are? No, that's too far even for me.
This is not good. Not good at all.
Astrid fucked up the world in less than a week. A new record if she was being brutally honest.
Author's Note: From next chapter on, the canon divergence actively begins and some of you might not like what is suggested. I did quite a bit of research on possible weapon and tactics improvements given the industrial level of the area, as well as countermeasures when those routes are officially blocked so I decided carefully on this point. Also next chapter includes the reveal of some knowledge and a little insight into her stake.
