A/N This fic contains some spoilers from manga chapters 132-139. Please be warned. I'm not very good at advance science and technology, I'd rather die than to talk about theories of relativity, dimensions, spaces and time. But I must write this fic. So, please bear with me. I promise not to make it complicated. Hehe. For everyone's benefit – mostly for mine too. Lol. Sorry not sorry. English is my second language so please don't hesitate to point out any mistakes you find. Also, please be reminded that this is a Levi x Mikasa fic. I don't care if they may be related. I'm sinking with this ship!

Disclaimer: SNK/AOT is not mine. Cover photo is not mine as well. Credits to the owners. :)

Arrows of Time

AU with a slight touch of canon-verse: Mikasa's overwhelming desire to see Eren once again got her in big trouble. Instead of going back to the past, she finds herself waking up 1,161 years later where Paradis and the other nations she used to know are now non-existent countries. Will she ever learn to accept and live at the present or insist on going back to the past? Levi x Mikasa.

Chapter 1

"Mikasa," Hange clasps her hands onto hers tightly, her wide, auburn eye under her thick glasses pleading and serious at the same time. "I have to take responsibility now," The raven-haired girl can feel the gravity of the commander's statement and she is certain whatever she'll say next is not going to sound pleasant. "As your commander and for being powerless to avoid this kind of outcome."

"Commander–" Mikasa interrupts as she tries to pull her hands off Hange's grip, to no avail. Things are escalating quicker than they anticipated. She just killed Floch but was one step too late to stop him from inflicting damage to the flying boat's tank fuel. Taking a comrade's life is painful, but she would like to justify this as performing her sense of duty for the remnants of humanity outside the wall.

"Listen well, Mikasa." Hange cuts her off, her voice full of authority. Mikasa can hear the mechanics panicking as they attempt to patch up the holes in the fastest time possible as the rumbling continues to get closer and closer. "Do you remember that time travel device I invented?"

Mikasa nods vigorously, suddenly positive. Why hadn't they remembered that sooner? Even though she knows well that the likelihood of time travel is too good to be true, there remains a glimmer of hope that a possibility of some kind can still be salvaged. "Commander, can't we use that to travel to the past to change the present? Can't we use that to stop Eren from performing genocide? To save him?" She looks past Hange's, her grey eyes pinning the flying boat. Instead of catching up to Eren, they may use the air vessel to go back to Paradis.

"No, Mikasa." Hange shakes her head sadly. "That device doesn't work like it should be." The commander warns forlornly, "I have entrusted the other keys to Armin and Levi. If one of you doesn't make it, make sure the living would retrieve the other keys. Armin and Levi already know this. I need you three to destroy that device."

"But Commander–"

"I understand, Mikasa. You want to save Eren. But he made this choice for a reason we might never comprehend in this lifetime." Hange sighs, "As I said, I need you three to destroy that time travel device no matter what happens. That is my final order, soldier."

It is then that Mikasa feels something metallic and cold digging onto her palm. She stares back at Hange, "Commander, why do you sound like you're bidding us goodbye?"

Hange grins at her toothily as she lets go of her hands. Typical of the commander to hide her real thoughts through her careless smiles. By the way her hands tremble against hers though, Mikasa can tell she is afraid. Hange may be the commander, but she is still a human. "I am. Know this, I am proud of you all. Thank you, Mikasa."

The 14th commander doesn't give her a chance to reply nor to complain. She then walks off to talk to Armin.

Mikasa can feel the corners of her eyes burning. If the time travel device isn't an option, they really need to talk to Eren. They should be able to convince him to stop this rumbling at once. Or else, all sacrifices up until now will all be in vain. She finds herself staring at the key Hange left before she hears the mechanics rejoicing that the repairs are now over, and they'll be able to fly soon.

Indeed, the foolish 14th commander jumps on her death as she tries to buy them time while the flying boat takes off. Alone. Bravely. Hange welcomes her honorable demise with open arms.

Mikasa sheds tears and swears to fulfill her final order.

Not.

As everything has been chaos. And the only way to stop the rumbling and save the rest of humanity is to kill Eren. Mikasa can't bring herself to accept why everything must end up this way.

After Eren takes her to the path and explains what could have happened if he did not choose this route, she finally understands everything. He asks her to forget about him and live happily. She refuses to listen to him, of course.

Forget about Eren? She can't. And she will not.

But what she needs to do is now clear.

Live happily? How? If Eren will not be by her side anymore.

Mikasa will forever keep him to her heart. She will never forget him. However, she still needs to do what she must.

She decapitates him. She still grabs the chance to kiss him even with his head severed. Her first and last kiss with the man she owed her life, the boy she loved ever since. And she will forever treasure her memories of him.

Three years after the rumbling that wiped out eighty percent of the world's population, Mikasa lived her life quietly in Paradis. Away from the spotlight. Every day, she visits Eren's grave. She wants to see him so bad. When a pigeon wraps the hem of her scarf around her neck, it is then she recalls about Hange's final order.

The time travel device.

There are only three of them that are aware of Hange's invention if she is not mistaken. She, Levi and Armin.

Armin and Levi hadn't gone back to Paradis since the incident. Armin had been travelling around the world as ambassador of peace, while Levi had been staying in Marley for advanced treatment on his leg.

In the last letter Armin sent her, it's about time that Armin and the others were due to come home. As for Captain Levi, she isn't sure. He sends her one paragraph letters though, but he never talks about himself compelling her to write back and ask how his leg is doing.

Her fingers graze against Eren's tombstone. "I want to see you, Eren."

So, faulty or not, she decides she must find it before Armin reaches the harbor. Her desire to see Eren mounting. Don't get her wrong, she has no intention to change the present. She merely just wants to see Eren.

She stands and goes to the former Survey Corps Headquarters. If her calculations are correct, Armin and the others will arrive before the sun sets. Mikasa must hurry. Memories from when she is still on duty floods her mind as she stares at the now abandoned building.

Paradis had significantly strengthened their Military forces in preparation for the possible retaliation of the remainder of humanity who managed to survive the rumbling outside of the island.

Historia offered her a rather decent position amongst the higher ranks, but she politely declined. She was grateful she needed not to explain herself further as the queen immediately understood her decision to stay out of the battlefield.

The headquarters has now been moved outside the walls. Shiganshina has been a ghost town ever since the rumbling incident. The locals preferred living outside the walls rather than staying and remembering the horror of where everything started.

Mikasa pushes the door, still familiar with her way to Hange's barracks. The scent reminds her of desertion. The woods creak against the sole of her boots. Upon reaching the big, dusty, mahogany door, she finds herself releasing a breath she doesn't realize she's holding. She remembers every time she came here, she would unconsciously hold her breath when she passed by Captain Levi's office.

Out of habit, she knocks and immediately laughs at herself inwardly. Stupid. She opens the door gently and pokes her head in. Everything looks the same. She can picture Hange jumping over the desk excitedly just to share her recent discoveries and unsuccessful inventions. But the room now feels grey and cold.

Mikasa steps in. Someone is surely cleaning up the room. Four years ago, the desk was always full of paperwork. No matter how many extra-curricular activities the commander performs, she always sees to it that she finishes her reports on time. Sometimes, that would involve her help, Levi's and Armin's though. It's quite funny, now that she thinks of it. Levi would always scold Hange but helps her anyway. Armin would always mediate in between them when things go out of control. Mikasa would always stay quiet, occasionally encouraging Hange to annoy Levi more.

She stands in front of an empty bookshelf. Mustering her strength, she pushes it sideway and finds the hidden storeroom. She adjusts her scarf and swallows thickly. She isn't confident that she remembers Hange's code any longer. So, she tries out patterns. Until the storeroom opens on her fifth try. She sneezes, her nose unused to dusty surfaces. Peeking, she finds the device under a surface of wood. She lifts the wood carefully and places it on the wooden floor.

The room is dark, but enough light comes in from the entrance. She pulls the device near the opening and inspects the device. There are three buttons and one keyhole. It looks like useless junk of iron. It is unlike anything Armin's fantasy books depicted wherein it is said that time travel devices are large human-sized machines capable of sending one to the past or the future.

Hange's time travel device however is small and lightweight. In every button, there is a mark – one has an arrow pointing to the left, the other facing up while the other points to the right.

She breathes heavily.

Just one time – she just wants to see Eren.

Then, she assumes the arrow facing left should be the past, up should be the present and the right should be the future. She clicks the button with an arrow facing left, nothing happens. She clicks again. And again. And again. But still, nothing happens.

Mikasa finds herself at the verge of tears and curses herself internally.

"That device doesn't work like it should."

Destroy it.

There must be something, anything that she may have missed. She inspects the box again. Running out of patience and suddenly feeling guilty that she dares defy Hange's final order, she slams the device with her bare hands.

Surprisingly, despite how it looks so fragile, it doesn't seem to take any serious damage. She then kicks it. Mikasa may as well destroy it. However, as she lands another heavy blow against the iron box, a flash of light blinds her. She instinctively shuts her eyes, and before she knows it, she hears a deafening thunder strikes outside.

Abruptly, an intense pressure pulls her into what seems like a never-ending pit. The sensation that she is falling fast feels so real. She can't even manage to open her eyes. She feels the wind contorting her face. It is cold, and her body starts to hurt.

In a blink of an eye, she finds herself rolling in a muddy ground, naked and at the mercy of one familiar figure.

She tries to lift her head, confirming if her vision is not in any way betraying her. Intimidating grey eyes, sharp jaw, black undercut hair and deceptively youthful face. There's no doubt.

"C-Captain." She manages to utter, before darkness finally envelopes her.