Attack on Titan: The Infinite Loops
Chapter 3
A/N: A minor issue with timing prevented me from correctly formatting this chapter for quite a while. The issue is now resolved.
3.1
'This is the strangest loop ever,' Eren thought.
"THIS IS THE BEST LOOP EVER!" Jean shouted from his position on Eren's shoulder plating. The Titan shifter rolled his eyes and entered engagement range of a seven meter class Titan.
The fight was doomed to never occur though, as a barrage of cannon fire caught the Titan across the back, just before a sharp neck chop crushed its nape. Eren and his crew collectively groaned as the blonde female Titan once again stole their kill. Annie, for her part, almost managed to actually smile at her rival and boyfriend, while her crew of Mina, Hitch and Marlo exchanged whoops and high fives.
'Yeah, this is one freaking weird loop,' Eren concluded.
The history of the variant they were in went as such: apparently a guy named Kyklo who was supposed to have invented 3DMG/ODMG in the baseline... well, didn't. Instead, he discovered five exceptional human beings who were capable of transforming into Titans, and with careful practice, preparation, and no small amount of political manipulation, got his pet project of allied Titans off the ground and working for the Garrison.
Fast forward fifty years and the five Titan shifters remained the most important and powerful weapons in humanity's arsenal against the Titans. For years each one was carefully hand-picked by a body of generals and doctors to bear the burden of being mankind's greatest weapon. Each Titan, The Rogue, The Dancer, The Knight, The Maiden, and The Colossus, had been regarded as heroes, even saviors of mankind.
Then, as it often did, everything went to hell at Shiganshina.
The Beast Titan showed up and scaled the wall, slapping everything with a strange miasma that turned half the district into Titans, before ripping the gates apart. The shifters and the army fought bravely, but one by one the Shifters fell, consumed by their enemies.
Eren barely recalled the event himself, primarily because he hadn't been awake when it had happened. But when he did awaken, a year before Trost, he, Mikasa and Armin had formed a few theories. Those theories had been only been refined when two things were recalled.
The first was the announcement that Annie, Bertolt, Reiner, Ymir and Eren, all survivors of the fall of Wall Maria, had been administered the Titanization serum while they had been unconscious and were now conscripts. Following that, they were informed that each would be assigned a specific crew of raw recruits about their age. Armin had very quickly put the dots together: all five had been turned into Titans by the Beast Titan, and had eaten the previous shifters, and since transferring the powers would mean devouring innocent children, no one wanted to tell the children why they had been chosen or why they couldn't back out.
It was a heartless, cruel move, but it also happened to be the only 'good idea' anyone could conjure up at the time. And it also allowed Eren to revel in a true rarity: a Titan Armor loop.
"Eren, we have a twelve meter class Titan three blocks south and one block east," Armin shouted from the large steel crown that functioned as both a lookout post for him and a helmet for Eren.
Shaken from his recollections, Eren nodded minutely and began to walk towards the spotted Titan. Along his shoulders, Mikasa and Jean finished loading cannons with grape shot, the sole woman on Eren's crew taking a moment to engage the shoulder cannons, long barreled cannons that resembled an Eva's shoulder fins.
Eren moved carefully and deliberately, keeping a mostly constant speed and focusing on long strides to minimize vertical movement. Though his crew was tied into long cables that ran between his shoulders and neck, a bad movement when they weren't prepared would knock out any usual human.
Thankfully, they weren't usual humans.
The Titan roared at Eren, staggering towards him like a drunk five year old. Eren clenched a fist over a reinforced steel wedge below his knuckles and with a text book strike drove the titanic blade through the neck of the Titan. Suffice to say, the Titan stopped roaring.
Mikasa pulled the firing cord on her cannon and obliterated the Titan's nape, killing it. Eren turned deliberately, just fast enough to notice another Titan making a lunge at him. This one was stopped, not by any attack by Eren, but by Jean's AT field. Roaring his own defiance, Eren switched styles and smashed the Titan's head with a Hulk infused blow, sending the cranium soaring.
Mikasa rapped her fist against the deployed shoulder cannon, slightly miffed that she hadn't been able to use it more in battle. Mikasa typically preferred blades in the field, or failing that some sort of magical attack, but being incapable of wielding either without arousing suspicion was a novelty for her. So was being in proximity of such huge guns. Mikasa would admit to herself and no one else (other than Eren or Armin, if the asked) that she was starting to really enjoy the idea of "superior fire power."
Armin called out. "White and red smoke signals! Turn west and advance into the country." Eren turned on his heel and started to stomp outside to the outskirts of the abandoned town outside Wall Rose. Jean cast a furtive glance towards Annie, still fighting off the Titans, before forcing himself to return his focus to the more immanent battle.
On the edge of the village, Ymir and duking it out with a small quartet of Titans. The Armored and Dancing Titans were back to back, cannons blasting at the monsters and knives prepped to hack away at the hot flesh of their foes. As the crew of Eren watched, a particularly hungry Titan made the foolish move of attacking their flanks. A single, swift, powerful and coordinated blow decapitated the Titan and ruined its nape, felling it.
Eren didn't waste a single moment after that. Moving in, he shifted to the left, opening a firing line for Mikasa. The Titan down her range, a large blonde with a severely oversized head, had its stomach and chest blasted. A second charged, even as the remaining Titan was turned into a mess of meat by Reiner's cannons. Eren swung hard and crushed the enemy Titan's nape, raising an arm and blocking the opposite Titan.
For a moment neither Shifter nor Titan managed to gain a foothold on each other, a fact rectified when Armin pulled out a 5-centimeter gauge double barreled shotgun and blew its eyes out. The stunned and agonized Titan flailed, but a blow to its nape was enough to bring it down. Eren finally delivered a single stomp to its nape and killed it.
'Strange loop... but not a bad one. Not a bad one at all.'
Headquarters was a refurbished warehouse, carefully prepped and rebuilt to support the needs of the pseudo-military operation that ran out of it. It contained its own foundry to repair and forge armor and cannons, training grounds for sparring on human and Titan scales, and of course bedding for the shifters, their crews, and any corps that so chose to camp out the night, along with several docking ports to hold the armor when it was empty. It also came with a large, semi-unlit, imposing office that acted as the office of one Grisha Yeager.
Eren, Ymir, Annie and Reiner were arrayed before the commander as he examined the reports impartially, reading out a few passages as he saw fit. "Has regularly disregarded orders in favor of engaging targets. Refuses to act in concert with fellow soldiers. Has made repeated romantic advances upon fellow corpsman. Acts in manners that endanger crew and command. Needlessly insults Titans."
Annie growled to herself. "Commander-"
"Leave." Grisha said it with the same dispassionate mumble that he had read the report in, but the words fell like a pile driver regardless. The Shifters winced collectively and turned to leave, but Eren stopped at a few words from his father. "Eren, remain."
With more than a few awkward goodbyes and worried looks, Reiner and the girls left, abandoning Eren to his father. As the door clicked shut, Eren turned to face the man that had ran when Shiganshina fell. For a moment, father and son shared the silence. Grisha broke it first.
"Romantic advances on a fellow corpsman. I take it your bet remains that Ymir will win Miss Renz's heart."
Eren shrugged. "She had a history with Ymir. Sure Reiner's more personable, and even a fair bit more open about it, but Christa knows who she likes and who she loves."
Grisha smiled and opened a file drawer underneath his desk, extracting a bottle of whiskey from it. "To your health?"
Eren took a proffered glass of the liquor. "You know, if we keep this up, it will stunt my growth, ruin my bone structure and probably have harmful effects on my kidneys in the long term." The Shifter kicked back a glass. "I love my metabolism."
Grisha smiled and sipped his own glass of the potent amber liquid. "I love it too. To think that your healing factor is so extreme as to cure the effects of alcohol so quickly... I honestly have no idea why you would drink it to begin with."
Eren shrugged, a little smile dancing onto his face. "I don't try to get drunk. I drink it for the taste."
"Might as well read Playboy for the articles then." Grisha smirked as Eren spat out his drink in sheer shock, before breaking into hysterics. "Really Eren, it's great that you love life like you do. You really are something rare in the world: an idealist." A genuine fatherly smile graced Grisha's face. "I'm so proud."
Eren shrugged it off. "Yeah, yeah... shut up dad."
3.2
"Hey Eren?"
"Yes Armin?"
"Do you have the feeling that we missed the party?"
Eren glanced back at his friend with a look of such searing suppressed rage at Armin's horse fainted. Armin, being a very long time friend of Eren's, simply acknowledged the emotion and chocked it up, quite accurately, to mild annoyance. "No Armin, I don't think we missed a party. Why would you think that, when we're surrounded by Titan corpses!"
Indeed, Eren, Armin, Mikasa, the entire survey corps, most of the Garrison, a brigade of military, and about ten percent of the total number of humanity were walking forward, ever so cautiously passing the innumerable corpses of felled Titans. To the minute, not a single live Titan had been seen, baring a single exception; a somewhat feminine Titan, dressed as a school girl, tied to two very strong trees, and left to the machinations of an oversized squid.
To say the mental scars were deep was an understatement.
But as the procession approached the edge of Wall Maria, the reports were confirmed, at least in part. Wall Maria's gate was in fact sealed again, its barricade drawn. Hans, unawake, quickly entered the guardhouse and worked the mechanism, raising the gates.
With trepidation, the people of the walled city reentered the district of Shiganshina for the first time in five years.
Eren glanced around, more than a bit amazed. Though the district looked to be in ruins, the houses still stood. The wind still whistled through the streets. And in the distance, just as the survey corps had determined just weeks ago, the breach in the far gate was sealed. Somehow, even though he had lifted in the district for centuries, a pang of emotions, fear, hope, longing, pain, swept through his chest and gripped his heart. Next to him, a man dropped to his knees. A priest began pontificating. Erwin let out a minute, cautious chuckle.
Eren let out a sigh of relief as similar reactions swept through the civilian crowd. "Well Armin, I don't know how... in the world that got there."
Armin, and then Mikasa, the some of the 104th, then all of the 104th training regiment, then the survey corps, then the garrison and military police, then the civilians all turned to look. What they saw amazed and astounded those assembled. It drew long groans from the military. It got more than a few shouts from the citizens. The priests all fainted.
On the far Eastern wall, a mural had been painted, depicting an androgynous person, surrounded by worshiping Titans, both rendered in rich colors. The androgen was stretched lavishly on a bed of steam Titan flesh, winking seductively at the crowd. Underneath all of this was the epitaph: HANGE WAS HERE. Below that, in bold kanji, were the words: RANMA WAS HERE.
Levi, the most perceptive of the assembled, experienced a fit of emotion, dismounted his horse, and began ramming his head into a near wall.
3.3
How does one tell a loop is seconds away from being ruined? Perhaps it's a disturbance in the force. Sometimes a certain chill runs up the spine. And once in a while, raw intuition is the deciding factor. But for this loop, the little show was enough.
Eren pointed at the massive gray fin that paced back and forth in front of the gate. "Is that a shark?"
"Yes," Mikasa answered tentatively.
"And are all Titan's half shark this loop?"
Armin nodded with more than a touch of worry in his posture.
Eren pumped his fist in triumph. "Yes! The Rogue Shark, here I come!"
At that second, the Colossal Shark, as it was later dubbed, kicked in Wall Maria, sending rocks flying across the sky...
"DESTINY, THY NAME IS ER-!"
...Followed by a gush of water that wiped Shiganshina off the map and killed Eren before he could comment.
As it turned out, Sharks were fish. Meaning that they needed water to survive, and thus making the walls act as massive dykes.
Eren never did get that good at swimming.
3.4 ScyBlade
Armin watched the interactions of Mikasa's family. This Loop, she was born to a well-liked Noble family. Her three new family members were clearly Loopers, they had pinged almost immediately upon the start of the Loop. And she inherited their white hair. Unlike most Nobles, this family had a history of actively fighting the Titans. And never losing any member of the team they were on.
Eren still lived in the same house as Mikasa. One of the perks of having a doctor for a father. Apparently, Mikasa's family had been living in the same town as baseline because Titans had a preference to attack that town this Loop. For the record, Eren's mother was working as Mikasa's personal maid.
Now, the interaction was not what one would call normal. They were killing the Titans that would arrive at this point. And it was quite an Elegant Show of Death. Mikasa and her parents were practically teleporting (Armin believed it was actual teleportation) around the battlefield so much that there always appeared to be two of each of them.
Mikasa was doing her usual Dance of Death. She was also wearing a blue outfit that was both stylish and presented a noble air. Armin also suspected it would do a better job at protecting her than the standard issue military garb would.
Her father, named Vergil, was more of an Angel of Death. He had started wearing a blue long coat, but had immediately dissolved it into darkness, leaving only a vest with a strange crest on its back. His elegance was one of precision attacks that rarely necessitated more than two strikes to down any Titan. And he did so with STYLE! He also apparently had an instant-death radius thanks to ethereal blades. His double also was a bit more white than himself.
Her mother was Trixie Lulamoon. Armin recognized her from the Ponies' Loop, and was expecting explosions. There was not a one in sight. Instead, it was more Stage Magician in style. Illusions, doves, throwing cards, and a sword-cane (unicorn themed, Armin noted). She had the smallest body count, but she was handling any Titan that made it past the wall. She had a clear look of disgust any time she had to kill.
...Apparently, Vergil married into her family. Odd.
Eren had shifted into his Titan form, and was fighting alongside his in-loop 'bash brother', and Mikasa's in-loop brother, Nero. What the two lacked in elegance, they made up in teamwork. And Nero clearly had a sense of style to boot. He also had manifested a rather large samurai-esque phantom with a bit of an angel theme. Much like Vergil, he had ethereal blades attacking any Titan in range.
Now, Armin was not being stupid, or idle for that matter. He was coordinating all this since the three guests had little actual experience fighting alongside each other. In-loop memories could only go so far too. He was also coordinating the camera crew that was recording all this.
3.5 Myself, The Burper, and Wildrook
Eren, Mikasa and Armin were sitting on the river bank in Zhiganshina, watching the water flow past tranquilly, Armin reading a book, Mikasa knitting, and Eren fishing.
MEANWHILE in a parallel universe where people can't read.
"Hey Eren, what's this word right here, in my book?"
"I don't know Armin. I've never seen anything like it."
MEANWHILE in a parallel universe where fish are dogs.
Eren stared at the slobbering fish in his lap, which began licking his face.
MEANWHILE in a parallel universe where people occasionally mistake their hand for a Titan.
Eren looked down at his fishing rod, then grabbed his gutting knife and stabbed his hand. "Titan! Die Titan!"
MEANWHILE in a parallel universe where Connie is a genius.
...oh look, there's nothing here.
MEANWHILE in a parallel universe where everything is made of shrimp.
Armin yawned and nibbled on his sandwich. "Boring…"
MEANWHILE in a parallel universe where Titans are Squirrels.
Eren started wondering where his nuts were. And if he could borrow Armin's or Mikasa's.
MEANWHILE in a parallel universe where girls are always on fire.
Eren fished gutting his fish and strung it up over Mikasa's head. The oriental girl wondered when lunch would be finished.
MEANWHILE in a parallel universe where Black Tea is illegal.
Levi shot past the three, screaming something about the revolution and the doom of mankind.
MEANWHILE in a parallel universe where thinking about Titans makes your head heavy.
Eren gave his fishing pole a shake, thought a little, and fell in. "Argh!"
MEANWHILE in a parallel universe where thinking about Titans make your head float.
Eren flew off into the sky. "Later Armin! Later Mikasa!"
MEANWHILE in a parallel universe where Badasses make wormholes.
Mikasa yawned, then vanished in a burst of light.
MEANWHILE in the main universe.
Armin looked at the second Mikasa, and slammed his book shut. "Damn it, not again!"
3.6 Detective Ethan Redfield
Wall Maria stood an impressive 50 meters. It was a powerful vantage point, where you could see for miles around. No Titan could approach without being spotted by members of the Garrison, if they had enough personnel to guard the entire perimeter of the massive fortification. Instead, they built towns at four locations along the wall, where Titans would be drawn to the gathered human settlement.
Armin lay prone above the gaping hole that had once been the gateway to the town of Trost. In front of him rested a 50BMG Sniper rifle. Already slotted in the port was a magazine filled with incendiary, armor-piercing rounds, specially modified with a conjuration spell from the Harry Potter Loops. The clip would conjure additional rounds even as the magazine ran dry. In addition, he also coated each round in a small protego spell that would dissipate after impact with the target. Two reasons for this: first, to reduce air friction and drag, meaning the bullet would travel further along a straight path. Second, so the round wouldn't explode until it was deeper within the titan, making it more likely for the shot to kill the target.
As he looked down the scope, his theory came to mind, that as long as he hit the nape and severed the vertebrae of the human pilot within (though no human remains after being absorbed), the Titan would die. Already, a 10 meter Titan was wondering slowly towards the hole in the wall. He laid his scope on where the Adam's apple would be, lining up the shot to pierce the back of the neck. Finally, he allowed his mind to take in all the elements of a sniper, the wind direction, distance and weather, as he had learned from his time as Usopp.
With a twitch of his finger, the rifle's barrel gave a massive crack! as the shot exploded from the barrel at high velocity. The round cut through the air at an impressive speed unmatched by anything in his home universe. The shot tore through the Titan and knocked it off its feet. Armin pumped his fist at the successful hit and picked up a pair of binoculars he laid to the side. For a moment, nothing happened, then the entire titan started steaming. The blonde gave a small smirk as he shouted for Jean to watch the horizon for more Titans.
No one was going to die this loop, not if Armin could help it.
3.7 Crossoverpairinglover
"...So, how does being the American President work, exactly?"
"Well, from what I've seen from the times Padme's been elected on the left side of things: they basically are the face of government and are major factors in treaty and social changes. However, despite having no control of Congress, they are always blamed for anything going wrong there."
Armin gulped as the party below him was cheering for him having successfully won the nomination for being the next presidential candidate (he missed what party it was exactly). To his left was Anakin Skywalker, who was taking the role of his looping political adviser. To his right was Jean, who was the Vice President candidate.
Whose idea was this!?
He looked at Anakin in an accusatory gaze.
"Not me. I don't use the Force to help people win public office or political votes. I'm pretty sure Padme would kick me out for that, even if she never loops, if I ever tried that. I'm just here to keep you from embarrassing yourself."
"...Do you think it's cruel to get Armin elected to public office?" Eren inquired of Mikasa as the two continued their DisneyWorld vacation.
"No, not at all. So, do we do FantasyLand or TomorrowLand next?"
"TomorrowLand" Eren quickly decided.
3.8
This was one of those supposedly rare but actually common situations that could best be described with the words 'bet gone wrong'.
It had all started out the day after the winter solstice, and one of the first days where the cadets could leave the training fort and head out into the city. Naturally, like all teenagers, most slipped out into the night and began horsing around, sneaking into bars, going on dates and faking their way into strip clubs. For Jean, Eren and Armin, it was a rare time when the Anchors suspended their customary no drinking morals and hit the town and the liquor hard. All it took were a few Henge jutsu's to hide their age and they were free for the night. One bar turned into two, blurred into three, and Armin just lost track after four.
Yes, Eren, Jean and Armin proceeded to try and drink at every pub, bar, and restaurant serving alcohol that night. Party goers, waiters and waitresses, and a few brew masters would later claim they had seen the trio, all at different locations, all through-out the night. Word eventually got back to Shadis, who performed his customary chewing out, and then subtly congratulated the three for somehow surviving the ingestion of such a vast quantity of booze. The tale probably would have made the rounds later the next evening, and slowly but surely grow into its own, monolithic tale that would last for years within the camp, perpetuated, mutated and codified for successive generations of soldiers.
It would have... had it not been for what else* happened that night.
Eren groaned and shifted, his hangover slowly vanishing underneath the oppressive power of his metabolism. "Err... what happened?" Eren opened his eyes and shut them against the searing pain that lacerated his brain as the even the poor light was agony. Slowly but surely though, Eren managed to reopen his eyes, and blinked to rid himself of the double image.
Except that no matter how much or how hard he blinked, the double image remained. It was like he was looking down into the street, but was also looking at the inside of his arm. He was surrounded by houses and muscle.
The metaphorical penny dropped off the allegorical cliff Eren was standing on. The fifteen meter cliff. The hot, fifteen meter cliff.
Eren had titanized.
'Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap!'
The drunken haze was evaporating quickly, and Eren, being the experienced looper he was, made his best decision of the night: run. The method in which he implemented the decision, EI, from within his Titan form, was one of his dumber moves. He was, after all, still fairly drunk.
The fifteen meter tall Titan sprinted down the streets, dodging left and right and over civilians and towns folk, all of whom were screaming in terror. Eren did his best to ignore the tinny, shrill noises they were making and tried to clear the gate. It was just when he was within line of sight of the gate outside of Trost that Eren saw something very terrifying; a little girl, stopped and staring at him.
Eren hit the brakes, massive feet planting themselves on the dusty road. The stones barely slowed him down, the boy in the massive beast willing himself to fall back to grab as much ground as he could. The girl was fifty meters away... thirty... ten...
Eren screeched to a halt, his colossal nose inches away from the girls face. The girl stared at him. He stared back at her. And then she began to cry.
Eren reacted as he thought was best, which is to say, poorly. Reaching into his pocket, he snatched up something (which he would later realize was a flashlight) and handed it to the girl. The little girl stopped crying, surprised by the sudden offering of a gift. Eren handed the flashlight to her, his massive fingers dwarfing her whole body, before standing up and running like hell through the gate.
The tale of the Gift Titan would soon make the rounds, despite the Wall Cult's many attempts to squash it. Eventually it would become an institution, a little gift exchange time. Giving gifts to the children of the walls, to reassure them that life could and would get better. And as for the infamous Gift Titan, well...
(Three years later)
"Wow..." Connie stared at the fifteen meter class Titan that was fighting on the side of humanity. "BEST GIFT EVER!"
3.9
The quidditch pitch was empty, bar one inconceivably ancient being (and yes, that word means what you think it means), two ludicrously ancient beings, and three relatively old, but not ancient, beings. Above the six gathered, the cold grey skies of Scotland domed the pitch, sealing the world into the chilly autumn afternoon of the pitch.
Down in the pitch, two woman faced each other. One was a bushy haired girl apparent age twelve actual age in the ballpark of five billion, the other was an oriental girl seemingly of age twelve, actual age about... five hundred eighty six. "When you are ready, Hermione."
Hermione had an eyebrow cocked; it had been that way all morning. "You actually want to try your strength against me Mikasa? You actually think you have a chance?"
Mikasa's eyes narrowed. "I must be ready to defend Eren and Armin from the dangers of the loops. I must fight you to see where I stand. So, when you are ready."
Hermione shrugged and turned to the stands, raising her voice with a wandless, wordless sonorous. "Do we really need to do this? You all know I'll knock her out before she moves three feet."
Up in the stands, Mikasa's fellow Anchors, Eren and Armin shouted encouragement at Mikasa, eager to see her fight. Needless to say, the concept of what Hermione was exactly did elude them. Next to them Ron and Harry were making subtle 'go for it' gestures, intrigued to see Hermione fight for once.
Hermione rolled her eyes at the veto and turned back to face Mikasa, who it seemed had emptied her subspace pocket ion to the wet grass, which ended up only containing a handful of guns, swords, gas canisters and one copy of the strange device alternatively called 3DMG and ODMG. The device, and it's similarity to Peter Parker's web-shooters, were what had pegged Hermione's interest. In fact, the promise of a copy had been what convinced Hermione to agree to the fight.
Mikasa finished her organization and readied her 3DMG, loading two swords to its trigger-hilts, and a third to her mouth. Hermione shrugged and pulled out her wand, thoroughly ignoring the urge to completely disrobe and she how Mikasa would react. Such acts were reserved for Sakura after all.
Up in the stands, Ron pulled out a starter pistol. "You blokes think your girlfriend is a good fighter, don't you."
Eren sent Ron a glare so ferocious, it registered on the Fluttershy scale. Armin aimed a more mundane glare at the Weasley boy. "As a matter of fact Ron, Mikasa is humanity's greatest soldier."
Ron nodded absently. "That's... pretty funny. Real funny." Covering his ears, Ron held the gun up and squeezed the trigger, a grand bang filling the stadium...
...only to be drowned out seconds later by Mikasa's screams of agony as Hermione turned her inside out for a second.
"Well, I think I win. Now, I'll just be taking that 3DMG or ODM gear and we can be on our way." Hermione moved over the heaving, shuddering body of Mikasa, undoing her prize from her body. "I am sorry that you had to go through that, but the terms and conditions were to incapacitation, and there is nothing quite incapacitating or educational as being turned inside out." Hermione scratched her chin in recollection. "Naruto tried that one on John Wick once. Even he never knew he could do that. It's amazing what you can learn in the loops, right?"
Mikasa's eyes flicked to Hermione. "Wuh... Why?"
Hermione allowed a sad smile to cross her face. "Why did I beat you like that? It's because it's happened to me before. I've been beaten, humiliated, tortured, and worse throughout the loops. We all have. Sometimes I survived. Sometimes I died in seconds flat. Life in here is like that."
Hermione held out and hand and helped Mikasa to her feet. "You wanted to learn how to better protect Eren and Armin. I'm going to tell you something, here and now Mikasa. You're never going to be able to protect them. They will always be stubborn and willful and conniving and secretive, and everything that humans are. It's a fact of nature. It's not your fault. You're not behind them, but you can never go beyond them. You three are tied, inexorably, together."
Mikasa glanced away from Hermione and started walking towards the stands. Hermione rested a hand on the girl. "You're afraid of the day when the nebulous Anchor system will be removed, aren't you?"
The Asiatic girl sighed. "It doesn't matter. I'll live to see that day, and when I've made it to the end, I will do so as Eren and Armin's protector. I know what my place in life is. It's next to them."
Hermione's sad smile remained on her face, a little tear trailing down her face. "Mikasa... you're different from everyone else. You, Eren and Armin have something. Something you don't understand yet. Something amazing."
Mikasa cocked an eyebrow, eliciting a genuine chuckle from her elder counterpart. "You need to understand Mikasa, which amongst the whole multiverse, across its infinite breadth, there is but one world, your world, where three dear friends live, and fight, and win together. Together, if you keep your eyes focused on the horizon, always moving forward..." Hermione turned to look at the stands, where Harry and Rom restrained Eren and Armin fretted loudly over Mikasa.
"One day, you three will succeed even Harry, and Ranma, and Shinji, and Lina, and Naruto. Together, you become the greatest, and most powerful beings, in all of Yggdrasil. Never forget that. Never stop learning, and never stop moving forward."
Hermione clapped her hands together happily at her speech's end. "Well, now that that's cleared on out, dinner is at seven, and you'll meet me here at six o'clock sharp tomorrow."
Mikasa turned to Hermione. "Six o'clock? Why?"
"Because Miss Ackerman, Professor Granger's Combat and Battle class begins tomorrow at that time. Tootles."
3.10 Rockgolem
"Look at him go!" said Armin as he watched the blur of red streak past several titans making the largest one to turn to look and slam into the others causing them all to fall into a heap on the ground.
"Oh look he's coming back and is it me or is he getting faster?" Eren wondered.
"Maybe it because of the giant titan following him?" said Mikasa.
The man in tattered red robes and a large pointy hat reached the gates and started screaming in several distinct ways. Armin looked over the edge of the wall and put a hand to his ear listening. "I think he said 'please open the gate' in Spanish, Chinese and Wookie."
"You speak Wookie"
"I spent a lot of time with Chewie last fused loop, we -"
Whatever Armin was going to say was lost as the giant titan pulled out the entire Iron Gate out of the wall with the red robed man still clinging on to it. Unnoticed to the three loopers a small butterfly landed next to them and flapped it wings once. The loopers could see man clinging onto the gate properly for the first time, he was, well scruffy, his beard was unkempt, his clothes were frayed and looked like they'd been repaired to the point there no more of the original material. Even the hat had seen better days, but one area was better cared for as the word WIZZARD stood out clearly.
The butterfly flapped its wings once again and the metal gate started to screech as the titan pulled it trying to get the man to fall into its mouth.
The oddly dressed man stopped screaming incoherently stared at them and started screaming at them to squish the damn butterfly. The loopers looked at each other and then at the small butterfly next to Mikasa wondering why the idiot on the gate was more worried about the butterfly than the titan about to eat him.
The butterfly flapped its wings once more.
The gate exploded into thousands of pieces as the man fell into the titan's waiting mouth which closed only to immediately open again as a shard of metal flew into the weak spot in the back of its neck. The loopers stared in disbelief as every titan the area screamed as the shards of metal entered their neck and died.
They found the man lying in a big mud puddle stained with the remains of the titans. "Are you okay?" asked Eren
"Potatoes"
"What?"
"I really could use some potatoes right now"
Armin looked at the other two who shrugged, he put his hand into his subspace pocket and pulled out a potato and gently gave it to the wizzard.
Mikasa tilted her head to the side. "Wow and I thought Sasha was odd." The wizzard was dancing around and kissing the potato and by that she meant the guy was practically making out with it.
"Thank you! Thank you! My name Rincewind and I'm -"
The man now named as Rincewind stopped and starred at the little butterfly that was landing on his potato. He threw the potato high into the air and took off running away from the wall and the loopers.
"Do you think he has a phobia about butterflies?" asked Armin
"Must do, shame he seemed nice." replied Eren.
Within a week a story spread throughout the city. A man like no other had gone out alone to fight the titans and had won. Every titan was dead and they could finally live in peace, except there seemed to be a lot of storms and hurricanes outside the city so it was best not to leave yet. The world was saved by the Wizzard Rincewind and the people rejoiced until Armin got bored and started doing some experiments that nearly blew up the whole city but instead unleashed a new monster into the world leading to Eren, Armin and Mikasa having to hunt down the hordes of swamp dragons for the rest of the loop. So all's well that ends well.
3.11
It was a glorious day.
The sun was shining and warming the air just so, bringing the temperature to just above cold and just below hot. Clouds drifted lazily over the green, verdant hills, dappling the rolling meadows and fields with patches of cooler shadow. A chilled breeze fluttered along, whistling through the branches of the oak tree the three Anchors sat beneath, entangling itself lovingly with the wood. The leaves danced playfully, almost gleefully in the wind, adding their own rustles to the faint noises of nature, like the laughter of children at the carnival.
Well ensconced within the shade of the old oak, Armin marveled at the subtle beauty of the world beyond the walls. The tree was a lonely one, separated from the vast forests due south. Between it and the forest proper was merely a wide expanse of grassy plains and a rolling stream of crystal clear water. In the distance a pair of deer grazed, and a Titan idly wandered amongst the trees, for once docile and amenable. The wind picked up, jostling the far off evergreens, and plucking a few leaves from the aged oak tree he sat beneath, sending them spiraling downward. The wind threatened to play havoc with the edges of the red and white checkered blanket Armin had brought to sit on, but a few rounded stones held the tarp in place.
Eren finished pulling out the preparations for lunch, quickly assembling a sandwich. Roasted, salted and sliced pork fell on sweet rye bread slices, followed by Swiss cheese and two leaves of lettuce. Repeating the process once more, Eren switched ingredients too pork, cheddar, lettuce, tomato and onion. This sandwich found its way between Eren's lips, the soldier boy taking a minute bite from the confection. For a moment, he shut his eyes and savored the sensations of a well-crafted lunch, allowing the pungent sweetness of the onion and more subtle sourness of the tomato to conflict and merge with the fuller body of the cheddar and the savory pork, all mediated by the mundane and slightly salty rye and the crunch of the lettuce.
Mikasa smiled absently from her position leaning against the tree. Above her the leaves whispered in the wind, rustling with air. Below their vantage point the brook babbled along, the water slipping across the stones in graceful peace. A sudden pickup in the wind brushed the grass across the field, carding between the blades as a hand would through hair. The evergreen forest beyond whistled melancholically, almost despairingly, in the wind. Perhaps, Mikasa would imagine later, the trees wanted the company of herself and her family. Around her the air swirled up, nearly drowning out the noise of Eren and Armin breathing. That latter most noise, the sound of Eren and Armin, was calming to Mikasa, almost pathologically so. It reminded her of where she was in the world, and where she chose to be.
The trio allowed the many wonders of the world beyond the walls to surround them, warming them to the unfamiliarity freedom. Armin grabbed his sandwich presently and chowed down, enjoying the tastes of Eren's handiwork. Mikasa followed presently, slowly and much more content to simply lie in the shade and bask in her family's presence. Inside the clean air, a rare smell manifested. Clear, pure and free of rot. A rarity in the world of the walls, and something that had taken the three many years and loops to recognize. It was the smell of freedom. And they were, together, free.
The sights, the sounds, the tastes and the smells. The feeling of the warm sun and cool breeze and rough sheet. There was little left to describe, bar their thoughts. But those thoughts were, uniquely, identical. A single revelation danced through the minds of the Anchors of Attack on Titan. A lone, brilliant apotheosis of thought. A singular realization.
A thought: 'This must be heaven.'
Good friends, good times, no fears. What is heaven, but that?
3.12
Ulrich Stern smiled to himself as the loop reset. His memories kicked in a moment later, followed by a handful of pings, some natural, one with an almost phone tone feel to it. That meant that Xana was awake this loop, and so was almost everyone else. His memories didn't indicate any deviations from the norm either, so the loop looked baseline.
Ulrich stretched languidly, lacing his fingers and cracking the joints. "Yup. Vacation loop. Been a while."
Jeremy was at his usual starting place, trying to get his morning coffee. "Hey Jer. How's the dishwater?"
Jeremy shrugged, feeding another quarter into the dispenser. "Bad, you know how it is. One day though, I'll make it taste good. One day..." The tech genius gave the machine a long, rueful look.
A pair of arms wrapped around Ulrich's waist. "Now isn't this my favorite man in the world?"
"Hey Yuyu," Ulrich turned and gave his girlfriend a kiss, Yumi reciprocating passionately. Beside them, Jeremy rolled his eyes.
"What, no kiss for me?" And enter William, a day early and a dollar rich. The American tossed Jeremy another quarter for the machine. "I miss anything these past few loops?"
"Xana decided to see how quickly they could conquer the planet with Tv Tropes. Took it down in just a week." Jeremy fed the new quarter into the machine. After a moment, the hot morning soup finally poured out...
...And missed the cup.
Jeremy glared at the machine, casually rewound time, and dropped a cup beneath the soup just as it dispensed. "Xana's getting better at that."
"Thank you," the dispenser said. No one really batted an eye that a coffee dispenser had just thanked him for a complement, but then again, everyone present were loopers. Weird was normal.
Will pointed out a staggered blond in the distance. "Don't look know, but Odd's going to have a rough loop."
Yumi and Ulrich broke out if their face sucking session to check out their oldest friend, only for Yumi to cock an eyebrow in annoyance. "And what exactly is wrong with a gender-flipped loop, Wilma?"
William shrugged. "Ehhh... I don't think she's awake though." Sure enough, Odd walked by, seemingly in shock, but totally ignoring the group of her supposed friends. William did a quick count up. "Well, with the four of us, Aelita and Xana, we have six loopers, and six pings. Maybe she's just not Awake this loop?"
Jeremy pointed after Odd. "Does she look happy?"
"Well no, but-."
But Jeremy, Ulrich and Yumi were already walking after Odd, leaving William alone with the soup machine. "Those guys... ugh. I should go after them, shouldn't I?"
"Yes, you should," the Xana possessed soup dispenser said. William groaned slightly, but a he walked away, a little smile graced his features. Back at the dispenser, a student had removed a quarter with a string through it and was looking ready to drop it in the machine. "Don't even think about it," the dispenser said. The student fainted.
"OH GOD, I DIED AND I'M IN HELL!" Odd screamed.
'Well this be going better.' Yumi thought.
She and Ulrich had caught up with their unawake friend in the school's main courtyard, had managed to introduce themselves to the gender flipped Odd... but she had only stared at them like she hadseen a ghost. The Ulrich had decided to try and shake her out of whatever funk she was in. When that hadn't worked, Ulrich tried to just speak with her.
"Where do you think you are?"
The answer had been less then encouraging.
"I... I think I'm... I'm in hell."
And then she blew up, leading to the current tirade. "I'M DEAD I'M DEAD I'M DEAD OH SOMEONE HELP!"
Yumi shot Jeremy a covert look as students around the yard began to notice and stare at the girl who was clearly having a psychotic break. The blond heaved his sigh, said something to William, and psychically initiated a return to the past.
The timeline jolted, the flash of raw everything coursed through Yumi's veins, and suddenly she was back at the coffee dispenser, watching the Odd replacement walk by. "William!"
William tackled the stunned replacement and vanished with a crack of apparition. Yumi, Ulrich and Jeremy followed a second later.
The five students exploded back into existence on top of the factory that housed the supercomputer. The Odd replacement took one look at where she was before degenerating back into her screaming self.
"Hey hey hey, watch the ears sweetheart, we're not dead or deaf," William set her down gently and tried to clear out his ears. Yumi took the moment to try and figure out who they were dealing with.
The replacement looked like Odd: blond hair tied in a ponytail, purple and magenta clothes, even his crazy pumps. Notable was an equally purple jacket, with Odd lacked, and a bared midriff, which Odd avoided... Usually. Yumi took a step forward, holding up her hands placating. "There there. You're out of danger. You're safe here, with us."
Odd's replacement stopped screaming when she saw Yumi. A look of surprise was plastered on her face. "Mi... Mikasa?
Yumi winced, but managed to turn it into a comforting smile. "I'm sorry. My name is Yumi Ishiyama. Do you know a girl who looks like me?"
The girl gulped. "Yeah... she's humanity's greatest soldier." A look of something, almost comfort, seemed to cross the girl's red face. "Am I dead? Am I really dead?" The girl began to clutch her stomach compulsively.
Jeremy came up beside Yumi. "Did you die? Is that how you came here: you died?"
The girl gulped but nodded. "I was shot... in the stomach."
A wince ran through the loopers collectively. Jeremy frowned slightly, but took the only route he could see. "Can I ask you your name, Miss Della Robbia?"
Odd's replacement seemed to pause and collect herself, before speaking. "Back home, my name was Sasha Braus."
Sasha did admit, silently, to herself, that the whole idea of the loops scared her. It seemed like the only reasonable reaction to the news that she was essentially immortal. She did acknowledge, intellectually, that she could be killed. She knew that she had been killed.
Sasha's hand drifted to her stomach again, reassuring herself that it was dry, its skin unbroken, and her intestines still within her body. It was still a sickening sensation to recall being shot in the stomach with an explosive bullet. Sasha squeezed her hand into a fist and pulled it away from her stomach... for a moment. It did help to remind herself that it wasn't bleeding.
Ulrich tapped at the sketch he had made for Sasha. "This is Odd, as he is usually. He's a pretty good guy, friendly, funny, smart to."
Sasha rested her head on her fist. "So he's... what, dormant or something? Unawake?"
"More or less."
Sasha scratched at her chin, wondering for a moment what would happen when the so called "loop" would end. The implications that came to mind were... disturbing. Sasha pulled herself to her feet and walked to the railing.
Before her was a warehouse so miraculously, hilarious complex that she really couldn't contextualize most of it. Oh, she could understand some parts of it: here and there were conveyor belts, off to the side was an elevator, and the middle of the big room was empty, probably for storage. Beyond that, Sasha's lack of familiarity hampered any further understanding of what she was seeing. That said, looking at the whole of it all, seeing the strangeness in its unapologetic form, was marginally more comforting then thinking about her death, and how she had been spared it by the loops. "This place... It's amazing."
Ulrich clapped her on the shoulders. "Wait till you see Lyoko kid. Then you can judge what's amazing and not."
Sasha chuckled, a dash of levity adding much needed flavor to her day. "Lyoko. It's that fake world inside a computer you mentioned, right?" A look of confusion colored Sasha's face. "What is a computer anyway?"
Ulrich pondered the question, hopping over the railing and dropping to the floor of the factory. Sasha followed behind him, landing with the loud click of rubber soles on concrete. "I guess you could say a computer is like a giant clockwork brain that uses wires and electricity, you know what electricity is right? Well it uses electricity to act like a giant and powerful brain. You got that?"
"Uhh..."
Ulrich stepped into the freight elevator and gestured for Sasha to get in beside him. Closing the blast doors and calling for the console level, Ulrich decided to show her.
The doors opened to the console. A devirtualized Aelita was already seated at the monitor, William to one side of her seat, Jeremy on the other. The girl genius smiled at Sasha's politely incredulous looks when she noticed the pink hair, and spread her arms. "Welcome, Sasha Braus, to my home."
Sasha managed to squash her surprise and shook a proffered hand. "So you're the Anchor I've been hearing about? I gotta ask, do all Anchors have weird hair, or is it just you?"
Aelita gave her pink locks a shake in bemusement. "Oh, a few here and there. I'm hardly the only pinkette in the multiverse."
Jeremy slid into Aelita's former set and brought up a few screens. The center of the room, a large holo-projector, flickered to life with a riot of starlight, before settling into the five sectors of Lyoko. A moment passed, before the projection flickered and was replaced with Xana's latest incarnation. "Well well, what do we have here?"
Sasha, not grasping what the projection was, lunged at Xana. "HANGE!" The attempted tackle hug merely resulted in Sasha smashing into the far wall. She pointed at the vaguely bemused computer program's projection. "Uh... why is Hange a ghost."?
"Holographic projection, shaped light, and get out if there Xana." Jeremy answered. The computer program rolled their eyes and vanished, the hologram of Lyoko replacing them. Jeremy nodded towards the projector. "That was out resident artificial intelligence, Xana. They're a little strange, but who wouldn't be: they are an artificial human."
Sasha nodded, not completely understanding. "Okay..."
William very* easily heard the tone. He couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled up from his chest. To him, Sasha wasn't just a visitor, she was a rare chance that only appeared once in a million loops: a potential student. "Let's get you onto Lyoko sweetheart. Maybe them you'll understand."
"Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Yumi. Scanner Sasha."
"Virtualization."
Sasha felt a raging feeling, almost as if she was trapped in an unstoppable river, before a sudden... discombobulation was probably the best word. The heel of this feeling heralded a sense of not being all there. And slowly, then suddenly, she felt herself reassemble. It was possibly the most amazing and abnormal feeling she had ever experienced.
The world in front of her was a vast icy tundra. Around her the digital sea hummed with noise. Next to her Yumi and Ulrich began stretching. "Sasha, never forget to limber up. It always helps," the Mikasa look-a-like said.
"No it doesn't." A human being of indeterminate gender appeared in front of the trio. Sasha very narrowly caught herself this time. "So... you're Xana."
The bespectacled computer program cracked a smile on their face. "Pleased to meet you miss Braus. I can guess you're wondering why I look like this." For the iteration, Xana had selected a form that Sasha was rather familiar with. Dark red hair and goggles, wearing a long green cloak, all without any specific gender identity. The only difference from the original were three large shackles on his right bicep. "Does this form... appeal to you?" The program winked at Sasha, eliciting an awkward silence from the assembled.
"Alright," William said as he and Aelita virtualized into Lyoko. "Who did Xana embarrass this time?"
Sasha timidly raised a hand. "Uh... why does he look like Hanji? Can he read minds?"
The assembled allowed the awkward silence to return for a moment. Aelita coughed into her fist, directing Sasha's focus to her. "First off, Xana doesn't enjoy gendered pronouns-"
"Meh, easy mistake."
"And secondly... have you ever heard of the literary world's hypothesis?"
The constructed Titan walked through the vast reconstruction of Trost, idle and seemingly stupid. A trail of steam followed Ulrich, the seasoned Looper having quickly gotten a handle on the strange apparatus and now using it like a pro. Behind him Xana barreled along, their own analytical genius enabling the program's otherwise insane maneuvers.
The Titan remained unmarked when Ulrich shot past, his twin katanas just missing the Fake Titan's skin. Xana adjusted the path of their 3DMG, just driving twin Bisento through the constructed Titan's weak spot. With a burst of pixels, the monstrous creation vanished.
As the duo maneuvered through the streets of the digitally reconstructed, Jeremy appraised them of the actions of the other teams. Yumi and Aelita had managed two kills between them, while Sasha and William had managed to down their own Titan, but at the cost of... well, William. Ulrich took a breather, adjusting his flight path and landing atop a church's belfry. "Damn... two hours and only four of these things down. Are you sure you programmed these things right?"
Xana shrugged as they landed next to Ulrich. "I've poured over the manga, analyzing every detail and facet of the Titans. What you're fighting is an accurate representation of their ability and lethality, down to a three percent difference."
Ulrich felt his heart weaken, even if it was purely a psychological response. "So these things... they could..."
"Relax." Xana allowed a smile to dance onto their features. "The Titans are strong, but not that strong. If you used any sort of supernatural powers, or even built up your skills, you could be a decent fighter."
Ulrich shrugged, his gaze crossing the entire expanse of the artificial Trost, another recreation of Xana's. In the grand distance, he could see a lone steam trail, one that belonged to Sasha. "To think she survived these things... and died anyway. Her world's fucked up."
Xana chuckled warmly, a noise that seemed beyond the circumstance. "You should have seen Warhammer. Darkness and pain, all the way down. No meaning or reason; only war. At least her world seems to be peaceful on its better days."
Ulrich wrung his hands. "She was shot. By a human. Titans, humans, sometimes she makes it sound like the only difference between them is height." The young man nodded to himself. "Isn't that so damn human. Death by disagreement. Killing others because they think differently."
Xana didn't rebuke Ulrich, merely sat down next to him. "She's a good girl. A tad eccentric, but who isn't. She'll be stronger... she deserves to be stronger."
A nod was her answer. "Amen to that."
Sasha shoveled her breakfast into her mouth, washing the mash down with a tall glass of sparkling clear water. "I love this place."
Yumi nodded in silent agreement. "Most loopers aren't really accustomed to how we operate. Between the digitalization and the fact that Xana is typically our antagonist, things are pretty chill around here.
Sasha cut Yumi off at that. "No, that's not what I mean. I mean all of this." Sasha spread her arms in an expansive gesture, encompassing her plate and those around her. "All this food, and it's so easy to find. You could feed an army with this. No one ever goes hungry."
Yumi pursed her lips, preventing herself from pointing out that unfortunately the latter fact wasn't true. She jumped on the implied topic. "So why are you so obsessed with food anyway? We've had you here for weeks and all you ask about, every day, is what's on the menu."
Sasha giggled around a mouthful of beef stew before swallowing. "It's just so good to have this much food for once. It isn't everyday we have this much in... what did you call it, the Attack on Titan verse?"
Yumi nodded. "Yeah. You know, you'll taking the whole, 'you're a manga thing' real well. Odd nearly had an aneurism when he saw our cartoon."
Sasha stuffed a bit of bread into her mouth. "Band ow did ooh reack?"
"I chucked the TV out the window."
Sasha and Yumi shared a laugh. The redhead rested her hand in her palm, staring out into the mostly deserted courtyard. A little breeze wafted the trees on the edge. "An entire multiverse... man I hope that the potato girl nickname didn't stick with me. Maybe I should ask Eren when I get back."
Yumi nodded, her mind wandering to the boy she had pegged as the Anchor. He seemed powerful and important enough to make it to the end of the loop; law of narrative causality dictated his survival. But with so many people dying so often, the idea of Eren not reaching the end was a frighteningly likely possibility. "Maybe you should talk to that Mikasa girl instead."
Sasha shrugged. "Maybe. She isn't the most emotive person... then again, with Eren around, she can be pretty forward." Sasha cracked a smile at Yumi. "You're a lot better at being a human though. Sometimes I wonder of she's a robot or something."
"She could be a clone. She has the whole 'Rei Ayanami' thing going on. Dreadnought name, stoic to the point of fault, brilliant fighter, orphan... she's a good call to replace Rei actually."
"Rei Ayanami... isn't she that girl from what's-his-faces universe, Shinji's?"
Yumi nodded. "Rei's from Evangelion. Actually, come to think of it, there's a lot of similarities between Evangelion and Attack on Titan. Maybe they're in the same branch or something..."
Sasha are her food. "Yah yah. Dat's fir later."
Yumi glared at Sasha with more then a hint of disgust. "Please eat with you mouth closed Sasha."
Sasha beamed.
Sasha, William reflected, was a fair bit different from Odd.
The similarities weren't universally skin deep. Both had the wanton energy, the love of food, and the appreciation of archery. Odd may have been a bit more carefree, or maybe Sasha was just a touch more serious, but they seemed like brother and sister at first and even second glance.
But their was an almost fundamental difference between the two: their focus. Odd was a whirlwind, energy spilling out and pooling and conflicting and spirally beyond his control. Sasha was tight, focused, and direct. Her actions seemed to belay that basic focus.
William watched passively as Sasha hurtled through the streets of Xana's recreated Trost, swinging twin blades with practiced ease. She scored direct hit after hit, her natural ability in the 3DMG aiding her maneuvering skills. As she approached an abnormal Titan, she held out both hands and unleashed a barrage of Laser Arrows at it's face, a few finding their marks and rupturing the Titan's eyes. Quickly hopping aboard the Overboard, Sasha disengaged the 3DMG that Jeremy had programmed for her and achieved another textbook kill.
William could remember his earliest loop. He had been knocked loose by the crash, adrift for the months he had spent at home in America. When he had finally made it back to the sweet land of France, he had to resist kissing the ground. This had lead to a rather embarrassing encounter with Aelita, who was bored and thought he hadn't been awake. The prank, though fun, wasn't exactly the sort of thing he brought up in usual conversation. William could see something similar in Sasha's eyes. A vague, but powerful, wanderlust. Homesickness, mixed with a stir craze that he could understand all too well. To think that Sasha's first loop had been here of all places...
William watched Sasha hook onto a Titan's nape and pepper it with Laser Arrows, managing to just kill the Titan. "Not bad!"
"Not bad? I was freaking AWESOME!" Sasha shouted. William chuckled and dismissed the fact. She as good, great even. Sasha was a rare combination of hard work and talent, one that would go far in the loops.
Or at least, that was what William hoped would happen.
Inside the hallowed halls of Kadic Academy, Xana finished their hair, pulling on the reddish bun and looking in the mirror. "Well, I'll say this about your friend Hange, they do look nice."
"You're just a bit of a narcissist, that's all," Sasha affirmed. Xana barked a laugh. "Besides, you got everything else down about him. You'll fine."
Xana smiled again at their roommate. "Well... to a good final day?"
Sasha held out a fist, which Xana bumped. "To a good final day."
The Lyoko Warriors alongside their greatest adversary and the newest recruit had chosen to gather at the factory for final goodbyes. The assembled bore out their farewells with gifts and well-wishes. Jeremy and Aelita supplied Sasha with a specially customized digitizer, a device that would allow her to access her Lyoko form at will. Xana provided a picture and frame; a picture from earlier in the year adoring it. Yumi and Ulrich simply gave her their best, and one last chocolate bar for the road.
The last gift almost put tears in Sasha's eyes though.
William had been assembling a bow for Sasha for several years. It was a simple composite design, but modified to be used with 3DMG. It could be hooked to the hilt of a control stick and used with the free hand. It also came with a large quiver of over a thousand arrows of dozens of types. Freeze arrows, explosive ones, grappling hooks and trick explosives, all packages into one. Together, it nearly drove the huntress to tears.
And suddenly, just as Sasha was saying goodbye, it was over. No poof, no pop, just the factory one minute, the next was her home.
As the evening waned, Sasha decided it was a good time to go talk to her parents. It would be a long, hard road ahead.
3.1: Neon Genesis Titanic!
3.2: Hanji/Hange is my favorite character.
3.3: Cue the Jaws theme.
3.4: Titan May Cry.
3.5: MEANWHILE!
3.6: Armin plus Anti-tank rifle equals awesome.
3.7: Armin plus political power equals funny.
3.8: Titan Claus.
3.9: Armin, Mikasa and Eren will, one day, surpass even the Original Seven.
3.10: Even the Titans are no match for Rincewind.
3.11: A single, unfathomably good day.
3.12: Loops, Thy Name is Sasha!