Attack on Titan: The Infinite Loops
Chapter 6
A/N: I intended to write an extended loop for Levi, chronicling his first loop into the Twilight world.
Then I got writers block. I blame Stephanie Meyer.
In the meantime, here are plenty of glorious loops.
6.1
Mikasa had easily sensed the massive surge of psychic energy at the beginning of the loop, that being her first indicator of something gone horribly, horribly wrong. Sparring her time only to be with her stepmother as she left the earthly world, Mikasa apparated to the source I the psychic disturbance, Armin on her tail. The sight that greeted them was... surprising.
Levi had forced Hanji to the ground and was scratching at him, trying to find purchase on her skin. Mikasa made an executive decision and kicked Levi in the head, launching him across the room. "Now that was certainly a call for help."
Hanji staggered to his feet, readjusting her glasses. "Stand back, he's a vampire!"
Armin, who had gotten close to examine Levi, pulled out his light sabers and Iron Man armor. "I doubt he can hurt us like this."
Levi, in his own right, was gasping for breaths he didn't need. "Blood... it hurts... please, I need blood. I... Armin?" Levi's painful thirst was temporarily forgotten when he recognized Armin.
Armin himself frowned. "You know me?"
Levi nodded gravely. "We've fought together often. You're a great strategist, and a brilliant tactician. And you smell delicious." Levi launched himself at Armin, who delivered an Iron Man enhanced fist into Levi's head. The newly turned vampire was sent skidding across the ground.
Mikasa walked over and planted her foot on Levi's back. "Alright Captain, I believe you can start with how you know who we are." Mikasa increased the pressure on Levi's back. "We'll feed you afterwards."
Levi grumbled into the stone floor. "Feed me now, and I tell you all you need to know." Levi forced himself to his feet as Mikasa stepped off him, glaring at his cousin. "Tell me something though: how are you doing this?"
Hanji, worried for his friend, answered his question. "We're time travelers. That may not make much sense, but-"
Levi politely held up a hand. "Hanji, I'm a vampire. Sense has left the building." For a second, Levi cringed. "Left the fucking building. It's just... fucking gone."
Armin and Mikasa exchanged a confused look. Hanji pulled a bag of blood out of her pocket and handed it to Levi, who drank deeply from it. "Thank you Hanji."
"Don't mention it."
Levi sighed, and drank some more blood. Then a little more. Then he stopped drinking altogether. Armin cautiously stepped forward and snapped his fingers in front of Levi. "Uh, Levi?"
"...the colors..."
None of the loopers said anything. Armin grabbed Levi's blood snack and looked at it, before face-palming. He held it up for Mikasa and Hanji to see.
'A+. Titan Sample.' "Congratulations Hanji. Levi's stoned on Titan blood."
Hanji chuckled in embarrassment. "I didn't know, okay. My bad."
"Fucking cool..." Levi mumbled, swaying in his feet.
Mikasa rolled her eyes. "Well, how are we supposed to figure out what he did now? He can't tell us anything if he's stoned."
"I don't know. Maybe you could enter his mind?" Armin suggested. Further suggestion were cut off though when the door opened and another vampire stepped into the room.
"Uh... Levi? Can you tell me what's going on?"
Armin, Mikasa, and Hanji all stared. Jasper Hale Cullen stared back. The realization that Jasper Hale Cullen was looping struck all three veteran loopers. Mikasa threw up her hands. "You know what, screw it. I don't want to know why Levi is a Meyerpire. I don't want to know why he isn't swearing. I do not want to know."
It was a sentiment echoed by Hanji and Armin. They would never speak of it again.
Up in admin space, Fenrir and Ganesha stared at the monitor. "Crap," Ganesha said.
"Double crap," Fenrir agreed.
Ganesha brought up Levi's coding matrix and looked it over. "Triple crap. His code's been corrupted by Twilight's vampirism strain. He'll-"
"I know that Ganesha," Fenrir interrupted. "He'll be able to turn into a vampire whenever he wants to now, but it'll only be reset by the loop reset. I see that."
Ganesha set his hand in his palm and groaned. "Great. I wanted my loopers to be strong... I wanted to help remove their impediments... but this isn't want I meant to happen."
Fenrir mournfully nodded. "Now Leah's going to have to deal with a looping Cullen. She's going to roast my flank."
Ganesha groaned. "Looks like we're going to need to get that world with the Vampire cure looping."
"The one with the Anchor named Edward?"
"Yeah."
Fenrir chewed his lips in thought. "I'll get my brother on it. See if he can handle that world. 'Daybreakers', wasn't it?"
Ganesha nodded. "I think so. Daybreakers it is."
6.2 Crossoverpairinglover
"Armin?"
"Yes Eren?"
"Why are we fighting Titans, on Motorcycles?"
"Because we're duelists this loop...Trap Card Open, Bottomless Trap Hole!"
"Armin"
"Yes Connie?"
"Why are we fighting Titans, on Ostriches?"
"Because they are fast and oddly sturdy this loop, of course."
"Armin?"
"Yes Hannes?"
"Why are we fighting Titans, while in space suits?"
"Because this loop, we literally are dealing with an attack, on Titan"
"Armin?"
"Yes Sasha?"
"Why do I feel a sudden...?" Sasha was suddenly eaten alive by a Titan.
"Sasha! Get out of there! Sasha! SASHA!"
6.3 Myself, Evilhumour, Crossoverpairinglover, SeaOfFallingStars, Wildrook, and Jcogginsa
Hannes glanced at his list. "Alright every, names. We gotta christen this baby, and I want it done now!"
The assembled loopers, which happened to be everybody for once, from Eren and Armin all the way down to Hanji and Levi, incredulously looked at Hannes. Hannes had shown up with a brand new SHIELD Helicarrier and the proposition that it be used as their mobile base of operations. That he insisted that all further meetings occur on the Helicarrier, and then enforced it by ensconcing the nine loopers to the Helicarrier, was a bit annoying.
And now he was calling for names. Hannes held up a list. "I've got two names so far: Hoffnung, and Olympus. Ideas?"
"Wait, why would we want to name it after that jerk's place?" Connie asked, regarding the name Olympus.
"Good point."
Mikasa spoke next. "The merry go."
Several worlds away, Monkey D. Luffy sneezed.
Armin shook head. "Nope. No taken names."
"Banquet Rain!"
"Sasha, in these situations is it possible for you to not think of food?"
"The Doom Kaiser Mark Doom!"
No one took Connie's suggestion seriously
Jean smirked at Eren. "The Yeager."
Mikasa nodded. "It sounds good."
Armin agreed. "Has a nice ring to it."
"I like it," Eren admitted.
"NO!" Everyone else said, Jean especially.
Hanji winked at Levi. "I served on the Leviathan. Good name, no?"
Levi rolled his eyes, pulling his hood further over his head to spare his skin from the vampire burning sun. "The Titanic would be better than that."
"That would give us the temptation of actually SINKING the thing," Armin replied.
"Humanity's pimp hand?" Hannes read off the list, somewhat confused. "Eh, bit too coarse."
"Speaking of pimp hands, the Gendo," Armin suggested.
"But you can't-" Connie was cut off when Armin pimp-slapped him.
"I got that after a loop in his shoes."
"I would have gone for The Vigilant," Mikasa muttered.
Hannes scratched his chin. "How about the Timeless?"
Eren thought it over. "Eh... maybe?"
The deck of the "yet-to-be-named", otherwise known as the Helicarrier that Hans had bought, was strewn with a dozen pages of names, discards from the looper's attempts to decide on a single name for the ship. Hans crossed out one last name, "Kaiju", and tossed the whole notepad away. "That's it. I got nothing."
Armin, having pulled a Go board from his pocket and knee deep inside a game with Connie, glanced away to Hans. "Hey, we'll think of something. It's not life-or-death."
Hange, having pulled out a paddle board, chuckled. "We could play this game all day. We're good... but we're not perfect."
Levi, hiding from the sun in a distant shade, called out. "Hey shit-glasses, if you think we can't name a damn ship, how are we supposed to protect humanity."
Connie rubbed a white stone between his fingers, thoughtful, before dropping it on to the board. "Leadership. We're individuals, powerful, capable, and with our initiative, and butting heads along with it. With a leader though, we've for direction."
Armin pointed at where Connie had dropped the stone. "You only have one liberty there, you know that right?"
Connie stared at the metaphoric visual rebuttal to his statement. "Oh."
Armin shook his head. "We may need a leader, but who would it be? The obvious choice would either be myself, Eren, Mikasa or Hans, and none of us are exactly leadership material. Hans is experienced, yes, but I'm a better strategist, Mikasa's a better fighter, Eren's more motivational. He's good, has a good balance, but lacks the experience and power we have."
"As for me, well I'm not above saying I'm the best strategist here, but if it comes down to field leadership I'm deadweight. Can't concentrate on the bigger picture when I'm at close range." A broken little smile seeped onto Armin's face. "And I'm not ruthless enough to do what's necessary yet."
"Eren's liable to go berserk. He's our field man, the guy who'll make sure everyone's intact when fighting, but he'll lose it the second someone gets killed. Mikasa's focused, but too focused: she'll sacrifice everything, even her life, for me and Eren." Armin shrugged. "We're good, but we're not leaders."
"Who aren't leaders?" Eren asked as he scrambled over the side of the Helicarrier's deck, having finished his swim and shaking the water out of his hair. Jean and Mikasa, toting Sasha, floated up a moment later. "We miss anything?"
"Names and leaders." Armin said.
"I vote Armin." Mikasa said.
"Ditto." Eren agreed.
"Shut up, both of you," Armin said, failing to disguise his grin. "If I end up as leader though, the first order of business is the construction of my throne. Blondes for the blonde throne!"
"Oh that was so funny I forgot to laugh," Eren admitted, sitting down on one side of the board.
Mikasa poked both of her brothers. "Lay off, both of you." Eren playfully batted her hand away.
Hans scratched at his nascent beard, an idea forming in his mind. "If we can't have any single good leader, why not three?"
The assembled loopers turned their attention to Hans. Levi even got out of the shade to listen. "You three play well together. You got good vibes. You're the oldest as well. So you three lead."
Eren waved it off. "Hey, you gotta-"
"All in favor?" Hans called out.
"Aye," said, essentially, everyone not named Armin, Eren or Mikasa. "The vote's unanimous," Hans declared. "So congratulations you three, you're in charge now."
Eren went wide eyed in surprise. "Wait, you can't do that!"
"They just did," Mikasa said deadpan. "You and Armin the leaders now."
"Don't try and weasel out of this Mikasa," Armin said, a sly little grin on his face. "You're in this too you know."
Hans clapped his hands. "Alright, leaders: give us a name."
The Anchors shared a look, and huddled up, whispering. Outside, Hange ribbed Hans. "Not bad old timer. Not bad."
Hans scoffed. "You know how to push a few buttons when you've known these three for so long. It's a benefit."
The trio of leaders broke off the conversation, facing the group. Armin redundantly coughed for attention. "How does The Carla sound?"
No one spoke for a moment, digesting the statement. Then Levi nodded. Jean admitted it wasn't half bad. Sasha said it was a great name.
In half an hour, the Helicarrier bore a new name.
The Carla.
6.4 RockGolem
Eren saw the giant titan kick through the gate of the outer wall the doors flying through the air and crashing into some of the houses nearby. Removing the high tech binoculars he'd been using, the looper turn to the people sitting next to him on top a building close to the second great wall Rose. "I still say we should kill the titans now and have a nice relaxing loop hanging out with the new guys."
Connie popped some chips into her mouth before telling Eren to "Shut up and enjoy the show."
Jean just shrugged as his eyes moved to the sun which had almost completely set. "Armin says when something cool is going to happen at nightfall and thats good enough for me."
Armin just sat there with a smug look on his face, a few loops ago he had swapped places with someone called Owen Bennet and had been working as a personal assistant for one David Xanatos one of the most awesome and Machiavellian loopers he had ever met. So when he awoke this loop and realized what was going on he used his telepathy to contact all the other loopers and told them not to check their memories for this loop and meet him on this building next to the Rose Wall. He'd brought a load of chairs, binoculars and snacks and now as the last of the sun's rays were visably fading into twilight he turned giddily to the top of Rose Wall where stood close to a thousand statues, each of a hellish demon like form and sitting a couple feet apart from each other.
No two were the same, the closest ones ranged from small with wings like those of a flying squirrel attached to his arms and legs to a medium sized one with and large beak in place of a mouth and bat like wings from sprouting from his shoulders to a giant one over nine feet tall his regal features clear through the stone and had his wings drawn around him like a cape.
"Any second now." Muttered Armin
"Well the titans have breached the outer wall so if something is going to happen it needs to happen soon." Sasha said as she put away her binoculars not wanting to see what the titans would do to those unfortunate enough to anywhere near them.
"Look!" shouted Armin as he pointed to the top of the second wall. The loopers turned to see all the statues start to crack at the same time and then with the sounds of stone shattering and roars of powerful animals the statues exploded to reveal creatures of flesh and blood. Eyes glowing, muscles bulging the creatures roared into the night.
"So many colors." said Mikasa as she stared at these creatues who indeed came in many different hues from grey to bright yellow to the purple giant who shouted orders to his kin atop the wall.
"Brothers, sisters, protect our home, protect our human brethren, attack these monsters!" the creatures roared again and then took flight into the night to go forth and battle the titans.
Eren having seen enough looked at his memories and discovered just what was going on. It seemed in this loop humanity had allies in the form of Gargoyles, stone by day warriors by night. As long as humans protected the gargoyles during the day when they were unable to protect themselves the gargoyles would aid the humans in return. Strong enough to bend steel, able to glide through the air with their wings and with talons able to pierce stone they were great warriors and fantastic fighters against titans.
Suddenly a blue blur knocked Armin of his seat and onto the roof top everyone summoned a weapon from their pockets only to halt as they heard Armin laughing "Hahaha Bronx knock it off that tickles hahaha."
Eren felt the air stir beside him as something settled beside him. "Bronx what are you doing...oh hey Armin!"
Armin finally pushed the blue hell dog off him and turned to the gargoyle with a beak, who turned out to be red colored, and gave him his hand "Hey Brooklyn welcome to my loop I hope you enjoy your stay with us."
6.5 Crossoverpairinglover
Holding up the business card that Connie had found in his room at loop start, Sasha noted it with some level of concern.
"Are you an evil genius with limited physical ability? Are you constantly being made a fool of? Want to achieve great things? Join the Legion of Doom. Call 1-800-Evil-Doom, ask for Hienz" Sasha read off the card, before turning the card over and noting the large skull shaped Headquarters of said group, with discreet letters on the bottom of the card saying 'Note, design of evil lair design not final', before raising an eyebrow.
Connie gulped, wishing he hadn't swiped the invite.
6.6 SeaOfFallingStars
Hange looked over at the constant set of black flares popping up. It seemed this expedition always led to Annie going after Eren in her Titan form. They never could capture her either. Urging his horse faster (he really needed a dune buggy like the one from the Motorstorm loop) as he tried to catch up to the Titan, Hange thought he heard something.
"Oi, shitty glasses, where are you going?" Levi asked him. Couldn't he tell?
"After the aberrant of course!" He shouted back.
Ignoring the insults Levi hurled at him, Hange charged towards the black smoke.
The sight that greeted him could only be described as awe-inspiring. Five alien aircraft were attacking Annie and any other titans that follow her. It was obvious that they were skilled. He dismounted his horse, and started walking towards the battle. At least, that's what he would've done had one of the jets, silver with yellow lines, swooped down, turned into a mechanical titan, grabbed him, and turned back into a plane.
"Are you crazy? These giants are a threat to humans! What in the name of Primus are you DOING out here?" The jet shouted at her. It was making his head hurt and vision swim a bit.
"I had to see what you were doing. Who are you?" He-he was a guy this loop he was a he replied.
"Against that thing? We keep trying to get the human inside of her out, but every time Skydive tries she just crystallizes!" The jet-he was going to refer to it as 'silver-whined?
"Of course. The human inside is controlling the titan. You'll have to get her out of the nape of its neck."
"Oh. Hold on, I don't know how this will work; we've never done it with a passenger." Huh? What 'thing'?
"Silver, what are you-"
"Aerialbots, COMBINE!"
Oh. Ohhhh. Hange looked for his notebook. He had to document this!
Hange was writing down notes over Silver's cockpit when something slammed into the side. He tried to hold onto the notebook as well as the pencil, only for it to clatter around as they spun. He looked at the display in front of him.
[Air Raid connected]
[Slingshot and Fireflight moving into position]
[Silverbolt holding steady]
So Silver's name was Silverbolt? Why was she picturing some sort of hybrid wolf/eagle thing? Before she could sketch that, another Aerialbot slammed into Silverbolt, sending them to the side. 3DMG was never like this. A copper taste welled in his mouth, and Hange realized something.
He was trapped in a metal titan that shifted into different forms and he had no protection against it.
"Farewell, fun loop..."
6.7
Armin and Mikasa were laughing out loud. If it had only been them, Eren might have brushed it off as a funny little thing. Maybe even join in the laughter at his expense. Unfortunately, it was not only them.
Everyone had been Awake this loop. From Connie to Sasha, everyone had woken up. Thus, everyone had seen his tranformation. Everyone was laughing at him, and in Connie's case, seemed to be hiding a camera. Jean, anticipating Eren's retaliation, had erected his AT-field and was blocking him from getting in.
Levi, by far the person laughing the least, was the first to choke out normal words. "Shit, you look like a fucking piece of lipstick Yeager. Someone please tell me they got a damn picture?"
Connie, still laughing, waved. "Got... hahaha... got it... heheheh."
For the rest of the loop, the, ahem, Rouge Titan, declined transformation.
6.8 Crossoverpairinglover
"Bahhh"
Sasha had no idea why she was partnered with a goat.
Why was there a looping goat? That just made no sense.
Particularly a goat that could not be turned into something edible. Instead, it merely exploded, and reformed.
An immortal super explosive goat.
What could she do with a inedible goat?
Goat Archery was later banned by Hange for cruelty to Titans.
6.9
If there were only two things that Eren could objectively hate about his universe, it would be Reiner and Bertolt. If there were three things he could objectively hate though, it would be Reiner, Bertolt, and Rod Reiss.
His hatred, even disgust at the Reiss patriarch had been carefully honed through the loops. His speech about how humanity needed the Titans to be united, how he could fix everything if needed, how Historia had to be the one to eat him and gain the Coordinate had smelled of more than a little bit of bullshit. It was almost as if he was a Nazi... which, considering the fact he was foregoing injecting himself with the Titanization formula in favor of his Aryan daughter, seemed like the Nazi MO. All things considered though...
Rod scared him. When he had first been to the later part of his loop, Eren had been unprepared for the revelation of what he had done to his father, of what his father had done to him, of what the Coordinate was. To think that he had eaten his own father had nearly driven him to suicide. It shorted him out.
It was several loops later before he had managed to work up the courage to tell Mikasa and Armin the story. Armin had consoled, tried to comfort him, but in the end it was Mikasa who had managed to break him out of it.
"Would you really choose to throw away the Coordinate, when every human who had held it before you did nothing with it?"
Mikasa didn't exactly have a way with words, but what she had said rang true. For generations, the Reiss family had done nothing to change the existence of humanity, done nothing to free them from the Titans. The Coordinate was a power that none of them had used. So perhaps it was better if it stayed sealed within the man who chose to use his power, who had the will to wield it.
That had been many loops ago, not long after Hanji had started looping. His decision had been one that had kept him up at night, but Eren chose to hold true to his conviction. If no one could have use the Coordinate, than no one could have it.
This conviction reaffirmed itself as the loop began, with Eren already tied up beneath the Reiss chapel, deep inside the strange glowing cavern that Rod seemed to insist the ceremony take place in. 'Another late beginning. Just my luck.'
Kenny had just gotten through threatening Rod and was marching up to the ledge that Eren was chained onto. Pulling out his knife, Kenny cut the bonds on Eren's gag. "It'll be pretty hard to bite through your tongue, so I'll make it easy on you." Eren steeled himself as Kenny drew his knife across his forehead. "You better not waste this boy. It'll be boring if you do." Kenny hooked onto the ceiling and bolted, leaving the decision solely to Historia and Eren.
Down below, Rod had grabbed hold of Historia and was giving her the rundown of what she had to do. "You'll be able to beat him with the Titan I've selected. It's the Titan best suited for combat. Once you've transformed, you'll lose control, but all you'll need to do is eat Eren. We have a chance, while he's still tied up. Just use the serum, and then you'll have the power to eradicate the Titans."
Eren sighed internally. The loop, so far, terminated when Historia stuck herself with the serum. In just a few moments, the loop would end. It was another exercise in futil-
"Why?"
"What?"
Historia hadn't stuck herself with the serum, but she was staring at Rod. "Why didn't Frieda kill the Titans? If she had the Coordinate, why didn't she free humanity from the Titans?"
Rod seemed thrown by the question. Eren almost certainly was. "Historia... what are you doing?" he whispered.
Historia didn't let Rod answer though. "No... I know why. It's because she couldn't. No one has and no one can. The whole Reiss line inherited 'The First King's Will', whatever that is. They couldn't free humanity if they tried, could they!"
"I... yes-ARGH!"
Eren gasped aloud as Historia grabbed Rod an threw him across the room. Above him, Kenny whooped after a second to realize what Historia had just done. "Good job girl! Good job!"
Eren burst out laughing, almost stunned at the insanity of it. "Historia, what the hell are you doing?"
Historia ran up the stairs to Eren's perch, fiddling with a set of keys she had grabbed from Rod. "I'm getting you out of here. You deserve to get out of here." A little smile glinted beneath Historia's serious demeanor. "We'll have some fun when we're done."
Eren felt a grin creep on to his own face. "Then lets-"
BANG!
The whole cavern shook, the world feeling like it was exploding. Historia went flying in the blast, Eren stilled only by the chains still binding him. "What..." Eren's eyes went wide as he saw exactly what was happening right in front of him. Rod had taken the serum, and was transforming into a Titan. A huge Titan. "...Oh no."
A flash of movement caught Eren's eye. Mikasa had shot past him, crashing into Historia violently. "Historia... are you okay?"
Historia's response was less than satisfactory. "I've had worse... yeah." Eren could hear the wince in her voice.
With a hum of his lightsaber, Armin quickly cut Eren's chains. The other loopers landed around the edge of the wall, staring at Rod's malformed transformation. They were all speaking, even shouting, but Levi put it best. "Wow... that shit is creepy."
"Yeah..." Hanji admitted, looking like he was trying not to throw up, or cream himself.
As the heat washed over the nine loopers, Eren noticed something. Historia was staring at her father's Titanic transformation, a variety of emotions playing out over her face. Horror, shock, revulsion, agonizing worry, but also interest, engagement, and a certain spark of determination. Historia began marching forward, on to the ledge that Eren had just occupied. "Historia, what are you doing?"
Historia looked over her shoulder at Eren, determination etched on to her face. "I'm going to stop this, right here..." With a blast of winter force, a aged shepherds crook appeared in Historia's hands. "Right now." Historia turned, cane up and ready, ice and frost dancing on her finger tips-
6.10
Historia Reiss, daughter of Rod Reiss, found herself back insider her grandparents' house, standing in front of the fire. "Wh... what?"
The bastard princess stumbled and staggered out of her house, weakness and her sudden lack of familiarity with her body rending her motor skills. The blonde girl tripped twice, before pulling out her cane and throwing herself into the wind. There, at least, she could move easily. "What's happening? Why am I-"
"Back again?"
Historia dropped out of the air and fell into a barley field, face first. "Ow." Light laughter followed her down, before a hand appeared in her field of vision. Grabbing it, Historia was gently pulled to her feet, and found herself looking at a boy who could pass for Eren's little brother. It took a moment for Historia to realize that she was looking at Eren. "How... what... what's going on!?"
To the side, Armin smiled at her and hooked an arm on Mikasa's shoulder. "Well, the short of it is that time and space are broken, and we're repeating the same temporal period infinitely. The long of it can wait."
Mikasa, for her own credit, smiled lightly. "Welcome to the Infinite Loops Historia. Oh, and boys: pay up."
Eren and Armin groaned and pulled out several coins, which they handed to Mikasa. "I knew we were due for another girl. Thank you."
Historia hooked her shepherd's cane across her shoulders and tried not to worry about why she had gotten herself into. "Well, this is strange."
"You'll get used to it," Eren reassured. Pointing at her cane, Eren asked, "So how'd you get the hook? Is it soul bound to you?"
Historia mentally filed the phrase "soul bound" away for later and put on her best smile. "It's kind of a long story. Three hundred years or so, long."
Armin pulled four lawn chairs out of thin air. "Well, we have all the time in the world. So let's hear it."
Historia sat down on the chair, rolling with the whole "chairs from thin air" thing. "Well, it all started with a little girl named Krista Frost..."
6.11
"I hereby call this session of The Geek Squad to order. Seeing as we're all accounted for, shall we begin?"
Armin, Hans, Connie and Hange, having collected inside The Carla's stern lab, were by and large considered the smartest people amongst the Attack loopers. They represented a cross-section of strategy, engineering, social and biological sciences, all of which had been honed by hundreds of loops or experience. They trumped any normal human in their loop, with only Eren surpassing Hange in medical knowledge.
Eren, however, had elected to pass on the opportunity to join The Geek Squad.
Hange brought a holo-map up on the screen and was guiding her four fellow nerds through her plan. "Throughout the past three loops, Mikasa has detected abnormal formations beneath the earth whenever she practiced her earthbending. Myself and Armin investigated the report in a prior loop, and discovered this." A picture appeared on the holo-screen, showing a large, flat layer of concrete underneath several carefully excavated layers of earth. "Inquiry into the existence of this subterranean barrier led to... interesting responses."
"What Hange means is that we spent the loop running from the Military Police's first brigade," Armin clarified. "So far through, the subterranean wall has persisted between almost every loop, implying that it is a baseline feature. We decided that once the entire Geek Squad was able to convene we would investigate further."
Connie glanced out the window and towards the distant ground. "Are you certain that this... subterranean wall is there this loop? It would be like Yggdrasil to bring us together and troll us like that."
Armin nodded. "Mikasa reported that her earthbending has detected the wall this loop. It would seem, for once, that we're in luck. Everybody, pack your things. We leave within the hour."
The trip to the surface was quick and uneventful. Hange and Hans grabbed a Quinjet, while Armin and Connie used their Iron Man and Steam Boy suits. The target was a flat clearing inside northern Wall Maria, an area that Eren, Mikasa and Levi had cleared out an hour ago. As the Quinjet spun around for a landing, Hange noticed that Mikasa had even been thoughtful enough to lift a large, carefully edged section of earth out of the way. "It looks like we're in for a good time, ay Hans?"
"Hmm? Oh yes, it looks fun." Hans wasn't completely paying attention to Hange, or anyone really. Instead he was trying to calculate the amount of material that would be needed to seal the entirety of humanity off from the earth. At the same time though, he was also recalling the stories that Edward and Alphonse Elric had related to him about their country.
'An entire nation... with a base of trapped souls, sealed within a monster of a man. This does not bode well.'
Then again, with the aloof father angle, government conspiracy, and the fact that Titans were piloted from the nape of the neck and losing yourself to one meant losing your sense of self, Hans wasn't above denoting the similarities to Evangelion either. "I've got a bad feeling about this..."
Hange, not being a mind reader, playfully hit Hans on the shoulder. "Ah, it's just an archeological dig. There's nothing to worry about."
Hans stoically nodded as he jumped into the hole. "If you say so."
The group began working on the basics first. Hange and Armin set up a drill to start cutting through the concrete layer, while Hans and Connie started collecting soil samples for carbon dating. Connie glanced over at Hans, thoughtful. "You don't think this floor thing has Titan's in it, do you?"
"I'd wouldn't hold my breath. In the event that there is though, we should get ready to seal the area." Hans set another sample into his case. "You hear me Connie: the instant this gets ugly, we turn and burn."
"Live to fight another day." Connie grimaced lightly. "I like that plan."
Back at the drill, Armin swept another batch of slurry off of the drill, replacing it with clean water. Hange glance at the ultrasound reading she was taking. "We should reach that low density later within thirty seconds."
"Alright. Be prepared for anything," Armin said. To highlight his point, he pulled both of his lightsaber's out. Hange smirked in anticipation. "We are through... Now!"
The drill suddenly started to bore much faster, cutting into the low pressure zone with a vengeance. At the same time though, a fountain of blood started shooting out of the hole, a geyser of hot red oil. Armin shut down the drill and sealed the hole, but not before bending some of the blood into several waiting vials. "Well Hange, it seems our hypothesis is correct. There are, in fact, Titan's beneath the earth."
"Fuck." Hange swore.
6.12
It was in a small bar in Stohess that Sasha found Levi, the older man clutching a small bottle of alcohol. The huntress sidled up next to him, pointing at the bottle. "You mind sharing?"
Levi stared flatly at Sasha and drank the beer without comment. The huntress tried again. "Maybe you could use a friend to help finish that beer. You drink all that, and don't eat, you're gonna be sick."
Levi, the bottle halfway to his lips again, looked at Sasha, before reeling back and slapping her. Sasha's little illusion broke, revealing Sasha as the barely fourteen year old she was. "Jerk," Sasha muttered, resetting the illusion before anyone noticed.
Levi went back to his beer. "Leave it brat. Kids like you shouldn't drink."
Sasha cocked an eyebrow. "Uh, captain, unless you haven't noticed, I'm a little older then just fourteen. More like fourteen hundred, in fact."
Levi gripped his bottle tighter, glancing at Sasha. "That's just fucking disturbing."
"Eh, it's not too bad." Sasha ribbed Levi cheekily, smiling at him. The newest looper of Attack on Titan glared at her with dead eyes. "Okay, maybe it's a little weird, but it's not too bad." It's only two hundred and eighty repeats, give or take."
Levi dropped his bottle, turned and stared at Sasha. "Tell me, Blouse, how many Titans have you killed?"
Sasha raised an eyebrow, but answered anyways. "At last count, it was around... four hundred, seventy two. Give or take. Why do you ask?"
Levi picked up his beer, sipped it, and answered. "Because, Blouse, you've killed four hundred, seventy two innocent human beings. Did you know that?" Levi derived a certain, minuscule satisfaction from Sasha's look of horror. "No, I take it you didn't."
Sasha's gaze dropped away from Levi. "Do you really... I did know. That Titan's were all once human. I just don't like thinking about it that way."
Levi nodded inside his emotional pain. "I can't think of it in any other manner. Kenny taught me how to fight and kill human beings. When he disappeared from my life, when I found my way into the Survey Corps, I thought I had left that part of me behind. But all these years... I've just been killing humans. I'm no better than that piece of shit that calls himself my uncle."
Sasha didn't speak as Levi drank. Once he finished his bottle though, she broke the silence. "Those humans are trying to kill all of us. Trying to hurt our friends and family. I can't let that happen."
"So which is it then?" Levi's question could have cracked steel. "Throwing away your humanity to protect humanity, or throwing away humanity to protect your humanity? Heh... You could choose to stay true to your ideals, inside these god forsaken loops; no matter what you do, the Titans are still alive, the people you've doomed are still alive, and nothing will ever change that."
Sasha's composure broke for a second. "What would you do, let Petra die again and again an-!"
Everyone in the bar jumped as Levi moved faster than the eye could see, pulling a sword out of his pocket and leveling it straight at Sasha's neck. Furious red iris' glinted out of narrowed eyes, teeth and fangs bared. "Don't. You. Dare. SAY THAT TO ME AGAIN!"
"Then kill me Levi." Sasha looked humanity's greatest soldier in the eye. "If it's all meaningless, kill me, and show me that in the end, what we do is just the pointless slaughter of human beings that are trapped inside Titans."
Levi's arm was shaking, his fury and depression breaking across his face. "You. You have no idea what this is like for me."
Sasha narrowed her eyes. "I killed Connie's father... to save a child. There's no way back from this, no way for us to change what the Titans are. We can't heal them. Not yet, maybe never. But what we can do is protect those who haven't been turned yet. That's all we can do."
Sasha tried to keep her face, her conviction, firm, but pain and sorrow managed to worm their ways out on to her features. "We must endure this, captain Levi. It's all we can do. I had the same qualms that you did, but I know what I must do. I must protect humanity, and if this means killing the Titans, then so be it."
Sasha stuck out a hand. "Will knowing that you've made a difference be enough?"
Levi, slowly, tentatively, lowered his sword. He sat back down, took his beer, and noticed that he had vamp'd himself, and thus wouldn't be able to enjoy it. "Give me an hour... then I'll come help."
Sasha turned and left, but not before turning to the patrons of the bar, and smiling lightly. "Don't annoy Levi, Kay?"
The patrons nodded, and Sasha left. Levi glanced back, and shook his head. "Shit head."
6.13 Shimmer712
Connie blinked and looked around. Then he looked at himself.
"Gah!" Why did he have tattoos? And what were they of? He put down the scalpel he was holding and checked his loop memories. And blinked.
Okay, he could see some similarities between his home loop and this one, mainly the whole humans fighting giant monsters trying to eat them thing. Although he felt a bit cheated that he wasn't replacing one of the guys who piloted a giant robot. That would have been awesome!
He didn't recognize the people in his memory. Well, he did, but only in his memory. There weren't anyone from his home loop here. He wondered who the anchor was.
He looked at the… stuff he had been cutting up. Apparently he worked for a group called PPDC, or Pan Pacific Defense Corps, which Connie thought was a bit like the Survey Corps and maybe the Garrison. The PPDC basically provided defense against the invading monsters which were called Kaiju. Although now there was a wall being built. Kinda like home. He himself was a scientist who was a bit obsessed with the Kaiju.
Okay, a lot obsessed. The guy he was replacing was their version of Hanji!
He wondered if he could grab one of the giant robots, (which were called Jeagers, which struck Connie was oddly fitting since their purpose was to take the Kaiju, or exterminate them all) for his subspace pocket. It would be interesting to use one back home.
Connie paused and considered exactly how a Jeager versus Titan fight would go. And started laughing manically. Now he really wanted a giant robot!
Hermann Gottleib walked into his shared laboratory, took one look at Connie and sighed. Why did he get stuck with working with Kaiju-brained lunatic?
Raleigh Becket blinked and looked around. He was in some sort of training camp. He accessed his loop memories and inwardly sighed. He was getting of dealing with giant monsters.
Although that Monster High Loop had been fun.
Although worse come to the worse, he could just use Gypsy Danger. The girl could literally step on these Titans.
Raleigh grinned. And the 3DMG looked like it could be fun.
He was blissfully unaware of two scientists enthusiastically gushing about Titans elsewhere. If he had been aware of these two, and exactly how similar they were, he probably would have made a run for it.
6.14
It was a relatively normal morning in Trost, where Armin, Eren and Mikasa were gathered, eating some food from their pockets, when a giant butterfly swooped down, snatched Armin up, and flew off.
"Later Armin!" Eren shouted after him.
"Don't get eaten!" Mikasa added.
"HEEEEEELP!" Armin screamed as the butterfly carried him off and over the wall.
Back on the ground, Eren and Mikasa continued eating. The Titan shifter glanced at the relatively normal looming piece of bread. "You know, it scares me that a giant butterfly kidnapping Armin isn't the weirdest thing we've ever seen."
"True. Pass the roast," Mikasa said.
Several months later, the southern gate of Trost was opened to admit a swarm of gnomes, trolls, pixies, elves, a solitary dragon, three centaurs, and Armin. The blond waved at his fellow Anchor's, who happened to be the only people who were taking the arrival of mythological beasts in stride. "Hey guys, guess what!"
Armin held up an ornate scepter. "I'm the fairy king!"
"Fairy princess," a sprite perched on Armin's shoulder corrected.
"Whatever," Armin answered.
6.15 Myself, SeaOfFallingStars, Crossoverpairinglover, Wildrook and Crisis
It is broadly agreed upon by the looping community of Yggdrasil that, eventually, all beings within the loops start to get very stir crazy. Now, most loopers, especially Anchors, are good at hiding this. Those that didn't, the multiverse knew to fear.
As for the loopers of the universe of Attack on Titan, well...
Most of the time, the ability to guiltlessly slaughter giant monsters that don't die easily was an effective balm. When it didn't work out, most of the loopers fell into hobbies; Connie recreated Las Vegas inside Trost, Jean started his own newspaper, Sasha spent months secluded in the forests. When even those failed though, things got hectic.
Now, the effects ranged quite a bit amongst the loopers. Hannes usually spent bad loops somewhere deep inside a bottle. Jean flared out and mopped about how dead everyone got. Sasha became very possessive of her village's land. Fortunately, it seemed as if the madness did not infect the Anchors.
Then again, seemed was the operative word.
Publicly, Mikasa, Armin and Eren were the epitome of self-control and balance. Sure, they weren't perfect: every now and again, they wigged out and slaughtered anyone who had they saw as responsible for the Titans, typically the Titan Shifters, the nobility, and the Military Police's first brigade.
The loopers considered them good folk. They were smart, capable leaders with more level heads. They just also forgot that, as Anchors, the Shiganshina trio experienced loops they didn't hear about. Like this one.
Armin was lounging behind a desk, inside a small office in Trost, when Eren hopped through a window. The armed guards that saw Eren yelped and turned their handguns on the intruder, but any action was averted by Armin. "Eren, brother, how goes it?"
Eren smiled and crossed the room, seating himself across from Armin. "You know how it is. Titan bodies everywhere, lots of blood. I've gotten a handle on the Armored Titan form you know, the one I picked up from the Reiss chapel?"
Armin smiled as he struck out a line on the paper he was working on. "That's very good Eren. I'll need to make some revisions to our stratagems to incorporate it. But where are my manners. Viggo," Armin said, addressing one of the two large bodyguards. "Fetch me and my friend some wine, from my personal stocks."
"Of course Mister Arlert," Viggo said, abandoning the room.
Armin turned to the other bodyguard, and fished a few bills from his pocket. "Gunther, do yourself a favor and have a good night out. We're fine here."
"Thank you Mister Arlert," Gunther said, leaving the room.
Eren pointed after Gunther. "Isn't he on Levi Squad?"
Armin laughed as he set his paperwork away. "Yeah, he looks real different in a suit. Nice guy though."
"Yeah." Eren smiled at his brother, before breaking into hysterics. "Geez man, I still can't believe you've cornered the underground drug market."
Armin winked at Eren. "All you need is personality, and brains, and I have both in abundance." Viggo returned at that moment with a bottle of wine and two goblets. Armin dismissed him in the same manner he had Gunther, and poured him and Eren a drink. "To health?"
Eren clinked his glass against Armin's. "To health." He sipped his wine...
"Oh, and to the queen."
...and spit it out. "Queen!?"
Armin, soaked in Eren's spat out wine, pulled out a rag and wiped off his face. "What, haven't you been reading the newspapers?"
"I've been out killing Titans," Eren reminded his friend.
"But haven't you noticed that the flags have all changed, or the bloodshed, or the vast changes in tax law?"
"Quoth the boy: 'I've been out killing Titans'," Eren repeated.
Armin pulled out a newspaper. It's front page read: Coup de tat! Queen Mikasa on the throne! He pulled out a few more.
Queen Mikasa Enacts Tax Reformation, Nobility Enraged.
Assassination Attempt! Queen Mikasa Kills First Military Police Brigade.
Queen Mikasa: Inventor of the Elevator.
Queen Declares Holiday: Public Rejoices.
Queen's Government Enacts New Policy, Promises to Wipe out Plague.
Queen Renames Walls: Eren, Armin and Mikasa Protect us Now.
Queen Instigates new Titan Killing Tax-
Eren gasped at the last headline. "No... Mikasa, she's succumb to Sakura Syndrome." Eren began crying anime tears.
Arming lances at the headline, and eep'ed. "Whoops. Covered a word up with my hand." Armin uncovered the full title.
Queen Instigates new Titan Killing Tax Credit.
"I love our sister," Eren said.
"Me too," Armin concurred. "There's actually quite a few more."
Queen Labels Trio Most Wanted; 'Ymir' Granted Pardon
"Huh. Guess she decided to take them out. Want to bet Ymir decided to ally with Mikasa because Historia did?" Eren asked, uncaring of the second half.
"That's almost what happened." Armin replied with a smirk.
Queen to Preside over First Same-Sex Unions: Wall Cult up at arms!
Queen Fines Wall Cult: Suggests 'Be Silent Like the Wall' as New Commandment!
Queen declares War on Slavery: Military Police Made to Work!
Queen Eats Sandwich: What is Mayo?
Queen begins Funding Inventors.
New Weapons Flood All Military Branches.
"FIRE!" was what Hannes yelled, launching rockets at the Titans, destroying their necks.
Commander Darius Zackly Mysteriously Found Dead, Queen's Government Denies Investigation.
Queen Leads 57th Expedition Beyond Wall Rose, No Casualties Reported.
Queen Lets Fashion World in on her Secret. Embroidery Takes Hold.
Queen Declare Embroidery National Art.
Coup De Tat! Reiss House Leads Nobility and Military in Battle Against Queen!
Queen Survives Coup, Beheads Reiss Patriarch.
Historia Reiss Declared Heir to Reiss House.
Queen Holds Matchmaking Ball For Adopted Brother: Bans Golddiggers From Attending.
"Eren, you know there's nowhere you can run from this."
"Watch me."
Dozens Dead Due to 'Beast' Titan; Queen Pays for All Funerals
"Sure, Connie was devastated, but Sasha managed to calm him down before booze was involved. Though they were banned from two restaurants afterwards." Armin smiled lightly. "Mikasa really does know how to run a country."
"I'll say."
6.16
Armin had a particular sentiment regarding zombies and loops that involved Zombie Apocalypses. That anyone who had to deal with them had. It. Easy.
Zombies all had exactly one weakness, that being the brain. A single blade into the head... hell, even a musket round, and viola, dead. Additionally, zombies had no regeneration capabilities. You could shoot one in the knee and it was limping. You didn't even need to worry about trying to hit the weak point. It was on the same level you were on.
Zombies were slow and rotting. Titans were the gods of zombies, and Armin killed them on a regular basis. A zombie loop was easy for him.
At least, that was what he had thought, before the Walking Dead loop.
Eren sliced through the zombie's head with the usual, impeccable aim. The zombie, now brainless, locked up and died again. Eren chuckled lightheartedly and set off walking. His goal was the small cottage that Armin had found and he and Mikasa had fixed up.
...Well Mikasa had fixed it up. He'd mostly just killed fewer zombies than her.
He was good at killing zombies. They were slow and mindless, and he was a trained soldier. Against zombies, it was easy. As for the surviving humans... well they usually ignored them. Most scavengers came by and left once they saw the superior fire power. Larger groups usually got the message after they saw the heads on poles.
Eren quietly chuckled at the memory of The Governor's face when his group passed by. It had been priceless. If only his Pocket was accessible, he'd have taken a photo. Fortunately though, his regeneration and Titan shifting powers were maintained. It helped a lot to be able to regenerate, especially when, oh, you fell down a hidden river bank and got covered in cuts and bruises.
Which was what Eren did at that moment. "Fuck!" Eren disentangled his limbs from each other and gave himself a quick once over. Bruises, though nothing to indicate a broken bone. Cuts, shallow mostly, but with a nice deep one on his right arm. Fortunately, the cut was already healing.
By the time Eren had reached the cottage five minutes later, he had changed his self-diagnosis from cuts and bruises to concussion. "Hey, Armin."
Armin, sitting on the porch of their little home and cradling a shotgun called back. "What?"
"Call Mikasa home. I think I've got a concussion." Eren winced as his arm brushed against the siding. "Can you get me some water?"
"Sure." Armin stepped inside, Eren taking his place on the porch. A spike of pain caught Eren across the head, forcing him to close his eyes. Eren worked to open his eyes again, scratching his suddenly very itchy arm.
"Agh... ow..." Eren closed his eyes again to stave off the pain. "Armin where's that water?"
"I've got OH SHIT!" Armin stepped out on to the porch and dropped Eren's water when he saw his brother. "Eren. It's... Eren, your arm!"
Eren glanced at his arm, a haze of pain clouding him. "Wha... what?" His forearm was necrotic, steaming hot and rotting at the same time. "What?" Eren repeated.
Armin grabbed Eren's should, trying to steady him as he stood up. "Eren, what's happening to your arm? Were you bitten?"
Eren shouted in pain. "AGH!" His arm was trying to regenerate, but the rot was spreading at nearly equal speed. "AGH! Armin, Get BACK!"
Armin jumped away, staring horrified as Eren brought out his broadsword and drive it through the flesh of his arm. The rotting arm withered and dissolved into black sludge. Eren smiled lightly. "Heh. Not too hard."
Then his arm started growing back, rotten and out of control. Eren seized the agonizing, flailing limb. "AGH!" To his horror, the rot then began to spread up his uncontrolled arm, rising from the stump of his elbow. "Nooooooo."
"Eren!" Eren couldn't see Armin's voice... no that wasn't right. Eren was delirious. "Eren!"
"Armin!" Eren shouted as he lifted his sword again. "Get back!"
Eren plunged his sword into his leg and Titanized.
Mikasa saw the blast of light that heralded Eren's Titanization and pushed we legs to move faster. Armin's alert to her of Eren getting a concussion had been more than enough to convince her to put aside her rifle and sprint home, but if Eren had to Titanize, something had gone horribly, horribly wrong.
Mikasa shot through the woods in leaps and bounds, jumping across the trench Eren had fallen into. The trees blurred as she heard Eren's roars of pain. "Eren, I'm coming!" the soldier shouted.
Horror met her eyes when she entered the clearing. Eren's Titan form, caught halfway between regenerating and rotting with the walker virus. Mikasa gasped in terror at the sight. Arms and legs and half-formed jaws, dragging themselves across the ground as Eren's regeneration ran rampant, trying to consume the flesh of men. One of the limbs, an amalgam of a ribcage and arm and coated in teeth, flipped its way towards Mikasa.
Mikasa screamed at the sight of her brother. "NOOOO! STOP! STOP IT! EREN!"
As if heavens answered her prayers, there was a grand, bombastic roar of rage and defiance. Eren ripped his way out of the forest of limbs and screamed in triumph as the sky. Mikasa's spirits soared.
And then an arm ripped its way out of Eren's throat and dragged him back down.
Mikasa stared. She fell to her knees. "No... Please no. Anyone..."
Armin was missing. Eren was dying. Mikasa was alone. Only Mikasa could stop this.
The eldritch horror that was once Eren wrapped a tentacle-arm around Mikasa's leg. Inside, Eren screamed and cried in pain, delirious and slowly losing his sanity.
Mikasa could end it.
Mikasa pulled her rifle off of her back, stuck the barrel in her mouth, and pulled the trigger.
Hans didn't abide by the idea of minors drinking. The health risks aside, it usually ended with people using alcohol as a crutch. He wasn't above suspending the rule in times of trouble though.
When Mikasa had dragged a catatonic Armin and raging Eren into a bar he frequented, Hans decided to help bartend. "So who was it?"
Mikasa didn't touch her beer, a cold look on her face. "It was me. I ended the loop."
Eren screamed in inarticulate rage and slammed a fist into the wall. Hans winced. "It'll help if you talked about it."
Mikasa, more numb than anything else, filled Hans in. "It was a semi-standard Zombie Apocalypse world. Ever watch "The Walking Dead"?" Mikasa's eyes lost whatever life they held before. "The virus there is airborne. Eren got a cut, a deep one, and got infected with it. He tried to beat it with his regeneration, but-"
"Like smothering a fire with gasoline." Hans said.
Mikasa nodded. "I took my only option. It was merciful."
Eren, knuckles bleeding, sat down next to Armin. "No, it wasn't. It was cruel, damned sadistic and if it ever happens again, I'm taking my own life."
"No Eren, you are not," Mikasa said coolly. Eren turned and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when Armin, tired and catatonic, leaned up from the bar.
"We're never going back there. And no one's ever getting out."
An abyss can warp, distort and ruin those who pass through it. Pray something never leaves its depths.
6.17
Eren and Armin glared at Bertolt and Reiner. The spy duo, previously jovial, now were confused at the subtle hostility. "So..." Reiner tried. "You still want help with your ODM gear?"
Eren carefully restrained his homicidal urges. "No Reiner. I'm fi-."
BANG!
The training barracks buckled as something exploded near them. Eren, Armin, Reiner and Bertolt were tossed from their bed as the walls and floor splintered. Jean bolted up from his bed. "I'm up! I'm up Shadis!"
Eren tried to get his feet under himself. "What-"
Sasha interrupted him by falling through the roof and landing on him. "Ow," she said and went limp.
Reiner grabbed Sasha and quickly felt for her pulse. "She's alive, but unconscious. She probably has some broken bones."
Eren ignored Reiner and shot out the door and into the carnal house that the training ground had become. Bodies, some burnt, some crushed, all girls, littered the ground. The orange glow of an AT- field pinpointed Mikasa's location, showing that she was alive. The more terrifying sight was reserved for the women's barracks.
A Titan, hunchbacked, rank haired, at least a ten meter class or maybe twelve meter, was standing in the wreckage of the woman's barracks. Sniffing the air, it turned to the men's barracks and launched itself into the air, mouth open wide. Eren didn't think, he Titanized and punched the Titan in the face.
The Titan hit the ground and spun to face him with supernatural agility. That was when Eren recognized the Titan. "Ymir..."
The Titan lunged, only to miraculously miss when Eren found himself shoved to the side. Eren turned to face his savior, smiling at Mikasa as she bent a colossus of stone around her. Eren formed his armor and cracked his knuckles. On the ground, Armin was directing the boys to grab what few survivors there were amongst the girls while trying to keep them out of reach of the Dancing Titan. The Dancing Titan growled, and lunged again.
Eren stepped back and punched down, halting the Titan. Mikasa delivered a brutal blow from the top, both arms down hard on Ymir's back. "YMIR! WE ARE NOT YOUR ENEMY!"
The Dancing Titan roared and twisted away, snarling and switching tactics, going for the evacuees.
Armin retaliated, scaled up Hulk-buster armor forming around him. Stopping Ymir's blow, he retracted the helmets and looked Ymir in the eye, Geass activating. "Ymir, exit your Titan and stop fighting."
Ymir screamed at Armin and tried to rip his head off. Armin freed his arms and stopped the blow, helmets dropping back into place. Eren grabbed the Dancing Titan from under the arms in it's moment of distraction, throwing it across the courtyard.
Eren concentrated and opened his mouth. "YMIR, STOP THIS NOW!"
And then the Titan roared back. "NOT YMIR! BLAINE!" In Eren's stunned freeze, the Dancing Titan charged him and tackled him, throwing both of them into the men's barracks and crushing it. Mikasa turned and speared the Titan with two stone swords, heaving it over her head and ripping it clean in half.
The partial Titan landed next to her feet and under a waiting Armin, who began pounding it with his fists, shattering bones and rupturing muscle. The Titan screamed in pain. Armin ripped it's arms off, and finally reached for the back of the neck.
Gingerly, Armin extracted Ymir from her Titan, laying her next to it. Shunting his Hulk-buster armor into his pocket, Armin kneeled next to the comatose girl, feeling for her pulse. "She's alive, I think."
Eren quickly came into line next to Armin, scanning Ymir over with his byakugan. "She's alive. Exhausted and still regenerating from the physical trauma, but alive. Mikasa, can you-" Eren stopped dead as he saw Mikasa, silent as the grave, standing over on of the corpses that littered the ground. "Mikasa?"
Mikasa turned from Historia's body and fell into line next to Eren. "Something's possessed Ymir. Some sort of looping being. That's the only explanation for how something could try to take control of her at exactly the beginning of the loop."
Armin's eyebrow's shot up. "You saw her transform?"
Mikasa nodded. "Sasha had kept me awake, wanted tips for her ODM gear. When the loop started, Ymir fell over. Screaming about how she was going to eat everyone. It was like she was... possessed..."
"By her Titan."
The Anchors jumped nearly a foot in the air when Ganesha steppe out of thin air. The elephant god grimaced empathetically. "My apologies. I was keeping an eye on Ymir when the loop began, to see if my experiment had been successful. Evidently it was, though not in full." Their Admin's face fell as he took in the carnage. "I'm terribly sorry for all of this. Her berserker rage caught me by surprise, and I could not directly interfere in time. Your actions though, they have saved many lives."
The three Anchors were stunned silent by Ganesha's arrival, but his speech cut through Eren's veil of shock. "You... You did this? You caused her to Titanize!?"
"Not directly," Ganesha stated. "By inaction. I was trying to initialize Ymir's soul code so she would begin looping. However, her code is heavily damaged, you know this, so I was looking for another way to bring her into the loops."
Mikasa recovered her voice then. "By causing her to turn into a Titan and slaughter the trainees! How the hell would that get her looping?"
Ganesha sighed, for a moment pure exhaustion over taking his incarnation to the mortal planes. Mikasa stepped back in guilt and surprise. "Miss Ackerman... Ymir, along with the other three Titan shifters, had her code damaged to the point of near destruction. Very little of her history is fixed now. The same was true with your cousin Levi and with Historia, and it took me centuries to fix their code. I had to initiate Zoe Hanji's code, just to see what was wrong with Levi's."
Ganesha sat down, crossing his legs. "I'm a deity, but I'm also a programmer. When I saw how broken Ymir's code was, I had to do my best to fix her code first. Those repairs are actually part of the reason she's so often Armin's adoptive father. I'm trying to pinpoint the most damaged code and eliminate it."
"But what does that have to do with Ymir going crazy and Titanizing. Or her Titan saying it was called... Blaine?" Armin asked.
Ganesha pulled a tablet computer out of the air. "It was because, while I am a brilliant computer coder, I can only do some much with a static frame of reference. I needed to activate Ymir to see what the damage was exactly. As you can imagine though, her code didn't take well to it, so... I initialized a part of her."
The Anchor's were dead silent.
"I combined her Titan with an adaptive AI named Blaine, and initialized it as a looper," Ganesha admitted. "With Historia Looping, and with her Titan looping with assistance from Blaine, I suspect that Ymir's code will, perhaps quite soon, stabilize to satisfactory levels, but until then, her Titan, a mindless, simple construct will loop for her."
Eren bit his lip, fighting down a mix of fury and bile. "You got her Titan looping. And you expect her to just follow?"
Ganesha nodded sadly. "There is precedence for this. Robin and Grima, Naoki and his shadow. Ymir will retain most of her memories between loops, though not all of them. As for her Titan... Blaine is an AI that will learn to control her Titan. It will adapt to the Titan's form and mentality, but in the meantime, it will be a while before it settles down." Ganesha tapped away on his tablet. "The Blaine AI will release a customized 'ping' for you to track it down, along with some directional information. That way, you should be able to control it, at least until Ymir begins to loop properly."
Mikasa stared at the unconscious woman, who quietly slumbered. "This is all one damn curse, isn't it? We're dead, ancients, or screwed by the end of our first loop. And now we have an Artificially Intelligent Titan that calls itself Blaine looping. Why is everything like this?"
Ganesha sagged as his exhaustion returned. "I do not know the answer to that Miss Ackerman. I only know that, inside the loops, the only way out... Is through."
Armin groaned and looked at Ymir. "So, why did her Titan go berserk this loop? Shouldn't Blaine have gotten a handle on her Titan form?"
Ganesha held up a hand. "Blaine will learn. Give it time. As for her Titanizing now, Blaine was coded to start learning immediately, which it took to mean as soon as the loop started, not when she first Titanized. I'll clean that up as soon as possible."
Armin pointed at Ymir, a more despondent look on his face. "Will she remember this?"
Ganesha shook his head. "To her, this loop..."
6.18
Eren, Armin and Mikasa found themselves standing in Shiganshina, surprised at how the loop had suddenly ended. Ganesha's voice filled the empty air. "…Is nothing but a bad dream. I've awoken Blaine, and it'll spend the loop learning to control her Titan this loop. Ymir won't remember this loop either, but after this one, she'll begin to."
The trio of Anchor's could almost hear Ganesha smile. "But perhaps fate will smile upon her when she next sees Historia. Perhaps..."
6.1: At least we got to see Levi get stoned on Titan blood. And welcome Jasper Hale Cullen and Captain Levi Ackerman to the loops!
6.2: Just some light snippets.
6.3: I recently watched Captain America 2, and figured: why not.
6.4: Armin also got some pointers from Xanatos.
6.5: Evil villains are getting pretty legit in the loops.
6.6: Bit of an intermission. Welcome Aerialbots.
6.7: That was basket on a typo.
6.8: GOOOOOAAAAAAT!
6.9: She caught me by surprise as well. What can I say?
6.10: Welcome Miss Historia Reiss, to the Loops.
6.11: Bit of a mythology loop. Might as well teach you people about Attack on Titan while I'm at it.
6.12: More of a psychological loop now. Levi doesn't want to be another Kenny the Ripper.
6.13: Attack on Pacific Rim. What's not to love?
6.14: Armin's just that much of a bishi.
6.15: Started out as a normal loop for our Anchor's, but got out of hand in an awesome way.
6.16: We were having an argument as to why letting a Zombie Apocalypse world loop was a bad idea. This is my answer.
6.17: Bet you didn't see this one coming.
6.18: And welcome… oh wait, no one new is looping. Can't have four newbies, can we?