Attack on Titan: The Infinite Loops
Chapter 7
A/N: Well, another compilation, another chapter. As usual, I would like to thank the academy…
7.1
"Happy birthday dear Hange. Happy birthday to you!"
Hange blushed as the Survey Corps wound down in their rendition of happy birthday. The Corps was feeling rather happy this loop, in part to Eren, Armin and Mikasa deciding to no-sell the fall of Wall Maria. They were still making the rounds to try and root out Bertolt, Reiner and Annie, but until then Humanity was chilling out and standing tall.
Hence why the Survey Corps was happy enough and had the resources to celebrate his birthday and bake him a giant cake. Erwin handed Hange a knife. "Alright Hange, just cut out a piece. See if you like what's inside." Hange ignored Erwin's weird emphasis on his last sentence and cut himself a small slice.
Which promptly fell apart, because there was no cake underneath the frosting.
Hange, Erwin, and the Survey Corp as a whole stared at the collapsed piece of cake. Hange quickly cut himself a larger piece, only to watch it also collapse. Hange frown, and cut a piece of nearly one fourth the size of the cake. The entire confection sagged away, to reveal...
Sasha. Dozing and stuffed with an entire secretly eaten cake.
"I knew we should have sprung for a real stripper," Erwin muttered.
7.2 Crossoverpairinglover
Sticking his head down the ever changing magical cellar, Eren noted the oddly metallic door, and the single button in front of it.
The round, arrowed button.
Shaking his head, having heard of this little trap, Eren darted away.
If anyone asked, the cellar was just filled with severed bed posts again.
7.3 Crossoverpairinglover
Noting the stone necklace that Eren had picked up for Mikasa a few loops ago (and how Mikasa was currently hugging her brother in a manner that more than a few people would want to take an image of), Hans noticed something.
"Wait, isn't that stone a Gardevoirite?"
Could a Mega-Stone work on a looper who had gained the power of said species?
Noting his question, Hange looked somewhat amused.
Mega-Mikasa was something she'd have to see one of these days. Let the testing begin!
7.4
Sasha had, predictably, stolen a steamed potato. She had, predictably, eaten it in the cadet line up. And Shadis had, predictably, chewed her out for it. Thus, Sasha was made to run laps and passed out when she could run no more.
Historia hadn't exactly been happy to help Sasha the first time around, but now she was comfortable with it. She and Sasha understood each other, knew what it was like to try to be something you weren't to be accepted. Krista had been her way of being accepted once. Now she didn't need to be accepted.
It was liberating, to have friends.
"KAAAAAAAMIIIIIIIIII!"
And seeing Sasha act like this was always funny. "Hahaha... settle down, settle down. Just eat your bread... before you... pass... out..." Historia huffed as Sasha, predictably (the loops loved being predictable), fainted from exhaustion. "Well, I guess I'll have to carry her. On my own. Without any help. Pulling someone bigger."
'Come on Ymir, where are you?'
On cue, Ymir walked out of the dark, bemused as to Historia's and Sasha's predicament. "Heh. That'll teach her to eat in line."
Historia frowned to herself, but projected an air of concern outward. "You don't know why she was eating in line. So why would you judge her for it?"
Ymir chuckled, kneeling down to look Historia in the eye. "Because, if everyone only made decisions when they had all the facts, they'd never get anywhere. Besides, that doesn't stop things from changing on you." Ymir, to illustrate her point, heaved Sasha over her shoulder and started walking to the women's barracks.
Historia jogged to catch up. "So why are you helping her now? So she'll owe you."
"Well yes I... I'm... No that's not it." Ymir frowned in confusion, before her apparent blank in memory cleared itself up. "No, I'm doing it because if I don't, no one else will?" Ymir shrugged to herself and kept walking. "Sometimes you just need to do what needs to be done. Right Historia? Historia?"
Historia had frozen up, several steps behind Ymir. The tall girl raised an eyebrow, smirking self-confidently. "What, you need me to carry you as well? Too bad girl, this is a one person operation and you're not the one who needs it." When Historia didn't rise to the challenge, Ymir got a little concerned. "Hey, you okay there?"
"...Say my name."
Ymir raised an eyebrow. "Uh... okay. Historia."
Historia started to close the gap between her and Ymir. "Say it again."
"Historia," Ymir said, her inflection changing. Ymir stared at the girl in front of her. She seemed so... familiar. Like a dream, trapped in a lost wilderness. "Historia."
Historia stopped, looking up at Ymir. "Ymir."
...a snow covered forest...
"Historia."
...a foolish girl who wanted to die a hero's death...
"What do you remember Ymir?"
...a cold girl who's frozen heart had begun to crack...
"I don't know what you're talking about Historia."
...an exhausted man who didn't deserve to live...
"Then do you know what you're feeling."
...but together...
"Yes."
...they'd all come back alive...
"Then you know what to do."
...because together, they had saved a life.
Ymir leaned down, and kissed Historia...
...on the forehead. Historia giggled. "Silly, that's not what you're supposed to do."
Ymir cocked a grin. "Then maybe you could show me what to do?"
Historia laughed out loud. Sasha, still unconscious from her run, shifted on Ymir's shoulder, and groaned. In the background, Keith Shadis took one look at the new pairing, and walked away. 'Bout time.'
7.5 Crossoverpairinglover
Armin was an easy target for people to pick on. The small and intelligent were always hated by the large and dumb, and thus the large and dumb would respond with violence.
Of course, the small and smart win out in the end. Be it in the case of mammals and dinosaurs or C.E.O's and janitors, the Armins were to always inherit the earth.
However, looping made the annoyances that were muscle worshiping lugs of flesh much more so. Enough so that Armin had great temptations to use the force to make them jump off a wall.
It was generally more humane than Mikasa noticing them, at any rate.
However...
WAMP!
The trio of cadets whose destiny in life was to drop out second year who had been leaning over him with a look that suggested starvation in Armin's future (By theft of food while Mikasa wasn't around to murder them for it) were whacked in the back of their heads by an oddly furious looking Ymir.
While the trio darted away from the furious looking Titan-Shifter incognito, Armin looked at the usually aloof soldier-in-training in some surprise.
"What? Do you think I'd let those assholes hurt my little Armie now would I?" Ymir told the surprised Armin in the same tone that one might get if a parent was asked by their child (with whom there was a good relationship, as in not Gendo and Shinji) why they saved their life.
Armie, however, was probably the most unnerving part of the whole thing. Armie was the nickname that Ymir gave him whenever he was her son with Historia/Krista/etc. (adopted or biological).
Why did she just call him that?
Idly looking to his side, he noticed the unawake Krista giving him a dirty look.
Great, now people were going to think he was in a love triangle with his occasional mothers!
7.6
"You wanna what now?" Naruto asked.
Naruto, Mikasa, Armin and Eren had gathered well outside of Wall Maria, deep inside the Titan Badlands and inside a forest clearing. Mikasa had led the four out there, intent on something. Now that they knew what she wanted though, the boys were wondering if Mikasa was sane. "I said, I want to fight you in a wagered match. No holds barred, winner take all."
Naruto, as one of the Original Seven, was ancient and hyper powerful. He could, should the whim strike him, create entire suns. Not just small suns either, Suns that could go supernova in a few millennia. "I'm sorry, could you say that again. I think I've got some crazy stuck in my ear."
Eren used the moment to grab Mikasa and drag her back away from Naruto. "Mikasa, what the hell are you doing? He's... he's Naruto. He'll mop the floor with you."
Mikasa shook her hand. "Trust me Eren, he won't win. I've got an ace in the hole that'll work even against him."
Armin nearly exploded. "Against HIM? He's Naruto Fucking Uzumaki. He wrote the book on beating Aces. He mopped the floor with gods, kings, soldiers. He'll murder you." Armin went incredibly pale at that thought. "Mikasa, please. We don't want to suffer through loops without you."
Mikasa smiled sadly and pulled her brothers into a hug. "Trust me. Can you at least do that?"
Eren winced at the guilt trip, but soldiered on. "No. This Naruto. He'll beat you."
"Then make sure you beat him for me," Mikasa said. "Look you guys, I'm doing this. I'm strong enough to win. Besides, this isn't a fight to the death, it's just a bout."
"Hey, are going to get the show on the road here or what?" Naruto asked. The Anchors for the home loop split up, Armin and Eren stepping back.
"Good luck."
"Won't need it."
As Mikasa approached Naruto, she pulled out a black cube and tossed it onto the ground between her and Naruto. "This is a holo-projector. It will outline a sphere 9.3 meters in diameter. If more than forty percent of your body mass exits the sphere, you lose."
Naruto chuckled. "An area limit? Easy. What's up for wager?"
Mikasa opened her subspace pocket and pulled out an enormous flying aircraft carrier. "This is The Carla. Modified SHIELD helicarrier, previously owned by Scootaloo of the Ponies. Your wager?"
Naruto 'hmm'ed. "Well, since these are some pretty long odds in my favor, I guess you can have this." Naruto removed a long otachi, a great-katana, and showed it to Mikasa. "This is Van Black. I spent a few centuries making it. It's essentially the seventy third most power sword in the multiverse." Naruto smiled cheekily. "I happen to own seventy of the better swords."
This was not remotely true. Many of the better swords were either owned by Ichigo Kurosaki or Asuka Langely Soryu. "I think that's equal wager."
Mikasa nodded, setting The Carla down. "Armin, please count down."
Armin shouted from the edge of the clearing. "Three!"
"You can still back out Mikasa."
"Two!"
"In. Your. Dreams."
"One!"
"Your funeral."
"Go!"
Naruto charged forward, blue chakra spiraling in his left hand. "Rasengan!"
Mikasa didn't move, merely channeling her inner energy and at the opportune moment, changing it. A whole set of different narrative laws suddenly took over at that moment. Naruto went from closing the gap one moment, to stumbling as he tripped over an exposed root. "WOAH!"
Naruto staggered and grabbed a hold of something to stop himself from falling over. "Man... that was close." Naruto then noticed something about what he had grabbed. It was round. Squishy. Relatively small. And it was attached to Mikasa's chest.
For a second, Mikasa glared at the boy who was accidentally groping her. "You..."
Naruto realized, at that second, he'd been had.
"PERVERT!" Mikasa pulled a hammer out of hammer space (not her subspace pocket) and landed a blow on Naruto that sent him flying through the air, and ended up sending him through a tree, and into another one behind the first tree.
The buzzer of the holo-cube recognizing him as having exited the combat territory, was insult to injury. The member of the original seven blundered back into the clearing, disheveled. "How... how did you do that?"
Mikasa smirked confidently. "I spent years studying this technique. The specifics would take quite a while to explain, but suffice to say, I've weaponized Tsundere."
In the background, Eren and Armin were giving her and standing ovation. Naruto held up a finger. "This never, ever, leaves this loop. Got it?"
7.7
Keith Shadis had never asked to become a looper. He'd never asked to be put back in the position of leader of the Survey Corps. He'd never wanted to know the names of exactly who would live and who would die in each class of cadets he trained. All he had ever wanted to do was make his cadets better.
The first loop he had ever experienced had ruined that. His first loop had brought him into the incredibly strange world of Remnant, a realm populated by humans, strange part-animal Faunus, and monstrous Grimm that had reminded him far too much of the Titans. The person he had been then, Keith Arc, hadn't been prepared to fight. He'd only had a shield and sword. Ruby Rose and Pyrrha Nikos had taught him much though.
The loops did also offer a few opportunities to observe the cadets. Shadis could tell, at a glance, just whom was Awake based on the looks of each cadet in the lineup of the 104th cadet corp. He could see, purely from the looks on Mikasa, Eren, and Armin's faces, that they were Awake. He could recognize that Sasha, Jean, Connie and Krista were also loopers. He also suspected that Zoe Hange and Captain Levi were looping, as was the mysterious girl named Ymir.
Hence why, today, Keith quietly trooped past Armin, walked down the line, and screamed at Connie. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU DIPSHIT!? IS YOUR HEART ON YOUR RIGHT SIDE!? YOU'RE NOT A SOLDIER, YOU'RE A SMALL TITAN YOU'RE SO DUMB!"
Connie Springer flinched under Shadis' shouts. Keith held back a satisfied smile as he did so. Once he was finished breaking these soldiers, he'd build them back up as Titan killing powerhouses... assuming he could succeed, of course.
In was late into the evening as Keith finished his report to Sina regarding the new recruits. Naturally, he'd gone through the generic "they're shit!" response that he always went with. It made sure that the military police stayed off their case, and gave him the freedom to subtly improve things. In time, he'd motion for slightly greater emphasis on 3DMG (or ODMG, depending on what his loop was like), and from there would slowly but imperceptibly begin to weaken the three spies amongst the 104th.
He did have to hand it to Yeager though. He had the same mind that his father had. Lobbying to have all cadets practice with faulty gear was a brilliant move, one that left Shadis beating himself up over for not implementing himself. He didn't have Arlert's tactical genius, or even Ackerman's pure, absolute skill, but he knew people and how they needed to be prepared. He really was like Grisha in that way.
The thoughts of the Yeager patriarch stirred more memories for Shadis. He had known Grisha. In every world he could recall, he had known Grisha Yeager, in some manner. It changed though. Sometimes he was an old friend, or a drinking buddy, or a former comrade, or a patient who owned Grisha his life, or once a... Keith shuddered to remember the time he and Grisha had both been Titan Shifters.
The truly disturbing thing though was that, as he was a looper, his Shifter abilities had carried over to the next loop. He'd even been able to integrate his Titan form with his Aura to create something that was almost like an unarmored Evangelion.
That had been a disturbing loop.
Keith put the finishing touches on his report. Soon, the he'd be working to improve the soldiers, as he had once been improved. Once that was done...
Keith would be silent, and wait. He had never wanted to be a looper. He had seen what had happened to Levi, to Hange, to Krista. The loop was cursed. If he ever revealed himself, he had no idea what would happen to him. He had led the survey corps on countless fruitless and terrible expeditions, with only bodies to show for it, and sometimes not even those.
Simply put, Keith knew there was very little he could do, compared to Eren, Armin and Mikasa. In those cases, all he did, all he could do, was sit back and wait and watch.
So was his terrible and strange lot in life.
7.8 SeaOfFallingStars
Annie was running from them. This was fairly easy to understand: they had chased her to an area where she couldn't titanize so they could try and capture her. Mikasa had gotten in a few good hits, while Connie proved his worth by using those strange powers to blind and confuse Annie. The rest of them had just been running interference.
Finally, Annie's desperation outweighed her rational mind and she tripped. Before should could start to get up, roots grew around and over her. Followed by some sprouting... potatoes?
"Nice job Sasha. You know this makes your nickname your superheroine name, right?" Connie may have been joking, but 'Potato Girl' rolled her eyes.
"Alright, she's caught. Now, whoever thought this was a good idea, go and do it. I'm setting up the camera so we can show it to the 'adults' in our loop." Sasha was stifling laughter. This was a good prank idea.
Mikasa was trying to glare holes in Annie's back, but lacking laser vision, she couldn't. The non-looper was a major pain for her to deal with.
"Ready guys?" Eren.
A pair of agreements. The sound of clothes shifting without being taken off. A stereo being turned on.
Then, Eren, Armin, and Connie started dancing Smooth Criminal.
When they showed it to Hanz, it took the Garrison captain several minutes to stop laughing.
7.9
On her bed in the woman's barracks, Historia held up a card. The words 'Eren's First Titanization' were emblazoned on them. Sitting across from her, Ymir was staring intently at the card, thinking very, very hard. "Uh... Stohess district?"
Historia wordlessly flipped the card over. 'Battle of Trost' was written on the back. Between the two, Armin scribbled down Ymir's response. Ymir groaned and cradled her head in her hands. "Again."
Historia held up another card. 'Who planned to seal Trost' was the question. Ymir scratched at her chin, thinking furiously. "Hmm... Pixis!"
The back of the card read 'Armin'. Armin himself chuckled at the gaff and wrote down Ymir's missed point.
"God dammit," Ymir growled. "Again."
'Connie's rank in 104th.'
Ymir bit her lip. "Uh... Connie... Seventh! No, wait." A look of epiphany over took Ymir's face. "Connie wasn't seventh that was Marco... Sasha's better than Connie... You're tenth... Connie was eighth."
Historia beamed and flipped the card over. 'Eighth' was emblazoned on the card's back. Armin himself sported a small smile as he wrote down the fact. Ymir pumped her fist. "Yes. Alright, again."
'Who gave Eren his Shifting powers?'
"Uh..." Ymir's mind threw her a total blank. "Uh... I love you?"
Historia set down her card, leaned over and kissed Ymir. "Nice try. Again?"
"Again."
The testing continued for an hour in seclusion, as Ymir tried, succeeded, and mostly failed, to recall the events of the future. As the long testing wrapped up, Armin tallied the points and pointed at the dreamer. "Congratulations Ymir. You're current lucidity score has surpassed your best so far."
"Yay me," Ymir deadpanned. "Does that actually mean anything?"
"Your memory is getting better. It's just as Ganesha predicted. Eventually, even if your past remains inconsistent, you'll loop normally."
"And you know what that means," Historia chimed in, smiling.
"Hmm..." Ymir went sardonically. "It means wild sex for the first time?"
Armin, having packed his papers away, gagged involuntarily. "You... what? Don't say that," he shouted at the girl who was occasionally his mother. Historia gasped though.
"You're right! And better yet, I didn't tell you this loop! Armin, she remembered something else. Quick, write it down before you forget."
"That was really just a guess..." Ymir murmured as Historia bounced joyfully.
"I hope I never walk in on you two," Armin muttered.
7.10 Crossoverpairinglover
It was on rare occasions that the wall held back something else.
Something that was not a large, lumbering piece of flesh that wanted to eat humanity.
It had been Sharks once, another time Mexicans, a time it had been Tax Collectors and everyone in the wall was just a crazy paranoid nutcase that Armin recalled from his presidency with great disdain.
This time, however...
"Oh crap, it's the Beast Titans!"
Connie's panicked cries rang off from the top of Wall Rose as a great mass of hairy giants, all armed with giant tomahawks the likes of which were normally only seen with the 5th member of the 13th Order, camped out before the wall as if waiting to let loose a great attack.
Levi, who was keeping an eye on things, shook his head "No, those are not Beast Titans. That is merely an army of Sasquatch who wish to murder the entire human race".
"Sasu-what?"
"Sasquatch, also known by many other names by hub tribes. It is most commonly referred to as Bigfoot"
Hange had shown up as well, accompanied by a few dozen porters from the Garrison lugging behind them a myriad of scientific equipment, and looked, as ever, interested in studying the dangerous force that was against humanity.
"It really is fascinating." she (as she was a she at the moment) continued "Apparently, an Ackerman killed their king 100 years ago, so they decided to exterminate all of humanity in revenge. They have a rather complex culture..."
"Damn, how many Ackermans are there!?" Connie cut her off as Levi snorted at the question, before he noticed something in the distance.
Some very large somethings, flying through the sky.
Hange broke out into a huge grin at what was coming.
"Oh...God..." Connie gulped as the Garrison minions dropped the supplies off and ran for their lives.
"Are those Sasquatch, riding Dragons?" Levi stated the obvious.
"I know, it's simply amazing! Dragon domestication is so hard to do, truly this shows their intelligence and patience..."
A large boom struck the wall as something large impacted into it just a section away from them.
"Sasquatch riding Dragons, armed with cannons! That is just not fair! What do we have that could possibly match that!" Connie complained.
"Mikasa" was Levi's answer.
7.11 SupernaturalCrossoverGirl
It was strange, being back in New York City. Eren had been there twice before, but the first time he... broke Harlem, and the second time was with The Avengers against Loki's Chitauri army. In short, not like this. Not with rats running around attacking people in giant droves. Of course, that was a while ago, but still, weird. Though, way better then Titans.
Levi was his brother this loop- his elder brother who worked as a bodyguard. It was just the two of them, and it felt weird, being there. No Mikasa, no Armin, just them.
And Casey, who was Eren's best friend, and a fellow hockey player. Eren actually liked the guy, and enjoyed playing hockey, even though he lost a tooth the last time, and had to explain why it grew back.
"So, should I just go up and ask her for help?"
"You are using trig as an excuse to get a date, I highly doubt it matters what you do. She's going to think you're crazy no matter what." Eren told his friend, who just flashed a smile and went off to asked April O'Neil out. Or to be his tutor. Either was pretty much the same, really for Casey.
Levi frowned as he stared at the shop- Murakami's shop was one of the better places to eat, but it always smelled like turtle in it. It could be because of the turtle soup, but it smelled fresh sometimes. He never brought it up, but vowed to make sure no one was messing with the blind old man by bringing in pets- though Murakami probably would have known before then.
Then it happened. Giant rats kidnapped about half the city, and Eren spotted Casey, wearing a goalie mask that was spray painted. Levi was still knocked out, so Eren waited while the strange man who was obviously blind, ranted about mutating everyone into rats.
When the fight broke out, Eren was itching to join in, so ignoring April, who was trying to get him to move, he did, along with Levi who was pissed at being knocked out.
That was when they met the turtles, and Eren decided he really liked this loop.
7.12
When one was time looping through the multiverse, one often took the opportunity to see what events could be changed. What would happen if you had saved someone else's life, or married a different girl, or something as simple as switching out your SO's tea for coffee.
These sorts of events did not often happen in the Attack loops. The world was a volatile thing, with the minutest alterations causing drastic changes further down the line. More substantial alterations tended to proliferate into total loop crashes. These were not fun.
For the Attack loopers, this tended to limit the options for what they could do during a given loop. Usually, they stuck to making big changes at the end of their looping period, which tended to work out well. Trost, the 57th expedition, Stohess, Ragako village and Castle Utgard, the Crown Conspiracy and Eren and Historia's kidnapping all happened within that span of time.
For the loopers, it tended to be enough time to have their fun that made the five years of starving, military training and combat that led up to it all worth it. Sometimes though, the stress of it all got to be too much, and the loopers decided to risk it. This was one such time.
It was abnormally early in the loop. Shockingly early in fact: Eren was alone, two years before Mikasa's parents would die (they always died, be it from bandits, grizzly bear mauling, disease, lightning strikes, malnutrition, etc.) and three years before Bertolt would show up and kick in humanity's door. In fact, the loop started smack dab in the middle of that plague his dad had cured.
Eren, on a purely professional basis, admired his father. The man may have been a spectacular bastard for not actually telling him why he needed to take control of the coordinate or go to their basement or eat him, but Grisha was an amazing doctor. He understood more about medicine than anyone else who wasn't looping. Hence how he was able to cure the plague.
This loop though, something was different. Carla, horror of horrors, had caught the plague. Grisha was trying everything he knew to try and treat the plague, but he couldn't succeed. It seemed as if the plague was deliberately fighting everything Grisha threw at it. The damn thing was as resilient as the Titans.
It was as Eren was bent over his mother, rubbing a cold towel onto her forehead, that he had his idea. Taking only a second, he bolted to the door to the basement and pounded it with his fist. "Dad! Dad! I have an idea!"
The plan was simple, in its own right. Grisha, being a Titan shifter, would extract a small amount of his spinal fluid and set about watering it down, to create a cure that would give a human the resilience of a Titan, without actually turning them into one. It was a very fine line to walk.
Of course, Grisha immediately questioned how Eren knew about the fact he was a Titan Shifter, to which Eren replied: "you talk in your sleep."
Grisha made no comment and decided that if that was the best explanation he would get, he'd go with it.
It took a week for Grisha to culture a cure from his spinal fluid during which, miraculously, Carla held on to her life. Grisha and Eren's first immunization was Carla herself; waiting any longer would do her no good.
The next morning, Eren and Grisha, having spent almost a whole week without sleep, were roused by a cheerful, whole and heart Carla. By noon, the world was all across the district; a cure had been found by Grisha Yeager. By the end of the week, the mourners were the only remnant of the terrible plague. The most important part of the serum, the cure, had worked.
It was several weeks later when a storm caused the Yeager household to collapse and crush Eren, Grisha and Carla that the second most important part of the serum was revealed.
"You are shitting me."
Mikasa and Armin were staring at Eren, having just Awoken. The Nebulous Anchor system was strange like that: usually all three of them Awoke simultaneously, but sometimes they would Awaken at staggered intervals. Mikasa, having been the first to arrive, was the first to ask questions.
Eren himself smiled. "Nope. I'm telling you Mikasa, we cracked it. We really were able to transfer a Titan's healing factor without causing Titanization. It save us from being crushed when our house collapsed."
Armin held up a hand. "Eren, I know that you have confidence in your and your father's work, but isn't this a little..."
"Awesome!"
"...Fishy." Armin grimaced. "Are you certain that this works?"
Eren nodded vigorously. "Of course I am. Look, Armin, come over here. I'll inoculate you and Mikasa and show you that this works." Eren pulled a case with several vials and a medical needle out of his pocket. "Just give me your consent, and you'll be healing."
Armin and Mikasa shared a glance, before the Ackerman youth stuck out her arm. "First me, then Armin."
"Sure thing Mikasa," Eren loaded the injector with some serum, flushed the air from it, and swabbed down Mikasa's arm before carefully sticking her with the needle. "Now, we''l1 ju5t $d s0#3 /;:-"
Eren, Armin and Mikasa found themselves standing on a secluded beach, clad in nomex suits, with a motor cycle, truck, and dune buggy all off to the side. Eren looked up and down the deserted beach confused. "Uh... what?"
And then: "WHAT THE HELL! WHERE ARE WE?"
Armin looked at the vehicles, confused and more than a touch impressed. "We appear to be in Motorstorm again. I think this is the Pacific Rift Festival." Armin pulled at his nomex suit. "Would explain the racing suits."
Mikasa wordlessly zipped her suit up to her neck and sat down on the beach. "Vacation loop?"
Eren pointed at Mikasa. "Yes, after I figure out why we're here. Okay..." Eren started searching through his subspace pocket, before pulling out a piece of paper with a "Eureka!" He read it aloud. "Dear Eren, Mikasa and Armin. My sincerest apologies for the crash, it appears that the relevant Titan codes did not integrate with Mikasa's code. Enjoy your loop, your Admin, Ganesha." Eren stared at the paper, before tossing it aside. "Well... crap. There goes my healing factor injection."
Armin playfully punched Eren on the shoulder. "Hey, we have a vacation loop. Let's make the most of it."
Eren smiled. "Sure."
Mikasa rolled her head back and looked at Eren and Armin. "You two want to race?"
Armin made a break for his dune buggy. "You're on!"
Eren rushed his truck. "Yeah right!"
Mikasa then outstripped both of them, hopped on to her bike, and revved off. "Good bye boys!"
7.13
"Hannes, do you hate Reiner?"
Historia's question threw Hannes for a loop, distracting him from his work on the Carla's deck. "Uh, what? Come again?"
The princess incognito shrugged her shoulders awkwardly and repeated her question. "Well... I mean, do you hate Bertolt, Reiner and Annie?" Historia's despondent look hinted at a reason for her question, one that Hannes painfully noted was very familiar.
"If you mean, do I hate them personally, then the answer is no. My only issue with them is professional." Hannes frowned slightly. "I do not believe I could ever hate those three."
Historia was hugging herself tightly, shaking slightly. "Why not? They destroyed Wall Maria, they're responsible for killing one fifth of humanity. Why don't you hate them?"
Hannes sighed and pulled his welding goggles off, standing to look the newest loop dead in the eyes. "I don't hate them for the same reason you don't. You don't fault someone for what they're taught to do. You fault their teachers, you go after the people who made them who they were."
"But they took Ymir!"
Hannes held up his hand, stopping Historia in her tracks. "Ymir went with them. Of her own free will. Bertolt and Reiner didn't kidnap her, didn't force her to do anything she didn't want to do. Ymir chose to help them."
"But-"
"Did you know," Hannes said, overriding Historia's rebuttal, "that during the siege of Trost, Annie saved Jean's life? Jean was flying right towards a Titan's mouth, and then, bam! Annie's there, on the Titan's neck, forcing it down. Jean missed that Titan by the skin on his teeth, and the only reason he survived that was Annie. Reiner was the person people went to for advice, for help. He stood up for everyone, helped anyone he could. Bertolt, man the things I've heard about him. He knew how people ticked. He could look at you and know what was eating you before you had closed the door."
Hannes' smile faded. "They didn't know what they had done was wrong, and Trost taught them much. Annie never took an innocent life, Bertolt lost all of his will, and Reiner snapped completely and developed a split personality. Annie's massacre of the 57th? If she didn't then she and her friends would have failed in their mission then and there, and they would have been party to the deaths of... shit, they didn't even know that one fifth of humanity would be killed." Hannes, weary, sat down on the deck. Historia dropped to her knees.
"They... they didn't know?"
"They never did." Hannes squeezed the bridge of his nose, willing the angst away. "Reiner, Annie and Bertolt aren't bad people. They're just messed up, and messing up more in a messed up world."
"But the 57th... all those people."
"Volunteers. People who chose to be out there, to fight the Titans. We chose to fight them. The Titans never chose to fight us. And the Shifter's knew that. They knew that each Titan was once a living human being. That they had the potential to one day be healed. They knew that. They knew that the 104th Cadet Corp was filled with their friends, people who had chosen to kill the Titans."
Historia and Hannes sat there for a while. Hannes choked down a sob and looked at Historia. "It's just this damn war. It's just war."
Historia looked Hannes straight in the eye. "How can Eren, Armin, and Mikasa hate them?"
Hannes sighed, stood up, and walked away. "That is a question I'm too scared to answer. Goodbye."
7.14
"Eren, this is wrong."
Eren cocked an eyebrow at Mikasa, hidden next to him in the bushes. "You think this is wrong? You're one to talk. I've seen what you and Armin get up to with Annie." Eren finagled with his remote control and check for the umpteenth time that the bait was still out on the road. "This isn't wrong: this is tame."
Down the road strode Bertolt, whistling a jaunty tune and quietly going about his day. As he was walking he spotted something downright strange. "Is that a..."
The plate of chocolate glistened in the sun.
Bertolt squeezed with joy as he realized that his eyes were not deceiving him. "Chocolate! Yay!" Bertolt grabbed the plate and took on of the chocolate. "Precious."
BANG!
The chocolate exploded, and took most of Bertolt's face with it. In the bushes, Eren pumped his fist. "Yes! Test one is a complete success."
A piece of fudge bounced nonchalantly my off of Mikasa's head. "That was so wrong."
Eren looked at his sister. Mikasa looked back. For a moment, no one spoke. Then they broke out laughing. Mikasa doubled over, crying with laughter. "God did you see his face! And just that look right before it blew up! AHHHAHAHAH!"
Out in the road, Bertolt's face was healing fast. Quieting down, Eren and Mikasa peeked out of the bushes again. Bertolt, being very confused, whimpered quietly. "Chocolate...?"
Eren and Mikasa covered their mouths again and tried not to laugh.
7.15
It started with twelve hundred tons of cheap yarn. It involved one 15 meter class Titan, a blond director with a megaphone, and an army of Mikasa. It lasted all night.
The next morning, it was revealed.
Erwin led Eren, Armin and Mikasa into his office, enjoying the feel of the new carpet. Opening the yarn covered door, Erwin guided them past the linen-craft furniture and to the front of his sweater-desk. Taking only a moment to open a window (which amounted to taking a pairing blade and hacking a hole through the castle's new cozy) Erwin sat at his desk as stared at the trio. "Well..."
Eren, hunched over and plugging his ears, groaned at the noise. "Oh... be quiet. Please." A ray of sun bounced off Erwin's sweater desk. "Too bright," Eren moaned. To one side of him, Mikasa was stoically ignoring her hangover, while to the other side, Armin had donned sunglasses and tracked down an Armin-sized cozy to stay in.
Erwin banged his hand into his desk, sending a jolt of pain through the three cadets. "I don't care if you're hung-over! I just want an explanation!"
Armin readjusted his sunglasses. "Do you want a 'how' or 'why' explanation?"
Erwin gesticulated wildly. "Both! You, you, look at this!" Erwin went to the cut out window and pointed at the castle at large. "You've covered the entire castle in a giant cozy! Look at my desk! It has a sweater! It... It... Desks don't sweat!"
Armin moaned in pain. "I don't know why... we were drunk. I can't quite remember how either..." Aim furrowed his brow. "I think it involved... a Titan, at one point. And Mikasa." Armin giggled a little bit, some of the alcohol still in his system. "A lot of Mikasa."
Erwin cocked an eyebrow thoughtfully. "How much Mikasa?"
"...An army?"
Erwin went to the window and looked out at the carpeted foreyard. "Hange wasn't crazy! There was an army of Mikasa's out last night. Let him go!"
Returning to his desk, Erwin groaned. "What exactly are we supposed to do with all of this useless knitting?"
"...sell it."
And so, later that week, Erwin watched in stunned disbelief as nobles from Sina squabbled amongst themselves to try and obtain even a throw rug made from the, as the appraiser called it, 'ludicrously high quality knitting'. Erwin looked at the three equally surprised, and much more sober, cadets that had knitted it all. "How badly would you three want a job here, knitting regularly?"
7.16
How exactly Connie found himself being dragged by Sasha into yet another raid on the officer's pantry was a story for another day. It wasn't unusual for Connie, especially after he had learned lock-picking. It was even fun.
Of course, it did lead to some interesting situations. One such situation was when he and Sasha had stumbled onto an illegal gambling ring taking place in the food stores and being secretly run by Shadis. Through an ingenious combination of card-counting, careful psycho-analysis, and probably the most risky bet this side of the multiverse, Connie and Sasha had replaced King Fritz as monarchs of humanity. It had been a very fun loop.
A later run had caused the duo to accidentally stumble upon a secret passage deep underneath the walls that linked the training camp to a chocolate factory in Chlorba, the king's dressing room, the vault of a prestigious bank, Levi's secret stash of pot, and Grisha's basement.
That had been fun as well, but what Connie and Sasha found this time really took the cake.
"Yo," Reiner said as he swung past.
Connie and Sasha stared at Reiner. Reiner smiled awkwardly. "Yeah... kinda embarrassing, this is. Could you cut me down?"
Connie took a moment to fully comprehend what he was seeing. Reiner was tied upside down and immobilized in ODM belts. He was also as naked as the day he was born. "Uh..."
Reiner was blushing in embarrassment... or maybe it was a circulation problem. Humans were not meant to live upside down. "Come on Connie, this is embarrassing. Cut me down."
Connie pulled out his knife, only for Sasha to reach over and push against his chest. "No... leave him be..." Sasha half-spoke, half-moaned. She was, to put it colloquially, enjoying the view.
Reiner took notice of Sasha's stare and decided to nip a crush in the bud. "Sasha, I'm gay; you can look, but you will never touch. And It would be even better if you'd stop looking."
Connie forced Sasha off of him and quickly and carefully cut Reiner loose, even handing him a poncho for his modesty. "So... how exactly did you get tied up in a store room, again?"
Reiner's blush, which had been fading thanks to his inversion, returned full force. "Uh... hehe. Well... Armin and Eren asked me if I knew anything... about bondage."
For a full minute, Connie, Reiner and Sasha stared awkwardly at each other. "And they just left you like this?"
"Yeah..."
Connie nodded, turned on his heel, and left the room, left the building, left the training grounds, left the southern region, left the walls, and after being sufficiently far away, turned around and shouted. "NOPE!"
7.17 Shimmer712
"…I ask of you are you my master?" Mikasa blinked as she woke, the words she was saying coming out of her mouth as registered her surroundings.
"…Yeah, I am," the red headed boy in front of her said, seeming to be a bit disappointed.
Before they could go any further, a man in a blue body suit with a red spear burst in and tried to attack. Mikasa quickly blocked his blow with her sword – why was her sword invisible? – and counter attacked, driving him out of the shed.
She fought him in a while, until he withdraw, complaining of his master calling back. Once he was gone, Mikasa paused and checked her loop memories.
So her sword was magic, she was king who was fighting to win a magic cup and wish to have never been king, she was something called a Servant which seemed to be some magically summoned soldier, she was in the class called Saber and would probably be addressed by that to hide her identity and she had to fight six other servants to get the magic cup and wish.
Okay then.
She turned to her master, wondering where Armin and Eren were and if they were in this Holy Grail War thing too.
…
Armin blinked and looked at the gate he was seated in front of before checking his loop memories.
"Oh, c'mon!" he muttered when he found he was replacing someone didn't even have a name in this world and had been summoned to fill in for someone else. Then he considered one of the abilities he had in this loop.
Being able to land three separate hits simultaneously could be useful, especially if he would get them landing on different targets. But what really interested Armin was the ability Presence Concealment. While normally someone summoned as Assassin would get the skill as part of the class, he didn't due to being an irregular. But the person he was replacing had it on their own anyone.
Armin grinned, wonder if it would work on titans and formulating a number of plans to have fun with the ability.
"Alright, Berserker! It is time to leave for Japan and win the Holy Grail!" the young pale girl proclaimed. "And we shall have to pay a visit to Oni-chan too!" she added, a cruel smile on her face.
Eren roared mindlessly in response.
7.18
Levi was stunned. Shocked. Flabbergasted (if you wanted to break out the thesaurus). Simply put, this was something he had never suspected, never expected, and never thought he would ever see again. The loop started only after Wall Maria got kicked in. He had never realized that, even in breadth of Yggdrasil's strange variants, he would see this occur.
Isabel waved her hand in front of Levi's face. "Levi? You're staring again. Hello, anyone home?" Isabel cheekily knocked on Levi's head. "You're not having a psychotic break, are you?"
Farlan set his ration of bread aside, looking at his superior. "Hey Cappy, you okay? You didn't eat something that's disagreeing with you again, right?"
Isabel was still knocking on Levi's head. "You know, I think I like this new Levi. Quiet, cute, kinda like a statue. All the strengths with none of the weaknesses." Isabel sat back and waited for Levi's retort.
When there was no retort, Farlan gulped a little bit and waved his hand in front of Levi's far, getting no reaction from him. "Uh... Levi? Are you okay?"
Levi didn't answer. Farlan and Isabel's eyes widened. Isabel, ever so cautiously, took a spoonful of her coffee and poured it on Levi's shoulder. Levi's lack of reaction spoke volumes to Isabel, who realized something was terribly wrong. "Oh crap. Levi? Levi!"
Isabel vaulted over the table and turned Levi's head to look at her. "Farlan, get a doctor, Levi's in shock."
"Already on it." Farlan got up and turned from the table, only to be tackled from behind by Levi. Isabel, who had been dragged by Levi over the table, barely kept her feet under her as Levi pulled both of them into a rib cracking embrace. "Levi..." Farlan asked worriedly.
"Never... Leave me..." Levi said, actually fighting back tears.
It was at that moment that Hange burst into the otherwise deserted mess hall and got an eyeful of Levi and his oldest friends. "Holy Fuck you're alive again!"
Eren was... confused to say the least. Amazed that this particular variant had cropped up not twice, but thrice in a row. He was also more than a little angry at Levi. "You told them about the time loops?"
Levi was glaring at Eren to beat the band, really throwing all of his skill with glares into it. "Obviously. Do you tell Armin and Mikasa about the loops when they're not Awake?"
Eren ground his teeth and tried to keep looking Levi straight in the eye. It was actually getting harder by the minute. "Yes, we do. But only on a case by case basis. You can't... you can't live with yourself when you tell them every time."
Levi allowed his glare to racket itself up a few levels before he turned away from Eren. "They're Farlan and Isabel. I would never hide this from them." Levi turned on his heel and walked back into in room that Armin, Farlan, Isabel and Hange had absconded themselves to. Outside, Eren slapped his forehead in frustration. "Damn it all..."
Eren knew who Farlan and Isabel were, just not by association. They had been Levi's oldest friends, from way back in the days when Levi had been a vagabond prowling the streets and picking pockets. Three orphans who had found each other. Just like him, Armin and Mikasa.
The difference? Armin and Mikasa were alive, while Levi, who had planned to kill Commander Erwin for shanghaiing the three of them into the Survey Corps, had led Isabel and Farlan to their deaths. Eaten by Titans, apparently. Levi blamed himself and his search for vengeance for their deaths.
Had Eren been slightly more introspective, he may have noted the further parallels between him and Levi. He just didn't.
Inside the room, Armin was giving Isabel and Farlan the standard "these are the Loops" lecture. Both of them were listening in quiet awe as Armin demonstrated the subspace pocket. Isabel pointed at the Arc Reactor that Armin had demonstrated the pocket with. "So let me get this straight. You can store anything you want in your pocket, without anyone ever being able to get in?"
"Well... It would certainly hard to get in there." Armin admitted. "Thing is, you can't use the pocket: it takes many years of training to get it large enough to hold anything larger than a wardrobe. And it needs magic to be formed in the first place."
Farlan raised a finger for attention. "Wouldn't that mean that it would be impossible for you to form it? Eren's the only person with 'magic' that we've seen. Wouldn't a pocket be inaccessible outside of a fused loop."?
"That is the beauty of the loops," Armin said.
In a separate room in the Survey Corps castle, Hange and Mikasa were pouring over the records, but only further confusion arose. "I don't get it," Hange said. "There's nothing here to explain why they survived. Levi was still obsessed with revenge, they were still his friends, Shadis was still commander... seriously, there's nothing here. No one could have Awoken early three times in a row."
"Look at this," Mikasa said, handing Hange a records book. "This says that Farlan and Isabel were saved by a mister Roland Corsini. He was a soldier who had been in the area when Levi and his friends were ambushed by Titans. He save Isabel and Farlan's lives."
Hange looked at the log book. "This doesn't make any sense. There have been variants where Isabel and Farlan survived before, but according to you, they've been alive in the past three loops. Did you do any research as to why?"
Mikasa shook her head. "We brushed it off the first time as a variant. The second time was strange, but nothing too insane. Now I'm not as sure as to what's happening."
Hange furrowed his brow. "Damn... this can't be a new baseline... could it?"
"We'll wait a few more loops." Mikasa decided. "See if it persists."
"And if it does?"
For a moment, Mikasa's eyes became unfocused. She shook her head. "I don't know. But we will get to the bottom of this."
7.19 Shimmer712
Hannes smiled at the slumbering trio of anchors as the boat drifted down the river to Wall Rose. He could remember the first time they had made this trip and the children had not slept peacefully then. But now they were.
Hannes wondered if that was a problem. Were they getting too used to their home being destroyed and their neighbors devoured and killed? Or maybe it was something else. Eren had been full of hate and angry and now… well, he still was but it didn't consume him so completely now. Although Hannes was still disturbed.
Armin and Mikasa had killed the shifter trio repeatedly, in a number of ways. Usually, it was in response to something they tried to do with Eren, usually an attempted kidnapping. But sometimes, they just…did it, just because.
And Eren… he hadn't killed the shifters yet as far as Hannes knew but some of the things he did freaked Hannes out. Like the thing with Bertolt and the exploding chocolate or kitten. Hannes hadn't gotten all the details and wasn't sure which one it was. It wasn't so bad if it was chocolate but a kitten, even a fake one? Of course, the fact that Hannes considered it a valid possibility that it was a kitten certainly gave a good idea of which direction Eren's pranks of the shifters went.
Hannes was worried about his anchors, the children he had watched over for so long. He was afraid they were making their way down a dangerous slope. One that would led them to a dangerous and frightening place, somewhere they must not go.
And he had no idea how to help them.
7.1: Stripper cakes and Sasha don't mix.
7.2: Ooh, and I've always wanted to do an elevator sage. Not.
7.3: Mikasa's loyalty and devotion to Eren and Armin is absolute. Never question it.
7.4: They're the official couple of the AoT loopers. What more need I say?
7.5: …They've also been Armin's parents a lot, so it can get awkward.
7.6: Impossible? Mikasa is a goddess of awesome and win!
7.7: Shhhhhh.
7.8: This is actually pretty darn tame, compared to what else Mikasa and Armin have done to Annie.
7.9: It's meant to be cute. IT'S CUTE!
7.10: Sasquatches, riding Dragons, wielding cannons. Call in the Mikasa!
7.11: Turtle power!
7.12: This is based on Feneris' Preventative Medicine. Also, please be sure to give your children all of their vaccinations.
7.13: …Dark.
7.14: Funny, so long as you ignore the fact that Eren blew Bertolt's face off.
7.15: Mikasa's embroidery is very much sought after.
7.16: And to complete the Screwing with the Shifters trilogy, we've got bondage!
7.17: Fate/Stay Night. I'm not familiar with it, so there's no snarky comment for it.
7.18: A mystery, ain't it. Recall 5.10?
7.19: The Anchor's may not have been a good choice after all…