Attack on Titan; the Infinite Loops
Chapter 8
A/N: I'm quite surprised I managed to compile this one. Really, I am.
8.1 Shimmer712
"The hell?" Eren stared blankly down Armin and Mikasa. He would have looked down at himself but the lack of neck stopped that.
"I think someone took Sasha's Potato Girl title too literally," Mikasa deadpanned. This loop, everyone were potato people. They had their limbs protruding from their bodies and they had their hair on the top but other than that, they were essentially oversized potatoes with faces.
Armin turned to look at their surroundings. "How does this even work?"
"Nudist society?" Eren suggested.
"What?" The shifter received a pair of odd looks. He shrugged.
"Not like we can get dressed and put clothes on like this. Our bodies aren't flexible enough," he pointed out. Then he frowned. "Actually, how do we do anything? The lack of flexibility means we can't actually bend down or anything so how do we pick up anything? How did we build houses without being able to grab anything of the ground?"
"How do we fight titans like this?" Mikasa asked, frowning. That got a pause from the boys.
"…" The three looked at each other.
"This loop is so messed up."
8.2 CrossoverPairingLover
The gathered loopers eyed the various magical fruits before them with unease.
Devil Fruit. They were one of the many strange and odd things that came from the world of the Straw-Hat Pirates. Upon eating one, one could gain a power.
You could create and become fire. Your body could become rubber. You could gain the ability to morph into a horse or a horseman. But one could only eat one, and many of them had powers that were strange and at times senseless.
It was a different world than their own. While the world of titans was a mostly realistic land of fear and mystery, the world of the devil fruit was a world of adventure and mystery, a world where dreams mattered.
At times their world was merely a world of nightmares. Particularly for those poor unfortunate souls who lumbered around as monsters.
"Armin"
"Yes Eren?"
"Where did you get all these devil fruits, exactly?" they hadn't had a fused loop in the fruits native world in ages, and Armin hadn't the time to obtain any devil fruit while they were there.
The brains of the anchoring trio grinned "Oh, Anakin had collected too many during his last 'shopping trip' to their universe of origin, so he asked me if I wanted some. He gave me a few at random, so I have no idea what they will grant the one that eats them."
"So, you were given magical fruit by a Sith Lord, and you want us to eat them!?" Jean questioned "Why the hell does he hoard them in the first place?! It's not like he needs more than one".
"Actually, devil fruit powers don't carry across loops if you don't have them either baseline or constantly eat them" Eren pointed out. There was a reason he didn't have Human-Human fruit powers.
"Plus, do we have anything better to do this loop than eat mystical fruit?"
No one had a rebuttal for Armin's question as Connie grabbed a fruit that looked like a red, spiral decorated banana.
"Hell ya! Kickass-Kickass no Mi fruit, here I come!"
"I don't think that's..." Levi tried to talk the little fool down as he ate the disgusting fruit whole. Levi ignored Connie's groans to note the equally uneasy looking Sasha, whose large green melon like fruit had a noticeable bite in it.
After a moment of unease, followed by a squint as she concentrated, Sasha's clothing shifted into something green and vaguely heroic looking.
"So, that's the Kickass-Kickass no Mi" Levi said in some amusement "Sorry kid, you ate something else..." turning his gaze, Levi didn't have any words for what had happened to Connie.
"Damn ceiling!"
Ignoring the Giraffe in the room that was the result of Connie's ingestion of the Ox-Ox no Mi (Model: Giraffe), Levi picked up a rather dark looking fruit, and took a hesitant bite out of it.
Noting a checklist, Armin reviewed the fruit that each and every one of them had eaten.
Connie had eaten the Ox-Ox no Mi variant that turned one into a Giraffe or a Giraffe-Man fused form generally used by CP9 agent Kaku. It could be surprisingly deadly if used correctly. Connie probably would not use it correctly.
Sasha had eaten the Kickass-Kickass no Mi, and thus could turn herself into Kickass. Armin personally considered that a waste of one's one fruit limit.
Jean had eaten the Rain-Rain no Mi, which meant he could create his own little clouds of misery and make them rain on people. It was rather problematic for Eren really.
Eren had eaten the Curse-Curse no Mi: Model:Juusenkyo, which apparently worked much like Ranma's curse when it came to being splashed with water, but far more liberal with what trigged it (Considering it had also activated when Connie the Giraffe and sneezed on him) . Eren was not amused.
Mikasa had eaten a fruit of unknown power, which she later used to drive off Reiner with one punch. After a few more tests, Armin dubbed that fruit the Worf-Worf no Mi, giving her the power to defeat foes in ways that emphasized her badassery.
Historia had eaten the Cat-Cat no Mi, and now could turn into a Tabby or a Catgirl. No further words were needed.
He himself had eaten the Checklist-Checklist no Mi, which was handy for taking notes without paper. Still, he could see no use for it outside of slipping through or under cracks combat-wise.
As for Levi...
"I am the Night."
The Batman-Batman no Mi suited him.
8.3 Shimmer712
They Awoke in Trost. The purge had happened. The nobles called it the attempted reclaiming of Maria but the loopers all knew it was a culling to reduce the population within the two remaining walls. Hell, it was known to be a culling by the populace before the loops began.
The trio had gotten used to scampering around Trost like other refugees but this time, Hannes managed to track them down and drag them home with him. His home was small, intended for one inhabitant but he had found some mattresses to spread on the floor. He had initially intended to put one or two of the children in the bed while he and whoever was left took the mattresses. But Eren had taken a liking to one of mattresses (why, Hannes couldn't figure out. What was so special about a mattress?), Mikasa had no interest in the bed if Eren was sleeping on the floor and Armin point blank refused since Hannes was the only one who actually had a steady job he needed to be rested for.
So, contrary to his plans, Hannes had the bed.
He sat up in his bed crossed the room to his lounge where the three anchors were huddled together on top of the mattresses which had been shoved together. A smile came to his lips. He was glad he had plenty of non-perishable and preserved food in his subspace pocket. Otherwise, the money he made as a Garrison member wouldn't be enough to feed them all.
He wondered why he never took them home in baseline. He had checked up them, naturally. He had hated himself for leaving Carla, and the loathing had only grown when he realized he had left Eren facing back towards his mother as she was devoured.
He had kept an eye on them. He had dropped in regularly on them, checking on them and broadcasting the silent message that these children would be missed if they vanished, someone would take note if they disappeared. When the Purge had first happened, he had stopped by and held the boy as he cried and his two companions had cuddled up on either side. He had found blankets and clothes and passed them on.
In some ways, he had watched out for them, but in others, he had left them to fend for themselves. Was what he had done good enough? Or had he been failing them in lesser ways?
Hannes twitched his lips upwards as a sleeping Mikasa pulled Eren closer to her in a protective embrace. The three were adorable like this.
He pulled out his camera and snapped some pictures. Sure, the photos didn't come with an impressive story and it was no good as blackmail (with the three so content and comfortable with their close relationship, Hannes wondered sometimes exactly how close they were) but those weren't the only reasons for photographs.
It used to be that photos were expensive and cumbersome to take so one only had photos of those precious to them. And these three children were precious to Hannes.
He smiled one last time at the sleepers before returning to bed.
Maybe he should start a photo album. For moments like this, where life is truly a treasure.
8.4 SeaOfFallingStars, Myself, and Crossoverpairinglover
I was humming a cheery tune, walking around the training area. Those two were going to be in much pain. Eren would be safe. Life was good. Of course, having Sasha as a companion was putting some difficulty on my plan.
"Mikasa, what are you humming?" A query left unanswered.
I had trouble finding a suitable pair, let alone 'appropriating' them. I'm not a thief unless Eren or Armin's safety was on the line. The trick now would be to ditch Sasha. Food wouldn't work. This bore thought.
"No, Mikasa, I really want to know what you're humming!" She was getting insistent. Time to shift to words?
"Allons! en garde! Allons! Allons! ah! Toreador, en garde! Toreador, Toreador!" Hopefully I carried the tune well.
"Wait, is that the tune Freddy played when he and his gang were protecting us?" She catches on fast. You had better not disrupt the plan or I will tell Ymir you tried to seduce Historia.
Looks like Connie and Jean are experimenting with powers. That'll work.
"Sasha, go test out your powers against Jean's AT field. Maybe your potatonades might get through them." It wasn't a suggestion leaving my mouth.
She ran over to them. Good, now to find those two.
~Bang Bang Bang~
"Reiner. Bertolt. Will you please come with me?" No suggestions. Orders.
They follow to a basement. I let them enter the room in front of me. Then I whistle Freddy's theme and use my psychic powers to blow out the candles lighting the room.
"Mikasa? What are you doing?" Reiner? Bertolt? Doesn't matter who said it. They'll live through this.
I screech and slam one into an iron maiden. They can't titanize here. The remaining one seems to be panicking.
"Why are you doing this? We're comrades!" Pathetic lies to save your regenerating skin, you abomination.
"Not comrades. Not to you two. Never to you two." Screech.
Both are in iron maidens. Maybe they'll be let out. Maybe not. But they won't be able to join the military. My mission for the loop is done.
I whistle cheerfully, the same song as before, as I walk out of the basement and into light.
"Mikasa? Mikasa!"
Mikasa blinked her eyes as wakefulness returned to her. "I... Ar... min? What happened?"
Armin hooked a finger over his shoulder at the giant television screen. "You were watching Batman's 'Mikasa Sakura Syndrome'... and you fainted."
Mikasa sat up, but a wave of nausea struck her hard as the memories resurfaced. "God... If I ever do something like that get me taken off as Anchor. Please." Armin helped work Mikasa into the seat facing the screen. "Iron Maiden's... seriously, Bruce is some sort of psycho. Speaking of which, where is that stinking rodent?"
Armin pointed at the corner, where Eren was trying to beat up Batman. "Two to one Eren wins."
"You're on."
17 minutes into the future, however, saw Batman sitting on the defeated and out cold Eren, nibbling on a plate of Nachos that Alfred (Who had popped out of nowhere) had provided.
He was, after all, Batman.
8.5
Darkness descended on the territory of Wall Rose. Inside it's confines nary a human wandered nor lay at rest. The land had fallen to the Titans of Ragako village. It sickened Connie to know that this had happened again.
The Beast Titan's attack varied in timing, but it always made a beeline to his home village, each and every loop. It confused him, tortured him at night whenever he asked himself: 'Why Ragako? Why my home?' These were questions that Connie lacked the ability to answer.
As his horse made its way along the edge of Wall Rose, its hoofs clicking on the earth, Connie grumbled quietly. "Might as well rename the Walls Ba Sing Sei." He mumbled. His comment was missed by the Gerger and Henning, the soldiers who were riding through the dark with him, and by Bertolt, who was put of ear shot, but still caught by someone.
"Don't you mean Na Sing Sei?" Reiner asked.
"I don't know Chinese!" Connie retorted with a shout.
"Hey, easy there," Henning said from the front. "I know we're all stressed out, but we're come through this. Maybe you'll even have some stories to tell your grand kids."
"Heh. Trust us, we'll be fine with just having grand kids," Reiner said.
Connie looked back. "You want grand kids?"
Reiner shrugged. "I wouldn't mind them."
"Shut up," Gerger hissed. "Do you want to bring every single Titan from here to Chlorba down on our heads?"
"Feel free to shout then, cause there aren't any," a voice in the darkness said. Under the light of their own torches, Ymir, Historia, and their attachment, Rene and Nanaba, emerged from the darkness. Nanaba was frowning deeply when she asked the west going attachment, "where's the breach in the wall?"
"...huh?" Connie winced at Gerger's confusion and shock. He, and really no one present, could fully comprehend that there had been no breach, because then the question of how the Titans got into the wall would be raised. Which would in turn lead to even greater confusion as the only people who knew the answer to that were the other loopers, Reiner, Bertolt and Annie.
Nanaba's harsh words cut through his thoughts. "What do you mean, huh? We didn't see anything, so the breach had to be in the southern half of the wall, where you were inspecting. So where is it?"
Gerger ground his teeth and answered. "We've seen no breaches."
Silence reigned.
Connie closed his eyes and stifled his confused emotions. He had Awoken to the face of his Titanized mother just hours ago. Now he was about to relive the hell that had been Utgard's siege by the Titans, and if the number of pings he had received was anything to go on, he'd be going it alone, at least until Eren, Mikasa and Armin could arrive.
As the sky cleared up to briefly show the distant ruins of Castle Utgard, Connie weighed his options. He could try to convince the squad leaders to ferry the nine of them up to the top of Wall Rose and just to walk the way back to Chlorba or Trost, but the prospect of the sheltered castle was too much for then to pass up. A break along the perimeter of the wall rarely worked, since the Titans would, inevitably, find him. Then there was the issue of the Beast Titan...
"Damn..." Connie mumbled as, powerless, he followed the others towards the castle.
The fire, Connie admitted to himself, was warm enough, and huddled around it inside of the Castle, along with Ymir, Historia, Bertolt and Reiner, was more relaxing than it should have been. He was sitting in the company of two spies, a princess, and... and whatever the hell Ymir was. Connie groaned into his palms. "Survivors, that's what we are."
"What was that?" Historia asked.
Connie chewed his lips in annoyance for having spoken aloud again. "I said that we're not soldiers Christa. We're survivors now."
For a moment, the four other members of the 104th cadet corps stared at Connie, varying levels of worry and guilt crawling across their faces. Connie stood up from the fire and walked to the window. Outside, the darkness consumed the world. "We're not supposed to be here. I'm not supposed to be here." A smile, a crazed, pained smile wormed its way onto Connie's face. "I'm not supposed to be here; I'm supposed to be dead."
"Connie don't say-" Connie turned and forced Reiner's arm off of him.
"Don't. You. Dare." Connie growled. "Everyone, every person I knew... they're inside the Titans now. You know it, Ymir knows it, fuck, and even Christa knows it. They're all gone."
The fire crackled. "You're wrong," Bertolt said. "They're not dead. Not so long as you remember them. As long as you remember them, hold them close to your heart, then they'll still be alive."
Connie turned destitute eyes on Bertolt. "I don't remember them all. Does that mean that some of them are dead? Does that mean I have some responsibility to the dead? That I need to live for them? Fuck that! They should have been allowed to live on their own terms!"
Historia got up. "Connie, you don't know that anyone's dead. You're just... tired, from riding all night. You should get some rest."
Connie stared at Historia, silent. "No. You're wrong, on all accounts. I shouldn't rest." Connie took a step towards Historia. "I'm not tired." He took another step towards her. "I don't need to sleep." He took three slow steps, looking Historia straight in the eyes. "And I never said... that they were dead."
Connie pushed Historia aside, reached into the fire, and removed a burning log. Ignoring everyone's gasps of shock, Connie walked back to the window and threw the log out into the darkness, where it splintered and burst into a surge of embers, illuminating the face of a Titan. "Ragako village has come out. To welcome me home."
"TITANS!"
Four lives for forty. It was a cold, damnable equation. For most soldiers, the numbers seemed like four lives for none. To them, the Titans weren't even human. They didn't know what Connie, Bertolt, Reiner and Ymir knew. To them, it was four lives, lives that had chosen to endanger themselves, lives that belonged to men and women that knew the risks, and were dying to droves of innocent, mindless civilians.
It made Connie sick to see this happen, to hear of it time and again. The Titans... the soldiers... could either side be called evil? Whose side could Connie chose? Whose side should he choose?
Inevitably, Connie's time to choose past him by. Ymir leapt into action, Titanizing and fighting the Villagers. "I'm so weak..."
Reiner rested his hand on Connie's shoulder. For a moment, Connie understood the pain, the madness that Reiner suffered. It was all...
More than any living man could bare.
"Connie! NOOOOO!"
For a moment, the rush of wind greeted Connie like an old friend. The ground opened up, and bit him in half.
"Hey mom. Hey dad."
Connie's father looked up from his newspaper, seeing his young son standing in the doorway. "Why hello to you to Connie. Thinking of tucking in early?"
Connie shrugged lightly. "Maybe. Maybe I will. Good night."
Connie's mother turned from her laborious task of washing dishes. "Good night Connie."
"Good night son," his father added.
Connie walked to his room, climbed into bed, and slept. It was a very good night.
8.6
The lights of Trost district twinkled in the dark. Torchlight, a handful of gas lamps, candles scattered here and there. Its denizens walked the streets not-quite happy and not-quite carefree, but they walked the night streets of Trost. Above them, the stars twinkled, their own roads shining down on the citizens. The light of stars and the light of man. The juxtaposition brought strange feelings to Jean's mind.
The rim of Wall Rose stretched to the left and right, curving out and meeting with the main wall in the distance. Fifty meters above the city, surrounding it, protecting it, jailing it. So much of humanity was institutionalized by these walls. There were few exceptions.
One of those exceptions was sitting next to Jean, legs dangling off the edge, nursing a beer from her subspace pocket and watching the city lights flicker. Jean had brought Sasha up to the top of the wall to brainstorm ideas to help Connie, but so far neither had managed to figure out a useful idea. How were you supposed to help someone who was immortal and had killed themselves?
So Jean and Sasha had resigned themselves to drinking beer and watching the city, with the resolve to drag Connie out at one point and get him professional help. They weren't psychologists... but then who was? Everyone in the loops were stir crazy. How were they going to fix this?
A surprisingly cold wind heralded the arrival of a third. "There you two are. I've been looking all over Trost for guys," Historia scolded. "Did either of you hear-"
"Yes, we know about Connie," Jean answered. "We tried to help him, couldn't do it, we'll try again tomorrow."
Historia started at the interruption and glared at Jean. "Why aren't you trying to help him now then? Why are you just leaving him alone?"
"He wants to be left alone," Sasha mumbled. She stared at her beer. "Connie... he's in pain and we can't help him. The only thing we can do... The most important thing we should do is keep him from getting hurt again."
Historia shook her head and pointed with her cane at Trost. "Well, at least try and tell him that." Historia's annoyance faded a little. "We're stuck in here for who knows how long. We should be helping each other, trying to keep each other safe."
Jean pointed at Historia with his beer. "And you know how to do this?"
Historia's already weakened drive evaporated under Jean's question. "I don't know how to help Connie. I don't know how to help anyone. But I do know that we have to help them somehow. Take their mind off the pain. Show them that even the darkest of times is worth suffering through, because... we'll be waiting for them."
"We?" Sasha caught the clarifying word.
Historia nodded solemnly. "I will. I'll do my best to help Connie, and anyone who thinks that these loops are too much for them." An unsure look crossed Historia's face. "Would you, you know, help me?"
Sasha and Jean sat there for a moment. Sasha set her beer aside and stood up, her Overboard forming from the air next to her. "Where's Connie? Still at the barracks."
"Where would he be?" Jean quipped, hovering off the ground and starting towards the cadet training ground. Historia and Sasha launched after him, towards the grounds. In their minds, a thought solidified.
'If it's needed... I will help anyone here.'
8.7
"Ymir, this is a bad idea."
"It's only a bad idea if we're caught Historia." Ymir finished adjusted the last speaker, and started to crawl out from underneath the boy's barracks, Historia following right behind her. The two girls quickly bolted for the girl's barracks.
"I still say this is a bad idea," Historia repeated as she and Ymir closed the door and climbed into their beds. Ymir merely put a finger to her lips, pulled out a comically large switch, and flipped it.
In the distance, the speakers played.
"He's got moves like Jagger, he's got moves like Jagger, he's got moooOOOOooves like Jagger."
A shout followed that. "KIRSTEIN!"
Ymir and Historia stifled their laughter.
8.8
Armin's plan, for this loop, had been to see if he could get Reiner to be, as he put it; "redeemed by the power of love." Naturally, bets were cast as to whether or not Armin would succeed, who Armin had planned, would it end in marriage, etc.
Armin's pre-shipping plan first started with infiltrating the Wall Cult and managing to legalize gay marriage, since Reiner's orientation was as volatile as Hange's gender. Step two was to make sure that the selected candidate, Bertolt, was bisexual. Step three was to make sure that Annie would not interfere (which in this case meant simply telling her Bertolt's feelings and having her rebuff him).
That all settled, Armin stepped back and put his plan into motion.
One year later, Armin was left wondering where his plan had gone so wrong.
If there was one good thing that Mikasa would admit about Levi at this very moment, it was that he was killer on the piano. He really did well with 'Here Comes The Bride', shockingly so. He'd been practicing with different instruments.
The crowd of well-wishers and friends that were seated was massive: the whole of the 104th had gathered to watch two of their own join each other in holy matrimony. Historia, Annie and Mina had been talked into being the maids of honor. Shadis, as the highest ranking military officer anyone knew, was officiating. The confusing bit?
Bertolt wasn't Reiner's groom, he was his best man... and Annie's boyfriend. That baffled Mikasa, if only because Armin hadn't planned it. Armin's plans almost always went off without a hitch. Except when they involved Hitch, in which case they went off with her.
Shadis opened his book and coughed lightly into his hand. Silence fell like an ACME anvil. Glancing at his book, Shadis began speaking. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the bonding, in holy matrimony-"
"Dipshit, read it after both grooms are up there," Levi called from the piano. Shadis went a little pale as he realized that Levi had a better grasp on the procedures of the wedding than he did. He snapped the book shut as Levi started playing again to cover his snafu.
That signaled the appearance of the groom and the man giving him away. Mikasa turned to see both and repressed an eye roll at the sheer... improbability of it. Who would have thought that the person that Reiner would woo would be Marco?
Jan, Awake but hiding it, led his best friend down the aisle, smiling all the way. "Real happy for you man."
"I know," Marco whispered back. As he ascended the alter, Jan moving to the side, he locked his hands with Reiner's and smiled. "You ready?"
"Born ready," Reiner said with an unmatchable genuine smile.
Shadis nodded and opened his book again. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to witness the joining of Marco Bodt and Reiner Braun in holy matrimony. Do you, Marco Bodt, take Reiner Braun to be your lawfully wedded husband; to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, so long as you may live?"
Marco's smile could have lit up a room. "I do."
Shadis nodded at Marco and turned to Reiner. "And do you, Reiner Braun, take Marco Bodt to be your lawfully wedded husband; to protect and defend, on both battlefield and off, to hold close and allow nothing to stand above him?"
If Marco's smile could have lit a room, Reiner's could replace the sun. "I do."
Shadis nodded to himself. "Is that so..." With greater volume, he addressed the room at large. "If there are any who would seek to object to their marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace."
"I object!"
The congregation at large turned in their pews to see the newcomer, who had thrown the doors wide open. Up next to the alter, Jan gasped. "Le Gasp! It's by gay twin brother, Gene!"
Gene Kirstein marched forward. "Marco doesn't love Reiner. He's just faking it. I love him more, and so challenge Reiner to a duel for his hand in marriage!"
A set of pairing blades were tossed at Reiner, who fell into a fighting stance. "You want to prove your love?"
Gene pulled two blades from behind his back. "Yeah, let's."
Jan took several steps towards Marco as Reiner and Gene broke into a furious battle. "So... you and my brother?"
"Yeah..." Marco smiled slightly. "But a duel for my love. It's so romantic."
Meanwhile, in the pews, Armin was furiously trying to figure out where his otherwise expertly executed plan had gone so wrong.
"You didn't account for the variant to be a Soap Opera Loop?" Eren asked Armin.
That caught the blond off-guard...as he walked towards the wall and banged his head against it.
6.6 (Continued) SeaOfFallingStars
Hange was amazed he wasn't coughing up blood. The dance they had performed to combine hadn't killed or injured him! How? The canopy in front of him showed Annie. She was staring in shock and Hange was... chest-high? How gigantic was Superion?
[Are you alright Hange?]
"Yeah. Remember; she's in the nape of its neck. You'll need to rip her out!" Glee filled Hange's voice. Sure the Trio would see this, but to live it was another thing!
[Understood. Brace yourself for motion.]
Superion shifted his stance and pointed a slender (for his size) finger at the female titan.
"Now, Annie Leonheart, surrender or be captured. It makes no difference to me." The bold words were just starting to sink in when the gestalt punched off the titan's head.
Even though it was headless, the titan tried to stop Superion from-
"Hanji, we know how the rest of this played out. Annie was in Skydive's cockpit after being ripped out, minus an arm, then they gave her to the Scout Regiment and Superion killed Bertolt and Reiner. They told us." Armin wasn't too impressed with the story. The ones who weren't Awake for it or hadn't heard it listened in interest.
Sasha was handing out snacks for them, a large bowl of popcorn in her lap. Hanji looked outraged at Armin's blatant puncturing of her story. Mikasa spoke up from behind her.
"And if you tell anyone of what happened once Annie was captured, I'll tell them what you did in the harem loop to bypass the Ranma Patch." Her quiet voice, as usual, was at odds with the threat.
"Fine, fine. At least it yielded interesting data! How DID you hear of the story anyway?" It was a valid question. Especially given that most of the time, once one of them Awoke they kept Awakening for solidarity.
"They were on the Lost Light. I wish Reng was looping as he's good at helping our psychological issues and Magnus keeps us in line."
There was a pointed glare at Sasha and Connie.
"And if he ever finds out how you two managed to invert Swerve's bar and the Energon storage, he'll tear you apart." The shift in tone from reminiscent to heated was jarring. The pair smiled.
"It was just another pantry raid. How were we supposed to know it'd get everyone drunk?"
Hanji couldn't help herself. The thought of everyone's rations being alcoholic was too funny to not laugh at. They'd need to do it at some point.
8.9
Levi stared at the luxuriously delicious black tea that had been freshly brewed. It certainly surpassed even the stocks of dried tea leaves he had in his subspace pocket, but it carried a bitter taste that he couldn't quite dispel. "Erwin, your bribery won't work."
Sitting across from him, Erwin smiled slightly. "Now Levi, I know that you do not object to this sort of dealing on principle. It's just a few worshipers. They're not too troublesome."
Levi stood up, walked to the window, and opened it. The roars of the crowd poured into the room. Levi closed the window. "A few?"
Erwin's smile widened. "The point still stands Levi. Their worship of Eren as a savior has already paid the collective salary of the Scouting Regiment. In a few weeks I'd estimate we'll have balanced our budget."
"The gratuities I can understand. But the Tea?" Levi pulled back his chair and sat down on it again. "This is extortion."
"And you're above extortion?"
"I'm above extorting the idiot masses." Dimo Reeves was a very smart person, who could be guiltlessly extorted. "What I want to know is how you're going to keep Eren's Titan cult from declaring war on the Wall cult."
Erwin waved Levi off. "Now Levi-"
BOOM!
The room jumped in the shockwave of the bomb, both Levi and Erwin falling out of their chairs. Levi glared at Erwin. "I told you."
The duo raced down into the barricaded courtyard to find several corps men, and to their surprise, policemen, reinforcing the gate into the yard. "Oh. Hello Erwin," Nile Dawk, commander of the Military Police and Erwin's old friend, said. "You wouldn't believe how-"
BOOM!
"-Fanatical, these Titan Cultists are. Quite an issue, as you can see." An arm burst out of the door and made a grab for Nile. The commander grabbed the arm and broke it. "Bit of a pain, I admit."
"What's going on down here?"
Levi, Erwin, Nile, and the barricaders all looked up from their personal struggle to see Eren, confused, staring at barricade. "My cult trying to blast it's way in?"
The door burst off of its hinges, sliding forward from the sheer crush of bodies. Erwin, Nile and Levi found themselves propelled towards Eren, feet scraping against the cobblestones as they were pushed. "Run Eren, RUN!" Levi shouted, turning into a vampire and launching himself into the fray. Several cultists went flying as Levi struggled to deal with them non-lethally.
Eren himself took one look at the charging cult and teleported out to the waiting The Carla, up in suborbital flight well above the Walled Nation. "Well, I know where I'll be for the rest of the loop."
8.10 SeaOfFallingStars
Eren had titanized to seal Trost. This wasn't anything new to the loopers.
However, the plan to protect him was for the most part. The outfits, the music, it was crazy. Strangest of all was Ymir/Blaine being affected. They had cleared the way for Eren.
Mostly. One of the Garrison was holding them up. He was yelling at them for their plan.
"What are you doing!? Who are you!? Is this how you want to end your life!?" Connie turned towards the bearded man.
"I'm going to rock." One strum later, and he was embedded in some roof, smoke coming from his boots.
Connie turned to the impromptu rock band.
"Alright, let's get to Armin and Eren and keep the path clear!"
Upon arrival, they happened upon an alternate use for the music.
They cherished the mental image of several titans clearing the path with synchronized headbanging. After all, they wanted to rock.
8.11
The Four Loves
-Eros-
Historia chuckled a little as she looked over her grades. "Wow... this is more stressful than fighting Titans. At least with that, if we don't pass we don't need to worry about retaking the course."
Ymir tossed her own grade sheet across the room and kicked up her legs on the bed, lounging. "Right... Seriously Hiss, why do you even care about grades? It's a high-school loop. In Japan at that."
Historia shrugged, scribbling a few notes on her grade sheet. "I guess... if we're going to do something, we should give it our best effort."
Ymir chewed her finger nail and pointed at Historia. "You, should give it your best effort. I'm not giving a fuck."
Historia sat down at the desk next to her and Ymir's bed and faced her girlfriend. "You should care Ymir. There are loopers out there with theses, doctorates, loopers who have pioneered entire fields of study. We shouldn't waste our time not trying to keep up with them. Look at Armin, or Hanji, or even Connie. They're so smart and capable in the right conditions. Don't you think that's worth trying to emulate?"
Ymir looked at Historia and cocked an eyebrow. "No. If I know that sine plus one equal's cosine, or I don't-"
"Sine squared, plus one, is cosine squared," Historia corrected. Ymir rolled her eyes.
"If I know that, then a Titan's going to eat me all the same. The fact of the matter is Historia..." Ymir sat up, frowning slightly. The fact is, it's pointless. Whether or not I know how to do maths is irrelevant to my field of work. All I need is my ability to fight." Ymir got off her bed and put her grades down on the desk. "But... you did want me to do well, right?"
Historia looked at the grade sheet. Ymir's lowest score was a 78%, in trigonometry. Everything else was a collection of 80's and 90's. Historia got up and smooched Ymir on the cheek. "Yeah, I wanted you to do well."
Ymir blushed and kissed Historia back. "I was thinking about taking my motorcycle for a ride on the coast. Wanna come with?"
Historia beamed. "I'll get my helmet."
As the duo cruised down the coast road of Japan, the sun slowly setting over the western mountains, Historia hugged Ymir tighter and repressed a random laugh. Only grades to worry about, the love of her life in her arms, and the beauty of the blue, brilliant ocean.
Historia snuggled closer to Ymir. 'This world... This world isn't a terrible place, but it's still full of such beautiful things.'
'We're in heaven.'
-Storge-
The door jingled as Sasha pushed it open, her arms balancing several bags of groceries. "Guys, I'm back!"
"Bout time. What you get?" Jean shouted from the living room.
Sasha deposited her groceries on the kitchen table. "You know, meat, bread, some noodles, tomato sauce. I was thinking pasta was on the menu tonight."
Jean paused his video game and hopped off the apartment's couch. "I think pasta's good for tonight." Jean started putting the food away, shunting the pasta, ground beef, red sauce, and an onion to the side. "Connie got back half an hour ago. He's in the shower, still trying to get that dust off him."
"Trying and succeeding," Connie announced triumphantly, walking into the room and steaming like a Titan. "Geeze, you'd think that being a HVAC assistant would be easy for a guy like me."
"Fun sized friends are hard to come by," Sasha joked.
Connie brushed it off and saw the food that Jean was putting aside. "We having pasta tonight?"
Jean nodded as he emptied the last "Yeah. You wanna get the water boiling? I'll cut up the onion."
Sasha quickly handed Jean a knife and Connie a pot. Connie had the pot filled with water and on the burner as Jean began slicing the onion. Sasha pulled out a skillet, greased it, and had the found beef in it in moments. Jean dumped the chopped onions into the meat, followed quickly by a dash of garlic.
Inside of thirty minutes, the three were eating the delicious food and talking about their day, enjoying the quiet time. In baseline, quiet time wasn't common, but here and now it was in abundance.
They treated it with respect and gratitude, and enjoyed it.
-Philia-
Hanji's head appeared from around the door. "Hey Hannes, me and Levi were thinking about hitting a bar in Tokyo. Wanna come?"
"Hmm?" Hannes looked up from the paperwork scattered around his desk. "Oh, sure. Just let me finish grading these papers."
Hanji waited diligently as Hannes finished his work. The older teacher finished with a single red-mark to the paper of a particularly belligerent student and set the collective work aside. "Well Zoe, what's our game plan for tonight?"
Hanji shrugged. "Just a bar with Levi. There's this great sushi place in the city, all upscale and fancy." Hanji snorted. "Sushi, upscale. Who'd have thought it?"
"Who would have?"
Levi was waiting outside, drumming his fingers on the sports car that no-one could fully explain as to being in his possession. Apparently he "stretched his paycheck" to buy it. "About time you two jackasses showed up. I was going to leave you in another ten minutes."
"Yeah, we love you too," Hannes joked as he climbed in.
The drive into Tokyo was uneventful and quick. There were a handful of traffic stops and a rail-crossing, but beyond a handful of angry drivers and one guy who was intent on going a quarter of the speed limit, nothing interesting. The sushi bar itself was exactly how Hanji had described it, upscale and fancy.
That also meant it cost a lot of money, and after some significant begging from Hannes and Hanji, Levi covered it. As the night wound down, Hannes lifted a saucer of sake. "To the vacation of a lifetime."
"Here here!" Hanji seconded. Levi raised his own saucer, and together the three teachers drank.
-Agape-
A long beach of white sand, the brush of the waves upon it, the slowly closing dusk, and three figures, one far from the water, one deep within it, and one balanced between the extremes, and meditating. Eren lazily drifted through the water, occasionally pushing along with his arms. Mikasa lounged on a towel, staring up into the darkening sky. Armin sat in the encroaching waves, his water-bending soothing the turbulent waters that rushed in and out.
Eren, at present, swam over to Armin's spot and sat next to him, silently watching the distant sky shift towards a deeper purple. "Hey Armin."
"Yes Eren?"
"What's the ocean feel like?"
"It feels... strong. A part of me. Slow, rhythmic, soothing. Protecting." Armin glance at Eren. "It feels like you and Mikasa."
Eren smiled lightly. "Yeah. All cool and rhythmic, before we flood you and destroy everything."
Armin's own face hinted at a smile now. "Yeah. Just like that."
"He's not the ocean." Armin and Eren looked at Mikasa. Their sister sat at Eren's opposite side, entwining her fingers with his. "Eren's the moon. He moves us, gives us direction. He is powerful, but not the strongest. Armin and myself... we're the ocean."
"Two sides to its coin. Am I right Mikasa?" Armin said.
Mikasa nodded. "Two sides to its coin. Armin's gentle, thoughtful, slow and methodical. I am powerful, wrathful... a force of nature." Mikasa looked towards the distant, faintly twinkling stars. "We are the ocean. He is our moon."
Under the water, Armin pulled Eren's hand into his own. "Two halves of a whole?"
"A balancing act," Mikasa said.
Eren raised an eyebrow and looked at his siblings. "Wow, that sounds... really lame. Like Downtown Abbey stuff."
"I know," Mikasa admitted.
Armin looked more downcast, but Eren pulled him into a hug. "It's still great stuff though. You should try poetry."
Armin shrugged, though he also brightened a little. "Maybe."
The sun set slowly, on the three, the sea, and Japan.
8.12 CrossoverPairingLover
Holding up a hand of brown cards, Hannes looked towards the similarly carded Armin with a look that was essentially a poker face.
But a Poker Face that seemed to be hardened by card based combat, as if the very outcome of the card game could decide the fate of the universe.
In Hannes's defense though, he had played a few such card games. Same with Armin.
"...This is an oddly intense game of cards" Historia mused.
"All card games are intense where those cards come from" Eren reminded her.
What was left unsaid by Eren was there once a loop in which combat with Titans was done with such cards, in which victory meant the Titan fell apart, and defeat meant being eaten.
Only the two currently playing the card game actually enjoyed that loop.
8.13
Ganesha slammed his head into his desk and groaned. "Ugh…" He was so tired. First he had gotten Homestuck looping, then he had binge-watched a loop, and then he had been given the loops for RWBY, which was immediately taken away from him by Artemis.
And now, he had a letter from a few of his loopers. The great remover of obstacles was feeling at the end of his rope, but regardless, he had to soldier on. One of the writers was, after all, Steven Quartz Universe. Maybe his letter would help him unwind.
Opening the letter, the god of knowledge and many other things began to read:
'Dear Ganesha-
Hi! I'm Steven Universe. I'm a crystal gem in training, I like pizza, and you probably know all of this. Well, Pearl wanted me to ask you if there was anyway if she could loop into the Evangelion universe any time soon. Apparently she had some questions for Rei Ayanami about Ramiel.
-Yours Truly, Steven.'
Ganesha cocked an eyebrow. "Really kid? This is all you've got to say. This letter business is for important matters only." The God opened another one.
'Dear Admin Ganesha-
I would like to thank you for the continued communication, and interaction with myself. As a military instructor, I find your decorum in the pursuit of the stability of my universe to be quite admirable. However, there is the matter of my code. My ability to Titanize, while originally stable, has begun to waver between loops. It is quite disconcerting to me. Regardless though, I do welcome the recent additions to our baseline.
-Sincerely, Keith Shadis'
Ganesha rolled his eyes. 'At least he's using it for its intended purpose.' Ganesha pulled out another letter.
'Dear Ganesha-
Thank you for getting Ymir looping.
-Yours sincerely, Historia'
Well, sometimes there were just good letters to read.
8.1: I hate the "potato-Girl" meme. This, I like.
8.2: He ate the Writer-Writer no Mi this loop.
8.3: Cutesy.
8.4: Not so cutesy.
8.5: Now it's just downright depressing.
8.6: This is meant to be a balm to the depressing.
8.7: Ymir and Historia make everything better.
8.8: Marco and Reiner make everything better.
8.9: Titan Cults… make everything worse!
8.10: Headbanging Titans. What more is there to say?
8.11: My take on Socrates.
8.12: It's time to loop!
8.13: Poor Ganesha. His blood pressure must be through the roof.