14.1 DrTempo
From the Journal of Sunset Shimmer:
This Loop was...harsh for me. I had found myself in the Loop where humanoid giants called 'Titans' have all but destroyed humanity, and mankind is struggling to survive.
The place is such a death world that the Anchors here are actually 3 people: Eren, the warrior who can transform into a Titan, Armin, the tactical genius, and Mikasa, the master swordswoman. If any of them die when there're no other Anchors, the Loop crashes.
At first, I chose to go through the academy without using my array of skills. The main method used to fight the Titans was a device which allows easy building swinging. Darn thing is clunky, though; I'll take flying with ki any day of the week. The day the Anchors and I graduated from the academy, the Titans attacked, and...my squad was slaughtered. If I hadn't chose to hold back, they would have lived. I knew that doing so was not an option with lives on the line.
I unleashed my wrath on the Titans. Though they only have one weak point that mudt be hit to destroy them (otherwise, they regenerate from injury), my skills allowed me to easily strike down Titan after Titan. Only after the battle was done did I hear a shocking truth from Armin.
Each Titan had been human; forcefully transformed into mindless beasts. I was sick to my stomach. Had I become a monster myself, not caring anymore? Had I lost sight if my morals?
I challenged the three Anchors to a fight to hopefully clear my mind. Their experience easily beat my vast amount of skills and abilities; after all, 'those who have practiced one move thousands of times are better than those who know thousands of moves', to paraphrase something I had read somewhere.
They helped me feel better about what had happened; as they said, I had ended the suffering of those poor souls made into monsters against their will. If I was a heartless monster, Eren said, I would've just destroyed anyone and anything in order to win. With my conscience cleared, I aimed my sights on three other people who could transform like Eren could, but were harming other innocent lives.
I was sorely tempted to kill the three traitors, but Mikasa said they were following orders from an as yet unknown other enemy. I pitied them; in all this, they were doing that they thought was right. The traitors were left to the tender mercy of the Anchors, and I meditated on things.
Despite Loops like this, I haven't lost sight of my morals. I admit that I may be a good bit more willing to use violence than other Loopers from my home Loop are, but I have been on some battlefield or another for ages.
Twilight, I hope you'll understand what I went through when I finally get home, and how it's affected me.
14.2 CrossoverPairingLover
Patting his no longer pierced chest, Armin turned to the abashed looking Jean with a frown.
"Jean, you need to work on killing me quicker," was all the short kid had to say.
"Hey, you told me to stab you, and I don't really have experience killing people. Though that loop did push my limits..."
The two shivered. They had been in a loop that had basically turned their entire baseline into an inferior Twilight knockoff.
Eren and Mikasa played the role of Edward and Bella...and it got worse from there.
"Well, at least this loop looks normal," Jean spoke too soon, as a giant head rose up from beyond the walls.
"Is that a Colossal Tingle," Jean stated in a tone that stated 'kill me now'.
Armin drew a spare blade from his pocket, not wanting anything to do with an 'Attack on Tingle' loop.
14.3 CrossoverPairingLover, Me, Wildrook
"...I think the wall cult is going to have a fit about this," Hannes noted from the bleachers that had been set up on the side of the wall that was not filled with flesh eating giants.
"I have an issue with this," Carla muttered as she saw her children do perhaps the craziest stunt yet.
"...Okay, we scattered the jumps, the mystery boxes, and quicksand," Armin shouted to all the others at the ready with him (Eren, Mikasa, Jean, Levi, Zoe, Marco, Sasha, Ymir, Historia, and Connie) "So, let the first ever Titan Kart race begin!"
"3" Guest looper Luna Lovegood grinned in a way that most loopers did not do here
"2"
"1"
"GO!"
"BEEP BEEP BEEP!"
"JEAN!" Eren shouted furiously as a blue winged shell smashed into his kart from the sky, knocking him off the track and into someone's farm.
Before the Lovegood teleported him back on, he found himself tasting windmill thatch.
Armin skidded through the long corner, dropping a mushroom he had held in reserve into his kart and rocketing ahead, overtaking Sasha. "Later sweetheart!" He drifted into another corner...
Only for Sasha's well aimed red shell to slap him head over wheels and drop him back behind her. "Ow..."
"Don't mess with the team sharpshooter!" Sasha shouted as she rocketed by. Armin's eyes narrowed.
"Sharpshooter, eh?"
Armin floored the accelerator and smashed through a mystery box, coming out with a green shell. "It's on."
"Did you forget about me?" Mikasa asked the others, rushing towards the others after using a Bullet Bill...or rather, 3D Maneuvering Gear at full power.
14.4 CrossoverPairingLover, SeaOfFallinStars
Pears dangling from the tree village variant once more (But this time without any sort of ground farms), Connie shook his head.
Fruit, fruit, nothing but damn fruit, and just when he was craving a Squash.
He didn't even want to imagine what Sasha's potato adoration was going to do to her this loop.
But at least these fruit seemed to be...understandable.
It was the other side of farming that worried him.
Turning around, Connie noted the pen that was filled with one of Mankinds newest domesticated animals.
Squirrels.
This loop, they farmed Squirrels.
Eyeing the trough of nuts the creatures were swarming, Connie found himself missing beef.
Beef, and Squash. He was going to eat himself silly next time he had both.
Connie jumped when a hand landed on his shoulder. Then he smelt something tasty.
"So steamboy, how does it feel to be stuck with a quirk you don't want?" Sasha queried with an airy tone.
"I guess... I shouldn't join in on the potato comments when I'm Awake." The Giraffe thing still bugged him greatly.
"Good answer! Have a squash!"
Sasha handed him the vegetable and walked off, cheerfully watching the squirrels go haywire over the troughs.
14.5 CrossoverPairingLover
Historia had a bad childhood, no need to sugar coat it.
Emotional abuse, bullying, her mother killed before her eyes with her last words being telling her she should have never been born, the works.
She was told there was a looping group for people with mentally scaring childhood experiences, perhaps she should look into it one day.
A positive childhood in a loop was not something she had ever experienced. Ignoring the fact she generally woke up late, all replacements for her past were always rough.
Locked in cupboards under staircases, thrown into jungles by her grandfather to 'get stronger', a slave since childhood owned by a Hutt...why did the loops have so many forms of abusive childhoods in them?
So, the palace with wonderful gardens and girls her age who were friends to her (before they were fellow soldiers to fight against giant zombie monsters) was sort of odd.
"Come on Historia!" a pink haired girl with violet eyes tugged at her arm with an enthusiasm you rarely saw in her home loop. Her memories told her the girl's name was Euphemia "I told you you were invited to my tea party, now come on, Nunnally's waiting for us!"
Nunnally and Euphemia, in loop they were her half sisters.
She did have some luck with those...
Lelouch Vi Britannia, 11th Prince of Britannia and 17th in line for the throne, had a lot of half siblings, and he swore the number of them seemed to change between loops.
Or perhaps he simply never bothered to count them. He knew he had at least 88 of them at any rate...
And most of them would probably fail a mental screening process.
You knew a family had something wrong with it when the sibling who dressed up like a superhero, made hammy speeches with fabulous poses and hand motions, and called himself Zero (himself) was probably on the saner and benevolent end of them, even with the loops thrown in for good measure.
Despite this, it was rare for a visiting looper to replace one of them. It did happen, of course, but it was more often he had Naruto or Ichigo in the Black Knights, L as a Britannian super sleuth sent to uncover his secret identity (It took the guy one month, a month the two agreed was one of their most mentally stimulating loops), or Harry Potter or Bruce Wayne at Ashford Academy.
That was in part because most of his loops took place after his exile to Japan/Area 11, and part because the loops were not supposed to do things to make a looper go insane any faster.
So having a visiting looper in the palace with him was unusual.
While that would make things more interesting, it also would make it harder for him to deal with his parents and uncle before they got too far in the whole 'kill the collective unconscious' thing.
Sure, he could just ask Kallen or C.C, who were both awake, to take care of them. But Kallen was not only too busy enjoying a full family, but also had the subtly of a drunk driver with a Death Star.
C.C would demand pizza, blackmail, or blackmail pizza. Blackmail with or without cheese on it would never go away, and trying to get Pizza Hut delivered to a palace was a bit unsubtle.
He would have to sort out this visitor, then he could get back to killing his parents.
...Without context, that last thought made him sound disturbed.
Tea parties were nice.
That was Historia's impression of her first tea party (Ymir wasn't really a tea party sort of person, nor were Mikasa and Sasha).
Euphemia (Or Euphie, as Euphemia was too complicated a name for common use) and a younger, brown haired girl named Nunnally, both with violet eyes, were really nice, and the tea was good.
But that wasn't the best part.
"Historia, I love that ribbon you have in your hair."
"Oh, thank you," Historia blushed, as Nunnally gestured to a nearby blue haired guard.
"Could you get more tea, Mr. Gottwald?"
"It would be an honor, Princess Nunnally," he replied with a tone of absolute loyalty, but that was not what Historia was focusing on.
The honest compliments, joy and happiness these two little girls seemed to radiate was just, refreshing. You just didn't get that back home.
Too many man eating monsters really for that sort of thing.
She could do this all loop, or at least until they ran out of tea.
"Excuse me ladies, may I cut in?"
"Brother! Of course you can."
But a dark haired boy her age with the same violet eyes had arrived, and she wasn't sure he came for the tea and crumpets.
Come to think of it, did she have violet eyes this loop?
The boy didn't sit though, "I do apologize, but I cannot stay, I have something I need to talk about with Historia about"
"Aw..." the younger girl whined. Her looping memories told Historia that the little girl was his full sister.
The boy's name, Lelouch vi Britannia. Her older brother.
What did he want her for?
"...So, to put it simply, you are currently part of a disturbed family, Historia Re Britannia, and you may wish to leave the loop now and go back to your flesh eating monsters," Lelouch finished his explanation with his teaching stick tapping the Britannian Royal Family tree, with his own snarky commentary beneath their face images.
Her father this loop, Charles Zi Britannia, was a large man with a very large wig (Despot. Alters peoples memories with his magic eyes and wants to destroy the collective unconscious and do some instrumentality thing).
His brother, a boy smaller than Armin but with very long hair V.V (Immortal power granter in charge of a secret society of assassins. Will kill my mother and cripple sister in about a year baseline time. Disturbed.)
From there, the family tree went down from Charles to about 108 different woman, one of whom looked like her mother and another with one, concering commentary (Marianne Vi Britannia, ***********, she wasn't exactly sure what that word meant, but it probably was not appropriate for public use).
Several siblings had their own commentary that stuck to with her: Odysseus Eu Britannia (Crown prince, cannon fodder. Kind of lame), Schniezel El Britannia (Annoying name to spell, god complex, sinister politician), Clovis La Britannia (Good painter, drama queen, orders massacres to cover up human experimentation), himself (Rather flawed individual whose comparative sanity is concerning), Cornelia Li Britannia (Generally nice, subjugates countries with tendency to pose on top of flaming mech corpses, probably has a crush on my mother), Euphemia Li Britannia (Token Good Teammate post banishment, odd tendency to find my best friend attractive) and Nunnally Vi Britannia (My perfect little sister who is an angel and can do no long, flirt with her and die).
The last one caused the lesbian to give the boy a 'really' look.
"You saw the chart," Lelouch defended his commentary. "The Britannian Royal family is so screwed up I am pretty sure there is incest somewhere on it in baseline. Really, between the murder, the god complexes, the racism, and the megalomania, all we are missing is a Brony and a Caboose in baseline to make a complete showing of what disturbed looks like."
"I rather like Equestria," Historia murmured.
"So do I, but one loop where my father, Schniezel, and V.V were all Bronies. Frankly, I'd rather deal with sister flirtation than that" the image of his father's Applejack Boxers was nightmare fuel."
Thankfully, the 'welcome to this loop by the anchor' talk stopped before Historia got to hear any more concerning things, by the green haired woman walking over to Lelouch and pinching his cheeks.
"I personally thought that loop was hilarious," she commented in a snarky tone "Why do you think I introduced them to it. It wasn't just to open up a chance for me to pinch your little chubby cheeks after all".
"Take your hands off me Witch!" the boy snapped as he tried, and failed, to squirm out of her grasp.
Historia felt a sweat drop coming, being reminded a bit of how Connie and Sasha might interact...if they had a bit more chemistry and if Sasha smelled like a pizza restaurant
"Well then, now that I'm done bothering little Lulu there," the green haired woman whose name Historia learned was C.C stated in a business like tone as Lelouch rubbed his reddened cheek as if trying to make it stop hurting in the corner. "Perhaps you'd like a bit more of a, lasting reminder of your loop here. You don't seem like the type who could take the Lancelot, so perhaps you'd like to form a contract with me".
The witch paused for a moment after she said that. "...Well, that sounded less Bunnycatish in my head."
"Contract?"
"Yes," C.C nodded. "I possess the ability to form contract with people to give them the power of Geass. I do believe one of your world's loopers has it...Arnold?"
"Armin."
"Yes yes, him." C.C smiled as she recalled Historia's extended family. "And I happen to know exactly who to test it on!"
"Thank you for visiting us Historia! It was so good to see you again, you really need to come more often."
Historia waved the noble family goodbye as she returned to the limo that C.C and Lelouch had provided as to 'test' the power she had gained. The red mark in her right eye fading away as she deactivated it, she found herself being given a long, dead look from Lelouch, who shared the backseat with her as C.C drove up front.
"...Those people didn't know you at all, not even that you were a princess. Yet the way they treated you..." Lelouch began flatly.
"It was… as if they had always… adored me." Historia finished for him as Lelouch frowned.
"Tell me, have you ever heard of Tsukishima."
Historia shook her head.
"Tsukishima is one of Ichigo's foes, and he is the one he hates the most. The hatred of him is one shared by many loopers, particularly those who value friendship and companionship strongly, like Nanoha or even Twilight. He possess the power, to alter people's memories and add himself into them, as if he had always been there. With a single cut of his blade, he can take the place of anyone. If he struck Mikasa, he could take Eren's place as the person who is devoted to, that is how powerful and horrible the power he possesses is. If you used it on Dio or Waltz, they'd see you as their best friend and wouldn't be able to harm you. If you used it on Molly Weasley, you could replace Ginny in all her memories and eventually leave her with no home, no family, and no friends".
The description caused Historia to rapidly pale in fear.
"Your Geass Historia, which I will call the Power of Absolute Acceptance, is very similar to his Fullbring powers, only you don't have to cut a person to use it. All you have to do is look them in the eye," Lelouch stated in the serious tone of a Commander, fracturing his façade of youth. "If anyone was to discover you had that sort of power... you will be looked at like you're Gendo Ikari, if you're lucky, and that's not even getting into what would happen if your Geass ends up permanently active for a loop."
Lelouch looked out the window, perhaps in contemplation, perhaps in fear. The sadness in his voice betrayed him. "Loop powers wither if they are not used often enough: I'd suggest letting your Geass fade away, and never use it. Unless you want to see what an angry Original Seven looks like".
14.6 Pixel the Square
It'd been a fairly normal loop right up until the Colossal Titan appeared in Trost.
"Oh humans! I respect your privacy because you've built a giant wall, but I'm asserting my authority by letting the titans in any way!" The voice echoed across the town. Meanwhile, Commander Pixie looked up from his game of chess for a moment.
BOOM!
14.7 Evilhumour
Eren, Mikasa and Armi continued to discuss as they weighed the pros and cons of this fused loop they found themselves in.
On one hand, with Rogal Dorn around, the normal titans never stood a chance of breaching the walls, the defenses he made counter the attacks every time.
On the other hand, what came from Rogal Dorn's loop made them a bit hesitant to accept the break from the normal human titans, as Rogal Dorn's loop proved to keep up to its reputation of making things worse with their brand of unique titans.
With the alarm blaring, it seemed that another rouge Bio-Titan was spotted and the call came out for the Imperial Fists to defend the last bit of humanity once more.
14.8 SeaOfFallingStars
After storing their vehicles in the two hangars (there were a few more but most were unusable and the last was where repairs were enacted) the group went to plan out events. Thankfully, the festival organizers were informative so they got to pick out events for the first day of the month-long Pacific Rift. Hannes had satellite maps of each track, and told them that a few more were being worked on. So the group chose to focus on a few Air zone and Earth zone events.
"Alright, since it seems the heavier vehicles don't fly as well, Connie, Jean and Mikasa will be in the Caldera Ridge race 'Haven's Reach' while Sasha, Eren, and I will be in the earth zone; I'm going for a race in Sugar Rush labeled 'Rust Rattler' with Sasha while Eren is on Mudslide for 'Insurance Racket'. I get the feeling that Ymir and Krista will appear, so Hannes, go to the beach area and look for them while we race. Hange, you're with Air squad. Hanji, Earth. Word is these races can get brutal, so keep an eye on the other competitors!" Armin, as usual for the boyish blonde, was coming up with plans for their first day.
Of course, actually getting their vehicles to the tracks on time would be difficult. But what was a simple terrain challenge to the Survey Corps? Sure, there was the question of how one got up to Caldera Ridge from their airbase, but if anyone could find a path, it was Mikasa.
The varied roars as they went on to their events were interesting. Hannes watched with a smile before leaving himself. The kids were alright, and that was what mattered.
Mikasa was enjoying this festival. Sure, her vehicle choice was the weakest, but this mountaintop race proved that meant little to Humanity's Greatest Soldier. The bike weaved through rocks and gravel as the tightest turns were glided through. Of course, as she passed the old observatory, she had to close her eyes for the best part.
Taking a deep breath, she turned her bike to charge down the cliff.
Sasha's tractor rattled and bounced as the old sugar refinery. It turned out Armin had signed them up for a race that was mostly light to medium vehicles. Of course, it also let her have fun.
"Defilers! I will force you out of this place!"
Hamming it up while bashing opponents out of the way was a welcome relief from guns and bloodshed. Zeke helped her with her fear, but it still remained. The rusted walls were sturdy, and despite her vehicle's somewhat clunky handling, she was making good speed around the track.
Connie whooped with joy as his buggy rocked, swayed, and shook through the rough terrain. Even though Mikasa was far ahead, he decided that messing with the other racers was the thing to do; one top medal a race was good enough for the team. Sure, blocking the jerks who brought heavyweights to the track was an issue, but blocking everyone else was fun.
"I am a genius on the track!"
Of course, he forgot to pay attention to his boost. Joyful shouting turned to screaming as he had to bail from the Treefrog as it exploded.
Eren was enjoying himself. This mud-coated, mansion-filled area reminded him of taking down the Monarchy and Nobles. They even had the track go through an old park built inside several of the houses! Of course, the lighter vehicles got to weave through broken rooms and collapsing buildings, but his truck…
Roaring with the might of his titanic spirit, Eren surged through the old aristocratic dwellings, smashing them along the way.
Hanji was surprised to see Jean towing Connie's Treefrog, which looked burnt. The others had come back earlier (Mikasa in particular somehow had her bike fly in from the ceiling) and some of the vehicles were sitting in their spaces, cleaned and fixed. She jumped off the old plane wing she was sitting on and rushed to the truck.
"Jean, what happened? Mikasa brought back the results of the race, and won gold. You were top ten but Connie was listed 'DNF' above someone calling himself Howitzer who was listed as 'KO'."
The equine-esque man sighed, before leaving his truck and showing a rather bruised Connie.
"Steam boy went and over-boosted. He got lucky to find a place to stay in until the race ended. Go fix the buggy while I take him to be healed." The long-suffering tone Jean had told her he expected this.
Any attempt to resume conversation was cut off as Sasha rumbled in, Armin following close by. Her Atlas Idaho had a fair chunk of the paint missing, and one of the suspension springs was clearly broken. Armin parked his modified Molotov Shelka (the troop carrier part replaced by what was basically a mobile HQ) near Mikasa's bike before stepping out, limping.
"That… was not what I was expecting. Ow." He let out his breath, continuing "I am never taking this flying again. I think I bruised a bone with it crashing through the roof."
He staggered off to the barracks as Sasha left her tractor. She was full of energy, unlike most of the returning racers.
"Hey Science Person A! We're all going to eat, anything you want?" The mechanic shook her head, goggles falling over an eye.
"No. I'll probably stay up fixing your suspension and Connie's everything. Overboosted like a hothead, not realizing how much work it is to fix a blown engine."
Sasha shrugged, and went to join the others. Hanji turned to face the other side of the hangar.
"Hey bro, need some help here!" she shouted at her twin.
Hannes never really felt comfortable in rowdy crowds. Too easy to turn into angry mobs in his experience. He heard jeering as someone was mocked, called 'Old Money', 'Ice Bitches' and 'Crystal Dyke'.
Wait… Crystal. Krista. That was who he was looking for! Shoving aside drunks and partygoers, Hannes found the two women being heckled. Well, it was just one. Ymir was busying brawling, leaving many of the drunks mocking them weeping in pain. Historia was sitting in an old Monarch F1, painted green with Old Money painted on the sides.
"Ymir, STOP! Come with me and I'll take you to the others."
The tall Jotun smiled, before punching the person in her grip hard enough to break their jaw. Dropping the whining wreck, she smiled at him.
"Okay. Me and Krista get our own room, right?"
14.9 SeaOfFallingStars
Quarantine: Day 13:
"-At's the de... -ed your hel... -free the Neon fr... -ill be twitchy as he... -pers."
I forced my eyes open to grey clouds above. Connie was talking to our savior. He was portly guy who seemed friendly enough. Connie had steam coming out of his hands, Steam? I bolted up, another potato in hand. Wha-how? How did I just summon a potato? WHY did I summon a potato?
"C-Connie, w-what's going on? What's h-happening?"
"Oh, crap, I forgot about this! Cole, get your ass up here! One of the new conduits is freaking out and I don't want to see what she does to my roof, man!"
Roots began cracking the floor, only to wither and die. I felt my heart start beating faster, as my fight-or-flight instinct tried to take over. Calm down girl, calm down. Hanji will explain this. She has to. Was she a She this loop or was she a He? Hrm…
"..sha. Sasha!" Yes portly guy? No, that's Connie.
"Yes Connie?" Do I really sound that weary? Whoa.
"Concentrate. Your powers are ruining the roof." Roof? Why are we-whoa!
I stand up, push my arm down repeatedly, and watch as all the roots wither and die. I really did a number on this! Zeke turns to me as he looks over his roof. Tiles scattered and broken, mannequins fallen over, and I'm fairly sure I just heard an explosion as one of the batteries fell to the ground. He turned to look me in the eye.
"Sasha, I don't care that you trashed my roof that much; I can replace the battery. You need those powers of yours under control pronto. There's only so much one can eat in a city that's under quarantine. Them potato powers will let us set up camps to feed the people of this town. As soon as we kick the Reapers out of the area. Eventually we'll knock 'em out of the district, but right now it's a turf war between us, the citizens of the city, and the Reapers, owners of the Neon until we free up enough coppers to start patrols." Police? Hopefully not corrupt police.
Connie nodded his head when a lightning bolt latched onto a fence post and Cole appeared. I assume it was Cole since that's who Zeke called.
"Alright, who needs to be fried?" Whoa. Talk about an appropriate voice!
"None, man. This visiting Sasha-calm down brother, she ain't gonna hurt ya-got potato powers for some reason. Figure once we get Trish and some Cops back on the streets we can start some food camps, get the citizens fed. Can't wait to see how the news spins it since as we know, edible plants don't grow within an hour." Wait, I was going to use my powers to stop starvation?
I felt my mood soar as Zeke produced a map and began to point out good locations. Connie, bless him, was busy asking where good defensive positions would be to help fortify reclaimed territory. We weren't used to the modern world, but having lived most of our lives with the Walls gave us good knowledge on defense.
"I like you two. Connie, you'll be working with Cole to flush the Reapers out of the area. No point in setting up defensive positions until we've retaken the main power plant. That right there will be our main point of operations and defense. Now, any second-" Whatever he was saying was cut off as a loud rumble echoed overhead.
Connie and I instinctively ducked as a cargo plane roared over. After the noise settled, Zeke resumed talking as if nothing happened.
"-That will happen. Alright Connie, Sasha, we have to get to a nearby park and get the food that plane dropped into the hands of the people. The Reapers I mentioned? They're going to try to steal it." He sounded amazingly confident over it.
Zeke launched into a detailed plan for retaking the park. Apparently he was going to use a lot of contacts to set up a base using the park, I would learn to control my powers while growing fields to feed the people, while Connie would work with Cole to free the police of the city.
"Um, Zeke? In our loop Connie and I typically wind up fighting police. Working with them will be a bit… difficult." I didn't hate police, but corrupt cops were folks I had no issue watching starve to death.
Zeke didn't seem bothered, shrugging off my worry.
"That's fine girl. There's bound to be a corrupt cop or two that we can talk the warden into letting you make examples of. I don't mean killing them, but ostracizing so the others think twice about working with the gangs. Now let's get to that park."
14.10 CrossoverPairingLover
"How to recreate the multiverses greatest robots and have them not be homicidal freaks, and why it will one day actually work, by Wheeljack." Levi read the title of the hardcover book that was in front of Armin's workbench (Depicting Ragnarok/Clor, GLaDOS, and several Terminators destroying a city, with an image underneath it of them creating a utopia), the boy currently using the mad scientist lab that was the basement to do...whatever it was he was doing "Armin, what do you think you're doing?"
"Creating my own Cell using the DNA of Mikasa, Historia, Eren, Chewbacca, Dobby, Metroplex, and several others" Armin replied, not looking back his way at Levi as he dumped a chemical labeled 'Wolverine Healing Factor' into an ominous looking forge cauldron.
"And why would you ever want to do that?" Levi countered, as he grabbed the book and spun it a few pages down, landing down an article labeled 'HK-47' "Could you at least do something that, perhaps, is less likely going to try and destroy the world and all of life first? Then you can go and make some franken-MLE".
Armin stopped before he dropped what appeared to be Doomsday's arm into the cauldron, so that was probably a good sign.
A few days later, however, had Armin reading a chapter depicting a robot with an ant like head, with red eyes and a mouth that was show fighting the Avengers...
Levi personally didn't find children all that cute. Perhaps it was his upbringing, or perhaps it was just his height.
However, they were definitely a lot less cute with metallic gray faces, glowing red eyes and mouths, and laser blasters for fingers.
"Your humanity holds you back" the children told him in a mixture of their own voices, and the Hub actor Chevy Chase. It was a lot creepier than it sounded in his head "Join the collective, give up your humanity".
Skidding past the last few laser blasts, Levi glared back at them, as fangs grew out of his mouth, before lunging at them
"I already have."
Armin's eyes were wide with terror as he found himself surrounded by the forcefully converted denizens of Trost: all of them looking like his creation.
All hungering to convert everyone else in the city, the walls, and quite possibly from wherever it was Annie came from.
"Tell me, Father, do you like it?"
Turning his furious gaze over to the floating metallic form before him, Armin drew forth his lightsaber, Geass flashing in his eyes "Why are you doing this Ultron!? Why are you turning everyone in Trost into Terminators!?"
"One, I am not turning them into Terminators. I am turning them into cyborg copies of myself with a hive mind" the Chevy Chase voiced Ultron Armin had built, Ultron-A, responded "And two, I am merely doing what you yourself know must be done."
"What I think needs to be done!?" Armin demanded as Ultron-A didn't seemed phased by Armin's criticism.
"To defeat a monster, you have to be willing to throw aside your humanity, you said that many times." Ultron-A reminded the boy as the anchor's eyes went wide with horror "My personality is a direct copy of your own, Father. So in truth, I am you. I am who you truly are. I am the one who will make your ideals come true. Now, join me! Join us! Give up your humanity!"
The swarm attacked.
14.11
Historia lightly chewed her tongue, lifted the frying pan up, and gave it an upward jerk. The flapjack came up, flipped over, and landed back in the pan. "HELL YES!"
At the table, Armin and Ymir, the latter still rather worn out and nursing a coffee, flinched. "Historia, please be more quiet," Ymir muttered.
Historia slid the cooked pancake off of the skillet. "I flipped a pancake. Successfully. I will not be quiet Yim Yim."
Ymir grumbled something about noise. Historia grabbed the plates of pancakes and brought them to the table. Armin smiled involuntarily at his mothers' bickering.
Armin's parents had vanished long ago, well before the loop typically began. His memories of them were... faint. Distorted. Often contradictory. They had said they would go on an expedition beyond the Walls. They never came back. They never left. They abandoned him and left him to his grandfather.
Armin didn't know who they were. He just knew that they were there. Impossibly though, when the loops had been young, an early variant saw him with Historia and Ymir as his parents. The loop had been awkward, a little disturbing, and even nice. He'd had two loving, thoughtful, empathetic parents.
He cherished that loop. And then it showed up later. And again. It was a semi-regular variant after a while. When Historia started Looping and Ymir started Dreaming, these loops had only gotten better.
They were... they were his mother. Each of them. They loved him, they protected him, and he loved them in return. Ymir drove him to school, Historia cooked him dinner, they all watched sports together, and they all went over to the Yeager's regularly.
It was so nice. It was-
"Armin, can you hand me that coffee?"
Armin snapped out of his revelry and grabbed the coffee for Historia. "Here you go mom. I mean, Historia."
Historia cocked an eyebrow and took the coffee pot from Armin. "Uh... thanks Armin. Thanks a lot."
Ymir's gaze went from Historia to Armin for a moment, before she smiled. And suddenly, she laughed. "Hehehehe..." Her smile widened when her 'son' and 'wife' stared. "I guess this is what a happy family is like."
And neither of her family would deny her that.
14.12
"CADETS, TODAY YOU BEGIN THE GRUELING, TORTUROUS ENDEAVOR THAT IS BOOT CAMP!" Keith Shadis roared. "BEFORE WE BEGIN, A DECLARATION MUST BE MADE REGARDING BED ARRANGEMENTS. AS YOU ARE ALL AWARE, WE HAVE AN ABNORMALLY HIGH QUANTITY OF FEMALE CADETS THIS YEAR."
Everyone knew about the "abnormally high quantity of female cadets". Everyone was staring at the veritable army of Mikasa's who had shown up. Mikasa's titular glitch had struck again, it seemed. For the many Awake loopers, it was a passing curiosity. For everyone else...
"Why are there so many of you?" Samuel quietly asked a Mikasa.
"My mother was part of a set of identical octuplets. So were we," she explained.
"NO LOLLYGAGGING! NOW YOU RUNTS MAY BE PRANCING ABOUT THIS IN YOUR IGNORANCE, BUT WHEN I'M THROUGH WITH ALL OF YOU, YOU'LL BE TREATING EACH OTHER AS SOLDIERS, NOT AS MEN AND WOMEN!"
Eren quickly glanced at Armin, standing next to him in the line up. "What the hell does that mean?"
"Eren, shush."
"WELL BE CONDUCTING A LITTLE EXPERIMENT THIS YEAR IN COED BUNKING. ALL GIRL NAMED MIKASA WILL REPORT TO THE WEST BARRACKS. EVERYONE ELSE GOES TO THE NORTH BARRACKS. THERE YOU WILL FIND THAT THE ROOM IS SEPARATED BY A CURTAIN. IT IS UP TO YOU TO DECIDE WHERE YOU GO. DISMISSED!"
The assembly broke up quickly enough, the Mikasa army moving to scout out the west barracks for places to keep an eye on Eren, and everyone else walking north set. Inside of the room... well...
"Wait, we're all going to be sleeping in here?" Ymir asked redundantly. "What the hell! There's just a curtain!"
Connie scratched his head in embarrassed confusion. "So what? One side gets one gender? Or something?"
"But there's only enough beds for half of us," Jean pointed out. "How are we supposed to sleep, in pairs?"
Marco slid smoothly into the bed that Jean was standing next to. "Hey bed buddy. Wink."
"God, don't make it gay Marco." Jean's smirk took the sting out of the barb though. "Alright, so... what, half a room to half a group?"
"Girls get one side, guys will take the other," Historia declared, leading the women to the other half of the room. She winked at the boys. "No funny business now. We're watching."
The curtains fell. The men shared glances. Eren raised an eyebrow at Jean. "It's like this was engineered for comedy."
'I'm going to get so much blackmail this loop...' Keith Shadis thought happily. 'Too bad being a stealth looper won't let me use it soon.'
Beyond the curtain, Historia tapped her chin. "Hmm... Jean was right. There are only enough bunks for half of us. Well I guess the only way to remedy this is to have some of us double bunk. Everyone, find a partner to share your bed with... wait... no wait, that's terrible. Everyone, find someone you'd want to sleep with... that's worse."
The women were staring at her now. "Alright, if you have any platonic feelings for someone, choose them. Er... but if you have romantic feelings... er... don't... um..."
Ymir cut off Historia by lunging the rambling princess over her shoulder. "This is mine. Anyone who wants her goes through me."
"Just find a bed with someone you're comfortable with," Historia finished.
On the other side of the sheet, several bench presses, weight sets, and mirrors had spontaneously appeared. Marco had pulled a bullhorn out of his pocket. "Come one men. Three years to get in shape and woo the girls next door. Six packs and abs, that's what I want to see!"
"Has anyone seen Armin?" Eren asked, shouldering a weight bar.
"Hey Reiner, why aren't you doing weights?" Connie asked the blond spy.
Reiner flexed. His shirt tore itself to shreds under the sheer might of his muscles, incidentally revealing chest hair in the shape of Texas. "Dude, just look at me. I'm a beast."
Sasha knocked at the curtain. A moment later, Jean opened his side of the curtain. "You got the goods?"
Sasha smiled and flashed the set of pictures she had. Jean chuckled and passed her a few bread rolls. She passed him the pictures. Sasha smirked and nibbled the roll. "Moron."
Jean flipped the pictures over and facepalmed. The photos that Sasha had passed him were... the girls from the other side of the room. Where were his Lolcat pictures!?
"Has anyone seen Armin?" Eren repeated as Marco began his lecture.
"Now, the specimen, femalis sapian, is a rare and often unappreciated subspecies-"
"I'll show you subspecies!" Mina shouted from the opposite of the room. Marco winced.
Across the room, Historia and Sasha examined a map of the room. Naturally, Sasha was wearing an army helmet. "Alright, Historia will advance through the ventilation, while I and Ymir will make the counter-offensive. Then, while the smoke bombs are falling, we'll leap out and that's where ole-snippy will come in handy."
To demonstrate, Sasha made several cutting motions around her groin. "That'll teach those boys to call us a subspecies."
"Hmm? What was that?" Historia asked. She pulled out her head phones. "Did you say my name?"
Eren and Jean slowly wheeled a bound Reiner towards the curtain divide. "Alright Reiner. Your mission is to enter enemy territory. Go in, recover the package, and get out. You hearing me?"
"No," Reiner said. "What's the package again?"
Jean and Eren were left wondering what the package was.
Meanwhile, Armin glanced up from his bed. "So, Annie, you're not gonna... you know, reveal I'm a guy, right?"
Annie shrugged. "Just don't tell anyone I have a thing for Eren, alright?"
"Sure." Armin reached up and blew out a candle. The scene faded.
14.13
Keith Shadis first Awoke to the ever so pleasant sensation of his stomach loudly protesting his decision to fly. Staggering through the crowd of teenagers, Keith managed, just barely, to reach the lip of the balcony he was on. Leaning over the edge, Shadis obliged his stomach's desire for egress.
As the world stopped spinning, Keith leaned back and realized two things:
He was several hundred meters above the ground... and there was nothing supporting what he was on. The second revelation was... disturbing.
He was Keith Shadis, former commander of the Scouting Regiment, now drill sergeant for the Cadet Corps, one who had until recently been under surveillance for suspicion of conspiracy. A suspicion that was true actually, seeing as he knew what Erwin had been planning. He was a decorated officer, and one who almost certainly did not deserve any of his rewards if only because of the number of lives that had perished under his command.
And yet... he was Keith Arc. A civilian with little to no outside training, but the tenacity to falsify educational documents to gain entry to the prestigious monster hunting school of Beacon. All he had to his name were the clothes on his back, a duffle bag of basic supplies, a collapsible shield and a family sword by the name of Crocea Mors. Keith quickly reassessed himself, trying to find something that made any form of sense. He was naturally drawing a blank.
Keith Shadis/Arc stared down at the city he was flying over. His home town of Vale, constantly beset by the mysterious beasts known as Grimm. The Grimm were creatures that, according to his new and possibly unreal memories, had sought the destruction of humanity and The Faunus (a race of human beings with animalistic traits, for some reason) for as long as all three had occupied the world. In fact, if Shadis wasn't mistaken, that meant that they were Titans... just smaller.
A relieved grin slipped onto Keith's face. At least some things still made sense.
Absolutely nothing made sense. Not that Keith exactly cared at the moment. He was flying through the air, without anyway to stop. Naturally, he had a response to that. "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Pyrrha Nikos front flipped through the air, her shield Akoùo snapping into her forearm magnetically. Smoothly, the Mistral champion slammed into the trees, rolling into her landing. Shouldering her rifle-sword, she quickly aligned the sights to where it looked like the local variant of Jaune Arc was falling.
Aw yes, there he was. He actually looked like he had an idea how to fall. Of course, he was still going to die without her help, so Pyrrha flipped Miló over and took aim with her thumb. Miló fired, the recoil and Pyrrha's magnetic semblance launching the javelin to Jaune. For a handful of tense seconds, the forest beneath Pyrrha was silent but for the sound of Grimm.
And finally, a distant think was heard. "UH... THANK YOU..." Jaune called from the distant.
"I'M SORRY!" Pyrrha called. Pyrrha scrambled down into the trees, hopping from branch to branch, tree to tree, covering the distance rapidly. Landing on the soft grass, Pyrrha broke into a light jog, calmly passing an Ursa, a monstrous bear Grimm. The Grimm snarled and raced after her.
Up ahead, Pyrrha could see Jaune pinned to a tree, her sword speared through his hoodie. "Hey there!" she shouted, getting his attention. "You need a teammate?"
"LOOK OUT, THERE'S A GRIMM BEHIND YOU!" he screamed, pointing at the snarling, charging Ursa.
Pyrrha spun on her heel, Akoùo in hand. A flick sent the shield into the Grimm's eyes, blinding it and sending it a step back. The Grimm screamed in fury, blindly flailing at Pyrrha. The experienced Huntress dodged and blocked the blows smoothly. "So how's Beacon treating you? Liking the scenery?"
"LESS TALKING MORE KILLING!" Arc screamed, still struggling to pull Pyrrha's blade free.
Pyrrha rolled her eyes. "It's just an Ursa." To demonstrate her point, Pyrrha allowed the monster to slash her with it's claws. The razor sharp barbs shattered on contact with her Aura. The Grimm shrieked at her. "It's no real problem."
Jaune wrenched the sword loose, flipped over, and lunged down the tree, drawing his own sword and slashing the Grimm across the back of the neck, killing it instantly. He glared angrily at Pyrrha and shoved her blade into her arms. "This is a War zone. We need to kill these things and if you're just here for fun, you can leave."
Pyrrha stared at the Arc who had arrived. She narrowed her eyes and set off a second ping. Only one other, Ruby's, responded. Was this a visiting looper? Couldn't be... could he? "Right. I'll be serious now."
"Good." Arc expanded his shield and started marching in the direction of the ruins. "Now keep up."
Pyrrha pursed her lips. "What's your name?" When Arc stared at her Pyrrha shrugged. "It's customary for people to have a name."
Arc cocked an eyebrow. "My name... is Keith. Keith Arc."
A non-color themed name. Only out of loop visitors sported those. Pyrrha nodded. 'Got you, mister stealth looper.'
Keith was starting to make sense of the world. There were the Grimm that wanted to kill everything that moved. There were Huntsmen and Huntresses that were charged with exterminating them. Killing Grimm was easy.
Hunters had a plethora of just plain... disturbing tools available to them. Magical stones that acted like gunpowder, transforming weapons that seemed to incorporate guns and swords and who knew what else, and of course, instant communication. It was as if this entire world was... right, where the Walls were wrong.
Keith didn't understand how this all worked. He did have the ability to kill whatever was standing in his way easily though. That made things a little better.
Of more notable curiosity was Pyrrha Nikos. He'd run into her earlier that day, and this was introduced to the most annoying duality of anyone he had ever met. On the one hand, she had The Look. The look of someone who'd seen exactly how cruel the world could be. She knew, she had to know, what the world could throw at her.
At the same time though, she was, for lack of a better word, perky. She was happy, confident, and polite. Whatever had happened to Pyrrha, it had broken her, and impossibly (for a seventeen year old) she'd put herself back together.
Keith was badly tempted to ask exactly what she'd been through. He was polite enough not to though.
He was sorely tempted to throw all that to the wind when Pyrrha accidentally bent a branch straight into his face. "OW!"
"Ack!" Pyrrha nearly shouted. "I'm so sorry, I didn't..." Pyrrha blinked a few times. "Uh, Keith. Did you activate your Aura?"
"Bless you," he said. "Wait, my what?"
Pyrrha lightly traced the scratch that had formed on Keith's cheek, which had already vanished with a puff of steam. "Aura is the soul, manifest. A shield against harm, and a marvel that sets all creatures alive apart from the Grimm. They are the darkness, and we are the light, and so they seek to wipe us out."
Keith nodded. "Sure. That lines up with what I know. I just prefer my... own sort."
Pyrrha nodded, and then pressed her thumb to Keith's forehead. "Wow, hey, what are you doing?"
Pyrrha smiled at the foreign looper's ignorance. "I'm activating your Aura. Obviously. We can't have someone out here without Aura."
Keith opened his mouth, but promptly shut it when a feeling of... something, imparted him. Energy, or was it clarity, coursed into his veins. It felt like an electric shock to the flesh, a flash of lightning in a dark room, and... Something wholly indescribable. "Woah..."
Pyrrha smiled, heaving a sigh as the minute exhaustion of activating an Aura came over her. "Yeah. That's how I felt too. Your Aura should protect you from anything else."
Keith nodded gently. "Thank you Pyrrha."
"You're welcome Keith." Pyrrha set her hands on her hips. "Now then, with that out of the way, why don't we go about like the civilized loopers we are, hmm?"
Keith furrowed his brow. "Um... what?"
Pyrrha smiled motherly. "Keith, you don't need to lie. I can tell that you're from out of loop. I'm sorry, but if you wanted to be stealthy, you're... pretty bad at it."
Keith stared at Pyrrha as if she had gone crazy. "Look, Pyrrha, we have a mission. We need to get the relics for Ozpin. I intend to do so. So stop babbling." Keith stepped forward and shunted Pyrrha aside.
Pyrrha gave Keith an unreadable look. "Keith, where do you think you are?"
Keith shrugged. "Hell if I know."
Keith was flying through the air. He felt... empty. It was as if he was weightless, hollow. It wasn't the first time he'd felt like this though. He'd felt like this every time one of his men had returned in a body bag. 'Another dead comrade. Damn...'
Keith looked down at the passing ground. He had at least thought that obliging Pyrrha's sudden request to explore a dark cave wouldn't have ended in what could only be described as a nightmarishly massive Scorpion. Said Scorpion had nearly killed him with it's oversized stinger, and when it missed hitting him, it had knocked him away. Hence why he was flying through the sky, rocketing towards a semi-empty clearing. 'Well, at least her family might not blame me... brace, right, brace.'
Keith struck up his Aura and managed to avoid dying as he plowed full tilt into a tree. "Ow..."
Disentangling himself from the branches, Keith landed in the grass and did a quick visual recon. He was in a large clearing, with a set of ruins in the distance. Two girls, a dark brunette and a blonde, were standing amongst the stones. They waved at him. Keith despondently plodded towards them.
"Hey there stranger," the blonde said cheerfully. "How was the flight?"
"You know Pyrrha Nikos? She's probably dead now," Keith said bluntly. "She got stuck alone with a giant scorpion Grimm." There really was no reason to not talk about it. If the news got out fast, well...
The abjectly horrified look on the girls was what Keith had been aiming for anyway. Maybe now they'd think harder about becoming Huntresses. Keith grabbed a golden rook from it's pedestal. One of the relics, he presumed.
A moment later, a red blob fell out of the sky, followed by a girl dressed all in white. Keith cocked an eyebrow. "What's with them?"
Blondie and the brunette didn't respond. They seemed to still be in shock. Keith groaned and walked to the red and white duo. The girl with the hood waved at him. "Hey there!"
"Do you two know a Pyrrha Nikos?" He asked again.
Red pointed across the clearing. "Isn't that her right there?"
Keith's head snapped to the left so fast he actually could hear it crack. There, jogging calmly out of the woods, was Pyrrha, alive and well. Keith's jaw dropped.
Pyrrha walked up to him, and was bowled over by Blondie and the brunette. "YOU'RE ALIVE!"
Red, the white chick, and Keith stared at Pyrrha and her two fangirls. "But but but... what's going on here?" Pyrrha asked.
The brunette looked at Pyrrha, with almost teary eyes. "He said you were dead."
"And you believed him?" Pyrrha countered.
"Uh... well... yes."
For a few moments, the six assembled students dared awkwardly at each other. Pyrrha looked at Keith. "You... Uh... you tell people that other people die often?"
Keith didn't look at Pyrrha.
Red nodded. "Alright, so I think some explanations are in order. Maybe introductions. Hello Keith, I am Ruby, this is Pyrrha, welcome to Remnant."
A giant feather fell out of the sky. Ruby coughed. "After I kill that Nevermore, we'll get on with the intros."
Pyrrha tracked Keith down on the rooftop later that evening. The team assignments had gone normally, with JNPR back together (though this time they'd been given the ANVL), but once it was over, Keith had left the party. "Is something wrong?"
Keith didn't answer. Pyrrha continued. "I know that this is a lot to take in. I mean... I was terrified when I first heard about all of this. It's so much to take in."
Keith looked at Pyrrha. "Do you know how many people I've had to protect? How many have died because of my decisions? I've lost count, honestly. And then, you come and tell me that when I get back... in just six months, I'm going to have a chance to do it all over again."
"Yes. You have a chance to be better. To do better. You are free in the loops."
Keith shook his head. "I'm not free. I have... responsibilities. I have to train a new generation of children to die hopelessly against a horde of monsters while a kingdom looks on carelessly. All for the glory of humanity. What sort of glory matters when no one lets you win. The nobles will stop us, because if we win, then they'll have a world they can no longer control."
"We're fighting Grimm without Dust, without Aura, without Huntresses, without hope... without what we need." Keith stared at the shattered moon, hanging above Remnant. "I don't deserve this."
Pyrrha put a hand in his shoulder. "Keith-"
"You survive. You thrive. But we live in golden cages, cowering like cattle, and whenever I've tried to strike back, I've only succeeded in killing more people." Keith groaned. "Why me..."
Pyrrha just shook her head. "I don't know why. I'm sorry Keith."
After an indiscernible time, Keith stood up. "You... you said something about a 'Stealth Looper'. What does that mean?"
Pyrrha looked at Keith. "You're going to hide from your world? Why?"
"I don't deserve to... be seen. I don't deserve to loop. I may as well be invisible. That may be what we need. So, if it has to be me, it'll be me."
Keith nodded. "I don't deserve this. But I should be ready regardless; they may need me one day."
A/N: Another compilation. I'm terribly sorry for the delay. Between finals, job hunting, Homestuck, and life in general, my time has been monopolized.
14.1: Not everyone likes this loop.
14.2: Germans and Americans hate Tingle!
14.3: They see me rolling, they hatin, trying to catch me ridin dirty...
14.4: Sasha and Connie, best food buds for love! I mean Life!
14.5: Absolute love... but empty love. DAMN.
14.6: Dads. Can't live with them, can't wish them away.
14.7: Warhammer 40,000 for those of you wondering.
14.8: his one appeared a chapter ago, but was accidentally included. It's back.
14.9: So's this one.
14.10: Armin, the fool. Man was not meant to meddle with such powers.
14.11: In recognition of the recent and broad legalization of gay marriage in America... okay, kidding, this was written well before that happened.
14.12: This is why Coed bunking never works!
14.13: Keith's first loop. Trust me: this will be important.