Attack on Titan Loops
Chapter 15
15.1
Tommy Oliver Awoke to the most annoying and disquieting out of body feeling he had experienced in the loops. He was in Zordon's tube again. He immediately felt a disturbance in the Morphing Grid, a reinvigoration as Evil returned. He also felt the earthquake Rita was causing. He glanced down at Alpha 5. "Alpha!"
"Aiyaiyai!" Alpha shouted. "It's the big one! Everything is going to come crashing down! I knew it!"
"Calm down Alpha. It's really Rita. She's escaped her prison and is attacking earth."
"What do we do?"
Timmy smiled. This was always fun. "Teleport to us five overemotional and overbearing humans."
"No! Anything but that! Not teenagers!"
"That's correct," Tommy said, smirking. "Commence the translation Alpha, now!"
"Aiyaiyai," Alpha said, keying in a location and teleporting the five chosen teenagers. Tommy looked at the shimmering lights, and into their clearing depths, and saw...
Five white girls. No, wait, four white girls and a biracial girl. Tommy glanced at Alpha. "You got the calibrations right, right?"
"Uh..." Alpha glanced at the computer screen, while the girls were glancing around in various degrees of confusion. "No, I locked onto the visiting loopers. These are them." He waved at the five girls. "Hi there. Welcome to our loop."
The biracial girl, obviously of asiatic descent, stepped forward. She had been staring at Tommy from the instant she'd arrived. "Hello Mr... Tommy Oliver? My name is Mikasa Ackerman, Anchor to the Walled World."
Tommy nodded in polite recognition. "Hello Mikasa, girls, I am Tommy Oliver, anchor of one of the worlds of Power Rangers. You five have been selected to be Rangers... despite the obvious deficiency."
The group exchanged a confused glance. "Uh... what do you mean, deficiency?" a bespectacled brunette asked.
Tommy shook his head in an attempt to make a broad, encompassing gesture. "It's just that, usually, Power Ranger teams are more diverse than this... well, usually. I mean, one person of half asiatic descent, and you're all girls." Tommy grimaced in embarrassment. "We tend to have broader representation."
A short blonde girl developed a blush. "Well... uh... in terms of diversity, I'm dating Ymir."
"Dating Historia," a tall, dark haired girl said. She was obviously Ymir.
"I'm non-binary. Name's Zoe, call me Hanji," the bespectacled girl said.
"I'm Sasha and I'm Scottish!" a girl with dark red hair said.
"Blue ranger material," Alpha commented.
Mikasa declined to comment in the fashion of everyone else. "So, we're to become Power Rangers?"
"Basically," Tommy said. Alpha grabbed a box and began passing out morphers. "These are your morphers. They will allow you to become the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers. As I have. As my friends have. And as many others have. May you use your powers wisely."
The girls took their morphers, Historia tentatively, Ymir and Mikasa impassively, and Hanji and Sasha enthusiastically. "So when do we get to use these?" Hange asked.
"Hmm... Right now," Tommy said. "Rita Repulsa is attacking Angel Grove as we speak. We'll teleport you to her attack."
"Wait, before we go, I have a question," Mikasa said, slipping her morpher onto her belt. "Did the Juice Bar collapse? Because my brothers were eating Ice Cream and hadn't left when it started-"
"Your brothers are replacing Bulk and Skull," Tommy informed her. "Trust me: they are set for life. Now then; go, Mighty Morphing Power Rangers!"
The world shimmered out around Mikasa, Sasha, Hanji, Ymir and Historia, before reforming into the park in Angel Grove. Around them were Rita Repulsa's foot soldiers, the Putty Patrol. Mikasa cracked her knuckles, and pulled her morpher off of her belt. "We need to stop this."
"Whatever you say Mikasa," Sasha agreed.
"Can we capture a few so I can study them?" Hanji asked.
"No, we're going to be kicking their asses," Ymir rebuked.
"We need to save the city, so please stop bickering," Historia interjected.
Sasha chuckled. "Well Mikasa, your call to make. Shall we?"
Mikasa clutched her morpher, and shouted. "IT'S MORPHING TIME!"
15.2
"Ikari? Ikari? Wake up."
"Who is that"
"It's me."
"Class rep? Why..."
"Where's Arlert? Where has he gone to Ikari? I made this for him with all my heart. It's just a lunch... but... I can't find him. Ikari... please... bring him back."
"No! I didn't do it! I didn't kill Armin!"
"Kill? Is... is Arlert dead?"
"I WASN'T ME! I TOLD HIM TO STOP! BUT FATHER... GENDO KILLED ARMIN!"
Karula Ikari (typically Carla Yeager) opened her eyes and escaped her nightmare. Or... did she wake up into this... this nightmare loop? "That ceiling... it's familiar."
"I imagine it is," said a rugged, calm voice. Ryoji Kaji, Kaji to his friends, was in the room. "I guess you've 'regained consciousness'. You sure you don't want to be unconscious a little longer?"
Karula sat up, feeling her entire body groan under the mental stress she had been under. 'Armin... Oh Armin...' Karula's eyes widened as she remembered her dream, and how her class representative, Mikasa, had arrived.. "Mikasa... oh god she'll... she'll be..."
Kaji sighed quietly, but in the painfully silent room, he may as well have fired a gun. "I guess this is something that shouldn't be avoided. Your father wants to see you."
Karula snapped out of her stupor over having to tell her Unawake daughter that Armin had died. "He... he wants to see me?"
Kaji nodded solemnly. "He wants to see you. He said that you need to see him, even if you need to crawl." Kaji looked dead to Karula. "That's how he put it."
Karula steeled herself and sat up. "He wants to see me. Then I'll go. I want to see him to."
The walk through NERV's headquarters was a blur to Karula. Her memories kept intruding on her walk. Nerdish, playful Eren walking around in Kensuke Aida's shoes. Mikasa managing the class with Hikari Horaki's stern fist. Timid Armin Suzuhara, joining the Eva program to save his little comatose sister, Christa, just like Toji had before him.
The memory of her hands closing... of her hands crushing Armin... killing Armin...
Karula was standing in the dark room that was Gendo's office. In front of her, the man that laid claim to the title of 'her father' sat, hands clasped. Behind her, neither supporting nor oppressing her, Kaji stood, silent.
"You look better than I expected," Gendo said emptily. "Now then... Destruction of NERV property. Willful possession of Eva for personal usage. Disobedience of lawful orders. All of which are criminal acts." Gendo looked Karula dead in the eyes. "What do you have to say for yourself."
Karula inhaled, and exhaled slowly. She could hear the blood in her ears rushing, her heart pounding. The urge to scowl, to scream, to lash out, threatened, something to fight against Gendo. Instead, she said nothing.
Gendo adjusted his glasses. "If you have nothing to say for committing these crimes, then you are to be punished accordingly. You are to spend a month in solitary confinement for your actions." Gendo's stare was void, lacking emotion, depth, humanity. "Go, and think upon your decisions."
Karula twitched. "My actions."
Kaji read her tone instantly. Gendo didn't even hear her tone, and remained silent in incomprehension.
"Possession of Eva for personal use. Destruction of property. Murder." Karula sneered. "Those are your crimes Gendo. And your sentence..."
Karula didn't move her feet. She didn't lunge, didn't jump, didn't rush. Instead, her feet remained perfectly planted. Her arms though...
Gendo couldn't explain the surge of water that lifted him up and engulfed his head. Karula was staring at him with fury etched in her face, not that he could see it. "You killed Armin. His blood is on your hands! And your blood is on mine."
Karula threw Gendo out the window, liquified, and left the building. Kaji, standing in the room, was unable to move. Seeing your boss killed by his daughter with her having drowned him on dry land would do that to you.
Shinji Horaki, Mikasa Horaki's brother this loop, was a very smart person. You tended to end up a smart person when you were billions if not trillions of years old. His smarts were what led him to a small alcove between two buildings, a gap occupied by bushes and grass and vine plants. It was a small garden, tucked away within the city of Neo Tokyo Three.
Shinji knew it well. It was a place he had gone to many times to brood. It was prime brooding territory. Some of the best, honestly. It was where he found Karula Yeager, sitting still on a bench. She was utterly still, save a single motion: the trailing tears on her face. Shinji sat down next to her and gently wrapped her hand in his.
The silence crept on, Karula sniffling and Shinji gently patting her shoulder. Finally, Karula's crying eased. "Do you want to talk about it?" Shinji asked politely.
"I... I killed him." Karula tucked her legs against her chest, trying to curl up into herself. "I killed him."
"Gendo? No, don't answer that." Shinji pressed a little closer to Karula. "I know that it's hard. It's hard to take a life."
"No... it's easy," Karula gently asserted. "I've killed before. I've killed good men before. I... didn't know who I was. I wasn't asking who I was. I didn't care. I was Sloth. I killed because I was told to. This isn't the first time." Karula's tears flowed anew.
"You knew him," Shinji intuited. "You knew who Gendo was. But... you regret killing him?" Now he looked a little lost. "What, didn't you want to kill him?"
Karula choked on her words. Comprehension dawned on Shinji. "You knew him after he started looping. And when you met him here, he wasn't-"
"He wasn't Gendo. That monster isn't the person I know." Karula dragged another gasp of air into her lungs. "I was the only person who knew him, and didn't judge him."
Shinji sighed. "Not everyone hates Gendo. They, and you, are exceptions to the rule though. Nanoha, Naoki, millions despise him. He's a new looper, compared to the multiverse. We're billions of years old. He's nary a handful of millennia old. As old as you, if I'm correct."
Karula didn't answer Shinji. "Karula, you know that you were one of a select group who had never seen Gendo when he was himself. You had the fortune to know another him. Gendo know is in pain. He's struggling to fit into the loops when everyone is trying to kick him out." Shinji squeezed his fist, an old nervous habit. "When my father is Awake, he wants to be accepted. He wants to atone. He just wants to be... left alone."
"When he's Asleep, Gendo is... lost. He's flailing, bumbling through life, grasping at the final straws he thinks will return Yui to him. My father wants to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Yui will return to him. It's driven him mad."
Shinji sighed and looked up at the hot, painfully clear blue sky of this endless summer. "Awake, Gendo simply wants to grieve in peace. Asleep, he wants to reunite with Yui. This doesn't excuse his actions though. He isn't the first person to have lost a loved one. He should have moved on. He just... Gendo, when he's like this, deserves his punishment. He and Seele damned the human race. Looping though, he just wants to find peace."
The silence established itself, and began to stretch on. Shinji and Karula sat in silence, thoughts and emotions and fleeting glimpses of understanding whirling in a tumult in their heads. The wind whistled through the vines, and clouds had gathered when Karula spoke again. "In my home loop, my husband loses me. Grisha is distraught... so sad. And yet... He doesn't find Eren or Mikasa. Instead, he waits a week and goes to the Reiss chapel. He kills them all. He takes the Coordinate. And he gives it to Eren."
"My husband has kept so much from me. So many painful secrets. And when I died, he couldn't take it. But where Gendo broke and plotted to take Yui back, Grisha gave Eren the Coordinate. He hid the Coordinate within Eren. He died to ensure the safety of mankind."
Karula stared at her hands. "I guess... Grisha used his final hours well. Gendo didn't. But at the same time, there are so many, so many reasons that are left unanswered. I can't... I can't begin to fathom how he knew about the Coordinate, how he became a Titan Shifter, why he acted when he did. I don't even know if what he did was right. At least with Gendo, I knew."
Karula sat there in silence, before tears welled up and began to seep from her eyes into her hands. "I'm a terrible person."
Shinji squeezed her hand. "No, you're not. You're better than you think you are. You, like everyone else-"
"No, it's that I've killed Armin, your sister's sweetheart, and I'm... I'm torn up about killing, killing a monster." Karula looked to be on the edge of a full psychological breakdown leaning hard over her hands. "I'm a horrible, shitty person and a horrible, shitty mother."
Shinji gently pushed Karula up to a sitting position. "Carla, I need you to look at me. Just look at me."
Karula turned to face Shinji. Shinji's blue eyes were as hard as steel. "Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone wishes they could go back and repair the damage. But no one, not even I, can do that. Karula, in the loops, people are going to die. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when. When their time comes, you must promise me something."
"You must be prepared to let them rest in peace. Fight for their life, fight to save them, and never stop fighting to protect what you love the most. But when their time comes, and you see what has happened, you must always remember that no matter what, what you did was your best. You made mistakes, but blame does not fall to you. Merely a responsibility to save what you once failed to save."
Shinji gently pulled Karula into a hug. "I'm sorry that Armin is dead. I'm sorry that Gendo is dead. You just always remember this. Keep moving forward. One day, you'll see how your journey affected you, and you will love it."
Karula hiccuped. "But... Armin... Mikasa..."
"I know. I've lost people dear to me as well Carla. What sustained me was a drive to see what would come of my choices and a hope that the next day would always be better than the last. Feeling pain, even guilt, is natural. Just remember. The past is gone, and all you can do is learn from it to change the future." Shinji stood up, his hand still in Karula's.
Karula gently stood up, unfolding in stiff sections like a fancy ruler stick. "Shinji, do you-"
"Yes, I do." Shinji's smile assumed a different, ever so lightly pained, appearance. "You'll get better. And everything will be alright. I did, after all."
15.3 Crossoverpairinglover
The Colossal Titan once again rose its head above the massive Wall Maria.
However, it had a...unpleasant addition to it this time around, and no it was not a Perm this time.
Instead, it had really wide eyes and an open mouthed smile, the likes that a human could not pull off without looking terrifying while attempting to look extremely happy.
Mikasa took one look at it, and her body shivered like she had been trapped inside another living Glacier, before she drew out a bazooka longer than Erwin was tall and fired at it.
15.4
"You spent the last loop as a what?"
Mikasa had dragged herself into the Carla's bar with the look of a girl who had been proposed to by Edward Cullen. Her explanation for her state of fatigue had been incredulous. "I was an insurance agent."
Jean set his beer aside and gave Mikasa a long hard look. After his deliberation, he simply patted her on the shoulder. "Alright, now what really happened?"
Mikasa slammed her head into the bar. "So... much... paperwork..."
Ymir finished cleaning a flagon and gave Mikasa another cup. "Look Mikasa, being an insurance agent isn't that ridiculous. So suck it up and take it like a soldier."
Mikasa took her lager and upended it over Ymir's head before grabbing her lapels and pulling her into her face. "Trust me: it's hell on earth. Insurance work is literally hell on earth."
Jean gently pushed his beer to Mikasa. "Alright Mikasa, we understand. Now put Ymir down and have a pint, okay?"
"Make it a gallon," Mikasa countered, pulling the pint away from Jean. "And put it on Jean's tab."
"Hey!"
It was nearly an hour later that Mikasa, drunk, haggard, but slightly recovered, walked out of the bar. Jean and Ymir watched her go impassively, before quickly turning back to each other. "You believe her?"
"Nope."
Jean shook his head. "How could being an insurance agent be tough? It's... it's insurance!"
Ymir shook her head. "Look, Jean, I barely loop outside of our world. Maybe she ended up in that lawyer's world. What was his name, Iam Right?"
"Pheonix Wright," Jean answered, pulling a portable game player and a cartridge from his pocket. "This is his video game. I want it back before the loop ends, okay."
Ymir took the portable and booted it up. "Man, whatever. But seriously, insurance? That's just a wasted loop."
"Nah, some sort of super power has to be good for being an insurance agent," Jean countered. "Maybe Mikasa just got a silly power she doesn't want to talk about."
"Like with those teleporting agent commercials?" Ymir offered, slotting the Ace Attorney cartridge into the portable.
"Yeah. Maybe if you say, 'like a good neighbor, Mikasa's there' or some-"
BING!
"Hello I am your State Farm insurance rep...resent..."
Ymir and Jean stared at the impeccably dressed Mikasa, wielding a clipboard and pen, caught mid-speech by the realization that she was talking to her fellow loopers. And that she had teleported to them. Which meant that being called like this summoned her.
For a long moment, silence reigned.
"GODDAMMIT!"
15.5 Evilhumour
On one hand, this had to be one of the strangest variant the three Anchors ever had to deal with. There were no walls, no flesh eating monsters, nothing to worry about it!
"QUACK!" With the thuds of webbed feet walking up to Eren, the Duck Titan thundered his quack again. Reaching to his side, he grabbed some of the bread he had and tossed it over the bird's head, to which it chased after and began to gobble it down before drenching the three of them with water after it dove into the pond.
Then again...
15.6
Jean glanced around the dark forest he was in. "Well this sucks," he neighed. He then face-hoofed. "And now it's worse."
"At least you have a whole body," Marco said... somehow... from atop Jean's back. "At least you can explain how you're speaking!"
"Well you're a ghost," Jean pointed out.
"Halfa. Half man, half ghost," Marco clarified. "And really, I'm only 90% man right now and no ghost at all. How do you explain that?"
"You're a dullahan," Jean suggested.
"..." Marco huffed after a moment. "Well, at least we know where we are now. We're either in Ireland, or Pennsylvania."
"Pennsylvania?"
"Sleepy Hollow, where else?"
"Sleepy Hollow is in Virginia."
"No it isn't." Marco gave Jean's reigns a flick. "Sleepy Hollow is in Pennsylvania. That's why we're here. We're... Pennsylvania Dutch."
"Why would we be Dutch?"
"The Pennsylvania Dutch are Germans. We are Germans."
"Well, can't you check your loop memories? You're the horseman, you should remember something."
Marco seemed to think about that for a moment. Than he shrugged. "No head, no brain, no memories."
"Oh for the love of..." Jean stopped.
The duo of horse and rider had arrived at a crossroads, and were staring at a tall man in a brown coat and glasses, who was staring back at them. For a moment, the headless man, his horse, and the teacher didn't speak.
"Hey," Marco said. "Is this Pennsylvania, or Virginia?"
Ichabod Crane said, "New York."
15.7 BIOS-Perecydes
It was a relatively peaceful day for the residents of the Titan Loops. At the moment most of the Loopers were Awake and hanging out in the Carla. Jean, Mikasa, Armin and Marco were playing a round of poker, the large pile of random souvenirs growing with each hand. In the corner Sasha and Connie were experimenting with their Conduit abilities, testing whether Sasha could use Connie's steam to bake her potatoes while still on the vine. Behind the bar Carla and Hannes were discussing various drinks they had made in the past dozen Loops, while Hanji and Eren were seated at the counter arguing over a diagram of the Hell Titan's biology. Seated in the background watching over their friends, Ymir and Historia were relaxing on the couch; Historia resting her head against Ymir's shoulder. The only person missing was Levi, who hadn't Awoken yet.
With a loud slam as the door was knocked open by a cloud of bats, that was quickly rectified. The bats soon coalesced into the familiar leader of the Special Operations Squad, who appeared more haggard than normal. Without a word to the others who were looking at him curiously he immediately headed for the bar. "Brain Bleach."
Long practice had Hannes passing the drink over even before Levi had finished asking, however rather than drain the drink immediately he instead turned to Hanji. "Titan Blood."
Hanji's eyes widened in surprise. "What happened to you?"
"Titan. Blood."
Scowling Hanji pulled out a transfusion pack of the requested liquid, but held it out of Levi's reach with a look.
Levi grimaced, but gave in. "I Looped in as the Crimson Fucker."
Even Mikasa winced at that. Their Loop was bad, but Abridged Variants were the stuff nightmares were made of. The Hellsing Loops was insane enough on its own, Abridged Alucard was just plain freaky. Wordlessly Hanji passed the blood over to Levi who nodded thanks. "If anyone needs me this Loop, too bad."
He then drained the packet in one go before chasing it with the glass of Brain Bleach. The rest of the Loop passed quite pleasantly.
15.8 Crossoverpairinglover
Mikasa's eye was twitching.
It was twitching in a manner that made most who saw her want to flee from her before she struck them with her wrath.
A confused, and somewhat scared Connie turned to Armin with a curious glance, with said blond looking right back at him before mouthing, "Musical loop. sing at your own peril".
15.9
"Beer. A tall, stout one."
The bartender on the Carla, this time being Jean, glanced at the defeated form of Hans. "What's got you down in the dumps?"
Hans sighed, attracting the attention of Armin and Historia, who were also in the room. "It's nothing, really it isn't Jean. Just get me a drink, please."
Jean's lips tugged at his cheeks, but the bartender reached down and poured Hans a tall on. The soldier took to the drink like a fish to water, and after two more, his tongue was whetted enough to begin his tale. "Ya see... I was just trying to do well by her. But Carla... she got angry."
Trost District was full to bursting, it's Titan-filled Walls straining under the weight of refugees from the territories of Wall Maria. In a few months, if Sasha or Eren or Jean or somebody didn't do something, the Government would send a full fifth of humanity out into the cold world to die. Even with interference it wasn't guaranteed, but it was a good hope.
A hope that Carla didn't need to feel as she bought a loaf of bread and a few eggs for breakfast on that cold morning. Already, food was beginning to come into the district, feeding the sick and weak. Obviously, Sasha had made a move: she had a real thing for venison, and it was a prominent commodity in the market.
Carla cheerfully waved at Jean as he past the house she had rented, the older-looper/younger-boy tipping an imaginary hat to her. Inside of her house, Carla quickly stowed the bread and eggs away, before turning on her heel. "Hello Hans."
Hans glanced from the book he'd be reading through (Wild Heart, Wild Mind, by Sasha Blouse and Conner Springer) and nodded to the owner. "Carla, I saw you were out, so I let myself in."
Carla snickered a little. "Perhaps your 'old man' instincts finally kicked in. Come to meet the nubile young woman in her house unannounced?"
"God, Anne would kill me," Hans groaned, recalling his lovely wife. "This isn't a joking matter though Carla." Hans closed the book and set it aside. "Carla, this isn't a joking matter at all."
Carla blinked and grabbed a chair for herself. "What's wrong Hans?"
Hans felt a mild relief at seeing Carla having already sat down, but he did not indulge himself in it. "Carla... I first want to say that I'm sorry I didn't realize this before, or how probable this was. After having seen our new expansion though..."
Carla knew immediately what Hans was talking about. A recent expansion to their loop, rather than pushing them ever further forward, had firmed up their back. Carla could, quite astonishingly, recall her pre-loop history with so much more clarity, as could Hans. She could remember working as a waitress, meeting Grisha, the plague that had gripped Wall Maria, even the happiest days of her life: marrying Grisha, and giving birth to Eren.
But if Hans had only realized this now... "Hans, is something wrong with Grisha?"
Hans gently turned to Carla and took her hands in his own. Slowly, enunciating every word as if doing so would blunt their impact, Hans answered Carla's question. "I fear, though I only have circumstantial evidence at this time, that in baseline, Grisha may have been responsible for the deaths of Mikasa's parents."
"...What?"
Hans grimaced as Carla's face blanked out. "Carla, I'm going to give you the facts. Both of Mikasa's parents are immune to the Coordinate, by virtue of being from a different bloodline than you or me. As a Shifter and going upon his knowledge of the Reiss family, Grisha had to know this. Additionally, Mikasa has inherited her father's chance to become an incredibly powerful soldier, much like Levi or Kenny. Finally, on the day that Grisha was scheduled to make a house call to the Ackerman residence, three bandits kidnapped, not killed, but kidnapped Mikasa, and would have done the same to her mother, who is relatively harmless compared to her father."
Hans gently sighed, rubbing Carla's too still hand. "Carla, I can't say anything for certain, but I'll tell you that you should be prepared to learn that Grisha was responsible, indirectly or directly, for the death of Mikasa's parents. Mikasa is doubly immune to the Coordinate, and with her connection to Eren, the boy who possesses the Coordinate, she is an incredibly powerful ally."
Hans looked Carla in the eye. "I'm not asking you to be suspicious of your husband Carla. Just to be prepared. Alright?" Hans trailed off. "Alright?" Hans blinked and looked into Carla's glazed over eyes. "Carla?"
There was no tone, no inflection to Carla's voice when she finally spoke. "Get out."
"But Car-"
"Get. Out! OF! MY! HOUSE!" Carla screamed, water flooding out of her pocket and slamming into Hans, carrying him through the brickwork and out into the street. Staggered but not stunned, Hans stood back up and looked into the house. Carla looked back at him with loathing in her eyes. "No."
"Carla, I-"
"Shut up," Carla said in a hard tone. "Hans, my husband may not have been honest with me. He may have turned our son into a living weapon and painted a target on his back. He may have... he may have slaughtered a family of innocents, but he did it to protect all of humanity. He may have lied, and cheated, and stolen to become the man... to become... to be who he is, but despite it all... He saved my life. He saved my family. Grisha Yeager saved my home and Grisha fought to save all of us."
Carla started forward, stepping over the fallen bricks. "We have a beautiful son. We have taken in a wonderful daughter. We have been happy. Maybe it was all a lie he told me so I could live the simple life I wanted back then. Maybe he wanted power, maybe he wanted justice. I don't know. But neither do you. So don't come into my house an tell me you know Grisha. You don't know the man I love."
Hans stared balefully at Carla's determined anger. "Carla... you really do love him with all your heart."
"Absolutely."
Hans gently patted her shoulder, and left her to stand in the ruins of her wall, trapped in the light of day, but with her eyes deep in shadow.
"And that's why I'm here." Hans downed his drink and turned to Jean. "So, what do you think? Think that all was a fun story or something?"
Jean gulped, with Armin and Historia watching with baited breath. Jean glanced at the door as it slid open, and froze. Into the room had walked Carla herself, and now she was glaring at Hans. The professional soldier and oldest looper sighed loudly. "Carla-"
"Beer, now Jean," Carla said, moving straight to the end of the bar. Jean obliged her.
Finally, Hans worked up the courage to speak. "Carla?"
"Do you really think an Ackerman just falls into your lap? Perhaps it does. Then it's circumstance. And if you're a Titan Shifter, than it rarer, but possible. That is happenstance. But to be a shifter, to gain someone immune to the Coordinate, and to be there on just the right day, at the right time..."
Hans drank his beer. "Then it's already a pattern."
Carla glanced at Hans. "You're wrong. I know you are."
"How?"
"Because for years, Grisha was all I had. He sustained me, loved me and our son. I trust him, because I do love him, and because he deserves trust. Simply put Hans, I will not betray Grisha. Not for you, or anyone."
Hans and Carla spent the rest of the night in silence. They left, Carla earlier, Hans later, and they eventually retired to bed. In the dark, Hans thought, and fretted, and worried for his friends safety. In the other room, Carla quietly wondered about her husband, and long into the night, she held back the tears.
15.10 Crossoverpairinglover
Eyeing his monitor with a frown, Ganesha felt a headache coming on.
It would seem that they had found out he had fixed the 'Worf' setting, and had decided to 'fix' it.
Naturally he turned it right back to Wolf, and it had quickly devolved into what could only be described as a war fought with the letters L and R.
He appeared to have outlasted the smartaleks, but he just knew this was going to have some side effect.
You couldn't constantly change a guy's spirit animal from Giraffe to Wolf and back again for three straight loop cycles without something going wrong.
Having been fighting off Titans, Connie had changed into his Werewolf form.
However, when he had attempted to shift back to his normal self...
Eyeing his spotted arms, his hoof like nails, and feeling the weight on his long neck, Connie screamed into the air "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Sasha did not look amused at his best attempt to prepare for the loops Big No festival (hosted by Darth Vader) "You were just a Werewolf Connie, obviously now you can turn into a Werewolf and a Weregiraffe".
"But I don't want to be a Weregiraffe!" he shouted in fury, stamping his foot on the ground in protest.
"Then change back into a Werewolf"
Connie did...but his furious thoughts led to his change being a little...different.
Looking at his clawed hands, Connie saw in horror that his claws now came out of very familiar hooves. His fur was long and shaggy, buy the color of Giraffe fur instead of that of a Wolf. His long neck led to a face that ended with a canine snout, and reaching up to the top of his head and rubbing it he felt not only canine ears, but the rounded horns of a Giraffe between them.
"Well...I guess you can turn into a Werewolf, Weregiraffe, and Weregiraffewolf now Connie. Congradulations!"
The following big NOOOOOOOO resonated across several loops.
In a Galaxy Far Far Away, Anakin Skywalker felt someone get very close to matching the strength of his mighty No. He resounded to go practice it soon.
Should be doable, after all they had just elected Dolores Umbridge to the office of Supreme Chancellor.
15.11
The darkness receded as the earth burying the Rogue Titan bent to Mikasa's will. As the sunlight streamed in, the Titan slowly stirred, before sitting up. With a pulse of steam from the nape, Eren Jaeger fell out of the Titan. "Urgh... Damn that was a long sleep."
"How does being a Tit-sicle feel Jaeger?" Jean said, pulling a few sandwiches out of his subspace pocket. "Bet it's nice to see the future."
Eren, still ten years old, glanced at the fifteen year old Jean. "Meh. I've had worse."
Hange had jumped in, a ruler in hand. Taking measurements of Eren's body, the mad scientist was beaming bright enough to light a room. "This is so amazing. Real, function immortality thanks to the Titan form. It's awesome!"
"It does inspire awe seeing you acting like a ten-year-old Hange," Jean snarked.
Hange shrugged. "Kid at heart. Try it some time Jean, maybe you'll piss off less people."
"Pass."
Mikasa gently pushed Hange back and pulled Eren into an embrace. "Welcome back... little brother."
"Oh come on," Eren grumbled. "And let me go."
"Nope. You're too cute."
"I am not. I'm handsome."
Armin, having been sitting under a tree the whole time, piped up at that moment. "Eren, as a boy who is often said to look better in a bunny suit than anyone here, let me tell you: you're cute."
"Traitor!"
Stepping apart from their Anchor's antics, Hange glanced at Jean.m and started whispering harshly. "Connie's not going to be happy. We know the Beast Titan's a shifter now, but if he's been using his Titan form to prolong his life, he could be older than anyone."
"Meaning the Beast Titan is the person who knows everything," Jean deduced.
"Yeah. Damn it."
Jean and Hange went back to watching Eren try to struggle out of Mikasa's hug, and then he started swearing profusely when Armin had gotten in on it.
"That's not the worst part though," Jean said after a few minutes.
"There's a worse part?" Hange said. After a moment of thinking about though, Zoe gulped. "Oh yeah. The Titans."
"They are nigh-indestructible, immortal dream pods that house living people," Jean said. "And what's more, ghey can be controlled by the Coordinate, and told whether or not to eat people or even other Titans."
Hange's eyes widened. "You don't think Titans are supposed to be humanity's predator, do you?"
Jean grumbled. "Hange, I don't know what the hell to think. We don't know who's doing what: we've got Annie, Reiner and Bertolt, we've got the Beast Titan, we've only just gotten the Wall Cult... Damnit, we need answers, not questions."
Eren's high pitched shouting cut through the discussion. "MIKASA I'M STUCK IN YOU'RE BREASTS! LET ME GO!"
Hange sighed. "We could all use some answers." Hange pulled out a camera. "And blackmail. We can always use blackmail."
15.12
Levi was certain if this loop was amazing, or horrible. On the one hand:
"Oh my god, you're commander Erwin and captain Levi! I'm like, your biggest fan!" Eren squealed from inside the underground cell he was being held in after the battle of Trost. He's been as spacey as usual this loop, even whining about how much his mother hated him. The rather annoying lack of sense had been a trait of every unawake looper, from Mikasa (who had taken her usual, stoic badassness to the point of lunacy, if not psychopathy) to Marco (surprisingly not dead, but so nice he failed to notice that everyone hated him).
Eren was ranting away, and Erwin had declared that he'd renamed the recon corp to... Levi didn't want to think about it. The positives though... they were great.
Levi spoke.
"Shut up, both of you." Erwin and Eren stopped talking to bask in the magnificence of Levi's voice. Levi was left wondering if he could somehow... keep the voice.
Across from them, Hange chuckled at the silence. "Well Levi, gotta admit. That voice really is something."
"My voice is the voice of angels with the ability to induce one thousand orgasms in the bodies of teenage Twilight fanboys. It shall herald the beauty of the end days and brilliance of the sun. I could perform heart surgery with this voice," Levi declared.
"...Really?"
"Well, it's true," Levi countered. After a second, he chuckled. "I didn't know you liked Twilight Hange."
Hange lunged at Levi, and started strangling him. 'Worth it.'
15.13 Crossoverpairinglover
The smoldering wasteland that lay beyond the wall was not common, but not entirely uncommon either.
Levi was wandering about the wastes, a gas mask covering his face and various beeping equipment covering him.
A radio crackled, as the echoous voice of Hange rang forth.
"So fearless explorer?" the scientist questioned. "Did we get put in the center of the Burning Plains again?"
Levi shook his head, recalling the time he and the gender fluid scientist had been members of the Varden and Du Vrangr Gata and had been there. "No, it's not like that. The area is clearly suffering from underground fires, but it's not from magical dragon fire. It's...something else".
"Oh, is it Fiendfyre then?"
"It's not any sort of magical fire" Levi clarified as he spotted something that was not burned earth. It quickly got his full attention.
After all, a giant, burnt out metal hand did that to a guy.
"Hange...we've got a giant hand. Robotic..." Levi kicked the thing, causing it to vibrate a bit causing some blue liquid to drip out of it. "It has energon".
"Oh, you mean the life blood and energy source of transformers!?" Hange sounded too intrigued for Levi's tastes "So, your saying that giant robots are responsible for humanities eradication this time around?"
"Well, it was obviously not because of the Swiss" Levi snarked as he heard a distant shrieking noise. The noise quickly heralded the approach of something big.
With wings.
"Oh, is it a jet? Please tell me it's a Starscream! I've always wanted to study his immortal spark!"
"Hange, ease the fangirling..." Levi narrowed his eyes at the approaching threat "It's not a jet".
"Oh, is it a helicopter then?"
"No..."
BOOM!
The approaching figure had landed right in front of him, revealing itself to be a large, robotic dragon with glowing yellow eyes. A mark that was not Autobot or Decepticon emblazoned it's chest, and it let loose a loud, unearthly shriek.
"It's a dragon" Levi informed her as the dragon's throat began to glow a bright orange.
"A dragon that turns into a giant robot! Levi, please bring me back a energon sample!"
The glowing entered the robot's mouth, revealing a familiar torrential sound to the battle hardened looper.
"Yeah, I'll have to see about that" Levi replied as he took to the air, moments before a blast of chemical fire scorched the spot that he had just been standing.
Drawing a Zanpakto from his subspace pocket, Humanities Strongest Soldier began the glorious fight with Cybertron's Ultimate Hunter.
15.14
Jean ducked a surge of flame and responded with laser vision. "Alright, is there anyone ready to tell me why the Titans can bend this loop?"
"Fused Loop, obviously," Connie said. His moment of distraction cost him: a blast of wind sent him flying into a brick wall. "Ow," he said, and then he died.
"There goes Connie!" Marco shouted, retaliating with ecto-blasts and a surge of green lightning. The Airbending Titan who got Connie went down. "Seriously, where the hell is Armin?"
"He said something about the southern section of the city," Jean answered. His will rarified, Jean unleashed his AT Field and sent the nearby Titans flying. Ymir raced past and killed two of them, rocketing off for Historia's position.
Jean jumped over the makeshift barricade Marco had thrown up and grabbed a bottle of water. "Dammit. These loops always just fucking blow."
"Eh. I think they're kind of fun," Marco said, shrugging. "Good challenge. Fun stuff."
"...You really get a lot of mileage out of having a bonus life, don't you Mark?"
Marco smiled. "Hey, I'm already half dead. Getting a little more dead doesn't hurt as much as you'd think it would."
Jean rolled his eyes. "You know, I died in my first loop. I happen to know that dying sucks balls."
"Well, I died in baseline, and I can't really remember it. So I say it's not too bad when you're immortal," Marco retorted cheerfully.
Jean pouted. "You're too cheery, you know that. Try living a loop in my shoes for once. See the insanity. Do stuff like... fight Annie when she's a Titan. Try and be in Stohess when everything's going to hell. Fight the Military Police. You know: the crazy stuff we didn't sign up for."
Marco shrugged. "Hey, I could be an MP. I got it all figured out: first me and Marlo are gonna start as low rankers, we'll work our way up and change the system."
"Or you could just assassinate King Fritz, have Rod Reiss replace him, and then have Historia replace him," Jean muttered.
Marco's eyes lit up. "That's genius!"
"You're a lunatic," Jean countered.
Marco chuckled. But after a moment, he turned oddly somber. Jean turned to his friend. "What?"
"You ever think about it? How Chris... Historia's the queen?"
Jean chewed his lip. "I don't really bother thinking about it. Historia's a nice girl, if a bit of a weirdo. Needs... to be more aware of herself."
"Aware of herself?" Marco replied with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't know," Jean grumbled. "I mean, she's nice, but she doesn't always know who she is. She's trying to figure out who she is."
Marco pursed his lips. "I guess... I guess that's one way to put it. It's just surprising though: I've always wanted to serve the king, and I've been serving with the real princess this entire time. That ever surprise you?"
"That's she's a princess? Fuck yeah, it surprised me. Who's have thought that little Krista Lenz was the heir apparent to the entire world?" Jean sighed and scratched at the back of his head. "Really... with all the twists and turns our lives take, I'm surprised that it's all made as much sense as it has. But... Really, some of this stuff is real nuts."
"Well, between the trio of spies, the princess, the archer, the boy from the doomed hometown, the genius strategist, the world's last asian, and the two friendly Titan Shifters, I wouldn't be surprised if you turned out to be Eren's long lost twin."
Jean rolled his eyes. "Seriously, we don't look anything alike. Why do you guys think I look like Eren?"
"Because you both look delinquents."
"Fuck you!"
"Is that an invite?"
"Don't make it gay."
Jean glance at Marco, who was, for a moment, pensive. "Uh... Mark? Marco?"
"Oh, uh... nothing," Marco said. Working his jaw, Marco found his words. "You... you know... ever get around to it?"
"To it?"
"You know... It."
"You mean having sex?" Jean deduced blatantly. Marco cringed a little, but nodded. Jean sighed. "Well... Yeah, I did. I mean, teenager. Hormones, growth, the drive to have children. You kind of can't escape that sort of thing... well, you can if you're asexual. I'm not."
Marco nodded, a light blush touching his cheeks. "So... who did the honors?"
Jean facepalmed. "You're making this dumber than it has to be. And my first time was with a high class prostitute."
Marco opened his mouth, and then closed it. "Re... really?"
Jean sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it was. I mean... who was it supposed to be? I can't sleep with one of my friends. If they're not looping I'm taking advantage of them. If they are, I'm complicating our relationship."
Marco gulped. "Oh. Well... I've gotta tell you, I'm actually saving my first time."
Jean raised an eyebrow. "Really? You're going to save your first time? For who? That 'special someone' isn't exactly going to be showing up on your doorstep one day."
"Well, maybe I'm waiting for them to just find my house."
Jean stared flatly at Marco. "Mark, you're being ridiculous again."
Marco chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I guess I'm not like you: I don't need to worry about getting a boyfriend or girlfriend in baseline."
"One of the benefits of being dead?"
"One of them. Yeah." Marco thought it over. "Maybe... I could pick up another dead person?"
Jean shook his head. "I don't think you should. I mean, if they're not Awake, it's really damn close to just... taking advantage of them."
"Yeah," Marco agreed. "But... what, I can't date Hannes: he's married. And Eren would kill me if I tried dating Carla."
Jean chuckled. "I don't know. Maybe she'd like it. But she's also married."
"Yeah." Marco sighed. "Damn my luck with love. I mean, can you think of any dead people who could loop soon?"
"Off the top of my head? Mike, Petra, Mina, Thomas, most if the 104th actually." Jean scratched his chin. "Do you actually want someone to romantically involve yourself with?"
"Well... I don't know. It's better than being eat-"
At which point a Titan that had snuck up on Jean and Marco bent down and bit Marco's head off.
Jean slapped his forehead as Marco, now fully a ghost, rematerialized. "Alright, maybe this is not the best place to talk about romance."
Marco blasted the Titan away with Ghost Lightning, avenging his death. "Okay, maybe later."
"Later."
Later sounded good.
15.15 VinylShadow
Alex Mercer looked out from the top of the wall at the wilderness. Beside him, Eren Yaeger was leaning againist one of the wall cannons while Mikasa and Armin were double-checking the survey gear.
"So," Alex said, crossing his arms. "There's an infinite number of man-eating monsters out there for us to kill?"
Eren nodded, a small grin on his face. He could sense the eagerness of the other Looper to go out and kill something.
"That's right. You up for a little competition? Whomever kills the most Titans in...say...five hours, starting from noon?"
Alex looked up at the sun, whcih was a few minutes from the appointed time then back at the Titan Shifter with a nod.
"Baseline abilities only or should we go all out?" the biomass asked.
Eren stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Other than allowing me to use extra Maneuvering Gear, I think we should do baseline abilities for now," he replied, taking 3 sets of gear from Armin and putting them at easy reach in his pocket.
Alex nodded and stretched his limbs as he took up a position at the far end of the wall.
The two hunters watched the shadows, and when the time came, both ran and leaped off the wall, Alex using his biomass to glide while Eren changed in a flash of lightning and the competition began.
"Who do you think will win?" Mikasa asked Armin. The strategist shook his head.
"Given Eren's experience, I'd usually go with him, but Alex is very good at slicing at dicing and his abilities allow him to perform some pretty impressive maneuvers in midair; heck, he's pretty much a sentient set of Maneuvering Gear. You should have a race with him in Trost sometime."
The half-Asian looked thoughtful at that. "Give him a few more Loops and maybe introduce him to Levi, then we'll have a race."
15.16 Crossoverpairinglover
"How..."
Eren pointed his friend in the direction of a sign, seated right next to the wall.
"This wall was made by Nintendo."
15.17 VinylShadow
"THIS ISN'T FUNNY, GUYS!" Arwen Arlert screamed as she twisted her body to avoid getting nommed by a Titan.
The other members of the 104th squad had thought it would be funny to take all her clothes and leave behind a skimpy outfit that had no place outside of a bedroom.
"Lookin' good, Arlert!" Connie hooted, as she shot by, fully clothed.
The other members, each the opposite gender of their baseline selves, could barely fly straight they were laughing so hard.
Eren stared at the new Survey Corps uniform in confusion. It was a maids outfit.
"Armin, is this payback for the whole lingerie thing a few Loops ago?" he asked, holding up the frills and corset. "And is this even...well...modest?"
"Of course it is," a voice replied before the blond could reply. Eren turned and did a double take.
Levi, clad in the full uniform of the Survey corps strode out in front of the gathered trainees.
"Okay, not gonna lie, he wears it well," Mikasa said.
Eren wanted to cry.
15.18 Shimmer712
Eren hated this loop already.
Mikasa and Armin weren't awake, which was odd but one of the instructors had been replaced by what he figured to be a stealth looper (and maybe anchor). Their pockets were locked and they were limited to baseline abilities .
Things had gone as normal up until the Invasion of Trost had ended. Instead of being handed over to the Survey Corps (wait, no, they were the Scouting Legion this loop), he was given over to the Military Police. And apparently, they had their own versions of Hanji this loop, only lacking the morals and ethics the binary scientist possessed.
Eren couldn't wait for this loop to end. He couldn't see how Armin and Mikasa could help him when they had no idea where he was and he didn't even know if the stealth looper knew he was Awake.
He really wanted this loop to end.
When he said he wanted the torment to end, he didn't mean like this.
Eren stared quietly as Reiner kept watch. The trio of spies had broken into the lab and rescued him. Annie had run off in her Titan form with Reiner, Bertholt and an unconscious Eren concealed in her hair. She had utilised her ability to call Titans once they had gotten past the wall. The soldiers had found themselves forced to give up the chase.
He didn't really have coherent memories of the escape but he did remember…he didn't want to. He didn't want to to remember anything good about them. The whole time they had trained together, the whole time they had gone on missions together, it had been a lie. They had engineered the fall of Maria and caused his mother's deaths.
He didn't want to remember them being good guys! He wanted to recognise them as the monsters they were!
"Somehow, while leading a soldiers life, he lost track of who he was. Or maybe he couldn't stand the knowledge of what he had done…" Ymir murmured in his memory.
Eren started to cry, drawing Reiner's attention and prompting the other to come and try to comfort him.
Eren only cried harder.
15.19
"AND WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!" the drill sergeant roared in her face.
"I AM LIN BEI FONG SIR!" she shouted back on instinct.
"WHY ARE YOU SLOUCHED LIKE THAT MAGGOT?!"
"BAD HABITS SIR!"
"..." the drill sergeant glared at Lin ferociously, before moving to the girl next to her in line and screaming in her face. Obviously, he thought misery built character.
Lin set off a ping, and got back a light dose of pings in return. Glancing around, she could see a handful of other soldiers shifting on the balls of their feet, twisting their shoulders, flexing their hips and shaking their heads. Obviously loopers who had gone through puberty and were now readjusting to their younger bodies. Even those who had long since gotten used to manipulating bodies of variable build still didn't dropped the habit.
This little tell was actually something that she and Mako had picked up on, and most of the multiverse didn't seem to notice. It was an uncommon trait, certainly, limited only to loopers who went through puberty in their loops, but it did have it's uses.
In total, Lin counted five other loopers from the local world, and one who was from her own.
"JUST WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!" the sergeant roared.
"Tenzin Gyatso sir," Tenzin said a bit too timidly.
The sergeant leered over Tenzin. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY? SPEAK UP YOU MISERABLE QUIM! THE TITANS DON'T AVOID EATING THE QUIET ONES!"
"Yes sir," Tenzin said, his voice now backed with iron. The sergeant narrowed his eyes and stepped down the line. Unseen by him, Lin smirked. This was looking to be a nice loop.
"Welcome to the Walled World," Eren Jaeger declared subduedly that evening to the visitors. "Enjoy your stay, and don't get eaten."
"Thank you Eren. I have to say, I'm not liking the world as it is," Tenzin said, sipping the cup of stale water that their dinner had come with. "The entire world reeks of corruption and manipulation. It's leaving a bad taste in my mouth."
"This is the mess hall. Everything leaves a bad taste in your mouth," Jean Kirstein muttered. "But seriously, did you really pick up on the whole conspiracy angle just from your loop memories?"
"I doubt I would have figured it out without a lot of experience," Tenzin admitted with a hint of humility in his voice. "Having to run a city opposite a crime lord is a great training course though."
As the mess hall bustled around the group of time travelers, Mikasa Ackerman returned with a few loads of bread, Sasha Blouse at her side with a few small sticks of meat. "Have you two ever been on low intake diets?"
"We're martial artists, and we've traveled with Aang before. We can handle lighter meals," Lin assured them.
"Hey, there are benefits to this," Sasha said. Taking a loaf, the huntress gnawed on it gingerly. "You say slim and cute for years!"
"And you don't menstruate," Jean added, causing Sasha to choke on her loaf of bread and everyone else bar Eren and Lin to flinch. "What? You don't, do you two?" he said, pointing at a blushing Mikasa and Sasha.
Matching their blush, Armin made rapid shushing noises at Jean. "We don't need to hear that here, alright. It's not related to anything."
"Meh, it's good advice," Lin said nonchalantly. "Besides, I'm menopausal by the time my loop usually begins. If I'm not going to need to worry about it, all the better."
"Well, it's not hard to duplicate the effects," Eren said with equal lack of care. "Here, we lack artificial growth hormones in our food, so you won't start early. We're almost always fighting, which further delays and lightens the menstruation cycle. And we don't quite have a balanced diet, so you lack the energy to really have kids. All in all... it's basically a system to avoid periods."
"...Eren, you made it awkward again," Armin muttered into the table, blushing scarlet.
"Meh. Who cares; it was informative, and besides, I'm glad I don't need to go through that mess again," Lin grumbled. Tenzin, as red as Armin, coughed into his hand. Lin glared at her ex-boyfriend. "Trust me, you should try being on your period. I am glad I'm an old woman."
Tenzin rolled his eyes. "Excuse Lin here, she's rather..."
"Unrefined," Lin stated.
"Yes."
Lin glanced around. "Is this everyone? I counted seven pings in line."
There was a round of head shaking. Lin raised an eyebrow. "Huh. Must have miss-counted." Folding her arms, the chief of police in Republic City got down to business. "How likely are we to survive this loop?"
"Are either of you good with swords, wires, or flying?" Mikasa replied. The smile that broke on Lin's face told her all she needed to know.
Training had been hellish, as usual. Shadis never pulled punches, and so had basically broken Lin and Tenzin into itty bitty little pieces... okay, no, he didn't. Lin was a millennia old police chief and occasionally a soldier (on the occasions Bolin decided to play Great Uniter and recruited her and every able-bodied Earthbender he could find). Tenzin had actually tried to be a drill sergeant and had been... a bit overzealous. But he knew the ins and outs of it after a while.
Hence why training hadn't been pleasant, but it had been survivable. And better yet, now they were experts with 3DMG. Case in point:
Lin's anchor hooks buried into the tree, the chief rocketing along them and into the open air above the forest. For the most minute moment, she was weightless, and then she was falling, rocketing under gravity's influence. Then she fired the second anchor into a tree and was racing away again.
Behind her, Tenzin barely needed to move, flying with the ease of an Airbender. Rolls, turns, it all came to him as easily as breathing. He couldn't be stopped.
Further into the forest, Lin could see the fake Titan targets, turning to provide more of a challenge. Pairing blades humming with the will of a Metalbender, Lin slashed into the soft clay stand in for the nape, jolting to the side from the kick back. Tenzin didn't even miss a beat, practically performing a drive-by slaying.
As the duo of foreign loopers continued further into the woods, the rising pitch of hissing steam was the herald of another looper. Sasha leveled off with them. "Nice job!" she shouted over the wind.
"Thank you!" Tenzin replied earnestly. "I take it that-" he was interrupted by a tree to the face.
Lin and Sasha winced as Tenzin peaked himself off the tree, now sporting a badly bruised cheek and eye. "Medic..." he muttered.
Deeper into the woods, Eren and Jean were waiting for the group. As the bruised Airbending master touched down, Eren already had his hands coated in healing chakra, his eyes white with his Byakugan. Lin and Sasha left the two to their work. "Jean, I see you've passed already."
"Eh. I've taken this test millions of times. I've got it down pat," Jean said. "You two looked like you passed. You think you're ready?"
"I don't need to worry about being ready," Lin replied hotly.
Jean pursed his lips, Sasha fidgeting. "What about Tenzin? You think he's ready?" she asked nervously.
Lin raised an eyebrow. "He's probably the best here. Why would you-"
"Think he's up for killing Titans?" Jean asked bluntly.
Lin paused, and sighed. "Yes. Airbenders may respect all life, but even Aang would see that Titans aren't worth the trouble. They're zombies: they don't count."
Sasha let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. Jean sighed lightly. "That's good. With Trost just a week away, you'll both be on the front lines."
Lin nodded. "Don't worry. We're ready."
They weren't ready.
In reflection, the guilt of their unpreparedness fell to no one. Very few people could be adequately prepared for a battle where one side were monsters made from humans, and the other was predominately children. The 104th Cadet Corp was being slaughtered, and it was all Tenzin could do to keep his platoon safe. "HANNAH! LOOK OUT!"
Hannah, the short, freckled girlfriend of Franz, managed all of one second of screaming before a Titan leapt up and ate her in one gulp. Tenzin landed on the Titan's neck, bending the air in the Titan's stomach. The Titan belched explosively, launching Hannah out of it's mouth and into the air. Tenzin followed her and carried her to the rooftop, setting her down gently. "Get back to the Wall, alright. We can't-"
"Where's Franz!?" Hannah suddenly shouted, frantically scanning for her boyfriend. "FRANZ! FRANZ!"
Tenzin blinked and looked up and down the street. Franz was gone, vanished into thin air. So had the rest of the squad.
Only the Titans remained.
The Battle of Trost ended as the Battle of Trost always ended. Eren had plugged the wall, Mikasa had slaughtered countless Titans, and Armin had managed to tactically save hundreds. Jean and Sasha had started trying to console the survivors, but had left Tenzin alone. Lin came to him.
Tenzin was huddled against the masonry of a storehouse. He was holding himself closely. He may have been meditating. "Hello Lin," he said gently.
"Tenzin," Lin said neutrally. The chief of Republic City's police sat down next to him. "You can't change what happened out there. You can just do better."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better? Because it's working," Tenzin admitted.
Lin shrugged, and punched the man's shoulder. Ignoring his cry of pain, Lin continued. "People die. There are no two ways about it. We'll die too, one day. It's just a long ways off."
"..." Tenzin contemplated that for a minute. "I hope that Pema is there with me when that day comes."
Lin pursed her lips. "Pema's a great woman, in her own right. I hope she's there with you as well."
Tenzin sighed. "Thank you Lin. That means a lot to me."
Lin glanced at her ex-boyfriend and punched him in the shoulder again. "Don't mention it," she said, as Tenzin continued to gasp in pain.
15.20 Crossoverpairinglover and Wildrook
"Connie, did you steal that tank?"
Carla's motherly reprimand caused the historical Tiger Tank that was about to drive out into the Titan infested outerlands to stop in front of her in a vaguely historic manner. Connie, somewhat annoyed at this delay, poked his head out out of the death machine and replied.
"I stole it from a Nazi outside of Lenningrad. I like to think that does not count as theft".
"Just because you stole it from a Nazi does not make it morally right to steal things"
"Yes it does. It's okay for Megaman to steal powers from Robot Masters, why can't I take power from Nazis?"
"That's completely different"
"No it isn't!"
"Yes it is"
"No it isn't!"
As the two argued about the morals of stealing Tanks from Nazis, Hannes snuck by, a bag of stolen Nazi gold slung over his shoulder.
"Didn't they steal the Ark of the Covenant from the Nazis?" Mikasa asked Armin.
"They were dead at the time, so that doesn't count," Armin retorted.
"Who was the one that looked inside it?" Eren asked.
"Sasha," Armin and Mikasa replied simultaneously.
A/N: I'm sorry for the long ass wait. A vocation will do that to your time. But it does nothing to stop the snark!
15.1: The Estrogen Brigade has arrived!
15.2: And Carla's out of loop friend ends up having some… baseline issues.
15.3: McDonalds: the root of all evil.
15.4: Commercial Fanfiction. Dear God…
15.5: Duck Season!
15.6: Hello Ichabod.
15.7: No questions are to be asked.
15.8: Fear the Triple Bamboo Hats.
15.9: Wow, Carla is just not getting any luck this loop. Oh Shadis…
15.10: Poor Connie. Oh, I do hope that this doesn't affect Ms Maheswaran.
15.11: Geo…genics? But immortality… damn, that's cool.
15.12: Believe it or not, abridged series can actually get some damn good voices.
15.13: Vampire vs Robot. My money's on the Vampire.
15.14: Must… resist… YAOI SHIPPING!
15.15: This guy and Eren really do see eye to eye.
15.16: It's Nintendo Hard.
15.17: …Well, it is hot!
15.18: Poor, poor Eren.
15.19: Well, hello Lin Beifong and Tenzin. Welcome to the world of kaiju zombies.
15.20: Aaaaaand there's our tank snippet.