"Ma'am if you would reconsider-"

"Miss, your understanding is just not cutting it. You write... lazily average, and know that I'm being generous here..." the woman in her 50s showed her resignation in a long sigh. Even you're tired of your incessant begging about this paper you were assigned for the final term.

It's enough to give you a doctorate, but no honors. That's it."

And you thought the shameless begging and squatting outside her office won't do you any good...

"Then I'm in for a graduation waiting list?" You felt giddy. Are you finally gonna get out of this hellhole?

"You sure are—"

"Shit— for real?" Your heart could stop any moment. Master has given Dobby as sock...

"Language." The old Bretina told you off before having this smug expression on her face.

"But yes. It's real." Dobby is fina-fucking-lly freee!

"You haven't checked the bulletin young miss?"

"No, not yet."

"You'll graduate, that's a no-brainer." The old lady teased, as she glanced your ID. "Your parents weren't legends just because. Tell them I say hi."

You smiled with a sigh. You knew about your parents' 'legendary-ness', okay? You've heard their story since you were 8 and it's still going on every. family. dinner. You've memorized the starry eyes, looking at a distance that is the ceiling fan, reminiscing how they confronted the school management of as they led thousands of students.

Pretty epic story actually. Got them a book deal after.

But it gets dull when you're hearing it since 8 years old.

You pursed your lips in a small smile, one foot turned to the door. You gathered your shame nest in front of their office, and bowed over and over until you're out of sight.

Almost midnight, the hallway to your apartment was quieter than its day counterpart. Another day, another day, you thought, removing the messenger bag that seemed to hate you more than usual, thanks to that strain in your shoulder. You have a list in your head: the manga just beside your pillows, waiting for you, tempting you to skip the yoga and shower you do as nightly routine. With what was left of your self discipline, you mustered to finish those two more tasks and hopped on to the latest chapter when the main character becomes a giant spine or centipede... you don't even know. All while his shorter minions stomped everything and everyone below.

It wasn't delightful, no, it felt horrible.

But satisfying as fuck.

You mean— how could you not? genocide can't be romanticized howsoever but all those years— a century those people in that little, tiny island gets chomped down like peanuts and they don't even know why! They're so cornered that they even thought they're the only human race in the world and every else outside the walls will eat them! Besides, besides, the titans are not even at fault here, the Marleyan government are! Paradisian-Eldian people were also victims here! The fault of a king once upon a time, shouldn't be pinned on, and shouldn't be passed down to his clueless subjects! Would you punish an oblivious race for the sins of their king?

Genocide is just plain wrong... but damn, it's satisfying seeing their accusers get what they deserve!

Why didn't Jane Austen and Conan Doyle think about this?

You slammed your head in your pillows, the adrenaline still pumping through your veins, the recent chapter really blew your head. The light headedness took its course as a thought lit up like a bulb: you agree with the thought of multiverse... so why not make one to travel?

Are you insane? Probably. You wouldn't be called a genius with 200 IQ points and be called a normie.

Then 1:30 AM decided to remind you of your poor life choices. What could've happened if you pushed through engineering or robotics? Maybe you wouldn't feel this empty and lost. You neither like writing nor do you care for it, and you just went along with what your parents decided for you.

They always do because that's how it had always been.

Now you face the consequences of your laxity.

If you were given another life to live, or a chance of do-overs, you swear to make choices for yourself. Maybe at the end of the day, you wouldn't be graduating with a PhD in Literature and is not expected to sign on smut books and light novels in book fairs. You'd be cooped up in a garage, always busy blowing things up or in a lab, maybe, under a machine and all greased up.

Then at night you'd be making drafts and blueprints, with a dog so you don't feel so alone.

And yet, here you are. Probably at a point of no return.

You tapped your phone, sent a text and hopefully receive a positive reply before your morning coffee.

Sure, why not? Come meet me lab 9 pm. Bring ID. Protocol is a bitch.

Arianne greeted you in the gates that morning. The security's tight for people who have no business in the lab, but you are a part-timer by payroll and a regular employee by workload who, got in because you once helped them spot an error on a formula. Then Arianne told you that the management wanted to hire you. Since you didn't have the educational attainment or experience, they hired you as a part-timer.

But Arianne? Arianne is the real deal. She's amazing when sober, a genius when tipsy and god-like when hammered.

Years of working drunk got her her own lab in one of the biggest multigovernment-owned facility in the world.

And she's just 27.

"We still working on a triple sandwich this time?" You asked, laying down your stuff. You've always hated how your low-key Dora bag doesn't match with the white and steel gray aesthetic of her lab.

"Yeah, months since you came, but thanks about that triple sandwich." She smirked as she lifted her arms to press a button. "Here's to show my appreciation."

And then the iron walls split wide and loud.

Far away was this wide, almost infinite space. Its depth and length is an illusion to the senses. There was darkness and shimmers of blue engulfing the two of you, like it has a dimension of its own. You stood in this steel walkway, leading to the center where a circular podium was.

And beneath you was this otherworldly glow of light in its liquid state.

Your eyes could only glimmer for such achievement in science, technology and humanity. Your toes curled inside your shoes, you skin crawled with excitement, your blood pumped faster than your heart can keep up. This is it. This is the fruit of all the assistance you gave Arianne in proving your theory of multiverse.

"Does it work?" You mumbled, eyes still fixed on the swirls of light.

"Yup," She answered, slapping your arm to keep your consciousness on the ground. "It's working but not for far distances. We tried sending AIs."

"How far?"

"Let's say here to Nepal. We got some souvenirs picked up by Jordan." She was referring to the robot. It's far; far enough to travel without a plane and come back in one piece by mere seconds.

This is promising.

"Margins?"

"I'd say 5% but if you're really careful, 10."

"Up for human-"

"Mm-mm." Arianne grabbed you by the arm before you put on a suit and hop on that circle. You're hearing drums instead of her bitching— you're barely listening.

Where will you go, exactly?

It has been decided hasn't it?

"We haven't tried it on living creatures, girl. Don't you dare hop on and try."

"Arianne, I've worked for this!" You sounded like a kid whining to your mother. "I did the computation- I proved my theory, I helped you with the parts! If there's something I want back, that's not the minimum wage!" Your hands flailed while you try to make a point. She looked at you with a disapproving scowl. Her hand on her hips, she took advantage of the height difference when she flicked your forehead.

"I know shortcake, I want you to go and explore for me but only if it's safe. And do you even know how to put on the location you wanna try? Because seriously, I know you won't settle somewhere in this planet." And she was right.

You will never. Sayonara to this world.

"Then I'll work on that right now!" You chirped, too hyped and caffeinated to think of anything at the moment. You took the marker and started to write numbers and letters and figures that didn't make sense to Arianne, given the way that she tilted her head as she tried to comprehend the shit you wrote.

For every wave of your hand to meet a point, for every line that you drew is the motivation to visit a world you wanted to know more about. It's not Hogwarts, the Marvel Universe, Dr. Who or One Piece, but a universe where you could get killed anytime. You're not even a fighter, and you're definitely not physically ready for any combat situation.

But damn it all to hell if you don't grab this opportunity.

"There, done. Can I go now?" You spoke smugly after hours of absolute concentration, two whiteboards, two markers and your unbendable resolution. You wrote a few more words just the highest of them all, you barely reached it.

ATTACK ON TITAN UNIVERSE.

The test runs ended a month ago, and although Arianne was hesitant with your plan of going to some 'punyverse' as she called it, you were unfazed.

Graduation? That's just a ceremony, you can take the diploma later.

Part-time job? Quitted that already, you've done a lot of those and you could live comfortably for the next two years without holding a job.

Friends? Arianne is one, your dildo is another.

Boyfriend? Nah. 2D guys own your heart.

Parents?

Oh well. They were ecstatic when they got the news. You left out that part where you won't be graduating with honors because the conversation will turn sour. 'How dare you smear our long lived reputation you ungrateful imbecile!' You could hear that now. The whole business of swirling lights and universe travel will never be known to them because you don't have the heart to break theirs. For Paradis' sake, as much as you were diagnosed to be mentally supercapable, you lack the social disposition to be the mascot they always wanted to have.

Your parents are famous writers.

You're the prodigious savant who crawls to be like them.

In fact, you're more interested in the life outside the books they write. Outside the ABO smut, the mafia romance, the sexy thriller or other book stuff they decide to recycle. You're not a writer. You're that annoying beta reader who criticizes every sexy chapter where the mafia *claims* the gorgeous but surprisingly virgin Y/N because she was the payment for their parents' crippling debt. So what do you want? Adventure! The romance! (Not in the sexual way!) The thrill of new places to explore!

You wanted to be a physicist and an engineer, the duo where the brain works and the hands create... but you don't want to disappoint them too.

Sighing, you put the last of the stuff in your bag; set out to Arianne's lab, hoping to find peace in distraction in the new world you're about to venture.

"Sweetheart, you're really sure about this?" Arianne asked the same question for like seventy times over the last two weeks but your answer remained the same. Maybe she's right, this is wrong. After all, you're leaving a life behind you for probably three months or six. Probably a year but you won't be in your late 20's forever. What is one year if you could see Mikasa's unwashed scarf, measure Jean's face length and see Erwin's legendary eyebrows fly away? The true meaning of freedom if you might add. Besides, it's just a quick tour— nothing to worry about. You're gonna be fine. You've thought through this, and it's the same answer over and over.

You want to see what these people are like.

You grinned at the long term friend. She's been there since high school; the weird duo who have no problem solving maths, half asleep. You both skipped a couple of grades, you enrolled in college together, she skipped a couple of years and petitioned to take her national exams earlier.

And then there's you.

It's like a breath of fresh air whenever you're here. Arianne honed her skills in math and engineering, and you're trusting her with this creation you both perspired for. You can bet a life— your life on it.

This will not let you down.

"Here's your key back. Don't lose it." She sighed, giving you a worried look. You took the miniature version of a portal from her hands, the one you're about to fall on.

"Be careful. I'm gonna read that book you wanted me to read."

"Oh you better. There's anime too."

"Any hot guys here?" She waived your copy. "And I'm not your mom."

"DILFs." You winked, after stepping on the walkway, and she pressed a button...

"Big ding-along?" It conveyed to the podium...

"Bigger than men sliding in your DMs. See you later, bitch." And you dangled a foot on the lights below,

"Hasta la vista, Phoebe." and you let go, letting yourself fall.

That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

There was a flash of light.

Two seconds where all the air ran out.

And you found yourself in undertones of green grass, a fifty meter wall towering over you.

This is the first chapter and I hope it managed to get your attention! I'm no physicist so there might be some discrepancies.

However, I hope it entertained you, reader.

Thank you for reading. :)