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In his first life, Eren died a pitiful death. Crushed under the massive boulders that rained, his nape was destroyed alongside his body; rendering him unable to move. His last view before his death was of Mikasa and Armin—both were dead—and as he laid on the ground, dying, he wondered what he had done in his past life to deserve this.
Overcome with determination, he desperately tried to pull himself out from the rubble despite knowing that all his actions were futile.
‘I don’t want them to die…’ he thought through the pounding of his head as his life was slowly sucked away from him.
‘I don’t want Mikasa or Armin to die…’
‘I want to save them…’
‘I… I want to go back…’
And he closed his eyes one last time, never to wake…
Only to open his eyes to find himself in a familiar place. A younger version of Mikasa stood over him worriedly as her small hands shook his frame. She still had the red scarf and her hair was much longer than he remembered.
In this life, he tried to spread the word of the Titans--Bertolt and Reiner—who were going to attack Shiganshina. Obviously, none of them believed him and when they did, it was too late.
By his 5th life, he realized that trying to inform someone—anyone—of what was to come was futile. Even if it was just Mikasa and Armin, it wasn’t possible.
In his 10th life, he killed himself while trying to protect his mother from being crushed by the rubble, and instead of his mother, he died that day.
As he laid under the rubble, he was painfully reminded of his first life where he died under the debris of the buildings, helplessly watching his friends’ corpses as Fate tried to take his life in the slowest means possible.
‘This’ll be the end,’ he thought. He had no Titan powers with him yet, and some part of him was absolutely ecstatic that this would be the last time he would wake up under the tree in Shiganshina.
He was wrong.
In his 18th life, he finally understood that it would be impossible to try to save the people who had died in his first life.
In his 28th life, he tried to stop his father from injecting him with the Titan spinal fluid. He failed.
In his 36th life, he took his own life the moment he graduated by throwing his body off the walls.
In his 42nd life, he had not two, but five Titans in his hands and succeeding came closer than ever. He still died.
In his 57th life, he decided to completely seal all of the memories of the loops until a certain moment in time. Maybe… maybe with this, he would finally be able to save Mikasa and Armin.
Now, in his 103rd life, Eren stood in front of a dying tree—dying just like him. He gazed at the townspeople as they began their new life outside the walls, and suddenly, he felt a pang of jealousy at the people who ignorantly lived their lives, treating it as if living long was a right . He couldn’t have that, he thought forlornly, and he would do anything to be able to experience the feeling of normalcy one last time.
With newfound determination, Eren smiled at Mikasa and Armin. His dull green eyes that were once so bright stared at his two friends.
“Eren,” Mikasa began, but she was cut off.
“I’ll do this,” interrupted Eren. He let out a shaky breath. “I have to do this. Or--”
“Or the Titans won’t be gone,” finished Armin. His eyes were red and there was a telltale sign of a wave of tears that were soon approaching as he spoke. “We know. But it doesn’t make things any easier.”
Armin paused, before continuing, “None of us believed that you would really eradicate the world of all the Titans, you know? But here you are… the Titans are gone. At least, all of them except you.”
Eren looked down at his shoes at the reminiscing voice. He let his long hair curtain his face as he sucked in his breath sharply, not trusting his voice which would surely betray him.
Suddenly, Mikasa moved and unwrapped her red scarf in one swift motion. She walked towards Eren and tenderly wrapped it around Eren. It reminded him of the time Eren wrapped his scarf around Mikasa when they first met.
“Don’t ever forget,” said Mikasa solemnly.
Eren jerked his head up at the two. Releasing any self-control he had, he grabbed his two friends’ shoulders and pulled them to his chest, letting out 103 lives worth of sadness he repressed. His breath tickled Armin’s neck and the two were momentarily stunned before they began to bawl their eyes out just like Eren.
As the three reluctantly separated, Mikasa grabbed Eren and pulled him towards her to get one last hug. “See you later, Eren,” she whispered into Eren’s ear. She paused momentarily before speaking again, this time in a much more determined voice. “We won’t be separated. We’ll see you again.”
That day, Eren Yeager had saved the Eldians, and that day, Eren Yeager entered eternal sleep, never to wake up… right?
Somehow, Eren woke up.
The crystal around him melted and he was left gasping at the sudden intake of oxygen. He forced himself to gain composure in order to see his surroundings and the breath he desperately put in was immediately gone as soon as he came when he saw his surroundings. .
Large buildings of different colors. Most of them were grey, and all of them seemed abandoned. Glass was shattered and the roads were black. Strange contraptions were left on the ground and Eren felt strangely out of place at the unfamiliar scenery.
He later found out that after the eradication of all non-Eldians, humanity had set a reset button. The history of the past was incomprehensible to say the least and all Eren could assume was that the living Eldians dispersed, settling in many different areas of the world.
In the year 2020, a large pandemic caused humanity to be pushed behind a large barrier, with some resorting to live underground. The virus was completely unknown, suddenly surfacing one day. Scientists explained that the possibility of it being a virus that was dormant for centuries, maybe thousands of years, was high. Looking eerily similar to a type of spinal fluid, the name, Titanus was given to the virus. After escaping behind a large barrier, humanity faced peace for several centuries and people relaxed, thinking that the virus was long gone.
How wrong they were.
One day, a strange virus appeared within the barrier, and by the time they realized that it was an evolved version of the virus that caused humanity to the brink of extinction centuries ago, it was too late.
The year was 2858 and Eren was stuck with a choice. To crystallize himself again… or to die and enter his 104th life 2000 years in the past.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Eren muttered to himself. With relative ease, he twirled the knife that he found in his hands idly, the handle gracefully landing on his palm.
Standing on top of the tallest building, he basked in the setting sun. The sun glinted off the knife, leaving him momentarily blinded.
Gathering as much courage he could muster, Eren pulled the scarf around him off with one hand and sliced his nape open with the other.
“ Shit ,” he hissed. Falling to his knees painfully, he doubled over, clutching his neck as blood spilled freely to the grey ground.
Pulling himself up, Eren grasped the edge of the building and attempted to push his body over the ledge. It took him numerous times, but he managed. His body tumbled over and he began to fall towards the ground. The memories of the past flashed before his eyes and before he knew it, his head collided with the ground.
“For you, 2000 years from now--”
“--protect Mikasa and Armin--”
“--miling Titan eating mo--”
“--orpses lining up--”
“Eren.”
“Eren, wake up.”
“Let’s go back home now...It’s going to get dark.”