Time looper in AOT

"What are you doing, coward? We were so close to saving Mom."

Eren, with extreme rage and hate in his eyes, looked at Hannes. Mikasa, who was in shock, snapped out of it and looked at Eren, who started hitting Hannes.

"Knock it off, dammit!" Hannes grabbed Eren's hands and threw him.

"Eren!" Mikasa ran to Eren.

"Eren, you can't save your mother because you lacked strength—"

Eren threw a punch at him, which Hannes caught.

"And I... I couldn't stand up to the Titan... because I lacked the courage!" Hannes said, crying.

Eren looked at him, crying. "Coward! Coward! COWARD!"

"If you can't, then I will! So what if I don't have strength? I will still save her!" Eren declared.

"Eren," Mikasa looked at Eren.

"Eren, let's go, we have—"

"No! I am not going till I save her!"

"Right," Eren remembered.

'System, yes! There is only one way! Please, please give me something!'

[SELECT YOUR FATE]

[BE A CATTLE AND SUBMIT… OR CHOOSE:

Perfect Body

Strategic Mind

Time Loop

AND WALK STRAIGHT INTO HELL.]

Looking at the screen in front of him, he didn't think and immediately selected Time Loop. 'I don't care! To hell with a perfect body or a strategic mind! What I care about and want is my Mom. Nothing else matters.'

(N/A: If he had selected a strategic mind, with his ability to see the past and future, it would have been something.)

And then,

Hannes knelt, fists clenched, his body trembling with regret. Tears streamed down his face as Eren stood, rage and grief intertwining into a sound that shattered the air. The world blurred—then stopped.

Time froze. The wind halted mid-gust, dust and debris suspended like stars in a fractured sky. Then, with a silent shatter, reality recoiled. Tears rolled upward, retreating into unbroken eyes. Footsteps ran in reverse, carrying them back toward the hell they had just escaped.

The Titan loomed once more, its bloodstained teeth unmarked, its hunger unwritten. The wall stood whole again, the sky unbroken.

Time was not just reversing. Fate itself was being rewritten.

1 LOOP

When Eren opened his eyes again, he was standing in the same place where he had first seen the 60m tall Titan looking at the giant who was getting ready to kick the wall.

"NO! Mom!" Shouting, he started running. Mikasa and Armin, focused on the Titan, didn't see him running before Mikasa noticed him.

"Eren, stop! The roc—"

'I have to save her! I will save her! Just wait, Mom!' Eren, who was running, heard Mikasa shout, but before she could finish speaking—

Crack-squelch

2 Loop

Haa… Haa…

"Eren, are you okay?" Looking at Mikasa, who was holding him, and then at the Titan, who again got in position to blast a hole in Wall Maria.

'Damn it, I just died from the rock! Shit! Shit! Shit! This is bad!' Even though he looped back, it didn't mean he forgot the feeling of being crushed.

"Aaaaargh!" The agonizing screams of people snapped him back to reality.

Running to his house as fast as he could, looking at all the dead, he remembered the feeling of dying. All regrets surfaced, happy memories crushed. This was how he felt at least.

Reaching his house, which was destroyed by a large rock, he got to the pillar and started trying to lift it.

"Mikasa, exert more force!" Mikasa, who ran with him, clenched her teeth and applied more force. The pillar shook—slowly but surely, it was lifting.

"Eren, ru—"

"Shut up!" Eren shouted. He was not in the mood to argue right now.

Carla then heard the sound of something big coming. Frightened, she shouted, "Has the Titan come in?! Eren! Run! Take Mikasa and escap—"

"NO! Damn it, I am not going anywhere without you!"

Hannes arrived quickly, and Carla shouted at him to take the kids and run.

"Come on, aren't you und—"

"JUST SHUT UP, coward! We don't need your help, DAMN IT!" Eren, in rage, shouted at Hannes, who was caught off guard by it. Eren felt his arms being ripped by the pressure and strain he was putting on them to lift the pillar. Blood was already flowing.

But before they could lift it, the Smiling Titan was right above them.

"Hannes, take the kid—" Before Carla could finish speaking, the Titan grabbed Hannes and Eren.

And swallowed them alive.

3 Loop

"Eren… Eren… Eren!" Mikasa called out, snapping him out of it.

"You two, let's go," Armin said hurriedly. The wall had been broken.

"No, the house is in that direction. She… is there," Mikasa said.

"You two run. I will go take her back." After saying that, she ran.

"No, Mikasa, wai—" Liquid splashing Eren vomited. Seeing this, Armin quickly supported him by grabbing his arms, not letting him fall.

"Eren, get yourself together!"

'AHH, what the hell?! Damn, why does this fucking ability have to only work if I die?!' Being swallowed alive by a Titan is no joke. After all, it took him a full ten minutes of burning in that acid before he died. He watched Hannes, Mikasa, and his mother die in front of him.

'Next time this happens, it's better to kill myself.' Eren didn't want to experience anything like that ever again. After all, he also saw the sight of many…

"Eren, le—let's lo—look for Hannes. After all, we have to help Mikasa. She could be in…" Armin said in a worried tone, a scared expression on his face.

"Hannes… You called him?"

"What's that mean?"

"Nothing," Eren stared at Armin. He had to admit, this friend of his could think better than him. Even though mentally, he was much older, fear, rage, and hatred blinded him. If he hadn't gotten the time loop ability, his recklessness would have killed Mikasa as well.

"You are… amazing." Armin stared at him in confusion, but he shook his head and hurriedly started looking for Hannes.

'Right, if I know where Hannes was at this time, he can get there faster, giving us a better chance to save Mom.' After looking for a few minutes, they found him.

"Don't worry, kids. I'll go and save both of them." As he prepared to use his ODM gear, he noticed Eren jump on his back.

"WHAT AR—"

"We don't have time for that! Let's go!" Hannes looked at this stubborn kid. He knew he wouldn't back down, so he took him.

"Eren, it's—"

'Well, I think I heard Armin. He should be fine, after all. He is much smarter than me at least.'

When they got there, Mikasa was trying to lift the fallen pillar. The Smiling Titan was closing in fast—there wasn't enough time to save Carla. Without hesitation, Eren grabbed the ultra-sharp ODM blades and slashed his own neck.

---

4th Loop (Eren's POV)

The moment time looped, Eren gasped, clutching his neck—after all, he had just slit his throat.

Without wasting time, even before the Titan broke through the wall, he started running. But before that, he quickly told Armin where Hannes was most likely to be at this time.

Reaching his house, ignoring his mother's cries, Eren and Mikasa focused on lifting the pillar. Hannes arrived faster than before.

"Quickly, help lift this pillar!"

But the Titan was still faster. Of course, if Hannes had any courage in him, we could have just taken Mom and run.

5th Loop…

This time, we managed to get Mom out, but because she couldn't run, we had to carry her. Mikasa and I, being kids, couldn't run fast enough.

We died.

6th Loop…

The same thing happened.

7th Loop…8th Loop…9th Loop…

"Hey, Hannes," I called out as I lifted the pillar while the Titan approached. This time, I decided to try a different approach.

"What?!" Hannes gritted his teeth, his arms shaking under the strain. But from the corner of his eye, he saw Mikasa lifting with strength that might have even surpassed ours.

"Use your ODM gear's grappling hooks—aim for its eyes, okay? The moment you do that, grab Mom on your back, and we run. We don't look back." I instructed him in a calm tone.

It wasn't that I had become indifferent after looping so many times—it was just that I had grown numb.

Even though this plan was feasible, it wasn't easy. Shooting both eyes required skill and, more importantly, courage.

First attempt—Hannes froze.

Before he could fire, the Titan grabbed him.

Crunch.

Another failure.

10th Loop…11th Loop…21st Loop…100th Loop…101st Loop…

Getting Hannes to shoot without freezing was ridiculously difficult. I tried everything—encouragement, insults, desperate pleas—anything to trigger a moment of bravery.

"Hannes, are you really going to let us all die just because you're scared of the very thing you're supposed to fight as a soldier?"

102nd Loop…

"Hannes, you go."

"What?" He looked at me, confused.

"Go! I won't leave without Mom, and Mikasa won't either. You do your job as a 'soldier'!"

He looked stunned, but what he saw was me staring at the Titan with unwavering determination.

Finally, after countless deaths…

He shot.

Of course, he missed. He didn't have the skill.

103rd Loop…134th Loop…

If Armin were here, I wouldn't have to loop for such a stupid reason as finding the correct angle for the grappling hooks. But after enough trial and error, I finally figured it out.

"Hannes, lower your angle by 20 degrees. Step forward once. Fire after the count of five."

"Damn it, kid! Don't tell me what to do!" he snapped.

Even so, he followed my instructions—he didn't have the confidence to do it alone.

"Take this, you damn monster!"

Hannes lowered his aim, took a step forward, and counted in his head.

The Smiling Titan reached out.

Mikasa and Mom clutched onto me, their hands trembling.

'It's do or die.'

Zip!

The grappling hook shot forward, piercing the Titan's eye. It let out a deafening roar.

But there was a problem.

Once the ODM gear's hooks latch on, they have to be manually removed.

And in his panic, Hannes forgot.

The gas burst, dragging him toward the Titan.

Fear overtook him again. He closed his eyes.

'Damn it… So this is it. At least I repaid my debt.'

"Come on, soldier—are you really giving up already?"

Shocked, he opened his eyes—only to see me on his back, grinning.

"EREN!" Mom and Mikasa screamed.

It had taken me 12 loops to figure out how to slip away from them.

I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled out the blades.

"Now it's on you—fight back or we both die."

I had done this enough times to know Hannes' capabilities. He might not be able to kill the Titan, but escaping was possible.

'Damn, this kid is insane. But… he's brave. I might not have as much courage as him, but I know one thing—humanity can't afford to lose him. And I… I can't let him die.'

"HAAAAAAGH!"

'This time… let me be a soldier and protect them.'

Hannes gripped the blades, swung his body in a full 360-degree spin to gain momentum, and sliced the Titan's hand clean off.

Pulling back, he turned toward Mom and Mikasa.

He hoisted Carla onto his back and started running while the Titan flailed blindly, unable to see.

But not everything goes as planned.

Thud.

To Be Continued…