THIRTEEN • Eren Jaeger

CHAPTER 6: Loop Three, II

A pregnant pause ensued where nothing but the howling wind was heard as you and Eren stared at each other. You wanted to freeze, to run away, but there was nowhere for you to go. There was only him, and he needed you.

"Eren," you said, throwing as much comfort you could provide into the words, "come here."

Eren let out a sob, like a wounded animal, before stumbling towards you like a shot buck. He exhausted all his weight into your arms and you stumbled into the house with him before he collapsed. You quickly kicked the door back in place, leaving you in vacuum silence except for the crackle of dying embers at the hearth.

"Eren," you said carefully, "what happened?"

"I don't know—" He looked panicked, like he was about to have a breakdown. "I-I think it was a dream. Like a nightmare. But I-I think it's real..."

You held his shoulders, trying to ground him.

"I just—am I crazy? Am I—" He swallowed and looked down at his hands, like he suddenly had a natural urge to bite them and unleash the power within. "Am I a—"

He didn't say it, but you knew.

Titan.

"I believe you, Eren," you said. "I think... I think it's possible."

His head snapped up. "How?"

"You heal really quickly. Your nape is ticklish. Um... I don't know, I just... I just think it's possible."

Eren's indisposed look reminded you to heed your words. "[Name], what Ymir said earlier—you know things... you have a knack for knowing what other people don't. What—what do you know?"

Your eyes welled up in frustration. You couldn't take this anymore. You couldn't stand seeing Eren in this pain again.

"Eren, I'm stuck in a—mmphhh."

Your mouth clamped together forcefully. It always did whenever you tried to tell someone you were in a time loop. Despite his own fear, Eren looked concerned for your odd behavior. It was like you needed an exorcism.

"Eren, I—" you fumbled, "I—I'm like you. I had that kind of vision too. That's why I know a lot of stuff. And since you had it too... you must be just like me."

It wasn't exactly a lie, but it definitely wasn't the truth. Eren calmed down.

"I saw the future," he whispered. "I—I did something horrible, I—I killed people outside the walls. And you—you died... you choked to death."

You winced. "Oh... that doesn't sound fun."

His bottom lip trembled. "Those people are enemies, aren't they?"

"Maybe so, but a lot of them are good people too," you reasoned. "Eren, whatever it is you saw in your vision, it doesn't need to happen. We can resolve this in another way."

"But they want us dead, don't they?" Eren asked. "So we need to strike. I'll master this power I have inside me and take them down."

"Eren, no," you pleaded. "They'll strike back. They'll kill us all."

"Which is why we need to kill them first!" he argued.

Eren was still teenage Eren, boyish and brash, but there was a new layer of mentally deranged to him. You hated that what happened to him before was unfolding again. He was still a kid, too young to be making these decisions.

"I'll slaughter them all from this world."

"No," you said weakly, but he didn't listen.

Things escalated from there.