#ch 854

[kookoofufu]

Chopper and Zoro bro moments :)

[syoish-aot]

"I Found You (too)" - EREN/READER - REINCARNATION AU (chapter 1)

eren/reader

Rating: M

marleyan nurse reader & undercover eren

cw: canon typical xenophobia, dissociation , maladaptive daydreaming, canon typical gore/violence

2,422 words

also on Ao3

< first fic (Ao3 / tumblr) | ch 2 ->

“Are we somewhere nice…”

Eren’s eyes widen as the words came spilling out of your mouth:

“...Mr. Kruger?”

Liberio 854

Hot.

It was always so hot in the middle of summer.

The heat made you feel sluggish, especially in combination with the thick humidity in the air that was likely indicative of an upcoming storm.

It wasn’t just the heat though, there was something else in the air, the anxiety of… of… of impending doom? An undeniable end? The constant fear that something could happen at a moment’s notice that would completely shatter everyone’s life into pieces?

Yeah. Something like that.

You were used to that though. That was just a part of war.

So the heat, you figured.

That’s what was really bothering you.

The intense heat.

You sighed as you leaned against the window sill, looking out across the courtyard two stories below. 

A doctor in a white hospital coat was ushering a patient inside. The old man sobbed and hollered about- honestly, you had no idea. There wasn’t a point in paying enough attention to find out. Two patients sat at a bench in hushed conversation. A delivery boy rushed through the gates with a stack of papers in hand as the white armband he wore immediately caught your eye from the way it contrasted with his dark clothing. 

You brought your teacup to your lips and sipped your tea as your mind slipped off to somewhere else.

   Somewhere nice.

      A small home.

      A warm bed.

      A scratchy couch.

“I hear we’re getting a new shipment today.” Your coworker Myra said, snapping you from your daydream as she joined you in looking over the courtyard below. She snickered as the doctor struggled to lift the old man to his feet before escorting him inside.

“Shipment of what?” You asked wistfully, only half paying attention to her as the rest of your mind was still swept up somewhere else.

   Somewhere nice.

“Eldian devils, of course.” Myra sighed, the amusement now gone from her tone and replaced with boredom. “They’re coming in from Fort Slava. Probably going to be all fucked up because of it.”

“We won the war,” you pointed out, still barely paying attention to what she was saying, “you should probably be celebrating.”

“I am celebrating.” She turned away from the view and pressed her back against the windowsill so she could stare into the break room instead of the courtyard. “Unfortunately, the celebration comes hand in hand with how much damn work it’s going to create for all of us.”

You sighed, giving up on your daydreams. You’d go back to them later.

“Soldiers are coming home.” You reasoned as you looked over at her. “That’s a good thing.”

Myra scoffed. “ Eldian soldiers,” she emphasized. “It’d be easier on all of us if they just died out there. Fucking devils… what a pain.”

You didn’t get what her deal was.

If Myra didn’t want to work with Eldians, maybe she shouldn’t have taken a nursing job at an internment zone hospital.

But you didn’t say anything to her, there wasn’t a point in making enemies with the one coworker that you (sort of) considered a friend.

“Oh look,” Myra said just in time for a large truck to pull up to the front of the hospital. A Marleyan escort dropped the tailgate and a line of soldiers began climbing from the back of the truck.

Soldiers with bandages across their chests. Limbs. Heads.

Soldiers with missing legs. Arms. Eyes. 

Soldiers that stagger forward in a line, passing through the gates of the hospital with their heads turned down, barely paying attention to the world around them and focusing more on putting one foot in front of the other (if they even have two feet to focus on, that was).

Eldian soldiers straight from Fort Slava.

“Hey, you!” The Marleyan soldier escorting them called, slamming his gun against the side of the truck.

One last Eldian pulled himself out, walking on a single leg as the rest of his body was supported with an old crutch. 

He had a bandage around his head concealing an eye injury, with long brown hair that was in desperate need of a trim.

You assumed he would wear the same expression as all the other traumatized soldiers did when they showed up at your hospital. The same bags under their eyes, frown lines etched against their face, and depressed lost look of desperation. The desperation for what? You weren’t sure. Escape. Death. Freedom. It didn’t matter what it was, because it was always the same.

You’d worked at that hospital for years and it had always been the same. 

And yet when this soldier, this Eldian soldier, crossed the courtyard below you, he was shoved by the Marleyan officer escorting him. He stumbled. 

Then he looked up.

That’s when you saw it.

You saw the look on his face.

And you saw the look in his eyes.

A stunning composition that reminded you of the night sky on a full moon- swirling blues and greens beautifully illuminated with flecks of golden stars. 

Your fingers tightened against your teacup, pressing its warmth firmly against your palms.

Hot.

It was always so hot… in the middle of summer.

a few days later

“You take a suspiciously long time with Kruger every morning,” Myra told you as the two of you walked down the hall on the way to the break room.

“I- I do not!”

“Yeah, okay.” She rolled her eyes as your cheeks flushed pink.

“I’m just being thorough. Unlike you, I take pride in my work.”

Her loud laugh bounced off of the bleak walls. “Did you know that you always get feisty when you’re being defensive? All you’re doing is proving my point~”

“Well, sometimes he can be- difficult. Everyone knows that.” You said, not wanting to argue with her and further “prove her point”.  

“Yeah,” she scoffed, “not with you though.”

You rolled your eyes.

“Maybe he’s got a crush on you or something.”

You immediately stopped walking.

“What?” Myra asked.

“That’s- I-... don’t joke about that. Someone might hear you.”

Myra scoffed. “Who gives a shit.” She dismissed with a casual wave of her hand. “That kinda thing happens all the time.”

She was right, of course. Plenty of the soldiers at the hospital had indicated that they’d developed-... something for those caring for them. It was natural, you supposed, given the trauma they’d experienced in battle. A terrible experience like that followed by someone treating your injuries, regardless of how cruel they may be while they do it, would seep into someone’s mind and turn into-...

Whatever it turns into. 

It was a mess, regardless. A mess that you would never let yourself fall into.

“It doesn’t matter if it happens all the time.” You muttered as you stormed past Myra, “I could still get in trouble.”

She rolled her eyes again as she caught up with you. “Only if you do something about it.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“Good.” She said simply. “And not just because he’s your patient. You know what happens to people that get tangled up with Eldians.”

The way she said it made your whole world freeze.

The reminder always did and why wouldn’t it?

You did know. You knew exactly what happened to people who got “tangled up” with Eldians because you’d seen it firsthand. You’d never forget.

No matter how much you wish you could, you'd never forget the way your brother’s body hung limp against the fence outside the internment zone. The way he was left there, for days, to rot against the wall. The way the birds picked at the skin of his face, his fingers, tearing away bits of flesh to the point that his body was turned into something else entirely.

You’d never forget the words ‘ ELDIAN LOVER ’ painted in deep crimson against the brick wall behind him.

“You have to make something of yourself.” Your mother told you that night as she sobbed for her loss. Not the loss of her son, but for the loss of your family’s reputation. “Make something of yourself that we can be proud of,” she cried, “make them forget about him… you owe it to your family…”

   Flesh.

          Rope.

               Red spray paint.

Your stomach turned at the memory. 

And suddenly, you were no longer interested in your lunch.

It trapped you in a daze for the rest of the day.

It always did.

The reminder of why you worked so hard to get this job, why you slave away working extra hours and rarely ever taking a day off unless it was absolutely necessary. You had to work hard for your family. For their reputation. So you could undo the sins of your brother and make up for what he’d done.

It exhausted you.

Your life here exhausted you.

You knew you were supposed to hate your older brother, you knew you were because he betrayed you. He betrayed your whole family and put them in danger for his own selfishness. 

It would have been easy for your family to have been executed for what he’d done, even though none of you had any idea it was happening. You could have been seen as accomplices and punished as such. The only reason you were still alive was because your family had been fortunate enough to pay for your lives. And your lives were a hefty payment.

You’d grown up in a large house in the countryside with pretty dresses and expensive toys. Servants who did whatever you wanted and enough money that you’d never know what it felt like to go to bed hungry.

Your father had been a banker.

Had been.

Because after your brother’s affair with an Eldian maid was found out, your family lost it all.

So, you should have been mad at him. You should have been livid. You should have hated him and spent the rest of your life cursing his existence for what it’d brought you.

But you didn’t.

Despite where your life was after all of it. Despite the pressure that was suddenly put on your shoulders. Despite every moment of agony after it. You couldn’t be mad at your brother.

Because…

          …because your brother had been in love.

“I’m leaving soon.” He’d told you, the night before he was found out. The night before he was hung on that wall and left to rot.

But neither of you knew that would be his fate. So you just scowled as you clutched your doll tightly to your chest, watching as he darted around the room and packed his things.

“Father said you don’t start university for three more years.” You pointed out.

“I don’t.” He laughed. “But I’m not going to university.”

“You aren’t?”

“No.” He stopped in front of you and knelt down so he could look you in the eye. “Can you keep a secret?”

You nodded.

“Promise?”

You nodded harder.

He chuckled softly before he pulled a ring out of his pocket. “I’m getting married.”

You gasped. “To who?”

He got a far-off look in his eyes as the smile on his face turned to something else. Something softer. As if he was suddenly swept up in a daydream that took him somewhere completely new. “I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“Because I-...” He sighed as he slid the ring into his pocket. “Look,” the wishful expression he had been wearing slipped away as his gaze hardened. “Sometimes adults are wrong.”

“No they’re not.”

“Yes,” he said pointedly, “they are.”

You stayed quiet.

“Sometimes they’re wrong and the reason they’re wrong is that they’ve never taken a moment to think about what they’ve been taught. I’m going away soon, but don’t ever forget that, okay? Don’t you ever forget to think for yourself when someone tells you something, no matter who they are or how much confidence they have when they say it.”

You scowled. “What does any of that have to do with you getting married?”

He laughed as the smile returned to his face. “It has everything to do with it.” He patted your head and leaned forward, pressing a kiss to your forehead before he went back to packing. 

As he packed he told you about the life he was leaving to create for himself and his special person.

A small home, just big enough for two. Far away from war and pain and death. Somewhere they could be happy. A warm bed. A scratchy couch. Homemade food. Maybe even a cat, if they found one that was nice enough to keep.

“You should have more than one!” You told him as he described the kitten he would find in this made-up fantasy, tucked under a rose bush in a rainstorm. 

“I should, shouldn’t I! How many cats should I have?”

“Four!!” You exclaimed with a giggle.

“Four!?!” He said in mock surprise, which had you laughing all over again.

It was a beautiful dream. A beautiful fantasy. 

But that’s all it would ever be because nice places like that didn’t exist. No matter how desperately you wished they could.

Still. It was where you always found yourself when you stared for a little too long out the window, when you walked home after a hard day, or when you struggled to fall asleep at night.

That small house in a faraway world without war. Without pain. Without even death.

It was warm. 

And it was where you always found yourself. 

You pushed open the door to Mr. Kruger’s room with his evening medicine. You smiled as you carried it to him. Smiled at the world you’d created in your head. A special escape, just for you.

“You’re late.” Mr. Kruger told you as he closed his book.

“Yeah,” you said softly. “I had to go somewhere.”

“Hm.” He hummed. “Where?”

You passed him a paper cup full of pills and the tips of your fingers brushed against his. Just the tips. 

It sent a rush of warmth up your arm.

You watched as the paper cup met his lips and he tilted his head back.

      A warm home.

      No war, pain, or death.

      A scratchy couch.

      Good food.

      Cats.

You slipped away just long enough for him to finish swallowing his pills and when he lowered the cup, you finally answered him:

“...I went somewhere nice…”

It was a shame, really. 

A shame that you’d only ever be able to visit such a nice place

in your dreams.

CHAPTER 2 ->

TAG LIST (like that post to be tagged for updates)

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[mobolanz]

Reinelyn but it's ship dynamics from Pinterest (⁠ﾉ⁠◕⁠ヮ⁠◕⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠*⁠.⁠✧🍎🛡️

850 vs 854 xD

(the moment I'm giving Evie a gun this is all over and done✨♥️.)

Another Bonus: Juliette's bitchass if she's to figure out the stuff that went on in ch.1 (pray I'm not actually doing that-)

[starstruckkittensweets]

what do you think mia would be like during the finale episode? i’m dying to know i was thinking about her story the whole time watching the episode 🫶🏻🫶🏻

Anon I'm so very sorry I'm so late with answering this ask! It's been stewing in my brain ever since I got it, I've been thinking and thinking about it, and I think I finally have an answer for you! (As organized as I can make it, because I'm still very emotional that AoT is finally over) 😭

I have an entire outline of the 4 year timeskip between seasons 3 and 4, it's all part of the third volume of AWWW (the second one is outlined to cover seasons 1-3). Maybe someday I'll compile all my notes into one big doc and share it on here, haha! But for now I'll share a few points that lead up to the final battle and epilogue. I'll try to keep this as brief as possible under a cut, so both AoT and AWWW spoilers ahead!

(Also as a disclaimer, some points may be changed once I finish writing the story, so don't count on everything mentioned below being 100% canon to AWWW)

Mia and Levi are married in the late summer/early fall of 851, during the expeditions to rebuild Shiganshina (Hanji insists on giving them time away from the Scouts to have a proper honeymoon, because priorities haha); Mia learns she's pregnant in May of 852, and their son Alexander is born (named after Mia's father)

They're able to live in peace until 854, after Eren leaves to infiltrate Marley on his own; in order to keep Alex safe from the inevitable war, they leave him in the care of Leyna's old friend Sara (who's also a volunteer at the farm Historia has for the orphans from the Underground City)

Skip to Levi having to babysit Zeke in the forest; he heads out on the mission while Mia stays behind with Hanji; he leaves her his original cravat (which she ties around her right wrist as a memento) and takes the one she sewed for him in AWWW (Ch. 46); (so that when Hanji finds him and patches up his injuries, she notices the words "for my captain" written on the edge - so even when they're apart, Levi always has a piece of Mia with him)

Mia is PISSED when she sees the Beast Titan in action in Shiganshina, even more so when she reunites with Hanji and she explains Levi's injured state. If she didn't want to kill Zeke before, she's out for blood now, nearly going off on her own just to slice his head off herself (but the kids hold her back, with Armin talking some sense into her) yeah and look where that plan got you Armin lol

Okay, now that that's out of the way, onto the finale:

Mia is 1000% supportive of Levi, no matter what. If he wants to fight, she'll let him fight. It's the same with Levi, as much as he wishes Mia was safe and sound back home on Paradis. They love each other too much to abandon the other, they both know damn well that their son won't have any chance at a normal life if they don't try to stop Eren. Even if it means putting their lives on the line. They're soldiers after all.

Oof, but Hanji's death? Absolutely devastating for Mia; Levi actually has to hold her back to stop her from going after her. Even when she knows it's what Hanji wants, she's still her best friend in the entire world. It's always been the two of them, since their days as clueless cadets. Mia barely has time to grieve during the battle, so the majority of it is saved for the aftermath. It takes her a long time to come to terms with it, though.

Levi/Mia/Mikasa team up at the very end. Mia and Levi buying Mikasa time in order to break through and finally kill Eren; also similar to the Eren/Armin conversation (as far as I know he had a similar convo with each and every one of the Scouts involved), Mia sees a sequence of her own; she sees her dream future: living peacefully with Levi and their children, far away from the hardships of war; she's unbelievably angry with Eren for putting them all in this position in the first place, but remarks that he's damn lucky for having a pair of friends like Mikasa and Armin to keep him grounded (and to stay by his side even when he's in the wrong)

As for the epilogue? I can see Levi and Mia staying in Marley afterwards (after making a secret trip back to Paradis to pick up Alex and to say their goodbyes to Sara and the others). They're seen as traitors to Paradis now, and I think apart from Mikasa (who's either living there in secret or under the protection of Historia) none of them would be welcomed back to Paradis any time soon. So it'll just be the three of them for a while, living in one of the newly rebuilt towns by the edge of the sea.

(As a side note, I can see Mia feeling obliged to join the alliance to fix things between Paradis and the rest of the world, but Armin’s the one to convince her to step down and enjoy the rest of her life in peace with Levi. He’s seen how hard they’ve fought over the years, how they’ve protected them through thick and thin, and he tells her it’s okay to rest. That he’s got it from here—and the rest of the Scouts do, too. And that’s when she realizes how much he’s grown, and she thanks him for understanding and begins to start a new life in Marley with Levi at her side.)

It's a struggle at first, dealing with all the memories of the last few years, Levi's new injuries from the battle, and raising Alex. A couple years later there are two new additions to the family: twin girls Izzy and Zoe (named after Isabel and Hanji, both born on September 5th). And slowly, they begin to build a new life for themselves. Eventually they split their time between caring for the orphaned children of the town and setting up their own little teashop. It’s simple and quiet, and honestly Levi and Mia wouldn’t have it any other way.

In the end, these are just my rough thoughts on the ending and Mia's role in it. I haven't fleshed everything out yet, and things are still subject to change at this point, but at this point in time this is the outline I have written down. I don't wanna give too much away because everything's still up in the air, and I may have a few things I want to add in later on.

Either way I hope you enjoyed this anon, and again I'm so sorry it took me so long to type this all out! I know I’m kinda late to the party but what did you think of the ending? I’d love to hear your thoughts on it! ❤️❤️❤️

[larkreadsop]

Honestly Zoro kind of looks like Smoker here but that’s a very cute reindeer accessory he has 

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

okay, so, i don’t usually make big non-japanese meta posts about specific panels, but this moment here really struck me. i think this, right here, is the critical downfall of the big mom pirates.

opera doesn’t tell any of his siblings that 1. nami and luffy have escaped and 2. jinbe has betrayed them and is working with the strawhats. this is because of his (from what we’ve seen, entirely reasonable) fear that he will attract big mom’s retribution for his perceived failure in guard duty, despite the fact that said failure was really getting surprise gut-punched by a former shichiukai with no way to avoid it. 

because he doesn’t tell them, the entire charlotte family remains under the impression that they have the situation completely under control, even though the reality is that they now do not have even a single strawhat prisoner and also one of their most powerful lieutenants is now actively working against them, and their poneglyph has been stolen.

opera has to know that letting luffy run rampant cannot possibly have a good outcome for his family and their plans, but he still doesn’t say anything, because his fear of his own mother far, far outweighs his loyalty to her. 

in this way, the charlotte family is nearly the exact inverse of the donquixote family, wherein each member’s loyalty to doflamingo far outweighed anything else, including the fear of death. doflamingo ruled his crew by giving his people love and a place to belong and had a group of followers who would die for him in a heartbeat as a result; big mom rules hers with fear, and the result is a paranoid and distrustful mess of a family. they’re both severely dysfunctional versions of a familial relationship, but in opposite ways.

[everyjimbei]

Brulee’s face is amazingg in this panel compared to the other two

[mangamob]

[incorrectbbcsherlockquotes]

Molly: You said you’d take a bullet for me. You’d never take a bullet for me.

Eurus: Probably not, no one ever takes a bullet. It’s just something people say that they don’t mean, like “How was your day?” or “We’ll stop if it hurts.”

[shinymoonbird]

Through the path of his grace that even the gods cannot know, he came as a Teacher, in a form knowable to the senses and easily accessible to the hearts of men, setting upon the earth those holy feet that shine like bright jewels set in wisdom’s dawn. ~  Sri Guru Ramana Prasadam - v.422, by Sri Muruganar

🕉

🕉️  Annihilation of the Ego  🕉️

Mad people who, instead of becoming food to God, seek to make God as food to them, will at last through egoism become food to Yama [death].

Sadhu Om: Did not many asuras (*) seek to subjugate God through their worship in order to gain their own selfish ends? It is this kind of attitude towards God which is described in this verse as ‘seeking to make God as food to them’. Through their selfish worship [kamya upasana] such people are in fact only courting their own destruction!

Unless the appearance [of this world] known objectively by the senses, and the wicked ego, the knower of it, die as food to Siva, who shines as the state of supreme consciousness, the supreme reality cannot be attained.

~ Guru Vachaka Kovai    The Garland of Guru’s Sayings, by Sri Muruganar    Part Two - The Practice of The Truth    Ch. 82. Annihilation of the Ego, V. 853-854

✨✨✨

(*) Asuras: In Hindu mythology, class of beings defined by their opposition to the devas or suras (gods).

[wheresyumeno]

Last seen: Vol. 8 ch. 31 (released around 4th September 2015 in Japan) or Second season, episode 9 (released 30th November 2016 in Japan)

It has been 854 days.

[amadeyus]

Marley’s Files on the Paradisian Military (as of 854 // Ch. 102) – listen to the ERENthe標 OST for full effect hehe (Part 1 | Part 2) 

Inspiration: @omeinfreund ​'s gifset on the Current Titan Shifters and @hushpiper for giving me ideas about the tank/anti-tank/shock troops/fire support names! (which are based off of WWII military terms e.g. jäger, panzerjäger, nachtjäger, etc)

[larkreadsop]

He’s been carrying that basket around forever and just realized he’d been cooking for his crew the whole time

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

IT’S ABOUT FUCKING TIME

[everyjimbei]

Nami riding on Jimbei’s back is adorable