This is not how you imagined it to be.
This is not how you imagined it to be.
This is not how you imagined it to be!
You didn't become 2D. You're still flesh and bones. You ran your hands over the grass. Familiar. Not two-dimensional. You looked around you— greens, and green and the wall! The infamous 'Break-it-Bertholdt' fifty-meter wall! And houses! Ohh— Attack on Titan houses! Totally normal! What the hell, such a let down! Linen-roofed kiosks and dirty, unpaved roads like the 1800s!
Look, tons of horse shit!
My gosh. You're really here.
Then it hit you: you're not in your world anymore. No signal, no electricity, no decent apartment, no job, and no friends. Just famine, epidemic (probably) in an unknown territory, and titans! The first thing to do now was to look for a place to stay. You don't even have their currency and what currency do they use anyway? Dollars? Euro? Peso? Plain gold coin? Do they even use silver? Bronze? Will these jewelry you brought with you help?
Oh, so shit scooper could a job here. You clicked your tongue.
You changed your clothes to a long skirt and shirt in earthy tones to blend in. Your thoughts raced about the things you have to explore. Going outside the walls is a no-go for now. You covered your luggage with a dirty cloth. Heck, if your gigantic electric blue and gray bag stuck like a sore thumb, you'll be sent to the torture chamber of the military police this very afternoon. You don't want them confiscating your stuff, do you?
But wait— what year is it now?
You looked around. Paradis is still enclosed by walls. Eren has not rampaged yet. It could be is post-breach of Wall Maria or...
pre-breach.
Your breaths came uneven. You hurried down to civilization with dread almost consuming you. If anytime soon, Bertholdt's kicking the wall, you have to hurry. You need to go to a safe place, but where is a safe place? Underground? You need citizenship to be able to crawl back up. Does that take too long? Should you just lay low in the outskirts and wish the titans won't come? Maybe climb the wall or a tree?
Who are you kidding? If it is the pre-breach, they're going to evacuate to wall Rose and you need to go with them. Climbing a low-ass tree with your physical condition and a huge bag no less is suicide. Your best bet is to ask the year, and plan from there.
Your heart was beating faster and you've never felt this alive.
***
Uniformed men patrolled the dry, dusty, unpaved road of Shiganshina district which implied that conclusion given how close the wall is and how cramped the buildings are. Could be other city-towns, but how could you be wrong if Hannes is drinking his brunch a few meters away? You saw the staples in every farmer's market but only stale. Apples, oranges, wild berries, carrots, potatoes... rare meat stalls here and there. There was no stall for sea creatures, and you understood why.
But Hannes— oh Hannes. He's that guy you see anywhere in your world, you don't even need to try. You know, that type that are sunken on the face, premature aging, high cheek bones? Except that back in your world, they wear a standard V-neck shirt they got from Old Navy cargo pants and brown leather belt, while Hannes wears a brown crop jacket and walks with metal tanks attached to his thighs. Drunk runs as his middle name in this windy summer day, you observed him closer, thinking about the way he'll die over Dina's titan form.
He was like a stand-in father to Eren.
So if Hannes is still a drunkard at this time of day... the answer's there. Another question was how much time do you have in your hands? You approached a vegetable seller, definitely not Hannes— as he's still part of the police after all, and like an automated reply, her cheerful welcome took you by surprise.
"Hello, what year is it?" You asked calmly and politely.
"Wha—? Oh, I thought you're going to buy." Her smile quickly retracted to frown. You could hear the grumbles too.
"No- m-maybe later." You sheepishly said.
"What kind of question is that?" You gulped at the follow up question. It's not unpredictable. After all, you're asking about the year like you aren't from here. She doesn't need to know about that. You decided to leave; the weird question might rouse suspicion, and the seller seemed like the probing type.
"Nothing, just— carry on. It's a beautiful day."
You wandered a little more; nothing out of the ordinary, really. You noticed the labels of what could be the prices of the goods are different from yours. So Paradis has a language system of their own. Fascinating. Also, the walls are cool. You haven't touched it, but you expected Paradis, especially small city-towns like Shiganshina to be hot because of the walls that caged them. The walls themselves have scorching titans inside, but what wrapped them seemed cool to touch. Besides that explanation, there was no other way to explain everything in Shiganshina is cool even when encased by the walls.
Shiganshina spelled like the things you were forced to read: the classic countryside 17th century. Filthy because of horse shit; dusty, given the unpaved roads. You overheard gossips of Dimo Reeve's business losses when the carriage containing his goods turned turtle when it tripped over stones. Probably due to the poor lighting too. The roads for food and household stuff aren't safe to travel because the roads were uneven.
But, their roads are the least of their problems. They have more problems than they think. These people will be misplaced soon, die in most cases. And then you saw them:
Mikasa, Armin and Eren in their most innocent.
Your best bet is to approach the three, ask them the year, and plan from there. Although Armin is smart, he couldn't possibly know your motive nor what will happen next, so you did. You rehearsed the voice, and then the face, and then the walk. Don't be weird, don't be weird...
"Hi," you smiled, held your palms open; a sign of transparency as one of the books you read before would say.
"Um, can I ask you kids a question?"
Armin was the first to be attentive. Him looking this cute and flimsy, no one will believe you if you said that this little kid will be the brains of the Survey Corps. "Um, if we c-can, why not?" He stuttered, scratching his nose. You struggled between a coma story or an amnesia story, which both seemed unbelievable for them, given how primitive their knowledge in medicine was...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
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.
.
.
Coma story it is.
Do you mind telling me what year it is now? The villagers looked at me like some crazy person so I thought I'm missing out. I just woke up from a very long sleep, you see." Ma'am, you are a magnificent liar.
"Is it possible to sleep so long you forget what year it is?" Armin tilted his head.
"I dreamt vividly I can't tell which is real and isn't." You fibbed.
"Is that even possible?" Mikasa asked.
"It is. I have it from time to time." Eren shrugged as he raised his hands on the back of his head. Thanks child Eren.
And there goes the dread. It's 845.
You couldn't breathe. Their clothes, it's the same as the one you read in the first chapters. Yes, anytime soon. Yes— the massacre in wall Maria. Survey corps just went on an expedition so there's no one to defend Paradis. You couldn't tell Garrison either or you'll land in their torture cell this very night. As much as you don't want to intervene, you also don't have much of a choice. Time is of essence and when Eren sees his mother eaten by Dina, he'll have that unwavering, crooked resolve to kill Titans, and everyone in the next couple of years.
"Eren, listen to me." You steadied him— or yourself using the little boy as a support. You gulped on dry throat, the sun was almost at its faint orange tones...
"Let's get to Carla, now." Your alarming tones scared them. There's no time to be scared, they need to think fast—
"Why? What do you want with my mother?"
"That's not the poin—"
BANG!
The time stopped for you, and everyone else in this peaceful little town.
The lightning had struck.
Next will be Berthold peeking from the walls.
And then the breach.
Exhale, you can do this. You know what will happen, so you'll know what to do.
"Eren, let's go see your mother." You shook him, but his body was frozen in awe and... fear.
"Now." Your desperation made him jump to his senses, but not enough to let them see the gravity of the situation. Steam exuded over the walls, the magnificent form of the Colossal titan started to peek, and next...
"Take cover!" You took the trio, your bag should be enough cushion to absorb the shock from smaller debris, and they fell unto you. You have to stick with them until Hannes comes for them...
Wait.
They'll survive, but you?
There's no guarantee, isn't it?
The part where they have to ride a steamboat is the part where the refugees will be forced to throw their belongings in the water. Your supplies, your necessities, your only and only key back home... it will be gone the moment you ride that boat. You had to think fast— there should be a way to do it.
A way...
You gritted your teeth, you'll have to ride to the gate and leave these snotty brats behind. Fuck Hannes, you can't wait for him. You need a horse, but where? There.
Mind raced per millisecond, electricity shot like fireworks as your mind devised a plan.
And hence, a plan was created. Thank God for your brains.
***
A few minutes in, and you're ready to play the plump disguise. The kids were still preoccupied with the impending disaster, so you took the chance to go in a corner, strip, and hide your bulked luggage behind the clothes. Thank goodness for maxi skirts and loose clothes. They won't cup a feel— they won't time for that shit. You headed for the steamboat, looking for that horse— yes, you're an equestrian now— and ride to the nearest gate to wall Rose.
Couple of hours after, and you were one of the first groups to arrive in the safety of the inner walls. You knew those kids are safe, but you didn't need to know them any longer. The smell of death was everywhere. You can still hear the screams of panic and blasts of canons on the other side of the wall. The succeeding batches weren't better either. They cried for the loved ones they left behind, joining the cries of those who arrived first. It was a macabre orchestra. A sonata of dark ages for Paradis, and you could only observed in a distance.
They're grieving.
Is this what you wanted to witness? What was the reason you wanted to witness this? Was it the blood? Did you love the gore? The thrill of probably monkeying around on a 3DMG?
No, you were hoping you'll find the better days.
You wanted to hope that despite all these, there are better days.
You're a tourist; you wanted the good stuff from this place, but the thing is, there is nothing good out here. Looking for even one good day seems like a mockery. It's just the continuous, desperate fight of Eldians against a still unknown enemy. They don't have a clue, and you're not going to give it to them.
It's time to go back.
You reached for the key and clicked a button as it glowed to life.
You tapped the location in its memory.
You stepped on it.
Nothing happened.
Panic surged through you, and did it again, this time, slower. Careful. There must be an error in the input, but it's definitely working, it should work.
Fuck.
You tried again.
You felt ice water poured on top of your head, your muscles tensed...
The key isn't working.
The test runs worked! It should work! Why not now—
And the answer stared right in your face: this distance is practically unknown, and untested. It must be difficult for the portals to connect to each other.
You're not a tourist anymore.
You're just a stranded outsider whose best bet is to join the Survey corps to get out of this mess.
The plan was laid, faster than you can breathe.
Join the Survey Corp.
Go to Marley.
Steal their technology.
And never, ever get killed.
***
Special thanks to user DamDam_ on Reddit, for this Shiganshina overview!