Time Loop - Tumblr Posts
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop.
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *loading a pistol* moon’s stuck in a time loop. do you have extra ammo? this won’t be enough. nasa employee: enough for…what? astronaut: *finding extra clip of ammo, pocketing it, and getting back on the rocket-ship* don’t worry about it!
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *emerging from supply closet with a space harpoon, getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop.
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: what? nasa employee: how did you know what i was going to say? astronaut: *punching in key pad code for base evacuation signal, getting back on the rocket-ship* i told you…moon’s stuck in a time loop. *red warning lights begin flashing*
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *rifling thru bookshelf of operating instructions, selecting one that says “AIRLOCK MANUAL OVERRIDE INSTRUCTIONS,” getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop.
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: moon’s stuck in a time loop. hey, do you have anything to eat? i’m starving. *opens random drawer, finds nothing, closes it* nasa employee: a time loo- uh, we don’t have food in here…we can’t…eat in the control room, only the break-room. astronaut: *sighs* nasa employee:…my lunch is in like 10 minutes, though, and if my lunch is actually STILL THERE and not STOLEN, AGAIN, i can share it with yo- astronaut: nah, that’s ok…no time. *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* or…too much time. but thanks, anyway. OK, bye! *alarm begins blaring* nasa employee: you’re…welcome? wait, a TIME LOOP?!
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: yup. nasa employee: …? astronaut: *sitting down next to nasa employee* so…do you ever like…wonder what the meaning of life is? the secrets of the universe? nasa employee: aren’t you supposed to be ON the MOON?! *alarm begins blaring* nasa employee: hey, what the hell is that? astronaut: that’s the code red override klaxon. moon’s stuck in a time loop. oh, and there’s an explosion imminent. But don’t worry, we can deal with that tomorrow. So, you have any siblings? *pulls beer out of space suit, cracks tab* want a drink?
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: do you know frank in IT? nasa employee: what? astronaut: do you know frank, who works in IT? nasa employee: yeah, but why are you guys back so early? astronaut: moon’s stuck in a time loop. call frank, tell him there’s a virus in the security patch and the system’s compromised. then get the hell out of the base. nasa employee: wait what? what? where are you guys going? astronaut: *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* back to the moon. it’s stuck in a time loop. call frank! nasa employee: *picks up phone* ugh, straight to voicemail. i wonder wha- *alarm begins blaring*
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: *grim silence* nasa employee: i said, you guys are back early…hey, what are you…? astronaut: *randomly opening drawers until they find a pair of scissors and some duct tape, getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop.
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop. *sticks head back out the door of the rocket-ship* by the way, if you go to the break-room in exactly 2 minutes and 45 seconds, you’ll catch the person who’s been stealing your lunches for the past two weeks. nasa employee: what?! WHO IS IT?! *alarm begins blaring* nasa employee: *running for the break-room* FUCK!!!!
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *sits down, sighs, pulls a beer out from their spacesuit* moon’s stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: …ok, and? hang on, how did you get a beer? you can’t have that in here. astronaut: what do you know about project floyd? nasa employee: I mean, the usual amount? i’m not really on the project anymore, why? *alarm begins blaring* astronaut: COME WITH ME TO THE ROCKET-SHIP, we don’t have ti-
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: yeah. moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop. see you tomorrow. maybe. nasa employee: WHAT?!
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *sighs, rubs hands over face, and loads pistol, before getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop. and, uh…you should call your mother like you’ve been meaning to. and tell her you’re not actually mad and that you will come to dinner tonight. you’re gonna be hungry. nasa employee: wait, what? WHAT?? how do you know my mom?! why am i gonna be - *alarm begins blaring*
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *grabbing two pistols, an extra box of ammo, a pair of scissors, some duct tape, a space harpoon, and a booklet of operating instructions that says “AIRLOCK MANUAL OVERRIDE INSTRUCTIONS,” starting to get back on the rocket-ship, but dropping everything with a horrendous clatter* FUCK! goddamn moon’s stuck in a time loop. *alarm begins blaring*
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? also, hey, where’d you get that duffel bag? astronaut: *grabbing two pistols, an extra box of ammo, a pair of scissors, some duct tape, a space harpoon, and a booklet of operating instructions that says “AIRLOCK MANUAL OVERRIDE INSTRUCTIONS,” shoving them into the bag, and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop.
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back earl- astronaut: *grabs nasa employee and kisses them passionately* nasa employee: what? WHAT?! astronaut: *loading a single pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop, sweetheart. nasa employee: what?!? astronaut: a time loop!!! i love you!!! get out of the base!!! stay alive!!! nasa employee: *presses fingers to lips, confused but intrigued, as alarm begins blaring*
nasa employee:…. nasa employee:… nasa employee: ho hum what a regular day at the office *alarm begins blaring* nasa employee: what the hell is that?!
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back earl- astronaut: *grabs nasa employee and kisses them passionately* nasa employee: what? what?! WHAT!?!? also, hey, where’d you get that duffel bag? astronaut: *grabbing two pistols, an extra box of ammo, a pair of scissors, some duct tape, a space harpoon, and a booklet of operating instructions that says “AIRLOCK MANUAL OVERRIDE INSTRUCTIONS,” shoving them into the bag, then cupping nasa employee’s cheek with free hand* moon’s stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: the moon’s stuck in a what?! astronaut: a time loop, sweetheart, but we don’t have much time ourselves, so you have to listen to me RIGHT now nasa employee: *faintly* …“sweetheart”?! astronaut: in 2 minutes and a few seconds, you need to go into the break-room and find frank. nasa employee: wait, frank from IT? astronaut: yes. nasa employee: how do you know he’s gonna be in the break-room? i can’t just call him at his desk right now? astronaut: how do i know this?! because, one, time loop, ok? and…also…because…heismaybetheguywhohasbeenstealingyourlunchfortwoweeks nasa employee: that BASTARD i KNEW it astronaut: BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT’S IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW. hey! listen to me! go in there, catch him red-handed with your burrito, and tell him lunch is on you FOREVER if he goes RIGHT NOW and checks the last security patch - because there’s a virus and the whole system’s compromised. then you need to get the hell out of this base, ok? nasa employee: …ok. ok. and…and what about you? astronaut: *cocking pistol and getting back into rocket-ship with duffel bag* me? i’m gonna shoot for the moon.
EPILOGUE:
nasa employee: so, how many loops in total? astronaut: i mean, it was hard to keep track. somewhere around six months, if i had to guess. nasa employee: damn. astronaut: yeah. nasa employee: and in those six MONTHS, the best zinger you came up with was “shoot for the moon”? astronaut: hey, you know what, i had some other stuff on my mind! nasa employee: i mean, i guess. it sounded like you found time to flirt with me each time. astronaut: yeah, like i said. other stuff on my mind. *they look at each other, blush, and look away* astronaut: sooooooo. you’re sure your mom is cool with me coming over for dinner? nasa employee: can’t make the day any weirder. plus, i owe you for ratting out frank, right? astronaut: he did help us save the world; we can’t be too mad at him. nasa employee: you’ve had a little while to get over it, i might need some more time. and it wasn’t even your food! astronaut: ok, that’s fair. what if i buy you lunch to make up for it? nasa employee: hmm, when? astronaut: tomorrow? nasa employee: well, i’ll have left overs from my mom, and you might too if you play your cards right. day after tomorrow? astronaut: honestly, anytime is good for me.
*FADE TO BLACK*
Day 2 : Again.
Luffy relives the worst day of his life, over and over again.
I wasn't inspired by today's prompts so I chose one of the alternatives: Time Loop. Since I didn't have time to write everything, I'll post loop by loop as I go along, instead of all at once. This story is quite hard to read (and write), so pay attention to the warnings and take care of yourself above all <3 Trigger Warnings: - Graphic Description of Violence - Blood and Injuries - Burns - Major Character Death Fandom : One Piece (Anime & Manga) Character(s) : Monkey D. Luffy Relationship(s) : Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace Words Count : 1,548 No. 2: ALTERNATIVE Time Loop
First Loop
Luffy struggled to retrieve Ace's Vivre Card that was slipping from his fingers. It was in front of him, just inches away, and yet unreachable. He didn't really know why, but he had to retrieve that Vivre Card. It was important, it was a part of Ace. He couldn't lose it. Nothing else mattered. The outside world faded into the background around him — the screams of agony, the smell of blood and smoke, the corpses he was stepping on to escape — leaving only the small burning piece of paper in his field of vision.
(Ace had been burned by Akainu. His big brother, the one who always walked two steps ahead of him, unreachable and strong , the living embodiment of fire, had been burned . Sabo had died in the flames of an explosion. Luffy had forgotten it, but big brothers could burn too.)
Luffy's hand finally closed around Ace's Vivre Card and the panic that clouded his mind subdued. He had succeeded, Ace wouldn't leave him.
He had promised.
“You won't leave here alive!”
Luffy looked up and met Ace's desperate gaze. Why was Ace looking at him like that? He should be happy, Luffy had his Vivre Card back.
“Luffy!”
The flaming fist of Absolute Justice charged at him, invading his field of vision until all he could see was flames — stories whispered by a campfire, the burn of the Grey Terminal fire on his skin, Ace's arm around his shoulders in the middle of winter — and bloody red.
Oh.
Luffy wanted to move, should have moved, but he couldn't. The world was so fast when he was so slow, exhaustion slowing all his movements to the very core of his bones.
(If his crew was there, he could have rested for five minutes before going back into battle, but Luffy was alone .)
Suddenly, without Luffy understanding what was happening — he was so tired — Ace was in front of him, smiling sadly. Luffy's eyes widened in horror as he noticed the fist through Ace's body. The smell of burning flesh hit him in the face and Ace vomited blood, a retch shaking his entire body.
Akainu stepped back, removing his fist from Ace's body carelessly, Ace's guts falling to the ground, bloody and steaming. There was a hole in Ace's torso, where his lungs should have been. The skin around the wound was burned raw, sizzling with blisters and peeling away to the bone. And amidst the mess of ruined and damaged flesh, hidden behind his broken ribs, his brother's still beating heart.
Thud, thud, thud.
Luffy focused on Ace's fading heartbeat, clinging to his brother's last breath of life. Ace wasn't dead yet! Luffy could still save him. Luffy remembered yelling at Akainu who was raising his fist once more to finish Ace off, but he didn't remember Jinbei and Ace's friends intervening.
Everything vanished when Ace fell to his knees in Luffy's arms. Luffy caught him, his hand red, red, red when he looked at it after touching Ace's back. Luffy placed his hand on the wound, trying to stop the endless bleeding. Ace slid into Luffy's arms, his head falling onto his shoulder, and Luffy tightened his grip around Ace, refusing to let him go.
"I'm sorry, Luffy," Ace struggled to say, choking. "I'm so sorry, I stopped you from saving me properly. Forgive me.”
Ace was breathing heavily, just talking, draining him of his meager strength. Blood was dripping down Luffy's shoulder in large drops.
"What are you talking about? Stop talking nonsense!"
Ace wasn't dying, Luffy could still feel his heart beating between his fingers. Ace wasn't dying. He couldn't die. He had promised. He couldn't die.
"Someone!" Luffy begged, screaming until his vocal cords broke, feeling the heat leave Ace's body. “Heal his wounds! Save Ace!”
Luffy didn't like the cold. Cold meant being alone in the night, cold meant an empty place in the treehouse. Cold meant Death.
"Luffy stop," Ace said weakly. "My time has come. He burned me from the inside out, I won't make it this time.”
And Ace was never weak. He was bold and brash and mean at times, a raging fire. Never weak, always strong. Ace was the reason Luffy survived Sabo's death. Because Ace was strong where Luffy wasn't, learning to be kind and caring for Luffy.
Ace was strong .
Luffy wasn't.
“No! You promised”! Luffy refused, understanding what his big brother meant. “You told me Ace, right? You said you wouldn't die!”
Because Ace was strong but he was also stupid. He forgot obvious things sometimes and Luffy had to remind him. Like the fact that Luffy loved him. But if Luffy reminded him of his promise, then maybe Ace wouldn't die.
“You promised,” Luffy stopped himself from sobbing. Ace didn't like whiners.
“You know, if it wasn't for Sabo, if I didn't have a little brother like you to watch over. I wouldn't have wanted to live.” Luffy's heart clenched painfully in his chest. “No one wanted me after all. So it's completely normal.”
Ace clung to Luffy like a lifeline, as if Luffy was the only thing keeping him alive. Luffy was terrified that he wouldn’t be enough to keep Ace alive for a little longer.
“Oh right, if you ever run into Dadan again, could you say goodbye for me?” Ace laughed softly, his laughter cut off by a coughing fit. “It’s strange, now that I’m about to die, I feel like I miss her.”
Ace’s breath was labored, his voice hoarse. And Luffy didn’t dare look — because if he did, he’d have to face his big brother’s dying face — but he was pretty sure Ace was crying, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs.
“I only have one regret, and that’s not seeing your dream come true. But I know you, you’ll get there, that’s for sure.” Ace and Sabo had been among the first to hear his dream, among the first to believe in him. “You're my brother after all.”
Luffy had two brothers. One had been dead for over ten years, the other was dying in his arms. Who was going to believe in his dreams now?
And yet Luffy couldn't do anything. He was frozen, afraid that the slightest movement would make things worse. The only thing he could do was hold his brother in his arms as he died, hoping that Ace would feel all the love Luffy had for him.
Ace was loved. He had to know that, right ?
"As we promised each other back then, I have no regrets about the life I led."
This time, Luffy couldn't help but protest. This wasn't how it was going to end. It couldn't be.
(Ace's heartbeat was getting slower and slower, more and more rare.)
"No, you're lying!"
"No, it's true!" Ace insisted, his fingers digging painfully into Luffy's shoulder with a surprising strength for a dead man. “It seems that what I always wanted in the end wasn't fame or glory. But just the answer to my question. Why did I come into this world? "
Ace had always been haunted by his past, by the past of those who had come before him, that of his parents. But Luffy didn't live in the past, he didn't care who Ace's father was. What mattered was the present, what mattered was that Ace was Luffy 's brother.
Ace was Ace and that was all that mattered. Ace had always been enough.
"Luffy, I want you to listen to what I have to say and tell the others afterwards," Luffy knew at that moment that his brother's words would be his last. He wasn't ready for that. “Even though I've been a good-for-nothing my whole life, even though I carry the blood of a demon.”
The fighting raged around them and yet it had never been interrupted. Ace's family fought to give them one last moment, one last hug.
"Thank you for loving me!"
Crying, Ace formed a smile on his lips for the last time. Ace collapsed in Luffy's arms, his hand falling from Luffy's neck where Ace had clung to during his final moments, leaving a trail of blood along Luffy's cheek.
Ace fell to the ground, alive one moment, dead the next, and Luffy screamed out all his pain and sorrow, inaudible amidst the horrors of war. Ace was dead.
Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.
Ace was dead.
Ace.
Was.
Dead.
Ace was dead.
Years of memories flashed through Luffy's mind in a split second - all ending with the same tragic phrase "thank you for loving me", all ending with Ace's death - shattering his psyche to the last piece.
They were always meant to end up here - Ace, dead and Luffy, helpless - there was nothing Luffy could have done to change things.
“ACE!!!”
In the end, when the darkness reached out to him, Luffy welcomed it willingly. Luffy fell into nothingness, hoping to never come out. Not if it meant living in a world alone.
Click. Again .
Am I the only one who has plans in place for getting stuck in a time loop?
I have a secret phrase only I know that I would tell someone if they're stuck in a time loop so that next loop they could prove to me that they're in a time loop. I could also use it to authenticate a message from my future self.
Too much focus on the person stuck in a time loop who knows they're stuck. What about the people who don't know that they're stuck? The woman living over and over the day her son dies. The man who jumps off the brooklyn bridge every afternoon, never knowing that it won't matter. His life won't end. The protagonist eats something different every morning at their favorite restaurant. They quit their terrible job in increasingly comedic, outrageous fashions. They find themselves. They become a better person. They are free in the sense that they know they are stuck in the day they are in, which coincidentally has perfect weather. Meanwhile, their neighbor is having the worst day of their life, and will continue to have the worst day of their life, desperately thinking--hoping-- "Tomorrow will be better," never knowing that it won't.
when two people fall in love while they’re trapped in a timeloop together and they can’t wake up next to each other every day but they fall asleep in each other’s arms every night <3 makes me want to lie on the floor and SCREAM so good breaks my heart every time
Winter Whumperland Day 5: Ebenezer Scrooge (Time Loop)
Fandom: Star Wars The Bad Batch
Warnings: Multiple character deaths as well as suicide.
Summary: After being killed by the empire, Tech finds himself stuck in a time loop.
It had been six months after the end of the war. Tech had been with his family when the empire came to Ord Mantell.
Sitting at Cid's bar, clone troopers in gray and white armor entered. Then Crosshair had. His armor was no longer its familiar red and black.
Wrecker was the one to go down first. He pulled his gun, ready to shoot. Then he was gone. Omega leaned in closer to Tech who grabbed her unconsciously.
Echo was next. Then Hunter. Everything happened too fast. Before Tech could react he was on the floor, trying to protect Omega. Then she was gone. He had been shot in the side.
Tech looked up at
But when he opened his eyes it was morning again. He listened to the sound of Wrecker laughing and Echo telling him "don't do that! Hunter and Tech are still asleep."
That wasn't possible. They had just died didn't they? Was it all just a twisted nightmare.
What Tech knew for sure was that he needed to get up. It had all felt so real. But that was impossible. Or at least that's what Tech thought.
As the family went though their day, the clone slowly got more and more nervous. He wasn't able to shake the feeling of the nightmare. No matter what he did, even when the day seemed to be over, Tech couldn't calm down.
That was until it happened again. The clone reacted differently this time. As soon as the door opened and he heard the footsteps, he told them they needed to go. They needed to leave.
But it was too late. This time Tech had grabbed Omega sooner. He tried to get her behind the bar. As Wrecker was killed, Tech pushed Omega behind him. If anything he wouldn't let her die.
Hunter tried to move to Echo's side. He ordered Tech to take Omega and get her out of the bar.
"I'm trying" Tech shot back.
Echo shot a few of the troopers down before he was killed. As his body fell, Hunter instinctively tried to catch him. He didn't even know why he tried to. He knew he was gone.
For a moment time seemed too slow for them. Hunter sat on the ground, stunned. Then they shot him.
Tech had gotten Omega out the back door. He looked down at his comm to see what time it was. It seemed so insignificant, yet like something he should do. 2100 hours.
As the two turned the corner, Crosshair was waiting for them. Tech grabbed Omega and tried to get her out of the line of fire. Once more his efforts were in vain.
She hadn't been killed immediately. This time, Tech couldn't do anything but watch as she died. He held herz trying to figure out what to do. Crosshair had paused his attack, realizing the girl was still alive.
What was maybe thirty seconds felt like hours. Tech has never been good with the dieing. But he held her. He looked at Crosshair when she had stopped breathing and went to stand. A bullet met his skull.
Then he woke up. He didn't understand what was happening or why it was happening to him. Wrecker was laughing again.
"Don't do that! Hunter and Tech are still asleep." He heard Echo say.
It was morning again.
Tech remembered the time that the attack happened. Unnerved, he went to find Omega. When he found her he just pulled her into a hug. He only held her for a moment but she was still confused.
"Are you feeling okay Tech?" Echo asked.
"Yes" Tech answered quickly. He then walked back to his bed. What did he do about this? The day seemed to be repeated. Every time he died, the day started over. He walked back to the others.
"How about we, go somewhere" Tech proposed.
"And where should we go Tech?" Hunter asked.
"Somewhere."
"Are you sure you're okay? You're acting kinda funny?" Wrecker stood to walk over to him.
"Yes I am."
"We could explore more of Ord Mantell?" Omega said excitedly.
"No!" Tech said loudly. "How about the, near by moon?"
The others looked at each other. "how about we do that tomorrow?" Echo said.
"No. We should go now."
"How about we go see if Cid needs something?" Hunter suggested.
"Fine" Tech answered. Then the group left the Marauder. Cid told them to run a few on world errands for her and despite Tech's protests, they did.
2100 hours came around quickly. For an hour before that, Tech has been trying to get them to leave the bar. But Wrecker was having fun talking to someone, Echo and Hunter were throwing darts, and Omega had been talking to Cid until a few minutes ago.
When Tech hears the footsteps, he pulled his gun, ready. As soon as he could confirm it was the empire, he started shooting. It helped this time.
They got to Cids office before they started to die. Tech couldn't remember what happened when he woke up.
"Don't do that! Hunter and Tech are still asleep." Echo sounded annoyed as he tried to get Wrecker to stop whatever he had been doing.
Over and over Tech tried to stop them from dying. Over and over he failed them. It felt like fighting a fire with matches. As he grew tired he tried to find different ways to deal with the attacks. He tried almost every angle he could to get them off Ord Mantell. No matter what they seemed to stay.
It had been so long. Why had he been chosen for this? What even could cause such a time loop and why were they so important? It had to be something like the will of the force but why were they the ones to live?
"Don't do that! Hunter and Tech are still asleep."
Tech didn't get up this time. He had tried and tried and tried. After a few hours of trying to come up with a plan, he walked out to the others. He tried to get them to listen to him. He tried to get them off world. But they were still at the damn bar by 2100 hours.
Before the others knew it, they were going out the back door. The fight was taken to the streets. One by one, they fell. First Wrecker, then Echo, then Hunter, then Omega. It was just him and Crosshair.
Diving behind some building Tech, with shacking hands pulled his gun to his head. Every memory of every attempt flooded his head. Before Crosshair got the chance to take him out once more, he shot.
He woke up on the Marauder as he knew he would. He fell asleep for a while.
Hours after he was supposed to wake up, he walked to the cockpit. He made sure everyone was in the ship before simply taking off. He didn't care when they asked where he was taking them.
When Cid commed the group to warn them to not go back to Ord Mantell, the batch asked Tech how he had known and asked why he didn't just tell them. Tech shook. Even though he wanted to explain, it all sounded too crazy.
Instead he walked back to his bed and laid down. He tossed his gun to the other side of the room, trying to find the strength to not circum to the memories of something that no longer existed.
The batch watched him carefully for a while. Slowly Tech tried to recover. He felt like he had.
Now he was hanging off of a rail car. As he realized what he had to do, Tech thought of the cruel irony of the situation. He had saved them so many times by dying. It was time to do it again.
But something told him he wouldn't be waking up again. This was it. Tech had saved them all so many times just to die one final time.
As he shot the only part of the car that held the other on to the rail, he sighed. Maybe he would just get to rest this time.
Febuwhump Day 11: Time Loop
Fandom: The Bad Batch
Summary: Hunter keeps reliving the day Tech died and Omega was taken, desperately trying to stop it from happening.
Walking up was something Hunter didn't want to do. When he awoke he would have to face the fact that Tech was dead and Omega was gone. He grabbed his blanket and pulled it closer to him. Hoping that Echo and Wrecker wouldn't notice, he pulled the thin blanket to his face and dried his tears. He didn't have the time to cry or to lie still.
Getting up, Hunter looked around. Echo must have cleaned up. He swung his legs over the end of his bunk and stood up. Echo's bed had been made and so had Wrecker's, even though he never made it. Tech's bed had also been made. Resting a hand on the medal of his bunk, Hi ter thought that Echo must have made his as well.
Then he heard it, Tech talking to Echo. Hunter stepped back. That wasn't possible. Had it all been a dream? The pain felt so real.
Omega walked up to Hunter. "You looked tired so we got you go lay down. How are you feeling?" He didn't say anything. Instead he picked
But things started to fall into place for those hellish days to happen. When Hunter realized they were going to Eriadu his heart sank. But that couldn't be right. That horrible day had been a dream, right?
A few hours later Tech was hanging off the side of the rail car. "When have we ever followed orders?" He had sighed before shooting the only piece of metal that connected the cars.
This time, instead of silents, Hunter called out for him. Almost immediately afterwards, he grabbed a hold of Omega, pulling her close to try to protect her.
But they still ended up on Ord Mantell. Hunter was the one who required AZ to heal him. He was unconscious, making him unable to tell them about Cid's betrayal. It felt he was defenseless this time. As she was taken away, he still tried to follow her. It didn't matter, she was still gone.
Then he woke up. Again.
This time he would do it right. That's what Hunter had told himself at least. Trying to find a way to convince Saw Gerrera and his extremist to stop their attack, to wait just long enough for them to leave. But that didn't work.
"Tech, we will find another way!" Hunter yelled as he claimed to the top of the rail car.
"There is no other way, Hunter." Tech continued to follow what seemed to be his destiny.
"When have we ever followed orders?" Again he shot the metal that connected the two cars. Again Hunter grabbed Omega. He moved to a different place in the car.
Then he woke up on the Marauder. "Hunter, how are you feeling?" Echo asked.
"I'm fine. Where's-" Hunter tried to sit up but couldn't. It hurt too much to move. "Where's Omega?"
Wrecker walked into the room. He looked worried.
"Hemlock has her." The man said.
Then he woke up. Hunter didn't move. Maybe if he didn't move, nothing would happen.
This time, Hunter killed Gerrera. Tech was stunned by his action but didn't say a word about it. However, the explosives still went off. Tech still went to the top of the rail car and he still called plan 99.
"When have we ever followed orders?" Hunter mouthed along with the words. He knew them all too well. It had been three times he had gone through this after all.
There had to be a way to stop this. Why else would he be stuck in a time lop like this? Was this a punishment for something he had done, for not saving them?
Shoving Omega to Wrecker, Hunter turned around. As the rail car hit the wall, Hunter fell unconscious. Unlike every other time, he woke back up on the Marauder at the beginning of the day.
"Oh" he whispered as he sat up. The man hadn't survived the crash. Hunter looked around. First he went to find the others. Grabbing Omega, he ok pulled her into a hug.
"Hey Hunter!" She said, excited for the random hug. It didn't happen often. "Are you okay?" Her joy faded in to concern.
"I'm okay." The man put down his daughter. "We'll be okay" he whispered.
"I know. I trust you."
Tears threatened to fall from his eyes. Hunter just smiled, "thank you." The girl didn't know know what he did. Hopefully she would never know that he knew.
It didn't matter what happened, nothing changed. "There is no time Wrecker" Not again. "Plan 99." Hunter started to tear up. He couldn't do this. The conversation was engraved in the clones head.
"Don't you do it Tech" Wrecker yelled. Hunter felt his mouth move to say something more.
"When have we ever followed orders?"
The rail car fell and Omega pulled in Hunter's arms, "go back, go back!"
The car crashed and Hunter grabbed Omega quickly. They still had to go to Ord Mantell, that stayed the same. Then she was fine, again.
Days went by, at least to Hunter. Over and over he watched as Tech sacrificed himself for his family. Then he would watch as Omega was taken from them. He was done.
"Wrecker, stay here." This was new. This was a plan he hadn't tried yet.
"What?! Why?" Wrecker droned.
"In case we need a pickup."
"Why me?" He winded
"You are the most likely to get us caught." Tech said as he walked.
"Okay." Sulking, Wrecker walked back in the ship.
As the mission went forward, Hunter grew nauseous. What if this didn't work? He would just have to find out.
When they boarded the rail car, everything seemed to be going as it had before. But this time, Hunter had already contacted their get-away driver.
There he was. Tech had gone to restore power to the rail car. Like every other time, he hung from the bottom of the car. "Echo, get Omega on the Marauder!" Hunter demanded.
Wrecker kept the ship steady as the two made their way on board. Hunter had his gun ready. With the two left in the car, Echo ran to man the guns. He started shooting down the empire's air support.
As the rail car creaked closer to falling, Hunter jumped on board. The car began to fall, Tech still dangling from below. The Sargent grabbed his gun and shot his brother with his safety line. He didn't expect the scream that would come from the end of the line clamping onto his brother's left arm and shoulder.
Pulling him up seemed to hurt more. Tech's shoulder was bleeding. It looked painful, the way the clamp dug into his skin. But either way, he was alive. That's all that mattered now.
Calling for one of his brothers, Hunter pulled Tech aboard. "You're gonna be okay Tech. We've got you."
"Thank you" Tech said shakily. "I- I can't move my arm right now."
"I know. We'll get you taken care of."
"We'll head to Ord Mantell for AZ. He can-" Omega started.
"No" Hunter interrupted. "There are doctors on Pabu. Someone there can help him. I-" he sighed, "don't trust Cid."
"We can't just leave Az" the girl protested.
"We won't. But right now we just need to take care of Tech. We can't do that if something happens on Ord Mantell." Omega looks like she wanted to say more but walked away to get Tech's bunk ready.
While Tech's recovery would be difficult, it was better than him becoming a memory. Maybe that was a little selfish. Maybe his arm wouldn't heal but he was alive. That was enough
After twelve attempts, everyone was alive. Tech was in a large amount of pain but he wasn't alone and dead at the bottom of the ravine. Omega may be mad at him but she wasn't taken by the empire. Hunter could fix that when he later sent Phee to pay their debts and to return Az.
It was over. The painful two weeks were over.
Febuwhump Master List!!
So I am so very late but oh well right? Anyway it was a lot of fun and I definitely look forward to next year! Febuwhump is one of my favorite Promt challenges!
Each fandom has a color which will be listed below! My favorites have a star beside them! All summaries/warnings are with the story!
Star Wars Rebels, EPIC the musical/the Odyssey, The Bad Batch, Star Wars The Clone Wars, Miraculous Ladybug,
Day 1: Helpless
Day 2: "I Love You" (Alt Prompt 2)
Day 3: "Bite Down on This"
Day 4: Obedience
Day 5: Last Words (Alt Prompt 7)
Day 6: "You Lied to Me."
Day 7: Suffering in Silence
Day 8: "Why Won't it Stop?"
Day 9: Bees
Day 10: Killing in Self Defense
Day 11: Time Loop
In the vein of things that I want to write, don't have time to write right now, and don't want to forget either: timeloop Cody AU.
Cody makes it two weeks into his deployment before he's killed. It's not his fault, wrong place, wrong time. He wakes up on Kamino the morning Alpha Seventeen introduces him to his new general. He figures it's a weird dream, he knows he's been assigned to Kenobi and he looked him up. Two weeks in he feels the oddest sense of deja vu and takes a few steps to the left and narrowly avoids being skewered by a piece of an exploding LAAT/i. This time he makes it three months before he is killed and he wakes up on Kamino the morning he is due to meet Kenobi. And it keeps on happening. Cody dies and he wakes up at the start again. He tries to tell people, Seventeen doesn't listen, Kenobi finds it fascinating but doesn't have the time to look into it, General Yoda is concerned, but every time someone overhears and he ends up sent to decommissioning even over his general’s protests. So he keeps quiet, remembers as much as he can and saves as many brothers as he can. He can't save them all, sometimes saving one is what gets him killed and he could have gone for all eternity without knowing what getting eaten by a Rishi eel or being blown to pieces feels like. He does his best. He makes it to Utapau and Order 66 happens. It gets hazy after that, but when he surfaces from the influence of the chip he takes the only path out he can think of and wakes up on Kamino. Now it isn't just about making it to the end. It's about stopping himself from killing his Jedi, who he grows closer and closer to with every loop. It's about preventing genocide at the hands his people, only for them to be wiped out in return. He reaches Utapau without finding the answer too many times, ending things before he can take that unforgivable step. Then he hears about Fives and Tup, and Kix disappearing after Echo is recovered from the Techno Union. The next loop he gets to Fives first, gets all the information, and sends himself back to the beginning on Kamino so that can investigate and get the chips out of as many brothers as possible before the end in the hope that he can succeed and the Jedi and the clones.
Obviously, there are going to be massive Codywan vibes all through. I am incapable of not putting Codywan vibes into things at this point. It will involve Cody ferreting out all the little horrors and secrets, especially a couple of Anakin related ones, and the fallout of passing those on at the wrong time. We would have Obi-Wan catching weird Force vibes from Cody and Anakin getting more and more suspicious of the vibes and the feelings each loop. Obviously, eventually, things would be fixed, but only after many loops and shenanigans.
I just don't have the time to write it right now, but I also don't want it to languish forgotten. Maybe I'll come back to it, maybe I won't. But here it is.
In my time loop era where Fox is stuck in a time loop however the catch is that the world ends right before it restarts; so he has no desire to leave it because it’s his only way to stay with his batchmates forever
what do u think ritsu would do if he got stuck in a time loop
oh he would go insane. like, immediately. you know how in a lot of time loop stories, there's a point where the character kind of loses it? it would take no time for ritsu to reach that point. like as soon as he realizes he's trapped, he will Freak The Fuck Out. he'll either throw himself really intensely into trying to figure out how to end the time loop, or he'll go completely off the deep end and start blowing shit up because it'll all be reset by the next day. potentially both.
of course, this is all presuming he's alone in the time loop. I think if he had someone else trapped in the time loop with him, he'd be less likely to lose his mind and instead would work really hard with them to break it. but if he's by himself in the time loop, he would not cope well
Arthur is stuck in a time loop.
At first, he doesn't really notice it, since every day feels the same anyway. It's Merlin's good morning that irks him, however, because Merlin tends to switch up the routine a lot. When then the topic of the court meeting is the same, Arthur knows what's up.
In loop three, he asks Gaius for help and the man explains that only a powerful sorcerer could do such a thing and that he'd need strong magic to break it.
The next morning, everything is forgotten. And Arthur researches on his own what's happening. He spends days at the library until one day, he's just really tired.
And so, he stays in bed for a couple days, and lets Merlin complain for hours. It's soozing in an odd way. As days go by, Arthur gets bolder. He approaches Merlin in broad sunlight, hands him food or flowers in front of people and receiving odd stares.
Arthur waits for Merlin's reactions and they seem rather hesitant if also positive. Yet, when Arthur finally gathers up the courage to confess, Merlin rejects him.
Arthur spends another few loops in bed, while Merlin no longer carries any memories of the incident. Arthur then asks Gaius dejectedly who the most powerful sorcerer is he knows.
And Gaius says Emrys and tells him the man lives in the woods, a two day march from Camelot. Arthur loses hope. One loop equals a day. He'd never make it. That is IF the man is even there.
On loop xy, Arthur asks Gaius again, during a different time of day, where Emrys lives. And Gaius answers: about half a day ride north, Sire.
Arthur is confused. That doesn't make sense. Why would Gaius say something different than last time? Gaius was clearly part of the loop! Unless he's lying. And each time he lied he just said the first thing that came to mind.
Arthur stops avoiding Merlin at one point and accepts that Merlin won't respond to his feelings. So, he approaches him and tries to discuss magic issues with him. While Merlin warns him of magic like read from a script, Arthur argues positive aspects. Because he's trying to talk himself into turning to magic to maybe manage to save himself if he trained himself in the arts. Even if it takes years of the timeloop.
Unprompted, Merlin hugs him tight and looks at him with so much affection that Arthur is sure Merlin likes him.
Needless to day, Arthur is more than confused. And Arthur notices another thing. Both Merlin and Gaius react differently to him, depending on how he talks. If he's positive about magic, they are eager to help. Merlin looks most carefree then. And almost like he wants to ... Well, what exactly?
One loop, Arthur tests the theorie: Merlin, I'm going to lift the magic ban.
Merlin stops in his tracks and stares at Arthur. Arthur repeats himself, nervous of the response. Almost more nervous than he was when he got rejected.
Arthur: merlin?
Merlin: why
Arthur: because magic isn't as evil as my father had me believe.
Merlin: is this a trick?
Arthur: a trick? No. I just understand now that sometimes magic is needed. And I need magic right now. *Explains situation*
Merlin: ... arthur, i don't know how many timeloops you've been through
Arthur: you believe me? Uhhhh... 200, probably
Merlin: ... I can help you
Arthur: how?
Merlin: because I'm emrys
AOT THEORY 139
AOT THEORY/RANT ‼️ DO NOT READ IF YOU’RE NOT A MANGA READER // 138 SPOILERS
ok so im like 90% sure that Eren has been going through a time loop and that dream or alternative reality or whatever with Mikasa was just one of the many or multiple times he’s lived that reality. When he closed his eyes and Mikasa said “see you later Eren” he then wakes up under the tree bc the time loop isn’t allowing him to live that peaceful reality and he also sends those memories of that alternative reality to the Eren of the past.
So in other words he MUST go through with the rumbling in order for the time loop to stop. When he asked Mikasa what he meant to her and she said “family” , that was his sign that the time loop was broken and the only way to move forward was to continue with the rumbling. Had she answered any different and they would’ve lived in the cottage with him dying and waking up under the tree once again.
In the right panel along with the top left, we see Mikasa with the shortest her hair has been, which is why when Eren wakes up he questions her hair length.
I think 139 will be Eren finally admitting everything to us (the readers) on how he’s lived through the time loop many many times, trying to find a different loop hole with each and every time it ending up with him waking up under the tree. Thus meaning the ONLY way to break the time loop has always been to continue with the rumbling aka the only way to move forward.
To add to this, Kruger himself says “save Mikasa, Armin, and everyone else” never does he mention saving Eren. Eren can’t be selfish because every time he is, the time loop just starts over again. So by continuing with the rumbling Eren enters a timeline that’s never occurred meaning it’s a new beginning BUT he has to die in the end in order for the time loop to stop.
Ymir will most likely revert all the eldians into humans and remove their ability to become titans thus making them “normal’ beings with the world starting anew, absolutely FREE.
Historia’s child will be the first Eldian to be born “free” of the curse, war, bloodshed, etc. Maybe Eren is her baby daddy (honestly I dont care bc im not a shipper for either EH or EM or anyone for that fact) but ive been thinking that Historia’s going to be dead from childbirth or something (this is just a random long shot btw) and that MAYBE it’s Mikasa holding the baby in the final panel saying “you are free” which is bittersweet because it’s all Eren’s ever wanted but will never get to experience. I'm only saying it could possibly be Mikasa because of her short hair.
And so the whole point of AOT has always been TO BREAK THE TIME LOOP.
I know a lot of people fear of the last chapter ending with him waking up but 138 is that. It’s showing us that he’s been waking up under that tree for who knows how long but we’re now watching for the first time is the time loop being broken.
Now like I said I’m not even 100% confident and im sure there’s even better theories than this with better explanations but idk man the time loop is definitely the most plausible theory I think especially if there’s only one chapter left.
Also something that stuck out to me that doesn’t really add to this rant but more of the time loop is when Zeke says ...
“I guess I wouldn’t mind being born once again after all.”
when I read 137 that was the line that had me ?????? and I felt like no one was talking about it 😭 (on twitter at least). idk if this means he really will be reborn as historia’s baby or??? hopefully yams ties this in 139.
Who knows maybe Eren’s body is in Paradis and he really will let everyone die, and it'll ultimately be him holding that baby in the end. or isayama can do a complete mind fuck to us and have it be grisha holding a baby Eren and restart the time loop. IDK IDK IDK but im literally this meme
I feel like I could add more to this to make my theory stronger but I legit just needed to rant and get this out my system bc I felt myself going crazy. ANON OR MESSAGE ME ur thoughts and theories, I need someone to discuss all of this with.
i'm keeping you in the time loop. it's the only way i know how to keep you safe. trapping you here, in the last day that you're alive, ignorant of what's to come as the sun sets. i dread each minute, a countdown to the end, but live in relief as all the blood washes away, all the would-be scars fade, and the tears dry before they have a chance to fall. but the memory of you dying in my arms remains, and so i'm keeping you in the time loop
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop.
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *loading a pistol* moon’s stuck in a time loop. do you have extra ammo? this won’t be enough. nasa employee: enough for…what? astronaut: *finding extra clip of ammo, pocketing it, and getting back on the rocket-ship* don’t worry about it!
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *emerging from supply closet with a space harpoon, getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop.
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: what? nasa employee: how did you know what i was going to say? astronaut: *punching in key pad code for base evacuation signal, getting back on the rocket-ship* i told you…moon’s stuck in a time loop. *red warning lights begin flashing*
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *rifling thru bookshelf of operating instructions, selecting one that says “AIRLOCK MANUAL OVERRIDE INSTRUCTIONS,” getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop.
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: moon’s stuck in a time loop. hey, do you have anything to eat? i’m starving. *opens random drawer, finds nothing, closes it* nasa employee: a time loo- uh, we don’t have food in here…we can’t…eat in the control room, only the break-room. astronaut: *sighs* nasa employee:…my lunch is in like 10 minutes, though, and if my lunch is actually STILL THERE and not STOLEN, AGAIN, i can share it with yo- astronaut: nah, that’s ok…no time. *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* or…too much time. but thanks, anyway. OK, bye! *alarm begins blaring* nasa employee: you’re…welcome? wait, a TIME LOOP?!
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: yup. nasa employee: …? astronaut: *sitting down next to nasa employee* so…do you ever like…wonder what the meaning of life is? the secrets of the universe? nasa employee: aren’t you supposed to be ON the MOON?! *alarm begins blaring* nasa employee: hey, what the hell is that? astronaut: that’s the code red override klaxon. moon’s stuck in a time loop. oh, and there’s an explosion imminent. But don’t worry, we can deal with that tomorrow. So, you have any siblings? *pulls beer out of space suit, cracks tab* want a drink?
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: do you know frank in IT? nasa employee: what? astronaut: do you know frank, who works in IT? nasa employee: yeah, but why are you guys back so early? astronaut: moon’s stuck in a time loop. call frank, tell him there’s a virus in the security patch and the system’s compromised. then get the hell out of the base. nasa employee: wait what? what? where are you guys going? astronaut: *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* back to the moon. it’s stuck in a time loop. call frank! nasa employee: *picks up phone* ugh, straight to voicemail. i wonder wha- *alarm begins blaring*
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: *grim silence* nasa employee: i said, you guys are back early…hey, what are you…? astronaut: *randomly opening drawers until they find a pair of scissors and some duct tape, getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop.
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop. *sticks head back out the door of the rocket-ship* by the way, if you go to the break-room in exactly 2 minutes and 45 seconds, you’ll catch the person who’s been stealing your lunches for the past two weeks. nasa employee: what?! WHO IS IT?! *alarm begins blaring* nasa employee: *running for the break-room* FUCK!!!!
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *sits down, sighs, pulls a beer out from their spacesuit* moon’s stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: …ok, and? hang on, how did you get a beer? you can’t have that in here. astronaut: what do you know about project floyd? nasa employee: I mean, the usual amount? i’m not really on the project anymore, why? *alarm begins blaring* astronaut: COME WITH ME TO THE ROCKET-SHIP, we don’t have ti-
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: yeah. moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop. see you tomorrow. maybe. nasa employee: WHAT?!
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *sighs, rubs hands over face, and loads pistol, before getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop. and, uh…you should call your mother like you’ve been meaning to. and tell her you’re not actually mad and that you will come to dinner tonight. you’re gonna be hungry. nasa employee: wait, what? WHAT?? how do you know my mom?! why am i gonna be - *alarm begins blaring*
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *grabbing two pistols, an extra box of ammo, a pair of scissors, some duct tape, a space harpoon, and a booklet of operating instructions that says “AIRLOCK MANUAL OVERRIDE INSTRUCTIONS,” starting to get back on the rocket-ship, but dropping everything with a horrendous clatter* FUCK! goddamn moon’s stuck in a time loop. *alarm begins blaring*
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? also, hey, where’d you get that duffel bag? astronaut: *grabbing two pistols, an extra box of ammo, a pair of scissors, some duct tape, a space harpoon, and a booklet of operating instructions that says “AIRLOCK MANUAL OVERRIDE INSTRUCTIONS,” shoving them into the bag, and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop.
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back earl- astronaut: *grabs nasa employee and kisses them passionately* nasa employee: what? WHAT?! astronaut: *loading a single pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop, sweetheart. nasa employee: what?!? astronaut: a time loop!!! i love you!!! get out of the base!!! stay alive!!! nasa employee: *presses fingers to lips, confused but intrigued, as alarm begins blaring*
nasa employee:…. nasa employee:… nasa employee: ho hum what a regular day at the office *alarm begins blaring* nasa employee: what the hell is that?!
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back earl- astronaut: *grabs nasa employee and kisses them passionately* nasa employee: what? what?! WHAT!?!? also, hey, where’d you get that duffel bag? astronaut: *grabbing two pistols, an extra box of ammo, a pair of scissors, some duct tape, a space harpoon, and a booklet of operating instructions that says “AIRLOCK MANUAL OVERRIDE INSTRUCTIONS,” shoving them into the bag, then cupping nasa employee’s cheek with free hand* moon’s stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: the moon’s stuck in a what?! astronaut: a time loop, sweetheart, but we don’t have much time ourselves, so you have to listen to me RIGHT now nasa employee: *faintly* …“sweetheart”?! astronaut: in 2 minutes and a few seconds, you need to go into the break-room and find frank. nasa employee: wait, frank from IT? astronaut: yes. nasa employee: how do you know he’s gonna be in the break-room? i can’t just call him at his desk right now? astronaut: how do i know this?! because, one, time loop, ok? and…also…because…heismaybetheguywhohasbeenstealingyourlunchfortwoweeks nasa employee: that BASTARD i KNEW it astronaut: BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT’S IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW. hey! listen to me! go in there, catch him red-handed with your burrito, and tell him lunch is on you FOREVER if he goes RIGHT NOW and checks the last security patch - because there’s a virus and the whole system’s compromised. then you need to get the hell out of this base, ok? nasa employee: …ok. ok. and…and what about you? astronaut: *cocking pistol and getting back into rocket-ship with duffel bag* me? i’m gonna shoot for the moon.
EPILOGUE:
nasa employee: so, how many loops in total? astronaut: i mean, it was hard to keep track. somewhere around six months, if i had to guess. nasa employee: damn. astronaut: yeah. nasa employee: and in those six MONTHS, the best zinger you came up with was “shoot for the moon”? astronaut: hey, you know what, i had some other stuff on my mind! nasa employee: i mean, i guess. it sounded like you found time to flirt with me each time. astronaut: yeah, like i said. other stuff on my mind. *they look at each other, blush, and look away* astronaut: sooooooo. you’re sure your mom is cool with me coming over for dinner? nasa employee: can’t make the day any weirder. plus, i owe you for ratting out frank, right? astronaut: he did help us save the world; we can’t be too mad at him. nasa employee: you’ve had a little while to get over it, i might need some more time. and it wasn’t even your food! astronaut: ok, that’s fair. what if i buy you lunch to make up for it? nasa employee: hmm, when? astronaut: tomorrow? nasa employee: well, i’ll have left overs from my mom, and you might too if you play your cards right. day after tomorrow? astronaut: honestly, anytime is good for me.
*FADE TO BLACK*
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop.
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *loading a pistol* moon’s stuck in a time loop. do you have extra ammo? this won’t be enough. nasa employee: enough for…what? astronaut: *finding extra clip of ammo, pocketing it, and getting back on the rocket-ship* don’t worry about it!
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *emerging from supply closet with a space harpoon, getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop.
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: what? nasa employee: how did you know what i was going to say? astronaut: *punching in key pad code for base evacuation signal, getting back on the rocket-ship* i told you…moon’s stuck in a time loop. *red warning lights begin flashing*
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *rifling thru bookshelf of operating instructions, selecting one that says “AIRLOCK MANUAL OVERRIDE INSTRUCTIONS,” getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop.
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: moon’s stuck in a time loop. hey, do you have anything to eat? i’m starving. *opens random drawer, finds nothing, closes it* nasa employee: a time loo- uh, we don’t have food in here…we can’t…eat in the control room, only the break-room. astronaut: *sighs* nasa employee:…my lunch is in like 10 minutes, though, and if my lunch is actually STILL THERE and not STOLEN, AGAIN, i can share it with yo- astronaut: nah, that’s ok…no time. *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* or…too much time. but thanks, anyway. OK, bye! *alarm begins blaring* nasa employee: you’re…welcome? wait, a TIME LOOP?!
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: yup. nasa employee: …? astronaut: *sitting down next to nasa employee* so…do you ever like…wonder what the meaning of life is? the secrets of the universe? nasa employee: aren’t you supposed to be ON the MOON?! *alarm begins blaring* nasa employee: hey, what the hell is that? astronaut: that’s the code red override klaxon. moon’s stuck in a time loop. oh, and there’s an explosion imminent. But don’t worry, we can deal with that tomorrow. So, you have any siblings? *pulls beer out of space suit, cracks tab* want a drink?
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: do you know frank in IT? nasa employee: what? astronaut: do you know frank, who works in IT? nasa employee: yeah, but why are you guys back so early? astronaut: moon’s stuck in a time loop. call frank, tell him there’s a virus in the security patch and the system’s compromised. then get the hell out of the base. nasa employee: wait what? what? where are you guys going? astronaut: *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* back to the moon. it’s stuck in a time loop. call frank! nasa employee: *picks up phone* ugh, straight to voicemail. i wonder wha- *alarm begins blaring*
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: *grim silence* nasa employee: i said, you guys are back early…hey, what are you…? astronaut: *randomly opening drawers until they find a pair of scissors and some duct tape, getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop.
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop. *sticks head back out the door of the rocket-ship* by the way, if you go to the break-room in exactly 2 minutes and 45 seconds, you’ll catch the person who’s been stealing your lunches for the past two weeks. nasa employee: what?! WHO IS IT?! *alarm begins blaring* nasa employee: *running for the break-room* FUCK!!!!
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *sits down, sighs, pulls a beer out from their spacesuit* moon’s stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: …ok, and? hang on, how did you get a beer? you can’t have that in here. astronaut: what do you know about project floyd? nasa employee: I mean, the usual amount? i’m not really on the project anymore, why? *alarm begins blaring* astronaut: COME WITH ME TO THE ROCKET-SHIP, we don’t have ti-
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: yeah. moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop. see you tomorrow. maybe. nasa employee: WHAT?!
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *sighs, rubs hands over face, and loads pistol, before getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop. and, uh…you should call your mother like you’ve been meaning to. and tell her you’re not actually mad and that you will come to dinner tonight. you’re gonna be hungry. nasa employee: wait, what? WHAT?? how do you know my mom?! why am i gonna be - *alarm begins blaring*
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? astronaut: *grabbing two pistols, an extra box of ammo, a pair of scissors, some duct tape, a space harpoon, and a booklet of operating instructions that says “AIRLOCK MANUAL OVERRIDE INSTRUCTIONS,” starting to get back on the rocket-ship, but dropping everything with a horrendous clatter* FUCK! goddamn moon’s stuck in a time loop. *alarm begins blaring*
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early astronaut: moon's stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: what? also, hey, where’d you get that duffel bag? astronaut: *grabbing two pistols, an extra box of ammo, a pair of scissors, some duct tape, a space harpoon, and a booklet of operating instructions that says “AIRLOCK MANUAL OVERRIDE INSTRUCTIONS,” shoving them into the bag, and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop.
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back earl- astronaut: *grabs nasa employee and kisses them passionately* nasa employee: what? WHAT?! astronaut: *loading a single pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon’s stuck in a time loop, sweetheart. nasa employee: what?!? astronaut: a time loop!!! i love you!!! get out of the base!!! stay alive!!! nasa employee: *presses fingers to lips, confused but intrigued, as alarm begins blaring*
nasa employee:…. nasa employee:… nasa employee: ho hum what a regular day at the office *alarm begins blaring* nasa employee: what the hell is that?!
nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back earl- astronaut: *grabs nasa employee and kisses them passionately* nasa employee: what? what?! WHAT!?!? also, hey, where’d you get that duffel bag? astronaut: *grabbing two pistols, an extra box of ammo, a pair of scissors, some duct tape, a space harpoon, and a booklet of operating instructions that says “AIRLOCK MANUAL OVERRIDE INSTRUCTIONS,” shoving them into the bag, then cupping nasa employee’s cheek with free hand* moon’s stuck in a time loop. nasa employee: the moon’s stuck in a what?! astronaut: a time loop, sweetheart, but we don’t have much time ourselves, so you have to listen to me RIGHT now nasa employee: *faintly* …“sweetheart”?! astronaut: in 2 minutes and a few seconds, you need to go into the break-room and find frank. nasa employee: wait, frank from IT? astronaut: yes. nasa employee: how do you know he’s gonna be in the break-room? i can’t just call him at his desk right now? astronaut: how do i know this?! because, one, time loop, ok? and…also…because…heismaybetheguywhohasbeenstealingyourlunchfortwoweeks nasa employee: that BASTARD i KNEW it astronaut: BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT’S IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW. hey! listen to me! go in there, catch him red-handed with your burrito, and tell him lunch is on you FOREVER if he goes RIGHT NOW and checks the last security patch - because there’s a virus and the whole system’s compromised. then you need to get the hell out of this base, ok? nasa employee: …ok. ok. and…and what about you? astronaut: *cocking pistol and getting back into rocket-ship with duffel bag* me? i’m gonna shoot for the moon.
EPILOGUE:
nasa employee: so, how many loops in total? astronaut: i mean, it was hard to keep track. somewhere around six months, if i had to guess. nasa employee: damn. astronaut: yeah. nasa employee: and in those six MONTHS, the best zinger you came up with was “shoot for the moon”? astronaut: hey, you know what, i had some other stuff on my mind! nasa employee: i mean, i guess. it sounded like you found time to flirt with me each time. astronaut: yeah, like i said. other stuff on my mind. *they look at each other, blush, and look away* astronaut: sooooooo. you’re sure your mom is cool with me coming over for dinner? nasa employee: can’t make the day any weirder. plus, i owe you for ratting out frank, right? astronaut: he did help us save the world; we can’t be too mad at him. nasa employee: you’ve had a little while to get over it, i might need some more time. and it wasn’t even your food! astronaut: ok, that’s fair. what if i buy you lunch to make up for it? nasa employee: hmm, when? astronaut: tomorrow? nasa employee: well, i’ll have left overs from my mom, and you might too if you play your cards right. day after tomorrow? astronaut: honestly, anytime is good for me.
*FADE TO BLACK*
Thinking about time loops thinking about time loops thinking about time loops
"Why would you go back?" "why would you do that to yourself?" "Doesn't it hurt so much?"
You don't understand you can't understand you weren't there you didn't experience it you don't know
It hurts but it's all I have left it's going to be better next time I know it I know it even as the knife goes in my back again even as it stays the same I know it's going to be better because it can't keep going this way
It gets better it gets better it getsbetteritgetsbetterITGETSBETTERITGETSBETTER
I have to get out I need to stay
just one more loop, just one more loop, just one more loop
day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after
it's always the same, but there's still that glimmer of hope, isn't there? Because it's gonna be different, just one more loop
just one more. just two more. just three. just ten. just fifty. just a hundred. just one more loop.
"Doesn't it hurt?" isn't the hurt all I have left? There's comfort in the repetition the repetition the repetition. How could there not be? In here you don't have to face out there. And that hurt is much, much, more painful
The same pain over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again dulls over time, even while it takes more and more each loop. But out there? That's new pain, that's a change in schedule, that's something different, and you don't want difference, do you? That's why you're here isn't it? Desperately hoping for the next loop to change, when the change is out there. You know it's out there. Deep down the repetition is comforting, the blade in your back keeps you steady, you wouldn't want to face the unknown, would you?
Oh it's beautiful? Well it hurts just as much, and you know it. You know you can't face it out there, with no one to help you, none of that disconcerting familiarity. The familiar pain is oh so much better than unfamiliarity, isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it?
You can keep going around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and hope it changes, the only change that will happen is if you make it. But you're not willing, you're too easily taken in by the familiar, comforting, pain.
It's so much easier to hope for change than to work for it. Just one more loop, right? One more loop, right? One more loop one more just one one one one one one
Just one more loop and I'll get to the end of the circle, one more loop and there's something different, right?
You can get out whenever you want, but you don't want to, do you? You don't want to, you don't want to
You can stay here forever, right? You can stay here forever. You can stay here forever. You can stay here forever. Stay here forever. Stay here forever. Stay here forever. Stay here forever. Stay here
"Why don't you just leave?" I can't, you don't understand, I tried, I can't, I don't want to, it hurts so much, but out there? Out there it hurts even more
Don't ask me how I know, because I don't. I only know what the time loop told me and it told me I can't leave, it told me I don't want to, that it will hurt, that we're already so deeply connected that to escape would kill us both. You don't understand, it hurts too much. You haven't died the way I have, you haven't lived, haven't hurt, haven't seen what I've seen.
Let me out, please let me out, please let me out, please let me out, please let me do it again, please let me do it again, please let me do it again, please let me do it again, please let me do it again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again I can't leave just let me leave let me loop let me leave let me loop let me leave let me loop let me leave let me loop
Don't go, don't go or we both die because too much of ourselves is contained within the other, I can't leave you and you can't leave me, a self sustaining system
You're me and I'm you and I can't leave without killing you and I can't kill you without dying in the process
Stay tuned!
Sneak peaks of ch17 may be released soon; today or tomorrow! keep an eye out, as there's a shit ton of stuff to unpack and a new development + realization for Chuuya is coming around the corner. Plus!!! plot twists!!!!!
Depressing, yet satisfying. Yup, that's animorphs alright!
have you talked at all about the animorphs going through a groundhog day/new game plus kind of time loop before? it's one of my favorite tropes / aus.
• Jake wakes up. It’s a Southern California day like any other: sunny, 70, chance of aliens. He showers, slumps downstairs, pours himself a bowl of Frosted Flakes. Does his best to ignore the controller sitting across the table and staring at him. Brushes his teeth. Catches the bus.
Jake goes to Homeroom. Jake goes to Algebra. Jake goes to French. Jake goes to U.S. History. Jake goes to lunch. Jake goes to Remedial English. Jake goes to Biology. Jake goes home.
“Remember,” Marco says, as they’re heading out. “Tonight. The usual place.”
Jake sighs, nodding. It seems like that’s all they do these days, meet and try to talk their way up to going on the next mission.
He’s tired. They’re all tired.
Maybe none of them more than Rachel, who is already grinding her teeth when she walks through the door. “I can’t tonight,” she says. “My mom needs me to babysit Jordan and Sara again.”
“Seriously?” Marco asks.
Jake knows why — this has been happening a lot lately. It’s unlike Rachel to put off a mission, and yet. It’s the yeerk pool. None of them want to go back, even her. Even if it means destroying an entire kandrona shipment Erek has pointed them toward.
But Jake’s in charge. It’s Jake’s job to say “Fine. We’ll try again tomorrow.” And so he does.
• Jake wakes up. He showers, he eats his sugar-covered corn, he does his best to hope he hasn’t caught the wrong kind of attention from the thing that looks like Tom. He leaves for school.
Algebra seems like it’s been getting easier lately. In French, he finishes a sentence correctly the first time the teacher prompts him. Maybe he’s been getting better at balancing it all.
Or maybe it’s just been forever since they’ve been on a real mission.
“I can’t tonight,” Rachel says, when they’ve barely started the meeting. “My mom needs me to babysit Jordan and Sara again.”
Marco’s response is sharp and sarcastic. Jake curls his head forward, pressing it against his knees. He gets why Marco’s annoyed. This keeps happening.
“Jake?” Cassie asks softly.
He lifts his head. “If this happens again tomorrow, we might need to plan to go without you,” he tells Rachel.
«That makes no sense,» Tobias says sharply. «We can’t go without our strongest fighter.»
“Tomorrow.” Jake can hear the tiredness in his own voice. “We’ll make a decision tomorrow.”
• Jake wakes up. He goes to school. He sits through classes, through lunch. He confirms with Marco that they’re still just meeting in Cassie’s barn for tonight.
“I can’t tonight,” Rachel says. “My mom—”
“We know.” Jake speaks more sharply than he means to. He’s just. He’s tired. It feels like he hasn’t slept in weeks.
“She’s just really busy right now,” Rachel mutters.
«Yeah, dude.» Tobias glares, or maybe he just looks Jake’s way. «Chill.»
“We go tomorrow,” Jake says. “No matter what. Tomorrow.”
Marco salutes. “Tomorrow it is!”
• Only they don’t go the following day. Jake suggests it, and the others all shout him down. It’s just one night, Rachel and Tobias keep telling him, it’s just for now. The kandrona shipment can wait one more night, Ax says. Cassie suggests they all just take a breath, take a break.
• Jake messes up. They don’t go the next day either, and this time it’s Jake’s fault; he fell asleep during what felt like the world’s most repetitive History class, and got detention.
“You doing all right?” his dad asks, picking him up after school that day.
“Yeah.” Jake stares dully out the car window. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“And...”
Jake can tell, by the change in tone, that they’ve gotten to the real reason his dad started this conversation.
“And Tom.” Steve clears his throat. “Has he seemed... off to you, lately?”
Yeah, Dad, he seems like he’s been replaced by a fucking alien, thanks for asking. Jake wants to slide off his seat and onto the floor. He wants to curl up in the footwell of the car and cry himself to sleep, right there on the spot. “I don’t know,” he says. “He seems fine to me.”
• The following day, Jake gets to the barn early. He doesn’t like going on this mission without Rachel, but there’s a difference between waiting for a day and waiting for... he doesn’t know how long. Several. It’s been forever.
“Hey.” It’s Cassie, standing in the door. “You ready to go tonight?”
“Yes.” Jake pushes to his feet. “Yes. Even if Rachel’s busy, we need to get this over with.”
Cassie frowns. “Rachel didn’t mention being busy. I know she’s had to babysit a lot lately, but she shouldn’t need to tonight.”
Jake snorts. “No kidding, she’s had to babysit a lot.”
The doors of the barn swing open. Rachel’s there, Marco trailing behind. Two raptors land in the rafters, one after the other.
“Okay,” Jake says. “I talked with Cassie, and we go ahead no matter what.”
“I can’t tonight,” Rachel says.
“Wow,” Jake mutters, “how did I know that was coming.”
Everyone stares at him.
He stares back. “No one else is getting frustrated with this?”
“My mom’s just really busy right now.” Rachel crosses her arms.
“When is she going to get un-busy?” Jake knows he sounds mean. He knows it. But it feels like they’ve been having this conversation since... Since... He doesn’t know when.
“Definitely by this weekend she’ll be fine,” Rachel says.
“Weekends.” Marco sighs, flopping his wrist against his forehead. “I remember what those were like, back in the days of yore.” He’s overdoing it, trying to break the tension.
“What...” Jake frowns, a sudden uneasiness saturating his stomach. “What day is it today?”
“It’s Thursday,” Rachel says. “So the weekend starts tomorrow. I promise, it’ll be fine.”
“Thursday.” Jake looks at his watch, not that that’s any help. “I could’ve sworn it was...” He trails off, looking into space. He’s never sure what day it is anymore. And yet, that answer doesn’t sound right — this whole thing doesn’t feel right — for some reason he can’t put his finger on.
«Let’s just go tomorrow, yeah?» Tobias says. «We can’t go without our strongest fighter.»
“Yeah,” Jake mutters. “You keep saying that.”
Still, they go home.
• Jake wakes up. He doesn’t feel rested, but at least he doesn’t remember dreaming.
“Jake?” his mom asks over breakfast. “Have you seen Tom this morning?”
Jake shakes his head, hoping that’s not a bad sign. He leaves for school.
“Remember,” Marco says, as they’re heading out. “Tonight. The usual place.”
It’s not like Jake was at any risk of forgetting. This is their third? fourth? meeting in a row.
He goes to Cassie’s barn. “I can’t tonight,” Rachel says. “My mom needs me to babysit Jordan and Sara again.”
“I thought you said she’d be free by Friday,” Jake points out.
“Yeah, and today’s Thursday.” Rachel crosses her arms.
“It can’t be Thursday, yesterday was Thursday,” Jake snaps. “We’re already at the weekend.”
“Weekends.” Marco sighs, flopping his wrist against his forehead. “I remember what those were like, back in the days of yore.”
Jake stares at Marco. His whole brain is tilting, spinning, horizon losing its contours. It’s not unease he’s feeling. It’s dread. Panic.
“Hey Ax?” Jake says, voice very small.
«Yes, Prince Jake?»
“N...” He takes a breath. “Never mind.”
• Jake wakes up. He checks the level of the Frosted Flakes. He should’ve gone through the box, and yet...
“Hey Mom,” he calls, still inside the pantry. “Did you replace these lately?”
A shadow falls over the door. Tom is blocking the opening, staring hard at Jake. “Why are you asking that?”
Jake tries for a natural smile. “Just wondering. Did Mom ever find you? She was looking for you yesterday.”
“Wait.” Tom’s eyes narrow. “What?”
The shelf impacts Jake’s lower back, which is how he knows he stepped back. “Just wanted to make sure that...”
“Jake?” his mom calls. “You said my name?”
He grabs the cereal box and runs.
When he gets to school, they’re still on integer-valued polynomials. And conjugating “tournoyer.” And Chumash-Mexican alliances. And split infinitives. And the krebs cycle.
“Remember,” Marco says, as they’re heading out. “Tonight. The usual place.”
And for the first time in his life, Jake doesn’t even bother to go.
• Jake wakes up. Jake stays in bed. He’s tired. He’s tired, and he’s starting to understand what’s happening here. If his mom asks, he’ll fake sick. But either way, fuck school.
• Staying in bed gets old fast. Jake spends an entire day actually teaching himself the one-hour lesson on polynomials. And then another day on regular conjugation of multipart verbs. And then two more, one each for the Chumash and Mexicans. And then skips another school day, because he doesn’t give a damn about infinitives, and then finally the krebs cycle.
• He hasn’t been on an Animorphs mission in...
A while. It’s been a while.
And he’s feeling fine.
• “I’m telling you, if you even tried kidnapping Spider-Man and adding him as a Robin,” Marco says over lunch, “then Aunt May would just go out, buy a shotgun, and cap Bruce Wayne’s ass.”
Jake stares at him. He’s been letting this conversation wash over him, but now... “Don’t you ever get sick of talking about this stuff?” he asks.
Marco’s face does something complicated. It takes less than a second, before his smile is back in place. It has an edge now. “It’s not like we can talk about anything real here, you absolute gravy stain,” he says through his teeth.
Jake nods. He pushes to his feet. And then he stands up on the table.
“Marco!” Jake says, and the cafeteria falls silent. “Marco Sant-Alonso Grant Dominguez, will you marry me?”
There’s laughter, and then there’s whispering, and then there’s booing.
And then there’s detention, for breaking the school’s policy against homosexual conduct.
It’s something different, anyway.
• Jake lives.
• Some days he walks out of the house before anyone else is up. He goes flying, and spends the day with Tobias and Ax. He morphs wolf, runs out to find Toby, and spends the day there instead. He attends a Sharing meeting, walking uninvited to its back room and noting as many faces as he can before they drag him back out.
• Maybe it’s not fair to everyone else, Jake thinks on some days. Maybe they deserve to live and grow. But maybe they deserve to not be at war, and maybe they’re not, not really, not while they’re in this holding pattern.
• Jake thrives.
• “Detention, young man,” Chapman says, because Jake hasn’t bothered to go to English class for quite a while now.
Jake whirls around, staring him down. “Did you just try to put my host in detention, Iniss 226?” he demands.
Chapman’s face freezes. His whole body is caught between one motion and the next, mouth hanging halfway open.
“That’s what I thought,” Jake says. And then he spins back around and walks out the door. He’s laughing by the time he reaches the sidewalk. Laughing uncontrollably, laughing with stupid little snorts mixed in. Laughing like he hasn’t since...
A while. It’s been a while.
• Jake goes joyriding in his mom’s car. Jake goes joyriding in a stolen Bug fighter. Jake’s lonely, but Jake’s been lonely for a long time.
• “My name is Jake!” he announces, the next time he feels like standing on a cafeteria table. “And I’m an Animorph!”
• Jake messes up.
“Hey Jake?” Jake’s mom says over dinner one night, the way she often does. “Cassie called a few times. She sounded worried about you.”
Jake stirs his food (he’s so so sick of stuffed cabbage), not looking up. “Don’t worry,” he tells his mom. “She’s annoyed because I’m not planning our ten thousandth attempt to bring down the Yeerk Empire. But it started to feel pointless after a while, you know?”
His dad asks if this is something to do with a video game. His mom asks if he and Cassie are dating. His brother’s face is blank, twisting into horror.
Jake throws Tom a wink, and waits for the explosion.
It never comes, to his surprise. Instead Tom stares at him in silence for the rest of dinner, not eating, not talking.
The yeerk must be — and Jake laughs aloud at the thought — planning on doing something about it tomorrow.
• Jake wakes up. He wakes up, because he can’t breathe.
There’s a hand pressed over his nose and mouth. There’s a two-hundred-pound human body pinning him to his bed. There’s a knee jammed into his diaphragm. Any one of these could account for Jake’s drowning-man struggle, clawing at Tom’s wrist as his body starves for air.
“Don’t worry.” Tom’s voice is silky-low in his ear, and Jake doesn’t care because THERE’S NO AIR. “I’m not going to kill you, you little shit. Then I’d be alone in this loop.”
He lets go, sitting back. Jake sucks in a breath so violently his whole chest arcs off the bed.
Jake sits up. They stare at each other.
Yeah, Jake fucked up.
“Hi,” Jake says at last, hoarse. “My name's Jake. You are?”
The yeerk doesn’t try anything cute, like claiming to be Tom. “Ardek 5851. Sub-Visser Two-Oh-Nine.”
Jake nods. “You’ve been in the loop... how long?”
“For me, this is the eighty-sixth time it’s been Thursday, May tenth,” Ardek 5851 says. “What about you?”
Jake has no freaking clue how many days it’s been since he noticed, and he has a nasty suspicion it took him at least a week to notice at all. He settles for shrugging.
“Fine.” Ardek sits Tom upright, cross-legged on the end of Jake’s bed. “On to the elephant in the room. You’re helping the andalite bandits. And so is Cassie Moises.”
Jake is aware that he’s the stupidest person ever to live, thanks. There’s no need to point it out.
“Well?” Ardek raises Tom’s eyebrows. “I gave you my name and rank, midget.”
“Don’t call me that,” Jake snaps. He shoves to his feet, fists clenched, chest aching. “And yeah, I’m helping them.”
Ardek snorts loudly. “Clearly they’re not helping you, or else you wouldn’t still be here. What, no Time Matrix on loan for their lowly human ally?”
Jake shrugs. He has to play this carefully. The variables have changed overnight: now his survival is likely to hinge on that of this creature. This is bad. “Maybe I like it here. Maybe I haven’t bothered telling my andalite contact, because I don't think it's worth the trouble."
Ardek squints at him. “If I didn’t know you, I’d think you were telling the truth. Since I do know you, midget, I know you’re telling the truth. Damn.” He laughs, shaking his head. “I mean, I knew you were fucked up, because Tom knows you’re fucked up. But this...” He shakes his head again.
“So. Guess we’ll go back to how it was, then.” Jake shrugs again. “You do your thing, and I’ll do mine.”
“Jake.” The name seems like a deliberate choice. “Jake, you know we can’t go on like this forever. Work with me, kid. If you don’t want out, what do you want?”
Jake lets his gaze flick to Tom’s body, and then back up to his eyes. “I think you know.”
Ardek grimaces. “Fine,” he says. “Agreed. He sucks as a host anyway. But you can’t let him go blabbing the truth after I give him back. And you let me go my own way."
"Fine."
"There’s this bod I’ve had my eye on anyway, this local cop who’s also a ranked weight-lifter. Shouldn’t be too hard to grab.”
“I wish you hadn’t told me that,” Jake murmurs.
“Hey, you get Tom, I get Officer Jenna Richards. Everyone wins.”
“Just...” Jake presses his index finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose. “Tell me what you've already tried, to end the loop."
• When they part ways, Jake doesn’t go to Ax. The part about not wanting to trouble him was true. And after their little trip to the Cretaceous, Jake is pretty sure Ax has no idea what he’s doing when it comes to sario rips. Instead, Jake finds Erek.
He doesn’t start by asking about time loops, but with “You remember when we helped you guys fix the pemalite ship?”
Erek nods, because of course Erek remembers.
“Okay,” Jake says. “So this is going to be one hell of a return favor, but...” He smiles weakly. “How do you feel about breaking the space-time continuum?”
• Jake wakes. Ardek is sitting on the end of his bed again.
“Rise and shine, little bro!” he says. “Who’s ready for some breakfast?”
Jake groans, rubbing a hand over his face. “I’m not your brother.”
“And I’m guessing Tom got better sleep on the last-ever May ninth than you did.” Ardek grins at him. “So?”
“My contact didn’t get an answer right away. I’m supposed to come back.”
“So Prince Whoeverthefuck can start running the calculations again? From the top?” Tom’s fists are tight on the bedspread.
“Yep.” It’s Jake’s turn to grin obnoxiously at him. “So I’d better get over there, don’t you think?”
Ardek flips him off, and stalks out of the room.
• Erek starts from the top, every morning. Usually after an hour’s worth of exhausting the same suggestions he made yesterday, with Jake shooting down each one at ever-increasing speed. Erek hits a dead end, every evening. And he gives Jake something to memorize and recite back to him the following morning.
• Jake comes home to find Tom splayed out on the floor, the whole room stinking of strawberry schnapps. Ardek is vague-eyed, loll-headed.
“What are you doing?” Jake says slowly.
“Livin’...” Ardek hiccups. “Livin’ like there’s no tomorrow.”
Jake considers. And then he sits on the floor next to Tom. “Strawberry schnapps, huh?”
“Yep. Dad’s got shit taste.”
“He’s not your dad.”
“Thank god for that.” Ardek hands over the bottle.
Jake takes it. “No tomorrow, right?”
Ardek fumbles behind himself in the pantry, comes up with cooking sherry this time. “No tomorrow.” He toasts with it.
Jake sips the schnapps. Yep, even more awful than it smells. He sets the bottle on the floor, grateful when Ardek doesn’t push the issue.
“So how’s the world’s slowest war-prince doing for you?” Ardek asks.
“‘Slow’ is about it.” Jake doesn’t sip again. “Why can’t you ask any of your fellow sub-vissers for help, while we’re waiting?”
Ardek snorts. “I wish. Cooperation within the Empire isn’t...” He trails off. “It isn’t. Period.”
“Sounds like a pain.”
“Okay, so. You got Visser Three, stomping around on his itty-bitty hooves like he hung the stars and we should all be kissing his ass. You got Visser One, whose deal is...” Ardek blows a raspberry. “I don’t even know. Scary-ass lady. And you gotta pick one or the other or else your ass is grass. But you’re stuck either minioning for Visser Three, or betting everything on some alleged revolution that inn’t even going to come through ‘cause...” He hiccups again.
Jake chuckles. “Sounds like politics.”
“Y’know, every time I try to tell people my host used to live next door to Visser One’s host, they think I’m making it up?” Ardek says. “That I’m trying for, like, the position of kissass-in-chief.”
“Would you take it, if you could?” Jake asks. He takes another wincing sip.
“What, a vissership?” Ardek slurs the word, stopping to work Tom’s mouth when he’s finally got it out. “In an instant. An instant. It means being safe, being visser. It means not having to kiss up anymore. It’d mean no longer having to deal with this...” He flicks Tom’s finger against his temple, like getting rid of a bug. “And getting a nice, quiet, voluntary host instead. I’ll kiss all the ass in the world for that.”
“I guess I never thought about it that way before,” Jake says quietly.
Ardek snorts. “Like you’re not kissing the ass of some war-prince, just to be allowed to be in the war at all?”
Jake hums noncommittally. Sips again. Wonders if he should try to hide the bottles before his parents get home.
Let them ground Tom. It’s not like it matters.
• Erek makes little progress. Ardek comments on it constantly, but Jake still won’t let him come along to meet this contact.
• Jake wakes. This time, it’s because he’s been dumped out of bed and onto the floor.
“Hey.” Ardek crouches next to him, straightens up, bounces on the spot. “Hey, hey, asshole. I tried your idea, man. I tried your brilliant damn idea of, of, asking our technician about time loops.”
Jake sits up slowly. “And?”
“I died, man!” Tom’s voice rises into a screech.
Now Jake scrambles to his feet. “You died. Yesterday. Last loop. You—”
“Those utter grass-munchers reported me, said I was losing the plot, and of course they didn’t want to deal with me, we’re already over budget and understaffed, yadda yadda, so they shot me!” Ardek is still bouncing, wide-eyed, manic.
“They shot Tom,” Jake says. “And you both died.”
“Yes, you stupid human, he died too!” Ardek makes a dismissive gesture. “I’ve done the drills, we’ve all done the drills, on how to get out of the skull in an emergency, but all the blood was coming out everywhere, and all the circuits were shutting down, and the stupid host was screaming, and...” He wraps both arms around himself, shuddering.
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” Jake says slowly.
Ardek punches him in the arm. “Damn straight you’re sorry. ‘Why don’t you try asking your people’s technicians?’” he says in a truly awful imitation of Jake’s voice. “‘See if they can help.’”
Jake gets a hand around Tom’s bicep. Gently pulls Ardek down to sit on the edge of the bed. Ardek curls forward, both hands pressed over his face.
“You people aren’t even worth it, you know that?” Ardek speaks through Tom’s fingers. “You don’t have blades, you fall over all the time, and pretending to be you involves wasting so much time on the most inane crap...” He lifts his head. “You know, if you’d take one tenth the time and resources and brainpower you people spend on this shit—” He plucks at his shirt hem — "and ditch the clothes, you’d be shuttling to deep space and outgunning the andalites by now.”
“Probably,” Jake says. “Why are you here, then? If we’re such a crappy species.”
“No choice,” Ardek says dully. He flops back onto Jake’s bed. “If you try to not go to whatever shitty backwater planet they assign you and recruit the locals, you end up...” He shudders again. “Like me, yesterday.”
Jake never expected to feel this much sympathy for a yeerk. Much less the one currently puppeting his brother. “You could stay,” he offers. “In the loop. Just... hold.”
Ardek rolls onto his side. “I,” he says slowly, “have not eaten—” He pokes Jake’s leg. “A single drop of kandrona. In one-hundred forty-three fucking days. I was scheduled to go first thing, the morning of May eleventh, but nooo. I haven’t talked to my friends in that long either, because I can’t exactly pick up the phone and do a check-in, now can I?”
Another angle Jake has never considered before. “Do you even... want a host at all?” he asks slowly.
“Beats being stuck in the kandrona tank twenty-four-seven,” Ardek says. “I don’t like eating that much.”
There’s something in there, something about all the yeerks feeling like there are only two choices and both suck, that... Jake has a half an idea. Less than. He has to run it by Cassie, and then...
And then have Cassie forget the whole thing, over and over again.
“Why is this happening to us?” he asks Ardek, flopping next to him on the bed. “I mean, why us?”
“Extremely localized sario rip went off in the basement,” Ardek says immediately. “Caught us both sleeping, sent us into a loop that’s spiraling slowly down until we both die. Like that... Jacob’s Ladder movie.”
Jake hums. He’s already lived that one out, in Brazil, and he’s pretty sure this isn’t it. “Wouldn’t it have collapsed when you died, then?”
“Yeah.” Ardek sighs. “For the longest time I thought it was something you andalites did to us, but that doesn’t explain why you’re here. What about you? Any thoughts?”
“Crayak.” It slips out almost before Jake means to say it.
“What’s that?”
“Cosmic being.” Jake stares at the ceiling. “Doesn’t like me. Would pull crap like this, most likely.”
“Then why am I here?” Ardek whines.
Jake doesn’t answer. And then he figures there’s no harm in answering. “I think... he wants me to make a choice. The same one he’s been pushing me toward for a long time now.”
“And that is?”
Jake rolls over enough to look Ardek in the eye. Enough to look into Tom’s eyes. “I’m working with the andalites. You’re a controller. Figure it out.”
Then he stands up, and starts getting dressed for school. One more round of infinitives won’t kill him, and if his suspicion about how to get out of the loop is correct then it beats the alternative.
• Erek works out a shorthand for himself. Jake teaches it back to him every morning, and memorizes a page of notes written in the shortened code every evening. He deserves extra credit in Algebra for this, even with his new expertise on polynomials.
• Jake’s parents keep catching him to ask about Tom. They’re worried — he’s stayed in his room all day today. All day today. All day today.
“I’m close.” Jake stands in the door of Tom’s room. Ardek is curled in a ball on his bed. “I swear, I’m getting close.”
Ardek lifts Tom’s head. His eyes are dull.
Jake has been there. Jake knows.
He shuts the door when he leaves.
• “Forget all of that,” Erek says, ten seconds after handing Jake today’s notes. “Forget all of it.” His auto-generated voice sounds excited. “How long do we have?”
“The loop resets at midnight,” Jake says.
Erek nods. He’s grinning. “We’ll be cutting it fine, but I think you can do this. Because it all fits, if you just add in the Neuguyn Equation and drop the exponential term—”
“—over lambda,” Jake finishes. “Because then it’s symmetrical, and simplifying it takes half the time.”
Erek raises his eyebrows. “Dude, how many Thursdays have you had?”
Jake shakes his head. “Neuguyn Equation. Teach it to me.”
• Jake wakes up. Jake throws himself out the window, hitting the ground hard. But he’s up, morphing to Homer even as he goes at a mad sprint for Erek’s house. Neuguyn Equation, in place of the exponent. Neuguyn Equation, in place of the exponent.
• Jake throws open his front door, three hours later. “Ardek!” he yells. “Ardek, we’ve got it!”
“Jake?” His mom’s straightening up from where she was working in the living room. “Shouldn’t you be at school? Tom’s home sick, are you also...?”
Jake ignores her. He’ll apologize tomorrow, if there is a tomorrow. “Ardek!” He pounds on Tom’s bedroom door.
Ardek yanks it open. “You have an answer?”
Jake nods. “We got it.”
Ducking back into the room, Ardek yanks on shoes and socks. “Yes, yes, yes!” He leans down the stairs. “Mom! We’re borrowing the car!”
Jake’s mom says something in response, and it doesn’t sound like an affirmative. Ardek’s already grabbing the keys.
Jake gives directions to the Kings’ house. His own heart is pounding, his fingertips tingling. Please let this work. Please.
• Erek answers the door, smiling pleasantly. “Please do not be fooled by my human morph,” he tells Ardek. “This is just a temporary means of avoiding suspicion by the neighbors.”
Ardek takes this with a nod.
“You’re ready?” Erek asks Jake.
Jake takes a breath, and rattles off the math. It’s a ten-minute process.
Erek nods. Then he reaches out, grabbing Tom by the wrist. “I need you to stay here, as you risk getting hurt if you stand too close to the collapse when Jake sets it off.”
“Yeah, okay,” Ardek says. “Fine with me.”
Jake walks over to the sphere of what looks like ball lightning, floating in the middle of the Kings’ living room. It’s hard even to look at, eating light and energy from the world around it.
He grabs the first of the metal rods from the floor, and plunges it into the current. The power jolts up his arm, throwing off the rhythm of his heart, making his hair stand on end. He grabs the other rod, closing the circuit.
He shifts them apart, then brings them together, building up the flow. Does it again. Does it again. His body is burning, stuttering. He’s falling apart.
There’s a pop of displaced air, and the world goes into reverse.
The sun plunges down to the east, the sky going dark. Ghostly shapes, echoes of past possibilities, shoot past in reverse. Jake feels those universes collapsing into his chest, thousands of possibilities yanked back into his body in a single brain-exploding instant. The air sucks out of the room, drops back in. Shutting his eyes does nothing to help, because he can still feel those branches being pulled back into him.
And then it’s done. He’s standing in the living room, the ball lightning absent, just Erek and Ardek and Tom.
“Did it work?” Ardek asks.
Erek frowns. “Did what work?”
Jake’s head snaps around. “Emergency override: six. I’m sorry, friend, but we cannot play today. You require maintenance.”
The pemalite code, despite being translated, despite not having been spoken in forty thousand years, works perfectly. Erek goes blank and dead, hologram shutting off entirely, body freezing in position.
“Uh.” Ardek tries to yank Tom’s wrist away, makes no progress at all against that relentless thousand-pound grip. “What the hell?”
“Mr. King’s in the other room,” Jake says levelly. “He’ll get you food and water, and he’ll make sure Tom doesn’t die. But he can’t hurt Erek, or Tom, trying to get you loose. And he doesn’t have any kandrona.”
Jake doesn’t know if the math suddenly fitting helped him to make a decision, or if it suddenly fit because he finally decided. But he does know that one thing is always true about Crayak’s traps: that the Ellimist is very good at leaving the Animorphs a third way out.
“Please,” Ardek is begging. He’s yanking harder now, but Erek doesn’t move. Can’t move, until Jake turns him back on. “Please, please, I’m sorry. I’m sorry!” he screams, in Tom’s voice. Straining Tom’s throat.
“I know,” Jake says. And then he walks out the front door.
It’s Thursday. It’s Thursday, but he’s pretty sure tomorrow will be Friday.
• Jake wakes up. He wakes because his mom is shaking him. “Honey, we need your help.” She sounds frantic. This is new.
“What day is it?” Jake asks.
“Friday,” she says dismissively, not noticing his sharp inhale. “Honey, nobody’s seen Tom since yesterday morning, your dad and I have called everyone we know, and —”
Jake rolls out of bed. “I’ll go looking for him. I know which friend he might be with.”
His mom rushes out of the room. It’s Friday. It’s Friday.
• When he gets to Erek’s place, Tom is slumped against Erek’s unmoving legs. His wrist is swollen black within Erek’s grip. Ardek lies dead on the floor. It’s Friday.
• The cops knock on Jake’s front door, less than an hour after they get home. This, even though Jake’s mom called to cancel the missing-persons report 30 minutes ago.
Tom answers, right arm tucked into the pocket of his coat. Tom tells the officers, his voice hoarse and ragged, that it was just a stupid bender and that he’s very sorry for going out drinking underage. Tom assures them both it won’t happen again. Tom sees them on their way.
Jake shuts the door, locks it. “Those were...”
“Controllers, yeah.” Tom coughs, winces. Ardek must have screamed all night. “And they’ll be back within the hour.”
Jake nods. “Pack your stuff, then. We’re running.” He knew this might happen. He knew.
“They’re going to find us,” Tom rasps.
“Only way out was through.” Jake thinks. He hopes. “Don’t know about you, but I was getting pretty sick of Thursdays.”
Tom nods. “Should contact your war-prince first, though.”
“Yeah,” Jake says. “About that.”