Side note: I'm going to change the story in a way that the characters die before the Female Titan Arc (hopefully I can think of a way that they all die in the Battle of Trost), so they would have to still find information for themselves about their enemies.

(I haven't read the manga, so if I mess up some of the information they learn, sorry!)

Armin Arlert, the smartest cadet they had had in decades, was lying in a pool of his own blood, quietly whimpering, hoping to have at least some closure from his friends before he died. Nobody heard him, no one would come. He looked silently up to the sky, seeing nothing.

Armin's eyes were unfocused and shaky, blurred to the point where, if he lived, he would be considered legally blind. His hair, weighed down with blood, dangled past his ears, dripping more blood all over the ground. His left arm was missing, it had been bitten by the abnormal that had eaten Thomas. His right leg was missing too, crushed into a pulp when a titan had stepped on him while he was down.

He had tried his best to crawl into the open, as, in his awful state, it was his best option. Even if he was eaten because of how easy he was to spot, he could at least try to scream for someone. The problem was, when he tried to scream, he more or less just gargled on the dried blood and spit that clung to the roof of his mouth.

What a disappointment he was. He would die on his first battle, without killing a single titan. He would never see the ocean, never touch the sand. He wouldn't contribute whatsoever. And at this pace, he wouldn't even die honorably fighting a titan. He would die in a back alley of blood loss.

Tears ran down his face as he thought of Eren and Mikasa. Would they even be disappointed? It was clear from the beginning that he was never a fighter. He could never match their skill. He felt like a leech, making them help him. They would be better without him.

Hot tears slowly ran down his face, his breath and heart beat slowing. As the minutes pasted, breathing became infinitely harder, making him have to force the air into his lungs. Nearly five minutes passed, and Armin no longer possessed the strength to force it anymore. He started suffocating, choking and coughing as hard as he could, only ending with him coughing up large amounts of blood.

His eyes closed as he thought his last goodbyes to Mikasa and Eren, apologizing to his grandfather and his parents. He was always a disappointment and was going to die one.

Armin woke up with a gasp, feeling the fresh air fill his lungs. It was such a good feeling, no longer having to force himself to breathe. After taking a few breathes to compose himself, he looked around the room, suddenly remembering what had happened.

Had it been a dream? A sick, foreshadowing nightmare?

While thinking about it, he started doing his normal practices in the morning without even once wondering why. It was like a natural movement, a habit. The sound of horse hooves pounding outside his door stopped his thoughts immediately, sweat running down his back.

"Maggots! We are going on a training mission through the woods!" Keith Shadis yelled.

Armin rushed out of his room, not even bothering to lock it behind him. Along with him came Thomas and Connie, each running along with him in a rather messy manner. They all stood behind Shadis' horse, next to Marco, Eren, and Jean.

Armin felt a rising dread as he realized this was the same thing this was the same thing that happened in his dream. He looked over at Eren, who gave him a pleasant smile, but didn't dare to do more than that. Jean looked just as pissed as usual, Connie was nearly falling asleep standing there, Thomas wasn't balanced and almost fell over, and Marco looked strangely bored and calm.

Armin panicked when he felt the first raindrop. After realizing that it was going to rain, he was jittery, and that they were going to have to run for a long time, he let out a soft sigh. This was going to be a long day.

After they had finally finished running, Armin was panting like a dog that had been left in the sun. When he sat at the lunch table with Eren and Mikasa, he felt like he was in heaven. He was surprised that his legs hadn't given out during the running. After a few minutes of eating, Eren suddenly spoke up.

"My mind is set on joining the Survey Corps, so don't try to stop me, Mikasa," Eren said. Armin saw a little bit of a cocky smile stretching across the teenager's face before it disappeared when Mikasa looked at him.

"As long as you are going, I am too," she said in her emotionless voice. Eren seemed annoyed at this, but he kept his argument in, knowing that it was no use. Armin glanced at his hand, only to see it rapidly clenching and unclenching. Whenever it unclenched, Armin could clearly see marks were Eren's nails had dug into the skin.

"What about you, Armin?" Eren asked him, with a curious look on his face, only to realize he didn't even need to ask.

"Well, I didn't get top ten, so I couldn't get into the Military Police if I wanted to. And I want to stay with you guys and help humanity. I want to join the Survey Corps!" Armin exclaimed proudly. A second later he stopped and thought about his words. He felt that he was leeching off of them. Why would he say that he wanted to stay with them? That just made it worse.

"But wha-" Eren started stupidly, only for Mikasa to punch him in the stomach before he could finish. Armin pretended like he didn't hear it and finished his soup while looking around the room.

Everything and everyone seemed to be in the same place as in his nightmare, except for one person. He took quick glances at them, hoping they wouldn't see. He immediately recognized the person to be Marco, or 'Freckled Jesus' as some teased him behind his back.

The weird thing was, Marco was staring directly back at him. The two met eyes, and Armin didn't find any use in glancing back and forth between him and others, so he stopped staring altogether and just started eating the last of his bread. If Marco wanted to talk to him, he could come over here.

As others started to gather energy and started talking to one another, the room became crowded with people walking back and forth from table to table. They started talking louder and louder to the point where it was hard to hear the person next to you talking.

"Pigs! It is time for another exercise because you damn animals have been to loud and annoying!" Shadis bellowed. Multiple people in the room sighed or their shoulders drooped. Some rolled their eyes and got annoyed, but that didn't change the fact that they had to work.

They all stood up and left the room, grumbling. The higher-ups soon had them line up single-file. Each person had another to partner with. Armin was partnered with Christa, Eren with Reiner, Mikasa with Annie. Each team was given one wooden knife. They were tasked to fight each other until one could grab the knife and push the other down with the knife to their chest.

Neither Armin nor Christa wanted to do so, but they followed their orders. They spared some, neither gained much ground. Neither had muscles prepared for hand-to-hand fighting. Each had managed to get the other down twice before the training was called off.

Armin hated this. He hated it so much. There weren't really any acceptable words to describe how much he wanted to be out and done.

Every fiber of his body wanted to be off this damned wall, even if it meant jumping. He remembered what happened here. He remembered the face of the Colossal Titan as it kicked down the wall. He remembered the pain of losing his limbs to the titans that the Colossal sent in. Bleeding out, it was all because of him!

His fingers were glued to the buttons on his gear. There was no way in hell he would move them. Everything here had mostly matched his nightmare. He couldn't risk it if his nightmare was a foreshadowing.

He watched the cadets around him to see if their faces had any concern on them. The only person he saw who wasn't slacking around was Marco, who, strangely, seemed to be in the same position as him. Armin wondered if they had had the same nightmare. It was very hard to believe, but if his nightmare was true, then it wouldn't be too far-fetched.

Suddenly, Marco attached his gear hooks to the ground, causing everyone there to flinch. Even Armin, who, out of surprise, launched his hooks into the ground too. It wasn't for nothing either.

There was a roar of thunder and flash of lightning as the Colossal Titan appeared before them. Its hot steam poured out of all of its muscles and the cadets were pushed back, most of them, including Armin and Marco, hanging safely on the edge of the wall with only minor injuries. Others, such as Samuel, went unconscienced and escaped with major injuries, or, in some cases, fatal injuries.

Armin's past flashed before his eyes, his body tensed, and his mind started screaming. He could only watch as Eren and Marco dove up and tried to double-team the Colossal. They swirled around its arms as it moved frantically, or, rather slowly for them, but the fastest it could go. It took out the cannons before immediately disappearing, not willing to risk death. Marco and Eren latched to the wall with incredibly disappointed and confused looks on their faces.

Armin felt sorry for them, but more dissatisfied with himself for not doing anything. Even Sasha had saved Samuel. What did he do? Nothing.

Armin started putting on his battle gear frantically, wishing he could have been anywhere else. He pulled up his boots, feeling tremendous pain in his ankles from pushing down on the wall when he fell. He brushed it off, hoping it wouldn't affect him much later.

Suddenly Marco approached him with an inquisitive look on his face. He mumbled something about dreams and loops and, before Armin could respond, they heard multiple higher-ups call them into the battle. Although Armin wished to respond, he followed the orders of his mentors and filled his gas tanks before flying onto a roof.

He was sweating like he had never before as he looked out at all the titans. There were so many, even more than he expected as the maximum that could have been there. How could so many have come in such a short time?

His other squad members started flying up next to him, Eren with an adventurous smile, encouraging them that they were going to be able to do it. Jean looked like he was pissed and pissed his pants at the same time. Mina and Thomas were almost crying, looking scared, similar to Armin. Sasha and Connie smiled, but it was obvious they were faking it, and it seemed like they were only doing it to try and keep themselves from expressing other unpleasant emotions. Mylius and Nac seemed to be pretending they had confidence in all of them.

They all laughed nervously about a titan killing contest, and they waited for the right time to charge. When it came to that time, they all stormed forward, jumping off.

"Turn left!" Marco suddenly shouted, startling all of them. They all moved slightly to the left, only for an abnormal to come speeding through, slightly missing Mina and Thomas. Mina started to cry out. Although she wasn't injured, as they found when they stopped at a roof, she was in a major shock.

"I'm heading forward! Be careful!" Marco advised as be darted ahead. Armin felt like Marco might have something important to say to him, so he followed the freckled teenager. Marco didn't seem to notice the blond following him and continued ahead.

"Marco! I want to know what you are doing and what you were saying earlier!" Armin yelled, waiting for a response. Nothing came from Marco, but he did stop. It took a few moments for Marco to turn around and look at him.

"I am going to see the hole and see if I can get past it," Marco said nonchalantly.

"What do you mean, 'get past it?' That's insane!" Armin scouted around for titans, making sure they were in a safe enough place for talking.

"It doesn't matter in the end. It will just loop again."

"What do you mean? Is that why you were prepared when the Colossal Titan attacked?"

"I mean that this day keeps repeating over and over ever since I died. Did you see how you died? You have been acting differently than normal."

"Yes. I saw my death. I felt my death. Then I just… woke up again. It was the same day."

"You're looping! Like me!" Marco exclaimed, a smile forming on his face. "I've already been through this day about 16 times. I can't seem to get out of this damn city without dying!"

"Dying? Repeating?"

"Apparently, from what I have found, you will wake up at the start of the day again if you die. You can do whatever you want really, but it seems to me that you will die anyway. One time I died because someone strung a metal clothesline up and it took my head off." Marco laughed a little, while Armin held back the bile rising in his throat. "It's just, nobody seemed to change. Nobody said they saw their death when I asked them, even you!"

"I don't remember saying that, ever."

"I don't know what's happening either. We could help each other through this!" Marco held out his hand to Armin. Armin eagerly took it, hoping they could find out what was happening. He was so curious. How could this even be explained?

"We need to get out of here. By this time, Mina, Thomas, Nac, and Mylius should be dead, so we have less bait," Marco said, making Armin nearly throw-up. Marco noticed this and quickly explained, "We just need to get out of here and see what is out of that hole and see as much as we can or make a new move. I wouldn't actually say that about them if it wasn't for the fact that we will just restart the day again with them alive." Although Armin still didn't like the thought of it, Marco was right. If they wanted to see anything they had to be careful to get around without dying.

"What if it doesn't happen? I mean, what if the day doesn't restart?" Armin questioned Marco, hoping his friends were okay.

"It has restarted multiple times for me. Either way, we can try to keep ourselves alive." Armin was unsatisfied with Marco's response, but he had nobody else to trust, and he certainly didn't trust himself.

"I'm going to get Eren!" Armin turned around and started heading to get his best friend. Marco hurried after him.

It only took them a minute to find the tragedy of what happened behind them. One lumbering titan was holding the limp body of Mina, whilst Eren ran along the ground at his feet, crying. The roof they had been on was bloodied and battered, no longer even resembling a roof.

"Eren!" Armin latched his hooks into the roof of a building across from him and jumped from the roof he was on. He swung down and grabbed Eren as well as he could and used some of his gas to pull them both back up onto a roof.

Eren, who was crying, looked up to Armin. Armin looked at his best friends torn suit, dented gear, and wounds to assess what had happened. It was as if he had been tossed off the roof by the titan.

"We have to get out of here! Let's get to Jean's squad!" Marco yelled as he flew over to the roof they were on. "That would be the best option!" Marco flew off the roof and headed east. Armin, although reluctant, followed him, with Eren close behind.

With titans in every path they could take Marco just headed straight, hoping to make it through the think horde of titans. To his disappointment, he ended up hitting one that stepped in front of his way and he fell to the ground.

"God dammit! Hey, Armin? Could you tell me what happened after this when the day loops?" Marco asked as he was lifted off the ground by a 7-meter titan. Eren started freaking out and jumped off the roof they were on and started slicing at the titan that picked Marco up. This was to no avail, as the titan that held Marco started lowering him into his mouth.

It was too late. The titan's teeth smashed down, Marco's blood spilling all over the ground and Eren. Eren started crying and furiously attacking the titan, slicing its nape. Armin rushed toward Eren with tears in his eyes, helping Eren by cutting the titans ankles. Neither of them was successful in killing more than that one, and in the end, they were both grabbed by titans from the horde.

Eren's crying escalated to wailing, his banshee-like sounds only exciting the titans, or rather, since they didn't have emotions, it made them want to eat him faster. Armin, on the other hand, was silent, hoping to dear god that Marco wasn't insane.

Both boys were lowered into the mouths of the titans' and Armin did as much as he could to examine the mouth as he could before he died. He noted the titan's teeth, the roof of the mouth, the throat.

But then the titan stopped. Armin felt its hot fingers slowly unwrap around him, their energy no longer there. The heat stopped rushing through the fingers of the titan, becoming ice cold. And the world tilted as Armin started falling.

And everything went black.

Armin woke up choking. He started spiting out unhealthy amounts of his own blood. He turned himself from belly-down to belly-up, seeing the night sky. There was a beautiful moon in the corner of the sky and stars speckled the dark blue color.

He looked at his hands, still splashed in blood, some of it his own, some of it Marco's and Eren's. He felt cold dirt and stone under his body, making him extremely uncomfortable.

He couldn't hold it anymore. He started crying immediately, whimpering and whining. It took him a few moments of doing this before he realized that it wouldn't help him, so he slowly got up. He saw blood all over the only paths he could take and started toward the hole in the wall. He really had nowhere else to go now.

He walked for what felt like an hour, wondering where the path ended. He hadn't realized that Trost was so big. He had come across a couple of titans leaning on buildings, with no energy left to move, let alone open their eyes and see him, so he didn't worry. At some moments he fell to his knees, wondering if it was even real.

This was one of those moments. Armin fell down, wishing he could just give up. He then grabbed his belt, tightening it to the point where it caused pain around his waist and hips. He liked to feel the pain, as it told him that this was not imaginary, that he was still alive. But sometimes he just wanted the pain to go away.

He looked up at the sky one more time, studying where the moon was, wondering what time it was. The moon seemed to point out that it was almost midnight. He didn't care if he died at this point, so he just sat there, waiting for the moon to hit the midnight mark. That was when they would burn the bodies of the lost. They would start the fire to burn all his friend's bodies. Mina, Marco, Eren, Nac, Mylius, Thomas, and everyone else who died.

And then the moon hit the approximate midnight mark. The fire would be starting now.

Armin only looked up at the sky wondering things. His breathe became slow, heartbeat too. That was when he fell unconscious.

Flickering open, his eyes darted around his surroundings. Armin pushed his covers up, seeing the room he had left behind. Had he looped?

Although he was very tired and unsure, he quickly put on his suit and rushed outside. He saw Shadis' horse approach with Marco, Eren, and Jean following.

He had looped!

He was so happy that Eren and Marco were back, but he didn't openly express it. Marco then looked at him and held up an almost complete circle with his pointer finger and thumb, which was clearly asking if he had looped. Armin responded with the same symbol, with Eren and Jean looking at them confused, but they didn't mind. As long as the two of them and the other cadets were alive, nothing mattered.

Marco gave him an excited face, making a face that meant he wanted to know what had happened after he died. Armin sighed heavily.

Armin was prepared for a lot of bullshit in the future.