Hey guys. Now, like a few of my stories, scratch that, all of my stories, I looked into a story I wanted to read, in this case, the attack on Titan crossover with Re:Zero, in FF and AO3, but I couldn't find it, which kind of surprised me. If someone finds another Re:Zero and Attack on Titan crossover, or makes one, can they send me the title? But, regardless, I wanted to make one where Subaru sees something that wasn't meant for him after his death in episode 15/16, but something that helped him regardless after hearing Rem's speech and Wilhelm's speech. Spoiler warning for chapter 97 of Attack on Titan. Anyways, let's start the first and only chapter of Keep moving forward. Try playing Apple Seed, or Bertholdt's theme over this.
I walked straight into cold hell twice, not knowing my fate. I was destined to repeat my mistakes, not having learned from them.
"Sleep, along with my daughter."
"You are truly slothful, Subaru."
My head fell off my neck, and darkness filled my body, and my mind.
'I'm sorry… Rem… Emilia… Petra… everyone… you were right… Emilia… Rem…'
The memories of the past few days, which to me, was several weeks, ran through my mind, as I looked upon the Shadow that was Puck. Emilia, no matter what timeline, saving me, helping me. Listening to me.
'And what did I do for her? I did nothing compared to what she did for me. She saved me, comforted me, and helped me in more ways than she can possibly know. She owes me a debt that she can never pay back?'
I laughed at myself.
'What kind of idiot am I? I can never pay her back. I'm… useless...'
I closed my eyes with those thoughts.
After Puck decapitated me, I thought I would go back, and fix everything.
But, for several seconds, I felt… nothingness.
I opened my eyes, and then, a man appeared in front of me. He was one eyed, broken, with a bandage covering his right eye. His eye… looked like mine when I looked in the mirror at myself, trying to keep the wave of emotions inside me, day by day. His long hair extended beyond his shoulders, and he held a crutch in one arm, supporting his right arm, but his right arm was slumped over it.
'What? Who are… you?'
The man looked away, and the environment around me changed. I felt that I was sitting on a bench, unlike me standing up or sleeping on my bed. I tried speaking, but my voice refused to work. Since I couldn't speak, I turned around, looking at the world around me.
I was in what looked like a hospital, with people, young and old, injured around me. Some looked to have experienced more death than I had.
They looked… the same as I did. Broken.
"How did things get to be this way?" The long haired man said.
The hand, who I thought was the jealous witch, tried pulling me back, but this time, I resisted.
'No. Let… me… stay!'
I tried to resist, trying to listen to the man.
"Both their bodies and minds, rotting away, their freedom stolen, every single bit of it. They've lost their entire self confidence as well."
He looked at me through the corner of his eye.
"If people knew they would end up this way, I don't think anyone would agree to go to the battlefield in the first place."
I remembered thinking about going to another world, like it was nothing. That I would become the strongest. How naive I was.
'Yeah. You're right. Who would ever go into another world if they would end up like me?' I looked down, and I stopped struggling against the witch.
However, for some reason, the witch stopped pulling on me, and rapidly disappeared on me. I heard the man loud and clear afterwards.
"But everyone is burdened by a certain "something" and they plunge head-first into hell. In most cases… that "something" is not their own will. Usually, it's the environment, or other people's expectations, and that leaves them with no choice."
I saw every girl, from Felt to Rem to Emilia, all smiling at me, then, the next frame showed them taken away, by the witch, by evil, by Beetleguise, or by... me.
'I'm sorry… everyone. I didn't listen. You all… died, because I couldn't save you all...'
"However…" The man continued, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"The hell those who choose to burden see is different."
'Huh?'
"On the other side of that hell, they can see something."
I imagined walking through darkness, seeing outside a portal.
"The thing they see might be hope."
I wandered, until I saw… all the girls, smiling back at me, holding the kids from the village in their arms. They looked beyond happy, and I saw an engagement ring on Emilia and Rem. Both blew a kiss to me, and it made me blush, and look away from them for a split second. I smiled towards them all.
"Or it could just be another hell."
I looked again, and the image flickered, and in the flicker, I saw… the village kids, all the girls, Rem, Emilia, Ram, Beatrice, Felt. Dead, all of them. Their lifeless bodies, peppering my sight, with blood spilling over the floor. I felt like throwing up, again. I held all of their lifeless bodies against me, but it didn't do anything. I couldn't stop it.
"But you'll never know…"
Interrupting my thoughts again, the man looked straight at my eyes, piercing through my soul. As if he had directed towards me.
"Unless you keep moving forward."
A voice appeared in my head, which sounded similar to the man in front of me.
"If you win, you live!" He seemed to be out of breath, as if he were being choked.
"If you lose, you die!"
Then, his next words reached me.
"If you don't fight, you cannot win!"
The witch's grip on me reached out again, and increased in strength, but this time, I didn't look away. I didn't try to resist. I pulled her grip away from me, and went towards the source of her arm.
'He's… right. I have to keep fighting, keep moving forward.'
At first, I walked towards the source of the darkness.
'I have to fight. Until Emilia becomes the queen. Until Betelgeuse is dead. Until the cult is dead. Until… I become a person… one who will be able to save everyone.'
Then, with my thoughts, I ran, sprinting towards an uncertain future, and an uncertain death. The darkness filled through me, but I kept running. I didn't know what would happen once I woke up, but I kept running. I still kept running, because, like the man said, I won't be able to see that future unless I,
"Keep moving forward."
Those words carried me on, as I ran towards hell for the first time, ready to fight for a better future.
And that's the last chapter of keep moving forward. This story will connect to the Last Avenger eventually, because I think a crossover between every anime and the avengers really would work. With all that said, what do you think of it? Review, do all those things that you do on this site. Bye, I got to work on the Last Avenger.