Thank you for reading Thirteen! Originally, this story was only a side project. I did not mean to take this seriously. But I loved working on the lore and reasoning behind this and I am very proud of this fic!

I refer to Thirteen as the middle child because it was wedged between Comrades (the depressed but favorite eldest) and Whispers of a Butterfly (the spoiled youngest), thus lazily cast aside. I didn't think much of this, but when I finally did, I found myself loving its whimsical novelty. It was supposed to be a comedy (LMAO), but oh well, there's nothing to smile about when you know you're going to die in every chapter. In Homer terms, Comrades is The Iliad, and Thirteen, its successor, is The Odyssey.

In 2016, I was obsessed with the theory that Eren was in a time loop and he had to break out of it. Like from the moment I found out that Titan shifters only had thirteen years to live, I was convinced the final chapter of AOT was going to be Eren dying and then he'd wake up under the tree again back in his child body. The cruelest fate a person could ever deal with was to live through hell again repeatedly, much like the punishments the Titans received in Greek Mythology. It also reminded me of one of my favorite video games, Life Is Strange, which funnily enough was also one of Isayama's inspirations in creating Attack on Titan.

I had trouble getting into [Name]'s head at first. I had been well-acquainted with Comrades Y/N for so long that I struggled to understand [Name], who is not a bloodthirsty anti-hero and instead loves Eren wholeheartedly. She unraveled as her love for Eren grew, which I think is so sweet and in character given the plot. Her exhaustion is palpable. Her attempts to save the story are feeble, which shows how hopeless it was to put her in loops. Watching her slowly descend into insanity was... well, it was something. She leaves claw marks whenever what she loves is torn away from her.

On a personal level I found this hard to write about because then I had to confront my own regrets in life. Times I regretted the difficult classes I took, the relationships I could have had if I had just tried harder to be a good friend, hours I could have spent with my family instead of moping alone in my room when I was a teenager. Life is full of regrets and it sucks! But life is also an endless chance to choose your path.

I am grateful for all your reads, comments, and votes. I loved reading your theories and thoughts on the various events that happened in this story. It made me so happy to see that you guys genuinely put thought into it.

Again, thanks for reading Thirteen!

—emefaerie