Spoliers: Muv-Luv does not belong to me. I am merely getting over the PTSD. All copyrights go to Age.

Prologue

Cheers and shouts from outside the Susanoo deafen the silent sobs of its pilot inside. Shirogane Takeru, the hero of humanity, kneels in front of a small glass case containing a petite redhead who's sleeping peacefully. His whole frame shakes from the waves of pain, mental and physical, pushed upon the boy within the last hours of Operation Ouka. He knows he should be happy; he had just killed the Superior, the brain of the BETA, giving humanity its first real ray of hope since the start of the war. He had just accomplished the unimaginable, taking down the Original Hive, putting mankind on the offensive for the first time in nearly 30 years.

He knew it was a suicidal mission the second it was briefed, a worldwide offensive on Eurasia with the objective of taking down the Kashgar Hive. As if the mere task of taking down a Phase 6 Hive wasn't far-fetched enough, Yokohama Base was in pieces from a sudden BETA attack not a day ago; Japan, COSEAN, and the UN were running low on everything after Operation 21st 5 days ago. Only a madman would think of destroying Kashgar in this condition, and a madman Yuuko was. He still joined that mission with a hope of coming back, he has all the skills of thousands of time loops to help him after all. The moment Operation Ouka begins, a suicidal mission turned into a death march. Of all the time to start using strategy, he cursed, the BETA chose then. By the time Takeru and the remnants of the Valkyries reached the ground with the Susanoo, the rest of their companions were reduced to burning metals. Despite extreme conditions, the rest of the squad, which Takeru quickly learned was just the XG-70d and Meiya, was able to make it to Target A, the Superior. A squeeze of the Particle Cannon and the Hive was destroyed, along with his last squadmate.

People die in war, he always reminded himself, it can't be helped. Yet he wonders if that was all he could do. Thousands of retries, millenniums of fighting, thousands of endings. Is this really the only way to win? With cheers of strangers to his ears and blood of his friends on his hands? Is this really how a hero is made? Perhaps it is.

Alongside the weeping boy inside the cockpit of the war machine is the petite figure of a silver-haired child. Placing her small hand on the sobbing boy's shoulder, Yashiro Kasumi was greeted with a face writhed in pain and regrets. It doesn't take a mind reader like Yashiro to see the broken teen in front of her, a figure with eyes that would make gods of war question their bloodlust. Slowly caressing her hands on his cheeks, she wipes away a single drop of tear.

"Is she alive?" Takeru finally finds his voice to ask his companion.

"She made you the Causality Conductor. Her death broke the time loop. You're free now." Yashiro layered the answer with good sides in a vain attempt to save the boy from another heartbreak.

Takeru looks down at the peaceful face of Sumika, his childhood friend, the love of his life. So she trapped him in this prison? She put him through all these years of pain? Yet, could he really blame her? She lost this world Takeru to the BETA, and she wanted him back. For all his rage at being made a Causality Conductor, hadn't he done the same? In his cowardice and hopelessness, he crossed back into the old world and brought deaths with him as well. He wanted to see Sumika and Marimo-chan again and then killed them again. No, he will not blame her. If him suffering millenniums of pain would bring a smile to her face, he will accept it. But he can't wonder the same question again and again, is this really the limit of his power? He was cursed by time, but he could control time. The one constant in reality, time, was a mere variable for him. If he makes a wrong choice, his death would only give him another chance to choose. He had gone through billions of endings and died just as many time in just as many fashions. This is the furthest he has gone, humanity's first major strike against the BETA. Now that he's been freed from his curse, his power over time is no more. This is the end. The finale.

"She said she is sorry for making you one, and told you to have a good life back in your world." Yashiro continues to comfort the boy, hands wrapped his shaking form.

"Could I have done better, Kasumi? Could I have saved them all?" Takeru looks back at the girl.

"You did your best, Takeru-chan. It's your time to rest now." The silver-haired girl squeezes her arm even tighter around the boy as if she can wring out the misery from his soul.

"I can't accept it. I spent years perfecting my choice to get here. I can create a better end than this."

"Takeru, you've fought too hard already. I'll take it from here. You need to return to your old life."

"But all their deaths. This can't be the end!" Takeru was now standing as he feels a glimmer of hope returning to his darkened heart. He can change this.

"Takeru, you can't!" Yashiro was weeping and begging at this point. "She would want you to be happy. I want you to be happy!"

"Kasumi, I've gone through countless loops before." Takeru sits down and takes the girl into his lap. "One more wouldn't hurt. Besides, I refuse to accept all their deaths without putting up a fight."

He has made his choice. If mankind sees him as the impossible, then he will do the impossible. Time has played with him for too long, now it will obey his will one last time. "Sumika, I know you've freed me, but I need you to send me back for one last fight," he shouted as loud as his aching head can endure. He's aware she's dead, but if fate is willing to compensate him, if the gods are sparing their pity on him, if the stars are aligning just right, maybe she can still hear his last plea. "Takeru-chan, but..." the voice of Sumika rings out from the back of his head. "I know what I'm asking for, Sumika," Takeru cut her off. He had made his choice. "... you can't go back to your old world." The quite sobbing voice continues in his head. "Then I won't. I've lived more in this world anyway. This world needs me more. And I will make this world as beautiful as my old. A world where everyone lives." Takeru shoots back at the voice, the dying ember of hope once again rekindled inside his heart. "I can force you back, but it would be time travel. You can't loop back anymore." No loop? One chance is all he has. Takeru knows he can make this work. It's one chance, but he has had millions of those chances before, how hard can it be to make every right decision. "Do it Sumika. I will live in this world just fine if I can save everyone. Besides, who needs Valgern-On when I have TSFs." Takeru cracks a joke to Sumika. "Takeru-chan, you idiot... I need a few minutes to make it work. You should say your good-byes here soon." Sumika's voice softens to a whisper as Takeru feels the tugging sensation calling him back to his old world disappears.

"She agreed." Yashiro pulls Takeru's head down to her own. "You never learn to give up do you?"

"Kasumi. I'm sorry, I have to." Takeru puts his arms around the small girl and hugs her tight. "I've lost too much. I have to get it back."

"Then I want to leave you a parting gift. (Huh?) If I can't go with you and you won't stop fighting, then I want to help you. You only have one last loop, you need every advantage to make it count. (Thank you.)"

Takeru suddenly feels a surge of memories coming back. His head is screaming in pain as if a thousand Destroyers is ramming his skull from inside. The migrant fleet of Alternative V, the burning remains of Yokohama Base, the blaring red light of TSFs' cockpits. Like a highlight reel, all his deaths from all his lives come rushing back to the front of his consciousness. Memories so painful he had asked the last loop Kasumi to lock away now re-emerges like a tsunami crashing against brain as his vision goes white. The blinding shade of white turns to silver as Takeru realizes his face is in Kasumi's hair as she weeps onto his shirt.

"There, there, Kasumi. I'll see you again soon. And then you'll have the whole Valkyries to play with, not just me."

"Why Takeru? (Huh?) Why do you have to torture yourself once more? Why can't you stop fighting? Why can't you go back to your old peaceful life? Why?" Kasumi is now shouting at his soaked shirt.

"I have to, Kasumi...no, I want to. I have power over time, how can I just let them die and accept it?" Takeru softly explains as his hand pats the back of the crying girl's head.

"I just unlock all of your memories from more than 2,000 other loops. (Thank you, Kasumi.) I also amplified as best as I could all of your combat experiences from those loops. (Eh? You can do that?) Not very good, but it should be some help. (Kasumi, you didn't have to.) Shut up, Takeru-chan and listen to me. (...) I made all the memories subconscious so you don't have to go through their deaths every minute. They will only surface when you first encounter something for the first time again or in your dreams."

"Kasumi, that's amazing. I didn't know you have these abilities at all." Takeru was shell-shocked. When did this girl learn these? Certainly not in all those loops before.

"I gave you one last gift within your mind. (More?) I gave you my entire memory. (Wait, what?!) Don't worry, it's only meant for me to read. (Other you?) Yes, when you meet her on the first day at base, she'll see it. She'll have the same connection with you as I do. It's the only way I can travel with you back." Kasumi finally moves her head up from Takeru's shirt, having gotten her crying under control.

"Have you always been able to do this Kasumi?" Takeru moves his hand up to wipe away the tears. "It'd be beneficial to everyone. Especially the enhanced combat skills."

"I can do that..." Kasumi suddenly trails off. "...but I have to give up my ESP abilities. (WHAT!?) Shut up, Takeru. (Why did you do that then? I thought it's natural.) I said shut up, Takeru. (...you really didn't have to) Just shut up and listen to me! (...) It was the only way I can help you and go back with you, even if it's just in spirit. Now that the Superior is gone, my ESP abilities are worthless. Humanity will now be using full force against the BETA, not trying to read their mind. It was a small price to give up for your stupid save-everyone complex."

"Kasumi...thank you." Takeru suddenly feels a tug on his mind, a signal that Sumika's plan works.

"It's time isn't it?" Kasumi states. "You have that look in your face."

"Huh? What look?"

"The look of hope and determination" Kasumi cracks a smile at the boy sitting with her.

"Heh, maybe I do have that look. Kasumi? (Huh?) Say good-bye to Yuuko-sensei for me, and visit the Valkyrie's memorial trees sometimes. (I will.) Thank you."

Sensing his body slowly slipping away from this world, Takeru moves Kasumi down from his lap and stands up to look at Sumika's body once again. A redhead angel lying peacefully with a wooden rabbit. It could be his fading consciousness playing tricks, but he could have sworn he saw her lips curved into a smile. He dumbly smiles back. Turning back to his silver-haired companion, Takeru gives her one last hug.

"See you again Kasumi."

"See you again, Takeru. Save the world, will you?" Kasumi quickly answers between sobs as she holds on to the boy's tall frame.

"Just you watch me, Kasumi. I promise you."

Takeru removes himself from the hug, before standing up straight and staring at the door. He will save all those people again. And he won't finish that job alone this time. As the last strands of Takeru's soul leave this world, his last memory of it would be Kasumi's sobbing statement.

"I love you, Takeru."

A/N: This is the first time I've written fan-fiction so criticisms are welcome. This is a pretty cliche concept for Muv-Luv but the best ones are either too short or dead, or both, so I took it upon myself to write (and hopefully) complete one. If there's any questions, let me know.