Chapter Text
Eren glanced down at the water bottle clutched tight in his hand, the other hand brushing away the branches of trees that blocked his sight. “Hey, guys? I think I lost you,” he called. He stepped onto the dirt trail that traced through the forest, scanning further ahead for his friend’s flashlights, but he found nothing. “Guys?”
“We’re this way!” Armin’s voice came filtering through the trees. Eren blinked, turning around to face the voice. Wasn’t that backwards? Were they going home already?
“Are we heading back?” Eren craned his neck to try and see his friends’ flashlights, but he couldn’t even see a glow from the trees. “Hey! I don’t have my flashlight – can you guys wait up?”
No response. He huffed out a breath, taking a hesitant step forward into the darkness. He started walking towards the sound of the voices, fumbling in his pocket with his other hand until he was able to pull out his phone and flick on the flashlight. Using the beam of light, he managed to find his way across the unstable ground.
Why weren’t they waiting for him? He’d bet Jean was egging them on, encouraging them to leave Eren behind. In the woods. In the middle of the night.
That was a bit cold, even for Jean.
Eren walked faster, then faster, before breaking out into a run. “Guys? Where are you?!” He rounded a bend in the trail. “Hey!”
Nothing. No one. It was a straight stretch in the trail, so if his friends were on it, he would see them. But they weren’t there.
He raised his phone, eyes roving the trail and the trees around him. He shouldn’t have left his stuff back at the campsite. What kind of idiot leaves with only a water bottle and the shirt on his back? Him, apparently.
“Okay,” he breathed to himself. “Okay, what do I do?”
He went further down the trail, flashlight continuing to dart between the trees in search of anything familiar. If he followed the trail, he might get to the campsite, or maybe even trace it back to the city. This isn’t the time to panic, right? He’s still on the trail, it’s not like he’s lost or anything.
“Shit!” As soon as the thought crossed his mind, his foot slid, sending him tumbling to the side. He gave a shout of surprise, but he couldn’t regain his footing, landing on his back and starting to roll. The edge of the trail gave way to a steep hill, and down Eren fell, end over end with no sign of stopping.
He reached out desperately and grabbed onto the ground. His hand just scraped through the dirt, his body still sliding down the bank, but he managed to stop himself from rolling.
He flipped on his back, keeping one hand clutching the earth. The pretty lake he could see from the top of the ledge didn’t look so pretty now that he was approaching it at top speed.
“C’mon, c’mon!” Eren clutched tighter to the ground, to no avail. The fear churning in his gut made it hard to focus, much less think, and the heart pounding against his ribcage helped nothing. He glanced at the phone at his hand, then out to the lake. It was getting closer. Closer! He dropped the phone, grabbing onto the ground with both hands. He dug his heels and arms into the ground until he actually started to slow. He let out a breath of relief, the glittering lake still coming closer but not with the speed it had before. At the end of the bank he managed to stumble to his feet.
He closed his eyes, resting his hands on his knees and just breathing. “Okay,” he whispered again. “Holy fuck, okay.”
He straightened and looked out at the lake. The stars made it easy to see the water, but beyond that was pure darkness, any glow absorbed by the shadows of the trees. He sucked in a breath of air. His chest was heaving like he had run a marathon.
He looked back behind him at the steep slope. Only a few paces up was a light beaming up at the trees – his phone.
He stepped up carefully, snatching it off the ground before it could slide away. He then turned the beam up at the hill.
“Holy…” The flashlight panned up the hill, revealing all sorts of rocks and loose roots, a few still crumbling from the path Eren had carved through them. He had no idea how he made it down the hill uninjured. And he had no idea how he was going to get back up.
He glanced down at his phone, but of course there was no service here, he was in the middle of the fucking woods.
He turned back towards the hill. “Hey! Anyone? I fell down the hill, can someone call for help?”
No answer. He didn’t know what he was expecting – some hero to swoop in and save the day, maybe? – but he sighed in defeat and faced back out to the small lake. There was only a little space between the water and the edge of the hill, but around the side there was a full bank, giving him an area to at least stand on steady ground.
He clutched his phone in one hand, treading over the slippery ground as carefully as he could. He would rather not fall into a lake in 40-degree weather.
He swallowed down the thickness rapidly rising in his throat. His mind was whirring, so fast his head was starting to hurt, but any plan he came up with to try and get out of here wound up in a dead end. He slipped over a rock, managing to catch himself on a tree branch before he could fall into the lake. “Fucking hell.” He squeezed his eyes shut, leaning heavily on the tree. “Fucking… shit.”
He continued on his way, careful of the slippery rocks and muddy sinkholes. Finally, he reached dry land.
He looked out across the lake, then up at the hills surrounding the lake, searching for anything familiar. It was too dark to find anything.
Suddenly the light illuminating what was in front of him flickered. “Oh for fuck’s sake, come on,” Eren hissed, shaking his phone, but the flashlight kept flickering. “You’ve got to be shitting me! There’s 50% battery left!”
Then, the light went out, plunging him into darkness.
Eren couldn’t begin to describe the cold wave of fear that washed over him. He gulped, reaching a shaky hand out into the darkness, but he couldn’t even see his own fingers a foot in front of him. He glanced behind him at the water. The reflection of the stars made it easy to tell where the lake ended, but that only told him where he shouldn’t go, not what he should do next.
He glared down at his phone’s screen, the light of the stars catching on its black surface. He wanted to cry. To curl up in a ball on the hard ground and start sobbing, because hell, there wasn’t much else he could do.
Instead he sat on the ground, pulling his knees to his chest. If his heart could stop trying to escape through his throat and let him think, he might be able to find some way out of this.
He turned his face upwards, to the stars rising in the sky. It would be captivating if he wasn’t scared out of his wits. He shook his phone, but it didn’t turn back on. He and his friends went out late at night. It was a spur of the moment decision, so it had been very late when they were all dumb and sleep-deprived, but it also meant that it was only a matter of time before the sun would be back in the sky.
Eren jolted when he heard the sound of a snapping branch echoing through the woods. Morning. He just has to make it till morning. He just-
He leaped to his feet when another cracking noise echoed across the lake. The sound carrying across the water made it impossible to tell where it was coming from or how close it was, but all Eren knew was that it was loud and scary as fuck.
Morning. He just had to make it until morning. However long that was, he didn’t know, not with his broken phone refusing to work for him.
“Oh god…” he breathed. “Am I- Am I gonna die out here…?”
He froze up as the realization hit him like a smack in the face. He could make it to morning, yeah, as long as no animal finds him during the night. But then what? He gets even more lost, and winds up dying of hunger? Or he only makes it so far before an animal gets him?
“Shh…”
Eren sucked in a breath, squeezing his eyes shut. God, the chances of him getting out in one piece are seeming slimmer and slimmer. He’s not going to make it back to his family. He’s not going to see his friends again.
“Shh…”
Even the dumbest things seemed overwhelming. He has a paper due in Professor Zoe’s class that he won’t be able to turn in, or a presentation in Mr. Pyxis’s class that he’ll leave his other group members burdened with. This is all such dumb stuff, why is he thinking about this?! But any time he tries to think about how he may never see his mother’s face again he feels like he’s going to fall apart.
“Shhh…”
Eren blinked his eyes open, fighting back tears. He’s not making it home.
He frowned, squinting his watery eyes at a faint light in the distance. He wiped his eyes and squinted again.
A person stood at the edge of the trees, their face upturned to the starry sky, a faint glow surrounding them and setting them apart from the dark woods behind them. Eren let out a breathy laugh of relief. “Hey, do you know the way out of here?”
The person turned to face him, and though they weren’t much more than a blur, something about them froze Eren to the spot. He shuddered, but managed a step forward. “I don’t have my flashlight, could you help me? Please?”
The person held up a finger to their lips. “Shh.” Eren mouth snapped shut so quickly there was an audible click. The glowing figure lowered their finger, looking back up to the sky, then over to Eren.
Eren took another hesitant step forward. He half wondered if he had a death wish. There wasn’t something natural about this person. They glowed, for one thing, but they also moved with this sort of grace that wasn’t quite human. They raised their hand, making Eren halt. He was about to call out again, but he stopped himself, instead silently bringing his feet together to stand still. He held his breath, not wanting to make a noise in case he disturbs them. It was like he had encountered a skittish animal. Except he was the skittish animal, and this figure was the one watching him and deciding his fate in their head.
Eren curled his hands into fists at his sides, keeping his feet right where they were.
They tilted their head, then curled a finger towards him. Eren smiled in relief. Were they going to help him?
He stepped forward over the loose dirt and pebbles, making his way towards the figure. They waited at the edge of the woods with an expectant gaze. Eren hurried to catch up, hoping to get a glimpse of what they looked like, but they turned and stepped into the forest before he could really see.
He stopped at the edge of the trees, frowning. Their light had disappeared.
“Hello?” He took a hesitant step forward, feeling leaves crunch beneath his feet. “Hey, where’d you go?”
A soft light glowed around the edge of a tree. Eren’s mind was screaming horror movie, but it wasn’t like he had much of a choice. He held his phone tighter to his chest and rounded the tree.
Pressed into the trunk was a glowing handprint. It pulsed with white light, illuminating the area around it, and from that light Eren was able to spot another tree further into the forest with a similar glowing handprint. He stumbled over the crumbling earth to the next tree. He spotted another handprint further down, then another even further, and so on.
He smiled, managing to make his way to the next tree. More and more handprints came into view, illuminating the lush forest floor, forming a path that he could walk on.
He reached out to one of the trees and touched that handprint out of sheer curiosity. A warm tingling spread over his fingers, sending a soothing heat into his limbs. He always forgets how cold nights in the forest get. He rested his hand on the tree, letting warmth flow into him, before moving on.
The handprints were appearing more and more frequently, now with patterns lacing between them, the prints disappearing up into the tops of the trees. Eren smiled and hurried after the designs.
The handprints started appearing on the trees from all side. Swirls and dots radiated out, filling the spaces between the prints with soft white light and illuminating the forest floor. He started to walk with more confidence. The trees were alight with the prints and designs, so he could see easily, and even though it was pitch black at night he could walk as if it was day. He trailed his hand along the rough bark as he went, letting warmth flow over him.
It was… stunning. Even prettier than when the city would light up the main street of Shiganshina with twinkle lights for the holidays. He felt like he was walking through a dream, and judging by what led him up to this point, he wouldn’t be surprised if it was all in his head.
Up ahead, the form stood, watching him draw near. It was the person from before.
He skidded to a stop, the person still far enough away that he couldn’t make out what they looked like. They turned away to press their hand to a tree. When they removed their palm, a glowing handprint was left in its place, patterns swirling out from the mark to the rest of the tree. The looked back up at him, as if they were waiting.
Eren grinned, hopping down a small ledge to chase after them. They moved ahead, but he didn’t mind chasing after them. They were leading him out, after all.
He stopped, frowning. Were they leading him out? Or were they leading him further in, to some sort of death?
“Hey, where are you taking me?” he called.
The form stopped, turning to face him. Then, it continued, as if he hadn’t spoken at all.
He huffed out a sigh and continued after them. Stupid not having a choice. If he ends up dying out here because of this glowing person, he’s going to cry. How does he know he’s not hallucinating all of this right now? He could be leading himself to his death, no magical glowing being involved. Could this all be a dream? He wouldn’t be surprised.
He swallowed, bracing himself on a tree as he jumped down from a rock. Only one way to find out.
Keep going.
“Shit!” He tumbled to the ground, letting out a string of curses. His foot got caught in a hole beneath a step that he couldn’t see. He yanked it out, but he could already feel pain in his ankle, a sure sign that he had twisted it. “Fuck, ow…!” He grabbed onto it with both hands and gasped. He didn’t break it, did he? From a little twist like that?
He raised his head from the ground and spotted the figure. They were waiting, watching.
He ignored the pain, clawing at the ground to try and get himself up, but once he was standing, he nearly teetered over again. He braced himself on a tree, sucking in a breath. Pain flared in his ankle, shooting up his leg, making him feel like his entire right leg was on fire.
The figure still stood, waiting, watching. He groaned and heaved himself to standing upright. He managed to walk forward, relying heavily on his left leg and the hand braced against the tree.
He realized the figure wasn’t moving. He clambered forward, biting his lip to fight the pain, until the figure was only a few feet away.
Now that he was closer, he could see them more. Their skin was glowing, but it wasn’t a harsh light, like the florescent lightbulbs that line Eren’s school’s halls. It was almost natural looking.
They stepped closer to him, holding one hand out. Their hair was dark, black as the night sky, and their eyes were a sparkling silver that reflected the glowing light around them. Eren gulped, gaze darting all over them. It was a man, he could tell now, with sharp features but a graceful air about him. He held his hand out in front of Eren.
Eren hesitated, then reached out with his own hand. The man took it, and the tingling warmth that came from the handprints washed over Eren. Instantly he started to feel better. His ankle still hurt like hell, but if he shifted his weight carefully, he could stand on both feet.
The man withdrew his hand and stepped away from Eren. The feeling left, making Eren hiss. “The trees,” the man whispered. “Use them.”
Eren nodded, reaching out for a tree and lining his hand up to match the print perfectly. As soon as he touched it, that warmth washed over him. The pain was still throbbing beneath the surface, but he stepped forward, making his way to the next tree, then the next.
The man didn’t walk ahead like he had before. He lingered beside Eren, not touching him, not helping him, but his mere presence encouraged Eren to keep going more than anything else.
Eren marched on until he felt sweat starting to drip down his face. How long has he been going for? The handprints didn’t seem to end. His body was beginning to grow tired, seeing as he was already sleep deprived to begin with, and the fact that he had to lug his bad foot forward with every step made it so much harder. He stopped to take a strangled breath. How long has he been doing this for?
He started to fall more, unable to stay on his feet as the exhaustion set in. Still, the man did nothing. Only waited for him to stand again and keep moving.
Eren collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath. Pain flared in his ankle now that he wasn’t touching the tree, but he didn’t care, far too busy focusing on getting air in and out of his lungs to think about anything else. “Shit… shit shit shit… I dunno if I can…”
“Keep going?” the man finished. Feet stepped in front of Eren, and Eren realized the man was barefoot. “So, you would rather die here? Even when you’ve made it this far?”
Eren squeezed his eyes shut. Maybe this is the point where he wakes up from this dream. It sure as hell felt like a dream, getting lost from his friends and stumbling onto a magic glowing guy, who then leads him out of the forest and gives him about as much encouragement as a school coach eating chips in a fold-out chair. Actually, how did he ever think this was reality in the first place? “I don’t- I don’t wanna die…”
“Then you must keep going,” he whispered. His voice echoed, a soft extra layer to it that only added to Eren’s theory that this was all one big nightmare. “Get up. Keep moving. Or else you’ll never be able to get up again.”
Eren could feel burning tears in his eyes. “Then what?” He cracked his eyes open, finding the man kneeling beside him. “How far away am I? How do I know where I am? How do I-” He cut himself off, choking on a sudden sob. “How do I know if I’ll even make it?” Wherever ‘it’ was?
“You don’t know,” the man spoke, “but you won’t get anywhere laying down like this.”
Eren groaned, but pushed up from the ground. With the help of the trees he managed to get to his feet. “Great. Now what?” he quipped, channeling his exhaustion into annoyance.
“Keep moving.” The man stepped ahead of Eren this time, stopping to cast a look back at him. “The sun will rise soon.”
Eren blinked. The sun. Oh thank god, the sun will rise soon, which means it’ll be even easier for him to find his friends, wherever they are.
He moved forward with renewed vigor. It wasn’t any easier, and his twisted ankle felt heavier with every step, but he kept moving, gritting his teeth against the pain. The man fell into step beside him. Eren was too focused on the ground to look up at him, but he could hear the man’s footsteps, an odd source of comfort in all of this. Still, he pressed on. He was tempted to fall down again, but he didn’t, moving from one tree to the next.
“The sun rises,” the man whispered. Eren stopped, looking up at the trees. A faint red glow peeked over the tops of the branches, sending relief flooding through Eren’s body, but the man only faced forward. “You must move faster. You may not make it in time.”
Eren nodded, limping forward. The handprints’ lights were dimming in the new light from the sun. He smiled, moving faster, as fast as he could, until his ankle was forgotten to the rush of adrenaline.
The man closed his eyes, but his feet still stepped over the ground without hitting a branch or rock, as if he had the whole forest floor mapped out in his head. “Safety is close. Keep moving.”
“Thank god,” Eren breathed, smiling.
The man shook his head. “Do not thank him. He is not listening.”
Eren ignored the comment, focusing on moving from handprint to handprint instead. He reached for the next handprint, but as soon as he touched the tree, he stopped.
It was gone. The handprint had faded completely.
Someone grabbed his other arm, and when he looked over, he saw the man draping Eren’s arm over his shoulders. He wrapped his other hand around Eren’s back, keeping him supported. “Move faster.”
Eren would bite back, but the man was walking, leaving Eren to scramble and limp to catch up. Eren leaned heavily on the man, but they made good time making their way through the forest. That warmth was there to hold the pain at bay. He realized slowly that the warmth was fading, growing faint as the sun rose.
“…n! …ren! Eren!”
Eren gasped. Armin’s voice! “Ereeen! Can you hear us?!” Jean’s voice followed, then more voices, the sound of his friends calling out for him.
A voice he didn’t recognize was talking among them. He hoped it was a park ranger, or someone that can help him get out, at least.
The man next to him let out a ‘tch’ sound. “I can’t go any further. Go in the direction of the voices. You will find your way out.”
Before Eren could protest the man was leading him down to the ground. He stumbled onto his stomach, feeling the warmth leave him, and when he looked up, the man was gone, a patch of sunlight where he once was.
“Eren! Eren, please!” Mikasa’s voice cried out.
“I’m here!” Eren shouted. His voice was hoarse, but he hoped it was loud enough so they could hear him. “Mikasa! Armin! I’m over here!”
“Eren!”
He barely managed to prop himself up on his arms, reaching for the dirt in front of him to try and drag himself forward. The pain had come in full force. Apparently walking for what felt like miles was not the best thing to do when you have an injured ankle. “Guys, I’m over here! I need help!”
“Where’d his voice come from?”
“This way!”
Eren smiled in relief as he heard the rustling of leaves up ahead. “I’m here!”
Mikasa’s face appeared in the brush, and he managed to raise himself up enough to claw forward. She rushed to his side. “Oh god, Eren!”
“Did you find him?” Armin’s panicked face appeared next, blue eyes wide and scared. “Eren! What happened?”
“I need help,” he croaked. “My ankle, it- I twisted it a while back.”
“It’s okay, we’ve got you. Mikasa, could you help me?” Armin wound one of Eren’s arms around his shoulder, Mikasa taking the other. With a heave they got him standing, and he nearly cried from relief, feeling his friends next to him and the sun on his face.
He glanced over his shoulder at the forest behind him. The handprints were gone. The patterns were gone. The man himself had disappeared without a trace.
But he knew he wouldn’t be here if it was all just a dream.
Eren limped forward, and through the next few trees he could see the trail, his friends waiting for him with wide eyes and another man holding some branches out of the way for him. He smiled, fighting back tears. “Guys…!”
“Eren!” Historia broke away from the group first, tackling Eren in the stomach with a crushing hug. Eren gasped as the air got knocked out of him, but he didn’t mind, even when someone else tackled him from behind. He laughed, squeezing his eyes shut. He never thought he would see his friends again. Thank god he found them.
No… thank that man. That glowing figure was the only reason why he was alive right now.
The man he didn’t recognize – a tall man, with blonde hair, a strong build, and the biggest pair of eyebrows Eren had ever seen – walked over to the group of friends. “You’re Eren Jaeger?”
“Yessir,” Eren managed to say.
The man nodded. “Call me Erwin. I’m here to get you out of here, Eren. Are you able to walk?”
Eren shook his head, and Erwin nodded, stepping away to pull out a walkie talkie. A warm feeling settled over him. He glanced back over his shoulder, at the way he came from, and he thought he saw a vague shape sitting on one of the shadowy tree branches further in. He beamed in its direction, hoping to convey how thankful he was.
The figure stood, nodded, then disappeared, like sand blown away by the wind.
A hand rested on Eren’s shoulder, drawing his attention forward. Erwin smiled at him. “Let’s get you home.”