Chapter Text
❛ 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐇𝐎'𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄,
𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄? ❜
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𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍 𝐉𝐀𝐄𝐆𝐄𝐑 felt the heat of the rays from the sun hit his melanin skin. A cool breeze from the sea coated his body as a few strands of his now longer dark brown hair blowing from the wisping air. The sound of birds crying as they spread their wings mixed with the joyous shouts of his friends from finally seeing this most awaited sight filled his ears as he continued to stand on the shore, his bare feet soaked by the salty waves where white foam sprayed at the end of every ripple.
So this was the ocean.
The sixteen-year-old boy let his eyes rest on the wavering line where the sky and ocean met miles away. Instead of joining his friends in marveling at the view, Eren stood there in silence as a deep melancholy tried to take over him the more he stared at what lay in front of him.
"Hey, Eren! Look at this!"
Armin Arlert's beaming voice broke him away from his thoughts again. The blond boy had a massive smile spread across his face, as his blue eyes like the ocean in front of him shone with glee. In his hands was a seashell he had found in the pillow-like sand beneath the water.
Then Armin continued, "On this side of the wall—"
"Is the ocean."
Armin paused and stared at Eren, his mouth slightly agape when his friend interrupted him. His eyebrows knitted together at the sudden shift in the tone and how Eren didn't mirror his enthusiasm in seeing the ocean. The silence that was hanging in the air broke as the brunette continued.
"And beyond that ocean lies freedom." Eren's eyes lingered again on the horizon for a moment. "That's what I always believed."
This was what he and Armin had always wanted to see when they were young. Ever since his best friend had got his hands on a book containing pages about the outside world. This ocean was finally in front of him, yet he couldn't find the energy to move a muscle and savor the feeling of fully experiencing it-unlike his friends who were already having fun.
A lump in his throat was trying to swell the more he continued to gaze at the ocean.
"But I was wrong," he said in a low voice.
Ever since that day; when he kissed Historia's hand—he saw all those memories from his father, Grisha Jaeger. Those painful memories that held events from the past and future all at once had started rubbing down on him. He felt tormented by being able to see all of those and not knowing what to feel about them. But perhaps out of all those emotions he had felt, disappointment stood out.
"The only thing we'll find out there is the enemy."
He was beyond disappointed to know that humanity wasn't wiped out like they were told when he was just a child running towards the tree on the hill together with Armin and Mikasa. He strongly held to the belief that the ocean was the farthest they could go if ever they went past the walls and nothing more would be beyond that other than the places Armin had also told him, even when he was faced with challenges that put their lives in danger.
And yet somehow, he was proven wrong.
Eren turned around to face Armin, his fists clenched tightly into balls before letting them collapse on his sides when his vision started to blur. Because all his life, he held onto something that wasn't even true.
"This is all exactly as I saw in my old man's memories," he breathed out, voice quivering with dread.
He had dreamed of having to see a beautiful world outside the walls when he was a child, only to find out that it'd be crushed and thrown away like nothing the moment he got those memories. And after knowing the truth, he felt like all the suffering they'd gone through had gone to waste.
His dull eyes glanced at his friends; eyes that were now full of pain from the loss of his comrades and family who sacrificed themselves just because they thought he was the hope of humanity—only to find out he wasn't. The atmosphere between them had grown tenser and thicker the more Eren spoke as their focus was now on him—except Sasha, Jean, and Connie who were a bit far from where they were and looked like they were having the best time of their life. The realization had finally dawned upon Eren as he knew deep inside that even though they were no longer imprisoned by the walls and could finally go outside; he knew at the very back of his mind that their cage only got bigger.
And it will only get bigger if he won't destroy his enemies.
"If. . ." started Eren, "we kill every last one of our enemies out there. . ." he slowly brought out a finger and pointed it at the horizon.
". . . will we finally be free?"
Eren Jaeger had always thought that to achieve true freedom; all he had to do was defeat every titan he encountered no matter what it took even after finding out he was one of what he feared and hated the most. But now, gone were the days of fighting titans who tried to devour every human they saw when the walls were breached after the miserable truth. What lies in front of him now is the ocean—a much bigger wall than the walls on the island. A bigger wall that truly separates him from achieving freedom and from his true enemies.
Eren brought his finger down when he heard no response after he finished talking. Eyes still fixated on the ocean, he remained silent and instead shifted his eyes to look at the sky where birds flew near them. The squawking birds had their wings spread out, flying, like a choreographed melody. His frown deepened as his eyes held envy while still looking at them.
They looked so free. He was envious of them; to be able to not have a single care about the world and just be free. But now, he still had to fight to have freedom.
Without a warning, the sound of an explosion like a sonic boom filled their ears as a large bolt of lightning flashed across the sky and hit the land not far from where they were. All of them widened their eyes in shock as they all shared a look at each other. There could only be one thing when a bolt of lightning strikes without a storm.
A shifter or a titan was close.
In a flash, their captain, Levi Ackerman who was the only one who didn't fancy taking a dip in the sea, drew out his blades from his sides and dashed towards the place where the lightning had hit.
"Hey, Levi! wait for us!" shouted Hange Zoe, their commander in the Survey Corps. "Wha — Hey! you too, Mikasa!"
They got out of the water and dropped the unknown sticky sea creature they were holding just seconds ago—which Hange found interesting and peculiar they must admit—just to also get their blades when the Ackerman female rushed past them to follow their long-time comrade.
The thought of using their gun for a signal didn't cross their minds at the moment as all were in a rush. Hange turned their head towards Armin who stood frozen in his spot with Eren and commanded them. "Armin, Eren, go alert the others and get your equipment."
Armin bobbed his head in acknowledgment, still holding the seashell tightly in his hands. He ran towards the tree where the horses were tied and got his blades, only to find the others were already there and were also trying to get their gears.
"A shifter?" asked Connie, "I thought there weren't any titans left when we went here earlier?"
Sasha, who was beside Connie, nodded her head in agreement with his question.
"And to think that our clothes are wet right now and suddenly there's a titan-also thanks a lot Connie for splashing water on my face," replied Sasha, rolling her eyes playfully.
Armin was about to make a comment towards the two when Jean suddenly shouted.
"Hey, Eren! Why are you just standing there?! Move, you bastard! There's a titan shifter!"
The blond boy was puzzled at Jean's sudden outburst and turned his head toward Eren's direction, only to find he was still frozen in his spot, wearing an unreadable expression while staring at the water. The others had already sprinted and left, while Armin ran to Eren.
"Eren? Are you okay? we need to go," Armin said, trying to grab his attention. The brunette seemed to be zoning out as he still didn't reply. But after a few seconds, Eren blinked his eyes multiple times before looking at Armin who seemed to have a concerned look visible on his face.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Let's go." He hurried to run towards the others after zoning out, not caring to get his equipment with Armin following him behind in silence.
Earlier, he was just lost in his thoughts when he saw the lightning. Eren didn't know what to do after the thought of what lay beyond the ocean swirled in his mind. And now, they were about to face another titan or possibly a shifter again after months of not having an expedition outside the walls. Yes, they did find a titan earlier—a much smaller one, who seemed to be trying to crawl itself towards the walls. But after finding out the truth that titans were just Eldians that resided outside Paradis and were only sent to the island for punishment and forced to turn into a titan to pay for their sins as the devil of this world; Eren now felt sympathetic towards them, seeing as he still needed to seek freedom for his people and himself.
Titans—they weren't his enemies now.
When they arrived at the spot where the others went, their moves halted as no titan was visible to their sight. Instead, what Eren and Armin found was the others sharing a look of confusion when their captain was pointing a blade towards a figure of a girl and their commander trying to argue with him.
"I said wait, Levi! This one doesn't seem to be a shifter!" declared Hange hastily. "They don't even have titan marks on the face!"
The soldiers were all baffled at the situation in front of them, even feeling the thick tension in the air between their captain and commander grow thicker.
But Levi only scowled, ignoring Hange's comment, and continued to point his blade at the mysterious person. "With or without titan marks, it doesn't mean they can be trusted, Hange. You should know that by now."
Mikasa and the others were all perplexed about the situation they were in but had their blades ready on their sides in case the person decided to attack them. Eren on the other hand, narrowed his eyes towards the person and inspected them through his eyes.
Their captain was right. No titan marks were visible. Heck, even the body of a titan was nowhere to be found near them. But how was that possible?
However, what Eren did notice was that this person sported a peculiar hair color and was wearing a white dress—which made Eren avert his eyes as it was somewhat shorter than what women on the island were accustomed to wearing.
But Eren did not care.
He glanced at the others and saw Jean and Connie's faces coated with a blush who were also trying their best to avert their attention from looking at the person.
The girl stood up and tried shielding herself from them with her hands. Terror was visible on her face as she tried to defend herself from them.
"Please, I already told you. I — I don't know where I a—wait." She paused and seemed to be in deep thought as if she was trying to process the information she got. Her eyes scanned their faces and then at their clothes, slowly, before her eyes widened. "Wait. . . did you just say, Levi? and Hange? Are you — um — are you guys cosplayers or something?"
Silence.
"What in the shitty world is a cosplayer."
To be continued . . .