Chapter 1: Prologue
"Aww," the brunnet whinned gripping my arm. "Levi! Please, I really want to see!" He whinned even louder.
"Eren, no. We can't. Or rather I don't want to," I told him. I pulled my arm from him, flicking his forehead in the process.
"Levi, please! I wanna visit our memories!" Eren whinned again.
After they die, it's common for most people to come to the Land Of Memeories to earse their memories so they don't have to deal with the depression that comes with knowing the people you did when you were alive. Couples tend to earse memeories, expect of the ones they shared with each other. Or, they earse all memeories expect for their feelings so they can start over.
Eren and I planned to erase all memeories except for our feelings. He was against it but I had told him it was for the best and that it was a good idea. Eren didn't argue much after that. I feel bad for making him to something he doesn't want to do but we need to if we wanted to start over in Zion now that we're dead.
"What is with this sudden urge?" I groaned, falling back against the shaded grass. I stated up at the tree that blocked my eyes from the sun. "I really don't want to, Eren."
"Levi... if we're going erase them can't we just relive them one more time? Before I forget all the time I spent with you and my friends..."
"We're erasing so we can create new ones," I told him as I propped myself on my elbows. He was sitting on his knees, now hands folder in his lap. His gaze never one moved away from the grass.
"I-I know. I know that b-but I want to relive them. J-just once." He began to cry, his hands shot up to cover his read puffy eyes and his tear stained cheeks.
"Tch. You're useless," I said. I sat up and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He sobbed harder but it wasn't because of what I said, we both knew that I didn't mean it. He was crying because he didn't want to forget what we had. Our love would remain but nothing else.
"Thanks..." he whispered while pushing his cheek againt my chest. I felt his slim arms snake their way around my waist, his sobs coming to a stop.
"When should we go?" I asked whilst using my free hand to rake through his brown locks that sat on his head like a mop.
"Tomrrow maybe," he said between siniffles.
"Okay." A pause. "We'll need to eat and drink a shit. God only knows how it'll take to relive all how memeories together ."
"Okay. You're right. Let's go then." He stood up, pulling me with him and then he began to skip down the hill that led to wonderful, endless world of Zion.
Rose's Corner was a small corner cafe that Eren had taken me to once I arrived in Zion. With its beautiful exterior and peaceful atmosphere I had instantly decided that I would come to the small cafe often.
The workers were all skeletons and zombies but they were all incredibly kind hearted. Each one had a story to tell, the story of their lives on Earth. Mike was a solider in the Korean War while Zachary was a judge for many murder cases. The dead had stories to tell and we were willing to listen.
When I first came to Zion I was reunited with Isabel and Farlan, my two best friends who died several months after I met Eren. It took me a few days to actually find Eren once I arrived. I heard some ghosts talking about a boy who had the most beautiful eyes or how there was this amazing voice coming from the east side of the city. I had known from the first mention of his eyes, that the stories of the beautiful green eyed boy all revolved around Eren.
Our reunion was far from joyful. It was filled with tears, screams, and curse words. The tears and screams all came from Eren and the curse words and slander came from me. I was more frustrated that it had taken me so long to find him and when I did I didn't know what to say or how to act. In the end we both started crying and telling each other how much we love one another.
"The same as usual?" Ilse asked, a notebook in her hand and smile spread across her face. I didn't know her when we were alive but I knew of her. She was a famous tattoo artist who was murdered by a group called Titans.
"You bet," Eren smiled as he placed his hand atop of mine.
"So, black tea for Levi and a raspberry milkshake for Eren," she smilled and disappeared behind two doors that lead to the kitchen.
"If you keep drinking all those milkshakes you'll get fat," I told Eren as I looked through the menu even though I know it like the back if my hand.
"Not true. Nothing happens to you here," he sang. "I'm gonna stay like this forever!" He shouted causing several people to turn and stare. Some even whispered to one another but with a simple death glare they shut their mouths in an instant.
"Still..." I muttered as our drinks were placed infront of us. Eren rolled his eyes before he slurpped down half the drink in the first two minutes he had it.
I stared out the window with my cup in hand as I watched skeletons and ghosts pass infront of the window. Eren and I are one of the only few people in Zion who kind of look like humans.
Our faces are very pale and our cheeks look sunken in. Some of the skin on my head had fallen off so some of my skull is exposed. Eren is missing skin by right ribcage and along the inner part of both his wrists. His eyes were still as bright as ever and his messy hair had always been unkept.
"I'm not ready..." Eren whispered under his breath. I no longer felt his eyes on me and when I had turned to look at him, his gaze was glued to his hands which were firmly wrapped around his cup.
I took a deep, shalky breath placing my hand on his wrist as I did so. "I know. I'm not either but it'll be okay." I removed one of his hands from the cup and laced his fingers with my own. "It'll be okay." I reached my free hand acorss the table and brought his head to mine. I stopped pulling him to me once out foreheads were resting on each other. My free had was caressing his cheek, my thumb slowly rubbing his skin. His cold hand had left the cup and was now soflty placed on my neck.
"Promise?" He said loud enough just for me to hear him.
I nodded my head slightly. "Promise."
It's been a while since I've last been to the building that is connected to The Land of Memories and quite frankly I don't think I like it to much. It's dark (that's not really a problem), and cold plus the people who "control" the building are creepy as hell.
Two big doors opened up to the main room which is where you make an appointment or come to check it. We didn't make appointment. We came here hopping they would just let us in. Hopefully.
"Hi Eren. It's been a while," girl with short blond hair greeted once we were infront of the black marble counter.
"Hey Christa," he waved.
"Whats up?" She asked.
"Well... Levi and I came to relive our memeories," I told her.
"Great. Did you make an appointment?" She looked down at computer infront of her.
"Uhh.. yeah that's the thing. We didn't," I bluntly said. She glanced up at us before looking back down at the computer. She typed a couple things in before looking at is again.
"That's okay I guess. You're lucky because our next appointment isn't for another couple weeks," she turned off the computer and walked around the counter to us. "Lets go get you ready."
Without another word she headed down a long corridor that was black with red trim. There was an eerie silence, our footsteps bounced off the walls and echoed throughout the entire hallway.
A small single door was infront of us. It stood out from the rest: it was pure white and a big yellow sign with the words Caution hung above it. Christa pushed the door open before motioning us to follower her.
It was white. Pure white walls with pure white tile flooring and four white beds in the center of the room. Needles were carelessly placed on the counters that surrounded three out of the four walls and the trash can that was by the door was overflowing with used latex gloves.
Hand in hand with Eren, I walked over to one of the beds. It wasn't uncomfortable but it wasn't comfortable either. Like a hospital bed I suppose. Eren didn't seem to mind for he had let go of my hand and was already laying on his back. I followed his lead and crawled onto my bed, wiggling around trying to get comfortable.
"So, what memeorie or memeories are visiting?" Christa asked. She was filling two syringes up with a mysterious blank liquid that was going to be flowing through our vains soon.
"Uhh- All of them," Eren said in one quick breath.
"All of them?" She set the syringe down, turning to face us with a semi-shocked expression on her face. "Do you guys know how long that could take? Hours. Days. Weeks. Months."
"Your point?" I spoke up after what felt like an eternity of silence.
"You'll need food. Water. You'll need to use the bathroom at take showers-"
"Feed us through a tube," I spat, glaring at the blond. "Do whatever you have to. Eren- We need this. We need to relive these memeories before they're gone."
She stood there, shocked but slowly turned back around and continued to fill the syringes with the black liquid. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and made a call, simply muttering a few words before hanging up.
"Okay... so, I'm having people bring tubes in just in case," she said, grabbing two blue rubber band looking objects.
She first tied it around Eren's arm and then moved to mine. It was a fast process, one that only look minutes maybe even second. It was injecting the black liquid that was difficult. You can't miss the vein and if you move once you'll most likely fuck everything up and then you're screwed.
Eren and I have only done this once. A pain unimaginable roars through your body and it feels like the life is being sucked right out of you. Breathing is no longer a thing for it feels like you've forgotten how to breath and your heart has to stop in order for you to transported to The Land Of Memories in one piece. It feels like dying all over again.
Coming back is just as torturous. The black liquid is pulled back out which causes your breathing and heart beat to speed up. The fucked up thing is the moment they begin to take the liquid you wake up and you're completely aware of everything. The same pain of having your life sucked out comes back but instead of not breathing you begin to hyperventilate.
The pain, once you're awake, tends to stick around for a week. You get the sensation of being sat on by an elephant or rather its more of a sore feeling. Like you've been fucked for a month straight and all you can do is sleep because it's the only thing that helps rid if the pain. It's the only pain you can feel in Zion.
"Who goes first?" She held the needle in her hand looking between Eren and me.
"I'll go first," Eren said. I stared at me, debating on if I was going to argue with him or not. In the end I simply nodded, letting him go first because I didn't want him to see me in pain.
"Okay," I nodded, reaching my hand out. He took it without hesitation before looking at Christa and telling her to continue.
I watched as the needle went into his vein, the liquid to follow, taking away the blue colour his veins once had turning them to a dark grey colour. He squeezed my hand, squeezing his eye shit and clenching his teeth. That did little to mask his screams. Tears scream from his closed eyes. And then I felt his pulse stop along with his breathing but they soon went back to normal letting us know he made it to The Land Of Memories.
I torn my eyes from Eren and nodded towards my own arm hoping Christa would get the message that I want to join Eren as soon as possible. Just pulled he needle from Eren's arm, disposing of it before reaching for another one.
Just before she stabbed the syringe into my arm, I stopped her. "Thank you," I said pushing the needle into my arm myself.
The pain came rushing back like a train. All my limbs burned along with my veins. I could feel my breathing slow down. I felt like water was in my lungs and I was struggling to catch each breath but I never could. I clenched my free hand into a first and squeezed Eren's with the other one.
The world suddenly become blurry and I could not longer make out the bondes face through the fuzzy haze of colour.
Everything went dark.