Five Years

"It's hard to believe that it's already been five years, isn't it, sir?"

"Yeah, it is. You were so young back then."

Eren sighed and shook his head. To him, it was unimaginable that five years - one-thousand eight-hundred and twenty-five days - had passed. There were some times when the days had felt like hours, but as the not-so-young soldier tucked his long uniform coat beneath his legs and sat within the snow, he had to admit that today was not one of those days. Today felt like forever.

"I'm still young, you know," Eren responded, trying to sound playfully exasperated with his Corporal. He could have added something like, "You're still a lot older than I am," or "At least I can legally consume alcohol now," but decided against it. He wanted to keep their moments together as sentimental as possible. After all, they were becoming a lot more infrequent in number.

Eren watched as his Corporal gave him a nod, leading him to say, "You're right, you're still young, but it seems like just yesterday when you were a bouncy little brat with a sharp tongue and a tendency to blush easily."

Ah, it would seem that the days must have been going by quickly for the Corporal. Eren wished that he could relate. As of late, his training regimens had become so much more demanding, and his lack of sleep from the countless evening expeditions that he was required to go on was really starting to get to him. Even his Corporal had taken notice to it.

"You've been working hard, haven't you?" he asked. The hidden concern within his tone had prompted Eren to answer him almost immediately.

"Yeah..." he sighed. "Things have been really busy on my end lately. But what about you, sir? Have you been keeping busy, too?"

"I try to," the Corporal responded. "Things can get mundane pretty fast, if you just keep doing the same thing over and over again."

Eren rolled his eyes. "Yeah, tell me about it. I swear, if I have to keep waking up at ungodly hours in the middle of the night just so that I can drink a glass of water and do three sets of fifty sit-ups, I'm going to go mad. Like, I'm seriously going to lose it."

Although Eren hadn't intended for his overdramatic reaction to be a joke, he was happy to hear the laughter in his Corporal's voice, as he said, "You were complaining about sit-ups the last time you came to visit me, too. Is that all that's on your mind these days?"

At that, Eren's mouth clamped shut. He knew that his Corporal hadn't intended for the mood to turn somber, but in their sort of situation, it was inevitable.

The blow of a biting wind tousled Eren's hair, instantly reminding him that it was already getting too long again. Any longer and it would become a hazard to his vision and his safety. It was shocking that the higher ups hadn't scolded him for it yet. They scolded him for just about everything else.

It was getting cold. He probably should have headed back, but he wanted to stay with his Corporal for just a little bit longer.

Hugging his knees and lowering his head, it was with a heavy sigh that Eren confessed to what had truly been on his mind. "No, not at all. All I can ever seem to think about is you, sir."

Eren wasn't looking at him, but he could tell that his superior had been taken by surprise with such a statement. Nonetheless, after a brief period of silence, he had to agree. "Same here. Like we were talking about earlier, it really is hard to believe that it's already been five years."

Five years. One-thousand eight-hundred and twenty-five days.

Five years since "Humanity's Strongest Soldier" had fallen.

"Corporal Eren!"

The sound of one of his squad members had immediately and regretfully drawn his attention away from his Corporal. In an urgent attempt to dust the snow off of his boots and rise into a stand, he turned around and addressed his subordinate politely. "Yes? What can I do for you?"

Noticing where her Corporal was and piecing together what it was that he was doing, the young female soldier began to feel a bit bashful for interrupting such a private matter. "Oh, um...I didn't know that you were visiting his grave, sir. I'll ask you about it at another time. It can wait."

"No, I don't mind." In a world where nothing was predictable, Eren despised that word. Wait. For what? For a chance that you never grabbed? For an opportunity that you had missed? For a final kiss that you never got to take? For that last goodbye that had never been said? No, that wasn't it. There was no such thing as waiting. Not anymore. "What's your question?"

"Well, I...was wondering if you could help me with my target practice. I'm still a little spotty, and Squad Leader Sasha said that I'm not hitting my mark deep enough. But she's busy, and you're obviously really good at it, so..."

Eren nodded firmly. "Understood. Let's get right on that, then."

Slightly baffled by how ready her Corporal had made himself sound, the young soldier quickly asked, "But sir, is that okay? You were in the middle of..."

Another nod, and a gentle smile. "It's alright. We were just about getting ready to finish up anyway. Weren't we, sir?"

As Eren turned his head back to where his Corporal had once stood before him, chatting and smiling and reminiscing about the old times, he was suddenly met with the cruel face of reality. He had never truly been there to begin with. All that was present was the small grave where Corporal Levi's body had been lain to rest five years ago.

Hi there! Chappy here! :D

Today was Day 6 of Ereri Week, and the prompt for today was "Pain" (i.e. the hardest day to write for, holy ravioli orz).

Isn't it sad that there's only two days left of Ereri Week? I don't know about you, but I find it really, really sad. I've been having so much fun hashing out these drabbles every day that I really want to keep to it. Even when Ereri Week comes to an end, expect to see a lot more drabbles from me in the future! I really love writing them! (:

Anywho, enough rambling! I hope you enjoyed!

And of course, as always, thank you for taking the time to read!

- Chappy