Prologue-Before the Flight
A tremendous howl of loneliness and defeat shook the earth at dawn.
It woke me up and I cracked open my eyes to look at the cloudy gray sky, as the wind picked up and moved the clouds forward.
It looked like they were being pushed by an invisible titan's hand, but I know that this isn't true.
I blink my weary green eyes a couple of times, my vision beginning to blur and weaken.
Where was I again? Oh yeah, we were fighting the titans, and I somehow fell and landed on my back somewhere.
Faint shouts and cries are heard in the distance, but I can't hear them clearly, their voices muffled by my tiredness.
I want to sleep.
Then, another warm hand holds my blood soaked one and my eyes follow the hand back up to the owner's face.
"Eren," The serious looking raven haired man says, "We killed them all."
Killed them all? Kill what exactly? Oh right. We obliterated the titans.
Now that I remember, all my tensed muscles that I didn't know I had before relaxed, and I feel a exhaustion creeping in, like I've been awake for an eternity. Maybe I should fall asleep. Yeah, I feel like doing that.
I let out a quiet sigh just as something wet and warm hits my face. Where they tears?
"Don't die on me, Jaeger!" The same man shouted, shaking my shoulders, trying to rouse me.
I hardly had the power left to crane my neck up to look at him. But I couldn't get up by myself. I wasn't able to.
Pain wracked through my whole body, giving me involuntary shivers every couple of moments.
I let out a strained wheeze as I attempt to touch his face one last time.
"You promised me you would stay alive, Jaeger." He muttered, closing his eyes and shaking his head in denial.
"You fool, stepping in like that when nobody asked you to!" The man's voice cracked, a sob escaping him.
I smile weakly at him. "I-I had to." Because I didn't want you to die…
My feeble attempts at touching the other's tears away were stopped, as his stormy gray eyes locked onto my clouded ones and he pushed my hand back down. Strong, well toned arms go under me and lift my broken body up.
"You'll live, brat." He grunted in certainty, and leaped from the ground where we were to the roofs above us to find the closest medical squad.
A spasm of pain made its way down my spine and I cough out blood.
"Ugh. Stay still." The Lance Corporal mumbled as he pulled out a white handkerchief and wiped my mouth clean.
We swung from building to building, the last titan's carcass disintegrating in the distance.
I feel my eyelids getting heavy again. Sleep was beckoning its finger towards me.
It was so warm in Corporal's arms.
Couldn't I just fall asleep now? Were they always this warm? I don't know…I can't seem to remember.
I tried to concentrate on Corporal's face and little white flecks of cold fluttered by us, some landing on our faces and green cloaks.
I faintly ask what it was, just to be sure. "Corporal, is it snowing?"
The usually collected man stopped on top of a rotting bell tower and hugged me close to him.
"Yes, Eren it is."
I let out a happy sigh, "I'm glad." And my eyes fluttered to a close, remembering our promise.
Lance Corporal Rivaille looked down at the motionless boy in his arms, who had a peaceful, quirky smile plastered on his face.
"Damned brat." He murmured, his legs giving out suddenly as he collapsed on the tiles of the roof.
His whole body went visibly limp and you could see his shoulders trembling.
The titans were gone and humanity was saved. Although were the sacrifices really worth it?
After all, hope and each other as companions were all they had in this merciless, relentless world.
"God damn it Jaeger. Wake up already! This is no time to joke around!" Rivaille pounded his fists beside Eren's head, trails of tears making their way down his pale cheeks.
"Eren!" He cried, baring his sorrow stricken face towards the heavens, flurries of snow relentlessly making their way down onto the ground below.
Why must this world be so cruel?
Hours later, Commander Irvin found his Lance Corporal in the very same position he was in before-with Eren Jaeger in his arms, eyes staring blankly into nothingness.
One quick glance and he was able to tell what had happened.
That's why he was made the Commander of the Scouting Legion.
With his genius and attention to detail, as well as his decision making skills he was the perfect choice to be leader.
But now, he started to regret those abilities of his.
Snow had covered most of Rivaille's body, but Eren was void of the white death because of him being covered by Rivaille and his usually angry face set in the calm, fluid lines of death.
"Get up, Rivaille." Irvin said, grabbing a hold on the grieving male's arm.
"No." A cracked voice whispered, moving his arm away from his grasp. "No."
The Commander sighed. "This is an order, Rivaille."
"No." He muttered again, in a detached voice.
Tired, muscles sore from fighting too many titans in a lifetime alone and mentally scarred from seeing many, too many of his comrades' die in battle Irvin Smith finally snapped.
A loud slap was heard.
"Get a grip on yourself." Red veins could be seen from Irvin's sudden burst of anger as his hands shook from the adrenaline pumping through his body.
He was shaking his head, not wanting to look at his broken corporal any longer.
They burned the deceased just outside the gates of Shiganshina.
Eren, along with them.
Everything was a mess, and a short progression of events.
The rest of the remaining members of the 104th training squad gathered around the burning pile of flesh, backs straight and in salute.
Some members of the Scouting Legion were there too.
Mikasa glared at Rivaille with all the force she could muster with tears in her eyes.
Armin on the other hand, bawled his eyes out, while the flames leaped higher and higher into the darkening sky.
Hanji was crying for a different reason though.
The Wallists that were present hummed out sorrowful songs, others praying for the souls of the deceased.
"May Eren Jaeger, the last titan shifter and the weapon of mankind…rest in peace."
The snow had stopped falling, and it was around midnight.
After burning the dead, the remaining survivors made their way into makeshift camps and the abandoned buildings that surrounded them.
"You okay, Rivaille?" Irvin asked, grasping onto the other's soldiers.
The shorter male barely noticeably paused before answering, "Yes."
He then pushed him onto the ground, and kissed him roughly on the lips not caring if the floor was clean or not.
Rivaille wanted to escape from reality, the pain was too bitter for him to handle.
That was why he decided that Irvin would make a good distraction, albeit a bad one. But then again he didn't care anymore.
With the light of his life gone, what was there to live for anymore?
The titans were obliterated, so what else could humanity's strongest do?
He could do exactly nothing. His role in life was fulfilled, and he was just a shell of his former self.
Irvin wrapped his arms around him, doing nothing but letting the broken-hearted man kiss him hungrily.
Rivaille started to suck on his neck, one hand on his chest as the other went lower and lower, down into the commander's pants.
"Stop. Rivaille." An exasperated Irvin ordered, seeing his best soldier break down in front of him, and using him like this out of self pity.
It was all too much for him to handle in one day.
There was only one way to stop this madness.
He had to get close up and personal with him, right to the source of the problem.
"You made a promise to him."
The Lance Corporal's eyes widened in disbelief at his statement, then in realization and understanding to what he meant by promise.
Light came back into his eyes again as he looked down at Irvin's pissed face, and got off him brushing the imaginary dust of his clothes.
The now composed Rivaille walked over to the window, tapping on the glass while taking a looking outside.
It was night, and a blizzard was starting.
"I see."
We will meet again the next time it snows…
Eren Jaeger, 18 and jobless woke up with a start, his striking green eyes widening from the nightmarish dream he just had.
His heart was pounding hard in chest, like he had run for miles and his hands shook. His pillow was wet, and so was his face. I was crying?
"Why was I crying?" Eren wondered out loud, brushing the remaining traces of them off his face.
Something had been woken inside of him because it felt like he was as jumpy as a frightened animal, buzzing with energy and excitement.
Did it mean anything?
However, when the sleepy Eren to a glimpse at the clock on his desk, all the energy he had upon waking disappeared. The clock read 4:34 am.
He let out a long groan as he turned away from the bad news, burying himself in the warmth and comfort his covers provided.
"Frick. I have a job interview at 11 too." He slurred angrily, mad at waking up so early.
Today's going to be a fucking long day.
The tired adolescent said to himself, as his thoughts carried him off into a state of neither sleep nor wakefulness.