A boy stood at the water's edge, his knees weak and shaky, his arms tired, his lungs worn out. He could feel the presence of three of his friends. Sasha opened her mouth to speak, he knew he could hear her voice crack, but she closed it quickly. Connie was for once not as energetic as his usually was, his voice silent as he too felt just as worn. He felt Jean's hand on his shoulder.
"You think you're gonna be okay?" He heard Jean say.
He nodded, biting his lip and feeling his cheeks grow round as he frowned. His eyes grew moist. He fell to his knees, the shockingly cold water splashing about him, causing the white pants of his uniform to become grey. He took in a deep breath of the salty air, surprisingly thick and noticable, letting the small breeze blow his chin length blonde hair. He felt his lower lip tremble as he sat on his heels in the water, not caring if his uniform was wet.
His caucisan blue eyes flitted over the changing surface of the water, the deep blues turning into turqiouse and then a bright light green, and then back to that dark-grey blue again. White foam broke over each tumbling wave, crashing onto the sandy shore, the rare recource now stretching for miles in every direction until cliffs and rocks broke into the water like peirs for the animals that had already resided there, birds nested in their nooks and crannies.
Wiry grey-green and yellow grass waved in the wind gently, as if motioning a quick 'hello' back to the waters that waved at them.
The boy felt a smile grow on his face.
"It's the ocean." He said quietly. "It's- it's really..."
"Yeah, it is." Jean said quietly, seemingly the only one able to find words in that moment. Not even the Corporal, who was standing atop the hill not too far away, said anything.
He worked his jaw to speak, before letting out a simple sigh.
"Why was it us?" The boy finally said. He could sense Jean's face tilt into one of confusion, Sasha and Connie glancing at each other.
"We're like... twenty three now. But it's just us. Why did it have to be us?" He said this bitterly, as if the words tasted bad on his tongue. "...Just us?"
Connie finally spoke. "I thought you wanted to see the ocean." He said stiffly, uncertainly.
The boy nodded softly, rising to his feet.
"Yeah, I did." He spoke quietly. "I really did, then, huh?"
"But, it's the ocean! No one's ever seen this before! Shouldn't you at least be sort of happy?" He heard Sasha speak for once as well.
"I am." The boy said. "I just feel like something's missing, you know?"
"I know." Sasha said. "Just don't think about it. Enjoy yourself for no, okay?" Her attention turned from her sullen squad-mate to the sandy floor they stood on. "Look at all these little rocks! They look like snail shells! Isn't that cool?"
The day continued on like that, Sasha and Connie leading the group along the shore, hands full of rocks and shells, and the boy followed in suit while Jean and Corporal Levi walked slowly behind. When the day began to grow short, the small group trudged up a hill and headed back to the small camp were the other squads were, cooking and cleaning and laughing and building small huts as if nothing was the matter.
The boy though, not touching the small flower crown Sasha had placed on his head, or dropping the shells balanced precariously in his arms, walked off into the woods alone. He could still smell the saltiness of the ocean even deep into the decidous trees as they hung over his head, but still he marched on. He promised himself he would meet them one last time before heading back.
After a few minutes, he finally came to a clearing in the woods and let out a sigh. The fresh salty air felt like some uncanny heaven to him, but he was not happy. Not really. He sat down, cross legged, dumping the shells on the ground in front of him and leaning back, relaxing his shoulders.
"It's really pretty." He finally spoke. The silence of the still woods were broken as he said this, the words sounding strange and alien and uncomfortable on his tongue, knowing he would be the only one to speak.
"It's everything I thought it would be." He said. "Just like in the book, when we were all kids."
There was no response. He knew there wouldn't be any.
"And Levi actually smiled today too. And Jean, he and I couldn't stop talking about it, you know? He knew I had the book, he knew since we were cadets in the 104th. The banned book. I never thought that it'd be me to have one of those. A book about the outside world. And I think Sasha and Connie liked it too. I think they did a lot. Sasha was really happy, because we went fishing and we're all gonna have a big dinner tonight, and Connie caught one! It was pretty big, but funny thing is, he ended up losing it."
The boy laughed to himself, before his face fell.
"I really wish that you could see it, you know?" He spoke softly, his eyes falling to the grassy ground before him, fresh toiled dirt sifting through it. "It's so big Eren. Your eyes could almost be the same color. I'm pretty sure Mikasa would've had to stop you from jumping in. I should have. And we found the most beautiful flowers, Mikasa! All sorts of colors. Red, and orange and purple. I like the blue ones best. I should've brought you some. I know you'd love them. You both would."
He let out a shaky sigh. "I'm done now. We're going to be sending back groups to get people to come live here, since it's safe and there aren't any Titans. You hear that Eren? They're all gone. Just-just like you wanted, huh?"
He sniffed, taking the crown off his head and setting it on one of the small stick crosses standing in front of him.
"Here Mikasa. I think that there's a few flowers like the ones I said in this. To trade." He ran his hand over the frayed maroon scarf the girl had always worn. Beneath it was a small copper key on a string, something Eren had always worn. He pushed the shells forward to the other cross.
"I'm not going to come back." He said quietly. "So I thought I would just say goodbye. One-one last time."
He heard another voice calling for him, and he rushed to hs feet. "That's my cue. They're probably looking for me. I-I should go." He said again.
"Armin! Come on, it's time to go! The horses are ready!"
"Coming!" He shouted quickly, before turning back to the two small crosses. "I really wish you two could see it. You would love it. I wish you had..."
He let out a solemn, shaky sniff.
"Bye guys. See you again, someday."
And with that the boy left the two crosses in the woods, overlooking the rocky crevices that fell into the ocean. Just as they had wished to be finally laid at rest.
And over the years, the grave-markers rotted away and fell apart. The flowers wilted and the shells were slowly taken away by animals.
But the boy never forgot his two best friends.
He never ever would.