Chapter 13

The great hall was still filled with sweet music when the Guardians and Anya came in. Anya, who was first to react, was surprised when she saw the person who was playing the piano. It was Eren.

'He's good…' she thought and moved closer to the piano and to the oblivious boy.

Jack, who was standing with the Guardians on the other end of the hall, made to speak out to Eren, but North stopped him and signaled him to listen first.

"Was that…really Eren…?" the frost sprite asked, in awe.

"Of course…" North said quietly to the winter sprite. There's still a little bit of innocence on him, the old man thought.

Eren's hand glided across the yellowish ivory keys flawlessly. He made a staccato again, then a major key.

He smiled, unaware of the girl's presence and the small crowd behind him.

He turned around as he made one last glide, only to slam his fist on the keyboard. He fell down to the floor after he saw the girl, who was just a breath away.

"Aah!"

"Ah! S-sorry-"

"Damn it! Don't scare me like that." Eren stood up and wiped off the dust on his pants.

"Great playing there Eren!" the boy frowned and turned, looking at the smiling face of the winter sprite, then to the Guardians who were standing behind him.

"Wow, I never thought you could play like that." Tooth said and giggled.

"Yeah…although your hands are rough and you can transform into a huge, malevolent being, you play very well." Sandy frown at Bunny's comment, then he looked at Eren and smiled.

Eren ignored the rabbit's comment, "Great, you all heard me…" then he mumbled, "This is the worst day of my life since Chernobyl."

"What?"

"Nothing." Anya wanted to ask, but the boy countered it and looked away.

"Can you play something else?" Anya asked. Eren shrugged.

"Only one piece… and that's it." He said.

"Well…you play beautifully." Eren's face went red after he heard the girl's praise. He looked away, trying to hide his tomato colored face, but the Jack saw it.

"Oh, Eren your face has gone red…" he said with a grin.

"Anya, I think Eren wants to see the whole palace." Tooth said as she hovered in front of the winter sprite and smiled gleefully.

Eren looked at her, then to the Guardians standing behind her. At least I can get away from them, he thought.

"I guess so…" Eren conceded.

"Great! Now then, North, lets go back to drawing room and find some interesting books!" Tooth, hovered beside North, tugging him by his shoulder.

"You too Jack, Bunny and Sandy," she called the three, who were puzzled by her actions.

The Guardians walked away, leaving the two standing in the middle of the great hall.

"What just happened…?" Eren asked first, but Anya shook her head.

"So, um…" Anya began while looking down at the floor. "Where do you want begin?"

"Well…anywhere…" Eren awkwardly answered.

And for the next long while, he was left all alone with the girl as they toured the palace.

"And this is the library…it's big and wide." Anya and Eren entered on a dimly-lit, dusty, dark room. The bookshelves were creaking under the weight of the tattered, old books.

"Hmm…"

"Say…do you read?"

"Yeah, I always snuck into the Library of Congress."

"What?" Anya was shocked from what the boy had said. "Why there?"

"Not only there; the Vatican's vault. and archives too, and read the gospels of Mary Mag and St Philips." Anya stared at him, disbelief from what he was saying.

"Good thing you're not a person though."

"But my most favorite books are Phantom of Opera and Les Mesarable." Anya's eyes lit up in excitement.

"I love those books…"

"Really? Then you should've seen the opera."

"Oh…" The two stood in the middle of the library, surrounded by an awkward silence.

"Hey Eren…"

"Hm?"

"Do you want to check the garden? Even though it's covered in snow…"

"It's fine." Eren said as they both exited the library.

"Wow…big garden you've got here." Eren said as he scanned the whole, maze-like, snow covered garden of the Catherine Palace.

"Thanks, but I never take care of it, I might attract people." Anya's face blushed red from Eren's praise.

"People?"

"Yeah…they usually 'disturb' the ground and the trees."

"You mean those dried up trees?" Eren pointed on a row of huge, leafless acacia trees.

"Don't say that they can hear you."

Eren stared as the girl approached the tree, caressed a trunk, then whispered, "It's all right, he didn't mean too…"

This is weird, Eren thought as Anya moved back to him. "The tree forgave you, so you're all right."

"That's a relief…"

The two then walked further into the garden in silence. The sky was grey and tiny, bits of snow started to fall.

The two then reached the entrance of the maze, when Eren suddenly smiled after he thought of something.

"Say Anya…you ever had a snowball fight?"

"Snowball fight…?"

"Yeah!" the girl stared at him, confused to his suggestion.

"Well…as far as I can remember my childhood-"

"Let's play a game! We're going to throw as many snowballs at each other while we race towards the exit of this maze." The boy pointed at the entrance excitedly.

Anya thought for a moment. Snowballs…hmm… then her face formed a smile.

"Okay-"

Eren raised his right hand from behind him, revealing a snowball. He then threw it to Anya's face.

"One point! Race you there!" Eren laughed and ran towards the maze.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Anya ran after him.

Eren, breathing hard, threw a snowball at Anya again, but the girl simply moved to one side.

"You missed me!" Anya said gleefully and threw a snowball at the breathless boy. The snowball hit Eren's face with a soft thud.

Anya laughed outright as the two of them reached a small pavilion in the middle of the maze.

"I'm exhausted!" Anya sat down on a cold frozen marble chair.

"Yeah…it's been a while." Eren also sat down beside her.

The two were silent for a moment.

"Anya…"

"Hmm?" The girl turned to him.

"Why're you Anya?"

"…I don't know how to answer that."

"No, I mean 'Anya' isn't your real name right?" Eren said as he looked up to the grey sky.

Anya looked down to the snow covered earth and sighed, "Yes…that isn't my real name."

"Oh…" The boy answered and continued.

"What's your real name?"

"Can I ask you that one first?" Anya said to the boy, who was startled to her quick change of subject.

"Well…" the boy made a side glance then looked at Anya.

"The name 'Eren Jeager' wasn't my real name." Anya turned and came face to face with the boy.

"So what's your name?"

The boy sighed and looked up to the grey sky.

"You see…after I landed on this world, the Moon spoke to me… the Moon gave me my Guardian name." the boy smiled, "The name that the Moon gave to me…" he took a deep breath then continued,

"Atlas…" Anya looked at him and said. "That's a Titan's name-"

"I know…that's one of my reasons why I'm angry at the Moon…" Eren looked up to the sky with a frown, "My main reason however, was 'He' revived me, if the Moon is a good person then He should know how to respect a dead person."

He turned and looked at Anya with a strange smile. "I'm…still human, right?"

Anya made a side-glance, then looked at him, "Yes…you're a 'human'…and I think The Man in Moon revived you because…" she looked away and stood up from the frozen marble bench.

"This world needs your power…I mean not only our power," Anya trailed off, "The Guardians power."

Eren laughed at her suddenly, which confused Anya.

"You really are funny, Anya…" the girl blushed before the boy continued, "Fine, I'll tell you my name," The boy stood up and walked closer to her, "My name is Chayim Ackerman L. Jaeger."

The girl looked at him first, then she smiled.

"I know it sounds funny-" The boy blushed in embarrassment.

"No it's beautifully…Chayim came from the Hebrew word 'Chai' right?"

"Yeah."

"It means life." The boy, now named Chayim, nodded. The girl giggled and bowed to him.

"Finally, it's nice to meet you," she paused, then continued, "Chayim."

Updated now! Ho-Ho! Eren'ns name isnt 'Eren Jaeger' eh? BTW the word Chayim (came from the word chai, also a hebrew word) is a hebrew verbal which means life. Special thanks to Sumi-Sprite. :)