A Kiss of Life and Death
I take no credit for the world or characters created by the genius Isayama, I only claim the specific arrangement of words that follow.
Chapter 1: Ouroboros
His lips grazed her delicate hand and the secrets of the world, past, present, and future, were revealed. What Eren must do, or perhaps more precisely what he has already done, is now both more clear and more clouded than ever before. In that moment, a soft touch of lips upon a softer hand, Eren saw that he never really had a choice. In his mind, he saw that his life was nothing more than a circle. His existence was but a hopeless wheel. A snake of loss and misery eating its own tail, heading for nowhere but a bitter end and doomed to repeat.
Some images were clear, Eren saw a future version of himself forcing Grisha to kill the Reiss family, and more heartbreaking was the image of Grisha pleading with Zeke to stop Eren. The rest were a blur. There were images of friends, both past and future. There were people meeting their end who he had yet to even meet. He saw things that gave him clarity on the way his life has gone and must go, and yet he saw flashes of things he could make no sense of.
Most importantly, he saw the end of his life. The tears, the conflict, the death. Yet through the oceans of blood that filled his mind, he could see the peace beyond. He saw the purpose; he saw the outcome. He saw a child, born into the world as the world around it burned and shook. The thoughts and fragments of thoughts that filled Eren's mind brought him a tirade of emotions. All these emotions took the form of utter shock upon his face as he pulled away from Historia's delicate yet strong hand.
Historia could sense something was off.
"Eren?" She questioned with confusion, curiosity, and concern.
But Eren could not respond immediately. His body stayed statue still, bent on one knee, head over Historia's hand. All the movement that his body lacked took form in Eren's face. Lip quivering, pupils dilating, and eyebrows shaking with the weight of the world upon them.
Slowly Eren began to take in reality again. He felt his grip on Historia's hand and he slackened it. Mikasa and Armin expressed their concern for Eren by moving closer, taking up positions close to him.
"Eren!" exclaimed Eren's two life-long friends.
Three pairs of hands reached down towards him and ushered him halfway onto his feet. Eren attempted to steel himself. He did not want the people he cared for most to think he had gone mad.
"I-I'm fine." said Eren in a meek voice.
He raised a hand to his head, hoping that somehow a simple and thoughtless reactionary gesture could quell the tornado of thoughts in his mind. Eren looked up from his hunched over position and the first pair of eyes he saw where the clear blue of Historia's. They were the familiar color of the ocean, yet Eren did not know how he had such intimate firsthand knowledge of the ocean to even think such a thought.
Eren rose, which was no mean feat in his current mental condition, to his full height. While he may tower over Historia's meager stature, Eren felt no greater than the young woman before him. As his mind cleared, he absorbed his surroundings once more. In this instant reboot of the mind, he found himself thinking about how much the newly coronated queen had changed. More importantly, he found himself surprised with how much he admired the person she was turning out to be.
Historia herself has similar thoughts about Eren. They both had come a long way from when they first met, and she noticed that Eren was becoming a more mature soldier and man. Yet these thoughts were far from Historia's mind at the moment as Eren slowly stood and started slowly shaking off whatever had just come over him.
"Are you alright Eren?" Mikasa asked, with the concern plainly painted on her voice.
"L-Like I said, I'm fine, or I will be soon enough." replied Eren. Noticing all the eyes of the crowd fixed on him he said, "I-I'm sorry to interrupt the ceremony. Please, continue.". Making his way onto his knee again, he continued to straighten the flashes of memories in his mind.
As the ceremony continued, in a faux normality, Eren steadied his breath and noticed the eyes of Levi trained on him like a hawk. His eyes were the grey of a storm cloud, masked by a calm exterior like the eye of a hurricane. Looking further to his left, Eren also noticed a slightly more compassionate look from the one-eyed Hanji. Yet even in the lone eye of the bespectacled titan enthusiast, Eren saw a concerning look of calculation that was also found in the eyes of the vertically challenged Ackerman.
The rest of the ceremony commenced without pause. Eren stayed silent, his friends remained ravenously worried, and the crowd continued their curiosity. As the event came to a close, the entire room emptied except for a few notable figures. Eren attempted to flee to think about what had occurred in solitude, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. When he turned, he was surprised to see not one of the dark-haired Ackerman's holding him back, but instead the elegantly dressed and crowned queen that he once knew as Krista.
"Eren-"Historia started.
"I just need some time alone"-Eren paused- "your majesty."
And so, with a considerable amount of trepidation, Historia released her grip on the so-called Hope of Humanity. Eren then left the room as swift and as calm as the wind, and with his exit there was now a definite sense of separation in the air. Leaving Armin, Hanji, Mikasa, Levi, and Historia with muddied minds of their own.
Authors Notes: Hello to anyone who bothers to read this! I'm glad to have you around and reading my very first and very raw attempt at a fanfiction.
For everyone up to date with the manga and/or anime, you understand that it is a bit of a weird time in the AOT fandom. I can not say what is driving me to start a fanfiction right before the series is about to end, except for the fact that I have no classes at the moment, and I have a little bit of extra free time.
I have a very rough idea on what direction I want to take this fanfiction, but what it boils down to is what happens after Eren kisses Historia's hand in chapter 90 and will go onto when he leaves for Marley. This will indeed be an Eren x Historia fanfiction as I believe that this specific pairing is what will provide the most interesting story to tell for me (and maybe for Isayama?).
Please leave a comment if you like what I have so far and feel free to send any suggestions or critiques.
Remember, pain is temporary, and life's possibilities are endless
Until next time
- Daniel Da Vinci