The whole world stopped. It was just myself and him. I knew it was truly him by the way he stood and by his voice. The only thing that was different from the Erwin I knew was his clothing and his hair. He wore a light gray zippered coat that brought out the bright blue in his eyes. His dark jeans were slightly wrinkled as they came over the top of his shoes. I could see the bottom of an un-tucked button down shirt coming out from underneath his coat. His blond hair was only slightly parted and came forward over his forehead, making his face look more pleasant.

He cleared his throat. "Well, uh, you're not hurt are you?" he asked, glancing me over.

I shook my head a little too quickly. "No, I'm fine, really." Does he recognize me? Oh, God, I hope he does. "We didn't hit each other that hard."

"Alright," he replied nonchalantly. He held out his hand to me. "I'm Erwin."

"Ariadne," I told him, shaking his hand. It felt rough and calloused, just like it had when I first met him on the cart.

"Nice to meet you," he said, smiling slightly.

"You too." I returned a smile. We stood awkwardly for a few moments.

Erwin shuffled on his feet as if trying to warm up his toes. "It's really cold outside," he observed. "Want to go get something warm to drink? You drink coffee?"

I nodded. "Yes, I would like to."

"Great! There's a good place just down the street from here. Come on." He waited for me to start following him as we walked down the sidewalk together. I was eager to find out if he knew me or not. I had to know.

I felt comfortable and safe standing beside him. I could not help but glance around to see if anyone was watching us walk down the sidewalk, but then I remembered that in this world I was not married to him. I relaxed my tense shoulders.

"There it is," Erwin announced, pointing to a little corner café. He held the door open for me and walked in after myself.

The whole place smelled of sweet coffee beans. Tables and chairs covered a good bit of the floor-space. Green booths were pushed up against the windows with a table between the seating. The counter had a display case full of delicious looking pastries and cakes. A chalk board above the counter had a menu of all the drinks and food the café sold. Only a couple of employees were working behind the counter. A few more customers were sitting at the tables, drinking coffee and reading newspapers or chatting quietly with each other.

I looked over the menu for a while. "I know what I would like," I told him.

He nodded. "Same." He went up to the counter and the barista asked for his order. "Black coffee, no sugar." I knew he would order that. He never did drink anything "fancy." Erwin looked to me. "Go ahead, it's on me."

"Um, alright." I took a step forward and looked at the barista to give him my order. I was taken aback for a moment. His freckled face made him look as if he was still a boy. His large green eyes stared openly back into my own, waiting patiently for my order. The nametag on his uniform told me his name was Joseph. I blinked and shook my head. "Um, sorry," I apologized quickly. "I would like a coffee with hazelnut cream. That's all."

"Okay, it'll be ready in a few minutes," Joseph told us. He totaled the cost and took the money from Erwin. We stood waiting by the counter as our drinks were prepared. Several minutes later, our drinks were handed to us. "Have a nice day," Joseph told us cheerily.

"Thanks, you too," I replied.

Erwin and I walked to a corner booth that was furthest away from any of the other customers or employees and sat beside each other, leaving our coats on the booth seat across from us. We sat in silence while we waited for our drinks to cool. I still wondered if it was really the Joseph I knew that was behind the counter. He looked and acted just like him. I then wondered who else had I missed since coming back here. Obviously Erwin was here, as was Joseph, but was Espyon in this world? Hanji? Levi? Mary Kat? My head reeled with the possibility that they were all still alive.

I took a sip of my coffee, slightly burning my tongue in the process. At least it tasted good. I felt Erwin's eyes on me. I turned to face him. "What?" I asked curiously.

He narrowed his eyes and continued staring at me, his eyebrows furrowed together. "I just keep getting this feeling like I know you from somewhere."

My heart leapt, but I kept calm. "Believe me, the feeling is mutual."

He looked away and took a sip of his own coffee. I was unsure of what made me think to say something that might trigger his memory (if it was truly Erwin), but under my breath I muttered, "Survey Corps."

Erwin immediately looked back at me instead of out the window. For a moment I was fearful because he was looking at me so intensely. "What did you say?" he asked.

I cleared my throat and said, "Survey Corps," a little louder.

I hardly had any time to react before Erwin had roughly put his lips to mine. At first I felt like I needed to reject the kiss, but then I realized that this was proof.

It really was Erwin.

He held me gently by my face and pressed our foreheads together. "I found you, Ariadne," he said softly. "I found you."

"I wasn't sure," I admitted through the tears that were suddenly streaming down my face. "I wasn't sure if you knew me."

"How could I forget?" He kissed me again on my lips and then on my cheek. I laughed and kissed him back. I did not care if the other customers saw us or heard us. I was with Erwin again.

After a while we had calmed down, but we still sat very close to each other. There were so many questions I wanted to ask him, but I was unsure of which one I should ask first.

"What happened to your arm?" I asked, pointing to his right arm. "I thought it had gotten bit off by a Titan."

He glanced down at his right arm. "Yes, it did, but in this world it was crushed in a helicopter accident. I can't lift it much higher than my shoulder now." He demonstrated.

I cocked my head. "How did that happen?" I asked curiously, swallowing a bit of my coffee. It was cool enough to drink casually now.

Erwin reached into his shirt and pulled out a pair of dog tags that were hanging around his neck. "I'm still in the military here," he informed me, "but as of now, I'm on recovery and in the process of being in reserves instead of full time."

I nodded. "But what about your arm?"

He breathed in deeply and then exhaled. "From what they tell me, I don't exactly remember it all, my unit and I were flying over a military base on our way to land the helicopter. Something malfunctioned, causing the craft to shake and lose balance. We crashed on the ground, but it miraculously didn't explode." He took a drink of his coffee before continuing. I could see his hands were shaking, but he rested them on the table to keep them steady. "My arm had been caught in the door of the helicopter, crushing the bones in my arm when it closed suddenly on impact."

I grimaced at the mental image. "How'd you get out? What happened to your men?"

"A rescue dog by the name of Levi pulled me out of the wreckage before anybody else got to us. I had hit my head pretty good too so I don't remember anything but the crash downward." He put his hand to his forehead and lifted the hair, showing me a scar that had previously been covered. He let the hair down and straightened the locks strategically over the healed wound. "As for my men, only one of them died. The rest didn't have as serious of injuries and are still serving."

I nodded. "A dog named Levi, huh?" I chuckled lightly. "What kind of dog?"

"A German Sheppard I believe," he replied, also laughing softly.

"I see." I knew now how he had come to that world. I wondered how long he had been there in order to lose all of his memories of this world and create ones of his own. I had only been there for just over a year and I had long begun to create my own memories of a fake childhood. It hurt my head just thinking of the possibilities.

"So what happened that made you go there?" he asked. "You told me once before, but I don't think I understood it then."

I nodded again. "It's fine. I don't mind." I told him about how I had arrived at the University expecting to job shadow with Dr. Wyatt when the machine went berserk and transported me to that world. I had always been irritated whenever I had to explain it to someone, but I did not feel that way when I told it to Erwin. He understood. Later he told me that I never really had to go to the therapist anymore now that I was out of the hospital. It honestly had never occurred to me not to go. I suppose that now that Erwin was here and nothing was wrong with me, I had no reason to go to the therapist. I eventually just stopped showing up in Brady's office.

I was unsure of how long Erwin and I had actually stayed at the café, but it was long enough to when we noticed the sun starting to set, we had realized it had been hours. Erwin offered to walk me home. It was not much farther from where we already were, so I accepted. We freely walked down the street together, arm-in-arm. For the first time in months, my heart was light and free.

I was so happy.

"No, mom, he's not anybody dangerous. He's in the military, but will soon be only in the reserves." I sighed irritably and glanced at Erwin from across the table. I put the phone over my other ear. Erwin sipped his drink quietly.

"Ariadne, I'm just concerned for you. When you woke up in the hospital you were uttering something about Titans, another world, and all this other stuff. And then once you meet this guy you stop going to see your therapist." I could imagine her sitting at the kitchen table of my childhood home. Her graying hair put back in a clip, but still stuck out at random places. Her gray-blue eyes glossed over with concern. My father was probably sitting in the other room on the couch, listening in to her conversation with me.

"I just want to make sure he's good for you. I'm scared for you."

"Mom, I promise I'll be alright. I know what I'm doing, okay?"

"Well…" She stayed quiet for a few moments.

Erwin gestured to the phone. "Want me to talk to her?" he asked softly, making sure only I could hear him.

I shook my head. I sighed again. "Mom, I love you. I wouldn't do anything to purposefully hurt you or dad." I reached for Erwin's hand across the table and squeezed it lightly. "Hey, here's an idea. What if I flew you and dad over here so you can meet him? We could pay for most of it." Erwin looked at me in surprise.

"Hang on," came the reply over the phone. I could hear a little bit of mumbling and the deep voice that was my father's, muffled by my mother's hand over the speaker.

Erwin looked at me. "Really?"

"Why not? I still have plenty of money left over from the University. Besides, if we get them here before the wedding then they could actually come. They wouldn't have a chance to back out."

"Ariadne, I think you should actually tell them why you called instead of jumping around it."

"I will, I will." I waited a moment before I heard my mother's voice again. "Hey, mom. There's actually a reason why I wanted you to come here to Germany."

"What's that? You're not hurt are you?"

I shook my head again. "No, no. I'm fine, I promise." My voice clenched. For some reason I was not able to get the words out. "I just… Um… I wanted to let you know that, um…"

Erwin took the phone from my hands, unable to stand seeing me stall any longer. "Hello, Mrs. Sloan?" he greeted politely. I sat gawking at him, surprised he would take the phone from me. "Hello, I'm Ariadne's fiancé." He said it so bluntly, I could imagine my mother staring wide-eyed at nothing in shock. I heard my mother's voice in reply a few moments later. "Yes, ma'am," he said. "No, ma'am. I promise you I have not touched her in any way that could hurt her. Say, you're not busy in the next couple of weeks are you? No? Fantastic." Erwin winked at me. I still sat gawking at him, unsure of where his cheerful attitude was coming from. "Well, here on the 24th we're going to be getting married, and I'm sure that Ariadne and I would love to have you both there."

I could imagine my mother's initial shock was still not over. I heard a loud thud on the other side of the line. "Hello?" Erwin said, suddenly concerned. "Hello? Ah, Mr. Sloan. Is the Mrs alright? Oh, she just dropped the phone, okay. So nothing serious?" I relaxed slightly. This was more nerve-racking than I thought it would be. "Alright, well, did you hear about what's going to happen?" Erwin glanced at me. "Don't worry, sir. We'll take care of everything." I could hear my father's calm and comforting voice. Erwin nodded. "Yes, sir. I will go and book two tickets to Germany. We will be delighted to see you both." He smiled. "Alright, see you soon. Bye." He hung up the phone. "See, that wasn't so bad." I hit his arm. "Hey! What was that for?"

"I was going to tell them!" I whined.

"You were taking too long. Besides, they have an idea of who I am now."

"Erwin!"

"What?" He looked at me, confused as to why I was upset.

I shook my head and started to laugh. "Never mind," I replied through my laughter.

"Well, just be happy that I got them to come."

I kissed his hand. "Don't worry. I am glad."

I looked forward to that day more than anything I ever had before. Everything went perfect. My parents arrived a few days before. Dad had obviously approved of Erwin during the phone call and greeted him as if he had known him for years (Mom was still skeptical). My dress was white with a beautiful flowered sash. Erwin wore his dress uniform and had combed his hair to the side. The best part, we were married in a church.

Ahhh... Finally they're together again. Hang on folks! This isn't quite the end yet! I can get an epilogue out of this still. andmaybesomealternateendingsbutwhoknows? justsaying

Edit: I hope you liked this ending to the chapter. I didn't like it at first but it's grown on me. I figured it would be a funny scene to put in. Also, it seemed appropriate for Valentine's Day yesterday so I kinda hurried through it. I hope it's not too bad!

Feel free to leave a review!