Okay so I am really really really really really really really REALLY sorry for not updating for several months! You probably noticed I changed some things around with the chapters and such. I cut the super long one into two parts and then combined another and got rid of an author's note that I had. So, sorry if I got your hopes up for a new chapter when I did that! D:

Anyway, this chapter is pretty chill (sorta) and probably not much to read after not having anything for several months, just bear with me. I'll get re-motivated to write better this coming year, although I am not making any promises.

Hope you have had a good time while I was gone and had a wonderful Christmas (if you celebrate it) and a fun New Years! On to the new chapter!

Cookie.

No, Michael. No cookie.

Cookie.

After dinner.

Michael pouted his lips and furrowed his brows together. Cookie, he signed again.

I shook my head. "No," I said aloud while also signing the word with my hands. The sign language was getting better. We were all still learning it, but Michael was learning faster than either me or Erwin could keep up with. We would have gotten Michael hearing aids sooner, but we were saving a little extra money to pay for them. We also figured it might be better for Michael to learn the signs and the lip movements before being able to hear them fully. In some way it made sense to us.

I was currently preparing for our friends from our talking session to come over for the afternoon. I decided I did not like calling it a "therapy group" since it seemed more of us just talking about our memories in the other world rather than therapy. Though, in a way, I suppose it really was helpful. Erwin and I had been going to the group for nearly three months now. Erwin had not completely opened up about what happened the second time he went to the other world, but he clearly felt more comfortable talking around the others and myself. He more or less had gone back to the way I remember him being before he left a second time.

I heard a knock on the door, followed by a loud meowling coming from Marcus beside the front door. (I felt like kicking him every time he did this (which was every time someone was at the door)). I opened it to find Mary Kat and Ahli standing on the step.

"Hi!" Mary Kat greeted cheerfully, giving me a hug and walking inside. She had toned down her loud outfits and make-up. She still wore the funky colors in her hair and the black clothing, but it was less intense.

"Hello," Ahli greeted calmly as he always did. The feeling of familiarity nagged at me because of how he greeted me, but I still had a hard time placing whom he reminded me of. He was wearing the same green shirt I had seen him wear the first time I met him, but instead with a loose pair of jeans and a pair of workboots on his feet. His braided hair was held back neatly with his usual rubber band. "I brought a tray of different cheeses," he said sounding sheepish. "I wasn't quite sure what else to bring."

I smiled. "That's fine. I can get out some crackers and it'll be perfect!"

"Where's Erwin?" Mary Kat asked, setting her purse on the couch.

"He's in his study I think. I'll let him know you guys are here," I replied, putting the cheeses on the kitchen counter. "Oh, you might not want to set that there," I warned Mary Kat. "Michael keeps getting into things he shouldn't."

"Oh, okay," she said, letting me take her purse and put it in the coat closet.

"Make yourselves comfortable," I told them. "I'll be back." I left the room to find Erwin, leaving Mary Kat and Ahli in the living room. I leaned against the open doorway of Erwin's study. "Hey, Erwin, they've started showing up. You want to come join us?"

Erwin looked up from the paperwork he was filling out. Mentally, I blushed. Sometimes it was random, but I would notice the sharpness of his features and fall in love with him all over again.

He nodded. "Yeah, I'll be there in just a sec. I'm almost done here."

"Alright. Oh, Ahli's brought cheeses," I said enticingly, making Erwin smile.

"I'll be sure to hurry," he assured.

I came back to the living room to find Ahli petting Marcus and Mary Kat playing with Michael. "He'll join us in a bit," I told them.

"Okay. Is Levi coming too?" Mary Kat asked.

"He said he would. Armin too. Clarissa said she had a prior engagement so she won't be joining us."

"That's fine with me," Ahli muttered to himself.

I chuckled. I tickled Michael's side to get his attention, making him squeal. "Go find some toys to play with. Bring them out here," I signed and said aloud.

"Hey, you're getting pretty good at that," Mary Kat commented.

"He's learning quicker than us," I replied, sitting down in a chair across from them.

"Better than what I could have done," she said.

Another knock at the door and another loud meowling from Marcus. "What the hell was that?" Levi asked after greeting me when I opened the door.

"The cat," I answered with an irritated sigh, letting Levi inside and taking the bottles of wine from his hands. Levi shook his head in disbelief.

"I would have kicked him already," he said.

"I'm surprised I haven't either."

Erwin entered the room, greeting everyone who was there. Michael ran past Erwin, carrying a few action figures in his hands. Suddenly, he stopped and ran back to Erwin, holding the toys up to him.

"What do you want?" Erwin asked aloud and signing to him. "You need to use your words."

Michael frown for a moment, looking at the toys in his hands, unsure of how he was to speak with his hands and hold the toys at the same time. Finally, he put the action figures on the floor and looked up at Erwin again.

Play. Michael signed.

What's the magic word? Erwin signed back.

Please?

Good job! Erwin followed Michael into the living room where the rest of us were sitting. Michael sat at Erwin's feet playing with the action figures. It was not long until there was once again a knock on the door and once again loud mewling from Marcus. Armin had finally arrived, carrying a bowl of chocolate pudding and being the last of our expected guests.

"I have some news to announce," Erwin said once everyone was settled in a seat, smiling knowingly at me. "I just finished the calculations of our finances, and we have finally saved up enough money to get Michael his hearing aids!" He looked down at Michael, who was still sitting near his feet. "You're going to be able to hear mommy and daddy, buddy!" Erwin said aloud and signed, but Michael was not paying attention.

Levi chuckled. "I'm sure he'll understand when they actually put the things in his ears."

"That really is great news!" Mary Kat said, standing up to hug me. "When are you going to get them?"

"As soon as possible," Erwin replied. "Hopefully before Christmas here the next few weeks."

"I'm sure you'll all be glad for that to happen!" said Armin.

"Definitely. Levi, where are those bottles of wine you said you would bring? Let's open them to celebrate!" Erwin suggested.

"I put them with the rest of the food in the kitchen," I said before Levi could reply.

Simultaneously, we all filed into the kitchen. After sifting through several drawers to find the bottle-opener, the wine was poured and glasses were passed around. Michael tugged at my pants leg to try to get a sip from my glass. I told him no and poured him a cup of grape juice instead. We all toasted, raising our glasses high and then bringing them to our lips. The wine was sweet, and had a subtle dark flavor, but was overall delicious.

It was not long for us to begin to talk over the wine and food and have a good time. It seemed like one of our talking sessions, but it was less forced and much more relaxed. The wine probably helped with that.

I had just finished telling a story about Espyon untangling me from my maneuver gear ropes when Ahli stood up and excused himself from the table. His face seemed strained from holding back tears. Mary Kat looked after him with concern. We continued with telling stories. After quite some time, Ahli still had not returned.

"I'll go check on him," I suggested, excusing myself from the table as well. Erwin nodded his head at me as he took Michael from my lap.

"Is everything alright?" I gently asked Ahli when I found him standing in the darkened hallway.

Ahli wiped his eyes and took a deep breath to compose himself before speaking. "Yeah," he answered quickly. "Yeah, everything's just fine." He gave me an unconvincing smile.

I frowned. "Want to talk about it?"

He shook his head. "Not especially." He paused and then continued speaking. "Ya know, everybody's trying to get me to open up, and I just don't want to. But… I know that's what I need to do. To get over how she went…"

"What do you mean?" I prompted. "It seems like you're opening up to me right now." I admit, I was curious to what Ahli was getting to. It seemed as if he badly needed to say something that had been bothering him.

He smiled, but it quickly faded. "Yeah, I suppose I am. I just… I want to move on from my sister, but it's like, oh, I don't know, she's also the one holding me back. Does that make sense?" He searched my face for any comprehension. I showed what I could and waited for him to continue. "Ariadne, I need to tell you something I think I should have told you a long time ago."

I nodded, unsure of what he was going to say. My mind reeled with different answers, but none of them seemed to make sense. "What is it?"

"All those stories, the ones that you tell of your best friend and you in the other world, are the same ones my sister used to tell me." Ahli looked at me sadly. "My older sister's name was Espyon."

I stared at Ahli, silent and shocked. "E-Espyon's your older sister?" Ahli nodded solemnly, his lips pressed tightly together. How did I not notice before? Many things Ahli did and how he carried himself and the way he talked were similar to how Espyon was. Then there was another thing: Espyon was in this world! She was here! Espyon is alive in this world! She did not die during a Titan attack, but woke up in this world and began living a life here! But, where was she? Why had I not seen her? I blinked. "Ahli, where is Espyon?" I tried not to sound too excited. My best friend was alive! "Is she in another town or country? I would love to get in touch with her! Oh, there's so many things I want to tell her!"

Ahli shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the tears that wanted to stream down his face. "You can't," he said bluntly.

"Huh? Why not?"

"It's not possible."

I took a moment to comprehend what Ahli was not telling me. Slowly, I came to a conclusion that I did not want to say outloud. "Ahli, is… Espyon…"

He nodded silently. "I found her in her room," he said, his voice straining with the difficulty of the memory. "She couldn't take it here. She couldn't transition from her life in the other world back to this one. She… she thought that if she died here, she could wake up there as if this place was all a dream."

Silent tears fell down my cheeks. The hope of seeing my best friend was shattered. Espyon was gone forever. I would never see her again. I would never repay back the kindness she showed to me in that other world all those years ago (was it really only less than ten years?). I was unsure of how either of us would make it back to the party without looking like the emotional wrecks we were, but we did. I was thankful that it did not last much longer. Before Ahli left with Mary Kat, I told him to call me if he ever wanted to talk about happy memories of Espyon.

Shortly after everyone left, I put Michael down to sleep and then went and sat on the couch with Erwin. He wrapped his arm around me and immediately started stroking my hair.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

It took a few moments for me to answer. "No," I replied with a heavy sigh. I relayed to him what Ahli had told me and how I was feeling about it. Erwin was quiet the entire time. "I told Ahli he can call me if he needs a pick-me-up when he's feeling down about Espyon."

Erwin nodded. "That would be helpful, I'm sure."

"Yeah." I adjusted myself to put my head on Erwin's chest. The constant rhythm of his heartbeat echoing in my ear and the rise and fall of his chest made me slowly close my eyes and drift to sleep.

Ahli ended up calling me a few days later, allowing me to reminisce with him about Espyon. Ever since Ahli told me about Espyon's death, I tried not to think about it. I did not want to know that she had killed herself, trying to get away from the pain and the burden of the other world's memories. It only brought more pain to her loved ones, especially her brother. I was glad to be a support for Ahli, as he was for me. That is what we were all to each other. That was the point of our group. I do not know where any of us would be if we had not found each other in this world. I hate to think of being apart from any of them again.

Please forgive me! I really wanted to update and I had the first part of this chapter done for quite a while, but I never knew how to continue with it. I just kinda left it alone for several months and then finally I was able to find time to work on it again. I hope I have made up for not updating recently!

Thanks for reading!