COMRADES • Eren Jaeger

CHAPTER 29: Hollow Sea

THE TWO OF YOU MAKE LOVE as though it would be the very last time you'd ever get to love each other, all passion and fire and never-ending raptures that ended with you laying bare in each other's beds. Kissing without reticence, fucking without reticence, yearning without reticence. Eren had always handled his raw feelings for you with the same sort of shameless heat that he implemented to everything else in his life, and you always responded with equal intensity.

But something had changed recently, and you've never thought that the embrace of his skin and the kiss of his lips could get any more ferocious than usual, but it had.

You had initially assumed that it was because he had missed you so badly and he was desperate to make up for the lost time you'd never get back, which wasn't wrong; but sometimes when you'd look into his expressive green eyes, slowly losing their vibrance along with maybe his sanity, you couldn't help but wonder what was causing trouble to Eren, and why he was not sharing it to you.

The day before the Survey Corps were to welcome the visitors from Hizuru at the newly-opened port, you and Eren walked hand-in-hand along the beach. The very same beach where you had fished for food and ended up talking to him.

It was early morning, when the sky was still pink and orange. With your shoes off, the soft white sand comforted your feet as you and Eren walked across the shore. The tide hit the land, causing sprays of ocean water to splash on your skin. The salty air blowing on your faces felt pleasantly wet and cool as it passed by. Eren had insisted that he would walk beside the ocean, so that he could effectively shield you from the spritzes of water.

It didn't work. Both of your clothes ended up becoming damp and salty regardless.

The beach was very quiet. There was no sound of soldiers, as everyone was mostly still asleep, but the seagulls peacefully chirped as they soared overhead, singing, and searching for food. The howling sea breeze whistled through the beach as the crash of the waves thundered through your ears. But the only thing that Eren paid attention to was you.

"Do you remember when I asked you to see the ocean with me?"

"I can't remember the details very well," you replied, holding onto his hand. "But I can remember that it was the first time I saw you in a more handsome light."

"Haven't you always found me handsome?" he asked slyly.

"When we first met, you spouted words about killing every last Titan by yourself," you said, laughing. "I thought you were absolutely ridiculous. But I did learn to like you very much."

"That's too bad," he said. "I've always thought you were awesome."

"Because I am," you said cheekily, and Eren let go of your hand and put his own in his pockets. You pouted. "Aw, come on, sweetheart."

"Don't sweetheart me," he said, inching away from you in pretend hurt and causing you to giggle. "I bet you thought I was a wuss back then."

"It's not my fault that you weren't as popular in the Training Corps as I was," you said. "I was known for being fast on my feet and you were known for constantly raging about those damned Titans."

"To be fair, you and I were the only ones who were keen on joining the Survey Corps back then," he said. "Everyone thought we were crazy for wanting to join the Scouts. They thought we were just dreaming too big when we said that we wanted to see the outside world."

Two years had passed since the residents of Paradis Island learned the truth of the world. What lay hidden in Eren's basement had exceeded any theories the Survey Corps' had ever managed to weave, and the fact that the true enemy had always been of your own race and that the Titans were people of your kind punished and sent to inflict death and destruction onto innocents.