Everlasting

Chapter 3

So chapter three! Woot! Just so you know it is finally going to get really interesting next chapter so I hope that any newcomers will stick around to see what happens.
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Even though I still know I can't hold back the way that my heart still aches for you.

     Eren's foot tapped out an impatient staccato on the worn wooden floorboards of the Trost Hunter's Headquarters. He and Marco had arrived an hour earlier as the sun had begun to sink in the west. Now as Eren glanced out the window he noticed the light of kerosene lamps flickering into life in windows up and down the Main Street as the crimson sun dipped below the horizon. Their superiors should have been present to meet them upon their arrival but there had been no sign of them and Eren was impatient, wanting to drown his disappointment at his assignment in action, even if that action was little more than a customary evening patrol.
     "Where the heck are they?!" Eren finally cried, progressing from tapping his foot to pacing back and forth in front of where Marco sat on a low wooden bench by the door. "We shouldn't have to wait this long!"
     Marco yawned and rubbed his eyes tiredly, "I don't know, Eren...maybe this was a test of some sort?"
     Eren hadn't considered this and thought for a moment. "A test...but what on? How well we react to waiting in suspense?"
     "If that's the case then you've probably failed," Marco teased gently.
     A soft laugh broke from Eren and he shrugged: "Well do you have a better idea?"
     "It's getting dark out," Marco said, ignoring the look of mock surprise on Eren's face as he continued, "perhaps they got a call about a vampire threat and had to leave early to deal with it." His eyes lit up with excitement as he imagined the scenario. "Maybe they're fighting right now!"
     Eren nodded eagerly, "Maybe they're fighting one of the more dangerous ones, the ones that can travel through shadows and dissolve into darkness."
     "Maybe," an amused voice said, "they were behind on an unholy amount of paperwork and time simply got away from them."

     The two initiates turned to look the direction the voice had come from, Marco getting up so fast that he nearly lost his balance. In the doorway across from them stood two people in Hunter's garb. The taller was a man with an aloof expression and white hair, but despite that Eren felt that the man was somewhere in his mid twenties. The second person was a young woman with strawberry blonde hair and kind hazel eyes. She had been the one to speak and both Eren and Marco flushed red with embarrassment at having been overheard.
     "At ease," the woman said, smiling. The boys relaxed their ridged positions and offered nervous smiles of their own. "I'm sorry that we were so late, please feel free to inturrupt us next time. It's almost eight, good lord you must be starving!"
     "Don't coddle them, Petra," the tall man said loudly. "What kind of Hunters would they be if they couldn't take a little hunger?"
     "Very tired ones," Petra replied simply, gesturing for Eren and Marco to follow her into a small kitchen. "Please help yourselves to some bread and cheese, and I think we still have some apples from the recent harvest. That's the best we can do until tomorrow I'm afraid."
     Petra looked apologetic and Eren hurried to reassure her as he and Marco quickly set about preparing plate for themselves. "This will be great, thanks, um...Petra?"
     "Oh I'm sorry! I completely forgot to introduce myself properly. I'm Petra Ral and this is Oluo. We know your names of course since they were sent out to us about a month in advance."
     Oluo looked Eren over critically then let out a humph of mild derision. "You're all wide-eyed innocence now, kid, but that's going to change soon enough. Don't expect me to baby you like Petra is doing-ack!!" Oluo's speech was cut abruptly short as he bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood. He quickly stepped back from Eren and meekly accepted the damp towel that Petra had calmly prepared and offered him.
     Eren grinned widely at the scene and Oluo shot him injured look, speaking around the cloth he held to his still bleeding tongue. "Shuth up, brath. Ith not funny!"
     Petra had covered her mouth with her hand in a poor attempt to hide a smile. Marco picked up his plate and set it in the sink. Eren automatically got up and did the same, quickly rinsing both of their plates, drying them a little, and setting them on the top of a stack of two plates next to the sink.
     "It's nice to see more than two plates being used..." Petra said, half to herself. "I'm glad to have more Hunters joining our squad again."
      "That's assuming that these greenhorns can carry their own weight around here," Oluo said, clearly recovered from his tongue injury enough to continue his stream of chatter. "They probably feel pretty important now that they've killed their first vampires, but out here they'll be fending off monsters that only veteran Hunters can defeat alone. Those vampires would devour half the village before these wet-behind-the-ears brats got over the shock of seeing them!"
     "Oluo let's not overwhelm Eren and Marco with information just yet." Petra cut in hurriedly, "It's time for our evening patrol and they've had a long journey and should get some rest before tomorrow."
     Petra's words reminded Eren of how tired he was and he was glad when Oluo nodded and left the room to prepare for patrolling the town.
     "You two will share the room at the end of the hall upstairs," Petra said as she left the room. "Good-night!"