Eren's POV
My alarm went off, waking me up from its loud obnoxious noise, so I sluggishly moved my arm to reach for the damn thing and shut it off. I groaned but sat up slowly and stretched my arms above my head, yawning and looking out my window. A vivid vision of the sunrise touching the ocean appeared before me as for some reason I recalled the short time I spent with Levi back at his penthouse. The view was something else I'll tell you that much, and I still cherish the moments I had with Levi while I was still struggling with my depression. I kept the notebook I let him see when I met him for the second time in this life, and well, I've continued drawing and I'd say I'm pretty decent at it for self-teaching myself. When the view in my head faded away I got out of my bed and started to get dressed, but then remembered the letter from him. Armin.
I put on a shirt real quick and walked over to my small table in my bedroom and picked it up. I sat down on the windowsill and opened the envelope carefully. Once the letter was out I unfolded it and began to read it.
Eren,
There's something I've been wanting to tell you for a while, well since we were kids as a matter of fact, and well it's to do with your family and condition. Remember when you first told me of your depression? At first I was shocked but as it sunk in I felt terrible, and the reason why is because I've always tried my hardest to protect you. You always protected me when we were kids nut after you told me what happened with your family I felt like I should be someone you could look up to, as I did when we were little. But I didn't know what to do, so I stayed quiet like I always do. Hopefully with this letter we can talk again like we used to, and before I end this letter, I wanted to tell you something else. You know the memories that everyone is talking about now? Well my grandfather and I have been busy in founding an establishment specifically built for the purpose of those non-afflicted and don't see the justice in the new law to be with those who are afflicted. Not only that but for those who lost their jobs due to being named afflicted can come here and work with others and make a living for themselves and their families. We're naming it the Jaeger Foundation, I hope you don't mind 🙂 I hope I get the chance to see you there someday and maybe I could see Mikasa and her older brother too.
~ Armin
After I read the letter I couldn't help but laugh a bit as he named his own business after me, but with this it only made me more confident to see him today. I quickly jumped off the windowsill, leaving the letter on there, and ran to my closet to pick out some better clothes. I don't have any better clothing anymore too since Zeke had me sell those off too, so I put on something fairly decent and ran into the bathroom to brush my teeth, my hair, and after that I ran into the kitchen and popped a piece of bread into the toaster. Once I put it down I ran back into my room to gather my things into my bag and once I finished I ran back into the kitchen and took the piece of toast into my mouth while I quickly put on my shoes and grabbed my keys.
I had finished my toast when I reached the parking lot and so I got into my car and took out my phone to call Mikasa.
" Hey Mikasa, you don't have school today right?"
" No, why?"
" Would it be alright if I picked you up at your place?"
" Wait why? Don't tell me you plan on dumping Levi for me."
" Can I or not?"
" Sure but why?"
" I'll let you figure that out."
I hung up while wearing a big smile on my face as I started the car and backed out of the parking lot.
While I drove down the now busy streets I kept thinking of what Armin might think when he sees me, but I kept smiling at the thought of seeing him smiling. I've known him since we were kids so the least I could do for him is make up for the times we could've talked with this one meeting. Once I came close to the hotel where Levi and Mikasa lived I turned on my turn signal and pulled into the parking lot. I waited for a minute and then saw Mikasa come out of the front entrance, so I got out of the car to greet her.
" Eren oh my god!" She ran up to me and jumped into my arms, holding me close in her embrace.
" Hey Mikasa, been a while hasn't it?" I gave her a tight squeeze and then gently pushed her back to look her in the eyes, " So you ready to go?"
" As ready as I'll ever be, but seriously, where are you taking me?"
" I told you, you're going to find out. You'll just have to trust me."
She nodded and so I smirked and picked her up from my small little bull charge and threw her up in the air just a bit, making both of us laugh out loud. I've never felt this happy in my life, and well I guess it's all thanks to Levi. I carried the raveness to the front passenger seat, opened the door, and set her down onto the seat, buckling her up as I did. I shut the door and jogged to the drivers side and got in, started the car, and tuned around in the parking lot.
We shared jokes between each other and called all of our friends to meet us at the same location we were headed, and all the while I kept thinking that this would be as great to Armin as it would for me. Everyone would be there, everyone from the 104th Cadet Corps 2,000 years ago.
" ... and when Jean turned around he saw himself in the mirror only his face was covered with marker!" I finished up in telling Mikasa the times I had with Armin and Jean in this life as we had entered the parking lot of the Jaeger Foundation.
I got out of the car and so did Mikasa and shortly after everyone else started pulling into the lot. Eventually I saw Jean walking up to me with this huge grin of his, and apparently I wasn't the only one who let their hair grow out longer.
" Well look at you Eren, you've looked better in the day."
" Yeah well I could say the same to you, Jean-boy."
" Hey!"
" Well I'll be damned, it really is you."
I turned around and saw Annie Leonheart with Mikasa, and behind them were Reiner and Bertholdt. Then four more heads looked from behind those four, Ymir, Christa, Connie, and Sasha.
" You guys... everyone's here..."
" We didn't want to ignore a friend, now did we guys?"
" No." " Nope." Everyone said in syncopation.
I was so happy that everyone was here, so with this feeling I led us inside the building. Everyone spoke to one another as we walked around inside the building, it had a cozy feel to it and I could tell that Armin and his grandfather worked hard to achieve this. I walked up to the front desk and asked the woman stationed there about Armin.
" Excuse me ma'am, could we see Armin Arlert please?"
" Do you have an appointment?"
" We're afflicted ma'am, and I'm a really close friend of his. So could we please see him?"
The woman's eyes widened but soon softened and wore a gentle smile, " Why of course you can." She stood up and motioned for us to follow her, " Come this way please, I'm sure he'll be happy to see you all."
" As do I ma'am."
I followed after the woman and everyone else quieted down as they followed with me. Mikasa caught up to me and looked up to me.
" You still have yet to control your emotions Eren. Honestly, what am I going to do with you?"
" What do you mean?"
" Your eyes are glistening, which means you're about to cry."
I tensed up a bit and turned my face away from her, " No I'm not, so shut up already."
Jean came up behind me and swung an arm around me.
" Well well well, if I didn't know any better I thought you were g- ow! Easy there pal!"
" You just don't know when to shut your mouth now do you?" I hit his ribs with my elbow to make him shut up as he was about to announce my sexuality aloud.
We continued to joke around a bit until the woman stopped by a door with Armin's name on it. She bowed to us and left. Everyone silenced themselves and waited for me to open the door, but frankly I was nervous. It's been so long since I've seen him yet I honestly didn't know how this would turn out. Then all of a sudden I heard a faint feminine voice in front of me and before I knew it, who stood before me was my mother. I thought I was going crazy but somehow just seeing her gave me relief and so I silently thanked her. She smiled gently and faded into the air, so I reached for the handle and opened the door.
The room was bright due to the windows being across from the door, but after my eyes adjusted I scanned the room and found a small figure by a book shelf to the left. I stepped into the room and stopped. I guess he was lost in thought as he didn't seem to notice my presence so I cleared my throat a bit which seemed to do the trick. He flinched a bit and turned his head in my direction, and at first it seemed as though he was trying to distinguish who I was but after a bit he drew in his breath a bit and his mouth opened.
" ... Eren?..."
" Hey Armin... It's been a while, and well it didn't seem fair to just see me so I brought everyone. You can come in you guys."
Everyone came into the room while Armin came toward us to see them, I guess he couldn't control his emotions either based on him covering his mouth with his hand. I couldn't blame him though, somehow I managed to bring everyone together just like I did back then. Armin's shoulders were shaking so I walked up to him and rested my hands on them, causing him to look up at me.
" It's alright Armin. I read your letter this morning so that's why I decided to bring everyone here with me today. It's been so long and yet I didn't even bother in seeing you to talk things over, when truth be told I was scared. Scared that you wouldn't forgive me, but I see now that I was being an idiot and selfish. I want to tell you so many things that I didn't before, so please Armin, don't abandon me because of my well being or my past."
" I think you've already did the abandoning part yourself Eren."
I looked at him and saw that he was smiling. Then I thought back and realized that I did abandon someone already, him and myself. Thinking of this now only caused me to laugh with him and now with these emotions piling up inside I brought Armin into a tight hug, so that I could apologize and so my mind knew that he was here for me. I let go of him but the brief period of relaxation was short lived thanks to Jean hugging me and Armin and soon enough everyone joined in the embrace. Well except for Mikasa and Annie.
" ! Guys... I can't breathe... Get off..."
" No way man, we haven't seen everyone after 2,000 years so of course everyone's going to want to hug someone!" Exclaimed Connie.
I sighed and let them have their moment since I knew where he was coming from. This was a moment I'd never want to forget so once everyone backed away I took my bag off and got out my camera and stand. While I was setting it up Armin came up to me and inspected the camera.
" That's the one your mom gave you, isn't it?"
" Sure is. Only I regret taking the photos I took with it, but starting today I'm going to take pictures that mean the world to me."
" Hm. I always loved your enthusiasm, you could say I admired it in a sense."
" You want to know something I always admired about you? I always admired how you knew what to say to me, even when you were in the dark. Your words inspired me to keep going in a lot of things, so in a sense you were a bit of a brother figure to me, but I thought of you as the older brother of course." I laughed a bit and so did Armin, " Well she's all set up."
" What are you shooting?"
I stood up and saw that everyone had looked over to us so I looked back at Armin and smiled, " All of us. I don't want to forget this moment, ever. So if everyone could please line up tallest to shortest, I'll start with arranging you where I think would be best."
" Why don't we just stand where we want next to who we want? Won't that make the photo more genuine?" Asked Jean.
" I suppose so, alright then. Everyone find a spot."
I grabbed the small handheld remote I hooked up to snap the photo in my hand and joined with everyone else. I stood in the middle, where the camera faced, while everyone else gathered in to find a spot. I waited for about two minutes before asking if they were ready.
" Is everyone where they want to be?"
" Yes." " Yeah." They answered at the same time.
" Alright, pick a pose and I'll snap the shot in ten, nine, eight..." I continued to count while hearing them giggling and suppressing their laughter, " Four, three, two, one."
CLICK!
The flash went off and we stayed still for a few seconds for the camera to process the image it just captured before I moved away and everyone bursted out laughing. I turned to face them as the photo was in my hand and wore a questioning expression, still wearing a slight smile.
" What's so funny?"
No one answered, they only continued to laugh, so I rolled my eyes and looked at the photo.
" ! You guys!" I looked back at them, but instead I joined in with their laughter.
This had to be one of the best days I've had in this life, and I hope I'll continue to have more just like this one.
AN: Oooh!!! One more chapter!!! I'm so super happy today, things just keep happening to make it better. Also, I might draw out the picture they took as a group after I get my room re-painted and get the carpet installed so yay! But anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you in the final chapter!!!
To Be Continued...