Zero Eclipse | Erehisu FF

Chapter 5: Just Humans

'We're just ordinary people'

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"Eren..."

His name rolls out of Historia's tongue naturally. A sense of familiarity that she has not felt since she met Ymir fills her body as he steps into her view.

He has grown taller from the last time they met, his hair is longer too. So much has changed in just a few months. It's hard to remember what he was like back then. The same thing could be said to her. She could barely remember what being Krista was like anymore. That was all in the past.

He was so full of life during their trainee days, but now his eyes show shadows of hundreds of years worth of knowledge, feelings, and experiences shown to him through  memories. Truly a heavy burden he carries all by himself.

'He doesn't look well.'

Historia frowned, a pang of guilt shooting through her heart.

Guilt.

Guilty of not doing well enough to help him with his conflict.

Guilty of not being able to provide him the memories he wanted to see.

Guilty of walking away from their last meeting.

Before she could stop herself, her heels lift off the ground, her hand reaching for the hair that covered his left eye.

"Historia?" He asked, a look of surprise and uncertainty on his face.

"Isn't it irritating to have your hair covering your eye like that?" Historia asked. She puts her heels back to the ground and looks down to avoid eye contact.

A few seconds pass, but Eren does not respond. Instead, Historia feels a rough hand brush against her forhead.

"How do you do this?" Eren asked, his fingers fumbling over the pins that held together Historia's braid.

"Why..." Historia stops herself from asking, allowing him to untangle her already collapsing braid. "It's easier to do with both of your hands."

Eren stops. He was still holding on to the cotton candy stick. In fact, he went outside to look for a trash can where he could throw it away, he wasn't expecting to see her right outside the door.

"Could you hold on to this for a few seconds then?" He asked, handing over the candy to her.

"What is this anyway?" Historia accepts the candy, its unlike anything she has seen before.

"They said the sellers called it a cotton candy." Eren explained as he continues to remove the pins on her hair. "It reminded me of you."

Historia stared at the candy on her hand. It was deflated, and some of the sugar seem to be melting.

'I remind him of a deflated candy?'

"It was very fluffy and soft before, I didn't know it would deflate and become sticky." Eren said as he takes out the last pin.

Her hair was finally free. Her blonde curls cascade down her shoulders and back like a golden waterfall.

"Is the meeting over?" He asked, not taking his eyes off her.

'It suits you better.'

Eren looks back to their last conversation. She didn't understand what he had meant back then.

"I feel like I'm talking to Historia now, not Queen Historia." He leans on the door and crosses his arms together. "A year ago you said that you will be the one to decide whether this duty of being a queen was forced upon you or not. So which is it?"

"Being a queen was never on my list." Historia replied, lifting her head up to meet his eyes. "When I refused to accept my father back then I thought that I would finally be free from the people that chased after my life and become an ordinary person, being a queen never came up in my mind. Still, I can say now that it's not forced upon me. Despite the tiresome and often suffocating routine of being a queen, I am still happy that I can use this power to help the people I care for."

"You're still an ordinary person. We all are. We're just placed in different positions in life, but we're still ordinary. We're just humans." Despite his tired eyes, the flames of passion and determination never left him.

Their eyes locked with each other, unblinking and unmoving. Its as if they were under each others spell. There was understanding, a sense of connection between them that felt so fragile it would break from a single sound. So they remain quiet, standing still in the comfortable silence. Being in each others presence was enough.

Inside the room, Mikasa removes her scarf and places it on the table after Sasha accidentally spilled some iced tea on it.

"I'm sorry Mikasaaaa!" Sasha cried as she holds on to Mikasa's waist. "Connie pushed me!"

"Hey stop putting the blame on me!" Connied shouted. He sat beside Jean who slept on the couch.

"It's fine, it was an accident." Mikasa replied. "Why hasn't Eren returned yet?"

"I'm sure he will be back soon, relax." Armin answered. He was sitting by himself on the sofa chair across Jean and Connie, reading the latest newspaper whole stuffing himself with some pastries.

"This place is huge, maybe he got lost looking for a trash can. How come there's no bin here anyway?" Sasha asked.

"She's asking the important question." Connie rubs his chin, wondering the same thing. "You'd think they would have one available in every room."

"I better go out and check." Mikasa stands up and walks briskly towards the door.

"There's no use stopping her." Armin sighed, putting down his newspaper. "Maybe it's best to have her keep an eye on him."

Mikasa didn't hesitate to open the door...but there was no one in the hall but herself and a few guards walking around.

"Excuse me, have you seen Eren Yeager?" Mikasa asked the closest guard.

"I just arrived here." The guard replied, shrugging his shoulder.

"Is everything alright over there?" Armin asked, sensing the shift of the atmosphere around Mikasa.

Mikasa balled her hands into fists, her head was down.

"No..." Her voice was weak, but Armin knew something was wrong.

On the floor, Mikasa stares at the fallen candy Eren had wanted to throw out.

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Note:

That's it for the fifth chapter. Hope you enjoyed it! (•ө•)♡

Did Eren and Hisu vent? That's sus