The Once and Future Monster

Five Years Ago

"Don't go," the small boy wailed, hands fisted tightly around the fabric of the older boy's sweatshirt.

The elder sighed, a sound of patience with traces of shared sadness, as he gently wrapped his hands around the younger's and pulled them off. When the hands were no longer wrinkling his sweatshirt, he continued to hold them softly within his own.

"I have to if I want to get a good enough job to support myself. It's a shitty system, but that's life."

The boy shook his head, messy brown locks swinging across his forehead. "You don't need a job. You can live with me and my family. Mom will make that pasta you like and you can sleep in my bed. I promise I won't kick you in my sleep and I don't snore. Please don't go, Levi..."

Levi didn't know how else to explain why he was leaving for college to this eleven year old boy he had been babysitting for the past four years.

"Eren..." Levi opened his mouth to say his final farewell but before he had a chance, the little brat kicked him in the shin before wrapping his small arms around Levi's waist in a suffocating hug.

The kid had taken off running immediately after, not stopping until he was back home.

The boy slammed the front door behind him and slid down to the floor. His mother had known this day was coming and knew nothing she said could heal the hurt, so she continued to prepare dinner as wet lines traced down plump cheeks.

Present

Levi scowled at the nuisance on his left. His mood wasn't agreeable on the best of days, but could only worsen after the long-ass car ride he had just endured driving from his university in Indiana to his home in Connecticut. Twelve hours in a car was painful enough, but it felt much longer with the freak's incessant babble on extraterrestrial life. Levi made it clear that he had zero fucks to give about conspiracy theories, but this in no way deterred Hange from telling him all about them anyway.

Going back to his hometown wasn't helping matters either. Not that he had a valid reason to dislike Fairview. He grew up in a friendly neighborhood filled with block parties in the summer and snowman building competitions in the winter. However, he experienced freedom when he went away to college, and moving back home to save money while he searched for a job was unappealing. His mom was pretty cool, he could admit, but she still enjoyed sticking her nose into his business and giving her two cents on his life choices. Luckily, (or unluckily depending on how you looked at it) Hange was moving back home too.

"...claiming that the aliens were making human-cow-lizard chimeras. But why cows? I mean lizard-humans is pretty cool, but a cow's anatomy..."

Levi tuned in and out of whatever Hange was talking about as she refueled at a gas station twenty minutes from Fairview's town limits.

He hadn't been back home in almost five years. There was never a reason. He had internships and jobs in the city during breaks, and holidays were celebrated at his uncle's house in Michigan.

He would see his mother at these gatherings or when she drove up to get lunch with him if her shifts at the hospital allowed her a long weekend.

Living in a big city and attending college, this small town fell to the back of his mind. He hadn't given it much thought in the past five years. When he did think back, a pair of bright green eyes instantly sprung to memory. Although many things about this town he quickly forgot, he never forgot the boy he used to babysit.

Eren Jaeger.

A cheeky brat with an easy smile who made flower crowns for himself and Levi every spring, even though his mother always yelled at him for ruining her garden. The kid's parents were both in the medical field, his father being a doctor and his mother a nurse just like Levi's mom, which is how Levi ended up as the brat's babysitter.