Crack of Sunlight (Ereri/Riren)

•~Chapter Twenty Eight~•

*hides*

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The flight was as long and dreadful as Eren expected. Having bought the tickets at the last minute, their seats were scattered throughout the plane. He sat nearer to the front, his mom was somewhere near the wing, and Mikasa was just a few rows back from that. The flight was full, and Eren ended up cramped in between two other people. On his left was a mean-looking old man who smelled of something his mind couldn't even put a name to (though it was somewhere along the lines of cigarettes, whiskey, and urine). To his right was a mother with a baby who couldn't be older than six months. At the moment, the child slept, but he knew as soon as the plane was off the ground it would wake up screaming from the pressure and pain in its ears. He tried to be friendly, casting halfhearted smiles and keeping himself wedged between the armrests, but the old man ignored him. The woman did smile back and even greeted him, but the words flying out of her mouth were incomprehensible German, which told him she knew little to no English. He was the exact opposite.

'Looks like I won't be making any friends on this flight...'

Twelve hours seemed more like three days. He couldn't see out the window because the man either blocked it or left the shade down. He fell asleep somewhere around the four hour mark, and hadn't stopped snoring for at least three. The baby had woken up and screamed bloody murder, but thankfully its mother managed to calm it down with a soft German lullaby before proceeding to feed it. The whole time she suckled on the nipple of her bottle, her big, brown eyes gazed curiously at Eren, who couldn't help but gaze back and smile a bit.

The mother noticed and articulated, "Sie heißt Amelia."

Eren nodded. He understood that much.

Eventually, the baby fell back asleep and Eren let his thoughts wander. First, they went back home to Levi. He knew that for this entire trip he'd have that worry in the back of his mind for the man. He didn't do well with being left alone and Eren was afraid of the decisions he might make if things got too lonely for him. He'd asked Armin to keep an eye out for him, though, whenever he had time. All he could do was hope for the best.

His thoughts then moved forward to Germany. To the half of his family he had little contact with in the past ten years. To the people he was admittedly afraid to face again after all this time.

He didn't remember their names or faces, really. Didn't remember his relation to any of them - cousins, uncles, aunts, second cousins, in-laws. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to act around them - what was acceptable and what wasn't.

Eren had loved his grandfather and was truthfully sad he was gone, but if he could've had his way, he would have stayed home. He was doing this for his mother and those people he didn't remember more than for himself. He didn't need the closure or peace of mind as much as them, if at all.

~*~

Eren and his family had settled into his great aunt's enormous home and seemingly since the minute they arrived, he hadn't stopped meeting and remeeting people. Everyone knew English; it was a language most Germans learned from their early years in primary school and on, and he was immensely grateful for that. It took him no time at all to get used to the thick accents and simply from being there, the little amount of the language he'd learned from his father and trips when he was younger started to resurface.

They were all very gracious to his mother, saying they knew how close she'd been to Eren's grandfather and how much she loved Grisha. Eren could see the pain in her eyes from simply talking about it, from these people bringing up memories of him. They didn't know better, though, whereas he and Mikasa did. She managed to hide her sadness well enough from them, but of course the brunet saw right through her and took every chance he got to comfort her.