A Thousand Cranes For You ✉ {RiRen | EreRi}

Prologue

// "Hey, Levi... Did you know that folding a thousand origami cranes can make a wish come true?" //

{Prologue}

It was cold, uncomfortable. The stench of blood was strong mixed with a sickening odor of steel everywhere. Everything was too bright even though the place actually held a dark purpose. It was somewhere everyone wouldn't want to go; somewhere people go only when they have no other choice.

He didn't have a choice.

Eren Yeager had always been very sickly and weak. He would be admitted to the hospital almost on a daily basis to get treatment...and he wouldn't be lying if he said that he was more accustomed to the hospital beds rather than his own bed at home; he rarely slept there anymore. And it tired him endlessly.

He didn't want to be here... he hated everything about the hospital.

But...he didn't have a choice.

Tonight was one of those nights he had to spend in the hospital. Curled up on the bed, he could only stare out the window and hope for the night to end quickly. He felt so lonely, especially at night. When the doors have closed for the day and the lights are turned off, he would always be left alone in the cold, empty room. Left alone in the dark to wonder, left alone to worry.

But at least, there was one thing he could find beautiful about that moment.... The view that he got of the moon through the clear windows was breathtaking- the way its moonlight sparkled into the ward and cast a beautiful twilight glow on everything it hit. And with thousands of significant stars sparkling around it... like a crown to frame it's beauty.

His gaze followed the moonlight...into the room and over to something that sparkled the brightest under it- a single glass vase filled with beautiful lilies of the same white color as the ward he was in. But, that white was different. It was soft, gentle; it was beautiful and natural, and that made it contrast to everything else in there. His mind briefly flashed back to his mother. Those flowers were from her earlier that day... but she was so busy working for money to support his medical fees that he didn't even get the chance to say a proper goodbye to her before she was out- rushing to get to her next shift at work.

And then his teal eyes slowly followed the trail of the flower- from its delicate white petals down to the firm stem wrapped in the glass vase and landed on a small green object placed beside it.

It was a single green origami crane his mother had folded. He remembered how his mother would tell him that the crane was a symbol of hope. But to him personally, he felt like it symbolized life and freedom. With its broad wings that could carry it anywhere it wanted to go- they were like the wings of freedom.

He reached out his hand and picked the crane up, bringing it close do that he could fiddle with it's wings for a moment.

Even though... this crane was made from paper, it still looked so free to him.

He was the complete opposite, though. Always locked up in the hospital, he wasn't allowed to wander anywhere apart from the hospital's chilly corridors. And most of the time, he was confined to the room, confined to the bed. Even his body went against his freedom; he wouldn't be able to last long outside.

He couldn't do anything without tiring his body out.

"How I wish I was free..." he found himself mumbling to the thin night breeze.

But then, he suddenly remembered what his mother had said to him one particular night when he was a mere 6-year old- the same night she gave him that small green origami crane...

~*~

"Eren...right now, it's good enough that you're alive."

That was what she had said when he threw a small fit several years ago about how he hated his condition; about how he hated his fate. He could clearly see the strain in her features but her voice remained as melodiously calm as it always had been.

He didn't understand it then. But he kept quiet.

"One day, you'll get that freedom you're looking for. You just need to believe in it and have hope."

He remembered that she had managed to calm him down at some point and tuck him into bed after a while. Her hand felt soft and warm as it smoothed through his brown hair in gentle caresses.

"You need to stay strong, alright? Believe in a brighter future."

Hope... Belief... those were what she kept reminding him of. There was a time when he still didn't understand why she was so optimistic. They were never wealthy to begin with... and after his father went missing one day, she had to start struggling to put food on the table. And then there was his condition; he who constantly fell ill and needed a lot of medical treatment. She worked tirelessly from the moment she opened her eyes in the morning...

Yet, she was always so positive about things... and she would find something to keep herself motivated. He didn't understand it at first, but he was inspired by it.

She remained silent beside him on the bed for a moment, just content with stroking his hair. But she must have noticed the unsatisfied look in his eyes, because a moment later she decided to bring up something completely unrelated...or at least that was what he thought at first. Why did she do that? Had she felt that telling him about it would make him feel better? Help him to cope and relate?

"Eren, do you know what a crane is?"

He answered with a hesitant shake of his head.

And that was when she delved into telling him stories of ancient Japanese folklore about the creature she had mentioned. She told him that a crane was a bird; a mystical bird which could live up to a thousand years according to tales. She said that it symbolized hope.

Just like that, Eren found himself captivated by the many stories she told- allowing time to tick by without a worry and his mixed up emotions soon forgotten.

The night sky was slowly turning bright by now; he was sure he saw the stars shrinking and the moon sink lower and lower... There was also the soft melody of chirping birds flowing into the windows along with the gentle twilight breeze. And it was around then that he excitedly watched in his mother fold a piece of plain green-colored paper into the shape of a bird- the crane.

"Eren...even this paper crane holds a beautiful meaning."

She gave said crane to him and allowed him to play around with it's small paper structure.

"Would you like to hear a story about the girl who folded a thousand cranes...?"

// "Eren was a boy who had wished for many things since young... but what he wished for last was something much more important to him.//