abandonhumanity | PSL / MEME CONTINUATION

[Something else to fixate on. Aubrey’s not sure if that’s a mercy or not.]

Here…?

[Her voice is small again.]

Yes.

[Her eyes go to the door immediately. It’s open a little, now.]

Did he say anything…?

[Eren isn't always the most empathetic person in the world - not that he's totally bankrupt, but everyone who knows him knows that he's selfish; still, he thinks this might be hard to hear.]

He asked me not to tell you.

[The sunflower in her hand is crushed immediately.]

[For a few long, revolting heartbeats, Aubrey hears red.]

[How. dare. he.

[And how dare she expect anything else.]

[Basil ~~likes~~ liked sunflowers. “They’re called that because they always face towards the sun,” he’d said. “That’s how I want to be like… someone who always sees the bright side of things.”

[Wrangled petals fall into the endless, bloody sea. The world won’t let Aubrey drown with them.]

[Finally, she rubs her eyes, swiping her arm across her face and throwing the rest into oblivion, and stands. It’s a furious motion.]

He might as well.

[It’s been a while since she sounded this cold—venomous, more like. For once, it’s deliberate.]

I think I’d kill him.

[Then there won't be any apologies today; no closure, no atonement, no healing.

[That's fine. It's not something either of them expected anyway.]

There's something else I should tell you, Aubrey.

[Because when she says, "I think I'd kill him, Eren knows that the universe is only seconds away from saying--]

There was an illusion.

I thought that he'd killed you.

[So...]

I retaliated.

[Right… Eren is here.
[“I retaliated.”
[Was it before or after Basil said…?]

[It doesn’t matter.]

[When Aubrey turns to face him, she’s just… broken. Defeated. Drained. Done. It’s not his fault.]

[She holds out a hand, stained yellow and green and bloody.]

Let’s just find Armin.

[In that distant periphery, the door opens entirely. There’s nothing inside.]

And get out of here.

[The lack of reaction is...surprising, but it's not as though Eren is eager to get into the details. He won't push her any further. She offers him her hand, and he takes it - blood on blood, with more lapping at their knees.

[He's tired of blood now. He wants to be clean. As they walk, knees wading through carnage, he tries to picture the real ocean. The ocean that Armin would want - the ocean where Armin would be.

[It's a slow progression, but eventually, red begins giving way to clear, perfect blue. The hallway is long gone, the sun sparkling warm on the water.

[Eren stops, glances toward Aubrey.]

Clean yourself up. [His voice is quiet, but it isn't cold. It's a suggestion, not a demand.

[He stoops down in the water, determined to see the rest of their poppy red washed off in the tide. He cleans his hands, his face, what he can of his clothes. He dunks his head under the water and re-surfaces like a baptism.

[He doesn't yet notice a figure in the distance.]

[She holds Eren’s hand like a vicegrip; otherwise, Aubrey is quiet. More drained than calm, really.

[It’s a nice walk, considering.]

[The sun comes out again.]

[Aubrey watches her husband clean off for a while, before joining him and trying to do the same. It feels too easy. But sure as ever, the sparkling waters wash the red on her hands away; the rest doesn’t concern her much, but she takes a perfunctory splash at her face, anyway.

[She still looks and feels like she got chewed hollow and spat back out, but, whatever. Might as well.]

[Standing again, she’s about to mention something to Eren about his bloody handprint on her jacket, back when he almost died, and how his clothes will be fine. But the figure catches her eye instead; and blessedly, it’s not Basil.]

Eren. [She takes his shoulder, gently, and points.]

[Eren is still washing his face when Aubrey touches his shoulder. It feels like he'll never be clean enough; he won't, really. He knows that well. He does look up when she touches him, though. He doesn't have to follow her point for long. It's a silhouette he'd know blind in the dark.

[He means to call out his name, but chokes. Shooting up from where he's standing, he only makes it a couple of strides before he falls back into the ocean, too eager to move too quickly. Armin's already seen him, and before long, they're both running.]

[They meet in waist-deep waters, the sun shining bright above them. There are no words. The two men collapse into each other, two pairs of arms wrapped tight around two very real bodies.

[And Eren is with him again.

[Armin doesn't waste time sobbing. Everything moves on instinct. They should both care that Aubrey is there, maybe, and that she can see them, but neither seem to notice for the moment.

[Armin Arlert kisses the love of his life with reckless abandon.]

[It's a long, desperate, aching thing, so painful and so right that Eren and Armin both fall to their knees in the water, their lips still connected. Their hands can't decide what to hold onto - Armin's head here, his back here, his arm, his face, the nape of his neck. They kiss for what feels like a thousand years, and Eren could kiss him for a thousand more. Even once they break away, it's a hundred kisses on both ends - to the forehead, the cheek, back to the lips, again and again and again.

[Once they manage to separate long enough to look at each other, their faces are both gripped by the others' hands.

[They're laughing. They're crying. The tide calmly drifts forward and backward around them. And the cycle repeats again and again - kissing, laughing, crying, holding.]

Armin. Armin.

Eren!

[Armin throws his arms around his best friend's neck, holding him close to his chest. The sobbing really begins in earnest now, but the smile on his face is wide with joy.]

God, Eren! Eren!

[They can’t get to each other fast enough. Maybe there’s just a tinge of sadness to it, considering the circumstances—but that’s easy to forget when they’re laughing and kissing and crying out of sheer joy.

[It’s the Eren Armin’s been longing for; Armin, Eren’s wanted from the start. They’ve found their ocean. And finally, finally, they can have this peace, in each other.]

[Aubrey doesn’t notice she’s started crying until she can’t focus on them anymore. It’s a soft thing, for once, unobtrusive; and even as she wipes at the sting, a faint smile tugs at her. Maybe she should be more bothered that her husband is kissing and embracing someone else like that, but… it’s Armin. She remembers that beautiful montage. Overwhelmingly, Aubrey’s just glad to see that their love, which never really went anywhere, can finally come out to play.

[She cares about them both so, so much.]

[A few more minutes pass where Eren and Armin are the only two people left in this strange, beautiful, cruel world.

[But Armin knows Aubrey is there, and Eren does too. At last, they turn to face her, almost in perfect unison. Armin holds out his arm, waving for her to come closer.]

[Eren holds out his arm too, an invitation.]

[The moment sweeps her away. Aubrey runs at them and throws an arm around each. Where she can’t find the words, she pulls them both close, tight.]

[Both men throw their arms around Aubrey in earnest, pulling the three of them so close that their heads are pressed up close to one another. Eren kisses the top of his wife's head, and in the heat of the moment, Armin does too.]

It's so good to see you. I'm so happy you're here.

[He could be talking to both of them - he is, really - but Eren's already heard it through the volume of kisses and touch. Armin gives Aubrey a tight squeeze, Eren mirroring the action.]

[It might be the fullest his heart has ever felt.

[There's only one person missing...

[He'll see her very soon. He'll make sure of it.]

[Aubrey squeezes them back, both of them. She’s so… overwhelmed, and flooded in the best way, that she almost doesn’t notice Eren’s not the only one who’s kissed her; but it doesn’t matter, because she kisses him on the cheek right back, and Armin, too. Why not. She can’t remember th—

[…She can’t remember the last time she felt this loved, and let herself return it, so openly and wholly. There.]

I’m so happy to see you, too, Armin… both of you.

You guys finally found it.

[At Aubrey's words, Armin lets out something between a laugh and a sob - the same sound he's been making since he first saw Eren, held him in his arms. He doesn't even think to apologize for their affections. It had to be done; it's perfect.

[This is perfect.

[When Eren died, he made it so that Armin and the rest of his friends could live long, happy lives without him.

[Armin doesn't want that. He wants to be here with Eren, and Aubrey, and Mikasa too. That's all he wants - to never go home again. Because home will never be home without Eren Jaeger, the man he loves.]

It's perfect. [He pulls them both in closer again.] It's all I want. It's perfect.

[Eren's final act was meant to be selfless. He should still want what he intended for Armin; maybe he does, or maybe he will, once this high has passed. Right now, he feels as selfish as ever.

[It is perfect, and he never wants to be without Armin again, or Aubrey. The three of them here like this, wrapped up in each other - it's the most amazing thing he's ever felt.

[He loves them both so much.]

It is...

[If it’s selfish to never want to go back, to want to stay in the embrace of people who mean so much… then maybe being selfish isn’t so bad, sometimes.

[Surely Armin has people who love him back home, too. He reminded Aubrey that there was hope for their world in the first place, after all. But in this moment, she gets it; there may be hope, and there may be other friends, but there’s not Eren. And without him, it’s not enough.

[This? This feels like it can be enough. This feels close to perfection.]

[Aubrey’s not exactly jumping to be the one who says otherwise.]
It’s everything.

I love you guys....

["Love" has always been a strong word, but not one that Armin thinks should be used sparingly. It wasn't traded back home as often as it should have been - God, it should have been. Because it was always there, and it always mattered more than anything. There are plenty of people that he wishes he'd said it more too, or at all.]

We love you too.

[He can speak for Eren here, because he knows the other man agrees. He's seen their wedding ceremony. Eren might love Aubrey more than anyone.]

[For his answer, Eren kisses the top of Aubrey's head again, eyes falling closed for a moment in familiar reverence. He doesn't know what Armin has seen, but he wouldn't be angry to know he'd seen it. After all, didn't he say that he wished he could have shown her off?

[He hopes she's happy, even if only for this moment.

[To Armin:]

We got married, you know. [With a sloppy half-smile; happy, even if only for this moment.]

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1/2 (maybe) here we goooo

2/3 haha

3/4 I LIED AGAIN

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