Maruki stares until the screen burns into his eyelids when he finally blinks. Waits. Waits for the same sort of delivery error that popped up when he texted Adam, Vash, Zazie. Nothing comes. Looks frantically around the machiya, empty hours after their shared breakfast, Akechi off doing whatever it is he does to fill his days. Quiet. Still. Back down at the phone. Nothing comes. Both messages sit, delivered, unread.
If it's a trick, it's the first one in Somnius that he's fallen for immediately, without question.
He's in a daze. Doesn't know where to go. The farm? It seems obvious, and it's closest. He starts walking before he's consciously decided what to do. He wished for their new home to be close to the farm, and nothing else. It's not a short walk, but it's a pleasant one, and they barely had a chance to walk it together before war, before Eren–
Isn't there. Not in the house, the barn, beneath the tree.
He doesn't think to ask anyone. Just turns around and leaves, starts the long walk into town. Could go back to the machiya to get his recently acquired bicycle and make this trek easier; doesn't even consider it until he's already a mile out. Maruki's mind is elsewhere, a hundred other elsewheres, a hundred other realities, and Eren promised.
He's focused on comforting others. Telling them of that promise, and of the historical precedent for Eren's goodbyes. Neither would go unbroken. He would return.
Convincing and comforting himself with the same knowledge was an impossible task. It's been–
Miserable. Beyond. A grief palpable on his tongue, every day.
Maruki doesn't know where he's going. Does. Isn't thinking. Is.
The only place he can go, in the end. The first place in Somnius that was ever his, and it was his as much as it was theirs. Eren was the first one to see it, and the last. They destroyed it and sat in the rubble and Eren promised.
The sun is high. A noontime ritual, Eren arriving and throwing himself down onto the couch or the floor, eating with him or chatting or just napping. Dozens of afternoons doing not much at all, and the time was never wasted, because it was time spent together, something never guaranteed to them in this hell.
He isn't expecting anything. Is. Doesn't see Eren at first. Does.
He turns over his shoulder, taller, older, voice lower, hair longer, eyes duller, and Maruki's first thought is no, and his second is different, he won't remember, and his third thought is– ]
Eren.
[ Frozen, eyes wide behind his glasses, voice small.
no subject
Maruki stares until the screen burns into his eyelids when he finally blinks. Waits. Waits for the same sort of delivery error that popped up when he texted Adam, Vash, Zazie. Nothing comes. Looks frantically around the machiya, empty hours after their shared breakfast, Akechi off doing whatever it is he does to fill his days. Quiet. Still. Back down at the phone. Nothing comes. Both messages sit, delivered, unread.
If it's a trick, it's the first one in Somnius that he's fallen for immediately, without question.
He's in a daze. Doesn't know where to go. The farm? It seems obvious, and it's closest. He starts walking before he's consciously decided what to do. He wished for their new home to be close to the farm, and nothing else. It's not a short walk, but it's a pleasant one, and they barely had a chance to walk it together before war, before Eren–
Isn't there. Not in the house, the barn, beneath the tree.
He doesn't think to ask anyone. Just turns around and leaves, starts the long walk into town. Could go back to the machiya to get his recently acquired bicycle and make this trek easier; doesn't even consider it until he's already a mile out. Maruki's mind is elsewhere, a hundred other elsewheres, a hundred other realities, and Eren promised.
He's focused on comforting others. Telling them of that promise, and of the historical precedent for Eren's goodbyes. Neither would go unbroken. He would return.
Convincing and comforting himself with the same knowledge was an impossible task. It's been–
Miserable. Beyond. A grief palpable on his tongue, every day.
Maruki doesn't know where he's going. Does. Isn't thinking. Is.
The only place he can go, in the end. The first place in Somnius that was ever his, and it was his as much as it was theirs. Eren was the first one to see it, and the last. They destroyed it and sat in the rubble and Eren promised.
The sun is high. A noontime ritual, Eren arriving and throwing himself down onto the couch or the floor, eating with him or chatting or just napping. Dozens of afternoons doing not much at all, and the time was never wasted, because it was time spent together, something never guaranteed to them in this hell.
He isn't expecting anything. Is. Doesn't see Eren at first. Does.
He turns over his shoulder, taller, older, voice lower, hair longer, eyes duller, and Maruki's first thought is no, and his second is different, he won't remember, and his third thought is– ]
Eren.
[ Frozen, eyes wide behind his glasses, voice small.
Eren promised, but– ]
You remember me?