Good Night, Dear and Sweet Dreams Vol. 15 Eren Yeager
There are times when you feel as though you've had an incredibly important dream, but you can't remember any of it at all after waking up. People around will say that you were groaning horribly and that they were worried for you, but you don't have any idea of what you saw.
"In that case, Eren. What kind of dreams do you remember?"
"Umm…"
Eren had joined the Survey Corps and was a fresh member of Squad Levi when Hange went down this line of questioning as they researched the boy's power.
******
A common dream was of the disaster five years ago. A time when he was a powerless child who could only run instead of save his mother.
"And in my dreams, I'll do things like rescue my mom using Vertical Maneuvering…"
"Yes, that may be a manifestation of a deep psychological desire to solve the traumas of your past. What else?"
Eren scratched his head as Hange asked these serious questions while taking notes. Talking about his dreams wasn't something he particularly wanted to do.
"Other than that, dreams about training… Oh, and the one I have the most," Eren nodded as he leaned forward, looking slightly overwhelmed as he answered, "is one where we kill every last Titan and I'm able to freely explore outside the Walls."
"I see, a dream where you accomplish your goals. That's a common boyhood dream. You seem like a very normal child, Eren, aside from the fact that you can turn into a Titan."
"Normal, huh…"
"I mean that at the very least, I don't feel much of a 'violent' nature from you, the way the MP did when we were discussing you."
Hange gathered their notes and announced they would be carrying out other experiments. Eren slumped his shoulders as his day ended.
******
That night, Eren dreamed of traveling the outside world, just as he had told Hange. There were neither Titans nor cowards who looked at Eren as dangerous… It was an unknown place.
It looked like it would be an exhilarating adventure.
"I did it… I really did it… Now no one can get in my way."
"You must know there's still one left."
"…What?"
An ice-cold voice reverberated through Eren's ears as he rode his horse through the open plains. He looked around, but no one was there.
"Who's that?!"
"You know, Eren. If you're going to kill every last Titan, that means…"
It was like every single word was another frozen knife stabbing into Eren's back. It wasn't long until Eren fell from his horse.
Thud, thud, Eren heard. He knew it was a bad sound to be hearing.
When he looked up, he noticed the shadow of what must have been a 15-meter-tall Titan above him.
"…You're--!!"
He realized that it was his own form after transforming into a Titan, as was seen in the records. The seated boy reached for his Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, then froze.
"You, too, must disappear, from, this world."
"Stop it! I, I…!!"
Eren couldn't stop himself from closing his eyes when he saw the gigantic fist that he held out, and--
******
"Hunh?!"
Eren woke up in a dim underground room. He had been ordered to sleep there out of fear of his powers… He was alone and isolated.
"…So am I the same as them? Am I going to have to kill myself, too?"
"Eren! Wake up or you're going to be late!"
The voice calling out to him belonged to Petra, one of the squad members assigned to protect him.
"S…Sorry."
"Oh, that's right. It sounds like the Survey Corps is going to be Training near here today. There was a request made to meet you. I wonder if it's your Training Corps friends?"
"The 104th… Did they really…?"
Eren began to imagine friendly, familiar faces, along with the senior soldiers who were spending the nights in the same building as him. Because of them…Eren wasn't alone yet. They didn't try to oust him as something strange and foreign.
"Understood. I'll be…right there."
The boy felt that it was these trusting relationships that kept him firmly tied to humanity.
While he didn't know when the tears had appeared, he rubbed his eyes and crawled out of bed. As he slowly climbed up the basement stairs, the dazzling morning sun began to surround him.
SOURCE: Attack on Titan: Short Stories
