#2000 years

Ymir Fritz story was horrifying. I was excited to watch the episode, and 10 minutes later I did not want to be watching anymore.

She was abused, enslaved, hunted, forced to bare children, use her titan as Fritz saw fit, and still die for the man.

For 2000 years her nightmare continued, until Eren gave her a choice.

Granted, he was doing it to get what he wanted, but she made the choice on her own.

Just imagine the first time they meet again. It’s been so long. So very, very long. It must be lonely, feeling like no one knows the real you, the true you, the very first you. They know you, but they don’t know where you’ve come from or your storied past.

But they meet again after 2000 years. Sure, 2000 years have past. They’ve changed. But they still know each other.

Just imagine the first time they play mahjong together. Maybe Jun Wu let’s Mei Nian win just to see a silly smile upon his face, the same one he hasn’t seen in so long. Or maybe Jun Wu is just really bad, he has to be bad at something right? And Mei Nian gloats about this, this one thing Jun Wu is bad at. “Your Highness, I think you’ve been living in vain all these years if you can’t even beat me once!”

Perhaps this is the first time Mei Nian has played with another living being in 2000 years.

And it’s the first time either have ever held someone. The warmth of their embrace is intoxicating.

“I’ll never let you go again.”

He doesn’t. 

Mei Nian feels like he’s going to die as he loses count of how many rounds they’ve gone. Yet, he too doesn’t want to let go. 

So he doesn’t.

“Your Highness, I’ll never leave you again.”

It’s the mantra he recites to cull the anxiety that fills them every time they separate. When will I see you again? Will you leave and never return like last time? It never happens. Mei Nian always finds his way back into Jun Wu’s arms, and Jun Wu always finds his way home.

To their home.

Every year, across continents and cultures, billions of people pause to celebrate the birth of Jesus. From candlelit cathedrals to simple homes, from grand concerts to quiet family gatherings, Christmas is marked in ways both joyful and reverent. But why has the birth of a baby in a small Middle Eastern town over 2,000 years ago become the most widely celebrated event in human history? The…