Departure

Eren stood in the middle of a big grass field,looking up to see a flock of birds flying together towards the same direction in a V shape.There were large green healthy trees in the distance surrounding.

"Eren,"He heard a female voice say his name.

He turning to see a young woman sitting down on a chair, dressed in all white with a simple dress with a robe over it with slides on her smooth looking feet,her fair skin was almost as white as her clothes with her black hair that went past her shoulders,contrasting the color of her attire.But one thing that stood out was her large vacant blue eyes but something was unique about them,they had a white shining lines of all over her irises nearly touching her pupils and behind her was a large white stone castle with a bunch of windows representing a room with a black roof on top.Eren noticed that the distance was closing in between him and the woman.Eren noticed that he came closer to see more of her face clearly,she looked a lot like someone he knew except with dark hair.Eren stuck his hand out and the woman placed her hand on his.

"Come walk with me,"She said as she slowly stood up and looked into his eyes before she started slowly walk on the lush green grass,Eren saw that she forgot her sunhat on the table.It was a simple straw hat with a red band around it.He involuntarily grabbed the end of hat and caught up to give it to her,thanking the teen and giving him a small smile in return as she gently placed it on her head.As Eren walked to next to her,he noticed that he was a lot taller than her or maybe she was just very short.

Eren continued to walk beside her as they approached a stable with a couple of horses inside.The woman started to pet one of the horses before unlocking the gate,allowing the horse to leave the stable.

"Grab a tack for me,please,"the woman said politely.

"What's a tack?"

'A tack is a saddle for the horse,"the woman explained.

Eren went and grabbed a tack and left the stable before giving it to the woman to place it on her horse. 

"So,Eren,how's your adventure going?"

"I don't know.I saw some good things and bad things," He answered,his voice was noticeably deeper.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Well,I guess it's been a rollercoaster.Like I saw new places and cultures,made new friends but… I fought old ones and lost others,and saw the darkness of these foreign cultures.I saw cute creatures and dangerous ones as well.But even though,i saw the good and the bad,i don't regret going to these places and i still enjoyed my time there and cherished them in my memories,"He explained.

"That's good.The world desires balance, and in order to acquire that balance,there needs to be both good and bad.But… just because the world will find a way to balance itself,it does not mean to trying and aiding the innocent is fruitless,"The woman said with a small but a bright smile.

"You've grown a lot since I first met you."

"I guess I did,huh?Since I'm much taller now and my hair got a lot longer,so now we kinda look like twins."

The woman giggled. "I never realized that but now that you're taller and I could do this." 

She leaned in and kissed his forehead making Eren stood stiff for a couple of seconds before suddenly sinking into the grass a few seconds later.

Eren woke up frantically with his body drenched in sweat with strands of his black hair going in different directions.He was breathing heavily,but he took a few deep breaths and slowly got up from his bed.His room was average sized and plain with white walls,a black armoire with a black plastic hamper next to it.

"That dream again…"Eren said while putting his left hand on his head. "Who is that?She looks so familiar but I've never seen her before."

The entrance door was on the left side with a window across from it.Eren turned to his side table to turn to his phone to see the time.It was 2:30 pm.

"Holy shit,the entrance exam starts in an hour. Gotta get up now!"Eren said before stumbling out of his bed and going to his bathroom to take a quick shower.He winced in pain as he headed to the bathroom.

"Damn,that bitch really did a number on me last night,"Eren said. "I'm surprised that I even won that fight.But now i could hardly even move without feeling the pain."

Before he went to take his shower,he took off his chain and he looked at it.The pendant was a sword of pure gold with a garnet gem in the pommel which then connects to a hoop for his 24 inch,2mm chain to go through.He placed it on a cheap,plastic hook that he stuck on his bathroom door and begun to take his shower but the water was cold so he turned the knob towards the hot water mode but the temperature didn't change.

"Really?!It's not working,again?!"Eren said,slightly irritated.

The hot water wasn't working but he didn't mind taking a cold shower.It wasn't the first time that the temperature got fucked up.

After his shower,he dried himself off and looked into the mirror.He was average height for a boy barely 15 with light beige skin with a slim but athletic build including a solid chest, visible obliques and toned 8-pack abs as the result of his training and fighting experience but because of his recent scrap,he has bruises of purplish red hues on his upper and lower body.

His face was reasonably long yet round, giving his face shape more of an inverted triangle.His eyebrows were thick,black and slightly furrowed making him seem always ticked off.He gently touched a bit of his hair.His straight yet thick,coarse black hair was nearly grazing his shoulders with the ends of his hair being a faded-out white for not redying it in years,making them look more like highlights 

Eren rubbed cocoa butter lotion on his skin before putting on black slim cargo pants,white t-shirt,black boxers and black socks.He went to his closet and took out his creased Nike white and black high top air forces and black weight jacket on top of his tank top, under his white hoodie and a plain black bomber jacket over the sweater.

"I know I'm stupid for doing this,but I'll just take it off if I'm struggling," Eren said to himself as he lightly smacked the weight vest.

He placed his chain back on around his neck,tucked it under his sweater and walked out of his room and to kitchen to make breakfast,he lived in an 3 ½ apartment, that belonged to a tenant that died in The Magala Incident,so when he and his sister snuck in,they lived in it for a week before they got caught by the landlord.Luckily, with a lot convincing involving money,they were able to live in it but they had to clean the apartment themselves,taking out most of the tenant's stuff in the apartment with the only that they kept was the necessities like the toiletries,dishes,utensils,some of his clothing and his electronics like his television and his laptop so they had two laptops,one from their old home in the underground and one from this apartment.

He opened his fridge but he forgot to go grocery shopping so, there was barely any food in there.Eren took the egg carton and the near empty pack of bacon strips.

"Good.there's enough eggs for today,"He said as he looked inside the egg carton,showing four eggs left.

Eren placed them on the counter before opening his bread box and taking out two slices white bread.He took out two pans one for bacon and one for eggs.Even though they were more expensive,he choose to get non-stick pans so he wouldn't have to waste time scraping off the remains of his food.Eren got seasoning for his food and put on his red apron before he started to cook.After he finished cooking, he placed the pans in the sink and walked to his black couch and got his laptop out so he can listen to music while eating.

The bacon was crispy and dark red with the grease in the pan still making a crackling sound and the eggs were a nice dark golden yellow with steam coming off of them. and the toast were gently buttered and golden brown.He grew confident in his cooking,after all he had to learn how to since he needed save as much money as possible,he remembered when he cooked for him and his older sister,she would enjoy his cooking,even though she'd never admitted it but he knew she liked it since every time there were leftovers,next day they would be gone,sometimes he would get irritated but he couldn't help but to smile knowing that she was the one who ate it.

He began packing his stuff up,putting some of his clothes in a small black duffel bag before placing his laptop and charger in his red backpack but before he left for good,he went underneath his bed and took out a red rectangular metal container and opened it,showing a sum of money,it was $2,000 that he won last night,a picture of his younger self with his mother in front of his former grade school and red usb type c key that had his mother's name on it.It was one of only things besides the picture and the chain that survived in the fire.He put the container in his bag and looked around his place one more time.All the memories he shared here with his sister,in this district and in the underground,but he knew it was time.Time to live a better life.

"Well,it's time to go,"Eren sighed,closing and locking his door.

He went inside the elevator was and pressed the button to the ground floor before he put on his red headphones in to listen to hip-hop music.While on the elevator,he thought of the dream that he had last night,it wasn't the first time he had a dream like that,he would have similar dreams but some things would remain constant like the woman,the king's castle and the big field of grass and then he would have dreams completely irrelevant like being in a desert and seeing a giant monster.

The elevator doors opened and Eren was about to make his way out before being distracted by a light brown cat,he kneeled down and started petting it.

'He must be nearby,he's always around his cat,' He thought as he looked around to see if he's in the area.

"Hey buddy,how are you doing?"Eren said as he started to pet the cat, "has your owner gave you breakfast? I won't be surprised if he had a bowl himself."

"There you are,buddy," A raspy voice said as the cat walked towards the source of the voice.

Eren smelled the disgusting smell of tobacco and knew that it was him.He walked near the front doors see a short and fat middle aged man walking out of the left hallway.He had a thick and unkempt ginger beard with blotchy pink skin and a receding hairline.His black tank top looked two sizes too small,exposing nearly half of his big hairy gut and red and white striped pants but because of his size,they looked tight on his short,stumpy legs.

"You're pretty sneaky for someone your size,have you been practicing?"

"Where's the rent money?"The landlord asked in a serious tone,smoking a cigarette.

"I'll have it if I come back,"Eren said as he stood up.

"If?"The landlord said,confused."What do you mean if?"

"I'm going to try out for the Adventurer's Program," Eren stated.

The landlord laughed but started to have a series of heavy coughs.

'Jeez,put down the cigarettes,dude and then you wouldn't be coughing like that,' Eren thought.

"Listen kid,I'm going to be real with you,it ain't going to happen.How old are you now,boy?16?17?You know how risky being an Adventurer is?In my opinion,you're just wasting money….money that should be going to me!"

Eren didn't want to hear it.He trained for this,he didn't spend years fighting, not only for a living but for getting ready for this job,by training his body and his martial arts techniques,training his power just to give up and wait another year,he wanted to leave this place and travel the world as soon as possible and the Adventurer Program is the quickest way to do it.All that fat man wanted was his money,Eren did have the money but he wasn't going to give it to him.There was no point to pay since he wasn't going to be living here anymore.

"Yo,don't you have other people to bother?You have like 20 other tenants in this building but you're chasing after me."

The landlord furrowed his thin red brows. "It's because you're always the last one to pay it!You should be surprised I didn't kick you out years ago!"

"Give me a break,I'm 15!You know how hard it is to find work?!"Eren told his landlord. "You should be wondering how I get the money to pay it off."

"I don't care about your methods!Shit,you could be selling your body for all I fucking care!Hand it over!"

"Fuck no!"Eren said before heading to the front doors.

"You take a step outside,you can't come back,''the fat man threatened,"And if you do,I will kill you."

Eren rolled his eyes.The landlord was only a regular human while he was a metahuman.He wouldn't stand a chance against unless he was packed with a very strong weapon on him,but even then he would still win.

Eren grinned with confidence. "I'll take my chances.Sayonara."

He walked out of the apartment,hearing the landlord shouting behind him but it didn't matter to him.Eren put back on his red headphones before he took out his phone,it was wasn't big nor small but it did have a slight crack on it because it dropped out of his pocket while going to school.

Eren went the transit app to know when the next bullet train to the Emrich District comes.But before that, he needed to see her one more time so he ran down from northern half of Shiganshina to the southern half,swiftly dodging and jumping over people and obstacles,leaving people with a bunch of mixed reactions from people being in awe to shouting curses in his direction,calling him 'a mutant' or 'a showoff'.

In a matter of 10 minutes,Eren was now a block away from the cemetery.He looked around the place where he was born and spent the beginning of his childhood,remembering the moments that he had being here,the park where he and his friends used to be play basketball and hang out,the depanneur where he and his friends would get snacks,by paying for it but sometimes it would be free because of a special "discount",Eren finally made it to the Shiganshina Cemetery.

The tall trees were surrounding the tombstones that were in different shapes that were in a variety of grey colors from near white to the color of charcoal.He walked to the middle of the cemetery,showing four 6 feet black marble walls with one facing each direction.

"Northern wall,second row,sixth unit,"Eren said,remembering his mother's location.

He took out the key out of his pants pocket and unlocked the unit and opened the door to take the silver urn that contained his mother.The urn was silver that had her name,her date birth,her death date and a message engraved into it.Carla Katsuki,January 29,X810 - June 20,X843 and the message was: 'Daughter,Friend and Mother.'

He sat down on the closest old wooden bench.It was a little uncomfortable but he didn't mind.

"So,it's been awhile huh?"Eren started. 

He looked at the urn before he averted his eyes away from it."Sorry.With school and work,it was nearly impossible to visit.But today's the day.I'm going to try out to be an Adventurer.I know the test will be hard and there will be people many years older than me and be more experienced than me,but i'm ready for this.I know i am.I trained for this."

Eren sighed. "Knowing you,you probably wouldn't want me to be an Adventurer with all the risks and dangers like different types of dangerous beasts and monsters and unknown lands that people are scared to enter but… i don't know how long i can keep living like this…doing odd jobs,stealing things and all the school stuff i had to do…I want to live better for myself and travel around the world and see all the different places and cultures.Plus,if my sister makes it this year,I will be able to see her and explore together."

Then,he felt a vibration in his pocket.He took out his phone to see that Floch was calling him.

"Hey,what's up?"

"Yo,where are you,Eren?"

Eren glanced back at the silver urn."I'm just…visiting someone.What's up?"

"Well,you better hurry up cause it's starting in an hour."

"Yeah,I know but I had to get something done before I go,"Eren checked the time.

"Alright,hurry up,"Floch hung up.

He carefully picked up the urn and walked to the wall of lockers before gently placing the urn in the locker.

"I'll see you later..Mom,"Eren said before slowly closing the locker and locking it,he closed his eyes and remembered what happened to his mother,the fire,the hospital.He could even remember the sound of the vital machine flatlining,he felt his throat tighten as tears coming down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry…I wanted you to talk a little longer,but I have to go…"

Eren wiped the tears off of his face before sprinting out of the cemetery.He slapped his cheeks to refocus.He can't grieve right now.He has somewhere to be.

Eren looked at a nearby building before he jumped and landed on the roof.He looked around to see a glimpse of a barber's pole two blocks away.Eren ran and jumped from the building to building until he was on the roof on the shop.Eren jumped off the roof and landed softly on the ground.When Eren opened the door,a ring was made that notified the barbers and the customers.

"Well,well,well.If it isn't Eren or should i say Inferno?"The barber said jokingly as he began to disinfect his clippers.

"What's up,D-Wrek?"

"Hey, I'm a barber now,not a DJ.Call me Derek,"The barber said with a chuckle.

"Just like you need to call me Eren.I'm a soon to be Adventurer,not a freelancer."

Derek was the barber that Eren would always go to when he needed a haircut.His shape-ups were always elite compared to the other ones here.Derek was fairly tall man,standing at six feet with a lean build and dark skin with his black coily hair styled in a neat mini-afro on his head.His eyes were a dark brown with a well-kept beard,wearing a simple black t-shirt and grey cargo pants with black running shoes.

"How's business?" Eren looked at the filled seats of customers. "With my eyes,it seems to be booming."

"Hell yeah it is.Judging by your hair,I'm guessing you want a cut too?"Derek asked.

"Yeah,but before we get to that,you said you needed my help.So I am here to know the details because I'm in a time crunch because the Adventurer's Exam starts in over an hour."

"Oh shit, the exam is today?Don't worry, I just finished with this little homie right here,"He patted the short man with a fresh low fade.

"Little homie?Go fuck yourself, Derek," The short man said as he got off the black leather barber chair.

"Or what?You're gonna punch my knees?"Derek joked, making Eren chuckle.

The short man's face soured, took out his wallet and opened it to give Derek his money.

"Pleasure doing business with cha,Tommy,"Derek said as he placed the money on his desk.

Tommy stormed out of the barbershop before Derek rolled his eyes.

"What's up with him?"

"Don't worry about him.Tommy be like that all the time.He acts cold but he's has a good heart,"Derek placed the clippers down on his desk. "Okay,let's head out and I'll tell ya the info."

"Bet."

The two males walked out the shop and began to stroll around the block.

"So…here's the issue.One of my homeboys got jumped last night and got his phones taken away.Now one of them is his personal but the other is his burner phone.He uses it to keep in contact with his dealer."Derek began.

"Dealer?Like drugs?"

"Only different types of weed,not that crazy shit.Luckily he's a smart dude so he planted a gps in his burner.So your job is to track it down and retrieve the phones,preferably his burner phone.In case you need to differentiate,the burner is a very old flip phone and his personal is a touch screen."Derek explained.

Eren nodded. "Aight,I got you,Derek."

"I knew i could rely on you.Now,i'll send you the location and after you get them,just bring them back to me,unfollowed.Oh yeah,take this,"Derek gave him a small remote with only one button.

"What's this?"

"A tracking button.When you get close enough,pressing the button will admit a sound to help you find it,got that?"

Eren put the remote in his jacket inside pocket and gave his bags to Derek. "Okay,I'll see you later."

"Kick some ass for me,Eren!"

Eren gave his tall friend a grin. "You know I will!"

He started to jog to an alleyway and began to jump,wall to wall until he's back on top of a roof.He got notification to see that Derek sent him the location.

"Okay let's head out!"

Eren continued to jump from roof to roof while different flips and spins in mid-air.He kept closing the distance between him and the destination until within a span of a few minutes he reached his destination.The signal was coming from an apartment building.

"Great,an apartment building.A place where a bunch of people live…"Eren groaned.

He hopped down and analysed the front of the building through the ground floor window.The building looked to be seven stories tall with no secretary so there would be no suspicion right away.There was two doors meaning that the inner door was most likely locked.There were no security cameras,meaning that the security was poor.Eren walked up the staircase and opened the front door to be front of the inner door.He pulled the door to realize that the inner door isn't even locked,granting him access inside.

"They need to fix that lock,"Eren said,looking for any cameras only to see none in sight but he wasn't convinced so he looked around but there were no cameras.

"Kinda hard to hide any cameras in here,if there's barely any place to secretly hide it."

The entrance floor was minimalistic with the walls being colored a mustard yellow with a sitting area containing few worn out chairs on the left wall next to pile of old magazines on a coffee table.The elevator was across from the door with a grey door leading to the staircase.He looked up to see that the elevator was on the fifth floor.

"Guess it's the staircase,then,"Eren said as he pushed open the door,leading to the staircase and quickly went up the stairs but stopped near the door to the third floor and closed his eyes,putting more focus into his enhanced hearing,filtering out the surrounding noise.He took out the remote and pressed the top button making a ringing sound.

"What the hell?!That sound again?!"He heard a masculine voice complaining.

'It's coming from the fourth floor!' Eren concluded as he sprinted up to the fourth floor.

Eren opened the door and carefully walked through the corridor as he went closer to the source.

Another voice sighed. "Finally,it's stopped.Where's Boris?!I need him to take back his fucking phone.If it wasn't for him, I would've shattered it!" 

"What do we even need the phone for?"Another masculine voice said.

"It's his burner phone and he needs it back to contact his dealer!"A third male voice said.

'Three dudes?No biggie,I fought three men before and they were metahumans,' Eren thought.

He knew where the voice was coming from and walked quietly to the front of the door before he went into his bag and took out a black ski mask and a pair of red safety gloves before putting the mask on, covering most of his face except for his eyes.

"So, there's more than one in here. Okay, let's get the party started!"Eren said before putting on the gloves, taking a couple of steps back and shouldering the door, breaking it down and startling three men in dark clothing.

Two of the men pulled out knives while the other one in the middle pulled out a gun with a silencer at the end. Eren quickly glanced at his surroundings. The living room area with a loveseat and a black coffee behind them with a television in the corner. On the right side was leading to the kitchen and on the left was a small corridor leading to two rooms.

Eren dashed and did a dropkick on the man with the gun, making him drop the gun making him fly over the couch and hit the wall with his body slumped to the floor.The men with were going to stab him but he did a split kick in midair, sending both of them back but one of the men recoiled and thrust his knife at him but Eren quickly dodged and grabbed one of his arms,doing a shoulder throw slamming him on top of the another that was knocked out in front of the couch,breaking through the floor and sending him to the apartment below and making the female tenant below them scream.

"Sorry,"He told her before he looked at the last man slowly recovering from the force of his kick.Eren ran to him but he pulled a gun out.

'He has a gun too?!' Eren thought before , nearly hitting the ceiling and dodging the incoming bullets and doing a webster axe kick and landing the kick on the back of head,instantly knocking him out and slamming through the floor with his buddies,making the tenant scream again.

"Sorry,again."

Eren landed in the kitchen and quickly looked around the now fucked up apartment to find the phones. He looked around to see the two phones on the counter,A touch screen and a flip phone. He pressed the button to make sure that the old flip phone was the one he needed. It rang, confirming Eren's question before he quickly stuffed them in his bag and jumped through the window, tucking in before breaking through the window and falling down to ground level before softening the impact by rolling and having a rain of glass fall above him. Eren turned his head to see a silver car with people inside wearing dark clothing as well, just getting out of the car.

"Shit…"Eren muttered as the people that were in the car went back into the car.He started to run as the car chased him down.

"Gonna lose them!"Eren said as the car sped down to follow him,swerving other vehicles and going pass red lights.He was now slightly ahead of the car,giving him the opportunity to flip the blue van next that was next to him.The silver car avoided the hurling car but it crashed smashing into a tree,breaking the tree from its roots and landing it on a depanneur. 

"Sayonara,bitches!"Eren said as he continued to make his way back to the shop.He then sprinted leaving a gust of wind behind him affecting the pedestrians near him causing them to get slightly pushed back with some of the lighter ones briefly levitating before landing back down.

He ran to a nearby building and transferred his momentum from the sidewalk to a wall,making him climb the wall by simply running on it.When Eren was now on a roof once more,with the teen taking off the ski mask with the warm breeze brushing past his face and pushing his hair.After a few minutes of parkour,Eren reached to the barbershop and opened the door,getting Derek's attention as he was talking to his friend who was cutting a kid's hair.

"You got it?"

Eren dug into his bag and tossed him the two phones and the remote. "You know it."

"Nice." Derek caught the phones and the remote gently placed them down on his desk.

"Now,the seat is ready for you,my friend."

Eren sat down and Derek placed a barber cape on him before wrapping a neck strip around his neck.

"So,I'm guessing the usual, just a line-up?"

"Yeah,I want to make my next haircut to be special."

"Okay.I got you."

Eren closed his eyes before he heard the sound of Derek's golden shapeup razors.He felt his hair being gently pushed back shortly before the razor touched his skin and carefully moved across the top of his forehead before going down to the sides of his face.When he opened his eyes again,he saw his new clean shape up.

"You look good,man.Look,break a leg on the exam,aight?"

Eren grinned as he gently hit his right fist against his chest. "Thanks.So what's the cost?"

"This one on the house,pal.Oh yeah,here's the payment for getting the phones,"Derek gave the teen 500 dollars.

"Half a grand?!Derek,you're joking right?!"

Derek crossed his arms as he leaned on his desk. "You deserve it.You did it quickly and efficiently.You improved a lot since the first time you did an odd job with your friends.Speaking of your friends,have you talked with them,recently?"

Eren looked down before slowly shook his head.

Derek sighed. "Well,as long as it doesn't link to me,you or my friends,we should be fine.Wait,they didn't see your face,did you?"

"No,I was wearing a ski mask plus I had gloves on."

"Okay,well we have nothing to worry about."

Eren was about to leave until he turned and grinned. "See,ya Derek!"

"See ya,man!Knock it out of the park for me!"

Eren lifted a thumbs up. "I got you!Don't worry!"

He looked at his phone to see that the train was coming in a couple minutes.

"Shit,I have to go quickly!"Eren said as he ran to the train station.