Wings and Hammers

7. Successful Experiments

Erwin woke up the next morning, naked and alone. For a few seconds, it felt like he woke up from a dream, a beautiful dream where Aura was someone his subconscious had concocted to make up for his loneliness. He gave it a little while, rubbing his eyes, thinking about the beautiful night they just spent in each other's arms.

This had happened before. He had often woken up thinking his entire life was a dream. The frequency of such mornings had increased when they had been apart for the first time.

Aura's father had developed a psychological condition where he kept forgetting basic things about himself and the people around him. Even though she hated to do it, Lena had begged her daughter to come back and help.

Both their hearts were broken as she packed her stuff and moved back to Ehrmich. The night Erwin returned after helping her move, he could not sleep. His bed felt larger than usual, colder without Aura's warmth, his room was unhappy, his office was messy, his spirits were shattered on the floor. In less than a week, he had an expedition; he knew he had to pull himself together. He had dozed off around dawn and woken up in a couple of hours, his arm searching for his lover by his side.

When he couldn't find her, a loud twitch of remorse had hit his chest, telling him he had dreamt it all. He had rushed to his drawer to find the portrait of them Aura had convinced him to get made. The artist, Anne Sulee, was really talented. She had captured in the portrait, one particular moment when Erwin had made Aura laugh with a joke and looked adoringly at her laughing. He had held that picture to his thumping heart and sighed.

This morning, he found a note that confirmed his reality. It said,

"Hey, Commander Cinnamon Roll,
you looked so peaceful and gorgeous sleeping, that I couldn't wake you up. I have to go, collect Eren's CSF while being faced with Mikasa's raging eyes. I hope to be done before long, and I'll see you for breakfast.
~ Mrs. Smith

PS: DO NOT SHAVE."

Aura was down at the clinic, with Sherridan and Hange, preparing for Eren's spinal tap. Eren sat on the bed, in his hospital drapes, his knees close to his chest. Mikasa and Armin were there too.

"Eren," Mikasa addressed him, trying one last time to change his mind, "you can still back out. You don't have to do this." Aura was ready with the anaesthetic, and she stopped midair. She was so close to losing her calm, she was actually calm.

Sherridan could sense the palpable build-up of rage within her and chose to speak to Mikasa.
"Mikasa," she said, "it's alright. It's not really gonna paralyze Eren for the rest of his life or something. He'll be lying here for a couple of hours and then he'll be good to go. And, if Armin and you don't mind, I think it's better if Eren is alone here."
"I'm sorry, Doctor, I'm not gonna leave him alone."

"It's okay," Aura interrupted, "stay, but please don't interrupt. We need Eren to be calm during the procedure."

Eren did not reply to any of the conversation, and only waited for either of the doctors to address him. "Hey, Eren," Aura finally did, "I need you to maintain the same posture and lie down, on your side. Facing away from me. Yeah, good! You can speak to us, darling, if you want. Just nothing very exciting."

"How did you know my father?" he asked Aura, in a soft voice. She touched his lower back to assess the positions of his vertebrae. The Iodine tincture had already marked the septicized area, but she touched again just to be careful.

Aiming the needle of the anaesthetic at the desired position, she said, "I met him a long, long time ago. You should have been very young when I did.." "Gaahhh.." Eren winced in pain as she pushed in the needle.
"Eren!" Mikasa cried out too, "are you okay?"