Chapter Text
The journey had been long. Eren had ended up falling asleep in the carriage, and when he woke up, he realised he had arrived at his destination. It must have been late morning judging by the sun shining brightly in the sky.
He rubbed his eyes, then looked at Mikasa, still in a dream world. Then he looked at Mikasa, who was still deep in the world of dreams, and then looked at what would be his new home from now on. It was different from the mansion he had left in London.
It was smaller and a black gate barred the entrance. Beyond it there must have been a garden, which did not seem too big. But there were many trees, and that was already a good thing.
Gently he roused Mikasa from her sleep.
"We have arrived," he whispered.
The girl slowly opened her eyes, relieved to realise that the journey had finally come to an end.
The head of the family, Grisha Jeager, and his wife, Carla, had already preceded them and stepped out of the carriage.
The woman wore a dark blue dress with flounces and held a fan between her fingers.
"Come on, darlings. Come down," Carla invited them warmly.
Eren was the first, eager to stretch his legs. He still didn't know how he should feel. He had lived in London for eighteen years and being in a different city was perhaps a little lost.
He tilted his head to the side and looked at the many windows of his new home. At least it would be bright.
His sister clung to his arm.
She too was dressed in a long, ruffled, plum-coloured dress. And she held, in the same way as her mother, a fan.
"Well... it looks nice," she commented.
Eren nodded without answering. More than the interior space, he was interested in the outside actually, for what there was to see.
"Father, you don't mind if Mikasa and I look around a bit, do you?" the boy asked.
Grisha gave him a stern look.
"It'll be a while before it's all settled. So you might want to find something else to do."
Eren mentally cheered, smiling. When the gates were opened, he grabbed his sister by the wrist. Later he had to realise that the green space around the house was much larger than he had imagined. If he looked around, he could see what, to his eyes, seemed almost unexplored territory.
Excited, Eren walked around the house, while Mikasa followed behind him, more strutting and poised. They had always been different in everything from their personalities to the way they spoke and behaved.
"Yes!" the boy suddenly exulted. "I knew there was something hidden back here! It's beautiful!"
"Beautiful" was not exactly the right word. It was just an abandoned back garden, spacious to be sure, but full of weeds. But one thing that also caught his attention was a swing. Perhaps children had once lived there.
"Eren, you're going to get dirty like that," Mikasa sighed. Her brother, however, puffed out his cheeks, not listening to her. He would have been more comfortable if only he hadn't been wearing that tight jacket and that annoying starched collar that caused him unspeakable itching. Not to mention the velvet trousers, a real torture. But he could put up with the discomfort if it came to playing.
For although Eren was a man in his own right, in his soul he was still a child with big eyes, ready to see all kinds of wonders. Even in the smallest and most insignificant things, he could see the beauty. His father always told him to stop pursuing silly fantasies, but he never listened. In fact, he was more than convinced that he possessed some sort of gift.
"Look, there's even some flowers hidden in the weeds. I'm sure, with a little care, this garden could shine again."
Mikasa did not reply, lifting her gaze. Only then did she notice a wall, not so high in fact, that separated their house from the one next door.
"Did you see that? We have neighbours."
Eren stood up, wiping his dirt-stained trousers. He brushed his hands against the mossy wall, then raised his arms.
"What are you doing?" his sister asked, sternly.
"I just want to see what's beyond."
"That's not a good idea. You shouldn't be doing this."
He rolled his eyes. There were a lot of things he shouldn't have done, but if he listened to every single rule, he would surely freak out, and he didn't want that. So he climbed up, ignoring the fact that he would get his clothes dirty. He finally glimpsed what was beyond the wall.
"Well? What do you see?"
There too, a huge garden, even bigger than his own, left to itself. The bushes were lush and the trees so tall that sunlight was almost blocked from filtering through the leaves. This gave the place a dark and suffocating appearance. And there was, of course, a house. A quarter the size of his own, plain and with ruined walls. It looked almost abandoned, yet Eren was pretty sure that wasn't the case.
"I wonder who lives there? Maybe it's a haunted house?"
"Oh, Eren, stop it, this isn't funny," Mikasa complained, feeling a chill. "Come on, get out of there."
The boy's irises, however, were busy glimpsing something, any clue that would confirm or not confirm his hypothesis.
"There, something moved!"
He lifted himself up, but due to a wrong movement he ended up falling to the ground. Mikasa sighed.
"See? I told you to get down."
Eren was wide-eyed at the leaden sky that reminded him so much of where he grew up.
"Damn, it's going to rain," she muttered.
That alone could convince Eren to go back into the house. The inside was even better than the outside, the mansion must have been quite old from what he had heard his parents say, dating back to the beginning of the last century, but it had been uninhabited for years before their arrival.
The boy's room was connected to his sister's. Of course, his belongings were not yet in place, but he was sure that when everything was settled, he would find his room more comfortable.
At five o'clock tea was served. Lady Jeager had taken a seat in the living room, as it had not been possible to stay outside because of the bad weather. Mikasa sat elegantly next to her, sipping earl grey from the cup.
"Eren dear, come on, why don't you get up from there?" his mother suggested.
Her son, in fact, was literally lying on his stomach on the floor, his eyes glued to a book.
Reading was indeed a passion of his. This would not have been a problem, had it not been for the fact that he loved romance novels unconditionally. And for a young man of his calibre, wasting time on such nonsense was inappropriate.
"Yes, yes, I'm coming now," he sighed distractedly, moving his legs. He found himself totally absorbed in his reading.
"Where am I? What am I doing? Why?" She wanted to lift herself up, to lean back, but something huge, something inexorable pushed her head and dragged her back. "Lord, forgive me everything!" she said, feeling the impossibility of the struggle.
He read that sentence with bated breath. Many people didn't understand the fascination hidden behind the words and the emotions they could give.
"Grisha, would you like some tea as well?"
Hearing his father's name, Eren looked up. He could see the man's annoyed expression. He would probably have preferred to see his son devote himself to more suitable pastimes, but the truth was that the boy was stubborn, a prisoner of his imaginary and insurmountable perfect world.
"No, thank you," he said again. "Eren, what have you done to your clothes?"
The boy rolled his eyes. Perhaps he had better change, but it had completely slipped his mind.
"I tried to climb and fell."
"You shouldn't climb."
"It can be useful to learn how to do certain things," he always had the answer ready. Mikasa then decided to intervene on his behalf.
"We wanted to see what was beyond the wall in the garden. There's a house, I think it's abandoned, but Eren says not."
The latter lifted his gaze to study his father's expression.
"I see. It is better for you young people not to snoop around too much. Sometimes curiosity hurts."
His son took the hint, but didn't pay too much attention. He knew he wasn't the son everyone wanted. He was the only heir of the family, the one who had to carry the family's honour and good name. If he imagined himself ten years from now, he could not see himself as a composed and boring nobleman. There were too many things to see and do to lock himself in a glass bubble. And his family was always trying to grab him and impose rules on him, though without success.
That evening Eren slipped between the cotton sheets. Through the large window he could see the moon - fortunately the clouds had cleared - and part of the mysterious garden.
Curiosity might have hurt, but he was not afraid to suffer.
He slowly drifted into sleep and thoughts gave way to dreams.