Chapter Text
Finding out how to handle the current situation is going to be extremely difficult. Zack still needs to go to Shiganshina and him beginning to get sick is not helping. Definitely should've just waited out the rain. As the day pushed on, Zack began to feel extremely sluggish, and his nose decided to run a marathon.
"Dammit!" Zack muttered, "Don't get sick, cmon..." He sighed in defeat. There were only so many things he could do, maybe could Eren or Armin do something about it in the Paths? No- not very smart. What if he turns into a titan? Then what?!
"Zack, you good?" Zack's friend, Evalyn, appeared behind him, tapping him on the shoulder. "Ah-" He was slightly surprised; having been in Lala Land for a good ten minutes, it's safe to say he isn't going to be getting any schoolwork or titan work done today. "Yeah, I'm fine. I got caught in the rain- so I'm probably developing some sort of cold." He smiled meekly at her.
Evalyn sighed, "I have some medicine in my locker-" She said, moving back to her desk (which was just diagonal from his), "Come see me after class if you're interested." Zack nodded and thanked her, "It would be handy."
It was only the second period, yet Zack felt like he had just been through war. A wet cough began to develop in his throat, and he's already sniffed one too many times that it's probably annoying for his classmates. He tried to focus solely on the assignment in front of him, but it seemed like the sickness had taken his energy and gave him some sort of dyslexia because Zack physically cannot read the question properly even if his life depended on it.
The words began to blur together, and his eyes felt extremely heavy. So, he just scooched his distorted looking paper over and laid his head down. Math can wait- Zack cannot.
"Mr. Zack, why might you be sleeping during my lecture?" Zack's head popped up swiftly to see his teacher, Mrs. Browns, staring down at him unamused, "What?" He asked, his voice raspy. "I wasn't sleeping." Mrs. Browns looked down at him, narrowing her eyes. From what he knew, Zack was a very influential figure in his class. Meaning that each of his actions changed the course of class. Zack also knew that Mrs. Browns had a knack for very much disliking people like him.
"Well, Mr. Young, since you seem to like playing in the rain and going to bed late more than being diligent and awake, why don't the whole class learn from this poor display of responsibility?" Her voice dripped with condescension and Zack hated it. "Since for some reason students have decided sleeping and slacking off in my class is fully acceptable," Mrs. Browns walked to the front of the room, grabbed an Expo marker and wrote something on the board. "Pop Quiz!"
The entire class groaned and looked at Zack. He gave them a sheepish smile of apology.
Zack utterly failed that 'pop quiz'. With the high score of 67%, Zack is doomed.
"Morning Sleeping Beauty," Zack looked beside him to find Evalyn walking beside him. "It seems like you've had it rough today. Especially with Mrs. Browns. She's not the nicest." Evalyn laughed and Zack scoffed. "You're not mad?" He asked. "Nah-" Evalyn said, "you need medicine."
"Yeah, no kidding." Zack laughed, but it sounded hollow. Even Evalyn, who was normally cheery, seemed to have lost her smile. "Alright, then, let's get you some medicine. Maybe you should also go to the nurse's office. Mr. John might be able to buy you some sleep and exemptions." Evalyn smiled.
Evalyn suddenly stopped, swiftly opening her locker and shifting through it. It was incredibly organized, small shelves lined with school textbooks and fiction at the top, and neat stacks of supplies and paper on the shelf below. And at the bottom of her locker, her school bag sat neatly to the side while a small box of different make-up and product sat next to it. In addition to it all, there were lights, photos, sticky notes, and cleaning supplies on the side.
The locker was incredibly neat… unlike Zack’s mess where he just threw everything in and hoped for the best.
Zack,’s attention turned to Evalyn when he heard her grunt. “I’m sorry Zack, I don’t think I have any medication.” Her eyes were down- she clearly felt bad. “It’s cool. If I’m lucky, there’s not gonna be some stupid ‘no medicine’ policy here.” Zack flicked his hand to let her know he’s fine.
“...If you say so. Let’s take you to the nurse’s office.”
At the nurse’s office, Zack sat on a chair listening to the quiet hum of the air conditioner. “Alrighty, Zachary, Evalyn, what seems to be the issue?” The school nurse, Mr. John, sat in his rolly chair and smiled- adjusting his glasses slightly.
“I think I have a cold- so some congestion medicine would help me power through this final day.” Zack said, subconsciously sniffling. Mr. John looked at Zack carefully, then turned to Evalyn. “Is there an issue with you too, Ms. Evalyn?” Evalyn’s face heated up slightly and she put her hands up. “Oh-! No, I was just accompanying Zack.”
Mr. John nodded and looked at Zack carefully. “Let’s take your temperature and we'll see." Mr. John grabbed the thermometer- it was one of those fancy ones that you don't have to stick inside the patient's mouth- and skimmed it over his forehead. Zack stiffened, you know that weird feeling of your body sensing something is extremely close to your face, but nothing ever touches it- so it decides to make its own feeling and its super-crazy tingly and weird? Well, that was exactly what he felt right now.
Mr. John moved the thermometer to look at Zack's temperature, allowing that fuzzy feeling to fade. "Well, good news: you're not burning up," Mr. John smiled, but it quickly faded, "Bad news: I am under strict rules that medication cannot be given to students unless there's a permission slip in the system, doctor's note, or if the medication was brought in personally." Zack deflated and held his head in his hands, "Dang it," Zack cursed, "they really did have that medicine rule."
Evalyn sighed, "I can't stay here any longer, classes have started and unlike yours, my tardy won't be excused." Evalyn made a worried face. Zack nodded, "You shouldn't have even came with me- what if I got you sick? Don't you have an event coming up?" Zack asked, sniffling. Evalyn waved her hand, "I'd rather get physically sick than go see my mentally sick family." Zack frowned, "Whatever you say."
In the end, Zack was able to spend the class hour in the nurse's office.
It was quiet and calm, but Zack felt uncomfortable for whatever reason. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was this long nagging in the back of his mind. Zack closed his eyes, hoping that it would go away with a bit of sleep.
He opened his eyes, fluttering them slightly, Paths...
Zack's eyes widened when he realized where he was. He was in the Paths. The weird dimensional thing where Eren and Armin brought Zack. He looked around and his eyes widened, there were more people here.
"Eren! Please, talk to us!" A black-haired girl frantically looked around, her eyes wide with fear and faint hint of rejection.
Zack looked at her closely, she was unfamiliar, yet somehow it seems as if he'd seen her before. Zack walked further, trying to get closer to the group when suddenly a hand was placed on his shoulder.
"Zack," The voice- it was Eren! "I want to show you something." Zack whipped around and looked at Eren who just stood there staring longingly at the group. He led Zack closer to them, inspecting their desperate faces.
"Eren, what did you want to show me?" Zack asked, slightly confused. Eren seemed to know them, based on the way they called his name, and based on the way he looked at them. It was as if they were some sort of fleeting dream, a cursed reality that never wanted to be revealed. Eren knew this- Zack could tell just by the way he stood in front of them, listening to their calls.
"The truth."