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The chatter, laughter, and the sound of clicking heels filled the banquet. The room was filled with different noble and royal families, invited from different parts of the world to attend the coronation of the new
Queen of the walls, Frieda Reiss. The banquet after the coronation was quite grand, the room was fully decorated, not a single corner of the room remained dull. The highlight of the banquet, a large chandelier positioned at the center of the room, with a very intricate design. This caught the eye of a certain someone.
A blue-eyed blonde girl was standing at the corner of the room. Wearing her hair into a low ponytail, her blue dress simple but complements her porcelain skin and matches her striking yet familiar blue eyes. With her appearance, she would surely get a lot of attention but chose to hide rather than be seen. Staring into the chandelier, her eyes seem to be sparkling with joy and curiosity. The chandelier was quite a sight to see for the little girl. It looked like something out of a book, made from magic. This was the first time she has seen a chandelier.
The corner of the hall is surely peaceful, the quiet conversation between different people was the only thing to be heard. Unlike the boisterous people at the center of the room. Her head was filled with different thoughts consisting of the past, but majorly on the future.
What would happen to her? She knows Frieda, she is close to her, she's her only friend, and now she's the Queen? Frieda has never told her about her being royalty. Whatever it is, there's probably a reason for her to keep it a secret.
What about her mother? Would mother be furious that she had snuck out without her permission? She wouldn't know about Frieda. How about her grandparents? Would they suddenly notice that she was gone?
After this banquet, She'll go back to her miserable life on the farm, all alone as Frieda was the only person who visits her and truly cares for her. She was the only person to show any care towards her.
Overflowing with overwhelming thoughts, it'd be better to cool off. She decided to go to the balcony to think.
Her thoughts were cut off as a server accidentally bumped into her, resulting in the wine spilling on her dress. Keeping her temper in check, she took a deep breath.
"Ah! I'm so sorry miss!" The server quietly apologized.
"I-It's fine, really." She tried to reassure the server that it was fine, but they kept on apologizing. She was starting to get annoyed as the server just kept on apologizing and apologizing. Starting to attract many onlookers, she started to panic.
"Please stop apologizing, you don't have to worry about me, mister. I can handle this stain by myself." Quietly whispering to him, finishing off with a smile.
Turning her back, she quickly apologized to the onlookers. Many of them shrugging off after what they witnessed, some eyes lingered.
Taking a sigh of relief, without ever looking back, she started walking towards the balcony. Slowly moving the velvet curtains aside and walked to the balcony.
The night was serene. With the wind blowing on her face, and the cold soaked fabric pressing against her skin, made her small body shiver a little.
"Now how am I going to clean this stain?" She muttered to herself. This was the only dress she has that isn't tattered or worn out. It was one of the few dresses that she would only wear at formal events such as this one. And now it's stained because of a server accidentally spilling wine on her.
Without noticing, a mysterious figure was at the corner of the balcony.
"Oi." An unknown voice called out that caught her attention. Emerging from the shadows stands a boy with seemingly kept brunet hair with mysterious eyes. She couldn't quite tell what color it is, a mixture of grey, blue and green. She was mesmerized by his eyes. She hasn't seen anything that could compare to the color of his irises.
Making him uncomfortable as she was staring into him. He cleared his throat to get the attention of the girl.
"Oh! I'm so sorry for staring" The girl stopped staring and immediately focused her eyes on other things.
"It's just because your eyes are very pretty." Not letting him hear her reasoning, she muttered under her breath.
Not noticing her mumble, he looks like he's searching for something in his pockets.
"Here." He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and he extended it to her. Clueless as she can be, she tilted her head and her face filled with confusion.
"For your dress. It's stained right?" He pointed out the obvious as she clearly didn't understand the gesture.
"Oh, yeah." She slightly gets embarrassed at first.
She slowly walked to the marble railing of the terrace. Putting both her hands on the cold marble, with her small stature she lifted herself up. While the little boy got shocked by her approaching the railings, quickly staggering towards her, interrupting whatever she was planning to do. He suddenly stopped and sighed with relief when he saw her sitting.
"Hm? Why are you sighing?" The blonde quickly noticed the boy's action.
"No- it's nothing. I thought you were doing something else." He muttered the last part, but the little girl still hearing.
"I'm not doing whatever you're trying to say." She smiled while replying
"Yeah sure." The boy wanted to roll his eyes due to his sudden care for a stranger.
As silence enveloped them, she started to wipe off whatever she can with the handkerchief he gave. The handkerchief slowly turning into the color of the wine as she wipes it off from her dress.
Drifting his thoughts, the young man recalled what happened earlier.
The young man was bored to death. Yeah, he was with Armin and Mikasa, but he doesn't really want to dance or chat in a fancy place with so many people around. He preferred playing in the fields or spend time together with his friends under the tree they hung out ever since they started their friendship.
Ever since he was born, his father always ordered for him to be protected and to be always accompanied by a guard or two. His older brother, Zeke was overprotective of him. And his mother, oh god his mother, she was the worst out of all of them. Although he loves all of them, their overprotectiveness can be quite suffocating at times.
He always thought that maybe in another life, he wouldn't be royalty. What would it be like to be your own person? To be free? Would he be able to achieve the freedom he yearns for? Nobody knows.
These thoughts have always haunted the little boy, be it night or day, the idea of running away and abandoning all of it has always been stuck at the back of his mind.
With the distant look the eyes of the boy contained, both of his friends knew, and they tried snapping him out of it.
"E- Eren." Armin tried to call him but to no avail. His other friend Mikasa, sighed as the brunet wasn't listening.
"Eren!" She raised the volume of her voice, but not to the point where it would catch the attention of others.
Eren immediately snapped out of his trance.
"A-are you okay Eren? We've been calling your name for the past 3 minutes and you're still not responding?" Armin immediately said, his voice containing worry for his friend.
"Oh, uh- sorry. Forget what happened earlier." He replied while scratching the side of his face. Hoping they won't ask any further questions.
"Do you need anything Eren? Water or anything?" Mikasa asked.
'Yes, I think I need space from all of this.' thought Eren, but he wouldn't dare say it out loud.
"No, I don't really need anything. But thanks for the worry I guess." He sighed. An idea immediately popped out of his mind. An excuse to get out of this suffocating hall.
"Actually, I think I need to go to the bathroom." He quickly turned around to escape.
"Wait- Eren, do you need Armin to accompany you? How are you gonna find the bathroom when we don't even know where it is?" Mikasa interrupted, pulling on his sleeves to stop him.
"I can go by myself, and I can just ask one of the waiters where the bathroom is. Oh, and if Zeke finds me just say I needed to go to the bathroom" He slipped a smile to assure them that he was fine going alone. Mikasa finally letting go of his sleeve, he continued to walk until his figure disappeared into the crowd of people.
'Haaa- finally, I can be alone now. This is such a boring banquet.' he thought. He would rather stay outside than staying in this boring hall.
Still walking through the crowds of people, he was constantly looking back to see if Mikasa, Armin, or his brother might see him.
After the constant worrying, he was finally able to go to the terrace without any problems.
The cold breeze immediately engulfed him as he stepped outside the balcony. The dark night sky was quite a sight for the little boy. He could spend the entire day staring at the sky and he wouldn't complain. Leaning unto the cold marble railings, he started at the night sky. Littered with twinkling lights, looking at the stars would definitely not bore him.
While looking at the sky, something or someone caught the corner of his eyes. Looking through the tall windows, something was happening inside.
'It looks like the server spilled the wine all over that girl'
'Poor waiter, I bet she'd go mad about it.' He rolled his eyes at the thought. Even though he was royalty, he always hated being spoiled and most especially spoiled brats too. By the looks of it, she looks like one too. Before turning around, he was immediately surprised by the scene happening in front of him.
'Huh, looks like I was wrong.' He was fixated on the young lady. All of the girls (well, maybe except Mikasa) that he met would've probably complained to their daddies and whine about their expensive dresses getting ruined.
'This is getting interesting.' With his quick senses, he noticed that the young lady forced a smile, and she was trying to dissipate the attention that was on to her.
His interest in the young lady was starting to grow. He'd better not waste this opportunity. Maybe acquiring another friend.
"So, why didn't you get mad at the server that spilled wine on you?" He asked, curious about what her answer was gonna be.
"Why would I get mad?" Her face was filled with confusion when she was looking at him.
"Maybe because your dress got ruined?"
"No, I mean it can get washed right?" She answered back, clearly not understanding what he was trying to say.
"Well, the girls I met would probably get mad and throw a tantrum because their dresses got ruined." He chuckled while saying that.
"Well I think that's dumb" She replied while pouting. The boy was a little bit surprised by her bold answer.
"It was clearly an accident. The only thing to blame is gravity." She continued while she crossed her arms.
"And, they were only doing their jobs. Wouldn't I be just a burden for them if I complain or whine?" She lowered her head and looked down.
She always felt like she was a burden to anyone. Her mother probably hates her. In all of the books Frieda gave her, the mothers were always taking care of their children. They'd play with them, they'd sing lullabies to their children until they sleep. But her mother wasn't like that. What was so different about her?
'Did I do something wrong?'
"Hey...you're not a burden." The boy softly said. He noticed the sudden change of atmosphere.
"How could you say that?" She mumbled.
"Why couldn't I? You don't look like a burden to me." The boy had an annoyed tone to his voice.
"You don't even know me..." The girl tried to contradict him. Her tiny hands gripping the handkerchief that was stained by the wine.
"Why do I need to get to know you to say that you aren't a burden?" He raised an eyebrow at what she was saying.
"Your words and reasoning are clearly flawed. And don't even try to continue-"
He was cut short "Here, thanks for the handkerchief." The little girl said while properly folding the handkerchief and handing it back to him.
Knowing it was probably a touchy subject, he didn't continue any further. "Yeah, no you should probably keep that."
"and I have as many handkerchiefs I need so you don't need to worry about keeping one." He added, knowing fully the girl would definitely feel guilty for receiving a handkerchief from a stranger.
It was pretty silent after that. Although the silence was bearable, might I say comfortable, actually? They both felt like they've known each other before already.
"Anyways, why are you here?" The blonde started. She knew that he was here before her.
"Am I not allowed to be here?" He replied in a teasing tone. Clearly annoying her with the most obvious answer.
Seeing her pout, he immediately started laughing. Seeing him laugh, the little girl got more annoyed by his teasing nature.
"Ye-Yeah yeah, the banquet's boring, okay? Is that the answer you're looking for?" He answered properly after that.
"It's really boring huh?" The girl immediately agreed to what he said.
"I have nothing better to do than stand there and dance until my feet aches." He added.
"Hmmm, I can't believe I have to agree with you on all of that." She nodded to show her agreement.
The corners of his mouth immediately go up. "Guess we aren't so different after all."
"I've never had anyone to talk to before. So this is definitely new to me." The girl embarrassed to say this was one of the few normal social interactions she had with a boy in her whole life. Quite a pity since all the boys at the farm bullied her.
"Really? Don't you have any friends or something?" The boy was curious.
Deciding not to mention Frieda, she said "Nope, never had any."
"You must've been a boring person." Deciding to tease her again.
"Haa?? I'm not a boring person! Besides, who need friends when I have animals as friends." The girl accidentally leaned back too much. Forgetting that there wasn't a wall to lean on.
The boy immediately act on his instincts, he ran to her and grabbed her hand and his other arm wrapped her waist to support her from falling.
The balcony was at least 4 stories high from the ground. Without him saving her at the last second, she would’ve fell and end up dead.
"Are you okay?" He frantically said. He adjust their position so she wouldn't be able to fall anymore, but still not letting her go.
"Y-yeah." She let out a nervous laugh. The girl was clearly terrified that she was gonna fall. Not noticing their close proximity, he can feel her nervous breathing.
The position they were in made the little boy flushed. His eyes suddenly widens. He lowered his head and his ears started to get red.
'This isn't the first time I've hold a girl this close, I've already danced with many girls before. But this is the first time I ever got flustered around a girl?' The boy gathered his thoughts.
'It must've been the cold wind.' He convinced himself that it was the wind the reason he was flushing so bad.
"S-sorry about that." She started to get embarrassed, the space between them was almost gone, only a few more inches she could feel his breath on her.
Seeing as she was still in shock of what happened. He slowly caressed her back, and he started drawing circles on her back, the kind gesture sending shivers down the spine of the little girl.
She slightly flinched at his touch. This ‘thing’ or whatever they’re doing is unknown to the young girl. Yes, Frieda does hug her but that’s it. They are both close, and they’ve already bonded over many things, but she always keeps her distance. As if someone’s watching her every move.
‘It wasn’t as close as this.’
Her mind suddenly wanted the urge to hug him. He immediately calmed her with just a few touches. His presence somehow brought her peace and comfort.
It felt familiar.
It felt warm.
It felt like home?
What does it feel like to have a home. The little girl has never received any affection. She grew up fatherless. Her mother, and her grandparents are always busy. They don’t spend time together. She’s thankful for Frieda but she always left after a few hours. At the end of the day, she knows, that she’ll always get left behind, she knows that everyone is going to leave her.
With all of the negative thoughts, she couldn't resist the urge and suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck.
The actions of the girl caught the boy off guard.
‘Wa-wait, did I do something wrong or what-’
Then he heard her sniffling. His eyes widen because of her.
“A-animals are still cooler.” She still managed to say.
The boy started laughing out of nowhere. “Did you really have to say that? With the situation we’re in?” Without breaking off contact, he still kept laughing.
“But it’s true though. You should hang out with animals for once.” The girl grumbled out. A single tear managed to escape.
“Oh I’ve definitely ‘hung out’ with animals before. Didn’t really like it.” He looks at her and grinned.
“Maybe they don't like you.” The girl snickered. Knowing she cried a little, she wiped her face using her arm.
“Mhmm, I most especially hate horses.” He said with disgust in his tone.
The girl gasped, sounding as if she’s offended “How dare you hate horses?!”
“Well- I’m sorry if every time I am in close proximity of a horse, their first reaction is to immediately kick me to death!”
“Well then they probably hate you.”
“Did you do something bad to the horses?”
Now it’s his turn to gasp at the accusation
“What?! No! Why would I ever do that?”.
“You seem like the type to do it.” The other replied shorty, without giving any others explanation.
“Huh.”
“I guess you’re the type who can’t climb a horse all by yourself because you’re sooo short.”
“Oh so now we’re talking about heights.”
“Yeah, why not shortie?”
“Hey! I’m not that short!”
“Yeah you are. You only reach up to my ear.”
“Maybe because you’re just too tall for a kid. And don’t call me short! I have a name you know.”
“What is it then? or should I just continue to call you shortie?”
“You introduce first.”
“Eren. My name’s Eren.”
“Well then, may I have the pleasure to know this lady’s name?”
“It’s...”
“Historia.”
“Historia.”
“May I have this dance with you?”
“You may...”
After that, they started dancing. Engaging in small talk, and exchanging little bits of pieces of information they have. Spending the rest of the night dancing and talking to each other.
“It’s nice meeting you Hisu .”
“Wow, a nickname already?”
“Yes, Why not right?”
“Well it was nice meeting you too, Eren.”
“Even though I was alone most of the night, you were able to make me enjoy this.”
“I’m flattered. You also made me enjoy the rest of the night.”
“I was actually with my friends earlier and said I had to take a bathroom break.”
“They’re probably finding me right now.”
“But that’s fine. As long as I’m with you, I think I can handle any of their scoldings afterwards .”
“Eren..” She was speechless, touched by his words. “I don’t think it’s good to make your friends and family worry about you.”
There was a sudden noise coming from a large tower.
Oh. What a coincidence. The clock struck midnight. Time caught up to them.
‘I’ve heard of this fairytale before. Frieda read it to me one night.’ She remembered the dark blue book Frieda gave her with the pretty pictures.
Distracting herself from wasting any more time she said “You should go back.”
“What? Why would I?”
“Because it’s midnight already and you’re friends and family are already worried about you not being back.”
“But how about you?”
“I’m going to be fine. My home’s pretty close so it’s not gonna take long.” She reassured him with a smile.
“...”
“Is this... goodbye now?” His face looked dejected.
“I guess it is.” Sharing the same sentiments, she was also sad to part.
“Am I ever going to see you again?” The boy asked with a spark of hope in his tone. Hoping that someday he’ll meet her again.
“I guess only time will tell.”
“I’m gonna miss you. Like a lot.” She was caught off guard as he embraced her. “I’m...gonna miss you too.”
“Thank you for being with me tonight.”
“Goodbye for now, Historia. Don’t forget about me!!” He was shouting while going inside. His back now turned to her as he reunites with his friends and family inside.
‘How can I ever forget about you? Even though it’s only been a couple of hours, I’ve already felt like I’ve known you for a long time’
“Goodbye Eren.” The girl said with a bright smile. Only for him, I can do it. But she feels her heart in pain a little. It was sad seeing her new companion go.
I’ll be looking forward to the day I’ll be able to chat with you again.