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January 13th 1997

There was an ugly green monster with black straggly hair, a permanent crooked smile on its face as it chased the beautiful blonde princess along the outer castle walls. No matter how much she screamed and pleaded, the beast would not stop his pursuit. It just kept crying out with such a heartbreaking and horrifying voice,

"Give me a name – give me a name!" and then the princess tripped and fell to the cold hard ground. As she did, it was as if darkness consumed the world around her. She peered up in horror as the monster stood over her.

"Give me your name." He said with an ear piercing shriek before opening his mouth wide and swallowing her whole.

"Ah!" Krista shot up from bed, sweating and panting. When she was finally able to realize she was in her room and that was only just another nightmare, she felt her heart pounding against her chest. Quickly, she threw her feet over the bed, placing it on the cold floor in an attempt to soothe her nerves. Krista tried to concentrate on calming her breathing, placing her forehead in her hand as she triedto remember the dream vividly before she would forget its tiniest details.

It was the same dream – only this time the Monster had caught her and ate her. That was when a dinging sound from her computer caught her attention. Slowly, she rose to her feet, walking over and bending down to place her hand on her mouse.

It was odd; the sender merely went by the initial "L"

With curious eyes, she clicked and opened the email and read softly out loud,

"I shall send you the most beautiful flowers. I was born to smother you with flowers."

Her eyes widened at the apparent love letter.

"That's so beautiful." She stood up with a smile.

"Wow, I wonder who sent this!"

That was when she thought of one possible candidate and giggled.

"Ah…ha! I'm very impressed with you Reiner." She said poking at her screen playfully. After all, she was well aware of his attempts at asking her out. But she never imagined he would approach her so poetically instead of his previous straight forward methods.

Krista was quick to wash her face, brush her teeth and comb her long hair. She was a lot more careful with picking out her outfit. Today she was going to wear a khaki pencil skirt, a vanilla colored turtle neck sweater and thick black tights and red flats. Over it, she threw on a dark gray blazer. As she ran downstairs with a smile to greet her parents, she turned the corner and laid eyes on their frequent new friend, her smile quickly faded.

He was a short, overweight man with eyes that always looked so…greedy. Every time he looked at her, she was uncomfortable – it made her skin crawl.

"Hello, good morning Krista." He smiled and she forced her own before saying,

"Good morning Mr. Rod." And quickly she tried to throw her eyes to the kitchen where she heard her mother. She skipped over to her, placing a kiss on her cheek before saying sweetly,

"Good morning Mother." It smelled like fresh orange muffins and vanilla bean coffee. Just as her mother was dumping the muffins in a basket, Krista caught one falling and stole it.

"Oh Krista, you're not going to let them cool?" Her mother groaned with a smile still on her face. The blonde nibbled carefully and said,

"No I like them nice and hot!" she giggled and grabbed her bag off the kitchen table and threw it around her back. She didn't want to let Mr. Rod see her again but she wanted to kiss her father goodbye. She darted back into the living room and approached her kind father who, as always was sitting in his lazy boy chair reading the newspaper. She kissed him on the cheek and said,

"Good morning and goodbye Father."

"Are you going to come home right after class or do you have your therapy appointment today?"

"No, my therapy appointment is tomorrow. Today after class I have aikido, remember?"

"Ah. Yes – kick all the boy's asses!"

"Oh father…" She giggled at his joke – knowing he was half serious. Finally, she headed out the door, ready for her long day of classes.

Once her friend's gathered at the cafeteria, she nonchalantly approached Reiner about the emails when he said,

"Huh?"

"What do you mean what? Don't act so innocent."

"What emails, Krista?"

"'I was born to smother you with flowers' I never would have guessed in a million years you could write poetry!"

"To be honest…I couldn't come up with anything frilly like that even if I tried. I'm sorry – but it wasn't me."

"Hm?" Krista sat up straight from her relaxed posture.

"Then who could it be? I only give my email address to close friends and no one else."

"Damn…what this means is some Sauvé poetry guy is honing in on Reiner's girl!" Connie teased, forcing a blush on Reiner's face as he shoved him.

Bertholdt and Connie both laugh but Krista was now focused on the absolute mystery of this secret admirer.

"Who…could it be then?"

Later in her Theoretical perspectives class, her old professor was viewed as mean and strict; the by the books kind of guy. He often picked on Krista for being late – but everyone in the class knew she was the brightest student in the room and had an answer for everything.

So when the topic about a child murdering his entire family was brought up, the professor naturally picked on Krista for his assignment,

"Now, I would like you to explain the verdict using the records from all of the hearings – specifically what was documented upon every visit from his social worker."

Krista gasped in response, realizing she was lost in thought.

"What, do you not understand the task?" He barked and she sat up from her chair, all eyes on her.

"Um. No. um." She trembled over her words. Her heart started racing, her hands clammy and she did not understand why.

"Well, the trial…was focused mainly on the cold blooded murders…done…d-done by a child…of an-an entire family." She felt as though she couldn't breathe the more she spoke. Her body was beginning to shake uncontrollably.

"T-The evidence…the evidence…" she couldn't control her thoughts much less the words she spoke even though she was desperate to regain control. There was a gut wrenching feeling that took over, filling her with fear and sorrow.

"So not even Krista has all the answers, huh?" Connie taunted beside her but then realized that she was panicking. That was when Reiner stood up from beside her and grasped her shaking hand which rested on the desk.

"Krista?"

The vision of her classmates all staring up at her was beginning to blur, her heavy gasps being the only noise in the room.

"What's wrong Krista?" Reiner said softly, trying to pull her back into reality. That was when she felt nauseous and threw her hand over her mouth. Quickly, she turned and ran up the stairs of the lecture hall and exited, both Connie and Reiner following suit.

After rinsing her face with cold water, she left the bathroom and saw that Connie and Reiner were kind enough to wait. She bent down, hugging the wall with her back, still feeling dizzy.

"Are you alright?" Connie said carefully.

"Would you like to go see the nurse?"

"I-I'm alright." Krista responded swiftly, not wanting to be a bother to anyone.

"I just felt a little ill…that's all."

She paused.

"I was just listening to the professor about that severely abused child and I…"

"Huh? You mean about that murdered family?"

"Don't say that!" She cried out, not wanting to be triggered again.

This shocked both of the boys and for a moment they remained silent.

"Is that it? I thought you were awfully brave…but I guess you're pretty sensitive too." Reiner said his voice a caress.

"I know exactly what that counselor Dr. Gidel would say,"If you get back to the root of it, you'll be able to overcome it. Now go back to your childhood!" Connie seemed proud of himself in that moment.

"That's it…" Krista replied with a weak tone.

"Hm?"

"…I have no memories…I remember nothing…before the age of 10…"

She paused.

"There is no childhood to return too…"

The ceiling to her room seemed to spiral the more and more she tried to focus her thoughts. She pressed both of her hands against the temples of her head as if it would help jog her memories. The only things her mind kept trailing over where the tons of times her parents showed her photos of an ambiguous child in their album. They promised it was her; the child dressed as a witch for Halloween, the girl being baptized in their local church, the smiling bright blonde girl opening gifts on Christmas morning – she had absolutely no memory of it.

The photos never triggered a response.

She remembered staring at each picture, trying to imagine herself in them but couldn't. The photos were taken in such an angle, that it was hard to disprove it or the latter.

After the ugly argument they had gotten into when she was a young teenager that left her mother in tears, Krista never brought it up as aggressively again.

But that didn't mean the doubt ever left her.

She moaned in irritation for the void inside of her that nothing could fill.

She hated it – not knowing who she was.

"Where are my memories?" She said almost tearfully until she heard that familiar ping from her computer. Slowly, she sat up from her bed, eyes staring at yet another email that popped on her screen from the sender known as "L."

"I will come pick you up on your birthday. Meet me at Utgard castle just as the sun is about to fall into the ocean."

Krista didn't understand why, but the email warmed her heart and pushed away the negativity once plaguing her. She was thankful for this admirer – whoever he was.

January 15th 1997

Krista's birthday – finally 21; old enough to buy her own drink. But she was excited for another reason; she was finally going to meet her prince charming. Krista was back to her usual self – cheerful and strong. At least, that is what she always wanted everyone else to believe. It was a mask she couldn't pull off – even if she tried. Still, the only happy thing she clung to was her little secret admirer. She couldn't stop talking about it with her friends Hannah and Mina.

"He's coming to pick you up?" Mina said out of disbelief as the 3 walked around campus.

"Who is he?" Hannah asked.

"I have no idea who he is. It was just an anonymous email and Reiner was honest it wasn't him."

Krista couldn't contain her cheeky smile as she glossed over the details.

"Aww…you look so happy Krista!" Hannah nudged her shoulder with hers playfully.

"It said, "I was born to smother you with flowers." Krista recited.

"Come on, that's so corny! How many boys do you know that write like that?!" Mina groaned.

"Oh!" Hannah paused, forcing the other two to stop and look back at her.

"There is a new guy in our class, you know who I'm talking about!?" Krista and Mina raised their eyebrows as a response – clearly, they had no idea what Hannah was going on about.

"You know – the guy who sits quietly in that legendary seat in room 12 – where you're bound to be called on by the old geezer of an instructor!" Hannah directed her focus on Mina, as if the details were directed at her.

"Yes! I know who you're talking about. The guy with black hair and beautiful eyes." Mina paused as if she was thinking over.

"So odd that the teacher never calls on him though…"

"Yeah –yeah, but you know what else?"

Mina and Krista look at Hannah as she spilled the tea.

"That guy is ALWAYS looking at Krista!"

"Huh?" Krista responded, confused as to how she never noticed someone gawking in her direction.

"That's the guy!" Both of her friends cheered out in perfect unison.

Later that day, the girls secretly set a meeting for her. Krista felt overwhelmed, not mentally prepared to meet her supposed Prince charming at that very moment. Deep down, she was irritated they put her in such a tight spot. She really wanted to meet him personally at the castle. But, they told her to wait in front of the school where many people were walking about and he would approach her. She kept looking at everyone coming and going, trying to figure out whose eyes she felt on her. That was when she was approached by a male with dark hair, his hands at his side – dressed in gray pants and a deep blue dress coat.

"H-Hi how do you do? You're Krista Lenz, right?" The man stumbled over his words and Krista looked at him, immediately noticing his lack of charisma compared to the letters she had received.

"Y-yes." She tried to hide her disappointment. The man sheepishly threw his hand to the back of his head and scratched nervously.

"O-oh good. I'm Otto Huberman."

"Oh-Hello!" Krista replied cheerfully until the wind blew her hair against her face. Soft digits pushed away her long strands against the strong breeze. Once she reopened her eyes, a figure immediately caught her attention.

The view of him was perfectly seen just over Otto's shoulder. He was at a distance, back against the pillar of the building, a hand in his pocket, his side profile being the only thing visible. He had already been looking at her, peering from the sidelines. She continued to stare, trying to take in his features as if her heart was crying out desperately.

He was…beautiful – divine and cold; like an angel.

She couldn't look away, as if she was magnetized to him.

Krista gasped, eyes widening in shock.

The pounding against her chest returned, alarms ringing as the world had been drowned out by the beating of the drums. All around her was encased in white and only he stood out – the sun's rays perfectly emanating his existence.

'W-who are you?' She asked it of herself – trying to understand why she felt as though she knew him.

His weighed eyes never once left her. There was a cold smile on his lips, and a harrowing emptiness in his eyes that tugged at her deeply. The more she drowned in the sight of him, the more fearful she became.

'I've seen that face…somewhere before…'

He turned on his heel and walked away – it was as if everything was playing out in slow motion.

'Who…who are you?' her trembling voice barely scratching out from her throat.

'…Wait…'

Yet, he seemed to disappear within the crowd of people, like a ghost who was never there at all.

It was in that moment, the vibrations rung in her ears, a hazy image of a little boy standing in the dark appeared out of the static. It felt like her mind was going to burst as the shadows consumed everything around her – just like in her nightmare that morning.

Except, there wasn't a little green ugly monster – instead stood a beautiful pale boy with his head down.

A broken, defeated child.

Through the sharp white noise, she heard a tiny voice beckon; calm, cool and sweet were his words,

("Shoot me, Historia.")

And the trance she found herself in shattered at the sound of a single bullet.

Overwhelmed, her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed hard against the floor. Mina and Hannah rushed forward from their hiding place, screaming her name as they lifted her lifeless body onto their lap.

Hello, next 2 chapters will be uploaded at the same time!

Thanks to those who took interest in this quickly! I'm so excited to share this tale with you all. I've already started taking GREAT liberties with the inspirations I was given to create this.

Reviews please! Do you guys like how I format things on here? (putting the text centered, the lines spoken in bold etc? ) or is it a bit difficult in anyway?

Thank you all!

- Garnie