A/N: Aaannnd I'm back just in time for our Two Year Anniversary of the Flare Titan fanfiction! Obviously I had to post a chapter today. So here it is. I really just wanted to thank everyone for the 190+ reviews I've gotten, as well as the various people I have consulted over the years in order to improve myself as an author. Looking back on it, this story started off very roughly, I wasn't very old and I was still finding my feet as an author. Two years later and the differences between then and now could not be clearer, and I have almost 200+ followers plus the thousands of lurkers to thank for that! Here's to a New Year of story writing!
Bt 7274: It was really just a matter of personal preference. I was re-watching the anime and felt like giving her a chance in the spotlight.
ALN2: Advice noted, I always love some criticism wherever possible!
German Science: I won't lie, that is a very accurate description of the power balance.
International Forum Part III: May I Have This Dance?
As the guests began to file in, Princess Rose Rearc took careful notes of the guests that were filing in. Admittedly, that wasn't very hard since they were - more often than not - very loudly announced.
"Princess Yang Huang Zhou of the Xinyin!"
"Emperor Richard the VI and his daughter - Adrianna La Rose!"
The event itself was quite amazing really, and brought an entirely new perspective to the saying: 'War is a place where the young kill one another without knowing or hating each other, because of the decision of old people who know and hate each other, without killing each other.'
The event had barely started, and the Forum had begun dividing amongst clear national and geopolitical lines.
"Princess Rearc." A voice suddenly said from behind her, taking her by surprise.
Leon immediately stepped beside her as she turned to face the man who politely bowed before them.
"Wilhelm Tybur, and my daughter - Evangelica." He gestured to the white-haired girl beside him, who gave Rose a polite nod.
In response, Rose gave him a curtsy: "Lord Tybur." She replied warmly,
"This is the first time I've seen you at such an event. I'm glad that you accepted this invitation." Willy stated,
Internally, Rose couldn't help but be somewhat miffed by the man, here was one of her occupiers suddenly cozying up to her for the sake of the event.
It made her sick.
Before Rose could open her mouth to respond, Debois stepped in.
"Thank you for your courtesy, Lord Tybur." Debois stated, "I'm sure the Princess appreciates the sentiment."
Rose looked down, and Willy Tybur nodded understandingly.
"I see, well until we meet again." Willy nodded before proceeding to depart, but Evangelica cast one last sympathetic glance towards Rose, a brief moment of mutual understanding before she turned away and disappeared after her father.
"Is this even legal…?" Jean wondered, chambering another round in his Jager 51.
"We're allowed to bring our own guard services, and they never stated where they need to be posted. As long as we stay out of sight and out of mind." Eren mentioned casually,
"We still don't know whether Marley is going to pull something or not." Levi added, "So it's best we remain posted up here."
Jean only shrugged and nodded as he looked back up into the night sky.
"Are you ready?" Alto questioned from behind Historia.
"I am…but why didn't we bring Eren with us?" Historia asked as they were led through the halls.
"Eren will undoubtedly be recognized as the Founder." Erwin interjected, "Bringing him here might be viewed as an act of hostility."
Historia nodded, accepting the explanation as they stepped into the ballroom.
"Invitations?" The butler at the door greeted them, and Alto nodded, flipping out the small card and handing it out to him. He scans it normally, and then suddenly pales.
"Is there a problem?" Historia stepped forward,
"N-no…" The butler shook his head, he quickly moved over to the announcer, who nodded in resigned understanding.
"Now introducing Kaiserin Historia Reiss! And Prince Alto Burke!" He announced loudly, his face somewhat contorted as if it pained him to say this.
Regardless, Historia, Alto, Mina, and Erwin stalked past, despite being dwarfed by the other two men flanking her on each side, Historia drew all the eyes with her wonderful golden dress complimenting her hair and eyes.
As they reached the floor, the first noble to approach them was none other than Wilhelm 'Willy' Tybur.
"I'm glad to see you trusted us enough to accept our invitation." Wilhelm stated,
"Of course," Historia said smoothly, "We wish for peace as much as anyone. The crimes of our ancestors shouldn't determine the future of all Eldians."
"If only everyone thought that way." Wilhelm said wistfully, "In any case, enjoy the party. For the duration of the Forum, you will be our guests."
Historia nodded, "And maybe one day, after that as well."
With those world, Historia walked off with a swish of her dress, Alto politely bowed to the Lord Tybur, but said nothing, Erwin merely gave him a nod of acknowledgement and followed after the pair.
From across the ballroom, Evangelica watched the brief exchange tensely.
'Of all people…why did it have to be them?!' Evangelica thought to herself with her head down. Arguably, these were people she wanted to see the least.
People she'd betrayed.
Finally gathering her strength, she looked back up at the guests-
-and immediately made eye contact with Alto Burke himself.
As their eyes met, Evangelica almost felt the floor drop out from under her.
'No. No. No I can't.' Evangelica immediately turned around and bolted through the assortment of guests. Air. She needed air!
Muttering quick apologies to people she ran into, she practically tripped over herself as she dashed to a balcony, thankfully, it was unoccupied.
Taking deep breaths to calm herself down, she managed to collect her thoughts enough to look out at the night sky.
"Damn it…" She said quietly to herself, there was no denying it, she was still scared of facing them again.
Lost in thought, Evangelica only just barely heard a familiar voice calling out to her from behind.
"Evangelica?"
Mina found herself somewhat distanced from Historia and the others, who were greeting the various world leaders. Of course, Mina was not the high-class social butterfly they were, so she found herself feeling - admittedly - somewhat out of place as she stood in the corner of the room.
As she wandered aimlessly, she was suddenly bumped into by a blonde haired girl slightly older than her.
"O-oh!" The girl apologized, "My apologies madam."
"Please, it's no concern." Mina waved it off, "Enjoying the party?"
"Are you?" She questioned back, "I'm just an accessory here." She said sadly.
Mina gave a polite chuckle, "That makes two of us." She turned to face the girl, "My name is Mina Karolina."
The girl nodded, "Princess Rose Rearc of Francia."
"Evangelica?!" A surprised voice said from behind him, and Evangelica immediately paled.
"Evangelica that is you isn't it?" The man said again, Evangelica didn't want to turn around.
'Please, please, please go away…' She shut her eyes, desperately trying to wish the person away.
Inhaling, Evangelica forced herself to stand up and look behind her-
And every single one of her fears was confirmed.
Standing before her was Ambros Lange, her greatest love and her greatest regret.
"Am…bros…" Evangelica said the name in pieces as if in disbelief he was genuinely there. Her hand clenched, she was half prepared to transform right then and there, only stopped by concern for the guests and the possibility of additional Scouts.
"So it is you." He said simply, neither attempted to approach the other. Even though it was a space of merely a few feet, it felt like miles between them.
After a long while of silence, Evangelica finally managed to speak, "Why…" She croaked out, "...are you here?"
"Why? Unhappy to see me?" Ambros asked sardonically,
"That's not…" Evangelica trailed off, a tidal wave of feelings she'd been keeping buried for the past year threatening to come to the surface and overwhelm her.
"Is this the life you said you couldn't escape?" Ambros asked, "High class parties and giving off innocent smiles?"
Evangelica looked down, the worst part being that she couldn't even argue with him, and he didn't even sound angry, just…sad.
"I have a family here you know." Evangelica muttered, half-convinced of what she was saying.
Ambros nodded, "I see."
"You didn't answer my question," Evangelica said, steadying my voice.
"If you insist - I'm a part of Historia's protection detail. Most of the Survey Corps is sitting on the roof in case something goes wrong." Ambros sighed, "Happy?"
Evangelica turned back around, "You're angry."
"Yes, I am," Ambros stated, taking a position up by her side.
"You're angry at me." Evangelica sighed,
"Yes, but not for the reasons you think I am," Ambros confessed,
"I had…a lot of time to think about everything that happened." Ambros looked up at the stars,
"I'm not…as angry as you betraying me as I thought I'd be." Ambros said, "But why did you have to betray me like that?!" He whirled around to her angrily.
"Your words from then on were all hate or scorn, I would be able to move on. If your last words had been insults or how it was all fake, I would've accepted it eventually and I wouldn't have risked everything just to speak to you like this. If you had said I didn't know you at all, and that everything was a lie…!" Ambros breathed, "But you didn't."
"How am I supposed to hate you?" Evangelica said quietly,
"We're devils." Ambros shot back, "That's what your family has told the public for years. That the Founding Titan has been waiting in the shadows like a bogeyman. It is natural to hate us."
"You're wrong!" Evangelica said suddenly, "You're not devils…!"
"But that's how we are viewed," Ambros said quietly,
"I wanted…!" Evangelica hesitated, "I want to change that! That's why I joined the Warrior Unit…!"
Ambros didn't try refuting it, "I'm sure you do." He said earnestly, "And I'm not asking you to change."
"So then why are you here?" Evangelica asked,
"I just…wanted to see it with my own eyes. Who you were…out here."
"Well - here I am." She spread out her arms before him, "Lady Evangelica Tybur of the Tybur Family. Holder of the Warhammer Titan. This is who I am out here, and why I can't be with you." Ambros had no words to say to that, so he did the only thing he could:
He stepped forward, and before Evangelica could react, his lips found hers, and immediately, that tidal wave of emotion surged up in a sob that was quickly muffled by Ambros's kiss.
For a moment, Evangelica didn't want to let go. She wanted to stay like this forever, but as Ambros pulled away and Evangelica couldn't bring herself to beg him to stay simply looking down with her hands grasped together as Ambros gently wiped the tears from her eyes.
"May I have this dance?"
For the second time in her life, Rose Rearc finally felt she'd made a genuine friend.
If she was being honest, Mina was virtually everything Rose wanted to be. She was kind and carried a kind of humble charm to her. At the same time, Rose every so often caught a glimpse of hidden strength in the girl, something she herself lacked.
"So you're the Princess of the Francian Remnants?" Mina questioned curiously,
"Well…yeah. Although it feels like I'm more of a figurehead, acting on the whims of a glorified military dictatorship." Rose mused sadly, "I just feel so…powerless sometimes."
Mina nodded, "Well - you're a princess. I'm sure someone is willing to follow you."
Before Rose could respond, a finger tapped on her shoulder. "Your Highness," Rose looked over her shoulder to see Debois standing over her, clearly somewhat displeased.
"General…?" Rose questioned,
"You should rejoin the festivities," Debois stated, before leaning in to whisper: "Do you know who she is?"
"No…why?" Rose replied,
"She's the mistress of Alto Burke, she's from Paradis." Debois almost hissed the last word out, as if being from Paradis made one inherently disgusting.
Rose's eyes widened in surprise, 'She is from that island?'
She wasn't entirely uninformed of world events, and she had - of course - heard that Paradisian representatives would be at the party. But she couldn't see any devil in the woman before her.
"For the record: I'm not a mistress. I'm his fiance." Mina said calmly,
"Ah - I apologize then." Debois waved it dismissively, as if he was just dismissing Mina as if hie was dismissing a servant.
Mina's eye twitched indignantly, and Rose looked between the two of them:
"Of course, I will in a second." Rose stated at last,
Debois seemed genuinely taken aback, "I think it's best if we leave promptly." He insisted,
"I will leave, later." Rose snapped, and almost shocked herself with how forceful her voice was.
Debois looked around, noticing the offhand gazes they were beginning to draw.
"I see…later then." Debois slipped away, and Rose turned back around.
"I do sincerely apologize for his rudeness-" Rose stated, but Mina waved it off.
"It's fine. I suspected something like this would happen." She stated, "Thank you, though."
"You're right, I am a princess. I can at least talk to who I wish."
"Ah! Mina!" Alto rushed up to her side suddenly, "I noticed you slipped off somewhere."
Mina smiled at her fiance, "You know I'm not good at events like this Alto."
"Who is this?" Alto finally noticed Rose,
"Princess Rose Rearc," Rose curtsied, "of the Kingdom of Francia."
Alto nodded, "Alto Burke, Prince of the Eldian Kaiserreich, and my sister - Historia Reiss, the Kaiserin."
"It's a pleasure Princess." Historia stated politely, offering her hand which Rose hesitantly took.
"I just noticed this - but how old are you? You don't seem to be very old at all."
"That is a good observation." Alto nodded, "Me, Historia, and Mina are all 16."
"Sixteen?" Rose stated in surprise, she suspected they were young, but they were younger than even her…!
Mina chuckled good naturedly, "It's a fact that tends to catch many off-guard."
On a rooftop overlooking the majority of the windows in the venue, a cloaked man chambered a sniper rifle.
"(Even if he didn't manage to lead her into position, I can still make the shot!)" The man muttered to himself, before pulling back on the trigger.
And as Evangelica and Ambros found comfort in each others arms, their sweet moment was broken by the sound of shattering glass and screams from within the ballroom.
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