Amelié's eyes flew open. She had woken up out of a dead sleep and was breathing heavily. Though she had no recollection of her dream, her heart was pounding and felt a cold sweat all around her. She had only been asleep for a few hours, but feeling wide awake, got out of bed. She opened the window and stared off into the night sky. Tomorrow, the Survey Corps were leaving to continue their duties. She was particularly excited as this would be her first venture, but also, it would be the first time in a few years that she leaves the walls.
"My my, Miss Bellerose up in the window, how beautiful she looks among the stars." said a familiar voice. She looked down to see Roman smiling at her, like always.
"Care to join me for a spell, Miss Amelié?"
"Why aren't you asleep? You know we have a big day tomorrow." She questioned.
"I could ask you the same thing." He chuckled slightly.
"If I could guess, I'd say that I'm so thrilled for tomorrow, my body doesn't want to rest." She flittered her hands.
"It's funny. We grew up outside the walls, but yet I can't really remember it." He said. Amelié could never forget. She found herself missing the fields of green, the tall trees, the wind that could've easily swept her off her feet and have her sail across the skies. In that moment, the sheer memory had her soaring, her body felt light, and she could almost feel the breeze once again.
"I could never forget. I honestly can't wait to go back out there." Roman's smile faded slightly.
"I just want to fly!" she stretched her arms out and grinned gleefully.
"You do know we won't be using our maneuver gear to travel, right?"
Amelié stopped flittering her hands.
"What? Why not?"
"We're just scouting the area, we'll be on horseback most of the time unless a titan comes by." She put her arms down and pouted slightly. Roman chuckled and patted her head.
"Don't worry my dear, we'll get to use them eventually. Remember what Captain Levi has told you 1000 times, the maneuver gear isn't a play thing."
"I just wanna be like a bird. I've always been envious of them, getting to soar across the skies with the wind under their wings. So graceful, and they get to explore the world at a speed us humans can only get to by means of tools. What would I give to have wings.." Her eyes sparkled in the night with total captivation of flight. Roman always found her wonderment delightful. He smiled all the time because she always had a reason to smile.
Even when the time of disaster struck them, she still smiled afterwards.
Sadly, the smiles were not for Roman. Inside, this hurt him, but the reason kept her smiling, and that's all he could ask for.
"Miss Amelié, I believe you should head back to bed. I know you're excited but you're also tired easily." She snapped out of her amazement and sighed.
"What about you?"
"I'm planning on heading on up there myself, just want to enjoy the quiet night a little more, it puts me at ease." She shrugged and skipped on up to her room.
Unlike Amelié, Roman was not looking forward to tomorrow. Though he was also selected to be part of the survey corps, even the thought of having to go back out there turned his insides into knots. The idea of it all had him up for nights on end. He never let it show to anyone though, not even Amelié.
"Oh my captain, this is so exciting, my first trip back outside and I get to be next to you."
"Don't get comfortable, Miss Bellerose." Said Levi aversively.
Amelié continuously giggled like a child and blushed wildly as he let out sounds of repugnance. It didn't help that Hanji liked to tease him about it. In fact, a lot of the squad, including Erwin would nudge him playfully and say things similar to 'Here comes your future wife' and he'd often respond in cold glares and more sounds of disgust.
At one moment, he noticed Roman glowering at him, quite intensely.
"Have you anything to say, Roman Petrov?" He scoffed and averted his gaze elsewhere.
"Now Amelié, if there are any particular spots that you are well knowledgeable of, we'll be relying on you to inform us." Commanded Erwin. "Were titans quite rampant in that area? Were you always running from them?"
".. I've honestly never seen or heard of a titan until that day. So no, they weren't exactly thriving."
Amelié scanned for her sister everywhere. In a state of panic, she began calling out for her and striding across the field, Roman following behind, warning her to not run too far.
"CHRISTELLE! COME BACK!"
Suddenly, Amelié's father sprinted to them trying to get her to quiet down, but soon they all fell silent as they discovered Christelle, lifeless in the mouth of a giant.
They didn't move, they said nothing, they froze in terror at the sight of the humanoid beast.
The screaming of Amelié's mother broke the silence as the monster swallowed the body of Christelle whole, and started to walk towards the group of families. Her father ran back towards his wife and the caravan, and Roman tried to follow but not before realizing Amelié wasn't moving.
"AMELIÉ, RUN!" But she didn't even flinch. He didn't hesitate to scoop her up and race back. Amelié watched in fear as the monster came towards her.
"That.. that thing just.. ate her.. it looks like a person.."
Soon the field broke out in screams of terror and panic. Some tried to gather their things before eventually dropping everything to flock towards the nearby forest for possible shelter.
"I thought we were safe from titans!" someone called out. The word titan echoed in Amelié's head..
"Titan.. what's that.. is that a.. titan?" She had never heard of a titan before. But she was absolutely frightened of it. The shock still took hold of her as Roman tripped on a tree root and threw her out of his arms. Hitting his head on another tree, he started to bleed and fade in and out of consciousness. He tried to reach for Amelié but was too weak to even crawl to her. And she watched as the monster scooped up her parents and eat them like it was nothing, and soon another one of those things emerged out of the trees. It stomped on some of the other families, either killing or severely injuring them. When the first one set its sights on Amelié, sheer trepidation shot through her body like a cold chill. All she could hear was her own heartbeat as everything muffled out. Roman was comatose a few feet away, and she only a 16 year old girl. They were helpless. Tears ran down her face, her throat failing to produce a sound. They were completely helpless.
As she prepared to watch herself die, a sudden slicing noise rang through the air, startling her. Before she could comprehend, the titan collapsed onto the ground and began to emit clouds of steam. And then another sudden noise erupted, and the other titan followed suit. In between, she kept hearing blasts of air, like small explosions.
As she watched the monsters dissolve into nothing, a figure wielding two large blades and very strange apparatus landed in front of her. It was a man.
She then realized that this man was capable of flight, something she always admired of birds. Not only that, he just saved her from certain death.
"Is he.. an angel?"
And with a stern face and calm voice, he quietly asked,
"What are you guys doing out here?"