☀️ Another Day of Krista[1]
____________________________________________________________________________________
The sun rose gently, casting golden light through the lace curtains in her small room.
Historia opened her eyes with a smile already stretching her cheeks.
Another day, full of new beginnings or something like that. Another adventure, though nothing would actually but. Another chapter in Krista's story, both for her and my readers.
She slipped from her bed with the lightness of someone whose dreams hadn't yet been crushed by reality. Her hair was quickly brushed. Dress laced. Hands clean. Shoes—on. Optimism in and excitement loading.
She opened the door to head out.
And stopped, and there stood the author's greatest fear made flesh.
Mother.
Her mother stood just outside. It had been what? 2 years? 3? 4? Historia had long forgotten the time by now.
Alma Reiss, the stone-cold, cruel, older version of Historia.
Hair pinned back. Hands folded. Face cold, you'd think she was visiting her ex-husband and not her only child.
"...Good morning," Historia said cheerfully, being kind to everyone.
Alma blinked, because of course she did.
As if unsure how to react to the sound of joy.
Then, carefully: "Your… father is coming. Later today."
The smile didn't leave Historia's face, it never did lately.
But her chest did tighten, and the suspicion grew.
"…Oh."
Rod Reiss, a noble man, a rich man, and strangely obscure besides that.The man who gave her life, technically her father.But never gave her anything else.
What did she feel?
Excitement? Hooray, her dad is here.Fear? But he's here for the first time in years.Confusion? Should she avoid him? Maybe pretend to be sick and have an excuse to run?
She thought quickly, and then came the answer.
And then—Krista.
'Kaelen said Krista met her father once. He was cruel, but she decided something… She'd judge him by how he treated her now, not what he didn't do before.' Historia, though, she and Krista had a lot of similarities, but that was probably because most people are like her.
It felt fair.It felt mature.
And Historia decided to do the same.
...
Alma stood quietly, watching her daughter skip out the door.
She frowned slightly, as qualified mothers do.
There was something different about the girl, though.
She was smiling more. Humming. Standing taller. There was a new lightness in her steps, and some of it—Alma hated to admit—reminded her of herself.
Or rather, who she used to be.
Back in the day, sneaking off to read, essentially her entire life was Historia's before.
But this version of Historia—confident, self-assured—was foreign to her.
And frightening.
...
Historia wandered toward the stables, the soft rhythm of her shoes tapping against stone.
Around this time, Kaelen would be there.
Talking to the horses.
She had once thought it strange—creepy, even.
But now?She thought it was… sweet. Besides, she had way weirder hobbies...reading wasn't something children did.
He talked to them like old friends. Asked about their dreams. Gave them names that weren't on their stalls. It was...a little odd because the horses responded as well, at least it seemed like they did.
It was weird.
But maybe that was Kaelen's way of dealing with being alone.
And now he wasn't.
Because she was here.
She could be that person now.Not a horse.Not a ghost.
As she turned the corner, she saw him resting against the side of the barn, one hand brushing the mane of a chestnut mare.
He was saying something in a low voice, it seemed like he was talking about something pretty bad, though.
The mare neighed softly in return, as Kaelen sighed.
Historia smiled.
This was her new morning routine now.
...
The wheels rolled slowly along the dirt road, and Rod Reiss stared blankly through the window of his private carriage.
He wasn't thinking of the road.
He was thinking of Shiganshina.
And what waited beneath it?
The Fall of the Wall: Maria had revealed more than Titans.
It had revealed truths.
And lies.
The Founding Titan had been passed on—stolen—from his line. Grisha Yeager had taken it. But even that wasn't the problem.
Grisha was gone.
Dead, by all reasonable assumptions, how else could that have happened?
Rod didn't fear Grisha anymore.
What he feared was what stood in his place.
It had happened after the breach.
He had fled from the Chapel. After...his family was dead there, he was the only one to escape from Grisha's titan.
There, waiting for him, was not a man. Not a soldier. Not a Titan.
But something else.
A figure.
He couldn't describe it now. The memory was already slipping, as though his mind had blurred it on purpose.
But he remembered the eyes.
Pale blue.
Unblinking, uncaring, and disdainful, as if his mere presence was sullying the area.
A pressure so overwhelming it didn't touch his skin—it gripped his soul.
He couldn't speak. Couldn't move.
And then—
A whisper.
Follow the First King's Will.
And just like that, the figure was gone, at least, he thought it was; he didn't even know if it was real to that day.
Rod gasped for air, and his carriage guards thought he was ill, seeing their lord running from the chapel, pale and scared out of his mind.
He let them believe it.
He knew now what he had to do.
There was only one way to avoid death.
Only one path forward.
He had to honor the First King's Will.
And that meant going to see his other wife, Alma.
And her daughter.
The girl he had cast away.
...
She had found her usual seat near the pasture, watching Kaelen from a quiet distance.
He was wiping down tack equipment now. Focused. Methodical.
But still so… graceful. Like he was meant for something bigger than horses and buckets.
He hadn't read Krista's story today. Yet.
But she would wait.
She always did.
She rested her chin in her hands and thought about what she would say to her father.
"Hello, I'm Historia. I hope you're doing well. I don't know you, but… I'm willing to try."
That sounded right.
That sounded like Krista.
She looked at Kaelen again, his face grew even more annoyed as if he could sense her staring, though not because he didn't have eyes in the back of his head.
She had no idea what the day would bring.No idea who was arriving besides her father.No idea what Kaelen already knew.
But she was ready.
Or… almost ready, after all, everything that would proceed wouldn't need her at all.
...
_________________________________________________________________________________________
[Author: So, enjoy it? This came out later because I had to suffer being next to Neco-Arc. I'm not joking about that, the stupid cat was not leaving.]
[1] "Have you wondered why I don't put this as the title, even though it is? Because the titles don't support emojis...