“I will be back… I’ll always come back to you.”

…

…

Tiffany stood still by the window as she lets the morning breeze touch her skin.

Another day begins inside Wall Rose – another day without Jessica, her love.

It’s been exactly a month since the Scouting Legion left the safety of the walls for an expedition, another mission in restoring humanity’s dignity.

It’s been a month since… but it felt like eternity to Tiffany.

Every day, she waits with an anxious heart.

Every day, she cries with a yearning passion.

…

She pursed her lips and closed her eyes, letting the memories of her love fill her mind.

Jessica’s face… Her loving brown eyes and soft gaze…

Her smug smile and mischievous laughter…

Her gentle touch, tender kisses, and ardent declarations of love…

…

She let the memories engulf her being, letting herself bask in a world only she and Jessica knows. With eyes shut tight, she sees her. She hears her promise.

She feels her love, and it gives her hope. It gives her strength to hold on.

…

A cool gust blew gently, as if it was brushing the strands of her ebony hair and planting a soft kiss on her pink lips.

“I love you, Tiffany…”

A lone tear cascades down alabaster skin as Tiffany smiled wistfully.

She opened her eyes and looks up at the wall from afar. She touched her lips briefly and reached out her hands forward, blowing a kiss back to the winds.

“I miss you so much, Jessica… I love you…”

She whispered, wishing for the winds to carry her message to the one she loves.

======+======

“Stay with me… please…” A plead.

“I can’t.” A sigh.

“Do you really have to go?”

“This is what I have to do, Tiffany.”

“Why?”

Jessica took the girl’s hand in her calloused ones, eyebrows furrowed in determination. “For humanity’s dignity. For your safety. For us to be free and to see the world, like you dreamed.”

Tiffany only looked away, tears pooling in her eyes.

It wasn’t unusual hearing those words. What every soldier says is not far from those lines. It was a promise of a free world for mankind, a safe world without the fear of getting eaten by titans. No walls, no cages.

Unfortunately, not every soldier comes back and fulfills the promise. In an expedition, less than half returns and survives.

Every time the Scouting Legion returns from one, Tiffany hears endless cries of agony and witnesses countless broken hearts.

It was Jessica’s first expedition.

Will it be Tiffany’s turn to cry and be heartbroken when the expedition’s over?

She’d rather not see the world outside the walls if Jessica’s not there to see it with her.

She wouldn’t. She couldn’t even bear the thought.

…

“Tiffany…”

Tears finally fell at the sound of Jessica’s voice.

Tiffany felt rough but gentle fingers wiping at her tears. She felt her chin tilted and their eyes found each other’s in an instant.

“Never again will I let those titans take away what we had. I never want to see the fear and sadness in your eyes again, Tiff.”

“I still fear…” Tiffany sniffed and tears continued to fall. “I fear for you. W-What if –?”

“Sshhh. I will be back. I’ll always come back to you.”

…

A soft wind blew.

…

“You feel that? The wind will always carry my love to you, every single day…”

“I’ll miss you, Jessi…”

“I’ll miss you, too…”

Jessica cupped her face with her hands and kissed her with fervor and a promise of forever. “I love you, baby.”

Tiffany reached out for her hand and squeezed tight.

Together, they walked towards the village square near the gate, where Commander Irvin Smith usually rallies the Scouting Legion.

…

No more words were needed to be said after that.

With a final squeeze, Tiffany let go of the girl and stood along the sidelines with the crowd cheering on the brave soldiers, the hope of humanity.

Jessica – in her sleek uniform, 3D maneuver gear and blades, and green cape bearing the insignia dubbed as the ‘Wings of Liberty’ – mounted her horse and glanced back at her love, the sole reason she’s doing this.

Tiffany looked on with pride. “I love you,” she mouthed.

Jessica nodded once. She touched her lips with two fingers and stretched her hand towards her.

Tiffany caught the gesture and nodded back.

…

“Coast is cleared. We have 30 seconds. Open the gate! Soldiers! Advance!”

…

Come back to me safely, Jessi…

======+======

“An aberrant titan from the east!” Taeyeon, another soldier on Jessica’s squadron, exclaimed as they saw a black smoke round shot to the sky.

Surely enough, a fat-bellied 9-meter class titan was rampaging towards them, his arms flailing and his path direction completely unpredictable.

“Aish,” a tanned soldier, Yuri, frowned. “Situation at the right flank must be pretty bad if that got through all the way to our line!”

“Quick! We can’t let it penetrate to the center!” Jessica shouted as she fired a black smoke round to signal the other flanks in the formation.

“We got to stop it, right here, right NOW! I’ll do it! Yuri, stop it for me! Can you slash its ankle!?”

Yuri smirked. “Can I? I’ve been waiting for some action myself, Sica!”

With that said, Yuri stood up on her still-moving horse and shot the grapnels of her maneuver gear towards the titan’s leg. Seconds later, she was in mid-air.

With a quick maneuver, the tanned girl was able to injure the titan’s ankle and was back to her horse.

The titan fell to the ground, face first.

“My turn!” Jessica, like Yuri, stood on her horse and jumped lithely.

It looked like she was flying. With graceful movements, she did a flip before slashing the titan’s nape with her twin blades.

Jessica landed on her feet next to the dead titan, a smirk gracing her lips.

But the victory was short-lived.

…

“Yellow smoke round!! EMERGENCY!”

“Jessica!!”

Before Jessica could react and get back to her horse, a 13-meter class titan was already near her.

Jessica shot her grapnels towards its shoulder, but the titan was fast.

In one swipe, it had Jessica in its grasp.

“JESSICA!!!” Yuri yelled.

Jessica’s eyes widened as she looked up, face to face with a smiling Titan.

“.”

…

At that moment, as she felt a gust of wind passed her cheek, only one thought fluttered through her mind.

I love you, Tiffany…

======+======

“They’re back!! The Scouting Legion is back!!” a garrison soldier yelled from his position at the Wall.

The news spread fast throughout the village.

…

“Yah! Come back!”

“I’ll be back later, Mom!”

Tiffany watched from the window as a little kid run out from his house and met up with his two friends, wide smiles on their faces.

“The heroes are back!!” they yelled as they run.

The heroes… are back?

Tiffany’s eyes widened, the information slowly settling in.

“Tiffany!” a short blonde girl called out. “What are you still doing there?! The Scouting Legion is back!! Let’s go toge– YAH!!”

Tiffany snapped back into reality and she sprinted out of the house, towards the village square.

…

Tiffany reached the village square just as the Scouting Legion entered the gates, led still by Commander Irvin Smith.

Anxiety and dread slowly consumed her as soldiers passed her and still no sight of Jessica.

“Looks like they had a lot of casualties,” one man behind Tiffany said.

“As usual,” another man answered. “And it looks like they lost more than half of their troops this time.”

The former scoffed. “I just hope they gained at least something from this silly expedition. This is where our taxes go to – to these fools.”

Tiffany clenched her fists and gritted her teeth.

“So-called heroes… more like zeroes.”

That was the final straw.

Just as Tiffany was about to turn around, a hand held her shoulder.

“Don’t.”

“But, Sunny, they –”

“They’re not worth it. Let’s go look for them.”

Tiffany let out a sigh and nodded.

…

…

A few more soldiers passed, and finally, it was the carts.

These carts carry two things: leftover supplies…

…and the casualties – whatever bits of them that were left, if there were even any.

…

Two soldiers rode alongside the carts.

“Sunny…” one of them weakly jumped out of her horse.

“Taeyeon!” Sunny cried out as she launched herself at the girl, crying out tears of relief and joy.

…

Tiffany was left there, tears already cascading down her cheeks.

She watched as some people crowded around the carts and wailing in agony after a few seconds.

Near the carts, she saw humanity’s hope – titan shifter Eren Jaeger – crying his heart out at the loss, with Mikasa Ackerman holding his hand.

“No…” she whispered as she stared at the people crying and falling to their knees.

She refused to believe that she might be one of these people who lost their loved ones.

“She can’t be…”

Yuri got down from her horse. “Tiffany, Jessica is not –”

“She said she’ll come back… she said so.”

“Tiffany –”

“She promised we’d see the world outside the walls someday…!”

“And the promise is still valid,” a weak voice called out.

…

Tiffany’s heart thumped, and she turned to Yuri for confirmation of the voice she heard.

“I was trying to tell you!” the tanned girl smirked. “That lazy girl’s too weak to ride her own horse. She’s there, at the last cart.”

Tiffany didn’t need to be told twice.

She rushed towards the said cart.

And indeed, there Jessica was, lying on a makeshift mattress at the cart.

A bandage was wrapped on her head, a plaster was on the side of her face, and there were cuts and bruises on her arms…

But she was alive.

…

“I refuse to die at the hand of a stinking titan…” Jessica sat up with a wince.

“Jessi…” Tiffany breathed out, still overwhelmed by the whirlwind of emotions.

A smug smile formed on the soldier’s lips. “Missed me?”

“You jerk!” Tiffany sobbed as she crushed the girl in a tight hug. She rained kisses on the girl’s face, hoping that they would somehow alleviate the pain and make them go away.

Jessica’s body was aching all over, but she didn’t mind. Every kiss burned her skin and left a warm feeling in her chest.

She chuckled tenderly and wrapped her arms around Tiffany.

“I told you I’ll come back… I always will…”

Tiffany buried her face on the girl’s chest. “For a moment there, I-I t-thought those titans –”

The soldier pressed a finger on Tiffany’s lips and tilted her chin to look into her eyes. “Those titans may be bigger than me – bigger than all of us – but my love for you is bigger and greater. Did the wind tell you my messages?”

Tiffany sniffed up her tears and nodded, a timid smile on her lips. “As silly as it sounds, I always replied, you know.”

Jessica smiled. “I knew it. I felt it. You saved me back there.”

“Eh?”

“You are the sole reason I fight, my driving force. Your love is my strength, Tiff. So, thank you…”

The younger girl felt her heart swell at those words. They were each other’s strengths, undoubtedly… and she only prayed that this bond only becomes stronger.

Jessica will keep on fighting for her, and so, she’ll keep on believing in her.

She threw herself back in her lover’s arms. “I love you so much, jerk.”

Jessica smiled once more. “And I love you, worrywart.”

…

…

“Next time, don’t ride along the corpses, you idiot!!!”

“Hahaaaa! – Ouch! That hurt, baby! Hey! It was a joke!”

“Do I look like I’m laughing?”

“Ouch! Okay, okay! I won’t do it again!”

“You better not!”

…

…

Nothing was far from over, they all knew that.

There was still a huge problem hanging over humanity.

But all that didn’t matter at that moment.

The world outside the walls awaits them…

But for now, Jessica and Tiffany were contented in their own little world.

======+======

A/N: I didn't proofread. Sorry if there any typos. This is kind of like a writing exercise.. It's been a while since I wrote anything..

Tell me what you think? :)

{oh, and this is for you, VampireZ. I hope you like the shot, if you ever get to read this.}