Wings of Freedom - BSD x AOT

Prologue

His memories began when he was at the age of around eight years. The first thing he remembered was the smell of rain hanging deeply in the air, followed by the feeling of the soft mattress of grass beneath him. As his heterochromatic eyes cracked open slightly, he was met with a dark cloudy sky from which the rain was pouring down onto his lying figure, wetting his rags to the point they stuck onto him like a second layer of skin. Slowly, the white-haired boy mustered the strength to sit himself up, clutching his head as he felt strangely dizzy. The next thing that had caught his attention was the cold metallic touch to his chest. Upon closer inspection, he pulled out a golden key from under his wet shirt which was attached to a string around his neck, staring at it with big eyes for a whole minute before leaving it to dangle from his neck.

A gush of wind swayed through the woods, causing the boy to clutch his legs with his thin arms, shivering from the cold before deciding that sitting around would get him nowhere. So, he found the strength to get up to his feet, his arms around his chest in an attempt to keep him somehow warm while trudging through the woods without knowing where he actually went. He had no sense of orientation at all and felt the temperature decrease with every step he took, making his movements slower and slower as the cold started to make him immobile.

He was about to die. In the middle of nowhere, without any memories as to who he even was. His legs were now so frozen that he couldn't take another step, instead falling down to his knees before completely losing his strength and crushing down to the muddy earth. He was about to die. He felt hungry and thirsty, he was cold, he had no energy left. He would die without even knowing his own name.

But he refused. He did not know why, but at the thought of dying here, something deep inside him spurred him on with new energy, built up from sheer determination to stay alive. He would not die. Prodding first one, then the other arm against the ground, he heaved himself up before finding the strength to get back up on his feet. For some unknown reason, he felt utterly agitated. He would not die!

He took one shaky step, then the next, and the next. Moved by the simple desire to keep on living, he kept going straightforward, ignoring the hunger, the thirst, the pain. He would not die!

His steps became more vigorous the longer he went, his will getting stronger and stronger. From the top of his lungs, he screamed-

"I will not die!"

That was the moment when one of his feet got entangled with the roots of a tree, causing him to stumble and fall, right into the mud. A sigh escaped his throat as he shakily attempted to get back up, but his foot was tightly stuck in the roots. No matter how hard he tugged, he was unable to free himself. Was he going to die, after all? Because he got stuck? Was that really how he was going to die?

"Do you need help, boy?"

Said boy immediately let out a shriek of fear when a voice resounded directly behind him. He turned around, his face was pale - and came to meet the gaze of a young dark blue-haired girl who was kneeling beside him, a startled expression resting on her face upon his reaction.

"Ah, I- I'm sorry if I scared you. I just saw how your foot got stuck in the roots and thought that maybe I could help," the girl explained, seeming a bit shy as she averted her gaze from him. She appeared to be around his age.

Now, it was the boy's turn to feel embarrassed. He could not remember the last time he had spoken with a human being, but mustered the courage to form a reply. "It... It's okay. I would be very grateful if you helped me."

His voice was quiet, but clear. The girl smiled, and strangely, this simple gesture made the boy forget the hunger and the thirst - even the coldness seemed to vanish, instead being replaced by a strange warmth he had never felt before, spreading in his chest. The girl then tended towards his foot and with a lot of force she easily ripped apart the roots, thus freeing his foot. He promptly pat his foot with a smile on his face, happy to know that he wouldn't die like that, after all.

"Ahh, thank you very much!" He beamed at her, his smile shining brightly despite the dark, cloudy skies. The girl's cheeks seemed to redden ever so slightly.

"You're welcome. My name is Kyouka, by the way. Do you live far from here?"

All of a sudden, his expression changed as he remembered that he actually didn't remember anything. His gaze drifted down onto the muddy ground beneath them, a melancholic smile forming on his lips.

"Actually, I don't know. I just woke up here, in the middle of the woods and can't remember a thing. I don't even know who I am."

Kyouka looked shocked when she heard his words. "So you... don't know where your family is?"

He let out a low chuckle, a sheepish grin displayed on his face. "God only knows whether I even have one."

She continued to stare at him for a long while before deciding to speak up again, getting up to her feet with a determined expression. "You will have one, boy."

"I will?" He asked, confusion scribbled all across his face.

"Yes," she stated, holding out a hand towards him, her light blue eyes seemingly glowing. "You can come with me and live with my family. We don't have much... but I'm sure they will be happy to accept you as a new family member."

The white-haired could not believe her words. He would be granted a place to stay at? And receive meals and those things? It almost seemed like a dream to him. A dream from which he didn't wish to ever wake up again.

He took her hand.

"I would he delighted to become a part of your family."

Kyouka quickly pulled him up with so much strength that he nearly toppled over. She was only a little smaller than him.

"What's your name, boy?" She asked, tugging at his hand to pull him along the way to her family's house.

He almost reflexively wanted to say, "I don't know," when suddenly, a single memory resurfaced in his mind. This was the first thing he had remembered from his past ever since he woke up in the woods.

"I am... Nakajima Atsushi."

He didn't know how he suddenly remembered, but the name was there in his memory, clear as day. As if he'd known all along without realizing it.

Kyouka smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Atsushi-kun."