N.B : If you'd like to get early access to the next 13 chapters of Universal hope (Chapter 12-24) Chapter 12 (Eyes in the dark), Chapter 13 (Eyes in the day) and Chapter 14 (Fissures), Chapter 15 (The hollowing), Chapter 16 (Night of terror), Chapter 17 (Counter), Chapter 18 (Sunrise), Chapter 19 (Binding wounds), Chapter 20 (Demonic prowl) Chapter 21 (The scent of prey-Part 1), Chapter 22 (The scent of prey-Part 2), Chapter 23 (Scourge) and Chapter 24 (Hammer and axil) for as low as $3 why not consider supporting me at Patreon.com /Weeb Fanthom. Your donations will be very much appreciated.
'Every day was a balancing act.'
Thought Annie Leonhart as she moved with the precision of a metronome. It was a cold night, as usual. Crisp air kissed her cheeks as she struck the wooden post again, her boot thudding against it repeatedly. Every strike, every pivot, every breath was measured. The post she had been using as a dummy for the past hour was splintering, chunks of bark littering the clearing around her boots.
'Stay sharp, stay alive.'
She threw another kick, letting her heel twist just before impact. The wooden pole shuddered. Her shoulders rose and fell with exertion, but her expression remained still. Cold. She pivoted, dropped low, then swept a kick through the empty space, stopping just before the target. Her breath came slow. Controlled. Everything about her was honed for efficiency.
No wasted movement. No wasted time.
Annie stepped back and reset her stance, shoulders square, one foot slightly angled forward. Her fists moved in a blur; left jab, right jab, low elbow strike. Then silence again.
Stay focused.
Finish the objective.
Then go home.
But how long until it ends?
She exhaled sharply through her nose, delivering another kick to the post. Wood cracked. She didn't stop. The moonlight cast long shadows through the trees, painting her with silver streaks as she resumed her form drills.
Waiting. Watching. Keeping her head down while surrounded by noise, lies, and unfamiliar names.
It's been 6 whole months. Time was slipping.
Her fists clenched as her next kick hit harder than it should have, splitting part of the post. Annie blinked, her thoughts were drifting again. She was trained better than that. With a sigh, she let her limbs relax and her stance soften. Her breath fogged in the air as she rolled her shoulders loose, then stared up at the night sky; blank and impassive yet her mind was troubled.
The mission hovered in her mind like a ghost at her back. She never let herself say the name of it. Not even in her thoughts. But it was always there. And somewhere out there…he was waiting. Her father. The one who'd told her to survive no matter what it took. That one day, she'd come back home.
Would she finally be able go home?
She wasn't sure. Her father's voice echoed in her head, not just in words, but in the weight of expectation. She remembered the way he'd held her hand the day she left, how tightly he'd gripped her shoulder, as if holding on just a bit longer might undo everything.
"Come back home," he had whispered, even though he'd meant 'Stay alive no matter what.'
Home…
Whatever that meant anymore.
Over the months this place; this field near the cliffs, tucked away from the shacks of the refugee sector; had become her sanctuary. A place to move, to breathe, to think.
'Just a little longer', she thought to herself as she moved to reset the damaged target she had been practicing on. 'Then I'll be back.'
Snap!
The sound echoed around the quiet vicinity.
Annie's head turned sharply at the sound. A single twig breaking behind the trees.
Her eyes narrowed.
In one smooth motion, her stance dropped low, knees bent and a hand slipping to her thigh holster, fingers brushing the hilt of a dagger. Every instinct in her body screamed alert. Someone was watching her.
Stupid. She should've sensed them earlier.
Annie didn't wait. She moved like a ghost, sprinting toward the sound with barely a rustle in the grass. Her breath steady. Her footfalls silent. She saw the shimmer of movement behind a tree. A silhouette shifting too quickly to be a deer.
She caught a glimpse—green eye (eyes?), bulky, misshapen, wrong.
Not a soldier. Not normal.
The figure bolted.
"FUCK—!" They (It?) shouted.
It sounded garbled but young. A child's voice?
Didn't matter.
Annie gave chase. She launched forward like a spring uncoiled; footprints whisper quiet on the frozen earth. Trees blurred past her as her eyes scanned the forest shadows.
There—Movement. Through branches and shadows they ran, the stranger lumbering ahead, fast and panicked. But she was faster. Quieter. Relentless. Her blades flicked to her hands before her mind even ordered it, then threw one at the retreating figure in order to slow them down.
The figure barely dodged the knife as they stumbled, tripped, bolted again.
Sloppy.
"Just leave me alone, dammit!" They shouted. Annie narrowed her eyes.
Too noisy. Too easy to chase.
She picked up speed, silent, deadly. The branches barely moved around her as she threw another dagger at them which they still dodged.
The runner broke into the clearing ahead, panting. Then they ducked behind a large boulder.
Idiot.
In one breathless moment, Annie vaulted over the boulder, blade on the ready. "Identify yourself," she hissed, eyes narrowing as her dagger was pressed to the…eye?
She stared. Blinking. She was calm. Calculating. But even so—
—her heart skipped once.
Just once, or maybe twice.
It wasn't human.
What the hell was this thing?
"…What are you?" She asked in complete wariness, but fear was masked under her tone.
A dozen if not more set of green eyes blinked back at her from its body—no, from everywhere.
The creature squirmed under her grip, a strange garbled voice mumbling something comprehendible.
"Uhh…"
Uuh? Uuh?! That was all this abomination could say for itself?!
Annie pressed her blader harder against the thing's…chest eye. She asked it the same question, venom and caution oozing from her lips. Instead of answering, the creature's repulsing set of eyes swiveled from their sockets, looking…around. Like it was afraid someone would see it?
Was this thing playing games with her? She knows it can speak; it shouted back at her a few moments ago when she was chasing it down. Or was it just her imagination?
Speak or play dumb, it doesn't matter anyways. Because whatever this was... it shouldn't exist.
And yet here it was.
Wasting no time, she was about to plunge her dagger straight to its biggest eye, that's when it responded to her.
"Wait—wait—chill! I didn't mean to spy! I was just training too!" It spoke up in panic, raising its palm at her beckoning her to stop. She nearly recoiled in disgust as another eye popped open from the raised palm, but she still kept her cool, instead further closing the gap of her weapon and the eye of this…creature…or whatever it is.
So it can talk. But who cares, she doesn't.
"I don't believe you, demon." She said bluntly.
The creature looked like it was contemplating something. "Okay, okay—look—" Annie still had her dagger pressed on the now closed chest eye of the demon, that's when said thing reached for a…hourglass(?) on its waistband. Not expecting a flash of green light, Annie covered her eyes, but what stood in her front wasn't the demon anymore. Instead…it was a boy.
… A boy. Dusty brown hair. Green eyes blown wide in shock and hands raised in surrender.
Annie froze. Shocked for the second time today.
For just a breath.
Her dagger didn't move, but her eyes locked onto his, human eyes. Green eyes, like that creature's…And terrified.
A boy, a little younger than her with maybe a year difference.
A refugee. One of the brats she'd probably seen in the work zones, no doubt. She got a good look at the face now that it wasn't cloaked in blemish flesh and blinking eyeballs. Sweat matted his forehead. There was dirt under his nails. His boots were quite worn for his feet. But more than anything; it was the look in his eyes.
Guilt. Fear. Recognition.
He knows he's been caught.
Annie's body remained still, blade poised above his throat now that he had changed from that form, but her mind raced like a well-oiled blade.
How?
How does a human child transform into…that?!
Her jaw tightened.
This wasn't just a refugee.
Hell, this wasn't just an Eldian or a resident of this Island.
This…was something else.
She narrowed her eyes at him, cold fury behind her unreadable glare. "You."
The boy blinked. "You know me?"
"No. But I do now." Annie answered cryptically. Of course she didn't know him. Not personally. But now she did. Now he was burned into her memory: Boy with wild green eyes and a demonic creature hidden beneath his skin.
Her dagger slipped back into her sleeve with a fluid motion. Just as fast, her hands struck; sweeping his legs from beneath him in one move and pinning his wrists behind his back in the next. He hit the dirt with a soft grunt. Annie planted her knee between his shoulder blades, keeping him still.
She leaned in close, voice like frost.
"Who are you really?" she whispered, sharp and low. "And what the hell is that thing you turned into?" The boy squirmed but didn't fight back, not with any real strength. He was panicked, confused; but not trained. Not like her.
His mouth opened, trying to explain, but she pressed her knee harder into his back.
"No lies," she hissed. "You were that creature. I saw it. I chased it."
Annie glanced toward the trees, eyes flicking across every shadow. If anyone else had seen this…
No. There was no one else. Just her. Just this boy. Annie looked down at him again. It wasn't just even the sudden change of the abomination that made her wary. It was the device on his wrist. Glowing faintly green. It looked like an advanced…watch?
"Well…" Annie insisted as she tighten the grip on his locked shoulders, gaining a hiss from the pinned boy.
"E-Eren-OW!-Eren Yea-ger! Let go of me!"
Eren Yeager…
She narrowed her eyes. Another Yeager…but on this Island?
This was giving more questions than answers.
Annie looked down at Eren again. His breathing was shallow. His chest trembled beneath her knee. But his eyes; still green and wide; looked up at her with something else now.
Resolve.
Like even here, pinned to the ground, this kid; or demon; still had something left to fight for.
"Tch." Her lip curled in distaste.
She hated that look.
She hated seeing herself in it.
Annie pressed his arms tighter, just enough to hurt. "Start talking. Now." She demanded with gritted teeth.
________________
Annie's grip didn't waver, not even as Eren squirmed beneath her knee. Instead, she kept her weight perfectly balanced between his shoulder blades, pinning him hard into the cold earth underneath. Eren's breath came fast; frantic; but his eyes were still locked with hers, burning green, burning defiant. His limbs, still small and gangly, offered no resistance with all his struggle.
"Who are you really?" she repeated, sharper now. "What the hell is that thing you turned into?"
Seriously, who the hell is this girl?!
"I—I told you! My name's Eren Yeager!" Eren hissed. "I'm not lying! I didn't mean to spy—I didn't even know you were out here!"
"Wrong answer." She pressed her knee down harder, earning a choked gasp. "That thing you became. That monster. You expect me to believe that came from nowhere?"
"I don't—know!" Eren snapped, then grunted as her grip twisted his wrist harder behind his back.
"Bullshit," Annie hissed as she leaned in, once again pressing her weight down. "You expect me to believe some random brat can transform into a freak with eyes on his damn elbows."
"I'm telling the truth! I-I didn't ask for this!" Eren shot back. "I'm not—! I'm not some spy or monster! It just happened, okay?!"
"I don't care." Replied Annie, her voice was colder than the wind that sliced through the trees. "What I saw back there could kill ten men with a blink. And you're telling me you don't even know what it is?"
Eren winced. "I didn't say that—!"
"Then talk, you little freak!" she snapped. "You think I haven't seen monsters? You think I wouldn't know one when I'm kneeling on top of it?" Annie's voice cracked, just barely.
"Says the kid who can throw daggers like an assassin. You sure you aren't the freak here?!" Eren shot back at her, only to earn a sharper glare from Annie whose other hand was unconsciously hovering toward her dagger again.
Eren flinched. His mind was racing.
Okay. think, think! The device hasn't hit cooldown. I can still transform. She doesn't know how it works. But I can't let her see it all. I can't let Mikasa or Armin find out I was even gone!
His mind flashed to Mikasa's sleeping face. Armin's muttering dreams. His mom's fragile silhouette under that thin blanket.
If I get back with bruises or blood, they'll ask. They'll know.
No.
He had to end this. Now.
Eren turned his head slightly. The Omnitrix's faceplate was pulsing, still active. Still waiting. Still ready.
I have to time this right.
"Last chance," Annie growled. "You either tell me what that device is… or I carve the truth out of your spine."
Her hand dipped back to the dagger sheath. She meant it. The boy beneath her twitched, breath catching in his throat. But the device on his wrist; that cursed glowing green thing; had her on edge. He hadn't made a move for it, but it ticked like a time bomb in her mind.
'That's high-class tech,' Annie thought as she watched the green flicker of the hourglass on the strange device. 'Advanced. Too advanced in fact. This isn't Marleyan. This isn't anything she had ever come across.The people within the walls couldn't have made this. So who gave it to him?'
"I should drag you to the MPs," she said coldly. "They'd love to carve that thing off your arm."
Eren froze. "…You're bluffing," he said quietly. "You're not military."
Annie's jaw clenched but she said nothing.
"You're too fast to be a refugee," Eren continued, voice trembling but pushing forward. "Those moves, those knives…that's not normal." Annie's hand tightened around her dagger, till unable to say anything.
"You're like me," Eren said. "You're not supposed to be here either, are you?"
"You don't know anything," she snapped.
"And neither do you," he shot back. "All I know is that if you try to turn me in, if they find out about this thing…they'll do worse than kill me."
Annie's mouth set into a thin line. Her instincts screamed. This was spiraling. Her and her fellow colleagues' mission, her cover. Her entire reason for being here. This brat couldn't blow it all.
And that's what made him dangerous.
She had to end this. But…
…At the same time, she couldn't just let him go either. If either Marley or the MPs caught hold of this boy's power...
Annie shook her head slightly, since when was this any of her business to begin with. Why should she be concerned? "I don't care what you are," she told the pinned Eren darkly. "But if you think I'm going to let some walking experiment run loose near my objective—"
"DON'T!" Eren's voice boomed making Annie nearly startled at his interruption. "Don't talk like you're the only one with something to protect!"
A click filled the air, followed by a strange beeping sound. Then a green glow illuminated Annie's face downwards, her heart involuntarily dropping a few beats at the ominous color.
His wrist.
He hadn't moved his arms. She'd been pinning them both. And yet—somehow—he'd activated the device.
"What the hell did you—!"
With a slung of effort, Eren managed to press down the dial that had been popped open since he reverted back to human (he had a feeling something like this would happen so the dial faceplate had been popped open for a while) engulfing him once more in a familiar tinge anytime he transforms.
A blinding flash of green light exploded beneath Annie, making her instinctively flinch, muscles bracing and one hand flying to shield her eyes; even though she didn't let go of her grip on him. In the span of a breath, the boy beneath her…
Wasn't a boy anymore.
The earth groaned under her as something massive expanded in a blink, and suddenly—
CRACK!
Annie's knee buckled as the shoulder beneath it grew; expanded; and then slammed upward into her with the force of a battering ram. Annie instinctively threw herself back to avoid the incoming hit, then flipped through the air before landing with a grunt. She skidded a few feet away in the dirt while her dagger flashed in the glowing green light coming from Eren's direction.
Smoke slightly rose from where Eren had been pinned. When she blinked the light away, her eyes widened at the silhouette that stood in Eren's place. A massive thump echoed in the clearing. Then another. Trees rustled. Earth shifted.
Where once lay a pinned boy… now stood a towering, hulking red-skinned beast with eyes glowing and fangs bared. It was at least 3 meters tall, with four tree-trunk arms stacked in muscular symmetry. He stood in modified versions of Eren's coat and shirt, the moonlight boldly illuminating his transformation.
His eyes; still Eren's; burned down at Annie.
"…Titanfist," Eren muttered to himself, flexing all four fists. "Been a while."
Annie's breath caught in her throat.
What. The. Hell.
She'd seen Titans. She was one. She'd trained to kill monsters. But this wasn't a Titan. No steam. No glowing lines. No regeneration or burning flesh. And no way this thing came from any Marleyan science lab. It was too clean. Too… alien.
Not a shifter. Not a Titan. Something else entirely.
"...Is this a joke?" she whispered, almost to herself.
Eren's massive chest rose and fell. His voice was deeper and rougher in this form. "I don't want to fight you," he said. "But I'm not letting you pin me down again."
"…Seriously?" Annie whispered, heart pounding. "…What the hell are you?"
"Strong," Titanfist rumbled in Eren's distorted voice. "Just strong."
Annie's dagger flicked back into her other hand in a blur of motion. "I'll be the judge of that." She said before lunging. Her dagger was aimed at her target with precision. She crossed the distance in seconds, leaping upward with full intent to slash deep into his side, straight into the ribs.
The blade made contact—
SHINK!
—And shattered on impact.
Metal snapped like cheap glass, fragments scattering as the edge bit nothing but muscle-hard skin. The force of the impact ripped clean through what could be described as his coat, but didn't so much as scratch the crimson skin underneath. Didn't bleed. And definitely didn't dent.
It was like stabbing metal.
Annie stared at the broken hilt in her hand, eyes widened and breath caught in her throat. Eren turned his head to look at the torn part of his coat, then at her.
"…Seriously?"
Before she could move, the behemoth reached out.
Fast.
Too fast.
One of his massive hands clamped around both her wrists like iron shackles. His grip was firm, but not crushing. Just enough to restrain her. Annie's legs kicked up on instinct, trying to flip back…but they never reached their arc.
In a blur of motion, he lifted her clean off the ground effortlessly. Her boots dangled as her body rose from the ground, arms suspended over her like a puppet on strings until their eyes met.
Eren's four eyes; although yellow in color; still held a tinge of green within. All slitted, and glowing slightly with alien intensity. They peered into hers with a look not of fury… but annoyance. Deep, tired annoyance.
The two still locked eyes. Steel blue clashing with burning jade (Ironically even if it was yellow). Eren's browless face twitched.
"You done now?" he asked flatly.
Annie stared back, caught in disbelief, but fury quickly replaced confusion. Her limbs jerked against his grip, testing, twisting, trying to free herself, but he didn't even budge. It was like trying to fight stone pillars.
"Let. Me. Go!" Annie snarled as she thrashed in the tetramand's grip despite how futile it was.
"You attacked me twice," Eren muttered, unimpressed. "I'm done playing chase in the dark with you."
"You're stronger than a Titan…" Annie muttered, breath hissing between her teeth. "What are you?!"
Titanfist snorted, then slowly lowered her until she was at eye level.
Not overpowered.
Not thrown.
Just… adjusted. He held her with the casual strength of someone holding a coat in the breeze. "I'm just trying to train," he said, voice deeper now, still carrying the boyish inflection underneath. "You're the one who chased me through the damn woods like a psycho."
"You shouldn't exist," The blonde spat, dangling in his grasp. "You transformed into a monster—twice! Whatever you are, you're not natural!"
"And you threw a knife at a ten year old," Eren shot back. "So maybe let's stop pretending you're the victim here."
That caught her off guard. Her lips parted, but no words came.
Ten year old. That's what he said.
Her eyes narrowed. Ten-year-old or not, this thing—no…this boy was dangerous. A threat. And threats were not left to roam. Annie forced her voice into ice again to mask her uneasiness. "You think age excuses what you are?"
"I never said that." Eren's glowing yellow eyes burned low now. He lowered her slightly more still restrained. "But maybe you should take a good look at yourself before calling someone unnatural."
Annie's breath was low. Focused. Controlled. Her limbs didn't thrash anymore. Instead… she stilled. Because in this moment, the truth was undeniable: This boy, or whatever he was, had her completely outmatched…
…For now.
Her narrowed eyes didn't leave his, until she slightly glanced upward, where her wrists were still restrained and her hands sticking out.
'Just long enough.'
Annie's right index finger twitched. The familiar shape of the ring blade at her finger brushed against her palm. Always hidden, always sharp. She angled her wrist slowly, subtly; years of stealth and infiltration training locking into place.
One slice. That's all it would take. Should she risk it? There was no one around here afterall.
If this monster can't be killed, then cripple it. Blind it. Escape. Then shift.
Her thoughts were methodical, all Annie about was surviving at this point. Her thumb pressed gently against the top of the ring. The thin, glinting edge of the blade inside was waiting.
Just one quick slice into her palm and the tables would turn. Her thumb subtly flicked the ring on her finger, causing the blade inside it to click free.
Eren noticed movement around Annie's right hand despite restraining her wrists. His gaze, all four of them, darted to her hand. He caught the glint of something silver.
"Metal?" The boy turned tetramand muttered to himself, taking a closer look at Annie's restricted hand.
A ring.
Thin. Smooth. Too deliberate.
His four eyes narrowed. "What's that?" he asked suddenly as he brought her closer till their face was inches apart, his gaze still focused at her ringed finger. "Is that—"
Now.
Annie's blade flicked out in a flash, too fast to track. She twisted her wrist free but nearly dislocated it, then drove the micro-blade not into her flesh, but straight into one of the eyes on Eren's face. Eren's lower right eye spotted it too late, and it paid the price as it was jabbed by the small steel. A burst of black fluid; not blood; but something else oozed as the eye spasmed and shut, the lid twitching violently.
"AGHHHH!" Eren's roar of pain shook the trees around the outskirt. The hold on her wrists loosened as his other massive hand instinctively flew to his face, claws cradling the pierced, bleeding eye that throbbed and leaked between his fingers.
Titanfist's grip slackened, and Annie didn't hesitate to take the opportunity to escape. She twisted and dropped like a falling dagger, landing in a crouch as Eren stumbled back still clutching his eye.
Annie reached for her ring again, ready to draw blood and shift this time for real, until she saw that Eren's other good eyes were looking at her. It wasn't the stare that made her froze, it was his expression.
He was furious.
Eren's hand slowly pulled away from his face. The pierced eye was swollen, wet, and discolored, flickering with dim green light. The wound wasn't deep, but it burned, like frostbite and fire mingling under his skin. Eren's breathing was coming out ragged, each exhale more like a low snarl. Black liquid; thick and iridescent; oozed between his fingers.
"You. I was holding back…" his voice growled, distorted.
'Hurt her.' Said an invisible voice. No, not quite a voice, a pressure, oozing inside his skull like black oil. It pulsed with laughter, silky and cruel, whispering directly through the roots of his mind. And Eren, filled with unbridled rage at the moment…Was welcoming it.
Something in Eren snapped.
'Make her pay.'
"I'LL KILL YOU BITCH!" Eren roared. The basement key around his neck swung wildly, glinting in the moonlight as it snapped free and hit the dirt with a dull clink the moment Eren lunged. Annie barely had time to brace before four fists slammed into the earth where she'd stood. The ground quaked. Trees shudder. Dust plumed in choking clouds. She barely dodged, but Eren was faster now. His movements sharper, fueled by pain and something darker.
It was a miracle she was able to survive his onslaught, but his next backhand caught her ribs, a resounding crack could be heard in the bones. Annie flew from the strike, skidding across the dirt until her back hit a tree. Air fled her lungs on impact, white-hot agony spiderwebbed through her side. At least one rib was definitely broken. Maybe two.
Eren loomed over her, his shadow swallowing her whole. Blood dripped from his eye onto her face, chest heaving, swollen eye gleaming with fury.
"You shouldn't have done that," he growled, jaw trembling and hand twitching with bare restraint.
'Yes. Do it. She pierced your eye. She could've killed you. You'll never be safe as long as she draws breath…'
Annie was still slouched near the tree, trying to get back up as her thumb brushed the ring around her finger. One slice. Just one. She could end this. She should end this, but once again she noticed something now. His shoulders were twitching. His mouth was obviously trembling, but his pupils…were dilating in and out. A flash of purple gleamed for a short second around his three good eyes. The rage in his face wasn't pure, it was poisoned.
In a blur of movement, Eren lunged for Annie. His massive hand wrapped around her throat, lifting her clean off the ground.
Too fast.
Annie didn't even have time to respond as Titanfist hoisted her off the ground, one hand curling tight around her neck, the other forming a solid fist. The blonde gasped and choked, legs kicking instinctively. His grip was cold, squeezing and harsh. The pain burned against her windpipe as her hands clawed at his forearm.
His face… wasn't his.
No. Not anymore.
Those slitted eyes; twisting green and yellow; now morphed to hollow purple. An unsettling essence leaked through them. His lips curled unnaturally. His other hands were twitching, fingers curling like claws even though they weren't moving yet.
'Make her scream,' the voice echoed inside Eren.'Tear her open. You know you want to.' Eren's face twisted. Like he was in pain, but his hands didn't release her. Not yet. Instead, he added pressure to Annie's slender throat.
Annie's nails dug into his wrist; her expression having shifted the moment she was held at throat point. The sharp, calculating glare she'd always worn had warped into something else entirely.
Fear.
For a brief second, she wasn't a warrior, she was a girl. A scared, stunned girl with steel blue eyes reflecting her own mortality.
And Eren saw it. He saw her face. Not just the pain…
…but the fear.
And then—
Her face morphed, just for a second…into something wrong. Her cold blue eyes melted into a pitch black eye with purple irises. Her cheeks distorted. A grinning maw of needle-teeth where her mouth should be.
"What's wrong, monster?" the face whispered in a voice like oil, oozing and cruel."Too scared to finish what you started?"
Eren froze. His arms trembled. His whole frame locked as he realized what he was looking at. The eye…It was Phantom's.
H-how?
Annie wasn't speaking. She was gagging, clawing, eyes wide with real panic now. Her face was her face again. No distortion. No fangs. No black eye. Just… fear.
Fear of him.
Eren's monstrous form began to tremble. "N-no… no no no," he gasped, releasing her throat as if burned. Annie dropped like a ragdoll, coughing, wheezing, her back hitting the dirt hard.
Eren stumbled back, eyes wide and horrified at his own hands. "No no no—what the hell was I doing—what—what the hell was I—" His whole body trembled. His lower arms clutched around his torso as he backed away, wild-eyed, heart racing. The whisper, phantom's, was still in his mind but now muffled and angry. Refusing to retreat.
'Pathetic creature. And here I thought you had a spine.' Phantom's eerie voice spat at him figuratively.
"Get out of my head!" Eren screamed as he clutched his head; pain, anger and his swollen eye long forgotten. He stumbled back, tripping over his own feet. His muscular shoulders hunched to make himself small as his face twisted in horror. Annie was still on the ground, watching him in breathless, shaken silence. He looked at her; really looked at her; and took one staggering step back.
Wh-What was he turning into?!
"I'm sorry," Eren whispered, barely audible, choking on the word. "I didn't mean to— I would never—"
He looked at his hand. The one that had wrapped around her neck. Then at her again, then at her eyes. At the purple bruise already forming beneath her jaw. Whatever guilt he had was intensifying again as his vision flashed back to Mikasa's terrified face of him on that day he saved her.
"I didn't mean to—I didn't—I—!" The Omnitrix on his shoulder coat beeped continuously red. It had reached its cooldown.
"No. No!" Eren rose up and took another stumbling step back, repeating his apology like a broken record. "I didn't want this—I didn't want to—!" He turned…and ran. Ran like hell.
Thundering steps across the ground, smashing roots beneath his feet, breath caught in his throat. Within seconds, he vanished into the tree line and disappeared into the dark. Leaving Annie gasping against the tree. Forgetting something important as he ran, leaving everything behind.
Annie lay there, one hand still over her throat, staring at the trees where he vanished. Her heart thundered in her chest. Her limbs and breath trembled, not just from fear, but confusion. She had so many questions. What the hell was that thing? That boy? What had she just seen? What was that cursed device?
And why did that boy…
…look so scared of himself?
She rolled onto her side as she touched her broken ribs, wincing at the pain. Her fingers came away wet. Blood. Not just hers. His. That... thing's. Annie's eyes flickered to the dirt where a metal reflection was showing. Probably her broken dagger, but her fingers brushed something instead.
A key…Eren's key.
She opened her palm and stared at it. Her brows furrowed. She stared at the abandoned key, the trampled earth, and the iridescent blood staining her hands. Her mission parameters didn't account for any of this.
That boy: Eren Yeager. Annie rolled the name over in her head again and again. A refugee with a transformation weapon. Something not of Marley, and definitely not of Paradis. A child who turned into monsters capable of a brute strength…and maybe more. He could've flattened her, even when he should have. Instead, he ran.
And that device...
Annie's jaw set. She pocketed the key.
This changes everything.
"Just who the hell are you, Eren Yeager…?" She muttered aloud to the darkness. "And why does it feel like we're going to meet again?"
________________
Meanwhile, near Wall Rose's refugee camp…
Eren crashed through an underbrush, the Omnitrix flickering red faster than ever. The woods blurred as he ran, and the whispers still presumed.
'You're weak, Eren. She saw it. They'll all see it.'
"Shut up shut up SHUT UP!" Eren yelled, hoping to cancel out the voice within in. He collapsed against a tree, vomit rising in his throat from exhaustion and derailment.
Beep, beep, BEEEEP.
The Omnitrix finally timed out. His transformation exploded into a flash of red energy as his tetramand form collapsed. Flesh shrank, muscles retreated, his skin returned to normal and the alien mass disappeared until only the human boy remained.
Small and shaking and terrified.
Eren's dusty brown hair was matted with sweat and his green eye (The other is swollen) was glossed with fear. He was barely able to stand as he laid against the tree for support. His chest heaved, not from exhaustion, but from the ice-cold terror clawing up his throat.
What was that?
The memory played behind his eyelids every time he blinked: The blonde girl's face twisting from fear into that thing's leer, purple eyes burning with malice.
"Too scared to finish what you started?"
A shudder wracked his frame. He clutched the Omnitrix; still pulsing an ominous red - like it might slither off his wrist.
"You're pathetic."
Eren froze.
The voice wasn't in his head this time.
It came from behind him.
Slowly, trembling, he turned and saw his own shadow standing upright against the tree.
Not a trick of the light.
Not his imagination.
A living darkness with glowing purple eyes where his reflection's should be.
"She stabbed you." The shadow's mouth moved out of sync with Eren's ragged breathing. "You could have paid her back her own coins. But you RAN."
Eren's breath hitched. "You—you're not real—"
A guttural laugh echoed, though the shadow's grin never moved.
"Aren't I?"
The Omnitrix screamed to life without being touched. The core flashed violent purple instead of green for a second. Eren gasped as tendrils of darkness erupted from the device, snaking up his arm like living veins.
"Since you aren't so competent in knowing the extent of your abilities. Let me show you what REAL power feels like."
Agony.
White-hot needles stabbed behind his eyes as the shadow poured into him. His back arched off the tree as his mouth opened in a soundless scream. Images flooded his mind, many which he couldn't make sense of: A castle of writhing flesh, a thousand screams trapped in glass…Himself, but wrong as his skin was peeled back to reveal a grotesque monstrosity similar to phantom underneath.
"NO—!" Eren clawed at his face, nails drawing blood, but the distorted visions didn't stop.
The shadow was inside now…Digging, burning, Replacing.
His right hand twitched without his command. Then his left leg too, black linings similar to phantom's erupted from his skin.
"Don't fight it." The voice oozed from his own throat now. "We're going to have SO much fun together."
"GET OUT!" Eren screamed, voice shredding raw. He grabbed the Omnitrix with his other hand, muscles straining as he tried to rip it off but couldn't (Obviously).
ZZZT!
A shockwave of green energy blasted the shadow back. The darkness recoiled with a hiss as the device's core flickered wildly between green and purple.
For one glorious second, Eren could breathe again.
Then the shadow lunged at him, and the world exploded in pain. Eren's final scream echoed through the woods as his body hit the dirt, convulsing.
Somewhere in the darkness, a single purple eye winked out.
Chapter 12-24: Chapter 12 (Eyes in the dark), Chapter 13 (Eyes in the day), Chapter 14 (Fissures), Chapter 15 (The hollowing), Chapter 16 (Night of terror), Chapter 17 (Counter), Chapter 18 (Sunrise), Chapter 19 (Binding wounds), Chapter 20 (Demonic prowl), Chapter 21 (The scent of prey- Part 1), Chapter 22 (The scent of prey- Part 2), Chapter 23 (Scourge) and Chapter 24 (Hammer and axil) are already available on Patreon.com /Weeb Fanthom for as low as $3.
Alien countdown: Heatblast (Inferno), Wildmutt (???), Fourarms (Titanfist), Ghostfreak (Phantom), Diamondhead (Obsidian), Greymatter (Cerebrus), Eyeguy (???)