The first time Eren saw Ruby die, he almost ignored it.
Not because it wasn't horrifying.
But because, at this point, horrifying had become normal.
The vision came as she was speaking.
"…we'll need to move the injured to the eastern barracks," Ruby was saying, pointing toward a map spread across a wooden table.
Then reality slipped.
For half a breath—
Her throat opened.
A blade slid cleanly across her neck from behind.
Blood sprayed across the map.
Ruby collapsed.
The vision ended.
She was still talking.
Alive.
"…and if we don't reinforce the wall supports the upper district could collapse."
Eren didn't respond.
His hand tightened slowly on the table.
Neural Pattern Stability: 30%
Foreign Residue: 11%
He had seen death before.
Many times now.
But this one felt different.
This one stayed.
The Second Time
They walked through the damaged district.
Ruby giving orders.
Workers moving stone.
Soldiers setting barricades.
The vision struck again.
This time—
The street exploded.
A sinkhole opened beneath Ruby's feet.
She fell.
Stone crushed her instantly.
The vision ended.
Reality resumed.
Ruby stepped over the exact place the collapse had occurred in the vision.
Alive.
Talking.
"…Eren? You're doing that thing again."
"What thing?"
"Staring like you're watching something that isn't here."
He forced himself to breathe slowly.
"I am."
The Third Time
They reached the outer barricade.
A group of guards saluted Ruby as she approached.
The vision came again.
A crossbow bolt punched through Ruby's chest.
She collapsed in front of the soldiers.
The shooter stood atop a distant roof.
Unseen.
The vision snapped away.
Reality resumed.
The guards were still standing.
No crossbow.
No bolt.
Ruby was alive.
But this time—
The vision did not fully disappear.
It lingered.
Like a faint afterimage burned into his vision.
He could still see Ruby lying dead on the ground even as she stood beside him.
Two versions of reality overlapping.
Neural Pattern Stability: 28%
Eren turned away sharply.
Ruby Forces the Truth
Ruby grabbed his arm.
"Enough."
Her tone wasn't angry.
It was worried.
"Tell me what you're seeing."
Eren hesitated.
Because saying it aloud felt like inviting fate.
But hiding it wouldn't change anything.
"You die."
She blinked.
"…What?"
"I keep seeing you die."
Her expression hardened slightly.
"How?"
"Different ways."
"How many?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Because the number was climbing.
Every few minutes.
Another version.
Another death.
Finally he said quietly:
"Too many."
Ruby was silent for several seconds.
Then she surprised him.
"Okay."
He stared at her.
"You're… okay with that?"
"No."
She folded her arms.
"But if we panic every time you see a possible future we'll get nothing done."
That was very Ruby.
Practical.
Blunt.
And terrifyingly brave.
"So," she continued, "the real question is this."
She met his eyes directly.
"Are these warnings… or traps?"
The One That Stayed
They returned to the command hall.
Eren forced himself not to look too hard at the possible futures brushing against the present.
Most of them vanished quickly.
Flickers.
Moments.
Probability shadows.
But one of them remained.
Ruby stood near the doorway speaking to a messenger.
In the vision—
A black shape crawled up the wall behind her.
Not a person.
Not a monster.
A shadow.
It stretched outward.
Opened like a mouth.
And swallowed her whole.
No blood.
No scream.
Just absence.
The vision refused to fade.
Reality overlapped it.
Ruby alive.
Ruby gone.
Both existing in the same place.
Neural Pattern Stability: 26%
Foreign Residue: 13%
The Devourer pulsed violently.
Something inside it stirred.
Not the fragment itself.
But the digestion process.
The entity fragment was reacting to his attention.
Almost like—
It was choosing which futures to show him.
A Test
Eren moved slowly across the room.
Ruby glanced over.
"You okay?"
"Come here."
She raised an eyebrow.
"That's not ominous at all."
"Just move."
She stepped away from the wall.
The moment she did—
The vision changed.
The black shadow lunged early.
Missing her completely.
It vanished.
The future rewrote itself.
And the lingering vision finally dissolved.
Eren exhaled slowly.
Ruby noticed immediately.
"That one mattered, didn't it?"
"Yes."
"So I just avoided getting eaten by… what exactly?"
"I don't know."
Ruby grimaced.
"Great."
The Devourer's Reaction
Inside Eren's mindscape, the Devourer churned violently.
The white fracture veins were spreading.
The fragment wasn't passive anymore.
It was adapting.
Learning how Eren used the visions.
And responding.
Foreign Residue: 15%
If the digestion failed—
The fragment could integrate improperly.
Not controlling him.
But reshaping him.
Into something closer to what it was.
Something that did not live in a single timeline.
The Real Horror
Ruby leaned against the table.
"So your brain is basically predicting murder now."
"Something like that."
"Good to know."
Then she paused.
Her expression shifted.
"Wait."
"What?"
"If you keep seeing me die…"
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"…does that mean I'm the most likely target?"
Eren didn't answer.
Because another vision had just begun.
Ruby again.
This time—
Eren was the one who killed her.
His hand wrapped in Devourer tendrils.
Her body lifted off the ground.
Her eyes full of betrayal.
The vision snapped away.
Reality resumed.
Ruby was still standing there.
Alive.
Trusting him completely.
Neural Pattern Stability: 24%
Foreign Residue: 17%
Eren felt cold.
Because some futures were accidents.
Some were enemy attacks.
But that last one—
Had been a choice.
And deep inside the Devourer—
Something shifted.
Like a distant thought forming.
Curious.
Watching.
Waiting to see which future Eren would choose.