Annabelle's consciousness flickered back to reality.
A breath.
And then an eye blinked open.
A groan escaped her chapped lips as she stirred, her body instinctively recoiling from the cold iron biting into her wrists and ankles. The world around her returned in fragments—stench, pain, silence… and then, a voice.
"Good. You're finally awake."
Her blood ran cold.
Her breath hitched in her throat, and her eyes—one of them swollen shut—flew open.
"No…" she rasped. "No. Please… no—NO!"
Her scream tore through the silence, raw and desperate. Not because she didn't recognize where she was. But because she did.
This wasn't a dream as she desperately prayed.
This was reality.
Her nightmare had taken form.
As Eren.
That name once meant nothing. A harmless negligible figure in her life, a forgettable boy who barely scraped by in the academy. Her best friend's pathetic brother. A waste of nobility. A joke.
But now?
Now, just the sound of his breathing made her insides twist in panic. Just the sight of him—those once dull blue eyes now brimming with madness—made her tremble in a way she didn't understand.
She hated that feeling. She wasn't supposed to be afraid of him. She was strong. She was proud.
And yet…
He stood before her like a devil unbound.
"Monster," she spat, glaring at him through the blood dripping into her vision.
The sound of dripping blood was maddening. Drip. Drop. Drip. It echoed in the room like a metronome for pain. Her body was a canvas of agony, painted in bruises and lacerations. Her limbs hung limp in rusted shackles, and her mana—gods, her mana—was gone. Sealed. Suppressed by some arcane formula he had created from barely nothing.
And he just watched her.
Eren stood by the table, a crooked smile curling across his face, eyes gleaming with unnatural delight. He tilted his head as if admiring a piece of art.
"Heh… look at you," he said. "Now the one begging...."
She didn't answer. Her silence was laced with hatred.
He chuckled, lifting a familiar dagger from the table. Her dagger. One she'd used countless times to inflict torment on him.
"I wonder what Jason would think if he saw you like this."
Her breath hitched.
Jason.
"I'll kill you," she growled through gritted teeth.
Eren blinked once. Then twice. Then smiled wider.
Without a word, he stepped forward and drove the dagger into her neck—not deep enough to kill, but enough to make her scream. Then slowly, he dragged it downward, tracing a line across her torso.
"KYAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Her shriek was pure anguish.
But he didn't flinch. His eyes weren't even focused on her. It was as if he wasn't looking at the torment he inflicted.
"Monster?" he whispered. "No. Not yet. But I'm getting there."
He dropped the blade and turned to the table again. With a flick of his wrist, he summoned an array of tools—all hers. Potions. Needles. Crystals. Explosives.
"Quite the collection you brought with you."
Annabelle coughed, her mouth filled with the taste of iron.
"You… think this changes anything? Torture me all you want. Jason will find you. He'll end you."
Eren hummed, picking up a bright violet vial.
"Oh," he said, voice low and venomous. "I want him to find me, if he can. Though I doubt he would... but if he could… I would want him to see you first."
"You sick bastard—!"
He walked over and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up.
"But don't worry... you will the key to fulfilling my revenge,"
She spat blood in his face.
"I'd rather die than hurt him."
Eren wiped his cheek, then laughed softly.
"You still don't understand, do you? You don't have to want it. You will."
He stepped back, arms wide.
"I have three more days before the academy gets suspicious. And that's more than enough time to break you."
Annabelle screamed, thrashing in her chains. "I HATE YOU!"
"I know," he said, picking up a potion and swirling it thoughtfully. "But you know what's funny? I don't hate you."
He uncorked the vial. The pungent scent of alchemical poison filled the room.
"From the beginning," he said, voice lower now, more distant, "all I ever wanted was to be happy. Just… happy. Not special. Not powerful. Not loved."
He poured the contents onto the floor, watching it hiss against the blood-soaked tiles.
"But no. That was too much to ask. I was just a nobody. A stepping stone. A joke. I was never meant to win."
He looked at her then. Not with rage. Not even with contempt.
With emptiness.
"So if this world has no place for me—then I'll carve it out myself."
Her eyes widened in horror. "W-what are you saying?"
"I will be the monster. I will be the villain. I'll be the horror you all dread."
His voice crescendoed with madness.
"Every child of destiny. Every hero. Every chosen one. I will erase them all from this story."
He stepped closer.
"And you, YOU my dear anna, will be my pawn,"