A/N: Got this done with ten minutes to spare. Probably more enjoyable if you read on tumblr or on archive of our own.

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Day 3/8

Monster

She's somewhere in the forest, her body tucked up against the center bulk of a collapsed, withered tree, her hands over her ears to quell the noises. It's too dark to see in any direction, she'll find her way home in the morning, when she has the renewed strength to move – to fight off the voices, to regain her composure and her sanity.

You killed them.

Murderer.

Monster.

She feels like she's trapped in her own body, clawing at the cages of her chest, desperately screaming for someone to save her when the monster is devouring her. It has taken so much from her already – her innocence, her childhood, her sanity and her reason – but there's something that she won't let it have. Him, it cannot have him, the only good thing she still has left in her delusional world.

What would he think if he knew?

He would hate you.

Like they all will.

Give him to me.

She presses her palms down until her ears are screaming with pain. You can't have him, she thinks, her refusal a potent venom in her mind, he is mine.

Mine.

I claimed him.

Annie.

Mine.

Annie.

"Annie?"

She goes rigid as the familiar voice quells her untamed cyclone of thoughts.

"Annie, what are you doing out here? It's too cold!"

That's just like him to be so concerned for a monster like me. 'Get lost' she tries to tell him, but it feels like she's choking on shards of glass and her words fail to meet the air. Her heart is hammering in her chest like strikes of thunder, singing her lips as she stutters, burning through her system and blowing her nerves out until she is numb to the ever frigid ground beneath her. "Please don't hate me."

"Hate you?" he retorts, clearly taken aback. "Annie, you're delirious."

When she gazes into his eyes she can see it – the world, the verdant forest and the mountains and the hopes – she can see his dreams, his ideals, his baneful existence. It's so beautiful to her. She wishes she could fade into the moss and let the earth consume her, ensnaring her in fingers of crippled roots and blankets of decaying leaves. All she wants to do is be with him, where she knows it's safe.

But it's when she looks at him that the monster tries to steal him from her. "You're going to hate me, just like everyone else."

His touch has always been gentle, a little timid despite the festering anger fueling his every breath, even as he brings the back of his hand to her forehead. "You're a little warm." – I'm always warm, she wants to say – "Let me take you to the infirmary."

"There's no point!" She exclaims, shoving him by the forearm but subsequently straining her too tired body. She falls back down, not even realizing she had been gradually compelling herself to her feet, and he guides her against his chest, enclosing her in his arms. "The monster is going to take you from me," she whispers into his shoulder, "and you're going to hate me."

"Seriously," he hisses as he adjusts her properly in his lap, "you're a wreck."

"Mm…" she hums, her head lolling absently against his shoulder, picking up on the sound of his drumming heart. "You're so gentle… your heart is so strong."

He scoffs humorlessly. "You're talking out of your ass. Come on, I'm taking you to the infirmary ward."

"I'm fine," she says sharply – lying through her teeth, just like every other time before – and grasping the front of his jacket to keep him locked in place. "I'm fine… Just – please, Eren, hold me." She winds her arms around his back, fingers possessively clutching the fabric of his shirt, relaxing into his captivating touch as his grasp tightens, not too hard, perfectly. The voices in her head are gradually stopping, her pulse stilling, her tears dripping down her cheeks in rivulets.

"I could never hate you, Annie." He kisses her forehead, her cheek, her lips. "I would never."

Liar, she thinks bitterly, but for now… "Just hold me."

And he does.