A/N: This is the closest to my usual original fiction writing style…it's less narrative and more experimental, showing part of a picture so that the mind can fill in the rest…

The only real note that I'll give is that this piece is about Annie Leonhart (from Attack on Titan) and contains manga spoilers—so if you're anime-only, you've been warned, post-anime spoilers aboard.

Dream #1:

In the first dream she was trapped in a room made of glass. The walls, ceiling, and floor alike were a clear, faceted, diamond-like material, encasing her in a cocoon of crystal. Sunlight poured in from all sides. She was lying on the floor of this room, which was empty except for her and a small broken-off blade. She picked up the blade and tried to hack her way out—it was to no avail. She pounded on the walls, trying to escape, but even when her fists were torn and bloody, and her knuckles black and blue, the walls showed not even the slightest hint of a crack. She threw herself against it, screaming at the top of her lungs—the wall was hard and unforgiving. "Help me!" she screamed desperately, clawing at the smooth, glassy surface, "Get me out of here! Help me!"

Then there was a sound—soft and distant at first, but drawing closer and louder, the steady pulse of a giant drum: a heartbeat. She sighed, the last scream having left her throat raw—in a way, it was a comforting sound. She picked up the blade again and started scratching at the floor. She wasn't sure what she was trying to do, at first—but the words slowly formed at her fingertips, inscribed into the crystal:

Annie Leonhart

What is that? She wondered for a moment before remembering—it was her own name. She was Annie Leonhart. She had to remember that, she couldn't lose sight of it again.

Then a stinging feeling—the words were carved into the skin of her back. She gasped from the pain. But it was over within moments—the words faded from the crystal surface as well. The prison was her own flesh, her own body: that of a Titan.

I am a monster. she whispered to herself, I am unforgivable. But they can't be forgiven, either…and there is something I must do.

That's right…something I must do…