Eren POV

The door to his cell opened and Eren flinched automatically.

"Shh... it's just me, my child." The relief that Eren felt upon hearing Beth's kind voice was so sudden and immense, he nearly felt light headed from it. He couldn't help the tears that burned at the corners of his eyes. The slightest bit of kindness in the face of such cruelty was overwhelming. The contrast was as sharp as a slap but he was so grateful for Beth nonetheless. She had provided him with a powerful, albeit, short and inconstant reprieve and for that he knew that he was forever in her debt.

Eren was unsure why but it seemed that the last few visits from the guards and to the labs were particularly brutal and he desperately hoped that it wasn't becoming the new normal. The scientists had been more rapid and extreme with their experimentation. He shuddered at the memory of his last visit where they had cut off both his left hand and his right foot at the same time. He had screamed and screamed and begged for unconsciousness to take him, yet they had mercilessly kept him awake through it all. They merely ignored him and wrote all the more frantically in their notebooks. Eren felt his breathing increase in panic as he remembered that visit and he forced himself to focus on the feel of Beth's gentle fingers carding through his hair. He let her soft touches ground him as his breathing evened.

Eren felt so much clearer and more lucid when he was with Beth. She made him feel human. Her kindness and warmth kept him tied to himself and humanity. Some nights she had visited and his eyes had been wide and still seeing the horrors he had faced. It was those nights when he could still feel the scalpels cutting him to his bone. When he could still feel greedy hands groping at every part of him... could still feel the way the ripped him apart in his most intimate places. The nights that they played with him before taking him and forced unwanted pleasure onto his body... when he had cried and begged and they'd laughed and forced him to come and he hated himself all that much more...

Beth would somehow pull him back from whatever dark place was threatening to take him. She would clean the filth and disgusting fluids from his skin and make him feel a little cleaner. She would hold him gently and stroke his hair and tell him that it wasn't his fault, that he didn't deserve any of this. She would say that he was so strong and good. Eren knew that none of it was true but the fact that she was saying it made him feel bettere somehow. She would press her lips in a ghost of a kiss to his forehead and the gesture was so kind he wished with his whole heart that he could be deserving of it. He would cry and cry and cry and she would pull him close and whisper his name in his ear (Eren, Eren, Eren, sweet child) over and over again so that he wouldn't forget who he was.

So right now as he sat beside Beth and she held his hand and stroked his hair, Eren felt as if he had taken a breath of fresh air. His mind was less fuzzy as his brain realized that around Beth he didn't have to put up so many mental defenses as she wouldn't hurt him. He took advantage of that to really consider the most recent events.

The most obvious difference was that his personal guard- the cruel shadow that had always seemed to be present- had been replaced by another guard. This guard, while he did not spare Eren from using his body, he was not as needlessly cruel as his predecessor had been.

They passed the time as they normally did. He asked Beth to tell him the same stories he'd already heard about her daughter and her family. And as always she asked him to tell her about his most precious people. And as always he obliged. There was something about telling Beth about them that comforted him, assured him that they were real and what he felt for them was real and possible. He told Beth about how he wished she could meet Armin and Mikasa and how they would adore her because he adored her. He told her again of Captain Levi and of his childish dreams to serve under him as a member of the Survey Corps.

He told of her of his friends from the 104th.

He told her about the time he had made Sasha a fruit cobbler, he had always been a mama's boy and she taught him well. She had gotten scolded again by Sadis and he had wanted to cheer her up. He had had to make Mikasa one as well so she didn't get jealous. He almost smiled at the memory of how Sasha's eyes had nearly filled with tears as he gave her the dessert and how she had clung to him and jokingly begged him to become her wife to which Mikasa had protested vehemently.

He told her about Connie and how they'd developed the weird tradition of cutting their hair together. How it had started with Eren being around when Connie was perfecting his trademark close cut and was having trouble reaching the part in the back of his head, and Eren had finished it off for him. After that they'd always sought each other out when their hair was getting too long until it became a thing.

He told her about sweet Krista and Ymir who were always together and would sometimes play cards with him when they had had down time. He remembered that one time when Ymir had winked at him over her cards and looked toward Krista playfully, a gesture that still left Eren a little bit in awe. The two of them had ganged up on Krista to get her out so that Ymir could tease her and see her blushing. Krista had glared playfully at them while Ymir overwhelmed her with hugs.

He told her about Jean as well. He told her that he had always joked and said that Jean looked like a horse and how they had this unspoken agreement of friendship. How their fighting had somehow transformed to something of a greeting and that they would never have said anything actually hurtful to each other now. Thinking of Jean sobered Eren slightly.

In a slightly troubled voice, Eren recounted how he had imagined Jean coming to him and the tears on his face as he had promised Eren they were coming for him. Eren remembered how badly that dream or hallucination had hurt. How the hopefulness of it all had left him feeling empty. How real it had felt had been disturbing as well.

When Eren looked back up into Beth's eyes she had such a soft expression on her face. There was something in her eyes that he hadn't seen before he'd told her about his dream about Jean.

"Have hope, my boy." She said softly and something fluttered in Eren's stomach.

With something akin to horrified amazement he realized what that feeling inside of him was-

What that look in Beth's eyes was-

It was hope.


The door burst open suddenly and Nile Dok and three of his men rushed into the room. The black haired man looked a mess, with disheveled hair and wide frantic eyes.

"Get out you stupid bitch!" He snarled and in a split second he had crossed the room and was wrenching Beth to her feet. Beth gasped out in pain as he grabbed her and threw her toward the guards who shoved her roughly onto the floor just outside the door. The sound of her body hitting the cold stone floor filled Eren with a terror that he had not felt in a while.

"No! Don't fucking touch her!" Eren forced himself to sit up and a shadow of his old self flickered angrily behind his eyes.

Nile turned toward him and Eren could see the rage on the other man's face and in the rigid way he held himself.

He stalked closer to his captive and backhanded him so hard that the boy, in his weakened state, tumbled from the bed onto the floor.

He had barely hit the ground before Eren felt himself being jerked upward by the thin fabric of the rags that made up his shirt. He was then slammed against the wall with enough force to knock the breath from his lungs. Eren reached up weakly to grab at Nile's strong wrist that was fisted into his shirt. Nile forced a knee between Eren's trembling legs and pushed himself closer into his space.

"Hmmm... you're getting cocky all of a sudden? You think that just because Erwin and his little gang got a little overconfident and are trying to play hero that you can start talking back?" Eren flinched at Nile's tone and the heat of his foul breath. He had exactly no idea what the crazed man was raving about but that didn't make it any less scary.

"Don't forget your fucking place, pet. Every part of you belongs to me." Nile reached around the trapped boy to grab roughly at his ass to emphasize his point. The way Eren whimpered softly but made no move against him gave Nile enough of a power trip to calm his frantic rage a little.

"Those fucking idiots think they can take you from here? The Survey Corps think they're better than us?! Well they're fucking wrong. We're moving you tonight where they'll never find you. And then I'm going to fucking remind you who you belong to and that this is all you're good for." With that Nile grabbed Eren through the front of his pants palming him roughly. The boy could only wince at the treatment.

Nile's eyes narrowed cruelly as he continued to grope him, "And for your previous display of disobedience, I'm going to kill that crazy old bitch and I'm going to make you watch."

Eren's eyes widened in terror and he began to struggle against his captor. Tears welled up in his eyes as he grasped at Nile's hold, but he had just been too long without adequate nourishment and his body was much too weak to actually fight back.

"No, no, no. Please don't! Don't hurt Beth. Please!" Eren cried weakly, "Please, I'll do anything! I-I'll be good, I promise!" As the boy pleaded desperately Nile's wicked smile only grew. It had been a while since he had heard Eren beg and it was like music to his ears.

"You'll do anything?" Nile asked mockingly. He watched with growing satisfaction as Eren stilled and averted his gaze but nodded jerkily.

"Yes Sir." He whispered softly.

"Well that's just too bad, isn't it? Because I can do whatever I want to you anyway. And right now I want to teach you a lesson." Nile laughed cruelly again and motioned to one of his men to retrieve Beth from outside.

Fear engulfed Eren's heart. No. He couldn't lose Beth. She was the only thing keeping him alive right now. She had shown him light in a place that he thought there was only darkness. She took care of him even though he was a monster and she didn't have to. She was going to die and it was going to be his fault. It was going to be all his fault. He cried openly and resumed his struggles though they were much weaker than before as he had no energy.

All he could do hear in his head were those words that had haunted him for years.

"You couldn't save her because you were weak."

It couldn't be happening again. It was all his fault. He was so sorry. He was so so sorry.

"What is taking you fools so long?" Nile called out looking over his shoulder. That's when he noticed his men were no longer there though the door to the cell was open.

"What-"

A fist collided with Nile's jaw so hard his head was sent snapping to the right. The man instantly let go of Eren and crumpled to his knees on the floor.

Eren's mind was reeling in shock and fear. Was this a dream? Where was Beth? Was Beth okay?

There was Captain Levi standing over Nile looking outraged. This has to be a dream. This isn't real is it? Eren's mind couldn't process the idea of Levi Ackermann... his hero standing in front of him in this horrible place.

Eren could only clutch at the wall as he watched Levi grab Nile by the front of his shirt. "You. Disgusting. Sack. Of. Shit!" Levi punctuated each word with a strong punch to Nile's face, the other man long since having fallen unconscious.

When Eren felt Levi turn his gaze toward him, his breath caught in his throat. His grey eyes were sharp and... concerned. He shuddered under the full attention of Humanity's Strongest and stumbled forward as his knees gave out. He was so confused. What was happening? Why?

This couldn't be real. Where is Beth? Was she okay?

He could feel the darkness eating at the corners of his eyes as he fought for consciousness. He felt completely disconnected from everything as the confusion was just too great. He didn't make any attempt at all to stop himself from falling.

In fact, he didn't even realize that he didn't land.