The Queen of Pain - Levi Ackerman

Chapter 8

Anna gratefully grabbed the glass and chugged it down, only to spit it all back out on the three of them, making Ruby squeal and Levi and Hanji gasp in disgust. “It tastes like piss!” she exclaimed, quickly reached for her bowl of soup, slurping that too. But it met the same result as all her other food and ended up in the bucket. Anna dejectedly sobbed after a moment.

“...why...does everything taste...nngh...disgusting...?” she coughed, setting down the bucket again. “Well...it certainly wasn't my cooking!” Ruby stomped her foot. “Great. Just great. Now I have to take a shower.”

“We all have to take showers now.” Levi grimaced, wiping his face off. “We should get you to a doctor—”

“No!” Anna slammed her hand on the table, tears spilling down her cheeks as she broke out into hysterics. “I can't  seem to want anything anymore...and I don't mean just food. She's taking over me...” she was shaking and Levi dared to touch her. His wrist was twisted in a split second and Anna was on her feet. “D-Don't touch me...” she warned.

“Anna...” Hanji calmly said. “Calm down—”

“Don't tell me to call down, shitty glasses! You have no idea what it's like to lose control of your own body!” she let go of her husband and fell to her knees. “...you've got no idea what it's like to be blamed for your friend's deaths...when it wasn't even you who committed the crime.” she shut her eyes as the thought of the day she was meant to reclaim Wall Maria came flooding back into her head.

It was Hysteria who killed them. She killed Erwin and all their other subordinates. Anna neglected to tell the others the true purpose for taking that serum that made her forget. It wasn't to suppress her own abilities.

It was to suppress hers.

But she only grew stronger and came back worse than before, controlling Anna like a puppet. And all poor Anna could do was sit back and watch. Sometimes she couldn't even do that.

“Kch...” she shut her eyes tight. “You don't know what it's like...to have someone else controlling your thoughts...your actions. Annalise Kasahara? Tck! I don't even know that girl anymore... She probably died decades ago...”

“Don't say that.” Levi sneered. “You’re here now.”

“Heh...all I am is a damn shell for her. I... I can't even remember how she got inside me. We....we are two separate beings...so why...why does she control me?”

“We’ll stop her, Anna.” Ruby reassuringly spoke, setting the rest of the bread on the table for them. “And we'll do it together. Right, guys?”

“Of course.” Hanji nodded.

“Yeah...” Levi sighed.

Anna shook her head. “No, we won't.” she stated with a harsh tone to her voice. It was like a sharp knife whenever she spoke. “Because the only way to stop her is to kill her. And the only way to kill her....is to kill me.”

“There must be some alternative.” Ruby insisted. “What if...what if we managed to separate the two of you?” she suggested. Levi side-eyed the girl. “Any idea as to how to do that?”

“Well, it's plausible from Anna's speeches that Hysteria and her are both separate entities. When I first met Anna, Hysteria was already a part of her. We just assumed she had split personality. To think that she's being used as a vessel is an entirely foreign thought to me. However...if Hysteria was placed into Anna there's gotta be a way to extract her as well.”

“Well said,” Hanji mused. “First, we'll need to begin researching as to how the two girls were fused together in the first place. Once we've obtained that information, we'll be able to work on ways to extract her. I'm sure even she would like that. What do you say, Anna?”

Anna just stared at the wooden floor, a dead expression in her cold blue and gold eyes. “Yeah...sounds fine...”

“Anna...” Levi crouched down to meet her gaze. “We’re here for you. We're a team.”

“Mm...”

Anna let out a small and sad amount of laughter. “You know...there was only one person who could ever get Hysteria under a little bit of control. I wonder how she's doing now. I haven't seen her in a few weeks.” she pushed a strand of hair behind her ears. “I can't wait until she gets back. Jean will be so happy to see her again.”

Ruby's eyes saddened at the mention of her deceased sibling. “Anna...Rose is...Rosie is dead...”

Anna glanced up her with a startled expression, then sighed heavily. “That's a shame. I really liked her. She was always calm, even in the worst of situations.” she shook her head. “Dammit...”

“We’re going to get through this.” Levi promised her. “It'll cost us a lot but you need to trust us. Do you understand me?”

“...yeah...”

“...I love you...”

Anna didn't reply. For the first time ever she'd felt empty when he'd said that. Typically her heart would bread with joy but it just didn't. It was as though her heart was missing. “Anna?” Levi snapped his fingers in front of her eyes, causing her to blink.

“Hm?”

“I said I lo—”

“I heard you.” she replied, coldly.

Levi narrowed his steel grey eyes. “Then why didn't you reply?”

“Because I don't feel the same way.” she nonchalantly answered. “We’re married.” Levi spoke calmly, as though he believed she were only pranking him. “So? People marry ones they don't have feelings for all the time. I dunno... it's not that I don't love you... it's that I can't anymore. Maybe I did once...but it isn't resonated in my body anymore. It's like I can't feel anything but sadness.”

“What’s happening to you?”

“I don't know.” she wiped her face from her tears. “I just know that Anna isn't who I am anymore. Anna isn't me. I stopped being ‘me’ such a long time ago. I can't even remember who that was.”