(Annie's POV)

How did my life turn even worse than it already was? Wasn't I living in hell already?

Questions like this circle my mind all the time and yet I still cannot find an answer no matter how hard I try.

I arrived at my house, knowing there is someone there waiting for me. But I couldn't tell if their intentions are pure or with ulterior motives. Still I cannot just ignore them. Especially since they are inside my own house.

I approached the door and tried to open it, but ya my surprise, it was locked. That made me think as to how this person can be inside my own house and not open the door. I knew I also locked all my windows. It's not like I usually open them. I stay most of my time in bed, or sitting on the bed playing video games.

I pulled out my key and unlocked the door. With my heart racing out of the increasing feeling of paranoia and anxiety, I walk inside. I kept the door behind me open as I didn't want anything to jump out at my from inside with no way of escaping. Taking slow and steady steps, I made sure I didn't make any sounds as my eyes scanned the room for any living being.

For some reason I felt that I was not alone. I knew that I was not alone. And the feeling kept intensifying the more I stayed inside the house. I crystallized my right fist while keeping it inside my sleeve to make sure it would not be noticed by whoever is haunting my house.

Suddenly the door behind me, that I made sure was open all the way, was suddenly closed. I immediately turned 180° and stared behind me with my killer instincts ready, but to my surprise, the face that stared back at me was so familiar it brought me comfort.

"Hello Annie." Max said as he walked towards me.

"It's you..." I said, trailing off to the look of his face that bears somewhat of striking resemblance to Jad himself.

"Yea it's me." He said, passing by me and making his way inside my kitchen.

I followed him, calming down my anxiety after exhaling all the air in my lungs. He opened my kitchen's fridge and looked around for something. I wasn't sure what it is.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"Damn, why do you have no food?" He asked.

"That's not answering my question." I stated.

"I know." He replied boldly.

He closed the fridge and walked past me, heading to the living room. He motioned with his hand for me to follow him, and so I did. He jumped over the couch landing on it with his legs touching the ground and his back laid against it.

"So I've noticed you are having trouble with this guy, Adrian." He said.

"Yes. I am."

"Well. Here's the thing. You need to deal with him fast or otherwise..."

"He'll tell Eren..." I finished his sentence.

"Yes. And he'd find a way to get the titan serum from somewhere else. So as long as he knows that you are with us, he'd never let you go. And I think convincing him that you only joined us for that mission is practically a death sentence." He stated.

"What do you mean?" I said, confused.

"Well... Let's say you convinced him that you are indeed alone and that you don't know anything about us. What's stopping Adrian then from not telling Eren anyways?" He said.

It clicked inside my head. Suddenly I realized Max was right, and how dangerous the situation is. And with that my fear grew ever more stronger. And I couldn't stomach the feeling. The chills down my spine were so intense that I shuddered in response.

"What... What can I do?" I asked.

"Well... for starters, you can try and convince him that you actually HAVE a vial of the titan." Max stated.

I paused to listen. I was too confused to ask any question, and that prompted Max to continue.

"Listen. Adrian doesn't know you have a titan serum. And you don't. And so in order to convince him, we must get you a serum. And so I brought this."

Out of his leather jacket's right pocket, he pulled out a white box. Opening it revealed a needle with an all too familiar liquid in it. The sight of it brought me painful memories. I closed my fist and tried to calm myself because otherwise I would've lashed out and broke the serum in an instant.

"This is the actual serum. A fully functional sample." Max stated.

"What do we need to do with it?" I asked.

"Not we. You. You'll drive Adrian to your trap, and once you do that, you'll take him down." Max explained.

"I don't want to kill anyone." I said.

"Except your father, but that's beside the point. Anyways you don't have to kill him, you just have to take him down and from there I'll take him to join your father in Jad's facility." Max explained.

"Why can't you take him down? You're strong enough. I can't do that. He's... He has a regenerative factor that will heal any and all injuries and regrow any lost body part." I stated.

"My mission right now requires that I limit my presence as much as possible for the time being. I cannot engage and bring attention to myself. I need to operate in the shadows and stay out of all conflict. So it's up to you. And don't take yourself lightly. You can do it. You just don't know how. Until you find out, you should not let him approach you and always stay out of his way."

"Do you have an idea how to start?" I asked.

"I believe the best way to start is to find out how he managed to come here and secure a location of residence." Max suggested. "With that knowledge you can probably get an edge on him in a way. Maybe even drive him out."

"Good idea. But I believe it's gonna be hard to drive him out of there." I stated.

"You could use this knowledge to learn of his base of operations. He could be using his place to plan and scheme. Knowing that place, you could try and learn of his routines and daily patterns. All the places he goes to, when, where, why, who are his associates, et cetera."

"Good idea..." I trailed off.

"And from there you can plan your moves." Max said before getting off the couch and heading to the door. "I'm leaving. Save that number I contacted you with somewhere. I'll stay in touch. Also the serum is nearly complete. You will have it within you soon enough. Until then, focus on that cunt and get him out of here, otherwise you will live in danger and remorse."

Max then left, closing the door behind him. I was left staring at the serum he left on my coffee table. Sitting down, I leaned forward and grabbed the box and took the needle.

I only stared at it, knowing that what it contains is the thing that made my life miserable. I tried as hard as I could to suppress the urge to break it right now.

I knew that I shouldn't but honestly, if I did I would feel extremely happy with it. But all I did was just stare at it with dead eyes, grasping it gently and caressing it with my thumb.

I placed it back in the box and took said box to my room, hiding it deep inside my closet in a small space I made to hide it in. I then closed the closet and made my way down to the living room.

Suddenly I got a text. I unlocked my phone and saw that it was Sasha. She wanted me to go with her to an ice cream shop that was close by, saying that I owe her for not going the last time.

I agreed to go, mainly because I wanted to clear my head and enjoy the company of someone for the day. I felt the need to have a break from all the worrying and fear for the time being. And to me nothing is better than ice cream with Sasha at the time.

I made my way out of the house, locking everything and making sure that indeed everything is locked and secured. I then continued walking in the directions of Sasha's house while putting my earphones and enjoying some good music.

Sasha's place was not as close as one would assume. It takes me 20 minutes of walking to get there. And that is not a problem to me, if I'm being honest. I use all this time to reflect on my daily activities and my current situation. And with calming music playing, I got as relaxed as I possibly could. 10 minutes in, I passed the public park, that was empty because of it being a school day.

Suddenly I got the feeling that I was being followed. I turned off the music and looked behind me, only to see that there was not a soul in the general vicinity. With that knowledge I continued walking. But two minutes later I suddenly got a tap on my shoulder.

Turning around I received a punch from someone and fell on the ground. I got on one knee, spitting the blood that formed inside my mouth and then stared back in anger at the person who punched me.

It was a girl I did not know. She then kicked me down and proceeded kicking me even further. She tried to stomp on my face but I grabbed her foot and pushed her away. I then rolled away from her next stomp and got back on my feet.

"Nice to meet you, bitch!" She said. "Adrian sent me!"

She tried to punch me but I dodged her. She tried again twice but by the third time I grabbed her fist and punched her myself. My punch was so strong it sent her taking a few steps backwards while grabbing her face.

I took the time to examine her. She had short red hair with bangs covering her left eye. She also had lip piercings and earrings. Her blue eyes were alluring and beautiful, if I'm being honest. She was just as tall as I am, and I'm five feet, five inches and a half. Exactly 169 centimeters.

She then jumped in the air and spun around, trying to deliver a kick that I dodged by dashing forward. When she landed on her feet, I was behind her with our backs turned towards one another. She then turned around to face me, only to be on the receiving end of a kick to her face. And without even looking, I then jumped backwards and landed on her chest that was on the floor after the strong kick.

Following her pained scream I jumped off her and watched her try to get back on her feet. But what took me by surprise was the way she stood like nothing has happened. Her black eye that was the result of my kick disappeared. Which only made me conclude that she has a healing factor as well.

"Nice. I expected you to be skilled, but to be frank, you exceeded my expectations quite a lot!" She said. "But still. That is not enough to match mine."

She then dashed forward, trying to punch me in the stomach, but I grabbed her fist with my two hands and threw it upwards but didn't manage to dodge or deflect the other fist.

She then started to repeatedly punch me in the stomach with surprising speed before using her extremely sharp claws to hit my face.

"Argh!" I released an immediate scream to the sharp pain of my clawed face. I covered my hand with my face and then waited for it to heal. At that time I looked at the girl and saw her laughing.

"Do you like my claws?" She asked, mocking me while laughing.

Little did she know that a kick to the stomach would abruptly end her laugh. I took that time to look at her claws and noticed that they are not just extremely sharp nails, but actual claws!

She tried then to claw my face out once again but I crystallized my left arm and used it to guard against the claw. When her hand landed on the crystal, her claws did no damage and barely left a mark on the crystal material.

That made her so angry that she jumped in the air and tried to claw me again, but I crystallized my other hand and destroyed her claws on impact, detaching them from her.

She watched with bewilderment as I shrugged her attack off and followed it with a fist of my own at her own face. I made sure that the crystal at my fingers was weak enough that it would break on impact and leave sharp pieces stuck in her face, leaving her scarred and bleeding.

With that done, she held her face in her hands and stared at me before removing a fairly big piece of my crystals from her face and using the reflection to see her injuries. She smiled at it and then me before looking at me and saying: "Nice. You are a formidable opponent. Name's Natalia. I'll be seeing you."

She then ran away with the speed of a feline and jumped so high she landed on a swing that was near us and then leaped once again before sprinting away like lightning.

I stared in confusion and bewilderment at what I just saw. I then stared at my fist to examine it and see if she left a scratch, but my crystal was strong enough she didn't do anything serious. But her attack was not to be taken lightly. I felt the strength of it and knew that if I didn't crystallize my arm, I'd probably have to grow it back.

After the fight I rushed my way to Sasha's house being somewhat late and a little frustrated because of the fight. As soon as I made it into her house I saw her come out and head to the front yard.
When she saw me she dashed towards me with a hug.

"Annie!" She shouted. "Where were you? I was getting worried."

"Sorry, I lost track of time and started slowly walking. I'm sorry..." I put into words this lie of a statement followed by "Let's go! I'm pretty sure there won't be many customers if we arrive early!"