“That stray dog outside the Commune… Do you think it will die soon? If it does, we could have enough food for weeks-!”

“You have a greater chance of squeezing fresh water out of a rock than watching that dog die this winter, Eren.”

“It hasn’t eaten anything in days.”

“Neither have you or me yet here we are, having this conversation. That mongrel won’t die because even though it has lost almost everything, it’s home, its owner, its pups… it still has the will to survive. To live to see another day and fight until it has its life taken from it too. Stop thinking about food. None will come. Stop hoping that the blizzard will relent, because it won’t. Just focus on your desire to live for the sake of living, and I swear to you that just like that stray dog you will live to see the end of this winter.”

Cities all across New England recorded historically low temperatures in the winter months of 2097. Power went out across numerous states, and the roads were covered by many layers of thick impassable snow and ice. People were more concerned about their own livelihoods to remember the other fraction of humanity that relied on the support of others for survival. 

Or perhaps the politicians hoped that the brutal winter would kill all the awful specks and freeze them to death so their communities could be bulldozed and replaced with nice outlet malls, cafes and movie theaters. Nearly a quarter of Northside’s population died that winter. Rations were cut completely, and the tiny scraps of food leftover had to be given for the youngest. Of course, some parents who hid food fed their children that way, but in the most utmost secrecy lest someone else break into their home to take it. 

Saraya was the Mayor of Northside at the time. She was right about the dog that Eren had espied trotting around the edges of their Commune from time to time. A scrawny little thing covered in battle scars from wars with other dogs on the streets and was too sinewy and hairless to be considered cute by a potential good samaritan in need of a dog to cuddle. Every day, Eren and a group of his friends would watch with bated breath as the mutt limped around from garbage bag to garbage bag. They wanted nothing more than to see it fall to the ground in exhaustion and perish, so they could feast on its corpse and deal with their own gnawing hunger. 

But it lived through the winter, despite all odds. Just like Eren did, and all the other specks at Northside at the time who refused to give up and die. The mutt even had another set of puppies at some point which were later taken away by the city, and it finally found itself in the back of a van bound for a loving new home full of treats and goodies. Or perhaps to be euthanized. Eren never found out. 

As for Saraya, she died one year later when her youngest grandson and sole surviving heir was killed by a few brobs in downtown while he was on a supply run. Their doctors diagnosed no medical issues with her. She simply passed away in her sleep, peacefully. 

Because she lost the one thing that tethered her to this world. The source of her will to fight… The desire to see her family persist after her death. And after her grandson died there was no use in her carrying on anymore. Eren thought and ignored the gnawing pit in his stomach that had grown over the course of the past few days in his prison cell.

He had gone years without a steady supply of food. After his parents died and he was left orphaned with nobody to desire that he reach adulthood, all Eren had was his own willpower to live to see another day. 

Focus on something… Something to keep you strong. It can be anything, so long as it gets you to the light at the end of the tunnel. Eren thought as the door creaked open and thunderous footsteps approached him ominously. You just have to hold out until Jisoo returns… 

As Grace had anticipated, two weeks without a crumb of food had not affected Eren in the slightest. She could see it in his eyes whenever she came to visit him every day for their daily sessions, in which she had fun seeing what fresh hell she could unleash upon him. His only subsistence aside from the peach droplet which she had granted him at the beginning of their time together, was water to quench his thirst that came from either her sweat or saliva. 

Unlike Thomas he never attempted to fight back with words and refused to entertain any of her offers or threats. Eren simply accepted as much pain as she decided to inflict upon him, the only sound that ever emerged from his lips in the dark chamber she imprisoned him in was screams which even he could not bite back. Although it was too much to ask that he resist the urge to shout out in pain when she snapped his legs like twigs or bent his arms into shapes similar to pretzels.

And of course, the peach droplet in his system would slowly, painfully heal those injuries over the course of the next day. Right in time for his next ordeal beneath her relentless tortures which were designed to maximize the amount of torment she could inflict upon him without risking a permanent injury that could not be healed. Sleep deprivation did not work either.

I would have expected no less from a man such as you Eren. Grace wanted to tell him every day when she sealed the door behind her and left him in darkness to recover until the next time she arrived to rip and tear at something else. You are truly a remarkable person. I am delighted to count you as my friend. 

Grace had not forgotten her moment of weakness after the death of her Aunt Suyin. She had never felt so vulnerable and alone by the loss of a person she held dear to her heart. Jisoo did not know how to comfort her, she had never known loss that she had not inflicted upon herself. Eren on the other hand had been able to express something few members of her family could truly experience. Empathy. He knew loss, and the horrible pain it carved into a person. His words had been a source of great comfort, and she had truly taken his advice to heart and attempted to reconcile with Lihua. 

This is how I express my friendship to you Eren. Consider this a form of gratitude. Grace thought with a satisfied smile on her face as she unlaced her shoe and tossed it aside to free her feet from the sweaty confines. For now, she left on her socks for a while longer, and instead turned her attention to the box she had brought with her. One day you will understand why I must be so cruel to you. In the future you will look back and see this as a great kindness… 

“As much as I do adore our time together, I can’t help but feel that our conversations have become a little one-sided. No matter what I do I just can’t get you to open up!” Grace giggled and flipped her hair over her shoulder. She reached into the wooden box and pinched her fingers around the struggling speck inside, careful not to break the cute little thing that tried oh so valiantly to free herself. 

This time Eren could not mask the horror that wrote itself across his expression and for the first time since she had started to wear him down, Grace saw the repulsive embers of resistance inside of him weaken. 

She laughed once again, genuinely amused to see how easily his flimsy strong silent shield gave way to unmitigated shock. The floodgates of confusion and desperation opened and overwhelmed his feeble attempt to resist.

I just hope you can show me you can change for the better before I have to pull this girl apart, limb by limb right before your eyes… She’s far too cute to wind up like Thomas. 

“M-Maeve…?!” Eren muttered in disbelief as he locked eyes with his fellow speck, who found the source of his weak voice far below, nearly lost in the darkness of the chamber. Her cybernetic leg had been removed, but aside from that she was still in one piece and thankfully it did not like as though she had been tortured as well. 

How the hell did the find her?! What about Maddie, did they take her from Ren and torture her too? Eren thought and found the courage to look up into Grace’s sadistic eyes as she observed the reunion between the two specks completely at her mercy. “Grace, please don’t hurt her!” He pleaded and began to crawl forward desperately before the chain went taut and he could move no further. “Maeve has nothing to do with this! I’ll do whatever you want just let her go-!”

“Hmm… That’s not what I want to hear, and you know that.” Grace replied with a frown and removed the gag from Maeve, who immediately screamed in fear as she was thrust into the floor right next to Grace’s sock-clad right foot in front of Eren. Before she could say anything, Grace raised her foot slightly then brought it down viciously on the black-haired speck, who was immediately pinned to the ground by her slightly moist socks. 

Grace chuckled. “You must not care what happens to her then if you’re blabbering about pointless things like that.” She threatened and ground her foot into the floor, which rewarded her with renewed squeals from Maeve who began to sob. “Do you think there’s anything I want from you? What could you possibly offer me? I just want you to accept your proper place. To break and become what Jisoo should have turned you into a long time ago so we can stop this and move on with our lives. You can’t exactly give me something like that. It just happens, and I’ll know it does when I see the hope in your eyes dissipate.”

“I’ll never speak out of turn again I swear! I’ll be a good pet, a good slave for both you and Jisoo I promise!” Eren shouted and pulled even harder at the chain until he swore it would pull his head from his shoulders. Maeve was just inches out of reach, stuck firmly under Grace’s playful feet as she had fun treating Maeve to the same kind of treatment he had experienced for the past few weeks. “Just let her go and I’ll be whatever you want me to be!”

“Do you know why torture is usually never effective?” Grace asked conversationally and checked her nails in boredom as he continued to blather on. “It’s because the victim will eventually just say whatever they need to in order to get the pain to stop, whether it is a lie or not. You won’t actually be the affectionate little husband that Jisoo deserves that knows his place and relishes pleasuring her. At best you’ll loathe us both and try to hide it. I’ve broken countless people before Eren. Believe me, I know when a person is actually broken and not just faking it to get the pain to stop. You will love Jisoo and believe her to be the goddess she is, and you will look at me and see my actions as a true mercy. Anything less is not even close to what I really want.” 

“So, here’s my proposition for you. Stop running your worthless mouth and obey me, or I will pull off this girl’s other leg and make you watch. From now on if you disobey me in any way, I will not punish you. I’ll punish her instead. And if she dies, so be it. I’ll just have Madeleine sent here and we start this entire process all over again. Only with dear little Maddie, I’ll be sure to be even slower as I rip her to pieces.” Grace threatened and as if to prove her point scrunched her toes tightly around Maeve’s head to elicit a terrified scream. 

Left with no alternative and fully aware of the consequences if he tried to negotiate with the giantess any further, Eren sealed his lips and nodded meekly at Grace who cocked her head to the side. Her expression was cold and icy, and he was absolutely sure that this wasn’t a bluff. 

Carefully, Grace removed her socks and tossed them over her shoulder. The brief reprieve granted to Maeve lasted only for a moment, before she was squished into the ground once again. This time Grace placed her massive toes directly across Maeve’s body and kept her trapped beneath them like a cage. 

The cruel giantess turned her gaze back to Eren, who could only watch silently as Maeve was repeatedly accosted by the gargantuan foot. “Go ahead and start worshipping me the way you do Jisoo. If you do a good job, maybe I’ll be gentle with her tonight.” She told him as he obediently set to work. “I’ll never let her go no matter what you do. She’s mine now, as are you until Jisoo comes back. This will only end when your spirit breaks Eren… I don’t care how many of your friends I have to crush for that to happen.” 

Maeve could not understand a word spoken between Eren and the horrible tormentor that had become her captress as well. Their entire conversation was in Mandarin Chinese, and even if Maeve spoke a word of the language, she probably would have been too terrified to listen closely.

Why is Eren all chained up like that? Where is Tae? Maeve wondered as she felt the enormous foot that pinned her to the ground relent for a few merciful seconds. She took the brief respite to breathe fresh air for the first time in minutes, then squealed as the foot, now bare and slightly sweaty from the long walk to reach the chamber, came crashing down on her again.

The giantess placed her slender toes over Maeve’s helpless body horizontally, so her feet were trapped closer to Grace’s smallest toe and her head sandwiched between the largest and second toe. From the small gap between the digits, Maeve could see Eren’s crestfallen face look down at her in mortification. He was trying to help her, Maeve could tell. 

He began to miserably lick the smooth, soft skin of Grace’s foot in a pathetic attempt to appease her. Maeve made eye contact with her fellow speck and noticed that something inside of him had broken. 

So, this is why they sent me all the way here. To hurt Eren and make him comply with whatever they want. Maeve realized. Is this because Maddie managed to get in touch with him before she was shrunken? Whatever the case may be, since they have Maddie as well neither me nor Eren can afford to fight back. 

That means we just have to do whatever they want if any of us want to make it out of this alive. Maeve thought and begrudgingly extended her tongue to touch the underside of Grace’s toes. 

The gentle lapping of a second miniscule tongue on the underside of her toes was an unexpected, but welcome surprise. Grace allowed her cruel demeanor to give way to something that resembled a smile and allowed her two playthings to pamper her a little. 

Maeve, the dark-haired speck with a missing leg was quite the catch. Despite her disability it had taken a substantially long period of time to find her. Due to the messy internal politics of the upper echelon of the Amrita Corporation, her capture had been reported directly to Lianfei who then reported it to Satsuki instead of Jisoo. Since Jisoo had an open internal investigation case from the moment her biological sister appeared, the decision had been made to keep Maeve’s discovery away from her. 

I yearn to see the day when this isn’t necessary. Although, part of me will miss this dearly. Grace thought to herself and watched the two specks obediently lick clean every inch of skin on her foot. When we have properly subjugated humanity and freed them from their loathsome thoughts, we won’t have to inflict this kind of torment on them unnecessarily. 

In an ideal world, humans would simply accept them as gods and carry on with their lives beneath their watchful gaze. However, that was simply impossible given the wretched state of human nature. Their wills had to be broken and shattered, and the worst among their kind had to be exterminated. 

Eren was not yet at his breaking point. But he would reach it soon, she was sure. What made his predicament so deliciously sweet was how little control he had over the ordeal. Grace did not want information from him, nor did she want him to pretend to play along. She wanted his spirit to crumble, and there was no way for him to comply with such a demand until it happened on its own. 

He had to experience despair and hopelessness, and once he was a broken shell of a thing that could barely be fit to be called human any longer, he would latch onto her out of necessity like a good little pet. Then he could be healed and fine-tuned, with all the burdensome ideals of equality removed from his mind.

And of course, Grace intended to savor every second of it.