It was difficult to maintain the constant ruse every second of the day, however the results made the effort more than worth it. Now that their ‘mistress’ was convinced she had successfully broken both specks, life had improved considerably for both Maeve and Eren. 

After all, Grace prided herself as a good owner. It would be uncouth for her to have a pair of starved, unsightly pets. Especially when she went out in public with them in tow. Slowly but surely, they were both nursed back to health with an eerie love and affection which felt rather bizarre given the cruelty Grace had demonstrated for several months. 

We may have survived this ordeal… But others haven’t been so fortunate. Maeve thought as she remained silent as her captress enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast one warm summer morning. Other abnormally small specks were always present at meals like this nowadays. Grace seemed to be addicted to them. 

Alongside her coffee after most of the dishes were finished and taken away to be washed by Yuxi, Grace had a bowl of what Maeve assumed was either chocolate or some kind of very dark jam. In place of crackers, Grace carefully hugged a ‘microspeck’ between her fingers while they were still kicking and squirming. 

Sometimes they realized it was futile to call out to Grace for mercy, and instead they screamed desperately for either Maeve or Eren to do something. 

Those poor people must think I’m enjoying their suffering… They think I’m complacent in all of this. Maeve thought sadly as she simply cocked her head in response to one such doomed soul who Grace gingerly pressed into the bowl of syrup next to her coffee mug. He seemed to be calling out for Maeve to help him as she was the only other person in his field of view, but the one-legged speck remained unmoved and simply watched him disappear into the sticky substance. 

“Y’know it was Jisoo who first thought of dipping them into melted cheese and tomato sauce? And to serve them with pickles of all things.” Grace said conversationally as they all ‘enjoyed’ breakfast together. The speck held tightly between her fingers was pushed back and forth into the paste until he was practically unrecognizable as human anymore.

Eren raised his brow and set his own coffee aside. “Cheese and tomato sauce? Sort of like a pizza?” He asked to which Grace nodded. “I know she often eats pickles with pizza, it’s apparently a common practice in Korea.”

“Yeah I guess my issue wasn’t that it tasted bad, I liked the flavor the melted cheese imparted into them, especially since it was super hot so it stuck to their skin very well.” Grace responded, which elicited a very faint shudder from Maeve who masked it as a stretch. “But it was also really hard to swallow. I nearly choked my first time doing it.”

“Perhaps it would be better to simply melt them into the cheese?” Maeve suggested as some of the remaining microspecks closest to her in their enclosure stared at her in horror. “Or better yet… Have you ever eaten mozzarella sticks?” She asked. 

Grace tilted her head back slightly but had a curious look on her face when Maeve asked her the question. The speck she had thoroughly drenched in the sweet, sugary paste passed through her soft lips and was placed carefully on Grace’s enormous tongue. 

Maeve did not dare look away. She wanted Grace to think she wasn’t horrified by every moment of this. For both her and Eren to survive, they had to convince her that they saw those unfortunate souls who had been reduced into a pitiful state even smaller than specks as mere appetizers. Things to be devoured or played with. 

By tradition, Grace did not chew her live food. Instead she thoroughly savored him for several moments which to the man currently sealed within her jaws most likely felt like an eternity. Her gargantuan tongue effortlessly batted him around her maw and licked off the sweet syrup from his skin until he was cleaned. Afterwards she took a bit more time to decipher his unique flavor. 

It startled Maeve to realize how much she had learned of the horrific practice of vore which was exceptionally common amongst nearly all members of the Fang Dynasty. Apparently they could extract some kind of additional power from devouring humans that had been transformed into specks, which explained at least partially why they went through so much trouble to eat them by the bowl-full. 

To acquire the maximum amount of power, the victim still had to be alive. Grace had described the indescribable pleasure of feeling a speck melting away within her stomach as being one of the few things better than sex in her personal experience. 

Once Grace had sampled the speck for long enough, she swallowed. It took a long time, and a lot of practice to be able to swallow a squirming person with such ease but Grace managed it like a true professional. Maeve imagined that the man she had eaten most likely was sealed in dark, muggy confines before being sent down the endless chute that was the giantess’s throat. 

And at the end of it, slowly melted away into nothingness. Maeve thought, and used the knowledge that she was one wrong move away from ending up just like that if Grace ever caught onto their ruse. “They are rather unhealthy, but as a treat from time to time you could always turn them into mozzarella sticks.”

“Mozzarella sticks? You mean like string cheese?” Grace asked, genuinely bewildered by the suggestion. “I’m not sure how that would work.”

“The ones I’m talking about are bits of string cheese that have been deep fried until golden so they remain rigid. Afterwards they are usually dunked into tomato sauce. Perhaps you could dip these treats into cheese then deep fry them?” Maeve suggested with a cruel twinge in her voice as she eyed the specks closest to her vindictively. “Although they are quite small and pathetic… It may require quite a few to satisfy you, mistress.”

“Oooh you are so devilishly cruel, I’m almost tempted to see if Yuxi could whip up something like that the next time we have company.” Grace chuckled, and seemed almost impressed by the malice in Maeve’s tone towards the microspecks.  “If I ever work up the courage to chew when I indulge like this, I think that will be my first meal.”

There’s nothing Eren or myself can do for these people. Keep that in mind. Maeve thought as she bit into her own breakfast of soft, flaky pancakes with extra sweet blueberry flavored syrup. 

Each bite was a delicious guilty pleasure, earned through weeks of keeping up this charade. The price was maintaining a veneer of complacency in the fanaticism demanded by Grace, and of course watching countless other people suffer in the process. 

Grace selected another microspeck from her plate and lathered him up in the syrup. This one was a somewhat scrawny lad, probably a year or two younger than Maeve was. Almost more of a boy than a man. 

Like all the rest, he was tossed into Grace’s mouth and licked clean of the syrup before she promptly swallowed him whole. With each additional morsel, Grace seemed to become increasingly aroused by the entire affair. The power that flooded her veins was unrivaled, it was what she lived for. 

A dark smile crossed the titaness’s plush lips which were slightly stained from the syrup. “Hmm, I realize just how greedy I’ve been! You haven’t been able to enjoy the fun whatsoever.” Grace proclaimed with a pout as she eyed Maeve lustfully. “Why don’t you bring me my next bite?”

What?! There was no outward expression of horror, but it did take Maeve a few seconds longer than she would have liked to consider the best response. Eren’s eyes flicked over her from across the table counter, his gaze also somehow neutral. This was a test, it had to be. “I would love to!” Maeve forced herself to say enthusiastically as she grabbed her toothpick and managed to stand up. She faced the remaining dozen or so specks that all now looked at her Amazonian figure nervously. “May I select any of them?”

“Honestly I am stuffed so far so I think I’ll only be able to eat one more. Why don’t you pick who the lucky guy will be?”

“O-Of course.” Maeve said and caught a stammer before she stumbled over her sentence completely. Grace watched eagerly to see her hobble across the table towards the microspecks, who out of fear of severe punishment remained perfectly still on the plate as they had been trained to. 

Maeve could see how terrified each person was as she approached. Their eyes were alight with fear, and some tried to look away from her as if it might let them shrink into the table away from this terrible fate that awaited them. All the while Grace tapped her foot on the ground ominously on the marble floor hundreds of feet below them, seemingly in rhythm with a ticking clock. 

Who do I pick? Maeve thought as she observed the specks. They seemed to be all about the same age, but from many different nationalities and backgrounds. Some were criminals taken from prisons, others were prisoners of war from around the globe, and some others were likely people just like herself brought into this cruel reality for some petty reason or another.

Do… Do any of them look like criminals? Maybe a thief or a burglar dying wouldn’t be so bad… Maeve said to herself, trying to justify how she could possibly make a choice like this. No. Don’t try to think too hard about why you are picking someone. Just pick someone at random and be done with it. I’m not killing a person, I am saving the rest and myself.

The specks, along with Grace and Eren watched as Maeve made her choice. A tawny skinned man who had been the first person she came across. 

As a speck, Maeve was just shy of three inches tall. Her victim was a microspeck; less than half her size. It took Maeve no effort whatsoever to pick him up by the throat and begin to drag him closer to the plate where Grace kept the syrup. Thankfully the man didn’t try to resist as her gargantuan hand clutched his neck. She didn’t want to hurt him.

Suddenly she felt a bit of resistance and spun around to see another man had finally moved and now clutched the ankle of the person she had attempted to drag away quietly. “T-That’s my little brother.” He said pleadingly with teary eyes. “P-Please choose me instead.”

“I-I…” Maeve stuttered as she felt her cheeks become hot and her heart pounded within her chest. Her mind screamed at her to continue and keep up the charade, and she could also feel Eren staring at her imploringly to not break character. 

If you can’t do this, you’ll suffer even more than before. Grace will catch on to what we’ve done, and she won’t hesitate to kill me if it means hurting Eren. I don’t want to die knowing he’s still in trouble. 

How many times had Maeve had to make a difficult decision that resulted in someone’s death? As a runner, such decisions had to be made in the blink of an eye and with unerring precision. She had left friends behind when they were hurt and couldn’t keep up. She had heard them die and listened to the cruel mocking words of giants who simply hated them. 

These ‘microspecks’ are not my people. They aren’t like me or Eren who grew up in a shitty Commune with nothing. All of them wouldn’t care if we died. Maeve thought and tried to summon what little embers of hatred she had in her heart. She wasn’t a violent person. It was hard for her to hate anybody, but for her own survival she had to hurt this man in his final moments. “I’ve made my decision. My mistress is going to give your brother a rare honor, and you’ll get to watch.” 

“P-Please don’t~!” He cried out tearfully right before Maeve smashed him over the head with her toothpick cane. “You fucking monster! You are a fucking monster do you hear~?!” Before he could utter another word, a gargantuan fist descended from the heavens and crushed the older of the two men into a fine pulp, along with maybe half the other microspecks present who happened to be in range of Grace’s fist. 

The giantess rolled her eyes as she heard the remaining specks begin to scream in terror. “Jeez, so much drama and shed tears over a morning snack.” She scoffed and casually swept the survivors off the table where they plummeted to their deaths. “It’s cost me my appetite.” Grace muttered and seized the microspeck from Maeve, who nearly lost her balance as the man was torn from her. 

With little regard for how much of a bloody mess she had made already, Grace seized the younger brother by his legs with one hand and his head with the other. He squealed as he was pulled by both monumental forces until eventually his body was torn in half right down the middle. 

Grace clicked her tongue. “Unfortunate. I’ll have to order more.” She mused simply and stood up to wash her hands of blood. “I swear these newer batches are so poorly behaved… Their trainer needs to be reprimanded.”

“Y-Yes mistress.” Maeve replied solemnly as she observed the scene of the casual massacre. Both she and Eren were covered in flecks of blood from the splatter in the aftermath of a simple lesson and reminder of the power their ‘mistress’ possessed.

Power she had exerted on them for several months, now directed onto others whose names they would never know. Maeve held back tears and remained steadfast, outwardly unbothered by the killings in case Grace would have thought to cast a curious glance at her two favorite pets. 

Do what you have to in order to survive. Make reaching tomorrow your only goal, each and every day.

“Ma’am, your daughter is here to see you.”

Fantastic. Just what I needed today. Lianfei thought in exasperation and tried to keep the disinterest in her voice to a minimum as she replied to her secretary over the phone. “Thank you. Please send her in at once.” She said graciously. “And brew another cup of coffee. Make it strong.”

“Yes ma’am.” The young woman replied and ended the call. No sooner had she hung up when Lianfei sighed and rubbed her tired eyes. She brought the mug of bitter, extra strong coffee she had been nursing for the better half of an hour, up to her lips and took a sip. 

It was still somewhat warm, but perhaps it was because the same mug had been refilled numerous times throughout the day by the scalding hot beverage which explained why.

Her youngest child stepped into the room not long after she received the call from her secretary. Ruiwen took more after her father than her mother, which Lianfei considered a blessing. With her long black hair, high cheekbones and striking eyes twinged by a subtle golden hue, she was a quintessential Descendant of the Fang Sisters.

Ruiwen cast a disapproving glare at the cup of coffee on Lianfei’s desk. “I thought your doctor told you to cut back on the caffeine?” She noted judgmentally. “You look tired.”

“It’s good to see you too.” Lianfei retorted and rolled her eyes as Ruiwen sat down. “As usual you’re quite persistent. You flew all the way from Philadelphia just to bother me in person.”

“Well you didn’t leave much of a choice, your secretary gave me the run around for days. I know when I’m being ignored.”

“I’ve been terribly busy for weeks, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“Tsk. Where is Eren Klein?” Ruiwen asked flatly and crossed her arms. Her tone left little room for debate as she continued. “We tried to arrange a phone call with him but were misdirected over and over again. So I called the resort in Hawaii he’s supposedly at and demanded to know since I wanted to visit him in person for the first time. Turns out they have never heard of him before. I asked ‘Eren’ about that through text and got very vague answers. He won’t use video or voice chat. Just text. So where is he actually located and why is this being kept secret?”

“Watch your tone.” Lianfei snapped in a tone that would have petrified even the most unruly child. 

Her daughter simply raised her brow in response. “You may be my mother, but my authority as a blood descendant supersedes yours. I can order you to do whatever I want, mom.” Ruiwen remarked coldly. “Out of respect for you I have adhered to your wishes and remained in Philadelphia for more than half a year. And you’ve kept me in the dark the entire time about why. Now I want to know the truth.”

Sometimes I really regret raising her this way. Lianfei thought in frustration but wisely held her tongue before she said something she might come to regret. There was a strict hierarchy amongst their family, and they were both fully aware of it. “There isn’t an easy answer to your question since I’m not entirely sure.”

“Meaning you’ve known all the information I’ve received about practically everything is a lie, and you never told me.”

Her daughter cocked her head to the side slightly as if contemplating whether or not she wanted to retort. Finally she looked at her mother directly and spoke in a much softer voice. “After my botched assassinations on behalf of Aunt Jisoo, our spies combed the area for days in search of the speck that Madeleine Lacroix used to live with. Maeve Mauer.” Ruiwen remarked. “Do you really expect me to believe that they never found her? And if they did, why was it not immediately reported to me?”

Even by your standards this is asking questions well-above your station. And mine. Lianfei thought and considered her next words carefully. “Perhaps you should instead direct your inquiries to someone else~?”

“I was just about to suggest the same thing.” A third voice said from the doorway to Lianfei’s office. Both women turned to face a very tall woman, with dark brown hair and eyes speckled gold. In heels she was well over six feet tall, which made her appear quite statuesque. 

Sarah Lin smiled and stepped into the room. “Lianfei, I believe I can answer the rest of your daughter's questions.” She reached into her pocket and produced a small parcel which she expertly opened with long, almost dainty fingers. “I believe we have much to discuss.” 

“O-Of course.” Lianfei stated crisply as she watched the color drain from Ruiwen’s face. “I’ll be nearby if either of you require my assistance.” She said. 

As she briskly left her own office, Ruiwen cast a glance at the redheaded speck woman who was now held tightly in Sarah’s hands before she ducked away and disappeared from view to allow Madeleine, Ruiwen and Sarah to speak privately.