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Oh, what a wretched life they lived, Hitch thought.
There she was, the young military general, tasked with one of the most important roles anyone in the Eldian Empire could have. To stand here in front of one of the largest crystals ever witnessed on the earth, and to make sure the person inside could not escape and cause more havok on the already delicate regime.
It was a pitiful existence, for sure. The blonde woman was trapped in her grey crystal, still in the black shroud she wore when she was cursed. The room itself was empty, aside from a small collection of belongings in the corner that she couldn’t touch under any circumstances.
It was ironic how most travellers coming through Eldia would assume a large, terrifying beast was being locked up, something akin to Frankestein or Bigfoot. Their shock after learning that the “beast” locked up in the crystal was actually a young woman cursed many moons ago was something that never failed to amuse Hitch.
Hitch knew she should hate this woman. How many people have died because of her? How much pain has she caused across the empire? The Eldian regime would never let anyone forget either, brainwashing their youth to not only wildly nationalistic to the empire, but to hate the blonde woman and her entire homeland.
Yet as Hitch stood there, looking up at the small, and beautiful, woman entrapped in the crystal, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. Maybe, she wondered, there was another side to the story. Maybe, she had to do what she had done, and that she was just a victim of the cruel world they were born in. The empire didn’t even refer to her by name, instead calling her “the female beast”, “butcher of eldia”, or even more creatively, just plain “it”.
It was as if she wasn’t even human to them.
And so, Hitch would find herself conversing with the blond woman. She knew that she couldn’t hear her or reply back, but deep down in her soul the brunette felt a deeper connection. She’d tell her everything, ranging from trival things such as her crushes or clothes, or deeper thoughts about her distrust of the Eldian regime and her worry over the new war with the blonde woman’s hometown, Marley.
“I’m not sure if I feel the same way about Marlowe. How do I turn him down without breaking his heart?” She’d ask, leaning against the wall and tapping her chin with her finger.
“Cutting my hair was the worst thing I’ve ever done. I look like a fucking coconut.” She’d state, shaking her hair in front of the crystal.
“Jean told me the army are making plans to invade Marley. That’s where you’re from right? Wait, why the fuck am I even asking that, it’s not like you can reply back. I know I shouldn’t say this but, it’s just wrong. Why are we doing the same shit we hate Marley for?” She’d ponder, sitting in a fetal position next to the bright crystal, holding back tears.
“Maybe both sides are just as sick and twisted as each other. You get what I mean, right?” She’d ask, placing her hand over the petite woman. And sometimes, just sometimes, she could have sworn she saw tears falling from the cursed woman’s eyes.
Hitch remembered the tales throughout her life of a small blonde woman who defied her kingdom, turned against her former comrades and spilled blood across the Eldian empire. A woman who barely spoke yet a simple utter of her name struck fear into the hearts of even the most feared and well decorated soilders. Now she couldn’t help but wonder, were these all lies? For all anyone knew, it was only the cursed woman who had the power to stop the corrupt Eldian ruler, Ymir Fritz.
The Eldian empire paraded Ymir Fritz as the empire’s saviour, the person who united the titan powers and brought Eldia back to its former glory. To an extent, this was true, but at what cost did they achieve that? It felt like people were suffocating, unable to utter a word against their own ruler out of fear of being tortured or cursed, and people were being swept away to fight in meaningless wars, much like lambs to the slaughter.
A young Hitch would sit on her grandmother’s lap listening to the legend of how the short blonde woman took her rebellion too far, and after killing someone close to the creator of all Eldians, a grief stricken Ymir Fritz burst into the woman’s headquarters one day, wielding a sword and swearing to find vengence.
Hitch would be on the edge of her seat, eyes drowned in suspense as her grandmother would tell her how Ymir Fritz managed to overpower the petite but fierce blonde, and while holding the sword to her throat, she noticed something.
She noticed the way the small woman’s eyes flickered with a mixture of fear, and anger. Contrary to popular belief, she didn’t want to die. She wanted to live, and Ymir Fritz saw that. Wanting the blonde woman to face a bigger pain than she had, she decided to let her live, but instead chose to curse her with a rare spell that had never been done before.
It was cruel to Hitch. So cruel that the curse would allow the blonde woman to live forever, but any human she touched would instantly age by 100 years and die immediately. Ymir Fritz knew the blonde woman just wanted to hold her father again, but with this curse, she was destined to a life of a solitude. No-one would touch her, and she could touch no-one.
Torn with grief and shame, the blonde woman enclosed herself in a heavy crystal, refusing to leave for anyone’s safety. She never meant to hurt anyone, she just wanted to save the people she loved. If she could never be with them, then just what was the point of her freeing herself ever again?
“You’re not a bad person, you know. I think there’s more to you. I just wish I could actually speak to you though.” She’d mutter, her hand caressing the stubborn crystal.
Was that.... tears she saw in the reflection of the crystal? How bizarre she thought, since she most certainly wasn’t crying.
Months have passed since Hitch was given the role to defend the crystal. It felt like the blonde woman was her only confidant, and even though she knew no-one would believe her. She stood there, thinking about her own comrades flying off to Marley to take the next big step in this pointless war, and other pointless things, like what the future held for her, and what she should have for lunch?
She thought about how the blond woman was the only remaining shifter with powers, the only one that held the power to stop the corrupt Ymir Fritz and Marleyan leaders. She wondered what could happen if she broke out of her crystal and attacked Ymir Fritz. Most of the military were aboard fighting, and Hitch could very easily turn the other way. Who, or what, was stopping her?
A few days later, Hitch was pacing around the dark room, the only illumination coming from the small square window at the top of the caved room. She found herself walking past the small collection of belongings, and her eyes briefly darted across the large sign with the bold warning informing people to not, udner any circumstances, touch the belongings there.
Hitch was never one for patience, and she couldn’t help but have her curiosity wash over her. Surely one small peak couldn’t kill her, right?
Hitch rummaged through the worn out dark green bag, before gently grabbing a small book covered with dust and scars. She tentatively opened the book, before a small collection of photographs fell on the floor. Hitch looked through them, her eyes widening in shock. The pictures were all of her, the small blonde woman.
There were pictures of her with a man Hitch deduced was her father, pictures of her in army training, she must have been around 4 or 5 years old at the very least. Pictures of her crying, holding a gun to kill while the innocence left her soul, leading her to stare at the camera with dead, worn out eyes.
Hitch placed the photographs on the small table before flicking through the book. There were diary accounts, with the author describing how they were forced to fight to protect their family, how they were forced to kill their comrades and friends, how they should have known better, and they needed to write this to let people know how they feel.
They wrote about how they were used as a tool by Marley, and due to them being the only Eldian shifter left, they were given the mission to destroy Eldia, or have their entire family wiped out. It was a battle they couldn’t lose.
They talked about their mental anguish, how the trauma of killing so many people destroyed their mind, how they woke up with violent nightmares, and on many an occasion considered the possibility of joining those whose lives they took.
Were they a devil, or a hero? They didn’t know, but they wished it could all come to an end sooner or later.
Hitch noticed how there was one name signed at the bottom of each entry.
Annie.
As if a lightbulb exploded in her brain, Hitch ran to the crystal, desperately banging on it, angrily demanding for Annie to come out, calling her selfish for staying trapped and that she wasn’t a monster.
“Annie?”
“Come out Annie.”
“Annie, I understand you.”
Hitch saw a flash of bright light, and was knocked down as shards of crystal flew all around her. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up to the sight of Annie before her, eyes clouded with tears with her black shroud slightly torn and her blonde hair falling down from her loose bun. Her cheeks were flushed, and for the first time in forever, she was smiling.
Hitch was hit with a ton of emotions at once, and she found herself overwhelmed by the sight in front of her. Here Annie was, in all her glory and Hitch couldn’t help herself as she ran towards her, throwing her arms around her neck and placing a longing kiss on the blonde’s lips.
Annie’s lips danced along hers, but it wasn’t until Hitch felt a stinging pain that the pair realised what just happened. Annie grabbed onto Hitch even tighter, hoping that somehow this was all a nasty dream, and cursing herself for leaving her crystal.
In matter of seconds, Hitch felt her skin wrinkle, her body double over, and her bones became more and more fragile as she felt herself aging rapidly. Her hair shrunk in size and turned grey, and she found herself forgetting everything, with her memories becoming more and more scrambled as time went on.
Annie caressed Hitch’s face as her words became more and more distorted, and blood began to flow from her mouth and nose as she slowly lost all consciousness. Annie’s tears fell onto Hitch’s face, mixing with the blood and painting her face a watery red.
After a mumble of words which sounded like “thank you, Annie”, Hitch stopped breathing, and Annie found herself mourning a person she never directly spoke to, but nonetheless understood her better than anyone else.
Annie couldn’t let the Eldian army come in and discover Hitch’s body like. She had no idea what experimentation they would subject her to, and so she slowly began contrusting a crystal around Hitch’s body, protecting her from the outside world, just as it, and Hitch, had protected her.
Annie knew she shouldn’t have come out of her crystal. She truly was a wretched creature, cursed beyond any hope imaginable. The demon themselves had put a spell on her, she was a pillar of misery, and a beacon of no hope.
Yet it somehow warmed her heart to know that Hitch saw through that. Was she a friend to her? A potential lover? A soulmate?
Or was Hitch her rest and fantasy?
Annie knew she couldn’t mourn Hitch any longer. If she had it her way, she would stay hidden until the war played out before finding a shelter to live her immortal life out. But now, she had a reason to fight, she had someone to fight for, and she refused to let Hitch’s death be in vain. She pulled her black hood over head before walking up the long staircase leading to the outside.
It was time for her to put an end to this, once and for all.