I left.
I should have killed her.
Sophia was a Titan. And all Titans deserved to die. That was my law. The only thing that had kept me breathing all these years. But when I had the chance—when she stood before me, unarmed, unafraid—I walked away.
And that should have been the end of it.
But it wasn't.
Because Sophia wasn't just another Titan.
She was the first to follow me.
---
Days passed. Then weeks.
I moved from battlefield to battlefield, cutting down anyone strong enough to stand in my way. Governments still whispered my name like a curse. Mercenary groups still sent their best to die by my hands. Titans still fell like insects before me.
Nothing had changed.
Except her.
She was always there—just out of reach, just beyond my blade.
Where I left destruction, she brought life.
Where I slaughtered, she healed.
Where I tore down, she rebuilt.
Where I erased, she restored.
I would leave a battlefield in ruins, bodies scattered like forgotten ghosts. And hours later, they would be gone—either healed or buried, their suffering erased by her golden touch.
It was infuriating.
I wasn't used to being followed.I wasn't used to someone trying to undo what I had done.
She wasn't fighting me.
She wasn't stopping me.
But she wasn't letting me win, either.
And that made her a problem.
***
I found her again in the ruins of a city long past saving.
Another war had reduced it to nothing—just bodies buried beneath rubble, their final screams already fading from the world.
I had come to end the last Titan here—a coward hiding in a shattered church, as if gods could save him. His body still bled at my feet, his death nothing more than an afterthought.
And then—
I heard her voice.
"You don't have to do this."
I turned.
Sophia stood at the entrance of the cathedral, silver hair swaying in the wind, golden eyes locked onto mine. Steady. Unshaken.
Unafraid.
I scowled. "Still following me?"
She took a step forward, slow and careful. Like I was a wounded animal, poised to bite.
"Someone has to."
I let out a sharp, bitter laugh. "Why?"
Her gaze flickered to the corpse at my feet. Then, back to me.
"Because you're lost."
The words struck something deep inside me. Something old. Something I thought I had buried beneath years of blood and war.
I smirked, masking the sudden tightness in my chest. "Lost? I know exactly where I'm going."
She shook her head. "No, you don't. You've been walking this path for so long, you don't even know why anymore."
I hated that she said that.
Because deep down, I knew she was right.
My blade was still slick with Titan blood. My fists were still stained from lives I had taken. I had spent years cutting down every monster in my way, every god who thought they were untouchable.
And yet—nothing had changed.
I was still here.
Still killing.
Still empty.
Sophia took another step forward. "Let me help you."
I moved before I could think.
One second, she was standing there. The next, my sword was at her throat.
She didn't flinch.
Didn't breathe.
Didn't blink.
She just looked at me, her golden eyes filled with something I couldn't understand.
Pity?
Hope?
Something else?
"You should have run," I murmured.
She didn't.
"I'm not afraid of you, Ethan."
Her voice was steady. Certain. Like she had already made a choice I didn't understand.
I pressed the blade against her skin. Just enough to draw a single drop of blood. A Titan like her would heal instantly.
But she still didn't move.
Didn't fight.
Didn't beg.
She was daring me to kill her.
And I couldn't.
My fingers clenched around the hilt of my blade, every instinct screaming to end this before it became something more.
But my body wouldn't move.
Sophia's voice softened.
"You don't have to be this."
I gritted my teeth. "This is all I am."
She shook her head. "No. It's all you've let yourself be."
I wanted to cut her down.
I wanted to silence her words.
But for the first time in years—I couldn't.
And I hated it.
I pulled my sword away and turned my back on her.
"This is your only warning," I said coldly. "Stay out of my way."
I walked away, disappearing into the ruins before she could say another word.
But something in me knew the truth.
This wasn't over.
And I wasn't sure I wanted it to be.
***
I tried to leave her behind.
I told myself she was nothing. A foolish Titan who didn't understand the world. Someone who would get herself killed if she kept following me.
And yet, every time I turned around—she was there.
She never begged me to change.
She never tried to stop me.
She just… stayed.
And somehow, that was worse.
Because no one had ever stayed before.
---
It started with silence.
She didn't ask for my past. She didn't question my scars.
She simply walked beside me, matching my pace, healing those I left behind.
At first, I told myself I didn't care.
But I did.
Because when the nights were cold, she lit a fire.
Because when the wounds were deep, she healed them without a word.
Because when I closed my eyes and let my demons consume me—
She was still there in the morning.
I didn't understand it.
But I let it happen.
***
The first time she touched me, I nearly killed her.
It was instinct.
A reflex sharpened by war, by too many betrayals, by a lifetime of knowing that anyone who got close only wanted to hurt me.
Her fingers barely brushed my arm before I grabbed her wrist, twisting hard enough to break—
And then I stopped.
Because she wasn't fighting back.
She just looked at me, golden eyes steady.
"You're hurt."
Her voice was softer than it should have been.
I blinked, finally noticing the blood trailing down my side. Another wound I had ignored. Another scar that would have healed eventually.
She didn't ask.
She just healed me.
And for the first time—
I let her.
***
It happened slowly.
Like the ocean carving stone, relentless and patient.
One day, I waited for her before moving on.
Another day, I caught myself listening when she spoke of the world.
And then, one night—under a sky filled with quiet stars—
I reached for her.
I stopped before my fingers brushed her hair.
Because I didn't know what I was doing.
Because I didn't know what this meant.
Because for the first time in years—
I was afraid.
Afraid of her.
Afraid of what she made me feel.
Afraid that if I let this happen, I wouldn't know who I was anymore.
But then—she turned around.
And she smiled.
"Ethan," she whispered.
Like my name wasn't a curse.
Like I wasn't a monster.
Like I was still human.
And before I could stop myself—before I could remind myself of who I was supposed to be—
I kissed her.
And for the first time in my life—
I felt alive.
TO BE CONTINUE...