N.B : If you'd like to get early access to the next 13 chapters of Universal hope (Chapter 15-27) Chapter 15 (The hollowing), Chapter 16 (Night of terror), Chapter 17 (Counter), Chapter 18 (Sunrise), Chapter 19 (Binding wounds), Chapter 20 (Demonic prowl) Chapter 21 (The scent of prey-Part 1), Chapter 22 (The scent of prey-Part 2), Chapter 23 (Scourge), Chapter 24 (Hammer and axil), Chapter 25 (Purge-Part 1), Chapter 26 (Purge-Part 2) and Chapter 27 (Purge-Part 3) why not consider supporting me at Patreon.com/Weeb Fanthom for as low as $3. Your donations will be very much appreciated.
The world outside had never felt so loud. And yet, inside Eren Yeager, everything was... silent. He walked like he was dreaming; or better yet, sleepwalking; as Grandpa Arlet led them back toward the refugee camp.
Mikasa and Armin flanked him on either side, but he barely even registered their presence. Eren's fingers twitched at his sides, numb and tingling, as if they didn't belong to him. All he could feel was the cold metal of the key; his father's key; clenched in his fist but it felt heavier now, tainted even. Like it had been dipped in the dead MP's blood. Someone he'd strangled…
…Someone he didn't remember killing.
Let me out, or the next body won't be a stranger.
Phantom's threat echoed in Eren's skull making him clench his jaw in anger and primordial fear. His nails dug into his palms hard enough to leave crescents.
This is not real. Not real. Not—
"Eren."
A hand touched his shoulder. He flinched so violently Mikasa recoiled, her dark eyes widening in surprise. For a second, Eren thought he saw Phantom in her place; but then it was gone. Just his mind playing tricks.
…Right?
"Sorry," he muttered, voice rough. "Just… tired."
Mikasa didn't look convinced. Neither did Armin; who was hovering beside Eren with his hands clutched around his grandfather's box tool; but the two didn't push. Meanwhile Armin's Grandpa walked ahead with his back hunched, his steps intentionally slowed down as he only took occasional glances at the kids to see if they were lagging behind. The old man hadn't spoken since they'd left the irrigation ditch, since they'd seen the body.
The body you made.
Eren's stomach lurched. He hadn't meant to; he hadn't even been there; but the memory was burned into his eyelids anyway: Phantom's hands, pale and clawed, wrapped around the MP's throat. The crunch of cartilage. The way the man's legs had kicked, then stilled.
And worst of all?
He felt a twisted enjoyment as blurred as it was.
The satisfaction, the power; it hadn't been his, but it had felt like his.
The sunlight above him was no longer warm. It felt sharp, like it cut straight through his skin. Eren flinched at it. The Omnitrix on his wrist had gone quiet too; no more purple pulses, no distorted static. It sat under the bandages like a sleeping monster… but one waiting.
Throughout the entire walk back to the refugee camp, Eren didn't bother to speak.
________________
Refugee Camp, Late afternoon…
The camp had gone deathly still after the whole ordeal; an eerie hush draped the entire area like fog. Tension hung like fog, choking the air between tents and casting a shadow over the makeshift homes. People were whispering in corners among themselves and not from idle gossip this time; eyes darting over their shoulders as if a monster had been released in their midst. In truth, one had.
Some swore the body was mangled by a wild animal. Others said it was a rogue thug. But the ones who'd seen the corpse; really seen it; knew better. The way the throat had been crushed. The terrified look frozen on the MP's face.
"You're sure it wasn't bandits?" A middle aged man argued with a group of his colleagues.
"'course not! Could be some wild dogs." Another countered.
"Since when do dogs leave claw marks like that?!"
"Well they do have claws don't they?"
As they passed by the conversing refugees, Eren's pulse hammered in his throat upon hearing snippets of the conversation. He kept walking, head down, shoulders hunched.
Monsters didn't leave something as gruesome as that behind unless they want to cause fear. Only something intelligent did that. And that something was him.
Eren's eyes caught wind of something in the distance. By the supply tent were two MPs in crisp uniforms, their faces grim and flickering with authority and suspicion as they questioned a haggard-looking woman. One held a sketch; a rough drawing of the dead man's face. The other scribbled notes, his eyes scanning the crowd.
Looking for the killer. Not only that, but other Military Police officers were scattered along the outer edge, speaking in terse tones to other refugees with rifles slung over their shoulders like threats instead of tools.
Eren's body trembled slightly, his mind reeling as he kept gazing at the officers ahead in the camp. His feet nearly moved before his mind could catch up. He had to move…away, away, anywhere but here-A contact on his shoulders made Eren pull out of his spiral. Grandpa Arlet calloused hand gripped Eren's shoulder, his touch gentle but firm as his weary eyes looked at the boy's disarrayed state.
"You're shaking like a frail lamb, boy," the old man murmured. The wrinkles around his mouth deepened. "You okay?"
"I…I'm fine," Eren said too quickly, the muscles in his jaw twitching slightly. Grandpa Arlet didn't say anything as they kept walking. The four soon arrived at a familiar shack; there; Carla Yeager was outside the battered cloth door, hands arranging a pile of clothes in a basket. Her amber eyes locked on them the moment they entered the perimeter, widening with a breathless mix of relief and dread.
"There you are!" Carla gasped, her wheelchair screeching across uneven clobber stones on the floor as she surged forward. "I was starting to—" Her eyes flicked to the MPs, then back to the kids, tone lowering. "I heard there was shouting, and the MPs…They've been asking questions. About… something that happened in the east side of camp."
Carla turned her attention to Grandpa Arlet and said a words of thanks for bringing the kids back to safety, to which the old man grunted in reply. She looked at the kids seeing that they're alright, until her gaze dropped to Eren making her worried again. It wasn't like he was injured or anything, it was the haunted look in his eyes, and he looked…pale. Like a ghostly pallor had clung to his skin. Something was wrong. Very wrong, and her motherly instincts were telling her that.
"Eren...?" Carla whispered, the words barely coming out as Eren met her eyes with his vacant expression.
"Hey mom." Eren said with an automated voice, like he wasn't really there at the moment. Carla glanced between the children. "Why didn't you come back sooner? You scared me half to death."
"I'm fine," Eren mumbled. The words tasted like ash. Carla opened her mouth again, but faltered when her eyes met her son's. She saw it— the dark rims under his eyes, the way he barely blinked, like even that was too much effort. His hand twitched near his side. Was it the incident? Maybe what he witnessed was so horrifying that it caused her son to be this shaken. Mikasa and Armin looked shaken up too…but not as bad as Eren's. He looked so…haunted.
"…Eren?" Carla tried again, quieter.
He didn't answer. Something was definitely wrong.
"Come," said Grandpa Arlet as he stepped forward before Carla could say anything. "Let's not cause a fuss. The boy's had a rough day."
Armin lingered beside Eren, staring at him with furrowed brows. His grip tightened on the old toolbox he carried, knuckles turning white as he looked properly at his best friend, was it just him or was Eren's skin looking more…ash like today? That didn't sit well with him, especially the fact that the coloring remind him of Phantom's skin.
"Eren," Armin whispered. "You don't look so good."
The question should've been innocent. But it felt like an interrogation. Like needles under his skin.
Eren turned to him slowly, eyes hollow. "I said I'm fine." But the words didn't reach his eyes. And for a spilt second, the blonde boy saw Eren's teal eyes flash purple. He blinked once, then twice. Was that his imagination?
"Eren, your eyes—"
"Go with your grandfather," Eren interrupted. The Omnitrix pulsed beneath his bandages, sending jagged black veins spiderwebbing beneath his sleeves. "We'll talk tomorrow."
Armin hesitated. For a split second, that didn't sound like Eren's voice at all. He opened his mouth to say something, but his grandfather squeezed his shoulder; a silent command. It's time to go home. His grandfather had already started walking away, and with one last uncertain look between Mikasa and Eren, Armin offered a quick, "We'll talk later," and followed his grandfather.
All that remained was Eren, Mikasa and Carla. Carla shifted her wheelchair to look at both of her children. She really wanted to say something, but wasn't sure of what to say. "You two should come inside. Lunch is getting cold."
Eren said nothing, barely looking at her. He just nodded; like an automaton; and trudged past her toward their shack.
"He just needs a minute," Mikasa murmured, though even she didn't believe her own words. Carla furrowed her brows but said nothing, instead ushering for Mikasa to enter as well as she pushed her wheelchair back inside.
_________________
Inside the small house, Eren sat at the far corner, head bowed and hands trembling. Carla hovered by the entrance for a moment before forcing herself to tend to lunch prep, shooting glances at her son ever so often.
The warmth of their refuge gave way to a creeping cold, one that Eren could escape.
It was worse now.
Phantom was whispering.
'How long will you pretend till they see what's inside you, Eren?'
"Leave me alone…" Eren muttered to himself. He hadn't noticed that his mother had wheeled herself towards him, worry and deep concern evident in her face. "Eren?"
There was no response, only inaudible murmuring. Carla put an arm on her son's exposed shoulder; his jacket long discarded; and recoiled instantly. His skin was not warm in the slightest!
Her hands, once so gentle kneading dough, immediately clutched Eren's face with desperate strength. "You're ice cold to the touch, did you fall ill while working in the field?" she breathed. Her thumbs brushed the violet hollows beneath his eyes. The skin there had gone translucent, veins pulsing black. "Eren. Look at me."
He tried. God, he tried. But Carla's face began melting, her warm amber eyes dripping like candle wax, her mouth stretching into Phantom's razor-toothed grin.
"She'll be the first to go," Phantom crooned through his mother's teeth. His tongue felt foreign, too long. "Shall I-or better, shall WE peel her apart slowly?"
Eren recoiled instantly, his infant heart beating too fast. The wheelchair tipped dangerously before Mikasa caught it. Carla and Mikasa looked back in trepidation at Eren's state, he had backstepped to the wall behind him. Like as if he had just seen something horrible. "You-You wouldn't!-" Eren chocked out. Who was he talking to?
"Eren?! What—!"
"I'm fine!" he snapped, not even looking at her. The Omnitrix pulsed purple beneath its bandages. Three rapid beats. A heartbeat. "I just… I need some air." With that Eren bolted outside towards their backyard.
"Sweetheart—" Carla started again, but Mikasa, more aware than most, already moved to follow him. Not wasting anytime herself, Carla pushed herself to follow.
What was happening to her son?
Outside, Backyard.
Water sloshed over the basin's edge as Eren scrubbed his hands raw and washed his face repeatedly. Black tendrils swam beneath his skin each time he clenched his fists, his reflection warping in the ripples. Every shadow stretched too long. Every whisper carried Phantom's voice.
"You can't wash me out," Phantom whispered. The voice came from beside Eren, from the water, from the shadows between the ground. Hell, its laughter echoed in the sloshing water."Scrub all you want. It would only delay the inevitable."
Eren's shoulders were hunched, and the basin he had raised sloshed violently in his grasp. The voice was inside him; around him; like smoke curling around his lungs. It just wouldn't stop. Phantom was getting more insistent now.
"Let me out. Let me handle them. Look at them watching you, doubting you. They're prey. They'll turn on you the moment they learn what you are."
Eren clenched his teeth so hard his jaw ached.
"Armin… Mikasa… even your sweet mother. Would they still love you if they saw what was buried in your marrow? That blonde girl, she might have long reported you since this whole time. You should have killed her when you had the chance."
Eren's fist connected with the earthen ground beneath him. Pain bloomed across his knuckles. Real. Solid. His.
"Shut up," he hissed through gritted teeth.
"Oh? You want me to be silenced? Then Let. Me. Out!"
Something inside the brunette snapped.
"SHUT UP!!" Eren roared, whipping the basin of water into the ground. He stared at the ground, chest heaving. Phantom was laughing inside his skull now; low and slow and sinister. A shadow moved across the spilled water's surface. Mikasa stood behind him, her normally stoic expression shattered slightly with the worry in her eyes. "Aunt Carla is worried", she said. Simple. Safe. Carefully picking her words seeing how unstable Eren's emotion was back in the shack.
Eren's hands stilled. Red streaks now mixed with the black under his nails. He stood up to turn his body towards Mikasa, but averted his gaze. "Just tired. I'm alright."
"No. No, you are not." Mikasa retorted. "Eren, please—what's going on?"
"Nothing," he snapped, but his voice was shaking. "Let's just head back." However, Mikasa stepped towards him.
"Eren," she said gently, "Is it him? Is Phantom the one doing this to you?"
He didn't answer.
"Please," Mikasa continued. "If he's hurting you—if he's trying to control you—we need to tell someone. We can find a way to—"
Something inside Eren… cracked. "I said I'm fine!" Eren shouted, jerking his head toward her, and for a heartbeat, his voice sounded doubled; distorted; Phantom lacing behind every word like a venomous echo. His eyes flared, and his breathing hitched.
Mikasa flinched but didn't retreat. "Eren… I just want to help—"
"You can't help!" he barked. "I just…" Eren's voice broke, staring blankly at the Omnitrix's bandaged surface. Phantom's presence buzzed like electricity in his teeth. "I need you to stay away from me." That was all he said before walking past, probably going back home or somewhere distant to clear his head.
"No," Mikasa said, firmer this time. "I won't leave you."
"Stay away!" Eren barked again, but Mikasa stepped closer and gently reached for his hand. Mikasa's fingers brushed his wrist - just above the Omnitrix. The moment she made contact, the device flared violet. Eren jerked away like he'd been burned.
"Don't!"
The spilled water sluiced across the ground further at Eren's sharp movement, swirling around their ankles. In the spreading pool unbestknown to them, Eren's reflection grinned back at him with too many teeth.
"You're shaking."
Eren clenched his fists. His left pinky finger twitched independently. Then his ring finger. Phantom testing his control. The moment Mikasa tried to gently take hold of Eren's shaking hand, that's when it happened.
Without meaning to; without thinking; Eren's hand latched onto hers.
Hard.
Too hard.
Mikasa's breath hitched, and her face tightened with pain, wincing at the strength of his grip. "E-Eren—"
"Always following. Always watching. Always there" Eren growled, voice warping; too deep, too sharp. Phantom's influence began to bleed into his voice. "You're too insistent to be let loose."
Mikasa's eyes widened in horror. "W-What…?"
In a flash of a second, Eren moved.
Before she could back away, he pushed Mikasa roughly. She stumbled and fell, knees scraping the rough ground. "SHUTUP!" Eren snarled as he lunged forward. One moment Mikasa stood there, lips parted in concern. The next, Eren had her pinned against the floor, his now grey-tinged hand clamped over her mouth. His other hand; not his, not his; dug into her wrist hard enough to bruise bone.
"So persistent," Phantom drawled through Eren's snarling lips. His grip tightened. Mikasa's muffled gasp fogged against his palm. "Shall I pluck out those pretty eyes?"
Phantom's revulsive laughter slithered up Mikasa's spine like cold syrup."Mikasa ALWAYS looks delicious when she's worried." Phantom purred through Eren's lips. "I wonder how your fear tastes like?"
Mikasa choked a sob behind Eren's palm, struggling beneath him. Her pulse thundered against his fingers. Eren's face was twisted, half his features seemed to ripple with black veins; his skin turning grey, fingers too long, too sharp.
Tears streamed silently down Mikasa's cheeks. She didn't fight back anymore. She just looked at him. Her face contorted in pain; not just physical, but emotional, deep and raw.
"E…Eren…" she mouthed behind his palm. She was hurt; she was scared. But not of Eren, but for what Eren was turning into. "You're hurting me."
And in that moment—
Something snapped.
Black veiny lines spiderwebbed up Eren's arm. His grip tightened reflexively. Mikasa's breath hitched, but she didn't pull away. Tears gathered in her lashes, catching the setting light of sunset.
"Please," she whispered through Eren's palm on her mouth. "Fight it."
Her voice… it was like a needle straight into his brain. The world snapped into horrifying clarity. And Eren's world shattered.
Eren froze. His heart dropped, his breath also caught in his throat. He looked down and saw what he was doing. What he had become.
His skin was pale; veins turning black, fingers tipped in a sickly grey shade. Lines were crawling up his forearm, patterns like circuitry or alien corruption. And then came the worst part, her tears. Her eyes. No loud sobs. No evident struggle. Just silent, shattered trust pooling in his palm.
His hand; grey-skinned, clawed, wrapped around Mikasa's slender wrist like a manacle. Phantom's hand. His own trembling fingers digging into her skin.
"...No…" he whispered, voice returning back to its original state but cracking. "Oh god—Mikasa—!" With a strangled cry, he ripped his hands away and stumbled back as if she burned him, his knees hit the dirt hard enough to crack stone.
"N-no…I—I didn't mean to—" He looked at his hand in horror. It was still shifting, flickering between human and… Phantom's influence. "I—I didn't mean—Mikasa—I'm—" Eren choked on the words. "I didn't—Phantom—"
Mikasa didn't speak. She just sat there in the dirt, cradling her wrist that are now darkened with angry red marks, silent tears slipping down her cheeks as she stared at him. The sight punched through Eren like a cannonball.
"Eren?..." Eren turned his head to the direction of the new voice. His heart stopped on impact on instant recognition of the voice. There by the side of the backyard…was his mother, her face contorted to a fearful expression.
Oh God, she saw what he did.
"I didn't mean to," he repeated, voice breaking. Eren backed away, eyes wide, hands shaking like broken branches in the wind. Even now, even after everything, Mikasa didn't run. Instead, her injured hand lifted toward him. "Eren, wait—"
A guttural scream tore from his throat. He ran. He was running before the last apology left his lips. Behind him, Mikasa and his mother called his name once, twice…but Eren kept on running. His lungs burned. His legs screamed. But he didn't stop. Couldn't stop. Not with Phantom's laughter slithering through his skull, not with the image of Mikasa's tear-streaked face seared behind her eyelids.
"Eren!" Mikasa's voice, raw with pain.
"Sweetheart, STOP!" Carla's wheelchair screeched against dirt as she tried to follow.
He didn't look back, refusing to see the devastated faces of his close ones.
You hurt her. You hurt her. You hurt her.
The camp blurred around him; tents, startled faces, the distant bark of MPs. None of it registered. All he knew was the black veins crawling up his arms, the device's pulse hammering against his wrist like a second heartbeat.
Phantom's laughter coiled around his spine, whispering sickening things into his head. "They saw. They know. Nowhere left to hide, little Yeager. The cracks are spreading. And soon…you won't be able to tell the difference between you and me."
Having spiraled so much from what had been happening to him since these past days, Eren didn't notice until it was too late that he had collided against something solid. It was a person, when the brunette looked up at his obstacle, Bran's sneering face swam into view with his lip curled in anger. "Watch where you're going, freak."
Eren didn't answer. He didn't even have the time for that. He just shoved past, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Bran's hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Hey! I'm talking to you—"
"LET GO OF ME!"
Eren whirled, his voice distorting mid-scream; it was too deep, too hollow, like two voices snarling as one. Bran recoiled, his eyes widening at the blackened sclera swallowing Eren's green irises, at the grey pallor of his skin. Before the blonde kid could see what he was looking at clearly, he got knocked unconscious by Eren's spasming hand with a devastating right hook.
Out of sheer panic, Eren left the unconscious older kid and just kept running away from the refugee camp. What the hell was wrong with him?! He had barely managed to make it to the outskirts of the refugee camp when a sound like ice crackled through the air. Eren looked down at the source of the noise, the device on his left wrist. Beneath the bandages wrapped around it was a surge of violent purple that was glowing. The glowing so immense it had ripped the clothing apart. Phantom's voice erupted from Eren's throat, guttural and triumphant.
"FINALLY."
Eren's body locked up, his spine arching violently as purple lightning erupted from the Omnitrix.
The Omnitrix screamed to life, its dial spinning wildly before slamming into Phantom's silhouette. A green flash, then agony which was never supposed to happen. Eren's body contorted, his skin peeling back like paper, his bones snapping and reforming all at once. Eren's face split open, revealing the ghostly visage beneath, an ash like, purple-eyed monstrosity. Phantom stood tall, his form flickering every now as the Omnitrix's light spasmed erratically. A forced transformation.
"Ahhh…" Phantom stretched Eren's stolen limbs, his voice a nightmare's purr. "Flesh is so much… warmer than shadows."
Just as Phantom was beginning to revel in his freedom, something unexpected happened. Green light exploded from the Omnitrix, warping into chains that lassoed Phantom's form. The device shrieked, its core overloading as a primal roar echoed through Eren's mind. Not so unsimilar from the attack titan's will.
Phantom howled as his body rippled like disturbed water. "NO! YOU CAN'T! AFTER EVERYTHING I'VE DONE TO GET TO THIS POINT—!"
The Omnitrix timed out on its own. A transformation that should've normally lasted ten-fifteen minutes only lasted twenty-seven seconds. A final green surge illuminated the surrounding trees, and Eren collapsed onto the dirt; human again; his body heaving. The device on his wrist smoked, its faceplate dark for a few seconds before it regained its primary green light.
"W-What is happening to me?" Eren muttered weakly to himself.
"How…disappointing."
Eren's head snapped up, expecting Phantom's voice to have come from his head…Except it wasn't. Because Phantom stood afloat before him.
Not in the device.
Not in his mind.
But actually Free.
The ghostly figure loomed, his-no-its purple eye burning with malice. "Hello, Eren," he crooned. "It's so… nice to come face-to-face with you. I have waited for more than one year for this moment."
Eren's blood turned to ice. What the hell was he looking at?
Chapter 15-27: Chapter 14 (Fissures), Chapter 15 (The hollowing), Chapter 16 (Night of terror), Chapter 17 (Counter), Chapter 18 (Sunrise), Chapter 19 (Binding wounds), Chapter 20 (Demonic prowl), Chapter 21 (The scent of prey- Part 1), Chapter 22 (The scent of prey- Part 2), Chapter 23 (Scourge), Chapter 24 (Hammer and axil), Chapter 25 (Purge-Part 1), Chapter 26 (Purge-Part 2) and Chapter 27 (Purge- Part 3) are already available on Patreon.com/ Weeb Fanthom for as low as $3.