The Uninvited Guest in Black (3): Why Is She Here?
Before Werner could even form the question in his mind, his body was already moving. He spun on his heel and retraced his steps at a near sprint. What began as brisk strides quickly became a desperate run. His heart hammered against his ribs like a war drum. Nausea roiled in his gut. His vision swam, the world tilting at a sickening angle. By the time he reached the quarters he was gasping, slamming the door open, lunging inside, and throwing the lock with a heavy clack.
“Kyaa!?”
“Huff—huff… haah… hah… ugh…”
Karin, who had been changing into more comfortable clothes, shrieked in pure terror. Werner staggered toward her, chest heaving. For a split second she simply stood frozen, mind blank, until another warning screamed through her thoughts.
Half-dressed. A locked door. He had just insisted it was all a misunderstanding—so what the hell was this?
Before she could unfreeze, Werner closed the distance in one stride and seized her shoulders.
“Ha—ack—huk…”
“D-Director? P-please stop… what are you doing…?”
She tried to pull away, but he didn’t relent. His face drew dangerously close. The ragged heat of his breath scraped across her cheek, raising gooseflesh. The face that had always been blank or coldly restrained was now twisted in raw torment, every violent emotion colliding at once.
The sheer wrongness of it. The crushing strength of the hands gripping her shoulders. Fear swallowed Karin Maven whole.
“U-ugh… please don’t…”
She could hold back no longer. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she screwed her eyes shut.
Thud.
The hands on her shoulders went slack. Werner crumpled to the floor like a broken puppet.
“Eh…? D-Director? Director!? Wake up—please wake up! Director…!!”
His body convulsed in violent tremors.
“What do I do…!!”
Only then did the gravity of the situation hit her. Karin spun toward the door and shouted for the staff at the top of her lungs.
“It’s a psychogenic syncope. Have you been under extreme stress lately, or suffering from sleep deprivation?”
“Ah…”
Karin gave a small, careful nod.
Ever since she had joined the bizarre organization known as the Security Strategic Agency, she had never seen Werner asleep. Even in the dead of night or the quiet hours before dawn when she thought everyone else would be resting, he was always there—silently smoking in the dark. She rarely left her own quarters, but the others—John especially—had said enough for her to piece it together. Even today, during the long helicopter flight, he had never once closed his eyes.
“Complete rest is non-negotiable. Since you came for the banquet, he should take at least tomorrow off to recover fully.”
“H-how long until he wakes…?”
“He should regain consciousness within a few hours. Please stay with him until then.”
With those final words the doctor and nurse left the room.
Only after the door clicked shut could Karin finally exhale the panic that had been strangling her chest. A man had collapsed right in front of her; the fact that she hadn’t spiraled into hysteria herself felt like a miracle.
“…Ah.”
She sat beside the bed, watching him in silence, when suddenly his body began to shake again. Another seizure? She was halfway out of her chair to call for help when a voice she had never heard before slipped from his lips.
“…Don’t go.”
At first she thought she had misheard. The voice was too fragile, too small. It sounded almost like her own voice when she had locked herself away in her room. But the next words came, and without thinking she reached out and took his hand.
“I… was wrong… don’t leave me… and go…”
She knew those words. They were the very ones she had screamed over and over whenever the nightmares came for her.
Why did he sound like that?
The man who had always seemed so vast, so blunt and cold and untouchable, now looked weaker than anyone she had ever known.
Werner Grime. No—Lutus Edan. The Empire’s war hero. The man who had survived dozens of regressions, who had commanded countless battles without losing a single soldier, who had crushed every cunning assault the Titans could devise. The Lion of Defense. The Empire’s Sentinel. Titles like those were not granted lightly. They stood in stark contrast to the mocking label of Grim Reaper that had been forced on her for the lives she inadvertently claimed.
And yet it was true. Werner had treated her with far more kindness than she deserved. She had pushed him away anyway. She believed someone like her—someone who carried death in her shadow—had no right to stand beside a man like him. The curse that stole lives could strike again at any moment, in any form.
Don’t do that! You have to value your own body!
Ah. The brilliant days came rushing back again.
Mayrin. The older sister with hair the color of a clear summer sky.
Don’t do this anymore. Let’s walk by the lake instead. Until the bad thoughts disappear.
Mayrin had said it while gently tracing the scars on Karin’s forearms. It was the first time anyone had touched her with such warmth.
Grim Reaper. The nickname had clung to her since training camp like a curse she couldn’t outrun. She had believed it was accurate.
Her father died in the war. Her mother perished in the great plague. Left alone with her little brother, they were sent to an orphanage—only for the Titans to burn it to the ground. All she ever found in the rubble was one of her brother’s severed arms.
The only place left that would take her was the military. That was where the name Grim Reaper Karin Maven was truly born.
She survived the annihilation of her entire training platoon. She survived an explosion that erased an entire reinforcement depot. When she finally reached Emerald Lake Fortress, no one welcomed her. Of course they didn’t. Who would welcome someone who dragged death behind her like a shroud?
Everyone avoided her. Even the fortress commander refused to meet with her, claiming she brought bad luck. Everyone except her roommate—Mayrin.
That’s such a scary nickname, but you’re actually really pretty! I was expecting someone gloomy and creepy!
Are you scared? Then come sleep in my bed with me.
You sleep so deeply. It’s like having a little sister!
Hey, both our names end in “rin.” Just be my little sister!
Karin had pushed her away with everything she had. Don’t. You’ll get hurt too. But Mayrin only drew closer, smiling brighter each time. Karin asked the commander for a room change, but no one else wanted to share quarters with the Grim Reaper. In the end, she had no choice but to accept Mayrin’s stubborn kindness.
The days that followed were blindingly bright.
They would sneak into town and eat pasta together.
…It’s delicious.
Right? This is my favorite alio olio place. The chef is from the Romaria Republic.
On leave they would wander shopping malls and try on clothes.
That looks amazing on you! You could be the bassist in a famous band!
What does that even mean…?
It’s a compliment! A really good one!
Mayrin’s boundless positivity had rewritten Karin’s entire life. Compliments became normal. Confidence slowly took root. The single ray of light in a world that had been nothing but darkness and death.
With Mayrin, everything felt possible. For the first time she felt like she had an older sister. Maybe she wasn’t a monster after all. Maybe she could protect people instead of destroying them.
That fragile hope lasted until the day of the routine patrol.
A massive explosion. Assault-type Titans raining from the sky. Emerald Lake Fortress was wiped from existence that very day.
After that, Karin never left her room again.
She could no longer deny the truth. It was her fault. She had dared to wish for happiness, and innocent people had paid for it. She was a walking disaster. A Grim Reaper who stole lives simply by existing. So she locked herself inside a cage of her own making.
The stronger and kinder someone was, the faster they left—and the deeper the wound when they did.
“…Don’t go.”
Karin heard more sorrow in those words than she had ever heard in her life. The man lying before her was not some untouchable savior of humanity. He was simply another wounded soul, just like her. Someone who desperately tried to hide his scars and keep fighting anyway. Because she understood that pain so completely, she could answer in the only way she knew how.
“Leah.”
Whoever he was calling for—perhaps his own version of Mayrin.
“Leah… Leah…”
She didn’t know who Leah was. She herself was hardly innocent. She probably couldn’t heal his wounds no matter how hard she tried.
Still, she laced her fingers through his.
And in a voice soft enough to soothe a frightened child, she whispered the words she herself had always longed to hear.
“It’s okay… I’m right here beside you…”
The same words Mayrin had given her every night when the fear crept in.
She felt the tension slowly bleed from his fingers. The agony etched into his face began to dissolve. His ragged breathing steadied.
Without realizing it, Karin reached out and gently wiped the tears that had gathered at the corners of his eyes.
Plop. Plop.
She didn’t understand why she was crying too.
Werner opened his eyes.
His blurred gaze drifted to the window. Night had already fallen.
I’m screwed.
He was clearly in a hospital room. The seizure had returned. He had believed the regressions had cured it naturally, but it seemed he had only buried it deeper.
He let out a long, heavy sigh and tried to lift his hand—only to realize Karin Maven was fast asleep beside him, fingers still tightly laced with his.
“…”
“Mmm… ugh… It’s okay…”
He watched her in silence for a long moment, then slowly lay back down.
It looked like he would be spending the night here after all.