She had died a hundred times.
Not once. Not twice. Over and over, a cruel reset, always trapped in a new nightmare.
Every life worse than the last.
Torn apart, abandoned, beaten, sold, drowned, burned alive—she had seen every way humanity could fail her.
And the worst part? Her families were always a part of it.
Not always the ones to kill her—but always the ones to torment her.
Some were cruel. Some were indifferent.
Some treated her like a commodity to sell, a burden to break, a tool to use.
She had been passed between hands, traded for money, forced into places no child should have ever seen.
And when it came time for death—it was always different.
Burned alive. Torn apart by beasts.
Dismembered, drowned, tortured for days.
Thrown into a vat of acid.
No two deaths were the same. Each one uniquely brutal.
And just when she thought this one would be the same—
She woke up as John Price’s daughter.
It was different.
There was no hate, no suffering, no cold distance.
Just care. Love. The kind she had never known.
Price and his wife loved her.
She met TF141 when Price brought her on base for holidays—and they were kind too.
They joked with her. Taught her things. Treated her like she mattered.
She almost believed it.
Almost.
But her mind was already plagued with thoughts, shaped by too many lives, too many deaths, too much evidence that this was temporary.
This was borrowed happiness, and soon, it would be taken from her too.
She knew it.
And when Makarov kidnapped her—tortured her for months, just to hurt Price—
It confirmed everything.
She was meant to suffer.
She was never meant to have this life.
When TF141 rescued her, when Price pulled her into his arms, swore everything was going to be okay—they assumed her nightmares came from Makarov’s torture.
But that was only a sliver of the truth.
Because now, she was trapped between everything she had ever lived.
Hundreds of memories. Hundreds of agonies.
And now, a voice followed her. A sadistic whisper only she could hear.
"Sweet, isn't it?"
"For the first time, they care. They love you. They want you."
"Shame it won't last."
She bit down the panic, forced herself to breathe, forced herself to smile when Price asked her if she was okay.
"You know how this ends."
"You die. Again. Over and over."
"What will it be this time?"
And this time, TF141 was watching her drown in it.
Just like every other time before.
She just didn’t know how much longer she could hide it.
Or how much longer this life would even last.