A/N: happy two years WB we love u.

Chapter 26: Challenger

"You!" Priss turned to Zeke and raised her fist, "You did this!"

She let out a beastly scream as she lunged at him with all her weight behind her punch, but he simply side stepped and she fell to the ground behind him. Reiner's expression was cold, he wasn't expecting something like this to be what he was greeted with when they arrived – and immediately at that. A bead of sweat rolled down his face as he considered what to say, or if he should say anything at all.

"I..." He started, "I will accept the responsibility of the operation's failure."

"You understand you still must be detained and questioned, correct?" An officer asked brashly.

Reiner nodded and Priss looked over her shoulder, having pulled herself up to her hands and knees. Tears were visible in her eyes and ready to pour out, "No! It's not his fault! Zeke's lying!" she shrieked.

"This woman is hysterical..." Zeke uttered to the military officers, reaching over to scratch his opposite ear, "Best to restrain her until she calms down I think."

"Who do you think you are to give me anything close to an order, Eldian?" The officer spat back at Zeke, but then he looked back over to the weeping girl who was struggling to get back on her feet, "Although, I will concede that it's for the best. Don't need an unruly she-devil causing any problems."

The man grabbed her by the arm and roughly yanked her to her feet, causing her to yelp. Zeke then leaned in eerily close and whispered in her ear, "That whole growing up and maturing thing you mentioned is off to a great start."

Zeke's voice alone was enough to get her riled up in this state, but his mockery of her emotional reaction really made it sting more; however, she had no words and just started screaming incoherently as she tried to pull herself away from the man that held her, but his grip was firm and she didn't have the strength to fight him off.

"Knock it off, bitch!" The man yelled, yanking her even harder,

Even this very real threat wasn't enough to get her to calm down as she watched Reiner escorted away. She reached for him with her free arm and shouted his name through her helpless cries and her wild screaming tantrum. Zeke looked on with a subtle smug grin – it was such a pleasure to see her get what she deserved in his eyes. The man trying to hold her back already had enough and pulled her into a choke hold.

"This is what animals get," He sneered. Priss started to haphazardly claw at his arms as she felt her breath leaving her and her chest tightening up. Her vision started to blur and she no longer could speak, but she still tried to get Reiner's name out with the last amounts of air she was able to hold onto. And before it all went black for her, the last thing she saw was Reiner looking back at her over his shoulder. Even though her vision had started to blur and was only getting worse, she could see the fear of a young man who was blindsided and in over his head rather than the hard-faced Warrior he had to present as to everyone else. She didn't know if anyone else could see his face in that moment or not, but it made for a painful reminder that they both were just young people who were forced to grow up and adapt to a very adult world.

And with that being the last thought she had, Priss went limp in the arms of the man choking her as she blacked out.

Willy Tybur stood over a bed where the white haired girl was resting. He had gotten news from his covert contacts who knew that he wanted her and made haste to retrieve her, but the chaos she caused had erupted and subsided before he arrived. Willy had been told of the disruption she'd caused, but seeing her laying there peacefully resting – despite the nature of how she was 'put' to rest from what he was told – it was so hard to imagine her being so erratic that a grown man felt the need to throttle a young woman until she fainted.

Willy didn't fail to notice the bruise on her face, it would be impossible to ignore something so large and dark. With it's purple and blue coloration he reasoned it had to be a recent injury she suffered.

"Tch..." He uttered as he shook his head, "What did you go through to get here?"

"I appreciate you picking her up, Willy."

From behind came the voice of his 'business partner,' which is what Willy would describe Anteros as whenever others were around. It wasn't entirely inaccurate, it just wasn't open or corporate business like the term 'business partner' tends to imply, but nobody needed to know the nature of the personal machinations they involved themselves in. The tall man's footsteps were near silent, but Willy could sense his approach.

"It was important we acquire her as soon as possible, right?" Willy asked, looking to Anteros when he came to stand directly beside him, "It was the least I could do."

"Tell your sister to go draw her a bath and get her some clean clothes," Anteros ordered coldly, not bothering to address what Willy had said as he pushed past him and knelt beside the bed, "My poor Addie... what happened to you?"

"It's likely it was the Marleyans," Willy suggested as he turned away to make his departure, not wanting to risk the ire of Anteros by lollygagging, "and I'll have my sister get to it right away."

"Good," Anteros said in a low and dangerous voice, "And I'll find out who has harmed her... and I'll make sure they're rightfully punished for what they've done."

Willy made his way out slowly, keen on listening in to whatever else could slip out of his friend's mouth now that he finally got what he wanted. However, Anteros remained silent until he was sure Willy had left, even checking over his shoulder to be certain.

"I could smell it on you when I entered the room..." He said in a mournful tone as he turned his head back to stare at his dear sister, "The scent of beasts that have left their mark on you... there isn't enough soap and water in the world to wash away that putrid stench that devils have left on you, nothing can do that but me and..."

He paused and then shook his head, "Ah, I'm getting ahead of myself, and you're not even awake yet anyway. I'm sure you'll appreciate getting cleaned up at the very least, but the day will come when we can dispel the horrible defilement of those animals. To have been forced to take the seed of brutes against your will is bad enough, it wasn't your fault... but it just pains me to the core that you would end up willingly engaging with one of them. It haunts me, you know. Thinking about you and that Eldian devil together so intimately."

Anteros' attention was brought back to the bruise on her face; he reached out to caress her cheek but once his hand made contact with her bare skin, his eyes went wide and he pulled back his hand in disgust.

"No..." He growled, "It can't be... That devil Eldian? How could you have possibly... conceived with him?"

He stumbled to his feet, which was unusual for a man who normally carried himself with otherworldly grace, but the shock of sensing what was inside her from just that touch disturbed him immensely. Anteros started walking backwards, shaking his head side to side slowly as he muttered 'it's not possible, not with one of them' over and over. Eventually his back hit a wall, the door leading out to the hall more precisely, so he turned and made a swift exit. He was in such a state of shock that he had to remove himself from her for the time being.

Once he closed the door behind him and strode away swiftly from the room, he fully unleashed his anger, "A demon child!" He screamed furiously, "She's carrying a monster in her womb and I...! What can I do?! This shouldn't even have been able to happen... so how?! I need answers about how this half breed monster was able to come into existence..."

"Miss?"

Huh...

"I'm so sorry to wake you..."

Priscilla's heavy eyes slowly opened, finding herself in a strange room with a dark haired woman in a maid-like outfit and a kind face standing above her. Priss was still feeling awful in all ways with everything that had just happened and couldn't muster up coherent words.

"I uh... whah... ii ua..." She slurred. Priss could understand what she was hearing, but her mind and body were a bit out of sync after the knock out.

"Shh, no need to talk," The woman said kindly, "I was told to clean you up so I've prepared a bath and some new clothes for you to change into."

Priss blinked several times and furrowed her brow, finding the ability to speak in response to that, "Told... by who?"

"My older brother Willy Tybur," She explained.

"Tybur..."

"Yes, you're safe with us here," Willy's sister assured her, now kneeling down to be closer to Priss who was still laying in the bed, "Just looking at you, I can see you must have endured so much just to get here... but we'll take good care of you."

"No, no I don't want that..." Priss said as she finally sat up, "I have a husband... he's one of the Warriors, Reiner Braun. He's the Armored Titan. I have to get back to him."

"We can't have you running off on your own, how would you even know where to go?"

The woman had a point, given she was in a foreign land now, and she didn't even know where she was in relation to where they got off the ship.

"Hmmph..." Priss whined childishly, "Fine. I'll... take that bath then."

"Splendid!" Tybur's sister said as she clapped her hands together, "By the way, you can call me Helen. Or Miss Tybur, whichever suits you. Do you need help getting out of bed?"

"I think I can manage it.. if not, I'll say something," Priscilla assured Helen.

"Alright then, follow me..." Helen replied as she rose back to her feet to give Priss room to get out of bed, "By the way, what should I call you?"

"Eh?" Priss asked as she got herself out of bed, "Oh uh, Priss is fine."

"Oh... How strange," Helen commented.

Priss raised an inquisitive eyebrow, "Why's that?"

"Your brother, I could have sworn he always called you something that started with an 'A,' but I don't have distinct memories of being around him that often while he discussed you. He mostly kept talk about you between Willy and himself."

Priss had frozen as soon as Helen mentioned her brother and an expression of bitterness took over her face. Helen looked back at her curiously, having no idea why she had such a sudden shift in demeanor.

"Did I say something wrong?" Helen asked.

"Hmm... no, not really. I just don't like my brother is all," Priss flatly explained, "I don't want to get into talking about him. I just wanna get cleaned up and leave so I can go find Reiner, and that rat bastard Zeke too."

Helen noticed the girl's body tensing up more and more, "Come on, let's get you relaxed in that nice hot bath, yes?"

Priss had never been in a more lavish bathroom in her life; it was more evident than before that she was in the home of a family that had some level of aristocracy. The tub she sat in was huge and the steaming hot water was topped with a thick layer of bubbles. The scent of the soap was strong and not something she was used to and it was giving her a headache, even if soaking in the hot bath itself felt nice.

"You ok in there?" Helen asked.

There was a curtain between the tub and the area where Helen was tending to things in the bathroom, such as laying out the clean set of clothes for Priss to change into once she got out.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." Priss said, her affect still as flat as it was before.

Priss slouched and started to slip further down into the water until she was completely submerged, where she stayed for just a moment before she resurfaced. Her hair was now completely saturated with the warm water and cleansing soaps, so she half heartedly ran her fingers through it to give it a better washing than she did in the river, but despite being offered this luxurious treatment, she didn't care much for it. In fact, she wanted to be done with it as quick as she could. This whole fancy living thing didn't sit well with her, even just as a guest.

Helen heard the water sloshing around the the curtain being pulled behind her. She turned and saw Priss just standing there, that same sour look on her face that she had ever since her brother was brought up. Upon seeing the girl nude before her, Helen quickly looked away and grabbed the nearby towels.

"I didn't expect you to get out so soon," Helen said, keeping her eyes down as she handed Priss one of the towels to dry off with.

"I don't want to be here any longer than I have to," Priss explained, taking the towel from Helen and wrapping it around her body. It was then when Helen looked back to her that she saw the wound on Priscilla's arm for the first time, which of course roused concern.

"What happened to your arm?" Helen asked.

"Oh, that?" Priss shrugged her left shoulder, "One of those Marleyan soldiers shot me after I attacked him on the ship."

"Is that how you got the bruise on your face too?"

"Hah!" Priss barked with laughter, finally showing some real emotion, "Oh no, that one is thanks to the big bad beast himself."

"Beast?" Helen asked, perplexed.

"The big ugly ape. Beast Titan. Zeke Yeager," Priss rattled off.

Helen hummed quietly in acknowledgment, but Priss didn't care to continue on the subject. She was still set on her goal to just get out of wherever she was quickly and figure out where Reiner was. She hastily dried herself off and then pushed past Helen to see the clothes picked out for her.

Helen moved behind Priss to watch her keenly, but since Priss was taller than her it was no easy task to look over her shoulder, "I didn't know what size you were in anything, so I just brought a loose fitting frock as you can se-"

"My old clothes," Priss interrupted with a sneer and then whipped her head to look at Helen, "I want my old ones."

"I'm sorry but I was told to give you new ones," Helen explained sternly. She was starting to grow short with the girl's bratty attitude, but behind the anger she could see a profound sadness in the younger girl's eyes that she was doing her best to mask with aggression. Helen softened once she saw this slip in her facade and hummed, "...I can retrieve them and have them washed if you'd prefer that."

"Yes... please, I would like that a lot more," Priss said with relief. Any sense of vitriol she spoke with had lifted now that Helen agreed to get her old clothes back.

The white haired girl turned to face forward again, staring at the basic white dress in front of her. Helen had no idea what to expect from this girl initially, Willy hadn't told her much and she never really directly spoke with Anteros – she couldn't even be sure how much Willy even knew about her – but she was quickly learning that she was dealing with someone who had an edge, but not that alone, there was that sadness she saw before despite Priss looking angry as she made her demand.

Helen moved to leave but then paused, "Do you want to go back to the other room?"

"No, no..." Priss insisted, "In here nobody is gonna barge in and disturb me. Unless they're some kind of asshole."

The girl's bluntness and harsh language made the older woman crack a smile; she didn't often come across someone as brash as this and in a way it was refreshing from the usual people she was around. Priscilla was brutally straightforward and honest with what she wanted, intentionally or not with those eyes that couldn't lie.

"Well there is a lock on the door and I like to believe there's enough common decency for anyone not to try and invade such a personal space..." The grinning maid said, "I'll be back as soon as I can. We can hang them to dry on the towel rack in here."

"Sounds good..." Priss said.

"Are you sure you really want to wait around in the bathroom for that long?" Helen asked, and the now more calm Priss nodded silently, "Very well then. I'll see to it."

Helen returned some time later with the red button down and black pants ready to be hung and dry, but she of course stopped to knock on the bathroom door with her knuckle first. It didn't take long for her to hear the sound of the door being unlocked, but she paused for a moment knowing the girl probably wasn't dressed. If she had gotten the right impression of Priscilla and her reaction to the clothes she brought her, Helen had a feeling she wouldn't be wearing them now.

"Come in," Helen heard from the other side after that moment of pause.

And a wise idea it was to hesitate, as the girl was exactly how Helen left her, except she was now lounging in a drained tub that had some last remnants of bubbles left clinging to the porcelain surface. The towels she previously dried herself with were left askew on the floor with no care, which was fine considering she needed the towel rack to hang the clothes on to dry. Before Helen went to hang them, she made sure to lock the door behind her to maintain the privacy.

"Why are you waiting on me so much?" She heard Priss say, sounding both bored and confused.

"I have my duties, and this is one of them..." Helen promptly explained. She turned to Priss, who was just staring at the ceiling, and continued, "All of us are bound by some sort of duty."

This comment drew the vibrant green eyes over to the maid, and with that eerie gaze came a smirk, "I don't believe that's true."

"You don't?"

"Nah... definitely not 'all of us' like you say. I won't live for anyone but myself, and of course Reiner."

"Hm..." Helen hummed, "Well not everybody has that kind of luxury, you know."

"That's fair enough," Priss agreed and turned her eyes back to the ceiling, "But before I'm pretty sure you said you were only told to clean me up and give me new clothes, nothing more than that. But you went out of your way to go get my old ones when I asked you to... so what's the deal with that?"

Helen's lips tightened – Priscilla had a point, she had no reason to cater to the whims of this girl if her direct orders were the only thing to be considered. However, she also knew that if Priss wasn't well taken care of and word of that got back to Anteros, not even Willy could stop him from taking out his anger on Helen. She may not have known a lot, but she knew all she needed to know about Anteros and how he behaved to understand that she was better off avoiding invoking his wrath.

"I..."

"Did you feel bad for me?" Priss pressed further, "I wasn't exactly being nice, so I don't know why you would."

Helen kept silent as she considered this for a moment, but she chose the honest answer, "Yes, I did feel bad. Because even though you were... on the curt side with some things, I could see in your eyes that you were hiding some sort of sadness. It may not be something I could understand, but I couldn't help but feel some pity and want to help you out a bit more than I was explicitly told to."

She wasn't sure what to expect from this stranger being told she inspired pity, but Helen noticed Priscilla's expression soften even though her face was still locked on the ceiling above.

"I can understand that," The white haired girl finally answered after a pause, then turned her head towards Helen, "I'd rather have some pity than more senseless cruelty. This may sound weird... but thanks, it's a nice break from what's become the norm."

"For... the pity?" Helen asked to draw a clarification from her.

"Yeah, thanks for the pity. Honestly."

The girl's comments once again brought a small smile to Helen's face. It was such a strange response, but clearly this Priscilla girl was more unorthodox than others she had met in her life. In an odd way, this young lady was somehow endearing on top of being a breath of fresh air.

When her clothes were finally dry Priss swiftly got herself dressed. She was dreading the meeting with her brother that inched closer and closer to her, but she reasoned that the quicker she got it over with, the quicker she could move on with her life. She was lead through the Tybur manor to Anteros' room silently by Helen. She stopped in front of an ornate door, turned to Priss and politely smiled.

"Seems like this is where we part ways," Helen commented.

"I guess..." Priss shrugged, "Maybe I'll end up seeing you again sometime."

"Perhaps," Helen murmured, but she didn't sound convinced, "Either way, it was nice getting to know you a little bit Priss. I hope everything goes well for you."

"Same to you... And I hope you can break away from these duties of yours sometime."

Helen's expression darkened, "No, that's not possible..."

"Eh?"

"I doubt you'd understand, but I have to do what I must do... Maybe one day you'll see," She went on, but then caught herself and quickly shook her head, "Oh look at me, blabbering about nothing, sorry. Good luck with your brother."

With that, Helen took her leave. Something about it felt awkwardly abrupt to Priss, but she had more important things to focus on than what Miss Tybur could have been talking about. She grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, swinging the door open dramatically to finally see him. Her brother stood on the opposite side of the room with his back to her, looking out a large window. Much like her, Anteros had very long legs, but his midsection was long like a man's would be compared to her feminine short one. His white hair fell to his shoulders and was half tied back to keep it out of his face; she was certain their eyes would be a match too if the old books from Hyperia were to be believed. Even from a good distance away she could see he was incredibly tall, even taller than Reiner by a couple of inches at least.

"Do you find this place suitable?" He said, having known she had entered.

"It's fine," Priss said flatly, "Not my idea of a good life though."

She stepped across the threshold and into the room, closing the door behind her without taking her eyes off him. Anteros did a half-turn to look upon her and smiled. Just like she thought, his eyes were the same color as hers, but the marked difference was how his eyes weren't nearly as telling as hers, like he was masterfully blocking the windows to his soul while hers were just blown wide open for the world to gawk at. After a second his smile vanished and he fully turned to her.

"What are you wearing?" He asked, "The Tybur woman was supposed to give you new clothing."

"Just the clothes I got here in," Priss stated as she started to approach him, "That dress wasn't really my style so I decided not to wear it."

"Hm... well aren't you a headstrong one..."

"For saying no to a boring dress and just requesting my old clothes? Sounds like the bar for being headstrong is low for you."

It was such a simple and obvious comment for her to make, but she noticed a crack in his well crafted and nefariously guarded way of carrying himself when she said that. It was brief, but for a moment she saw a glimmer of honest anger in his eyes that he quickly forced back down behind the wall he built between the world and his inner most thoughts.

"I'm quite accustomed to women being obedient," He replied frankly and eloquently, "But why should I have expected you to be so? I've seen how you act already and are the furthest thing from what a proper lady should be. It's terribly sad, but I'm sure now that I'm here I can help you adjust."

Priscilla's face twisted into a disgusted grimace at his blatant disrespect towards her, and the worst of it was that he seemed to believe in the words he was saying – not a trace of irony to be found. She battled with what she wanted to comment on more: his expectations of subservience or how he 'has seen' how she acts already, which she could only assume tied into how she realized he was forcing his way into her mind – but she didn't have a chance to speak on anything before he piped up again.

"Come and sit," He said, gesturing to a small circular table with a gleaming varnish on the wood. Two chairs were set near it and there were two cups sitting on the table, one larger than the other but both that were steaming indicating they were filled with hot drinks.

Anteros made his way over to the table and sat down at the chair nearest the larger of the cups, which was more like a mug compared to the teacup across from it. As Priss approached, the strong smell of what he was drinking wafted into her nostrils and it made her expression sour even more. It was familiar, the same dark drink the Warriors had at camp, but this time even stronger smelling.

"I imagine after so long you wouldn't like the smell of coffee anymore..." Anteros remarked after looking over to her and seeing her displeased expression, "But as a child you got used to it, even liked the smell... you never drank it. That was one thing father and I agreed on, not allowing you to drink coffee. But you would always obediently bring me coffee with a bright smile every day, like it was your special little job for me."

The way Anteros recounted this part of their lives had an eerie undertone that made her stomach lurch, another feeling that revealed itself on her face.

"I expected you wouldn't want to drink coffee though, so I was prepared..." He began, and then motioned to the delicate white teacup with gold embellishments across from him, "A fancy tea that you only find in the higher end specialty tea shops in the more affluent marketplaces in Marley. There's a delightful section of all sorts of shops I want to take you to someday – all of them outside the dreadful Eldian internment zone of course, but I have no plans for you to go anywhere near that place. I'll keep you close by, I live extremely well due to being so close to the Tybur family, you know. We may not be living like the prince and princess we were born to be, but it's as close as we'll get."

Priss decided to play by his rules for the time being, choosing to take him up on his offer of the tea. She headed to the table, sat down and picked up the teacup. She raised it to her nose to inhale it's aroma, it was much more pleasant than the overly strong coffee her brother was drinking. It had a subtle floral quality to it, which she didn't expect, and when she raised the cup to her lips to take a cautious sip she found that it tasted quite good – leading her to comfortably take bigger gulps of it. She had no intention to be polite and sip it casually, she wanted to down it all so she could get down to business.

"It's a unique brew designed for reducing stress," Anteros explained as he watched her drink it all down, "I figured you could use some de-stressing after all you went through to get to me."

"I'm not here to be with you," She spoke with confidence once she finished her drink and lowered the cup back down to the table, then raised her eyes to meet his, "I'm not going to live with you or do anything with you. The only reason I'm sitting here right now is to tell you to get out of my head and leave me alone while I live my life the way I want to."

Anteros' mysterious eyes narrowed, "That's not your decision to make."

"Damn right it's my decision!" Priss shouted in response.

"Your rage makes you look so ugly, Addie..." He cooed darkly, "You should keep it in check."

Priss stood up in one swift motion, knocking back the chair she sat on, glaring down at him and spoke through gritted teeth, "That's not my name."

Anteros' mouth twisted into a scowl. He lifted his mug to his lips to sip on his coffee but didn't take his piercing gaze off her, "You're so attached to the false name given to you that you'd deny your real identity? The name you only have so you could be hidden among the devils?"

"Yes," She confirmed. Priss looked down at Anteros with a wide, unblinking stare, "I changed it a bit though. It's not Ziegler anymore, it's Braun, so make sure you remember that brother. I've said all I need to say to you though, so I'm getting the hell out of here and going to find Reiner."

With no interest in hearing whatever protests he surely had, she turned and ran. She swung open the door that she felt kind of stupid for closing in retrospect and sprinted with all her might through the halls of the Tybur's home, looking for a way out. She didn't look back at any point to see if she was being followed, but as she ran she became increasingly worried that she would be found and dragged back since she couldn't figure out where the hell to go in this sprawling residence. Her initial burst of adrenaline started to deplete as the fear set in that there was some chance that she couldn't get out, but it was in that moment where the doubt crept on her that help came from the unlikeliest of places.

"Priss!" She heard Helen Tybur exclaim.

Priss skidded to a halt when she heard the voice of the woman who had spent the day with her and looked around, spying her on the other side of a barely-opened door across the room she found herself in.

Helen waved her hand to usher Priss over to her, "This way, I know how to get you out. Hurry!"

Priss didn't even debate for a second, she ran towards her caretaker who took her by the hand and started to guide her. They weaved through a few more standard rooms until they came to a stop in front of a large bookcase.

"Why did we stop?" Priss panted, the exhaustion catching up with her.

"It's a secret door," Helen explained, tapping three books in a specific order and then pulling a fourth half way out before pushing it back in, triggering the bookcase to move and reveal a staircase leading down into the underground, "When Willy and your brother need to discretely travel into the Eldian Internment Zone for their own business, they use this passageway."

"What?" Priss asked in disbelief.

"That's where the Warrior Headquarters is located, you said your husband is a Warrior of Marley, right? So that's where you'd want to go if you want to find him."

Priss furrowed her brows and her eyes started to well up, "Why... Are you doing this for me?"

"I thought about what you said before," Helen said, stepping aside, "And while I can't live how I want, I don't want to let some poor girl be held captive against her will if I can do something about it. You sound like you have something to live for that isn't related to what your brother wants with you, and that you want nothing to do with him. It's none of my business what his agenda is and I have no orders to keep you here anyway, so I want you to go and be free. You'll have to figure out how to navigate around once you reach the other end of this passageway, and it's long, but I believe you can do it."

"He'll kill you if he finds out about this!" Priss exclaimed.

"No... That's not going to happen," Helen assured her quietly, "Now go!"

Still in utter shock, Priss found no words for her and just did what she was told for a change. She sped down the stairs into the dark passage and started sprinting along again while the 'door' concealing the passageway closed behind her. Helen took a step back from the bookcase and quietly gasped as if she had been holding her breath that whole time; her body was shaking and she could hardly believe what she just did. While Anteros wouldn't literally kill her, she was sure that she'd receive some kind of punishment if he or Willy found out that she helped the girl they've sought for so long escape, but it was a consequence she was willing to accept.

I can just regenerate if he physically harms me.