A/N: I hear Isayama regrets his ending, good thing I've been taking care of writing a better version of his story already anyway.

Also I don't normally do this, but a good song for this chapter (especially towards the end) is
"Shingeki vn-pf20130524 Kyojin" from the season 2 soundtrack.

Chapter 38: The Mind's Eclipse

Without warning, his arm snaked around her waist and he pulled her close to him, "You don't honestly think living here is better than what I could offer you?"

"I promise you, it's way fucking better than whatever that would be," She sneered at him, "And I seriously think you should get your hands off me."

"Oh? Or what, dear sister?"

Their pace slowed considerably, Priss had no reason to try and hurry as her brother had physically attached himself to her while he was eerily whispering in her ear. She wanted so badly to scream at him, but she held onto her composure.

"You may be taller than me and have the advantage once night rolls around," She began, "But in case you didn't notice, it's still about 3pm. And you're so thin that if I just breathed too hard in your direction I'd probably break your back. I weigh more than you soaking wet on top of having been trained in combat..."

Priss held her tongue on the fact that she sucked at her training, but she'd bluffed on her skills – or lack thereof – before and this seemed like a fine time to do it again with all things considered. Anteros abruptly gripped her harder, harshly digging his fingers into her side and yanking her as close as physically possible. Priss winced from the sudden pain and kept her face turned away from his.

"Would you really risk exposing yourself as a violent lunatic in public?" He asked, "Don't you want to keep a low profile in this new, quiet life you're trying to live?"

"You're right about me trying to live a quiet life," She agreed, "And I have a feeling something quiet isn't exactly what you have in mind for me."

"Actually, you'll be quite at peace. If you let me explain..."

Anteros forced both of them to a stop within an alley as they passed one, where he firmly turned Priss to face him and kept a controlling grip on her shoulders, but she remained stone faced now that she was forced to look his way. Her eyes caught a glimpse of the armband he had on which explained his presence inside the Internment Zone. His hair was also tucked up into a hat.

Priss couldn't help but snicker at the fact that he was wearing the same red marking she was, "I'm surprised you're not having a nervous breakdown with that thing on your arm."

For just a brief moment, she saw a crack in his calm visage in the form of a twitch around his mouth and his eyes revealing she had struck a nerve if only for just a second. His moments like this were subtle, but somehow came across clear as day to Priss. She already knew he was a control freak just based on their brief chat at the Tybur manor, so finding a way to get under his skin and make him break just the tiniest bit was satisfying.

"No, it isn't pleasant for me, of course it isn't..." He admitted as he forced himself to keep it together, "But to be close to you, I will do what I must. Even if it means occasionally masquerading as a devil."

"Tch, well aren't you a noble one?" She sarcastically spat her words at him, "Willingly pretending to be the thing you hate the most just to spy on me, you sure are a dedicated guy!"

"How dare you mock my resolve!" He growled at her.

No longer could he maintain his calm and cool facade, her petty jabs and general refusal to be the submissive woman he expected her to be riled him up like nothing else. Anteros was used to being the top dog, always the one to wield authority over others, sometimes reaching extremes with his desire to flex his superiority – like when he tortured Zeke, or when he beat Willy's sister while Willy didn't even object to letting it happen. If anyone spoke up against him, Anteros could regain control somehow, but not with Priscilla. For far too long she's been a rambunctious hell raiser to ever bend to the will of Anteros. What could he do? Priss had it in her mind that he wouldn't dare hurt her, but at the same time she wasn't totally discounting the possibility either. Logically, him getting violent with her would do him no favors in trying to 'win her over' – as impossible of a task as it was turning out to be, Anteros remained steadfast in his determination to get what he wanted from her... And if he had to take drastic measures, he wouldn't hesitate when the time came.

"Meeee? Mock you?" She went on with a cheeky grin, "I wouldn't dream of poking fun at my big bro who took such good care of me during a part of my life that I can't even remember!"

Anteros looked as if he wanted to shout at her but he restrained himself, he had already made the mistake of losing his cool once and couldn't stand to do it again – especially in such a public place. They were off to the side of the main street just barely tucked into the alleyway, and bystanders rarely – if ever – want to intervene in the matters of others, they were growing fewer by the moment anyway until their surroundings were abandoned. Anteros took his hands off her, lowered his head and took several deep breaths before he raised it once more with a calm smile. The man was even taller than Reiner, but she didn't feel intimidated by his imposing height at all.

"I know you couldn't possibly remember how we used to be back then," He began now that he composed himself again, "But I indeed took great care of you. I watched over you, I enriched you, and in turn you gave me unconditional love. Is it so wrong of me to want to go back to those days? You were happy then too, sweet Addie. Ever since we've been apart, your life has been one misfortune after another, hasn't it? And the worst of it just recently..."

Priscilla's heart nearly stopped and her eyes widened in shock; she could tell exactly what he was referencing and it pierced through her like a bullet. Her voice wavered as she spoke, "No... how could you possibly know about that?"

"My good 'friend' Yeager told me," Anteros replied, "He is such a good, obedient dog. Tells me everything I need to know. I had felt your immense pain and loss, but I couldn't identify exactly what it was... And now, just bringing it up, I can see in your eyes just how much losing the chance to become a mother pains you. So, wouldn't it be your dream to become one? But on a grand scale?"

"Eh?" Priscilla's face twisted in confusion. She was so caught between being baffled by his words and the unexpected opening of her emotional wound that she was rendered speechless – an opportunity that Anteros happily took to explain things for her... and continue to enjoy the sound of his own voice.

"Have you ever considered the perfect life form? The ultimate ideal? One such as yourself?" He whispered, and went on before she had the chance to even think about answering, "I imagine not... your head is filled with such trivial things. You and I were born for greatness. The power of the old goddess has long waned and someday soon will be no more, and the heavenly father has forsaken us. For all intents and purposes, the divinity watching over us are both already gone... That's because we will fill those roles now, we were meant to, and to do it even better. After you fulfill your destiny to wipe out the Eldian race once and for all, we will cross over into our own dimension and act as reference points for perfection, where you will carry out the task of birthing a new breed of Hyperian. Most of our people were ultimately flawed by coming from a cursed progenitor, but you... No, not you. Your perfection will be acting as the perfect template, combined with the most ideal male components... Of course, nothing could ever match us, but our new race would be quite magnificent beyond any living creature the world has seen thus far since they have a perfect point of reference. Since we will be gods, think of them as earth walking angels.

"Our people were already without question the greatest race to walk the Earth, and with the power of our trinity at work with you as the perfect source, the one and only ideal form, we will reclaim our homeland and gain so much more with an even stronger reborn race. Our children won't be born from a rotting body of a fallen goddess, but from an eternal divine existence with no flaws. This is you, you are the blueprint of perfection that we need. The perfect template and the male component that was previously missing in our progenitor... That's the key to it all. In the abstract dimension where we will be forever unified you'll have no need to think, you won't ever feel pain, for our trinity there will be peace and unconditional love between us all, while this new empire of The Island of Endless Paradise flourishes away from the scum of the rest of the world... Though, that name needs some work. Just a bit too similar to 'Paradis' don't you think?"

"Woah woah, hold on..." Priss said, backing away from him. By now, the two were completely alone with anyone else wandering the street long gone from earshot, "First, that sounds like a batshit insane nightmare. Two, you said 'trinity' … that means there's a third person."

"Oh that'd be Yeager," Anteros explained, "I promised him a place in all this if he helped me, so unfortunately I have to wait until that ridiculous war is over. He was very easy to manipulate with how little love he had in his life, so the promise of having that forever..."

"But he's Eldian!" Priss exclaimed, "It makes no sense by your own logic to bring him into this... What?! Cosmic threesome?!"

"Part of my promise to him is that he'll be spared and purified. He'll become one of us, a blessing from the new Goddess, you, will elevate his existence to what it needs to be, that's why he will be allowed to partake in you."

"Ohh good, ohhh good!" She wailed with sarcasm before she started to rub her temples and continue to try to make sense of it all, "So let me get this straight, you clowns get to take turns blowing your magical loads in me so I can make mythical angelic people with no say in the matter because I am simply the shit?"

"Well that's a rather vulgar and overly literal way of putting it... But if that's how your simple mind wants to interpret it, so be it, " Anteros grumbled before returning to his usual tone, "But it won't just be about people. Our 'union' will be what maintains the protection of Endless Paradise so no outsiders can even approach the island, an impenetrable, unseen, supernatural barricade if you will. The ritual must go on, never ending, to maintain this protective barrier. Plus the trinity will be such a paragon of ideal life that magnanimous flora and fauna will spring forth as well, even ones thought to only be myth... like unicorns. As I said, you will be the ultimate mother. A process never ending in our own abstract world that enriches this one, and we will watch over it. Just like how a mother watches over her young. Wouldn't you like all that?"

At this point during her brother's rant about what his grand plan was, Priscilla was growing frenzied and started to shake her head in a panic, "No! No! No! I don't like that, I don't like any of that!"

"Well that's too bad!" Anteros shouted, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders again, "It's your one true purpose! OUR purpose! And there is no escaping it, once we ascend, you will have no more free will to resist in the way that you do now... But it's what the greater good demands, you must submit! This is what you were born for, to be the hero the world needs! Destroy the devils and lead us to Heaven!"

By this point she had tears in her peridot eyes, "Stop it! Please, stop! I-I don't want to hear anymore!"

The sheer horror of what Anteros was describing left Priss paralyzed and unable to focus herself enough to try to fight him off. It was such a nightmarish scenario that she couldn't even comprehend what kind of being she would end up as, especially with his words about 'having no free will.' Would she even have consciousness in any way? The last thing she ever wanted to be was a tool for someone else to use as they pleased – it was like what her father had written about with her hopefully being of use to their people, but far, far worse. Her father wanted to help naturally repopulate their people using her fertility, which was disgusting enough, and potentially having to cull Eldians if the need arose – but with Anteros, everything was elevated to a massive, unbelievable degree. And his will was absolute.

"Woah! Hey, come back here!"

As if sent by some greater force to save the poor girl, a dog with scruffy yellow fur had suddenly appeared and attached itself to Anteros' pant leg. The creature snarled at him as it shook it's head with it's teeth firmly sunk into the fabric. Anteros scowled, cursed at the dog and tried to shake it off. He removed his hands from Priscilla and she stumbled, only saved from falling by hitting a wall behind her. After a moment, the dog tore the fabric that it had bit down on, setting Anteros free; he so direly wanted to kill the beast, but he was aware that it would be a bad idea to try and harm it, especially since he noticed a boy jogging over towards them. Instead of retaliating, Anteros turned on his heel and fled; once he was gone, the dog instantly began to calm down.

"I'm real sorry about that..." The boy said as he leaned down and grabbed the dog's leash that he had obviously lost his grip on, "I've never seen him do that before."

"Don't worry about it..." Priss breathed, starting to regain her composure after being so shaken by her psychopath of a brother, "In fact, I think your dog there can sense evil."

"Oh he's not mine, I just like to walk the neighbor's dogs for them sometimes," The young lad informed her.

Priss finally raised her eyes up from her furry savior to look at the one who was walking him. To her shock, he looked a bit like Reiner but not as 'mature' looking. The hair was a similar shade of blonde while their eye color was very close too, he was shorter and thinner though – in fact, he was the same height as Priss. The boy looked closer to how someone she and Reiner's age should look, very few boys around his age would have the kind of physique that Reiner does. While she was analyzing the boy's features, he took notice of the red armband she had on.

"Oh, you're an honorary Marleyan?" He asked with wonder, "That must mean you're close with one of the Warriors."

"Yeah," She said with a nod, "My husband is Reiner Braun, the Armored Titan."

"Wow! Really?" He replied, "I'm a cadet myself and am hoping to inherit one of the Titans someday, I've been training... Oh, I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Colt Grice."

"Nice to meet you, Colt," She said, extending her hand, "I'm Priscilla Braun, but Priss for short."

Colt happily took her hand and shook it politely, "It's good to meet you too, ma'am!"

"Ohh, jeez... ma'am...? I think I'm too young to be called that," She said with a laugh, "I'd rather you just go with Priss."

"Oh, sorry about that Miss Priss!"

"No, no, just Pri..." She began, but she saw the look in his eyes of wanting to show the most respect he could to the wife of a Warrior. So, with a shrug she added, "Eh, that's fine if that's what you want to call me. It beats ma'am, but really, it's ok if you just feel like calling me by my name on it's own."

Colt's face started to redden, "It's just, I think it's only proper for someone married to a Warrior to be spoken to respectfully like that..."

"Ahh, come on now... I'm nothing special. Reiner's the special one," She insisted, "And besides, I can't be all that much older than you anyway. Feels weird to be so formal if we're close in age."

"Well you're right about that," Colt smiled, "In fact, in about three weeks I'll be turning 17."

"See, I knew it! And... huh, that's interesting. My birthday is August 1st, same with Reiner."

"Mine's August 12th … pretty crazy that our birthdays are that close together."

Priss hummed, "Yeah. Bums me out than Reiner and I can't be together for ours, but he's got shit to do... Er, a duty to fulfill."

"The war in the Mid-East, right?" Colt asked, to which she nodded in return, "Yeah, I know... At some point they'll be deploying me and other Warrior cadets in training too. Right now it's just been the current Warriors, Marleyan forces and Eldian soldiers."

Gabi... Priss thought, recalling how she was in training to be a Warrior cadet at this point too. Her heart sank at the thought of that sweet kid being sent off to fight in a war as a child soldier. She didn't want to dwell on that too much, so she decided to keep the subject more on Colt.

"So you said you'd possibly inherit a Titan? Any chance you know which one?"

"Well, Warchief Yeager is the one who has the least time left in his term... so among me and my current class, we'd be looking for a successor to the Beast Titan first."

Priss bit her tongue on making some snarky remark and kept on topic, "So you think you'll be the one?"

"Well I don't want to brag or anything, but I think I'm being highly considered among my peers in the candidate program for the Beast Titan..." Colt admitted, a bit sheepishly too, "Then the new batch going into training now would be looking towards the likes of the Armored and Cart Titan."

"Yeah... Reiner has a younger cousin who just joined the program. She wants to inherit it from him."

"That means she'll have an even better chance of inheriting some of his memories!" Colt said, "There's always some chance of it occurring with the successor, but I've heard rumors that blood relatives have a stronger possibility of it happening. I wonder if I'll be able to learn anything about Warchief Yeager if I inherit the Beast Titan..."

"For your sake, I hope not much," She couldn't hold that one back.

"Huh? Do you know him?" Colt asked, curious as to why she'd be making such a comment about the mighty Warchief.

Priss scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, we're real good pals."

"Really? Married to the holder of the Armored Titan and friends with the Warchief himself? You must be pretty special!" Poor Colt clearly didn't pick up on her sarcasm about being 'good pals' with Zeke, but to say they were on friendly terms at least wasn't exactly far off.

"Ah... no, not at all. We all just sorta crossed paths by accident," She said. A warm smile appeared on her face when she started to think of how she and Reiner happened to come across each other, "I got pretty damn lucky with meeting Reiner actually. Was really a crazy coincidence, but right from the start it felt like us meeting was meant to be... That was years ago, but I'll never forget it."

Colt, despite barely knowing her – and not knowing Reiner at all yet – was getting starry eyed over the idea of such a love story being real. Of course, Colt didn't even come close to knowing half of what made their relationship such a special, and even magical, thing. Priss sighed dreamily, but her loving smile faded as she assumed Colt would want to know about how she met Zeke next, but once he entered the forefront of her mind, her heart went ice cold and her expression instantly hardened. The words of her brother were still fresh in her mind, and now that she was aware of Zeke's true involvement in his plan, just the thought of him made her feel sick to her stomach.

He knew...? She thought, He knew about all that horrible shit? And that's what he wants?

Her hands tightened into fists and she started to grit her teeth.

And he dared try to get on my good side...

Memories of him being the one carrying her through the streets while she was in too much pain to even see clearly as her pregnancy was coming to a tragic early end filled her mind. Any gratefulness or good feelings she held for him started to dissipate and the space that positivity previously occupied within her was now filling with contempt and rage. All of the kind things he had done for her following that, actions that were unquestionably helpful and selfless, she wished now that she could have just suffered on her own without any help to get on her feet. And on top of it all, she was aware that he would still see her brother – there was no other way Anteros could have known about her miscarriage. And if he was still meeting with her brother, it could only mean that Zeke was still invested in the disturbing plan that Anteros had just minutes ago laid out before her. To force her into the most vile prison she could imagine, where she had no will of her own and no chance to break away from what those two were going to impose upon her.

However, there was a crack in the dark shell that had enveloped her mind where a small ray of light started to shine through. The words of Reiner echoed through her...

"I will show you a life without barricades, I swear it!"

"Uh, miss? Is there something wrong?"

Priss snapped out of her thoughts that were wrought with horror; she could feel wet streaks on her cheeks and her nails had dug into her palms so hard from clenching them that they were lightly bloodied. She shook her head and quickly wiped her tears on her sleeves, trying her best not to reveal the fact that she had the tiny cuts in her hands.

"Ah, sorry... I got... I don't know what came over me, actually," She lied. She had only just met Colt, but even if they had known each other for ages she wouldn't want to expose him to what had just run through her head. She heard a high pitched whining below her; upon glancing down, she noticed the dog had sat down at her feet and staring up at her with sad eyes.

"Hey, hey, quiet..." Colt said to the dog, "You know you're not supposed to whine."

Priss gazed down at the animal who somehow seemed to be empathizing with her, which was something she never would have expected from it. She never got to interact with dogs much in her life so she had no clue that they could be capable of such a feeling.

"Maybe..." She began, very taken with the cuteness of the golden dog before her, "Maybe I should get a dog."

"Ohhh, did I miss anything interesting?"

Pieck had come to sit among her fellow Warriors after being absent for a while. Her shoulder length black hair was a bit messy and her eyes had a tired look to them, as if she were perpetually sleep deprived.

"Hey, good to see you back in human form again," Reiner said with a welcoming smile, "Been a hell of a long time."

"Yeah, only just recently got used to being on two feet again. Just in time, huh? Barely even a moment to rest from one mission to another..." She mused, but discussing their deployment was far from interesting to her, not when there was a more intriguing topic she narrowly missed out on, "I did manage to overhear a bit of what you two were chatting about. Something about your girl, Reiner? Sounded like you two had a lot to say."

Reiner nodded then reached into his left pocket to show Pieck the picture, "Zeke brought me this. It got us talking about her."

Pieck leaned over to get a better look with her eyes widening with curiosity, "I never got a good look at her before... I do remember her screaming a lot though," She laughed, "But in all seriousness, she's very pretty... How'd you manage to get her?"

"Come on now, Pieck, you're gonna tease the Vice Chief like that?" Zeke piped up, "And she's not just 'his girl,' that's his wife you're talking about."

Pieck smiled, still letting out a little chuckle as she spoke, "I guess it's just weird for me. The Reiner I remember the most was the awkward kid from our training days," Reiner remained silent, longingly staring at the photo of Priss, prompting Pieck to take the topic more seriously, "But I can see now that you've changed greatly since then."

"A person with someone to protect," Reiner began as he tucked the photo away safely again, "They'll rise to the task. Zeke said it earlier, she has a way of inspiring change in people. My need to protect her... I didn't have a choice but to change the person I was if I wanted to rise to that task. She's the only person I could ever love, so I'll rise to meet any task."

"I really never thought you'd end up being such a romantic," Pieck responded, "Well, I can't wait to meet her properly though. I think she was put off by my Titan form... but it'll be nice to really meet the woman who made you the man you are today."

Reiner nodded, and in truth he was getting a bit embarrassed with all this focus on how much he had changed – especially being reminded of what a wimpy kid he used to be before Priss came along, but he knew Pieck poking fun at him was good natured. His embarrassment was quickly pushed away by thoughts of Priss and how she'd chosen to latch onto him of all people. Those memories, all of them, kept him moving forward; he would never consider himself a hero, but for her, he would gladly accept that title. If she was his princess then there was no way he could deny her the right for him to be her hero, and so he was more determined than ever to defeat his enemies and prove himself even more worthy of being a hero for her.

Once more he touched his hand to the pocket above his heart where he kept her picture, "Let's finish this quick. I gotta get back to her, give her the love and wedding she deserves and raise our son together. I can't afford to waste any time."

Zeke winced upon hearing those words and removed his glasses so he could rub his face as he hunched over. Pieck noticed his abrupt shift and cocked her head to the side with narrowed eyes; it only took a moment for Zeke to feel her stare before he glanced over to confirm his suspicions. He quickly straightened out, put his glasses back on but turned his face away from her. Pieck was a sharp one, but it didn't take a genius to deduce what his reactionary body language was hinting at.

A grin slowly spread across her face, "Oh... He has a crush on her, doesn't he?"

"Pieck, no!" Zeke shouted, snapping his head back towards her and Reiner, who was seated between them.

Pieck snickered and Reiner sighed heavily before speaking up on the matter, "I didn't want to be the one to say it. Figured I'd just let him be."

"No, don't listen to her! I don't!" Zeke insisted, "Why would I ever- That girl is a pest! The biggest nuisance I've ever met!"

"I'll be honest, you were making it pretty obvious when we talked before," Reiner said, "But like I said, I didn't want to say anything. I didn't see much of a point in calling it out but..."

He nodded towards Pieck, who was still grinning. While the accusation was true, what really set off Zeke was when Reiner brought up raising his son. He believed he could have tanked through Reiner's speech without flinching if he didn't mention that damn kid. There was no way he could tell Reiner that though and both he and Pieck seemed to have made their minds up about his newfound affection for Priss. There was no point in denying it, and it'd be better to tell half the truth than try to keep poorly concealing a lie.

"...Fine, I admit it," Zeke conceded, then leaned over further to directly address Pieck, "Are you happy?"

"What I want to know is when her 'inspiring change' in you happened," Reiner said as he tried not to laugh.

"And what I want to know is if she knows," Pieck added in, but she made no effort to conceal her snickering.

Zeke's nostrils flared, "I'm your Warchief, you can't make fun of the Warchief. The truth is out there, so we don't need to bring this up ever again."

Zeke's threats were impotent and Pieck couldn't help but keep softly snickering, "Better be careful, Warchief. If a fight started, my money's on Reiner."

"Place your bets on Priss herself," Reiner advised, "She's gonna be the one to want to knock him out over this more than me."

And I've already had my fight with him.

The grim nature of his duel with Zeke in their Titan forms hadn't been on his mind for a long time, one where the reason for it was so grim that he'd rather not think about it at all. Things were so much different then, and it hadn't been that long ago in the grand scheme of things, which made Reiner all the more curious about what had changed Zeke so much. Whatever it was, Reiner knew he had no reason to fight with Zeke now since he was perfectly secure and had no reason to worry, especially with the whole thing being more humorous to him than anything. Funny, but also rather sad, which was why he didn't want to bring it up – he also had no intention to again, even if Zeke didn't request that. There would be no point in dragging the subject into the light other than to make fun of a man with unrequited feelings... and Reiner was above that.

...All that said, Reiner wouldn't stop Priss from throwing out a moonlit mean right hook at Zeke when she found out, if she hadn't already.

Before they parted ways and she went home, Colt had graciously shown Priss where the local animal shelter was so she could check out the dogs there sometime. He seemed like a pretty sweet kid and she made sure to tell him she'd love to be friends, God knows she had only a few of those. Once home, she took out a notepad and pencil and sat down at her kitchen table. At the top of the page she wrote in big letters 'DOG THINGS' and underlined it three times. The immediate things that came to mind were a leash, food and bowls so she scribbled them down under the big title. Her thought process on what exactly else a person needs for owning an animal started to slow after those instant answers, which she dreaded because working on this list was what she needed to distract her from the dark thoughts lurking in the back of her mind.

She tapped her pencil rapidly against the pad and rested her head in her other palm while she stared at the words she'd written. Try as she might, though, the words weren't enough and her focus was swiftly eroding.

"I..." She murmured as her hold on the pencil grew tighter, "I don't know what to do."

Her tapping slowed to a stop and she merely gripped the pencil, but it was so tight already that her hand was shaking. She shut her eyes, but all she could see was her brother staring back at her with his expression of lunacy leading her to open them back up. Once more she blankly stared downwards and her thoughts shifted from her brother, who had begun to frighten her more and more, to his conspirator. The face of the man who, without a doubt, could be called a traitor to her danced through her mind. She recalled all their recent interactions and how much more comfortable she'd gotten with Zeke, which made her anger with just his mere existence reawaken. While her brother inspired fear and hopelessness in her, Zeke roused a reignited fury in her now.

The thoughts of Zeke made her hold on the pencil grow painfully tight, "Oh... Oh I'm gonna kill him... and I'm gonna make it hurt," She mumbled dangerously. Suddenly the pencil snapped in her hands and she exploded, "I'll kill that bastard!"

She stood up so fast that her chair fell backwards and she hurled the shards of her pencil across the room in her fit of rage. Priss needed something to calm her down, something instant, but she had no such remedy. In the past she had Reiner there to comfort her and now, possibly more than ever, she needed his strong embrace and loving words to calm her down... but she was alone. The solitude she was living in was growing more painful by the day, and now with such disgusting ideas having been planted in her head, only having Reiner in her thoughts was proving to not be enough. She needed him there with her and the fact that he wasn't left her feeling like she was suffocating. Each passing moment where she was alone with her thoughts became madness inducing.

Priss collapsed to her knees and looked upward, "Please... hurry back... Reiner, I need your help. I'm so scared."

The girl wouldn't even try to steel herself with a pep talk to inspire herself as it'd be nothing but a fool's errand. She knew she couldn't handle being on her own, she felt like she could be in constant danger with her brother seemingly able to easily lurk his way into her life; she even feared the potency of her anger being a problem too, especially with her over and over again trying, and failing, to be more mature with her emotions. In no way could she delude herself into thinking she could do anything about all this herself.

Priss once again closed her eyes, but she was lucky enough to see Reiner's face this time, "Ah... There... I need my hero to save me. Help me, Reiner... Help me... Please, for the love of god, help..."

With her more intense feelings quelling, she collapsed forward and only just barely caught herself with her hands before she could face plant onto the floor. She took several deep breaths, but as she attempted to calm herself down, she was struck with something else – or rather, something was disappearing. A haze drifted over her, reducing the unspeakable pain, rage and intense longing she had just been feeling; she couldn't handle the words of her brother and the picture of horror it painted for her, and thus instead of continuing to try and cope, her mind started to reject it.

"Ha... Haha..." A quiet laugh escaped her from her lips, "No... none of that was real... it wasn't true... it couldn't be. Haha... Oh, I'm so dumb for getting all worked up over nothing... Aren't I just so silly? Right? That's all it is? Oh of course that's all it was... Hah... Can't believe I'd fall for such an obvious lie! Maybe it was just a dumb dream. I must have taken a nap after watching the zeppelins. Yeah, definitely. Fell asleep... what even was the dream again? I guess it doesn't matter. I saw that woman with the jewelry... Then I met that nice boy... Colt? And the dog... Yes. So sad to see the zeppelins fly off, but all in all it's been a nice day. Yeah, a nice day. I'm going to get my own dog. That'll be nice. So nice."

She rambled to herself deliriously, and even seemed to legitimately be asking for answers from another, but nobody was there to respond. Still, subconsciously her ears were open to the possibility that someone, somewhere, would appear and reassure her. Though, even without someone to confirm what she was saying, the shadow that was haunting her slipped away into a deep, inaccessible part of her psyche since it was too much to bear and still maintain her sanity. Her brain repressed it. Her spine slowly straightened out once more and she stared forward with vacant eyes as the corners of her lips twitched into a smile. She scanned her surroundings, noticing her chair knocked over and her table slightly displaced, as well as the broken pencil on the other side of the room. She also took note of a stinging in her palms; looking down at them showed that there were small cuts there, but were at this point no longer bloody.

"Oh?" She breathed as her eyes started to show their normal vibrancy and liveliness again, "How did all of this happen?"