There were few moments in life more blissful and serene than waking up naturally to a warm, vibrant sun ensnared by soft, silky cotton sheets. The slight smell of honey and lavender mingled pleasantly with fresh hot coffee brewing in the next room. Even as Eren regained his senses after a deep, uninterrupted sleep his eyes remained closed for several seconds until he finally became aware of a benevolent omnipresence around him.

A smile graced his lips as he peaked one eye open slightly and saw the vague silhouette of his colossal girlfriend’s face framed by a waterfall of raven black hair. Jisoo’s expression bordered between curiosity to see when he would notice her, and equal parts tranquility. Like him she had woken up to a blissful weekend morning. 

Eventually she caught on that he was actually awake and giggled, her warm breath smelled distinctly of mint and fresh tea leaves. “You look so cute when you’re asleep.” She murmured and lowered her enormous mouth to plant a kiss on his torso. “So cute I could just eat you up…”

“Good morning to you too~?” Eren began as her kiss became more intense until he felt the slimy expanse of her tongue slip from between her lips and beneath his back. At first it was a pleasant sensation from her affection, but quickly devolved to become overwhelming. 

Her giggling continued even as Eren grunted in discomfort. The formerly sweet, melodious sound of her laughter had become almost sinister. Jisoo used her gargantuan tongue to assault Eren until it culminated in her scooping him up into her mouth. “J-Jisoo~!”

“Hmmmm… I think I’ll have a taste of you.” She said cruelly in a breathless tone and drew him in entirely. “You little crumb, did you think I ever actually loved you?”

“P-Please don’t do this!” Eren’s voice was now a high-pitched squeal as she enjoyed thrashing him around her mouth. Her booming, godlike voice rattled his bones as she giggled at his expense. He could feel her gathering a bit of saliva around him as he grew closer to the endless abyss that was her throat and sensed what she intended to do. Tears were in Eren’s eyes as he tried to call out to her in vain one last time. “Jisoo please I love~!” 

“Goodbye!” 

Eren’s eyes flew open and he let out a loud scream that reverberated across his speckhouse. The sheets were thoroughly soaked with his own sweat and were sprawled partially across one side of the bed and the rest on the floor. Dark hair clung to his clammy cheeks, and Eren felt the intense urge to wretch. Immediately he got out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. 

The morning sun had not yet illuminated the room outside of his speckhouse, which for the past two weeks had been sitting on top of Grace’s dresser. At a guess she was either out on a jog or was dealing with some work-related business, either way he was happy she was not around to hear him vomit into the toilet. He could not keep it entirely clean and some of the deluge was caught by long strands of hair and some chunky droplets got on the tile bathroom floor.

After he emptied his stomach of whatever he had half-heartedly eaten the night prior, Eren slumped over the toilet bowl and struggled to come up with a reason to get up. Eventually he decided that the putrid smell of acrid throw-up was too much to bear, and there was no chance that Yuxi would be able to clean his bathroom. Her elephantine finger could barely snake its way into his living room. Anything related to his own living space was entirely his responsibility anyways, not that he would have expected the maid to try. She already did so much for him whenever Grace was away, since the heiress couldn’t be bothered to cook meals and do laundry for Eren.

Several paper towels and ounces of bleach later, the tile was cleaned and Eren tossed the rubbish in with the toilet and flushed. Then he stepped into the shower to clean himself of the disgusting residue which had matted to his hair and cheeks. As he stripped naked, part of his subconscious noticed how baggy his clothes were. Despite Yuxi’s best attempts to prepare meals he would enjoy; he just did not have the motivation to eat or workout anymore and had quickly lost a fair bit of muscle mass. 

Cold water soothed his nerves as Eren relentlessly washed the vomit from his long dark hair and tried not to think about his most recent nightmare. Sometimes Jisoo was his tormentor. Other times she never showed up to save him from some kind of cruel action. Many times over the past two weeks since she vanished, night terrors prevented him from sleeping. The effects it was beginning to have on his body were becoming too much to bear. 

Is this how she felt after what happened with Tae-yeon? Eren wondered and stepped out of the bath, dripping wet. He dried himself off and changed into a set of new clothes since the old ones would need a wash. If it is then I can see why she turned to alcohol.

The only bright side was that on the few and far between times Eren was able to accrue more than a few hours of sleep in a row, he no longer instinctively tried to snuggle against her bosom or cheek like they normally did in bed. Although he still missed her loving warmth and struggled to even fall asleep without the pleasant sound of her breathing, like the sound of gentle wind cresting along a mountain. 

Unable to take his own bedroom anymore, Eren exited the speckhouse and used the ladder provided for him to scale the cabinet. Each day he did not try to work his muscles, the trek became more arduous. Numerous times he nearly slipped, but finally he reached the desk where Yuxi had set up his monitor. The maid had been the one to detach his entire set-up and help transfer it and the rest of Eren’s belongings to Grace’s house, and now she was his primary caretaker. And Grace’s newest lover if the moans at night were any indicator.

Eren paused before he dialed the number which came up on the screen. He hated to bother her with his woes, but right now after his most recent nightmare had to speak to someone. Grace was away, and even if she was around Eren would not have been able to open up to her about something like this. While she and Eren were still friends and she had not hesitated to take him in, she and Jisoo were like sisters. So, they rarely spoke about the break-up for their own sake.

After a few seconds of ringing the video call screen switched to show a young Chinese woman, dressed in her pajamas and answering from her phone. “Hey-a Eren.” Zhang Ruiwen said casually as she washed a chalky substance off her hand. “You’ll have to give me and Maddie a moment. She’s showing me how to make homemade apple pie.” 

“It’s no big deal.” Eren replied as the video screen jostled around while Ren tried to clean up her work area to transfer the phone to Maddie’s personal smartphone. “I’m happy to see you and her getting along so well.”

“I made a promise to Aunt Jisoo to treat Maddie well. I intend to keep it.”

“...Have you heard anything about Maeve?” Eren asked, although he already knew the answer before he bothered to inquire. Ren shook her head before he even finished his sentence.

Shortly after Jisoo disappeared, Maddie finally explained the situation with Maeve. When she was first captured, Maddie had no choice but to hide Maeve underneath a stack of wooden pallets near the warehouse she owned. In hindsight that had likely only put Maeve in more danger, and now that Ren had at least proven that she could be trusted to keep her word and had treated Maddie like a roommate more than anything, they saw fit to ask if she could find Maeve.

That did not change anything that Ren had done of course, she had taken great pleasure in killing three people and according to Maddie would do so again if she was ordered to do so. However, she bore no ill will against Maddie who was collateral damage, or Maeve who was innocent in all of this as well. Their relationship was strange, to say the least.

Maeve could be anywhere by now. If she’s still alive… As a runner she probably has countless safehouses in the nooks and crannies of Philadelphia only she knows the location of. If she made it to one of them then there’s no way any of us can find her. Eren thought. Norwich runners were the same way, they normally made small hideouts which acted as checkpoints and safehouses for travel around the city. Unfortunately, not even Maddie knew where they were.

Since Maddie had been turned into a speck, Ren had decided to take on the responsibility of looking after Jefferson Commune. Every so often she would arrive with meals and warm clothes. When asked, she explained that she was a college friend of Maddie’s. They never informed anybody at the Commune the truth about what actually happened to Maddie. Like the rest of the world, the specks there thought Maddie died in a tragic car accident and the flames incinerated her body to be unrecognizable. Eren did not know where they got the charred body double which was visited by Maddie’s heartbroken parents. Nor did he ask. 

Eventually the camera switched screens and Maddie’s face appeared. “Hey Eren. Is everything okay?” She asked in concern as she stepped away from the work area where Ren appeared to be doing something with a ball of dough which he imagined was for the homemade pie crust. “Did you have another nightmare?”

“Yeah… This one was a little different though. Jisoo… she uh…”

“You don’t need to go any further than that.” Maddie cut in gently as Eren shivered. Simply talking about it gave him conniptions. She thought for a few moments before she continued. “I think you should ask to see a therapist. Maybe Grace can set you up with someone?” 

How exactly would I explain this situation to a therapist? Nobody even believes me when I say I saw a golden light from the statue. Eren thought bitterly. Not that he could blame them, if the event had not saved his life then Eren probably would have thought it was horseshit too. 

Regardless, perhaps to rule out all possibilities, a team of alchemists did inspect the statue and even attempted to recreate the event Eren described. They had a small sample of Jisoo’s blood from her bloodwork in the past and used it to see if they could produce a bright golden light, to no avail. Now Eren simply looked insane to some, he was sure. But he was absolutely positive that he had not experienced a hallucination. 

Although even if I had just been seeing things… would the outcome have been any different? Eren thought and glanced away from Maddie’s concerned gaze. “I miss her.” He admitted after a long pause. 

“She tried to kill you.” Maddie stated pointedly. “And she did have Giulia killed. Ren would never have done any of this if not for Jisoo.”

“You’re right. I’m better off without her, and she did irredeemable things. But~.”

“Stop. You’re about to say ‘but I loved her, and she saved my life’ right? Or something like that. Well don’t. From the moment you two met, Jisoo emotionally manipulated you and lied to you.” Maddie remarked sharply, her voice full of disdain. “And she has killed countless people. Ren told me about her record, you know. Jisoo is a top-ranked Amrita Corporation operations specialist. You don’t gain that kind of recognition without killing thousands of people. People like Giulia. There is no way to atone for any of that. A monster like that doesn’t deserve second chances, or love.” Maddie said, her voice full of unprecedented hatred.

There was a slight shuffling on the other end of the call as something enormous moved. Maddie looked up just in time to see a massive pair of fingers splayed overhead, like the claw to a construction crane come to swoop down on her. 

Instead, Ren deftly seized the phone from Maddie and directed the camera towards herself. “I’ll choose to let that comment slide. I like you Maddie, so please watch what you say.” The giantess advised then returned her attention to Eren. “Perhaps I can offer a unique perspective on this. Both of you probably think I’m a monster too, right? So, who better understands her than another monster?”

“...What do you mean?”

“To Grace and I for example, none of you are ‘real people’. Well, let me rephrase that. You are people. But we are not. We are Descendants of the Fang Sisters, immortal demigoddesses who are destined to reshape this world as we see fit. Everybody else is just a mortal person for us to do with as we see fit.” Ren explained very matter-of-factly. “This is something that is drilled into every operations specialist. To us, the work we do is less ‘killing people’ and more like pulling weeds in a garden or trimming a hedge to be perfect.” She went on.

‘You are people’. Suddenly Grace’s words from a long time ago no longer felt like encouragement. Instead Eren realized the double meaning behind her intention. Eren was a person, the same way any other human was. 

However, Grace and her kind clearly considered all humans, speck or not, to be beneath them. “I fail to see how that changes anything…” Eren murmured. “Why does that matter?”

“To you I suppose it doesn’t really mean too much. You’re human, you can’t really understand how we think and act.” Ren reminded him. “I can bend steel with my bare hands, I can run faster than most cars, bullets literally bounce off me. I’m not bound by a normal lifespan; I will live to see this world crumble to dust and burn away when the sun devours the stars and even then, I’ll likely be on another planet when that happens. So why would someone like me think that a single human life is really worth much beyond amusement? Those not granted the same blessings as us and allowed to be our lovers, friends and allies are all just so utterly meaningless. Take Giulia for example. I’m sure she was a nice lady with a family that misses her… but why should that bother me? In ten thousand years will I even remember her? Will any shred of her family still live?”

“Is that what me and Maddie are to you? We aren’t your equals; you just see us as… toys?” Eren muttered in disbelief. 

To his surprise Ren simply shrugged. “Not exactly. Maddie is my beloved pet. I cherish her company, I feel very attached to her, and I consider her an important part of my life already. And just like many pet owners would likely do, I would charge into a burning building to save her life even if such a thing could theoretically kill me.” The giantess remarked. “But I don’t exactly see her or you for that matter as my equals.”

“Maddie has accepted that I hold those views. But as you can see, that doesn’t mean we must have an antagonistic relationship. If you simply disregard your desire to meddle with the affairs of people who are literal gods to you and accept their judgment as absolute truth… well, perhaps you and Jisoo could be together again.” Ren suggested. 

Despite the utter insanity and megalomania that she spouted, Eren could tell that Ren believed every syllable. There was no pride or gloating in anything she stated. It was not even like she was attempting to convince him that this was the right way to look at things. Instead, he felt she was presenting him with her perspective on life. Whether or not he agreed was ultimately irrelevant to Ren.

I was wondering why Maddie felt so comfortable just outright speaking out against Jisoo in front of Ren. Now I know why, to her it’s like a puppy barking at another puppy. What could me and Maddie even do if we wanted to oppose them? It doesn’t even matter what we believe or say. Eren thought. As long as we don’t piss off the wrong people, that is. 

He thought carefully about what she had said before he replied. “To your last point that me and Jisoo could be together, what do you mean I should disregard my desire to meddle?”

“I mean you should go back to what you were doing for months. Turn a blind eye.” Ren advised him. “You still clearly love Jisoo. For the past two weeks you’ve been venting to Maddie about it, because even though you think she’s a monster for killing other people, she’s still very close to you. Perhaps with this new perspective, you can reach the same conclusion my mother did twenty years ago when she met my father, a male Descendant of the Fang Sisters and learned of our family’s actions.”

“My mother understood two things which I believe you could stand to benefit from. The first is that she loved my father dearly and wanted to be with him no matter what, they are soul mates as you and Jisoo are. The second is that she stands to benefit from being a ‘pet’ to the rest of us. She will live forever; she will be a god-queen amongst mortals. And there’s also nothing she can do to stop the Amrita Corporation. It is inevitable, our dominance is a predetermined outcome. So why should she sacrifice her love for something that will happen regardless? Is it not better to live happy and in love, with power and family, than to die miserable and alone because you care about meaningless things?” Ren proclaimed. 

Abandon my regard for human life and accept that Jisoo is within her right to do with people as she sees fit, and live to be her beloved love slave for eternity… What kind of suggestion is that?! What kind of person could live with themselves for a single lifetime, nevertheless countless ones if they just turned a blind eye to the horrors that the Amrita Corporation plans to unleash upon the world? 

That was all Eren was to Ruiwen. And Grace. And Jisoo. A thing that amused them and kept them company, a pet that while cared for was not loved the same way a person was. His existence if not granted the same longevity as them was insignificant, now that he had forsaken his plans to marry Jisoo, when his time came within the next century to pass on to the next life, it would have been a speck within the span of her eternal life. 

He was meaningless. Like all others who were decreed inferior by the Amrita Corporation. The knowledge that he was at least not lesser than a normal human was of little comfort with the knowledge that a lineage of goddesses who had declared them toys and pets existed~.

‘I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to you. I’ve done so many terrible things I can’t even recount them all.’ 

Were those the words of someone who considered her victims nothing more than weeds in a garden to be plucked?

‘You’ll never have to be afraid of me ever again, you’ll never need to think about me ever again. I hope one day you can forget my existence entirely and you can move on.’

Did that sound like someone who considered herself a goddess who would live forever and one day forget about her first love which fizzled away?

‘But I want you to know that I’ll never forget you. I’ll cherish the memories we have together.’

Eren couldn’t take it anymore. Without another word he hung up the phone and rose from his chair. Within his chest his heart raced just as fast as thoughts went by in his mind. He needed another shower, or to vomit again, or maybe both. Whichever he chose, he could not think about it anymore. 

After everything that Jisoo had done, why was he still so drawn to her? Even after he had seen the murderous intent in her eyes that had only been prevented by a true miracle, he still wanted to believe the best in her. He wanted to believe that the ideal image in his mind of who she really was would somehow materialize if he loved her enough.

Even as the part of him that cried out for her to return expressed regret, another part of Eren that had lingered for weeks emerged. 

The side of him that remembered how she had crushed a girl under her foot when she ran away screaming, helpless after she was tortured and partially melted away. He recalled how seconds later she had swiftly taken that same girl’s broken older brother and taken great pleasure in how he slid down her throat. She had eaten people and enjoyed it innumerable times. At the slightest provocation she had destroyed lives brutally. Cruelly. How could he believe a person like that was right for him? Why was it all so fucking hard to think this through~?!

“Hello Eren.”

The familiar voice was spoken with an uncharacteristic coldness which he had never heard before, uttered from what seemed liked miles above. Eren on his trek across the floor had been so distracted by his thoughts he had not noticed that Grace had returned from her morning jog, and now stood in the doorway next to the cabinet where his speckhouse was located. Behind her in the hallway, Yuxi stood with an unreadable expression.

Normally Eren would be happy to have Grace back home. Her company was one of the few things that kept him preoccupied with things other than his recent break-up. However, after his conversation with Ruiwen, Eren was not in the mood to race down the highway or attend another one of her ‘parties’ as they had done earlier in the week. 

And there was something off about Grace’s voice which triggered alarms in his head. The way she stared down at him between her gym shoes when he had nearly accidentally walked into her foot was difficult to comprehend. A mixture of determination, sadness, and finality all wrapped into one. 

He shifted back and forth. “Hey Grace, how was your run?” Eren asked conversationally as she got on her haunches above him. “Did you run into~?!” Before he could say another word, her hand swiped across the floor towards him.

What the hell? Eren thought as she clutched him possessively within her fist. “G-Grace?” He managed as she stood back up and took a long, deep breath before she replied.

“We need to talk.”