It had only been a few short months since she had seen him, but after all she had been through on her own trapped inside her mind and searching the depths of her soul to find some small part of herself worthy of redemption, Jisoo felt as though it had been years since she last saw Eren. 

She knew his pulchritudinous face so well she could paint a portrait of him. For many nights, she looked back at memories of them together to remind herself of what she had thrown away. 

We met just like this, didn’t we? Jisoo thought fondly as she got on her haunches, still careful to ensure Maeve was nestled safely in the palm of her hand while she admired her former lover, cast down on the ground and far more gaunt than she recalled. 

With his lithe, almost starved physical frame and eyes wide with shock and hope from the realization he had been saved, Jisoo could not help but think it eerily similar to the way they had first met. In that dingy bathroom after she flatlined two women who meant to kill him. 

Seconds ticked by before Jisoo realized that she had not said a word after he whispered her name in disbelief. Instead she simply stared down at him, dumbly, as she struggled to put her flurry of emotions and questions into words.

I practiced this in the mirror for hours… Why can’t I just say how I feel? Jisoo thought as her cheeks flushed red and tears formed in her eyes as her body went through the emotional turmoil of its own volition. She opened her mouth to speak but choked on her own tears and sealed her lips. 

There was so much she wanted to say. Jisoo wanted to express how terribly sorry she was, for all that she had done and for all that had happened subsequent to her departure. She wanted to desperately explain that she had done her best to change for the better, and she wanted to assure him everything would be okay. Another part of her, buried deep within the nethers of her heart, wanted to ask if there was any way they could be together again. 

No… that’s not possible. Saving him doesn’t mean anything more than me doing what any adjusted, good person would do. It’s just the right thing to do and that doesn’t mean me and Eren~! She tried to convince herself before he blurted three words that silenced her thoughts. 

“I love you.” 

It was not a last ditch statement from someone who did not want to leave the world with questions unanswered; Eren declared his feelings towards her as a proclamation. An absolute declaration of his affection.

With her free hand, the one that did not hold Maeve, Jisoo wiped the tears from her eyes and somehow managed to smile weakly in response as she reached for him. He felt warm to the touch, but especially delicate, like a neatly folded paper statue between her elephantine fingers. His entire being fit nicely in her palm, but Jisoo could tell at once he was much lighter than she recalled. 

Months of relentless torture had stripped Eren of most of his physical strength. Fortunately as she stared deep into his brilliant eyes she could see that his mental fortitude had not faltered in the slightest. If anything, his desire to live was stronger than ever.

“I love you too.” Jisoo said in response, the simplest expression of her feelings she could possibly utter. “Eren… I’m sorry. For everything.” She whispered and brought Maeve close to her lips as well for inspection.

She was bruised, but fortunately had been spared any broken bones or serious injuries. A nanosecond later, and Jisoo knew the girl would have been dead. Maeve stared mirthfully at Jisoo, and she felt the tiny woman go slack in her grip. Both specks suddenly became heavier, as for the first time in months, they realized they were quite literally in safe hands. Both of them could take a blessed breath of fresh air.

*rumble*

Both Eren and Maeve went ghost white as they heard the distant sound of whatever rubble was left of the west wing of the house shift. Tons of broken concrete, wood, furniture, and other debris rattled against each other as heavy chunks of building material was effortlessly pushed away like pillows from a blanket. 

Jisoo’s smile faded slightly and she sighed deeply. It took more strength than she cared to admit, but she gingerly set both specks on the ground by her boots, then located the small toothpick that Maeve used as a cane. “Both of you need to run and hide until my sister gets here.” She murmured. “Until then, let me deal with Grace.”

“Jisoo you know how strong she is, let’s just all get out of here and~!”

“No. I know her well enough to know that she would catch up before we even left the estate. And I can’t protect you and fight Grace at the same time.” Jisoo cut in sternly, her tone of voice left no room for debate from either speck. “This isn’t goodbye. So stay safe, and please just run as far away from here as you possibly can.” She said encouragingly. 

Eren did not want to go. They had only just reunited and he did not want to turn his back on her for even a second. She could see the indecision written across his face, and truthfully, Jisoo wanted to do as he said and make a break for it. Her intuition told her that it would inevitably result in the demise of all of them, if she had to defend them both and fight simultaneously.

This was for the best. 

Begrudgingly, Eren draped Maeve’s arm over his shoulders and helped her move briskly beneath a bush. Jisoo watched them for a few seconds, and made a mental note of their speed and trajectory. It would likely take about five minutes from them to reach the rest of the garden. From there, the maze of hedges and flowers would make them borderline impossible to find. 

Jisoo rose from her crouched position and took a deep breath as she glanced towards the destroyed remains of her former bedroom and kitchen. Bits and pieces of fractured metal and concrete continued to jostle around, until a minute later a disgruntled figure emerged from the wreckage, standing atop the ruins. 

A small red blotch of tender flesh and trickle of blood oozing from the corner of her lips appeared to be the most damage Grace had sustained. Most of her clothes had been ripped, which revealed her intricate tattoos from beneath her outfit. Her eyes appeared bloodshot, although Jisoo was fairly certain they had been that way from even before her arrival. It was possible she had been crying earlier. 

That was my best shot and I took her by surprise. Honestly, I think my fist hurts more than her jaw right now. Jisoo thought and shook her right hand slightly then popped her knuckles. I would expect no less from her though. 

Grace Chen represented the absolute pinnacle of what Amrita Corporation science and selective genetic experimentation could achieve. Her skin was practically invulnerable; even her eyes, the weakest place on her body, was considerably more durable than diamond. 

Every muscle fiber had been dramatically enhanced, and to Grace, the only difference between a steel beam and a string of fairy floss was the sound it made when she pulled it apart. And of course, she had been trained by some of the best martial arts instructors in the world since she was a teenager. 

Even on my best day, she would easily mop the floor with me in a straight up fight. But I don’t have to beat her, I just have to stall her long enough for Suji to arrive and get Eren and Maeve to safety. Jisoo thought to herself, thinking as optimistically as she could when she considered her chances. Still… I never thought something like this would happen. 

Grace brushed some dust off what little was left of her silken short-sleeve, then popped the joints in her neck. “Have you lost your fucking mind?!” She shouted and leapt from the debris onto the pavement fifty or so feet from Jisoo. “What the hell do you think you're doing?”

“Stopping you from hurting either of them any further.”

“I was just trying to scare them a little. Do you have any idea how hard it’s been to keep them alive since you left?! Aunt Min ordered both of their deaths and I had to play the villain, that’s it.” Grace muttered and rolled her eyes. “A lot has changed since you left Jisoo. Don’t jump to any assumptions about what’s really going on here.”

“How fucking stupid do you think I am?! I’m not a lost little speck girl who you can manipulate anymore.”

“Calm down. They’ll get themselves into trouble if they get too far, so let’s just talk things out and relax for a moment. Do you really think I would have done anything to intentionally hurt Eren? I know better than anybody how much he means to you.” Grace insisted and folded her arms. 

The lies rolled off her tongue effortlessly. Each word was uttered with such conviction Jisoo was sure in any other scenario she might have believed her cousin. Just how many lies had she been told over the years and foolishly believed?

Jisoo shook her head. “I saw Eren’s memories of what you did to him and Maeve for the past four months.” She revealed as Grace frowned in genuine bewilderment. “You tortured him and brought Maeve here to use as collateral against him, and violated her as well for your own amusement. And when you realized you had been played by one of Satsuki’s spies, and you couldn’t break both of them, you turned to Jade to have their memories wiped.”

“That’s a very interesting delusion. It ignores the fact that none of that is possible in the slightest.”

“For fuck’s sake stop lying! I can’t believe I ever trusted you.” Jisoo shouted angrily as Grace continued to play dumb. “And it wasn’t just me. Eren trusted you too. After all the time we spent together, all that bullshit you gave me about seeing him as a friend.”

“I do see him as a friend! That’s… That’s exactly why I did this in the first place.” Grace finally admitted when she realized there was nothing she could do to bluff her way out of this. “I didn’t want him to be executed by the Amrita Corporation! I didn’t want him to go on living as he was without you. All I wanted was for him to become the husband you deserve; how does that make me the bad guy in all of this?!”

“You… You don’t get it. You really believe that nonsense.”

“Jisoo please, I knew that sooner or later I would be ordered to kill Eren and you would hate me and our family forever. And Eren’s nature made him incompatible with you after he learned more about you, so I had to change it! It was the only way for you to be together.” Grace said defensively. “You have what you want now, don’t you get it? Eren trusts you again. We can go back to the way things were.” She insisted.

No. We can never go back to the way things were. Not after everything you’ve done. Not after everything I’ve learned about my own family and what they do to people. Jisoo thought and clenched her fists tightly. “Don’t try to act like you didn’t enjoy every second of his suffering. It was your sick, twisted lust that drove you to do it.” She said accusingly. “Keeping him safe is just your flimsy excuse to cause him even more pain and justify it to whatever tiny bit of humanity is still inside of you. Believe me, I know because for years I did the exact same thing.”

“Have you forgotten who we are, Jisoo? Don’t you remember why it is that you and I don’t need to justify our actions to anybody?” Grace inquired incredulously. “We are both xian, given the divine right to rule and safeguard humans from their own destructive nature. It is not up to humans to determine whether or not our actions are cruel or not. It’s us, and only us who get to make that decision.”

“...We aren’t gods. Neither of us are or will ever be. The power we’ve been given doesn’t give us the right to hurt other people for our own amusement. It isn’t our right to exert our influence on the world, and it certainly isn’t our right to call the plight of specks ‘an unfortunate necessity’. We created specks in the first place and drove the world to despise them, then curse those very same people for doing what we wanted in the first place.” Jisoo muttered as Grace listened to her words, mortified by every ‘blasphemous’ word that she said. “It’s taken me so long to realize, but now I know why we insist on the distinction between us and ‘them’. It’s because you can’t stomach the realization that every person you’ve ever crushed, eaten, or mutilated for your own indulgence was every bit as human as you, and vice versa.” 

“Y-You don’t know what you’re saying! What happened to you, were you captured by your mother and sister?! Did they brainwash you~?”

“For the first time since you fucking monsters weeded out whatever humanity I once had, I’m thinking normally again! Don’t you dare insinuate that I am the one who's been brainwashed when you stole me away from my home and turned me into a mass murderer and a cannibal.” Jisoo screamed despairingly, her voice trembling. “I never even wanted to be like you! From the moment we first met, I never wanted to become a fucking assassin! I just wanted to live a normal life and you forced me to kill that girl on my birthday!”

“I didn’t force you to do anything. You hated that insignificant insect. You chose to kill her.”

“You played on my insecurities and emotional turmoil for the entire night, then got me so drunk I could barely think straight. I-I didn’t even realize what happened until…” Jisoo trailed off as fresh tears began to form under her eyes. 

Until it was too late. She thought and took a deep breath. Ki-jung was the first person I ever killed, and I don’t even remember everything that happened that night. All I remember was the taste of blood and the lump in my throat. Stains from her body on my dress…

“Now is your chance.” The voice in her head whispered. Grace blinked and outwardly attempted to show no reaction to Jisoo’s heretical words, lest she give away even an iota of weakness or doubt. There was no doubt, only the truth of that matter, that her family were deities in human form given authority to dominate humanity and every lifeform in the universe. 

That was their destiny, their responsibility to humankind. Every moment of her life, from her inception to her final breath, would be dedicated to that goal. It was more than just the Amrita Corporation, it was the Fang Dynasty that her ancestor Baochai had sacrificed so much to achieve.

A perfect world.

“Jisoo broke the curse your clan placed on her the moment she was brought into the fold. You can do it too. You don’t have to hurt anybody else ever again. You don’t have to be a monster.” The voice begged her desperately. Grace tried to tune it out but could hardly even form her own thoughts as the temptation drew at her like gravity.

 “Grace… Join her. Abandon it. All of it. Do the right thing for once in your life. You won’t get a second chance.” Her subconscious advised.

Tears formed in Grace’s eyes. Fat drops of moisture that dribbled down her cheek and rolled to the ground at her boots. 

The voice was right about one thing, this was her only chance. If she wanted to abandon the life she had chosen for herself, another opportunity would never reveal itself. All she had to do was get on her knees and admit what deep down she really believed.

I’m sorry. I… I really am. Grace thought, and replied to the voice in her mind which had been rendered silent by her inner thoughts. I’ve gone too far to ever seek forgiveness. You were wrong. It’s too late for me.

As she won the battle with her own subconscious, Grace felt the voice in her head, whatever entity or aspect of her being that pleaded with her to stop, begin to wither away until it vanished altogether, defeated. Grace could think clearly once again. It was gone, there was no more conflict. Only her, in her natural form the way she had always been intended to be.

Perfect.

Jisoo watched as Grace seemed to come to terms with everything she said. Briefly her cousin looked as though she grappled with some kind of internal strife, but ultimately her loyalty for the clan and the family was too strong. It was all she had. 

Grace looked up with a set of dark, cold eyes. The gaze of a self-assured goddess that had just bore witness to a terrible blasphemy. “So be it.” Her cousin remarked quietly and took a step forward ominously. “If you want to turn your back on the Amrita Corporation… Then I will treat you as what you are. A rogue variable. Part of a broken equation.” 

“...It’s not just about what I want. It’s about what I have to do.” Jisoo muttered and readied herself for an incoming barrage, both mentally and physically. “I’m… I’m sorry that you can’t understand that.” 

“I’m sorry too.” Grace replied, before she lunged forward at an unfathomable speed towards Jisoo. 

Focus. She’s not thinking clearly and is emotionally compromised. Jisoo thought as she wisely decided to avoid Grace’s rapid attack altogether rather than even attempt to block it. 

She ducked low beneath Grace’s arm which cut harmlessly an inch above her skull, then rolled to the side to avoid the follow-up knee strike. 

Jisoo felt a slight pushback from the shockwave generated by even the simplest of Grace’s movements. An evaded blow still carried enough force to rattle her bones. Taking just one of them would turn the tides of the fight quickly. But she was alright with that, so long as Eren and Maeve got to safety. 

With her initial attacks evaded without too much effort, Grace rapidly attacked again to prevent a possible counter. She followed up her haymaker-knee combo with a simple jab intended to set up a cross to Jisoo’s jaw, but was once again evaded. Every single one of her punches and kicks carried full intent to maim, and were wild, murderous in their trajectory.

I’ve sparred with Grace enough to predict her moves to some extent. And because she’s so flustered, she’s not as sharp as usual. Jisoo thought as she weaved beneath a front kick and slipped behind Grace. This time she decided to press the advantage, and drove her fist into her cousin’s midsection. 

No reaction. Grace simply spun around and continued her wild, full-frontal assault of devastating punches. “You’ve gotten weaker.” Grace noted. “Why bother fighting me? You can’t win.” She muttered. 

This time Grace learned from her mistakes earlier and feinted a right hook into an elbow which she stepped into. Jisoo’s eyes widened as she saw the blow coming, and just barely managed to raise her guard high enough to block it. 

The impact was most comparable to being struck by a high-speed bullet train, and Jisoo was pushed back several feet. Fortunately she managed to maintain her composure, and outwardly demonstrated no reaction to the terrible pain. 

Don’t let her pressure you! Throw two for every one she does and break her rhythm before it starts. Jisoo told herself and thrust her foot off the ground the second she impacted the gravel. With the extra momentum she flew forward and rocketed into Grace, who was forced to raise her own arms to block a shoulder bash into her midsection. 

Grace scoffed and effortlessly warded off Jisoo’s follow-up knee to her pelvis, which practically bounced off. “You’re pathetic.” She hissed, and shot her hands forward. 

Jisoo gasped and felt a pressure around her neck. Grace’s fingers attempted to coil around her throat, which forced her to press off her cousin’s body using her feet in an attempt to leap away once again. Although she managed to escape a possible attempt at strangulation, Grace still managed to grab a fistful of raven black hair. 

Her cousin swung her by the scalp horizontally, and let go just before she could rip some of the hair out. Jisoo flew through the air and slammed into a wall in the house before her body crashed through the exterior layer, but she maintained her momentum and slammed into another four. She felt tons of debris and concrete fall all around her, and used her arms and legs to protect her vital areas as the house continued to collapse all around her.

Fuck! I have to be careful to not damage the house too much, Eren and Maeve are likely still inside somewhere~! Before she could force herself from under the rubble, Grace landed on top of the epicenter to where the home had fallen.

Her impact was like a meteor, and she crushed numerous blocks of building material between her feet and Jisoo’s body. Jisoo tasted her own blood, but tried to remain calm as her cousin renewed her assault the moment she freed herself from under the rubble. 

Something felt terribly wrong in the space between her stomach and collarbone. A rib was likely fractured. 

I can’t keep this up. She’s just way too fucking strong! Jisoo cursed as she clumsily attempted to dodge more of Grace’s animalistic blows, each one that crashed into her arms or shins left a nasty bruise almost immediately. 

“Is this what you wanted?! You wanted me to beat you to death over some worthless fucking humans?!” Grace shouted as she delivered a powerful kick that landed thunderously below Jisoo’s elbow just before it could be stopped as well. 

The moment her arms were lowered as she tried to protect her torso, Jisoo received another massive punch, this time right to her unprotected jaw. Grace’s fist collided with her cheek and twisted her head to the side, but slipped on a splatter of blood that Jisoo had coughed up earlier when she was under the rubble. 

Had that not happened, Jisoo probably would have been decapitated by the blow that sent her body catapulting through another series of walls. Somehow she remained conscious and tried to get her bearings, but before she had even come to a complete stop beneath even more rubble, Grace had somehow appeared right in her path and punched her again in a different direction like she was a tennis ball. 

Once again Jisoo flew, until she landed in the courtyard with a resounding thud in a stone fountain and crashed through the watery basin. Dazed, she could barely see anything when Grace appeared yet again, and thrust her elbow across her jaw once more to drive her cousin into the ground. 

Part of Jisoo’s jaw fractured this time, as well as her left arm that shattered when she tried in vain to stop the merciless series of attacks. Every part of her body was in utter agony, but she refused to succumb to the sweet bliss of unconsciousness. 

Grace resorted to pounding away at her meager guard in frustration. “Fucking answer me! Is this what you wanted?!” She shouted. “Is this what~?!” 

Her question was cut off by an uppercut that Jisoo managed to sneak in between blocked punches and kicks. She had become accustomed to Grace’s rage-filled rhythm enough to manage at least one counterattack, and aimed for Grace’s chin right as she was in the middle of her sentence.

She slammed Grace’s lower jaw into the top part of her teeth right as her tongue was sandwiched between them, and was rewarded for her efforts with a spurt of blood from Grace’s tongue as her own jaw crushed the front of the slimy organ. 

Grace gurgled in pain and immediately stopped her relentless barrage to hold her jaw and determine whether or not she even had any tongue leftover, which left her completely exposed. Jisoo saw her opportunity and seized it frantically.

As Grace remained motionless, Jisoo raised her remaining non-broken arm and brought her elbow down like a guillotine into the back of Grace’s skull with enough force to shatter the windows of the remaining parts of the estate. Grace was thrust onto the ground and blood began to trickle from her nose as well, and Jisoo watched her eyes temporarily roll to the back of her head.

Blows to the back of the head were banned in most competitive fighting organizations due to the lasting trauma they could leave on a fighter. Brain damage, increased chance of skull fracture, internal hemorrhages. A well-placed shot here would hopefully do something to the otherwise indomitable woman.

Jisoo watched Grace fall and pressed her temporary advantage. 

“I loved you! I saw you as a sister!” Jisoo shouted tearfully and kicked Grace in the jaw as hard as she possibly could while she was on the ground. She straddled her and unleashed a flurry of desperate punches into Grace’s skull, determined to beat her into a coma if that’s what it took. “My best friend, the first person I ever met who gave me hope. And you betrayed me!”

“I betrayed you?” Grace stammered and managed to take hold of Jisoo’s wrist to control her arm. Her grip was unbearably tight and almost impossible to escape. 

Jisoo grit her teeth as she felt the bones begin to break. Grace looked up at her hatefully before she slammed her forehead into Jisoo’s nose, and sent her sprawling backwards. “Don’t give me that shit...” Grace muttered and stood up while Jisoo struggled to come to her senses. “You left me without a damn word. At least the second time around you thought to call me. But you weren’t strong enough to talk to me face to face and left me to take care of your useless fucking boyfriend.”  

Grace reeled back and delivered a strong kick to Jisoo’s midsection, which sent her several feet through the air back in the direction of the fountain. She landed painfully on a spot of grass, and tried her best to stand up. 

It’s getting hard to breathe… My nose is broken. Jisoo thought, and realized that she was seeing double. Slowly the adrenaline was wearing off, and her injuries were beginning to affect her. Are Eren and Maeve safe? I… I don’t know where they are. 

Her cousin wiped the blood from her nose and slowly walked forward. Despite her best efforts, Grace didn’t look too hurt. At most the elbow to the back of her head had left her stunned temporarily, but not much else. She probably would struggle with some consonants due to her bloody tongue, but that hardly affected her ability to fight. 

By comparison Jisoo could hardly stand. She doubted she could take much more of this before her body gave up. 

“Maybe I was wrong to think you were worth anything. You can’t let go of your bothersome, annoying attachments to realize your proper place in the world as a goddess.” Grace proclaimed and lunged forward again. “Let’s find out.”

It was impossible to take more than five steps in any direction without immediately being knocked over by something. Whether it was from an entire wall collapsing, part of the roof falling down, or the ground shaking from a seismic slam in the wake of the two superpowered women clashing horns, Eren and Maeve were both lucky to be alive. 

Jisoo was capable of this the entire time? Eren thought in disbelief as he stole a glance at his beloved, who thus far had been engaged in a lopsided battle with Grace. 

Even though she seemed thoroughly outmatched, Eren could still appreciate the unbelievable speed at which Jisoo moved. In the blink of an eye she could vanish in a flash and reappear dozens of meters away, and every time she landed a blow on Grace, he imagined that it probably would have punctured a hole in a tank. 

However, her opponent was in a different dimension altogether. Grace seemed truly invincible. She shrugged off attacks that had penetrated steel support beams and moved faster than his ordinary human eyes could comprehend. 

Their fight had spanned across the entire palace by now, and not much was left of the building. Every few seconds someone was tossed through walls or thrown into a roof. It made traversal for the two specks almost impossible.

“She’s losing isn’t she?” Maeve muttered as she also looked at Jisoo from across the garden they had successfully managed to cross. It was faster for her to ditch the cane and Eren opted to carry her over his shoulders.

Eren grimaced. “She’ll be okay.” He said reassuringly. “She has to be.”

“I’m… I’m sorry Eren. If I had handled things better back there we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“You did nothing wrong, and have nothing to apologize for.” Eren said firmly as he hopped over a pebble the size of a small boulder to him and continued to jog towards the perimeter of the property. “Just focus on figuring out a way out of here.”

“Y-Yeah. If we make it to the back lawns maybe we can~?” Maeve began but was cut off by a crashing noise from overhead, moments before a hail of splintered rock and stone exploded mere inches away from both specks. 

Maeve screamed and Eren lost his balance. They crashed to the ground together and he immediately crawled on top of her to protect the smaller speck from the relentless torrent of stones that threatened to crush them both. 

He grit his teeth as the rocks pounded away at his fragile back, and could feel the warm trickle of blood oozing from several cuts. “Try to stand up. We have to keep moving.” Eren murmured and pulled Maeve on to her feet and did his best to haul her onto his shoulders again. “Just a little further…”

“Eren, you’re bleeding.” Maeve said in concern as she felt his injuries from beneath what little was left of his shredded shirt. “Just… Just leave me behind! I’m slowing you down!”

“That’s not going to happen.” 

“We don’t have time to argue about this!”

“Your fate will be the same as mine, and I fully intend to live.” Eren shot back and ignored her desperate pleas. 

Jisoo carried me several blocks to safety, drunk out of her mind in the snow without any shoes. The least I can do is get Maeve out of here.

Even if we get to the lawn, what are we supposed to do? Wait for Jisoo to hopefully get away? Continue to wait for her sister? Eren cursed to himself but continued to trod on. 

Another slam. This one sapped the momentum from his legs and Eren stumbled, but he continued to run. The fight had become even more one-sided, and most of the slams were now from Jisoo being thrashed by her infinitely stronger opponent. 

It was impossible for that not to be on the forefront of Eren’s mind. They had only just reunited and confessed their love. He couldn’t bear to think of what might happen if this continued for much longer.

“Watch your right!” Maeve suddenly warned, too late as a shadow eclipsed both specks. Eren looked to his side just in time to see Jisoo’s limp body flying towards them, in a direct path to collide with him and Maeve. 

Jisoo must have subconsciously heard Maeve scream fearfully, because at the last moment before her body could crush both specks into paste, she rotated midair and managed to just barely avoid a direct impact. Eren whipped his neck to the other side and watched her tumble helplessly across the garden into a thorny rose bush. 

Her eyes drearily opened and struggled to focus on anything. She was clearly concussed and could barely remain awake, much less stand up and fight Grace who seemed determined to beat Jisoo to death. 

Another shadow overcame the two specks as they were stuck in between two hedges, with Jisoo to their far left and another figure in the right. 

“Staying to fight just delayed the inevitable, Jisoo. Do you realize that? Your efforts only bought them a few minutes more.” Grace mocked as she walked through a cloud of dusty debris and marched purposefully towards the specks and her cousin, who sputtered up blood in response. 

The cruel giantess stared down at the specks, who looked up at her like deer in headlights. “What a worthless failure of a husband you are, Eren…” She said sweetly with a malicious glare in her eyes. “Doing nothing while your wife is beaten senseless. You don’t deserve to have her.”

“G-Grace…” Jisoo stammered and rolled on to her stomach, then began to pathetically crawl, using her somewhat functioning arm to drag herself across the ground towards the other three. “P-Please don’t…”

“Hmm? Sorry I can’t hear you all that well. I think you may have a punctured lung or something.” Grace chuckled and raised her foot over Eren and Maeve. 

For a moment they were prepared to share their last words with one another, before she playfully placed her foot just past the two specks, and continued to walk past them towards Jisoo.

Eren turned and began to follow her, helplessly watching as Grace moved closer to Jisoo. “Grace! Kill me instead, just leave her alone!” He begged and set Maeve down and ran towards the titaness. “I’ll do whatever you want!”

“You’ll do whatever I want regardless, you pathetic little worm.” She shot back and tapped him with her boot, which slammed into Eren like a wrecking ball. He was sent catapulting back a few inches, before he rolled onto the ground mostly unscathed next to Maeve. “Stay out of this, if you value your life. I’m just teaching our dearly beloved Jisoo a valuable lesson.” Grace promised, and promptly sucker punched Jisoo into the ground once again. 

The impact sent Jisoo’s face crashing into the pavement through a layer of thin gravel to the concrete underneath. Grace then placed her foot on her cousin’s arm, and rolled her body onto her back. “I’m teaching her what it means to be a goddess… and punishing her for neglecting her duties.” She explained and placed her foot on Jisoo's face, as her cousin struggled to remain awake. “She hasn’t consumed any humans in quite some time. It’s why she’s so fucking weak right now. Not that it would have changed anything.”

Grace slipped her fingers beneath Jisoo’s collar, grabbing hold of what little was left of her shirt. “I’ll let you decide when this stops, Eren. Tell me when you think she’s learned her lesson.”

Somehow, the punches subsequent to the first didn’t really hurt that much. Jisoo supposed she had been hit so many times in the head that her brain couldn’t really process all the extra stimulation to her nerves. Either that or she was so confused and there was enough blood pooling in her brain that the pain didn’t really bother her too much. 

Her jaw was completely shattered. So was her nose, and her orbital bone was completely fractured. As was her collarbone, right foot, and most of her fingers. Left arm might as well have been gone. Four broken ribs, and her left femur was broken. 

With each punch Grace drilled into her skull, Jisoo could only keep fixated on Eren and Maeve, who watched the beating take place with horror-struck expressions. Frankly it didn’t bother her too much if she died here. She just didn’t want it to happen in front of Eren. 

He was screaming something at Grace, who kept her eyes fixated on him with every blow she delivered. She was enjoying this. Causing pain, especially emotional, drove her up the wall with ecstasy after all. Was Eren begging Grace to stop? Or was he screaming nonsensical pleas?

Jisoo couldn’t tell. All she knew was that he was in terrible danger, as Grace stood up over her completely still body as she struggled to suck in air and watched Grace turn her full attention to Eren. 

Her cousin narrowed her eyes. “You really do love him with all your heart, huh? Even now while I’m trying to cave your damn skull in, you're more worried about him than yourself.” Grace murmured, almost in disbelief. “That’s beautiful. It really is. True love is a beautiful thing.”

“Grace please… She’s your family.” Eren begged, now on his knees looking at Jisoo. 

“You won. Just leave her alone.”

“I think there’s been a terrible misunderstanding here. I’m not going to kill her. I just want her to realize how wrong she is about everything. But unfortunately, there’s something preventing that from happening.”

“W-What are you~?!” Eren muttered as Grace strolled towards him with her hand outstretched. He felt his back impact Maeve, who protectively placed herself between them, as if her meager defense could do something. 

Grace guffawed at the attempt. “Oh my! Jisoo, I think you should know you have some serious competition! Maeve seems awfully handsy with Eren, don’t you agree?” She cackled. “I’ve got to warn you though Eren, I fucked Maeve senseless pretty much every night so she’s something of a size queen now. Not sure if you’re gonna be up to her standards.” 

“You fucking sadist, this was never about protecting Eren or Jisoo! You had Madeleine killed just to have something else to hold over my head.” Maeve cried. “From the moment we met I’ve always hated you.”

“Hmph, that’s no way for a sex toy to talk. Don’t worry. Once we’re done here I’ll be sure to make sure you understand your proper place too babe.” Grace said and winked lewdly at Maeve. She glanced over at Eren. “After I’ve dealt with this one once and for all, that is.”

“G-Grace…” Jisoo blurted and continued to try and drag herself closer to Grace, but was too injured to do anything but watch. Tears were in her eyes as her cousin whipped back to face her teasingly. 

Grace’s expression darkened. “This is for your own good.” She said in Mandarin, before she turned back to Eren and reached for him again. “It may be thousands of years from now… But you’ll thank me for this one day, Jisoo.” She muttered.

Eren! Jisoo thought desperately as her vision began to darken. 

Not like this. It couldn’t end like this. If Eren died like this while she could watch and do nothing, there was no sin Jisoo wouldn’t commit to ensure Grace paid tenfold for it. No line she wouldn’t cross. 

Even as she screamed at her muscles to work and grant her the power to save him, or even the power to manufacture the words in her throat to give Grace whatever she wanted to spare his life, Jisoo found herself unable to do so. She could only lay in a bloody pile of her own misery and watch helplessly. 

Why?

It was so eerily familiar. After Ki-jung and her other cronies had played with her one day after school, and accidentally dropped her from a near fatal height, and every bone in her body shattered.

Why does this keep happening? Why can’t I keep anybody I love safe?

The girls had just left her to die. They decided the possibility of being caught outweighed their obligation to save a human life. All of them just turned their backs and walked away as Jisoo begged helplessly for one of them to come to her aid. She could only watch as they departed.

It’s not fair. After everything I’ve been through. After everything Eren has been through!

None of the other students helped her either. Not a single one. Nobody could be bothered to help the broken girl laying in the middle of the sidewalk. They just stepped over her and carried on about their day. She was left to watch. Unable to move, only lament the cruel world she lived in and decry her pathetic place in it. 

Was it that experience that transformed her into a monster? The memories of that day haunted her still. They crept into her mind whenever Jisoo contemplated the worthiness of humanity. Surely a species so apathetic to leave her to rot deserved nothing but her scorn. 

That was how she had thought of mankind for years. Only recently had she undone a lifetime of suffering on her psyche. Now she was about to become a monster again. 

“No…” Jisoo whispered tearfully as her body began to glow bright golden. The light started in her eyes and slithered across her torso to focus around the unfinished tattoo of a nine-tailed fox on her arm. 

Her thoughts were solely on the unfairness of the world. If this happened and there was nothing to do about it… would she walk down that same dark road? The path that had led her to this moment in the first place? 

By now the golden light was bright enough to have captured the attention of both specks. Grace paused right before her fingers could ensnare Eren, and she frowned in befuddlement. She saw the reflection of the light in his teary eyes and turned around slowly. 

No. I’m not a monster or a god. I’m just a person. Jisoo thought as she let go of the hatred that had built up in her heart. It had torn her apart for years, and she realized now that it had never done her any good to see humanity with such rage-filled lenses. Just as she had tried to do in meditation with her mother and sister, she found herself confronting the monster inside of her. 

Only this time she found the courage to let go of her hate. 

What the hell?! Grace thought in alarm and spun around to see an impossible sight, as Jisoo’s formerly broken body began to glow a radiant bright gold. The light danced around her shattered limbs and bloody bruises with enough intensity to make her wince and look away. What’s this heat?! I feel like I’m being burnt alive!

From the corner of her vision, Grace noticed that although Eren and Maeve visibly seemed to see the same light she did, they did not seem to be reacting to the intense heat she experienced. 

Instinctively she backed away several feet, until her back hit some kind of partially broken wall and Grace could only gasp and try her best to weather the firestorm. She blinked and noticed the glowing golden light had expanded dramatically. It no longer was just around Jisoo, it emanated from a much, much larger space than that. 

Where Jisoo had been standing before there was a gargantuan glowing aura, extending seemingly into the stratosphere. Grace had to look away, convinced that the sun itself had descended upon the earth before her. 

Finally, after what felt like an eternity the head subsided, and the burning sensation of bright light dissipated from the outer layer of her eyelids. Grace scoffed and blinked her eyes open slowly, gradually recovering her ability to see. 

“Well Eren, I guess you weren’t totally fucking crazy about the light show.” Grace murmured as she finally managed to get her bearings and confidently gazed forward. “But whatever it is won’t… change… anything…” She said, at first with her typical confident tone but it quickly trailed off into nothingness. 

No that’s… that’s not possible. Grace thought to herself in disbelief as her face went ghost white and she suddenly became very faint. Her legs wobbled until she lost her balance and landed flat on her butt, staring up with her neck craned back almost ninety degrees in absolute disbelief. 

Her entire body was cast in shadow, so there was no need to squint to get a better look. Not that it would have been hard to piece together any of the details of Jisoo’s face.

Jisoo’s enormous, moonlike face which exuded an ethereal beauty. Completely untouched and devoid of even the slightest blemish. No signs of her former beating remained, and her dark hair swirled romantically around her head as a light gust of wind breezed through it. Her gorgeous eyes opened to reveal pools of pure, unfiltered gold. 

That’s… I… Grace struggled to think straight as she felt the earth tremor menacingly as her cousin, a woman slightly shorter than herself under any other circumstance, shifted her weight ever so slightly. Grace instinctively huddled into a fetal position, as if that would protect her from the godlike titan that cast her body, and most of the estate in shadow.

The giantess looked down at Grace, with an almost empathetic gaze. Her clothes had not grown with her, but Jisoo did not seem remotely bothered by her nudity as she was admired by Grace, Eren and Maeve.

All three looked up in astonishment at her majesty; over two hundred feet of unbridled power that gazed down at all of them. Jisoo’s eyes found Eren, who appeared as little less than a speck of sand to her now. She smiled fondly at him, and somehow Grace realized she could see them, microscopic as they were, without any difficulty. The titan then turned her attention to Grace.

Her veins turned to ice, as Jisoo simply smiled darkly at her and licked her lips in anticipation.