It was a calm and quiet early morning for the hall, the older titan had entered the back room and was changing, but it had not yet turned the lights on.

Anthony lay on his back, Liliane sprawled across his chest, she was what usually woke him up these days. She was groaning in her sleep, twitching and flinching, dried lines travelled away from her eyes and down to his chest, showing the paths her tears had traced during the night; she was dreaming again, nightmares.

Anthony sat up, slowly, and moved her to his lap. With one hand on the back of her head, and the other on her rib cage, he rocked her as gently as he could until her eyes shot open. Her pupils dilated, a brief moment of panic and fear coursed through her before she processed that she wasn’t dreaming anymore. Anthony said nothing, merely holding her in his hands. The panic passed after a few fleeting moments and her breathing slowed, having noticed Anthony’s concerned gaze, she tried to put on a smile.

“Good morning,” she croaked out.

Anthony bent down and kissed her forehead, “Good morning,” he whispered back. He said nothing about her nighttime troubles; there wasn’t anything else that could be said. Ever since her abduction and return last month she hadn’t been the same, sometimes he felt like she was an entirely different person.

Every night she would have nightmares, during the day her former chipper determination had been replaced by a barely repressed anxiety. Anthony remembered how she stood when he first met her, back straight, chest puffed out, prideful, knowing that her efforts helped to preserve her community.

Now, however, she was a wreck in both body and spirit. Physically, her right leg was useless, they had done their best, but it would still take months to heal and even when it did she would never walk like how she had before. His memory flickered back to when she was returned to them from between the titan’s fingers, a crumpled heap, covered in her own piss and vomit, they tried to set her bone while she was still unconscious, but she woke up in the middle of it.

He could still remember how she had screamed. It was the worst sound he had ever heard.

“Anthony, I need to…” Liliane’s voice tapered off, but it brought him back to the present. He smiled down at her.

“Of course, here let me get you up.”

She smiled weakly, shame etched into her expression; Anthony crouched beside her, his arms around her upper torso, holding up most of her weight.

She squatted on her one good leg, and did her best to relieve herself in silence.

The halls were amazing, designed with technology that made his former home look like a tin can. Anything that wasn’t supposed to be in the hall, be it stray hairs, dead skin, or human waste, simply absorbed into the ground and disappeared; whisked away by some unknown force for disposal. He averted his eyes from Liliane’s business, knowing that the floor would handle whatever left her body.

Somewhat disturbingly, water and food came in the same way; thankfully, it was perfectly clean and separate from the waste. It floated upward from the ground whenever the hall deemed it necessary, such as when someone relieved themselves, Elise scooped some up and maneuvered awkwardly to wash herself down there, Anthony had offered to do it for her multiple times, but each time she refused, preferring to struggle than deal with the indignity of being cleaned by someone else.

Liliane finished, rinsing her hands in the water still floating near her, and Anthony set her down. She laid on her left side, and turned away from him. His lecherous eyes traced her backside and settled on her butt, still glistening with water. Had she been healthy, he would have wanted to be with her right then, but she couldn’t handle something that physical.

That was, surprisingly, the worst part of it all, and likely the part that fed into her psychological distress. The fact that she couldn’t work was devastating to her. She even started refusing food about a week after returning, and didn’t eat anything for three days before the elder came and talked to her. Their conversation was in whispers, and Liliane was crying by the end of it, but she began to eat again after that.

Anthony simply couldn’t understand the guilt that wracked Liliane, so he sought the elder out for answers; she told him that, in the culture of the halls, there was nothing worse than being a burden. Adults worked, children were cared for and protected as the hall’s future, and the no longer fertile elders took care of any children so that their parents could spend their time working. Everyone had a role to play, a job to do, but due to the fact that the halls were safe by design, having padded walls and floors with no dangerous objects, they had never had an injury as serious as Liliane’s.

The guilt that bore down on Liliane was enough to cause her to stop eating. She had admitted to the elder that she was trying to… punish herself for being useless. The elder talked some sense into her, as grandmothers often do.

Anthony circled around to her front, squatting down in front of her. She was eating breakfast, some food, a strange sludge that tasted like salty porridge, had floated up from the ground and she was scooping at it with her hands. Anthony reached for it as well and they ate together.

“I’m gonna head along the wall, toward the table, for work today.” He told her. “I won’t be going too far, you should come with me and give the muscles in your left leg a workout.”

Liliane frowned at him, “I would only slow you down and tire you. You need to preserve your strength for working, you should not even be sleeping with me…” she trailed off. Liliane had noticed that she woke him up with her nightmares, but the elder told Anthony that her nightmares were worse when she slept with her instead of him. Much like how Liliane refused his help with her physical needs, Anthony refused to sleep anywhere other than with her. Anthony was tired during the day, sure, but he needed to be there for her.

“No, no I’m a big guy, and you’re really lightweight, you won’t tire me one bit.” He smiled back down at her. Hoping some of his somewhat forced cheer got through to her.

She looked away from him, staring at the ground in discomfort for a few seconds before replying.

“Okay…” she sighed out. Arguing with him on this wasn’t worth it, soon after she returned, she tried to convince him to stop taking care of her and to focus on work instead, he argued with her so long that he was only able to be with two women that day, and if there was one thing inside Liliane stronger than her feelings of self loathing, it was her sense of duty to the hall. She wouldn’t let him waste all day like that again, so she reached up with her arms, and Anthony helped her. He positioned his body along her right side, cupped his left hand under her armpit, and slowly brought her up with him as he stood. She slung her right arm over his shoulder with her right leg curled above the ground, and her left leg working as normal, they began to shuffle along the wall. It was a weird dance they had worked on perfecting over the past month, and they were getting pretty good at it. Anthony just had to keep her balanced and upright as she sort of hopped along beside him, keeping the muscles in her left leg moving was important to prevent atrophy.

“How’s the leg?” He queried innocently.

“It is good, barely any pain anymore.” She gave him a fake smile as she lied. He knew it agonized her, he saw her wincing in pain without fail multiple times an hour, all day long.

They continued like that for a while, the lights came on at some point and the rest of the hall began to wake up. Some ate breakfast, some relieved themselves, and still some others got to work almost immediately. Picking partners from around them and beginning.

“Anthony, I have exercised enough, the lights are here, you need to start working. Set me down.” Liliane said plainly, with a twinge of authority that he often heard her grandmother use.

“Yes ma’am,” he replied, setting her down as delicately as he could. He stood and stretched, a long day of working ahead of him.

“Anthony?” Liliane squeaked out.

“Hmm? What’s up?”

“When you finish today… could you maybe… be with me? When you are done working.” She asked in a voice barely louder than a whisper.

Anthony frowned, this wasn’t the first time she had asked him, but his answer had not changed.

“No… no your leg is hurt real bad. I could knock it around and hurt you even more.” He continued on, “you went through something extremely traumatic, you need rest, not pointless potentially dangerous activity.”

“I am fine!” She blurted out. “Look I can…” she began trying to raise her injured leg with her arms, the limb wavered and she tried her best to mask her gasp of pain.

“Liliane!” Anthony crouched down quickly in front of her and took her hands off her thigh. “Stop! Just stop! Okay?”

“I can!…” She gasped out, tears started streaming down her face as she looked at him pitifully, “I can work!…” she sputtered out, the pain she had caused herself was so intense that saliva dribbled down her chin and she didn’t even notice.

“Oh, Liliane…” he got closer and she buried her face into his chest, sobbing and sniffling quietly into him.

They stayed like that for some time before Anthony inquired.

“Better?”

“Yes…” she sputtered out, “I am sorry, I just…”

He hugged her again, and kissed her on her forehead.

“It’s okay, it’s okay…” he spoke the words like a mantra as he hugged her. They stayed like that for some time, Liliane no longer crying, but Anthony was unsure if he could leave her in such a state.

As if sensing his hesitation, Liliane moved first, she brought her head up from his chest and looked him square in the face.

“You need to get to work.” she said with as much composure as she could muster. She was stable, her moment of hysteria having passed

He looked back at her, “Yes, I suppose I do, promise me you won’t do anything stupid while I’m gone?”

Liliane gave him a gooey sounding snort, her sobbing having clogged her sinuses. “I promise.”

Anthony began to smile a tad, but was interrupted by Liliane closing the distance between them as she kissed him on the cheek, it was the first time she had ever kissed him.

His smile transitioned into a big, goofy grin that ended abruptly as she pushed him off with all her strength, it wasn’t enough to knock him over, but it was enough to force him to stand.

“Go.” she commanded him.

“Yes ma’am.” he replied with a faux salute.

Anthony turned away immediately after, but if he had been able to see Liliane he would have seen the slightest of smiles upon her lips.