[Guilt.

[Grief.

[Hardly strangers to Aubrey. They twist in the hollow husk of her heart as Eren goes still; inseparable as the chain that binds them.]

[Animals, really. Cruel. Dumb, foolish monsters.]

[She just wanted him to kill her. But they’re too similar for that. A dance in reverse.]

[“I love you too, Aubrey.”
How sweet. How detrimental.
She cups his dull, exhausted face in her free hand and leans in, very briefly, to kiss him.

[What a joke.]

We’re even.