[Eren has periods like this. They've been getting worse and worse lately; a dreadful feeling that creeps up on him and makes his heart beat slow, his brain go quiet. Numbness. Something reaching toward apathy, but not quite connecting. He's just so...sorrowful inside, these days. He wishes it would go away...The emotion bleeds out through his eyes now. He hasn't gotten good at dulling them yet...]

I want things to be different too. That's exactly what I want.

[But...

["Does it...have to be like this...?"]

Aubrey...could we...talk about something else for a while...?

[His voice is very distant now.]

I...I don't know what else to say...

[A covert "yes". He begins grieving before she can even walk away. No way things can go on like this...]