abandonhumanity | PSL / MEME CONTINUATION

[Bone dry, without a hint of amusement:]

That makes two of us.

[That melody again. Mari might see that one green eye narrow; then, Eren is silent for a long few moments.

[Another one of Aubrey's friends? A voice that matches that strange, soothing tune.

[Eren whistles it at her - slow, without any of the tenderness or care that the memory of the tune carries. It's an eery, broken thing, coming from him. He waits for her reaction, if there will be one at all.]

[…Well! Would you listen to that.

[It startles her a bit, when she recognizes—though it’s a slow realization, note by hollow note, and Eren won’t see any particular jump. Were the lighting different, or Mari closer, he might be able to catch her eyes widening for just a second when the melody strings together just so.

[But Mari keeps her composure, as she ever does. There’s a good pause before she replies.]

Now.

That’s not fair at all.

[She has zero expectation that will sway the mysterious, flesh-bound whistler.]

You know something about me; I know nothing of you. That’s not a common song at all.

I know plenty about you.

[It's only a half-bluff. He knows that she belongs to Aubrey. And Aubrey belongs to him. For the first time in...how long? She feels close.]

You're a friend of Aubrey's.

[Aubrey, his...?]

Where is she?

[So that’s how he knows. It raises more questions than it answers, though; Aubrey knows this fellow? Enough to share that melody with him? Or…

[A chill passes through her. She won’t jump to conclusions, but…

[The light behind her dims, ever so faintly.]

Why are you asking that?

[Mari isn’t smiling anymore.]

She belongs to me.

She'll tell you the same thing. [She'd be lying if she didn't.] I need to see her.

[The light dies entirely.]

[Aubrey is not with him. He doesn’t know where she is. That is the only saving grace.]

[“She’ll tell you the same thing”? Delusional.]

[The cage doesn’t matter suddenly. Mari will stare Hell in the mouth if it keeps that girl safe—but she can’t charge into this recklessly. Much as her vision’s gone white hot with rage… she needs a plan. Leverage. A key, maybe, somewhere on the wall; information.

[Think. Think, before he escapes of his own accord....
[He said what he needs. He may be lying. But it’s something.]

[Finally:]
Where did you last see her.

[A false smile enters her voice here, implying more than she has.] She may not be far.

[The light dies. A long moment of silence passes between them in silence. Eren is on guard; it's the only reason Mari's taunt doesn't fully land. Still, he can feel every inch of his skin bristle when Mari implies that she's nearby.

[He needs to see her.

[He also needs to stay calm if he doesn't want to end up killing one of Aubrey's other friends ~~(as if he's not in enough hot water as it is)~~.]

You didn't like my answer?

Aubrey's important to both of us. [It tastes like a lie, but it isn't. Still, he feels a snarl tug at his lip when he says it.]

Ask her yourself.

[Then that much was true—the monster wants her back. Just being near him and this putrid steam makes Mari want to gag. When she starts moving down the wall, her voice will give her away; for now she searches, slowly, feeling her way across the area she’s been left in. Seems it’s just solid wall....]

I’ll ask her all about you. [Just as sweet; just as false.] I’m sure she’ll tell me about everything you’ve done together.

[Repulsive.]

[All at once, Eren Jaeger's ever-fickle humor sharpens to a knifepoint. He doesn't believe Mari's tone for a minute; in fact, can only guess what the sugary sweet words are really meant to imply. All at once, he feels spat upon. To even imply...

[His voice becomes both deathly cold and deathly serious; a bone-chilling growl through the darkness.]

I would never. Hurt. Aubrey.

[Pushed too far, then. There’s no point faking anymore.]

Give me one good reason to believe you.

[Her fingers find something—a key, but a more familiar kind. It presses in sharp, thunderous—the lowest note of a piano.]

Or I leave you here to rot.

[At this, a cruel, short laugh. Like ~~all~~ most of Eren's, there's nothing funny about it.]

I have no way of proving that to you. You haven't been here. You don't know what it's like.

You have no more control over what happens to me than you do yourself. Don't get cocky.

And yet you asked me about her. That implies control.

[Experimentally, Mari tries another note—a black one.

[As it echoes down the chasm, metal grinds stone; a single rung of an iron gate, maybe, lowered or raised, somewhere far away. But it’s far too dark to tell.]

I'm trying to protect her.

[One of Eren's excuses that he slaps on top of a hundred more honest reasons. At the sound of metal grinding against stone, a sharp stab of panic pierces his chest. Caged, caged, always caged; this one, he can't break out of. And Aubrey isn't here.

[Always, always, always. Always? Ha! He should have known. He's only ever lost.]

Whatever you're doing, you're making a mistake.

[Is she? Maybe Aubrey would want this. Maybe Aubrey does. Maybe Aubrey is the one who put her up to this in the first place.

[Always, always, always. He flexes his hands, bringing them briefly together to run a finger over the brand on his left hand. It's dark enough that the girl shouldn't see - whoever she is.]

[“Protect”? Sickening. The one protecting Aubrey is Mari, she’s certain, attempting to cage the beast once and for all. She’ll entertain him for information only insofar as it gets her closer to Aubrey, and then she truly will leave him here.]

Protect her from what.

[Wherever you are, Aubrey… I’ll find you. I’ll bring you home.]

[The next notes are a chord, minor, slammed; with it the sound of multiple rods grinding, churning, enclosing. Just a bit closer....]

[Cold dread. Eren feels his heart beat faster. Damn this stupid bitch. He has no choice but to play along; still, it's not hard to tell the truth, in this case. He isn't lying when he says he wants to protect her. He just isn't revealing more than the tip of the iceberg.]

I don't know how long you've been here, but there's dangerous shit around every corner of this place. You can't run from it. Aubrey needs someone that can fight.

[Never mind someone to fight off the cold with, or break beneath the weight of their own love when the world pulls the truth out of their throats. Never mind thumbing tears away, or laughing, or dancing.

[He wants to cringe, anticipating more grinding, churning, enclosing. She's only getting farther away.]

[More context; more information. Mari still has no intention of letting him loose, but this does give her pause. Begrudgingly she must admit he knows (or at least claims to know) more about… wherever this is, and it’s best to be prepared.]

[A silence, then, after he speaks.]

Be more specific.

“Dangerous,” how?

[Eren feels frantic. He feels like he wants to scream. He forces it down as best he can, though his teeth grit, his fists clench.]

Dangerous in the way that rips limbs off your body. Dangerous in the way that leaves you bleeding out in a puddle on the floor until someone - me - comes along to find you. Dangerous in the way that you can die if you're alone for too long.

Do you really want to call my bluff? I know more about this place than you can afford not to and it shows.

[It is frustrating—immensely so—to concede the upper hand. He could still very well be lying, an act as slick as her false sweetness; and compounded, maybe, by genuine panic. That much reminds Mari that the keys are still, surely, in her hands.]

[Who could survive ripped limbs or a puddle of blood? And he’s alone here. He’s appealing to her sympathy, she thinks. They’re evocative little stories.]

[Mari is truly not fond of his concluding gloat.]

She doesn’t belong to you.

[But just a bit longer, if only to hear the response, he’ll be spared another scale.]

Is that what your hung up on?

[Ridiculous. A turn of phrase that Aubrey's uppity friend disapproves of? That's what's grinding the iron gate closed? He feels like he could rip Mari apart.]

Aubrey and I made a promise to each other. Part of that promise was to stay together.

Is that better for you?

[Eren may not tell the entire truth until it's forced off his tongue, but he's in no position to lie either; not with Mari at the keys. What is there to lie about, anyway? It's almost a matter of pride at this point. For as much as Eren Jaeger destroys the people he loves, being outright accused of it when he's done not so much as speak feels like a major slap in the face.]

It's the truth.

[Lies, then.]

[Mari says nothing. Aubrey wouldn’t make a promise like that. The girl has her fantasies, as 12-year-olds do, but to this monster? A twisted, cruel thought. To hear him say that so confidently, as if it wouldn’t repel anyone with a conscience....]

[She’s heard enough. Mari plays his dirge, and the bars rattle closer like a melody of dominoes. Should Eren protest, Mari isn’t listening.]

[But there is, at one moment, a slip. The wrong note strikes cold into the dark, and with it a flash of light—illuminating, for a split second, a figure with a bow, standing between Mari and the prisoner’s bars; closer to the cage, in fact. It’s too quick to make out anything else.]

Aubrey?!

[Fleeting, temporary, the song is abandoned.]

Aubrey!

[They cry the name almost in unison. Eren sounds frantic - the combination of the grinding from his prison sinking in on itself and the silhouette of Aubrey with her familiar bow. It's only there for a split second, but it's unmistakable.

[It should occur to Eren that it could be an illusion, the same way the "Aubrey" he killed Basil over was an illusion. But Eren rarely thinks with his brain first; his heart is right there.

[He yanks himself up from the ground, clinging to the bars. As he does so, the last rotting remnants of muscle from his titan separate from him and fall to the ground, steaming.]

Aubrey. Please.

[His voice sounds ragged, desperate. He doesn't even care that Mari's there anymore. Not for this moment.]

“Aubrey(?)!”
[Wh…?]

“Aubrey. Please.”

[It jolts her awake; an alarm, a cry.]

Eren?

[Why does he sound like that? Is he okay? How is he reaching her? Aubrey’s heart siezes; she could swear the mark over it is ablaze. If she could just see him—]

Eren? Where are you?!

[But there’s nothing else.]

Edited (made it Slightly worse) 2023-10-17 06:37 (UTC)

[Aubrey isn’t here. Mari is here. And that wretched— Mari hardly looked at him, but to hear him pleading for the girl—]

[If Aubrey really was here she would have said something, anything. It’s just him.]

[The song concludes with revulsion, and the space between bars slams shut, swallowing Eren Jaeger.]

[Eren Jaeger's cage is properly dark now. For more than a brief moment, he feels like a little kid again. Chest heaving for breath, he falls back against one of the cell walls and slides to the ground in a heap, exhaustion rushing back into his veins like lead. It would be useless to keep transforming. He knows that deep down. Still, the impulse to chew himself out of the trap feels inhumanly strong.

[He's terrified.

[He's been detained before, but never like this; always under the pretense that he could escape the second he needed to. Slumped over in this room, he may as well have a chain around his throat, tethering him to the floor.

[Aubrey. How could she leave him like this? After everything she said; after everything they've been through. Shouldn't it matter more than cruel worlds? Maybe not. It's all beginning to feel a bit too much like betrayal, but...Eren's never been eager to accept something like that.

[Bringing his knees up to his chest, he curls himself around them, fingers tugging at his hair.]

Where are you?

[It's a broken whisper.]

PSL / MEME CONTINUATION

this icon is very apropos

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watch him make it worse in 3, 2, 1...

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not here but not Not here y’feel

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