I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.
[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.]
[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.]
[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.]
[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)
[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.]
no subject
[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.
no subject
[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.]
no subject
[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.]
not here but not Not here y’feel
“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.]
no subject
[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.]
no subject
[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.]