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[It's at this point that Armin lowers his arms, tossing Aubrey an apologetic, but very brief look. Then it's back to Eren. Eren speaks first.]
You need to leave.
[Eren tries to sound firm, but really he just sounds stiff, uncomfortable. It's hard to see Armin like this - especially after that memory. Armin wasn't wrong when he said that Eren was afraid of his influence. Armin can talk his way out of anything; he can talk most other people out of anything too...]
[He looks at Aubrey again, even more apologetic than his first glance.]
Sorry, Aubrey. I hope you're alright.
[Eren's glare deepens.]
It’s fine. [Really. Uncomfortable situation for everyone. Aubrey steps back to the extent that she can. She did notice the attempted catch, though; Eren gets an uneasy, but appreciative, nod for that.]
[This goddamned world. He's far too distracted to bend his way out of these chains; even if he could, where would he go? He's positive to exits are sealed.
[He was hoping to never have to face Armin again, but here they are, and his best friend is just as much a light in the dark as he's always been. Eren's heart aches painfully for him. He didn't appreciate it enough when Armin's hands were gripping his head; when his head was nearly on Eren's chest.
[He's missed him. He's missed him painfully. And he's already starting to slip, just being in the same room with him.]
Eren...
[Eren turns his face stubbornly away. Armin sighs.]
Look, we...we don't have to talk about this now. We can wait until we're alone. Aubrey and I will find a way out of these cuffs, and then--
[He falls quiet for a moment.]
Eren, I'm...I'm so glad to see you. You must know that.
[Part of him - a large part of him - thought he'd never see Eren alive again...
[The screen flickers on. Eren and Armin's heads both turn. A memory within a memory begins to play. The liminal Wal-Mart demands they all watch.
[The audio, by the way, surrounds them in a way that no speaker could ever simulate. They may as well really be there inside the screens.]
[Aubrey turns with the two. She’s barely processed the first memory, and then—]
[Eaten alive. Bleeding out. Children, Armin and Eren, excited over the sea—the ocean! something so seemingly simple!—just yearning for adventure beyond the walls… a final reach, and a broken, desperate, soul-piercing scream.]
[How young were they?]
[Aubrey is shaking by the end of it; raw adrenaline, heart thudding second by horrid second. She’s bewildered, almost dazed; only briefly, during the talk of the ocean, could she tear her eyes away, to Eren and Armin and Eren again (always back to Eren)—and no sooner does the memory end does she do so again.]
Y…
You…
[She doesn’t know who she’s talking to. It’s all she can get out.]
[But then, as he recalls the rest of the memory, what wasn't shown on screen. He remembers what it felt like to be inside the titan's stomach. There were other people in there too - alive, begging for their lives, drowning in boiling hot stomach acid.
[Eren's eyes grow ever duller as the memory loops and replays behind his eyes.
[Aubrey looks at him. He looks back. She's horrified. She should be.]
That is our reality.
[From his perspective, Eren died. Eren died. Eren died. He remembers telling Mikasa and the others. He remembers reciting the names of their fallen comrades. He remembers reciting Eren's name.
[But to hear his own scream...
[His hands are trembling.]
Don't you get it...?
[His voice is a whisper.]
I don't want you...to die...
["Pull yourself together, Armin. Aubrey's still here..." He can't make himself sound entirely present when he addresses her, struggling to drag his eyes away from the floor.]
Aubrey...I'm sorry you had to see that.
I’m sorry you had to go through that!
[Oh, god, god, god, what’s worse—that Eren looks so utterly disaffected? that Armin doesn’t challenge what he says? That, as Aubrey’s shaking subsides, Armin’s hand trembles so close to her own?]
[There’s a tug, at the edge of her awareness—it’s too much. Armin shut down. It makes sen— No, no, christ, fucking hell, none of this—]
Neither of you, both, you—
[Her eyes are on Eren as she sputters, because his detachment is easier to take. Just marginally.]
You’re better off here.
[What he wants to say is something akin to, "Don't you see now? Don't you see why I'd want to destroy the monsters that did this?" But he doesn't. He can't risk another questions episode if he and Aubrey get into a fight. He knows he won't be able to utilize their training here. He's too...emotional.
[Aside from that, she already looks like she's going to crumble...and he cares.]
This place is a prison too.
[Eren looks at him, something in his eyes; vague surprise that he's not sure Aubrey will see, but that he's certain Armin will.]
There's good in our world too, Aubrey. Don't forget what I told you.
[As he says this, he locks eyes with Eren - blue to green, sky to earth. He looks stubborn; pure conviction.]
We have a chance to improve it. We should take that chance.
[Armin’s words surprise Aubrey, too, actually. “Don’t forget what I told you”… She hasn’t, but. Kind of has…? The thought they’re better off here—that wasn’t, and still isn’t, a lie.
[It’s a selfish prison, maybe. Fit for those who could swear they have nothing to go back to....]
[But Eren has friends. Very, evidently, much so. They’ve been apart for how long, and they’re having a back-and-forth like that? Reminds her of someone back h—Don’t think of that now.
[Anyway, it’d be amusing if not for the context.]
Armin, ah… [Even as Aubrey addresses him, she can’t look at him. Or Eren, for that matter; she pretends one of the reflections on the shelves is suddenly very interesting.] What… is that chance?
[It’s cautious, not quite optimism. She feels like she’s failed him.]
That chance is bullshit.
Tell her, Armin. A miniature Rumbling every fifty years. Kill thousands of innocent people instead of millions. You're no better than me. You're no better than anyone.
Tell her about the arms race, Armin. Tell her that the Marleyians are decades away from creating weapons powerful enough to kill any titan. Tell her how we're all sitting ducks.
Either our world ends or theirs does and you know it.
[He speaks carefully. He's well aware of what Aubrey is about to hear him confirm.]
Innocent lives...will be lost, yes.
But not every fifty years.
[He doesn't look at Aubrey.]
We need to buy time so we can negotiate - so we can talk things through. Freedom isn't out of arm's reach, Eren! Maybe for you, maybe for me - but the rest of the world deserves it too. We can help make that happen.
[Even turned away, Eren’s eyes burn into Aubrey from the periphery. She hates it. She hates this, stuck between an argument she still only barely has context for.
[She hates that Eren just said “kill thousands of innocent people instead of millions” like that’s an anywhere near reasonable idea. That there isn’t an option without innocent casualties—well, that’s just their world, isn’t it? That’s just the world, anywhere with national conflict, period. Which is why…]
[Even Armin agrees freedom might be dead for them.]
[This doesn’t feel like a conversation Aubrey has a place in. And yet…]
What happens if you go back?
[It’s not clear who she’s addressing. But she stares at Eren’s right hand, ever trapped.]
[He has three years.]
I'm dead either way.
[Armin glares at Eren. It's probably one of the only times in his life that he has glared at Eren. Talk about fed up. He can't stomach the cold, condescending look on his friend's face; the flippant way in which he talks about his death, as if it won't kill Armin in a thousand ways too. When Armin thinks of Mikasa and how she'll have to cope without either of them, he feels rage.]
Your lifespan is reaching its end, so your solution is to make your friends hunt you down and kill you themselves? You really are selfish, aren't you?
I know you're suffering, Eren. I know your burden is insurmountable, and I know you want it all to be over--
[Armin cuts Eren off before he can protest.]
No. I'm talking now, and you can listen. You owe me that much, Eren, and you know it.
[Eren goes to speak again. He chokes as the universe takes his voice. His eyes rage; truly a cornered animal. Armin looks pained.]
Eren, I am not your enemy. We are not your enemy. We love you, and we know we're going to lose you, but God. Don't make us lose you like this! Don't make us kill you!
[Eren strains desperately at his chains. He still can't speak.]
[So he really is good as dead.]
[Armin’s the one raging, but it’s Eren who fixates Aubrey. Eren, chained by a world that hates him, where screams like the memory must be part of the background noise; Eren, chained by fear; Eren Jaeger, chained by himself. He’s helpless, choked, hurting.]
Leave him alone… [Just a mutter, barely audible, as Armin fires barrage after pleading barrage. Aubrey can’t pretend it’s not fair. She wants to jump into the abyss and take him with her.]
[When Eren strains, her free hand reaches for his, as if an instinct. It’s Eren she faces, aching, even as she speaks to Armin:]
Then lose him here. [Just as thoughtless.] I’ll show him the ocean, both of you— He has a chance…
[He has to.]
[He'd felt frantic until she turned to face him. He stares at her now, eyes locked on eyes, unwavering; even as she speaks to Armin. He still can't speak himself (or...does he just not know what to say?).
[The moment strikes him deeply. It makes a little flame light in his chest. It isn't a war, but if it were, Aubrey would be on his side. Compared to Armin, Eren must really look like a monster; she chose him anyway.
["SO WHAT IF HE’S A MONSTER! YOU LOVE HIM ANYWAY! DON'T YOU? YOU WANT TO GIVE HIM EVERYTHING"]
[Armin turns to her. She isn't looking at him. She's looking at Eren, and Eren is looking at her. It's not difficult to place the expression; it's a look that Armin is extremely familiar with, in fact. Eren used to look at him that way too.
["He has a chance..."
[Will Armin Arlert's tears ever dry? The anger crumbles out of his expression. He looks helpless instead; so very, very sorrowful.
[There's hope there too. Always hope. Armin has to keep clinging to it somehow. He has to.]
I want him to have that chance. [His voice is hushed with grief.]
I'm not racing to get him home. It's nothing like that.
I want him to live. I want him to be happy. Of course I do...
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