[It takes Eren a moment to process what he's hearing; voices, but quiet, muffled by his arms covering his ears, his head still buried in his knees. Cautiously, he raises his head. He can't see a thing, but...
[Mari speaks again, and he recognizes the voice instantly.]
Bitch.
[His voice croaks, left hoarse and raw by the screaming. God. How long was he screaming? He launches himself onto his feet, fists yanking at the bars.]
Where is she? Don't fuck with me again. I'll tear your fucking throat--
[Armin's voice is both firm, gentle, and drenched in relief. Reaching out blindly, he finds Eren's hands, wrapped around the bars. He lays his own over them, thumbs stroking gently at whatever flesh he finds.]
It's alright. There's been a misunderstanding. Aubrey's okay.
[Everything Eren and Armin said lines up. It must be true, then. (…Give or take some… embellishments… from Eren.) And while Mari doesn’t know if that makes them good or safe people, exactly…]
[She plays, softly, a major chord. Maybe there was no trick to this, either; the bars in Eren’s hands drop to the floor, releasing him.]
[Eren sounds inhuman - a combination of guttural sounds he can't control, and the rawness of his throat, trying to make words that only come out as rasps. He feels Armin's arms tighten around him. He could easily break out of them if he really wanted to. Part of him doesn't, apparently.
[Finally, as he stills, save for a heaving chest, he manages to spit out a few words.]
[Aubrey and perhaps Armin might be certain of Eren’s humanity; Mari, less so. But the gambit worked (if such an impulsive, oddly sympathetic move could be considered strategic), at least in proving Armin’s intentions. From the sounds of it, he may as well be restraining a slobbering dog, not a friend.]
[Mari allows the silence, as Eren catches his breath. She owes him an apology. She leashes that, too, for now.]
We were just with her. [There’s no particular emotion in her voice.] The world replaced her with an illusion.
[Recall that Eren was not there for Bertholdt and Armin, nor is he aware that the world replaced him with an illusion only recently (dude was truly just standing there). He's never experienced anything like it with Aubrey, and it makes his heart seize with panic.]
This is bullshit.
[With that, he shoves past Armin into the darkness, but fuck. At least it's not a cell.]
Keep up if you want to follow.
[The room remains dark. They might not see that Eren has vanished, but he has.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
What else can you remember?
[Armin thinks of the way titan flesh looks as it rapidly decays.]
There was steam. Probably a lot of it. Is that right?
no subject
[Her brother’s imagination is leagues stronger. Maybe the world is particularly kind to ghosts.]
From the flesh. [And it was difficult to tell in the dark, but…] It may have come from him.]
[But surely most of it must have disappeared by now. And yet, undeterred by sealed bars—a thin trail, floating up from the abyss.]
[They must be right where Mari stood. Eren isn’t far, then.]
1/3
[Mari speaks again, and he recognizes the voice instantly.]
Bitch.
[His voice croaks, left hoarse and raw by the screaming. God. How long was he screaming? He launches himself onto his feet, fists yanking at the bars.]
Where is she? Don't fuck with me again. I'll tear your fucking throat--
2/4
[Armin's voice is both firm, gentle, and drenched in relief. Reaching out blindly, he finds Eren's hands, wrapped around the bars. He lays his own over them, thumbs stroking gently at whatever flesh he finds.]
It's alright. There's been a misunderstanding. Aubrey's okay.
3/4
[Eren can't hold back the relief in his own voice. He sounds young again, weak. Armin...]
Where is she?
4/4
It's okay. We'll find her.
no subject
[So it is.]
[Everything Eren and Armin said lines up. It must be true, then. (…Give or take some… embellishments… from Eren.) And while Mari doesn’t know if that makes them good or safe people, exactly…]
[She plays, softly, a major chord. Maybe there was no trick to this, either; the bars in Eren’s hands drop to the floor, releasing him.]
1/2
Stop. I said there was a misunderstanding-- Eren, stop. This is Aubrey's friend, and she's going to help us. She didn't know.
2/2
[Finally, as he stills, save for a heaving chest, he manages to spit out a few words.]
What happened to her?
no subject
[Aubrey and perhaps Armin might be certain of Eren’s humanity; Mari, less so. But the gambit worked (if such an impulsive, oddly sympathetic move could be considered strategic), at least in proving Armin’s intentions. From the sounds of it, he may as well be restraining a slobbering dog, not a friend.]
[Mari allows the silence, as Eren catches his breath. She owes him an apology. She leashes that, too, for now.]
We were just with her. [There’s no particular emotion in her voice.] The world replaced her with an illusion.
1/2
[Recall that Eren was not there for Bertholdt and Armin, nor is he aware that the world replaced him with an illusion only recently
(dude was truly just standing there). He's never experienced anything like it with Aubrey, and it makes his heart seize with panic.]This is bullshit.
[With that, he shoves past Armin into the darkness, but fuck. At least it's not a cell.]
Keep up if you want to follow.
[The room remains dark. They might not see that Eren has vanished, but he has.]
2/2
Eren!
[But it's too late. Always running off on his own. Reckless with a one-track mind; that's Eren Jaeger. Armin's heart mourns.
[Through will of his own, he conjures a small light, just bright enough to illuminate he and Mari's face.]
It's like I said...
Eren and Aubrey have more experience here than anyone.
[And they made a promise. A promise to stay together.
[These days, Armin can't see Eren making that promise for anyone else.]
She'll be safe with him.
[He's as assured of that as he sounds. They really are in love, aren't they?]