Between Heaven & Earth [WIP Wednesday]
Getting pretty excited about where the story is headed. Here's a small scene below the cut:
Even before the outcome of his tribunal was decided, Commander Irvin insisted that he be treated like a human being.
The Military Police responsible for Private Jaeger's containment would keep asking the same questions, as though he'd simply conjure the answer like a body from air.
According to them, Private Jaeger could not answer, nor could he justify in any reasonable measure his lack of ability to explain. When accused of something he hadn't done, or even recognized his capacity for until this very afternoon, his knee-jerk response was righteous anger.
Manacled, unbridled, he was no different at a glance than the others from his division. He seemed at once uneasy and nervous as the guards who oversaw his captivity.
If he met their eyes, they'd flinch as if he were a dog. It was difficult to imagine this boy transforming into such a creature.
Niles said, "You think you can get anything out of him, then be my guest."
The heavy door opened and closed, reverberating off the stone walls.
Private Jaeger's eyes rose, and he'd sat up straighter once understanding who he was in the presence of. The Corporal and Commander, he'd identified by name and rank with a reverence that Irvin noted, but did not acknowledge.
"You transformed firstly when you were in the Titan's stomach?"
"Yes, sir."
"Do you remember what you were thinking, before you transformed?"
"I just wanted to get out of there and find Armin. So I did what I thought was necessary." He blenched under the implication of his own words. "I don't remember anything after I transformed, or when Mikasa pulled me from the Titan."
"Private Arlert has confirmed as much," Irvin said. "As did the squadmates who were present."
Jaeger glanced at the manacles around his wrists.
For the duration of their conversation, the Corporal had listened, but said little. He reached into his pocket and said, "What's this for?"
The key. Its absence. Jaeger stiffened, as if to lunge for the bars. The Corporal held eye-contact.
"Private Arlert seems to think it's important to you," the Commander said. "Ackermann, as well."
"My father gave it to me." Jaeger's tone dropped a few degrees. "It's crucial that I do not lose it."
"Just for sentimental value?"
Jaeger seemed to chew on his words. His eyes darted to his wrists and ankles, manacled, then the Corporal.
"It's a key to the basement of my childhood home," he said. "It is important that I return there."
"For what reason?"
Jaeger's jaw worked. "There's something in the basement that can end this war." His eyes dropped. "My father didn't tell me what it was. He just told me that I needed to return there."
"You'll have it back," the Corporal said. "As long as you don't try and do something you shouldn't."
"Thank you, sir."
The Corporal's mouth thinned. Hero worship came with the territory, but this, coming from a kid who'd turned into the very creature he cut down wasn't on his bucket list.
"Your squadmates estimate you killed around twenty Titans," the Commander said. "Do you remember any of it?"
Jaeger swallowed dryly. "No, sir. Just that they had to be eradicated. That's what you do, isn't it?"
In his eyes as he spoke, a glazed-over rage. He couldn't stifle it. The very monster which the Garrison and Weilman had come face-to-face. It wasn't the Titan alone that had frightened them.
"What we do is for the survival of humanity," the Commander said. "Vengeance for its own sake is not part of our operations in the Scouting Legion. If you're as serious as you claim to be about joining the Legion, decide what it is that's driving you."
