If you were/are traumatized by episode 21….
…I'm sorry.
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As they turned into a side hallway, Mike slowed and Eren almost ran into him, at which point Mike leaned down and gave a large sniff.
"Uh…" said Eren, watching a small smirk come to the man's face. Mike then resumed walking without further commentary, and Eren was left no recourse but to continue following him. They took a few more turns before entering the command room Eren had been in last time- as soon as he walked in, he searched for Rivaille, and walked over to where he was in conversation with Commander Smith and Hanji.
"-that's a lot. We should be on standby in our own command."
"Rivaille, I need you running the display, not in your jaeger. Besides, Eren doesn't have any combat experience and things would most likely end badly."
"Oh, hi, Eren!" Hanji said, making Commander Smith start and Rivaille simply turn and glare.
"Um, hi," Eren mumbled. "…does this mean we still won't get to kill any kaiju?"
Smith shook his head, expressionless. "Not today, Eren. Please understand; we need a team such as yours to stay alive, and you're not well-versed enough yet in Freedom Wing's style to be able to fight at peak efficiency."
Eren bit the inside of his cheek, but his eyes blazed furiously, before resigning himself.
"Hanji, Rivaille- stations please, we're about to drop," Smith said, returning to his own. Hanji turned and sat in her chair in the same motion, but Rivaille walked across the room in the opposite direction. Eren watched him move, graceful as a cat, and about as talkative. He faltered about a bit, unsure what to do; luckily, Hanji noticed, and motioned for him to come over.
"These blips here," she said, pointing to bright red-circled points in the holo-display, "are kaiju. These here," she said, indicating the two yellow dots moving quickly towards the red, "are our two jaegers. We've got Auruo and Moblit in Raven Blue, and Erd and Günter in Falcon Dance. Ah- they're online now!" Hanji exclaimed. "Erwin, the line's up!"
Commander Smith nodded in understanding, then pulled the microphone towards him.
"Raven Blue, connections good?"
"Roger that, sir," same a voice Eren didn't recognize.
"And Falcon Dance?"
"Online and feelin' good. Ready to kick some kaiju ass!" said another voice.
"Good. Have at 'em, then," Smith said- or growled, his face becoming fierce and making Eren write a mental note to never piss off Commander Smith.
"Copy!"
"Roger!"
The speakers crackled back into silence, and the large holoscreen lit up with data points, coming together to depict the two jaegers and their opponents.
"There's three Category 2, two Category 3, and one Category 4. One of the Category 3's is bipedal, as is the Category 4," Hanji said over Eren's shoulder, her face lit with enthusiasm. "And since we've got Erd and Günter, they probably won't fucking pulverize it, so maybe I'll even get a decent sample this time!" she was practically bouncing in her seat, and Eren couldn't help but smile with her- her joy was contagious.
One of the yellow blips met with one of the red, and a loud cheer rose in the command room. 'Get that fucker', and variations thereof, seemed to be the most common form of cheer, and Eren returned his eyes to the large screen, watching as scanner data poured in and built up the hologram of a four-footed monster, its vaguely reptilian face repulsing Eren and heightening his wont to murder it.
The jaeger swung a large fist, knocking the kaiju into the air; another cheer, and a cry of "Falcon Dance has made contact as well!", followed by further whooping. The atmosphere was exuberant, and Eren let his emotions flow, groaning and cheering with the command crew. At one point, he looked over to Rivaille; Eren was somewhat dismayed to find his impassionate as always, still seated at his station, hands flying over the controls.
Looking back at Hanji to make sure he wouldn't be missed (he wouldn't- she had a notebook open, filled with illegible scrawls and half-drawn kaiju diagrams, and she was muttering to herself under her breath), Eren weaved through various people, ending up behind Rivaille.
"What do you want, shitty brat?" Rivaille grumbled, eyes never moving from the diagram of the jaeger (Falcon Dance, Eren thought) on the screen in front of him. Eren watched the diagram for a few moments, noting the areas of shifting red and orange. Rivaille's hands flew over the keypad as a particularly large patch of red began to form over the jaeger's left arm in sync with a loud whoop from the soldiers; soon the red abated.
"I just wanted to see what you were doing," Eren answered, mentally redacting the last two words. "And… I'm sorry. It's my fault that we aren't out there right now- I'll get better though. I promise."
Rivaille didn't turn around, but Eren could have sworn he huffed. "Yeah, you better, brat." His fingers beat the keys again, and Eren had already begun to turn away sadly when he heard Rivaille's voice just above the thrum of background noise. "I have to make sure that no sectors of Falcon Dance overheat. The jaeger is, in theory, self-regulating, but she's an older model, and her refrigerating systems need a push on occasion. Like now," he said.
Eren stepped a bit closer, noticing the patch of intense red on the shoulder, and the strip of code that Rivaille quickly wrote, after which the red began to dissipate.
"And before you ask, usually Moblit does this job, but he's out right now and I'm next best of those here." Rivaille exhaled slowly, displeasure evident. His slender fingers hovered lightly over the keypad, and Eren bit his lip. Now is really not the time….
Suddenly, a loud booing rose up, followed by cries of 'no' and 'shit'. Rivaille went with a 'fuck'; Eren looked up at the main display, trying to figure out what he'd missed.
One of the bipedal kaiju had engaged Falcon Dance; it had swung its arm wildly, and its mouth was open and glowing blue. Turning back to Rivaille's display, Eren noticed that a large portion of Falcon Dance's upper arm was black- he looked up at the main display, finally noticing that the right arm look caved in.
The speakers crackled, and the command center went quiet almost instantly. "Falcon Dance to Command, do you copy?!"
Commander Smith already had the microphone in hand, and Eren felt a nasty premonition clench in his gut. "Command to Falcon Dance, we copy. Get yourselves out of there, your main artillery arm is completely offline!"
"Roger," said a different, more pained voice. The command center broke into a relieved twitter, and the hologram showed Falcon Dance turn and begin to run, but Eren was still on edge. He looked around- Smith was still clutching the microphone, an odd expression on his face; Mike was furiously typing green onto three separate black screens; Hanji had grown still.
"Fuck! Erwin, gimme the mic!" Hanji screamed. Smith took one look at her panicked expression before handing over the microphone without question. Eren stole a quick glance at Rivaille, who was ignoring the happenings, still typing quickly. The patch of black was rimmed in red and expanding; Rivaille gritted his teeth, and Eren turned his attention back to Hanji. She pressed down the button and began talking rapid-fire- "Erd, Günter, that Category 4 bipedal you were fighting, it's accelerating at unprecedented speed for a kaiju, it's going to catch up to you! There's also reading coming in of yet another kaiju, behind you and to your left, a Category 3 as well! Watch- out…"
The microphone clattered to the ground, stunned silence engulfing the command center. They watched in collective horror as the hologrammed kaiju knocked Falcon Dance to the ground before sinking its phosphoric teeth into the casing. Alarms began blaring around the command center, alerting to this and that, but Eren couldn't tear his eyes away. Half the screen was Raven Blue, engaging the two Category 2 at once; the other half was Falcon Dance slowly flickering in and out as her sensors were mauled by ammoniac acid and the weight of one- no wait, shit, the second titan Hanji had mentioned was there now as well- the weight of two titans, their thick fingers gouging at the steel plating and breaking it.
Suddenly, the screen went black. Eren made a noise halfway between a yell and a bark, and the speakers turned themselves back on.
"Sorry, guys. We'll- we'll see you in the next life." The microphone stayed on long enough for everyone to hear a crunching noise and a cut-off scream.
"No…" Eren whispered, eyes wide, mouth open in shock.
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"Sorry guys. We'll- we'll see you in the next life."
Rivaille's blood ran cold as he heard Erd's words, the spreading chill synchronized with the black overtaking the jaeger on the display in front of him. Rivaille's hands didn't tremble as he steadfastly continued typing, but the display soon cut out, a little box with the red words ERROR: NO INPUT FOUND blinking at him in mockery.
He let his hands fall flat. Alarms rang loudly in his ears, the cacophony lining up with his mental state to a degree that should have been alarming but instead was oddly comforting in an odd, disjointed way.
This is a joke. A sick, cruel joke. Erd and Günter, they wouldn't- they can't- Rivaille pushed back the wave of memories that was on the verge of overtaking him; it was useless for him to have a breakdown now. He could mourn later.
"Raven Blue to command. We've annihilated the bastards who ate Falcon Dance. Requesting transport back."
Erwin was at the mic, face disbelieving. "Copy that, hatch number 5 is prepared to take you in," he said, voice completely devoid of intonation. Behind him, Hanji had dropped her masks, her face somber, tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. Next to him, Eren was staring at the main screen with wide eyes and open mouth. The brat's probably never seen a comrade get eaten before, Rivaille thought, the notion mirthful to him.
"Ha," he said softly, the single syllable falling clumsily into the room. Eren closed his mouth and turned to look at him, expression shifting to concern. "I'm leaving," Rivaille stated, turning and making a beeline for the door, emotions threatening to overwhelm him with every step.
He didn't notice Mike, gripping the edge of the table with white knuckles wet from teardrops.
He didn't notice the tears streaming quietly down Hanji's face, her expression one of infuriated determination.
He didn't notice Erwin's eyes, downcast and horrified, belying the maniacal smile gracing his features.
He didn't notice the half-pace Eren took towards him, one arm extended, brow furrowed and words of confusion, compassion, concern trapped just behind his lips.
He saw instead the gold-brown eyes of a woman he'd respected, he'd fought with, he'd maybe even loved- he saw the life snuffed out of them even as a portion of his mind went blank, taking with it a portion of his heart- he barely made it to his room before collapsing; sobs that wouldn't come in the presence of others now consuming him, wracking his body until, hours later, sleep overcame him, quieting his mind and carrying him in a dark chariot to oblivion.
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I made myself sad.
In other news:
-This chapter's full title is "Happiness is a Lie, or: Death do us part"
-previous chapter's full title is, "Armin is the best multi-tasker in the military (he has to be, with friends like Eren)"
-I also post updates on tumblr, under the tag "freedom wing" (which I also track, if you'd rather contact me that way ^^)
-i also sometimes post commentary under that tag, although most of it is along the lines of "HELP WHAT ARE JAEGER NAMES" (seriously though- i need some seven more jaeger names, this is not a joke)
-this week's episode wasn't okay
-if you haven't already figured out who rivaille's previous co-pilot was, shame on you (but not really i still love you)
-that is all
-jesus fuck is it september already