I said I'd have this posted a couple days ago but I uh... kinda had an emotional breakdown (unrelated to ALYNA). But it's totally cool! My super rad ex stuck around and we talked about fucking Shingeki and video games until I calmed down. He's currently catching up with ALYNA so whenever he gets here, shout outs to jmd.

Okay. So. Actual story things. This chapter ended up being a little bit more visceral than I intended. Nothing too graphic, but as someone with heinous claustrophobia the fact that Eren is bound and gagged for the vast majority of the chapter kinda freaked me out. Just uh... expect that most of the chapters in this arc will have blood/violence in them.

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Eren didn't know how long he had been out when he opened his eyes; his mind was fuzzy and he wasn't completely aware of his surroundings. He suddenly became aware of the feeling of hands on him and his heart rate immediately doubled and he lashed out instinctively, only to find himself bound and gagged. He felt a hand reach into his pocket and take out his phone before the other person withdrew. Eren only became aware of how harsh his breathing had become when the other person moved away completely and his heart rate and breathing began to even out. He watched them put his phone into a box and in the brief moment that their face was illuminated by the phone he began to panic again. They were wearing a mask that gave them the illusion of having eyes sunk so deeply into their head that they were almost invisible and while there was nothing egregiously distorted with their mouth the way that Smiles' mask had been, it was wide enough that it looked like it was starting to split their cheeks open. Whatever he had been drugged with was wearing off but the remaining fuzziness had him frozen in terror as his brain's comprehension stayed consistently one step behind his observations. When the other person turned to face him fully he couldn't fake unconsciousness. He could feel how wide his eyes were and he realized that the strange muffled whimpers were coming from him.

As the hand reached out to him his eye caught on the shadowy outline of prone form only a couple of feet from his own.

Marco…

The hand was over his mouth now.

Darkness.

The next time consciousness broke over Eren he was being dumped onto the floor. He cringed in pain as the cloth that had been over his head was pulled off and the light hit his eyes. His eyes still hadn't adjusted when he heard a door slam behind him and a deadbolt lock into place.

"Eren…?" Marco's voice was tentative and he could hear the barely contained panic.

"Yeah?" His eyes had adjusted to the light, but everything felt like it was blurry and he could feel his mind working at a much slower pace than usual.

"We're going to get out of here, right?"

"Yeah. I mean… Mikasa and everyone… the Survey Corps. They're going to… they'll find us." Eren could feel everything swimming around him. He couldn't keep track of whether or not he was vocalizing his thoughts or if everything was in his head. "Are you… thinking okay?"

"Well, I'm on the verge of having a panic attack." The nervous edge to his voice was coming to the forefront of his tone.

"No like… my head isn't… everything's weird."

"I think they drugged you with something stronger. I was awake most of the ride here, but you weren't even moving."

"Ride?"

"Don't you remember being pulled into a van?"

"I guess yeah." Memories were starting to stitch themselves together and Eren's brow furrowed as he tried to connect the dots.

"Well we drove for a while. The van was dark so I don't know how long, but I would guess we're outside of Trost now." Eren wrapped his arms around his legs to pull them up to his chest and pressed his face into his knees, folding in on himself. His breath quickly became quick and shallow as his mind pulled bits and pieces of memories. Oh god no. Oh no, please no. We can't be far. We can't, we can't. They need to find us. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.

"I'm sorry, Marco." It was a rough whisper and Eren almost expected that Marco wouldn't hear it.

"Hey, it's not your fault. It's not like you wanted either of us to be kidnapped. Just breathe."

Eren began to breathe slower and deeper, gradually evening out his breathing and forcing himself to relax. Marco gave him a weak smile of encouragement in spite of their predicament. Not only could Eren feel his breathing becoming more regular, he could also feel the fog in his mind beginning to lift. He looked around and took in their surroundings.

Okay, so we're in a small room. There's a bare lightbulb that makes my eyes feel like someone's stabbing them. We have a window and I think that it's night out? What else? A heavy door. This room isn't quite a square, probably something like ten feet by twelve feet or something. At least we can lay out completely. It doesn't look like we have anywhere to sleep though. No. We aren't going to be here that long. Mikasa and Krista and Ymir and the Survey Corps are all going to come charging in any minute now because Armin is going to get a lock on my phone's signal and yeah. They'll be here soon.

He had just gotten himself fully under control and was about to talk to Marco again when the door swung open just long enough for a couple of bottles of water to be placed inside of the door before closing again. Marco stared at him as he moved to grab one of the waters.

"If they wanted us dead, I think we would be already." The look Marco gave him had him looking down at the floor. "It's just that I think dehydration would be a worse way to go than poison."

Marco only gave him a dubious look before opening one of the water bottles for himself.

"Well, the cap was still sealed so I guess…"

Eren tipped the water back and drank deeply, watching Marco do the same. There was something slightly off about the water and he kept trying to place it as his eyelids grew heavier and heavier and everything around him slowed down. He watched quietly as Marco clearly began to experience the same, although unlike Eren he seemed to fall asleep fairly quickly. He tried to run through things in his mind even as it started to shut down. It tasted odd… it tasted… salty? Fuck everything, rohypnol.

There was light outside the window when he woke up. A body towered over him and Eren froze when he saw the mask on the person's face, the same as the one on the person in the van. The memory of that terror coursed through him again and the stiffness that took his body made it even easier for the other person to grab him. He felt a gag tightening at his mouth while a second person quickly slammed the door before Marco had time to react. He barely caught a glimpse of the outside of the door when his face was engulfed in dark fabric again.

Eren tried to step as carefully as possible knowing that he would be unable to break his own fall with his arms tied behind his back but he couldn't help but stumble as his captor half-dragged him along. They finally reached a point where they paused and he heard a door open. He felt a hand on his back and he was suddenly being pushed forward though (presumably) the doorway. Unable to catch himself, he fell hard onto his knees, a hand grabbed the back of his shirt just in time to stop him from pitching forward onto his face. He was quickly hauled up and pushed backwards roughly. Panic welled up again as he prepared to fall backwards to the floor but the panic was dampened as he felt himself fall into a chair. The bonds on his wrists were cut but he was only free for a moment before they were tied again, this time to the arms of the chair. Eren pulled at the restraints, trying to gauge if there was any possibility for escape and finding them to be just loose enough to not cut off circulation. He hadn't quite finished investigating his bonds when he felt someone cuff him on the head so hard that he saw stars.

For the second time he felt material being pulled away from his face.

Given that this room was darker than the one that Eren had been in with Marco, his eyes hurt far less with the return of light. He looked up at the person standing in front of him and had another moment of panic as he stared at the distorted face from earlier.

Eren braced himself for another blow and relaxed slightly when the other person turned their back to him to speak with someone on a radio instead of hitting him.

Okay, there isn't much here. There's the chair I'm sitting on and there's another chair over there that I guess is for them if they want to sit. There's a table with some junk on it. Looks like some papers and a box and a camera or something? Are they making a ransom video?

Eren's attention was quickly pulled back to the figure directly in front of him as they turned back around to face him.

"You are Eren Jaeger?" Their voice was rough and deeper than his own and since the mouth of the mask didn't move as they spoke it gave the illusion that the speaker was elsewhere in the room.

Eren could only grunt in response with the gag in his mouth.

"Don't you know it's rude to try and talk with your mouth full?" They chuckled slightly at Eren's glare as they removed the spit-soaked cloth from his mouth and put a hand to his cheek while they cooed with false concern. "Poor baby, does your mouth hurt?"

"Fuck you." He saw the hand coming down before he got a chance to prepare himself. He tasted blood as his head snapped to the side.

"I can make this very bad for you if you don't cooperate. Now tell me, are you Eren Jaeger?"

"Yeah." He poked his tongue around in his cheek, worrying at the torn flesh inside of his mouth. The taste of blood overwhelmed his mouth and he could feel blood-flecked spit dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"Good boy. And you were born on March 30th?" Eren eyed the hand poised at the ready to lash out at him again.

"Yes."

"And Grisha Jaeger is your father?"

"Yes."

"And you were born in Shiganshina?"

"Yes."

"Really now. Feel free to elaborate. Where were you born in Shiganshina?"

"Shiganshina City Hospital." Eren spat out the words like poison.

"I thought you'd be more cooperative. After all, this must be old hat to you by now. You do get kidnapped an awful lot, don't you? Have to depend on your sister to save you constantly. And now you have some new friends who I'm sure you're hoping will be showing up some time soon." Eren stayed silent and quietly seethed at his captor. "Unfortunately for you, I highly doubt they're going to be finding you any time soon. We'll be sending them an invitation soon though, don't worry."

Eren flinched back when they extended their hand to grab his face and force him to look up into the deeply-set eyes of their mask. He could only guess that his captor was staring at him intently; there was no way he could see their actual eyes even as they leaned down to look at his own. When he felt their grip on his chin loosen he made his move, kicking out both of his legs towards the other person's body and aiming as best as he could for their knees. Unfortunately, he also caused the chair to tip and fall on its side. He felt the side of his face smack the ground and wondered if he was bleeding.

He looked up dazedly to see that his captor's mask had torn in one place and they were angrily ripping it off of their face. When they turned to face him he recognized their face. That fucker from the bar.

"Fuck you and your stupid fucking eyebrows."

"That isn't the way you speak to someone who has you tied to a chair."

"Fuck. You." His head swam as the chair was hauled upright again with no regard for his own comfort. The man's now-visible eyes met his and he smirked at Eren's glare.

"You know, I'd hate it if something happened to your friend." Eren went rigid and he stared at the other man. "Oh, I have your attention now, don't I?"

"Don't hurt Marco."

"Then answer my questions."

"Yes. Whatever you want." Don't panic don't panic don't panic.

"Where's Grisha?"

"What?"

"Grisha. Where is he?"

"How the fuck should I know?"

"You've seen him recently."

"The fuck I have."

"Fine then, I'll humor you. When was the last time you saw him?"

"When I was twelve and he walked out on us."

"You're lying."

"I'm not fucking lying!" He could feel his stomach beginning to turn with fear. Believe me. Don't hurt Marco.

"Then where's Grisha?"

"I don't know!"

"Tell me the truth."

"I DON'T KNOW!"

Eren looked up and met the inscrutable stare of the other man. It was only now in this moment of stillness that he realized that he was gasping for breath as he choked down sobs. He could feel the tears dripping from the corners of his eyes and tried to wipe his nose by rubbing it against his shoulder. When he couldn't meet the other man's gaze anymore he let his body slump forward and bowed his head down.

"Well it looks like I'm not going to get anything out of a crybaby like you right now." Eren could only sniffle in response. "Let's get you back to your room so you can cry there and not drip snot all over the place."

Eren had offered so little resistance that the walk back to where he and Marco were being held was more like a stroll. He couldn't see through the cloth but his hands were bound in front of him now. He could only slump against the wall and slide to the floor when he was pushed through the door again. Marco was moving towards him before he was even fully seated. From the look Marco was giving him he knew that he probably didn't look his best at the moment.

"Eren, what happened?" He stared at Marco blankly for a moment before he made up his mind.

"We're going to get out of here."

"Eren? What do you mean?" He didn't respond as he was already moving to stand at the window and beginning to feel around it. The window started at chest-height for him and had been spray-painted over with white so that there was still natural light but they couldn't see outside. It was clear that at some point the window could have been pushed up to open it, but somebody had put nails into the wood to stop anyone from being able to do so. Eren withdrew his hand suddenly when he was stuck with a splinter from the wood. He turned back to Marco with a determined look on his face.

"I'm sick of being a damsel in distress and I think I have a plan for how to get out of here."

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As of this chapter I am bumping ALYNA to an M rating.