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@gerichteter plotted starter !

the loss of erwin smith and armin arlert had been a hard blow to take . a tragedy that could’ve easily been prevented for one of them --- an opportunity lost due to pointless squabbling over who deserved it the most . erwin , the one who had the experience to lead them to victory . or armin , an exceptional young man with so much left to live for . in the end , neither of them survived . what they did get out of the incident was an unwanted prisoner .

hange nearly advocated for his slaughter , but it wouldn’t be like them to let an opportunity like this slip past their fingers . all this time wanting to learn about titans , understand their enemy --- finally they had captured one . and while it was unlikely he’ll talk of his own free will , hange had become familiar with the art of torture .

to defeat your enemy you have to understand them . inside and out --- it was the only way to gain a real advantage when the odds seemed impossible . and , while they had the books left in grisha jaeger’s basement , they were out of date . bertholdt huber was the one person they had access to do with the most up - to - date information on marley . and they planned to squeeze every single drop of it out of him .

they had been thinking about how to truly start interrogations for a while now . currently , bertholdt was chained up underground . they kept him as isolated as possible , giving him the bare minimum for survival . they couldn’t have him dying on them , after all . though , that wasn’t going to get them anywhere if they wanted him to talk . torturing a titan shifter --- that was a tough one . if they were too rough , drew any blood , he could blast them away right then and there . not just them , but everyone above as well .

they enter the cell , bringing in a small cart of supplies . a large tub of water being the most noticeable , though there were some smaller tools hange had brought along just in case . ‶ hello , bertholdt . ″ they raise their one eye to look at him , a small frown tugging at their lips . the other couldn’t respond , gagged to prevent transforming , but hange would fix that soon enough .

in all honesty , hange feels completely apathetic towards bertholdt as a person . they understood his situation well enough from the books left behind by eren’s father ( of course , bertholdt hadn’t been informed of what they knew ) --- perhaps they felt a bit of pity , but even that would be pushing it . what really made them feel strongly was his actions .

the hundreds of thousands of lives he had been responsible for ending , the people that suffered due to his actions , the soldiers who died in that explosion ( moblit . . . ) , the loss of their eye , the death of armin . and , in a way , despite it being entirely the fault of those who fought levi in the moment , they blamed him for erwin’s death as well . they had to vent their frustration somewhere --- and they certainly couldn’t take all of it out on eren and mikasa . they understood where the two were coming from , but if they just hadn’t been so adamant about it . . . if they had allowed levi to save erwin . well , at least they would’ve lost one less life that day .

‶ i’m gonna be keeping you company for a little while , i hope you don’t mind , ″ the way they talk takes on a more casual tone . they relax themself , searching through some of the things they bought . ‶ you know , all your old training buddies are pretty torn up about all this . not that i can blame them , really . must be rough , i can’t imagine what they must be thinking right now . ″

they find what they were looking for , a small metal object with indents on the top and bottom . they hold it between their thumb and forefinger , turning to face him once again . ‶ lucky for you and me , i never got to know you personally . in fact , i have no emotional connection to you whatsoever . so you can be content in knowing this is strictly business . ″ hange releases the gag , pulling it out of his mouth and allowing it to drop to the floor . one hand grabs both sides of his face , gripping it tightly as they forces his mouth open , shoving the rectangular object they had grabbed earlier into his mouth . his teeth rest in the groves of the object --- a mouth prop . while he may not be able to articulate as well , at the very least he won’t be able to bite down at all . that should stop him from biting his cheek or tongue and transforming that way .

‶ i’ve got a lot of questions for you . so , either you can start ‘fessing up now and make it easy on yourself --- or i make your life a living hell , ″ their nails dig slightly into his cheeks , but not at all near the force it would need to draw blood . their eye meets his gaze , the tone of their voice taking a darker turn as they continue to speak . ‶ you called us devils , yeah ? i’d be more than happy to prove you right about that . if you want to see what a real demon looks like , just give me the word and you’ll experience it first hand ! ″