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The darkness of the dungeon was a living thing. It was a cold, damp presence that clung to the skin, seeped into the bones, and tasted of mildew and old despair. It was a silence broken only by the rhythmic drip... drip... drip... of water seeping through the ancient stone and the slow, ragged sound of Akira's own breathing.
He sat on the cold floor, his back against the slimy wall, the heavy iron chains on his wrists a constant, chilling reminder of his new reality. His body was a symphony of pain. Every muscle screamed, every bruise throbbed, and the deep, grinding ache in his ribs made each breath a fresh agony. But he welcomed the pain. It was a grounding force, a sharp, clear anchor in the suffocating darkness. It reminded him that he was still alive.
The heavy iron door groaned open, its hinges protesting as a sliver of flickering torchlight cut through the gloom. Two figures entered. One was a hulking brute of a man, his face a mask of bored cruelty. The other was the man with the thin mustache and the slick, unpleasant smile. He pulled a wooden stool from the corridor and sat down in front of Akira, leaning forward with a predatory gleam in his eyes.
"So," the man began, his voice a low, mocking drawl. "The 'Titan of Light.' Not so bright down here in the dark, are you?"
Akira remained silent, his gaze fixed on a crack in the stone floor. He focused his Ki, not to fight, but to calm the storm inside him, to become a rock against which their words would break.
"No answers? That's fine," the man chuckled, a dry, rasping sound. "We have plenty of time. Let's talk about your friends. The traitors. The monsters you seem so fond of. The Female Titan... Annie Leonhart. A pretty little thing, isn't she? Did you enjoy watching her slaughter your comrades? Did it give you a thrill, knowing you were on the winning side?"
The words were poisoned darts, aimed to provoke, to incite a reaction. But Akira's face remained a mask of calm indifference. He knew this game. It was the same one his captors had played years ago. Break the spirit before you break the body.
The man's smile tightened, his patience already wearing thin. "You know, you're not so different from them. You transform into a giant monster. You destroy everything around you. You kill. The only difference between you and a Titan is that you have a prettier face." He leaned closer, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "But that's just a mask, isn't it? Underneath it all, you're just a monster, pretending to be a man."
Akira's eyes slowly lifted from the floor, his calm, blue gaze meeting the man's cruel one. There was no anger in his eyes. No fear. There was only a profound, weary pity. And that, more than any angry retort, infuriated his interrogator.
"Insolent bastard," the man hissed, standing up abruptly. "You think your silence will protect you? We have other ways of making monsters talk." He turned to the hulking guard. "Leave him. Let him sit in the dark and think about the pain that's coming. We'll be back."
The door slammed shut, plunging Akira back into absolute darkness. He let out a slow, painful breath, the air rattling in his chest. He closed his eyes, not seeing the dungeon walls, but the faces of his friends. Their fear. Their confusion. Their loyalty. This is for you, he thought, the pain in his heart far greater than the pain in his body. I will endure this. For all of you.
---
In a sparsely furnished room high in the military barracks, the air was thick with a tension that was almost as suffocating as the dungeon's darkness. Erwin sat behind a simple wooden table, his face a calm, strategic mask. Levi paced back and forth before the window, a caged tiger radiating a furious, contained energy.
Standing before them, their faces etched with worry and desperation, were Mikasa, Erin, and Armin.
"A coup?" Levi's voice was a low, dangerous growl. He stopped his pacing and spun to face his commander. "That's your plan? You want to use the traitor as bait to overthrow the entire government? Are you insane, Erwin?"
"On the contrary, Levi, I've never been more sane," Erwin replied, his voice a calm counterpoint to Levi's fury. He steepled his fingers, his gaze sweeping over the young soldiers before him. "What did we learn on our last expedition? We learned that our true enemy is not just the Titans. It's a human enemy, with intelligence, a plan, and the ability to infiltrate our highest ranks. We learned that the very government we serve is more interested in protecting its own secrets than in the survival of humanity."
He looked at Erin. "They were going to execute you, a vital strategic asset, out of pure fear and ignorance." He looked at Mikasa. "They condemned Akira, our only defense against the Kaiju, without a shred of evidence beyond his 'illogical' actions."
"His actions were illogical!" Levi snapped. "He protected the enemy!"
"He protected a soldier," Armin interjected, his voice quiet but firm. Everyone turned to look at him. The blond boy took a deep breath, his mind, at last, seeing the shape of the puzzle. "That's what he meant on the road. He sees Annie not as a monster, but as a soldier following orders, just like us. He's not fighting for Paradis. He's fighting for... everyone. That's his paradox. And that's what makes the government so afraid of him. He doesn't fit into their 'us versus them' world."
Erwin gave Armin a small, approving nod. "Precisely. The true enemy is the system that creates these soldiers, the system that keeps us in this cage, fighting and dying for scraps of land while the real truth is hidden from us. I am not using Akira as bait. I am using the government's fear of him as a lever. When they move to silence him permanently, they will expose their corruption for all to see. And in that moment of chaos, we will seize control. It is the only way to truly save humanity. And the only way to save him."
The words hung in the air, a plan so audacious, so dangerous, that it took their breath away. It was treason. It was a revolution. And it was their only hope.
Mikasa and Erin looked at each other, a new, desperate light shining in their eyes. This was a plan they could fight for. "What do we have to do?" Mikasa asked, her voice low and steady, her resolve like steel.
Erwin's lips curved into a faint, grim smile. "For now... you wait. And you have faith."
---
In a dimly lit, secret room deep within the opulent walls of the Stohess District, the air was stale with the smell of antiseptic and failure. Annie Leonhart sat on the edge of a narrow cot, her head in her hands, the phantom ache of her Titan's injuries a dull throb that was nothing compared to the raging storm in her soul.
He protected me. He stood between me and his own friends. Why?
The door opened, and Reiner strode in, his face a thundercloud of fury. Bertholdt followed timidly behind him, his tall frame seeming to shrink in the small room.
"What the hell was that, Annie?!" Reiner snarled, his voice a low, vicious hiss. "You had him! Your mission was to capture the Founder, and you failed! Then you had the Titan of Light, the single greatest threat to our entire plan, unconscious in your hand, and you let him go! What were you thinking?!"
Annie's head snapped up, her blue eyes, usually so cold and distant, now blazing with a fire he had never seen before. "Thinking?!" she shot back, her voice cracking with a raw emotion that shocked them both. "I was thinking that a sixty-meter Kaiju was about to tear me to pieces! I was thinking that he, in his new, terrifying form, obliterated it like it was nothing! You weren't there, Reiner! You didn't see what he can do!"
"We saw him protect you!" Reiner roared. "Why would he do that unless you've turned? Unless you've forgotten who the real enemy is!"
"Maybe he's not the enemy!" Annie screamed, the words tearing from a place of deep, agonizing conflict within her. She shot to her feet, her fists clenched. "He's not like them! He's... different! He knew it was me, and he was still holding back! He could have killed me a dozen times, and he didn't! He doesn't fight like a soldier of Paradis. He fights like... like he's trying to save everyone, including us!"
The confession hung in the air, a stunning, heretical truth. Bertholdt looked away, his face pale. Reiner just stared at her, his anger momentarily replaced by a dawning, horrified understanding. He was seeing not just a failed soldier, but a girl whose heart was being torn in two.
"You've fallen for him," Reiner said, the words not an accusation, but a quiet, dead statement of fact.
Annie didn't deny it. She couldn't. She just sank back onto the cot, the fight draining out of her, replaced by a wave of weary despair. "Our mission... is impossible," she whispered. "As long as he's here... we can't win."
---
The darkness of the dungeon had become a timeless void. Akira had lost track of the hours, of the guards' taunts, of the slow, agonizing rhythm of his own heartbeat. His Ki was a flickering ember, his body a landscape of pain. He was so tired.
The door groaned open again. This time, the man with the mustache was not alone. The hulking guard carried a wooden tray laden with wicked-looking metal instruments.
"I've grown tired of your silence, monster," the man said, his smile now a cruel, predatory slash. "Since you won't talk... we'll just have to make you scream."
The guard grabbed Akira's arm, slamming it down onto a small wooden table. He picked up a pair of crude iron pliers. Akira braced himself, his mind retreating to that quiet, calm center, his face a mask of stone. He would not give them the satisfaction. He would not scream.
The guard positioned the pliers over the nail of his index finger.
Akira closed his eyes, his mind filled with the image of Mikasa's face, her unwavering loyalty a shield for his soul.
CRUNCH.
A sound of shattering bone and tearing flesh. A white-hot, blinding agony shot up his arm, a fire that threatened to consume his very being. His body arched in a silent scream, his teeth grinding together so hard he tasted blood. But he made no sound.
The guard grunted in frustration and repositioned the pliers.
CRUNCH.
Another wave of pure, liquid fire. Akira's vision swam, black spots dancing at the edges. He could feel his consciousness, his very sense of self, beginning to fray, to slip away into the welcoming, painless dark.
Just as the world was about to fade completely, he heard a sound that cut through the haze of agony.
CREAK...
It was the sound of the heavy dungeon door opening slowly.
The guard and the man with the mustache looked up, their faces masks of annoyance at the interruption.
A figure stood silhouetted in the torchlight of the corridor. A tall, imposing figure with an aura of unshakable command.
"That's enough," Commander Erwin said, his voice calm, but carrying a weight that was as cold and hard as the dungeon stone. "I'll be taking the prisoner now."
---
•To Be Continue•
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(I know some of you might say What the hell?! he got injured from a simple beating?! Trust me, I have a plan, and you will understand why Akira is getting weaker and weaker)