Slim Chances

Progress

      Krista sat next to Eren on the bed. He had healed hours ago, after he had slept, he felt like he was back to one hundred percent. So the two sat and talked. He sat at one corner of the bed and her on the other.
     "Yeah. And that's how I met Armin," he chuckled slightly. His eyes were filled with an obviously nostalgic look.
     "That's a pretty cool story," she joined in. She didn't have any stories for Krista's childhood. And Historia's were all hazy. A lot of her memories were spotty and she didn't know why. So she listened to Eren's stories instead.
     "You know, I'm surprised we weren't friends during training!" She said. She shot him a smile, which he shot back.
     "Have I ever told you about this key?" Asked Eren.
     She looked at it and her eyes widened. It was ridiculously huge, old, and shiny. And the rope that held it was old as well.
     "No, what is it?" She asked, her eyes fixated on the key still.
     "A key," he replied jokingly.
     "Haha, very funny, now I wanna hear the story!" She laughed.
     "My dad gave it to me, it was the last time I saw him. But it is the key to our cellar back at my home in Shinganshina. And when we retake Maria, we are gonna see what's inside.
His eyes were filled with confidence, the same confidence she had seen in Trost before the Colossal Titan appeared.
     "Yes, we are!" She joined in on the cheering.

Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.

     "Now that's what I call enthusiasm!" a rough voice jeered.
     Krista saw Eren's face run pale. She looked over at the cell wall.
Clang.

     Kenny dragged the barrel of his ODM gun across the cell bars. He stopped at the cell door again. She looked back at Eren, his face still as pale as the moon.
     "Now, Krista, it's your turn. We need to see what is making you tick as well." The sadistic man asked sarcastically. He looked so familiar to Krista. So so familiar...
     Eren shook the paleness and shock out of his face, and replaced it with anger. As usual, Krista thought.
     "Fuck off, Leave her alone. I can take whatever you throw at me!" Eren stood up, his fire rekindled as he walked toward the cell wall.
     "That's the spirit, kid! It's a shame that she'll be eating yah pretty soon!" He pointed at Krista just as he blew into a fit of laughter and slammed his hand into the bar of the cell again and again.
      Krista was completely lost. She had no idea what was going on. She sat against the wall and sank to the floor. This was all happening so fast.
     "Ayo! Get over here and detain him!" Kenny ordered through his laughter.
      Two men and a blonde woman with the same strange ODM gear as Kenny unlocked the cell door and wrestled Eren down, taking him yet again. They bound his feet and arms and carried him off. Not without him screaming and wrestling the whole time.
     Kenny was just about to walk off when he looked at Krista. She looked back at him, tears had started falling.
     "Uh. Are you okay?" Kenny asked. He was quite obviously not an emotional person. "I don't know why you'd cry. We were gonna take you instead. He just saved your ass."
     She stayed silent, her emotions were running wild. What the hell was going on. Nothing was making sense, every turn she made she felt another knife in her back, no one to trust and no one to turn to. Eren was her only friend right now. Who she just watched get dragged off and didn't even try to help. This was all just too much for her.
     "Look, girl. This world sucks. I know yah care about this guy. But everyone needs something, and that's your dad this time. He's in the capitol for a few weeks taking care of some business. So you're stuck with me for now," he told her.
     "What do you mean? He's coming here? What is all of this?" She asked him through sobs.
     "Well. He kinda hired to take you out of the Scouts' hands. And now we're here, your dad will be here soon and everyone will be happy. Except for that little lunatic," he gestured down the hall, where Eren's struggles could still be heard.
     "I'm going to eat him?" She asked him.
      "Yep. As soon as your Pa gets here. He's turnin' you into some kinda titan so you can gobble him up," Kenny told her.
     "This is all so crazy..." she whispered to herself. "So what are you doing with him right now?"
     "Rod told us to run expirements, see if we can pull that Titan out of him. Or at least some sort of spinal fluid for future uses," he answered. "Wanna come look?" He asked.
     "No... I don't want to see him getting hurt. And I'm not going to eat him," was her answer.
      "I said. Do you want to come look?" His voice went dead serious, and his face had become stoic.
     "No..." was her fearfully answer.
     "Well you're gonna, and from the sounds of it, they've already started.
     He opened the cell again, and stepped back. His hand made the gesture for her to head out. She stood up and slowly made her way to the hall.
      He walked next to her, his finger on the trigger of his pistol. Every cell was the same that she passed. Yet they were all empty. After what seemed like miles, they reached a staircase that lead upwards to two huge steel doors.
      Kenny walked up them with her and opened them, they drug heavily on the ground below them. As she entered the world above, she noticed it resembled a... church. For some reason. Like the undercroft of a chapel.
     She followed down chambers and halls, all having stained glass depicting worshipping of the walls. And it sounded like singing coming from above.
     She studied every setting and all surroundings for if they planned an escape. Every turn, every corner. There was a soldier at every door and every walkway from what she had seen. That would be a serious obstacle.
     He lead her to another staircase downward, the noise of thunderstorms had been getting louder as they got closer to the door.
     He opened more massive steel doors, and walked them down a stair case ten times deeper than the other one. At least. The noises got louder and louder, to the point that they were almost deafening. She covered her ears, but Kenny seemed unfazed by it.
They approached one last steel door, with a crank on it.
     "Now you can see what we have been doing to your friend!" He yelled over the thunders. He cranked it and used his body weight to push it open.
She stepped inside. It was like a cave, but it had supports and even some areas with walls and chains. And it went at least 100 feet high. There were metal desks and walkways and people everywhere. Steps that led down to lower areas and everything. She looked around in awe until she saw the origins of the noises.
      Eren was hanging from his arms by chains, he lay limp. Until a person in some sort of coat and a mask walked up with a metal rod and somehow, they shocked him. With lightening!
A titan like roar escaped Eren's body. And green electricity climbed the chains that bound him, and it shout out of him like a lightening storm.
     "NO!" She screamed and she ran down the nearest flight of stairs to try and get near him.
     "Hey! Stop her!" Ordered one of the many people in this laboratory of some sorts.
Kenny walked up next to the man.
     "Nah, it's fine. Let her do it. It's not like she can do anything," Kenny replied.
      He walked over to a table and grabbed a cone, his way to deliver puic messages.
     "Cease all testing until I give the command!" Kenny announced.
     Krista ran to the floor, pushing and shoving past dozens of people. She got to the clearing and ran up onto the panel that chained Eren.
     She was right next to him and started to look on his body. He had cuts all over him already. And they had maybe been doing this for five minutes.
     "Krista..." he coughed out. His eyes drooped and he was very out of it.
     "Yes, Eren?" She asked.
     "Where's Mikasa? I want Mikasa here..." the boy began crying.
     "I-I don't know," she answered. "But you'll see her soon, I promise."
     She felt tears sting her eyes. She saw her friend get tortured and she couldn't do a damn thing about it.
     "No. I won't. But if you see her first, tell her I'm sorry. That I'm sorry for not fixing her scarf like I said I would," and his eyes drifted back to unconsciousness.

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     Kenny forced her back to the cell. She heard the thunderous noises. But now that she knew they were Eren, she couldn't unhear it. Sobs racked through her body with every roar of pain from Eren.
     After a few hours, he was thrown brutally back into the cell. This time Kenny seemed irritated.
     "I don't think it's possible to pull that Titan out of him. Shows what I know," the older man muttered as he walked off.
     "No progress?" Krista snarked.
     "Shut your mouth, bitch," Kenny answered coldly.
     "No. You are torturing him. Scarring him. He doesn't deserve this. That is the strongest person I have ever met. And he is being tested for your bullshit. Fuck you!" She screamed.
     "Your daddy's the only reason I don't carve you into mince meat you bitch!" He slammed the cell door open and progressed toward her. She started backing up.
     Just as he was reaching her, Eren sprung up and shove back Kenny. It was with the only strength he had left. It only set him back a few feet.
     Eren sat on his bum and crawled in front of Krista.
     "Please, Kenny. Give us a break. You've fucked us up enough for today..." Eren panted.
     Kenny looked at the beaten Eren. Then at Krista, who had a look of hate toward him.
     "I respect you kid. And I hate having to do all of this shit to yah. I'm just trying to make progress. But dicing her up isn't progress. So I'll leave you guys to your evening," and with that, Kenny tipped his fedora and left.
      Eren turned to her. She looked down at him. A weary smile spread across his lips. And she felt warm.
     "I heard what yah said about me," he said.
     "Shut up," the girl laughed.