𝕮𝖆𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖘𝖎𝖘 - [𝙇𝙚𝙫𝙞 𝙭 𝙢𝙪𝙩𝙚!𝙛𝙚𝙢!𝙊𝘾] { COMPLETE }

𝐂𝐡 𝟔: 𝐒𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤

"Hey, wake up!"

I was shaken into consciousness by Hange.

It's the middle of the night... What could she possibly want at such an ungodly hour?

She pulled me out of bed and hurriedly ordered me to get dressed.

I rummaged around in the dark for an undershirt and pulled over top of it the beige jacket embellished with the Survey Corps crest that all the Survey Corps members wore. I exchanged my sleep shorts for white, form-fitting pants, not bothering to put on the tangle of straps that was my ODM harness. We were in the safety of the castle, so there was no need for heavy armament like that. Before I could fix my hair into its usual ponytail, Hange dismissed the idea of doing so and told me to prioritize following her to Eren's cell.

My bare feet pounded against the unforgiving stone floors of the corridor as I rushed to keep up with my superior.

Ugh, why is she in such a hurry? It's too early for this.

My internal whining was put to a halt when she stopped abruptly at the door to her office. She turned the knob quietly and pulled me inside with her, a certain excited glint in her eyes that I could barely make out in the dim lighting of the torches.

"Eeeh," She squealed. "I have something to show you. It's in here!"

She rummaged around some drawers, then reverted to shuffling around the various objects on her workbench, obviously in search of something.

She let out a triumphant 'Aha!' before rushing over to me with several small pieces of machinery in hand, her hands tucked into protective leather gloves.

"Now sit still. I wanna see if this really works!"

I did as I was told, although I was slightly terrified as to what kind of contraption she was about to hook up to me. In one hand were two small, circular metal plates the size of coins, and in the other hand was some sort of collar that I couldn't make out the purpose of.

I watched as Hange attached the coin-like plates to the backs of each of my hands. I clenched my jaw and let out inaudible yells of pain. The plates were searing hot and burned into my skin as she pressed down on them, irreversibly bonding them to my hands. She had a frustrated frown on her face as she watched me writhe, but that didn't stop her from snapping the collar onto my neck despite my protests and squirming.

"It's fine! It won't hurt you like the hand plates. In fact, nothing about this was supposed to be painful..."

Says the girl wearing leather gloves! You had to have known beforehand otherwise you wouldn't be wearing those!

Having the collar so close to my neck felt strange, like having relaxed hands wrapped around my neck. It was a sensation I couldn't quite get used to.

"I call it a somatic motor translator," Hange stepped away from me with a satisfied grin. "Or SMT for short. Try it out!"

I examined the contraption. I hadn't noticed the metal wires attached to the plates that traveled up towards the collar, leaving sear marks all the way up my arm from the wire bonding to my skin. More wires stretched down to the tips of my fingers. I guess I was too distracted by the pain of the plates to notice the hot wires.

What am I supposed to do with it though?

The Commander noticed my confusion and instructed me to sign to her.

'What does it do?' I signed.

Hange remained silent, a grin still on her face. My answer came, though, when the collar emitted a silky, feminine voice that said, "What does it do?"