Chapter 26 - You

                                    

                                          
What did I think his response would be? I'm not exactly sure, I've never told my father I wanted to torture someone before. 
That's putting harshly. I had said I wanted to help, but I'm not even certain I meant it. Killing is easy, I've never faltered when it came to death. Torture is prolonging the pain, effective but heartless. Even if this man deserved it.
That's right, he deserves it. It's karma, why should I feel bad about giving him what his actions warranted.
"No." My father says bluntly. "Go back upstairs." 
Can’t say I didn't expect that. Still, odd that he didn't draw the line when he thought I wanted to watch. 
The cell door swings open with a bang and Hange strides into the room with Moblit behind her. "I made it! Are you almost done?" 
My dad turns away from the now conscious soldier to face her, raising a brow as he snaps a pair of gloves on. "Haven't even gotten my feet wet." 
Hange smiles. "Excellent." 
Her head swivels to look at me and her expression brightens. "And you're letting your daughter participate? Father of the year, Levi." She claps her hands in short applause. 
He scoffs, "she's not staying. Upstairs, kiddo." 
I roll my eyes and turn to leave, but Hange places a hand on my shoulder. "It could be highly educational," she says, placing her other hand on her hip. 
My dad shoots her a glare. "I doubt it."
"She should at least watch," Hange tries, but quickly accepts defeat when my father looks ready to smack her. 
I brush her hand off. "It's fine," I tell her in an attempt at an even tone. I step past her and give Moblit a reciprocated nod of both greeting and goodbye before I leave the room. As I walk up the stairs I hear Hange's loud voice through the closed door. 
"Sannes! While I'm a novice at human torture, I plan to give this job my all!" she addresses the military police soldier with promise. 
Now I almost kind of feel bad for him. 
The soldier shouts something in response, but I don't hear what it is. I reach the top step and join the others on the main floor just as screams start echoing from the basement. 
The rest of the squad winces back as I move to lean against the wall opposite the group. 
Once they start, the cries of agony continue to fill our ears for what feels like a consecutive half hour. No breaks, no room to breathe. 
"Jesus," Connie mutters, "I know it’s to save our friends, but it still makes me sick." 
"Let's face it, we're criminals now." Armin states, wearing a pained expression as he stares at his lap. "Our last enemy wanted to eat us, we don't have an excuse for killing these people. It's just that their feelings are different. No...it's just because they're in another group. And for that we'll take their lives." He drops his head to his hands, his elbows resting on the top of the table he's sitting at. 
"We're not good people, not anymore at least." 
That's subjective, honestly I'm not sure if there is such thing as good people. Maybe when I was younger and my mind was naive, but now peoples bullshit seems so much clearer. 
Or maybe all this bloodshed has tainted my vision. Who's to say for sure. 
I'm not sure when the screams cease, but it has to be well into the midnight hours. Maybe Hange finally killed that bastard, sure didn't sound like she was going easy on him.