Titan Drillman in A.O.T - Chapter 8: Chapter 8

"Let me ask you again." He said in a slightly authoritative tone since he seemed a bit alien to the sight before him. "Is that your child?"
Who was this man? As far as Grisha knew, nobody was even around here. He made sure of that. "Who are you!?" He asked him, his emotions compiling up into fear and a small portion of anger.
"I'm the one who asked first." He said, continuing with his tone. "Is that your child?"
Well, if all can go well and nothing too serious and detrimental happens afterward, he could probably get this man to leave. "Yes, this right here is Eren Jaeger. He is my son."
Interesting, I got the name and his confirmation, but still, it seemed too suspicious to completely accept. But what was that syringe, what was he trying to do to the poor boy, really look at him, his face can tell you he is horrified. "Hm, that syringe, what were you trying to do to him?"
Now here is the tricky part, should he just lie, or just straight up tell him he's going to inject his son with something this man probably wouldn't understand and would need to keep a secret. "If I told you, would you believe me?"
"Depends on the context you give, but go ahead, I'm listening."
"My son here has something to bear that only I trust him with, something I can give him and not others."
"Dad... has gone mad." Eren murmured after his father finished that sentence.
"Eren!" His dad called to him.
He took the child's words and the father into consideration, no way it could be just something as simple as a vaccine or a flu shot, so what does he exactly mean, some special substance he wasn't aware of, maybe since he has seen his good share of that being tossed around in the skibidi toilet's bases. "And by this thing you want him to carry, you plan to give to him through an injection?"
This man whose very peculiar attire and partial knowledge of syringes had struck something in Grisha. He was rather calm in a sense. His accent didn't much match anything spoken here. He would have to press to find out who this person was if he wasn't pressing him.
"Yes, if that's what answers your question, but I also asked you something," here was his chance, "who are you?"
Eren looked back and forth between his father and the figure, first he was about to get infected with something from his father who as acting very off like a minute ago and now he's focused on who this stranger was, but still felt uneasy being in this whole situation.
"Guess it would only be fair if I shared," he said, taking a moment to pause, "let's say I don't belong here."
Grisha glared at the man. He noted his odd cone shaped mask? From what it looked like, surely he wasn't a member of the wallists.
"I'm a traveler who comes abroad to many places, and I need to know where I am."
"What do you mean? This is Wall Rose, is that not familiar to you." Something about him seemed off. He spoke like he didn't know what the walls were.
"Maybe my memory is jogged, but I have not heard that name at all, but interesting." He turned his head and looked around.
Grisha and Eren were not comfortable with this person. The way he spoke, his words, implied that he wasn't even from the walls. He was overly suspicious. Besides his clothing, Chief Drillman was more like a fine nobleman, but nobles don't typically travel in Wall Rose when you can be comfortable in Sina.
"Are you completely unaware of where you are?" Grisha asked. This was becoming confusing and tense.
"Not really, although thankfully I found humans, or people... but I didn't expect to see a father angrily shouting at his son trying to inject him with something."
Maybe he should try asking him again. Perhaps he's right, maybe he needs to remember a bit. "Let me asl you once more. Are you aware you are in Wall Rose? Are the walls familiar to you!?" He asked, raising his voice slightly.
Chief Drillman stared at him, with an unreadable expression since what face was there. "I'm not aware of the 'walls' if you're talking about the names."
Could he? Could he possibly be? "You better be telling me the truth, are you sure!?"
"Yes, I'm sure, I just so happen to have stumbled upon walls of grand height in a world where so far all I have seen were giant naked creatures."
For Eren, he was still struck by what happened minutes earlier, but it was slowly being replaced with the odd information this man was spilling, and Grisha was getting agitated or disturbed.
"You seem disturbed," said Chief Drillman.
"How could I not?! You make yourself clear you are from the outside world, the world beyond the walls. Do you nor realize how outrageous it is to say that?" Grisha may have to see him as insane, no possible way he could be, unless he isn't actually lying.
"Seems I don't realize the extent of what I had just said, but you still doubt me, I don't blame you," he paused, letting it sink in for them, "I tell the truth."
If what he said was true, then he would test him, but Eren was there, he would be hearing something he shouldn't have learned just yet, but maybe it's right to realize it right now. "If you are speaking the truth, then share, what is the outside world like?"
Here it is, tell him exactly what he knows, and if it aligns right with what he, Grisha, knew, then it would be extremely worrisome.
"Vast, diverse environment everywhere, human civilization in many areas where it seems fit," Eren was listening with the greatest intent, here he could learn about the outside world, "but perhaps, it's not just right, on the shores, the coast, I found a harbor, no ships, empty."
It all seemed too familiar to him, that port where it all happened almost thirteen years ago, when the responsibility was passed down to him.
Th coast? Eren had heard that term in the book Armin had shown him, it's the land that serves as the border between the mainland and the sea, the lake so big you could never harvest all of the salt. He heard this man say he was from there, or he was there. "You've seen the sea!?"
Grisha stared down at Eren, a bit of shock from what he asked; Chief Drillman then responded with, "Correct... young one, Eren, if I'm saying it right."
"Yes, that's how... you say it, " Eren responded somewhat quickly but with lingering suspicion of the man before him.
This man had said one thing but left out something else. "You've said you've seen many human civilizations, I take it you do a plentiful of traveling, tell me, in detail, what these civilizations were like?" Grisha asked.
"How should I put this... destroyed, ruined, rubble everywhere, and not a single human you can find." He sounded very sure in his words, since that is what he knew, but he was trying to he careful in case they were overwhelmed, but then again, Mr. Jaeger's body language did not seem like he would be, as if he expects a right answer from him.
"Destroyed, wasn't that right?" Grisha asked him.
"Right, that's what I said." Okay, something was going, Chief wasn't sure if he was entirely a fan of it, were those even the right words.
Eren looked at the two, back and forth. "What is dad on about?" He thought to himself, first the suspicious man, still unknown to him as chief drillman, says the world is destroyed, as the king and the authorities have said, but now his father is almost trying to counter it.
"I mean..." Grisha looked down at his son. He saw the look in his eyes, Eren wanted to hear the words. He intended for him to learn this later, to learn of the world beyond the walls at another time, but it can't be helped. There is no way out of this. Especially because of this man, who already defied all things enforced in this society, it's best he breaks it to him.
"Dad?"
Chief stared at Grisha, still waiting. "As you were saying? You were trying to say something, but then you froze."
"This isn't the best environment for him to listen." Grisha said instead of just continuing.
"Why not? I think he should listen, he has every right, besides we're in the forest, it's dark, you wouldn't want to just leave him there, right?"
Eren turned to look up at his father. "Are you hiding something? Is this about the basement, the key?"
"I wanted you to figure this out later.... I needed you to keep going... but now I can't just hold it back from you, I might as well tell you now."
Chief nodded at their exchange, interesting, so it seems it's not just him who's supposed to be the one saying what the outside world is like and instead the father over here has to speak for himself. "Go on, tell me what the outside world is like to you."
Eren stepped back away from Grisha to face him, to see he exactly meamean.
"Eren," Grisha reached out to him but fruitlessly, "And you I suppose," Grisha checked his surroundings really quick, which made Eren and Chief really concerned, but then he turned back to fave them, "the world outside as I know it, isn't gone, outside, there are no walls to hide in, the people live without, outside there is nation known as Marley, where I am from."
Was his dad actually being serious, or was this just him being crazy. "Marley? There are others." He thought to himself.
Yeah, he didn't get it correct at all, but still, this was new information. "Marley? That doesn't sound familiar at all. There was never a human nation called 'Marley'."
"There are others as well, but where I'm from, not everything is as great as you expect it to be." Although despite him talking to both of them, the words felt more directed Eren rather than with Chief but still. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
He remained silent. He understood the part of him saying that there were others somewhere beyond the walls, but the implication of that last part was conflicting. "You say everything is not great on the other side, as if it's ugly..."
Grisha cut him off by kneeling down and putting his hands on his shoulder. "Eren, I don't expect you to know everything now, which is why..."
"It's that syringe, isn't it?" Chief Drillman said, tilting his head towards where the syringe was.
"Yes, that."
"What is it supposed to do? I know you're not just giving him some normal medication, and you did say it's something only he can bear."
Upon hearing those words, Grisha procured the syringe once more and raised it to look at it, with a sense of purpose. "It's rather hard to explain in detail to the both of you, but it's better if I show you."
"Dad?" Eren still had some doubt and concern about the syringe and what was happening.
"Eren, just give me your arm," Slowly and hesitantly, he did. Before the needle could reach his arm, Grisha paused momentarily and turned to the man. "You never told me your name.
"Right, don't really have a name, but where I'm from, I'm simply called Chief."
Grisha only gave him a nod, not any visible smile on his face, but on the inside, maybe he felt that he at least knew something about this person. "I go by Grisha Jaeger, I'd recommend Chief, you step back."
He would question why, but he didn't. He did so and moved towards the trees.
"Dad... what's going on."
"Eren, I apologize, but you must keep moving forward, join the survey corps, and return to the basement," he presented to him the key, "and don't forget this."
What would happen, what should Eren know? All he knows is that he is being given something that could probably kill him or change everything. He felt the needle pierce his skin, embedding itself deep. It was immediately followed by sharp pain, and soon, a weird sensation began to overcome him.
"Might be a difficult request, but by any chance, can you look after him?" Grisha asked Chief Drillman.
"Most certainly can." He replied, not seeming bothered, especially since he had, well, a being that could destroy and level landscapes, but they didn't need to know that yet.
Grisha gave him a nod and then turned to Eren. "This our goodbye Eren, I'll see you another time."