A/N - This is mainly Aruani. M for language. I hope you enjoy!

I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin or any of it's characters.

Oh, how I wish.

Prologue – Color Fade

Once upon a time, there was a town with two individuals who could not have
been more different from one another.
Throughout their many experiences, these opposites learned to
love with a love that was more than love.
This is their story.

All Those Friendly People

The day had started like any other. Armin woke up, feeling relieved that it was finally Friday. The house was empty, due to his grandfather having to open the family book shop. He still had an hour before he would have to start heading to school, so he showered and dressed in a simple, gray, loose-fitting tank top with an unbuttoned, maroon cardigan and black pants. He made his jelly on toast, eating it while looking over last night's homework yet again to see if he made any mistakes, which of course he hadn't being the prodigy he was. And when he saw that it was fifteen-to-eight he put on his coat, grabbed his bag and skateboard and headed to school.

Armin loved skating almost as much as he did reading; feeling the wind blow through his coat making its way through his shirt, even if it was a cold morning, and watching the life fly past him on the streets. Not only was it a good substitute until he could save enough for a car, it was also one of the little sports he could execute without feeling like he was going to pass out ten minutes later. The hobby started two years ago when he was fifteen and asked his best friend to teach him how to skate. A couple months and a considerable amount of bruises later, he knew the basics and a few easy tricks. Of course he was nothing compared to Eren, who had been skating a lot longer.

Speak of the devil.

Who else would Armin run into but his acrimonious best friend and his adoptive sister, Mikasa Ackerman, walking to school? Armin made a stop next to them and put his board under one arm.

"Hey guys!" He said with a quick wave and a smile, and proceeded to walk with them.

"Oh, hey man." Eren said while continuing to look forward.

"Hi, Armin." Mikasa also said with a half-hearted smile, as she readjusted her famous red scarf to shield her face from the wind.

They must have been arguing again. Armin thought, but decided not to ask about it. He knew that it had been tense in the Yeager household these past couple of weeks because Eren wanted to enroll into the Military after they graduated, but Mikasa and their mother kept objecting which only resulted in a three-way conflict between them.

"Eren where's your board?" Armin asked, noticing that it wasn't under his arm.

"One of the wheels broke." Eren said grumpily, while giving an accusing glare to Mikasa. She only continued to look straight ahead; obviously unfazed at the face he was offering her.

"Oh, that's a shame." Armin said. Damn, the tension is so palpable you could cut it with a knife.

"Yeah, I'm taking it to the skate shop after school though. But, hey! Did you hear about that new girl that moved here from the other side of Shiganshina? I think her name is Annie…" For a split second Armin could have sworn he saw Mikasa's eyes darken when Eren said that name. "Apparently she got into a fight with Ymir and gave her a black eye."

"Ymir must've done something to piss her off. You know what she's like. But no, I didn't. It must suck to move in the middle of the semester, though. Maybe we should introduce ourselves." Armin could now see the three story building with the blue roof coming into was their third year now at the hell hole that was called high school.

At Armin's sentence, he noticed Mikasa's lips turn downwards into a small frown. "What, Mikasa?"

"Nothing... It's just… I don't think you or Eren should get to know her. She's not a good person."

"Well then maybe it's a good thing I don't believe in good people…" He stated jokingly. "C'mon, we can at least give her a chance." When the three of them walked through the front doors, Armin started climbing the stairs to where his locker and first period was, while the other two kept walking down the hall. Eren turned around, walking backwards as he said "We'll see you at lunch, Armin!" waved, then disappeared around the corner with Mikasa and Armin proceeded with the long hike to the third floor. Because he was so intelligent, the school board had decided to put him in the accelerated and AP senior classes this year. It wasn't for the most part a bad thing for Armin; he enjoyed the challenges that the classes provided, but like everything there were two sides to it. One of the things he didn't enjoy was that he only had one period with his two best friends, and that was PE; not one of Armin's favorite classes. While he was always nice to everybody, which made making friends an easy task, it wasn't quite the same. Most of the time people overlooked him like he was invisible, and the fact that he was a grade below his classmates only added to that dilemma. Finally Armin got to his locker on the third floor, albeit, out of breath, and entered the four digit combination. With a click, he opened it and proceeded to put his skateboard and backpack away and hung up his coat. After he was done with everything and had the books he needed, he shut the locker door and started walking to his first hour, German III with Mr. Bozado. He looked around at all the students putting their belongings into their lockers, issuing into their classes, or talking with their friends. When all of a sudden he saw a patch of blonde he didn't recognize. His eyes followed the streaks of hair down the side of her face, and saw a very short girl with bored, steely blue eyes, an overturned nose, and pink lips. Her hair was in a messy bun and she was wearing a simple white sweatshirt that was too big and jeans that had a few holes in them. It was the most uninteresting outfit.

And yet she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

He didn't even realize he had been staring until she walked up to him. His heart started to beat faster as she got closer and closer. And finally she was standing right in front of him, with the look of absolute boredom still on her face, and said -

"Gawk at someone else… you're creeping me out." Her breathe smelled like peppermint and cigarette smoke, and just like that, she walked in the direction he had just come from. He turned the color of a cherry and looked around in time to see her enter one of the many classrooms. Trying to push the embarrassing moment from his mind, he shook his head and continued on to class.

German was usually a very easy subject for Armin. His grandfather and mother moved here from Germany, and his grandfather taught him how to speak it starting at a very young age; it was basically a second language to him. But for some reason, or because of someone, he was having a very difficult time paying attention. He looked out the window in a daze. The skies had turned gray and it was now raining lightly, the sound of distant thunder was in the background. It didn't help his mood, and neither did his thoughts.

Why am I so damn weird? She probably thought I was such a freak for staring at her like that. God! She said I creeped her out! I can never talk to her again! Who was she anyways? She was really pretty… Maybe she was the new girl, Ann-

"Arlert!" Mr. Bozado practically shouted.

"Y-yes sir?" Armin looked around and saw the entire classrooms eyes on him. He heard snickering and looked behind to find none other than Jean Kirstein, with Marco Bott sitting next to him trying to 'shush' him. The sound of his teacher's voice snapped his head back to the front.

"Unter welchem Namen hat die deutsche Jugendbewegung in ganz Deutschland bekannt geworden?" Mr. Bozado said, very loudly, testing to see if Armin was paying attention. He even went as far as to ask the question in German. His face had a smug look on it, just begging Armin to get it wrong.

Under which name did the German Youth Movement become famous throughout Germany? Armin translated in his mind.

Oh, that's easy.

"Um… W-Wandervogel, sir?" Armin was now blushing all the way up to his ears. Why am I only visible when it's to embarrass me?

The smug expression on his teachers face was quickly wiped away, back to the one that said 'I despise you all. If it didn't pay the rent I wouldn't be here.' And that was enough to let Armin know he had gotten the question right.

Mr. Bozado quickly returned to the lesson, and Armin went back to his thoughts, making sure he still faced the front of the class.

The bell rang twenty minutes later and everybody started packing up their things to advance to second hour. When Armin got back out in the hall he took his phone out of his pocket and looked at the two unread messages.

From: Eren

Received | 8:36 am | ymirs eye looks like shit

Received | 8:37 am | i guess the rumor was true… mikasa saw her wlkin up the stairs before class & pointed her out… shes so short i cant believe she stood a chance agnst ymir

Armin typed a few things on his keyboard and pressed send.

Sent | 9:02 am | What did she look like? I may have seen her earlier.

He turned the corner slipping his phone back into his pocket. A minute later he felt it buzz and took it out again. He continued walking as he looked at the screen and saw

From: Eren

Received | 9:04 am | idk… blonde.. sweatshirt looked bored as hell

Because Armin was looking down, paying attention to his phone, he barely noticed he had walked straight into said small blonde.

"Watch where you fucking goi-" She looked up to see who it was. "Oh, it's you." Her face showed one of total annoyance.

"I'm so, so sorry!" Armin looked up from his phone and, also, realized who he was standing in front of. His face turned a bright crimson.

"Yeah, whatever... just fuck off." She said as she started to walk around him.

"Wait!" He quickly grabbed her shoulder and turned her around to face him. Her expression was of shock but rapidly turned into a look that would scare the devil himself and he removed his hand as fast as he had put it there. "Um… if it's not too rude to ask, is y-your name Annie?"

"What's it to you?" Annie continued to give him a dirty look, and Armin started to feel more and more nervous. I feel like she's going to murder me just for asking her name.

"Well I just… I just thought that since y-you're new here… that I should… I don't know… introduce my-myself." Armin tried to give her a friendly smile, but because he was so nervous, he probably just looked constipated. "I'm Armin Arlert." He reached out his hand to shake hers, but she just looked down at it like it was poisonous.

Silence.

Armin returned his arm to his side and Annie removed her scowl, returning to her bored look, turned once again and started to walk away again.

"I-if you want you could join me for lunch! I mean, it wouldn't just be you and me! My friends would be there too… Um... we usually meet outside the front doors." She stopped walking away, and listened. "I mean… only if you want to." Then she turned the corner and was gone.

He couldn't help but stare at the emptiness that was occupied by her body only a minute earlier.

Wow.

The sound of the minute bell rang and with a few curses Armin hurried off to his next hour before he was late.

Lunch couldn't have arrived sooner. It was his favorite time of day because he could hang out with his friends, and hopefully a certain blonde, and get away from the campus grounds for a bit. It had stopped drizzling, but the gray clouds only begged to start down pouring again. The petit blonde was still on his mind, Armin didn't know for sure if she would show up but he couldn't help but wait in anticipation. He looked around at all the students getting in their cars, or walking to go to wherever they were going for lunch. He noticed Ymir, with her black eye, and Krista Lenz walking to Ymir's car which was a red BMW E21, an old car but it fit her surprisingly well. Armin always thought it was weird that Ymir owned a car that was about 39 years old, when she was only 18 and lived by herself. Armin brushed off that thought when he saw Eren, followed by Mikasa, approach him.

"Hi guys!" Armin said with a cheesy smile.

"Hey, are you ready to go?" Eren smiled, stopping next to him. "I'm starving!" And to prove his point his stomach made a loud grumbling noise.

"I… was wondering if we could wait a few more minutes. I asked someone to join us today, I hope that's alright." Eren just nodded at Armin's sentence, but Mikasa looked curious.

"Who did you ask, Armin?"

"O-oh… um, A-annie." Armin blushed a bit when he told them, he noticed Mikasa's eyes glaze over at the mention of her name and her expression turn cold. Armin quickly inputted "B-but, I don't even think she'll show up… she didn't really give me a definite answer. I just thought… It wouldn't hurt to wait a little while longer."

"No, I don't want her joining us." Mikasa's voice didn't display anger or discontent, but it was strict and even had a bit of worry in it. What did Mikasa know about Annie? Did she know her before she moved here?

"C'mon Mikasa, you can argue with me because I'm your family but you can't restrict Armin from doing what he wants." Eren said annoyance seeping with every word, even rolling his eyes to display his irritation and in response Mikasa turned her attention to him. Trying to change the subject before he had a broken bone, he told his friends "So, did you guys hear about Reiner's party?" Both shook their heads no. "He came up to me today and told me that all three of us were invited, it's supposed to be fuckin amazing! Even better than the last one."

"Eren, don't curse." Mikasa reminded him. "I also don't know what's so appealing to you about getting so drunk you can't stand up straight."

"Aww, so you're sayin you're not gonna go?" Eren put his hands together and gave her puppy-dog eyes.

Mikasa sighed at his behavior. "Who else is going to make sure you don't get yourself killed?"

"Yes! What about you Armin?" Eren looked expectantly to his best friend.

"I guess. It's not like I had anything planned anyways." Armin shrugged his shoulders. It had been a couple more minutes now, and the three of them were talking about the plan for after school.
I guess she isn't going to show up after all. "We can start heading to Belle Roche now." He said trying not to sound too defeated.

"Are you sure, Armin?"

"Yeah… It's fine. I'm sure something just came up." He tried to sound as convincing as he could. They all started walking now, getting farther and farther away from the campus. Even if he barely knew the girl, it was still disappointing that she ditched him. Ok, so she didn't give me an answer. But still, he couldn't help but feel rejected. The three of them blissfully walked and talked and finally their favorite restaurant was now in view, The Belle Roche Café. It was a small hole-in-the-wall place that was always packed and always had the same elderly man sitting in the back reading his book, the tall walls were brick and had fake ivy wrapped around each one and fairy lights fell from the winding staircase that led to the second floor. It had been a tradition for the three of them to come and eat here every Friday as a little celebration that the week was over and the weekend was about to begin. They had everything from macarons the colors of the rainbow, to a cheesy beef and bacon sandwich. When they all entered the quiet atmosphere, Armin and Mikasa went to find a table as Eren ordered the usual for everybody.

Eren; a pork and ham Cuban sandwich with extra pickles and a Pepsi to drink. Mikasa would get the Quesadilla with black beans, corn and cilantro, with lemonade. And last but not least, Armin would get his favorite which was the chicken and pesto Grilled Cheese sandwich with no tomatoes, and a hot chocolate now that the weather was getting colder. They all sat around the small table and talked about their plans for Thanksgiving break, which was quickly approaching. The Yeager family would be going on vacation to Sina, where their mother had family, and would stay there for the majority of the week long break. Armin was staying here in town with his grandfather like they did every year, and didn't have any set plans except for the visit to his mother and father's grave. This time of year was always the hardest; it would bring back all the pain that Armin tried to keep locked away.

"Armin, you'll be ok." Mikasa tried to reassure him. "If you start getting bad again, we're only a phone call away."

"Plus, your grandfather will be with you this year." Eren also inputted, trying to make his best friend feel better. But Armin was looking straight ahead, thinking about the unsure future.

Lunch had come and gone, and now they were back at school saying their goodbyes as they went to their next class. The rest of the day progressed just as quickly, and Armin was at his locker putting on his coat and grabbing his skateboard. He locked it with the spin of the dial and walked down the stairs telling the friends he passed on the way to have a good weekend. When he got outside, it had started raining again and he put up the hood of his coat. He was walking down the street enjoying the feeling of relief that school was over for the time being, when he saw a familiar blonde headed girl walking by herself and smoking a cigarette. He swallowed his nervousness and hastened his steps until he was walking beside her.

"Hi again, Annie." He said giving her a smile that reached ear to ear, which she seemed to not have noticed, because all he got in response was silence as she blew the smoke she had just inhaled. "Where do you live? I could walk you home." Again, he was only met with silence. The bravery he had been feeling before was slowly draining. "How was the rest of your day? It was a bummer that you couldn't make it to lu–"

"Armin." She interrupted, but didn't wait for him to respond. "You don't know me. I don't know you. I don't know why you're trying so hard to be my friend. All I really want is for everybody to fuck off and stop pretending I mean shit to them. So, please, just leave me alone." And at that he slowed to a stop. She threw her cigarette butt on the ground and started to move faster, leaving him to watch her walk away.

But I want to get to know you.

Maybe that was too much? Annie asked herself as she walked into her kitchen. She had gotten home to the small house about ten minutes ago, her father already asleep in his room; she stripped off her wet clothes and threw on an oversized band T-shirt. It was an ex-boyfriend's and was so big it almost touched her knees. It's not like he would want to be my friend after he got to know me anyways. He would run the first chance he got.

Maybe you should let him decide that, another part of her brain thought. She opened her fridge, not surprised when the only thing she found was a bottle of olives and an assortment of condiments; it was her own fault for not doing the shopping yet. Her stomach growled in protest from not eating lunch and when the stomach pains subsided she closed the fridge door before olives and ketchup started sounding like a good idea. She walked back to her room and went to the window. She opened it a crack and felt the chilly air blow through her shoulder length hair, the sun had already set but it was still drizzling. She fell back on her bed and felt the tiredness of a long week succumb her to sleep.

She awoke to the sound of movement in the kitchen. I guess dad is up. She looked over to her phone on her bedside table. 1:24 am, and she also had two new messages. Unlocking her phone she went to her inbox.

From : Reiner

Received | 11:14 pm | cmon annie… it's a friday night and im throwin a party... come on over if you feel like it.

Received | 11:15 pm | plus bert says he misses you haha

She was about to send a text declining, when she heard her father yelling her name.

"Annie!" She sighed and opened her door; walking into the kitchen she saw her father leaning against one of the counters. She looked at him, a worried expression etching itself onto her face.

"Dad, what're you doing awa…ke?" She fell silent when she saw what was in the middle of the table and froze. His voice caught her attention and she looked back up at her father.

"What the fuck is this?" He was angry now, which only made the situation more terrifying. She quickly looked back down at the little brown jewelry box, then back up at him. This jewelry box was her mother's and it was the only thing that Annie had left of her; it was her most treasured object. No, no, no, no, no. How and when had he found it? She was stunned, but she had to get it back. "What the FUCK is this?!" Annie flinched at the tone of her father's voice. Her heart was now beating loudly in her ears and she started to breathe faster, already feeling her crystal eyes fill with tears. Calm down… calm down. C'mon you need to keep his mind off of it.

"It's nothing, just a regular jewelry box. I bought it a couple years ago…" Annie said trying her best to keep her voice calm. "Did you take your medicine?" She watched as her father picked up the box and approached her. "Dad, did you take your medicine?" she was getting more and more afraid the closer he got.

"Annie… Annie, honey..." He caressed her cheek, and she felt all the tears rush back. "You know I hate it when you lie to me!" She heard a loud smack and felt the palm of his hand collide with the skin on her right cheek. She brought a hand to that side of her face, trying in a useless attempt to subdue the stinging and doing a lousy job at trying to hold back tears. The only thing heard was her sobs echoing throughout the silent house. She remembered the beginning of all of this like it happened yesterday. It started small like a snowball rolling down a hill. Harmless at first, until it got bigger and bigger as the problems got more and more serious.

She was twelve years old; the doctors had told them his mental illness was slowly consuming his mind. They said it wouldn't happen for a while though, right?

Fourteen years old, her mother had finally had enough and overdosed on sleeping pills. Mom, I wish you would have taken me with you.

Fifteen, her father had a breakdown at work and lost his job, that night would be the first time he ever hit her. But it's ok, because you said it wouldn't happen again.

Sixteen, she was working more than she was going to school so she could support them both. Missing a few classes won't hurt.

Seventeen, the money their uncle gave them was gone and she was using everything she had for her father's medicine. Who cares about food? As long as he's getting what he needs.

Eighteen, her father had gotten a job working from home and Annie could finally focus on school. But I'd rather work than go to school; there are so many rumors I've lost count.

Eighteen, the house was costing too much and her father had told them they were moving. Maybe it's for the best.

But he had only gotten worse throughout the month they had lived here. He had forgotten to enroll her into school until this last week, they wouldn't have accepted her if not for his condition, and he became more and more violent as his brain became more and more unresponsive. In the end, the snowball has to stop in one way or another.

"I'm sorry... sshh, shh Annie." She felt his arms wrap around her and rub her back, but that only made her sob even more, out of frustration, out of anger, out of feeling like she couldn't do anything, because in truth she couldn't. She couldn't push him away or it might set him off again. She couldn't scream at him because it would only make things worse. The only thing she could do was cry silently to herself and wait for him to calm down. "Annie… you and me, we gotta stick together. I'm the only one you can trust in this sick world." She didn't know how to respond, she had thought about running away from this horrible life too many times. The only thing stopping her was the fact that he needed her.

"Annie? Why won't you answer me?" She felt him push off of her and watched as realization sunk in. "You're-you're leaving me! You fuckin are, aren't you? You're FUCKIN leaving me!" He clutched his head in his hands and he started to scream.

"No! No I'm not! I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere." Annie cried back, desperately trying to get him to calm down. She cupped his face in her hands and gently shushed him. But he roughly pushed her into the wall and curled his fist into a ball before she even knew what was going on. A second later she heard a sickening sound of knuckles against skin and felt something warm run down her chin. Her lip was bleeding. She was so consumed with the pain in her lip and jaw; Annie hadn't noticed another fist being formed, this time aiming straight for her stomach. She doubled over in agony, tears spilling while she hugged her abdomen trying desperately to breathe.

"You can't leave me! You can't leave me! I won't fucking let you!" He was now screaming at her so loudly she was sure the neighbors could hear.

Because Annie was now hunched over, she was at the same level as the arm that held the only remaining piece she had of her mother. So she seized the opportunity and quickly snatched it, running to her room before he even registered what had happened. Her stomach protested from the sudden movement and she almost fell to her knees from all the pain. But she had to keep going, and she wouldn't stop until she reached her destination. And finally, when she made it there, she shut her door and locked it. She searched around frantically for her leather backpack, finding it under the clothes she had removed earlier, and dumped the contents all over the floor. She quickly stuffed it with extra clothes, her phone charger and her mother's jewelry box. She jumped when she heard pounding on the door.

"Please, come back! I'm sorry! Daddy's so sorry! It won't happen again, baby! I- I promise sweetie!"

Feeling more adrenaline pump through her veins she threw on a pair of black leggings and tied up her boots. After slipping on her green surplus jacket, she jammed her phone and a pack of cigarettes into one of the many jacket pockets, then adjusted the bag on her back and opened her window. Lucky we moved into a one story house. Then slipped her legs through and felt her feet land on the wet grass.

And she ran, leaving the sounds of her father behind her. She ran without looking back, knowing exactly where to go.

From: Reiner

Received | 11:14 pm | c'mon annie… it's a friday night and im throwin a party…. come on over if you feel like it.

Received | 11:15 pm | plus bert says he misses you haha

Sent | 1:46 am | Sure. I'm on my way.

A/N - Thank you so much for reading! All unanswered questions will be answered in further chapters. Chapter 1 will be out soon. Reviews and critics are always appreciated. Until next time!