The world was always a little more perfect in autumn – still, quiet, cool, and peaceful, just as autumn should always be. Every year the leaves would fall from the trees and line the sidewalks with beautiful warm colors. The temperatures would drop and the air would smell crisp and welcoming. Everyone would begin to break out their winter clothes and bundle up for the impending cold months ahead.

There was no doubt in Armin's mind that this was his favorite season of all.

It had become tradition for him to wake up early on the first day of autumn, go to his favorite coffee shop, purchase something warm and soothing, and take a walk through the park before the world was entirely awake, when everyone was just preparing for their alarms to sound and their sleep to be disturbed. So far, his tradition remained unbroken.

"Hi, Petra," he called out as he stepped inside of the shop. The scent of freshly brewed coffee wafted around the café and he couldn't help but to take a deep breath as he approached the counter.

"We're not even open yet, Armin," Petra called over her shoulder as she continued to grind some fresh coffee beans. "You always come in way too early."

"I know, but I like to come in early," he said with a smile. "I can always help you if you'd like."

"You don't even work here. My shop, my work, my paycheck." She stepped over to a coffee pot as it sounded, signaling that it was done brewing. "Medium roast, right?"

Armin mumbled a quiet affirmation as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a few coins and a dollar bill. Petra set to work to prepare his beverage just the way he liked it – with a bit of cream, two sugars, and a pump of vanilla syrup. Not too sweet, not too bitter, he would always say, though she could almost guarantee that it was far too sweet for her with that pump of vanilla he always insisted on having.

"$1.50, plus a tip for me," she chuckled as she forced a lid onto the paper cup before sliding it towards him.

Armin's cheeks flared pink as soon as he realized that he had forgotten extra change to give to her. "I-I'm sorry, Petra, I forgot to grab—"

"Put it all in the tip jar and I'll pay for you today, how about that?"

"Oh, thank you! I really—"

"But I expect a $5.00 tip next time you come in!"

"Aww, come on, I'm poor…" He picked up his coffee and took a quick sip of it.

"We're all poor. Go turn someone in to the police or something. You could get a $5.00 reward out of it, then bring it back to me!"

"Yeah, or I could not risk my life leading a criminal by the hand to the police and give you a tip later, ya greedy thief," he said sarcastically.

Petra laughed heartily and returned to grinding. "Relax, I'm kidding! But seriously, we're all broke around here at this point. How's the job hunt going, by the way?"

"Not incredibly well…" He set his cup back down on the counter and leaned against it with his arms crossed.

"Really? Nothing has come back so far?"

"Nothing…"

"You still doing freelance work?"

"Yeah, here and there. I haven't written a thing in a week, though. Nobody's hiring freelance writers right now."

"Hm…" She set the grinder aside once more and pulled out an empty, tin coffee can. "Well, I would hire you here if I didn't already have enough employees, but between Auruo, Gunter, Eld and I we've got this place well maintained from morning to night."

"You don't need anyone to clean bathrooms or anything for minimum wage?"

"Nah, I've got Auruo on that," she snickered. "He hates it so much, but at least I get a show out of it."

Armin let out a half-hearted laugh as he stared at the restroom doors in the back of the shop. He was becoming desperate, and he really was willing to scrub toilets and clean urinals for a few dollars every week. Anything was better than nothing. His rent was becoming unmanageable, his fridge seemed to be empty most of the time, and he had to go without electricity fairly often. Things were better when his best friend Eren was around, but he knew that it would never be the same as it was back then, even if Eren were to come back somehow.

"Hey."

Armin flinched and looked back at Petra who was eyeing him closely. "W-What?"

"You're thinking about him again, huh?"

"Oh, um…" He avoided her hard gaze as best he could, but he knew that he couldn't lie to her. "Yeah…"

She let out a small sigh and reached out to squeeze his hand in support. "I know it's hard, but things will get better soon. There's a time and a place for everything, and maybe it was just his time. And soon enough it'll be yours too. Your time will come where you're stable and safe and in a better place and happy. I know it's hard right now, but you can do this. Okay?"

Armin tried his best to force a smile for her, but it wouldn't come to him.

"Come on, you're only 23. You still have a long life ahead of you. This is just the beginning, and trust me, the beginning is the hardest part." She let go of his hand and grinned brightly at him. "You'll be fine."

Armin nodded and managed to grin back at her. He picked up his coffee and headed towards the door. "Well, it's the first day of autumn."

"Oh! Your tradition!"

"Yeah. I'm gonna head over there, then."

"Good! Get out of my shop! You're scaring away the customers."

"You mean the 5:40 AM roaches and mice?"

"Get out!" She threw an old washcloth towards him playfully as he narrowly escaped the shop. He couldn't help but laugh happily as he walked away from the café and towards the park.

Armin couldn't deny how well Petra made his coffee each time she prepared it for him – not too sweet, not too bitter; just the way he liked it. Nobody else seemed to get the flavor right, but she had truly mastered it. He smiled to himself as he took a long swig of the warm drink.

The park wasn't a long walk from the coffee house. It was only a few blocks away, and the view of the city on the way there was truly beautiful. The sun always rose at just the right angle over the rooftops, some of the shops nearby were dark and unopen, others were just turning on their lights and preparing to unlock their doors, and the groggy feeling hanging over everything was very sobering during autumn. Every once in a while a car would drive by or someone on a bike would pass him, but for the most part the city was quiet during the early morning. Most people's days didn't start until about 7:00 AM or later unless they chose to start them earlier. Armin usually chose to wake up around the same time that the rest of the people in town did, but every once in a while he decided to set his morning alarm a few hours forward and rise before the sun or anyone else. The first day of autumn was special, however, and he always made a note to get up promptly to get coffee and go to the park each year.

The park was a bit isolated from the rest of the city without any houses or businesses too close by. For the most part it stood alone, which made it the perfect place for anyone to go if they wanted to be in a place that was still in town but was quiet and rather serene. Armin quickened his pace as he saw it come into view just around the corner of Binns Road and Neighborhood Lane.

He walked briskly across the street and towards the sidewalks on the other side of the road. He was careful to step over the curb once he was there. The leaves beneath his feet gave a satisfying crunch each time he stepped on them, and he couldn't help but to smile at the sound as it reached his ears.

Armin took in a deep breath as he relaxed and sat down on an old, partially rotted wooden bench nearby. Most everything in town was fairly well aged, so it wasn't uncommon for something as trivial as a bench to be falling apart. There was something about it that he liked, though, so he didn't mind it in the slightest.

A gentle gust of air blew around him, whipping his long hair across his face and off his shoulders. He reached up with one hand to try and smooth the strands back out. He hadn't had his hair cut in such a long time, he couldn't help but reminisce, but he didn't mind. He rather liked growing it out. It had been fairly long all of his life, anyways. Eren had really liked it a lot when he was around, too.

He sighed quietly and let his hand fall back to his coffee cup. He just couldn't get Eren off his mind. Each year Eren ended up getting stuck in his thoughts for at least a few weeks at a time. It was torture. All Armin wanted to do was move on with his life and let the past go, but Eren couldn't seem to leave his memory for more than a few minutes at a time these days.

Just before he could begin to think on it any further, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and heard his call ringtone go off. He pulled it out and checked the screen. He instantly began to smile as he read the caller ID. He answered it and brought the phone up to his ear.

"Hey!" he said cheerfully.

"Happy autumn…" a very tired-sounding voice answered from the other end.

"Are you still in bed, Mikasa?"

"Mhm…"

"You're always up early, though."

"My alarm went off late today. I planned on sleeping in, but then I remembered that today was autumn."

"Hm. Were you out late?"

"Yeah. Historia wanted someone to go to the club with, but I just ended up getting drunk and going home. It was dumb. You should have been there."

"Why would I have wanted to go if it was dumb?"

"Because you would have realized faster than I did how dumb it was and you would have gotten us out of there."

Armin chuckled to himself. "I suppose." He brought his coffee cup to his lips and took another sip from it. He peered out of the corner of his eye as he lowered it again and noticed that a person was walking his way. They were a far ways off and he couldn't see them well at all, but he was still surprised to see that someone else in town was awake at this hour.

"So how's your morning going so far?" Mikasa asked, punctuating her question with a long yawn.

"Oh, it's…fine," Armin mumbled. He kept his eyes on the far-off person for a moment longer, then looked away, opting instead to steal glances at them every once in a while.

"You don't sound like it's fine."

"No, no, really, it's fine. I was just distracted."

"By?"

"I… Uh… I'm not sure?"

"Are you thinking about him again?"

Armin paused for a moment and fingered the side of the plastic coffee lid. "Just a little."

"Same here."

"You miss him, too?"

"Of course."

"Well, I guess it's nice to know that I'm not the only one."

"You're definitely not. How's your coffee today?"

"Perfect, as usual."

"Petra still lets you in way before opening, huh?"

"Well, she doesn't let me, but I go in anyways."

Mikasa chuckled and let out a satisfied sigh. "Nothing's changed since I left."

"Other than the thing with Eren? Not really." He took another glance at the person walking towards him. He could at least make out that they were probably a woman by the more defined shape of their silhouette as they came closer. "Oh! Wait! Jean and Marco are getting married. That's changed, too."

"Jean's finally over me?"

"I guess. He still asks about you once in a while."

"Tell him I'm still thousands of miles away and I'm still not coming back."

"I'll be sure to let him know."

"Good. Let me call you back, I need to shower and put some coffee on before I head in to work."

"Alright. Talk to you soon, then."

They hung up without another word. They had both learned in their own time that they were pretty bad at goodbyes, so they opted instead to always end their conversations with fewer farewells and more promises to talk to each other again as soon as they had the time. Armin put his phone back into his pocket and looked once more at the person walking towards him.

He could finally make out her features. She was blonde, and had very pale skin. She was wearing a light blue, unzipped jacket and black pants. Her shirt was white with something red on it. As she came closer, he could see that there was some red on her jacket, too. It didn't quite look like a design. It looked like it was splattered. Maybe it was paint? He squinted to try and get a better view.

She seemed to be unbalanced and slow as she walked. Her clothes were dirty and wrinkled, and her hair was a mess. Armin stood up, sensing that something wasn't right, and set his coffee on the bench. He walked quickly up to her, trying not to seem threatening or dangerous. She didn't seem to notice him, though, until he got close enough to finally see her face.

Hey eyes were a piercing blue, and her nose was very pronounced. Her cheeks were flushed and her breathing was uneven. Her clothes were stained deeply with the red paint. No, it wasn't paint. It was too dark to be paint.

It was blood. A lot of blood.

Armin covered his mouth with a shaking hand and slowly, quietly spoke. "Y-You're covered in…"

The girl looked up at him with pleading, terrified eyes. She raised her hands palm-side up to show that they were drenched and stained with the liquid.

"Please, help me," she mumbled. "You have to help me."