A/N - okay this is my first AruAnnie so I hope it goes well. I know there are probably 121 gigawatts of stories with this same plot line out there but I wanted to start writing this OTP with something simple. so enjoy!

"Even if the whole world hates you, your dad is the only one on your side."

For the longest time all she could remember was darkness...like being asleep for a long time. But there was one memory at the back of her mind. She was standing in front of a tunnel, and then people came up and grabbed her, and her ring spiked out. Then she was Titan-fighting Eren and she remembered her father right before there was this sensation like she was drowning. Then came the darkness and it felt like she was floating on air.

But at this point, Annie had no sense of time. She went off how vivid her last memories were. The less she remembered the more time had passed. She had no sense of reality or direction and as far as she knew it the rest of her life was to be spent in this ball of crystal she had created for herself. Her mind raced with the prospect of never seeing anyone she knew ever again. They existed only in her memories and her dreams; forever trapped in her imaginative reality that she made up to fulfill the endless void that was slowly becoming her eternity.

But then there was this sound…like cracking glass only one thousand times louder. Light cautiously crept in as if it were scared to penetrate Annie's endless void. For the first time in what felt like forever she heard voices. Actual voices from actual people—not just from another dream. Even though they were muffled and blurred together, the voices were there. And there was one that was the most prominent that reminded Annie of someone that she had once known. It mingled with the other voices and then they all got louder and louder and everything got brighter as more light spilled in through the cracks.

Annie wanted scream, but she couldn't. Her world was being split open; her self-induced void was collapsing in on itself. She felt herself fall and then she hit something rough and cold. Her body was limp and numb with nothing she could do to move. Hands closed around her and something warm covered her. The voices changed to yelling and the yelling got louder and clearer as her brain focused out and adjusted.

"Arlert put the girl down now! That is an order!" this was a man's voice and he sounded angry, but Annie didn't recognize it.

"I won't do it! I'm sorry, but I won't. At least… at least not until I know that you won't kill her."

Armin…? I remember him now…

"I won't kill her, I promise. She doesn't deserve that luxury," a woman's voice now.

Is he trying to protect me?

Annie's eyes willed themselves open and orange light engulfed her vision. She could see the collar line of a standard military jacket that had been draped over her. Looking up she was surprised to see herself in Armin's arms and upon seeing him realized that it was his jacket on her. Annie's head lazily tilted to the side and saw several Survey Corps. members standing before them – none of them being anyone she recognized.

"Okay, she's awake now. How do you know that she won't slit her finger on that ring of hers and turn into a Titan again?!" a short man in front snapped.

Annie recalled from the rumors and stories that he must've been Captain Levi and the woman she remembered as being some scientist. Hannah or Hani…Hanji, maybe? Armin laid her down slowly on the stone floor again and picked up the silver ring from among the crystalline shards.

"Does that make you feel better?" he asked as he flicked the ring to Hanji, who pocketed it.

As Armin scooped the girl back up in his arms, a tall man stepped forwards. Annie assumed he was Commander Erwin Smith when her eyes caught on the bolo-tie hanging from his neck.

"We aren't going to slaughter her. We are just asking to take her to a separate room where we can interrogate her," Erwin's tone was almost unrecognizably calm, albeit firm.

Armin took a step back and tightened his grip on Annie slightly, "give some time alone with her. I don't care where."

Erwin looked at Hanji, then at Levi, and finally back at Armin, "there is a holding cell down the hall. We'll give you ten minutes."