A Fitful Awake

"Die, titans! Die!"

Armin Arlert was woken up rather unceremoniously in the dead of the night with a verbal slap to the face.

"Mmph…kill titans…" Eren Jaeger muttered as Armin felt him turn over from his perch on the edge of Eren's bed.

Armin must have fallen asleep sitting up. From the moonlight coming in the window, he could see that Mikasa must have dozed off as well, still seated in her chair by Eren's bedside.

Armin had been woken up by Eren's nighttime massacres of dreamt up titans enough times in the past to know that falling back into his own dreams of the ocean was an impossibility at this point. He stood up and wrapped a spare blanket around his shoulders, wandering over to the window.

His reflection in the glass brought to mind Annie Leonhart encased in her crystal shell. Armin turned back around to study the sleeping figure of Mikasa. Don't all girls wear a sort of transparent armor, come to think of it? He mused.

He continued to pace the small room until he eventually found his feet carrying him out into the hall.

Why had Annie decided to not be a 'good person', after all? Why had she let him live that time? The questions danced in Armin's head. Despite his speech to her about people being good to some while simultaneously bad to others, it was pretty clear at this point that one would be hard pressed to find anyone living within the walls who would classify Annie Leonhart as a 'good person' at the moment.

Armin suddenly discovered that his feet had absconded him into the basement where Annie's crystal was being held.

His view of the crystal was obstructed by the seated figure of the eccentric squad leader, Hanji Zoe, who didn't seem to be aware of the boy's presence.

Armin cleared his throat.

The bespectacled squad leader gave a yelp as the chair toppled over.

"Oh, it's just you, Arnie." Hanji stood off the floor and righted the chair.

"It's, um, Armin, Squad Leader…"

"I need to pee. Would you mind watching her for a few minutes? Hopefully no one swoops in to kill her while I'm away, like she did my poor little Bean…" Hanji patted Armin's shoulder and exited the room before he could reply.

Armin began to lower himself onto Hanji's still-warm seat, but changed his mind and walked up to study the mysterious girl in the crystal.

Sometimes during dinners back in training, Armin would find himself stealing glances at Annie across the room. She was always seated near her friend Mina and her manner reminded him somewhat of Mikasa in that Annie was clearly enjoying the company of her friend, even if her face didn't exactly betray it.

Armin often found himself contemplating the silhouette of Annie's nose during those moments. It was so different from that of the other girls. Sometimes he thought he'd like to poke it, like one would a kitten's. Of course, this kitten would most certainly bite.

While still meandering through memories, Armin pressed his lips to the area of the crystal in front of Annie's charming nose. Standing back, he chuckled at his own foolishness. I must need to go back to bed pretty badly.

He spied over his shoulder to check that the squad leader wasn't there, jotting notes on his nonsense.

Turning back to Annie, Armin noticed something was off. The crystal appeared cloudier than before. Armin drew as close as possible to the crystal. No, that can't be right. I really do need to get back to bed. He rubbed his bleary eyes and looked once more. Sure enough, written on the cloudiest part of crystal, in Annie's neat handwriting, was the snarky remark: 'I've had better'.

Armin stumbled back. "You can see me?"

A simple 'Not really.' Took the place of the previous written phrase.

So she could hear in there in too. Armin felt his face flush. He knew that now was a ridiculous time to be embarrassed, alone in a room with a girl who had probably killed at least a hundred people, but that did little to rein in his teenage emotions. He had always imagined that his first kiss would be on a beach at sunset once all the titans had been eradicated. He hoped that this time didn't really count.

Annie had been resting peacefully, cocooned as if in a warm blanket. Eventually, something caused her to stir. There was a tingling sensation on her nose, like an Autumn leaf brushing past. That boy was there. Even though she could open her eyes insider her cocoon, she knew it. Back in training, Annie could always tell when Armin was near. He had a gentle, warm aura different from that of many of the other boys. Marco's was the most similar, perhaps, but somehow Armin had a unique 'softness' all his own. He was also much smaller than Eren or Reiner or Jean. She often felt a twinge of disgust in how the men usually towered over her, but Armin was a comfortable height. She didn't feel as uneasy as usual when it was Armin close by.

"How can you write in there?"Armin asked conversationally. He knew it was useless to ask the reason for all of her atrocities. It was better to keep her communicating than to have her shut down again.

'I just think about it and it happens.' Armin was thought that she'd have shrugged if she could.

"Your crystal's very pretty. I think it would look nice with your eyes, if you could open them. I guess I won't be seeing them ever again, though, since I'm sure you're not planning on coming out of there..."

'I'm sure even you don't see me as a 'good person' anymore.'

"You killed Eren's friends. So many people died because of you, but you spared me... I don't know anymore. I guess even on a person to person basis, there can still be a grey area when it comes to 'good' and 'bad'. I did want to thank you for sparing me. I'm sure you won't tell me the reason, but thank you. I just wish you could've done the same for everyone else."

'Do you hate me?'

"…No.

'I see.'

There was silence for a moment. Armin sat down on the floor, hugging his knees.

'…the ocean.'

Armin's head jerked back up. He must have nodded off and missed most of the newest message.

"Excuse me?"

'I'd like if you could see the ocean.'

"…Is that why you let me live?"

'Who knows?'

"How did you know about that? Seeing the ocean, I mean."

'I heard you telling your friends about it.'

"Hmm. Is that so…"

Annie heard nothing from Armin for a time again and guessed that he had fallen asleep once more. Such a child.

"Do you think that maybe…you would come with me? I think that…I would very much like to see the ocean with you. I enjoy talking with you and I'd like if we could do so again under different circumstances."

There was no response from the crystal. Armin had clearly broken whatever fragile connection the two had formed since he came down here. He turned his gaze to the ceiling. Of course there was no way Annie would someday come out of crystal just for the sake of his silly fantasy. He decided to take one more glance at the stunning girl embedded in the crystal, like an angel inside of a Christmas ornament.

There was now something written very tiny in the crystal:

'Yes.'

"What are you doing over here? Aren't you supposed to be watching her?" Levi questioned Hanji who was peeking around the corner into the room containing the crystal.

"Shh! Just look."

Corporal Levi also took a gander into the room. The tiny figure of the boy soldier, Armin Arlert, was curled up asleep, resting against the crystal.

Levi rolled his eyes and turned back to the Squad Leader.

"I thought they needed some time alone."

"I didn't peg you for the 'women's intuition' sort."

"I picked up a thing or two from Petra," Hanji smiled ruefully. "Is it alright if I keep watch from out here?"

"Do what you want." Levi left, presumably to check on the pastor, who was also currently under watch.

Hanji peered into the room once more, removed her glasses , wiped them and put them back on. She was sure that the figure in the crystal had been smiling softly.

The end