Pairing: AruAni

Rating: T (for language and some violence later on)

Setting: Modern Day Reincarnation AU (at least it will be when the next chapter comes out)

Summary: Armin Arlert is a boy who has searched his whole life for something–or someone–he knows is missing in his life. Annie Leonhardt has been searching for just one person her whole life. A chance encounter makes them realize that they are the ones the other needs. Memories will be shared and questions answered, but one remains: Will they get to keep each other this time around?

Notes: I just finished the anime tonight, though I've read up as much as I can about the characters. I've also been reading fanfiction of the fandom for the past like month. So if anyone is terribly OOC, I apologize now. This idea has been with me for a few weeks now, but I didn't want start writing it until I had finished the anime. I am going to start the manga soon, I just wanted to write this while it was fresh in my mind. I really hope you guys like it!

Calls Me Home
Prologue: In This Famous Good Bye

"She's out."

He had heard it in a whisper, a rumor, and it had immediately set his heart pounding and his mind whirling. Could it be true? Could she really be free of her self-confined prison, of her own frozen time-lapse? It almost sounded too good to be true...but, then again, he had learned to believe in miracles in the last few years. After all, no one had ever thought that Humanity would have a chance before the Rogue Titan had appeared before them.

So really...would it really be so hard to believe that another miracle had happened? That the Female Titan had finally broken herself out of her crystal?

He had set off in finding out the truth as soon as he had heard, asking anyone who would speak about it. All of them said that same thing.

It was true.

She had come out of the crystal at last.

And he knew right away that he had to speak with her, to see her and ask her why...why had she come out now? After nearly a year of her being in her self-incasement. Why had she come out at all? She had to know that they wouldn't let her live...she had killed too many, done too much damage to the city when she had transformed. They would kill her...and it was a thought that he could not bear to think about...

For, even after all the harm she had caused, he still cared about her...more than he should have, probably...

"You have ten minutes. You are not allowed to give the Female Titan anything, and you are not allowed to take anything from her. And you are to report any information she might reveal immediately. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir, I understand."

Armin followed the guard down the tunnel towards the prison cell where he had been told they were keeping Annie. He could feel his hands beginning to tremble, and he balled them into fists at his sides. It had taken nearly a week of sucking up and promises to get Erwin to let him see the girl considered to be one of their greatest enemies. But the commander had finally agreed to let him see her, though he had only been granted a total of ten minutes.

But ten minutes was all he would need.

He could sense when they were getting close, because the guard's stance changed. He saw his brows furrow and his shoulders tense. Armin could practically feel the hatred coming off of the man, though he couldn't say he blamed him. Annie had caused plenty of damage, and hurt many loved ones. She had betrayed them all, betrayed all of Humanity by trying to take Eren.

But...surely she'd had a good reason to do what she did...right?

The guard lifted his lamp as he put the key into the lock for the prison. The door was yanked open and the guard stood aside, a grim look on his face. "Good luck to you, though I don't expect much will happen. She hasn't said a word since she arrived her."

The blond almost made a comment about the stuffy interior and how no one would want to say anything if they were here, but he figured it would be innappropriate, so he just kept his mouth shut. He didn't want the guard to kick him out before his ten minutes were up.

Armin stepped inside the cell, trying not to jump when the door was slammed behind him. He gripped the lanturn in his own hand and held it up high, looking around the room. It was dark and dank, and smelled of mold and mildew. He suspected it hadn't been cleaned in a while. He wondered how much of a fit Levi would have thrown if he had known...he shook the notion out of his head. He had to focus. He only had so much time.

He turned his head and his breath caught in his throat, his eyes going wide. He could feel his hands starting to shake once more, though he did his best to hide this fact.

Not that it would have mattered. She wasn't looking at him anyways.

There she sat, the Female Titan herself, Annie Leonhardt. She sat on the cot that was in the prison cell, her arms and legs in chains, head down, her hair blocking his view of her eyes...those ice-colored eyes that he had found himself missing more than he ought to. She was dirty, and it was clear that they hadn't given her a change of clothes since she had broken herself out of the crystal. Her Military Police jacket was in tatters, the belts that would have held her 3DMG broken and laying in pieces on the floor.

When the light was shined on her, she slowly lifted her head to look at him. He held his breath as he finally got to look at her beautiful eyes once more. But...he felt his heart sink as he held her gaze. She looked so...defeated. Broken. It was something he had never seen from her before...and he found himself thinking that it didn't suit her one bit.

He watched as recognition slowly flooded over her face, her eyes lighting up. "Armin..."

"Hello, Annie." He gulped silently, feeling his heart starting to speed up rapidly in his chest once more. He hated that she had this affect on him, especially after what she had done. But he couldn't help it...she had always been special in his eyes.

Annie blinked slowly before dropping her gaze down the dirty floor once more, her hair hiding her eyes once more. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you." He took a few steps towards her, keeping the lanturn held high. He knelt down in front of her, setting the lanturn down on the cot beside her. He looked up at her, his eyes searching hers through her hair. But she was refusing to look at him...

Not that he could blame her. He was the reason she'd had to crystalize, after all. He was the one who had told Erwin that he suspected that Annie was the Female Titan. It came as no surprise to him that she wouldn't trust him now...

He slowly reached out, taking one of her hands in his. The tiny pale hand tensed in his grip, and he turned it over to look at her palm. For such a strong woman, she had such tiny hands...he turned her hand over to look at the back of it and frowned deeply when he noticed the scars there. They must have been formed before she had been able to shift...otherwise they would have healed.

"Armin."

His head snapped up to look at her, his eyes going wide when he realized how strange his actions must have seemed to her. He quickly dropped her hand, though he stayed kneeled down in front of her. He noted how the hand he had been holding stayed in the air for a moment before being pulled back up into her lap.

He looked up at her, relief spreading in his chest as he noticed that she was finally looking at him. Those eyes...they always seemed to see right through him, pierce his soul and looking right into his heart. Those eyes had been the main reason he had felt so intimidated by her back when they had been trainees. But...they had also been the reason that she had intrigued him so much. He had always found himself wishing to know the secrets held behind those intense eyes.

And now those eyes...those very eyes that captivated him so...were going to be gone from the world.

"Why did you come out?" he found himself whispering, unable to contain his emotions anymore. "Annie, you had to have known that they wouldn't let you live...they're going to sentence you to death!" His hands starting to tremble once more, and he balled them into fists once more. "Why did you come out? Surely it would have been safer for you if you had stayed in the crystal...so why?" He looked up at her, his own blue eyes intense. On impulse, he reached out to take her hands in his to make her look at him. It achieved the desired affect, as her eyes flew to his face, the ice-colored orbs wide. Whether it was from his words or his touch, he wasn't sure. But that didn't matter right now.

He just...he wanted to know...

"Why did you do it?"

For a long few moments the room was quiet, and he feared that he pushed too much on her too soon, made her close up herself. Then a whisper blew past his ears, the words barely on a breath, and he would have missed them if he hadn't been so focused on her.

"I wanted to be reborn..."

Armin blinked at her, his mind trying to process what she had just said in a logical sense. "I...I don't understand. What do you mean-?"

"Time's up, kid."

The blond boy's head snapped around as he heard the door open, and two guards stepped into the room. The one who had led him down here was standing at the door.

Armin frowned deeply, letting go Annie's hands and standing up, unconciously putting himself between her and them. "I was told that I had ten minutes. I know I'm entitled to at least five more minutes!"

The guard at the door shrugged. "Sorry, kid, boss's orders."

One of the two guards who had stepped into the cell grabbed his arm and started to drag him away, as the other stepped towards Annie. Armind didn't miss how she shrank back just a tad, such a little amount that anyone else wouldn't have noticed it.

But he wasn't anyone else...

"No! Let me go!" He tried to tear away from the guard, but his grip on the boy was firm. Armin reached out to the blonde woman, his blue eyes wide with desperation. "Annie! I know you had a good reason for all of this! I still believe in you!"

"Come on, Arlert," the guard huffed at him, starting to drag him down the hall.

"Armin!" He heard her call and snapped his head to look. She had somehow managed to make it to the door, gripping the bars in her hands and looking at him, her own ice-colored eyes wide. "Armin! Listen to me!"

But he never got to hear what she had to say as he was dragged away, her words lost in the darkness of the prison...

Another week passed, and no matter how much he pleaded and negotiated, Erwin refused to let Armin see Annie again. While it upset him that he couldn't see her again, he understood the commander's reasoning. Annie was going to be put to death, and it was going to hit him hard. It was better to not let him get close to her once more.

But he still had so many questions...there was still so much that he didn't know about the girl they called the Female Titan...

And now he never would.