"Armin!" The pained voice of a brunette boy cried out in dismay as he watched his friend swerve and dive towards the ground, metal cables shooting out of the piece he held in his hand. The blonde had a panicked look to his eye, and as his body was propelled forward at an amazing rate, there was fear, plain and simple, spread all over his face.

For a moment, it looked like he was going to make it out of the open space and be able to avoid the colossal beasts directly behind him, however, there was no such luck, and as Eren Jeager looked on in utter horror, he heard the horrendous scream of his childhood friend. He couldn't see the other boy, but the sound of his vocal cords sharing their terror with any who would listen made him sick. He stared on in shock at the roof of the other building, lost in gruesome thoughts.

A few moments – that admittedly felt like a lifetime – later, a figure landed roughly next to him, and Eren's head snapped around, ready to scream at whoever it was that was going to bother him. However, his eyes filled with shock and then overwhelming relief as he saw the hunched over figure of none other than Armin Arlert himself sprawled onto the roof tiles. In confusion, he looked his friend over. It took him approximately a split second to realize that his friend's leg was gone, and that it had obviously been bitten off by a titan.

An almost-growl filled the trainee's throat, and he lifted his head up to the sky. "Damn it!" He rose to unsteady feet and stumbled up towards his friend, searching around for something to stop the blood that flowed out of the quick-witted boy's stump of a limb. Yet, he saw with eyes desperate and needy, only destruction was to be found. "I promise, I'll destroy every one of them! I'll make them pay for what they did to you; for what they've done to all of us." Buildings sat destroyed wherever he looked, and a deep part of him knew that there was no way they could retake Trost – all they could hope for was that the citizens would get out soon and the remaining soldiers could escape. However, if the armored titan showed itself once more, and broke through Wall Rose's gate… Yet on the surface, he was screaming to keep the fight going. He felt himself mentally commanding his own body to stand and continue the fight, but as he looked down at his friend, he felt-

There was a sudden, massive puff of scalding air surrounding him, and Eren haltingly turned around, steeling himself for the titan that was gaping at him, maw poised and ready to snap shut, swallowing the boy along the way. The brunette didn't know what to do but stand as the mouth closed shut around him rapidly, but his body reacted on its own. His arms pushed against the roof of the mouth, and his feet forcefully kept the bottom of the jaw from shutting. He strained with all of his might, and it was in that moment that Armin's eyes met his. Both of the boys looked at each other, and then Armin was hurtling forward, flinging himself into the giant mouth and forcing Eren out with as strong of a push as he could manage. He tried to assume the position the stronger of the two had been in, but he didn't have the strength to hold it steady, and as his grip wavered, he looked at his friend with eyes that poured out salty water. "Goodbye, Eren." He whispered, his voice rough and emotional. "I really wanted… to see the outside world with you."

And then, the mouth had shut; snapping off the left arm of the blonde in the process, and the bearded titan threw back its head and gulped, all the while with a pleased look on its face. Eren, his expression horrified, let out a belated cry of anguish. The titan, for the moment, paid him no mind, and he sat grieving, lost in his own personal regrets and thoughts.

{ * fancy breakline wow ~ }

Armin felt unbearable pain, and that was all he felt. He saw nothing, he heard nothing, and for all he knew, he was nothing. He tumbled downwards in what must have been a nearly endless spiral, until he landed with a sticky, gooey collapse into a liquid that was as red as blood. In fact, it was nearly an identical match. Why was there blood sitting all around him? It tangled itself in his blonde hair, wove itself between his fingers – how strange that he could only move the ones on his right hand –and soaked his clothes, but it didn't seem to be his own.

Lifting his head, the frightened young boy examined his surroundings, and his eyes widened at what he found. He allowed his full consciousness to snap back to his presence, and knew that sheer terror was overtaking his body. Stepping back, he felt his remaining leg brush against something, and turned to see a head, with no attached body in sight, bobbing against his body. He let out a blood-curdling scream, one that the outside world would never see, because he was trapped inside the stomach of a titan, and there was no one on the outside who he could communicate with through the thick walls of skin.

However, as it turned out, there were people within the gorey prison that could still communicate, because his scream set off a child's voice, calling out for its mother over and over again until it eventually sunk underneath the blood and was silent. Eyes wide, Armin spun around, facing the direction of the voice. It reminded him so much of the desperation that had faced him five years ago, when he was in Shiganshina and witnessing firsthand just how much suffering the titans could cause.

On that day that he dared not remember at night, lest nightmares keep him from sleep, there had been so many voices just like the one of that child. There had been children and adults alike, all in a sea of rushing human bodies, calling out for family members or friends who had either already escaped or were likely already devoured by the beasts that had ravaged the homes.

There had been all of the human beings who had died, screaming and calling out for help, or for their loved ones to run, but who truly wished to flee and save themselves. It was so easy to play the role of the person who sacrificed themself when one was already going to die, yet when presented with a choice of playing that role or self-survival, there was hardly anyone who wouldn't choose the latter.

Armin himself, though only a young child at the time, had chosen to run away and leave the others who struggled to make way through the crowd behind. Yes, he had run and fetched Hannes in order to save Eren and Mikasa, but he hadn't stayed to make sure that they made it out safely. What sort of friend was he, to have abandoned them at such a time?

You aren't a bad friend, some deep part of him whispered. After all, you just sacrificed yourself to save Eren.

He glanced once more around the cavernous walls, feeling desolate loneliness and utter despair wash over him.

{ * fancy breakline wow ~ }

"Eren, what are you doing, sitting there like that? C'mon, we have to go find the others. We have to keep moving."

Eren, they had called him. Were they referring to Eren Jeager, the boy who had let his best friend die through being eaten alive, and then sat there, huddling to himself while the titan that had swallowed him walked away? He didn't want to be that Eren – he didn't want to be the type of person who let someone else take death in his place and then didn't even avenge the guardian who had saved his life.

He sat, knees pulled up to his chest, hands resting on his forehead, as he stared blankly at the tiles of the rooftop. One of the only two people in the entire world who were there for him when he had no family was dead, and it was all his own fault.

"Oi, snap out of it! What happened?" Worried eyes belonging to Connie Springer met his own, and he felt hands tugging him upwards, and then supporting his weight when he couldn't quite stand on his own. "Geez, just sitting here like bait. Do you want to die, you idiot?"

Green eyes suddenly filled with rage, the brunette snapped around. "Of course not!" His voice was bitter and ragged, as though he was still replaying the memory of Armin's demise over and over in his head. "I can't die yet. I have to destroy every single one of those damned titans. I can't stop until they're all gone!" He exploded towards the end of his sentence, anger filling him down to his very core.

Connie took a step backwards, hands held out in surrender. It was obvious that he didn't know why Eren was acting strangely, but that he simply wanted to get the two of them out of the area. "Whatever your issue is, we need to regroup. The titans just keep coming in; we need to get to the supply tower as a group."

The brunette sagged, allowing Connie to take on his full weight. How was he supposed to explain to the group that Armin, who had always been so gentle and had never gotten into the stupid fights the rest of the trainees did, was dead?

{ * fancy breakline wow ~ }

Everything burned as Armin saw his life flash before his eyes. He saw memories of Mikasa, Eren, and himself all playing together, of the two friends who had also been his protectors shielding him when the other children of their village decided to attack him. He remembered the books he had used to read about flaming water, frozen earth, and bodies of water so huge that you couldn't see the end of them. Most of all, though, he remembered the promise he had made: to someday go see the world that he was born into with Eren.

Tears stinging his face from memories and pain combined, he felt a strange sensation overtake him, as though a sudden power was filling his body, and with a loud bang, and a horrible ripping noise unlike anything he'd ever heard before, Armin lost himself to darkness.

A/N: So, this story is (hopefully!) going to go on for a little while. I know that this chapter is pretty bad, but I needed to be able to set up the whole situation we see going on here~ If you want to see more, review!