"Eren, leave me behind…" Armin nearly whispered, blood dripping down his face and from the remains of his leg. In the previous fight they had gotten into with the titans, they had been separated from the rest and Armin's leg had gotten bitten off by a titan. Before Eren could attack it, his 3DMG ran out of gas, forcing them to attempting fleeing from said titan.
Jaeger stumbled and nearly fell over, but continued to support his friend and they attempted to flee. "Are you stupid?! Like hell I will! It took your leg, I won't let it have the rest of you!"
"Eren, we're both going to die at this rate, just leave me behind!" The blond pleaded. "Even if we get away… I'll bleed to death at this rate. I don't want to be eaten, but-"
"Don't say that, damn it! We're both going to make it out alive!"
Armin's eyes were shrouded and he was silent for a few moments. He had once convinced himself that he was useless and only burdened Eren and Mikasa. After some time, he realized that he had never been that way. Eventually he had realized that it had never been that way before, but now he could confirm that he was a limiting factor towards Eren.
"Run, Eren." Armin muttered before flinging himself out of the other boy's grip and closer to the titan. The open wound from where his leg was bitten off caused him a great amount of pain, to the point where tears welled up in his eyes, though they refused to fall.
Automatically, Eren turned to retrieve his friend, but before he had the chance to do so he realized that Armin had been correct on that neither would make it at their previous rate. The titan was dangerously close, despite being somewhat slow even for a titan, and would only need to take a few more paces to reach the boys. As much as he didn't wish to live from the death of his friend, he knew Armin had chosen to sacrifice himself and that as long as Eren lived, the blond would die without regrets.
Quickly Jaeger turned his back on the titan and on his closest friend and began to race off, wishing like nothing else that he had picked the smaller boy back up and brought him along, but the pace he was going at now was definitely fast enough to allow him escape if he was careful about how he fled.
A sudden, blood curdling scream from behind him forced Eren's legs to come to a halt and made his boy twist so that he was looking back at the source of the screech: Armin.
Eren's eyes immediately widened at the sight of his friend squirming in the titan's grasp and images of the time his mother had been snapped and devoured flooded into his mind. Even after swearing to take down all titans, here he was, watching his best friend about to be murdered by one of the many merciless beasts he wished to take revenge on.
Armin's reaction was natural for anyone who still had a will to live. He struggled in the hand of the monster, who paid no heed to his attempts of survival. It was obvious he still wished to be alive, but also that when it came down to it, he was willing to die to protect his closest friend.
In a few short moments, though to Eren it seemed like an eternity, the titan had opened its gigantic jaw and drawn Armin in closer. Armin watched in horror as he was inching closer and closer to the gigantic beast. The saliva of the monster strung from the upper to the lower jaw and felt warm to the blond as his upper body was placed in the titan's mouth.
Still screaming and flailing, though he had no hope to live, Armin caught a glimpse of Eren watching in pure terror. Moments later, the titan's teeth slammed down on the boy, forcing his body in half. Blood sprayed out in nearly every direction and was now spilling from the remains of Eren's childhood friend. Memories of the times he and Armin had spent together as they were still merely kids flooded his mind.
"Eren, according to this book, beyond the walls there are huge bodies of water called 'oceans'!"
"What? Are you serious? How big?"
"They cover most of the planet! And they're all full of salt!"
"What?! Full of salt?! Do you know how much salt costs? Merchants would drain the oceans of all their salt in no time if they could!"
"No way, the oceans are so big that they wouldn't be able to get all the salt! I'm sure of it!"
The excited blond showed the brunette a roughly drawn sketch of what the rest of the world was supposed to look like, with majority of the area being covered by the 'ocean'.
"Also," Armin continued, "There's different kinds of animals in different areas and different climates, too! There's deserts, valleys of sand with barely any rain; rain forests which are like giant forests and have all kinds of rain; and a whole lot more!"
Jaeger listened to the other boy curiously and flashed him a huge smile as he finished speaking. "I'm going to see the rest of the world one day! After all, humanity can't live behind these walls forever."
Armin nodded, "Right! And I'll see the rest of the world, too! We'll go together!"
"Then it's a promise!"
He had been unable to fulfill the most important of all his promises. Eren had told Armin they would see the world together, but now he was gone. If only he'd not run out of gas, he could have saved him..!
For a moment, he was unable to move. He had just witnessed his best friend being eaten alive. He watched his friend be eaten alive because of his decision to join the military. If Eren hadn't joined the military, Armin would still be right there. The two boys and Mikasa would all be together, continuing their lives in the city, working to make money instead of fighting for their lives.
Eren had an odd feeling in his heart. Was it… regret? Regret that the day they had decided to join the military, he had lead Armin to his eventual death? There really wasn't enough time to think this over seeing as how the titan had now swallowed whole the upper and lower halves of Armin's body.
He was much quicker now on his own, something about his steps had changed. Though the titan had turned its attention now to the brunette and Eren had more of a reason to run quickly, he seemed to be somewhat slower than usual and was stumbling over anything and everything that he could possibly trip on.
He hadn't lost the will to live, he still had Mikasa and he had to be there for her as she was there for him, but something about Armin's death was just too unsettling for Eren. I mean, unsettling even past the fact that he wasn't able to stop the titan as it devoured his friend right in front of his eyes, not at all seeming to care about the blood that had been spilling out from the body as it swallowed the different halves of the boy.
Perhaps it was that feeling from before he had even began to run. That feeling he wasn't allowed the time to identify. There was a chance it was guilt. Guilt that his life seemed more important to Armin than his own life had, causing the sacrifice to be made in the first place. On the other hand, it also could have been the feeling of regret.
He'd never had a single ounce of that feeling, of regret, for joining the Scout Regiment even since the very beginning when they all were enduring the tough military training. Not even when he was up against titans for the first time and had nearly been eaten by one. Not even when he had found out he was a titan-shifter.
Wait.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!
He could have become a titan to save Armin! Damn it, Eren!
You pathetic dumbass! You should have been the one to die, not Armin!
You could have at least tried to save him with your titan power!
He had a chance, but never took it!
Stupid! Stupid!
Eren's pace now slowed as he internally insulted himself. He knew why he regretted everything now. He had subconsciously known he could save Armin, but was unable to register how at the time and it had been his fault in the first place that his friend was put in that position.
It was his fault that even if he had saved him, he would no longer be able to fight due to only having one remaining leg after this battle.
By this time the brunette had already come to a complete stop, ignoring the titan that was closing in on him, already reaching out its massive arm to grab hold of the brunette.
He couldn't believe it. He had a chance to save Armin. He could even have prevented him from losing a leg if he had thought of it while they had been fighting the beasts, but the chance slipped away from him and now Armin was dead.
A flash of black hair and a red scarf passed him as Mikasa launched forward, her 3DMG wires grabbing onto the surrounding buildings to pull her past the titan before she spiraled around and rocketed the wires into the titans neck. With that, she then forced herself forward and released the wires from the titan just a few meters from the beast and slashed straight through its nape, slaying the monster.
The others from the group had also followed, but ran to Eren instead of fighting off the titan. Mikasa was easily capable of handling titans and so they knew she would be okay.
Immediately, Eren was swarmed by those in his squad who all flooded him with questions.
"Are you okay?"
"It didn't injure you, did it?"
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"Are you feeling alright?"
The others parted to allow Mikasa closer to Eren as she walked towards him. Eren wouldn't look at anyone, not even at her. Instantly, Mikasa asked the most important question that was on her mind.
"Eren, where's Armin?"