Year 843
The day felt lazy—but then again, the days always did. Cumulus clouds passed like great, lumbering giants overhead. The blue sky felt like heavy fluid that dripped constantly on his eyelids. It was almost like he was being smothered by it. The sky wished to put the Shiganshina district to sleep—the entire kingdom to sleep.
Perhaps, he thought, that was why he wished so desperately to step outside the walls. The world outside must contain some sort of energy that the kingdom had been deprived of for a century. Armin need only step outside Wall Maria to be invigorated.
Perhaps, again, this energy was especially vital to Armin. The lack of it was the cause of his frailty—what made him so vulnerable to bullies. What made him depend heavily on Eren and Mikasa. But Armin banished the thought as soon as it entered his mind; thoughts like this only brought him unhappiness.
Sure enough, he turned his head to see Mikasa and Eren in the distance. To Armin's surprise, he needed no energy from the outside world—as soon as he saw these two, he sprung into sitting position, filled with delightful exuberance.
"Eren, Mikasa!" he called. The pair returned his greeting with equivalent warmth and sat beside him.
"Armin, you didn't bring your book today," Eren realized, not with petulance, but with pure curiosity.
"Yeah," Armin replied, his face growing red as he embarrassedly rubbed the back of his neck. "My grandfather doesn't want me to get caught with that sort of thing."
"That's prudent of him," Mikasa observed quietly, her mouth concealed by her scarf, crouching behind them.
"Yeah—wiser than me, I suppose." Armin smiled sadly. "I know he's only concerned. Although, I did really enjoy reading about the outside world."
Eren put a strong hand on Armin's shoulder. Armin found himself embarrassed to be wavering under the force of it.
"Your parents can tell you about it, right?"
Eren was beaming cheerfully, as he always did, and Armin felt this small depression of his spirit immediately uplifted. He returned Eren's grin.
The rest of the conversation was spent aimlessly, dissolving eventually into Mikasa and Eren speaking amongst themselves about the Scout Regiment, the kind of conversation that seemed likely to evolve into an argument. So Armin lied on his back and watched the sky to the right. Underneath it, even the people of the town moved about lazily. They traded various things and talked about nothing of importance in the shadows of small buildings. The horses took up a slow trot, giving the wagons difficulty over bumps. The birds flew as if they were underwater, as if with each flap of the wings they were caught in something and slowly had to remove themselves again.
Eren and Mikasa, beside him, were whispering. In Armin's hazy, tired state, it sounded like he was beside a stream. He felt himself falling deeper and deeper into sleep's clutches, but at that very state between dream and reality, he started with a jump.
Because beyond it all, beyond the languid birds above and the tired people below, beyond the trotting, overworked horses burdened by wagons, Armin saw something moving against Wall Maria.