Armin sat up in his bed; shirt sticking to his soaked shirt back.

Nightmares.

They were the usual: blood-splattered, giant-filled horror that would make any normal civilian soil their sheets. It was a pretty popular theme amongst his new life.

He wiped his forehead of the wetness and steadied his breathing, holding his fringe from his pale face. He took a moment to take in his surroundings. He wanted to feel calm. He didn't like this feeling; the feeling of being trapped.

He stood up from his bottom bunk and slowly led himself down onto the cold, wooden floor.

'I am here. I am safe.' he thought to himself, replaying the words of his mother, 'They're just walls. They keep me in from the bad things outside.'

He closed his eyes.

He refreshed the image of his mother. His father. His grandfather. He breathed in.

He felt the wood from beneath him. The ridges in the material. He breathed out.

There was no denying it.

Everything had been insane since the trip to Trost. Nobody could get a hold of themselves. Nothing was going right. Nothing was in their favor. Eren was gone, Mikasa a mess, and Erwin... He was facing a lot of judgment, not only from the MP, but from the people of this whole civilization. Not a good place to be in. Nevertheless, Erwin pushed on with even more drive than before. His words brought out many angry reactions in the whole Corps, but Armin never lost faith in him. There was something about Erwin that Armin inexplicably understood.

Lastly, another thing that was always on the minds of squad members was (Last Name). They had basically left her for dead after the attack. There was no use, they thought. Some still thought of it that way.

...not a lot of people wake up from comas.

-Flashback (after the titan herd attack)-

Surprisingly, the squad came back a few days early. Bells started to ring like they usually did when they arrived, and Hange broke into a full-out sprint towards the gates. She sensed something was wrong.

After shoving her way through the crowd, she was met by panting soldiers, wounds, but none seemed to be killed.

A rarity, really.

Levi was leading the pack of exhausted soldiers in his usual tireless manner.

"What happened?" She asked him, her voice in a frenzy of anger and confusion.

He stopped walking with his horse, motioning for another cadet to take the reigns for him.

"We were attacked." Levi simply replied.

"A-Attacked?!" She was exasperated. This mission was extremely important, and it was cut short by a freaking titan attack?

"Not like usual. It was like last time, when we had to fallback." He looked at her with intensity, letting her know that this wasn't just a coincidental thing that was happening. There was something about the titans that they didn't know about.

"W—Well, gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," her head was jumbled with so many things, like how she was going to explain the to Erwin, how the MP would feel, the fact that they had to leave early for the trial to Trost.

"(Last Name)!" She called out to squad Levi, "You need to fill me in! Those reports are gonna be a pain!"

She started her search around the group, looking for her distant friend, when Levi grabbed her arm tightly.

"Stop." was all he said. She looked at him in bewilderment. Then she looked at his squad.

They looked horrible. Just like any failed trip did.

Sadness overwhelmed the area. Among the squad, there was one person that did not remain.

"(Last Name) is..." She breathed.

She turned to Armin in confusion, panic rising in her stomach. Armin looked her in the eyes before averting his gaze, tears pricking the corners of his sky blue eyes.

"No..." She breathed. Her panic turned into sadness. Her sadness grew into anger.

"Tell me!" She shouted, causing everyone to stop in their tracks, "What happened to (Last Name)?!"

When nobody answered, she grabbed Levi's shoulders in an attempt to get an answer, but to no avail. He shoved her to the ground.

"She was out in the woods, defenseless, when the attack happened. They got to her first, then us. She's dead." He said in a more stern than usual voice.

She looked up at him, tears gathering behind her glasses. She balled her fists into the dirt.

"N—No.. You can't expect me to believe that.. that (Last Name)..."

Levi felt pained by the situation. Hange was his partner in a lot of things. Even he felt pained to see her in such a way, since she was so usually calm and collected. And happy.

He reached out to her arm to pull her back up off the ground, when his hand was slapped away.

"Stop!" She growled, "You didn't even TRY!"

Levi's shock was apparent. He'd never been struck like that since he joined the corps as a full-length member; as a Captain.

"You didn't even try to go back! You could've and you know it!" She continued, tears now streaming down her face.

That's also something that didn't usually happen—Hange crying.

"'Humanity's Strongest'?" She mocked, "more like Humanity's most cowardly!"

To put it plainly, he was speechless.

Hange got herself off, leaving the dirt on her white military pants. She looked down upon Levi, the anger remaining in her deep brown eyes. With that, she walked away.

Levi knew she was overreacting; that she'd apologize for it later. Even thought that was true, he couldn't help but regret his decision, just the tiniest bit.

The cadets starred in awe—and fear. No one has blamed such a thing as death on anyone; not in the corps, anyway. It was from Hange, too.

"Cadets." Levi finally spoke.

"Yes, sir." The tired cadets responded, fists over their hearts.

Levi returned to his usual stone face as if nothing had happened, and ordered.

"Return everything back to the warehoused and stables. I want you all to get some rest. That is all. Eren," He looked at the scared brunette, "Come to the discussion office when you're finished."

The cadets did what they were told, a bit mopy at their lost comrade/acquaintance.

Armin took it quite personal, almost like he, too, held a slight grudge against his Captain.

As everyone settled back into their dorms, they went straight to sleep. The only ones that remained awake were Eren, Armin, and Mikasa. Mikasa didn't feel stressed or tired,; she trained quietly in her dorm she shared with Sasha.

Armin was tired as ever, but all the more restless.

He reminisced about the last time he'd seen you, talked to you, wondering how and when you died. It's not like the two of you had really talked about anything or had connections on similar things like he did with Eren, but he felt like the two of your were very close...in a way. He felt as if you trusted him, which was a rare thing for you to do, it seemed. He felt protected and enjoyed your quiet, yet fulfilling company. Being your friend was something that he genuinely enjoyed.

He let a few tears roll down his face as he stifled a couple cries, trying his best not to wake Jean up. His moment was stopped in its tracks by a quiet knock at his door. He wiped his face and strode to the door, opening it to see his best friend, Eren.

"Eren..!" He quietly exclaimed, stepping outside his dorm to talk to him.

"Armin, you've been crying?" Eren asked, worry for his friend apparent.

"Eren, aren't you supposed to be talking with Commander?" Armin ignored half scolded in a whisper.

Eren looked behind him, then turned back to face Armin, "Armin, I wanted to tell you something since we don't get to see each other when I'm heavily guarded like this."

Armin's heart raced. That phrase always made the situation stressful.

"Armin, I might not be able to see you after the plan for Trost. You know the plan, right?"

Armin nodded. They were going to disguise Jean as Eren, ride into Trost, and capture the female titan.

"The plan is pretty faulty, and a lot of things could happen..." Armin trailed.

Eren continued, "Even if something like that happens, I want to let you know that it's okay, Armin. I don't..." This was hard for Eren to say.

"..I don't want you to be so caught up on my death. I want you to still have hope for humanity. I want you to keep fighting and learn about what's out there, I..."

Armin's eyes started to fill up again, "Eren, s—stop..."

"I want you to see the ocean." Eren's voice shook a bit, "I want you and Mikasa to see the ocean. And everything else out there has to offer. I want you to see it. So please move on if something like that does happen."

Armin looked down at his and Eren's feet.

Eren was always courageous. How could he say such things, Armin thought. How can he say this without wavering?

Armin's tears started to fall onto the wood.

"Too many things are happening..." Armin choked, bringing his hand to his eyes, trying his best to wipe the tears away, not wanting to embarrass himself. Eren brought him into a comforting hug, which wasn't something that happened very often. He said nothing, and neither did Armin.

After a while of Eren patting Armin's back reassuringly, Armin returned the favor, and squeezed Eren, as if saying his last goodbye.

This is embarrassing, they both thought. But it was right. And it was good.

No one should have to say goodbye to their best friend.

The sound of heavy footsteps broke the silence, and left Eren and Armin breaking the moment.

"COMMANDER ERWIN!" The soldier called, running straight past the two of them, as if they were invisible. His calls continued, "COMMANDER ERWIN, HANGE HAS LEFT WITH FOUR OTHER SOLDIERS! SHE JUST PASSED THE WALLS..." His voice trailed off down the hall.

"W—What.." Eren's eyebrows furrowed.

Armin's heartbeat began racing, not a doubt in his mind that this was happening.

"She's going back for (Last Name)."

It was that same night, and nobody would—could sleep.

Hange had left with four other soldiers from her previous squads. They stole a carriage.

"What the hell is she thinking?!"

"Going after a dead person... logical."

"She doesn't even have Captain with her. She's basically dead."

The rumor got out pretty quickly and soon became the talk of the corps. Many were angry, many were sad, but more of them were angry. It had been about five hours since she left, and people were beginning to lose hope.

Armin snuck out and sat upon the wall, waiting for Hange's squad to return. He hoped with all he had that she'd just give up and return safely. You can't find a body if it's in a titan.

Though, he somewhat marveled at Hange for her courage. It seemed as though the two of them, both, had a good friendship-type complex with (Last Name).

"Armin." He heard a voice from behind him. It was Mikasa.

"Mikasa..." He turned, a worried expression taking form on his features.

"Armin, you know it's no good."

Armin sighed lightly. Mikasa was too honest.

"It's fine. I'm already okay with it. I just... wanted to sit up here." Armin said quietly.

Mikasa took a seat next to Armin and gazed upon the night sky.

Silence took hold of the moment. But it wasn't an awkward silence; it was sadly peaceful. Almost like when you hold a moment of silence for someone who has died.

"(Last Name)," Armin broke the silence, "was a good friend."

"I wouldn't know." Mikasa responded.

Armin's eyes were glued to a certain star. It seemed to attract his attention, almost like it was begging, 'Look at me! Look at me!'

He sighed.

"Yeah.."

Armin was awoken abruptly in his dorm by the sound of running. Not just one person, but a group of people.

"Armin!" Jean popped out of nowhere, struggling to get his boots on over his sleep clothes, "Get up, now!"

Armin was shocked, but did as he was told. Out of nowhere, Mikasa opened the door loudly, ordering him, "Armin, come on!"

Armin was now racing to get his boots now, asking, "Mikasa, why are you in the boys' dorms?!"

Mikasa grabbed Armin before he could even find his boots, and just like that, they were on their way to the wall gates.

"Is Hange back?!" Armin shouted through the noise, hope now arising in his voice.

Mikasa didn't speak, but kept her speed towards the entrance of their home. The crowd was crazy, but throughout the frenzied, excited voices, they, both could hear Hange's loud one over everybody else's.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" She shouted continuously.

She was still out of sight, and she seemed to be insanely panicked.

"I said, get out of my fucking way!" Her scary voice was coming closer. The crowd began to disperse. Some were running away, shouting in a panicky frenzy, "We need assistance!" And "Get a doctor, now!"

Her noise sounded closer and closer to where they were waiting, when she finally emerged from the crowd in front of the two, limping heavily on her left.

In her arms, she carried a very dead-looking (Last Name).


Hello again c: Banana here, just wanted to say that if you're still hangin' onto this story even after all this poop I've put you through, thank you so much, and I'd loooove to hear about what you think so far!

Armin and Eren's friendship is an interesting one, wouldn't you think? #theygay

I really love the other character's relationship in this story, and I legit really enjoy writing about them. GAH

School's just started(first day was today, actually :0) but I will try my best to update. My friend has been nagging and nagging me not to be that one fanfic writer and just update already, so I listened lol

Characters belong to Isayama Hajime except u bc u is u an no one else bb