Neither of them spoke for a while.
Armin stared down at Jean as he winced and pushed himself up, cradling his mutilated hand against chest.
"I...I suppose that was Eren's doing." Armin said softly, quickly shifting his gaze to avoid eye contact. What was he supposed to do? He was furious, hurt, and relieved all at once and it felt so unusual that all he could muster up was some stupid observation of the plainly obvious.
Of course, part of him knew this was his fault. Yet, that childish part of him felt betrayed. Jean had been his first new "friend" and he betrayed him, as ridiculous as that may sound. Since new faces were only found on dinner plates, Armin realized he'd been far too trusting of someone who was, in fact, a stranger.
And here they were.
As gently has he could, Armin lead Jean back up to the attic room. He noticed how the man's legs shook as he climbed the stairs, his breathing sharp and seemingly forced. It was obvious that he was in shock.
"I should clean that up before it gets infected." Armin continued. He felt a pang of sympathy as Jean flinched at the sudden sound of his voice, nodding in agreement.
"Y-yeah, that's...ah...a good idea." Jean muttered in response as he grimaced. Fresh blood trickled slowly down his arm and mixed with the dull red of some that had dried along his forearm. The stark white of roughly separated bone stood out like a sore thumb. Armin was...pleasantly surprised at the minimal amount of damage done to Jean over all. Most who got into close contact with Eren came out considerably worse. Someone must have interrupted him.
Regardless, he was his closest friend. When they were little, they would play in the woods behind his house for hours in an old hunting shack that no one else knew about.
But Eren hadn't been the same since his parents passed. Seeing your mother shot through the skull by your father can pretty effectively traumatize anyone. Not to mention watching your father take himself out in the same fashion moments later. When Levi had finally sent someone over to find out why no one had left the house in days, they found the boy eating his father's corpse as he cried, tears cutting through the blood smeared across his face. All in all it left him, for lack of better wording, pretty fucked in the head, even by cannibalistic standards.
Jean gave no signs of protest as Armin got to work cleaning him up, only flinching when the stump of his finger was touched. It was obvious he wanted to scream, but he managed to restrain himself. He was nearly biting a hole through his lower lip in the process. "So, I uh..." Jean started, clearing his throat. "...fuck I don't know..." He gave up and grit his teeth as Armin carefully wrapped his hand, watching as the cloth bandage slowly covered it.
"You do realize how fucked up this is, right? I mean, I'm sorry you got hurt and all that, but I really can't stay here."
"You don't get a choice. Father says you stay, so you stay. It's...it's too dangerous to let you leave. Okay? You should be happy to still be alive." Armin's gaze hardened as he spoke, suddenly remembering why he was angry. "I shouldn't have trusted you so quickly. Now father is angry with me and..." He trailed off and sighed. "I know you're scared, but you'll be okay now. Father didn't kill you, so clearly he needs something from you."
"What about that Eren kid then? There's something wrong with him. He tried to pull out my fucking teeth! How can you seriously think I'll be okay here?" Jean's voice rose into a growing panic. "What makes you think he won't try to bash my skull in the second he gets me alone? Seriously, he's-"
j
"He's my friend." Armin cut him off, slamming shut his first aid kit. "Maybe if you hadn't lied to me and fought with him, he wouldn't have hurt you. You were safe and being taken care of, I don't know why you tried to run!" He glared accusingly at the other, pouting like a child.
Jeans eyes widened. "You're actually mad at me? Your fucking "father" kidnaped me and killed my friend!" He watched as the taller boy stood, tears forming in his eyes as his expression grew more desperate. "You're all fucking crazy! You EAT people for fucks sake!" Heavy footsteps rang in Armin's ears as the other began to pace the length of the room, arms hugged tightly around himself. "None of you get how fucked up that is?! Who the hell even are you people! Why are you even-"
Armin decided to tune him out at that point. Crazy? He wasn't crazy. He was perfectly normal. Just like everyone else in town. Sure, Levi had never actually allowed him to leave, but...
He was forced out his thoughts as Jean suddenly kicked the wall, sinking to his knees and letting out heaving sobs into his good hand.
Armin could hear him murmuring someone's name.
"I'm sorry." Armin whispered dryly. "But you're staying here. That's it."
And then they sat in silence once more.
