Chapter 11 – Armin (Arc 2)

Returning to his cabin, he slammed the door shut without realising as he paced over to his bunk. Once he had sat down, he began pouring over his books, trying to find the one that would be right for him, swinging from the less confusing Deadly Nadders, to the friendlier Gronckles all the way to the lesser spotted Changewings who he had devised a device to identify them with.

He groaned in frustration as none of them seemed quite right, burying his face in his pillow. As he lay there, motionless, thoughts drifting through his head, he heard a firm flurry of knocks on the door; Supposing that it was just Eren wanting to talk to him, he called for the person to enter.

As the door opened, Armin groaned again and started his spiel of frustration at and love for dragons with his face still in his pillow. When had finally finished he just asked,

"What should I do?"

"Well for starters you could look up when someone comes into your room"

His body jolted at the response he got from none other than Annie Leonhardt who he now realised he had been ranting to this whole time.

His face flushed and flustered to scramble and bring himself upright, when he looked at her face more clearly he saw that small smile that fleeted away in an instant as she brought herself to composure. Without any hint of hesitation or uncertainty, she tells him

"You need to find one that's actually right for you; not just look up one that correlates with his statistics, you actually need to go and find the damn thing" After glancing at the space next to him, Armin quickly shuffled over as she made her way to sit down.

"This whole thing" she muttered "It's instinctive, you can't find it in a book, in a scroll or in a painting"

"But how?" Came the uncertain voice "Books are really all I'm good at you know? Like papers and books are the only goo-"

"Shut up Artlet."

A stunned silence permeated the air for a moment as Armin felt the force of the order sink in.

"That's yak shit and we both know it" Annie stated bluntly with a small quiver of frustration in her tone "Yeah, you're good at books- Hell, you could've been a scholar, still no clue why you chose to come to this hell hole…"

"But that's not all that you are. Your brain is what's the key here. Books are just how you best unlock it is all" Annie explained, the anger dimming from her voice

"Artlet."

"Yep?"

"Still listening?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now, remember how you always told me about how you explored the woods with your grandpa?"

"Annie, I told you that years ago, how do you stil-"

"Doesn't matter. Right now, I think you need to go back to those woods. You've always been able to thrive when you're somewhere familiar and I hear the Shiganshina forests have a lot of calm dragons"

Armin felt he his throat tighten up as he was still somewhat taken aback,

"Than… Thanks"

"No issue"

The silence between them now softened as Armin gingerly asked,

"What about you? Any idea where you're going?"

"Not really no. I just figured I'd figure out something soon"

"Oh that's nice…"

"I know that I want a Nadder." As she spoke, he was not at all surprised; her fighting style would work perfectly with a Nadder.

They sat together quietly for a while, a comfortable silence rested in the air. Annie broke the silence by doing the strangest thing which he'd never seen her do before. As she unengaged the straps of her Dragon Fire Gear, her eyes found Armin's and saw the confusion in them, and the blush that was surrounded them in his face.

She asserted

"Calm down, that's not happening"

And as the words left her lips, she could audibly hear Armin's sigh of relief. It wasn't as if they were disgusted by each other or anything; rather, just that they were both not particularly fond of the kind of stuff that their classmates did in dark bushes and side corridors.

As the last of her shoulder straps came loose, she shifted off her hooded tunic, showing the light plain grey tunic that she wore underneath. Armin sat there still in confusion, what was she doing? His question was answered as she put the hooded tunic in his hands,

"I swear to the Gods, if you die from cold, I will kill you." She mumbled

Armin's eyes widened in shock and protest

"Annie I seriously can't take this from you, it's yo-"

A silent glare with no real malicious behind it was still enough to get Armin to accept it. As he ran his hand over the soft fabric, he realised that this was the first gift he'd ever gotten from Annie, he burst into a smile, reaching his arms around her to hug her realising a millisecond later that it may have been too far.

Her body was tense and rigid, not knowing how to respond as they stood, both frozen in surprise at what the boy had just done. Armin went to pull away and begin apologizing but as he went to retract his embrace, he felt it. Slowly but surely, her muscles began to loosen as she gingerly placed her arms around him as if this was her first hug; maybe it was he thought. They stayed like that for a moment, taking in the quiet that grew between them. Slipping into the hooded tunic, noting how it fitted, he waved goodbye to her as she began quickly walking off.

Quickly, he set to work packing his case, grabbing everything he'd need, primarily. Books. He knew that he'd be away for at least a week, so he knew that he'd need at least a week's worth of material, the other stuff like equipment he could just pack around it.

As he put his grandfather's journal into his tunic pocket, he heard the familiar light steps of his childhood friend Mikasa. She was honestly like his big sister a lot of the time, from protecting him to helping him as she was now by reorganising his books. She knew that he loved his books so made sure that there was still enough space for them. She didn't quite understand why Artlet was wearing one of Annie's tunic's after seeing her leave his room but he decided that this time, she'd leave him be about it.

As they put the latch on the chest case, Mikasa softly asked

"Will you need any help?"

Thinking back to Annie's words, he decided that it was time for him to do something important like this alone, telling her as softly as he could that

"I'll be okay you know. I've gotten a little stronger than when we first got here" he explained with a hint of light heartedness. But after seeing the concern in Mikasa's face etch deeper, he quickly followed that

"I promise I'll be back in the two weeks; I'll be safe". Once he'd gotten her glance of approval, he picked his now packed bags up, walking to the rickety carriage that he'd been in for the next day or two, waving warmly to Mikasa as she became smaller and smaller over the horizon.

When he woke up from a short nap, he realised that they were very near his destination, recognising the chilling lakes where he had first learnt to swim with his dad. He peeked his head out of the side of the caravan, seeing the small town of Shiganshina rising over the edge of the hill they were riding on, he felt the smile on his face grow as he felt the anticipation in his heart amplify.

As he stepped up to the threshold of the house, he took a moment to focus himself, it had been a near year since he saw his grandfather last. Not that they lost contact or anything, they still wrote many letters, it was just that the training was very time consuming. So when Armin knocked on the door and was greeted with embracing arms, he was nothing but relieved.

As he stepped into the threshold he began to tell his grandfather all the stories that he hadn't been able to fit onto the pages of his letters. However, it was as they sat by the fireplace that Armin's grandfather asked him the question that would freeze him like a Snow Wraith

"Armin my boy, where did you get that tunic? It looks different to your usual style."

Seeing the jolt of anxiety in his grandson's eyes as his body grew rigid for a moment, he simply quickly retracted his question, even if he wasn't quite sure why it caused so much panic to the boy

"Well I quite like it; It suits you well." He offered tenderly. Seeing his grandson's shoulders relax, he urged Armin to continue telling his stories.

Once they'd caught up on what had happened with both of them, Armin's grandfather turned to him and inquired

"So what brought you back to little old Shiganshina? Training? The Gods?" Raising his eyebrow playfully he quickly then added "Perhaps some lady friend?"

Seeing his grandson tense up once more, he gave a cat like grin,

"I'm only joking, only jest my boy." Looking at the boy's nervous expression "But in all seriousness, how can I help?"

"Well… uhm… I need a dragon…"

A soft, droplet like silence fell into the room as their eyes met,

"And I just figured that this place might have one that suits me…"

As the words left his mouth, Armin's grandfather let out a hearty laugh, much to the boy's surprise as he looked inquisitively at the old man,

"You're just like your mother… Have I ever told you that?" Armin softly and quickly "Yeah… She could always find the answers to her questions right at home… I think I may have just the thing for you" He proclaimed as he raised himself out of his worn chair.

He lumbered over to his bookshelf, pondering for a moment as his calloused fingertips brushed over the spines before then plucking a leather-bound turquoise book and giving it to Armin. Armin's face remained in confusion for a moment before he saw the crest on the cover of the book and the etched runes beneath it. Tidal Dragons Armin then quickly thanked him and made leave for the coastline as his grandfather stood, leaning against the railing of his porch, watching the boy run of, with an excited scamper in his step.