Annie's heart was pounding against her ribs, and she dug her toes into the earth as the hand on her skin grasped tighter. Her eyes were squinted and flooded under the heavy car headlights and the only thing keeping her from disintegrating into the night air was the freezing and stiff air.

She yelped in pain as he yanked her forward and she knew the pain that was coming with the swing of his arm.

But she was left alone in the cold and her eyes flew open when the hand on her arm disappeared. The headlights were off, revealing a small group of people around her, her father standing directly in front of her staring around her. She whipped around, knocking into a person behind her and squirming out of their arms.

"Annie!" she heard, closing her eyes and thrashing around. "Annie stop!"

She paused, feeling dizzy from the escaping tears and the violent motion. She teetered on her feet and glared at the boy behind her.

"Oh my God.." she whispered, pulling her hands to her mouth and then turning around, seeing Ymir, Jean, Marco, Eren, and Bertholdt all standing around her, and last but not least, Armin was at her back, rubbing between her shoulder blades with heavy breath and furrowed brows. She bit her tongue and turned around, watching as Ymir stepped up to her father, eye to eye and frowned.

"Your daughter's a bitch but I swear to God if you touch her again I'll tear you apart." she growled, "I've dealt with this kind of bullshit before... and no one deserves to get hurt by the person that's supposed to love them."

Annie backed into Armin's chest, letting him put his hands on her arms and hold her close to him.

Jean and Marco stepped closer to her father, Marco sweating like crazy but looking less scared than Jean was.

"We already called the police... if you touch her again we'll all be witnesses." Jean said with a shaky voice. Eren crossed his arms behind the two of them.

"Do you want that, Mr. Leonhardt?" the short brunette asked. Annie's eyes shifted quickly from person to person, watching them all crowd around her.

The bitter and sunken eyes in her father's face widened, showing the red smudges of drunkenness and the shock that someone actually cared for his daughter. Annie bent over in Armin's arms, her entire body shaking.

The man stepped back, nearly tripping over his own feet before clambering into the truck, starting it and shining the lights back into Annie's eyes. Armin stumbled back and carried Annie with him, and they stood in the dark long enough to see the enraged glance that came in the form of dagger eyes from her father, and the far pulled from the side of the road and into the street.

Annie let out a horrified scream towards the ground, Armin holding tightly to her abdomen. Her breath escaped her all at once and when she rose again all eyes were on her, wide and scared.

She turned to face Armin, a thousand questions in her mind as to why he was standing before her, why he was holding her, why this was all taking place, but she quietly dug her face into his neck and wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you, thank you," she whispered through her cries, feeling him hugging her tightly again. He was silent and when she finally pulled herself away she gave each person in front of her an apologetic look until she came face to face with Bertholdt. He smiled weakly and reached towards her, opening his arms and letting her fold herself into his arms.

"I'm sorry I wasn't brave enough to do this before-"

"No, Bertholdt, don't do that." she whispered into him, only for him to hear, "you were very brave." she told him, pulling away and standing at the center of the small group.

Eren looked away from her and nodded to Jean, who in turn tapped Marco's shoulder and nodded in the other direction.

"I think we should go," Marco said softly and Annie nodded, "the police will be here soon so we'll need to tell them what we saw,"

Annie glanced in a panic between Armin and the others.

"You don't have to talk to them until you're ready, Annie," Armin's gentle voice said to her, "but for now at least allow Marco and Bertholdt to tell them what they know."

She hesitated, her heart still pounding in her chest, so hard she could hear the thrumming in her ears. Annie nodded in the end, and allowed Armin to take her hand and lead her from the area, but before she could move Ymir grabbed her and turned her around.

Annie was slightly surprised and shrunk beneath the taller girl.

"Listen, Annie, I'm sorry for hurting you but what you did was pretty messed up," she said, crossing her arms, "I just wish I knew what you were dealing with... I shouldn't have done it anyways, that's the point. Sasha's in bed sick but she's been blubbering about it all week long and we've been pretty guilty about it. I didn't know," Ymir finally admitted, "and I'm sorry."

She gave the blonde a smile and shrugged. "That doesn't take the pain away but I hope you can come back to soccer soon. We kind of need a leader."

Annie swallowed and nodded slowly, then taking Ymir's hand and squeezing it softly before letting it go and following Armin, shooting a last glance to Eren and the others with a, "Thank you so much," before leaving.

They sat in the car together, and he let her cry for a long long time before asking any questions. It took an hour but by then Annie's tears had all fallen. Armin himself had started to cry at one point but they left each other alone until they were ready.

He drove her to his house and her stomach was already churning and being in the familiar place made her even more upset. He opened the door for her after parking, pulling her out and slipping off his jacket to let her wear it before they entered. He unlocked the door and closed it behind her, ushering her into the house and into his bedroom, letting her sit with a red face from more than just the cold. He stood in the door, leaning on the frame and waiting for her to start to speak. She sat at the edge of the bed, her hands between her knees and the sleeves of his jacket slightly too big on her.

She closed her eyes and sighed.

"When I was six years old my mother died," she began, her shoulders rising with every word but her eyes sticking to the floor, "after that my dad was never the same. Always an alcoholic. Always pushy. He just got worse as I got more secluded. It was a cycle. He kept hurting me and I kept... pushing people away. Bertholdt and Reiner always knew but they couldn't do anything about it. Dad always threatened them when I finally got home." she let it spill from her lips like a confession, and it kept going before she could stop it, "And he always apologizes like it's okay... like everything can go back to when mom was around and he always wants me to believe in him and he tells me how good I am but then he goes and hurts me... he dumps me under my bed and leaves every time and I may seem stoic on the outside but there's nothing that tears me apart more than the sound of someone walking away."

She buried her face into her hands, choking back a sob, "and that day... that day he'd really..." she breathed in, "and Mikasa just... she saw right through me..." she finally dragged her eyes up to him, "and she asked me... she asked me if I'd upset him and I just," she bit her lip, "I wanted to get him back and she was standing there, looking at me with those eyes," she looked down again and closed her eyes, "and I'm so, so sorry."

There was a hand on her back and when she looked up there was a smile waiting for her, her entire body shifting as he moved from the room, out into the house and disappeared from view. She waited for a moment, seeing all the lights in the house turning off and when he finally got to his room, holding a huge pile of blankets and pillows, he flicked the lights off as well, sending Annie's nerves into overdrive. She saw him smile and snicker from him as he asked her to scoot over.

She kicked off her shoes and scooted over, watching him throw all the materials onto the bed and scoot in next to her.

They laid face to face for a while, and Annie closed her eyes when they were both finally warm.

"I'm so sorry, Annie." he whispered.

"It's okay."

He shifted closer. "There's nothing I can say to tell you how much I regret what I did."
She bit her lip and opened her eyes again, feeling sleep dragging her down, dried tears and all. "I let you down, I should have known,"

She blinked, watching his face tighten in emotion, feeling her skin tingle and eyes water once more.

"You didn't know-"

"I should have. I knew you wouldn't do something like that unless something was wrong," he said, laying his hand between them and letting her place hers in his palm. His fingers traced the marks on her hands. "I just thought you were angry with me and took it out on her," he confessed, "I didn't think something would be going on... I wasn't thinking... I don't know..." he trailed off.

She mumbled into the mattress, "That may have been the first time ever."

He quirked a brow.

"You're always thinking." she whispered.

He chuckled and pulled the blankets up and over their faces and let them sit together in the darkness. They were silent for a very long time.

"I forgive you, Armin." she whispered to him.

"Thank you."

In a moment he was wrapped around her, his body shivering at the sound of her breath against him.

"I should have known, Annie."

"Don't blame yourself, Armin."

"What else can I do?"

"Hold me, Armin."

"I'm sorry."

They held on so tightly their fingers began to go numb.

"I love you, Armin."

They kissed under the covers through the foggy air of Armin's apologies and with the smell of salt and smiles they fell asleep together and Annie knew for sure that he loved her back.