"We're almost there guys... maybe another 2 hours...", said, trying to sound motivation.
"With all due respect, Squad Leader... you told us that an hour ago."
"Oh did I Jean... time seems to be flying today..." "Hm..."
Armin looked up into the sky, spotting a few birds flying in V-formation in the southern direction they were coming from. It was early morning. Everyone was exhausted and mourning. Many soldiers had fallen during the events of retaking and sealing Wall Maria, the third and last Wall of Mitras to protect them against the Titans. 'it's not over yet... We'll be deployed soon again to kill the rest of the Titans inside the walls... but before that we'll get questioned why they wasted the injection on me instead of saving Erwin, Regiment leader of the Recon Corps'. He was still very shaken about what happened in the last few days. Having passively witnessed the death of 199 soldiers, comrades and friends no less was weighting him down more than he thought. Armin realised that he would be more okay with it if the Titan killing them was pure and no shifter. He immediately wanted to punch himself. How could he? The deaths of their comrades was always devastating, no matter the cause.
Surprisingly though, he noticed Levi-Heichou being the most affected in their entire group. Armin tried to think up a reason of why that was but couldn't come up with a solution. He didn't know much about humanities strongest' past but what he did know was pretty much what anyone knew since little to none soldiers from the time he joined were still alive, many of the remaining dying at Wall Maria. Levi wasn't fast to trust anyone, even after years of knowing each other but it was obvious that he had some kind of connection with the Commander. Maybe it was because Erwin brought Levi to the Recon Corps, saving him from being lifetime hired muscle in the underground of Sina.
Whatever it was, Levi was acting weird. He never mourned long after fallen comrades and friends, moving on quickly with no regrets to keep going. He always did. So why was it different concerning the Commander?
"min- Armin? Armin!" Said boy ripped his gaze from the sky with no more birds flying by and shifted it onto a concerned looking Eren. "Are you ok? You've been staring at the sky for the last hour and a half now...", Eren asked, searching Armins eyes for any negative emotions. He's always been good reading him. Eren was probably the only person Armin couldn't fool with words and a smile. 'Why did he go along with my plan, knowing that I was sacrificing myself? Was it because I told him to trust me and he decided to blindly follow what I said? No Eren wouldn't do that! He questions everything. Why would he do anything different now?'
"Armin you are doing it again...?" "Sorry Eren... Yes, I'm okay don't worry about me! I'll be fine.", Armin assured his friend with a smile. "You said that before Armin... And then you almost-" "We're almost there now, folks. I can see the Wall!", Hanjis voice stated, alerting every remaining soldier to gather themselves and be ready for their return.
The last few kilometres were done in silence only interrupted by their horses once in a while.
When finally reaching the Wall, they were greeted by every member of the Garrison stationed in Trost but when they saw the actual quantity of remaining soldiers, Pixis made his way up to the small group but Hanji was quick so say: "We've done it. Wall Maria is once again sealed for the use of humanity. We also managed to steal the power of the Colossal Titan. We will elaborate further after our audience with the queen. For now, we'd like to rest and gather ourselves..." Then they led their horse around and gestured to the others to follow them. After a while, they reached a small cottage at the side of the district. "It's a small place Erwin once had someone build and claim for the Recon Corps if anyone lost it and needed a break of all the fighting...", they said, glancing at Levi, who was already tieing his horse to the plank reserved for it, worried.
As soon as everyone was inside, Hanji locked to door and Levi dashed off, probably looking for cleaning supplies since he came back about 10 seconds later, fully geared up for a throughout cleaning and started scrubbing the floor furiously. The others, knowing better than interrupting the Captain while carrying out his coping method, went to look for something to do themselves. Mikasa went in the little kitchen nearby, pulling Eren with him, telling him to make some mint tea. Eren tried to convince her to let him stay with Armin but she insisted since he was best at making it and everyone (especially Levi, Hanji and Armin) needed some of the hot liquid with soothing quantities, which made Eren agree half heartedly, not wanting to leave his best but emotionally constipated friend alone.
An hour later, Hanji had gathered all their medical supplies around them again and started assessing every wound of the critically injured again, whom they've laid in the floor on top of some clean blankets. Their work was normally quicker and less shaky but normally they had Moblits helping hand on their side, always giving them backup. That was another extrem coincidence. When looking for any other survivors in and in front of Wall Maria, they actually found an incredibly weak and injured Moblit, barely breathing with many 3th and even 4th degree burns on his legs and back. It was unlikely for him to ever recover from this a 100 percent but Hanji was not one to give up on people they care for. Especially not Moblit.
He didn't wake once the entire way back to the Walls. They already had Jean calling in for a doctor, who had taken a look at him. There wasn't much they could do, he had said. Only keeping the wounds clean, getting rid of some of the charred skin, applying some cold product in combination with some pain numbing creme generously on the burns, dressing them in bandages and changing them every other hour before cleaning them again as well as having the person drink as much fluids as possible.
And that's what they did. Caring for his wounds, monitoring his condition and drizzling water down his throat, forcing him to swallow, being happy that he wasn't awake to experience all of this. Every now and then she also checked up on Sasha who was more or less well tended to, with Connie and Jean by her side, helping her drink the tea Eren made that was probably already cold.
Floch was just sitting in a corner of the living room with a book in his hands, staring unfocused on one word as if he was trying to understand what it stood for. He wasn't injured and probably just feeling empty after the commander died.
Levi had claimed the master bedroom meant for couples after he was done scrubbing his hands raw and hadn't emerged from the room since. Everyone was pretty surprised about that since it was common knowledge that Levi-Heichou didn't like big rooms for one person since it was not only a waste of space in his book but also unsafe with more places one can hide to kill one in their sleep.
Eren and Mikasa were out, getting supplies after being forced to by Hanji. After nearly throwing another tantrum, Eren agreed to do a quick supply run if Hanji would finally take a look at Armin, who had fallen into a daze again, looking outside several windows before changing his location. He had been acting that way since they arrived. His cup of tea still untouched and cold on one of the windowsills. They decided it was time to do their part and convince him to rest and let himself be looked at.
Eren once told Hanji in one of their tête-a-tête Titan experiments where they spend their time asking Eren many questions he may feel uncomfortable to answer in front of other officers. Personal things concerning Erens body as well as mind and emotions. from what Eren told her, she knew that the first few transformations were near hell for a person and were very exhausting. He had admitted to her that he felt very bad when he first woke up and even more when he woke up in a cell after the attack on Trost had ended. After him, he had sported a fever and had vomited at least 6 times. After that statement they had been very furious why he didn't tell anyone and that they could've helped, which Eren had countered with stating that he did but his military police guards only told him to shut up and deal with it since he was a monster, didn't deserve any help and would heal probably on his own since he was one of the Titans disguised in a human body.
Hanji almost went mental after that but managed to calm down and promised his Titan-son Eren that he would be more careful and definetely pay better attention at Eren's condition during their stamina training after she witnessed one time what it was for Eren to be Titan sick.
Armin was easy to find though. He was in the main room staring outside again, his legs quivering below him in strain. "Armin, come on please I need to take a look at you.", they tried to get his attention by snapping their fingers near his ear. He snapped back to reality and looked at Hanji. "Oh no Hanji-san. I'm completely fine. Just a little tired maybe.", he answered smiling widely. 'Damn he is really good at making himself look fine', They thought and said: "You are not okay and you know it Arlert. I promised your friends that I would force you to lay down if I needed to. You remember that time where Eren got Titan sick after transforming too often in a short amount of time? Well after that he and I had a talk and he admitted how his first few transformations and recoveries felt like so trust me if I say that I am surprised that you are still standing."
Armin looked to the ground uncertain how to answer to that. "Armin you refused to let yourself be carried home in a cart and insisted to ride the way home, you haven't sat down once since we are here and even worse than that, you haven't touched your bowl of soup and tea since it was put near you. You probably have a fever and you must be on the brink of dehydration despite being exhausted too so come with me, lie down with the other injured, eat and drink something and accept the fact that there are people that care for you or let me knock you out and carry you there. I know what I am about to say is lower than just low but Levi didn't save you instead of Erwin just so you can kill yourself with that stubbornness of yours or whatever it is that prevents you from keeping your own body alive and healthy yourself. Know your limits Arlert and let me help you."
Armin looked like he was about to cry but silently nodded weakly and let himself be led to the third, unused, soft cot near Hanjis spare supplies. "Okay Armin we are going to do it like this. You'll slowly go on your knees and then I will help you to turn and lay down." Without responding, Armin let his legs go slack, letting Hanji ease his fall, turning him around to lay him down on top of the blankets, laying his head on top of the soft pillow at one end.
"Thank you Armin.", Hanji said, pulling another blanket up to the boy's waist. "I'm going to check you through really quick and then you can decide if you want to rest for a bit until it's time to eat lunch or if you'd rather like to go through the books we found in Erens basement with me." "Eren-" "He's out with Mikasa getting some supplies for the next few days as well as sending a letter to Historia, letting her know that we will stay here for a bit to process everything and heal as well. How about you decide what to do when I am done with checking up on you.", Hanji said, opening Armins shirt and starting to look and feel for any injuries.
"I really hadn't had the time yet to look at you which was probably not only foolish of me but selfish too. I saw what you looked like before Levi used the injection. I know that the Titan healing abilities probably took care of everything but I want to be sure. In the end we are too careless and you could still die of uncovered burns so please tell me if anything hurts." Armin nodded weakly while Hanji started looking for any internal injuries, quickly making sure that there were none.
"Hanji-san?", Armin asked while Hanji checked for swelling on his throat. "Hmm Armin?" "Why did Levi choose me...? And why does he look like he's regretting it... Why didn't he just choose Erwin. Erwin would be way more useful than me. I decided to sacrifice myself, knowing that I'll die... I've seen the looks Floch gives me... Why did you save me? Why-" "Armin!" "Hmm?" "You are being too hard on yourself. If you want my honest answer, then I don't know why he did it. When Floch brought Erwin, he immediately decided to save Erwin with more determination but also fear in his eyes than I've ever seen. I too voted for saving Erwin. I had to hold Mikasa back before she skinned the Captain. Eren fought and suddenly started talking about the ocean. After that Levi ordered us all to leave and decided to save Erwin. The next second, the Titan that emerges out of nowhere doesn't look like Erwin. Levi gave the injection to you. I am sure he has a reason so maybe you can ask him after he calmed down..." "Hmm..."
Hanji was quick to notice that the boy did indeed have a quite high fever and laid a towel dipped in ice cold water onto his forehead. Then they reheated Armins bowl of soup and cup of tea and brought both to his resting place. After tucking multiple pillows under his back, enabling him to kind of sit up, they placed a wooden board on planks supporting it round Armins waist and added a spoon to the bowl before saying: "I believe you want to feed yourself though if I notice that you can't do it, I'm going to help you and make you accept my help one way or another. If you want a sip of tea, just say so. If you haven't noticed already, it's mint. Eren made it so I guess the quality should suit your tastes since Levi actually accepts it as decent with his inhumane standards." Armin nodded and lifted the first spoonful of soup to his mouth. It was an easy broth Mikasa was good at making. For him though it tasted like heaven, having lived on dry field rations for a more than a week.
After the soup was eaten, Armin endured Hanji checking over him once again, hearing them say that his fever still hasn't broken and was probably getting worse. 'They are probably going to ask Eren about that', Armin thought, contemplating again on what made Levi-Heichou change his mind. Hanji changed the towel on Armins forehead with a fresh one and tucked the blanket and another one they got from a cupboard near them over him up to his chin, before removing the extra pillows under his head, making the feverish retake a horizontal laying pose.
"You my dear are going to take a nap now.", they said, looking at Armin seriously. "But Hanji-san, you promised me I could decide between resting and going through the books with you! I ate the soup, drank the tea and laid down just as you wanted!" "That was before I noticed how sick you were. You are going to sleep or I'm going to get another injection for you. This time it's going to be a sleeping agent or sedatives if we haven't any of the first ones. I'm really sorry Armin but it's only for your own good. I promise you though that we will go through the books together but if you won't go to sleep, Erens going to rip my insides out and I plan on finding out how to make Titan injections before my death."
Armin sighed, noticing that Hanji left no room to argue. 'It's probably better to sleep anyway so I won't have to deal with anymore stares...', he thought, closing his eyes. He suddenly noticed how exhausted he was. He knew that he had been tired for some time now but Armin hadn't noticed the severity yet. "Sleep well my TItan-baby 2", Armin heard Hanji say before they left his side, probably to change Moblits dressings and checking if his vitals had changed in any way during their absence.
The next thing he heard was the front door. Then two pairs of feet walking heavily as if their owners were carrying heavy cargo. They left for a second in the kitchens direction before coming back. One of them said: "Hey we're back. We got enough supplies for 2 days. Where's Armin?" 'Eren's home!', Armin thought, his heartrate spiking out of nowhere. "He's over there. Probably finally sleeping so you should probably be more quiet." "Thank you Hanji. For taking care of him..." 'Mikasa is here too!' The pair of feet came closer and stopped right next to him. One of them sitting down and taking his left hand, the other spreading a sheet of blankets out beside him, laying down and cuddling to his side.
"Sleep well Armin... I hope you are alright in your dreams and not as plagued with nightmares in your dreams as I am in mine... Please never leave me again... We are so close to finally getting to see the ocean, you can't die on me now... You were always there for me. Even in my worst tantrums and anger eruptions. You never left me before... Don't leave now, please...", Erens voice whispered close to his right ear. 'I'll try Eren... Though I hope you know now that I will always give my lie for yours-', Armin thought before sleep finally took him.
'Please never leave me yourself... Eren...'
A/N: I am not the original author. I have permisson to post this though. Please support the author by klicking - Here for the story and - Here for their account on ao3
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