Darkness
Silence
Emptiness
A flicker
Noise
Screams
"Murderer"
"Monster"
"Traitor"
"Useless"
"I always hated you."
Steam
Fire
Blood
Burning
Pain
Pain
Pain
Armin lurched up, breathing erratically and grasping at his chest, 'what was that?' he thought as he looked around 'and where am I?'.
He was thoroughly confused last thing he remembered was him and Mikasa being placed in a jail cell by Eren and his 'Yeagerists'. At that Armin felt a spike of anger as the memories of how Eren had treated them, how could he say those things to Mikasa, how could he hurt her like that?!
He forced down those painful memories, realising that figuring out where exactly he was should be his main priority. It was dark but he could make out the first light of dawn passing through a window, "So, I'm above ground" this only caused more confusion, there was no way the Yeagerists didn't know about his 'ability', and so they must have known that placing him above ground would allow him to transform without the risk of being crushed.
He looked down noting he was laying on a bed, the firmness (and itchiness) of it letting him know it was definitely military and the presence of other beds and their occupants indicated this was most likely a barracks.
Had he been moved in the night?
Armin may not have been the lightest sleeper in the survey corps, but there was no way he was picked up and moved in the night without waking up, say nothing of the fuss Mikasa, Connie or Jean would raise if they tried to take Armin in the night.
Speaking of other occupants, he squinted through the darkness, trying to make out any faces, most where either facing away or hidden under covers. However, Armin noticed that the people he could see seemed quite small and young "Must be the new cadets, they were stationed in Shiganshina, so at least I'm still in the district.".
"Ok, think… think" he whispered to himself "I'm above ground, likely in the cadet barracks. I must have been drugged and moved in this night." That solved the how and the where but not the why. His mind was racing trying to understand why he was here, was this some kind of bizarre interrogation technique to confuse and disorientate him so he might reveal Zeke and Levi's location? If so, it was a dangerous gambit, and he could now shift into his titan form without the fear of being crushed or harming his friends.
He didn't want to hurt the new Cadets but if he had to choose between them and saving his friends, his family, he would not hesitate. He had killed a woman to save Jean; he had devastated the Marleyan fleet and harbour to bring Eren home and…
And he had punch Eren for hurting Mikasa.
This time he didn't need to push those painful memories away as he was interrupted by the door being kicked open.
"GOOD MORNING, MAGGOTS! I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED YOUR LIE IN! GET YOUR LAZY ARSES UP AND GET TO THE TRAINING FIELD. NOW" screamed a very irate Keith Shadis.
It may have been 4 years since Armin was a cadet but the muscle memory of Shadis screaming at them to get up kicked in before his brain did as he, along with all the other cadets, shot up and started throwing on his uniform which was laid out at the end of his bed ready to be quickly thrown on just like he had it during his own cadet days.
After rapidly throwing on his uniform and starting to walk towards the door Armin hesitated, everything seemed wrong, out of place. The room seemed too big, the bed too large, yet the uniform was the right size, despite it having the cross-swords of the cadets rather than the wings of freedom of the scouts it fitted perfectly. As one of the shortest soldiers in the scouts (only Levi was smaller) his uniform needed to be adjusted for even the smallest size available to properly fit him, even as a cadet his uniform had to be adjusted.
There was no way that this uniform should be able to fit him, and yet it did.
Armin had always been observant; it's what allowed him to find out the Female Titan's identity and let him figure out how to defeat the Colossal Titan when they retook wall Maria, he noticed the little things that others would miss.
All the things he had noticed since waking up had led him to one definitive conclusion that something was very, VERY, wrong here.
A hand grasped his shoulder, and Armin nearly jumped out of his skin. He quickly spun around, face paling and eyes widening in shock and disbelief at the sight before him.
"You alright, Armin? You look like you've seen a ghost?" asked a concerned, 13-year-old Eren Yeager.
'Don't freak out, don't freak out, don't freak out.' was all that was going through Armin's mind as he stood to attention in the training field surrounded by ghosts.
After stammering out some excuse about bad dreams to Eren, he had fled the barracks only to run straight into a young Jean and Marco.
"Hey! Watch it, Arlert" yelled Jean. Armin was too shocked to say anything but was fortunately saved by Marco "Don't be a dick, Jean. It was an accident. Anyway, Armin has the right idea, if we don't hurry up Shadis will make us run laps until we throw up… again"
"This is a dream, a really weird dream. It has to be. Any moment now I will wake up back in that cell." He vaguely hears Shadis telling them what they will be doing in training that day, but he doesn't pay any attention. All around him are people who have been dead for years; Mina, Franz, Hannah, Thomas, Marco and countless others who faces and names had been burnt into Armin's memories after the horrors of Trost.
He feels his heart give a painful lurch as he sees Sasha only a few metres away nibbling on a piece of bread, she had been the most recent person of his family to have been ripped away from him.
"If this is a dream, it's a cruel one." he thinks bitterly, showing him everyone he once knew in happier, simpler times were their only concern was not getting on Shadis's Shit List. Why was he dreaming of this? It would only make the pain worse when he woke up, and they were still gone.
He was dimly aware of Shadis dismissing them and followed the other cadets towards the mess hall for breakfast, deciding that simply going along with this scarily realistic dream was a better idea than having a full-on panic attack/mental breakdown at what was happening.
Armin let all the other cadets rush past him, he was too deep in thought to keep up with the others 'Why haven't I woken up yet?' he was aware he was dreaming, he must be, and had pinched himself several times, yet he was still here. "I want to wake up now" he mumbled to himself.
As he slowly approached the mess hall, he suddenly found a hand clamped firmly around his mouth, muffling his cry of panic, and was dragged behind one of the outhouses.
He struggled against the iron grip, but he had never been that strong so he couldn't breakaway. Once he had been dragged out of sight of any possible witness, he heard a familiar voice speak quietly into his ear "Armin, please calm down, it's just me." Armin stopped his struggle as he turned to look at a young Mikasa who looked every bit as confused as he felt.
"Armin, what on Earth is going on right now? How are we back in training, and how is everyone still alive? And why is everyone 13 again?!"
...
...
"Oh. I'm not dreaming this, am I?"