"Hey, Armin."

Armin snapped out of his train of thought at the sound of Annie's voice. He brought himself back to reality, tearing himself away from childhood memories with his best friend.

"Have your wounds healed already," Annie continued tiredly, her eyes hooded with stress.

"Annie?" Armin said quickly, turning to face her. He stopped at the sight of her weary expression.

"Yeah...since there was time, unbelievably," he answered honestly. "Being able to pass it so carefreely, I didn't think that would be the case." He stopped as thoughts of what was surely happening elsewhere in the world invaded his mind.

Annie sat silently, digesting his words, before quietly speaking up.

"Wanna sit?"

Armin stared at her, a surprised look crossing his face, before he nodded slowly and made his way over to her. He sat down next to her against the railing of the ship, and pulled his legs up in front of him, mirroring her posture.

All he could hear was the soft lapping of waves against the hull of the ship, and the distant cawing of sea birds. It was a bright, beautiful day, but it only made him feel worse.

Elsewhere in the world, people are suffering because of my friend. Because of Eren.

Annie carefully broke the silence, her voice resigned and measured. "I just realized….that I hadn't thanked you yet."

"Huh?" Armin said as confusion crossed his face.

"All those years…" Annie continued, her expression taking on the look of someone reliving an unpleasant memory. "You kept talking to me. Thanks."

"Oh," Armin said slowly, as he realized what she was talking about. "Yeah…."

"I thought I'd go crazy from the loneliness," Annie admitted. "You and Hitch talking to me was the only thing I looked forward to."

Armin couldn't stop himself. "Annie…."

"But why?" She said suddenly, cutting him off. "Why did you bother talking to a rock that couldn't so much as grunt a response back to you? I mean, there must have been more fun and cheerful girls out there, right?"

Armin felt his breath catch. "No, that's not right," he said softly. He thought for a second before answering.

"I was because….I wanted to see you, Annie." He couldn't stop the small blush from coloring his cheeks.

Annie's eyes widened momentarily in surprise, before she buried her face in her arms to hide her own blush.

"Why?" She whispered.

"You….you really don't know?" Armin asked hesitantly, afraid he would upset her. "Even with Hitch's teasing?"

He stared at her as she raised her head to answer him, and this time, he noticed her blush.

"I don't." Her voice sounded despondent, and Armin felt a stab of pain clench his heart in its grasp. He broke his gaze away from her and stared off into the distance, wishing he could have the courage to speak up.

"Really," Annie said, her voice filled with resignation. "What are we doing?"

Armin found himself at a loss for words as Annie continued, her voice growing more and more hopeless as she buried her face in her arms again.

"Right now, thousands, millions of people are out there being killed. We….just….what are we doing…."

The silence hung over them like a cloud.

"Yeah," Armin said softly.

Annie jerked her head up, her eyes suddenly flared. "I get it," she said bitterly. "You're a good person, so that's why you talked to an enemy like me?"

Armin felt a pang of hurt, but he kept his mouth shut, hoping that Annie wouldn't lash out at him in anger. He knew what she was capable of.

"That's the same reason you won't give up on talking to Eren," Annie said with a hint of venom in her voice. "That's what drove you to bother with a monster who could wake up at any moment. You just wanted to avoid conflict, right?"

Armin looked away, Annie's words hitting too close to home.

I'm not a good person.

Annie noticed Armin's reaction, and she glanced downward guiltily. She got to her feet, wanting to get away from this conversation before it could get more painful.

Armin's hand instinctively shot out and grabbed Annie's wrist. "Sit down," he said, his voice suddenly lined with firmness. "And I know I've said this before, but I hate being called a good person."

Annie stood frozen for a second, before slowly sitting back down next to him.

"I've killed many people," Armin said, his voice filled with shame. "Not only soldiers. Innocent people. Children, too. And….when I chose to betray everyone I grew up with on the island. When I betrayed my people. When I killed my comrades…."

Armin stopped, taking a deep breath to calm himself.

"I've been a monster for a long time now."

Annie let out a small, defeated sigh. So that was what it had come to in her absence. While she had been trapped for several years, the kind boy she had known in training had been forced to become someone he never wanted to be.

Just like her.

Armin couldn't meet her gaze. "Somewhere in my head, one day….the promise that I made with Eren. To go on a journey into the unknown world with him. I…."

Armin shook his head ruefully. "I thought we'd make that come true."

Annie let out a small, humorless laugh. "The unknown world. It wasn't that great a thing after all, huh?"

"Yeah," Armin said regretfully, the last traces of hope disappearing from his voice as he said it. "It was different from the world we saw in our dreams."

The cawing of a sea bird startled Armin. He looked up as it landed on the railing near his head, and stared at him, its eyes carrying a reflection from sights he would never get to see.

Armin stared back at it, and a small, rebellious part of him clawed its way back to the surface. The part of him that had spent years around Eren, who had taught him to never give up, no matter how bad things got.

Still, that which we don't know, must definitely be out there, beyond the walls.

That's what I want to believe.

Armin turned to face Annie, his mind made up. He didn't know how much time he had left, and he was done wasting it.

"Annie," he said as he turned to her with an earnest expression.

"Hmm," she responded with an air of projected contempt.

"I love you."

Annie stared at him for several seconds, her gaze unreadable, before she got to her feet and shook her head in disbelief.

"Armin. What are you doing?"

A small part of Armin's heart wilted at her disbelieving tone, but he wasn't about to back down now. Not when he had made it this far. He would go all the way, and face whatever she said. He stood, and held his head high.

"I said I love you. As in, I've loved you all these years."

Annie's expression slowly morphed from one of disbelief to one of sorrow. "Stop," she whispered.

"I never stopped loving you. Even after I realized you were the Female Titan, and that you killed our comrades."

"Armin, please stop," Annie said quietly as she squeezed her eyes shut, turning away from him.

"Even after you sealed yourself inside that crystal, and everyone else condemned you. I never believed that you truly wanted to hurt anyone."

"Stop!" Annie said in desperation. Every word Armin spoke was another blow, stronger than any she had ever faced.

"And now, I understand. I understand why you did what you did. And I'm telling you that I don't care."

"Stop!" Annie yelled, still facing away from him.

"All I care about now is that you understand how I feel." With that, Armin took a deep breath and stepped forward, wrapping his arms around Annie's shoulders from behind.

She gasped, and Armin closed his eyes as he felt her raise her hand to her mouth, ready to bite down and transform into the Female Titan.

Silence gripped the two of them.

Armin felt her shift slightly, and he opened his eyes. Her arm was raised, and he could tell that her hand was resting between her teeth.

They stayed that way for several moments, before Annie dropped her unbitten hand to her side. She turned around in Armin's arms and stared up at him, her expression standing strong for several seconds before collapsing. Wrapping her arms around him, she sank into his hug and buried her face in his chest as she began to quietly sob.

Author's Note

I really liked Chapter 131, and I've been in a bit of a writing funk for a while, so I decided to try writing this and see what happened. I ended up kind of liking the end result, so here you go! If people request it, maybe I'll continue it. Who knows...