Armin had always had a fire burning in his chest.
Not a literal fire.
Okay, maybe not a metaphorical one either.
It was just a part of his heart, the one that Willed him to consistently find ways to move forward.
He strongly remembered the day the fire surged to life in his fingers, a perfect mix of royal amber and shimmering azure.
As they mourned his parents' disappearance (Armin knew they had died and who killed them but was too weak to do anything about it despite wanting otherwise so much), Grandfather told him as much as he could.
Dying Will Flames.
The Flames borne from Will to turn mountains to dust and sink islands into the seas because there was nothing left to do but fight to achieve the impossible.
"Flames can usually be determined by two things. Your soul and your blood." Grandfather declared as Rain Flames crawled up his fingers to shimmer similarly against Armin's mixed ones, brown eyes shifting to an almost blue hue beneath the shadow of his straw hat. "You have the blood of a Rain... but the soul of a Sky, it seems. Whether softly or torrential, you're going to be someone people let wash away their fears and peacefully lead them right, my little rainy sky."
And Grandfather had been right.
Peace did come to Armin as easily as breathing.
Still, even as he easily withstood another day with the bullies with his Tranquility deadening his sense of touch from the blows, Armin wondered if he would actually ever meet any other Element like him.
Grandfather had told him that as a Sky, Armin would naturally draw others close but maybe he had been pickier than he thought, for Armin hadn't met anyone he would like.
"Of course, you will need another Rain to wash your own sorrow away... And a Cloud to watch over you from afar... A Sun to brighten your life... A Storm to bring down justice upon your enemies... A Lightning to defend against what you cannot... A Mist to hide you when a reprieve is needed... You don't need to be in such a hurry, for someone like you will have a full Court no matter what."
But then he met Eren, and soon enough, a vibrant and willful Cloud drifted along in Armin's Sky.
It didn't take long for Armin to realize that Eren, as close to Active as he was, had no clue of why he was suddenly fiercely protective of his first ever friend.
(Armin suspected that Dr. Jaeger might've known something, given the knowing and approving look that he sent him the moment they met for the first time.)
Eren was an extremely protective Cloud that roared and charged always for Armin, but that never stopped the latter from sensing a potential bit of threat-challenge-rival-enemy(?) in his only friend and Element.
Then one day, Eren came along with a girl wearing his scarf, his emerald eyes blazing amber with streaks of violet that allowed Armin to realize that Eren was also a Sky like him and had become Active while claiming a Storm for himself.
Never in the book that Grandfather gave him did it mention that Skies with secondary Flames could be bonded with each other and when Eren asked (after him and Mikasa had been told everything) if he actually cared, Armin was relieved at how easily the word "No." left his lips.
The inaudible *click* of him becoming Eren's Rain is a very welcome affirmation.
(Of course, Eren all but stated that Mikasa was his Storm, with the girl herself not refusing in the slightest and Armin's Sky Instinct barely held back the disappointed "aw".)
The two years as a refugee were the worst of Armin's life.
First, Eren's grief forged his personality into something headier and Rage constantly shimmered around him after the loss of Shiganshina. Then something happened to Eren that even his Flames reflected the change, his Sky now almost buried by too much Cloud that Eren couldn't even have possibly amassed in his entire lifetime.
Then, he lost Grandfather, who left him his hat and was glad that they had never Bonded, as Discord was something he absolutely refused for his grandson to experience when he inevitably died.
A little consolation was that during a night in the city, when he'd run into a girl who'd been running from some angry men. Armin had barely thought it through before dragging her into an alleyway and saturating the entire place with Tranquility, protecting just himself and the girl while every other person keeled over unconscious.
The girl looked at him like he was an complete enigma, which Armin couldn't blame her for. What had gotten his attention was the taste of Discord in her Flame. Not from a complete Bond, but still noticeable enough that the potential Sky's loss was felt.
And now, Armin could feel the tentative feel of the Cloud testing at his Sky, even as the girl shoved him away and promptly disappeared around the corner while hiding her confused face under her hood.
That was fine, though. Clouds were ones who refused to be tethered so easily and Eren had been the exception who possessed a Sky that made him want.
Armin didn't mind waiting.
The 104th Cadet Corps came with a lot of good and bad.
And Armin didn't just mean the potential Guardian candidates for him and Eren.
First off was the utterly terrifying Commandant Shadis, whom despite his Mist attribute, always roared with the added ferocity of a harsh Sun, unrelenting and scorching.
Then followed the hellish training that the totally unathletic Armin loathed with a passion. But he needed it to survive outside the Walls so he swallowed and always went through, never seeking the shortcuts that appeared before him.
At the very least, he'd made many friends with them.
Reiner, who possessed the sacrificial nature of a Lightning but had a... disturbing taint of Discord that ached at Armin when he noticed the signs.
Bertholdt was a nice enough guy, even if he was a sweating nervous wreck most of the time. But even as he bore the signs of Discord as well, he was a far more stable Mist himself that always latched on to Reiner's side.
Jean was a brash, self-centered Storm who Eren always clashed with many times but actually secretly admired for his similarly stubborn mindset, so much that Armin was unsurprised when Eren later asked if a Sky could have multiples of the same Element.
(Armin could still feel the skeptical, flighty Bond he had created with Annie years ago despite already having Eren, so he knew it was possible.)
Unbelievably, it was Mikasa that refused Jean, not wanting another Storm to potentially take her place.
Armin was quite sure that she might've been mixing her crush on Eren with her Bond to Eren's Sky, but he wasn't quite sure how to state out the difference so he kept quiet.
(But Eren was Eren and still Courted Jean anyways.)
On the good side, there were Sasha and Conny, a Sun and Lightning pair who instantly hit it off and had caused many to wonder if they would soon end up a couple like Franz and Hannah or just stay platonic, because not even Armin could tell.
There were also Marco and Thomas, a Rain and Sun duo that were like the calming broths to both Jean and Eren respectively. So much that if Armin was never around, Thomas was the second to go to if Eren needed a calmer influence to slow down his rants.
Annie herself had gone Active since the last time Armin had seen her, but she obviously didn't know what it meant, even as she subconsciously used it to Propagate the force of her blows whenever her small frame couldn't compensate.
To be honest, Armin should've seen that he would soon be ambushed on the rare occasion he was far away from either Eren or Mikasa.
(He did heavily blush when Annie straddled him after literally tackling him down, ignoring the joy from his Sky Instinct as one of his Clouds made rare physical contact.)
What Armin hadn't expected were the additions of Christa, Ymir and Mina, all of them Active as well.
"Wow..." Mina gasped in wonder at the Rain Flames dancing across her palms.
Ymir herself had little reaction to the Lightning Flames crackling around her forearm. "So everyone has the potential for this? Not just a special few?"
"Yeah." Armin nodded, his eyes firmly on Christa. "There're some types rarer than others but everyone has a Flame of their own. I'm one of the very few ones who have multiple Flames."
Christa herself had sprung out glimmering Sun Flames, which had screamed fake-false-liar-threat to his Intuition.
(When he later found out about 'Historia', Armin would seriously question how someone could be so into a fake persona that she manifested Flames different from her original.)
Annie herself stayed quiet, somberly looking at the billowing Cloud Flames on her hand before snuffing it out and turning to ask Armin something. "Are you going to use these Flames blatantly when you join the Scout Regiment?"
Even without looking, Armin knew that the other girls had turned to look at him as well. "Maybe. I don't know why but my Grandfather told me to never use my Flames blatantly. Probably to keep those in the government from either killing or whisking me away."
"Eh?!" Mina shrieked while Ymir and Christa nodded in understanding. "So what do we even use the Flames for?"
"Whatever you can get away with, I guess." Armin sheepishly shrugged. "If it ever becomes useful against the titans, I'll use it no matter what. I'm sure that I can convince the current Commander not to have me strapped to a dissection table."
"And what of Eren and Mikasa?" Annie stepped forward to glare into Armin's eyes. "What if something were to happen to them, that your Flames could solve but would force you out of your little bubble?"
'They'd hesitate even less.' Armin blinked as he answered without hesitation. "I'll save them, of course. As a soldier, I know that I'm to give my loyalty to Humanity. But before that, I'm their friend first and Eren's Sky and Rain, Flame Oath be damned."
Ymir whistled. "Who knew that you had such a dirty mouth, Armin!"
"Ymir, don't tease him!" Christa frowned as she rammed her head into the back of Ymir's neck.
"...you're such a dumbass." Annie shook her head after looking away. "Let's hope you can actually follow through when that moment arrives."
Even as she said that, Armin knew that he'd passed some kind of test. Because other than the slight strengthening of Annie's Cloud, a Sun, Lightning and Rain entered into his Sky as well.
Frankly speaking, the breach of Trost was a bad day that cycled back and forth between "today's the day to kill myself before the titans do" and "oh my god how are they already this far inside" and "I can't believe I'm still a virgin by now" and "can somebody please keep a fucking eye on 'Suicidal Maniac' Jaeger".
Armin (and the rest of Squad 34) thoroughly failed on that last bit.
On the plus side, Eren managed to save Thomas from that titan that jumped out of nowhere (Armin seriously wondered if Sky Intuition was better or worse for his recklessness).
On the negative side, Eren was the one who got chomped on (Definitely worse, then).
Three things then happened in succession.
First off, Eren stabbed his sword into the titan that was biting him in half, spitting blood while loudly proclaiming his desire to kill the titan as violently as he could instead of screaming and falling into despair like a normal person.
Then, Eren's body exploded with a mix of billowing violet Flames, brilliant amber Flames and eldritch golden lightning.
Finally, Eren somehow became a 15-metered Titan with ripped muscles and purple flaming hair and fists, the latter already on the task of punching the Abnormal into pulverized gore with hits that sent shockwaves throughout the street.
"Why did 'Kill-em-all' Eren transform into a Titan?!" Milieus squawked.
"Why are his fists on fire?!" Nack grabbed at his hair. "Wait, did he just elbow drop that 10-meter?!"
"Oh god, he ripping that small Titan in half- He's breathing fire?! What the fuck- Why is he breathing fire?!" Thomas wailed as the Rogue Titan totally obliterated the Peering Titan.
Armin noticed as Mina tried and tried not to look directly at him until she finally gave up and queried her Sky. "What do we do?"
"...let Eren tire himself out." Armin restlessly clenched his swords as he observed their surroundings. "He's attracting Titans to him to the point that they are actually ignoring us. Plus, we've locked eyes with him four times now but he hasn't made any notion to attack us. If it looks like he's getting overwhelmed, we step in."
"Okay. We're his support." Mina nodded as she used her Tranquility to calm down. "I can do that. We can do- Why is he sucking in air like that?!"
Squad 34 watched with dropped jaws as the Rogue Titan's pecs actually swelled from how much air it inhaled until it roared out towards a gathered group of titans down the street, incinerating them all with the massive beam of mixed Sky and Cloud Flames.
"What the fucking fuck?!" Thomas let out a strangled moan. "Did Eren Jaeger want to kill titans so badly that he went and became a demonic version of them?!"
To be honest, Armin was tempted to believe the same.
He knew where the Flames came from, but the Titan bit was just a fucking mystery as far as he was concerned.
Maybe Ymir's later idea about finding a bar in the doomed town had some merit.
It was not until later that he remembered that other than Mina, nobody else in Squad 34 was supposed to have been capable of seeing Dying Will Flames.
Great.
Just how many other people did Eren drag into going Active during his rampage?
"I'll ask one more time! What are you really?!"
In the end, it had come down to this.
Keeping his scream inward, Armin stared down the many blades and guns pointed at them, desperate for a way to save Eren's life.
"I'm human!"
"...I see. Don't take this personally. This is just how it has to be. Because no one can prove that they aren't a monster."
'Well, fuck you too, Weilman.' "Mikasa, grab Eren close!" Armin instantly roared the moment Weilman raised his hand up.
"And what of Eren and Mikasa? What if something were to happen to them, that your Flames could solve but would force you out of your little bubble?"
'I guess I finally know what I'd do at the moment, Annie.' Armin thought as Rain Flames surged to life around him, forming a powerful barrier that brought the fired cannonball to a halt. At that moment, Armin didn't notice his appearance changing. The deep cerulean of his eyes glowing amber with hues of sapphire. The crown of amber and azure Flames blooming from his forehead as he skipped the prerequired state of Dying Will Mode and went beyond on his very first endeavor.
Hyper Dying Will Mode.
"You're not touching them." After his declaration, Armin slammed his hands into the ground, unleashing his Sky Flames to surge forward and overwhelm the soldiers before them. With that done, Armin raced up the Wall after Mikasa and Eren, reaching the top just in time to see Mikasa already knocking out the last of the soldiers stationed there.
"We can't stay here anymore." Eren said even as he took a soldier's ODM Gear for himself, only paying the Flame on Armin's forehead a brief glance. "So what now?"
Armin felt like he was drowning when both of them turned to look at him, especially as he could hear the yells behind him getting closer.
"Home."
Eren and Mikasa blinked at his suggestion.
"Let's go home." Armin repeated, his tone firmer. "Let's go back to Shiganshina."
"Okay, then. Shiganshina, it is." Eren nodded in agreement before suddenly running off the opposite edge of the Wall, leaping down onto the many titans waiting below as he bit down on his hand.
As Armin and Mikasa leapt after him, the former marveled at the eldritch sphere of golden and amethyst electricity that blinded his Cloud from sight before the Rogue Titan smashed down explosively, killing several titans from his descent and allowing his friends to land on his shoulders.
As the Rogue Titan roared while clearing a path with flaming punches that wrecked houses and gouged gaping holes into titans, Armin jumped off as they reached the hole that had been created from the Colossal Titan's kick.
Summoning a huge orb of Rain Flames which was then infused with Sky Flames, Armin tossed it at the massive hole, instantly transforming into invincible Ice that sealed off the Wall Rose.
With that done, Armin sighed heavily as he allowed Eren's massive hand to lift him up to the Titan's shoulder.
"Pitter, patter, rainy sky." Armin softly sang in tune to the heavy foot stomps, exhaustion catching up as his Hyper Dying Will settled. "Pitter, patter, break the limits even if you were to die."
Armin Arlert's Sky Court
Armin Arlert (Sky, Rain)
Eren Jaeger (Cloud, Sky)
Annie Leonhart (Cloud)
Conny Springer (Lightning)
Sasha Braus (Sun)
Mina Carolina (Rain)
Christa Lenz/ ̶H̶i̶s̶t̶o̶r̶i̶a̶ ̶R̶e̶i̶s̶s̶ (Sun, ̶S̶k̶y̶)
Ymir (Lightning)
.
Eren Jaeger's Sky Court
Eren Jaeger (Sky, Cloud)
Mikasa Ackerman (Storm)
Armin Arlert (Rain, Sky)
Hannes (Mist)
Jean Kirschtein (Storm)
Marco Bodt (Rain)
Thomas Wagner (Sun)
.
Free Elements
Reiner Braun (Lightning)
Bertholdt Hoover (Mist)
Keith Shadis (Mist, Sun)
Floch Forster (Storm)
Daz (Mist)
Franz Kefka (Sun)
Hannah Diament (Sun)
Milieus Zeremski (Lightning)
Nack Tierce (Storm)
KingVessel: Huh... I just wrote that.