He was in pain.

It hurt to breathe, it hurt to move, he felt stiff and swollen and sore, something was wrong inside him, he could taste it on his tongue, a sound came from his throat, something he would have been ashamed of before but couldn't care about now. Everything was a blur, but he knew one thing, Annie had done this to him, she had killed him, it was her. More tears fell when he opened his eyes and beheld her hideous and beautiful face above him, the face of a monster, the face of the girl he had loved. He could do no more than look up and cry, his eyes saying the things he couldn't.

She leaned down closer and he smelled the fetid death on her body, the blood of his friends and allies drying and scorching against the skinless face, the blue eyes watching him were the only thing that gave it away, Annie's human face flashed behind his eyes and he choked on the memory, swallowing the blood that crawled up his throat and coated his mouth. A small stream of it ran out from his teeth and down his chin.

Her brow knit, and he shook with fear when she raised her finger to wipe the evidence of his death from his face. The blood smeared and came away on the white bone. Water came to her eyes as she looked at it.

"Why?"

His voice was barely anything more than a whisper, quavering and questioning, why did she do this to him? Why did she want to hurt him? Why did she kill everyone he loved? Why did he love her?

He quaked and trembled, his body arched a little against death so steadily creeping. Fear for his friends, for his end, for the world, for his powerlessness to stop it. He couldn't talk or think his way out of this one, it was over. Over in a way he could never have imagined. He was going to die by the hand of the one person he thought he could trust besides his childhood friends Eren and Mikasa. He had never let anyone else behind the walls surrounding his heart. He had let her in, and she killed him for it.

"Annie... Annie... Why? Why Annie? Why?"

The words were so hard, more blood ran down his chin, more tears, he was a mess, a filthy dying mess, weak and pathetic as always, his heart was broken, soon it wouldn't beat at all...

He looked up at her again when he felt her finger stroke his forehead, ruffling the dull, sweat drenched strands of his hair, pain once again hit and he let out a fading cry, one that she returned, a deep agonized rumble of fear and anguish and helplessness. She held him closer, wet warm tears ran down and mingled with the pool of his blood, even as he tried to hate her for it he couldn't, even as he gasped for breath and struggled in her hand he couldn't help but feel sadness and loss and love, he didn't understand, couldn't understand, what was so important to her that she would do this? Was Eren next? Was the whole world next?

"I... I- Loved-... Annie- I Loved you... I loved you..."

The female Titan brought her mouth to him, her lips were gentle, his first kiss happened while he lay dying in his murderer's hand.

Things were growing more dim, and he didn't have the strength to fight it, he blinked up at her, slowly, sleep, he needed sleep, his body grew still and stopped shaking. He looked into her eyes even though he couldn't see her anymore.

"Please... Please don't... Don't hurt them... Don't kill them... Please..."

He felt something brush his hair back, he felt himself being lifted into human arms that held him close, his head fell against a beating heart, alive and fierce, someone was rocking him, crying over him.

"Don't... Don't kill Eren… Please... Not my friends... Not... Mikasa... They... Are... All... I... Have... Left... Please... If... You ever cared at all... If- If anything you felt was true... Don't- don't hurt-"

His words strangled in his throat and a desperate hopeless sound died in the still air. The person holding him leaned back and petted the chill skin of his face, one of the few things he could still feel beside the agony of his body collapsing.

"I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry Armin... I didn't mean for this- I didn't-"

He clutched at her shirt, his last strength, he forced himself to fight for one second longer, he could hear her crying.

"P-p-promise me! Promise me you- you- won't-"

"I can't Armin- I just can't-"

"L-l-look what you- look at- don't- please- let them- live-... You... Can't... Please..."

She shook her head, even as his fell back, the last stutterings of his heart slowing down...

"Annie..."

His voice was quiet.

"I can see it Annie, I see the ocean..."