Chapter 10 – Armin (Arc 1)

Armin Artlet has lived a life filled with both light and some dark. But for every single second he spent in darkness, his hope that the light would return grew stronger. This is the tale of hope. This is the tale of Armin Artlet.

Armin grew up in the Shiganshina outer district with his parents and his grandfather. It hadn't always been that way, his grandfather used to live closer to the main heart of the city with his grandmother; but whilst the dragons of Berk may have been tamed, the elements couldn't be.

It was only about 4 years ago that they had been taking a trip across to one of the smaller islands to get away for a bit with a few other elders when suddenly, the skies themselves cracked open and a storm raged without mercy. Armin's grandfather was the only one to survive and be washed up on shores and was eventually found and brought home.

Whilst he lived in that place he called home, without his wife, it felt nothing like it once did, causing him to almost lose sight of the kind, tender, caring man that he had always been. Seeing this danger, his daughter quickly brought him to live with her family and it was there that he met Armin and it was there that he found again the man he once was.

He could see the burning wonder in the boy's eyes as he spoke to him the first time and vowed not to let that spark fade out. So he told the boy stories of his time beyond the walls, before he lived in Berk, whilst the world was still a safe place to explore. With each story he told the boy, he could see that fire burning brighter and brighter, and oh my, when he met his first friend, Eren, he had truly found a compatible friend, for Eren too longed to see the world.

It would be some time before Armin met Mikasa through Eren, but up until around that that time he had lived a quiet peaceful life, running errands throughout the town, being seen with affection by most and living with his family. But that life shattered around him when his parents were stricken with illness, he and his grandfather both quit their jobs to help support the two but, it would seem that their passing was fated by the gods as his mother told Armin. She told him to try and not cry, to always try and learn more, to always explore, before leaving her earthly body behind to explore all of existence as Armin held the now chilling hand of his mother and father, feeling the warmth of his Grandfather's on his shoulder.

The funeral wasn't grand. It wasn't awe inspiring. It was respectful. It was enough. As Armin drew the string on the lit arrow, his sights set on the pyre ship, he found himself in pain, but also in promise. That he wouldn't lose the path that they had given him.

And lose it, he did not. From his explorations to the ocean with Eren and Mikasa, to studying the wildlife of the forests with his Grandfather, his love for knowledge only grew and grew. He knew that he was a little bit on the weaker side, his body was not that of the natural Viking, but his mind, well, his mind had been compared to the earlier years of the High Professor himself.

So when the time came that Eren told him that he would be enlisting in the military, he had felt conflicted, he knew that if he signed up, the likelihood of survival for his body was slim if not near inexistent, but the potential reward for his mind… all the possibilities that he could find, all the knowledge he could learn… it was boundless. And so that boy enlisted, with his eyes filled with hope and heart of determination.

The first year was the most gruelling, whilst he loved every second of class time, hand to hand combat was for him, a battle for survival. Not just against his classmates, armed with wooden axes and greater strength than him, but against the malfunctions of his own bodies, from his lungs to his weak muscles all the way down to his fragile bones and against nature itself as he fought to simply stay alive during the winters. Granted that it wasn't his worst enemy, Armin still found that keeping up with training was no easy thing, in fact, he found himself lacking slightly.

As he sat at the edge of the combat hall he watched as the cadets sparred, Eren swinging without restraint at Jean, and Jean responding in kind. He'd never quite understand why they hate each other so. (He knew the reason was Jean's love for Mikasa but Eren was damn blind that he couldn't see that, so Armin couldn't figure out why there was so much hatred). As he sat there, his back against the stone walls of the arena, his body crying for him to give up, he felt that same surge of determination as he tried to push his legs up from the floor, but as he tried, he felt a smaller hand on his arm, holding him from pushing himself any further. When he looked up in confusion he saw none other than Annie Leonhardt.

He'd never quite been able to remember how they'd become friends, it just came to be, maybe it was just their intelligence that lead to this? Pushing those thoughts aside, he looked at Annie inquisitively,

"Annie? What are you doing?"

He received no response from the girl, she instead seeing her simply point to his leg and give him that look.

He knew that he was weak, and Annie knew it too. But she also knew that he would try to pick himself up time and time again, so she ended up making him go to the medical bay when he was stuttering that he was fine, trying and failing to conceal the pain he was in.

Whilst Armin liked everyone in the 104th and was reciprocated and liked as well, he had grown to feel a line of connection with Annie that was somewhat unique to them. He supposed that it was the midnight sparring lessons that she gave him in order to help him survive, or it could've been those times where they had to go hunting together in the waters near Berk and barely survived the eels. Good times. Completely dangerous and terrifying situations, but still good times he supposed as a small laugh flitted out of his lungs.

But regardless of what caused it, he knew that bond was there, and it carried on into their second year as Armin opted to switch to a spear with a detachable head rather than his dual axes. He knew that it was less of a deadly weapon and perhaps that why he chose it. He didn't like the idea of killing, but if it had to be done, he'd have no hesitation if the lives of his family, his friend, of Berk itself were at stake.

With spear in hand, he quickly adapted to the Dragon Fire Gear; Granted, it was not an easy process, his body being pulled to it's very maximum as his muscles cried for no more. But after pushing through, ignoring the pain, he became one of the fastest improvers that Shadis had ever seen as he made note of in his reports. Time flew by and as he, Eren and Mikasa reached the end of their certifications. As the three of them sat, Eren raving about how he'll destroy Titania, even if he has to do it alone, Mikasa, sitting quietly as she played with Eren's hair as she listened to his words, Armin realised that he would soon have to separate from the two to find it. His very own dragon.