Hi everyone RonaldWeasleyTheHero here with another chapter for you guys =). i honestly had expected one review at most but i got 5 holy shit! really thanks for the support and the kind words guys, it means a lot. to an author knowing that there are people out there who enjoyed their work is the best feeling in the world. anyways to those who reviewed.
dacymarie= I totally agree, there isn't enough fics with them, and I'm glad you like the story.
YoshikaDream =i am the same way sometimes lol
Mizuki00= Armin is already a bad ass, I'm just exposing the truth XD
Batman78= I updated as fast as i could =)! hope you like it!
SmittiMJC= Thanks you for the compliments, for me personally anytime i love a series and try to write fanfiction about them, keeping the characters canon is very important to me since those are the characters that i fell in love with in the first place. the last scene, i really wanted to portray as best as i could since we rarely see Armin riding a 3D maneuver gear in the show, glad someone appreciated it.
Annieways (see what i did there!) on to the story.
Chapter 2: Reality
"Its all her fault, I'll kill her..."
"Damn it, when the hell are they going to tell us what's going on!?" Eren punched the nearby wall in frustration, the wood splintering under the force.
"Eren, Mikasa," came Reiner's deep voice "You two have every right to be angry, but this isn't helping at all."
Eren sat down and took a calming breath, though the clenched teeth and the stiff demeanor clearly showed he was still on edge.
"You got to give Armin more credit, he's a tough guy he'll pull through I'm sure."
"Of course he will," Eren replied heatedly, "I just wanna know what the hell happened!"
"Hey Eren!" Eren turned at the sound of Connie's voice. The short male walked into the room and sat beside him. "I just came from near the medical area and overheard some nurses talking."
Every trainee in the room now turned their attention to Connie.
"What did they say!?" Eren practically demanded.
Connie sweat-dropped at the reaction "Um, just that Annie was fine, just some bruises, and Armin was too for the most part but they did say something about his leg."
"Whats wrong with his leg?" Sasha piped in, stuffing a piece of bread she had stolen into her mouth.
Connie shrugged "No idea, but I think you can go visit him Eren."
"I'm really glad they're alright," Krista whispered, wiping a stray tear from her eye as she heard the news.
Ymir standing close beside her raised an eyebrow "You have far too much empathy for your own good...stop crying."
It was at this unfortunate point and time that Jean felt it necessary to make his opinion known "It doesn't matter anyways, you know whats going to happen to him if the injury is really bad. He will be discharged from the military, he might have had a chance of staying if he was like Mikasa or something, granted he did well on some tests but no one is going to care about that. I say this is a blessing, Eren. He was never cut out to be a soldier in the first pla-."
Jean could not finish his sentence as he suddenly found himself chest to chest with none other than Eren Jaeger who was staring him down with a vicious look in his eye.
"Wanna say that again, Jean!?"
Jean smirked and returned Eren's challenging look with one of his own "You heard me Jaeger, I think its cute how you suddenly come to your little girlfriend's defense. I always found it creepy how you two were stuck at the hip but now it all makes sense."
Smack
the sound echoed through the cafeteria loud enough to cause a deafening silence.
Mostly everyone in the room had been expecting some sort of violent display as soon as Eren bumped chests with Jean, but no one had expected it to be so one sided, nor for it to have been Mikasa to be the one to deliver the blow.
Jean clutched his stinging cheek to stare at his secret crush and last Oriental female in the three walls in shock and confusion.
"W-whats the big idea Mikasa!?"
Mikasa's expression never changed from the one she usually sported as she spoke "You shouldn't insult your better's, Jean."
Jean felt himself getting angry at what she was implying "B-betters? You mean Armin!?"
"Armin may not be as physically gifted as you or I, but I know he will be a better soldier than you could ever be."
Everyone paused at Mikasa's statement, for one of the most talented new recruits to ever enter the academy to acknowledge someone like Armin as eventually being a superior soldier to Jean, who was clearly someone who would graduate in the top 10 was a bit of a shock
Eren walked up to jean and gave a him a hand, the brown haired boy reluctantly grabbed hold and hoisted himself to his feet where he came face to face with Eren.
"Remember well Jean, that Armin has always had the ability to find a solution to a problem, and when we get out there and we face titans we will have nothing but problems, when that happens there isn't anyone I would rather have by my side than Armin."
There was a sudden sharp pain on his lower back
"And Mikasa!" he added quickly.
It stopped.
Eren let go of the taller boy to head out the door, "I'm going to visit Armin to see how he's doing, you coming Mikasa!?" He yelled over his shoulder.
The dark haired beauty nodded and followed after him leaving behind a room filled with more than a few stunned trainees.
The Pseudo-family walked side by side on their way to the medical area in silence, Eren looked over to his right to his female companion.
"What is it?" she asked when she noticed his gaze.
Eren scratched the back of his head as he struggled to find a way to explain himself "Well, I just didn't expect you to do that is all."
"Do what? Come to Armin's defense? he is my friend too, Eren."
"Yeah, I know, I didn't mean anything like that! Its just usually you save the hitting part for me."
"I can still hit you if you like..." she raised a fist
he chuckled awkwardly "I'm fine, lets just go already."
"Wherever you go Eren I will follow."
Eren face-palmed at her reply "Now is not the time for that!" He said a little weary of her bodyguard/over protective mother routine.
Annie absentmindedly scratched at the bandages that now encased the majority of her arms, did the nurses have to wrap them up so tight? It made it really hard to get at any sort of itch. she gave up on her endeavor and decided to stare at the window to pass the time until lights out. It was a full moon tonight she realized, she was use to taking opportunities like this to appreciate her surroundings. As a person who rarely befriended others and didn't like to engage in group activities or make small talk, one of her specialties was observation. Taking time to appreciate the beauties of this world was one of her favorite pastimes, and this evening the world had done her a favor.
"I once read a b-book,"
The weak and slightly hoarse voice of Armin Arlert startled her out of her star gazing, but thankfully she reigned in her reaction. There he was, injured, with bandages making most of his body and his broken leg wrapped in a tight bulky cast and still, for some reason he wanted to inform her about a book he read.
He was so strange.
"About men that turned into horrifying creatures when they stared at the full moon." The small blonde male started coughing causing the other blonde in the room to frown.
"You shouldn't be speaking."
He stopped coughing and continued as if she hadn't spoken a word. "They called them werewolves, the men would grow fur and fangs and develop a taste for human flesh and go around eating people in the villages."
"Why are you telling me this...?"
Once again she was ignored.
"It wasn't just werewolves, there were so many different kinds of monsters. There were humans that were made from body parts of different dead creatures, some that could grow fangs and drank human blood and for some reason couldn't take sunlight. there were so many of them and they were all so different.
She stayed silent now well aware of the fact that Armin was talking at her not to her.
Armin took a deep breath and shakily bought a hand to wipe the sweat from his brow "O-one thing I noticed, i-is that all the things I read had people rising to overcome these monsters. I think one day people might right books about us, about how humanity rose up to defeat yet another monster."
the silence that came after that was very awkward, though judging by his smile and relaxed demeanor she was probably the only one feeling it. Annie took this chance to speak her mind.
"You didn't have to save me you know," she said, her hand going to her bandages as it began to irritate her skin once again.
"Your welcome."
Annie scowled "That wasn't a thank you."
"Still, your welcome."
"I don't owe you anything."
"your right you don't, It was my own choice to save you."
"Now look at what you've gained from it." she gestured to his leg.
There was sudden laughter coming from the injured blonde on the bed, and this time Annie was unable to hide her shocked face.
"Annie, your trying too hard to seem like a bad person who doesn't care, but you actually do don't you. I think you came in here to say thank you, but you didn't know how to."
He paused and smiled at her.
"Your actually pretty nice aren't you," he started snickering as if what he just said had been something funny.
She was not amused.
she gave his injured leg a small flick
"Aaah! Son of a-!"
"Don't pretend you know me, Arlert."
He began to laugh again.
"Your welcome"
"I'm not the type of person you think I am."
He flashed her a smile "Your welcome."
Her eyes began to narrow "Your pushing your luck, Arlert!" she growled.
"You can stop thanking me so much Annie, we're comrades after-all we have to lookout for each other."
This time she gave his leg a nice little slap.
"Aaah!"
Annie made her way to the door as Armin groaned in pain "I'm leaving, I've dealt with you long enough for today."
Armin barely manage to raise an arm to wave her goodbye "See you tomorrow."
She raised an eyebrow "What makes you think I'll come see you tomorrow?"
His response was to flash her that irritating smile "You will." he said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. She scoffed and opened the door.
As if Armin Arlert wasn't irritating enough Annie found herself staring into the faces of Eren Jaeger, and Mikasa Ackerman. She had no problems with Jaeger except his single minded Vendetta against the titans was a bit annoying, though his strength of mind was something to be admired.
The other one however she completely disliked, for all her strength and talent, her dependency on Eren's presence was utterly pathetic. She couldn't stand the oriental girl, it also seemed like the feeling was mutual. Was there something that she had done to garner the dark-haired girl's ire? Well it didn't matter, mutual dislike was a simple relationship and often required one thing.
Avoidance.
Eren blinked as he looked down at the small blonde "Annie? What are you doing here?"
"Visiting..."
Annie's and Mikasa's eyes met for a brief second before they both looked away.
Eren hadn't noticed a thing.
"I'll be going now."
Eren nodded and stepped aside so she could pass "Sure."
Annie didn't know why she did, but as she walked away something compelled her to turn around, just before Eren closed the door, through the crack Annie had seen Armin's face light up at seeing his friends.
Her hand moved to her bandages as the itch became even more fierce than before.
"Can't believe people like you actually exist..."
Armin waved to his childhood friends as they walked out the door. They had asked him a multitude of questions about what had occurred and for the life of him he hadn't been able to remember, or give an accurate depiction of what had happened. All he could remember was a brief flash of hot pain followed by a loud sound, and finally blissful unconsciousness.
But none of that mattered anyhow, he had managed to keep an optimistic air about him when his friends arrived but now that they were gone it was pointless to continue the charade. Pools of tears began to form at the corner of his eyes, he had already figured out what would happen to him.
Three to five months the nurse had said would take his leg to heal. Now they had no reason to keep him around, now they would throw him away.
He would be separated from Eren and Mikasa.
His dream to see the world like his mother and father, His life as soldier was coming to an end before it even began.
I think people will be pleasantly surprised by what i do with this story, i know i am! Inspiration is a wonderful thing!