"Hey Christa," Cain said, coming up behind her and Ymir. "What's up?"

Christa sighed and set down her spoon. "What Cain?"

Cain slid into the seat next to her, grinning. "I think you should dump Armin and come with me."

"After you pushed me into a pool and said no one wanted me and throwing Armin's parents' deaths in his face? Not interested."

"What's he got that I don't?" Cain persisted, "he's a wimp."

"He's got brains. You're the dumbest human being I've ever had the misfortune of meeting."

Ymir looked on in surprise. "I didn't know you could be so mean Christie," she said, "I mean, ouch!"

"He talks a lot for someone whose jaw is fractured."

"Hey," Cain protested, "'fractured' is not 'broken'!"

Ymir and Christa exchanged confused looks, but neither said anything.

Armin walked by to put his tray away. "Cain, are you seriously trying to flirt with my girlfriend again?"

"Hey shut up runt! I do what I want!" he replied, giving Armin a smirk. "You got lucky last night. I'm not letting it happen again."

With that, he turned around and pulled Christa close to him. "So, what do you say, girl?"

"You know this is sexual harassment, right?" Christa muttered.

The boy rolled his eyes. He was even weaker than usual, so the chances of surviving a fight with Cain were in the negatives for today…

"Besides…" Cain's voice lowered to a whisper. "…why would you hang out with a filthy Maria refugee like him?"

Armin froze in his tracks.

"W-What!?" Christa cried, "I-that doesn't matter! Besides, he's not—"

"Oh yes he is," Cain replied, turning to Armin. "How long did you have to live in a garbage dump before you enlisted to get yourself killed? I bet old gramps would be turning in his grave to see you die like he did."

Now he's gone too far.

People who happened to be in earshot started whispering and glancing—some even had the nerve to glare like it was his fault—and Armin's patience reached its limit. Noticing an empty chair at the table right behind them, he took took it and quietly snuck up behind Cain.

"Honestly," he continued, "the kid's pathetic!"

Christa turned away from him. "H-how can you say something so—so cruel!?"

"The truth hurts," the brunette retorted.

Then, in one fluid motion, Armin swung the chair over his head and slammed it on Cain's head, making it splinter and fall apart.

All sound in the room ceased.

Cain sat there for a moment, completely frozen, and Armin became more and more worried. If the blow wasn't hard enough—

"Is…is he okay…?" Christa asked, poking Cain's cheek.

Cain blinked. "O…ow…"

He slowly turned around, and Armin feared for his life. However, he couldn't bring himself to run away. Cain rose to his full height, and he he forced himself to not show fear as he looked him dead in the eye.

"Did you do that?"

The entire room was completely quiet.

"Well?"

I've made a horrible mistake. "Yeah. And?"

He saw Cain's arm tense, and Armin ducked away from the hook. Without thinking, he launched his head upwards, hitting Cain in the jaw. Since it was already injured, it made him cry out in pain and fall backwards into the table.

But then he pitched forward and tackled him.

"You really think that was a good idea runt?!" Cain asked, raising a fist into the air. "I guess you're not so smart after all, huh?"

He went to throw the punch, and Armin grabbed his arm and pushed it past his face, so it hit the ground next to him. Then, while Cain was still stunned, he grabbed Cain's arm wrapped his legs around his neck. Then he squeezed as hard as he could, making Cain gasp for air.

"Y-you…stupid…augh…" Cain huffed. His other arm was trapped at his side, so he couldn't pull any punches.

Suddenly Cain freed his other hand and threw a solid punch at his nose. He cried in pain and let go, and Cain threw another one.

Wimp!

When he saw Eren and Mikasa get up simultaneously to come to his rescue, something snapped inside him. He refused to let them coddle him again.

I'm not weak.

Grabbing a leg from the destroyed chair, he hit Cain in the face with it, making him cry in pain. Using this as a distraction, he used all of his strength to flip them over so he'd be on top.

He distantly heard someone call his name, but he ignored it. Instead, he grabbed him by the collar and began to rain down punches to his face like Cain had done to him.

"I'll…kill…you…runt…" Cain gasped.

"Not if I…kill you first…" Armin replied, not stopping once.

Then suddenly Armin felt a sharp pain in his side and cried out in pain. He looked and saw that Cain had dug his fingers into his recently-acquired stitches and tore them open.

Focused on hitting him out and the horrible pain in his side, he didn't see that Cain grabbed another leg from the destroyed chair until he drove it into his right shoulder. Armin screamed in pain and Cain drove it in further. In retaliation, the blonde moved his knee to the brunette's sternum and placed all of his weight on it, rendering him unable to breathe.

Cain struggled to catch his breath and push him off, but Armin continued to mercilessly punch him with his uninjured left—and strongest—arm. Not once did he stop—not when he felt his knuckles bruise, when blood sprayed from his now broken nose onto Armin's shirt and face, not even when Christa screamed his name.

Suddenly he felt himself be ripped away from Cain.

"What the fuck man!?" Eren shouted as he restrained him. Armin felt himself resist, but stopped when he saw the horrified expressions of everyone else.

Blinking he stared at Cain's unmoving body on the floor. Someone had a first aid kit with them and tending to his wounds, and Christa was nowhere to be found.

Noticing that his best friend wasn't resisting anymore, Eren let go and turned on him. "What the hell was that?" he demanded, "You're not like this! What the fuck happened!?"

Armin opened his mouth to explain but Mikasa interrupted. "He'll tell us later," she said, "Right now we need to get him to the hospital again."

Again.

Suddenly, Armin became irritated at the kind gesture. "I'm fine," he said dully, shaking off Eren's lingering hand on his shoulder. His entire body was screaming in pain, but he ignored it as he sighed and began to walk to the infirmary.

Eren followed and took his arm. "Here, I'll carry—"

"I said I'm fine," he snapped.

Eren flinched back. "You're too weak to make it to the infirmary on your own. Let Mikasa and I help—!"

Too weak.

Armin shook his head but said nothing. He was going to either start screaming or crying, and he didn't want to have another episode in front of everyone.

"Damn it Armin you're going to die before you make it there," Eren exploded, "now come on!"

"I said I'm fine!" Armin snapped back.

Right as he said that, his head swam as black spots appeared in the corners of his eyes.

"You're losing too much blood," Eren muttered, "I'm carrying you whether you like it or not!"

"I…" before he could fight back, he lost consciousness.