They've been in there for hours, and he's been sitting against that wall for almost a whole day. Ever since they came back from the last mission, Smith, Levi, and Hange have been locked in the room with Leonhardt, and that boy had been sitting against the door, waiting. People have been walking over; trying to convince Armin to sleep, eat, anything but sit next to that door. Still, he refused to budge. Even Petra had walked over to talk to him, but nothing.

Connie sighed. Poor Armin. He was in love with a Titan. Even worse, he was in love with Annie Leonhart. That was the scary part. She had killed people, for Pete's sake! Maybe all the trauma of losing people had made him refuse to lose no one else. Connie sighed. He really didn't want to be there when Annie was executed.

What else could they do?

Meanwhile, everyone else was in high spirits. They had captured an enemy Titan! This could bring them closer to realizing the Titan's true nature. For once, there was hope. In fact, everyone (except Armin) was planning a little impromptu party.

"Now is the time to seize the day

"What?" Connie gasped. Around the corner, Jaeger and the rest of the Survey Corps from the 104th Regiment were cheering down the hall, and…. singing….

At that moment Connie pulled a fantastic Annie impression. Well, if this was his time, let it start now…

Send out the call and join the fray

Wrongs will be righted

If we're united

Let us seize the day.

Eren was singing his heart out, leading the gang of soldiers toward the mess hall for their small (to most, small. To them, it was huge.) celebration. Suddenly Jean, Bertholt, and Reiner joined in the song:

Proud and defiant

We'll slay the Titan

Let us seize the day.

Aw, what the heck, Connie thought, and joined in the song. To his surprise, everyone stared at him. All the joy in Connie's face fell at his comrades raised eyebrows. Then Jean and Eren grinned.

"Oooooohhhh look, it got Springer now," Jean grinned. Eren laughed.

"Now you'll find out what it's like Connie," Eren chuckled. This would probably be one of the few times Connie would see Eren and Jean laughing and hitting each other's backs like good friends. Darn, and he was enjoying the singing too.

"Don't get too cocky," a voice said. Auruo walked out from the mess hall. His face was wrinkled between his eyes, almost permanently. "Stupid brats. There's still a lot to be done before any celebration." He growled at the young troops. He looked to chastise them, but then opened his mouth to sing:

"At the end of the day you're another day older,

And that's all you can say for the life of a soldier

It's a struggle

It's a war,

And there's nothing that anyone's giving

One more day fighting about, what is it for?"

He looked to all of them for an answer. Shirking back, they all stared at each other. Eren and Jean looked down and flushed. Connie, however, thought he was very hard to take seriously while he was singing…Still, it was a sobering thought: the idea that this big accomplishment was so small in the long picture. Suddenly a sweet laugh walked into the room.

"Oh Auruo, even a small victory is still a victory," she said. "Let them have a little bit of celebration…maybe there's hope for tomorrow…"

"The sun'll come out tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow

There'll be sun…
Just thinkin' about tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow till' there's none

When I'm stuck in the day that's gray and lonely
I just stick up my chin and grin and say oh

The sun'll come out tomorrow."

Connie's eyes became huge. "You're a goddess," he whispered to Petra. Eyebrows raised, Petra giggled and blushed uncertainly. Sasha, however, out of the corner of Connie's eye, did NOT look pleased. Oh crap. The look on his face must be bad. He raised a hand to his cheek…ooooohhh, they were warm…

Auruo looked like he had gone nuts. "What the crap are you talking about kid? Have you lost your mind?"

Before Connie could respond, a scream erupted from across the hall. Shocked, everyone realized in a heartbeat who that voice belonged to.

"That was Annie," Christa whispered, near tears. Without a word Eren and Mikasa raced to the door, while Connie and Sasha (who still had an unnerved look on her face) followed behind. When they reached Armin, he was pacing furiously in front of the door, eyebrows furrowed, his lips pursed. A caged rat was scurrying behind his eyes, dying to get behind that door. Mikasa reached out a hand to comfort Armin, but he shook his head furiously, biting his lip. The screaming continued, sending a chill down Connie's back. It was as if Levi was making her suffer like every one of his comrades. Every man that she has tossed like lasso and snapped in the ground, she was given a taste of his pain.

Connie turned to Sasha, her face white as salt, colorless. He reached for her hand without hesitation, and she clutched it. He could feel the blood draining out of his fingers, but it didn't matter. At least it wasn't her screaming in there.

The agony raged on for hours. No one said a word, not even when tears started silently streaming down Sasha's face. Connie took her in his arms and carded a hand through her hair. He tenderly kissed her forehead, and allowed his lips to linger there. As the screams continued, Sasha began to shake, hands squeezing his fingers even tighter. Connie glanced at the others, pleading. He didn't want Sasha to drown in a suffering that wasn't hers. Eren and Mikasa nodded, and Connie's eyes locked with Armin's. Armin's eyes, deep pools of grief colored like a storm, glanced at Sasha. Slowly, he nodded.

Sweeping Sasha up in his arms, he carried her toward the dorms. "I'm sorry," Sasha whispered frantically, "I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough—" Connie shook his head. He walked her to an empty room so no one would see, and laid on the bed next to her, pulling off her shoes and jacket. Stroking her hand, he soothingly began to sing:

"Live in my house, I'll be your shelter,

Just pay me back
With one thousand kisses
Be my lover and I'll cover you."

Sasha chuckled. "You dork." Connie, relaxing at Sasha's smile, grinned and continued to sing. Yes, he was singing, and it wasn't any sort of food poisoning doing to him, it was a worse disease.

Love.

"Open your door, I'll be your tenant
Don't got much baggage, to lay at your feet
But sweet kisses, I've got to spare
I'll be there and I'll cover you."

Cuddling close to him, Sasha breathed deep and closed her eyes. The feeling of her head against his chest warmed him more than any fire. Even though she slept, he continued to serenade her, his voice barely above the rustling leaves:

"I think they meant it
When they said you can't buy love
Now I know you can rent it
A new lease you are my love
On life, all my life."

Sasha sighed contentedly in her sleep. It took all the strength Connie had to loosen from her grip. Kissing her lips, he tucked her in and tried very hard to find the candle without waking her up. After a few stumbles and close calls (she moaned in her sleep at one point), he lit a candle and tiptoed out the door.

As he snuck down the corridor, he heard whispered coming from Annie's chambers. He leaned against the wall so no one could see him, and he listened in.

"You can go in and see her Arlert, but I don't think there's anything you can do," Smith said. He could feel Armin's rage before he even spoke.

"Torture wasn't in the deal Erwin," he growled. Levi snorted.

"Of course it wasn't," he said darkly, glaring down at Armin, "Do you really think we'd let you have any control over that?"

Armin said nothing. Finally Hange spoke. "Armin, she's probably going to be executed. The government is going to want someone to blame, to make it seem like we're getting somewhere with our war against the Titans." Connie's heart dropped into his stomach. Regardless of how much he hated Annie, the idea of death was still terrifying, even if it wasn't his.

"We won't kill her Armin," Erwin stated. Connie couldn't tell where his sympathies laid. "We'll do what we can, but her execution—"

"—Is the most likely possibility," Levi said. Silence spread thick, almost impenetrable. Finally Hange spoke.

"Go visit her," she whispered. "Go see her…" The "one last time" hung silently in the air. Tears threatened to spill out of Connie's eyes. Even if he hated Annie, there were still so many memories from their training days. It hurt to think of her betrayal and dying. He couldn't imagine Armin's pain.

Footsteps approached. Connie panicked as they came closer, and relaxed when they went the opposite direction. A few minutes passed, and he waited for someone else to come. Thinking everyone had disappeared he turned the corner.

And came face to face with Hange. Pale as a phantom, he stared at Hange, who looked tired beyond belief. Hours without sleep hung underneath her eyes. "Keep watch for him, will you Springer?" she asked. "I'll send the night shift in an hour."

Catching the hint, Connie nodded. She didn't want anyone watching their agonizing reunion. He watched as Hange walked away, then crept to the door. When he peeked in, the blood on the floor shocked him. Annie laid on the stone-hard mattress, spitting out blood and moaning. Her face was streaked with her blood; bruises coated her body like a new layer of skin. Armin sat next to her, bandaging her wounds as tears threatened to slip down his cheeks.

"You idiot," she groaned, "did you really think they'd let me live?" Armin had picked up a rag and was soaking it in a bucket, wringing out the excess water. He stroked her cheek like a newborn kitten, and she moaned at his touch. He continued to clean her face, and every time he dipped the cloth in the water, he leaned down to kiss her newly washed skin. Soon he forgot the rug in the bucket, and his lips began sweeping her skin. Connie's mouth went slack when Annie began to cry, begging Armin for forgiveness. He only shook his head, kissing her forehead and wrapping her wounds.

"I'm sorry Armin. I just…I just didn't see any other way. If I didn't complete the mission, I was dead when I went back," she laughed, her voice hoarse from the screams. "I'm dead either way." She stared up at him, eyes blazing, eyes blurred in tears. "Why Armin?" she groaned, "Why did you do it?" Finishing his bandaging, he laid by her side. Tears were now streaming down his face too.

"You're—you're not a killer Annie," he wept. "D-deep down, you're a good person." He stroked her hair, tenderly tracing her face. "Could you really live with murdering people, Annie? Can you live with the people that have died now?" Annie's avoidance of his eyes said everything. Armin laughed, voice hollow.

"I thought I could protect you Annie. I thought there was some way I could save you from all this. I thought…I—" He moaned as Annie caressed his back, under his uniform. Even Connie knew the way that Annie pulled him in for that kiss, arms trembling, was a sign of forgiveness. With all the ferocity of the Survey Corps, Armin took Annie into his arms, supplying the strength she no longer had. He kissed every inch of exposed skin, like feathers falling from a dove. Every broken bone he held like a newborn child, every kiss she pressed to his lips begged for eternity. Connie could barely hear her voice as she sung, because there was only one person in the world that her voice mattered to now:

"Dyin' ain't so bad
 Not if you both go together
 Only when one's left behind
 Does it get sad,
 But a short and lovin' life
 That ain't so bad."

Connie turned away, tears streaming down his face. Their hour was almost up.

"I only hope to God
 That I go first
 I couldn't live on memories.
 I'm sorry
 But I'm not that strong
 There are some things in life
 You can't replace.
 A love like ours don't happen twice
 When all my days are through…

Armin sobbed, half-singing, half-weeping his promise to Annie, kissing her for the last time.

Mine will be too."

Author's Note: This was not supposed to be that depressing! I'm still hoping for a happy ending (and I'm writing it!). Gall, I have no clue what happened…Anyways, "Seize the Day" is from Newsies, "Tomorrow" from Annie, "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" from Rent, and "Dyin' Ain't So Bad" from Bonnie & Clyde.