Armin rode his horse as fast as he could past the forest of Giant trees. He was riding next to Sasha, Connie, and Eren. Connie had Historia behind him, who was looking behind at the carnage they left behind. Eren had Mikasa behind him, holding him closely. The boy was gritting his teeth while his face was filled with tears. Jason wanted to ask his friend a question, but Erens expression told him it wasn't the time.

Armin shifted his gaze to the other soldiers. What was usually a well organized formation became a tattered group of traumatized Military Police members and whatever was left of the Scouts. Commander Erwin led the march back to the wall, but the group wasn't really following him. They were all running away from the carnage they left behind the forest of Giant trees. The trees that should have had the titan shifters. And Jason.

Where had he gone? Among the commotion, Armin didn't get the chance to ask anyone of the titan shifters where the boy had gone. Come to think of it, I can't see Mr. Hannes anywhere either…

Armin's eyes widened. He looked to Eren for confirmation. The boy was still in tears. Even Mikasa, who had her face in his back, was crying. Armin's jaw tightened.

Jean stirred behind Armin. The boy had been slammed by one of the titans during the battle, and it was only by chance that Armin found him. And if it wasn't for all the titans following Erens command…

He gripped his reins hard.

I'm so weak! I couldn't save Eren, I couldn't protect Jean, and Jason is…

He couldn't even bring himself to think of it. But it was the only explanation that made sense. He probably didn't even reach Eren and the others. No one without a horse can survive outside the walls, not even…

Don't worry, I'll be alright.

Armin put a fist to his forehead. Why did I believe him? I told him it was dangerous! Why didn't he listen? Why!?

The tears couldn't help themselves. When he found the boy outside the walls in those strange clothes and without any ODM gear, he didn't know what to think. He never heard any stories of people being able to survive outside the walls. And if they had, that must mean that humanity was alive outside the walls. Which is why Armin wanted to keep him safe.

But it turned out Jason wasn't from outside the walls. He was from a place where emperors were evil and fatal injuries didn't kill. Armin had thought the boy to be mad.

But then he mentioned the ocean. Jason had died on a boat. Something used to travel the sea. Something he had read in his book about the outside world.

The sea. Jason had seen it.

And that was enough for Armin to believe him. Believe his crazy story about other worlds and demigods and whatever else. Because if he had seen the sea then the rest of it had to be real.

And once the preconceived notion of Jason being insane had fallen to the side, Armin saw that Jason was an intriguing, strong, kind, fun person. Someone Armin considered a friend.

The tears kept falling.

He had lost a friend.

Fingers gripped into Armins shoulder, shocking him out of his grief.

Armin looked behind him to see Jean's head slowly rising. He was breathing heavily, but his eyes were determined. He looked around him, until he saw Eren.

"Oi! Eren!" he shouted, "Where's Jason?"

Eren didn't respond. Eren's face had changed since the last time Armin saw it. There were still tears, but his face was neutral. Despite this, Armin could tell there was something bubbling beneath. Not his usual anger. But a deep sadness.

Armin wanted to stop Jean's questioning, but he too wanted to know what had happened. What if Jason had found Eren and the others? He had that strange speed, and had gotten the hang of ODM gear remarkably quickly. Maybe he…

"Jason is dead." Eren responded solemnly.

Armin didn't know how to respond. It only made sense. No one can survive outside the walls without a horse and ODM gear. Jason's survival was a pipe dream.

Like the sea.

Jean's anger increased, "What do you mean he's dead? Did he even reach the forest? What happened in the forest of Giant Trees?!" But before Eren could respond, a flash of green and gray blocked their view of the titan shifter. Armin looked forward, finding an old tree impeding his path. He pulled on the reins of his horse. Jean fell off behind him.

"Jean!" Armin turned around to find himself surrounded by green and gray. There were trees all around them.

Jean backed away from the impending hooves, "Armin!" He pointed at his distressed horse. Armin loosened the reins and patted his horse on the side of its neck. It progressively slowed its breathing.

Armin then focused on his surroundings. Jean had his back on the bark of an ancient tree. Its branches grew almost crooked like, and its light green leaves were small and thin. The strangest thing about it was that its bark was a light gray.

Jean, still breathing heavily, rose slowly, "What happened? Where are the others?" Armin, now realizing the two were on their own, properly took in his surroundings.

Tress, just as old as the first one circled them. All of them had the same crooked gray branches and the same colored leaves. What had previously been empty grasslands was now a forest of gray and green.

"EREN!" Armin called out, "MIKASA!?"

His call met no response. Where are they?! But the boy had no time to think about that, for Jean yelled his name, "Armin!"

Armin shifted his gaze to Jean pointing down at his feet. The roots of the trees were crawling out of the earth, slowly encapsulating his feet. Armin reached for him, "Get on!" Jean grabbed his arm and with a strength Armin didn't know he had, pulled his friend up to safety. But they hadn't escaped the danger.

The roots were now growing under Armin's horse. We have to move! Armin whipped the reins, and his horse responded by galloping forward.

"Armin, where are we going?" Jean exclaimed.

"I don't know!" The boy responded, "But if we stay still those roots are going to impede our movement. We need to find the others."

Crooked gray trees filled Armins' field of view. Because of the density of the forest, his horse couldn't gallop so fast, so Armin slowed to a trot. The branches were so dense, allowing no space for Armin to travel through unscathed. Armin felt like the forest was trying to trap them.

"Ahhh!" Jean's yell from behind took Armin out of his thoughts. Jean's right arm was slowly being tangled by one of the gray branches. Armin acted quickly by unsheathing his blade and cutting off the branch. But that didn't stop the forest.

Somehow, the two boys were surrounded by even more trees. The branches were closing in, giving no sign of stopping. Jean, despite his pain, had taken out his blade and began to chop any branches getting close to the duo. Armin did the same.

But it wasn't enough. The more branches were cut, the more took their place. At some point, their horse had stopped moving. Armin looked down. The horses' hooves had been encapsulated by the roots of the forest.

"Ar…!" Jean's voice was muffled by the sheer amount of tree branches surrounding him. Armin tried to cut off what was surrounding his friend, but his arms wouldn't respond to the request. He looked to his right. His blade had been totally consumed by the crooked branches.

Armin's eyes widened as the branches grew past his elbow towards his shoulder. He tried to pull out his arm, but the branches were stronger than he thought. He tried to think, but terror had taken hold of him.

He was not going to survive this.

He was never going to see the sea.

Armin felt a quiet breeze swept past him. Then a hurricane of wind blew past his right arm, destroying all the branches growing on him. Despite the wind's ferocity, Armin's arm didn't blow out of its socket.

Armin glanced behind him, for that was where the source of the wind came from. Jean met him with wide eyes. No longer engulfed in the tree branches, his arms were still in the air. Placing them to his side, the two searched around them.

While the trees still surrounded them, a harsh wind was keeping all the extended branches away. The wind around them however was calm.

The calm wind blew his hair slightly to the right. The breeze flew through a more open path in the forest. A path that Armin hadn't seen previously.

Jason? Armin couldn't help the thought.

Suddenly, a voice echoed through the forest. "KEEP GOING! FOLLOW THE WIND!"

Jean's head turned towards the voice, "Armin!" He exclaimed, "That's Erens voice. We need to keep moving."

Armin, not wanting to follow his friend's voice, tried to turn his horse around.

"JASON!" The wind pushed against him, "Jason, I know it's you! Come to us!" Armin put his arm up to block the wind, "We can't leave you behind!"

"Armin! What are you doing?" Jean complained, but Armin kept steadfast.

Armin noticed the wind pushing harder, so he yelled, "I won't leave you behind!"

The wind slowed to a light breeze. Armin heard a soft voice flow through it. Barely a whisper.

Go. Please.

A single droplet of water fell on Armins cheek. But it wasn't his. He looked up. The gray tree branches that had been blocking out most of the sky had mostly receded. Light gray storm clouds replaced the sudden forest. A light rain fell from it.

FOLLOW THE WIND! Erens voice echoed in the distance. Armin kept his eyes on the empty forest behind them. Now that the rain and wind entered the woodland, they weren't as intimidating. Once again, Jean's hand shook Armin's shoulder. "Armin. We have to go." The scout said softly.

Armin didn't have to see Jean's face to know why his voice was so low. He must have figured it out as well. That Jason was protecting them from whatever had attacked them. And he won't be coming back to the walls with them.

Armin pulled on the reins, towards Erens voice.

"Goodbye Jason." He said solemnly.

As they galloped through the densely populated forest, Armin could hear strikes of lightning behind him. He didn't look back.