©️An anime/manga by Hajime Isayama

Chapter III: Growth

Life continued on as normal, Lorraine progressively getting better much thanks to Grisha's expertise, and Ada continuing her schooling without incident. She kept a wandering eye on Eren following that day at her home, but she hadn't seen any visible change in the young boy. He hadn't even so much as spared a single glance at Armin during their classtime, and it had been at least a couple of weeks since they had their talk. The sight of there seemingly being no progress—despite the exceptional job she'd thought she'd done to brew interest—genuinely made her frown. Rather than Eren spending more time with Armin, the blonde boy consequently spent more time with her instead; albeit hesitantly. He hadn't forgotten all that she said about friendship with her not being a good idea, but that hadn't been a deterrent for him at all. The reluctance, actually, came from him thinking she wouldn't want to be near him; but Ada wasn't cruel. She'd said her piece, if Armin still insisted on being in her company despite that then she wouldn't push the boy away—especially when it clearly meant something to him.

This, however, was only at school, she still held firm on going home at the end of every day in lieu of spending the extra time with him; something he understood and didn't protest. Normally at the end of every day they'd walk off the school's premises, say their goodbyes, and split off in opposite directions. Today was no exception as they waved at each other, and then Ada turned around and started on her usual route home. She'd only gotten maybe 20 feet away from the building before she felt a hard tug on her hair, one that made her lose balance and stumble backwards.

A short shriek left her mouth, and she whirled around to see the culprit. To her surprise, it was the green eyed boy she'd thought forgotten about her. "Eren?" She felt a tingling on her scalp, from where he tugged with a heavy hand, and it made irritation boil inside her. She glared at him as hard as her chubby cheeked face would allow, "Why did you do that?!"

He didn't move at her silly attempt at intimidation, he scoffed at it even. "Because I was trying to get your attention," He'd said it like it should've been common sense, and as far as he was concerned it was. "Why do you let him walk home by himself?"

She felt the rage practically evaporate from her body at the question, and the little girl instead felt confused. "What are you talking about?"

He narrowed his eyes, "You know what I'm talking about. You walk out with Armin every day, but then you leave. Why do you do that?"

Well, of course she knew he was talking about Armin. She more so meant why was he asking, given he didn't seem to care up until now. "Why do you care?" she fired back, then a discrepancy crossed her mind. "Wait, have you been watching us all this time?"

"Yeah," He shrugged in a 'So what if I have?' fashion, "I wanted to see what he was like before I said anything to him, I wanted to see what you've been doing too." he explained.

"What I've been doing?" So, nothing? She hadn't been doing anything worth watching at all, certainly not with Armin. She was still stuck on the fact Eren had been sneaky enough to even keep tabs on them like this without her noticing.

"Yeah, you're the one who said he was being picked on remember?" he said flatly, then gave a nonchalant shrug. "I mean, you brought it up to me…so you were obviously worried right?"

"Yeah…of course I was," she replied, not understanding where he was going with any of this.

"So if you're worried, why do you leave him by himself?" he interrogated, and the little girl didn't really know how to answer.

Ada sighed, looking at her feet, "So I'm a bad person, is that what you're telling me?"

"Not really," he replied, "I think you're more of a scaredy cat," Ada rolled her eyes when she heard this, like that was much better. However, there may have been truth to it that she didn't want to admit.

"Excuse me, I've handled his bullies before. I pitched rocks at their heads," she explained, and Eren chuckled as he found amusement in such.

"And then what did you do?"

Ada opened her mouth, then closed it to think about her answer. "…I ran home…"

"Yeah, thought so," he said, unsurprised.

Ada narrowed her eyes, was that supposed to be sarcastic? Those boys were long gone by the time she'd left, for his information. "I'm going home now!" she exclaimed, officially fed up with whatever this was. She quickly turned on her heel and began to briskly walk in the direction of her house, but was again pulled to a stop by Eren.

"Would you hold on?" he groaned in exasperation, turning her around and grabbing her by the wrist. "I was just messing, I don't think you're a scaredy cat." Especially not after hearing about the throwing rocks thing, that was a lot more than he'd seen their blonde classmate do. "But you still never answered my question, why do you let him walk home by himself?"

"Because he doesn't need me around," she answered with no hesitation, as far as she saw that was the fact of them matter. But, Eren shook his head with a sigh.

"Well I'm not gonna argue with that, but from what it looks like he definitely needs somebody." Eren said, and Ada blinked.

"Why do you say that?"

"They don't mess with him in school anymore," Well, yes, Ada was aware. They hadn't heckled Armin at the schoolhouse for a while now. "They've just been doing it while he's walking home."

Those little sneaks, trying to have as few interruptions as possible if she had to guess. "You've been following him home?" Ada asked curiously, and Eren nodded.

"Yeah, but I didn't start right away." he confirmed, "I only started doing it after I got curious, so maybe a week now."

"Well, have you been doing anything then?" He didn't give her an answer, instead he pulled her by the wrist he still hadn't dropped in the opposite direction. "Hey! Eren!" she exclaimed as she tried to pry her wrist out of his hold, but he had a surprisingly strong grip. "I have to go home, where are—"

"Be quiet!" he interjected, "I know the route he takes, if we're quick we can catch up." She didn't try to protest again, instead she stared at the back of his head and let him lead her away. Clearly he'd paid more attention than she previously assumed, she had this idea that he would've been a lot more in Armin's face rather than lurking around in silence. The boisterous boy was being more careful than she expect, and this certainly couldn't have been a quality that he kept as he grew up; it wasn't one that she remembered him having in the source material.

He hadn't been wrong about catching up to Armin, they'd caught him walking down one of the main paths after making a series of turns themselves. Average sized buildings lined the walkway, and Eren knew the housing district the boy lived in wasn't too far away from where they currently were. He and Ada slowed to a stop and walked instead; far enough away that Armin wouldn't notice him, but not so far that they'd lose sight of him in the small crowd of people. It looked like he hadn't been bothered yet, which was good; he wanted her to see what he'd been talking about.

"You're still holding my wrist," Ada reminded.

"Don't want you to run off, like a chicken." Eren quipped back, something she wasn't very amused by.

"I'm not gonna—" she was cut off by Eren turning around to cover her mouth with his hand, and they suddenly halted to a stop.

"Don't yell," Though it wasn't exactly pin-drop quiet in the surrounding area, Armin still could hear them if they got too rowdy. "I'll let your arm go, just don't go anywhere alright?" He did as he said and dropped her hand, as well as his own from her mouth. She was rearing to tell him to never do that again, but she gasped and pointed ahead of them.

"Look!" she exclaimed, and Eren complied. Turning around, he saw the kids who'd been giving Armin trouble. He wasn't even sure where they came from so suddenly, but he watched the boy break off into a sprint; the older kids chased him without hesitation and that kicked Eren into gear. He ran in the same direction, the only heads up he gave to Ada being a "C'mon!". It was an order that she readily listened to, and lucky for her Eren could still see the group of them farther ahead. She followed him as he abruptly turned down an alleyway, and just barely caught sight of the group turning left down another corner. "What if they get away?!"

"They won't," Eren assured, "There's only one way out of here, it leads to a canal street. Just follow me," He didn't need to tell her twice, she let him lead the way and within one minute they were running down a path that lead to the canal that Eren mentioned. Before they could exit, however, Eren abruptly stopped; this caused Ada to smack into him and he put an arm out to keep her from moving. "Hold it,"

"What?" Ada asked, but her question was answered when she heard the sound of Armin being pushed against the wall.

Eren peeked his head out from the side of the building—trying his hardest to be discreet—and saw the three kids surrounding the young boy. It was the usual three: the tall one, the fat one, and the one with the stupid face.

"How far did you think you'd get with those stubby legs, half-pint?" the fat one asked, there was a hint of a taunt in his voice.

"Don't you get tired of this?" Armin asked, "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"What's better than teaching little punks like you a lesson?" Stupid Face responded.

"Yeah, you think you're so different for thinking about life on the outside. But you know what I think?" Tall Kid asked, grabbing Armin by the front of his shirt and lifting him a little. The blonde had to stand on the tips of his toes, the best he could, to balance himself. "I think you're just a defiant little shit,"

Armin could feel his heart hammering in his chest, per usual, but the fear didn't stop him from opening his mouth again. "H-Huh, defiant…you heard that from an adult."

"What?" the tall one said, then he tightened his grip. "What's that got to do with what I said?"

"Nothing…it's just…I've never seen you pick up a book." Armin pointed out, "You wouldn't have learned it from reading."

The boys all paused to process what the blonde said for a minute, then Stupid Face shook the tall one's shoulder. "H-Hey, this punk is trying to say you can't read!" he exclaimed, having come to the awfully slow realization. "He's calling you stupid, boss!"

This visibly angered the tall boy and he grit his teeth, "Stupid?!" He reeled his arm back and punched Armin across the cheek, and this caused him to fall back against the wall again. "I'm not too stupid to beat you up, don't forget that!" His two annoying friends laughed and patted him on the back and shoulders. Feeling accomplished, they walked away while clowning the young boy amongst each other.

Eren stepped out a little farther from the side of the building and watched Armin slide down to the ground. The young boy tucked his head into his knees and began to weep, and the sound made Ada step out too. He clutched at the arms of his hooded sweater, and his shoulders shook from his light sobs; his cries mostly being the result of that punch. The sight of him broke her little heart. "Why don't you ever defend yourself?" Eren finally asked.

The sound of a sudden, new, voice startled Armin. He immediately sat up to look at Eren, but then his eyes snapped over to the girl he was all too familiar with. "Ada…?" He quickly wiped at his eyes, "What are you doing here?"

Eren answered his question before she could, "I wanted her to see how wimpy you are." Ada's mouth fell open astonished, but she recovered and glared instead.

"Shut up, Eren!" she yelled, "He's not a wimp!"

He stuck his tongue out at the strawberry blonde, "I don't have to shut up, and if he's not a wimp he sure acts like one." He looked back down at Armin, "You know they only keep doing this because you don't fight back, right?"

Armin looked back up at him, confused. "How would you know?"

"Because I've been watching you," Eren confessed, "They come to mess with you on your way home, you don't do anything about it, and then it happens again another day." he explained, Armin's lack of standing his ground was the common denominator in this cycle. "They'll keep doing it as long as they think you're easy to bully, so do something about it."

Armin narrowed his eyes a little, still not appreciating how he was called a wimp. "I already do,"

"No you don't, that guy punched you in the face and you let him get away with it!" Eren argued, "When people hit you, you're supposed to him them back!"

Armin glared down at his feet and clenched his fists, "My grandpa says fighting with fists doesn't solve problems, it just makes you a brute."

"So you'd rather lose then?" Eren asked, but Armin didn't answer straight away. When he finally did, the answer was one Eren didn't expect to hear.

"I didn't lose," the blonde looked him in the eyes as he said it, his tears already dry. "I faced them when I had to, and I did it without my fists. Because real strength comes from the heart, that's what my grandpa taught me." Ada stepped forward, and much like the day they officially met held out her hand. Armin stared at it, then looked up at her and gave a tiny smile. He took her hand and she helped him stand up, dusting him off for the second time now.

Personally Eren felt that answer was corny, and normally he would've stated as such. However, this time he chose to bite his tongue. "You're Armin, from class, right?"

"Yeah," Armin nodded, "You're Eren, aren't you?" He knew exactly who he was, it would've been hard not to, but for formality sake he asked anyway.

"Yeah, that's me," the boy confirmed, then nodded his head at Ada. "She told me you wanna know what it's like outside the walls, is that true?"

Armin's eyes widened a little in surprise, and turning to Ada he saw the girl give him a reassuring nod. "Um…yeah," Armin hesitantly responded, after turning back to Eren. "Yeah, that's true,"

"Well, I've thought about it too." the green eyed boy admitted, much to Armin's shocked delight. "All three of us, so you don't have to feel alone. You aren't,"

"The three of us?" He looked back at the girl again, who was side eyeing Eren now. She wasn't favorable to him telling on her like that, but in the grand scheme of things it probably wasn't a huge deal.

"Yeah, there are more people like you than you think." she said, then smiled. "Besides, rules are dumb anyway. Right, Eren?"

"Yeah, they are!" Armin eyed the two, and his mouth slowly stretched into a genuine smile. Suddenly, his cheek didn't sting so much anymore.

o O o

The two ended up walking Armin the rest of the way to his house, and he'd even invited them inside to meet his grandfather—who Ada for the first time learned was actually named Alphonse. The old man was surprised to see his grandson bringing guests into their home, but joyed at hearing they were two friends he'd actually made. Armin was such a reserved child that he never expected to see him having friends over, and he was quick to busy himself with making them snacks and drinks; something Armin offered to help with. It wasn't much, just some apple juice with jam on bread—strawberry to be exact. The kids, however, were still thankful nonetheless and told Alphonse as such. They'd sat in the backyard with their snacks to relax and took the time to get to know each other better, though Ada had mostly let Eren and Armin talk between each other while she listened. At least, that was what she tried to do. The blonde, at every moment she got too quiet, would say something to include her in the conversation, and she indulged every time without issue. Beyond that, she took the time to observed how the two interacted.

Admittedly, given how first impressions started between the both of them, she'd been the slightest bit worried, but now she could see she had no reason to be. The way they spoke, the way they laughed, it came off so…natural. Two boys, as different as night and day, and yet they were talking as if they'd known each other since the first day of school. Eren had even apologized to Armin for the name calling he subjected him to earlier, an apology the blonde accepted without hesitation; as well as no hard feelings.

"Is it just you and your grandpa?" Eren asked curiously.

"No, my parents live here too." Armin answered, catching Ada off guard. They had been mentioned in such a one-off way originally that she couldn't quite remember what actually happened to them, she'd just assumed he'd lost them in early childhood and was primarily raised by his grandfather ever since. Especially since he'd made no mention of having parents before now, considering how much he spoke about Alphonse instead.

"Where are they right now?" Ada asked, just as curious.

Armin hummed in thought before answering, "Well, my dad is working right now for sure. My mom? She's probably shopping for dinner later," he explained, "We need more firewood too, but I think my grandpa was gonna get that a little later." He took a sip of his juice before continuing, "What about you? Is it really just you and your mom?"

The girl nodded, "Yeah it's always been,"

"It must suck not having a dad," Eren, quite insensitively, commented.

"Eren! Why would you say that?!" Armin chastised.

"What? I'm just saying," the brunette said with a roll of his eyes, "But it's not like I can talk I guess, my old man is hardly ever around. Big shot Doctor…" he muttered the last part before shoving the last of his jam bread in his mouth.

Ada wasn't particularly bothered by what Eren said, mostly because this wasn't a sore spot for her at all. Frankly, you couldn't miss something you never had. She never knew what he looked like or even so much as his name—if she ever heard it to begin with. Now that she thought about it, she didn't really need to know about any of that either. She had her mother, and if you asked her she was the best one that could've ever been given to her in this life. That was good enough for her, "It's fine Armin," Ada reassured, "I like it that way, it makes our house quiet."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Eren questioned with bits of bread still in his mouth, and the girl grimaced.

"Less gross too," she teased, causing Armin to laugh and Eren to look at them both in confusion.

This became a routine of sorts for them, Ada and Eren walking home with Armin after school and him inviting them both inside; something that Ada didn't always take him up on. On one such occasion when she did, she actually met his parents face to face. His father was a brown haired, brown eyed gentleman, meanwhile his mother was practically a grown up version of Armin; with blonde hair that just brushed past her shoulders and sky blue eyes. She could see Armin had gotten most of his looks from her and only his eye shape from his father, something she found to be rather cute. Armin had confessed to the two one day that his parents, while his grandfather also held similar aspirations, were actually where his dream of seeing the outside had primarily come from. They dreamed of one day taking their son outside the walls and experiencing all that the new world had to offer, and they'd made it a promise to him that it would one day become a reality. His eyes always got dewy when he relayed that promise in his head, his parents had said it with so much conviction the first time, he had no choice but to believe them.

"How are they gonna do that, if no one's allowed to leave?" Eren had asked the blonde boy.

"I don't know," The answer was very honest, he truly didn't, but he believed them nonetheless. "But if they say I'll see it one day, I believe them."

As for trio of jugheads, they would still try to cause Armin trouble every now and then while they walked him to his home. This was something Eren always tried to circumvent to varying degrees of failure and success. Though, Ada running up and kicking their pseudo-leader between the legs one day put somewhat of an end to that; they no longer bothered Armin when they saw his two companions near (something the blonde was very thankful for). Not that they would have had much opportunity anyway, for Armin had begun a habit of accompanying Ada home from time to time. He'd asked her out of the blue one day if the they could spend time at her house, and when she expressed reluctance he added that he'd already told his family he'd be with a friend after school (the little sneak). Feeling she had no other choice after that revelation, that was the day she'd introduced Armin to her mother.

"Oh, aren't you just adorable!" the woman had cooed, lightly pitching Armin's cheek. This made the young boy flush in embarrassment at the compliment.

"U-Um, thank you miss, you're very pretty." Armin responded, looking down at the floor and twiddling his thumbs.

"And he's sweet too!" she gushed, causing Ada to giggle. The girl could tell he wasn't used to receiving compliments from people who weren't his family, but she could also see it made him feel good about himself when he did. Just like when he'd given her that wooden cow figure, he'd been so bashful when she expressed her gratitude. Shy as he might have been, both then and now, it was a clear confidence boost for him. It was then Ada decided she always wanted him to feel this way, and she'd see to it that he did for as long as she lived.

In the meantime, a year passed like it was nothing and the trio surprisingly—at least on Ada's part—still kept each other's company regularly. The kids were all seven years of age, and one afternoon Eren and Ada sat together as they waited for Armin; they were on the side of the steps that led to the bustling Square of Shiganshina, where most people gathered to sell and purchase homemade wares and garments. Earlier that day at recess the blonde had excitedly asked them to meet him at this location after school let out, telling them that he had something important to show them. They'd offered to walk home with him like normal and just see whatever it was at his house, but the boy immediately protested. "It's not something I can show you at my house!" they remembered him exclaiming, and here they were waiting.

"What do you think he wants to show us so bad?" Ada asked Eren, who shrugged.

"I don't know, but it must be something good. He was practically about to explode," Eren responded, "I've never seen him be so…expressive."

"Me either," Ada giggled, "I actually—"

"Guys!" Armin exclaimed, cutting her off, as he ran up the steps and stopped behind them. The two turned their bodies around to face him, and the blonde sat down so they were in a triangle formation. "I'm glad you actually came, here it is!" He sat the big book he'd had clutched to his chest in front of him, so they could get a good look. The leather cover was worn, the pages yellowed, and the title faded; it looked very old.

"Uh…what are we looking at?" the brunette questioned, "This is just an old, dusty book,"

"This isn't just any old book Eren," Armin leaned closer, a large grin on his face, and spoke in a lower voice. "This is one of the books from my parents' study, I was looking for new stuff to read in there and I found this one hiding." he explained.

"So that's why you said you couldn't show us at your house." Ada stated, to which he confirmed.

"Yeah, owning this type of book isn't really allowed. They could get in a lot of trouble if anyone found out, so I guess they wanted to be safe. I don't think they'd like me showing it to just anybody," He pouted, feeling guilty about going behind his parents' backs and taking a belonging of theirs. The contents of this book, however, contained wonders beyond his wildest dreams; why wouldn't he want to share it with his friends?

"So the first thing you thought to do was show us?" Eren asked with a quirked brow.

"In public," Ada added, looking around at the grownups who were haggling vendors or soliciting passersby for customers.

Armin huffed and puffed out his cheeks, "This is the perfect spot for something like this!" he argued, "Everyone around us is way too busy to care about what some kids are looking at. We just have to be quiet while we do it." Eren and Ada glanced at each other, that did make enough sense. None of the adults had really spared them a second glance when they first arrived, nor when Armin did. "Besides, I trust you guys. I know you won't tell anybody," He certainly had been right about that as well, they both thought.

"What exactly is it?" Ada asked curiously, trying her best to read the title, but she had trouble. "What does the cover say?"

"I think it says…Atlas of the World," he said while squinting his eyes, then beamed before flipping it open. "It's about life on the outside," he said it quiet enough so only they could hear.

Eren's eyes widened, "What? That's a joke, right? Where would your parents have gotten something like this?"

"I don't know where they got it from, it's definitely not anything they could've bought." Armin put a hand to his chin and hummed, "Maybe it was passed down from someone?"

"But then, where would they have gotten it from to pass it down in the first place?" Ada questioned next, feigning similar surprise to Eren.

The blonde narrowed his eyes, it was a very good question, one he couldn't find any answer for no matter how hard he thought. "I'm not sure about that either,"

"Is this really a book about the outside?" Eren asked, a bead of sweat formed at his temple as he began to grow nervous. He'd had a feeling it wasn't anything good when he mentioned his parents could get in trouble, but he thought it was just something that would land them a hefty fine. This was much bigger than that, "Can't your parents go to jail for owning this? It's one of those forbidden books."

"Don't worry so much, you'll love what's in here too much to pass it up." he said before pointing to a passage. "Apparently there's this big body of water that covers most of everything and it's so deep you'd never reach the bottom, it's called the ocean!"

"No way!" Eren said, gobsmacked. He turned the book to skim over what Armin was pointing at, "Water that covers everything? How's that even possible?"

"Sounds scary," Ada commented, but Armin shook his head.

"It's not scary, I swear. It's even full of salt, so much that it'll never run out no matter how much you collect!" he explained, further blowing Eren's mind.

"Salt?!" Eren, thankfully, made sure not to get too loud and only shouted hushly. "In the water? Like, it's just naturally there, or someone put it there?"

"No, it's all natural, it's salty water!" Armin's cheeks were tinted pink, endeared by Eren's curious enthusiasm.

"And you're not fooling?" He fully picked up the book and began to read the passage about the ocean, nicknamed "The Sea".

"There's charts and stuff in there too, but the pages are so worn down I couldn't really read those. The book is really old," He made sure to remind Eren to carefully handle the book before turning to Ada, who hadn't said much about this new information. "Doesn't this interest you?" He was hoping she'd be just as enthused as their friend, but mild surprise was the most that had come out of her.

Despite not having seen it in so long, Ada was still very well aware of the ocean and what it looked like. She already knew the water was salty, and even that there were all sorts of sea life beyond what the people here have seen. She nodded, "It does! Is it just salt that's in the water?" she asked with a big smile, looking much more engaged than she had before.

Armin felt his cheeks burn hot at her smile, and he suddenly became a little shy as he couldn't meet her gaze anymore. "U-Um—well, no…" he trailed, twiddling his thumbs. "There's way more than just salt, there's water that glows bright like fire, fields of ice, giants rocks that can take days to climb," he listed off, slowly feeling less bashful as he passionately explained the sea's wonders. "There's even all sorts of creatures in it we've never even seen! There's this one called an octopus,"

Ada laughed, "That's such a silly name!"

"I can't believe something like this might actually be real…" Eren trailed, still amazed at what he'd read and heard.

"Well, the ocean is only the beginning," Armin admitted, "Can you imagine how huge it must be out there?"

Eren nodded, "Yeah, it does sound really neat."

The blonde stared at the two in thought, then called their attention. "If I tell you two something, do you swear on your life you won't say anything?" They both promised with no hesitation, and then Armin confessed that his parents were actually going to attempt going beyond the walls to see what the world looked like for themselves. They planned to exit via a homemade air balloon, not only to avoid the roaming Titans but also to have a good aerial view. Eren looked amazed, raving about how cool it sounded, while Ada merely stared; thankfully Armin didn't seem to pay attention this time. A feeling of dread filled her chest at the news, for she immediately knew this must be how Armin lost his parents in the first place.

"What if they get caught?" Ada asked, catching the boys off guard.

"They won't," Armin shook his head, "Once they're ready, they're gonna leave early in the morning while it's still dark out. No one will notice them that late, so no need to worry." he assured, but it did nothing to quell the bad feelings she was having.

"I don't think that's a good idea…" she trailed.

"You're worrying too much, you sound like my mom." Eren deadpanned, "A hot air balloon is a totally good idea!"

"Well, I think you're not worrying enough." she argued, "What if something goes wrong with their air balloon?"

"It won't, my dad is a builder." Armin dismissed again, "He's super handy and knows how to make anything, it'll be fine. They're gonna wait for a full moon so they have a natural light source and everything. Eren's right, you're worrying too much."

She sighed, she wanted to urge him to tell his parents not to go through with it, but he was likely thinking of all the stories they could share with him after a successful trip (rather than everything that could go wrong). With him being just as big a dreamer as them, he likely wouldn't listen to any reason. Going to his parents directly also wasn't an option, they'd know that Armin told their secret and maybe even find out he took the book from their study. "Besides, this can be us one day." Armin's voice broke her from her thoughts.

"What?" she asked,

"Seeing the world, I mean." he clarified, "Maybe not in a balloon, but we could have adventures just like whoever wrote this book." He gently took it from Eren's hands and closed it, clutching it to his chest with a dreamy look in his eyes. "Isn't that something to look forward to?"

Eren knocked on the front door of Armin's house, and his grandfather—with a solemn look on his face—answered. Armin had stayed home the past few days, and his two friends had finally showed up to see if he was alright. Alphonse promptly let them inside and let them know Armin was up in his room, with a quick expression of thanks the kids walked up the stairs and towards the door that belonged to him. They could hear sniffling and soft cries from right outside, and they glanced at each other before Ada gave a light knock.

"Armin? It's us," she made known, and there was silence for a few beats before they heard his voice.

"You can come in…" If not for it being so quiet in the house, they barely would've heard him. His voice sounded weak, likely from all the crying he'd done. She opened the door and they were met with the sight of his tidy room, and Armin sitting on the side of his bed with his legs tucked into his chest. His nose was red, and dried tears stained his cheeks with fresh ones beading in his eyes. Eren and Ada slowly approached Armin and took a seat on either side of him, but neither dared say anything. Mostly because they didn't know what to say, but Armin thankfully initiated that on his own once he eventually found the words.

"The MPs said…that the air balloon was faulty," Armin croaked, hiccuping. "The balloon wasn't secured properly, half of it untied from the basket and they fell like a rock." It made no sense to even his seven year old brain, his father was very good at his craft. He never would've done such shoddy work that the balloon just unties, and he certainly never would've let his mother get on it if he even thought something could endanger her. Their bodies couldn't even be recovered since they'd gone outside of their own volition, at their own risk, and that was if there were anything of them left to collect. His shoulders shook as his body began to wrack with sobs again, and Ada threw her arms around him in a tight hug; she began to feel a lump in her throat at seeing him in such an emotional state.

"Armin, I'm so sorry…" she said as she began to feel tears pricking at her eyes.

"I was worried," Armin confessed between sobs, and when Ada asked for clarity he continued. "When they first told me about wanting to go beyond the walls, I was worried. Nobody has ever tried something like that before, and I really was scared that something could go wrong…"

"…Well…why didn't you tell them?" Eren asked carefully, not wanting to further upset the boy. "I'm sure they would've understood,"

"Because I knew how much it meant to them," he sobbed, wiping at the tears that free fell from his eyes. "They had such a bright look in their eyes when they told me. They said they'd take a trip around the world and tell me all about it when they came back!" he began to sob even harder, not even bothering to wipe away the tears anymore and just let them fall. Ada was crying herself now and Eren bit his lip to try and keep his at bay. "They came into my room that night to tell me goodbye before they left," He gripped his sweater so tight his knuckles turned white. "They told me when they went again one day they'd bring me too, so we could experience it as a family."

The tears Eren tried to hold back began to slip from his eyes, and he hastily wiped them away. To lose both your parents at the same time, in such a freak accident, he prayed that he never had the misfortune of experiencing something so grim. "I should've told them not to go!" Armin exclaimed, "I should've listened to you, this is all my fault!"

"Armin, no," Ada gasped, bringing him into her chest and just letting him sob his heart out. "You never could've known this would happen, you did nothing wrong."

"Then why do I feel so guilty?" What he said was nearly incoherent, but no one answered him anyway. All that could be heard in the room now were Armin's sobs and the cries of his companions as they did their best to comfort the grieving child. The idea that he'd never see his parents again just because he decided not to voice his concerns, ones he feels like they might have listened to…that was what would keep him up at night; it made him sick to his stomach. While he wanted to listen to Ada when she said it wasn't his fault, it was hard. Maybe with time he could believe it, but for now it was just too hard.

After some time, Armin's cries did quiet. Once they were reduced to sniffles and hiccups again, Eren spoke. "You said you wanted to see the ocean," Armin lifted his head from Ada's tear stained dress and turned around to face him, wiping at his eyes.

"Yeah…" What about it?

"Is that what you still want?" Eren asked, wiping his eyes as well while Armin began to mull over the question.

Despite how in pain he felt, the answer…was yes. He did still want to see the ocean, and see the octopus, and the towering rocks. He still wanted to see and experience the broader world, that hadn't changed at all. "Yes,"

"Well, do you think that maybe…this should give you more of a reason to?" Armin's eyes widened.

"Eren," Ada started in a warning tone, but Armin rested a hand on her shoulder.

"No, it's okay." he told her, before redirecting his attention back to his brunette friend. "In what way?"

"I mean, they never actually got to see anything, and it's super tragic." Eren explained, "But you can still see the world for them, right?"

Ada smiled, taking Armin's hand and squeezing it. This caught his attention and she continued Eren's point for him, "He's right, their dream is still alive as long as you're still here. You can still see what's out there one day Armin, and we can see it with you." she reassured, "When we do, it'll be like you're honoring their memory."

"Yeah!" Eren threw an arm around Armin's neck and brought him close. "It'll be like they're right there with you in spirit." Armin's head slowly darted between them both, and the smallest hint of a smile adorned his face after days of anguish. Having them both here, and finally having aired his grievances to someone who wasn't his grandfather, lifted a bit of weight off his shoulders. With this newfound emotional support, he only uttered one more thing to them.

"Thank you, guys."

Author's Note: I don't remember Armin's Grandfather having a name in canon (pretty sure he's just referred to as Grandpa Arlert), and nothing came up when I searched so I took the liberty of naming him myself. As far as the situation with Armin's parents, I went with the narrative that was alluded to in the anime.

I already have chapter 4 completed as well and it'll be posted some time in the coming week! Chapter 5 is already being worked on in the meantime. Thank you for reading, let me know what you think!

TBC