𐐪 sparks - aruani 𐑂

Chapter 5 - Armin

"Armin, get up," Jean shook me. I woke up that morning, almost having forgotten what happened the other night.

"Just a minute..." I said, almost dozing off again. "Why are you so tired anyways?" He asked, looking at me oddly.

"Oh, you know... just how I am sometimes," I ran to the bathroom, wondering what I was supposed to tell them.

At breakfast, Annie wasn't there. Oh, shit. I didn't even make sure she got back to her room safely, did I...

"Hey, where's Annie?" Eren asked, between bites of bread. "Probably stuck in another crystal or something," Jean replied, uninterested. "I'm- not sure," I yawned.

"Hey, you should eat, Armin. You're already so tired today." Eren looked at me, pointing to my food. "Yeah, you're right." I was about to take a bite as I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, Armin," Annie said with a yawn as she brushed by me, her voice as calm as ever. How does she do that?

Jean and Eren looked at each other, then at me and started laughing. "She's tired too," Jean says. "Rough night, huh," Eren says, continuing to eat.

Connie runs down the hall, greeting the other three. "Sorry, I was in the bathroom," he says, sitting down. "What did I miss?" This is going to be fun.

During training that day, I couldn't help but to stare at Annie, the way her body was so agile...and pretty...

But more importantly, I could tell that she was showing more emotion around others. I can barely remember how she was before she went into this huge crystal coma.

I know she was, and still is, a good person. A complex one, at that. And, every single time that I tried to think about her, I was just drawn back to how beautiful she was, especially the other night.

After the training, I heard Connie's voice from down the hall. "Armin!" I turn around quickly. "You should totally shoot your shot with Annie." Connie put his hands on the back of his neck. "Well, then again, she is Annie..." I laughed. "I'll be fine without doing that, Connie. Thank you, though."

Every night, I kept finding myself wound up walking in the halls, thinking about one thing or another. It used to be Eren and Mikasa, or training, or what insane deed Captain Levi would assign me to, but recently, Annie occupied my thoughts. I didn't see her on my walk, and I decided that I should head back to my bed before it became too late for me to get any sleep.

Although, I abandoned my hopes of sleep when I saw Annie at the foot of my door, crying hysterically as she was the other day.

What am I supposed to do? "What's wrong?" I said, turning the lights back on. "I- I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me..."

"What do you mean?" I began to stroke her hair. "I just don't know how much longer I can put up this ac-act for," she wrapped her arms around me.

"And I know that I must seem like- like a heartless person to someone like you," I held her closer. "To someone like me? No, no way."

"I really- really like you Armin," she looked up into my eyes. Shit, now I'm panicking. "But I can't be with you."

"Why- why not?" I could see right through her.

"We're supposed to be enemies, remember?" Her sobs got louder. "I'm supposed to be the cold-hearted one."

I lifted her chin up and stared at her eyes. "But you're not." Pulling her into a hug, I continued.

"Your- your whole life, you were supposed to be the enemy. But I can tell you don't want to be." She looked back at me. Did I say something wrong?

"I have to be, Armin." She just broke out into more tears as I ran my fingers through her silky hair. I placed a gentle kiss on top of her head.

"You should get some rest," I whispered, holding her tighter.

"You're right." She unwrapped her arms from my side and nodded. I went to get back into my bed before I realized that she hadn't moved.

"Uh, Armin?" She asked, staring at the floor. "Can- can I-" she looked at the floor, then back at me. What did she need?

She took a deep, heavy breath. "Can I stay here? With you." For a moment, I didn't know what to say. "Yeah- sure." My voice was tired and it felt raspy.

She climbed next to me. I thought that it would feel weird, but something about her made it feel safe. Our arms were wrapped around each others'.

"Armin?" I could hear the exhausted ness in her voice. Not just physically, but it was mental, too.

"Do you think- can you sing?" She buried her head into my arm. I could tell she was embarrassed.

I used to sing, when I was younger. Although, as I became older, I forgot about it. But was I supposed to just refuse?

"Sure," she lifted her head out of my arm. It was so interesting how even in her most vulnerable moments, her face stayed the same.

"I- I used to sing a lot when I was younger." She seemed interested. "Yeah?" Her eyes sagged as they always did, but I could tell she was interested. I didn't realize how she was shaking. It wasn't a nervous shaking. More of a confused shaking. She had been strong for too long, never knowing how to express her emotions.

I took a deep inhale. "Did I drive you away..." I didn't know what I was singing, just a song that I remembered from my childhood. I'm still good. But I don't think she cared.

"I know what you'll say..." Her hair was so soft, and everything about her looked perfect in the dimmed light.

"You say, 'Oh sing one you-" I let out a small yawn. "-know," my words were mumbled, but she wasn't saying anything about it.

I stared down at her. "But I promise you this..." my vision became fuzzy, I could feel myself slipping into a sleepy trance.

"That i'll always look out for...you," I could feel her shaking stop, as well as her breathing slow.

"Yeah, that's what i'll...do,"

"Annie, i'm going to take you to the sea someday."

I looked down into her eyes. "I promise." I watched her eyes close, as mine did too.