Thank You

Chapter 7: Bonding

I appeared to have fallen asleep on Armin's shoulder on accident because I felt a cold hand stroke my hair gently.  Then I felt a soft voice whisper to me," I can't wait for us to see the Ocean. I'll take you, Mikasa and Eren. I promise. "

I was half-awoken by the sudden touch but I wasn't stopping him. I was glad I was bonding with them. It felt nice, I wanted friends and now I have them and  that's all I could ask for.

I was gently shaken awake again  by Armin, but this time I actually woke up wondering what he wanted. I slowly moved my head up and rubbed my eyes. "Mm, what...." I sleepily looked at him, he was just looking at me with big blue ocean eyes. My eyes were half-open but I could see him just enough to notice him vigorously rip open the book and show me yellow paper with intricate details on it.

"I want to show you a picture. It's in the book." He rubbed his hand across the pages, admiring the details. 

The picture wasn't in color but it was still beautiful to look at. It was a diagram of what the world looked like outside the walls, with trees towering with great pride, squiggly lines that Armin call "rivers, lakes and streams".  There were also large animals.  Not dogs or cats, like bigger animals, some with pointy things on their heads.  Some that are big and have a lot of teeth, others smaller and have eyes that almost remind of Armin's. Full of admiration but oblivion. I could see why Armin loved it so much. It's so lovely. 

My eyes couldn't look away. It was mesmerizing to look at. " Oh, it's  beautiful." I rubbed my index and middle finger gently across the pictures, tracing the oblique lines that made up the "rivers". 

Armin's eyes were infatuated with it as well, he didn't even flinch when I opened my mouth. He must really want to see the outside. I smiled silently at him, admiring his infatuation with the outside world.

"It's kind of stupid of me to think that we can see the world outside the walls without fighting for our lives." His eyes seemed to now be clouded with disappointment.

" No, I think it's cool. I've never seen someone look at the outside as a paradise. No one ever thought that way. Everyone is so afraid all the time. No one wants to be free, they just want to be safe. That's how it's always been. And that's what we are for, to protect them and ourselves from the outside. Why do you think they built the walls in the first place? To enclose us safely. " I put a hand on his shoulder firmly.  "You've showed me a new perspective. You're not afraid of the outside, you don't want to live your entire life in the dark. I admire that. You should share your knowledge with everyone else when the titans are annihilated."

Armin's eyes lit up and he looked up at me, with tears in his eyes. "The four of us, one day, will see the world! I promise you, (Y/N)!" He smiled with such a big smile that I couldn't help but smile back.

I nodded in agreement. Suddenly Eren woke up and Mikasa stood up letting him get up on his own. Eren looked around very confused and then looked at me and crawled over to me slowly. "(Y/N), how long have you been here?" He rubbed his eyes sleepily and looked at me, confused of my presence. 

"I don't really know specifically. Armin and I saw you sleeping and decided not to bother you. You looked so peaceful. We were reading and then I guess I fell asleep afterwards." I shrugged and chuckled, thinking about the gentle hand that stroked my hair I grabbed a strand and ran my hand through it. I fixed Eren's hair and smoothed it out which made Mikasa glare at me angrily and make Eren a bit annoyed.

Then Eren looked at Armin and me while fixing his hair, irritated for "messing it up more",  "You know how to read (Y/N)??" He asked me like I told him I knew magic and that I was a wizard.