Zuri: Attack On Titan

Only For Her

     I once promised myself that even I, the weak Armin Alert, would move mountains for the one girl of my dreams. Zuri A. Murbin. And it is true, I may have already done that for all I have done for that beautiful girl I love so much.

     For a simple childhood crush, a usual boy wouldn't throw himself over her to protect her. A normal boy would not be able to get the keys to free her. A normal boy would not be able to keep a whole court pushed down so that he could have some simple leisure time with his girl. But of course,

We aren't talking about a normal girl either.

    Zuri had always been special to me, but since I pulled her from the mash of steaming Titan muscle, I had stayed by her side, no matter what business came that I had to attend to. Sometimes I would see her smile, making me think she was responding and coming to. But she wasn't. It was agony.

Worst three days of my entire life.

   When she stirs again, I don't think much of it. I simply get up and leave her side for the first time, since the drugs may be wearing off and who knows what shape she will be in when she wakes up? I step outside the barred door, the ring of keys slightly jingling in my hands. So when I actually hear a stretching noise come from her, I shudder, as if the idea frightens me. Then I hear the chains that bound her ring. A light "What..?" comes from the room. The guard of the room says a few words that I respond to before I go into the room, rushing forwards to hug Zuri. "Oh God, Zuri, your not evil, your okay.." I say, my voice cracking with emotion.

    "Evil?" she says, pulling away. I tell her the story while I unlock her chains. I lift the bar that keeps her from sitting up. "So.. It wasn't a dream?" She asks. I look up at her, and see that her eyes are becoming teary pools. "No.. But we beat the Titans because of you!" I say. I know it must've sounded forced by the face she makes.

 "Thats not what Im worried about." She says. "Im worried about my father pointing a gun at me. And then seeing you die. Maybe this is still a dream! Yeah! I bet your all my imagination!" Her voice is raising. "Maybe there was never any Armin! Maybe you never crushed my soul because you never existed in the first place! The Titans never attacked! The attack on Shiganshina 5 years ago, this is all just a big dream!" The more she goes on, the more I know she is realizing this is reality, but she continues to rant on. "So my Mom isn't dead, and neither is my little brother! Dad's not in the Garrison Regiment, his the apothecary, like he always was before the attack, because the attack never happened! And you never crushed my heart because you never existed!"

The Final words escape her mouth as Eren and Mikasa enter the room.

" I will not be a disgusting Titan Shifter!"

    She crumples to the floor as Eren slams the door in anger. "Did she just call me disgusting?" He yells, his eyes flaring. "Eren," Mikasa says, holding his arm. "She also called herself disgusting. You shouldn't be angry." He looks at her angrily, then he sighs, pulling his arm away from her grasp. I walk over to Zuri where she crumpled to the ground and start to hoist her up onto the bed. Eren comes over to help, and after a few seconds of lift, Zuri is layer comfortably on the bed. I hesitate before setting the keys down. "I don't think I need to chain her." I say. 

    "Why would you not?!" Eren says. "You need to chain an evil person like her!" Mikasa and I both look at him in shock. "Eren," I say. "Everyone else said the exact same thing about you when you first discovered your Titan abilities. Do not become one who hates people like you." Eren lets out a surprised sound at me outsmarting him again, then he exhales dramatically through his nose.

    I look back to Zuri. Her dark brown hair is tossed messily around her head, and over her shoulders. It shines in the dying sunshine from the window. Her beautiful crystal eyes are closed, as she looks peaceful in her sleep. The girl I so deeply love is in agony from her feelings and her pain, and I do think it is actually possible that her being in pain puts me in twice as much as she is feeling. She had fought so hard to protect me all those years ago, and this is how I would repay her.

    But what about what she just said? I crushed her heart? Half her family died? None of what she had said had made any sense. Then it hits me.

The woman I had thought was Zuri was her mother being eaten by a Titan.

"Dear God." I say aloud. Mikasa and Eren both look at me, their eyes begging for an explanation. "Zuri's mother.. She was eaten. At Shiganshina." I say to them. Eren's eyes widen and look at the Zuri, who looks so peaceful laying on the bed, the chains and cuffs lying above her. "That little thing lost her mother?" He asks. A pang of anger runs through me at what I thought was an affectionate streak in his voice. It disappears when he looks at me. "And she acts like that?!" he yells.

    "She didn't only lose her Mother," I say. "She also lost her little brother, but I can't remember his name." I curse at myself for not knowing her lost family members name, but it had been so long since I had known even Zuri was alive. 

And now she was unconscious, angry at me.