In Love With A Monster (Armin X Annie)

~Chapter Four~

Armin laid back in bed, he was wide awake from all the adrenaline that had rushed through his body. It had been over an hour since everything happened. All the boys were still asleep, even Eren had drifted back into a slumber. Armin just stared at the ceiling. His mind was so filled, he was torn between his beliefs and listening to his friends, the people who would only want the best for him. There would only be about half an hour until the bells outside rang for everyone to wake up and get ready.

"Armin!" A whisper called out from across the room. Armin propped himself onto his elbows and looked around at who called out to him, it was Bertholdt.

"What happened earlier?" He questioned.

Armin shook his head, he didn't want to trouble Bertholdt and embarrass himself further. Armin knew that Bertholdt admired Annie, wether he liked her romantically or appreciated her talent in combat, he never knew. He never saw the two talk often, Annie never talked to many people regularly, but he had seen Bertholdt stare as she would pass by, Reiner would tease him every single time and Bertholdts face would go crimson. Sometimes Armin would feel a pit in his stomach, knowing he wasn't the only one who admired Annie and there were others who saw her the way he did too. Armin never even admitted his true feelings to himself, even though everyone else could clearly see it. He always told himself he had a certain admiration for Annie, that they had a connection and he always felt guilt for turning on her the way he did. He loved speaking to Annie though, he thought about her often and liked to visit her. He liked to think that she could hear him read to her, like they used to read back when they were cadets. Sometimes when Armin was visiting her, Bertholdt would already be there, Reiner accompanied him often too but there were times where it was just him.

"It was just a nightmare Bertholdt, I have them often..." Armin shrugged

"What happened? You yelled Annie's name pretty loudly and dashed out the door, where did you go?" Bertholdt asked again, he was never usually this talkative.

Armin sighed, his cheeks were going red from embarrassment. Not only would all the boys be talking about this tomorrow but since Jean had to fetch Mikasa, the girls would have heard about it too. The realisation was sinking in of what he did.

"I don't really want to talk about it, I'm sorry." He huffed, Armin brought his pillow to his chest and hugged it tightly.

Bertholdt was about to reply when the sounds of soldiers could be heard outside. It was usual for others to be awake before the newer recruits but it wasn't usual for them to be running around in a panic and screaming like they were. Armin and Bertholdt both got to their feet and rushed to the window to see multiple scouts in a fret. Some were gathering horses to leave and some were going around to alert others. At the moment there was only a small group of them but soon everyone would be on their feet. Erwin could be seen in the courtyard, a soldier approached him quickly.

"She's escaped sir, the female Titan has escaped!" The scout yelled, both the boys heard it from their room.

Armin and Bertholdt both froze up. Annie was now loose, and it was Armins fault. If anyone found out he could be found guilty of treason and possibly executed. They would think he was working with Annie.

Bertholdt quickly rushed to go and wake Reiner up but Armin grabbed his arm with force before he could. "Don't. If we wake them, they'll wake everyone else, they'll find and execute Annie... you don't want that, do you?" Armins heart was taking over his head once again. She could be rampant, hurt someone, but Armin wanted her to get a head start at least, let her escape this place and never come back and he knew Bertholdt would feel the same way.

Bertholdt was shocked at first, he contemplated arguing against Armin but at the end of the day, he wanted Annie safe as much as Armin did and he complied. Bertholdt nodded, got back into bed and pretended as if he was asleep while armin got his gear on as quickly as he could. He grabbed his cape and pulled the hood over his head so when he left early on his horse, no one would notice him. Armin left and ran down to the stables to grab his horse, all the scouts were beginning to be woken, Armin saw the shutters on both of the girls and boys rooms open as they were both woken to help the search for Annie. It was only a matter of time until his head start was useless. He grabbed the horse from the stables and left with no one seeing his face.

Currently they were stationed in Stohess, the original region where Annie was captured. If Armin knew Annie, he would know that she would instantly want to get in the open, where no one could pin her down. The reason she was easily captured in Stohess was because she was enclosed, she was smarter than to try and escape in her Titan form there. So armin headed out the gate of Stohess and made his way through to wall Rose.

He headed out the gate and searched for hours on end, he searched all day and nearly into the evening. Armin hadn't eaten yet and given the situation last night, he had barely slept either. Armin had searched the full area from Stohess to Hermina. He checked through villages and through forests, he checked the full area for hours on end, looking some places twice. His stomach was growling and he felt as if he was about to pass out from the lack of energy in him. He even truly believed he was imagining when someone called out his name, but when he lifted his head he saw a squad on horseback coming his way. It was Eren, Reiner, Sasha and Connie.

"Where the hell have you been?" Reiner called out as they all approached him.

"I was up early, so I decided to get a head start searching for her. If I waited for everyone else to wake up she would have been too far gone!" Armin replied, he was almost unable to get his words out he was so tired.

"You look dead." Connie said bluntly, the comment was quickly followed by a hit in the arm from Sasha. She reached into the satchel by her side and pulled out a piece of bread, which she split, obviously and offered to Armin. He graciously took and ate it, his stomach satisfied.

"The search will continue, but it's almost night and we have been out all day, let's go and get some sleep." Eren suggested but Armin didn't want to stop, Armin protested and shook his head. Armin tried to hop off his horse and onto his feet but his feet crumbled beneath him as soon as he hit the ground.

"If we wait, she'll get farther away." Armin replied, trying to get back to his feet.

Eren helped him back to his feet and then back onto his horse. "The search will continue through the night, there will be a smaller group going out and searching for her. We can do much with tired brains."

As much as Armin wanted to protest, he was too exhausted to argue, he would search better tomorrow after a full night of rest. Anyways, even if they did find Annie, he wasn't alone now and they would easily take her back into custody of the scouts.

When Eren and Armin were returning their horses to the stables, Eren pulled Armin aside for a moment so no one could hear their conversation.

"I spoke to Mikasa, she's not going to tell anyone you were at Annie's cellar last night, neither am I. You know what would happen if they knew."

Armin nodded, he already knew they'd try him for treason if they knew. The could be blamed for the probable downfall of humanity.

Armin simply nodded as a response, his mouth too tired to move.

Eren and Armin returned to their rooms where Armin slumped onto his bed, he was instantly asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

And when he opened his eyes, he was back in the meadow once more.