In Love With A Monster (Armin X Annie)

~Chapter Ten~

//disclaimer: the time period we are in as of current would line up with season 3. Historia's identity has just been revealed, the whole Rod Reiss situation just happened. We are now mid way through season 3.

Armin woke up in a cold sweat the next day, he found himself alone in the bed — after the recent events of the previous week it seemed his nightmares had returned. The week before had been a stressful one for sure, it was tougher than anything he had faced before. The image of him pulling the trigger on that woman still haunted him, it had only been a few days since it happened and it was still fresh in his mind. He remembered these bandits chasing after them, trying to get their hands on Eren and Christa — well Historia, as Armin had recently discovered — one of them were about to pull the trigger on Jean but Armin stepped in, and finished it first. A shiver went down his spine and Armin was pulled back into cruel reality, every moment he recalled the incident made him feel more disgusted and guilt ridden. He never told anyone where he was going when he left, he never even acknowledged anyone on his way out of the door, the events of that week shook him to his core and it wasn't only his murder that made him want to leave, it realisation and the pressure of everything that was unfolding before his eyes.

Armin could hear the sounds of loud grunts and grumbles coming from outside, he stood to his feet and looked out the window to spot Annie practicing combat. Armin knew she still trained, sometimes he caught her finishing up when he came to visit, it had been a while since he properly saw her in action or saw her spar against anyone but she still amazed him every time with her movements and her control. He was truly was in awe of her. Armin got dressed into the casual clothes he brought and packed his scout uniform away for a later date because as much as Annie was trying to persuade him that he would have changed his mind by the morning, Armin knew she would be wrong.

He made his way outside and took a piece of bread with him. Luckily, Annie had just finished up and he found her sat on the ground trying to catch her breath.

"Morning." Armin smiled as he passed her the bread.

Annie looked up at him, she was truly glad that he was here, as much as she pushed him to leave. She was happy that she could wake up and not be alone for once. "Sleep well?"

Armin chuckled and joined her sitting on the grassy ground, "Like a baby."

They sat in silence for a moment, neither of them wanted to bring up the fact they were cuddled up last night — neither of them wanted to make it awkward. Armin was distraught and affection was all he needed, they would both agree it an in-the-moment sort of move. They just sat and watched as the sun rose for a few minutes, it was still early in the morning and no one else had woken yet. The sky was a beautiful orange into yellow and neither of the could tear their eyes away.

"So beautiful..." Armin spoke, he was looking at the sunrise but he wasn't speaking about the sunrise.

Annie just nodded in response, "Yeah... it is."

"Um, what is there to do today? I should start pulling my weight if I'm going to live here." Armin thought about that on his way over to the village yesterday, and he was fine with it. A quiet life in a small village where he could live a peaceful existence, it sounded like music to his ears, the work would also help distract him from his troubles.

"You're really staying?" Annie asked, she thought for certain that by the time he got his head on straight that he would want to go back, realise his worth with the scouts. She knew that in a matter of days, once they realised he wasn't coming back, they'd send out multiple searches to find him, that's how valuable he was to them.

"Annie, please..." He looked over at her with a tired expression, the last thing he wanted was another debate about him staying, he knew his decision.