Violets (Mikannie)

23 - Reunion Redux

K so this was initially 2 chapters but I didn't know how to make them long enough so I combined them into one long chapter. For the record, I do not condone breaking and entering, I just needed to progress the story.

Also, thank you all for your comments! I love reading them, they really make my day.
---

On the other side of the door, sitting in a hospital bed, was the same boy Annie had trained with. The same boy she had travelled to Paradis with, the one who had adopted a persona that he had begun to confuse with reality. Annie hardly recognised him, and she wasn't sure he recognised her, either. Mind you, he couldn't really see her from where she was standing.

"Hello," Armin said. "I'm probably the last person you want to see, but I promise I'm not here to hurt or mock you."

It took Reiner a moment, but then he realised who Armin was, and in a split second he was out of bed and holding him at the end of a disposable plastic knife.

"What are you doing here?" He asked. He seemed genuinely scared of Armin, and Annie wondered what the hell could have happened for him to be scared of some twink.

"Bertholt sent me," he answered. "I'm not joking. He wanted to get you out of here but got taken in by the police."

"Bertholt?" Reiner lowered the knife. "He's alive? He isn't..?"

Armin nodded. "He's alive, and he remembers."

Reiner turned away, a smile on his face. "I knew it. I knew I wasn't mad!"

At this moment, Annie could no longer stay in the shadows.

"Hey," she said, stepping out so that Reiner could see her.

He stared at her, with disbelieving eyes. Then a smile.

"You're alive too?" He said. Before she knew it, he had enveloped her in a hug and was laughing while also crying. Normally, Annie hated sudden hugs, but this time she accepted it.

"Yep, finally woke up," she said, trying to hold back tears. Ew. She hated when her voice got all shaky.

From over Reiner's shoulder, she could see Armin make a slashing gesture across himself. It was the gesture that meant stop talking. She furrowed her brows in confusion.

"What do you mean, "woke up?"" Reiner asked, confused.

Annie leaned out of the hug. "From the crystal..?"

Reiner looked even more confused. "Didn't you die? He said they were torturing you..."

Both Reiner and Annie looked towards Armin, who had a guilty look on his face.

"I guess I should tell you now that the whole torture thing was a bluff," he said, sheepishly.

"The what thing," Annie asked, back to her usual flat tone.

Armin cringed and pushed his hair back. "I might have told Bert and Reiner that we were torturing you to distract them so we could get Eren back."

An awkward silence settled over the room. Nobody knew how to respond.

"So, what are you guys doing here anyway?" Reiner said, trying to change the topic.

"He already told you," Annie said. "Bertholt sent him to get you out of here so that the two of you can be reunited."

"Well, why didn't he just - I don't know - visit me?"

"I think he tried. But he'd ran away from home, so after the police caught him he had to go back home."