Titan's Bane

Prologue

Armin sat in the corner of the noisy mess hall, studying for tomorrow's test. He smiled as he watched his friends from over his book. Mikasa was fretting over Eren, Jean and Marco were laughing at Sasha and Connie, who had fallen over helping Sasha off the floor. Armin noticed Annie sitting at the other end of his table, watching everyone with her cold blue eyes, but Armin could swear she looked a little sad. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He stood up and opened his eyes to see Annie's hard gaze had fallen on him. We swallowed hard, intimidated by her piercing stare. He walked over to her. 

"H-hey Annie" he said. 

"Yes?" She asked, taking a sip of her drink. 

"How are you?" Armin asked, sitting down next to her. He could've swore he saw sorrow in her eyes. 

"What's it to you?" She replied. 

"I.....I'm just concerned" he said, loosing his nerve 

"y-you look kind of....sad". Annie slammed her fist on the table. 

"It's none of your damn business!" she snapped, and stormed out. Everyone stared silently at Armin, who sighed and left.

On his way back to the men's dorm, he spotted Annie sitting on a rock. He wanted to apologize, but he didn't know how to approach her. He saw some white flowers blooming in the field. He picked them, and expertly weaved them into a natural crown. "it's worth a shot" he thought. "Hey A-Annie" Armin said, climbing onto the tall rock with slight difficulty. "Look....I-I'm sorry" he stammered, sitting down next to her "f-for upsetting you". He placed the circlet gently upon her head. "pl-please don't be mad".

Annie looked him in the eyes, causing him to lose what little nerve he had left. "It's okay Armin" she said looking down at the ground "I shouldn't have overreacted. "who are you and what have you done with Annie" Armin thought. He found himself staring at her. He shifted awkwardly, not knowing how to put this. "Y-you know" he said "those flowers look really good on you". He could see that, for once, she had been caught off guard. A touch of pink spread across her face, but she played it cool. "You really are pretty" Armin said, his confidence returning "Annie Leonhardt". "T-thank you" she stuttered, pulling him awkwardly into a hug "Armin Arlert". Armin was surprised at Annie, and a little embarrassed due to his height. With that she jumped off and started to walk away. She stopped and turned back to look at him, it seemed like she wanted to say something. Armin's eyes widened, this was the only time he had ever seen her smile. "You know" she said "your not bad looking, yourself". Armin smiled and she continued back to her dorm.

Armin slowly gained consciousness. When he finally awoke, he stretched and sat up. "just a dream" he thought "more like a flashback". It had been a year since Annie was captured and Eren was tried. Eren's case pled innocent because of all the eyewitness accounts of him defeating the female titan. Mikasa, Jean, Connie, Sasha, and himself had been stationed at the castle with Eren, under Captain Levi's authority of course. Armin yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Sleep well?" Eren asked from his bed across the room. "Y-yeah" Armin yawned. "Soooo" Connie said hanging off the foot of his bed "what were ya dreaming about?". Armin made a noise of confusion. "You were mumbling in your sleep" Eren said "but no one could tell what you were saying". "But it WAS keeping us up" Jean snapped, still laying his bed. Armin got up, dressed, and went downstairs for breakfast. The days had been relaxing for him, he was only here under Levi's orders and right now he was focused on Eren. Thanks to his dream, Armin kept thinking back to that night at the academy. He was walking down one of the castles wide hallways, when he realised that his legs were taking him to the underground corridor. He passed Zoë on the stairs leading underground. She seemed distant, like she had something on her mind.

Though Annie's cell was deep underground, Armin got there quickly. The guard was generous, and let Armin in. He sat with his back against her prison of crystal. He sighed and closed his eyes, this was the first time he had seen her in a year. "I drempt about that night at the academy" Armin said "the night I put the circlet of flowers on your head and made you smile". Armin's face grew red. "I haven't thought about you in a year, but now I see how much I've missed you". He paused "I think everyone misses you". Armin sat in silence for a while. Armin didn't know how much time had passed, he wished she could talk to him. "I'll come back to see you again tomorrow" he said standing "Annie".