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Eren couldn't feel his body. Before, he was so full of energy and adrenaline, but now there was none of that left, only the sharp pain of losing a leg. The blood dripping down his forehead told him that the fall wasn't good either.
His vision was blurry and in his ears, he could only hear that annoying ringing that resonated less loudly every second.
He didn't even need to see to know that his squad had been massacred.
Only he and Armin were left.
Armin...
His mind immediately traveled to that day, the day it all began, his dream of seeing the outside world, his ideal of the world, his hope for freedom.
The day Armin, his beloved Armin, showed him that book of the outside world.
Armin's eyes were so bright.
Much brighter than the sky itself.
Eren could feel free just by looking at them.
Slowly, Eren opened his eyes, the blood still staining under them.
Armin's screams had stopped, but that couldn't be, why had he...?
...
Where's Armin?
There was a titan, but Armin was gone.
Was he... Devoured?
There was no blood, and the titan looked ready to leave.
"Don't go..." Eren whispered, deep inside, he knew that Armin must be inside the titan.
Armin was strong, much stronger than he thought.
He wasn't dead.
"Don't move, you bastard!" Eren screamed in pain, his wounds were severe, bleeding.
Armin had to keep going...
Eren stood up painfully, as best he could without a leg.
"Give Armin back," Eren growled, but the titan ignored him as it moved away, taking Armin with it. "Give him back!"
Eren felt useless, without a leg it would be difficult to follow the titan even with the maneuvering gear, how could he be so stupid as to lose his leg in his first battle?
Was this how he planned to destroy all the Titans?
"Not Armin... Not him..."
He felt guilty for crying for Armin and not for his other comrades, but Armin was different.
"He still has to see the outside world!"
Eren screamed, jumping off the building and using the maneuvering gear to follow the titan, not caring to look around at the corpses and the blood.
Only Armin mattered.
He had to protect him, protect Armin's dream, and his freedom, and he failed. He failed because he was a fool who didn't think before acting. Thomas, Mina, Nac, and Mylius had all died, and he would avenge them, but he needed Armin first.
Because Armin was the hope of his world.
Because Armin was different.
"Armin!"
Eren exclaimed, and suddenly, he felt hot.
He remembers a deafening noise, similar to a cannon, and then heat, so much heat. And he closed his eyes.
Armin prided himself on his memory, it was sharp and he could remember things that many would have overlooked.
But he wished to forget this moment forever.
Feeling his body freeze before a titan, and that same titan lifting him between its fingers like a mere insect was terrifying. But the worst thing was falling down the titan's throat.
His scream was useless, nothing, and no one could save him.
It was the simple scream of a dead man.
And then he fell into the darkness of the titan's stomach.
It was hot and the liquid was viscous, he could feel his skin stinging with the contact of it. There was nothing around him but parts of dead soldiers, heads, arms, legs, and torsos, the aroma was putrid and disgusting, and it permeated Armin's clothes and skin with every movement of the titan.
It was horrible and Armin was terrified, was he going to die like this? Drowned in a sea of death? Or would he be digested until his body was completely unrecognizable?
Armin felt the tears fall from his cheeks, tears that he couldn't stop but that were as useless as he was. How could he fail them all like that? He was useless, a painful reminder that the world was cruel and he was not fit to survive in that world.
His eyes burned, the hot vapors from the titan's stomach and the putridity of the bodies made his eyes burn painfully.
That was when suddenly, everything turned over as if the titan had been thrown to the ground. Armin waved his arms desperately, trying his best to stay afloat on the gooey liquid, to keep breathing and not drown in the filth.
Suddenly, light.
A beam of light appeared above Armin, like when the curtains move enough to wake you from a nightmare.
But then, the beam slowly grew larger, and he could see fingers.
Giant fingers, tearing the titan's skin, opening his stomach like a wild animal.
Suddenly, the light of hope turned to terror.
Armin's body froze again, seeing the opening above his head light up and immediately be covered by a face, a green eye that scanned inside and stopped on him.
One...
Two...
Three seconds later, the titan returned to his task of opening the stomach with more enthusiasm, digging with his fingers until the stomach liquid gushed out.
The opening expanded enough for Armin to see the grey sky above the titan.
And as soon as he could, the titan held Armin with one hand.
Armin was so scared, his body froze and his mind shut down, he couldn't even scream, he couldn't cry, he couldn't reason.
He couldn't even understand why a titan would attack another for a human.
All he could see were the titan's green eyes, looking down at him, growling softly, almost like a purr, and holding him delicately in his hands.
When Armin finally managed to get out of his shock, the titan was holding him carefully in its hands, looking at him with something similar to affection, which should be impossible.
But probably everything is possible with Titans.
And that a titan saved him, seems to be something possible.