Armin wanted the conversation to end right there, to go back to the silence that he sought for escape. For once, he wanted to be oblivious but he knew that wasn't possible. Being weak in knowledge was the same as being weak in strength, and he could never let himself willingly succumb to such a fault. So he pushed on, fearing the answer he sought. "He said... he used to be normal."
They say there's nothing worse than your best friend being best friends with someone else.
One way or another they had both ended up at the same place. Chapter Three: Jean realizes that not everyone was as well off as he was. One-Shot Collection.
"Don't tell me you've loaded yourself with another ghost story." Jean smiled as he said it, but in all honesty he hoped not. Even though he knew he wasn't going back to sleep again tonight, there was no reason he needed to prepare nightmares for the next one. "I can't just make up legends, Jean." Armin actually sounded offended, as if he truly believed the story he'd told earlier.
"I'm so sorry, Jean..." Jean doesn't know how to reply. He doesn't really want to. All he can think of right now, and all he's been able to think about for the last few days, is how he could have prevented this; how he could have been less of an idiot. All he had wanted to do was be a hero.
Usually, on Halloween, Annie Leonhart locks herself in the basement with a good book and a pair of headphones so that she can avoid the noise of any trick-or-treaters that come to the door. But after Armin offers to come over and help with the shelling out, she may just have to change her tradition. Modern AU. Fluff.
Jean was only one page into the journal he had just received from Armin, but he had already come to the conclusion that this was not the detail log for their next mission. It was a diary. Armin's diary. ...Just what was he supposed to do with it?
Jean held many qualities of a great leader. Sadly, none of those included directions.
He decided he wanted to wake up. He wanted to find Jean, to make sure he was alright; make sure there were no tears. Because he knew that regardless of what had happened today, even if they won, that Jean would not rest well with the results. Chapter 58/59 Alternate End.
She was the last remaining unknown in the world.
It was never the pain, or the memories, that kept her up at night. It was always the hunger.
The first time Jean got to sleep in Armin's bed was one of the best moments of his life. Or at least, it should have been.
On days like these, where the sky was grey and the ground was wet, Jean had no way to describe the weather other than "really shitty." Rainy days meant being stuck indoors with people hoping to use you to relieve their boredom; it was the reason why Jean preferred to go outside. It seemed that today though he wasn't the only person interested in walking in the rain.
"Don't you think the stars are mean sometimes? They float above us, taunting us with a beauty always out of reach. It's just like the outside of the walls." Armin remembers the words clearly, recalling that night when they had just been innocent kids under the stars. On nights like these, it was all he could think about.
To say that the events of the previous mission had no effect on Armin would be deceitful, to say that he was no longer thinking about it would be an outright lie. His mind was always active; a mix of interconnected strings. This time, they all seemed to lead back to the same memory, and the accompanying feeling of shame. Takes place post chapter 53.