Attack on Titan: Beyond Canon

Horizon | Armin x Reader

"I've never seen Sasha look so happy," Armin keeps his laugh quiet as you and he weave your way through the last of the trees on the hilltop. "She looked like she was going to pass out with joy." Despite his efforts to contain his laughter, he's still grinning, his soft blue eyes glimmering in the light that peeks through the gap in the trees.

"Course she did," your chuckle is low as well. "We just told her she could have our portions of soup if she managed to get us some extra bread to take with us. As exchanges go, she's coming out of this all right. I'm just glad she was willing to cover for us," you continue, your breathing coming out in pants from your trek. You glance behind you. The training compound is shrouded by the trees.

"Yeah she's pretty great," Armin smiles. "I can't imagine she feels that loyal to the Commandant's rules though considering that she's still on limited food privileges."

The two of you finally walk out of the woodland, onto a cliff overlooking an enormous lake, shining amber and gold under the horizon of sunset. The sun is halfway disappearing behind the mountains beyond the lake. The air is warm against your already heated body from the climb. The pair of you move closer to the edge and sit yourselves down with your food packs and water cannisters.

"Wow," you breathe, taking in the streaks of gold and orange overlapping over pale pink clouds that suggest a bright day tomorrow. The same kind of sunset as that day. You swallow back a wave of intense emotion as pain awakens in your chest. Your breathing hitches. For a moment you're back there again, watching that demonic red face staring over the wall, dead expression in its eyes.

You hear your name being whispered and when you side-eye Armin, he's frowning gently at you, one of his hands hovering over your shoulder. "You okay?"

You nod, even though it's a lie and return your eyes to the sunset. You should look away so you can stop feeling like this; the way you've been doing at sunset for the past two years. Never looking at the horizon for too long because you're afraid of what you might see.

"Sorry," you find your voice after a number of seconds have gone by, "but it's the first sunset I've really looked at since Shiganshina."

"It's okay," Armin assures you. "I get it. It was beautiful that day, wasn't it?"

You nod again. "It shouldn't be beautiful now. Not after everything we've lost, but it is. It's not fair."

Armin leaned back, hands planted on the ground with a soft sigh. "No, but I think that's a good thing."

"What do you mean?"

"If the world looked as bleak as it is, all the time, then no one would ever want to do anything," Armin mused, drawing your attention to him again. "No one would be inspired to keep trying for better things," he continued. You watch the way the colours of sunset pass over his face, lighting up his eyes like candles. His golden hair shone under the light and you reach up to touch it. You stop yourself before he can notice and quickly turn away from him. Don't be stupid.

How can he think like that, at our age? You wonder. How can he be this wise, this objective, when he's lost so much too?

In the floating wispy pink clouds, you think you can see them - the faces of your mother and sister as they were stopped from boarding the ferry, as they watched you being taken to safety away from them. You avert your eyes again.

"I can't think like that," you whisper, bringing your knees to your chest and hugging them. "It hurts to look at this," you confess. "Everything hurts. Training hurts. I'm so weak. Sometimes I think that someone like me shouldn't be wasting the military's time."

"You're not the only one who thinks like that," Armin pauses only for a short time before he speaks. As you look at him again, he offers you a comforting smile. "I'm not exactly cut out for all the physical stuff either," he muses. "I'm not as driven as Eren or as strong as Mikasa."