#arminweek

I can't remember my dreams...

Arminweek day 7: dreams

Day 1: Midnight

Little Armin woke up to loud banging. For a moment, he feared there was a titan somewhere. He had had nightmares about them lately. However, then he reminded himself that it was impossible; the walls were protecting humanity. Someone must just be at the door.

“Mom and dad are out” he remembered “I should get the door.”

His grandfather was home and watching over him of course, but he’d been working all day and must’ve been really tired. If possible, Armin didn’t want him to wake up in the middle of the night.

But of course, the loud banging had already woken the old man up. In truth, Armin was slightly relieved, for this was scary. Why would someone be at their door in the middle of the night?

“Grandpa, what’s happening?”

“We’ll see” the old man replied, patting Armin reassuringly on the head “But first we need to open the door.”

The man went to go do just that, and Armin was right behind him. After the door opened, the soldiers behind it stormed in without permission or changing any pleasantries.

“What is the meaning of this?” Armin’s grandfather asked firmly, but didn’t raise his voice, knowing it would be dangerous to anger the soldiers. Armin clung to the man’s sleeve, frightened.

“Mr. and Mrs. Arlert have been found guilty of the heavy crime of trying to investigate the outside world” the final soldier who came in last said “We are conducting a search to see if there is any forbidden material here.”

There was, Armin knew. He knew his grandfather’s book about the ocean was illegal… but maybe they wouldn’t find it? Armin had taken it without a permission again and hid it at the bottom of his toybox, maybe they wouldn’t look there?

“Investigate the outside world? How?” the older Mr. Arlert asked, and Armin found himself curious as well “Where are my son and his wife?”

“They won’t be returning” Armin didn’t like the sound of that. What did it even mean? Had they gotten to the outside world and were unable to come back? Or were they not allowed to? Going outside was illegal unless you were a scout after all…

“Stay there until we complete the search” the soldier told them. They complied, and once he was a little further away, Armin asked: “Why aren’t mom and dad coming home anymore? Did they go to outside world?”

“Later, Armin. Later” his grandfather said with hushed voice. They stood there for quite a while until they heard a soldier call out: “I found something!”

A soldier came over with a book, Armin could tell it was the one about the animals of the outside world that he had sometimes snuck looks at. He knew it was an illegal book. Were him and his grandfather in trouble now?

“Did you know something like this was in the house?” the soldier in charge asked his grandfather.

“No, I did not” it was a lie, Armin knew, but he didn’t call his grandfather out on it. The soldier stared at the old man for a while longer before leaving it at that. Apparently, he believed him.

When the soldiers finally left, they took with them a handful of books, all that Armin’s grandfather denied ever seeing, and some of his parents’ notes. The old man headed for the office, Armin right behind him. The place was a mess, the soldiers having looked for evidence of crime and found it.

“Grandpa, are we in trouble?” Armin asked, but to his surprise, the man shook his head.

“No” he said “But your parents won’t be coming home from the outside world.”

That’s what the soldiers had said, and Armin felt conflicted. He was glad that his parents had gotten to the outside world, the place they had always wanted to go to and talked about in hushed whispers, but he wished they’d come back at some point to take him along.

“But I can follow after them when I grow” Armin told himself. Maybe his grandfather could come too.

“Grandpa?” he asked as he suddenly noticed the man crying “Are you sad?”

“Yes, a little” the man admitted. Armin frowned, but then got an idea. The book about ocean, icy plains and burning sand hadn’t been in the soldier’s pile.

It was still in his toy box.

“Wait just a moment, grandpa!” he said cheerfully, running to his room and soon returning with the book. With a smile, he presented it to the man “We still have this!”

The old man looked at the book in surprise.

“How did they miss this?” he asked, but the gears were already turning in his head “Armin, did you take this without permission?”

Armin looked down, realizing that he may be in trouble now.

“…Yes” he confessed “I’m sorry.”

With a sad smile, his grandfather patted his head.

“Don’t be” he said “But Armin, this is an illegal book. No one must know we have it. Understand?”

“Yes” he said. He knew the soldiers would get mad if they knew.

“Good” the old man yawned “Now go put this back to where you keep it and go back to sleep. We’ll clean this up tomorrow.”

“Okay!” Armin said, happily returning to his room.

Armin Tribute Week || [1] Reflection

ARMIN TRIBUTE WEEK: JUNE 24 - 30, 2018

Rules ○ Q&A

You guys voted for your favorite prompts, now here are the results!

Day 1: Reflection

Day 2: Growth 

Day 3: Reincarnation

Day 4: Adventure

Day 5: Haircut

Day 6: Love

Day 7: Happiness

To celebrate the week, each day is given a prompt where participants can upload/submit their AMVs, cosplays, fanfics, fanarts, graphics, gifs, metas, or any creative medium on Tumblr. Everyone is free to play around with the themes, so long as they somehow relate to the topic.

Remember to place one of the following tags on your post so that we can track your work:

#arminweek #armintributeweek #arminarlertweek

You can even tag the blog directly to ensure that we see it. Late submissions are accepted. 

“Look at you two.” Mikasa was covering her mouth with her scarf as she said it, failing to hide her amused smile. “Did you plan this, or do you just match your wardrobe on accident?” She was looking Armin up and down, then measured Eren the same way - smile fixed. “You’re too much...”

“I don’t get it, “ Eren waved her off. “What’s so extra about a plain shirt?”