Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It only went to hell when Levi left. Before it was just a series of misfortunate events (unless of course, you were the right person). A few prisoners getting sick from some virus, then violently attacking and clawing at everything in their way. It was strange, horrifying, a sign of the end times. The guards who had to handle the prisoners were soon infected as well. The entire complex collapsed in a matter of weeks, leaving everyone to their own devices in the middle of an Arizona desert.

A lot of prisoners made a run for it, their lucky break. Grabbing what transport vans they could and driving as far as the gas would take them. Others went mad, assuming it was simply their time and killed themselves. Some held up in their cells and towers and waited for it to be over. The rest were infected. 

Armin marked another day on the calendar, October 23rd, it had been five months since what could only be called the apocalypse started, and two months since Levi had left.

Armin’s room used to be an old office in the admin building. There was a single window that looked out on a courtyard surrounded by a barbed wire fence. A little bit beyond was a large concrete one, but he couldn’t see it from here. He had a solid desk and natural light, which was enough for him. His bed was stolen from one of the better cells and pushed into the corner, he’d sleep with it against the door to stop anyone from bothering him in the middle of the night. The keys to his office had been stolen long ago.

Armin left the room, stopping by to see his reflection in a pictureless frame. His blonde hair was down to his jaw, even with it pulled back he still had enough flyaways it hardly made a difference. He’d somehow managed to keep the roundness in his cheeks, an impressive feat considering everyone’s access to food had tanked. 

They had taken over the main building and made it their safe house. The courtyard was also free of the roaming “dead’ as well. Other buildings and parts of the prison were locked off, self imposed by the survivors in order to not lose another person. A lot of the zombies were corralled into cells and locked in, leaving them to gnash their teeth and break a lot of bones trying to get out. Armin hadn’t been there, he knew he didn’t have the stomach, but the sound as he stood outside and guarded the door was etched into his ears. A gun rattling in his shaking hands, wearing as many layers of clothes he could find. 

Really, he was lucky to be in the position he was in today. He was always glad to still be alive. He had people he could tentatively trust, he had a room he could sleep in and barricade, he had Eren. 

Armin didn’t dawdle in the hallways, and quickly made his way down the various walkways to the main area. This was the building with the library in it, where they held classes about plumbing and soldering, where all the once big wig officials kept their weapons and better items away from the riffraff. It was almost the ideal place to stay during a world ending event. 

Their main area was the lobby, where they’d moved around chairs and bookshelves to make it appear even more like a fortress with a meeting area and a place to eat. The cafeteria was compromised a while ago, its proximity and easy access making it easy to break into. They’d gone in after and grabbed what they could, and when Connie was desperate he would suggest going back to see what else they could find. 

Connie was there now, stirring a pot of something above some lit chafing gel. It smelled fine, but having eaten stale goods for months and years of prison food before that, Armin’s definition of good food had long since distorted.

Apart from Levi’s sense of calm during the chaotic first month of living, Connie was probably the only reason everyone was able to work together. While everyone could probably have found a way to stay alive on their own, he was the only one who endeavored to make food for everyone, allowing them to meet regularly, and actually get to know each other instead of leaving everyone to their own devices. 

“Hey, Armin.” Connie greeted him. “I have oatmeal ready for whoever wants it.” Ah so that’s what the smell was. “We still have some sugar so I added that. I’m scared it’s going to go bad so I might have used a little more than I should. It’s pretty sweet.”

“Sugar has an almost indefinite shelf life.” Armin responded.

“Huh.” Connie shrugged. “Then we get a sweet treat for the morning.”

The door that led to the offices swung shut. “Leave it up to Armin to know how long we’re going to last here.” Jean had been listening in. “Just let him do the cooking. I’m sure he’d do it as efficiently as possible.” 

Connie’s friend, Jean, who had also been a guard before everything collapsed, also played a huge role in getting people together. He and Levi were both natural leaders, and Jean took up the mantle of scheduling watches, mandating everyone having another person with them for the first month, and making sure everyone was accounted for. Things that Levi hadn’t really cared about, the cold man was much more focused on getting the zombies outside, and the people inside. 

Jean was a rude, but personable guy. He and Eren didn’t get along but Armin hadn’t really minded him, even before all hell broke loose. 

“Yeah sure, I’ll let Armin do all this.” Connie gestured at the loose buckets of water and bin of open oats. “Your first job is to clean all this up. And then organize everything by how soon they’re going to go bad. And then-”

“Haha.” Armin laughed at his friend’s suggestion. “I think I’ll just leave it to you.” He grabbed one of the plastic bowls from a small stack on the ground. “Sorting everything doesn’t sound like a bad idea.” He let Connie scoop him a portion of gray looking goo. “We only have the long lasting shelf ingredients left. But some of them will go quicker than others. It would be worth it to take some time to do that.”

“Great. Then I’m recruiting you for the rest of the day.” 

“That’s reasonable, I think.” Armin took a bite of the oatmeal. It was indeed sweeter than usual, so much so he almost thought it tasted bad. He grimaced and swallowed it. The sugar certainly made it more palatable than usual. It could easily be turned into some kind of glue if they didn’t eat it all. The fridges had all busted a while ago, so they had to eat everything as soon as possible. Armin shuddered recalling how they dug pits into the desert floor to bury what food they had to keep cool. Levi was a son of a bitch for making them work so much, but having something to do made Armin feel sane. He was sure that was at least some of the man’s intention, as well as making their frozen peas last longer before the generators burnt out and they lost all power. 

As he ate, a Reiner, Bertholdt, and Ymir came into the main area. The first two were always seen together. Reiner, from what Armin was told, had been in prison since he was eighteen. Coming in straight from juvie, something about pushing a friend off a bridge and into a freeway during a fight. Despite his muscles and hard demeanor, the man was friendly, and got along well with whoever he could. Armin wouldn’t consider him a friend even after all this time, but he could trust him, which was worth a lot these days.

Bertholdt was always seen by Reiner’s side. They used to be cellmates. He didn’t talk much but he was willing to do the work that needed to be done when asked. He didn’t complain when he was handed a gun and tasked with going outside and shooting ‘every damned fucker you see.’. His careful nature also allowed him to leave a situation sooner than most. Armin could almost hear Eren calling him a coward, but he found it admirable. Knowing when to leave was the reason most of them were still alive. Running into the thick of danger was the first thing Levi had beaten out of them. 

“Something smells like candy.” Ymir walked straight to the pot and served herself some of the food. “Ooh, finally something sweet. I’ve been missing this shit.” She used her finger to swipe some from her bowl and taste it. “Aw, shame it still tastes like you made it.” She tapped Connie with her foot as he scowled up at her. “Hey, relax buddy, it’s a joke.”

“Yeah, I'm laughing.” Connie gave Reiner and Bertholdt their food, both quietly thanking them and eating. 

Armin got along with Ymir the least. In his mind her most redeeming qualities were her knowledge, and her ability to get along with Eren. Armin didn’t know how she ended up with a life sentence and she never clarified when anyone asked. At the very beginning she had taken one of the vans and tried to drive as far away as she could. But she’d turned around halfway as soon as it became clear that this disease wasn’t just in their little circle of hell. The rest of humanity seemed to be infected as well, and it was clear she wasn’t going to get very far on her own. She’d shared most of the news about the outside with them, the few stores or houses she had passed that looked like they had been torn abandoned. The insides stripped of anything valuable. It made sense, don’t build anything meaningful around a maximum security prison, but now it was the reason most of them were still there. This place was as good as any to survive in, waiting to see if anything would happen. 

Ymir had stayed in the outside world for almost two weeks before coming back and warning anyone who hadn’t left yet to stay. Armin remembered the rush to get out, and then the slow trickle of people who’d tried to make living in the compound work. Thomas, Floch, Bruce, Marco, they’d put in the work but they couldn't stay trapped in what felt like a shortened life sentence. Armin tried not to wonder about them, he didn’t care if they lived or died. 

He finished his meal, sucking the last of it off his metallic tasting spoon. Around him Jean was pulling out some of the repair manuals and handing them off to Reiner. Jean had some dream that they could repair the generators. They’d run off of solar but had stopped working a few months back. Reiner had been in and out of the trade’s training programs; his knowledge about how to fix a lot of the broken things they’d found was one of the reasons Armin hoped he’d never leave.

Armin dropped his things off in the bucket Connie had labeled as the dirty supplies. “I’ll come back and organize everything around noon.” He promised. 

“Where are you going?” Connie asked. 

“Do you have to ask?” Ymir snorted. “Tell Eren I said hi.”

Armin didn’t respond to any of them, letting the door shut behind him do all the work. 

The admin building they called their place of residence didn’t have any cells connected to it. A single hallway connected to one of the walls, and you could walk across to other compounds, the first being the only one they still had access to. 

He unlocked the door, Jean and him were the only ones with the master keys. He didn’t know how Levi found them, but they were the only people he trusted enough to hand them over too. 

Armin entered onto a second floor, immediately overlooking a railing and seeing the layers of cells below. He heard some shouting and crying, the echo’s reverberating off the stone walls and into the flat open space. Unlike the movies, zombies could talk. And they talked a lot. 

He was unlucky enough to witness someone turn. It wasn’t quick, or even as obvious as he’d thought. Luke, who had been Armin’s cellmate, had been infected, probably around the very beginning. When everyone else still thought it was just a bout of bad food poisoning. Luke had had a lot of mood swings, staying up late pacing around the room, or sleeping for hours and hours, not even roused by the guards almost pulling him out of bed. He vomited, shit, sweated, cried involuntarily, like his body had been trying to purge itself of whatever had gotten inside of him. During that time Armin hardly ever got out of his bunk, trying not to even look at him because he was scared of catching whatever bug he’d ingested.

Luke started talking to people who weren’t there. He would hallucinate things and get mad when they didn’t respond to him. He’d stayed in bed so long once when he got out his legs shook and he immediately fell to the ground. All the time yelling at his imaginary person to help him up. Any attempt Armin made to reason with him was met with incoherent babbling. Like he was an old man who had long since lost his mind. All his words were there, but he just couldn’t string them together. 

It was when he fell that they finally took him and made him stay in the infirmary. Armin didn’t even rejoice in his absence and steal his blanket, pilfer his food, or look through his stuff. He was terrified of whatever had happened to Luke. 

Apparently his experience wasn’t a solo one. Many other prisoners had gone ‘insane’ and some of them were much more violent. Attacking people who tried to get them to sit down, or spitting at anyone who told them they were seeing things. He was told they were unnaturally strong for their weakened, sickly state. Easily breaking metacarpals and leaving bruises with every hit. 

It was thought to be a poisoning, delirium as a response to the body's natural intoxication fighting whatever disease was being spread. But as soon as the first guard was killed by one of them, things changed. Like a switch was flipped, all of the diseased started fighting, violently and with reckless abandon. It wasn’t a revolt, it wasn’t something planned, it was like everyone had lost their minds, and was just intent on hurting or killing anyone in their way. It wasn’t until they were killed or dismembered that they would stop. They all talked, screamed, and shouted. And then when they finally stopped, or couldn’t make noise they would still gurgle, rasp, and cough. They all seemed to still be intelligent, like they had some goal with all their violence. 

Maybe they weren’t picture perfect zombies, but that was the closest thing the survivors could call them. From what Armin could tell, they didn’t hunger for brains, and they certainly weren’t the Walking Dead . To his observations most of them still had pulses, bled, and felt hunger. But their rapid deterioration of motor functions and reasoning led them to become mindless beings who smelled like rot and decay. Some of the ones that they corralled into cells and locked in there had begun to eat each other after fighting to the death, but that was a story Eren had told him. Armin hoped it was fake. 

Speaking of Eren, Armin squinted to try and make out his shape in the building. There weren’t many corners one could hide away in here. “Eren?” He called out, his sharp voice cutting through the shrieks of the might-as-well-be-Undead. 

“Armin.” Eren’s voice was right next to him. Causing Armin to jump back, his heart beating all the way into his throat.

“Jesus Christ, Eren!” He gasped. “Don’t- Don’t scare me like that.” He composed himself, taking a deep breath. “You know I can’t deal with being snuck up on, not these days.”

“Sorry.”

Armin watched as his best friend walked out of the shadows and into the light shed from the door he’d left open. The blue sky peaking into the cellblock. He grabbed Eren’s hand, it was dry, but still the same warmth he was used to. “Come on, let’s go outside. You’ve been in here for too long.” He pulled him along until they reached the doors, Eren’s hand already shading his eyes from the bright light. 

Armin stepped out and breathed fresh air again. He’d only been in there for a few minutes at most and his lungs had already felt like they were going to cave in on themselves. He didn’t understand how Eren survived being in there for so long. 

He watched as Eren took his first few breaths of clean air. They were slow and steady, and gave Armin enough time to fully survey him. His dark brown hair was long again, just like it’d been before they’d found themselves here. It was greasy and pulled back by some tie he must have found. His clothes were worn and wrinkled, but they were clothes and not the khaki colored jumpsuits they had to wear. Eren’s green eyes were sunken in and he had wrinkles Armin had hoped not to see on him until they were both old men. 

Eren noticed Armin staring at him. “How is everyone?” 

“We’re fine. Jean wants to fix the generators and get power back into the admin building. Ymir says hi.”

Eren cocked a sly smile. “Tell her she should visit me herself.”

“She probably will.” Armin let the silence hang for a moment. “How are you, Eren?”

He shrugged. “Better, now that you’re here. Those fuckers are driving me insane. I’m going to go through and kill them all soon enough if they don’t shut up when I’m trying to sleep.”

Armin didn’t respond, continuing to gaze at Eren. Even as dirty and rough as he was now, Armin couldn’t tear his eyes away. There was a smudge of what had to be dried blood under his left eye. “I’m surprised you haven’t already.”

“If I do, I’ll be all alone in there.” Eren kicked his foot against the stone wall. “And that might be worse.”

Eren wasn’t always locked away like this. Armin missed the days he was with the rest of them, even if his temper was poor and he caused more problems than Armin could solve. It was better than this. 

Eren was infected. He had to be. A few weeks before Levi left, Eren had gotten sick. As soon as Jean noticed him sweating it had been akin to a death sentence. Against Eren’s will he’d been dragged to the closest complex and locked away. Armin hadn’t known about it. He’d been asleep the entire morning and only woke up when Marco had come to tell him that his best friend was gone. When he saw Jean next, he looked like he’d been beaten to an inch of life.

They weren’t sure how the disease passed. It wasn’t through air or else all of them would be dead, and it wasn’t through touching or biting. Armin refused to believe what Marco said was true because there was no way Eren had been around any of the zombies outside of when they all were. His best friend, who he had given the rest of his life for, couldn’t become a mindless monster. 

And he didn’t. 

As soon as Levi gave him the keys, Armin ran to the complex and found Eren sitting against the closed metal door, bloody scratch marks marring the back. He’d woken up, but instead of the hallucinated daze Armin had seen so many times before, Eren appeared lucid. He’d shouted at Armin to run away, screaming at him. So Armin did exactly what he was told. Shutting the doors once more and leaving Eren alone. Not daring to enter for another few days, when his curiosity got the better of him.

The second time he entered Eren was a lot more receptive of him.  Eren thought he’d ‘turned’. On Eren’s account, his head had gone numb, his body felt like it was failing him, and he had trouble forming words that made sense to anyone let alone him. Eren had had hallucinations that he was at the playground they used to visit as kids. Or he was at home with his parents and Mikasa. But when he tried to talk no one would answer him, and nothing had made sense. He had no real memory of what he did in there, just what he thought he’d done.

But then Armin had opened the door. And for a second Eren understood. Everything fell into place and he’d yelled at Armin to run because he didn’t want to hurt him. But when Eren was alone again, his mind didn’t fade that time. He’d been able to keep his wits about him and continue to stay aware. When Armin had come back the second time, he was more level headed, trying his best to understand what had happened to him. 

To Armin’s best understanding, Eren had fought off whatever the disease actually was. He’d won the genetic lottery. Eren was a potential cure. But to everyone else, Eren had died a long time ago. And Armin was entertaining himself by speaking to an animated corpse. 

No one tried to stop Armin from visiting. As long as he didn’t bring Eren back, or Armin himself didn’t show any signs of turning himself, he was allowed to do whatever he wanted. In part because they all knew they couldn’t do anything without Armin anyway.

Sure, Levi was the reason they were able to initially survive, and Jean made an okay leader in his absence, it was Armin’s ideas that actually made conditions bearable. Clearing out the admin building before they had gotten any weaponry, killing the zombies effectively, cleaning out cuts and scrapes, it was all Armin. He wasn’t the strongest or the most charismatic character you could meet, but he could plan. It was his guidance that had kept Eren from being caught for years. Armin’s plans, that he regretted every single waking moment of his life, that kept Eren as safe as possible. And Armin just had to stand aside and watch, hoping all would be well. 

Eren’s condition was the reason Armin was still here. He knew the best chance of survival was to get all the supplies they had, tell Ymir and her stories to fuck off, drain every gas tank they had left, and get out of the prison complex as soon as possible. They were sitting ducks out here and all of them were slowly going crazy, filling their time with busywork and survival basics until they eventually turned as well. Armin couldn’t leave Eren behind, but Eren could never come with them. The fact that they had survived this long was a miracle. 

They all should have left when Levi did. Staying with him would have been the smartest thing any of them would have done in their lives. The man had left because he had a  ‘feeling’ that one of his friends was going to find some way to fix everything. None of them had contact outside of this place so he wasn’t sure where Levi got his feeling from, but the man was hellbent on leaving and nothing they could say was going to stop him. 

Knowing him, Levi was probably fine.

“Can I bring you something?” Armin suggested, after he and Eren had stood in the light for long enough. They’d been out there that Armin could see the sun crawling up towards noon, the Arizona sun causing beads of sweat to form in the small of his back. “I’m sure you’ve probably read through the books I brought you a few days ago.”

Eren shook his head. “I haven’t even touched them.”

“Oh.” Armin frowned. “So you’ve been sitting in the dark doing nothing-”

“I’m keeping myself entertained.” He countered. “Some of them- can’t be reasoned with. But if you try, a couple of them start to make sense. I can figure out where they think they are and meet them on their level.” Eren sounded like he was trying to talk to someone else, he felt distant.

“Do any of them look like they’re improving?”

“No. Eventually they stop making sense and just get angry at me all over again. I’ve definitely offed the most annoying ones, or the loudest, and as much as I want to gut them all. I can’t.”

“Because you know how they feel?” Armin suggested.

Eren remained silent. Armin let the subject drop.

“You’ve been here for a bit, you should probably go meet up with the others. Fix that stupid generator.”

“Yeah. I won't be of much help but I’ll try.” 

“Shut up, Armin. You help a lot.” Eren turned his back towards him and trudged through the still open doors of the cellblock, the scratchmarks still there. Eren pulled the doors shut, locking himself in. Wordlessly Armin locked them, and left.

Chapter Text

By the grace of whatever entity Armin could call god, the generators were repaired. They’d gone out months ago and Armin had given up hope on seeing artificial light ever again. It had something to do with lines and breakers and only limiting the power to certain rooms of the admin building. Trying to power the entire complex was too much, and by using as little as possible Reiner declared that it might last them another four months. 

Connie was overjoyed to have use of the ovens and microwave in the small breakroom, there was even a deep chest freezer and mini fridge that were powered now. Reiner warned them that if they tried to do too much at once it could all collapse again, so leaving lights on when they weren’t necessary was still a danger, and they shouldn’t be using the oven and the microwave at the same time. But those were simple enough to follow in order to receive the benefits they brought. 

Jean was happy his plans had worked, and Armin let him have it. They all deserved to feel like they were winning on their one side every once and awhile. Jean also needed something to boost his mood ever since Marco had left. Marco had done it in secret, telling Jean he was going to stick around, even after Levi had left. Only to leave in the middle of the night and take the van out with Floch. They hadn’t seen or heard of him since. 

Jean tried to be the same, but losing his best friend was a hard blow to his psyche. Armin knew where Eren was, could visit him. But Marco was now stuck in Schrodinger's largest box, in a perpetual state of alive, dead, infected, thriving, or whatever Jean’s mind was surely conjuring whenever he tried to rest. No wonder he was so good at coming up with things to do.

Armin, Jean, and Bertholdt were in the main area, the lights overhead illuminating their lists of supplies they still possessed, areas they’d yet to pilfer, and resources they still had access to. A great concern of theirs was how soon the water would run out. Surely the main power water supply would be shut down soon. And that was the next biggest event they needed to plan for. 

It was later at night, the big glass doors leading outside showed nothing but the broken down gates, and the vast desert that separated them from the rest of humanity.

Armin picked up one of the maps but got distracted by a flashing light to his left. Turning to the doors he heard Jean inhale. 

“God damn.” Jean stood up. “I think that’s a car.”

Armin almost jumped out of his chair, two headlights were approaching the front doors. As the van approached Armin was able to make out more details. It was clean, undented, the dust caked on the wheels were the only imperfection on the vehicle. It wasn’t any of the white vans that the complex had, these people weren’t returning, they had to be new. 

“Bertholdt, go get everyone.” Jean ordered. “Armin, stay with me. I don’t know why anyone would be here but I bet it’s not good.”

Armin nodded, standing in apprehension as Bertholdt ran to grab everyone else. His mind flew through all the possibilities. The government finally coming in to stake their claim on prisoners and use them as a resource? Maybe it was someone who had left earlier, returning to provide them help or get them out of here. Maybe someone had finally realized that a prison would have a lot of long term resources that others wouldn’t have access to, and they were attempting to sack the place.

The black van came to a stop right outside the entrance. Jean and Armin watched as the door swung open and a man stepped out, wearing a tan coat and thick jeans, his hair pulled back with a band, glasses reflecting in the light emanating from the admin building, and a cigarette in between his lips.  

It’d been almost five years, but Armin instantly recognized the man that was Zeke Yeager.

“Jean.” He breathed in disbelief. “Jean, I know him.”

“Well didn’t this just get worse. Who is he?” Jean bit at him as he sized up the man. 

“He’s- He’s Eren’s half brother.” Armin made eye contact and Zeke nodded politely, no doubt recognizing him. 

“Aw fuck.” Jean cursed. The people on either side of the door were at a standstill. Jean wearily eyeing Zeke, and then Armin. “Is he as crazy as his brother?”

“-No. He works for the military. A chief warrant officer, I think. I don’t know why he’s here.” 

“I’ve got a couple of guesses.” Jean grabbed at the pistol that was on his hip. Armin was sure it was loaded. Jean went to the door, pushing it open. “Not often we get visitors.” He started. “Armin here says he knows you. If you have any weapons, drop ‘em. I’ll let you in after.”

“Of course.” Zeke replied. He sounded the exact same as Armin remembered. Zeke had been at his sentencing, and had even written to Armin a few times during his trial. Zeke opened his jacket and took out a handgun. He tossed it on the ground and held his jacket open. “I have more in the car, but as you can see I’m a little far away from that right now.” He joked.

“Is there anyone else in the car?” Jean gestured to it with his pistol, finger off the trigger.

“Yes. Just my partner. She won’t be leaving the vehicle unless something goes wrong. Which I'm sure won’t happen.” Jean held the door open as Zeke walked inside. His stride was as confident as ever, and he stood as an intimidating presence in the main area. “Hello, Armin. I didn’t think I’d see you so soon.”

“Zeke.” Armin tried to smile, but it was hollow and forced. “What are you doing here?”

“Armin, you know I work for the military, correct? Officially I’m surveying areas that the military could still feasibly operate out of, and if we have livestock here we could put to good use.” He paused. “Unofficialy, I’m here to see Eren.”

Jean ignored the last part completely. “The military’s still together?”

Zeke’s brow furrowed. “Barely. The government itself collapsed a while ago. No one knows exactly how it started, or what can be done about it, but most people have been brought into safe camps and cities. By rough estimates a third of the US population has indiscriminately been infected, and a fourth were killed by the sudden violence arising across the nation.”

“Like a switch was flipped.” Armin echoed.

“Thereabouts.” Zeke confirmed. “From what I know it’s a phenomenon around the entire globe. Now- I’m sure you know where Eren is.”

Armin felt his intestines fold in on themselves. “He’s-”

“He’s gone.” Jean answered harshly. “That suicidal bastard got himself infected a while ago.”

Zeke pursed his lips, his gaze wandering towards Armin again. “Where is he, Armin?”

Armin felt the words spill out of his lips before he could even understand what he was saying. “He’s in the first complex. Eren’s fine. He did get infected but he survived. He didn’t go mad. I think we can find a cure- I can take you to him-”

“He’s dead, Armin!” Jean reaffirmed. “No one’s recovered. No one will recover. You just can’t let it go.”

“Regardless.” Zeke paid no mind to Jean’s outburst. “He’s the reason I made a fourteen hour drive to this godforsaken hellhole. Not a small feat these days. If my brother really is just another walking monster, then I’d like to see it for myself.”

He stepped forward, passing Jean, and laid a hand on Armin’s shoulder. “I’ll follow you.”

Armin looked to Jean, who had a frown etched onto his face. ‘Crazy Bastards’ Jean mouthed. “Just let him see Eren. But we’ll talk after. I’m sure we’d be interested to hear what else you have to say.”

“You’re a reasonable man, Mr Kirschtein. I can see why Levi felt comfortable leaving you in charge of this place." Zeke smiled. “Come on Armin, lead the way.”

Jean’s face dropped at the mention of Levi, but as he was about to ask another question, Zeke was pushing Armin towards the hallway door and Armin wasn’t going to try and get him to stay against his will. 

Zeke had always been a strange man. Growing up next to the Yeager’s, Armin had always been somewhat aware of the family dynamic. Eren was a byproduct of an affair. His father, Grisha Yeager, an immunologist, left his first wife to be with Eren’s mother Carla who hadn’t known he was married in the first place. She’d accepted it so Eren could have something resembling a happy family. None of this was kept from Eren growing up, mainly because Zeke, Grisha’s first son and from his previous marriage, had taken a great amount of joy in informing his younger brother as soon as he was old enough to understand what it meant.

Armin had memories of visiting the Yeager household as far back as elementary school. Zeke was usually in his room avoiding everyone in the house. The few times he and Armin spoke, the teenager was always polite, if strangely intimidating. He’d carried an air of authority or importance around him. One that never faded as he aged. Zeke was the perfect son. Good grades in every class, perfect attendance in every activity he engaged in, a myriad of respectable friends, caring for his younger brother. Even Carla loved him, despite the fraught tension between her and Zeke’s mother, Dina.

Compared to Zeke, Eren was a nightmare. Despite being his best friend Armin was able to admit that as a kid Eren was hotheaded, disrespectful, lazy, and many other unfortunate traits that weren’t uncommon for teenage boys, but were certainly highlighted by Zeke’s impeccable performance. 

They moved through the hallway and took the stairs. Armin didn’t say a word until they were far away enough that he doubted anyone could hear them. “I meant what I said.” He told Zeke as they made their way across the wall. “Eren did go mad, he showed every sign and symptom, but he survived it, somehow.”

“I believe you.” Zeke sounded so cold, like he had dropped a persona as soon as he was no longer talking to a group. “There have been some people, totalling less than five people, who have come out the other side with their minds intact. Due to extra factors I don’t care to fill you in on, I had a feeling Eren would end up in a situation like this.” They now stood in front of the double doors.“You locked him away with the rest, huh?” Armin could make out a smile in the moonlight. “The world conspires to keep him in a cage.” He said it so quietly Armin wasn’t sure he was supposed to have heard it. 

Pushing forward, Armin took his key and unlocked the doors. Zeke pushed them open without hesitation. “Eren!” He shouted. The noise woke up any of the zombies that had been sleeping, and an uproar of noise poured from the dark cellblock and out into the world. 

There were running footsteps, and in a flash Eren was outside, tackling his brother and throwing him on the ground. In a second he was kneeling on top of Zeke, his hands wrapped around the man’s throat. 

“Eren!” Armin lurched forward and grabbed his friend’s arm. Pulling at him to try and break his grip. “Eren, stop! Zeke’s here to help!”

Zeke didn’t take too kindly to the greeting and threw a punch at Eren, breaking his concentration and taking his hands off of Zeke before the man turned blue. “You little shit!” He grabbed at Eren. Holding him by the jacket and shaking him. “I pulled so many strings to be here and you repay me by trying to kill me, huh? Is that right?” He tossed Eren to the ground and before he could move Zeke put his foot on Eren’s chest. “Quit squirming and let me talk.”

Eren’s eyes were blown, even with him laying on the ground Armin could see he was staring at Zeke the same way he’d stared at Lou, then William, then Lara, then Dirk, and all the other people Armin had stood by and watched Eren tear apart.

“Father had a feeling this was going to happen.” Zeke said calmly, his words dripping like icicles from his mouth and falling on top of Eren, who froze the second they hit him. “Remember, after you killed Carla? Before I turned you in, how Father forced you to take all those pills? You thought he was trying to kill you. You thought he was getting revenge.” Zeke ground his heel into Eren’s chest, “No. No, that coward wanted you to live.” He stepped off, putting a few feet of distance between him and Eren. Eren gasped for breath, clambering to stand with the support of the wall next to him. “You have him to thank for the sorry state you’re in.” Zeke spat. “And I do too. We’ll live. Whatever this is, whatever father did to us, we’ll survive.”

“You son of a bitch!” Eren tried to throw himself at Zeke again but Armin caught him, holding him back, his fingers digging into Eren’s forearm. 

“Eren. Eren just listen to him.” Armin hissed. His head was swimming with all the information that had suddenly been loaded on him from just listening to Zeke. Grisha Yeager knew something was going to happen? What did Zeke know that he didn’t let him and Jean in on? “He clearly knows things we don’t.”

Eren stopped fighting Armin, and his grip loosened, dropping to hold his hand. “What the fuck are you talking about?” He finally demanded between breaths.

Zeke folded his arms, an unreadable expression on his face. “This is no virus, Eren. There is no infection, no disease to fight. This is an event.”

The air grew colder. Armin’s vision grew obscured as clouds passed by and blocked the moonlight. 

“In the bible, God sent the flood to purge the evil from humanity. ” Zeke started. “There was no way for anyone to avoid the water rising. People survived, or they didn’t. Either you will turn into a mindless being incapable of thought, or you won’t.” He reached into his tan coat and pulled out a pill bottle. “You were only able to fight the veritable cancer within yourself because Father took precautions. He saw this on the horizon. And even after you killed his wife- Decided you were worth saving.” He spat the last words at Eren. “I’m here to remove you from here. Since it looks like this worked.” Zeke shook the pill bottle, Armin could hear the rattling of only a few pills left. “You’ll be pardoned for your crimes and given immunity. In return you’ll be a lab rat. And if we can find out why you were spared when others weren’t, you’ll be let go. What do you say?”

Zeke’s offer hung in the air. Through his hand still around Eren’s wrist, Armin felt Eren’s rapid heartbeat. Despite his hidden anxiety and several revelations Eren stayed perfectly still, staring blankly at his brother. Armin’s grip on him tightened. In some way trying to signal his own opinion to Eren. This was his chance, an opportunity for Eren to be free. The three months of diluted freedom he had at the very beginning of this apocalypse would hardly compare to what he could gain by going with Zeke. 

“I don’t want to be locked in a different prison.” Eren muttered. Armin’s heart sank.

“So you’d rather stay here, in a literal one, where you’re surrounded with nothing but the waste of humanity?”

“I’d rather live on my own terms.” Eren argued.

“Is this living?”

“It’s what I chose!”

“You chose to be here? I chose to put you here!” Zeke raised his voice. “I’m the reason you’re here! And I’ll be the reason you leave! The only thing you’ve ever chosen for yourself was to put blood on your hands, and even then it wasn’t even your actions that avoided the consequences.” Zeke pointedly turned his gaze to Armin. “You’ve never done anything yourself, Eren. You’ve only let others make your decisions for you.”

Eren’s whole body shook, his hand in Armin’s trembling as he tried to hold himself back from any form of action he clearly wanted to take. Armin let go of his hand and stepped towards Zeke. “I’ll go.” He offered.

“Armin-”

“Eren.” Armin interrupted him before he could say anything. He continued to talk to Zeke. “I’m sure when you leave the innocent guards trapped in this compound will go with you. Afterall, they are federal workers and even if the government doesn’t exist to the same extent that it did, they still have rights that we don’t. I’d like to go with you. Even if I don’t get the same stipulations as Eren would. Use me as labor, or a test experiment, or as a warm body to fill whatever position you need. I’m sure the other survivors here would agree with me when I say living here is hell.”

Zeke regarded him carefully. “And why would I do that?”

“Eren’s only here because I am.” Armin stated. It was a bold assumption, but the hitch in Eren’s breath behind him only confirmed it. “He’ll follow me.”

Zeke let out a sharp, empty laugh. “Of course. How could I forget Armin? The innocent boy my brother dragged to hell.”

“I put myself here. You were there at the trial.” Armin reminded him. “But it doesn’t matter. I’m giving you what you want.”

“That you are.” Zeke sighed. “Fine then. I’ll give you a time to gather whatever items I’m sure you want to take with you. We’ll be gone tomorrow morning.” He stashed the pills back into his coat and began his trek back into the admit building. Leaving Armin and Eren alone on the wall. The desert spreading endlessly on one side, and a city of abandoned cellblocks on the other. 

Armin turned to face Eren. “Before you say anything, I need you to listen to me.”

“You-”

“Eren, shut up.” Armin’s jaw was tight and he could feel Eren’s glowering stare on his skin. “I’m not living out the rest of our lives like this. Not with you in a cellblock, not with Connie making every meal last as long as possible, not with Jean going crazy the second he sits down. It isn’t living, in fact it’s worse than it ever was before. Zeke’s right, this isn’t living, this is us slowly dying in the middle of nowhere when we have a chance to leave and guarantee our survival!” He grabbed both of Eren’s hands, pulling his complete focus to Armin. “The only reason you’re here is because I am. The only reason I’m here is because staying with Jean and everyone else are our best odds. If they leave I leave, and if I leave, you leave.” He stared into Eren’s tired eyes. “Got it?”

Eren hung his head. “You always do this.” He mumbled.

Armin leaned forward, their foreheads not resting against each other. “Do what?”

“Save me.”

“Of course.” Armin breathed out in a way that could almost be mistaken for a laugh. “What else would I do?”

Eren leaned forward and embraced him in a hug. Armin relaxed into it, and let Eren hold him. The clouds covering the moon passed, and Armin could see soft streaks down his friend’s cheeks. He didn’t mention it.

As Armin expected, everyone was elated at the idea of leaving the prison. Once there was a guarantee that they wouldn’t get stranded and die in the desert, the idea of leaving a zombie infested federal prison became a lot more attractive.

Zeke had brought enough fuel to get his own van and one of theirs out and back to the base in Phoenix. The other person in the van was a lady named Pieck. She also worked in the military and had filled Jean in on the details of the outside world while Zeke and Armin were visiting Eren. Reiner, Bertholdt, Ymir, and Armin would still be prisoners, but only in a sense. No one had the time or resources to keep eyes on them until their technical sentences in numbers, so if they stepped out of line, in Pieck’s words “We’d probably just kill you.” Which wasn't ideal for Armin, but he was sure something could be worked out. 

Eren’s reintroduction to the rest of the group went alright. They understood that he had to be there, and took Zeke’s word that whatever was turning people wasn’t infectious. Eren even got a half hearted apology from Jean.

Armin packed up the few things he wanted to take with him, mainly just the calendar from his office room, and a thick jacket he managed to find and planned to use in the upcoming colder months. Eren didn’t have anything he wanted to bring.

Reiner and Connie wanted to bring too many things and Zeke had to veto carrying several pots and pans. As well as the microwave. 

Armin left the building and didn’t look back for a second. His prison turned safe-haven didn’t hold any fond memories for him. If they had extra gasoline he might have even tried to convince Zeke to let them burn the place down, but that was Armin being dramatic.

He got into the very back of the Van. Eren next to him. As they drove away Armin let himself close his eyes and finally relax. The future was uncertain, but it was a future. And that was enough.