Chapter Text
Armin’s wide blue eyes sparkled as he took in the sight of Wall Maria, the outermost of the three walls that protected the core population of the Eldian Empire. He’d been dreaming about this day ever since the 2000 Year Titan War ended some seven years ago, to finally make his way to New Eldia, formerly Paradis Island, and enter the sacred walls where Eldians were forever free to live as themselves, devoid of racial persecution.
Armin was just twelve years old when the war ended. Growing up in Marley, he’d heard his whole life that Eldians like himself were devils. Possessing the perfect genetic makeup to be turned into flesh-eating giants called titans, Eldians were not only feared but despised. Persecuted, enslaved and used as front-line soldiers in Marley, Armin knew his people weren’t the real devils. No, it was the people of Marley who truly deserved that title. As such, he’d dreamed of growing up and one day joining the fight to free his people from Marleyan oppression.
But while child Armin dreamed, his kin on Paradis Island, hidden away in their walled paradise, conducted expeditions beyond the walls to fight the titans that roamed the barren land and learn more about their origins. They eventually made their way to the continent. No one knows how, but one man known back then as The Jaeger, somehow acquired the power of the Nine Titans and used it to take down Marley’s forces. All the equipment Marley used to turn Eldians into Titans were destroyed and, when Marley was almost leveled, the government surrendered. The Jaeger then declared himself the new ruler of Marley and Paradis Island, now collectively known as the Eldian Empire. Paradis Island, a place where only those of Eldian blood were allowed to reside, would be renamed New Eldia and serve as the capital of this new empire. The Jaeger became King Jaeger.
Like many Eldian families in Marley, Armin’s chose to move to New Eldia after the war, taking all their belongings and settling on land located outside of the three walls. When the dust of the war began to settle, the Eldian Empire began its seven years of prosperity and peace. However, for all his seven years in New Eldia, he had never stepped foot inside the walls.
That would change today.
Armin’s dream of becoming a soldier for his people didn’t change when the war ended. In fact, his desire to serve his country only grew after King Jaeger’s victory. It didn’t matter that there was no longer a war, nor did it matter that his male peers outgrew him and were physically stronger than his small, 5’6” frame. No, that didn’t deter him. Armin knew strength and physicality mattered in war. But he also knew that none of that mattered without intelligence and he had plenty of that.
At nineteen years old, he was finally old enough to begin his training for the New Eldia Defence Force. Before the war ended, children in New Eldia could become soldiers from as young as fifteen years old and he recalled that Marley would recruit children much younger than that to become ‘warriors’. It was rumoured that The Jaeger joined the military when he was young too, and no longer wanted to force such responsibilities upon children. Anyone who desired to become a soldier for their nation would have to be at least nineteen years old before they’re able to join.
Now that Armin was to begin his training, he would finally be able to see beyond the walls and actually enter them. The training camp was located within Wall Maria and that’s where Armin was on his way to. He could barely contain his excitement as he made his way to the gate, his passport in hand and luggage strapped tightly to his back. When he reached the gates, he got his passport checked and stamped before shuffling inside with other travelers, some of whom he guessed were on their way to the training camp like himself.
As he walked through the stone paved paths, he drank in the much more developed infrastructure inside the walls, smiling brightly at everyone who passed him by. They might have thought him to be weird but he didn’t care. He still couldn’t believe he was inside the walls. History was made here. In fact, he even heard that King Jaeger lived within Wall Maria for most of his early life.
It didn’t take Armin long to find the training camp. He had to ask passersby for directions a few times on the way but they were nice enough to direct him. However, by the time he arrived it was nearly dark. It had taken him the whole day to get to the wall from his district. The guards looked at his identification and official documents before showing him off to the trainee barracks. Not to his surprise, the rooms were to be shared and Armin’s roommates were already inside.
The room was big enough to fit two bunk beds, a small dresser with four drawers and a medium sized closet. On top of the dresser was an already lit lamp, illuminating the room with a soft yellow glow. All three of his roommates were already inside. One of them had light brown hair and a rather long face in Armin’s opinion, one had greyish hair shorn low to his scalp and the third had chocolate brown hair and a kind face. If Armin had to guess, they were all his age too.
“Hi, I’m Armin Arlert,” Armin stated as he entered the room. “I guess I’m your roommate?” He didn’t mean to phrase that last sentence as a question. He supposed he was more nervous than he thought.
“Jean Kirstein,” long face said with a polite albeit stiff nod before returning his attention to his belongings, laid out on the bottom bunk of the right bed. He’d clearly already chosen where he would sleep, the other two seem to haven’t.
“Connie Springer,” grey hair said, giving Armin a smile and a small wave.
“Marco Bott,” kind face said, also smiling at Armin. “Ignore, Jean. He can be a bit of a stone when it comes to expressing himself around new people. He’s also really stubborn about his sleeping arrangements so we let him choose his bed first. Me and Connie here wanted to wait until you came to choose.”
“Wow, that’s nice of you,” Armin smiled back, his nerves dissipating. His roommates seemed nice so far. It had been his fear that he would end up with assholes who would make fun of his height and more delicate features, and even though he had no doubt he would come across trainees like that, he was grateful he didn’t have to room with any of them.
“Is it okay if I take the other bottom bunk?” he asked. “If one of you wants it you can totally take it, I don’t mind. It’s just… I’ve never slept on a bunk bed. I don’t want to accidentally fall off the top bunk.”
“That’s fine with me. I was gonna volunteer to take the top bunk above Jean anyway,” Marco said. “Connie?”
“I’m fine with the top bunk,” Connie shrugged. Armin got the feeling that Connie was a go with the flow kind of guy, never letting anything bother him.
The four boys spent their time getting to know a bit about each other while they unpacked their little belongings. Armin learned that all three grew up in New Eldia and were shocked to learn about how Eldians were treated in Marley. They traded stories from their childhoods and Connie even claimed to have seen King Jaeger battle a female titan shifter in his original shifter form, before he acquired the power of the Nine Titans.
“Seriously! His first form was like fifteen meters tall but I heard that after he got the nine, he grew to seventy meters. That’s crazy!” Connie stated, flailing his arms about to express his own disbelief and earning laughs from his roommates. Even Jean, who was a bit stiff, laughed.
Armin listened in complete fascination as the stories went on. Despite the war that raged on outside of the walls, the people that grew up on New Eldia lived fairly peaceful lives. Their walls protected them from the titans that lurked beyond its barrier for hundreds of years and they lived in peace within them until it was breached. Once upon a time Armin couldn’t imagine such a thing. On the continent, his people lived their whole lives afraid of the Marleyans, knowing that the threat of being killed, turned into a titan or sold into slavery could become real at any moment. But here, in New Eldia, his people had nothing to fear but the titans who couldn’t breach their protective wall for centuries.
The four boys supped on the food they brought with them, varying combinations of bread, cured meats, dried fruit and cheese before turning in for the night. They had a long day ahead of them, as their training would begin immediately the next day.
Armin fell asleep with excited butterflies in his stomach.