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Of all things his mother told him when he was little, that thing about soulmates felt like a true horror story. Armin believed it in his early childhood and was deadly afraid to encounter his soulmate one day.
Later, he just thought it was a scary fairy-tale. Or, to put it another way, his parents were blessed enough not to be each other’s soulmates. That’s why they were never really hurt by the harsh words they said to each other. The same seemed true for everyone he knew.
He remembered Frantz calling Anna stupid and hysterical once during training in the cadet corps. Armin had braced himself, expecting her to collapse or bleed right there. But Anna hadn’t even flinched—though Frantz did spend a week begging for her forgiveness.
He watched Eren and Mikasa. After all, Mikasa’s love for Eren was absolute, he couldn’t imagine anyone else being her soulmate. But what made him pay special attention was how hurtful were words coming from Eren’s mouth toward her. Armin lazily thought that Mikasa was tough, and she could probably endure any physical pain that was inflicted on her. By this time, he had already stopped treating soulmate tale as anything but a tale. Still, some small part of him toyed with the idea of disproving it once and for all.
So when it happened, it hit him like a punch to the gut—because he hadn’t expected it at all. That excruciating pain, deep and curling through his insides, came the moment Eren told him his memory and personality had been altered. In a moment, he was choking in blood. And then Eren made him bleed with his fists.
The next conversation they had happened in the Paths.
“Are you my soulmate?” Armin asked.
“I think so,” Eren said, scratching his head. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Armin shrugged.
“For saying it wouldn’t be a fair fight if we sparred.”
“Since our last meeting, I wondered,” Armin said. “The thing you told Mikasa was so cruel. I felt her pain the moment you said you hated her. But to me… It was something so much lighter. Yet, it hurt so much.”
Eren scratched his chin again. “It was the first time you noticed?”
“Since when did you know then?”
“Remember the day you brought the book about outer world? I told you to take it to the officer, and you said I was being stupid. And it sure felt like a punch to the face. Although I realized what it was, later. I think, in the cadet corps.”
“You can’t be serious,” Armin mumbled.
“Well… You became harsher when we got there. You didn’t really choose words.”
“No, it’s not that. I just can’t believe I realized only several days ago,” Armin said awkwardly.
“I don’t know. You just never said neither did anything I’d like to hurt you for. Besides… When I realized what it was, I did my best to avoid hurting you.”
“And you didn’t think of telling me? Are you a masochist or something?”
This wasn’t what Armin wanted to say, at all. Yet he couldn’t believe everything is going to end here, now, like that.
“I didn’t want you to walk on eggshells around me,” Eren shrugged. “And you were my precious friend, my only soulmate. I wanted to treasure you.”
“This soulmate thing sucks so much,” Armin said.