Chapter Text
“Armin this is stupid.”
“Studying for an exam that may or may not determine whether you are skilled enough to kill titans is not stupid Eren. The fact that you refuse to do so is stupid.”
The two sat down underneath a tree by the boy’s cabin with a book, Armin with the intent to get Eren to study and Eren with the intent of putting it off as long as he could.
“It’s tedious; all you have to do is make sure to cut their neck any way.” Eren grouched.
“Eren, there is much more to it then you may think. I don’t want to see my best friend eaten by a titan because he failed a test making him therefor unaware of certain titan behavior. You would literally be killed by your own stupidity.”
“Oh shut up and let me have the book.” Armin opened to the correct page and handed it to Eren, who took it with a sour look on his face.
“Oh calm down Eren its only reading. Even you can do that much.”
“Are you saying I’m stupid?”
“No I’m saying you have a reluctance to doing things. Just think about how you’re going to beat Jean.”
“Fuck Jean, let’s get to reading.” Eren crossed his legs with newfound determination. Then he began reading. If you could describe Eren’s reading in one word it would be considered dull. So dull in fact, Armin had a hard time staying awake. Despite Eren’s determined and outgoing personality, He could put to sleep an entire classroom, which was why none of the teachers called on him to read… ever… and Armin had somehow forgotten this. As his eyes drooped more and more his mind wandered, thinking about how he, Mikasa, and Eren had all played together when they were kids, and what he had for lunch that day. Pointless things really, then he saw something white in the corner of his eye that made him snap awake fast enough to see it hop away behind a bush.Being curious, Armin got up from under the tree to follow it. When he looked, he saw a small white rabbit.
How strange, he thought, I didn’t know there were rabbits this close to this area.
It hopped off again and he hurried after it. The rabbit seemed to be going further and further into the woods but Armin payed it no mind instead focusing on keeping it in sight. Finally it went around a corner and when he caught up and took a look he was left very confused, for there was no longer a rabbit but a man with raven hair, dressed in white trousers and a red waistcoat. In his hand he held a golden pocket watch.
“Shit, I’m going to be late.” The man then put the watch away and began to shrink into the white rabbit that Armin had seen earlier. He then hopped down into a hole the blonde had somehow missed while he was focused on the man. Rushing over, Armin stuck his head into the hole in hope of seeing where the rabbit had gone.
“How curious,” Armin thought out loud, “a man that is a rabbit. Where on earth could he have gone? It’s so dark I can’t see anything.” He crawled further into the hole hoping he may see how far back it went when he slipped on some loose stones and began to fall. Flailing around, he was finally able to set himself up right, or as much as he could tell because he still couldn’t see but the blood stopped rushing to his head.
“How far is this?” He asked no one but himself. “This isn’t good; it’s a very long fall it seems. It might just kill me on landing. Look at that, how pathetic. Not killed by titans but by chasing a white rabbit that can turn into a man… or would it be the other way around I wonder.”
Suddenly, everything became very bright very quickly, causing Armin to go blind for a second. When his vision recovered he was fascinated by what he saw. Not only had his decent slowed but lining the walls of the hole he was falling down were assortments of oddities, just floating there. Cupboards, shelves with books, rocking chairs, lamps, beds, vases with flowers, pen and parchment, tea sets, of which Armin tried to get a drink from only to find that it was empty. When he tried opening one of the cupboards all he found were jars of marmalade and summer sausage.
“Those don’t even go together.”
Farther down he went past a mirror and discovered that his clothes had changed, no longer was he wearing the uniform required of all units of the army but, instead, a blue dress and white pinafore. The outfit was completed with white stockings, black shoes, and a black bow in his hair.
“What on earth?! Where have my clothes gone, and why didn’t I notice sooner? This is just becoming stranger and stranger. I do hope my clothes return to normal. It would be embarrassing to have to walk around like this. I have been falling for quite a while now though. I wonder if it will ever end.”
As if on cue, his decent suddenly increased in speed and the lights dimmed. Coming to an abrupt halt, he found himself standing, but then he wasn’t. He was upside down and fell from the ceiling. Fortunately it wasn’t a very high ceiling and landed without hurting himself.
“Where am I now?” he wondered , but didn’t have time to find out for he saw something white move in the corner of his eye. Sprinting up he dashed after it around a corner and down a long hallway, making it just in time to see the rabbit disappear behind a small door, far too small for Armin to squeeze through. He went up to it though and turned the knob experimentally. Unexpectedly it began to move, making Armin jump back in surprise.
“Well excuse me,” said the door knob. On it a face had appeared.
“I’m sorry.” Replied Armin. “I didn’t expect you to be so…alive.”
“That’s alright, the names Reiner.”
“How interesting. Reiner the door knob. It’s very nice meeting you, I’m Armin. I was wondering if you could perhaps let me see through?”
Reiner laughed “Sorry, no can do Armin.”
“Why is that?”
“I’m locked.” He responded.
“Is there any way to open you?”
“Of course, the key.”
“And where might I find that?”
“Well it’s right on the table there.” Armin, confused, looked around. Sure enough there was a table standing in the middle of the room. Now how could I have forgotten about that? He thought to himself as he walked over to it. On top was a single silver key. Armin picked it up. As he was about to go back to Reiner, the door knob suddenly said:
“Hey you see that bottle there?”
Armin turned back to the table. There it was. How curious, and frustrating. Things kept appearing where he didn’t think there was anything. He was a man of logic and this place was just smashing through it like a titan.
"If you drink that,” Reiner continued, “it’ll make you shrink and you’ll be able to fit through the door.” He set down the key and picked up the bottle to inspect it further. It was small, clear, and had a small tag around the top that read Drink Me. So very trust worthy. The contents were clear too. He took a small experimental sip and found the taste actually quite pleasant. It was bubbly and tasted a little like raspberries. He took a bigger sip and found that he was indeed, shrinking very quickly. Thankfully the clothes had shrunk with him and he was not left naked. Then he remembered.
“The key! I forgot the key!” How discouraging.
“Well that’s okay.” Said Reiner. “See that brown box right there? Eat a cake and you’ll grow again.” Armin looked and saw the box. The cakes inside were small like him and said eat me on each one. Not thinking, and very frustrated, he shoved a whole one in his mouth.
“Wait! Not that much!” Reiner shouted as Armin started to grow at an alarming rate, hitting his head on the ceiling.
“Ow!!!” That was it. Armin started crying. “I hate this! My head hurts, I’m tired, nothing makes sense and I’m dressed like a girl! Why did I have to follow that white rabbit!?”
“Now calm down Armin,” Reiner tried, “Everything is going to be okay. Look now you can get the Key! Right?” But Armin was not listening. As he cried He began to shrink again. Letting out all that sadness and frustration. The tears he let out collected into a huge amount of water splashing against the walls, getting deeper and Armin getting smaller. The water washed him along and he was so small he was thrown right through the key hole. Out into an unknown world was he now. The drink me bottle came up under him and acted as a boat for him. As he looked about he thought of his wishes to go to the sea someday. Was this what it was like? Such vastness. No matter how far he looked, not a spot of land was seen, and so he floated along, waiting.
“How curious.”