Chapter Text
A kaiju attack should have been impossible. That's what Armin kept thinking to himself as he grabbed Eren and Mikasa and ran. If he repeated it enough, it would be the truth, right? And as he held the two teenagers hands and ran and ran and ran, he let a small part of his mind believe. He let a small piece of himself thing they would be saved and then...
And then he turned into an alley and he sobbed but he did his best to remain strong. With tears streaming down his face he assured Eren that everything was all right. Amidst sniffles he told Mikasa not to worry. He would protect them.
Mikasa remained stoic, squeezing his left handin her trembling right, pulling her muffler up but refusing to meet his eyes. He knew she was crying.
Eren had his eyes fixed behind them, his jaw dropped open in horror and awe. Armin could hear the ground trembling with steady footsteps. He knew what was coming.
The Kaiju roared. Armin turned. He would protect them.
Until... He didn't have to.
Marshall Smith.
Marshall Erwin Smith of the west coast.
He had heard the name on the news, he would have had to live under a rock to not hear of it. The brave, glorious man who had just taken command of the United States branch of Jaeger defense, based in San Fransisco. The branch he had hoped to join in the days before Eren and Mikasa. But he could never dislike the two fifteen year olds. They were younger than him and he cared for them because he wanted to, not because they couldn't care for themselves. It was a habit left over from when he found the two of them, both five years old, starving and alone in the streets. After that day, they had kept him company for so long they were his flesh and blood for all intents and purposes. And he loved them as such. He protected them until he could not, at a mere seventeen years. But then... Then Erwin was there. And Erwin protected them all.