IM BACK! SORRY FOR THE WAIT WE'RE ALMOST DONE HERE!

Mikasa watched, pained, as Armin took the news in. She hated how pale and tired and simply defeated he looked. He had sat up and was leaning against the couch's armrest, Eren's arm still lightly around him as the brunette slept on. Armin placed a hand on Eren's hair, and Mikasa winced as she saw his lip tremble. The boy took a deep breath before nodding, acknowledging the fact that they had failed.

They both stayed quiet for a moment longer, Armin trying not to break into tears and Mikasa simply trying not to break. Suddenly the girl was slapped with the realization that she didn't have the right to be silent any longer.

"I'm so sorry, Armin." Her voice almost cracked. Although there were a lot of things going wrong around them, and lots of things Mikasa could've be referring to, Armin knew exactly which one she was talking about. His eyes softened and he shook his head.

"You know I understand, Mikasa. You were in pain. You couldn't help withdrawing into yourself."

"I left you alone." Her voice was cold and tainted with anger at herself. Armin reached out for her hand and she took it tightly. Both were unable to fight the memory of that day, which had been the last time Mikasa had truly spoken with Armin.

2 days had passed since Mr. Levi had taken custody of Eren. Mikasa walked into Armin's house and saw him sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket. She sat down and wrapped herself with him.

"Armin…" She was speaking in that pained tone. That tone that no one else but him had heard and that always had something to do with Eren. "There is something I've wanted to tell Eren for a long time now… "

Of course, the blonde had expected the subject of their conversation, but not in that wording. With Eren's current situation, the thought of telling him anything that had before then been some sort of 'secret' seemed a terrible idea. Armin braced himself.

"I know that what he is going through right now is…. hard…. but I fear that…" Mikasa bit her lip, cracking it and almost distracting Armin enough into taking the lip balm out of his pocket. Almost. "I fear that the right time will never come."

They made eye contact. There was the understanding that what was about to be said would be very important. The dark haired girl looked down.

"I'm in love with Eren. I have been ever since we met."

The shock hit Armin harder than anything ever had, but almost as soon as it came it dissipated by the reasoning in his mind. His face slowly grew saddened as he made sense of many things he had seen throughout the years.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. Mikasa's head rose sharply at his words, her eyes wide and watery. "…That's why you told me this, isn't it? You want me to tell you what you already know."

She let her head fall limp, her chin touching her chest. Her fists clenched tightly. Armin put a gentle hand over each fist. He took a deep breath.

"You can't tell Eren what you feel." He stated.

Mikasa began to shake, and Armin had never hated himself more than in that moment. He could feel his eyes water, but he forced himself to keep talking as calmly and reasonably as he could.

"He sees you as his sister, nothing more and nothing less. He needs stability right now. His world is a mess already and he needs to know that he can count on us. We need to help him stay stable, and if you tell him then he will become confused and suddenly unsure. All his life you have been his sister; to find that you had such different thoughts all along will make him question his entire life and what other things he has been so wrong about. He'll lose the little trust he has left in the world."

Mikasa's shaking had increased drastically. He let go of her hands and opened his arms.

"I'm sorry."

The dam broke. The girl forcefully fell into Armin's embrace and sobbed loudly and painfully. She could hardily breath. Armin held her tight and fought his own tears. She spat her words out painfully.

"I just love him so much."

"I know."

"And I'm so scared." The boy tensed. "I keep counting the days, waiting for you two to go travel the world and leave me alone." He felt like someone had just punched his heart. His embrace tightened.

"You know you could always come with us." He meant that, but he knew it wouldn't mean anything to her. Mikasa gave an ugly laugh.

"This is something you two have dreamed of since you were little. It's something you two should do alone." And with that, she spoke no more.

She let herself discharge her soul and cry out all her years of silence. All Armin could do was hold his best friend.

"Are you going to tell him now?" Armin muttered. Mikasa closed her eyes for a moment before shaking her head.

"You were right. It would only make matters worse."

Can they really get worse now, though…? The blonde couldn't help but think, feeling numb, as he ran his fingers through Eren's hair.

"…I'm sorry."

"…Me too."

Armin didn't remember much about the day they took Eren away, only that Mikasa stayed over and they spent the night clinging to each other.

Actually, all days after that had been kind of a blur as well. The blonde stared at the board in class but absorbed no information. None of the teachers ever called his attention; they all knew it would be useless.

He recognized the presence of Mikasa, like a ghost, at his side at all times: Silent, heavy, and yet somehow comforting. He also knew that Jean hovered around him most of the time—afraid and unsure of how to reach him.

The blonde recognized that he would have to be the one to reach out to him first, because Jean had decided to give him space to grieve. Although Armin appreciated his attempt, he though it was not a healthy way to be allowed to live. This grief wasn't one that would go away with time, just one that he would have to learn to live with.

But at the moment he did not feel like learning.

2 weeks passed, the longest yet most unmemorable of his life. The only thing that Armin took from them was how every day the emptiness in his chest made it a little harder to breath.

It was on the first day of the third week that Armin found himself separated from Mikasa for the first time. As he walked down the school hallway, the sudden loneliness hit him hard. He felt the uncontrollable need to stop and wrap his arms around himself. His knees buckled under him and he slid against the wall. He willed himself to stay silent as the sudden pain hit him in great and terrible waves. He had never felt so alone in his entire life, and an echo in his mind asked how Eren must be feeling now.

The blonde gasped and got to his feet with the sudden overwhelming desire, no, need, to find Jean. He couldn't do anything for Eren, but there was someone else he loved and he was pushing away, and Armin suddenly realized that was unacceptable.

Maybe his thoughts were what kept him from hearing the commotion outside. Feeling heavy, the blonde made his way to the school's exit. He wanted to hurry, but his movements were painfully slow, as if all his limbs had been numbed. That was when he realized he had not done much moving during the last few days. No motivation to go fast either.

As he gave the last few steps to the doors, feeling the sunlight touching his face, he heard voices. They were yelling, chanting, he thought he heard a name...

Armin's eyes widened as he saw the giant crowd of students all over the courtyard. They were all dressed in green and carrying signs that were facing away from him. His eyes quickly caught sight of Jean, who seemed to be in the middle of the whole thing, yelling louder than everyone else.

Armin ran to him.

He rushed through the crowd and felt his heart race as he realized that yes: a certain name was being repeated. A familiar one.

He reached out his hand and gripped the brunette's shoulder.

"Jean!" The blonde called out. The taller boy looked back, and the joy that lit his eyes tugged at Armin's heartstrings.

"Armin! Glad you could make it!" He tried to sound nonchalant, but the blonde was suddenly flooded with the feeling that Jean had been waiting for him.

"W-what's going on?"

"Well, Blondie, look around."

So he did. Everyone from his generation and even many from generations bellow them were there. They had many different signs going from: "EQUALITY" to "JUSTICE" to "END DISCRIMINATION".

In a single united chorus they yelled "BRING BACK EREN! BRING BACK EREN!"

Armin's mouth was wide open. The shock was even more enunciated when he realized that their shirts weren't just green:they had the symbol he and Jean had created for their character education project: the wings of freedom.

Courage…

The blonde turned back to Jean, dumb folded.

"H-how?!"

Connie appeared out of nowhere and hooked his arm around Jean's shoulders.

"It was all this guy's idea! He got everyone together and everything!" Jean pushed him away with a grin before turning, almost shyly, to look at Armin.

The shorter boy could hardily believe it. He stared into Jean's eyes until he felt his own grow watery. Armin threw himself at the brunette and gave him the tightest and most affectionate hug he had ever received.

"Thank you…" The blonde said, words laced heavily with emotion.

Jean quickly recovered from the shock and let his arms tightly hold Armin back, burying his face against blonde hair. He had missed the boy terribly, but it was in that moment that he felt the longing reach so deep that he felt it in his bones. It was then and there when he realized that he wanted Armin to be forever in his life.

After some time, the blonde pulled away laughing as he rubbed at his eyes with the back of his arm.

"Mind if I join you?" He said with a smile. Jean turned away for a second, reaching for something inside his backpack.

"I was counting on it." The brunette grinned as he handed Armin his own wings of freedom. As he looked around, Armin held the shirt tightly to his chest for a moment before he put it on. He had never thought the symbol would come to mean so much, now it was a beacon of hope.

The bell rang for class but no one listened. Teachers came out and tried to set order but to no avail. Other students began to take videos with their phones. Armin's eyes widened.

"That's it!" He yelled. Jean and Connie turned to him as the blonde took his own phone from his pocket. "I know how to get Eren back." He spoke with a determined look on his face.

Suddenly Jean leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Armin's serious expression broke into shock, a blush quickly spreading. The brunette simply laughed.

"It's good to have you back!"

Armin took a video of the manifestations with his phone, and sent it to the news. They were immediately on the case like bees on honey. The words "social justice" and "discrimination" rang through people's screens and soon the whole country was in on the case of Eren Jeager.

The school refused to give statements or explanations. For a whole month there were no classes. The police came, but with everyone's eye on the scene there wasn't much they could do. In the media, the students' burning passion and use of symbolism had been called an "inspiration to many".

People began to speak out on discrimination in schools, comparing Eren's case to others.

"Schools should provide safe and understanding environments for all students, specially if they are facing difficulties. They aren't labels. Not autistic, depressed, or bipolar: they are people."

Social networks made the news spread to other countries. In Germany, they heard about Eren's double nationality.

A university offered to finance his education and give him all the support he needed. The crowd went wild.

All they needed now was for their high school to let Eren return. It was more out of bitterness at the bad publicity why they took so long to respond. Finally, they did.

5 weeks and two days after Eren was forced out of school, he returned.

The ridiculous amount of cameras around them was not helping Armin's nerves. He clutched at his hands tightly, trying hard to stop fidgeting so much on the spot where he stood. He felt Jean's hand on his shoulder giving him a comforting squeeze.

"I won't tell you to relax, but you shouldn't be so anxious." The brunette chuckled lightly.

Armin couldn't even speak. He was feeling so terribly restless and impatient. He needed Eren to be there NOW, and at the same time he somehow didn't believe that this was happening. He was terrified that it was all somehow a lie, and he wouldn't be able to calm down until he saw his best friend again. Mikasa was standing next to him as well. She seemed in her own anxiety, staring expectant and unblinking at the driveway.

Then a car neared them, and Armin felt his stomach churn. Feeling a sudden rush of fear, he raised a hand to grip Jean's own tightly. Jean rubbed the top of his hand with his thumb.

The car stopped before them. The cameras were all waiting expectantly, pointing directly at the car and a few at the rest of the students for their reactions.

The moment Eren stepped out, both Armin and Mikasa lost sight of the rest of the world. The blonde slipped out of Jean's grip and ran along with the girl.

Hundreds of camera flashes and loud cheers were nothing compared to the sudden uncontrollable laughter that bubbled in the 3 friends' chests as they met halfway and held onto each other, falling onto their knees. Armin felt Eren's hand tremble as he tightly gripped onto his sweater. The boy's face was buried against both his and Mikasa's shoulders. Tears ran freely down the girl's face and Armin knew they were probably running down his too but he could't feel them, all he felt was the warmth from the two people in his arms.

Eren pulled away to look at them, and Armin thought he could die out of how happy he felt.

"Welcome home." He said between bubbly laughter. Eren's eyes widened and relief flooded his features, tears brimming from his own eyes as they hugged once again.

Yes. He was home. It was finally over.

After some time, the group stood up so Eren could greet the rest of the world. He immediately searched for Mr. Levi, who had been also in the front of the group. Eren spotted him and neared him excitedly. Mr. Levi extended his hand for a greeting, which Eren completely disregarded and went for a tight hug. The teacher was stiff and shocked for a moment before letting his features soften and a hand pat Eren on the back. The rest of the students had their mouths wide opened.

A camera man neared Eren and handed him his own wings of freedom. The brunette unfolded the shirt and stared, puzzled, at the logo.

"Isn't this what you used in that stupid project?" He asked. Armin wanted to laugh and cry and scream at the sound of his voice and how it all seemed so close to normality. He simply smiled and took hold of one of Eren's hands.

"Jean's been using it as the symbol of your cause. He's really been the one leading this." Armin's eyes softened as he pointed to the logo. "It's courage, remember?"

Eren blinked in shock before searching out Jean's face in the crowd (which wasn't that far away cause he had been standing in the front with Armin). They made eye contact. Eren knew he hadn't exactly treated Jean the best of ways ever since they had met, and he had also tried to take control of Armin's interactions with him which he realized was an asshole move. He owned Jean a lot, but the only thing Eren could do at the moment was mouth a heartfelt thank you. Jean looked lightly surprised but grinned and nodded. Armin watched their interaction and felt like crying again.

Eren put on his wings, and camera flashes rang through the air.

Yaaay our babies are safe and sound and reunited! This is the end of the "plot" but not the fic! We still have to see them graduate!

So there you have it! That's why this fic is called the wings of freedom. Thanks to everyone who's been sticking around since the beginning! It really means a lot to me.