He had wanted to get to know her. It really had been that simple. The closest Annie got to anyone had been with Mina and maybe Eren. Still from the glimpses Armin saw of her, she was as smart as a whip. And it wasn't just her intellect there was just something underneath that cold mask. He didn't know what it was but he wanted to find out.

They hadn't been friends, even acquaintances had been too strong a word. They were fellow soldiers, no more no less. Still there had been a spark, and Armin thought he might have had the chance to explore it in the future. He couldn't have been more wrong.

He doesn't know what was more surprising, that other Titan-shifters existed or that Annie was one of them. There was no doubt. All the evidence pointed to her. Still despite the logical side of him knowing it was necessary, he still felt like the worst kind of trash for tricking her. She had felt the spark as well and spared his life. And he used the second chance she gave him to stab her in the back. She had killed, but she wasn't simply a cackling villain or anything. There was something else to her she kept hidden.

He didn't get much time after she went into the crystal to think about her. Everything went to hell, first Ymir, then Christa, no Historia, and finally Reiner and Bertoldt. However the crystal titan drifted in the back of his mind. She helped him save Eren, by exploiting Bertoldt infatuation. And then when blood ended up staining his hands, he realized they had gained another trait in common.

He wanted to be able to move on from there, to finally get to know her and to see the crystal titan be able to be a normal human being. Part of his the reason for desire was because of his attraction to her, however that wasn't the only reason. Armin had wanted her to get to be more than a soldier, to live.

Still he had simply been dreaming a foolish dream.

A.N. First Camp Nano, then ZNT week, now this (not to mention I want to get a chapter of RP out before the month is over), I've been swamped with writing to say the least. Still even though I don't ship this as hard as I used to, I thought I should try to do one.