Sometimes, when the horse stumbled over a crag or had to quicken its gallop, Armin found himself stiffening. Anything that signaled a change in the pattern of its gait was enough to send him into an absolute panic.

Titans. There's a titan right behind us, an abnormal. I just know it.

The horse's legs buckled underneath them, and Armin opened his mouth. His throat vibrated as he cried out and he threw a hand over his lips.

Immediately Eren's arms pulled the reins back and the horse's gallop slowed to a steady canter.

Armin could feel his heart throbbing in his chest, even as the man behind him laced his arms about his stomach and pressed his mouth against the crook of his neck.

Eren did not kiss him this time, but Armin could feel his hot breath ghosting against his skin, up and down. He was talking again.

That only made Armin even more upset. Scrunching up his brow, he twisted his hips around and pasted a firm hand to Eren's mouth, letting the meat of his palm rest at his throat.

He felt the vibrations, varied and jumping up and down as Eren talked. His lips were enunciated something, following a pattern that Armin had tried desperately to translate over the years but could never seem to grasp.

Armin felt tears dot at his eyes and he turned away, hating the way that his chest seemed to hitch as he cried. He cried a lot these days. There just wasn't any other way to let out all of the absolute frustration that endlessly built up within him. It only made him feel all the more terrible whenever Eren coddled him for it.

Eren knew this, and Armin knew that he knew.

The arms around his skinny waist were pulled back and placed back on the reins. Armin could still feel the weight of Eren pressed against his back, the knob of his chin gently bumping the top of his scalp.

As the horse went back to galloping, Armin cried, his hands cupping at his own cheeks as to not get them wet.

They traveled for some time, though Armin didn't know how for how long. Eventually, after the tears stopped flowing, he leaned back into Eren's chest.

The tip of Eren's nose nuzzled the top of his temple and Armin felt himself sigh.

It got colder as the time passed, and the wind grew rougher and whipped against his cloak.

Eren's hand found itself resting at Armin's chest, fumbling with the clasp about his hood and bundling the woolen garment over his shoulders.

Armin crossed his arms underneath it and rubbed his palms against his chapped elbows.

The horse still galloped.

Were they in a forest now? That would explain the cold, but the wind was too strong for it to be that, and they weren't going uphill, either.

Leaning upwards, Armin forced his neck back and took in two long, sniffing breaths of air. It was still moist and dank, like rotting wood and sweat. But there was a sweetness to it as well, a tinged sour smell that was faint, but thick. It was like the smell of piles upon piles of freshly cut weeds in the fields, matted and cloying and peppered with pollen.

Armin had never smelled anything like it. His brow wrinkled up as he turned to press his nose against Eren's sleeve, thinking that it might have been coming from him. It wasn't, and upon his contact he felt Eren's hand run up the back of his neck. Armin ignored it.

The horse was slowing down. Armin could feel its sides heaving. He leaned over to press a hand at its neck, and the wiry fur was slick with sweat. They must have been traveling for a while, then. Either that, or Eren had pushed it too hard.

No matter the reason, its limping walk soon slowed to a total stop. Tugging on the reins, Eren shifted to the side and Armin felt the warmth and weight on his spine slide away.
Just seconds after a hand curled around his waist, urging him down. Armin braced himself as he slid off of the saddle and into Eren's arms, shaking. Getting off was always the hardest part of all.

Eren held him for a moment as Armin got his footing, holding his arms.

Armin just wavered back and forth for a moment, feeling at the ground. It was softer than before, but not as wet. He pulled away from Eren and bent over to touch it.

The grass was long and stringy, like thin little reeds jutting up from a loamy, packed-in soil. As Armin ran his fingers through them, the blades tangled in-between his fingers and forced him to uproot some of them as he pulled them away.

The wind was still harsh and biting, but the smell was stronger, that alien smell that Armin swore that he did not know the name to. It itched at his nose, like sulfur and dried pond scum. It was an ugly smell, but one that was just so strange that he could not help but breathe it in as deeply as he could.

All around them the ground was vibrating. That must have been from the other horses.

Armin stood back up, trying to ignore the fact that, no, Eren wasn't even wearing his 3D gear. He would have bumped into it if he had. Eren hadn't been for a long, long time, and Armin wasn't even certain on whether or not it was even being stored somewhere close by.

He tried not to think about it. It made the fear and dread even worse when he did.

Eren's hand was on his then and their fingers laced together.

Before he knew it, Armin was being pulled along behind him.

Wherever they were going, Armin didn't know, but the smell of mildew only grew stronger with each and every step.