I am grateful. I know some people miss their homes, and I miss things about it but... I wouldn't choose to go back.
[ Marco doesn't know, yet. He knows someone from Paradis has the Colossus Titan, but he doesn't know who. How long Armin can keep it a secret remains to be seen, though. ]
What did you do? During the attack? I couldn't see anyone I recognized aside from Mikasa and Sasha...
[Armin is a good liar, and he's not opposed to lying when he has to. He doesn't have to with Marco, though. After seeing Porco's memory, and talking with Reiner, he has no reason not to be honest. Even if it's painful - so terribly, terribly painful.]
I possess the colossus titan.
I don't talk about it much. I really don't like to. I'm sorry if it feels as though I've kept it from you.
If you saw the attack on Liberio's seaport, then you'll know what I'm talking about.
I'm not proud of it, Marco. But it's like I said. I was complicit in those attacks. I wouldn't deny it.
[ That's all Armin gets for a few minutes. Marco already knew Bertholdt had to have died - if the Colossus was in Paradis' hands, as Porco indicated, that's the only way it would pass on. And yet, there's still something painful in having it confirmed, in knowing that Armin was the one who took it.
And the one who blew up the seaport.
Once he processes that enough to respond, though, he does. ]
I'm sorry that you had to go through that. I suppose I understand what you mean now, when we talked about this before.
I'm ... well, I think I'm just sad, is the only way to put it, at this point.
["I'm sorry you had to go through that." Armin feels sick. No one should be feeling sympathy for him in regard to what his power can do. As always, Marco is far too kind. If he'd survived all those years ago, his heart wouldn't have.]
[ The more Marco learns, the more it becomes clear he would have lost either his heart or his life anyways, eventually. How could he have killed Bertholdt, or been okay with it? In the same breath, how could he have accepted losing Armin?
Would he have become numb to the death eventually? Or would it have shattered him, instead? He sighs to himself. ]
If you're thinking I'm mad, I'm not - well, not in the way one might expect. I'm just realizing you were right: our world is more cruel than I thought I understood to begin with.
You don't need to apologize to me though, Armin. I am here, if you ever need to talk about it.
[ He won't press it, though. He knows that's not exactly something he can force, and he knows that Armin has very different life experiences to Marco now.
Marco is still just a young man - a teenager, really. What Armin, Eren and the others have gone through is something he never will. ]
[That's about all he has left to say. Maybe he owes it to Marco to not be so withholding, but...he just doesn't have that in him right now. Maybe he never will.]
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I was complicit in that attack also. But it is disappointing. That word doesn't even begin to cover it, honestly...
It's a difficult truth to accept, but an important one. You deserve to know as much as any of us do.
More reason to be grateful for where we are, I suppose.
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[ Marco doesn't know, yet. He knows someone from Paradis has the Colossus Titan, but he doesn't know who. How long Armin can keep it a secret remains to be seen, though. ]
What did you do? During the attack? I couldn't see anyone I recognized aside from Mikasa and Sasha...
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I possess the colossus titan.
I don't talk about it much. I really don't like to. I'm sorry if it feels as though I've kept it from you.
If you saw the attack on Liberio's seaport, then you'll know what I'm talking about.
I'm not proud of it, Marco. But it's like I said. I was complicit in those attacks. I wouldn't deny it.
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[ That's all Armin gets for a few minutes. Marco already knew Bertholdt had to have died - if the Colossus was in Paradis' hands, as Porco indicated, that's the only way it would pass on. And yet, there's still something painful in having it confirmed, in knowing that Armin was the one who took it.
And the one who blew up the seaport.
Once he processes that enough to respond, though, he does. ]
I'm sorry that you had to go through that. I suppose I understand what you mean now, when we talked about this before.
I'm ... well, I think I'm just sad, is the only way to put it, at this point.
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Of course. I don't blame you.
I'm sorry, Marco.
[He is so, so fucking sorry.]
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Would he have become numb to the death eventually? Or would it have shattered him, instead? He sighs to himself. ]
If you're thinking I'm mad, I'm not - well, not in the way one might expect. I'm just realizing you were right: our world is more cruel than I thought I understood to begin with.
You don't need to apologize to me though, Armin. I am here, if you ever need to talk about it.
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It's difficult for me to accept that, Marco.
It's very difficult.
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[ There is, of course, plenty for Armin to apologize or want to for - and Marco isn't so kind hearted as to not remind him of that. ]
But I am willing to listen, even if I can't absolve you.
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I don’t expect to be absolved, and I wouldn’t want that.
It’s alright. We don’t need to talk about it. I’d rather not.
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[ He won't press it, though. He knows that's not exactly something he can force, and he knows that Armin has very different life experiences to Marco now.
Marco is still just a young man - a teenager, really. What Armin, Eren and the others have gone through is something he never will. ]
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[That's about all he has left to say. Maybe he owes it to Marco to not be so withholding, but...he just doesn't have that in him right now. Maybe he never will.]