Vivienne exhaled, her heart pounding with exhilaration as she landed lightly on a branch. The wind whipped against her face, and for the first time since joining the Cadet Corps, she felt capable.

She had spent countless nights adjusting her ODM controls, testing different trigger pressures—and now, it was paying off. She wasn’t just keeping up; she was fast.

A rare smile crept onto her lips as she prepared for another swing. But then—

A frustrated sound caught her attention.

Vivienne glanced to the side and immediately spotted Armin. He was hanging awkwardly in the air, one of his ropes pulled taut while the other dangled uselessly. His legs kicked slightly as he struggled to straighten up, but he wasn’t moving forward.

She frowned. Why is he just stuck there?

"Ugh..." Armin muttered to himself. "Come on..."

Vivienne didn’t hesitate. She fired her hook at the nearest tree and launched herself in his direction. With practised ease, she adjusted her angle and landed softly on the branch closest to his.

"Armin!" she called.

His head snapped up, eyes wide. "V-Vivienne?"

She tilted her head slightly, surveying him. "Are you all right? You’re sort of... just hanging around."

Armin groaned, looking away in embarrassment. "Yeah. I’d noticed that."

Vivienne’s expression softened. She knew Armin was intelligent—probably one of the smartest cadets in their class. But ODM gear wasn’t just about intelligence. Unlike Eren or Mikasa, he didn’t have the raw athleticism to compensate for small mechanical flaws in his equipment. That was probably why he still struggled.

"Right, let’s get you down."

After some effort, they managed to loosen the grip of his hooks. Armin dropped to the ground with a thud, dust swirling around him. Vivienne landed beside him and extended a hand. He took it with a small, sheepish smile as she pulled him up.

Then she folded her arms, thinking. "Let me see your controls."

Armin blinked. "Huh?"

"Your triggers," she clarified. "I want to check them."

Armin hesitated. "I—uh—Vivienne, I don’t think my gear is the problem. I think I’m just... bad at this."

Vivienne narrowed her eyes. "That’s stupid."

Armin looked mildly offended. "What?"

She sighed, stepping closer. "Look, Eren and Mikasa can use standard ODM controls because their physical strength makes up for the resistance. But you’re not them, Armin. If your gear isn’t adjusted to suit you, it’ll only hold you back."

Silence fell between them as Armin looked down at the ground, his expression slightly downcast. Vivienne didn’t need to ask what was going through his mind—she already knew. This feeling, these thoughts… they were all too familiar.

"I’m the same," she said softly.

Armin looked up in surprise.

Now it was Vivienne who glanced down. "I’ve never had to hunt for food. I’ve never had to collect firewood."

The innocent memories of her family’s servants tending to her needs, or her uncle chasing her around the garden in playful pursuit, weighed heavily on her. Back then, running had been a game. Now, it was survival.

Vivienne smiled sadly. "You’ve no idea how ashamed I was when I kept slamming into tree trunks. I still have bruises."

She paused, exhaling slowly. "But I’ve had to accept that I’m not on the same level as some of the others here. The only thing I can do is try to keep up."

There was another silence, and something shifted in Armin’s blue eyes. He studied her uncertainly. "You... do you really think that’s the problem?"

Vivienne gave him a small, reassuring smile. "It’s worth checking, isn’t it?"

He hesitated again before finally nodding.

Vivienne held out her hand. "Give me your controller."

Still looking slightly unsure, Armin unfastened the device from his wrists and passed it to her. They walked away from the dense woods, and when they reached the edge of a cliff, she sat down on the ground. Turning the controllers over in her hands, she pressed the triggers lightly, her brows knitting together in concentration.

"This resistance is too much," she muttered. "No wonder you’re struggling—you don’t have enough grip strength to make quick adjustments in the air."

Armin sighed. "Yeah, tell that to Keith Shadis. He keeps yelling at me about my form."

Vivienne grinned. "He yells at everyone."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Armin let out a weak chuckle, watching as she retrieved a small screwdriver tucked into her uniform. He observed in quiet fascination as she carefully adjusted the tension in the controls, her fingers moving with precision.

He could hardly believe it. She actually knew what she was doing.

Her eyes were focused, lost in her own world as the sky above them deepened into sunset hues.

A few moments later, Vivienne handed the controller back to him. "Try them now."

Armin slipped them on, adjusting the straps before gripping the triggers. He gave them a tentative squeeze. His eyes widened.

"They’re... lighter," he murmured.

Vivienne nodded. "They should respond better to your grip now. It won’t make you an expert overnight, but at least you won’t be fighting against your own equipment."

Armin stared at her, completely taken aback. "Vivienne... that’s incredible," he said, genuine awe in his voice.

She shrugged, glancing away. "It’s nothing."

"No, really!" Armin insisted. "I didn’t think I’d meet anyone here who could actually do something like this."

He laughed again, but this time, it was warm—grateful. He looked down at his ODM controls, then back at her.

"Thank you, Vivienne."

She shrugged again, but this time, a small smile tugged at her lips.

"Next time, don’t hang around in the air like a complete idiot, okay?"

Armin grinned. "I’ll do my best."

They walked slowly down the hill towards the huts, the stars shifting overhead. Armin’s blue eyes flickered with thought as he trailed beside her. He knew he could probably never fully repay her kindness, but... one question had been nagging at him for a while.

"Vivienne?"

She glanced over her shoulder slightly.

"Why... why do you want to join the Survey Corps?"

Her expression was unreadable, and Armin hesitated, suddenly unsure. He didn’t want to seem ungrateful or make her think he doubted her.

"It’s just… with talent like yours, you could have a much safer, more successful career and still help humanity."

A life of security. Within the safety of the Walls. Not having to fight to survive every day. That was something they all wanted.

Armin hated to admit it, but in a way, he understood Jean’s wish for a quiet life.

To grow up. To have a decent job. To start a family. Warmth.

Vivienne stopped walking so abruptly that Armin nearly stumbled into her.

She stood there, staring out over the lake, her lips slightly parted as if she wanted to speak. But she hesitated.

Armin waited. He could see it—the weight of something unspoken pressing against her.

Then, finally, her voice came, quiet.

"My uncle... he joined the Survey Corps."

Armin’s breath caught. He hadn't expected that. Vivienne’s usual composure was cracking, just slightly.

"People called him a fool," she said, her arms wrapping around herself. "Said he was throwing his life away. I thought…" She hesitated again, then shook her head. "I thought they were wrong. I still do."

The wind stirred the branches overhead. Armin stayed silent, giving her space.

Why? Why had she said those words here, now?

She didn’t know. But there was something about Armin that she couldn’t quite place. His soft voice? The way his warm blue eyes watched her, unjudging? Was it because she had been asked this question so many times before and was tired of justifying herself? Or was it because, for once, someone wasn’t looking at her as if she were just a spoiled noble girl?

"As a child, I used to dream of adventures—of running outside. But I wasn’t the only one in my family who liked dreaming."

Her chest tightened, and a familiar ache crept into her ribs.

For a moment, the only sound was the wind stirring the branches of the nearby trees.

Vivienne’s hand clenched into a fist. "No one thought of him as noble when he chose to fight for freedom beyond the Walls."

The laughter of her family’s acquaintances still echoed in her ears—mocking, dismissive. To them, her uncle had been nothing more than a fool. A naïve, reckless idiot.

"I don’t know anything," she said, and something in her voice shifted. "I don’t know how my uncle met his end. I don’t know what drove him—an engineer from a wealthy family—to fight. I don’t even know where he is."

Armin’s eyes widened. But it didn’t take him long to piece things together, and he looked down, a faint sadness settling over him.

Vivienne clenched her fist tighter. "But what I do know is that I respected him more than anyone. I know that if he thought fighting was more important than standing by, he must have had a reason. I know I need answers."

She narrowed her eyes, forcing back the pain that threatened to surface. Then she turned to Armin, her voice laced with quiet bitterness.

"I know I can’t just stand there with my eyes shut."

Armin stared at her, wide-eyed. He hadn’t expected Vivienne—calm, collected Vivienne—to understand what it meant to lose someone.

But her clenched fists, the tension in her jaw… she wasn’t just speaking. She was feeling it. And suddenly, a memory surfaced—his mother’s hands, trembling as she pushed him forward, her voice urging him to run. The crushing weight of helplessness as he watched her disappear beneath rubble and smoke.

He swallowed hard. He’d thought he understood pain, that he carried more of it than most. But now he realised how foolish that was. Loss didn’t care who you were. It reached everyone eventually.

His fingers curled into his palms. He looked down, shame creeping into his chest—not at Vivienne, but at himself.

Then, after a pause, he gave her a small, understanding nod. "I hope you find your answers."

I hope so too...

The next day, during training, all eyes were on Armin—even Eren had fallen into an unusual silence as he watched. But it was Connie who finally approached him.

"Armin, have you been training all night?!"

The blond boy gave a small, sheepish smile and scratched the back of his head. "Not really. Vivienne looked at my controls and adjusted them for me. Since then, it’s been a bit easier to find my footing."

Connie glanced at Sasha, who stood beside him.

Across the field, Vivienne was leaning against a log, adjusting her boots. She looked up just as the two cadets hesitated in front of her, their expressions oddly tense.

"Are you both all right?" Vivienne asked, frowning slightly.

Sasha and Connie exchanged sideways glances, both avoiding her gaze. Vivienne’s confusion deepened.

Then, out of nowhere, Sasha blurted, "Can you take a look at our ODM controllers?!" and shoved them towards her.

Connie blinked in surprise at Sasha’s outburst, but after a moment of hesitation, he wordlessly extended his own controllers in her direction.

Vivienne stared at them, caught off guard. But then, slowly, a small smile curved her lips.

"Let’s see."