A/N: Hello, readers! Welcome to another chapter! Enjoy!

edited on september 10th, 2021 @ 12:44pm

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𝓒𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚂𝙸𝚇𝚃𝙴𝙴𝙽,
𝓢𝙾𝙻𝙳𝙸𝙴𝚁.

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《 𝖳𝖶𝖮 𝖧𝖮𝖴𝖱𝖲 𝖤𝖠𝖱𝖫𝖨𝖤𝖱 》

"LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE WAS HERE RECENTLY."

"That's an odd for a place this near the wall." Lynne spoke up. "Some bandits probably used it as a base. It said "Ruins of Utgard Castle" on one of the signs. Who would have thought there was a castle around here?"

Everyone was gathered around the fire with the exception of Gelgar, who walks out of a dimly light room holding a bottle of alcohol.

"Hey, check it out. Look what I found." He announced as Lynne looked at him.

"Gelgar... Is that booze I see?" She questioned.

"Yeah." Gelgar responded, bringing the alcohol closer to his eyes, squinting as he tried to read the label. "What the heck does it say?"

"You're not gonna drink it now, are you?" Lynne asked. Gelgar tensed up and lowers the bottle.

"Don't be stupid. Not at a time like this." Gelgar told her.

"Convenient... All this contraband to enjoy for ourselves." Henning commented.

"Now you're making us sound like the bandits." Nanaba stated as Gelgar turned to the 104th cadets.

"You rookies should try and get some rest." He said as everyone looked up at him. "Titans won't be roaming around at this hour, but the rest of us will take turns keeping watch. We'll leave from here four hours before daybreak."

"Um... What if the wall isn't actually broken after all?" Christa asked. "The Titans... Where could they be invading from?"

Gelgar gives her a quick look before walking away. "Finding the answer to that... is our job for tomorrow." He answered before walking up the stairs.

"But what if—? Maybe it's not nearly as bad as we thought from the start." Christa said, looking down. "I'm just saying, but..."

"Yeah... There's barley any Titans around here. If the wall was really broken, that is." Henning stated.

"The only group we've really seen was during the initial sighting." Nanaba added on. The group stated at her until Ymir turned to Connie.

"Connie? What about your village?" She asked.

"It was destroyed." Connie answered. "Crushed to sticks and rubble by Titans."

Ymir and Christa looked down. "I see... How awful..." Ymir stated.

"But nobody there was eaten." Connie added on. "I think they all escaped, so there's that to be thankful for."

"Wasn't the village destroyed?" Ymir questioned.

"The houses and stuff were wrecked, but the villagers made it out safely. If anyone was eaten, then... there would've been blood and remains. But there wasn't any of that, so it's the only explanation." Connie replied as he looked away.

"Still... I can't stop thinking about it... There was that Titan at my house. It couldn't move on its own, but it was lying right on top of my house. But it's weird... I don't know why, but it reminded me of my mother... What does that—?" Connie trailed off.

"Connie... You're still saying that? You—" Reiner began.

"What an idiot!" Ymir interrupted Reiner's sentence, laughing. "You think your mother might have been that Titan?! Then how come you're so damn short, huh? Come on, Connie! I knew you were pretty stupid, but this is taking it to another level!"

"Would you just shut up?" Connie told her, holding the side of his head. "This is absurd."

"If this theory of yours is correct, that means your father had to be a Titan, too. Otherwise, you know... They couldn't do it—" Ymir began before Connie cut her off.

"Shut up! Go to sleep, you wench!"

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"Everyone, wake up! Get to the tower! Quickly!" Lynne shouted from the staircase.

Everyone looks up and heads to the top of the tower as they see hundreds of Titans surrounding them. Miche's squad grabbed their blades and headed down the tower, taking down half of them. A Titan had found its way through the wooden door at the bottom. Lynne rushes back to the tower to alert the others.

"The Titans broke through. Go back down and form some sort of barricade. If you can't block them, retreat back up here as a last resort." Lynne ordered. "But that doesn't mean we'll be able to help you though."

She looked back at some more Titans who were closing in. "I'm not sure if we'll still be alive if it comes to that." Lynne added before turning back to them. "We've all gotta do what we're trained to do. Give it all we've got till we die! Understand?"

"Got it!"

They started heading down the stairs, where Reiner grabs a torch from the wall. "I'll go see how far they've come through! You guys grab boards or rods or whatever! Bring everything you can carry!" Reiner informed.

"Reiner!" Christa called out as Bertholdt pushed past her.

"Hey! Wait up, Reiner! Hold on!" He shouted after him.

"Who does he think he is, always taking the most dangerous job? Come on, man!" Connie said.

"Yeah, that's a bad habit of his." Bertholdt stated.

Reiner came in contact with a door, he looked around, moving the torch in dark places he couldn't see. There, he lifts up the wooden plank on the door, unlocking it. He lights up a dark stairway as a Titan stood in front of him. It's teeth was showing and it's mouth open as Reiner slammed the door shut and locks it.

"They're here! Bring something, quick!" Reiner shouted.

A Titan breaks through the wooden door. "Is this it? Will this be it? Is this the end?" Reiner thinks to himself as a memory flashed through his head.

A Titan was about to reach for him until his friend pushed him out of the way, getting devoured instead as him and Bertholdt could only watch.

"No... It can't be. I won't let it happen!"

Reiner moves away just in time before the Titan completely destroys the door. "I'm definitely going home!" Reiner thought.

"Reiner!" Bertholdt shouted, plunging a pitchfork into the Titan's eyes. "Reiner! Are you okay?!"

Reiner got up and helped him plunge the pitchfork further into the Titan's eye.

"Yeah! Bertholdt, we're gonna survive and go home." Reiner told him. "We're going back to our hometown for sure."

Bertholdt widened his eyes. "Right... Right!" He said.  "We're going home!"

"Reiner! Bertholdt!" Ymir called out to them. At the top of the stairs stood her, Christa and Connie with a cannon in front of them, making the two of them look up.

"Hey, that's... Have powder? A cannonball?" Reiner questioned.

"Hell no! You'll just have to take the whole thing! Out of the way!" Ymir replied.

The four of them kick the cannon down the stairs as Reiner and Bertholdt move out of the way. The cannon breaks through the already damaged door and knocks the Titan out. Dust soon starts to fill the air as the three of them start to walk down the steps.

"Looks like that worked out, miraculously." Ymir commented.

"Yeah... It's not getting up from that. Not one of that size." Reiner agreed.

"What now? All we have is this knife." Connie said, holding a knife in his hands. "Should I cut off its nape?"

"Don't even try." Reiner replied. "You'll get hurt if it grabs you."

"F-For now, let's retreat back upstairs." Christa informed before walking back up. "There could be more than just one that got inside."

She stopped her sentence when she saw a Titan appear behind Connie as he is unaware of the monster behind them before they turned around and saw it.

"Connie!" Christa screamed.

The Titan headed towards the male but Reiner pushes him out of the way while also pushing the Titan. It turned back around and bites into Reiner's arm, causing him to wince in pain.

"Reiner!" Christa called out until Ymir stopped her from going down further.

The Titan bites down deeper as Reiner holds up the Titan over his shoulders and begins to walk up the stairs and close to a window.

"Uh, Reiner..." Connie mumbled. "Don't tell me... You're going to jump out the window with it?!"

"I've got no other choice!"

"Wait!"

Connie took the knife and stabs it into the Titan's mouth. "If I can just slice open its jaw..." He trailed off as he sliced the Titan's jaw open, making it release Reiner's arm. "You're free!"

The two step away as Ymir kicks the Titan out of the window while Bertholdt grabbed onto its other leg to make sure it fell out of the tower.

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Minutes later, Ymir and Connie were barricading the door while Bertholdt was holding a torch for them. "What will we do if another comes through?" Connie asked. "We won't be lucky enough to kill a second one."

"Yeah, I'm with you there." Bertholdt agreed before looking over to Christa who was treating Reiner's wound.

She used the bottle of alcohol Gelgar had from earlier and poured it onto his arm, making him wince in pain.

"Sorry... I'm sorry." Christa apologized. "I think it's broken."

"Yeah, just my luck." Reiner stated.

"We'll need a splint and a bandage. I know." Christa said as she stood up, ripping a piece of her skirt while Reiner watched in awe. "Sorry... All I've got is this dirty cloth. Sorry."

Reiner looks away from her. "No, it helps." He reassured her. "Gotta marry her."

"Are you all right, Reiner?" Connie asked.

"Yeah, I guess." Reiner responded.

"By the way, Christa. My hand got scraped up a bit, too..." Ymir stated, raising up her hand.

"Huh? Just spit on it or something." Connie told her as Ymir glared at him as Connie looks back at Reiner.

"Sorry about that, Reiner. It seems like you're always saving my ass." Connie continued.

Reiner looked away. "Not really. It's..." He trailed off. "It's the normal thing to do. Because we're soldiers."

"I'm not so sure about that. I doubt I could ever be that brave." Connie commented. "Hey, Bertholdt. Has Reiner always been like this?"

"No... In the past, Reiner was more of a warrior." Bertholdt replied. "Unlike now."

"What's that mean?" Reiner asked. "What do you mean by warrior?"

"For now, let's try to gather anything useful we can find. That way when we die, we can do so without regrets." Ymir said as she looked out the window in awe. "That's the Scouts for you... They're on a different level from the other soldiers."

Outside, Miche's squad continues to take down the Titans, stopping when they hear a strange noise. A loud boom was heard and the sounds of horses neighing. A huge rock killed all the horses so the Scouts had no way of returning back to the wall. The same noise was heard. This time, a rock lands on Lynne and Henning as they flew through the air, dying on impact.

"What was that?!" Connie exclaimed as him and the rest of the recruits rushed up the stairs.

Nanaba and Gelgar rest their bodies on top of the tower while inspecting them. A small tear tried to leave Gelgar's eye but he didn't allow it.

By now, the recruits were on top of the tower to find the two soldiers. "This can't be..." Christa mumbled.

Connie widened his eyes. "It's him! The one that walked off towards the wall!" He exclaimed as he rushed to the edge of the tower. "The Beast Titan did this!"

He then gasped as he sees twice as many Titans approaching. "A group of Titans approaching! More than twice the number from earlier!" Connie announced.

"What'd you say?!" Gelgar exclaimed.

"Their timing is too perfect, like it's part of some strategy. I get the feeling they've been toying with us from the start." Nanaba informed.

The Titans began to bang on the tower as Nanaba and Gelgar head out to finish the job. Nanaba kills a Titan but it lands on one of the towers. As she rests, she realizes she's running low on both gas and blades and goes to find Gelgar who is also resting on the side of the tower.

Blood was leaking out of his head as he loses his balance and falls straight into the horde of Titans. Nanaba rushes down and saves him, causing the last of her blades and gas to run out. The Titan that grabbed ahold of Gelgar throws him into a hole.

There, he sees the bottle of alcohol from earlier, trying to get at least a drop in his mouth, but was disappointed when he found it was empty. The Titans began to feed on Nanaba and Gelgar as the recruits could only watch from above.

Connie dropped down to his knees. "They got him." He said. Christa picked up a rock and threw it down as Ymir stopped her.

"Quit it, Christa!" Ymir said, grabbing onto her arm. "The tower's about to crumble! You'll fall!"

"But they're dying in our place!" Christa exclaimed. "Nanaba... And Gelgar..."

Connie banged his fist on the tower, clenching his head. "Damn it all to hell!" He shouted. "Hey... Do we gotta wait here now until the tower falls and we get eaten alive? Is there nothing we can do about it?! This sucks... We'll be wiped out without even finishing our mission."

"I... want to keep fighting, too." Christa announced. "If only I had some sort of weapon, then I could fight and die alongside them."

"Christa... You're still saying things like that?" Ymir questioned. "Don't you dare use their deaths. They didn't die so you'd have an excuse to get yourself killed."

"That's not... That's not what I..."

"You're not like Connie and the Scouts! They don't want to die, but you don't even care. All you want to do is die in a way that makes you seem like a hero."

"Th-That's not..."

"Connie. Give me that knife you had." Ymir said.

"Huh? My knife?" Connie questioned.

"Just hand it over." Ymir demanded.

"Fine. Here." Connie said, giving up the knife and handing it to Ymir.

Ymir takes it and pats Connie on the head. "Thanks." She said as Connie shoved her hand away.

"What do you want it for?"

"Hmm? Well, you see... I'm going to fight with this." Ymir replied.

Ymir then takes a couple of steps towards Christa. "Ymir..." She muttered as Ymir grabbed her shoulders.

"Christa. You've probably forgotten all about it by now... But this might be the end, so... Try to remember... that promise we made training on that snowy mountain." Ymir said as Christa looked at her with shock.

"I have no right to tell you how to live your life. So actually, this is nothing more than a hope of mine... I want you... to live a life you're proud of."

Ymir stepped away as she tested how sharp the knife was. "Remember our promise, Christa." She finished.

She starts to run towards the ledge as Christa yelled out for her. She jumps off and slices her hand with the knife as blood covered her face. The sky turned green as a bolt of energy starts to form around Ymir. Once it vanishes, a Titan stood in its place.

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A/N: Another chapter is done! Thanks for reading!

Word Count: 2601 words.