"I couldn't see them in the darkness, but then the moon. . ." Lynne trailed off her eyes wide in fear.
"Why? Why can they move?" Gelgar spoke rhetorically. "It's been so long since the sun set!"
"What's going on here?" Christa whispered to herself in a hushed voice.
"Hey! Look at that! It's huge! What the hell is that thing? A Titan?" Connie pointed towards an exceptionally large Titan covered in fur with arms draped down far past its knees. 'Him, that's the one behind this. That one must've turned all of Ragako into Titans.' I clenched my fist in frustration.
'What do I even do? Let the scouts try and take care of all the Titans? But for just the four of them. . .' I looked back at the rest of them and saw Reiner and Berthold's faces, it was something I've never seen on Bertholdt let alone Reiner. Fear.
'What is with them? They've been acting weird lately, between Reiner's conversations with Ymir and Connie, and Berthold's unusual quietness. It's making me worried. . . Maybe something about this situation just flipped a switch in them? '
"Hey, you two ok?" I put my hand on both their shoulders and snapped them out of their trance.
"O-Oh, yeah, I'm just a little shook is all." Bertholdt said followed by a nod from Reiner.
Suddenly a large Titan slammed into the tower making all of us stumble and lose our balance. 'I need to make a decision now. If I'm going to transform I'll do it before any of them die. Staying hidden isn't worth their lives.' I started walking over to the edge mustering my courage before feeling a hand on my shoulder stop me.
"Stand back, rookies. Leave it to us. It's time to show off our skills to you all." It was Nanaba. She took her hand off my shoulder and walked to the edge, her and her squad mates all unsheathed their blades jumping off of the castle tower to engage with the Titans. I immediately leaned over the edge to watch. I saw them fly down and take out the large one shaking the tower doubling as an attempt to block all the smaller ones from getting in. However their plan didn't work, proven by Lynne's arrival.
"The Titans broke through. Go back and form some sort of barricade. If you can't block them, retreat back up here as a last resort. But, that doesn't mean we'll be able to help you though. I'm not sure if I'll be alive if it comes to that. . . Understood!?"
"Yes sir!" We barked back dashing down the stairs to try and stop the Titans. Following the group down the staircase I saw Reiner dashing ahead and grabbing a torch.
"I'll go see how far they've come through! You guys grab rods, or boards or whatever!" He looked back at the rest of us from ahead. "Bring whatever you can carry!"
"Hey! Wait up Reiner! Hold on!" Bertholdt dashed in front of us to try and catch up to him.
"Who does he think he is always taking the most dangerous jobs! Come on, man!" Connie said.
"Yeah, that's a bad habit of his." Bertholdt said. Nevertheless, we stopped and took everything we could, Ymir and Connie even grabbed a spare cannon they saw in the back of the storeroom, I looked around myself and ended up finding a musket and a few rounds laying around near the cannon that Connie didn't snatch up. 'Lets see if I still remember how to use these things.' I cocked the gun back and loaded a round into the musket. I ran downstairs after the rest of them before hearing a yell from Reiner.
"They're here!!!!! Bring something Quick!" He screamed. I immediately rushed down the stairs as fast as I could passing Connie and the rest. I stopped at the top of the stairwell and saw that Bertholdt had already passed me and was pushing the Titan back with Reiner's help. Seeing Ymir, Connie, and Christa wheeling the Cannon behind me I stepped back. 'This'll be fun to watch.'
"Reiner! Bertholdt!" Ymir yelled to get their attention.
"What the-? Have powder? A cannonball?" Reiner asked back whilst struggling.
"Hell no! You'll just have to take the whole thing! Out of the way!" Ymir stepped back kicking the cannon down the stairs towards the Titan. Both Reiner and Bertholdt jumped out of the way and it slammed into the Titan destroying both it and the surrounding area instantly releasing a cloud of smoke.
'That went better than I thought it would, hopefully there's no more. The scouts better still be alive out there.' I peered out the window and saw them still fighting off Titans all four of them together. 'Good, they haven't died-'
"Conny!" Christa screamed snapping my attention back to the others. I saw Conny at the base of the stairwell with a Titan swinging its hand wide trying to grab him. Faster than I thought I could react I aimed my musket firing right into its eye causing it to stumble backwards and miss Conny. But, it wouldn't be enough to stop it as it launched at him again and this time I could do nothing but watch. Luckily Reiner jumped in pushing Conny out of the way and the Titans mouth at the same time. But doing so the Titan bit down on him instead a sickening crunch ensuing from his forearm.
"Reiner!" Christa screamed before being stopped by Ymir. Reiner gritted his teeth before crouching down and throwing the Titan onto his back slowly walking up the steps. 'What the hell is he doing!? Is he going to jump out of the window? He can't seriously be considering that!" I backed away as he leaned on the windows edge.
"You're going to jump out the window with it!?" Connie yelled after Reiner from the base of the stairwell.
"I've got no other choice!" He grunted back in pain.
"Wait!" I grabbed Reiner's attention and stood next to him an idea in mind. "Connie throw me your knife!" I held out my hand and he tossed it up right into my palm. "I'll pry open its jaw." I stabbed the knife into the side of the Titans jaw and used all the force I could muster to rip through the rest severing it and freeing Reiner. We immediately walked back away from the Titan and It turned around on the window sill facing us. Ymir immediately launched a high kick into its face and at the same time Bertholdt and Reiner pushed the Titans legs throwing it out of the window and down below.
We immediately walked back upstairs to the next door and boarded it up as good as we could.
"What will we do if another comes through?" Connie asked while boarding up the door further. "We won't be lucky enough to kill a second one."
"Judging from how the scouts looked last I checked I think we'll be fine." I responded.
"Sorry. . . I'm sorry." Christa popped a bottle of alcohol open and poured it onto Reiner's arm. "I think it's broken." She said solemnly.
"Yeah, just my luck."
"We'll need a splint and a bandage." She stood up. "I know." Tearing the ends of her dress off she used it as a bandage and wrapped Reiner's arm tightly in it. "Sorry. All I've got is this dirty cloth. . . Sorry."
"No, it helps." He looked away and judging from his face I don't even want to know what he was thinking about.
"Are you alright, Reiner?" Connie asked.
"Yeah, I guess."
"By the way Christa, my hand got scraped up a bit, too. . ." Ymir said looking down at her perfectly normal hand.
"Huh? Just spit on it or something." Connie responded savagely. "Sorry about that, Y/N, Reiner. It seems like you guys are always saving my ass." He sheepishly said. "Speaking of which, Annie risked her life to save me, too. I've gotta pay you guys back sometime."
"Not really, It's- It's the normal thing to do. Because we're soldiers." Reiner said.
"Don't worry about it Conny." I looked away annoyed. 'I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to face her.'
"I'm not sure about that, I don't know if I could ever be that brave." He turned towards Bertholdt. "Hey, Bertholdt. Has Reiner always been like this?"
"No. . . In the past, Reiner was more of a warrior. Unlike now." Time slowed and my brain immediately started to think of Marley. 'Did he just say what I think he said? No, I must've heard that wrong.'
"What?" I stared Bertholdt directly in the eyes and he seemed as confused as me.
"Hey, you ok Y/-"
"What did you just say Bertholdt?" I cut off Connie before he could say anything else. "Reiner was a warrior?"
"Yeah, in our hometown, Reiner was more of a warrior." He looked at me confused, I said nothing and stood silently without breaking my gaze.
"I'm sorry, that was rude. I didn't mean to interrupt." I sat back down and stared into the ground. 'What's wrong with me, why would I have reason to suspect them of being warriors. Reiner was just about to sacrifice his life down there.' Suddenly a crash came from the top of the tower and we all ran upstairs to see what had happened.
"What was that!?" Connie ran up seeing both Nanaba and Gelgar on the roof laying both Lynne and Henning down dead. We watched as they stood back up away from the bodies. 'I knew it, I should've just transformed. Why didn't I? Did I actually believe what they said? '
"It's him! The one that walked off towards the wall! That Beast Titan did this!" Conny peered over the edge and gasped in shock. "A group of Titans approaching! More than twice the number from earlier!"
"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." As the Titans approached they slammed into the tower and both Gelgar and Nanaba leapt off to go deal with them, or well try. I know both of them are low on gas and almost out of blades. 'I could save them. I have the power to do it right now, if I use this knife I can transform into my Titan and deal with them all. . .' I clenched my fists and stood still not moving an inch. 'What's wrong with me. . . Why won't I just go do it already! What's stopping me!? ' I thought back to Annie. 'What would you do right now? I miss you, I can't deal with this right now. . . When all that's nagging in the back of my mind is if I'm right. I can't stop thinking about it no matter what I do. I-I want to help them, but if I expose myself I'll most likely never be able to get back inside Stohess or near her.' I peered over the edge and saw both of them stuck on the wall of the tower, Gelgar without a single blade.
I looked down at the knife in my hand. I brought it up to my palm and closed my eyes. When I opened them I looked down back at my bloodied hand. 'What? Why am I not transforming!?' I clenched my hand in anger and felt the handle of the knife crack under my grip. 'Am I really so selfish I'd rather let them die than reveal myself!? ' My anger dissipated and all I felt was hate. Hate towards myself, for lacking the resolve to do what I know is right. For some measly hope that she might not be a traitor and I might be wrong. I fell back against the side of the castle and slid down sitting on the cold stone. 'I'm a disgrace.'
"Y/N, give me that knife you had." I heard Ymir say from my left. I didn't even both getting up or moving simply tossing the knife to her. "Huh? What happened to the handle?" She said confused. "Well, it doesn't really matter anyways."
"What do you even want it for." I said monotonously keeping my gaze on the floor beneath me.
"Well, you see. . . I'm going to fight with this." Ymir said with a dangerous tone in her voice.
"Ymir. What are you planning?" Reiner asked.
"Who knows? I don't even know myself. . ." She walked over to Christa putting her hands on her shoulder and telling her something I couldn't quite make out. After a short conversation and a few more shakes from the Titans Ymir stepped back away from the broken railing. "Remember our promise Christa." She charged forwards towards the edge of the tower.
"Ymir! Wait!" Christa yelled as Ymir jumped off the roof flying down at the Titans. I quickly pulled myself up and looked over the edge in shock. She brought her hands together and sliced open her palm releasing a bright yellow flash and manifesting her Titan.