They are the Prey and We are the Hunters Chapter 2

The candlelight flickered, the light in the room fluctuating despite the small fire burning in the corner.

"Hm... What can be done about this?" Desmond mumbled, looking through the papers. On the table in front of him was blueprints, drawings and his own set of the ODM Gear, as well as several reports of the many expeditions by the Survey Corps. The clacking of boots coming down stairs alerted him that someone else was coming.

"Son, what're you doing up this late?" Dot Pixis asked, holding a candle and looking tired. "It's past midnight!"

"I know father, but I've been looking over the blueprints on the Third Dimensional Manoeuvring Gear, and I've noticed some things that can be improved. Come," Commander Pixis was always fond of Desmond and his creativity. His son was always looking at ways to improve on things, especially when it came to killing Titans.

"Your last idea of the metal plate on the back was a great one, let's see what you've got!" Desmond grinned, always eager for his father's praise.

"Look at how the straps for absorbing the G-Force are wrapped around the ankles. I was reading the reports from the Scouting Legion and their casualty statistics."

"Son, you know those are confidential!" Pixis tutted, before chuckling. In all honesty he was glad that his son had the initiative to look into things like that. "What happened to the days when you were reading folk tales with Mason and James?"

"We're at war father. We need to preserve as many lives as possible. And after looking at the reports, I've found a common phenomenon in both living and killed soldiers. A lot of them are having ankle problems, even reporting broken ankles, making it impossible for them to work."

"So what's the solution?"

"Well, what if we change the location of the straps? I've tried it on my own, and Seamus and some of his squad's ODM gear, by turning several wrappings of cloth around the ankle into one large one that goes around the foot!" Pixis fiddled with his moustache, humming in thought.

"What were the results?"

"Much more comfort. The squad reported no more problems with G-Force and discomfort!" Pixis stared at his young child.

"Desmond, you're not even twelve, and you've revolutionized the way we fight!" Pixis slapped him on the shoulder encouragingly. "I'll take this to the board as soon as I can!"

"What if we use a more reinforcing material than cloth? Perhaps metal? No, that'd make them too bottom-heavy and unstable. Silk? Too expensive… Perhaps hessian? No no no, too uncomfortable, and wares under stress. Maybe leather, though we'd need to increase funding to cattle farmers…" Commander Pixis couldn't help but smile, watching his son's incredible mind turn at a rapid pace, thinking of new ideas to help his people.

"I'll organise my speech tomorrow, and I'll discuss the new material too. You've done well Dess, now head to sleep or your mother will have a fit!" The boy yawned and nodded, not wanting to face her wrath…

It was the next day, and Desmond was bored. He'd spent the morning helping his mother with chores, and he'd already completed well into nets week's homework assignments, Commander Pixis was adamant that his children were tutored, and his father had gathered up all his recant schematics and planning's for improvements to the ODM gear and other devices already in use by society.

"I'm bored," Desmond sighed, leaning against the railing of the veranda.

"Baby brother, what's wrong?" Seamus looked down at him, squatting next to his sibling.

"I'm not a baby anymore Seamus, I'm 11 years old." This only was countered with a condescending chuckle from his brother.

"In my eyes, you, and Mason, and James will always be my baby brothers. Have you finished your chores?" Desmond nodded, pushing his short, brown hair out of his eyes.

"Yeah, Father said he was going to take all of my blueprints and show them to the Council and the Generalissimo, so I have nothing to do."

"Want to have a race?"

"But you always beat me, your legs are so much longer!"

"Not on foot, ODM."

"But… today's your day off, and you'll get into a ton of trouble of we do that! I still need to look good so I can get accepted into the Academy when I'm older." Seamus pondered this, putting his hand on his chin.
"We could just call it early training? As long as no one gets hurt, it should be fine!"

Later at the barracks, they filled their tanks up with gas and stepped outside.

"This is your day of, you sire you want to spend it in your uniform and with me? Wouldn't you rather have a night of debauchery?"

"Maybe, but I've got a bad feeling about today. You might not have heard, but in the last few months, there's been almost a migration of titans moving south to Shiganshia. Quinta district and the others haven't seen any titan activity in months. To be honest, I'm worried."

"I doubt there's anything to worry about, Shay! How about we race to the south gate and climb the wall, see if there's anything out there?" It was an idea that made them both grin excitedly. Seamus had only been up there once, and Desmond dreamed of walking at the top, seeing what was outside the walls.

"Oh yeah, that sounds like a er… a RACE YOU!" He suddenly launched his cables and leapt away. Desmond shouted profanities about cheating and was hot on his heels. They sprinted across rooftops and flew over the streets, much to the confusion of the civilians. Seamus was faster, but Desmond's lighter body allowed him to be able to make much tighter turns and stop and rebound of buildings.

"I thought you were supposed to be good at this!" Desmond teased, taking the lead. "Aren't you a captain or something'?"

"Oh, shut up you little shit!" Seamus grumbled, both of them arriving at Wall Maria's gate into the wilderness beyond. "You got enough gas to climb her?"

"Yeah, I don't think I'm man enough to do that. Let's just take the elevator…"

The wind whipped past Desmond's ears, chilling him, despite his leather half coat.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Seamus mumbled, looking out over Shiganshia.

"It's so peaceful up here…" Desmond gasped in awe. "All the people look like tiny ants up here!" Desmond then turned around, looking at the expanse of land behind him. "Woah, is that-?"

"The land beyond the Walls? Yes," They both sat on the edge of the Wall, their feet dangling over the edge. "It just goes on and on forever…"

"What's that giant lake over there I can see?" Desmond pointed to a large body of water on the horizon, barely noticeable. "Is that an ocean?"

"An ocean? What's that?"

"It's a giant lake that's bigger than the land, and the water is made of salt!" This caused Seamus to laugh, and he patted his brother on the back.

"Sounds crazy if you ask me, but I'll play along. Hey, you see those things coming out of the forest?" Seamus pointed to two giant humanoids, one with a giant head, and the other miniscule, tiny arms. The beings slowly started walking towards the Wall, and started scratching at it, as if wanting to scale it.

"Titans… fuck me, they're hideous!"

"Language, brother. Although yes, they are pretty ugly. I'd say that's a 15 metre and a 6 meter class."

"You can tell from this far?"

"Part of the training, you need to be able to identify the opponent quickly." Desmond, keen to compete, looked towards the forest again.

"I can see three more titans coming out. A 7 metre, a 12, and a…4 metre class?" They waited for the titans to emerge from the woods, and Seamus whistled in admiration.

"You have fine eyes. You'll do well. C'mon, let's head down, refill these and see what Eren and the others are up to."

After they'd taken the lift back down to ground, and refiled their gas tanks, Seamus and Desmond went their separate ways. Desmond decided to go see what Armin was up to, and if he wanted to maybe come have dinner at his place. He was fond of him, they both were very smart, and not as physically adept as the others.

"Should be a cool night, don't you think?" Armin chatted as him, Desmond, Eren and Mikasa strolled the streets. "Let's hope that it won't frost tonight.

"It's summer, of course it won't," Mikasa said, trying to hold Eren back, who was dumbstruck by Desmond's ODM gear.

"This is so cool!" Eren beamed, rapping his knuckles on the gas tanks. "Does it work?" Desmond nodded, pulling out one of the handles and giving the bottom button a squeeze, making a puff of gas eject into his friend. This only made Eren smile more, and try harder at fiddling. "You've even got the blades! Have you ever killed a titan?"

"No, why would I?" Desmond chuckled. "I'm just a kid with a cool setup, not a member of the Garrison, or anything!" Suddenly, the deafening clap of lightning exploded, followed by a huge flash of light.

"What… is… that?" Armin stuttered, looking towards Wall Maria.

"Looks like I'm gonna be using these afterall…" Desmond muttered, drawing his blades as he turned to see a huge red head loom over Wall Maria…