A/N- Sorry for the wait again, but I was busy working on another story, called Big Brother Knows Best, which you should totally check out if you haven't btw. The main character is Mikasa's older brother who joined the Scouts eight years before her. But enough about my shameless plug ins, enjoy the chapter!
Mike, Nanaba, Gelgar and Henning all jumped off the tower together, while Nick, Lynne and the others all stood on the top and watched them do their work.
Gelgar was the first to go to work, flying towards a fifteen metre that was trying to bash the tower down with it's shoulder. The Titan spotted him and reached out, assuming that they prey would put up no resistance.
"You think it's gonna be that easy big guy?!" Gelgar taunted as he approached the Titan. "Then I got news for ya!" He yelled as he sliced through all five of the Titan's fingers.
The distraction Gelgar caused allowed Nanaba to fly across the nape of said Titan, cutting across the nape with extreme precision. The Titan fell to the foor dead, and trapped some smaller Titan's underneath it.
"Hot damn!" He cockily said. "You little ones should watch where you're going! Ha, dumbasses."
Nanaba on the other hand, wasn't amused at all by his attitude in their current situation. "I don't think you're one to talk. There's no call to be so reckless." She scolded him. "Did you have to waste your blades?!" She asked him, getting angry at his carefree attitude.
"That's just how I do things." He replied to her. "You better chalk that one up as an assist." He added in for good measure.
"Aren't you the hero?" She joked. "I'll think about it."
One of the smaller Titan's was trying to break free of the larger one that had it pinned down, only to have Mike step on the back of it's head and slice the nape.
"Damnit, not fast enough." He muttered as he noticed that the door was already broken down, meaning that some Titans had made it inside. "The doors been kicked down." He told Gelgar and Nanaba as he passed them.
"Titan's have made it into the castle." Mike told the ones still on top of the tower. "Make sure they don't get to the top, improvise some kind of barrier." He then turned to Nick and Lynne. "You two have blades, use them only as a last resort, just try and slow them down if possible." He told them before adressing the group once again. "The rest of us will stop any more from getting in to the best of our ability. There are quite a few, more in the forest, this might be it for us, but we'll fight to our last breath. Our heart and souls to the cause. Now go!"
"Right!" They all responded in unison.
"I'll go see how far they've gotten in!" Reiner announced as he grabbed a torch and began running down the stairs. "You find something to board up the entrance!" He yelled back up at them. "Whatever isn't nailed down."
"Reiner wait!" Krista yelled down at him, concerned for his safety.
"What the hell!" Connie exclaimed as he ran down the stairs as well.
"Hang on! We're coming!" Bertholdt yelled as he moved infront of everyone else. "Wait up!"
"Idiot." Nick muttered as he then ran infront of Bertholdt, trying to stop Reiner from doing something stupid that could endanger all of their lives.
"Are you kidding me?" Connie asked out loud. "Why's he always gotta be the first one to step up? Give us a break." He complained.
"I know." Bertholdt replied. "It's a habit of his."
"That habit of his might get us all killed!" Nick shot back at him. "Why the fuck does he have to play hero at a time like this?"
Reiner opened the door, only to see that the door down below was still barricaded shut. "Are they in the tower?" Reiner asked himself as he continued down the steps. "The door's still barred." He noted. "Not that that'll keep them out for long."
Walking closer to the door he slowly unlatched the barricade, not sure what to expect on the other side. Once the wooden latch was gone, he slowly opened the door and put his torch forward, only to come face to face with a Titan who had managed to crawl it's way up the spiral staircase from the base of the tower.
Just as the Titan growled at him, he was pulled back from the door, watching as Nick slammed it shut and placed the barricade back down, also placing himself there to hold the door.
"Don't just stand there Reiner." Nick spoke to him, snapping him out of the trance he was in. "Help me!"
Reiner did as he requested, placing his back against the door as the Titan slammed itself against the door, trying to break it down.
"They're in the tower!" Reiner yelled up to the others that were trying to find something to barricade it with. "Get down here and help us!"
Right as he said that, an arm of the Titan broke through the door next to Nick's head and tried to slam itself against him, but Nick was able to stop it by using his left hand to block the arm and hold it in place.
"You once said that sometimes we never have a choice when we became soldiers." Nick said to Reiner. "I never actually thought I'd have to fight a Titan with my hands, you think I'd win?"
"I'd think you were crazy!" Reiner yelled at him. "You have blades! Use them!"
"Sorry Reiner." Nick apologised. "But this isn't a last resort situation." He told him. "Let's find out, shall we?" He asked, grabbing the Titan's arm with his other hand and pulling it through the door, it's head managing to creep through as well as Nick continued to pull, with Reiner falling on his ass as he struggled to get away from the Titan.
"Reiner! Nick!" Berthold called out, coming down the stairs with a pitchfork in his hands and driving it into the eyes of the Titan, causing it to roar in pain. With Reiner also getting up and helping Bertholt with the pitchfork, Nick using their distraction to release the arms of the Titan and helping them push it out the door as well.
"Talk to me man." Bertholdt questioned him. "Are you good?" He asked.
"Yes." Reiner responded as he turned to face Bertholdt. "Listen to me, we're gonna make it home. This is not how we die."
"Yeah, right." He replied. "I know."
"You two can kiss each other later." Nick told them. "Keep pushing it back."
"Guys! Heads up! Incoming!" Ymir announced to them below, with her, Krista, Connie and Lynne all surrounding an old cannon that they had found and moved to the top of the stairs.
Before Reiner could speak to them, Nick started yelling. "There better not be any ammo for that!" He yelled at them. "If you shoot a cannonball at me, not even she could convince me to not cut you all into tiny pieces!"
"Yeah right, if only!" Ymir yelled back down to him. "It was pure luck that we found this! Get out of the way!" She yelled, with all four of them helping to push the cannon down the stairs, where it started to get faster and faster, with all three males down below quickly removing themselves from harms way before it crashed into the Titan, burying it in rubble.
"May miracles never cease. Huzzah." Ymir sarcastically spoke up once the dust cleared.
"Yeah, it's not getting up from that." Reiner confirmed. "Good thing it was a little one."
"Are one of you two gonna cut the nape?" Connie asked Lynne and Nick. "I'd feel reassured if I knew it definitely wasn't getting back up."
"There's no point in that Connie." Nick quickly replied. "Our blades would be put to better use on a larger Titan rather than one that's pinned to the ground."
"Then I think it would be best if we head back upstairs for now." Krista told them all, turning and starting to make her way up the stairs. We have no way of knowing if that's the only one that got in..." She trailed off as she noticed another Titan coming through the broken door, looking right at Connie. "Connie!" She screamed.
Connie was caught off guard by the Titan, and would have had his head bitten if Reiner didn't push him away, getting his arm bit in the process.
"Reiner no!" Krista yelled, trying to get back down the stairs, only to have her path blocked by Ymir.
Reiner felt the Titan bite deeper on his arm and felt a crack, which was probably the bone fracturing is his arm. Not to let his friends come to harm though, he bent down and lifted the Titan on his back, struggling with the weight but managing to slowly move with it entirely on his back.
"Holy- what are you doing?" Connie asked as Reiner walked past him with the Titan on his shoulders and going up the stairs. "Wait.. are you." Connie realised something. "Are you gonna jump out the window with it?!"
"We've got no other choice." Reiner retorted. "There's no angle for either of them to kill this thing." He reffered to Lynne and Nick.
"No wait!" Connie ran up to him, stabbing the knife he had into the Titan's jaw. "Just gimme a second, I think I can slice it's jaw open!" He said, continuing to cut until he finished cutting. "There!" He yelled, the jaw loosening and allowing Reiner to free himself.
The Titan wasn't gone yet though, and turned around to face them, with Ymir, Bertholdt and Reiner all contributing to throwing it out the window since they were the closest.
"Come on." Lynne urged them all. "We need to barricade the next door before anymore of them show up."
All of them proceeded to follow Lynne apart from Krista, who noticed that Nick was just staring at the wall, which prompted her to call out to him. "Nick." She tried to get his attention. "Nick." She tried again, not having any luck she grabbed his arm which snapped him out of it.
"What is it?" He asked her.
"You were just standing there staring at the wall." She told him. "Is everything all right?" She asked, the concern genuine this time around.
"Yeah, I was just... thinking." He told her.
"Hey Nick." She spoke up once again. "You could've helped Reiner just then." She pointed out to him. "But instead you just watched, why?"
"Not everyone is the person that everyone else sees them as Krista." He replied. "You of all people should know that... Historia." He said, leaving her behind as he walked up the stairs, with Krista quickly following behind him. Pondering what exactly he meant by that.
"What do we do if another one gets in?" Connie asked as he helped put some barriers of wood between the door and the floor, which would hopefully prevent the Titan's from breaking down the door. "Not like we'll find another cannon lying around, am I right?"
"Probably." Bertholdt responded. "Lightining won't strike twice." He said, looking over to Reiner who was having his arm looked at by Krista, while Nick and Lynne were conversing in the corner, rather secretly if Bertholdt had to guess, narrowing his eyes at the Scout and Cadet. "What exactly are you two up to?"
Krista on the other hand had opened the bottle of alcohol from Liberio, and splashed it onto the open would on Reiner's arm, causing him to wince in pain.
"Sorry!" Krista apologised. "I know it stings, plus the bone is most likely fractured." She guessed.
"Of course. It's about how my luck runs." He replied.
"We'll need a splint and a bandage, easy enough." Krista told him, standing up and ripping her skirt at thigh level, giving Reiner a good long look at her legs, while he was shocked that she had just done that right infront of him. "The cloth is filthy, I haven't been able to wash it in forever. I'm sorry."
"No sweat, it does the job." He cooly replied. "Marry me." He thought to himself.
"So you gonna be alright or what?" Connie asked as Krista was finishing off tying the sling around his neck.
"Think so. Probably." He replied.
"Y'know Krista." Ymir said, holding onto her hand with the other. "I got a little scratched up myself." She said, trying to get Krista to pay attention to her for the moment.
"Ugh." Connie groaned at her. "So just spit on it or something." He suggested, earning him a hate filled glare from her. "Anyway, sorry about all that man." He apologised to Reiner. "Seems like you're always having to save my ass. You and everyone else. Even Annie put herself on the line for me once. I owe you, a lot."
"It's fine." Reiner waved it off, remembering how useless he used to be, that day when Marcel pushed him out of the way only to be eaten in place of him. "It's what soldiers do."
"I don't know." Connie replied. "I doubt I could ever be that courageous." He then turned to Bertholdt. "Has he always been like this? The self sacrificing type?"
"No, he's changed a bit." Bertholdt told him. "In the old days, Reiner was more of a warrior." Bertholdt looked Reiner in the eye.
"A warrior?" Reiner questioned, seeming genuinly confused by that statement, which didn't go unnoticed by Nick as he continued to converse with Lynne while listening in to their conversation. "I'm not quite sure I understand."
"Anyway." Ymir spoke up, walking up the stairs. "Let's scrounge around for stuff we can use." She suggested. "If I have to die, I'd rather not do it because we're being half assed." She looked out the window, seeing that most of the taller Titan's were dead now, leaving only a few smaller ones left. "Oh wow! Well alright then. Say what you will, the Scouts get shit done."
Silently Nick approached Reiner and grabbed his shoulder extremely hard and leaned inti his ear. "If I catch you staring like that again, I'll remove your eyes from your head. Understand?" He whispered.
"Yes." Reiner quickly answered, not wanting a broken shoulder as well.
Outside the castle, Nanaba quickly zoomed past a Titan's foot, slicing it's heel wich caused it to go to a knee, which in turn allowed Gelgar to kill it cleanly, and without wasting any supplies.
"That's mostly it for the big ones!" Gelgar announced.
"Good thing we have this tower." Nanaba commented.
"No kidding." He agreed with her. "Think we might just survive the night."
"I wouldn't be so sure Gelgar." Mike said as he joined them both. "The Titan's in the forest are mobilising, they're waiting for the perfect time to strike." He then turned to Henning. "Henning, you check on everyone else, we'll hold down the fort."
"Affirmative." Henning said, zipping up to the top of the tower.
"The hell's that noise?" Gelgar asked as they all heard a noise, sounding like something being thrown if Mike had to guess.
He was proved right as a large chunk of rock landed in the courtyard, killing all of the horses that were resting there.
"The horses..." Nanaba said, shocked that something like that had happened.
Mike, on the other hand, had seen it before, it was a while ago, but there was no mistaking that it was the Beast Titan that threw that rock. "Henning! Get down from there now!" Mike yelled up at him as he heard the noise again, but Henning couldn't react in time, his body being crushed and thrown into the air as a rock hit the top of the tower.
"Henning!" Nanaba cried out as she watched his lifeless body sail through the air.
"Oh shit!" Connie yelled as he was the first one up the stairs, with there now being a huge piece missing from the top of the tower where the rock hit, all while Mike carried Henning's body.
"He's dead." Mike said once they had all gathered. "Died instantly."
"This can't..." Krista started, only to stop as she watched Mike lay his body on the floor.
"He did this." Connie realised. "The one who made a beeline for the wall!" He yelled as he reached the edge of the tower. "Hairy son of a bitch is randomly-" He stopped after looking down at the ground. "Heads up guys! We've got twice as many as before!" He announced.
"You're kidding?" Gelgar asked in disbelief. "I hate when your nose is right Mike." He grumbled.
"It's like they're timing these attacks as some part of a larger strategy." Nanaba guessed, given the information Nick revealed earlier, it was the only option. "This isn't random at all, we're being toyed with." She said as the Beast Titan let out a roar for the other Titans to hear, causing the Titans to bash against the tower while the Beast Titan climbed down the other side of the wall.
"Mike." Nick said as he grabbed his arm. "You remember out deal? The one we made earlier?"
Mike took a quick glance at Krista and decided that the condition had been met. "I do remember the deal." He said, confusing the other recruits in the vicinity of them. "You clear the east side of the tower." He told him. "Nanaba, Gelgar, Lynne, you know the deal we made, we'll distract the Titan's on the north, west and south side while Meier clears the east. Let's get to it!"
"Wait." Nanaba stopped Nick. "Promise me that you're telling us the truth, that this deal we made isn't just for your own benefit."
Nick then grasped her hand and held it firmly. "I promise that this is for the sake of humanity." He promised her. "If you die, it won't be in vain."
She chuckled at that. "Just don't die Meier." She requested. "I'd hate to sacrifice myself for something that doesn't even work out in the end." She let him go as he jumped off the east side to get to work, while she joined Mike, Gelgar and Lynne in dealing with the Titans on the other three sides.
"What the hell is going on here?" Connie asked. "You don't think he's going to run, do you."
"He wouldn't to that." Krista insisted. "He's probably just been assigned that side because he can handle it."
"What makes you think he won't run Krista?" Ymir asked her. "It's human nature after all, to look out for yourself before others. It all boils down to how much he can take before the pressure gets to him."
"Enough." Reiner said. "We can't be worrying about that right now. All we can do is hope for the best."
Some time later and Nanaba had blood on her face that had just evaporated as a large Titan took a swing at her, which she managed to dodge by launching herself into the air. "Damnit! I'm running out of gas." She thought, shooting herself at the large Titan and cleanly cut its nape, getting blood on the side of her face in the process.
"Come on, go down." She pleaded, only to see it fall on the shorter tower, causing it to crumble to the ground, which in turn gave them less places to launch their hooks into.
"The tower's not gonna hold." Gelgar said to her as he leaned against the tower.
"Hey, my ODM gears low on juice." She said to him. "Yours?" She asked.
"Fresh out, and I've worn my blades down to the nub." He told her, bringing the leftover of his sword up to his face. "Please tell me those aren't the only one's you've got left."
"Afraid so." She replied.
"How many dead Titan's did the six of us rack up?" He asked.
"Couldn't say. I was to preoccupied to keep count." She replied.
"You know well, I'm thinking I didn't do too bad." He thought out loud. "Oh man, what's a guy gotta do to get a drink around here?" He asked, blood pouring from a wound on his head.
"This isn't the time for-" She stopped as she saw his condition, he was barely able to stay awake, let alone fight.
"I'm sorry Nanaba." He apologised to her. "I must've bashed my head." His head now hung low. "I... I don't think I can... hang on."
Right as he was about to drop from the wall, Mike came from above and grabbed onto him. "I've got him!" He said. "Get up the wall, Lynne's already there!" He said as they both went up to the top of the wall.
"So this is it." Connie said as they got to the top of the wall. "We're all gonna die here are we?" He asked. "You know, I always thought I'd die to a Titan, I just never imagined that it'd be like this. Man, what a shitty way to go."
"The east side is clear!" Nick announced as he came back up the wall, covered in blotches of steaming blood from the dead Titan's.
"Alright then." Mike relented. "Do it."
Nick then turned to Krista, walked up to her and grabbed her by the arm, forcing her along. "Come on, we're leaving."
"What? No way!" She struggled against him as he kept his grip on her arm, doing his best not to hurt her. "I will not run away while everyone else dies in my place!" She yelled. "Who gave you the right to decide that?!"
"I did." He said to her. "Now stop struggling, this is for your own good Krista. Just accept this is how it has to be and you won't get hurt!"
"Hey let go of her man!" Connie yelled at him, with him, Ymir and Reiner all trying to get to them, only to have Mike, Nanaba and Lynne block their path.
"Stand down rookies. Thats an order." Mike sternly said to them. "This is what was agreed upon by all of us, do not interfere."
"You have no right to decide this for me!" Krista yelled at Nick, continuing to struggle against him. "What makes you think I even want to leave? This is what I signed up for!"
"I did not just kill every Titan on the east side of the tower just to have you kill yourself to fulfill some fantasy about you dying in a blaze of glory!" He was losing his temper with her now. "Sometimes you don't get to decide what happens to you in life Krista, you just have to accept it." He then forcibly picked her up and held her in place on his shoulder, with her hitting his back with her fists in frustration.
"Put me down!" She yelled, but realised that he wouldn't, so she decided that she would play a card that was a huge risk. "I know why you're doing this, risking everything to save me from this." She told him. "It's because you're in love with me, isn't it?" She asked, which made him stop moving altogether, slightly loosening his grip on her.
"That's it, isn't it?" She asked, mistaking his freezing up for conformation. "I don't blame you for feeling that way. In fact, I've always admired you, you always had a reason to keep going, you always gave me tips and advice back at the cadets so that I could improve. You even gave up a guaranteed top two spot just so I could join the MP, because you wanted me to be safe inside the walls. I'm sorry that it didn't turn out that way, but you can't keep protecting me like this, so please, put me down." She requested.
"You act like her so much Krista." He said as the others watched on, most in disbelief, but Ymir and Reiner in jealousy. "But I can't do that, because you're important, so much more than you realise. That's the reason we have to leave."
He stepped close to the ledge, only for a fifteen metre Titan to charge the tower, knocking everyone off balance including Nick, who stumbled and combining that with his loosened grip on Krista, accidentally dropped her over the edge of the tower, much to everyone else's horror, including Frieda's own shock.
As she fell there was a lone seven metre Titan that had wandered around the tower while they had been wasting time talking, it caught Krista in it's arms and stared at her, causing Krista to panic and flail about.
"Help me please!" She screamed. "Help me! Nick! Ymir! Anyone!" She screamed out for them as it raised her to it's mouth. "PLEASE HELP ME!"
"Don't just stand there like an idiot!" Frieda screamed at him through his head. "Get down there and help her!"
As the Titan slowly brought Krista closer and closer to it's gaping mouth, teeth ready to crunch down on her, she could smell the rancid breath of the Titan getting closer and closer to her. "Help me... please." She whimpered out, closing her eyes with tears forming in the corners of her eyes, she wanted to be remembered, but she didn't want to die like this.
She opened her eyes slowly at the sound of metal cutting into flesh, once she did, she saw Nick with his left foot on the bottom jaw, his right on the top jaw, keeping the mouth stuck open while his blades were inside the eye sockets of the Titan.
The Titan then released Krista from it's grasp to try and claw him away, but Nick jumped off right before it could which caused the Titan to hit itself in the face. Nick then slid under it's legs and used the momentum to jump off the ground, spinning in the air to shoot himself towards the Titan and cut two thirds of the way through it's nape, breaking his last two swords in the process.
He the ran up to Krista and lifted her up so her arms were around his neck and legs wrapped around his waist, all the noise made had alerted other Titan's to come around the tower, meaning there was no escape for them now, esecially considering he had used his last blades and a lot if his remaining gas to get down the tower so quickly. The only thing he could do was go back uo to the top and hope that one of the three idiots pulled their head out if their ass and transformed to save them, lest they be eaten as well and lose their powers.
The rest of them watched what happened from the top of the tower except for Gelgar and Lynne because he was unconscious and she was trying to stop the bleeding.
"Damnit." Mike muttered. "All of that was for nothing after all." He sighed. "The only reason he dropped her was because she started saying all that mushy crap to him."
"He looked more shocked by what she was saying than anything else." Nanaba pointed out. "If she hadn't said that, then maybe they'd be long gone by now." She started massaging her forehead. "It's pointless now, we have no way to fight back now."
"If only we had taken a spare set of supplies." Mike mused. "Maybe then he could've thinned the herd enough for us to have a chance of escaping." He said to her as he watched Nick slide between the legs of the Titan. "It's a shame really, fresh out of training and he's already got the potential to be a good as Levi, he just needed more experience, but he won't get that now."
Once Nick had reached the top of the tower he tried to get Krista off of him, only for her to tighten her hold on him, muttering into his shoulder as she buried her face in it.
"Please don't let go." She whispered. "Don't let go. Not again, please."
In return he rubbed her back in an attempt to calm her down, while the cadets and Scouts all watched on, most believing that they were all about to die.
"I know it's not the time for this." Connie whispered to Reiner. "But for what it's worth, I'm sorry." He apologised. "I know you liked her man, but you just can't compete with that."
"What're you getting at?" Ymir dangerously asked him, lowering her tone as she spoke.
"Well come on, it's obvious isn't it." Connie told her. "I don't think it's possible to misread the situation here. Guy saves girl, girl falls for guy, they both die together. Quite cliche if you ask me."
"You're a fucking Idiot Connie." Ymir mentally scolded him. "He's not in love with Krista, it's her dead sister he loved."
"Damn it all." Ymir sighed. "Connie, where's that knife you had?" She asked as she approached him.
"Huh? Why?" He questioned, slightly confused now.
"Just give it here." She persisted.
"Fine, whatever." He sighed as he gave in, no point in arguing as he handed her the handle of the knife he used to save Reiner earlier.
"You're very sweet, thanks." She said, patting him on the head.
"What exactly are you going to do with that?" Mike asked her, taking note of what she was doing. "You're not trying to die in a blaze of glory, are you?"
"Not much." She responded before a smile grew on her face. "Just gonna give them a little hell."
"Okay then." Reiner responded nervously. "So, do you have a plan or-"
"If I do, we'll learn what it is together." She replied, walking to one side of the tower, before looking back at Krista, who was still shaking in fear.
"Krista." Ymir spoke up. "Listen to me, I realise you've probably forgotten... but, since were facing the end, try to think back." She pleaded. "Remember that oath that we made on the snowy mountain." Krista looked up from Nick's shoulder at that, remembering what had happened. "I have no business telling you how to live your life, it's not my place." She said, the sun starting to rise in the distance. "So when you break it down, this is really just more of a hope."
Krista had now gotten back down to the ground now, staring wide eyed at Ymir while Nick held her arm, preventing her from getting any closer.
"Krista... live a life you can be proud of." She then tapped the point of the knife, checking it's sharpness. "Never forget the promise we made." She said, starting to run towards the battlements of the tower.
"Ymir wait!" Krista pleaded.
"Stop her!" Mike ordered.
Nanaba was the closest and would've been able to get in the way of Ymir's path, only she didn't because Nick stepped across her, allowing Ymir a clear path to jump off the tower with the knife in hand.
"YMIR!" Krista screamed as she looked down to where she had jumped off the tower.
"Krista, we are the same." Ymir thought as she fell through the air. "I used to curse the day I was born just like you. The world despised me for having the gall to exist. Huh, I thought the only way to put things right was to give up my life." She cut her palm with the knife, engulfing her in a bright ball of light. "But even then, all I wished for was to be given a second chance. A chance to finally live for myself!" She inwardly yelled, flesh and bones forming around her as the body of a small Titan formed around her.
"The Jaws Titan." Frieda whispered as she watched it all happen as well, but as Ymir bit into a Titan's nape and went to another one, she noticed something. "The jaw and claws are missing." She pointed out to Nick. "That's just a normal Titan body."
"She knew she had the power, otherwise she would've have jumped off the edge." Nick replied to her. "First time using it?" He guessed.
"Probably." She replied. "But even then... the claws should have at least naturally formed, it's like the power she has, doesn't want to work with her."
"We can think about this later." He said to her. "We need to survive for now."
"Talk to me." Connie requested. "Somebody tell me it's all a dream." He pleaded.
"Ymir." Krista managed to get out.
"It was her that day." Reiner said, mortified after recognising her Titan form from that day.
"She's the one..." Berthold trailed off, equally as horrified as Reiner, watching on as Ymir dodged the swings of some Titans, eventually biting one's nape out, followed by dodging a charge from another Titan which barged straight into the tower, which ended up knocking Krista over the edge again.
Reiner was he closest to her and would've grabbed her if not for Mike stumbling into him, which forced Nick to reach over the ledge and catch her ankle as it went past the ledge, with him now halfway over the edge as well, she looked back up to see that it was Nick who had caught her and saved her again.
"Thank you Nick." She thanked him as he pulled her up quite easily.
"I said I wouldn't let go again." He reminded her, getting a small smile out of her in appreciation as she was set back on her feet.
"Tell me the truth." Reiner requested of her. "You had to have been in on all this." He accused. "Ymir's a Titan, how could you not know?"
"She never told me." Krista replied. "We were inseparable and yet... I had no idea." She said, watching Ymir attack a few Titans then going back out of reach of them. "I mean... how?"
"I'm not sure what to think." Reiner spoke up. "All this time she's been keeping it under wraps, and we never suspected a damn thing!"
"Yeah." Bertholdt agreed.
"Well... it's possible she didn't know." Connie offered up. "Eren was caught off guard. He had no clue until he transformed." He reminded them of the Titan hating member of the 104th, who had the power of two Titan's within him, though everyone else thought he only had one. "Then again, Ymir did seem to have a plan."
"Wait a minute." Krista stopped Connie there. "Are you trying to say that Ymir is a threat?"
"Maybe." Connie replied. "It's a hell of a power to hide, how she'll use it is anyone's guess."
"For all we know she could've been on their side all along." Bertholt spoke up.
"That's ridiculous." Nick snorted. "Who in their right mind would side with mindless Titan's Bertholdt." Nick said as he glared at him. "How can you side with something that tries to eat you, even when you're one of them."
Krista gasped as Ymir's leg got caught, not noticing the staredown between Nick and a nervous Bertholdt. Ymir was dragged down and tried to get away by biting the arm of the Titan that grabbed her and hit the other one and jumped up, only to have her legs grabbed again by another Titan, forcing her to use the stones of the tower to hold herself up. Her other leg was grabbed so she couldn't shake them as the stones continued to come loose, but right before they did, she let go, shocking everyone who was watching her.
"Woah! What is she doing?" Connie asked, as shocked as everyone else. "Oh come on, you're kidding right? She's worried about the tower falling down?"
"Exactly." Krista confirmed for him. "She didn't have to stay, she could've chosen to escape. Nothing's keeping her here, and still, she's fighting. It's us!" She realised as she watched Ymir struggle against all the Titans. "She's risking her life for us!" She watched Ymir get her hair grabbed by another Titan.
"Who are you?" Krista quietly asked. "Why are you doing this? Why?" She then stood up on the ledge of the tower to shout at Ymir. "Don't you die on me!" She yelled down to her. "Not in a hobbel like this, damn you!"
"Hey, get down from there!" Nick yelled as he grabbed onto her legs to stop her from falling. "I don't have enough gas to save you if you fall again." He reminded her.
"You wanna be the hero all of a sudden?!" She yelled, getting Ymir's attention as she was caught between multiple Titan's. Krista then shoved her hand onto Nick's face, putting him in some pain as it was his broken nose she was shoving against as he tried to keep her in place. "Hoping to go out in a blaze of glory?! Don't make me laugh! Too late to think about heaven now! You're a selfish bitch and you know it!"
"You'll die protecting this stupid tower!" She shouted. "Tear it to pieces! Just be yourself!" She screamed.
"You're insane!" Nick yelled. "That's going to get us all killed!"
Ymir on the other hand seemed to think it was a great idea, breaking free of the Titan's grip and the proceeded to rip the tower apart, throwing the stone blocks at the Titans to keep them at bay, with the tower eventually beginning to fall over with all the missing stone near the bottom.
"Yeah! Atta' girl!" Krista yelled, throwing her arms in the air, with Nick as the only thing preventing her from falling as he refused to let go of her.
"Wanna' lift?" Ymir asked in her Titan form as she appeared at the top of the tower. "Grab on tight." She ordered them as they all grabbed on, with Mike and Nanaba holding the unconscious Gelgar so that he wouldn't die from the fall.
"Krista!" Nick yelled as Ymir started riding the tower down with everyone holding on for dear life. "If we make it out of here alive, I'm going to confine you to flat land for the rest of your life!" He yelled as the tower hit the ground, crushing all the Titan's that were standing beneath it.
Once they were all on the floor and thought they were safe, a few Titan's got right back up from underneath the rubble, getting the attention of everyone there.
"They're still not dead?" Krista asked.
"Hey ugly!" Connie called out. "You've got a job to finish!" He yelled as she ran towards the few Titan's left to kill them.
As she killed the first one, another one popped up and grabbed her by the head, smashing her against a large stone in the process.
"Ymir!" Krista yelled, worried for her friend.
Just then, more and more Titan's surfaced from the rubble and began to make their way towards Ymir.
"That's not good." Connie pointed out, but right then the Titans pounced on Ymir and began eating away at her Titan form, much to everyone's horror. "They're eating her." Connie said, horrified at the scene before him.
"No... no please." Krista begged, then she slid down the rock and started to run towards Ymir.
"Krista wait!" Connie urged her to stop but she didn't listen.
"For fucks sake, she's more suicidal that Eren." Nick muttered, quickly going after her to stop her from getting eaten, he needed her after all.
"Ymir! Don't do this to me!" She yelled, almost tripping as she ran but quickly recovered. "Damnit! We had a deal, remember?! Hold on! I still haven't told you my name! I promised you!"
Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes now, she wouldn't be able to tell her that her real name was Historia at this rate now, and to make things worse, a Titan poked it's head around the corner right infront of her, causing her to stop.
As it reached for her, she was yanked back and replaced by somebody else who was about to be grabbed instead of her, but the sounds of ODM gear and flesh being sliced caused the Titan to fall dead before it coukd grab the person who pulled her back.
She then saw Mikasa perched up on a rock, with her blades covered in Titan blood, glaring at whoever it was that had saved her.
"Nick, Krista, all of you get back." She said, confirming for Krista that Nick had put his life on the line for her once again. "Let us take care of this."
"Ah shit." Krista heard Nick mutter to himself as she noticed a fading bruise on Mikasa's left cheek.
A/N- There we go, another chapter down, and much faster than the last! Krista thinks she's got Nick figured out, but does she? But now Mike and three of his squad are (currently) alive, I have plans for them. Poor Nick and his nose, people seem to just target that, they keep trying to destroy the eye candy! But now Mikasa has arrived with the rest of the Scouts, and a very angry Eren. But if you didn't read the note at the top, how about you check out my new book! Big Brother Knows Best, I've worked hard on it and would appreciate if you gave it a read, even if you don't like it that's fine. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!