Beta'd by KappasRule!

I own neither DGM nor SNK

Castle Utgard, year 850

Allen sat off to the side, hugging his knees into his chest and staring into the fire. Kanda leaned against the wall next to him. As for everyone else, they stayed huddled by the fire as well.

This ruined castle they had found close to the wall was used by hooligans as a base. Well, at least that is what they suggested. However, Allen's mind was somewhere else.

There wasn't really a wall breach, he knew that much. The new titan lord must be up to something, and he would want no part of it.

Gelgar had just found a bottle of alcohol, much to everyone's disbelief, and was contemplating whether to drink it or not. However, he decided against it, and told everyone they should rest. "The sun has been down for a while now. I doubt that any titans will still be moving." He said. "But we'll take turns keeping watch. We leave four hours before sunrise."

"Um…" Christa squeaked. "If it turns out the wall really hasn't been breached, then… where could the titans have come from?"

Allen tensed from this question. I know…. I can't say though…

"Determining that is our job tomorrow. Focus on resting for now." Gelgar answered. Without further ado, he walked up the stone staircase that curved against the wall.

"Could it be that things aren't as bad as we initially assumed?" Christa asked optimistically. "How could I put it…?"

"Well, the number of titans does appear to be small." Allen said. "It'd be hard to say for sure that they've actually broke through the wall." He furrowed his eyebrows. "Come to think of it, the only titan's we saw were at Connie's village."

"Connie, what happened to your village?" Ymir asked tensely.

"It was destroyed. The titans… they had already left the entire village." Connie answered solemnly.

Ymir frowned. "Oh, that's…"

"But no one had been eaten. It looks like everyone managed to get away. I'm at least… glad for that."

Allen focused on the fire when they spoke. "Didn't you say your village was destroyed?" Ymir asked again.

"Houses and everything were damaged, but there were no victims from the village. If they had been eaten, then there would have been blood or other remains, right? There weren't any, so… it must mean that no one was killed." Connie reasoned, but Ymir remained speechless. "Only, there's one thing that's bothered me since then. It's the titan that was in my house. It was just lying there for some reason, even though there was no way it could move on its own. And, well… the thing kind of resembled my mom. What could it-"

"Connie, are you still going on about that?" Reiner snapped. "You're… are you stupid or something?"

"Reiner!" Allen hissed.

Suddenly, Ymir busted out laughing. "So your mom is a titan, Connie?! If that's the case, why are you so tiny, hm?! C'mon, Connie! How does that even make sense? I always knew you were a moron, but… Maybe it's the opposite! Maybe you're some kind of genius!" Ymir laughed again, and by then everyone stared wide-eyed at her sudden outburst.

"Ugh… just… shut up. This has gotten stupid." Connie groaned.

"So, if you're theory is right, then your dad must be a titan too! Right? 'Cause then, you know… How would they be able to do it?"

"Ymir, that's enough." Allen snapped. "Go to bed."

"All right, all right. Whatever you say, my lord." She teased.

Though no one could see it in the light, Allen paled even more than usual at the comment. Luckily, no one seemed to notice his reaction. Kanda merely raised an eyebrow at the newfound nickname. "So… my lord, huh?" He asked.

"Shut up, Bakanda."

Soon, everyone fell asleep. However, they didn't get much of it. One of the veterans came rushing down the stairs with a wild look in her eyes. "All troops, wake up! Get to the roof! EVERYONE, NOW!"

Jolting awake, everyone made it up the stone steps and through the trap-door. Titans were closing in on the castle… Now, it was for sure that everyone was awake. "The moon came out, next thing I knew…"

"Why?!" Gelgar asked. "Why are they still moving?! Hours have been passed since sunset."

"It's because of the moonlight." Allen said, bringing attention towards him. "The moonlight keeps the titans active just as much as the sunlight."

"Hey guys! Look at that!" Connie yelled, pointing at a certain hairy, ape-like titan in the distance. "It's huge… what the hell is that thing? A titan? Or… doesn't it look like some animal?" Connie turned for some approval, but he noticed their reactions.

Reiner, Bertoldt, and Ymir were speechless at the sight of him. Allen was also speechless, but he seemed to be shaking a little. 'No… not him…' He thought.

"Hey… he's headed toward the wall." Connie weakly pointed out.

Someone was shaking Allen. "Oi! We have to do something about these titans first." Kanda said. "Because of your idiocy, they're about to get in!"

It took Allen a moment to tear his eyes away from the ape titan. "Huh?"

The castle tower shook. Below, a titan had just rammed their shoulder against the wall. Another was about to come into the castle through the wooden door.

Soldiers had already switched to maneuver gear, Allen was just taking everything in before Kanda 'Che'd' and jumped in after the soldiers. Allen stole one last glance at the ape-titan, which had climbed the wall already, and was looking right at him.

By the time he recovered from shock, Nanaba came back up. "Titans have entered the tower. Get back inside, and put barricades to stop them!" She saw Allen. "Hey, you! Go with them. I am aware that you don't require maneuver gear to fight the titans. Go with them and help with the barricades."

"Ok."

"We don't know how many titans are left, or whether our gas and blades will last long enough, but do what you always do." She directed this to everyone. "Give it all you've got, as long as you're alive! Got that?!"

"Yes ma'am!" Everyone replied.

They quickly descended, with Allen and Reiner in the lead. Reiner grabbed a torch from a nearby holster. "I'll see how far the titans have come! The rest of you, gather up everything you can! Boards, poles, whatever you can find!"

"Wait!" Allen called after him, but Reiner was already too far ahead.

"He's the same as he was in training… always the first to rush into danger. I'd never be able to do that." Connie commented behind him.

"Well… that is a habit of his." Bertoldt said.

Allen sighed. "I'm going after him." Soon, without any remarks of protest, ran off.

It seemed he was leaning against a barricaded door, which seemed to be rattling. "Reiner!" Allen called, he activated his broadsword. "Move!"

Reiner seemed to be in a trance, but he snapped out of it, and jumped out of the way. When he did, the titan busted through the door, and Allen sliced it to pieces. Soon, the titan was a steaming heap.

The others came rushing in, Bertoldt in front. Allen just sighed. "It's fine, let's just go back upstairs… I'll barricade this."

"Wow… thank goodness we've got you, beansprout." Connie said, breathless and relieved.

Allen's eye twitched. "Don't call me that. It's Allen. Anyways, go back upstairs. There might be more-"

"Allen!"

He couldn't react quickly enough, so Reiner roughly shoved him aside and out of the way of a titan's mouth.

Allen stumbled out of the way, and when he turned back, he saw something that made his stomach drop. Reiner put his forearm in the way of the titan's mouth. "Reiner!" Bertoldt cried.

Then he did something unexpected. He lifted the titan over his head, and he made his way toward the window. "Wait… what do you think you're doing?!" Allen asked.

"You aren't thinking of jumping out of the window with that thing, are you?" Bertoldt asked.

"It's the only thing I can do!" Reiner yelled, struggling under the weight of the titan. Allen remained shocked during the whole ordeal.

Why didn't he…?

"Wait! If I can cut its jaw muscles…." Connie brought up a knife he had found earlier. The titan still held onto Reiner's arm with its jaw. With a clean slice in its muscles, the titan let go of Reiner's arm.

Everyone watched as the titan climbed onto the railing of the window. In this moment of shock and silence, Bertoldt reached to push it out of the window, while Ymir kicked it square in the face. Thus, finishing the titan and sending it pummeling to the ground below.

Allen blinked. "Ah…. Um… since that's done and over, let's make a strong barricade." Before long, that's exactly what they did.

In this calm, Christa spent her effort healing Reiner. When Allen finished fastening the barricade, he went over to where the rest were gathered around Reiner. "You all right, Reiner?" He asked.

Reiner pursed his lips. "Yeah… I guess…"

Christa finished wrapping her torn cloth around Reiner's neck. "Hey Christa, my hand got skinned too." Ymir said.

"Huh? Just spit on it." Connie commented.

"Thanks for saving me, Reiner." Allen said. "Even though I probably could've protected myself… still, it showed how selfless you were."

Reiner shrugged. "It's just my duty. We're soldiers."

Allen raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Bertoldt, was he always like this?"

"No… Reiner used to be a warrior."

Allen frowned. A warrior you say… Before he could ask, Reiner asked first.

"What? What do you mean by warrior?"

Bertoldt didn't answer. In this tense silence, Ymir decided to break it. "Anyway, let's gather up anything usable, so that we can die with no regrets." She hopped onto the railing of the window, and looked over the scenery. "Of course, that depends on how skilled our officers are."

So... yeah, this chapter was longer than usual. At first I wanted to summarize the events like I sorta did in the beginning, but... I thought twice about it. Oh, and for those of you who forgot, and wondered why Connie called Allen beansprout, it's because Keith Shadis called him that on the first day, so now everyone called him that xD just a little recap~ until next time~