Beta'd by KappasRule, as always!

I own neither DGM nor SNK

Castle Utgard, year 850

It seems as if the veterans were doing well, especially with Kanda working with them. They had nearly finished off the handful of titans that climbed the castle. Allen moved over to the window, and saw that Kanda was destroying most of the big ones. "NO! He's getting ahead of me!"

Ymir raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" The castle suddenly shook.

Everyone's first instinct was to run to the source. As soon as they emerged, they found two dead bodies, and a portion of the castle had crumbled. Two soldiers knelt next to the bodies. "What happened?" Allen demanded.

"It's hopeless, they both died instantly." He frowned. "Be careful. A boulder came flying from toward the wall. That's what got them." Allen pursed his lips.

"What? But," Christa stuttered.

"From the wall…" Ymir's words trailed.

"From that thing!" Connie pointed towards the ape titan. "There was just one titan that was walking towards the wall. It was… that beast titan that did this."

"I think it is too." Allen agreed with him, shocking nearly everyone.

Suddenly the forest nearby rumbled, and dozens of titans emerged from the trees. Allen narrowed his eyes. "Multiple titans approaching! More than double the number we just dealt with!" Connie cried.

"What?!"

"This timing makes it feel like the titans are conducting some sort of strategic operation. It almost feels as if they've been toying with us from the start."

He jumped off the building to join the fight.

The titans caved in on them. The soldiers were running out of gas, and Kanda had downed a 10-meter, which had fallen into one of the towers. "Ten." He said, latching his gear onto the nearest tower; the only one still standing.

"How are you doing?" Someone from above asked. It was Gelgar, and next to him was another soldier.

"Running low on gas." Kanda grunted.

"So, on the same boat as us. I wonder how many the five of us killed…." Gelgar hummed, looking to the titans with distaste.

I've killed three… Kanda thought.

"I think I've done a pretty good job here. Only, before I go, I want a drink. I don't care what it is." Gelgar said. Kanda noted the blood dripping from his face.

"Gelgar!" Nanaba protested.

"I'm sorry, Nanaba. I hit my head. I don't have… any strength left…"

Kanda frowned. However, Gelgar's gear unlatched itself from the tower, and he fell into the grasp of a titan's hand. "Gelgar!" Nanaba screamed.

"Che…" Kanda grunted. He was about to go after Gelgar, but Gelgar used the blunted blades he had to release himself from the titan's grasp. He fell backwards into an opening of the tower, free, at the moment, of the titan's grasp.

Nanaba tried to move, but the gas in her gear had completely run out. To make matters worse, titans had closed in, trapping her against the wall.

Kanda was in his own problem as well; nearly the same amount of titans had cut him off from Nanaba and Gelgar.

~*~

Back at the top of the tower, the titans were reaching up towards them. Allen was starting to get worried about Kanda, even though he knew he could survive this.

Just as he was beginning to think the worst, however, Kanda had evaded the titans and reached the top of the tower. "By the way, Moyashi," Kanda wiped some of the titan blood off of his face, and watched it steam in his hand. "Eleven."

Before Allen could retort, Connie remarked, "They got him…"

Kanda and Allen looked over to see the titans had indeed got both Nanaba and Gelgar in their grasps, and were tearing them apart.

There were just so many, and they seemed to have come from nowhere. Maybe I should… If he just jumped in on his own, he could be overpowered by the sheer amount of them.

"Ah, so do we just sit here, wait for the tower to collapse and get eaten?" Connie asked, bringing his knees to his chest. "Can't we do… something? Can't we?" He punched the wall behind him. "Isn't there anything we could do?! Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

Everyone remained silent. Allen wringed his hands in nervousness. "I just wanted it to… have some meaning, you know?" Connie continued. "Our mission's half finished, and now we're going to be wiped out?"

"I want to fight, too. If only… I had a weapon." Christa suddenly announced. Ymir's eyes widened. "Then I could die fighting with them…"

"Christa, are you still going on about that?" Ymir snapped.

"What?"

Ymir narrowed her eyes. "Don't use their deaths. Those officers didn't die so you'd have an excuse to commit suicide."

Christa frowned. "That's… not what…"

"You're not like Connie or those officers!" Ymir said. "You don't really think, 'I don't want to die.' You've always tried to think of a way to martyr yourself so everyone will praise you, right?"

Silence.

"I… I don't…"

"Christa." Ymir grabbed her shoulders so that they could make eye contact. "Maybe you already forgot about this, but, this is probably the end. Try to remember the promise you made when we trained on those snowy mountains together." Then, it seemed as if silent understanding had passed between the two.

Allen admitted it was a little heartwarming.

Meanwhile, the sun had officially risen, and titans were still working at collapsing the wall. "Never thought I'd be seeing my last sunrise." Connie commented.

"Connie, give me your knife."

Without hesitation, Connie gave it to her. "Here." Allen raised an eyebrow. What is she planning…?

Ymir patted Connie on the head. "Thanks."

"What do you need it for?"

"As a weapon. I'm going to fight." Ymir answered firmly.

"There's no way!" Allen protested. "What are you thinking? Even I can't go against that number myself."

Ymir shrugged. "Who knows…?" She turned to Christa. "Christa. I have no right to tell you how to live. So this is just a wish of mine. Live your life… with pride."

"What…?"

Suddenly, much to everyone's shock, Ymir dashed to the railing, and jumped over the edge. She ignored Christa's protests, and just… ran.

Ymir sliced her hand mid-flight, and embraced the warm feeling of her blood and the hiss of pain.

Allen's eyes widened. "Wait a second… there's no way!"

A flash of lightning erupted before them.

Her titan form had a muscular built, but her body was smaller than her arms and legs. She had long, unruly hair the same color as her own, and two rows of sharp pointy teeth. She thrashed at the other titans, smashing them together and biting their heads off.

Allen watched, stunned. He couldn't help but recognize the titan form she had taken. "No way, Ymir can turn into… a titan?" Connie asked.

Back when Allen had just been the albino titan, he remembered encountering her once. They butted heads once over a disagreement, but nevertheless each left each other without a scratch. Even though Allen always assumed he left victorious.

I can't believe it…

Yeah, I was genuinely surprised when I read this part in the manga. I knew about Reiner and Bertoldt, but most definitely not Ymir. ((I tried to keep away from spoilers)) Anyway, for those of you confused about Kanda's titan count, at first he killed three titans, which led him up to ten kills, tying him with Allen. Then, as he escaped from the group of titans that had cornered him, he killed one more, making him ahead of Allen. Allen isn't so happy with that. With that note, please review~