A/n: Merry Christmas everyone! I'm sorry that I was a little late, but here you are, three new chapters to read for those of you on Christmas break, and had less time to read up to the latest chapters, namely Lady Foeseeker (Anada Gibbs).

Oh, one more thing… I now have the extended edition of Return of the King, and have already watched it! So, anytime soon now… you're all going to start reading section 3 pretty soon. And I plan to do that sometime next week, hopefully.

Anyway, here are the new chapters, enjoy.

Chapter 25: Fall back! Retreat to the Hornburg

Things didn't look too good for Helm's Deep. The Uruk-hai continued to enter through the wall that they destroyed and tried to break down the gates, with their battering ram… and was beginning to make dents within them, slowly losing its integrity. Sanosuke, Legolas, Gimli, Aoshi, and Saito, despite their extraordinary skills and speed, were starting to get tired after all the intense fighting.

'Man,' thought Sanosuke, 'there's just no end to these creeps! They just keep on coming as I bring them down, especially since they destroyed the wall. But I have to keep fighting, no matter what happens. Maybe its not so easy… when you're fighting ten-thousand of these creeps after all.'

The fighting at the breach in the wall was furious. The Uruk-Hai relentlessly continued to fight against the Elves. Seeing the increasing dilemma at the gate, Theoden knew he and the Elves couldn't hold back both incoming groups of Uruk-Hai at once, and that their only hope… was inside the Hornburg.

"Aragorn!" Theoden called down from the inner wall, " pull back to the Keep! Get your men out of there!"

Aragorn heard Théoden's call. "Sano! Saito! Aoshi!" he called out to them, "fall back! Fall to the Keep!"

Sanosuke and the others turned to Aragorn, staring at him, unwilling to give up…

" … Fall back!" Aragorn implored them even more, and, after a few moments… they reluctantly began to run from the enemy…

'Dammit all!' thought Sanosuke angrily.

Aragorn then shouted his commands to the elves, "Na Barad! Na Baraad! (To the Keep! Pull back to the Keep!)"

Sanosuke joined in with Aragorn, "Come on! Fall back! Let's go!" he cried out beckoning the Elves to run towards the keep.

"Haldir!" Aragorn called out to Haldir, who was still fighting at the outer wall "Na Barad!"

Haldir nodded at him and called for the others around him. Gimli, however, wasn't too happy about that and is being carried away against his will by Legolas and another Elf, kicking and struggling as he goes…

"What are you doing? Argh! Stop it!" Gimli muttered in protest.

Saito saw this as well, as he thought, grunting under his breath, 'humph! You're not the only one who feels being taken away from battle against his will.'

"Na Barad!" Haldir cried out, turning to make sure everyone was on their way into the inner keep, fighting every step of the way, continuing to hack at a few Uruks as he turned towards the gate…

SLICE!

An Uruk surprisingly came up to Haldir… and stabbed the Elf from underneath the arm. Aragorn saw Haldir's predicament… and gasped in shock…

With a grimace… Haldir killed the Uruk and knelt down, looking at his wound in seeming disbelief. He then gazed at the ground toward the fleeing Elves making for the keep. Haldir stood up, reeling from the blow made by the Uruk, trying to rejoin his comrades, then… another Uruk-hai comes up from behind him unnoticed…

SLICE!

And sliced Haldir on the back of the neck…

"HALDIR!!!!!" Aragorn screamed, charging to his aid, killing as he went…

Sanosuke turned as he heard Aragorn shout out Haldir's name, seeing him come to the Elf's aid. The street brawler then gasped to see Haldir at the mercy of the Uruk-Hai, suffering from massive wounds on the back… and around the neck…

As Haldir went down once more… he eyed his fallen kin among all the dead Uruk-hai, with flickering eyes…

Aragorn ran up the steps to Haldir’s side and caught him… but he collapsed… and the fallen Elf's head rolled back, his eyes empty and unseeing. Aragorn bowed his head in grief… and laid his hand gently on his fallen ally, before laying him on the ground.

Sanosuke looked on at Aragorn with the fallen Elf, with his eyes filled with the same sorrow that Aragorn had. There was no time to mourn, Uruk-hai were everywhere, and with a bellow of anger and pain… Aragorn grabbed one of the siege ladders, punched one of the Uruks off… and jumped on it, pushing it away from the wall.

Aragorn rode down on the ladder he jumped on, amongst the milling Uruk-hai below. Just before the ladder hit the ground, Aragorn jumped off of it into enemy, where he began laying waste with his sword. Unfortunately… more of the Uruks closed in on Aragorn, nearly surrounding him…

And Sanosuke came in, punching one of the Uruks with a Futae no Kiwami strike.

"Sano," said a bemused Aragorn.

"Hey, you didn't think that I'd back off just like that, would you?" replied Sanosuke, with a heavy smirk, "…now, let's go already."

Aragorn nodded… and they began to plow through the creatures to join everyone else, fleeing towards the keep…

"Brace the gate!" one of the soldiers at the front gate yelled out… as the soldiers were once again bounced off by the battering ram, which cracked and buckled the gate heavily…

SMASH!

And they plunged a hole into the doors, butting one of the Rohan soldiers. As they retracted the battering ram… the Uruks pulled out their crossbows and shot at the defenders.

"Hold them!" a soldier called out, as the Rohan defenders retaliated with their bows and shot the Uruks through the breach that the beasts made into the gate.

"…To the gate," Théoden ordered as he and his commanders drew their swords, ready to assist the men at the gate, "draw your swords!"

Aragorn and Sanosuke ran up a set of stairs, knocking down the Uruks that were behind them, making for the keep… with the Elves providing some cover fire with their arrows to assist them…

Théoden and his commanders came to the gate, which was now under heavy attack. The Uruk-hai continued to knock down the gate, hacking through the broken wood. Some of the men, including Gamling, stood at the gate to fight the Uruks through the hole their battering ram made. Then, one of the Uruks grabbed Gamling at the throat… and Théoden hacked off the arm that held Gamling, releasing him. The king then stabbed at another Uruk-hai…

…And, in turn…

Received a lance underneath the arm, only to be blocked by his armour. Grimacing in pain, Théoden continued to stab at the Uruk… until led away by Gamling.

"Make way!" Gamling called out as the troops met them, and battled to keep them from gaining anymore ground.

"We can’t hold much longer," Gamling said gravely to Théoden.

The gate to the fortress was about to give out, as the wooden bean that barred the door… began to break in half a bit. Aragorn, Sanosuke, and Gimli came racing towards the gate, seeing the desperate, almost futile battle there, with the gate nearly broken down. Aragorn tended to the king before heading to the breaking gate.

"Oh man, it doesn't look good," observed Sanosuke, "they may break through at any moment!"

"We need more time to complete the barricade, my lord," Gamling told Sanosuke.

"Hold them!" Théoden cried frantically, short of breath.

"How long do you need?" Aragorn asked Théoden.

Théoden then grabbed a sword as he replied, "as long as you can give me."

"Gimli!" Aragorn gestured for Gimli to follow him to a small side door.

Then Sanosuke interjected, "wait, Aragorn, I'm coming too.

"I'm not through pounding these creeps just yet," he finished, cracking his fist together, following Aragorn and Gimli through the small side door.

Saito, along with Aoshi then came along to the gate, as more of the defenders poured in, with spears in hand, valiantly holding their own ardor against the Uruk-Hai. Aoshi went to Théoden, seeing the king reel from his injury to his shoulder.

"Théoden, are you okay?" asked a concerned Aoshi.

"Yes," the king replied, confidently, "…I'll be fine Aoshi, just help us fend them off."

Aoshi nodded fervently.

"Timbers!" Théoden called out to his men, assisted by Saito and Aoshi, to bar the door, just a while longer, "brace the gate!"

As the soldiers were busy setting up the blockade…

Aragorn, Sanosuke, and Gimli followed through the small doorway, which took them around a curve in the wall… and stood on a ledge just to the side of the main gate, with their backs to the wall. Aragorn then took a peek around the corner… and saw the large band of Uruk-hai storming the gate. After seeing the Uruks, Aragorn and Sanosuke glanced at each other first, then glanced down at Gimli. Gimli’s eyes met Aragorn’s, as he too glanced around the corner, at the Uruk-hai trying desperately to get into the keep.

"Come on!" Gimli cried eagerly, "we can take ‘em!"

"It’s a long way," Aragorn told him.

Gimli then took another look around the corner, and realized the walkway they stood on ended well short of the causeway into the keep. Until now, there were many things that Gimli didn't like to do but in times like this… he'll have no other choice but to actually do one of the things he didn't like…

"…Toss me," Gimli said so suddenly. He didn't like the idea of being tossed while in Moria, but now… he actually agreed to be tossed.

"What?" asked a perplexed Aragorn looking down at him in surprise.

"I thought you didn't like to be tossed," added Sanosuke.

"I'm going to have to make an exception this time, Sanosuke," explained Gimli, "I cannot jump the distance so one of you is going to have to toss me!"

Aragorn nodded and reached to grab him, but Sanosuke interjected, "wait… let me do it Aragorn."

Gimli went speechless a moment to hear that Sanosuke wanted to toss him to the causeway. A pause followed…

"…Okay, Sano," Aragorn approved. Sanosuke then went to grab Gimli…

"Ehhh…" Gimli said, staying Sanosuke's hand, "don't tell the elf… either of you."

"Not a word," said Aragorn, giving his word to the Dwarf, "right, Sano?"

"Yeah," replied Sanosuke in agreement, with a small nod, "it's just going to be between the three of us, Gimli. That's a promise… "

Then Sanosuke threw Gimli across the distance… and landed on the causeway. There, Gimli began laying about him with his axe, killing and knocking Uruk-hai off the causeway. Aragorn and Sanosuke then joined him, jumping onto the causeway to join Gimli. When Sanosuke landed, he grabbed two Uruks at their heads and bashed them together, knocking them out.

And between the three of them, they pushed the creatures back from the gate, so Théoden and the others behind the entrance could complete the barricade…

"Shore up the door!" Théoden ordered as soon as the way was clear.

Before the soldiers could get there, Saito saw Sanosuke taking on the Uruks upon the causeway.

"That moron," Saito said to himself.

Soldiers then came with wooden beams and planks.

"Make way!" cried out one of the soldiers, "follow me, to the barricade! Watch our backs!"

While this was going on… The Uruk-Hai from outside the castle started to load their giant crossbows with giant grappling hooks, in which they intend to shoot over the wall above the gate…

"Throw another one over there!" a soldier, called out to Saito, Aoshi, and the other defenders, placing the planks over the gate.

"Higher!" Theoden ordered…

The Uruks patted the wires that held their giant bolt hooks, making sure they were nice and tight upon the sappers, ready for firing…

ZZIIIIPP!!!!!

The hooks were fired over the battlements… and super siege ladders were pulled up towards the wall, with hundreds of Uruk-Hai holding onto them. The Super-ladders locked onto the edge of the battlements with their steel grips. The Uruks climbed onto the battlements, and began fighting the Rohan troops. Legolas took aim as another ladder was being pulled up…

SWOOP!

And shot away one of the ropes, making the ladder stumble and wriggle a little… before slowly falling back onto the ground, into the Uruk-Hai army, with a loud crash, crushing the Uruks who were on the ladder.

At the gate…

"Hold fast the gate!" Gamling cried out to the men… as they were nearly done with the barricade, using hammers and nails to brace the gates with the wooden beams and planks that were quickly used to repair the gates, while Gimli, Sanosuke, and Aragorn fought desperately to keep the Uruk-hai away.

Before the last board was about to be placed, Théoden called from the opening, "Gimli! Aragorn! Sanosuke! Get out of there!"

The trio responded to Théoden's command… and was nearly tackled by an Uruk. The Uruk was grabbing at Kenshin's sakabato upon Sanosuke's back. Sanosuke grimaced and delivered an elbow-blow to the beast's stomach.

"Hands off, creepy, that belongs to Kenshin!" Sanosuke yelled reproachfully.

With that… Théoden placed the last board of wood and Saito and Aoshi raced from the gate, up to the battlements. Legolas was on top of the battlements, with a rope ready to throw down to Aragorn and the others. Aoshi quickly joined him, with a separate rope.

"Aragorn!" Legolas called down to Aragorn, as he and Aoshi threw their ropes down to them.

Aragorn and Sanosuke glanced up, seeing the ropes provided for them. Sanosuke grabbed the rope provided by Aoshi. Aragorn grabbed Gimli as he took hold of the rope that Legolas provided with one hand, and hooking Gimli with his arm. They all swung out off the edge of the causeway, as the Uruk-hai surged forward to the gates, paying Aragorn, Sanosuke and Gimli no due attention.

Legolas and Aoshi pulled their comrades up. Aragorn hung onto the rope with one hand and the Dwarf with the other arm as Legolas slowly pulled them up. Sanosuke was pulled up by Aoshi with no problem whatsoever, since he was the only one on the line and had no extra burden to carry like Aragorn had with Gimli. But even as they were pulled up…

More Uruk-Hai reached the walls above the gate, using their super-ladders being hoisted up by the grappling hooks, shot towards the battlements by the sappers. One of the hooks landed just at the edge of the wall. The defenders tried their best to unhook it, but…

Another hook hit one of the Rohan soldiers, killing him instantly. A third hook that was fired… was easily cut by Saito's sword…

As soon as Sanosuke was over the wall, he went to help Legolas pull Aragorn and Gimli over the wall. Aoshi then went to join Saito in preventing any more of these giant hooks to reach the battlements, but to no avail. There were just enough Uruks over the walls to overrun the troops regardless, cutting them down with their swords, and bludgeoning them in their faces with ball-end shield manifers fitted over their fists…

"Pull everybody back," Théoden ordered to Gamling, assessing that the repairs to the gate would not last long, "…pull them back!"

"Pull back! Pull back!" Gamling hollered out, relaying the order…

Then the gate bursts open… and the Uruk-hai surged through, immediately storming the fortress…

"They’ve broken through!" one of the soldiers cried out in despair, "the castle is breached! Retreat!"

"Retreat! Retreat!" Gamling added his cries for retreat, continuing to make for the inner keep.

Once Legolas and Sanosuke had pulled Aragorn and Gimli over the wall, they, along with Aoshi and Saito, ran to join the retreating soldiers, fighting their way toward the inner keep.

"Hurry!" ordered Aragorn, "inside, get them inside!"

"Into the Keep!" Gamling cried out once more.

There was no time to talk or think… everybody had to run for the inner keep. The Uruks have penetrated Helm's Deep, something that Théoden thought would never happen, but sadly… it did…

Legolas and Aoshi fired more arrows into the Uruk-hai army as they go, trying to give the Rohan soldiers some cover as they ran inside the main hall. Aragorn and Sanosuke waited by the doors to make sure that the others, as well as all the defenders that could be saved, were inside the main hall of the keep. The Uruks were closing in fast to the main hall, and feeling that they could not keep the doors open any longer…

…Sanosuke and Aragorn immediately closed the doors… and began setting up a barricade…