Attack on Titan: Kuklo Unbound

Cages of all sizes were placed around a grimy room measuring thirty square meters. What appeared to be wild animals collected from around the country were locked inside of them. The choking stench seemed to be a mixture of the beasts’ body odor and the smell of their excrement. Apparently no one ever cleaned the place, and the word “unsanitary” didn’t begin to describe the miserable environment.

Dario Inocencio opened his eyes and looked over at the cage in the very back of the shack.

“So this is the one…” he murmured in a hoarse voice, making his way toward the rusted, two-meter-cubed cage.

He walked with a heavy gait. While his body had grown so fat that it was difficult for him to support his own body, more than anything it was the powerful fear and hatred he felt for the thing lying in the cage that was affecting his pace.

So I’m afraid. Fear was something he had not felt in some time.

Dario, who lived inside Wall Sheena, the country’s most interior area, was a merchant baron in both his own and others’ estimation, with influence even among politicians. Only a few men in the world struck fear in his heart, and he slaughtered without fanfare any who stood against him.

And yet, here I am, fearing this child trapped inside a cage. Indeed, it was a laughable fact, but his reaction was also a reasonable one considering the child’s lineage.

Lurking inside a cage so thoroughly filthy as to forbid contact was no ferocious predator but a boy of scant years. Everything about him seemed savage, from his low growl to his glittering eyes that vigilantly surveyed all around him. His arms and legs were in shackles, denying him freedom. Even an imprisoned felon’s conditions would seem preferable to his.

He was unclothed, and judging by his skin, darkened by dust and filth, days must have passed since he’d last bathed. His body odor was repellent. The boy looked like nothing but skin and bones, with a total lack of body fat, yet his vitality had not flagged one bit, as evidenced by his blazing eyes.

“Don’t be concerned, sir. He won’t bite.”

With a vulgar smirk, the head of the sideshow accosted Dario. The man’s disfigured face looked like a clump of melted wax─a veritable curio that could have served as one of his own sideshow exhibits.

Dario’s heart leapt, surprised by the sight. He congratulated himself for not landing on his rear.

Patting his chest and regaining his composure, he turned to face the ghastly owner. “Is that really him in there? He looks like any other boy to me.”

“Whatever could you mean, sir?” the owner said jestingly, inviting Dario to stand in front of the cage. “Please, take a very good look. This is Kuklo”─he pronounced the name as in cucumber─“the Titan’s son.”

“Titan’s son…”

The moment he mouthed the words, Dario’s hair stood on end.

Everyone, even children, knew how terrifying the Titans were. Roughly half a century had passed since the Titans’ sudden entry into the world, and the fear they planted in humans seemed to have become a hereditary trait. Just hearing their name gave people goose flesh. There was nothing strange about Dario’s body reacting in this way, as mankind had been driven to the brink of extinction by the Titans. Moreover, the myth that humanity was safe at least inside the walls had crumbled, intensifying the emotions that the monsters elicited in the hearts of men.

It’s been thirteen years since that day. I suppose it isn’t the kind of thing you forget easily. The shattering incident─Titan-worshipping heretics opening the main gates of Shiganshina District─had shocked Dario too. While personally untouched, the calamitous state of the town that he witnessed on an observational trip amply proved that the Titans were every bit the monsters the rumors had made them out to be.

Well, it did earn me a pretty penny. Sneering, Dario took another look at the boy inside the cage. A child born from a Titan’s filth, eh?

Normally, a child of his circumstances would have been sheltered in an orphanage. But Kuklo, born from the vomit of a Titan, was detested by people. His mother having been a Titan worshipper couldn’t have helped, either. The tale of Kuklo’s misfortunes was spelled out at length in a myriad of wounds, both large and small, that stretched across his body.

Such was the story of the “Titan’s son” Dario had paid a fortune to take into custody. Of course, it wasn’t out of kindness. He had longer-term goals in mind.

Perhaps it’s nothing more than a whim…

Dario’s eyes happened to meet Kuklo’s. While the boy was covered in restraints, unable to so much as wriggle, his eyes were not dead. He seemed ready to seize the slightest opportunity to cast off his shackles and bite into Dario’s windpipe.

A feeling of dread swept over Dario, and cold sweat oozed on his forehead. He sniffed, in a false show of bravado, and looked away from Kuklo. Then, facing the owner of the sideshow, he offered the bag made of cloth that he held in his hand. Though small enough to fit in his palm, it was heavy, filled to the brim with coins.

“You’ve made an excellent deal, sir.”

“So have you.”

It was a pittance to Dario, but the sum would be more than enough for the sideshow man. Enough to live a life of luxury for some time.

“That reminds me, sir. There was another eccentric who expressed an interest in Kuklo as well.”

“Eccentric?”

“Oops! Pardon my language,” the owner conceded, cramming the bag into his breast pocket, a vulgar smirk still plastered on his face.

“Who was this eccentric?”

“A most gloomy man, dressed in black rags.”

“What did he want with the Titan’s son?”

“Who can say? But he had to have the boy, or so he claimed.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Nor did I.” The owner shrugged. “Reasons aside, I always planned to give you the boy, master.”

Cheeky bastard. The man surely tried to ingratiate himself thus to everyone he met. Either way, the goods are mine.

Dario always let his money do the talking.

“Well, I’ll see to it that he’s transported to your mansion.”

“Thank you.” Dario nodded his head slightly, then looked at the boy known as the Titan’s son one more time.

He couldn’t tell if this Kuklo was endowed with intellect. Being near him felt much like being near a wild animal. While Kuklo looked like a child, he needed to be handled with caution. No doubt he was wearing restraints because past events necessitated them.

So, he lives up to his name.

Dario shivered and left the sideshow in a hurry.

***

Kuklo was not in a cage, but rather in a storage shed about ten square meters in size. There was nothing else in the empty room. With no heating, the light that trickled in from a small window was his sole source of any sense of warmth. Of course, it was not nearly enough to heat the room, and his body continued to tremble.

Peeling his body off the floor, which might as well have been a bed of ice, Kuklo held his knees to his body and curled up into a ball. It was a survival instinct─his body forced into a position that forfeited the least amount of heat. The shackles on his arms and legs got in the way, but he had that degree of freedom.

He had no idea where he was. All he knew was that his cage had turned into a storage shed and that his proprietor had switched from the sideshow owner to the man known as Dario. Kuklo’s proprietor had changed many times, but other than that, he’d experienced few ups and downs in his circumstances.

That wasn’t all Kuklo didn’t know─he didn’t even understand what he was. He recognized a few words, and being called the Titan’s son. He had no education and no one to impart knowledge to him. His world consisted entirely of the smattering of information that entered his vision.

Suddenly, Kuklo’s stomach began to growl. There was no helping it since he wasn’t being properly fed. He searched for food, deftly moving only his eyes, but spotted nothing that fit the description. As he continued to study the floor though, a small spider started crawling across it, the size of his pinky. He smashed the creature with his palm without hesitation and carried its carcass to his mouth. It tasted neither good nor bad, but it was far better than not eating at all. He couldn’t afford to be picky, when he was struggling to stay alive, but at the same time, he had nothing in particular to live for.

Just as Kuklo was searching for more food, the shed door creaked open. Moments later, the room was filled with the morning sun.

Kuklo groaned, squinted his eyes, and shaded his face. Though by no means strong, the light was blinding enough for eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Out of the seemingly divine aura emerged Dario, Kuklo’s proprietor, and an unfamiliar boy. While he was about the same age as Kuklo, his skin had a healthy hue and his clothes were of fine quality. His short-cropped golden hair shone bathed in the sun’s rays.

“Is he a Titan, father? He’s still just a kid.”

There were no traces of fear in the boy’s eyes as he stared appraisingly at Kuklo. Instead they told of excitement, as though he’d discovered a new toy.

He casually strolled toward Kuklo.

“Be careful, Xavi.”

“I’m fine. He’s chained up, anyway.”

The boy named Xavi wore a slight smile on his lips. The sight sent a tremble through Kuklo, and the countless scars on his body throbbed. Not because of the cold, but because his instincts sounded an alarm in face of the malice Xavi exuded. Kuklo had encountered many humans like this one, and each time he’d come away with another scar on his body. His intuition told him what Xavi was going to do.

“You’re going to be head of the military someday, Xavi. Toward that goal─”

“I know, I know! I’ll destroy all the Titans myself.”

Grinning at Dario, Xavi unleashed a hard kick into Kuklo’s face. A force came crashing through Kuklo’s head like a blow from a blunt weapon.

“Guhh…” Groaning, Kuklo fell facing the ceiling.

Either his nose had started to bleed or he had cut his mouth; the taste of blood spread on his tongue. He must have been struck in a bad location since his vision became distorted like a ball of smashed clay and his mind grew hazy and dim.

“Huh? He’s such a weakling.”

Gazing at the dejected Xavi, he faded into unconsciousness.

***

“For a Titan, you sure sleep a lot.”

It was Xavi hurling his verbal abuse. Dousing Kuklo in cold water was his way of saying good morning. In other words, a new day had come.

While Kuklo’s sense of time had grown numb, Xavi’s regularly spaced visits lent some sense of rhythm to his life.

Like some sort of farm animal, Kuklo crawled on all fours and diligently licked the water splattered on the floor. Getting enough to eat was out of the question, but he even had trouble quenching his thirst every day. He couldn’t afford to let any opportunities get away.

“You’re so weak, you’re not even worth beating.”

Xavi dealt a kick to Kuklo’s side as he slurped up the water. The bully’s toes gouged Kuklo’s torso, and he flopped about, coughing.

“Fight back a little, why don’t you? This is no fun.”

“Fight, back…” Kuklo slurred, rising sluggishly. His hunger caused him to falter, but it wasn’t so terrible as to make him collapse.

Fight. Fist in…front of face…

Standing like a stick, Kuklo balled his hands into fists and held them in front of his face. This was the fighting stance taught to him by Xavi. The chains attached to his wrists jangled, grating on the ears.

“Yes, that’s much better. See, you can do it after all!”

Xavi nodded with a look of satisfaction, but Kuklo’s fighting stance was one in name only, and he looked like a training doll. No one would mistake him for a kid about to get in a fistfight, and indeed that was not his wish. Yet taking the stance was of utmost importance to him.

Fight, back…

His stomach responded to the words with a rumble.

Seeing that Kuklo was ready, Xavi moved with practiced ease to square off against him and threw a quick jab with his fist. The Titan’s son stood stone still, and the punch easily caught his face. His head flew back, then his strength left his legs. He fell to the floor, but Xavi, loath to accept such an easy victory, dug his right knee deep into Ku-klo’s solar plexus.

“Gagh…” Spitting out a mix of puke and fresh blood, Kuklo held his abdomen as he collapsed. Bile rose from his empty stomach, and his face twisted from the intense blow, which could easily have knocked him out.

Xavi’s outrageous violence went on. Straddling Kuklo, who writhed in agony, he cocked his right fist, an innocent, boyish smile on his face.

“You Titans eat people, don’t you?”

Tilting his head, he smashed his fist into Kuklo’s left cheek.

“I saw one from Shiganshina District a little while back. I didn’t get to see it eat anyone, of course.”

He planted his left fist firmly in Kuklo’s face.

“So what do humans taste like, anyway? I bet we’re delicious!”

Xavi continued to swing his fists again and again as though the two were engaged in a friendly conversation.

Soon Kuklo’s face was swollen and hot. The blood that came flowing out of his nose stained Xavi’s fists a deep red.

“I wonder if you can eat Titans, too.” Xavi brought his bloodstained fists close to his tongue and licked them clean. “Do you gain a Titan’s strength if you eat it?”

Xavi’s eyes filled with a strange glint. He bared his teeth and, not so much as hesitating, bit into Kuklo’s shoulder. Unable to stand the sharp pain, Kuklo stirred.

“Blegh!” Xavi spat and wiped his mouth, then immediately punched Kuklo’s head, irritated.

“Ugh, aghh…” Groans spilled from Kuklo’s mouth as his body stretched out helplessly on the ground. He only felt a dull pain, perhaps because he was on the verge of passing out.

“Did I go a little too far?” Xavi sighed and slowly got up. “Oh, well. You’re a Titan. You can’t break down so easily.” He turned his back on Kuklo and began to walk away, but Kuklo wasn’t done. There was more to this than simply getting beaten up.

“Fight… Fight…”

Kuklo’s shaky, half-delirious words brought Xavi to a halt. His hands began searching his pocket, and from it he produced a lush red apple. He wiped it with his sleeve and took a bite. Almost finishing it, he tossed what remained to Kuklo.

“Eat it all, now,” Xavi said smoothly, and left the shed cackling.

Kuklo quickly snatched up the apple’s core and indulged in it. Eat it all he indeed did. It disappeared into his stomach in the blink of an eye. For Kuklo, “fighting back” was not a means to resist Xavi, but the way he received food.

Lying on the ground, Kuklo held his stomach and curled into a ball. It was the start of another impossibly long day.

***

The only visitors to his shed were Xavi, Dario, and any guests they brought with them. Naturally, they were not visiting him for the conversation. Xavi beat the daylights out of the Titan’s son to impress his friends with his prowess, while Dario saw fit to parade his authority. Of course, none of this had altered Kuklo’s everyday life. Nothing had changed for him from the time he was in the sideshow, and it seemed as though things never would.

Titan’s son…

Kuklo didn’t even know what he was. The meaning of those words was a mystery, but he understood they had to do with him since he’d been called that from the time he was born.

He had no interest in the outside world. He gave no thought to what was beyond the shed door, nor did he think about exiting. Yet he wanted to know what “Titan’s son” meant.

It was the only thing he felt compelled to do, but the desire meant nothing on its own. There was no way to learn the answer from where he sat, nor did anyone care to teach him.

Kuklo quickly lost interest, returning to his dull, uneventful days. What was important was survival. Using his head wouldn’t fill his stomach. Getting on his hands and knees, he reached out to grab a crawling beetle.

***

She breathed a deep sigh, then silently looked around. The room, overcome by darkness, was completely silent. While moonlight peeked through the cracks in her curtains to illuminate her bed, the rest of the room was close to pitch black. If her eyes weren’t adjusted to the darkness, she probably couldn’t even make out her own figure.

Her twenty-square-meter room was far larger than what a thirteen-year-old girl needed. It contained a full set of furniture─a closet, a desk, a table, and so on─but somehow looked deserted. The chamber was simply too spacious for her.

I’m scared, Sharle whispered in her mind, and her body shrank into itself as if to vanish.

It wasn’t that she was scared of the dark, and she was used to sleeping alone, too. One word to the maid waiting in the adjacent room and she would stay by Sharle’s side the entire night. But that wouldn’t nearly quell the fear that nested in her heart.