Attack on Titan: Kuklo Unbound

Sharle gripped the handle of her blade, a paring knife pilfered from the kitchen when the maids weren’t watching. It was the best she could manage in the way of self-defense against the terrible enemy from whom she had to protect herself.

A Titan’s son, in our home… The fact was so shocking, it had caused her to feel faint. It was hard to believe at first, but she knew it was true by the way her father and her older bother acted.

Sharle knew quite well how frightening the Titans could be. A look through her home bookshelves was all it took to find a number of volumes on them, and stories about them had been embellished into an endless number of fairy tales. She was so scared of Titans the day she first learned about them that she couldn’t sleep. By now, she knew that Titans weren’t figments of the imagination but monsters that existed in reality.

You can’t allow a monster…a Titan to live… Sharle, who had seen one with her own eyes, knew how dangerous they were.

She had no idea what the Titan’s son was like. Perhaps it could be tamed like a baby animal, but if it was a child, it would grow. What would happen then was obvious. Keeping a Titan nearby was like going about your life carrying a bomb.

They should know how dangerous it is. It was clear why Dario had acquired the Titan’s son. It served his political ambitions in some way. But…I just don’t think it should be living in our house…

Even the thought of “using” a Titan’s son seemed absurd to Sharle. Grasping her knife, she exhaled heavily, prepared herself, and quietly got out of bed.

Her attire wasn’t suited for what she planned to do, but she couldn’t be choosy. She needed to complete her mission without delay.

“I have to do it. I’ll kill the Titan’s son.”

***

The trip began in the underground markets of Wall Sheena, followed by visits to locations like the factory city and the Forest of Giant Trees. They went everywhere, from popular tourist destinations to highly restricted areas, but the greatest was saved for last: the top of Wall Maria. It was hard to tell whether Dario had planned it from the beginning or if the thought had just come to him, but after his cheerful proposal was met with Xavi’s endorsement, they made their way over.

It was, undeniably, a reckless decision. The walls were the lynchpin of the fortress nation, mankind’s most important military installations. They were politically important as well and had been used as bargaining chips for one deal or another ever since their construction.

One political uproar in recent memory: a Survey Corps expedition thanks to which further forays had been banned for the last thirteen years. The Corps’ unthinkable transgression of military ordinance had ended up empowering the conservatives, who wished for mankind to live modestly inside the walls. The corpsmen were never charged with any crime, however, and their exploits were still recounted among citizens as a tale of heroism. The unofficial expedition led by Jorge Piquer had proven that the Titans could be defeated.

That’s why they didn’t have to seal the gate.

Sharle’s mouth hung open as she looked up at the sturdy portal. “It’s huge…”

The ten-meter-tall gate that truly stunned her was but one part of Wall Maria, however. The Wall’s overwhelming presence, so high it almost seemed to pierce the sky, even brought to mind notions of divinity.

Weren’t there people who worshipped the walls, too? One native faith indeed did, and in the face of Wall Maria, Sharle was able to understand the urge to cling to the walls.

While she admired the edifice, Dario spoke to the soldiers. He seemed to be having trouble getting permission to climb Wall Maria.

So he didn’t have any sort of advance promise. Dario coming from nowhere and demanding a tour must have been quite a nuisance to the soldiers. Of course, I am curious about the outside world.

Citizens had to adhere to the rules─although most people understood that, the concept seemed to elude Dario. He and a soldier seemed caught in a tense impasse, but another man who appeared to be a team leader arrived to calm them before it could turn into a shouting match.

Dario exchanged words with the team leader, then inched close to him and whispered something in his ear. Moments later, the officer’s face was beaming.

Looks like they’ve come to a business agreement.

Something passed between their hands while the two were near each other, and it wasn’t hard to guess what it was.

I can’t believe him… Sharle slumped and sighed gently.

“Looks like they’ll let us take a tour. Aren’t we lucky?” Dario said, smiling.

“Yahoo!”

Xavi pumped his fist, then ran up the wooden spiral staircase that led up to the top of the wall, with Dario and the team leader following behind.

Not surprisingly, the grunt who’d been refusing Dario’s request had a bitter look on his face. Garrison soldiers took special pride in their duty as protectors of Wall Maria, which regular citizens weren’t permitted to climb. A family being allowed up because of a bribe was particularly outrageous.

“Um… Sorry.” Sharle bobbed her head at the soldier, then quickly chased after the others.

Climbing Wall Maria was even more difficult than it looked. The bodies of the soldiers there were honed from doing so daily, and they were able to climb the stairs with ease. For Sharle, who had few to no opportunities to build such stamina, it was an ordeal. Of course, the first to admit defeat was Dario, whose bright idea this was.

A turret, used as a watchtower, stood atop the wall. A number of soldiers stationed there were monitoring the exterior using binoculars.

“Whooah!”

Xavi rushed to the watchtower as soon as he arrived and hung over the railing. Meanwhile, the soldiers were confused by their odd visitors, but after a glance from the team leader they quickly left the tower.

I don’t feel good about this… Sharle was interested in the outer regions, but she felt guilty, as though they were doing something wrong. Unable to hold back her curiosity, however, she slowly made her way into the watchtower.

She had searched but could find no books detailing what was beyond the walls. All she knew was that Titans roamed the land, making it uninhabitable for humans.

It means I’m at the very edge of human civilization. So long as expeditions were not taking place, these ramparts were the farthest a human could go. I wonder what the outside world looks like.

Her pulse quickened. This was her chance to witness a sight she’d had no choice but to imagine until now. She put a hand to her chest and exhaled. Then she resolutely turned her head.

So this is the outside world. An expanse of desolate earth─the rust-like, brownish-red soil barely supported any vegetation, and clouds of sand danced through the air every time a chilly southern wind blew. The derelict world that stretched as far as the eye could see indeed looked like a no man’s land. She grasped just how small the world left to humanity was.

What’s beyond what I can see? With nothing to answer her question in any book, anything could exist past the horizon, even an unknown country. It almost seemed likely that one existed and that only distance thwarted them from establishing the fact. The rest─

As Sharle stared out, lost in thought, Xavi suddenly let out a cry of delight. “A Titan!”

The moment she looked to where Xavi’s finger pointed, she shivered.

An abnormal figure stood listlessly about a hundred meters from the wall. A little over ten meters tall, it was literally titanic, so huge as to dissuade any comparison to a human despite its human form.

Aaah… Sharle let out an unvocalized shriek that naturally went unnoticed.

Everyone in the watchtower was focused on the Titan that stood there towering like a giant tree, ignoring the change in her demeanor. Xavi was yelling happily, and Dario frolicked like a child.

How… Why aren’t they scared?! Sharle found it impossible to understand how the two felt, protected by the wall or not. This was a monster. They couldn’t allow their attention to waver for a second. A Titan could destroy the wall and surge into town at any moment. Just because we’ve been safe until now…

The Titan sluggishly turned to face the wall, perhaps reacting to the commotion. The monster looked like a man around the age of twenty. It was skinny but covered in lean muscle and appeared in no way weak. Its cheeks were slack as though it had been met by some happy occurrence. A humming seemed poised to issue from its lips.

The Titan quickly began to close in on them with light, prancing steps. Its speed easily surpassed a human’s and probably matched that of a horse. Being chased by it meant certain death.

The Titan rapidly neared the wall. Sharle’s body trembled, and her pulse grew unnaturally fast.

“See that, Xavi? One day, you’re going to be leading soldiers and defeating that.”

Paying no mind to the approaching Titan, Dario plopped his hand on Xavi’s shoulder. The idea of placing his son at the top of the military clearly occupied his thoughts─not for his son’s good, of course, but for the sake of his own ambitions.

He exhibited the same attitude toward Sharle. At some point in the future, she would be married off to some politician she’d never met.

To Dario, they were all nothing but pawns serving his own ambition. Sharle, Xavi, and even the Titans.

The grinning Titan got even closer, and its gigantic mouth popped open, stretching from ear to ear, as though to swallow the humans on the wall.

The moment she saw this horrendous display, Sharle gasped. Her eyes opening wide, she grew faint. She felt her heart being ground to dust, until suddenly, it all stopped.

***

I have to do this. The Titan’s son can’t be allowed to live… Yet she lacked any confidence. She’d never killed so much as a bug before, let alone an animal. Taking care of a Titan’s son set a high bar. But I have to do it.

A Titan’s son running wild would wreak unprecedented havoc on the country on the order of a cataclysm of nature. It could even trigger humanity’s extinction.

Even if I die doing it… Sharle’s tragic determination did not come from a strong sense of responsibility. She was just tired of living as her father’s tool. …At least my life will have meaning.

Murdering the Titan’s son would grant her wish. Living for her own sake and no one else’s was more valuable than any treasure. That was why she felt ready to sacrifice her life going into this.

Even if I die, my life will be my own.

Sharle continued to tiptoe down the dark hall.

***

The gradually approaching noise sounded like footsteps. Yet they were not Xavi’s or Dario’s. He could tell by the difference in rhythm. Nor did he recall the labored breathing that he heard mixed in with the footsteps.

The lock must have been undone; a metallic rattle echoed through the shed. At last, the door began to swing open.

There standing in front of Kuklo was a young girl he hadn’t seen before. He could tell by instinct that she meant harm. Her wide-open eyes were unblinking, and her breathing was rough, agitated. Her flushed cheeks were a pale crimson, and her lips were pressed so tightly her mouth seemed sewn together. The girl held a gleaming silver knife in her hands, and its trembling trip was pointed at him.

Kuklo watched the girl’s every move. He knew quite well how dangerous blades could be. A number of the marks on his body were from cuts, some of which had brought him close to death.

The girl continued to creep forward and to close in on Kuklo, but he did not budge. It would be a waste of energy, and he’d end up that much hungrier. If the girl demanded that he “fight back” he would gladly respond, but otherwise, staying still was the best option.

“This is the Titan’s son?”

The young girl’s murmur sounded like the tinkling of a bell. She drew even closer to Kuklo and was now near enough to touch.

Switching to a backhanded grip, she hoisted the knife high in the air. “Please, don’t fight back.”

Kuklo rose off the ground in response to the familiar words, taking the girl by surprise. She leapt with a quiet shriek─aie!─and in that moment of shock, her knife dropped from her hand and tumbled by Kuklo’s feet.

“Aaah!”

Her eyes widened as she hastily reached for the blade, but Kuklo, one step ahead of her, picked it up first. The girl’s face froze. Knife in hand, Kuklo slowly stood up and grabbed tight the girl’s wrist. He made her hold the blade, pointing its tip right at his own chest.

“Huh?” The girl stared in wonder, looking back and forth between Kuklo and the knife. “What’s going on?”

Then Kuklo tugged the confused girl’s wrist toward his own chest, blade and all. The moment the knife’s tip touched his torso, it tore his skin open. A sharp pain. The blood that oozed out of the wound turned into drops and trickled down Kuklo’s body.

“W-Wait. Do you want to die?!”

With a baffled expression on her face, the girl released the blade and pulled back her wrist. Making no move to retrieve her weapon, she stepped back to put some distance in between them.

She was clearly confused, but so was Kuklo. He wanted a reward in return for a “fight,” but for some reason, she wasn’t going ahead with it. At this rate, his stomach would stay empty. He lazily picked up the knife, then offered it to the girl. He couldn’t let this fine opportunity to sate his hunger get away from under his nose.

“Why would you do that?” The girl’s confusion soon turned to self-mockery. “Why would you, heh. You could ask me the same. I came here to kill you…”

“Fight back, fight back.”

“Of course, you would fight back…” The girl stared at Kuklo with a shocked expression. “You can talk? But you’re a Titan’s son!”

Ignoring her puzzlement, Kuklo focused on the girl’s face. He wasn’t interested in its features, but he felt like he’d seen it before.

“Xavi.”

The moment Kuklo said the name, the girl was struck with wonder. “That’s my brother…”

Caring little for Sharle’s reaction, Kuklo simply pointed at her, repeating, “Xavi, Xavi.”

“Xavi is my brother’s name… Are you really a Titan’s son?” the girl asked, but Kuklo had no idea what she meant.

This seemed to frustrate his stomach, as it began to growl ferociously. In pain─it felt like some hand was twisting him inside─Kuklo grimaced and crouched down.

“Are you hungry?”

Kuklo’s face ran the gamut of expressions as he groaned. Eventually, though, she seemed to realize something. She nodded and turned to walk away.

Reaching for the knife on the floor, Kuklo called out to the girl. “Fight back.”

Maybe she didn’t hear him; without turning around she left the shed.

“Aahh…” Denied what he’d hoped for, Kuklo was crestfallen. But that was nothing out of the ordinary. By the time the room was silent again, he had already given up. Come morning Xavi would dispense food in return for a “fight.”

There was never any guarantee that he would be fed, of course.

***

“Kuklo fight back…”

Crouched on the ground, his knees to his chest, the Titan’s son slowly raised his head.

There standing at the entrance was exactly the person he expected to see. Entering the room, the girl timidly approached Kuklo. Something in her seemed to have changed. He could tell that she no longer meant him any harm.

Kuklo twitched his nose and stared at her. More specifically, he stared at what she held. In her hands were bread, jerky, and an apple, and the aroma coming from them was stimulating his stomach like never before. Within seconds, his mouth was coated in saliva, and drool ran down the sides of his mouth.

Stopping out of Kuklo’s reach, the girl took back the knife that had fallen on the floor and replaced it with the food, which she then pushed toward him.

“You’re just hungry, right?”

Kuklo began to reach for the food but froze. He hadn’t been allowed to fill his belly without first engaging in a “fight.” His hesitation was due to a fear that eating now might inconvenience him in some way.

He continued to think but found no answer. To begin with, inconveniences were the story of his life, and not being able to sate his hunger was a far more serious problem. He grabbed the bread and tore in, hurriedly swallowing it before his tongue even had the chance to get a taste.

“You’re not a Titan, are you?” the girl asked, but Kuklo was too busy with his feast. “The Titans I know about are monsters, but you just look like a person to me…” The girl observed him closely as she continued her monologue. “Plus, I’ve never read about child Titans in any books.”

Lending an ear to the girl’s voice, Kuklo shoved the jerky into his mouth. He needed to eat as fast as he possibly could. He was like a wild animal preparing for winter, absorbing nutrients to store in his body.

“Is it true that if a Titan gets hurt, it just gets better right away?” The girl laughed at her own question once she realized how strange it was. “I guess if you’re not a Titan, you wouldn’t know.” After poking her own head, she asked, “Did father bring you here?”

Kuklo ate in silence, unresponsive to her questions. Within a few minutes, he’d consumed all of the food. His stomach jutted out of his emaciated body like a ghoul’s. By the time he let out a burp his stomachache was gone.

“What’s your name?”

“…Name?”

“You’re not a Titan’s son, are you?”

“Kuklo.” Kuklo knew few words, but he at least knew his own name.

“I’m Sharle,” she said, pointing to the tip of her nose. “It’s nice to meet you, Kuklo.”

Kuklo furrowed his brow and cocked his head in reaction to Sharle’s smile. He couldn’t figure out what she wanted of him. Her actions were nothing like those of all the other humans he had met, but he could see that she wasn’t trying to hurt him.

“Sharle. Nice, meet you,” Kuklo said in a clumsy imitation of her words. A faint warmth seemed to come over his chilled body.

***

Sharle always bore gifts, namely food. The amounts were small so that her pilfering wouldn’t be noticed, but silence an empty stomach they did. It went without saying that her provisions did wonders to allay Kuklo’s once-frequent stomachaches.

She brought more fortune to Kuklo than just food, though.

“So you were never a Titan’s son in the first place,” Sharle fumed, wrapping Kuklo’s body in a towel. “You’re human. Just like me.”

“Just like Sharle…”

Kuklo angled his head, and Sharle grinned and nodded in satisfaction. “You know, your speaking has gotten better.”

The primary benefit Kuklo gained by meeting Sharle was language. He learned naturally just from struggling to communicate his thoughts to her, and it brought about a near-revolutionary change to both his heart and his mind.

“What is Titan?”

“I don’t know,” Sharle replied with a shake of her head.

Kuklo was surprised by this response. Sharle was like an omnipotent god to him, and he believed she could address any and all queries.

She shrugged. “No one knows what the Titans really are. It’s not in any books…” Flipping through the pages of the volume she’d brought with her, she presented it to Kuklo.

In it, he saw a strange picture. “This is?”

“It’s an illustrated map.”

“Ill-us-trate?”

“It’s a drawing that represents the world we live in…I think.”

The book depicted three circles as well as a number of people outside them walking toward the rings.

“This is where we are now,” Sharle said, pointing near the center of the circles, “and this wall is called ‘Wall Sheena.’” Her finger moved to the next ring. “The circle in the middle is ‘Wall Rose,’ and the one on the outside is ‘Wall Maria.’ This is as far as humans can live.”

“But here… A man.”

When Kuklo pointed to the naked humans depicted outside of Wall Maria, Sharle explained with a dour expression, “That’s a Titan.”

Titan… Kuklo brought his face closer to the book, his eyes fixed on the drawing of the Titans. With gleeful smiles on their faces they pursued small, fleeing creatures underfoot. Humans…

He hadn’t noticed the humans at first because of how small they were drawn. Some of the Titans had people in their grasp, while others were eating them. This was enough to help Kuklo intuit the relationship between humans and Titans.

Like it’s eating bugs. To a bug, Kuklo must seem a coarse predator. He also understood as a matter of course why the walls had been built. So this is…why they afraid of me.

He could almost justify all of the shackles that had deprived him of freedom throughout his life. If what Sharle said was true, he was a human who had been labeled a Titan’s son. His predicament was inevitable because Titans were to be eschewed. It must have been just in case, since he lacked the might he saw in the pictures…

Kuklo strained his imagination to come up with a mental image of the Titans, but his efforts were futile no matter how hard he tried. The reason was simple: he didn’t possess the material necessary for his imagination to do its work. Kuklo’s world was still limited to what was inside the shed, and anything beyond the door was foggy and vague. He at least understood that past the door lay a world he couldn’t even envision.

Kuklo stared at the shackles on his limbs. The well-worn iron restraints had grown rusty from his blood, sweat, and excrement, but removing them was nigh impossible. Even his strong teeth that could snap a tough jerky in two stood no chance against metal chains. The keyholes had been welded shut, leaving amputation as the only way for Kuklo to regain his freedom.

“I wish I could do something for you…”

Kuklo shook his head as Sharle looked at his shackles, concerned. They had always been with him, and the thought of removing them had stopped occurring to him─until now. He could never go back to not knowing his true identity, nor did he wish to. Yet, although he was curious about what awaited him beyond the door, at the moment his interest converged on a single point.

What is Titan?

They were responsible for ruining his life. He wanted to meet one if he could.

He wanted to confirm for himself that he wasn’t a Titan’s son.

But to do that, he would need to cast off his shackles and bound into the outside world. It wasn’t something he could do immediately, but it wasn’t exactly impossible. He just hadn’t given it any consideration until now.

Chain can be broken.

If he did what he needed to do in order to break them, of course. The day would come far in the future, but he had to begin working toward it without delay. First, though, there was something else he needed.

“Tell me. About human world.”

***

The problem was that Sharle herself only knew so much. After half a year of absorbing all he could from her, Kuklo used the knowledge he’d gained to tackle books. He was such a voracious reader that it stunned Sharle, but that impression wasn’t Kuklo’s own. Nor was he attempting to take back his idle days─it was simply what he needed to do in order to survive.

Kuklo’s efforts reached beyond his studies. Alongside them, he also planned his escape from the shed. No matter how broad his knowledge, it was pearls for swine if he remained in the shed.

His method of escape was incredibly simple. All he had to do was break his chains.

That said, he ran the risk of being found out if he used a tool like a jigsaw, so he’d chosen to corrode his chains, a method that required patience.

Fortunately for him, it was easy to obtain the materials he needed. Sweat, blood, and urine could be used without arousing suspicion and could all corrode metal. True, it would take an extraordinary amount of time to sever the chains, but speaking to Xavi or Dario was out of the question.

The thought of them freeing Kuklo was a flat-out absurdity. Dario had bought him in order to let his son Xavi inflict pain on the Titan’s son. For someone who hoped to lead the military one day, beating a Titan’s son silly was confidence-building. Xavi would surely puff out his chest and boast, “That’s right, I’ve defeated a Titan before!”

It was annoying, but to the extent that brawn meant everything to Xavi, he was relatively easy to deal with. All Kuklo had to do was feed Xavi’s self-regard: rolling on the ground when struck, overreacting to the pain.

Kuklo continued to play the part of the Titan’s son. It was exactly what Xavi, Dario, and their guests wanted from him, and it kept their guards down.

In the end, it took two years after he first began to stitch his plans together for all of Kuklo’s preparations to fall into place.

***

The topic of that evening’s meal was Xavi.

“So, you’re about to enter training, Xavi. Are you ready for it?”

Dario looked proudly at his son. Despite his question, he was surely contemplating some measure or other that would let Xavi graduate without issue.

Sharle had no idea what training was like for new recruits, but she wouldn’t have found it unusual if greased palms did buy preferential treatment.

It wouldn’t be as bad if he was just a doting father.

He wasn’t actually worried about Xavi’s well-being. It was simply that his son stumbling hurt his own ambitions.

The topic of the evening replied confidently with no inkling of his father’s scheming. “One day, I’ll be running the military. I’ve been ready my entire life, father.”

Of course. Just look at how prepared he is…

But this was only because Dario had placed his son on rails he’d laid down. Every little thing that might have gotten in her brother’s way had been shunted out of the way. Naturally, Xavi didn’t doubt that he had his own talent to thank.

While it may have owed to misconceptions, Xavi’s confidence was very real. During his childhood it had taken the form of being the neighborhood bully, but now it was transforming into a semblance of leadership. His height had soared in the past few years, and his buffed-up body was the image of dauntlessness. While his insolence had also been honed, he would surely do well as a recruit without Dario’s meddling.

Sharle wondered, Is it just the intimacy of family? Yet, Xavi had also benefited from the rare experience of having subdued a Titan’s son. Or that’s what he thinks.

Xavi would erupt in anger if he were to learn the truth, but the chances for that were slim. He was genuinely daft, but even so, he would have realized by now if it weren’t for Kuklo’s acting. Having grown bored, or perhaps maturing, Xavi rarely visited Kuklo these days, and barring any extreme circumstances he would never catch on.

“By the way, what will happen after I’ve left?”

Dario tilted his head at Xavi’s question. “Happen to what?”

“To it.”

Dario seemed to have understood. “Ahh. It.”

“We don’t need it anymore, do we?”

“Indeed.”

Xavi and Dario tried to keep the matter vague by saying “it,” but Sharle promptly discerned the subject. When they really mean Kuklo.

Recruits were forced to live together in barracks. Xavi would be leaving home, so there was no longer any need to have Kuklo around.

Maybe they’ll just let him go free.

Sharle had her hopes, but Dario was a natural-born businessman. “Let’s sell it off, then. I’m sure the buyers will be lining up.”

This was enough to make Sharle despondent. The word “free” didn’t seem to be in Dario’s dictionary. But that means everything must happen on a faster schedule.

Kuklo’s escape plan had entered its final stages. All that remained was to wait for a chance, but now that Dario had decided to sell him, they could no longer bide their time. They had to proceed with the plan as soon as possible.

And I’ll have to say goodbye to him very soon… Sharle shook her head, driving off the idle lament that had crossed her mind. Nothing good will come from Kuklo being here.

It would surely be the same wherever he was sold.

His life is finally beginning. I must see him off with a smile.

It felt lonely, like being left behind, but she had to think about more than that.

“What’s the matter? You’ve gone quiet,” Dario asked, noticing Sharle’s distant expression. “I know it’s hard to say goodbye to Xavi, but it’s not like you’ll never see him again.”

Dario seemed to have misunderstood, but Xavi’s departure was actually convenient. If she just played along, she wouldn’t be suspected of anything more.

“And there’s little time for mourning. You’re about to be very busy.”

“I am?”

“I’ve been holding private talks about your engagement, and it looks like it’ll work out.”

“Engagement?!” Sharle was so surprised her voice cracked. She struggled to process this unexpected turn of events and found her mind suddenly wiped clean. Her pulse quickened, and an unpleasant sweat began to ooze from her entire body.

She was Dario’s tool, doomed to someday be married off by him─this was her fate, the reason she’d come into this world. She thought she understood, but it was all too sudden. She could barely get her emotions in line.

“Do you know Bruno Baumeister?”

“Only that he’s a politician…” Sharle squeezed out, feigning calm, resisting the urge to scream.

“He stands at the vanguard of the conservative movement. You’ll be marrying his boy.”

“They say he’s quite the prodigal son,” Xavi butted in.

“Would he really want to marry someone like me? Wouldn’t another woman…”

“Don’t worry,” Dario rejected Sharle’s suggestion out of hand.

So it’s already been decided. The engagement didn’t “look” like it would work out, it already had. Considering Dario’s money-first personality, that much was clear.

Now it’s my turn to be trapped in a cell…

Sharle bemoaned the irony of it.

***

The room was dark, and he could hear nothing other than the rain. He didn’t know the exact hour, but his stomach told him that it was the middle of the night. It would probably be another four or five hours until dawn.

Kuklo rose and moved his limbs to see how they felt. All the muscles on his body were stiff from the cold, but they would return to normal once his blood started to circulate. There were a number of bruises on his body that resembled brands, but they were on their way to healing, the pain bearable.

Passed so fast…

He’d spent two years as Dario’s possession. The knowledge Ku-klo gained brought about a dramatic change for his personhood, but he’d transformed in another way. Having grown fifteen centimeters in height, his body was now surprisingly large. There was no excess fat on his body, and at first glance, he looked lanky, like a bean sprout. In truth, he’d built up a reasonable amount of muscle, so he was slender but not frail. He had forged his body over the weeks and months in order to be prepared for anything the day of his escape. Xavi had put on a hefty, armor-like amount of muscle, but Kuklo needed to be agile. Excess muscle would weigh his body down and limit his limbs’ range of motion. Bulk would get in his way and be worse than useless when escaping.

Kuklo looked at the restraints attached to his arms and legs. Since he’d grown, his wrist and ankle restraints felt quite tight. Not tight enough to pinch, but enough to compress. He had to act soon.

When I get out…I must take these off. Walking around with manacles strapped to him would get soldiers called on him in no time. He could sever his chains when he wished. All that remained was to gather his courage and to begin executing his plan.

Of course, that would also mean parting with Sharle for good. She’d saved his life, served as his mentor, and been his only sympathizer. To say that she was everything to him would not have been an overstatement.

If not for Sharle, I would still be the Titan’s son. Imagining the terrible possibility, he shuddered.

As the rain turned into a drizzle, he heard familiar footsteps. Sharle entered the shed.

“I want to leave this place,” he immediately began talking about his plan, but stopped just as soon. Sharle didn’t seem her usual self.

It was hard to see her expression in the dark, but her eyes looked bloodshot, and the flesh around them swollen.

She’s crying? To be precise, she probably had been. It appeared as though she’d come after taking a bit of time to regain her composure.

He hesitated to ask her why, though. He could guess from her demeanor that it was a touchy matter. Clumsily bringing it up would help nobody, as Kuklo was sensitive enough to realize now.

A few minutes passed in silence.

Sharle let out a deep sigh and opened her sullen mouth. “Father says he’s going to sell you off.”

“Me?”

“My brother is leaving home.”

Kuklo knew that Xavi was joining the Training Corps─and naturally also be leaving home. “They don’t need me…anymore.”

Therefore, he would be sold. Not only was it obvious, it was somewhat expected. The prospect only helped him make up his mind.

“There’s not much time,” Sharle said. “I think they’ll find you a new owner within a few days.”

“Then I must…hurry to escape?”

“Yes. So I’ll bring you some things tomorrow night.”

“Okay.”

“Just some clothes…and money.”

“It’s enough. Thank you.” Grasping the situation, Kuklo waited for Sharle to speak again. He could tell that she wasn’t done.

After a moment she said, “I’ll have to leave home soon, too.”

“Leave home?”

“I’m going to be married away.”

“Oh…”

Kuklo understood. Just as it had been decided that Xavi would leave for the Training Corps, Sharle would marry. It wasn’t that different from Kuklo being forced to live his life as a Titan’s son.

Sharle. She seems bothered. Otherwise she wouldn’t say that she was being “married away.” She looked as though she’d given up hope for her own future, but it wouldn’t be hard for him to rid her of her troubles.

“Sharle, what do you want to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Say no, if you don’t like it.”

“If it was really that easy…”

“You can,” Kuklo insisted.

But Sharle’s reply was firm. “I can’t. I don’t have any other choice.”

“Then…come with me?”

“Huh?!” If her shrill rejoinder were any indication, she hadn’t expected such a proposal.

“I will take back…my life. That’s why I leave.” He couldn’t reclaim it any other way.

“Your life…”

“It’s bad to be in a cage. You leave too, Sharle.”

“But I’m not strong like you, Kuklo.”

“Then even more reason to leave.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Very hard to be inside of here.”

No one knew better than Kuklo how tough life inside a cage was. He’d been able to stand his hellish existence thanks to having spent most of it as a Titan’s son. If he’d entered a cage as a human, his heart would have crumbled sooner or later. He didn’t see Sharle as having a weak spirit, but the fate that awaited her after her betrothal was as clear as day.

Kuklo extended his hand toward Sharle. “Let’s go together.”

It was a riskier proposition than escaping alone, but Kuklo had faith that it would work out. This was not the first time he’d faced adversity, and pulling through again and again had instilled confidence in him. A will harder than steel dwelled in his frame.

Thanks to Xavi. That, of course, did not translate into gratitude, but Kuklo’s many days suffering abuse as a Titan’s son weren’t for naught.

Kuklo’s concern for Sharle was not the only reason he thought to bring her with him. He wanted it, too.

Sharle clutched Kuklo’s outstretched hand. Hers was trembling, either from the cold or out of fear of the challenges that surely awaited them.

“Leave everything to me.”

Kuklo’s face wore a smile as he gently returned her grip.

***

Now I just wait for Sharle. If everything went as planned, she would appear soon. Kuklo glanced at the door, then shifted his eyes to his shackles. The iron chains were long covered in rust. In particular, the rings that linked them to the bands had corroded so severely that he could spot large cracks. Sundering them would be easy.

Thunder roared in the air like an explosion, causing the shed to shake. Just as the fearsome clap rang out, the shed’s door suddenly swung open, bringing violent gusts and rain in to ransack the room.

“I have arrived for you.”

What swept into the shed together with the night storm was an unfamiliar man’s voice.

Who’s that?

A man wearing a black cassock stood in the doorway. His cloak was black, too, perhaps in an attempt to blend into the darkness. He wore a hood low over his eyes, making it impossible to read his expression.