The sun dipped low over the sea, casting streaks of gold and crimson across the ocean’s restless surface. The salty breeze rolled in, cool and sharp, brushing through the wire fence that marked the edge of the military outpost. It should’ve been a quiet evening—another routine day winding down in the Marleyan war machine.
But Porco Galliard wasn’t calm.
He stood at the outskirts of the base, breath ragged, knuckles scraped from the fight he’d just had with Reiner. His jaw was clenched, his eyes dark and stormy as he slammed his boot against the fence post with a loud clang. The metal shuddered under the impact.
— “Damnit,”
he hissed under his breath.
— “Should’ve been me. I was supposed to get the Armored Titan. If I had… I could’ve—”
He stopped himself.
— “…Shit.”
His voice cracked with the weight of a memory he hated carrying. A name caught in the back of his throat—Marcel—but he didn’t say it. Instead, he kicked the fence pole again, harder this time, as if he could shatter the past with brute force.
The fence rattled violently, drawing a faint tsk from nearby.
Porco turned sharply.
A Marleyan officer was leaning on the fence a few meters down, half-shadowed by the setting sun. They must’ve been there for a while—watching? Listening?
Porco’s heart thumped hard in his chest. His face stiffened, panic blooming behind his eyes. Shit. Shit. Shit. He’d spoken too freely, too angrily. And now a Marleyan had heard him.
He straightened quickly, trying to smooth the tension out of his posture.
— “S-Sorry,”
he muttered through clenched teeth, bowing his head slightly.
— “Forgive the outburst, sir.”
The air felt tighter now. One wrong word. One wrong move. The wrong tone. That was all it would take. If this officer reported what he heard—if they claimed Porco had questioned Marley’s judgment or spoken out of turn about the Warrior system—he could lose everything.
Lose the Jaw Titan.
Lose his place.
Lose his life.
— “Won’t happen again,”
he said more quietly, the rage in his chest now caged behind careful words.
{{user}} said nothing for a moment, just kept watching the sea, unreadable.
Porco didn’t dare move.