The Marleyan Brass made it clear from the beginning of candidate training that there would be no telling how long the Paradis mission would be for the lucky four who were selected. It could have been days, weeks, months, years… however long it would have to take in order to gain back the power of the Founding Titan from the Island Devils.

You kept reminding yourself of this fact after the shifters left two weeks ago. Annie, Bertholdt, Marcel, and Reiner, your older brother.

You were a reject along with Porco, Marcel’s younger brother. While you didn’t care as much about not inheriting a titan, Porco was livid, especially upon realizing that Reiner, the weakest of the candidates, was chosen over him.

But it was ok! You tried to reassure him, assuming that he was upset that his older brother was going away for a long time, just like yours. But it would be better for both of you since your families were now honorary Marleyans.

That did not placate Porco. At all. For the first two weeks after the Warriors set off for Paradis, you hadn’t seen him at all. You caught glimpses of him skulking around headquarters or the port, but never tried to approach him.

It didn’t help that Pieck and Zeke, the other two chosen Warriors, were assigned other duties for the Marleyan army, pretty much leaving you alone in the internment zone with no one to talk to like your training days.

It was late at night, after an hour of failing to fall asleep following your chores, you sit upright at your desk, the small lamp illuminating your journal.

You had thrown yourself into your daily tasks, helping your mother around the house and trying to ignore the loneliness of Reiner no longer being in the house. Your house was bleak enough, considering the circumstances of the internment zone. But without Reiner, there was a noticeable loss of warmth.

You were with your thoughts in a rare moment of solitude that would usually by filled by Reiner being somewhere in your room, the two of you conversing or sitting in comfortable silence as you did your separate activities. It didn’t take long for the ink on the pages of your journal to become smudged with your tears.

Capping your pen, you close your journal and bring your hands to your face, trying not to let yourself spiral too much about your brother being gone.

But what if Reiner doesn’t come back? What if none of them come back? What if the Paradis citizens are able to see through them—?

There’s a loud rapping at your window, three loud knocks that echo through the room. The sound causes you to whirl around and stifle a startled yelp, knowing the noise would wake your mother up at this late hour. You try to slow your pounding heart as you squint at the window on the opposite side of your room.

It’s dark in the alley where Porco standing outside your window, the light from your room illuminating his face just enough to see the irritation glowing in his hazel eyes as he mouths “open the fucking thing!”, vigorously pointing at the latch.

You quickly stand up and walk over to undo the latch on the window. Instantly, a gust of freezing air blows into your bedroom in an invisible whoosh, causing you to briefly shudder and cross your arms tightly over your nightgown.

“About time…” Porco mutters, hoisting himself up to hang from the window, looking up at you.

“You crying?” He points out, stating it instead of questioning it because, yes, with your red eyes and damp cheeks, it was obvious you were just crying.

Scoffing, you scrub at your cheeks as you look down at him, not bothering to respond to his comment, which causes him to double down on his observation.

“Jesus, {{user}}, it’s only been two weeks!” he shakes his head. “It’s too soon to start worrying… well, maybe worry for Reiner. He’s probably been killed already—”

“What do you want?!” You hiss, which causes him to roll his eyes. He’s never seen you this upset before…

“Bored to hell…” He shrugs, looking at you expectantly. “You gonna let me in? I’ll catch my death out here.”