PART 4: The Ackerman Clan

Sasha feels so much pain… she can feel the warmth of the blood pouring down her face… she feels strange… she is not sitting, standing or lying down… her wrists hurt badly…

Sasha: Uh… what's… going on… HUH?! WHAT?!

Sasha opens her eyes and sees she is hanging by shackles in her wrists. She is in a jail cell. She starts to panic.

Sasha: HEY! IS ANYONE HERE?! WHAT'S GOING ON?!

A mysterious voice: Oh you are finally awake. It certainly took a while… you must have had brain damage.

Sasha is panicking: WHAT?! WHO SAID THAT!?

A dark limping figure approaches the bars of her cell. A slender and very tall man approaches. He has a long beard, glasses, dressed in robes. He walks with a cane. He has a metallic ornamented prosthetic leg. He is also missing an arm.

Kaspar: Excuse my manners dear. My name is Kaspar Ackerman. I've been waiting for this moment… meeting the divine child…

Sasha is shocked: ACKERMAN?! You… are that man… you tried to kill the Queen?!...

Kaspar: Oh they told you about me? I'm touched.

Sasha is so confused she can barely think straight, she grunts out of pain.

Sasha: Ugg… what… WHY ARE YOU HERE?! WHAT'S GOING ON!? WHERE AM I?!

Kaspar: Poor thing… you must be so confused… you don't remember anything?

Sasha barely remembers what had happened…

Sasha: I was… in the woods… Reiner…oh no… Leo… WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?! What… happened…

She starts to remember a feeling of rage and sorrow.

Kaspar: There is no need to sugarcoat anything so I'll be blunt. You transformed into a titan. The first one in 22 years.

Sasha is shocked and confused… yet she knows he is telling the truth.

Sasha: What… how?! That's impossible!

Kaspar: I'm not surprised you are so confused and stressed. You have been raised by frightened people. So afraid of the truth. Take for instance that midget. Levi. He nearly killed you out of fear.

Sasha: What are you talking about?!

Kaspar: Yeah I guess you don't remember that. After you came out of your titan, that pathetic rat got so scared he cracked your skull wide open. If you didn't had your healing abilities you most certainly be dead.

Sasha cannot believe what she is hearing… yet she feels… he is not lying. She remembers Levi's face. A face of horror…

Kaspar: He is the reason you are here. Chained and hanging by a wall. He did not want to deal with you… so he left you in charge of the military… who took some measures to restrain you… as if that would do anything.

Sasha starts to silently cry… she feels her whole world came crashing down in an instant. She starts to feel… deeply alone.

Kaspar: Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be rescued in no time. In the meantime… how about I tell you a story? I'm sure you'll be interested… it's about us… the Ackerman family.

Sasha looks at him surprised.

Kaspar: Surprised? I'm the only family member you have… who is not afraid to tell you the truth.

This story begins approximately 1700 years ago… back when the Eldian Kingdom had complete control of humanity. A great epidemic struck the world, causing thousands of deaths, but the 9th King, Helmut, had an idea… trying to use the power of the founder to save his chosen people. Needless to say, it worked, the pure eldians did not get infected.

This event rippled through the minds of the royal house for decades… how else can the power of the founder be used?

As human nature dictates, instead of looking for a way to improve humanity, the kings focused on a way to tighten their grip of power and subjugate their people even more. Thus titan experimentation science began using the blood of the king to create new powers.

Many years passed, after many horrific deaths from experimentation, the scientific teams started to get the hang of the power of the titans… test subjects did not die anymore… instead they started to gain interesting abilities. Of course they weren't allowed to survive. They were servants… it was time to begin experimenting on trustworthy people… the King's knights.

The King's court had 7 noble knight clans, all of them completely faithful and devoted to the royal family since before the rise of Ymir the Founder. One of those… was the Ackerman's.

The experiments brought many different results: some had positive effects, immunity to disease, extended lifespan, increased intelligence; others had negative effects: painful deformations that slowly killed the subject, like a virus.

This caused some of the clans to back out… but not the Ackerman's. As the most devoted clan, they fearlessly accepted the king's command and it's patriarch volunteered to be a test subject. In a true act of fate, the experiment was a success, the Ackermans gained immense physical strength, stamina, agility, resistance to injury, abilities that only seemed to grow with time. They became the perfect knights for the king.

The Ackermans became the most trusted family of the Royal house, as one of the additional abilities seemed to be a unique bond with their lord, so all of them become the personal guard of the members of the royal family. This made the Ackermans extremely powerful and wealthy, but their loyalty was so strong they never used it for their own personal gain.

As history teaches us, this story between master and servant would not last forever. The Ackerman's downfall was linked with the end of the Eldian grip on the world.

Sasha is very interested but quite flustered by the situation.

Kaspar: Are you bored? Too much of a history lesson? Don't worry. This next part will certainly be of your liking… as it is a love story.

The sad state of our family is the direct result of the fear true love can cause on the weak… Josef Ackerman was the knight of Princess Flora Fritz, the daughter of the 145th king, Karl the Traitor.

Both of them grew together, and in another act of fate, fell in love with each other, something that had never happened before between the two families. Unfortunately, I would say for them, the king gave it's whole hearted consent, as he had no reason to doubt the Ackerman's, and was actually excited to see what powers the mating of the families would create…

During their wedding night, at the peak of their love, something strange happened when consummating their marriage. Josef was brought to a strange world of sand with an enormous shining tree… he saw a little girl in shackles… she spoke to him. She told him about a future of horror and oppression… a future where his kin would be destroyed… by the titans.

Josef spoke about this to his wife. Both of the decided to speak to the king about it.

The king already knew. And he realized something…

Don't you think it's strange that only the Ackerman's were hunted down? Other noble houses had the ability to resist memory manipulation, but only the Ackerman's were targeted.

The king realized what was the reason for the Ackerman's unique powers. Their blood had a fraction of the power of the founder… the unique bond of the clan… was to form a new power… and it had happened with his consent.

The king got scared. He could see it. A power stronger than his coursed through those two bodies, a unique connection that went beyond the founder's power. It was a link of love.

When you put a coward against the ropes… they tend to do the most despicable of things…

The king rapidly ordered the arrest of his daughter and Josef… with a panicked mask of pain and shame… he beheaded his daughter in front of Josef. This moment rippled through the Tree of the Eldians, the Paths as you called it, like a jolt of electricity that every eldian alive at the time felt. The miraculous power that brought the eldians to rule the world... would cause the end of humanity... starting with the eldians.

A pain like no other coursed through his body as he watched his wife's corpse. One that felt strangely familiar and ethereal. Like a message from an unknown time. No hatred grew in his heart for the king. He saw his face. it appeared even less alive than Flora's. Fear... fear took everything from them... as it will in the future.

A vow was made: "This power will end by my hand", a curse of love was set as the blade cut through Josef's neck.

The king, terrified of this power, order for the Ackerman's to be exterminated.

At the time, there were two branches of the family: the knights and the nobles. Both branches rebelled and declared the king as their enemy, but took different approaches to their fight:

The knights stayed in Paradis to fight and were promptly exterminated, so they went into hiding. Those are your ancestors. Not the best I know.

The nobles, cunning as they were, took the entirety of their centuries worth of treasure and sailed to Marley, changing their name to Rohr. Those are my ancestors.

So… as you see… us Ackerman are afflicted by a curse… a curse of love… hence our seemingly miserable lives… bound to another… who always seems to slip away…

Sasha is silently reflecting about the story… she thinks of her mother… and herself.

Kaspar: This is the legacy that has been placed upon our blood… and you are the last piece of this hellish game…

Sasha: What?

Kaspar: Your mother already started the endgame… by killing the source of the Fritz' power…

Sasha: What? Killing?

Kaspar: Oh you don't know? Well I guess that's natural… who would reveal such an awful truth…

Sasha getting scared: What are you talking about?

Kaspar: Your father… the last remnant of the Fritz's power…who you think was fated to end his life?

Sasha feels like her soul left her body: No… no that can't be true… there is just no way…

Kaspar: You really don't know anything do you? Like how is it that you came to be? Why did you turn into a titan?

Sasha is panicking: Stop.

Kaspar: Yes I'll stop. A lot of this is not for me to say. But hear this… I want for you to reach the great reason for your birth… I called you Divine Child, like many do… this is not just a nickname or a delusion… it's the truth.

You ARE divine, you are the Ackerman that will end this curse… but even if the wheels of fate are already in motion… it's your will that will decide the future of humanity. I'm here only to guide you in your path.

At that moment a commotion was heard in the hallway.

Kaspar: Ah… your saviors have arrived. I'll come to you later on… to tell you the truth of your origin… if you decide to fulfill your fate.

Kaspar enters his cell and sits on his office.

Leo runs towards Sasha's jail cell. He has a bandage on his shoulder.

Leo: SASHA?! ARE YOU OK?! OH NO! WHY ARE YOU CHAINED!? DAD!

Armin approaches the cell with many guards: Release her now.

Sasha is released from her chains. Leo carries her. She is limp and in shock. Her mind is blank.

Armin approaches Kaspar's cell: This… was your plan all along… wasn't it? To get her here... for her to exist...

Kaspar: Don't feel bad minister. There was no way for you to win this game. I do commend you though... you did make me sweat a few times… but in the end I was always going to win because of a fatal flaw you have, that is no fault of your own mind you… lack of knowledge.

Armin feels ashamed and distressed.

Kaspar: You have my deepest respect Minister. So much that I'll give you some advice… for the sake of your family… leave. Some very interesting things will happen in a few days… I wouldn't take too long to make a decision.

Armin leaves without saying a word. He feels completely defeated.