"Hey!" Zeke yelled at the empty hall "someone! Let me out!"
"You have no chance without me!"
The old warrior sat down. He could definitely hear the sounds of an ongoing battle from above. The officers didn't trust him so much that they'd risk losing the most decisive battle of this war.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps, coming from the stairs.
"Finally," he exclaimed as he stood up "someone sane…"
Two of Eren's friends ran up to the cell.
"We're on board with your plan" the dark-haired girl said as the other guy took out a set of keys.
"Excellent" Zeke replied with a smile as the door opened.
'Was I hit?' The beast titan thought as he tried to assert his position.
Healing was slow, but with time, he could hear sounds and even see glimpses of what was happening.
Pieck had only been pretending to be dead. He cursed when he realized how easily she played him. The girl was always bright, but he never expected her to become such trouble. He underestimated the warriors, substantially.
In the distance, Eren was trying fight off two titans at once. For anyone else, this would be a futile task, yet Zeke knew the boy too much to think that he'd lose under such circumstances.
He didn't believe him, of course. The way his brother acted in Liberio was enough to convince him that Eren could have his own agenda on the table. Naturally, Zeke would still give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, his suspicions could prove to be unfounded, and he didn't want to accuse his brother of dishonesty.
Yet, the way he didn't catch the baseball made the old warrior ponder. Was Eren telling the truth or not? He wouldn't know unless they succeeded with their plan.
Suddenly, the old warrior came up with an interesting idea. He released himself from the titan's body.
As the fumes filled the air, he was sure that Magath couldn't see anything. Using their tactic against themselves was a risky move, but at the same time it was an ingenious plan. The only unknown factor was the question of how quickly Eren would see through this.
The young shifter was still fighting with Marcel and Reiner, gradually getting closer to the outer gate. So, he knew what Zeke was trying to do.
Suddenly, Dina came from behind and engaged in a fight with Reiner.
The old warrior didn't really take time to think about his mother, during all that happened. It seemed as if she was truly sorry about everything. His hurt was great, and he couldn't really forgive her, but something deep inside him wanted to let go of that anger, which he hoarded towards Dina.
His parents were the ones who threw him into this hell. He despised them with every bit of rage that he had inside him. Yet, he never considered that they might feel sorry for everything they had done.
Zeke watched as Eren hardened his whole body, trapping Marcel in the process. Then, he exited the nape and started running towards the gate. The old warrior looked at the point where the cart titan used to be.
Pieck seemed to have transformed again, and she was currently trying to deal with the scouts which were swarming around her.
'Good' he thought to himself.
"EREN!" Zeke screamed at the top of his lungs "IT'S ALL CLEAR NOW!"
Upon noticing that the blonde warrior was still alive, Reiner tried to turn back and prevent their meeting, but Dina effectively pinned him to the ground.
His brother was close.
Just a few steps more.
When he was within Zeke's reach, the blonde warrior held out his hand.
Suddenly, everything went blank.
After a few seconds, he realized he was someplace else. Zeke looked down and noticed that he had heavy, metal chains around his wrists.
'So, I made it' he thought 'and this must be the representation of the king's vow.'
"Where are we?" He heard all of a sudden.
'I'm sure these can be broken' the old warrior said in his mind.
Zeke wasn't tainted by the king's ideology. He only needed to focus. A second later, a crack appeared on the metal.
'Just as planned' he thought to himself with a smile.
"Hey, Zeke" the voice spoke out again "are you okay?"
The blonde warrior looked up, to see his half-brother.
'He's here too. That won't be a problem.'
"I'm alright" he finally responded, "these chains must be the vow renouncing the war."
"What is this place?"
Zeke took some time to look at his surroundings. They were on an endless white desert. Above them, shone a sky with million stars. All of those stars were somehow meeting in one place.
'The coordinate' he thought as he looked at the giant beam of light in the centre.
"This must be some place only the royals with the power of the founding titan can access" Zeke explained "it means, we succeeded."
Suddenly, they noticed a figure in the distance coming towards them.
"Who is that?"
As the person was getting closer, Zeke could see that she was a young, beautiful woman, dressed in white, regal robes.
"Ymir Fritz would be my guess" he replied slowly.
The great mother slowly reached the two of them. Her sole presence made Zeke's mind uneasy. Even the slightest move of hers spoke of power and energy.
All of a sudden, she raised her head to look them over.
'What is going on?' Zeke thought to himself as Ymir seemed to be checking Eren out.
"There are two" he suddenly heard her say "there were never that many, here…"
There was something weird in her voice, something that spoke of some force unknown to anyone.
"Great mother" he started "I want you to take away the ability to…"
"What to do?" The woman asked herself as she watched Eren.
The whole situation was starting to annoy him. Did he miscalculate something?
"Ymir" Zeke exclaimed once again "I'm asking you to take away the ability to reproduce from all your subjects…"
"That sounds weak" the great mother replied, not even bothering to look at him "what does he have to say about it?"
Did she mean Eren? What was going on?
"I am of the royal blood" he spoke out, breaking the façade along with the chains "you must listen to me!"
"You may be right, but he seems fine…"
"Ymir, you have to…"
Suddenly, the atmosphere around him changed. As the great mother turned to look at him, he felt his whole life pass before his eyes.
"You're boring me" she spoke out with malice "go away…"
This was quickly turning sour. But how was he supposed to predict that the almighty Ymir had a temper?
"Please…"
"Just shut up, Zeke" Eren said, having heard enough of this.
The old warrior fell to the floor as his entire world crumbled around him.
"Brother" he exclaimed with faint bits of hope in his voice "please, tell her…"
"Ymir" Eren spoke out.
The woman looked at him eagerly.
"Yes?"
"Give me the power to save my people."
