The Origin

Sasha: Wha… how?! How are you here?!

Kaspar sits by her side: Well, it wasn't hard, considering the fugitive Kaspar Ackerman has only one arm and leg.

Kaspar pulls the sleeve on his right arm to show it's not a prosthetic; he does the same with his left leg.

Sasha is disturbed: How? How is this possible?

Kaspar: Because of you dear.

Sasha shocked: What?!

Kaspar: I told you I would meet you… to tell you about the truth of what you are, my miraculous healing is part of that… it's up to you if you wish to learn the truth… as there is no turning back after that… your previous life, your relationships… all will change… so tell me… you wish to learn?

Sasha is distraught… but she truly has no doubt on what she wants: Yes… I want to know…

Kaspar smiles: That's what I thought… well I guess I should begin with me. As I said, my healing is thanks to you… to your blood.

Sasha: Huh?!

Kaspar: I drank your blood dear while you were on the jail cell. You were bleeding profusely I wasn't kidding when I told you should have be dead.

Sasha is disgusted: What the hell!? You drank my blood?! And… it made you heal?!

Kaspar: Yes. I knew that would happen, but I really was conducting an experiment… to see if you could transfer your power…

Sasha: The power… of the source?! Transfer it?!

Kaspar: Ah… you know about the source… who told you?

Sasha: M..my mother… but she was only guessing…

Kaspar: Oh? I'm surprised. It must have taken her a lot of courage to reveal something like that. But yes, you are the incarnation of the power of the titans… although that is an inappropriate name for it… I would name it The Will of Life.

But I digress, let's go in order. First off, I was trying to gain the power of transformation through your blood, but the experiment failed. It only managed to heal me, but I couldn't transform. My guess is your Ackerman blood is preventing others from the bloodline to gain the power of the titans, only you are able to transform.

But here's something you'll like. If that's the case, it means you have the way to communicate with your bloodline… through the Paths.

Sasha: The… paths?

Kaspar: You must have heard the stories right? How your father was able to communicate to all the eldians through some strange place out of time?

That is the paths… a land that connects this world and the next… a receptacle of souls… an engine that transforms the life force of the dead… into new beings.

Unfortunately for our ancestors… Ymir the Founder kept that engine stalled for thousands of years… using it's power no to create new life… but horrendous monsters. I guess it's not her fault… it's all she knew… truly a terrifying thing… to give the power of a god… to a broken child of a cruel world.

Sasha is visibly confused and anxious.

Kaspar: This must be a lot to take in right?

Sasha: If… the paths are what you say… and the power of the source objective is to create new life… then how come Ymir obtained it… from here… this world? What is that power doing here? Why it turned… into me?

Kaspar: Those questions have puzzled the minds of the Titans scholars for centuries… I'm afraid they never got a straight answer for all of that… but I can tell you what they found out.

Like everything in existence… this spiritual engine must have had a core… a place it began… an anchor that connects this world to the paths, hence to other world, a conscious core that continuously did its job of forming new life… until it stumbled with death.

The scholars figure… the source was a conscious entity that latched onto Ymir for some mysterious reason… my guess is… after an eternity of creating life… that entity when it encountered Ymir, a girl who longed for death to be freed from the hell of living… it must have created an unexpected question… what is The Will of Life? Is life really worth keeping?

So… that entity got stuck on that question… for thousands of years… keeping Ymir a prisoner as a way to obtain an answer to such an impossible question… meanwhile Ymir kept using that power… to seek the answer to her question of love… truly an infernal pairing don't you think?

In the end Ymir got her answer… from your parents… but not the source. It struggled to keep the Founder alive but failed in the end… so, to it's reluctance, it returned to it's original place, to wait for the next bearer of the fundamental question. One of us, an Ackerman. It stayed with us, the only ones who still had a direct link to it in our blood…

Sasha: You mean… we are controlled?

Kaspar: That's a good question… Are we? Is your mother's immense determination to love a command? Is Levi's search for meaning a placed obsession? I'll say it's a bit of that, yes, but it's their will that determines the outcome of their actions… which bring me to you.

Sasha surprised: Huh?

Kaspar: You… are the one who'll finally give the source it's answer.

Sasha: What?! But… wha… !

Kaspar: I'm proud to say… this was my design. I made it my obsession… to end this world… to make that power… that should have never come to the hands of rotten humans… finally rest. No matter the cost… no matter who had to die… this is going to end… and only us, Ackerman's, are able to do it.

We have been considered a god given weapon… a mistake of science… freaks of nature… but this is the reason of our existence… for you to be born… for you… to answer that question.

Sasha: ARE YOU INSANE?! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO ANSWER SOMETHING LIKE THAT!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! TO ME…. TO MY MOTHER!?

Kaspar: I haven't done anything more than show the path. It was your mother, out of her own will, who chose to give everything up… to have a family again. That deep longing for love, for life, gave some answers to the dormant source… and in response, it created you, the answer to your mother's wishes… as a way to finally end such a torturing question.

This is your reason to exist, the reason you are the only being to ever have the entirety of it's power...

Sasha: What? What does that mean?

Kaspar: You have the full power of the Founder, not just a portion. You can give your power of transformation to others through your blood, you can transform into any shape you want, you can control those who have your blood, you truly are a god among us.

Sasha is terrified by what he said: What… no… why me?! What do I do?!

Kaspar: That… is something I'll leave to you… I have showed you the path… but it requires for you to will it into existence. I cannot force you to do anything more. Everything that happens now… will be shaped by your decisions.

Kaspar stands up: I'll continue on my path now… my mission is not done yet.

Sasha: What? But I have so many questions!

Kaspar: We'll meet… one final time. When the fate of this world… will be decided. I'll then… show you the future. I promise. Until then dear… reflect on what we talked about… and let fate lead you… for now.

Kaspar quietly left walking on the road to Shiganshina. Sasha was left disturbed and deeply conflicted about what to do.


Two days later – Mikasa's home

Mikasa to keep her mind out of her concerns decided to teach Leo how to plow the crops and cultivate. Historia decided to stay with them at the estate because she didn't want to be alone at the Palace. Ymir, meanwhile was on Trost with Pieck and Jean, coordinating how to resist the situation to come.

After a while, Leo passed out of exhaustion.

Historia: Do you want to kill your future son in law?

Mikasa: I insisted for him to stop but he kept going.

Historia: Stubborn… sounds like someone I know heh…

Mikasa: I wish he could live a peaceful life with Sasha… but that seems more like a dream after each day… I'm not sure if they'll even marry someday…

Historia: Come on don't be so gloomy Mikasa… even if everything goes wrong… if a war starts again… there will always be a place for love… you should know about that the best…

Hitch: Excuse me to interrupt this motherly chat… but I have some urgent news.

Historia: Yeesh you sacred me! What is it? It must be serious if you had to come…

Hitch: Yes it is. There has been an "accident" in the capital prison. All the powder kegs that were stored in there suddenly exploded…

Mikasa and Historia are shocked.

Hitch: According to military intel… there are no survivors, everyone died at the explosion… but I doubt it.

Historia: Isn't that… the prison were Yelena was serving her sentence?!

Hitch: Yes it was.

Mikasa stands up distraught. She remembered what Yelena said to her years ago, when she visited Kaspar.

Mikasa: Yelena… she is Kaspar's connection in Paradis!

Historia: Oh no…

Mikasa: It has started… we need to inform Pieck and Sasha.

Historia: Hitch take a squadron of the Corps and start searching for Yelena. Do NOT report this. We are clearly facing the beginning of a coup… I can't believe this… who… who betrayed us?

Hitch: It must have been… some one we knew… a person we did not believe would betray our trust… and I think I know who it is. I'll report later. See you girls, don't get killed.

Mikasa: Sasha…

Historia: Come on Mikasa, let's go to the palace, we'll contact Sasha and everyone else from the secure lines.


A few hours later - The road to Trost

Sasha, Marco and Munir were ordered to go to Trost, to meet with Pieck to regroup. A platoon of the Queen's Personal Guard was sent for escort.

Marco: Shit… I thought things wouldn't get bad so soon! I loved those woods… sniff…

Munir: We need to keep our heads up… Paradisian soldiers are not used to the guerrilla style tactics that were employed in Marley…

Sasha was quiet, the situation at head barely concerned… her mind was still fixed on her talk with Kaspar.

At that moment several explosions occurred that destroyed the escort cars. The guards started to frantically shoot at any direction, as there was no one on sight; one by one were shoot down.

Suddenly the tires of the car that was taking Sasha, Marco and Munir exploded, causing it to fall over and crash.

Sasha was bleeding from her forehead, with steam coming out of the wound. She got out of the wreck and started to look for Marco and Munir

Sasha: Marco! Munir! Both of them were injured and unconscious.

Suddenly a tall raggedy figure approached her: Your holiness…

Sasha turned to see a very tall and languid looking woman, wearing torn rags, with very long blonde hair and piercing hollow eyes…

Yelena: I've gladly waited decades… for this moment.