"Dammit! It's bullshit!" Grisha shouted. 

Zeke was covering his ears with his hands, trying to hold back his tears.

"Don't say that! He's trying his best!" Dina argued.

"He'll never be a warrior like this!" Grisha retorted.

Zeke had a blanket covering his face as he sat outside the room his parents are in. He flinched and curled up as he heard a loud thud from inside the room.

Zeke caught a ball and Ksaver laughed heartily. "You were a mess the other day." He said and held up his hand, ready to catch. 

Zeke stared at him and said, "It's not funny. They're just having me run errands now. It's over for me."

He threw the ball which was easily caught by Ksaver. "Seems to me that you never wanted to be a Warrior."

Zeke looked down and said sadly, "I have to become one, yet I totally failed."

Ksaver got ready to throw the ball again and said, "No big deal. It's stupid for you to become a Warrior." 

He threw the ball and Zeke caught it. He stared at Ksaver, shocked.

"It's dumb to shorten your life for Marley and get sent to fight other nations." Zeke jumped and stared at him incredulously.

"Huh?!" He looked behind him to check if someone was there.

"Why did you become a Warrior?" Zeke asked in a low voice.

Ksaver continued to smile at him and caught the ball. "To learn the secrets of Titans. I'm a researcher, you know."

Zeke caught the ball as Ksaver continued, "Everything started when the Founder Ymir touched 'something,' but I wanted to know the truth of it all-"

Zeke stared at him. "-enough to shorten my life and look through titan memories."

Ksaver turned and looked up, "That's why I'm pretty much useless when it comes to war. Compared to the mysteries of Titans, hatred and war seem so trivial." He looked back at Zeke. "That's why you and I aren't interested in their war games. We're just two decent people- a real rarity in this world." Ksaver smiled widely.

Zeke had a smile on his face as he mopped the floor. "This is for the best. Even if I can't leave the zone, as long as I'm alive..." The smile slipped off his face and he looked down.

He walked through a tunnel with the mop and a bucket in hand. He passed a door and stopped as he heard, "We finally got a lead, They're the 'Eldian Restorationists'."

"It's a pretty large group. A traitor called the 'Owl' formed it." Inside the room, Marleyan officers were discussing. "We've got a few hunches already."

Zeke was still eavesdropping on them. His eyes were wide with fear. "It's just a matter of time till we get solid proof."

"Zeke?" He startled and looked up. "What's wrong?" Dina asked in concern as Grisha ate his food.

"Eat up." She told him.

"M-My stomach hurts." He lied to her as she stared at him.

He looked down to avoid eye contact and noticed Grisha staring at him while chewing. Zeke sighed in frustration and closed his eyes and spoke, "Dad, Mom... Stop doing dangerous things." Grisha and Dina stared at him in shock. He continued, "If they find out, we'll be sent to paradise- sent to the island of devils and made into titans."

He gasps quietly when he saw Grisha staring down at him with a blank face. "Have you learned nothing I've taught you? Unless someone takes a stand, we'll live pitiful lives in this tiny cage."

Dina stared at him with a similar expression and said, "That's right. We're fighting for the future of all Eldians, including yours."

Zeke stared back at them and asked, "Even if there's a chance that I'll end up like Aunt Fay?" A picture of her flashed.

Grisha slammed his hand down on the table and shouted angrily, "Zeke! The only reason Fay died is that this world is twisted!" He stood up and continued, "We have to fight so nobody else ends up like her!"

Zeke stared at him terrified with tears in his eyes. "We must restore the strength of Eldia and win our rights back!" Zeke started crying, unable to stop himself.

It then showed Zeke sitting with Ksaver against the wall of a building.

"You're kidding me! Your parents are restorationists?! You'll all be sent to paradise!" Ksaver said, his hand pressed against the side of his own head.

"Yeah." Zeke responded. 

Ksaver let out a strangled cry as he quivered in place. "Mr. Ksaver, thanks for playing catch with me. Even when I'm a Titan, I'll remember you" Zeke cried as he spoke.

Ksaver continued to look distressed as he held his head between his hands.

"Well, goodbye." Zeke stood up and began to leave. 

"Report them." Ksaver said. Zeke turned back around. 

Ksaver had a desperate look in his eyes as he shook in place. "It's your only hope! If you report them to Marley and prove your loyalty, you and your grandparents might be spared."

Zeke looked back at him, clearly shocked. "I could never do that!" As the two continued to talk it showed Grisha & Dina being arrested. 

"Zeke! Your parents have been horrible to you! They never gave up on you and never cared how you felt! They... never loved you!" Zeke was pointing right at them, his eyes widened as he did so.

"Zeke, you've done nothing wrong." Zeke's face was shown close up, the mixture of shock, fear, and sorrow plain on his face. He continued to stare in shock as his parents were taken away. 

"You're a smart kid. A good kid." Mr. Ksaver got down on his knees to hug him.

Ksaver and Zeke were playing ball again. Ksaver struggled to catch the ball Zeke threw at him. "Take it easy on me, Zeke!"

"Whoops. Do I throw too hard for a geezer?" Zeke was now older, looking to be in his late teens.

"Hey! I'm not that old!" Ksaver began to cough.

"Mr. Ksaver!" "It won't be long till my term is over." "Yeah."

As they spoke it showed the Warrior candidates walking by, a younger Pieck, Reiner, Bertolt, Marcel, and Porco walking together with Annie walking a fair distance behind them.

"I didn't get to grow old, but I don't regret a life of research. I'll be able to release a compilation."

"Yeah? What about?" Zeke asked.

"The things the Founding Titan did to the Subjects of Ymir." Ksaver tossed the ball back at Zeke.
Zeke caught the ball. "Oh. Like rewriting their memories?"

"Not just memories. It can change the anatomy of their bodies. Around 600 years ago, a terrible pandemic devastated the population. But all of a sudden, the disease just vanished from the Eldian Empire. The King at the time used the Founding Titan to change how their bodies work." Ksaver explained.

"No matter where we go, we, the Subjects of Ymir, are like part of the Founding Titan."

"Scary, Right?"

Zeke looked distressed for a second, and then looked down sullenly.

"Then..." Zeke started.

It cut to the scene of the man on the clock tower yelling at his parents. "Why are you pumping out more devils?!"

"Can the Founding Titan make it so Subjects of Ymir can't bear children?" Zeke asked.

Ksaver's eyes grew wide as he let out a gasp. "If none of us were able to have kids, Titans would be wiped out in 100 years."

"The world wouldn't have to fear or be threatened by Titans anymore." Zeke stared down at his ball while he spoke. "What's more, if we hadn't been born, we wouldn't have had to suffer!"
Zeke threw the ball back at Ksaver, it hit his hand but he failed to catch it, still standing there in shock.

"Mr. Ksaver?" Zeke asked.

"I've never spoken about it, but I had a family once." He began to explain.

"In my foolish youth, I removed my armband. And hiding the fact I was an Eldian, I had a wife and child."

Zeke continued to stare on while Ksaver explained, "My wife was a Marleyan. I knew I couldn't do it forever, but when my wife found out I was Eldian, she slit my son's throat and her own. Me becoming a Warrior was merely a grandiose way to commit suicide, but... for 13 years, I immersed myself in Titan Research, met you, played catch... It's been fun" It showed the baseball Ksaver had used laying next to his son as he picked it up.

"I looked for my dead son in you. I ran from my sins with my Titan Powers!" He began to cry as he was on his knees on the ground. "If only I hadn't been born in this world!" he crumpled onto the ground.

"I'll inherit the Beast Titan." Zeke said. "Not for Marley, but to retake the Founding Titan and save the World!"

Ksaver looked up from the ground at him. "I'll free the world from the terror of Titans and free all Eldians from suffering!"

"This is something I haven't told Marley, a way to break the vow renouncing war." It showed the two talking later, their backs against a wall and surrounded by steam. "As luck would have it, it's only possible because it's you. If a Titan with royal blood comes in contact with the Founding Titan, it's possible to draw out its power. However, the power isn't yours to use. That right lies with the Founding Titan. Essentially, you're the key to the lock. The Founding Titan needs to be someone you trust."

It cuts to a chamber where Ksaver is strung up, ready to be devoured. "Someone who understands our 'euthanization plan. I know you'll find that someone." A calm smile was on Ksaver's face.

Several Marleyan military officials were then seen clapping. Zeke was then shown, glasses in his hand, having just finished devouring Ksaver. "I'll always be watching over you, Zeke." Ksaver's voice over-continued to be heard.

"I'll find that someone, father." Zeke said as he put on Ksaver's glasses.

A boat was shown docked outside the wall at the edge of paradise isle, several Marleyan troops about on the dock.

"Eren Yeager?" Zeke asked.

It showed Zeke talking with Reiner and Bertolt, the two being debriefed. 

"Yes. Eren possesses the Founding Titan." Reiner said. "And in the basement of his house in Shiganshina there's some sort of vital information."

Zeke's face remained calm and asked, "Did you hear Eren say anything about his father?"

"I believe he said his father was missing and used to be a doctor." Bertolt answered.

Zeke's face was then shown with an expression of dismay. He was then in his room, clutching his head. "Unbelievable! "That" father was alive?! Eren, we're victims. You've been brainwashed by him."

A flashback was shown of Eren & Zeke's first face-to-face meeting on a roof in Shiganshina. "Someday, I'll come and rescue you!"

(Flashback Ends)

Here is a new chapter, and this ends the story of Zeke's past. I hope you like this chapter.