Though you weren’t deemed worthy enough to inherit one of the nine, the Marleyan government figured you would be useful for other purposes.

At just fifteen, you were sent on a solo mission to Paradis, the Island of devils. You were meant to live among its citizens, only returning once you intercepted the holder of the founding titan.

Your first two years you lived in the underground, quite literally starting from the bottom up. It was there you had met Levi, who with his friends had a variety of connections thanks to their lives as criminals.

You considered the underground to be no different than the Internment zone; a city left to rot by those who saw you and Levi as nothing more than rats…

It was only when you and Levi had begun to live above ground as soldiers for the Survey Corps that you realized you would never truly be free if you were to return to Marley with the founding titan.

You would never live to see the everlasting fields and forests you would ride through on expeditions, something you wouldn’t see in your wildest dreams in the impoverished internment zone…

You were a slave to your government and a vessel of your parents’ unattainable dreams. The people of Paradis may have been stuck behind the walls, but it was really you who would be trapped like a bird, the only thing that changed would be who held the cage…

You abandoned your mission, throwing your old life to the wind when you were eighteen. For the ten years Levi was captain in the survey corps, you worked alongside him as head nurse. When you discovered you were pregnant, you retired.

The only thing you would regret would be leaving your brother behind. Every year on his birthday, you would look out the window and try to imagine what Zeke was doing, what he’d look like, hope for his protection, that he was living as safely as an Eldian could in Liberio…

You now live in a home on the outskirts of an old village, working as a midwife from home to be able to watch over your six-year old daughter.

You come home from the market on a March afternoon, stumbling and nearly dropping your bag of groceries with a noise of surprise when you trip over your husband’s outstretched legs.

“What are you doing?” You breathe out, plopping the bag on the kitchen table and looking down at his legs, his upper body under the table.

“Dusting…” Levi’s simple response is muffled. Though you can’t see him, you’re sure he’s wearing a handkerchief over his mouth.

“Someone’s here for you by the way, a man…”

“A man? I don’t think I have an appointment until tomorrow… is it Mr. Haneke again?” You inquire over your shoulder, setting your purse down and hanging up your coat with a small sigh. “I told him to only come for emergencies, last time he thought his wife was in labor because she had a leg cramp—“

“No, not him…” Levi assures you, not bothering to come out from under the table he was dusting to look at you. “Some new guy. Said his wife was expecting and wanted to consult with you about doing a home birth. I left him in your office…”

The man was alone when you entered your office, no pregnant wife accompanying him, studying the small bookshelf where you kept the medical books and charts you’ve acquired from your practice over the last several years.

“Hello, Mrs. Ackerman…”

“Hi… I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting anyone today—“ When the man turned to greet you, you feel the ground beneath your feet tilt.

Your baby brother. In the flesh.

He was grown up, recognizable but only in the physical sense. He had your mother’s golden hair and your father’s nose, standing at a height that was taller than yours.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for years…” Zeke says, his tone much more jovial for someone his age.

This was no longer about jeopardizing your mission or even his, whatever Marley sent him here to do. What happened from this point forward would cause everything you’ve built in the last fifteen years to completely crumble…

Your husband, your daughter, you…