The 5th Ackermann

55- Frenetic Frenzy

Written: 2/24/21
Published: 3/24/21

(So many different things happened in this chapter so I didn't know what to call it.)

"Talk to me, Grandpa." Kenny said. He was in a room, his grandfather in his sickbed. "You're gonna die soon, right?"

"Kenny..." The old man muttered weakly. "Did you kill more military police?"

"Heh." Kenny chuckled. "If ya mean the ones snoopin' around here, they're feedin' the trees, now." The man coughed. "I don't mean to spoil your trip to the afterlife, but... I finally found my little sister. Kuchel... she was working at a brothel in the Underground. One of her customers got her pregnant. Twice. She won't listen to me. She said she's already had one. It's a boy. The one coming is a girl. As for that other branch of the family... Looks like they've moved south, near Shiganshina district. But I guess someone got in the way of their business, too... They're still poor. What's goin' on? Didn't the Ackermanns used to be a warrior family close to the crown? How'd this happen?"

"Now there's only a few of us left. The whole clan's on the brink of extinction. What'd we do to make the monarchy hate us this much?" The old man looked at his grandson with no reply. "C'mon, grandpa. Tell me! Dontcha love your grandson?"

"Hah... The grandson I doted on... has become Kenny the Ripper, terror of the capital. I planned to protect you all form the monarchy by taking our ancestors' secrets with me to the grave. But now it looks like there's no point in doing that... The monarchy doesn't hate the Ackermann family... They fear us. The king fears the Ackermanns because he can't control us. My generation has the first born after humanity moved inside the walls, so it's not as if I know everything. But I do know that our clan was the royal government's sword and shield. We had a key role in ensuring humanity's continued survival. And the rest of humanity, the vast majority who did not belong to one of these central houses... were one people who all came from the same bloodline. In other words, there is one major race living within the walls... alongside a few other bloodlines who each have but a few members. One of those lines is known as 'Asians', a people vastly different from us. The problem was... the existence of different bloodlines disrupted the King's ideal system of rule. The king hoped to rewrite the memories of all humanity... wipe out history... and realize his dream of perfect peace and order."

"Huh?" Kenny said. "Humanity's memories... What're ya talking' about?"

"The power of the titans...." The older man answered. "Generations of kings have inherited and guarded the power of the titans. They used that incredible power to build the giant walls that protect humanity from the titans and eliminate all tract of humanity's history outside those walls. However... The memories of people from these minority bloodlines, including ours, were not affected by the king. The king's power to alter and erase memories of the past... only works on members of this majority race. In other words, to complete his great work and eliminate history... The king must use other means to silence the minority bloodlines who are not affected by the power of the titans."

"Ya don't mean..."

"Yes... While most of the lines obeyed... 2 groups objected to the king's philosophy. They gave up their status and turned their backs on the monarchy. The asian bloodline... and the Ackermann family."

Kenny looked surprised.

"In any case, my father's generation didn't pass on humanity's lost history to their children. They hoped to protect their children from the monarchy's purges... In the end, the head of our family offered his own life to ensure the survival of the other Ackermanns and was executed... But now, it seems his noble sacrifice was pointless."