Hey there readers. Welcome back to another of HSF. Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it and like I said, it's very helpful. Oh and welcome to all those that have just joined HSF's tiny fanbase( I dunno if I can call it that). I'm glad to see more people are taking interest, and I hope to see you stick around.

So like the last few chapters, the majority of my author's note will at the bottom of the chapter so without further ado…

"You have some visitors."

"Visitors?" Irene repeated, wondering who could possibly be here for her this time. "Who are they?"

"I don't know. I was just told to come get you," he shrugged, "now come on."

"Sure," she sighed before getting off the bed and onto her feet, not without a struggle to balance as her body still seemed to be waking up.

When she felt her body was fit enough, she walked towards and out the door, immediately squinting as the light entered her eyes. As her eyes were adjusting, the Garrison was locking the door, and when she was able to look around, she took note of the fact that she was in some sort of hallway with several other doors.

The man then turned to face her and kept his brown eyes focused on her before snorting, "you sure don't look like a titan to me?"

Yeah? no kidding.

Irene sighed as her mood started to lower once again. Not only had word of her abilities spread, but it seemed the information had already started to get twisted up into different stories. So apparently there were people that even thought that she was a titan. She then looked up at the man, "you said I had visitors right?"

"Yeah," he said before turning around and walking down the halls.

Taking that as her cue, she followed him down the halls. As she walked, she allowed herself to take a closer look at her environment. There were quite a number of Garrisons walking around the place, so she must have been at one of their stations.

They took a right turn and started walking down a hall where several cells seemed to be located. For a moment, she wondered if there was anyone housed within them and she soon got her answer. There were men, women, and even teenagers locked within the cells. Some of them had the cliché criminal look with the sharpening of knives, tattoos, cigars, and the like while others looked harmless, simply staring at them as they passed.

Just as soon as they had entered the hallway, they had left it and turned down another hall. A few more steps later, the Garrison stopped in front of the door and turned to face her, "alright, your guests are in here, and... what are you staring at me for?"

Irene's only response was to raise her cuffed hands and glance between the doorknob, her wrists, and the man, hoping he would understand what she was trying to say.

"Huh, oh right," he said before opening the door, "you can go in now."

"Thanks," she responded before taking in a deep breath, so as to brace herself for whoever was waiting for her on the inside. She hadn't realized how nervous she was feeling until then.

After a few seconds of mental preparation, Irene stepped into the room, her mind already running through countless possibilities of who could possibly be visiting her at this time. Well, whoever they were, she had to be careful not to give them too much information or even show that she was scared or else they could take advantage of her. She just had to give them that Smith poker face. Yeah, that would be the best tactic to use against anyone.

"Dad?" Irene froze in her tracks as she just realized who was in the room. Seated at one end of the table was none other than her own father, his blue eyes fixed on her as he rested his elbows on the table, covering his mouth with his joint hands. Right next to him was Hange, who Irene could tell was equally focused on her despite the fact that her eyes were concealed by the reflected light on her glasses. In her hands was what appeared to be a notebook. And to complete the trio, the Captain stood not too far away from them, leaning against the wall as he equally had his eyes focused on her with his usual blank stare.

"Take a seat, Irene," was the response Erwin gave her, prompting her to immediately take notice of the chair in front of her and walk forwards to take a seat.

The room was awfully quiet. So quiet that Irene found herself growing even more uncomfortable than she was when she was in that little room she woke up in. Suddenly, being around her father didn't feel as welcoming as she thought it would be, not when she was receiving those intense stares.

"Care to explain yourself?" Erwin asked, as straight to the point as ever.

Well I don't feel as bad as I did yesterday dad, thanks for asking.

As much as she felt it, Irene kept the sarcasm at bay as she was most definitely not in a position to be that way. After keeping such a big secret from everybody, she shouldn't be surprised that she was being interrogated. She then sighed before asking, "what exactly should I explain?"

"Not too much," he said before moving his hands from his mouth and into the table, "just give us a summary of what Nile was talking about last night."

"Oh, right," she said before looking down at the wooden table. She hadn't expected to be in this position, and now that she was, she had just realized that explaining her situation wasn't exactly something as simple as 1,2,3. All the memories that she had wanted to keep buried away suddenly started to flood her mind, sending a wave of emotions coursing throughout her body.

Keep it together, Irene. Come on.

She had been asked a question, and was expected to give an answer not to break down. Despite her attempts to calm herself down, the memories still kept on coming back to her, plus the stinging handcuffs weren't making things any easier.

"It must be too much to explain all at once," Hange said, obviously aware of the fact that Irene was at the brink of having a mental breakdown. She then adjusted her glasses before wearing a more approachable expression, "okay then. Why don't we do this one step at a time. Sound fine?" she asked to which Irene nodded, "great. So the first thing I'm going to ask is if Nile was telling the truth. Are you really able to speak to titans?"

"Yes," Irene nodded. That was definitely easier for her to answer.

"Great," Hange responded before writing something down on her notepad, "could you explain more on that for us? Like tell us more about this ability of yours, like what it is that you can do."

"…Well, it's like he said," Irene started, taking a moment to glance at everyone in the room before deciding to settle for looking at her wrists, "I can talk to titans. I can hear them and I guess they can hear me."

"You can hear them?" Hange asked, eyes open in amazement. Irene was sure that the woman was clearly getting very excited judging by the expression on her face. She then leaned in, "well, what do they say?"

"Well…" Irene started, shifting her eyes to their new comfort zone on her wrist before continuing, "well they normally just say almost the same thing."

"Which is?"

"They're usually just pleas for help," she started, trying her best to find a way to explain the situation without it saddening herself even further. As fascinating as her abilities may have seemed, hearing voices whenever she was around the titans wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, and explaining it wasn't any better, "you see, it's like they're asking for help. I can hear them crying and stuff but that's just about it. It's always the same story."

"Pleas for help? Crying? Stuff?" Hange responded as she jotted down what was said. She then looked back at Irene, "What do they even sound like? Is it just roars that you can somehow understand or you can actually hear like regular voices speaking in a human language? What exactly are they even asking for help from? Have you ever had a conversation with one of them? If so, what do you even say to them? Do you roar too or do you speak English to them?"

"Slow down four eyes. Your asking more questions than she can answer," Captain Levi said from his position, "your words are pouring out like shit after a bad meal."

"Leave it to you and your toilet humor so early in the morning," Hange sighed.

"Hey, you dragged me all the way out of the warmth of my bed to be here so I can joke however the fuck I want."

"Oh don't whine missing your beauty sleep Levi," Hange started before throwing him a smirk, "it's not like it's ever worked anyway."

"Ever looked in the mirror Shitty Glasses?"

"That's enough, you two. I understand that you're both so tired from yesterday's activities inclusive of that assignment I gave you," Erwin said, somehow not showing any signs of exhaustion considering that he, too was active the previous night. Well that was Erwin Smith for you; always looking his best no matter the situation, "I apologize for interrupting your sleep—or in Hange's case, reasearch. However, I still expect the both of you to be professional even at this time," he finished, having successfully defused the potential altercation between the two officers.

He then turned to face Irene again, prompting her to retreat to looking at her wrists once again, "as much as we have so many questions to ask, we must remember that we weren't given a generous amount of time to hold a proper interrogation. What we came here for was to find out the general information. We'll look into details another time."

"Fine, fine" Hange dismisses with a wave of her hand before leaning in again, "that roar that made the titans rush towards the centre. Was it you?"

"No," Irene shook her head without looking at them, "it wasn't me, but…"

"But what?"

"Remember Hange, the details are for when we have more time."

"Aww come on Erwin, we…"

As Hange continued to explain whatever it was she was explaining to Erwin, Irene took advantage of the moment to calm down. She didn't know why, but looking at her wrists definitely did her nerves better than being around her own father, despite the fact that they were still aching.

"What do you keep looking at?" she heard the deep voice from beside her, immediately identifying it as Levi's and when she looked to her right, he was standing right next to her.

Before she could respond, he beat her to it, "you'd expect officers,of all people, to know how to use handcuffs" he criticized before bringing his hand out from his pocket, "give me your hands."

"Here," Irene responded before raising her wrists towards him.

He stared at the handcuffs for a few seconds before raising leg and reaching into his boot, pulling out some small, sharp object . He then got to work fiddling with the locks on the cuffs until they fell off her wrists, relieving her of the stinging sensation, but not without revealing another detail about herself she hadn't made known.

"Is that titan steam?" Hange loudly asked as everyone's eyes were fixated on her wrists that were indeed steaming and even healing, "wait, are you healing?"

Irene definitely didn't know how to answer her. Not only had they found out that she could speak to titans, but now they had found out that she could release steam and heal like them. Judging by the looks on their faces, she could only imagine what was going through their minds. Heck, even the captain had taken a step back. At this point, she didn't even know where to start from.

"Irene…" Erwin started, cutting Hange off. Irene could tell there was a lot going on behind that calm mask he wore. Heck even the way his voice had suddenly gotten lower gave his emotions away. Which ones, she wasn't sure, but she knew he wasn't exactly in a chipper mood, "…how much have you hidden from me?"

The atmosphere of the room became awfully heavy. Hange had suddenly gone silent and Levi had clearly risen his guard around her, but the thing that unnerved her the most was the way her father addressed her. It was in his calm tone, yes, but it was so calm it was actually unnerving. She didn't know what he was thinking, but she could tell he wasn't happy.

"Irene…"

"I…" she started, her mind already starting to go through the memories once again.

"Why are you letting them do this to me?"

"Irene, listen I… there's nothing I can do."

"So you're just going to keep on watching all this happen."

"Look, I've tried Irene. I've tried, but they just won't listen."

"Are you sure you really tried?"

"Irene look, I swear I tried. I really did, heck they even started threatening to… they just didn't want to listen."

"You know what, I don't care if you've tried. Just please… I want my dad."

"…Irene. Okay I'll… I'll try and get ahold of him."

"Irene." Irene heard Erwin call out to her, and when she looked back at him, his expression was the same, unchanged serious one he wore before. It was like when she looked to him for help against getting arrested and he didn't even move to help her out. Here she was in need to comfort and he clearly wasn't fazed.

"D-Dad I…" she started, ignoring the fact that tears had started streaming down her face. She hadn't intended on crying in front of everyone, but how could she not? Especially when so many of those memories started flooding her mind even more.

"Okay little Irene. You should go in there now."

"…But what if it eats me?"

"Now, now Irene. Remember that we had discussed what you needed to do to make it not eat you. You'll be fine."

"B-But I'm scared."

"Tch, listen. Quit being such a brat and just go in there. You're wasting our time!"

"No, please no!"

"Irene, listen to me," Erwin started, snapping her out of her thoughts and into giving him her attention. He then continued, "Like I said, we were not given a lot of time to see you, so we came here to find out about this whole Titan ordeal from you," he continued, pausing for a bit before saying, "not to deal with any emotional breakdowns."

Right of course.

Irene sniffled for a moment before clearing her throat, "I'm sorry da...Commander," she started, trying to put on a calmer expression. She then spoke in a wavering voice, "it's just that Nile... everything. Everything is just too hard for me to explain right now. With what happened yesterday, I'm just exhausted and I need some time to... to gather my thoughts."

Knock! Knock! Knock! The sound of loud banging against the door caught everyone's attention.

"Time's up," a voice from the other side of the door went.

"That's fine then," Erwin gave an understanding nod before continuing, "I expect you to have composed yourself by tonight because we're going to attend to some serious business."

As much as Irene wanted to question further, she decided against it because of not only due to the fact that the soldier was knocking again, but because she knew that he would have mentioned it if he had to. So instead of asking what business he was referring to, she simply nodded, "understood."

"Believe me, Irene. I want to continue talking to you, but the time we were given to see you has completely elapsed." he said before looking over at Levi, "Levi, put the cuffs back on her before they get any unnecessary ideas."

"Alright," he said before stepping towards Irene and holding out the hand cuffs, "hold out your hands."

Irene let Levi fasten the handcuffs around her newly healed wrists, and luckily this time they weren't too tight on her, "thanks Captain."

"No problem," he nodded.

The door opened revealing the Garrison who had brought her in. He looked casual for a moment before his eyes widened, probably because he realized who was in the room. He then firmly saluted, "sorry for walking in unannounced. I was just told to tell the people in this room that it was time up. I had no idea it was you in here, I can just go out and wait."

"At ease soldier," Erwin dismissed, "we are actually done in here, so it's fine."

"Of course," the man said before relaxing his stance. He then looked at Irene, "let's go."

"Okay," Irene responded before walking towards the soldier, halting only for a moment to glancing back into the room before walking out the door.

"Erwin," Levi started as soon as the doors were closed.

"Levi?" Erwin responded, quirking his eyebrow.

"Don't play dumb with me, Erwin," Levi started, scowling at the taller man, "you know what I'm about to talk about."

"Levi, so much has happened in just this short time," Erwin started, "you can't expect me to know what you're talking about."

"Tch, I'm talking about Irene, dumbass."

"What about Irene?"

"What about Irene?" Levi echoed before continuing, "Erwin, your daughter nearly broke down some minutes ago because she's probably experienced some hard shit, and you just tell her to suck it up?"

"...Is there a problem?" Erwin asked.

"Erwin, from what you, me, and four eyes could see, Irene is obviously very stressed, hurt and at the brink of breaking down because she has probably seen some traumatizing shit in the past," Levi started, " the least you could do was I dunno... comfort her."

"Comfort her?" Erwin asked, now wearing an indifferent expression before asking, "what was I supposed to do, give her a hug?"

"It's definitely better than ordering her to deal with something she's clearly struggling to deal with."

"Levi, we came here on to find out more on the matter, not to deal with emotional breakdowns" Erwin started, "one of my soldiers has been accused of being a threat to humanity, and it is our duty, as her commanding officers, to defend her."

"That soldier is your daughter, Erwin," Levi responded, hoping that he would get through to the commander's hard head, "and you're not only her commanding officer, but also her father, and it's your job to make sure she feels safe."

"I don't think you're in a position to tell me what my job is, Levi," Erwin said in the tone he often used to intimidate others, "like you said, Irene is my daughter, and I'm pretty sure I know how to take care of her."

No matter how intimidating Erwin tried to get, Levi was not fazed. Instead, he was just getting slightly irritated by the man's coldness. As a parent, himself, he personally found it hard to ignore a child in need of care, and seeing Erwin just brush off her feelings like that... it annoyed him. No child's feelings needed to be pushed aside like that. Not even Junior's.

Levi then exhaled. Regardless of how much he wanted to criticize Erwin, the fact was that Irene was his daughter, and like he said, he knew how to take care of her. It wasn't exactly his place to tell him what to do with his own child.

And just like that, everyone had gone silent. Hange was simply mumbling to herself as she looked through her notepad while Erwin quietly paced around, probably thinking about whatever it was that he thought about.

As though he had sensed that Levi's mood certainly wasn't improving, Erwin stopped in his tracks and sighed, "If I'm being honest with you, Levi, I, too, was not happy to see her look so sad. As her father, it hurts me to know that she had probably experienced something traumatic in the past while I was out, keeping my mind focused on nothing but the military . I actually feel somewhat guilty for letting something like that happen to her," he explained, now wearing a somewhat solemn expression, his features softened and eyes looking downwards.

However, his expression then left as soon as it came, being replaced by one that was akin to distaste, "I'm actually very disappointed that Marie never even bothered to mention this to me. Though, what angers me the most is that Nile definitely had something to do with it."

Erwin, like Levi, was not a person who could be described as emotional. Seeing him like this managed to convince Levi that Erwin was, in fact, concerned about his daughter. Perhaps Levi was too quick to judge him. After all, it wasn't like he was father of the year, himself, he had his own screw-ups here and there with his kids. He was just going to let Erwin be Erwin.

"So what now?" Levi asked, now wondering what the Commander's next move would be considering that they had gotten the information they had come for, "what are we going to do about the whole Irene, Titan issue."

Erwin cleared his throat before regaining his stoic composure, "Commander Pixis said that he would inform Premier Zackly of the situation later on after dawn," Erwin started, "that means that he would most likely arrive in the evening."

"Well what does this have to do with anything?"

"Premier Zackly getting involved simply means that Irene could end up going to court martial-or at least something similar," Erwin explained, his eyes locked on the now empty seat Irene sat on only moments ago. His gaze was so focused that it looked like he was actually looking at someone on the chair, "you and I both know that Nile is going to try by all means to have his way, and that's what we need to avoid."

"And how would we do that?"

"It's simple," Erwin started, shifting his gaze to meet Levi's, "all we have to do is convince them that Irene's abilities could actually be used for the betterment of mankind instead of pose a threat."

Levi quirked his eyebrow as a response, so as to urge him to explain further.

"Trust me Levi. This is a gamble, but it could work," he started, now wearing the expression he always wore when he had something figured out, "All I need is some time to properly organize things and we'll be set." He then looked at his watch, "alright then. I believe the Scouts should be waking up any time soon. As you carry out whatever plans you have for today, make sure to inform them that they should be in full uniform tonight."

"Oh yeah, and where will you be while I'm doing that?"

"I'll be in my office preparing," he responded now wearing the same determined look he wore in front of the strategy board, "I'm not going to let Nile take anything else from me again."

Another short Chapter mostly in Irene's Point of View. It took a little time, but now it's done and I hope you enjoyed it.

Again, I enjoyed exploring Irene's character even more and I hope you're enjoying getting to know her too. She initially started out as a character who I felt wasn't exactly… constant, but now I've looked more into it and I think I've done an okay job in introducing you guys to her thoughts. I don't know, only you can tell me.

Anyways, I don't think I can say much other than thank you so much for reading. All your woes, your joys and even your criticisms will be highly appreciated as it does help me better my writing so please feel free to express yourselves. I'm all ears.

Alright then. See you next time.