Just a fair warning this chapter starts off light but gets super fucking heavy. Trigger warning in place for graphic descriptions of past child abuse. No actual abuse happens, but it's talked about.

Y'all have been warned.

"I wish I could get a picture of this!" Hange whispers as she watches the snuggling pair that is Eren and Ina.

"Why the fuck are they in here?" Levi crosses his arms, but maintains a whisper so as not to wake his baby. "And why the hell is he shirtless?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Who knows? Ina does like to cling to people when she's feeling iffy." Hange figures.

"If these little shits bothered her I swear-"

"Cool it." Hange doesn't let Levi finish. "She'd be under the bed if something notable happened. Relax."

"Why the hell is he still in bed? It's 10:30 in the morning, doesn't he have drills to run?" Levi will keep up the whisper but is this close to kicking Eren in the face.

"Hmm, curious. I didn't see the other 104th folks on our way in, either."

"I bet they had her up late last night. Stupid little shits. She has a fucking bedtime."

"Would you Woosah?"

Hange rolls her eyes and walks to the other side of the bed where Eren is laying. She pokes Eren in the shoulder.

"Wake up…" Hange whispers. "Wakey, wakey…"

Eren stirs, but doesn't wake.

"Move." Levi doesn't know why she's trying to be all gentle and shit.

He smacks Eren on the ear with the palm of his hand, jolting the young Titan shifter to a sitting position. Albeit with his eyes still closed.

Ina jolts as well, then whimpers and shivers. She blindly reaches her hand out, presumably searching for Eren, who's maybe only 35% awake- his eyes still closed. The sleepy teen takes Ina into his arms and holds her to his chest. His arms wrapped tight around her little body. He lies back down with her.

Hange scratches her head. "Uh…. alright, so I'm with you on this one, that was weird."

"Breakfast time! Breakfast time!" Sasha enters the infirmary with a tray of food.

"Feed your body! Feed your- oh shit!" She notices Levi and Hange standing at Eren and Ina's bed. The breakfast tray crashes to the ground and Sasha bolts out the door. They can hear her crying and shouting hysterical nonsense.

The noise does finally wake Eren fully. He groans and blinks his green eyes open.

There are two people standing by the bed, but his vision is still a little blurry. Eren rubs his eyes with his free hand and tries to focus and see which of his friends woke him.

It's Captain Levi and the squad leader.

"Oh shit!" Eren jumps up from the bed within a second and stands at attention with a salute that could have taken someone's eye out.

"Uh… welcome back?"

Ina whimpers again. She's unable to find Eren. It's cold without big brother. So cold.

"Big brother?" Ina croaks. She opens her eyes and sits up. "Where'd you- Papa?"

"Papa!" Ina stands on the bed and launches herself into Levi's arms. Levi has to take a single step backwards to brace himself, but catches Ina with no trouble. It feels so good to hold her again.

"You're back!" Ina squeaks.

"Ahem! What am I? Chopped liver?!" Hange crosses her arms and feigns offense.

"She likes me more, Hange, deal with it." Levi teases.

"Papa don't say that! I love you both. Hi mama!" Ina reaches for Hange who gladly takes the little girl into her arms.

"It's good to see you, puddin pop."

At some point during the reunion, Eren made a beeline for the door and kept running. He was glad they were too focused on each other to notice him.

Levi doesn't realize until it's too late that the brat is long gone. What the flying fuck is going on with these idiots?

Krista enters the infirmary a moment later.

"Anybody know why- oh shit!"

"That does it. Come here, brat!" Levi calls out to Krista before she can manage to escape.

The blonde scout stops in the doorway, turning around slowly.

"Uhh… hi! Welcome back. We weren't expecting you both so Uh, soon." She smiles.

"What is going on with you guys?" Hange is perplexed. 3 'oh shits' in a row? Somethings up.

"Nothing! Nothing at all."

"So you want to play that game. Riddle me this, why is Ina sleeping in the infirmary?" Levi crosses his arms.

Of course they're back ten seconds and something is already awry.

Krista laughs. "Well there's a perfectly logical explanation for that of course."

"I wanted to!"

Ina pipes up and jumps to the ground. She rubs her arms as though cold, and everyone can see the shudder that stops her in her tracks for a moment. Krista rushes to grab a blanket and places it around Ina's shoulders.

"What's all this? Ina are you sick? You guys got her sick?" Hange kneels to feel Ina's temperature.

"What? No! Of course not! When Armin and Mikasa caught the flu we quarantined them. Ina hasn't seen them in days! I check her temperature twice a day." At least krista didn't have to lie about that.

"This still begs the question, why were you in the infirmary?" Hange still wants to give them the benefit of the doubt. The opportunity to come forward and confess whatever they messed up. But they don't seem to be taking that bait.

"It was- because I had another nightmare." Ina pouts and pulls the blanket tighter around herself.

"Big brother kept me safe."

Levi looks Krista dead in her eye. "Is that what happened?"

"You heard her." Krista can't help the smugness in her tone. It's almost a reflex when dealing with the Captain. She should know better than to celebrate before knowing they were in the clear.

"So, Papa! How was the honeydew?" Ina draws levis attention away from Krista.

The newlyweds burst out laughing. Both of them. Ina May have heard Levi laugh before but Krista has not. She is scared as shit right about now. She uses the moment wisely and backs out of the room. Then becomes the third scout to flee the infirmary.

"What? What did I say?!" Ina goes red as an apple.

Hange just pulls Ina into another hug. "I missed your cuteness so much!"

"What did I say?!"

"Ina, it's honeymoon." Levi corrects her.

"Honey... Isn't that what I said?"

Hange pinches Ina's cheeks. "No you little cupcake. That's a fruit. It's not sweeter than you! I could just squish you right now."

"Ugh, just tell me how the damn trip was?" Ina groans.

"Stop all that goddamn cursing!" Levi can't act like he's taking this moment seriously. Because he's not.

"You know what, you guys should take another month. Bye bye!" Ina waves and walks away.

"Oh no you don't!" Hange and Levi don't let Ina get far.

"Ina covered for us. Nobody mention it. Just leave it in the past." Krista meets up with her fellow 104th class comrades. "Sasha I swear to god if you melt down and rat us out I'll feed you to the next Titan we see!"

Sasha goes on the defensive. "I'm fine! I'll be fine! I think I'm done freaking out. Honestly."

"You better be! You're going to have to explain that goddamn mess you left in the infirmary!" Krista points to the door.

"Oh shit!" The wide eyed brunette facepalms.

"Somebody come with me." She begs.

Jean starts to berate Sasha. "I don't know what the fuck you think this is! Go on, dammit! It's your mess, clean it up!"

The others readily agree with him.

"Fuck my life…" Sasha just whines and starts the lonely, terrifying journey back to the infirmary with cleaning supplies.

Sasha enters the infirmary to find Levi and Hange smiling at Ina as she twirls around in what must be a new dress. It's navy blue, patterned with sunflowers and it's so. Fucking. Adorable.

"Aw, peanut look at you!" Sasha smiles.

"Look what they got me!" Ina beams. "Sunflowers!" She sounds so excited.

"Brat, I hope you're here to clean up this goddamn mess." Levi reminds Sasha why she ventured back here in the first place.

"Oh, Uh, Yes Sir. That's exactly why I'm here." Sasha sets the cleaning supplies down and dons a pair of rubber gloves before kneeling next to her huge mess.

"I'll help you, sissy."

Sasha doesn't let Ina get within ten feet of the mess. "No, no, peanut I don't want you ruining your dress. I got this."

"Here Ina." Hange hands Ina a gift bag. "Try this one on next."

Ina takes the bag and smiles before running off to the bathroom. Levi and Hange plan to use this time effectively.

"So, Sasha…" Hange starts.

The brunette drops her head. "Yes, squad leader?" She just focuses on cleaning up the mess.

"Why exactly is the 104th avoiding us?"

"What? Avoiding you? No we're not."

Levi scoffs. "Three of you saw us and took off running. And you ran away screaming bloody fucking murder."

Her stomach bubbles and churns. "Oh, ya know. It's just… ya know." Sasha hates secrets. They tear her stomach to shreds.

"No, we don't know. You better fucking tell us what you did." Levi threatens.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sasha gathers the pieces of a broken bowl with shaking hands.

Hange is hella curious. "You're a terrible liar, Sasha."

Ina steps out of the bathroom in her bright red dress. "What do you guys think?"

Hange cheers and runs to Ina. "Ah! It's perfect!"

"This one's really comfy." Ina loves how soft and stretchy the material is. "I like the belt too." Ina feels the black band around her waist. It's not so tight she can't breathe. The little bit of black makes the dress feel complete.

"We're going to have to kill so many boys, Levi." Hange says, while Levi nods along. Looking at Ina with a grin.

"What?!" Ina stops short.

Hange plays with the end of Ina's braid. "Gorgeous as you are? Hell yeah, you're going to have boys lining up to meet you one day, pumpkin."

"Why would boys line up? What for?" Ina still doesn't follow.

"Because you're so pretty!"

Ina laughs. "Ha! Yeah right!"

"Exsqueeze me?" Sasha throws her towel down at Ina's reaction. "What's so funny about you being pretty?"

"Just that! I'm not pretty. I'm just a potato!" Ina could fall on the floor she's laughing so hard. But she won't because this dress is too nice to ruin.

"Now wait a- wait just a goddamn minute! I'll be right back." Sasha pulls her gloves off and storms out of the infirmary.

Ina is still laughing.

"What's with her?" She says after her laughing fit subsides.

Hange folds her arms. She's taken a little aback by Ina's reaction. It doesn't seem to fit. Doesn't sound right in her own ears.

"Ina, what's this about you not being pretty?"

Ina shrugs. "I'm just not. But that isn't a bad thing."

"What are you talking about?! You're fucking beautiful!"

"Mama, relax!"

"I will not! No daughter of mine is going to be walking around thinking she's a potato."

Levi just observes. Maybe this is something that needs a mother's intuition. He's had this talk with Ina before and clearly it didn't help. So he'll let Hange do most of the talking.

"There's nothing wrong with being plain, mama." Ina plays with the stretchy fabric of her dress. She doesn't understand why they're getting so worked up over this. What's the big deal?

"No, there isn't, but hell if you're plain. Ina you're a solid ten out of ten! What are you speaking?"

Ina appears to space out for a moment. "Ten out of… what is that?"

"It means you're gorgeous as fuck!"

"Mama, I can feel your blood pressure going up from here."

Hange groans and massages her temples. "You are so infuriating…" She didn't realize it was possible to be patronized by a nine year old.

Ina wishes that Mama wouldn't get so worked up. At least not about something as silly as how she looks. If Ina cared about her appearance, she'd say as much.

"I mean, I don't think I'm ugly." Ina can do nothing but shrug. "But I don't think I'm pretty either. Its not like I feel bad about it."

"That's bullshit." Levi comments.

"Ina, ever heard the phrase, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder?"

"No…"

"It basically means shut up! We're not blowing smoke up your ass to make you feel better. We genuinely find you beautiful. Why don't you believe us?"

Connie storms into the room, the rest of the 104th file in behind him and shut the door. "What's this craziness about Ina calling herself a potato?!"

Even Armin and Mikasa have broken their quarantine, thankfully they thought to wear masks.

"Why is this such a big deal you guys?" Ina leans on the wall behind her.

This was funny at first. Now it's just uncomfortable. It's a lot of attention. They're forcing her to keep talking when she has no desire to continue with this topic.

"I beg your damn pardon?!" Eren exclaims.

"Ina." Krista steps forward. "Why do you think so little of yourself?"

"I don't! I think I'm awesome, but I'm not pretty! It doesn't bother me."

"It bothers us!" Sasha yells.

Ina starts to yell at all the people ganging up on her. "Why?! Why can't you guys just leave it alone?!"

"Because, you stubborn brat, that's a lie." Levi doesn't raise his voice like the others do. But his words reach her. All of their words reach her.

"I'm done talking about this."

Ina tries to plan an escape in her head. Brothers and sisters are blocking the door. The infirmary bathroom doesn't lock, plus there's no way out from there. They're on the second floor, so the window is out. Unless she could make the jump to the tree. She'd have to get to the window. Ina thinks she can make it, but Papa is here. He's the only person who can outrun her. She's stuck.

"I'm done. Just leave it alone, please." She can't look any of them in the eye. Can't fight her heart pounding damn near out of her chest.

"Ina," Armin gets her attention. "What's going on? Why are you acting like this?" His words are slightly muffled behind his mask.

"I'm not acting any kind of way. You guys won't shut up!"

"How could we be quiet when someone we love feels this way?!" Eren retorts.

Ina keeps her head down. Dammit, her face is getting warm and she feels an uncomfortable pressure behind her eyes. Stop it! Stop it!

"I'm done."

"Come on, peanut." Now it's Connie's turn. "We're not saying all this to make ourselves feel better. Why do you think I call you pretty? For fun?"

No answer. Go away! Stop it!

"Who told you this? Where did that come from?" Mikasa asks.

"Leave me alone." She's really done talking about this.

"We can't do that, honeybun." Hange walks over to Ina and sits next to her.

"I'm done." Ina repeats. "Leave me alone."

"Ina, why does being pretty upset you?" Jean figures it out. "What's wrong with being beautiful?"

"Stop it!" Ina shouts. They've struck a nerve.

"Answer his question." Hange orders.

"No!"

"Ina-"

"No! No!"

"What were their numbers?!" Armin blurts out. Nobody has a clue what the hell he's talking about. But they notice Ina's reaction.

"You know what I mean. Now tell me. What were their numbers?"

Ina looks up at big brother with burning resentment. She hates that he's so smart. That he's the only person who knows how she identifies MPs.

"One… One used to say… 'You're lucky you have a pretty face, otherwise I wouldn't bother…" Ina slides to the floor, keeping her head down.

"14 would always tell me… what a beautiful body I had, right before he crushed me with his."

Hange covers her mouth. "Ina you don't have-"

"You asked. Now let me finish!" Ina explodes and continues.

"7… well, 7 used to torture me… the others said she was jealous. Because even as a kid, I still had all eyes on my pretty face."

"19… said out of all the women in his life, I was the most… I think the word he used was 'exquisite'. And then he shoved a broom handle in my bottom."

Levi can't breathe. "Ina please-"

"Shut up and listen!" Ina has never sounded so angry.

"45… whispered in my ear that I was perfect. Absolute perfection…."

Ina goes on and on. Recalling all the twisted compliments she received time and time again.

"I'm not pretty. I'm not. I don't want to be. Ever. It's because I was pretty, 18 put himself inside my mouth. Because I was beautiful, 32 used to stick his fingers in me. Because I was perfect, 45 raped me. He… forced himself inside me… and every time I screamed and cried, he said it was amazing. Stunning. Mind blowing."

Thinking about the poison that monster whispered in her ear makes Ina's heart shrivel up a raisin. Makes her feel things that she buried a long time ago. They should have just let it go. Leave it to a bunch of idiot soldiers to always need to get to the bottom of things. They should have let this die.

"I'm… I don't want to be pretty. I don't want to be hurt again. No more fingers, or broken things, or body parts inside of me. No more hands touching me. I can't. I just can't. And you know what?" She looks every Scout in the eye. Except for papa, who's looking away from her. His hands over his ears.

"None of this was any of your fucking business!"

Ina jumps to her feet and makes her way to the door. Brothers and sisters let her pass without any fuss.

The room is silent for a long time.

"Levi, look at me." Hange sits next to him and places a gentle hand on his wrist. Trying to urge him to move his hands from his ears.

"Is it over?" He sobs. "Is she done?"

"It's over. She left. Levi I promise you, it's over."

His hands are trembling beyond belief when he moves them from his ears.

"My baby… my baby!" Levi leans forward, trying but failing to catch his breath.

Eren starts to push his friends toward the door "Guys, let's give them-"

"Don't you fucking move." Hange orders. The scouts stay put.

Levi continues his erratic sobbing. He should have known better. He should have stood up for her. He shouldn't have let them back her into a corner like this.

"What did we just do?!"

This is what I meant about this chapter being a little heavy, especially considering how lighthearted and low stakes the last one was. I don't like hurting my baby Ina, or Levi for that matter, but this is just how the story developed as I wrote it. Ina is more than an abuse victim but that abuse is still very much a part of her. This upsetting encounter is proof that even the people that love Ina aren't always the most aware of her triggers and subjects that are off limits for her.

Two more chapters after this! See y'all tomorrow!