| New Purpose | Erwin Smith fanfic |

Erwin's POV

-Three days later-

It's been three days since I first brought F/n into my care, she still hasn't spoken of the accident or herself. Although, she's familiarised herself with the blueprints of HQ.
The week had gone by fairly quick, I would have assumed that children were loud and messy, running around and shouting at the top of their lungs. However, F/n on the other hand is almost invisible, barely a sound comes out of her. Whenever Hanji or Nanaba offers to take her out for awhile to allow me some silence or in Hanji's case; to experiment. I deny leaving them always surprised, including F/n.

Its only now that I realize how boring it must be for her. Sat around in my office all day, I've only ever seen her drawing in a book which contains her forbidden pages she refuses to show me, and that's about it. A child her age would probably be out, playing outside with friends, not exactly sat with a Survey Corps Officer. I want things to seem normal for her, obviously it wont be her normal but something close as possible to it. "F/n?" I asked, turning to the side of the room where she was sat on the windowsill, her head peaked over her knees which were now tucked under her chin

"Yes, sir?" she replied politely. No matter how many times I've reminded her of my name, she still insists on keeping courtesy, truthfully, its like having a mini cadet with me at all times.

"Do you know how to play chess?" reaching behind to the bookshelf where an oak and birch checker-slab which had most likely been tucked away in there, After I sold the house me and M/n lived in... Moving permanently to HQ. "Here," I placed the board on the center of the desk, inviting her to sit opposite me.

"I'm not sure how to play..."She hopped of the windowsill and perched herself on the edge of the chair. "sorry,"

"Don't worry, I'll show you." I encouraged with a smile, pouring the chess pieces onto the game board, setting up the pawns, knights, bishops, castles... F/n was sat listening to my demonstrations, her arctic eyes were glimmering taking in all of the information. "...and this is the king. The most important character on the board. Yet, It's probably the most useless figure." I laughed "So basically it's a bit like reality." I chuckled, looking away from the wooden carving and towards my opponent.

"Can we play a game...?" she stuttered, placing her hands in her lap "We don't have to! If you're busy still..." she added on to the end quickly.

"Sure, uh, do you understand the rules? or should I explain them again?" I asked, re-adjusting how I sat.

"It's fine, I can remember."

(time skip)

"Here, take this pawn..." murmuring under my breath. Turns out, F/n struggled with each figures space movements, and so, I started guiding her where to go. I was stood behind the chair where she was sat at, my hands resting on the backside of the stool, directing her pieces.

"Thank you." her voice chirped as she removed the single character from it's square "D-do I win?" Her eyes lit up innocently, I glanced back at the game board only four figures had moved and two had been removed, everything else remained in the same positions.

I chuckled "Yeah, I suppose." I picked up the chess board, placing the pieces back into the bookshelf. "It's a difficult game, with a bit more practice I'm sure you'll be excellent." turning back to her. she nodded with a smile, noticing a movement outside the window.

"The Finch is back-!" F/n gasped eagerly, gazing towards the window. A small multi-tan bird sat on a branch peeking into the room again, i smirked.

"Uh, no... this one is different, it's a Dunnock."

"Dunnock? if they all look the same why don't they have the same names?"

"Well, there's minor differences such as the beak and body structure..." pausing for a moment, coming up with more examples "When there's, lets say identical triplets, they all look the same but they're given different names. right?"

"Yeah but you can tell they're different by how they act or talk."

"Exactly, they're all different in one way or another, get it?"

"Oh... " she looked down at the floor, fiddling with the pawn she had won. "Yeah, that's a clever way of putting it I suppose." She looked back up beaming with a smile for the first time, her whole face radiated of a soft glow her eyes even sparkled complimenting the light from outside. I released a grin too, finally happy to see her happy, well until it lasted...

A sharp knock was heard at the door. F/n's eyes darted to the sound, her posture shook uneasily.

"I'll get it." I said, walking from the desk, reaching for the door's handle.