Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki No Kyojin / Attack On Titan nor its characters.

"Mama… Mama… Did she die because of me?"

Eren stood there, silent, his eyes widened—emerald orbs which stared at her in fright.

What… was he to say now? He couldn't run, he couldn't hide. He was cornered. Even if he dodged the question or lie, the look that she had in her eyes, was enough proof that she would know, she could see the insides of him, as if he were transparent. Lying would be of no use, the same with avoiding.

His avoidance to the topic of her mother had all led to this moment… and he should've known, expected and brace this grave consequence. Everything he had done or had said to her resulted in this torturous moment that caused the brunette's breath to grow shaky. He had never told his daughter about her mother, or rather, who she was. Not a single thing. Thinking about it now, it was as if she had never existed in this household in the first place. Never having mentioned Mikasa directly, it seemed like she had ceased to exist. At least, in Sachiko's eyes.

Armin had told him once, majority of children were filled with questions that they couldn't help but ask continuously, and that such curiosity couldn't really be contained, well, not for too long. In some cases, Sachiko was like that, curious and full of questions. But, never had she once questioned about her mother. Well, at least not that often or too directly. She had grown so adapted to just living with her father alone, she never felt strange to have one parent. That was until, her emerald orbs began to look at things more observantly, to see things that she wished she had never noticed in the first place.

She was so young, too young. And yet, she noticed things. She took notice of her friends having a pair of parents, she took notice that almost every family in the park that Eren and her would stroll along, had a complete pair of parents. But it wasn't just that. Even cartoons, often displayed two parents, along with their kid. At first, she was confused, and in denial that she was different from others, in that sense.

And on her first day in kindergarten, the teacher had told the story of a family, consisting of a father, mother and daughter, all of which, had a strong bond. That story made her feel incomplete for a brief moment, but she had shook it off. She often heard the word, 'mother' in her surroundings. She more or less knew what it meant, but she didn't understand it. What was it like to have one, exactly? That was something she never dared ask, something inside her told her not to. And when she finally spoke that she had no mother, and receive those looks from her classmates, her friends, she finally knew what that 'something inside her' was. It was fear of the unknown, fear of judgement.

Just because of such a slight difference, everyone began to look at her differently. Sure, she was different in the sense that she lacked of one parent. But, was she so different that everyone had to look at her as if she were an outcast? An alien? She spoke the same language as them. She was a student, like them. She was human, like them. So why did she receive a look like that from everyone?

So, ever since that story her teacher then had told about that particular family, she had completely looked at things differently. She recalled swinging at the swings with her father who was pushing her. And at the sight of a particular family, which had a mother, she couldn't help but think of that story, which led to her feeling so… weird, a sense of feeling incomplete, if that made any sense. She couldn't describe the feeling clearly, but if anything, she felt like a puzzle missing a piece. At the same time, she felt a small emptiness slowly swallowing her up.

And now, that emptiness was close to devouring her whole.

"It's because of me… isn't it?" Sachiko repeated, her tone sullen as she gripped tightly onto her sleeves, her hand shaking.

There was really, really nowhere to hide anymore. All of Eren's choices, words and actions had led to this moment. If only he could turn back time, he would definitely make things different. But even so, he felt that the cruel twisted ways of fate would bring him to this moment anyway. Unable to utter a word, Sachiko continued, "That's why you… always have that look whenever you look at me… whether I'm crying… or smiling… you have that look. And when I'm crying especially… that look of pain becomes so much worse. Is it… because…. I look like Mama…?" Sachiko muttered ever so softly, more tears raining down. It wasn't just the rainstorm outside that sent Eren the chills.

Suddenly, angered at Eren's prolonged silence, Sachiko scrambled to pick up a photo of Mikasa when she was a kid. Holding it up, she pointed to Mikasa's face, and with an infuriated tone, she screeched, "Isn't that right?! That's Mama, isn't it?"

The tone of frustration that was clear in Sachiko's tone, had sent more chills down the brunette's spine. He had always known she had been different from most children, being rather mature as compared to many, many other six year olds, she was sharp as well. Too, too sharp. He never really thought anything of it, having assumed she had inherited such things from her mother, even though she didn't really have much influence in her life. After all, her mother had never been there, she was dead. But now, he wished he had thought more of it, then maybe he wouldn't find himself in such a situation.

He had never heard his daughter yell in such a tone at him. He wasn't mad at her for doing so, he deserved it.

"It wasn't… your fault, Sachiko…" Eren finally voiced quietly, his head bent down now, unable to even face his daughter. Unable to continue his words, Sachiko continued with her raging comments and questions.

"Then who's at fault?! I…I heard the teachers said she died! And… this photo album has no…no pictures of her when she had given birth to me! What other reason is there?!" She shouted, her hand crushing the paper a little subconsciously. She was a sharp and smart child, who observed too much, just too much. And now, she knew too much, she just didn't understand it, due to the brunette's prolonged silence, his lack of explanation.

Her words were like arrows shooting Eren from everywhere unexpected. "Sachiko… Y-You s-see—"

"Did Mama just left us because she hates us?! Because she doesn't want to see us?!" She accused suddenly, "So she walked out and… and died running away! Is that what she meant?!" Sachiko spoke, unable to think clearly. "Then it was her fault! Her fault she's no longer here!"

Her words now stung the brunette. Looking up, he noticed the rage, confusion and pain she held in her eyes. In that way, she was similar to the brunette—when angered, thinking clearly was hard, it was as if everything clear in mind had been fogged up. But when she accused Mikasa's death being her fault, Eren felt a little tinge of anger at such an accusation. But he felt he had no right to have such emotion towards Sachiko, when it was he, who had caused this entire shitty situation.

"Sachiko… it wasn't her fault. You… s-see… Your mother… she—"

"She left! She left us, Papa! And now we're a broken family… Because of her!"

Truly, Sachiko was no longer thinking straight. Even if she were more mature as compared to the other kids, she was a still just a child, who didn't deserve this sadness that she currently wore. Her accusations that she made, were things said due to the tensed situation. She didn't mean it though, Eren knew, yet he couldn't help but feel a little mad at the thought that, his own daughter would accuse her mother, who had sacrificed everything for her, of such things. Then again, she didn't know anything about her mother, so what was there to blame of her?

Sachiko had felt self-hatred, at the theory that she, herself, caused this broken family, she caused her death. But when Eren's silence continued, her mind wandered off, to other accusations that probably didn't make the slightest of sense. That's when she accused of her mother purposely leaving them for no reason other than her mother's own supposedly selfish hatred for them. She was just in denial, she didn't want to believe the person whom she had always secretly longed to see had died because of her. Even so, such accusations were just…

Just before Eren could respond with words that he would stutter out, Sachiko spoke words that seemed to have triggered something inside of Eren. Words that hurt.

"I hate Mama, then! I hate her… she left us alone… this… this is all her fault! Everything… everything was her fau —"

"SACHIKO! ENOUGH!" Eren yelled at her suddenly, causing the little girl's lips to zip up. To hear his own daughter, that Mikasa sacrificed her life for, say such things, had hurt the brunette deeply. And it triggered the suppressed anger, frustrations and all sorts of emotions in him to rise. He wasn't angered at her, rather than an angry outburst, it was just an emotional outburst for the brunette. He had hid himself for so long, and now, everything bottled and hidden was slipping out.

Bad habits of his began to rise, about to erupt. Bad habits that Eren thought he rid himself of, but instead they had laid secretly inside him, waiting to burst ever since that tragic day. His bad habit of saying things, reckless things that he never meant, that he always regretted saying.

And when it had erupt, he had said words that broke Sachiko completely.

"She died giving birth to you! Don't ever say such things about her! Do you know how... how much she loved you?! You could never understa—"

Pausing at his words, in realization of what he had said, he immediately slapped his mouth shut. Looking up at Sachiko, he saw her expression, without having to tell, he knew her heart had just shattered, he could hear it, despite there being a long silence that filled the room, along with tension.

"Sachiko... I...—" his tone was softer now, full of regret. He shouldn't had shouted at her like that… so why? But even before he could complete his sentence, the six year old had taken a step back. She was scared. And that was something Eren never ever wanted her to feel, not around him… and yet…

"Sachiko… wait. I-I didn't mean to raise my voice like that..." Eren called out as he took a step closer to her, but that only made her take two more steps back. Eren had never raised his voice with her, and now that he had, now that she had seen him angered, she was afraid.

"Sachiko…" Eren called out again, reaching his hand out, about to pull her into an embrace, until she turned her body, and ran out in silence as tears continued streaming down her face.

He watched her run off, before collapsing onto the ground onto his knees. He felt so numb, so weak now. 'Why… did I do that?' Eren questioned quietly before punching the floor. It had hurt his fist, but he was too numb to feel such 'trivial' pain like that. It wasn't as painful as compared to what had hurt inside him.

He had done it this time. The expression Sachiko made was anything but happy, obvious enough. Mikasa had wanted a happy life for her… and as of now that seemed impossible.

'Why did I yell at her like that... why... why am I so fucking stupid?!' Eren cursed, as he looked up into the reflection of his mirror. He was crying, he didn't know when these tears had slipped out, but he had only realised them now.

It wasn't her fault, Eren knew. But to hear such false accusations… about Mikasa, had stirred something uneasy inside of him. For years, he bottled up many emotions, his tears, his rage… everything. And out of all times, he lashed out at his daughter like that, letting all of them out. He had never hated himself so damn much.

It wasn't her fault for making accusations when she had been the one who was kept in the dark, about everything.

Eren resented his bad habit that rose up to the surface again, instead of relief, he felt worse after shouting like that, even though the bottle contained less emotions from the past, it was slowly filling up with the misery he currently felt, the regret, the guilt, everything.

'I hate Mama, then.' Sachiko had said. Something about those words just… stirred up something in the brunette. How could she hate her? How? Why? Those were the questions that circled Eren's foggy mind.

But now, he could see why she said that. After all, she knew, that Mikasa's absence was a reason for the brunette's sorrow that couldn't be hidden any longer. She didn't really liked anything sorrowful, was that why she had always been so optimistic? Was that why she always bottled her curiosity about her?

All in all, this wasn't Sachiko's fault in the least. This was something, something Eren knew that was his fault entirely. Now, he just had to resolve it… he had to.

He didn't want to lose his daughter.

"Mikasa… I'm sorry for yelling at her… I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just… I didn't know what came over me…. If only I... I had been more open… If I didn't bottle things up… if I hadn't hide… if I hadn't put on a façade then maybe—"

Before Eren could complete his sentence, a certain sound had caught his attention that now concerned him. The sound of a door creaking open, and the sound didn't seem to be coming from the left where Sachiko's room was. And then, after a few seconds pondering in silence, he could oddly hear the rainwater and gusts of wind echoing from downstairs. Those sounds gave him a bad feeling, a terrible one.

"Sachiko…?" He murmured as he sprinted out of his room, to see Sachiko's room door open. She wasn't inside. "Sachiko?!" Eren shouted for her, worry and anxiousness rising as he ran downstairs, and to his immediate shock that now paralyzed him with fear, the main door was open. And Sachiko's shoes weren't there.

Without a word, without anymore hesitance, Eren dashed out barefooted, in search of his daughter.

"Sachiko!" He called out each and every step of the way, only to receive silence as his response.

Author's Notes: I hope this was okay :/ I wanted to convey Eren's inner emotions that he had bottled up and had never really spoke of them, and in result, his bad habits of impulsiveness and doing or saying things without thinking twice came out. I also wanted to display Sachiko's frustrations (about being kept in the dark about her mother) which also resulted in her saying things she didn't mean, like those accusations. (In a way, similar to Eren)

Well, I hope this chapter was okay. Please leave a review! I would love to hear your thoughts about this chapter!