"What?" Eren asked her. "A titan?"

She nodded.

"She... I can't explain it. But I can feel the essence of a titan when I'm close to her."

Eren looked down at her in disbelief.

"Annie can't be a titan," he told her. "You're probably just imagining it."

"No!" Carla insisted. "I know what I'm talking about!"

"How?" Eren demanded. "How can you know this?"

"I can sense them!" she said.

"Sense them how?" his voice grew angry.

"I just can!" Carla replied. "I know I-"

"That's what you say about everything," Eren interrupted her. " 'I just know I do.' But do you really? Maybe you think you know, but you don't, Carla! You don't even know where you came from!"

Her eyes became teary.

"... I-I," she said, her voice shaking. "I..."

She began to cry.

A wave of realization and guilt washed over Eren. He just made his daughter cry.

"Carla, I'm sorry," he tried to say, but she ran away from him.

He chased after her.

"Carla! Come back!" Eren shouted, but she continued to run across the field.

Carla ran to the edge of the training field, where Mikasa was.

Mikasa immediately ran to Carla and stopped her by blocking her path and grabbing her.

"Carla, what's going o-" she began to say.

The girl hugged her mother and began to sob, crying into her scarf.

Eren caught up to her, panting heavily.

Mikasa looked at him.

"What happened?" she asked. Seeing the guilty look on his face, she frowned slightly. "What did you do?"

"I... I went too far," he said.

Eren walked up to Carla and touched her shoulder. She slightly flinched away but Eren spun her around. Her eyes were puffy and a bit red but otherwise she looked normal.

"Carla, I'm sorry," Eren said to her, his green eyes staring into her identical ones. "I just got worked up. Will you please forgive me?"

She nodded and hugged him. He hugged her back, and he suddenly felt even more guilty. How did Mikasa feel if he did this to her constantly?

"Let's go eat," he told her, holding her hand.

"Okay," she said quietly.

Graduation Ceremony Party (Note: In this story Krista was ranked 11th :p)

"Congrats on ranking 6th," Eren said to Carla.

She smiled.

"Thank you," she let out quietly, hiding behind Mikasa's sleeve from the people surrounding them.

Jean watched them from a nearby table.

"Damn," he grumbled. "I can't believe Eren placed above me, let alone Carla."

Carla looked down at her feet while her parents talked, blotting out the words.

She tuned back in when Eren began to shout.

"-then the lives of those who died in the Survey Corps will be for nothing!" he said angrily before storming out.

At first no one moved, but Carla rushed forward to follow him, Mikasa and Armin coming soon after.

"Daddy!" she called out when they were outside.

Eren wiped his eyes as she sat next to him.

"Eren, about what you said there," Armin began.

"Yeah," Eren responded, drying his eyes. "I got that from you. To live outside the walls, not inside."

Silence followed for a while.

"I'm joining the Survey Corps," Armin said decisively.

"Huh? Armin, you got the highest written test score!" Eren told him.

"I won't hold you back, even if it kills me," he replied.

After a few seconds Mikasa spoke.

"I'm joining the Survey Corps, too," she said.

"You too?" Eren asked her. "You ranked first, so you should join the Military Police."

She looked at him.

"If you join the Garrison, then I'll join the Garrison too," she looked down. "If you join the Military Police, then I'll do that. You'll send yourself to an early death without me."

A look of annoyance found its way onto Eren's features.

"You don't have to do this, you know," he grumbled.

"I don't want to lose any more family," Mikasa said, as if saying it aloud to herself.

Eren and Mikasa looked to Carla, who was surprisingly silent.

The girl looked down at her feet.

"I'll join the Survey Corps, too, then," she said.

"Carla, you'd be more safe with the Military Police," Mikasa told her.

"I joined the Trainee Corps late," Carla responded. "I'm only thirteen. I doubt I'd get much acceptance there. And besides, I want to stay with you."

"But in the Survey Corps-" Mikasa tried to say before she was interrupted.

"I know," her daughter said. "I might die there. But even so, I'm still going to join."

"Are you sure you want this?" Eren asked her, looking her straight in the eye.

"I'm sure," she replied immediately.

They all looked up at the night sky to see the stars shining brightly, illuminating the darkness around them.

Timeskip to Battle of Trost (Carla is with Mikasa during the breach)

"Please... Don't die."

Eren brushed her off harshly.

"Mommy, you should go now," Carla said to her after Eren left.

Mikasa looked down at her.

"Carla, don't die, please," she told her, almost in a begging manner.

The girl hugged Mikasa, who returned it.

"I won't die as long as I have you and Daddy."

Mikasa kissed her on the cheek.

"I won't die, then," Mikasa said. "I'm not going to lose any more family."

Mikasa left to go to the rearguard while Carla went to join up with Connie's group.

"You're Carla, right?" Connie asked her.

She nodded.

He looked like he was about to ask more questions but decided not to.

"C'mon," he said to her. "Let's go."

Ymir, Krista, Connie, and Carla were running along the rooftops when they spotted Armin unconscious on the roof.

Connie jumped down.

"Armin!" he said, shaking his shoulders. "Armin! Hey, wake up!"

The blonde boy woke up, his blue eyes wide in alert.

"It's not safe here," Connie said to him. "We should go. And, what's this weird slime on you?"

Carla landed a few feet from them to see Armin screaming.

"Stupid! You stupid idiot! Die!"

"Uncle Armin!" Carla said, walking up to him. "What's wrong?"

He looked up at her as if in fear.

Her green eyes darted around.

"Where's my dad? And everyone else?"

How do I tell her? How do I tell her that.. that Eren died because of me?