"No."

A sudden weight presented itself within Annie's chest causing her heart to slip further and further. The man sitting before her was Mikasa's father, his eyebrows furrowed and his arms crossed over his chest. He seemed to know how much his word affected her by the look in his eye as he glanced away hoping to clear his conscience. The living room was filled with an atmosphere so tense that it could be sliced with a knife. Annie couldn't practically feel herself breathing, she was so shocked and in the same breath - she was so sad and scared. Scared. She wasn't scared of this man, she could have easily taken him in a fight but she was scared of the woman next to her. Glancing over, she could see Mikasa in the corner of her eyes staring with that same stoic expression that she wore when they first met.

Mikasa's hair had grown longer since then and she refused to cut it even when Annie teased her about Eren hating it. Mikasa had told her that it didn't matter because she knew that Annie liked her hair long. Mikasa cared what Annie thought. Those few words shook Annie's entire core. Mikasa had let her in. A world that was only meant for her, Eren, and Armin. A world that was untouchable to anyone else and she was allowed to enter it. She didn't know if that made her heart beat stop or increase at the same time. But now when they were going to take the next step in their relationship, there was one obstacle standing in the way and it was the man sitting before them.

"I'm sorry, Mikasa, Annie. I know that the two of you have a - relationship, but the world isn't a very accepting one and I don't want either of you to get hurt. So no, I-I just can't accept this."

Annie could see Mikasa's mother looking from the kitchen. The woman's eyebrows were furrowed and her eyes held a familiar heat that reminded Annie of Mikasa's fury although her mother's was more like a wildfire while Mikasa's was a city being burnt to the ground. The woman was grasping a knife firmly in hand and although it was a butter knife, she was sure that Mikasa's mother would find a way to use it to kill. However, the woman hadn't said a thing possibly because she agreed with her husband or that she was waiting for something. Anything to make this situation better than it was currently.

"It doesn't matter if you don't accept it," Mikasa admitted before standing to her feet.

That was it. The tense atmosphere had finally been sliced in two and Mikasa's father looked up at her with a look of astonishment mixed with sadness. His daughter gazed down at him with an unfamiliarity and disappointment grazing the grey irises. She reached out for Annie's hand and laced their fingers together all the while keeping eye contact with Annie.

"No one else needs to be apart of what Annie and I have. If no one else can accept it, if they want to ridicule us, hurt us for it then we'll tear them down one by one. We aren't alone. We'll never be alone. We have one another."

Annie's grip on Mikasa's hand tightened as she stared up at her noting the glow that seemed to be encircling her form.

"Annie and I will make our own little world together. She and I against this world."

Mikasa's mother smiled and her father looked down before shutting his eyes. A smile cracked and Annie couldn't help but stare in awe at Mikasa. The girl looked back and spared her a smile before Annie made a 'tch' sound and looked away, a pale pink hue passing over her cheeks - slightly irritated that she was caught staring. However, she was happy after she and Mikasa left. She didn't mind that they hadn't said a word to each other on the drive home or even when they were inside but once they were safely tucked in their bed simply staring at one another, she knew that she was completely estatic.

This was it.

A World for Me and You.