The whole world was her enemy now, she supposed. At least the whole world save her father, Reiner, and Bertholdt, and she didn't even know if any of them were still alive.

All she had was the crystal.

Yet for all the curse it was, it was so much better to have that wall between her and the outside world. From what little she had learned of Hanjii, she had hypothesized that the scientist surely would have dissected her like an animal were Annie not shielded. That was not even the worse that could possibly happen - there were some who would beat her in the dark streets, let blood spill from her skin until she was nothing but a pile of flesh in a red pool. Others would hang her, tying the noose so hard that it might take her neck and lower body apart. Others would take her head off, and people would cheer as a shining blade was brought down on her neck.

She imagined those scenarios sometimes. As morbid as it was, it was one of the better ways to pass time.

Sometimes Mikasa stood at the front, a line of soldiers sandwiching her on both sides. Their eyes would meet - blue to a cold, unreadable grey. Both mouths would be set in firm lines.

Other times, Mikasa was at the very back, a speck only recognizable by the bright red scarf ever tied around her neck. She would be a blob, a pile of colors, but her stare would always be harder than that of anyone else in the crowd.

The worst times were when Mikasa was the one who raised the axe, or the one tying the noose around Annie's pale neck. Her images of Mikasa pushing her to the ground and trying to crush her like a bug were both nightmares and possibilities.

Annie had seen that cold look in Mikasa's eyes many times before. She had people who depended on her and needed her, and she would do anything to keep them safe.

The whole world was her enemy, yes.

Sometimes it just felt like she was only fighting one.

Armin moved around the district easily. The stack of bills in her friend's hand dwindled, and never once was a single piece of paper used for either his or Mikasa's personal needs. Her friend had a way of charming the elite, and genuinely comforting those in need. Had his older self seen him, then he surely would have been amazed at who he would become.

Some they saw looked poor, and not too different from those that Mikasa and her friends had grown up beside. The adults had sad, hollow eyes and wrinkled faces - most of their lips were set in either frowns or looks of shock. Though word surely must have spread around by now that the walls were made of Titans, it still must have been a shock.

Mikasa had known it for some time, and it still brought a chill to her spine and sent harsh memories flooding her mind.

All that time, walls had been falling - Titans destroyed by Titans. Titans had been what had been protecting them from Titans.

Titans, Titans, Titans.

(Titans were what she saw when she closed her eyes. Thousands flashed before her eyes, but the scariest was the one who had sat beside her at meals and fought with her during hand to hand combat training.)

Maybe that was how humans had first felt when the Titans had first attacked. Perhaps they had looked to the future with hopes in their eyes, and went to bed dreaming of a supposedly brighter tomorrow.

That future hadn't been reached yet.

What brought her comfort was the grey, cloudy skies. It looked as if it could rain at any time. Though it surely wouldn't wash away the district of its fears and pains, at least it would clean the streets. Besides, rain certainly wasn't Titan weather.

Finally, the last bill was gone, and the two were alone.

"Are we turning back now?" Mikasa asked. It wasn't all the walking that had drained her that day, but dealing with the people. Most idolized her, looking at her as if she and Armin had the answer to everything. Looking over to her friend, she noticed that his own eyes were hollow, and his arms and legs slacked. He had been the one who had done most of the talking.

Armin nodded. "I don't think that there's anything else that we can do here. Hanjii will be pleased to see us again."

Mikasa leaned forward, wrapping her arm around his back like she had when they were children. "Do we just follow our way back?"

Armin nodded. His steps were weak and slow, his feet just barely moving in front of the other.

She tightened her grip on him; she would be damned before she let one of her best friends fall.

Dinner was a tense, quiet affair. Most noise came from the clinking of metal silverware against glass plates, or the sound of chewing.

Sasha was a lucky girl, Mikasa realized. Her friend was miles away, but she was perhaps the luckiest girl that Mikasa knew. She could get lost in food and escape any hardship; it was what had gotten her through her younger years and through training to join the scouting legion. If she were here, she would be eagerly digging into her meal, wrapped in bliss.

Mikasa had her food, and she could taste it on her tongue, but she could also hear the clinking of glass.

Eren's head was down; his eyes were hard to read, and his mouth was set in a straight line. Armin had barely touched his food. Hanjii wasn't even at the table, and instead was off doing some sort of research. Someone had mentioned what it was using technical terms, most of which she doubted anyone in the room but Armin understood.

The damages caused to the wall and the subsequent work Mikasa faced helping sway civilians to the Survey Corp's side was understandable. Armin surely had expected the same thing, as he had shown no actual sign of regretting taking the job. Though it had exhausted both of them, it was nothing compared to how tired they were afer fighting Titans.

But not one had expected for the Titans to make them tense, leaving everyone serious. At least when they were training there had always been a joke or story to tell. Now, it seemed as if everyone were caught inside some sort of web.

No, not a web - a cold, hard crystal, and no one could break through it.

It was hard to swallow her food that night, no matter how tiny she cut it up or how much water she drank with it.