It was the day after the terrible training exercise, and you were going to stay at the site for a week to practice manoeuvring your gear through a snowy and icy environment, as well as survival exercises for times you may find yourself lost in surrounding such as your current location. It was ironic since that already happened to Crista, Ymir and Daz on their way here.
Sadies had granted all of the cadet corps the rest of the day off, after wrapping up a training session early in the morning. Seems like the man has a heart after all, letting you have fun and unwind after going through the absolute worst exercise any of you had ever experienced.
"Sooo, what should we do on our special time off?", Sasha asked while stuffing her face with more food. It was lunch time, and this time you had pushed two tables together so that everyone could sit and eat with each other. Normally it was just you, Sasha, Connie, Marco, and Jean. Occasionally Mina and Thomas would join. Now Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, Crista and Ymir had joined you as well.
"I don't know, anyone have any good ideas?", Armin said.
"Well, the sun is shining and the blizzard is over, so if people are up for it, I'd say we should go do something outside in the snow?", Reiner suggested. "It's not often we get the chance to do that".
That's true. It didn't really snow that often here in the walls, even if it was winter.
"Yeah, we can build snowmen or have a snowball fight!", Jean said, banging his hands down on the table in excitement.
"I used to have snowmen-building competitions with my family all the time when it snowed!", you chimed in excited. Your heart sank slightly at the fond memory, but you didn't let it show.
"Ooh, that would be fun! We can split into teams, then vote on whose is the best afterwards!", Connie agreed. The rest nodded in an excited manner.
"How do we decide the teams?", Armin asked.
"Hmm, I guess we just take whoever is closest?", you suggested.
Everyone went quiet for a couple of seconds, eyeing each other. Then, right on cue everyone named their pick all at once and grabbed the ones they wanted to join forces with. You couldn't really hear who people picked as the names morphed together into an inaudible sound. Connie and Sasha both grabbed one of your arms each and started arguing over who should have you on their team. Sasha flicked a little piece of her food, hitting Connie on the forehead. You stared at her in shock. Now you know for a fact she is serious about having you on her team, if she's willing to sacrifice any piece of precious food.
"Guys, relax. We are an odd number so one team has to be three people anyways", you informed them with a laugh.
'I'm on a team with both Sasha and Connie... Lord have mercy on my soul'
~
"I refuse to work with this sad excuse of a horse face!", Eren said, complaining about the distribution of teams for the tenth time.
"Dude, would you just suck it up already and start rolling your ball?", Jean replied frustrated.
The teams consisted of Reiner and Bertholdt, Mikasa and Annie, Armin and Marco, Mina and Thomas, Ymir and Crista, You with Sasha and Connie, and last but not least Jean and Eren. That was not by choice though, everyone else were just too fast to pick, leaving them two without a partner.
You rolled your eyes at their bickering, putting all your attention towards rolling your, now, quite large snowball.
"Sasha, catch!", Connie yelled as he threw a snowball, hitting her right in the face.
"Connie! You idiot!", she yelled back and jumped him. She was now shoving his face in a pile of snow.
'Why am I not surprised'
You sighed, letting out a little laugh and continued on rolling.
'They'll get tired eventually'
~
"Sasha don't eat the nose!", you yelled baffled. Sasha froze in her tracks, the carrot already in her mouth. As she looked you straight in the eyes, she bit down slowly.
"What the fuck Sasha!", Connie exclaimed as he looked over at us to see what the fuzz was about. "We needed that!".
"S-sowrrhy", she said, while chewing on the carrot.
"We worked so hard to sweet-talk the head of the kitchen, to even be allowed to have one carrot each. We can't get a new one!", you said frustrated. "Sasha, that appetite of yours will be our downfall!".
You noticed the others smiling and laughing, enjoying the shit show that was your team. You loved Sasha and Connie with all your being, but this was getting ridiculous.
Sasha looked utterly defeated. You sighed.
"Well, I guess we just have to make do with what we have", you smiled at her. "At least ours will be unique!", you added on a positive note. Sasha smiled at you and continued on helping you and Connie form and customise your snowman.
~
(Visual representation of what the snowmen roughly looked like:)
Eren & Jean
Armin & Marco
Mikasa & Annie
Reiner & Bertholdt
Crista & Ymir
Mina & Thomas
You, Sasha and Connie
~
"Time's up!", Thomas yelled. You took a few steps back to admire your work. It actually turned out okay, despite all the trouble. The three of you had decided to make it look like your snowman was standing on his hands. It looked pretty convincing.
You all gathered together to view each snowman individually, starting with Jean and Eren's.
'......'
"What the fuck even is that...", Connie said baffled after a few moments of silence. It was truly the ugliest snowman you had ever seen. You couldn't contain your laugh. You laughed so hard you collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. Your laugh is quite contagious, spreading to the others in the crowd.
"This is your fault dumbass!", Jean said and pushed Eren harshly.
"WHAT?! The design was your idea!", Eren screamed back, giving Jean a push as well.
"Guys, cut it out", Reiner said in between his laugh. With that you moved on to the next one- Armin and Marco's.
It was a picture perfect snowman. The surface was smooth and the engineering immaculate.
"Woah!", you exclaimed. "That's the best one I think I've ever seen in my life!". The other's nodded in agreement. Marco gave you one of his closed eyed smiles and scratched the back of his head lightly. Armin just smiled at you sheepishly.
You moved on, inspecting the rest. Mikasa and Annie had basically built a tower of a snowman. Instead of the usual two or three- layered snowmen, they had at least fifteen balls stacked on top of each other. How they managed to do that was beoynd your comprehention. The only thing you could think of that could explain it was that it is Mikasa and Annie... Nothing less than the extraordinary should be expected. Reiner and Bertholdt had built theirs around the stem of a tree, making it look like it was impaled by it. It was a grotesque sight, but pretty well done. Ymir and Crista had made a cute little one. You suspected Crista was the mastermind behind the design. Ymir pretty much did whatever Crista wanted anyways. Mina and Thomas made a snow dog instead of a snowman. Eren and Jean started arguing over if that should count as a snowman or not.
'Why was it that the only time they finally agree on something, they still have to be annoying?'
The only snowman left to inspect now was yours. It was received pretty well. Most of them confessed they had expected less after witnessing your hardships. They also really liked your creative choice of making the snowman stand on his head.
Ultimately, Armin and Marco won the contest. They were to receive one roll each at dinner from the team with the least votes, which of course turned out to be Eren and Jean. This naturally pissed them off and they started throwing snowballs at the rest of us, starting a full on snowball fight.
"Y/N, Connie, Eren, Jean, Marco and Bertholdt! You are on my team!", Reiner called out. You all grouped together, hiding behind some medium-hight wood boards that was spread around the field from the morning's training session. The other team did the same across the field.
"We'll have Eren and Jean act as decoys, while the rest of us tries to sneak closer to them, using the wooden boards as protection", Reiner explained his strategy.
"Wait what, why do we have to be decoys?", Jean stuttered.
"Because you are the loudest and most noticeable", Reiner answered matter-of-factly. Eren and Jean looked bothered but complied. Reiner was like your older brother; everyone always trusted his experience and opinions.
You took off, running from one board to the next with your hands full of premade snowballs. Jean and Eren was already going at it, dodging the throws as they stood out in the open. You saw Armin closest to you and aimed at him.
'Sorry Armin...'
You threw the ball, hitting him on the top of his head.
"I'm sorry!", you mouthed at him. He just smiled and walked over to the side-lines. Bertholdt, Mina and Thomas were the next to be hit. You sneaked closer and closer, readying yourself to throw a snowball at Mikasa, when Annie came out of nowhere, her snowball went straight towards your eye. You prepared yourself for the impact, but it never came. You opened your eyes and saw Marco shielding you. He got hit instead.
"Marco, you didn't have to do that!", you said surprised. He just smiled at you as he got up.
"I won't let you go blind if I can help it", he said with a wink. "It's no big deal". Marco turned towards Annie.
"That was one hell of a throw", he said sheepishly as he rubbed the sore spot Annie's snowball had left. He then walked over to Bertholdt. You guess he was right, a snowball to the eye can be dangerous, at least if it's thrown by someone as powerful as Annie. Wait... Annie!
'Shit, she's still there, I have to hit her, if not Marco's sacrifice would have been for nothing!'
You managed to quickly take shelter behind a board as you heard a snowball hit it with a thud. That was a close one. Reiner appeared beside you and you had an idea. The board you were behind was much taller than the other ones, and you couldn't reach over it. Annie would never suspect you to throw from above. You told Reiner your plan, and he helped you sit on top of his shoulders. At the count of three he hoisted himself up, giving you a perfect view over the board. You threw your snowball at Annie right away, hitting her on top of her head. Se looked pissed as she walked over to stand with her team on the side-lines.
"Yeah! Good throw Y/N!", Eren cheered on and stood up. Big mistake. Sasha threw a snowball, hitting him right in the crotch. Eren looked like someone had punched him right in the gut as he collapsed to the ground, his face contorted into an expression full of pain. Jean laughed; his mouth wide while pointing at Eren. Mikasa threw a snowball that hit Jean perfectly in his mouth and Jean choked on all the snow, frantically coughing to get it out. Connie ran out in the open.
"This is for Jeaaan!", he screamed, charging towards Mikasa with his eyes closed. He ran straight into our snowman, demolishing him.
"Nooooo!", Sasha cried out. "Corporal Snowtoes!!!", she screamed as she ran towards the pile of snow that used to be our snowman.
'Wait... Corporal Snow-toes? When did we name him that?'
"Connie, how could you?!", she said as she threw a pile of snow at him. Reiner had managed to sneak up on her during the ruckus. Sasha got a snowball straight to the face. As you and Reiner both turned to face your only competition left, he gave you a stern look. You understood exactly what he wanted you to do. He yelled as he charged towards Mikasa. As she threw her ball at him, you charged in from behind her, hitting her on the back.
Your team erupted into joyous cheers and ran up to you, all expect for Eren who was still recovering. They all surrounded you and pulled you into a group hug.
In that moment, you felt the safest and the happiest you've been since that day four years ago. You really and truly cared for every single one of these people around you and you wished you could guarantee their safety in the future. However, you knew that was impossible, seeing you were all here for the purpose of becoming soldiers, all putting your life on the line for the people within the walls.
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A/N:
I'm on a streak lol, multiple chapters in one day! I'm just excited to get all the ideas i have for this story written down and ready to be read! :)
I hope you enjoyed this chapter that was solely based on my own imagination as this doesn't happen in the manga/anime. I'll have some more of those kinds of chapters throughout the story, so i really hope it was fun to read:)
Have a wonderful day!<3
~Jen