AN: Thank you, yamikisara tumblr for sort-of beta-ing! Sorry, I am impatient.
Training was over for today, finally. Ymir was lying in her bunk and admiring a picture of Christa that she kept in her jacket pocket. Her hair was lit up by the sunlight and she was smiling for the camera. Her blue eyes were as a bit bigger than usual, but as bright as ever. They'd been having a picnic that day with Jean and Marco. Ymir remembered it well.
"What's that?"
Ymir glanced at the speaker, Annie. "It's my girl," Ymir said.
"What's her name?"
"Christa." Ymir didn't say that she was the reason she fought, the person she thought of when she thought of home, the reason she'd even signed up in the first place.
"Cool. Wish I had someone back home," Annie said. Her voice was not bitter, but resigned. "But, then again, that means no one will miss me."
"Why'd you sign up?" Ymir asked.
"After Pearl Harbor, I was swept up by this strange sense of country-love and signed up before my senses came back to me."
Ymir nodded in understanding. "I know the feeling." Ymir had entertained and was afraid of the possibility of Japan attacking U.S. soil again. Anyone who could hurt Christa was an enemy to Ymir.
Mikasa tapped on the door. "Dinnertime, ladies."
As soon as Ymir had left, Christa went and got a job in a factory. She wanted to help the war effort, too. She waited until Ymir left because, as much as Christa loved Ymir, she could get a little overprotective at times.
On the first day, she met her new best friend.
"I'm Sasha Braus," she said cheerily. "It's nice to meet you…"
"Christa. Christa Renz."
"My brothers went off to fight, all three of them! They're so impulsive sometimes. Do you know anyone who signed up to fight?"
"Some friends of mine. Jean, Marco, and Ymir. I'm planning on writing to them as often as I can."
"What a great idea! I think I'll do that too. My brothers said they'd send me their locations. They left three days ago and I still haven't gotten any mail from them, but I'm not worried. They'll beat those Nazis so bad their backsides will smart for years!"
Christa said little throughout the conversation. Sasha loved to babble, and Christa was fine with that. It allowed her to learn about her new friend without having to submit much information about herself. Christa wondered a little as to whether Sasha could be trusted with regards to her relationship with Ymir. She decided to wait a while and do some...investigating.
"So, Mikasa," Ymir spoke between chewing, "why'd you sign up?"
Mikasa looked up at Ymir. "My brother signed up."
Ymir looked confused, so Mikasa reluctantly elaborated. "I was stupid enough not to think that the women would be separate from the men."
"Ah, you wanted to fight beside him."
"I wanted to protect him."
Ymir said nothing as she processed this information. She was going to have an interesting time in the army.
As time went on, Sasha chattered less and less. Christa gently prodded her for information that he was happy to give.
"Are you very religious?"
"Not really. My parents are from the flapper generation, so they're real loose about religion. We do try to go to church on some of the stuff like Easter, but not really. I've a cousin who's a Catholic priest, and boy were we surprised when he told us he wanted to go that route, especially since his brother's quite the womanizer...what about your family?"
"Oh, I'm not religious at all, but Christmas is nice."
"Seeing as that's coming up, what would you like?"
I'd like Ymir, Jean, and Marco to come home safe and sound. "I don't know. I want the war to end, but I can't ask that of you."
"Yeah, me too. But more immediately, I'd like some warm food. Your Thanksgiving turkey was incredible, though I've no idea how you got around the ration issue. Have you ever tried your hand at cake?"
Christa smiled. "I'll tell you what. I'll bring the food, you'll bring the decorations, and we'll have our little Christmas. But no Christmas tree because I've neither the money nor the room for it."
Sasha grinned. "Sounds like a plan!"
Christa grinned back. It wasn't her ideal Christmas, but it was something.
Christa and Sasha wrote and sent letters once a week. They received them less often. If their friends and relatives overseas weren't super busy and tired, they might send letters once a month. Everybody worked hard.
Everyone had their different reasons for working hard. Ymir always remembered that she had a girl worth fighting for.