Title: Snowballs

Prompt: Winter Wonderland

For: drizzlingdawn, for the FE-gift exchange

Character/Pairing: Xander, Elise

A/N: Ugh, this sucks—I think I got their personalities down, but something's just missing…I tried to add in a little Corrin/Xander for my recipient to make up for the suck.

Summary: It was a bonding exercise, not because Elise saw the snow and wanted to play with it.

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"And why are we doing this again?" Xander asked as he dug his fingers into the snow, somewhat amused. At least, Elise thought he was amused. It was hard to tell sometimes, especially with the war.

It was like he took his seriousness and maxed it out sometimes.

He certainly wasn't angry, and that was a plus. Even with the snow, it wasn't too cold yet, and she blew the soft powder at him. Xander grimaced, momentarily a snow monster as the snowflakes stuck to his brows. "Elise."

"I wanted to try that once."

He gave her a pointed look and she sheepishly smiled back. It wasn't her first time nor her last—her apology was worthless but she went through the motions anyways. "Sorry, brother."

"Try to mean it this time." Xander brushed the flakes off his face. "Any other reason we're doing this?"

She scooped up another handful of snow and looked up with a grin. "It's a bonding thing."

"A bonding thing." Xander rolled the snow in his hands, creating a ball. Almost like a natural. The snowball looked perfect and the one in her hands was looking like a lumpy mess.

Frowning, she put it in the pile next to her and tried again. "It's from the book I lent you."

"The one with the hand holding?" Xander was trying hard not to laugh as he said that, his lips curling up. And she should be happy, really—since the war started, he hadn't really teased or laughed that much.

Elise was happy, really. She'd be even happier if his jokes were at Corrin or Leo, but she'd take what she could get. It was better than nothing.

But Xander was still making fun of her book and she couldn't stand for that either.

"Hey, you promised you'd try to follow the book!" Elise glared at her brother and he gave an apologetic smile.

"I did," he agreed. The smile didn't fully leave his face and she shook her head in annoyance.

Glowering, she held her snowball threateningly to him. "You didn't read it."

"I did," he protested, his hands up in mock defence. "I just did not make it to the chapter on snowballs."

"Snowball fights," she corrected. "It's there if you read it."

Xander laughed and nodded. "I believe you. I'll try to make it there soon." He made another perfect snowball and set it on his small pile of snowballs. His large pile of snowballs. There had to be a hundred of them there already and she was still on number ten.

He couldn't possibly be good at everything. It was impossible. Leo must have calculated the probability of it and it had to be impossible.

There were too many geniuses in her family. That should have also been an impossible feat.

"You haven't done this before, have you?" Elise questioned, squinting at his snowballs as though she could find the minuet imperfections in them.

Xander smiled broadly, nodding his head. "You don't remember because you were little, but I'd train Corrin and Leo like this."

"You did? How—" Her voice trailed off as she recalled her siblings' training days. Or maybe punishment days was better? She could remember Corrin and Leo crawling to their beds like the dead, their bodies sore and bruised.

Add in snowballs, tossed at every direction possible and full force, and suddenly she understood Leo's and Corrin's reluctance to join the opposite team.

It was a good thing she was on his side.

An alarm went off and Camilla shouted from a distance, "Ready, darlings?"

Xander was already picking up several of his snowballs, his right arm ready to toss like a machine gun. Sometimes Elise was convinced her brother was part machine, or at least not entirely human. "Ready?"

"Almost?" Elise shook her head and quickly bent down to grab her own misshapen balls. Five from her great cache of 12. Maybe she shouldn't talk and work so much. "Yeah, ready."

Xander led the charge, to the small grove of trees they chose as the battleground. A playful edge crept in his voice as he asked, "You didn't just make it up because it's snowing and you want to play?"

"I'm not a child anymore, Xander," Elise retorted, sticking out her tongue. Her brother didn't respond, his facing saying it all, and she flushed darkly before turning away.

Not very adult behaviour, even for her.

"No, it was definitely in the book," Elise lied, straight-faced. He could tell, she knew, but Xander didn't call her out on it.

"And the book is always right." Xander continued, humouring her. "Especially when it comes to bonding."

Elise smiled mischievously. "Isn't that why you're holding Corrin's hands all the time?"

Xander almost dropped the snowballs right there, the tips of his ears red. Elise grinned and kept walking.

"Elise, how do you know that—"

"Brother, they've already started," Elise sang out, ducking behind a tree. "And you know Corrin's good at strategies."

Xander glowered darkly, muttering under his breath before following her. "We'll talk about this again."

Elise should have stopped there. She really should have. But it was a rare chance to get her brother and Xander had almost no other weakness.

"I saw you flirt using the book as an excuse." Elise gasped in mock surprise. She could barely speak through her giggles. "Don't tell me you'll even use this fight—"

"Elise!" Xander growled and Elise screamed as she ran away from him.

Suddenly, she completely understood the terror Leo and Corrin felt from training. The battle had gone from two sides to three.

And there was no way Corrin would help her after what she said.