Protected by lumber walls from the relentless blizzard raging in the night, the young girls of the 104th trainee squad were huddled together in their bedchambers. For the winter their training took place in a camp in the northern mountains, made up of just a few lumber huts built in a snowy vale. It was the excellent spot to learn survival and endurance, but food rations were lower than in their regular housings, and hunting was a useless task in the harsh weather which plagued them.
A few paraffin lamps were lit across the room to save them from complete darkness, but most where dimmed to either save oil, or give way for sleep. In the spring, summer or autumn, at this time of the day most of the girls would still be talking, or take the time to read. A few would still be outside of the bedrooms and hang out with the boys in the common area, but in this weather being outside was no option.
Most opted to sleep or cuddle, hindered to do much else due to the cold which invaded the room itself. Upon entering the hut and seeing them, Sasha had wanted to snuggle up to her friends and saviours, but Krista had already fallen asleep when she approached, and Ymir had glared at her to keep a distance.
Around the room, the few girls awake were sitting two by two sharing blankets and beds, whispering, giggling or laughing behind their hands, or trying to sleep. The girls who had decided to sleep alone had curled into balls under their sheets and were shivering; all save for Annie, who seemed to sleep more soundly than anyone else in the room, even as she lay in the room's darkest corner all by herself.
Camilla was trying to read in the weak light by one of the lamps, and on the bed next to her Mina and Heidi were hugging under a tucked in blanket, appearing to sleep. Next to them, Sasha saw Klara and Elke speaking secrets with hushed tones. Their breaths were white smoke, like everyone else's in the cold.
Sasha walked between the beds, seeking a space where she could fit in and share the warmth of another's body. But her stomach was aching, bereft of a midnight snack she was used to stealing from the kitchen, and she was clutching her hands over it to mask its pain. Her nightwear was a light brown pajamas of linen, same as everyone else's, and it did little to protect her from the chilling temperature.
Most cots which weren't occupied had had their blankets stolen already, when Sasha passed them. Even the bed which had been meant for her had had its bedclothes taken, and she couldn't blame the culprits. She had tried to steal a second portion of food from the kitchen after dinner had been served that evening, and had been strictly disciplined for hours before she had been allowed to return to the girl's hut.
Stealing was wrong, she knew. But starving was worse. Nevertheless, it was her own fault for being alone and cold.
Maybe it would be best to simply risk it and lie down next to Annie, Sasha wondered. Annie's bed was the most lonesome, and had the most space. There was a possibility Sasha could lie down next to her and share Annie's body warmth for the night, and then rise the next morning before Annie even noticed. But Annie always woke before anyone else, and was as light a sleeper as Sasha was heavy. It was a fool's gamble.
Though what of Mikasa, Sasha suddenly wondered. Mikasa's bed had been the one next to Sasha's, but she hadn't been there when Sasha passed it. Mikasa had a loner streak in the girls' room, and Sasha couldn't picture her sharing the bed with one of their fellow trainees. It was more likely that she would see Mikasa in the corner opposite of Annie, lying very much in the same pose.
That was when she found her, still sitting up, all by herself. Mikasa was seated on the empty bed under the window, looking out at the blizzard and the bright snow, lit white by the paraffin lamp on the windowsill. Sasha smiled when she found her friend, and crawled up into the bed and scooted up next to her.
"Sasha," Mikasa acknowledged, sounding mildly surprised. She looked away from the window, a window which faced the boys' hut, and looked at Sasha.
"Can we share, please?" Sasha asked, and her smile widened when Mikasa held out the end of the blanket to her. Before Mikasa seemed to notice it, Sasha had wrapped herself in the too thin blanket and was cuddling up to her, resting her head above Mikasa's chest. The act seemed to startle Mikasa, but she allowed it, even though she did not wrap her arms around Sasha like she could have done.
A few minutes went by, with the girls remaining in their exact positions. Sasha's smile at sharing a bed with Mikasa eventually faded, and was replaced by a saddened face.
"I am so hungry," she muttered, just in time for her stomach to rumble and confirm her words. "Excuse me," she mumbled as she blushed, but her face was already red, and no one would be able to tell.
"You always are," Mikasa noted. "You should sleep. Morning will come faster, and you'll have breakfast."
"'so long till then," Sasha said sadly. "And it's so little." She kept hoping that someone would offer her something from their plates, but even when they disliked the food everyone would eat what little they were given. After her blunder on the first day at the name call, a few people had taunted her with potatoes, telling her they would let her have one only to cruelly take the food away. No one had actually given her anything, no one but Mikasa and Krista, heroines and angels as they were.
"Go to sleep," Mikasa repeated, and Sasha felt how she turned her head to look out the window again. She couldn't possibly see into the boy's hut, Sasha thought, but maybe she was only really keeping tabs on the door. Mikasa always worried about Eren, and followed him around everywhere when the boys and girls were together. She was probably looking at the door now, so she could see if it was opened, if Eren decided to go outside for whatever reason.
It must be nice, Sasha thought sleepily, and she closed her eyes. To have Mikasa care so much about you.
With her eyes shut, Sasha's mind was focused only on the poisonous jealousy, and on Mikasa's affections. Even though Mikasa would often follow Eren around, Sasha had seen him angry with her and telling her off. She had seen Eren train with Annie, and Mikasa's grief at the exclusion, and she had seen Eren grab Armin's arm and walk into the boys' quarters, where Mikasa couldn't follow. Whenever such a thing happened, Sasha would feel angry to the core of her body, at anyone treating Mikasa like that.
For the first few weeks into the military training, Sasha had often felt left out. There were those who wouldn't even bother learning her name, simply calling her "potato girl" to her face and behind her back, and describing her as "stupid". It had upset her more than once, the way they mocked her, but all of sudden it had stopped. Only a month later had she learnt from Krista that it was Mikasa who had threatened the worst offenders to leave her alone.
Mikasa was the most heroic person she knew.
The cold was invading the blanket around them, but Mikasa's heart was beating, warm and alive, under her ear. Sasha listened to it, letting its pace lull her to sleep as she did. But it was never easy to sleep on an empty stomach, and with a winter so harsh it was neigh impossible.
When her stomach rumbled again Mikasa moved her arm to rest on Sasha's shoulder, in a one armed embrace. Immediately it was summer, and Sasha looked up at Mikasa's face with a dazed look. The light on the windowsill had nearly gone out, and it was foolishly hopeful to think so, but Sasha thought that she saw Mikasa look back at her. It meant Mikasa had turned her head, a fact which was confirmed when Sasha could see the outlines of her lips.
Mikasa's breath was white smoke against her face, but it was warm. Sasha's own heart started beating loudly in response to the heat, till it blended with the sound of Mikasa's beating chambers, and the two sounds were indistinguishable.
"Don't worry about him," she said to Mikasa, with a voice fairly distant. "He is not going to leave in this weather."
Mikasa appeared surprised, and never broke the eye contact as she replied, "I know that." The pause was awkward in their intimacy. "We had a fight. I am thinking."
"I am sorry," Sasha said. Snow-like hail pattered against the window next to their heads, and sounded loudly against the roof, but they barely noticed. Lights out, and the silence of sleeping girls surrounded them, left them stranded in a comforting limbo, where just the two of them existed. This state of being soothed Sasha, as Mikasa slowly replied with a faint "thank you", murmured as a lullaby.
Around them was an aura of warmth, warding off the winter. Mikasa lay down on the bed, and let Sasha rest her head still on her bosom. And so the night proceeded, with the two girls lying as intimately as two dressed girls could, with a hidden blush on Sasha's face.
Protected by Mikasa's arms from the relentless blizzard raging in the night, Sasha slept soundly on an empty stomach. The snow storm eased up over the course of the dark hours and only Mikasa, who had lain awake with her arms around the reason why, failed to notice.