All characters © their respective owners

-YOUBETTERNOTSHOUT.

Ryuu: On the fourth day of Christmas my true love wrote for me.

Warnings: Short story is short. Well, compared to most fics that come from this account.

-YOUBETTERNOTCRY.

Nevassa was beautiful when cloaked with snow.

It was a shame that they had to fight.

One more day of lugging weapons of all sizes and weights.

One more day of battle.

One more day of bloodshed.

It wasn't like they had a choice after all.

Aran didn't want to think about that, though.

So what if he was a soldier?

So what if soldiers didn't have names or faces in a war.

All he knew was that he had to protect Laura in this group of "honorable bandits" that suddenly became so much more. He didn't care about liberating Daein. He didn't care about following Micaiah's orders.

He didn't care about what the Greil Mercenaries thought was right.

All that mattered was Laura.

All that mattered was protecting her.

Let the senators play their games. Let the goddesses break the world.

There was only one goal in Aran's mind.

"Ah! Edward!" Leonardo yelled indignantly. Aran turned to see the two boys in an impromptu snowball fight.

"Not my fault you don't know how to dodge, Leo!" the little swordsman teased before he got a faceful of snow.

"Looks like you don't know how either, Edward." Nolan commented. Laura only laughed.

"At least I'm real fast! Unlike you, old man." Edward said mischievously.

"You take that back, you whippersnapper!" the axe-user demanded.

Aran couldn't help the smile that formed on his face.

Yes, Laura was still important to him. She would always be important.

But he didn't want to lose anyone in this group either.

It was selfish.

It was also a dangerous thought for a soldier.

A soldier that should only worry about following orders.

A soldier without a face.

A soldier without a name.

But that wish was his own.

And he would be damned if he couldn't keep it.

-YOUBETTERNOTPOUTORI'LLGIVEYOUAREASONWHY.

Ryuu: I like Aran. It seems strange that out of all the members in the Dawn Brigade, he's the least developed one. Even his in-game model is just a palette-swap of the enemy soldier units. He's like another soldier without a face or a name, only worrying about following orders. The only thing that makes him different from them is that he has a purpose. He has Laura, and he wants to protect her above all. But who says it's a crime for him to desire to protect more than just her?

Holiday moral: Do what you have to, and see it to the end.