So this one takes place while they are still trainees as well, but during winter (and after the earlier stuff I posted). It's a multi-parter.

(1)

"Where are we going, anyway?" Jean grumbled for the tenth time. Shadis had only told them to get their gear on and grab their horses. They were permitted their winter coats, cloaks, and rifles, but nothing else. Pulling his cloak tighter around his shoulders, Armin gave a small smile, amused by how easily Jean tended to lose his temper- especially over something so small.

The snowfall began with thick, white flakes that settled over everything but his horse, where they melted promptly. There were trees to the West and North and rocks to the South. To the East lay barren plains. The woods before them were thin, but stretched beyond the horizon. The pile of rocks was called a collection of small mountains for a lack of a better phrase; it looked like someone had made a giant pile out of them and forgot they were there.

Annie was a few paces behind them, but the other squads were nearby as well. She'd almost begun to warm up to him. He thought of their last conversation. It had only been about trees, but the discussion had been interesting enough. She had a dry humor that was rather hard to detect.

"Company, halt!" Shadis yelled, holding up a fist. The fanned out around their Commander, hoping for some explanation to this ludicrous situation. Armin spied the wooden crates behind Shadis. "Each squad gets a box. This box has enough supplies for two people to live for the next week. Your goal is to keep your squad alive by whatever means necessary. There will be no supervision, and no help! You are responsible only for yourself and your squad mates. This is not a group effort!"

There was a collective groan as Shadis galloped away, but Armin was already riding over to the line of crates. Each one was marked with the names of the squad it belonged to. He hopped down into the thin layer of snow and grabbed the lid. He could hear the others rusting around him, but he paid them no mind. He found a tent- probably only big enough for two- rations, water, a lantern, matches, flint, a single pot, three cups, a small spade, a hatchet, some rope, and two sleeping bags.

"Where do you think we should set up?" Standing and replacing the lid so their supplies were covered in the rapidly-falling snow, he glanced at Jean first, then out at their surroundings. The woods were thin, but there was enough room under the trees for all of the squads to set up. A few of them were already moving their crates to claim their spot.

"We've been out this way before." He nodded absently at Annie's statement as he tried to remember maps and terrain. "There are some caves not too far from here."

"I'm trying to remember which one it was that we found with the water in the back." Armin stared out at the small hill that blocked his view of the rocky area just a kilometer or two from where they stood. "We need to make sure we can defend ourselves, too."

"Well let's go ahead and get this stuff out that way at least," Jean said. He crouched on one end of the crate and Annie bent to grab the other. Armin gathered their horses and walked along behind them. "The snow is getting worse."

"Probably intentional." Annie's light shrug shifted some of the contents in the box. "Wait until the weather is at its worst to send us out here just to watch us kill each other over a few lousy field rations."

She was right, and Armin knew it. Wherever they decided to set up camp, it had to be a place where they had access to what they needed, but also an easy place to protect. He knew that if the snow continued to fall at the rate it was for longer than a few hours, they would have serious problems on their hands. Keeping warm was only the tip of the iceberg. They had to worry about getting and keeping enough firewood to keep warm, have a place for the smoke to escape, and have access to another source of food.

Thankfully, no one had followed them out this way. He knew it was only a matter of time before someone discovered their hiding place, but at least they would have some time to get everything situated before they had to worry. As they made their way down the other side of the hill, he could see the entrances to the four caves. One was little more than a hole in the ground, but as he thought about it, he remembered that it was connected to another cave.

"Do you remember which caves were connected?"

Annie looked over her shoulder to Armin and nodded. "Yeah. That one," she nodded at the hole in the ground just a few meters ahead and to her right, "and that one," she nodded up to the crack in the side of the rocky pile he wouldn't quite call a mountain. "The other two weren't connected to anything." She nodded to the larger opening to her left. "But that one was the one with the stream."

Jean huffed. "We are going to live in a damn cave for a week?"

Armin nodded. "Think about the snow, Jean. If we don't have any sort of real defense from it, we'll freeze to death. And it's not like you can build a fire inside of a tent." He was aware of Jean's aversion to small spaces, but knew it wasn't something that could be helped for now. He looked around at the options before him and sighed. "The ones that are connected are the biggest. It's hard to get down there, but the lower cave as that hole and we can use that to catch and melt snow- not to mention have an opening for the fire."

Annie shrugged. "What do we do with the horses?"

He cursed himself for a moment for not considering what to do with them. They had very few options, really. "We can put them in the cave with the stream. They can get to the water back there. We will have to find food for them, too."

"We can go out on the plains later," Annie said softly. "Find some grass and maybe get lucky with a few rabbits or something." The little group made their way to the thin opening and Jean and Annie put down their crate. Armin stalked over to the hole and stared down. It was really too dark to see anything but a small pile of snow that had collected at the bottom, but he figured the crate was probably too wide to fit down inside. The would have to carry everything piece-by-piece.

"I'll stay out here with the horses while you two get everything in there," Jean grumbled. Armin passed him the reins and shoved off the lid to the crate once more. He found the lantern first, then grabbed the matches and lit the wick. Hopefully there was enough oil in in it to last the several hours they would need.

"Leave the rest," Annie said stopping him from picking up the pot that was loaded down with other smaller things. "It's hard to move through the opening, remember?"

He nodded and she picked up just one sleeping bag. They'd have to make several dozen trips. Armin only hoped all of their work would be worth it in the end. He slipped through the opening and turned sharply to the right, then left, and in an awkward zigzag that was more of an old shaped diagonal line that sloped downwards at a sharp angle. When they reached a more open and flat area, he held the lantern up high.

"Don't see that everyday," Annie muttered. Armin nodded, speechless. There were veins of some kind of faintly glowing rock that littered the cave. It wrapped around back the way they'd just descended, sinking lower into the ground. The walls of the cave opened up slightly as they reached the spot where slivers of natural light shone through the opening in the ground above them. He made quick assumptions about the measurements of the cave, guessing at least twenty feet for the ceiling, perhaps thirty or forty feet lengthwise, and about fifteen feet for the width.

"We can admire it later," Annie said, her fingers brushing his shoulder. "Let's get the other stuff down here." Armin nodded and carried the lantern back with them, finding the perfect place to shove it between the rocks so that their path had just enough illumination to get in and out.