A/N:
The past is something that will alway be there. You cannot change it, and all you can do it get past it.
Christmas is about family; the happy time, but a sad one as well.

Pleace leave a review after finishing the chapter - it means so much to me.

Disclaimer:
«I do not own any of the following pictures, music, characters or the original universe. Nor do I own the Christmas Calendar or its content. I only own this Christmas story and the mixing idea.»

For practical purposes, Hange Zoë will be referred to with female pronouns. The character's gender has not been confirmed by the creator, so there is still a mystery about what is the truth of it. However, because it is hard to write around the pronouns, I chose the female gender because this is what they used for the English dub of the Anime. I hope that you all understand my reasoning for this, and that if you have another opinion on the gender, you can still replace the pronouns while reading.

DECEMBER 5TH

Commander Erwin woke up early in the morning. It had been snowing when he had gone to bed and, by the looks of things, it had continued to fall heavily all through the night.

He let out a sigh.

"The snow?" a voice asked from beneath a heavy fur skin.

"Unfortunately." Erwin nodded, his eyebrows forming a strict line across his forehead. "Doesn't seem I have much choice now..."

From his bed, Levi closed his eyes again. Although he was considered humanity's strongest soldier, the man had one weakness - the cold. It was something he had done his best to hide, but whenever the temperature dropped, the captain had troubles leaving the bed. Of course, if there was ever a situation that would force him out of bed, he would leave, but, on days where there was no special need for him, Levi chose to take the day off and stay underneath a pile of warm fur.

He wanted to go back to sleep; to slip into the peaceful quiet of warmth and comfort. However, now that was impossible. From the moment he'd opened his eyes, the cold had slowly crawled closer to him, and had now turned his toes to ice cubes - or so it felt like. Feeling like this, there was no way he could fall back into the safe arms of his dream.

It was such a shame. On normal days, the captain rarely let himself sleep for more than 2-3 hours at a time, making sure to find times during the day for short naps. On days like these, however, Levi could let himself sleep. Although he knew - after the countless voiced concerns from Hange - that there was no such thing as 'catching up with sleep'. That said, Levi trusted his own feelings, more than those of the scientist… at least when it came to his body.

Giving up on the hope of sleep, Levi forced himself out of bed. As soon as his feet met the floor, the slow process of freezing to little taps of ice began, but Levi ignored it. Looking through the window, he could see several of the new recruits moving around. Some were carrying spades, some buckets, and some… was that really a broom?

The captain couldn't help but feel sad at the sight. Although the order to remove snow and clean up the area might not sound like fun, he would have liked to be able to join them. For a second he considered taking on his clothes and joining them, but he shook the idea at once. If he went outside, there was a chance they might catch onto his secret, and Levi was not ready for that. Although it wasn't a serious illness, the captain had always felt that he should maintain himself and his men. So, the only people that knew of his situation was Commander Erwin Smith, Hange Zoë, as well as his own second-in-command, Eld Jinn.

"Watching them, are we?"

"I'm just making sure they do a good job." Levi frowned. "So far they haven't impressed me much."

Erwin couldn't help but laugh; he had never seen anyone who fully lived up to the high standards of his captain.

"So, what did they say?"

"Nothing to my face," Erwin replied with a hint of a smile on his face. "To each other, though..."

Levi nodded with understanding. It made sense. Even without his sensitivity to the cold, the outside was still somewhere one wouldn't like to spend more time than necessary.

"Anyway," Erwin cut off his subordinate's chain of thought. "I thought you might like this."

Accepting the piece of paper offered to him, Levi sent Erwin a puzzled look.

"Read it," The Commander told him. "The others read it before they went outside. You might like to try it."

Levi doubted that. He wasn't too fond of stories, and from what he had heard from those that had read it, it didn't seem like anything he'd be interested in. That said, he told himself, there weren't too many things to do while lying in bed. So, as the Commander left the room to join the group, Levi unfolded the piece of paper and began to read:

The fifth of December: The third sheep

… it's a very unusual way of travelling …

Elisabet, the lamb, the angel, the sheep, and the shepherd sped through Sweden along dirt roads and grassy cart tracks, between yellow fields and through dense forests until they looked out over a little town by the sea. The wind was blowing in from the sea so strongly that the waves were breaking over the edge of the quay. Far out on the sea there was a sailing ship with three tall masts. At the edge of the town stood a large castle.

"We are in Halland,"said the angel Ephiriel. "The town is called Halmstad and the waves are rolling in from Kattegat. The watch says that 1789 years have passed since Jesus was born."

"Are we still in Sweden?" asked Elisabet.

Ephiriel nodded. "But not so very long ago it was part of Denmark."

Joshua the shepherd said they should hurry on, and they crossed a landscape that became flatter and flatter the further south they came. Between grazing land and enclosed pastures, the countryside revealed small villages, each with a little church and a few houses.

They were rushing through dense woodland when Joshua stopped and knelt under a birch tree. He had found a sheep caught in a snare.

"The snare was probably set for a hare or a fox," he said, loosening a cord from the sheep's leg. "But now the sheep can come with us to Bethlehem."

"It's one of us too," said Ephiriel.

And the sheep seemed to answer. "Meh!" it bleated, "Me-e-eh."

Off they went again: the lamb and the two sheep first, the shepherd behind them, Elisabet and Ephiriel last.

They entered a town and stopped in front of an old church with two tall towers above the entrance.

The angel told them that they were in Scania, that the town was called Lund and that the big church was an ancient cathedral. He looked at his angel-watch and said, "The watch says 1745. That proud cathedral has stood here for centuries. Churches and cathedrals have been built all over the world, and it all started with the Christ-child who was born in Bethlehem. It's as if a tiny seed of corn is put into the ground and grows into a whole field. The glory of heaven is dispersed very easily."

Elisabet wondered about what the angel had said.

"Can we go in?" she asked.

The angel nodded, and they went into the great church: the sheep first, the shepherd next, and Elisabet after the shepherd.

Inside was the most beautiful sound Elisabet had ever heard. From the great organ there swelled such rich and powerful melodies that tears came to her eyes.

When the angel saw it, he said, "Yes, weep, my child. That wonderful music was composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. He is alive in Germany at this time, and his music will be heard throughout Europe. That's not surprising, for his music is like a tiny shed of the glory of heaven."

The only things that disturbed the music were two sheep bleating and a lamb scurrying about so that its little bell was tinkling.

A man in a black robe came towards them from the chancel. It was the priest.

"Get out, all of you" he said sternly. "Lund Cathedral is not a common sheepfold."

Then the angel Ephiriel stepped in front of the priest. He spread out his wings and said, "The pastor should not be dismayed! Rather, he should not forget that Jesus was born in a stable, and that He was called the 'Good Shepherd'".

The priest stopped abruptly, for even though he was a priest in an ancient cathedral, he was not used to angels. He fell to his knees and folded his hands.

"Glory to God in the highest!" he exclaimed.

They left him like that. The angel made a sign to the others that they should go.

"Moments like that should never last too long," he said. "He may write a report to the bishop. Then the whole thing will be hushed up, or rumours will start to circulate about the miracle at Lund. In any case the bishop should remind the pastor that the word 'pastor' means 'shepherd', neither more nor less."

Joshua struck his crook against the church wall.

"To Bethlehem! To Bethlehem!"

They spread through a large park teeming with birds. A couple of soldiers came riding in their direction. When they caught sight of the leley procession, they called out, "Halt!" and galloped towards them. But just as they bent down from their horses to seize Joshua the shepherd, the soldiers vanished like dew in sunshine.

Elisabet gaped, for they were still standing on the same spot as before the soldiers had ridden up.

"They've disappeared!" she exclaimed.

The angel's laugh was like rippling water.

"Yes. In a way. But we were the ones who disappeared. Perhaps they were so terrified when they saw what happened that they fell off their horses."

Elisabet was still wondering at this, so Ephiriel had to explain to her again how they were travelling.

"We're travelling in two directions at once. One journey goes south on the map to the town of Bethlehem in Judea. The other passes through history to David's city at the time when Jesus was born. It's a very unusual way of travelling; many people would say it was quite impossible, but nothing is impossible for God."

Elisabet marvelled at the angel's words, and hid them in her heart.

"It makes it simpler to avoid danger," remarked Joshua. "If we can't give the slip to priests or soldiers by taking a step to one side, we have to take a step backwards in the time instead. A mere quarter or half an hour can be sufficient."

With those words they went on their way again. They passed large fields and small villages. Soon they could glimpse the sea in the distance. In a short while they were standing on a deserted beach.

"This is Ørsund," said Ephiriel. "My watch shows that 1703 years have passed since Jesus was born. We must get across to Denmark before the seventeenth century is over."

"Here's a rowing boat," announced Joshua.

They climbed on board the boat, the sheep first, Elisabet and Ephiriel behind them. Joshua pushed the boat out and jumped on board at the last minute.

The angel Ephiriel rowed, so strongly that the spray foamed about the prow. The boat was rocked by the waves so that the lamb's bell rang piercingly all the way across.

Joshua sat in the stern. Suddenly he pointed forwards and said, "I can see Denmark".

As he read that last sentence, a shiver went down his back. He had heard something like that, and now it came back to him.

"I can see the outside."

Although it had been several years ago, he could still see it clearly if he closed his eyes. The first day as a member of the a scout regiment.

It had been a joyous day. Back then, all that was standing in their way for a better life was just one simple mission. Just one little thing that had to be dealt with, and then they would have the life they had always wanted. Just that one thing - that one life that would have to be taken.

Thinking back, it had all gone extremely wrong since they decided to take his offer. They could of course have refused - although that itself would have brought on consequences. Still, although it would probably have ended in their deaths, it might not. If they had…

Levi shook his head; there was no use going back and thinking through all the little things that might have been different if he'd chosen differently. It wouldn't help anyone. Not him, and… least of all the dead.

"I can see the outside."

It was almost possible for him to see them. Standing there. That day. They had been on the top of the wall, ready for their first mission. Although Levi himself had been fully focused on what would come and what would have to be done, he had still seen the outside for what it was. It was freedom - or at least, that was what he had thought back then.

"I can see the outside."

Isabella's words kept ringing through his head, bouncing in between memories, bringing them to the surface.

The outside: the world filled with wonders, fresh air - and most of all; the promise of being their own masters.

Expectation.

Nothing but death.

Despair.

Alone.

Furland and Isabella were long gone.

All that was left… were the memories, of the cold loneliness.

A/N:
That's it for today. I hope you enjoyed it, and my question for you today is this:
Do you have most happy or sad feelings connected to chritmas? Are they mixed?

Please leave a review with your thoughts, okay?

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