A/N:
S, in a way Christmas has ended, but our friends have still more to experience.
Let's see how they all feel after last night's party!

Please make sure to leave a review in the end of each chapter to tell me what you think of the chapter - as well as answering the question of today!

- NOTE THAT THIS CHAPTER HAS YET TO BE BETAED.

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 25TH

Opening his eyes the morning of the 25th of December, Levi was not the happiest bunny. The night had been a long one, and there had been too much noise for his liking. After what had seemed an eternity of caroling, the Captain had finally been able to close his eyes and let himself wander into sleep. He had dreamt. What the dream was about had he forgotten as his eyes opened, but he remember being restrained by something heavy. However, it seemed that that had not been a dream entirely.

"Wake up." He shook his leg, bumping into his subordinate. "You're heavy..."

A grunt left the girl and, contrary to the Captain's wish, snuggled even closer to him. Levi had never been a fan of striking those close to him - and especially not those that never disobeyed him, but there was a limit to it. Making sure that he wouldn't actually harm her, the Captain was about smack her, when a mumble from her lips made his freeze.

"Ha...happy..py…. birth...day... cap...tain..."

Clearly still in the midst of some dream, Levi found himself smiling. There were many things about him that was unknown to the world. Few knew of his upbringing and even fewer of his birthday. Still, of all the members, he wasn't surprised that the one to remember it would be Petra. The girl owned the sweetest heart, and was always there to say the right thing when the world was nothing but wrong.

Placing his hand on her shoulder, he gave it a gentle squeeze. She looked so peaceful in her sleep, and, if staying like this would keep her in that peaceful world for a while longer, then how could he refuse her.

"They're gone!"

"What?" Connie sat up from his

"They're gone!" Sasha repeated, pointing at the plate on the mental piece. "All of them!"

"Are you sure?" Eager to look, the boy ran over to check for himself. Indeed, the cookies were gone. "Sasha, it wasn't you, was it?"

"What?" the girl looked almost offended. Although she admitted that it wasn't totally out of nowhere to assume that she had been the one to eat the cookies, she would never touch these cookies; Santa's Cookies.

"Okay, okay." Connie apologized. "But if it wasn't you… then who could have eaten them?" He looked around the room. "Eld?"

"Hmm?"

"You didn't eat the cookies, did you?"

"No?"

"Thought so..." Connie sighed. "Then who?"

"Con! You don't think?"

"Sash! You're right!" His eyes widened as the bot looked at each other, realized the truth.

"SANTA!"

Looking through the doorway, Eld had a firm grip on his lunchbox. To prepare himself for the journey home, he had already made himself a lunchbox. It was then that he had seen the cookies that had been put out for this Christmas Saint. It was a peculiar thing to do, putting out sweets for him, but that was what had made able to give them a little bit of Christmas hope. And, he told himself, he had not told any lies. He had not eaten the cookies. Not yet. That would have to wait until their way home.

Eld was not the only one that prepared a lunch box. As they woke up, soldiers entered the kitchen and began emptying the cabinets for food.

"Where's Levi?"

"Oh, he's still in bed." Erwin smiled.

Hange blinked. "Still?" She couldn't believe that the number one early bird was still in bed on an important day like this.

"Yes, but let him sleep for once." the commander hurried to say. "You know how difficult it is for him to get a good night's sleep."

Nodding, Hange agreed to let him stay in bed. However there was a catch. If the captain was not up and ready as they loaded the sleigh and carriage, she would be allowed to wake the captain by using any method of her liking.

The morning passed and soon they had filled the carriages and sleighs with all they would need for their journey home, It was not all of what had been brought there. To bring it back home would only slow them down, and it was always a good idea to leave resourced there for a future visit.

As they were all ready, Hange's mood was on top. There were still no signs of the captain. However, asd she was jumping down of the carriage she had been loading, a cough behind her made her mischievous smile disappear as a potato near Sasha.

"Captain?"

"Good Morning, Hange."

If the scientist hadn't known better, she would have sworn that there was a twisting snake of murder in his eyes, but it had to be her imagination, right?

"All ready?" The Commander was standing in a sligh, looking over they courtyard. "We're heading off in 5!"

"YES, SIR!"

Erwin nodded, please with this morning's effectivity. It had been a swift operation, and the castle had been cleaned emptied and put in order in no time. Thinking about their stay there, the Commander came to a strange conclusion. This stay, and the discovery of the christmas calendar… It truly had brought out the purest and best in all his men. Not all of it was because of the Calendar story itself, but the words had painted pictures in each of the soldier's mind, that he was sure of.

"The story is written in such a way that there would always be something new to discover if one though through its content. The world itself is like that." He explained as he looked over at his praised soldier. "The more we understand, the more we see in things around us, and the more we see in things around us, the more we understand. So there will always be something new to discover if we only have our eyes and ears open to the remarkable world we live in."

"..."

"It's a bit to wrap the head around, but-"

"It's understandable."

"Good." The Commander looked back at the old castle. "You know," he told his captain. "I think it won't be a bad idea to return next year."

The unspoken question hung in the air as the Captain looked at the snowy scenery in front of him with empty eyes. "Maybe…"

IT'S NOT OVER YET! STAY TUNED FOR A NEW YEAR'S CHAPTER!

Author's note:

So, Christmas is finally over. That means that there is just one thing to say, right? That's right; "Finally!". No, just kidding: "Merry Christmas!"

Or, to be honest, it is a little of that 'I'm finally done'-feeling. Don't take me wrong - I love writing Christmas stories - I mean, I've done it three years in a row now, and have already ideas for three new ones, but it does take a toll on me.

As some of you might know, I write a lot during the NaNoWriMo events, and I have them to thank for a massive productivity. Both the event itself - but especially the people you meet during those hard months, are so, so, soooo good as motivators. So, I wanna go out there and thank all of you that have joined me in wars, pulled me into long nights, or even stayed up crawling the the night through. You are all amazing, and without you this story would have been so thin and short that the Titans would have broken through it without any problems.

A person that I need to thank is my lovely beta. On the two previous Calendars, I've had some help, but I've never had such help like I did this year. Iseria2you was new to me when I planned out the main parts of this story, but after we got in touch, and she agreed to be my beta, she has been so helpful. Not only is she looking through my texts on the search for misspelled words, she also helped me in shaping the chapters and making sure that nothing tooooo weird happened. Thank you so much 3.

And last, but not least, I have to thank all of you that have taken the time to read this story, I hope you all enjoyed spending Christmas with all of our friends in the world of Attack on Titan, and that you've left reviews answering the daily questions. Even though this Christmas is over, I will still be very happy to receive you reviews, so make sure to send them - be it January, May, or even Christmas another year. The Christmas spirit is always there.

That said, I'm also planning on doing a Q&A soon. Here I will be able answering question about about my stories, my writing and also questions in general. I really want you guys to send in your questions - big or small, so that I can give just you *wink* answers to the questions you have. To send me a question, simply write it here in a review or send it to me on any of the social media below. Make sure to sign it if you want your name to be mentioned. The Q&A will be uploaded to YouTube and posted through my Social Media, but if you want to be sure you're not missing out on it, you can send me a PM about reminding you, and I will send you a notice back when it is published.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and exceptionally new year.
[ Remember that there is a new year's chapter as well ;) ]

Thank you,
Winny

A/N:
Question of today:
What did you get for Christmas this year?

Please leave a review with your thoughts, okay?

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