Hi, this is kind of a bonus chapter for my other story 'Live for me brother'. Check it out if you like.

Summary: just a one-shot about one of the important events that happened between chapter 4 and 5 in LFMB.

…

The letters were delivered once every month in the fastest case. Sometimes the situation was so grave that no one outside their section would dare to go there for the sake of some letters, and the precious pieces of paper had to be sent with the support forces and they didn't work on a schedule. So it meant that they had only received four batches of letters in nearly six month that they had been there.

They were some source of comfort for everyone. Just to hear something from their families, even the most common news would help them push through their hard times with smile, that's why anyone would rush when they heard the familiar shout of "letters, letters you stupid gits." from Kanin.

Everyone that Merlin knew had received at least one letter, even Percy _who had said to have no one back home_ had one from his childhood friend Elena. Apparently she had heard about him from other soldiers who had returned home due to their injuries and had immediately sent a letter, encouraging him_ which had made him blush and created a great opportunity for Gwaine to tease him for it_.

Gwaine hadn't shown his letters to anyone, he simply refused to talk about them whenever asked and the others didn't push him to do so either. The unusual sad look on his face was a both a reason for concern and a warning for the others, they didn't want to hurt Gwaine even more _or to aggravate him_ when he seemed like a wounded tiger.

So no one fallowed him when he left the tents after reading his sister's words.

Nobody saw his tears soaking the piece of parchment while he was silently crying in the clearing.

And nobody ever found out why he didn't speak about his father anymore from that day on.

Lancelot had two letters. The first one was from his brother and his family. It had been a comfort for him, looking at his niece's childish handwriting and reading Richard's older-brother-style sentences, even Sifa had wrote a few comforting things which made him both surprised and grateful.

The second letter however, was the one that made him sob and laugh at the same time, the one he kept reading and reading with watery eyes every night and even in the battlefield, the one he always kept in his pocket like a precious treasure.

The one his students, from the little Gertrude to the shy and quiet Arnold had written for him.

He could recognize the writer of each word, even if the name wasn't mentioned. He could almost imagine their faces while writing the letter, he could see the pattern created by Judy's tears on the thin sheet of paper and how Gregory had probably groaned and complained about her 'miserable inability to hold her tears'.

Merlin and Arthur had a letter in every arriving batch. Their family at home had made sure to keep them posted with every little detail and everything that had happened to lighten up their moods, not that it hadn't worked.

Their letters weren't written for each of them specifically _they started with 'dear Merlin and Arthur' or 'dear Arthur and Merlin'_ so they usually read them together, but it could happen that one of them was busy and couldn't leave his post. Not a big deal though, the other would just wait or read the letter aloud for the other one _something Arthur had done when Merlin was busy tending to a heavily bleeding lad_.

Hunith always wrote them like they were twelve-year-old boys, telling them to take care of themselves and not do anything stupid. Morgana told them about the progress of war outside their section and would feed them with rumors. Mordred Spoke about how he had single handedly plowed the farm and had also founded a job at the nearby market. _"Always the bragger" Merlin had said once, laughing_.

When the third set of letters were delivered, Arthur had been busy planning for the next trench raide in Uther's tent with a few other people, secretly begging the boring conversation to end so he could get out and take a deep breath of fresh air and also fond Merlin and the new letter.

So he didn't expect for what he saw when he was finally dismissed, joyously jogging to the white tent, only to be told that Merlin had left there after reading his letter, looking shocked.

This made Arthur quite nervous _not that he would admit, of course_. He left the tent and rushed to the other place that he could possibly find his brother, somewhere Merlin had found comforting when he wanted to be alone. Luckily, he found him where he had expected, but he froze when saw the raven man's face

He was leaning to the nearby trenches, crying.

Arthur's heart skipped a bit. He quickened his steps, unintentionally thinking about everything that could have happened. Had anything happened to Hunith? Had Mordred fallen from somewhere just like he had a few years ago and had broken his arm? Had it anything to do with Morgana or Morgause?

It was funny how their places had swapped, of how they were worried about the rest of their family who were safe at home while they were under fire themselves. He would have laughed at the irony if he hadn't been so panicked.

He reached Merlin, his fear increasing when his brother didn't even notice him. He frantically grabbed the letter from his hands and started reading whatever was written in it himself, hand shaking and heart pounding. A few minutes passed and finally Arthur raised his head from the papers and stared at Merlin, his own tears struggling to find their way out.

Merlin removed his hands from his face and looked back at him, face still damp but not a single sign of sadness could be seen in his face.

In fact...

"Eira" Arthur breathed.

Merlin nodded and started laughing, new tears falling freely "it means snow." His voice broke.

There was silence for a few seconds before Arthur made an excited sound and threw his hands at Merlin, pulling him up _quite violently_ and braced him in bone crushing hug, laughing hysterically. Merlin returned the hug tightly as his tears soaked Arthur's uniform.

Arthur pulled back, grabbing Merlin tightly by his shoulders, looked deep in his eyes and then hugged him again, sounding like a supper excited kid in a candy shop "only you would hide here and cry when you should be celebrating." He choked in his friend's shoulder.

After a few more minutes of hugging and crying, the finally broke apart and took a seat where Merlin had previously been sitting. Arthur read the letter a few more times to actually believe the news.

"How do you feel?" he asked, giving back the letter to Merlin.

"Like I had never experienced happiness before." Merlin answered honestly, holding the little attachment that had arrived with the letter. A picture of a smiling young woman with black hair sitting on a chair and holding a small bundle in her arms.

And in the bundle, a little figure was sleeping, looking as pale and beautiful as a snowflake.

…

Yay, this was fun.

As far as I have planned, this would be it, but I can add another chapter containing Freya's letter If you like.

So let me know what you think. :D