That winter, the 104th endured winter training in the northern mountain regions of the walls. It was freezing cold, and snow sat in heavy, thick layers on the ground. Coming from the more southern regions of the walls, I had not experienced a winter this cold before, or seen so much snow at once. It certainly wasn't as fun as the snow that fell in Shiganshina. I could remember waking up and in playing in the snow, which was only a few inches thick, and seeing it gone in a few days. Here, the snow was a constant presence and so was the cold, harsh wind.

After one long hiking exercise through the mountains, I sat exhausted and famished in the snow between Armin and Mikasa with Eren, Jean, Connie, and Sasha.

I didn't pay attention to the conversation around me, and was on the verge of falling asleep on Mikasa's shoulder when Reiner's deep voice said, "Christa's missing. So is Ymir."

"Huh?" I sat up and looked at him along with everyone else.

"Christa stayed behind to help Daz, who wasn't doing well," explained Mikasa.

I nodded and leaned back on Mikasa's shoulder, "That's right. Ymir stayed with them too to help Christa and make sure they made it back safe. I'm sure they were picked up by one of the later groups."

"No," Reiner gave us a serious look. "Thomas' group was the last one and they just got back. They said they never saw those three."

"Shit," said Eren, and I sat up again, "Oh."

"You don't think," Connie said nervously, "that they got lost in this weather? They might not make it back if they're still in there at night."

Worry started to fester in my chest and I stood up, "Let's go get them."

Eren nodded, but just then one the instructors approached us, "Everyone get inside for the night."

"But Christa and the others need our help!" said Eren.

The instructor kept the same calm face and said, "We'll send out a search party in the morning."

"But by then it'll be too late," exclaimed Armin.

"Maybe," replied the instructor, "But it's too late to head out tonight. There's no sense in sending out others to die, too."

"Damnit," muttered Eren, hanging his head in defeat. The truth of the instructor's words hit me, and I went inside the cabin along with everyone else. I ended up sitting in one of the rooms with Bertholdt and Reiner, chewing my fingernails and keeping an eye and ear on the door for news of Christa and Ymir.

Bertholdt and Reiner sat in front of me playing a game of chess and making light conversation that I pretended to listen to.

At one point I noticed that they hadn't spoken in several minutes and I looked over at them. They both had the same worried expression as me, and watching their moves while playing I could tell that their minds weren't focused on the game.

"It's getting real late," commented Reiner.

I hummed a response, and looked out the window. It had been dark for several hours now and I could see snow blowing from the lanterns on the porch.

"They'll be okay, right?" asked Bertholdt. "I mean, there are three of them together."

I wasn't sure if Bertholdt was asking me or Reiner, or simply talking to reassure himself, but I answered anyway, "We won't know until we see them or can go look for them. Still, every more minute they're out there, the more risk they're in for freezing to death."

Silence hung over the three of us and I felt sorry for saying it and causing more worry. I almost said something else to reassure Bert, but Reiner stood and said, "Why should we wait until the instructors let us go search then?"

"What?"

"You just said yourself that the longer they're lost out there the more likely it is they won't make it back. If we wait until morning, they won't have a chance. The three of us can do it, let's go get them now and bring them back safe," said Reiner with a determined look on his face.

"You want to go against orders?" I said, but I realized he was right. Together, the three of us stood a better chance of getting them back than if we waited until morning. Saving Christa, Ymir and Daz was more important than getting in trouble with the instructors.

Bert also stood and nodded, "We have to."

I stood up and headed to the door that went towards the supply room, "Come on. She was right earlier about it being dangerous. We might be out there all night looking and we need to be prepared if we plan for all six of us to get back safe."

"Right. We'll need rope and climbing hooks, and extra torches,"

We packed our bags full of provisions in case we also got lost and stuck in the mountain. After we decided we had enough we headed to the front of the cabin to see Armin, Mikasa, and Eren already standing by the door.

"What are you all doing?" asked Reiner and they all turned to look at us. They all had their hiking bags and coats on like us.

"We're going to find Christa and the others," said Eren.

"You'll need more provisions than that," said Reiner, motioning to the rope and hooks on his arm. "We're coming now."

"Are you sure," asked Armin.

"The more people look, the higher chances we have of being successful," I said. "Christa, Ymir, and Daz are our friends. It doesn't feel right sitting here safe when they're not."

Just then Connie, Sasha, and Marco came out of the room behind Reiner, Bertholdt, and I, "We're coming, too," announced Marco, while Connie nodded.

"And I brought extra rations," smiled Sasha while holding up cans of food.

"Guys, thank you so-" Eren was cut off by a loud, far off sounding boom that caused everyone to turn and look at the door.

"What was that?" asked Mikasa, but no one could think of anything that could've been the origin of the noise.

We all headed outside to look at the edge of the mountain and the forest to see if we saw anything that gave a hint of the noise when Sasha cried, "Look! There's someone coming this way!"

Sure enough, a thin, tall figure was barely visible through the storm pushing its way through the snow towards us. When the figure got closer, we saw that it was Ymir, pulled a body wrapped in furs and snow that was Daz. Reiner pulled Daz the rest of the way to the cabins and Marco and Sasha unwrapped him and started taking care of him. I wrapped an arm around Ymir as we walked back to the cabin, "Are you okay?"

She looked tired, and was probably very hungry from being stuck in the mountain all day and all night. But still, she replied, "I'm all right."

"Where's Christa?" asked Armin, who was on the other side of Ymir from me. Everyone walking in front of us turned their heads in anticipation of the news.

"She's okay. She insisted on pulling Daz most of the way, but her strength was giving out and so was Daz, so I went ahead and pulled Daz the rest of the way so he'd live while letting her go at her own pace. She was in good shape when I left her, though, and she knew where to go. She'll be fine."

"You left alone in the storm?" asked Eren in disbelief.

"Well," replied Ymir with a slight attitude in her voice, "I wouldn't have except it would've probably meant that guy becoming an icicle. Like I said, she was in good condition and perfectly able to get back on her own. She was just getting too tired from pulling him and had to go slower."

Reiner also look and Ymir and said, "But Christa- "

I gave both him and Eren a look telling them to drop it, and Reiner immediately shut up and turned around when he saw my face. Anyone who knew Ymir knew she wouldn't have left Christa behind unless she knew that Christa would be fine. Ymir put up a good front about not caring for others and only doing things for herself, but that wasn't who Ymir really was. She would especially do anything for Christa. I would even guess that she went ahead to save Daz rather than stay with Christa to make Christa happy.

In the end, Daz was fine and was stripped of his snow soaked clothes and given dry new ones and warm food. The instructors were woken up and were made sure he was going to be fine. Ymir insisted on sitting outside and waiting for Christa to get back even though I told her she should come inside and get warm.

After bringing Ymir out a plate of food and a blanket, I came back inside and thought about sleep, but it still didn't feel right going to bed until I knew for sure Christa made it back safe. I found Reiner sitting in the empty room where he and Bertholdt had been paying chess before. The window looking out of the room was on the side of the house and not the front, but you could still see Ymir sitting against the fence outside if you tried.

I sat on the bench next to Reiner and leaned into him. We had already taken off the coats and put away the supplies we had gotten out earlier, and his warmth was a welcome feeling.

"Are you sure," he asked, "that Ymir was right to leave Christa behind?"

I shrugged against him, and answered, "I don't know what's right, per say, but I do know that the way Daz was looking, he wouldn't have lasted if he spent another hour out there. And I know Ymir cares a lot about Christa. She wouldn't have left her behind unless she knew that Christa was capable of handling herself. And I trust Ymir's judgement. She's a lot smarter and cares more than she lets on."

"Well, I trust your judgement," he said, making my heart skip a beat. He leaned back against the table behind us, causing me to fall back with me. He laid his arm out on the table behind me, causing the warmth of his arm to spread against my back.

"Since when do you care so much about Christa, anyway," I teased lightly. I knew, though, that everyone here cared about Christa. She was nice to everyone and was always angelic and sweet without trying. It was almost impossible to not like her when you met her, and she was jokingly called a goddess by everyone.

Reiner chuckled and said, "Unfortunately, I think I've started to care about everyone here."

"That's not such a bad thing," I commented, and I felt him shrug this time.

"Maybe not."

We sat in silence for a moment before he spoke again, "You're not planning on sleeping until Christa gets back, are you? Even though you trust Ymir that she'll be okay."

"How'd you guess?"

"Because that's just how you are."

I sat up a little to look at his face, "What do you mean by that?"

"You care too much about other people. Eren told me that you were the big sister that took care of him, Armin, and Mikasa in your days as orphaned refugees. I don't know if you're aware of it, but you've extended those habits to almost everyone in the 104th. You taught Annie how to swim, you always save your leftovers for Sasha, you help anyone who needs it during training, and just now you fixed Ymir's food and brought it to her to make sure she ate. You like fussing and taking care of people."

I blushed and said, "I didn't think anyone noticed that."

He chuckled again, "How could anyone paying attention not notice that? And you're still especially partial to fussing over Armin."

"I'd do it to Eren too, but he's already got Mikasa on his back," I joked and he chuckled.

"Thank god Mikasa only treats Eren like that, though. It's creepy enough with just him."

I laughed. I felt bad about laughing at the expense of my best friend, but her coddling of Eren always made me laugh.

"Do you want me to stay up with you, though?" he asked, serious again.

"Only if you're okay with it."

"I'm fine. I'd feel bad leaving you up by yourself."

I smiled at him and said, "You know, I think you like taking care of others, too."

He returned my smile with his half smile/smirk that never failed to make my knees weak, "Maybe I do."

We stayed up and talked for the next few hours, and I occasionally checked the window to make sure we didn't miss Christa coming back. When the sky outside started to lighten, Ymir was still outside and I was beginning to worry about Christa again. To distract myself, I grabbed Reiner's hand and said, "Let's go watch the sunrise."

We went out the door after putting our coats back on and I waved at Ymir before we walked to the other side of the house to face the sunrise. Watching the different shades of orange, red, and purple paint the sky looked even more beautiful next the white landscape beneath. When the actual sun came over the mountain tops, I had to look away but was still amazed by the colors I could see reflecting off the snow.

Before I could comment on the beauty of it, Reiner said, "I really hope Christa shows up soon. I'm getting tired and don't have the energy to do a search party now."

When I said that I realized I was also starting to feel exhaustion creeping in on me. "You don't have to stay up, you can go to bed."

"No," he answered, turning so he was facing me. "I said I was going to stay up with you, and I will."

I rolled my eyes at his stubbornness and turned to look at Ymir again, but she was standing now, with Christa in front of her.

"Looks like you won't have to wait that long," I said.

Christa and Ymir stood facing each other, staring into each other's eyes. Whatever they were talking about, it was serious and I could feel the tension from where Reiner and I stood. They hadn't noticed us standing there at all.

"They're going to get married when we get older," I whispered to Reiner.

"Really?" he whispered back.

"Yeah. They just don't know it, yet. I'm already planning it out, though."

He chuckled, trying not to disturb Ymir's and Christa's moment, "What are your plans?"

Just then, Ymir and Christa abruptly turned from each other, and headed inside. I could see a light blush on Christa's face that either came from the cold or her conversation with Ymir. I was betting the latter.

They both continued to not notice us watching them, and after they went inside, I answered him with a normal level voice, "Well, it'll probably be a few years after we graduate from the Cadet Corps. Maybe when Christa's 20 and Ymir's 21? I don't see it being a large affair, considering they both don't have families. They'd probably invite all of us, their friends from their training days, and maybe some new friends they'd made since then. But I see it being in the backyard of their own house, which is nestled on the each of some woods a few miles away from whatever town. Far enough for the privacy that Ymir likes, but not so far away it's inconvenient, you know? They'd set up a little arch for the ceremony with lots of flowers around it. I bet there'd be flowers everywhere, especially in their hair. Christa would look beautiful in a long white dress and Ymir would wear a white suit because she never wears anything with a skirt. Afterwards they'd put out tables where the ceremony was and feed everyone homemade food that I probably cooked."

"You cook?" he interrupted.

"I used to a lot before we left Shiganshina. I told you I didn't have a mom or dad, right? That our grandpa raised me and Armin?"

"You did."

"Well my grandpa couldn't cook for shit. It was awful. Thankfully, Eren's mom took it upon herself to teach me how to cook, sew, and other ladylike things. I didn't let Grandpa cook anything after I learned how to do it myself."

He laughed aloud, and I smiled before continuing, "But anyway, I'd make whatever they'd want me to. Oh, and Mina, Sasha, and I would be the bridesmaids. It'd be a little, cozy wedding."

"That was a specific idea, though. Have you put a lot of thought into it?"

I nodded and said, "Mina, Sasha, and I talk about them sometimes. It's rather obvious how they feel. They just won't admit it to each other, which is stupid."

He nodded and hummed at me, while crossing his arms like he was considering something.

"And that would've been perfect for it, too! I mean, the snow, the sunrise, the romantic gesture of Ymir waiting up on Christa all night in the snow. It would've been perfect for a first kiss."

"You think?"

"I don't think," I joked, giving him a cocky smile, "I know. If they weren't such cowards."

He nodded again, before uncrossing his arms and suddenly grabbing my shoulders and leaning down to press his lips to mine. My mind went numb. My thoughts about Ymir's and Christa's love life got thrown out of my mind and all I could think about was his lips on mine and his arms pulling me into him. When we pulled away, I looked up at him with what was probably the stupidest looking face I had ever made completed with a large grin. He laughed a little when he looked back at me, and said, "Well, you can never say that I'm a coward, then."

"I guess not."