Christmas season that year was distinguishably much colder than previous years, and it was not a mystery to every citizen that the most recent tragedy of Wall Maria was the cause of the gloom.  

The afternoon sky was filled with snowy clouds, temperature some degrees below zero, and the barracks of the Survey Corps were covered in heaps of pale snow as the sun glowed brightly; the flurry of snowpack glinting and the withered trees inanimate under the cool heavens while a howling wind blew through the air. 

Crunches of footsteps on the snowfield in the courtyard resounded, followed by baby giggles. 

"You like the snow, don't you?" Isanna smiled as she lifted Lauren a bit higher into the air, the child reaching out to the sky with her dainty fingers as if she could reach it. 

For a few peaceful moments, it was just the soldier and the baby, enjoying the serenity of the snowy scenery that was enshrouding the entirety of their headquarters. The both of them were wrapped in bundles of clothing to endure the extreme weather outside; the previous days were difficult to go out in due to the harsh blizzard that had been raining on the earth, and it was only on that day did Isanna finally get the chance to go out and let Lauren see the beauty of Christmas season after much convincing to Erwin because apparently for him, it was 'too cold for Lauren to go out and her body might not handle it well'. 

He was overprotective like that. 

Fortunately, Isanna managed to persuade him to allow the both of them outside on the condition that they wear at least five layers of clothing. 

"Commander daddy's such a big doting oaf, isn't he?" Isanna grinned as Lauren cooed back at her, causing her to softly laugh along. 

The tranquility of their moment was shattered when Hanji's piercing shriek of excitement came barreling from inside the main building of their barracks, followed by the loud banging of doors being pushed open. In no time, the brunette was racing outside across the snowy yards, arms extending wide to her side as she felt the cold air slapping her skin. 

"Woohoo!" Hanji whooped, grin so wide Isanna thought it would shoot past her face, "Merry Christmas, everyone!" 

The older woman shook her head with a small smile while Lauren cooed, joining Hanji in her merriment. 

Hanji ran for a few meters across the yard before she suddenly stopped and, with a loud gleeful laugh, fell down on her back on the pile of snow and began swiping her arms and legs to form a snow angel. Typical Hanji behavior.

Isanna could only sigh, turning to Lauren while pointing at the brunette. "See that weirdo over there, Ren? I hope you don't become as crazy as her."

The raven woman trudged over towards the lying figure of Hanji, who was smiling so widely while she was rigorously swishing her limbs in a blur like there was no tomorrow; any faster and her limbs would pop out from its sockets. 

Lauren made an incoherent noise while pointing down at the snow, causing Isanna to follow her gaze and realized she wanted to form a snow angel too. The raven woman mulled over the idea of lowering her down onto the cold ground. In the end, she crouched down and gently placed the toddler on the soft patch, with Lauren grinning widely as she began to pat the snow with her hands.

A loud gasp erupted from Hanji's lips as she sat up abruptly. "I almost forgot!" She cupped her lips and bellowed, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEEEVIII!"

At her rather conspicuous birthday greeting, Isanna remembered the special occasion; it was Levi's birthday, and she didn't even get him a gift. The raven woman began thinking of some other ways she could do something special for that grumpy gremlin. Maybe she could help him clean up the snow on the roofs of their barracks? Or perhaps buy him some military platform boots?

Wait, no.. I can't have him be taller than me.

At the corner of her eyes, Isanna could see Levi and Mike exiting out of the building wearing thick layers of winter coats, stroding over towards where they were.

When the two finally reached them, Levi scowled at Hanji, irritated at her loud announcement which he was sure the whole headquarters had heard; he really didn't need the world to know of his birthday. "Shut up, Four-eyes."

Isanna smirked at him, slightly craning her head since she was sitting on the snow beside Lauren. "Congrats. You're now a year older. A shame I can't say the same for your height."

"Shut the f - " Levi caught his own words as his eyes darted over towards Lauren, who was innocently peering at him with her doe eyes; he instantly remembered their rule about swearing in front of the baby, causing him to look away with a scowl - "tch."

Snorting at his reaction, Isanna and Hanji exchanged knowing looks while giving each other high fives.

While they were busy with their own conversation, Mike had bended down near Lauren and picked her up with a 'Hey kiddo', lightly tossing her up before catching her back in his grip, causing the little girl to giggle while swinging her legs.

In a few short minutes, Hanji and Isanna began building snowmen, with a loud cackle erupting between them because the former had built Levi's snowman around two feet shorter than the others.

"I call it the gremlin snowman!" Hanji proudly declared with both hands on her hips and a twinkle in her eyes. In the background was Isanna rolling in laughter.

Note: Levi was not amused.

With a dark shadow crossing over his face and an irk mark popping off on his forehead, he slowly approached the two feet snowman and kicked its head, the flurry of snow crumbling down.

"Levi! You made it shorter!"

Isanna wheezed while clutching her stomach as tears began to form in the corner of her eyes. "Any shorter and you'd fade out from existence!"

Mike shook his head, wondering why Isanna made fun of Levi so much as if she wasn't in the 160 centimeters range herself.

Snapping a sharp glare at the two women, Levi grumbled a curse under his breath. He had the urge to throw neverending cusses while strangling the both of them with his bare hands, but he had to refrain from it because a toddler was with them, and Erwin had drilled it into all of the soldiers to keep everything rated PG when Lauren was in the scene.

So, he did the next thing he could do.

Crouching down, the raven man began gathering some snow into his hands.

Isanna and Hanji had stopped laughing and stared at Levi, who was silently forming a snowball. A snowball that was getting bigger and bigger by the second.

When it clicked them, the two girls exchanged looks before they scurried and hid behind the other two snowmen they had built just in time for Levi to chuck a large ball of snow at their direction, causing their creations to crumble down and destroy their only source of protection from the pissed man.

Hanji leaped up and yelped, but a wide grin was still on her lips as she dashed farther away while screaming, "THE GOBLIN IS PISSED! I REPEAT: THE GOBLIN IS PISSED! ALL SOLDIERS, BEWARE-"

SPLAT!

She was cut off when a snowball landed right behind her head, the force pushing her body forward and flopping on the snowy ground face flat with a splat.

Isanna cackled and ran away while Levi threw ball after ball at her, but the raven woman was nimble to evade the barrage, only causing him to click his tongue.

On the other hand, Mike was carrying Lauren by the side, shaking his head at them, while the little girl was having fun staring at the three who were currently now engaged in a three-way snowball fight, a smile on her lips while giggling at the scene.

Meanwhile, at the open doors of their barracks, Erwin was leaning against the doorframe with crossed arms, a bemused gaze at them. He couldn't help but lightly shake his head with a small smile; and to think, they were grown adults who killed titans for a living.

"Meow."

The blond turned his head down and saw Mhile sitting by his feet and licking its paw.

Erwin smiled at the cat. "Merry Christmas to you, Mhile."

The creature tilted his head at him. "Meow."

Returning his attention back at the group, Erwin stared as the three continued on with their intensive snowball fight; with Hanji now hiding behind her makeshift snow fort, Isanna laughing like there was no tomorrow, Levi with his unchanging scowl directed at them, and Mike carrying Lauren who were unbothered at the chaos around them.

He softly laughed.

Christmas that year was distinguishably much colder than previous years, but the barracks of the Survey Corps felt warmer that particular season.