Snow blankets the land of Faerghus, signaling the beginning of the festive season once again. The days are harsh and the weather is frigid but the warmth generated by the bonds of family burns hotter than even the fires of a yule log. Yuletide was celebrated as a traditional holiday in the holy land since the country's founding. On this day, trees were decorated, carols were sung, and gifts were exchanged, but the yearly construction of a grand snowman was a personal favorite of the Emperor, King, and twin mercenaries.

Edelgard, Dimitri, and their spouses had taken time out of their busy schedules to spend the festivities together. After everyone received their presents, the couples would leave the warmth of the cabin in a fierce desire for competition. While the sibling mercenaries simply cherished this rare moment of leisure, their partners had a different agenda—to finally settle the question of who could build a better snowman. Ordinarily, they would work with their significant others but this time the former professors opted for allowing them an opportunity to develop their cooperation skills.

"That outfit is a little revealing isn't it?" He inquires, packing an extra pile of silver snow into the body.

"Well, it allows for maximum mobility when lifting heavy mounds of snow around," she replies. "Honestly, it feels like I'm wearing nothing at all!" She wiggles her hips playfully as she lines the face with coal, occasionally taking a glance over at her brother to see his reaction.

"You practically are wearing nothing at all," he shakes his head at the spectacle in disapproval. "I don't think I'll ever understand how you can wear so little in temperatures like this."

"I suppose I've gotten used to it, living in Faerghus every day. I see you're overdressed for the occasion as per usual."

"Overdressed? Perhaps. I've told you before that I get cold easily. It rarely gets this chilly in Adrestia."

"Yes, yes, I know, every year you complain about getting deathly sick. Sounds to me like some resistance training is in order. Maybe you and El should consider moving out here one of these days, it might help with your cold temperature intolerance." She says making air quotes with her fingers.

"It's a real thing and I have it."

"Sure you do, Frosty. I think you just have a problem with showing a little skin every now and again."

"You're kidding, right? It's winter, why in the world would I wear revealing clothing?"

"Because I do. We're twins remember? We used to dress alike all the time when we were children."

"That was before father started letting us pick out our own clothes. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing those tights of yours."

"Aww! "Would you at least consider the crop top? I'm sure El would love to see your abs on full display."

"I tend to avoid parading myself around as eye candy." He says placing two pieces of coal in the head."

She wraps a heavy woolen scarf around the top layer of snow, linking it together before tying it into a knot. "You're no fun. I think it would be cute if we swapped outfits, at least for a day."

"You and I have very different definitions of cute."

"Oh yeah? And what do you consider cute, your highness?"

"El's shrieks when she gets frightened, her blushing face when I tease her, need I go on your majesty?"

"I suppose you got me there," she picks up a shield painted with an azure lion and fastens it to the left twig. "If you asked me, I likely would have said something similar pertaining to Dimitri."

"Predictable."

"As if you aren't! I knew your answer would be Edelgard before I even asked the question!"

"Fine, I'll admit you really hit the nail on the head," he says positioning an old knight's helmet on the top. "Have I really become so predictable myself?"

"Love will do that to you," she replies. "Remember how everyone used to say you and I were completely unreadable?"

He reaches for a crimson sword with twin eagles painted on the hilt and places it directly into the right twig. "Let me guess, Dimitri reads you as well as Edelgard reads me by now huh?"

"Of course, nothing gets past him anymore. I wonder how they're doing anyway."

"You know they get along about as well as a Hresvelgion Whisker and a Blaiddyd Rex. I wouldn't be too surprised if they were still debating how the snowman should be built. Speaking of which, would you like to do the honors?"

"Really!? You're going to let me put it on? You never let me do it before!"

"I'm feeling oddly festive, it's best not to question it, just take the carrot."

She kisses her brother on the cheek before taking the carrot, shoving it in through the center of its face. "I love you, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know." He looks at the figure in front of him, satisfied with the day's effort. "We may bicker from time to time about fashion, but we sure know how to build an excellent snowman together."

"Maybe we should consider teaming up together again next year. That is...if our better halves actually manage to get along."

The twins look towards each other with urgency at the realization. A couple of hours went by since they began the building competition. Recognizing that the competitive nature between Edelgard and Dimitri had a tendency to get out of hand, they stop admiring their snowman and hurry over to the other building site.

"Must you continue building? Continue demolishing my snowmen?" Dimitri asks in frustration.

"Must you continue rebuilding? Continue demolishing my snowmen in retaliation? I will not stop! There is nothing I would not sacrifice to win this competition!" Edelgard retorts with a scowl.

"Enough of this madness! You and I were supposed to be working together remember? This competition of yours is built on a foundation of snow corpses and tears!"

"Working together? With you? How could anyone hope to build a proper snowman when you proceed to wreck every one that you touch?"

"I'll admit, because of my strength sometimes I can be rather clumsy, I end up breaking things that are precious."

"Naturally," she folds her arms in disapproval. "It would've been so delightful to have champagne earlier but alas you destroyed the bottle. How is that eye of your's by the way?"

"My sight is narrowed, but the scar is heal—

Edelgard, taking advantage of the distraction unexpectedly scrambles past Dimitri; tackling his recently rebuilt snowman and obliterating it completely.

"I see that working with you is absolutely impossible, "Now, let's separate that head from your snowman's body, shall we?"

He calmly walks over to her snowman, hovering his hands around the head before giving her a single soul-piercing glare.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"To the yule fires of eternity with your snowman El!"

Bringing his hands together in a single swing, he manages to crumble the snowman into tiny chunks. Nothing could be salvaged as the wind carried the remains away into the air piece by piece.

"Of course you realize this means war!" The young Emperor creates as many snowballs as she can, before lobbing each one at the King. He begins to dodge, seeking refuge behind a tree to make snowballs of his own. Following his action, Edelgard ducks behind a cluster of poinsettias, waiting patiently in cover for him to make a move.

"I have home-field advantage El!" He shouts from his hiding place. "My beloved and I have snowball fights like this all the time!

"Is that supposed to discourage me?! She shouts back while preparing another snowball. "I'll have you know that my darling and I have been developing strategies for situations such as this. Your home-field advantage is nothing against my resolve!"

The two of them sit still for a few moments, attempting to feel out the other's move. By this time, each of them amassed a significant pile of ammunition, ensuring that their "war" would last for a long while. Nothing but the howls of the wind could be heard in the relative stillness. The area became so quiet that the local fauna chanced to leave their own hiding places to feed.

Two reindeer strolled into the meadow from the forest, a male and a female. The pair's presence brought harmony to the hazardous landscape as they stepped over small mounds of the recently destroyed snowmen.

Settling for the spot under a grand tree where the young Emperor and King once stood. The deer leaned over a small pear shrub, eating away in tranquillity as if they were the only ones present. The silence didn't last long however as the snow went flying once again.

Edelgard and Dimitri left their hiding places in a feat of determination. Both of them shouting passionately as the snowballs rained. The unfortunate deer pranced away in fear as the battle raged on. Hit after hit left the two of them covered in snow, they cared little for hiding at this point, simply throwing snow and dodging. Just when it seemed as though things were getting out of hand, their spouses arrived in a hurry to diffuse the fighting.

"El!" The twin brother screams in displeasure at his wife.

"Dimitri!" His sister yells at her husband in the same manner.

"D-darling?!" Edelgard stammers upon seeing her husband, dropping every snowball she had on the ground.

"B-beloved?!" Dimitri falters similarly at the sight of his wife, crushing the remaining snowballs into powder.

The twins stare at their partners in anger. Yuletide only took place once a year and here it was, being ruined by a needless conflict.

"You've disappointed me El, we agreed to let you two work together so that we could avoid dilemmas like this, and here you go partaking in an unnecessary snowball war."

"B-but darling, he started it!" she pleads pointing towards Dimitri. "The crest of Blaiddyd is surely to blame. It made him break apart every snowman we attempted to build. Honestly, I don't know how your sister puts up with it every yea—

"Wait!" Dimitri interjects. "While it is true that I am responsible for destroying our first couple of snowmen, Edelgard insisted that we break tradition and compete against each other!"

"That would be because working with you any longer would've been maddening! It was preferable to build on my own than to continuously start over!"

"Dimitri...I told you before to be more careful, "His wife scolds, finally joining the discussion. "Not everyone enjoys rebuilding snowmen all day. You know that's why you and I always run out of time."

"I'm sorry my beloved, truly I am but Edel—

Dimitri, stops himself to look up at the giant evergreen tree above him. The rest of the group follow his line of sight to notice two plants with spiky verdant leaves lined in red berries. They appeared seemingly out of nowhere, or perhaps they hung there all along, resting in the trees among the confrontation, hoping that someone would eventually notice them.

"Ah, they're holly plants!" Dimitri says with a wide smile. "They rarely grow in Faerghus due to the weather but it appears we are fortunate this year."

"I've read about them in an old historical text," Edelgard adds. "People commonly refer to them as Mistletoe."

"Mystletainn?" Her husband asks curiously.

"No silly, mistletoe! Not the legendary holy sword father used to tell us stories about!" His sister folds her arms scolding him "Couples are said to kiss underneath one should they spot it, they are also recognized for being highly adept at defusing confrontations."

Edelgard and Dimitri turn to each other in a determined nod before walking over to their spouses and pulling them in for loving kisses. The siblings were simultaneously stunned at their spouses' assertiveness but soon reciprocated the love they were given.

Edelgard pulls away first, gazing her husband in the eyes. "I think I may have found a tradition I don't want to be broken, my love." She says breathlessly.

"Any tradition that allows me to kiss you is worth keeping around in my book," he says with a grin.

She blushes profusely, pulling him in for another kiss, hugging him tightly so they could be as close as possible.

Just a few spaces over, Dimitri and his wife kissed in much the same way before he replicated Edelgard's pull apart so that he could gaze at the woman in his arms. "I've always wanted to kiss you under a holly plant, my beloved." He says intently.

"I've wanted the same," she says looking up at her love. "So much so that I checked this very tree every year, I'm glad we finally got our chance."

He smiles, lifting her up into his arms, continuing to kiss her lovingly as he softly cradled her.

The couples remained in each other's embrace, no longer caring about the competition or the previous confrontation. The only thing on their minds was showing appreciation to the ones they loved. Even as the sun set and the temperature dropped, they refused to leave the great evergreen tree so that the heartfelt moment could be burned into their memories and the day looked back on fondly. For this would be a Yuletide none of them would soon forget.

"Psst! Claude! We've been hanging up here for hours now. My arms are getting tired, couldn't you have gotten someone with stronger arms to do this?

"No complaining Hilda, I chose you because you do have powerful arms. I knew you could hold those plants longer than anyone else. Besides, look how happy their Majesties and our former teachers are. They can't fight if they're too busy kissing.

"You know, you're lucky I love you, otherwise, I would have never agreed to this."