AN: My contribution for the ZoSan Christmas Exchange 2014 organized by Kumiko-sama-chan. Thank you for doing this.
Anyway: As it is HELL to find something specific about Rauhnächte on the internet (or elsewhere) as nobody is all to sure what really was going on since the first documents are from the middle-ages and there was only oral tradition before it, I am going to mess some things up. Please bear with it. Thank you and enjoy. Marry Christmas or whatever you are celebrating!
WARNING: not historically accurate, explanations at the bottom
Snow. Snow everywhere. Snow and those fucking evergreen trees! Back home in Rome it was never this cold!
The lonely soldier tramped through the woods, cursing, since it got colder and colder with every minute. Not even the weird pants the Centurion made them wear helped to keep him warm as they were already soaked. The man was freezing.
Where the hell did all the others go? And why wasn't there any sign of civilization anywhere? It was getting darker with every minute! And that while the sun started shining just a few hours ago!
The young man, Zoro was his name, growled. What the fuck did the Cesar think when he decided to invade and fucking loose against the barbarians* in this fucking cold and hostile country where it was cold half of the year? And not just this weak-ass cold they were used to. No, Zoro could deal with that. But not with so much snow. Not with that. Not to forget, that they had to fucking lose the eagle! And had to look for it even now, ten years after they lost the damned battle. **
The soldier sneezed. Again. And again. Damn, his nose was running and it was getting colder even faster with the weakening sunshine.
Zoro was not sure, what to do next. In normal circumstances he would have lied down and slept till the morning and then look for his companions. But in this weather, it was impossible. He was not just the average soldier, but the cold would kill even him.
This thoughts circulated through Zoro's mind as he walked even further. He decided that he wouldn't stop until he found a place to stay at night. A village would be great.
Zoro didn't know how long he walked and had no idea what time it was. But even with his training, he was getting tired. And hungry.
Just as he was thinking if it would be possible to lay down and sleep where he was, he noticed a light between the trees not too far away.
Not giving a damn in how much danger he was putting himself in, the soldier marched towards the fire. If anything, he could warm himself at least.
Not being one to hide and spy, he walked directly on the small lighting, his hands on his short-swords so he could defend himself if necessary.
A single man, blonde and slim, was sitting on a tree trunk, eyes wide with surprise. As the man seemed harmless and there were no weapons in sight, the Roman didn't rise his swords and pointed on the fire. "Can I join you?" he asked.
A foot cam flying at Zoro instead of an answer. The blonde attacked him!
The soldier drew his swords, one in each hand and one in his mouth, a technique own only by him, and fought back.
To Zoro's surprise, the stranger was keeping up with him, his kicks flying at him at a crazy speed until both froze in their tracks.
A shout - more wasn't necessary for both men to stop fighting and turn around in surprise.
"Quit messing around you idiot! What the hell are you thinking breaking the Yule-peace?" an old man was standing there and yelling at the blonde in a language Zoro didn't understand.
The soldier took in his weird appearance, the braided mustache and wooden leg, wondering why the blonde listened to him and only glared at the old man. Was he the tribe chef or something?
"Are your eyes weakened to that extent that you don't even notice that he is a fucking Roman soldier? THEY started a war with us! And you are telling me to not fight him?" Zoro's opponent was yelling at the other man, while he himself looked in confusion between them. It looked like they were fighting and he didn't get why.
"You were a little eggplant back then! And you still are one! All that while being arrogant enough to think that you can disobey the will of the gods! Fool! Do you want to bring their wrath upon us?!"
Feeling cold, Zoro decided to ignore those two Germans as they obviously decided to ignore him and sat down at the exact spot the first blonde had been sitting so he could warm himself at the fire. It would make fighting easier for him if his hands would unfreeze enough so he could grab his swords securely.
"It's too late now anyway, isn't it?"
"You bet it isn't! Take him with you! Care for him and protect him until the magic doesn't wave. Protecting an unknowing fool will bring you on the good side of the gods again! And on mine as well! Stop acting as if you forgot what I taught you about hospitality! He will die of hunger if nobody helps him! Those Roman bastards have no idea how to survive in winter!"
The younger blonde shot the older a glare but turned around and moved towards Zoro. "I am certainly not doing this for you, old-fart!" he muttered under his breath.
Just as he wanted to tap Zoro's shoulder, the soldier jumped up, almost headbutting him. Only the blonde's extraordinary reflexes saved him from a full knock-out.
Zoro in the meantime had his swords ready, prepared to strike at any time.
"Ey! Calm down!" the young blonde in front of him growled, but put his hands up in defense in the hope the other would understand.
And really, Zoro lowered his swords, his eyes not leaving the German.
"I will give you a shelter and food! Come with me!" the blonde pointed at Zoro and did a very bad imitation of eating, before gesturing towards himself and the woods.
The soldier wasn't too sure what he was trying to say, but as one of the possibilities, the one that made the most sense, was that he would get something warm to eat and maybe a shelter. He decided to risk it this once and go with the man even though he had attacked him earlier, hopping that he had understood what went on between the one-legged and the one with the curly brow, as he had noticed now, correctly.. He would have to fight his way out in the worst case.
They walked in silence as the blonde led the way through the woods, eying each other warily. The old man hadn't gone with them.
"Here" Sanji motioned towards the small wooden house, covered in snow, standing some feet from them on another small lighting.
The soldier only nodded in response, following the other inside without a word. It wouldn't lead anywhere anyway.
Inside it was warm and cozy as the ashes were still gleaming in the small fireplace.
"Sanji" the man with the curly-brow pointed at himself. "You?"
"Zoro" came the fast answer. This one had been very easy to understand. The soldier put down his helm and started undressing himself, mimicking the other who was wearing only his trousers by now.
"Where can I put-?" Zoro stopped mid-sentence as he noticed Sanji staring at him with wide eyes. "What?" He certainly didn't understand what was going on, and the blonde approaching him just to touch his hair confused him even more.
They stood there, staring at each other, the one suspiciously, the other curiously, until Zoro's growling stomach broke the tension.
Hearing that sound seemingly woke Sanji up from his trance. He showed Zoro on the wooden bank behind the table and started running around the small hut, pulling out all kinds of food and placing them before the other. Fish, lentil and bean stew, apples, bread and salt and what seemed like a grilled boar.
Zoro was the one who's eyes widened in surprise this time as he saw the load of food.
The last thing, the blonde placed before him was a wooden jug full of, what he realized after tasting the beverage, beer. And what a beer. The stuff they drank back home was nothing compared to this.
They ate in silence, glancing at each other when they believed the other wasn't looking.
It was weird. They were two enemies by birth, sitting at one table an stuffing themselves with extraordinary tasty food. The tension let sparks fly in the air, but with more and more beer, even those two warriors relaxed a bit.
"Did you cook this?" Zoro fumbled with his hands in the air, mimicking what he believed to be a stirring gesture. As a man from healthy family he had never cooked before. His mother and the slaves did.
Sanji stared at the soldier for a while, but than it seemed that he finally understood and nodded with a proud grin.
They studied each other while they tried to communicate as good as possible without using too many words.
"Apple" Sanji threw the fruit into the air and caught it with ease when it came flying back at him, before taking a bite.
"Apple." Zoro repeated before he pointed at the fruit himself. "Apple"
Sanji nodded in understanding, before he swallowed. "Beer?" he rose his empty jug.
This time it was Zoro's turn to nod.
Just as Sanji stood up to get some more of the alcoholic beverage, the whole hut shook.
"What was that?" Zoro growled as he sprung up to his feet to grab his swords he had put away before sitting down to eat.
"FUCK. " Sanji was putting on his fur coat, ready to storm outside if the hut shook again.
And it truly did. "Why the hell does it not work? The whole place is smoked out?!"
The blonde opened the door with a ruck with the intention to kick the monster he believed to see straight into the face. But there was no monster to be seen. Only large footsteps of what could be a monster reindeer. Sanji glanced at them in suspicion. Something was wrong with the path. It seemed as if there were only two feet involved, not four.
The young German had learned pretty early how to read footprints as his biological father had been a huntsman.
"Step aside!" Zoro muttered, forgetting for a moment that the other could not understand him.
The soldier had no idea about hunting or the animals living this far in the north. So his natural reaction was to don't give a fuck about tracks and go look for the cause of the chaos. He didn't believe in anything anyway. Jupiter and the other Gods were a bunch of weirdos anyway and didn't care about the parts of the world so far away from Rome.
He marched around the blonde, ignoring the cold coming from walking barefoot in snow, and followed the footprints before Sanji could stop him.
Not far away behind the hut, a huge dark form was moving into the woods.
Before Zoro could do anything, Sanji was already passed him and jumped at the monster, kicking it in the back with full force.
The thing stumbled a few steps forwards, with a loud groan before it tried to continue it's way to the woods, but only after a few steps, a huge mass of snow fell from a large tree and buried it together with Sanji.
Zoro, who was standing a few feet away watched in horror as the big mass suddenly became a lot smaller. "What the hell is going on?" the man mouthed.
But that was it with the shock. The soldier rushed back to the house to grab a bowl and hurried to dig out the blonde barbarian. He had no idea why he was doing this with the monster nearby, but he had more pressing issues on his mind anyway.
"Fuck" Zoro was freezing his ass of, as he dig deeper and deeper. Where exactly had Sanji been standing?
Finally, something moved under the snow.
The soldier tossed the bowl away, pushing his bare arm trough the mass. The thing, he grabbed was quite fuzzy and hairy: the man's coat!
Zoro pulled at it with full force, falling backwards as the small shape broke trough the remaining snow. But it wasn't Sanji.
"What the fuck?" the man growled once again, as he looked at the thing. It was small and had hoofs, antlers and a blue nose. It looked like a... Zoro didn't know an animal that looked like that.
"Shit" Zoro grabbed the bowl again and moved a few steps away, digging with even greater vigor than before. He had to find the German! How would he explain his disappearance to the one legged man if he found him without the other? The older looked like a tribe chef or something! Not that Zoro had seen one in these parts before...
It took a while before the soldier found something again, but this time, the thing he touched felt like human hair. He didn't hesitate and moved his arm downwards, feeling fur again. This time it had to be the coat!
He pulled again and it was truly a coat, followed by a blonde head.
Zoro trowed the lifeless form over his shoulder the moment he noticed the blue lips and ran into the hut once again.
Hell, he had no idea what to do now! Overheating, yeah, he could deal with that. But not with freezing!
That's when he noticed a small pud building itself under the blonde's form lying on the floor. Of course! The snow was melting!
Zoro found himself undressing the other before he realized what he was doing. By now, Sanji was wearing only his pants again, which looked quite slobbery. As a Roman and a soldier, he was used to see other men naked and even more, so he continued his work without a second thought.
That's when the cold body suddenly started moving.
Zoro stared at the man's face as he opened his blue eyes. "Hell... What was that?" Sanji's voice was low and weak, before realization stuck him. "THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" the blonde yelled, trying to move away from Zoro, who had forgotten to pull his hands away from the half open trousers Sanji was wearing.
Even if the soldier didn't understand a word, he believed to get what the others problem was. "SAVING YOUR LIFE, ASSHOLE!" he growled.
They yelled at each other like that, throwing insults in their own respectable languages through the hut until steps make them jump up in shock.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO DOING?" a voice even Zoro recognized rang through the place. It was the one-legged man! And he carried the thing Zoro had ding up earlier in his arms.
"Not your business, old man!" Sanji yelled back, putting on his shirt even though it was still wet.
"Whatever. This thing, Chopper, told me what happened. The Roman saved yo both! Just like his hair promises. So calm down now, little Eggplant and fucking get yourself going!" the old man put Chopper down. "This little thing is staying with you till the end of the Yule, so behave! As it seems, he understands both languages and can help you understand each other! Care for him! I am going to check on you after the mess is over! Don't cause any more trouble!"With these words, the one-legged man left, letting the others eye each other suspiciously.
Zoro woke up from the sound of iron hitting iron.
"What the fuck are you doing?" he growled as he turned around in the bed he had been sharing with Sanji for two years now.
"A good morning to you to, stupid mosshead!" the blonde answered without sparing him a glance.
"Calm down, you two!" Chopper looked up from his food. Do you have to bicker this early in the morning?" the small reindeer asked.
"Ask that the idiot without a sense of orientation!" Sanji muttered while adding some mushrooms into the omelet he was making.
"I had a weird dream." Zoro sat up in the bed.
"What was it about?" the two others looked at him in surprise.
"It was how we met." the green-haired man confessed as he stood up and made his way to give his lover a good morning kiss, not forgetting to pet their 'kid' on the way.
* the fight after the Teuteburger Wald where he Romans got their asses kicked by the Germans
** For the Romans the Silver Eagle they carried as their symbol (each Legion had its own and an own symbol added to the eagle as well) was like super duper important and if it got lost, they did everything possible to get it back. And yeah, they looked for this particular one for 10 years. Idk if they found it.