The air was freezing, and huge snowflakes were thrashed around by the constant gunfire. There were commanding shouts from both sides of the battle, and the occasional cry of pain. Today was November 30th. The last day before December. The war still raged as if it wasn't almost Christmas. Well… Today, that's going to change. No one, whether they were from the United Kingdom or Germany, was going to die for Christmas. No family deserves to get a letter on Christmas morning stating that their father or lover died.
A man set his rifle down and felt around inside of his pocket. He had brought something special onto the field today. He heard the Commander demanded that he picked his gun up and continue firing, but instead, he just stood up, separating himself from the safety of the trench.
I must be crazy. He kept telling himself as he crawled out of the trench and started walking to the German wall of fire. He kept calm despite the chaos around him. He heard the Commander shouting from the trenches, telling him to get down, but he moved forward, slowly and calmly. Soon the fire from both sides settled, and all eyes watched in confusion as he walked quietly over to the enemy.
There were whispers from the Germans. He didn't know much German, but he understood they felt suspicious of him. He kept hearing the words Bombe and was. He knew what both of those words were. They were wondering if he had a bomb.
No. He silently replied to them. I come baring gifts. He stuck his hand into his pocket once more, and guns were suddenly pointed at him. He moved too quickly. Don't act afraid. He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to one of the Germans. He was dressed differently than the rest. He guessed he was the German commander. He slowly took it in his hands and opened the paper.
The German Commander's dull blue eyes scanned the page. He saw words at the top. It said something in English, and then "waffenstandstill". He cringed at the bad German- weapons can't stand still in the past. He assumed the word was supposed to be "Waffenstillstand", meaning "truce". Below the words was a picture of a Christmas tree, a tradition originating in Germany. And below that was a picture of the man in front of him, he assumed. The eyebrows were big and he had green eyes like the man who had given him the paper. He was shaking hands with a man with short blond hair and blue eyes. It probably was not intentional, but the picture looked surprisingly a lot like the German man who was reading it.
He looked at the British man before him. "Was ist das?"
He shifted his feet, trying to hide his extreme nervousness. It wasn't because the man spoke German, he knew exactly what was asked. He was surrounded by the enemy. He looked stupid. Slowly, he held out a shaky hand. "Truce?"
The German looked at it, confusion in his eyes. "Uh… ja…" He grabbed the British man's hand and they shook. He then felt around in his pocket and climbed out of his trench and walked across the field to the British soldiers. He found the Commander and gave him the item in his pocket- a package of cigars.
Despite his surprise, the Commander laughed and shook the German's hand.
"Uh… No fighting?" The German man spoke in his best English.
The British Commander nodded.
Well. That was stupid. This was a lot better inside of my head, and I lost interest about half-way through. Oh well. This is based off of the Christmas Truce of 1914. The Soldier was Arthur Kirkland, the German Commander was Ludwig Beilschmidt, and the British commander was some random guy.
This feels more like the ending to a Disney movie than a World War I Hetalia fanfiction…
Please review~