Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or connected with it.
Percy shivered as he crossed no-man's-land into German territory. Snow was falling lightly to the ground. Each step that he made produced a soft crunch as he walked. In his hands was an old, brown leather football.
Earlier that day, he could see the candles from the German's trenches and even some trees. They were singing Christmas carols and he couldn't help but sing along with them too. That's why he was over here you know. The British could hear the Germans sing across the land and responded by singing some carols back.
Percy was sent as an envoy. He brought gifts of tobacco, food, and alcohol with him. The artillery fell silent. There was no sound of rapid firing of machine guns or the explosions of shells. It was peace and quiet, a privilege that Percy never thought he would hear.
In the distance, he could see another man coming towards him. The soldier seemed to be unarmed, thank goodness. The Germans kept their end of the deal after all.
It was Christmas Eve for God's sakes. They shouldn't be fighting. Christmas was supposed to be a holiday of good cheer, a time to eat copious amounts of food and drink an ungodly amount of alcohol. Percy should be in London, in his small, warm flat eating dinner with his mother. Oh how he missed home!
The soldier and he met in the middle of the land. He too, was carrying supplies. Up close, Percy could see that he was no older than him. At most, he could've been seventeen. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, eyes that have seen such unspeakable horrors. All of them saw things that they didn't want to see.
"Merry Christmas my friend," Percy said in a friendliest manner that he could muster. It was hard to sound calm when you come face to face with the people whom you have been fighting for the past year of your life. "My name is Percy Jackson. What's yours?"
"…Mein name ist Jason, Jason Grace." The young man held out his hand tentatively.
Smiling, Percy politely shook it. "Er, Jason was it? Well nice to meet you Jason. My friends and I were thinking if you are willing to play a match of football, out here in the open."
"Fußball?"
"Yes, 'fußball.' You guys have it in Germany, or… Deutschland?" Percy thought that was the German equivalent of 'Germany,' he wasn't so sure but he probably pronounced it wrong anyways. He blamed himself for not listening to Annabeth while she taught him German.
"…Ja."
"Is that a yes? You will play football with us?"
Jason simply nodded. "Lassen sie uns Fußball spielen."
The guns fell silent as young men scrambled for the ball in cold weather. All you could hear was yelling and screaming, in victory or in defeat. Nevertheless, it was all in good cheer and the soldiers had a merry time.
Those who weren't playing drank themselves into a stupor, telling each other stories of their lives before the war and the girls that they admired. They played cards and smoked cigarettes. They were no longer faceless enemies whom they have fought day and night. No, they were comrades who laughed like they have known each other since they were babes.
As for the football match, the Germans beat the British by a long shot. But both considered the other a worthy opponent.
Percy and Jason collapsed on the snowy ground, cheeks burning red with exhaustion. The field has since then cleared and both boys were laying and looking up at the sky.
"That…was…a good… game, don't you think?" Percy heaved. "It was… fun. You German blokes are better than I thought you would be."
"Yes, it was indeed a good game."
Percy 's face turned into one of confusion. "What? You speak English? Since when?"
"Since I was a child dummkopf," Jason simply stated. He tried to keep a neutral tone, but no amount of disguise could hide the tone of satisfaction in his voice. "You think I would enter this war without knowing the language of the enemy? I'm not that stupid."
"You mean during that whole conversation we had earlier - you understood every word of what I said?"
"Mhm, ja," Jason said, not entirely concerned of the embarrassment Percy was feeling. "Would you mind passing me a cigar? My sister isn't around telling me what to do so I can finally smoke one."
Percy stood up, brushing the snow off of his uniform. He flashed a smile and ran away from Jason shouting: "No way, Grace. I'm not giving you this until you apologize for deceiving me!"
Jason grinned; his blue eyes sparkled like a child's. "Only in your dreams Jackson. I'm coming for you!"
The two boys chased each other around for quite sometime (Percy relented and gave Jason one of his cigars), eventually returning to their respective sides and celebrating Christmas with them . Not a single gun shot was fired that day or any blood has been shed. Two enemies, brought together by a common interest with spectacular results. And with that, all was well on the Western Front.
It has been 100 years since the Christmas Truce, and peace is still blooming in the place where so much war caused the deaths of so many lives.
To Mr or Mrs WarriorCatRocks: Don't worry, you do not sound rude at all. In fact, I appreciate your review. I am an American, well, Asian-American to be specific and I am well aware that when I wrote "football" I did not mean American football. I assumed the readers will know which kind of football (a.k.a: "soccer") I am talking about considering this is between Britain and Germany.
I am sorry that I have offended you, I did not mean it. I will change the story so that it will be more evident that they did not play American football.
Vielen Dank und Auf Wiedersehen.