Silent Night
Cross-posted at hetalia100
Title: Silent Night
Author: snappy8000
Prompt: Holiday
Character[s]/Pairing[s]: England (Arthur) and Germany (Ludwig)
Rating/Warnings: G
Word-count: 250 (whew!)
Ypres, 1914. He didn't know what day it was anymore. The months and hours had been washed away by the rainfall. In his pocket, he had the card King George had sent him; beside him, the small gift from Mary, unopened; the pretty white paper stained with dirt. He was lying on the mud, his rifle tightly held in his dirty hands, trying to remember when he had last taken a warm bath.
It was snowing now; the ground a wet muck. They hadn't fired since yesterday, but he was on high alert. He could hear every rustle of uniforms, every breath his men took, and then--- it was a song. The melody familiar even though the words were hollow to him. It was coming from the other trench, the German one. Then there was movement in the No Man's Land, a flash of white on the off-gray landscape. And Ludwig.
He stood up, cautiously, the rifle never leaving his hands. He stepped up to the German, all eyes on them. Ludwig seemed hesitant, kept averting his gaze.
"We figured there could be a truce today."
He doesn't get it. Just today Dover was bombed. Was he playing at something? He looked back to the German lines and was surprised to see the small tree decorated with candles, glowing softly. Then it hit him. He looked around them, sighed, dropped his rifle. He could use a break.
"Hell," Arthur said with a wry smile, "it's Christmas, right?"
-------------
Set during World War I, when there was supposedly a truce during Christmas between the German and the British armies.
For further reading, go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce#British.E2.80.93German_truce
http://www.1914-1918.net/truce.htm
Title: Silent Night
Author: snappy8000
Prompt: Holiday
Character[s]/Pairing[s]: England (Arthur) and Germany (Ludwig)
Rating/Warnings: G
Word-count: 250 (whew!)
Ypres, 1914. He didn't know what day it was anymore. The months and hours had been washed away by the rainfall. In his pocket, he had the card King George had sent him; beside him, the small gift from Mary, unopened; the pretty white paper stained with dirt. He was lying on the mud, his rifle tightly held in his dirty hands, trying to remember when he had last taken a warm bath.
It was snowing now; the ground a wet muck. They hadn't fired since yesterday, but he was on high alert. He could hear every rustle of uniforms, every breath his men took, and then--- it was a song. The melody familiar even though the words were hollow to him. It was coming from the other trench, the German one. Then there was movement in the No Man's Land, a flash of white on the off-gray landscape. And Ludwig.
He stood up, cautiously, the rifle never leaving his hands. He stepped up to the German, all eyes on them. Ludwig seemed hesitant, kept averting his gaze.
"We figured there could be a truce today."
He doesn't get it. Just today Dover was bombed. Was he playing at something? He looked back to the German lines and was surprised to see the small tree decorated with candles, glowing softly. Then it hit him. He looked around them, sighed, dropped his rifle. He could use a break.
"Hell," Arthur said with a wry smile, "it's Christmas, right?"
-------------
Set during World War I, when there was supposedly a truce during Christmas between the German and the British armies.
For further reading, go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce#British.E2.80.93German_truce
http://www.1914-1918.net/truce.htm