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AmericaXReaderXGermany: Belleau Wood

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AmericaXReaderXGermany
Belleau Wood

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December 25th, 1918. 11:53 p.m. on some frozen battle field in the middle of France.

     You shivered and stuck your hand in your arm pits trying to warm that up. It was bitterly cold tonight. Silence pressed in on you and your buddies as you laid in the trenches. A bitter cold wind bit at your exposed skin. Alfred shifted uncomfortably besides you.
     "I'm freezing my jingle off here." He whispered. You rolled your eyes.
     "Just be thankful we're not getting shot at." You whispered.
     "Yea but at least when we're fighting, we're moving. And the adrenalin warms you up too." He complained in a low voice.
     "You really want to fight on Christmas?" You asked him. He was quiet for a moment.
     "No…" he sighed. "I would really rather be back home with my faience."
     "Same here pal…same here." You said. Silence fell on you again. Snow was falling. The big white flakes reminded you of Christmas when you were a kid. There was no fighting then. No blood…no pain…no death. And now they seemed to be all around you in this hell hole you found yourself in. The break in the fighting was nice, even if it was limited. The cease fire only lasted till mid-night, so there wouldn't be any fighting on Christmas, but the 26th was just as good of any day to return to killing people, or so the higher ups thought. You didn't agree. It was all just mindless killing to you, and you wanted nothing more for it to stop so you could be home with your family, where you should be spending Christmas. Christmas was a time meant to be with family, not crawling in the mud of a foreign country. All be it, you had been through so much with the men around you they were close enough to you to be almost family, but it wasn't the same. You sighed and rested your head against the side of the trench, enjoying the rest bit, even if it was cold, when a sound you never thought you would hear split the silence that fill the battle field in two.
     "Stille nacht, heilige nacht…" A lone German voice sang out from the other side of the battle field. You didn't speak a word of German, but you know what he was singing. How could you not recognize the familiar tune?
     "All is calm, all is bright…" Alfred whispered. You looked at him. His eyes were closed. A single tear slid down his cheek, cutting through the dirt and grime on his face. Not really thinking you climbed to your feet. Somewhere in the back of your mind you knew this was a dumb thing to do. You could very likely get shot, but in that moment you didn't care.
     " 'Round yon virgin, Mother and Child." "Durch der Engel Halleluja," your voice mixed with the German's as you both sang out together. Captivated by the beauty of a simple song, the other men around you added their voices as well.
     "Holy infant so tender and mild," "Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar," One by one, each and every man on both sides of the field sang.
     "Sleep in heavenly peace," "Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh," A thousand voices. Two languages. One song.
     "Sleep in heavenly peace." "Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh." If ever there was a heaven on Earth, you knew you that in that moment, when two sides of a war were brought together by a simple melody, you had found it. 'How can something so beautiful come from a place like this?' you thought to yourself as the song continued to swirl around you. You looked around you at the dirty trenches, barbed wire, craters and death that lurked everywhere. 'Heaven on Earth in a place like this…who knew…'
     Something at the other end of the field caught your eye. It was the silhouette of a man that you could barely make out through the mist. You watched him for a moment. The mist cleared as another cold burst of wind tore through the battle field, and you could see him clearly. He was a young soldier, roughly about your same age. He carried on gun whit him, he just stood there empty handed. His blonde hair was slicked back under his helmet, and his piercingly blue eyes were looking right at you. He then did something that you would have never dreamed he would do. He brought his hand up in a friendly gesture, the look in his eyes saying more than words cold ever tell. "Here's to you friend. Here's to hoping we both make it through this." They seemed to say. You couldn't believe your eyes.
     You reached up and tugged your helmet off, as a symbol of trust, for he brought no gun. You smiled at him hoping that he could tell by your smile that you wished him well, and for a moment it seemed like the war had never existed. But then that moment ended. Somewhere the clock struck mid-night and the fighting broke out again. The German soldier disappeared back behind his line as bullets once again flew across the field. And just like that, heaven was replaced with hell.
     "Time to move!" Alfred shouted to the squad. You jammed your helmet back on your head and grabbed your gun. 'How have we come to this?' you thought bitterly to yourself as you once again charged into the breach.
Bit of a change of pace. No fluff, but it's still good. So I guess in this one, you're a guy? ... okay

Fun fact: The battle of Belleau Wood was a real battle in World War I... only it took place in June not December...I think...I'm pretty sure. Not sure why the song has it as Christmas, but whatever. I hope I got the German right, and if not please let me know so I can fix it.

Inspiered by: Belleau Wood by Garth Brooks [link] This song... the first time I heard this song was when I was fourteen...when my Dad was stationed in Iraq over Christmas. It was the first and thankfully the only time in twenty-two years of service that he ever missed a Christmas, and believe me, it was one of the toughest things my family has ever gone through.

Thank you so much for reading!

I don't own Hetalia, or its characters, or you for that matter
© 2011 - 2024 Locksley613
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Squashini-Chan's avatar
great story~! :iconiloveitplz:

i know something like this happened during WWI on Christmas Eve the Germans and the French, Scottish (i think cant really remember) stopped fighting and on Christmas Day they buried the dead, after that (i believe) that same German division was moved and placed on the front lines against the Russians

they made a movie about it [link]