Warning: This story is a work of fan-based fiction, and this author does not own the RWBY franchise, the Joyeux Noel movie, or anything that is related to the works or in any subject in relation of politics, economics, society, technology, or culture. In addition, this story is optimised for fanfiction readers on electronics, such as, I-pods, I-phones, Tablets, and etc; though this story is still compatible with computers, it is recommended to read this story on an electronic or a half-minimised window in order to maximised the best reading experience. Furthermore, this story contains scenes and material that may be disturbing for readers; therefore, parental discretion is advised. Lastly, this story is inspired by the French film, "Joyeux Noël", and thereby all the credit and work belongs to its respectable owners/creators.

READER'S DISCRETION HAS BEEN ADVISED

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RWBY: Dans le Nid d'Aigle

Writer: Ausslaugand

Publisher: Ausslaugand

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Chapter 01 - Qu'est-ce que les Arbres?

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French Lieutenant Camille René Audebert slowly opened his eyes to find himself greeted to the smell of wood, dirt, and snow once again. Safe within the confinements of the wooden bunker, Audebert arose from his sleep and slowly shook himself to shake off any dust or dirt particles; however, as he proceeded in getting himself back into his military uniform, there was something that felt strangely and untraceably odd. He did not think any of it at first as he finished suiting up and putting his kepi back onto his head, though as he stepped out of the bunker and into the winter morning, Private Ponchel came running around the left shallow corner of the trench before giving Audebert a shout, "Lieutenant!"

"Ponchel, ce qui se passe? (Ponchel, what's going on?)" Audebert commanded as he saw Ponchel panting before rising his head up and pointing to the right and out of the trench.

"Regarde autour de toi. En dehors des tranchées. (Look around you. Outside of the trenches.)" Ponchel replied, with his voice slightly coarse from the running and the obvious panic in his voice, "Il y a des arbres qui sont apparus de nulle part! (There are trees that appeared out of nowhere!)"

Audebert looked to his right and was surprised to notice a field of big deciduous trees extended around the perimeter of the French trenches. The last time that he checked throughout his months in the western trenches, all the trees had been reduced to ashes or stumps as a result of the artillery and machine guns; however, considering the fact that the French were also supported by the Scottish trenches nearby, Audebert turned to his left and partially perched himself outside of the trenches to find that the trees were extending beyond the Scottish trenches as well. Worst of all, as he looked towards the German trenches in front of him across no man's land, he suddenly had a sinking feeling in his gut as he almost inaudibly gawked the abnormal size of the trees.

As Audebert and many Europeans knew, deciduous trees in the winter should already be nothing more but bare skeletons with no leaves or signs of life at all; however, these trees were unusual not only for their abnormal height and size, but they still had their leaves despite the fact that it's the day after Christmas. There was snow everywhere outside (admit the barbwire, craters, and the burial sites of the French, Scottish, and German soldiers), and among snow, all the soldiers among both opposing trenches were standing or peering out of the trenches and looking up towards the trees as if they were like alien visitors that appeared out of nowhere. In addition, it also did not help the fact that Audebert was able to hear the Scottish nearby cursing at the sight of the trees, and one of those voices belonged to Scots Fusiliers Lieutenant Gordon, "Where these bleedin' trees come from?! (Lorsque ces arbres sanglants viennent de?!)"

Uttering out a sigh under his breath, as Audebert was clambered out of the trench, he saw German Lieutenant Horstmayer emerge from the German trenches across No Man's Land and walked quickly towards Audebert's direction. Following suit, Audebert emerged from the French trenches and approached Horstmayer, with both Lieutenants giving brief salutes before Audebert greeted him, "Matin. (Morning.)"

Horstmayer only nodded his head as he brought his salute down and spoke up his mind about the situation on hand, "Ecoutez, est-il possible que nous les agents parlent de cette situation? (Listen, is it possible that we officers talk about this situation?)"

Audebert and Horstmayer gave a brief silence as Audebert looked around momentarily and asked him only one question in mind as to what the situation was, "Vous voulez dire que les arbres? (You mean the trees?)"

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Elsewhere, Beacon Academy, Team JNPR Dormitory

Jaune Arc snored rather loudly as he remained fast asleep in his dorm bed; however, he was almost entirely submerged under the shelter of his bedsheets and blankets, with only the top of his head and eyes poking out of the covers. From a distance, he looked extremely comfy and quite adorable in the way he wrapped himself in bedsheets and blankets, and added to the fact that he curled almost in a ball-like shape under his covers. Unfortunately, Jaune was not wrapped within the covers due to comfort or even being adorable at all.

As Jaune made a momentary groan, it turned out that he was slightly shivering under his blankets as if he was scared or cold. The rest of Team JNPR seemed to be fast asleep rather unaffected; however, none of the team members in Team JNPR were any better than Jaune down below. Particularly, Nora was shiver quite apparently as she slowly tumbled and turned in her bed in her attempt to stay warm and comfortable, and if that was not worst enough, the presence of a cold mist appeared to the left from Pyrrha's bed.

Almost wide awake and shivering, Pyrrha had apparently awoken to find that the entire dormitory was cold. Being in nothing but her red nightgown and with her blanket wrapped around her body, Pyrrha waddled over to the doorway and flicked on the light switch. Not surprisingly, Ren stirred awake with a jarred yet brief mumbling just seconds after the lights came on; however, his voice was drowned out by Nora's muffled groaning from her bed, "Ren…five more minutes, and I'll be up."

Momentarily, Pyrrha walked over to the left towards the closet and reached for any jacket she could find upon first glance; which turned out to be Jaune's spare hoodie. For the moment, she let the blanket that was wrapped around her body dropped to the floor and zipped herself up into Jaune's spare hoodie to help her combat the cold temperature in the dormitory; however, he actions did not go entirely unnoticed. As she picked up her blanket and turned around upon closing the closet, Jaune happened to have stirred awake and uttered out his first words in a combination of worry and curiosity, "Eh…is that…my spare hoodie?"

"Uh…of course…" Pyrrha nervously uttered, and while shivering at the same time, "I'm a little cold, and this is…quite comfy."

"A little?" Jaune asked rather baffled and shivery by the other half of Pyrrha's reply, "It's freezing in here…"

At the same time, Jaune could not help but actually feel partially amused as he stared at Pyrrha wearing his spare hoodie. Thankfully, the rest of his face was hiding behind his blankets and bedcovers to mask his amusement; however, it did not take Pyrrha too long to notice the way how Jaune was staring at her with such gaiety in his eyes. Subsequently, Pyrrha could only blush as she took comfort in wearing Jaune's spare hoodie.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going for a nice hot shower if this keeps up any longer." Nora yawned loudly as she arose from her bed before having to shiver.

"I'll back you up on that." Ren agreed as he shook himself awake upon arising from his slumber, which made Nora giggled happily despite shivering herself off.

Jaune groaned before he forced himself to arose from his bedcovers and stand up with nothing more but his blankets covering him; however, he found himself a state of surprise when he opened the curtains to find that there was snow outside down below. Mist and frost had already formed on the windows outside, and there was a clear yet nearly grey sky outside, which was mostly thick enough to hide the sun under a cover of cold clouds. Subsequently, the morning atmosphere was not too dark or bright, but with ice and snow outside, it was quite a shocker for Jaune and the rest of Team JNPR.

"Snow…already?" Jaune uttered out loud as he brushed the right curtain to the side, "It's spring."

"Well, late season snowfall is not uncommon during spring." Ren suggested as he stood up from his bed and peered out the window along with the rest of team JNPR.

"Ah…, touché." Jaune blurred out loud in agreement while shrugging his shoulders, "Still, we shouldn't be getting any more snow this late into the semester though."

"You know, speaking of snow; this makes for a good day for a snowball fight." Pyrrha added as she peered out the window.

"Yeah…" Jaune agreed while trying to keep himself warm with the help of his bedsheets and blankets.

"Yeah?" Nora scrutinised Jaune as she shot up from her bed and joined on the rest of team JNPR, "That would be awesome for all that snow outside!"

"Hmm…isn't it uh…" Jaune thought out loud to team JNPR, "What day is it?"

"Saturday." Ren replied stoically.

"Oh, okay th-" Jaune replied before a notification rang from everyone's scrolls.

Jaune reached for his scroll on the nightstand located before the window, and read the following message sent to him and his team members:

"Attention Team JNPR. Please Report to the Headmaster's Office by 9:00 a.m. to receive instructions for today's mission. More details will be debriefed upon your arrival. Professor Glynda Goodwitch."

Jaune placed his scroll back onto the nightstand and let it clatter for barely a moment before Jaune took a seat on his bead again.

"Whose was it?" Pyrrha asked and turning her head towards her partner.

"It's Professor Goodwitch." Jaune replied, "She wants us to report to Ozpin's office by nine o'clock, since we're being given a mission."

"A mission?" Pyrrha asked back as if Jaune misread something, "Out in this weather on a Saturday?"

"Oh don't know, but it is…," Jaune assured in light-hearted yet optimistic manner, "It would just be a training session."

"Well if that's so, we're in no condition going out in this kind of weather." Ren opposed as he checked his scroll already, "The last time I checked the closet, we have little to no coats; save for my spare tailcoat and your hoodie."

"I have an idea. Why don't we ask team RWBY?" Nora suggested, "I'm pretty sure Ruby would be nice enough to have some coats that we can borrow."

"Eh…I think team RWBY is in the same situation as us right now." Jaune countered as he nodded his head in disagreement.

"Hey …you can't prove that until we see what they're doing!" Nora exclaimed rather offended by Jaune's disagreement.

"Jaune." Ren partly sneered in support of Nora's exclamation, "At least that's a place to start."

"Well, I mean it is…" Jaune hesitated, "It's a matter of fact that there wouldn't be anything to fit the two of us."

"Hmm…that's true." Ren agreed as he looked at himself and his hands as well; however, that still made him deadpan the other half of his answer, "But we got to find something for all of us before we even go outside."

"Maybe Ozpin will recommend something to us once we get to his office." Pyrrha suggested, "I think he and the rest of the academy staff are well aware of the situation."

"Hmm…" Jaune, and Ren just moments later, muttered under his voice before Nora made her agreement as well.

"Oh Pyrrha, aren't you a genius?" Nora happily teased, thereby making Pyrrha blush a bit.

"Well…uh…" Jaune began as he arose from his bed and slowly taking off his bedcovers that were wrapped around his body, "Who's going to take a shower first?"

"ME!" Nora said before she rushed to the bathroom in a blur.

The rest of team JNPR stood in sudden surprise before Ren made a momentary groan to himself, "Welp, so much for seeing who goes first."

Jaune could only groan out loud as his facial expression became that of irritation and disappointment.

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Meanwhile, Beacon Academy, Ozpin's Office

Headmaster Ozpin took a sip from his coffee mug as he looked out the frost and mist covered windows of his office. With the sudden snowfall outside, and the fact that much of Beacon Academy is caught by surprise with the presence of the cold temperature, Ozpin made his coffee extra hot along with a coaster to act as lid for his coffee mug. Setting his coffee mug down on his desk and covering it with the coaster, he looked out his office window to observe the snowy environment outside down below.

Whether it be by coincidence or by common sense, Ozpin knew that sudden snowfall in the middle of spring was abnormal, and in the worst case scenario, absurd. Of course, Ozpin is no stranger to snow and ice, the thought of a heavy snowfall in Vale was out of the question since the weather broadcasts said nothing about any steep drop in temperatures. If this was Atlas, he would not ponder so much, since Atlas receives snow and ice on a daily basis; however, being that this snow was in Vale, this was an alarming situation.

Most of the trees out in the Emerald Forest in the distance were riddled with snow despite the fact that they were deciduous trees, not pine trees; however, what caught his attention to some extent was the partially telltale sight of what appeared to be a man-made strip of land in the distance of the forest. It was rather tricky to distinguish the strip of land in the distance due to the snow and the height of the trees, and in addition to the distance, it was also impossible to tell what was inside the strip of land that cut through the Emerald Forest like a snake cutting its way through grass. Not surprisingly, Ozpin's attention was fixated upon such a sight in the distance; however, his attention was immediately drawn away by the sound of the elevator bell dinging behind him.

The elevator door opened and allowing for Professor Goodwitch to enter inside the office. Similar to Ozpin, Goodwitch was wearing a trench coat that matched with her mostly black attire; however, unlike Ozpin (where his trench coat was single breasted), Goodwitch's trench coat was of a medium length and was double breasted. In addition, like Ozpin, Goodwitch had a mug of coffee and a coaster as well, and judging by her disciplined and serious composure, she had matters that were important in regards to the sudden snowfall.

"A sudden change in weather, I suppose?" Ozpin began as he momentarily brought his attention towards Professor Goodwitch.

"Very." Goodwitch sternly replied as she took a sip of her coffee, "Though I wouldn't say this is a first."

"Hmm." Ozpin muttered to himself quietly as he took another sip of his coffee before covering it with the coaster.

"To start off...," Goodwitch started upon clearing her throat and setting her coffee and coaster on the desk, "The maintenance crews are in their best attempts to bring the heaters online in order to combat the sudden drop in temperature. Unfortunately, with the conditions outside, they'll be unable to restore any of the surveillance equipment out in the forest."

As Goodwitch spoke, Ozpin had brought the scroll on his desk to life with the touch of his right index finger and made his attempt to bring up any camera footage. Unfortunately, as Goodwitch pointed out, the first dozen camera footages were offline and merely nothing more but displays of static and colour distortion due to the formation of ice and snow over the cameras and the wiring as well. In reaction to this setback, Ozpin could only mutter his reply out loud, "I see."

"My deepest apologise, Professor." Goodwitch added before she took a sip of her coffee.

"No, no, there's nothing to worry about." Ozpin calmly yet sternly assured while straightening his glasses, "That was much to expect with this kind of weather, and I'm sure that maintenance can resolve this issue soon. Now, what else have you found out?"

"According to Professor Oobleck, there had been multiple signs of seismic activity in the past five to six hours; however, I highly doubt the Grimm or White Fang are responsible for this." Goodwitch continued as she placed her coffee and coast on the desk, "I've already notified team RWBY and JNPR to meet in your office by nine o'clock to be debrief upon the situation and proceed with an investigation. And with that much time, I suppose they will have plenty of time to prepare themselves."

"Excellent." Ozpin said as went for another sip of his coffee; however, he was rather suddenly cut off by the sound of a briefly gargled voice on his scroll, which caused Ozpin to refrain himself from spitting out his coffee in surprise and set his coffee down on the desk. He looked through the scroll on his desk and saw that one of the camera footages have been restored; however, he was further surprise to see that whoever brought the camera back online was not a maintenance crew. Instead, the footage showed a man dressed in a slate grey trench coat and black jackboots, and a curious helmet with a spike on top (which was covered in what appeared to be canvas or leather).

The strange man looked as if he was either fixing or tampering with the camera, and judging by the snow down below on the ground, he was elevated up on a tree. In addition, what made Ozpin suddenly curious about the man in the footage was the fact that there was a trench in the distance just to the right of the man that continued both to the left and right. Then, Ozpin couldn't help but take curious note of a voice being heard off camera, "Heinkel, was ist das da oben?"

"Es sieht so aus, äh..." The man directly on the footage replied back upon looking down, "Ich weiß nicht...aber es sieht aus wie eine Fotokamera mit Drähten drin."

Ozpin could have sworn he heard the man in the footage say Weiss's name; however, his curiosity was followed by Goodwitch, whom she happened to peer and take a look at the curiously restored footage upon one of the cameras. Although Ozpin may have noticed already, Goodwitch took some disgusted not of the mud, grim, and snow upon the man's outfit in the footage that she and Ozpin were looking at. Though what really got Goodwitch's attention, similar to Ozpin, was the speech in which both the man and his accomplices were speaking in.

"Eine Photokamera? Was könnte das auf einem Baum tun?" The second man out of the footage asked back with his voice tone appropriate to someone who is baffled.

"Frag mich nicht, ich bin kein Feld-Ingenieur." The man directly in the footage sneered back before he decided to clamber down from the tree and give the camera a clear view of what the man was blocking, "Außerdem, auch wenn ich es entfernen kann, ist es zu gefroren, um überhaupt zu arbeiten."

Goodwitch and Ozpin were given a good view of what was now a long continuous trench in the background of the footage, and if that was not enough, there were people walking about in or outside of those trenches as well; however, not all of them were dressed in the same clothing like the man seen in the footage just moments ago. Though if there was one thing that all the people in the footage shared in common, almost everybody seen moving about in the background were wearing trench coats (whether it be long or short). Particularly, Ozpin and Goodwitch saw three men in long trench coats near the left in the background talking to one another; however, what was interesting to note about these three curious men was the fact that one to the right was wearing a garrison cap, the one in the centre wore a red and black kepi, and the one to the left was wearing a slate grey and red peak cap.

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At the same time, No Man's Land

"With all due respect gentlemen, we're in the middle of nowhere other than No Man's Land, and there are actually regrown trees all around us." Lieutenant Gordon spat out, with his voice coated by his heavy Scottish accent, "It's kind of hard to believe that we're all in a dream."

"It's a suggestion, but I find it hard for myself to believe that trees can grow back in one day." Lieutenant Audebert said back, with his heavy French accent evident as he spoke English.

Lieutenant Horstmayer only chuckled before he spoke up his mind, with his voice shrouded in his heavy German accent, "Obviously. Now, I don't know if we're all hallucinating or not, but if we really want to find out what's in that forest, we might as well send five soldiers from our trenches and find out where we are."

"I'm sorry, but five soldiers? From each of our trenches?" Lieutenant Gordon questioned as if he misheard Horstmayer.

"Ja. (Yes.)" Horstmayer confirmed before he further explained his idea, "We can send a team of five soldiers from our trenches to go and scout out the forests, and if we can find any familiar places we know around here, then we'll know that one thing for sure."

"And that is?" Gordon urged.

Horstmayer looked back at his soldiers; whom were standing or peering their heads out of the trenches as they watched him and the two other commanders talking to each other. He knew that whatever he was going to say, that it was not going to be taken seriously; however, it was morbid at the same time, in which he saw mother nature suddenly going stupid on humanity all of sudden. Nevertheless, Horstmayer turned back to Audebert and Gordon before finishing his statement, "The earth is taking action to stop us."

"Excuse me?" Gordon frowned in confusion to Horstmayer's answer, "Did I hear that right?"

"I'm afraid you did." Audebert confirmed in his heavily accented French voice, instead of Horstmayer.

Momentarily, an awkward silence fell upon not only the three commanders, but the opposing trenches as well; however, a shout from one of the Scottish Fusiliers broke the silence, "Ay! What happened to the moon?!"

All three commanders turned their heads towards the Scottish trenches to find that a group of Scottish Fusiliers had gathered around a single Scottish soldier looking in a pair of binoculars. Almost collectively, all three commanders rushed over to the Scottish trenches, with Lieutenant Gordon in the lead and the first to arrive on the scene. Subsequently, Gordon reached the group of Scottish Fusiliers and gave out his first question on hand, "What's goin' on here?"

The young Scottish soldier holding the binoculars in his face replied back with a fear stricken yet serious voice tone, "Sir, the moon…"

Lieutenant Gordon broke his way through the group of Scottish Fusiliers looking up into the snowy sky before being offered the binoculars; only to be introduced to a morbid sight. Up in the sky, despite the morning light and atmosphere, there was the moon up in the sky that was mostly cloaked by the mostly white and blue sky up above; however, what really drained almost all the colour out of Lieutenant Gordon was the fact that the right side of the moon was in pieces. Never in his life had he seen half of the moon to be shattered into multiple pieces like a half-broken walnut, and if that was not worst enough, Gordon could only lower the binoculars from his face with such a sluggish speed stricken by nothing but fear before following it up with an inaudible mutter, "Jesus bloody Christ."

"What's with the moon?" Audebert asked with his heavy French accent, whom he and Horstmayer were confused to what Gordon and the Scottish Fusiliers were looking at first.

Momentarily, to no one's surprise, Audebert and Horstmayer looked up at the moon, only for their faces to be stricken with awe and fear from the extraordinary sight of a shattered moon. Although all three commanders, and their corresponding soldiers had been through hell throughout the remaining half of 1914, no man or woman should ever have to look at the moon to find the other half in fragments while the other is completely intact. Even if the war had only lasted for the remaining half of the year 1914, and even with the Christmas truce still intact by all sides, all sides had to wonder whether or not this was their punishment for fraternising with each other in what can only be described as a war to end all wars.

Of course the Allies and the Central Powers were wanting to do nothing more but defeat one another over the domination of Europe, neither side had the desire or the wish to bring harm upon the beautiful white moon. Whether it be the Germans, French, or Scottish, all sides could only stare up towards the moon in a silence of utter shock and disbelief in what kind of destruction that brought upon not only themselves, but the world as well. Fortunately, the seemingly eternal moment of a fear stricken silence was eventually broken by Lieutenant Gordon getting himself together and making only one statement with a partially sadden and scared facial expression, "Gentlemen…, what have we done?"

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Author's Note(s): Hello ladies and gentlemen, this is Ausslaugand and I would to say that it has been a great while since I had uploaded or updated any stories. Aside from this, with Halloween coming to end, I thought I would bring this RWBY fanfiction story together as somewhat of an early warning for the upcoming Christmas later into the year, and as well as the New Year as well. In addition, I am more than happy to hear any of your thoughts, compliments, critique, and expertise in case I had missed some important details or I need improvement upon certain areas of this story. Otherwise, I hope you all enjoy this story and I will be making any possible attempts to keep my other stories as well as this story updated as much as I can. Oh and before I forget, I don't know about any of you, but I have the incredible feels from watching the first two episodes of RWBY Volume 04. Seriously though, Volume 04 Episode 02 has gotten me so hard since Volume 03 Episode 12, and I am wanting to know what else is going to happen in Volume 04 and hopefully something good happens; hopefully, let's all pray for the best, and until then, stay tune for the next chapter and I will see you all until next time.