"The Christmas Truce..." She heard one of the girl's whisper that, the tone soft and quiet, which didn't really give much tell as to who it was, but it didn't really matter.

"The day that men on both sides decided to throw their weapons aside and enjoy life for a day. To be honest, I was rather thrilled of that day, but the damage done to my mind in the early parts of the war had already happened, and..."

Kurfürst's expression sunk ever so slightly, something inside of her regretting a prior action. "Well...I made sure such a thing would never happen again."

"You aided in preventing another truce like that?!" Finally, the voice's owner stood, the small figure of Norfolk exposing herself. "B-But why...?"

Kurfürst sighed, gesturing for her to sit back down. "I don't expect anyone to understand the reasoning, and I sure hope you never do. It was a War, and in a war, we must battle to fight and win against our enemy...peace like that wouldn't do in this setting, and we cannot let that happen."
———————————————————————

It was a silent day, and over the last several weeks leading up to the famous event, fighting and artillery barrages were thinning and weakening, munitions and ammo running somewhat dry, so preservation was necessary.

With a sigh and a blast of steam from her mouth, Kurfürst looked up from the desk she was at, filing reports and drawing plans for different attacks and defensive strongpoints incase such things failed. The snow had been gently falling for some time now, and she even saw some of the younger men genuinely enjoying themselves in the weather.

She kept her eyes on those men, huffing before going back to her work. 'So long as they do their duties, let them enjoy their youth.'

Back in the early parts of the war, I did far more Officer work than field work. I suppose you can all say that the only times I was acting like a General was when I was told the War wouldn't need me to participate in it...hmph, and look how it all turned out.

The door behind her opened, her eyes going over to see her personal assistant there with a steaming cup of Coffee. "General."

"Good to see you in fair health Erwin."
———————————————————————

"PAUSE!!" A voice suddenly boomed through the room, startling many of them. "You mean to tell us that someone named Erwin was your assistant?"

"Well, more like second. The young man showed promise in schooling and I decided to train him personally once he graduated."

Even with that said, Prinz Heinrich, the one who shouted, still looked a little shocked. "And was his name Erwin Rommel?"

"It was."

...

Heinrich slowly sat down in her chair, a giddy smile slowly spreading on her face. "You trained the Desert Fox...so cool~!"

At that, Kurfürst raised an eyebrow. "Desert Fox?"

She soon realized it must have been something tied to their world, so she moved on without asking. "From that point, yes, Rommel was my second for a few months that year and the following, learning from me on a few smaller scale moments on how to command and dictate your presence as an Officer, and soon to be Commander."

She pulled a picture up, showing a black and white photo of both Kurfürst and Rommel standing side by side, looking down at a spread out pile of papers. It was clear they both were in deep with their work, most likely having been discussing plans and what to do with certain regiments.

Kurfürst chuckled, remembering another thing. "Before I get back to it, how many of you know his full name?"

She didn't see many hands pop up, and even the ever studious Shangri-La didn't. "Well, it's Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel, but most just call him Erwin Rommel anyways."

She cleared her throat, going back into the story.
———————————————————————

Erwin placed down the cup of coffee, earning a thankful nod from Kurfürst before he moved over to the window and saw the Officers fooling around. "What in the world are they doing...?"

"Leave them Erwin, they're even younger than you are, so let them enjoy their youth while they still have it."

"Aren't we at war?"

She looked up from her papers, staring into his eyes. "We are, but do you see bullets flying? Do you see artillery raining on us?"

Erwin quieted after that, sighing before going over to the desk and putting a letter down. "This came in, a report from one of the northern lines."

She picked it up and opened the letter, the message displayed being rather simple compared to the events that it must have been speaking of. The expression on her face went from cool and calm, as per her usual work face, to surprised and somewhat relieved by the end.

Putting the letter down, she chuckled, standing up and donning her hat. "Well now..."

"Has something happened?"

"No, nothing too major, just...well, our boys have decided to enjoy the Holidays in a rather unexpected way."

Under that expression, I was somewhat furious that they would willingly intermingle with the enemy, but at the end of the day, my thoughts slowly changed. Those few months already hardened me like nothing before, but under that grime and steel, I still had that Human heart, one that was nearing it's first century alive.

It had been several hours since she spoke with Rommel, having personally decided to see what was happening beyond. Quite a few of the Officers had returned home for a few days to visit family, and since she didn't have any to return too, it was mostly her alone during the Christmas days.

Hell, she was driving herself in one of their military issued small bed truck, which usually carried several men and their munitions to the frontlines, now only had her in it. The snow falling around her only dampened her spirit, remembering just how much time had passed since she last had any of her true friends around to celebrate these times with.

"...No, no weeping over corpses now." She shook her sorrow away, focusing on the drive through the still relatively well kept countryside that had yet to be hit by warfare.

In the following years, the area she was in now would be devastated by the machine of war.

Even if the temperatures around me were frigid enough for heavier jackets, it never penetrated my skin. In all my years to that date, I never felt the need to wear a Jacket or take layers off, a perk of my new self that I truly enjoyed.

Soon, spots of deep craters and discarded munitions began to show up, so she slowed the truck down and parked it roadside once it became hazardous. It was four in the afternoon, well into the day as she was traveling to the source of the telegrammed message.

She stopped and closed her eyes, simply listening into the surroundings.

...

It was quiet, and usually, that's a dangerous thing, almost even more so than an active war zone. However, something soon sounded out over that, the sound I never thought I'd hear during those times.

"Goooaal!!"

The distant shout of a man hit her ears, her mind already hearing the English of it as she realized what was happening. She continued on, Halberd strapped to her back as she stepped over the small muddy steps and into the entrance of the Trench, her metal boots clacking hard against the wood.

Even as she roamed, not a soul was in sight, and the sounds of laughing and cheers were only growing louder as she neared the No Man's Land. Eventually, she did see an Officer in one of the scattered Bunker areas, calmly sipping a cup of heated water, humming an old German folk song as he did.

'He looks so peaceful...' She slowly sunk out of sight, letting him keep his peace without worrying about a General being in his vicinity.

Instead, she peeked her head up over the frontline trench wall, and finally, she froze up. She finally saw what had happened to the men, and she noticed why she heard that shout from before.

That was a moment I never thought I'd see during the war, German soldiers and British soldiers, all enjoying their lives with happiness and games aplenty in the middle of the barren fields. They had football games up, they were exchanging stories and gifts, and most surprisingly to me...they were all smiling and happy.

Apart from the football game, she noticed some others doing prisoner swapping off in the distance, and even some carrying their dead for proper burial. The mere sight of all it happening slowly wore down at the toughened face she had to put on, and ever so slowly, she herself stepped up into No Man's Land.

Then, a football struck her in the face.

Several gasps of fear sounded as she looked to the players, the Germans mostly with worried and somewhat happy expressions seeing the infamous woman, and the British with pale faces of fear. She wiped her face, taking the snow off it from the ball, before looking down at the offending play toy.

...

She laughed, but it was a quiet one, and she kicked the ball up into the air, resting it on her foot as she met the men with a smile. "Go on ahead gentlemen, you may never get a chance like this again."

She kicked the ball back in, and continued on past the players, who were soon back to what they were doing. She went past them and the ones offering gifts, some noticing her and silently freaking out before calming as she did nothing.

"Officer."

One of the Officers doing the Prison exchanges turned to greet her, freezing up as he realized Kurfürst was there. "G-General! I-I'm sorry, I was a...w-was..."

She raised a hand, silencing the young man before he bit his tongue. Looking past his shoulder, she noticed the Officers of the other side looking nervous, especially since they didn't have their weapons on them.

She only nodded, before walking past them and gently nudging a few prisoners forward. "Carry on."

I had seen all of them enjoying themselves and doing their activities, but there was only one reason I even stepped up into the festivities in the first place. Above all else, I cherish life itself, and so, I always kept my ideals of caring for the dead just as high.

Finally, she had reached where she wanted to be, where German and British soldiers were carrying off their dead for proper burial. She looked to her own men, seeing some carrying a man or two with help off, no cart in sight to make it easier.

Rolling her shoulders, she went over to assist, finding several dead men in uniform that she carried easily to wherever they were putting their dead. In all, the process didn't take much more than a few hours, the boys already hard at work with it for over the day.

"Thank you so much General." Speaking of, one of the men who was carrying them was ever so happy for the help, even offering his chocolates he had received to her

She pushed away the chocolates though. "Keep those soldier, they'll be a good treat for you whenever you need them. It'll serve you better than it could me."

With a smile, she watched him stuff it back into his uniform, trotting off to join the others that had already left to enjoy time with friends. Though, she wasn't done yet, and she walked back up into No Man's Land, towards the other side's trenches.

After all, there is still more dead to be delivered.

That day, the boundary between friend and foe blurred, and it was a time many of that war will have looked back on with fondness and joy. The worst Conflict between men our world has seen, and still, true humanity prospered on in the darkest hours.
———————————————————————

Back to the present, she had a picture under the projector, one painted by presumably a soldier of that day. It showed many men in both uniforms, no defining features of course, but it was enough to get the message across of the picture.

"Naturally, even if I enjoyed myself that day, I strictly forbid the happenings for the next year. We were at war after all, and it wouldn't do to have these kinds of things occur."

She fell into thought, a smile on her face as she remembered the men singing carols and songs that she even participated in one or two times. In her own dark times, these memories are what have pulled her through to the end.

It seems some other were happy about it too, smiles and even a few tears in some of the more sensitive ones as they imagined the world that she painted out for them. She stretched in her seat, getting another glass of water courtesy again from Neptune, who was more than happy to hear more for the simple price of filling her glass.

"Well, now you all know the story. I enjoyed my time there, but such a thing should never be commonplace."

...

"And now, from one of the heights of human kindness and love...we move onto a horrific event that I'm sure many of you know."

She leaned forward, the steel hard expression she had before during the beginning of the story telling once again returning. "The battle of Verdun."