Another Sanctuary fic... I can't help it, I'm addicted.
This could be viewed as John/Helen/Nikola, or any combination thereof, if you so desire.
Enjoy.
We Who Remain, Forever Here
They witnessed a lot in their time on Earth. They saw the best, and the worst of humanity. And to say they didn't impact events, each in their own way, would be a complete and utter lie.
The saw the first and the second world wars, and contributed to each in one way or another. The third war didn't run quite as smooth, but the fourth was over almost as quickly as it began.
There were two great depressions in their time, as well as several minor ones. They might not have seemed all that minor at the time, but seeing what they'd seen, things were not so depressed as people might believe.
It was the Second Great Depression that really affected things.
"This is ridiculous," Nikola had moaned.
"Quite complaining," John grunted in return.
There had been a massive electromagnetic pulse. It wiped out most of the world's technology for ten months. When simple things like computers and TVs finally started working again, it was too late.
They had been present at the signing of several peace treaties, including the Final Peace. That was the one they would tell stories about, the one that finally united the world under a single government. Perhaps it was not the government they would have imagined, but it worked.
"The whole world has stopped fighting," Helen said, putting a stop to yet another of Nikola and John's spats. "Perhaps it's time you do the same."
They, of course, did no such thing. They didn't know how not to fight.
The World Peace lasted long enough, longer than anyone had really expected. It lasted until it began to fall apart, until the only thing keeping people from fighting was the lack of anything to really fight for. But it was not so hard to find a cause, when they already had the rebels.
"They've started fighting again," Nikola said boredly, sifting through the newspaper, his eyes scanning over the article in his search for the comics.
"How surprising," John replied sarcastically.
"Nikola, I believe you owe me thirty dollars," Helen said, holding her hand out.
Nikola sighed and placed the money in her hand.
"You placed a wager as to whether this peace would end?" John asked, surprised at Helen, though not at Nikola.
"Of course not," Nikola replied. "When."
"It was inevitable, of course," Helen said. "It was only a matter of when the fighting would break out again."
They had, quite obviously, seen the end coming. After almost 500 years living with humans, they had grown to know them all too well, even better than the humans knew themselves.
And when it all came to an end, when the Earth faced destruction and its inhabitants hands, the three remained to watch it all happen.
Humanity all but died out. Barely a fraction of human life remained when the nuclear winter began. Even fewer existed when it eventually reached its end.
"I tire of this," John told his friends as they continued to live.
"How long has it been?" Helen asked. "1300 years?"
"1423," Nikola replied. "7 months, 18 days, 9 hou-"
"That's enough," Helen hushed. "We get it."
And when the world really did end, when the Sun collapsed in on itself and sucked in everything in the solar system… yeah, they were there for that too.
"Perhaps…" Helen began. "Perhaps this time, we will be allowed to die.
The universe did not offer them that mercy.