Title: We Shall Remember Them
Author: Endaewen
Fandom: Forever Knight
Rating: G
Summary: Thoughts on another Remembrance Day.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or settings used in this story. They instead, belong to the creators of the show Forever Knight. The title of this piece is from a poem commonly recited at the Remembrance Day ceremonies.
Archiving: FKFanfic, FKFanfic2, the former FTP site.
Over the last couple of years, it seemed to have become a tradition for Nick and Natalie to watch the Remembrance Day ceremonies at the loft together. This year, however, Natalie wasn't watching the ceremonies from the loft with Nick, instead, he was watching them alone and thinking. Natalie had been selected to place one of the wreaths at the main, down-town Toronto cenotaph.
Afterwards, the Medical Examiner in question had come over to visit and talk, somewhat subdued by the ceremonies she had been participating in just a short time earlier in the day. "I rarely go to the cenotaph any more," she said quietly after a while. "I used to go every year, as did nearly everyone else I knew, but now, it is much too easy to find an excuse to not go, especially working nights."
"Every year there are fewer and fewer veterans marching, and I wonder if the significance of the day and the lessons we, as a people, learned from those two wars will be forgotten, when there are no more visible reminders of it." she continued.
"That's one of the things which always amazes me," Nick said when she fell silent. "How attitudes towards war have changed since the thirteenth century. Then, at least one of your neighbors was usually at war with somebody. It was just a part of life, and if you were born an upper class male, your choices were usually either to learn the arts of chivalry and war, or to go into the church." He paused, then continued, "On the other hand, wars were generally conducted on a much smaller scale, other than the religious wars of the Crusades."
At Natalie's interested look, Nick continued speaking. "Wartime anniversaries such as that of Remembrance Day were never remembered the way they are today. Occasionally a place would be remembered, but that was really only for the big battle places such as, in recent (relatively speaking, any way) times, Waterloo or some of the American Civil War locations."
Rarely would Nick speak about events from his past, so Natalie was enjoying learning something about what life was like for him in his mortal days and what peoples attitudes were in his younger centuries, even though history wasn't really her best subject.
"Not until the days of World War One did any single war encompass the entire globe the way that one did and the war that followed it, although there was generally at least one smaller war in progress somewhere. That may well be one of the reasons the war is still remembered so strongly today."
Natalie finally spoke up, not wanting to break Nick's speech, "I can think of two other reasons as well. First, that that war is still within living memory for some, and not more than three generations away for most, and second that it was in the period that some of the more destructive weapons such as gas and bombs began to be used."
"In many ways, I fear what will happen when the veterans of the two wars are no longer here to remind us of their sacrifices and the costs of the wars, because in the years since, the world has been more cautious about war and fighting. Once the memories of the terrible price the world can pay for war have faded, I fear that another Great War will happen, and with greater and more powerful weapons."
Nick thought about what Natalie had said for a few minutes, thinking about the dreadful pace of progress he had seen in the last two or three centuries, and he had to agree. New advances in weapons were being invented in short decades, or even shorter years now, compared to the centuries between new innovations in the previous centuries. "'Lest we forget' is more than a promise, it is also a warning," he finally said, falling silent after one more statement. "We shall remember them is a promise, and one I at least intend to keep."