Does anyone remember?
Does anyone care?
Does anyone see them?
Lying there?
They died for us.
Did we cry?
Once, and only once.
So here they lie.
Forgotten warriors.
Names lost in battle.
Just like their lives.
But no one cries.
Because no one remembers.
A.C. 198, Colony L-3
Something was wrong. Katherine could just feel it in her veins. Something was seriously wrong.
Trowa rarely, if every, seemed to get upset, but now, yes, -now- he was royally peeved. Not a good sign.
Wearily, Katherine stepped up next to her knife-throwing target and gulped nervously.
He was standing there, glaring at anything and everything that moved. Yes, you read right, out-right –GLARING-. Katherine had half a mind to turn back now, but she was determined to find out what was wrong with him. So, swallowing back all of her insecurities and fears, she lightly tapped him on the shoulder, "Hey Trowa."
He merely grunted in response. Taking that as the 'go ahead', even though she really didn't want to, Katherine pushed on.
"Is something wrong? You seem a little off today." She ended her sentence a little shakily under the scrutinizing glare that Trowa had fixated on her.
"Does anyone remember? Does anyone care?" It was the first thing he had said to her all day, and, needless to say, Katherine wasn't expecting an answer, or at least, not that one.
"W-what?" She managed to stammer out.
"Never mind." He returned his gaze to the wall, and ignored her the rest of the day.
A.C. 198, Colony L-2
"Would you like some more sugar in your coffee, Duo?" Hilde pushed the sugar bowl across the table to her partner, but he just continued staring out the window.
"Duo," She sighed, "Duo, you've got to eat –something-." Hilde was exasperated, he'd been ignoring her all morning, and things weren't improving.
"Oh, come on Duo. Did I say something wrong, you haven't said a word all day, and it's really starting to worry me. Please, just say something." She pleaded.
"Does anyone see them? Lying there?" Duo mumbled after a moment of silence.
"Pardon?" Hilde lent forward, but he didn't say a word for the rest of the day.
A.C. 198, Colony L-4
"Mr. Winner? Rashid is here to see you. Brother?" Giselle took another step through the doorway, into her younger brother's office.
He was just sitting there, staring at his paperwork, though not really seeing it.
"Quatre?" She ask quietly, cautiously taking another step forward, it was obvious he wasn't sleeping this time. "Brother?" Starting to get a little hysterical, she rushed forward and knelt at his side. Usually when she called, he would practically jump to the door to greet his comrade.
"Is something the matter?" Rashid cautiously stepped into the room, looking over at Quatre and his sister. "Master Quatre?"
"They died for us. Did we cry?" He muttered to his paperwork.
"Brother?" Giselle blink a few times, before looking up at Rashid. He simply shrugged and they both looked back at the boy.
"I don't want to see anyone today." He said quietly, never moving his gaze.
After a few minutes, Rashid and Giselle left the office, not returning for the rest of the day, honoring his wish.
A.C. 198, Earth
"I got this strange note from Miss Relena today...." A young woman, around her early twenties, told her friends from the office.
"What's it say?" One of the youngest girls asked the Vice-Foreign Minister's secretary eagerly.
"'Once and only once. So here they lie'?" The woman looked at her friends for understanding. She found none.
"Maybe it's a secret code. Maybe she's got some great secret she needs your help with!" The same girl started bouncing around excitedly.
"I doubt it. Maybe she's trying to say something about that old holiday. You remember, something about a pair of great wars. Remembrance Day, or some such nonsense." An older man stated, screwing up his face in concentration, trying to remember.
Another man, around the same age as the secretary, scoffed. "Why would Miss Relena do something weird like that?"
A.C. 198, Earth
"He's been quiet all day, hasn't he, Sally?" A small boy looked up at a young woman.
"Yes, he has." She replied with a nod of her head.
"He's not meditating, is he, Sally?" The boy asked again.
"No, he's not." The lady replied again.
"Then why's he so quiet?" The boy asked, looking back at Wufei, sitting in a large field of flowers, one in his hand, with his hair down, and a sober look adorning his face.
"He's remembering." Sally also looked to the teen.
"What for?" The boy returned his gaze to his boss.
"He said to me this morning, before going out there at dawn, 'Forgotten warriors. Names lost in battles'." She had a wistful smile on her face.
"What do you think it means, boss?" The boy watched his superior's retreating back pause for a moment.
"You tell me."
A.C. 198, Earth
"Is something the matter Mariemaia?" Lady Une asked her charge quietly. "You haven't done your studies this afternoon." She stepped up next to the child's wheelchair, where the young girl was glaring out the window at the children playing outside in the snow.
"You've been quiet all day, is something the matter?" The Lady bent down so she was eye level with the child.
"No." Mariemaia answered softly.
"Are you sure you don't want to go outside and play with the other children." Une asked.
"They're all afraid of me." The girl answered sadly.
"Mariemaia...." But she could find nothing to say to the girl.
"'Just like their lives. But no one cries." She muttered to herself almost wistfully.
"Excuse me?" The woman looked over at the girl, but she had once again fallen silent, and said nothing until the next day.
A.C. 198, Somewhere in Space
Heero continued to stare out the window, watching the stars and comets zoom by. A quiet beeping from his lap snapped him out of his ravine.
Making sure that the man next to him had not been awakened by his e-mail, he opened it and read through it quickly, but thoroughly. After he was done, he re-read it several times to himself, before reading the last line out loud.
"'Because no one remembers...'"
I do not own Gundam Wing. I only own the poem at the beginning.
Please don't forget today, and please don't forget those who died in the wars.
They will always be honored.
The peace treaty to end the First World War was signed in France on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, on the eleventh hour
Don't forget.