Let us all remember (Bad Robot)

Yena studied the War Memorial. She hadn't been at camp in time for that conflict but fought in another war, one which for the majority had faded to ancient history. She remember her own war to know that any war was brutal. Yena did not know any of the names but the sight of so many names reminded her of her own war.
Yena's black eyes read each of the names, yet her mind conjured up the daughter of Enyo's own war, the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany. She remembered driving through destroyed villages, passed abandoned or knocked out vehicles, talking to her comrades, cracking jokes and talking about their up coming victory over the Germans. Not once did they talk of home or what they might do after the war, Yena's own father had been killed during the early stages of Operation Barbarossa. Unfortunately Yana only found out in 1944 by a chance meeting with one of father's friends from the same brigade. The rest of her companions that shared her T34/85 did not talk of home. She got the feeling that there wasn't much there or home was gone.

If she concentrated hard enough the sounds of battle echoed in her ears, the smell of machine oil, grease, sweat and smoky engine exhaust. Yena could feel her eyes filling with tears as she recalled the destruction of her motherland, the loss of many brave comrades and friends. Part of her wished that she had remained back in that timeline, for at least there where those back then who had personally experienced the horrors of the conflict.
Now days she was among the last fragments of a time almost past from recent memory. Not all of the Campers would understand the way she felt, the things she had unfortunately bore witness too. There was no way to describe the war over than, it truly was hell on Earth. Yena did not wish to forget the conflict, it would dishonour her fallen comrades, bringing shame to their memories. She merely wanted to live in peace, but peace was certainly not the way of most demigods or the way of a child of Enyo.

Evander jogged, it was one of his things, jogging, letting off steam. He jogged up to the war memorial, his face a somber mask. Every few weeks, Evander came to visit the war memorial. He couldn't read the names, his dyslexia gave him trouble even with Greek. Still, he knew several of them. He had only known them for a short time before the Battle for Manhattan, but it was long enough. A son of Ares, he felt obligated to keep their memories, to honor the fallen victorious.

Today, the usually deserted memorial had a girl there. She was kind of pretty, in a I'm-gonna-kick-your-butt way, but wasn't an Ares child. Maybe another combative god? Not Athena, she didn't look like a brainiac. Maybe Nike, they were all about winning, so here most were combative. "Hello." He said politely, nodding his head towards her as he slowed to a stop from his run. "Did you lose anyone close to you in the war? You look like you were in it. Kinda have that far off gaze. Thousand yard stare, my fa-oh whatever calls it."

Yena jumped when a boy's voice sounded from behind her, she whipped around. "You startled me!" Her cheeks flushing from embarrassment. After a few moments she managed to calm herself down. Yena coughed into her hand. "Hello I'm Yena." She introduced herself, before glancing at the memorial. "No but I fought in a different war where I lost a lot of friends and my father." She still hated the Germans even now, despite for the world the war being history for most people in this time period.
At his comment about the far off gaze. "Yes... I saw a lot of war once the Great Patriotic War I was a machine gunner in a T-34/85." She explained to him.

She was a child of Enyo though often seemed a bit withdrawn from most of the Campers. The camp happened to be very different to how she remembered it. Plus it was weird for her to find that the war she fought in happened to be history where as to her it still was all to recent in her mind.
Yena could not speak of what the Titan war had been like, but she might have been able to make an obvious guess on it being rather terrible. Yet, she doubted it would have been anywhere near as horrible as her own war. This however would not mean it wasn't horrible.
All wars were hell, no one should want a war, yet without war peace would have no meaning.

"Oh. Well." Evander scratched the back of his head. "You sound like another camper here. She got stuck in the Lotus Casino for a while... Great Patriotic War. Russian. T-34/85. World War Two? Uh, late 1930's to 1945." He said, thinking about the history. "Russia was one of the few Allied countries to allow women in combat formally. Did a bang-up job."

His sister, though she wasn't into war, was all about feminism. He had nothing against equal rights, but had a bit of a male-oriented viewpoint that he was constantly trying to correct. She found the women's roles in the World.Wars very interesting, and never let Evander forget that some of the fiercest fighters were women.

"Yes I imagine quite a few demigods have been trapped here at some point or other." Yena commented, she wasn't pleased to have got stuck in the Lotus Casino for so long. "Yep that is the one and yeah I was even made a Hero of the Soviet Union." She seemed quite pleased by it but also felt guilty that so many heroes sacrificed their lives and got no recognition or medal for the ultimate sacrifice.
"The Soviet Union did not care who fought so long as you killed Germans." She spat out the last word bitterly like it was poison to her tongue. "There was even an all female bomber squadron and numerous female snipers who helped strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of the Motherland."

Her smile faded though as she recalled the war, so many good friends were killed, so many comrades were lost, even her own father was killed in action fighting the German enemy.

Evander shifted his weight a little awkwardly, he recognized that look from his non-godly dad, his namesake. The Marine had often looked far away, and as Evander grew older, he understood more that it was the demons of the past chasing him that made him drink and become violent. He was a little wary, his body tense, seeing the look again on someone else's face. It had almost always meant disaster at home. Still, this wasn't a drunk violent Marine, this was a sober girl who had seen more stuff than Evander could imagine. "I've heard that talking about it helps. If you want to talk. Just, uh, I'm not real good at talking, but I'm pretty good at listening."

Yena looked at him curiously before letting out a long tired sigh. "The pictures, the books written by modern historians and movies only... They fail to reveal the true horror of that war." Yena witnessed first hand the cruelty of the Germans but she also witnessed the cruelty of her own comrades. Though the latter could be excused partly because if revenge.
She turned back to the memorial. "I wish I had been here to help win this one for you..." This place was her home and since she left the soviet union, this place happened to be her only home.

"We managed to make it. It's okay that you weren't. You've already been through one war, and this one wasn't as brutal, but... Maybe the fates decided to be merciful? My, uh, well, step-father I guess you could say, he was a Marine, and he got pretty messed up with war. Mentally. Repeated trauma can do that. Even if it's not as bad as it could have been. So, you know, maybe it's a good thing you missed it?" Evander said, though he wasn't sure she would appreciate that comment.

Yena shrugged her shoulders, did she deserve to miss another war? Or was it luck and not fate that spared her from the brutality of another world shattering conflict? She did not know if she could stand to fight in yet another war, she barely made it through the first war she fought in.
"Maybe we will get lucky and that will be the last conflict." Even as she said those words, Yena realised that humans weren't creatures of peace eventually either through the influence of the gods, demigods, monsters or creatures much worse there would be another conflict.

Evander couldn't help but laugh when she said that. It was a short impulsive laugh of both derision and mirth. "I'm sorry, shouldn't have laughed, but...look who you're talking to. The son of the Ares, god of war and conflict. My father would be out of a job. Both of them, actually."

She chuckled quietly shaking her head. "I know... We would also be out of the job." Though Yena herself could do with a bit of peace before facing another war.

Evander shrugged, running a hand through his hair. "That'd be more than fine with me. I can't exactly get into the military, so it's not like I'll be doing that as an adult. Not sure what I'll do. Maybe fix cars or something." He hadn't thought about it. Choices were limited for someone who couldn't read, and even more so for someone with a criminal record.

"You'd have much the same problem. You should be an old lady according to all government records. I mean, they're Soviet records, but..."

"I'm sure if there is another big enough war they'll let you in, yowl loud enough and eventually someone will come over to see what the fuss is about." She smiled at him. "That is how I managed to get into the tank regiment... Sitting behind a desk was not how I wanted to help win the war."

Yena nodded. "Well I look pretty good for my age don't you think? Though it feels weird to have outlived the Soviet Union..."

Evander laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah, I wasn't alive for the Soviet Union. At all. And personally I hope there is no war where they'll be happy to take c-" Evander stopped, clearing his throat, his face turning bright red. "Where they'll be happy to take me."

"It was different." Yena said thinking back to her homeland, her glorious motherland. It was difficult for her to cope with the loss of her home, she had expected the USSR to last forever yet... It did not, perhaps it could not last forever perhaps truly all things must die, even nations.
"I'm sure there will be some place happy to take you." She tried to encourage him, he seemed like a good guy so... Yeah there should be some place willing to take him in.