Author's Note: Blegh. I clearly have not been on FF.N in long enough, as all of the formatted things that I was saving have been deleted. Phooey. On the bright side, Wordly's format, unlike Eight Men, is fairly replicable.

Wordly

13. Leave Nights

Leave nights were strange for nations. Sometimes they were allowed leave with their units, but as the days lengthened and 1915 rolled onward, command kept them longer and longer on the battle field, only giving them leave with each other.

"Feels vaguely disconnected, no?" Francis inquired, leaning against the wooden wall in Rheims, once a laundry, and now converted into a small hospital. On clear nights, he could hear the gunfire from the front, but it was getting to be that he couldn't tell which part of him was being attacked. There was too much pain, too much mud.

Matthew, looking at the black sky, gave Francis a wan smile. It was still unnerving to see how much the boy had grown. He was not even a boy any more. Was one war all it took these days? Even young Gilbert had matured his way into the 1700s. It felt as though Francis had greeted an awkward adolescent off the ships, turned around, and then Canada was a sad faced man wearing none of his scars on the outside. "Everyone will get their leave in due time, France, sir."

A raucous call broke the morbid connotations of leave. France looked towards the pub as Arthur and his darker Irish brother tumbled out, cursing, laughing, pulling shoving each other in serious mock battle. Francis shook his head. "We are supposed to be on the same side."

Matthew turned his head slightly, watching the display, as Arthur kicked Ireland in the stomach. "I suppose it all makes sense in their heads. Brothers are like that, you know."

France did not. Looking at the faint smile on Canada's face, thinking about the sides of the war as families for a second, thinking about the British Isles, and their teaming brood of siblings, and the Dominions, and their forced Imperial brotherhood, and far away, over the lines of war and time, the Kingdom of Prussia enthusiastically wrestling with a little boy who would grow into his overlord. France took up sky watching again. "No, Big Brother doesn't quite understand."

Length: 350 words

During WWI, leave differed for each side. In general, although this varied widely, the British policy kept regiments on the front lines only about two weeks, before retiring them to the reserves for a month, and then retiring them for a two week leave, and then beginning the cycle over again. Of course, in areas where fighting was hard, the trench cycle was broken, and men could be in active duty on the front for weeks and weeks. Either way, however, the German soldiers did not have the same luxury. They served their term at the front for upwards of a month, the theory being that soldiers who were experienced did not die as often. I don't have figures on the French rotations or lack thereof.

MF