A/N: Hello everyone. This took me a couple of days to finish this prologue. Not sure how long it'll be before I finish an actual chapter. But that's not what this is for. This is to say that this is my first time putting something on here. So I hope you enjoy this thing that has manifested into an actual being.
I do not own Hetalia. Just this idea of putting characters from said anime into a world of my own. Enjoy.
Today was a special day for the country of America.
It was his birthday. July 4th. Independence Day.
A scream ripped from his throat into the empty and silent room. It echoed off the walls and in his ears. His hands clutched at his chest and his legs were tangled in the sheets with sweat. Sobs wracked his body like jolts of electricity, and tears poured down the sides of his face, staining the white pillow. His hair clung to his forehead and the back of his neck uncomfortably. Eyes wide with fear and dull with pain. His body felt so sore and weak. Like he had just awoken from a sleep that lasted an eternity.
His breath soon calmed down into light pants that strained his tired lungs. Hands lying limply by his head as he stared up at the ceiling. Eyes distant as he tried to think about what had happened. Mind always drawing up blank, but he still searched. He felt it too. He could feel it within his reach yet it still evaded him and taunted him.
"Good morning." He felt the bed dip. The stranger was back again. He was always there when he woke up. He tried to say something back, but he was still too far gone to hear what his mouth tried to say. "It seems to be getting worse. Your throat that is. I can't even hear you. Speak up."
"...w… tr…," He couldn't even feel the vibrations made by his throat as the words tried making their way out. Although, this time he heard it, he just couldn't understand it.
"Oh. You're thirsty. Well, you did scream again this morning. Be back." The bed shifted again as the stranger got up and left. It was silent once again as he still laid there.
He sat there at the table arranging a small kiddy puzzle. There were nine different pieces that needed to be placed right. Though, he just couldn't do it, and not because he didn't want to. He saw them, but he just couldn't place them. The answer seemed to escape his mind and wouldn't come back.
"Still can't do it?" The stranger asked and he shook his head no. "This is the twentieth time, you know."
He squinted at the puzzle now. Hoping it would somehow show him what he had to do. That it would somehow make everything right.
Was anything wrong to begin with?
Why was he even trying to solve this? Was this really a puzzle? Was it really wrong to leave it like this? Why did he have to place them in the right spots? Was there really any wrong spots?
Would something bad happen if he didn't do it right?
"You don't want to do this anymore, do you?" The stranger asked after sometime.
"...No…," He reached across the table and took a small candy from the bowl. It was hard and he couldn't chew it because the stranger said it would rot his teeth. It would get stuck and he wouldn't be able to get it out.
It tasted like caramel.
He watched the T.V. as things he knew and things he didn't know flashed across the screen. There was no sounds to accompany these things on T.V. as it was muted. But he did hear sounds coming from the thing that covered his ears. They were loud and blocked out any and all sounds. He felt a bit weird sitting there and only being able to hear the loud beating. But the stranger had told him to keep them on while he cooked. So he did.
He listened.
They both sat at the table for dinner now. Eating whatever the stranger had placed on the plates in front of them. He didn't ask what it was, he just ate.
"So, how do you feel now? Better? Worse?"
"Better…" He took a bite and chewed.
"Good," the stranger said, smiling. "I wonder if you'll remember?" He looked up at the stranger.
"What?"
"Oh? Did I say that aloud?" He smiled and gave a huff. "Nothing. It doesn't matter." The man gave a dismissive wave with his hand and went back to eating as well.
"Okay," He started eating again, too. The food tasted good, and he was happy.
But that was short lived.
He sat there staring at the black screen of his oversized T.V. His face was pulled into a blank expression. The person he was talking to sat on the back of the couch away from the T.V., face unreadable. It was quiet between them except for the tick of the clock that hung above the front door. He had had a drink in his hand for some time and it had beaded with perspiration, sliding down the sides.
After awhile, he looked into his drink at his reflection. Dark bags were under his eyes, and the startling smile he usually wore was completely gone. It had been nothing but sleepless nights. He literally couldn't even remember when he last slept. He got a few hours here and there, but would always be awoken by the screams that left his throat dry and raw. Things would happen in his dreams. He never knew what, though.
As tears started to pour down his face, he gritted his teeth, not wanting to make such worthless pitiful sounds. Arms wrapped around his torso then and pulled him close. He started to openly sob now and grabbed onto the shirt of the stranger tightly while the stranger smiled at his own reflection in the blackened T.V.
"What do you say?"
What could he say? There was nothing he could say. The air against his cheeks made his tears cool to the touch. His house was like a freezer lately. He would keep all the lights off and hide in his air conditioned room. It made him shiver and press his face into the stranger's chest. He was getting so tired of sleepless nights and screaming his lungs out. All while not even knowing what for. It was like the stranger knew what he was feeling, because what he said next made him break down even further.
"It's time for bed. You need all the rest you can get."
"B-but… I ca-can't sleep!" He wailed in despair while pressing the palms of his hands into his eyes roughly. "I can't! I don't want to! You can't make me!"
"No, I can't. But you and I both know you need it."
"I can't. I won't." Sobs stopped him from arguing further, and the stranger rubbed small circles in between his shoulder blades while giving a heavy sigh. The stranger was starting to get a bit fed up with how the boy was acting.
"Then say yes." He gripped the boys shoulders and held him an arm's length away. Looking into the boys azure coloured eyes.
"I'm scared." He shook his head no. He couldn't do it. He couldn't. The stranger then hugged him, pulling him from his ever building thoughts.
"I'm here, though, aren't I? I'll always be here. So just say yes. Don't think. Just count to ten and say yes."
"10…
9…
8…
7…
6…
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…" He closed his eyes and held the stranger close.
"Yes."