I just felt like writing something sad. And I don't know if I'll continue this or not. If someone wants me to I suppose I will. I could expand into the other countries mentioned. Maybe a five years later thing? I don't own Hetalia.
Happy Fourth of July
It was a bright sunny day in the south of Canada as the family of five started the long drive back to their home in the US. It had been a lovely three days of majestic waterfalls, Canada Day parades, and friendly people. The maman and dad of the bilingual family were already discussing a possible trip to Toronto the following summer. Though they assured their three children that they wouldn't spend the next Fourth of July driving through Canada. The "Welcome to the United States of America" sign would show up any minute now, but just as they were nearing the border, Maman got a sense of foreboding.
"Denis," She said to her husband, her pronounced French accent worried. "Stop ze car."
He complied, pulling over. "What's wrong now Antoinette?" He asked with a thick Irish accent.
"I just have a bad feeling." She turned to glance at the three children sitting in the backseat. "You heard about Italy, Spain, and Japan. I just have a horrible feeling."
"America's trés grande Maman," Piped up the eleven-year-old girl in the very back, ignoring the little six year old boy's question of what exactly had happened. "I don't think they'd be able to get an area that large."
"I think we should wait a bit. I don't like it." Maman was acting on her instinct. Something was wrong. So they sat in the car for a little while.
The two boys, six and three years old, fell asleep quickly, heads leaning on each other.
"Look at Matthieu and Sean," The daughter giggled.
"Do you have anyzing to take a picture Finn?" Her maman asked, trying to distract herself.
The girl, Fionnula, nodded, then shook her head. "I have the old camcorder though. Here, I'll record them." She climbed into the middle of the minivan. Her father was lightly dozing but he didn't stir even when she accidentally hit the back of his chair climbing over.
She started the camcorder and put it on them for a minute, but before she could shut it off, there was a horrible sound. It was a loud ear-splitting screeching, and she jumped out of the car, ignoring her maman's demands to get back in. Finn kept the camcorder on, and the noise got louder.
It's coming from America. Finn swung the camera southward and watched, only checking the camcorder every little while to make sure it was straight. The cars on the highway were rushing to get into Canada and away from the noise.
Her maman and dad came up behind her.
"What is zat?" Her maman whispered.
"I don't know." Her dad replied.
Finn's eyes widened as the noise suddenly stopped. The ground began to rumble and the little crowd watched as, right across the border, things exploded. The trees were first. They set fire and it raced across the forest, burning all in it's path.
The small crowd watched with bated breath as the fires went out right at the Canadian border. Not a single tree on the Canadian side was even harmed. Finn ran forward for a better look and the crowd jostled her parents away from her. She ended up next to a tall teenager with wheat-blond hair and bright blue eyes. He was shaking harder than the ground. Finn was now right close to the border and the sight was horrific. It was total destruction. A field of rubble that went on for god-knows how long and stretched farther than the eye could see. A man ran to help them, but the second he stepped on American soil, he disintegrated. The crowd drew back slightly. A couple more people tried to cross, but they all disintegrated. A fire hose was pulled out, but the water merely hissed in midair and completely disappeared. All the crowd could do was watch.
The boy next to her was beginning to convulse. Finn, on instinct, grabbed his hand. He looked at her in surprise and she looked at him with bright worried green eyes. He stopped shaking as hard, but his face contorted in pain.
And then the cars all exploded at once. But not a single scrap of shrapnel hit Canadian soil. The boy clutched her hand like a lifeline before shrugging off his brown bomber jacket. He handed it to her.
"Keep it safe," He muttered. "And always try to be the hero, no matter what."
"Where are you going?"
"I don't know, but I have to do something." The grass itself was now on fire and it was reflected in his eyes. "But you have to make sure the America doesn't completely fade into nonexistence. Be the American ideal. It's my birthday, think of that as your present to me."
"I-"
"Please. I can't be forgotten."
'I?' But Finn nodded. "I- I'll do my best. Happy birthday. Do you want your jacket?"
"No. You keep it. In fact," He set his red, white, and blue duffel bag on the ground at her feet. "Take this. If I survive this, I'll come and get the stuff."
The highway exploded. The air was thick with smoke but there were no screams. All the people are dead, Finn realized.
"What's your name?" Finn asked.
"I'm Alfred Freedom Jones," He gave a sad smile and coughed out some blood. "The hero," He added at the end.
"I'm Fionnula Jeanne Connolly."
"Well Fionnula. Good luck with your life. Don't follow me. Wait until later to be the hero. Be the hero once I'm gone."
"You keep speaking as though you're about to die."
"I am." He looked at her with his eyes blazing intensely.
"Good luck." Finn called as he turned around.
"I don't need luck. I need a miracle." And he turned and ran across the border. He didn't disintegrate, but his shaking became more violent and he retched, blood covering the "W" in the destroyed "Welcome to the United States of America" sign.
There were gasps, but he forged on before he fell, with a thump, onto the ground. His body then exploded into ashes, and Finn hugged the jacket tighter to herself as she something inside die. It was something much deeper than feeling sorry for a boy she had just met. He was important. Important to her and many others. She swayed slightly on her feet. Alfred's ashes floated upwards, towards the sun. Remembering her camcorder, Finn followed the dust that had just been a living, breathing person until it disappeared.
Finn opened her mouth. Something had to be done for him.
"Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light"
The people nearest her joined in.
"What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?"
Everyone in the crowd who knew the words joined in. The ones who didn't hummed along.
"And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"
There was total silence as the crowd of people, Canadians and Americans alike, watched the land of the free and the home of the brave burn to the ground.
….ooooOOOOoooo….
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