Rated: G
Language: English
Categories: Angst/General
Title: Holding Out For a Hero
Summary: Alfred Jones was a hero, after all, and he would just have to be strong until the day came that he found a hero of his own.
Author's Note: Technically, the theme for this story "meme" should have been Enrique Iglesias - Hero. But since even I couldn't bring myself to hate him enough to "kill" him off, I cheated a bit and went with the song below it that had the word 'Hero' in its title. Sorry, all.
Holding Out For a Hero
Alfred was acutely aware that because he followed his boss's orders so vehemently and declared his pride and belief that his people were just that bit better than most, that he had earned his fair share of blame for the fact that they had alienated so many other nations over even the simplest of things.
But how could anyone blame him? When it came down to it, he still had to do what he and his leaders thought was best for their people. If that meant throwing bluffs at Ivan or dumping crippling bombs on Kiku for following the wishes ofhis emperor and people, or even going against his own former mentor and friend, then so be it.
But the more time that passed by, the pilot was beginning to realize that what the other nations tended to regard him with wasn't friendship; it wasn't hostility either, typically, admittedly. But it wasn't as though they ever seemed happy to see him. If anything, they were civil to him. Civil.
Perhaps the only ones that seemed to hold little ill will toward him were Feliciano, Francis (most of the time), Matt, and Antonio. Even Romano disliked him on principle, and Heracles just seemed more or less indifferent to him one way or the other. It was true what they said; it was lonely at the top.
And riddled with problems.
There was always someone trying to take the position of top dog from you, and you were practically obligated to take care of the weaker ones (not that he really minded having Kiku rely on him so much after that last world war; he rather liked it because he felt it his duty to make up the trouble to his partner now that things were a bit calmer between them.) And besides, it was a hero's duty to watch after the lesser beings and the victims.
Ah, but there he went again with the hero talk. It was just so ingrained in his head now that it was a very hard habit to break. He would never admit it aloud, but sometimes the stress and pressure was just too much. Being called a busy body, an idiot, and all those sorts of things was getting a little bit tedious, and what was worse, if he just looked at his people and some of his recent bosses, he really couldn't argue the fact with as much passion as he felt that he should have been able to.
Now and then, it would be nice to be able to be weak and defenseless for a while. Well, maybe not entirely defenseless, but at least a bit less independent and headstrong. He rather missed the days when he could count on Arthur to soothe away the nightmares when he was little, the times when he didn't have so many enemies and so much pressure.
Yeah, it would be nice to have someone that would talk to him from a friendly stand point again; someone that, when he loved them - loved them like he did Kiku (and rest-assured he did,) they would return the feeling and not have to pretend that there wasn't a bit of resentment and bitterness tied in with it.
He wanted to be able to put down that "I'm everyone's brave, strong hero" face for a while and let someone else be the stronger one for once. He'd had it, and then just as quickly as it was presented, he'd shattered it because he hadn't yet understood the rules of the world.
Ah, well; it was probably due to happen whether by his means or another's. It couldn't be helped.
Still, Alfred wished things could be a bit different than they were now. His new boss seemed to be doing his best to try to help alleviate some of the frayed connections between the blonde and his peers, and for now, that would just have to be good enough. He could hold out for a little longer.
Alfred Jones was a hero, after all, and he would just have to be strong until the day came that he found a hero of his own.
He'd just have to hold out a little bit longer.