Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia: Axis Powers, that belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.
Author's Note: Hello, and welcome to The Poppy Field, my first Fan Fiction. This will be a series of short stories in a semi-chronological order about different parts of the First World War and what our favourite personifications may have been doing at the time, so there will be small jumps in time from one chapter to the next. I do apologise if I do not update regularly update on this, as research and other parts of life tend to slow down the writing process.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!
~ Anonymous Lily
Here are my names for some of the characters that do not have official names or even exist as characters: [This has been edited because I did some research and some of the names did not exist.]
Liechtenstein- Erika Vogel
Slovakia- Konrad Tesarik
Czech- Matylda Horacek
Serbia- Teodor Loncar
Belgium- Adie Mogens
Australia- Jett Wilson
New Zealand- Bailey Roberts
India- Inderpal Gupta
South Africa- Lesedi Annandale
Chapter One- A Spark in the Tinderbox
Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire, June 29th 1914.
It was the 28th of June in Sarajevo, Bosnia, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, that the prosperous and fragile peace in Europe first began to collapse, with an assassination that changed history and set the course for much worse things to come...
They were not quite sure what, but every personification in the empire knew that something very bad had happened. It was only on the day after the event that they had found out what had happened in detail.
The newspaper had arrived this morning, having been slipped through the letterbox just as Roderich was having breakfast. It was Erika who had picked it up first, emitting a soft, squeaking gasp, like a startled mouse, when she noticed what the words were saying.
He had watched all of the other Nations crowd around the shocked Liechtensteiner to look at the article over her shoulder. It had taken several tries to get them to stop reading and begin their duties, but he still heard them talk about it throughout the day in hurried whispers and sly glances.
It was now the afternoon. Erika had just finished her weekly music practice and was now finishing her embroidery in her bedroom. Roderich had moved from the music room to his study, which glowed warmly in the afternoon sun, his various antiques refracting the light into shapes on the dark, rich wallpaper. The newspaper, wrinkled from the Austrian's gloved grip, appeared to have faded from use, but still had enough ink to announce its bad tidings:
The Austrian Archduke, Franz Ferdinand, is dead.
His Majesty was shot by a young Bosnian Serb named Gravrilo Princip yesterday afternoon, while travelling with his wife, the Duchess Sophie of Hohenberg, in Sarajevo. The culprit is now in custody.
Roderich slammed the newspaper down on the table in an attempt to control himself. The news headline was echoing in his head, taunting him with its existence.
How could this happen? In this civilized age of prosperity, how can people ruthlessly kill a member of the Imperial family? Kill an heir to the throne?
His brooding was interrupted by the arrival of his companion, Erzsébet Hedevary, who had just arrived back from a meeting in Hungary. She clutched a copy of the same newspaper, the thin paper crunched up from her iron grip.
"I heard on the way back from the post office." she explained, "Oddly, no one seems upset by their deaths in the Hungarian court, or in the town."
Roderich scoffed, "Well, they were not the most popular in the Austrian court, what with the Archduke being married to a Bohemian aristocrat with no royal blood."
He paused, glancing at the newspaper again before continuing in a quieter tone, "If anything, I feel... enraged that such an atrocity would occur in this civilized time! It... something has to be done about this, we cannot let Serbia trigger any uprising. If this carries on, the Bosnians will rebel, then the Slovaks and Slovenes will too... It is inevitable if it is not stopped now."
Erzsébet gave a questioning look. "They were rebelling before the Serbian problem, so was I. But it was sorted out and they are less unruly now."
From the corner of her eye, Erzsébet noticed that one of the aforementioned Nations were eavesdropping on their conversation. She could see the face of Matylda Horacek, the Czech personification, glancing at her and putting a coal-stained finger to her lips. Short hair flopped over her face and blue eyes flickered back and forth.
She fixed her with a cold stare and hissed, "Get out, this is not your business." The eavesdropper disappeared in a flash from the door frame. Roderich merely turned around to face where they once were, scowling at her shadow.
"You see, Erzsébet, they have no respect for my authority or yours... and now they are only going to get bolder." he stated, "No amount of money or diplomacy will stop them now, thanks to those Serbs trying to shatter the peace that the empire brings to the Balkans."
"Do not talk like that, we still have control over them." she said, putting a hand on the Austrian's shoulder, and fixing him with a determined stare, "...It is just a matter of demonstrating it. We are perfectly capable of restoring the balance of power and disciplining Serbia, the rest of them as well!"
%&%
"...restoring the balance of power and disciplining Serbia, the rest of them as well!"
Matylda froze, her blood running cold. What... what do they mean 'disciplining'? The bullies are planning something, aren't they?
She ran, not caring where she was going, trying to get as far away from those words as possible. The ragged skirts of her uniform tugged against her legs and her threadbare shoes slipped across the polished floor dangerously.
We cannot let Serbia trigger any more uprising...
We still have control over them...
Meanwhile, a figure emerged from one of the rooms, holding a jug of water. They noticed Matylda and began to greet her when she collided with them, dislodging the jug from the figure's grip.
Suddenly, Matylda fell, hitting the floor with a painful thud beside the spilled water. Wincing, she dragged herself from the ground to face her friend, Konrad, gripping a nearby cabinet.
"Matylda, are you alright?" he asked, panic evident in his voice. At this, Matylda grabbed his shoulders to steady herself.
"Do not freak out, but Austria and Hungary are planning something, I'm sure of it. I overheard them talking about the assassination and how they are going to 'discipline' Serbia."
She took a deep breath and sighed, "I don't know when or how they are going to do it, but we need to be careful not to anger them or something will happen."
"Wait, really?" Konrad exclaimed, "I realise that they are upset about the Archduke's death but... It seems like they are going to punish an entire country just for one man. It's not right."
"I know, but keep your voice down. You're going to wake the others." Matylda warned, checking the corridor for movement, "We'll talk about it tomorrow. Just get some sleep."
With that, Matylda crept cautiously away, to find her room and settle down for the night.
If she could.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading the first instalment of The Poppy Field. I hope you enjoyed it so far.
To be honest, I was at odds on how to portray Hungary in this anthology because while the Hungarians were sort of second-in-command in the empire, they were still ruled by the Austrians and were fairly oppressed and discriminated against.
I didn't want to make her Roderich's puppet, nor did I think that she would be openly rebellious. So I tried to show her hesitancy to just go along with things as well as her desire for revenge and control- after all, she did have a small empire of her own in the past, owning parts of Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania. She has quite a complicated relationship with the other parts of the empire- supporting them but wanting to act as an authority to preserve her status as second-in-command. So this is why in the first few months, she may be a bit less independent.
Speaking of Slovakia- and Czechia- the official designs have come out! They are so cool and the designs and personalities seem to fit the countries quite well in my opinion. You can view them on the Hetalia Archive Scanlation site.
~Anonymous Lily