Warning: Angst and Green Day.
Diclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. If I did, I'd be very rich indeed. Nor do I own the song Song Of The Century, since it belongs to its rightful owners, Green Day.
Rating: K+
Note: I tried hard to keep my own personal biases out of this one, since it is a controversial subject. Hopefully I succeeded in staying nuertal about this issue. Please no flames, constructive criticisms are welcomed however.
'58.' America counts silently, watching the milliseconds pile towards midnight on his digital watch. It's something he built once out some spare electronics when he got bored. Inventing is a hobby of his, and the watch is one of the better things he's come up with lately. The thing has two screens, one showing local, military time for the purpose of being just a regular wristwatch. The other screen is in standard time and roughly eight and a half hours behind the current local time.
Sing us a song of the century…
'46.' The decade counts down on his watch in the Air Force base, the little green numbers on both screens ticking away almost too slowly as he lies in his bunk. It might have been January 1st, 2010 in Iraq for the last eight and half hours, but it's not the new year for America yet.
That's louder than bombs and eternity…
'41.' Another decade gone, and America can practically feel how the years have worn down on him. It's unusual to be able to say that, since even though America is one of the younger Nations he's certainly not young. Still, it's true nonetheless. He can feel the passage of the years that are being called "The New Millennium." America rubs a finger over the scar on his left temple, and can feel the other scars that the last ten years have left behind on him as well.
The era of static and contraband…
'36.' So much has changed in this last decade. America is at war again, something he's beginning to tolerate less and less every time he has to fight. Ever since World War II, warfare had suddenly become infinitely more deadly and threatening. It's only made worse by the fact that America knows that it's his doing that warfare has become so much more brutal than it has ever been. After all, it was his bombs that changed its nature so forcefully. Now, any one of his kind that had the capacity to make such a weapon could destroy the rest of them with a thought.
That's leading us to the promised land…
'32.' The clock ticks off the seconds with an unbearable slowness, 2009 slipping by in the darkened room. It hadn't all been bad, though. America has seen some impossible things in the last ten years, especially the last few. Back home, his people are showing that they're as tired of war as he is. The last election has proved that much is certain, as well as proving that change was possible. 'Yes we can.' America thinks proudly.
Tell us a story that's by candlelight…
'27.' America sighs, breathing evenly as he waits for the end of the decade. He wonders how many people are gathered in Times Square to watch the ball drop back home. He doesn't know it, but back home, snow is falling on his East Coast to make a beautiful sight, as well as a wonderful omen of the incoming times. Where he is right now though, the sun has already risen over the foreign deserts and America is as far from snow as he can get at his current location.
Waging a war and losing the fight…
'22.' This land is deadly for him and his men, threats seeming to rise out of the sands like phantoms to strike at his forces before disappearing. They've been fighting here for almost seven years now, and America has heard the rumors that his people tell of how this is only an oil war. He hopes that isn't true, though he has been lied to by his leaders before. He's here for the benefit of Iraq's people, right? Heroes don't start wars over oil, much less drag their best ally into said war.
They're playing a song of the century…
'17.' America has to believe that; he has to believe that he's here for a good cause, that he's still the hero. So many of his allies had told him that he was wrong about this one, France, Germany; everyone but England had flat out refused to help him here. Even England is gone now, having left combat operations with a tired look of disgust at the end of April. His new boss says that he's leaving sometime in the upcoming year for certain, though his general tells him that it will be in 2011 that America leave Iraq for good.
Of panic and promise and prosperity…
'13.' "Weapons of mass destruction," his boss had told him, and even though America hasn't found them, they must have been there at some point. Saving the world, right? He remembers how so much of the world had protested, even within his own cities. Over 36 million people worldwide had taken to the streets of over 800 cities to tell him that he was wrong. He remembers the Italy brothers' march on Rome when they had staged what had been recorded as the largest ever anti-war protest as over 3 million people had convened in the city to protest.
Tell me a story and to that goodnight…
'7.' Under ten seconds now and America tries to turn his brain off, not wanting to linger on the past as the new year is about to be ushered in. The future has to be better and besides, maybe one day the historians will be able to look back and tell him for certain what he can't divine now on his own. The historians will worry about motives of America's leaders, but for now, he's just going to ride out the storm.
Sing us a song for me…
"Happy New Years…"
Historical Notes: The protests really did happen, the largest one on record being the one at Rome, at which over 3 million people really did show up to tell America that he was wrong about invading Iraq.
Trivia: The question for today is; What are the meanings of the times on America's countdown? This one is obscure, so watch out.
Hint: Don't overthink this one. Watch the song a few times and you might see it.
Coming Up Next: Is the next chapter of A Daddy Story, and possibly an entire re-write and re-format of everything related to the American Civil War, as well as An Epilogue: Ground Zero, since I'm unhappy with how that come out and I'm not going to post it or the other two epilogue series that go with it and A Timeline until I'm satisfied. ATimeline was too good for me to devalue it with the crappy quality that went into the current version of Ground Zero.