This is me trying to get back into writing Hetalia stuff!
And I must say I've changed a lot…
I deleted a lot of my old fanfic (the ones I felt were crappy), some I'll make remakes of at some point, some I'm keeping up for posterity or nostalgic value for myself (or as reference for a future rewrite), some I keep up for the special reason of 'this was the point where I changed as a writer'… But at any point some of those I've left behind might be removed at one point or another…
You might've also noticed that I've written a lot more fanfic related to videogames than I did Hetalia stuff… And that has a couple more reasons to it: 1. In general I've been focusing a lot more on my original work, 2. I couldn't think of many Hetalia ideas for a while in terms of fanfic, 3. Season 6 of the anime didn't really impress me all that much (I was under the assumption season 5 was the last season due to all the drastic changes – mainly the art style and the fact the more fan service related episodes were animated so I thought season 6 was kinda meh), 4. My writing has improved significantly because of my focusing on my original work, 5. I have an original story (of 2 main ones I work on) somewhat similar to Hetalia in terms of setting (WW2 setting) and character relationships (almost 2 of every minority involved in the war) and I'm trying not to make the two seem like carbon copies of eachother and 6. When it comes to Hetalia in general, a lot of my headcanons have changed and I just learned more history…
Specifically my head canons for the 2ps also changed.
So I thought as a bit of a world building practice, as a way of coming back to the Hetalia community and as a way to show you how I've improved as a writer, why not write a new 2P fanfic that specifically focuses on the world with Luciano as the narrator (because I feel I write him best).
In addition I also got more involved with the Hetalia community in little ways… Namely I watched a lot of Kyokoon64… I also discovered a lot of my headcanons for the 2p were similar to hers (and I have the lovely Dignified to thank for the name 'Luciano'!) But some similarities aside, I also have some headcanons of my own that involve a lot of alternate history…
So now I bring you to Luciano's take on the 2P world in:
2P Universalis
From the names, to the faces, to the lines on a map… My world is different from yours…
For instance it was not Romulus who founded Rome and expanded the territory you would know as the Roman Empire. Here it was Remus who founded his own city that bore his own name that expanded large enough to spread all the way from England to Asia…
And while my kind is a mystery to be studied like scientific marvels and pinnacles of survival of the fittest, I assure you I am anything but a normal human. I'm much more of a monster than a man at this point in time.
To explain my story in its entirety would compose a volume set of historical textbooks that would be useless to you in your current universe. You'll find many overlaps and similarities with a certain war being at the center of where your world and my world collide, but our worlds are still too different for you to travel here freely and expect to be accepted by your alternative countrymen…
Perhaps the biggest difference between our world and yours starts from a fairly early point in history.
In both of our timelines, we have had China have a period of exploration compared to Europe's period of exploration and colonization. And while your China in your universe only looked at the nations it came across for animals and materials to bring back to the mainland, the one in my universe had the idea of colonization far early than yours, as did the other Asian countries in my universe – including Japan. They were the first to try and colonize as many territories as possible overseas. While both of our Chinas were equally large and powerful at that point, the island nation of Japan remained the same – mostly mountainous and unable to support larger industries that would come in the future, fueling the need to colonize as much territory as possible.
Hence both versions of Asia were similar in that point in time, but they took advantage of their earlier age of exploration. The China in my universe ended up losing small portions of the mainland while they tried to colonize as many new lands as they could find. The Japan in my universe ended up more successful, conquering as many islands and large landmasses as they could find from The Philippines down to Australia stretching all the way toward your version of Hawaii, which in our universe became a colony of Japan who got their independence due to the distance between them and the motherland…
Another difference between your universe and mine is that we discovered and acknowledged secularism a lot earlier.
Martin Luther in your universe wrote the 95 Thesis and posted it on the door of a church that was giving indulgences, having church-goers buy their way to forgiveness from their beloved yet malevolent gods and go to this 'heaven' place you all seem to want to go to as if it'll bring you everything you've looked for in your lives… In your universe he was jailed or exiled or whatever it was and translated the bible into German… He would eventually found the religion of Lutheranism… In my universe he became so disgusted at the thought of the church being hypocritical with its teachings and practices that he promoted secularism and used the 95 Thesis for the same purpose, posting it on the door of a church that was giving out those same indulgences. But instead of asking the church to practice what they preach, he asked the people 'why do you choose to believe in a hypocritical practice?' 'If your god did exist, he would surely punish these priests who deceive you!' And as a result, secularism was born much earlier in my universe…
Religion in early civilization would still be used for similar reasons across both of our universes. It's just the point of discovery for some of them may be different.
Another important aspect of our universes is the size and influence of each nation. This aspect applies to all possible historical periods for the size and influence of a nation affects its ability to stand the test of time.
As stated before, the Japan in my universe had an early period of exploration along-side China and grew exponentially in size and influence. To give you the short version regarding everyone else, most of them were the same size as they were in your universe give or take the occasional province or other territory. Since some aspects of history played out differently however, their personalities and attitudes may contrast heavily with the nations of your universe, a good portion of the difference in personality perhaps having to do with the size of the land each of us occupied.
Speaking for myself in particular, after the fall of my grandfather Remus and not knowing whether I had a mother or father in between the generation gap, my brother and I were separated similar to your universe's Northern and Southern Italy. I was incorporated into Austria-Hungary and my brother incorporated into our universe's Spain. Our universe's Spain was downtrodden after being taken over by my brother, growing Southern Italy's influence while I stood content being a subject-nation of Austria-Hungary, still quite powerful as they were in your universe but with different policies and outlooks on war. In fact perhaps one of the most important differences between both our Austrian-Hungarian Empires is that during the War of Austrian Succession the Austria-Hungary pair I know – essentially my mother and father – not only won the War of Austrian Succession, but annexed most of Prussia along with it save for one small territory which they left Prussia to rot and look upon what was once a much larger kingdom…
Even your version of America is different from mine. While the one in your universe wanted independence from Britain and all of the other nations that colonized the continent, the one in my universe was perfectly content being a subject of the British Crown. Because the British Empire got to keep most of their precious colonies and the due to the fact that their colonies – namely America – only sought independence at a much later date in history, they remained a large world power until the day their colonies decided they no longer wanted to be subject nations, hense making the America I know a lot younger than yours…
As for colonization of Canada – it was mostly colonized by the French and the Nordics in some territories, at least in my universe. France and England were allies even if at wits end with one another at times. But as much as England tried to interfere with the Canadian society that came about in my universe, England never succeeded in making Canada their subject nation and to this day Canada is still a subject-nation of France that's treated as a mostly independent nation in every aspect but name.
The scramble for Africa also happened just the same in my universe but the European nations to try colonizing and annexing Africa were slightly different because of who was the most powerful, influential or straight up DEAD at the time… Long story short, most of Africa belongs to us European nations with very little of the original African population left in some territories that some nations set up like reserves… I can't say I really care for that sort of treatment myself. So long as they don't break anything I create, I don't mind natives of any land I conquer all that much…
But to explain my personal views on everything in this world would take up volumes upon volumes of history textbooks… Perhaps even a reality TV show series you people in your universe seem to love so much…
As it still stands: These are only some examples of how things work in this universe…
The most important point in history where your world and my world collide is during World War 2…
Most of the factions and people involved are similar is not exactly the same; the size, scope and influence of some nations may be significantly different from yours whether in personality or the lines drawn on a map.
I myself at that time conquered almost all of Spain alongside my brother and many a smaller nation or territory became a vassal to the New Italian Empire. We were a fascist empire that wanted to bring back the Remus's Empire – our version of the Roman Empire that your version of Mussolini so desperately wanted to revive. Our territory was a lot bigger by the time the Second World War broke out however, giving us more of an advantage on top of being strategists and having many a vassal and protectorate along the Mediterranean and deserts of Africa.
My allies at the time were the same as in your universe: Japan – which was benefitting heavily from its early period of exploration and with its own small former colony turned independent nation began conquering the west of what you would call The United States which in my universe was still mostly un-colonized if you could believe that. Germany was having it's own fascistic autocracy in it's nation, smaller compared to the empires started by myself and Japan, but still fairly powerful and very militaristic. We conquered a lot of territory…
Things were good…
This is also the part where your world and my world begin to collide…
At the height of their power in your universe, The Axis Powers begins to crumble one by one. Italy surrenders first on October 13th 1943. Germany's furher supposedly commits suicide or flees to South America according to what I've studied from your multiple versions of history… Japan is the last one to go out with a literal bang – as it's bombed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by two atomic bombs, the first of their kind and a major game changer in warfare. With the threat of ending it all with atomic bombs, you now have wiser leaders who know that if they slip up, no matter how powerful they are they could be gone in a day thanks to a single nuclear bomb and the devastating effects of radiation on organic life and the environment.
At the height of our power in my universe, The Axis Powers had gone through most of their enemies in Europe, even expanding into Asia.
Of course in a story about the Second World War, you can't leave out the Allied Forces.
In your world America tried to resist going to war, as they were still trying to recover from a depression about 10 years prior. The other powers in the meantime were trying their hardest, but still struggling to win. It was only when Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor that America was dragged into the war and it's arguable that in your universe that the Allied Forces couldn't have won without the help of American reinforcement.
In my world America takes part in no such war, living in splendid isolation and newfound independence from their former ruler the British Empire…
And if we go by that logic you can easily guess what historical twist happens in this story…
In your universe… We lost…
In our universe… We are the most influential and power nations there are…
The main 3 world powers as a result of the Axis winning the war include myself, representing the North of Italy, my brother representing the South of Italy, Lutz who represents Germany and Mikado who represents Japan. Other powers lesser than us but who still hold positions of power include my mother and father – this universe's Austria-Hungary that are still together for better or worse - , Mikajima who would otherwise be known as Hawaii in your universe, but ended up being a former colony of Japan that gained independence only has a certain amount of power by association, Bruno who would rule what's left of the original Spain but who mostly works under my brother… The last one of us who has any influence is Lutz's brother Sigmund, who you could think of as what's left of Prussia. He exists more as a subject nation (if you could call his tiny territory a nation), protected by his younger brother and is the least powerful out of all of us…
As for what happened to the Allied Forces, they still exist but don't have nearly as much influence as the one in your universe. They don't speak to each other very much. Alex Kirkland (America), Max Williams (Canada), Louis Bonnefoy (France) and Oliver Kirkland (England) are somewhat of a family unit, but as far as I know only Alex, Max and Louis are somewhat close to one another while Oliver is pretty much left out as much as he tries to bond with them… Xiao Wang (China) mostly keeps to himself in his own territory, addicted to drugs and trying to relive his youth – perhaps down with a form Peter Pan syndrome. Dmitri Braginski also lives mostly in solitude in his territory. But I don't know much about him to begin with…
This is the world I live in…
This world I live in that could've easily become yours in a multitude of time lines…
At least that's what my father wrote in his journal…
Long he had been keeping records of strange occurrences between this universe and perhaps many others similar to it. Though he is not a scientist per say, he still wrote down what he had observed even if he had no way of figuring it out. He often saw it in little things, normal mundane things you would do. Sometimes he saw another reflection in the mirror that didn't belong to him. Sometimes there would be missing items around the house that he was certain he put in a particular place, even drawing a circle around the item to test and see if it had moved since he last entered the room. Sometimes the stars in the sky were in a different position one night than they were the previous few nights… Small things like that… He kept track of them and put them all in this journal so future generations could learn and benefit from this information.
It benefits nations like us at least…
For if there were multiple dimensions out there, perhaps even empty ones devoid of life or those that have yet to be colonized by humans…
Or perhaps even universes like yours that are inferior to ours…
Then we should prepare to invade by going through the mirrors…
Then again, it is just a thought…
Perhaps I don't really intend to invade a universe like yours.
Perhaps this is just my way of entertaining you slightly further after you've finished reading my version of the story. My world has likely entertained you greatly. The thought of your world potentially becoming like this at one point in history or another must amuse you, it must inspire you to read further, perhaps even create a universe similar to it in your dreams.
But sadly this is where my story ends…
I am Luciano Vargas… and I have an empire to rule…
One-shot end
Now for some explanation!
This 2P universe scenario involves a lot of alternate history. Since I last wrote a regular Hetalia fic, I've been reading and studying a lot of alternate history and working on my own alternate history story… I also added a couple of my own characters that are unique to the 2P world – the idea of which I borrowed from Kyokoon's interpretation of the Cardverse (having the nyotalias and normal versions of the characters exist in the same universe in some cases). I also changed some of the names of the 2Ps, the status of some characters in terms of nationhood and in general the whole power dynamic of the 2P nations…
In my older 2P works, I also gave them super human type powers. This was because a lot of my original work involves people who have powers but they're not necessarily super heroes… Just have those kinds of abilities. In a way this was for me to practice describing super human type powers in words, but at the time I also thought it gave them more of a distinction between the 1P and the 2P. The 1p are pretty powerless when you think about it. They're subject to whoever is in control of the nation and they change along with the size of the country and the will of the people. So I thought it'd be interesting for the 2P to have power in one of two ways or a mix of both: having super human type powers, being in control of their respective nations themselves, having them all be these crazed super human type dictators… Here I made no mention of powers, but I'm leaning more toward the first option for the most part.
In regards to names, some of them have changed because of names I have for my original characters in my original work – namely the name Mikado…
I realized that I kind of use the name Mikado for everything… Everything from my internet alias, to 2P!Japan's name in my older work, my default name for a character in a dating sim I might play because it's a gender neutral name… I kinda fell in love with the name Mikado from the character of the same name in Durarara! I think it was just different from a lot of other Japanese names I had heard up until that point so it just kinda stuck… I also have a Mikado in my original story, but he's far from my portrayal of 2P!Japan… Still, calling my 2P!Japan Mikado has stuck for so long, I can't get used to calling him anything else. So 'Kuro' for 2P!Japan (at least for my interpretation) is more of a nickname a few people use for him rather than his actual name. I know Kuro is a more popular fan name for him but I just can't get used to it… It's not like we call the normal Japan 'Shiro' as his human name, so maybe that's it?
The other name changes (Bruno for 2P Spain, Sigmund for 2P Prussia) were more to line up with Kyokoon's headcannons that I agreed with. Though I still kept Lutz for 2P Germany (Kyokoon's 2P Germany is the wonderful Siegfried). Why did I keep Lutz? I thought Siegfried would be a better name for 2P HRE rather than grown up many 2P Germany… Kind of like how 1P HRE and Germany have different human names (HRE seems to have a variety of names in the fandom, the one I use the most being Severin and Germany has always been Ludwig)
If you're wondering why I gave Japan a little colony in Hawaii that got independence? That aspect I sorta borrowed from Kyokoon's cardverse where she has some of the nyotalia nations exist in the same universe as the normal versions. I also wanted to show more contrast between the 1P and 2P universes by introducing certain characters exclusive to one universe or another because of the alternate history aspect. I also don't know what it is but I also find 2P!Nyo!Japan super adorable… So I figured why not use her as somewhat of a first? I might expand on the idea further and give her a little one shot of her own, but for now I'm just messing around with concepts.