A/N: This event is real. I'm actually writing this two hours after the situation was diffused. Not sure how publicised this is going to be in the US, but obviously as a Hong Konger, this is big news for us.
Philippines is a girl because damn, Hetalia needs more chicks. Also, female Filipino national dress is prettier.
Axis Powers Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya. Philippines is an OC inspired by the franchise.
Philippines slowly walked up the path towards her house. What a nightmare. A former policeman - he had been dismissed a year ago - had taken 25 people hostage on a tour bus. Most of them were foreigners.
Entering the house, the country automatically sank into an armchair, sighing. She had done what she could. Luckily, the terrorist had released some hostages - women and children, thank God - and had requested food and fuel. Privately, she believed that he hadn't intended to really hurt anyone. But now, the deed had been done: seven dead, one of them being the attacker himself.
The truly horrendous part was trying to get the people safe. Philippines was unstable. She'd only gotten a new boss recently, and his first decision was to reform the government. While cleaning out corruption was a great idea, the whole premise was too meticulous and life-shifting to fix in a trice. In fact, the gunman had been sacked on the account of extortion.
She'd tried her best at helping. A SWAT team was dispatched towards the vehicle, but had proved ineffective. The terrorist was armed and threatened more harm if any of the police approached him with weapons. The hostages were completely stuck. And to top it all, it had began to rain during the night.
Her cellphone beeped. She knew exactly who it was even before opening the text message.
I've had enough of your shit. Coming over now.
Philippines sighed and snapped her it shut. He had every right.
An hour later, she heard her door being slammed open forcefully. Light, quick steps echoed through the hallway toward the living room where she waited. Then the lamp's light was obstructed by a silhouette.
Hong Kong stood before her. His expression was impassive as always, but his livid gaze was burning with a vicious force behind it.
"Eleven hours. Eleven. Fucking. Hours. You're a failure."
She hung her head. "I know."
"The hell you do. One guy. Versus a horde of policemen? What the fuck, Philippines." His steady voice dripped with a chilling venom that gripped her heart in fear. She'd always considered him rather unnerving, but now she was terrified.
"Why did your men run away?" Hong Kong demanded. He took a step towards her. "Idiots. Cowards. The whole lot of them."
By now he was shouting. "And when you finally got the bastard after all that time, why did you let all those people crowd the bus? Why did it take so long to get the hostages out? WHERE WAS THE FUCKING AMBULANCE? My people -" He angrily stabbed a finger in the direction of the incident. "- were suffering, and fat lot you did to help. This...this would never have happened anywhere else. Like the US, for one."
He took a deep breath and turned away. Philippines was motionless, save for the tears falling down her face. After a few moments, she angrily brushed them away.
"This wouldn't have happened anywhere else? Are you serious?" She stood up. "What would America have done, then?"
Hong Kong whirled around. "This would have been over in an hour with minimal casualties! What the hell were you thinking, trying to negotiate? That's just prolonging the danger."
"Because he had a M16, for the love of God!" She screamed. "And what I was thinking of was your people! They were trapped in there with him. Somebody from your government ask me to make sure things went as peacefully as possible. And I respected that."
He eyed her with disdain. "Thinking of them? Then thank you for giving us a set of incompetent fools as their rescuers. I was watching the live broadcast. Using tear gas - WHILE the people were inside - without having a gas mask on yourself. Clever indeed."
Philippines glared back, fully intending to stay on track with giving her reasoning. "The sign said something would happen at 3 PM. So we tried to diffuse the situation before then. The passengers said he didn't threaten them."
"Didn't threaten..." Hong Kong's mask was completely abandoned as he grabbed the collar of her shirt, shouting into her face. "Just because you're given a deadline doesn't mean you can't finish the assignment beforehand! What about the third sign, eh? 'Big mistake to correct a big wrong decision.' Goddamn it, Philippines." He let go of her, and she stumbled back onto the chair again. He watched her contemptuously.
"Now, the fear of visiting the Philippines isn't the potential that shit will happen to you, but that in the event that it does happen, nobody will be competent enough to save you."
Philippines no longer had a ready reply. Her head spun with shame, guilt, indignation, confusion and despair all jumbled up. Her energy and willpower spent, this time she allowed her sobs to break out of her soul openly. Hong Kong stood. Tall and terrible, he seethed with anger and grief. Neither said a word for the next few minutes. Then Philippines spoke again.
"Yes. I'm fully aware that my reputation is ruined. This was a mess. And the fault is mine." She swallowed to choke down another sob. "I was naive. I was unprepared and under equipped."
She looked up at the Chinese man in front of her. "But that doesn't mean I did not try. You should know about the problems in my country. The government has been corrupt for so long. There are so many Filipinos in Hong Kong, how can you ignore that fact? You caught the son of one of the congressmen with cocaine yourself, don't you remember?"
"I am not excusing myself. But the reforms have only just started." She stood up again, this time more shakily. "My boss has only been in office for two months! And he's full of idealism and hope...I do hope in him. He's trying to change things here. But we can't do that automatically."
Philippines began crying again. "I never had somebody to watch over me while growing up. Spain only saw me as a port to stop at on his trade routes. Then America only wanted to use me to get revenge on Spain. I struggled to learn how to run my country. I never had England adopting me as family and teaching me what to do. I never had China taking me back and respecting me enough to let me keep my own government. I'm not a powerful economic force in the world."
Another short silence followed. Philippines was too tired to even care what Hong Kong thought of her now. She buried her face in her hands. Hong Kong surveyed her, the emotionless mask back on his face. He breathed loudly out through his nose, but switched his stance. He relaxed his arms, which had been folded tightly across his chest, to slip his hands into his pockets.
"First, I'd like to tell you that China didn't let me keep everything. He's given me quite a bit of pressure at times - that Article 23 fiasco, for example. Second..." He tilted his head away, but kept his eyes on Philippines' hunched over figure. "I guess you're right about one thing. You've got a hell lot of problems here."
She didn't move. Hong Kong began walking away. "Looking forward to your hope-inducing boss's reforms."
Philippines remained still as Hong Kong quietly closed the front door. When she was sure he was gone, she allowed her worn-out body to collapse back into the armchair. The sun would come up soon, and she was going to have to face the world again. As she closed her eyes, Philippines made a mental note to go look at the National Police reform her boss had suggested earlier. A dreamless sleep was then received with open arms.
A/N: I've always felt that the nations reflect their people's opinion, not their governments. After all, what truly makes up one's culture is the commoners' beliefs. The Hong Kong people (at least, my friends and family) are rather upset at the Philippines National Police right now, to put it mildly. That is why Hong Kong is so angry, and seems to blame everything on Philippines. However, I personally am not flinging words of abuse at the Filipino people. Yeah, it definitely should have been handled better, but the whole hostage thing is always a delicate situation.
This fic is actually based on an argument my friend and I are having right now - with me taking Philippines' side. I'm not saying that they should be excused, but what happened happened, and now we clean up the mess. This is how history works - you fuck up, you fix it, and hope you never forget it in order to prevent another problem in the future. Unfortunately, we're incredibly forgetful.
Angsty fic is angsty. Please don't argue in the reviews section (if you decide to comment), because I'm not really looking for a debate. I know many of the Filipino people are also extremely upset and grieved over the event, and are truly sorry for what happened. Also, in terms of writing, I know my ending sucks.
Also...political/historical Hetalia fanfics are hella hard to write, especially if you're into the arts instead of poli sci :/ Man, was there a lot of Filipino history researching (didn't realize American rule had lasted that long there) and HK Basic Law rereading on this one, and it was just to write the end bit there.