Rule, Britannia
Summary: America listens in on England at his piano...
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America hummed "The Star-Spangled Banner" under his breath, half-skipping up the walkway to England's house. He'd been in the area (well, that was a lie - he'd actually been visiting France, but England's house was only a stone's throw from there anyways, far closer than the three thousand miles of sea that separated his house from the irrate Brit's). "Arthur!" He opened the door unceremoniously, and was surprised when nothing was sent flying at his head with a cry to "get the bloody hell out of my house, you American prat".
He heard a few notes from a piano, slowly, slightly clumsy - the playing wasn't anywhere near Austria's masterful playing, but then again, no one was that good. As he moved closer, he could pick out a slight melody, and a strong, confident voice that he recognized as Arthur's.
"When Britain first, at heav'n's command,
Arose from out the azure main,
Arose, arose from the a~azure main,
This was the charter, the charter of the land.
And guardian angels sand this strain:
Rule Britannia!
Britannia rules the waves!
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves!
Rule Britannia!
Britannia rules the waves!
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves..."
The song was more than familiar. America had heard England hum it countless times as a child. He remembered even singing it a few times. He smiled a bit. England really loved his country, even if he seemed a bit full of himself in this song...
The piano song slowed down, to a tune sounding something like a music box, sweet and gentle. England's voice switched to a softer sound, humming along with the introduction before singing again, lovingly and adoringly:
"God Save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen.
God save the Queen.
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us.
God save the Queen."
God, Arthur loved his Queen. If anyone even jokingly made fun of her, England was always sure to be at their throats, choking them with a tie or throttling them with his bare hands. America had no idea how he could be so loyal to his boss - usually, Alfred liked his boss for the first year or so after he was elected, then made it his job to ridicule him in any way possible.
He wondered if England had ever loved him that much?
"O Lord our God arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all."
Knavish tricks? What the hell did that mean? Alfred wasn't sure what England was talking about, but it sounded like he was mocking other countries... This was his anthem, too, if Alfred remembered right.
The piano changed again. Now, it seemed a little jaunty, somehow, and it was a moment before Alfred recognized the tune. This was his anthem. He felt a small flash of happiness. Arthur at least loved him enough to know his anthem, right?
He blinked in confusion as the words came out different - he knew all four stanzas to his anthem by heart, and he knew for a fact that this was NOT one of them.
"To Anacreon in Heaven, where he sat in full glee,
A few sons of harmony sent a petition,
That he, their inspirer and patron should be.
When this answer arrived from that jolly old Grecian:
Voice, fiddle and flute no longer be mute,
I'll lend you my name, and inspire you to boot.
And besides I'll instruct you like me to entwine
The myrtle of Venus and Bacchus' vine."
Was this a drinking song? England was making FUN of him! Granted, though, America felt like he'd heard this song somewhere before, though he couldn't place where.
The tune stayed the same, but changed to a sad note, slowing down. Arthur continued singing, but seemed a little disheartened now.
"Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?"
Arthur stuttered on the word "free". Alfred blinked, peeking around the corner. Arthur's hands were on the keys to the piano, but his eyes were looking up at the cieling, misted over as if in deep thought. He reached up, wiping at them a bit. "Calm yourself, Arthur," he muttered to yourself. "The git got independence over two centuries ago. Forget and move on with your life. He isn't coming back, no matter how much you miss him." Arthur looked back down at the ivory keys, plucking out a few more notes of something else that sounded vaguely like "Yankee Doodle". America liked that song - it was catchy.
Arthur smiled a bit. Laughed, even. "That little prat... My soldiers made that up to make fun of him, and now he considers it a patriotic song..."
Alfred blinked in confusion. Yankee Doodle? That wasn't a British song... was it? "England!" he greeted, coming out of his hiding space. "I came to visit!"
England jumped a foot in the air. "God damnit, America, you Yankee dolt, learn some manners and knock!"
"You wouldn't have heard me, anyways," America complained. "Your house is so big, you never hear the doorbell all the way over here."
Arthur sent Alfred a pointed glare. "Git," he huffed, standing up, pushing the piano bench back under the instrument.
"Oh, England?"
"What?" the Brit replied testily.
"Who's Anacreon?"
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First song: "Rule Britannia!", a British patriotic song.
Second song: "God Save the Queen", the British national anthem (The American song "My Country 'Tis of Thee" is sung to the same tune).
Third song: "To Anacreon in Heaven", a British song about (as you may have already deduced) liquor. That's right, Americans - our national anthem is based off an English drinking song. Lovely, isn't it? Then again, in the days before copyrights, tunes were often recycled over and over...
Fourth song: "Star-Spangled Banner"... If you're American and didn't recognize this, you've made me very sad. Same thing if you didn't know there were four verses...
"Yankee Doodle": Originally, Yankee Doodle was written by a British general to make fun of the rather disheveled, disorderly colonial "Yankees". The "Doodle" part comes from the German word "dudel", which means "fool" or "simpleton". The "Macaroni" part of the song doesn't make much sense with modern English. It was an extreme fashion movement in England during the mid-18th-century in England; men often wore extremely flamboyant clothes and wore an overly ornate, HUGE wig.
I'm an ignorant American, so I apologize for any inaccuracies. This was written purely for fun! I hope you enjoyed it.