A/N: School is out, and I am back to writing. Here's a warm-up-like drabble about my queen, APH Vietnam.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.
like a lotus
A Lily By Any Other Name
It was often that she came across this little pond in her walks, and it was often that she stopped to admire it.
Vietnam stopped in her tracks to watch the reeds of the pond sway lazily in the slight breeze. The stagnant pond rippled ever-so-slightly with the gentle movement; the water moved with a lull that reminded her of the low-tide lapping at the white sand of her beaches. A dragonfly maneuvered past her gracefully as she sat down on the banks of the pond. There was a simply tranquility she found in her walks through her lands. She reveled in the peace, the quiet, and the absence of war that fell over her country like a warm blanket.
What captivated her attention the most about the pond was the lotus blossoms. Though small, the pond housed five of these beautiful flowers in its tranquil waters. They bobbed gently on the surface like clouds in the sky, their pink-white-yellow-purple-blue petals perfectly untouched and undisturbed. The flowers were quite the beautiful sight to the eyes that were in search of beauty even after many years.
She never doubted the beauty of her land. It was vast and diverse; it ranged from mountains to fields to jungles to forests to beaches to everything in between. It was green, blue, brown, grey, gold, silver, and every color of the spectrum when it wanted to be. It was as beautiful as the lotus.
What she adored most about the lotus, about the flower of her country, was its resilience. One seed could survive even the harshest drought, winter, or flood. Though it appeared delicate with its soft petals and sprawling leafs, its true strength lay in the seed soon to be germinated into another bloom.
She studied the bloom sitting close to the bank of the pond. Its petals were a pink-tinged white, and its center a fiery yellow. She could cut it from its stem if she really wanted to. It would grow back eventually. But she didn't. Instead, she found herself pondering what this lotus had been through. How many of its ancestors had been burned by napalm, suffocated in Agent Orange, or trampled beneath the boots of a foreign army?
And yet here it was, the lotus, bobbing gently in an undisturbed pond in a remote forest.
If she closed her eyes, she could almost envision how the pond looked forty-some years ago. Its waters were not clear, but a deep, rust-colored orange that suffocated everything in proximity. The surrounding trees were reduced to burned stumps with ash smothering what used to be the underbrush. Nothing rustled, nothing moved, and the only sign of prior life was the trail of boot prints in the ash that led further into the forest. The air itself was thick with the nauseating scent of gasoline and death, making it nearly impossible to breathe.
If she closed her eyes, even for a second, she envisioned the trampled wasteland her country had become during that time.
Instead she kept them open, and took in the pond. She took a deep breath. The air didn't carry the scent of napalm, and the forest was as emerald as it should be. Everything was alive. The lotus was alive. She was alive.
And she was okay.
Historical Notes Napalm: A highly-flammable substance used by the U.S military during the Vietnam War. Most of the people that came in contact with napalm died due to the excruciating third-degree burns and neural damage it caused.
Agent Orange: Another chemical weapon used by the U.S during the Vietnam War, especially in Operation Ranch Hand (the plan to poison North Vietnamese water and food supplies). It is a highly concentrated herbicide that killed whatever vegetation it came in contact with, but it wasn't just deadly to plants as it also caused several birth defects and cancer in the human population. The use of Agent Orange was later decreed an American violation of the Geneva Protocol.
Lotus: The national flower of Vietnam. Super pretty.
A/N: APH Vietnam deserves more love from the fandom. In fact, all the APH girls do.