AN: This is my first fic, it's unbetad because apparently the people I would have beta sleep at three in the morning and I wanted to get this posted for the new year. Historical facts should be true, but if you see any errors PLEASE point them out. Thank you. Enjoy!
T for slight mention of alcohol and dark last bit. If you want to read this as a happy story, skip the last paragraph or so, right after Germany's part.
Human names used.
"Happy New Years!" the general greeting rang from everyone's lips that night, person to person, country to country. Quite literally. Some though, remained quiet, their mind deep in thoughts of the past years. After hundreds of years, the thought of a new one lost it's glamor sometimes, yet each country had it's own hopes for what the new year, new decade, would bring.
From his luxurious spot on a boat on the Thames, Arthur Kirkland sighed, his face turning towards his precious London as he drowned his misery in rum. This year had been difficult. The past couple years in fact. He had dealt with everything that came his way, Jack the bloody ripper, the bloody frog's proposal after failing at the Panama Canal, the bloody Eiffel Tower he could see from his bloody manor that allowed the bloody frog to make bloody innuendos, the Sikkim Expedition, the bloody Dock Strike, every bloody thing! His mind took a turn for the worse, spiralling down further and further as he thought about what he had dealt with the past few years. Hopefully, he prayed, it would get better. He kept the silent mantra in his head, "You've been through worse, you've been through worse." And he had, the American Revolution or the sweating sickness for example. He had survived through those. It was a new year, and hopefully things would take a turn for the better, hopefully he could leave the past behind. He embraced 1890 with open arms.
Francis Bonnefoy leaned out over the edge of his precious tower, watching the lights flicker below. He sighed in contentment, happiness pouring out. He had done it, showed the world he wasn't just a perverted creeper. He had successfully hosted the best exposition the world had ever had, in his Paris! Who cared about the failed attempts at a coup in April or the Suez Canal? He could take on the world, his mind far away on cloud nine. He swore to himself in his mind, he would become even better in the years to come. He would become the best. He leaped towards the future, "1890, here I come!"
"Alfred," President Harrison repeated for what seemed like the fiftieth time, finally snapping Alfred F Jones out of his reverie.
"Yes Mr. President?" He smiled, turning to Harrison.
"What's your Resolution for the year?" Alfred began to think, returning to his thoughts, tuning out the most important man in his country. Again. He turned ideas over in his head again and again, trying to decide what he wanted to do. He wanted to see Arthur again, as allies this time. He hadn't seen him since 1812. Had his big brother changed? He had heard about the mass murderer in Iggy's country and hoped he wasn't hurt. He also wanted to beat France's exposition. Oh how Francis had bothered him, bragging about it and making snide remarks about how 'better' he was. He had to prove to that idiot how much more of a hero he was. Those would take longer than a year though, awful resolutions. He continued to think. He had just admitted his 42nd state. Maybe his resolution could be to get more. That would be nice, he could always use another child. Or perhaps to get one of those 'Jukeboxes' that just was unveiled at that saloon in San Francisco. Those seemed cool. He didn't know what to pick, all he knew was that 1890 was going to rock!
Roderich Edelstein slipped his fingers across the keys, no expression showing on his stoic face. He gave himself to the music. It was his life. He gave into it, thoughts slipping from his mind. Pursing his lips, he continued the flowing piece. He forgot, even if momentarily, the suicide of Rudolf, his crown prince. He forgot the pain that stabbed through his heart as the royal died, how he fell to his knees in front of a fellow county, how it had to be Gilbert, of all the people that could have been there. He let it all go, how alone he felt in his massive empty house during the holidays, walking daily past rooms that had once held Hungary, Italy, the Holy Roman Empire, his family. The rooms that were now empty. He ignored the pain, leaving it aside as he played his precious music. He didn't even notice the large grandfather clock in his hall chime midnight. He didn't notice as it became 1890.
Crouching in a gondola, Feliciano Vargas leaned out skimming his hand in the water. He smiled, watching his people interacting, hugging and laughing with one another. He saw couples in other boats kissing, saw lanterns hanging over the canal, saw children smiling about the new year. He saw it all. His heart cried out in loneliness, seeing all the families and remembering all the friends he had once had that he never got to see anymore, but his mind ignored it, opting instead to be happy. He had so much to be happy about. He had been able to eat pasta earlier, and some of the new food called 'pizza' that had been invented by that man Esposito or something like that. He had his people around him, he had his country, his brother Romano (even though they rarely saw each other), he had pasta. What more could he want in the coming year of 1890?
Ludwig Beilshmidt sighed, crinkling his nose at his brother passed out on the floor. Gilbert was an idiot. Ludwig started to drag the albino to his room, thinking all the while. It was happening again, he was left to clean up his brother's mess. The great empire of Prussia couldn't handle it, couldn't deal with the consequences. Ludwig had to. But did he ever get the credit? Of course not, it was all about his brother and his empire. One day he might become important, one day he would control the world. Not yet though. For now, he would be content to drag his drunk brother from the party and wait for the future. He waited for it to be the future, not just 1890.
All people have a dream. There is always something better waiting for them at the other end of the rainbow. Events will always pass. But hindsight is always 20/20, and when they look ahead, they don't see the darkness lurking. The bomb they will create, that can wipe out entire nations. The dictator who isn't even a year old, that would bring their dreams into reality, but destroy them in the process. The loss of the last remaining piece of an empire. They do not see the friends they make, the enemies they destroy. They only see the past and the present, hoping for the future but uncertain of it. What will the year 2012 bring for the counties, Arthur, Francis, Alfred, Roderich, Feliciano, Ludwig. What will it bring for you?