"So what about an American?"
"I don't even know how we'd start to go about this."
"How'd they find out? This whole program's supposed to have been kept under wraps."
"You know how their media is."
"I thought the British were worse."
"Really, you underestimate Fox News."
A sigh, "All these applicants, all four thousand of them, are all perfectly eligible—"
"It's not just about eligibility. Remember the others were not only qualified, but they caught our eye somehow."
"… They best matched their country. That's what we're trying to accomplish."
The other sighed, "They're all American. They all thoroughly understand their country's history. I don't know—"
"Do you remember the one we picked form Canada?"
"… No."
"Matthew… something. His file's here somewhere. But he has an American half-brother. I don't think he applied but…"
"I think I remember who you're talking about. But do you think he's eligible?"
"Look at all who we have already and just put him in. That's the earth."
"But if he doesn't know his history-?"
"He's American, why wouldn't he know?"
"…"
"… Point taken. That's easily found out. We send him the scholarship test."
"Fine with me. But if he's unqualified?"
"Then we pull a name.
~X~
Alfred Jones cantered back to the stables after hearing his father call. Liberty's chestnut coat gleamed in the sunlight, fading to white on her lower legs, betraying her speed. Alfred felt the warmth of the sun on his skin. Shirtless horse riding as an embarrassing guilty pleasure, and today was one of the last days warm enough to do so.
School was going to begin again soon. Not that he minded, it was just so dull. Literally nothing ever happened. He could almost say that he was excited for college, just for a challenge of some kind.
When he returned to the barn, he put Liberty in her stall before removing the saddle and bridle. He took care brushing her down. If it was urgent his father would have met him out here. When he finished he went into the house, grabbing his shirt first, jumping over some chickens and a cat in the process.
Their place wasn't big; it didn't need to be with just the two of them. One story, six rooms, and they only used the sixth one when Mattie came to visit. His parents had divorced only months after he was born, a guilty point in his life that he never really got over. When he was eight he discovered that his mother was living in Canada with her new husband and son, two years his junior. He'd begged his father for weeks afterwards to let him go see him. His mother agreed. The first time he'd went to Canada it was for three weeks starting at Thanksgiving break. He and his brother took to each other immediately, wreaking havoc for the whole of those three weeks. Now it was back and forth, but they still stayed very close.
Back in the house, he found his father reading the paper in the living room. Without looking up he pointed to a letter on the coffee table. Alfred grabbed it and flopped onto the one end of the couch.
The envelope was thick, made of a coarse, creamy paper. His name and address were scripted elegantly on the front but it lacked a stamp or a return address. Sealing it closed was a blob of dried wax stamped with an ornate 'H'. He got very excited when he realised he finally got his Hogwarts acceptance letter. Holy shit! It's only six years late!
None too gently, he whipped out a pocket knife and slashed the top. All of his childhood hopes and dreams died when he saw it wasn't parchment, but normal paper. Well, maybe not normal. It could be classified more as stationary. Off-white with a deep purple letterhead, complete with the ornate 'H', it was boringly typed.
Dear Alfred Jones,
We are the board of the esteemed establishment, Hetalia University. You probably haven't heard of us but you've probably heard of our alumni. But that's a story for a later date.
We are contacting you now to inform you that you are eligible to become a fully enrolled student. We have accessed your grades and personal information and would be pleased to have you.
But protocol requires us to request you take our application test. You have the option to either accept or refuse. Should you accept meet us at your high school his Saturday at 10 am. Should you refuse, don't.
As some slight background information of the University; we were established in a year lost to records, although it was long before America wad discovered. We'll detain our location for the time being. Hetalia University's goals are to educate the special youths of the world, hand picked under special qualifications; to teach toleration to each new generation; to bring those all over together; and to establish a hope for the future. There are three classes a day, but they're optional. However, there are exams at the end of each class, regardless of whether or not you attended. Failure of even one of these exams will result in expulsion.
But that's why we have the application test. Should you decide to take it, your scores and enrolment status will be sent to you two weeks after you take it. The rest of the information will also be sent to you at that time.
We hope to see you this Saturday!
Romulus Vargas, Head of the Board of Hetalia University
Alfred blinked a few times before handing it wordlessly to his father.
"We have accessed your grades and personal information"? "Enrolment"? "Established a year lost to records… Hand picked"? What the fu-?
"So?"
"Hmm?"
His father looked at him casually, "So, you gonna take it?"
"You think it's legit?"
He shrugged and began refolding the letter, "Sure. Fox News has been covering it."
"But they're saying it may be a hoax."
"According to this letter, they may want it that way."
"But why on earth would they 'hand pick' me? I didn't even know the place existed."
His father leaned forward, elbows on his knees. It was rare to see such a serious side compared to his nearly permanent laid-back attitude, "Alfred, I knew from the beginning that you were special. You're brilliant. I've deeply considered allowing you to skip a year or three just to present you with a challenge. I don't know what they're lookin for but, unless it's some dumb damn phonie they seem to now have an abundance of, you'll be fine."
Alfred's expression brightened, "So, this Saturday?" He nodded and Alfred fist pumped, "I need to call Mattie!" and sped out of the room. His father watched him, smiling warmly at his son.
I was looking for something to write about then this tumbled into my head. ... Then another story tumbled into my head (I'll put more of that up when I get more into it). I have to admit, there's about four chapters of just setting this story up.
Honestly, I'm not even entirely sure where it's going yet...
I don't own Hetalia. If I did bad things would happen. There's always something wrong in the spelling and/or grammar so be prepared for that. Human names used now, country names later. This will become a UsUk fic eventually. AU
Things'll be slow going, I have college stuff to fill out and do and performances this weekend.
And I just really wanted to write a shirtless-Alfred-on-a-horse scene