World War Three.
It is not far from the end of the world as we know it.
Innocents have been and will be murdered. Their blood will wash our hands in crimson.
But for a dying nation, such as myself, there will be no chance to fix this. There will be no chance to help rebuild what was once something beautiful. Our period of peace could only last so long and was soon replaced by this. Another war between countries that want to prove themselves strong.
Betrayal. Pain. Broken Promises and Shattered Dreams. All things to be associated with this tragedy which we have thrown ourselves into.
Who are we to call ourselves heroes when we do things like this?
Who are we to call ourselves countries when we hurt our own people for such selfish reasons?
Who are we to exist in such a manner?
We are powerful beings, able to manipulate the Earth in ways that most would consider almost God like. But we are not Gods. We are men and women, cursed and damned with too much power. Our animal nature can only be suppressed for so long before we find the need to dominate, attempting to make others bow before us as servants, beckoning to our will.
These things lead to fights, arguments mostly at first. You can see it, hear it, during world meetings. Then these fights lead to battles. Battles lead to wars. And sometimes these wars can lead to the process of choosing sides.
In this war, sides have been changed so many times and so rapidly that most of us have ended up fighting our allies, making this almost every country for himself at times.
As for the 8 of us whom made up a majority of the Axis Powers and Allied Forces, we are fighting against some of our former partners. The Italian has switched sides, joining America and England and France. Russia and China have created their own alliance, a failed attempt at being neutral. Germany and myself, Japan, have stayed together. And this is how it is.
Ivan and Yao have mostly sided with Ludwig and myself, but it is not official. We still have battles against each other on occasion, but we are aiming to take out America. He is the one whom has caused all these problems.
Allow me to explain this situation...
When a young nation gets a taste of power, as Alfred did, they can become hungry for more of it. He longed to fight. To control. To watch another bow before him as though he were a king. He started with me, causing a war between our countries. Quickly, Arthur took his side, 2 strong nations against mine. This is when my brother, Yao, chose to help me. And in turn, Ivan joined the Chinese man, and thus, myself.
Francis soon came to protect Arthur. Then Antonio joined to help Francis. This caused Ludwig to join my side, realizing that this was getting out of hand. And following Ludwig was his brother, Gilbert.
Here is where things got messy.
We called upon Feliciano, who, of course, came to join his former alliance now aided by two former enemies. But, as Feliciano was helping us, Lovino was helping the others. A civil war was started in Italy and the two dropped out to settle things, eventually causing both men to side with Antonio, and in turn, Alfred.
We all realized by then that this was not going to end well, but we were all too stubborn, or perhaps too proud, to turn back and stop this all.
Yao and Ivan broke off from our group, hoping to keep peace within at least their countries, but they were still attacked despite their declared neutrality, and this is why they have mostly come back to us.
I won't bore you anymore with the random sides changing, including Arthur fighting with us for a while before betraying us and rejoining his precious group. And I won't explain the time that Yao fought against Ivan, resulting in a teary reunion, for the battles had been started based on false accusations.
But I will tell you this. We are all damned to hell for the things that we have done. Children have been mercilessly slaughtered by /our/ troops on commands given by /our/ generals. /Our/ leaders.
Us.
We are to blame for the things that have made up this wicked chapter in history, and all those chapters before this. We are to blame for the things that have made this world what it is, whether it be for better or for worse.
The white snow of another Christmas gone by is covering the burnt and ashen grounds of what was once a school playground. The bones and flesh of children and parents caught off guard by the sudden attack, still lie beneath this falsely peaceful blanket. A trail of red follows me as I drag my limp and useless body to the rotting corpse of a little girl, her deteriorating hand with a charred bracelet still just visible above the unforgiving, cold, snow and ice. The Japanese characters spelling out her name are still barely visible on the beads around her wrist.
I wonder if her parents' corpses are around here too...
I've become paralyzed as I feel the crystals of now icy blood flood through my body.
My heart beat pounds in my ears along with the screams and cries of my people. My heart beat slows down. It slows down. A little more. Just a little more. Until it's drowned out by memories. The pleads for life. The begging of a mother, wanting her son to live. He was only 3. I can see faces as they melt and scorch from the fiery outbreaks.
And I see the American and British troops, watching as these helpless people crawl to what's left of their families. And I wonder how anyone could ever do such a thing. How could anyone allow something like this to happen?
Then I remember my soldiers.
How many of them were doing the exact same thing at that exact same moment? How many mothers were begging, praying, for the lives of their children? How many fathers were trying to find their dead and dying families with the last breaths that they had?
And how many of them never got to say goodbye?
How many of these poor, innocent, civilians never got to kiss their wife or husband in the last moments of their lives? How many didn't get to hold the hands of their sweet, precious, babies, the other humans that they had given life to, as they slipped away?
The things that we have done prove that we are nothing but monsters. Countries... we are nothing more than demons training others to be more like us so that we can use them as pawns to get what we so desperately seek.
And this is why I cry as I breathe my final breaths. It is not because I know that I will never wake up. I have accepted that. It is because of all the others who will never wake up. It is because of the people who lost their lives for no reason other than our greed and our power hungry ways. We can blame our leaders all that we would like, but in the end, we are the ones who have made the decisions. Even if the decisions are simply to follow the ideas of someone who craves the raw power as much as we do. We have always been able to say no, but we don't. Why?
Because we need a good excuse to fight these pointless wars that do nothing more than kill our people in an attempt to prove who is strongest.
When will we ever learn that this isn't Risk. This is real life, not a board game.
We will destroy ourselves if we keep attacking each other like this.
And with today's technology and advances in weaponry, we're only moments away from destroying this entire planet or causing it to become an entire world of barren wastelands layered with radioactivity and seas of acid.
And all because we're too proud to admit that we are wrong.
And all because we are too proud to admit that we were overtaken with our own greed and feelings of grandeur.
Power is a dangerous thing when not kept in small doses. And, in the end, it will consume us all.