Another Day by E.
Summary: World War 3 ends with six dead nations. They're used to this. It hurts, but they're all used to loss. England, however, will never be used to losing America. USUK, other pairings.
Regarding the changes made in this chapter: I don't know if you remember the last message here that said this chapter was unedited. Well, that's changed, though I'm not sure how well I did... I've actually upped the wordcount due to some added detail in the fic. If you aren't a skim reader and you're the type to read deeply into things, maybe you'd like to read the chapter again, but no one was shot or anything. Everything that happened basically still happens. I just changed a few adjectives around, added a few verbs, mentioned Ukraine in passing.
PROLOGUE
Timeline:
- September 2030: End of World War 3 / The remaining citizens of The United States of America evacuate to Alaska, and the former U.S.A is marked on the New World Map as UUU (uninhabitable, unsafe, unknown)
- January 2031: State of Alaska (SoA) is established – population 12, 345, 000 (10, 045, 000 from other states). Alyssa Lynn, the youngest U.S president, becomes the president of the SoA.
- February 2031: Statue of Liberty re-erected in Anchorage, Alaska's largest city. The new Statue of Liberty is donated by Japan.
- July 2031: The U.S.M.M (United States Memorial Museum) is opened.
[In September 15, 2030 World War 3 ended, and so did the United States of America. President Alyssa Lynn, one of the only surviving government officials in the United States, launched a mass-evacuation rivaling that of the migration to and out of Pakistan during India's independence, with 13 million Americans walking to Alaska – their only remaining state. Out of the 13 million who embarked on this journey, 3 million died of starvation or from extreme temperatures.
Alyssa Lynn became Alaska's head of government and worked on relations with Canada, who supported the State of Alaska. Over ten years, more than 12 million more Americans will make it out of their ruined nation, living either in Alaska or in newly acquired territory of Yukon-Alaska.
- from "What Happened To The U.S.A" by George Hanson]
World War 3 ends and suddenly the world is a lot quieter.
He and France (god, it's always the two of them. Arthur remembers the last time, and he's pretty sure Francis does too. It's always the two of them, picking up the pieces and -) head the first world meeting in four years, and there are several people missing.
Some of those people will never attend again, Arthur thinks, and then...
He sees Matthew, angrier than anyone has ever seen him before, screaming his rage and heartbreak through profanity and -
Maybe we'll never see any of them again.
No one is speaking, not even the nations who, once upon a time, spoke the loudest (though no one spoke louder than... god you can't even say his name). Bitterly, he wonders why they even have these meetings. Whether it was stopping World War 2 or World War 3, these meetings never accomplished anything – so why do they still sit around a table that could've bought a thousand starving children in Africa food, wasting time that they could be using doing real things for real people?
He glances at the nations who started it all. The nations who had killed America and most of Asia. Why do they have to help the people they hate?
Of course, it's a lot more complicated than that. Diplomacy often is.
France clears his throat in an obvious attempt to gather everyone's attention, despite the fact that everyone in the room had been focused on them since they entered. Maybe it was just a habit from all the times before, when getting everyone's attention meant screaming at the top of your lungs, trying to divert everyone's attention from America's newest science experiment or from Hungary and Japan's newest doujinshi collaboration.
Will we ever recover from this?
"Bonjour, everyone... I am sure you all know what this meeting is about..."
England closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, for a moment just shutting everyone out and gathering his wits about him. He reminds himself that while America had certainly been special, nothing stopped the world from turning, from moving forward (liar liar don't you see everything is wrong wrong wrong this wasn't meant to happen bring him back). America was gone, but everyone else was still here; all needing help, all needing support... even the ones who started the war. Even the ones who killed America.
"... Angleterre and I have devised a plan to make sure everything goes back to order, but..." Francis trails off, looking helpless.
England grits his teeth and wills himself not to say anything, despite the snide comment resting just on the tip of his tongue. It is Japan who loses it though, who stands up, dignified and furious, facing the world who had once again failed in protecting their citizens; who had once again failed in protecting each other.
"But the person who usually takes care of everyone is no longer here." he says, voice as sharp as steel. "Is that what you were about to say, Bonnefoy-san?"
France looks uncomfortable, and so does everyone else. Japan hadn't left out his usual honorific, but he didn't need to. The disrespect was still there. The use of their human name was a sign of intimacy, but in the wrong context it could be used to degrade a nation and make them less than who they were meant to be. Less than a nation. A lowly human.
England knows that Japan looks at all of them now and sees nothing but lowly humans, ultimately flawed and miserable, with no one to blame but themselves. He doesn't blame him, and he doesn't necessarily disagree either. We all hurt due to our own misdeeds.
The Frenchman beside him coughs awkwardly, none of the smooth charm from years before. "Th- that is true... we simply cannot afford to put so many countries back together while repairing damage to our own."
The frog was taking too long to get to the point. "What he's trying to say is that we need all the countries that weren't severely affected to pitch in. Is there anyone in this room who is willing to do that?"
Japan, who had remained standing, turns away from Francis and glances dismissively at the rest of the table. "I will say it now: my country will not be participating in international politics for an indeterminate amount of time. Please do not expect charity from Japan."
He sits down.
Of course no one expected charity from Japan. Japan, who had lost so many of his siblings... Japan, who had lost Alfred.
China stands up after his brother, eyes closed in an outward picture of serenity. "We are willing to lend our services in order for the world to rebuild, aru..." he starts.
"But not to the countries who started this war. Not to the countries who brutally murdered Korea, aru!" His eyes open, ablaze, and his hands clench into fists. The rest of the world, who had lost loved ones; who had lost precious citizens, murmur amongst themselves, nodding and agreeing.
England closes his eyes and breathes. This is the world that so many had left behind. The world Korea had left behind. Hong Kong. Taiwan. Philippines. Vietnam.
America. (Alfred. He's Alfred to you, just like he's Alfred to Japan. To Kiku.)
His head throbs. Somewhere in the room Ukraine is sobbing, for her lost friends and her uncertain future. The noise grows into a loud buzz, everyone so desperate and afraid and so angry...
(Look don't you see? Everyone needs him to be back. You know you can bring him back; you can bring them all back. You have the power. Bring them back to me let me hold him again let me have the chance to tell him I love him god please please let me see him smile again)
England is made up of magic, of sprites who dance in lush forests and dragons from legends long forgotten. He can tear the fabric of the universe apart and sew it back together as easily as he does the embroidering America had once mercilessly teased him over. He is powerful, all the more so for his ability to hide it, to bury it deep inside him.
He has never used his magic for anything other than inconsequential tricks or minor curses, even when he had been desperate to keep his colonies from slipping through his fingers like sand. Even at his most desperate he had refrained himself, cautious of the power he possessed. England has known the taste of power, has drank it in, has bathed in it.
But he has never been drunk on it. He knew the consequences for every trickle of magic that trailed from his fingertips, and he knew what would happen if he...
If he brought them back.
He is tempted wherever he goes, whether it is by China's hopelessness or by Japan's silent anguish. Whether it is by France, who watches the world fall apart and corrodes into himself, shying away from the hatred and the anger.
Or by America, who is present in every nook and cranny, in everything England touches.
England is made up of magic, but he is also made up of thousands and thousands of years, of timelessness and wisdom that comes from seeing the world change over and over. Arthur is stronger than anything life could throw at him and he does not need magic to protect himself.
He should have known, as soon as he held that little blond boy in his arms; as soon as he took the world into his arms and let him go, that he would use it to protect someone else.
You old fool. You're doing this for yourself. You're doing it because you couldn't possibly live in a world without your sun.
There are so many things wrong with being a Nation.
Sometimes it doesn't seem worth it. I don't even know how many wars and famines we've all been through... let alone the loneliness that comes with it. It's not a good deal, but I've – we've...we've always been secure in the knowledge that time is on our side.
Now we know we're wrong.
We've lost so many people, and I know... that a lot of us probably had things to say to them that we'll never get to say. I know that Alfred – America... had things to say to some of the people here today. He told me... he told me he'd say it some day. Obviously he never got to say it, eh.
Some of the things he wanted to say weren't really important. They were just little things over the years that was lost in translation, or too embarrassing for a "hero" to say out loud.
France. Well, you'd always wondered who broke your vase all those years ago. Now you know – though I'm sure you suspected. I mean, who else could've done it?
Russia. Alfred always secretly liked the sunflowers you gave him, even when he hated everything else about you. He never understood you, but he respected you.
These were just things that should've been easy to say, but for some reason weren't. Some of them are obvious, or just hard to bring up in a conversation.
Some of them, though... I truly he wish he got to say them himself.
Mexico... while he doesn't regret taking Texas, there were times that he felt fighting with you was even worse than fighting with himself. We were meant to be close; family. He feels like Texas got in between that, was still between you until the end.
Japan. Alfred always said that... it wasn't worth it, what he did. Not to win the war, not for Pearl Harbor... he regrets it every day, and he doesn't know why you ever forgave him. I know for a fact he never forgave himself... couldn't – couldn't quite convince himself he was a hero anymore after what he did, no matter how hard her tried. He was just so so sorry.
England...
England. He loved you so much. Every day he'd question leaving you. Even when he was the most powerful country in the world, he'd ask himself if it was worth it. Worth all the anger, the loneliness... He loved you. He wanted to hold your hand and walk down Miami beach... He wanted to be with you.
And he always told me... he told me "one day I'll tell him, Mattie. One day I'll be a true hero and tell him."
He never got to, but I think he's proven to all of us that even despite that, he is still a true hero.
Everything is ready.
Can you think of any more reasons to delay?
[President Alyssa Lynn is considered to be the world's longest Head of State, and one of the most effective. When asked about what drives her, she answers:
"Every day, I think about The United States of America. I remember the feeling of being in the country I had lived in my entire life and leading it to be greater. And I think about how I'm still doing that exact same thing. Don't get me wrong, I mourn for my country every day... but then I realize that I still have Him. In the 23 or so million Americans who lived; in the American families who have rebuilt from nothing. In the SoA, which Canada has allowed us to expand into the now Yukon-Alaskan territory. America still exists, and I still work for the betterment of the country whom I love so much."
The State President, whose habit of referring to the old United States as a "He" has been commented on many times before. She explains:
"I had a son who died in the war. He was three years old and he wasn't meant to die. He wasn't meant to die because the United States didn't enter the war. But he did. His loss and the loss of my country is tangled [together] in a way that is indistinguishable to me... sometimes my son is America and sometimes America is my son."
- from "Happy 35th Birthday: An Interview With The President", Alaskan Times April 2032]
Before the start of World War 3 there was an argument between England and France, in which France insults England's eyebrows and his cooking and England, in turn, insults France's hair, face, language, people, and history. Then Italy has a very urgent appointment with lasagna and the meeting is postponed for twenty minutes.
China, though, opts to stay. Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam stay with him. Japan excuses himself politely because America has invited him to lunch.
These things are important, because it explains why only five countries are killed in an attack meant to destroy all of them. It's important because if people knew about countries, then they would understand the sudden fall of most of Asia.
But History leaves out a lot of the things like that, and the only people who will know about France and England's argument and Italy's need for pasta are the people in that room, and those people will stand, stony faced, at funerals no one expects to be attending.
Those people won't say anything at all.
So the world leaders who know about nations will never know why only five are lost, though they will be thankful, and the rest of the world will never know why Asia fell so early in the war. They will never know how lucky they are that Italians love pasta or that the French and the British had the Hundred Years War.
All they'll know is that in World War 3, six countries are destroyed and millions of lives were changed forever.
Notes:
- First of all, Alyssa Lynn will have quite an important part in this, so...
- France and England and their involvement in both wars. By the end of WW2 England and France are the World Powers, and part of the "big three", America being the last one. So this is why England talks about the fact he and France were "always the ones" in that position.
- With Alaska and however many million people: I did research and they SHOULD fit. The United Kingdom is smaller than Alaska and fits a much larger population. I also made it so that Canada gives the State of Alaska the Yukon Territory (after a vote on the people already living there, of course) just in case.
- England thinking the world meetings are "useless" and not preventing WW2/3. This is actually in relation to the United Nations in the beginning. After WW1 the America president of the time Woodrow Wilson wanted to establish a League of Nations so world wars would never happen again. It does get established but the American people, who didn't want to involve themselves in the affair of Europe lest they get dragged into another war, didn't join. It was pretty ineffective, as you can see. Partially because not enough people joined, partially because England and France were to concerned about their own asses to really focus on other people's nations.
- When Japan mentions that the person who helped most after wars is gone he IS talking about America. America helped rebuild Japan after WW2, and helped Germany as well (well, the side they had control over). In fact, search up the Berlin Blockade.
- Human names: in my headcanon, human names work kind of like... how when you insult your friends? Say you call them "bitch". It's a term of endearment – only allowed to be used by certain people. It shows how much you've been through together. But when someone else uses it – it's an insult. In nations' cases, it puts you in the same level as a normal human. IMPORTANT: This small discrimination against humans that goes on in that scene is very vital. These attitudes are very ~profound in this fic.
- Japan: I wanted to show the affect of this war through Japan. The polite country who usually just nods and agrees is gone. He's bitter. In this chapter, which is from England's point of view, this is because he lost his "best friend" and his siblings. Japan sees America as more than a best friend. However, this is only going to be referenced several times. Japan ends up with someone else.
- China: China's emphasis on Korea is a big hint for one of the pairings for this fic.
- The words in brackets are (OBVIOUSLY) England's inner thoughts. They're a bit crazy at the moment, as you can see.
- It's 2030. There have been a lot of changes in the world from 2011. If I mention something (like the really young president) it's because attitudes have changed.