Warning: Contains OCs, so if you don't want to see the States in United States, you're in the wrong place.
Diclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. If I did, I'd be very rich indeed.
Rating: K+. Nothing that really warrants a higher rating, it's most gen and fluff.
Note: These are my OCs for the States and American Territories, if you want to see more of them, go to my profile, and follow the links please. Reviews are love.~3
Once, Missouri asked California a very important question. He couldn't stand what the sixties had done to her; all the serious gone out of her in favor for this new age of hippies and tie-dye. He missed being able to talk to her and having debates with his friend. Now, all their debates just turned into arguments. Their opinions seemed irreconcilable; all the things they celebrated about each other, all their differences that used to make being friends interesting weren't interesting anymore, just glaring and unavoidable.
So he asked in one last attempt to make sense of this new age that had descended upon California in the summers of love and hazy sunsets; "What is it that you love about this," He gestures to her rainbow shirt and rose colored glasses; "so much? What is it about this that is so damn attractive to you that it changed you completely?" He had gripped the now absent-minded State by the shoulders as he was only met by an incessant half-lidded smile. "Tell. Me. Why."
California had looked at the older State, the same mellow expression she'd been wearing for every moment she wasn't screaming at him for the last few years slipping a little, unable to form a good response to his question. She had no idea how to answer that, so she stayed quiet. In disgust over what he assumed was California ignoring him, Missouri left. He returned to his own house on the other side of the continent to devote himself to internal affairs, the serious cynic he'd always been.
California thought for days about the answer to Missouri's question. She spent her time in her comfortable Los Angeles home meditating on it, but even though she concentrated, she had nothing. Every time she closed her eyes to imagine divine the reason, Missouri's blue eyed stare would burn into her mind, echoing; 'Tell. Me. Why.' California loved her house, every inch of it, from the forests to the deserts to the mountains to the coasts. She loved the history, the people; every last thing makes her burst with pride as she sees what her people have built. But that wasn't the answer Missouri was looking for, and she knew it.
So in order to look harder, California took to walking the streets of Los Angeles to look for her answer. She saw traffic and poverty; stoners lying in the street sleeping off their last hit. She could almost hear Missouri saying sarcastically; 'Is this what you want? To be like them; stoned and half-dead in your own city?' California shook her head; she wasn't going to be discouraged, so instead she left the streets, and wandered aimlessly until she reached the library. 'I haven't been in here in a long time…' She thought, casting a glance around the quiet building through her little, round, rose colored sunglasses.
California walked up and down the aisles without a purpose, skimming her hands along the shelves of books when she knocked one over. "The Mexican-American War." it announced. She picked it up sadly, and replaced it on the shelves. 'Would you rather I went back to this, Missouri? Fighting over nothing and everything?' In her mind, she can imagine the cynic's response; 'Well all we ever do is fight anyway, now. What's the difference?' California lit up a smile, big and bright as she shouted; "Eureka!" The librarian forced the State to leave, but California didn't care.
"I have the answer now." Missouri opened his door to find California looking seriously down at him from the doorway. The shorter State stepped out of the doorway, and gestured for her to come in. The cynic uttered his own motto as he sat down in the old armchair he kept in the parlor. "Show me." California nodded, taking the book she'd gone back into the library for out from behind her back, and handed it to Missouri. He had raised an eyebrow in puzzlement; "What's this?" California sat down on the couch across from Missouri's armchair. "You asked me why I'm like this, the other day. That," she pointed to the book Missouri held in his hands, "Is all the reasons why." California paused, and then corrected herself. "Well, no. It's not all the reasons why; it just sums them up the best."
"I'm tired of being weighed down by my past; I'm tired of fighting." California smiled tiredly at Missouri, "These new young people, they might not be the best or brightest; in fact, they might be the most foolish generation I've ever seen." She tilted her head, "But they might also be the wisest." California looked directly at Missouri, her blue eyes connected to his through their glasses. "I believe they can change things, Missouri. Isn't that something you'd like to believe in too?" Slowly, he nodded, and slid the hardbound book across the table to where California sat. She smiled softly, then placed an envelope on the coffee table. She stood up and walked out of his front door just as suddenly as she had appeared. "Enjoy."
Missouri waited until he heard the car that California must have rented pull away before he opened the envelope. Inside, was a stack of pictures. Most of them were of California at Woodstock, smiling large as she flashed a peace sign next to various singers. The last one was a picture of a monument. A note was scrawled in California's handwriting on the back of the photo. 'Here's to the future, you old cynic.' Missouri laughed quietly, then put the picture back on the table with the others. "Freaky hippie."
Oh Missouri and California. Those two. If you want to get why I have them as friends//rivals, look up Jessie Benton Fremont, Thomas Hart Benton, and John C. Fremont. It'll be clearer. I love history so much!
If you get the connection to why California says "Eureka," you know quite a lot of trivia. If no one gets by the time I post my next story, I'll announce the right answer then.