1607. 1534. 1754 to 1763. July 28, 1914 until November 11, 1918. It stopped in the late twenties early thirties, but started again in 1939. 1945 through 1991, and quiet recently, March 11, 2011. Why these times? Why such long periods? Why are these important? Why do I have them as the first part of my story? Because, you need to know and understand where it all began, to understand the ending...my ending. These dates, every single one of them are times that I gave up everything I had for others, without looking for anything in return. My main question out of all the ones before, had been, and always will be...when will it be enough? When will I be enough? Keep this in mind as I tell you about the day it all changed. Keep all that I have said in mind as I tell you about the day the Untied States of America walked away.
June 15, 2015. 09:34 AM, American Eastern Time. United Nations Headquaters, New York City.
There is stillness here. In the city that never sleeps, with people that rush about on cell phones and the cars and taxis that honk at each other to move, there is stillness. The stillness does not rest in the people, nor even in the machines. It rests in the heart and mind of one man. One powerful, beautiful, and conflicted man as he stands in the back gardens behind the building that was supposed to stand for peace, but only brings more conflict. That is why this man delays in beginning his job. He does not want to enter there. He knows what is waiting for him behind those doors. Those doors that swallow more and more of his soul, his happiness, and his sanity every time he enters them. That is why he keeps his back to the building as he stares out at the ocean in the distance. Though, he is not in the Big Apple mentally. He is using an ability only his kind have. He is traveling his land in his mind. He, as of late, is in Loose Park, Kansas, walking through the rose gardens. Roses are his favorite, and not because of his former guardians as many falsely believe, but because different colors can stand for different things. Each one special and unique. Each one allowed to be themselves. While his mind wondered those fields, his body stood still in the breezy morning. His wheat blonde hair dancing wildly around his soft face, some strand tangling in his wire framed glasses that rested near the end of his nose. His sky blue eyes remained closed and his face lacked any emotion other then peace. Not only was his hair being blown around by the New York wind, but so was his signature bomber jacket from his time as a pilot during the most famous war in the history of the world. He did not enjoy looking at it anymore. Whenever his eyes fell upon it, all he could see and remember was the pain and horrors of the war. It sickened him, but he wore it out of routine now. The ends of the unzipped jacket flicked around his white, cotton collared shirt, the army green tie spinning as well. His shirt rested untucked from his long, tan pants, hating to have to feel stuffy and formal. It was hard to see his shoes in the ever growing green grass behind the UN Building, but they too showed formality that the owner did not wish to have, but had no other choice. He could've stayed liked this for the rest of his immortal life, but he turned quickly when a familiar voice called his name, rather angrily if he might add.
"AMERICA! GET OVER HERE! YOU ARE ALREADY LATE FOR THE MEETING AS IT IS!" Arthur Kirkland, the personification of the Untied Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, called to him, a scowl on his face. America, aka Alfred F. Jones, flashed him his usual bright, Hollywood smile and laughed.
"Sorry Iggy! Got lost in the thoughts and ideas of how I'm the best country in the whole world." he lied to the other as he ran up to him and pulled the door open once more, letting Arthur enter first. A low groan was heard from the small, island nation. A roll of the eyes was added to the groan.
"Oh please, don't kid yourself Alfred." he told him simply as he huffed and headed inside the chaotic meeting room where the other nations sat and argued. Alfred actually hesitated at the doorway, really not wanting to enter, but luckily no one noticed and he entered in his usual way.
"Dudes! Y'all can just chill now cause your hero is here!" he exclaimed, stricking a superhero pose. This was where the insults and comments began that the youngest of all of them tuned out. It was always like this to be honest. The usual strings of fat jokes, stupid jokes, rude American jokes, and so on and so forth began to float to Alfred, but he pushed them all away with his annoying laugh that even he, himself found annoying. He hurried to the stand, seeing as he was the one in charge of this meeting. They were in New York after all, not Berlin or London and so on. He held onto the edges of the stand, smiling at everyone. "Alright! Let's get this meeting started. As we all know by now, we have a bit of issue going on with the world economy, so...yeah, let's start there. Who wants to start?" he asked, leaning on the podium and smiling out at everyone. Thus, the heated discussion, more like arguement, began and Alfred simply observed today. He just didn't have the energy to say anything. He had enough to worry about. A lot of his police forces have been acting out and causing anger and more racial tension in his land, that and unemployment was still an issue. Add that will the slowly rising housing market, the War on Terror, oil disputes, and even Russia's little issues going on with Ukraine. Needless to say, he had enough on his plate. Alfred, being lost in thought once more today, jumped when his name was screamed out by Ludwig this time.
"America are you even paying attention right now?!" the German snapped at him and Alfred looked to him, obviously confused and caught off guard.
"Huh? No, I'm not, what's up?" he asked, smiling at the other blonde, who began to rub the bridge of his nose in fustration.
"The question was, what are you going to do with this issue because you caused it in the first place?" he asked, giving the American a stern look. Oh God did Alfred want to correct him. All of them in fact. It was not just his fault that the world economy was sucking right now. Europe had a huge part in it or else they would not be freaking out like they were at the present time. Alfred simply chuckled, deciding to floor the other nations today. The nineteen year old removed his glasses and began to clean them.
"I actually have a question for all of you." He told them, causing several moans, groans, eye rolls, and all sorts of signs of annoyance. "What are YOU planning on doing about it?" he asked, slipping his glasses back on his face and smiling up at them. "Instead of...pointing fingers at me and asking how I'm supposed to save your asses, again, why don't you figure it out for yourselves? I am not the only one that created this problem, so instead of pushing blame onto me, why don't you get your heads out of your butts?" he asked, the room breaking out in angry screams and insults. This just caused Alfred to shake his head, still smiling, as he placed his hands behind his back. He had enough today. He was barely three hundred years old, and that is exactly how long he's been having to give things to these people, to help these people who hated him anyway. He was done. As the shouting and finger pointing at one another continued, Alfred pursed his lips as looked to the microphones on the podium. He turned them towards one another, causing the most awful screeching noise that was equivilant to nails on a chalkboard, halting everyone's shouts to cover their ears. Once there was silence, Alfred moved the microphones away to create peace again. He looked back at everyone once more. "Now that I have your attention again, I want you all to answer me this. It is one simple, little question...when will it be enough?" he asked, locking eyes with all of them. "When will the billions of dollars I send out to all of you be enough? When will all the soldiers that I send to help out in civil wars, and terrorist attacks be enough? When will my willingness to take on your shouts, complaints, insults, rumors, and everything be enough? Because I don't know about you all, but I'm curious to see how long you would all last dealing with I deal with." he told them all, his smile becoming small, and bitter as he looked at the silent nations. They didn't say anything for a bit before a European spoke up.
"W-well if you just stopped butting into our business and stayed out-" The poor nation never got to finish as Alfred spoke again.
"What would be the point in that? I mean, I try to stay out of your shit, but I keep getting pulled back in and forced to fix the issues. I stay out of conflicts, then I get asked," he cleared his throat and made it a high pitched, mocking one. "America, why won't you help me? I need your asstiance cause my people are fighting one another and I'm going to break apart. Why won't you help me?" The voice stopped there. "Then, when I do send troops and aid to people, I get called nosey, rude, and that I need to just get out of the issues. I-I can't please you people can I?" he asked, starting to laugh a bit. "I mean, no matter what I do, it won't be enough will it? When will it ever be enough?" he asked them, leaning foreward on the table as he gave them a look that was rather sarcastic as he waited for an answer. "No one knows? Wow, such a shocker. Well, now-"
"It never will be enough!" someone shouted, and stood. The tension suddenly grew as Alfred smiled over at Iran. "All you do is drop bombs on my people and say you're helping! That's not helping at all! I should never have trusted an infidel!" he snapped and Alfred actually broke out into laughter.
"Oh...oh my God...this is beautiful." He mused, his hand moving up to wipe his eyes. "I...I just bomb your people?" he asked, his statements turning very dark now. "I'm only repaying a favor my friend, as well as reminding you why you need to fear the infidel." He smirked, now just locking eyes with Iran. "Why am I doing this? Why am I just bombing you? Because apparently dropping a nuke is too inhumane." This caused several gasps to come from the other nations as the color drained from Iran's face. Now Alfred was going too far.
"America, that is enough." Ludwig stated firmly as he looked to the other. America turned to him, his look sending a chill through everyone.
"That's not what you said when you invaded Poland." he whispered. He knew it was a low blow, but he couldn't stop. He was finally getting it off his chest. "You know, I don't think anyone of you can tell me it is enough. Not one of you has the right to speak to me about what is enough. I mean, I spend almost all my life saving all of yours, and what do I get back? Being stuck here with you people! Like I would rather stab my eyes out then rip out my guts before I sit here and let Europe tell me what is enough!" His volume was increasing now. "All of you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me! You would either have fallen to the Nazis, or be stuck under the Soviet Union! If it wasn't for me, all of you would be stuck in your over crowded lands, forced through more pleagues cause none of you know what it means to wash your hands! Oh my God you are all so fucking horrible! Why do I even stick around you all?" he asked, laughing again as he shook his head. He then paused and smiled more. "You know what? This is enough. I am enough, and I want you all to learn this. From now on, I'm out." he told them, holding his hands up in a mock surrender. "I'm not going to be in Europe's affairs, Asia's affairs, no one's affairs at all. Let's see if I can list what falls under your affairs. There's um, um, trade! Yes, that will stop as of right now. There is relief support. That stops too..." he trailed off before waving his hand. "You know, I'm just going to have my boss send you the list later. You want me out of your issues and affairs? There you go. Have a nice life surviving without me." Alfred stated simply and walked away with pride in his step as he left the room, closing the door behind him, but not before saluting everyone. He left the conference room in a state of shocked silence, no one sure what to do now. Life without America? There would be consequences.