The Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia in any way, shape or form. No copyright infringement intended, etc.
Just Candy
"Looks like it's time for me to be the hero!" America announced loudly, despite the fact that nobody was around to hear. Grinning like a kid on Christmas morning, he began dropping the small bundles from the plane and into the crowd of children below. The handkerchief parachutes attached to the candy opened, allowing the candy to drift down to Earth and into the waiting hands of the children.
Operation Little Vittles was the name the project had been given, despite America's protests that it should be called "Operation Heroic Candy" (or some equally ridiculous variation that seemed to change every time he brought it up). Oddly enough, nobody seemed to agree with him, so Operation Little Vittles it was.
Whatever the name, the project made every pilot, not just America, feel like a hero. Dropping candy out of airplanes to children was the kind of thing that would put a smile on anyone's face. And, now that Objective Number One (deliver candy to the children of Berlin) had been accomplished, it was time for Objective Number Two: deliver other necessary supplies.
To the airport!
America looked out the window at the city, and suddenly remembered exactly why all of this was necessary for the people of Berlin to survive. His smile shrank a bit. Because of the way that the city of Berlin had been divided up after the war, all of the land surrounding West Berlin was controlled by Russia. And because Russia was determined to control West Berlin as well as East Berlin, he had blocked all of the land routes to West Berlin, planning to stop supply shipments from reaching the city, forcing America, England, and France to either give him control over the city or let the people starve.
That was never going to happen. He was not going to abandon the people of West Berlin.
And thus, the Berlin Airlift, also known as Operation Vittles or, as America had dubbed it, Operation Hero! (yes, the exclamation mark was completely necessary) had begun. America was not about to let the people of the city starve, and he wasn't going to let That Commie Bastard take over either.
And speaking of Russia…
Something entered America's peripheral vision. He glanced to the side to see what it was, and was not happy with what he discovered.
"Not again," he muttered. Soviet planes had a habit of showing up to harass American pilots. They never tried to shoot them down; an actual attack would probably start World War Three, which nobody wanted. But that didn't mean that they couldn't make life difficult for American pilots.
The Soviet plane was flying way too close to America's. America frowned, glaring in the general direction of the Soviet plane. His eyes widened when he saw who exactly was piloting it.
Russia smirked in the general direction of America's plane, or possibly at America himself, and he edged a bit closer, just enough to force America to edge a bit away, in order to avoid a mid-air collision. Of course, America would have liked to see if he could force Russia to move over instead, but an airplane macho contest would most likely end with injuries all around, plus the possible deaths of civilians. Not worth it. In the process of edging away, America caught sight of Russia's co-pilot: Lithuania, trembling and looking thoroughly miserable. America's frown deepened as he remembered what Lithuania had been like during his first few weeks at America's house. Nervous, tense, terrified of making a mistake and angering America. Not for the first time, America wondered what Russia had done to make him like that (and he knew that Russia was to blame). Lithuania looked out the window and caught America's eye, then mouthed the words "I'm sorry" as Russia edged the plane closer.
America's fists clenched and he called Russia a long and rather loud list of very impolite words, but he edged away again, somehow managing to stop himself from doing something stupid that he'd probably regret later.
Russia turned and said something to Lithuania. Lithuania visibly flinched.
America began repeating the line "I will not start World War Three" in order to prevent himself from doing something stupid, and reminded himself to focus on piloting the plane, not on what Russia was up to. There would be plenty of time for that later. Right now, the best thing to do was to keep Russia from taking over this city, which meant delivering supplies, not starting a war.
After what seemed like hours, but was really only a few minutes, America reached the airport and landed the plane, and Russia flew off to harass another pilot. As his plane came to a stop, America felt as miserable as Lithuania had looked.
Some hero he was.
The plane was opened, and German volunteers began to unload the supplies inside as America went off in search of coffee. After locating some, and loading it up with a truly impressive amount of sugar (impressive in that it was a minor miracle that a single sip didn't make him as hyperactive as a six-year-old that had just eaten a full bag of Halloween candy), America returned to his plane, praying that he wouldn't see Russia and Lithuania again on the way back.
"Alfred!" a voice called. America turned at the sound of his human name to see Germany and a group of volunteers finishing unloading supplies from the plane. After the last box was unloaded, Germany broke away from the group and walked over to talk to America.
"Hey!" America said, plastering a fake smile onto his face.
"Er...hello," Germany replied, looking tremendously awkward. Considering that the two countries had recently been at war, this wasn't particularly surprising.
"Soooo..." America said, drawing out the end of the word. "What's up?"
"I…I just wanted to thank you. For all of this," Germany said, gesturing to the supplies around him.
"Oh. Um, you're welcome…" America replied, carefully keeping his fake smile intact. Well, that was his intent, at least. America had never been very good at faking smiles.
"What's wrong?" Germany asked.
"What makes you think something's wrong? I'm fine."
"You look depressed, and you haven't said a single word about being a hero, even though you had a clear opportunity to," Germany said. "Something's wrong."
"Yeah," America admitted, sighing, his fake smile gone. "It's just…you know how Soviet planes keep messing with my planes? Well, that happened to me on my way over."
"Are you okay?" Germany asked, concerned.
"I'm not hurt or anything. It's just...well, Russia was piloting. He had Lithuania with him," America said. "I feel…very un-heroic right now. You know, for just letting Russia take over Lithuania like that. I'm the hero; I should have stopped him and I did nothing."
"I know how you feel," Germany said. "Trust me, I've seen plenty of things in the past decade that I should have tried to stop and didn't."
"Yeah, but I still feel…useless. "
"You've saved a lot of lives by delivering these supplies," Germany pointed out. "And you've kept Russia from taking over this part of the city."
"I guess…but I didn't even try to stop…" America began, but Germany cut him off again.
"So you've done something you're not proud of. Guess what? We all have. Some of us more than others. But what about those children that you've been delivering candy to?"
"What about them? It's just candy. It's not going to change the world or anything."
"Maybe candy on its own can't change the world, but the people you've inspired with it? They can, and maybe because of you, they will. You don't realize how much that candy of yours means to those children, do you? You've given them hope when they had none. And all those supplies you've dropped off have kept a city alive and free from Soviet control. Face it, America. You. Are. A. Hero."
And there it was. The magic word.
"Now stop feeling sorry for yourself and get moving or you're going to be late," Germany said.
America returned to his airplane, drinking his excessively sugary coffee. As the plane lifted off, he caught sight of a group of children near the airport catching chocolate bars and gum attached to handkerchief parachutes that had been dropped by a plane flying overhead.
As much as America tried to stay depressed, he couldn't help himself. He smiled.
Author's Note:
My first Hetalia story! I'm so excited!
Okay, I suppose I should say a few things...
First, about Russia and Lithuania: I know that a lot of people get annoyed when Russia is portrayed as an abusive psycho. Personally, I think that at this point in history, his personality would be a bit darker than usual, although not as dark as in some stories. So Russia's personality is just my interpretation, and a bit of creative liberty. Also, please remember that this story is from America's point of view. He was jumping to conclusions when he assumed that it was completely Russia's fault that Lithuania was so nervous when they first met. At least a part of that was just Lithuania's personality; he was the same way when he first met Poland.
Now, the historical stuff:
Operation Little Vittles: Yes, this actually did happen. A pilot named Gail Halvorsen started dropping candy attached to handkerchief parachutes from his airplane during the Berlin airlift, and the idea ended up spreading to other pilots.
Soviet planes harassing American pilots: There were plenty of reports of this happening. However, despite some stories, American planes were never shot down, which is good, since it probably would have started World War Three.
America not helping Lithuania after World War Two: Again, historically accurate. America's government just wasn't particularly interested and didn't want a war, so America didn't really do anything to help the Baltics out. The part about America feeling bad about it is creative liberty on my part. It seemed to make sense, since he knew Lithuania from the whole Outsourcing thing, but he couldn't actually go against his government or start a war to help him.
And finally, my research sources:
Wikipedia's articles:
Gail Halvorsten
The Berlin Airlift
The Occupation and Annexation of the Baltic States by the Soviet Union (1944)
(Yes, I know, Wikipedia isn't a good source, but I couldn't find very much information on other websites. I'll try to avoid Wikipedia in the future.)
Other websites:
http:/ www. spirit of freedom .org
http:/ www. free republic .com /focus/ f-news/ 1943631/ posts
(Spaces were added so that won't mess up the URLs; remove the spaces if you want to use the URL to actually visit the website.)
Please let me know if I've made any mistakes. Thanks!
Thank you for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed it! Have a great day!