It wasn't long before Xi, whom was walking lazily across the savannah grass, heard the telltale rumbling of a bird off in the distance. He had seen them quite often lately; huge, white, soaring things that flew without flapping their wings: strange in appearance and even stranger in sound. They were loud- much louder than the typical desert birds- and their low grumbling whine seemed to resonate in the air and fill the ears until you couldn't tell the footfalls of an elephant from those of a lion if it were following only a few feet behind you.

He didn't think on this long, though. He had, after all, seen a good number of them, and was inclined to let it go its merry way. And he did- until, that is, he heard a new noise fill the air; a whirring sound accompanied by an object hurtling straight towards him. He stopped and looked up, his head following the path of a shiny glass… thing until it thudded against the ground only a few yards from where he stood. He stared at its landing spot a moment before walking curiously over.

The intrigued Bushman bent down so that he could get a better look, and, after studying it a moment, tapped a single finger against the side. It made an odd, hollow noise. Curiosity piqued further, he reached for a small stick and tapped it against the object. This time it made a high-pitched clinking sound. He carefully picked it up, and brought it up to eye level. He noticed that across the rounded front there was scribbled peculiar, unreadable gibberish in white curly letters that looked something akin to a couple of crescent moons connected to a circle and a single line. The lines spelt the words Coca-Cola, though of course he could not know this. Pocketing the item (well, not really pocketing as much as simply carrying in his hand), he made his way back to the village.

Once there, he gave the object to his family, so that they might figure out what it was. They passed it from hand to hand, eyeing it curiously and knocking their fingers against the sides.

One of them, Babo, got his finger stuck in the thing, and the children thought he was very funny. After tugging profusely at the lodged finger, a look of what could only be described as pure dumb-foundment on his face [1], it finally flew forth with an audible pop, earning him another wave of raucous laughter.

And so at first the villagers tried the thing out to cure thumbs. It had the right shape, and just the right weight.

It was tied to a long, hand knotted rope; one end secured around the neck and the other to the bottle's base, and then it was hung from a tree, where it was let to spin around and around until it would make one dizzy to look at.

Others used it for their own purposes, too, though. Besides being good for curing thumbs, it was also beautifully smooth, and ideal for curing snake skin.

Babo discovered also that you could make music on it by placing you lips above the rim of the bottle and blowing out in short, rhythmic spurts.

Soon the family came to realize that this had to be the most useful thing the gods had ever given them; a real labor saving device, on all accounts.

Except for the fact that the gods, as was typical of them, had been careless, and had sent only one. And now for the first time in their lives, here was a thing that could not be shared because there was, well, only one of it. And quite suddenly everyone needed it- a thing they had never once needed before became a necessity. Unfamiliar emotions began to stir; a feeling of wanting to own, of not wanting to share- a bit like a child finally shown the wonders of pre-school, only to realize that everyone else wants to play with their toys.

And with this, other new things came; anger, jealousy, hate, and, worst of all, violence. The villagers began to fight over the thing- to steal it from one another whilst their kinsmen weren't looking, only to have it stolen right back. A fight would then break out, and one would hit the bottle over the head of the other, only to quickly realize right afterwards just what they had done [2].

Xi, who had witnessed the slow but sure undoing of his family, became very angry with the gods. In a rage he shouted, "Take back your thing! We don't want it! Look at the trouble it's brought!" and threw the bottle into the air, only to have it come hurtling back down and nearly hit him on the head. He dodged, covering himself as best he could from the oncoming bottle, then picked it back up from the ground once it had landed.

He roared once more at them, "You must be crazy to send us this thing! Take it back!" and threw it even higher in the hopes that they might finally do as they were asked. However, it merely did the very thing it had done before; it went up and then came hurtling back down, only this time it did so with a vengeance, and hit his daughter on the back of the head.

It became very obvious that the gods did not want to take it back, nor would they.

And so he carried the thing away from the shelter and buried it, intent on never seeing it again.

That evening, there was no laughter or chatter around the family fire. A strange feeling of shame had come over them, and they were very quiet.

Finally Xi spoke up, breaking the abnormal silence. He said, "I have buried the thing. It will not make us unhappy again."

Later that night, however, a hyena smelled that blood on the thing and dug it up. Unfortunately, just then a bad tempered wart hog smelled the hyena, and chased him away from its territory. The hyena, in its mad dash for the woods, dropped the bottle and scampered off.

The next day, the bottle was found right where the hyena had left it by Xi's daughter- the very one, in fact, whose blood was the reason it was there in the first place. She picked it up with a child's curiosity, and began to blow over the top. The bottle, as expected, emitted a musical sound, just as it had for Babo. Happy with her discovery, she began to walk back towards the village. Not even when her brother came up along side her would she stop- nor would she allow him a turn. He begged her, pleaded with her to let him have a go, kept on until they came to the outskirts of the village (within easy view of the adults there) and at last became fed up with her selfishness. He tried grabbing it out of her hand, but she held tight, and soon they began pushing and pulling at each other in an attempt to take the bottle for themselves. Eventually, though, it was SHE that grew fed up, and she thwacked him over the head with it. By this time, Xi had made his way over, and in a fury seized the bottle in his own hand and threw it harshly against the ground. He bent down to inspect his son, still spewing curses at the gods for their obvious stupidity. The rest of the family could only watch on in silence.

Another night passed, and again the family sat quietly around the fire, stewing in their unhappiness Again it was Xi who finally broke it. He began to talk of the 'evil thing' (they had no name for it, and so that was what they called it) that had, for some reason (a joke of the gods, maybe?) come into their lives. Babo spoke up then, when Xi had finished. He said, "Perhaps the gods where absent-minded when they dropped the thing on the earth. They've always sent us only good things, like the rain, and the trees, and roots and berries to eat, because we are their children, and they love us… But now… they've sent us this evil thing." He ended some what abruptly, and the silence seemed almost palpable in the air- an awkward thing which hung there over their heads. Again, Xi spoke up.

"This thing does not belong on the earth," he said somberly, staring off into the fire. "Tomorrow I will take it to the end of the earth and throw it off." Another Bushmen spoke up, looking at Xi incredulously all the while.

"I think the end of the earth must be very far. I think you will have to walk for 20 days, perhaps forty."

"I will start walking tomorrow," Xi replied, still staring non-seeingly at the fire.

It was in this way that a small, insignificant Bushman, completely unaware of the large world outside his very window, set off for the end of the earth, a forlorn Coke bottle his one and only companion.


Ok, guys, there it is. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, mostly because I knew that this would be the end of the prologue, but also because I just love this movie. Next chapter we have the terrorists, and then (I SWEAR) Alfred is finally going to appear. Not just that though, lovies; there will also be some Alfred Arthur interaction, which I am majorly looking forward to (as you all should be as well XD). Anywho. No promises as to when the next update will be, but it shouldn't be TOO long. Sorry or any mistakes, but I don't have a BETA. So... any volunteers?

Special thanks too all my loverly reviewers; Ayla The Librarian, crackberries, and an anonymous reviewer whom I am dubbing Ralph. And of course, thanks to those who alerted as well! Hope you enjoyed it! :D

Merry Christmas guys! If you celebrate it, at least… And a big hoorah for my first ever "White Christmas"! First one in Chattanooga since 1964, in fact. Pretty damn cool (lol, pun).

Ya know, this was a lot longer on my computer... o-O

Disclamier: Weder Hetalia Achse Befugnisse oder die Götter müssen verrückt sind mein.


[1] I absolutely adore that look. If you don't remember it, go to about 9:00 on the movie. You will, and you will die of laughter, I promise thee (not that that should deter you in any way. It's totally worth it!)

[2] Another seriously hilarious look adorned the lady's face after she hit the other girl over the head. I stopped it there and laughed for hours (well, maybe not that long). Still, though. Check it out. 11:22. Your life will never be the same o-O.