No One Will Cry

1 – Ame

The smell of the sea.

I know it better than anyone, after living on the sea for so long. But now everyone knows that smell.

Everyone can smell my sea as it churns this early in the morning. I spotted a few men preparing their boats for the treacherous task of fishing for the day's meal, as this area was known for the cod that swam around in this man-made basin of a lake. In the "Old Era" as it was referred to, this would've been a nice chunk of land called the Yukon Territory of Canada. Now it was a huge water-filled crater that the Great Bridge stretched across, and I was going through one of the small fishing settlements on the bridge.

From here, I had a few options as to where to travel to. The west, towards the great area of Rus. The direct south and through more small settlements, until possibly coming upon Mec. Or to the south-east, and go through Cand to get to my real destination.

Ame. I did have a meeting scheduled for today with the prince. And it wouldn't be respectable for a king to be late to the meeting he had arranged.

But of course that's who I am. Didn't you know?

I am King Peter Kirkland, and I molded this new world into the greatness that it is. Here we are all one. Here there is no need for war, and disagreements are settled in a calm, civil manner. Everyone lives humbly, and we all eat the same and live the same.

Everyone does their part in this perfect society I have created.

Perhaps you knew me before in the Old Era? I'm not that little sailor suit-wearing child any longer. I now was a force to reckon with those that had aged before me – some were still aging, even. I had grown into a tall, broad shouldered man. My blonde hair was cut short, but enjoyed making itself into a mess to resemble my older brothers. My eyebrows had also gotten a bit bushy – but not to the extent of someone I knew. Many of the princes and princesses liked to tell me I grew up into a magnificent ruler – had it been the Old Era, they say I probably could've challenged Enge and become a real nation. When I asked them how, they always told me the same thing.

"Your eyes, Peter. Your eyes have the shine, the power. We all remember that shine, and yours is the brightest I've ever seen."

Even Prus said that, which surprised me. He was so arrogant, he never acknowledged anyone as being any sort of better than him.

The sun was starting to crest over the waves by the time I left the little 'town', I suppose you would call it. Everyone was aware of when I had entered the village, and everyone was going to know when I left.

Horses were a rarity on the Great Bridge, and only myself and some of the princes and princesses of the bridge had the privilege of riding them. I rode past a small girl, crouched beside a goat that bleated as she was milked. The girl looked up and bowed as I passed, but I wasn't about to pass this poor little girl by. She looked a bit… skinny. Underfed, perhaps. Why, when she owned a goat?

"Good morning, child. Does your goat milk well?" I asked, stopping my horse and dismounting. She looked up at me, a mixture of worry and wonder crossing her face all at once. What did she know about me? What did her parents tell her about me, about the history of the world she lived in? – it was hard to say. I had the authority to ask her… but that would be abusing my power.

And I was nothing like the rulers of the Old Era.

"Ah, y-yes… she gives me milk e-every day." She stammered, almost looking intimidated. Why would a child be intimidated by me? Was I frightening? I didn't think I was – I tried not to be. I was a child just like her when this all started.

"Do you have any with you?" I asked, crouching down to her level. She straightened up, giving a small nod before rushing into the house. I chuckled, getting back to my feet and petting the goat. I loved them, I really did. Goats were so friendly, and extremely intelligent. I gently scratched her behind the ears, earning a curious nibble to my sleeve and another bleat. The little girl returned moments later, carrying a glass bottle in her little shaky hands and hurrying back over to me.

"H-h-here you are, y-your majesty." She held it out to me, and I gently took it from her. I smiled to the child and pat her lightly on the head. She was so young, she couldn't be any older than ten. I wondered if her father was one of the fishermen out on the ocean, what her mother did, if she had any siblings. You can say I have a distracted mind, I know I do. I think about things that really have no correlation to my current situation, but sometimes it's better that way.

Wondering is the strength of the human mind, as it opens endless possibilities. One of my older brothers said that to me once.

I reached into one of the saddlebags on my little mare, pulling out a few apples and some little trinket I recall Fras giving me once. It was just a little bracelet with animals formed in tin on it – nothing overly special. I held them out to the girl, smiling.

"Will this be enough for payment?" her eyes widened in surprise, and slowly she nodded her head.

"Y-y-your majesty… th-this is too much, Mama said don't cheat people out of stu-"

"Please take it… I insist."

The girl clamped her mouth shut, taking the apples and bracelet with a bashful expression. Again I started wondering – had this girl ever eaten an apple, let alone seen one? Ame had an abundance of them, and he was always growing apples and grain. He said it reminded him of the Old Era, and he'd try to convince me to let him make pies and sweets and the like. I always admired his enthusiasm, and on occasion I let him convince me to allow some frilly desserts to be made (I can't lie and say I don't eat at least three pies by myself).

But here in Cand… they mostly fished, and raised animals too. Once it got cold, ice would appear in the waters, and I once got to witness their tradition of Ice Forming. The fishermen pull in a giant iceberg to the edge of town, and everyone comes together with something to use to scrape away the ice. Everyone in the town does it – even little babies in their mother's arms are given little scrapers to hit against the ice. By evening, the formation is finished. When I saw it, they had been generous to me and tried to make it look like me and the capital – Sealand.

I wished they had done something else.

I'm not saying that it wasn't amazing to look upon – it really did look like me and Sealand. I only wish they hadn't wasted their tradition to praise me with it.

How many times had this girl been in the Ice Forming? Did she still milk her goat on that day, too? Did her mother trade extra to get one of the fancy Ame desserts – or maybe one of the decadent Fras desserts? I knew Cand and Fras traded a good amount of food, and Cand always told me Fras was far too generous, Ame too.

Ame and Cand always traded with one another, since they were such close siblings. Whenever one tried to give more to the other, the other would protest and in turn give a little bit more back. It was humorous to hear their brotherly banter, but I always felt a small pang somewhere deep inside me when I witnessed how close they were to one another.

The sun was already a bit over the horizon – I really needed to be leaving.

"Thank you very much for the milk – goat milk is my favorite, you know." I smiled to the girl, and she smiled and gave a nod back.

"H-have a safe trip, your majesty!" she called to me, hugging the apples close to her and waving as I mounted my chocolate mare once more. I waved back, giving a flick of the reins and taking off out of the town. The hooves against the metal of the bridge created a noise that by now I was more than used to – it would be the only noise other than the rushing of waves I was going to be hearing for a while.

It was well into afternoon when I caught sight of Ame.

The ruins surrounding the busy little city were always spotted before the actual city.

It was hard to miss those huge, looming towers of rust and steel, a few even made of concrete. The trademark of Ame was the horned woman holding fire – all you could see was her face, the many horns on her head, and the green stand of fire she held up. The rest was beneath the swirling black waves of water. Ame was a hotspot for treasure diving – people found all sorts of artifacts of the Old Era. Some of the treasure divers even told stories about how they saw merpeople living in the depths of the ruins, but most people ignored them.

They'd probably seen skeletons of the people that used to live there.

The true city of Ame didn't emerge until you got past the first few ruins. It was a giant circle, buildings all crammed next to one another, their height rising until it reached the center. There stood the Prince Building, bearing the symbol of Ame along with multiple flags of the union.

That's where I was headed, and where I was to meet with Prince Alfred.

He was an eccentric person, as I'm sure I told you. Brash and loud, he always had to get his thoughts out there for everyone to hear and didn't care who objected to him. He wanted to be strong, he wanted to be the hero.

That was the Old Era, though.

Alfred was still loud and eccentric, yes, but he had changed. The New Era had aged the young man, and he looked about in his thirties. His glasses were covered in tape and full of repairs, the right lens broken even. He refused to abandon one of his last articles of the Old Era though. His hair was much longer and unkempt, and his left eye had lost the sparkle it had once had.

Alfred had no right eye. The War had robbed him of that. He wrapped a scarf around his head and covered the stitched hole where his eye used to be. His smiles weren't as powerful, his laugh not as loud as before. Alfred also walked with a slight limp, and he would get extremely upset if anyone ever pointed it out or called him slow.

The city that Alfred resided over, it was a city that never slept. It's people worked endlessly, in all and any trade. Even children got up with their parents before the sun rose and went to work, and the elderly were given no break or consideration to their age. They received little to nothing, and despite the many buildings in the city, most were overfilled with people and some lived in the streets. Ame was a poor, pitiful city, and no one wanted to live in such a place. It was a place for those with nothing in their lives to come and waste away, working until they dropped. Most called it a lucky break if you dropped dead at your station in the line. There was no land or place to bury them, so most funeral rituals were bowed heads and throwing the body over the edge of the bridge. I knew it was cruel to put this on him, but I had no other choice.

It was his punishment for starting the War.

I rode into Ame, trying to keep from looking at the people everywhere, their grey faces and hollow eyes cursing my very existence. I knew I was hated in this place, blamed for their miserable lives. But I let them blame me.

It was better to be hated by those that deserved to hate then those that didn't.

It always seemed like a long ride to the center of Ame. Perhaps it was because of all these people, all the workhouses and the smoke and the poverty clouding the air. It may be cruel to say, but I always looked forward to leaving Ame as quickly as possible. The Prince Building had a large gathering in front of it today, and I looked on with a lump of fear growing in my throat.

"We are the joke of the Great Bridge! Why must we be punished for what everyone else aided in? Four centuries of work isn't enough to him! It's time that Ame got the respect it deserved! It's time for a King that will not dwell on the past and instead look to the future! It's time for a king that cares about our children!"

It was a mob. A mob protesting me.

I couldn't very well get close to them, and they were blocking the entrance to the Prince Building. Of course it would be today, there had been notice that I would be coming. I was silently debating my options when the doors to the building were thrown open.

"Get away, all of you! I won't have any of this nonsense today! Don't you have work to get back to! If you cared about your children, you'd be working to feed them instead of protesting in front of my building!" Leave it to Alfred to save me from facing a bunch of radicals. He was fuming, and the people quickly ran off in various directions, some spotting me but ignoring my very existence.

"Hmm? Is that..? Peter! Peter my man, get your butt over here! I haven't seen you in forever, dude!"

Yep, same old Alfred.

I got down from my mare and walked her over to the door, Alfred taking the reins and letting me walk in first before leading her inside. We never left any of the horses outside here in Ame. One time someone stole one, and we heard word that there had been a huge feast throughout the city that day.

I couldn't sleep, and observed the festivities they were all having about my horse from the window.

Alfred walked the mare into an open little room, assigning a person to take care of her and leading me up the stairs. I took my time, and let Alfred lead – he was walking much slower than normal, but I wasn't about to say anything. We finally reached his home at the top of the building after a half hour on the stairs. Alfred offered me a seat, and I generously took it.

"Sorry you had to see that. Ame's always been pretty rowdy, ya know? Still got that spirit, especially from Lady Liberty." Alfred chuckled, glancing out the window to see the flame held over the water. I nodded, leaning back in my chair.

"Alfred, it's fine. I don't blame them for protesting and hating me, since I-"

"Stop right there, dude – I got somethin' to show ya." Alfred beamed, getting out of his chair and walking as quickly as he could to a case along the side of his office. He came back and slammed something down in front of me.

It was a picture frame.

I stared at it for a second, then back up at Alfred, confused.

"It's a picture frame, Alfred, I don't get what's so-"

"Dude, look at the picture!"

I sighed and looked closer, trying to see the picture as best as I could. I could start to make out people – people I had known a very long time ago. And then all of a sudden, it hit me.

"Alfred, where did you get this?"

"One of the treasure diver guys found it! I gave him some carrots for it, he seemed happy to get rid of the priceless thing he had." Alfred beamed, pointing at one of the figures.

"Look man, it's me! Man, I looked good. Wish I could find that jacket again. Look, there's Francis! Still a pervert like always. And there's Yao, man I always thought that dude was a chick! Ludwig with his serious face… and there's Ivan being same old freak-o Ivan. And there, that's Ar-"

~Prince Alfred, you have a visitor.~

Alfred stopped, looking at me and I returning the same confused look. Wasn't I supposed to be the only visitor today? Who else would want to visit Alfred?

Our question was answered the moment the door opened.

He walked in, his normal frown on his face deepening as his emerald eyes found me. A huff of annoyance, and he walked right past me and straight to Alfred, holding out a sealed envelope.

"I wasn't aware you would be here, Peter." He spoke, my name rolling off his tongue like a curse.

"I wasn't aware you had intentions to visit Alfred, Arthur."

He furrowed his obnoxious eyebrows, glaring at me for a moment before turning and heading straight for the door.

"Arthur, it's rude not to show respect to your King."

Arthur froze, tensing and turning on his heel. We locked eyes, a battle of emerald and shimmering blue. He broke first, looking down and forcing himself to give me a bow.

"My apologies, your majesty. I'll try and be more respectful from now on. Have a good day." He growled, his teeth gritted as he turned away once more, taking long strides and slamming the door. Alfred only let out a small sigh once Arthur was gone.

"You guys are brothers, dude… can't you try and get along? It's not good to hate each other like you do."

I merely shrugged and turned back to face him.

"Arthur just can't accept the fact that his little brother now plays the cards, and he gets dealt nothing. He's been that way long before either of us were around – he's going to be like that until he croaks."

Alfred picked the picture of everyone together back up and placed it back on the shelf.

It had been the last picture of every nation together, the last World Conference before the War.

I wasn't in it.

A lot of people that were in it weren't around anymore.

End of Chapter One

Thank you for reading! I'm really getting into this fanfiction, and I have a good majority of it planned out.

Sealand has changed, I'm sorry if that upsets some of you!

This is going to be a very serious fanfiction, and Sealand as a child wouldn't fit well with this, so he had to grow up. I'm sorry America fans! Please don't hate me for what I did to Alfred.

And Arthur will be around much more, don't worry~

Reviews are loved, thanks again for reading and stay tuned for an interesting chapter two!

~Ebony S. White