Battle of Britain
It's gotten to the point that he can't actually remember the last time he's slept the night through.
All right, Arthur, he thinks, wearily, his mind a blurry whirl from exhaustion and pain and the strain of it all. His chest is burning, and it's as if he can't quite get the air he needs to keep breathing. Come now, old boy. Stiff upper lip and all that. Can't give up now, can we? Terrible bad form, that.
Oh, shut it, he answers himself. Don't be such a bloody tosser. Old men, old guard, old man. No time for high tea any longer. He groans and presses the heels of his hands into his eyes.
They'll be back tonight, and he already feels like he can't take anymore. Burning, tearing, fiery pain, exploding down his nerve endings. His men, his women, his children, his people . . . every part of him is pain.
Moving on past that, Art, old chap. Because he can. He knows he can. He's old enough and he's strong enough and does Germany really think that this will be enough to do for him?
And he's tired, and he can't hardly breathe, and every bomb that falls buries into him and burns and tears pieces from him. London, he thinks. London, his heart. But he won't let it end like this. He'll stand and he'll stand, even if it's the last, the only, thing he can do, and he'll fight in the skies, because he is the United Kingdom, he is Great Britain, and he is not going to bend to a German upstart, and no German force will ever take British land and British soil, will never have any part of him, even if he has to stand alone, because he's always stood alone. Hail Britannia.
The sirens are going off again, and Arthur is running despite the burning pain in his chest and lungs and the hot bright agony flaring up one leg. Bombs in Coventry. Helmet, flight gear—another night, and he'll be up there with them, his people, his boys. He won't falter and he won't fail. Even in their—his—their—darkest hour, he'll be up there. Save as many as he can.
He imagines—or sees—unicorns and lions, faeries and leprechauns, behind him in the dark. He won't fail them, either. Won't fail any of them. Hail Britannia, he thinks again. No fear.
Finis.
Historical Notes:
1. The Battle of Britain was the effort by the German Air Force to achieve tactical air superiority over Britain's Royal Air Force. It took place over the summer and autumn of 1940. It was the largest and most sustained bombing campaign ever attempted up to that point, the objective being the surrender of British forces.
2. The Blitz is the term used for the bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany. It started with the bombing of London for fifty-seven consecutive nights.
3. "The Darkest Hour" was a phrase used by Winston Churchill in describing the period between the fall of France and the Nazi invasion of Russia, when in Europe Britain was the only one opposing Nazi Germany, especially the time when the United Kingdom was under direct threat of invasion following the evacuation of the British army from Dunkirk.
4. Arthur is altering the famous poem/song "Rule Britannia" for his own purposes, not feeling much like a ruler at the moment.