DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hetalia or any of it's characters, just as I do not own any of the states or anything like that.
(There's notes at the end of the chapter to clear everything up.)
Chapter One:
December 27th, 2218
** Texas has officially seceded from the United States of America. **
Texas was the first. Actually, this shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone. The people of Texas had always wanted to be their own country, ever since the very beginning.
But people like Alfred never thought that things like that could occur. I was there when it happened. Everyone was, actually. It took place during a world meeting. Everything was going as it should be; Alfred was sharing another of his ridiculous plans to stop global warming.
*** World Conference ***
Arthur sighed, listening to Alfred go on and on. He was waiting for the other to shut up for a second so he could speak up as he always did and tell him how idiotic he was being. But suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, Alfred's glasses shattered. Glass flew everywhere, and even the frames broke. There was no warning, no cause for this that any of us could see. Alfred looked as if in shock, his eyes wide and in pain. His whole body had frozen.
Naturally, everyone began to panic. Arthur was the first over at his side, catching him just as Alfred fell to the floor. Not knowing what was happening but having enough experience taking care of people; Arthur just held him close and hummed comfortingly. Alfred clung to him, beginning to sob. Arthur didn't press him on what was wrong.
Everyone found out later, anyway. It was all over the news in every country.
December 28th, 2218
** California, Alaska, and Hawaii have seceded from the United States of America. **
Alfred broke down almost regularly. It was the week of conferences, so I was able to be with him the entire day. I never left his side. But every mention of a family or of colonies or even of a country's welfare would send him into an almost never ending pool of tears. I suppose I didn't have to worry about him wandering off, though, his hand rarely left mine for more than a minute. I wonder if it's bad for me to be happy when such bad things are happening, but I was overjoyed that I was the one he came to for comfort. He slept on his own, though, in his own room.
December 30th, 2218
** Florida, Georgia, and Nevada had seceded from the United States of America. **
Now he didn't.
Alfred followed me around everywhere. He would follow me into the restroom and wait outside the door for me; he would sit next to me as I ate, still gripping onto my hand so we both had to maneuver with only one hand. He would rest his head on my shoulder as we sat at the meetings, and when it was one of our turns to present he would either stand with me, still grasping my hand, or make me stand with him. No one made comments at us, not even Francis, because Alfred's eyes were still always red. And sometimes he would still cry in public. When it was time for us to retire to sleep, he would bring me to his room to get his things and then either make me sleep there or follow me back to my room. I would always sleep on a chair, though, seated next to his bed and holding his hand.
January 1st, 2219
** New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Maryland have seceded from the United States of America. **
Is it sick of me to have found it interesting how three states starting with 'New' seceded all at once? Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter.
Alfred stopped crying in public. He also barely spoke, clinging to me even more than before. Upon going to sleep he would pull me into whichever of our beds we happened to be near and hold me tightly all night long. Even if I could, - which I couldn't, even with all of this, he was still much stronger than me- I wouldn't have gotten up.
January 4th, 2219
** Ohio, Montana, Utah, Vermont, Louisiana, and Illinois have all seceded from the United States of America. **
So many, this time around.
Alfred still refuses to tell me why this is happening. He began to be a selective mute during the day, but at night when we're curled up together and he's crying he would ask me why, he would cry for it to stop, he would describe the pain and where it was hurting.
It's breaking my heart.
January 6th, 2219
** North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island have seceded from the United Stated of America. **
The conferences ended today. Which means I had to go back to London.
Alfred was heartbroken. He was clinging to me and begging me not to go, begging me to not be like his states, and begging me to stay. I'm not sure why he was clinging to me of all people, though it made me happy. Was it because I used to take care of him? Because of our 'Special Relationship'? Which, by the way, is no more than a friendship- if that. More of a simple alliance.
Whatever the reason was, he made me feel guilty. It was somewhat like the old times, when he was just a boy and I had to leave for Europe. And then he told me why he was so scared, why he was crying all of the time.
He was afraid that he would disappear.
This convinced me to work things out with my boss, and I ended up staying at his house for another week. This was good enough for him, for now, at least.
January 7th, 2219
** Alabama, Delaware, Colorado, and Kansas have seceded from the United States of America. **
Alfred wouldn't leave the bed all day today.
Which meant I couldn't get up, either.
But I wouldn't have, even if I could, once again. I finally held him back as he cried, his face buried in my shirt. I've always wanted to be in his arms, but I was far from happy anymore. Not like this. Alfred was breaking down. He was dying inside.
January 8th, 2219
** Pennsylvania and Nebraska have seceded from the United States of America. **
Alfred finally snapped. He got out of bed today, because I asked him to. He was following me around again. His boss came up to him and began lecturing him for missing an important meeting yesterday and told him that he was being irresponsible. I spoke up and defended Alfred, but then his boss began yelling at me.
And Alfred snapped.
He let go of my hand and slapped his boss across the face, shouting so many things at once that I lost track of everything he said, before he rushed off back into his room. I followed behind silently, and held him as he cried.
He was terrified.
January 11th, 2219
** Wyoming, Tennessee, Missouri, and Iowa have seceded from the United States of America. **
Alfred stopped crying.
Instead he was irritated every day. He would yell at anyone who tried to speak to him, except for me. He still dragged me everywhere, though I didn't complain. I would never complain. He still made me sleep with him, and I guess it was for moral support. He was still in pain, and he limped as he walked. I saw it, even if he didn't want me to.
January 13th, 2219
** West Virginia, Arizona, Connecticut, Kentucky, and Minnesota have seceded from the United States of America. **
I had to leave for my country today. Alfred did not like this. He began yelling at me as I packed, and on my way out the door he slammed me into a wall. He accused me of giving him false signs, of making him think that I was his friend when I really didn't care about him.
I told him he was stupid, and that he would always be important to me no matter what happens to his country. He let me go, not saying anything else, and even though I didn't want to, I left.
January 15th, 2219
** Arkansas, Indiana, and Mississippi have seceded from the United States of America. **
I heard about this on the news. Right after, I tried to call Alfred. His boss picked up the phone instead.
Alfred had been going out at night and coming back at ungodly hours in the morning. He still would yell at anyone who asked him anything, but before he stormed off he would always tell them to alert him if I had called.
So I told him to leave a message telling Alfred to call me back.
January 19th, 2219
** Massachusetts, Michigan, South Dakota, and South Carolina have all seceded from the United States of America. **
Alfred finally called back today.
He was crying, apologizing and begging for forgiveness. I tried to ask what was wrong, but he just kept chanting 'It's too late, it's too late, there's nothing I can do anymore.' He wouldn't let me comfort him, but he requested for me to come back to him again.
I told him I would see about it.
January 21st, 2219
** North Dakota and Wisconsin have seceded from the United States of America. **
** Washington DC has been burned; the new capital is in New York. **
I arrived just in time to see the flames.
No one was happy to see me; they claimed that the second burning of Washington was partly my fault. That it was my fault for giving people the idea. Alfred yelled at them all and pulled me into a cab, and he brought me to his new house in New York City. The place was large, but it was empty. It was lonely.
January 22nd, 2219
** Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and Idaho have seceded from the United States of America. **
Of all these days and all the years before, I have never seen Alfred this… broken.
He clung to me, sobbing his eyes out, telling me that he didn't want to die and that he would do anything to stay. He begged me to stay until it was all over, and I promised him that I would never leave. He was shaking uncontrollably, and I realized that if I moved I could get out of his grip. He was so pale and skinny and weak. I could see his ribs through his shirt, and his normally tan complexion was replaced with skin that was pale as a ghost.
I was scared.
January 23rd, 2219
Upon waking up this morning, Alfred was gone. I looked everywhere, but he was gone. His old boss showed me the news, and it explained everything.
** Maine has seceded from the United States of America. **
** The only remaining state in the United States of America is New York. **
** The United States of America has been disbanded completely. **
** The Special Relationship has been diminished. **
** Fifty new countries have officially been made. **
** The continent of North America is thrown into turmoil; there are many wars between each of the new countries. **
** The only safe place in North America is Canada, which has passed the Neutrality Act. **
Neutrality Act:
This Act hereby declares that the country of Canada will refuse any sort of relations or alliances with any of the fifty new states, and will remain neutral in all wars they are a part of. It also states that Canada will not acknowledge any of the new countries as actual countries, until they get their acts together and recreate the United States of America, even if the chances of that happening are slim.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland has also passed this Act, though the new countries are doing everything in their power to get the Act canceled in Europe.
Author's Notes:
Sorry for the lateness, everyone. I just recently god a cold again and now I'm spending half my time asleep and then when I'm actually awake I'm usually too groggy to feel like writing.
Anyway, I also want to thank my beta, Noirea. Thank you very much~ I'm so glad to actually be working with someone~
Okay. First of all, I disabled Anonymous reviews. Sorry to do that, but it's a bit frustrating to be asked something in a review when I can't respond. Just to clear some things up, yes, the previous chapter was in Arthur's point of view. I was supposed to keep people guessing, but isn't that kind of obvious...? Ah, well. It was sort of like a journal entry.
Oh, and you can basically take this as a second prologue. Only it's not a prologue. It's still chapter one. This is sort of a time-line to get everyone caught up to where chapter two will be.
About the last part: Mattie's a bit fed up with his brother, hm?
........ Okay I can't think of anything else to say. If you have any questions, comments, or whatever, review and I'll respond. ^^