Twilight's Last Gleaming - Chapter 6
Hello again everyone! Happy (almost) Friday! I hope everyone is just excited about the weekend as I am! As you all know, I have been a bit busy lately with my new job. However, expect to have more new chapters out this weekend! :) This chapter is based on the last battle of the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Yorktown. Therefore, some plot aspects are not original. Once again, there is a time skip. Hetalia and its characters are still not mine.
It was the summer of 1781. Arthur and his men had been fighting against America's forces for five years straight by now. The associated stress showed on Arthur's face and in his appearance. His blonde hair seemed to perpetually be a disheveled mess. His green eyes were tired and shadowed from sleepless nights. His thick, bushy brows were constantly knit together in concern. Arthur and his men were currently positioned in Yorktown, where they had a sturdy fortification by the river. Yorktown used to be the center of Arthur's power in America, although at this point, it was all that England had left. They had a small town of sorts set up, surrounded by stone walls. Arthur lived at the very center, in a small manor. Surrounding him were the cottages in which the soldiers resided. It was morning, and Arthur sighed as he sipped a hot cup of tea by the window. The steam from the mug rose up, into his face as he stared intently out the window into his garden. He stood in front of the window, pondering his situation. England was already losing the war, and now France had apparently allied with America. This situation was Arthur's worst nightmare. Arthur thought to himself I swear, that frog has allied against me only to spite me, and not for his own personal gain.
"General Arthur, I come bearing terrible news!"
Arthur turned around to face his young message-bearer, who looked out of breath and distraught. Arthur made a loud sigh, and ran a hand through his sandy blonde hair.
"What now?"
"Well sir, it would appear that umm...the night watchmen...well you see...they kind of..."
"Spit it out boy."
"S-sorry general Arthur! Umm...well they dozed off last night after getting into the spirits and now we seem to be surrounded by the enemy."
"WHAT?! THOSE IMBECILES! I'M GOING TO SMACK THEM SO HARD THAT THEY FLY OFF INTO INDIA!"
Meanwhile on the edge of the stone wall protecting the town...
*The watchmen look nervously at each-other as there is the distant sound of Arthur shouting obscenities*
An hour later, Arthur was surrounded by his men, and having a meeting with them. The soldiers had hurriedly gotten suited up while Arthur came up with a plan of action. The legion stood nearby the gates of the stone wall, in preparation to leave for battle.
"As you all know, France has recently allied with America. America is using this to their advantage. While the French have positioned boats in the river, the Americans are blocking us in on the other side. We cannot escape. We must either fight or surrender, and it's not in the blood of the English to surrender, is it? No, we give it our all, every day, every one of us. Whether we are old or young, rich or poor, experienced or freshly-trained, general or soldier, we all have something in common. We will refuse to back down to ANYONE!"
*Cheers from the soldiers*
"WHO WILL FIGHT WITH ME TODAY?!"
*Yells and screams of "I!"*
"Legion one and two, I want you to go outside of the wall and block the gate! Legion three, four, five, and six, follow me up the stairs which lead onto the top of the wall. We will fight off the enemy from above!"
With that, the group disbanded. Arthur led his group up an imposing set of stone steps. As Arthur got further up the steps, his heartbeat echoed in his ears, beating fast and hard. Also, the dull roar of the enemy shouting enthusiastically became louder and louder. Finally, Arthur's boot hit the top step, and he rose up onto the top of the wall. His eyes widened, as he took in the sight twenty-five feet below, on the ground. All around him on land, there were men, men as far as the eye could see, organized into several different legions. This was much, much more than his force could handle. Looking more closely, he noticed that there were actually some French legions fighting alongside the Americans on land, which he had not anticipated. He could identify them due to their traditional white uniforms. Arthur spun around, and saw ten French warships, filled with men.
What should I do? He wondered, remembering the last time that they were outnumbered. He had a flashback to the day after the battle, when he went with a few of his men to retrieve bodies. He remembered lifting up the body of Benjamin, and feeling his ice cold hand against him as he lifted the corpse up into a wooden wagon. Arthur shuddered. He didn't want to bury any more friends. Arthur turned to Richard.
"I am sorry to say this, but I think that maybe we should surrender now."
Richard's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. "B-but sir, what about what you said earlier about not giving up?"
"I know what I said."
"Sir, what you said is true, the English never give up. We are just as stubborn as mules. We fight with honor until the very end. I know that you've been through a lot lately, and I know that the last time we were outnumbered things went badly. I would understand if you made us surrender. I would surrender with you because I will follow you anywhere. But your speech just moved me and all of the other men so much. It made us realize how true what you said was. The English don't give up. Look around you. Look at these men. They are ready for battle. They want to fight, they want to honor their country. They are happy doing it."
Arthur looked around him, at a crowd of men smiling at him. The smiles were so unexpected, especially considering that these men were likely about to die. Richard was right, his speech really had influenced the men. Arthur swallowed, and looked down. Finally, he spoke.
"Ok, we fight."
Arthur stood in his red and black general's uniform on top of the wall, and signaled to the men to begin firing. His hand shook nervously as he did so. Then, there was the bang of a musket, and just like that, the battle began. The American and French forces responded by beginning to shoot back. Bullets began flying through the air. Arthur noted that due to the four foot wall on the top of the massive, stone barrier, the Americans and French would have a difficult time killing the English men behind it. Arthur's men were crouching down, and shooting from behind the wall. Complete accuracy was not needed to thin out the force of the enemy, since they were releasing a spray of shots into a tightly-packed sea of enemy soldiers. Meanwhile, on the side facing the river, the French forces seemed to be mostly just blocking the way, so that there was no escape possible. Finally, English men started to fall. The short wall was not a perfect shield. Meanwhile, the Americans and French were falling quite quickly, but there were so many of them that it didn't matter. On the ground, Arthur saw that it was a different story entirely for his men. While the men on the wall fell slowly and were efficient at killing, the men on the ground were being slaughtered. Arthur winced as he saw how many men were laying on the ground already. There were bodies laying on top of bodies. It had been a bad idea to position anyone down there. Arthur called over his messenger boy.
"Quickly lad! Go down the stairs and tell the three men positioned at the inside of the wall to unlock the gates!"
The boy nodded and dashed off. Arthur removed a flare from his pocket, and shot it out. The red light shot up, and then over the heads of the English soldiers on the ground. This signal was to call the remaining soldiers on the ground back in through the gates. Within minutes, everyone who was still alive was back inside. Arthur breathed out a sigh of relief. Then suddenly, Arthur was disturbed by a very loud banging sound behind him. He jumped, then whipped around to see a cannonball hurtling towards the side of the wall facing the river. With a loud cracking sound, it hit its target. Then another cannonball was fired. Arthur acted quickly.
"Squadron six! I need cannons over here! We need to take down these ships fast before they take us down!"
However, he had not acted quickly enough. More and more cannonballs were hitting the wall, and shaking the whole structure. A couple of large holes were already forming. Then Arthur heard a bang on the other side, on the side where the mixed American and French forces were positioned. Now cannonballs were being shot at that side of the wall as well.
"Legion five! Cannons on this side please!"
The men rushed around, loading the cannons as quickly as possible, but their efforts were in vain. There were now gaping holes on both sides of the structure. American and French soldiers began pouring in on one side, while the holes on the other side was quickly being approached by a French ship. The walls were breached, and now the English soldiers were no longer safe inside. The English soldiers prepared their muskets as they heard the sound of hundreds of heavy footsteps running up the stone staircase. Then chaos ensued. French and American soldiers spilled onto the top of the wall, and cut down English soldiers with their bayonets like they were reaping wheat in a field. Arthur watched in horror as an English soldier was stabbed brutally in the chest and thrown over the wall while he was still just barely alive, and screaming. Then suddenly, someone grabbed Arthur from behind and pressed a knife to his throat.
"A-hh! W-we surrender!" Arthur cried out. The man dropped his blade. Arthur ran and grabbed the white flag. He waved it over his head, and slowly the fighting stopped. For a second, there was silence. Then, a figure broke through the crowd. It was the messenger boy again. He ran quickly towards Arthur, his chubby, freckled cheeks flushed and his breath heavy.
"What is it lad? The battle is over."
"It's Alfred sir, he's been injured!"