[FIC] Best Left Forgotten, Written Down Regardless [2/?]
Title: Best Left Forgotten, Written Down Regardless. [Part 2]
Author: Me
Genre: Drama, Humour, I guess? At least I hope parts of it are humourous.
Characters/Pairings: Hong Kong-centric, England, and mentions of China+Asia. Canada and America make an appearance somewhere in here. . .
Rating/Warnings: PG, nothing scary. Human names used.
Summary: ‘Gege, I am afraid I am going to forget Asia. London is nothing like China. Even the docks are not the same, but it is as close to home as I seem to get.’
Entry 4: Scary women.
Women are frightening here. They are all the same. Their dresses are wide and frilly and as stiff as bone.
“This is Liam, a boy from the Orient who’s come to stay with me,” Arthur introduced to the room of aristocrats.
There was a mix of emotion about the room. Half of them were curious about the Asian’s features, others suspicious. While moving to discuss with another crowd, Arthur prodded Li to move, and talk to others. A few of the well-dressed women gravitated to the boy, ebbing curiosity.
“My, what dark eyes he has!” One gasped, looking at the boy. “And not to mention his strange skin tone.”
Li looked down at his feet. He didn’t like these people.
“Oh, but isn’t he adorable!” One cooed, picking up his face with one gloved hand to get a good look at it, wiggling his cheek between her fingers. Li was horrified. These women were just as blonde as Arthur, if not more so, with eyes of green and blue and hazel that bored down on him with the interest of a child to its new toy.
“Your name is Liam, correct?” Another woman asked, sugary sweet in her tone. “You’ve come a far way from home. Do you like London?”
Out of claustrophobia and mild fear of these alien women, Li took a step back and spoke truthfully. “No. I do not like London. I do not like forks and buttons and fishchips and -“
“HA HA HA, ever the kidder, aren’t you boy?” Came Arthur’s awkward laugh, covering Li’s mouth. Li was ready to bite him. “Don’t mind him; he’s still working on his English. Ha ha . . .”
Entry 5: Family.
Some other people came to the house today. They were both apparently other colonies of Arthur’s.
His family is nothing like Gege and everyone.
At that time, Li had no part to take in the heated debate between the three blonds in the kitchen. One was a colony of Arthur’s, the other an ex-colony. From his observatory prowess, Li could see that the wavy-haired one was still a colony, but much quieter. The shorter-haired one was boisterous.
“See? The border stops there. So you shouldn’t be moving in on British Columbia!” Wavy-hair pointed out, clearly giving effort but his voice still hushed. He pointed furiously at a map spread over the table that they stood over, Arthur sitting between them with his arms crossed.
“No way, Mat! Alaska’s mine, and the border goes thiiiis way!” Short-hair dragged a finger across the map on a line Li couldn’t see from his perch at the top of the stairs. “I don’t even know what your problem is; the border’s not even going over anything.”
“It’s going over British Columbia, my land! I told you this already, idiot!” Wavy-hair looked ready to pull his hair out. Short-hair seemed so thick-headed that he couldn’t see the other side of the argument.
“Settle down, you two!” Arthur finally intruded, standing up. “We’ll divide it here. Matthew, you’ll keep this end, and Alfred will keep his border where it is.”
“What? But that’s -“
“End of discussion! I win again, Lil’ Mattie! Come try again when you’re a real man,” Short-hair snickered, gathering up the map and sauntering his way back to the door. He left quickly, but Wavy-hair stayed to argue a bit more. He didn’t like the outcome of the argument, apparently. Li lost interest fairly quickly. It kind of reminded him how Yao always tried to solve problems between Yong Soo and Kiku, but Yao wasn’t really adhered to.
Even if families on the other side of the world were totally different, it didn’t stop him from being homesick.
Entry 6: Memories.
‘Gege, I am afraid I am going to forget Asia. London is nothing like China. Even the docks are not the same, but it is as close to home as I seem to get.’
The crowd gasped in unison as the little Asian boy jumped from the second floor window, bounced off the striped awning and rolled to the cobblestones. Li stood up, dusted himself off, and despite the stares and whispers, rushed off to the alleys. Arthur was away at a meeting today; the day was his. That house, square and regal and bland as always, was becoming stuffy and claustrophobic.
The night before, he had been restless. He couldn’t help but think that night, where not even the rain was making noise. What if he stayed in England so long, that he forgot Asia? What if he stayed so long that his eyes turned blue and his hair blond? What if he became better at English than Cantonese?
What if he was kept in Europe so long that his family forgot him?
The thought was more than distressing. Li decided that as soon as he could, he would try and escape back home. And even if he couldn’t, he would find something that kept his memories of Asia alive.
Li found himself at the docks, on the edge of the sea. The smell of sea salt and fish set his senses on fire, and he felt more at home than he ever had. Even when he was small - smaller than he was - the port was one of his favourite places.
He couldn’t remember how long he stood there, but long enough for the Bobbies to come ask him what was wrong. Anyone would’ve asked, whether they mean to help or not, seeing a little boy in the middle of the boat docks crying until he couldn’t breathe out of nostalgia and homesickness.
AN:
- Alaskan Border dispute: Colonial!Canada and the US argued over the border between Alaska and British Columbia. Britain, though more with Canada since he had yet to fully become a country, sided with the US on the decision. Canada was hearbroken, by the way, and it was just another reason to gain independence. Hong Kong had absolutely nothing to do with it, but it was one of the first examples I could think of that would show the disorganization of the North American family. (And around the time, Hong Kong would still be relatively young. Nothing in Hetalia is chronological and thus I say I’m safe. [/SHOT])
- Port: Hong Kong is part Island, part port town, so it was the first thing I could come up with. I know London doesn’t have any ports, so forgive me for that. I wrote that part at like 3 in the morning. ;;;;;
- DISCLAIMER: I’m a wiki whore. Don’t count on any of my info being correct. And sorry for the long-ass notes. [/cries]