On Freedom and Anarchy Part 6
anonymous
September 7 2010, 03:06:00 UTC
“Don’t fire unless they fire first,” England repeated. He was going to avoid a battle if at all possible, especially if it meant he would have to fight…
Of course he wouldn’t have to fight him. These were just the minority. Yes America had been a tad difficult lately, but England was sure he didn’t want any of this. He was his precious little brother after all, and America loved him…right?
Yes, of course America loved him. He was just being silly. America would side with him, just like he’d always done in the past, not the dissenters. There was no reason to go to war over this.
Just as he finished thinking that, England heard the gunshot.
The world seemed to slow down as England looked around for who fired it. It wasn’t anyone of his soldiers he noticed as they started loading their rifles to return fire, but a quick look at the other side showed that it wasn’t any of the colonists either. As he kept looking around for the mysterious gunman, he saw him, of all people, in the nearby bushes, holding a smoking pistol, and England had his answer.
England jumped off his horse, ignoring the shouts and cries from his men around him, and ran into the bushes after him. The cloaked man was gone by the time he got there, running away into the woods to hid, so England gave chase.
“You bastard!” England shouted as they ran further into the woods, leaving the sounds of fighting far behind, “I know you’re the one who fired that shot!”
“Yes, I did!” the man shouted, showing no signs of remorse or slowing down.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?!” England asked as he sped up to gain on his foe.
“I’ve started a war,” the man responded, dodging trees like he’d done it all his life, “A War for Independence.”
“A war that doesn’t need to happen!” England panted as he tried to keep up, “Now I have to…have to fight…” His little brother, his precious colony, but surely America was on his side…wasn’t he?
The cloaked man stopped in the middle of a clearing and turned to face him, “Have to fight who, England?”
And England didn’t care that the man was bigger than him, or that he still had the gun in his hand. England leapt at him, knocking the gun out of his hand and the man to the ground. The hood on his cloak fell away, revealing his adversary to be none other than America himself.
“A-America?” England questioned as he fell backwards away from his colony, “Th-this whole time…it was you?”
“Y-yeah,” America sat up and refused to meet England’s eyes.
“At New York…and Boston…you, you burned my ship.”
“You weren’t listening!” he suddenly snapped and looked at England, “You…you never listen to what I have to say. This was the only way to get your attention.”
“By starting a war? America, do you have any idea what you’ve just done?! Honestly, you’re still such a child.”
“I’m not a child! Not as much as you think I am.”
“Of course you’re a child! Only a child would do something so rash and unfounded.”
“I want a say it what I do,” America stood up, “I’m tired of just doing what you tell me. I want to make my own decisions. I want freedom! Since you wouldn’t give it to me-”
“You’ve decided to just take it then, I suppose,” England chuckled morbidly as he stood up as well, “Very well; if it’s a war you want, America, it’s a war you’ll get. I’m not going to pull any punches. I told you before; I’ll come after you with all the might I can muster. I’m not going to let you tear my empire apart.”
America stood his ground, neither charging nor backing down. England scoffed and turned around shouting “This war of yours won’t even last a week,” as a parting over his shoulder before he wandered through the woods, back to where he was sure his trained soldiers were beating America’s militia.
He made sure America was out of sight before he let his tears fall.
On Freedom and Anarchy NOTES
anonymous
September 7 2010, 03:08:12 UTC
Notes:
-The picture has America wearing his flag, but it makes little sense as the flag wasn't created until 1777, so instead his cloak just has the red and white stripes, which were also used by the Sons of Liberty.
-The Sons of Liberty were the patriot group that went around causing England trouble in the colonies. They're the ones who did the tarring and feathering and all the protests against the crown. Thing was, they started out as Loyalists just wanting to get the taxes repealed. They only started calling for breaking away from the crown when nothing else worked.
-Battle of Golden Hill: The Sons of Liberty went around putting up Liberty Poles to protest various laws that were past. When Alexander McDougall issued a broadside protesting New York's complying of the Quartering Act. British soldiers responded by cutting down a Liberty Pole and handing out their own pamphlets attacking the Sons of Liberty. Townspeople got mad, and it somehow ended with the soldiers charging the crowd with bayonets. People were hurt, no one died.
-Boston Massacre: A group of people started harassing some of the soldiers that were stationed in Boston. The group got bigger and the bothering escalated until the mob was tossing stones and insults and the soldiers. It ended with the soldiers opening fire on the unarmed crowd, resulting in a total of 5 deaths and several injures. All troop stationed in Boston were immediately removed and moved to the port and the soldiers who admitted to firing were indicted for murder. John Adams took their case and ended up getting them all off.
-Gaspée Affair: HMS Gaspée was on patrol enforcing unpopular trade regulations that were putting colonial merchants out of business when it ran aground. The Sons of Liberty took advantage of that and boarded, taking over the ship with little resistance from the soldiers on board, and setting it on fire. A Lieutenant was shot, but other than that, no injuries. Similar events had occurred before, but this one was special because Gaspée was a military ship that was on duty, so something had to be done. The perpetrators were charged with treason and were to have their trials in England, which made the colonists very upset, but they were never caught.
-Boston Tea Party: You know the story, a group of people (that may or may not have been organized by Sam Adams) dressed up as Indians and tossed tea into the sea to protest the Tea Act. In response Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts, which, if people were mildly peeved before, they were now pissed.
-The Intolerable Acts consisted of: -The Boston Port Act, which closed down the Boston Port, -The Massachusetts Government Act, which changed Massachusetts government so it was directly controlled by Great Britain. Basically made Massachusetts an example and scared the other colonies. -The Administrative Justice Act, which allowed the governor to move trials of the accused royal officials to another colony or even to Great Britain. Witness were compensated for travel expenses if they wanted to testify, but few colonists could afford to leave work and home for that extended period of time, so this was probably the worst one on this list. -The Quartering Act (which applied to all colonies), which allowed British soldiers to be housed wherever if suitable quarters could not be found. -The Quebec Acts, which extended Canada's borders and gave French Canadians freedom of religion. Mostly it was just seen as taking away land from the other colonies and a way to stop the French Canadians from siding with the colonists.
-Battle of Lexington: The first Battle of the American Revolution. The American militia was very outnumbered, and the British army soon afterward made their way to Concord, where even more militia were waiting for them. The battle was basically a stare down until someone from somewhere fired the first shot. To this day, no one knows who that was.
Re: On Freedom and Anarchy NOTES
anonymous
September 7 2010, 03:20:56 UTC
This is lovely. I'm barely awake enough to form coherent sentences right now, but I have to tell you that I adored this fic.
And all the history made me squee. I know this is Hetalia and I should expect history by now, and yet this was so spectacularly done that I was overwhelmed by the awesome.
Re: On Freedom and Anarchy NOTES
anonymous
September 7 2010, 04:00:34 UTC
Request OP has a gigantic grin on my face, and I do mean gigantic. Oh. Just, oh, this is wonderful!
I love everything, but the historical details are absolutely the biggest grin-maker. There's nothing like a good Hetalia fic built around solid history, and the amount of research you put into this really takes the cake! And all of the scenes are so well-done; I love America's heroic Sons of Liberty persona and all of England's reactions to his "annoyance." And everything just comes to a head after such a slow boil - I love it. Thank you so much, this is amazing!
Re: On Freedom and Anarchy NOTES
anonymous
September 7 2010, 04:04:52 UTC
I was thinking of filling this, but you, anon, have done a much better job than I could. I loved the little details, like the "342 crates of tea," not just the crates of tea.
Of course he wouldn’t have to fight him. These were just the minority. Yes America had been a tad difficult lately, but England was sure he didn’t want any of this. He was his precious little brother after all, and America loved him…right?
Yes, of course America loved him. He was just being silly. America would side with him, just like he’d always done in the past, not the dissenters. There was no reason to go to war over this.
Just as he finished thinking that, England heard the gunshot.
The world seemed to slow down as England looked around for who fired it. It wasn’t anyone of his soldiers he noticed as they started loading their rifles to return fire, but a quick look at the other side showed that it wasn’t any of the colonists either. As he kept looking around for the mysterious gunman, he saw him, of all people, in the nearby bushes, holding a smoking pistol, and England had his answer.
England jumped off his horse, ignoring the shouts and cries from his men around him, and ran into the bushes after him. The cloaked man was gone by the time he got there, running away into the woods to hid, so England gave chase.
“You bastard!” England shouted as they ran further into the woods, leaving the sounds of fighting far behind, “I know you’re the one who fired that shot!”
“Yes, I did!” the man shouted, showing no signs of remorse or slowing down.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?!” England asked as he sped up to gain on his foe.
“I’ve started a war,” the man responded, dodging trees like he’d done it all his life, “A War for Independence.”
“A war that doesn’t need to happen!” England panted as he tried to keep up, “Now I have to…have to fight…” His little brother, his precious colony, but surely America was on his side…wasn’t he?
The cloaked man stopped in the middle of a clearing and turned to face him, “Have to fight who, England?”
And England didn’t care that the man was bigger than him, or that he still had the gun in his hand. England leapt at him, knocking the gun out of his hand and the man to the ground. The hood on his cloak fell away, revealing his adversary to be none other than America himself.
“A-America?” England questioned as he fell backwards away from his colony, “Th-this whole time…it was you?”
“Y-yeah,” America sat up and refused to meet England’s eyes.
“At New York…and Boston…you, you burned my ship.”
“You weren’t listening!” he suddenly snapped and looked at England, “You…you never listen to what I have to say. This was the only way to get your attention.”
“By starting a war? America, do you have any idea what you’ve just done?! Honestly, you’re still such a child.”
“I’m not a child! Not as much as you think I am.”
“Of course you’re a child! Only a child would do something so rash and unfounded.”
“I want a say it what I do,” America stood up, “I’m tired of just doing what you tell me. I want to make my own decisions. I want freedom! Since you wouldn’t give it to me-”
“You’ve decided to just take it then, I suppose,” England chuckled morbidly as he stood up as well, “Very well; if it’s a war you want, America, it’s a war you’ll get. I’m not going to pull any punches. I told you before; I’ll come after you with all the might I can muster. I’m not going to let you tear my empire apart.”
America stood his ground, neither charging nor backing down. England scoffed and turned around shouting “This war of yours won’t even last a week,” as a parting over his shoulder before he wandered through the woods, back to where he was sure his trained soldiers were beating America’s militia.
He made sure America was out of sight before he let his tears fall.
Reply
-The picture has America wearing his flag, but it makes little sense as the flag wasn't created until 1777, so instead his cloak just has the red and white stripes, which were also used by the Sons of Liberty.
-The Sons of Liberty were the patriot group that went around causing England trouble in the colonies. They're the ones who did the tarring and feathering and all the protests against the crown. Thing was, they started out as Loyalists just wanting to get the taxes repealed. They only started calling for breaking away from the crown when nothing else worked.
-Battle of Golden Hill: The Sons of Liberty went around putting up Liberty Poles to protest various laws that were past. When Alexander McDougall issued a broadside protesting New York's complying of the Quartering Act. British soldiers responded by cutting down a Liberty Pole and handing out their own pamphlets attacking the Sons of Liberty. Townspeople got mad, and it somehow ended with the soldiers charging the crowd with bayonets. People were hurt, no one died.
-Boston Massacre: A group of people started harassing some of the soldiers that were stationed in Boston. The group got bigger and the bothering escalated until the mob was tossing stones and insults and the soldiers. It ended with the soldiers opening fire on the unarmed crowd, resulting in a total of 5 deaths and several injures. All troop stationed in Boston were immediately removed and moved to the port and the soldiers who admitted to firing were indicted for murder. John Adams took their case and ended up getting them all off.
-Gaspée Affair: HMS Gaspée was on patrol enforcing unpopular trade regulations that were putting colonial merchants out of business when it ran aground. The Sons of Liberty took advantage of that and boarded, taking over the ship with little resistance from the soldiers on board, and setting it on fire. A Lieutenant was shot, but other than that, no injuries. Similar events had occurred before, but this one was special because Gaspée was a military ship that was on duty, so something had to be done. The perpetrators were charged with treason and were to have their trials in England, which made the colonists very upset, but they were never caught.
-Boston Tea Party: You know the story, a group of people (that may or may not have been organized by Sam Adams) dressed up as Indians and tossed tea into the sea to protest the Tea Act. In response Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts, which, if people were mildly peeved before, they were now pissed.
-The Intolerable Acts consisted of:
-The Boston Port Act, which closed down the Boston Port,
-The Massachusetts Government Act, which changed Massachusetts government so it was directly controlled by Great Britain. Basically made Massachusetts an example and scared the other colonies.
-The Administrative Justice Act, which allowed the governor to move trials of the accused royal officials to another colony or even to Great Britain. Witness were compensated for travel expenses if they wanted to testify, but few colonists could afford to leave work and home for that extended period of time, so this was probably the worst one on this list.
-The Quartering Act (which applied to all colonies), which allowed British soldiers to be housed wherever if suitable quarters could not be found.
-The Quebec Acts, which extended Canada's borders and gave French Canadians freedom of religion. Mostly it was just seen as taking away land from the other colonies and a way to stop the French Canadians from siding with the colonists.
-Battle of Lexington: The first Battle of the American Revolution. The American militia was very outnumbered, and the British army soon afterward made their way to Concord, where even more militia were waiting for them. The battle was basically a stare down until someone from somewhere fired the first shot. To this day, no one knows who that was.
Reply
And all the history made me squee. I know this is Hetalia and I should expect history by now, and yet this was so spectacularly done that I was overwhelmed by the awesome.
And now I need to sleep.
Reply
I love everything, but the historical details are absolutely the biggest grin-maker. There's nothing like a good Hetalia fic built around solid history, and the amount of research you put into this really takes the cake! And all of the scenes are so well-done; I love America's heroic Sons of Liberty persona and all of England's reactions to his "annoyance." And everything just comes to a head after such a slow boil - I love it. Thank you so much, this is amazing!
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment