❝i don't know how much i can keep letting you unravel me❞

[moirae]

Title: A Far Better Thing
Series: Axis Powers Hetalia
Words: 3,000~
Characters: England (Arthur) ; Belgium (Margaret) ; France (Francis) ; Holland (Willem) ; (England/Belgium/France)
Rating: Pg-13
Warnings: language ; mentions of violence.
Summary: Written for qualapec for the holidays, and adapted for hetalia_contest's week 025 prompt, literature! Based on the story of

Comments

[chromatic_coma]

Wow, this is intense. Sadly, I've not yet gone through the experience of having read A Tale of Two Cities, but this fic makes me want to, a lot.

I certainly did not see that end coming. You presented an amazing piece of head canon here; that a nation can only be killed by their own people. I like that idea quite a bit now. <3

As always, the flow, the characterizations, all of those little touches, all excellent. Thank you for sharing this ♥

[moirae]

You should definitely pick it up when you have the chance! Dickens is brilliant, albeit a bit dry at times, and this is one of my favorite books of all time. Sydney Carton may be my favorite fictional character ever.

The headcanon bit was the part I was wrestling with the longest; I had to decide how to make the "death" scene have as much impact even though the nations are immortal. I've actually been contemplating this fic since the summer.

Thanks so much, babe. I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)

THANK YOU!!!

[qualapec]

*loves* I uploaded this icon totally for commenting on this fic!

This was spectacular. It was gorgeous, and Arthur's character in this is a perfect allusion to Sydney, but also wonderfully in character for him. And I love Francis' caring more that he had failed his people than the fact that he was going to die, which was, again, a wonderful parallel.

The last line was perfect, concise but totally haunting.

The idea that nations can be killed by their own people has intrigued me for a long time, too, so I was very happy to see it in this fic. Like, I had a plot bunny a while ago where Russia was killed during a riot in Moscow and how shocked everyone is.

And I loved the inclusion of Belgium and Holland :)

Re: THANK YOU!!!

[moirae]

look, i have an icon, too!

Hahah, I just had to throw in Holland and Belgium. I'm throwing them into everything these days. When I was brainstorming for this, I was racking my brain as to who would be Lucy, and then I thought of Belgium and everything just seemed to work. She's the only blonde who's not related to Russia. Imagine Belarus as Lucy. O_o

Anyways, I'm really glad you liked it! It's been a terribly long wait for this, and I apologize, but I'm really pleased with the result of months of thinking on this so I hope you are, too.

Happy Holidays!

&hearts

[mangaka_chan]

Very interesting, both in terms of the parallel with A Tale of Two Cities and the nations' relationship with each other. It makes me wonder though, how can Arthur stay alive if his head got looped off by a guillotine? XD;; (Imagines Headless Horseman-like Arthur looking for his head after the execution)

[moirae]

Lol, there's a reason the fic cuts off where it does. I imagine the execution never actually "happens." >.>

[ykyapril]

This is awesome! :D

I'm so glad Arthur is a nation...I couldn't bear it if he died ;_;

Now I can read A Tale of Two Cities more easily xD

[moirae]

Thank you so much, dear &hearts

Glad to be of assistance ;)

[musubi7]

Duuuuuuuuude, I gotta admit

[moirae]

Thanks for you input! Your con crits are always incredibly valid and helpful, so thank you for supplying them!

When I learn TotC in school we approached it from several different vantage points, with all the round and flat characters bit, so even though I didn't like Lucy I sort of got the whole plot-driven symbol bit. (Though I won't pretend it wasn't fun to inject some personality into her side of the story through Belgium.)

Nearly all my favorite couples are het. Belgium has had a lot of close relations with France and England over the years, but I sort of fudged the history to make it work in this. >.>

[musubi7]

You're welcome! ^_^

I understand the symbolism behind TOTC, but I still couldn't bring myself to enjoy that book. :P

madness!

When don't we fudge history for the sake of Hetalia cannon? pfffft