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It was one in the fricken morning and there was a meeting that he needed to get to. Well, he couldn't really say that it was a meeting, it was just...a very personal one. The pale-sunset blonde groggily sat up from his bed, minding his wife and three kids on the other side. The four were snuggled so comfortably there and he didn't want to disturb them. As discreetly as he could, he slipped out of his hall, down the cloudy stairs, and into the watery streets of his home santre.
The walk to the Hetalian Hall made him wonder if this was the reason why he was called out at the buttcrack of dawn. Heck, it wasn't really dawn, but it was technically the morning. His booted footfalls sunk a little into the water he walked on. The man pushed the impending thoughts away from his head. It was nerve-wracking enough that he was going to be having a one-on-one personal conference with the entity higher than of the queen's. Then again, the queen was a personal friend of his, as was of anybody who's met her. She didn't really go by formalities, anyway, and he hadn't been alive to see any of his kingdom's royalty.
Finally reaching the further areas of the kingdom, he starts seeing the reflecting and glistening outlines of the arena and the queen's new hall. They called it the 'new hall', but it was around longer than he had been alive. That was saying a lot, considering that he had been alive for more than 300 years. He passed by the 'new' hall and beyond the arena. The temperature started dropping a little but that didn't hinder him. He was getting closer to the place where he had been born and what was said to be the 'first' hall of the queen's. The man always wondered if the two shared the same birthplace. However, she didn't seem like she was born in his more frozen beginnings.
Across from that certain hall and take a right and he was facing the hall that he was to reach. Or at least the spiral platforms that lead up to it. They were like stairs, but Himeyura forbid you to try going up it if you weren't powerful here. You'd either fall straight through the platforms or slide down them like a water slide. He wasn't the most powerful but was one of the fleet kings. Since he was called to go up to the hall that these platforms lead to, he assumes that he is able to climb up here.
And climb up there, he does.
...He felt like he had been walking for hours before he reached the top of the platforms. It didn't even worry him that his feet were steadily dipping into the water's surface for he had been walking that long. The sky had started turning a little purple, but the sun hadn't peaked out, yet. He's always wondered how they had night and day when their kingdom wasn't even a planet. How did that even work?
Shaking his head, he struggled to straighten his back as he walked up the last flight of, this time, solid stairs, instead of watery platforms. His tiredness suddenly dimmed as nerves took over, when he finally reached the grand doors of the Hetalian Hall. Their hall doors were always grande and massive, but his...the resident of the Hetalian Hall's was much bigger than the ones the dwarfed man standing outside of it, had.
Pushing the doors open, just a crack, he slipped inside, making sure the back of his low-handing vest-coat didn't catch on the heavy closing of the doors. He fiddled on the edges of his black leather gloves, the ends of his beige scarf, his violet and cerulean eyes darting all around this new and interesting hall. He's never been here before. Never imagined that he'd have the honor of ever stepping foot near this place. Only the chosen royals of the kingdom have stepped foot inside this hall, beside the main resident of the hall, himself.
Different murals were carved, strokes of paint, etches, stained glass, porcelain, stone, wooden, gem-medium creations all around the hall, decorating the pillars, the walls, the floors, the ceiling, furniture with history and culture. History of them. History of their passengers. History of their fandom. The history and culture that is and what makes up Hetalia. That's what this hall depicted. It was fitting for the man, the entity, that resided inside its beautifully crafted walls.
The resident in question sat in front of a marble and jewel-crusted desk with swirling designs of a group of people and events of some sort. To the guest entering the hall, the desk was huge. Taller than he was, much taller. It was for the even taller person sitting at that desk. He was shuffling through papers and pictures, summoning items, drawing flat surfaces in the air that played like a screen, showing scenes of the present and past, scribbling things down in multitudes of languages, his golden eyes darting around his work, undisturbed.
He really didn't want to be that guy to disturb an important dude in his work.
However, he was sent here for a reason, so the big guy should've known he was coming. Or maybe he was mistaken? What if he wasn't supposed to even be here? Oh, man, was he in trouble now? What was he supposed to do-?
"You made it."
His heterochromatic eyes shot up to the man at the desk. The titan of a man leaned over his desk to gaze down at his pitifully small form. He had to be at least ten times taller than he was, and he was a little over-excelling in the verticle department due to the added on the average height from his passengers, but his height dramatically pales in comparison to him.
The giant's crystal golden eyes gazed warmly down at the anxious man below. A wise and fatherly smile graced his marble lips, warmth melting into his flawless features. Prisms of rainbow flecks glimmered off of his porcelain-appearing skin, reflective and glassy, like fine china. Carved into his skin were glowing tattoo-like murals like the ones around his hall. You couldn't see them in the light, but on the shadowed and darkened sides of his body, the murals glowed different colors of light, displaying the scenes on his...seemingly naked body.
"I am sorry. I did not hear you come in."
The man gulped shakily. His voice was so smooth. So warm. It was telling him he meant no harm and that he was safe. The nervousness seemed to melt a little, trusting the other's silent reassurance, "Y-Yeah, my fault, I didn't, like...announce my arrival."
A honey-like bell of laughter came from the porcelain man, "It is quite alright. I get so absorbed over all of the stellar things you and your fellow brethren have done, as well as your soldiers and passengers. Your energy, emotions, diversity, individuality, dreams...they are all so very captivating," he said in a sweet, low, and lulling voice that laced him with comfort.
He felt a small well of pride from his words, "Well, I guess, um, I'm glad you find us so interesting."
"Interesting is a very low understatement, child," another deep ring of laughter, "You are all very significant. So very precious and, perhaps, somewhat destructive," a small lopsided smile, "War is a sport in itself up here. That, my child, is what I have called you up here for."
Oh. He's here to talk about their...wars. He isn't lying, war is technically a sport up here. They train for it, fight against one another in it, whoever wins is the winner of that war, that battle, that competition, and they win...what? They're the most powerful, they earn that title, maybe they do not. It was stupid as it was of most utmost importance. But he's never been talked to about it, since the...more major wars.
"...Is this about when I started the dominance wars?" he murmured, suddenly worried that he couldn't hear him.
The golden-eyed man heard him just fine, "Almost. This is of a mass attraction of dominance wars. Most of them concerning you."
"What?" the heterochromatic one spoke confusedly, "I haven't had to fight with anyone in an actual war for a while. Our soldiers haven't brought up a need to fight. We've only had political battles and those hardly count as wars, unless they get serious."
"Of course, that is the case," the taller one nods, "However, this is more or so likely concerning with just you, in specific."
"...Me?"
"Yes, my child," he nodded, "You are a very fickle entity of alliance, considering your conflicting passengers and even more conflicting soldiers. You have brought on a whole different type of war in this kingdom that had yet to reach here. Your political basis runs hot and cold and your passengers range from relaxed to struggling mad. Yet, here you stand, decently stable, married, a father, and almost happy."
The pale-sunset blonde flinched at the 'almost happy' part. Sure, he had some stability issues, since his passengers didn't always get along with each other, but they're working on it...kinda. He'd never tell his wife and kids that he was sometimes mentally struggling. After all, he was happy. The man just had some confidence issues; it wasn't like he was unhappy with his life.
"I like my life," he responded with a half-shrug. Was shrugging rude? "I love my wife, I love my kids, my job's fine, and I haven't fought with anyone seriously in a while. Things have been very chill down here, well, er, down there, I guess," he chuckled nervously, "We're kinda high up, right now, aren't we?"
A warm rumble emitted from the wiser's chest, "Yes, indeed, we are. Child, I know what you are feeling. She does as well and had brought it upon my attention to address you."
"'She'?" a blonde-red brow quirked, "Itam-I mean, the queen?"
"Haha, no, not the queen. She does not really have herself be addressed to such a title. Quite a humble and modern supervisor you have," 'they have'. She's not above him, of course.
"Then who...?"
"I am under the impression," he began with a hint of amusement in his voice, "that the younger ones below refer to her as the 'Ghost on the Swing' or the 'Swinging Phantom'."
The smaller blanched, "That exists-?! Ah, I mean..."
"It is quite alright, you know of her now. Whether you wish to tell the little ones is up to you," he laughed with a fond smile, "Getting back on the topic at hand, you are getting many..." a moment of thought to chose his words, "...peaceful wars. This oxymoron is in every sense of the word, child. There are disagreements in both the war arena and the political arena, both sides arguing over either very similar to very different topics."
"I know you are thinking that many of you are like this, concerning the difference between your passengers and soldiers. Some value their political side than their war side, and some vice versa. You, on the other hand, do not particularly care," he notices his violet and cerulean eyes narrowed at his golden ones a little, "Not that this is a bad thing, child, believe me. Had I want all of you to go a certain way, I would have manipulated all of you myself. Albeit, some of you are not in the most healthy of views, but that is still your decision."
His grin dimmed a little in a somewhat stressed form, "Free will, is what that is. Whether you bend to the reality of beliefs or do not believe in it at all. If you uphold a set of values that you put faith in, it is not a waste. If someone else does something that does not match your values, that is their will. Everyone here has a free will, not the same will."
The two gazed at each other for a silent moment. They don't say anything for those seconds, but the dwarfed guest came to an understanding of the titan's words. There was no harm in having views, nor was telling anyone about them. Forcing them on was another story, entirely, but hearing the views of another and considering them was of free will completely. He knew that. He's always had some kind of connection to that statement. It's how dominance wars came to be in the first place.
"You might be wondering why I am bringing these words up," the giant stood up from his desk and walked around it. The smaller of the two felt the marble ground beneath him rumble with his thudding and clinking footsteps. Staring up at the towering figure, he found out that he was, indeed, naked, but without...y'know. When he was finally able to properly look at his superior, he watched his silky fine hair of different streaks and colors tumble down as a rope of braid. Not a hair or chiseled porcelain part out of place.
"I bring this up because you have a different view of how your kind becomes the peak of their being."
The man's warm tone didn't stop the icy trickle that seeped into his spine. The man before him wasn't a god, of course, none of them were since they were of humans, not the other way around. However, he knew things about them that they would never admit to others. He, like every other residence in this kingdom, is made up of two passengers, thus could feel their emotions, hear their thoughts, and know their memories. The entity in front of him, however, was like that, except instead of two passengers he was knowledgeable about, it was every person in the kingdom that lived beneath him.
Why he thought he could've avoided this, he had no idea.
"Do not be ashamed of having a different view, child. I would never stop any of you expressing yourselves, even if it did, in the end, would bring about hurt and destruction. All of you are very wise not to repeat the same mistakes, I would hope," well, they have been, so far, he supposed, "I would just like to hear it from your own mouth, your own explanation."
It was reasonable that he hesitated, especially when the giant entity took about sitting in front of him, crossed-legged, hands and arms relaxed, gazing on with interest. So he shakily began explaining his views. How he didn't think that they needed to strive for that kind of perfection because of their ever-changing statuses. How that goal was stomped out long ago during the introduction of dominance wars overruled all of what they thought completely. How that state of achievement was only temporary. How they were only that way because they were down there-
"Calm yourself, child," the taller entity murmured softly, "You are getting much too worked up. Might this talk be upsetting you?"
The smaller entity didn't realize he was getting uncomfortably flustered with emotion. He couldn't help it; this topic meant everything to him but he never said a word of it to anyone else. He cared all too little of what people said negatively to his face rather than spread around him and that concept alone has confused the poor man to great lengths. However, that's just how he was. He wouldn't be surprised if others were the same way, hiding their innermost turmoils in fear that the rest would fall into a state of depression or fear. His was more on the depression and confusion side of things. It wasn't their fault and was their fault that they were very human in an emotional sense. Surely the other knew that, right?
"Of course, I do," he responded smoothly and calmly, "We would not be the way we are if it were not for humans, child. Remember that. Your own free will to imagine, dream, decided, and perhaps dare to question is what shapes this kingdom. All of you have that as part of your duty as a citizen here. I know, personally, I had enjoyed hearing your prospect of this achievement is a temporary state of being. I can see where you had gotten your evidence. In fact, it is quite solid."
"Thank you, sir," he nodded in thanks. He read his mind, he noticed, "You called me up here to talk to you?"
"Preferably because this subject needed to be carried off of your shoulders, child. You are a father, husband, and friend among the community. I give you abundant gratitude for bringing back such a ceremonious union event to our waters. We have not had one since our Golden Ages. A blessed thing to experience after our borders' Discourse Era. Short-lived, but impactful."
"Yeah, it was definitely impactful, alright," he couldn't argue with that. The Discourse Era sucked. It came out of nowhere, their soldiers were being attacked for no good reason, and the political arena was rendered painfully. What the heck even was that for? "...You talk more than I thought you would. Like, you're very conversing...if that's a word, I think."
"I enjoy talking to any of you. I would like to think you are my children," he made a deep chuckle, full of warmth and happiness, "I do not get to speak that much up here, the only people I've spoken to the past five centuries being your benevolent, relatable queen and your rumored Phantom Swinger."
"You talked to only two people in the past 500 years?!" he couldn't fathom it. Her Majesty was a very easy person to talk to, if not a little awkward around others. He had no idea what the Phantom Swinger was like. But 500 years and those two were the only ones he's ever communicated with? Besides that, he didn't speak to anyone? Not even to himself? Why does he get to break the trend now?
His body carvings glowed, "Sadly, yes. However, as of now, that information is false, since I am conversing with you."
"Well, yeah, but still," that was still a big fact to wrap his head around, "You must be very...lonely."
The older gazes down with reminiscence in his eyes, "Many would have thought that I just sit here not having a care for what transpires bellow. That I would not care if you defend my lands, my kingdom. That is false. I do care and do not even know how I came into deserving such faithfulness and defense. Even so, I cannot bear to just say it is mine. It mostly belongs to all of you and the content you fill it with," he smiles sadly, "I am truly grateful for all of you and your soldier's hard work, even if I do not or cannot always express it."
While the smaller one bellow felt pride, once again, for the gratitude being directed down on his fellow citizens and himself, he couldn't help but feel the sadness in his voice. He said thank you, sure, but he sounds like he wants to say and express so much more. The dwarfed man was half expecting the titan to stand up and proclaim it to the awakening kingdom bellow.
However, it's left at that. The younger gives his thanks and awkwardly leaves the hall. He makes his way down the platforms, stepping foot on the more...solid water that made up the common ground of their kingdom. He leaves the surrounding grounds and back into the streams of the communities. Ships were arising and beginning to work. Many have taken up small jobs, like bookkeeping, farming, textile, and sorts. He heads for work, document-less and free-minded.
The light bustle and conversation wafting through the air. Smells of food and sounds of rushing water, clamoring footsteps and individuals suddenly had his attention. It was like the man was at peace.
He sat at the large, oblong table, a meeting, it appeared to be, and listened to others. The man looked at them, fellow ships, in a new light. It felt odd to be the tall one again, towering a couple more inches above average height, chuckling at his children running up to his legs and only reaching up to about his hip, after work.
His wife ambled forward with their baby son in her arms, his older son and daughter's hands, one in each of his. She gave him a questioning smile, silently asking where he had been, but the calm look on his face answered for her. The father's face lit up as his kids pulled them along the sunlit streams of the downtown centre. Colors split from the crystal ultraviolet structures that made up their kingdom and hold it together. Younger ships, boats, and his own children made funny faces in the reflection of the ultraviolet, giggling and shying, waving in greeting, then hiding behind their strong father's legs.
"It can't be this simple," he murmured as they strolled back home.
"Whatever do you mean?" his wife asked, bouncing the little boy in her arms as he giggled at his older siblings' antics.
"Is this it?" he breathed, "Is this finally it? Are we at peace?"
"Peace?" she chuckled warmly, not in any means of spite, "I am not sure I'd call it 'peace', love," she gazed up at the windows of sky overhead, the shining cracks in the rock above them, "There will always be conflict, but that doesn't mean there will never be happiness. If you ask me, I'd say you're at the calm before the storm. We'll never know when something bad happens, but who knows? The world might become a destroyed state of misery, whether it is physical or not."
He frowned a little at his wife's words, but he understood them and they were considered. Yes, with what they are, there's almost no possibility of peace and always a lingering paranoia of danger and conflict. He breathed in, searching for that familiar shiver of wary he constantly had. However, when he found it, it didn't make him stiff and depressed, but...aware and acknowledging. He was aware of these possibilities and recognizing them as a potential threat to his family and society. Well, only because it was going to physically and mentally affect him, thus others around him. However, he wasn't afraid.
No, he stilled himself. A smile slid back onto his face, his kids running up to him again.
He was ready.
Things were about to get complicated.