Story of my Life (Hetalia One Shots)

War

A commercial for some local bookstore’s latest sale faded out and the tell tale music for the news station came back on. The camera landed on two newscasters, both holding silver iPads and appearing to converse casually with each other.

Their names appeared at the bottom of the screen, as they did with every broadcast. Ella Wood flashed the camera a dazzling smile, her suit perfectly tailored and not a hair out of her place. Her companion, Andrew Patel, also smiled at the camera, with teeth that were a little too white and a little too straight. The camera finally settled and Andrew looked down at his tablet to see what the first story was while Ella patted an imaginary stray hair back into place.

"Tensions have been growing between the former Allies and Axis powers. It seems a third world war is right on the horizon," Andrew began, looking at the camera dramatically.

"Yes, though this time," Ella added somberly, "It appears that our once ally, France, is siding against us. French naval ships have been clogging up the English Channel. We have not received official word of their intent at this time.”

“The Prime Minister has been working closely with the U.S. President to try and contact the French government. So far as we can tell, they are making plans to work out a peace treaty.” Andrew continued.

Ella swiped at something on her iPad. “We now introduce military expert, Captain Maddison Sanders, to gain more insight on what exactly is going on. Maddison, hello.”

The screen split, the picture of Andrew and Ella moving to the left while coverage of another woman appeared on the right of the screen. She had her brown hair in a tight bun and her military uniform was immaculate.

“Hello,” she replied to Ella, rather stiffly.

“So, with all this trouble appearing with the French, what does this mean for the rest of us?” Andrew asked, trying to break the ice.

“Hard to tell,” Sanders answered. “We have no idea what the French’s motives are. They’ve not tried to contact us yet. We don’t even know for sure if they’re going to be hostile towards us, they are beefing up their military. We’ve been told there is a possibility of an alliance between France and Germany.”

Ella looked troubled. “But isn’t the point of the United Nations to prevent those kinds of alliances from forming? Why is no one doing anything yet?”

Sanders nodded. “They’re still deliberating. We have no concrete proof of an alliance between the two sides. Until we can get the go ahead to go into France and what exactly they’re doing in there.”

“So until we know where everyone stands, what are some safety measures people can take in the meantime?” Andrew asked, trying to steer the conversation.

Sanders shifted on her feet and seemed to weigh her words carefully. “We’ve decided to implement bomb sirens again. We know that they saved lives in the last world war and, in the event that something should happen, they may save lives again.”

“But how at risk are we for a bombing?” Ella asked.

Sanders hesitated before answering. “We don’t know.”

The entire studio sat in awkward silence before Andrew spoke up. “Well, thank you for joining us today, Captain…”

“What’s that noise?” Ella interrupted him.

The studio went silent again and a faint noise was heard. Some kind of an alarm was going off in the distance. It became louder and louder until someone finally realised what it was.

“Bomb siren.” Andrew whispered.

There was a flurry of movement as everyone started running towards the exits. A whistling sound could be heard over the sound of the siren. People started screaming as an explosion was heard. The screen turned a fiery red before being covered with smoke. Then static.