Float (1999), an England ficlet

Float, 1999
by crashedtimemachine

England floats serenely on his back, slowly allowing himself to be washed out into the channel, and he can’t really say that he’s worried about it. His eyes are closed and the sun beats down on his skin from one side while the sea water chills it from the other, creating a balance he’s grown to love over the years.

The waves gently rock and lull him into a deep calm. The soft sounds of the waves against his arms and legs are the quiet echoes of their lapping against the bows of his massive ships. The screaming of the gulls are not unlike that of the flocks that floated just above the sailors scurrying across the deck. Even the scent of brine and decay and life is unchanged.

He tilts his head back to wet his hair thoroughly (absorb more of the sea, take it into his skin and bones, never again to part with it).

He misses this, he reluctantly admits; England’s fleet of nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers — the best of the best, naturally — just don’t have the same...well...as France would put it, je ne sais quoi. (Blast that bloody frog for infecting his vocabulary.)

There was something indefinably thrilling about standing on the bow of a cutter as it broke through wave after wave, hunting down stragglers of Spain’s massive fleet as they made their retreat.

England’s hand curls and fists in the water at his sides. His arms feel heavy, leaden with the weight of the water and the years.

It was a different era and they’ve all moved on.

He wonders if he’s the only one longing for the simplicity of those days.

Unsustainable, a crazy!America fic

Characters: crazy!America, England, France (mentions of China and Russia and the money they're owed)
Rating: K
Warnings: Mental illness, the decline of a nation, current events
Synopsis: America is a nation in decline. He's running out of credibility, favors to call in, and money (one of his cities actually filed for bankruptcy, and more are expected to follow). England and France decide to check in on him. Historical Hetalia(-ish).

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Unsustainable, July 2013
by crashedtimemachine

After several weeks of increasingly concerning headlines, England figured he'd waited long enough.

Something had to be done. He knew that America's pride was going to be the death of him; the stubborn young nation would never ask for help when he really needed it. (Even when France had backed him up in his bloody revolution, it had been because France had insisted on getting involved by recognizing America's sovereignty and he wasn't even sure if he'd forgiven him for that yet and...well...now was perhaps not the time for churning up old grudges, given the current state of things...)

When he arrived at America's house, England was surprised to find the door wide open. (Wasn't America usually more guarded about his borders, even the metaphorical ones?)

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