HETALIA: The Great Rapprochement (C2)

The carriage soon left the vicinity of the Tower, and was trundling along the grey cobbles of the streets of London; Alfred had pulled back the curtains slightly to look out the window at the city as the carriage headed towards Kirkland Hall. As he looked out, he could see the entire cross-section of British society, wealthy aristocrats flaunting in fine shops with large windows, poor children selling flowers and herbs on street corners to earn a living, citizens of the island nation, and citizens of its vast empire, all mixed together, like a symbolic soup.  ‘It has changed a bit since your last visit,’ Arthur muttered ‘even Francis knows London better nowadays than you.’ ‘I guess then, you haven’t been to New York in a while, either.’ Was Alfred’s reply ‘Why Should I go to you, Alfred? I’m the British Empire, I’m the largest empire in the history of the world, no one has ever been richer, more powerful, more populous or industrious, I don’t have time to travel across the world to see people when I want, especially if nothing good will come from it.’ ‘So why do you think I’ve come here?’ replied Alfred, ‘for fun? To get snide comments off you all the time about how you’re the best thing to ever happen? No. I came because you invited me here!’ ‘Because you haven’t seen me since that silly war!’ ‘Which I won, don’t forget.’ Replied Alfred smugly, ‘Is Canada with you then?’ Arthur replied sarcastically ‘Oh, no, wait, I forgot, he still sings God Save the Queen.’ ‘No!’ replied an angry Alfred ‘1812 was a victory for the United States, you stopped harassing our ships, I think I won!’ ‘On the contrary, my former charge, Canada remains in British hands, a victory of the Empire couldn’t be more evident.’ Both nations simply glared, frustrated at one another, then Alfred turned and looked out of the windows again, looking out at the Royal Courts of Justice, and the grim-faced, long wigged and red-caped judges entering the building in some sort of procession.  The awkward silence was then broken by Alfred ‘Look, Franklin, that kid on the boat, my aid, is... smart, and what he said at the Tower is right, we need to stop arguing, we can sort out our differences, in a civilised and proper way.’ ‘If we must,’ Arthur replied ‘And speaking of the boy, where is he?’ ‘Erm... I don’t know, is he with the driving guy?’ Arthur reached for the stick, thumped the roof of the carriage, and shouted – ‘EDMUND! Is the American lad, Franklin, with you?’ ‘No’ replied the carriage driver, ‘In all respects m’lords I thought he was with you!’ ‘Thank You Edmund, although don’t call Alfred that, he’s picky on titles and peerage’ ‘Very sorry to you Mr Alfred!’ ‘It’s OK Edmund.’  ‘Surely he’d have the sense to wait at the Tower’ Arthur said, sensing Alfred’s concern over the missing lad ‘Yeah, but what if he hasn’t? London’s huge, even for me! He’s never been abroad before or anything!’ the carriage then suddenly stopped ‘Why the Devil have we stopped Edmund?!’ Arthur demanded, thumping the roof continuously with the stick ‘I can’t even tell where we are’ said Alfred, distraught over the whereabouts of Franklin ‘Trafalgar Square’ Arthur snapped ‘that shows how much you’ve been here, it was built 70 years ago!’ ‘What are they doing?’ Alfred said, pointing out of the window at a large crowd in the the square, Arthur shuffled across and looked out, his face went red and he tightened his fists before sitting down again in a rage ‘BLOODY IRELAND!’ he shouted ‘Ireland?!’ perplexed Alfred, ‘Yes! Ireland!’ Arthur replied sarcastically ‘He’s been stirring up trouble and now...’ Arthur kicked the opposite wall of the carriage in rage ‘... You can’t get across the bloody city without them having some sort of stupid, ill-thought and time-wasting protest against me!’ ‘Oh’ was Alfred’s reply ‘so, what do we do?’ ‘We have to wait, the bloody people block the roads, and there are too many for the police to handle.’ Arthur sighed ‘We’ll just have to wait.’ Alfred began to think ‘I wonder if Franklin’s OK...’
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The train was chugging underneath the Embankment, Franklin, quite confused that he managed to work out the old, complicated money system of Britain, was clutching onto his bag and trying not to choke on the fumes of the train as it powered its way through the tunnels ‘Why would anyone want to travel in an underground train?’ he thought to himself, then the smoke got to him, and he began to cough, and which point the lady sat opposite him handed over a handkerchief, ‘Thanks’ he said, taking the handkerchief and coughing into it, ‘You were coughing so hard, I thought you had combustion!’ the woman smiled in her cockney accent, to the disgust of  one of the, more refined, passengers in the compartment, ‘Look here!’ she said to the snobbish man, ‘If you was coughing, you would want something to cough into wouldn’t ya? It’s only manners to hand the young sir a hanky.’ ‘Yes, but it is the manner in which you speak of tuberculosis that completely infringes my idea of moderation, my good woman.’ ‘Well then, my good sir, I’d like it if you could have a shave, that moustache of yours looks like it’ll crawl off your plate any second!’ ‘Hurgrumph!’ was the reply, the lady then leant over to Franklin and said, ‘Dunna worry yourself sonny, that man is grumpy because, well, he’s first class, but they’re all full, see, he dunna like our sorts of company!’ ‘I see...’ Franklin replied, ‘You have a funny accent sir’ the lady replied, ‘From where do you hail?’ ‘New York’ Franklin replied, ‘New York!’ exclaimed the woman, ‘Blimey! How did you get across the big wet then?’ Franklin seemed a bit confused ‘... By boat...’ ‘Lovely! I’ve never been on a boat, and the closest I’ve ever been to America is to see my sister in Gloucester, she married this doctor see, his name is Foster, they dunna like it there, lots of rain they get there y’see?’ ‘What do I see?’ replied a confused Franklin, the lady laughed, her freckled cheeks and chestnut hair seemed to illuminate when she laughed ‘Ooooh, you Americans! I’ve heard you’re a funny bunch!’ the train then whistled, a sign it was near a station, Franklin then asked – ‘Excuse me, I hoped this train would get to Kirkland Hall, what station do I need?’ ‘Kirkland Hall!’ exclaimed both the lady and the posh man ‘Cor! Are you the Prince of America or summit?’ the woman asked ‘Don’t be silly woman!’ The man snapped ‘America has no monarchy!’ ‘Then who appoints the ministers?’ she asked confused and dismayed, ‘I’ll explain to you after,’ the man replied, ‘Just get off here, Charing Cross, you’re in the slap bang heart of London, if you go just a bit left, you’ll hit Trafalgar Square, there’s bound to be a police man there!’ ‘Oh, thank you, to both of you.’ ‘Not at all my good lad!’ the man replied ‘It was a pleasure meeting you!’ the lady said ‘And you, I’ll send your regards to the President!’ Franklin replied ‘President? What’s a President?’ she asked, confused, ‘This is going to be a long journey...’ muttered the man, soon the train entered the bright lights of the station, the porter was shouting out ‘CHARING CROSS! CHARING CROSS! CHANGE FOR THE LONDON & DOVER RAILWAY AND TRAFALGAR SQUARE! MIND THE GAP! CHARING CROSS!’ the smoke from the train turned the station into a yellow smog,  Franklin simply followed the crowds, and climbed some stairs, and then entered a foyer, hanging from the roof were signs ‘VICTORIA EMBANKMENT, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, TRAFALGAR SQUARE, STRAND’ all pointing in various different directions leading to different, and equally full, staircases, he followed, what he presumed was the exit for Trafalgar Square, and sure enough he had exited the station onto the square, there were people everywhere, some were part of the protest, some were trying to catch their trains to Dover or the Underground, there were people abandoning their taxis and walking their last parts of the journey as the protestors held up the traffic, Franklin tried to see a police man around the statues or in amongst the carriages, and then, he noticed one, it was familiar, the driver, seemed familiar, he knew who it was! ‘Mr Jones! Mr Kirkland!’ he called, crossing between the dormitory carriages and horses, ‘Mr Jones! Mr Kirkland!’ then Edmund noticed him ‘Oh, there you are! The sirs were enquiring your whereabouts!’ ‘I thought they would!’ replied Franklin, he went to the door and peered in, and, to his horror, Alfred and Arthur seemed to be strangling each other –
‘HOW DARE YOU POUR THE TEA INTO THE HARBOUR OF ALL PLACES!’
‘I DON’T EVEN LIKE TEA! I DRINK COFFEE!’
‘THAT’S STILL NO EXCUSE!’
Franklin pulled the door open and pulled them apart, before slapping them both in the faces – ‘WILL BOTH OF YOU JUST SHUT UP AND BEHAVE!’ the two nations were stunned, no one had ever done something like that to them before, let alone a young man, ‘NOW, IF YOU TWO DON’T STOP ARGUING, I’LL POUR THE TEA AND THE COFFEE DOWN THE NEAREST TOILET! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!’ both nations, stunned, simply nodded, ‘Good.’ Said Franklin, before Arthur said ‘But..’ ‘NO BUTS!’ Franklin replied, ‘You two will be quiet until we reach Kirkland Hall, and we will sort out our differences there if we really have to! Now, be quiet and make room for me!’ The two shuffled to the extreme edges of their seats, and Franklin sat in the middle on Alfred’s side, as it faced forwards. A few minutes passed, and then the traffic began to clear and the carriage began to head north, it trundled through the city and began to climb up the hills of Hampstead and into the countryside, soon, they reached the hilltop Kirkland Hall, with tempers high, and Franklin cross, all of the passengers of the carriage hoped that the visit would be less negative.