China x Beijing! Reader: Inches of Paradise

China x Beijing! Reader: Inches of Paradise



With overwhelming amount of history. I hoped to ensure the neutrality of the historical events happened. Please acknowledge me if you find those events inaccurate or not neutral enough since I don't want this fic provoking arguments about certain events mentioned. Sorry for making it sounding so serious.

A pretty sad story about how personifications could not do things according to their wills and act like puppets. Though it's a China reader-insert, he appears only at the last part of the fic so I am sorry for that! Actually it's more like a Hetalia sad story then a reader-insert. I am really sorry please don't kill me!

Please enjoy reading^^



1900, Peking (beijing)  China
一九零零，中/國/北/平






               Eight nations. Fifty thousand solders from the enemy side. One corrupted government. One kingdom that was tearing apart, doomed to fall.

               That was the bloody truth of what happened during the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance.






                Your feet was tired from running night and day, but resting was such a luxury that you could not afford. Currently running away from the eight nations that were on a hunt for you, you must be very careful and kept yourself hidden.

                You did not blame the eight nations namely England, France, The United States, Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Italy and Japan, for chasing you endlessly, for they were only following orders given by their superiors and the will of their people. Which you did blame was the corrupted Qing Government,  Empress Dowager Cixi and the Boxers. Their ignorance and corruption was the main reason why the eight nations invaded your beloved city.

               Empress Dowager Cixi hated the foreigners and was determined to shoo all of them in China out of the nation, so she allowed a group of peasants who proclaimed themselves "the Boxers" to attack Christians and destroy churches. The Boxers believed that with proper rituals performed, they would be invulnerable to bullets, which, the Empress surprisingly believed. (Though you doubted about that. She must knew that was a lie but chose to say she believed it stubbornly due to her hatred towards Westerners) The Western nations, without doubt, took actions towards such unacceptable behaviors by sending armies to attack China. And they had invaded the capital Beijing (Peking), which was you, several days ago. [1]

                So that was why the were on a wild chase for you. You knew they were planning to capture you and use you as a bait to lure China out of his hiding place, so you were hiding not for your own sake but his as well.

                Then, suddenly, you heard footsteps coming towards your direction.

下一頁你親手寫上的離別 由不得我拒絕

這條路我們走得太匆忙 擁抱著並不真實的欲望

來不及 等不起回頭欣賞 木蘭香遮不住傷

Stopping here and don't dare walking on, hoping that could stop the sad stories from happening again

I could not refuse the separation that you wrote with your own hands on the next page

We just went down this road of romance in such a rush, embracing unrealistic desires

It is too late and we can't afford waiting for admiring the scenery behind us. The Magnolia scent could never cover up our wounds

                Quick as lightening and sleek as a snake, you ducked and hid under the altar in the abandoned temple which you were currently hiding in. The footsteps grew closer and closer. You held your breath, hoping they would not find you if you did not make any sound.

                ' Hong Kong, do you think Beijing will be hidden here?' A man with British accent, which you believed was England asked. You clasped your hands over your mouth to prevent yourself from gasping. They forced Hong Kong, who was ceded to England half a century ago after China had lose the Opium War [2] to look for you?

                ' No,' his voice was without a hint of emotion. You wondered why he was behaving like that since he always smile sweetly at you when he was small. Though he became less cheerful after Macau had been turned into a Portugese colony four centuries ago, he was not as emotionless as this.

                Anyway, you were relieved that he did not sell you out, for he used to play hide and seek with you in this temple when it was not abandoned and filled with worshipers centuries ago, and he would be the first to know where you were hiding.

                ' You are now a British colony, Hong Kong. Abandon your past and tell us the truth. As far as I remember, you always played with Beijing in this temple when you were small,' Japan said. Clenching your fists into a ball, you hissed quietly and cursed the currently pretty strong Asian nation.

                The Asian nations used to have a family-like relationship, with China being the eldest brother taking care of younger siblings such as Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong. And of course, Japan was behaving like the second eldest brother. But it was what happened before he changed. Changed completely.

                 Becoming much more aggressive after the Meiji Modernization[3], the now stronger nation began to launch attacks towards neighboring countries, with his ultimate aim to be defeating China and gaining control of the Asian region. And he succeed. After winning in the First Sino-Japanese War [4], China had to cede Taiwan and Penghu to  Japan. Korea was also transferred to the Japanese sphere of influence after the Japanese victory over the war.

                 From that second onwards, driven by the desires of his superiors, you knew the Japan who treated you and other Asian countries kindly was dead. And the Japan you currently knew was not the same. Though it was not his fault but his superiors.

                 ' Yes I did but I doubt whether she will be hiding in a place where she knows we will be searching. She is too clever for doing so, as she must have known I'm coming with all of you to search for her,' Hong Kong replied calmly, but you heard a tiny, barely noticeable hint of anxiousness in his smooth and soothing voice. 

                 ' Alright, I guess you are right,' said Germany. You recognized his voice immediately as you had met him a couple of times after he had forced China to lease him Kiautschou Bay [5], a bay located in the Shandong Peninsula two years ago, ' Let's move on.'

                 ' No, maybe we should check the temple thoroughly first,' Russia banned Germany's idea and suggested. Damn it! You hit your lap with your fists and cursed the sneaky Slav man who transferred the once-Chinese lands between Stanovoy mountains and Amur River by signing the unequal treaty name Treaty of Aigun [6].

                 Peeking from the table cloth that was covering the alter which you were hiding under, you counted the number of feet quietly. There were ten, but you could not tell which was which. The one with the smallest pair of shoes, you bet, was Hong Kong, which a man with a similar pair of leather shoes was standing besides. You supposed that was England. You had no idea how to tell where the remaining nations were standing, but you could identify a pair of relatively smaller and more feminine pair of shoes so you guessed it belonged to the only female nation here, Hungary. Not knowing whether the man with a pair of boots next to her was Germany or Austria, you could just shrug it off and forget about identifying the enemies.

                 Then you did a quick calculation. Ten nations were here, so that meant all countries that were in the Eight-Nation Alliance had gathered together in this very temple. (England, The United States, France, Germany, Austria with Hungary, Italy, Russia and Japan) They obviously had outnumbered you, so it would be impossible for you to make a dash towards the door and escape, but you were relieved that only Germany was present for representing the German Empire. The situation would be much worsened if Prussia were here as well.

                ' Then, we should spread out and each of us search a part of the temple. America, France and England, please go and search in the backyard. Germany and Italy, please search the rooms behind the statue. Russia and Japan, please search in the garden at the front door. Hungary, Hong Kong and I will search this area here. How does that sound?' A man asked politely, and you supposed that was Austria. 

               Muffled footsteps were the heard, and you heard England muttering about why he needed to search with the "frog" and the "hamburger idiot"[7] and you had no idea what he was talking about. You only understood about the sentence that England said about wanting to search with Hong Kong instead of those "idiots". You peeked out from under the altar again, finding only three pairs of foot circling the hall.

              Austria began to open chests and boxes that were piled at the corner of the temple one by one, while Hungary and Hong Kong were checking the cupboards near the altar. They were so near to you and your body immediately tensed at their closeness to you. Curling into a ball, you held your breath when someone walked towards the altar and knelt down, reaching out for the piece of fabric that hid you.

              You prayed to God sincerely, and clenched the jade amulet around your neck that China gave you when you were small tightly as the fabric slowly moved and revealed Hong Kong's face.

              His beautiful golden orbs stared into your (e/c)'s. You bit your lips, holding back tears that were forming in your eyes. It was such a relief to know that the one who eventually find you was Hong Kong instead of Hungary. Hong Kong's expression shifted slowly and he placed his index finger over his lips, signaling you not to make a sound before standing up again and announcing to Austria and Hungary that he could not find you.

                Your body relaxed for a couple of minutes, before tensing again when somebody dragged you out of the altar. You screamed and kicked with all you might but it was of no avail.

               ' I just know you would help hiding her,' England smiled sadly at his newly founded colony but the later only stared at him with such blank and emotionless eyes that you almost thought they belonged to a dead man.

               America attempted your hands up with a piece of strong rope when France was holding you in place with his hands on inappropriate places as he did. You had never seen someone holding somebody else in place by squeezing that somebody's butt, but you supposed that was what Westerners did. Giving up struggle, you let America to tie you up as Hungary knelt down next to you, whispering apologizes.

               ' We're all sorry to do that to you, for we are all personifications of countries and places so we know how hard it feels. But we can't betray the orders of our superiors and the wills of our people so we could just choose to do that to you,' she stroked your hair like what a big sister would do and smiled sadly. You looked away, not wanting to make any response.

               You understood that as personifications of countries and places, you could never act according to your will. Sad story, but it was true. However, you wished not to accept your fate.

               She sighed and Japan came forward, pulling you out of the temple by dragging the ropes that tie up your hands. His black orbs looked at you sadly, and for one moment you thought the Japan you knew before the war had come back.

               ' Taiwan is fine. Don't worry about her,' he said silently, ' You must hate me a lot for taking her and Korea away from China.'

               ' I did. But I know there isn't any other option for you to choose since you were just following orders.'

                Japan's lips parted and looked like he wanted to say something but he choked it back. You shrugged it off and followed them out of the temple.






               ' China, come here and we'll trade you for your precious little capital. Then you will become one with me,' Russia smiled. The other nations groaned and looked away, not wanting to look into the eyes of the nation who was obsessed with making others becoming one with him.

               Occasionally curious villagers would opened their windows quietly and checked out what had happened, then closed the windows once again. A whole afternoon passed without seeing sight of China, as if this man never existed in this world. You prayed silently, hoping he would never come and trade himself for you. It did not matter even if the others considered him as a coward, it just mattered when he was safe.

               England and Germany had left for some time after the sun had set. You supposed they were searching for their superiors. Then America was gone as well, along with Austria. Probably finding a new solution to lure China out of his hiding place since they thought using you as a bait was useless.







               The flames were reaching your dirty and mud-stained feet within seconds. You yelped and tears streamed down your face. Being tied up on the cross with fire burning underneath, you had no where to go but wait and get burnt. A personification of a place probably would not die but under this circumstance, probably you would be burnt severely.  You scanned the crowd around you and gave a weak smile to Hong Kong, who was trying to free you one moment ago but held back by a sad-looking England. The other nations weren't looking happy as well, their eyes full of sympathy. 

               However, that was what the destiny of a personification of a country or a place should be. Following orders and acting according to the wills of people.

               ' Let her go!' Through your tear-filled eyes, you found the familiar image of China standing before the nations. Your eyes widened. He should not be here! Hungary immediately poured buckets of water to stop the fire underneath your feet and freed you, while China was being captured and chained up. Once your feet reached the ground, you made a dash towards him but Russia grabbed your arm and stopped you.

               ' China!' You found your voice quivering as you shouted,' You shouldn't be here!'

               ' I can't let them hurt you. I am sorry, aru,' he replied, ' Remember that, Beijing, I...' 

               One of the superiors, you could not tell which country he represented dragged China by force, cutting his speech short. You screamed and tried to wiggle out of Russia's grip but failed. 

               ' 京，我永遠愛你，永遠都愛。‘