9 years already?

Wow that seems like a long time. I could've sworn it was just months ago. It was all too real to me as I turned off the alarm this morning. There was a World Meeting today. As much as I dreaded getting up and facing it all, I really did have to go up there this morning. I had to go, put on my little act, say everything's okay and just hope that everyone believes me. The same thing I've done every year on this day. I never felt like myself on this day, I still feel paranoid that it could happen again. It's all too easy for them to do it again...But I'd come to terms with that. The 'Faceless Cowards' we called them originally, though now, we had some faces with them. I wouldn't stop until they got what was coming to them, until justice was given for all those people who died that day. But that wasn't my concern today, my priority today was just get through the meeting and go to the memorial ceremony like always. Matthew and I would travel together on normal days, but since I had business in New York, I decided to take my own vehicle and leave later than he did. The last thing I wanted was time for anybody to remember what today was. Arriving as late as I did, I was one of the last to make it into the meeting room, though I doubt that anyone noticed.

"Alright! Now that everyone's here, this World Meeting can now convene! Let's see what's first on our list of totally awesome objectives. I have a particularly rockin' idea for world hunger! It involves the sun, some uraniu-"

"Nien, before you start on this rant of vours, We need to all talk about vaut we vant to do about-"

I tuned out Germany by then. I did not want to be there, and it showed on my expression. I was zoning out now, thinking about how much I still had to do that day and how I wasted my time being at this.

I know they don't listen to my ideas. That doesn't bug me at all, I've come to terms with that. They all still give me a certain degree of respect. But it really makes me wonder, is it because the world hates me so much that it happened? Did everyone hate me so much they wanted to hit me in the most recognizable city? I don't care if they hate me, they can have their opinions on me, but why the people? What the hell had they done to warrant this? It wasn't fair, of course, life isn't really fair. All those innocent people died, and for what? God I don't know, but I wish I did. I really do wish there was a point to all of this, but there never is. This ridiculous fighting will never stop, no matter how much we want it to. That's why the world needs a hero. I always thought of myself as a strong person, someone who could hold himself high no matter what. I made it through the Revolution, 1812, the First and Second World Wars, Vietnam, Korea...all of those and it didn't phase me like this did. This was a personal attack on me...it made it harder to carry myself so high. I bet everyone could tell. I was shaken up pretty badly when it happened.

I was rudely pulled from my thoughts by the meeting.

"Amerika, vaut were you thinking about? Are vou alright?"

"Me? Oh yah! I'm fantastic like always, I was just daydreaming that's all!"

Everyone was throwing confused looks my way. Man it wasn't like me at all to do that sort of thing, but I couldn't focus no matter how much I wanted to.

"Excuse me for a minute everyone, I'll be right back!"

I pulled myself from the chair, never making eye-contact with anyone, until I made it out in the hallway.

"Ugh what am I doing..."

"Alfred, why are you here?"

I gave a glance to who was speaking to me, Arthur. Always being the protective brother, though today, that's really something I needed. Most people tried to avoid me today, though it was partially my fault. I would always tell them how something like that wouldn't keep a hero down long. I tried convincing them, no...myself, that I could just brush it off. Arthur and Matthew...they were the only two who saw through that. That never surprised me either, they were my brothers, not only that, they were there with me that day. They know how much of a mess I was, how much of a mess I could be.

"I keep asking myself that. I'm thinking probably to keep my mind busy"

"Well enough of that, I'm taking you home right now. You should not have even attended today"

"Oh leave me alone, I can take care of this myself"

"I know you don't mean that you bloody idiot. I'll get you out of the meeting and you'll go to the memorial"

"Wait...aren't you coming too?"

"Don't I always?"

"Good..."

"You're such a stubborn twit, you know that?"

"Yup, you always make sure to tell me"

"Is Matthew going to be attending with us?"

I thought for a second, was Matthew coming? I couldn't remember for a second, then it came to me, he was busy but promised he'd come later.

"Oh no, he's not! He said he'd come chill later though!"

"At least he will visit later. How did you get here today?"

Oh crap...how did I get there? Did I drive? No...the meeting was in Venice. I must've flown. I reached in my pockets, searching for my jet starter, which I had rigged as the lever allowing fuel into the engine, just to make sure. My key was always around my neck, so that wouldn't have been much help.

"I flew over"

"Alright then, we'll fly to New York"

"You want to come with me...in my jet?"

"Why not? You're an excellent pilot. Besides, I can't let you fly by yourself in your condition"

"Well ok...if you really want to"

I opened up the cockpit, throwing Arthur a helmet, placing my own, and jumping in. I placed the jet starter in, slowly pumping some fuel into the engine. I made sure the navigation system and the radios were off, you don't want electricity on before you start the engine. Checking that all fuel tanks were in full use, I turned on the engine, before turning on the electric components. The engine on my F-22 was nearly silent.

"Arthur, you remember the rules?"

"That depends, how many g's are you going to try to pull today"

"Oh I don't know, four or five?"

"Try not to kill me this time you bloody git"

"Yah yah, if you paid attention last time I explained, you would have known how to handle 8 g's"

"Just go already"

"Alright, hold on. *Gen. Alfred Jones reporting, 27th, do you copy?*"

*Brig Gen. Grayson here. Home sir?*

"*Not currently. On route to New York*"

*Affirmative sir, noted.*

"*That will be all, see you at home Grayson*"

*We will never forget sir*

"*We will never forget*"

I got us at a cruising altitude, we would be in New York in an hour. There were no clouds in sight, just the pure blue sky. Flying up there feels like the world just melts away. I was losing myself in the moment, as I often do on this day, that is, until my passenger broke the silence.

"Why do you always check in with your squadron?"

"Why?"

"Didn't you not export your F-22s?"

"Yes, but you never know. Well, ever since 2001, we started monitoring military plane action, domestic and international. All flights to New York, any suspicious flights from the Middle East or Russia over Matthew, me and yo-...over Matthew and me"

"You're really doing that for me?"

"N-no. Why the hell would I do that? I'm just looking out for Mattie"

"Oh that explains why I see your F-22s occasionally over London"

"No! It explains nothing! Though, for your information, we do check out every incident, just not only my squadron"

"You really are concerned about this happening again Alfred, are you not?"

"Well...of course I am. I just wanted to possibly stop it before it happened. It's something the hero is just supposed to do"

"And you still don't trust Russia?"

"Of course not, that communist bastard is bound to pull something"

"You realize he's not communist anymore"

"That's just what he wants us to believe. I'm not buying it. Enough of this, we're here"

I landed us on the private strip, right outside New York City. The city looked as beautiful as ever, the perfectly clear day let the city's true colors shine. The reflection off the water radiated on the skyscrapers, making them seem to shimmer.

America lay there in the hospital, barely eating or sleeping during his entire stay. England and Canada were there, constantly at his bedside, the only family he really had. Circumstance had allowed them to stay, though America's condition had not changed since he was admitted.

"It's all my fault isn't it, Matthew? We're supposed to protect our people, heroes are supposed to always win, to beat the bad guy, not let innocent people suffer for us..."

Matthew was the one awake that night, considering it was nearing 2 a.m, Arthur was already sleeping, he had taken the night before. Alfred didn't sleep at all, he just let himself wallow in his thoughts.

"Al...of course it's not your fault. You would never be able to do anything aboot something like this, you could never predict it. You did all you could"

"No I didn't, if I did, then nobody would have died. Don't you see? I let them all down, they probably hate me now"

"They could never hate you, your people love you more than anything. They love you so much, they wouldn't want you being like this for their sake. They would want you to be your happy, cheerful self again, to be strong for them"

"Mattie...", he rested his head on his brother's chest, letting some of his weight be taken by Matthew. "It's just so hard. I can't feel anything else anymore, just the sorrows, the pain"

He still felt it, how much the incident had affected the country. If not for that, he would have been out in just a day or two, but that wasn't the case. It was an agonizing pain that tormented him now, though the experience was slowly leaving his body numb to the discomfort.

"Al, you're the strongest nation I know, you'll put out of this in no time. I believe you can do it"

In the back of his mind, Matthew couldn't stop the nagging feeling that if they could do this to his brother, what was stopping them from targeting any one of them? If someone as strong as his brother was left like this, imagine any other country in his shoes.

"I can't thank you and Arthur enough...I don't know how I would be if I was alone in this"

"Your welcome. You're a lot different when you're serious, brother. It doesn't really suit you"

Matthew was right, his brother had changed, the carefree young man was replaced by a post-traumatic stress invalid. He just hoped that it wouldn't take long for his brother to return to the way he was.

"Are you sure you want to go this afternoon?", Arthur asked, feeling as though Alfred had not recovered enough to attend the memorial service.

"Of course I do, I'm their country, I need to be there. There's no convincing me otherwise"

His normal personality still eluded him, but was slowly making its way to the surface as time went by. Matthew returned home for the day, though he was just half an hour away if he was needed. The service was only an hour away, so the two nations made their way to ground zero.

"Alfred, I have to go make a call for just a minute, will you stay right here for me?"

"Yah yah, go call your boss"

America lay across the bench he was sitting on. His golden brown hair lightly whipping across his face as the breeze made its way through the city. He thought all the tears had dried up, he hadn't let one fall in days, but looking at where the two majestic towers once stood, he felt the burning sting in his eyes as the tears threatened to fall again. As he held them back, someone approached him.

"Hey mister!"

He was surprised to see a young girl hovering over him. He immediately sat up, leaving room for her on the bench.

"Alexa!"

"I'm really glad your okay sir! You were so awesome the other day!"

"Oh, I'm glad you think so"

"What do you mean mister?"

"I just can't help but think everyone hates me for what happened, that I couldn't stop it. I couldn't do anything about it"

"But...you saved me, you're my hero!"

"I'm...what?"

"Well, my mom always reads me these stories at bedtime. They're all about these heroic knights in shinning armor saving people! You're my hero! You saved me from that building, mister, you're definitely a hero for that! You're super strong, and really nice, and fast, and you cared more about getting me out than yourself. That's what I think all people should do, but you're special"

He looked over at the girl, completely in awe. He very gently wrapped his arms around the girl. She instantly hugged him back. He had forgotten what it really meant to be a hero, it wasn't about all those ridiculous ideas he had in his head, it was about doing what was right, treasuring others lives above your own, but never taking it too far, do what is best for the greater good.

Night fell on the two nations as they stood among the crowd. It had become a tradition to release paper lanterns on this night, a message to those who did not make it alive that day, representing the lights of hope for peace and harmony.

"Arthur, why do you come every year?"

"You asked me to, you forgetful git"

"No, I mean really why do you come?"

"You're my little brother, that's really all there is to it. I have to keep reminding you that you're not alone in this"

"You never have anything to do?"

"No, of course not, the Queen knows I come every year, she takes care of that for me"

"Well thanks for that"

"Did you know that you have never stopped thanking me on this day?"

"It's cuz I want you to know how much I appreciate it. Don't let it go to your head. We're about to turn on the lights"

"Lights?"

"It's a project of mine that you haven't seen yet, just wait, it's awesome"

He waved the signal to the light coordinator. There were gasps of amazement as the two lights came on. It is comprised of 44 7,000-watt xenon light bulbs, arranged into two 48-foot squares inspired by the shape and orientation of the Twin Towers. The illuminated memorial reaches four miles intot eh sky and is visible from as far as 30 miles away. The two arrays cast the strongest shaft of light ever projected from Earth into the night sky.

"I call it the 'Tribute in Light'"

"Alfred, this is just...bloody amazing. How-"

"Well, I got together with the best minds in New York. We took thousands of ideas for a simple memorial, just for the night, annually, on September 11th. Philip K. Howard, a lawyer from the city, proposed the first idea for the search lights, shining straight up into the sky, our little remembrance every year"

"I think they will enjoy it"

"I worked so hard, I hope they enjoy it. It's all for them"

"Over the years, you've become much less solemn"

"Someone has to be strong for them, even if just for a while. I can't believe i t's been nine years, do you think nine hundred years from now, it will still hurt like this?"

"Alfred, when something happens to your country, as long as you remember, it will still hurt"

"Then it will hurt forever because We Will Never Forget"

DISCLAIMER! I am no writer, I'm just doing these for fun :D So sorry, but with my busy schedule, I won't be editing or revising any of these. Feel free to leave a review if you so wish, but if it's critical, I'll take your criticism but I'm not big on revising X( sorry! I love fluffy reviews though :D