Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Hetalia.

WARNING: This chapter deals with the aftermath of the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong. If you are squeamish about politics then don't read this. This chapter also features an in-universe example of the Tiger Mom and High Expectations Asian Father parenting techniques; if you are for some reason sensitive to that, you might want to skip as well.

PART 4: Household of China

In the aftermath of the Umbrella Revolution in 2014, China dragged Hong Kong back home. From Hong Kong's flat through the newly build breezeway connecting it to China's mansion, they went to the main gathering hall. At Chinese New Year, this gathering hall would be chock full with family, brothers and sisters from all over China would come together to celebrate the festivities. Now, the hall was relatively empty save for China, himself and a few of his siblings.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" China exploded on him.

He lifted his chin up at the elder in rebellion. "I want, like, freedom, laa," he stated calmly. "Democracy for my people."

He expected the other to become angry at him, but was surprised when China began to laugh.

"Freedom? Democracy?" China said, mockingly. "And I suppose you're going to tell me you were better off with England as well, ahen!"

"I was!" Hong Kong insisted, becoming frustrated.

China let out a derisive snort. "Let me clear my memories..." he said, tapping his forefinger against his temple. "Who was the last Governor you had before England handed you back to me? Hmmm... I remember! His name was Chris Patten. Tell me, Hong Kong, did you vote for Chris Patten to rule over you? Aiyaah... I didn't think so, right? What about the ones before him? Two Davids, I believe...? You didn't choose them either, did you? In fact, I don't think England ever gave you a choice before, ahen... it must be nice to be young and able to forget history so easily."

Hong Kong froze. It was true what China said. England had never offered Hong Kong a choice before.

"But..." Hong Kong tried, "you, like, promised me that-"

"I promised you your own kitchen, aru." China cut him off. "It was two kitchens, one household. I did not say you could set up your own household."

"Well, I'm old enough to do so, laa!" Hong Kong shot back.

China clucked his tongue and scoffed. "If you feel you're so mature, then go on and do it."

Hong Kong blinked. "You... you wouldn't let me, like, do that..."

"I will," China smirked, "if you move out of my house. Who knows maybe England will take you back in. Or perhaps you could move in with Australia. It won't matter to me, considering how many brothers from the hinterlands would love to move into your rooms, aru."

A silence fell upon them. Outside the loud noises of renovations that were happening all around China's mansion were invading their senses, but Hong Kong could barely hear them over the emptiness he felt inside. It was as if China didn't care about him at all.

"Do you even consider me family anymore?" Hong Kong asked China after a moment.

The old nation narrowed his eyes minutely before replying with a biting question of his own. "Who was it again that forgot about his kinsmen and called me "teacher" upon return? Even now, you don't actually remember me, do you son?"

The word 'son' lay heavy between them. For his part, Hong Kong had awkwardly begun to call China 'brother' ever since he'd been told that they were family, but China refused to let the history of his birth be forgotten.

It was in a moment of inattention that China snatched his umbrella from his grasp.

"You know what I think of this little rebellious phase of yours?" the elder said, as he examined the yellow color with casual interest. And then he calmly snapped the umbrella in two over his knee. "Your spark doesn't hold a candle to the fire of the Yellow Turbans, aru."

Throwing the broken pieces onto the ground, China turned his back on Hong Kong. "Feel free to emigrate, if you want. But while you're part of my household, you will obey me."

And he left the hall to go help his other children renovate their mansion.

A disapproving cluck drew Hong Kong's attention to his siblings who had watched the fall out. On the far left Shanghai smirked at him with a look of superiority, while standing next to him Guangzhou kept his face inscrutable. A little off to the side from his two ancient brothers, Macau kept to himself, his gaze averted in great discomfort. But it was Shenzhen's look that cut through him the most. She was so much younger than him, and yet he felt cowed by the pity in her eyes.

Shanghai was the first to step forward and clap a hand over Hong Kong's shoulder. "Good job breaking your own rice bowl, little brother. With that stunt you pulled, it's no wonder that I'm overtaking you as number one port and financial center." He passed him by and walked out of the gathering hall, pulling out his phone to check on the ETA of the next incoming cargo ship.

After Shanghai, it was Guangzhou who moved forward. Passing by him with barely a glance, the elder city-tan said: "Brush up on your Cantonese, kid. I did not teach you those lazy pronunciations."

Hopping from one foot to another, Shenzhen nervously gathered her courage before walking up to her older brother. "China doesn't want to be mean to you Hong Kong, but you shouldn't be provoking him like that - he is your elder. I know that you're having some economical trouble right now and your housing prices are rocketing sky high, but maybe you could make a deal to expand your city further into the mainland? And perhaps you should broaden your economy to circumvent competition with Shanghai? I mean, I'm doing really well with building electronics, perhaps you too could consider re-entering manufacturing again?"

She rummaged around in the pockets of her shorts and pulled out a smartphone. "Since mom confiscated your phone... here, the newest Huawei."

"I had an iPhone," Hong Kong said, looking at the brightly flashing screen sullenly.

"Oh. I thought you wouldn't want another one, since they aren't popular anymore in the mainland," said Shenzhen, scratching her head a little, "but I can ship you the newest model tomorrow. It should arrive by 5PM."

"Fan-Q," Hong Kong muttered.

Shenzhen gave him an encouraging smile and then, with a skip in her step, she ran off mumbling to herself about building another awesome supercomputer.

The last to come his way was Macau. His brother continued to keep his eyes averted as he spoke. "I told you it wasn't a good idea," he said to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong shrugged but didn't answer.

With a sigh, Macau gave up and left Hong Kong to himself. The emptiness continued to eat at Hong Kong, but he didn't know what it was or how to stop it.

He missed being called 'Little Crown' by England.

xxx

Walking across the breezeway to his own house, Macau let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was hard to look at his brother now. The gaze Hong Kong carried in his eyes, Macau had seen it before, and it carried some very unpleasant memories for Macau.

Mr. Portugal had once sported that same look.

Once upon a time, Mr. Portugal had been a proud empire in his own right; had been the first western nation to have courted and won China's favor in those early days. Then other countries had come eastward and fought for China's attention and, slowly, Mr. Portugal had diminished in importance, first in China's heart, and then also on the world stage. Portuguese colonies gained freedom from the early 1950s onward and, with Macau's return to China in 1999, Portugal finally stopped being an empire altogether.

This was the problem Hong Kong faced: his brother was quickly losing his importance on the world stage. His status as crown colony had given him many benefits which he had not wanted to give up, but, with China opening his doors to the entire world, Hong Kong, as conduit to China's market, had essentially become obsolete. And now, having returned to China, he had failed to reinvent himself properly within this new context and was risking being left behind.

Hong Kong was no longer distinguished. Hong Kong had become just another city of China. That fall in status... well, nation-tans had done stranger things after losing the spotlight.

xxx

Later that day, China went to sit at the family altar, a Lenovo Pad in one hand. He slid a finger over the screen to open an app that turned on the cameras he had installed in Hong Kong's flat. There, he saw his son pacing about in his bedroom.

What a troublesome child... he thought to himself fondly. He certainly wouldn't have become like that under my upbringing, it must be that ex-pirate's terrible parenting skills.

Suddenly, his son stopped pacing. The boy sank into his bed letting his head fall into his hands.

China frowned. Aiyaah... tired already?

He'd thought his child would have more spirit.

But then he noticed Hong Kong's shoulders shaking and he realized that his child was crying.

A deep ache made itself known in China's chest. Had he been too harsh on Hong Kong? He wanted to go comfort the child, tell him everything would be alright, but... this was a lesson Hong Kong was going to have to learn sooner or later.

China looked up from the screen to stare at the rows upon rows of tablets surrounding him, covering every square inch of all four walls.

Humans had a saying that white-haired parents should not bury their black-haired child. But China had buried so many that he had long since lost count. Hundreds upon hundreds, if not thousands, of cities had been lost to wars and disasters. Many, he still remembered. Many, he did not, the characters of their name slowly fading from the tablet with time. All of them were his children. His sons and daughters.

Nothing ever remained.

Cities, nations, empires, dynasties, gods... he had seen them all come and go.

And still... China continues to live on.

There had been times in the past when China thought that he, too, would finally fade from this world. The last time he had thought so, he had been war-torn, weak, and addicted to opium. But then Mao had come along and told him to stand up. And he had stood up. He had stood up and felt the strength come back into his limbs. Slowly, and painfully, at times, but even so it had returned to him.

China lowered his eyes from the many tablets across the walls and lifted his hand to stare at the five fingers attached to it. He curled them back into a fist and turned the appendage around to look at his knuckles.

He should be old by all measurements, and yet... he didn't feel weak at all. His bones felt like they were made of steel; his blood was thrumming — rushing and dancing like wild rivers in his veins; even in his very cells he could feel the energy burning through him. It could not be described as anything else: he felt rejuvenated!

His eyes fell from his fist back onto the screen he held in his other hand where Hong Kong was still crying his eyes out.

This child has been given too much leeway under his father... no wonder he is acting out. I should nip this behavior in the bud while it's still early.

China brought his Lenovo Pad closer to his face and smiled.

Don't worry, my rambunctious child, I'll help you conform to this household. With patience and time, I will make you fit right back in with your brothers and sisters. After all, no child has ever outlasted me.

Chapter notes:

- China likes to change his speech from 'aru' to 'ahen' when mentioning England because of their past opium wars.

- Hong Kong uses the word 'like' a lot, because he has atrocious teenage speech according to the mangaka. I also added some 'laa' tag-ons, because he speaks Cantonese (it's comparable to the Mandarin 'aru' stereotype). And 'Fan-Q' = 'Thank you' with a Cantonese accent.

- The breezeway connecting Hong Kong's flat to China's mansion refers to the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge connecting Hong Kong to the mainland. Macau's house is equally connected to China's mansion in this way, as are Macau's house and Hong Kong's flat.

- Two kitchens, one household = two systems, one country.

- Renovations of China's mansion refers to the rapid urbanization all over China.

- I imagined Shenzhen to look like an anime version of Naomi 'SexyCyborg' Wu: very cute and feminine, but still a major tech geek (because Shenzhen is the world's greatest electronics market). Also, she has giant boobs like Naomi, which aptly portrays Shenzhen's enormous growth (Shenzhen is a bigger city than HK these days).

And that's it! Fan-Q Fei-Li Ma-Chu for reading, pls leave a review!