The Magic of the Moment

The performance took place in the late afternoon of the 9th of November. They had decided on a minimal set of props, an old telephone being on top of the list. The wall was symbolized by the transition from stage to house — or, rather, from dais to auditorium in the conference room at Germany's house. The desks had been carried out of the room; the chairs were arranged in several rows with a central corridor. Germany, of course, sat in the first row — at least after Austria had reminded America that the best seats in theatre were, unlike in cinema, at the very front.

The first two scenes proceeded without any trouble. A voice from the off — America — played Alois Mock on the phone, and a little more dialogue between Austria and Hungary explained they were leaving the press conference at Hegyeshalom upon entering the stage. During the third scene, it took America some time to get the video projector for Schabowski's famous press conference working, so Austria had to improvise a little. With 'Hang on, Hungary, my telly needs to warm up first', he at least scored by getting the laughs.

The fourth scene was the fall of the Berlin Wall. The four of them were most anxious about it, because no one remained backstage to fix the sound system, in case it turned out to be as capricious as the video projector. They had decided to mix a sound file with people talking across each other and another file from the media coverage of the 9th and 10th of November 1989.

The scene started with Hungary and Austria entering the stage from the left and America from the right. America had in fact gelled his hair, but only after Prussia had chased him through Germany's house with the styling gel while being chased by Hungary with her frying pan for chasing America. At last, Austria had lost his temper and told them to either stop or he wouldn't participate in anything any more — which had actually ended the wild chase, because Austria was in all of the scenes.

Then, Prussia entered the room from the door opposite the dais, walking towards it through the central corridor while peering to the left and right, looking for his brother. At last, he saw him — or, rather, America — and stopped. At the same time, America also noticed him, and they dashed towards each other, meeting at the edge of the dais, embracing.

Austria shot a quick glance at the real Germany, who had tears in his eyes. When he saw the strong man Germany had become like this, Austria involuntarily thought of cute little Holy Rome, and smiled. Some other nations also seemed to have glittering eyes, among them South Korea and the Republic of Cyprus, those still-divided states. Then, Austria's gaze fell on Russia, and he shivered: Russia's eyes were like frosted ice.

Hungary pulled Austria out of his reverie when she tugged his arm under hers. Together, they stepped to Prussia and embraced him.

Without attracting attention, America switched off both music and light with a remote, and the fifth scene started. The only thing they had decided to change was its ending: Austria and Prussia didn't hold hands — Prussia had insisted on that being 'private', too — but Austria put his arm around Prussia's shoulders. Truth be told, Austria failed to see why this was less 'private', in Prussia's opinion, but they had left it at that.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

After the performance and after accepting congratulations from several nations — first and foremost, Germany, of course, whose eyes were still wet — they joined the thousands of people in front of the Brandenburg Gate for the official celebrations. The countries arrived right on time for the fourth movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, and Austria tugged Hungary and Prussia under as they listened to the concert. Austria closed his eyes and let the choral express for him how glad he was to be able to stand there with the two of them at his side.

Deine Zauber binden wieder,
Was die Mode streng getheilt,
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.
Fashion's laws, indeed, may sever,
But thy magic joins again;
All mankind are brethren ever
'Neath thy mild and gentle reign.
~ Friedrich Schiller: An die Freude (Hymn to Joy) ~

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Notes:

The title of this chapter refers to the song 'Winds of Change' by the German band The Scorpions. It is considered the hymn of the fall of the Berlin Wall.