Broken Promises (And Noses) (Wattpad | Ao3)
A gift for @hussarofmicronesia, as she inspired this wonderful oneshot hehehe
Palau was angry. So very angry.
She had been dealing with so much, on her long road to independence, so much fighting and fighting and fighting to uphold her ideals and to preserve the path that she wanted to take as an independent country.
And yet it continued to feel as if it was all for nothing.
It was a simple cause, one that Palau believed should not be causing the fuss that it was. Ninety-two percent of her people had supported it after all, and it was so popular…why did people see it as wrong?
Palau was a small Pacific country, and she had no reason for nuclear weapons to be in her country, no desire to be a massive superpower, just a desire to be herself.
She had seen what nuclear weapons did to her mother, to her brother, how they were plagued daily by pain and fatigue linked to those weapons. Palau saw what they did to their kind, the people that they hurt, and she did not want that for herself.
Palau may be young, but she knew…her people knew World War Two, her mothers had bled during that war, and her family suffered from the nuclear weapons.
Palau didn't want war or nuclear weapons, which only invited war. She wanted peace and the freedom to govern herself.
She thought that was a very, very simple ask, an ask that was deserved with her status as part of a United Nations trust territory, with how Marshall Islands and Kosrae and Yap and Pohnpei and Chuuk and her little nephew Micronesia were now independent.
She had been so excited for freedom.
The realization that it would not happen was crushing.
"What do you mean you can't let me have my independence yet?" Palau asked, her voice both hurt and angry, her fists clenched at her sides as she exhaled, trying to come up with any sort of reason as to why her grandfather would not give her her independence, and knowing in her heart, even though she didn't want to believe it, the reason why.
"I'm sorry, Palau, but now is not a good time—" America began, before Palau cut him off.
"You mean you don't like what my Constitution says and are waiting for everyone who supports and defends it to be threatened into silence before you will let me go, that way my government will fold to your demands, isn't it?" Palau accused, knowing it was a bold move to do so, knowing that it ran the risk of making things harder if America decided to be difficult about it, and still, knowing deep in her heart that it was what she had to do.
"Palau, you are not ready for independence with the chaos in your country. People are being attacked for having a lawsuit against their government. I can't in good conscience send you out into the world with that happening, lest it lead to more pain for you," America said, the kind nature of his words hiding the deception that they held.
"Is that why you had your father build that power company that bankrupted some of my people? Is that why you were crying to your daddy for ideas on how to legally keep me under my control until you could get everything that you wanted out of me, get things that I do not and will never agree to? I thought you didn't want to be an empire," Palau said, knowing her anger would only serve to paint her as unreasonable, but knowing she could not stay quiet.
"I am not an empire and I did no such thing," America said, his voice firm. "But with how the people who support this Constitution are being attacked, are you sure that this Constitution is even liked? Nuclear weapons are a deterrent, and will keep you safe."
Palau shook her head, some angry tears in her eyes that she fought to keep down.
The betrayal hurt, a lance in her chest.
Her grandfather was supposed to actually help her, be better for her people than the Japanese had been, and yet it only seemed like the same pains and humiliations were repeating themselves, that she was only as good as the role she could prove to empires.
That the idea of her freedom and independence was nothing when compared to what the empires wanted and desired.
"My mother and my brother deal with chronic pain every day because of those tests. Your children deal with pain from those tests every day. Do you not care? Do you not understand why I would want to keep those vile things out of my country? I am tired of death and war," Palau said, her voice turning pleading, "My people want peace. Can't you grant us that?"
"I feel that pain, Palau," America said, his tone gentle and kind and so very manipulative. "I wish it did not hurt us in the way that it did, but I did not know that it was going to hurt anyone when the tests began, not like that."
"America, I don't care what you think you did—" Palau began, before America began speaking over her.
"Now, granddaughter," America said, cutting her off, his voice so patronizing that Palau snapped, and before she really registered what she was doing, her fist had lashed out, hitting him in the face.
There was a crack, and Palau pulled her hand back, shaking it out.
That has felt…nice, like she was less powerless.
America was still clutching his face, blood dripping from between his hands, his eyes narrowed in a way that sent fear rushing through Palau's chest, before she straightened her back, not realizing she was slouching, and stood tall, still so tiny compared to the empire in front of her, but not cowering from him either.
"I have the Constitution that I want to have as an independent country, and I don't care what you or your military think of it. I want to be nuke-free, and by God, I will fight for it," Palau said, the sight of the empire bleeding from her hand filling her with confidence. "My siblings who want to be independent are, and I am part of a UN Trust Territory. You will have to free me."
With those parting words, Palau vanished back to her home, laughing as she did so.
She couldn't believe she just did that.
