Family Ties
is an epic length (99 chapters) Hetalia fanfiction written by Helzabeth about the break up of the UK and how it triggers World War 3. It follows the war in its multiple theatres as the characters form alliances, make victories and suffer devastating losses.
It has a prequel of sorts, Vincere focuses mainly on the Roman conquest of England and how it shaped him and his relationship with his family pre-conquest.
There is also a range of drabbles elaborating on Helzabeths headcannon on her livejournel page- detailing the stuff that isn't in the other two fics.
This is not to be confused with the TV show Family Ties.
Family Ties and Vincere provides examples of:
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Why Russia is the leader of the New World Order.
- Anti-Villain: Scotland and France don't truly want to go to war, and genuinely don't feel any happiness at whatever gains the war nominally gains them.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: The British Isles siblings in the end, they share a big hug when they eventually meet on the battlefields of Russia - right before they get nuked.
- Back from the Dead: Wales, Prussia, Canada and possibly Belarus and Northern Ireland.
- Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Sort of, see More than Mind Control below.
- Big Brother Instinct: Ireland towards Northern Ireland sort of, Scotland towards Northern Ireland he is not happy with the invasion and information blocking, America towards Canada, Australia towards New Zealand, both inverted and played straight with Russia, he feels genuinely protective of both Ukraine and Belarus despite being heartlessly cold and manipulative to everyone else.
- Big Damn Heroes: America and his fighter jets, the Nordics and Finland.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: The big screwed up British/Irish family is what starts this mess but the Russia/Baltics also count and so might the Middle East.
- Black-and-Grey Morality: What the war eventually becomes...
- Broken Tears: From England, Ireland, America, Australia, New Zealand....lets just say most characters get serious reasons to cry in this fic.
- Crazy-Prepared: Ireland - stocking mini-guns in her cupboards.And a sub-machine-gun under her bed.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Poor, poor Scotland, New Zealand and Ukraine.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Well there's Ireland and Northern Ireland as well as a few others hinted at. Vincere basically is the story of England's dark and troubled past.
- Death Seeker: After so long living through the atrocities and wars China becomes this, managing to handover to Hong Kong by the end of the story
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Russia genuinely loves his sisters but is still, undisputedly, the bad guy.
- The Fair Folk: The fairies that England and his siblings communicate with are definitely closer to this than the sweet, innocent portrayal they get in most fanfiction - offering to kill anyone who hurts Wales or England. They are turned down, as they don't want to start The Magic Versus Technology War. As they know the fey will lose.
- From Bad to Worse: England and Wales' house getting blown up, leading to England ending up in hospital and Wales and America declaring war on Scotland and Russia. As England puts it 'That upstart little brat is going to end the goddamn world!'. Which is a bit of a step up from the psychological warfare earlier.
- Hates Being Alone: England is truly terrified of abandonment despite often being unable to show affection to people.
- He Who Fights Monsters: America tries very hard to be the Hero but his methods, especially near the end of the war, are questionable at best.
- Hope Spot: Right at the end.
- I Did What I Had to Do: This is very much how America feels about his torture of Ukraine after Canada dies from the radioactive active fallout from a nuke and Quebec secedes.
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Jerkass Woobie: England (somewhat self-centred Tsundere with a Dark and Troubled Past), China, The Dragon who is a Death Seeker, America a Well-Intentioned Extremist going after the people who killed his brother, and even Russia- who starts as the Smug Snake Big Bad and then the war he helps start kills one of his sisters whilst the other is horrificly tortured in front of him along with himself - Moral Myopia: Once America starts getting paranoid about 'traitors' in his land it gets very ugly very fast.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Nearly said word for word by England to Wales after Scotland and Northern Ireland secede from the Union.
- Rape as Backstory: Explicit in the drabbles for Ireland, implicit in Vincere for England.
- Sibling Rivalry: England and Scotland's argument starts out as a very vicious form of this but it rapidly changes as things get out of control...
- Smug Snake: Russia
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: England before he became an Empire, as shown by Vincere.
- War Is Hell: The effects of the war on all the characters is not pretty.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: America has only good intentions but in no way does that diminish the horrors that Ukraine goes through.
- Wham Episode: Belarus's death by nuclear bomb, Wales and England having their house blown up (thus starting the war), Northern Ireland and Wales dying in the radioactive tidal wave caused by the nuclear bomb, China dying and handing over to Hong Kong.
- World War III: The main body of Family Ties - the first ten chapters are the lead up to it.
