Rock Salt, a hetalia - axis powers fanfic

Rock Salt

(A/n: Hey! Haven't been here in a while, but I'm still alive. This time, I've written some Axis Powers: Hetalia. Please enjoy!)

The murky waters of the Aegean slosh salty pain and blood against philosophy and polluted feelings. The air is smoky, thick and warm, and the sky is still dark as Greece, jacket over shoulder searches for Türkiye amongst the rubble and dust. İzmit is a town left for dead, and wails and screams shatter the eerie calm.

Türkiye is hiding in an alley, his hoodie torn, bloody and caked in mud, his mask absent. Greece crouches down, a silent cat (soft and sleek) and reaches out and touches Türkiye's shoulder with Greek hands, a Greek diplomacy that blankets the streets as Türkiye glares up, all bitter rinds and stinging Aegean salt.

"W-What're ya doin' here, ya little punk?" he demands, and Greece's expressions softens into something like pity as his knees touch the ground, beating heart facing beating heart.

"Shut up, you moron," Greece mutters and pulls out some cleanser for the wounds, "I'm trying to help you."

Türkiye's laugh is short, sharp. Greece's eyes are steady. Sirens wail barely heard in the distance, and ambulances bump along to gather the dead and stay the living. It is still not yet dawn on the Turkish horizon.

"If… if ya know what's best for ya, kid, yeh'd get the hell outta here," Türkiye rags, but Greece doesn't listen, instead lifting his white shirt off his Mediterranean back and pouring distilled alcohol over it.

And then Greece pulls Türkiye closer. "I'm going to heal you," he almost snarls (hisses, really), "And prove to everyone… that a stupid rivalry doesn't stop me… from helping you when you need me."

"Y-ya fuckin' kiddin' me!?" Türkiye yelps, "I don't need ya. Stupid kid."

"Arrogant old man."

"Heya, I'mma – SHIT!"

The cloth of Greece's shirt clamps down on the wound, sealing it away from the infected world, and a few blocks away one Greek squad radios to another that they have found four Turkish families trapped beneath ruin.

As Greece tends to Türkiye's abused body, the sun rises.

(A/n: This particular story is based on the events of August 17, 1999, when a 7.4 earthquake hit the Turkish town of İzmit. The Greek involvement that followed became known as "Earthquake Diplomacy," and greatly improved Turkish-Greek relations.)