This is basically going to be the story of Mama Greece from the end of her dark ages (where she's about chibitalia size) to her death as the Byzantine Empire. Her human name will also be Alkmene in this fic.
Also, I imagined Ancient Greece being a bit awkward when she was young so she doesn't use contractions (ie. don't doesn't can't) So I apologize if some of the sentences coming up grate on the nerves of the more hardcore grammar fans. Also, please excuse any grammar/spelling mistakes.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia but I would love if Mama Greece and Mama Egypt showed up more (^/^)
June 20, 2010
Greece watched her son sleep and felt a pang in her heart. She briefly wondered if this was what Rome had meant when he spoke about visiting his grandson, Feliciano. And, because she knew that he wouldn't wake up, she sat down on the bed next to him and began stroking his hair. "You've grown up to be very handsome Herakle." she whispered in Ancient Greek before glancing around his cat lined room. Her eyes landed on a picture of a very shy looking asian man. On top of the man's head was a pair of felt cat ears, and his face had turned beet red from embarassment. Although a cute (and flustered) smile had still managed to make its way to his face."Ah, is that Kiku?" she said aloud. She stood up from the bed and picked up the picture. "He reminds me of... Egypt." Greece said quietly before smiling to herself. "Ah, it seems that my son has found a good one." And for a moment, the Greek woman's smile faltered as she was caught up in memories of her own past.
850 B.C. Alphabet
"This new alphabet is confusing." Greece muttered to herself, her eyelids drooping slightly at the thought of even more writing after she finished with this scroll. "I preferred the Mycenaean one." she huffed before dipping her head down once more, and falling asleep in this position. Little Greece spent a few more hours balanced on her forearms with her nose pressed to a scroll and a few curly locks of her hair resting in the ink. Finally a passing slave found the young nation in this position.
"My lady!" Greece was lifted out of her doze by her tutor's dry and nasally voice.
"Hmm?" she pushed herself up and backwards until she was resting on her butt. "What is it Achaikos?" Achaikos bristled at the question.
"I left you here to study the Phoenician Alphabet and then to craft a new one. Not to sleep like some common pest!" Greece, however, ignored her teacher's lecture in favor of combing some of the ink out of her hair.
"I do not want to learn all of this." Greece insisted in a slow voice. "I just want to sleep and not worry about the aristocrats or any wars-"
"ALKMENE!" Greece stopped grooming herself at the sound of her human name. It was rare for her to be referred to anything other than 'My lady' or simply 'Lady Greece'. And upon seeing that he had her attention, Achaikos continued on. "Alkmene, you are the embodiment of our nation, and as such, it is your duty to represent us amongst other nations. What would the Greeks look like to the world if our leader was an illiterate woman?" The older man scoffed at the very idea. "Now, finish copying your alphabet, then fill those scrolls over there. Then they can be distributed and copied by our scholars." Achaikos motioned to a pile of unused scrolls in the corner of Greece's study. Alkmene didn't move for a few minutes, and Achaikos folded his arms over his thin chest. "Well?" he drawled.
After a few seconds pause, Greece lowered her eyes. "Yes Achaikos. I will." Achaikos nodded at her before exiting the study. He motioned for a slave to stand by the doorway and watch over her. As soon as he was gone, Greece sighed and dipped her pen back into the jar of ink and then sighed. "Sometimes, life here gets to tedious… I wish I was reborn as something with more freedom… like a cat."
710 BC- Start of the War between Chalkidians and Eretrians
"War is so tedious." Greece noted after she scanned the war plans that her generals had drafted for her. "And I am so small. How will I lead any troops if they have to kneel down to see me eye to eye?" The nearest general, a gruff man named Demosthenes, sighed before taking the plans back from the female nation.
"That is fine, my lady. You will not be out there on the battlefield anyway. The last thing our men's moral needs right now, is to be led by a girl. Especially one as young as yourself." Greece did not answer him for a few minutes, and Demosthenes took this as a sign that he should go. "I will take my leave now Lady Greece." Greece didn't acknowledge his departure, but right after he left, she stood up and examined herself.
"I am not that young." she muttered to herself. She had at least a few centuries under her belt. She twirled a little in her dress. "I wonder… how it feels to be a general… like Demosthenes." she said slowly. A weird feeling stirred in her chest at the idea of being on a battlefield, Grecian banners waving behind her, and her enemies dead before her. "One day maybe, I can be like that as well." And unlike most other ideas that left her tired and in want of a nap, this idea gave Greece an unfamiliar sense of excitement. "But for now…" Greece settled back down and picked up one of the scrolls that the generals had left behind. "I will practice my writing." the last word was said with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm.
"…Lady Greece?" Greece looked up to see Demosthenes lifting one of the flaps of her tent back.
"Yes Demosthenes?" Greece put her scroll down and tipped her head to the side.
"Well my lady, I spoke to the other generals about it and it was agreed that while it would be unfit for you to lead the troops into battle, it would also be wrong for you to not be out with your soldiers as they marched." When the meaning of his sentence dawned on the normally lazy girl, Greece's light green eyes shone, and a happy flush made its way to her face. She jumped up quickly before remembering her manners and dropping back to her knees.
"Thank you so much Demosthenes!" Greece bowed her head quickly before popping back up and throwing her arms around the highest place she could reach on Demosthenes (which was around his thighs in this case). Demosthenes, a man who was not used to much physically contact on a normal basis, was taken aback.
"Ah, you are welcome, Lady Greece." He placed his hand on the top of her head. "Now, you should hurry up and find a mare you can ride into battle. There should be a few left." Little Greece tipped her head back and nodded.
"I will Demosthenes! Thank you!" She let go of his knees and ran outside the tent, almost tripping over her long dress.
"Be careful now!" a voice called a few seconds later, and the man that Greece had almost collided with, stepped into the tent with Demosthenes.
"Hello Karpos." Demosthenes greeted his fellow general, and Karpos returned his wave.
"I'll wager that you gave our little nation the good news?" Karpos was one of the older generals, and his calm face was highlighted by a white, whispy beard. Demosthenes nodded.
"Yes, but I was shocked! This is the first time I have seen that girl interested in anything other than sleeping and drawing animals. Maybe this is good for her."
"But is that the only thing on your mind?" Karpos said quietly. "It is not good for a leader to go into battle with a heavy heart and mind."
"Eh, what can I say?" Demosthenes gave a slight shrug. "I have a child back home and she looks just like Lady Greece. It is hard for me to say no to either." Both men shared a hearty laugh at the thoughts of their families back home.
"Now, we should go back to the battlefield, lest we be berated by a woman who is only a third of our size."
650 BC. End of the War between Chalkidians and Eretrians
"My Lady." Demosthenes bowed deeply as Greece passed by.
"Demosthenes." Greece nodded her head before turning her eyes back forward. To both sides of her were generals from both the Chalcis and Eretria city-states. She made her way to where the leaders of both sides sat. "Kleitos." she nodded at the leader of Chalcis. "Lycus." she greeted Eretia's leader in the same fashion. Greece gathered the botton of her robes one hand before kneeling down until she was sitting in the same manner as Lycus and Kleitos. "We are now here… to settle the arrangements in favor of the city state of Chalcis. Are the parties in agreement?" Greece spoke solemnly, and Demosthenes had to bite his tongue to hold back from expressing his surprise at her maturity. When this war had begun, Alkmene had been nothing but a lazy child. Now, with her hair done up in a tight bun and her loose but still elegant robes, Alkmene looked almost nothing like she had when the conflict started. To say nothing of the fact that she now reached up to his chest instead of his thighs.
Lycus, who face was much more grim than Kleitos, nodded. "Yes, my Lady. I have requested your presence in the matter for the purpose of insuring that the city-state of Eretia is not completely left off unfavorably." His grey eyes scanned Greece's earnestly, and the woman closed her eyes slowly before nodding.
"Very well. It is my duty to insure that my states continue to strive after conflicts such as these." She opened her eyes again before turning her green gaze on Kleitos.
"What is your first demand Kleitos?" Kleitos leaned back and folded his arms over his chest.
"The Lelantine Plain of course."
"Very well." Greece opened the scroll that had been lying between the men and began writing. "Please continue."
A few days later, Greece found herself resting in a temple dedicated to Artemis. Her curly hair was down for the first time in weeks and a small doe was resting its head in her lap. Alkmene continued to rub the doe's head for a while before turning her head back to the temple's entrance and shouting, "Demosthenes!" The man's face appeared near the entrance of the temple, but her didn't dare come any closer. It seemed ingrained in him, as with most other men, that the temple of Artemis was a sacred place for maidens only.
"Yes, My Lady?" Greece stared at Demosthenes' face for a few minutes, and she carefully noted just how much he had aged over the last 20 years. His hair, which had been a very rich brown color, was now streaked with white and grey. And his posture, which had once been ridged and telling of his military status, was now awkward on account of a blow to the back he had acquired in one campaign. And Greece, once again reflected on how frail he looked in his old age.
"I have been wondering lately…" Greece paused for a few seconds to think out the rest of her sentence. "about why I am here." Greece closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. "You have noticed right? How much I have grown?" Greece gently pushed the deer off of her lap before standing up and gesturing to her growing body. Demosthenes had the decency to look away. "But… I feel that the growth was not only here," she clutched the folds of her dress. "But also here." She gestured to her head before dropping her arms back to her side. "And now I am beginning to think about things I have not thought about before. I recently fought against my own people… I told Lycus that it was my duty as the nation of Greece to protect my people's interest… and yet. On that battlefield… when I was fighting with your army, I felt strong and confident. I was slaying my own people without a second thought, and yet I speak of their best interests. So why…" Greece's shoulders started shaking and Demosthenes realized from a distance that the nation was crying. "What purpose do I have for serving my people if… if I find it so easy to go against them? Why-"
"Please stop Alkmene." Greece's shoulders stopped moving for a few seconds and she looked up at Demosthenes. She could count the number of times he had addressed her so personally on one hand. Demosthenes, however, was fighting all of his instincts and after a few tense seconds, the man took a deep breath and entered the temple of Artemis.
"Demo…sthenes?" Alkmene muttered, shocked by both his actions and words.
"I know My Lady," Demosthenes ignored her muttered and began talking in a loud voice. "that it is not my place to advise you on how you should think. At least not any more. In the last 20 years," Demosthenes faced Alkmene and gently held her hands. "you have grown to become such a beautiful woman. And yes, you are strong as well." Greece bent her head down so that her bangs hung over her eyes. Her embarrassment was almost tangible. "I can't claim to understand the burden this war was on you, but I will ask you this. For all of your reading, how many leaders have you heard about that have never had to make a hard decision? Especially during a time of war?"
"…That is not fair Demosthenes." Greece muttered under her breath.
"Why not Alkmene?" he asked, using her human name again.
"It is because I am not a king or a general. I am Greece. I am suppose to be the icon of all of my people! I should not just decide which citie-states I wish to support and toss the others aside. It is not right!" Alkmene's eyes began watering again and she snatched back a hand and began to furiously wipe at her tears.
"Yes, I suppose it is not." Demosthene's soft tone made Alkmene pause in her motions. "But what happens now that you have deemed it 'not right'? Will you just decide to sit out every city-state conflict so that you do not 'hurt' your people?" Demosthenes grabbed her hands again. "Or are you, for all of your scholarly knowledge, too foolish to see that sometimes you must hurt your people in order to protect them. Consider this, Greece is a nation full of different city-states, each one united under the joint understanding that we are all truly blessed to be Greek. But what happens when that belief weakens? Chaos I tell you!" Demosthenes shouted his last sentence, without giving Greece any time to respond.
"Because, when a part of a nation begins to forget what keeps the nation together as a whole, that part starts to crumble. And if nothing is fixed, then that crumbling feeling may spread to the next part, and the next. And without a sense of unity, animosity would brew, and warfare would break out… And that," Demosthenes' tone gradually dwindled down until it was normal once more. "is when a nation truly dies. So, you ask 'why am I here?'. I can only tell you, that I believe your purpose is to keep on reminding us- all of us- that we are one people. Whether it be through the peaceful and strategic methods you have gained from studying Athena's ways or through use of the force and power that Ares has granted you. You are there to act as a guide for us, much like a mother to a squabbling bunch of children. But even as I tell you this… even as I answer your question, I know it must hurt. For that I am truly sorry."
One look in the old general's eyes was enough to convince Greece of his sincerity and crumble any arguments she would have used against him. Demosthenes let go of Greece's hands and brought her into a loose embrace. She stiffened up slightly against the unfamiliar touch. She had always been treated as some sort of deity (especially now more so than ever), and was thought to be above the realms of petty human affection. A strange but welcome rush of emotion flooded her body, and after getting over the initial shock, Greece lifted up her arms and returned the man's hug. She opened her mouth to say something, she wasn't sure what (probably something philosophical), but instead, her throat began to burn, and her chest felt squeezed.
"It-it hurts De-de-Demosthenes." Greece began to sob and she pushed her face against his chest. "It-it hu-hu-hurts so mu-much!" The last word turned into a wail, and all at once, Greece lost all pretenses of self control and reverted back to scared and unsure girl she had been right before her dark ages ended. And Demosthenes, as loyal as he was, would continue to hold her in the temple of Artemis, until her pain became manageable.
Just to be warned, I'm pretty much reading about Ancient Greek history and writing as I go, so if any of this information is horribly incorrect, then just send me a message describing my error, and I'll straighten it out.
So, the section about the Lelantine Wars was longer than I originally planned, but I really wanted to show how a nation would react to fighting in a civil war and against their own people. Especially a young and philosophical one like Mama Greece (although she won't be called that for a while). And I also used Demosthenes more than I thought I would. Although this is the last chapter that'll have him in it. (the man's around 50, so it's a miracle that he's still alive)
Another thing is that I made up the names for the leaders of Chalcis and Eretria since I couldn't find them on the internet. I went to a site what showed Ancient Greek names but I apologize if any of the names shown here are inaccurate. And I chose to name Alkmene for Mama Greece for several reasons, including the fact that in myths, Alkmene was a the mother of Herakles. That, and I'll be using the name Helen later in the story.