The Fall of Constantinople and the Rise of Istanbul
(( This is a Hetalia Axis powers fanfiction, with Mama!Greece, Greece and Turkey))
"Mother, Mother!" Little Heracles called, running down the hallway into his mother's room.
The Woman looked up, her green eyes questioning. "Yes Heracles?" He asked, greeting her son with a warm smile.
The brunette climbed onto the bed with her, a worried expression on his face. "B-butters is missing…" He whimpered, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. Butters was one of the boy's, many, but favorite cats and was always getting into trouble and making Heracles worried.
The woman game a small sigh, her lips pulled into a small smile. "He's always getting into trouble. Maybe he snuck out? Well, let's go look for him." She replied, slowly climbing out of bed.
Heracles' mother had been very sick lately, due to the plague that had been going around, but she didn't want Heracles to worry about her, so she had never told him. She gave a slight cough, but tried to hide it.
Luckily for her, the boy hadn't noticed the small noise and was already off the bed and heading towards the door. She followed at a slightly slower pace.
"Where does he normally hide?" She asked, taking her Son's hand as he trotted through the house.
"Well, He normally hides under my bed, in pots and one time he was in the wash basin. " He replied, gripping his mother's hand softly, his own gem green eyes searching around the rooms frantically as they passed by.
His mother stopped, hearing a soft mewing from inside a wooden box and she was about to tell Heracles about it, before she decided to test him. She wanted to see if her son would be able to find and hear things when she was gone, which she feared would happen very soon seeing that she was in her current situation.
Heracles gently tugged at his robes as he peered into a vase, then, himself, heard the mewling from the crate. He let go of his mother's hand and rushed over to the crate lifting it up. Out padded a small, yellow and orange tabby cat with glowing orange eyes.
"Butters!" The small Greek boy said, grinning as he picked up the cat and hugged it. "Thank the gods!" He turned to his mother, who was leaning up against the doorway, giving a small chuckle followed by a little cough that she tried to keep down.
"Thank you mother!" Heracles said, running over and hugging her. She hugged him back lightly.
"I think it's time for a nap? Yes?" She smiled, then upon seeing her son's nod, but small glance at the cat in his arms, she added, "And Butters can join us if he wants."
This brought a wide smile to Heracles' face as he took the woman's hand once again and the two of them walked back down the hall to nap.
Things went well for the next few months, well, for Heracles at least. He was learning how to be able to control and maintain a country, getting stronger and wiser as he learned.
For his mother on another hand, well that was a different story. She had begun to grow weaker and more vulnerable each day that passed. She had heard about the Ottoman Empire and how he would possibly invade her and her son, but she tried to push the thoughts from her mind, but they came back before she went to bed each night, and filled her sleep with terrible and nasty dreams of death and despair.
One morning, though, as she sat at the table, drinking a cup of tea like a normal morning, while she waited for her son to wake up, she heard voices outside her front door and frowned. 'Who could that be…?' She wondered to herself as she went to open the door, only to have the tip of a sword pointed at her chest.
Before her stood a man dressed in colorful robes, a white mask that covered the top part of his face with a black cloth that covered the rest and a large and fluffy looking hat on. As the morning sunlight caught his eyes from behind the mask, their green/brown glare stared her down. "Ms. Greece." He replied, tone harsh, a thick and very different accent dripping from his every word, much different from her own Greek accent.
A deep frown etched itself onto her lips. "And you are…?" She replied, tone icy.
"The one who has come to take your lands." He replied, eyes narrowing.
She gave a small gasp. This couldn't be the Ottoman Empire! Could it? "I…I'm not going down without a fight!" She hissed, grabbing a sword that was near the door and charged at the Empire.
The man laughed as they fought, easily overpowering her.
Hearing the clatter and shouts from outside, Heracles woke up, running downstairs and peeking out of the open front door, making sure to stay hidden.
What he saw horrified him. His mother was pinned down to the ground by some strange man, who in Heracles' opinion looked weird, and he had a sword pressed to her chest. He wanted to look away, but he couldn't. His eyes were glued.
The woman coughed slightly, tears filling her green eyes as she looked up at the man above her. "P-please….Kill me….but promise me o-one thing." She said, tears flowing down the sides of her face.
The male looked shocked at her plead for death. No one he had defeated so far had done that. "What is it?" He questioned, eyes becoming curious.
"M-my son….Please take him under your command and keep him safe no matter what…." She said weakly, looking towards the house.
The Empire's glance followed hers to the house and he gave a small sigh. "I promise." He replied after a second.
She smiled. "Thank you…Sadik" And with that, she reached up a hand to help him drive the blade into her heart, the ghost of her last, sad smile still upon her lips.
The male wiped his eyes quickly, tearing up a little. This woman was selfless. All she had ever wanted was to protect her son no matter what, even if it came down to ask the person who was about to kill her if he would take care of him when she was gone.
Taking in a deep breath, Sadik turned towards the house, seeing a small boy running away and down the hall. 'Shit…' He thought and walked towards the house slowly.
Heracles couldn't believe it! That man had killed his mother! He was going to seek revenge. No matter what.
He slammed the door behind him, hot tears pouring down his face, as he leaned his back against the door. His breathing was ragged and his eyes were dark with anger and grief. A kitten padded up to him, mewling curiously. "Go away…" He sobbed, not hearing the footsteps that were coming down the hall.
The door opened forcefully, causing Heracles to gasp and fall forwards onto the floor. "Get up, kid." A gruff voice came from behind him.
Heracles whipped his head around and glared at the tall man behind him. "No! You killed her! You're a monster!" He cried, the tears falling faster.
Sadik groaned, leaning down to pick up the little Greek by the back of his robes then carried the thrashing and screaming boy outside, attempting to ignore every hateful, thing that the boy threw his way.
Over the next centuries, Heracles lived with Sadik. He grew stronger and learned different things, but he also had a habit of purposely getting into trouble, earning various punishments from the Empire who was controlling him such as, beatings, extra chores, and once or twice, even rape. He enjoyed pissing off the man, but he always hated the punishments afterwards.
One day Sadik was fed up with the now teenager. "You know what you little ass!" He hissed, grabbing Heracles by the collar.
Heracles snarled and pushed him away a bit. He was a lot stronger now than he was a while back. "What!" He growled, green eyes narrowing.
"I wanna know why the hell your always so pissed off at me! I did your mother a huge-ass favor by taking you under my wing!"
This caused Heracles to stop and think. "You killed her! Nothing will ever change with that!" He glared at the other male, eyes furious as he pulled the dagger that he had been hiding in his pocket out finally. He was seeking revenge.
The dagger caused Sadik to jump back a bit, and he grabbed a knife off the counter. "What the fuck do you think your doin', brat!" He asked, eyes wide as he pointed the blade at the Greek.
"Getting my revenge, fuzzy face!" He retorted, and lunged at the other.
The two fought, slicing at each other with the knives, blood spilled on the floor and after a while, Heracles had over powered Sadik, pinning him against the wall. "I'm breaking free. I'm no longer your property, old man." He spat, aiming a kick in between the other's legs before turning around to stalk out of the house.
"Sh-she asked me to…" Sadik said, his voice a bit more high pitched because of the kick as he sunk to the ground in pain.
Heracles stopped. "Who asked you what?"
"Y-your mother..She asked me to…"
"She would /never/!"
"She was really s-sick, Heracles…." He explained, eyes saddening a bit, remembering what happened back then.
"She was just fine! She never seemed sick…" The Greek's voice cracked a bit, eyes watering.
"She was…And she asked me to take care of you….I promised…"
"Well…." He trailed off, a tear slipping down his cheek, but had his back turned to Sadik. "Well, I…I'm still breaking free, bastard. From now on, today, March 25, will be my birthday." And with that, he opened the door and slammed it. He was his own country now.
Although now a days, Heracles' attitude towards the now Turkish nation is still bitter, he does lighten up every once and then. He doesn't blame him for his mother's death and doesn't spend all his time seeking revenge, finding it better to sleep and dig in his mother's back yard, trying to uncover lost artifacts from her time.
Sadik still doesn't really hate Heracles at all, he just hates how much the two still argue and fight even though they both know what happened back then. Even though he'll secretly admit that Heracles is a tough opponent to beat.
Based on my friend's theory:
After Rome's death (fall),Heracles's mother left him in charge of Constantinople at a young age to let him learn how to govern and rule, as he would one day take her place. The city was also geographically safe and isolated to an extent; she thought it would keep him safe. Mama!Greece had taken a toll because of the crusades and the black plague and was slowly weakening, but Heracles didn't know. When the Ottoman Empire invaded, she did her best to fend him off but he was too strong and she fell due to her loss of power. Before she died, she asked Ottoman Empire to take her young son and look after him, and keep him safe. She died in his presence and Heracles who had been hiding witnessed this. When Ottoman Empire finally captured Heracles, he took him into his empire Heracles resisted and fought him a lot which got him into trouble followed by punishments. Heracles wanted revenge for his mother's death, but unknowingly Ottoman Empire had only killed her because she was already dying. On March 25 1830, Heracles had grown up and become strong enough to break free from Ottoman Empire. He won his independence and began to live as his own country. As he got older, he understood that his mother's death was not what he originally suspected. He still bears some harsh feelings towards now Turkey, but has lightened up a bit. From then on he stated March 25th was his birthday.