HEALING WOUNDS
A HETALIA FAN FICTION BY
PIONEERING AUTHOR
I DO NOT OWN HETALIA, ALL COPYRIGHTS BELONG TO THE CREATOR(S) OF HETALIA.
I give special thanks to The Scheming Turtle and everyone else who gave me advice on improving this chapter.
This is my first written fan fiction, and possibly my last. If you have something to say, please say it kindly.
I did research on history and Hetalia to ensure accuracy to the characters and to the history behind this story.
However, I am not flawless; please pardon any inaccuracies you may notice.
Also, I apologize to the fans of Ancient Rome-I was trying to be accurate to history, I was not trying to insult him.
Please forgive me, but the incident between Rome and Judea actually happened, and I had to be accurate to history.
Also, please do not hate my story until you have read all the way to the last sentence of the epilogue; it is only fair. When you are done reading, then you may love it or hate it. Also, I would like to hear what your thoughts are. please write me a kind, K rated review. If there is something you do not like, and you wish to inform me of it, please tell me at least one thing you do like about the story as well as the one thing you don't like; please balance all negative comments with positive ones. Also, I tried my best to have excellent grammar and vocabulary, but I am not perfect, so please forgive any errors you notice.
Thank-you for reading,
~+~ PioneeringAuthor ~+~
P.S. This is the depressing back-story, please do not hate it. YOU MUST READ THIS PROLOGUE TO UNDERSTAND THE CHARACTERS-DO NOT SKIP THIS PROLOGUE! Thank-you.
PROLOGUE
She was first wounded during the Third Jewish Revolt in the land of Judea in the ancient empire of Rome. It was not a physical wound, but an emotional wound-a heart wound. This is her story.
Her name is Israel, Northern Israel, commonly referred to as "Israel". Her brother is Southern Israel, commonly referred to as "Judah", named after his father, Judah, who was later known as "Judea". Judea was the son of Jakob, who was re-named Israel, who was the son of Isaac, who was brother to Ishmael, father of the Arabs. Both were sons of Abraham.
It was near the end; they all knew it. Their world was going to change drastically. When the revolt started, it was believed that Bar Kochba was the Jewish Messiah—the one who would restore Israel. After some time an army was amassed at his side to defeat the Romans. Sadly, the Jews were divided. On one side, they believed that Bar Kokhba was the Messiah. As for some others, they believed that Yeshua was the Messiah, and chose not to follow Bar Kokhba. This other group of Jews were the ones who believed Yeshua was the true Messiah, who paid the price for their sins so they could be forgiven, establishing his spiritual kingdom on the earth, and who was coming back one day to physically reign on the earth. Among these believers were the nation of Ancient Judea and his family. He was not an official country anymore—merely a province, but he still mournfully remembered when he was a country. He still recalled those days of independence. As the Revolt started, he knew it was near the end for him.
Although his children were raised in bondage, Judea knew that one day they would be a re-established country of Israel, as predicted in the prophecy ages ago. His children would represent the northern and southern part of the free nation of Israel, one day. As the Jewish revolt began to fail, Ancient Judea knew that soon he would die. Rome would quench the revolt and then come to him to make sure this would never happen again. Judea was convinced of it. He knew Rome would not care whether he, Ancient Judea, was a part of the revolt—Rome would be too angry. At least, Rome's boss would be too angry to care. Bringing both of his children close to his side, Ancient Judea comforted them, saying,
"Listen my children, many people are going to hate you. Many people will torment you and enslave you, but no matter what happens always remember two things: always forgive, and God is good."
Then to his daughter, who represented the northern part of Israel, he said, "May God make you as Sara, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, and may he remind you every day that you are beautiful. I love you."
Northern Israel started to cry as she told her father that she loved him too. Stroking her head gently, Ancient Judea held her close and did his best to comfort her. Then he pulled his son, who represented the southern half of Israel, close to him and said, "My son, may God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh, and may he strengthen you daily and give you wisdom. My son, when I am gone you will be the man of the house—protect your sister, and comfort her when I am gone. I love you."
Southern Israel hugged his father tightly and nodded. He quietly told his father he would try his best, and that he loved him. After some time of tears, they heard a great noise near the door—the noise of an army. Now it was all over—the revolt failed. It was the third and final Jewish revolt in ancient Rome's land. It seemed that Ancient Judea would perish before the prophecy was fulfilled.
Angered by all the trouble he went through for the past few years with this third revolt, Rome kicked down the door to Ancient Judea's dwelling and demanded to know why Judea's people kept dissenting. Ancient Judea tried to explain that not ALL of his people were insurgents—but Rome didn't want to hear it. To ensure that another Jewish revolt would never happen, Rome forced Israel and Judah to watch as their parents were executed. Before the children had a chance to mourn over their parent's deaths, Rome publicly humiliated and abused them in the streets. He made them his slaves and dragged them out of their house. Rome then destroyed their house, shaved their heads, and took them away. Rome's boss, Hadrian, was especially angered by the revolt, and wiped the name of Judea off the map and replaced it with the name Syria Palestina. Furthermore, Hadrian burned sacred scrolls of Judaism, outlawed Torah (Jewish law) and did many other horrid things. Rome's boss certainly got revenge for the third revolt.
Meanwhile, Judea's children obeyed Rome's every command. Whenever they didn't work fast enough or hard enough, one of the guards would beat or whip them. Eventually, they received scars. Northern Israel Who was known as "Israel" or "Syria Palestina" by Rome, received a scar sliding down her left eye and cheek, while Southern Israel, who was known as "Judah," had a jagged scar forking down the right side of his face from his eye to his jawline. Although Israel grew into a petite, attractive lady with ice-blue eyes, all she saw in herself were her scars. Judah, on the other hand, ignored his appearance. Over the years, Judah became a rugged, somewhat muscular young man with short dark brown hair. He was handsome, but his gruesome facial scars masked his face, making him appear to be an intimidating, fearsome creature. However, both siblings were pleasant to be around, if they were accepted. Unfortunately, they rarely gained a friend.
Through the years their land was conquered by Islamic empires, then the Crusaders, and then again by an Islamic country. Finally, Ottoman Empire conquered them in 1516 AD. Throughout these events Israel and Judah were scarred, enslaved and insulted repeatedly. Although their masters did not always mistreat them, they still desired their freedom. When Turkey conquered them, he allowed them to follow their religion, but they were still his slaves. Soon after conquering them, he renamed Israel and Judah Northern and Southern Mandatory Palestine. Although Turkey was their overlord, he treated them fairly, and even had conversations with them. It seemed that Israel and Judah were conquered by a better master than before.
Turkey, their master, was olive skinned with brown hair and brown eyes which sometimes looked slightly green. For some unknown reason, Turkey had a habit of wearing a white mask on his face. Strangely enough, his eyebrows showed through his mask, which didn't make any logical sense to anyone…at all. On a different subject, Turkey had two younger brothers: Iraq and Syria. Syria, the younger one, was cheerful, energetic, and looked up to his older brothers. He had darkly tanned skin, black hair, brown eyes, and a humongous grin that seemed to be perpetually on his face. When he was around new people, he would tell them all about his brothers, how strong they were and how he wanted to be just like them when he grew up. Also, he had a beloved pet horse he named "Running". Running was his most prized possession. In fact, Syria loved that stallion so much that he was practically best friends with it. If that horse died, Syria may never recover from it. When he was not with his horse, Syria would spend time with other people, including Israel and Judah. He enjoyed chatting with them and treated them as equals. Sadly, his second oldest brother, Iraq hated Israel and Judah with a burning fury. He never did like them and it seemed he never would. He was always giving them orders and never speaking to them. He considered them the lowest form of life possible. Whenever he looked at them his brown eyes enflamed. Similar to his brothers, he was tan, but not as dark as Syria was or as pale as Turkey was. Many speculated that he had black hair, but no one really knew because he almost always wore something on his head. As the centuries passed, Israel and Judah served their masters and wondered when their house would be restored as God had promised.
One day, while they were going about their daily duties, Turkey informed them that they were going to go to a school with him. It was called the World Academy. When Israel and Judah heard that, they didn't know what to say or think. They had never been to a public or private school before…In fact, they hadn't received any kind of education in decades. A friendly monk had taught them English and some other things during the Crusades, but other than that, they either taught themselves or worked all day long. Suddenly, they were going to go to a place they had never been before, to be taught new things by people they'd never met, and they had no idea what to expect. Nevertheless, they did know two things: they should always forgive, and God is good.
As she prepared to leave, Israel pondered what she would do when she arrived at the school. The wounds on her heart warned her to stay away from men, and prepare for the worst. Indeed, throughout the ages, Israel's emotional wounds would dramatically affect her life. Would they ever heal?
Again, fans of Ancient Rome, I had to be accurate to history in this story, please do not be angry with me for making him slaughter Israel's parents! Besides, wasn't Germany afraid to meet Italy because his grandfather was Rome? If that is true, then surely Rome must have done SOMETHING to strike fear into people, correct? Again, thank-you for reading, this is my first written fan fiction, possibly my last, I hope you enjoy it.
If you are interested in the historical facts, here they are:
Approximately 135 AD: Third Jewish revolt results in Rome crushing the Jews again, and Israel is re-named Syria Palestina. Hadrian prohibits Torah, Hebrew calendar, executes Jewish scholars, and kills most of the Jewish population. Sacred scrolls were burned by Hadrian, Jews allowed in Jerusalem, their holy city, on only one day of the year-Tisha b'av.
(For those of you who are annoyed that I didn't shorten 'Bar Kokhba' to 'Kokhba', I will gladly inform you that I cannot. In Hebrew, Bar/Ben means "son of", and those words were often used as part of a kind of surname-David whose father was Jared would be known as David Ben Jared or David Bar Jared. In other words, 'Bar Kokhba' is like saying 'Kokhba Jr'. I cannot say 'Kokhba' because he is not Kokhba, he is Bar Kokhba.)
On another topic, in ancient Rome, it was customary to shave the heads of slaves, as well as openly humiliate those who were recently conquered. Hence, Israel and Judah were shaved.
Approximately 700's AD onward: Islamic nations conquer Israel, oppressing Jews and Christians.
1095–1291 AD: Crusades: "Christians" war with Islam in Israel. Crusaders capture Jerusalem for a short time in 1099. Sadly, they murder Jews and Arabs throughout Europe and the Middle East.
(This is probably one of the deepest wounds between Christians and Jews/Muslims to this day.)
1187 AD: Saladin captures Jerusalem and summons the Jews, permitting them to move into the city.
1516 AD: Ottomans conquer Israel and re-name it "Mandatory Palestine".
This is not everything that happened in history. There are other things that occurred to Jews and other people around the world, but I chose to present the facts I actually used in my story.
By the way, the blessings, "May you be like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and like Leah," and, "May you be like Ephraim and Manasseh," are two blessings commonly used in Jewish homes for children.
Thank-you for reading this far!
Please, continue reading the story!
Trust me, after reading that beginning, you need to read the ending. Of course, it will make sense only if you read everything.
In case you missed my note, please be kind in all reviews and keep all reviews K rated, thank-you!
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A HISTORIAN, I AM MERELY SOMEONE WHO APPRECIATES HISTORY. I AM STILL LEARNING. I APOLOGIZE FOR ANY HISTORICAL INACCURACIES IN THIS STORY. HETALIA ITSELF HAS HISTORICAL INACCURACIES, SO MY STORY SHOULD BE ACCEPTABLE. PLEASE BE KIND AND FORGIVING. MOREOVER, I DO NOT OWN HETALIA, SO PLEASE FORGIVE ANY INACCURACIES TO CHARACTERS. I AM PUTTING THIS IN ALL CAPS SO THAT YOU WILL ACTUALLY NOTICE IT AND NOT SKIP OVER IT.
FURTHERMORE: Judea is figuratively the son of Jacob. Not litterally.
One last thing: Iraq is pronounced EE-rock, and some of my paragraphs are longer than others, please accept it. I have already redone many paragraphs in this story.
~+~ PioneeringAuthor~+~