A/N: Woohoo! I've finally gotten around to writing something for Hetalia! And it's, of course, a short GreecexJapan drabble.
Greece remembers all of their names.
Every last one of them.
He remembers the name of every man that has ever died on his soil; lives taken in times of war and in times peace, lost to sickness and to violance.
He remembers the name of every girl who's father, brother, uncle, husband, and son were taken from her. Left to try and make it on their own, survive through all the hardships that living in a heat-hazed country gave them.
He remembers the name of every soldier slain and of every slave ever sold; in some of the darker yet more remembered times of his land's history.
Special care is put into remembering the names of those that die alone; the old man laying in an abandoned hospital room, no family and no friends, just the lone nurse there to pull the covers up when he finally passed. The child, lost and alone, hungry and cold in a back alley where he'd been dumped. The single mother wondering just where her husband had goen and where the next months rent would come from and how well her children would get along without her, as the cold metal is pressed against her temple.
He will always remember the names of the people who made his country known, but then, anyone that picks up a book would remember their names too; even if most thought that they were nothing more than myths and legends.
He knows the name of every woman that has sent him half-lidded glances across the room, giggling in a fashion he found completely unappealing.
He knows the name of every pink-faced boy with a stammer, trying desperatly to find the right words to give to the person he loves.
He knows the name of the fallen and he knows the name of those who knocked them down; and he loves them both because they are all parts of his country. They are all his people.
It is because of this, because he remembers these names, that he chooses one for himself.
Heracles Karpusi.
A name that shows the man he wants to be; strong and reliable in the eyes of his people.
So he casts a lazy smile, eye's half-lidded, and re-introduces himself to the man he loves.