Metanoia - A Greece X Turkey Fanfic

Part 10

"Peace, huh?" Heracles echoed, trying to snap away from the trance of tranquility. It didn't work, and it couldn't pull his eyes away from Sadiq. "It was still dangerous. They could've done anything to you."

"Maybe. But being away from all that chaos and suffering it was...it was solace, you know?" Sadiq returned his gaze with a new intensity, and that made Heracles' heart stop briefly.

"Yeah," Heracles found himself saying. Something was drawing out the air from his lungs under Sadiq's magnetic gaze. The world felt so sublime and slow all of a sudden, and his chest was expanding. Under some sort of wonderful enchantment, he continued to speak. "Yeah, I get it."

Sadiq smiled, and turned away, taking the hypnotism along with him. His surrounding caught up to speed, and Heracles almost jolted from the rush of his senses returning to him.

Even though Sadiq might've said it unintentionally, Heracles could understand why the distance was relieving. The further a nation physically was to their people, the lesser the influence on their well-being. It wouldn't be any stretch of the mind to assume that the strangers who took Sadiq brought him out of the country.

A small chuckle escaped from the other man's lips. "It really was a nice bungalow," he admitted. "There were fields of wheat for miles."

"You were dropped off on a farm?"

"Maybe. But what shocked me the most was how bright everything was. Pretty sure the whole thing took place around wintertime. Still, there was never any snow, and hardly any rain. Most of the time, it was just me, the sun, and this never-ending sea of gold that surrounded me."

"...And your kidnappers."

"That too."

Heracles huffed. "You shouldn't be romanticizing the people who kidnapped you. Benevolent or not, they did it without your consent, when you were at your most vulnerable. Don't justify their actions just because you thought the place was pretty."

Sadiq laughed. "Okay, yeah, you've got a point."

"I always do."

"But I guess a part of me was just so...happy to be away from all the fighting. Within the first few days, I was up on my feet again. Instead of the bleak frost that winter brought, I was greeted with clear skies and warm sun. You know..." His voice lowered. "...I kinda wanted to stay there forever."

Heracles paused. "You didn't want to come back?"

He shook his head. "Not really. After all that I'd seen, it was a blessing to just be hidden away from everyone and everything. It was nice to be alone again."

Heracles could empathize with the sentiment. Privacy was always scarce for nations, who were, after all, embodiments of their people. "But what about your kidnappers? They wouldn't have let you be completely alone."

"Apparently, they trusted me way too much. After I was able to function on my own again, they locked all the doors and left."

"...Huh?" His eyes narrowed.

"I'm serious! Look, they were feeding me and helping me for the first two weeks or so. Then one day, out of the blue, they instructed me to always stay inside and never tell anyone where I was. After that, the whole lot of them — I think it was five or six of 'em in suits — just cleared out. And I hardly ever saw them again, spare for the biweekly drop-in to check up on me or to restock the fridge."

"Okay, okay, stop." Heracles raised his hands. "You've lost me."

"What part don't you understand?" Sadiq cried. "I'm being dead honest!"