Metanoia - A Greece X Turkey Fanfic

Part 11

"And then what happened?"

"Huh?"

"Well, considering that you're sitting right next to me, you eventually came back. I would've hoped that they left you there, but life's unfortunate."

Sadiq swung his leg to the side to kick Heracles in the shin. He only laughed in response.

"Shut up. Hearing you talk isn't good for my brain."

"You have one?"

"Maybe I should've stayed there. That'd make you realize how cruelly you treat me!"

"All the same, you're here. How'd you get back?"

Something flashed across Sadiq's face before he began to speak reluctantly. "After a couple of weeks or so, the guys returned. They explained that they were taking me somewhere else and handed me sleeping pills."

Heracles' brow furrowed. "But those don't work on us."

"I know, but it was the gesture that counted. I took them and acted all sleepy until we got into the car. That's when I really dozed off. When I woke up again, I was back in my bed. The coup was over, and I was left with a society trying to piece back their fractured lives." He looked down at his hands, as if to graciously emphasize the magnitude of that idea.

...Yeah, it wasn't going to work on Heracles. "And you're telling me that you have a brain."

"Leave me alone, you prick!"

"No. No, I'm not being facetious anymore. Look at me." The exasperation made way to worry-borne anger. "You willingly took sleeping pills? And then proceeded to act asleep for their benefit? You felt comfortable enough around these strangers to pass out in their presence? Sure, you were lonely and uncertain. But that's not excuse to throw away your well-being! To blindly trust the sketchiest people ever! You're a country, but you're not infallible! You can still feel pain from getting your brains blown out. Or what if they held you for ransom? Why did you have absolutely no foresight?" The absolutely stupidity of this man was driving him to his wit's end, grating against and fraying every nerve. Choking him didn't seem all that bad of a prospect.

There was no immediate reaction to his words. That had to indicate some truth in them, right? Heracles stared at Sadiq, readying himself for any half-hearted denial of the events.

Instead, all he heard was a quiet, "I knew that," as response.

A wounded silence persisted. After recovering from the surprise, Heracles scrutinized that hard expression on Sadiq's face. "...Huh?"

"I was aware of all those possibilities. Yeah, I could've died a million different ways. But what other choice did I have but to trust fate?" A scornful grin crawled on his face under the weight of his pathetic despair.

His attempt at brushing aside the situation only provoked Heracles further. "You were willing to do that? Throw away everything and just take it? Your life isn't just your own. Your country and people depend on you. If someone with malicious intent had you in their possession, don't you know the consequences? You're — you're so much fucking older than me — so can't you act like it? Anything could've gone wrong! Why —" Overcome by his choleric fervor, he had to wildly gesticulate. "Why didn't you think? Why didn't you take precautions? Why didn't you care?"

"Care about whom, Heracles?" For some reason, the usage of his name sent an icy chill to lance up his spine. "Myself? I already said that I didn't. My well-being doesn't really mean anything. Nothing about me is really my own. When I thought about it like that — what good is a representation? We're simply the sum of our people. Our interests, hobbies, health, clothes...they aren't our own decisions. It's pretty fucked up to say this, but we're not too far off from dolls, aren't we?"