Hello there, Axis Powers Hetalia fan base, my name is crimson-obsidian-rose. I've recently become obsessed to the point where I eat, sleep and breathe Hetalia, and so I figured it was only right for me to honor this amazing series with a fanfiction, at least. That's when this first came about.

From the very beginning, I've always loved Egypt (naturally, because my parents are Egyptian). But, as you've probably already noticed, we don't know very much about him. So, I decided to take everything we know about him from the strips he's in and his character introduction, and stretched it out to make this. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia- Axis Powers. Hidekaz Himaruya has that privilege.

Onwards!!

Fraternal Reminiscence

Greece was a very difficult nation to figure out; while on the outside he only seemed to be concerned with cats and naps (and sometimes Japan), the truth was he was always thinking about something or another, somewhere deep in his mind as he tuned out the World Conferences (not that much went on there anyways, aside from the usual homicidal brawls). The subjects of Greece's philosophical mental ramblings varied each time, sometimes it was the weather, or the latest of his mother's sculptures he'd unearthed or that incredibly distracting mole on Austria's face…

Today, it was Egypt. Egypt, who was seated directly beside him right then, for the first time in forever. It was a strange sight, seeing Gupta Muhammad walk into the conference room, strange enough to make England and France stand shocked for a moment, before shaking it off, briefly welcoming the nation, and returning to… whatever it was they'd been yelling over. It wasn't just those two, everyone in the room had been a little taken aback by Egypt's entrance, and for a good reason; Gupta Muhammad hadn't shown up in a World Conference meeting for decades.

Heracles can still remember a time when he was Heracles not Greece and Egypt was Gupta not Egypt, and without the second name too. They'd been little, little kids, each only 4 years old, living in the nations of their mothers. He could faintly recall meeting the bright-eyed boy for the first time; his own mother had 'befriended' Egypt's. The two women were on good terms back then, sharing their cultures freely (or so Heracles had thought; now that he was older, he saw the occupation for what it was), and letting their sons play together frequently. On that day, the day they met, Gupta had wasted no time in grabbing Heracles' hand and showing him his pet cat, a beautiful Persian he called 'Horus' (although, Greece could distinctly remember Gupta mentioning to him to never use that name around his mom, for a reason the brunette couldn't remember).

The two had spent the next few years completely inseparable. Even after Rome-ji-chan had appeared, and threatened to break them apart by wooing both of their mothers and instigating a fierce jealousy in the Mediterranean, they remained together, thanks to Rome himself clearly telling both Mother Greece and Mother Egypt that he wanted his 'step-sons' to stay like brothers.

And they were exactly like brothers for the years to come. Gupta had given Heracles his first kitty, that was something Greece remembered perfectly. The two of them had been sitting in the chamber of one of the pyramids that they had dubbed theirs, playing with Horus' recently born litter, when Gupta had surprised him.

"You can have one. Take your favorite." When Heracles had shown uncertainty, Gupta explained that he couldn't possibly take care of them all, and that he was going to give one to all of their "brothers," (even baby Lovino, who the two had taken care of under Rome's watchful eye a few times before). But, Gupta had emphasized, he wanted Heracles to pick first, since the brunette had a soft spot for cats, and since he'd done the most to help with Horus.

Heracles could also remember, with the fondest of smiles on his face, the day when Rome-ji was complimenting Gupta's hieroglyphics while the two then 8-year olds tried their hardest to stifle their laughter; what Rome-ji didn't know was that Gupta and Heracles had written "Baby Feliciano is super stinky," in that same spot of the pyramid wall their father-figure was praising. He remembered complaining about the sweltering heat once so incessantly that Gupta had removed his head-covering and placed it over the brunet's hair so as to "Make you shut up." (Although, Heracles definitely saw the smile on Gupta's face as he said this). That was, Greece recalled, the first and only time he ever saw Gupta's hair; it was the brown and curly hair characteristic of Mediterranean people, but much shorter and coarser than Greece's own was.

Not that they had all their fun in Egypt; while most of it was centered in Giza and Alexandria because of the earlier occupation, after Rome-ji showed up the boys spent just as much time in Greece, listening with wide eyes as Socrates and Plato taught them about the world, and as Homer read from his epics to them. They'd gotten into a good amount of trouble from Greece's mother when caught trying to sneak into the Olympics; if Mother Greece wasn't allowed because she was a woman, her son and 'nephew' weren't allowed because they were too young. And then there was the time spent in Rome, trying their hardest not to close their eyes and seem baby-ish when watch death matches in the Coliseum, and watching over their many younger brothers in Rome-ji-chan's house (well, more like watching Rome-ji-chan go crazy on his off-days trying to control all the kids in his house).

But then the unexpected happened; Rome-ji-chan fell, and he didn't fall alone. With him fell his 2 lovers, the Mothers of Greece and Egypt, and soon after Germania-san fell too. In an instant, so fast you'd have missed it if you blinked, the great old civilizations were gone, and 9 year olds Heracles and Gupta were forced to adopt their new nation-names, Greece and Egypt.

After that, it seemed as though Egypt fell off the face of the Earth, or at least the Mediterranean World. Although, that wasn't entirely his fault; actually, it was nobody's fault. Too far out of the way to be taken in by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and not of any interest to the Holy Roman Empire, the two pre-teens were left to fend for themselves. Sure, they got some help from their brothers up North, but Greece and Egypt had both learned quickly that they were a bit more desirable location-wise than they were comfortable with, especially the (slightly) younger of the two.

The next time Greece had seen him, it was 700 AD, and Egypt had changed. Not by much, but there was something different. He kept his dogs outside now; they were no longer allowed inside his house, and he had a new name. Well, a second name; Egypt, Greece's younger brother since forever, had now adopted Islam as his official religion, was now Gupta Muhammad Hassan.

But, Greece learned quickly, Egypt really hadn't changed all that much. Sure, he was quieter, but that had been the affect losing his mother had on him, and Heracles had gone through the same thing himself. He still played with his pets, still wore that same warm smile when he'd first seen Heracles at his door, still showed that same kind of hospitality and gave off that aura that made Greece feel right at home.

Trying his best to keep his people under his control, the rapidly aging Egyptian found himself being controlled more often than not. Greece found that he could list those countries that had occupied his southern neighbor easily; Persia, England and France, and the… Ottoman Empire (Greece could feel his blood-pressure rise at the mention of the bastard's old name. Regardless of what you called him, Sadiq was still Sadiq).

Ironically, for someone so friendly and easy to get along with, Gupta Muhammad was the black sheep in his family. Well, both of them, actually. His 'Mediterranean' family, the ones who he'd been raised with under Rome-ji (Greece, Feliciano, Romano, Spain, France and Britain) had parted ways with him long ago when all Egypt mattered for was a path to the Indian Ocean in their efforts to trade with China, and only occasionally returned visit the desert boy when they remembered, which became less and less frequently as time passed. That, or to take him over, as both Arthur and Francis had before. After that, when Egypt had become a Muslim nation and adopted Arabic as his official language, he joined Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Sudan, Libya… there were 20 something of them, the Arab States, and Egypt was undeniably one of them. But was he really? Greece had heard stories of unrest by Egypt's people, who felt that they couldn't fit into the world that other Arab nations had created. That the people, and even some of Egypt's bosses, had seen the Egyptians as their own distinct people, making it hard for Gupta to fit in with his brothers and sisters, despite his wanting to. (It didn't help, Greece mused, that Egypt's boss had signed a deal with Israel in the 70s against his family's wishes; he wasn't too attentive to their affairs, but was close enough to the center of the Arab world to know Gupta Muhammad hadn't been forgiven, and that he might never be).

Greece looked over at Egypt again; Gupta Muhammad looked to be calm, but Heracles could almost feel him squirming around in his seat. Why…?

"The conference is beginning now! Everyone, sit down!" Germany's sharp voice immediately silenced the room, and snapped Greece out of his thoughts. Once everyone had taken their seats, Germany skimmed a piece of paper quickly before starting.

"Before we begin, I would just like to reiterate, the Swine Flu does not come from pigs, nor do swine transfer it to humans." No one said a word, but Egypt sank

lower into his seat, a blush clear visible on his face.

Greece suddenly remembered something he'd seen in the newspaper a few days ago; apparently, Egypt's boss had ordered that all pigs being kept by farmers in the country be killed, as so not to spread the epidemic, despite the fact that his government knew pigs were harmless.

Germany gave Egypt a sympathetic look, obviously feeling his pain, and quickly moved on with the conference. As expected, both Greece and Egypt remained silent the entire time, the former's mind wandering to places far beyond the building they were in, while the latter was taking everything in the room in. It had been far too long since he'd been with other nations (aside from his Arab family, and America, of course), and he was making the most of it.

The meeting went by relatively uneventfully (meaning, of course, that Canada got mistaken for America at least 3 times, France hit on everyone at least once and was making his second go around, and Korea annoyed China so such the older nation took authority as the older sibling and gave him a timeout). After it was over, and nations slowly made their way out, Greece noticed Italy call Egypt, and found himself lingering as well.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I know what it feels like to have a corrupt boss." Germany said, and based on the way Feliciano was gazing on happily, Greece wondered if he'd had anything they had to do with this.

Egypt blinked, as though in shock, before a small smile broke out on his face.

"شكرا- eh, thank you." He answered, embarrassed at his slip up. He had gotten a little too used to dealing with Arabic nations, apparently. Neither Italy nor Germany seemed to mind, though.

"Yay, now that everyone's friends again, let's go eat pasta~!" Feliciano cheered. "Does Egypt want to come with us?"

For a second, Egypt looked confused, his expression asking 'Who? Me?' But when Italy continued to smile as brightly as ever, the older nation shook his head, frowning.

"Sorry, Italy. But soon, okay?" The Italian didn't seem too devastated, probably because of the promise that more pasta was to come soon, and started to happily drag Germany away.

Greece saw Egypt's smile while he watched the couple leave, the exact same smile he'd had as a kid when they were growing up. It was the smile that Greece had once jokingly called Egypt's "family smile," but now he couldn't see that this wasn't too far from the true.

"Greece." Heracles was pulled out of his thoughts to find the Egyptian had come and stood in front of him. "How are you doing?"

"I'm good. And you?"

"Fine. I missed you." Egypt told him, his voice sounding almost a million miles away. He had that family-smile back on, and suddenly Greece felt like he was a million miles away too, in a time when they were two (unintentionally) mischievous kids…no, brothers.

"I missed you too."

A/N: And that's all folks! I'm a little nervous that I made Greece and Egypt out of character, but at the same time I kind of feel justified in making Greece so introspective, because that's part of his personality (plus, all those ancient philosophers must've had some effect on him). And, for the record, Egypt does talk in one of the Christmas strips (he's trying to sell France a jar xD) so I don't think it's too bad that he speaks in the story. I also felt weird about their childhoods; we've seen young Italy and America been in existence even before they had countries, but the thing is they had their own land, even though they didn't rule it. It felt weird having Greece and Egypt be around when their moms were, because they weren't needed to hold the land or represent the nation. Still, I think it's plausible enough that they were around when their moms were, right? Oh, and you'll notice they call the Roman Empire 'Rome-ji-chan,' and not 'Rome-jii-chan' like Italy does. I felt it'd be more appropriate for them to call him 'Uncle' and not 'Grandpa' (I know, I'm so picky).

I found it interesting that I first got this idea, and as I was writing I was finding information that supported what I'd written. Like, when I finished, I found an article on wikipedia about Egyptian nationalism leading to the removal of Greeks in the 60s, and how the Egyptian government was now trying to strengthen it's bond with Greece and invite more Greeks back into the nation. I feel psychic about this xD. Also, Egyptians do feel very disassociated from other Arabs (as a result of the previously mentioned nationalism, and the stuff mentioned in the story).

Sorry about the long author's note. Generally I don't explain myself this much, but for some reason have a million things to say about this fic. But, I think it's time I shut up and let you get onto reviewing now (hinthint). Please leave any comments, critiques, suggestions, questions, etc. and I promise to reply!

crimson-obsidian-rose

EDIT: deviantArt user antiphile has created a fanart based on this fic, which is incredibly adorable and can be found here (remove the spaces): http: // antiphile. deviantart. com/ art/ First-cat-126284693