The Beginnings of Love and Hate

Ch. 1

I had always been enchanted with Mother Greece, but my attempts at wooing her were always over shadowed by Rome. I was very bitter about that, considering her death was a direct result of Rome's fall. Had she picked me, she would never have fallen. But never mind that. Her falling was, perhaps the best thing that happened to me. For right before she fell, she gave birth to Heracles. And the moment I saw him, I knew I had to have him. This was my chance at gaining my beloved Greece.

Now, I regret my actions, for I was much too filled with lust and greed to consider the consequences of my actions. I had always been a man of action, not of thought. Looking back on the events, I think it probably would have been better had I just formed a great diplomatic relationship with young Heracles, because surely, being so young in this world, he would need someone to rely on and then maybe one day he would have chose to become one with me. I had considered that option but that would have taken far, far too long. I wanted Greece now, and I would have him now, that's how I worked back then, I took what I wanted.

But I should start from the beginning. I remember everything about the day I met Heracles because that was the day I fell in love. His mother had already been gone for sometime and I had heard about young Heracles from Egypt, he told me that he seemed to really need looking after. I knew this was my chance. I knocked on the door of his house. When he opened the door I saw that he was still very young; he didn't even come up to my knee. I squatted down to his eye level and smiled. He was perfect; he looked just like his mother. "Hi, I'm The Ottoman Empire. But you can call me Sadiq" I said. "I'm you're neighbor across the sea."

He looked up at me with large brown eyes. A cat was playfully rubbing itself on his legs. He reached down and scooped it up. "Hi. I'm Heracles" he said awkwardly. "Do you want to come in?"

I nodded and straightened up and followed him inside. "I brought you a present." I said. I handed him a box of Turkish delight, kids liked candy right? Heracles stared at the wrapped package and tore the paper off delicately. I thought that was strange, most kids I knew tore the paper off with fervor. He looked at the box of candy thoughtfully for a long moment. Perhaps I should explain what it was. "It's candy." I said. At this he looked excited. He opened the box and popped one of the little treats into his mouth. He offered the box to me; I picked up one and also chewed.

"It's good." He said. "It tastes a lot like something my mother made for me once." That didn't surprise me; Mother Greece frequently borrowed my recipes. I nodded in agreement. I looked around his house admiringly. The architecture was stunning. It was very open and flowing. There were statues and art every where I looked. And also there were cats, lots and lots of cats, every where.

"So um, you like cats?" I said trying to make conversation. He nodded and fed the cat he was still holding one of the sweets. Geez this kid was hard to make conversation with. He was so quiet. "That's cool. I like cats too."

And that was the trick. "Really?" he asked. I nodded. "I'll introduce you to them. This is Adonis, Letha, Sophocles, Clio, Lryris, Jasmine, Narcissus, Mussetta, Zeth…" He continued to point out at least 24 more cats with names that I can't remember. And then when he was done with that, he explained to me the complicated relationships of the said cats, such as this one hates that one or that one is this one's kitten etc. It was adorable. And it got him talking. I loved how passionate he was.

I said my goodbyes to him shortly after that promising to visit again soon. I returned later that month, this time bringing him fine fabric as a present. He seemed very happy to see me, which pleased me a great deal. I had spent most of the past month coming up with a plan on how best capture him and bring him back to my Empire with me. I decided I would wait until the timing was right. During the next visit I asked him about the art around his home. And he launched into a whole explanation of the artists and why his art was so different from the rest of the worlds' and then he started talking about how the architecture of Greece was an art form in itself. We spoke about the other countries in the world; he seemed to be very fond of Egypt. He told me stories about how his mother took him to play with Egypt; apparently the two mothers had been great friends themselves. He told me the story of how Egypt had given him his first cat. It was a cute story.

Once again I took my leave. After this second visit I had truly fallen in love with the young nation. These visits had increased my desire for him ten fold. Now I was really determined to have him. A few days later I decided to pay him another visit. This time he asked me questions about my Empire which I was too happy to answer. I asked him about his philosophers. He beamed at me, and launched into the life's work of Socrates and Plato and Aristotle and all of the other important contributors to philosophy. I had a hard time following what he was saying, but he seemed to understand what he was saying with perfect clarity. His mother had taught him very well.

I decided that it was time to put my plan into action. Now it wasn't a very complicated plan, but it may be tricky, I didn't know how much he would try to fight me. I assumed not much, he was a lover not a fighter. At least that's what I thought. But I drastically under estimated him. The night I sunk into his room he was fast asleep curled up with a hundred different cats. I made a mental note to come back later and bring them back with me. Now I want to make it very clear that I never meant to hurt the kid. In fact I was trying to look out for him; everyone needs a big brother when they're young. But I never expected the resistance I faced. The kid was a fighter. But this made me want him even more. I leaned down and picked him up. Immediately he woke up. He bit me and screamed and kicked and hit. I easily pinned him down and picked him up and threw him over my shoulder, with him screaming and squirming and kicking and biting all the way home. I did what I had to do to keep him from escaping, and in the process he got pretty beaten up. I was ok though. I only had a few bruises and bite marks.

I put little Heracles on my bed in my room to let him rest up while I got a warm bath and bandages ready for him. I informed my servants to go fetch all of Heracles' cats from his house. I went to seek out Egypt, who was living in my house at the time, to let him know that I had succeeded in capturing young Greece. I found him in the library reading as usual. He looked up as I entered the room.

"I have successfully captured Greece. I want you to go look after him. He fought considerably more than I expected so he has more than a few wounds."

Gupta glared at me. "Fine, whatever."

I couldn't understand why he was so hostile to me. I would have thought he would have liked his old friend to be in the same household as him. I shrugged. I never could quite understand why Egypt did what he did half the time. "I'll tend to his wounds and what not, but he may need someone to talk to." he nodded and returned to his reading. When I got done with everything I went to my bedroom to fetch Heracles. As I approached the door of my chambers I heard hysterical sobbing coming from inside. I decided that perhaps it would be better to leave him alone for the time being.