Big Brother and the Bad Days

When Things Were Good

Greece walked into his parents' room. It was the middle of the night, so they were still sleeping. He gently nudged his dad awake.
"Rome. Wake up." His voice squeaked with youth. He nudged again until he saw his father's eyes flutter open.
"What is it kiddo?" He grumbled. It was rare for Greece to wake him up instead of his mother, and when he did it was because it was urgent.
"I had a bad dream. Mamma died, and you left us. I had to fight turkey and-"
"You know that we can't die. It was just a dream. Go back to bed."
"But when I woke up, I saw turkey outside my window!" He held his dad's hand and tried to pull him out of bed, "he's scaring me dad!"
Greece would rarely call Rome dad, and when he did, Rome almost always did as the small child asked. He got up, relieved to be wearing pants, and walked into Greece's room.
At first he didn't see anything wrong, but soon enough he saw the figure standing outside his son's window too. He quickly left the room to get a weapon. He then walked outside to fight the intruder. It was one of turkey's men, but nonetheless a threat to little Greece.
Rome walked back into Greece's room to confirm that he got the intruder.
"Thank you dad! Good night!" He hugged his father and sat down on his bed, but before he went to sleep, he asked, "Rome? Are you sure about the whole being immortal thing?"
"Absolutely positive." Rome went back to bed, happy to have helped his son.

In the morning, Greece's mother made them breakfast before Rome had to leave and talk to his bosses. When he left, she schooled her son.
"Math is hard mamma. We should stick to books and fighting." He complained.
"Math is very important Greece. You never know when you'll need it. And besides, even your dad has to do math."
"What?! I thought he only fought and did politics!"
"Come on, back to work now."

Weeks passed. His family had grown by one member. He was the southern portion of the Italian region. This of course made Rome excited because that meant he would have a son in his future that represented the northern half.
"Mamma, if Romano has his land, Rome has his, and you have yours, then where's mine?"
"Well, you see, I'm not going to live forever. So when I die, you'll have my land. I'll die before you grow up." She handed Romano to Greece for a moment, "the world will one day be done with me. Just as it will your father too. You need to make sure that the world is never done with you, ok? You have to be the best nation ever. The better you are, then the easier it will be to take care of your brother."
Greece looked down at Romano, "but what if the world becomes done with me too?"
"You'll know when it's done. And when that day comes, you'll be old, like your father and I." She got up and walked off, "I'm gonna go read. I want you to play with your brother, ok?"
"Ok" his voice was practically a whimper. He didn't think his parents were that old. He looked back at Romano, the small baby had eyes the same color as their father's. He stroked Romano's hair and walked to his room. There wasn't much to do with a baby, but he'd find something.

Rome came home that night a lot more drunk than usual. Greece and Romano hid in Greece's room. Rome was scary when he was drunk like that. He would fight with mamma Greece and their fight were loud.
"I was sleeping with Gaul again. She's better than you! And so's our son!"
"Rome, go!"
"Greece is nothing compared to France!" He shouted.
"I don't want to hear it. She's just another one of your whores."
"And guess what? She's gonna have another one of my kids!" Greece wasn't sure if Rome was upset or just bragging.
"Leave my house now Rome!"
Greece stopped paying attention to them. Romano was scared, so Greece got up and left the room. They snuck past the two adults who were now hitting each other, and went outside. He found his swing and sat down, calming the crying baby. He felt bad that Romano was born to such a dysfunctional family. Most of the time, Rome and Greece's mother would argue and fight for a few hours before having loud make up sex. Greece preferred staying outside.
It had gotten dark, Rome left the house angry. Greece went back inside to comfort his mother and put the baby to bed.
"Are you ok mamma?" Greece asked. He grew concerned when he saw a massive bruise on his mother's face.
"I'm fine. How's Romano holding up?" Her voice was surprisingly calm.
"He was scared, but I handled it. He's ok now, but I'm worried about you. Rome doesn't normally leave marks like that." His gaze never left his mother's bruises.
"I'm fine, honestly." She smiled.
"Ok, well, I'm gonna put him to bed."
"Thank you for taking care of him. You're such a good big brother."
"Don't worry about it mamma. It's as you said, I need to be able to take care of him."

Romano was in bed, Greece walked up to his mother who was visibly trying not to cry. He hugged her in attempt to make her feel better. She instantly broke down crying though, her tears soaking his hair.

Rome didn't come home for a couple months, and the Turks started to spy on the small family. One day while their mother was off to discuss a few things with her boss, turkey himself walked into their home like it was nobody's business.
"Who are you?" Greece was terrified when he saw the tall man walk in. He held the baby in one arm, and a small dagger in the other.
"No need for violence, kiddo. I'm simply here to talk."
Greece lowered the weapon slightly, still cautious.
"So, who's the little one?"
"My brother. His name's Romano."
"How suiting. He looks a lot like his dad. You on the other hand... Not so much." He sat down on one of Rome's chairs, "so, why doesn't she take care of her own kid?"
"Mom's just busy." He relaxed a bit.
"Hand me the baby while you put that knife away. You could hurt him, or worse, kill him." Turkey smiled at him.
Greece was a little hesitant as he did, but Romano seemed really happy, so he trusted Turkey. Romano sat on Turkey's lap while the two spoke.
"I'm not that much older than you. I also grew up around your mom. Granted, she was just another boring adult back then."
"Really? She doesn't talk that much about her past. What was Rome like?"
"You call your father by his name? Why?"
"Don't know." Greece smiled. Turkey was a lot calmer than Rome. He couldn't see why his mother didn't like him.
"Anyway, your dad's always been bent on controlling the world, and sex. That's pretty much all he does. Fight and have sex." He paused for a moment, "I guess you don't understand much, but you will when your older." He handed Romano back to Greece, "I gotta go before your mom comes home. See you later, Greece." He walked out. Greece was a little upset to see him go. That was the first friend he ever made. He sighed and put the now sleeping baby to bed.

After that, his mother started coming home later, and leaving more often. One time, Greece had been alone with Romano for a week. He didn't mind too much, but food had become scarce. Greece had to give most of it to Romano. Turkey began to visit frequently, so that always put a smile on Greece's face.
Turkey came by day, but something was wrong, horribly wrong.
"Welcome back, Turkey! How are you?" He smiled at his friend, happy to not be alone.
"I have something to tell you. You might not like it. Promise me that we'll still be friends after you hear the news, ok?" He smiled weakly.
"What's wrong?" Greece's smile faded away.
"You know that I like you, and I see you as a good friend, and would never hurt you on purpose, right?"
Greece nodded slowly, clutching on to his brother. He had a seeking suspicion that he knew the next words that would come out of his mouth.
"Your mother is dead. She died in battle. It wasn't my fault, but it was inevitable." He waited for a response from the small child and his brother.
After a long moment of silence, Greece finally spoke, "she died at your hand, didn't she?" He wiped away some tears, "does my dad know that she's dead?" He asked.
"You know, there's always room at my place. You could stay with me."
"Did you kill my mom? And does my dad know?" Greece asked again, his voice a lot stronger than before.
"Yes... And Rome does not care." Turkey looked down, "and I know that you'll be needing a place to stay. So, please, the Ottoman Empire could be a good home for you two."
"You killed my mother! Do you know how much she means to me? And why doesn't Rome care? We're his kids! He has to care!" He wiped away a few more tears. Turkey offered to hold Romano for a moment, but Greece quickly responded, "no! He's mine! You killed our mom! How can I trust you?" Greece clutched on to Romano. He stared at turkey for a moment, "I can take care of myself. We don't need your empire to help us."
"My door is always open if you need it."