It was one morning which supposedly went as usual, where poppies bloomed together with roses and jasmines. But in fact, it wasn't even close to usual for the boy.

Until someone had been rudely enough to barge in and crashed into his poppy garden. Of course he, who owned it, got every right to get pissed off! Just who on earth that dared to―again, literally―crashed and destroyed his lovely garden of roses and poppies? He'd to scold whoever dared enough to drive that unfamiliar machine through his beautiful garden, and presumably threatened that pitiful excuse of a human and had them took responsibility of growing his garden back to its former glory!

With all his might to scold the owner―despite his petite body was hardly strong and convincing enough―he pulled the broken door, and he was soon greeted by a cabin coated in white and filled with many buttons. A single, black chair accompanying the whole buttons, creating a form of deck that the little boy with the floppy bunny ears never saw before. He was too fascinated until he didn't realize a yelping from another door in the cabin. He quickly ran to the yelping source, and fortunately, he found that it wasn't that difficult to open the door as it wasn't locked.

Instead of a door that supposedly acted for the food storage room, he found something else. It was another form of life. A desperate-looking, tall human with that foolish smile, asking for a help from piles of boxes.

"Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy. But would you lend me a help, maybe?"

Lonely Planet
Brotherly!USUK in AU for USUK 2012 Short Story Anthology "Love Across Time" : Tomorrow

Hetalia : Axis Powers © Hidekazu Himaruya

Stupid, tiny lonely planet.
Crashing rockets to face their sweet deaths.

"Honestly, you need to find a better place to crash other than my garden."

The little boy kept on washing the bruises around the young adult-looking man's arm. It was quite fortunate for the astronaut as he got no serious injury, thanks to the food stockpiles that covered him up when he crashed not-so-long-time ago. The little, green-eyed boy with those cute heavy bunny ears, kept on grunting, complaining about how he ought to spend another time to tidy things up at his garden. "Now sir, I do kindly hope that you'll leave right after this."

"Sure do, kiddo! And by the way, just call me Alfred," the blue-eyed astronaut replied cheerfully, with a face unexceptionally bright. Well, he could breathe clearly and before the little child had handed him a glass of water, which proved that this planet's ecosystem was suitable for humans. "As soon as I repair it and the rocket's gone to its perfect shape and zwooosh~ again to the Milky Way!" and he said, followed by imitating the sound of rocket's ignition. "By the way, what's your name, little fella'?"

"I don't have a name," he huffed, while still pouring the bruises with water, "and a name sounds ridiculous when you've lived alone for a pretty long time. So when will you leave?" he spoke half-heartedly still grunting below his voice on why did he save this person from the very beginning. Maybe it would be much, much better if he'd left this loud, obnoxious adult in his rocket and let him die slowly there. But then it's not possible since this Alfred―unfortunately―crashed on his garden that he had been taking care so much!

"And speaking of you, really, I can't understand you at all. You look like no more than 10 and you talk so fancy-ish. Like those Brits at my place." His reply truly didn't answer the kid's question. "Just like somebody that I used to know."

"I might look like one, but believe me, I've lived longer than you, if you ignore the fact that I never grow like you," the little boy huffed, picking few meds and took a bucket of warm water to cleansed the other bruises that the astronaut got. "And seeing the likes of you, who loves to barge and crashed on people's garden, it's not surprising that no one wants to know you."

"Aww, that's so cruel of you~" Alfred spoke, pinching both of the little guy's cheeks, followed by a smile, while a little idea came up to his mind. "Hey, since you told me that you don't have a name, I think I will give you a name 'cause it would be super awkward to call you as... You. So let's see... Daniel sounds cool. How's that?"

He shoved those big hands, which only made the astronaut burst into his laugh. "I don't like it."

"James?"

"Sounds too rebellious."

"Kevin, then?"

"Too plain."

The astronaut sighed again. He didn't like―and would never prefer―to call this little boy as "you", sounded too weird for his ears and it did feel quite rude. Sure, sure, people that he knew back then in his beloved earth―especially him―always called him as 'an obnoxious git' but it didn't mean the same as being impolite, no?

"...Arthur."

"Yes."

The small response gave Alfred a sudden shock. Now that it reminds him, the little guy with those cute, fluffy-ish bunny ears were a lot like Arthur. Those caterpillar eyebrows and a pair of jade-coloured iris... Oh well, he did resemble that Arthur so much.

"Hmm? What d'ya say before?"

"I-I mean, yes. Arthur sounds nice." the little boy nodded slowly. His face had gotten red and his fluffy ears were twitching and flopping a bit. "I like it..."

He smiled. The name Arthur just fit perfectly with this boy, he thought. Just like the one he used to love. He patted the little boy, and gave his typical childish smile.

"Nice to meet ya, Artie."

"I was surprised that you could understand my language!"

Arthur huffed slowly. His petite body jumped from one to another route, passing the forest which filled with plenty of giant baobabs, those kinds of trees that are endangered in his planet. It felt so fresh, so natural, and he liked it. How the magpies chirping, and how the baobab's dry leaves crashing upon his steps. It was way too similar with the earth, yet the view of the floating islands at the faraway sky brought Alfred's mind back to the realization that this planet would never be the same like his lovely, yet pathetic earth.

"I'm not exactly like your kinds, anyways. I am this planet's Spirit of Nature, who live, grow, and such according to nature's condition. If the nature goes bad, and so do I," he explained, while he kept on hopping between one roots and another. Apparently, that's the reason why he never grew. The nature got no human to maintain and give it an objective, so even though the nature itself grew well, didn't have anything to aim, and it created an unmanaged nature. Aside from that, Alfred knew that Arthur could understand everything about people's coordination system in an instant, which might be the most logical reason as to why Arthur could understand English.

"So, where are we goin'?"

"Szachverde, the city right there."

That little finger pointed at the smallest flying island, connected with floating yet rusty railway, looking somewhat crowded with buildings. It wasn't clear enough for Alfred's view from the train station that would brought them there, but from how it was built and how the buildings were perfectly shaped with those rusty effect added by the nature. Alfred could assume that their culture loosely similar to his planet's Europe circa 19th century. Victorian era, he mumbled, except for the part that they were more advanced in technology and much more, compared to his home-planet's technology. It did look like the machines were built in a steam machines' look, but the complexity and how the system works, it's far much advanced than his current technology.

"I don't know that people who used to live around here are so awesome to create such a cool floating island." Alfred grinned in excitement. "How did they do that?"

"Personally, I don't know how such phenomenon to create flying islands. I don't really understand how human's technology works, either, but these railways that connect between islands, it was man-made. And about Szachverde, that place is one of the most advanced cities in this planet. You said you want to search some useful scraps to repair your... Thing. They used to get the best for technologies around there," Arthur explained, waving his right hand a bit, and soon, the poison ivies that covered the train station were swallowed back into the ground, while another parasitic plant moved toward the power station. "It'll be an hour trip from here."

The station was brought back to life, as Alfred heard the machineries were active once more. It wasn't long before the train came and approached them. As they got in, the train was moving quite slowly at start, but it got faster in minutes. Alfred could feel the breezing wind throughout the window. He'd ridden trains countless of times back on his beloved home planet, but the excitement of riding a train which was being operated in a flying railway was another different level.

It was not long before the train arrived at the destination. Much faster than the astronaut thought before―or maybe, he just didn't realize it. Alfred couldn't really stop the look of fascination, as they got on to the city's gate.

"Woah... Do ya really build this whole city by yourself?"

"No, I've said it before, right?" Arthur sighed, "My brothers and their citizens used to live here. They built these cities, however, they had moved to another planet a long time ago. But they begun to hate me because they said that I was being too noisy to warn them that they'll destroy nature―the role that I represent―and we had quarrels until they came to the point of giving up and decided to leave." Arthur sighed, giving a pained expression that Alfred missed since his eyes were so fixated at the magnificent city. "And I am always alone since then. Some people did come here, but they wouldn't stay for long." A stop at one building, which Alfred guessed was used as a storage. "Here we are, if I remember correctly."

Alfred's hands had picked the unexpected lad and gave the kid-looking spirit a ride on his big, muscular shoulder. "C'mon. Ya really must've been very tired, walkin' that far with that small body." He didn't forget to add his silly, typical smile to the boy, either. The said boy did protest, but seeing at how determined the astronaut wished to give the ride, he just couldn't complain about it anymore...

...and actually, it wasn't really that bad, either.

Every morning the "sun" would rise, Alfred would wake up, went out for some morning refreshment and then he'd work on to repair the seemingly-helpless rocket. Some other times, he'd get on to Szachverde to get some other scraps that might be useful.

While Arthur would give some little helps to the strayed astronaut, making meals and snacks for the said human, that actually, couldn't be considered as edible. However, the astronaut would eat it in delight―yeah, maybe he forced himself quite a lot. But considering the planet's condition that he didn't really understand, Alfred was left with no other choice of menu. Alfred was also grateful that there were some leftover clothes, which came in various sizes, including his size. He didn't have to worry much about his hygiene, since Arthur could easily extract some natural herbs that worked much like shampoo and soap.

It went peacefully, yet painful for Alfred as each days passed on. He missed his lovely planet of Earth, in some galaxy around the big infinite universe. He'd wanted to go home, but sometimes his mind was reminded of the lonely spirit. By the time he could come back home, he was sure that he'd leave in regrets to leave the lonely spirit, but if he decided not to go home, he also couldn't bear the homesickness. However, not before long, he decided that his homesickness was incurable as he realized that he'd never see his home planet again, forever.

"Why?" it was quite a shocking news for the spirit, too. Arthur had more than understood about how much Alfred had gotten so excited and fixated about going back home, and suddenly, he got all desperate? It was totally unlike him! "I thought that your... Thing, had been perfectly tuned up?"

"But the fuel won't be enough, Artie. And you will never make anything similar. The composition is beyond our ability, even yours," as he said, flopping the fluffy ears which belonged to the said spirit. Alfred didn't forget about his charming, yet saddened smile. "Guess you gotta' bear with me forever, huh? I hope ya won't mind that!"

Each day, the astronaut would get on his smile, getting all worked up exploring the small planet, and each night, Arthur would hear soft sounds of somebody's cries. He'd feel the tears that dropped on the planet's ground, and he'd feel suffocated by the disappointment that he felt. It was too cruel. It was too unfair! But what could he do? The spirit did try to experiment with all of his nature's resources to imitate the composition of Alfred's fuel, but every experiment resulted in vain, just like Alfred's words. Not even a thing worked out, and the little spirit grew desperate.

No. Both of them had gotten desperate.

It wasn't like Arthur hated the human, but maybe the fact that Arthur had gotten―unconsciously felt bad and the feeling of helplessness had made him uneasy. Arthur might admit in some other days that he'd gotten quite comfortable with Alfred's presence. The little spirit always longed for the bright smile, and another cheerful call of his name, he might had grown addicted to all of these. However, the realization that came every night kept Arthur wondering; was this blessing, or merely another misfortunate event?

"I used to have someone that I love so much, back there in Earth, at the land that we call as UK."

Later, the homesick astronaut would tell the lonely spirit about a guy named Arthur Kirkland, a fine gentleman from NASA accountant that managed to make the said astronaut fell for the moderate-looking accountant. He told everything that's best from the bushy-eyebrows gentleman, also about the part that he'd been a victim of a cross-dressing object by his French's acquaintance, which coincidentally was Arthur's childhood friend. Alfred would not forget, adding about how horrible the Brit's cooking was. Which somehow, made the spirit popped his vein. Nonetheless, those stuffs had made the spirit gaping in awe.

"Your Arthur seems incredible," the spirit pouted, "Compared to me, the helpless, useless spirit..."

Yes, he'd been so used to be alone. So used to it, until he didn't realize that he'd become another useless existence.

The astronaut chuckled, brushing and caressing the brownish fluffy ears. "What are you talking about? For me, you're irreplaceable. You're just like a precious brother to me." he brought the little kid by his arm, hugged him tight and kissed Arthur's forehead. "Anyways, if you're the same as Arthur does, it would be boring, right?"

And the unwanted realization came with tears of joy, that he couldn't go back to being alone again.

Every day, the astronaut wouldn't stop telling endless stories about how his life back then in the earth. He'd always get excited, telling stories that he might've experienced before, or just retelling tales that he read from comic books and some historical tales. The little spirit would never grow tired of hearing those never-ending tales. Humans indeed, are a magical being.

However, even if the stories are endless, the life of the story teller had their own end.

.

"I... Don't think that I could live for tomorrow."

Alfred had gone so old now, wrinkles everywhere, along with the hair that had gone all-white, removing the former traces of his wheat coloured hair. The spirit himself hadn't grown even an inch, although 60 years had already passed since their first meeting.

"No! Don't say that! Live for me, please!"

.

And that sums up the reason as to why he's here now, under a big, dead-looking willow tree, where he could catch the view of hundreds of tombstones. He could smell the scent of rain already. Why would the nature wish to drop the rain right now? At such time? It pissed him off, and made his mood gone worse. Just like how his tiny hands were digging the ground, he dug it deeper and deeper.

.

It wasn't as cheerful as it used to be; the voice had gotten hoarse, albeit scary. But those wrinkled hands, that caressed the little spirit's fluffy ear, was still as warm as ever.

"Don't go, please..." the spirit sobbed. Maybe he'd never grow if he kept on doing this; sobbing like hell. "I know that I am a useless spirit... Will never be an awesome figure like your Arthur... Just don't leave me, I beg of you..."

"I said it, right? I cannot stay any longer than this," he planted the last kiss on the spirit's forehead, "I know you can. It isn't that hard. You might even find another brother that is much cooler than I am..."

Those last words, remarked the end of the astronaut's life.

.

"Dear fate, aren't you being too cruel to me?" he sobbed, and soon the sky darkened. Drops of water came in contact with his fluffy, big bunny ears. "I'm tired if I have to bury more and more of my friends and families..."

Another drop of tears followed, as he buried his 627th friend under the pouring rain.

End

A/N : Hello xD This is my first attempt to write in English, so forgive me for any silly mistakes and stuffs. I usually write in Indonesian, so this is quite a challenge for me too.

Originally submitted for USUK Short Story Anthology "Love Across Time" at LiveJournal. I picked out the "Tomorrow" theme because reasons. I hope next year we will have an exciting event like this one, and I'm quite satisfied ( not to mention, flattered ) by the stunning arts and writings!

I might write less in English, but please leave me a review, so I can hear your comments and maybe I can do something to be better!