Chapter 2 'A New Nation?'

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia

Edited: 10/08/2018

England sat under a shady tree and spent the rest of his day there, while the day had gotten cooler as the sun got lower he had found it quite pleasant under the tree. So England decided to sketch some of the animals and plant life he had seen in the journal he had brought with him. Some of the animals he had seen were very strange, no scratch that, all the animals he had seen were strange. Never in his life had he ever seen anything like them.

One of them looked strangely like a tiny bear and another animal had reddish fur that hopped on two legs!

"The others will not believe any of this," England spoke to himself.

The other nations already thought he was crazy when he could see mythical creatures so at least the drawings would provide some sort of proof that these animals were real.

The sun had begun to set when England finished setting up his little make-shift camp. It wasn't much but with the supplies he had brought with him would suffice for the night. The only sound other than the fire crackling was the cicadas moving among the trees. While England had only saw a portion of this land it seemed big, and with that a feeling of loneliness crept through him, it was so silent here, nothing like this at his home.

He laid down and promptly fell asleep, it had been a long day after all.

XxxxXxxx

England awoke as soon as the sun had risen and that dastardly heat returned. He packed up his camp and put out the remains of the fire. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and was about to continue his way seeing the wonderous yet strange things the land had to offer. Until he heard the leaves above rustling once again, this was the fifth time he had heard the trees move about.

"I must be hearing things and seeing things," England muttered to himself, "How can the leaves move when there isn't any bloody breeze about?"

At that moment something small and grey fell out of the tree above him and landed right onto his head. He let out a frightened scream as he tried to push the bloody thing off him. He was so distracted with trying to get his attacker off him, that he didn't notice that something else had dropped out of the tree as well and stood right in front of him.

"Oi Steve, get off him would ya?" A heavily thick accented voice spoke, startling the English nation even more.

The attacker had released his head immediately after the voice spoke and sat on the ground in front on England. His red eyes glaring as the tiny bear like creature glared hatefully at the older nation.

England straightened himself and brushed off the dirt that had managed to get onto his clothes during the attack. He then turned to the owner of the voice that had saved him from that ghastly thing. He expected to see one of the criminals who rarely showed kindness to him. Except instead, he saw a small boy.

England froze when he took in the lad's appearance. Startlingly similar green eyes stared curiously up at him. On top of those eyes were the Kirkland trademark eyebrows, granted they weren't as thick as his or his own siblings' but the resembling was unbelievable. They only difference between him and the boy was that the child was a little bit tanner and had chocolate brown hair with two cowlicks to the side. The boy had a casual, yet amused grin plastered to his face as he didn't at all seemed bothered with the little red eyed growling demon. The thing eyed the older nation one last time before crawling on its four legs over to the small boy, which had bent down to pick up the little furry devil.

"Stay away from that thing!" England warned. He feared what would happen to the child if he came close to the demon, "It's dangerous"

But to his utter surprise the animal settled itself on the boy's shoulder, it was almost as if it belonged to the boy. The boy's grinned stretched even further in amusement, showing a glimpse of his white teeth.

"Steve? Nah he won't hurt me he's just a koala, he's just saying he likes ya," The boy stated. Yet England continued to stare uneasily at the animal.

"G'day! My name's Australia" The brunette introduced, "And well, you've already met Steve"

England blinked in stunned silence. He marvelled at the child, Australia as he called himself, and his accent. It was not one he had heard before and quite frankly it was difficult to tell if he was even speaking English. Then again, what was the child doing out here anyway? He was sure he didn't see any children aboard the ship he was on, but that would could only mean that he was a nation. But the land was so harsh and seemed unliveable that the thought hadn't crossed his mind that other people would live here.

"My name is England," England had introduced. He was such in a state of shock that he almost forgot to introduce himself, how ungentlemanly. "Do you live here?"

Australia nodded at the question, "You're the bloke from those boats, right?"

"Yes," England confirmed albeit confused. He didn't remember seeing this boy at the beach, except…

"Were you the one following me? The one in the trees?" England narrowed his eyes. It was dreadfully rude to not make your presence known and to introduce themselves when in the company of others. Well at least he knew he wasn't going insane when he thought he heard movement afar from him.

However, Australia didn't seem phased by the accusation.

"Dead set mate!" Australia replied clearly amused, "You're lucky I was too. Do you know how many times you came close to death?"

"You mean that creature at the pond?"

"Pond? Oh you mean billabong! Then yeah, that was one of 'em," Australia corrected, "and it's called a crocodile"

"Oh…well thank you," England stated. Thank heavens this boy wasn't in the presence of the queen, she would be appalled at how this boy seemed to be butchering her language, that is if he even was speaking English. Sure he understood him some of the time, but some words he didn't recognise.

Australia beamed at the praise that he had received, which made England smile slightly. The child's happiness seemed to be infectious.

"So does this mean you're my mate now?" Australia asked hopeful. He really only had Steve as his best mate and the people in the tribes he grew up with, so he was happy to make a new friend.

"Sort of," England explained, "My queen has declared this land to be under the British rule, which then makes you apart of the British Empire"

Now it was Australia's turn to be confused, his cowlicks bounced as he tilted his head to the side. He didn't really know what England was talking about. British Empire and British rule were foreign concepts to him, it made as much sense as a crocodile up a gum tree.

"It means that you will be staying with me until you are old enough to handle things by yourself." England clarified before thinking about the affect his words actually meant.

What was he doing? Had he learnt nothing with his experience with America? He is still upset with America leaving so why did he just say that he would be raising Australia, did he really want to go through that heartbreak again? What if this boy ended up like America? He doesn't think he could handle another revolutionary war. England mentally sighed, but he knew he couldn't leave Australia by himself, he already was worried about the boy's sanity for hanging around with the…koala was it?

"So that makes you my big brother?" Australia asked. The words made England freeze, he tried to rid his mind from the memories that accompanied those words.

Bright green eyes watched as England seemed to flinch at those words, he wondered if the older nation had some sort of bad history with that word. But Australia smiled once more and suggested something different to try and rid the older nation from his sadness.

"How about 'Dad'?" Australia asked. In the group he grew up with the younger kids had referred to their parent's as such so he guessed that word would fit England.

"I suppose that will do," England said. Anything was better than 'big brother' in his opinion. Besides, it did make some sense, after all Australia did share a remarkable resemblance to him, one that even America or Canada didn't share, except for the blonde hair. But he still had difficulty in fully accepting and opening his heart to another nation so long after America.

England had noticed that it was getting a bit late. When had he lost track of time? He must have been talking with Australia for a while. It was about time he headed back to his ship anyway, while he did have faith that his men would be able to handle the convicts, he wanted to oversee how they were doing. He had asked Australia if he had wanted to come. After all, the boy would be under his rule so he would need to stay with the Englishman, they could go out for one last stroll through his land tomorrow before they set sail for his home.

While he was embarrassed to admit, he had seemed to forget his way he blushed slightly as Australia just laughed and showed him the way back.

Australia looked around at the groups of people walking around his home, he was in awe, he had never seen this many people before.

"They won't hurt the animals or people, will they?" Australia asked and he had to almost run to keep up with England as his tiny legs were significantly shorter.

"I'm sure they will learn to adapt" England had said as he lead the young nation through the crowds of people.

Australia looked hesitant, an expression the older couldn't see. But quickly brushed off his concerns, this man seemed trustworthy, but he didn't know why. Maybe it was because it was really one of the only nations that had ever been kind to him and didn't turn around and leave upon seeing his home. But maybe it was the similarities Australia noticed between them two, he had always been different from the aboriginals he had grown up with, so when he first saw England he thought they must have been related.

Australia stopped in his tracks, almost running into the older nation. He curiously looked up to see his caretaker talking to someone, and they didn't looked like a pleasant yarn at that.

"So you actually had to pay a kid to like you?" The man said with a mocking tone.

"I expect you to know your place by now Smith, or do you need yet another reminder" England had warned the other man.

Australia could sense the tension between the two and decided to intervene. "Ya know, it's not nice to make fun of people"

Before the man could react Steve lashed out at the person, clawing at his face. The man yelped in pain before taking off. Australia caught his koala friend in his arms before he hit the ground, the furry little animal growled in appreciation and settled back on the young nation's shoulder. Australia grinned and laughed as the man was telling one of the officers about a demon koala. A surprised England stood staring at the young nation, it had been a long time since anyone had stood up for him like that.

XxxxXxxx

That night England had taken Australia to sleep in his bed on the boat. He had a lot of paper work to catch up on so he would spend the night in his study. He had pulled the blankets over the shoulders on the small nation and told him a couple of stories from the wars he won when he was younger, he skipped over some for the details to make the story suitable for a child. Yet Australia seemed to enjoy them, listening and hanging on to his every word as he described his victorious battles.

It wasn't long before Australia's eyes started to grow heavy and he yawned. It was a long couple of days keeping that pommy out of trouble. So England blew out the candle and proceeded to walk out.

"Good night dad," Australia mumbled sleepily.

England smiled softly. He immediately came to the conclusion that he wouldn't be able to keep himself from loving the small nation, he only hoped that he would raise this child right so that he wouldn't end up like America had.

"Good night lad" England whispered and closed the door behind him.

Awww! Isn't that so cute! Little Australia and Daddy England 3 But oh my lord, you don't know how annoying it is for this chapter and the previous one to call the animals creatures and bears and the same with the billabong, I kept writing what they actually were but I kept having to delete it because I had to write them as England would see them and not know what they were.

G'day- Good day, the Aussie way to say Hello

Bloke- man, dude or guy

Dead set- Without a doubt

Yarn- Chat or talk

Mate- friend

The koala dropping down on England's head is a reference to the drop bear myth. Basically, Australians used the myth to scare tourists to think Koalas are evil and going to drop down on them and attack. But it is only a myth…Or is it? *insert dramatic music*

Yes, Australia is kind of naïve when he is younger because he doesn't know how cold and cruel the world can actually be. So when England says that his people and animals will learn to adapt to the changes from Australia's colonisation he believes, because he doesn't really know what will happen and the full extent of that.