Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia

Australia groaned as he pulled the blanket tighter around his shivering body. He sniffed as his tired eyes stung from the morning light filtering in from his bedroom window. His throat hurt horribly, and his head pounded. He felt horrible and sickly. He knew he shouldn't have stayed out that long in the rain. Even if it had been a week ago, he had gotten so sick that he couldn't even get out of bed with his cold. His chest constricted when the memories of why he was out in the rain flooded back. His mind still couldn't adjust to everything that had taken place last week. The pain still felt fresh

But what's done is done and he couldn't rewind what happened, no matter how much he wanted to. No matter how much his heart ached, he still needed to help run his country. He did make the promise to be a better nation after all, yet all he wanted to do at the moment was just sleep away his fever.

A knock on his front door had interrupted his thoughts. Australia groaned and pulled the covers over his head to try and dull the sound that him only made his headache worse. He knew who the person knocking on his door was anyway, he had sensed him the moment his younger brother stepped on his land. Besides, only England and New Zealand knew where he lived anyway. But that still didn't change Australia's attempts to pretend he wasn't home. Don't get him wrong, he was always happy to see New Zealand, but all he wanted was to sleep.

But he knew he really couldn't spend all day in bed. He had to meet his new country's leader today. The man wold be in charge of running things as England was too far away to handle anything that wasn't anything major like defence. But Australia was still required to meet regularly with his boss and write reports back to England on the economy, trade and a bunch of other things that sounded like death by boredom. And at the moment Australia couldn't care less about trying to remember exactly what his dad said, it only made his heard hurt even worse at the list of new responsibilities that he was now given.

The knock sounded again, only this time more persistent.

"I know you're in there Aus!" New Zealand called, "You can't make me go away by pretending you're not home!"

Sometimes that kiwi knew him too well.

Steve growled sympathetically and nudged Australia's shoulder to try and get the young nation out of bed. A cough wracked Australia's trembling body as he sat up, his blanket falling from his shoulders as he sneezed.

He shuffled over to the door to open it. New Zealand stood there smiling up at him holding a plastic container containing some sort of food.

"Geez bro, you look horrible." New Zealand commented. Australia had stepped to the side to let his brother into his home.

"G'day to you too Zea, a pleasure as always," Australia grumbled as he closed the front door. He followed New Zealand into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

"I brought you over a new recipe for soup I made, and I wanted you to try it," New Zealand said as he put the container and started to open the cupboards in search for something, "By the look of you it turns out it was perfect timing. Where do you keep your bowls?"

"Top cupboard bottom shelf," Australia replied. He watched his little brother divide the soup into two bowls and brought them over to the table. Australia eyed the contents and it seemed to be chicken soup with fresh vegetables.

"Ta," Australia thanked. He was grateful for his brother's seemingly perfect timing, at least he didn't have to cook something for breakfast.

"So what's up with you anyway?" New Zealand asked while consuming his own soup. His eyes turned worrisome as a thought had crossed his mind, "It's not another natural disaster is it?"

When he was younger Australia had gotten deathly sick a handful of times due to bushfires, heatwaves and some super storm. So it wouldn't be an unlikely thing if he were sick to something like that again.

"Nah, it doesn't feel like anything like that," Australia replied, "I think it's just a cold, I stayed out in the rain for a while about a week ago"

Australia only ate half of the soup he was given, his stomach turned at the thought of consuming anymore. And he didn't want to throw up so he thought it would be best not to eat something so rich too soon. He also didn't want to irritate his throat any further, it hurt enough as it was.

"S'good," Australia complimented after he had to muffle a cough with his hand, "Where'd you learn it?"

"Uncle Wales taught me when he visited once before," New Zealand smiled. He was happy that his older brother liked it, "He said that dad wasn't really the best cooking teacher, so he showed me a few things."

The once happy mood dulled as the topic of England was brought up.

"It's lonely at home without him around, even if he hasn't been gone for long"

"I miss him too" Australia agreed. After living with their father for several decades they had gotten used to having him around, it felt weird to not be scolded or lectured whenever he did something wrong anymore.

Australia never liked seeing his little brother upset, a frown didn't suit him. So he tried to change the subject, "Have you met your new leader yet?"

"Yeah, He's really nice!" New Zealand smiled once more, "Have you?"

"I meet with him later on in the arvo"

"It's so awesome bro! You get to discuss economies, trade, relations with other nations in the empire and-"

"Crikey Zea, you managed to make it sound even more boring than before" Australia eye rolled.

His brother was always the favourite child when it came to their studies. Australia would rather do something, anything, more interesting than discussing graphs and figures. New Zealand glared, but it was only half hearted. Australia stood up to place their bowls in the sink, he would do them later.

"Anyway, you better start heading over to meet him. Knowing you, you'd be late" New Zealand instructed.

Australia gave a look of disbelief to his brother. Strewth, when had New Zealand gotten so demanding and bossy, wasn't he supposed to be the placid and younger of the two.

"S'cuse me?" Australia questioned after yet another sneeze, "Aren't I supposed to be the older one, you can't tell me what to do"

"Well believe it or not dad told me to keep an eye on you. I don't want the other nations to think we are odd"

'Of course, dad said that' Australia thought to himself.

New Zealand was always to most responsible out of the two, while Australia was wilder and more laid back. But it wouldn't really matter what the other nations thought of them, they weren't recognised by them as their own nations, only as England's colonies in his empire.

"How can they when they don't recognise us," Australia replied.

"One day they will I'm sure of it" New Zealand hoped. Australia hoped they would too.

XxxxXxxx

Australia walked into the busy streets of his town, but things seemed busier than normal and that struck Australia as odd. There were a lot more people trying to sell things such as clothes, food and other little trinkets and they seemed quite desperate to sell them, he was even stopped by the occasional seller begging him to buy something.

He could sense something was off but he didn't know what it was, as he hadn't really left his house or bed for that matter since he had gotten ill. He would still rather be back in his warm and soft bed though, it was a miracle how his shivering subsided, he would have looked odd wearing his winter clothes in the middle of summer.

But maybe his new leader would know what was going on.

The teenaged Australian soon found himself at the large parliament house that was being built for his new leader. Australia marvelled at its size with wide eyes, it was huge! It was bigger than England's house ever was. It was constructed out of red coloured bricks, they reminded Australia of the red soil in the outback, the bricks had been stacked to make the building's shadow absolutely smother the streets below. He felt like a little ant just standing in front of the thing.

If Australia though navigating through his dad's house was difficult this would be no walk in the bush.

Australia started to ascend the staircase into the building. He found the secretary's desk and when he had asked her where he was supposed to go she had just given him a strange look. She asked him if he was in the right building, as she wasn't willing to let a fifteen year old just waltz into the prime minister's office.

"Ah you must be the personification Australia correct?" A man's voice saved Australia from answering the receptionist.

Australia turned to face the person that seemed to recognise him and he grinned, "Yeah that's me, and just Australia is fine"

The man introduced himself as the country's new leader and Australia's boss.

"How about we step into my office for a chat?"

Australia followed the man as he led them through the pristine hallways. The architecture was something that even England would have liked, it was similar to what was in England's' parliament house. The two eventually stopped at a large room. Inside it had a desk that already had several stacks of paper that already needed tending to.

The man kindly asked Australia to sit in the chair opposite his. Australia sat down but not before sneezing again. His head seemed to spin and ache only further whenever he did sneeze, and because of that he felt dizzy. He really hated this cold!

"That sounds like a nasty cold you have there," Australia's boss commented.

"She'll be right mate, I've had it for a week already," Australia shrugged. While he hated having a cold and wished that it would hurry up and go away, he would much rather deal with a cold than another natural disaster any day.

"Would it have anything to do with the failing economy? I remember Mr England describing some symptoms that you may experience and what they mean for your country." The man seemed to be in deep thought for a moment, "He said that cold's may mean a depression…or at least that's what I think he said, do forgive me I'm still adjusting to personifications.

Failing economy? What failing economy?

"Huh?" Australia tilted his head, which he regretted moving so fast. "What's wrong with the economy?"

"Well just last week one of our major banks had crashed and on top of all of that there is a decreased demand for wool, which is our biggest trading industry"

So that's why Australia had a cold, he thought he had caught it in the rain a week ago. It would also explain why his people seemed so desperate to sell their items, they wanted money so they could survive.

"What are we going to do?" Australia asked

His leader sighed, "At this stage not much but I'm working on a new goldfield over west. If we can find gold there, then it will greatly help. Other than that, we will try and expand our trade in other areas"

While normally Australia would look to England for help in this situation, he knew he couldn't this time. The whole reason for him leaving was to give Australia the reigns, giving him a little independence to manage his own nation. It was the chance to prove that he can manage his own country.

"I'll think of something," Australia assured. He actually had no idea what he was going to do, but he had to do something to help his people.

"Well I hope you come up with something soon, because I am out of ideas. That will be all for today." His boss dismissed Australia.

XxxxXxxx

Australia was walking through the town once again to get back to his home. He looked on in sympathy at the sight of his people looking desperately for work or trying to sell things, he knew they were suffering yet he had no idea how to help them. His father's lessons covered things on how to manage an economy, not how to bring said economy back from a depression…or if he did he wasn't listening to it.

He wracked his brain for any ideas, it only made his headache worse, but he tried to ignore the pain. Australia suddenly stopped walking mid-step. His whole body tensed, and his eyes widened. He felt a nation approaching his home, but it wasn't New Zealand as he had left earlier that morning and he knew it wouldn't be England. The presence was unfamiliar, it was one he wasn't used to feeling.

It wasn't long until his people also started to notice something amiss as well. Australia strained to hear their panicked whispers about something approaching the docks. Australia did a 180 degree turn and jogged over to the docks to see what nation was approaching his home.

He stopped when he reached the beach and a small gathering of his people had also turned up to see who was sailing in. Australia could see the white sails of three ships approaching in the distance.

Australia eyed them nervously, he really couldn't defend himself if they were hostile, he relied on his dad for military support as he had none. But England would surely have told him if he was to expect another nation's appearance, wouldn't he?

Australia shivered, but this time it wasn't from his cold. He actually felt cold, it was like the winters in England. It was like the whole atmosphere around him shifted from summer to winter.

The young Australian tensed as his eyes widened. He whispered fearfully as he recognised which nation he could sense.

"Russia"

So anyone that was confused or if I didn't explain it properly. The day where chapter 16 takes place and Australia is crying in the rain over the events that took place, that is the night when the bank starts to go under (which is why he sneezed when he got back home). Australia just thought it was a regular cold. But yes Australia did go through an economic depression in the very late 1800s/ early 1900s. Wool, which was our major trade source had decreased in demand and there were a couple of other factors but I can't remember them off the top of my head. It wasn't actually until almost WW1 when we managed to recover from it. We did so by opening gold mining (similar to the gold rush) in Western Australia, and by trading our silver and wheat (which was high in demand).

A hint has been revealed! One of my friends suggested that Australia and New Zealand would have a dream to be recognised as their own nations respectively by the other nations. Not in the same sense as independence but they want to be known as Australia and New Zealand, not as England's colonies in the southern hemisphere. So does anyone have an idea on how this was achieved. Shout out to 'CaraIsTrash' who gave the correct answer :)

Also if you search images of Australia's first parliament house then you'll see the building I tried to describe. I didn't include his name because I'm not actually sure who Australia's first Prime Minister was.

So what does Russia want with Australia? Will it be a friendly visit? Does England know? And what will Australia's solution to help his people out of the depression be? Next update will be on Tuesday to find out. In the meantime please review :)