Chapter 30 'Can I Sit with You?'

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia

So I was thinking about what chapter I wanted to do for Anzac Day, and what better chapter then when Australia finally comes home

From the moment that Australia had first stepped back on his land, he just felt like collapsing. He had been away for what felt like centuries; no more would he have to sit and sleep in a muddy trench facing the cold and bitter winter nights of France. Or feel the pain that came along with the casualties of war, or having carry around the heavy weight of grief from his people's suffering.

He was home.

With every lasting second in the blistering heat of his home, was a second he was never going to take for granted again. His skin that had started to pale from the lack of sunlight back from the Western Front was now given a warm welcome, as he relished in the feeling of the harsh sun beating down on him.

Once he opened the door to his home the smell of the eucalyptus melted away the lingering home sickness. Everything was exactly how he had left it; it was a sense of familiarity that he never got to experience on the battlefield. He could remember the nights when he'd wake up from his nightmare plagued sleep, he would have to head out not knowing where he'd end up, or how he'd end up. On the rare occasions that he and his men could light a fire they would burn the eucalyptus leaves to remind them of the bush back home. All it ever did was send a pang of sorrow through his chest at the reminder of how far away he was, it was a very long four years of his life.

Something moving on the couch caught his eye. He looked over and his green eyes filled with warmth. Steve had moved his legs to stretch as he awoke from his nap. He had been sleeping more frequently since Australia had left, it was something to keep him from sitting and staring at the door, waiting for his only friend to return. It had been the first time that Australia had gone anywhere without him for such a long time. So he just sat there everyday and waited, his irritation growing for the nations that forced his owner to leave for so long.

"Hey mate," Australia spoke softly, "Didn't mean to wake ya up."

Steve's head snapped up at the sound of the familiar voice. He sat on the couch and stared at the man that stood in the doorway.

He didn't look like the same Australia that he knew. The person standing in the doorway was taller and more muscular than the teenager that would wrestle crocodiles and climb tall rocks. But the most noticeable change; was the scar over his nose. He had seen Australia get injured many times over the years, and his scars or injuries were never permanent like this one seemed to be.

Steve's obvious hesitation didn't deter Australia at all. He gently placed his things on the floor beside him and couched down. He smiled over at the koala, a silent invitation.

This sent the small and normally lazy koala running towards Australia. It wasn't Australia's nation presence that alerted him that it was actually his Australia. It was Australia's smile. No other person or nation could ever replicate it. He ran over and Australia didn't hesitate in picking him up from the ground. Steve squeaked and growled in delight of his owner's return.

"I missed you too mate," Australia laughed as Steve tried to wiggle in his grasp, he was trying to climb onto Australia's shoulder.

Steve blinked curiously at the scar that now lay across Australia's nose. His eyes narrowed into a glare and he growled at the injury. How dare someone harm his owner!

Sensing the koala's anger Australia sighed and rubbed his fingers over the scar, "Yeah I know, it really stands out doesn't it? I was hoping that I'd be used to it by now."

He let the koala crawl back onto his shoulder and Steve let out a small sigh of contentment. He rested his furry head against Australia's warm shoulder and not before long, he had already dozed off.

Australia just laughed, "I can see you haven't changed much."

He carefully straightened back up and walked off into his room. There was something that he had been wanting to do since he returned home, it had been several years, but better late than never. He opened his bedside drawer and dug around until his hands rested on cold metal.

XxxxXxxx

It was quiet in the graveyard, there were a couple of people mourning the loss of their loved ones, but the area that Australia was heading to was a fair distance away from other people. Once he reached the grave he was looking for he stopped and stood in front of it.

Edward Kelly 1855 – 1880

The words were faded into the stone making the print almost unreadable. But Australia knew exactly who the grave belonged to. It belonged to the man that he had spent a few weeks with as a teenager after his rebellion.

"Hey mate," Australia greeted softly, "Can I sit with you, for one last time?"

Silence. Honestly if Australia received anything but silence then he would be hightailing it out of there. But silence was a welcomed sound after four years of nonstop gunshots and blood curdling screams. He sat down cross-legged on the soft grass, Steve sat curiously on his shoulder, peering down at the grave.

"It's been a while I know, I'm sorry I haven't visited you until now," Australia apologised and chewed his bottom lip in deep thought, "I guess I really haven't had the courage to visit you since that day."

Australia remembered the day like it was yesterday. The battle at Glenrowan raged on and he had let his mates down, they had expected him to fight alongside them, to fire that gun. But he didn't. At that young age, the sight of battle and sounds of bullets being fired rendered him practically paralysed in fear. Yet in his last moments, he knew that Ned Kelly had forgiven him when he had offered him a saddened smile before he succumbed to the beckoning of death. He had never gotten the chance to say goodbye or to say that he was sorry.

He hated talking about his feelings, but he supposed that he would allow it just this once, after all his confidant could offer nothing but silence in return.

"I wasn't exactly all that truthful when I introduced myself before, my name is Jett. But I am also Australia, a personification of the land," It was the first time Australia had ever spoken those words out loud that wasn't to another nation, "It wasn't exactly like I could tell ya before, it's a huge secret after all. Besides, I don't think many people would believe it anyway."

But it was still a risk that none of the nations were willing to take.

"You know I was never one to talk about all this mushy feelings and shit," Australia took a breath, "But I'm sorry that I didn't do more to help you before. A personification is supposed to help and protect his people, and I'm sorry I didn't do that for you."

Hell, there was so many people that Australia wanted to apologise to, but it was life of a nation. It was unrealistic for him to keep every single one of his people from harm, but it still didn't stop every personification wanting to do the same for their people.

Australia took out the metal object he had placed in his pocket. He rubbed his thumb over the cool metal of the gun that Ned had given him all those years ago, he smiled down at it, his mind still in deep thought. He had taken the bullets out of course and a thin layer of rust coated the weapon in several places, before the war he had been too ashamed to even keep it in good condition. He had opted to just leave it in the bottom of his beside drawer, wanting to ignore the nibbling guilt every time he looked at it. It as a constant reminder of his failure, that he was too scared to step up to help protect his people.

"You know, before I was too scared to even hold one of these, then that changed during the war. You'll never believe that using one actually saved my life back in Gallipoli," Australia chuckled.

The young nation uncrossed his legs and leaned over the grave. He buried the gun in a deep enough hole that it wouldn't be found. And even if it did, it was rendered unusable from the years of neglect.

He smoothed the dirt above it once it was completely hidden, "I thought you might want it back, I wasn't worthy enough to keep it back then. Besides, at least this way you'll still be going out in a blaze of glory, just like you wanted."

Australia just sat there to relish in the sound of the birds above in the trees and the rustling of leaves in the gentle breeze. It soothed that ache in his chest and washed away any feelings of lingering guilt or sadness. He couldn't help but think that if his friend was here now, he would be proud.

He stayed there for just a few more minutes before standing back up, casually dusting off his clothes. He bid a silent farewell to the grave and he made his way back to the town closest to his home, he needed to restock the cupboard. After all, he hasn't had a chance to get groceries in four years, so most of the stuff that was left in the pantry was probably out dated.

The small town that usually bustled with activity, now seemed quiet. A small stream of people were wondering around the shops or waiting for the pubs to open. Australia thought that the lack of people might have had something to do with the looming economic crisis, people were moving to the larger cities to find work. While his home wasn't too much affected yet like his dad and the rest of Europe, he knew it would only be a matter of time until it reached him and Zea.

Australia causally strolled down each aisle, only stopping once he found something that he needed to get. Normally he liked to just walk in, pay for the things he wanted and then head straight home. But he found himself not minding taking a slower pace, it was the small things like this that he missed when he was at war.

The sound of a child's voice broke Australia from his thoughts, "Mummy look at that man's nose, it's got a huge scar! Do you think he got it in the war?"

Australia turned to the side to see a little boy no more than the age of six staring at him in awe. Australia felt a slight heat creep up to his face in the embarrassment of his scar being pointed out yet again. He knew that the little ankle biter was only just curious and meant well, so it wasn't his fault.

"Shush! It's very rude to point," The mother scolded her young child and tried to usher him along. She then turned her attention to Australia and sent him a very embarrassed smile, "I'm so sorry,"

She sent him a sympathetic look and Australia just smiled and waved her apology off. It wasn't the kids fault, it was a huge scar.

Maybe Australia should have taken England up on that offer to conceal his scar with magic. He lost count of all the glances and comments he received about it. It was all the same, they would look at him with sympathetic eyes and then ask a million questions about how he got it, it was exhausting. Not to mention that the scar made it obvious who he was, which he knew would make keeping up his human appearances difficult in the years down the track.

But the other nations were the worst! They would give him that same look and would comment on how it was such a shame that a 'nation as young as he was had to experience war and end up with injuries like that, that would last as a constant reminder.'

Why did his age always get brought up in conversations with the other nations? At least he wasn't the youngest out of them.

Shaking his head to rid himself of those thoughts he took his things up to the counter. As the man was ringing up his groceries, an item for sale near the register caught Australia's eye.

"That's our new item, straight from America," The man said, "The band-aids are pretty popular so we have a good sale on them at the moment, if you were interested?"

Australia's green eyes lit up with an idea, he turned back to the salesperson, "Yeah chuck a packet in then, ta."

XxxxXxxx

Australia pushed the door open as he juggled with the bags in his arms. Steve ran inside and pounced straight for the couch to stretch out and have his afternoon nap. Australia just laughed as he placed the grocery bags on the counter, his furry friend really couldn't an hour without wanting to fall asleep.

Australia dug around in one of the bags until he found what he was looking for. It was the small box of band-aids that he had bought last minute from the store. He decided to head into the bathroom first to test out his idea, what did he have to lose after all?

He went over to the mirror and pulled out one of the band-aids and peeled away the plastic. He leaned closer to the mirror to make sure that he didn't mess up or get the band-aid off centred. He gently placed the band-aid over the scar on his nose and smoothed it over.

The colour of the band-aid blended well with his skin tone, so it didn't stand out too much, but the best part was that it hid the scar well. It would at least stop people from looking at it, and offer some sort of protection if he accidently scratched or rubbed the scar in his sleep.

"Not too bad," Australia hummed out loud. He just might have to hold onto this look.

So now Australia finally has the band-aid that we all know and love. They were invented in America and then came over to Australia in the 1919s or 1920s, I can't really remember. The part with Ned Kelly was a last minute add in, I really wanted to do something that would make Australia reflect on the aspect of feeling like he failed to protect his people and then no wanting to make the same mistake during the war. Well we all know what eventually comes after World War One, World War Two. But I wanted to do a couple of more light-hearted chapters before we get back into all that doom and gloom XD. But don't worry, we will get there soon.

Ta – An expression of thanks or gratitude.

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