Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Indtralia: Gorgeous Snakes

Jett was part of an exploration party, searching for the fabled Temple of Repiv. There was supposedly a gorgeous treasure inside, but the place was guarded by some sort of monster. Jett didn't believe in the monster, and he definitely didn't care about the treasure. What he was interested in was…

"Gyaa!" one of the others, Arthur, exclaimed. "Snake!"

Jett quickly turned to Arthur, noting the tail of the large snake wrapped around his shoulders. Arthur was struggling, and the snake was tightening its coils.

"Stop moving," Jett said calmly.

Arthur looked at Jett incredulously, but thankfully stopped moving. Jett walked over towards Arthur, running his hands over the snake's body.

"She's still digesting her last meal," Jett said. "So, I guess you startled her, and so she responded accordingly." He looked up into the tree. "I'm guessing that she was lounging in that tree and slipped a bit, and then ended up on you."

"Great," Arthur said sarcastically. "Could you get it off me?"

Jett rolled his eyes, before calmly stroking the snake. He could feel the snake loosening her coils, and he pulled her off of Arthur, before placing the tail back into the tree, noticing that the snake was watching him.

Jett loved snakes. That was the whole reason why he came. This jungle was notorious for its snake population, venomous and otherwise. He was also an expert on snakes. He knew how to handle them. And he carried a lot of antivenom, and knew how to get the constrictor types to release their intended victim.

He had already warned them to watch their steps, as many snakes liked to lounge on the ground. Some of them would move to avoid them, though if they were to step on one of them, then the snake was justified in trying to attack them.

Jett could see the others looking nervously around them, and he looked back once more to see the beauty in the tree. He would like to see more of them.

…

He was lounging in his home, when his children whispered into his ear. He forced himself upright, before making his way to the entrance. He hissed in displeasure.

His children had told him that there were humans in his jungle. Disrespectful invaders. Wherever humans went, they only caused trouble. They destroyed everything they came in contact with.

They would have to be disposed of.

…

They were camping for the night, and Jett was the only one not inside the tent at this time. He had volunteered for the first shift of guard duty to make sure that none of the snakes attacked.

He heard movement from behind him and turned, seeing a snake like the one that had scared Arthur earlier. He wasn't sure if it was the same one, or a different one.

"Hi there, beautiful," Jett whispered, smiling fondly.

The snake leaned closer to him, and he took the opportunity to stroke her scales. He could see in her eyes that she was intelligent, and that she wouldn't attack unless provoked.

She gently wrapped her coils around his arm, and he could sense no hostility from her. He smiled.

The snake stayed with him for a while, before finally slithering off. He couldn't help but notice her speed, and wished that he knew what type of snake she was. She wasn't familiar to him. And he knew a lot about snakes.

…

He frowned. Some of his children had told him that the humans had one among them with a sympathy for their kind. One with a gentle heart.

He found that very hard to believe. He had seen humans destroy everything they came into contact with for a few centuries. Like the rest of his kind.

He sighed. He was the last of the nagas. And he was rather lonely. He had the snakes for company, but it wasn't the same. He didn't realise it, but he craved genuine company.

Raj shook his head. The humans were his top priority. He needed to get rid of them.

…

"We're finally here," Alfred said, smiling as he held the map.

Jett looked up at the temple. Finally, they had reached their destination. A part of him was a bit disappointed, to be honest. He hoped to spend a little longer in the jungle.

The group rested for a while, before starting their ascent up the stairs. Once there, they took their first cautious steps inside the temple.

Jett looked around, immediately noting the inscriptions on the walls. He brought out his flashlight as he approached the wall, cocking his head to the side.

It would seem that snakes had a large role to play in the culture of the people that built the temple. There were many depictions of snakes, along with texts in a language that Jett wasn't even going to try to decipher. And what attracted his attention the most was…

"Hey, we're going to go on ahead," Alfred said, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Sure," Jett said, waving them off.

He knew that they were searching for treasure, or perhaps any relic of archaeological value. Jett honestly couldn't care less about that. He was more interested in what the images on the walls depicted.

Some of these appear to be creatures with the upper body of a human, but the lower body of a snake. There was no other human figure on these walls. Could it perhaps be a deity? If so, then snakes were probably sacred.

"Hey," he called out, turning to see that none of the others were there anymore. "Never mind…"

He turned back to the wall, looking carefully at the inscriptions, when he heard movement behind him. He turned around, attention immediately going to the ground, where he saw a few snakes lingering, looking up towards him. Though, he noticed that they didn't look poised to strike.

He sensed movement again, and he looked upwards, flashlight following. He first saw what looked like the largest snake tail he ever saw, before seeing what looked like a human torso. The flashlight's beam landed on a human face, twisted in a snarl. The owner hissed, and the snakes moved on the ground. But as Jett's eyes scanned the creature up and down, only one word came to mind.

"Beautiful," Jett whispered.

The creature seemed to falter, its – no, his – expression falling for a moment, before the snarl returned.

"Leave," the creature snarled. "Your kind are not welcome here."

There was only one thing Jett could think of.

"You speak English?" he asked.

The creature didn't respond, merely hissing in reply and raising himself up. Jett knew that he was trying to look intimidating. Whether or not he was ready to attack, Jett wasn't quite sure.

He felt movement at his ankle, and he looked down to see the snake that had scared Arthur a few days ago. She raised herself up, before starting to coil around Jett's leg.

The snake-man's eyes narrowed, watching the snake coiling around Jett's leg. Some of the hostility seemed to have disappeared.

"Strange," the snake-man said. "She seems quite fond of you." He looked back to Jett's eyes. "My children told me that one of you humans has the sympathy for our kind. Is it you?"

Jett stared for a moment, before he shrugged.

"I really like snakes," Jett said. "You… What exactly are you? And what's your name? I'm Jett."

The snake-man was silent for a moment.

"Why did you come here?" he asked.

"Well, the others were looking for some sort of treasure hidden in this temple," Jett said. "I just came to see the snakes. And to keep everyone alive."

"You mean, the other humans."

"Humans and snakes."

The snake-man shook his head in disgust.

"Humans don't care for other species," he said. "You do nothing but destroy. And that's all you're going to do here now."

Jett grew sorrowful, and his expression reflected that.

"…You're the last of your kind, aren't you?" Jett asked.

The snake-man tensed, hissing in anger.

"And whose fault do you think it is?!" he snarled.

Jett didn't have to guess. He could tell the moment the realisation hit him.

"It's horrible," Jett said, taking a step closer. "To have something so magnificent so close to extinction."

"What are you doing?" the snake-man demanded, inching back a little.

Jett didn't answer, merely moving closer. He noticed that the snakes were giving him room, and it looked like the creature in front of him noticed this too, for he looked very unsure.

Jett stopped right in front of the snake-man, reaching out a hand. The creature shrank back a little, hissing as Jett placed a gentle hand on the place where skin met scales. The contrast was fascinating, but he had more important things to worry about.

"It's true that humans can be quite ignorant of the environment," Jett said. "And that many of them only bring destruction. But there are those of us who care as well. I love snakes. They're strong, beautiful creatures. I'm doing my best back home to make sure they don't die out, and I'm also trying to raise awareness among humans." Jett stroked the skin, noticing the way the snake-man twitched. "Does it hurt when I do this?"

"N-no," the snake-man stuttered. "It just… I…"

Jett smiled.

"You still didn't tell me your name," he said.

The snake-man was silent for a moment.

"R-Raj…"

…

Raj was very confused. He still didn't quite understand what was going on. And it had been a few days now.

Jett had managed to arrange that neither humans nor snakes harmed each other, and managed to convince the other humans to leave. Raj had been sure that the humans – greedy creatures that they were – would ignore him, but Jett could be very convincing, especially since many of the snakes were willing to help him.

But Jett…

Raj looked down at the centre of his coils, where Jett was sleeping. For some reason, Jett found it very comforting. And his children seemed to like him as well.

Raj still wasn't sure about Jett, especially since he chose to stay. But… Well, he would admit that having company other than snakes was rather nice.

The prompt is: 'Imagine that person A is a gorgon/naga, and person B is a regular human who really, REALLY likes snakes. They somehow meet, and person A is surprised at how curious B is to learn more about them, instead of being frightened of them as people usually are.'

We all know that Australia would totally be like this when confronted with a naga. Though, I kind of imagined him running his hand over the scales the whole time.