Black Roses

Chapter 4

EU and NATO escorted America out of the meeting room and into the hallway. Most of the other countries had left, though some had been asked to stay. Apparently those who stayed were, old America's close friends, family, and those who had been invited to the party he was murdered at. Speaking of, to differentiate old America and new America they had been given nicknames. Old America had always gone by "Ame" but new America would go by "Rica". Rica kinda liked it, it would take some getting used to but that was to be expected.

"He's kind of a twink dontcha think?" NATO mumbled to EU, pointing to Rica.

"W-What?" He stuttered as the two organizations chuckled.

"NATO! Don't say that!" EU said, lightly punching the other in the shoulder.

"What! It's true is it not? See, look at this, this is total twink material." NATO said, lifting the front of Rica's shirt and pointing to his lack of body hair and muscles.

"NATO stop, leave the poor kid alone." EU Said, smacking NATO's hand.

"Aww c'mon, you know I'm only having a little fun." NATO teased.

"Well I suggest you have your 'fun' elsewhere." A voice said. The three turned to see a short man looking at them.

"Oh, hello ASEAN," NATO grumbled.

"What are you two doing here? Just standing in the middle of the hallway? I mean, you guys could at least do it in the office my god, no one wants to see your giant muscled NATO, we get that you have a v-line no need to show any lower than that." The short man grumbled.

"No we're actually just watching Rica-" EU was cut off by the smaller organization as he noticed Rica awkwardly standing behind them.

"The copy has arrived!" ASEAN said, quickly walking over to Rica and setting his handful of paperwork aside. He looked the North American country up and down, pulling and poking at him, almost like a grandparent looking at their grandkid who they hadn't seen in a while.

"Kinda pathetic honestly, I mean, I knew that he would be but I'm a but disappointed." ASEAN said, huffing and grabbing his paperwork, briskly walking away to wherever he was headed.

"That was kind of....rude...." Rica said, watching the short little organization disappear down the hallway.

"Don't worry, he's always like that, except when he's with the countries that made him. He's quite kind to them." EU explained. Rica nodded.

"I mean, that makes sense, they did make him after all." Rica said, then he paused and thought for a moment.

"Aren't you guys like...the same age as most of the countries that formed you?" He asked, pointing to the two with a confused expression.

"Well, we age differently than countries. While technically yes, we should be children or adolescents, we're adults because that's just how organizations age. We have very short, almost nonexistent childhoods and then we are adults." NATO said, shrugging.

"Oh...thats kinda weird." Rica mumbled.

"Kinda, but it's just the way things are." EU said, smiling.

Rica nodded, going back to zoning out as he waited for all the arguing within the office to stop.

— — —

"Just admit it China, we all know it was you." Philippines said, glaring at the red country with crossed arms.

"Phil, don't just blame him like that, we can't be for sure yet, there's not enough evidence-" Germany said, trying to reason with his friend.

"What do you mean there's not enough evidence!? Who else would it have been!? Ame and Chi have never been on great terms with each other, it's a wonder that he was even invited!" Phil yelled.

"It wasn't me! I swear! He and I were finally becoming friends!" China yelled, trying to reason.

"Calm down! Calm down!" UN said, he sighed in frustration. "We are not here to fight about who killed America, while China is the most suspicious, we still don't have enough evidence." UN said, looking around at everyone like a stern parent s holding their children. Phil huffed and rolled his eyes, earning a glare from UN and China.

"Yes, what UN said, we have all been asked to stay late to decide what we'll do with the new America, or Rica." France said in a calm manner.

"I'm not sure we should have him on his own yet, after all, he was only found last night. There is still much explaining to do." UK said, looking around at the other countries in the room as he held New Zealand in his lap. It was hard to look at honestly, she was still so young, and had always really looked up to her older brother. She quietly cried into her father's chest as he comfortingly rubbed her back.

"What if he came and stayed with us! Maybe we could get his memories back!" Australia said, the little boy had an excited smile on his face. The other adults gave him a sorrowful smile.

"Aussie, you know it doesn't work like that." France said, setting her hand on his shoulder. The boy frowned.

"But we could at least try?" Aussie asked, so desperately trying to find that his brother wasn't really gone.

"Maybe the boy has a point." Said Russia, who had been rather quiet. Everyone turned their head to the tall, well built country.

"Russia, please don't encourage him-" France started, before he cut her off.

"No, no, not like that. Our America is gone, and that's something we must accept. But what if we showed Rica things from Ame's childhood? Or things from the crime scene? What if we could get him to remember something about the murder?" Russia suggested. Everyone looked around at each other.

"Maybe that could work, if we could just get Rica to remember some details about Ame's murder then maybe we could find out who killed him?" Canada said, looking to UN. The tall winged man thought for a moment.

"That Just might work! Excellent idea Russia." UN said, smiling. He looked over to UK and France. "Is it alright if he stays with you? Maybe you could teach him a bit about his history too?" UN asked. The couple exchanged glances.

"I think we could arrange that, though we will need time to get a room ready for him, if someone could be with him until we are ready that'd be great." UK said.

"Mex and I could watch him until you are ready, after all we are the ones who found him, I think he trusts us the most." Russia said. Everyone nodded.

"We should also make sure Rica is okay with staying with us, and we should respect his decision if he isn't." Canada suggested.

"Pfft, who cares, he's barely been alive for a few days, he won't know." China said, rolling his eyes.

"Have some ethics, he does have feelings and a thinking mind like ours China." Germany grumbled.

UN nodded.

"So it's settled? Russia and Mexico will stay with him until UK ans France are ready."

— — — — —

Woah? Plastic updating a book? Impossible I know. But here I am.

Did some more prewriting today, and added the first bit of RusAme. So uh, if I don't forget to update or don't lose motivation you'll be seeing that soon.

Also, I think I mentioned this in FFH, it's okay to bother me if I'm not updating books. Don't be excessive though. But then again, I may ask you to stop nothing me. Idk man, we'll see if it gets me motivated or not. If it doesn't I'll ask you to stop & apologize for the conflicting information.

Anyways, time to go bury myself in a hobble once again.

Stay Safe & Have a lovely day because you deserve it ❤️