Then

Ludwig didn't want to, but the Italian standing beside him had begged to meet his brother. Feliciano had declared that the idea of him not having met the Germans brother was unacceptable, pestering Ludwig until he finally relented to the request.

The two were standing in front of Gilbert's apartment, Feliciano hugging his arm and smiling brightly as Ludwig sighed and half glanced down at him. "You know it looks like we're dating right? I thought we were waiting until you told Lovino, you know Gilbert is friends with Antonio, right?"
"I know I know, I just like hugging your arm doitsu. It makes me feel safe~!" Feliciano murmured, his finger tracing Ludwig's arm causing a soft sigh of comfort to escape from him.

The sound of a deadbolt came from the door and Ludwig stiffened up, pulling his arm away from him as the door swung open quickly and a smiling albino came into the doorway. He could tell Feliciano wasn't very happy with how tense he was being, but at that moment he could only focus on his older brother squeezing him to death in front of him, his breath reeking of nothing but alcohol. "Ludwig! God you never come visit me!" Gilbert declared, his drunken gaze darting from Ludwig to Feliciano with a cocked eyebrow. "Who is this?"

"Well, this is, ah... Feliciano this is my brother Gilbert.." Ludwig announced, lifting his hand delicately towards Feliciano who giggled and sweetly held up his hand. "It's an honor, I've heard so much about you…"
"Wow Lud, first Roderich and now this pansy?" Gilbert asked, completely shutting up Feliciano and causing Ludwig to glance back at his brother in pure shock. Feliciano let go of Gilbert's hand, lowering it and averting his gaze from the Prussian man as Ludwig shoved his brother back. "How. DARE. YOU!" Ludwig immediately demanded, grabbing the front of Gilberts shirt and holding the smaller man up towards his face. "How dare you speak about Feliciano like that!"

"Listen, lil bro, I've heard stories about this kids brother, you definitely got the shittier deal by sticking with him," Gilbert responded as Ludwig threw his brother away. Feliciano called out Ludwig's name but the German couldn't hear him as he angrily followed Gilbert who was scrambling away from Ludwig, how dare his brother immediately assume that much about Feliciano. How dare he call Feliciano such names! Feliciano wasn't a pansy, he was the strongest man he knew!

Gilbert stood up and before Ludwig could take a swing at his brother there was a loud sound, one that Ludwig had heard multiple times within his life, not casually but mainly on the battlefield. His head swung around and he hurried towards Feliciano who had crumbled to the ground, holding his bleeding chest. Ludwig ducked down to help Feliciano but immediately jumped back when blood started to pour from Feliciano's mouth, tears forming in his eyes as a soft whisper filled his ears.

"Ludwig? Ludwig?"


Now

"Ludwig? Ludwig?"

Ludwig jolted upright in the car, his gaze darting around and glancing down at the smaller Italian girl beside him. Rosaline had a notebook open and was doing some work on their way to the World Summit, most likely some studying based on the scribblings in multiple pen colors she had on the well-used pages. She looked concerned, her blue pen tucked behind her ear and an eyebrow cocked quizzically as she stared up at him.

It had been nearly two months since Rosaline had talked with Lovino and since then she had gone to every single meeting that they had dutifully, it was decided last minute that she would announce her presence to the other nations at the monthly world summit in London, hopefully, to get her recognition approval. After boarding a non-stop flight to England Ludwig, Rosaline, and Kiku were heading mighty quickly towards the Churchhill Conference Room in the back of a short limo, both Ludwig and Kiku were dressed in black suits while Rosaline was dressed in a skirt and a nice blouse. Ludwig was excited that she was going with them and all but he was also extremely nervous, he wondered briefly in his mind how certain nations would react towards her as he fiddled with his fingers absentmindedly.

"We're getting close according to Kiku, also you were twitching in your sleep, I thought you were having a bad dream." He watched Rosaline pulled up her backpack, stuffing her notebook within as he rubbed the side of his face, giving her a half smile and chuckling.

She wasn't wrong though, his dreams about Feliciano dying were starting to bother him. What was Feliciano trying to tell him from the beyond? Was it him imagining everything? Survivors guilt from the war?

Why were these dreams starting to appear now? Did Rosaline's presence now cause all of this, and if so, why?

"Are you sleeping alright, Ludwig?" This time it was Kiku who caught Ludwig's attention, the German perking up from his thoughts and immediately nodding as his answer though Rosaline still scowled beside him. He knew she didn't believe him, the bags under his eyes proved it, but Kiku still held his tongue and Ludwig adjusted his tie once more. "Hopefully this will go quickly and painlessly, a lot of the nations have met you already so there should be no problem having you at the meeting."

"Oh, alright. Why would they have a problem with me?" He felt a small sense of dread at the question, his blue eyes immediately looking out the window and immediately cleared his throat. "No reason… we are here! Remember Rosaline, smile, be polite, and please try not to start any wars..."


"Don't start any wars, Rosaline, we don't want any trouble, Rosaline..." Rosaline growled in a mocking tone as she slipped out of the limo, flattening her skirt down and throwing her bag over her shoulder as she felt Kiku's gentle hand grasp her shoulder. "Don't take it personally, some of these nations are trigger happy, trust me. Now come, the meeting is about to begin."

Though Rosaline was still fuming about Ludwig's statement as she walked inside the conference room what she saw caused her to immediately stop, her mouth becoming agape as she stared. Within the center of the room was a table, a table larger than any table she had ever sat at in her life, over 195 chairs lined the table with little name tags in front of each space. Above the table was a ginormous chandelier, made of crystals, diamonds, and gold that glittered with the natural light coming from giant windows that lined the entire room. People were starting to notice her now, whispers floating about as she hurried after her group.

Lovino was already in his seat, he looked up to her and gave her a brief smile as he held up the tag for Northern Italy. "You ready? All we have to do is get you fully recognized by these idiots and then we can get started with business." he murmured to her as she slid into the chair beside him, she put on her name tag and glanced up when she felt a hand briefly on her shoulder. "Alfred!"
"Rosaline? What are you doing here?" Alfred looked fairly confused as he stared down at her, blue eyes brimming with questions and anxiety. He looked like he was about to question her further but the shout from Ludwig for everyone to become seated caused him to turn and walk off to his own chair, the meeting was about to begin!

"Before we get this meeting started a few housekeeping rules; Francis no heavy drinking or brawling with Arthur…" Rosaline glanced across the table to a blonde man who made a face while he sipped his wine, he caught her gaze and winked causing Rosaline to blush lightly and turn away.

"Ivan, any and all weapons MUST be kept in the hallway…" A tall, intimidating looking man stood a couple of chairs from the Frenchman, walking towards the hallway while removing a lot of things from his coat that Rosaline couldn't see but knew she didn't want to see.

"No attempting to sell anything to anyone. This includes food, beauty products, anything. Yao, I'm looking at you." Rosaline remembered Yao from the party, watching as the Chinese man shot Ludwig a nasty glare from beside the empty chair Ivan had once sat in. "I try to sell my chocolates just once and you get offended! Unacceptable!"
Ludwig seemed to ignore him, causing a small snicker from Rosaline as he continued on. "Let's be civil gents… and ladies. Alright, now that we got that out of the way-"

"Ludwig. Can you explain to the rest of the group why the Axis Powers has brought a human to this meeting?" Arthur was the first to pipe up, his eyes obviously staring down Rosaline who met his gaze back with a beating heart. Her gaze flickered to Ludwig who had briefly caught it before looking back to the table of nations. "That is the first order of business. This is Rosaline Vargas and we must do a vote of recognition for her to be the new representative of Northern Italy."

A minor uproar came from the other nations, Rosaline digging her nails into her thigh underneath the table as Arthur immediately stood up. "She? A nation? Ludwig, you are INSANE! She is a college student! A mere human!"
"Arthur!" Alfred pulled the other man down, his eyes continuing to stare her down as he gave her a small smile. "Let her plead her case."

Rosaline's eyes widened, her head snapping to Ludwig, plead her case?! She had to plead to become a nation?! What kind of fresh hell is this?!

She stood up, taking a shaky breath as her eyes glanced up and down the large table and the hundreds of pairs of eyes staring towards her. "It is true, my name is Rosaline Vargas and I am the next representative of Northern Italy… uh, I…" She stammered over her words but was immediately shut up by a certain Frenchman who stood up. "She cannot even defend her case, how can this silly little girl defend her country? Leave it to Lovino, he knows what he's doing!"
"Shut up you fucking frog!" Lovino hissed as he stood, immediately slamming a fist on the table that was restrained by Antonio who held him back from launching himself at Francis. Nations started to yell back and forth, some for and some against the notion of Rosaline become a nation. It was pure chaos.

Rosaline just stared for a few moments at Francis, her once nervous gaze becoming one of smoldering hatred and anger. She could feel Kiku's hand trying to pull her down but her fist hit the table and a loud "SHUT UP!" echoed from her causing everyone, even Ludwig to stop and stare at her. She pushed her chair back, walking up to the head of the table where Ludwig immediately backed off. She grabbed hold of the podium and jabbed a finger in Francis' direction.
"I am NOT some silly little fucking girl, I'm not some nieve human who wants to play some sick game of god for a day. I was CHOSEN by Ancient Rome himself for this task, RAISED by him to rise up to my duties. This is still all strange to me so I'm fucking sorry if I can't automatically say what I'm feeling at this moment, or that I don't have anything planned because I honestly don't know what the fuck I'm doing. "I may not be knowledgeable about trade or negotiations as you all are, it's a fault of mine and I'm aware. But you better sit the fuck back down Francis Bonnefoy if you believe that I can't do this fucking job because I am a "silly little girl"! Or because you believe I am a human! Because this silly little fucking girl isn't afraid to start a war on your fucking ass, and we all know how that has gone for France in recent years now do we."

The room got silent as they stared at Rosaline, both Ludwig and Francis were pale to the face as Rosaline took a deep breath and smiled towards the other nations. "I guess you could call that my case, thank you."


The color had drained from Ludwig's face as he stared at Rosaline in pure astonishment, the girl had walked away from the podium and was now perched back again next to her brother.

The last time someone had given that kind of an argumentative speech a world war was started, and the last thing they needed at that moment was another war.

He cleared his throat to speak, to get rid of the dangerous silence when laughter erupted from none other than Francis himself. The Frenchman nearly fell over his chair, wiping away tears as he smiled across the table at the Italian girl. "I haven't been told off that hard in years, not even Arthur's useless threats have caused me that much fear in such a long time! She has the soul and the language of a true Italian, Rosaline, I have truly underestimated you and your abilities. Please accept my deepest apologies, my love. You have my vote to be recognized, we need more spirit and feistiness like you in these parts. "

A murmur of approval rang through the other nations, Ludwig looking along the table in almost near shock as he met Rosaline's determined looking gaze from where she stood, holding her brothers hand firmly. His heart skipped a beat, a smile slowly forming on his face as he gazed over the sea of nations. "Alright then, so we all know how this is done. We will have a show of hands on whether or not Rosaline be added among our ranks. Please, raise your hand if you'd like her to be completely recognized as a nation."

Ludwig's heart swelled in delight as one by one nations raised their hands in favor of Rosaline, there were a few hands that were not raised near the end of the table but the majority had ruled. Rosaline was fully recognized as a nation.

"Perfect. Welcome to our ranks, Rosaline. Now we can get started with our meeting, finally…"

By the end of the reception, Rosaline was absolutely exhausted, she had introduced herself and shook hands with nearly every nation in attendance that day. Francis had come up to her after the summit was over and she did apologize briefly for threatening war against him but the Frenchman only laughed, having her promise him a coffee date or two once they returned home from the summit.

She was happy to see Alfred who ran up and swung her around with laughs of pure joy, he seemed more excited than she did that she was a nation before scolding her for not telling him sooner. "I knew there was something different about you the moment you walked into my house, I should have known the secret was this!" He declared to her, both having their arms wrapped around each other as she noticed Ludwig approach them from behind. She let go of Alfred, promising briefly to talk with him more once they were home before walking to Ludwig with a faint smile on her face. "Listen, I know you said not to start any wars but I think it worked out great huh?"

"That was the most reckless thing you could have ever done… but I'm proud of you for being so bold in front of them, sometimes they need a slap in the face like that…" Ludwig gave her a half smile and Rosaline squealed in delight as she wrapped her arms around Ludwig's neck.

"Thanks, Ludwig, it means a lot of me to hear you say that, considering nearly a month ago I cursed in your face into the dust and slapped you. Sorry for that by the way…" She gave him a small smile and looked over as Lovino called her name. "Goodness! I almost forgot! We were going to go out for lunch, wanna join us, Ludwig?" She immediately demanded, grabbing his hand and pulling him along with a laugh escaping from her. "Now that we're in England I can legally drink and boy am I excited!"

She could feel Ludwig's gaze as he followed, it burned into her back and caused the faint blush to continue across her cheeks as she let him go, launching herself into Lovino's arms and causing him to complain loudly. Rosaline couldn't be happier at that moment, she was surrounded by the people she loved. Nothing could change that


The plane ride back had been fairly peaceful, Arthur had arranged them with a private jet in order for them to avoid the crazy international flights which Rosaline was grateful for, he called it a welcoming gift and another apology on behalf of Francis.

The ride home was uneventful but the moment she reached soil she knew she was in trouble, only being gone for two days Rosaline hadn't had even thought of getting phone service while abroad but once home her phone was flooded by texts, voicemails, and missed calls from both Monika and Saki.

She cursed herself slightly but pocketed her phone when Ludwig called her to the car, she would see them within a couple of hours, how bad was it if they waited a few more hours?

Once back at the house she knew she had fucked up, while Saki came over and immediately hugged her it was Monika who stood up, glaring daggers at Rosaline. "You fucking leave the country for two days and decide not to tell us?!"

"How did you…"

"We saw Mr. Jones had returned, we voiced our concern and he said you went to some meeting for your major in England?! Rosaline, were you ever going to fucking tell us about that, we were worried sick when you didn't come home!" Monika walked over, pulling Saki away as Rosaline stepped forward to meet her.

"I'm sorry, it's important business and I didn't have time to get a phone plan…"

"More important than your friends?! Rosaline, we haven't seen you in months! You're either doing homework or just gone in general!" Monika accused, stepping closer and getting into Rosaline's face. Saki tried getting between the two of them but was unsuccessful as Rosaline stared toward Monika in pure shock, how dare she speak to her like this?. "Can you please tell us what the fuck is going on here?! Why you've decided to stop being our friend?!"

"Monika… please…" Saki whispered out but Rosaline softly patted her shoulder, trying to comfort the girl.

"Saki, Monika, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my trip to England." Rosaline backed off slightly, "I'm not trying to avoid you, I'm truly not, there's just a lot of stress in my life right now… I…" her voice faded at the glances Saki and Monika gave her.

How on earth was she supposed to explain to them what had happened the past months?! How on earth was she supposed to tell them who she was?! They would think she was crazy!

"We're waiting," Monika stated, Saki shoving her as Rosaline returned her gaze to her once more. "I got an internship at World Tower, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone… I'm sorry for keeping it from you both, I've been a terrible friend and I'm going to try harder…"
Saki ran up to give Rosaline a hug but Rosaline watched as Monika stepped back, the glint of anger not disappearing as she turned on her heels and walked into her room. "You've fucked up Rosaline, don't fucking speak to me until you are ready to stop being a lying bitch." Saki turned and followed, going to comfort Monika as Rosaline took the opportunity to escape into her room. She could hear Monika yelling at Saki, Monika knew there was more to the story and was absolutely pissed that Rosaline was lying about it.

Hot tears formed in her eyes as Rosaline sat down on her bed, curling up in a ball and hugging one of her throw pillows. She couldn't tell them, she was scared of losing her best friends because of this whole nation thing, she needed them to keep her sanity in check.

She felt her phone vibrate, a text from Ludwig telling her he made it to his apartment, with tears still streaming down her face she texted back a simple 'Awesome! Sleep Well! See you tomorrow!' and placed a couple of heart emojis behind it. She placed her phone face down on the nightstand, curling up to quietly cry into the pillow she was clutching. The sounds of Saki and Monika leaving the house together to get dinner coming from the living room and the sounds of Ludwig calling her causing her to sob even more, she felt like she was living two completely separate lives and she hated it.


Ludwig called for the third time, laying on his own bed with his hand carefully petting the top of Noodles' head. He could just sense something was wrong with Rosaline, the way she was so short and curt with the text message causing him to stress and worry. Did he say something during the past two days? Maybe something happened with one of the other nations? If Francis touched a single hair on her head…

He let his phone drop to the bed, laying back and staring up at the ceiling with a confused look on his face. Why did he get so angry just then? Why was he feeling that way?

Gilbert had poked his head in to announce dinner was ready but a glare from Ludwig caused him to disappear off, Ludwig picked up his phone once more and tried calling Rosaline again with no luck.

Why was he so worried about her?


Hi friends!

The new update is here! I hope you all are having a fantastic week, I decided to procrastinate more instead of writing a research paper I have due on Friday, yikes!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this new chapter! Please Like, Favorite, Follow, Review, and Share with your friends!

Hasta-la-pasta~!

-Daiz