Flowers of Red, White, and Blue

by EgyptianRatScrew

"How many times do I have to explain this to you? My name is Alfred. F. Jones, not America. I am not a country for it is impossible to be a country!" America has been missing for ten years, and he is finally found by the G8 in 2022. It turns out that he has lost his memory and has been living as a human all this time. Can the G8 help him remember who he really is?

21. What does it mean?

We were completely stunned by America's response and the room fell into a heavy silence, "Until we can do that, nothing is going to work." With that I side stepped as America pushed past us and exited into the hallway. The door slammed closed and we were left standing in America's master bedroom.

"Great job Britain," France muttered.

Britain glared at the French country, "Are you really trying to blame this all on me?"

"Well you were the one who wanted to leave America in the first place," Romano said.

The Englishman stared at Romano in disbelief, "You sided with me last night! Also you were the one who told him about it!"

Romano shook his head, "He already knew."

"What do you mean he already knew?" Germany asked.

"What do you think I mean, Potato bastard? When I told him about it, he thanked me and told me that what I said was all he needed to know. He suspected it, he just wanted me to clarify." The grumpy Italian rubbed his back, "that hurt too, did he really have to drag me out of the bed?"

"Somebody should go check on America, da?" I asked. We were all arguing about whose fault it was for upsetting America, yet nobody was going to check on him.

The group of countries paused, "Russia's right, one of us should check on him."

"I'll do it!" I volunteered.

France shook his head and I frowned at his reaction, "I do not think that would be good. You almost got into a fist fight with him just yesterday."

I laughed, "That was a whole day ago, weren't you the one to say that 'the sun will come up tomorrow, starting a brand new day?' Today is a new day, so he shouldn't be that mad about it. Anyway I believe that I know a little blonde country who made him more mad than I ever could," I said eyeing Britain.

"I'm not sure how anybody as creepy as you is going to cheer America up," Prussia muttered.

"I am just going to check on him, not cheer him up. Now why don't you just go fall through some ice, Prussia." Prussia glared at me, and I just gave him an innocent smile in return. "I will be going now." I opened the door, and left the rest of the countries to search for the conflicted American. I stared down both sides of the hallway, "Left or right?" I asked out loud. I hummed as I stopped to think, "Well, right was always America's favorite side, but Alfred spent a lot of time in Europe, so... left?" My footsteps echoed down the hallway as I walked calmly down the hallway. The main hallway was very wide and long, I had to squint to see the end of the hallway. It was very decorative also. The walls were covered in fancy wallpaper, and beautiful paintings. I had to stop walking a couple of times to admire the items on the wall. Above my head, was a very large and expensive chandelier, it looked brand new, and decades old at the same time. I could see my reflection in the polished wood and the tan rug that I was walking towards looked handmade. Everything was just so detailed; I couldn't even guess how long this house took for America to build. Even the doorknobs looked hand-crafted. I continued walking straight after coming across the wide stair case that lead to the main hallway downstairs. I wasn't really sure where I was going, but if I got lost I could always turn around and search for America's bedroom again. I was only walking in a straight line, so I probably wouldn't get lost anyway.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

I stopped in my tracks as I suddenly heard this rapid pounding.

"What? Wait!" I heard America yell through the door to my left. I yanked the door open and entered what looked like a gym. America was staring blankly at the punching bag he was punching in the center of the room. He stopped and now glared at the bag, he stood there, frozen for a minute, then shook his head in confusion, "THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!" America yelled. In one quick move, America jumped in the air and kicked the punching bag with all of the strength he could muster. A loud crash could be heard as the metal chain the punching bag was hanging on broke away from the ceiling. America took a step back from shock as the heavy bag plopped onto the gray matt with a loud thump.

America breathed heavily as he stared at the bag in confusion, he looked lost. "What doesn't make any sense?" I asked.

America let out a loud gasp and his head whipped to my direction. He obviously didn't notice I was there before. He stared at me like I was about to run him over with a car, then he shook his head and tried to control himself. His sky blue eyes gave me a hard glare and he crossed his arms over his chest, "What are you doing here? Are you trying to reenact the Cold War again?"

I shook my head and gave him a playful smile, "Are you talking about what happened between us yesterday? That wouldn't have even been considered as a friendly greeting during the cold war. Now what doesn't make sense?"

"My life," America said bluntly. America walked across the gray matt and moved to pick up the punching bag. With one quick heave, he picked up the bag and rested it over his shoulder as he made his way back to the center of the room. His face was red and sweat was dripping from his forehead. He started gasping for air as he found it harder to walk in a straight line. America swayed left and right and soon lost grip of the punching back. It slammed onto the floor, and America soon followed the bag's actions. I walked in his direction as he fell to his knees.

"You should not be doing so much in your health condition." I picked up the punching bag with no problem and connected it to the ceiling. I glanced down at America, he was now sitting on the floor and rolling up one of his pant leg. "What are you doing?" America rolled his pant leg above his knee, revealing red, skidded skin that was starting to bleed. I stared at him worryingly, "When did you damage your knee like that?"

"I must have scrapped them when I hit the ground," America grunted as he tried to push himself to his feet. I narrowed my eyes as I watched him get up. He was on a matt, he couldn't have possibly skinned his knees when he just fell to the ground. He knew that I knew that too, for he didn't give me much time to question it and quickly changed the subject. "So are you all willing to work with me? 'Cause I can't really do this alone and neither can you."

I nodded, the other countries were probably already arguing about it, but everybody knew how the argument would end. We were going to work with him no matter what. "Definitely, we will help you."

America limped towards the hallway and opened the door, "Good, I am sick and tired of this battle being fought without me." I followed him out of the gym and closed the door behind me. "So where are the others?"

"They are still in your room, most likely arguing about something."

America shook his head, "That's not my room."

I nodded, "I know, we all do. You are in his body so you can't really blame us for referring to you as America. He might have lost his memory, but the rest of us remember America like we just saw him yesterday. It's hard for us to see you, and know that you are not America."

"Well I can't really help you there," America muttered. The hallway fell into an uncomfortable silence.

"How about we go and make some breakfast?" I asked.

America's eyes lit up instantly, "Finally! I thought that I was never going to eat again!" Once we reached the staircase, I started walking down the wide steps. As I was descending the staircase, America decided to sit on the railing and slide down. I yanked my hand off of the railing as America's body when flying past me. He stumbled backwards as he clumsily hit the ground. I chuckled as he slammed against the wall and grabbed a candle holder attached to it to catch himself. America looked at me, noticing that he had an audience. He blushed and let out a nervous laugh, "well we should be heading to the kitchen now."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "You don't want to do anymore tricks on the way? How about a cartwheel, or a front flip?"

America's blush deepened and he turned away from me to hide his face, "No."

I laughed, "If you say so, that was impressive though. My favorite part was when you slammed into the wall and almost took down that candle holder, that takes a great amount of talent."

"Russia, stop." America muttered in annoyance. He walked into the kitchen and I followed him closely. He took out a coffee pot and started to make a pot of coffee, "We might as well start with a pot of coffee, after all I don't know anybody who wouldn't want that in the morning."

I shrugged, "I usually prefer vodka."

America paused and raised an eyebrow, "In the morning?"

"Da. Anyway, what are we going to cook for breakfast?"

America paused to think about it for a minute, then he opened the pantry, and took out a can of beans, "How about an Aussi Fry-up?"

"A what?"

"An Aussi Fry-up. It's pretty much just a normal breakfast, only with haricot beans." America opened the fridge, and tossed a package of bacon at me, "You can make the bacon."

"When did you go to Australia?" I asked as I took out a pan.

"Australia? That was years ago," America said as he started opening the beans with a can opener.

"For an amnesic nation, you sure have a good memory."

"Yeah, I can't remember who I was, yet I can remember what I had for breakfast in Australia," America spat.

"You went to 115 countries, da?" I asked.

America gave me a questioning look, then glared at me, "Right, I almost forgot that you stole my letter."

The bacon sizzled as I put it on the pan, "So what was your first memory?"

America paused as he was pouring the canned beans into a pan, "My first memory?"

I nodded, "What was the very first thing that you remember?"

The blonde nation paused for a moment and shut his eyes tightly, "I... was in the woods, I never knew why, I was covered in dirt, and I was in deep pain."

"What kind of pain?"

America crossed his arms and stared at the ground, "I don't want to talk about it."

"What kind of pain?" I asked again. "Tell me, it could help you."

"I don't see how it can help me, it was a very long time ago, and I don't want to talk about it."

"Just tell me, maybe it could help us identify the reason that you lost your memory."

"I don't want to talk about it," America said more defensively.

"Why not?"

"I JUST DON'T!" The American burst out. Everything went silent until the only thing I could hear was the bacon sizzling on the pan. America glared at the ground, his eyes were glossy and he wore a hurt expression. He let out a deep sigh and stirred the baked beans a bit with a wooden spoon. "It just hurt, everything hurt, I don't want to think about it because whenever I do, I can feel it."

I nodded, "I understand." I knew that type of pain. There were points in my history that I couldn't think about because of the pain I felt. It felt like I was reliving the pain every time I thought about it. It was not the type of pain that was directed to you, but you felt it anyway. It was the pain of your people, or your land. That kind of pain, was the worst of them all. "So... what happened after you got out of the woods?"

America shrugged, "You read the letter, I just started traveling."

"Oh," I flipped over the pieces of bacon and glanced over at the American. He turned off his side of the gas stove and continued to stir the beans. He then left the pan, and got out a large pile of plates from the cupboard. He then placed coffee mugs on the counter and started filling them with coffee. "The bacon looks done, now what do I do?"

America opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of eggs. "Take a plate and cover it in paper towels," I nodded and grabbed a roll of paper towels. Once I placed them on a plate, America emptied the pan of bacon onto it. "That should be enough bacon for them all, now I am just going to make some eggs." I watched him as he cracked the eggs open. It was weird being with this America. He wasn't as loud and obnoxious as the America I was always use to. It wasn't exactly a bad thing, it was just... different. It was certainly better than no American at all. Every meeting was quieter than it should have been. Most ideas the G8 and the United Nations came up with were usually created by throwing down America's ideas and scolding Japan for agreeing with him. His plans were so bad that it usually gave the other countries confidence to share their opinion, because whatever they were going to say could not possibly be worse than what America said. Without America, not as many countries spoke out and we got less work done than before. America may have been an immature child, but for some reason whatever he did worked. America snapped his fingers, gaining my attention. "Earth to Russia, are you there?"

"Da, what is it?"

"I was asking you to set the table before you completely zoned out on me." America poured the eggs into the same pan that the bacon was formally in.

"Oh, I can do that." I picked up the pile of plates from the counter and started to exit the kitchen. Suddenly I stopped and turned back to America, "Wait, is this one of your tricks to-"

"No, I am not going on another kitchen raid."

I narrowed my eyes, "I'll believe you, but you are not going to eat for a whole week if I find out you are lying to me." With that I made my way to the dining room. The chairs were pushed out and the white table cloth was stained with coffee. This was probably the way that Alfred found out that we had a meeting last night.

I heard footsteps walking down the stairs and Canada entered the dining room. He paused as he stared at me, "Oh hello Russia, I didn't see you there. Aren't you supposed to be checking up on America?"

I nodded, "I already did, and I told him that we are now all working together. We are making breakfast, and I was just about to set the table."

Canada gave me a polite smile, "Then allow me to help you." The peaceful country tore the stained table cloth off of the table and folded it in his hands. I placed the stack of plates on one of the dining room chairs and started pushing them back in their place. Canada left the room for a moment, and then came back with a clean table cloth, "America kept an extra in the laundry room."

I chuckled, "He probably got an extra for when all of the grease from his burgers soaked into the table cloth."

Canada smiled as he neatly spread the table cloth over the table. "Even all this time, I still can't believe that America's house wasn't covered in burger wrappers."

"I still can't believe that this is America's home to begin with," I said.

Canada laughed, "I remember my shock when America first built this and invited me over to see it. This house didn't change that much, the only things that changed were the bathrooms, the laundry room, and the fact that this house now has electronics and proper lighting. I barely touched this house after America went missing, actually I was barely in this house to begin with. I only slept here when I had business with one of America's bosses. Even if I lived here for the whole ten years that America was missing, I still wouldn't have touched a thing."

"I would feel the same way if one of my sisters went missing like America did." I placed the plates in front of all the chairs. "So how do you know where everything in America's house is if you barely stayed here?"

"When I first heard about America's disappearance, I searched the whole house for any clues of where he could have went."

"Oh, then that explains how you found that room," I said.

America walked into the dining room carrying a tray of coffee mugs, "What room?"

"Apparently it was America's office, I found it completely trashed," Canada said.

America shook his head, "No it's not, I already found America's office, and it is definitely not trashed."

Canada gave him a questioning look, "The room with all of the paper scattered on the desk?" America nodded, "that's just his computer room."

"Then what office are you talking about?" America placed the coffee mugs on the table and started setting them in front of each plate.

"His professional office, it was where he got all of his paper work done."

"Does he have a room for everything? Seriously this house is a maze!"

I nodded in agreement, "It took me forever to find the bathroom."

"You mean that somebody knows where the bathroom is?" Prussia asked as he walked into the room, "I pissed near a tree because I couldn't find it!"

America laughed, "It's the third door on the left once you reach the stairs."

Prussia threw up his hands in victory, "Yes! I don't have to piss near a tree anymore!"

Japan chose that time to walk in and gave Prussia a disgusted look, "I don't even want to know what you were talking about."

"You came in at the right time Japan, Russia and I just finished breakfast," America said. He rushed out of the dining room just as the rest of the countries started to come down the stairs one by one.

"What are we having for breakfast?" Italy asked.

Romano sat down and took a sip of coffee, "I don't really care as long as we have coffee."

"I'd rather have tea," Britain said.

"Coffee is better," Romano muttered.

"Tea."

"Coffee."

"Tea."

"Coffee."

"BEER!" Prussia cut in.

"I agree with Prussia," Germany said.

"You're having coffee no matter what," America said while carrying a bunch of plates into the room. He quickly set the food onto the table and started pouring them onto each plate at the table.

"Yay! Let's eat!" Italy cheered.

We all sat around the table and began eating. America practically inhaled his food, while everybody else ate normally. "So since we all agreed to work together and everything, now what?" Prussia asked.

America paused, "I guess that we should go over everything we know so far."

"What do you mean?" Italy asked.

America shrugged, "We share all of the information we have gathered, and see if we can draw any conclusions."

"How about we go around the table?" Britain asked. Everybody nodded in agreement. "I'll go first then since I found America first. I found America the day after the ten year anniversary of America's disappearance..."

One by one, we gave off every detail we knew about the situation. We described our opinions, the time, date, and event of everything that happened since America was found. Just when it was believed that we said it all, Japan stopped America when he was describing pulling Romano off of the bed this morning. "Why do I feel like we are leaving something out?"

"What do you mean?" Canada asked.

Japan shook his head, "I'm not sure, but it seems like we are forgetting something."

Suddenly America's eyes lit up, "The flower," he said in a barely auditable voice.

"What?"

"The flower."

"Oh ya, when I checked up on you last night, you were muttering some shit about a flower." Prussia said while chewing the last piece of egg on his plate."

"What flower?" Germany asked.

America closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Alright, this is going to sound a little crazy. Ever since I fell asleep on the jet, I had this dream. At first it was a little strange and I didn't pay too much attention to it. Then I had it again, and again, ever since the jet, I have been having the same dream over and over again. It was no longer just strange. It was creepy, and so realistic. It was no longer just a dream, I have no idea what it is anymore, because I started seeing it when I was awake also. It always starts the same, but every time see it, something changes. I start out in a woodened area, one that was so dark that I couldn't see my own hand in front of my eyes. Then I start to see a bright light..."

As America started to get into more detail, we became more interested. He was able to describe everything like he was reliving it. He was able to repeat everything that this voice said to him. Japan started taking notes, and the rest of us were sitting at the edge of our seats, eyes wide and minds buzzing. "...After I examined my damaged knees, I glanced at the flower. Instead of the white rose I was expecting to see, I saw a dark blue rose that was covered in white sparkles. I pointed out how roses are not naturally blue. Then the voice's exact words were, 'Well roses don't usually glow or change color in nature either. You have reached your destination; I believe that this is goodbye, Alfred.' I tried to call out to it, but I regained my voice. The vision instantly faded away, and I was once again in the gym."

"That was when I walked in," I murmured.

America nodded, "I-I just don't know what it means!"

Britain tapped his lips with his fingers in thought, "Well I know that a red rose can mean a lot of things. The shade of red you are talking about could mean either love, respect, courage, or passion, as I told you before. White roses could mean either purity, innocence, silence, secrecy, reverence, humility, or
youthfulness. Blue roses symbolize impossibility, and fantasy."

Canada shook his head, "I think that we aren't thinking deep enough. What about the color scheme? Isn't it a little weird how the colors of this rose just happened to change to the colors on America's flag?"

There was silence for a moment, "Was the flower trying to lead you to remember America?" I asked. "What did it mean when it said that you reached your destination?"

"I don't know," America said. "It didn't really lead me to any place special, I was just in some grassy area in the woods."

"The woods?"

"The woods."

"Didn't you say that the first thing you remember was you in the woods?"

America's eyes widened, "Yes."

"Let's say that this flower thing is trying to lead America to his memory," France said, "Why would it lead America to the first thing he remembered after he lost his memory?"

The room fell into a heavy silence, until Japan closed his note book, "I am not sure, but I will have to do some research on this." With that, Japan stood from his seat and left the room.

"Where did he go?" America asked.

Britain shrugged, "Apparently when Japan says that he has to do research, he means at that exact moment."

"Oh."

It took awhile for the table to fall back into a normal conversation with our minds now on this flower dream. A normal conversation soon turned into an argument between Britain and France, actually, by now we should have considered Britain and France arguing as normal. America watched them; well it looked as if he was watching France more. France noticed after America watched him intensely as he took a sip of his coffee, "what are you looking at?" He asked bemused.

America shrugged, "Just watching. By the way, how is the coffee? I made that cup specifically for you."

That caught everybody's attention as France quickly put down his coffee mug and stared at America wide eyed, "What did you do to it?"

America crossed his arms over his chest, "Ya know, Russia told me that I have a good memory for an amnesic nation, yet I cannot pinpoint exactly what I put in there."

France gasped, "Are you saying that you drugged me!?"

America shook his head, "No no, you got it all wrong. I didn't drug you yet. You will be drugged soon though, I'm not sure exactly when it is going to affect you. I think the description said about twenty minutes in you will be drugged."

France covered his mouth and jumped out of his seat, "Oh my god!" With that, France ran out of the room as America burst out laughing.

"What did you put in there?" Britain asked.

America wiped a tear that was forming at the corner of his eye, "That's the best part. I didn't put anything in there. I just wanted to scare the shit out of him like he did to me when I realized that I was drugged."

Prussia reached over the table and fist bumped America, "That was awesome!"

America laughed and got up from his seat, he started walking around the table and collected the empty plates. "Let me help you," Canada said as he collected the empty coffee mugs.

"Thank you Canada."

"Do you want me to help also?" I asked.

"No. Two people are enough for this job," Canada said. The canadian country sent me a look, let me spend time with my brother. I nodded and Canada smiled at me as he followed America out o the dining room.

Britain pushed out his chair and stood up, "I am going to help Japan with his research. I know a lot about roses so I could possibly be an assistance." He left the room and soon the others left too. I walked around the house aimlessly, thinking about this flower dream and trying to draw some conclusions. After all, I didn't have much to do. Suddenly, I saw France rush past me and open the door leading to the bathroom. I opened the bathroom door, to see France crouching over the toilet with his finger directed towards his mouth.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I said.

France glanced up at me, "Why not?"

"America didn't drug your coffee."

"What?"

"He just wanted to scare you."

France paused for a minute and stood up, "Cet américain stupide!"

I chuckled, "Actually, I would say that he is pretty smart."

The French country kicked the wall in frustration, "Oui, smart enough to scare me to death!"

"You did it to him first, and he didn't even drug you."

France sighed, "Well when he remembers, I am sure going to give him some scolding."

"So what's your opinion on this whole flower thing?" I asked as we walked down the hallway.

"Well it definitely is related to America, I can tell you that for sure."

I nodded, "I think that it is related to America's first memory also."

France shook his head, "once again, it wouldn't make much sense to lead him to his first memory."

"What about his last?" I asked. "If Alfred's first memory is in the woods, then wouldn't America's last memory be in the woods? Maybe that was where he lost his memory."

France stopped in his tracks, "That might be it. We should share our thoughts with Japan."

"Da, and since that I thought of it, you should all become one with me!"

France shivered, "How about no?"

I could feel a purple aura appear behind me, "It is not an option." I gave France a friendly smile, but he just walked faster towards the guest rooms.

"Let's just find Japan," he muttered.

XXX

Author's Note: I'm so sorry for taking so long to update this! I really meant to update sooner! I had a writer's block, it took a while to fight through it.

Alright so one of my many goals for this story was to have a chapter told by every main character's point of view at least once, and I have finally completed that goal. I gave you a point of view from Canada, America, Britain, France, Romano, Japan, Italy, Germany, Prussia, and Russia. Which one was your favorite, and which one was your least favorite? Please tell me why and how I could write the characters better in the future if you didn't like one POV in the reviews, or you could message me if you want to tell me privately.

Next chapter will be in Alfred/America's point of view. I might need some time to write the next chapter. We are reaching the climax and that will certainly be the longest chapter in the story. Don't worry; I will not leave you hanging as long as I did for this update!