...

~(WMD)~

I know this chapter is so freaking late, I'm so sorry! Unforeseen occurrences totally occurred like they do. But, during my absence, I was able to keep writing, so I have quite the backup of chapters now. T.T

(In case you're confused. In this chapter and in future chapters - During the World Meetings the characters will be addressed by their country names when in the presence of the other nations. However in private discussions between two familiar characters, human names will be used to show their familiarity.) It seems appropriate IMO.

'Thoughts' "Speech"

-(SC)- = Scene Change

~(TS)~ = Time Skip

Warnings for - Australia's Paperball Boomerang, and PaperLarry's Unfortunate "Accident"

xXx xXx xXx

The Blame Game

'Where the bloody hell are they?' England wondered after checking his wristwatch for what may have been the twentieth time since he had arrived earlier that morning. It was now 10:20am and the host country along with the current superpower had yet to arrive, making them almost two and a half hours late. Not to mention the two Italies were also missing. This meeting had definitely not gotten off on the right foot, the heavy silence in the room was proof to it.

England released a quiet sigh as he peered over to the person next to him. France was also being uncharacteristically quiet as he worked on the annual schedule report they had all been asked to make, though England seriously doubted any of the information that was being offered was very accurate. From any of them. 'This entire meeting is a waste of time.' He grouched inside his head as he stared down at the nearly completed report he was working on.

The Englishman's gaze once again wandered from his paper and scanned over the activities of the other countries in the large room.

Germany, as he had been doing from almost the very moment he finished his morning speech, was still feverishly making corrections to the new schedule he was trying to create. Occasionally however, he would glance over to the empty chair to his left and frown before returning to his work. The chair on his right was also empty, though Prussia rarely attended these meetings anymore, even so, Germany always made sure there was a place for him. On the other side of the vacant Italian gap, Spain was ignoring his project completely as he tapped away on his green phone.

Greece was sound asleep as usual. In the place where his paper had been, an origami cat now stood, more than likely a cultural achievement taught to him by Japan. Turkey, who was sitting beside him, had already finished his report and was now in the process of flicking Greece's paper cat across the table with a grin on his face.

Austria and Hungary were pooling their efforts together to complete a single schedule report just like Sweden and Finland had done.

Norway was trying to help his brother, Iceland, who wasn't very happy about it, while on the other side of Norway, Denmark had stolen the Norwegian's finished report and was now comparing it with his own.

Belgium and Netherlands were also comparing their annual schedule reports.

Japan and Taiwan had finished their report quickly and were now sharing a tablet device between them as they watched something in silence. It seemed innocent enough. Though, their expressions were ..questionable. To say the least.

South Korea had climbed over his brother's empty chair in an attempt to initiate a game of table hockey with China, who was trying his hardest to ignore him as he finished his long and overly detailed but probably highly evasive annual schedule.

Russia had more than likely just finished his own report in much the same manner as his Chinese neighbor and was now simply sitting in his chair giving a faint but creepy smile at Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as they tried to ignore the tense vibes coming from the largest country in the world.

Poland was trying to distract Lithuania from his report as he pointed to certain things in a fashion magazine, while he himself had decided to ignore his own report entirely.

Sitting on the other side of Lithuania, Belarus was turned towards her sister, Ukraine, and was angrily erasing part of her sister's report, though Ukraine didn't really seem too upset by it as she patiently waited for her sister to finish.

Switzerland had finished his own report before everyone else and was now doing Lichtenstein's report, which was most likely identical to his own, for her while she stared out of one of the large nearby windows, daydreaming.

England sighed and took a glance to his left. Honk Kong had already finished his report and was now sitting with his arms crossed as he stared at the rest of the countries with a distinct sense of bordom. Beside him, Australia was doodling on the back of his finished report. Whatever he had drawn however, must have annoyed New Zealand because he immediately reached over and scribbled out Australia's drawing, much to the other's despair.

Another minute past before England dropped his pen onto his unfinished report and shot a glare at the two empty seats at the far end of the large oval table, where a small US and Canadian flag stood representing the countries that were supposed to be there at this moment.

'This is just rude.. I know I taught them the importance of being punctual! …For their sake, they had better have a very good explanation for this…' England thought darkly.

-(SC)-

"Noo…" Came a muffled whine from underneath a mound of covers on the floor. "We're sorry, Arthur… Please don't…"

Kumajiro tilted his head and frowned as he watched the blankets moved slightly as the person underneath changed his position. The small polar bear huffed when nothing more happened. He had been trying to wake his favorite person for nearly 5 minutes but all he was getting were weird muffled mumbles for his efforts.

With a small sigh of defeat, Kumajiro got up and padded around the bed and then sat down next to his favorite person's doppelganger. The teen had been pushed off the bed last night and was now sprawled facedown on the hardwood floor, while one of the newcomers was laid haphazardly across his back mumbling something about potatoes.

"Wake up." Kumajiro demanded as he reached out and tapped Alfred on the head, though not too gently due to his growing impatience. All he received was a pathetic whine and nothing more as the American too, refused to wake up. The small polar bear growled quietly in annoyance. He wanted his breakfast and he had been waiting long enough.

A small rectangular object half hidden by the nightstand caught his eye. It was the lost TV remote that he had used as a projectile the night before. After retrieving the remote, Kumajiro plopped down in front of the bed and skillfully pressed the red power button. The TV screen came to life and the cheerful voice of a weather lady spilled from the nearly muted speakers. The small bear wasted no time in turning the volume up to an unreasonable level.

A few minutes later, he was finally greeted with the first signs of life.

"Is that really the timeh…?" Came a sleepy voice from just behind Kumajiro. The small bear tilted his head back and spotted the other half of the pair of newcomers as he crawled over to the end of the bed for a better view of the TV. Two fluffy Ragamuffins accompanied him on either side. The newcomer's hazel eyes widened at the realization of how late it was.

"Mio Dio!" He gasped before sliding off the bed in a panic. "Svegliarsi, tutti! Siamo tardi!" He cried in alarm.

~(TS)~

"I'm so sorry we're late..!" Canada exclaimed quietly as he and his brother, along with the two Italies finally arrived through the large conference room doors.

"Do you know what time it is?!" England spat as he stood up from his chair to glare disapprovingly as his ex-colonies made their way to the other side of the room and took their seats.

"It's all America's fault!" Romano proclaimed as he pointed across the table angrily at the obviously guilty nation, once he and his brother had sat down in their designated seats as well.

America snapped his attention towards Romano and gaped indignantly. "How was it my fault?"

"Because ita was your stupid foot that got'eh tangled in the alarm clock cord." Romano frowned.

"Only because you pushed me out of bed!" America retorted.

"What were you doing in bed with my Romano?!" Spain gasped before the southern Italian could reply. All of the nations present were now sufficiently distracted and the once quiet room was quickly becoming much more lively.

"I didn't push you out of bed!" Romano grouched as he tried to shrug Spain off before gesturing over to his twin. "Veneziano did."

"Ita wasn't my fault!" Italy cried out defensively.

"Vat vere you doing in bed vis zat dummkopf?!" Germany demanded as he shot an accusing glare over to America.

"Waz it a menage a trois" France asked as he donned his signature 'French smirk'.

"Shut up, France!" England snapped as he directed his annoyance at his long time frenemy.

Canada sighed quietly before looking up to his twin. America was standing again and was now pointing directly at Romano, demanding an apology for being used as a pillow last night. The Canadian secretly laughed at this. If he would have known it was such a grievous offence, then he must owe his twin countless apologies. Canada was brought back from his thoughts when he felt something small collide with his head.

"Hey! Who threw a cat at Canadia?!" America asked loudly as he picked up the origami cat from the table in front of his brother. He then, without hesitation, crushed the paper creature in his hand as he shot an accusing frown across the table.

"Larry!" Greece cried as Turkey burst out laughing beside him at his expense. South Korea joined in as well, from a little ways down the table from them.

"Carm down, I'm sure it was just an accident. We can make another one." Japan said as he tried to reassure Greece.

New Zealand watched as Australia balled up his already finished report and then took aim. "Why ya laughing, mate? You look guilty. Are you the one that hit my bro?" He asked as he shot a frown across the table.

South Korea looked over to him and grinned, unperturbed by the threat. "Origami originated in me after all. Daze~" He proclaimed.

"That's a rie!" Japan cried as he stood up from his chair, momentarily abandoning his quiet and polite mannerisms making Taiwan laugh quietly beside him.

"South, dude. I thought we were buddies." America said as he looked over to his Korean friend in disbelief. A moment later a paper ball flew across the room and collided with the laughing Asian. It then took a hard right and successfully bounced off China's head before smacking Russia in the face. This was a feat only Australia could manage.

A heavy atmosphere of malice settled in on the room of nations.

With a sigh, England plopped back down into his chair and watched as the previously calm and quiet room erupted into chaos. 'And to think I was concerned that they weren't here.' He thought as he shook his head slightly in disappointment.

"Zat iz enough!" Germany bellowed after a few minutes of blatant disorder, he then stood up and slammed his hands onto the oval table, effectively getting everyone's attention. "Ve all came here to create a new schedule, not fight amongst ourselves. If you haven't completed zee report I ashked of you, zen I sink you should use zis time to finish before lunch, not vaste it like a bunch of children."

"I resent that, aru!" China retorted sulkily. Even so, he and all of the other nations eventually sat back down and the room once again became peaceful for a time.

~(TS)~

After finally finishing his report, France quietly laid his pen down on the table. He then took a quick peek at the English nation beside him and smirked as he noticed the grumpy look on his face. France let his eyes wander down to the report that England was still working on and held back a laugh as he stared at the extra messy handwriting.

'Oh, Angleterre. Nobody iz going to be able to read zat…' France secretly mused. In truth, he was probably the only other nation, aside from England himself, that could make out the messy scribbling. 'Somesing must be bozzering 'im..' France concluded with a slight frown, he then looked over to the probable cause and sighed. The North American twins had scooted their chairs closer together as they tried to work on separate reports, though they seemed hell-bent on distracting each other.

England hastily wrote the last bit of his report then added an overly forceful period at the end of the sentence before dropping his pen onto the now finished paper. The Englishman then turned his attention back to his two North American ex-colonies and let out a quiet sigh. America had taken his brother's report and was now augmenting it while the Canadian beside him tried to reclaim the paper before it was altered irreparably, a light blush was visibly apparent on his cheeks. Canada finally gave up and instead seized America's report with a quiet huff. He then leaned back in his chair and began reading it as he waited.

A frown slowly formed on England's face as he watched them. Not that he wanted to admit it, but the twins had obviously reconnected with each other over the span of the last century. He had always thought the two were a little too close back when they were his colonies, so when they had had an apparent falling out during the early 19th century, he was actually quite relieved. However, over the years, the two seemed to have patched things up and fallen back into their old ways.

England's eyebrows rose slightly when a thought occurred to him as he watched America. 'Maybe it has something to do with Alfred's memory.. Perhaps he simply doesn't remember why they had a falling out.' Worry once again took hold of England as he stared at the American. He still didn't know the extent of the problem or even what had caused it. The Englishman let his eyes slide over to Canada, who was now making his own adjustments to his brother's report. 'I need to find out what Matthew knows, I know he knows something…'

England made a mental note to do just that and then turned his gaze away from them, upon doing so he caught sight of the Italian twins across the table from him. He lifted an eyebrow curiously. They had both appropriately decided on one report between the two of them, though Romano seemed to be the only one writing. He had his shoulders hunched as he leaned over the paper, a frown on his face in concentration while his brother simply leaned in to get a better view of the report, a humored smile set in place. A moment later a blush spread across Romano's face and he leaned away from his twin grumpily. England's eye twitched slightly. 'Perhaps having the Italies stay with Alfred and Matthew isn't such a good idea after all… It's only been a day and now they're acting strange as well…'

xXx xXx xXx

~(WMD)~

Il Italian

Mio Dio! = My God!

Svegliarsi, tutti! = Wake up, everyone!

Siamo tardi! = We're late!

Le French

Menage a trois = Household of three but more commonly understood as a Threesome

(WMD's Awesome notes - The 19th century are the years starting with 18. Like 1812!)

I've changed the genre of this story to Mystery/Romance because although it will still have it's funny parts, the plot has evolved into something slightly heavier than it was to begin with. Plus the story is getting kind of mysterious~!

Next chapter will be out on February 14th 2014.

Don't worry, I've already written it~ :)