Rise

Trust

Some people can be mean and treat you poorly.
Don't take it personally.
It says nothing abou
You
but a lot about them.

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"They're really trying to contact you guys, you know," Argentina said to America on the phone. He and the rest of South America were at Venezuela's as she cooked Bollo pelón.

All of North America were now at the park. At the moment, Alfred just really wanted to talk to his cousins.

 He was watching Puerto Rico show Hawaii and Honolulu something, "I know, we haven't picked the phone up at all."

"It was an accident, it slipped out. Plus, I don't think England really had a problem with it." 

"Yeah, but...... I don't know what I was thinking. It just came out. It's just too soon.... I think. I mean, who know? They could still be lying to us about the whole, 'I'm so sorry, we swear that we'll become better parents', thing and... and..." America felt tears come up.

"Breath Al," His cousin said to him on the phone.

"I just.... what if their lying? If we stayed after I called him that. We might become closer and start to hang out more with them and, and what if they start it up again? What if they always hated me? The four of us were probably just pawns for their empire," He looked down, "I just don't know."

"You wanna know what I think?" Argentina asked.

"What?"

"Deep down, you really want to become closer with them. But your terrified, terrified that they'll change towards you again. Terrified of getting hurt again. So your protecting yourself."

Alfred was quiet before speaking, "I'll call you back later."

And was that moment when Argentina officially knew that, that was exactly how his cousin felt, "If you need to talk to be or the others, we're here. We're always are and always will be." 

America slightly smiled, "Yeah, I know."

Once he hung up, looked up at the sky and sighed, "Why can't life be simple?"

He thought about his cousin had said:

'Deep down, you really want to become closer with them. But your terrified, terrified that they'll change towards you again. Terrified of getting hurt again. So your protecting yourself.'

He sighed.

That wasn't true, was it?

He was the hero, he didn't need his paren- former colonizers.

Those guys didn't care about him, they were just lying to mess with him and his siblings.

Besides.

All they would do is hurt him again.

And he wasn't gonna let that happen.

"Al? You okay?" A voice asked snapping him out of his thoughts, he looked up to see Canada.

"Oh yeah Mattie, I'm fine, what's up?" He saw that his brother had a frown on his face.

"Well, that was my boss who just called me back at the house and....." He sighed, "There are some issues with trade between my country and the rest of the world at the moment.... so.."

America's eyes widened, "No."

His brother sighed, "I'm sorry Alfie, there's gonna be a world meeting tomorrow."

Alfred put his head in his hands.

Canada sat down next to him, "We don't have to talk to them for personal things. Just business," He tried to reassure his brother.

America really didn't want to see their parents- former colonizers. Not after the dinner, not when he was sure whether they were lying or not.

Not when he didn't know if he should trust them again.

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England sighed as he put his phone down. He knew North America was ignoring France, Spain, and himself. He honestly didn't mind that his son had called him Dad.

In fact, he was extremely happy when America did. But after Alfred had realized what he said, he immediately apologized and North America said they had to go and immediately left.

He sighed again, his children were most likely still not that comfortable around him. He shouldn't have expected for them to forgive him that fast and act like everything was alright. 

They probably still didn't trust him and the other two that much.

A mirror, that's what trust was like.

A mirror.

Because just like when you break trust, it's like breaking a mirror, it's now in broken pieces. But when you try to put it back together it can't just be done that quick and doesn't just immediately get fixed.

It takes time.

Just like how it takes time to restore trust.

And when you put that mirror back together, you can still see the little cracks in it. A constant reminder that the mirror had been broken before.

He sadly looked down, even if his relationship with his children and their trust with him was restored. They would all still remember that the trust had been broken before for a long time.

The fact that he had caused his kids so much pain in the past would haunt him, it would always follow him everywhere.

He would never forget it.

Ever.

"You okay Dad?" A voice asked snapping him out of his thoughts, he looked up to see Australia.

"I..... I honestly don't know," He sighed, "Their probably never going trust me again."

"I wouldn't say that," His son disagreed, "It's only been like 2 days since you guys made up. Their still not used to having you well...... as a father. It's take gonna time."

"Well, their all ignoring us and our calls and the next world meeting is probably in a month or so."

"Maybe you can go visit or something. Just give it time Dad," Australia put his hand on his father's shoulder, "Just give it time."

Time.

There was a world meeting later tomorrow. He was gonna try and spend time with his children so he could show them that he could be the father they had deserved when they were colonies, and maybe their trust would restore in him a bit. Maybe. And who knows?

Maybe one day, they'll completely trust him.

But he knew that would take a while.

Because remember, trust, just like fixing the broken pieces of a mirror.

Takes time.

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They broke the wrong parts of me. They broke my wings and forgot I had claws.

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The next chap is gonna be a timeskip. And there might be days, I update two chapters instead of just one.