Arthur could practically feel the tension in the room, the moment he walked in. His heart pounded in this chest, but from slight fear or the fact that he'd woken up late and had had to run to the meeting room, he wasn't sure.
The tension was unlike anything Arthur had ever felt before, even in all his years of coming to these G8 meetings. Though, that wasn't really saying much, in his opinion, as these meetings were still relatively new…
Taking a deep breath in through his nose, Arthur straightened his posture and smoothed out the bottom of his suit with a slightly sweaty hand. "Pardon my tardiness." He said, gathering up the courage to walk into the room.
"Just have a seat." Ludwig commanded softly, not wanting to break the tension in the air, and motioned to the two remaining seats.
Arthur followed Ludwig's command and made his way to his seat. The silence in the room was deafening, and Arthur briefly wondered how the more childish nations were able to stand it. Sitting down, and setting his briefcase on the ground beside him, he chanced a look around.
Everyone was on edge, and even Feliciano seemed to feel the tension, for once, in the air. He was currently trying to hide behind Ludwig, and looked as if he could burst into tears at any moment.
The German cleared his throat loudly, causing Feliciano and several other nations to jump. "Well, now that every ones here, let's begin." He stated calmly, sky blue eyes gazing at the nations around him.
Arthur bit his lip and glanced at the empty seat next to his. Actually every one wasn't here… He was missing. And his absence was noticed by everyone in the room, but they all, like him, knew very well that he more than likely wouldn't come to these meetings for a while.
After all America was now entering his second civil war…
A chill ran down the Brits spine when he remembered Alfred's first civil war, while he had remained neutral in the first war, he had seen the effect it had on his former colony.
The teen had almost gone insane, both from the intense bloodshed of his people, and from the Confederacy himself.
His name had been Fred, Arthur remembered that much. Well that and that the man might as well be insanity personified.
Arthur forced his attention back on Ludwig. The meeting had been issued to see if any of the other nations should join in or not.
"This war between the Union and the Confederacy had major potential for starting another World War." Ludwig stated heavily. "My boss and I have decided that we will remain neutral… I urge you all to do the same."
"Tornillo que! (Screw that)" Mexico screeched, and shot up out of his chair. "I don't care about the rest of you, but I'm siding with the South! Fred promised me California, Arizona, and Texas back! There's no way I'm passing up that offer!"
Arthur scoffed and rolled his emerald eyes. "You really believe that he would just give them to you, Carlos?"
Carlos glared at him, green eyes, the same colour as Antonio's, narrowed and filled with resentment. "He will give them back!" He stated childishly, and slammed his fist on the table. "Or he'll have another war to worry about!"
"F-for now… I'm going to remain neutral… b-but if Al asked me t-to join him, I don't think I'd really have much of a choice…" Matthew spoke up softly, from beside the angry Mexican. Carlos blinked and stared down at him in surprise.
"W-wha – But you can't-"
"Enough! Stop your bickering!" Germany yelled, and Mexico sat down quickly, facing away from a guilty-looking Canada, with an angry pout. "We can't afford to waste any more time than we already have on this issue. We have relied too heavily on the States, and all of our economies have been depleting rapidly due to this dependence. If any of you enters this war, there is no telling if you'll see it out to the end."
Arthur recognized the thinly veiled warning. 'If you join, you might not be alive at the end of it.' And it was true, every nation was heading towards a financial crisis. or already in one...
The North and South American territories had temporarily stopped all exported goods from being shipped, two months or so ago, when the split first started.
A voice hummed thoughtfully, and rather loudly, and all eyes shifted over. Ivan sat with a faux thoughtful look, and an equally plastic smile on his face. "I believe I'll give my support to the North."
Russia was among the very few nations not badly affected by the lose of their American imports. "What is your opinion in this matter, England?" Arthur looked up and met Ivan's challenging stare. "Are you going with the North or South?"
Truthfully, Arthur had been wondering about that himself. He didn't agree at all with the Confederacy, though their goal was no longer as it was in the first war, and he had certain... attachments to Alfred.... But to Alfred's boss, however... Arthur just couldn't bring himself to thrust that man.... "I'll do what i did in his last civil war." He calmly answered, never breaking eye contact with Ivan.
"Oh? Sit back and hope they kill each other?" Ivan taunted.
Arthur glared and gritted his teeth. Ivan's old views about his uninvolvement in Americas war, were starting to resurface again it seemed. "No," he snapped, trying to stifle the anger swimming in his chest. "I'm going to stay neutral." 'for as long as I can' he finished silently. He couldn't help but think that he would somehow end up getting pulled into this war...