Rated: T
Warnings: None
Author Notes: This changed direction, I never actually meant for Scotland to be in this, it was just meant to be England thinking to himself.
Summary: England has finally figured it out, finally he's acknowledging the fact that nations were not in charge, they didn't have the power and they are being used.
The more he thought about it, the more he hated it. The system; it was the reason why he had fought his own brothers, denying their freedom, as well as all the other countries that he took control over, that he forced to become part of him.
He sighed and rubbed his head, he had known for years, hundreds of years about this, but he always put it to the back of his mind, every time he took over a country and killed the people who lived there, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind, getting on with what he was ordered to do for his King, or Queen.
In this day and age he was no longer sent out to fight, no longer sent to other countries with other Lords, he was now sent to meetings with other countries, that way they were all kept out of trouble and the human leaders could deal with whatever matter was to be had.
He hated it.
He hated it so much in fact that he had left his home and everything in it, he travelled the country, knowing full well that someone, likely to be France or America, would start looking for him or call up the other nations.
He passed the border line, not entering Scotland. He had no idea what to say to his oldest brother, but maybe nothing needed to be said. Scotland had the right idea, he stayed away from the country meetings, although he claimed it was because he was the one with the most power now, but that was a lie. At the time they both knew it, but he deceived himself.
The countries were nothing more than pawns to their human over-lords, they were just puppets to be used and abused to get whatever the human's wanted. Though all the nations were greatly older than the humans who ruled them, they had no choice, the people were the reason why a nation existed, and without them one would disappear and die.
Like the Roman Empire, this he knew to be true, he disappeared, not to die, no, one as powerful as Roman would never die, but because of his vast lands over time it was clear that he would be over thrown. The Roman Empire wasn't dead, he had just disappeared from the nations sight, the human's still lived in Rome and respected the history of Rome itself, that would keep the Roman Empire alive; as was the same with Prussia, Germany may have made it all under his name, but Prussia lived on, because the people who lived there remember and acknowledge his history.
All the nations were subjected upon and used, to bend to the human's will, that was what they were created for, the heart of the people kept them alive, so they had to provide such a service back, as gesture of goodwill.
He used to call up his allies for so many reasons, but in reality none of those reasons were actually important, none of the countries needed to work together really, the human's did that for them, their governments did it for them, they got together and wasted time.
He arrived at Scotland's home, only to find the red haired Scot waiting on him, but he had no idea how he knew that he would come up to see him and not Wales.
"Oot th' car," Scotland opened the door and he did as he was told.
The air was cold, but he had been lucky, he guessed that Scotland would have been here, on Skye, he had already checked Loch Ness and some other places too, but Skye was the one place that he knew in his heart that his brother would be there.
"Yer Flyin' Mint Bunny told me," Scotland said, he always got right to the point; "Ah dinnae ken like, why now?"
"What do you mean?"
"Ye've always known, Ah ken ye ken," Scotland sighed as he lit up a smoke, but never offered one to his brother, knowing too well that he would just refuse; "Has tha penny drapped intae tha water?"
The other nation looked away, watching the seals in the water, playing, no real care in the world.
"That's nae an answer,"
"All right!" His green eyes looked into the other's eyes with pain and annoyance; "I know! I've known for many hundreds of years! Maybe not as long as you, you wanker! But I've known! And I hate it!"
Scotland grinned and nodded; "Aye, 'mon in. France has called, as has that hero bairn," The two made his way into the castle, the English nation slouching down; "Ah havnae told them anythin'. Japan also called,"
"What?"
"Japan called too, polite wee loon,"
"What… What did you say to him?"
Scotland opened the door and grinned, gesturing once more for England to go; "Och, Ah told him the truth,"
"You didn't! Japan will easily spill to America…" He began to rant and the red head laughed.
"Nae ya sod. Ah told him that ye realised that we're naething more than pawns tae these humans," Scotland said and closed the door, as England just looked at him; "He said guid,"
He looked at his older brother in confusion; "You mean… Japan…"
"He's only jist connected wi' th' ootside world, he was oan his lonesome fer sometime Arthur, he would 'ave noticed it before many of us," Scotland stated and they walked to the kitchen; "Whit will ye dae now?"
Arthur looked away again; "I… I hadn't thought of that,"
"Aye, never did think through eh?" Scotland put the kettle on, got the mugs out and brought out the whiskey; "Ya cannae run,"
"I'm not running!" Arthur said defensively; "I'm just…"
"Running?" Scotland suggested and Arthur glared at him; "Look lad, ya cannae run from this, one o' the nations will take ya back tae the government…"
"How come… How come your government don't have you around them?" He asked, confused, Scotland had his own Parliament, although they still had to check things down in London, they still had power in there own right.
"Took tae lang, Scottish Parliament is rather new. Nae body knows me any more, no really," Scotland said and for a moment, a short moment, Arthur saw the sadness that his people had in a sense, forgotten all about the embodiment of Scotland.
"You're lucky," Arthur pointed out and Scotland nodded.
"Aye, Ah know. Ah ken if they ken of me Ah would be a pawn in their wee games ance more,"
"I…" He took a breath; "I'm sorry. For everything…"
"Whit?" Scotland turned to him, confusion evident on his face, not understanding why his youngest brother was apologising.
"I took away your freedom, I made you join up with me, I fought and killed your people, even though I felt somewhere that I should just…" He would have gone on but a fist hit him across the face and he fell to the floor.
"Dannae apologise fer tha'!" Scotland yelled at him; "Nae now! It's done! Over!"
Arthur blinked at him, unsure what to say as he slowly got back up.
"We fought against each other, we fought wi' each other. That nae matters,"
"But…"
"Whieest!" Scotland turned his back on his brother to pour the tea and added a dram of whiskey; "Stay here, tha's bonny wi' me. Nae one can take ye away, cos ye're oan my land," He passed the drink to Arthur who nodded his thanks and took a sip.
He loved being here, somehow he could forget everything that was going on in his government, but the offer that Scotland offered up was enticing. To never go back, to never be forced to go to a damn G8 meeting, or anything country meeting. To live life as he used to, so long ago, before the people decided those rulers should be heavier handed, that tribes became one, that the country became a while, no longer divided, instead they had one ruler who took whatever he wanted.
"I…"
"Och, stay a few days," Scotland said and he nodded in agreement.
He didn't want to be a slave to the human's any more, although he longed for how it used to be, he wasn't a fool, people had moved on, this was life now. That didn't mean that he still wanted to be used by these people though.
"May I stay?"
Tch," Scotland grinned; "Ah've plenty o' places fer ya ta stay wee yin,"
Arthur sighed in relief, ever since he arrived he had wondered if he could stay anywhere with his brother, or if he would send him back down to London to continue life as he always had.
"Relax, Ah said already, nae one can take ya away fer here,"
"What spell did you use?" Arthur asked and Scotland laughed.
"It's comin' ta winter, nae one will be comin' up 'ere,"
Arthur relaxed, happy in the knowledge that if any of the other countries did come and try to get him to leave, they would have to deal with Scotland, not only that, but Scotland was slightly more advanced in magic and spell casting than he was.
For now Arthur decided to not worry about any of that and just enjoy the company of his brother and forget for a moment that the two of them were nations who were slaves to their people.