Alfred didn't ask anymore about the children or Arthur's lost brother. He didn't think it was necessary. He would ask Roma about it later. He didn't want to put Arthur through anything else.
They sat together on the roof until the sun rose, but soon Alfred decided that he couldn't bare to see Arthur so sad anymore. He demanded that Arthur to put them back on the ground. Arthur did so and was then promptly dragged down to breakfast which all by itself was quite a strange experience. Each and every member of the household was seated at a long table, even the children. Everyone was yelling and eating and yelling some more. Alfred had been seated next to the Japanese boy named Kiku and the second tallest vampire, who spoke in a thick Dutch accent and seemed to believe he had once been a Viking. Given the ages of all the people around the table that didn't seem like a very far off prospect. Alfred had liked them both, but Arthur hadn't nearly been as lucky. He was seated next to Ivan and Yao who were the closest in age to himself. Ivan, who was creepy was leaning over to Arthur who was steadily leaning back. Yao wasn't that bad and might of been able to save him, but he was unfortunately attending to the youngest of his brothers. Alfred watched as Ivan leaned closer to the smaller man, with his long horns bobbing. He also saw how Arthur kept his face expressionless and Ivan wasn't being pushed away even though Arthur could of done so. A dangerous black feeling swirled in A
Alfred's stomach and he had to resist throwing his fork into the demon's eye. Instead he looked away until breakfast was over, opting to talk to Kiku about movies and manga instead.
After breakfast came to an end all the people that had been officially ordered to the house on official business were asked into the meeting room, so basically all the adults except Alfred, Kiku and surprisingly Roderich. Apparently it was his wife who ran most of the everything. Unfortunately this left them abandoned with 10 squabbling kids. Three of which were currently planning something sinister. Almost immediately Roderich disappeared into the music room leaving Alfred alone with the children.
Thankfully ten minutes later Arthur was kicked out of the meeting and told him that if he let them run amuck they would only have to clean it up themselves later. As for the reason Arthur was kicked out if the meeting room, it was because he had been seated next to the window and had fallen asleep. Apparently Roma had argued for him the it was Arthur's reptilian instinct to fall asleep in the sun, but Arthur had still been removed.
Now Arthur was back to his dragon slumber safely tucked under Alfred's arm on one of the many sofas in one of the many drawing rooms. In one arm Alfred had Arthur and in the other he had his phone. He was too loyal to leave the ancient man in fear of disturbing him, but holding a person when you're not planing to fall asleep was quite boring. He had opted to play stupid games on his phone ,listen some music and occasionally stare at the Arthur to amuse himself.
"Uncle Arthur!" All of the children called Arthur 'uncle Arthur', well all of them except Ravis who called him 'Mr Kirkland'. Alfred tensed as Mei came bustling in with a huge book in her hands. It was one of those huge kid's pop up books. This one happened to be one on pirates. Alfred quickly placed his finger to his lips. The young girl looked at him in surprised for a second before seeing Arthur sleeping and copied the gesture with a happy smile. Alfred beckoned her forward, curious about what she was so excited about. Mei tiptoed towards the two men.
"What did you find?" Alfred whispered to her. The little girl came and stood beside the sofa, showing the open page of the book. Given that it was a book of english pirates and Arthur had been around in the pirate era it shouldn't of been surprising that there was a whole double spread dedicated to his name. Alfred eyes widened as he looked at the name up the top of the page.
Captain Arthur Kirkland
"Jesus" Alfred muttered to himself as he read the articles on 'Captain Kirkland's' amazing adventures. It went on mostly about how feared he was and how he had never been caught and so on. There was even an artist impression. Alfred chuckled to himself, so Arthur had been a pirate. Perhaps this man was a little more outgoing than he had first thought.
Briefly one of the article mentioned that Arthur was part of the 'infamous Kirkland family'. Alfred frowned. He should investigate this family of his. Maybe he could help Arthur and be his hero. He liked that idea, he liked the idea that Arthur could rely on him. He turned to the little giggling Asian girl.
"Would you like to help me do a little investigation?" He raised an eyebrow and the girl grinned nodding. Alfred had a thought that him and this girl were going to get on great. He quickly replaced himself with a few pillows so that Arthur wouldn't wake up. He couldn't help, but take a photo on his phone. The smaller man looked so cute when he was sleeping. Bathed in light like that, he looked like an angel rather than a fire breathing dragon. He laughed to himself and took the small girl's hand. As they exited the room she tugged on his arm and he looked down at her.
"Why did ya take a picture of him, mister?" Her lips held a coy smile and Alfred cringed. He couldn't lie to a kid and the kid knew that.
"Because I think he's beautiful" Alfred tried to smile, but it came out a strange wriggling nervous line.
"Yeah, but why the picture?" Damn, this girl was insistent.
"Well…" Alfred struggled to find to words as they walked to Kiku's room. "In case I ever go away I want to know he's still with me… I guess" the little girl grinned at him and seemed to decide not to push the subject. They walked together until they reached Kiku's room. At breakfast Kiku had spoken of doing things on a computer so hopefully he would be able to help along with magic of the Internet. Speaking of the Asian family Alfred still didn't know what they were. He had to remember to ask the boy. Perhaps it was a little unfair to call him a boy. He was over 3000 years old. Mei knock on her brother's door.
"Herro?" Came that accented reply. Alfred placed his hand on the door knob and opened the door. Kiku turned around in his office chair, bright eyes shining as usual. Needless to say Kiku's room was high tech and the ancient being was obviously immersed in the modern era. His desk was covered with screens and expensive looking head phones dangled from his neck. His blank expression looked curious. "How can I help you?" The boy asked politely.
"Dude, we gotta borrow a laptop. We're doing a background check on Arthur" Kiku nodded and brought out a sleek state of the art laptop. He offered it the Alfred who grinned widely. "Thank dude, you mind if we crash here till we're done?"
"Not at all"
"Thanks" Alfred and Mei seated themselves on the second bed in the room. If he remembered correctly Kiku shared the room with his older brother.
Alfred brought up a search engine and eagerly typed in "Kirkland family", with Mei clutching his arm, curiosity burning in her dark eyes.
It took almost an hour, but finally they had mapped out the Kirkland family. It wasn't really a family, just these six brothers hanging out in history. They all seemed to peak around the same time that Arthur was out on the high seas. The eldest three consisted of a tall red headed man named Allistor, a slightly smaller man with straight-ish orange hair and a bright smile who called himself Bret, and lastly the shortest of the three was an incredibly cheery man with light brown hair named Hayden. They got incredibly famous and incredibly rich when they made a advertising company's hat skyrocketed within the year of being opened. All the Kirkland brothers were brilliant as it seemed. If Arthur inherited everything after they died he must of been loaded.
That was a sad thought.
After the three eldest brothers came Arthur who seemed to of been very famous even before he started to rob the seas for all they were worth. He was an inventor in London and sought out all over the world for his tricky fingers. He specialised in mechanics and chemistry and was dubbed at the time smartest man in the world. Alfred had smiled at that. Then of course he became an international criminal and "supposedly" died on the seas. After Arthur came two younger brothers. The second youngest was a man named Jett who went off to Australia and subsequently got rich off painting pictures for high class Europeans that wanted something different for their high class walls. The youngest of the brothers was named Calum and he made his fortune by writing novels from his home in New Zealand. The brothers made other appearances through out history, but that was their real peak. There were textbooks dedicated to the name Kirkland. The three eldest had fourteen universities alone. Jett had two galleries and his paintings were still being brought and sold for six digit numbers. As for Arthur he had a whole fleet sharing his name. Captain Kirkland's fleet. All the brothers together had over a hundred establishments to their name.
And yet Arthur was the only one left.
Mei had fallen asleep, but Kiku as still feverishly tapping away on his screens.
"Hey, Kiku?" The dark haired boy turned a little and paused in whatever he was doing.
"Yes Alfred?"
"Who has known Arthur the longest?" He figured it was probably Roma or maybe Yao because he was the second oldest. The boy leaned back in his seat, thinking.
"Well, it would probably be the older Fran-" he was cut off by a hoarse scream that sounded distinctly British.
"Get off me, you bloody frog!" So Arthur was up. The Japanese boy frowned and Mei was forced from her restful sleep.
"So he finally got here" Kiku muttered. Mei leapt off the bed immediately and Alfred followed suit. Mei was eager about something she knew about, Alfred on the other hand was simply curious. Kiku's room was on the second floor and a large stair case lead to the parlour of the castle. Mei was exactly 1 quarter of the way down said stairs when she tripped and went sailing through the air. She was godly lucky that Arthur happened to be going up the same set of stairs, leaving a long haired, blue eyed Frenchman at the bottom. Unfortunately for Arthur when the screaming eight year old girl toppled into him he happened to lose his balance and they both fell backwards. Alfred yelled out as he saw his friend fall, his hand reaching out as if he could possible help. The lighter blond rushed forward from the base of the stair case, his arms open wide. Arthur let one high pitched squeal part from his lips, before he felt his back smash against the Frenchman's chest.
"Damn frog"
