He was almost at the building now he just had to go through the car park and up the stairs and he would be there. Glancing around him he could see one car that made fear strike, a red camaro, the car that belonged to his eldest brother Alba. Meaning if Alba was here already Ireland and Wales would be here too. Muttering a few curses underneath his breath Arthur made his way into the building saying his greeting to the receptionist and making his way to the third floor where the meeting was to be held.
As England made from the second floor to the third he could hear the familiar shouts of Alba arguing with north Ireland
"We need to find out what is wrong with him without him knowing... any ideas Scotty?" a deep voice asked drenched in a deep Irish accent.
"Could just ask him" was the smart answer from the way it was said it must have been Alba who else would say such simple answer. "What about you Wales?" the same voice asked with a hint of confusion evident in the voice. The sound of creaking indicated movement within the room then a small welsh voice answered
"I don't know but I'm worried guys...minty seemed really upset when he came to my house" a few grunts of agreement followed 'flying mint bunny!... so he lied to me to' was all that Arthur could think of as he decided he had heard enough and made his way toward the room he made a grab for the door handle only for it to be pulled out of his grasp as the door was opened from the other side. There in front of him stood an angry Scotland looking around before he noticed England, his face softened a bit as he moved out of the way and shouted 'iggy's here' earning a weak glare from said brit. Before moving to enter the room Arthur looked at each of his brothers. Alba ,also known as Scotland, still looked the same his red hair looking a mixture between scruffy and organized, his outfit the same design as Arthurs but in his flags colour's blue and white also he had two straps across his chest. Wales, Cymru, looked identical to his English brother in almost every way if it was not for the fact that his hair, although the same colour as England's, was long enough to just drape past his slender shoulders, unlike his twin however Cymru proffered the colour red and on his blazer pocket he had a red dragon as he believed he had a pet dragon much like how England had flying mint bunny, Scotland and the loch ness monster (nessy) and Ireland had his sheep, and finally Ireland, Shawn also known as Aiden due to his dissociative identity disorder, had the same hair as Alba but his was a slightly darker shade of red and he wore mainly brown blazers with a green tie and grey trousers.
As soon as Arthur was fully in the room he checked his watch seeing he still had 3 and a half hours until the meeting was due to start. Looking up again he saw that his brothers were all stood up now and were looking at his face. Once he had seen that they were looking at his face he placed on his mask hoping it would work on them as well as it did on the rest of the countries. They apparently weren't the same as the eldest of the four Kirkland's in the room stepped as Scotland stepped forward and placed his huge hand on Arthurs small shoulders lifting his other hand to move Arthurs head so that the younger man was looking at him. As soon as his older brother had seen his face Arthur felt the panic raise inside of him, knowing he had been found out despite that knowledge he continued to try just in case. Of course he had, Alba never missed a thing, and if it wasn't a flawless act you would be found out. He knew he was in trouble when Alba asked the one question he didn't want to hear.
"How long have you been like this?" his voice sounded both demanding and calm a tinge of worry laced within his words. Looking down Arthur muttered the only thing he could think of "I can't remember" it was the truth he couldn't remember anymore he'd lost count of the times he had gone to bed at 4am and woken up just an hour later and just carried on with the day like nothing had happened, playing the part of a perfect gentleman for all the other countries putting on a show for their benefit. But that answer wasn't good enough for Arthur's brothers as shared worried glances with one another, Arthur attempted to reassure his elder brothers by sending them a smile, but his body betrayed him as small tears fell from his eyes. He was breaking and they all knew it, the cracks had finally all connected to one another and soon he would smash into unfixable pieces. He hadn't cried since the revolutionary war and to be honest, Arthur felt ashamed of himself. But he just couldn't take it anymore, holding in all of these emotions was killing him, and slowly Arthur began to curl up into a ball shaking from all the depressing thoughts which had been corrupting his mind for many years. Remembering who he was in the room with he began to mutter small apologies for appearing weak in front of his elder brothers, not really knowing if the others could hear him but he still carried on muttering between sobs and sharp breaths. It was Wales that made the first move, rushing to his twins' side, kneeling next to him and pulling him towards his body to try and comfort the younger nation. Whispering sweet nothings into his brothers' ear, waiting for any type of reaction from the younger blond Wales patiently comforted his younger brother.
"Sh...Calm down... please just tell us what is wrong and we will be able to help you please just talk to us" after a few worried glances shared between the brothers and a minute of rubbing circles on England the sobs turned into hiccups, although his body was still shaking it wasn't as bad as it had just been. Alba knelt down beside the two blonds and asked again "how long have you been like this Arthur?" his voice soft as his words held true comfort the concern plain to hear in the elders voice. Turning to face Alba, Arthur answered with a simple sentence.
"Since america left" this hadn't been much of a shock for Alba since he was present at the time but Cymru and Shawn were confused as to when that was, they had been informed that the American had left their brother but why was he so affected by the boy moving out? Seeing the confusion in his brothers faces Alba decided to tell them what had happened between their British brother and the American
"You guy's remember when I went away a few years ago? (the other two nod) well it was because I was helping England here with a war that American brat started, unfortunately he won his independence and as it turns out little Iggy here hasn't been himself since which leads me to my next question Arthur how long has it been since you slept properly?" once again all the attention was on Arthur who looked like he was deep in thought, trying to remember when had he had a good night's sleep it must have been about a year after the war that he had began the nightmares so the last time he could remember having a pleasant rest was in the 1784 at least. Looking at his brothers he could see them waiting for an answer, he might as well tell them the truth they would find out sooner or later.
"I can't remember, the days have just turned into one blur as of late but I've had enough to keep myself healthy I really have" what started out as a quick answer turned into Arthur trying to pursued his brothers that his sleeping routine was still ok though it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself. Arthur himself knew his physical appearance must have changed from the last time his brothers had seen him, maybe he was thinner or paler? He didn't really know he just knew something had changed by the way Ireland's eyes kept changing from his caring older brother to Ireland, a country of war and rebellions, a country which was able to evaluate anyone with just a simple and innocent glance. Leaning over Ireland whispered something into Scotland's' ear before straightening himself out again.
Unfortunately for Arthur his brothers decided it wasn't good enough for him to be living like this, letting their protective sides lose they all looked at one another before looking at Arthurs body again, alba's eyes narrowed a bit when Shawn had finished talking to him in a hushed voice, Arthur looked even thinner than the last time he had seen him. "Cymru do me a favour and let go of wee Arthur for a minute I need to check something" standing up he motioned for the rest of them to do the same. Once they were all stood cymru reluctantly let go of Arthur wanting to see what Alba was going to do, his eyes never leaving his twins sluggish form.
The eldest of the group reached out, placing his hands underneath Arthur's arms and lifted him up. You see Scotland is different from many countries, he wasn't innocent from creation in fact Scotland was a country born, raised and bred in war, he knew how to test somebody both by looking an feeling, he was especially good at estimating a persons' weight by picking them up. When he and his brothers were younger and had to fend for themselves he would pick them up from time to time to see if they were eating enough, it was a great survival tip his mother had given him before she died after Arthurs birth, he still uses it to this day even his brothers use it now as he taught them how to use this talent when Rome invaded their home. Both of the men's eyes widened, Arthurs eyes because he hadn't been lifted in the air for years let alone by his older brother, remembering the pick-me-ups he used to get when he was in his colonial state, Arthur glared at his brother before folding his arms over his chest, huffing slightly in annoyance. Alba's eyes widened at just how light Arthur was he couldn't weigh any more than 6 stone, which in his opinion wasn't heavy enough for his liking.
"Yo, Shawn come here a sec and hold Arthur" jerking his head towards the other red head in the room. A bit confused Shawn came forward and took Arthur from the elder man, once again shock filled him first Arthur wasn't sleeping; he must not be eating properly...what the hell had caused this? Deciding that cymru needed to know about this he turned to the welsh man and in the 'safest' way possible he threw Arthur to the man, both red heads knew the reaction they would get, Wales would pull 'the' face and they would end up having to help Arthur no matter the cost. The prediction came true because as soon as Arthur was on the floor Wales began to lecture him about eating properly and telling him off about not coming to them sooner. After a few minutes Alba coughed getting everyone's attention once he was sure they were listening he made his choice.
"well Arthur sorry to say this but after what we have found out today we are going to get out of what I have summed up as depression...meaning we are going to stay at your house until we are sure you are going to be ok, until I am convinced you are in top condition again we will not be leaving .. you understand boyo" once this was said Arthur apologised automatically for troubling them trouble, knowing it would be useless trying to convince them otherwise he just accepted his fate, his life just got a bit more complicated.