Arriving in front of the library Alba took a deep breath before he entered, pushing the door open gently the red head walked into the room. His dark green eyes scanned over the four plain walls before finally landing on the mop of blond hair wedged between two shelves of books which were placed in front of the cushioned windowsill. Scotland's expression softened as he walked over to the younger boy.
"hey boyo, I thought I told you to get to bed" the Scotsman stated before he knelt in front of his blond brother reaching forward and stroking his tired cheek "come on I know you're tired" he tried to encourage Arthur, but the latter just shook his head and looked down again muttering about reading his book. Sighing Alba took the book away from the younger male "I know you ain't reading, you're holding the book upside down... come on a little sleep won't kill ya" standing up alba held out his hand to help his brother up but Arthur just looked at him with total disregard for his actions before looking outside again ignoring his brothers offer completely,
"Alright then we will stay here" Scotland stated as he moved to sit down next to England, his legs bending upwards at the knees, arms resting on top of them. Arthur's eyes never left the window as his brother moved to sit next to him, he was just relieved that he didn't have to go to sleep yet.
"So..." Alba started, trying to have a conversation with the blond boy "why are you in here anyway?" He asked looking at Arthur expectantly, waiting for the blond mop to turn around so he could see the brits face. Arthur never turn his head around to answer but still spoke to his brother "don't wanna sleep yet" was the simple answer which came from the depressed mans mouth, using only the words necessary to get his point across no more no less. Sighing Alba moved a hand through his messy red hair, not really knowing what to do or say at this point. Sure the red head wasn't going to go to sleep yet either, but he wanted his brothers to be well rested, he could handle the sleep deprivation but he wasn't sure the others could.
"Why don't you want to go to sleep yet boyo?" he questioned, reaching his hand over to stroke his brothers hair, a smile tugged at his lips when the boy didn't pull away instead he leaned into the touch. "I-I just don't want to yet" the smaller boy stammered as his body was pulled towards the elder mans, his head resting on the red heads shoulder "hmm, I'm gonna take a wee guess and say it's this night terrors of yours, am I right?" the Scotsman felt the younger country nod his head before he felt the latter's breath hitch. Whispering comforting words into his youngest brothers' ear, Scotland tried to calm the younger boy down rubbing his back as he did so in small circles.
"I-I- I've tried everything I know, spells, reading, blanking my mind, drinking different teas before I retire... but they just make it worse, makes the dream go further, I'm so tired now cause I refuse to sleep most nights, i-i-I just can't keep doing this brother I CAN'T" tears began to cascade down the small boys face as he broke down in his brothers' arms, no longer caring about his image as he clung to his brother like a final life line. Scotland could only look at his English brother in shock, not expecting the young boy to have tried so many remedies only to have them all fail, wrapping his arms tightly around the trembling form the red head began rocking back and forth muttering small apologizes for not arriving sooner, noticing sooner.
It's wasn't long until Arthur had tired himself out and fell into a restless sleep, but alba still didn't move he kept holding the blond boy worried that he would wake up if he moved. He stayed in that spot, running his gloved hand gently through, surprisingly, silky blond locks; Scotland looked out of the window to see the sun just rising meaning morning had come. Letting his thoughts consume him Alba, stared blankly out of the bare window not hearing the morning birds sing their greeting. Glancing at England he noticed to boy waking up slowly, at his guess it was only 5am and the boy had only began to sleep at 4am. Vibrant green eyes shot open and the small body jerked up from its original position, breath staggering as Arthur tried to calm down his fear, forgetting that his brother was in the room with him.
"You ok boyo?" the Scotsman asked his dark green eyes filled with concern search the British man as if looking for some sort of physical damage, knowing himself that the boy was fine in every way but mentally. "Y-y-yeah... I just need to..." the dazed blond began but his voice faded as he stood and made his way towards the door his red headed brother hot on his heals as they headed towards Arthurs bedroom. Upon arriving in the room Arthur made B line towards the bathroom as his brother waited outside the bathroom door, leaning against the wall arms crossed over his chest, his head tilted slightly listening to the younger man. Upon the sound of bile being emptied into the toilet, Scotland burst into the room rushing over to the blond bundle on the floor grabbing a few towels as he ran. Placing a huge hand on the younger mans back Scotland began to get to work on helping the blond. Once Arthurs stomach was completely empty the evidence was flushed down the white toilet Alba wrapped one arm behind the boy and one underneath his legs, lifting the weightless boy up with ease before bringing him into his room and lying him on his bed. Making sure the blonde was comfortable before he went back into the bathroom to clean up the mess left behind, bringing the boy a small cup of water and a wet flannel.
"What brought this on boyo hmm?" Alba asked as he dabbed England's' head with the flannel, sitting on the bed next to the flustered boy checking him for any other signs of illness. None, none what so ever, he didn't have a temperature he wasn't coughing it was as if he was as if the event hadn't happened at all. It was then that Arthur tried to get up out of bed, his head was spinning before he could do any more damage to himself this early on in the day Alba gentle pushed him back down "Just stay down for a while boyo, you can get up in a bit" his voice was soft as he stood to go and get his other brothers up. Before he could get to far away from the bed though a shaky hand reached out and grabbed his clothing effectively stopping the scot in his tracks, inclining his head towards the brit he saw red rings surrounding the green eyes.
"P-p-please don't tell Cymru...I don't want him to worry...please" Arthurs voice was horse, his throat burned from this morning's incident, but it was his eyes that caused his elder brother to sit back down again and cup his pale face with a rough large hand. Arthur's eyes held no worry, no anger, no it held something Scotland had only seen a few times in any of his brother's eyes, fear. Fear had been what had caused his brother to empty his stomach, fear had caused his brother to lose too much sleep over the years, and fear had caused their family to break apart again.
"What scares you so much that it caused you to be ill little brother?" he questioned as his thumb moved back and forth slowly wiping away a stray tear that had escaped his brothers' eye. "Was it the dream?"
"It's never usually that bad, once or twice yeah I'll admit it's been worse but only when it comes close to that time" Arthur answered looking away from his brother pushing himself up on his elbows slowly before finally sitting up properly, this time it was successful even if Scotland glared at him for moving too soon. Scotland began panicking though when England burst out into a coughing fit, quickly rubbing his back in an attempt to help stop the thundering sound coming from the brits' chest.
"Are you sure you are ok? I mean you could always stay in bed today and the boys and I will entertain ourselves and-" he began, his voice was filled with panic but before he could finish his mad mothering rant Arthur cut in with a hearty laugh, something had made the latter laugh but he wasn't sure what until he thought over what he had just said. When the realization struck him is cheeks ended up turning the colour of his hair, he sounded just like Wales then, the one person Arthur didn't want to know because of his panicking had just been shown up by the eldest Kirkland.
"I'm fine brother, now could you please leave my room I would like to get changed, and I am sure so would you" Arthur smiled as he noticed his brother was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, meaning he hadn't changed to sleep last night. If he even slept at all, standing up Alba made his way out of the room to go get changed in his own room along with wake up their other brothers finally as it was now 7am, an hour sleep in should be enough for them. He smirked maliciously as he walked away.