Alfred woke suddenly, panting as he saw Mattie trying to wake him.

"Alfred! Wake up!" Mattie cried in fear as he shook his elder brother.

"Mattie?! What's wrong?!" Alfred said, sitting up as he took in his surroundings; he was back on his bed in his own room after he'd drifted off to sleep in the spare room. Ah yes, he remembered now. He had watched Arthur until he fell asleep, the Angel lying peacefully on the bed with his wings draped over the side of the bed. He himself had ended up falling asleep leant against the wall and dreamed about everything that had happened last night.

"You were on the floor and I thought you had had a heart attack or something!" Mattie cried, hugging his brother tightly as he cried into Alfred's chest. Alfred's eyes widened, he must have fallen over while he slept!

"Oh my God… Mattie…" he said, holding his brother close and letting the blonde cry into his shirt, "It's ok, Mattie, I'm ok…" he said gently, trying to soothe his brother's fears. Mattie looked up at Alfred, tears rolling down his cheeks. Alfred smiled and wiped them away, jumping when he heard a knock at the front door.

"They're here!" Mattie said, jumping up and quickly getting dressed as Alfred went downstairs to the front door and opened it. There on the porch stood the rest of the Kirkland family.

"Where's Bunny?" the eldest, Allistor, demanded in his strong Scottish accent. Alfred smiled, letting them all in.

"He's upstairs resting. We'll bring him down in a minute when you're all inside, ok?" Alfred said, keeping a straight poker face at Arthur's nickname. Allistor nodded, standing aside and letting his brothers and few sisters in. Patrick and Molly walked past, the second eldest and the Irish twins of the family, greeting Alfred quietly before going into the living room. Dylan followed, the third youngest before Arthur and the Welsh sibling of the family. Then came the cousins – Peter and Victoria, the partial-Britons, and Keith and Jesse, the Australian and New Zealander followed. None of them looked at all happy. Allistor spared Alfred one last look before joining his siblings and family in the living room.

Each Kirkland was either sitting, standing or perching on the arm of the sofa. Paddy, Molly, Dylan and Allistor had occupied the sofa while Peter and Victoria were perching against Arthur's armchair. Keith and Jesse had taken to standing against the walls either side of the sofa. Alfred nodded to them all before bounding upstairs and into the spare room. Mattie looked up.

"They're here, bring him down now," Alfred said quickly, helping his brother haul the Angel to his feet. Both brothers were careful of Arthur's wings, watching them as they slowly made their way downstairs and into the living room. As soon as Arthur had entered the room and his condition was for all to see, there were distinct gasps of shock and horror at the state of one of their youngest siblings. Arthur's wings were still beaten up pretty badly, broken still so they had been put into heavy bandages with a splint on either side of both wings, while his arms and torso were also heavily bandaged. His face was covered in dried blood that Mattie couldn't wash off him since he was in too much pain to stay still and the cuts on his arms had formed crimson scars while the bruises were varying shades of black and purple hues. Needless to say, the Kirklands were horrified at the state of their youngest sibling.

"Arthur...?" Keith said shakily, the broad-shouldered Australian sounding scared for once as he approached his youngest cousin. Arthur's dull eyes flickered upwards at Keith, searching the face wrought with fear for a second before Mattie and Alfred helped him into his armchair, making Peter and Victoria scurry away as if them just being there would hurt their elder cousin. Arthur muffled a small yelp of pain as he slowly sat down, his wings brushing the soft fabric of the armchair slightly and that alone was more than enough to cause him pain. Allistor couldn't help but bristle in anger. The other Kirklands could sense this and shifted uncomfortably; all of them in the family as well as a few of the family's friends knew that whenever Allistor was angry, someone was going to get hurt badly. Especially if another Kirkland was injured.

"Arthur..." Allistor said angrily, his face straight and his brow furrowed in fury, "Who did this to ye lad?" Arthur made a soft noise of pain as he shifted to get a bit more comfortable, his wings twitching pathetically. There was another noise from the Briton as he mumbled three names incoherently, clearly afraid of his Scottish brother.

"Wha' was tha' lad?"

"The three who attacked me... Gilbert... Antonio... and..." Arthur seemed to trial off for a brief moment, closing his eyes and bracing himself for Allistor's undoubtable anger at the final name, "Francis..."

The world seemed to slow down as Allistor stood, his face contorting into an expression of complete and utter rage, something that made all the other Kirklands join in with the anger. The very thought of one of the Britannian family's friends attacking their youngest sibling made their blood boil with anger.

"HE DID WHAT?!" they all screamed, multiple curses being thrown as Arthur flinched at the sheer volume of their screaming and shouting. Allistor was on his feet, raging without end, with Paddy and Molly and even Dylan joining in. Even Keith and Jesse, the two most cool-headed people the family knew, were shouting in anger and fury. Alfred and Mattie were also in a fit of anger, surprising Arthur slightly.

"SHUT UP!" Arthur roared at them all, his voice cracking as he ended his shout with a sickening fit of coughing. Mattie was by his side again, holding the beaten man and rubbing his back as the Angel slowly regained composure. The room fell silent again save for Allistor spitting venomous remarks about the Frenchman.

"Allistor..." Paddy said softly, "Please, calm down!" he begged, only to be turned on almost by Allistor as the Scotsman began to shout again.

"Allistor!" Arthur barked, standing despite the pain and squaring up to his big brother, "That's enough!" Allistor took a deep breath as his expression flickered with pain for a brief moment as two large, silken and silvery wings ripped through his shirt as a result of the anger that had built up inside him. Usually he was very cool, very level-headed and very calm with the emotions he showed. But now? Now he was a volcano, erupting and ready to blow again at the slightest touch. Mattie and Alfred stared at the other Angel, blinking and looking from Kirkland to Kirkland and cousin to cousin and registering that all of their expressions hadn't changed. None of them were bothered that their eldest was an Angel as well as their youngest.

Allistor gave a shaky sigh as he flexed his silver wings, their colour shining more than Arthur's pure white wings. He unclenched his fists and sighed again, approaching the door.

"I'm goin' ta have a li'l word wi' Francis..." Allistor said slowly, taking his mobile out of his pocket and going into the corridor, his wings leaving two silver feathers behind.