This was supposed to be a huge oneshot, but it's too big in the end. I broke it into a few chapters.

And the names: Jett=Australia, Sydney=New Zealand, Carlos Torres=Cuba. Lydia is an OC. Sydney is here a tomboy, since their sex is not revealed and it fits. It's a FrUK story, but it proceeds SLOWLY.

Something shattered, probably a plate. Screaming and shouting followed soon after, horrible words were used. Arthur wished his siblings would not wake up because of the noise, he didn't want them to hear any of this. It was two in the morning, time for small children to be asleep. Time for everyone to be asleep, really, but not in their household. Their mum and her current boyfriend, Steve, were fighting again. About drugs, of course. Their mother believed Steve had lost some of her heroin, and to avenge she had used his coke. It had turned into a violent argument where no words or no force were held down.

They were probably a high, too.

He hated Fridays.

Arthur had pressed his mattress against their bedroom door ro muffle the sounds and was now leaning against it, sitting on the floor. The selfmade-muffler worked quite well, fortunately. Some of the words were still audible, but they wouldn't wake you if you were asleep. Well, atleast that what he kept telling himself.

Another plate shattered.

He ran his hand through his hair, making the usual messiness even more so. His younger siblings seemed to be unaware of the situation outside the room. Sydney had kicked her blanket off was clinging to Jett who snored quietly. Alfred had managed to hog Sydney's blanket and now had two, including his own, and was drooling a little-

Oh.

Matthew just pretended to be asleep. His eyes were shut, but every time a loud noise was heard he flinched. Arthur sighed and moved next to the younger blonde after making sure the mattress wouldn't fall.

"Matthew", he called out the name quietly.

Two purple eyes appeared out from the dark.

"Yeah?" Matthew's voice was barely audible, even more so than usual.

"Are you scared?"

A small nod. Arthur placed his hand on Matthew's head, ruffling the wawy hair gently and began his reassuring speech.

"Don't worry, soon mum will kick Steve out and then it will quiet down. In a few days she will be fine and then she will take us to eat ice cream and play in the park and other fun things, that's going to be great, right Then she will dedicate her life to us and this will not happen ever again."

Arthur didn't even remember how many times he had said the same thing. He had lost count years ago. He was 15, too old to believe his own words, he knew mum would say the same things but after two weeks she would find another man and start the drugs again and do the same thing all over again, but it seemed to calm down the younger ones.

A plate shattered. Arthur continued.

"Just wait, this will be over in a few minutes, just don't listen to them, pretend they aren't there-"

Steve called her a filthy slut who is covered in STDs.

"-just forget them, it's just you and me and Alfred and Jett and Sydney alone here, safe and sound-"

Their mother called him by horrible names, and Arthur covered Matthew's ears.

"-don't listen to any of that, just close your eyes and ears and breathe, we're going to be alright-"

Something hit the wall with a loud thump, followed by Steve's curses. Arthur saw Sydney move, and soon her eyes were open, sleepy but slowly growing aware of what was happening. The youngest of the bunch sat up, searching for someone to comfort and protect her, and quickly located Arthur. She whimpered silently and crawled beside him, clinging to Arthur with her right hand and covering her other ear with the left.

"-we're going to be alright, ignore the noises, it will be over soon-"

Steve threatened to kill her.

"-just don't listen, don't listen-"

Arthur was certain he was going to die soon if the screaming wouldn't stop.

"-it will be over soon-"

Their cries mixed to a mess of words, impossible to understand. Sydney pressed against Arthur's chest and Matthew tightened his grip on his blanket.

"-it will be over soon-"

A new noise entered the act. This one had payed a few rare visits in the past, and it always made Arthur's heart skip a few beats.

Sirens, accompanied by flashing blue lights.

A neighbour had called the police.

The fight paused for a few seconds, only to be continued rougher then before. Their mother told Steve to help her hide and get rid of the stuff, Steve told her to shut up and get lost before the cops come in. Insults were thrown, then a shatter followed and their mum screaming again, this time it was audible.

"No! Don't you dare to leave me here alone! Steve! You son of a bitch! Bastard! Don't fucking jump out of the window- STEVE! Don't leave me!"

Steve had fled. Swears were heard, then quick-paced footsteps when their mother ran to find her drugs and flush them down the toilet, accompanied by sobs and curses. Arthur swallowed. His heart was beating fast now.

Alfred and Jett were moving uncomfortably as if they were to wake up. Great, that was all he needed. Sydney was crying.

"Don't leave this room. Just stay here, alright? Don't follow me", Arthur said and stood up, gently pushing the youngest off. Her cheeks were teary. Jett was now sitting, eyes confused and hair messy. He didn't say a word; he could put the pieces together by himself already. Alfred blinked a few times.

Arthur moved the mattress from the door and stepped out, finding their mother from the bathroom opposite to their room, door open. The skinny woman was knelt over the toilet, trying to flush the bags of white powder down. She noticed Arthur and looked at him in despair. Her eyes were wild.

"Artie dear, help me! You have to help or the cops will get me, you don't want that do you? Help me Artie!" she cried and put her other hand into the toilet, trying to push the drugs down. Water splashed on her clothes.

It was a terrible sight to see, even if that wasn't the first time. Their mother, desperate, pitiful, dirty, afraid, trying to get rid of the evidence. When Arthur was younger, he had told himself she did it because she wanted to try, she didn't want to go to prison because of her children, she wanted to be the mother she never had been because she really loved them, she would choose them over the drugs. He had clung to that thought for years, and helped her to dispose the evidence and flee, yet every time this happened it ate a piece of it, little by little. He had been disappointed so many times, every time it was harder, every time he loved his mother less when he saw her make the same goddamn mistakes every time, make the same empty promises afterwards.

Footsteps echoed in the stairs, making her panick even more.

"Arthur! Help me! Fucking help me! Don't you leave me too! Arthur!"

Arthur didn't move. Her sad excuse of a ponytail had failed and the free-flowing brown hair was wet now too as she continued her miserable attempt of getting rid of the powder. The floor of the bathroom had puddles formed around her. One of the bags had been torn and a small cloud of heroin floated above the sight. She was sweating, breathing heavily.

"Arthur!"

A loud knock on the door.

"This is the police! Open the door or we will break in!"

"Arthur!" her voice was a high-pitched cry.

He was fed up with the disappointment.

"I am bloody tired of saving you for nothing."

The police kicked the door in. Sydney had ran to Arthur and was hugging his leg, sniffing violently. Matthew, Jett and Alfred were behind him, faces white. They stood in the door way, looking at their mother who still tried to save herself. Two policemen came and grabbed her, dragging her out of the apartment. She kicked and screamed and begged her children to save her, receiving nothing but a few shocked "mums".

Two more police came to the siblings, escorting them out of the building.

Arthur realised, this was it. They had caught her. She was gone. They were now at the mercy of the system.

He didn't know if he should've been sad or happy.

They saw Steve outside the apartment block, handcuffed and being pushed into the police car while he yelled out insults and lies of him having done nothing. Their mother was getting cuffed as well, though she resisted quite a bit more, still screaming her head off, swearing and crying out for Arthur to save her.

All this time, he was in a sort of high, unable to respond with his body to what was happening. All he could think of was to keep his siblings together. He was holding Sydney's hand, Matthew and Alfred had each others in their grips, and Jett was walking close to Arthur, still sleepy and confused.

"My babies! No, don't take them away from me! My children, no, not my children! Don't do this, Syd, Jett, Alfie, Mattie, Artie, no! Don't take them away!" she shrieked as the police put her in the vehicle and shut the door. She pressed her face against the window, still screaming even though no one could hear her. Alfred looked like he wanted to go off and run to rescue her.

"Where are they taking mom? Is she going to jail? Are they going to shoot her?" he asked in fear, fighting the tears that were forming in the corners of this eyes.

"Artie what's happening?" Jett grabbed his sleeve. Arthur opened his mouth to answer before he realised he didn't know what to say. He wasn't given any time to think when some police officer separated Jett and him and began to guide Alfred, Matthew and Jett on another direction. He stopped and grabbed the police.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?!"

"We must separate you, you will meet soon again, now follow officer Miles there-"

"Separate us?! What the bloody hell are you thinking?! You can't do that-"

"Please, just follow our instructions and all will be fine-"

"Fuck you and your instructions, I am not going to leave my brothers! You can't do this!"

Another police came out of nowhere and took his brothers away. Alfred cried out his name. Arthur was about to run after them but the police he had been talking to stopped him by grabbing his arm. Sydney cried, telling the police leave them alone. Then she tried to run after the others herself, but another officer picked her up and walked towards another car. Arthur was dragged the same way. He tried to wiggle off the police's grip, but the man was too strong for the skinny teen. All he could do was to scream out their names. He was placed into the backseat of the police car with Sydney, who instantly clinged to him. Arthur wrapped his arms around the sobbing child, trying to calm her down even if he couldn't even calm himself.

The siblings were reunited at the social worker's office, even if briefly. Alfred and Sydney were sobbing the entire time, Matthew and Jett controlled themselves just a bit better, sniffing and wiping tears from their eyes as they sat on the blue plastic chairs in the corner. Arthur did his best at telling everything was going to be fine, avoinding any questions that had to do with their mother. Just when he was about to convince them things were going to be okay, he was asked to go to one of the rooms for "a few questions". He swallowed, knowing it would take a good while.

"Just a moment", he said, turning to his siblings. They were looking at him, fearing the worst. Alfred named the fear.

"Are they going to take you too?" he asked, voice trembling. Arthur shook his head.

"No no no, it will take only while, I will be back soon."

"Promise?"

"Promise, don't you worry about a thing. Alfred, you're the hero, right?"

The blonde boy nodded.

"So be a hero and protect your siblings, okay? Matthew will help you. Just stay together, and I will be back as soon as I can."

They nodded in agreement and Arthur stood up, placing Sydney who had been in his lap on his seat. He gave her a small kiss on the forehead and murmured reassuring things to them, then turned around and walked to the woman who had asked him. She lead him to a room, then left for her other tasks.

In the room there was a desk, another blue plastic chair and a social worker. He was a dark man with dreadlocks and a belly, a hawaiian shirt under his jacket.

"Hello Arthur. Please, sit down", he said with a heavy foreign accent, smiling kindly. Arthur didn't answer the smile, he just walked to the chair and sat, anxious to leave already. The man quickly glanced some papers he had on his desk, then looked at Arthur.

"My name is Carlos Torres, you can call me Carlos. It's nice to meet you, Arthur."

No respond was received. The man sighed, and opened some folder. He browsed through the pages and then found the list he was looking for.

"This is the list of crimes your mother has committed in the past. There's mild drug use, possession of various drugs and some shoplifting there. I presume there is more than that, yes?"

"Yes."

"Could you name some?"

Arthur sifted, avoiding eye contact. He began listing what he could remember.

"Selling drugs, once in a while prostitution, fighting with anyone who looked at her the wrong way, vandalism, stealing anything she could, blackmailing, lying to the police...", he swallowed, "beating us..."

"She beat you?"

"Sometimes. Usually just me and Alfred, sometimes Jett and Matthew. Sydney was usually safe, but in some rare cases she was hit too", Arthur said, remembering the bruise Sydney was given six months ago when their mother was short on heroin and had snapped. It made him sick.

"Did her boyfriend beat you?"

"Which of them? The current or the past ones?"

"Let's start with the current."

"Yes. Only once or twice. Alfred was too loud, he thought, and hit him. I tried to defend him and got hit."

"I see. How about the other boyfriends?"

"It's pretty much the same story everytime, sometimes it's just Jett who is loud or Matthew who looks them weird."

It surprised Arthur, how he just let all those things he had guarded for ages out. He had always assumed it would be emotionally difficult.

Of course, his mind and body didn't cooperate at the moment. Everything had happened so fast he couldn't follow.

"I see. How about your father-"

"Fathers. We all have different fathers, except Matthew and Alfred."

Carlos glanced the papers.

"Oh yes. But...they too have different last names."

"Yeah, that's an interesting story. I don't quite remember how it went, I was five when mum met their fathers. They were twins, too, and she fucked both of them. The other one is the father, no one knows which one. But to get as much money as she wanted, she gave them different last names. So there you have Matthew Williams and Alfred Jones."

"But if the men are twins..."

"Both were married, and the other had taken his wife's last name. They payed mum to keep quiet so their marriages wouldn't shatter", Arthur explained. Carlos looked at him a surprised look on his face. Well, anyone who heard the story did so.

"Well, anyhow", Carlos continued, "your fathers. Do you know where they are?"

Arthur shook his head. "Last time I saw mine was when I was two. Jett's father stayed with us for a while, but left when Jett was six months old, and we never found out who Sydney's father his. That's why she has mum's last name."

Carlos nodded, processing what he had heard.

"Any relatives you have?"

"Mum has an older sister. Her name was Lisa or Lianne or something like that...Lucy? No, it was Lydia. Lydia. But the last I heard from her was when I was four. Mum had a fight with her and hasn't been in contact ever since."

The questions just seemed to come and come, Arthur didn't even bother to remember them. He answered fast and simple, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. Carlos noticed this, and tried to ask questions that would cover a lot. Or maybe that was just how he did his job.

Time that seemed to take years was only an hour. Carlos had found out what he needed and released Arthur. Immeaditely the blonde went to his siblings, and was pleased to find out Sydney and Jett sleeping. Alfred's face seemed to beam when he saw Arthur and he ran to his big brother, hugging him tight.

"I missed you Art! It was scary without you!"

"Now now", he ruffled his hair, "you're the hero, right? You can cope even without me. You took care you Matthew and Jett and Sydney, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"See, you were just fine. I knew you could do it."

Alfred's bright blue eyes met Arthur's green ones. There was a glint of hope there, accompanied by fear.

"Will mom be here soon?"

Still at the social worker's office, Alfred and Matthew had joined Sydney and Jett in dreamland. The four of them were dozing on the green couch in the lobby in one pile. Arthur was standing outside catching some fresh air and banish the nausea he was feeling.

The city was awfully quiet at night. It was only five in the morning, so naturally it was quiet. Arthur just wasn't used to the silence. The fight seemed to ring in his ears all over again.

What more, he was afraid. He didn't want to show it to his siblings, but he was truly horrified. He didn't know if things were to get better. They might end up to a horrible foster family, or even worse, be separated completely. He didn't want that, he just wished they could get a nice little flat somewhere and live alone without mum and her junkie friends and boyfriends and drug dealers and pimps and rapists and whatelse. All the scum.

It didn't make him better to know he was a son of scum.

He didn't know if they could handle the new way of life. Their mother was a goner now, for sure. She'd go to jail and be there for a while. That would leave Arthur and his siblings alone for real. Sure, they were pretty alone when mum was high or gone missing or with her love of the life of the moment or any other situation, but it was still different. Because there were times when she wasn't high or missing or dating or doing anything illegal, there were times when she tried and promised to stop and be a mother and did so, she cooked and took them to parks and played with them and hugged and kissed them and told them she loved them, and it was wonderful and made Arthur smile and feel normal and happy and think maybe this time, this time this might continue, they could have a real mother forever, but it never last. There wasn't that feeling of normal and happy, it wasn't there anymore. There wasn't a mother to make him feel that way.

They were just alone.

And they were to be known as the kids who don't have a mother, or the kids whose mother is in jail, the poor little angels, even if they weren't like that, no, they were anything but that. Arthur had a horrible temper, he swore, he was mean and sarcastic and cold, he didn't make friends. Alfred and Matthew lived in symbiosis, if they weren't together Alfred couldn't concentrate and got in trouble, if Matthew didn't have Alfred no one seemed to notice him until he grew angry and made some damage. Jett was too curious and energetic and sometimes said things adults didn't want to hear and ate things that were not supposed to be eaten, and Sydney was like a boy, unable to make friends with the girls but too fragile to be with the boys so she was with herself and got in trouble.

So they were always the weird kids with shady background and no love or discipline.

Arthur wanted to cry but he knew he couldn't. Last time he had cried was when he was ten and his mother's boyfriend at that time, Mark, had hit him so he had been slammed against the wall and when he looked at his mother she said 'Mark has a headache and you were loud, honey'. He had run into the bathroom and shred tears, muffling the sounds with a towel. Matthew had found him and the shock in his eyes was horrifying, to see his great strong big brother cry. There he had promised himself he wouldn't cry anymore, he wanted Alfred and Matthew and Jett and Sydney to think he could protect them.

He felt sick.

More to that, he knew they would end up to live either in an orphanage or something like that or at a complete stranger's place. They didn't know a single person who didn't use drugs or didn't commit crimes or wasn't just a shady character except for their teachers, and unfortunately the teachers didn't like them. They had no one.

He felt even sicker.

The door opened, Carlos stepped out and stood beside Arthur. He looked at the teen, nodded and put his hand in his pocket. A carton of cigarettes and a lighter were pulled out. Carlos took one and lit it, then took in a long smoke. Arthur watched him, all the time.

God, it had been a long time since his last smoke.

Carlos' brown eyes met Arthur's and he offered him a cigarette. Arthur raised an eyebrow, making the man roll his eyes.

"Oh come on, you've been through some deep shit, I think you deserve one."

Hesitantly Arthur took one and Carlos lit it up. Arthur inhaled, remembering again the relaxing wonders of smoking, and exhaled.

Dammit he loved it.

Carlos didn't say anything for a while, neither did Arthur, they were too busy with filling their lungs with tar. Then the older man dropped the paper roll and stepped on it.

"We were able to get it contact with your aunt."

"Really?"

"She was making cookies at the time we called her. We explained the situation to her. She said she would be more than willing to take you under her wings."

Arthur looked at Carlos, confused.

"Why was she baking biscuits at five in the morning?"

Yeah, no Francis in this chapter, but he'll appear in the next. Just wait for it.