N: Meanwhile in the sitting room, Wolfgang tapping his foot as he worried about his son while Johann was trying to convince his friend that his brother has everything under control, and that he doesn't need to go.

"It's fine, Wolfe," Johann tried to reassure him, "Mandara is with him."

"I swear, Kress," the Saxon growled, glaring at the Mandorian, "if anything happened to him, I will make your end miserable."

"Then we better hope that my brother is doing a good job then," the other chuckled nervously as he left the Saxon to his worrying.

M: It took a couple minutes but Mandara did return, he looked very mentally exhausted, plopping on the couch and burying his face in a pillow. He would have stayed that way if Wolfie hadn't demanded to know what happened, and after much consideration, he decided to tell him.

"I promised him that I wouldn't tell you so you didn't hear this from me, I don't want to lose the trust I built up with him," he sighed, "I still don't know how he died, we never did find his body when he did, so I would have to guess foul play. He's very vulnerable right now, you have to be extremely gentle with him, I'm going to have the house workers start locking up any sharp objects, I don't think he's suicidal but it wouldn't hurt to be on the safe side."

He looked up to his friend, resting his head on his arms, "what are we going to do, it took me needing to get brutally honest with him just for him to accept a hug."

N: Wolfgang sighed as he tried to think of a way to get through to Niko, but he shook his head in defeat.

"We would have to let him come to us when he feels like the time is right," he commented, "I wouldn't want to be reminded of how I died any more than the next resurrected person, but we'll need to show him that we're here to support him and love him."

The Saxon grumbled as he buried his head in his hand, "why wasn't I there for him?"

M: "I ask myself the same thing, not why you weren't there for Niko, but I had a similar problem with Poldara after his accident," Mandara sighed again, "all his life he wanted to be just like his Uncle MA, he wanted to be the next Mandara Army, but after the aircraft hangar fire, he was just far too injured to even become a soldier, let alone a general. He became so depressed, I did my best to help him through it, or at least I thought I did, but I was oblivious to a lot of things he was doing to himself, like cutting his arms and drowning himself in alcohol. I only started to notice how bad things were when it was too late, and before I knew it, I was sitting by my brother's hospital bed, praying that he would survive his throat being slit by my own son."

He sat up and rubbed his tired eyes, "my point is that parents, especially inexperienced ones, tend to not notice a lot of things our kids go through, and that's why we're not always there for them. Eventually we come to learn how to spot the signs, to come to their aid when they need us, it just takes time and practice. I've had that time and practice, I'll help you however I can, but don't beat yourself up for being absent, it's not your fault you were taken away from your family, and now's your chance to be there for him."

N: Wolfgang nodded, and after taking a moment to think, he silently got up from his seat and walked towards the door. However, when Johann asked where he was going, he froze in his tracks.

"To go watch over my son," the Saxon grumbled, then he turned around and stared at Johann dead in the eye, "are you still going to advise me that I stay, Kress?"

"Nein, you go right ahead," the Mandorian quickly replied, which got a satisfying huff from his friend before the Saxon disappeared. The moment he was gone, the man slumped into the sofa right where Wolfgang was.

"There is so much about Niko that we don't know," he sighed, "Ella mentioned a bit about what happened at the bath, and even with how close she and Nikolaus were, she didn't seem to know what happened to him either."

M: "I believe that the only one who knows what happened to Niko will always be Niko, I don't think he will ever be comfortable enough to tell us the full story, and I don't blame him," Mandara stated, "all we can do is help where we can, comfort when he needs it."

"How is Helena then, she died from sickness right, has she been having any moments?"

N: "Ja, she fell sick and died," Johann nodded, although his voice sounded disheartened, "she hasn't been as bad as Niko, but she has had some moments; her last one being last night."

"She was sleeping peacefully next to me, but I breathed in the wrong way and I coughed," he recounted, "not only did I wake her up, I triggered her memory of being in the infirmary and her final moments, so I spent the rest of the night trying to convince her that we weren't back in the infirmary."

He turned to Mandara, worry written all over his face, "I'm worried that, if we ever would need to go to the hospital in the future, that it would trigger her breakdown. I don't want her to suffer, but it means that she will avoid medical spaces at all costs."

M: "Then we probably should keep her away from our infirmary, luckily though Poldara has his own private doctor who doesn't mind coming here, she is very familiar with the weird quirks of our family and is very good a keeping secrets, she'll understand Helena's situation, mostly," Mandara reassured him, "other than that, we'll just help her where we can and hope that she and Niko can return to some sort of normalcy, as well as you, Wolfgang, and Father, I don't want you guys to think that we won't help you any less."

N: "Ja, I know," Johann sighed, "it's just going to take some time."

The rest of the day went smoothly, with everyone coming together later on for dinner, although Wolfgang and Niko weren't able to attend.

The father sat in quiet frustration, annoyed that he wasn't able to help his own son, and while the boy slept on their bed, Wolfe stayed in his armchair, watching over his son until he too fell asleep.

However, when he woke up early the next day, he was in a foul mood, and with his pent up frustration building up inside him, he got up and marched out of the room, and the moment he saw someone, he asked where Corbin's room was.

"Hallo, Corbin, you in there," the Saxon spoke as he knocked on the Prussian's door, his voice almost song-like as his eyes glistened with malice, "guess what time it is?"

M: Corbin was still sleeping when Wolfgang knocked on his door, it took a couple of them to wake him up, and when he looked at the alarm clock he had to groan in frustration.

"Geeze, couldn't it wait for people to wake up a little bit, what, did you forget to turn off your anger switch last night?" he grumbled, "just give me a second to get dressed, I don't want you accidentally pulling out any wires."

N: "Take your sweet time," Wolfgang growled, "since you never gave that privilege to me. And besides," he smiled, "why would I 'accidentally' pull your wires out?"

M: "Would you rather beat me up in my boxers, at least I didn't strip you naked, you jackass," Corbin shouted back to him, "Jesus H. Christ on a fucking pogo stick, be fucking grateful I'm willing to let you do this without resistance, I may not be who I was but I can still kick your ass!"

N: "It seems like you've forgotten what you've done to the people of Saxony," Wolfgang replied calmly, "well that's fine, it's not as grand as your invasion of Mandoria, but it was still something worth remembering."

The moment Corbin stepped out fully dressed, the Saxon mockingly bowed, "it's nice to see you, sir, and since you've been so compliant, you could decide where to go next."

M: Corbin rolled his eyes, "I don't care, just as long as it's not near the children, or are you so tunnel-visioned on revenge that you don't care if they get traumatized?"

N: Wolfgang immediately dropped his smile as he stood upright and stared at Corbin, and the other could see that something snapped inside of him.

"'Traumatising children', huh," he spoke, his voice dangerously low, "somehow you're so high and mighty that you can comment on someone else's misdeeds. I ought to teach you a history lesson about what you did."

Immediately, he kicked Corbin right in the groin, and when the other was doubled over, he punched him right at the back of his head as hard as he could. Taking advantage of the other's state, he grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him away.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance, back in Saxony," the Saxon nonchalantly mentioned, occasionally kicking the Prussian when he tried to resist, "would have saved me a lot of trouble."

When they had finally arrived in a room that was far enough from everyone else, the Saxon threw the country in front of him, and his eyes glinted at the sight of a dirty knife and fork left on the windowsill, probably from someone who forgot to clean after themselves. Promptly grabbing the knife, he locked the door behind them and slowly turned around.

"Traumatising children," Wolfgang chuckled coldly, flipping the knife his hand, and he looked at Corbin with pure delight, "now, who wants a history lesson on the Trials of Pirna."

M: Corbin spat out a little bit of blood from his mouth, the Saxon hit much harder than he remembered, he must have really struck a nerve.

"Trust me, I remember them all too well, I see now that I misspoke and sounded very hypocritical, I'm sorry for that, I didn't mean it to come out that way," the ex-empire apologized, knowing full well it would fall on deaf ears, "take a breath, Wolfgang, let's not do something irrational, knives were not part of the deal."

He was trying very hard to hide it, but he was starting to become nervous, and was starting to think that Wolfgang was going to do much more than he said he would.

N: "Es tut mir Leid, circumstances have changed," Wolfgang smirked as he crouched down to his level, the tip of his knife resting on the Saxon's temple, "don't get me wrong, this thing we're doing right now is payback for the pain you inflicted to my people, not necessarily for myself. I'm just gonna have fun."

In the corner of his eye, he noticed a poker resting next to a fireplace, and his eyes glinted as an idea popped into his mind.

"Well look at that," he chuckled as he meandered towards the poker and picked it up, observing its pointed end, "this will be very useful."

Walking back to Corbin, he stabbed the poker right through the arm of the country's remaining wing, and it went all the way through till it embedded itself in the carpeted floor, and he only laughed at the other's pain.

"Now that I've got the birdy pinned down, let's talk like gentleman, ja," Wolfgang spoke as he grabbed a chair and sat in front of the Prussian as he failed to pull out the poker, "if you remember them so well, bitte, tell me the names of all 587 children who ended up dying during your 'selection process'.

"I'll be nice and write down each incorrectly named child on you with this beautiful blade and I can tell you how they died too; you'll just better hope you don't make too many mistakes. And don't worry, this is just the start."

M: "How the fuck do you expect me to remember all of them, that's like asking UK to remember every human that was slaughtered in his colonies," Corbin stated, the fear now evident on his face, "you think what I did was terrible, you forget something very important, the uncle of your son was the one who suggested the trials."

"My orders were for him to burn the town or I would challenge Anglo, it was my intention that everyone burn with it, I knew that if anyone survived they would rebel against me," he explained, "of course, Saxon wanted to save his husband, but he still cared about his people, halfway through the slaughter he proposed the trials, he thought that his people were strong enough that most of them would survive, he even designed a few of them, it was his poor judgment that cost them their lives."

He narrowed his gaze, "I didn't kill anyone, I gave Saxon a choice, I gave him the opportunity to save his people, and he held a single life higher than thousands. He killed your friends, not me, so why must I be punished for another man's crimes?"

N: "Because I already had my fun with him, and I'll be damned to believe that you had nothing to do with the trials," Wolfgang simply answered, leaning back on his chair, "this isn't new information, dear Corbin, as I have known this for a while now, and let's just say that a couple of the trials definitely had your 'touch'."

Now on his feet, the Saxon walked over to the Prussian and slit the other's shirt with knife, exposing his torso, and he rested his knee on his stomach to keep him still.

"Let's start with the trial that caused the most deaths, ok, one that Saxon said was your doing," he spoke, "'anyone who is younger than the age of 12 must be burnt' if I'm not mistaken, which resulted to the death of around 200 children."

The knife resting over Corbin's heart, he continued, "see, with all the horrible things Saxon has done, he has a soft spot for children, especially infants, and that doesn't sound like something he would do. You, however, who have massacred towns and cities, seemed pretty proud of yourself when you issued the order.

"Since you failed to name a single child who died, something Saxon at least could do, let me teach you," and with that, the Saxon meticulously carved in the initials of every child who died in the first trial, mockingly congratulating whenever he remembered a few, must made sure that the pain would last.

M: Unfortunately, Corbin decided that enough was enough, he actually punched Wolfgang in the face and made him fall back off of him. He then grabbed the poker and ripped it out of floor and wing, throwing it to the side.

"You are being foolish, Wolfgang, don't you realize that there is a child here that can smell blood from a mile away," he spat, flaring out his wing, "I don't normally defend myself when someone is punishing me for Prussia's crimes, but by god, I will not let my Urenkelin have more trauma dumped on her by walking into this! I already paid for my sins, the devil himself made me live every life I took away, all these names you've written on me, I lived their pain over and over and over again. You can be high and mighty and say that you are torturing me for them but we both know that is not true, your bloodline has always been known for their selfishness, your own father ratted out many of his and your friends to save his land and his hide. My past life was nothing short of diabolical, but to see that you are ripping pages out of my own book is what's most disgusting, if you could use what little brain you have, you would realize that this is what Prussia would have done."

Now through chewing out the Saxon, Corbin unlocked the door and left for the infirmary, making a mental note to pay the housekeepers for the mess they would have to clean up.

N: Returning the knife back on the plate before leaving the room to get a much needed shower. Afterwards, when he saw his sleeping son, he decided to go for a walk to get all the pent up energy out.

After a couple hours and when people had begun their day, Wolfgang walked into the living room and saw Mandara and MC getting ready for the day. Meanwhile, Johann was watching the tv series with Helena and Prudoria, and he rolled his eyes at the sight of the cartoon Prussia.

"Ooo, where have you been," the Mandorian asked, oblivious about what happened that morning.

"If you so much as breathe in my direction, Kress, you'll end up with one less functioning finger," the Saxon grumbled, walking towards the corridor.

"What got you into a mood? Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, huh," Johann joked, but when the Saxon stared him down, he folded, "alright, see you later, grumpy."

Wolfgang then silently left, heading towards his room to find Niko still resting, so he closed the door behind him and watched over him.

M: "He was torturing Corbin again, but took it a bit far and got himself punched in the face," MA stated as he walked into the room, "he sure gave the housekeepers a bit of work to do, it's hard to get blood out of these carpets."

"Where is Corbin now?" Prudoria signed

"In the infirmary, best keep the two away from each other today," the militant informed, "I asked MC if he could take Wolfgang with him and Eclipse out hunting, that usually helps calm him down, with that being said, keep an eye on Niko for him too, just to be on the safe side, can you guys do that?"

N: "Ja, can do," Johann nodded before sighing, "neither of them are in a good state."

"Will Niko be ok," Helena asked, since she hasn't seen the Saxon since the bath.

"Hopefully, dear," the Mandorian reassured her, placing a small kiss on her forehead before she returned her attention back to the show.

M: "If anything happens that seems even slightly concerning, call me or Mandara immediately, personally I'm pretty confident you got this but Mandara's been worried about Niko since last night, I had to give him some peace of mind for him to be able to go to work. Anyway, you all have a good day, if you can't find Adira anywhere it's because her father likes to use her as his hunting hound, and she very much enjoys it."

He left then to head to work and the group resumed watching their show. Nothing much happened for the next couple of hours, people meandering in and out of the living room for the most part, until eventually MC popped in to ask where Wolfgang was so they could go.

N: "He's in his room with Niko," Johann replied in the middle of eating a snack, "I've been checking on him for a bit although he does get agitated whenever I do pop in.

"Word of advice, tell him it's you, otherwise he'll moan about me looking out for him," the Mandorian warned.

M: "Alright, thanks for the tip," the American militant thanked him.

He strolled on over to the Saxon's room, braced himself, and knocked, "Hey Wolf, you in there, Eclipse and I are gonna head out deer hunting, ya wanna join in, I'll let ya shoot something again."