M: Rowen stayed behind to thank Poldara for the tour, and to assure him that they would give his cousin a chance, which the Mandarian was thankful for.

"You guys take as much time as you need to settle in, it'll be about an hour and a half before Dad and Uncle come home," he said, "I'll check with Zalia as well to see if or when Prudoria will visit. Come on Adira, let's give our guests some peace and quiet."

Adira jumped onto her father's lap and rode with him out of the room, letting Rowen finally collapse on the bed and take a well-deserved nap.

----

One and a half hours later on the mark, there was knocking on the bedroom door, and an unknown voice called to Rowen. He groggily got up and opened it, a female houseworker stood there and informed him that the Mandarian brothers were home and requesting his audience. He nodded in understanding and followed her to Johann and Wolfgang's room to tell them.

N: When Johann heard a knock on his door, he stretched before getting up from his seat, since he decided not to sleep. Opening the door, he heard what Rowen had to say and smiled, "I'll see if Ella can meet them, then," before closing the door.

When Rowen knocked on the Schwartz's door, there wasn't a response for a while, and after several minutes Wolfgang opened the door, his hair dishevelled.

"Sorry about that," he grumbled, "Niko was having a nightmare and the knock startled him." He paused for a moment before adding, "it was a memory from when he was alive back in Britain, and I've been thinking, do you think we'll get dreams...about our deaths?"

M: Rowen hummed in response, "I honestly don't know, I didn't have any just now, but I think it might depend on how we died. Mine was succumbing to tuberculosis, not that traumatic but still painful, Johann's sounds like it was of old age, so we'll have to see," he stole a glance into the room, "I can only imagine how it is for him, to come back to life at such a young age but to know that you died, Ella as well, poor kids."

Rubbing his neck awkwardly, he said, "well Mandara and Derogan are here, I know that you said that you're not interested, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you wanted to come down, I remember how protective you were of Mandara."

N: Wolfgang sighed, "fine, I'll catch up and meet Mandara and Derogan."

"We'll meet you there," Johann said as he stepped out of his room, holding Helena's hand, "Hezyka, you're ready?"

M: Rowen smiled, "I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Remember though, they might not believe at first that it's actually us, we may have to offer up proof, but with that being said, there's only one way to find out."

The three of them walked back to the lady from before, who led them to the living room once again. Upon arriving, Poldara was at the doorway to debrief them before they went in.

"So they are going to look a lot different than when you remember them, not only has their flags changed but their wings as well," he explained, "Uncle MA is joining to have this stand-offish vibe to him, being the general and all that, but it should drop once he realizes you're really you. Dad on the other hand, his demeanor hasn't really changed, but during a war his right eye was injured and left permanently blind, so just don't ask about it. Ok, any questions or concerns before you go in?"

N: "I think we're fine," Johann nodded, taking in a deep breath as Poldara let them through. Although it feels like he just saw his brothers yesterday, he felt nervous nonetheless.

Helena on the other hand was excited, happy that she'll be able to see her uncles again, but when she finally saw them, she froze. For a moment, seeing MA and Mandara, she didn't recognise them, so she stood close to her father.

The Mandorian was in shock seeing them, having walked into the room while they were in the middle of a conversation, so he just awkwardly smiled, "hallo."

M: The two Mandarians turned to the group, their conversation momentarily forgotten, and stared in complete shock at who stood before them. Poldara couldn't do justice explaining how different the two were, they were truly grown up, more mature than the two playful young adults that were last seen.

No one spoke up, and no one dared to move, they were just too shocked, Poldara didn't step in either to let everyone have their moment.

After a few minutes, Mandara was the one to make the first move, slowly stepping forward until he was just a few feet from Johann. The country was taller than his brother, something that wasn't so in the past, and his multi-colored eyes stared in wonder at the sibling he thought he had lost forever. He tentatively reached a hand to the Mandorian, wanting to see if he was really there, and when he made contact with Johann's shoulder was when the tearducts finally opened.

"I-It's really you," he said, his voice cracking from the emotions, "I-I thought we lost you for good this time."

Without warning, he pulled Johann in a large hug, crying and laughing as he held his brother for the first time in three hundred years.

N: Johann also broke down, hugging Mandara in a tight embrace, as if afraid that he would disappear in front of him. "It is really me in the flesh," he chuckled, "and it's so nice to see you again."

While they were hugging, Helena was watching MA, trying to see the Derogan in him, so she tentatively walked up to the Mandarian. With his intimidating demeanour, she was hesitant to say anything, but she eventually did.

"Uncle Derogan," she spoke, "do you remember me?"

M: MA stared at the child for a moment, racking his memories for any mention of her, finally smiling when he recognized her.

"How could I forget you, Helena, you were always running around making trouble with your friends," he chuckled, kneeling down to her level and giving her a hug, "I sure did miss you, Sweetie, things have been far too quiet."

He then looked up to the others, seeing how Rowen had joined into Mandara and Johann's hug, so he picked up his niece and asked if they could join in as well.

"I can't imagine how long these 300 years have been for you two," Rowen stated, "we're so sorry we had to leave you like that."

"We're countryhumans, Father, we knew that you couldn't stay with us forever, it wasn't your fault," Mandara sniffled, "all that matters is that you're back, that's all we care about."

N: Johann nodded, wiping away Mandara's tears as he expressed his agreement. Soon after, they heard footsteps approaching, and Wolfgang walked in with Nikolaus in hand, the latter's eyes puffy with sleepiness.

The Saxon immediately froze, and since he wasn't told about how much the Mandorians changed, he was momentarily confused on who was who.

"Is this a bad time," he asked.

M: "Wolfie, you're here too," Mandara exclaimed with joy, "and little Niko as well."

The country ran to hug his friend, not realizing that he most likely didn't recognize him after all the changes, MA had to come rescue the Saxon from the semi-awkward hug.

"It's nice to see you again, soldier," he greeted, saluting the former knight, "you have no idea how good it is to see you alive and well, especially after ... the war ..."

Mandara patted his brother's shoulder, the Saxons weren't the only ones affected by Wolfgang's tragic passing, the Mandorians took it hard too, he was like another brother or a cousin.

To take the focus off of the adult's demise, Mandara knelt down to Nikolaus and smiled, "look at you, you're all small again, I remember when you were taller than your father was, and how you used to pick on your uncle Johann because he was short, you haven't been naughty to him yet, have you?"

N: "Nein," Niko smiled before stifling a yawn, "I've been nice to Uncle Johann so far."

"Well, not for long," Wolfgang chuckled, "I remember when you finally hit puberty and you were relentless with your insults, I guess it was your Mutter that kept you in place."

"Mutter couldn't hold me back," the young boy smiled mischievously.

M: "No she couldn't," Mandara chuckled, "so I guess that means we should be keeping him away from Thunder then, huh?"

"Oi, that wasn't necessary, I know how to watch my language," MA grumbled in indignation.

"Wait, you call your brother, Thunder, now," Rowen asked.

"The full name is Thunderbird, sometimes when I land hard after flying it can make a thud sound," the militant explained, "Mandara's is Trigger Finger, or just Trigger, because he learned how to use firearms faster than me."

"Yeah, there's just so much to tell you all, I wouldn't even know where to begin," Mandara said, then turned back to Niko, "although this little one looks tired, did we wake you up from your nap, you can go back to bed now if you want, it was great to see you and your father again."

N: "Nein, I want to stay," Niko said determinedly, "I'm not that tired; I can stay awake and listen."

"Are you sure," Wolfgang asked, concerned as he went down on one knee, "you look pretty tired and you can see Uncle Derogan and Mandara whenever you want."

The boy paused for a moment before answering, "I don't want to sleep again. It's scary."

The Saxon sighed before giving his son a single nod, understanding what he meant before standing up on both feet, and turning to the Mandarian brothers.

"So, tell us what we've missed," he smiled.

M: Mandara and MA were confused at first by Niko's fear, but when Rowen mouthed "nightmares" they understood, this isn't the first time someone coming back from the dead has remembered their past life. With that being said, the brothers offered their family a seat and went about filing them in on the past three hundred years they've missed, tho tried to keep it as short and sweet as possible.

It still took about an hour or two to get up to the present day, Adira had come in to play with the children so none of them got too bored, and Poldara and the twins popped in periodically to check on everyone and input their own stories and recollections.

"You all actually aren't the first people to come back to life," MA stated, "granted, from the rift you are, but after Poldara found Adira and we were made aware of the genetic experiments with countryhumans, we begun finding facilities with old empires and kingdoms, alive and being experimented on, some even having body parts replaced with cybernetic limbs, though we still have yet to understand why."

N: "Are the said facilities linked in anyway," Wolfgang asked, "because I can only guess that it would be a pain if they were independent from each other."

"Do you think they also have access to the rift," Johann asked, "I mean look at us, we were somehow able to get through, and if they have old empires and kingdoms, they got to get them from somewhere."

M: "No, no one should know about the rift, if we can't figure out how to close it then I doubt anyone who does know would know how to open it," Mandara stated, "in most cases, it's grave robbing or obtaining a genetic sample of the deceased to create a new body, in those instances the country may not remember their past life, but through various stimuli, they may begin to recall things later on."

"Bad people bring them back, bad people make me too," Adira commented, "they say I was failure, not what they wanted, so they do different stuff now. Can't think about the pain they cause, I'm not right, they made me all wrong, others must be wrong too."

Rowen frowned at her words, his parenting instincts kicked in and he offered her a seat on his lap, she obliged and he began to preen her wings to calm her.

"Humanity really has taken a turn for the worst, hasn't it," he muttered.

"Well, no actually, these people are just nutjob conspirators who dabble in things they shouldn't," MA said, "the rest of the world is much better than this."

We can't wait to show it to you," his brother added, "tomorrow we were thinking of taking you into town, there are shops, restaurants, Eclipse's bakery, it'll be so much fun."

N: Johann and Wolfgang both smiled at the suggestion, but when Eclipse was mentioned, their smiles wavered.

"We just wanted to be clear," Wolfgang spoke, "since 300 years ago felt like yesterday to us, we still hold our notions regarding Eclipse, so if we were to visit his bakery, it would probably take some time to warm up to him."

"But we are giving him the benefit of the doubt," Johann quickly added, "heck, he was kind to Ella, but maybe let's not rush into things."

M: MA's wings subconsciously dipped, he remembered how Eclipse was in the past, it even took him most of those 300 years to give him a chance, but now that he's raised him as his own son, no he's upset that the stigma is still there.

"... I ... I guess I understand," he muttered, "but at the very least remember this, he never actually was malicious, I have this extremely rare condition called MS-PD, it only affects a handful of militants, and all of them have a facet that is a manifestation of their rage and bloodlust. Eclipse was my hybrid, he was the secondary alter, which meant that he was doomed to be the killer. He never chose to be who he was in the past, he's as much a victim as everyone else."

He let that sink in for a moment, watching as guilt fell upon everyone, but they were interrupted by Zalia coming in with her phone.

"Good news, fuckers, you all are going to have another family reunion soon."

"Zalia," everyone shouted in unison, Rowen even covering Adira's ears, "Zalia Erna Mandoria, what have I told you about cursing in front of children!" her father scolded."

"Make sure mother doesn't know about it," she replied, "anyway, I talked with Prud, he said he'll swing by this weekend, apparently Corbin invited him to a fishing trip and they'll be back by then."

N: Wolfgang also covered Nikolaus' ears, although he slowly turned to MA with a surprised expression. "You made Zalia's middle name my wife's name," he spoke, although he didn't sound offended, "huh, I never thought that I'll hear her name this far in the future."

"Wait, who is Corbin," Johann asked, although he was both excited and nervous about the idea of meeting Prudoria, "he made a friend?"

M: Mandara and MA glanced at each other apprehensively, "Well ... not necessarily-"

"Corbin's Prussia," Zalia once again bluntly stated, "my gang and I stumbled on one of those illegal resurrection facilities while trying to make a hit for my clients, Prud suggested we keep him."

"Zal, again with the bluntness," Mandara sighed, "you know how this family feels about Corbin."

"Yes I do actually, you guys like Corbin just fine, it's Prussia you've got a fucking problem with," the female country spat, "have we not had this discussion before, Corbin is not Prussia, that demon is dead, all that's left is a sad and tired countryhuman who is bullied by everyone, and lets them do it. For fuck sake, we invited him to last Friday's barbecue and you let him play with Adira, don't be hypocrites!"

N: Wolfgang and Johann went pale at the mention of Prussia, the former's face filled with hatred while the latter had pure horror written all over his face.

The Mandorian couldn't utter a word, although his mind was unbearably loud, and he only snapped out of it when Helena walked up to him. Snapping out of his trance, he just stared at her with a hint of fear.

"Is Prussia back," she asked.

Wanting to be strong for her daughter, he smiled as he held her hand, "no he's not, he's long dead. Why don't you and Niko go into a different room and play," he turned up to MA, his face stony, "someone clearly didn't teach their daughter to hold her tongue."

Although hesitant, she nodded and walked over to Niko and waved Adira over, and soon the three left the room.

The room went silent for a moment, until Wolfgang spoke up. "I would like to ask, how do you two feel with Prus-Corbin, or whatever his name is, wandering around," he asked, "or has it been so long since you've seen him that you've forgotten what he had done?"

M: "'Forgotten what he's done,' what do you take us for," MA said, "when I found out that my own daughter took in the most evil countryhuman in the world, I just about died myself."

"That's putting it mildly," Zalia chuckled, "also how about you hold your mouth, twerp, my father does just fine, I just don't have to listen to him."

"Zal, mind your manners," Mandara spoke, "how about you sit down and we talk about it like adults, ok."

The younger country rolled her eyes but obeyed, sitting down on a couch and taking out her gun to clean it, getting an ignored warning from her father to not have weapons out in the house.

"Anyway, trust me when we say that we were just as horrified as you when we heard the news, I may or may not have spent a whole week in the panic room because of it," Mandara continued, "for the first five years we made sure that Zalia kept him out of the country, and it would have stayed that way if it weren't for Prudoria."

"Apparently it was Prud's idea to take him in after they found him, though he never told anyone why," MA added, "our brother all but shut everyone out after Saxon's death, he left Europe and we only ever heard from him once every decade, so we don't know all the things that had changed with him. Anyway, Prud and Zalia decided to have Corbin stay with us for a while, to show us that he wasn't who he was before, it was terrifying in the start, but as time went on, we saw that he really wasn't the Prussia we remembered. He basically turned into a scared, submissive crybaby with literally no self-confidence whatsoever."

N: "And that's what he deserves," Wolfgang scoffed, and then a malicious smirk stretched on his face, "you know what, invite him here again. It's been so long since I've talked to the boss, maybe I can break his will further, of course," he glanced at Zalia, "if that's fine with you, Zal."

"I don't want him anywhere near any of us," Johann spoke, "he should have been left in that cursed facility." He turned to Zalia and continued, "you probably deal with horrible people, and you probably have seen victims who have been on the receiving end of their hatred or fun. As much as you would defend Corbin, what Prussia has done to us felt like a decade ago, not 300 years. Prussia wasn't our problem, he was our nightmare. We've all lost our homes to him, our dignity and our friends' lives. No matter what, if I were to see him, we'll only be reminded of the hell we've experienced."

The Mandorian turned to Rowen and rested his hand on his shoulder, "Hezyka, you haven't said a word."

M: Rowen shook his head when he was spoken to, he had been staring off into space as all the horrible memories came flooding back, and all he could do was whimper slightly and bury his face in his hands.

"Of course, I've dealt with victims of torture, who do you think is the one torturing them," Zalia scoffed, "Granted, I charge extra for interrogations and it's always purely professional, but torture is torture all the same. Buddy, you can't guilt trip me with victim stories, I am the leader of the Smoke Wolves gang, we excel in assassination and espionage, killing and stealing for the highest payers, who are mostly countryhumans. To put it bluntly, I am a crimelord, like a head of insurgants without the entity eyes."

"Zalia, stop freaking everyone out," MA scolded, "can't you do something more productive elsewhere?"

"Why though, I was told to sit down," she smirked, "besides, I never said that Corbin was coming here, I said that Prudoria was coming, but if he brings his Vater or not is not up to me. And Wolf, if he does bring Corbin, you can give him a good socking if you want, Johann can repair his systems, just try not to kill him too bad, Adira would be really said if you killed her favorite birdy."

N: "Maybe," Wolfgang shrugged, "but it hasn't been the first time I've taken something away from a child, so that's not an issue for me. You're lucky that a friend of ours isn't here, because I know for sure he would have hunted down Corbin and murdered him on the spot. The bastard did slice and dice a person he loved."

The Saxon's eyes lit up for a moment, "you know what, that's what I should do, and tell your brother to get ready because he's going to have to stitch together a very diced up Prussia."

Getting up on his feet, he clasped his hands, "I can't get too ahead of myself. Johann, let's go, turns out your dear brother gave birth to a bitch."

Johann watched as the Saxon walked out, sighing as he got up on his feet, looking dead at MA. "I'm not a kid anymore, Derogan. Every person in Saxony was well aware of what Saxon was capable of, and we all experienced the horrors of Prussia, so what Zalia does is just our normal," he said monotonously, "however, the difference between her and Saxon is that he had a heart and she doesn't, just like Prussia.

"I think it's best if you quickly find a way to send us back," he concluded, heading to the door, "I would rather be in a world where people fight against evil than a world who turns a blind eye to it." With that, the Mandorian was gone, looking to find his daughter.

M: "Johann wait, don't be like that," Rowen finally said, "don't blame your brother for something he has no control over."

"No Father, he's right, this is my fault," MA said, his wings drooping again, "I'm a horrible father, Bel and I failed in raising our kids, there's no arguing about that."

"Hey, that is not true and you know it," Zalia blurted, dropping her gun as she stood up, "you have done nothing but your best for us, I may not act like it, but I appreciate everything you've given and sacrificed for us, and I won't let anyone tell you otherwise."

She stormed out of the room and after Johann, grabbing his wrist hard and yanking him to face her.

"You listen to me, you son of a bitch, you can call me names and try to beat me down all you want, but I won't have someone who hasn't been around for 300 years come around and tell my father he's a horrible person," she yelled at him, anger written all over her face, "you think I'm walking around free as a bird, I'm wanted in well over 78 countries, I pay Mandara hundreds of thousands of dollars to have immunity here, otherwise he would turn me over easily! I may be a lot of things, but evil is not one of them, I fucking love my family and this country, and I won't have some zombie say otherwise!"

She yanked him towards the living room, "now you are going to march your ass back in there and apologize to my father, he's been through more shit than you can ever imagen, my older sister is the result of my mother's brother raping him, for example, so you have no right to be such a bitch to him!"

N: Johann just scoffed, "Derogan is the opposite of horrible. When I stumbled into the Kingdom of Mandoria, it was his family that took me in. Hell, I even fought to help him recover from his shattered state as if I've known him for years. The last thing I will do is call my brother horrible."

When he was shoved into the room, he staggered a bit before standing up straight, "I do admit, I do agree that I shouldn't blame you for the things you cannot control, but that only begs the question," he turned back to Zalia, "why did you become a crimelord? Why become someone people despise and put your family through the ordeal? If you love your family so much, why force them into the position where they would have to arrest you? See, the difference between you and Saxon is that he didn't have a choice as the Head of Insurgents, but you chose to do harm. Why, Zalia, why?"

M: "I'm not forcing my family into anything, they don't have to associate with me, but that's beside the point," Zalia said, "you have only been here for less than three hours, you don't have the faintest idea of how this world has changed, you may have been told about it, but you will never understand. What I do is just how I make a living, to put food on the table, not just for me but for everyone in my clan, because they have nowhere else to go and no one to turn to."

She stood against him again, "I may seem like a cold-hearted killer on the outside, but that's what I want people to think so they know not to mess with me, but I am a woman of honor, I don't kill when it's unnecessary, I only torture if someone won't talk, and i certainly don't take pleasure in any of this. What I do is purely professional, you think you know all about that Saxon guy, but you don't, do you, you just pretend you do to deny the fact that we are doing literally the exact same thing. But none of this is about me, this is about you understanding that the world you knew doesn't exist anymore, you can pretend all you want that the world is made out of sugar and rainbows, but you better wake up soon before you get hurt."

"Zalia, please stop this," MA practically begged, walking up to them, "you're right that he doesn't understand modern times, but you don't understand the world we grew up in, it certainly wasn't some fairy tale life. Just leave him alone, he'll understand in time."

"He better, because he's asking to get his butt kicked judging people like this," his daughter growled, "he doesn't understand how nice I'm being, because any insurgent I know would have killed him where he stood the minute he opened his mouth. For someone without a heart, I certainly don't want him to die because of his stupidity."

With their little argument concluded, Zalia retrieved her gun and walked away. MA just stood there, hands over his face and wings hanging limp from his back, and when Mandara went up to him and put a hand on his shoulder he shrugged him off.

"Don't touch me," he spat, though it sounded more upset than angry, "please, I just need some time alone to think, I'm going outside, I need some air."

The Mandarian left for the backyard, leaving Mandara to address his family, "I'm sorry you guys don't like the new world or the people in it, but please understand that we had to watch our world die and be replaced by this one. The 1700s may have been just last week for you, but not for us, and need to understand that this is just as painful for us, Thunder more so. He's been through so many wars, so many hardships, I almost died in his arms, he lost his memories and was captured and raped all in one war, and takes care of four adult children while being a full time general. He's just trying to do his best, please don't make him feel bad about it."

He hugged Johan tightly, "Please brother, we've missed you and Father so much, give us another chance. I already lost you twice, I don't want to lose you again, please."

N: Johann sighed as he accepted the hug, although it felt weird since Mandara was much taller that him, and he nodded. "Fine, I will," he muttered, "let's just call it a night and let's see how tomorrow goes."

Letting go of his brother, he took a couple steps back, "I should probably talk to Wolfgang about his Corbin plan. I wouldn't care really, but I don't think that you would like him killing him, would you?" Without another word, the Mandorian left, giving his brother the slightest wave before disappearing into the corridor.

M: Mandara waved back though it was half-heartedly, he felt so guilty about all of this, like it was his fault somehow. Rowen put a comforting hand on his shoulder, it helped a bit, but the hug afterward felt nicer.

"I'll also have a chat with them, we'll get this all sorted," he reassured his son, "is there a message you want me to give them?"

"Not really, you can tell them that dinner will be ready in about an hour and a half," the country said, "but if they don't want to come down they can call room service and have it brought up to their rooms."

Rowen nodded in understanding, giving his child one more squeeze and walking off to find his other one, while Mandara left to find MA.

N: Johann wandered around, trying to find where the three children went, until he finally found them in one of the many rooms playing together. He was first concerned that he couldn't see Wolfgang, so he asked Niko if he saw his father.

"Nein," he shook his head, focused on the piece of paper he was folding. When he was finally done, he held up a paper plane and handed it to Adira, "here, have this."

M: Adira squeaked in joy, she took the plane and waved it around in the air, making surprisingly accurate plane noises. MC laughed as his daughter played with the plane, he and Poldara had become the designated babysitters when Adira had brought their new friends over to play.

"Yeah, we haven't seen Mr. Wolfgang either," Poldara confirmed, "he probably got turned around, the estate is fairly large after all."

"I help find him, my sniffer can sniff him out," his daughter offered. She set the paper plane down and hopped over to Niko, sniffing him to see if she could pick up his father's scent. After a minute or so she bolted out the room, but came back to make sure Johann was coming, "follow, I lead you, we find Niki's daddy."