N: Meanwhile, back in the Mandarian estate, Johann had dozed off on the sofa, while Helena is still glued to the screen, determined to binge watch the entire show.

However, the Mandorian jolted his head up as he suddenly woke up from tired screeching outside, to which he just turned to Prudoria, "does MC also drive as recklessly as he horse rides?"

M: "Not usually, especially when he has children in the vehicle, he'll only ever shred rubber is if someone got attacked on their hunting trips, bears and wolves are just as much a problem as back in the kingdom days, or that's what dad tells me at least," Poldara stated, "the fact that he's driving around on a bad leg makes it more odd, militant and special entities have accelerated healing but not that fast. Stay here, I'll go check it out."

He stood up and left the living room to do just that, but not even ten seconds later he came rushing back with everyone else in tow, with Wolfgang carrying something white and furry.

"We've got an emergency situation, Johann you watch over the kids and keep them away from the infirmary, an eternal child that we have been looking for for two months has been found nearly dead, we got to act fast," he declared, "Eclipse, call our dads and tell them what's going on, I need to call my doctor to get her here, MC, you lead Wolfgang to the infirmary, we should be able to stabilize her until Dr. Koffmen arrives."

N: Johann stared in shock as he watched his friend carry the faun across the room, disappearing into the corridor, and he only snapped back into reality when Niko walked up to him.

The Saxon boy just sat down beside him, having not uttered a word, and just watched Helena and watched the show. Whenever the Mandorian asked to see if he was alright, he was promptly ignored.

Meanwhile, Wolfgang, with MC's lead, eventually reached the infirmary, and carefully set the child down on one of the few beds available. The moment he let go of her, she was quickly swarmed with nurses, doing their best to stabilise her.

The Saxon took it as an opportunity to look around the infirmary, gazing at the equipment lying around. However, his mood quickly soured the second he laid his eyes on Corbin.

M: Corbin barely noticed Wolfgang, or anyone else for that matter, he was mostly staring out of a window with a melancholy expression, his chin resting on his palm, something must have been on his mind. He only took notice when MC stood in front of Wolfgang to tell him off.

"If you're going to stay here I don't want you picking no fights, everyone agrees that you took things too far this morning and that you're being a big baby about this petty revenge shit."

"Leave him alone MC, it's not like scolding him's going to make him stop," the Prussian muttered tiredly, "he's persistent, dedicated, and a little hard-headed, why else did I make him one of my most trusted officers. He's just doing what he does best, it's not worth telling him no."

MC grumbled a little but backed down, just telling them both to keep their distance from each other, and when he walked away Corbin stood resumed his brooding.

N: "I didn't need your input, MC," Wolfgang grumbled, but he did as he was told and stayed as far away from Corbin as possible, watching the nurses work as he leaned against the door.

M: The young eternal was becoming more and more responsive to what was going on, but only because the nurses were really starting to move her around to check her vitals. She whimpered in fear and pain, this was all really scary for her but she didn't have the strength to move or resist.

This gave MC an idea on how to take Wolfgang's focus off Corbin, "hey Wolfgang, do you think maybe you could sit with her or something, it sounds like she's starting to get nervous and she seems to trust you, somewhat."

N: Wolfgang sighed as he pushed himself off the door and made his way to the child's bed and pulled up a chair beside it.

Unsure on what to do, the Saxon reached out and held her hand, gently squeezed it to tell her that he's here and that she's safe.

M: The eternal calmed down a little when she felt her hand being held, she even opened her eyes to look at Wolfgang. The nurses had a much easier time tending to the child until a doctor finally arrived, at which point she was given fluids and a couple of vaccines to make sure she didn't get sick from the rusty trap, though Wolfgang did have to hold her to keep her calm for that.

An hour or so later and the doctor did all she could for the eternal, luckily she didn't believe that her leg would need to be amputated, but they should keep a close eye on any possible nerve damage since the trap cut quite deep.

"The best thing we can do for her is give her plenty of rest and make sure she stays off that leg, but since I've worked with Adira I know that is easier said than done," Dr. Koffmen stated, "It would also be best if she were moved to a much smaller room, she still has her wild instincts and this isn't exactly the safest place for her."

"We'll make sure she's moved by tomorrow, for now let's get her strength up," Poldara agreed, thanking the doctor for coming. When she left he patted Wolfgang on the shoulder, "Thanks for helping out, MC explained that you were the one who freed her from the trap, she's gonna trust you the most, that's for sure. I can take over for now if you want to go check on Niko, Johann said he was being kinda quiet when you all came home."

N: Wolfgang nodded, "alright, I'll go check on him." He quickly got out of his seat and bid farewell to Dr. Koffmen before briskly making his way back to the living room.

When he walked in, he immediately saw Niko sitting on the sofa, so he went to join him, but neither of them spoke. After a while, the silence became too uncomfortable for the elder Saxon, so he asked Niko how he was doing.

"Is the girl ok," the boy asked, completely ignoring the question.

Wolfgang sighed as he leaned back, "she's stable for now."

"Gut."

"...We can arrange another day, just the two of us so there won't be any interruptions-"

"Vater, it's fine," Niko interrupted, "you had to save the faun; she was going to die." Although his expression was neutral, his tone betrayed his true feelings, how he felt sad that the day was cut short. He knew it wasn't fair on the child for him to blame her, but he was bummed out nonetheless.

M: Eclipse was there as well grooming Adira's wings, he also felt bad that they didn't get the day they wanted, so tried to think of a way to remedy it.

"You know what, I think I know just the thing to help out, come with me," he claimed. He led them to the backyard and went to a small shed, coming out with some colorful guns and a tub of multicolored balls.

"These little beauties are called paintball guns," he declared, "they shoot harmless balls that splatter paint on impact, that way you can shoot them at your friends and family without hurting them too much, just not at the face."

He handed one to each Saxon and showed them how to fire them and how to reload, he then went over to the porch, summoned some popcorn and a forcefield so he could watch, just to make sure they didn't go too far.

"Alright you two, you can start bonding whenever you're ready," he called to them

N: Wolfgang just frowned at Eclipse, resting the gun on his shoulder, "what are you expecting us to do? There isn't any targets and you don't really expect me to shoot my own son-"

Suddenly, his eyes widened when he felt something splatter on his leg, and when he looked down he stared in confusion at the green paint on his trouser leg. Slowly, he turned his attention to Niko, who had the gun pointed at him, and the boy laughed before running away.

"Oi, come back here, you little gremlin," he smirked as he aimed his gun at him and shot, planting a blue splatter on Niko's arm.

They kept going back and forth, and although Wolfgang was the more skilled shooter, he went easy on his son and let Niko score a few hits.

M: Eclipse was enjoying the show, glad that he could help the father and son have fun together, it reminded him of when he was still stuck with MA and he and Poldara would have paintball fights, good times indeed. He stayed there for a few more minutes until he decided that he should go register and butcher the deer they bagged, letting the two boys know what he was gonna do and to make sure they changed their clothes when they were all done.

Meanwhile MA and Mandara had just arrived and found Johann and Rowen in the living room with the girls, asking them what was going on.

N: "MC, Eclipse and Wolfe brought back an injured Eternal kid, apparently the child of one you found a while back," Johann recounted, "and Poldara is now with her, while Eclipse took Wolfgang and Niko to who knows where."

"Would she be able to stay here," Helena asked, looking up from her doodles as she moved on from the show and was playing with Adira.

M: Maybe, she certainly can't go back into the wild," Mandara told her, "Neflen is in charge of the United Nation's Eternal Protection Force, he looks for and takes in eternals, we might have to call him to come for her, but that in of itself is difficult since she is an orphaned child."

"Her mom was accidentally killed by a hunter, we've been looking for the poor kid for two months, and from what we can guess she should be one to two years old, not a good age to be fending for yourself," MA informed, "right now we'll let her stay until she's healed up, then we'll see where things go from there."

N: "Ok," Helena nodded, although her mood had dampened a bit as she returned to drawing.

M: "I know sweetie, it's a shame she probably can't stay, but we can't really take in another child right now," Mandara sighed, patting her shoulder, "but you'll have plenty of time to get to know her, from what we understand this is her first time encountering humans, you can help make sure she's not afraid of you guys, you think you can do that?"

N: Helena nodded enthusiastically this time, causing Johann to chuckle. "Now that's the Ella I know," he grinned.

Soon everyone turned towards the door as they heard footfalls approaching, and the Mandorian was confused to see the two Saxons covered from head to toe in paint, tiptoeing to their room so that they don't leave a mess.

"What the," Jo exclaimed in confusion, stepping into the corridor to get a better view, "what the hell happened to you?"

Wolfgang turned around, a smile stretched across his face as he simply answered with 'paintball' before the pair turned the corner.

Johann just stood there, even more confused that before, and slowly walked back into the room, "I don't know what they just did, but as long as they look happy, I don't mind."

M: "Paintball, gosh that takes me back, Poldara and I used to have those all the time," MA smiled nostalgically, he gave them a quick explanation of what paintballs were and added, "sounds like my boy helped make up for their hunting trip being cut short, and we found something that the father and son like to do together, maybe we'll take them to that old paintball field, I wonder if it's still open."

Mandara chuckled at MA's reminiscing, he decided to leave his brother to tell stories while he went to check on his son and their new guest.

N: After a while of MA sharing his stories, Johann smirked, "let's just say, hypothetically, if we go to the paintball field, we can make teams and compete against each other."

"But Papa," Helena spoke, looking at her father with genuine confusion, "you aren't good at shooting."

"Don't be silly, I'm an alright shot," Jo chuckled uneasily, not even confident in himself, "sure, I don't have your Aunt Erna or your Uncles Derogan, Wolfgang or Heinz's military experience, but I've done some practice."

"You completely missed the chickens when Uncle Heinz wanted you to practice," the young girl stated matter of factly.

"Now that...that's a different issue."

M: MA snorted so hard he hurt his throat, Rowen was drinking some coffee and ended up spitting it out, it wasn't so much what Helena said that was funny, it was how blunt and serious she was that was hilarious. They continued to chat for a bit, Poland even joined in when he came back from whatever he was doing in the house, and for the most part everyone just took it easy for the rest of the day.

Mandara, Poldara, and MC were the ones who mostly kept an eye on the eternal, she was sleeping for 99% of the time so it wasn't that hard, when she did wake up at one point they tried to ask what her name was, but she either wouldn't or couldn't talk, only shaking her head no before going back to sleep. Poldara then left for a bit to find Wolfgang, just to let him know how the girl was doing and what was most likely going to happen once she's healed up.

N: Wolfgang was leaning against by a window in the hallway, not too far from his room, as he took in a deep breath and let out a sigh of relief. As he stared into the night sky and its sea of stars, he noticed Poldara approaching, but he didn't turn to look until the country updated him about the eternal situation.

"Well, it's nice to hear that's she healing," the Saxon nodded, "I don't blame her if she doesn't want to speak; she's in a stranger's home after all."

Turning back to the sky, he asked, "so, what's going to happen to her?"

M: "We'll probably have to turn her over to Mr. Neflen, his organization is one of the only places that has housing for the eternals around the world," the Mandarian sighed. "after UN passed his law that recognizes eternals as citizens of the world, he asked that an eternal lead his new police force that searches for eternals to let them know that they don't need to hide anymore. Because of that, there are lots of eternals who don't have an actual home, or that need help integrating into society, and with that comes eternal children, some without parents, that need someplace to go."

He gazed out the window, his wings sagged a bit, "it doesn't feel right sending a one-year-old eternal all the way to America, but my family just can't afford to take in another child, especially another special needs one, I don't really see any other option for her."

N: Wolfgang sighed, trying to think of a solution, "is there anyone nearby who could take her in? Maybe the British, heck, even I would volunteer to take her in."

Rubbing the back of his neck, he continued, "I know it wouldn't be possible to take her in; we just returned to this world and are basically your dependents, but so far she trusts me, and I want to do what I can to help her live her life."

M: Poldara blinked in surprise at Wolfgang's offer, he was surprised that he was willing to more or less adopt this child within hours of finding her, what happened out there?

"Well, I mean, she's not leaving any time soon, it could take weeks for her to heal and put on a healthy bodyweight," he stated, "I suppose if you really want to adopt her you can, but perhaps we should give it a couple of days to let her settle down and to get to know her. When I rescued Adira she was about as wild as you could get, so I know that taking care of an eternal is gonna be a lot more work than just taking care of Niko. That's another thing too, is your son gonna be ok with her?"

He did smile reassuringly and patted Wolfgang's shoulder, "I respect your dedication to her, I was exactly the same way when I took on my daughter, but even I gave it a few days to decide to completely keep her."

N: "I know, I know, it's just...," Wolfgang muttered, "I saw something in her that I've also seen in Niko recently, and it's something that I never wanted to see in a child, especially in one so young."

After a moment, the Saxon chuckled and shook his head, "you know what, it's been a long and emotional rollercoaster of a day and I'll probably change my mind after a good night's rest. 'Don't make decisions when you're emotional' was something my Vater always said to me."

Pushing off the windowsill, he waved Poldara goodnight, wondering if he would actually change his mind before entering his room and falling asleep.

M: Poldara wished him goodnight and returned to the living room to tell the others of their guest's condition, finally returning to the infirmary to relieve his father of his shift. Eclipse and MA made venison burgers for dinner, Mandara had a housekeeper go tell Wolfgang about it but no one expected him to actually show up.

One by one everyone retired to bed, the adults drawing lots to decide their hour-long shifts in watching the eternal, since the human nurses couldn't really stay after dark.

N: Johann got the last shift just before dawn, so he made sure to go to bed as quickly as possible so that he would have enough energy to stay away later.

Several hours later and the Mandorian was walking through the hallway, the sky still dark but he could tell that the sun was going to rise soon, so he picked up his pace and entered the infirmary.

He was quick to find the eternal at a glance and he smiled a bit at the sight of Rowen sitting beside the eternal, so he walked over and gently tapped on his shoulder.

"Everything went smoothly during your shift," he asked.

M: Rowen was just starting to fall asleep so snorted and jolted when Johann tapped his shoulder, he smiled tiredly at his son and stretched, "Yep, nothing too interesting to talk about, just a little girl enjoying her first night on a bed. As far as I know, she slept like a baby all night, which just means that she's gonna be either very hyper or very hungry tomorrow, probably both."

He stood to let his son sit down, grabbing the book he had been reading, "We've been trying to think of a name for her, so far nothing has been very fitting, just some food for thought while you watch her. See you in a few hours, Champ."

N: "See you later, Hezyka," Johann waved, watching his father leave before turning his attention to the eternal, "surely you have a name, ja? Maybe you'll talk to Wolfgang."

The Mandorian grabbed a nearby magazine and flicked through its pages, humming in interest when a couple countries were included, waiting for the child to wake up.

M: The eternal did not wake up during Johann's shift, she was still asleep by the time the nurses punched in for the day, but they said that Johann could stay if he wanted to. When she did wake up it was another hour later, she wasn't that much more aware of her surroundings, still sluggish and not really trying to live in general, her spirit was still broken and would need a lot of time and care for her to want to keep fighting.

N: Shortly after, Wolfgang walked into the infirmary, looking to see if the eternal was still there, and instead he was greeted with a Mandorian who was bored out of his mind.

"Are you going to stay," Johann asked, pouting a bit when the Saxon rolled his eyes.

"Nein, just a quick check," Wolfgang answered, and when the other sighed comically loud, he added, "I'm still keeping an eye on Niko, although Eclipse did volunteer to take over so I could come here."

The Saxon then turned to the nurses, "how is she?"

M: "She's doing better than yesterday, but still has a long road ahead of her," a female nurse reported, looking at a clipboard, "We've had her on fluids and it's fixed her dehydration, it's safe to assume that she was stuck in that trap for three to four days at most, as her struggling caused the teeth to scrape the bone, but we caught any infection before it could start so she should make a full recovery. Today we're gonna give her some vaccinations and a couple dewormers, I wouldn't be surprised if she has parasites, it was quite a warm winter and didn't kill enough of them."

"It's not often we encounter children like this, but taking care of Adira has helped us build some knowledge," a male caretaker added, "we've been able to determine that she is just over a year old, probably three months from turning two, she's also deaf in one ear, not from an injury or infection, most likely she was born like that. Other than that, barely responsive, she hardly has the will to even move, much like a wild animal on their death bed, we need to get her to eat something but I have my doubts she will accept anything."

N: Wolfgang hummed in interest, "well, it wouldn't hurt to try, right?"

"You could help too," Johann added, and when the Saxon raised a brow, he continued, "I heard she trusts you the most, so if anyone could help her, it's you."

The Saxon frowned before sighing, "it I could help her, so be it, but my son is my highest priority right now. Even if Eclipse is taking care of him, I would like to actually be with my son."

"So bring him here," the Mandorian proposed, then turned to the nurses, "would that be possible?"

M: "Even if he's not her age, I think having a younger person around could be beneficial to her, he could be like an emotional support buddy," the male nurse stated, "but we shouldn't force anything on him, Mr. Mandara has mentioned that you all had previous lives and remember how you died, so we don't want to add any baggage to him. But like he said, if it could help then what's the harm in trying it at least once?"

N: Johann raised a brow and smirked at Wolfgang, who only narrowed his eyes, "ok, I'll go and ask Niko and see what he thinks. It's just that," his face softened, "I don't want him to think I'm directing more of my attention at the eternal than him."

"It's fine," Johann nodded, "go and ask him, and if he doesn't want to come, that's ok."

The Saxon dipped his head before walking towards the door, making his way to Niko and Eclipse.