N:   The night went smoothly, and as soon as the morning arrived, everyone slept in. 

However, there was one man who lay awake; hugging his girlfriend as yesterday's events replayed in his mind. Finally making the decision, he carefully slid out of bed, making sure his sling was secure before getting up. 

Walking over to the Mandorians, Wolfgang tapped on Rowen's shoulder, "Hey, Rowen, could I ask you something? In private?"

M:   At first, Rowen didn't hear Wolfgang, he was too busy snuggling his husband's wing, but after a few more tries he slowly opened his eyes. Rowen asked what Wolfie needed and although he didn't want to get up yet, he reluctantly left Mandoria's soft feathers and followed the Saxon into the hallway. 

"What is it, Wolfie, is something wrong," he asked, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, "is this about yesterday with Derogan?"

N:   "Umm, so," Wolfgang started nervously, "nein, nothing's wrong, and it does sort of have something to do with Derogan, although not majorly."

"The attack yesterday made me realize that, well, I could die at any moment," he started, "I know it's dramatic but what I heard what happened afterward, I felt lucky that I was able to get out of there. I guess I feel like I'm taking time for granted." 

He fell silent when a servant walked past them, which got them a side eye from the said servant as they walked away, so the Saxon continued. 

"So I was wondering," he said, nervous as ever, then proceeded to say the following lightning fast, "since I decided to finally marry Erna, how did you, as a captain, deal with the whole 'dying at any moment' thing when you knew that someone you married, and maybe kids, would be deeply affected?" 

M:   Rowen sighed at this, he wasn't trying to be rude, it was just pretty early in the morning to think about mortality. 

"Honestly, you learn not to think about it," he muttered, "I've already outlived my wife and more or less did with Mandoria, when you've served as long as I did you just tend to go numb at the thought of death, because you can't serve the people if you just think about yourself." 

The Mandorian yawned before adding, "I'm sorry for the shitty answer, it's a bit too early in the morning to be talking about our inevitable demise, how about you ask in a few hours and I might have a better answer for you, ok."

N:   Wolfgang nodded as they headed back inside, although he was far too awake to go to sleep, so he wrote a note to Erna that he was going to the stables and left.

 A couple hours later, breakfast was brought in and everyone got their serving, and the medics used it as their opportunity to check up on their patients. 

One of the nurses walked up to Mandara, setting down a clean glass of water at his bedside as they asked, "We're trying our best to help you, sir, but we would like to know how exactly you were attacked. We would like to know just in case there's an infection so that we can know where it's from." 

Johann listened in expectantly, wanting to know his answer. 

M:   Mandara was just barely awake, he groaned a bit and covered his eyes with his arm, the brightness was a bit too much for him, Mandoria had to cover his eyes with a washcloth for him to be comfortable enough to talk. 

"I-I can't tell you, she told me that if I said anything something bad will happen," he murmured. 

"Nothing bad is going to happen, my son, we will protect you, I promise" Mandoria reassured him.

 The young country shook his head, "No, I can't tell you, I just can't, it's too dangerous. I can tell you that she used an old wine bottle that we were trying to sell, it wasn't full, but it was clean, she made sure what we sold was spotless before a price tag was put on it. That's all I can tell you, please don't make me say anything else, please."

N:   "Mandara, what's the worst thing that she could do, call the constable," Johann stated, "you can tell us what happened." 

"If Sir Mandara doesn't want to say what happened, you can't force him to," the nurse spoke as she began to redress the Mandorian's wound, "the least you can do is be happy that the bottle was clean and that he's alive."

M:   "She's right Johann, we shouldn't be concerned about that woman," Rowen agreed, patting his son's shoulder, "yes it would be nice to know what happened, but at the end of the day it's not as important as your brother's health." 

"Please don't worry about it, Jo, it doesn't matter anymore," Mandara pleaded, "what happened happened, now I know to never go near her, problem solved." He took hold of his sibling's hand and gave it a light squeeze, "besides, I heard that you and Derogan tried to prank Neflen without me, that's pretty rude, you could have waited."

N:   Johann let out a small smile and chuckled, "I'll make sure you're involved in the next prank. It was pretty funny when we got people to believe that Neflen wet himself when he saw the rats." 

"No one believed you, Kress," Erna rolled her eyes, "although it's impressive how you got him to wet himself either way."

 "You got to thank BE and Wolfe for that," the Mandorian spoke, "we were able to get something from BE to get Neflen to sleep, then Wolfe pulled a trick so that Neflen wet himself. Wolfgang is one of us now, Mandy, a part of our prankster gang."

M:   "Hazzah, another partner in crime," Mandara cheered, causing his parents to shake their heads, "now we just need to get Prudoria into the mix." 

"No thanks, I think I'll be the one exception to this group," Prudoria said, looking up from his porridge, "although I've heard of the funny things you've pulled on people, I'm not terribly inclined to have revenge pranks played on me."

"Good man, Prudoria, at least one of our sons knows how to behave himself," Mandoria said, "because Johann clearly didn't learn his lesson from his prank on Saxon with Askad, haven't you, you naughty boy."

N:   Johann smiled uneasily as he tried to defend himself, "at the moment it was funny, and Saxon wasn't too hurt, right?" He turned to see the entity giving him the death stare, sending a shiver down his spine. 

"If you pull another snake prank on me, I'll make you regret ever being born," Saxon growled, to which Anglo had to step in to calm him down. 

"He doesn't mean that," Anglo apologized on his husband's behalf, "do you?" When the entity didn't answer, the Englishman sighed, "Well, I do believe you should tone down your pranks a bit." 

"Never," Johann laughed, getting a disappointed head shake from his parents.

M:   "It's ok, Saxon, I'll protect you," Prudoria offered, "if my brother tries to scare you with a prank then I'm going to get me Erna's chicken."

N:   "Nein," Johann yelped at the mention of Erna's chicken, to which Erna laughed. 

"He will always be available, Prudoria, if you want to scare Kress," the Saxon smiled. 

"I don't want that chicken anywhere near me," the Mandorian grumbled.

M:   Derogan woke up from Johann's shout, groaning tiredly as he sat up, "What's with all the noise, let people sleep." 

"Derogan, it's 8:00 in the morning, it's time to wake up anyway," Rowen stated, "did you sleep at all last night?" 

"No, it's not my fault though," Derogan grumbled, but then curled into the fetal position and cocooned himself with his wings, "I'm such a loser, trying to be a teacher with fighting if I can't even win against myself. No wonder I failed back home, I'm too pathetic to protect anyone, I'm a terrible person." 

N:   "You can't blame yourself for what happened that day," Johann spoke as he went over to his brother, "Prussia had a whole army and we were unprepared." 

Preening his feathers to soothe him, the Mandorian continued, "You're not a terrible person and you can't define yourself with one bad moment in the past. You're the older brother I never had and the strongest person I know." 

M:   "I nearly killed British Empire, Johann, how is that not being a terrible person," Derogan said, pulling his wing away from his brother, "this isn't about that stupid vulture, I'm dangerous, you all don't understand the war I've had going on in my head, for fuck sake Mandara almost died because of me!" 

That shocked his family, they all stared at him, unsure of what he meant, which only caused him to bury his head in his knees. 

"I-I ... Percival ... a-after Mother died, he blamed Mandara for it, he was just barely half a year old and the fucker tried to drown him in the laundry fountain, we almost lost my brother along with Mother, and it was all my fault." 

The young country once again broke down into sobs, the memories were so fresh despite being so long ago, and the guilt was just as powerful.

N:   Johann sighed, although Derogan pulled away, he made sure that he didn't leave his brother.

"It's not your fault, Derogan," Jo reassured him, "you are not Percival, and Percival isn't you; you are two completely different people. You would never hurt Mandara even if you were forced to because you love him. Don't blame yourself for someone else's actions."

M:   Derogan wouldn't look at Johann, no one could even tell if he was paying attention to what his brother was saying, he just kept sobbing into his knees. 

Mandara, despite not seeing what was going on, knew that he had to help somehow, so he asked his fathers to help him out of bed. They agreed and slowly helped him sit up, then stand, and then he sat down next to Derogan and hugged him tightly. 

"I forgive you, brother," he murmured, petting his back soothingly, "just like Johann said, I know you would never hurt me on purpose, you are our protector. You did protect us from Prussia when we were little and he tried to attack Father the first time, you stopped him, you protected us." 

Derogan's sobs finally started to quiet down, he slowly uncurled and hugged Mandara, burying his head in his shoulder. Mandoria and Rowen joined in the hug, and finally, Mandara invited Prudoria and Johann to bring it in too.

N:   While the Mandorians were hugging, Wilfred and Royal were roaming the halls, in search of Deutsche and A-H since BE suggested that the three kingdoms could team up to take on Prussia. As head of the army, Royal wanted to see what the two countries had already planned, but firstly they had to find them.

With some help from servants, and a few comments on how similar they look, they finally found Deutsche's room, so Wilfred knocked on his door. 

"Deutsche, are you there," he called out, "hopefully you're not too busy; we wanted to see if we can combine forces to fight Prussia." 

M:   Deutsche opened up the door to see who it was, and when he saw it was the siblings he quietly chuckled. 

"My goodness, how convenient this is, I was just talking with a potential ally already," he said cheerfully, "do come in, we have tea and biscuits, help yourselves." 

Without waiting for them to object he brought them inside and out to the balcony connected to the room, on one side of the doorway was A-H, and on the other was none other than French Empire herself. 

N:   FE looked up from her cup of tea and smiled, "It's nice to see the pair of you here." 

"Well, BE was pretty clear that he was going to fight Prussia, and we might as well make friends along the way," Wilfred smiled back as he poured himself a cup, "and it's nice to see that you have joined us in this endeavor; I thought we would have beaten you here." 

"You knew she was going to come here," Royal asked in surprise, her feathers fluffed up a bit at the sight of the Frenchwoman, "how?" 

"I just have better hearing than you," the twin brother chuckled, "and pull yourself together; she's married." 

Royal just grumbled words under her breath as she grabbed a biscuit and silently munched on it. 

Wilfred shook his head as he took a sip, "So, I guess we're all here to potentially become allies, and I honestly think we can all benefit from this partnership." 

"Whether there are benefits or not, I want Prussia gone," the Frenchwoman spoke, "for ... personal reasons."

M:   "I think it's pretty clear that we're all in this for personal reasons," A-H commented, "even I have my reasons, he paralyzed my Apu and forced him to step down from power, I promised that I would avenge him." 

"Well at least we are all on the same page," Deutsche pointed out, "besides that, I am so glad to have the French and British helping my cause, the Austrian Army is fearsome but it lacks numbers and firepower. I don't suppose BE would like to actually join this little meeting, I would like to discuss his navy most of all, after all, Britannia is the ruler of the waves."

N:   "BE is currently out of commission since yesterday, and has had to deal with administrative work," Wilfred explained, "with budgeting funds to rebuild the damages from the ball also on his plate, he's quite busy. However," he pointed at his sister, "Royal here is the best person to discuss with about the navy." 

"Blockades, attacks on land and sea, you name it, that's what we do," Royal nodded, "BE may be the one who makes the final call; however, I'm the one who carries the order through. If you want to talk about the military, talk to me."

M:   "Wunderbar, you even hit the nail on the head with the blockades," Deutsche stated, "you see, my vater is so paranoid about his citizens rebelling against him, that he had outlawed the manufacturing of weaponry in the kingdom, only the royal forges are allowed to make weapons, but firearms and cannons must be shipped in from elsewhere, the best place to start is making sure he has little to no access to gunpowder weaponry, it will make combatting him much easier." 

"Indeed, and we were just talking with France about cavalry forces," A-H added, "my army has always been made of foot soldiers since the terrain is too rocky for horses, the Prussians only allow the highest-ranking troops to have horses with no true cavalry, any advantage we have we must take."

N:   "I will provide you with as many trained cavaliers as possible," FE nodded, "however we do have the same problem where only the highest-ranked officers are mounted." 

Royal tsked as she smiled, "Well, I guess that's where I step in. We've got plenty of trained cavaliers so what we can do is send Light Dragoons to where A-H would be as they can fight well on foot and swiftly move about on horseback without armor weighing them down. On the western front, there could be a combined force of the French and British armies, the French specialized in the European arena, and our heavy cavalry used to the flat plains." 

Grabbing herself another biscuit, she continued, "the blockade shouldn't be hard enough with ships located in the North and Baltic Sea. We might have to convince the Nordics to use their waters, but I'm sure Swedish Empire will be fine and he currently has influence on the other Nordic kingdoms."

She took a bite out of her biscuit and shrugged, "I might have overstepped but that's what I can think of off the top of my head, with more time and planning we could make a more comprehensive plan. Any thoughts?"

"I'm sure A-H and Deutsche have been planning for a while now," Wilfred spoke, "and we might have to factor in the funds we need since we are in another war right now. How does her plan sound?"

M:   "It sounds pretty solid, I don't see anything wrong with it, although you are right about the funding," Deutsche said, "back in Greece I had been making progress convincing Ottoman Empire to help our cause, but now that we have the British helping us he may not accept, Greece himself tried to kick Wil's ass more than a few times, so we might have to rely on other sources." 

"Say, didn't I hear a rumor that British Empire was housing a dragon here," A-H asked, "dragons are well known in folklore to be able to find precious stones and metals. Not to mention this dragon countryhuman I keep hearing about." 

"The one with the ugly scar on her face," the German asked, "I'm pretty sure Spanish Empire already tried to lure her into becoming his pet gold sniffer, admittedly he did a terrible job at it, if he just kept his mouth shut he might of succeded."

N:   "Watch your words, Deutsche," Royal warned, "'the one with the ugly scar' doesn't like it when people point it out, and she has a name. You wouldn't like a scar that carries a painful past to spoil your flag, would you? If you have any queries, you can take it up to Esha herself."

Wilfred and FE shared a knowing glance at each other at the mention of Esha, understanding each other instantly. 

"What Royal is trying to say is that Esha isn't a cooperative person," Wilfred stated, "you could sweet talk all you want, but I think she has made it clear that she doesn't want to be used. Even if we, hypothetically, have a so-called dragon, there's no need. Prussian is at his weakest, his magic is virtually non-existent, and we don't want to start relying on magical beasts." 

"However, if you do want to talk about this rumor of a dragon," FE added, "you can ask my husband about it."

M:   "No thank you, it was merely a suggestion, besides, I wouldn't want to take away Edel from her babies," Deutsche said, "yeah, I know about them, Mandara is dreadful at lying and at keeping secrets, hopefully that goes away with time, how would he run his kingdom otherwise." 

He took a sip of his tea before continuing, "That is another thing, I promised the brothers that I would get them their kingdom back, after everything we've been through I fully intend on keeping that promise. We may need to station an outpost there once the Prussians are driven out, we wouldn't want someone else swooping in to claim such a large plot of land ... maybe we should not give BE that job, he can never resist claiming new territory."

N:   "I could look after the land until the Mandorians return," FE suggested, setting her cup of tea down, "and I do agree that BE would be the wrong choice." 

Wilfred just looked at the Frenchwoman and chuckled, and when she asked what was funny, he answered, "you? Holding land? In mainland Europe? Deutsche, if you agree with this, you're basically handing that entire plot of land to the French. They're notorious when it comes to taking land." 

After he had calmed out a bit, and the Frenchwoman angry staring at him, he continued, "you can leave the land with us, and I can assure you that BE will not take it. Us Brits are not really interested in the European mainland, if anything we want to isolate ourselves from the mess, so we would make the handover quite quickly." 

"And there's the friendship he has with Mandoria," Royal chipped in, "so he would do what he can to reinstate his kingdom. Even if he has the unlikely urge to take the land, he literally has his entire family to go against him. FE," she pointed at the woman, "would probably be encouraged by her father, who also is a land grabber. AH's father," she pointed at the Austro-Hungarian, "didn't have the best relationship with Mandoria, and you Deutsche, you should be focusing on rebuilding the nation your father left."

M:   "If there is anything left of it," Deutsche pointed out, "I know my vater, if he can't have something then no one can have it, he will completely destroy everything with the Prussian crest on it." 

Setting his cup down, he leaned back in his chair with a smile, "I will think over both your offers to guard the Mandorian kingdom, if all else fails I will have A-H set up a post there, his father stepped down from power after all so has no authority over the military."

"Fair enough," Wilfred shrugged as he silently sipped his tea, although he froze for a moment as a thought came to light. 

"I do recall you saying that the Mandorians will pay a price in exchange for their land," the Brit spoke carefully, "is there any chance that you can tell us what it would be?"

M:   "Isn't it obvious," he asked, "after I take over the Prussian Empire I will need allies, don't get me wrong, the British and French Empires will always be considered my allies, but I also know that as my power grows I will slowly be considered a threat, we already know how BE treats people he considers threats. So the price is that once my vater is defeated and the Kingdom of Mandoria is under my jurisdiction, I will return it to the brothers on the condition that they become my allies." 

"It's only fair," A-H agreed, "besides, with the ruins that their land will most certainly be left in, they will need help to rebuild it, so an alliance with us will be nothing but beneficial to all parties involved."

N:   Wilfred hummed, tapping his finger on the table as he thought about the alliance. "That's a sound decision," he finally said, letting his fingers go still, "so one more thing before I could finalize the alliance between our nations. I need to know what A-H has planned for battle. I couldn't help but overhear Derogan's ... opinionated comments." 

"What do you mean by this, Wilfred," FE asked, also looking at A-H, "he's in charge of the army and I've heard of battles he has won. Surely he can be successful in this upcoming war." 

"I'm not worried about A-H's success," the Brit spoke, staring at the Austro-Hungarian, "I'm worried about how he brings about his victory. Do enlighten us, Austria-Hungary."

M:   A-H raised a brow when he was questioned, stopping mid-sip as he seemingly stared at Wilfred. He very calmly placed his cup down and folded his hands in his lap.

"Dear Wilfred, have you ever heard the saying, 'you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs'? My army may not be the strongest, and it certainly isn't the biggest, but what it lacks in those attributes it makes up for in thoroughness. You see, the issue with your armies is that you leave so many enemies alive or uncaptured, letting them be free to come back and fight another day. I take pride in meticulously 'cleaning up' after my battles, all enemy soldiers are captured or finished off, then you don't have to deal with them later on."

He took up his tea again and smiled, "there is a good reason why my wars don't last for centuries, the enemies lose more soldiers than they can replace, and I always make sure that the captured ones never leave their cells until the war is over, and I make double sure that they will never EVER want to fight anyone again."

N:   Wilfred fell silent as he thought it over, finishing his tea off before setting it down, then he looked over to Royal, "What do you think about that?" 

The hybrid tilted her head, gazing into nowhere before replying, "Wren likes the idea, I'm on the fence, but as long as we get this war over and done with, I'm fine with it." 

"Then that's settled," the Brit said as he stood up from his seat, "I'll tell BE that we're willing to ally to defeat Prussia, and a more comprehensive military treaty could be drawn up if the outcome of this war is in everyone's favor. One thing that I would personally not want to happen is the needless torture of POWs; that is where I draw the line. So," he held out his hand, "do we have a deal?"

M:   "Who said anything about torture," Deutsche asked, "sure A-H tries to make the captives feel like they're in hell, but only to the degree that any normal prison would be, how else are you going to teach the prisoners how to behave," he then shook Wil's and FE's hands, "we thank you so much for your help, I look forward to fighting alongside you, especially Wren, she sounds like she'll be a lot of fun." 

A-H too shook their hands, but when he shook Wil's he tightened his grip, giving him a warning look that said, "You interfere with my army, and I'll make you regret it." 

His German friend then stood up and clapped his hands, "Gosh we have so much to do, the Mandorian brothers and I are heading back to Greece in two days, does BE have time in his schedule for us to properly meet up, though I understand if he'd rather wait for us to come back."

N:   "He should be free after dinner today since I'll be taking over his workload," Wilfred spoke although he kept his gaze on A-H, "we're trying to give him a break from time to time, spending time with family and such, so you can properly speak to him then. I'll just tell him in advance."

Royal watched how her brother studied the empire in front of him, and not wanting the situation to become awkward, she jumped into the conversation. "So we should get going, isn't that right, Wil," she spoke as she opened the balcony door, "we going business to attend to, no?" 

"Yes, we do," the Brit muttered before breaking his gaze and turning to the others, "sirs, ma'am, have a good rest of your day." With that, the twins left and made their own way, and FE left shortly after. 

When they were far enough, Wilfred leaned towards Royal, "I don't trust A-H." 

"You don't trust anyone." 

"I know, but I have a bad feeling about him," he admitted, "just ... just keep an eye on him, okay?" 

The hybrid nodded as they made their way to BE's office to brief him on the updates.

M:   Deutsche and A-H went about their business, deciding to head to breakfast for some socializing. There were a few people there, Odrus and HRE were sitting surprisingly close to each other, Esha was talking with Alaric and Wolfgang, showing them a book about phoenixes while the newborn bird was nestled in its owner's hair, and Sofia was sitting with Heinrich as the two were drawing pictures. 

"Hmm, not that busy today, I see," the German commented, they walked closer until they passed by Alaric, where Deutsche stopped and observed the bird, "why, that's a cute little thing you have there, what kind of bird is it?"

N:   "Phoenix," Alaric replied nonchalantly as he flicked through one of the many books Esha handed to him and his son, "and Esha reassured me that it wouldn't burst into flames yet. It would be pretty unfortunate since it has taken a liking to my hair as a sort of nest." 

"Although it would be quite funny if it happened," Wolfgang chuckled.

M:   Deutsche blinked in confusion, "How did you even get a phoenix," and when Esha explained what happened he responded, "OK, better question, how does a fertilized and living egg come from a plant, that's breaking all manners of physics, it just doesn't make any sense." 

"Well what fun is there in making sense," Odrus chuckled, "magical creatures don't obey the laws of physics, even modern animals like the bee don't make sense concerning flight."

"Or Sir HRE," Esha added in good nature, "I'm still amazed at his ability to fly with only three wings, what's your secret?

M:   HRE turned towards her, his face veiled, and shook his head, "a magician never reveals his secrets."

 "You were probably forced to learn how to fly with only three wings," Wolfgang pointed out, "because it would be pretty sad if a winged country like yourself couldn't fly, ja?" 

The empire dipped his wings a bit, annoyed that the Saxon guessed correctly, so he didn't say anything to counter. 

M   "Wolfie, way to kill the mood," Esha scolded, "let him have his secret, he doesn't need a human revealing his powers." 

A-H and Deutsche just chucked, then welcomed themselves to the table to dig into the various dishes available. 

"So, are you two in a relationship," A-H suddenly blurted, "I heard some strange noises last night while heading to the bathroom, it sounded like it came from Odrus's bedroom." 

Odrus immediately choked on his orange juice and spat it out, coughing into his arm as a large blush appeared on his face.

N:   HRE patted Odrus' back, helping the Eternal out as he too blushed, although he was very much thankful for the veil.

"Maybe next time, don't pry into other people's lives," the German spoke when he was sure that Odrus was alright, "and it is also none of your business." 

He then turned to Deutsche and added, "So, how long have you been with Mr Sharp Tongue here, ... Enkel (grandson)? You two seem pretty close." 

The empire hesitated whether he should refer to the German as his grandson as they both don't want to relate to Prussia, the one person bridging their relationship.

M:   A-H raised a brow in offense to the nickname, and he would have said something back had Deutsche not patted his arm to say no. 

"We go back to our childhood, it's an interesting story of how we met," the young German said calmly, "you see, whenever I misbehaved as a boy, my vater would take me miles into the woods and leave me there with nothing but a compass and a knife, he said it was good training to learn how to find your way home, I didn't mind it too much, it was quite fun. Anyway, one time I stumbled upon a bear den and it chased me, I ran until I heard a loud gunshot, and when I looked behind me the bear was dead. A-H and his vater were out hunting and saw me being chased, they let me stay with them for the day and helped me get back home, we've been friends ever since."

N:   HRE dipped his head at his words, he felt bad for him, and although he wasn't directly responsible for what happened to Deutsche, he felt as if it was his fault. "Es tut mir leid, you didn't deserve such a childhood. Prussia didn't talk about his personal life after leaving home, but if I knew what was happening, I would have taken you in. At least AE was kind enough to help you and you made a friend." 

"And thus began the Austrian-Hungarian-German friendship," Wolfgang mockingly announced before looking up at the pair, "but Deutsche, aren't you closer to Mandara? It was pretty obvious back in the antique store." 

M:   Deutsche looked away with an awkward smile, a light blush on his face, while A-H stared at Wolfie with anger.

"Yeah, we had a little thing going on, that I will admit," he confirmed, "I'm not quite sure when it started, it might have been when we were still living on the road and he stumbled on me bathing in a river, I won't tell that story though." 

The country's smile faded and he slumped in his chair, "But we had an argument a few weeks before we came here, he and Derogan didn't like A-H that much and they told me he had to go, that I had to choose them or him. I couldn't choose, I was put on the spot and they were all my friends, but Derogan took my silence as betrayal, I tried to convince him and Mandara otherwise but they wouldn't listen." 

Deutsche wiped his eyes with his sleeve, A-H handed him a handkerchief and he gladly took it, calming himself down before continuing, "Yeah, that's the extent of my relationships, I'm either betrayed or I screw something up, A-H is the only one who won't abandon me, and for that I am grateful."

N:   "Du hast definitiv etwas verbockt (You definitely screwed something up)," Heinrich muttered as he drew away. 

Wolfgang raised a brow as he turned to face him, "was? (What?)" 

"Es ist nichts (it's nothing)," the Saxon replied quickly before looking up from his drawing, "I'm just channeling my dislike for Austrians." 

"Same," Wolfe laughed as he glanced at A-H, "it's always fun when you can pick on them."

M:   "Clearly you haven't been around any real Austrians," A-H growled, "because anyone I know would have kicked your teeth in for your remarks." 

"A-H, leave it be, they're just kids," Deutsche patted his shoulder, "you remember how much trouble these two were back in Prussia, just don't take their words seriously." 

A-H grunted in response, ultimately relenting and decided to go for a walk. 

"Guys I'm warning you, A-H isn't someone you want to be messing with," Deutsche warned, genuine concern in his eyes, "I can't express enough that he has serious anger issues, I've been helping him out as best as I can but he has a trigger that could be set off by a mosquito. He once pushed a guy off a cliff into a lake because he called him a "daddy's boy". Please, from one German to another, be careful about teasing him, I don't want anyone getting hurt for a stupid reason."