N:   Johann whooped when he saw Rowen, congratulating him, and Sir Beckerel walked up to the Mandorian too. "I must say," he spoke, "your mare is quite impressive."

"I agree," Royal nodded, and she turned around to see Bugsy looking at them, "seems like you have competition, bud." The horse huffed and trotted away, making her laugh.

"I told you you're good at racing, Hezyka," Johann grinned as he mounted his horse, and he flashed a challenging look, "but I doubt you can beat me." Comet gave the pair a once over and bickered happily, glad to have his rider with him again.

"You could head out and use the fields to race," Arthur suggested, "the Great Park is 5000 acres large, but you would only need a bit of it so you wouldn't reach the edge of the property."

"What do you say you two," the Brit asked, "you want to saddle up and head out to race?" Johann glanced over to his father with a smile, waiting for a response.

M:   Rowen smiled back as he dismounted, he pat Star Dust's shoulder, "How about you, Star Dust, you up for round two?"

The horse nickered and nodded her head exaggeratedly, so Rowen too nodded, "I think we're good to go, why don't we first go find Mandoria though, I'm sure he would be delighted to know that Xanthos is here and that he is a father now, then we can race"

-----

Back in the castle, Mandoria was turning over what Wales said, he remembered how affected Royal was from the first frequency test, if it weren't for Wren she would have been unconscious, he didn't want her to be hurt again.

"I'll test it for him," he said, "and before you refuse, hear me out. It would be better to test it on me because I am much more similar to Prussia than she is, we are anatomically identical so whatever is done to me will most likely happen if done to him. Not to mention Royal is much more sensitive to the frequency than me, sure I was hit hard at point-blank range but she was basically knocked unconscious at a further distance, I don't want to see a fellow wing get hurt, especially after Commonwealth."

N:   "But the last time I checked," Anglo countered, "Prussia hasn't gone through three years of torture, so you may be similar, but you are weaker than him in terms of strength." However, when Mandoria was adamant in his decision, he sighed, "Fine, but I don't believe it's a popular opinion. The moment you cannot do it anymore, you stop, you hear me?" With that, he turned to Wales, who nodded and led the pair to where British Empire was working. It was a large building outside the main castle, almost looking like a large shelter or barn from the outside, but as soon as they stepped in, they could definitely tell it was not used to store hay.

Mechanical parts were scattered everywhere, and they had to squeeze through the door as a large prototype of an electric motor was placed right next to it. "Albion," Anglo called out, using BE's given name, "what's with all this mess?"

"Apparently, I got it from you, Grandpa," BE answered as he leaned over from the balcony of one of the stores, "Grandad said you were messy when you were younger," he smirked, getting a small mumble from Anglo.

Upon seeing Mandoria with them, he was confused as to why he was there, and not Royal, so he walked down the stairs to meet them. He no longer wore his cape, wearing a simple shirt and trousers, which were covered in soot, looking more like an inventor than a king. He was about to ask when Wales quickly filled him in, and he tilted his head, "If you're sure about it, then let's start."

He walked back upstairs and came back down with a large Roman-styled shield, on it was a layer of a soft material covering the entire shield. When he handed the shield to Mandoria, Wales poked at the material and was surprised at its softness. "BE," he asked, "what is this?"

"Foam," he answered simply, getting a shocked face from his brother, "if I'm right about foam, and its attenuation-"

"BE. English, please."

"Fine," he grumbled, "why can't you just be enlightened. Anyways, if I'm correct, the foam should be good at scattering and absorbing sound above the normal hearing range, or ultrasonic waves. Plus," he added, pulling away a sheet to reveal a more refined cannon, with the tuning fork attached to the back, "it could test this out." Anglo and Wales took a couple of steps back, prepared to not be in harm's way when they saw it. The empire turned to Mandoria, "Are you sure about this?"

 —————

"I can go and find him," Royal volunteered, "get ready in the meantime, and," he faced Arthur, "would you mind saddling up Bugsy?"

The man shook his head, so the hybrid called for her horse and told him to behave while she was away.

M:   Mandoria took a moment to study the shield, its size in comparison to his body, and how much of it would be protected.

"It's an interesting concept," he said, running his hand along the soft surface, "it's a little small, only able to protect the upper body, not the wings, but that might just be enough to make it bearable."

He looked at Anglo and Wales as they backed away from the cannon and his face fell, the whole reason he volunteered was so no one got hurt, he was worried that them being so close could hurt them.

"I am sure," he said determinedly, "however, I don't want the protection, I want to feel the full force of the revised cannon so I can know for sure that it will take down Prussia. The shield will go to Anglo and Wales as I don't want them being hurt."

He saw their shocked faces and before any of them could protest he explained, "I'm not one who believes in vengeance, but if you spend three long years in captivity, treated like an animal while being powerless to fight back, watching your family being beaten and raped right before your very eye, you tend to disregard morality. I want Prussia to suffer like he made us suffer, so if that frequency doesn't make me beg for mercy, then it isn't good enough, do I make myself clear."

Mandoria didn't realize it, but he was sounding a lot like the man who made him suffer so much, would never have wished harm on another living creature before that dreadful day, but as his wings subconsciously flared up threateningly and hate was written on his face, he was slowly becoming his worse nightmare.

N:   Wales shrunk at the sight of Mandoria, and seeing this Anglo wrapped a wing around his grandson, although he did draw his other wing towards himself. "You have made yourself very clear," the elder country answered, nodding at the Mandorian's wings, "and maybe next time, put less of a show."

"If you insist," BE shrugged, but he was wary of Mandoria's wings, waiting for Mandoria to hand over the shield. Once everyone was ready, BE led them outside, towing the cannon with its wheels, "there is too much sensitive equipment inside, and I rather not break it."

"And try not to break us in the meantime," Wales spoke, standing behind the shield when BE got ready.

The empire aimed the cannon at Mandoria, with Anglo and Wales nearby with the shield, he too had a shield for behind the cannon to protect himself. "I made it so that there are reflective materials to reflect the waves, making it more concentrated and able to be aimed," he faced Mandoria, "so you would take on the whole force of it. You can take out the material for a more general attack, but this is more specific for a single target." Glancing over to his family, he warned, "Be careful, even if it's concentrated, it can still affect the things around it, that cannot be changed, so stay behind the shield."

With that, the empire counted down from ten, allowing the others to get ready. "Three, two ... one," he shouted and hit the tuning fork, sending a shock wave down the barrel of the cannon, aimed right at Mandoria.

M:   Mandoria screamed at the top of his lungs when the shockwave hit him, it was a hundred times worse than last time and it made his wings flap so hard that a lot of his feathers were shaken loose again.

He dropped to his hands and knees and started vomiting blood, he neglected to realize that Anglo was right about his body being weaker, the frequency causing physical injury to him rather than simply knocking him off guard, it even made some of his old scars start bleeding again.

Eventually, Mandoria couldn't hold himself up and he collapsed onto his side, his vision getting darker as he heard the muffled shouts from the British countries, then everything went black.

N:   When the shockwave hit, the shield was able to deflect and absorb the majority of it; however, his wings were outside of the protection zone so they began to involuntarily vibrate, unable to control them. Wales being smaller was able to wrap his wings around him and was largely unaffected, although the vibration did send a shock down his spine.

"No, no, no," Anglo muttered when he saw Mandoria fall to the ground, instantly throwing away the shield and running towards him. He didn't get that far as he stumbled to the ground and clutched his head, wrapping himself in his wings as he tried to stop the ringing in his head.

Wales instead ran towards Mandoria and knelt beside him, and when he saw that he was unconscious, he froze and didn't know what to do. BE came up to him, his face full of guilt, and he turned to his brother, "Wales, go find a doctor. Quickly, we don't know how bad it was." The winged country nodded and ran towards the castle.

—————

Back in the stables, Royal was walking out when her wings detected a large spike of pain, and she stumbled at the entrance, overwhelmed by the vibrations. She momentarily switched between her alters; however, her eyepatch covered her eye so no one could tell, until she settled back to her primary alter. "What the," she grumbled, confused by what hit her, when her eyes widened with realization, "BE, you IDIOT!"

As fast as she could, she ran towards the workshop, since her wing was still injured, to investigate and perhaps punch BE along the way.

M:   Rowen noticed Royal stumble so turned his towards her, his brows furrowing in confusion and concern at her shout.

"Johann, you go ahead and saddle up the horses, I'll be right back," he said, not looking away from where the countryhuman ran off to, then he ran after her to see what was going on.

He didn't know about the frequency weapon, it being mentioned only once or twice at lunch so when he found where everyone was and saw Mandoria lying motionless on the ground his heart stopped.

"Mandoria," he screamed in fear, bolting forward and dropping next to his husband, horrified by the amount of blood on the ground and seeping through his clothes.

"What did you do to him," he snapped at BE, "we come here for sanctuary and this is what we get, what did you do to him!!"

N:   "Your bloody husband volunteered," BE snapped back, "I was going to test out the protection for the revised frequency cannon, but he insisted on not having it and taking on the full force."

"Are you fucking serious," Royal yelled at the empire, "are you actually hearing yourself. You use an updated frequency cannon on someone who just escaped from Prussia and is still injured." She grabbed the scruff of his collar, "When I told you that I will be the only one volunteering, I meant it. So stop being-" but then she suddenly stopped.

Staring at the empire, a small smirk appeared as she let go, dusting off her hands as she spoke, "I'm sorry for that lash out," the hybrid said, "Royal can be a bit ... sentimental. But don't worry," she grinned, "I also think you're stupid."

"Wren," BE said sternly, "don't you dare walk away," but she shrugged and did anyway, going to check on Anglo.

"What's going on here," a voice demanded, and BE turned to see Wales with a team of doctors, as well as Saxon. When the entity saw what happened, his face fell from the amount of blood, and when BE tried to speak, he held up his hand, "First let's get Mandoria treated too, and when he is stable, then I will hear your explanation for this mess."

M:   "Mandoria, can you hear me, wake up," Rowen shouted, shaking the unconscious country while tears started welling up in his eyes. He tried to feel for a pulse but felt nothing, his heart shattered right there and when the doctors pulled him away so they could help Mandoria he didn't resist, he stood back in an emotional daze as the world around him started fading away.

"Please don't go," he whispered to himself, dropping to his knees, "I can't lose you too, not after everything we've been through, p-please."

He saw Wales come up to him in his peripheral vision but couldn't hear what he was saying, all he could do was watch the doctors try to resuscitate his husband through teary vision.

N:   Wales walked to Rowen and knelt down next to him, trying his best to comfort him, wrapping one wing around him. Meanwhile BE stared at the still Mandoria, watching his grandfather order the doctors to bring the country back, so he went beside him and checked his pulse. When he found none, he nodded and ran back inside, rushing up the stairs to Wilfred's desk, checking something he saw before.

Written on messy notes was a diagram of frogs' legs, beside it a number and a conclusion: 'movement occurred due to stimulation of muscles from a spark.' "A spark," the empire muttered, and he continued searching until he found two metal plates.

Rushing back down, he went over to his prototype electric motor and began to wind it, generating static electricity inside it, and when he was satisfied, he dragged it outside next to Mandoria.

"What are you doing," Saxon asked, but the empire ignored him as he placed the metal plates on Mandoria's chest, then held up the end of two insulated wires. "What is this," the entity spoke again, reaching out to the motor, but since it was a prototype, some of the charges escaped and the entity immediately retracted his hand from the shock.

"Just trust me," BE answered, although he wasn't sure himself, and he began to lower the wires, "all that is needed is a spark." The moment he touched the tips of the metal plates, a large spark flashed as the circuit completed, sending BE back in surprise.

M:   Mandoria's body jumped as the electricity shot through him, causing him to inhale sharply and his eyes to snap open. He coughed violently as he tried to breathe again and after a moment he lay still, exhausted from the near-death experience.

"Mandoria!" he faintly heard someone scream, his head still ringing so he couldn't make out much. Rowen came into view, his eyes red with tears but his face was utterly relieved, Mandoria smiled reassuringly though he started slipping back into unconsciousness, his husband frantically patting his cheek the only thing keeping him awake at the moment.

N:   BE put away the motor when he saw that his idea worked, but began to worry again when Mandoria started to close his eyes. When Wren saw this, she left Anglo, who was sitting up and hugging himself with his wings, and disappeared inside the workshop, and a couple of minutes later came back with a bucket full of water. Ordering Rowen to sit Mandoria up, she dowsed the country with the water, "Wakey, wakey Mandoria."

—————

Johann sat waiting in the stables, glancing every now and then at the entrance, impatiently waiting for Rowen. "He has been gone for a while now, isn't it?" he asked Comet while he stroked his mane. After a few more minutes of waiting, he had enough and stood up, "Sir Beckerel," he called out as the other was finishing off Bugsy, "I'll be right back," and with that, he jogged in the direction Rowen ran earlier.

M:   Mandoria yelped as the cold water hit him, shocking his system and making him throw up again, there wasn't as much blood this time but there was still a considerable amount. The water worked for a short amount of time but he soon fell unconscious again, his body physically incapable of staying awake.

"Let's just let him sleep," Rowen eventually said, lowering him back to the ground, "his body doesn't have the energy to stay awake right now," he then turned to the others, "Can someone go get Johann, he's waiting at the stables and doesn't know what's going on." 

Rowen then glared at BE, "Why on earth would you let Mandoria volunteer to be a test dummy, he is not as strong as he used to be and can't withstand the things he says he can. What did he say to you to make you want to test on him, it was probably just another one of his suicide attempts, how could you not see that?!"

N:   "He wanted to know that the weapon would make Prussia suffer," BE answered calmly, "seeing it that way you can tell that he's not the same, but if you saw him earlier, he definitely looked like he was ready to exact revenge on Prussia than attempting suicide."

"And it turns out that the frequency weapon is very effective," Wren pointed out, getting an angered look from Wales, "fine, if you don't want my input then I'll leave." Closing her eyes for a moment, she blinked her eyes open and scanned the things around her, flashing an annoyed stare at BE.

A pair of doctors headed back inside the castle, coming out with a stretcher, which they used to lift up Mandoria. While they worked, Royal turned as she heard footsteps approaching from afar, and guessing who it was, she turned to Rowen, "I think your son is here."

In the distance, Johann slowed down to a walk when he saw the group further away, but his heart dropped when he saw Mandoria on a stretcher. Slowly making his way, he stopped a couple of meters away when he coupled properly see his father and seeing Rowen's red eyes made him think the worse.

M:   "Mandoria would never-" Rowen started, he was going to say that the country would never take revenge on someone, but as he thought about it he just sighed and slumped, "I guess that I'm losing my husband after all, aren't I? He may be alive, thank god, but it seems that he's already gone."

He watched as the doctors took Mandoria away to properly treat him, he didn't follow though, he couldn't find it in himself to move as the situation settled in. He started crying again, hiding his face in his hands as he mumbled incoherently, basically asking why this had to happen to them and how Mandoria could leave them like that, without a doubt his eyes would have turned grey if he was a countryhuman, that's how broken this all felt to him.

N:   Johann followed after Mandoria, in his own world as the doctors made their way inside, so Royal walked behind them to watch over them, as well as getting away from BE.

Wales stayed beside Rowen the entire time, seeing him break down. Both BE and Saxon weren't sure what to do, so Wales did the first thing he could think of.

He knelt in front of the human and gave him the largest hug possible, wings and all, and he quietly hushed the Mandorian as he let him cry on his shoulder.

M:   Rowen flinched when Wales embraced him but accepted the comfort, just continuing to let his emotions out as he didn't know what else to do.

"Will he ever come back," he muttered after a few minutes, "Mandoria never wishes harm on anyone, I loved him for that, but now he's gone, and I don't know what to do."

N:   "We can only hope he will," Wales replied, not sure what to say, "if he's strong enough to keep his morals his entire life, then there is no reason why he wouldn't continue for you."

"If there is a change," Anglo spoke quietly as he staggered towards Rowen, "it doesn't mean they are gone, it just means that there is something overshadowing them. I knew Saxon before he became an entity, and I loved him, but when he gained those eyes, he changed and was different from the person I knew before. However, through time, you chip away at the thing covering them and reveal the same person you fell in love with." The entity uncomfortably shuffled his feet as the other spoke, and Anglo placed a hand on Rowen's shoulder, "he will come through, I promise."

M:   Rowen met Anglo's eyes for a moment, then exhaled deeply and buried his face back in Wales's shoulder.

"I want to go home," he muttered sadly, "I want to go back to before Prussia, back when things were good and life was happy. I just want my life back, our lives back ... I-I just ... want ..."

Rowen's adrenalin was finally fading, the fear and sadness were draining him of every ounce of energy and he couldn't form words anymore. He was slowly leaning his full weight on Wales as his body was shutting down, basically giving up on life and just wanting to disappear from the face of the earth.

"I-I'm sorry," he whispered for no reason, he didn't even know what he was apologizing for, but it didn't matter as his eyes closed and he fell asleep in Wales's arms.

N:   Wales struggled to keep Rowen up, and when he was fully asleep, the poor country was almost buried in the hug, so Saxon came over and helped out. Picking up the Mandorian, he carried the sleeping man inside, with the younger country helping out Anglo. BE followed behind, tagging behind before disappearing to the British wing.

Not knowing where to take him, the entity took Rowen to the library and rested him on the sofa, and soon the winged countries came and Anglo rested in an armchair. "Albion needs to take a break from his ... experimenting," Anglo mumbled, massaging his head, "that ... was crazy."

"He's only doing it so we can defend ourselves from Prussia," Wales defended, although he too was not happy with his brother, "there was no bad intention to us, and I don't even know if he knew it would be this bad."

"But there is a pretty good chance that he knew how bad it is anyway," Saxon pointed out, and he gazed over to Rowen, "and it affected our guests." He sighed as he made his way out of the library, "Just tell Rowen that Mandoria is in the medical room nearby when he wakes up." The both of them nodded and watched the entity leave, heading towards Mandoria.

M:   Deeper in the castle, England was sitting on a couch in a sitting room, Edel was of course right there with him and laying his head on his lap. All of a sudden, the dragon perked his head up as a scent wafted into his nose, causing him to whimper at the familiar yet unpleasant smell.

Edel stood and started walking away, nose to the ground like when he was looking for England the first time he came, tracking the scent until he ended up bumping into Saxon. He gave him a quick sniff over and determined that the smell wasn't coming from him, so turned and kept following it in the direction Saxon was going.

N:   Wondering what Edel was doing, England followed after the dragon, and was confused as to why both he and his father were going in the same direction. "Faeder, what happened," he asked as he walked beside him.

 "I'm guessing that Edel knows that Mandoria's injured," and when England was about to speak up, he added, "You better ask your son." With that, they walked quietly toward the medical room until they saw a familiar hybrid standing at the door.

Now as her primary alter, Royal saw the pair and Edel and said, "he's inside, but he's not doing well. BE's weapon really did a number on him." When the dragon was beside the entrance, she opened the double doors to reveal the large medical room, the doctors standing around one bed.

M:   Edel whimpered, he didn't need to see who was in the bed to know who it was, he slowly walked over and the doctors stepped aside, mostly because they were shocked or warry of the dragon. Johann was sitting in a chair next to the bed, holding Mandoria's hand as the country lay there unconscious, so Edel gently nudged Johann to comfort him.

"Lord Saxon, Sir England," a female doctor greeted the two as they came closer, "Sir Mandoria is stable for the time being, he lost a lot of blood and suffered from internal bleeding, it seems that an old injury to his abdomen had weakened the intestinal walls and the frequency caused it to rupture. We did what we could to repair the damage but any sudden movements could rupture it again, I recommend he stay in bed for at least a week to allow it to heal. On a personal note, I am curious as to what happened to create such a weakness that a simple soundwave could rupture his organs, was he ever severely hurt in that area?"

N:   "Thank you, doctor," England replied, gazing at Mandoria, "as for the injury, I'm not sure-"

"It was from Prussia," Johann quietly answered, gently rubbing the back of his father's hand, "during their duel, the bastard impaled Father." The Mandorian then fell silent as he tried to keep back his tears, resting his head on Edel, accepting the dragon's comfort.

"If he needs time to heal so we should let him be," Royal said as she entered the room, her eye flickering between the people, "besides, we have two Mandorians to search for, as well as a Brit to question, so we might as well use our time."

M:   "Very well," the doctor said, "if you wish to have a moment with him you may, and if he wakes up please refrain from stressing him and simply notify someone so we may check that he remains stable. Other than that, take as much time as you need, he most likely will hear you if you talk to him he just won't be able to wake up for at least the next two to three days."

When the doctor and her colleagues cleared out to give them some privacy, Edel very gently gave Mandora a few baby licks on his cheek like he was trying to wake him, his head moved from the licks but other than that he remained motionless, with only his shallow breathing to show he was alive.

N:   Saxon nodded although he wasn't going to stay, instead he patted reassuringly on Johann's shoulder before the three of them left, leaving behind Edel and Johann with Mandoria. There Johann stayed with him day and night next to the country, not caring about his well-being while he waited for a sign, only when Wales came with some food did he remember to eat, but even then he left his food largely untouched.

England had a stern conversation with his son while Saxon and Royal occupied the Map room, filled with various maps, and crossing off areas they are pretty sure the Mandorian brothers were most likely not in. The entity wrote various letters to the insurgents, asking for a report on any out-of-the-ordinary people in their respective kingdoms.

Anglo rested in the armchair, tired from the day, and even when he woke up early the next day, Rowen was still not awake. He sighed, feeling bad that this happened to him when they just arrived, when Alaric walked into the room, wanting to find a book to read. When he saw the country, he nodded in acknowledgment but was confused at the sight of Rowen. "Could you do me a favor," the winged country asked, "could you stay here and wait for Rowen to wake up? If he asks where Mandoria is, just say he's in the medical room down the hall."

Although he never intended to, the human nodded and grabbed a random book, gaining a small thanks from the country, who stood up and left. The Saxon sat down in the same armchair and opened up the book, only faintly paying attention to the Mandorian.