M:   Rowen woke up about an hour and a half later, though he still looked really tired and drained. He sat up and just stared at his hands for a few minutes, deep in thought and not acknowledging Alaric's presence though he knew he was there.

"Do you ever feel like the world is collapsing around you," he eventually said, not looking at the other but definitely talking to him, "do you ever feel like nothing seems to go right and all you want to do is just give up, to take the easy way out so you don't have to deal with the pain anymore?"

N:   "Who doesn't," Alaric replied, not looking up from his book before flipping to the next page, "but what's the point of life without pain? There is no such thing as 'taking the easy way out', otherwise you're no longer a human and just a fool."

 He paused a bit before looking up and closing his book. "I'm sure you have seen a blacksmith at work, since you were a captain, so you must know how any sword is formed. The metal goes through fire, battered and hammered down, and only through that would you see its beauty in the end, but when you mess up the rhythm of the flame, you mess up the sword. The same thing with life. Pain will come at you, that is undeniable, but your response to it is what matters. If you allow it to crush you in the process, you will end up like the broken sword, but you have to fight through it to get a good result. Strength comes through pain and hard work, nothing else." With that, he reopened his book and continued to read.

M:   Rowen looked over to Alaric, taking in his words and contemplating the metaphors.

"A fool huh," he said as he looked away, "I guess that everyone becomes one at some point or another, I know I am, a fool who couldn't do the one thing he was trained to do his whole life, protect his king and his kingdom. I failed everyone, if I just did my job better maybe we wouldn't be in this mess, maybe we could be back home living in peace -" Rowen then took off his boot and ran a hand along his prosthetic, "- maybe my wife and child would be alive if I did better, or maybe if I just wasn't around to begin with they'd be alive."

Rowen threw his boot in blind anger deriving from self-hate, then hid his face in his hands and started crying again, "maybe if I just didn't exist everything would be better." he mumbled.

N:   Alaric looked up and was startled by the boot slamming into the wall, he looked back at Rowen, and he softly chuckled. "Regrets, regrets, regrets," he shook his head, "humanity's worst enemy, the only thing that brings down life."

He closed the book and stood up, walking over to the prosthetic and picking it up, running his hand over the now broken joint, "see, we have a thing in my family, something that is taught to every child. Always prepare to overcome failure, and it was an important thing that we remembered that as we are ... were an influential family. That's the thing you're forgetting, you are prepared for the task, but you were not in the instance you failed, how it would affect you mentally and physically. You had a Plan A but no Plan B."

He placed the prosthetic on the table and continued, "You said that it would be better if you didn't exist, but did you think about how it would affect others? You cannot simply remove yourself from the equation, it would cause a ripple effect of a large magnitude, from removing the love you brought to the person who bore you, to the people who loved you, and to the person you simply brightened up their day in the future."

The Saxon began to wander around the sofa, flipping over what Rowen said, and cruelly laughed, "If this, if that, if you keep in this path you will just destroy yourself. Not everything is within your control, Prussia was going to go to you, so there is no point getting angry over it. You have to count your blessings to stay sane, not your problems. Maybe if you trained more, maybe if you did the right thing, maybe if you should have kept your mouth shut and your wife would still be alive," he caught his tongue before he revealed too much, taking a deep breath in and then out.

"It doesn't matter, focus on the now, not the past," he added. He went over to Rowen and handed him a handkerchief, "Mandoria's in the medical room down the hall, you can go and see him."

M:   "O-Ok," Rowen sniffled, taking the handkerchief and wiping his eyes, "though I probably can't at the moment now that I broke my leg joint, didn't think I was that strong."

He then paused for a second when he realized the last thing that Alaric said, about him keeping his mouth shut and his wife would still be alive, that confused and concerned him.

"Alaric, what did you say about keeping my mouth shut," he asked, "I've only known you for about a month and I don't recall saying anything offensive."

N:   "You know what," Alaric said quickly, changing the subject, "forget it. We can take the prosthetic leg to BE and have him fix it. I can help you get to the medical room if you want." The Saxon began slightly fidgety shuffling his feet as he quickly went over to his chair and grabbed the book, returned it to its place, and came back. "Would you be comfortable if I held you," he asked, holding the boot in one hand, "I don't know exactly where the medical room is but we can search for it."

Walking down the corridor for breakfast, a certain Prussian knight was humming to himself when he heard his father's voice coming from the library, and confused by this, stood right next to the door to see if he can hear what he was saying.

M:   Rowen was taken aback by Alaric's behavior and avoidance of the question, which made him incredibly suspicious.

"Woah woah, I am not just going to drop the subject when you pull a stunt like that," he said, "do I look like I was born yesterday?"

The former captain stood up, able to stand quite well on one leg for a few minutes, "I am not an idiot Alaric, based on your fidgeting and avoidance of the question you are plainly saying that you know more than you're letting on, so spill it, what did you mean by if I kept my mouth shut my wife would still be alive!"

Rowen's previous sadness and self-hate were gone, now anger was slowly taking their place as he began to think that the man standing in front of him might have had something to do with what happened that night.

N:   "Can we just not talk about it," Alaric begged, putting down the prosthetic, "Can we talk about anything else, bitte!"

"What's the problem, Vater," a voice spoke at the door, and the man turned to see his son glowering at him, "it's a simple question? You shouldn't be afraid to say anything, right?" The father stood still, unable to answer, so the knight marched up to him and shoved him, "Beantworten Sie die Frage, Vater (just answer the question, father)!"

 "Your uncle went and killed his wife and child," he answered loudly, out of fear of his son. The son looked blankly at him, unable to believe him, "what do you mean," he asked quietly, and he repeated again with a shout, "What do you mean Uncle Ludwig killed them?!"

"K-king Prus-sia asked for the c-common men to rally together to go and mess up something in the Kingdom of Mandoria," he explained, stammering, "two men from each region, and since people were not volunteering to go within his own Kingdom, and our family's close ties, your uncle and I went and filled up the remaining places."

He turned to Rowen and continued, "While the whole group was traveling, I was having second thoughts so in the middle of the night I left, my brother covering for me, while the rest of them went and caused mayhem." Pausing for a moment, he then added, "And I remember my brother distinctly laughing when he came back, saying that at the house he set fire to, a man failed to send his wife to safety, telling her to go the wrong way."

He lowered his head in shame, his hands slightly shaking from fear, "I guess karma came back and bit us, since my brother was killed in Sir England's camp, and I told my wife to stay where she was during the battle in Saxony, allowing a musketeer to shoot her right through the head in front of me."

"Nein, nein, nein," Wolfgang kept on muttering, not wanting to believe what he heard, "Uncle Ludwig was so kind and gentle, he can't ... murder." He clutched his head and shook it, "no I don't believe you," he said, and he directed it right at his father with hate, "I don't fucking believe you."

"It's the truth," the man replied, still staring at the floor, "No more, no less." Looking up at Rowen, he spoke, "I know there is no point in asking you to forgive me, I'm beyond that, but I beg you not to tell anyone else."

"YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY SAY, VATER," the knight yelled, shoving him to a wall, and just as when he was about to drop, he pinned him against the wall, "YOU DON'T DESERVE FORGIVENESS, NOT FROM ANYONE, AND I'M FUCKING HAPPY THAT UNCLE DIED." Punching him square in the face, the man dropped to his knees, holding to his bloodied nose.

M:   Rowen didn't react to Wolfgang attacking his father, he was far too shocked to show any sort of emotion, he felt like he was the one who got punched in the face.

"So it was my fault, " He muttered to himself, "I told her to go the wrong way, I led her to her death."

After a minute of staring into space running that night through his head like he had done so many times before, he looked to the others and said, "Wolfgang, can you bring Johann in here please, Saxon and BE too if you find them, this ... I need someone here, please."

Once again, he placed his head in his hands and started crying, though he hardly had any tears left so it was mostly half-hearted sniffles.

N:   Wolfgang swerved around to face Rowen, still filled with anger, but it quickly dissipated as he looked at the Mandorian's face. "Sure," he said softly, and he glanced at his father, "Don't you dare stand up."

With that he walked out of the room, leaving the two alone."It wasn't your fault," Alaric assured Rowen, "it was my brother's. He was the one who started the flames."

In the corridors, the knight searched for anyone when he saw a red dragon wing poke out of a room, so he dashed towards it. Inside was Johann, dark bags under his eyes as he stayed up all night, mugs of coffee around him as he held Mandoria's hand, while Wales was next to him, talking to him. "Johann," the country spoke, "you need to get out and breathe in some fresh air, and you need to sleep. You can't stay like this forever."

 "It's only for the next couple of days," he defended himself, "besides, I'm fine." Just as he said that his head drooped from the tiredness, and when he woke up, he saw Wolfgang. "Guten Morgen."

"You need to come with me," the other said, "both of you." Before Johann could protest, he added, "It's Rowen." The name of his other father immediately jolted his head, his eyes widened with temporary alertness, and he became conflicted about who to stay with. Eventually, Johann decided to go so he patted Edel's head and picked up a half-empty mug of coffee, and the two followed the knight back.

As soon as he entered the library, Johann noticed his father crying, so he walked up to him, placed his mug down, and gave him a hug, Wales joining in too. "What happened," the country asked, seeing the injured Saxon, "what happened to him?"

Alaric was going to protest when Wolfgang cut him off, telling them what happened, and at the end of it, Johann's tired eyes stared at Alaric. The Mandorian stood up and grabbed his mug before downing the coffee, and he peered into the empty mug. Looking between the mug and Alaric, he raised his arm and was ready to throw the mug right at the Saxon, but Wolfgang stopped him before he could.

"Although I hate my family," Wolfgang said, "I will not have someone else hurt them." He pried the mug out of Johann's hands, and his arms dropped to his sides.

"Hezyka's wife and child were killed in a fire caused by your brother," he said in a monotonous voice, devoid of emotion, "my parents were taken away from me, and our home was burnt to the ground by Prussians. I have come to hate fire, and the ones who caused it, so what exactly is stopping me from kicking your teeth in? Your brother is not here to pay, so it might as well be you."

Alaric looked up from the ground into Johann's eyes, so full of anger and hatred that at the same time, he looked like he felt nothing at all.

M:   "Don't Johann," Rowen said, not looking at anyone and just staring at the floor, "please, there's been too much hurt, nor does he deserve it. His brother caused the fire, not him, and taking vengeance on an innocent man won't quench the fury."

He slowly lay back onto the couch and stared into space, "It's my fault anyway, I bet he targeted us because I was the captain of the army, a valuable target if killed, Sara was just caught in the crossfire. It's my fault for putting her in danger, it's my fault for leading her to her death, it's. All. My. Fault."

N:   "Well it might just be enough," Johann growled and took a step towards Alaric, but Wolfgang held him back from dealing any pain to his father. The Saxon's eyes flickered between the group and he slowly got up, wary of what his son would do. Wolfgang watched silently as his father walked away and out of the room, heading towards the medical room to get himself cleaned up.

"No, don't say that," Wales begged Rowen, "the same way Alaric didn't do anything, you didn't cause your family's death. The only reason why she was with you was that you loved her, not that you had an ulterior motive." The country gazed at the human and asked, "Do you regret loving Sara?"

M:   "Sometimes," Rowen said, "if I didn't love her she would still be alive, I regret loving her because I love her, she died because of my love, and now my new family is suffering too, I'm cursed, I know I am, cursed to cause harm to whoever I love."

He grabbed a pillow and buried his face in it, "I should have died the moment I was born, it would have saved everyone so much pain and suffering if I just didn't exist."

N:   Hearing this, Johann shook off Wolfgang and walked over to his father, taking away the pillow from his face. "If you didn't exist I would have still been in pain," he spoke quietly, "not being able to deal with my feelings about my parent's deaths."

He crouched down to that he was at eye level with the Mandorian, "If I hadn't known you, I wouldn't have had the same love and kindness a father gives when I was at the cemetery, and I would have sure as hell wanted to end my own suffering, but you were there. If you weren't there when Saxon brought me to Father, I would have not run around and explored the castle, bonding with the first human being in months."

A small smirk appeared as he remembered the good times, "the same person who stayed with me when I had a nightmare, who fed me, who gave me a home after I lost one. Hezyka, what you did to me was the opposite of pain and suffering, and I don't care if I go through hell over and over again, I will forever be thankful that you brought me into your arms, and I will not have for it any different." After he finished, he wrapped his arms around Rowen, hugging him right there.

M:   "Johann-" he started but was cut off by the hug, so he just stayed silent and accepted it.

It felt like his son hugged him for a long time when it was only a few minutes, but it allowed him the time to reflect on his life, the good and the bad, and those good memories were enough to calm him down a little and return the hug.

"I love you, Finzenda, I'm sorry that I'm such a mess, I don't know what came over me," he sniffled.

N:   "We all have our moments, Hezyka," Johann reassured him, and he continued to hug him.

Wales let them have a moment before he spoke up, "Why don't we start heading to the hall for breakfast?"

Wolfgang nodded but headed towards the door ahead of them, "I'm going to check on Vater, making sure he doesn't do something stupid."

"But make sure you don't do something reckless either," the country called out, but the knight was already gone so he sighed. Noticing the broken prosthetic, he glanced between it and Rowen, and said, "You probably need this, don't you? I'll give this to my brother so he could fix it."

Johann nodded in thanks and stood up leading out a hand for his father, "Let me help you," but then he remembered, "Hezyka, do you want to see Father?"

M:   Rowen thought about it for a moment before saying, "After breakfast, I need a moment to come down from whatever emotional crisis I just had, and seeing your father right now would just make it worse, we'll go later I promise."

Rowen took his son's hand and hoisted himself up, letting him support him so he wouldn't fall. Now that he had a clearer mind he noticed the dark bags under Johann's eyes and frowned, "You stayed up all night with him, didn't you, sorry I wasn't there to comfort you."

N:   "It's fine," Johann replied, "Edel was with me, plus, according to Wales, you were asleep the entire time."

The country hummed in agreement before picking up the empty mug, "and I'm still surprised that you were able to stay up the entire time."

"What can I say," the Mandorian smiled softly, "I'm becoming like Hezyka. How many cups of coffee did I have? Two? Three?"

"Six," Wales confirmed, shaking his head with disapproval as they headed out, "I know that they are not the strongest, Wilfred literally drains out coffee supplies when he is here so we are careful on how much we use, but six is still a lot."

Johann chuckled nervously at the amount and the group made their way to the hall, slow enough for Rowen to keep up. When they arrived, Anglo and BE were already there, along with the Prussians, except the Schwartzs, eating and chatting away. When he looked up, Anglo was initially surprised to see Rowen up, but quickly smiled, happy to see him there.

Wales walked over to his brother and handed over the prosthetic, asking if he could fix it. "Hmm," he uttered as he gave the object a once over, "the joint is an easy fix, but the overall design is horrendous, no offense. You can clearly see that its sole purpose was to walk." Flipping over the leg, he nodded, "I'll add my own twist to it, I will simply not allow such a thing."

Anglo raised a brow at the statement, so the empire clarified, "I'm not going to make it a weapon, that's absurd. Just making it better." He turned to the Mandorian, "Is there anything you would like me to add?"

M:   "No, go crazy," Rowen chuckled, "Saxon's German insurgent, Wald, made that the night we were rescued, my original leg was taken away so it would be harder for me to ... resist."

Becoming uncomfortable with the subject, he changed the topic when he and Johann sat down, "You know, when Johann, Mandara, and Derogan were little they tried to use my leg as inspiration to make a new tail for Edel. He was attacked by a large bear in the Eye of Ora and one of his tall fins had to be removed, so he never really learned how to fly because he can't without the fin. None of the designs they came up with ever worked but I thought it was adorable, even if Edel kept chewing them off because they were too uncomfortable."

He looked around for the said dragon but couldn't see him, "where is the fluffball, actually?"

N:   "Last time I saw him, he was with Father," Johann answered also looking around, "but I haven't seen him since." Just then Royal walked into the hall, followed by Edel and the Schwartzs, the elder of which still had a red face from the punch but his nose was cleaned up. The pair went over to the rest of the Saxons, although the son gave his father a pointed look before seating himself down. The hybrid also sat down next to Anglo, his eye going between Alaric and Rowen, since she heard the conversation from the floor above, and quietly ate.

"If it is fine with Edel," BE spoke when he saw the dragon, "I could try and fashion him a tail fin so he could fly."

M:   "If you can get him to wear it I will be impressed," Rowen joked, "Edel does not like having things attached to his tail, he'll either chew it, burn it, or smash it against the ground to knock it off, sometimes all three, we basically gave up after the fifth one was chucked into a window when he shook his tail too hard."

Edel highly grunted at the memories and swished his tail like he could feel something strapped onto it.

N:   "Suit yourself," BE shrugged, and he patted the broken prosthetic, "I'm going to have fun with this one."

"Now, now, BE," Anglo spoke, "don't get ahead of yourself," but he could already see the cogs turning in his head as he planned out the design.

"Speaking of reptiles," Royal piped, "since you are going to stay here, you should definitely see Nessie up in Scotland, obviously when you all are better, and maybe," she glanced over to Edel, "he could make a friend."

"He already has friends," Johann spoke back in mock offense, "and he has a child too."

"If I were you," Heinrich said with a smirk, "you shouldn't mention reptiles around Saxon, especially the ones that slither," causing the others to laugh.

M:   "And I'm not saying no to the tail," Rowen added, "by all means make one if you want to, I'm just saying that if you're able to get Edel to wear it I would be impressed."

He paused for a minute to keep eating but eventually asked, "So how has everyone else been settling, I hope better than us."

N:   "We are doing pretty good," Maria spoke, "I've helped out with the gardens, and they are beautiful."

"Returning to your default setting, I see," Heinrich chuckled, getting a small laugh from his mother along with a gentle nudge. 

"Ja, we're good," Leon said, "Eva and I have helped out with the pens and copes, meanwhile," he smirked as he glanced at his daughter, "Ernie finally has time to spend with Wolfgang over here." Wolfgang slowly sunk into his chair, trying to disappear while the other complained to her father for embarrassing her, but she took the opportunity to place a small kiss on the knight's forehead, making him blush.

Both Johann and Heinrich said a small, "eww," and then laughed when they said it at the same time.

M:   "Young love," Rowen sighed, "I can't say that I personally miss it, when Sara and I were younger my best friend pushed me into her and we kissed, though it wasn't the best kiss since both of us ended up with cut lips from how hard we connected, it is still a funny thing to remember."

He then looked to Johann mischievously, "You should have been there when Johann first met his sweetheart, Elisabeth, she was brand new in the cadets and I was leading her through the stables so she could pick her partner horse. Johann was unsaddling Comet after taking him out for a ride, and while he was bent over to check his horseshoes Comet yanked his foot away and kicked him in the rear end, sending him colliding with Elisa and falling into a pile of hay."

He laughed as he remembered the confused shouts of the two teens in the straw, "he denies it but I'm pretty sure they connected lips as when we dug them out Johann was redder than a strawberry, weren't you, Finzenda."

N:   Johann only mumbled an incoherent response, preoccupied with trying to cover his increasingly reddening face, the fall replaying in his head. Heinrich laughed at his reaction and patted his hand on the other's back, "it's alright, Johann," he smirked, "You can tell us what REALLY happened?"

"Nothing happened!" the Mandorian blurted out rather quickly, and he looked at his father, "Hezyka, why do you do this to me?"

M:   "Because I'm your Hezyka," Rowen smirked, pinching Johann's cheek, "it's my job to make you miserable, my little Finzekinz."

N:   Johann grumbled even more, burying his head in his arms, making the rest laugh harder.

Anglo laughed and he and BE made eye contact, a silent message passing between them, to which the elder country smirked. "I remember when BE and FE first met," Anglo spoke, getting death stares from his grandson, "obviously properly, not in a war, but it was during a ball hosted by Kingdom of Portugal. That Portuguese was a sneaky one, deliberately setting up so the two empires would meet, specifically making BE slightly tipsy."

 "Grandpa," BE spoke sternly, but he was getting red himself, "don't continue."

"So England and I were there, as well as FE's father, Kingdom of France, and the tipsy BE boldly strides up to the French woman, and kissed her on her hand, and flirts with her, IN FRENCH." Wales chuckled quietly as he continued to listen to his grandfather's story, "both KoF and England were shocked, and FE played along, and the two of them began to talk. I swear the tension between the two fathers was so noticeable we had to leave early just so that England doesn't get into a fight with KoF. When Scotland learned what happen, the man began to stalk the pair, there was never a moment that he didn't know."

BE buried his head in his hands and mumbled, "that ... was not my brightest moment."