M: Rowen laughed at the story but did give BE some sympathy, "It's ok BE, I think we've all been there at some point, love can be embarrassing but it's worth it in the end."

The rest of breakfast mainly was filled with the parents telling embarrassing stories about their kids, and of course, the kids were mostly just hiding their faces and begging them to stop.  The younger generation was the first to leave to get away from everyone, much to the others' humor, and BE took his opportunity to go repair Rowen's leg.

"Johann, before we go see Mandoria I want you to promise that you're going to go take a nap later," Rowen said, "believe me when I say that staying up all night worrying about him isn't doing either of you any good, plus he wouldn't want you hurting yourself because of him either."

N: Johann sighed and nodded, "I promise, I guess I was worrying a lot."

"I'm going to join you both," Royal said as she stood up from her seat, "I want to see how he is doing." Wales joined in and came towards the pair.

"Meanwhile, I am going to search for Saxon," Anglo spoke, "as well as England. For Saxon, sometimes he does miss breakfast so I'm less worried, but England should be up by now."

"Saxon was outside the last time I checked," the hybrid informed, "he said he was going to train with his Tamdor ... Tammy ... that doesn't make sense. Oh yes, a Tamordo, that is what it's called," and she spoke to herself quietly,  "Wren, stop messing with me."

M: "Well, I'm glad he still has it," Rowen said as he stood with the help of Johann, "knowing him I was a little worried that he was going to break it, but I'm glad to know he's still trying to learn how to use it.  It's been so long since I wielded one I might have to ask him for lessons, isn't that a change."

He noticed that Edel didn't join them and instead followed Anglo, he assumed that the mama dragon was going to find his cub. When they entered the medical ward, Rowen's face immediately fell as he saw Mandoria, the country was still unconscious. The doctor from before was looking over him to make sure he was healing correctly.

"Good morning," she said when the group came closer, "are you here to see Sir Mandoria?"

"Yes, he's my husband," Rowen confirmed, "how is he doing?"

"He is stable," the doctor admitted, "when Mr. Kress left we gave him some more fluids to help with the healing and he has been responding to it quite well, he may recover faster than we anticipated but there are no guarantees, and we still don't know when he will wake up."

Rowen nodded at the information given, he sat in the chair that Johann did previously and held Mandoria's hand, trying his hardest to hold back tears.

"Why do these things always happen to us," he asked rhetorically, "why do we have such horrendous luck that Mandoria always ends up on death's doorstep?"

N: Johann placed his hand on Rowen's shoulder, letting his father have a moment while he gazed at the lying country. Both Wales and Royal didn't say anything, feeling that it was not their place to, but the smaller country pulled out a spare handkerchief from his pocket and handed it over to Rowen, rubbing his back with a comforting smile.

—————

Anglo walked through the corridors, aware that Edel was following him, but his main concern was his son. While he passed the many windows, he could see Saxon outside with the Tamordo, so he headed straight to the British Wing.

Arriving at England's door, he hesitated before he knocked, waiting for a response. "Fauntkin," he called out, "are you there?" but there was no response. Worried, he opened the door and his face fell with what he saw.

A couple of bottles of whiskey littered the room as the country himself was curled up on his bed, shivering from the draught from the window, so the father immediately covered him with a blanket and closed the window. The winged country kicked a bottle along the way and sighed, picking it up and placing it on his son's desk, "I guess some habits die hard," he mumbled before walking over to him. Sitting on the bed, he ran his hand through his son's hair and noticed that he was still shaking despite being covered, so he lifted his sleeping son until he was sitting upright and hugged him, wrapping his wings around him.

"It's not real, fauntkin," Anglo spoke, continuing to hug him, "Edel is here, ok? It's not real." Rocking gently, he felt England's arms wrap around him, and he continued to rub his back as the country slowly came out of his nightmare.

M: Edel whimpered as he watched England suffer, from the whiskey bottles to his nightmare, it hurt his heart to see his baby in pain.  He gently nuzzled the country in an attempt of comforting him.  Edel felt that England needed some special help, he remembered how Derogan had his plush horse that he would hug when he felt upset, so he decided to look around to see if England had a stress buddy.

He was careful not to accidentally destroy anything or make a mess, and eventually, he found what he was looking for.  Under England's bed, he found a plush lion, it was clearly very old, its colors were faded, its mane was thin and matted, and one of its button eyes was hanging by a thread, it even had a floral patchwork on its arm from when it was ripped at one point.

Edel gently grabbed it by its scruff and pulled it out, handing it to Anglo to give to England, then laying his head down on the bed next to them.

N: Anglo smiled as he held the plush lion in his hands, remembering when he first gave it to his son. Folding up his wings, he leaned back and moved so he could see England's face, which was clearly fatigued, and he handed over the lion. "Do you remember this," the father asked, "it's been a while since you had it."

England looked down at the plush in his hands, placing the button back in its place before it fell out, and the silence worried the winged country. After a moment, the country pulled the lion towards him, hugging it tightly as he went onto his side, resting his head on Anglo's lap. "I do," he spoke quietly, glancing over to Edel, "thank you."

"You know that you have us to help you," Anglo told his son, but the country only hummed in acknowledgment while his father tidied up his hair.

M: Edel purred and licked England's cheek as if also saying that he was there for him, and continued to lay next to him.

After a few minutes, Edel suddenly stood up and left the room, though not before gently plucking a feather from Anglo's wing and taking it with him.  He wandered outside where he found Saxon practicing, walking up to the entity, he dropped the feather at his feet and turned around to face where he came from.  He wanted Saxon to follow him so he could comfort England, in his eyes this was a two-parent job.

N: Saxon looked down at the feather, wondering why it was there, and when Edel motioned him to follow, he handed the Tamordo to a servant, who sheathed the blades. Picking up the feather from the ground, he followed the dragon.

Once he arrived in England's room, Anglo turned around to see them and understood why Edel took his feather, and he went back to comforting his son. The entity's eyes flickered between the bottles and quickly connected the dots, so he walked over to where England was facing and knelt next to the bed. Seeing the plush, he smiled, "I see you got it back."

England didn't respond, only closing his eyes when he saw his father, saddening Saxon. Instead, the entity brushed a couple of strands of hair that were still in his son's face. He looked up to Anglo, and silently they agreed on something.

The entity opened his mouth and sang, an old lullaby that he used to sing to his son centuries ago when the boy would hide in his arms when there was a storm. At first, the words sounded strange in his mouth, singing in Old German to his son, but soon he swayed to the rhythm as if singing this song became second nature.

The melody eased the youngest Englishman, his face relaxing as he began to doze off, and the entity stopped when he heard England quietly snoring.

M: Edel curled up next to the door to let Anglo and Saxon comfort England themselves, even though he saw England as his own child, he knew that sometimes it was best to leave the parenting to the actual parents.  Not knowing what else to do, the dragon tucked his nose under his wing like a goose and went to sleep, his tail twitching every now and then.

-----

Wales and Royal had left a while ago to give the Mandorians some privacy, Rowen had made Johann sleep in a nearby bed if he was going to stay, and as for him, he was reading a book to Mandoria.  He was trying to be quiet so Johann could sleep but also loud enough so Mandoria could hear him.

N: Johann laid down on the bed for hours, only able to get short moments of sleep before jolting awake, unable to sleep. "Why can't you just sleep," he scolded himself as he rolled onto his side, closing his eyes, but the glaring black and white face filled his vision in his dream, so he snapped his eyes wide open. It didn't help that the only sound in the room was from Rowen, so he laid down and listened.

The Mandorian sat up when he heard voices outside, so he peeked through the window next to the bed and saw Wolfgang, Erna, and Heinrich head towards the woods, and he turned in the direction of Rowen. His father's back was facing him, and there was a curtain that separated each bed, so took one last look at his father before quietly jumping out the window, safely landing on the other side and dashing towards his friends.

On the other side of the woods stood Royal and Wales, the taller country holding a musket in her hands. "Why do the Jacobites always lurk in the woods," Royal said with annoyance, checking if her musket was prepared, "King James messed up and had to leave, why can't they just accept it?"

"Because they believe that he should have stayed on the throne," Wales explained, "and Dad hasn't been particularly happy when England invited Dutch Republic over for the revolution. I don't believe in the methods that the Jacobites use, but I understand them." The country flapped his wings once, testing them out, and then took off, hovering just above Royal's head, "I'll keep an eye from the sky."

"And I'll search from down here," she finished his sentence, "there were reports of Jacobites here, so we're bound to find one." And with that, the winged pair entered the woods, in search of the rebels.

M: (I gave Nova another turn)

N: When Johann ran up to his friends, he noticed that they all had a musket on them, and he asked, "Hey, where are you guys going?"

Erna turned around first and was surprised to see Johann there, but she quickly shook it off and answered, "We're going off to hunt. We asked BE, and he said we could but only outside the Royal grounds, and luckily these woods do just that."

"We are going to see who could get the most grouse," Wolfgang continued, "and kick Heinrich off the throne."

"I think it is already established that I will win," the knight smirked back, and he turned to the Mandorian, "so, you want to join us?" He took one of the muskets off his shoulders and threw it over to Johann.

"I-" he began but was cut off when he caught the musket in his hands. He hasn't killed before, yes he trained to join the cavalry, but he only swung lances and swords at dummies, and he was friendly to birds, something he learned from Mandara and Derogan. His hesitation was noticeable, so Heinz asked again, to which he gave an uncertain nod, not wanting to be left out.

"Let's go," Wolfgang grinned and jogged into the woods, soon chased after by Erna, while Johann and Heinrich lagged behind and walked. The Saxon assured him that he would teach the other, but the Mandorian silently swung the musket strap across his chest.

—————

"Stay close, Royal," Wales called down as he scanned the woods, so far no sign of any Jacobites, and soon they came across a river.

"I'm right here," Royal called back up, standing at the bank of the river, its rushing waters loud as she shook her head, "I can't see anything, and this river is so damn loud." Just then, she noticed some movement in the trees, and not alerting Wales, rushed towards the movement, and sure enough, it was a man running away holding a sword.

"COME BACK HERE," she yelled, rushing towards him and further away from the Welsh.

"Royal, where did you go?" the Brit called, landing near the river to try to see where she disappeared to, "Wren, come on, stop hiding."

"That hybrid is not coming back," a voice spoke behind him, and he froze as the end of a barrel was placed on his back.

"You cannot hurt me," Wales spoke, trying his best to keep the fear out of his voice, "my people also disagree with the choices of my Father."

"It doesn't matter," the human Jacobite sneered, "you still let it happen, along with Scotland and Ireland, and you all are as guilty as England."  The country stood perfectly still, worried about what would happen if he moved when he heard some voices in the distance, voices that he recognized. Not wanting them to be hurt, he yelled, "Don't come any closer." The first musket was shot.

—————

Heinrich was teaching Johann how to keep steady, using a tree with a poorly drawn target as practice. "Remember," the knight said, "breath in through your nose, and out through your mouth. Stay as steady as possible and focus on your target."

Johann nodded and did as he was told, and he was about to pull the trigger when they heard a shout followed by a shot. Seconds later, Erna and Wolfgang joined them, all of them confused. "Wasn't that Wales," Johann asked with worry, "and who shot that shot?" His second answer was soon answered when a group of armed Jacobites jumped out of the trees, coming for them. The gang ran away, searching for cover, and Wolfgang twirled around and shot at their chasers, the second shot that rang through the woods, one of the many to come.

—————

Back in the castle, Anglo was brushing England's hair when he felt a sharp pain in his wings, causing him to yelp in pain. For a moment, he was confused by the pain when he realized where it came from. "Wales, no," he shouted, jumping out of bed and running out of the room.

M: Deep within the woods, a pair of wings ruffled when the gunshot echoed through the trees, they were no ordinary bird wings, they didn't even have feathers, they were replaced by a dark blue membrane. The owner of the wings turned in the direction of the sound, their face covered by a deer skull mask but their electric green eyes peeked through the eye holes, glowing with a light of their own, then shifting into a crimson red as a guttural growl emanated from the figure's throat.

Gripping onto their bow, the strange person crept up to the river where the noise came from, no noise coming from their footsteps.  When they neared the treeline they climbed up a tree with cat-like grace to remain hidden, peering down through the branches at the scene below.  They watched as an injured countryhuman lay on his stomach, bleeding from his wing as a group of humans surrounded him, tying him up so he wouldn't escape.  With another growl and an angered twitch in their crocodilian tail, the stranger drew an arrow into their bow and fired it, it penetrated the nearest person's back and into his heart, killing him instantly.

Some of the other humans shot at where they were perched, but the stranger jumped off and landed in the clearing, taking out a dagger, they attacked the Jacobites with inhuman agility and ferocity like they were a natural-born predator.

-----

Edel jumped in surprise when Anglo yelped in pain, for a second he thought they were under attack, but when Anglo shouted Wales's name and ran out of the room, he turned to Saxon and England with a questioning gaze and then sprinted after the country, if someone was in trouble he was going to help them, that was his nature.

N: England jolted out of his sleep when he heard Anglo shout, and it took him a minute to process what he said, and when he did, he tried to get out of bed. "No you don't," Saxon said, keeping his son in bed, "you're staying right here."

"Wales might be in trouble," he snapped, although he was definitely not in the position to do anything, "I got to help my son."

"You are still not in the right headspace," Saxon replied, walking away but daring his son to stand, "I'll get a servant to watch over you, but you are to stay and rest." With that, the entity swiftly left, closing the door behind him.

—————

The four leaned against a fallen tree, using the log to protect themselves as the lead balls flew over their heads. They luckily had their own ammunition, but they were quickly draining it, so they used the remaining wisely. Since it takes time to reload a musket, Johann and Erna were in charge of reloading while the male knights aimed and fired.

"We only got ten left," Erna whispered, holding the bucks in her hand, "after this, we're done."

"So let's do this," Heinrich said, thanking Johann for a loaded musket, we shoot one at a time, only when it is necessary." Wolfgang nodded and grabbed for his weapon, aiming it over the log, waiting for any movement.

—————

Royal ran after the swordsman, but the further away from the river she got, the more of her surroundings she could hear, so she slowed down to a halt, watching the enemy run away. "Why did I come here," she began to wonder, and soon after she heard a shot, followed by a sharp pain in her wings. She spun around in the direction she came from and her heart dropped, "Wales," she whispered. She was about to run towards the sound when she heard incoming footsteps, taking her off guard as a shot fired and struck her in the abdomen, making her double down.

"No, no, no," she muttered, clenching her stomach as the sheer pain made her flicker between her two alters, stopping at Wren. The secondary alter looked up, anger in her eyes as she pinpointed the Jacobite, so she aimed her musket and shot, right through the head. "Serves you right," she spat, stumbling to her feet as she wobbled in the direction of Wales.

—————

The Welshman watched as the figure took down the Jacobites, one by one they fell until none of them were left. He groaned in pain, the buck ball luckily didn't go through his back, which would have surely killed him, but it went through the membrane of his wing as well as his right shoulder. The humans also tied back his other wing in an awkward angle, tugging at the skin between his wing and his back. Tears ran down his face as the only thing he could feel and think of was pain, excruciating pain.

M: The figure fell the last Jacobite by stabbing him through the eye and slitting his throat, leaving him to bleed to death as they stood and inspected themselves for injuries, which were few and minor.

They turned and walked over to Wales, brandishing the bloody dagger like they would finish off him too, but instead, they cut his binds and freed him.  Before he could get up and run the figure pushed down on his back and head to keep him down.

"You sir, do not deserve what I have done for you," they spat, their voice muffled but sounded slightly feminine, "a draconic Eternal who allows the Short-Lives to take him down without so much as a struggle, pathetic.  Despite you bringing shame to the species, I won't see to it you dying because of those parasites, now hold still or you're going to lose more than your dignity."

Releasing Wales's head but still holding him down with a knee to the back, the stranger spread out his injured wing and placed a rock on his membrane to keep it open, the rock wouldn't hurt him, it would simply make it difficult to move his wing much.

The stranger opened up a satchel on her hip and took out a jar of a green paste and a needle and thread.  With a wave of her hand, the needle and thread floated up like they were held by invisible hands, and by her command, they started sewing the holes in Wales membrane close.  She on her end cut the country's shirt to expose his shoulder, she opened the jar and started spreading the paste onto the wound, ignoring his painful cries.

Once she was done with the paste and the holes in Wales's wing were all sewn up, the stranger produced a roll of bandages and wrapped up his wing and shoulder, making sure no wound was exposed.

"There, done," she said, getting off Wales, "you newer generations are so fragile, a light breeze could break your bones."

She turned and started collecting her arrows from the dead, no longer minding Wales.

N: Anglo and Saxon ran across the field, the winged country leading the way from where he detected his grandson. BE issued a full lockdown of the castle, only the British soldiers accompanying them. They were going to continue when they heard a separate gunfight in a different direction, so the entity headed towards that while Anglo went to Wales.

—————

Wales lay right there on the ground, not having the energy to get up, and he silently cried. No longer about the pain but of her words, and of shame. It took years, even decades for Anglo and Royal to teach Wales to embrace his draconic features, but his self-esteem was instantly crushed by the stranger's words.

"I already know I am," he wheezed, struggling to get up before falling back down, "but thank you for helping me."

When he finished speaking, Wren finally came into the clearing and froze at the sight of Wales and the figure next to him. "What," she asked, seeing the small country already treated too, but she turned her attention to the stranger, noticing her wings.

"Who the hell are you?" Wren demanded, staggering towards them, "You're trespassing on British land so state your business. Are you a country? Are you the Jacobite leader?"

M: The stranger jolted towards Wren's voice and instinctively drew an arrow into her bow, though didn't aim it at Wren just yet.

"Jacobites," she repeated, "is that what the Short-Lives call themselves now, seems that they just can't make up their minds, can they?  No, I'm not, I would rather die than associate myself with those cockroaches, another thing the new generation does to shame our kind, ruling over those that drove us to near extinction, I am especially disappointed in the draconic Eternal, his kind was the noblest out of all of us and he let himself be walked over those below us without so much as a spark of fire, a disgrace if I ever saw one."

The stranger then aimed her bow at Wren, "I may have saved him from a humiliating death, but that does not mean I won't kill the both of you if you don't leave my territory immediately, I have put up with you hunting my game and stealing my herbs for centuries, but my last nerve is being tested, so leave and never come back."

M: "Now," Wren growled, "if you EVER insult Wales again, I will gladly drag you to hell with me." The hybrid took a step forward and groaned in pain, losing too much blood from her wound, so she collapsed from fatigue. She into a sharp breath as she flared out her wings, the white tips of her navy wings turning bronze colored, along with her left iris turning bronze.

Standing up on her feet, she puffed up her wings, the pain in her abdomen subsiding as she stared at the stranger. Her injury caused her body to go to its last resort: to Sync, to compensate for the pain, as a sort of adrenaline boost. Finding the feeling strange, being able to hear both the alter's thoughts, she continued to speak.

"The last time I checked, I didn't see a sign which said, 'this land belongs to the weird woman in a mask'," she ruelly chuckled, "and oh wow, you will kill us, how scary. I don't care. Everyone steals, deal with it, and I don't know what you know about the near-extinction you're talking about, no one cares."

Walking towards Wales, she spread out her arms, a large smile on her face, "if you want to kill me, kill me, but you are not going to hurt anyone else."

"That is enough," Anglo demanded, landing between Wales and the stranger, his wings spread out to block her target. In his own hand, he had a bow and arrow, training it on the draconian figure in front of him, "no one touches them, you hear me." Both of them were at point-blank range, impossible for one to miss the other.

N: "Well well, looks like someone else decided to join the party," the stranger grumbled, "at least you have the decency to bring a proper weapon to a fight rather than those annoying guns."

After a minute standoff, the stranger lowered her weapon, "Luckily for you, I'm not in the mood to spill any more blood, this land's been tainted already, no need to drown it."

Unfortunately for her, someone had other ideas, a loud bang sounded behind her and she howled in pain before falling to the ground, several holes appearing in her cloak.  The stranger staggered to her feet as several more Jacobites jumped out from their cover to circle the group.

With a pained growl, she grabbed her blade again and attacked, though her fighting was much sloppier now that she was more critically injured, this time she resorted to removing the jaw bone from her mask and letting lose a stream of green fire onto the humans closest to her.

M: "This is going to be fun," Wren laughed, elbowing a nearby Jacobite and taking their sword, before impaling them.

Anglo on the other hand shot one Jacobite before rushing towards Wales' side, also being taken aback by the fire-breathing stranger. "I need to get you out of here," he whispered to him, "kept it together and you will be fine." The younger country didn't respond, having passed out earlier, so the older country gently picked him up in his arms, "Wren, Royal, whoever you are, stop them."

"I thought you would never ask," the hybrid replied, so the Englishman nodded and took to the skies, dodging any balls that came at them. Once he was gone, the hybrid twirled the sword in her hand, unsheathing the knife she always carried with her from her belt, "come on," she jeered, "come at me."

—————

The gang only had four buck balls left, Wolfgang was injured in the arm by the Jacobites, so Erna took his place, while Johann continued to reload Heinrich's musket. "I think I found one," the female knight said, but as soon as she did, she recoiled back and fell into Wolfgang, a musket wound in her shoulder, "scheisse."

"It's fine," Heinrich spoke, "I got this," so he used up the rest of the ammunition, except one, each shot meeting its target. With one left, the four huddled together, not sure what to do now, as the one thing keeping them alive will soon be used up. "Alright," Heinz sighed, "here goes," and he was about to shoot if a Jacobite wasn't roughly pushed into a clearing, followed by four more injured Jacobites, some moving, other's not.

Saxon emerged from the treeline, sword in hand as he waved over to the group, but the Saxon noticed a swordsman approaching the entity from behind, so he used up his last ball to save him.

"Thank you," the entity called out, looking at the dead soldier, but when he looked up, his face fell and he shouted, "BEHIND YOU!" The four turned to see a large man wielding an axe, ready to chop off Wolfe's head. They scrambled away, but the enemy kept coming at them until it knocked down Heinrich, his arm raised to strike.

"NEIN," Erna cried as she saw the axe fall, but it never came as a shot echoed in the woods, and the next thing that happened was the axe-weirder falling to the ground, a hole right in the middle of his chest.

Erna and Wolfgang turned to see Johann aiming at where the man stood, his hands shaking as he stared wide-eyed with horror. He remembered that he never used his musket, and when he saw his friend about to die, he didn't think at all, only acted. He couldn't believe what he just did. He took the life of another for the first time.

However, musket shots rang further away from them, so Heinrich, Johann, and Saxon ran over to see what was happening.