N: Further away from home, in the neighboring continent of Asia, a Brit sat as he flipped through his letters, eating his breakfast of eggs, beans, and toast. He would have had bacon as well, but due to the local population, he chose not to, and eventually, he grew tired and stood up, walking over to the balcony overlooking the port of Bombay.

"Sir Wilfred," called a servant, knocking at his door, and when the blue country allowed him to enter, the British soldier came in with a letter in his hand. "This came in just now from British Empire, sir."

"Did it now," he asked, raising a brow, "well let me see what he has to say." He stretched out his hand and the soldier handed him the letter, and when he saw the date the letter was sent he tutted, "It better not be urgent, it's almost been a month since he sent it." Breaking the seal, he opened it up and began to read it carefully, and he was quite surprised by what he read.

"It can't be," the man muttered, and when the soldier asked what was the matter, he quickly answered, "Have supplies prepared for me, my horse, and Chester, at least a month's worth, and I am to leave this afternoon, hopefully before the rain comes."

"But sir," the soldier spoke, "don't you have a meeting with Sir India with regards to the trade?"

"Postpone it until I return," Wilfred spoke firmly, his lapis eyes staring at the soldier, "this is royal business and Sir India will understand." The soldier nodded and saluted the country, spinning on his heels and marching out the door, leaving the man in peace again.

Wilfred sighed, rereading the letter, and muttered, "I hope that they are alive too, Albion, and that Mandoria is safe." He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, and he brought his finger to his lips and whistled. As soon as he did, a greyhound bounded through the door and ran straight at him, causing the man to laugh.

"That's enough Chester," he laughed, pushing the dog away, and when he calmed down, he told the dog, "We're going on a long trip across Europe, alright buddy, you and I and Bullseye. How does that sound?" Chester barked happily, and so Wilfred rubbed his head and said, "Who's ready to find some Mandorians?"

———

"I'm not ready for this," BE groaned as laid face up on his bed, not being able to move his arms. He woke up quite suddenly for no reason, and Wales sat beside him, trying to convince him to sit up in bed.

"You need to sit up," the other said, "we need to check on your back to see if the bandages held, and you lying down isn't helping."

"Fine," BE replied through gritted teeth, and he glanced between his brother and the doctor, "help me up."

"Good," Wales nodded, and on the count of three he and the doctor lifted the empire up and sat him down properly while being accompanied by a yelp of pain from the patient. Only then did the doctor check his back, and when he gave them the thumbs up, Wales sighed that everything was alright.

M: Uskaine jumped at the sound of BE yelping, being half a horse means that he is a light sleeper and will jolt at loud sudden noises.  He turned over to where the Brits were and relaxed when everything seemed to be ok.

"Geeze, what a wake-up call," he remarked light-heartedly, "is everything alright over there?"

N: "Yep," BE wheezed, not really comfortable in his bed, so he added, "Actually, not really. Wales, could you move that pillow, it's stabbing into my back." The brother nodded and moved it aside, and BE felt useless that he couldn't do anything. His injured shoulders meant that he couldn't move his arms, so he couldn't use his hands to make things, something that he prides himself in.

He shook his head as he stopped himself from going down that path and said, "What about you, how are your legs?"

M: "Not great," he admitted, his expression turning sad, "they said they weren't sure if I would be able to walk again, the bones were broken for so long that they've become infected and might not heal correctly."

He pulled away the blanket he was given so they could see his legs, he had those metal fixations that stuck outside his legs as well as a thin cast, and his legs were resting on some pillows that had turned light brown from dried blood.

Uskaine rested his arms and head on one of Askad's coils and sighed, "Askad was used for his venom, I was used as a pack animal; pulling carts, carrying heavy loads, dragging large objects, it's nothing I wouldn't have done before the humans came, but they would push me beyond my limits and punish me when something was too heavy to carry or I wasn't pulling fast enough for them.  My legs were broken when I accidentally kicked their leader because he slapped my flank, I'm just grateful that they were being merciful with their punishment."

N: BE lowered his head, "I'm sorry that that happened to you. It was my responsibility to flush out the leader and to take down the Jacobites, but they just kept on coming back."

"You tried your best, brother," Wales assured BE, "you did all you could but the leader hardly leaves a trail."

"Except this time, he did," Anglo said as he walked into the room, coming in to check on his grandsons when he heard the tail end of the conversation, "one of the soldiers found a resin block, in it was a butterfly. Maybe that's a clue to who they are."

"Even if it is, we have no idea what it means," the empire stated, "it could literally mean anything."

M: "I wish I could help you figure it out but I don't know who he is," Uskaine sighed, "he didn't stick around very often and when he was there he would wear a mask or a hooded cloak to conceal his face."

"He hangs around a place called Northern Ireland though," Askad interrupted, having woken up a bit ago and was listening to the conversation, "I overheard some of the humans talking about that, and there was a rumor about someone called Scotland hiring them to overturn the English, I don't think that one is true since the person who said that was called a liar and ridiculous after, but it's something."

N: Wales and BE glanced at each other, both of them thinking the same thing. "Dad wouldn't-" BE began but Wales interrupted him.

"Esha going into stasis broke Dad," Wales told him, "and even if he did, I doubt that he would have wanted it to go this way."

"And if it is in Northern Ireland," BE continued, "then we should call over Ireland to ask what's happening there."

"But would he listen," the smaller country asked, his tail swished from side to side to reflect his uncertainty, "when he said that he wanted to stay in Ireland, he seemed like he was actually going to. You and Father didn't exactly treat him well."

"Well, he will when he hears what happened to Dad," the empire said, making Wales frown, "I don't care if he wants to stay there or not, we need to deal with this problem now." His features softened when he looked down at his hands and he sighed, "You should write the letter, Wales. He will know it's you and will come and besides, I cannot write right now."

"While you at that," Anglo said, "I'm going to check on England, to see where the hell he is." Both the winged countries left the infirmary, leaving BE to lean back slightly and deeply sighed, slowly taking in everything that happened.

M: The two watched the winged countries leave, then Askad shifted around Uskaine and went back to sleep.

"I'm sorry if we brought you distress," he apologized, "we never meant for things to escalate like this, we just wanted to stay hidden and rebuild our population, I'm sorry."

N: "No, it's fine really," BE spoke, "I'm used to it by now, this is just a bit more than usual." He turned to face him and said, "This has been a problem for the last hundred years, give or take, so the problem is not new," and he added quietly, "but it is on a whole different level."

When he was done, Saxon came into the room, making sure that everyone was alright, and he finally came to BE, "Albion, are you ok?"

"I'm fine," the empire nodded, and when the entity was going to leave he said, "One of the soldiers found a butterfly in the cave. Do you know what it means? Grandpa and Wales came up with nothing."

Saxon tensed up a bit but quickly relaxed, turning back to him and saying, "I'm in the dark as much as you are," and he walked towards the door, although he was holding the hilt of his sword a bit too tightly.

M: Uskaine noticed Saxon's change in behavior but decided not to comment on it, he didn't know him at all so he didn't know if that was a normal reaction or not.  With nothing else to do concerning the current topic, Uskaine randomly asked, "So how long have you known Esha, we thought she was dead as she ran away after her encounter with the Christians and we haven't heard from or seen her since."

N: "We just met her," BE answered, though he kept a mental reminder to ask Saxon later, "but she said that she met my grandma, Celtica, after she was attacked and was with her until she healed. If you saw the blue country next to her back in the cave, that was Scotland, my father, and he was a child when he met Esha too."

The empire shifted himself in his bed and continued, "But since then, we haven't seen her, and we didn't know that any more of you Eternals existed until she came along."

Anglo soon came back in, a smile on his face as he sat on a chair next to BE, "England and Scotland are calmly sleeping together, and it's been a while since fauntkin slept peacefully."

The winged country saw Uskaine and asked, "I know that it wasn't you who said this, but Askad said that he saw me in your empire days, but the last time I checked I was born on this side of the year 0."

M: Uskaine tilted his head slightly, studying Anglo to see what Askad could have seen, "hmm, he probably means you resemble someone who lived in it, not that you actually lived then, there's a difference.  You vaguely look like one of the grand kings that ruled but whether there is a connection or coincidence I don't know.  It was so long ago anyway I'm surprised we remember anything at all."

He again went quiet but he sat up straight and said, "Now I have a question, back at the settlement we have heard rumors of an eternal who not only lived alongside humans but became the king of all winged eternals, is that true?"

N: "Yup," Anglo nodded, "and he's in this very castle at the moment, although he insists that we do not refer to him as a king."

He sat back in the chair and crossed his arms, "now we have to answer to Prussia since he took over the title of King Wing. I could just ignore him for the time being, but when push comes to shove I would have to be by his side."

"We'll make it so that doesn't happen, Grandpa," BE spoke, "but we need to deal with one threat at a time, otherwise we will be overwhelmed." He looked at the door and frowned, "Bring Grandfather here, he needs to talk."

Anglo looked at BE and seeing his face he nodded and went to find the entity, and at the same time, he called for a few soldiers to guard the door, just in case.

M: Uskaine looked worried that there were people guarding the door, he was going to ask about it but a doctor came then to give him and Askad some medications and check their wounds.  After the Naga was awoken they allowed her to check over them, and when she was done Askad decided to go check on Esha, but when he saw the door was being guarded he grew concerned.

"Is it a bad time to go check on Esha," he asked BE.

N: "Now is a good time," BE nodded, "we just have them if the conversation I am going to have doesn't go well but nothing is stopping you. Most of the time they are not needed, but it is just a precaution."

———

Anglo searched for the entity, and since he didn't have wings he had to look into every room to find him. After a while, the country decided to go and search for him in the Royal Mews, and was surprised to see Saxon talking with Arthur, so he walked towards them, hearing the tail end of the conversation.

"I swore not to tell, Lord Saxon," Arthur muttered.

"Well that bastard better report now," the entity snapped.

"Who are you referring to," Anglo asked, interrupting the men, and when he did, Arthur looked to the entity to see what he will say. Saxon only looked at Anglo, not revealing anything to him.

"It is none of your business."

"It is my business," the winged country corrected him, "but I am not one to ask. BE called you back to the infirmary."

"Fine," the entity shrugged, walking past the entity and marching towards the infirmary, "he can ask all he wants." Anglo sighed and followed after him, making sure that he actually goes to the right place.

M: "Um," Askad said, now he felt unsure he should leave his mate and the others where they could be vulnerable, "on second thought I think I will stay here."

"It's ok Askad, you can check on her, we'll be fine," Uskaine reassured him

"Uskaine I am not leaving you when you could be in danger," he retorted, "if a simple conversation could warrant the intervention of two armed guards then there is no way in the five realms of jastrem that I am leaving you alone in your vulnerable state."

He looked up to BE, "I would say no offense, but I'm not putting the last surviving members of my clan in the hands of a bunch of strangers."

N: "Neither would I," BE shrugged as he slowly got to his feet and wobbled around to the foot of his bed, "now we just wait."

"Wait for what," Royal grumbled as she started to stir from her sleep. BE briefly explained his suspicion of Saxon and she hummed, "figures."

After a couple of minutes, Saxon reached the door where the guards were, and before he entered they asked for his sword. Holding onto its hilt, he initially resisted, but afterward gave in so he handed over the sword with its sheath. Soon after, both he and Anglo walked in with the guards keeping an eye on the entity, and soon Saxon stood in front of the empire, Anglo sitting beside Royal.

"Saxon," BE begun, "I called you to enquire about the leader of the Jacobites." He leaned against his bed as he found it a bit tiring to stand and continued, "What comes to mind when I tell you that we found a butterfly?"

"Nothing," Saxon spoke, "I don't know-"

"He's lying," Royal interrupted, "your heart skipped a beat when he asked. You're hiding something."

Saxon grumbled before continuing, "I will not say anything about the identity of the leader," seeing there was no point in lying.

"So you do know," the empire asked.

"I will not say anything," he answered, but he paused and soon rephrased, "I cannot say anything."

"So they are an insurgent."

"I cannot say anything."

"Well," BE said, a hint of annoyance in his voice, "I will tell you as the king of this kingdom that you will tell me who is the leader of the Jacobites."

"You forget who I am," Saxon smirked as he walked up to the empire, causing the soldiers to rush towards their king, but he stopped them for the moment, "I am the head of insurgents, I disregard kings and queens alike. The fact that you have a title is nothing to me, so you cannot use that against me." The entity towered over the empire, but BE stood his ground.

"If so," he said, "then as your grandson, may I know the identity of the leader for his followers has hurt my family, our family?"

Saxon hesitated a bit but shook his head, "I cannot."

"So what would it take for you to?"

"You would have to force it out of me."

Anglo blinked when he heard the words come out of Saxon's mouth, not believing that he was serious, but when the pair of them didn't respond, the entity repeated to let the messages sink in.

M: This was a big mistake, Askad felt something snap in his mind, his eyes glowing with rage and hatred that Saxon wouldn't give up the person who slaughtered his clan and put his mate and friends through hell.

He slithered up to Saxon and said, "with pleasure," then transformed to his snake form and coiled around the entity, tightly squeezing him until it was an effort to breathe let alone move.

"That sssson of a bitch sssslaughtered my colony, 50 men, women, and children were killed without merccccy.  I watched assss they were executed, I heard their sssscreamssss of agony and their criessss for help.  You will tell ussss who the monsssster who killed my people, my family, my 2-year-old daughter, or so help me you will never ssssee another day!"

"Askad, stop," Uskaine shouted, "stop it, you're going to kill him before he can say anything."

Askad wouldn't listen, not that he could hear him over the sound of his tail rattling, he still kept squeezing, "sssso are you going to talk, or can you withstand 30,000 poundssss of pressssure on your rib cage!"

N: Saxon jumped when he saw a huge rattlesnake slither up to him, and he struggled to stay conscious the tighter Askad tightened his grip. The longer he squeezed, he felt at least one rib snap under the pressure, and yet he wheezed, "I will not say-" before passing out from the lack of oxygen.

"Let him go," Anglo yelled, rushing over to the Eternal and trying to pull him away, although he couldn't possibly stop him, he tried, "You're going to kill him, please stop." He watched in horror as Saxon went limp, his breathing growing shorter by the second.

Seconds later, Wales came through the door, and said, "I finished writing up the letter and sent it to Ire-", but he abruptly stopped when he saw what Askad was doing to Saxon and whimpered, "What is happening?"

"Askad, stop immediately," BE ordered, worried for Wales, "my men will take Saxon away and deal with him, but he's only useful if he's alive, SO STOP!"

M: Askad still wouldn't listen, he wanted Saxon to suffer, he wanted him dead.

Uskaine had to do something, someone was going to die if he just sat there, so thinking quickly he spoke a spell and stuck a hand towards the giant serpent, who convoluted and seized like he was being electrocuted.  He involuntarily loosened his coils and let Saxon drop, doing the same seconds later.

"Askad, killing people will not bring back Sofia," Uskaine shouted, "and killing the only person who knows who killed her and everyone else will not bring them justice either!"

Askad didn't say anything, he just started crying, "I just want my daughter back," he sobbed, then slithered right out of the room and out of sight.

N: Wales watched as Askad left the room while Anglo knelt next to Saxon, checking if the entity is still alive. He sighed in relief when he figured out he was, but he soon stood up and took a step away from the lying entity, turning around, and giving a nod to BE. The empire nodded back and said, "Guards, take Saxon to the dungeon, and see to any injury he sustained," so the two soldiers went over, picked up the entity, and dragged him out of the room.

After a few moments, Royal interrupted the silence and said, "Well that happened. Who's going to go and check on Askad?"

M: "I would but I can't exactly move right now," Uskaine said, "even then I doubt he would listen to me right now, he's probably going back to the settlement."

He looked away from the others, "None of you understand what he went through, the humans took his child right out of his hands and he couldn't do anything to fight back, they made him watch the whole time, he didn't tell me the details, he only said that it was the slowest torture he has ever seen someone go through, and Sophia was only two."

Uskaine started tearing up too, "Sophia wasn't mine but I still saw her as a daughter, it shattered us both, Askad of course, never got over it."

"I don't think anyone could," a voice suddenly said, Rowen and Johann had come to help the injured people and they heard what happened.  "Johann and I should go, we understand this better than anyone."

N: Johann nodded in agreement but he said nothing, in shock from what the people in the colony went through.

"If he's going back to the settlement," BE said, "and you're going, you need protection. It's not safe for you to go on your own."

"Who are you suggesting to go," Royal asked, "the soldiers? Remember that it was the humans who did this to him, so sending them would only be a reminder."

M: "True, but two humans are going to try to comfort him," Rowen pointed out, "it's kind of a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation.  The only other countryhumans around are Mandoria, Scotland, and England.  Mandoria isn't allowed out of bed for too long, let alone out of the castle, and hearing about what happened I doubt Scotland is able to, and England wouldn't want to leave his side, so unless Anglo or Wales wants to come I don't know."

N: Anglo shook his head, "I'm probably the worst person to go. I'll be biased towards Saxon and I haven't experienced something anywhere close to what Askad has."

"Although the same thing applies to me," Wales spoke, "I will still come as emotional support. I don't know what I will do, but I will do anything that could help him." He turned to Royal and said, "As Rowen said, they are going to Askad anyway and they are humans, so the soldiers can come."

Royal huffed in indignation but said nothing, so BE took it as a green light to allow the soldiers to go with them, so he asked Anglo to call for a group of soldiers to accompany them, and he said, "Make sure you're safe."

M: "At this rate, it's a little hard to promise that," Rowen joked ruefully, "we'll try, I don't know what else I can say about that."

After a minute to make sure they were going to be ok and talking with Uskaine on how best to approach Askad, they saddled up and headed to the cave.  Once there, Rowen had most of the soldiers stand guard at the entrance so Askad wouldn't be intimidated, only letting two come in case things went haywire.

"He said 50 people lived down here," Rowen stated, "if that's the case then this cave system must be bigger than BE's compound, where do we even start to look for him?"

Meanwhile, a little deeper in the cave, a snake track led into one of the house-like dwellings, slithering through the ransacked building until it stopped in a room.  Askad was in there, wrapped around a broken crib and hugging a small plush hippogriff, his tears soaking into the stone ground.

"I should have protected you better," he sobbed, "I should have fought back, why did this have to happen to you, it should have been me ... i-it sh-should ... have been ... m-me."

N: "He's this way," Wales announced, being able to detect the naga from his sobbing. He led the pair and the soldiers in the direction he guessed Askad took, and eventually, his guess was correct when the snake track appeared, so they continued to follow it.

When they approached the dwellings, they slowed down until they were right outside the door, and Johann took a peek to see him and was heartbroken. "Hezyka," he muttered, "I think you're the best person right now."

M: Rowen looked into the room too, upset by what he saw, "you're right," he whispered back, "my child wasn't born yet when it happened but I think I can relate to this a little more, you guys stay out here and I'll call you in-"

"Don't bother," Askad said, not looking up at them, "I'm a reptile, I could sense you, now please just go away, your kind is not welcome here."

"Sir, we just want to help," Rowen tried to explain.

"You've done enough," the Naga spat, "my daughter is gone because of you, I don't need your help, you'll only do more harm, just like you always have."

N: "Did you not say that the leader was like us," Wales asked, "a countryhuman? Yet he was the one who hurt you. You gave him kindness and he repaid with violence and death."

The winged country stepped into view and continued, "And weren't you taken care of by human doctors, who despite you are different species who have been pitted against each other, have helped you heal." He sighed and added, "My point is that you cannot assume that humans are all destruction the same way that not all of our kind are good, so please give these humans a chance and hear them out."

M: "And risk what happened to Esha, over my dead fucking body," Askad barked, rising up to the ceiling, "I am not a fool whelp, humans can not be trusted, I don't care about your brainwashed ideologies, the humans are only using you for what you're worth, once you've paid your toll they will simply dispose of you, that's all they ever don-"

He stopped, he was so focused on Wales that he didn't notice Rowen approach him until there was a gentle hand placed on his scales.

"You're not the only one who has gone through this," he said, staring at the ground, "I'm in the same boat as you, a broken man who had his family taken away from him.  I've done what you're doing, letting my grief turn to rage, blaming the deaths on those who want to help me through it, not wanting to trust anyone, I've done it all and more.  I only just recently learned that my wife and unborn child's deaths were not accidental, that a random man with malicious intent set fire to our house to kill us all, but I don't let that stop me from trusting others."

He looked up to Askad, "There is nothing in this world that we can do to right the wrongs our species did to you and your family, but the least we can do is help you heal those wounds, but only if you'll let us."

Askad was silent, taking in what was said, eventually lowering himself to his usual height and resting his head on Rowen's shoulder, softly crying exhausted tears, with Rowen providing a reassuring voice and a gentle touch.

N: When he saw Askad was calm, Wales slowly approached him and gently hugged him, wrapping his wings as best as possible around him.

Johann looked around and saw the hippogriff plushie on the ground so he went over and picked it up, smiling softly at how adorable it is. Walking back over to the huddle, he held out the plush to Askad, "Here, have this."

M: Askad turned slightly to Johann, silently taking the plush and squeezing it in his arms like if he let go it would disappear.  Rowen let him take his time, he was vulnerable so needed a moment to stabilize before they tried to take him back.

"Are you ok," he asked after a few minutes, when Askad nodded, he said, "Let's get you back, it's still not safe here and I'm sure your mate is getting worried."

Askad nodded again but wanted to take a moment to gather a few things since they might not be coming back for a while.  He found a large bag and packed whatever could fit in it, mostly clothes, a few personal items, the plush, and a small baby blanket that still had a few drops of blood on it, it was his blood but it still hurt looking at it, he took it anyway.

Everyone was waiting outside when he was done, he closed the wooden door and didn't move for a moment, just resting his head on it as he made his last goodbyes to a life that was never coming back.  Eventually, he parted with the door and slid to the others, not looking at anyone but signaling that he was ready to leave.