M:   Neflen just hummed at that, still feeling defeated, though he did stand up and grabbed another blanket for Esha so she wouldn't get too cold.

"Please wake up Eshie," he pleaded, rubbing a thumb on her cheek, "you don't understand how much you mean to us, to me, I'd give you my own life so you could live, please just wake up."

N:   Celtica sighed; she didn't know how to help and wasn't sure if she could, so instead she left the room to continue with her work.

Once she did Maria turned to Askad, "Do you have a room where you can put Sofia here to bed? I'm fine right now, but my lap is not exactly the best place to take a nap."

M:   "Well, yes, but the doctors don't want her to leave for a few days," Askad explained, "I can take her though."

He carefully took Sofia out of Maria's arms and set her into his coils, carefully wrapping around her so she was nice and snug.

"If I ever become comfortable enough to let her out of my sight, I'll probably have you babysit her if that's alright with you."

N:   Maria's eyes light up as she nodded, "ja, that's fine with me."

Heinrich put a hand to his face as he shook his head, quietly chuckling at his mother's reaction. "Mutter," he muttered, "you will treat her like the daughter you never had."

"Of course," she smiled as she softly nudged him, "although I am happy that I didn't have another child. I don't want another Heinz running around; one of you is enough," which got another groan from the Saxon.

"Imagine if I had a sister," Johann wondered out loud, "that would be cool."

"What, to have another you in this world," Heinrich teased, "I think even Prometheus would say that's against nature. One hyper Johann is all the world could handle."

M:   "Add on the fact that his brothers were just as crazy if not more, I don't know how Mandoria and I didn't drop dead." Rowen laughed.

"I was previously mated with a gorgon Eternal, our kids kept trying to turn everyone to stone," Odrus chuckled, "believe me, Eternals had worse parenting problems."

N:   "I can only imagine," Maria laughed along then she turned to the two young men, "and you will learn too when you become parents."

"If Johann has the attention span to look after his," Heinrich jabbed, getting a punch from the Mandorian. Eventually, the Saxon yawned and muttered, "Let me have my beauty sleep now, so shoo."

Maria chuckled as she helped her son get into a comfortable position to sleep before kissing him on the forehead, making the son physically recoil. "Tired and not hungry," she smirked, "the perfect recipe to sleep. Gute nacht, Sohn (Good night, son)."

Heinrich rolled his eyes and replied, "Gute nacht, Mutter," before snuggling into his bed and falling asleep.

M:   Rowen smiled, he admired Maria so much, "alright buddy, you heard the man, time for bed Johann."

"That's a good idea," Odrus said, yawning, "another eventful day, another much-needed sleep."

With that, he snuggled under the bed covers and went to sleep, Askad grabbed a blanket and draped it over himself and Sofia, Neflen just grabbed a chair and a pillow and continued to watch Esha.

N:   "But I'm not even that tired," Johann countered, and soon after he stifled a yawn, "ok, maybe a bit tired," and with that, he followed Rowen to their room.

As the evening turned into night, more and more people went to bed until the castle was quiet, even the prisoners were asleep too. The only ones who were awake were Julian and Josef, as they stayed to watch over Prometheus. Vivian was there too as she counted down the last minutes she will be on the planet.

"Do you think you should have said goodbye to them," Josef enquired, turning to the Celestial for an answer.

"I don't know," she muttered quietly, "usually, us Celestials shouldn't make a large impact on the people of this planet, but we did. And I don't want to get too ... attached, especially with their short lifespan."

Josef hummed as he gazed at the sleeping Celestial while Julian wondered about something. "Do you think," he asked, "that he will wipe the memory of everyone here? He did it in the other courts he was in, but this time it feels different."

"I guess it's up to him," the woman replied, glancing down at the tips of her fingers which began to turn into small particulates, "tell him about what Cal did, and that he wants his sword back as a form of payment, and tell him to not feel bad about what he did, and that he will see me again at the next eclipse."

The two Reborns nodded as they watched the Celestial slowly disintegrate into a cloud of colored dust, which slowly made its way out of the cave and float up into the sky, back to where it came from, indicating to them that it was finally midnight.

"Let's just hope that he wakes up soon," the Austrian spoke, to which the other nodded, "they need his help." And with that, the two set up their temporary beds in the cave and took turns watching the Celestial while the other slept.

M:   The night was peaceful at first, a nurse was walking around the infirmary to make sure everyone was ok and bringing the animals fresh water, though when she went to check on Esha she gasped in shock. Esha was gone, and so was Neflen, they both just vanished without a trace, the nurse immediately rushed out to find them.

Neflen was sick of waiting, Esha was getting worse by the second and he doubted she would even last a few hours. As quietly as possible, he shifted into a gorilla so he was big enough to carry Esha himself, and rushed her to the caves to bring her to the healing chamber. He set her into the spring and broke off a few extra crystals to put in the water. Shifting back to his normal form, he made sure her head was above the water and gently stroked her cheek.

"Come on Esha, you got to wake up," he pleaded, "you can't give up now, you got to fight. I can't heal you, I'm not like you and Odrus, but I'm doing everything I can, please wake up."

N:  Josef was awake when he heard Neflen in one of the healing chambers, and not knowing it was him, he summoned a staff and turned it into a sword before trekking out to see.

Taking cautionary steps, he held his sword close as he kept his back on the wall, nearing the source of the sound, and when he suddenly turned around to face whatever it was, he was surprised to see Neflen there. "Why are you here," he questioned, dropping his sword and letting it merge and disappear into the ground, "shouldn't you be back in the infirmary?"

M:   Neflen glowered at Josef, "And let Esha die, not a chance, I don't care what that guy said, she's not going to make it another day, at least I'm trying to do something when everyone else is just sitting around and waiting on Prometheus."

Esha groaned quietly after he said that, Neflen got really excited because that was the first noise she made since she went down, "that's it Eshie, wake up, you can do it."

Despite his persistence, the draconic eternal made no other sounds or indications that she would wake, crushing Neflen's hope and causing him to cry.

N:   "You are just hurting yourself," Josef spoke as he came to sit next to him, "putting all this work is fruitless." He sat silently next to the Eternal not sure what to do so he just let the other let it all out.

"I don't know what the others have been telling you," he began after a while, "but let me be serious with you. If Calaestis says that she has three days, now a day and a half, left, then that's what she has left. He never said that she will stop dying, he was able to tell the exact time she will take her last breath. And the reason why people are waiting for Prometheus is because they know the truth. A Celestial attacked an Eternal, something that should have never happened because of the fatal results, and it's a miracle that she's still alive, and she needs another to be healed from Helios' solar flare."

He got himself comfortable before continuing, "There is something you should know about Caelestis and Prometheus. They are like opposites: one brings life and one takes life, one heals and the other hurts. Prometheus doesn't talk about it too much but Julian said that he heard a rumor that Mars used to be like Earth, with water and life, until when Earth was formed, Earth was chosen to have the ability to create life and therefore it was taken from Mars, as both couldn't have it. Now, because of the lack of life, Mars can see if an individual's days are numbered, and that's what he saw in your friend. Earth, with his power, has made the things that you can see all around you, even yourself, so he is the perfect person to help Esha."

The Austrian stood up and stretched his legs. "Enough said," he spoke with a commanding voice, "you better have left some sort of note before you left the infirmary because if your stupid arse didn't, someone will find that you are gone and would think that you were taken. Think about it, Jacobites could still be around and they find a sad Eternal and an unconscious one unprotected in an infirmary, easy targets, so after you are done soaking Esha or whatever, you better go and tell everyone that you are fine or take her back. Is that understood?"

M:   Neflen growled at Josef, "I don't take orders from Short Lives, I'm doing this to save my former mate and my best friend, so don't get all nasty with me because you don't understand what I'm going through!"

Because of Neflen's lack of sleep and desperation, he was unwilling to listen to reason even if he knew Josef was right.

"If you're so concerned about what the others will think then why don't you tell them yourself, because I don't give a fuck about what they want, all that matters to me is Esha, and there's nothing you can do to stop me from trying to save her life!"

N:   Josef just stared at Neflen, a sword slowly forming in his hand, before a smile spread across his face and he began to laugh, loudly and genuinely. "Oh mien Gott," he chuckled as he wiped a tear from his eye, "you think I don't understand how it feels." He got up right into his face, his eyes filled with anger, "Well guess what sunshine, you're not the only one who has felt what you felt."

He stood up straight and began to walk around, waving his sword around as he talked. "My Mutter and Vater were THE best parents I could ever ask for, and my sister Christina had my heart," he spoke, almost story-like, "when my Vater had to go and fight for the Austrian army, and when he did he got an infection in his arm from the pointless war and had his arm amputated, you probably know the feeling. And that wasn't even the worse bit.

Tell me," he stopped so that he faced Neflen, "do you know how it feels when the very countryhuman was supposed to protect you betrays his own people, resulting in the massacre of your friends and family, then go through a hell of a selection process only to become slaves of your worst enemy? Do you know how it feels that you thought you sacrificed yourself so that your sister doesn't suffer from the guilt of killing her brother, only to see her still suffering and trying to go against Prussia, and he has her beheaded and our parents drawn and quartered, while I can only watch from the sidelines? Do you know how it feels to see your best friends, ones you grew up with and the ones you should have protected, only to see them tortured and raped by their future master, and not being able to do anything? Do you?"

He didn't wait for a response as he walked up to the Eternal, placing the tip of his sword right under his chin as he lifted the other's head up so they looked into each other's eyes. He heard Julian call out to him, but he ignored it for the moment as he studied Neflen's face, seeing how tired he is.

"The last thing that I will do is to be pushed around by you Eternals and countryhumans as I have lost faith in you" he spoke, "so I will tell you again, go tell your friends where you are, because they care for both you and Esha, but if you don't, have a fun time explaining." He lowered his sword and began to walk away once Julian began to repeatedly call him, and he placed his sword on his shoulder. Just as was about to turn the corner, he stopped to add, "And I am ordering you as a Reborn, not whatever you call humans. We live as long as Prometheus does, so maybe one day I will be older than you," and with that, he was gone.

M:   Unfortunately, all Josef did was piss off Neflen more when he pointed his sword at the eternal, which is one of the most disrespectful ways of challenging someone in his culture.

"Oh ho ho, now you've done it," he roared, nearly making the crystals shake, "You dare challenge me, you think I'll just back down from something as disrespectful as that, well you're DEAD WRONG!!!"

He shifted into a lion and pounced on Josef, clamping down on his arm before dragging him out of the chamber and into the main cavern where there was more room.

He dropped the Reborn and unshifted, materializing a sword as he growled, "Alright then, ghost boy, let's have at it, you wanted a fight, now you got it!" He lunged for his opponent and tried to swipe at him.

N:   Josef seemed more fed up than actually wanting to fight, but he shrugged as he readied his sword and attacked, although one of his arms was out of commission from the bite. He was fast on his feet, nimble enough to just dodge Neflen's attacks, although he did get a nasty cut on his back.

He ignored Julian's calls to return as they fought, able to get a couple of good lands on the Eternal when eventually he was bored by the little duel they were having, so as the other was getting ready to charge at him, he raised his arms into the air and smiled. "You want me dead," he called out, "go ahead then, kill me."

M:   Neflen laughed at that, "Kill you, after the stunt you just pulled, you're a pathetic coward if you think I'm letting you off the hook like that! You challenged me, or are you too much of an idiot to even realize that!"

The Eternal threw his sword away, turned into an ox, and charged as hard as he could into Josef, sending him flying across the room, "No wonder you failed your family, you're too cowardly to fight back.  No, you're lower than a coward, you took the easy way out and left your family to fend for themselves when you could have done something, you're not a coward, you're a disgrace!!"

N:   When Josef slammed against the wall of the cave, a sickening crack echoed as he dropped back to the ground, his sword knocked out of his hand as he lay there on the floor. Blood began to pool around his head as he listened to what Neflen said, and slowly tears built up in his eyes but his smile greatly contrasted it.

"Maybe I am a disgrace," he spoke hoarsely, "but that is something I have to live with," he slightly turned his face to the Eternal, "But I only wished that you have experienced what it was like under Prussia." After he spoke, a single tear fell down his face as he went still, letting out his last breath.

Just as he did, Julian rushed in and his heart fell to see his friend dead on the floor, but he ignored it as he rushed to his side as he tried to pick him up. "I told you to stop," he grumbled, "and you didn't listen to me. Now Prometheus had-" but was interrupted as the whole cave shook, and he watched out as a few stalactites fell, and in the blink of an eye, Earth stood before the now humanoid Neflen, standing at seven feet tall in his Celestial form. He was clearly angry, and there were still remnants of Helios' burn on his neck.

"KNEEL," he commanded, his voice booming as he willed Neflen's body to kneel before him and made him face the ground, "HOW DARE YOU DISTURB ME AS I REST?"

He got down to one knee, his fire-like hair flickering as he lowered his head so that they were level. "How do you think I feel," he hissed, "when I get a sudden sensation of death washing over me as one of my Reborns dies, waking me up from my slumber, stopping my healing process so I have to intervene in this petty fight of yours. Well, I will tell you, Eternal," his completely white eye seemed to stare right into Neflen's soul, "it makes me angry, and I am in the mood to punish people."

He rapidly turned to face Julian, who flinched, and spoke in a softer tone, "Take him back to the chamber and make sure he is looked after until he comes back. Tell him that he is to not see his friends for one month for his actions." The Reborn wordlessly nodded as he lifted Josef up and carried him away.

"And as for you," Earth growled, levitating Neflen so that they were at eye level, "you will say EXACTLY what you said to Josef to the Saxons, and if you don't," the Celestial touched the Eternal's neck, and immediately the other began to feel the burning sensation Earth felt when the Sun attacked him, "you will feel what I felt until you do. It will start out small, but it will grow. And before you even ask, I cannot help Esha now, I am struggling to stay awake as it is, and this fight of yours has delayed when I will wake up. She will stay here and be cared for until you complete your task. I hope you're happy with yourself."

As soon as he finished, a hole formed underneath Neflen, and the Celestial dropped him in and closed it behind him, and a tunnel formed which the Eternal traveled through like a slide until he was spat out on the other side, right in the Royal Gardens.

M:   Neflen was frozen in shock, his mind couldn't comprehend what just happened for a minute or so, but when the situation finally hit him he curled up in child's pose and cried.

"What have I done, what have I done," he bawled, "I never wanted this to happen, I never wanted to kill anyone, why did things get this far?"

He raised his head and screamed at the top of his lungs, "I'm sorry! I never meant for things to go this way, I just didn't want to lose the person I love!"

After several minutes of crying his eyes out, he decided that he deserves more punishment than he got for killing Josef, so he shifted into a crow and flew away to let the incoming pain consume himself.

-----

Back in the healing chamber, Esha gasped and awoke with a start, she somehow, someway, sensed what happened to Neflen and it was enough to finally wake her up. She still looked half-dead, her skin was pale, her breathing shallow, and scariest of all, her scleras were starting to turn black, like the life was visibly being sucked out of them.

Feeling a sense of urgency, she attempted to crawl out of the pool and go find Neflen, except she only made it a few feet before going limp, gasping heavily from exhaustion.

N:   Prometheus, his form split with half Celestial and half human, his Partial Form, was slowly walking back from his conversation with Neflen, and when he saw Esha, he sighed and went towards her.

When he was close enough, he knelt next to her, and it hurt him to see her in such a state. "I will like to thank you, Esha," he spoke softly, "for what you did to me back in my room, for healing me. I know it is in your nature to help the people you care about, even if it hurts yourself." He did a quick look over, seeing how she had fared since they last saw each other, and when he hovered his hand over her back, she sensed magic that didn't belong on the planet, and he only sighed, knowing who it belonged to.

Standing up, he lifted up his hand, motioning Esha to lift off from the floor, and he carefully brought her back into the pool and lowered her in. "But today is not the day for you to be the hero," he pointed out, watching the Eternal sit in the water, "you need to rest, but don't worry. Since you came to help and heal me, I will do the same for you." When he had finished, he turned on his heels and walked away, but he was using all his energy to stay awake, and the moment he returned to the healing chamber, he closed his eyes and floated up, returning to his sleep.

———

Royal woke up with a start, Neflen's shout startling her as she looked around to find her lantern to light it, since it was still the middle of the night, and she went to her balcony. Just as she opened the door, she was taken aback by a crow that flew right past her, and she only watched it as it flew away, not knowing who the crow is.

"What the hell," she muttered as she rushed back in, seeing if anyone was awake.

M:   "N-Neflen," she gasped, beginning to lose consciousness, "w-why?"

Before she completely went under, she mustered what little energy she could and summoned her familiar; a blue and silver nine-tailed fox, and sent it to the castle to both find Neflen and explain what happened, since the animal could see and hear everything.

———

Mandoria was startled awake by the scream, it brought back terrible memories before he realized what was going on. He jumped out of bed, waking Rowen up in the process, and rushed out to see where it came from.

He bumped into Royal and asked, "Royal, did you hear that, it sounded like Neflen, is he ok, what happened?"

N:   "I don't know. I don't know," Royal repeated as she put her lantern down and paced back and forth, trying to clear her head, "I only heard a shout and when I went to check only to have a crow fly into my face-" She suddenly stopped in her tracks, something clicked in her mind, and she turned to Mandoria. "He turned into a crow," her eyes widened with realization, "and my stupid self thought it was some random bird. Argh, wake up Royal, wake up." She facepalmed as she continued with her train of thought, "ok, where did he go? He went ... he went west, maybe towards the woods."

"Esha's gone," called out a voice, and soon came Wales, running towards them, "as well as Neflen."

"What is wrong with these Eternals," the hybrid grumbled as she marched away, picking up her lantern, "Wales, make sure that everyone stays calm. Tell your father to have two search parties prepared, one for Esha and another for Neflen. I'm going after him while I still can."

"Which father do I ask?"

"The responsible one!"

"You haven't changed!"

"Does it look like I care!" With that, Royal was outside, and judging the general direction Neflen went, she took to the skies and went to search for him.

M:   As she flew away, Esha's fox was running to the castle and located Mandoria and Wales, startling them both until a heavenly voice echoed from within the very heart of the creature.

"Fear not, eternal ones, I am Artemis, Esha's loyal familiar, I was sent by her to inform you that she is unharmed within the ruins of the settlement," the fox said, its mouth not moving but her glowing white eyes flickered with each word, "she also wishes me to show you a dreadful predicament Neflen had brought upon himself."

Before the counties could protest or even speak, Artemis's eyes shone goldenly and they were visually shown what happened to Neflen and Josef. Once she was done, Artemis ran off to repeat her messages to the rest of Esha's friends, leaving Mandoria staring in confusion at Wales.

N:   Wales just stood there in shock, trying his best to process what just happened, and whenever he tried to speak, he couldn't bring himself to. Keeping his wings close to himself to warm himself up, since he was only wearing a thin top and trousers, he began to think about what to do next.

"So I guess we don't have to search for Esha then," he spoke quietly after a while, "but Neflen is still out there and he is only hurting himself if he stays there." He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and walked towards the host wing, "I need to call Father to get a small group of soldiers ready, but while he does I will help Royal out," he stopped to turn around, "you coming?"

M:   "Yeah ... yeah, I'm coming, just let me get dressed first," Mandoria said, still processing what happened, he then rushed back to his room to get dressed and tell Rowen and Johann what happened."

"Should someone go make sure Esha and Julian are ok," Rowen asked, "what if they got hurt too."

"They didn't, The fox showed us everything, and I'm guessing she's going to show everyone else as well," the country said, "besides, Neflen is out there and he's going to go through some serious pain if we don't find him, come on."

N:   While they were talking, Johann silently changed as he replayed what Mandoria told them about what Neflen said, and it struck a chord in him. Although it was directed at Josef, he began to apply it to himself and the feeling of guilt began to regrow, not wanting his fathers to be concerned about him but on finding Neflen, he tried his best to push it down for the time being.

The Mandorian snapped back to reality once Mandoria told them to go, so he wordlessly stood up and walked out, grabbing a lantern along the way. As they walked, they came across Wales, who was changed and carried a spare coat with him, which he explained was for Royal.

"Father is getting the group ready," the Welshman told them, "it took a while to wake him up and to explain everything, but he got the gist of it. So," he looked between each of the Mandorians, "if you're ready, let's go."

M:   "Hang on, we should go get Uskaine, he's the only other Eternal able to walk around freely and he knows Neflen better than any of us," Rowen reasoned.

"Way ahead of you," Uskaine called as he came over, "Esha's fox showed me what happened, I don't know what the hell he was thinking, but I know that he is punishing himself by not following Prometheus's orders, he's causing himself pain on purpose to pay for killing Josef."

"Maybe so, but we still have to find him," Mandoria said, "can't you use your window thing to find him?"

"I tried that first, he put a blocker on himself so I can't track him, we'll have to do it the old-fashioned way."

N:   "And I will join you," Wolfgang spoke as he walked over to them, mixed emotions written all over his face, "the more of us, the faster we find him."

Johann raised a brow and asked, "Do you know what happened?"

"Ja, and so does Erna but Heinrich was sleeping so he doesn't," the Saxon replied, "let's go get that arschloch (asshole) before he gets himself killed, then I will think about punching him either in the head or the stomach." The Mandorian shrugged, satisfied by the answer, and when everyone was ready, they set off west to find Neflen.

———

"NEFLEN," Royal yelled, scaring a few birds that were sleeping in the trees, "NEFLEN, WHERE ARE YOU?" The hybrid was shouting for the Eternal for the last ten minutes and could feel her throat growing sorer with each call, but she kept at it.

Eventually, she touched down in the middle of the woods, scanning her terrain but she knew it would be hard to pick out a black crow in the shadows, so she tried a different approach. She spread out her wings and closed her eyes, and she tried to pick out anything that sounded off while her wings sensed for any moment at all.

M:   Neflen had hidden near a small creek under a willow tree, resting his head on a root as he whimpered in pain. The burning sensation hadn't reached extreme levels yet, it was more like someone poured hot oil on his shoulder, but he ignored it and let it simmer.

"What have I done, Esha," he muttered, staring up at the stars, "why did trying to help you result in the death of a friend, what would you say if you saw that."

He winced as the pain grew slightly, but he knew he deserves it, so he just closed his eyes and waited until it would be too much to bear, even then he might not go back, because it wouldn't be enough to pay for his actions.

N:   Royal was able to just pick up Neflen's voice, so she folded up her wings and rushed over to him, dodging trees, and she almost missed him if it wasn't for him moving around in the grass.

"There you are," she sighed with relief as she went over to him, "we are worried about you and Esha. Where did she go?" When she saw that the Eternal didn't answer but just winced in pain, she frowned, "Are you alright? Were you hurt?" She quickly scanned him for any injuries, and although there were some cuts, she was confused as to why he was still in pain.

Wanting to know for some answers, she vibrated her wings, notifying anyone with wings nearby where she is, meanwhile she sat next to Neflen, trying her best to comfort him.

M:   Neflen growled slightly and nudged her away, "Save your care for someone who deserves it, this is my punishment and I'm going to endure it," he winced again, "Esha is fine, I took her to the healing chamber in our settlement. Prometheus's reborn, Josef, didn't appreciate that I was trying to help my friend and challenged me ... then he ... I ..."

He trailed away, he couldn't muster up the words, so he just continued, "I woke up Prometheus prematurely and he was furious about what I did, cursing me to be in pain until I told the Saxons what happened."

He moved his shirt collar to reveal a dark welt on his skin that was hot to the touch, and only seemed to get darker and hotter.

"That wasn't enough punishment for what I did to that poor boy, so here I will stay, paying for my crimes as I deserve."

N:   Royal's eyes widened at the sight of the welt, and when she heard the story she frowned at what he said. "I mean, Josef already cheated death, he can probably do it again, but right now you need to end whatever Prometheus did to you. And if you're not going to go to the Saxons, I'll have them brought here." Before Neflen could move, she held him down as she vibrated her wings, calling for Wales.

———

Wales was wandering with the group into the woods, they split into pairs and he decided to go with Uskaine while Mandoria and Rowen went one way and Wolfgang and Johann went the other. He was going to keep on when he felt Royal's wings, so he quickly told her that they were coming.

"Everyone," he called out since the pairs weren't too far away from each other, "Royal found him. Follow me."

M:   Neflen gave no resistance, "Whatever, if you bring a horse to water you can't always make them drink, even if they do come I won't speak until my punishment is paid."

He closed his eyes and sighed, "I just wanted to help a former mate and a current best friend, why did I let it go so far?"

N:   "I don't know," Royal replied sarcastically, "maybe because you were tired, or that you were desperate, or that you have barely eaten? You were at a tipping point, Neflen, but there is nothing to justify what you did. Take it as a lesson; this showed you that you reach out to the people around you, because you can't do all of this by yourself."

The Brit let him go, "We are going to take you back to the compound, whether you like it or not, and eventually you will speak to the Saxons. If you believe that you should be punished for longer, then so be it."

M:   "Yeah, well, you might as well drag me back," Neflen grumbled, "I'm not going back willfully, but I won't resist either, so do whatever you want, leave me to the scavengers for all I care, I deserve it anyway."

Then there was faint shouting in the distance, Neflen instantly recognized it as Mandoria's and huffed, "Figures, you winged folks always find each other, I should have known." He let out a loud yelp after that, grabbing onto his neck only to pull back with a burn mark on his hand.

N:   Soon the group found them, as well as Scotland's search party, and when Scotland saw Neflen's hand, he muttered, "So, you weren't joking about the whole curse thing."

"Wait," Royal asked, "how did you know?" Wales quickly summarised what happened with Esha's fox, telling her what they saw. After she heard this, she walked away from the group, and when Wales asked where she was going, she replied, "I am going to check if Josef is actually dead, and then Mr. I-Should-Be-Punished here will see whether he should continue his self punishing. After that, I am getting my much-deserved sleep." She silently thanked the Welshman when he handed her the coat and was off to the cave.

Wolfgang was quietly standing by, giving Neflen the death stare while he did until he got a friendly slap from Johann to knock it off. "We found him, didn't we," he grumbled, "so take him inside then."

M:   Neflen stared up at Wolfgang, understanding fully the look he was giving, so when Johann slapped him he sighed.

"No, he's right to see me this way," he muttered, he stood up only to kneel in front of the Saxon, "I have no excuse for my words or actions, it pains me for what I did but I know it's not enough. You may do to me as you wish, burn me, beat me, drown me, whatever punishment you see fit, I will not resist for I know I deserve it."

He closed his eyes in preparation, fully expecting Wolfgang to take out his anger on him.

N:   "You're taking this too far now, Neflen," Wales spoke up, but he was interrupted by Wolfgang who held up his hand.

"That is a nice offer," Wolfgang smirked, "I'll think about it, but I would like you to do something for me first." He got onto one knee and whispered to the Eternal, "Do what Prometheus said, tell me exactly what you told to Josef when you murdered him."

M:   Neflen stared into his eyes, it was physically painful to look at them, he sighed and hung his head again.

"No wonder you failed your family," he muttered, barely above a whisper, "you're too cowardly to fight back. No, you're lower than a coward, you took the easy way out and left your family to fend for themselves when you could have done something, you're not a coward, you're a disgrace."

That broke Neflen and he quietly wept, "I'm sorry, I never wanted it to go this far, I'm so sorry."

N:   "Let me give you a quick history lesson," Wolfgang growled, "in one of the tasks that we had to do in Saxony, we were paired up with someone at random and were told to kill them, and if we failed to, we both died. Somehow, by some twisted fate, Josef was paired up with his sister, who was only goddamn 14 at the time while he was 19. He was no coward, he had helped his father in wars before we ever became knights, but he knew that she couldn't kill him. If he did nothing, they would die, if he acted, she would die, so he did what he could to save his sister, he tricked the Prussians that his sister killed him but he actually killed himself."

The Saxon stood up, and since Neflen was still kneeling, he kicked him across the head and knocked him to the ground. "Every fucking family had to fend for themselves," he snapped, "because when it came to Prussia, one wrong step and your dead. We saw Josef as a martyr, one of the many people who lost their lives, and a hero for undermining the Prussian rule. We lost a friend, and I lost someone who was like an older brother to me, so if I EVER hear you call him a disgrace again, you're getting more than a boot to the face."

With that he stormed off, not wanting anything to do with Neflen, disappearing into the shadows. "I'll go check on him," Johann muttered, picking up his lantern, "make sure he doesn't get lost." Soon after, he was gone too.

M:   Neflen lay there unmoving, holding his face from the pain, both physically and mentally. Mandoria tried to help him up but he pushed the winged country away.

"Just leave me to die, it'll be better for everyone," he sighed.

"Neflen, that's enough," Uskaine said, "you're acting pathetically about all of this, yes, you did something unspeakable and there will be consequences, but man up damn it!"

Neflen didn't say anything so Uskaine just hoisted him up on his back and let him hang there like a bag of potatoes, "let's just get out of here."

N:   "Agreed," the rest agreed as they gradually made their way out of the woods, and as they returned back to the compound, Scotland dismissed the soldiers with him as well as going off to his room to sleep. Wales stayed awake as he followed Uskaine to the infirmary so that Neflen would be treated too, although they made sure that they didn't wake a certain Saxon up while they were there.

There were some nurses available so they took over from Uskaine and began to patch Neflen up, and while they did, Royal entered the room, not bothering to question the mark on the Eternal's face.

"I just checked with Julian," she spoke, "and he said that Josef will wake up in the next hour, so you may have killed him, but he's not dead, if that makes sense."

"No matter whether he will live or not," Wales said, "this shouldn't have happened, but maybe you may rest a bit easier. At least not in the woods."

M:   Neflen just hummed in acknowledgment, not adding anything or looking at anyone. Esha's fox was there after she was finished with her main objective, now she would start her secondary one; taking care of Neflen until Esha came back. She jumped onto the bed a nuzzled up to the eternal, fading into a more physical form so he could cuddle her.

Neflen hugged the fox tightly and buried his face in her fur, once again breaking into tears. The Mandorians didn't know what to do so they left to go wait for Johann, hoping that he and Wolfgang didn't get into a fight.

N:   On the contrary, the two young men didn't get into a fight, Johann only took the riled-up Saxon to Erna so she could calm him down, and once he had taken care of Wolfgang, he went back to his room. Wanting to be alone, he wrote a quick note to his parents just so they didn't panic, took a pillow and blanket, and went to the attic of one of the castle towers, which he was recently been using as a space to be by himself

As he climbed up the stairs to the trapdoor, he was thinking about what Neflen said again, and when he was prepping the sofa so that he could sleep for the remainder of the night, he just lied down and stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep. He wasn't able to sleep for a while, but soon his eyelids felt heavy, and he fell asleep.