M: Prudoria was quiet, thinking about what Anglo said and trying to comprehend that two people could be equal, and neither is higher than the other.

"I'm so confused," he muttered, "I've never seen people treat each other equally before I came here, everyone back home had a master or was one of the masters, with Prussia being the top master.  I don't understand how people here can see each other as the same, though I guess BE is the top master."

"Not necessarily, no," Odrus corrected, "yes he is the one in charge but that doesn't mean he's anyone's master, in fact, there are plenty of people here who know how to pick on him for fun.  The point is that not everyone is going to be like Prussia, nor is everyone going to act like he told you they would.  You need to try to have an open mind now, kid, try to leave the past behind and start fresh, ok."

Prudoria hummed at that, feeling a bit embarrassed that he was so confused about everything, "I'm sorry I asked that, it's just hard to understand your way of life, it's all so different and complicated."

N: "Everyone has a different way of life," Anglo explained, "but the way that Prussia taught you, it's not healthy at all." He sighed before getting up from his seat, "it seems like there are going to be a lot of things that you need to learn."

The country then walked up to the other, kneeling next to his bed, "Firstly, when it comes to taking care of your wings, you need to pluck out the damaged feathers so new ones can grow in their place. Also, try to keep the feathers pointing in the same direction, smoothing them out like this." He gently ran his hand over the Prussian's wings, carefully aligning them until a section looked smooth. "You would want the air to glide smoothly over your wings, not trying to weave through like a maze, wouldn't you," the Brit lightly chuckled.

M: Prudoria flinched when Anglo touched his wings, he's only ever had Prussia touch his wings and he wasn't always gentle.  However, Anglo was very gentle with his wings, like his hands were the softest things on the planet, it was a strange feeling but a welcomed one.

"Yeah, I guess so," the Prussian muttered, "You're very gentle, Prussia was sometimes but not like you, it feels a little weird."

When Anglo plucked a feather from his wings he winced, being relatively young despite his appearance meant that he was a bit sensitive, his outward appearance may have been early thirties, but his body was still four.

"Ouch, that hurts," he whined, pulling his wing away from Anglo, "is it supposed to do that, I never had my feathers plucked, they would just fall off every year, Prussia called it molting, is it supposed to hurt to have them plucked?"

N: "Well, plucking is pulling a part of you off you, so it would hurt," Anglo answered, "and yes, molting occurs, but for now it is best to remove the feathers with literally none of it left, the rest will fall off in its own time, but at least you have some of your feathers back."

He was going to continue when the door opened, revealing Wales, who greeted everyone before saying, "Grandpa, we need you to confirm something."

Anglo nodded, "I will come in a moment." He turned to Prudoria and smiled, "Take care of yourself, and don't let Prussia dictate you anymore." With that he walked away, making a final check on Saxon before leaving with Wales.

M: Prudoria didn't really want Anglo to leave, he felt safe and wanted around him, but when Mandoria came in a little after he felt much better, it was him and Anglo that he truly trusted, two winged countries he could look to for safety and guidance.

———

Elsewhere in the castle, Sofia had taken an interest in following Castile around, not for any particular reason, he was just her next victim to play around with.  She especially liked the short cape he was wearing, constantly jumping up to play with it like a cat, much to the dismay of its wearer.

N: "Will you stop that," Castile groaned, even trying to put the rest of his cap on his shoulders, but Sofia would somehow still be able to pull it back down. "Well, if you're going to annoy me," he muttered, "you might as well follow me."

The Spaniard walked around, not really thinking about where he was going, until he reached a corridor that seemed to be closed off, and curious by this, he headed straight to it.

The corridor was dimly lit, and along its walls were portraits, portraying the British. The first one was flipped around, and on it was a note which read 'he does not deserve it'. Curious by who it was, Castile took a peek at the portrait, and realizing that it was a certain entity who wasn't Saxon, he looked away. "I agree," he muttered as he moved on.

The following portraits contained countryhumans who he didn't recognize, but guessing from their attire, he assumed they were the fathers and mothers of the current first generation of Brits, and as he walked along, he began to recognize faces, with Celtica, Anglo, and Scotland. There was another that was beside Celtica that he didn't recognize, but he gave little notice.

It seemed that the portraits were arranged from the oldest to youngest generations, so England and Scotland soon followed, then his sons; however there was a gap between BE and Wales, and the Spaniard could guess who used to be there. Lastly, the last portrait was flipped over like the first, and confused by this, the country lifted off the portrait and turned it around.

It was a family portrait, containing BE and FE, with the Frenchwoman holding the young Canada in her arms while America stood in front of the Brit. It was clear that it was an old painting as the family seemed happier, not affected by their current situation.

Castile turned to Sofia, "This is BE's family and these two," pointing at Canada and America, "are his sons. You're going to meet them soon. Don't they look happy?"

M: Sofia tilted her head at the portrait, seemingly confused by the people in it.

"Uncle BE doesn't like to talk about his other family," she declared, "it makes him sad, he misses them a lot but pretends that he doesn't."

She reared up to see it a bit better, "I don't get why his family left him, he cries about them at night, he wants them all to be here with him but says that it's his fault they're not, I don't understand why."

N: "You're an observant young girl," Castile muttered, closely examining each of the countries' expressions, "a while ago, they seemed to suddenly change in a night, something happened and they were never the same, and they never spoke of it. Even my brother doesn't know what happened, and he is close to BE. I understand you as I don't understand either."

"What are you doing here," a voice spoke, and when the Spaniard looked up, he saw BE's silhouette at the end of the corridor, and he only silently watched as the empire approached. The Brit looked at the portrait, and hesitated for a moment before glaring at Castile. "Why do you have that," he growled.

"We just wandered over here," Castile answered calmly, hanging the portrait back on the wall, the painting facing the wall, "and I just wanted Sofia here to see your sons-"

"Out," the empire interpreted, surprising the other, "the both of you are not supposed to be here. That is why it is closed off."

"There was a bit of an opening-"

"I said OUT," BE snapped, his eyes filled with anger, "you have no right to be here, as a matter of fact, you shouldn't even be here this early, and I could easily charge you for trespassing and have you thrown into prison." He walked up to the other so that they were facing off, and whispered, his authoritative tone mixed in with his anger, "If you continue to defy my word, you might as well join with your fellow Spanish knights, always failing against me, buried away at sea. Don't fucking enter places you're not supposed to."

Castile momentarily stared BE off, but after a while, he sighed, "Fine. Let's go, Sofia."

M: Sofia was frozen, she had never seen BE that angry before, it scared her a lot, but at the same time it caused her to hug him tightly.

"Don't be angry, we were just looking," she said, "we know your sad about your family, and that makes you do mean things to people, but you've still got us, we're your family too, Uncle BE, so don't be angry, we love you and we won't leave, promise."

N: BE froze when Sofia hugged, and after a moment, he asked, "Sofia, let me go."

"She is only trying to help," Castile reasoned, causing the Brit to face him, "and if there is any of us that could help, just say-"

"I don't need anyone's help," BE spoke, narrowing his eyes, and soon he pried himself out of Sofia's embrace, "You don't understand anything, either of you, so I ask you again for the both of you to leave this instance before I do something I will regret. Besides, even the people who love you can leave you."

"That is not true," the Spaniard countered, "if someone truly loved you then they will never leave."

"If so, then it must have been a sad incident when your brother died because of a simple family bickering-" The Brit was cut off when the other landed a solid punch right in the jaw, but the empire couldn't help but smirk, knowing that he hit a nerve.

"Don't you dare speak of Iberia," Castile hissed, rubbing his knuckles from the punch.

"Why," BE cooed, "because you, deep down, blame yourself for his death." When he didn't get a response from the other, his expression turned serious once more, "Now, think again about what you said, the only person you could trust is yourself, and at the end of the day everyone leaves. Now that you have learned your lesson, Castile, take Sofia and leave immediately."

The Spaniard wordlessly marched away, not wanting to talk to the Brit, while BE looked expectantly at Sofia, waiting for her to leave.

M: Sofia was angry with BE now, "You big meanie, we want to help you, you're my uncle but you're a meanie.  Auntie Esha said that you could end up like her friend's brother, maybe you should so you're not so mean!"

In a swift movement, Sofia pounced onto BE and bit his leg hard, injecting her venom into his calf before she was accidentally thrown off, smacking into the wall.

Although dazed, she stood up and hissed at BE, "You're a bad person, no wonder everyone leaves you!"

She ran away after that, she was going to tattle on him with Anglo and Celtica, since they acted more like parents in her eyes.

N: BE just watched as Sofia disappeared, and when she was out of sight, he just turned to face his own portrait, a painting of him donning his full royal attire with the orb and scepter in his hands. He chuckled at it, letting out a low groan as he rubbed his temples, "You messed up again, Albion."

Glancing at his calf, he contemplated going to the infirmary, but he shrugged it off. He was aware that something entered him, but he wasn't sure of what it was, only seeing it as a bite mark, so he limped away towards his office, ordering the servants to make sure no one entered.

Once he entered his room, he limped over to his desk, and situated off to the side was his pipe, already prepped, so he got a splint and set one end of it alight from the fireplace and lit his pipe. After puffing on the pipe until there was a good glow, the empire let out a deep sigh as he leaned against his desk, closing his eyes while the cloud of smoke floated out of the window.

———

Meanwhile, Anglo and Celtica were in a room, working on the speech for the ball, with the latter trying to convince the former to do it.

"But I have done it every year," Anglo explained, "I think Albion should do it, at least once."

"Not having it," Celtica shook her head, getting a light chuckle from the other.

M: Sofia ran around to find the two countries, accidentally tripping up a servant when she ran underneath him.  When she did find them Neflen was there for whatever reason, he noticed that Sofia had a bit of a limp so stopped her to ask what happened.

"Uncle BE is a meanie," she cried, then went about explaining what happened, though left out the part of her biting him because she didn't want to get in trouble.

N: Anglo and Celtica glanced at each other, the former seemed to look more sympathetic while the latter was annoyed. "He shouldn't have hurt her like that," Celtica grumbled, "she is a guest in his home and he treats kindness with violence? Shame on him."

"You know the issue with his family is ... difficult," Anglo reasoned.

"What, because Canada tripped and fell down a flight of stairs," the Celt frowned, "unless there is more to it, he cannot justify his actions."

"Please, Celtica," the Englishman begged, "drop the matter."

The Celt rolled her eyes before asking, "Are you alright, Sofia? Does anything hurt?"

M: "My leg hurts just a little bit," Sofia admitted, rolling her left hind leg, "I think I landed on it funny."

"Don't worry sweetie, we can fix that up quick," Neflen reassured her, kneeling next to her, "I do find it weird that BE would shove you away for no reason, he's never done that before, is there something you're not telling us?"

Sofia shook her head, but she wouldn't look him in the eye so he didn't really believe her.  Either way, he picked her up into his arms and turned to the others, "I think someone should check on BE, just in case someone isn't telling us the full truth.  But on that note, do you guys know what she means by saying that BE could end up like someone's brother, which I'm guessing she means PE."

N: "Castile," Celtica asked, "what does he have to do with this?" She looked over to Anglo, and when she saw that he was shaking his head, she let out a small 'oh'.

"I think who Esha was referring to was PE's late brother, Iberia, although others may know him as Iberian Union," Anglo explained, his tone somber, "he, as a union, represented the whole of the Iberian peninsula; however, a war occurred between the Iberian family, causing them to completely split apart. Since he was a union, he was only alive because of the unity between the family, but when that unity broke, he died."

"And it is not an ordinary death either," Celtica continued, "the Iberians never told us what happened, and it is best that they don't. BE is also a union between his fathers and his brother Wales, so he would also be at risk if they broke apart too."

"So, to summarise," the Englishman concluded, "since both Iberia and BE are unions, and Sofia said that she wanted BE to end up like Iberia, she had inadvertently wished that he should die."

"But she never meant that, didn't you Sofia," the Celt interrupted, giving Anglo a pointed look as she approached the pair, "now, let's take you to the infirmary. Anglo, why don't you check up on Albion, huh?" The winged country nodded, resting the papers on a nearby table before walking off to the empire's office.

M: Neflen let out a small "oof" at what was said and made a mental note to talk to Sofia's parents about this later.

"She has a point, Esha I mean," he said to Celtica, "with all the family feuding that goes on with you guys, no wonder she and PE are worried.  We didn't have anything like this back in the empire, but there was a rather unfortunate tradition within the Minotaur subspecies, that if a family member did something so incredibly horrible that it divided the family, the person would then be divided themselves, if you know what I mean."

He looked down at Sofia and noticed that she fell asleep, which confused him a bit, "geeze, I hope she didn't hit her head, I don't get how that could make her tired when she's just a ball of energy."

N: "She must have drained herself," Celtica replied nonchalantly as they walked over to the infirmary, and when they entered, they saw that Castile had returned to his brother. The both of them looked over to them, and before they could say anything, Celtica raised her hand.

"We know what happened," she spoke, "and we're going to call BE over to apologize for what he said."

"Good," Castile huffed, arms crossed as he watched them lay Sofia on a bed, "that man needs to know when to keep his mouth shut."

———

Meanwhile, Anglo had reached BE's office, however, he was told not to enter, so he knocked on the door.

"I'm busy," BE called out.

"I'm just here to check on you," the winged country called back.

"I'm swell, now leave me alone, Grandpa."

Anglo sighed before walking away, although he kept a mental note to check on him soon.

M: "Is there any point in time where BE has not needed to apologize for so something," Mandoria sighed, still showing Prudoria how to groom his wings, "that man has a mouth that could get him killed, or the very least punched."

"He did, actually," Neflen said, "Castile gave him a good one according to Sofia.  I give you props too, sir, anyone who has the guts to put that guy in his place has some balls of steel."

"He has a point," Odrus agreed.

N: "He crossed a line and he knew it," Castile replied, "and he knew that if he continued I would only hurt him more. No one speaks about Iberia, especially him-"

"And you," PE frowned, interrupting his brother, "none of us have a right to speak his name, but your side of the family especially doesn't, especially your wife."

The pair fell quiet, followed by an awkward silence between them.

M: "Fighting, fighting, fighting, that's all everyone does here," Prudoria groaned, "for the love of god make it stop."

"I'm afraid that isn't going to happen, we've tried it already," Mandoria sighed, "you just have to learn to ignore it."

"Or to just slap everyone upside the head when they start acting stupid," Neflen chuckled, "the women here especially know how to do that because they're the only sane people in this building, right Celtica."

N: "I think that goes down to how long I've been around," Celtica spoke, "and that I don't give a damn about their bickering. Also, brave to assume that Wren doesn't cause trouble herself." She turned and narrowed her eyes at Saxon, who was just sitting up and watching everything unfold, "And I wonder why."

"What," the entity replied in mock shock, "I just gave her the tools, she's the one who is responsible for her actions."

"Sure," the Celt muttered, not convinced at all, "but anyways, generally yes, we're the only ones who are keeping things going." When she saw that Saxon was about to speak she added, "And I'm pretty sure that the tension between you and your son is already tiring Anglo out."

"And you would be correct on that account," Anglo said as he entered the room, "and I thank you for the support." When he was asked about BE, he shrugged, "he insisted for me to leave him alone, so I did but I will check on him again. His door was closed so I couldn't enter, but I could definitely smell the tobacco from his office."

"I swear, the unhealthy habits he picks up," Celtica sighed as she shook her head.

M: "Oh come now, you didn't smoke at all in your life," Mandoria chuckled, "Even I've smoked once in a while, you can't be immune from bad habits when you get to be our ages."

"Or our ages," Odrus commented, "seriously, I can not express enough that you guys are literally children to us, Mandoria may be the oldest one of you at 300,000 years old, but for someone like me, an 270 million year old eternal, he hasn't even reached toddler age yet."

"Odrus you are the oldest one out of us, you don't count," Neflen remarked, "most people don't even reach your age, you damn fossil.  I'm 70 million years old and I'm certainly no teenager."

"I beg to differ," Odrus smirked, earning a grumble from his friend.

N: Anglo chuckled a bit, "And we thought we were old by just passing the 1000 years mark."

Celtica shook her head and smiled, "Yep, now we have to rethink our life and remember we're surrounded by people who are prehistoric." She turned to Mandoria and said, "As a matter of fact, no I haven't smoked in my life, although I have had other bad habits, but the last time that happened, I was neglecting my son, so I sought out other ways."

"Like," Saxon questioned.

"Picking on you and Anglo," she smirked, "making fun of you two, embarrassing the both of you. It was always fun when it was just us three, with England and Scotty somewhere else, and they haven't had kids yet. Although, when it was just us, I always had to be careful of where I sat and touched because I don't know if you two had-"

She was interrupted when Anglo slapped her upside the head with his wing, getting a small 'ooo' from Saxon. When the Celt turned around, the Englishman looked dead in her eyes and said, "Do you want me to tell everyone about how you thought Nessie kidnapped Scotty, but it turned out that he was just sleeping in his crib?"

"I was very tired," she tried to defend herself, "but please don't recount that."

"Then don't take it too far with us."

After a moment, Saxon piped up, "How the hell are you still alive, Phoenix?"

M: "Because Celtica knows that what she said was unnecessary," Mandoria answered, covering the sides of Prudoria's head so he couldn't hear, "there are children present, woman, watch your words"

"I'm not a child," Prudoria huffed in indignation, "I know what sex is, the hard way too."

"Pruds, you're realistically four years old, you're a child whether you like it or not," Odrus said.

The young country pouted at that, earning a chuckle from his father, then said lightheartedly, "You're trouble, young man, just like my other boys, you four are going to have so much fun with each other when we're all together again."

Prudoria stopped pouting and smiled at that, hugging the older country tightly.

"Do you guys ever get jealous when you see Mandoria's family," Neflen whispered to Celtica and Anglo, "because he sure has the happy family concept down."

N: "Should that even be a question," Celtica whispered back, "Of course we do."

"But not everyone is like the Mandorians," Anglo added, "they have been able to be on friendly terms with the majority of the countries and empires, but it feels like we're making new enemies every single week. We don't have that luxury."

"I mean, what he and his family experienced isn't exactly the most luxurious," the Celt pointed out, to which the other nodded.

"Anyways," the winged country announced, "I should probably check on BE, see whatever the hell he is doing."

M: "When you do, give him a good whack for me," Neflen joked, "he needs all the reminders to not be such an idiot."

After Anglo left and he was done taking care of Sofia, Neflen carried the sleeping child back to her parents, making sure to tell them what happened.  Back in the infirmary though, Prudoria was asking Castile and PE about the ball.

"I'm just a little scared about it," he admitted, "I want to participate so I can get to know the world a bit better, but I'm afraid that everyone will hate me because of who created me."

N: "Well, the only people who may hate you because of Prussia," Castile said, "would probably be both Kingdom of France and FE, because they are French, Dutch Republic, and the Swedes, although they are probably not coming anyway, and possibly my son." PE facepalmed himself as the Spaniard continued to think, "Oh yes, if HRE does come, that would be a very interesting encounter. Prussia was not short of enemies."

"But," PE interjected, "I am sure, or at least hoping, that they would give you a chance, see your worth and how different you are from the Prussian."

The older brother hummed along, "That is true. If we have passed on the sins of the fathers to the sons, then we would never cooperate in the ways we do-"

"As if you kingdoms ever have," Saxon grumbled, earning an eye roll.

"Anyway, we see each person as an individual, and see if you have any worth. First impressions are everything, and when you meet them, just don't mess up."

The Portuguese facepalmed again and muttered, "You are the worst at comforting."

M: "Yeah, that doesn't really make me feel better," Prudoria agreed.

"Prudoria, you don't have to be afraid, we'll protect you," Mandoria reassured him, "I understand you're scared, kingdoms and empires aren't really the nicest people, but you have so many others who already accept and care for you.  What're the thoughts of a bunch of strangers worth, to the love of a bunch of friends and family, you don't have to fear the scrutiny of others when we all will stand by your side no matter what."

Prudoria again smiled at Mandoria's words, he truly knew just what the boy needed to hear to calm down, which earned even more hugs and thank yous."

"And that's another point to Mandoria," Odrus joked, "you all really need to step up your game, he's beating you by a landslide."

"Stop it Odrus, there's no competition," Mandoria chuckled, "not that I even know what you're competing for."

"The person who's most like a saint," Odrus smirked, "at this point, you might as well have a halo hovering over your head."

N: "We never said that we were saints," Castile shrugged, "we know that we are not, and we don't fool ourselves into thinking so, and the ones who do clearly do not have the right view of the world."

"I would shove you off the bed right now if I could," PE grumbled.

After he had spoken, they heard shuffling heading towards the door, and soon Anglo and Royal rushed in, dragging along a limp BE between them, and they hurried towards a bed so they could lay him down.

Once he was in the bed, the empire weakly opened his eyes, only barely registering the faces of the two winged countries before passing out.

"We found him like this," Royal explained once PE asked what happened, stepping aside so that the doctors could work, "I heard something smash in his office, so I went to check it out, and that's when I found Anglo also standing at his door. Once they let us in, we found BE lying down on the floor, and broken glass from what seemed to be a glass of water."

"But what happened," the Portuguese reiterated, his voice filled with worry, "he was fine before."

"We thought that he might have been poisoned," Anglo asked, "but we found something else." He asked the doctors to show the Brit's calf, and there was a large bite mark with bruising around it, but what struck everyone was two small incisions within the marks, with purplish tentacles spreading from it, with the general area of the skin being discolored.

M: Odrus leaned forward a bit to get a better look at the bite mark, and when he realized what it was he was shocked.

"Celtica, go find Neflen or Askad," he ordered, "I think Sofia bit BE when they had the altercation."  After she left, the eternal shakily got out of bed and stumbled over to BE.

"You shouldn't do that Odrus," Esha murmured, having woken up from the commotion, "you're still weak from healing Chrysalis."

"And I will make myself weaker by saving my friend's life," Odrus remarked, "I've lived a long life, I'm not afraid of draining myself to death to keep my friends alive."

Gathering his strength, Odrus placed his hand on the wound and tried to heal it, however, he was just too weak to do it, and only managed to stop the bleeding before he started to sway.  Mandoria jumped up and caught him as the eternal's legs failed him.

"Odrus, you can't waste your energy, you need to rest," he scolded him, laying the now unconscious eternal in his bed, "Sofia's venom can be cured, but you dying can not, just let us handle this."

N: PE turned to his brother and asked, "Did you know that this happened?"

The other shook his head, "they must have gotten into their fight after I left, so no."

"I just hope that when England and Scotland find out, they don't -," Anglo began but he was cut off when England opened the doors, staring in horror at his son.

"Albion," he muttered, and he was about to walk in when Scotland grabbed him by his shoulder and dragged him back, stopping him in his tracks.

"You have to let the doctors work," the Scot spoke, so the Englishman calmed down a bit, but the moment he heard the mention of venom, he rushed forward towards his son. He was quickly grabbed back by the Scotsman, but it was too late, the other had already seen the wound.

The Englishman's expression didn't betray a single emotion, being utterly expressionless as he was led to sit beside Saxon's bed, where the entity comforted his son. He knew that his son was in denial, so he and Scotty repeatedly told the Englishman that everything was going to be alright.

M: "It will be ok England, he'll be ok," Mandoria reassured him, laying Odrus back in his bed, "Celtica is bringing Askad and Sofia right now, he'll get the anti-venom soon.  Esha, Sofia's venom isn't deadly, right?"

"Of course it is, she part rattlesnake," the tired eternal grumbled, "but for her, it won't become fatal until a week has passed, though it is strange that BE is having a reaction almost immediately, he may be more susceptible to it."

"Ok, now you're not helping," the Mandorian grumbled, "all you had to say was that he wouldn't die before we could cure him."

Right as he said that, Celtica came back with Askad and Sofia, the former looked panicked and the latter was barely awake.

"Alright, we're here, but we have a problem," Askad announced, "Sofia is far too exhausted to help, she's never injected her venom before and is far too young to have been able to do it.  For Nagas, we can use our venom from birth but it's full of our energy, that's what makes it unique to each individual, for a three-year-old who doesn't have a lot of room for energy, it's draining, and dangerous if she does it again."

N: Royal hummed, "So BE must have been particularly annoying for Sofia to even hurt him. Well done, mate."

"Firstly," Anglo frowned, "BE can't hear you, and secondly, this isn't a joking matter." He turned to Esha and added, "he did once get bitten by a snake when he first went over to Australia, it was pretty bad, and after he was cured, he still had a twitch in his hand for months as his nerves took time to heal."

The hybrid then asked Askad, "If Sofia didn't have that much energy, does that mean her venom isn't unique so we could find an alternative cure?"

M: Askad's brows furrowed as he thought about that, "I actually never thought about that before, and now that you mention it, I wonder if my antivenom would work since we have similar venom."

"And what if it doesn't, wouldn't that be harmful to BE," Mandoria asked.

"No actually, antivenom has no venom in it so it won't negatively affect you if it doesn't work," Askad informed, "it's our best chance right now, and we should hurry, my venom can kill in an hour, I'd give Sofia's an hour and a half of survivability, especially since it's a neurotoxin."

N: "Well," Royal spoke, "it seems like you underestimated Sofia's bite, Esha." The hybrid then quickly left the room in search of the antivenom, but BE never told them where he put it. After twenty minutes, she finally rushed back into the room with a small vial in her hand.

"Is that it," PE asked in disbelief.

"FE sacrificed at least a dozen mice just to get this," the Brit frowned as she handed the vial to a doctor, "you better be happy that she could even get that much out of them."

The room fell silent as the doctor filled up a needle with the liquid, and finding the right vein, slowly injected the cure into the empire's arm in small volumes. It took several minutes before the vial was empty, and when it was done, the doctor announced, "It may take a while before the antivenom kicks in."

They waited, and waited, yet there wasn't a sign of life, and once the half-hour mark was passed, England lowered his head until it was resting on Saxon's shoulder, trying his best to keep it together.

Anglo's hope was slowly dwindling by the minute, and he was about to walk over to his son when his wings registered something, and when he faced BE, he was sure of what it was. The empire's heart rate was slowly speeding up, and he glanced over to Royal to see if she noticed, only to find that she was looking at him.

"His immune system kicked in," she said, and just as she did, the empire's finger flicked before his whole arm raising as he rubbed his face.

"Don't wake me up," the empire mumbled before flipping over and falling asleep.

Scotland smiled as he rubbed his partner's back, "it's safe to say that FE's cure worked. Albion's back."

"Not entirely," the doctor spoke, "antivenom stops the spread of the venom, but it doesn't cure the damage it has done. It may have saved His Majesty's life, but it will take much longer before his leg fully heals."

M: "Don't worry, when Esha or Odrus are at full strength I guarantee that they will try to heal him," Askad said, "he'll be fine soon."

Sofia, who was a little bit more awake by now, jumped up onto BE's bed and lay down next to him.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered, a few tears running down her face, "I'm sorry I hurt you, I should have told them, I'm sorry."

She nuzzled under his arm and rubbed against his face, upset that she hurt him so badly.

N: BE was still asleep, but the movement woke him up a bit, and without knowing it was Sofia, he went to his side and hugged her. "Lemme sleep," he mumbled before quietly snoring.

"Umm, Sofia, now there's no chance of you escaping," Royal pointed out.

"I don't think she's going to leave him anytime soon," Anglo muttered before thanking the doctors and nurses, and walking over to check on England.

The Englishman seemed to be in shock, but quickly recovered, and when his fathers and Scotland were comforting him, he just randomly stood up and headed towards the door.

"I just need some fresh air," he reasoned when his parents asked him about where he was going.

M: Sofia didn't mind being trapped, she clung to BE tightly and softly purred as she fell back asleep.  Everyone who could leave eventually filed out, a few remaining to watch over the patients.

The rest of the day went by relatively slowly and uneventfully, to the relief of everyone there, it seemed that nothing was ever peaceful, and those extremely rare moments that they are, seem to just be the quiet before the crazy, such as the next morning.

Prudoria was more or less the only one there who wasn't dead exhausted, so he was the first one to wake up to the sound of glass shattering.  Bolting up in bed, he noticed that it was still slightly dark, the second thing he noticed was that the wolf Eternal was gone and the window above his bed was shattered.

Not knowing what to do, the young country got out of bed and rushed to Saxon, the only other person who was relatively ok.  "Mr. Saxon, the werewolf creature jumped through the window and ran away, what do we do?"