M:   The others agreed and split off in each direction, Mandoria taking the south and Esha taking the west, both praying that the boy didn't get himself in trouble. As they searched, the storm started slowly blowing in, the wind picking up and the snowfall getting heavier with each second, Esha had to turn into her furry dragon form just to stay warm.

It felt like hours that the group had been searching, they couldn't tell if that was true either way, and still they couldn't find Prudoria, not a footprint or a feather could be discerned from the snowy landscape.

However, towards the north, the snow started to become speckled with red, then the speckles turned into splashes and a few bloody feathers started appearing.

The trail eventually led to something from a horror movie, two mutilated bodies of hunters lay in the snow, clearly killed by a large feline. More bloody feathers were scattered around as well as a coat with musket holes in it.

A trail of bloody paw prints led away from the scene, as well as a partial drag mark, like the creature was carrying something away.

N:   Royal decided to head east while Anglo trudged north, and as the winds began to speed up, he tightly wrapped his wings around himself, trying to conserve any body heat.

His eyes were barely open, the flurry of snow making it barely visible, so he tried to call out to Prudoria. After several minutes of shouting, Anglo slowly gave up on the search as he walked over to the nearest tree and sat down, his wings like a tent around him.

As he scanned the snow, his eyes widened at the speckles of blood, and worried about who it belonged to, instantly got up and followed the trail.

Picking up his pace the more blood he saw, he stumbled a bit at the sight of the bodies, but increasingly worried about the feathers around them.

"Prudoria!" he yelled, now running as he followed the trail, the rush of adrenaline made him forget about the frost-biting cold, "PRUDORIA, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

M:   The trail was quickly fading away from the storm, but it still led Anglo to a hunting cabin, most likely belonging to the dead hunters. The door had scratch marks on it and was barely hanging onto its hinges, the paw prints led inside.

There were no other humans in or near the cabin, only two horses in a stable nearby. Inside there was Aslan, covered in blood from head to tail, though not all of it was from the hunters. He had a shredded right wing and wouldn't put any pressure on his left paw, not to mention his right eye had a broken blade sticking out of it.

Despite his injuries, the Manticore only worried about his unconscious owner, trying to keep Prudoria warm while licking the bullet wounds in his abdomen and wings.

N:   "No," Anglo whispered when he came to a sudden stop at the doorway, fixated on Prudoria, and he rushed forward to his side. When he was sure that Aslan was fine being near his owner, the Englishman gently lifted up the Prussian's head.

"He's freezing," he muttered to himself, "and barely breathing." Scanning around the room, he carefully placed Prudoria back down and tried to get a fire going, and when there was a small flame, he ran around the cabin in search of more supplies.

Finally, with a medkit in hand, he carefully moved Prudoria closer to the fireplace and went straight to work. Cleaning up the Prussian's wounds, he began to apply pressure on his abdomen to try to stop the bleeding, but it was barely helping.

"Please don't die on me," he begged as he vibrates his wings, hoping somehow that someone was nearby, "please, Prudoria, don't die."

Seeing that the Manticore was trying to help, the country stopped him and only gave him a small pat on his mane. "You've done enough, Aslan," the country spoke softly, "you protected him, but you're hurt too. I'll do the worrying for you, but now rest."

M:   Aslan chuffed in protest, still wanting to help Prudoria, but ultimately relented and lay down nearby to lick his own wounds. The storm continued to howl outside, only growing in strength and making the whole building creek.

Eventually, there was the distinct flapping of large wings outside, then a blue shape landed and stirred up even more snow. After a few seconds, the door opened and Royal and Esha came in supporting a barely conscious Mandoria.

"Thank the Spirits we found you, we almost didn't find each other," Esha said, helping lead Mandoria to a couch, "Royal and Mandoria's wings both collapsed before we got here, mine are on the verge of shutting down too, there's no way we can get back home before nightfall."

"Where is he," Mandoria asked, partially blinded by the whiteout, "Where's my son, Anglo, what happened to him?"

N:   Anglo just looked down at the lifeless body in his arms before back at Mandoria. "He's right here," he replied, "but I'm not sure what happened, but all I know is that he's hurt and needs help urgently." Turning to Esha, he continued, "Please tell me you know how to help him. I'm doing all I could but I don't think it's enough," and he paused when the cabin creaked once again, "and I have no idea on how long this place will stand in this wind."

"I swear this storm came straight from hell," Royal grumbled as she tried to shake out the snow from her wings before letting them go limp. Taking a few uneasy steps, she collapsed into an armchair and curled up into a ball, shivering as she hid underneath her coat.

M:   Esha immediately knelt next to Prudoria, wincing at the sight of his injuries, "I'll do my best, I can't heal like Odrus can, but I'll make sure he gets home alive, mark my words."

Mandoria noticed that Esha didn't swear on her wings, which made him nervous, one only swore on their wings when they were certain of the outcome, it must have meant that Esha wasn't sure if Prudoria was going to make it. He couldn't dwell on it too much, he was so exhausted from the storm, he just lay out on the couch and immediately fell asleep.

Esha was so glad that she brought her bag, she was able to whip up a mixture that could slow the bleeding and speed up healing, but she couldn't do much more than that, she was rusty on her healing spells, fixing broken bones was the only one she was comfortable using and it wasn't needed in this situation.

As she worked, Prudoria managed to open his eyes, he was still out of it but was able to reach out to Anglo, trying to get a grip on his coat for comfort.

N:   "I'm right here," Anglo smiled as held Prudoria's hand and gently squeezed it, "and I'm not going anywhere. Don't move too much and conserve your strength, ok?"

M:   Prudoria only gave a weak smile, he was in too much pain to speak, but he was glad that he was not alone anymore. Esha noticed all this and chucked a small pebble at Mandoria to wake him up, it worked and once he reoriented himself, the country knelt on the other side of his son, lifting his head onto his lap so he could breathe a little easier.

"It's going to be ok, my son," the adult muttered, trying to hold back his tears, "we're going to get you home, you're going to be alright, I promise."

"I-I'm-m ... s-s-sorr-ry," Prudoria choked out, "sh-shouldn't h-have run-n, s-sorry."

N:   "Shhh, it's ok Prudoria," Anglo hushed, patting Mandoria's back at the same time to comfort him, "Right now you need to be healed, that's more important."

After a couple of minutes, the country got up and made his way to check on Aslan, and when he fully grasped the extent of his injuries, he breathed in sharply. "How the hell do we take out that blade?" Anglo asked as he slowly approached the manticore with his hand stretched out, waiting to see if the other was fine checking his wounds.

M:   Aslan flinched and growled at Anglo, definitely not trusting anyone to touch any sensitive areas. A few quiet words could be heard from Prudoria, and even though Mandoria and Esha couldn't make out what he said, the manticore settled down and allowed himself to be looked at.

"I don't think that blade should be removed until we get back," Esha called over to Anglo, tossing some spare bandages at him, "it's probably the only thing keeping the blood inside his skull right now, just wrap around it and make sure it's stable, any movement could cut him further."

N:   "Noted," Anglo nodded as he unwound the bandages and gently wrapped them around Aslan's head, going above and below the blade to keep it in place.

Once that was done, the country moved onto the manticore's left paw, and seeing that his leg was bent at an awkward angle, he glanced back up at the creature. "Let's do that last, shall we," he spoke, as he inspected Aslan's wing, "I'm not ready to die I even try to straighten your leg."

Making sure not to touch his wing, the country sighed, "I don't even know if we could help your wing here, Aslan. It's practically gone."

Aslan whined and lay his head down, a sad sigh escaping his chest as if to say "Yeah, I know".

"I can help with that a little bit," Esha again called over, "when you're a leather-winged Eternal it's a must that you learn to be able to repair your wings, after all, a downed-winged creature is a dead-winged creature, I'll take a look at it later."

Despite the reassurance, Aslan still looked saddened, most likely because of Prudoria. He inched closer to Anglo and rested his head on his lap, he just needed the comfort right now.

N:   Anglo was initially surprised by Aslan, but quickly comforted the manticore; gently stroking his fur.

Hours had passed, and the wind has been relentless, refusing to give a break to them as the cabin constantly creaked.

Eventually, Anglo turned to Esha, "How is Prudoria?"

M:   Esha looked up to Anglo, then back to Prudoria, she and Mandoria managed to gather pillows and blankets for everyone since they were obviously going to have to spend the night, and Prudoria was given the softest and warmest ones.

"He hasn't woken up since we got here," Esha reported, "the bleeding has subsided for the moment but any sudden movement could aggravate the wounds, I wasn't able to remove any of the musket ball fragments either, that would be too dangerous."

She gently held Prudoria's hand, rubbing her thumb against it in some sort of comfort, though mostly for her. Looking over to Mandoria and Royal, asleep on the furniture, she wondered how the hell they got into this situation.

"I hope Celtica got my letter," she said absentmindedly, "someone had to know where we went, I showed her how to send me one back, but I also wonder if BE found out. If he did, I have a feeling that he'll just slaughter Pruds himself."

N:   "Then I'll make sure he doesn't go anywhere near him," Anglo replied, still focused on Aslan, "besides, he has no right to from what he has said. He only said that Prudoria shouldn't leave unless he has gained his trust. Granted that he had probably lost complete trust in him, he hasn't done anything to hurt him."

Looking over to Royal, he tutted at the sight of her, the hybrid still curled up in a fetal position in the armchair. Carefully lifting the manticore off his lap, he walked over to the Brit and shook his head.

"This is what you get when a human raises a countryhuman," he sighed as he gently picked her up, carried her over to a neighboring sofa, and laid her down.

"Are you used to this," the Englishman randomly asked and he sat back down next to Aslan, "well, I'm assuming that you don't stay in a cabin like this, but when the weather is this tough, do you just ... wait it out?"

M:   "Yeah, pretty much," Esha shrugged, "granted I lived underground even after I left the colony, I hollowed out the island in the lake we fish in, it was perfect because the earth remains a comfortable temperature year-round, and when the lake started freezing over I would just live on the fish."

She went silent for a bit, not finding anything else to add to the conversation, just focusing on keeping the fire going and Prudoria as comfortable as possible.

"You can rest too, Anglo," she eventually added, "we're not leaving here until morning, by then Celtica will hopefully bring an escort. Still, get some sleep, I'll watch over everyone, I promise. Besides, you'll need your strength for Prudoria, I'm still not 100% sure that he'll make the trip."

N:   "Even if I go to bed," Anglo stated, "I will not be able to go to sleep. I'm used to this, the feeling of someone I care about being hurt, and I'm used to staying up the night. Even if I can sleep, I'll put my energy into good use."

M:   Esha pursed her lips but argued no further, she understood why Anglo would want to stay up, she actually had to fight Mandoria to go to sleep, he needed the rest, the Englishman didn't exactly.

"Well, if you insist," she sighed, "I won't stop you, but promise me that if you do get tired that you will close your eyes for a few minutes, we don't want to make a mistake that could cost Prudoria his life, even I'll take a break if I need to, so promise that you will too, ok."

N:   "I promise I will," Anglo nodded, but before he could continue, a gust of wind blew into the cabin, and in flew flaming particles, swirling above Esha until they formed a letter.

Once the magic was gone, gravity grabbed hold of the letter and fell into the Eternal's lap, on it was an image of a cross with a ring in the center. Opening the letter, it read:

'Hopefully, you were able to get this letter, Esha.

We received yours and we plan to collect all of you as soon as the storm subsides tomorrow. Rest and stay safe while you're there.

Ps. BE found out soon after you all left what was happening, and he isn't the most pleased.

P.s.s. Give Anglo a slap for me. He gave Saxon a heart attack.

Celtica.'

M:   Esha let out a breath of relief that Celtica got her letter, then she frowned at it saying that BE knew what happened, sort of, but couldn't help but chuckle at the last sentence.

"Welp, I can't argue with that logic," she said, "sorry about this, Anglo."

She crawled over to the Englishman and gave him a good slap on the cheek, leaving him the letter so he knew why he was in trouble. She crawled back to her spot to start writing back, just a little message to ask Celtica to slap BE for her and to tell him that he has four people and a manticore to get through if he wants to even look at Prudoria.

N:   "Oww, what was that for," Anglo whined, holding his cheek in confusion and was even more confused when the letter was plopped into his lap. 

Skimming through the letter, he sighed before shaking his head, "It will always surprise me how far-reaching Celtica's influence is."

He handed the letter back to Esha and leaned against Aslan, determined to stay awake for Prudoria.

The storm persisted through the night, and eventually, although he fought not to, Anglo fell asleep against Aslan.

Finally, the sun broke through the blizzard and the storm subsided, leaving a wintery wonderland, and walking through the woods was Saxon, Celtica, and PE. The former trekked ahead, determined to find his husband, while the other two walked further behind, searching for clues. 

Eventually, they stumbled across the wrangled bodies, and PE knelt next to them. "This is clearly the work of an animal," he pointed out, "Aslan, I presume." 

"So we're close," the entity spoke, glancing at the faint trail of blood, "let's find them."

M:   Meanwhile, at the cabin, Mandoria had gone outside to check on the horses, he needed a moment to de-stress, as per Esha's insistence. He knew that she was trying to keep him from helping Prudoria, perhaps she was right to do so, he felt like all he did was make things worse.

"What am I doing wrong," he asked one of the mares as he fed them, "I have experience with parenthood, I raised three beautiful children for their whole lives, but no matter what I do, I seem to always ruin everything for Prudoria, to the point that he's fighting for his life right now, I just don't know what to do."

The horses gave no response, too focused on eating the warm oatmeal that Mandoria made for them, so he just left them to it and went back inside. Everyone except Esha was asleep, though the latter was clearly exhausted, yet when Mandoria offered to give her a break she refused, reasoning that there was nothing they could do except wait for backup. The winged country sighed and went back to his couch, feeling more useless than ever.

N:   After a couple more minutes, Royal began to stir from her sleep, stretching out her limbs as well as her wings while she rubbed the tiredness out of her eyes. However this time, one of her irises was bronze.

"How are we this morning," Wren yawned as she took a step off the sofa, but immediately froze when she felt her bare foot come into contact with the ground, and when she looked down, she sighed at the sight of her inky black foot, contrasting her blue lower leg. "It looks like it spread even more," she sighed to herself as she got up and now could fully stretch her wings.

Walking over to Esha, the secondary alter waved her hand in front of the Eternal, "Are you sure that Prudoria is the one dying, because it looks like you're already half-dead."

M:   Esha jumped a little at Wren's intervention, then yawned and stretched, "Well, I've been up all night, you tend to look like a zombie when that happens."

"Don't say that, Wren," Mandoria spat, "Prudoria is not dying, he's going to make it, you'll see, he's going to be fine."

Esha sighed at the kingdom's response, then whispered to Wren, "he's also been up periodically, he wants to help but there's nothing to help with, so he's probably getting a bit irritated. But on that note, Prud is still doing ok, he lost a lot of blood but is stable, I think we'll be able to move him without any complications, fingers crossed."

N:   Wren ignored Mandoria's outburst and nodded, "that's good then, especially," she paused for a moment as she tried to focus on something, "since someone is coming from the south right now, and one of them sounds like a certain entity."

Meanwhile, not too far away from the cabin, Saxon was vocalizing his thoughts on how much Anglo annoyed him from rushing out yesterday, to which Celtica rested her hand on his shoulder. "You know he wouldn't go unless he needed to," she reasoned, "and you know he cares about Prudoria."

The entity turned away as he made his way over to PE, who had stopped and had a smile on his face. "And look what we have here," he smirked, pointing ahead, "the cabin."

M:   "Well then, that will be interesting to see," Esha chuckled, "you think he'll slap Anglo silly or cry in utter relief?"

Without waiting for a response, the eternal stood up and stretched again, then walked over to Anglo and nudged him with her foot, "Wake up Sleeping Beauty, you're hubby is here to rescue us."

N:   "Huh," Anglo groaned as he tried to push away Esha's foot, "Leave me be."

"I swear," Wren tutted as she shook her head, "I don't know how Saxon deals with you and your habit of sleeping in."

"Because I love to live life to its fullest," the Englishman replied as he sat up and stretched his neck, "so are they finally here?"

"Yup," the hybrid nodded as she walked over to peer out of the window, and when she saw the rescue group, she waved to her their attention, and soon they were at the door.

Saxon was the first person to step in, while Cetica went over to check on Prudoria and PE checked on Mandoria. The entity crossed his arms as he stared angrily at his partner, to which the other just sighed.

"It is usually the other way round," Saxon spoke, walking over to Anglo, "but you should have thought for a bit more before throwing yourself outside yesterday."

"Prudoria was out here," Anglo defended himself, "and I was the one who alerted the rest of us to this cabin and found the boy bleeding out. If I didn't go, then he would have died."

The entity bit his tongue in annoyance before responding, "And if you didn't then we would have buried three more bodies alongside his. You don't do well in the cold, and you would have certainly died, and I bet that if it wasn't for the one Eternal here that the rest of you would have died."

When the winged country tried to speak, he raised his voice, "It's because of your love for that boy that you didn't think rationally. Even if BE dislikes Prudoria, he wouldn't want him to die to a bunch of humans or the weather, he would rather do it himself, and you going out here and risking your life for him would have given our grandson the perfect excuse to kill Mandoria's son if he were to ever survive."

Wren glanced between the couple, wondering if she should step in, and when she did, she was immediately shut down. "Put your boots on," Saxon growled, "or do you want your brother to beat you up even more?"

The hybrid grumbled a bunch of words before complying, irritated that the entity used her brother against her. While she was getting ready, he rubbed his temples and muttered, "This is with England all over again," before leaving the cabin to inspect the horses, seeing if he could bring them back to the compound as their owners were killed.

M:   "You know what, Saxon, no one fucking wants your opinion," Esha shouted out the door, "Prudoria saw both you and Anglo as father figures, so don't reprimand anyone for returning that love. If you want to act like BE then you can take your ass back to the compound, no one is appreciating it right now."

"Esha, he's not worth it, leave him alone," Mandoria said to her, "we have more pressing matters at hand."

The eternal grunted but obeyed, going over to Celtica to update her about Prudoria, "he hasn't woken since yesterday, I don't know what the hunters were thinking, maybe they thought he was Prussia? Either way, he was shot in both wings and the stomach, I got the bleeding to stop but with the bullets still in him, moving him will be difficult."

N:   "That's going to be a problem," Celtica spoke, "because we got to move him. He can't be left here and he has to return to get proper medical attention." The Celt paused for a moment, an idea came to mind but she wasn't sure how far-fetched it was.

"Is there any way you could levitate him," she asked, clearly shooting into the dark with the thought, "Maybe that way we don't have to move him that much."

M:   "I mean, yes, but levitation is a very draining spell," Esha admitted, "it takes a lot of concentration and energy to lift someone, especially if they are heavy. I'm not saying moving him is impossible, we just have to be careful, a simple stretcher should be enough."

"Except that we are miles away from the compound," Mandoria pointed out, "walking that distance could take hours, not to mention it's still freezing outside."

Esha hummed as she thought about that, trying to think of something that could help them, then she looked out the window and spotted it. "There, there's a wagon half-buried in the snow, we already have horses, that will keep him stable for the trip back."

N:   "That could work," PE hummed while Celtica nodded in agreement, "and we could make a makeshift stretcher to get Prudoria into it and secure him that way."

"Then let's go and get the horses then," Anglo spoke as he finally got up and patted Aslan, "and get back home as quickly as possible."

"Are you and Saxon going to sort," Wren asked, gesturing the mess between them, "whatever that was?"

"Eh, he'll get over it," the Englishman shrugged, "he'll realize that I'm not a child and don't have a mind of one."

M:   "Yeah, and knowing Saxon himself, that was pretty hypocritical," Esha grumbled, "nevertheless, let's get a move on, I wouldn't be surprised if another storm would fall upon us with the air so charged up."

With that, everyone split off to gather what they needed, Esha and Aslan dug out the wagon, his leg having been healed earlier, while Mandoria tried to help build the stretcher. The king also took it upon himself to make sure that Prudoria was bundled up snugly for the trip, checking that no part of him wasn't under a blanket or coat, but it hurt him that his son wouldn't wake up while he did this.

N:   "Don't you worry, Mandoria," PE reassured, patting the Mandorian's back, "your son will be back on his feet in no time."

Once everyone was set, PE flicked the reins and got the wagon moving, slowly making their way back.

Just as Esha predicted, another storm was brewing, and when they were approaching the compound there was a decent amount of snowfall, the snow worsening their view.

Luckily, they were able to arrive just in time before the storm hit, and BE was waiting for all of them. He silently glanced at Prudoria, to which Anglo stepped in to block his line of sight.

"Carry our guest out of the wagon," the empire commanded, and soon a group of servants were at the wagon and carefully brought the Prussian inside. Once he was gone, the Brit's eyes flickered between all of them before turning around, "Don't freeze yourselves to death. Get in," before walking in himself.

M:   Mandoria and Esha exchanged glances, a bit surprised at BE's lack of response, but they were too tired to comment on it, so headed inside with the others while some other servants took the horses to the stables. Mandoria immediately followed after his son until they got to the infirmary once again, at which point he was taken to a separate room and his father was denied entry.

The country stayed there, not bothering to go find the rest of his family, he stayed there and waited, praying that Prudoria would be ok, that the great spirits would stay by his side and lead him through the pain.

N:   While PE was off to tell Rowen and Johann about their family's arrival, BE headed off later on to check on Prudoria, and seeing that he couldn't enter, went into the same room Mandoria was waiting in.

Silently glancing at the winged country, he made his way over to a seat and sat down, resting his elbow on the armrest as he used his hand to hold his head up.

"You shouldn't have gone without me knowing," the empire finally spoke, "what you did was reckless."

M:   "Don't lecture me, BE," Mandoria spat, "I didn't even know that Prudoria left, Johann had to tell me about it. And you know what, with all the threats and disrespect you've shown my son, I felt it was unsafe to tell you anything."

The kingdom glared at BE, "I feel like I can't trust you anymore, you threaten to hang someone who never asked to be alive, someone who barely has the will to live to begin with. I didn't tell you because I thought you would kill Prudoria, I was trying to protect my son, wouldn't you do anything for your children?"

Mandoria paused when he asked that, then curtly chuckled and looked away, "That was a stupid question, wasn't it, I know you better than that, why else would you think protecting your children is reckless."

N:   BE just stared at Mandoria while replying calmly, "You know nothing about me. However, you may tell about how good friends we are and how much we know about each other, in reality, you have no idea what is happening within my family."

Looking away from the country, he inspected the room as he couldn't help but smile, "I do know the meaning of protecting your children, and the extent that any parent would go to protect them, and I have done it and still doing it to this day. It may not be as you do, but it's how my family isn't actively falling apart."

M:   Mandoria side glanced the empire but added nothing, simply sighing tiredly and rubbing his eyes, which were slightly red from crying and lack of sleep. His mind was too foggy to think straight, the past week and a half have been nothing but torture for Prudoria, yet he didn't know how to fix it.

"Why do you hate my son," he asked after a bit, "and don't just say it's because of security, Prude wouldn't hurt a fly and no one knew about his connection with Prussia until a few days ago, yet you make it a priority to make him feel worthless. Give me an honest reason for once, why, why do despise him, what did he do that made you feel it was necessary for him to hate his own existence?"

N:   "The fact that he exists in the first place is what I hate," BE replied slowly, his hands clasped as he stared at the floor, "because with the same hand Prussia used to make his son, he used to make a scar so deep in my family that I will forever hate him and his offspring. There is so much you don't know about me, and even my fathers don't know either, because of the pain it brings."

The empire hung his head, closing his eyes, "There's this instinctual hatred, even if Prudoria was never a cause for it, but your son's recent actions haven't helped it. If you don't believe that could even exist, go to my Grandpa Anglo and ask him how he feels about KoF."

Feeling that he has overdone his stay, the Brit got up from his seat and walked over to the door, but before he stepped out, he added, "If you're so worried about your son's survival here, keep that little promise you made to my Grandpa."

M:   At those words, something seemed to snap in Mandoria, that kind patience he was most known for had finally shattered, making him stand up, march straight up to BE, and punch him so squarely on the jaw and knocking him to the ground.

"British Empire, my patience for you has run out," he roared, flaring his wings to their fullest, "yet you're right, I don't know you anymore, you were so kind and compassionate, you were my best friend for years, yet now all I see is something that crawled out of hell itself! I don't know why you seem to get off tormenting my family, but it ends right fucking now, after the ball I'm moving us to Scotland, he's already offered us a place to stay there, then my family won't be so fucking depressed all the time!"

He grabbed the door and prepared to slam it, but first said, "I intend to protect Prudoria's other father figure, but consider our alliance officially OVER!!!"

With that, he slammed the door as hard as he could, knocking several pictures off the wall.

N:   The door slam could be heard throughout the entire compound, echoing through the corridors so that everyone heard. Soon, soldiers rushed to the room, there to find BE sitting with his back against the wall, glass shattered around him from a picture while he held his bloodied jaw.

"What happened," asked one of the soldiers.

"It was Mandoria," the empire began and when some of the soldiers were about to go, he stopped them, "Don't do anything to him while he is here. Although he may have ended the alliance, he is still a guest; however," he glared up at the soldiers, "if he were to ever leave the grounds, then you have the right to shot on sight."

The soldiers glanced between them in confusion but obeyed, saluting as the empire got up to his feet and wobbled away.

M:   Unfortunately, Mandoria was sitting against the door in frustration, so he heard what BE said, which angered him even further yet he didn't go out to address it, he just stayed leaned against the door and buried his head in his arms.

Esha and PE were heading towards the infirmary with the Mandorians in tow, when they heard the door slam, and the soldiers running in that direction, they quickened their pace. They didn't hear BE's order, so when they saw him walking away Esha immediately said, "damn it BE, who'd you piss off this time, when will you learn to shut up?"

N:   BE just ignored her as he wobbled along, so PE stopped him and grabbed his shoulder.

"What happened, Albion," the Portuguese asked worryingly, "and why aren't you going to the infirmary?"

"You will see soon what happened," the empire spat as he shook off the other's hand, "as for your second question, I have other matters to deal with," and with that, he walked away.

M:   "Ugh, I've about had enough of that bastard," Esha groaned, "I'm about ready to take up Celtica's offer and go back to Scotland with her."

"Don't do that, what about everyone else here, we'll miss you," Rowen chuckled, not knowing what just happened.

When they tried to open the doors they were somehow locked, but when Esha called in that the Mandorians were here, the tired winged country opened them.

"There is a lot to tell you," Mandoria said, then brought everyone in and told them what happened, including what he heard BE order.

N:   "How is he pushing you around like this," Johann yelled after he heard what happened, "Prudoria didn't do anything, neither did you, but he's too blind to see either of you."

PE meanwhile was silent, standing off to the side as he heard them talk, but when his silence was picked up on, he sighed, "I do not agree with what BE has done, and frankly know that he's fully responsible, but for the time being it is best that we don't do anything and give him a break."

"What," the young Mandorian answered in surprise, "give him a break? The last thing we should do is give him a break and for him to think about what he said."

"Trust me, he is, but you also have to remember that you are trying to fight a global power here," the Portuguese explained, "and if you keep on pestering him then he will double down. Although I am his friend, I cannot change his stubborn mind and, a word of advice, don't mention this to any of the French or BE's sons. It won't end well."

M:   "You're right, PE, I think we all just need a moment to cool down," Rowen said, Mandoria nodding in agreement, "there was wrong behind done for both parties, Mandoria shouldn't have hit BE in the first place, so let's just do the smart thing and let everything settle down."

"As much as I hate to admit it, that is the smartest option," Esha agreed, "besides we have other things to take care of, like Prudoria and Aslan."

She took out Prudoria's pocket watch, now all fixed up and functional, and released Aslan from his dimension, and after reassuring him everything was okay, she brought him over to a bed to get to work on his wounds.

N:   PE nodded as he saw Esha take care of Aslan, so he decided to grab a first aid kit and go and find BE, even if the other was adamant about not going to the infirmary, he will still be treated.

As the empire left, a doctor soon followed out and went over to where the Mandorians and Esha were. "We have good news and bad news concerning Prudoria," the doctor informed, "the good news is that we were able to remove most of the bullet shrapnel from him and his wings are on their course to recovery.

"However," their expression suddenly turned to a serious one, "we weren't able to get all of the bullets out of his abdomen, as well as one of the bullets that hit his left wing fractured a bone, so he's currently in a wing cast as well as his abdomen still exposed. If worse comes to worst, we may have to leave the remnants of the bullets in his stomach so as to not cause further infections, is that fine with you, Sir Mandoria?"

M:   Mandoria looked to Rowen and Johann for their verdict, it was a unanimous- "yes, do whatever you have to do, just make sure he's alive, please."

With that, the doctor went back into the surgery room, and everyone else continued to wait, though Mandoria vibrated his wings to let Anglo and Royal know what was going on, at least concerning Prudoria.

N:   After a while, Anglo walked into the room, and when Mandoria wondered where Wren was, the Englishman explained that the hybrid was currently busy.

Scanning the room, Anglo began to wonder what had happened, since he heard the door slam but wasn't sure of its cause, and everyone's expression didn't help.

"Wasn't BE here," he wondered, "did he do something to hurt Prudoria again?"