M:   Esha sprang into action, jumping onto his back and trying to put him in a headlock, she underestimated him however, and was in for a shock when he grabbed the dagger off her belt and drove it into her thigh, causing her to flinch and for him to break out of her hold and push past BE.

"Stop him, don't let him get away," she shouted, "he'll try to get back to Prussia."

Odrus jumped to his feet and transformed into a cheetah, running as fast as he could after the escaping entity.

N:   Wald sped through the corridor, barging through servants, and was even able to steal a sword for a guard.

Sensing that Odrus was quickly approaching, he grabbed a nearby torch and set a tapestry alight, and the flames quickly spread onto the wooden structures and flammable material.

Taking a quick glance back at his work, he quickly turned to an exit and ran into the wintry landscape.

M:   Odrus skidded to a halt at the flames, jumping back as the flames burnt his paws, he quickly extinguished them with a frost spell and continued to run after the insurgent, he was thankful for the snow for once as it was easy to make out the tracks. He was impressed with how fast Wald was, he was able to outrun him as a cheetah, though the slightly singed paws didn't help that.

"Slow down, you prick," the eternal growled as he was gaining ground, "you're making this harder than it should be!"

Once he was as close as he could get, he leaped forward and shifted into an owlbear to tackle Wald to the ground, trying to get the sword away from the brainwashed insurgent while saying, "Prudoria said you were resistant to the venom, you certainly don't act like it."

N:   "Lassen Sie mich (get off me)," Wald yelled as he repeatedly slammed the butt of his sword against Odrus' head, "I. Have. To. Go. Back. To. Him."

While he was trying to free himself, the insurgent slashed the tip of his sword along the Eternal's arm, giving him vital seconds to slide out and run into the treeline.

After a minute of running and dodging trees, the insurgent slowed down into a jog and eventually a trudge, falling to his knees as he gripped his collar and tried to yank it off, not giving a damn about his burning hands.

"GET THIS THING OFF ME," he screamed, being heard throughout the woods, crying in pain as he tried to jam his sword into a crack. His eyes flickered between his normal green eyes and the controlled purple ones, and whenever his eyes were purple for a second too long, his efforts to be freed slowed down until he switched back and was right back at it.

M:   Odrus could only watch as Wald ran away, unshifting and griping his injured arm, clearly the forceful approach wasn't working, he would have to try something else. He waited a minute before setting off after Wald again, not shifting into anything this time, and slowly walked in the direction of the footprints.

Finding the insurgent wasn't hard, what with the shouting making it to where a blind man such as himself would have no problem tracking him down.

"Well, what do you think I've been chasing you for," Odrus grunted as he finally came across Wald, "your boss spent all that time getting you away from Prussia, the least you can do is stick around to get that collar off."

"What the hell did I stumble upon," a voice said from the trees, and out walked a large black wolf.

"Sabeth, boy am I glad you stuck around," Odrus said, "I don't suppose you can help me out with our friend here?"

Sabeth unshifted to his regular form, sniffing the newcomer curiously, "No, sorry, his collar is enchanted with a lock spell, only the one who put it on can take it off, but I think Prudoria could, he has the same magic."

"That's what we figured," Odrus sighed, then turned back to Wald, "so are you coming back or what, that nurse that you twisted her arm was about to give you the antivenom, or are you content with being brainwashed for the rest of your life."

N:   "Does it look like I'm content with being brainwashed? It's a living hell," Wald snapped, trying one last pull at the collar before giving up and using the snow to cool down his palms.

His eyes grew hazy as the purple set in, and almost zombie-like he got up on his feet and walked in a random direction. "I should go back to my master," he muttered, gripping his sword, "but I might die in this cold. Die..."

Suddenly, in anger, he threw the sword so that it was stuck in the tree beside Odrus. "I told them where they were hiding," he shouted, although there were tears in his eyes, "I wasn't strong enough for them, and now they're going to die. The remaining Mandorians, the few Saxons-"

"Is someone failing to control the Allemand," a voice called out, and soon Lumière appeared, glaring at Wald, "And why are you here?"

"You're the one who took me away," the other insurgent growled, speeding towards the Frenchman, but he failed to see the club behind him, and in one solid hit to the head, the German was knocked out and on the ground.

"The trick, Monsieurs, is surprise attacks, and that's how I survived with the both of them under me when we traveled," the Frenchman explained as he nudged the other's body, "I don't necessarily care if they will lose a brain cell or two, so long as they behave. Wald is the one with the mood swings, still partially under the effects of the venom, but you shouldn't expect such large ones from Chrysalis, although his levelheaded mind did almost lose me a hand." Looking up at the pair, he raised a brow, "so, who's carrying him?"

M:   The two eternals exchanged glances, silently arguing about who would be the pack mule, which ended up being Sabeth since Odrus had a sliced arm.

"You'll go back to your pack soon enough," the older eternal stated, "and sorry we stumbled into your territory, someone is too stubborn for his own good."

"It's fine, I'll let it slide this once," Sabeth shrugged as he hoisted the insurgent over his shoulders, "Wind Runner just doesn't want anyone entering the territory since her sister had pups, we all know how humans treat us wolves."

"Well, now they got you to protect them, so it's not all that bad," the other pointed out, "at least you have a pack again, what more could anyone ask for?"

N:   "There is a lot that people would ask for," Lumière pointed out, "revenge, peace, reversing their past actions, and sometimes a pack isn't for everyone. I don't know about you, Loup (Wolf), but I prefer to be on my own. The job's cleaner that way."

After they made their walk back, some servants came and helped carry Wald back, and when the insurgent was gone, the Frenchman was about to leave when he remembered something.

"Et la prochaine fois (and next time), don't be too harsh on him," he advised, "I've been prison hopping for a while now, and one thing you learn is that you never know the hell someone has experienced until you have been behind the walls."

After the serious note, he smiled, "But I'm sure you already know that. Au revoir," and he disappeared.

M:   Odrus and Sabeth growled at that statement, considering he had been traveling with Chrysalis, they weren't surprised that this complete stranger knew about something sensitive, but that didn't mean he had to bring it up. When he saw that he was no longer needed, Sabeth bid his ados and headed back to his territory, promising that he would be back in time for the ball.

Odrus trudged himself back to the infirmary, glad to see that Wald was strapped back into bed and being given the antivenom, but he slightly frowned that Chrysalis was now awake, even if he was also restrained.

"How has he been," he asked Saxon, plopping down on a bed to be treated, "also, next time there should be a warning about how slippery your insurgents are, apparently the sluggishness of Chrysalis when we caught him was just lucky on our part, Wald about kicked my ass out there."

N:   Saxon couldn't help but smile, even when his insurgent was brainwashed, he was still to his standards. "You do realize you're talking about insurgents," he replied, "the exact beings who topple governments and have to fend for themselves? What you saw is how an insurgent acts when they are in trouble."

The entity's face then darkened when he turned to Chrysalis, who was allowed to sit up but was tied down from head to toe, and whose eyes occasionally flickered over to purple but usually remained magenta.

"Somehow, my Vater did find a way to get rid of his shattered eyes," the entity informed, "however, when you were gone, he woke up and froze like Wald, but instead of running, he beelined to BE."

Turning around, the entity pointed at the empire, who was being treated at a bed opposite them. With a large bruise on his face, as well as bandages around his arm, the Brit wearily glanced at the Scot, who seemed more interested in the knocked-out Wald.

"I'm afraid that Suebi had given Chrysalis his motivation back, and with that his hatred of us."

M:   "I'm not surprised, we all know where that hatred came from, would you stop hating the people who took your family away from you?" Odrus shrugged.

The eternal stood and walked over to Chrysalis, taking his seat on the bed next to him, "Hey there Chris, long time no see, good to see you're doing better ... well ... relatively."

N:   Chrysalis turned to him and he tried to hide his look of fear when he saw the Eternal. "'Doing better'?" he snapped, "is that what you say, doing better? You fucking ripped me apart, limb from limb, and you have the goddamn audacity to say 'DOING BETTER?'"

The insurgent's entire body was telling him to run, to run far away from Odrus, and if it wasn't for the restraints, he would of. However, seeing that he couldn't, he leaned as close as he could to the Eternal.

"The last person would want to see is you. The pain I experienced from Prussia was nothing compared to what you did," he hissed, "and I don't care if you snapped, I placed in you the simple thing that insurgents never do: trust. Trust in that you won't hurt me, and I guess that's broken now.

"So, dear friend, if you want to be close buddies with me, I don't want to see you ever again." With that, Chrysalis looked away from the Eternal, placing his shaking hand underneath his leg.

M:   Odrus was expecting that reaction, he wouldn't even look at Chrysalis as he scolded him, his head was hung in shame and tears were stinging in his eyes.

"Very well, that is a reasonable request," he muttered, "I know it's not worth asking for forgiveness, I would question your sanity if you did forgive me. I worked hard to earn your trust, but took it away in mere seconds, that kind of betrayal can't be repented."

A nurse came over and was about to treat Odrus but he denied it, "but, just for the record, Anathema was the one who said you had been traded off, we wouldn't have known otherwise, but I understand that it doesn't fix what I did.

He looked over to Thema, who had been watching in the corner, "Watch over him, you're the only one I can trust now, I can't trust myself to protect anyone anymore."

With that, he stood up and walked away to treat himself, vowing to protect Chrysalis by staying away from him.

N:   Thema subtly nodded as she shuffled closer to Chrysalis, while the Scot was wildly looking around him, wondering how his sister wasn't mentioned beforehand.

M:   Everyone felt bad for Odrus and Chrysalis, they knew how hard the eternal worked to gain the insurgent's trust, and it was hard not to notice the fear he now received from the other.

"He wasn't joking, Thema told him that you had been traded off," Esha said to the Scot, "Prudoria did have a dream about you and Wald, but it was Thema and Odrus that made your rescue possible, otherwise it would have just been Wald here and you'd still be stuck on the mainland. Also, I don't think you appreciated what he did for you, yes he was the one who hurt you in the first place ... well ... indirectly, but he nearly sacrificed his life to put you back together, we all thought he was going to die to fix what Astremad did to you."

"Leave him alone, Esha, he's still traumatized from that," Rowen scolded, "also, weren't you the one who attacked England when we first met you because of what his Christians did?"

Esha grunted at that and looked away, quietly reprimanding herself for being hypocritical.

N:   Chrysalis didn't say anything, just quietly listening to Esha's rant, until eventually he finally spoke.

"People are so quick to judge others when they are blinded by their own misdeeds," the Scot muttered, "tell me, Esha, how quickly did you trust England, even when you knew what his people did to you, huh? Even then, didn't your trust for him vanish like smoke the moment you heard what he did to the Welsh? Trust is a fickle thing, and the smallest of betrayals can destroy it completely, so the next time you talk to someone about how they were treated, remember your own actions."

"Bold of you to say," Saxon commented, "of all people, it is interesting that you preach about misdeeds after what you did to the Eternals-"

"You should have left me with Prussia," the insurgent interrupted, surprising the entity and Anathema, "whether it was under Prussia's control or my own free will, you would have wished that you'd never rescued me."

"Is that a threat," the entity growled, and Chrysalis did was smirk, although his eyes were filled with utter hatred.

M:   "Alright, this conversation is going downhill, let's stop it before another fight breaks out," Rowen interjected, standing in between the two, "how about everyone who is not injured leave the room, it's barely morning and we've already had enough action to last us today. So all those who can leave, shoo, let's keep the piece for as long as possible for once, ok."

Esha and Mandoria nodded in agreement, both of them standing up to leave, though the former did apologize to Chrysalis for not thinking about what she said. When they left, Rowen crossed his arms and stared at Saxon in expectation, as if saying, "Well, you gonna go or what?"

N:   Saxon growled before marching out of the room, much to Chrysalis' amusement.

When the entity had finally left, he decided that he should get something to eat, so he and Anglo headed over to the dining hall.

M:   Rowen decided to be the designated babysitter of the infirmary residents, especially since BE was still in the room, though he still popped Chrysalis in the head with a random newspaper he found, just so he knew that he was also at fault.

Meanwhile, Mandoria was helping Esha to the dining room for breakfast since she was still a little tender on her leg. They noticed that Saxon and Anglo were walking behind them so they slowed up to chat.

"We've got less than a week now before the Yule Ball, how have things been with the preparations," Mandoria asked, "I really am excited, this will be my first one ever."

"How is this your first one if you've been friends with BE forever," Esha asked, to which the other shrugged.

N:   "The preparations are almost complete," Anglo replied, "and I think this will be the biggest ball yet."

"Which means more people," Saxon grumbled, "don't get me wrong, I don't mind the festivities, but that's more people I have to deal with."

The Englishman rolled his eyes, placing a hand on the entity's shoulder, "Don't worry about that, you're on sober duty this year so you have me to deal with."

"I think that's worse," the entity muttered, which got him a light punch to the arm.

N:   Mandoria and Esha chuckled at the couple, they sure were cute together, but that made Esha's heartstrings tug for a moment, it caused her to reflect on her time with Arther.

"You'll find someone, Esha," Mandoria said, startling her, "I know that look on your face, the look of longing for another. Maybe you'll find someone at the ball."

"Doubt it, you guys know how I am with strangers," she grumbled, "Chrysalis was right, it takes a long time to build trust, especially for us survivors. We live on two rules, kill or be killed and survival of the fittest, even if we become 'civilized', we don't view people the same as everyone else, so it's never a 'love at first sight' with us, you know?"

M:   "It doesn't have to be 'love at first sight'," Anglo spoke, "but hopefully you make a connection with someone at the ball."

"But otherwise, relax a little while you can. Fully experience Yule," Saxon added, "although the ball can be much, a stroll outside in the snow definitely calms my mind."

When they had reached the dining hall, Saxon opened the doors and immediately frowned, surprised to see England and KoF at the table with Scotland nowhere in sight. Hearing a grumble behind him, he turned, "No confrontations Phoenix."

"Ja, whatever," the Englishman grumbled as he walked in and sat at the other end of the table.

The entity just shook his head and followed, "Let's not have an eventful day."

M:   "Well, from what Uskaine told me, you don't have to worry about King French Fry instigating anything," Esha smirked, her mood lifting a bit, "I heard that his big mouth opened one too many times and we can finally have our peace and quiet, am I wrong, Frenchie?"

N:   KoF slammed his fists at the table, clearly agitated that he can't speak, and flipped Esha off.

"No need to be rude, Frenchie," England chuckled, drinking his cup of tea, and he turned to the others, "besides, he's currently hiding away from his insurgent, apparently Lumière is a real emmerdeuse (pain in the arse), as you French might say it."

The Frenchman rolled his eyes before grabbing a quill and paper, something he has been carrying around so he could communicate with people, and wrote down a message. Once he was done, he held it up and smiled, and it read:

'But I would like to talk, like for instance about my adopted brother, HRE. How is he like, Mandoria, since he would go to your meetings, and has he ever mentioned me?'

M:   "You two are related, I never knew that," Mandoria said, sitting down across from KoF, "though to be fair, no one really knew what his lineage was, he never really spoke that much, only giving simple responses and never saying more than a sentence at a time. There are rumors that he is King Prussia's father, as they have many physical similarities like the wings and the eagles on their flags, not to mention the surprisingly peaceful relationship they and their people have with each other."

He tapped his chin as he thought, it had been a long time since the two had spoken, not including his time in captivity.

"He did challenge me for my rule once," he recalled, "it wasn't exactly a fair fight though, it was very windy that day and I've learned from Commonwealth that those with four wings can't fly very well in strong wind. I used that to my advantage and was able to knock him out of the sky, but he fell into a tree and was injured badly. You know how one of his wings looks a little off from the others, like it's been crippled, that may or may not have been my fault, but he has learned to be able to fly with three wings, somehow."

N:   KoF rolled his eyes, as if to say 'well obviously', then he went on to scribble something down.

"He never did speak much and whether he actually is Prussia's father, I don't know," the Frenchman's message showed as he held it up, "my Father just sort of found him and took him in, and was annoyingly pampering him, saying how HRE will take over my Father's kingdom over his own blood."

Seeing that his page was full, the Kingdom continued on another piece of paper. "Speaking of my Father, he was nicknamed the Father of Europe in his heyday. His name was Francia, leader of the Frankish Empire and the beginnings of the Holy Roman Empire, and you might have heard of him. Anglo sure has."

The Englishman wasn't paying attention, silently eating his food, but when Saxon nudged him and pointed at the sight, his feathers bristled but somehow kept his calm.

"I've ... heard of Francia," Anglo muttered, looking away, "he used to work in my Vater's court before ..."

"But that was a long time ago," Saxon interrupted, not wanting to escalate the situation, "let's talk about something else."

KoF held his hands out, as if to say 'why', then he wrote, "I would like to ask Mandoria, where were you around the time of the fall of Rome?"

M:   "I was, but I don't remember much of it," Mandoria stated, "my kingdom was only one or two centuries old back then, it was a collection of four smaller kingdoms that were being harassed by RE, so we didn't communicate much once I was able to defend myself, which wasn't hard since I had been the King Wing for a few thousand years before then."

"Hold up, you were King Wing back then," Esha said in shock, "that's got to be the longest rule I've ever heard of, who did you challenge?"

"King Scorpion, the very first ruler of Ancient Egypt," Mandoria said proudly, "he was one of the fiercest warriors of his time, he had control over all of Africa and most of Europe at the peak of his reign, anyone who dared to challenge was met with a swift and gruesome death. When I challenged him everyone called me insane, no one knew of my real age so thought I was a young country, Scorpion did as well, and his foolishness cost him his crown and nearly his life, and from then on, I ruled over the winged community."

N:   "I think I remember my Vater mentioning about King Scorpion," Saxon recounted, "and about how much the Head of Insurgents before him was frustrated about how hard insurgency was within that country's kingdom, and that same king was responsible for killing the said entity, making my Vater the next Head."

"My Father always envied other successful rulers," KoF wrote and showed, "his inspiration was always Macedonian Empire, on how he was able to conquer so much in such a small amount of time, and he even gave his first ruler the title that made ME's little conqueror famous, the Great."

"Well it's too bad that Francia is dead then," Anglo answered, staring right at KoF, "besides, ME's a poor example to follow since he died as soon as he finished conquering."

"What can I say, my Father was a great man," the Frenchman wrote, however this time he had a smirk on his face, "I'm sure he would have loved to meet you, Mandoria. The pair of you would have shared some wonderful pointers, although I doubt you're the conquering type, are you?"

M:   "Nope, I'm a man who is content with what he had," Mandoria responded, "I had a kingdom that was small enough to rule with ease, two spouses that brought me three wonderful sons, and the respect from most of the world, what more could one man want. I'll share a pointer with you right now, power is great and all, but it's not something that you should blindly pursue, as it can sometimes lead you to places and times that you don't want to be in. Be happy with what you have, there are people out there that are not as fortunate as us, and if you only pursue power, you become blind to the good in your life."

He paused for a moment when he noticed Anglo tensing up, so he tried to say something that would quiet down KoF, "For example, if I recall correctly, you were out in battle during the Hundred Year War while the Black Plague ran rampant in your kingdom, you won that war, but at the cost of leaving your wife and children in a contaminated kingdom. Everyone did wonder why your youngest daughter was sent to you in the middle of the night, without her mother and siblings. Pride and a thirst for power made you start that war, now tell me, was it worth it?"

N:   KoF angrily stared at Mandoria for raising the topic, the subject of his family's death had always been a soft spot for him, but he couldn't help but smirk as he wrote down something, but instead of holding it up, he slid it over to the other side of the table, landing in front of Anglo.

Cautiously, the Englishman picked up the folded note and opened it up, and immediately slammed it on the table as he marched over to KoF. While he did, Saxon read the note out loud.

'Everyone loses family in a war, at least I won it.'

Before the entity could call out to the other to stop, Anglo had already grabbed KoF's hair and pulled it back, holding a knife to the Frenchman's neck.

"Undankbares Kind (ungrateful child)," he growled, his eyes full of hatred, "you know how much your Father sickens me, yet you still go on and talk about him."

KoF seemed to shrug, as if to not care about the situation he was in, to which Anglo's eyes glistened as an idea formed in his mind. When the Frenchman saw this, he did try to free himself, but Anglo applied a bit more pressure to shut him up.

"Your father liked the art of a slow death," Anglo grinned, "wouldn't you like a taste?" With that, the country yanked up from the other's seat and dragged him along with his hair, his knife in hand, out of the dining hall and outside into the snow.

Meanwhile, England didn't seem fazed at all as he continued to eat, although he did turn to Saxon. "Faeder," he asked, "aren't you going to do something?"

The entity contemplated for a second whether he should go or not, but eventually he sighed. "Someone better call some medics over," he spoke, "because the damage Anglo will do will probably need immediate attention, so," he stood up, "who wants to see my husband completely destroy KoF?"

M:   "Me," Esha said with enthusiasm, "I've been waiting to see the punk be slaughtered, me, BE, Neflen, and Celtica placed bets on this, since we all figured it would be Anglo that would snap, somebody go get them and tell them that the show is gonna start, and that BE unfortunately won the bet."

Esha followed after Saxon, Mandoria just sighed and announced that he would get the medics ready, and probably notify FE that her father is gonna be filleted alive."

N:   Anglo roughly dragged the Frenchman through the snow, a narrow red trail followed them; the other silently shouting for the Englishman to stop, and eventually Anglo did. KoF slowly got up onto his feet, his hand on his neck as he wiped away some of the blood, and he just watched as Anglo smirked at his pain.

"Come on then," Anglo jeered, flipping his knife in his hand, beckoning the Frenchman forward, "you angered the bear, now fight, or are you all words but no bite?"

The other grumbled, and after a moment of hesitation, he lunged forward, but the snow made it hard for him to run fast. The moment he reached the winged country, he was greeted with a punch square in the face, causing him to stagger, then he let out a silent yell when Anglo slit the side of his torso.

"Komm schon (Come on)," Anglo laughed as he kicked his back, forcing him to the ground, "this is too easy. Get your fucking face off the ground."

KoF grunted as he struggled to get up, and the moment he did, Anglo grabbed the back of his head and smashed it against his knee, stunning him. While he was regaining his bearings, he registered a sharp pain in his right inner thigh, and another one immediately on his left, causing him to stumble back onto his hands and knees. When Anglo shouted at him to get up again, he slowly shook his head, so the Englishman kicked him until he heard something snap.

"So the little Frenchie has had enough," the Englishman growled as he grabbed the other by his wrist and pulled him up to his knees, and in one swift motion buried the blade into the Frenchman's forearm, and the blade was long enough that it was sticking out on the other side. "Do not speak of Francia in my presence again," he snapped, twisting the knife while KoF's eyes widened in pain, "or you will suffer the same way your father did to meine Eltern (my mother and father) in my hands, ist das klar (is that understood)?"

Even in the situation he was in with his blood staining the snow around him, KoF still showed some signs of stubbornness, so Anglo removed his knife and grabbed the Frenchman by his neck, and flew off toward the castle walls. He soon found a wall-mounted flagpole, and from the spike at the end, he hung the Kingdom from his shirt. Immediately, KoF tried to pull himself up to lessen the strangulation he was getting from his shirt, so the winged country snatched his hands and placed them together above the pole, and with his knife stabbed through both of them to keep him in place.

Seeing that his work is done, Anglo flew over to where the other countries and Eternals had gathered, tutting at the state of his clothes. "Now he stained my clothes," he grumbled, and when he saw Mandoria with the medics, he added, "Someone better get him or we will have a corpse on our walls," and with that, he stormed inside.

BE sighed at the sight, seeing KoF thrashing around, and muttered, "he's going to stain the Royal Standard."

FE shrugged, "he had it coming."

M:   "That's it, I was expecting more," Neflen grumbled, "what a letdown, right Esha?"

Esha didn't respond, she only stared up at KoF and the way he was hanging on the flagpole by his impaled hands. Images flashed in her vision, of another her from the past, how that Esha was staked to a cross by her hands and wings, left to bleed to death for days. With tears in her eyes, she took off so fast that the wind from her wings knocked down some of the medics near her.

Flying up to KoF, she gently picked him off the pole and brought him back to earth, removing the blade and doing her best to slow the bleeding.

"You're ok now, it's over, he's gone now, you're safe," she reassured the Frenchmen with a shaky breath, "he won't hurt you anymore, I swear I'll protect you from him, no one deserves to be crucified like that."

Once she was sure KoF would live, as well as giving him his voice back, she abruptly stood and rushed after Anglo, screaming, "Get back here Christain, I'm going to kill you for this!"

N:   "Wait, ESHA NO," Saxon shouted after her, and when he saw that she was going anyway, he turned to the rest of the group, "Two very angry winged countries are going to go head to head, how the hell do we stop this?"

"We'll figure it out when we're there," Celtica answered, his voice wavering with worry, "let's go," and with that, she dragged Saxon along by the arm and the pair ran after Esha.

Seeing them run in, BE turned to Mandoria, his expression deadly serious. "You have a promise to keep," he reminded him.

M:   Mandoria blinked at BE's words, but when they settled in he scowled hard, "Sure, because god forbid you try to protect your family, hypocrite, gotta send someone who can't even protect his own." With that said, he shoved the Brit into the snow with his wing, then finally ran after the rampaging eternal

Meanwhile, Esha finally found Anglo as he was stomping down a hall, she caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder to forcibly turn him around. With one movement of her wing, she raked her claws across the country's entire face, mimicking her own scar times three, she was lucky that she didn't rip an eye out. Pushing him to the ground, she stood over him and held him down with her foot on his chest.

"You're a monster, Christan, how dare you do something so horrific to another living creature," she roared, flaring out her wings in intimidation, "did you forget that I had to suffer the same fate, the agony of being staked to a wood frame and be left to die is something I wouldn't wish on my worse enemy, and yet you do it right in front of my fucking face, I ought to send you straight to hell for this, or maybe I'll make you know what it feels to be crucified like a fucking animal!"

N:   Anglo had his hands over his face, his breathing labored as he tried to subdue the pain, but he couldn't help but laugh at Esha, letting his eyes peep through his fingers.

"You damn hypocrite," he chuckled, staring right at the Eternal, "you threaten me with revenge when I can't have my own. That monster preaches about how amazing his father is, the same man who served under my Vater and betrayed him. Can I tell you what dear Francia did? When he invaded my home, I was away on this island, and after months of no news at all, he sends me a parcel with my Mutter's wings served up on a silver platter."

While he talked, he had hold of a nearby tapestry and pulled it down so it fell on top of them, and in the confusion, he scrambled back and got up. "And do you know what he did to my Vater," he spat, "Exactly three fucking hundred years after my Mutter's murder, when he made my Vater watch her being pulled apart, while I was mourning in remembrance of her, he captures me and forces me to watch as he repeats the hell to my very Vater. And bare in mind, KoF knows exactly what happened, AND HE YET BOASTS ABOUT HIS FATHER!"

Just as he finished, Celtica and Saxon ran into the scene, and while the former was horrified at what Esha did, anger was slowly building up inside the latter.

"So tell me again, Esha," Anglo smirked, "will you still torture me, kill me, continue from where Francia left off? If you're so willing to hurt someone who is neither fully Christian nor approved of what they did to you, why can't I hurt someone who praises the man I hate?"

M:   "Because I was hurt the same way," Esha yelled, though this time you could hear the pain in her voice, "you will never understand what crucifixion does to someone, I was tacked up like an animal pelt, ass naked and half blind, left to rot there for two whole days before I was miraculously found, I got lucky, my survival was nearly zero, I was certain to die from an act of torture that you just made me relive!"

It was clear that Esha wasn't angry anymore, she was practically bawling as she relived her attempted murder, it was too much for her, all the pain she spent thousands of years recovering from had been reopened like a fresh wound. She dropped down to her knees and cried into her hands, she then was enveloped in a bright green light that shrunk and turned blue. When the light faded she was a lot different, in that she had turned into a five or six-year-old child, she actually had feathers over the upper parts of her wings and a fan of feathers on the tip of her tail. What's more, the scars on her face and four hands had reopened, as well as her eyes becoming shattered gray.

N:   Anglo just looked down at her, "Although I will never know how you experienced, remember there are two kinds of pain. One where you have experienced it yourself, and the other is one where you wished you could bare someone else's."

The winged country began to walk away, but Saxon up to him and held him back, to which he was pulled to a stop. "Let. Me. Go," he growled.

"You're hurt, Phoenix," the entity frowned, "you need some medical help."

"Does it look like I care," Anglo muttered as he pulled himself free and walked over to a balcony, and with one final look back, he added, "I'll be back by nightfall," and with that, he took off.

Saxon sighed as he turned to Celtica, who was trying her best to calm down the young Esha, holding her in her arms as she gently rocked her.

"Shh, it's ok, you're safe here," the Celt whispered, looking up to see Saxon crouching next to them, "no one is going to hurt you."

M:   Esha kept crying, she was crying so hard it looked like she couldn't stop even if she wanted to, she was even gasping for air from being unable to catch her breath. Mandoria had finally arrived but was too late so was confused by what he saw, when Saxon explained what happened his face turned fearful.

"Oh my gods, he's going to kill him for sure," he fretted, "I got to go protect Prudoria, for the love of the gods, don't let Britan near the infirmary, he's going to kill my son when he finds out." The country left just as fast as he arrived, hardly giving the young Esha another glance, he needed to protect his son.

Esha's cries did start to quiet down a little, not because she was calming down but because she was starting to pass out from lack of oxygen, trying her best to take a deep breath.

N:   "Let's take her to the infirmary," Saxon suggested, to which Celtica nodded and gently lifted Esha up, making sure that the Eternal is not hurt in any way as she took her away.

Just as he did, a group of servants supporting KoF arrived with BE at the helm, and the entity said that the empire couldn't go to the infirmary, to which the other inquired as to why.

When the entity explained what happened, the Brit paused for a moment. "I am a man of my word," he finally said, "I don't give a damn if Mandoria doesn't trust me, but what I said holds. Only in the circumstance that Grandpa Anglo dies does his son die, and since he hasn't, his son lives. Besides, this has nothing to do with Prussia, so he has nothing to worry about."

He turned to the injured KoF and the servants around him, "Take him to the infirmary to be treated," to which they nodded and headed straight there so that BE and Saxon were alone.

"When you are with Mandoria, also tell him this," the empire stated, "he called me a hypocrite for sending him instead of myself to help Grandpa, then ask him how am I any help if the person closest to Grandpa couldn't help, and it only made sense that a fellow winged country followed."

Saxon frowned at the statement, "And why can't you tell him yourself?"

"For two reasons. One, because Mandoria doesn't trust me to go anywhere near Prudoria, and two, I'm going to have a search party to find Grandpa. I'm not having him die of a damn infection, and at least that is something I can do."

While the empire was walking, the entity growled under his breath, annoyed that his grandson dare speak to him like that, but he couldn't do anything and instead headed to the infirmary.