M:   Prudoria again nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I don't know why, but he's really soft when you get to know him, I think he just likes to scare people for fun," he then hugged PE a little, "thank you for the talk, it helped me feel better. Your brother is right, you are too soft for this world, you don't let it beat you down or make you bad, I'm glad to have you as a friend."

He stood up and ruffled out his wings, "Actually, SE said that he wanted to talk with me before I walked away, maybe you could help introduce me to him?"

N:   PE was initially hesitant about the idea, "are you sure? My nephew doesn't ask to talk without getting something out of it." 

Getting up on his feet, he shrugged, "I can introduce you to him if you want, but don't let your guard down around him; he has his mother's personality." 

With that, the Portuguese led to where he guessed the Spaniard was, and sure enough, the empire was seated with his mother in the dining hall eating, and the former smiled when he saw the pair approach them. 

"Spanish Empire. Aragon," PE grumbled as he placed his hand on Prudoria's shoulder, "this is Prudoria, son of Mandoria. Pruds, this is my nephew and my sister-in-law." 

"So this is the young man Mijo (my son) was talking about," Aragon spoke, glancing at her son who nodded in return, "well, it's nice to finally meet you-" 

"I know this is all a facade," PE spat, planting both his hands on the table, "I heard you want to talk to him, you don't just 'talk', so spill." 

"Por favor, tío (Please, uncle), relax," SE chuckled mockingly, "can't we have a civil conversation with anyone?" 

"Now, let our guest sit," the female country ordered as she gently slapped the Portuguese's hands off the table before patting the seat next to her, "sit and tell us about yourself."PE huffed as he went over and sat beside SE, his arms crossed as he glared at the female Spaniard.

M:   Prudoria was really confused about PE's hostility towards his family, yes he's seen it before with the French and the British families, but not to this extent. Nonetheless, he sat down slightly separated from the group, for comfort reasons, and smiled genuinely. 

"Hello, it's nice to meet you guys too, I've heard a little bit about you from PE and Castile ... it wasn't all good things ... but they were right about you being very pretty, Mis. Aragon, I really like your dress."

N:   "Well, at least there was one nice thing you said about me, cabronazo (you bastard)," Aragon rolled her eyes, which got a grumble from PE, "but gracias Prudoria." 

"Papá was talking behind Madre's back, that doesn't sound good," SE tutted as he shook his head, "in the short time here he has already smeared her image." 

"And I helped, and for good reason too," PE interjected, "all you do is ruin people's lives." 

"And you don't," she replied, raising a brow as a smile formed, "for an empire, it's interesting you take the moral high ground while you still control various colonies. Tell me, Portuguese Empire, how exactly are you profiting from your New World colonies?" 

The empire only grew frustrated, knowing that he couldn't deny her reasoning, but he looked her, dead in the eye. "You ruined my life," he growled, "and if it weren't for you marrying my brother, I would have had you murdered a very long time ago." With that, he abruptly got up and stormed off, much to the Spaniards' amusement. 

"Now that he's gone, we can finally talk in peace," SE piped up, then he turned to the Prussian, "So, I've heard that you can perform magic. Do tell me about the range of spells you know, probably not as much as the Eternals, but it must be impressive."

M:   Prudoria grew increasingly uncomfortable the more the Spanish countries argued, he couldn't do anything about it since he didn't know them, but did mutter as quietly as possible, "These guys are worse than the British."

When he was finally addressed he tried to answer to the best of his abilities, "Um, I don't know that much, my magic is a mix of Mandoria's and ... German ... magic, but I'm mostly self-taught. Let's see; I can make things float without touching them, I can put pocket dimensions inside any object if I want to store something, and I can create small baby ravens out of any I touch."

He demonstrated the latter by tapping the tablecloth, a little cut out of a raven appeared and became a 3D fabric creature, it tweeted and hopped on its creator's hand for a snuggle."

N:   "Fascinante," SE said in awe, "and when you say that you can store anything, do you actually mean anything in any object." 

"What are you thinking exactly," Aragon questioned. 

"I don't know," the empire replied nonchalantly, leaning back in his seat as he mindlessly fiddled with his gold rings, "the possibilities it provides are vast." The empire chuckled to himself at the idea before returning his attention to the Prudoria. 

"So, I'm assuming that you can do what you can because of who you're related to, but," he leaned closer to the other, "teaching those spells is an incredible feat. Is it possible that anyone could do what you do?" 

When Aragon was about it interject, the empire raised his hand to silence her, waiting for Prudoria's response.

M:   "I ... don't know, actually," Prudoria admitted, "Father has magic because he is an Eternal, and they are magical creatures. Prussia, he's not an eternal but still learned magic, Esha says that he must have cut a deal with the devil or something, she says that no normal countryhuman should be able to learn magic, especially as fast as he did." 

He thought about that for a moment, then asked, "How old is HRE, Father is about 300,000 years old yet is considered an Eternal, I wonder if maybe he passed down magic to Prussia?"

N:   "Eh, I don't know," SE shrugged, "the only person who might have any idea about him is KoF, and that's assuming that he's healed enough to speak." 

"KoF is that hurt," Aragon asked in surprise, then she sighed, "Was it Anglo?"

 "Sí, now hand over the money," the empire smirked, to which the other reluctantly placed a small bag of gold coins into his hand, which he then put into his pouch. "Anyway," the empire continued as if nothing happened, "you might have to question him at the end of the day to actually get an answer, and maybe answer everyone's questions."

M:   "I don't think that's possible," Prudoria said, "KoF definitely doesn't like me, I heard that Father threatened him because of something he said about me. I haven't decided what HRE's opinions on me reside so I might hold off asking him anything." 

The young country pet his raven a bit more then returned it to the tablecloth. Aslan then popped up and rubbed his head on Prudoria for affection. 

"This is Aslan, he was created by Prussia like I was," he explained to the Spaniards, "he's my best friend, he helped take care of me while we were on the run after escaping Prussia."

N:   Aragon jumped out of her seat and shrieked at the sight of Aslan appearing out of nowhere while SE's eyes glinted with excitement.

 "A manticore," he said in surprise, as he went around the table to see Aslan a bit closer, "what a powerful beauty." 

"It's an abomination," Aragon spat as she returned to her seat once she had calmed down, "and you asking about magic too? Mijo, there's a reason why we don't have those around anymore." 

"You're killing the moment, Madre," the empire sighed as he reached for Aslan, "there's nothing to be afraid of."

M:   "Yeah, he's harmless, you don't have to be scared," Prudoria reassured Aragon as Aslan sniffed SE's hand, "he's just protective of me, so as long as I'm safe he won't hurt anyone." 

Aslan strengthened this image by rubbing against SE's hand, purring contently. 

"Aslan, where did you go, boy," Esha suddenly called, she smiled when she saw that he found his owner, "ah, you were looking for your friend, weren't you?" 

"Hi Esha, sorry that Aslan wandered away from you, he can't stand being away from me too long," Prudoria said, "come here, this is the rest of PE and Castile's family." 

"Yeah, I remember Spanish empire," she stated, "and you must be Aragon, it's nice to meet you."

N:   "Nice to meet you too," Aragon replied while keeping an eye on Aslan, and eventually she didn't want to be around the manticore so she excused herself and left. 

"Don't mind her, she's still stuck in the past," SE informed them as he petted Aslan, "if she was still in control of her region, these beauties wouldn't have survived, but she doesn't understand what it means to have a vision for the future."

M:   "Oh, is that so," Esha said, glowering at Aragon as she left, "well no offense to you, SE, but I don't believe I like your mother, slaughtering these rare creatures who are just trying to hide from everyone, I will be keeping an extra close eye on her."

N:   "I take no offense whatsoever; however, she personally hasn't killed any rare creatures that I know of," SE spoke as he stood upright, "but, I mean, you could go ask the person who raised her." 

The empire tilted his head, pointing at a small group in the room. At the other end of the dining table, Celtica, Gallaecia, and Hispania chatting and laughing. 

"Abuela Hispania is Madre's mother, which is interesting since they're nothing like each other," the empire continued, "but now thinking about it, Madre might have gotten the idea of killing rare creatures from her; from all of them."

M:   To say that Esha was shocked would be a severe understatement, which led to straight-up denial. 

"You're lying, Celtica would never do such a thing, she wouldn't even associate with anyone who did that," she growled, "I am as much as a rare creature as all the others, endangered even, and Celtica saved my life!"

She was so enraged that she grabbed SE by the arm and dragged him over to the others. 

"Celtica, you need to explain something to this man," she barked, "he dared blame his mother's hatred of magical creatures on you and your friends' influences. Now I can't stand up for Gallaecia and Hispania since I have yet to know them better, but you I know would never do such a thing. So tell him, tell him he's being an ignorant fool, tell him you would never hurt creatures like me!"

N:   Celtica stared with utter shock at Esha, not knowing what to say as she glanced between her and the smug empire."What are you even talking about," Hispania jumped in, frowning at her grandson, "I never taught Aragon to hate magical creatures. SE, explain yourself." 

"The gamesss," the empire replied in a song-like voice, then it suddenly clicked in their heads while the blood drained from the Celt's face. The Celt got out of her seat before walking up to Esha. 

"I see what has happened here," she began, although she did avoid any eye contact with the Eternal, "what SE was referring to were the biannual gladiatorial games. I didn't really go into much detail with you about them, only saying that I killed animals, but I missed out on the part that they were rare, magical ones."

 "The time when Roman Empire ruled was when we saw a huge decline in magical creatures in Europe and in the Mediterranean," Gallaecia added, turning around so that he would face Esha, "since he would hunt down and find as many as he could and keep them as his own pets. However, in the time that he had them, he had them starve and become savage beasts, training them to kill anything in sight." 

"Which brings us to the games," Celtica continued, "twice a year, he would have all of us in the Colosseum then have the creatures released into the arena, and we had to kill them. We lost some friends to those games and Gal here lost an eye." 

"Griffin," he muttered as he pointed at the scars on his face." 

"But we never wanted to hurt them," the Celt reiterated, now looking at Esha with plea in her eyes, "but we were put in a position where we didn't have a choice. You either kill or be killed. But when I was freed, I swore to never hurt a rare creature again, a creature like you."

M:   Esha was quiet during the whole explanation, her expression slowly changing from angered to saddened, and when it was all done she could only sigh sadly. 

"I should have known, I knew that the few creatures left on this earth were in danger, but I never could have imagined how much danger," she murmured, "I know it wasn't your fault, it was none of your fault, some people just want to watch the world burn."

She took a moment to collect herself and calm down, and once she did, she turned around and slapped SE hard on the cheek, leaving a nice red hand mark.

 "That's for trying to turn me against my family," she spat, "and for trying to lure me to your country, I will not be seen as a hog being led to slaughter, you fucking bitch." 

With that, she calmly walked out of the dining hall.

N:   SE just watched as Esha walked away, his hand on his sore cheek as he smiled. "Huh, that woman sure does know how to slap," he chuckled, which got a grumble from both Gallaecia and Hispania, to which the former got up.

 "You know what," the older country said, "you're staying well away from every Eternal and not cause another conflict, you hear me bisnieto (great-grandson)?" 

"Sure," the empire rolled his eyes, but when his great-grandfather grabbed his arm and proceeded to pinch him, he conceded, "ok, ok, for the time being, I won't do anything."

 "Bueno (good), because right now handing you over to your father so he will watch over you," and with that, the older country dragged the empire away.

M:   Prudoria walked up soon after, a melancholy look on his face. 

"I thought I was making another friend," he sighed, "he was being really nice, he made me feel like I was actually wanted, but he was just pretending, wasn't he? Is this how everyone is going to be, are they all just going to pretend to be nice, are Switz and Qing pretending too?"

N:   "Who knows," Celtica spoke as she walked over to Prudoria and placed her hands on his shoulders, "but what I know is that Switzerland and Qing are good people; they're not pretending." 

"But do keep an eye out for the others," Hispania added, "there are many here who have put on a facade."

M:   "Ok," Prudoria said half-heartedly. He was just too young to figure out when people weren't being truthful, and it hurt, he really thought he was building something with SE. Disheartened, he sat down and rested his chin on his arms, sighing loudly to signify his defeat in trying to make friends, at least he succeeded in making two.

N:   Hispania and Cetica glanced at each other, wondering what to do, so the former turned to Prudoria, "Hey, why don't you go chat with Switz and Qing? They would brighten up your mood, right?"

M:   "Hmm, I don't feel like it anymore," he murmured, but he did stand up and say, "Maybe I'll go see how Anglo is doing, at least I know I can trust him." 

He bid everyone ado and headed to the infirmary, figuring that Anglo would still be there. Just as he predicted, the winged Brit was still in the infirmary, Saxon and Esha were there too, the latter was redressing his scars and the format was trying to cheer him up. 

"Hey guys, I wanted to see how Va- Anglo was doing," he announced.

N:   Saxon initially looked at Prudoria with surprise before dismissing what he just heard as he watched the Prussian sit at Anglo's side.

 "He's ... slowly getting there," the entity spoke uneasily as he held the other's hand, "he may or may not be able to go to the ball so-" 

"I was never going to that stupid ball anyway," Anglo grumbled, his eyes unfocused as he gestured at his face, "not with this, and I've hated Yule ever since I got Francia's 'gift', and I always will until the day I die."

M:   Prudoria was a little confused about this gift, he looked to Esha for an explanation but she looked at him like saying, "Don't ask." He sat down on the bed in front of Anglo, took one look at his face, and smiled innocently, "I think it looks really cool, it makes you look like Esha or Celtica's friend." 

"Just because something looks cool, doesn't mean that he likes it," Esha muttered, "trust me, no one wants a scar on their face, it's too debilitating."

 She rubbed her eye as a guilty tear escaped from it, then winced as the paste got into it, so she had to stand up to go wash it out. Prudoria was confused about why she was crying, he just shrugged it off and decided that he would try to help. 

He grabbed a small washcloth and held it out to Aslan, the manticore held his stinger above the cloth and let the venom drip out. Once there was enough, Prudoria bit onto his hand hard enough to draw blood and let that soak into the fabric, he rubbed the washcloth together to mix up the fluids, which caused them to glow gold and then fade clear. 

"I know this is kind of gross, but this is going to help, trust me," he reassured, "just close your eyes and hold your breath for a moment, the fumes might sting a bit." 

With that said, he very carefully started wiping the cloth over the older country's face, and as he wiped it almost seemed as though the injuries were being wiped off too, like a coffee stain on a table.

N:   Saxon watched in awe as Prudoria worked, staring as the scars simply disappeared, and when the Prussian was done, he watched as Anglo brushed his fingers over his face, surprised by the lack of scars. 

"Danke, Prudoria," the Englishman nodded, "thank you for helping me." 

"See, you are getting better," Saxon smiled, "so are you considering-" 

"I refuse to step a foot inside that ballroom," the other countered quickly as he slid into bed and laid on his side away from the pair, "just ... I want this day to disappear forever. I just want to disappear."

M:   "I actually think it's better if Anglo stays away from the ball, have you forgotten the threat that was made from Prussia," Prudoria reasoned, wrapping up his hand, "I wouldn't forgive myself if he got hurt, so let him stay here or somewhere else, for his safety." 

Esha came back then, holding a wet washcloth to her eye since it was a little swollen, but nearly dropped it when she saw Anglo's scar-free face. She rushed over to see if he really was healed, then enveloped him in a hug and began to quietly sob. 

"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry for hurting you, I'm so glad you're ok now," she murmured.

N:   "Please don't apologize," Anglo mumbled as he was buried in the hug, "you never meant to hurt me. I should have never provoked you; I'm sorry." 

"You don't have to apologize, Phoenix," Saxon said firmly, fidgeting as he spoke, "and neither do you, Esha. You did something in the heat of the moment, and you both need to understand that you would have never done what you did if the both of you were calmer. However, there is someone who is to blame," he glanced at KoF, who was still recovering, and HRE was silently seated by his side, "and he's yet to apologize."

M:   "Well, did he get his voice back," Prudoria asked, and when Esha nodded he said, "Well, maybe we should lead by example, you can't expect kindness if you don't give kindness."

The adults looked at him like he was stupid, so he showed them how it was done. He stood up and took the cloth with him, he was a little nervous but swallowed his fear and tried to be friendly. 

"Hey there, Sir, I heard about what happened to you, I'm sorry that you had to go through that," he said, still shy but doing better, "I was wondering, maybe I can help you a little, I don't like to see anyone suffering pain, no matter who they are. I can heal your injuries if you'll let me."

N:   KoF barely opened an eye before groaning, looking away from Prudoria until he stopped from the pain.

 "Just leave me, Prudoria," he rasped, "no one helps another without a price. Save yourself the trouble and go help someone else." 

HRE just stared at the Frenchman before turning his head to Prudoria, waiting for a moment to think before saying, "Help him, he's being a drama queen." 

"Drama queen," the Frenchman scoffed before falling into a coughing fit, "I just don't need help." The winged country vigorously turned his head back to the Frenchman, and guessing that the other was deadly serious, he sighed, "Fine, do whatever you want."

M:   Prudoria nodded, "Not everything has to have a price, and even if it does, you feeling better is all the payment I need." 

The young country knew that he would need a bit more than the cloth for KoF, and after a very long convincing, Esha begrudgingly helped him, She taught him how to mix up her herbal mixtures, and how to properly mix in Aslan's venom. Once that was done, Prudoria pulled up a chair and gently unwrapped KoF's right hand. 

"This might hurt at first, but the pain won't linger," he warned, and without further hesitation, he applied the paste to the wound, then cupped his hand over it and spoke a spell. Another gold light shown through his fingers, and when he removed his hand there was nothing left of the wound. 

"Alright, one down, a lot more to go," he smiled.

N:   KoF raised his head a bit to see what Prudoria was doing before he gave up and his head plonked back on the pillow. "Magic," he grumbled under his breath, but he didn't resist as he let the Prussian do his work. 

Once Prudoria was done, the Frenchman was exhausted from staying awake for so long that he passed out. HRE proceeded to inspect the younger country's work, humming in approval, and once he was sure that the medics were taking care of the Frenchman, he turned to Prudoria. 

"Danke," he slowly nodded, "you did good," and with one final look at KoF, the older country left the room.

M:   Prudoria was also dead exhausted, he could only force a smile at HRE's thanks, and when he tried to stand up he got lightheaded and began to fall backward. Esha jumped up and caught him just in time, carefully bringing him over to Anglo's bed to rest.

 "I think that's enough healing for you today, Sport," she said, rubbing his shoulder gently, "you are stubborn as a donkey, that's very admirable, I'm proud of you." 

Prudoria smiled a little, then reached over for Anglo's hand, the eternal helped the boy rest his head on Anglo's lap, softly rubbing him until he fell asleep. 

"You best keep this boy as long as you can, Anglo," she spoke, "Mandoria did the right thing in sharing custody, you both clearly need each other."

N:   "I will help him as much as I can," Anglo replied, although he was slowly dozing off as he spoke, "he is a son to me." 

Slowly closing his eyes, the Englishman soon fell asleep and began to slouch before Saxon stopped him and carefully made the other comfortable. 

Taking a step back, the entity smiled at the pair but couldn't help but feel that he was useless having not helped his husband enough, "it was a good thing that they have each other.

M:   "You have them too, Saxon," Esha said, carefully covering them with a blanket, "I've seen how you interact with Prudoria, you care about him too, even if it's not to the same degree as Anglo. I think this could be a new start for everyone, I know that you deeply regret not being there for England when he was a boy, I'm not saying that Prud will replace him, but maybe he can help you learn how to be a better father." 

She patted his shoulder, "Let's give them some peace and quiet, I got challenged to a strength contest by one of the more boastful empires, let me show you how to really drag down someone's ego."

N:   Saxon's face lit up at the offer, "Do tell, I would very much like to know," and with that, the pair quietly left the infirmary. 

While they were walking, the entity asked, "So, who was this unlucky empire?"

M:   "Someone called Mughal Empire," Esha informed, "at first I thought he was an eternal, he has many lion features like the ears, tail, and even a mane, yet has stripes like that of a tiger. I think he may be like Sofia, the evolutionary stage between eternals and countryhumans." 

Esha thought for a moment, "the way he got my attention was by claiming that he could transform into an animal like we all can, I called fib and he challenged me to an animal fight, he clearly doesn't realize that I am a dragon, not a reptile or a bat. Have you run into him at all?"

N:   "Have I," Saxon replied uneasily, "have you forgotten who I am? I'm the Head of Insurgents; I practically ran into everyone and they try to find me. Mughal is an interesting person; however, we Brits tend to avoid him, especially Wilfred and BE. They don't exactly have the greatest relationship with him."

M:   "Does anyone have the best relationships with the British," Esha asked rhetorically, "I mean seriously, other than Wales and maybe Ireland, all of you guys are dicks to other people, no offense." 

They continued to walk until they found where everyone was hanging out, so Esha walked over to a small table and stood on top of it, announcing, "alright then, where is the little weasel that dared to challenge a dragon eternal to a feral form fight, I am in the mood to see fur fly now."

N:   Just then, a large figure stood out of the crowd; the burly empire stepping forward as he eyed the Eternal. The green and gold empire marched up to Esha until he was right in front of her, his tail flicked as he glared at her.

"Who are you to call me a 'weasel," he growled, and quite literally too, "you cannot doubt my skill, and yet you insult me. Fight me with your actions instead of your words, and let's see who is the true victor."

M:   "I can insult you all I wish, because whether you like it or not, I am evolutionarily stronger than you," Esha laughed, jumping down so she could face the empire, "that is no boast either, when the ancestors of the humans destroyed the magical world, life on this planet became weaker without magic, you are literally the archeopteryx daring the allosaurus to fight you." 

With that, she stepped back and shifted into her dragon form, not shrinking from her usual Edel size. 

"You are more powerful than these ordinary countryhumans, that I will give you," she said, "but you are merely the evolution between an eternal and a countryhuman, so you are not as strong as you think you are, kid."

N:   Mughal snarled as he too shifted into a ligar, still retaining his green color but with stripes of gold. 

Saxon took a couple of steps back before telling people to give them some space. Although he was worried about the very much expected damages that would occur, he as much as everyone wanted to see how the fight was going to pan out.

The empire crouched down, his ears flat on his head as he eyed Esha before lunging at her, attacking her at every available opportunity. Although he was swatted, beaten down, and burnt multiple times, he was ready to fight to the bitter end.

M:   Esha was proving why she was the best fighter of the British eternals, sure she got hit a few times, but with her serpentine body giving her added dexterity, she was just too fast and slippery for the bulkier empire, Ligers certainly aren't known for being lean and lanky. Neither had to worry about hurting each other, Odrus was on standby to heal their wounds after the battle, so they could go all out. 

After a couple of minutes, the eternal used her prehensile tail to coil around Mughal and constrict him, not enough to suffocate him but to make it slightly difficult to open his lungs. 

"You're in a rather tight situation, pussy cat," she joked, resting her head on her paw to show how much she was in control of this fight."

N:   Mughal growled after struggling for a bit but then slumped, "I yield, now let me go." 

After he was ungraciously dropped, he shifted back to his normal self and winced, since the injuries he sustained as his feral form translated into cuts and bruises in his normal form.

 While the empire begrudgingly let Odrus heal him, Saxon congratulated Esha, "I've got to say, you were pretty good back there."

M:   "What can I say, I have experience putting upstarts in their place," Esha chuckled, "being the best warrior in the European eternal colony means that you got to be able to defend that title." 

She stood and unshifted, then walked over to Mughal and extended her hand for a handshake, "You did pretty well too, kid, I haven't had a decent challenge from someone in a while, it was fun, we should do this again sometime."

N:   Mughal just looked at her hand before shaking it. "Thank you," he grumbled, "but one day, I will beat you." 

"Keep on dreaming, Mughal," Saxon smirked but quickly stepped away when the other tried to swipe at him.

M:   "No he's right, dreams are just achievements you have yet to earn," Esha said, "you should keep on dreaming, the more you dream, the more you achieve, so a better way to say it is never stop dreaming." 

With that said and Odrus done healing the empire, they bid him ado and went about the rest of the day, anxiously waiting for the main ball, in more ways than one.