M

Mandara frowned at EU.

"Please don't call me that, this is not the 17th century, my county is a democracy, not a monarchy. And I don't think you understand my relationship to my militant entity, if it weren't for him I wouldn't be standing here today talking to you, instead you would be dealing with Thunder in my place, but with that being said," - he shook EU's hand - "thank you for your time, and for the opportunity."

L

"Likewise," EU said, although his voice was stiffer than before. "Good day to you both." And with that, EU left the conference room with a gentlemanly gait about him, as if unfazed.

"What a long day," Germany sighed tiredly, sinking into his chair. "I'm sorry about all the inconvenience. First my uncle, then the things said during dinner, and now an early visit from EU that got you and your brother riled up."

M

Mandara also slumped in his chair, laying his head on his arms, "No kidding, I have made a lot of connections to countries, but this one has to be in the top ten most stressful."

He let out a long sigh, "I can't believe Thunder said that, I know he didn't mean it since he was just mad, but it still hurts."

After a moment, Mandara made a surprising move and took off his eye patch, reveling his silver eye and large scar running across it.  He stared at the patch for a while.

"I can't help but wonder what would have happened had Derogan not saved me in time, would Ussr have taken over my country, or would my brother have defeated him." He sighed again, "sometimes I think it was a waste of time to save me, that Derogan would have been a better country."

L

Germany knew it was impolite to stare but he couldn't help it. Mandara's silver eye, blinded by that gruesome scar, reminded him just how cruel people could be. USSR had always been rather excessive; Mandara, with all his scars, was one such living proof of that.

"I don't think so," the German said. "Your brother is strong but hotheaded. You're cool and collected. You're each fit for your own roles in a way that no one else can replace, not even if you switch. MA might be able to take a couple more hits than you, but this - " Germany pointed his head and then his heart " - is a unique set that only you have that makes you the country."

Germany resolved to get up, extending his hand to help Mandara up from his chair as well. "Now why don't we go see what how much trouble our militants managed to get into when they left?"

M

Mandara smiled a bit then took Germany's hand.

"Yeah, can't imagine what those two knuckleheads are up to" he said as he stood up.

He contemplated putting his eye patch back on, but instead stuffed it into his uniform pocket.  His eye was something that he always kept hidden and it was odd for him to take it off, much less in front of someone, but he had come to trust Germany a lot in the past two days, so he was comfortable having his eye exposed around him.

"I hope EU didn't run into Thunder when he left, otherwise your gonna have a crime scene on your hands." Mandara joked as they left the conference room.

L

EU had not, in fact, run into MA or Wehrmacht on the way out. But he had definitely run into someone - or rather, someone ran into him.As Germany walked down the hall with MA looking for their militant entities, the faint sound of angry shrieking echoed along the walls. It sounded vaguely European.

"Oh no," Germany gasped. "EU might be in trouble! We need to go help him!"

He started running towards the screaming, sincerely afraid something went wrong and also partially afraid that it was happening within his nation's borders. He couldn't imagine the scrutiny he'd get from the other EU countries.

In the infirmary, Wehrmacht heard the same sound, although it was farther away. "Hey MA, did you pick that up?"

M

MA tilted his head, trying to listen for whatever Wehr heard but shook his head, "No, I didn't hear anything what d-" he stopped when he did finally hear something, "Wait, I hear it now, it sounds like screaming, someone might be in trouble."  MA got up of the bed, "let's go check it out." He then hurried towards the screams with Wehr right behind him.

L

"What's going on?" Germany yelled, throwing open the front doors. What he saw made him freeze.

"I'LL RIP OUT ALL OF YOUR STARS!" screamed Iremacht, lunging for EU's face.

The entity barely had time to duck out of the way and dart behind his limousine parked in front of the building. Iremacht ran after him, crawling over the hood of the car and leaving dirt streaks across the polished black surface.

"Don't you EVER disrespect my Dad!"

"I did nothing of the sort!" EU protested, scowling at his dirtied car but scrambling out of Iremacht's reach.

"Lies!" The teen's eyes flashed red. "I could hear from down the street, you pompous circus freak!"

"You!" EU jabbed a finger at Bundeswehr, who stood helplessly to the side. "Do something!"

Bundeswehr took one look at the rabid Iremacht and gulped. Instead he spotted Germany and MA at the front door and mouthed 'help me'.

M

MA had no idea what was going on, but he immediately sprang into action and ran towards Iremacht.  He football tackled the kid to the ground and tried to restrain him, but he underestimated the fight that Iremacht was putting up, not to mention his sprained wrist didn't help.  As he wrestled with the teen, he heard his name being called, he couldn't see who it was, but he recognized his brother's voice.  MA wanted to call back to Mandara, but he was getting pounded by Iremacht as the kid tried to break free and get to EU, so MA put him in a choke hold, not tight enough to choke out the kid, but it should keep his focus off of EU.

L

Wehrmacht reached the front door a few seconds after MA and was momentarily shocked by what he was seeing. Then he snapped out of it and also ran towards the commotion, positioning himself in front of Iremacht so he blocked the teen from EU.

"Machty, calm down!" he said. "I'm fine, there's no need to get violent!"

While Wehrmacht tried to reason with his son, who was basically pummeling MA at this point, Germany rushed over to EU's side to make sure the entity was alright.

"Alright?" EU repeated in disbelief. "Alright! I have nearly been molested by your so-called cousin, I am NOT ALRIGHT."

M

MA rolled his eyes, "I don't think you know what the meaning of 'molested' is EU."

But he didn't say anything further since he was preoccupied with keeping Iremacht restrained.  After a few more moments of Iremacht trying to break out of MA's choke hold, the militant was able to push him to the ground and sat on him to keep him from getting back up, "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR GOD DAMN MIND SOLIDER!!!" MA shouted, "What were you thinking!"

L

"GET OFF ME!" Iremacht demanded from the ground. His eyes were still fixed in a death glare on EU.

"Stay on him!" EU shouted, quickly backing towards his limousine. Germany shuffled after him, apologizing over and over until EU yanked open the car door, growled at Germany, slipped inside his limo, and slammed the door shut. The limo instantly took off down the street.

Once the vehicle was a good distance away, Germany and Wehrmacht both rubbed their faces with a groan. Iremacht soon stopped screaming when he guessed EU was too far away for him to chase.

M

"Thunder!" Mandara yelled as he ran towards the group, "Thunder are you alright!?"

MA looked behind him as his brother drew near.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he reassured him, though that wasn't completely true. MA was covered in small scratches and bruises from Iremacht and the ground was littered with feathers that were torn out in the scuffle.

He looked up at Wehr, "Jesus Christ Wehrmacht, I didn't know you were raising a Tasmanian Devil." he huffed as he got off Iremacht, painting slightly from the ordeal.

L

Iremacht jumped to his feet and glowered at MA. He didn't get to glare for long, though, because his eyes quickly switched back to their normal green when he saw the anger on Wehrmacht's face. His dad walked furiously towards Iremacht until he was inches away from the kid, staring down at him. Not only had Iremacht reflected badly on his parenting, he'd also almost injured EU, which would have been devestating for Germany's relations.

"I'll repeat MA's previous question," Wehrmacht said, his voice low. "Have you lost your God damned mind?"

Germany joined MA and Mandara, glancing worriedly at the amount of feathers on the ground. "Can you still fly?" he asked MA.

M

MA's face fell at the question, he opened his wings to get a better look at them, and it wasn't pretty.  There where at lot of holes in the feathers and a few of the remaining ones were torn in half but still attached.

He shook his head, "I don't think so, there are too many feathers missing for me to catch the air, not to mention they just plain hurt."

He folded his wings and turned to Mandara, who had a concerned look on his face, "Trigger, about earlier, I'm sorry, I didn't mea-"

He was cut off by Mandara hugging him, "It's ok  Thunder, I know you didn't mean it, we will worry about that later."

He let go of MA and looked at Iremacht, "Who is he?" he asked, he hasn't met Iremacht yet so he didn't know it who it was that just attacked EU and beat up his brother.

L

"I'm - " Iremacht was about to introduce himself but Wehrmacht cut him off, "He's an idiot child who can't control himself. And he is very much grounded."I

Iremacht argued, "But I was defending you - "

"You TORE OUT MA's feathers and now he can't fly back," Wehrmacht growled, raising his voice. "You didn't defend me, you've damaged my AND Germany's reputation with EU even further. You disobeyed my direct order to stay home and you made Bundeswehr, your future militant, look bad." He narrowed his eyes. "I can't deal with you. Go home and stay home. I'm calling Ireland to pick you up tomorrow morning."

Iremacht clenched his fists. He was clearly angry and feeling misjudged. He just wanted to help. The teen whirled away and stomped off in the direction of his house. Bundeswehr tried to pat him on the shoulder, but Iremacht just shrugged him off and kept going. They disappeared down the street.

M

MA and Mandara watched him leave, both felt slightly sorry for him since he did say he wanted to help, even if what he did wasn't the right choice.

"So I'm guessing that was Iremacht." Mandara said.

MA nodded as he was looking over himself, "Yup, the one and only, kid's definitely a piece of work."

MA bent down to pick up his eyepatch that had also been torn off, literally.

"Looks like I might have to retire this patch." he muttered to himself as he inspected the ripped straps.

"Thunder are you sure your ok, that kid really did a number on you." Mandara said, worriedly looking at the tears in MA's uniform and small spots of red starting to form underneath it.

"Yeah, I'm ok really, I've been through worse." MA reassured him again.

L

Germany gasped at the drops of blood beginning to seep through MA's torn uniform. He couldn't believe his cousin had done that much damage. If EU didn't request that Iremacht's Enhanced Mode be banned - or something he'd probably do along those lines - Germany would limit it himself.

Wehrmacht also looked a little distressed that their guest was injured by his son. He came over sheepishly and asked, "We should...maybe pay another visit...to the infirmary. Es tut mir leid, I don't know what happened with Iremacht. Rest assured he'll be severely disciplined."

M

MA just nodded silently, keeping a stoic expression so he didn't worry anyone further.

"Again? What do you mean again?"  Mandara asked.

"Oh, when you kicked me out of the conference room I was really angry and decided to pick a fight with a tree, needless to say I sprained my wrist when I punched it too hard." MA explained, showing Mandara the cast on his wrist.

Mandara sagged his wings slightly, he didn't like seeing his brother hurt, and it made him upset that he was.

"Ok, well like Wehrmacht said, let's get you fixed up" he said, putting a hand on MA's shoulder, then turned to the Germans "so where is the infirmary?"

L

"Right this way," said Germany, leading them back to their mini-hospital.

As they walked, he continued to apologize to MA and Mandara for the trouble and then offered, "Since MA can't fly, you're both welcome to stay here until he recovers and is strong enough to return."

Wehrmacht nodded too. Unlike last time, when he dreaded the idea of their guests staying for even an extra night, the German militant was fully inclined to shoulder any liabilities after his son's actions. He steadied his pace so he was walking next to MA and, for the first time since they'd met, he was the one to brush his wing against MA's rather than the other way around.

M

"That's very kind of you Germany," Mandara said, "I'm sure our country can handle itself for awhile, what do you say Thunder."

MA shook his head, "I don't know Trigger, you know feathers take a long time to grow back, by the time I have completely healed, my feathers won't even be half way done."

Mandara nodded, this was true, he remembered how long it took his feathers to grow back after his encounter with Ussr.

"Well let's compromise then, we'll stay until your healed, then we'll catch a flight back home, sound good?"  MA nodded in agreement, then the two fell silent.

L

They arrived at the infirmary and Wehrmacht took out a long roll of bandages because he wasn't sure how many scratches MA sustained.

He gave MA a once-over, then cleared his throat and said, "You might have to remove your uniform, I need to get a good look at how many injuries you have so I can estimate how long you'll need to heal."

M

MA raised a brow at Wehr, he definitely wasn't comfortable taking off his clothes in front of people, not even Mandara.

"Come on Thunder, it's just so he can treat your wounds, that's it." Mandara pleaded.

MA really didn't want to, but he relented and sat on the bed again and took off his torn uniform.  There wasn't a terrible amount of wounds, but quite a few of them were pretty deep.  Mandara gasped at the sight of MA's injuries, but MA gave him a reassuring smile to say it was ok.

L

"My God," Germany murmured at the more severe cuts on MA's. "I don't mean to be rude but Uncle - "

"I'm counting each of these wounds," Wehrmacht responded, beginning to wrap the bandages around a bleeding scratch on MA's arm, "and making sure Iremacht gets punished to this degree and more. He is in big, big trouble." Wehrmacht's eyes flicked to MA and he mumbled another sorry.

M

"Don't be too hard on him Wehrmacht." MA said, "He was just upset at EU and I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt me.  I admit, if the same thing happened to my father, I would have done the same thing Iremacht did."

He winced slightly as Wehr was dressing his wounds, but kept talking, "You can't expect him to understand everything that happened to you, you just have to help him figure out how to react to those situations."

L

Wehrmacht grunted. But MA was right and he couldn't help feeling guilty that Iremacht would be forced to deal with Wehrmacht's past, even though he had no part to play in it. He finished wrapping the injury on MA's arm and moved on to a bruise across his torso.

"How fast does MA heal?" Germany asked Mandara. "With your entity-line and everything. I don't want to keep you from your country for too long."

He wondered if the nation of Mandara had any foreign problems - Germany himself had to deal with America and NATO a lot but he wasn't familiar with Mandara's foreign relations.

M

"It depends, the more severe the longer obviously." Mandara answered, crossing his arms, he looked over MA for a second, "I'd have to guesstimate about two or three days for most of the injuries.  I can't believe Iremacht was able to do so much damage, he looks like he just came back from war"

"No kidding" MA piped into the two country's conversation, "It's like that time Russia got too drunk ad started fighting me."

Mandara rolled his eyes, "Thunder, you ended up in the hospital for a week after that incident, there is no way that kid could possibly compare to a drunk grizzly bear of a Russian."

"True" MA admitted, but winced again when Wehr touched a sensitive spot.

L

"Then I'll take extra precautions to keep Iremacht away from alcohol," said Wehrmacht. "I'll remember to notify Ireland about it too." He paused when MA winced, letting him recover from the pain before continuing to bandage the remaining wounds.

Once he was done with the bandages, he scanned MA's damaged wings. There were a good amount of missing spots and uneven feathers on the once beautiful multi-color plummage, which made the German shake his head. He couldn't give enough apologies to cover for this incident.

"I'd take you guys to another restaurant for a late lunch or dinner," Germany said, "but it might be best for us to eat from home today with MA's injuries. I'll tell the chef that you will be staying a few extra days so he can prepare more food. Are there any dishes you would like to request? I'm sure the cooks can whip up anything you ask for."

M

"Well, that beef stew that Wehrmacht had last night looked pretty good, we could try that tonight" Mandara suggested, "what do you think Thunder?"

MA just nodded, not really paying attention, he was more focused on his uniform.  The uniform had gotten fairly dirty from the fight and the fabric was torn in a few places, not to mention there was a little bit of blood staining it.  MA sighed, his uniform was one of his most prized possessions, he wore it everywhere and almost never wore anything else in public, he was upset to say the least.

L

Germany stepped out of the room to make a phone call to his chefs to prepare several bowls of beef stew. Wehrmacht put away the left over bandages. When he turned around, he saw the way MA was looking at his ruined uniform. Sparks of guilt shot through his chest and pierced his already remorseful mind.

"That looks expensive," Wehrmacht murmured, nodding at the uniform. "We've got some renowned sewing shops downtown. I can drop off your uniform at my preferred seamstress's store, maybe she can help repair your fallen comrade." His attempt to insert a military metaphor was hopeful but half-hearted.

M

MA chuckled slightly, "Yeah, it was my most loyal soldier, we have been through many battles together, I would be more than willing to leave it with you, but first- "  MA stood up from the bed, "-I think I would like to get a shirt on."

"What shirt Thunder, you never pack extra clothes." Mandara teased, which made MA facepalm at his own stupidity.  "Don't worry big brother, you can borrow one of mine."

"Thanks" MA said, then turned back to Wehrmacht and handed him his uniform, "Take care of it, we'll be back down later"

And with that, him and Mandara left the infirmary and headed to their rooms.