M

MA met Germany's gaze with a scared look of his own, he knew how sensitive his brother was, especially when it came to Prussia. MA grabbed Iremacht by the shoulders and looked him dead in the eyes, "Iremacht, did you see where they were headed." he asked in a serious tone, but inside he was freaking out, if Mandara ran off then there was a slim chance they were going to find him. 

------------

 Mandara was laying on the top of the roof gasping for air, he underestimated the height of the fall and ended up knocking the wind out of himself. As he was recovering his breath, Mandara caught a glimpse of Wehrmacht's form circling the skies looking for him. His mind told him to run, but not only was he still winded, but he had pushed himself too hard and his wings hurt too much for him to get off the roof. With nowhere to run or fly, Mandara just continued to lay on the ground, too tired to get up.

L

"Where is he?" Wehrmacht muttered. "He couldn't have disappeared." Wehrmacht was out of options. So he tried the only other method left. 

 "Mandara!" he called out. "If you're around here, please listen to me. We were wrong to keep your crown. Let's just go back to Germany's place and talk this out, okay?" He continued to circle, scanning the buildings, but he waited for some sign of Mandara's whereabouts.

--------------

 Iremacht's eyes widened at MA's piercing gaze drilling through him. He answered, "It was the opposite direction from here. I think south." Then Iremacht turned to Germany. "We need to find them! Something bad happened, I can feel it." 

 "Can you make it?" Germany asked MA. "You can't fly and you're still injured."

M

MA let go of Iremacht and turned to Germany, "That doesn't matter Germany, it is my sworn duty to protect my country no matter what my condition is, not to mention he is my brother. I hope you have a car, otherwise we are doing a lot of walking." 

------------

 Mandara was starting to recover some energy and was able to stand up, albeit unsteady. He heard Wehrmacht calling for him but he didn't call back, he just wanted to be away from the German, so he hid behind a propane tank that was on the roof. Once he was sure that he was well hidden, he hugged his knees close to his chest, wrapped his wings around him, and just started crying to himself. Now that his adrenaline rush from running from Wehr was wearing off, the sadness and anger that led him to run returned, leaving him an emotional mess trying to hide from his problems.

L

"Car it is, let's go," said Germany. 

 The estate had a garage attached to it that housed several private cars. All of them bore small Germany flags on them. Germany hopped into the driver's seat of one vehicle and started up the engine. Once everyone was in and Iremacht had given him directions, Germany practically sped their car out of the garage and into the street. Other cars swiveled to the side to let them pass after seeing the Germany flags. 

 "How far do you think they've flown?" Germany asked as he drove and honked down the street. 

-----------

On the outskirts of Berlin, Wehrmacht was growing frustrated. Since Mandara hadn't called back, the German was flying blind. He kept circling and wondered if Mandara was even in the area. He flew lower and at one point thought he heard a sobbing sound. But he dismissed it in the wind and flew one more time around the buildings, calling Mandara's name worriedly.

M

"Knowing my brother, pretty far." MA said, worriedly scanning the horizon for any sign of Mandara, "Whenever something upsets him really really bad he will usually go somewhere secluded and hide for hours on end. But since he was flying we could have a chance, his wings never completely healed from being broken so he can't fly for to long without landing." MA then remembered something that could narrow down their search, "Wait, do you have any parks around here? Trigger loves to watch birds when he is upset, I bet money we will find him there."

L

Germany nodded and began driving in the direction of a park located near the museum. 

Iremacht, however, was having doubts. "It looked like my dad was chasing Mandara," he said quietly. "Would Mandara even have time to watch any birds set?" 

-----------

 Wehrmacht was also attempting to think like Mandara, guessing possible hiding places. He needed to land soon too - it looked suspicious of him to be flying around the same place. As he was just completing his final circle, he heard the sobbing again. This time, he knew it wasn't the wind. Wehrmacht hovered and listened.

M

MA look at Iremacht confused, "Why was Wehrmacht chasing Trigger, did he say something to him?" 

 MA then remembered that Iremacht said that they were in the 18th century section of the museum, and that revelation caused MA to say "Kren otwin" (oh god). Iremacht is there anything in that museum that has anything to do with the kingdom of Mandoria?"

L

"There's an exhibit about the fall of Mandoria," Iremacht said with a wince. "But I don't know why Dad would chase Mandara for that." 

 Germany's grip tightened on the wheel and he felt uncomfortable in his seat. He knew what was in the Mandoria exhibit. But knowing MA's explosive nature, he was too terrified to reveal anything. 

----------

 As Wehrmacht hovered quietly in the air, the wind picked up and masked the sound he had heard before. The German focused on his wings and tried to pick up any distressed signals in the vicinity. 

M

MA eyes widened when Iremacht said that, he was going to question him further but he noticed Germany's stance change to a nervousness that was different then his previous worried one. MA narrowed his eyes, there was something Germany wasn't telling him, the expression on his face gave it away. 

 MA turned to him, "Germany, what is in that exhibit." he asked him in a cold and almost angry tone. 

-----------

 "W-why" Mandara said to himself in between sobs "Th-this whole t-time (sob) he n-never said a-anything, (sniff) why." 

 Two days he and MA have been in Berlin and no one had even cared to mention the crown, but what hurt the worst was that it had been on display for a FEW YEARS, and not once was it even considered that the crown should be returned to the living relatives of the king it belonged to. Mandara was so upset that he didn't realize that his sadness was causing his feathers to vibrate.

L

There it was: the vibration that Wehrmacht was searching for. He rotated himself in that direction, and his eyes locked on the propane tank on the roof. Without stalling, Wehrmacht dove for that building and landed on the flat rooftop. 

"Mandara," he murmured. 

-----------

 Germany cowered further in his seat, MA's voice raising goosebumps on his skin. He needed to steady his hands to keep the car from wobbling on the road. 

"There's a lot of paintings," he said. "A-And a lot of them have Prussia in them. Maybe Mandara was overwhelmed and ran out and Uncle went after him to calm him down?" 

Germany was no longer sure if he should be driving towards the museum or the park. 

M

MA glared at him harder, "Your lying." he growled "I have trained for years how to tell when someone isn't telling the truth, the way your gripping onto the steering wheel and the nervousness in your voice are giving you away." MA's feathers started to bristle from his agitation and his eye was faintly glowing. "There is something in that museum that you are trying to hide, something that Trigger found, so quit with the bullshit and tell me, now." 

----------

 Mandara stopped crying when he heard Wehrmacht's voice, he wasn't surprised, he knew it was only a matter of time before he was found. 

"(sniff) G-go away Wehrmacht, I-I don't want to t-talk to you." he stuttered, he knew Wehr wasn't going to listen, but he said it anyway.

L

"But MA, Germany is telling the truth," Iremacht defended his cousin. "There are lots of huge portrait paintings of Prussia, and lots of badly written info plaques." 

Germany nodded a little too quickly, "Ja, those must have been what your brother found and made him upset." 

He loosened his grip on the wheel. While one hand steered the car, his other hand slipped as casually as possible behind the wheel. He felt the button there. If worst came to worst judging by the look in Mandara's eye, Germany would push that button and alert his guards. 

-----------

 Wehrmacht slowly walked around the tank until he saw Mandara's huddled form. He crouched down, keeping his wings low so he didn't appear threatening. 

"That's okay," he said softly. "You don't have to talk to me. Just listen." He repeated what he'd said before, "We were wrong to keep your crown."

M

MA knew what Germany was doing, he thought that he was going to attack him, that made him even more angry. 

"I'm not going to attack you Germany." he said, though it was still in his threatening tone. "I find it interesting that you think I would, considering we are supposed to be allies." 

 MA knew that his angered stance was just making thing worse, so he took a few deep breaths to calm himself, though his eye still remained blazing, "Since you clearly refuse to tell me what caused my brother to run, I will drop the subject so we can focus on finding Mandara. But I'm warning you, you are only delaying the inevitable for when I ask him, and a militant's anger can turn deadly when left to feaster." 

 With that, MA stopped staring down Germany and focused on the skies. 

-----------

 Mandara looked at Wehr, his eyes red from crying, "You don't understand Wehrmacht, was there when Prussia killed my father, I watched him take that crown from his body before it was even cold, and I heard him threaten to destroy it when we were running for our lives. That crown was supposed to be mine in only three days, it was the last thing I had of father, and then it was gone." Mandara looked away and tried to hide further in his feathers. "I can't believe it never crossed your mind that it should have gone back to the country where it belongs, not some foreign museum. Your just as bad as Prussia."

L

Wehrmacht dipped his head as Mandara spoke. All those words were true and he took the criticism, biting his lip when Mandara compared him to Prussia. 

 "I know," Wehrmacht replied. "It was wrong of us and it was inconsiderate and immoral." He sat down with a sigh. "I and...the rest of my family...have always believed in claiming the spoils of war. I won't justify it. We treated your father's crown as our trophy and kept it from it's rightful owner for years. We thought nothing of it because it was normal for us. For me. I'm guilty of that too." He mimicked Mandara and also hugged his knees. "I am as bad as Prussia. I got these wings from him after all. I don't expect you to forgive me, but please let me finally undo at least something he's done - so I can control my past for once. I just want to give you your crown back."

M

Mandara lowered his wings slightly as Wehr spoke and stared at him in disbelief. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that a German would admit to his past mistakes and want to make them right. Sure Germany was trying to fix the past, but he isn't the one who made those horrible choices, those people where dead now and never admitted their crimes, except for one. Mandara was hesitant, he didn't want to forgive Wehrmacht, but considering everything else, perhaps it was time to put the past behind him. 

"O-ok" he murmured, wiping his eyes, "We'll go."

L

"Alright, this is the park nearest to the museum," Germany announced when they arrived at the park gate. It was relatively small, so he turned to MA - cautiously, because he was still fearful of the militant - and asked, "I don't exactly know how your wing sensors work, but can you 'feel' him nearby?" 

 Iremacht also craned his head to search between the park's trees. Yet his mind was more focused on what Germany could possibly be hiding. He only remembered the paintings of Prussia because he liked looking at them. He didn't pay much attention to the other artifacts, but he wracked his brain for even the briefest memories. Was it a sword? A preserved feather? A cape of another leader that Prussia had slain? A cro— 

 "Crown," Iremacht said out loud.

M

MA wordlessly got out of the car so he could conduct a wing sweep. He spread out his wings and started vibrating his feathers, he kept at it for a bit but got nothing back. Frowning he turned to Germany to say Mandara wasn't there, but instead heard Iremacht say something. 

"What did you say Iremacht?" he asked.

L

Before Iremacht could repeat it, Germany spoke for him, "Around. He was telling me we should probably go around to the other side of the park if the your wing sensor's radius isn't big enough. But it looks like you did a pretty thorough check. Where's the next likeliest place your brother might go?" 

 Iremacht frowned at his cousin but got the cue to remain silent, though he had no idea what for.