L

"Fake? Are you certain?" Wehrmacht said, although that was more of a rhetorical question and he didn't doubt the conclusion of a professional. Now he would really have to call Ireland. Wehrmacht glanced his son; Iremacht just turned away.

"Okay," Wehrmacht sighed, pulling out his phone. "Here goes." He prayed, for both his and his son's sakes, that Ireland wasn't involved.

He dialed Ireland and put him on video call. After one ring, Ireland's face popped up on the screen.

"Hey tomato!" Ireland greeted. "Judging by a call at this time of day, I sincerely hope Machty hasn't decided to shoot another paintball or dump another bucket of water on someone important. Or, well, severely mauled anyone."

"Ahah, very funny but no," said Wehrmacht, blushing slightly which made him look more like a tomato. "There's been a different...situation here in Germany."

"Are you going to be delayed even more?" Ireland whined. "Come homeeee."

This was getting more and more embarrassing by the second so Wehrmacht said, "Nein, it's just there's some people with questions for you."

The German flipped the phone around so Ireland was facing Mandara and MA.The Irishman's face instantly darkened.

M

Mandara immediately turned away, not wanting to even look at Ireland. The countries used to be good friends at one point, but that all changed when the trading issues started happening. MA knew that Mandara was going to have a hard time talking to Ireland, so he went ahead and did it for him.

"Greetings Ireland" he said in his friendliest voice he could muster, "We are terribly sorry to bother you, but like Wehrmacht said we have some questions."

He turned to Mandara to see if he would input anything, but he was still facing away from the phone, so MA sighed and turned back to Ireland.

"As you know things have not been running smoothly with our trading agreement. Well, we have recently made a trading pact with Germany and we were making our first trade be the return of the crown of Mandoria back to Mandara, however it has turned up missing and we have reason to believe that outside interference may be at play. Given the fact that this trade deal was brought about our tense relationship, I am sorry to inform you that you have been named a suspect since you do have a motive for such an act. But given the lack of evidence to support this suspicion, we are asking that you either confirm or deny your involvement."

When he finished both MA and Mandara tensed up for Ireland's reaction, since it was undoubtedly going to be not good.

L

Ireland glared wordlessly at MA and, for a long moment, he did not say anything. 

Then, with his eyes still fixed on the Mandarians, Ireland said, "Wehr. Face me." 

 Wehrmacht gulped and turned the phone around so he could see Ireland's face. 

 "Is this true?" Ireland hissed. "Is Germany in a trading agreement with Mandara? Because of a few stupid missing shipments?" 

 "Not because of your shipments on our end," Wehrmacht quickly clarified. "Germany and I didn't know you and Mandara had any disputes before we made the deal. We just thought it was a normal trade - "

 "Fine, but suspecting me to go after an old crown simply because you think I hold grudges?" Ireland growled. "If it was a British crown, I would and I'd even joke around with it. But this is baseless. You know that." 

 Wehrmacht opened and closed his mouth, lost for a response. 

Ireland sighed, "I expect you back no later than three days from now. I don't care if you haven't finished transferring the Crown by then. Tell Machty I said hi. And tell the Mandarians that I won't be exporting any more." 

With that, Ireland hung up.

M

MA and Mandara both sighed when Ireland hung up, in both relief and guilt. 

 "I knew this was a bad idea." Mandara muttered.

MA looked at him with regret in his eyes, "I'm sorry Trigger, but it was necessary." He patted Mandara's shoulder reassuringly, then turned back to Wehr, "We are deeply sorry for getting you in trouble with Ireland Wehrmacht, ... and ... I understand if you don't want to help us anymore." 

Mandara perked up in surprise, but he also understood why Wehr would probably not want to help.

L

"I don't want to help anymore," Iremacht grumbled under his breath. He earned a hard elbow in the ribs from Bundeswehr. 

 Wehrmacht, on the other hand, managed to say, "It's alright. Ireland's grudge will pass. I still want to help but now that we've crossed Ireland off the list, who's next?" 

 "I don't know if it's a good idea to contact EU again, even if he didn't like the trade deal," Germany said. 

 "Good riddance," Iremacht mumbled again, followed by an "oof" when Bundeswehr elbowed him a second time. 

 "Or..." Wehrmacht said, wings vibrating. "We can just check the cameras..."

M

MA immediately facepalmed. "Why didn't I think of that" he mumbled. 

Meanwhile Mandara started looking around for the cameras. MA retracted his hand, "so, where is the security room?"

L

Wehrmacht thanked the gemologist, gestured for the others to follow him, and headed for one of the back hallways. The security room was across from storage. There was already a security guard inside who had come back to resume his shift once he heard the crown had been found. He immediately tossed his half-eaten donut in the trash, brushed the crumbs off his suit, and scrambled to his feet when they entered the room. 

 "S-Sir, how can I help you?" the security guard asked, eyes darting towards the Mandarians. "Everything is good here." 

 "I want video footage of the nearest cameras in the 18th century exhibit," Wehrmacht ordered. "Namely the ones closest to the crown of Mandoria." 

 "Um, we don't have any cameras that directly focus on the crown podium," the guard said. His eyes flicked to Germany, who was staring intensely at him. "And I've checked the history of all the hallway cameras already and didn't see anyone carrying a crown."

M

MA saw him look at Germany and he slightly tuned to side glance him. The way he was glaring at the man was very suspicious, like he was telling him to keep quiet about something. MA faced the security guard again before Germany could notice him, something was definitely going on, but what? 

 Then MA got an idea and stepped forward, "Well, then can we see the cameras for the basement storage, namely the ones from an hour and a half ago." 

 Mandara looked at him confused, an hour and a half ago was when he grabbed MA and Iremacht from outside the museum to tell them they were going to look for the crown. 

"Thunder, why would we need to see the cameras from that time?" Mandara asked, to which MA said, "trust me" before facing the guard again.

L

"I, uh, don't exactly have clearance to show...f-foreign countries..." the security guard said nervously. 

Germany was also quite intrigued to what MA was getting at. He thought back to what he had been doing an hour and a half ago - he had already been inside the storage room. He'd gone to the back door and received the OK signal from the person stationed there. 

Of course. There was a camera in the far corner of the storage. Germany's eyes flicked to that specific camera on the security guard's screen. It had a view of the storage room from one corner. The back door was underneath the camera. It wouldn't be able to capture his...encounter with the human there, only that Germany had walked in that direction.

Germany hummed and waved his hand. "Let him see it." 

The security guard obediently brought up the footage.

M

Mandara and MA watched the footage with interest, Mandara wasn't sure what they were looking for, but MA had his eyes peeled for a certain country to appear. After a minute, Germany walked into view of the camera and MA immediately perked up, he watched as Germany made for an area behind the camera, knocked on a presumed door in a specific manner, then disappear underneath the camera, only to return a few minutes later and walk to a shelf and begun to move stuff around until everyone else came. MA hummed with increasing interest, especially since it appeared that Germany would glance at the corner that they found the fake crown every so often. 

 MA had seen enough, he stood up and turned to Wehr, "Wehrmacht, you might want to take a look at this."

L

Wehrmacht came closer to the screen and watched the replay. The knocking sequence sounded very much like...a code.He turned to his nephew. Germany seemed unaffected even though he'd clearly heard the sound from the footage. 

 "Why were you knocking on the back door?" Wehrmacht questioned. 

 "To listen if anyone was hiding there," Germany replied. "When I got no response, I opened the door to check the area but it was empty." 

 "Hm, and why were you glancing at that particular corner?" his uncle pressed. 

 "I thought the boxes there looked suspicious," Germany explained. "They were placed too carefully and arranged almost precisely. I was thinking of checking it out, but then I thought I'd go in order and get all the storage sections done. I'd get there eventually."

M

MA narrowed his eyes, "Do you really expect us to believe that Germany, any person with a brain would have checked the suspicious area first." 

"Thunder" Mandara gasped, "what are you doing, you can't possibly think-" 

"He has a motive Trigger" MA interrupted, "I only wish I had realized it sooner." He turned back to Germany, "why don't you take us back to that door and show us what is really in there, because no one would knock on a door in a pattern just to check if someone was there." he said this with slight intimidation in his voice.

L

"Hey calm down, MA!" Bundeswehr positioned himself protectively in front of Germany. "No need to get aggressive. I'm sure the knocking pattern doesn't mean anything, it's probably out of habit honestly." 

 Iremacht was also a bit angry. First Ireland, and now they were accusing his cousin? "Yeah MA, everyone seems to have a motive to you," he said. "Do you ever get tired of being paranoid?" 

 "All of you back off," Wehrmacht growled. He eyed MA carefully. "I don't know why you're so suspicious. My nephew may have knocked in a pattern but I myself tend to do that on a regular basis on any regular door. But - " Wehrmacht then narrowed his eyes at Germany. "- we can go check out the back of the storage room. To make sure." 

 Germany glanced at Bundeswehr, who nodded and stepped back. 

"Alright," said Germany. "Lead the way, MA."

M

MA glared at Germany, but did as told and headed for the storage room with everyone trailing behind him. On the way there, Mandara walked up beside his brother.

"Thunder what are you doing, have you lost your mind?" he whispered to him.

MA didn't look at him but did whisper back, "Think about it Trigger, the Germans have had the crown for three centuries, and here we come along demanding it back. I think Germany tried to trick us with a fake one so he could keep the original." 

 Mandara's eyes widened, that made total sense considering what was said in the car ride from yesterday. Mandara nodded in understanding and backed up a bit to let MA keep leading. They all eventually entered the storage room and made their way to the door in the back. 

 MA turned to Germany, "Germany, if you would do the honors and knock the same way you did earlier."

L

As Germany made his way to the front, he passed Bundeswehr and saw the young militant give him a brief nod. Germany got the door, raised his fist, and knocked the same way he had done last time.Silence and stillness. 

Germany turned to MA and said, "This is exactly what I did. And when no one answered, I opened it to double check." 

 As proof, he opened the door. It was a darker room, with closets lined up on the sides and another door that led to the back hallways of the museum. Germany invited everyone to have a look around, although Bundeswehr remained standing close to his country.

M

MA was confused, he was so sure that the crown would be in here, he even looked through all the closets to try and find it, but it wasn't there. 

 Mandara was getting frustrated at this point, "I'm sorry to say Thunder, but it looks like your accusations were wrong." 

 MA turned to Mandara, "B-but what about what I said, that Germany would give us a fake so he could keep the real one, you said you believed me." 

 "I never said that Thunder" Mandara responded calmly, "I only nodded because it was a reasonable theory, especially considering what he said to me awhile back. But I'm afraid that I can't accuse him further without evidence, innocent until proven guilty after all." 

 MA opened his mouth to protest, but Mandara raised his hand to silence him.

"I think you owe someone an apology Derogan." he said. 

MA looked at his brother with a sense of betrayal in his eyes, but he did as told, getting down on one knee and hanging his head, "Sir Germany, I solemnly apologize for wrongfully accusing you of taking the crown of Mandoria, and I humbly ask for your forgiveness." 

Unlike when he did this to Iremacht, MA wasn't laughing or looking to see Germany's reaction, he just hung his head and waited for Germany to forgive him or not.

L

"It's fine," Germany said without emotion. "You are looking for something that you've lost. You have every right to misjudge people for it." 

 He walked out of the storage room, patting Bundeswehr's shoulder as he went. Bundeswehr straightened, shot one last look at MA - a flicker of regret in his eyes - before he followed Germany. 

 "Dad, let's go," said Iremacht. "I don't wanna stay in this museum anymore." 

 "You go with them," Wehrmacht said, but he was gazing at the Mandarian brothers. "I'll catch up." 

 Iremacht scowled, thinking his father had sided with the Mandarians even after all the accusations they'd thrown. The kid stomped out of the storage room and slammed the door shut. 

 When they were all gone, Wehrmacht breathed out and lowered his wings. He held out his hand to MA. "You make everything super awkward when you do that knightly kneeling thing," he said with an uneasy smile.

M

MA looked up at Wehr, he didn't acknowledge his joke and just wordlessly took his hand and stood up. He couldn't look Wehr in the eyes, he just felt embarrassed that he accused Germany for something that he didn't do, and he felt slightly betrayed by Mandara when he wouldn't defend him. 

 "I-I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused today" MA muttered, still not looking at Wehr "I was so certain that both Germany and Ireland must have been involved, that I didn't stop to think of the reasons that they weren't" he then turned his head to Mandara, "and I am sorry that I caused Ireland to cease export to our country, and that I probably created tension with Germany" he hung his head in shame, "You're right Wehrmacht, I was being too suspicious" 

 Mandara looked at his brother guiltily, he has never seen MA so submissive before, like his dominant nature was shattered when he apologized to Germany.

L

Wehrmacht was also taken aback by how broken MA sounded. He brushed his wing against the Mandarian's. 

 "I wouldn't say that suspicion went to waste," Wehrmacht reasoned. "The crown was fake because you were alert and noticed the scratch on the gem. If we had caught that later, the real crown would probably be far out of our reach." 

 Wehrmacht looked around the room. They'd already checked everything in here and come up empty. His eyes fell on the other door that led to the back hallway. 

 "Let's say, hypothetically, there was someone here," he said slowly. "They might've escaped through the back. I haven't memorized all the corridors in the museum, but my guess is that this hallway must lead either outside or to an exhibit." He glanced at the Mandarians, especially MA who was the real detective. "I intend to find your Crown before Ireland drags me back, so what do you say we give this lead a shot?"

M

MA glanced up at him, he was slightly surprised that Wehrmacht would offer to help still, even after MA accused his family. MA turned to Mandara for approval, which he gave in the form of a nod. 

 MA then turned back to Wehr, "Maybe you should lead the way this time, I don't know how much help I'll be." 

 Mandara walked over to the militants and placed a reassuring hand on his brother's shoulder, but MA didn't look at him, he just continued to gaze at the floor.

L

"You've already helped a lot by getting us here," Wehrmacht reassured him. 

 He entered the hallway cautiously. It was dimly lit by a lightbulb or two and eerily quiet. Wehrmacht guessed this passage wasn't used very often, which made him curious as to where it led. He double checked over his shoulder to make sure the brothers were following so nobody would get lost in case this ended up being a labyrinth. 

 Luckily, the hallway was straightforward and curved a couple times before ending in another door. Wehrmacht stopped. "Here goes," he mumbled. He pushed it open.

M

MA and Mandara followed close behind Wehrmacht, though MA was lagging behind a bit, still mentally beating himself up for what he did. Mandara tried to make him feel better by wrapping his wing around him, but MA just pushed him off with his own, so Mandara sighed and left him alone. 

 When the three came upon the door, Mandara involuntarily held his breath as Wehr opened it. It was dark inside, but the light from the hallway reveled a bunch of cargo crates and large chests. 

"Huh, is this some sort of secret storage room for large artifacts?" Mandara asked, he looked at MA for an answer, but all he got was a shrug, it was apparent that MA wasn't feeling like helping at the moment, so Mandara just turned back to Wehr.

L

Wehrmacht scanned the large boxes and other furnishings in the room. He'd never seen this place before so he also shrugged cluelessly at Mandara's question. 

 "Worth a search," he said. "Those chests look like they could hide some things. I'll check left side, you check right, and MA can take the back?"

M

"Sounds good to me, how about you Thunder?" Mandara said.

MA once again just shrugged, not looking at anyone. Mandara didn't like seeing his brother so dejected, he needed to fix that "Thunder, I'm sorry for not believing you before, but we really need your help now." 

 "Why should I help" MA muttered "All I did last time was get you in trouble, you'd be better off without me." 

 MA turned to head out the door, but Mandara stood in his way. "That is not true Thunder and you know it, like Wehrmacht said, you are the one who discovered the crown was fake, not me, not Iremacht, but you, we wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you." 

 MA still didn't look at him, so Mandara cupped his hands on either side of his face so he was forcing MA to look at him. "Thunder look at me, you may have been quick to accuse Ireland, but you could still be right about Germany, but we won't know that if you don't help us." 

 For the first time since the three had entered the hallway, MA made eye contact with Mandara, but he pulled his brother's hands away and looked elsewhere. Mandara turned to Wehr, "Wehrmacht, what do I do? He's never been so broken before."

L

"Broken..." Wehrmacht murmured. He walked towards MA until he was inches in front of him. 

"You're not broken," Wehrmacht said firmly. "You're just dejected that you made the wrong assumptions. You're just clinging to past mistakes with the trade deal that no one even remembers. You've faced worse than this, MA. And you've come out unscathed." He grabbed MA's shoulders. "You've done thousands more good deeds than you have bad, I know it. I have done FAR worse things than you, MA, and I'm still searching, I'm still hopeful, I still haven't given up. So don't YOU give up. You. Are not. Broken." 

 Wehrmacht stepped back and turned to start looking through the chests on the left side. "You can still help," he called to MA. "We need you more than ever right now."

M

MA looked up at Wehr, he was right, he faced far worse things that didn't even faze him, there was no reason he should beat himself up over something so minor. 

 MA smiled softly to Wehr, "Thank you Wehrmacht, for believing in me." 

 Mandara flinched slightly when MA said that, feeling guilty that he didn't believe his own brother just moments ago. When Wehr turned to start searching through the chest, MA turned to Mandara, "Shall we?" 

Mandara opened his mouth to apologize to MA, but ultimately closed it and nodded. So the two joined Wehr and started searching their respective areas.

L

Wehrmacht searched all the chests and boxes on his side of the room. Everything was super dusty, making him cough and constantly squint his eyes. It felt like dust was settling on his wings every extra minute he was in here. He wanted to flap them, but that would only stir up more dust. He heaved open another chest but all he saw were old artifacts. Wehrmacht carefully took them out one by one for a thorough search. 

 The door to the room was still open. And as they were going through the chest, the sound of footsteps down the hall echoed softly. 

M

Mandara also wasn't having any luck, and unfortunately for him, he made the poor choice of flapping his wings to get the dust off, and was immediately engulfed in a cloud of dust. Mandara was coughing and sneezing like a madman, hardly able to catch his breath, so he walked out the room to get away from the sandstorm he created. MA chuckled at his brother's foolishness and continued searching, until something shiny caught his eye. He was going to grab it but Mandara said something that stopped him. "H-hello, is someone there?"