M:   The next morning, Derogan woke up and immediately went to his father's room to ask where Johann was. When he opened the door, he saw the kid sleeping in the king's bed and Mandoria sleeping in an armchair.

Derogan smiled, knowing what was going on, he vibrated his wings to silently wake up his dad. After a moment, Mandoria blinked his eyes open and he looked over to Derogan, he smiled, stood up, and walked out the room, closing the door as quietly as possible.

"Is everything alright Derogan?" Mandoria asked.

"Does Johann have to go," Derogan inquired, "he said that he was staying with Sir Rowen, but I don't want him to leave, not after last night."

Mandoria stared at his son for a minute, then knelt on one knee to be on his level.

"Derogan, he is not leaving," the king explained, "yes he will be staying with Sir Rowen from now on, but that doesn't mean he is going away. You and Mandara will still be able to play with him whenever you want, and he can visit whenever he wishes as well."

He put a hand on Derogan's shoulder, "he is going with Sir Rowen because he needs another human to live with, so he can continue to learn to be one instead of learning to be a countryhuman, do you understand?"

Derogan nodded, "yes Father, I understand."

"Good, now run along and get dressed, we're overdue for your lessons."

Derogan forced himself to not growl at the mention of lessons, instead, he smiled and walked away to his room, Mandoria walking in the opposite direction to start his royal duties.

N:   Anglo got up as soon as the rays of the rising sun reached his window, he went out of his room and proceeded to the adjacent room to find Saxon. He was surprised to see that he was still asleep with his shoes on, he shook his head and went to take off his shoes and position him better on the bed.

Saxon opened one eye while Anglo, and muttered, "am I like Prussia?"

Anglo glanced up when he heard the question, and answered, "I don't know what has gotten into you lately, usually when you fight, it would be against some sort of establishment, whether they like it or not, but now," he sighed, "this is cruel."

"But I did it bec-" he started but he did not finish as Anglo punched him in the face, temporarily stunning him. Saxon touched his lip and noticed that a little blood had come out, and he looked up in confusion; he did not expect it to come.

"You," barked Anglo, "are not going to use that bloody excuse again, you hear me? That is the crappiest excuse I have ever heard. You think that you alone feel guilty for the death of all those Saxons, how do I feel when I know it is because you wanted to save my life over theirs?" He stormed out of the room, leaving an injured Saxon in his bed.

M:   Mandoria's wings subconsciously flicked when he felt Anglo's angry vibrations, confused, he followed them towards the country and saw him storming away from Saxon's room. The king tilted his head in even more confusion, wondering what happened between the two and which one he should check on. He decided to check on Saxon first, mostly because he wanted to talk to him more about Saxony.

"Sir Saxon, I saw Sir Anglo storm out, did something happ-", he started, but stopped mid-sentence when he saw Saxon bleeding from his lip. "Good heavens, what happened between you two?"

N:   Saxon wiped the blood from his lip as he got off from the bed, and replied, "we briefly talked about Saxony, and he punched me when I was about to say something," he observed himself in the mirror, "but I probably had it coming."

He muttered about apologizing to Anglo, then faced Mandoria, "so what brings you here, Sir Mandoria?"

——————

Anglo headed in the direction where he thought was the infirmary, his injured wing still being dragged on the floor behind him. He asked a servant for directions and he eventually found it, he looked around until he found bandages.

He sat down, got out the bandages, and started to fold up his limp wing with his good arm. He winced whenever it hurt, but he needed to do this so he could stop dragging his wing. Folded up in its natural position, he started to wrap around his wing; although, he did quite a messy job since Saxon would usually help him to do this. He was not going to ask for his help this time.

When he wrapped his wing, he continued with the same bandage and started to wrap around his torso so that his wing was bound to his back. When he was done, he looked like a half-wrapped mummy, so when he walked out of the infirmary, servants gave him strange looks as he passed by.

M:   Mandoria hummed, "well, I admit I was going to talk about the same thing, especially about Johann, but I guess you've probably heard enough of it over the past few days."

There was an awkward pause as Mandoria didn't know what to say, eventually, he cleared his throat and spoke, "I suppose I should ask about your departure, from observing Sir Anglo's little fit, I assume he is well enough to travel. Is there anything I need to provide for your journey?"

N:   Saxon rolled his eyes when he heard that Mandoria was going to mention Saxony, "by this point, I might as well write up a statement about what happened to hand to every person who asks," he shook his head, "I probably have to tell British Empire too."

Hearing the question, he thought on it and answered, "it may be a lot to ask, but if we could borrow a horse and cart to transport everyone, Anglo, England, myself, and the English knights back to Britain. Otherwise, we are fine to leave." He headed towards the door to go and find Anglo to apologize.

M:   "Of course, I will get right on it," Mandoria said, he was going to ask if he should let England out for Anglo and Saxon but the entity already left. Although confused, he thought nothing of it and walked off to gather the requested items.

——————

"So do you think Sir Saxon and Sir Anglo are leaving today," Mandara asked, as he had just woken up and was getting ready for the day with Derogan.

"Personally yes," Derogan answered, "Sir Anglo should be healed enough and Sir Saxon should be completely healed by now."

"I'm going to miss them," Mandara sighed, "they are so much fun to be around, I wish they could stay."

Derogan's face scrunched up at his brother's words, but silently nodded and left the conversation there. He hasn't told Mandara about Saxony yet, and he's not sure if he should. His little brother was very innocent for his age and Derogan loved that about him, so he didn't want to ruin that innocence yet.

"Should we wait for Johann to wake up before we get breakfast," Mandara asked after a bit.

"Sure, I don't see why not," Derogan agreed, so they did just that.

N:   Saxon rushed out and collided straight into Anglo, who was heading to his own room, and was not happy to see Saxon at the present moment. He walked past the entity as he marched to his room, with Saxon following in pursuit, and just as the country was about to enter, Saxon grabbed his arm to get his attention. "Please, can I speak to you?" he asked.

Anglo yanked his arm away, mainly because Saxon grabbed his bad arm and retorted, "I am sure you have spoken enough for today." He entered the room and, not knowing what to do, started to tidy the bed, ignoring Saxon's presence in the room.

"Please," begged Saxon, "I just want to say that I am sorry. I shouldn't have made an excuse."

"Apologising will not bring back all of the Saxons you killed; bring back Johann's parents," he scolded, he threw a pillow at Saxon, who instinctively caught it, "I don't care if you made me an excuse for your action, you should have not done it in the first place."

He walked up to Saxon, stood a couple of inches away from him, and continued, "I don't know what was going through your head when Prussia gave the idea, but you need to understand this," his unwrapped wing started to flare from his anger, "I can take care of myself, and you don't stoop down to that bastard's level. Am I making myself clear?" Saxon silently nodded as he took everything in.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Anglo shook his head, "I probably have to go check on England, just don't cause any trouble." With that, he left the room and headed to the dungeons.

——————

Johann woke up a couple of minutes ago after getting his much-deserved sleep, and initially confused as to where he was, figured out from the things in the room that he was in Mandoria's room.

After the events of last night, he huddled on the bed, staying there like he would get hurt if he left. He slowly rocked himself back and forth, observing the objects in the room, from the portraits of the Mandorian family to simply watching the clouds pass by in the sky.

He was absentmindedly watching the birds when he was shuddered from his thoughts by a knock on the door, and when he called out for the person to come in, he was relieved to see Mandara and Derogan there. "Guten morgen," he greeted them, "I hope I didn't disturb you too much after last night."

M:   "You had us in a bit of a panic when you ran off," Derogan admitted, "but luckily Silver Streak and Sir Anglo found you."

"Speaking of him," Mandara added, "He and Sir Saxon are leaving with Sir England today, we don't know when though."

"But we'll worry about that later," Derogan interrupted, trying to steer the conversation away from Saxon, "fancy joining us for breakfast? Then after we can find Sir Rowen since you'll be staying with him."

"But Derogan, don't you have lessons to-" Mandara started, but grunted when Derogan elbowed him in the ribs, indicating for him to shut up.

N:   "Sure, I will join you," he replied as he hopped from the bed, then tried to tidy up the bed a little and failed. He shrugged his shoulders when he saw that he couldn't and turned around to follow Derogan and Mandara to the dining hall. When he saw Derogan elbow his brother, he was confused as to what happened but thought not to mention it.

While they headed to the hall, he felt a bit nervous about meeting Sir Rowen, yes he had spent time with him and enjoyed it, but he did not want to feel like a burden to the captain.

"Would Sir Rowen be fine if I stayed with him," he muttered, "I don't want to take up too much of his time, and last night shows how much of a mess I am."

——————

When Anglo arrived at the dungeons, he was greeted with guards using their swords to block his path, preventing him to go further. Not feeling in the mood to deal with this, he sighed, "I just came to see my son, to check that he is fine. Could a father ask anything else?"

One of the guards shook his head, and another murmured about the security of the dungeons increasing after last night's fiasco, so Anglo crossed his arms, his good wing bristling with annoyance, "I repeat, I only come to see England, now will you allow me to see him or not?"

M:   The guards remained firm and wouldn't let him through until Rowen conveniently decided to pop in and see what the fuss is all about.

"I see no reason why a father should be forbidden to see his son," he said, "besides, they are leaving today anyway so there is nothing he could do that would be harmful."

The guards glanced at each other uncertainly, they had their orders but if the captain wanted them to do something else then they kind of had to obey him. Without another word, the guards sheathed their swords and stepped out of Anglo's way.

"Before you go," Rowen said to Anglo, "I was told by King Mandoria that I would be taking in little Johann, as a father do you have any advice of what to do?"

——————

"I think he would love to have you around," Mandara reassured Johann,

"As we said before, he has always wanted a family after his wife passed away, and he always makes time to come play with us or other kids he happens to meet."

Derogan nodded with a smile, "and he would want to help you cope with what happened even if you didn't stay with him, so I believe that it would be beneficial to both of you."

When the kids reached the dining room they saw Saxon sitting at the table eating breakfast. Derogan immediately got protective of Johann and wrapped a wing around him, but since Mandara was still oblivious to what happened he skipped over to the entity and gave him a hug.

"I'm gonna miss you, Sir Saxon," he said innocently, "are you going to come back and visit us?"

N:   Saxon flinched a little when Mandara hugged him, but he grinned down when he saw the prince. "Hello there," he smiled as he placed his fork on the table and tapped his head, "I am going to miss you too, and even if Anglo is not here, he would say the same thing."

"And on the topic of visiting," Saxon continued, he glanced back to see Derogan protecting Johann, most likely from him, and said to Mandara, "I will think about it; I have been given the offer to but it's best I leave the decision making to Anglo."

When he saw that they remained in the room, he guessed that they were going to have breakfast, so Saxon stood up and nodded to Derogan, "I will let you children enjoy your breakfast in peace," then proceeded to leave the hall, leaving his half-eaten breakfast.

As he passed Johann, the boy shrank a little into Derogan's wing but tried to look tough, despite not feeling the strength to be tough. When Saxon had left, he let out a sigh of relief and whispered, "let's eat breakfast."

——————

Anglo thought on the question and replied, "I cannot give you the perfect answer, nor can I give you the right answer for your circumstance, as the bond between a father and son is unique to whoever you ask. But what I can say is to love and cherish Johann no matter what."

"It might sound straightforward now but the moment they become teenagers," he chuckled a bit at the memory of a teenage England, "and that time will come, they will test you every day, but just don't forget your love towards them, and if you don't show it, that's when they walk away from you. Especially for Johann's circumstance, he would feel alone and lonely so you being with him helps."

He patted Rowen on the back and smiled, "but do not worry about it too much, it is a learning experience and I am sure you will be a wonderful father." He nodded at the guards for allowing him entry and made his way straight to England.

M:   "Thank you," Rowen whispered when Anglo walked down the stairs to see England.

He told the guards to start making preparations to let the English prisoners go, and that tomorrow they will be letting the French go too. With the guards up to speed, he predicted that the children would be in the dining hall by now eating breakfast, so he headed over there to see how they are doing.

He contemplated what he would say, he heard from Mandoria and his fellow knights about what happened with Johann and Derogan. He also heard a rumor from the stablehands about Star Dust comforting Johann since she was still sleeping in the hay when they found her this morning, but he wasn't sure how true that was.

When he arrived in the dining room, it was oddly quiet. The three kids were eating but they all had rather glum expressions and sad energies. Derogan decided that keeping Saxony a secret from Mandara wasn't an option since he was bound to hear about it eventually, so even his bubbly spirit was dampened

"Hey little ones, why the long faces," Rowen asked with concern, he already knew the answer but he was still worried about them, he walked up to the table but didn't sit down yet, not wanting to intrude too much.

N:   Johann brightened up slightly when he saw Rowen, but not enough to lift his spirits. He mindlessly moved his food around his plate with his fork. "We had a little run-in with Sir Saxon, that's all," he muttered.

——————

When Anglo reached England's cell, the young country was lying down on his bed, wide awake.

"You sure do know how to cause trouble, almost resembling your father," the winged country said, getting England's attention.

"If it were anyone else, Fa, I would lash out at them for comparing me to Saxon, but since it is you I will not," he stood up from his bed and walked up to the bars, "why are you here, Fa?"

"Smart you didn't shout or you will be lectured," Anglo crossed his arms, his voice stern but grinned, "and why do I have to give a reason for visiting my son who found himself in a dungeon of Mandoria." His smile faltered when he thought about the predicament, "on the topic of imprisonment, do not mention it to British Empire on your own but together, so he could think on a reasonable response."

When he heard this, England pondered on the thought but eventually agreed.

M:   Rowen's expression also turned down when his suspicions were confirmed, "Yeah, I heard about what happened last night," he looked to Derogan, "I really expected better from you young prince."

"You're not my father, Rowen" Derogan grumbled, also playing with his food. Mandara was the only one actually eating but he did look any less depressed than the other two, which troubled Rowen.

He didn't know what to do, he was great with kids and always knew how to make them smile, but he was stumped on how to cheer up the princes and Johann. He absentmindedly gazed around the dining room and his eyes landed on a tapestry with knights on horses, then he got an idea.

"Hey how about we all go on a horse ride around the area, my treat, maybe that will lift your spirits." Mandara's attitude instantly brightened, he loved the horses, he and Derogan had their own that they have been raising and training themselves as a test of responsibility by Mandoria.

"Yes please, can we Derogan," Mandara asked, already looking much more cheerful.

Derogan just shrugged, "only if Johann wants to, I don't want to leave him alone in the castle with Saxon still around." he turned to Johann for his verdict.