M: Edel looked more interested in following England as he tried to bolt for him, but was once again stopped by Star Dust snorting in disapproval.

"I think he would much rather stay with England," Rowen chuckled while patting the dragon's shoulder, "hang in there, big guy, we can go inside after we put away the horses."

Edel grunted and plopped down to wait, still staring at the way England had gone.

Inside the castle, Mandara had been with Mandoria this whole time, he was pretty traumatized about watching someone die right in front of him so he just huddled with his father on his bed, who was also talking to Saxon and Celtica about what happened.

"I can not begin to tell you how sorry I am that I was blind to the fact that the Prussians have been here for so long, if I knew they were you wouldn't have had to put up with my problems."

N: Saxon shook his head, "You never knew and, frankly enough, would have not probably survived if you went, so it was better that we went."

"And Saxon was the one who spotted me too," added Celtica, but she turned when she heard someone enter, and the entered country eyes widened when he saw them.

"What the bloody hell happened," he said, scanning the room and seeing Mandara clinging to Mandoria and Celtica in the room, "Celtica, why are you here?"

She didn't have time to answer when the younger Englishman saw his father's face and muttered, "Where's Fa?" The Celt was about to answer when the country rushed out of the room, soon followed by Saxon.

M: Derogan was with Anglo, he heard what happened and went to make sure he was ok. Originally he was just sitting outside the older country's room like a guard, but he started feeling fear in his wings and went in to investigate. Anglo was still asleep but was whimpering in his sleep while flapping his wings in distress from a nightmare.

Derogan sighed tiredly and pulled a chair over to the bedside, he shared a room with Mandara so became pretty good at calming someone down without waking them. He ran a gentle hand over Anglo's back while making reassuring hushes, slowly moving up to his wings once they stopped flapping and started to preen them, something that always calms a winged country.

N: Anglo gradually calmed down, his breathing slowing down to a steady rate, and his wings slightly fluffed up on their own from Derogan's preening. However, despite being asleep, his wing closest to the door flicked as if he sensed someone coming.

England was about to run into the room when Saxon grabbed him by the shoulder, warning him to not go in. "Why," the country answered, shrugging off his hand, "what happened?"

"Anglo was shot in the back and-," the entity began but was interrupted by a loud "what!" from England. He hushed him before he continued.

"He was shot in the back, but then it began to rain, and the rain appeared to heal him completely, and everyone alive who was in contact with the rain." He still saw the worried face of his son, so he comforted him, "listen, he's asleep now, resting from the experience, so you need to let him rest."

The country calmed down a bit and opened the door as quietly as possible, and despite knowing that he was fine, his heart sank when he saw Anglo lying on the bed. He came to the bedside opposite Derogan and crouched down. Resting his head on the bed, he stretched out his hand and held his father's hand tightly.

M: Derogan looked up from preening and watched as England walked in and crouched by Anglo, it reminded him of himself and his father not too long ago, yesterday in fact. Derogan didn't say anything for a while, still focusing on Anglo's wings, but did eventually speak in a quiet and tired voice.

"The Prussians have been hiding by the farmers for a long time," he explained, "they used one of them to provide them food, or else they would kill his family. They killed his son when he couldn't keep up with demand so he had to start stealing from his neighbor, which started the dispute that everyone went to fix. The Prussians were watching the whole time and one had a very good shot at Saxon, had the oppressed farmer not pushed him out of the way and taken the bullet instead, you'd have ended up with one Father, maybe not even that if Mandara hadn't prayed for a miracle to save Anglo."

Anglo started whimpering again so Derogan gently massaged his shoulder joint to calm him down, which did the trick very well, "he's been restless ever since they came back, so I've been keeping him calm."

N: "I wouldn't be surprised," Saxon said as he sat next, helping Derogan calm Anglo down, "having to go through a near-death experience and just come out at the end, takes a toll on someone."

England only stared at the entity, and after hearing what the prince said, imagining if both his fathers were not there in front of him right now, he muttered, "May the farmer and his family rest in peace, and I'm forever in his debt, along with Mandara."

"I'm not worth it," Saxon commented as he absentmindedly preened Anglo's wings, causing him to hum quietly in contentment, but the younger country countered.

"Although you may not be worth anything to yourself," he spoke, "you are still my Faeder, someone who took care of me in my times of trouble, and someone to sing me to sleep. And I don't bloody care what you say, I'm not losing either you or Fa, so stop acting like I'm one of your acquaintances and act like an actual father." He then turned his head towards the winged country's face, away from the entity, and closed his eyes as he gently squeezed his father's hand, as if telling him that he was not alone.

M: Now that Anglo was in good hands, Derogan felt ok to leave, picking up the discarded feathers before heading out. He just aimlessly walked around, not going anywhere in particular when he heard a faint yet very surprised scream come from the dining hall, he ran and was met with a very confusing sight.

Edel grew tired of waiting and ran inside to try to find England, but instead, he ran into Celtica. He could apparently smell something on her that reminded him of England so he decided to adopt her too, pushing her to the ground and roosting on top of her while she was squirming to get away.

Rowen and Johann ran in at that moment and the adult tried to get the dragon off of her, "Edel no, it was funny when you did it to England but you can't keep sitting on everyone, get off."

"I'm not even going to ask," Derogan said tiredly, walking away while shouting, "Father, Rowen brought a dragon home and it's sitting on Celtica!"

N: Celtica tried to wriggle herself out but the dragon stayed put, and eventually she gave up, and yelled, "Could someone explain what on Earth is happening?" She plopped her head on the floor and mumbled, "my day has surely been eventful."

"Lady Celtica," Johann asked, confused why she was there, but quickly answered, "Long story short, Edel the drachan here came from a stone statue of the god Empyr, who the Mayor's cousin tried to use against the Mayor, we were able to stop him and we brought Edel here." He tried to put on a comforting smile, "now, he has officially adopted you."

"And this happened to England," she asked, to which the boy gave an uneasy nod, and shrugged.

"He's a very friendly drachan," he said before patting on the dragon, "I agree with Sir Rowen, you can't be sitting on everyone Edel. When we find England, then you can have him, ok? But you have to get off Lady Celtica."

"About England," the Celt chimed in, "he found out about Anglo, so you might have to give him some space before you get him and make him this dragon's pet."

M: "I don't know about pet, I personally think Edel adopted him with the way he was roosting on him," Rowen chuckled, trying to push Edel off the country, "I guess you have been adopted too, why did the dragon have to pick the ones who aren't staying here?"

With one more push he finally bothered Edel enough to get him to move, then helped unpaste Celtica from the floor, "terribly sorry about that, he has the mentality of a puppy it seems, guess we have a lot of training ahead of us since little Mr. Dragon Tamer decided he wanted to keep him, right Johann."

N: "Hundred percent," Johann smiled, then proceeded to hug the dragon, "how could you not love him? His fur is so soft that I can sleep in it."

"Is that so," Celtica smirked, then she tentatively approached Edel, afraid he was going to pounce on her again. She reached out her hand and started to stroke his fur, "he is a beauty. Maybe when Saxon sees this, he would finally believe that the Loch Ness Monster, or Nessy as I call it, is real."

She faced Sir Rowen and Johann and asked, "How exactly are you going to train Edel? It's not as if there is a book on how to train a dragon?"

M: "Can't be harder than training any other animal," Rowen shrugged, "you give them positive reinforcement when they do something good and reprimand them when they do something bad, one of my knights commented that that's how you raise children too, I could never vouch for that but guess now I'll finally get to test it out with Johann in my custody."

N: "Test out?", Johann yelped, glancing back at Rowen, "I'm not a guinea pig. Besides, my parents did a good job already so I won't be that much trouble for you."

"Sure," Celtica smirked, "and after what I heard what you did to England's breakfast, you still got your troublemaker side."

Behind her, she hears some footsteps approaching, followed by a question. "Why the hell is there a dragon in the castle?" She turned around seeing an entity stare dumbfounded at the reptile, and she smiled, silently asking him a question.

Saxon looked at her, and shook his head, "No, I'm still not going to believe the Loch Ness Monster is real." She pouted mockingly and he repeated, "I haven't seen it and I will not swim the lake to find it." He looked back at Edel and noticed that he was moving towards him, so he took some steps backward. The moment he saw the dragon ready to pounce, he sprinted away towards the grounds.

M: Unfortunately, Edel was much faster and quickly caught up with Saxon, grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt and trotting back to the dining hall like a dog bringing back a ball to his owner. This went on about three more times until Edel got Saxon to hold still long enough to perch on him.

Rowen was having too much fun to stop Edel so he just watched, and when the dragon finally sat on him he stood up and gave him "positive reinforcement"

"That's a good Edel, did you catch the big bad insurgent, he got what he deserves didn't he," he said while scratching his scales, which made Edel completely fall and roll over on top of Saxon for belly scratches.

N: Johann immediately jumped forward and scratched Edel's belly, laughing as he saw the Head of Insurgents squashed like a pancake underneath a dragon. "Who's a good drachen," he chuckled, "the one who defeated the insurgent. Yes, that's you!"

While the boy gave the dragon belly rubs, Celtica approached the flattened entity, making sure that she didn't get knocked over by Edel's swaying tail. "How is it under there?" the Celt teased, "Must be quite comfy, huh?" Saxon, since his face was buried in the dragon's fur, could only mumble some nice words, and then pulled up his middle finger right at her face.

"Now, now, Saxon," she laughed, "that is not how we act when we are sat on by a dragon. We must remain calm and collected."

M: "What in the world," a voice exclaimed from the doorway.

Everyone, even Edel, looked up to see Mandoria standing there with Mandara and Derogan standing behind him.

"It's not what it looks like, Sire," Rowen said, "it's a very long story, a statue of Empyr was enchanted to be brought to life and this giant puppy dog was the result of it. Edel, don't jump on him please, King Mandoria has been through too much for your antics."

Edel wasn't listening to Rowen, he just stared at Mandoria like he was the most fascinating thing in the world. He got off of Saxon and took a few cautionary steps toward the king.

"It's been so long since I have seen your kind, dear Drackin," Mandoria smiled, "I hope I remember how to greet you properly."

Mandoria took a step forward and slowly bowed his head to show he is not a threat, after a moment Edel bowed his head too. The winged king stood straight and slowly approached, raising his hand up to Edel's face. Edel stood still like he had returned to stone, but once Mandoria looked away from him he moved his snout into the king's hand, purring at the contact.

"Well, I'm glad some things don't change," Mandoria breathed gently stroking Edel's nose and cheek.

N: "Woah," Johann said with awe, "King Mandoria is the Drachen master." He walked up to the winged country and asked, "could you teach me what you did?"

While they were talking, Saxon unglued himself from the ground, his creased from being sat on, and he darted a look at Celtica, "what the hell just happened?"

"You were either defeated by Edel, or adopted by him, but probably the former," she smiled, causing the entity to roll his eyes. "Also," she added, "now you better believe that Nessy is real."

"Over my dead body," he snapped, but then his eyes widened when the Celt started to push him towards the dragon. The entity struggled against the country, his feet scraping against the floor, trying in vain to get away. "OK," he shouted, scared that he was going to be sat on, "FInE, Nessy is real, ok?" It's real."

M: "Nessy huh, is that what you call the sea dragon in Loch Ness," Mandoria asked, stepping aside to let his sons meet Edel, "she's a rather fine lady, very respective even if she is shy, she told me that her birth name was Felicity but she didn't mind the nickname your people have given her."

"When were you in Scotland?" Rowen asked.

"So long ago that I can't begin to remember," Mandoria said, "oh how I miss the days of old, when dragons flew freely and one could find magical creatures in every forest or body of water, I admit that my first love was a siren of the sea, which turned out that she only wanted to drown me but what can I say, siren songs are enchanting for a reason."

"That is incredible Father," Mandara said as he was petting Edel's fur, "why have you never told us about that?"

"Because the world has changed my son," the king sighed sadly, "such creatures are now simply fairytales and myths, existing only in the minds of 'crazy old fools' like me," he sat down in a chair and sighed again, "I love and respect humans, but when you get to be as old as me and see the world crumble away by their hands, you start to wonder why they exist if not to destroy anything that makes this planet beautiful."

N: "You," Celtica began, shaking her head, "a 'crazy old fool'? If so, what are the rest of us, insane? I do believe in such creatures; however, I was only able to see them disappear, no longer populating the Earth until a few remained. I only hope that the rest were able to find a place to continue to live."

She walked up to the dragon and stroked his fur, "my father once gave me stories about creatures that he met in his time traveling, ranging from twelve-foot giants to the tiniest of nymphs. The moment he found Nessy, he made it his mission that I learn everything it is to take from her, and when I had Scotland, I taught him the same."

"I only saw a few creatures," Saxon admitted, "I could only imagine that I saw a centaur when I was on a campaign with my Vater in Achaia, but he dismissed it as a trick of the light."

"It was the damn Roman Empire," the Celt grumbled, "wanting to monopolize on the knowledge and depriving the regions near him and the lands he conquered about the amazing creatures' existence." She sat down on the floor and speculated, "Imagine if Anglo's parents," she turned to the entity, but he shook his head, "alright, not your father, and my father was still here to tell us about the Ancient times. All the knowledge we lost."

She looked up to the winged kingdom, "you, sire, are truly one of a kind. To have lived all this time, to have lived in that time," she stopped and looked at the grass, imagining a world that her father once described.

M: "That doesn't make me feel better Celtica, "Mandoria mumbled, "one of a kind, do you realize how lonely that is, to be the last of your kind? Back when I was a boy us countries were called Eternals, I knew countries who had magical powers, the ability to bend the elements to their will or to see things no one else saw. Others were the very definition of certain magical creatures; centaurs, werewolves, satyrs, even mermaids. This world has been torn apart so much that it had driven us to extinction, except for me"

Mandoria was very upset by this topic, Rowen could tell just by the tone of his voice and the tiny droplets welling up in the corner of the king's eyes. Before he could comfort him, Mandoria stood up, though his wings hung lower than usual.

"Excuse me please, I ... I need some time alone," he said, then left, wiping his eyes along the way.

Mandara and Derogan didn't like seeing their father upset, but they didn't know how to help him as this was all beyond them.

"I don't think Father should be alone, Mandara said worriedly, "someone who understands this better than us should go help him."

N: "No, w-wait," Celtica stuttered, getting up on her feet, "I didn't mean - argh," she buried her head in her hands, "I made it worse."

"You could go to him and make it better," Saxon suggested, but she shook her head.

"I'll just make it worse," she replied, and sighed, "I'm going to go and see Anglo, checking if he's ok." With that, the green country silently left, leaving the rest of the group.

After some consideration, the entity spoke up, "I will go. I know I'm not the most qualified, but the person who probably could have left." Without listening to any reply, the entity speed-walked in the direction the King Wing went.

Eventually, he found the country in the library, wings spread out on the couch as he watched the fire flicker from the wood. Slowly approaching him, he grabbed a chair and placed it in front of the fireplace, remembering the last time he sat on the couch with the country.

"I'm not going to pretend that I know the position you're in, or that I could fully understand, but I know how it feels to be alone." He sat down and made himself comfortable. "I don't know if you are familiar with the term of an 'emerged countryhuman', but it is simply a countryhuman with no biological parents, instead we call the Earth our parent. We, to put it bluntly, emerge from the earth, in the body of a six or seven year old, and survive to live by ourselves. I remember clearly when I emerged, the only thing on my mind was to survive, and it would take years before I was discovered. Every emerged countryhuman experiences a state of loneliness, and for the most part, think that they are the only one of their kind for years before another countryhuman finds them."

The entity shifted in his seat as he continued, "even after I found a family, the moment I became an entity, I became an outcast from the people of my kind, and even the insurgents I am in charge of sometimes don't respect me as I wasn't an insurgent before. Despite being surrounded, I was alone, and looking at a reflection of myself doesn't help."

He looked up to Mandoria and said, "I tell you all this because, even with all this, I have someone I can love, a family of my own, and people who I would lay down my life for. I'm surrounded, and despite being the only entity in the world, I am not alone. Through everything, you, Mandoria, have two wonderful sons, surrounded by people who love you, and despite the millennia that you probably lived, even if you are the only kind, you are not alone. You never will."

M: Mandoria was silent, not even acknowledging Saxon's presence, he just kept staring into the fire as he listened to the entity's speech.

"I know," he said when Saxon was finished, "I know that I'm never truly alone, I love my sons and my people dearly and I know that they would be there for me in my darkest times, but it's still hard to watch your world die and another take its place. I knew not who my parents were, my earliest memories were of me being raised by a Manticore who bonded with a Naga, but I don't remember their names or faces. As I grew up and traveled across Europe, I watched the magic slowly draining as more and more humans started appearing, I was heartbroken and wanted them to suffer for their actions, killing them whenever I came across one."

Mandoria rubbed his forehead as he tried to remember his early life so many thousands of years ago, "I was found by Shang Dynasty and adopted, even though I was more or less an adult by then, he taught me everything I know and more, made me the man I am today, but he is long dead, so many generations of friends and family are, and there's just so much one man can take before he can be surrounded but alone, not wanting to make those connections because they will all leave him anyway."

N: Saxon nodded, turning back to the fire, turning over Mandoria's words in his head.

"I understand what you mean," he responded, "but not making the connections, as much as you don't want to, means that you are not living; you are surviving. Things come and go, and countryhumans like us, we know the affect of death the most from living our long lives, but to cut yourself off from the people around you means you're surviving, and having to live the life of a survivor for centuries is not a life worth living. 'Live life to the fullest' was something Anglo told me when I became an entity, 'every broken pot has its scars, but that is never an excuse to bring the pieces together again and to bring it back to life."

M: Mandoria nodded, "I know, I do have connections with people, don't get me wrong, it's just hard to keep them when you know they'll just die and leave you."

He sighed and went silent for a while, just staring at the smoldering embers of the fire.

"I know that my time on this earth is running out," he suddenly said, "I've lived longer than any other creature on this planet, I've seen things that people only dream of seeing, and all of that will come to an end when King Prussia challenges me. I don't expect to win, he's stronger and younger, his ambition and skills are admirable and his cruelty and ruthlessness are fearsome, no matter how hard I fight I know that it will only end one way. My only fear is the fate of my sons when the time comes, I don't know when he will come so for all I know they could still be children, vulnerable and unable to defend themselves, how can I make peace with my end if they could meet theirs on the same day?"

N: Saxon was slightly shocked by the sudden change and only hummed along to what Mandoria said.

"If it would help," the entity suggested, "I could keep Prussia occupied as long as possible, diverting as much attention as possible from your Kingdom to focus on my work. It would at least give your sons time to learn how to protect themselves and fight, and live until adulthood with you. However, as a father, I understand your concern for your children, but all I could hope for is that I could provide you some peace of mind."

M: Mandoria stared at him as he contemplated his offer and smiled.

"Thank you, I don't care what people say about you and your insurgent ways, you are someone who l can truly trust, someone I can call a friend, and I will always be grateful for that."

"Father, are you ok," a little voice asked from the doorway.

"Yes, I am fine Mandara," Mandoria reassured him as the kid came closer, "Saxon and I were just talking."

Mandara nodded and climbed up into his father's lap and snuggled into his feathers, "you've been talking for a long time, everyone ate dinner already and Johann and Rowen went home."

"Well, when someone is going through things they often need a while to think things over," he said, then looked to Saxon, "but it's good to have a friend who is willing to listen."

N: The entity half bowed in respect, "it's an honor to be your friend, as it is to call you mine." He stood up and stretched out his legs, feeling stiff from sitting down for a long time, "I might skip dinner and just go straight to bed. It's been quite an eventful day and I would like to rest and recharge." Saxon bid both Mandoria and Mandara goodnight and made his way towards Anglo's room.

When he entered, the first person he saw was Celtica slumped on a chair opposite the bed, half-dozed while trying to keep watch over the winged country. He faced the bed and softly smiled when he saw England lying next to Anglo, covered by the winged country's wing as a sort of blanket. Walking towards her, the entity gently shook the Celt awake, telling her that she could go to her room. She nodded, still slightly glum from before, and quietly made her way to her room.

Once she left, Saxon made his way to England, who was fast asleep, and gently picked him, and noticed that Anglo became restless from being disconnected from his son. "He has to go to his room," he whispered to Anglo, then carried his son bridal style to his bed, laying him down and covering him up.

Once he was able to take England to bed, he returned to Anglo and saw him shivering, despite there being no breeze in the room, so the entity slid into the bed and preened the country's wings, calming him down. Still asleep, Anglo moved towards the entity and covered him with his wing, placing his head on the other's lap, getting the other to smile.

He continued to comfort the winged country until he became tired himself, but by then he was practically trapped and couldn't move, so he closed his eyes. Head lolling, the entity soon fell asleep.

M: Mandoria similarly didn't feel like eating, he sat with Mandara until the kid fell asleep and carried him to his room where Derogan and oddly enough Edel were sound asleep.

Smiling, the tired king tucked in his sons and kissed them good night, gave Edel a small head scratch, then retired to his room, but before he went to bed he decided to write a letter, a letter to British Empire that explained everything that happened, from Saxon being rescued, to England being captured, to the rogue nations and the several Prussian attacks. When he was done he folded it up and went to his balcony, he called like an owl and a great grey owl came over and landed on the balcony.

"Hello Storm Cloud, I have a favor to ask," Mandoria said, holding out the letter, "could you please take this to my good friend British Empire, I would really appreciate it."

The owl hooted in agreement and took the letter in his beak, immediately flying off for the British Isles. Mandoria watched him fly until he was out of sight, then finally got into bed and fell asleep.