M:   Edel sighed and placed a paw around Johann to comfort him, purring a little to tell the boy that everything would be ok, before falling asleep.

It took a long time but Mandara came back with his father, Celtica, England, and several people on horseback. The king took one look down the crater at Edel and knew that they had to act quickly, so he turned to the others and began to give orders.

"Celtica, England, you two go down with the medical supplies and help Anglo treat Edel, the rest of us will try to find a way to get him out of the sinkhole," the king said, "Mandara can direct you down the safest path so you don't fall."

N:   "That is a drop," muttered England as he peeked over the edge, shouldering half of the medical supplies while Celtica carried the other half.  Following Mandara, they were able to safely reach the bottom, and immediately the country repulsed at the sight of the dead bear, and seeing the injured Edel, quickly connected the dots and walked up to his father.

"Thank the gods," Anglo smiled as he saw them coming, wringing his shirt as diluted red liquid squeezed out of it, "it was getting quite hard to treat a dragon with a shirt." He glanced at Johann and said, "he would also need help too."

Celtica nodded, and after placing her stuff on the ground, she went and carried the human boy from the dragon, which he protested to, and laid him down nearby in the grass, using a smooth boulder as a makeshift backrest.

"Let me see what is wrong, I will be as careful as possible," she reassured him as she checked the bruise on his head, and her face scrunched up when she saw its purple hue. She rushed over to the medical supply, grabbed a washcloth, and dampened it with water that was supplied. Coming back, she began to place the cool water on Johann's head, applying it at short intervals, while the boy only stared blankly at the ground.

Meanwhile, England helped Anglo as they began to properly clean up the wounds, and use tons of bandages to stop the flow of blood. Everything from his tail to his head wounds, the countries cleaned and treated the wounds, doing as much as they could for the dragon.

M:   At the top of the sinkhole a plan was being devised to get Edel out, a large cart would be lowered down by ropes tied to horses and wrapped around trees, basically making a make-shift elevator, and when Edel is secured to the cart the horses and humans will pull him up.

While the knights rode off to get the necessary supplies, Edel had woken up to England and Anglo treating him but he didn't make it easy for them. He winced and growled in pain when they touched his wounds and he didn't help much when they had to roll him over to treat the other side.

The worse was his tail, the left fin was shredded and not even properly attached, just hanging by pieces of the membrane now. When Anglo touched it to get a better look at the damage Edel howled so loud it echoed off the stone walls of the sinkhole, the dragon then moved his tail away from the country, not wanting him to touch it anymore.

N:   "Come on, Edel," England spoke as he crouched next to him, "he needs to see your tail. It may hurt now, but leaving it untreated would only lead it to be infected, so you need to trust us that we can help you."

Anglo stood, scratching his chin as he looked at the fin, and he said, "I don't think the fin can remain as it is. It has to come off, otherwise it is a literal dead-weight and it can catch onto something." He searched through the medical supply and found a sharp surgical knife, and glanced up to England, "Is he up to it?"

"I'm not sure," the younger Englishman replied, and he faced the dragon, "It will all be over before you know it." He patted Edel's few unwounded scales, "Are you up to it?"

M:   Edel groaned reluctantly at the thought of them cutting off his tail fin, but he understood the consequences of leaving it as it was. The dragon lifted his head and thrust it into England like a dog would during a thunderstorm, just needing the extra comfort at the moment.

Mandara, who was with Johann and Celtica, overheard the two English countries and looked over at them, grimacing at Edel's state. He decided to leave Johann in Celtica's capable hands and went over to help keep him calm.

"It's ok Edel," he hushed the reptile, softly petting his muzzle, "we're going to get you out of here soon, I promise."

Edel attempted to smile at Mandara's words but started whining as Anglo began to cut his dead tail fin. When Edel tried to look Mandara held his head firmly, "no don't look buddy, just focus on me," the boy then started to sing to help calm the dragon.

"Let's go in the garden,

You'll find something waiting

Right there where you left, it lying upside down,

When you finally find it, you'll see how it's faded,

The underside is lighter when you turn it around.

Everything stays right where you left it,

Everything stays, but it still changes

Ever so slightly, daily and nightly

In little ways, when everything stays.

Go down to the ocean,

The crystal tide is raising,

Waters' gotten higher, as the shore washes out,

Keep your eyes wide open, even when the sun is blazin',

The moon controls the tide, it can cause you to drown.

Everything stays, right where you've left it,

Everything stays, but it still changes,

Ever so slightly, daily and nightly,

In little ways, when everything stays."

N:   England cradled Edel's head, stroking his fur as he listened to Mandara singing. After a while, he figured out the tune and began to hum along, comforting the dragon by giving him reassuring pats.

Anglo worked carefully as he cut away the fin, stopping every so often whenever Edel would flick his tail. Finally, holding up the dead fin, he cut the last membrane attached to the tail, stood up, grabbed a clean washcloth, and cleaned the wound thoroughly. "There you go," he said, patting the dragon's tail, "all done."

M:   Edel sighed in relief, making Mandara pat his head in comfort. The boy then turned to where Mandoria was and saw a cart being lowered into the sinkhole, he understood what it was for and told the others, "we need to find a way to get Edel over to that cart, it's going to pull him up."

As Mandara said that, Edel started moving, trying to crawl over to Johann to make sure he was ok.

N:   Johann was leaning against Celtica since he was uncomfortable leaning against a rock, and his eyes were half-closed while she placed the cloth against his head. "It's ok, Edel," the boy said quietly, although his appearance suggested otherwise, "just stay where you are. You are more injured than I am so I should be taking care of you."

When Edel did eventually reach Johann, the boy only smiled as he slowly patted the dragon, "nice to see that you are awake," and soon he closed his eyes and slept from the headache.

"How do we take him," asked England as he stood up, "it is not as if we could lift him up with our bare hands."

M:   Mandara put a hand to his chin as he thought about that, he doubted that they could move Edel without horses and there was no way the animals could get down the steep and narrow ledges of the sinkhole. He then looked to Johann and Edel and got an idea.

"What if we use Johann to lure Edel to the cart," he offered, "you saw how he crawled over to him, if we move Johann over there he may follow, it's worth a shot."

N:   "That could work," wondered Celtica, so she gently lifted up Johann in her arms, and walked backwards towards the crate. Since he was asleep, his hand that he used to pat Edel fell limply as he was carried up, resting his head against her as he slept.

M:   Edel whimpered as Johann was taken away and desperately tried to stand to follow him, but couldn't find his footing and fell down.

"Easy Edel," Mandara said, going over and petting his head, "just take it nice and slow, crawl on your stomach like you're stalking prey."

Edel grumbled in agreement and very slowly started dragging himself after Celtica and Johann, and by the time they made it, he didn't have enough energy to get onto the cart. Mandara took a few ropes that were going to secure the dragon to the cart and tied them around him, then gave two to Anglo and flew with his own two, trying to pull Edel onto the cart.

N:   Anglo held the ropes tightly as he also took off, flying so that he could lift Edel just slightly above the ground so that they don't drag him along the floor. He pulled on each rope equally, so he wouldn't put too much strain on the dragon, and after much struggling, they pulled him into the cart.

Celtica didn't step into the cart, and since she had Johann, knew that Edel would want to be with him, so he asked, "Anglo, could you carry Johann and fly up to the top, so Edel could meet him up there?" The winged country nodded, so he quickly packed up the medical supplies, and stretched out his hands for the Celt to hand over the boy.

M:   While they did that, Mandara and England made sure Edel was tied securely to the cart and he wouldn't fall out, then Mandara flew up and told Mandoria they were ready to pull him out.

"Alright, can you do me a big favor and help pull the cart up," Mandoria asked, "you and Anglo are the only ones who can fly and we'll need all the help we can get."

"Yeah, we'll help," Mandara agreed, taking some spare ropes. When Anglo came up with Johann, Mandoria took the boy so he would be safe while the country helped Mandara.

The two flying countries tied their ropes to the cart and Mandara yelled up that they were ready. Mandoria told the knights to move, the horses pulled the ropes and the cart started slowly rising towards the top.

N:   Anglo flapped his wings as fast as he could, beating them as he pulled on the rope. When the cart was only halfway, his arms already felt sore from the strain, yet he kept at it. It felt as if he was pulling the rope for hours, and he was going to let go since the rope was rubbing against his hands when he heard that Edel had finally reached the top.

Landing back on the ground, he looked at his hands and noticed blisters all over his palms, and sighed. "You held the rope wrong," England said, who climbed out of the sinkhole while he was pulling, "you allowed the rope to slip."

"I can tell," Anglo mumbled, showing his red hands, "and it hurts." England rolled his eyes and grabbed a paste in the medical bag and layered it on his palms.

"There, that should help with the pain," the country said, then he looked at Anglo's vest, "and get a shirt."

M:   Mandara's hands weren't any better, he held the rope with it wrapped around his wrist but that made it dig into his flesh and rubbed it so raw that one of his wrists started bleeding. While the knights hooked up some of the horses to the cart, Mandoria gave Johann back to Celtica and started treating his son, "I'm sorry Mandara, I wouldn't have asked you to do that if I knew it would hurt you." He apologized.

"It's ok Father, I would have done it anyway to help Edel," Mandara said, he looked up at the evening sky as stars started to appear, "though we should probably go home now, more bears might come now that it's getting dark."

Mandoria nodded in agreement and ushered Mandara to Xanthos, but when he overheard England telling Anglo to put a shirt on he stopped. He untied his cape and handed it to the winged country, "here, it's probably much more preferable than wearing a blood-soaked shirt."

N:   "Thank you," Anglo thanked, and when he wore the cape, he felt it weigh down his shoulders from its large size. When he walked, the bottom would drag along the ground due to their height difference, so he would pick it up so he wouldn't ruin it.

England chuckled a little when he saw his father clumsily carry the bottom of the cape, so Anglo said, "At least it's warm and I could completely wrap myself." The country only chuckled a little more before he joined Celtica and each mounted a horse. Celtica, since she didn't want to risk dropping Johann, rode with a knight, while Anglo kept the cape off the ground.

M:   When he was sure everyone was situated, Mandoria led the group back to the castle, looking back every now and then to make sure they were all ok.

When they arrived, Rowen was waiting for them in the stables, Saxon still sleeping in the infirmary. Mandara jumped off of Xanthos and started explaining in detail what happened since he couldn't the first time.

"Johann fell and gotten a pretty bad concussion but he should be ok," Mandara reassured the captain, "Edel has been following him wherever we take him so we could bring him into the castle that way."

Rowen nodded, he went over to Celtica and took the child into his arms, upset that he was hurt but was confident that he would be ok. When Edel saw this he whimpered and crawled out of the cart toward the two humans, so Rowen started slowly leading him to the dining room where he already prepared a cozy spot for the dragon to rest.

N:   The British countries followed behind Edel, keeping their distance as the dragon slowly made his way to the dining hall. While Anglo walked, he let the cape drag on the floor and felt slightly weird wearing Mandoria's cape in his castle, but he didn't have a spare shirt so he kept on walking until they reached the room.

England quickly led his father to a seat where he properly treated his hands. Using the medical equipment, he cleaned any cuts his father could have gained and finally wrapped them with bandages. When he was done, he silently grabbed the equipment and left to return it to the infirmary.

M:   When Edel finally dragged himself over to where Rowen wanted him to go, he knelt down to let the dragon see that Johann was ok. Edel flopped onto his belly and huffed, sniffing the unconscious boy and gently licking his cheek like he was trying to wake him up. Rowen smiled and grabbed a pillow he brought, laying it against the dragon and Johann against the pillow, Edel immediately curled around him and used his wing like a blanket for Johann.

"Guess we're staying here tonight," Rowen chuckled ruefully, "I'm sure Titan and Lyra can take care of themselves for one night," he carefully ran a hand through Johann's hair and looked up to the countryhumans, "thank you for bringing them both home, I don't know how I could ever repay you all."