fifteen years later...

It was a warm summer day in the country of Mandara, and Mandara himself was in the capitol building discussing forming an alliance with United Nations.

"Thank you so much for coming UN, I appreciate that you took the time to meet with me,"  Mandara greeted, shaking UN's hand as he walked into the conference room.  Mandara had to keep from gawking at the full-time entity, for he always admired UN and his magnificent wings of pure white.

"It wasn't any trouble," UN said, his deep yet delicate voice sending shivers down Mandara's spine.  "I have actually been looking forward to officially meeting you in person, Prince Mandara."

Mandara blushed slightly at UN calling him a prince, which he hasn't been called that in over two centuries.

"Please don't call me that," Mandara said awkwardly but in good nature, "it feels weird hearing that coming from you, just Mandara is fine."

UN nodded respectfully, "Of course, whatever is comfortable for you." he then gazed at the conference table behind Mandara, "shall we sit down and get things started?"

"Yes, of course we can," Mandara said, moving out of the way so UN could sit down at the head of the table, with Mandara sitting next to him on his right.  A worker then walked out from the corner they were waiting in and set a tray down on the table, the tray had a teapot and two cups.

"I heard that you enjoyed tea so I had the chef prepare us some," Mandara said as the worker poured the steaming tea into the cups, walking out the room when they were done.

"Thank you, I appreciate the gesture," UN said, taking his cup, with Mandara doing the same. "So tell me Mandara, what made you interested in wanting to join my organization?" he asked, his sky blue eyes flashing with interest.

"Well, ever since WWII we have been wanting to expand our trade relations to a global level instead of remaining continental, and I believe the United Nations could help us achieve that goal," Mandara responded, he knew that UN would ask that so he made sure it was a well-rehearsed answer that he would say.

UN hummed, sipping his tea before responding, "You made a good choice Mandara, my organization specializes in developing international relations with all countries, even if they are not a part of it.  Though I am curious, if you wanted to develop global connections since WWII, why only now come to me, why not before?"

Mandara didn't answer right away, that was not a question he had prepared for, and it was referring to the years between 1945 and today, years that he would much rather forget.  However, despite his hesitance, Mandara forced himself to try to answer anyway.

"Um, b-because back then I was having difficult relations with U-" the word caught in Mandara's throat as he tried to say it, he never could get over the fear he felt whenever he said or heard the words U.S.S.R or Soviet, so he found himself facing away from UN, unwilling to finish his statement.

UN on his end stared at the Mandarian with both concern and slight guilt, Ussr helped found his organization after WWII, so he knew about him and the things he did, including the things he did to Mandara.

"I'm sorry," the entity apologized after a moment of silence, "I did not intend to bring back any dark memories, I know what happened between you and him and I should have known better than to ask about it."

Mandara looked back to UN and gave him a small nod, "It's alright, I apologize for being so sensitive, but maybe we could avoid that topic, please."

"Of course, I won't bring it up again." UN said, "do you need a minute, or shall we continue discussing your joining of the United Nations?"

"No we can keep going, I'll be fine," Mandara reassured him, so they went on with the meeting as planned.

About an hour later, UN and Mandara were wrapping up the meeting and they were just about to begin the processes of officially initiating the nation of Mandara into the United Nations, but the doors to the conference room burst open, startling them both.  The two turned to the doors and saw Poland standing there, panting like he just ran a mile.

"Poland, what are you doing here, is something wrong?" Mandara asked with concern, Poland knew he was meeting with UN so the fact that he barged in had to mean that something was wrong, but that wasn't the case.

"Mandy," Poland exclaimed, trying to catch his breath, "Mandy you have to come outside right now, he did it, he's flying!"

Mandara's eye glowed with surprise and joy, he turned to UN, "I am so sorry UN, but I have to go, I can't miss this."

UN smiled and nodded in understanding, and that was all the permission Mandara needed before he stood up and bolted out the conference room, with Poland hot on his tail feathers.

The two ran outside of the entrance to the capitol building and skidded to a halt at the top of the stairs, in front of them was MA standing on the ground looking up at something, that something was a young winged country flying right above him.

Mandara smiled at the sight in front of him and he and Poland ran down the steps towards the two.  MA and the young country heard them coming and looked in their direction, the kid waved at the countries and stopped flapping his blue jay-like wings, falling into MA's waiting arms.

"Papa, Daddy, did you see me, I flew, I flew!" the kid exclaimed, crawling out of MA's arms and running to meet Mandara and Poland at the foot of the steps.

"I did bud!" Mandara said ecstatically, lifting his son to hold him, "Looks like Uncle MA's lessons are finally paying off, huh."

"Yes, they are." MA said, walking up to the three, "Poldara is a fast learner, faster than you Trigger."

Mandara rolled his eyes but focused on Poldara, "I'm so proud of you buddy, pretty soon you'll flying alongside your dads and Uncle MA."

"And Uncle Kazakhstan." Poldara reminded him, earning a chuckle from everyone.

"I will also be looking forward to having a new pair of wings in the sky." a voice came from behind the group, everyone turned to see UN walking down the steps.  He stopped in front of the family and looked down at the kid in Mandara's arms, "so you must be Poldara, I have heard quite a bit about you."

Poldara didn't respond, he was too busy gawking at the angle-like figure standing in front of him.  The adults all chuckled at the kid's bewildered expression, who then tried to reach for UN's wings.  UN also chuckled and moved his wing closer so Poldara could touch it, the five-year-old always had a fascination with wings, even though he had some of his own.  While Poldara occupied himself with UN's wing, the full-time entity continued his meeting with Mandara.

"Well, it seems that everything is in order," UN announced after a bit, "all that's left to do is make the connection." He held out his hand to Mandara. 

Mandara exchanged glances with Poland and MA, then turned back to UN and took his hand, which wasn't easy since he was still holding his son.  When the two connected hands, Mandara felt an electric shiver run through his body, causing his feathers to fluff up in response.  The floating symbol above UN's head glowed brightly for a second, then dimmed back down to its normal shimmer.  After a moment more the two let go of each other's hands,

"Mandara, you are now an official member of the United Nations, it will be a great pleasure working with you in the future," UN said.

Poland gave a small applause for his husband's achievement, and MA smiled and pat his brother's shoulder.

"Thank you, UN." Mandara said, "I also look forward to working with you."  he looked at his son, "What do you think Poldara, you excited to see more of Mr. UN?"

Poldara nodded vigorously while still holding UN's wing.  Everyone laughed at the kid's enthusiasm, then Mandara made him let go of the white feathers.

"Thank you again for stopping by UN, and know that you are always welcome here whenever you wish," Mandara said.

"Thank you, I will be sure to visit often since this little tyke seems to like my wings." UN joked, rubbing Poldara's head and causing him to laugh.  He retracted his hand and gazed at his watch, "however I'm afraid I must be off, it was a pleasure doing business with you Mandara."

Mandara nodded in agreement and shook UN's hand in farewell, with UN doing the same to Poland and MA before walking away, but before he took to the skies, he turned back to the family.

"I know I promised not to speak about it, but considering everything that happened to you Mandara, I want to say that you are a very lucky man.  You survived a journey through hell itself and not only did you make it out alive, but you fought through the lasting effects and thrived to create a family.  Not many countries can say the same, and I will always admire you for that."

With that, UN unfurled his wings and took off with one strong beat.  Poland and the Mandarians watched him fly away until he was no longer visible, then Mandara turned and gazed at his family with a smile. 

UN was right, he was truly lucky to be here right now, he had a loyal brother, a loving husband, and an adorable son.  Despite everything that happened to him in the past, he never gave up fighting and was rewarded with a family for it.  MA and Poland sensed Mandara's happiness and they both resolved to give him and Poldara a family group hug.

'UN is right' Mandara thought as he embraced his family, 'I couldn't have asked for a brighter future.'

                                                                 The End

(Well, there it is folks, The Scars of The Past has finally come to an end, and it sure was a happy one.  I want to thank my followers and everyone who has stuck around for this amazing adventure, I had so much fun writing it, and I hope you had just as much fun reading it.  Will I be making another book? Maybe, but for now, I'm just going to mess around with my randomness book and maybe make some illustrations for mine and 0luv0love0's Roleplay book.  So for now, goodbye readers, and thank you for reading The Scars of The Past.)