Alright, back again. My shipping thrusters are running on overdrive! Ahahaha.

This chapter has the biggest canon divergence yet and therefore might seem weird to some of you. You will see once you read it.

I have wanted to write a scene with Eva talking to a small version of herself like Percedal did when he went into exile and straight into the desert, so that's where the small conscience she talks to came from.

Leloke: I agree wholeheartedly. I was appalled at the sheer lack of Tristeva on this site. For a relationship so well developed by Ankama, the support from this fandom seems so very lacking. I felt like it was my responsibility to make my own contribution in an attempt to offset the balance. (Not least because I never got into Yumalia and therefore can't enjoy the majority of the fanfics here.)
I am glad to hear you enjoyed the journey so far and hope you will continue to do so from here on out as well.

With that being said, let's get back to shipping, friends. Enjoy!

Lone Beauty

Idiot! Moron! Iop brain!

Curses like these filled her mind as she punched the poor, unfortunate pillow resting on her bed.

Evangelyne was in her room in the royal castle of Sadida. Specifically sitting on her bed and torturing an innocent cloth body filled with tofu feathers meant to offer its owner some rest and comfort.

Not like the blonde Cra would have any of that right now!

She was quite furious, in case you couldn't tell from just looking. The reason? An utterly broken bow. Its many pieces carefully having been collected and brought here where they now rested on the table in the middle of the room.

And as if it hadn't been bad enough to have suffered this incredible humiliation, there now had to be another thorn in her eye present in her room in the form of a little glowing spirit that looked like her, albeit a lot smaller.

The little Cra called herself her conscience, yet for a conscience she kept talking a whole lot of bull. But every time Eva tried to grab that bothersome thing and throw it out of the window, the little thing would just reappear in her room again with a poof.

It was downright infuriating!

"Calm down, it's not that bad." The little one said, sitting next to her on the bed and taking a sip of tea from an even smaller teacup.

"Not that bad? Have you looked at the current situation recently?" Eva growled at her.

Another sip. "I have. It's not as big of a deal as you make it appear to be."

"Excuse me?" Eva looked at her smaller version in utter disbelief. "Have you, perhaps, seen what exactly lies on the table over there?" She pointed at the fragments of what once used to be her bow.

"It's just a bow." The little Eva merely replied, clearly unimpressed as she shrugged the matter off.

"Just a-" Gritting her teeth in fury, her taller counterpart grabbed her so called conscience by the back of her collar and lifted her up like a kitten, hissing: "How dare you. For a Cra to lose her bow is-"

Mini-Eva sighed, followed by impersonating the deep and rough voice of an older man. "I know, I know. A disgrace. An affront to the goddess. Sacrilege!" She shrugged once more. "Never thought you would be dumb enough to buy into the stupid propaganda of your instructors."

Shocked about those words, Eva let her smaller doppelganger go. "What do you mean?"

As Mini-Eva fell, she corrected her stance mid-fall to roll off of the bed as she landed, performing a few backflips only to land on her own two feet. Hoooh, her smaller clone may have looked a bit awkward and clumsy, but apparently, she was just as athletic as the real deal was. Anyway, putting her left hand on her hip and pointing her right index finger up at Eva, she said:

"Come on, Eva. You know how the military is. They will do anything to train their recruits into fierce soldiers. Of course they would teach you to form a deep bond with your weapon as a replacement for real interpersonal relationships. 'This is my bow, there are many like it but this one is mine.' Puh-lease." Her smaller clone folded her arms in front of her chest and rolled her eyes with a smug grin.

"But…my connection to the goddess…" Eva tried to object as she lowered her gaze in sadness but got interrupted by her conscience.

"Is important, no doubt. But do you really think she would care? She hasn't graced the mortal realm with her presence in eons. Heck if I knew what gods do all day, but I doubt she has so little to do that she would care enough about one Cra losing her bow to come down here and smite you for it. I mean, if it really was such a big deal, don't you think she would have revoked the blessings she has bestowed upon you by now?"

Eva eyed her small doppelganger critically. She wanted to refute her, but had to admit that she made a good point. She couldn't go and try to throw energy arrows around without a bow for obvious reasons, but she could still clearly feel the connection she shared with her goddess. It may have been harder to notice without her bow, but it was still clearly there. That was, however, the moment Eva realized why that might be the case.

Looking down in a way that let her hair obstruct her eyes from view, she quietly stated: "Perhaps that's because she is giving me the chance to restore my honor."

"By doing what?" The little Cra on her bed asked her with a raised brow.

The real Eva didn't respond for quite a while, looking over at the remains of her broken bow. The teachings said there was only one way for a Cra to restore their honor after getting their bow destroyed.

By killing the one who had destroyed it in the first place.

That meant she would have to kill…Percedal.

Eva took hold of her left arm, finger nails digging into her skin as she clutched it angrily. She bit on her lip so hard, it almost drew blood, visibly torn about what to do.

She had always honored the teachings, had lived her life in accordance to the commandments of Lady Cra. She had always respected and looked up to her goddess, yet following this rule…

It felt as if it was too much asked off her.

And yet, what choice did she have? She was a Cra, after all.

"I will have to settle the score…with Percedal." She eventually said, almost mechanically, as if she had forced herself to utter them.

"By killing him?"

Eva did not respond, still letting her head hang, all she offered her conscience was a small nod.

That was the moment Mini-Eva disappeared in a poof to reappear on the edge of the table with the broken bow pieces. Leaning back on her hands, she crossed her legs and smirked at Eva cockily.

"Liar."

"What did you call me?" Eva looked down on her conscience coldly. Was this annoying thing thinking this was a freaking game to her?

However, the clone gave herself unimpressed, merely leaning forward and letting her head rest on her hand casually, she replied with an amused smirk: "You heard me. Why don't we stop with this farce and get down to the real problem, huh? Or do I have to remind you what happened in that dream of yours when you visited the tree of life today? Didn't look to me as if you were trying to kill Dally in it, no?"

Eva flinched involuntarily as she was forced to recall the contents of said dream. Feeling the blood rush to her cheeks in utter shame made the smirk of her smaller clone widen even more. This, in turn infuriated Eva and she threw the nearest object at her in hopes of erasing that smug face from existence. Said object ended to be a hair brush which merely flew through the smirking conscience as the small individual disappeared with yet another poof to reappear on the bigger Cra's head.

Lying down on her belly, she leaned over Eva's forehead and let her head hang down to be in view of the real Cra, waving at her casually.

"Instead of going on and on about this bow you obviously didn't care as much about as you lead people on to believe, shall we instead finally start talking about the real reason you are so upset with Dally?"

"Him being an insensitive jerk?" Eva asked her as she tried to squash the little one between her palms like exterminating an annoying mosquito.

Again Mini-Eva disappeared from view to reappear in front of Eva, pointing at her own forehead with an annoyed expression.

"Sheesh, sometimes I wonder which one of you two is the real Iop brain here…"

"Alright, you know what? Fine. I'll bite." Evangelyne, visibly frustrated with this pointless bickering with herself, eventually chose to give up and play along. Looking down on her conscience with folded arms, she asked. "What, according to you, is the real problem here?"

The small Eva sighed in relief, visibly happy things were finally moving forward here. Smiling at the real Eva, she merely replied:

"Simple. You miss him."

"Haaah?" Clearly annoyed, Eva merely looked at her conscience as if she had just heard a very bad joke.

"Am I wrong?" Mini-Eva asked with a confident shrug. "You are not mad at him for having destroyed your bow. You are mad at him for having run away without you."

"Ridiculous!" The blonde Cra claimed arrogantly as she looked away with closed eyes, deeming that argument not even worthy of her attention. "Why would it bother me if that guy ran off all by himself? I am an independent Cra and perfectly able to live my life on my own. I don't need someone to take care of me."

"Yeah, yeah. It's been like this for years now and don't get me wrong, it's good to be able to be self-sufficient. But tell me, wasn't it boring?"

This caught Eva off-guard. Boring? Who cared if it was boring? Boredom couldn't kill you.

She frowned. Though it wasn't pleasant, either, she would give her conscience that. Compared to the mundane days of her stupidly performing her duty day in, day out, her adventures with Yugo, Dally, Amalia and Ruel had been quite more fulfilling, even if they were a whole lot more exhausting than her usual routine had ever been.

This had been especially true during the last passing days. She had noticed how quickly the days were passing now due to all the fun she had in the presence of Dally. Some way or another, he always made her smile.

She frowned sadly.

Except for when he didn't, crushing her bow and making her cry. He might as well have ripped out her heart and crushed it to dust with these giant demonified Iop hands of his.

But thinking back on it now, while yes, it had been hard on her to see her bow broken apart by the man she loved, perhaps the thing that was even worse to witness was…

The pain in his eyes once he had realized what he had done.

So many hours had she spent looking into these gorgeous eyes of his, always radiating with optimism, pride, joy and love. Sometimes there was sadness or anger to be seen in them as well, but never before had she seen so much hurt. So much regret.

So much shame.

It had drained all the beauty off them, all the life that was usually shining so vibrantly in them. And then, with a pained scream that made her eyes tear up just from remembering it, he had leapt away.

Percedal. The one that would sooner die than run away from even the greatest foe. The Iop that would sooner face a dragon ten times his size head on than turn tails and flee. The man that never faltered. Never feared.

He had run away.

Even now she could not fully comprehend that fact alone. In all the time she had spent with Dally, she had come to realize that there were certain traits about him that would never change, no matter how stupid they might have been. One of these traits was his childish sense of honor that forbade him from retreating. He simply could not shoulder the shame of doing so.

So, if he willingly chose to bear the shame of running away from battle, that could only mean that staying would have been even more shameful for him…but that made no sense…!

She put her hand on her head as she tried making sense of the whirlwind of thoughts flying around in there. Think, Eva, what could have ashamed him more than cowardice?

Her conscience gradually floated back into view with a sad expression.

"You want to understand an Iop? Think like an Iop. Dally wants to be a hero. A knight in shining armor. What would be the biggest shame for any hero?"

Her eyes moved around frantically as she looked inside her mind for an answer. After a short while, her eyes opened up wide in realization. She gasped as she looked at the small image of herself for confirmation

"The greatest shame of any hero…is to see yourself become the villain!"

The smaller version of her nodded with a sad smile. "Heroes don't make girls cry. Especially not ones they love."

Suddenly it all made sense in her head. "Not to mention the bounty Armand has put on his head. They are hunting him like any common criminal…" This would give that good-hearted idiot of a man the rest. She knew him. He would never recover from all this disgrace.

A shocking thought came to her. No, she refused to believe it. As if in denial, she faced the little glowing Cra in the room once more, eyes sparkling in desperation.

"Hey, but that's fine, right? He will come back and then we can just explain to him that it's not that bad. I will punch him a few times, make him bow his head in front of Prince Armand and then it's all back to how it was, no?" The last of her hopes started to shatter apart when she saw her conscience not responding at all.

She hastily pulled out a blue feather from her pocket and held it in front of her with a nervous smile, hand shaking.

"We are in the Brotherhood of the Tofu. It's an unbreakable connection! He will come back to us. To me! Right?"

Her conscience lowered her gaze.

"Why are you not responding!" Eva suddenly yelled at her conscience in panic, demanding her to ease up her worries over her crawling suspicion. However, all she got in return was the miniature version's sad look as she shook her head slowly.

"He is not coming back, Eva."

The blonde's eyes widened at those words. Tears started to form.

No…

It couldn't be!

He wouldn't leave her like this. He wouldn't dare!

Anger now defined her facial features once more.

Just who did that Iop brain think he was, forcing his way into her heart, then thinking he could leave without a word?

She spun around and grabbed a bag, hastily throwing in every bit of food she currently held in her room, including an empty canteen, then threw open the doors of her cabinet and hastily grabbed a few spare clothes to shove into the bag as well.

That darn fool. Running away on her? She would show him.

She went over to the table holding the pieces of her bow and hastily collected them into a piece of cloth to carry with her.

He thought he could leave her behind? Over her dead body. She would chase this fool to the end of the world of twelve if she had to, break his legs, then drag him all the way back here.

For what kind of Cra did this Iop take her? Don't joke with her! He made her fall in love, he better took responsibility! His ass was hers now and she would kick it as many times as she needed to get that fact into that tiny, stupid brain of his.

She wiped away the tears in her eyes as she stormed out of her room.

Don't make her cry any more tears for you, idiot!

It wasn't even five minutes later that King Oakheart Sheran Sharm heard a series of short, yet strong knocks on his door. When called in, his chancellor timidly told him:

"Your majesty, pardon the intrusion, but Lady Evangelyne firmly requests an audience with you. Apologies, but I could not send her away."

"Evangelyne?" The king asked out aloud, finding it highly curious that the blonde girl would go as far as request for something. Normally it would be Amalia asking in behalf of her. How odd. "Send her in."

He had barely even finished speaking when Evangelyne pushed the door open and hastily strode forward. If the king didn't know any better, he would think she almost forced herself not to run outright. Before he knew it, she was already kneeling in front of him, lowering her head as deep as she could.

"Your highness, I must apologize for my insolence but I deeply implore you to repair my bow. It is of utmost importance to me to see it restored and I can ask no one but you to do it."

"Ah, Evangelyne. Amalia has told me about what has happened while I was asleep. It deeply saddened me to hear about your bow. Naturally I shall restore it to you, although I had hoped it could wait until tomorrow. I am still a bit drowsy from all this dreaming you see." He tried to tell her with a short laugh. Eva's voice, however, remained desperate.

"I understand and it pains me deeply to do this, but I need my bow as soon as possible. I cannot afford to waste a single minute. If you could bring it upon your heart, could you please fix it now? I do not care if it is sloppily done. All it needs to do is be able to shoot arrows. Please, your majesty!"

The king hummed thoughtfully, grooming his beard curiously. "I have never seen you this shaken before. Did something happen?"

"Yes, but it is nothing I would dare trouble his majesty with." She told him, still facing the ground.

"Please, lift your head, Evangelyne." The king told her with a kind voice as he reached out to her. Roots began growing out of the ground before her and gently pushed up her face to make her look up to him where he could see her glittering eyes, tears begging to be freed, yet firmly held prisoner.

Seeing how serious the matter was, the king immediately sported a serious expression as well. With no further delay, he pointed a hand on the piece of cloth Eva had presented to him, undoubtedly carrying the shards of what once used to be her precious bow. Relief and gratefulness immediately shone in the Cra's eyes once she saw the various pieces being enshrouded in a green, soft light and gradually mended back together.

"Tell me, what is troubling you?" The king asked as he restored the bow to its former glory.

Eva sadly lowered her gaze again. "I was being foolish. A person who is very precious to me has left me and it took me this long to realize he was not coming back." She shook her head fiercely. "However, I can't just let him go. I need to go after him and bring him back to his senses. Make him understand that his place is nowhere but by my side. He may be a stupid fool, but he still is my fool, you see?" She offered him a weak smile as she held out her hands to receive the mended bow that was now slowly returning back into her possession. She immediately noticed how it had changed. It was now bigger and surrounded in an even stronger magical aura. It must have been infused with part of the king's power himself, she realized.

She gasped. This bow. It was beyond beautiful. Even better than her old one, this one was simply…perfect.

"I…I don't know what to say, my king. This bow, it is…" She stammered until she finally caught her composure once more and bowed her head with dignity. "I thank you, your majesty. From the bottom of my heart. I will treasure this bow until the end of my days."

But then the king merely laughed in response. "That old thing? I hope not. When you come back, I shall construct you a real bow. This was just a temporary solution since you are obviously in a rush."

"I appreciate your thoughtfulness."

"Don't lower your head in front of me anymore, Eva. You have served my family for so long, I will feel bad if you won't feel at least a bit at home here."

"I-I could never dare…!" Eva was about to politely object when she was interrupted by yet another hearty laugh.

"Nonsense! I will have it no other way! But tell me, Eva. That person you are about to chase. Was it that Iop that broke your bow in the first place?"

"The very same, my king." The blonde Cra replied somewhat embarrassedly.

"Hoooh, how truly novel. A Cra that can forgive even the destruction of her bow."

"A bow is just a bow in the end. If it's broken, it can be fixed." She held out her bow as if to prove her point. "My heart, however, I will never allow him to break."

"And neither shall I!" King Oakheart agreed with a big grin. "I am very interested in this Iop that managed to steal your heart, Evangelyne. See to it that you bring him back with you. I would like to get to know him for myself."

Eva immediately stood up straight and saluted earnestly. "I swear it upon Lady Cra that I shall succeed in bringing back that Iop of mine even if it is the last thing I do!"

"Good response!" The king praised her, visibly pleased. "Now go! May Sadida be with you!"

Offering him a quick bow as farewells, she quickly turned around to leave. However, just a short while after she had exited the throne room, Armand got in her way, clearly having overheard her conversation with the king. Not agreeing with the direction this was going, he appeared intent on getting in her way with a bunch of Sadida soldiers behind him to enforce his wish by force if necessary.

"I am afraid I must object, my dear Evangelyne." He told her coldly, earning him a harsh look of the Cra in return.

"This matter does not concern you, my Prince. Please step aside." She tried to be as civil as humanely possible.

"We are about to go to war with Nox' forces and you think leaving the kingdom is a good idea?"

"Surely the kingdom of Sadida is strong enough that they can afford expending a single Cra to go on her personal mission."

He laughed arrogantly. "Certainly it is, but isn't it your duty to protect my sister? You are her bodyguard, are you not? Can you say with confidence that no harm will befall her while you run off chasing criminals?" He sent her a cold look which she countered with a fierce one of herself.

"It would appear you are gravely underestimating the princess' capability to look after herself. Something that would not have happened, had you tried to pay attention to her growth every once in a while, instead of focusing your eyes on this mere bodyguard."

Anger was now clearly flashing up in his eyes. "Be that as it may, as your prince, I am your commanding officer and I hereby forbid you from leaving your post!"

"I have every right to request a leave after all these years I have served without even a single day off." She shot back equally as angry.

"Which I still have to approve first. I do not."

"Fine then." She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. "Then expect my letter of resignation by tomorrow morning."

"You must be joking." The prince chuckled, believing her to be bluffing. "Receiving a dishonorable discharge will bar you from ever joining the military again. You would be an outcast among your own people."

She leaned forward determinedly and pointed her thumb at herself.

"Watch. Me. Care. Now step aside! I am done with your games!"

"How about I simply arrest you for trying to desert from the coming battle?" The guards behind him readied themselves for combat, making her jump back and draw her own bow in response. Aiming an energy arrow at the prince's head, she calmly said:

"Don't force me to do this, Prince Armand. Step aside, or else…"

The Prince, however, was not in the least bit fazed. Even with an arrow directly pointing at his head, he just calmly stated: "I would think calmly if I was you, Evangelyne. Are you truly ready to commit high treason for the sake of one single Iop knight?"

She narrowed her eyes on him, coldly. Never had she been more sure in her entire life. "If that is what it takes…"

Luckily for her, she never had to actually let go of her arrow as from out of nowhere, a giant vine grew out of the ground and pushed Armand and his soldiers against the nearest wall, effectively immobilizing them.

Surprised by this, Evangeline turned around to spot a certain green-haired princess kneeling not far behind her, hands on the ground as she channeled her magic into it.

"What is the meaning of this!? Amalia! Unhand me at once!" Armand shouted angrily as he tried freeing himself from his restraints. To no avail.

"Amalia!" Eva yelled in shock and was about to go to her side, when the princess merely shouted under what seemed to be enormous strain:

"Eva, I have no idea what is going on here but you better go while I can still hold them off. You better explain yourself once you return, you hear me?"

"Amie…" Eva couldn't help but mutter her best friend's name in amazement, followed by quickly gathering her wits once more. Nodding determinedly at her, she took out the blue tofu feather and promised: "Thank you, Amie! Don't worry, I will definitely come back!"

"I know! Now go!" She urged her. She didn't have to tell Eva twice! From one second to the next, the agile Cra was already sprinting down the hallway, gone from sight in a matter of seconds. She practically flew over the stairs of the palace, jumping over gaps where others would have normally used the plantlike elevators. There was no obstacle that could stop her. No one she would allow to get in her way. She had a mission and she would see it done. One way or another.

Eventually she reached the stables, quickly choosing the dragosteed that seemed to be most fit, saddled it and loaded her baggage onto it. She wasted no additional time and took its reins, leading it out of the stables. Mounting it quickly, she blasted off into the distance without ever turning back.

As her steed ran though the city, Evangelyne took a quick look at her compass to determine the approximate direction Dally had jumped into. If she was lucky and he had walked into more or less the same direction, which she assumed he had, she would be able to catch up to him in one day, maybe one and a half. She hoped she would spot his trail by then, or it would become significantly harder to track that big idiot down.

She was about to approach the border of the city when something suddenly overtook her, leaving a trail of dust behind that clouded her vision. She coughed and was forced to slow down her ride in fear of making it maneuver into an obstacle due to the lack of sight. When the dust settled, she was quite shocked to see Armand blocking her way once more, sitting on his very own royally decorated Dragosteed.

"Armand!" She yelled angrily at him. "Why don't you quit already! I have no intention of returning!"

To her surprise, Armand made no signs of trying to stop her again. Looking down in what seemed to be sadness and resignation, he slowly unmounted his steed, holding its reins in his hand.

"I am aware of that, Evangelyne. You will never catch up to that beast of yours on that slow steed. I will lend you mine." He petted the faithful animal's snout proudly. "I have raised it since I was but a child. You will find no faster mount anywhere in this kingdom, I bet."

Taken aback by this, Eva couldn't help but ask: "Why all of a sudden?"

The prince sighed deeply. "I wouldn't be a man if I wouldn't fight for what's important to me with all that I've got. Still, a loss is a loss and I will have to accept that. Despite all that, I wouldn't want us to part on bad terms. I hope this will help to better your image of me, even if just a little." He smiled at her kindly as he led his mount towards her.

Hearing all this made Eva relax somewhat. Albeit still a bit wary, she eventually got down from her own ride and took the reins from Armand as he handed them to her. He then helped her carrying over her equipment and fastened it to her new Dragosteed.

"Thank you, Prince Armand." She offered him an appreciative bow, which was merely waved off by him, never having felt the need to see her bow before him.

"That Iop of yours is truly a lucky man, Eva. I do not know how he managed to win your heart, but I salute to him nonetheless. Please do send him my regards once you find him." He told her as he stood tall, hands folded behind his back. Even in defeat, the aura of royalty had never left him, it seemed.

"I will." She nodded respectfully as she turned the steed around, ready to depart.

"I would have never made you cry as he did, you know that, yes?" She heard him say to her.

Turning around halfway to face him, she told him: "I am inclined to believe that, Prince Armand. But neither have you ever made me smile." She faced forward again without awaiting his response. "Goodbye."

And just like that, she gave her steed the command to advance. She was out of sight in a matter of seconds.

"I see." Armand said and chuckled to himself. "So this is where I failed." He took hold of the reins of the Dragosteed Eva left behind and was about to lead it back to the castle stables when the animal suddenly licked his face out of nowhere. He blinked at it in surprise, then laughed heartily.

"Am I that miserable that you felt the need to console me? Now aren't you a good girl, hm?" He petted the animal's snout, much to its delight.

"Let's go home, shall we? We two who have been left behind."

He mounted the steed and got an approving sound in response.

The ride back was a quiet and tranquil one, the evening air cool and soothing to breathe in. It was evenings like these he tended to enjoy the most. They offered a calming and relaxing atmosphere to be in.

He sighed.

If only his heart would act accordingly.

Whoo! And another one done. Yeah, I've decided to give Eva a slightly more proactive approach at reuniting with Percedal. While I can see some people thinking it to be a bit too much, I still regret nothing. I intend to go all-out on this pairing, so you better brace yourself for full-on shipping or flee the ship before it is to late.

I am a madman on a mission and nobody will stop me, ahahahaha.

Next chapter will directly tie into this one, which should be more of an exception than the norm. Still, I am excited and can't wait to write it. No idea if my ideas are even remotely possible according to the rules of the Wakfu universe, but what did Eva just say to Armand? That's right:

Watch. Me. Care.

Next up: "Disgraced Beast" - Hope you will be looking forward to it! I know I do!