All the villagers had come to the meeting. The church had been the only place large enough to hold all of the men and the older boys so they gathered there, filling the pews. A statue of the Virgin Mother and her child looked down on them as they discussed the fates of their families.
Geppetto and Yuri, both strangers to Domremy, sat together in the back row. The older man had listened attentively as they argued, back and forth, the issue of the German troops approaching. Some wanted to fight. Many more did not. There were the women and children to think of. Even though the force was small, the Germans were well-armed. They could be the toughest fighters, one voice shouted, they'd still fall to bullets. They had guns but not enough, and no training.
When the men started to shout at each other, Geppetto had looked down to see Yuri, tapping his heel as he stared ahead at the next pew.
"What's wrong?" Geppetto thought the young man must have lost track of the conversation; he was not a fluent French speaker.
"They can't fight." With that Yuri had stood and walked to the front of the church. Each step eased his walk into a more comfortable stride. "Bonjour!" It took three times to get everyone to realize the mixed foreigner was talking to them.
"Bonjour. Je m'appelle Yuri Hyuga." The French had not come 'trippingly off the tongue', but, Geppetto noted with relief, was not incomprehensible. "Je suis un…um…guerre d'homme. Je voudrais—je voudrais aider toi. Vous. Shit."
Under ordinary circumstances Geppetto would have loved to let Yuri stumble with French grammar. But the stony silence brought him to his feet.
"Tell me what you're going to say and I'll translate," he called.
"Tell them I'll take care of the soldiers, if they don't mind their church getting a little busted up."
Joining Yuri at the altar, Geppetto frowned. "With who?"
"I said me. I'll do it myself."
"How?"
"Are you going to translate or am I gonna have to mime?"
"Are you going to explain?"
The glare Geppetto received was almost as fierce as the ones he had gotten for mentioning the four mask curse.
"Fine then, forget I said anything," Geppetto muttered before speaking to the congregation. "Mon compagnon dit qu'il défera les soldats...mais il est possible votre église sera endommagé."
The youngest in the assembly seemed to think this was a curious statement. The rest of the men stared at them.
"They think I'm fucking nuts, don't they."
"I'm glad that doesn't need translation. You ARE 'fucking nuts'," Geppetto said, and he was starting to believe it. Even if Yuri's claims of defeating two warlocks were true, he had done it with others. Geppetto knew his niece's powers must have been a great assistance. Yuri had said himself he was not a good healer, and a bullet through the brain would be impossible to heal in any case.
"Just convince them. The soldiers are coming from the woods, right? So I'll just have to lure them to the church. No sweat. Oh, and one more thing," Yuri said, scratching the back of his neck. "Anyone who goes in the church when the soldiers come is a dead man. That includes you."
"What's that about?" demanded Geppetto.
"Well, it's a bunch of soldiers. There's gonna be some bullets flying around."
As Yuri walked away Geppetto ground his teeth in frustration. Yuri was perfectly aware of the danger; then, either he was impervious to bullets, or—this was an act of suicide.
Author's Note: This is the first part of a two-chapter (hopefully two chapter) scenario. It just occurred to me that besides the curse, Yuri might not have been straightforward about his fusion abilities, which leads to an interesting misunderstanding.
For those who don't know French…learn it! No, no, joking. This is what Yuri said: "Hello! My name is Yuri Hyuga. I am a…uh…war of man (he meant to say 'man of war' or fighter). I would like—I would like to help you the informal form. You the formal form and required when speaking to a group of people. Shit."
Basically, I think Yuri might know enough French to introduce himself, but past that he's sunk.
What Geppetto said: "My companion says he'll defeat the soldiers…but it's possible your church will be damaged."