At that moment, Yugo thought that all the battles he had fought so far had been easier, quicker, and less painful than this one.
The young Eliatrope had been sitting on an uncomfortable chair for hours, enduring a constant barrage of questions. It was difficult for him to tell a full sentence of his story without being interrupted by someone asking for more seemingly useless details. Fortunately, Adamaï was doing his best to keep his temper under control, just like he had promised. Having to bear with his constant feeling of anger flowing over their mind link would have been just too much for Yugo. He already had enough trouble dealing with that dull headache of his own.
And on top of that, there was Armand, pacing around them. Surely he wasn't being unnerving on purpose, but Yugo wished he would just sit down instead.
Each time Yugo looked around at the people facing them, he saw mostly closed faces and gazes full of distrust and contempt. Only the Sadida King Sheran Sharm looked a bit more encouraging, but Yugo didn't want to stare only at him, in a futile effort to be polite to the others. Also Chamberlain Thicktuft and Master Joris didn't look hostile either, but to be fair it was impossible to see their faces.
When it was Adamaï's turn to tell about the events at the Zinit, it gave Yugo a little break. He used the occasion to check if Az was all right. The little Tofu was resting in his front pocket as usual. When Yugo gently petted the soft feathers ball, Az glanced up at him with such a miserable look that it almost made the boy laugh out loud.
"It's useless to look at me like that," he whispered. "I can't help it. Don't worry, we're almost done."
'Almost' was a relative term. The council wanted a staggering amount of details about the Zinit, interrupting Adamaï's storytelling all the time. And while the dragon was trying his best to keep a neutral tone, the air he was breathing out was getting more blurred every second, a sure sign he was slowly losing his temper.
Yugo drew a longing look outside the windows to the forest outside, seeing that the afternoon was well advanced and the sun already sinking towards the horizon. He hated being stuck indoors on such a sunny day, and he could only hope they would be freed quickly.
After Adamaï had recounted his own fight against Qilby, one of the Cra officials started asking questions for the first time. He was slightly aged, wore a fancy uniform that didn't seem meant for the battlefield, and didn't look friendly at all. "You say you managed to transform into the most powerful creature you ever became. Was it the first time you did something of the like?"
"No," Adamaï answered flatly. "The first time was when Nox froze the time and tried to kill my brother. But it was a much lesser form back then."
"What was it like this time? Was it your adult dragon form?"
"It was a giant crackler. A stone golem if you prefer."
"And you say you don't know how you did that. But it happened just as Qilby knocked out Grougaloragran, didn't it? Don't you think that this great power naturally came to you when you saw one of your kin suffering before your eyes?"
Yugo stared open-mouthed at the man who dared ask such an inconsiderate question in such a blunt way. He could feel Adamaï's anger flare. The dragon breathed out black smoke by his nostrils.
"It's very likely," he spat through gritted teeth.
"Do you think you could do it again under the same circumstances?"
"Master Galdir!", King Sheran Sharm interrupted. "This question is irrelevant, and well outside the boundaries of what I would deem acceptable for this council. You should show a bit more consideration for our guests."
The Cra glared at him, and leaned back on his seat. "Quite the opposite, your Majesty. This question is perfectly relevant as we'll have to decide what to do with them after this audience is over. It might be an issue if this white creature here can turn into a deadly, rampaging beast when it believes itself or its relatives are being threatened."
"Just you try," Adamaï growled menacingly. "Just you try to touch an hair of Yugo and 'it' is going to annihilate everyone in the room. And believe me, I won't have to change into anything more scary just to deal with petty little humans like you."
The Sadida guards were already fingering their weapons. The tension in the air was dense enough that one could cut through it with a knife.
"Enough!" the King shouted. "This is not the time and place to display such behaviour. I would like everyone to keep his temper under control. And I would also like to remind the council that we have in front of us two children who have recently met daunting challenges. This is not a decent way to treat them."
"As you see fit, your Majesty", Galdir said wryly. The Cra flashed a snide little smirk at them, and Yugo realised he had got exactly what he wanted: to make Adamaï appear like a dangerous monster to the rest of the council, with a power much larger than his ability to keep it under control.
"Please carry on, Master Adamaï," the King invited.
"I was done anyway," the dragon retorted curtly.
"You told something very interesting earlier about being possessed by a Shushu named Anathar," Prince Armand noted as he stood right next to the twins.
"I did," Adamaï answered flatly, looking up at him. "But I wasn't conscious when it happened. I have no memory of that. Only Yugo can tell what was going on at that moment."
Even though it was a lie, Yugo couldn't blame his brother if he didn't want to discuss it. Especially when the Eliatrope considered the harsh questions that kept coming their way. If the risk was to see Adamaï lose control, it was really not worth it.
So Yugo took over the storytelling where he left it, as the Brotherhood of the Tofu approached the Crimson Claws. Strangely enough the council didn't interrupt him as much this time, maybe in fear of Adamaï's reaction if they did. As a result Yugo quickly managed to cover their encounter with the New Sufokian navy, his own fight against Qilby, and his visit of Emrub.
When he reached the end and fell silent, the members of the council exchanged incredulous looks and undistinguishable mutterings, and Yugo felt his heart sink as he realised Adamaï had been right from the start.
They don't believe a word of what I said, he realised. Not because his story was difficult to comprehend, but because they had decided so before he even got started.
"I'd just wish to make perfectly sure we understand what you are telling us here," the Cra Matriarch began. "You went into an extra-dimensional sanctuary that no one ever saw, there you met a dragon that no one knows about, and you hid the most powerful artefact of your people in there, to keep it safe until your people returns. Is that correct?"
"Yes, it is," Yugo answered. He tried his best to keep his head high, his gaze steady and his voice clear.
"Do you have any proof of that?" another Cra woman continued. She wore a high-ranking military uniform even though she looked rather young. "Do you have any material element to present before us, anything besides your word that would prove the Eliacube is there, out of your reach, and you're not keeping it hidden somewhere in our world so you can use it later?"
"No, I don't."
"How fortunate," sneered the Cra named Galdir. Taking verbal fire from all directions at once was quickly becoming disorientating for Yugo. They hardly left him any time to think his answers through. "Please forgive my bluntness, Master Eliatrope, but you really thought you could just come here before us, recite your tofu and gobball stories, and expect us to believe them?"
"I didn't, but―"
"That was a rhetorical question," the Cra snapped.
Yugo tried to stay calm, which was increasingly difficult as he felt Adamaï positively boiling right beside him. He met Galdir's gaze, and he could see a lot of hatred there, that he had trouble to understand. What in the world had he done to justify such a strong aversion?
Yugo stood up from his chair, frowned, and cast a cold glance at everyone in front of him before continuing. "I didn't expect you to believe anything I said," he admitted calmly. "Adamaï told me you wouldn't, but I was naive enough to try anyway. I don't have anything better to give you than my word. I thought the truth would be enough."
"The truth would have been sufficient," the Cra Matriarch retorted. "But without anything to back it up, you're being very presumptuous to call it the truth."
Yugo had nothing to answer to that, but Adamaï did, on an much more heated tone. "Yugo didn't hesitate to put his own life on the line to save us all! All he asks in return is that you just listen to him! When he was busy saving the world, of course he didn't take the time to get you a little souvenir."
"The world that was threatened by your people to begin with," a Sadida official chimed in. "And by the Eliatrope artefact which was kept safe by my men, until you stole it." King Sheran Sharm cast him a dark glance but the man didn't even blink.
"It wasn't our fault," Yugo answered. "We didn't know we would free Qilby when we used the Eliacube, and even if we did, no one ever suspected he was a traitor."
"That's exactly my point. Even though you two were only a tool for him, your King tried to destroy us all. How can you still pretend to be a peaceful people with friendly motives after such a thing?"
"Qilby wasn't..."
Yugo hesitated. He couldn't bring himself to say the word. He felt Adamaï just behind him, thinking 'Say it! Say it!' as hard as he could, so hard Yugo could almost hear him in his own head.
"...sane. He was blessed with infinite memory, but in the end it became his curse. He couldn't forget anything and it drove him mad."
"He tried to destroy the world with a plan that clearly required intelligence and cunning to conceive. Which would indicate that he was not mad, but rather that he considered we didn't deserve to live. Surely we weren't interesting enough for his superior mind?"
So that's why,Yugo thought. Qilby had damaged their reputation beyond repair, and that was the reason for the hatred that filled the room. The boy didn't even try to tell them that he loved this world and would do anything to defend it. What was the point anyway? The whole discussion felt like he was repeatedly hitting a stone wall, achieving nothing apart from hurting himself.
But the Sadida official pressed on, maybe interpreting Yugo's silence as a sign of weakness. "And even better, every last one of you is powerful enough to do the same. As far as we know, the Eliacube is still on the loose. Seeing how the return of your people is still an open matter, how reassuring is that?"
"General Torrac, that's enough," the King interrupted firmly. Yugo cast him a grateful look for his timely intervention. "The point of the council was to hear about the recent events, and we already heard everything there was to say. Who's to blame is not the subject today, and the return of the Eliatropes is another matter altogether. On that the Sadida Kingdom has already stated its position, and I didn't change my mind. So unless someone has something relevant to add, I suggest it's time to bring this council to a close."
His proposition was met with silence, only a few glances were exchanged.
"Right," the King concluded as he rose from his chair. "The council is dismissed."
The twins looked at each other, letting out a deep sigh of relief at the same time. Everyone got up and started to move out, but as the two brothers were doing the same, the King called from across the room.
"Yugo? If you're not in a hurry, I would like to have a word with you."
"Yes, of course your Majesty."
Yugo sat back on his chair, and Adamaï didn't move. The King smiled kindly at the dragon. "In private, Master Adamaï, if you please."
"What you can say to Yugo, you can say to me," he answered flatly.
"I'm aware of that, but this is a particular matter I wish to discuss with Yugo alone."
Before Adamaï could argue, his brother turned towards him. "I'll be fine Ad', don't worry. I'll catch you later."
Adamaï cast his brother a dark glance that clearly meant 'I don't like when you're being more important than me', but he didn't insist. Without a word, he just turned his back on them and left. As Yugo and the King were the only people left inside, the room suddenly felt much too large. Yugo quickly checked how Az was doing, only to find out that the little Tofu was napping inside his front pocket. The King stroked his long green beard for a while before speaking.
"First I would like to apologize," he started.
"Apologize?", Yugo repeated incredulously. "But...for what?"
"For allowing this to happen. I knew a lot of these people were afraid. Afraid of change, afraid of power that's not theirs, afraid of everything they can't comprehend. And when it comes to the Eliatropes, there is a lot to be afraid of. I thought that would be the occasion to make them know more about you and see that you're driven by pure motives, so they would have a better opinion of you and a better understanding of your people. But it didn't work out the way I expected, as you could see..."
Yugo nodded. "I'm sorry for that."
The king shook his head and had a little, weary laugh. "It's none of your fault Yugo. You tried your best. Your brother also did very well. Based on his last experience with politics I half expected him to set Galdir on fire at some point."
"I bet he wanted to do it," Yugo answered, grinning broadly. After hours of bearing with hostile stares, having a friendly conversation was a welcome change. "But then...may I ask you something?"
"You're very welcome to do so."
"Why aren't you...like them? I mean, why are you still supporting the return of my people when everyone else doesn't?" Why aren't you afraid of us?
"You mean it would be easier for me to follow the advice of my counsellors and abandon you to your fate? And you don't understand why I'm not doing that instead?"
"Well...kind of, yes. I mean, sorry, I don't want to disrespect you, but..."
"No offence taken Yugo. And you're right. That would be the easy way, but also the lazy one. What kind of a King am I if I'm not ready to do what's necessary, if I'd rather wallow in the comfort of never deciding against the will of my council, taking only the decisions that will please them instead?"
The King paused. Yugo stared intently at him, waiting for him to go on.
"But that's not the answer you asked for. I'm supporting your cause because I have faith. I know the return of your people will be the beginning of a new golden age for our world. It's not important if I'm being disputed in my own time by my own counsellors and allies because of my positions. I know our descendants will thank us for doing the right thing when we could, even though that means I'll have to cope with my fair share of angry talks to finally make it happen ― and what you saw here was only a foretaste."
Yugo nodded. "Hmm. You don't share that view with Prince Armand though, do you?" The boy feared once again that he had been offensive, but all he got in return was a warm smile.
"Armand is young, and he acts with the matching enthusiasm, sometimes impulsively even," the King answered. "He still has a lot to learn, and at the moment he's more concerned about the well-being of our people than anything else. He has little time to devote to some grand visions of the future, where your people actually fit, but that will change. I can assure you that he has no resentment against you, even after the recent events. Just like you, he's trying his best to do what he feels is right."
Yugo nodded silently. He could see how different people trying to achieve good deeds at the same time could have conflicting interests as a result. That was a lot more complicated than the bedtime stories he was used to. "Is it always that hard to do the right thing?" he asked softly.
The King chuckled. "Most of the time, it is. That's exactly why noble deeds deserve credit, because they are usually the hardest way. Your adventures are likely much funnier to live through than politics, but in the end we both know from first-hand experiences that making the right choices takes a lot of conviction and dedication."
"Politics are less dangerous though", Yugo pointed out with a mischievous grin. "You're not risking your life every day."
"You have no idea how wrong you are", the King retorted with a wry smile. "Anyway, this is not the only topic I wanted to discuss. Given the hostile atmosphere you had to endure all this afternoon, I would perfectly understand if you withheld some important information from the council. I won't hold anything against you if this is the case, you have my word. But if there's something you would rather tell me privately, anything... now is the right moment."
Yugo stared at the King, opened his mouth, then closed it, unable to utter a word. He didn't expect that. It felt like the King was exactly talking about what the boy thought he was talking about. But it was impossible. There was no way he could have known.
But there was also no way Yugo could look at him right into the eyes, lie, and get away with it. Not just after the King had reaffirmed his support of the Eliatrope people, the only support they could rely on.
"I...I don't..." the boy stammered. He gulped. He had no idea what to say. At that moment throwing a portal through the windows and disappearing forever looked like a very good idea. Or couldn't he just tell the truth? No, no. Too quick, too soon. He wasn't ready yet. The boy felt his cheeks grow hot, as the King stared at him, awaiting, his expression impossible to decipher.
Then it struck him.
"Yes! There's something," Yugo blurted out. "I had a dream last night…or, a vision or something. It was not like any other dream. There was a little girl, she was dressed like an Eliatrope, and she showed me..." Yugo shuddered when he thought back about the vision of the Sadida Kingdom turned into ashes. "She showed me the Tree of Life burnt, and the whole Kingdom destroyed."
The King raised an eyebrow. "Did she tell you how it happened?"
"Yes. She told me there would be a war between the nations of the World of Twelve, and I had to stop it, and the meantime I had to warn you not to fall into any tricks that could lead you into that conflict."
"And did she tell you when?"
"No, only that it would come very soon. Much sooner than we could expect."
King Sheran Sharm stroked his green beard thoughtfully, staying silent for a long while. "I see," he said finally. "Well, I can assure you that there's no war in preparation anywhere, and you can rest easy."
Yugo was startled by his abrupt answer. For someone who claimed to have faith, he sure brushed aside the warning quickly.
"But―"
"I'm sorry, let me just explain it to you at length. Every nation, every Kingdom has a network of spies that keep an eye for anything unusual. They are well trained professionals, extremely reliable. And the unspoken agreement is that we don't hunt them. I know for sure about a few of them in the palace here, but if you want to maintain the peace it's better to have everyone know about everyone else's little secret plans."
"Yes, but―"
"The suspicion of hostile intents can have much more dire consequences than letting everyone know about your exact number of troops and their equipment. In any case, it has worked perfectly well so far. And I can tell you, preparing a war takes such an amount of effort and resources that it can't go unnoticed. It never did."
"I understand, but―"
"So in my position Yugo," the King continued. "Who would you choose to believe? A very well-tried and very expensive network of spies who reported to me no later than yesterday that there was nothing to worry about for the next few months at least? Or a child who's telling me about a nightmare he had?"
Yugo cast him an offended look. "I told you, it was not like any other dream", the boy insisted. "It felt really more...more real. More like a vision. I can't describe it any better than that, but I've had nightmares already, and it doesn't compare."
"Sorry, I didn't intend to offend you," the King continued with a much kinder demeanour. "You've been through quite a lot lately, and with everything you had to withstand, it wouldn't be a surprise if you were subjected to some kind of emotional trauma as a result."
Yugo almost jumped from his seat in surprise. "What? You think I'm crazy, really?"
"By Sadida, absolutely not," Sheran Sharm answered gently. "I've never said anything like that, nor do I think it. But please try to see the matter from a more objective point of view. A child has nothing to do on a battlefield, and you've already been there twice. It's only normal to be shaken after that experience. Even though you may think you survived it and it's all that matters, it might have left some invisible scars on your mind, which is where that nightmare could come from. I'm not a specialist, but I've seen soldiers come back from war with the same kind of problems you're dealing with. And having vivid nightmares of imaginary wars just after you experienced war yourself seems only logical to me."
Yugo stared silently at the broad man in front of him. He didn't want to believe a word of it, but...what if the King was right? If it was Yugo's own mind playing a trick on him, how would he know?
"Anyway, I can assure you adamantly that there's no immediate threat on the Sadida Kingdom, absolutely nothing out there you should be afraid of. You can reside here to recover for as long as you wish. And if you need any help, we have an Eniripsa healer named Egnos who specializes in that kind of problems. You can go see him on my behalf, I know he makes very efficient potions of dreamless sleep if you need that to rest properly."
"I..." Yugo began. His shoulders slumped. What else could he say?
"Now please promise me you'll look after yourself Yugo, and do as I suggested if your nightmares come back."
The boy nodded. "I will," he mumbled.
"Good," the King concluded. He smiled encouragingly. "Now go back to your friends, make some good fun of how we are all a bunch of grumpy old politicians, and how your brother almost set one of us on fire. You deserved that much."
Yugo smiled back, but he didn't mean it. As he got up and walked to the door, he thought he surely hadn't expected the discussion to turn that way, but nonetheless he was pleased that it was over, like that whole council business he would have happily avoided if he had known what they were in for.
Later that night, Evangelyne was staring at the ceiling of her bedroom, imagining that the moving shadows cast by the moonlight through the tree leaves were living creatures. But it didn't help. She was lying in her bed, unable to find sleep. The light snoring from Tristepin right beside her was not the reason of her insomnia, but rather all the concerns that kept swirling in her mind.
She didn't regret any choices they had made together, even the most important one, and even though it was barely a choice. They were young, they were in love, it just happened. Evangelyne wasn't even concerned about that. She had spent most of her life looking after Amalia, so how different could it be to take care of her own child? It made her smile to think that after what she had endured with Amalia, having a child who was just half as annoying as the princess would already be really unfair.
The real problem was how Tristepin would handle it. Not that he wouldn't be a good father, but he had always proven to be restless. He had offered that they took a few months long break from adventuring, likely ignoring that they needed a lot more time than that if they wanted to raise their child properly. And even just a few months were already a great deal for the Ginger Knight. After a few days of doing nothing violent he would grow twitchy, unable to contain the urge to go fight the monster of the day. If the need for a good brawl had to battle against his love for her, Evangelyne was unsure which would win.
Then there was Amalia. She, too, would grow bored after merely a few weeks of being a princess again. Of course she loved the way everybody looked up at her, revering and admiring her, but if it had grown old in the past, it would grow old in the future. If Amalia suddenly left again to see the world, Evangelyne would be unable to follow, and it could end badly.
Evangelyne sighed and turned to her side, looking out of the window into the clear, starry night sky. Tristepin sleepily mumbled something about having an unfair share of Shushus to beat up, then started snoring again.
Ruel wasn't much of an issue. Right, he always managed to put himself into life-threatening situations because of his insatiable greed. But since it was always his own fault and Eva didn't care that much about the old skinflint, he wasn't the reason why she couldn't find sleep.
Yugo wasn't much of an issue either. Evangelyne did care about him, she cared about him a lot, but even though he could be reckless sometimes, he was largely able to look after himself on his own. He had powerful magical abilities alongside a lot of common sense. And on top of that, he had Adamaï to protect him, a Dragon no less. Granted, Yugo hadn't exactly been himself in the previous few days, but if his attitude after the defeat of Nox was of any indication, his usual cheerful self would be back quickly.
That said something when the youngest member of their group was also the less likely to find a stupid way to get killed if he was left unattended.
Now that Qilby was back in his dimensional prison and the Shushus kicked out from the world, it didn't seem there was any danger looming at the horizon, and they could rest easy. But what if something happened and the Brotherhood had to leave for another adventure? Evangelyne would have no choice but to stay behind, which meant Amalia would be left unsupervised, and Tristepin would have to decide between abandoning his beloved Cra for months, or brooding day in and day out for missing all the fun.
There was no easy answer to these problems.
All in all, it didn't seem like Evangelyne was going to find her calm centre and sleep any time soon. She gently kissed her own Iop Knight on the cheek, then got out of bed, put on her clothes and exited the bedroom silently. Which was very easy for a Cra.
She headed towards the palace's gardens, the place where she always ended up when she wanted to clear her mind. It was calm and often empty, especially in the middle of night. As she made her way through the deserted palace's corridors, she thought back about what had happened earlier in those same gardens. The twin brothers had ended up there, meeting with the rest of the Brotherhood after their audience. Adamaï had been positively shaking with anger as he recounted how it went, having no word hard enough to qualify those 'petty little humans' they had met, while Yugo keenly accepted Amalia's offer to rest his head on her lap while she massaged his back, trying to have him relax a bit.
Evangelyne always found it cute to see Amalia and Yugo spending time together this way. They obviously considered each other as very good friends and they were still too young to think otherwise. But as the years passed, the Cra fully expected them to realise there was more than just friendship to the way they cared about each other.
The young archer arrived to the gardens, and as usual she was enthralled by the feeling of peace that always emanated from the place. Along with the moonlight, a few species of luminescent plants and insects illuminated the lush vegetation made of exotic and colourful trees. The only sounds came from the rustling of the tree leaves blown by a gentle breeze, and the soft screeching of nocturnal insects.
Evangelyne paced through the grass for a while, enjoying both the view and the smell, when she noticed that she was not alone. A few feet ahead of her, Yugo was sitting in the middle of a small clearing, cross-legged with his hands resting on his knees. His eyes were closed, and apart from his slow breathing that would have been imperceptible to Eva if she didn't have those acute Cra eyes, he was perfectly still.
She just stood there, observing the boy, unable to decide if she could just walk to him and have a chat, or if it was better to leave him alone. Then seeing how he seemed to be lost in meditation, she chose the latter, and turned on her heels. She had barely made the first step backwards when Yugo spoke up.
"No Eva, please stay."
The young Cra stood there, startled. There was no way the boy could have noticed her. His eyes were still closed, and she didn't make any sound when she moved. But there was no point pretending she wasn't there.
"You're sure I'm not bothering you?" she asked.
The young Eliatrope chuckled softly. "Why do you think that? Quite the opposite," he answered lightly. "Your presence is soothing. Come and sit if you like."
"Okay...If you say so."
Evangelyne walked to the boy and sat in the grass across from him. Yugo didn't move nor open his eyes. She had always known him to be weirder than average people, given his mysterious origins and unique magical abilities, but finding him meditating in the middle of the night was the next level of bizarre.
"So...you couldn't sleep either?" she asked awkwardly.
"Hmm. Yeah. When it happens I like to come here, it's so peaceful. You too?"
"Yes, exactly the same."
"If you want to talk about what bothers you, I'm here."
Evangelyne stared intently at the boy. He still had his eyes closed, a faint but encouraging smile on his lips. The way he seemed to see everything without even looking was getting slightly unnerving.
"I'm not...bothered by anything. It's fine."
"Yes you are. I can feel it. But I understand if you don't want to talk about it."
"No it's not that, it's just..." She sighed. Yes, it was exactly the problem. She didn't want to share her couple issues with Yugo. "There's nothing wrong," she lied. "Anyway, how can you feel that? You didn't even look at me."
"I can feel your Wakfu", Yugo explained. "You, the plants, the trees, the rocks, everything. When it's quiet and I can focus, I feel it from much further, with more detail. I knew you were here long before you arrived."
Evangelyne nodded. "What does it look like for you?"
The boy frowned. "It's hard to explain...It's like if you ask me to describe a sound, or a colour. You see what I mean? I just feel it, that's all. And in a place like that where everything is alive, it's wonderful. I wish I could share it with you."
"So when you said my presence was soothing...you meant my Wakfu, right?"
Yugo smiled, his eyes still closed. "No, I meant your presence," he said softly. "Whenever you're around, you make me feel safe."
That made Eva think in silence for a while. She realised she felt the same way for him. After all the time they had spent together, even though they were completely unrelated, she considered Yugo like a little brother she had to protect.
"And you can identify anyone like that, just by their Wakfu?" she asked.
"Only people I know. I can identify strangers as strangers, but people like you, Ruel, Pinpin or Amalia, I know each of your Wakfu signatures, so it's easy. And speaking of that..."
Yugo fell silent for a moment, his brow furrowed, deeply concentrated. Evangelyne felt uneasy, as if he was looking right through her. She didn't think it was really the case, but she had secrets to hide after all, like anyone else.
"That's weird..." the boy murmured.
"What's the matter?"
"Well, it's like...I don't know. I've known your Wakfu for over a year now, well enough that I can even tell your emotions from it. But something has changed. It's like..."
Evangelyne shifted uncomfortably. Surely, he couldn't see this...
"Well, your usual Wakfu signature is still there," he continued. "But it's like there's another one, so feeble I can barely feel it, inside of you. That doesn't make any sense, that would mean..."
Yugo froze. Then he opened his eyes in realisation and stared open-mouthed at Eva, unable to utter a word. He understood, and she understood that he understood.
"I'm so sorry Eva!" the boy blurted out. "I―I never meant to see that, I swear!"
Evangelyne could read on his face that he was honest, and when Yugo bore that regretful look, one had to be really heartless to get mad at him. The Cra sighed. That was really not the way she had planned to announce it, but now it was done...
"No problem Yugo", she said kindly. "It would have been visible in a few weeks anyway."
Yugo nodded, then he sighed, visibly relieved to have his involuntary lack of tact forgiven so easily. He grinned at her. "So you're going to become a mum? That's great!"
She smiled back at his enthusiasm, but she didn't feel it. "Yes, but...don't you see what it means?"
Yugo shook his head at her, clueless. Evangelyne knew it would be bad news for him, but he had to hear it before he found another adventure to lead them all into.
"That means I won't be able to follow the Brotherhood from now on."
The boy's face quickly went from joyful to crestfallen. "Oh...dang. I didn't see it that way. I mean, I understand of course, that's just...well, I didn't expect that."
"Why, you're planning to leave any time soon?" the Cra asked.
"Not really no, but it's not like we've ever planned anything so far," Yugo pointed out with a little smirk.
"That's the kind of things that were keeping you awake? Because you don't know what you're going to do next?"
The boy nodded. "Hmm. Part of, yes. Adamaï wanted us to leave, but to go where? We don't know where Phaeris is. We could go back to Emelka, but if anything important happens here, it's quite far away. So we're going to stay for the time being."
He paused, and Evangelyne could easily see from his uneasy look that the subject was bothering him. "So, what's the matter?" she asked.
"Well, you see, Adamaï thinks we don't belong here. When we see how the council went, maybe he's right, but I still don't feel that way. I don't understand why, but I feel like I'm part of this place. I feel at home. See what I mean?"
Evangelyne nodded. "Yes, I understand. I guess it's because you were raised apart. Surely Adamaï didn't see many humans before you arrived at Oma, so it's harder for him to see them as his own people."
"He didn't see any." Yugo chuckled. "That's why he has so much trouble to deal with people. That's funny to see, until he tries to burn someone just because he's angry."
Evangelyne smiled back, trying to encourage him to speak his heart. "You said that was only part of the things keeping you awake. There's something else? If you want to talk, you know you can tell me anything."
The boy looked uneasy again. He shifted uncomfortably, uncrossing his legs. "Well, yeah. I suppose I can tell you. I can't help thinking about Qilby. I feel sorry for him. I know I did what had to be done. There wasn't much of a choice anyway. But still...that's an horrible fate. I just spent a short time alone in the Blank Dimension and it was unbearable. So to think he's going to spend centuries stuck there...I wish I could have worked out a better solution for him."
Evangelyne had caught up with the story after the council, along with the rest of the Brotherhood of the Tofu, but Yugo hadn't provided them with that much detail. "You feel sorry for him?" she asked, surprised. "After all the horrible things he did to your people?"
"Hold on, I'm not saying he's not evil", Yugo corrected. "He had to be stopped. But making him suffer won't repair anything. And of course I don't remember, but before he did what he did, before he got desperate to the point of betraying us, maybe we could have taken better care of him. That's what he was blaming me for anyway."
"Come on Yugo. If you start blaming yourself for mistakes you may have made in your previous lives, you'll never see the end of it." The boy didn't look convinced, so Evangelyne tried a different approach. "It's nothing definitive anyway. You can go back to him somehow, don't you? After all, you were able to get him out of there once."
Yugo frowned, thinking. "Well...not by myself, I needed the Eliacube for that, although...with the help of Balthazar that should be possible. But what for? I have no better solution for him."
"Not right now, but let's say you come up with something better along the way. You can always go find him and help him properly later on."
Yugo thought about it for a while, then his face illuminated with a large smile. "Of course! It's not over, I just have to keep looking for a better answer. I didn't see it that way. Thanks Eva!"
Evangelyne smiled back at him. When there was nothing else to cheer one up, hope was often the only solution, and she knew it. "There's still one thing I wanted to ask you," she said. "But don't answer if you don't feel like it."
"Okay..." the boy answered warily. "Ask away."
"Back on the boat, when we arrived at the Crimson Claws, you asked us to let you go alone, and for a moment I thought we had convinced you to stick together. But you still left. Why?"
Yugo thought about the answer for a while, and Evangelyne could see from his face that he wasn't bothered by the question. He was just searching for the right words.
"When I was fighting Qilby," he explained, "several times I felt like giving up. I mean, he was much more powerful, and I never managed to hit him. Not even once. It was just too hard. If I didn't have your words fresh in my mind, it would have ended just like that."
Yugo met Eva's gaze. "You gave me the courage to see it through, because I wasn't fighting just for me. I was fighting for all of you. But it wasn't your fight. I could see that no matter what I said, you would come along, so I came up with this idea of stranding you up in the middle of the sea. I'm not proud of it, but I didn't want you to get involved, because someone could have ended up dead and it would have been my fault."
"No, never," Eva denied adamantly. "How can you think that?"
The boy shrugged. "I already felt that way for Pinpin. This time I used the Eliacube. That's what started it all. In a way, I'm responsible of everything."
"That doesn't change anything. We followed you on this quest because we wanted to. If we turned our backs on you at the first real difficulty, what would it tell about us? That we're only fair-weather friends right?"
"I...Well, yeah, I suppose so," Yugo hesitated.
"Exactly. Did you think for a second about how it would have felt for us if you got killed back there, when we couldn't help you?"
"In that case the world would have been destroyed," the young Eliatrope noted. "I'm not sure it matters at all."
Evangelyne shook her head and stared intently at him. "It does. Never assume again that we need you to protect us from ourselves. Everyone was perfectly aware of the risks involved, and everyone was willing to stand by your side until the very end."
Yugo shook his head, his expression confused. "I don't understand. Why are you all willing to risk your lives for me? Why is it so important?"
"But...because we're friends, Yugo."
As the implications of those simple words sank in, Yugo nodded slowly and smiled. Eva really meant it, convinced that the boy was feeling the same towards her. They have had the occasion to prove it several times each already. He had saved her from Count Vampyro. She had saved him from the Voice Thief. There wasn't any point keeping scores anyway.
"Thanks Eva. That was nice chatting with you," Yugo said, stifling a yawn. "It's getting late though, we should―"
He stopped mid-sentence, frozen on the spot, open-mouthed. His wide open eyes expressed what looked like terror. Suddenly he gripped his head with both hands and yelped in pain.
"Are you okay?" Evangelyne asked urgently.
"I am," he groaned through gritted teeth. "But Adamaï isn't. Sorry, I must go."
Before Evangelyne could say anything, Yugo jumped on his feet, opened a portal and dove through it, suddenly becoming a ribbon of blue light that darted in the night sky towards the upper floors of the palace. The next second, the young Cra was sitting alone in the grass, bewildered as usual to notice how everything seemed to go at a quicker pace whenever Yugo was around.
Yugo always hated that feeling. If only he could know exactly what was happening. But no, that would have been so convenient. All he felt was his brother's suffering, without any way to know why, leaving him with only a deep sense of dread until he could find out. That was much worse when they were separated by whole oceans. Luckily this time he was only a few seconds away from his brother.
The boy flew through the window of their bedroom. He landed clumsily, carried away by the precipitation. He got back on his feet and immediately scanned the room, looking for any intruder, only to find out that he was alone with his brother. He could barely see him in the darkness. The little dragon was lying down in his bed, eyes closed. He would have looked to be peacefully sleeping, if he wasn't shivering badly from head to toe. Another fresh wave of anxiety assaulted Yugo as he rushed to his brother's side.
"Adamaï. Adamaï!" the boy called, shaking his brother by the shoulders to wake him up. The dragon opened his eyes and cast a glassy look at Yugo's face. The unbearable feeling of fear and the violent headache immediately stopped, but Adamaï still looked feverish.
"Yugo...that's really you? Oh dang..." he moaned numbly.
"Of course that's me bro. What happened?"
"I―I was just..." the dragon stammered. He managed to focus a bit more, and sighed with relief. "Thanks the Goddess...that was just a dream."
"Not a nice one, right?"
"Not really, no."
Even though the temperature in the room was pleasant, Adamaï was still shaking like a leaf. Yugo had his own solution for that kind of problems.
"Okay, move a bit," he ordered. "Leave me some room."
"What? Don't be stupid, the bed is too small for both of us."
"Excuses," Yugo retorted. "This is my brother duty and you won't stop me."
Adamaï shook his head, slightly bemused. Yugo knew his brother wasn't used to physical contact. Their extremely rare hugs had always felt awkward. But now that Adamaï was stuck with such a cuddly and stubborn brother, he didn't have much of a choice. Besides, he needed it.
Adamaï moved to the side of his bed, and Yugo laid down next to him. The boy latched his little arms tightly around his brother's torso, soothing his chills. If the dragon was tense at first, he quickly relaxed.
"There. Nothing a good hug can't take care of. How do you feel?"
"Much better," Adamaï admitted. "How did you know?"
"Dad did that every time I had a nightmare," Yugo explained. "You're my brother, there's no way you can't like a good hug. Grougal never did it?"
Adamaï chuckled and snorted at the same time, making a strange sound. "No, hugs were not really his thing. He had other ways to let me know he loved me, like when he pushed me off a cliff on the first day he taught me how to fly."
"What? How does that show he loved you?"
"Because he caught me before I crashed and died. That proves he cared about me."
"Okay..." Yugo muttered, slightly baffled. He had trouble to understand that peculiar way of expressing love, but then maybe it was the dragon's way, much like Adamaï had trouble to understand the human way.
"Anyway, what was this nightmare about?" Yugo asked. He feared that Anathar was now possessing his brother's dreams after doing so with his body.
"It was...well, really strange. It felt much more real than a usual dream somehow. I was standing alone, and throughout the whole thing I was feeling a great void, as if you were, you know..." Adamaï swallowed a lump. He couldn't say the word, obviously extremely uncomfortable with the idea of losing his brother.
"I'm here," Yugo said gently. "I'll always be here."
"Well, maybe not forever. You know, maybe I shouldn't talk about it but...what happens if only one of us dies? Knowing that the other has to end it if we want to get reborn...what would you do if I died?"
Yugo had never given much thought to that idea, and he really didn't like it. He couldn't envision going on with his own life while feeling a permanent huge gap in his heart where Adamaï would have been, but if the only other option was suicide... "If something bad has to happen, then we'd better make sure it gets both of us," he concluded firmly.
"True. That would make everything so much simpler. Together 'til the end."
"Together 'til the end," Yugo repeated. He hugged his brother a bit more tightly, feeling his now much calmer breathing underneath his arms. "Anyway, even if I was dead in your dream, that means nothing. That's just a dream."
"You're right. But there's a bit more to it," Adamaï continued. "So I stood there, in the middle of that strange landscape...it looked liked everything had been burnt to the ground. There was grey ash everywhere, as far as I could see. Then at one point, I looked at the horizon, and I'm pretty sure..."
Yugo knew where it was going before he heard it. An icy feeling swelled inside his chest that had nothing to do with the somewhat cooler skin of his cold-blooded brother.
"Well, I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I saw the Tree of Life."
A/N
And that concludes the first part. The second season's ending leaves a lot of loose ends to play with, obviously intended for a third season that's still up in the air. This is just my take on the subject, but I felt there was a lot of room for discontent and conflict in the wake of Qilby's actions. Also I apologize for the outrageous amounts of Yugo+Adamaï, but the way they got separated and their combined strengths never exploited in the series was a frustration to me, which I'm aiming to correct. Anyway, the next chapter will set things in motion.
As usual, please feel free to tell me what you think of it. You telling me is the only way I can possibly know. Or I could learn telepathy, but it's a lot more practical if you just tell me. Also I'd like to thank again everyone who's following and commenting, the Wakfu fandom is small, and motivation is precious. I would have stopped long ago if no one cared. Thanks.