-Yugo!

Evangelyne's cry broke the heavy silence. Four pairs of eyes turned in her direction, while she was catching up Yugo by the shoulders. The Eliatrope's face was chalk-white, and his eyes were half-closed. Eva kneeled on the grass, and put his head on her knees. Grovy, Adamaï, Ruel and Amalia, who were a few steps behind them, rushed to the small corpse lying on the ground, and the little pearly dragon patted his brother's shoulders with his paws.

-Hey, bro, hold on!

-Oh, by the Gods, what's happening to him?! panicked Amalia, frenetically fanning Yugo's face with her hands.

-Uhhhhhh, I dunno, the chock, I suppose?

-I knew he wasn't going to be able to bear it…, said Jarvis.

Another silence fell on the Brotherhood. Adamaï was patting the young boy's cheeks, while Amalia was still fanning his face, but with a few leaves this time. Evangelyne and Sadlygrove looked anxiously at each other: last year, Yugo had lost his fellow Eliatropes again, even if their promise to come back when he'll be ready was a bit comforting him. The only other Eliatrope who was living in the Twelve's World was Yugo's little brother, Chibi, an adorable young boy aged of ten months or so, whose dragon was Grougaloragran, the very same dragon who raised Adamaï a few years ago, before dying by the hand of Nox, a Xelor half-sadistic, half-crazy. If Yugo had to lose his brother, he wouldn't handle it at all.

-Hey… Hey! He's regaining consciousness!

Everybody focused on the little Eliatrope, alerted by Amalia's shout. Indeed, Yugo had opened his dark eyes, and colours were coming back to his cheeks. Adamaï sighed of gladness, and slumped on the ground.

-Damn it, Yugo… You scared us! said Eva.

-I… I'm so sorry… I, uh…

-Yeah, you're still dizzy. It's the chock, repeated Grovy, looking as proud as the person who discovered how to make fire.

Yugo breathed for a few seconds, and then looked weakly at Jarvis.

-Master Bonta… Please, I'm begging you, are… Are you sure?

-Unfortunately, yes, young King.

-Don't call me like that, whispered Yugo.

-It's amazing, how you hate your title, even while waking up from a faint, observed Sadlygrove.

-Shut up, Grovy! mumbled Amalia.

-So, I was saying… Yes, I'm sure. I left Sir Alibert's devastated house two days from now.

-Uh… Wait. Alibert!? By the Goddess, is he fine?!

-Well, hum… We can't really say that, you see…

-WHAT!?

-Calm down, Yugo. We would have known, if his Wakfu had disappeared, said Adamaï, standing up.

-He's not dead, but… He's wounded. Seriously wounded. This is why I called you back to the Sadida Kingdom. The doctors are taking care of your father right now.

-Hey, Yugo!

Without any word of excuse for Eva, the Eliatrope stood up, and started to walk as quickly as he could with his dizziness to the palace. Adamaï didn't wait, and followed immediately his brother, Amalia, Evangelyne and Grovy quickly joining him. Ruel didn't move a bit. He stayed next to Jarvis, paralyzed by the new. Then he stood up too, and started to run towards his friends, realizing that his best friend was injured. Ahead of the little group, Yugo was now running.

-Yugo, Yugo, Yugo! called Amalia.

-What? said roughly the boy without stopping.

-Don't… Don't worry; I'm pretty sure that the doctors are doing a great job with your f…

-I didn't ask you anything.

Amalia opened her mouth… And closed it almost immediately. It was certain that during those six months of training with Adamaï, Yugo had changed. He wasn't the little boy that she could protect anymore, no; he was going to be 14 in two weeks! The young princess felt like if someone just punched her in the stomach: the kid that she met two years ago had grown up a lot. After ten minutes of running through the forest, the Brotherhood arrived in front of the palace's entrance. Amalia stepped towards the others, and opened the large wooden doors. She took the little group to the left corridor.

-Come this way… We'll soon be around the doctor's area.

-Huh, Ami'… We won't meet your brother, will we? asked anxiously Eva.

-Not at all. He's out at the Cra Kingdom, he has this training thing…

-Oh, Gods bless you!

They were walking through wooden corridors. Yugo was almost stepping on Amalia's feet, as he was running behind her. He wished he could feel his father's Wakfu, just to check if he was really badly injured. But he couldn't make it. He was thinking too much. His brain was certainly looking like a salad of emotions. Amalia suddenly stopped next to a door with a red cross on it, and opened it immediately. The dozen of healers that were working into the room turned their heads towards the princess, and kneeled with respect.

-Princess Sheran-Sharm, what c…

-DAD!

The doctors quickly moved away from the boy's path, as he rushed to his father's bed. Alibert was lying there, quite injured. His left eye was blackened, and his ordinarily smiling and kind face was striped with contusions. Yugo took his hand.

-Oh my… Yugo, son…

-I'm here, it's me…

-You're h… What are you doing here? You were supposed to train with Adamaï!

-You're way more important than this bloody Wakfu, whispered the boy, hugging the man who raised him.

-I… It wasn't worth it. Your old man is doing very well. It's just…

-Yeah, I already know. Jarvis told us.

Alibert's face became grey. He was sweating a lot. He moved away from his son, looking terrified.

-It… It wasn't my fault. I swear, Yugo, I…

-Don't worry, I know. You protected me like I was your real son. You acted exactly the same with Chibi, didn't you?

-Oh, sure, but… They-they were too strong… So… Powerful…

-I see, you're not looking really well, dad. I understand.

-When Jarvis came, it was too late. They had taken him. I-I couldn't do anything…

-"They"? Who are they?

Alibert frowned.

-I don't know. They were hooded. But their smell was awful. It was like… Like sodium. They had power, too. Strong ones.

-What kind of power?

-Huh… To be honest, I've never seen something like that. They-they were like… Like demons.

-Hum… Did they talk to you?

-Yes, yes, one of them took Lil' Chibi, and said… Oh, I don't really remember… Something like: "This one may be friendlier". That's all I remember.

-Alibert?

Adamaï was coming towards the man's bed, followed by the little group. Alibert smiled to the white and blue dragon:

-Oh, hey, Adamaï.

-Gosh, you're not good-looking, my friend! said Ruel, sitting on his best friend's bed.

-I'll always be better-looking than you, even injured!

-Sir, are you all right? asked Eva.

-Oh please, don't call me "Sir", my sweet Evangelyne. But yes, I'm okay. I'm feeling better than two days ago. You should have seen what these demons had done to me…

Demons.

The word just cleared Yugo's mind.

He looked at his friends. Amalia seemed like she was thinking about something. Adamaï was looking at Rubilax. And Grovy was staring at him with a concerned face. He was certainly thinking like him. He nodded to him, and pointed the door with his finger. Grovy's lips formed the word "okay", and he took Evangelyne's hand, and whispered something in her ear. Yugo told Ruel to take care of his father, hugged both of them, and left the infirmary with the rest of the group. He stopped his friends in the corridor, but Amalia stepped in front of him.

-No. Not here. Somebody could hear us. Let's go in my room.

They all rushed in the corridors, entered into Amalia's giant bedroom, and the princess locked the door. As soon as she got the key out of the door, Yugo started talking:

-Rushu. He's the one who took my brother.

-Oh, bingo. I was exactly thinking of that, said Amalia, sitting on floor next to Adamaï.

-Yep. The smell, the weird powers… That's how a Shushu works, added Grovy, dropping himself on Amalia's bed, next to Eva.

-Hey, come on, don't be a jerk. Shushus don't smell like crap! Well, most of us do, but… I don't!

Grovy looked at Rubilax for a second, and pulled him out of his sheath.

-Rubi, d'you think… That you could possibly recognize any Shushu by his smell?

-Yeah, that's a piece of cake. Every Shushu has his own smell. I think that I smell like cinnamon!

-Oh, c'mon…, groaned Eva.

-What? Maybe that's true! Anyway, you guys can't make the difference between two Shushus. Your nose isn't as powerful as ours.

-Hey now… Swords have a sense of smell?!

-Sure we do! What do you think we are, some kind of objects? That is so rude. Moving on: Alibert said that there were many attackers, right? Well, I don't think that Rushu came all the way just for that. He doesn't even know how to come in our world without an Eliatrope!

-So… He sent his minions? asked Amalia, sitting between Adamaï and Yugo.

-Yes ma'am. And we now know why he wanted Chibi, don't we?

Hearing his brother's name, Yugo's head rose up. But he didn't understand what the Shushu meant.

-Huh… No, we don't.

-Oh, come on! My idea of naming the gang "Rubi and the idiots" wasn't that bad, after all… Think about it: Rushu wanted Yugo last year, because of his power. He wanted to come in our world, to dominate everything, blah, blah, and he almost did. But! He was sent back by Grovy's master. So he's up here, so sad because he can't get his own little Eliatrope… And then he thinks: "Hey! This little moron has a brother!"

-So what?

-I can't believe that someone that DUMB is my master, Grovy!

-Will you shut up!?

-Well, no, I won't. And for the rest of you who didn't understand, like my veeeeeeeery smart master, what I meant was that…

-Rushu wants Chibi's powers to come back in the business, ended Eva.

-Oh yeah, blondie. That's it. In other words… This is a bloody mess!

Hey!

Sorry that this chapter's coming up so late! I was on holidays and I didn't feel like translating!

Enjoy and review, as usual!