(A/N: This is the second and last chapter of Understanding, and I will say that I did a pretty good job for a Wakfu fanfic. I will point out very quickly that I may have made one of the characters a little out of character, that being Eva, so I apologise if I messed her up slightly, but other than that I think I did okay. This is one of the two Christmas gifts that I have made for you guys, so enjoy!)

~Neoshadow574


Chapter 2

Yugo sat on the elegantly made bench alongside his friends and gazed up at the gold plated statue of their friend Sadlygrove. Their faces held a mixture of joy and sadness across their features. It has been almost a few days since Nox's defeat and Grovy's sacrifice. The Sadidas were all hard at work in restoring the forest back to the way it was before the battle. Upon knowing that the Iop sacrificed himself for both Eva and Amalia, they built a statue of him in his honour. Yet no matter what they did to honour him, it was just not the same without him. Even if he was still alive but had gone missing for a few days, they would have missed hearing his voice or whatever came out of that Iop-brain's mouth.

Yugo sat on the right side of the bench with Az, his Tofu friend, on his shoulder, next to Eva, who sat in the middle and Amalia who sat on the grass in front of him. Ruel stood beside the bench to his right and had his arm on the bench's arm rest. They all looked at the statue quietly, not wanting to disrespect their fallen friend.

The statue in question had Grovy standing with a foot on a rock holding Rubilax, the Shushu imprisoned in the sword, in front of him, pointing up to the sky. It was the kind of pose that made people look up to those making it with awe, admiration and hope. It made people know that there were other valiant heroes like Grovy out there in the World of Twelve.

Adamaï appeared in his dragon form and took his seat next to Amalia. The air around them remained silent for a few long moments before he broke it, "Nox is dead." was all that he said.

The sudden statement had shocked them all and prompted Yugo to ask him how he would have known. Adamaï explained that he wasn't sure entirely, but he somehow felt Nox's wakfu leaving the world. He said that it might have been because he sensed it enough during the final fight against him that he was able to detect his wakfu, similar to how he felt Grougaloragran passing away. Regardless, he said that Nox was now dead, and his 200 years of hungrily searching for wakfu had come to an end.

Before Yugo knew it, everyone had divulged into the conversation.

"He shouldn't have been let go," Eva stated harshly, "He deserves an even more terrible fate than that, after everything he's done… after when he did to Sadlygrove…"

"He almost killed my family and all of the Sadidas," Amalia added, "Dying was probably too merciful for someone like him."

Ruel placed a hand on his face, "Had I arrived much sooner, then maybe that crazy youngling would still be alive."

"You did everything that you could, Ruel. We all did." Eva looked down at the small booklet on her lap, seeing Grovy's face on it. She felt her eyes beginning to tear up as she reached up to wipe them away, "It was just not enough."

Adamaï balled up his fists and slammed one on the ground, "Nox… He took away the people we called our friends, the people that we loved. He's destroyed places filled with life and beauty and killed innocent people without hesitation. He was a monster, and a monster should have died like one! He shouldn't have been set free like a Tofu!"

"You're all wrong."

Everyone turned and looked at Yugo, who was staring at his lap in sadness. His hat made it difficult for them to see his face, but they could tell from the way he spoke that he was deeply bothered by the topic.

Eva glared at the young Eliatrope upon hearing this and shouted at him, "How can you say that, Yugo? Have you already forgotten about all the things he did, all the people he killed, our friends and Sadlygrove? Do you even what kind of pain I'm in after losing him? He may have been an idiot, but that was what made him cute and…" Tears were falling like streams from her eyes as her voice grew even louder, "You don't even know what it's like to lose someone that you've loved! So what gives you the right to defend that monster?!"

"Evangelyne!" Amalia shouted at the Cra. Never before in her life had she seen her friend act like this, especially to Yugo. Perhaps Grovy was more important to her than she originally thought. That still doesn't give her the right to shout at him, though… even if it is true.

Eva realized what she had just said and sank back into her seat. She felt her heart growing heavy and the guilt slowing filling up the emptiness inside. She didn't know why she lashed out at him, but now that she did, she was afraid that she might have hurt his feelings. The last thing she wanted to do was lose another friend in such a short amount of time.

Surprisingly, Yugo didn't respond the way she thought he would. He remained absolutely calm and kept his gaze on his hands, which were resting on top of his lap. An uncomfortable silence began to settle in as everyone waited for someone to respond.

Not being used to Yugo remaining so quiet, Eva was the first one to speak, "Yugo… I didn't mean… I'm sorry for what I–"

"It's okay," Yugo interrupted her, "Besides, I'm the one who should apologize."

"For what? You didn't do anything wrong. It was Eva who yelled at you." Amalia said to him, confused as to why he would apologize.

He didn't answer her right away. He turned his head around until he was looking at Eva. From her point of view, she could see a few tears that remained on his face. When he spoke, it was calm and quiet to the ear, "Remember when you said that I didn't know what it's like to lose someone that I loved?" He saw the Cra nodding her head and continued, "The truth is, I do know what it feels like. When Papa was turned into a plant by the Potters the day we first met, I thought that I'd lose him forever. He raised me ever since I was a baby."

Ruel knew exactly what Yugo was saying. On the day he returned to Emelka to see his old friend Alibert, the whole village was attacked by little creatures called Potters from the nearby forest. They had turned many of the townspeople, including Alibert, into plant versions of themselves. He and Yugo had both witnessed the terrible event, and for the first time since meeting the boy, he had never seen him cry so hard in his life. He knew that the boy was familiar with the same kind of pain that Eva was feeling, yet he remained silent and continued listening to him.

"The other time I felt that way was when that Demon Rose bit Amalia. I was afraid that we might have been too late to save her because of that crazy Sadida and her monster plants." Amalia's face blushed a slight shade of crimson upon hearing this, as did Yugo, but he merely shook it away. "I understand why you would yell at me, Eva, and I don't blame you. When me and Adamaï confronted Nox, I really wanted to make him pay for everything he's done. I wanted to avenge our friends' deaths right then and there… But I couldn't."

"Why?" Adamaï asked.

"I'm not sure if you guys noticed it too, but while we were confronting him, I saw this tear falling down his face. As soon as I saw that, I instantly recognized what it was. And it was exactly the way you're feeling right now, Eva." He looked at the others with a sympathetic look and knew right away what he was feeling.

He was feeling sorry for Nox.

Adamaï shook his head at his brother and spoke up, "Yugo, did you already forget the part where Nox had spent 200 years collecting wakfu and ravaging the world without the slightest hint of hesitation? Why would you feel sorry for him?"

"Remember what he said to the cube? He said that it was supposed to help him go back in time and rejoin with his family. And that made me realize what his true intentions were. He didn't do all those things because he was insane; he did it because he wanted to change the mistake he made in finding the Eliacube."

Amalia gasped upon hearing this and said with much sadness in her voice, "He wanted to be with his family again, so he was willing to destroy the world in order to go see them."

"Now I understand." Ruel spoke up this time, catching everyone's attention, "He thought that if he travelled back to when he found the cube, every crime and murder he did for the past 200 years would never happen. That's the reason why he was willing to kill all of the Sadida's and us as well without a slight hesitation."

"But it only brought him back about twenty minutes, not 200 years." Eva added before she too realized the truth and placed a hand just slightly above her mouth. "I can't even begin to imagine the pain that Nox must have been in when he found out."

Yugo nodded his head in agreement to her. "When you think about it, Nox wasn't really a bad guy. He just wanted to prevent all of this from ever happening again and be with the people he loved." He dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a long grey strip of cloth. He held it on the palm of his hand and let everyone else see it.

Ruel took a closer look and it and his eyes widen when he pieced together what it was, "Is that…?"

The Eliatrope nodded his head again, "It came loose when Nox teleported away. I found it snagged on a branch soon after and kept it with me. Kind of like a memento."

Az hopped off of Yugo's shoulder and onto his hand, looking at the clothe with his beady eyes. The Tofu circled around it, keeping his gaze fixated on it before chirping loudly at Yugo. He soon flew around him and landed back on his shoulder, chirping even more.

Amalia smiled and stood up from where she sat. She took the cloth from her friend's hand, prompting him to try and take it back. She stopped him though and instead began to tie it around his upper right arm so it wouldn't come loose. While she did so, she shook her head at him saying, "Sometimes you can be very strange Yugo. But after what you said about Nox, I can't help but feel the same way."

After she finished tying, Yugo took a look at it and thanked her. She returned it with a smile and sat back down on the grass. Within moments, they were all looking back at the statue. A small smile had spread across Yugo's face as he looked past it and up to the sky.

"Where do you think Nox might have gone to?" He asked his friends.

"Maybe where Xelor's go to when their time on this world is up." Ruel suggested.

"Or someplace to spend his last moments recalling the good times he had with his family?" Adamaï added.

Eva smiled at that, "Wherever he might have gone to, let us hope that he is now at peace."

Yugo couldn't help but smile at that one. Yeah. Let's hope so. He thought to himself before feeling the wind blow slightly past through his hat and hair. No matter what people thought of him, Yugo would always remember Nox as the Xelor he truly was… a man who only wished to be with the people he loved, much like Yugo to his friends and Papa.

THE END