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Although their love for one another was true and deep there was no denying that it was inevitable for a Sadida Queen and an Eliatrope King to be busy. It was a mutual understanding between the couple that nights they’d be able to spend together would be limited especially after the effects of the invasion.
For Amalia it was rebuilding her kingdom from the ground up with the weight of having nobody to turn to for advice. Her father and brother had joined their mother and left her alone to rule a healing kingdom. Not to mention the tension between herself and her sister-in-law.
For Yugo things were more diplomatic. Trying to convince the other nations of the world to let his fellow Eliatropes leave the confines of the Embrum and be able to learn and explore the world while still being seen as the source of all the problems that occur. Trying to convince the world that himself and his people meant no harm felt impossible outside of the Sadida kingdom.
The reality was that unfortunately there was no way the current rebuilding Sadida Kingdom could house a thousand new people. They were able to keep the squad trained under Nora within the confines of the Sadida Kingdom as security and as rebuilding aid but there was no way that the kingdom would ever be big enough to withstand thousands of orphaned children. Both Yugo and Amalia knew this but it didn’t make it any less heart crushing.
Because of this, Yugo was constantly on the move. Sometimes the queen was jealous of how Eva and Dally were able to live together in a remote cabin and spend each day with their kids and spend each night in bed together. But her position made her realize that Yugo was just trying to be a king with nobody to lean on, much like she herself was trying to rule on her own.
Of course the two leaned on each other for things. But there were circumstances that the other was just never be able to grasp as both different races and of their positions. There was nobody left in the royal family except Amalia for her to look for advice to. Everything she knew came from childhood lessons and her current advisors who she wholeheartedly trusted.
For Yugo it was much the same. He had his brother to turn to for some things related to Eliatropes but Adamai only knew as much as Grougal had taught him and from his own observations. Adamai was a warrior. Yugo was the king. The warrior. The mentor. The eldest. The hero. Yugo had to be everything all at once. It was only he and Chibi along with Adamai and Grougal, but the latter were still much too young to be able to grasp their positions in life. Six of their siblings resided safely in their dofus, kept safe with Yugo at all times. Nora and Elfrim’s whereabouts were unknown.
Their schedules meant there were times that they wouldn’t be able to see one another for days or even weeks at a time. Dimensional time differences also didn’t help. But the two remained mutual. They were adults after all.
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This was one of the rare nights that the married couple got to spend together. Amalia had wrapped up her meetings, paperwork, and check ins early. A meeting that Yugo had set aside a few days for in Bonta to discuss a possible refugee location had been abruptly canceled. This meant that the two got to spend the evening together. A lovely dinner on the balcony overlooking the sunset. The two stayed outside until the moon was high and the air became chilly. They playfully chased after each other to the warmer confines of their room. Even as they wrapped themselves under the sheets of their shared bed and warmed up with one another, they knew it wouldn’t last.
Amalia was the last of the royal family. She knew her partner felt guilty of this. He felt it was his existence once again that inhibited her much like how his existence essentially caused the death of her family. The Sadida was quick to shut him up about that. It wasn’t Yugo’s fault. It hurt her to see him blame himself and it frustrated her to see others push it on him. Because he was the first. Because he was the hero. But here and now as they lay together, Amalia cherished her partner’s laugh as she curled into his chest, her breath tickling his collar bone. They can melt into each other's arms and forget their duties outside of their love for one another. Here they could be themselves without the political stoic faces they had to wear every day.
She laid with her head to his chest, listening to Yugo’s heart beat while he twirled a finger through her hair. It wasn’t long for the two to fall asleep from the warmth and contact of each other.
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While they felt safe in each other's arms, the two bore their fair share of scars that would never heal. Amalia felt grief when her family visited her in her dreams. She felt cold when remembering how she was almost tricked into marriage with an evil man who wanted to use her. She felt fear when she dreamed of the times that her and her friends had faced death.
It was the middle of the night when she felt a stir next to her. It was nothing uncommon— Yugo was a shifty sleeper. He never woke up in the same position he had gone to sleep in. But the jerkiness of his movements and the rapid breathing wasn’t an every night occurrence for the Eliatrope. Under mundane conditions Amalia would be annoyed and angry at being woken up. This was different though. The way his face scrunched up and his eyebrows furrowed was one of discomfort. His wings plastered themselves against his head within the confines of his hat. A trickle of sweat and a white knuckled grip.
“Yugo,” Amalia whispered. He wasn’t able to hear her. “Yugo, please wake up.” she asked him. She longed to reach out for him. To touch him and to comfort him. But they had established long ago even during their early traveling days that the only ones to try and physically awaken the Eliatrope from a nightmare would be Dally or Adamai. They were the only ones that could physically handle the warrior instincts that sometimes awoke in Yugo.
The Sadida had other methods to awaken her partner instead. The queen gave Yugo a few more verbal attempts to awaken him. When that didn’t work she gently pressed the palm of her hand against the bedroom wall. Her powers created a glowing path to some ivy that hung down from the ceiling. From it sprung a vine that slowly grew down to Yugo’s face and sprouted a flower right under his nose. A final press of magic and the petal opened releasing the pollen within.
As expected the Eliatrope’s eyes flew open and his body launched straight upward. In a swift movement he grabbed ahold of the top sheet and yanked it, pulling it away from Amalia and ripping it out from under the bed. Swiftly and unconsciously he wrapped it around himself while hopping out of the bed. He stood with his back turned to Amalia but she could hear his labored breathing. After a few moments Yugo groaned and dropped down into a squat on the ground. He buried his head into his arms while gripping the sheet around him like a lifeline.
Amalia crawled over to his side of the bed. She noted how it was damp where her partner was previously laying. The sheets would absolutely need to be washed tomorrow so they wouldn’t reek of sweat. “Yugo?” she asked in a low voice.
No, not yet. She couldn’t reach out to him yet.
There was silence between the two before Yugo broke it off with a muffled “Sorry.”
Amalia knew her partner. She gave him some time to compose himself. “Yugo? Would you be able to join me?”
He stood up, which told her that he had heard her. He tentatively sat back down on the bed refusing to let go of his blanket cocoon or make eye contact. Amalia could tell by the way his shoulders shook that he was fighting off tears.
“Can you look at me?” she tried to guide his attention to her. He hesitated but eventually turned around but he wasn’t looking at her.
His eyes glowed blue and darted around. That meant that he was searching– scanning. For anything that might bring harm.
She still couldn’t reach out to him.
“We’re in the Sadida Kingdom. In my room– in our room. In our bed. There’s no threat. You’re covered.” She spoke clearly and concisely while keeping a watch on his eyes. Her own tension left when the glow of his eyes went away. But he soon shied away from her by closing in on himself with his face back in his hands. His shoulders shook more. She could hear the silent whines as he cried.
“Is it okay if I scoot closer?” He nodded so she moved closer. “Can you show me your face?” There was hesitation but opened himself up. Watery hazel eyes dripped tears down reddened cheeks.
Softly and slowly Amalia reached out and cupped his head in her hand. He leaned into the soft touch, appreciating the coolness of her hand against his warm face. They used that movement to lay back down in the bed together with Yugo holding his hand against hers while looking in her eyes.
“Do you think you could share? It’s getting kind of chilly without the blanket.” Amalia asked. Yugo blinked a few times before realizing what she meant. He quickly shimmied to unwrap himself from the blanket and cover her with it. “Thank you,” she sighed while burying herself in the blanket to warm up. “Do you want to talk about it?”
He squirmed at the idea but Yugo knew there was no hiding from the Sadida. “It… It was Nox… after we had teleported in his clock to Mount Zinit... I was stunned to see Ogrest for the first time and… and I didn’t notice Nox behind me– and he drained my Wakfu. But this time he was holding my head and was telling me that it was my fault that Ogrest was enraged. He said the reason Dally was dead was my fault. And it’s… it’s not even the part that scared me. His hands were so close to my head, Amalia.” Yugo wrenched his eyes shut and he forced a laugh.
“It’s so stupid. It’s such a stupid reason to have a nightmare. I’ve watched my friends die. I’ve watched innocents die. I’ve almost died so many times, and the thing that haunts my dreams is almost having my hat taken off?” He used the palm of Amalia’s hand to wipe the new set of tears that fell. “I killed Nox. He’ll never be physically in my life again. He can’t… He can’t hurt me anymore. I’ve shown my friends my biggest secret. So why do I still get so fucked up over a goddamn hat?” He choked out a laugh through his sobs.
Amalia continued to caress his face, moving the longer stands away. She kept her words stern but made sure to emphasize that she meant them with care. “Yugo, you and I both know that what’s under your hat is important to you. It’s not stupid for you to be upset if someone tries to see what’s underneath without asking for permission. I know that in the beginning when we first met, the curiosity to learn what you were made me want to try and take off your hat, and I apologize for that. As we traveled I learned that your hat is a part of who you were and it would be wrong for me to disrespect my friends’ wish when it didn’t matter what was underneath. I loved you for who you were then and who you are now. My adventurous, courageous, kind-hearted, self-sacrificial Eliatrope.”
This made Yugo let out a breathy laugh. “Did you really have to leave in the last descriptor?”
“Of course, you Tofu-brain! You need to stop throwing yourself headfirst into battles. You place too much blame on yourself for issues that existed long before you were even born. Even your brother thinks you try to solve too many problems on your own even though he’s just as bad as you are. Some self reflection would do him some good, that dragon.”
Her king digested these words. “Thank you, Amalia,” he smiled.
‘It’s what I’m here for. Besides, remember what we talked about?” Amalia traced the outer rim of his hat down to the strings that hung off the longer pieces of fabric that caressed his face. She gave the string a tug to secure the hat firmly to his head before tying the strings into a bow under his chin. “I’m honored as the Queen of the Sadida Kingdom, as your friend, and as your lover to know the secret under your hat. The same goes for all of our friends. There’s no better feeling than knowing that you trust us so much. We’ll never hold it against you if you’re more comfortable with your hat on. You do know you can wear this hat outside of personal time, right?”
“For some reason I don’t think I’d be taken too seriously by the other councils if I showed up with a hat with strings tied into a bow under my chin compared to my hood.”
“Nonsense! They just don’t know fashion when they see it. Besides, I think it looks cute on you.”
Yugo rolled his eyes. “At least someone thinks it’s nice.”
“Do you feel better now?” Amalia asked while looking at Yugo’s eyes which had softened from earlier. They still looked tired but the shine was back.
“Yeah, I do. Thank you, Amalia. It means a lot. Really. But I don’t think I’ll be going back to sleep tonight. I don’t want to keep you awake though.”
“Stay with me until I fall asleep?”
“Of course, my princess.” Yugo teased.
Amalia scoffed. “Don’t forget that I’m your queen now. And as your queen,” the Sadida reached up and pressed a gentle kiss to the bridge of Yugo’s nose. “I demand you to wash the sheets in the morning.”
“Yes, ma’am.”