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Chapter Text

Yugo tilted his head as he watched his twin flutter around their bed, quite literally. The young dragon was rearranging blankets and pillows while seamlessly floating in the air.

Yugo didn't recall them owning this many blankets actually, leaning over, but still keeping out of the fretting dragon's way, Yugo realised they did in fact own these blankets, Adami had simply taken them from the inn .

Watching his brother finally land filled Yugo with relief, only for it to quickly die out again in favour of exasperated confusion as he watched his brother begin rearranging the pillows and blankets again .

Groaning quietly Yugo decided that when their dad eventually showed up to find his missing blankets after the customers started to complain, which they would , Yugo wasn't going to help Adamai hide this from Alibert.

Yugo's eye twitched as he watched Adamai fluff the same pillow for the fifth time in four minutes.

"Hey Ad."

"Yeah Yugo?"

"What are you doing?"

Adamai froze, hands stopping inches from the pillow he'd just fluffed before turning to stare at Yugo in surprise.

Yugo frowned at that, had Adamai not noticed what he was doing? Or was this a dragon thing he didn't want Yugo to know about?

Yugo ignored the stab of pain that went through his chest at that, Adamai was allowed to have secrets, they'd been absent from each other's lives for ten years after all.

"You've never seen a nest?"

"Like the one's Az makes?"

"Kind of," Adamai brows furrowed as he thought of a way to explain, "Grougal and I used to have one back on Oma, but it was way bigger than this one! We kept important things there, like the cloak Grougal made me the first time I managed to shape-shift!"

"Oh." Yugo slipped closer to the nest, careful not to touch the sides as he looked it over more closely, the mattress was covered with blankets that were arranged in a wall like fashion, with pillows blocking the gaps between the blankets. "Sounds important."

"It is, Grougal said that only family could enter a dragon's nest"

"Oh." Yugo looked over the blankets and little more, trying to see what made it so special but no matter how hard he looked the blankets still looked like blankets. "Does that mean I can go inside?"

"Of course you can, little bro!" Adamai turned back to push one of the pillows out of the way, "I bet Grougal would have said the same."

"You think so?"

"I know so, we could even go ask him if you want."

Yugo laughed, "I don't think Grougal's gonna be much help there."

As if to prove his point a loud crash sounded from the kitchen followed by Alibert's shout of 'Grougal!'

The twins' eyes met and they managed 10 seconds of silence before they both collapsed in a fit of laughter, once they'd calmed down Adamai went back to his sorting while Yugo portaled into his hammock to keep reading his book.

A rustling from the staircase caught Yugo's attention, glancing over at his twin who hadn't seemed to have noticed the noise Yugo pushed himself up so he was sitting in the hammock with a clear view of the staircase leading up to their room.

Adamai had moved into Yugo's room back while Alibert was trying to sort out getting him his own room, eventually the twins decided they liked rooming together and the spare room Alibert had constructed went to waste.

That was until Chibi and Grougaloragran hatched, then they had this oh so perfect room ready and waiting!

Speaking of Chibi, Yugo smirked as he watched his little brother stumble his way off the ladder leading into the attic that was the twins room. The three year old looked around for a bit before he finally spotted Yugo, when he did Yugo had to hold back from cooing out loud as Chibi's whole face lit up.

Chibi stumbled forward with his tiny arms outstretched, Alibert had told him to let Chibi get used to waking around more so he couldn't just pick him up and bring him into the hammock since the bed was previously occupied.

Chibi sped up as all his attention was focused on his big brother he didn't even notice when he started to fall, only to land on top of his brother.

"Yugo!"

"Chibi! What are you doing up here?"

Instead of answering, the three year old just nuzzled his way into Yugo's arms, smiling at the boy, all the young king could do was wrap his arms around his brother and squeeze him to his chest.

"Nice save little bro." 

Ignoring the teasing tone of voice Yugo smirked. "Like you wouldn't have caught him if I was too slow.”

Adamai just rolled his eyes with a smirk, Yugo opened his mouth to tease him more only to be stopped by Chibi.

"What's that?"

Chibi stared down at the nest Adamai was making in curiosity, seeing how focused he was Yugo debated just handing the younger boy over to his twin, it was incredibly difficult to get the boy away from something that had caught his attention, once he'd been obsessed with catching a bird with red stripes on its wings because of a story Alibert had told him.

He camped outside for three days before they managed to get a similar beast from Kabrok and Miranda.

"It's a nest, I was hoping that making one might calm Grougal down a bit." Adamai winced at the sound of crashing from downstairs. "Ok a lot, I hoped it would calm him down a lot. "

Yugo raised his eyebrow, "Wait, then why'd you make it up here? Why not down in Chibi and Grougal's room?"

"Because this is the best place for a nest!"

"Didn't you and Grougal live underground back on Oma?"

"That's not the point. "

"What's oma?"

Both boys blinked at Chibi in surprise, before glancing at each other, they'd definitely brought up Oma island when recounting their adventures.....right?

"It's where I used to live, before I moved in with Yugo and Alibert."

"Really?" Chibi's eyes were sparkling as he leaned out of Yugo's arms slightly. "You didn't always live with Daddy and Yugo?"

"Nope, Adamai used to live on this really big island with Grougal! Ad and I didn't even know each other till I got to Oma!"

Chibi's eyes sparkled as he took in this new information, it was one thing to learn that his older brother hadn't always lived here but another entirely to find out his twin hadn't either!

"You know, Grougal was on Oma for a awhile"

"So?" Yugo raised an eyebrow, curious as to where his brother was going with this.

"Does that mean that at some point Chibi lived on the island too?"

Yugo paused at that, it definitely made sense Grougal and Chibi were one of the only members of the council of twelve left after the war, no doubt they’d wanted to stick together.

That’s not even bringing up the whole siblings thing.

Yugo frowned. "But I thought Chibi was already-" Yugo sent a panicked look at the boy in his arms. "S-sleeping? B-before that"

"I thought so too but I'm pretty sure there was Eliatrope magic mixed in with the cloaking spell"

"Seriously? That's so cool! Wait, then do you think some of Chibi's things might still be there?"

"Maybe? I mean Grougals definitely are so there's no reason for Chibi's not to be."

"Huh....."

Yugo turned back to play with Chibi as Adamai left to go wrangle Grougal into the nest. As he was creating portals to entertain his brother Yugo started to think.

Why hadn't they returned to Oma?

Sure it might be painful for Adamai given what happened to Grougal but Grougal was here now! Plus it was the island Adamai grew up on, how many of his things had they just abandoned back there? How much information did Grougal leave behind before he died?

.....Could it have helped them with Qilby?

"Will you just hold still!"

Adamai held onto Grougaloragran as tightly as he could without injuring the younger dragon who continued to spit fire and claw at his face.

"Hey Ad?"

"I'm kinda busy, Yugo! Wah-"

Adamai was forced to dodge out of the way as Grougal dive bombed him from the air once he was free from the older's arms, rolling out of the way of the dragon fire being sent his way Adamai crouched low preparing to launch himself at the pesky dragon.

"I think we should head back to Oma."

Only to collapse into a heap on the ground at his brother's words. Leaning over the side of the hammock with a giggling Chibi in tow Yugo couldn't help but stare at his brother in worry, had mentioning Oma been too much for him?

Grougal crouched low on the ground, growling at the face down older dragon Gorgaloragan nipped at Adamai's exposed scales, sitting on his hind legs Gorgaloragan turned to stare up at his twin and his older Eliatrope brother and tilted his head in confusion.

"Um hey Adamai." Yugo bit his lip quietly. "You ok down there little bro?"

Yugo's only answer was a muffled yeah from his brother, who apparently decided that becoming one with the floor was now his divine purpose.

"Why Oma?"

"Huh? Well, Oma was your's and Grougals home right? We never really went back there after the whole Nox thing......I just thought maybe we could get some of your things from the island." Yugo gestured around the room. "I mean you've been living here for over a year but most of the stuff in here's still just mine!"

"That's true, we could probably look through Grougal's notes too....." Adamai glanced around the room as he spoke, Yugo was right, out of the two of them Adamai definitely had less things lying around. Adamai had never really cared about it before, he'd just liked being close to his brother after they were separated for so long, but then again it would be nice to have some of his old things back.

"Maybe we could even figure out a way to help the Eliatrops back in Emrub..."

"So you agree then? Were going back to Oma?"

Adamai smiled at his brother's excitement before nodding. "It's decided, we're going back to Oma!"

Chapter Text

"Absolutely not! You two aren't going anywhere!!"

"What? Why not dad?"

"Because Yugo," Alibert turned to slide the vegetables off the cutting board and into the soup. "I don't like the idea of the two of you running all over the world alone, besides Ruel's off on a bounty and I have to take care of the inn as well as Chibi and Grougal, and I can't do that without you two!"

"But this isn't even a mission for the brotherhood! This is an Eliatropes and Dragons job!" Adami stomped his foot in anger. "And we've been putting this off long enough! Yugo and I are going to Oma and we're going to start looking into a way to save the other Eliatropes!"

Alibert's gazes hardened as Adami stepped forward, the two locked into a staring contest. Yugo looked between the two, hesitating for a moment Yugo slowly stepped between the two and met his father's gaze head on.

"I get your worried dad but Adami and I can take care of ourselves." Yugo smiled up at his dad. "And if you're worried about Chibi and Grougal we won't be gone that long, plus with Grufon we'll probably be able to find a faster route!"

"You had Grufon last time," Alibert pointed out.

"Yugo also had all of the brotherhood with him! If it's just the two of us then we can move way faster, we wouldn't even need a boat!"

"Yeah! And there's no world ending dangers this time." Yugo smiled as he gestured between Adami and him. "So it's not like we're in any real danger!"

Noticing his fathers unsure look Yugo stepped forwards gripping onto his fathers hand and looked up at him with the brightest puppy dog eyes he's ever made. "Come on dad please , we won't be gone long and we'll send you postcards from every town!"

Alibert's resolve cracked under the weight of his sons eyes, of course the man understood why this was so important to his son, Yugo's entire quest had started to find his family and his people, and now that he knew where they were of course he and Adami would be looking into way to get them free without the Eliacubes help.

But Yugo was also a child, they both were, and no matter how powerful or special he was, they were still Alibert's sons.

Turning away from Yugo and Adamai, who had joined Yugo's attempted persuasion, Alibert had an idea.

"Ok, you two can go-"

"Yes!" They cried out in joy, launching onto each other happily.

"On one condition!"

"Ah man."

"I knew it was too good to be true.”

Alibert smiled at the identical pouts on his kids faces, they really were so cute.

"Since you two are so certain that this will be safe and that you'll be back soon, I propose a challenge." Both kids' faces lit up at that, "if you two want to go on this quest alone then you'll have to take Chibi and Grougal along.”

"What?!"

Alibert covered his ears with a wince at the twin surprised shouts.

"Dad, that's not fair! Chibi and Grougal can't even go outside alone! Adamai and I can deal with anything that happens but not if we have to take care of Chibi and Grougal too!"

"Well then I guess this trip just isn't as safe as you said it was, so you can either take your brothers with you or wait till Ruel's back from his newest bounty."

"But th-that could take months!"

"Not my problem Yugo, if you two aren't confident in keeping your brothers safe then you shouldn't expect me to be comfortable sending you two out there alone!"

'Clang’

Alibert turned away from the two as he pulled the soup off the stove, picking up his ladle he started pouring his famous stew into bowls with the loaves of bread they'd gotten from the baker that morning.

Alibert knew that it was a cruel thing to do but he just couldn't stand the thought of his kids running around out there all alone.  Adamai and Yugo would understand, well Yugo would and then he'd manage to calm Adamai down-

"Ok."

Huh?

"Adamai?"

Adamai was glaring at Alibert now, a fierce determination screwing up his features as he spoke.

"He's right, we wouldn't be hesitating on bringing Chibi and Grougal if it was safe on the way to Oma, which it is! There's nothing we haven't already fought and nothing that could threaten us that we haven't already beaten! Plus if we're right then Chibi lived on the island too, so shouldn't he and Grougal get to see their home one more time even if they don't remember it?”

Yugo stared at his brother in surprise, before slowly a smile took over his face and a matching look of determination lit up in his eyes.

"You're totally right, Ad!" Yugo turned to look at his dad. "Ok! We'll take Chibi and Grougal and be back before you know it!"

"Wa-wait a second Yugo, didn't you just agree that they were both too young to travel anywhere?"

"Well actually it shouldn't be a problem for Grougal, we dragons are resilient after all!"

"Hey! Eliatrops are resilient too! It'll be fine dad, plus you said it yourself, if we're not confident in keeping Grougal and Chibi safe then we shouldn't be going!"

"I-I well that's true but-"

"What do we need to bring for the trip? We're definitely gonna need more supplies than usual"

"Agreed, and tons of clothes so Chibi and Grougal don't get cold." Yugo's eyebrows furrowed as he turned to his brother. "Can Grougal get cold?"

"Uh, I don't think so? But better safe than sorry right?"

"Uh, now hold on kids-"

"We'll need to bring camping supplies too.”

"Yugo-"

"Grougal and I can go hunting! He'll finally have a chance to get out all that extra energy of his!"

"Adamai-"

"We have to go pack! Do you think we have any haven bags?"

"We could get one from Kabrok!"

Alibert watched as his kids raced off to continue planning their trip to Oma with their younger siblings, vaguely feeling like he'd made a monumental mistake.

Chapter Text

"-And you're sure you've got everything? What about Chibi's blanket? Or Grougal's favourite-"

" Dad , come on.” Yugo whined. “You've asked us this four times already! Yes we have everything, right Ad?"

"Yep! Camping gear, food supplies, map, Grougal, Chibi-"

"Grougal and I aren't supplies!"

"Seriously? I could have sworn you two were on the supplies list!"

Alibert and Yugo watched as Adamai chased a laughing Grougal and Chibi around, the black dragon seeming content to be held like a plushy for once, occasionally Chibi would hold the dragon out and force Adami to dodge the  sudden spray of dragon fire heading his way.

Alibert happily watched his kids playing with each other, letting out a sigh. Alibert could only shake his head fondly, he could understand why all of this was so important to Adamai and Yugo but sometimes he couldn't help but wish they were content with just this.

Something tugged at his arm, glancing down, Alibert came face to face with a smiling Yugo.

"It's ok dad, really! Adamai and I will make sure Chibi and Grougal stay safe."

"I want all four of you to be safe, Yugo..."

Yugo smiled. "Hehe, don't worry dad, Adamai and I can take care of ourselves."

"I know that Yugo it's just..." Alibert turned towards where Adamai had managed to wrangle the twins over to where they'd left their packs.

"Just?"

Alibert glanced back down at his son who tilted his head to the side in curiosity, smiling to himself. Alibert shook his head, he'd brought this on himself after all.

"Just nothing, anyway you four stay safe ok?"

"We will dad, promise!"

"Alright" Alibert turned to where Adamai and the twins were watching them, with a sigh Alibert ruffled his son's hair with a fond laugh. "Go on then, be mindful of your brothers ok? They aren't used to traveling."

Watching his son nod with all the seriousness of a 16 year old Alibert smirked before grabbing ahold of Yugo and throwing his son into the air, earning a delighted laugh from the young Eliatrope, catching his son in his arms Alibert held him there for a moment longer before finally letting his son down, only to sweep his youngest son up earring a delighted squeal from the youngest Eliatrope, Chibi clung to his father for a moment more before he was deposited into his older brothers arms as their father made his way over to their dragon siblings and repeated the process.

"Oh, my boy's really are growing up, it feels like it was just yesterday that I needed to carry little Chibi around everywhere"

"That's because you were carrying Chibi around yesterday"

"Don't be mean Adamai," Yugo shifted his hold on Chibi with a smile, "it's not dad's fault he's getting old.”

"Haha, very funny you two." Alibert silenced his kids with a stern glare. "Now remember if anything happens find a trusted adult, I know, I know, the saviors of the world won't come across anything they can't handle but just promise, for your father's sake?"

Adamai and Yugo shared a look, before they smiled at their dad.

"Alright dad we promise."

Alibert smiled, "Good, now off with you four, any longer and your poor father might just start crying."

"Bye dad!"

"Bye-bye daddy!"

"Goodbye Chibi, goodbye Grougal."

Alibert stepped back and watched as his kids made their way down the road towards the Zaap portal, laughter and screams of delight following in their wake. 

Of course Alibert was happy his kids were trying to learn more about their people, but no matter what he did he simply couldn't help the sadness that weld up as he watched them leave on yet another quest, but that was ok, all kids leave the nest someday Alibert was just glad to know that when this journey was over his kids would make sure to come back safe and sound.

*****

"Where are we going?" Chibi asked, staring up at his brother with wide curious eyes.

"To see Kabrok, after that we're heading to Forfut, oh! Do you think we can stop by and see the Puddly's on the way, Ad?"

"I don't know, Grougal might try and eat them..."

"We can stop him!" Yugo watched Grougal chase a tofu across the path with a wince, Az let out a fearful chirp before hiding in Yugo's front pocket, "Or maybe we'll just take Chibi and Grougal there some other time?"

"What's a puddly?"

Yugo glanced down at Chibi, who was clinging to Yugo's arm as they walked, the little boy seemed excited to learn more about his brother's adventures.

"Puddly’s are these really cute creatures who turn into puddles when they get scared!"

"Ah! That sounds cool!"

"It is! The first time we got to the village the Puddly's were being taken advantage of by a group of ugly Taures."

Chibi tugged more intensely on his brother’s arm until the older pulled him up into his arms, smiling to himself Yugo nuzzled into his brother's hat earning him a giggle from the younger.

"What are Taures?"

"They're these big ugly bulls, and they're really big and stupid!"

"Adamai!"

"What? It's true they're big, strong and stupid"

Yugo scowled, "You don't have to say it like that in front of Chibi"

"Do you not like the Taures big brother?"

"They were mean to Yugo."

Chibi let out a horrified gasp at Adamai's answer, it was hilarious to see the sheer horror on the three year olds face, only to nod resolutely like the answer somehow made sense.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Instead of answering, all Adamai did was look at Chibi who only gave a firm nod of his head, to which Adamai turned to his twin and shrugged.

"You heard him little bro."

"I-"

A roar interrupted the duo's argument, ahead of them Grougal was being chased around by a pair of Osamodas kids while their parents did nothing more than watch on in fascination at the tiny dragon, who had only held back from burning and biting the kids because he knew he'd get in trouble for it, though knowing the dragon's temper that threat wouldn't hold him back from long.

A blue portal appeared in front of the dragon, crying out in relief, Grougal rushed through and dived into his twin's arms, content to be squished to death by his Eliatrope rather than chased around by those strangers.

Yugo smiled at the purr Grougal let out, it was always nice to see that the young dragon felt safe in their presence.

"Hey, what was that for!"

Instinctively Yugo escaped through his portal before the prying hands could touch either of his brothers, landing behind the boy, Yugo glared as the child stumbled, unable to right himself before Yugo moved.

"I think we should be the ones asking you that."

Adamai growled low in his throat, standing in front of his, much softer, much younger brother's protectively. If this kid thought he could just screw with his baby brother and then try again when Grougal got away from him then he had another thing-

"Adamai."

Glancing back Adamai saw his twin making a breath in gesture, hesitating for a moment Adamai finally allowed himself to take a deep breath.

Which in turn brought the senseable side of his brain to the front, reminding him that he can't just fight some kids for messing with his little brother.

No matter how much he might want to.

"What the Bwork man!" The kid stomped his foot in anger. "We saw the dumb beast first, you can't just use magic to steal him away!"

Yugo and Adamai both went stiff at that. What had he said? What had he just called their brother? Yugo felt fury run through him, and for just a second the young king wanted nothing more than to walk over there and run this Iop head right through-

"I'm so sorry, if we'd known he had an owner we wouldn't have let the kids play with him."

Yugo took a moment to reorient himself, only to realise what he'd just thought and flinch back horrified with himself. Yugo had been angry before but never like this, he'd never thought of really hurting someone because of what they'd done, he hadn't even thought that way about Qilby.

"Grougal's not a pet!" Adamai stepped forward, smoke blowing from his nose in anger. "He's our brother and I don't appreciate you talking about him like that!"

"Mummy, how can he be their brother? If he's their brother, is Bowbow our brother?"

The Osamodas woman leaned down to pat her daughter on the head with a smile.

"No sweetie, I'm sure these two are just confused and that um, Grogooroal is just their pet." She winked at her daughter. "You know how kids get, best to play along.”

The little girl giggled before nodding her head and walking over to the Eliatrope and dragon pair, causing both brothers to freeze up as she stopped in front of Yugo and stared at Chibi, the boy did nothing more than whine quietly and bury himself and his twin deeper in their brothers arms.

It made Yugo wish he had something for the two to hide in, like a haven or even a cloak.

The little Osamodas reached out her hand with a smile, "I'm sorry Xip and I were mean to your brother, would you let us play with him?"

Yugo stared down at the girl in front of him then looked back at her parent's and back at her and then them once more before finally taking a step back, and running a hand down the growling dragons back, Yugo just shook his head.

"I'm sorry but my brother doesn't like anyone but family touching him, so I don't think you two can play together.”

The heart broken look on the little girls face only made Yugo feel a little guilty, turning away from her, and ignoring the tears that were slowly filling up her eye's, Yugo nudged his brother only to receive no response, so instead he tugged at their bond experimentally, only to suddenly be flooded with nothing but protect-kill-defend-help-worried-protect-protect-protect-

They weren't really words but that's the only way Yugo knew how to describe them, they were feelings running rampant through his brother's head and taking control over his mind, Yugo could feel them licking at his own mind and desperately attempting to burn at his senses.

Yugo gasped, tugging his wakfu away from his brothers' as he tightened his grip on the younger twin's, only to loosen it right after at the quite yelp they let out, smiling down at the now growling dragon and curious Eliatrope in his arms Yugo pressed his head to theirs apologetically.

Reaching out to his brother once more Yugo was slightly more prepared for the mess of instincts that currently made up the dragon, slowly Yugo managed to nudge his own wakfu into his brother, nothing more than a mantra of safe-safe-safe-safe, in an attempt to calm the other down.

Yugo watched as his brother released a breath, relived the boy turned back to the family, the parents now consoling a crying little girl as the older boy just glared at him, still reeling from his brothers emotional instability Yugo childishly glared back causing the boy to yelp and hide behind his father.

"Young man, it is one thing to lie but did you have to be so harsh? All my kids wanted to do was play with your pet."

"And as I've said before sir, Grougaloragran isn't a pet."   Yugo spat the word out like it had burned him. "He's our brother."

The man scoffed, standing to his full height and glaring down at Yugo, taking a calming breath Yugo sent more of his Wakfu into his brother, knowing full well that this man was one step away from becoming a dragon's chew toy quite literally.

"This thing isn't your brother boy." His eyes narrowed as he glowed at Grougal, Yugo pulled the twin's closer, like he could somehow hide them away from this man's burning gaze.

The fleeting need for a cloak crossed his mind before Yugo pushed it down, now wasn't the time for that.

"This thing is a glorified house pet, and a deformed one at that."

A roar distracted Yugo before he could snap back, though this one much louder than the one Grougal had let out. Yugo couldn't help but flinch at the giant white dragon that now stood by their side.

The dragon was about as tall as the Inn itself, meaning he towered over both Yugo and the Osamodas, the dragon had a large square jaw with light blue markings running along his body and three wooden looking horns spouted from his head as he glared down at the Osamodas.

At the sudden sight of the dragon Chibi squealed in delight while Grougal made an odd rattling sound in his throat, Yugo thought he sounded oddly proud. The Osamodas looked terrified for a split second before awe overtook his features and he rushed to bow before the dragon his people worshiped, a quick glance to the side proved that his family had done the same.

"Oh mighty dragon! This lowly Osamodas thanks' you for blessing me and my family with your presence here!"

Yugo almost laughed at that but thankfully he had more self-control than that, the twins on the other hand did not.

The Osamodas glared at them and hissed out, "Are you insane ? Can't you see there's a real Dragon before you? Bow down!"

Yugo tried, he really did, but when the Osamodas spoke he couldn't help but let out the laugh he'd been holding in, the force of it causing Yugo to bend over much to the twin's delight. Once he'd collected himself Yugo straightened with nothing more than a few giggles escaping him, refusing to look at the scandalized Osamodas, because he'd just laugh at the man's face again, Yugo walked over to his brother and patted him on one of his leg's.

"Enough Ad, I think they get it.”

His brother took another moment to glare at the Osamodas, who in turn both seemed to shrink and shine under the dragon's attention, before huffing and shifting back into his human form. Yugo smiled at the other, sending an experimental tug on their bond to which he received nothing but thanks and a much calmer dragon, smirking, Yugo finally turned towards the Osamodas family that had been bothering them.

"Believe us yet?"

Chapter Text

"-What happened next?"

"The family insisted on following us till the Zapp portal, they even offered to come with us once the kid's realized I was Yugo the Eliatrope from the brotherhood of the Tofu—It's not funny Kabrok!"

Kabrok struggled to right himself from where he was mostly splayed out across the table from the force of his laugh's, straightening up Kabrok attempted to speak to the younger boy.

"You're, haha, right it's, pfft, not funn-" Kabrok was cut off by a laugh as he turned away, attempting to hide his smile behind his hand as Yugo’s cheeks puffed out in a pout.

"Oh come now Kabrok, don't make fun of the poor thing."

"Miranda my love! You should be resting."

Kabrok scurried over and grasps ahold of his beloved's arm in worry, the Ecaflip rolled her eyes with a scoff even as she leaned into her husband's side.

"Oh please Kabrok, I'm pregnant not dying and how could I just sit around while our favorite little customer is here?"

"Hi Miranda, how's the pregnancy been?" Yugo strolled over to the two's side with a beaming smile.

Reaching out to squeeze the boy's cheeks the Ecaflip smiled, "Oh, the same as it was the last time you saw me, though thankfully it'll be out soon."

"Is it really that bad?"

"You have no idea..."

"And what dear husband is that supposed to mean?" Miranda glared at Kabrok, who ducked his head sheepishly as he realized his mistake.

"Oh nothing my love, I simply-"

"Simply what?"

Sweat ran down Kabrok's back as his wife pushed away from him, crossing her arms the pregnant Ecaflip turned to face the cowering Osamodas with a glare, Yugo could only look between the two in confusion.

"You were here for a haven bag, correct Yugo?"

"A-ah, yes." Yugo glanced at the still cowering Kabrok before turning fully to Miranda. "Usually we wouldn't need one since Ruel's with us but this time it's just Adamai and me so we need somewhere to put our things, we uh." Yugo sent a look to where the giant packs they'd been lugging around sat by the door. "Might have packed too much?"

"Nonsense Yugo." Miranda patted the boy on the head with a smile. "While it's possible to pack too little there's no such thing as packing too much." Turning with a swish of her dress and a panicked cry from her husband, Miranda smiled. "And since Ruel's not here I'll even give it to you for free."

"Really?!"

"Yes, I've got nothing to earn from a kid like you, just promise to make Ruel stop by and buy something, hmm?"

"Absolutely! You're the best Miranda."

"I know."

****

"Did you get the bag?" Adamai questioned as he noticed his birthed walking over to him.

"Yep." Yugo patted the haven bag on his side with a smile. "You know you three could've come with me, Kabrok and Miranda wouldn't have minded."

"I figured we should let you guys catch up, plus Chibi, Grougal and I had fun at the market.....until the Osamodas family from before came through the portal and we had to hide." Adamai gave his twin an exhausted glare. "Have you tried to get a pissed off dragonet to hide?"

Yugo stifled his laugh as he patted his brothers back in comfort, he couldn't laugh at his brother's pain, that would be mean.

"Where are Grougal and Chibi?"

Adamai waved a hand towards the nearby clearing, where Yugo now realised he could hear terrified screams and clearly see Grougal spitting fire while Chibi chased him around to get the dragon to stop chasing the poor animals.

No wait, Yugo squinted at the scene before him, those are people, Chibi was trying to stop his twin brother from burning those people alive.

"Should......should we stop him?" Yugo whispered.

Adamai watched their dragon brother run around in delight chasing people and spitting fire at them, he hadn't hit anyone yet, Grougal knew that neither Yugo nor Adamai would let it slide if he did.

Instead of answering, Adamai just turned to look at his brother, giving the blue cloak he now wore a long look.

"What?" Yugo ducked his head down, just below the fabric covering his neck.

"Did you buy that?"

"Does it look dumb?"

"No, no!" Adamai shook his head at the worried look on Yugo's face. "I just didn't know you wanted a cloak."

"Oh well, after what happens in the forest I figured, why not? I've always liked the design and Kabrok said this one was just lying around so..."

Adamai watched as his brother shrunk under his gaze, before taking another look at the cloak, it was the same blue as his hat with yellow clasps keeping the cloak closed, it stopped just below his knees with the part around its neck seeming to stand up on its own slightly instead of resting against his skin allowing his brother to hide part of his face in it if he wanted to.

Taking a moment to look Yugo over once more time, Adamai nodded.

"You look good little bro."

"Really?" Yugo pulled an arm out of the cloak allowing him to see the same yellow and blue outfit his brother was so fond of, Az was cuddled into the suits pocket as usual.

"You don't think I look weird?"

"No weirder than normal.”

"Hey!"

"Hahahaha!"

Watching his twin laugh at him reminded Yugo of what had happened in the forest, as well as the swell of instincts he'd felt from the other.

"Speaking of which Ad," Yugo sat down across from his dragon brother, pulling the haven bag onto his lap as he did. "Can we talk about what happened in the woods?"

"You mean my dragon form? I probably should have warned you about that huh?" Adamai smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that little bro."

"No, no I'm pretty that Osamodas wouldn't have let us go if you hadn't, plus you were a lot bigger back at the Crimson Claw Archipelago."

Adamai winced at the reminder of his time being possessed, before tilting his head in confusion.

"If it's not that then what?"

"Um," Yugo hesitated for a moment before recounting how he'd felt when the Osamodas boy had called Grougal a dumb beast.

Adamai was quiet the whole time Yugo was explaining, sending his brother a worried glance Yugo was met with a very guilty one, eyes wide Adamai glanced away from his twin and muttered a quiet.

"Sorry..."

"For what Ad? I don't even know what happened! And what was with all those." Yugo hesitated, hands moving through the air as he struggled to find a word. " things going through your head?

"Oh, that." Adamai scowled slightly before shaking his head. "You remember how I said dragon's had instincts?"

"Yeah, like with the nest right?"

"Yes." Adamai nodded, "like with the nest, well that not the only thing we're uh peculiar about, we're also really protective of things that we deem our or things that are a part of our hoard.”

"Hoard?"

"It's like," Adamai took a moment to sort through his thoughts before he spoke, "you have things you like right?"

"Yeah, like the books Eva got me for my birthday, or the training sword Dally gave me before we left Saddia-"

"And they're important to you right?"

"Of course," Yugo frowned, "I don't know what I'd do if I lost any of them"

"Well it's kind of like that! A dragon hoards things that are important or precious to them, or just something that makes them happy, Grougal had a huge hoard back on Oma, I did too just not as big.”

"Oh, well if it's that important to you then why didn't you mention it! We could have gone back way before now to get it!"

"Because it doesn't matter."

"What? Hold on now I'm confused"

Adamai laughed at his brother's confused face, taking a few minutes to calm himself.  Adamai finally turned towards Yugo with a smile.

"It's not just things that can be hoarded, people can be too, you, Grougal, Chibi and Alibert are all part of my hoard so I don't mind as much that none of my other things are there."

Guilt took over Adamai's face as he scratched at his cheek quietly. "I might have also sorta of let some of that slip through the bond..."

Yugo frowned, only to just as quickly school his features as his brother seemed to wilt more.

"How come you've never brought this up before?"

"I didn't want to worry you, plus everything was finally starting to calm down. I figured we could use a little bit of peace.”

Yugo's lips tilted upwards at that, he had been worried that Adamai was just uncomfortable with telling Yugo about this kind of thing, it was a weight off his shoulders that his brother was just worried about him.

"Aww Ad, I love you too little brother!"

Adamai laughed as Yugo fell through a portal and landed next to him, instantly the Eliatrope threw his arms around his brother and dragged him in for a hug.

Pulling away Yugo stared his brother down with a serious look. "But you gotta promise to tell me these things in the future ok? I thought I was going insane like Qilby!"

That got a roaring laugh from his dragon brother, one that Yugo couldn't help but join in on, as well as a promise to tell Yugo more about dragons, they pressed their foreheads together to seal it.

"Big brother!"

"Chibi! You finally got Grougal?"

The two kings were treated to the sight of a pouting Grougal being presented to them by a very proud Chibi, holding in a laugh Yugo reached out to ruffle the younger boy's heads.

Grougal took that moment to escape his twins hold and clamber along his older brothers arm, stopping once he landed on his shoulder Grougal too an experimental sniff of the fabric before diving down the neck of the coat and causing Yugo to choke, by the time Yugo had gotten his breath back nothing but Grougal's head could be seen beyond the cloak's neck.

Adamai did what any good sibling would in such a situation and laughed in his twin's face.

Pouting at him, Yugo picked Chibi up, who was worried about him, and let the boy curl up under his cloak as well, Yugo sent his twin a contemplative look before he smirked and proceeded to shove his brother off the bench with a cackle that only got louder at the shriek his twin let out.

Chapter Text

"I told you it was a bad idea."

"But Chibi was so excited and Grougal promised to be good!"

"Grougal always promises that Yugo."

"Well how was I supposed to know he'd burn down their podium!"

Yugo pouted at the judgemental look his brother was sending him, it really wasn't his fault that Grougal got loose while they were in the Puddly's village, the young dragon had been so good up till then that Yugo had decided to his eyes off him for just one second to talk to the Puddly's and the next thing he knows Az and Grougal are guiltily standing next to the Puddly's now burning Percimol podium.

Thankfully the Puddly's weren't upset with them, a little afraid of Grougal yes, but not upset!

"How far are we from Forfut again Groufen?"

"Just follow this road and it should be right ahead master!"

"Thanks Groufen," Yugo turned to his brother in question, "do we need more supplies or can we make it on just your's and Grougal's hunts?"

"Hmm I'd say get them just in case, Grougal's definitely enthusiastic but at this point I'm pretty sure he'd have been eaten if I wasn’t watching him."

"Haha, ok then do you want to get some supplies while I take Chibi and Grougal to an Inn?"

"You wanna stay the night?"

"I figured it couldn't hurt, with you flying and me using my portals were already way ahead of schedule! Plus Forfut has the best noodles I've ever had."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously." Yugo nodded his head solemnly.

"Guess we're staying the night then"

"Hurray! Hear that Grougal? Chibi?" Yugo smiled happily as the twins turned to look at him, "we're sleeping inside tonight!"

Not quite understanding why their brother was excited, the twins still decided to cheer back at their older brother's joy.

****

"Yugo! My, it's good to see you!"

"Count Wagner!" Yugo stared up in surprise at the older man, both arms wrapped around Grougal with Chibi clinging to his cloak. "What are you doing here?"

"Well when I heard that you were in town I just had to come see for myself!" The Count bent over so he was in front of Grougal, reaching out he wagged his fingers in the young dragon's face. "And who might this one be-Ouch!"

Wagner jumped back clutching his hand in pain, Yugo clamped a hand around Grougals mouth in a panic, forcing the dragon to swallow back his fire before he burned down the marketplace.

"No Grougal! Bad! We don't bite our friends!"

"Hehehe."

"Don't encourage him Chibi!"

The younger Eliatrope shirked quietly before he ducked under Yugo's cloak, electing to ignore the boy for now Yugo turned his gaze on the now smug dragon and injured Count.

"I am so sorry Count Wagner, Grougal's just a little." Yugo winced. "Weary of strangers."

"No, no it's quite alright my friend." Wagner gave the dragon a more hesitant look before turning to Yugo, his smile now sheepish. "It was my mistake, I should've expected a dragon to be opposed to human contact."

Yugo blinked in surprise. "You know he's a dragon?!"

Now it was the Count's turn to be surprised, laughter tumbled from the Shushu guardians lips, "I wouldn't be much of a Count if I couldn't put two and two together, my young friend!"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well everyone knows Eliatropes and dragons are connected, you yourself have a dragon brother correct?"

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

"Well my dear Yugo, you and the Brotherhood are the talk of the town! You especially." The Count made a dramatic swing of his arms as he spoke. "The saviour of the world who belongs to a previously believed extinct race fighting desperately to find a way to free your brethren from their prison while still defending the world of the Twelve! I'd make for a horrible Count if I didn't even know that much."

Yugo couldn't help but blush slightly at the Counts words, he'd never really thought about what people were saying about him or the Brotherhood, but hearing how people were talking about him...

Grougal squawked slightly from how tight Yugo clung to him, only for the older to relax his hold apologetically at the growl being levelled his way.

"Not much of a Count as far as I'm concerned."

"Silence you!" The Count glared at Shadofang, "don't think I haven't forgotten what you did!"

"I was simply trying to help you, my love!" Shadofang innocently smiled up at her guardian, "and this is the perfect opportunity! Imagine what we could do with a dragon and not one but two Eliatropes! We'd be unstoppable-Um!"

The Count covered Shadofang’s ring with a glare, "oh no! You might have tricked me once demon but not again!"

"Shadofang's still giving you a hard time huh?"

"Sadly I don't believe the day will come where she isn't a bother." The Count sighed. "But one can hope."

Yugo giggled at Count Wagner's theatrics, speaking of.

"Actually Count Wagner we were just on our way to find an inn, the one we stayed at last time closed."

"Ah you mean Auberge Le Chave Sourit? It hasn't closed simply moved locations."

"The inn moved?"

"Yes, apparently the owner was getting into constant arguments with his neighbours and it was upsetting guests, so he simply decided to up and move the inn!"

"I didn't even know you could do that!"

"For most it would be hard but this was during the rehabilitation of the town so I managed to help out a little."

Yugo smiled as he followed behind the Count, Grougal having escaped out of Yugo's arms and was now being chased around by Chibi up ahead, smiling Count Wagner turned Yugo's way.

"Your siblings, I take it?"

"Yeah, the dragons Grougaloragran and the Eliatropes Chibi, were on our way to Oma to collect some of Adamai's things."

"Adamai?"

"He's my twin brother, we hatched from the same Dofus."

"I see" Count Wagner nodded his head, he didn't really understand but Yugo seemed to so that was fine.

"Uh Count Wagner are we near the inn? I wanna get Chibi and Grougal to bed before it gets dark...."

"Ah did I forget to mention?"

"Mention?" Yugo tilted his head to the side. "Mention what?"

"I'm bringing you three back to my castle!"

"What?!"

Wagner laughed at the look on Yugo's face, shaking his head. Wagner reached out and patted the young Eliatrope on the head.

"What kind of man would I be if I allowed one of my saviours to sleep in an inn right under my nose!" Count Wagner tutted. "I wouldn't be able to face myself in the mirror, let alone my subjects!"

"We wouldn't want to bother you-"

"Nonsens Yugo! You'd hardly be a bother! Not only that but you mentioned heading to Oma though admittedly I don't know its exact location but I'd bet a 1000 Kama's that you're on your way to Bonta."

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

Wagner shrugged, "it's why most people pass through Forfut, anyway recently we discovered these ruins under the town, we haven't been able to figure out exactly what they are but we did find a Zaap."

"Wait really? That means we can just take the Zaap from here straight to Bonta!"

"Exactly! Just one small problem, it's not exactly open to the public yet." Count Wagner winced slightly, "of course if you stayed the night I'd no doubt be able to clear both you and your siblings!"

Yugo smiled. "Thank you for this, Count Wagner."

The Count chuckled, lips pulling up into a fond smile as he spoke. "It's the least I could do for an old friend."

****

"Uh Yugo? You wanna tell me why those guards just brought me to a castle ?"

"We're staying here tonight!"

Adamai gave his brother a long hard look, then he turned his gaze to Chibi and Grougal, who said brother was tucking in, quietly Adamai gestured towards Yugo and whispered out.

"Did Yugo get brainwashed while I was gone?"

"Hey! If I was brainwashed then Chibi and Grougal would have been too!"

Adamai took a second to think, ignoring his twin's glare and their siblings' laughter Adamai finally turned back at Yugo, giving his brother a look.

"I mean...would they?"

Adamai ducked out of the way of a flying pillow, smirking, the young dragon turned back to his brother a taunt on the tip of his tongue only to once again be met with a pillow to the face, this time accompanied by his younger siblings laughter.

Smirking, Yugo opened another portal and let the pillow fall back into his hand, turning the boy went back to tucking his brother's in, Grougal now having his pillow, and pressing his forehead to theirs.

"So." Adamai glanced at his twin out of the corner of his eye. "Why'd the count let you use this place?"

Yugo leaned back into his chair with a sigh. "Remember when the Brotherhood and I were on our way to Oma the first time?"

Adamai nodded. "After you found Grougal's message."

"Yeah! So after we left Emelka we ended up here in Forfut! We were all really tired so we decided to stay the night at an inn. Ruel, Dally and I went to bed only to be woken up by a scream."

A pair of screams escaped the twins as Yugo lunged forwards now towering over them and started to wiggle his fingers above them, Chibi and Grouagal both ducked down under their covers in fright.

"Turns out a group of ghouls were trying to kidnap Amalia and Eva! We managed to stop them from kidnapping Amalia but we weren't able to free Eva in time." Yugo frowned, remembering the Ghouls kidnapping his friend.

"What happened next?"

"Well," Yugo smiled down at the twins, "Ruel, Dally, Amalia and I fought our way through the tower, the very one we're in right now! Dally wound up staying behind to fight off some beasts though."

"Then what? Did Dally come flying through the window and save his princess?"

Ignoring his brother's mocking tone, Yugo gave a dramatic wave of his arm. "Well Adamai if you'd let me finish you'd have known that it wasn't Dally who saved us, in fact the person who saved us is here with us right now!"

"Was it Adamai?" Chibi and Grougal's eyes were sparkling from where they were hiding in their blanket.

"It was.....Az!" Yugo reached into his pocket and held Az up high, for his part all the Tofu did was pose as he was put on display.

"Az?" Adamai stared at his brother in confusion, "How did Az save you?"

"Well it turns out Count Wagner is actually allergic to Tofu!"

"Wait." Adamai gave his brother a look, "the way you beat a possessed shushu Guardian was because he was allergic to Tofu?"

"Yep! His little bat form was actually kinda cute."

"Yugo, you have the weirdest adventures."

"It wasn't that strange, no stranger than when we saved Kriss Krass through a Gobball match."

"You saved someone through Gobball?" Chibi's eyes were sparkling at the prospect of another story by his side, Grougal made an excited clicking noise.

"Yes, but I think that's enough story time for now, Adamai and I still need to plan the route we're gonna take tomorrow and you two need to get to bed."

Smoke blew through Grougals nose as he glared at them, Chibi wasn't much better as he began pouting at the prospect of sleep, just as Yugo was attempting to tuck them something happened.

"Gobbal!"

Adamai and Yugo both jumped at the word, sharing a look the two slowly turned to where the noise originated from, their at the end of their gazes sat Grougal glaring up at the two.

"Did he just-"

"He did." Adamai stared at his younger brother gaze blank before turning to Yugo. "Grougal's first word was Gobbal, Alibert is gonna kill us."

Chapter Text

"RAHHHHHHHHHH!"

A giant Dominante Crab crashed through the ruins, a scream of rage escaped it as the Crab was forced to block another wakfu blast with it's claw, the crab swung it's giant claw at it's attacker, with a shriek the Eliatrope dropped through a portal to escape, as the crab was distracted a crackler reached out and picked the Dominante Crab up and held it above the craklers head with a roar.

"Way to go Adamai!"

"Thank's little bro!" Adamai shifted his hold on the Dominante Crab with a grimace. "What do we do with this guy?"

"Over here!"

The twin's looked over to Count Wagner who waved them over to the sky light the group had fallen through before.

"You can throw him out here! Cracklers have powerful arms right?"

"Yep!" Adamai winked at his brother. "Watch this little bro!"

Adamai braced his feet beneath him, pulling his arms' back. Adamai took a running start before he threw the Dominante Crab into the sky. Watching the Dominante Crab sale into the sky until it was nothing more than a speck in the distance was enjoyable to say the least.

"Good throw Master Adamai!"

"Thank you Count Wagner." Adamai smiled, turning back into his human form with a burst of blue smoke. "I still can't believe all this is just sitting under the city."

"Neither can I." Count Wagner looked around in confusion. "When we were down here before we never discovered any of this."

"Hey Adamai, do these look kind of familiar to you?"

"Huh?" Adamai walked towards his brother who was staring at the walls in confusion, the wall depicted what looked to be an Eliatrope and a Dragon flying through the air, in fact the wall was covered in similar drawings, some with only Dragon's others with only Eliatropes.

"Eliatropes...."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Yugo smiled, practically vibrating in excitement as he shook his twin by the shoulders. "This is an Eliatrope ruin Adamai, this is an Eliatrope ruin !"

"I noticed Yugo," Adamai's grabbed his brothers hand to stop him from shaking the dragon before he turned back to the murals, stamping down his own excitement to focus on the mural. "I didn't even know any of these ruins still existed."

"Th-this" Wagner pointed around them in surprise. "T-this is an Eliatrope ruin?!"

Adamai and Yugo flinched at the Count's scream, the two blinked in bewilderment at the Count, seeing how heavily the man's body was shaking Yugo shared a look with his brother and at the nod he received Yugo walked over to the Count in worry.

"Um, are you alright Count Wagner?"

"T-this is a-a Eliatrope r-ruin?"

"Um..." Yugo glanced back at his brother who only shrugged. "It looks that way, yeah."

"I'm so sorry!"

Yugo jumped back as the Count fell to his knees bracing himself on his hands, sharing a look with his brother, Yugo gestured to the count and Adamai just shook his head.

'Your friend, your problem.'

Yugo pouted slightly as his brother apathetically gestured towards the Count, finally turning back to see the progressively depressed state the Count was in, crouching down so they were at eye level Yugo placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Um, are you ok Count Wagner?"

"I'm so sorry Yugo." The Count looked up at the young Eliatrope in horror. "If I had known, I swear I would have sent someone to collect you and your brother the moment we discovered these ruins!"

"Oh, well I know that Count Wagner!" Yugo waved his hands in a panic. "Adamai and I aren't blaming you or anything, we were just excited because we've only seen ruin's like this on Oma!"

"Or the Zinit."

"Or the Zinit." Yugo agreed with his brother, turning back to the Count, Yugo smiled. "It really isn't a problem Count Wagner"

"I-if you're sure, then..." The Count took a moment to think before his eyes' light up and he sprung to his feet with a fire in his eyes. "Right! We'll seal up the ruins!"

"W-what?"

"Yes! These ruin's belong to the Eliatropes, we have no idea what could be down here. It's safer to keep the workers away, and that's ignoring the fact that we have no right to be down here anyway!"

"Uh, Count Wagner I don't think-"

"Thank you Count Wagner, it's nice to know some people respect our culture-" Adamai cut in, ignoring the baffled look his brother was now giving him. "-we'd appreciate it if you were to keep people from coming down here"

"Of course! It's no effort on our part, these ruins belong to you two and your people"

"Thank you Count." Adamai turned to Yugo with a look, understanding his brother Yugo turned to the Count trying his best to keep his smile from looking too forced.

"If you don't mind Count Wagner, Adamai and I would like to look into these ruins a bit more..."

For a moment Count Wagner looked confused only for a light bulb to turn on behind his eyes.

"Ah! Of course, if you two will excuse me...." Count Wagner's eyes flickered up to the skylight in hesitation.

"Oh! Let me help with that, Count Wagner!" Yugo opened a portal by the Count's side, with a smile Count Wagner thanked the young king before he left the brothers to their exploration, waiting a moment until the portal was closed Yugo turned to his brother, who was already making his way further into the ruins.

"Hey Ad wait up! What was that about? Forfut could really use that Zaap to-"

"They have no right, Yugo!" Adamai turned on his brother, a look of fury taking over his face. "They have no right to be here! In these ruins! I'm.....I'm not blaming the Count but these ruins belong to us Yugo, they don't have any right to be down here."

Yugo could only stare as his brother turned away from him back towards the murals, the boy opened his mouth to continue defending his point before he hesitated, Adamai was right, these ruins belonged to the Eliatrope people, their people, but still there was something about his brothers tone that just didn't sit right with him.

"Is.....Adamai is this about the meeting with the rulers' back in Saddia?"

Adamai didn't respond, he just kept looking over the murals ignoring his twin, biting his lip Yugo stepped forward until he was standing shoulder to shoulder with his brother.

"I know I wasn't there Adamai but I'm sure they didn't-"

"You don't know anything Yugo! Like you said you weren't there!" Adamai turned on his brother, his voice raising as he spoke. "They wanted to drop us, our people, on some island! They just-just-Agh!"

Adamai turned and punched through a nearby pillar, panting the young dragon watched as the pillar crumbled before him, Adamai's fist clenched as he desperately tried to keep his shoulders from shaking, the young dragon sucked in a stuttering breath as his brother's hand landed on his shoulder.

".......I'm sorry Ad, but if we do things like lock up a ruin so suddenly then it's just going to give them something to complain about and after everything with Qilby..."

They both fell quiet at the reminder of their insane older brother. Qilby had tricked and betrayed them, he'd wanted to destroy the world of the Twelve and had later caused a political incident because of it.

Of course Qilby had already been returned to the white dimension by then, but he'd brought the Shushu's here, attempted to drain the plant of it's Wakfu to get the Zint working and outright lied to multiple Kings and Queens, who then decided that the newly discovered true King needed to deal with it.

The Rulers had wanted to execute them, Yugo heart clenched just recalling that meeting, it was only thanks to Master Joris and the Saddia king that the other Rulers had be made to see reason, though the fact that Qilby was already serving his punishment probably helped out a little too.

"You're right." Adamai released his fists with a sigh as he glared at the ground. "I hate it but you're right, the Rulers will think we're hiding something if we restrict access to the ruins."

Adamai's shoulders dropped as he spoke, it was disheartening to see his brother so upset after they'd finally found something of their home. Yugo turned from his brother to stare at the mural before them.

The Eliatropes in it seemed to be involved in some sort of dance, with bonfires and food surrounding them, at the top of the mural sat an Eliatrope and Dragon pair watching over the dancing group, Yugo couldn't help but smile at the sight, before turning back to his brother the young Eliatrope had an idea.

"You know....it's not like we need to let everyone in."

"Huh? What are talking about?" Adamai's eyebrows rose as he watched his brother's face take on a more mischief look.

"We can't seal up the ruins, true, but technically aren't these historical ruins? And ancient ones at that, usually people aren't allowed in places like this unless they have permission or a degree." Yugo frowned at the thought. "I think."

"Wait, so what's your point?"

Yugo pouted as his brother gave him a look that seemed to say, 'Why are you telling me something that doesn't matter?'

"I'm saying we could get these labeled as a historic sight, then we have an excuse to stop people from coming in..." Yugo mutters with his arms crossed.

"Can we do that?"

"I think so, there was this dungeon found near Emelka and one of the adventurers who discovered it was trying to stop people from clearing it in case they damaged the ruins, eventually they got it labels as a historical sight so only people who are registered by law are allowed to go inside."

"So if we send in a request-"

"We can seal off the ruins!"

Adamai at this point was practically vibrating in excitement, the two continued to hash out a plan before they eventually grew bored and settled on discussing it with the Count once they were done with the exploration of the ruin.

"Wow....." Yugo's eyes sparkled as he stared up at the murals decorating the walls, the deeper they went the more intricate the murals became, the murals depicted everything from Eliatropes lounging in the sun to them riding on their dragon siblings back, the only consistent thing about these murals were the Eliatrope and dragon pair that always seemed to be in the center.

"At least we know Qilby wasn't lying about everything ." Adamai ran a hand down the dragon silhouette. "You think that means Chibi and Grougal actually made the Zaaps?"

"Wait-" Yugo's head whipped towards his brother in surprise. "Wait what? What did you just say? Chibi and Grougal made the Zaaps ?!"

"Uh..." Adamai winced at the offense in his brother's voice. "In my defence I kind of forgot"

Yugo stared at his brother in disbelief, before he shook his head and turned to trudge down the hallway, Adamai followed closely behind, not particularly bothered by his twin's silence, they both knew he wasn't really mad at him.

Yugo ran his nails along the stone, a shiver ran down his spine at the frigid feeling, pulling his hand towards his chest Yugo was beyond glad they'd decided to leave Chibi and Grougal at the castle while they checked these ruins out.

Behind the pair a loud crash sounded out and within an instant Yugo had his Wakfu blade drawn while Adamai shifting into a crackler once more, both turned battle ready only for Yugo's shoulders to drop sheepishly as the pair watched a distant pillar crumble to the ground before them.

"The Count was definitely right about one thing." Adamai shifted back to his human form in a puff of smoke. "This area is way too dangerous for normal people."

Yugo squinted at the pillar's remains before turning to his brother with a smile. "Another reason to seal off the ruins."

The two shared a look before devolving into a fit of laughter, once Yugo's laughter had calmed enough to leave him time to breathe again the young king smirked before he shoved his brother and teleported away with a laugh.

"Last one to the end of the hallway is a rotten Piwi!"

"I'll show you a rotten Piwi!" Adamai shifted into a bright red Piwi and gave chase to his brother.

The twins raced down hallway after hallway, just barely stopping themselves from smacking into walls as they attempted to sabotage the other, giggling Yugo turned from his brother before he shrieked and was forced to dive out of his portals and rolled across the ground before he could slam face first into the wall.

Adamai turned back into his dragon form with a cackle, pouting Yugo stuck his tongue out from where he was laying upside down with his feet stuck in the air, seeing that his brother was still laughing Yugo huffed and pushed himself into a sitting position.

Pushing himself to his feet something caught Yugo's eye, the boy gasped as he stood before the door towering over him, it reached all the way to the ceiling and stretched to either end of the corridor, there were six Dofus’s carved along the door's face with lines stretching from each and connecting into what looked to be the Eliacube?

"That's new," Adamai muttered as the pair stood before the monster of a door. "You think this is where the dragons stayed?"

"Maybe...." Yugo stepped forward and slowly laid his hand on the door, only to jump back in surprise as the door lit up under his touch, slowly the massive doors cracked open on their own. Yugo stared in awe as the doors finally stopped and revealed the room beyond.

"So not where the dragons stayed, got it." Adamai stepped into the library as the same blue glow from the door lit up the walls and floor, momentarily the young dragon paused at the sight of sculpted dragon heads watching them from above before he turned away.

"This place is way bigger than the library back in Emalka." Yugo rushed past his brother, happily running his hands down the spins of the books on display.

Smoke escaped Adamai's nose as he turned down the last row of books pausing as he came across a desk with books strewn across it, sat above the desk was a map, it was different to the one they had back home, taking a step closer Adamai's eyes widened in shock before his lips curved up into a delighted smile.

"Yugo get over here! And get Grufon out!"

"What's up, Ad?" Yugo's head tilted to the side in curiosity as he pulled Grufon out of his casing.

The map yawned as it woke up, before it was even able to greet its master it was handed over to the dragon twin, huffing Grufon had no problem expressing his irritation to the two.

"And here I was thinking that Twelvians had manners, not even a good morning before you force me to work?"

Adamai huffed as he lays' the map flat on the table. "Technically Yugo and I aren't Twelvians, now think you could bring up a map from before Ogrest Chaos?"

Grufon eyebrow rose at that, what on earth did these kids need with a map from the Dofus era of this world?

Seeing that the map wasn't responding, and that his brother had clambered onto the chair to pull the map off the wall, Yugo stepped in to convince Grufon to help out.

"Come on Grufon, if you do it I'll get you a nice new case, I think that Kabrok and Miranda even had one with a velvet casing~"

"Eh? W-well if it's just a map from back in the Dofus age then any old Shushu can do it, it's not like it'll be any trouble for me. " As Grufon spoke the surface of the map had rippled and changed to show what the World of the Twelve looked like long before Ogrest Chaos flooded the world.

"Wow." Yugo brushed a hand over the map's surface, the boy's eyes glimmered with excitement as he turned to his brother. "Adamai! Check out how much land there was!"

"Hmm." Adamai looked between the two maps with a frown. "Are you sure this is from the Dofus era Grufon?"

The map was wiped clean as Grufon's face appeared once more, this time he was noticeably more annoyed than before.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know that you were a map as well! In that case why don't you just conjure up a map from a thousand years ago if you're suddenly such an expert!"

Yugo stepped between Grufon and his brother, Adamai knew Yugo cared for the map as its master but one too many close calls with Grougal had made him more cautious with leaving the incredibly flammable demon around his fire breathing dragon siblings.

"I'm sure Adamai didn't mean anything by it, Grufon! Isn't that right Ada-" Yugo paused as he turned to his twin, the dragon wasn't lookin at him his gaze focused on the map he'd pulled off the wall, Yugo straightened up. "Adamai? What's wrong?"

"The maps were different." Adamai turned to look at his twin. "This one's older Yugo, a lot older"

Yugo could only stare at his brother before he too turned down to look at the map, his brother was right, the continents were in the wrong spot’s and there were more little islands dotted around than Grufon had shown them.

Yugo knew that the Eliatropes had landed on this planet long before any of the Twelve but seeing proof of that? It just made everything feel so much more real.

It was real, Yugo knew that, he'd never doubted that but sometimes when he was back home eating his dads stew and playing with Chibi and Grougal, cooking with Adamai or just waiting for their dad to read them a story it was just so easy to forget that they weren't really from this world.

Shaking his head Yugo rounded the desk, leaving his brother to argue with Grufon over the map, Grufon insisted that the one Adamai had must have been fake, taking a look over the books scattered across its surface Yugo paused over a teal blue book, there was something so magnetic about it without realising it Yugo had already reached a hand over and begin tracing a hand over its cover.

Travel Logs Volume 3 was scribbled on the front in messy handwriting, as though the author hadn't bothered to put any real effort into making it look nice . There was probably no need Yugo mused, the author most likely never thought someone else would be reading it.

Carefully Yugo traced a hand over the script on it's cover, the book was worn down it's pages crumpled and dried yellow, it was clearly incredibly old and the language on it's cover wasn't something Yugo had ever seen before yet for some reason it felt as though he'd been reading it his whole life, the strange letters and symbols made perfect sense to him!

Carefully picking up the aged book Yugo slowly began flipping through it, his eyes scanned over the pages without really taking in the words, the weight felt oddly familiar in his hands.

"What's that Yugo?" Adamai walked over to stand by his brother's side with a curious gleam in his eyes. "It looks different from the others"

"I'm not sure." Yugo turned the book towards his twin so he could read the cover. "It said it was some sort of Log book? Not sure who's though."

Dropping Grufon onto the table before them, Adamai reached out and shook Yugo by his shoulder. "Hurry up and read it! Let's figure out what they used this place for!"

Yugo smirked, and ignored the now trapped Grufon who had been locked in his case, the boy began flipping the book open to a random page, Yugo opened his mouth and started reading.

"We discovered this alcove a few cycles ago, it admittedly isn't the most comfortable place to stay, but as we're only here to map out the terrain we can put the teams comfort to the side for now, we've managed to map out the majority of the terrain of this quadrant and other than a lack of safe areas to walk around in there isn't anything more dangerous than our dragons siblings and Eliatrope warriors-"

Yugo and Adamai shared an excited look, this was proof, real undisputed proof that the Eliatropes had settled on this planet out of the mouth of an Eliatrope themselves! Well a trustworthy one at least, Adamai nudged his brother to begin reading again and Yugo happily compiled.

"Once we've finished mapping out this area we'll continue ahead to the edge of this ocean before returning to the Zint, after we've regrouped with the council and shared our findings we will hand over our biological samples to the medical hall, hopefully we'll be able to figure out which of these are edible and which we'll need to eradicated-"

"Eradicated? Were we just going to destroy everything that wasn't useful to us?" Yugo looked incredibly taken aback at the thought, was this really what their people were planning to do?

Sharing a look with his brother Yugo hesitantly went back to reading the rest of the log.

"To ensure that none of our people wind up getting sick. Then again we should probably collect extra samples as well, Qilby would be so upset if we just let these species go extinct-"

"Qilby?!" Adamai reared back in surprise, only to glower at the paper like it had personally offended him.

It might as well have, Qilby's betrayal was still far too fresh in their minds, no matter if it had already been three years, with everything he'd done to them and their people there was a good chance it would always be too soon to mention him.

"We also discovered a beautiful flower field nearby, it reminded me so much of the valleys on our home world, maybe I should bring Nora and Efrim here later, hopefully it'll be enough to bring a smile back to their faces....it's been too long since those two have just relaxed, since any of us have relaxed really-"

"Wait a second Adamai, didn't uh." Yugo winced slightly. "Didn't Qilby mention people by that name? Nora and Efrim, weren't they part of the council? Our,” Yugo swallowed, it was still hard to come to terms with sometimes .“Our siblings?"

"Does." Adamai brow furrowed, before his eyes widened at the realization. "Does that mean the person writing this was on the council?!"

The two stared at each other before Adamai started shaking his brother again with a constant mutter of 'Keep reading, keep reading, keep reading-"

"There are so many animals here, in fact I found something that was reminiscent of it was a strange yellow ball like creature that reminded me of our home worlds Quairnecks, I wonder if Mina and Phaeris would enjoy seeing them?"

"Is that a Tofu?"

"What the Bwork is a Quairneck?"

Adamai and Yugo shared a look, realizing that neither of them actually had any answers Yugo just nodded at his brother's question before going back to reading.

"One of our scouts returned today with a strange red fruit, we've put it in containment for now but so far nothing has happened to either the fruit or the scout that retrieved it. Honestly the most surprising thing on this planet was how.....bland everything was? The red fruit for example seems harmless enough yet it's....red? Unlike the food and vegetation on our home world this world doesn't glow with the overflowing Wakfu our planet's had."

"The food on our world glowed?"

"Is that why so much food makes me sick?"

"Wait what?"

Yugo and Adamai turned to look at each other in surprise, Yugo in confusion and Adamai in worry.

"Some foods on this world make you sick?"

"Yeah?" Yugo's head tilted to the side in confusion. "Why do you think dad's menu never changes? He only ever uses foods I can eat, well me and Chibi I guess."

"Huh." Adamai stared off into the distance as he recalled all the time Alibert had made him go shopping for the same ingredients every month. "I never really thought about that."

"Yeah, apparently dad had to take me to an eniripsa all the time when I was younger, it got so bad I'd be trapped in bed for weeks"

"You never mentioned that before." Adamai pointed out with a scowl, how had his brother forgotten to mention something so important? What if he accidently ate something he shouldn't and Adamai didn't know? How was he meant to help?!

"Well, it's not as much of a problem anymore, plus dad has all sorts of dishes he taught me to cook." Yugo shrugged, scratching at his neck. "So it's not like I meant to keep it from you Adamai, I've just never really thought about it"

Adamai nodded quietly, right that made sense.

"You think it's because there's not enough Wakfu in the food? The Log did mention stuff glowing on our home world."

Yugo made an 'I don't know gesture', before lifting the book up in a silent question, Adamai nodded and Yugo went back to reading.

"We'll be staying at this outpost for three more cycles as we still need to collect mineral samples if we're to develop a stable food source within this region. I'm needed on the bridge for now. — Yugo"

Silence descended within the study, the twins frozen in shock slowly Yugo turned to his brother desperately trying to contain the excited shake of his hands, Adamai wasn't any better, his gaze fluttering around the room before landing on his twin, as one the two cried out in excitement.

" You're the author!"

" I'm the author!"

Chapter Text

Yugo dropped his bag onto the bed with a thud, a smile tugged at his lips as he watched Chibi and Grougal chase each other around the room.

The room was spacious, with two bed separated by night stand and an open window on the far end of the wall, Yugo would be enjoying it more if he wasn't certain they'd gotten a discount despite insisting it wasn't needed, looking over to there bed Yugo's eyebrow raised as he sent his brother a look.

"What killed you this time Adamai?"

The dragon's response was a muffled groan as he slowly suffocated himself with his pillow, deciding to leave his twin to his fate Yugo turned and began attempting to wrangle his younger brothers into the bath.

Key word being attempt .

"No! No bath!"

"Come on Chibi" Yugo made his voice softer as he approached the upset Eliatrope and growling Dragon, "Tomorrow we'll be flying across the sea and won't have time to clean up! Do you really want to be all grimy and muddy on our adventure?"

Chibi's face twisted in concentration as he thought his big brother's offer over, his lips formed a pout that had Yugo struggling not to coo over the younger boy.

Distantly Yugo wondered if all of their siblings would do that, or was this a Chibi quirk?

Seeing that his brother seemed to be having a hard time, Yugo leaned over and dropped his voice low enough for only Chibi to hear.

"Grougal hasn't had a bath yet either." Yugo smirked as his brother's eyes widened, he couldn't believe this was working. "If we work together we can probably get him in without Adamai"

Yugo leaned away, content to sit and watch his baby brothers’ resolve crumble to dust, Grougal was an incredibly prideful dragon and as such he tended to care about his appearance quite a bit so taking a bath should be fine by the dragon but it wasn't.

For some reason Grougaloragran was down right terrified of any body's of water, including baths.

Watching him flail around in the bath was the most hilarious, adorable and saddening thing Yugo had ever seen.

It didn't help that if someone was taking a bath and it was even mentioned to Grougal the baby dragon would race over and evaporate the water before anyone could stop him.

Adamai thinks Grougals is so afraid because of something the two had seen in Qilby's lab but as Yugo wasn't there he didn't really know.

Watching Chibi slowly pull his brother to his chest Yugo's lips tugged into a smirk knowing he'd won.

After all, there's one thing that could beat a sibling's love for one another it was the chance to screw with them and Chibi was no exception to that rule.

Smirking, Yugo reached his hand out to scratch at under the dragon's chin, Grougal practically pruned under the attention of both his twin and big brother, above him Yugo and Chibi shared an evil look.

Just as Yugo was about to snatch Chibi, and by association Grougal, into his arms and toss them both into the tub, completely shattering the baby dragon's trust in humanity, a shout from his twin caught his attention.

"Yugo window!"

Flinching Yugo looked up in time to see something get thrown through the window, instinct took over before he processed the object enough to get a good look.

Throwing an arm out Yugo opened a portal, safely dropping the projectile out the window and pushing his brothers behind him, Yugo waited till he heard the explosion before dropping through a portal to look at the damages.

"What the-" Yugo stared at the street below him, there hadn't been any damage, no destroyed streets, no damaged carts, no broken buildings instead the area was covered in a strange pink powder.

Once people had started to come out of their homes to see what the disturbance had been Yugo finally looked back into their room where Chibi and Grougal were clinging to Adamai in terror.

Putting on a reassuring smile Yugo dropped himself through a portal landing on the windowsill, mouth open to reassure the twins, and his own twin, that they were fine only for the words to die in his throat.

Two large circular objects were falling on either side of him, before Yugo could even realise what was happening, or acknowledge the terror on his brother's faces, he heard it.

Tik-tik-tik

The objects, the bombs Yugo distantly realised, exploded flinging Yugo back with them. In the blink of an eye Yugo was falling through the air staring up at the window leading to their room, the window that had been engulfed in that strange pink powder, before he hit the ground with a sickening thud.

Yugo gasped, eyes flying wide open in a panic as a man loomed over him, the inn keeper he thinks, and started speaking, was he speaking? Yugo couldn't hear, why couldn't he hear anything?

The boy king's head lolled to the side, something dark crossed his vision, unconsciously the boy reached out a shaking hand as the figures got further away before his hand fell and the darkness that had been eating away at the corners of his vision finally won out dragging the boy into unconsciousness.

***

"Oh my Sadida we killed him! We weren't supposed to kill him!"

" We didn't kill him, how were we supposed to know he'd move over to the window?"

"I still can't believe you guys wouldn't let me fight the dragon."

"It was a bowrking DRAGON Varl! You weren't going to beat it!"

"You didn't even let me try!" Varl turned on Saime with a snarl, the Iop now towering over the young Feca. "Instead, what did we do? We drugged them like cowards ."

Marilyn turned from the fight, sometimes the Cra wondered how Varl had wound up here with them, he was too prideful and far too honourable to be a part of their group, yet he was one nonetheless.

Regardless of if he seethed at their every activity, calling them cowards and insisting they need to be more Iop like.

Maybe that was it, Marilyn mused as she busied herself with strapping their latest beast down, maybe he was the coward, too afraid to betray them so instead he rages at them with his words.

Quite the advanced coping mechanism, for a Iop.

"Oh Sadida, forgive us! I swear we didn't mean to kill the Eliatrope!" Anna sat by the cage of the weaker beast, hands clasped together in terror; she was another oddity.

The Brotherhood of the Tofu had saved her race after all, yet here she was attacking two of her saviours all for some Kamas.

Well, calling them some was insulting, a lot of Kamas, enough that even split between the five of them they'd still have enough to spend however they wanted and still be able to leave enough for the next ten generations.

Marilyn sighed in satisfaction as the final clip of the muzzle clicked into place, patting the beast in excitement only to pause as it stirred slightly before falling back asleep.

Tutting under her breath Marilyn glanced around for Zaver, they'd need to get this little guy frozen before they leave, she did not want to deal with any setbacks on this trip.

The door to the warehouse the client had lent them creaked, head tilting to the side Marilyn hummed in satisfaction as the Xelor arrived.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." The Cra waved him over, out of all these fools Zaver was the one who made these jobs manageable. "Get over here already, we need to have been gone yesterday."

"But we planned everything for today? Why do that if we needed to leave yesterday?"

"It's a saying Varl, she didn't actually mean- Nevermind" Saime turned away with a shake of her head, Varl might be smarter than the average Iop but he was still just a Iop.

"This is it?" Zaver turned to where the beast was chained, a long piece of iron ran around the centre of its chest binding its wings to the creatures sides before it extended out into iron molds of the beasts claws ensuring it couldn't move before finally the iron extended across his spine to wrap around his mouth as a muzzle, they'd spent so many months constructing the perfect cage for the little money grabber.

In fact just thinking about it made Marilyn's teeth grind before she calmed herself, all those nights designing this, all those Kamas spent would all be worth it, after all, soon they'd be rich.

Resting her head on the Xelors arm Marilyn slipped her own arm into Zavers, after this it'd all be over, they could finally go and be happy on some island far far away from these freaks.

Marilyn shook the thoughts away, first they needed to get the beast to the buyer, her's and Zavers happily ever after would come after.

".....What do we do now?"

Marilyn's eyebrows furrowed in confusion at her lover's question, before she smiled and dragged her finger slowly up the taller man's chest.

"Well, first you put our dear friend here to sleep, then we go to Brakmar, trade off with our buyer and leave." Marilyn grasped her lover's chin forcing him to look at her. "And after that? Who knows, we'll have enough Kamas to do whatever we want after all."

Marilyn didn't expect the Xelor to kiss her, he was peculiar about who could see under his mask and no one here made that list.

Well, other than Samie but that was just because of a head injury that they needed to tend to in the middle of a dungeon, had Varl not triggered a trap that forced them all to split up she too would be just as ignorant as the rest of them.

That was to say, though she hadn't expected anything grand Marilyn also wasn't expecting to be flat out ignored .

Zaver turned from her back to the beast, reaching out a gloved hand to trace around an injured part of the beast scales, it was hurt by some shrapnel from the explosion it had been a pain to pull out without waking the creature, pouting Marilyn pushed herself closer to her lover, only to be effortlessly nudged aside.

Scowling Marilyn opened her mouth to snap at the Xelor, only to be cut off before she could utter a pep.

"What then?"

"Excuse me?" Marilyn snipped back, crossing her arms across her chest.

The Xelor turned towards her, head tilted to the side in curiosity, it was a habit Marilyn has always found adorable yet this time she couldn't stop the bubble of dread that filled her.

Marilyn shook her head, this was silly, Zaver was probably just being weird since this was their last heist, they had been together since they were kids Marilyn had no reason to fear him.

"W-well," she cleared her throat. "He's either being bought to be auctioned or trained, we're only supposed to deliver him."

"And him?" Xelor pointed over to the cage by Anna where the more human looking beast rested.

But that was just the thing wasn't it? These creatures weren't human, what they were was powerful .

Yugo had proven that quite nicely.

Taking a moment to think her lover's question over, and relishing in the annoyed twitch of his fingers a smile bloomed across the Cra's face.

"He's being auctioned," noticing her companions' confusion Marilyn continued. "They were purchased separately, this one." She gestured to the bound beast by her side. "By a private buyer for collection and that one by an auction house for quite the sum."

"I see." Zaver turned towards her. "And you're fine with this?"

Smirking, Marilyn pressed both hands against the Xelors chest, what game was he playing? He already knew all of this, but if it made him happy she'd play along.

"Of course, come now Zaver it's not like they're people." She chuckled, noticing how stiff the Xelor got under her hands, smirking she continued taunting her lover. "They're aliens you know, not from this world, so if anything we're doing them a favour at least this way they'll actually have a place in this world, a place they deserve - Ack!"

Marilyn gasped as Zaver's hand closed around her throat, flailing around in a panic the Cra dug her fingers into her attacker's wrist as she was effortlessly lifted off the ground.

"A place they deserve huh?" Zaver squeezed her throat earning him a panicked gasp as the Cra's throat spasmed under his hands. "Then what should I do with you? If an alien," he spat the word with so much venom Marilyn couldn't help but flinch. "Deserves to be bought and sold like a toy, then what about you? Who takes children from their families in the middle of the night to sell them deserve?"

Marilyn let out a stuttered gasp as she beat against the Xelor's arm, nails digging into his biceps hard enough to draw blood. Why was Zaver doing this? What had she done to upset him so badly-

Marilyn's blood ran cold, both hands now gripping onto the man's bicep as he laughed in the Cra's face.

"Finally realise, did you?" The thing reached up, hands now lined with claws instead of Zaiver's fur skin gloves as he tore the mask from his face. "It took you long enough."

Zaiver, no, no this wasn't Zavier, the thing using his face smirked and Marilyn could feel her heart stop as she watched it reach out and pick up her bow, twisting it this way and that as though he were inspecting it.

Marilyn's struggles renewed with a vigour they hadn't had before, but no matter where she kicked or how hard she clawed and bit the creature wouldn't look at her, instead it continued inspecting her bow.

"Plea-se! N-no, uh! My bow!" Marilyn cried around choked sobs, tears filling up her eyes as she desperately willed them away, she couldn't cry now! She had to save her bow!

"Pleas-"

"You know, I knew a Cra who had her bow destroyed by someone she cared about." The creature gave her a considering look. "Her lover was a Shushu guardian and he was overshadowed by his charge, she tried to stop him but lost her bow in the process."

Marilyn was shaking now, terror like she'd never felt gripping at her insides as she listened to the creature recount its story.

It was a horrifying thing to imagine, someone so close to her destroying her bow but that wasn't the scary part.

The disinterest in its voice, as though it were simply talking about the weather and not that poor Cra's bow, something in the back of her mind was screaming now desperately trying to get her attention but Marilyn couldn't focus over the sound of her own thoughts.

Because that was it’s friend, someone it cared about and to talk about something this important without a care......

Marilyn gulped, not even realising that the pressure on her throat was slowly relaxing as she stared up at the creature in terror, if that was how it spoke of its friends then what would it do to her ?

The Cra flinched when the creatures hand tightened around her bow, Marilyn cried out only to choke as the creature squeezed her throat but that didn't stop her the Cra withered desperately in it’s grip, even as her vision swam Marilyn never looked away from her bow she couldn't , this creature would not take it from her-

'Crack'

"Oops," the creature dropped the remains of her bow to the floor, and Marilyn could only watch, the fight finally leaving her as the creature wiped its hand on its shirt, as though it had somehow dirtied itself dealing with her. "Oh well, you can always get another right? Wasn't too important."

She could hear the smile in its voice, the fake sympathetic tone of it, as though it was consoling a friend, once Marilyn finally managed to tear her gaze away from the remains of her bow the creature had already stopped looking at her, instead, looking to the other side of the room.

Before she could follow his gaze Marilyn was unceremoniously dropped to the floor, the Cra crumpled as though her strings had been cut, barely registering the pain that ran up her legs as she collapsed, instead her gaze focused once more on her bow .

Marilyn reached a shaking hand out, her fingers flinching away as they just barely brushed over the splintered pieces desperately she grasped at the pieces pulling them to her chest as a agonising scream tore through her chest, glaring up through her tears Marilyn's eyes met the monster wearing her lovers skin.

"Why? Wh-who put you up to this?"

Instead of answering, the creature took stock of  its surroundings before finally turning back to face her, the creature gave her a curious look.

"You did." Bending down, the creature spat out the words with a growl. "When you decided to kidnap our siblings."

Marilyn went pale as the blood drain from her face, they were always careful with which missions they picked never taking something above there skill level or against someone they knew they couldn't beat, so who-

Marilyn froze, slowly her eyes trailed up the table to where the creature, the dragon , was bound. The beast was watching her now, it smiled as she came to her conclusion.

"You-you can't kill me," Marilyn winced at the stutter, she hadn't been this scared since she was a child. "This, this is Bonta soil and you're-"

"An alien?"

Marilyn froze as the creature's smile grew wider, it hadn't been the one to speak and slowly, against every instinct in her body telling her not to, Marilyn turned to look in the voices direction.

"Ugh!"

"Oh, she threw up, just how bad did you scare her Ad?"

"Don't pin this on me , she only reacted like that after seeing your face."

Marilyn turned back to the scene as the brothers continued to argue above her, it took everything she had not to throw up again.

The Eliatriope was crouched above Varl's body, head resting on his hand as he argued with his brother, the entire left side of his was covered in bandages as were both his arms, only his right hand seemed to be in working condition.

It took everything she had not to look too closely at the red stains on his otherwise clean shirt, took everything in her not to focus on how still everyone was by his feet or the way Saime was collapsed on her side, a pool of blood underneath her.

She almost threw up when she realised she couldn't find Anne, a stroke of green caught her eye and Marilyn dry heaved onto the ground, coughing up stomach acid and spit.

Anne had a blade perching through her arm, bleeding profusely from a wound on her head from her spot on the ground Marilyn couldn't see any other injuries, and she didn't have the time to as the dragon above her was moving.

"-I'll get out of your hair then Ad, don't do too much damage ok."

The dragon did nothing but grumble, muttering something about how he knew not to go too far, Yugo. Now get lost .

The Eliatrope vanished into one of his portals, holding something in both arms as he did, distantly Marilyn realised that it was the beast’s they'd captured.

"Well now that Yugo's gone, why don't you tell me exactly who put you up to this." The dragon smirked as he watched the Cra squirmer, something vindictive and wrathful curling around his chest as she did.

***

"How’d it go?"

"Kerubim interrupted me before I could get anything out of her." The dragon stalked into the room with a scowl, Adamai was in his more draconic form now far too high strung to bother shifting. "Figured it was best to let the guards handle it, she kept screaming about how 'we'd killed her team and she need to be saved.'"

Yugo laughed quietly at the high pitched imitation of the Cra his brother was doing. Yugo hadn't killed anyone, severely injured? Yes, killed? No.

Yugo didn't kill and even if he did , it was like the Cra had said, he couldn't kill on Bonta soil. It would give the rulers too much motive against them.

Then again, Yugo was almost sure the rulers would turn this on them anyway, even if they had held back from killing anyone and their baby brothers had been kidnapped the rulers would most likely try and spin this on them.

He frowned, maybe he should have accepted Amalia's invite to tea with the New Sufokia's heir, at least then he'd have a potential ally.

Shifting Yugo winced as the bandage pulled taunt around his wrist, with a huff the boy flopped down deciding it wasn't worth the pain of moving, a muffled snort from his brother caught his attention.

"If Alibert could see you now he'd never let us out of his sight again." Adamai threw his head back with a laugh.

Yugo smiled as he listened to his brother's joy, glad that what had happened hadn't put a damper on Adamai's spirits. Grougaloragran nuzzled closer to his twin, stirring slightly at the noise, carefully Yugo ran his hand down the young dragon's back urging the dragon back to sleep through their bond.

It wasn't as strong as the one he had with Adamai but it was still there, allowing him to grasp his brother's feelings and tell the general vicinity he was in.

And in situations like this? Yugo was forever grateful for it.

Draping one of his hands around his siblings, Yugo lightly tapped the space on the other side of the bed where he'd left a space for his twin, smiling slightly. Adamai placed his hand on the bed before turning back into his full Dragon form. Adamai's wings settled around his siblings content to keep them close as his twin pressed a hand to his wing with a smile.

Yugo and Adamai stiffened at the sound of the door to their room slipping open, neither brother moved as the footsteps grew closer. Yugo summoned one of his blades, preparing to jump the stranger only to freeze.

"I'd prefer if you didn't attack me Master Yugo, I understand both yourself and your brother have been through quite the ordeal tonight but it wouldn't look good for either of you to attack the king's emissary on Bontarian soil."

"Master Joris!" Yugo jumped out of his brother's protective hold, running a hand along Adamai's wing at the growl he'd released at the sudden movement, Yugo smiled as he turned to Joris. "Why didn't you say anything when you came in?"

"I was worried about waking up your siblings." Joris sent a meaningful look towards the bed. "They've had quite the exciting night."

"You could say that again." Yugo smiled at his siblings, Adamai having dropped his wings slightly and flopped back onto the bed now that they knew there were no threats around. "How about we step outside Master Joris? I doubt you're here just to check on us"

"Sadly that is true, though if you need more time to recuperate I'm more than willing to wait."

"It's fine," Yugo sent a meaningful look towards the window. "The sun is rising soon anyway."

"Very well let's go then." As he spoke Master Joris turned and stealthily moved out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind him to give the twins some semblance of privacy.

"I won't be gone for long Ad, I promise."

His brother only groaned before pulling his wings back up to cover the twin as he closed his eyes. "Fine, but I'm keeping an eye on you, ok?"

Yugo laughed. "Wouldn't have expected anything less." Smiling, Yugo turned and walked towards the door pushing down the worry that was slowly spreading through his chest as he wondered what Joris wanted from him.

Chapter Text

Yugo quietly shut the door behind him, before he turned to face Master Joris with a smile. Joris looked Yugo over from head to toe, careful not to let his worry show at his young friend's state before his focus shifted to the boy's right eye.

"Master Yugo, I take it Master Adamai will be joining us from afar?" Joris gestured to the blue outline around the Eliatropes eye in curiosity, this wasn't something Joris had seen them do before.

"We're just a little nervous."

"It's alright." Joris shook his head, turning down the hall as Yugo fell into step beside him. "It's best to be cautious in times of uncertainty."

Giggling, Yugo nudged his brother through their bond as he felt Adamai start grumbling over the fact that 'Joris was too observant.'  Servant's passed the two as they walked down the halls, bowing towards the emissary and his guest.

Even if they didn't know who Yugo was, though his hat did tend to give him away more often than not, the castle's servants had long learnt it's best to be respectful to all the emissaries brought with him.

"So, I guess this is about those," Yugo hesitated, brows furrowing as he gazed up at the tapestries lining the walls. " People , did Adamai take it too far?"

Adamai's annoyance curled under his skin and itched at his hands, within his mind Yugo could see the exact conversation he and Adamai had been having before Joris had arrive and in retaliation Yugo shoved the most annoying song he could think of back at his brother.

Yugo held back a smirk as he felt Adamai recede from the front of his mind, his annoyance doubling but at least it wasn't as distracting anymore.

"Your brother held back considerably given the circumstances, though picking a fight with Kerub wasn't his smartest decision I'll admit."

It took everything Yugo had not to flood his twin with panicked questions. Adamai had fought Kerub? When did that happen?

'Adamai?'

'.....he was pissing me off'

'You can't fight our friends Adamai-'

"Kerub is fine, he might be a little out of practice but no damage was done."

"That's good to hear." Yugo smiled apologetically at Joris. "I'm really sorry about that by the way, Adamai normally wouldn't-"

"I know Master Yugo, but as much as I'm enjoying this conversation I believe it's about time we settled things."

Joris came to a stop turning to face Yugo with a frown, the two had walked quite the distance from the infirmary Adamai and the twins were resting in. Yugo noticed how bare the walls were here, a light flickered by his side drawing his gaze, to their left was a pair of open glass doors leading to a balcony.

Was Joris giving him an out?

Yugo's lip twitched, it was so like Joris to give him a way out if he grew too uncomfortable with the conversation, the pleasant emotions he could feel surging through Adamai's side of the bond told him they were in agreement.

"What would you like to do with the criminals?"

What?

Yugo felt breathless, why was Joris asking him this? Yugo and Adamai had already saved their brothers; the rest of the criminal process should have been left to the Bontanian legal system. Why was Joris asking him this?

"What?" Yugo muttered in confusion.

Joris hummed, taking a moment to look Yugo over before he spoke. "Under normal circumstances the criminals would be tried under the Bontanian Legal system but as this was a crime done against another races' rulers, the king would like to know if you and your brother would be more comfortable dealing with them via Eliatrope laws."

Yugo felt his heart drop.

"I don't--we don't-" Yugo stuttered out.

He didn't know, he and Adamai had scoured every inch of the ruins under Forfut, even going as far as to spend a few extra days exploring and getting everything settled with the Count as they did. They'd found everything from storybooks to material log books and even a few star maps, neither had come across anything relating to the Eliatropes legal system and laws.

A wave of calm washed over Yugo so suddenly that he was afraid he might have gotten whiplash, Adamai's laughter rolled around in his brain as that calming feeling settled in his stomach once more.

'You're fine.' He whispered. 'I'm here.'

'I know' Yugo pushed back as much gratitude as he could with that thought, his brother only responding with a fond feeling that reminded Yugo of their dad's hugs.

When his mind was suddenly assaulted with memories of their father's hugs Yugo knew his brother agreed.

"I think it might be best to leave this to you guys." Yugo smiled at Master Joris, rubbing a hand against his neck. "This did happen in Bonta after all."

Joris watched as Yugo squirmed at the considering look on his face before he turned away with a huff.

"Very well, but if I might Master Yugo, Master Adamai." Joris turned to look out the window. "Though Bonta is always happy to take legal action over events that happen within its borders, I would advise you both to begin thinking about such things, if you wish for the Kings and Queens of this world to take you seriously that is."

"We know, Master Joris." Yugo smiled hesitantly, pressing up against Adamai as his brother's energy wrapped around him, wings tucked around Yugo's shoulders. "We're just not sure how to go about it without...."

"Disrespecting your past?" Joris offered, chuckling when the boy king looked away sheepishly. "Trust me Master Yugo, I understand not wanting to disrespect the past but sometimes we as leaders need to focus on the future."

"The future?" Yugo questioned.

"The Eliatrope children, young Yugo."

Yugo flinched, wakfu coming to his fingertips as Adamai hissed, curling around him when the door beside them opened abruptly.

"Yo-your highness!" Yugo stumbled back, finger brushing the door handle behind him. "I-I didn't realize you were here!"

"In my own Palace?" The Queen chuckled as Yugo sputtered out apologies, face growing red, he held a hand out to silence the young king. "It's alright, you're young, children rarely think of such things."

"Still," Yugo sucked in a breath before stepping forwards with a bow. "We humbly greet your highness Queen Astra."

"We?" The Queen smiled. "Is your brother nearby?"

"That he is, your majesty." Joris gestured towards where Yugo was adjusting his bag nervously. "Master Adamai is listening through his brother, neither were in the right headspace to separate at the moment."

Queen Astra hummed, searching Yugo's face for any sign of Adamai, deciding to take some pity on the Queen Yugo dragged Adamai to the front of his mind with a giggle as he stepped back.

Adamai squawked in surprise as he was thrust into his brother's body, they'd only recently found out they could even do that and Alibert was hesitant to let them try it out.

Not like that really stopped them of course.

"It's an honour, Queen Astra." Adamai bowed, holding back a wince as he adjusted to Yugo’s battered body, how was his brother even moving right now? "My brother and I have to thank you for letting us stay the night."

"Oh nonsense Adamai." Queen Astra smiled stiffly before gesturing towards the balcony. "You and Yugo have earned the right to sit before me without fear, now, how about we eat, it is quite early."

Adamai nodded stiffly, pulling the door open for both Master Joris and Queen Astra before taking his own seat closest to the railing.

"So, how have you two been enjoying the city?" Queen Astra started as a servant began serving tea. "Before tonight's events of course."

"Bonta is quite beautiful, your majesty. The Gobball matches are quite the events as well." Adamai sent Yugo a mental kick to the shin to get his attention, in retaliation Yugo stuck his hands through Adamai's skin causing the dragon to shiver. "Yugo's been really enjoying showing us around too."

"Ah that's right, you were not with your brother the first time he came here, were you?"

"No your excellency, I was still on Oma with Grougal when the brotherhood came to Bonta." Adamai smiled as he took a sip of his tea, careful to make sure his brother's hand didn’t shake. "I'm grateful for the chance to explore your city."

"Speaking of your brother, I'm still not sure how that works."

"Do you mean our reincarnation?" Adamai questions.

"No, no I meant your memory's." Queen Astra continued, not noticing how stiff Adamai had gotten. "You and your brothers appear to be lacking anything beyond a decade or so ago and yet that Qilby fellow has all of his, a problem with your hatching perhaps?"

"No." Adamai grits out, feeling Yugo brush against him in silent question.

Want me to take over?

No , Adamai responded, you'll be too nice

He tried to kill everyone! Yugo scoffed, if anything maybe I'll be too mean.

The fact that you're worried about being too mean proves my point.

Yugo's silence was answered enough.

"No, Qilby and his dragon sister Shinonome are the only two who keep their memories after death." Adamai took a deep breath, forcing his shoulders to relax as he looked Queen Astra in the eyes. "The closest of our siblings to their ability would be Chibi and Grougal."

"Oh?" Queen Astra tilted her head in curiosity. "How so, dear Adamai?"

Adamai frowned. "Well from what Phaeris told Yugo, Chibi and Grougal were known as the Prophet Kings."

Queen Astra blinked in surprise. "The little ones are King? I was under the impression that you and Yugo were."

"We are! According to Phaeris, Chibi named us King of the Eliatropes and Dragons before his death!"

"Dragons?" Master Joris glanced at him curiously. "I thought only the first born Eliatropes had dragon siblings."

"Natural born siblings yes, but every Eliatrope is born with a connection to their dragon sibling." Adamai perked up at the opportunity to explain more about their kind. "We've even found evidence of a few Dragon bonds formed after our arrival!"

Nerd.

Adamai ignored Yugo, deciding to be the better person and send his brother a memory of the time Dally had dropped ice down his shirt and only taking a little bit of joy at the shriek Yugo let out.

"As intriguing as this conversation has been thus far Master Adamai, I believe it's time we discuss the more prominent problem." Joris straightened up, almost causing Adamai to shrink in his chair at the intimidating stature of the shorter man.

"The attack ." Queen Astra bit out, turning apologetic eyes on the to-be kings. "I must offer you my deepest apologies for allowing such a thing to happen on Bontarian soil."

"It's no problem, your majesty, really! Like we explained to Master Joris, Yugo and I are fine leaving the matter to the Bonta legal system."

"I see." Queen Astra frowned, eyes flicking to Joris's and back. "Though we are more than happy to take care of this, I'm not sure that is for the best."

Adamai frowned. “If I may, your excellency, why not? It happened on Bontarian soil so you have grounds to deal.” He sent a nervous look Joris’s way. “Right?

“You’re quite right, Master Adamai.” Joris assured him. “But if Bonta deals with them without either of your input then the other rulers will see it as a sign of weakness, something you cannot afford right now.”

Adamai tried not to shrink under Joris’s pointed look, the laugh Queen Astra let out told him he wasn’t doing a very good job.

“Do not worry, we just need to stay here and chat for a while.” Queen Astra took a bite of one of the macaroons on her plate. “No doubt rumors are already flying around about both the attack and this conversation.”

Adamai glanced between the Queen and Joris before nudging his brother, all Yugo did was send back the vague impression of a shrug.

The Eliatrope King everyone!

Oh like you’re doing any better! Yugo shoved Adamai out of the way, jerkingly taking back control of his body with a hiss.

Rude! Adamai complained, his wakfu curling up under Yugo’s skin, the taste of Adamai’s on his tongue, he drank from his cup in an attempt to wash away his brother's sea salt annoyance.

Yugo pushed back the image of a blocked door. Go back to your body, I don’t want Chibi and Grougal to wake up pinned on you.

Adamai grumbled but complied, the feeling of having his brother’s energy under his skin was both overwhelming and underwhelming, it made him feel complete in a way that had Yugo wondering if that’s what it felt when they were in their Dofus but when he left Yugo would always let out a breath of relief at the disappearance of pressure he hadn’t even realized was there.

“Master Yugo?” A curious Joris questioned, causing Yugo to flinch at the sudden address. “I take it you’re back?”

“Yes.” Yugo ducked his head in embarrassment, messing with his sling as he wished he’d grabbed his cloak before leaving the room. “Sorry I left, Adamai couldn’t be here physically so-” Yugo shrugged.

“It’s quite alright Yugo.” Queen Astra chuckled. “I take it that there's a reason you replaced your brother here?”

“Yes,” he straightened up. “I don’t understand what you meant a second ago, about the rumors, how would that help us?” Yugo questioned.

He’d heard from Amalia how serious rumors around the royal families were treated, he couldn’t imagine any rumor leaving the two in a good lighting.

“Well Yugo, how long have we been out here?” Queen Astra questioned mischievously. 

“Uh.” Yugo glanced at where the sun had started a steady ascent into the sky. “A few hours?”

“That’s correct.” Queen Astra gestured to the railing where Bonta’s nightlife was ending and the morning commutes were just starting. “And after today’s,” a pause, “well, yesterday's events, what do you think the people will believe you and I have been discussing?”

Slowly as Yugo traced the city’s roads with his eyes he began to realize what the Queen was talking about, they had already taken care of the problem, they were just waiting for Yugo to realise. “The kidnapping, they’ll think that's what we're discussing, won’t they?”

Queen Astra chuckled. “Clever boy, you will make a fine king Yugo but you still have much to learn.”

Yugo smiled gleefully at the praise, ignoring the way it pulled at his bandages as he did. “Thank you for the praise, your excellency but I still have much to learn.”

“And that is what will make you a great King Yugo.” Joris stated, a small smile tugging at his lips. “Now, I believe it’s time to discuss an equally important matter,” Joris glared at Yugo, “your recovery.”

Yugo shrunk from his gaze, turning to look over the railing as Queen Astra chuckled, it seems he wasn’t getting out of that huh?

“Oh yes, I won’t have people believing I sent not only another ruler on their way after such an attack but a member of the Brotherhood of the Tofu? Under my watch?” She shook her head. “I can’t even imagine what the people would say.”

Yugo slipped further down in his seat, ignoring his brother's laugh as he accepted his fate. “How long?” He grumbled.

“Hmm, with proper healing,” Joris looked Yugo over from head to toe before shrugging. “A month.” He settled on.

“A MONTH?!”

Chapter Text

Sand crunched under Yugo’s shoes as he jumped off his brother's back, sea salt filling his lungs as Chibi and Grougal raced on ahead leaving Adamai and him to take in the island for the first time in years.

“The mountain.” Adamai whispered, shifting back into his dragon form as he stepped to his brother's side. “Nox, he…”

Yugo turned to stare at his brother, slowly, as to not startle the upset dragon Yugo dragged him to his side. 

“Do you need a second?” Yugo questioned carefully. “We don’t need to head in today , we can take our time.”

“We’re a month over schedule.” Adamai pointed out.

“Pff, Dad’ll understand.” Yugo waved his free hand through the air, ecstatic to have it back in action. “ Especially if you’re not ready to go in.”

Adamai stared up at the mountain, tracing the cracks as well as he could from the beach before shaking his head. “No, I’m good.” He smiled. “I wanna, I wanna go home.”

Yugo smiled softly. “Let’s get you home then.”

Because that’s what this was, yes Adamai loved living with his family and Alibert but this was where he grew up, where Grougal taught him to shapeshift and fly, Adamai had a home with them but this? This was a part of himself that he’d never really leave behind, no matter how old he got.

Adamai smiled at his brother and before he could blink, Yugo was being shoved to the ground as Adamai took off into the air, scooping up Chibi and Grougal as he passed.

“You snooze, you lose little bro!” Adamai cackled at the offended shriek his brother gave out as Adamai left him in the dust.

The forest was loud and overgrown as Adamai raced through it but years of running and exploring made it easy for him to tell where they were, leaves crunched over his claws as he sniffed the air, lips tugging upwards at the familiar scent.

Yugo was close, but Adamai was still faster.

“Why are we running from big brother Yugo?” Chibi questioned between giggles as Adamai jumped from branch to branch for the twins' entertainment.

“We’re having a contest.” Adamai decided with a smile. “First one to reach the cave's entrance wins.”

Chibi’s eyes were sparkling. “You lived in a cave?”

“It was a very nice cave.” Adamai agreed with a nod of his head, tightening his grip on Grougal when the black dragon tried to launch himself at a passing Tofu. “ Grougal .” The black dragon tilted his head towards Adamai at being addressed. “Used to live here too.”

“You said that before!” Chibi cried out excitedly, bouncing in Adamai’s arms. 

“Gobball!” Grougal chirped happily.

“We have got to teach you a different word before we get home.” Adamai muttered as he slowly came to a stop at the cave's entrance. 

Adamai had no idea why Grougal could only say Gobball despite being a few years old already, Adamai knew for certain that he’d already been talking by his age, in fact Grougal once said that Adamai had once talked for so long that Grougaloragran had genuinely considered drowning him in the ocean.

“Big brother!” Chibi chirped happily as he leaned over Adamai’s shoulder. “We win!”

“We were racing?” Yugo fakes a pout. “No one told me that!”

Chibi giggled. “You snooze, you lose!”

Yugo gasped in mock offence, hand coming up to his chest and cloak blowing wildly as he exaggerated the gesture earning him giggles from the twins.

“You snooze, you lose!” Grougal parroted.

……..

Wait, what?

Both Adamai and Yugo stared at the black dragon in shock, because what? Excuse me? Did Grougal just talk? Again?

“You’re doing this on purpose.” Adamai whispered his accusations to the smaller dragon, who only turned his head away to watch a Piwi land in its nest nearby. 

But not , noticeably, start chasing it.

“By the Twelve you were faking!” Yugo gasped, no longer needing to fake the offended tone in his voice much to the delight of the twins.

“No!” Chibi whined through giggles. “Grougal can’t talk! Right Grougal?” 

Grougaloragran snorted, smoke blowing through his nose as he nodded his head. “Gobbal!” He agreed.

“Then why can you understand us?”Adamai questioned, eyebrows raised in suspicion.

Chibi and Grougaloragran froze in wide-eyed panic at that, they clearly hadn’t realised their ruse could be so easily destroyed right before their very eyes.

“W-we,” Chibi’s head drooped, eyes growing glassy as his brother whined nearby. “We thought it w-was funny.”

“Well it wasn’t.” Yugo grumbled leaning around Adamai to look their little brothers in the eye as they hid in his chest. “Dad’s been worried sick that something happened on the Zint that stopped Grougal from talking!” The twins slumped further under Yugo’s glare. 

“B-but Grougal doesn’t even like talking!” Chibi defended, voice growing more confident, tugging his dragon brother close when he whined. “If he doesn’t want to, he shouldn't have to!”

“That’s true.” Adamai agreed.

“Huh?” Chibi and Grougal both blinked up at him in confusion, it was so cute he almost laughed.

“Ad’s right.” Yugo nodded, leaning back and crossing his arms behind his head. “No one should have to talk if they don’t want to,” he pouted. “ But does that mean Grougal doesn’t want to talk to us too?” Yugo faked a sniffle that had Adamai’s shoulder shaking from the effort of keeping his laughter to himself.

Though it seems his timing wasn’t the best given the panicked cries it earned him from their younger siblings.

“No! That’s not what we meant!” Chibi cried, reaching out to shaking Adamai’s shoulder though it barely moved as Adamai leaned his head back to laugh more as Grougal pawed at his cheek, he was grateful that he couldn’t see the twins heartbroken faces, it was already hard enough to keep a straight face.

Yugo snorted, quickly covering it with a fake sob that almost broke Adamai’s resolve.

Adamai felt a brush of warmth against his face before he registered Yugo’s panicked cry as Grougaloragran breathed a stream of fire into the air, almost singeing the older Eliatrope in the process.

“Grougal! We don’t burn our brothers-” Adamai started only to be cut off as Grougaloragran breathed another stream of fire forcing him to toss Chibi at Yugo in a panic. “GROUGAL-”

“GROUGAL LOVES ADAMAI AND YUGO!” Grougaloragran interrupted him with a cry, he glared down at the dirt with a pout. “BU-but Grougal also likes it when he doesn’t have to talk a-and Chibi is better at it so why should Grougal have to!”

Adamai stared blankly down at his brother, eyes tracing the way his body had curled in on itself, tail tucked against his chest as he pouted. Adamai shared a look with his twin, Yugo looked guilty, arms tight against Chibi who was struggling to escape his hold, eyes teary as he fought to get back to his own twin.

“....Grougal.” Adamai started, waiting until the young dragon glanced up at him before continuing. “Yugo and I love you too but why did you hide this?” Adamai frowned. “No one would have forced you to talk if you didn’t want to, you know that right, baby brother?”

Grougal slowly nodded, glancing away in embarrassment. “Grougal knows, Grougal just didn’t think it was important, Chibi knows after all.”

“It’s not a big deal.” Yugo offered, smoothing a hand down Chibi’s back in an attempt to calm the boy down. “But it’s still definitely a deal, if you didn’t tell us you two should have at least mentioned it to Dad, he’s been trying to teach himself sign language and he’s about as good at that as he is baking bread!” Yugo jokes, earning him giggles from both twins.

“Grougal is sorry.” The dragonnet said, thoroughly crowed.

“Me too!” Chibi perked up, straightening in Yugo’s arms when the attention shifted to him. “We shouldn’t have kept it to ourselves, sorry.”

“That’s ok.” Yugo smiled, bouncing Chibi in his arms. “But next time you decide to keep something like this to yourself just remember Adamai and I are here for you even if you don’t want to talk to Dad about it, ok?” Yugo stared at them until they both promised him they would, satisfied, Yugo glanced at Adamai. “So, where was the cave’s entrance again?”

“You’re looking at it.” Adamai said.

Yugo blinked at his brother, glanced behind him at the giant wall of stone then turned back to Adamai. “I’m looking at it?”

“You’re looking at it.” Adamai agreed with a solemn nod.

“......Did Ad hit his head when I wasn’t looking?” Yugo whispered to Chibi causing Adamai to scowl as the younger boy laughed before shaking his head.

“No, big brother was really careful.” Chibi giggled.

“Huh.” Yugo muttered, giving his twin a considering look. “Are you doing dru-”

“Just move!” Adamai snapped, shoving his twin out of the and placing a laughing Grougal on the ground.

Yugo cackled as he stumbled back, holding his arm out for Grougal once he’d calmed down. “Can’t blame me for asking, it’s a stone wall.” Yugo pursed his lips, eyes glowing bright blue before he nodded. “Yep, just a wall.”

“Boulder.” Adamai corrected.

“Huh?”

“It’s a boulder, not a wall.” Adamai pressed his hand against the stone, tilting his head back to stare up at the boulder, eye’s tracing the claw marks at the top where Grougal always grabs it.

Where Grougal used to grab it, he was too small to reach the top now let alone be strong enough to move it.

Twelve that was a thought, he’d tried not to think about Grougal’s death too much since he’d gotten him back it just felt easier that way, Grougal was here now so it didn’t matter anymore.

Sure he might not remember anything Adamai did, like teaching him to light a fire or all the times Adamai tried stealing from his hoard, the few times he’d let Adamai steal from his hoard, but that was ok, Adamai remembered so it didn’t matter, it was fine.

His claws dug into the stone, Adamai watched as the smallest of cracks spread from the holes, it wasn’t like it was all gone after all, the island was still here! And Adamai was still here and Yugo remembered him, he remembered Adamai’s Grougal and sure maybe Yugo didn’t really know that Grougal like he did this one but he still remembered him, that was something.

“....Adamai?”

Adamai flinched, head snapping towards the voice with a growl as he took in the concerned face of his twin who’d pulled Grougal and Chibi closer at the sound, allowing his cape to conceal them from view.

“....We don’t have to go in, Adamai.” Yugo muttered, eyes flicking to the holes in the stone as Chibi poked his head out of the cloak. “We can set up camp out here.”

“There are beds inside.” Adamai muttered.

“We have sleeping bags and tents.” Yugo pointed out. “Plus Chibi and Grougal like it when you tell stories with the fire.”

“Fire stories!” Chibi cheered, giggling at the excited cheer his twin let out.

Yugo smiled down at them before glancing back at him. “We don’t have to go in, not until you’re ready.”

Adamai stared at his twin, Yugo’s eyes were warm and comforting, he would stay, Adamai realised, even if it took him a hundred years Yugo would stay right here on the island with him until Adamai was ready to face his old home.

Grougaloragran had rolled the boulder in front of the entrance after the first time Adamai had escaped the cave and almost gotten himself killed in the forest, he’d done it to keep him safe but the much younger Adamai had only seen it as a restriction on his freedom and thrown fit after fit until Grougaloragran had finally given in and they come to an agreement.

The boulder would be moved during the day but Adamai had to stay within Grougaloragran’s sights until he decided the young dragonnet was old enough to keep himself alive without Grougaloragran checking on him every ten minutes.

It had taken till Adamai was ten before Grougaloragran decided that he wasn’t going to spontaneously combust if he took his eyes off him.

“...I’m ok.” Adamai whispered, smiling when his brother frowned. “I just,” he bit his lip, “I think I just needed a second, being back here is hard, harder than I thought it’d be.” He admits quietly.

Yugo searched Adamai’s face, whatever he found had him nodding. “Alright, whenever you’re ready then little bro.”

Adamai snorted, taking a step back as his body was engulfed in blue smoke, large wings extending as he opened his mouth to release an ear-splitting roar. Adamai sighed, stretching his giant body out like a bow meow. “I get why Grougal was always in his dragon form now.” He groaned, wings flapping as he straightened. “This is great.”

“You could do that at home, you know.” Yugo pointed out, amused.

“What, and scare all of Alibert’s customers away?” Adamai scoffed, waving a claw through the air. “No way.”

Yugo tilted his head to the side. “I mean, with what happened with the Osamodians I’m pretty sure that would bring more people to Dad’s inn.” His face scrunched up. “Plus who cares? We could just go hang out in the woods, the Polters wouldn’t mind us too much.”

Adamai thought it over for a minute before shrugging. “We can talk about this later, let's move this boulder for now.” He raised himself up on his hind legs, not quite tall enough reach the top of the boulder on all fours like Grougal could, gripping the spots with Grougaloragrans claw marks Adamai slowly moves the boulder to the side till there was enough space for them to get through.

“Let’s get going then!” Yugo called out, a smirk on his lips as he glanced up at his brother before disappearing in a blur of blue. “Last one in is a rotten Piwi!”

Adamai sputtered, instinctively diving for the gap and forgetting just how large he was as his head bashed against the boulder with a groan. Sitting down Adamai raised a claw cradle to his head.

“Ad!” Yugo called out between laughs. “Y-you ok?” 

“Just peachy.” Adamai grumbled as he was engulfed in blue smoke. “Let’s just go.”

“Y-yeah.” Yugo bent over, hand pressed to his mouth as he tried to get a grip on himself. “Le-let’s go inside!”

Adamai frowned. “Where did Grougal and Chibi go?”

“Huh? Oh, they wanted to explore and I figured Grougal wouldn’t have left anything dangerous laying around if he was raising you….” Yugo paused, eyes flicking away from Adamai’s as something painful flashed across his face too quickly for Adamai to really acknowledge it.

Adamai blinked in confusion, what was that?  

“Yugo-”

“Then again I could be wrong, I’ll go find em.” He waved at Adamai with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Race you?”

Adamai couldn’t get a word out before Yugo was gone with a flash of blue.

That was weird , Adamai frowned, shaking his head, maybe he thought I didn’t want to talk about Grougal? Somehow that feels wrong though.

Yugo? Adamai nudged his brother through their bond. You ok?

His brother only sent back a vague impression on their location instead of an answer, Adamai waited for a moment longer to give his brother a chance to respond before making his way inside the lair, an uneasy feeling in his chest.

Stone petroglyphs clicked under his claws as he made his way down the slowly expanding hall until the dragon was standing inside a large cavern with pillars every few feet, well dragon feet that is.

The last time they’d been on the island, Adamai and Yugo had used the back entrance to enter in their rush to ensure Grougaloragran didn’t eat Yugo’s friends. Technically Adamai was rushing, he’s still not quite sure Yugo even realised how close to death the Brotherhood came that day but Adamai wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up so Yugo could continue living without that realization.

Unless it looked like he’d win again on game night, then Adamai was so bringing it up.

Adamai stopped in front of a mural depicting an Eliatrope and Dragon pair, their foreheads resting against each other. The Eliatrope was wearing a long cloak, it was a different style than the one Yugo had found absentmindedly Adamai wondered if he could find a seamstress to make Yugo one in a similar style.

His claws scrapped across the mural, honestly Adamai had never really paid them much attention unless Grougaloragran was using them as an example in one of his lessons, they were all practically the same anyway, an Eliatrope and Dragon pair exploring, an Eliatrope and Dragon pair relaxing, an Eliatrope and Dragon pair writing! The only difference was what each Dragon and Eliatrope looked like! Grougaloragran had tried to instill the importance of understanding each mural's story into him but Adamai had always been too absorbed in seeing how quickly he could sneak out of his sight to pay any real attention to Grougaloragran’s stories.

Now though, as he traced a claw down the stone dragon’s tail Adamai wished he’d paid attention, that he had even a single story to share with his siblings of their people but Adamai didn’t, he practically knew as much as Yugo did about their people and now that just amounted to storybook and fairy tales!

Adamai sighed, stepping away from the mural in preparation to find his siblings only to freeze as he truly took in the dragon in the mural before him.

It was Grougaloragran! Not Grougal but Grougaloragran! The giant fire breathing lizard who could sleep for days that Adamai remembered, but if that was Grougal then didn’t that make the Eliatrope Chibi?!

“We’re over here Ad!” Yugo called back over their bond, his confusion licking at the edges of Adamai’s mind as he sent another picture of their location; they hadn’t gone very far. “What did you need from Chibi?”

“Nothing, I-I just, look at this.” Giving up on answering and doing his best to squash down his embarrassment, Adamai sent a mental image of the mural across the bond, feeling his brother’s wakfu ripple at the suddenness.

“What the….Is that Grougal?!” Yugo shrieked, his wakfu slipping under Adamai’s skin and clawing at his eye for better purchase before he pulled back. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine little bro, no harm done and yeah that is Chibi and Grougal.”

“Wait, does that mean there might be more murals like that? L-like of us?” Yugo’s wakfu pulled back slightly, his presence in Adamai’s mind shrinking, it made Adamai frown, what was with Yugo today?

“I think I’ve seen them actually, there are a bunch of murals like this around and Grougal used to try and teach me about their stories….I never listened.” It was Adamai’s turn to pull back, pushing his guilt away before it could taint their bond, now wasn’t the time to feel bad, they were here for a reason twelve damn it!

“Ad?” Yugo pushed forwards, Adamai could his arms wrap around him as his brother nudged him for access to his mind, retreating back when Adamai refused but the feeling of warmth stayed. “You ok?”

“Yeah, I just…” Adamai sent his Yugo a mental picture of a Bow wow repeatedly smacking his head into a wooden hole, only the bow wow didn’t realize that the wall was only a wall where he was standing and the tofu it was chasing was long gone. “My brain kinda feels like this right now.”

“Oh, uh.” Yugo turned the image over in his hands, his face scrunching up in confusion. “Not sure how to help you there dude.”

“I know, I’m not really asking you to. It's just,” Adamai groaned, dragging a claw down his face as he began making his way down the hallway, feeling his brother's wakfu fall into step beside him. “It feels like everywhere I turn something is there reminding me of things I could have done better o-or just done! Like those stories! I didn’t even realize they were about the council! If I had shown more of an interest would we have fallen for Qilby’s lies?” Adamai winced as he felt his brother rear back, knowing he’d just said the wrong thing.

“Qilby was not your fault, Ad!” 

“I get that Yugo but if-”

“No, no.” Yugo interrupted. “We both agreed to use the Eliacube despite seeing what it had done to Nox, we both decided to trust Qilby despite Grougal never bringing him up ever and we both decided to help him. We were 12 Adamai, no matter what Grougal told you Qilby was an adult, a lying scheming adult but he was the only adult Eliatrope we’d ever met, knowing some old stories wouldn’t have changed that.”

Childishly Adamai didn’t respond, yes he could see where Yugo was coming from and yes he was right but that didn’t stop him from feeling like there was more he could have done to keep his siblings safe.

“.....I don’t think I liked Grougal much.” Yugo muttered the words, his wakfu drawing away as he did.

“WHAT?!” Adamai roared in surprise, where had that come from!? “Yugo-”

“NOT GROUGAL! Grougaloragran! T-the, his past incarnate.” Yugo snapped back in a panic.

“Oh…why not?” Yugo and Grougaloragran had barely even spoken in his last incarnation, what could he have done to upset Yugo? Unless…had Yugo realized that Grougal was going to eat the brotherhood?!

“It’s stupid.” A pause. “No it’s not, dad told me to stop calling it stupid.”

“You talked to Alibert about this?” The ‘but not me’ went unsaid.

“I-I didn’t know how to bring it up with you, Ad. I mean Grougal raised you, he was practically your dad!” Yugo pulled away, his wakfu flickering as he curled into himself.

“So why don’t you like him?” Adamai

“I said I didn't know if I liked him, not that I don’t like him! I mean-” Yugo’s wakfu pulled away for a moment, disappearing so suddenly from Adamai’s mind that he was worried Yugo was just shutting down the conversation all together. “Sorry, Grougal tried to eat a golden beetle?”

“The scarab, Grougal said it was a gift from someone.” Adamai strained to remember the exact conversation they’d had over the beetle, Grougal mentioned something about a bet being involved but Adamai couldn’t recall the specifics.

“At least he still likes it..” Yugo muttered, an awkward pause stretching between them before he sighed. “You’re gonna make me explain aren’t you?”

“Oh absolutely, why don’t you like Grougal?!”

“I never said I didn’t like him! I mean I get why he sent me away, you’re dragons and I’m an Eliatrope, Grougal couldn’t have raised me the way he raised you and I love dad but sometimes I can’t help but think that Grougal didn’t send me away because it was better for me but because he didn’t want me.” 

“That’s not true!” Adamai threw as much of his wakfu at the vague impression of his brother's head in outrage. “Grougal loved you!”

“I know that but my brain doesn’t get it! I know Grougal cared about me and that’s why he left me with Alibert but sometimes I think maybe he just didn’t want to deal with me!”

Adamai frowned as his brother’s wakfu pulled away completely, Grougal and Chibi needing his attention most likely, Adamai could understand where Yugo was coming from yes but that didn’t make it any easier to think his brother didn’t like the dragon who’d raised him. Grougal had told him multiple times that he was sorry he couldn’t raise Yugo as well, that one day Yugo would make his way here and they’d be reunited.

And he was right, Yugo had come to the island and they were reunited but only for a day before Grougal….

Yugo had never gotten to talk to Grougal, he’d never sat through a long winded lecture about poetry or curled up under his wings as he napped in the sand, no, Yugo had only seen the Grougal who told him what to do.

Come to the island, run from here and don’t come back, go find my Dofus.

From the moment they’d met Yugo had only seen Grougaloragran the Black Dragon not Grougal who’d taught Adamai to hunt, to shapeshift, who’d taught him his first word and spent weeks calming him down after he felt his brothers wakfu that was once so close be so very far away so suddenly, Yugo had never met his Grougal all he’d met was a stranger he never truly got to know.

The thought hurt, that Adamai was the only person who’d ever really remember the Grougal from before because no matter what he’d convinced himself this Grougal, his little brother who he loved so much wasn’t the same as his Grougal and nothing would ever change that.

Adamai turned the corner and stopped. His siblings were ahead, Grougal was diving into a gold pile while Chibi threw Kama’s at him, Yugo stood back, face buried in his cloak as he watched them. The more he watched the deeper that pit in his stomach seemed to get, until it felt like it was about to swallow him whole.

.....I don’t think I liked Grougal much.

In that case why had Yugo proposed this whole trip? Adamai had been fine back home, he could have started a new hoard! He could have been content so why had Yugo decided to come here if he didn’t even like Grougal?

 Sometimes I can’t help but think that Grougal didn’t send me away because it was better for me but because he didn’t want me.

Adamai had seen Grougal agony over that decision, he’d already lost everyone he loved and now he had to send Yugo away? It killed the older dragon but he pretended it didn’t when Adamai asked.

“It is better for him there, Adamai.” The Grougaloragran in his memories said. “His skin is softer than ours, his nails short and blunt, your twin cannot fight the way we do, Grougaloragran cannot teach him to live as he should but they can.”

Grougal hated it, but he’d done what was best for Yugo at the time and it’s not like Grougal just cut him off, he left a message telling Yugo to come home once his powers came in, once he was strong enough for Grougal to feel comfortable raising him like he was Adamai.

“.....i…?”

And yes, Adamai sometimes resented Grougal for sending Yugo away but he’d also met Yugo, he’d seen first hand how differently the twelveians lived compared to them and sure, his brother wasn’t actually a twelveian but he was close enough for it to matter.

“Adamai?”

Adamai flinched at the sound, head snapping up and coming face to face with Yugo’s concerned face, again.

“....Did the Grougal thing upset you that much?” Yugo muttered guiltily.

“Kinda, but I get where you’re coming from.” Adamai kicked a stone to his left, turning his head away to survey the damaged grand hall where Grougal had met the Brotherhood for the first time. “I just don’t get how you could think Grougal didn’t want you! Do you even know how hard it is to get a black dragon to give up something they consider theirs?”

“I mean kinda.” Yugo chuckled, lip twitching upwards as he turned to look at where Chibi and Grougal were currently arguing over a scepter they’d found, Chibi pouted, eyes growing big and wet in a familiar pair of puppy dog eyes he pulled out whenever the two didn’t want to sleep yet, Gorugal noticing looked away and accidently let go of the scepter sending his twin flying backwards. 

Adamai chuckled as the twins went right back to fighting over something new once Grougal had checked Chibi over. “Grougal loved you Yugo.”

“.....I’ll take your word for it, Ad.” Yugo glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, biting his lip as he seemed to be thinking something over. “We could have a funeral, you know.”

Adamai tilted his head to the side, watching his brother who stared back at him as Adamai attempted to process his words. “For who?” Adamai questioned.

“For Grougaloragran.” Yugo explained patiently.

“But Grougal’s over there.” To emphasize his point Adamai pointed at where Grougal and Chibi were currently climbing a pile of gold, or at least attempting to Chibi kept slipping so Grougal had to come back and get him, they weren’t making very good progress.

Yugo followed his gaze, nodding as he took the scene in. “That’s Grougal.”

“I know, that was my point, Yugo.” Adamai said, exasperated.

“I’m talking about Grougaloragran.” Yugo put more force into the name as he met Adamai’s eyes. “The dragon who raised you.”

“I-he’s over there Yugo!” Adami cried, throwing his hands around widely in the twins' direction.

“You know what I mean Ad, Just-” Yugo sighed. “-just think it over ok? I get that you might not want to think about it much, especially not here but that Grougal and the one who raised you are different and it’s fine you know….”

“What?” Adamai questioned numbly, his mind refusing to acknowledge any of Yugo’s points at the moment and was instead trying to remember where he’d left that book on insects Grougal had given him.

“To grieve him.” Yugo barreled on, ignoring Adamai’s sudden intake of breath. “You told me before, remember, when Dally died? That grieving him isn’t letting him go, it's just remembering him differently.”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Adamai whispered hoarsely.

“I know, I figured I should bring it up before we head home, I’m pretty sure dad wanted to talk to you about it.” Yugo admits.

“You talked to him about this?” Adamai muttered in horror.

“No!” Yugo cried, waving his hands in front of him as he shook his head furiously. “Dad was talking to me about Dally a couple weeks ago and mentioned wanting to talk to you so I figured I should give you a heads up!”

“Oh,” Adamai chuckled, “Thanks then.”

“No problem.” Now it was Yugo’s turn to awkwardly kick a rock. “So, you know where Grougals room is?”

“I’m not allowed in there.” Adamai said, lips tugging up into a mischievous smirk as he met his brother's eyes.

“Oh I’m sure we can find a way around that.” Yugo turned with a flourish, cupping his hands around his mouth he shouted. “YOU WANNA GO SEE GROUGAL’S OLD ROOM GUYS?!”

“YES!” Two identical shouts were heard as Yugo turned back to Adamai with a shrug.

“Problem solved.” He said evenly.

*********

Adamai grunted as he pushed the stone doors open enough for them to slip through, the doors inside their home were nowhere near as heavy as the one leading outside so Adamai could deal with it in his human form no problem.

Yugo pouted. “It’s not fair that you just have that kind of strength, I actually have to train to keep up with you.” He grumbled, slipping through the open doorway after the twins.

“I don’t know what to tell you little bro, Dragons are the best .” Adamai responded smugly as he slipped through the doorway.

“This is speciest.” Yugo grumbled.

“You’re half dragon.” Adamai pointed out.

“Still speciest,” a pause, “is that a forge?”

“It does look like a forge doesn’t it?” Adamai agreed as he came to a stop in front of the giant stone forge, it took up almost the entirety of the back wall, lava flowed out of a giant dragon's head and into a trove of lava with an anvil above it. “I didn’t know Grougal was a blacksmith.”

“I mean…I think Qilby mentioned something about it?” Yugo winced awkwardly as he brought up the deranged Eliatrope. “Didn’t he say that Chibi and Grougal made the Eliacube?”

“And you believed him.” Adamai questioned blankly.

“Well no but maybe it wasn’t completely wrong?” Yugo gestured to the forge. “I mean that’s here isn’t it?”

“You have a point.” Adamai grumbled unhappily, crossing his arms and glaring at the forge like he could disintegrate it with just his eyes. “What did we come in here for anyway?”

“Exploration.” Yugo waved his hands around before turning to explore more of the room. “We cleared out most of the stuff you wanted right?”

“I got my books, gold, stuff so yeah pretty much.” Adamai agreed as he started pursuing Grougalroagrans book collection for anything interesting.

The bookshelf took over the whole wall, Adamai slowly made his way down the row, eyes scanning each book at eye level as he tried to find anything useful. Nothing caught his eyes as Adamai came to the end of the stacks, he paused momentarily to look through some numbered scrolls but all that was written was a bunch of nonsense, like; A wooden rebellion, a heart turned to bark and cedar over the years will once again be touched and return to leaf and flowers.

What did that even mean? 

Adamai shook his head, dropping the scroll back into its pile and glancing upward only to freeze as his brain caught up to what exactly Adamai was looking at. It was a pure white Dofus, blue stripes covering its surface in a strangely rectangular pattern.

Adamai had never seen the Dofus before but some part of him knew that this was his Dofus.

“Yugo.” Adamai called out, voice faltering momentarily as he picked the Dofus up reverently.

“Yeah Ad-oh.” Yugo paused, eyes widening at the sight of the Dofus in his hands. “Is that…”

“I think.” Adamai agreed, lifting their Dofus up as Chibi suddenly lunged for it. “Chibi!” Adamai scolded, the boy only pouted before turning his head back to the Dofus.

“What’s that?” Chibi questioned, pointing up with one tiny hand as Grougal curled up next to him.

“It’s a Dofus.” Yugo whispered, hand hovering over it as he took in the Dofus’s appearance for the first time. “Our Dofus.”

“Like the thing Grougal and I came out of?” Chibi questioned, eyes gleaming curiously.

“Yep.” Adamai smiled, crouching down so the two could get a better look, Yugo following his lead. “We were all born from them, you know? Me, you and all our other siblings.”

“Other siblings?” Grougal parated back curiously, no longer glaring at the Dofus.

“Yeah, like Balthazar or Phaeris!” Yugo smiled at the memories of their older brothers, his smile slowly turned into a frown as he turned to Adamai. “Speaking of, shouldn’t we look for Phaeris’s Dofus?”

Adamai’s eyes widened, tail thumping against the ground as he passed the Dofus over to his brother to store away. “That’s right, Mina’s already uh-” He glanced at the twins. “-Sleeping! Yeah, that and so is Phaeris so they’ll probably hatch soon!”

“Like us!” Chibi chirped happily.

“Like us.” Yugo agreed as he stood up, checking the Dofus over one more time before seemingly remembering something. “Oh yeah, I found this with some of Chibi’s stuff, any idea what it is?”

Yugo held out a scroll, as he passed it over Adamai couldn’t help but shiver at the power thumbing through the paper, the familiar power flowing through it that is.

“This is dragon magic!” Adamai stated in surprise, pulling open the scroll with a gasp. “This is a dragon contract!” He blurted out.

“A what?” Yugo tilted his head to the side, seeing that the twins followed suit both now staring up at Adamai with their heads tilted to the side, it was adorable.

“A dragon contract Yugo! They connect to a person’s very soul!” Adamai shook the scroll in excitement.

“I still don’t get it.” Yugo crossed his arms over his chest with a huff, the twins once again mimicking him. 

Adamai rolled his eyes. “It means, if you got Dally to sign this contract and he d-went to sleep the next day the contract would still be in effect once he reincarnated!”

“That’s actually really cool!” Yugo stepped forwards, examining the page with a new fever.

“Right?” Adamai agreed.

“Why’s it cool?” Chibi questioned, he and Grougal now taking it upon themselves to glare at their older brothers now that Yugo had started examining the scroll.

“Just boring grown-up stuff.” Adamai offered back, slipping the scroll into their haven with a frown. “I don’t think we have that much space left.”

“Yeah, we should probably call it quits.” Yugo rummaged through the bag a bit to make sure everything was settled before stepping back with a smile. “Race you to the entrance?”

Eliatropes vs Dragons?” Adamai offered back with a matching smile.

“Oh you’re on.”

Chapter Text

Alibert sighed forlornly, trudging over to the counter he halfheartedly dropped a bowl of Gobball stew in front of Ruel, never glancing away from the door as he did.

“Oh come now Alibert, the kids are fine!” Ruel stated, mouth watering as he shoveled a spoonful of Alibert’s famous stew into his mouth, speaking around a mouthful of food. “I mean those two have been through worse!”

Alibert grimaced, pushing Ruel’s spoon down from where he’d pointed it at him. “I know that Ruel but I can’t help but worry, they got attacked for Twelves sake!”

“And got to live it up in the Bonta palace! I say that a fair trade-” Ruel choked, turning away nervously as Alibert glared at him. “I-I mean they had Jorus with them! No way that guy would let anything happen to them.” Ruel nodded, relaxing back onto his stool as Alibert sighed.

“I know but every time they run off like this it's always for some big world ending adventure, I can’t help but worry.” Alibert sighed, leaning onto the counter.

Ruel patted his old friend on the shoulder. “Alibert, come on, Yugo and Adamai are more than capable of taking care of their brothers.” Ruel glanced around the inn, it was the middle of the afternoon so there weren’t many people here, sitting up properly Ruel looked Alibert in the eyes. “You don’t have to worry about them, Alibert, it’s not like dying is uh,” Ruel winced, “permanent for them.” 

“That doesn’t make it better.” Alibert muttered blankly, he knew where Ruel was coming from, the two had many conversations about the children's non-human status. Of course Alibert had discussed it with Yugo and Adamai as well but there were certain things a father couldn’t talk about with his kids.

“I know that, all I’m saying is that they’re strong, Adamai is a dragon for Twelves sake!” Ruel huffed, turning back to his bowl. “I get that you’re going to keep worrying Alibert but all I’m saying is that you need to trust that they’re going to be ok.”

Alibert sent one last glance at the door before finally turning away with a sigh. “You're right, they're both string, they'll be fine.”

“Hehe,” Ruel smirked, “you'll find that I'm right most of the time, Alibert.”

“Let's not get ahead of ourself Ruel, remember Brakmar?” Alibert chuckled with a smirk, he spoke in a teasing tone. “Actually, in that case, how about settling that bill on yours?”

Ruel spluttered. “First, what happens in Brakmar stays in Brakmar, otherwise I have quite a few stories that Adamai and Yugo would just love, and second, I'll pay you back next time.”

Alibert shook his head, taking the tray from Ruel with a smile as he made his way back into the kitchen. “The day your ‘next time’ comes to pass is the day I retire Ruel. I'll probably have enough money to move the inn to the capital and still never have to work a day in my life.”

“I don't owe that much…” Ruel grumbled.

“If you owed half the amount you do me, to a bank,” Alibet argued back in with a smile, “you'd never see the sun again, Ruel.” 

“Haha, well what are friend for-”

‘Voop’

A glowing blue portal opened behind Ruel, a blurr dropping out and throwing his hands into the air with a smile.

“We're back!” Yugo cried out happily, glancing up and catching Chibi as he dived through after him. "And we're all in one piece-oof!"

Before he could get a word out Yugo and Chibi found themselves squished against a solid chest as Alibert squeezed the life out of them. Yugo shifted Chibi around so he could wrap an arm around his foster father.

"We're back dad."

"Speak of the Shushu and they shall appear." Ruel chuckled.

"Uncle Ruel!" Yugo's eyes lit up, quickly escaping his dad hold as he launched himself at Ruel. "You're here! I thought you went to visit Dally and Eva?"

"That I was, sadly it seems dear Eva didn't want staying any longer, I don't understand why I'm a delight!"

To preface this statement Ruel picked his ear before blowing it of his finger and onto the table.

"Delight when you're not around maybe." Alibert muttered just loud enough for his kids to hear before turning to Yugo with Chibi tossed onto his shoulder. "Where are Adamai and Grougal?"

"Adamai's wrangling Grougal in the woods to get him to behave, we figured you wouldn't want us burning the inn down the first night we're back." The boy replied sheepishly.

"How considerate." Alibert smiled, shaking his head as he handed Chibi back to Yugo. "In that case I should probably prepare some food while you tell me all about you're trip."

"Haha, we were sending you postcards the whole time dad!"

Chibi nodded his head, happily agreeing with his brother as he recalled all the incredibly important drawing Grougal and he had added to the letters.

"Reading about your adventures and hearing them are different. Now come sit down, I want to hear all about it." Alibert patted the stool next to Ruel and he made his way behind the counter.

Quick as lightning Alibert whipped up two sets of piping hot Gobbal stew which Yugo and Chibi devoured like starved beasts, Ruel couldn't help but laugh at the mess the two were making.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you two hadn't eaten in months," a pensive look crossed his face, "you two do need to eat right?"

Yugo's mouth opened, then shut with a click. "I think so? I mean I know we get hungry so, yeah?"

"Not very confident are you?" Ruel chuckled as he swiped a spoonful of stew from a slightly dazed Yugo's plate.

"Hey! Uncle Ruel!" Brown eyes stared up at him in betrayal.

"Haha, you snooze you lose, Yugo!" Laughing Ruel mirthlessly waved his spoon in the air before happily savoring his stolen goods.

"Does that mean you'll be paying for the kids meals, old Ruel?" Alibert joked, patting his friends back as he choked in shock.

"Oh come now Alibert, you aren't really going to make the kids pay for their own meals?" Ruel sighed emotionally, slipping behind the children and pulling them close. "Just look at these faces, you can't really expect them to pay for food from their own father?"

Alibert's lips twitched at the identical confused looks on Yugo and Chibi's face, in moments like these it was easy to see that the two were blood related. It also made it significantly harder to say no to them, thankfully this time the one he was saying no to wasn't his adorable son but his very annoying friend.

"They do eat free." Alibert pulled the dishes towards him and walking over to the sink. "But you don't, so I'll just add that to you're tab."

Ruel sighed dramatically, draping himself sadly across the counter as he turned to Yugo and Chibi. "See this kids? You're father is picking favorites!"

Chibi giggled at the over dramatic display, reaching out to pat Ruel on the head as he spoke in a giddy voice. "There there, uncle Ruel."

"Oh thank you child. At least someone cares about me," Ruel sighed, "I have no idea how someone so cruel can raise someone so kid," Ruel glanced at Yugo thoughtfully, "then again…"

"Wha-Hey! What did I do?" Yugo complained loudly, pouting when Chibi giggled at him. "Why are you taking his side now?"

"Who's side are we taking?" The door creaked open as Adamai walked in with a grumbling Grougal nestled into his arms.

"Adamai! Just the dragon I wanted to see!" Ruel put on a pitiful appearance as he gestured towards Yugo and Alibert. "You're brother and father are being so cruel to your favorite uncle…."

Adamai paused at that, his face scrunching up at the term of address. Even after all the time Adamai had lived with them he still wasn't quite use to referring to Ruel as his uncle, sure he might have helped raise Yugo but Adamai had never had an uncle before so he was never sure what exactly he was supposed to do.

Noticing his brothers hesitation Yugo quickly spoke up, giving the other an out. "What's with Grougal? I swear he wasn't that uh.."

"Noddley?" Adamai offered, his Wakfu brushing against Yugo's in gratitude.

"Yep," Yugo agreed as he watched Grougal almost slip out of Adamai's hold, "noddley."

"I think he realized we weren't gonna be hunting for awhile and decided to throw a fit, which won't change anything mind you." Adamai's voice took on a pointed tone at the end.

Grougal did nothing more than grumble unhappily, before he suddenly perked up with a chirp as a large shadow loomed over the two easily sweeping them into it's arms.

"I don't mind you two hunting in the woods Adamai." Alibert smiled down at his sons. "I'm sure I've told you that before."

"You might not mind but those hunters are definitely gonna when they realize Grougal's eaten everything in the woods." Adamai grumbled unhappily, pretending his tail hadn't curled around Alibert's arm as he squirmed.

"Oh come now," Ruel scoffed, "how's that tiny thing gonna eat that much? Why I'd be surprised if he can even eat a full helping of stew!"

Yugo giggled spinning on his stood towards Ruel with a cheeky grin. "Oh come on Ruel, Grougal's a dragon! I bet he could eat the whole of Emelka into a food shortage!"

"You forget, dear Yugo." Ruel reached out to ruffle Yugo's hat, careful of his wings underneath. "That you're also half dragon, yet there's nothing dragon-like about you and Chibi, so-"

"Yes we do!"

The room seemed to freeze at the voice. A sulk Chibi now standing on his stool, arms crossed adorably as he glared at Ruel.

"No ones saying you and Grougal aren't brothers Chibi." Alibert carefully set the two down as he made his way over to Chibi, his tone soothing as he dealt with the sulking six year old. "Ruel just meant that you and Yugo are different from your twins," Alibert cups Chibi's hands, "you've got soft hands where they've got scales, and you have teeth for grinding while they have teeth for slicing."

"I have teeth like that too!" Chibi insisted, stomping his foot indignantly. To prove his point Chibi opened his mouth wide.

"Chibi enough, everyone is different it's ok—huh?" Alibert cut himself off in confusion, his brow furrowed as he grabbed Chibi's chin and slowly moved it from side to side. "Well I'll be damned."

"Dad?" Yugo questioned, a strange feeling of dread filling him at the sight of his fathers laser focus on Chibi. "What is it? Did Chibi chip a tooth?"

"I'm not even sure you can chip that," Alibert mumbled, eyes narrowing, "how you haven't cut you're tongue on those is beyond me."

Unable to take it any longer Yugo twisted Chibi's stood, successfully dislodging Alibert's hand and replacing it with his own.

Yugo froze at the sight before him. Chibi's teeth were the same perfectly straight and white as Yugo's own, perfect in that strange way that always had his dad scratching his head and turning away slightly because Twelveian teeth were never really that straight, the only difference between the two were the four large, sharp, dragon-like canines that Chibi had.

Four dragon-like canines that Yugo didn't have.

Ruel whistled behind him, the sound a distant buzz in his ears. "Well I'll be, guess there is something dargony about you."

Yugo can barely hear the two as they talk about Chibi's teeth, his mind's a mess as he tries piercing together what he's seeing. Yugo knew he didn't have teeth like that, he brushed his teeth every day and he would know if he had canines that big, so was this just a quirk Chibi had? Was this something they needed to worry about? Was this an Eliatrope thing? What-

'Yugo?'

Yugo barely breathes as a familiar wakfu settles around him, settling under his skin in a way that has the knot in his chest relaxing and the breath in his lungs escaping just the barest bit easier.

'What's going on? What's wrong with his teeth?'

Adamai paused his wakfu retreating before spreading out, like it was trying to engulf Yugo into it's folds.

'Nothing, Alibert and Ruel think it's a development thing?'

'I'm older than Chibi.' Yugo points out dully, feeling the threads of Adamai's embarrassment claw at his cheeks.

'Yeah but Chibi has uh….'

'Grougal.' The name was pushed across their bond soundlessly, less of a thought more of a swell of emotions and intent.

'Yeah, you ok little bro?'

Adamai's concern burrows it's way into his chest, settling within his ribs and curling around his heart. It's comforting to feel his brother so close, even stranger to think he'd lived most of his life without it but as he feels the flickers of concern Yugo realizes that he understands, Grougal and Chibi had been together since birth, Chibi was already able to sense trails of wakfu, it made sense that they'd develop according to whats normal for Eliatropes, whatever that may be.

'Yeah I'm ok, it just surprised me.'

Adamai's wakfu retreated a fraction before coiling under his skin and settling there, the strange tug and pull grounded Yugo.

"Hey Ruel." Adamai waited for the other to turn towards him. "Why are you here anyways?"

"What, can't an uncle visit his favorite nephews?" Ruel's eyes widened innocently, once he noticed no one was buying it he sighed. "Alright fine, Junior and I were on our way to Bonta when we passed through the Sadida kingdom and paid a visit to dear Amalia, who has been trying to get in contact with you two for quite some time now."

"Amalia?" Yugo perked up excitedly before a look of worry appeared. "Is she ok? Did something happen to the Sadida kingdom?"

"If something did they better not be trying to blame us, we weren't even near the Sadida kingdom!" Adamai paused thoughtfully. "Also they should look into an exorcism or something, I feel like every world ended event ends up there somehow."

Yugo nodded. "Yeah, Amalia told me her dad invited a shaman after we left."

Ruel cleared him throat before the two could continue. "No, nothing has happened to the Sadida Kingdom," this time went unsaid, "but dear Amalia has asked you both to come over before the end of next month."

"How come?" Yugo's head tilted to the side, Adamai's wakfu slipping and tumbling around his skull at the movement. "Is she having a party?"

"No," Ruel's voice took on a more serious edge, causing Adamai and Yugo to stand a little straighter, "you've both been invited to participate in this years Conclave of the Twelve." Ruel clears his throat nervously. "I'm sure Adamai recalls the last one."

Yugo held back a hiss as Adamai's wakfu burned inside of him, flashes of a meeting he didn't remember attending and a man he never wanted to see again filtered through his mind. Unconsciously Yugo spread his own wakfu out, surrounding Adamai and bleeding though the dragon's scales.

It was instinct that stopped Adamai from stomping onto the intruding presence in his mind, slowly allowing the familiar wakfu to bleed through him, dying his flaming reds a calming blue until finally he could breath again.

"Why?" Yugo's voice was hoarse, like he'd be walking through the desert. "What do they want?"

They had to want something, the world leaders had only ever bothered them once and that was back when Qilby made everyone believe that he was going to return the Eliatropes to the world. Since then they had done nothing more than send the occasional polite birthday gift, or like Queen Astra they'd offer a place to stay out of politeness and political interest, though usually they weren't attacked before hand.

Yugo didn't pay any mind to the way Adamai's wakfu tightened at the reminded, it was impossible to hide his thoughts from the other at the moment and Yugo didn't really want to anyways.

"I don't know, our dear princess just told me to make sure you two weren't late."

"Guess we have no choice then." Yugo's voice took on a playful tone as he glanced at his twin. "We'll just have to set out again."

A familiar look of excitement flashed across Adamai's face as he nodded seriously. "I mean if the Princess Amalia says so then what can we do."

Alibert sighed, looking years older as he pointed out. "You two just got back."

"Meaning their already all packed!" Ruel smiled as he guested to the haven bag that was usually hidden under Yugo's cloak, said cloak was thrown into the bag after Grougal and Chibi decided to roll around in the mud. "Now shall we get going?"

"The Princess offered you kama's, didn't she?" Alibert held Chibi and Grougal in his arms as he spoke, enjoying the way Ruel sputtered.

"This and that are two different things, Alibert." Ruel waved his hand, pointedly ignoring the giggling children around him. "Don't you pay a messenger to deliver messages? Aren't I just delivering dear Amalia's message? Whether I was heading back this was or not has nothing to do with it?"

"She offered you Kama's! Greedy Ruel!" Grougal chirped excitedly.

There was a moment of pure silence that was quickly broken by loud, unhinged cackles from Yugo and Adamai.

Dully, Alibert set Chibi down so he could hold Grougal at eye level.

"You can talk." Alibert muttered disbelievingly.

Grougal smiled brightly. "Gobball!"