Chapter Text
Yugo fell through the portal, landing with a harsh thud. He was dazed but forced himself to run away from it quickly, and he ended up only getting what he guessed was twenty feet away before he couldn’t anymore. He collapsed on his knees, his hands supporting him as he looked at the ground, panting from exhaustion.
Yugo had tried. After Qilby had gotten to his Dofus, he had tried so hard to fight him. But Qilby had not felt like drawing it out. He had incapacitated Phaeris, and buried him in the rocks. He sent Adamai into a portal, and Yugo had no idea how much danger he was in. He had no idea if they were okay.
Yugo looked around. It was dark, but as his eyes adjusted, he saw that he was in a massive, ancient-looking room. He stood and turned around, trying to figure out where he was.
It felt familiar.
Then, he heard the familiar sound of an opening portal, and suddenly Qilby was standing right next to him. The older eliatrope kicked his legs out from under him before he could even scream. He hit the ground hard and teleported away, but Qilby pulled him back, throwing him at the wall. Yugo hit the wall, crying out in pain. He slid down, meeting the floor, the wind knocked out of him. He laid there, trying to catch his breath through gasps.
“I have been waiting for thousands of years for us to leave this planet,” Qilby said, looking down at him. Yugo looked back up at him, only barely able to lift his head from the ancient floor. “Now it’s time to go.”
Yugo was confused, his mind not registering the words.
“But don’t you worry, Yugo.” Qilby walked away towards the metal stand in the center of the room. “I’ll tell you what I told Adamai. Taking off won’t quite destroy this planet so much as it will…damage it.”
And Yugo’s eyes widened as everything Qilby had said came into focus. Time seemed to slow as he remembered what Phaeris had told him before he had fought Qilby.
If Qilby was to make this ship take off -because that’s where they had to be, wasn’t it? The Zinit- then he would have to suck most of the Wakfu from the world.
If that happened, so many living things would die.
It would destroy the world.
And Qilby was ten feet away from wrecking everything.
In a split second, as Qilby took one step, adrenaline filled Yugo. Wakfu crawled under his skin, he felt the familiar heat in his hands, and he looked at Qilby, knowing that he had to go now .
He shot toward the elder Eliatrope in a flash of blue. He crashed into him, knocking the Dofus from his hands. They rolled away from where Qilby had been going, but he kicked Yugo away from him. He got back up, only to be knocked down again.
The third time, Qilby caught Yugo, twisting his arm behind his back. Yugo struggled hard, but Qilby tossed him back again. Yugo managed to get to his knees, arms supporting him as he was returned to where he had begun, his hands burnt from Wakfu overuse.
“S-stop,” Yugo gasped, his voice strangled. “Please, please , you’ll destroy so much .”
“Oh, Yugo,” Qilby sighed, looking down at him with a combination of condescension and some other emotion that Yugo wasn’t particularly concerned about figuring out at the moment. “You don’t understand. I won’t destroy any more than one of their wars.”
“You’re draining Wakfu from the planet-”
“Oh- ho , little brother, that’s where you’re wrong. The gods would be terribly unhappy if I destroyed their world. I will only drain enough to destroy a bit more than Ogrest did.”
“That’s not better , you’re-you’re still k-killing millions of living things! And I-I thought that it wa-was going to t-take almost all of it-”
“Yes, well, I wasn’t originally planning on using what I now have. I have had the Eliacube absorb some Wakfu from those foolish enough to cross my path on Crimson Claw. Not to mention the Dofus. They have a ton of Wakfu, and I did manage to collect them from those that had them, including a particularly irritating Xelor.”
“H-How? Wh-Where-”
“Everywhere. All over the planet. I couldn’t really use them until I was reunited with mine. I had you lead me to it because I wasn’t quite up to my full strength yet, nor did I have the Eliacube or the other Dofus. When I did, I simply didn’t want to deal with Phaeris yet.” Qilby shrugged, as if he was talking about the weather. He summoned the five other Dofus. Yugo’s eyes widened as he connected the dots.
“Y-you, you’re planning to use the Dofus to-”
“Take off? Of course.” That was bad, bad, very, very bad.
Qilby waved his hand and Chibi and Grougal’s Dofus moved in front of him.
“This one wasn’t quite as powerful as it needed to be, since they had just hatched.”
Past tense.
“Of course, that little forced hatching wasn’t the best for their health. I really was disappointed when the Twelvians couldn’t care for them properly, but that happens, I suppose.”
Past tense.
“I really am sad, but they should reform properly this time.”
PAST TENSE.
“T-they aren’t-” Yugo gasped. His eyes welled with tears. “Y-you just let them-”
“Oh, please, Yugo.” Qilby scoffed. “I let nature take its course.”
He turned again and walked toward the center of the room again. Yugo was unable to move in his shock. Then his mind began to race.
He just lost his baby brothers. He had no idea if Phaeris and Adamai were alive. His friends were still on Crimson Claw.
If this ship left, his friends would all die.
The ship began humming to life.
That snapped him out of it.
He tried to run past Qilby, to get those Dofus out of there. Qilby grabbed him, and stepped back a few feet. Qilby grabbed Yugo, moving him against his chest to get a better hold of the younger as he watched the ship power up. Yugo faced the center of the room, trying to reach for the Dofus, desperate to do something.
“Stop! Stop, please!” He struggled as much as he could. He was losing hope, and when he felt the ship move, he stopped reaching for the Dofus and was just desperate for Qilby to let him go.
“No! No, Qilby, please!” he screamed. “Please, my friends, my family, everyone! So many people are going to die! Please, you can’t want that!”
“I don’t.” Qilby said calmly. “I don’t want it. I just don’t care.”
Yugo struggled for what felt like a thousand years and half a second at the same time. Then Qilby dropped him, and he lost all hope. He knew they were off. He fell on his knees and hugged himself. His forehead touched his knees as he sobbed, knowing that he had failed his friends and family.
His quest for every bit of family and love he could find had led to his loss of everyone but the person who he hated more than anything.