Real Dad Chapter 5

Due to the long and strenuous night of fear and panic, Alibert was in such a deep slumber that he hadn't even noticed the sun beaming down through the kitchen's back door. Straining himself both physically and emotionally left him in unmoved, leaning over the table. As he snored, he had not noticed the front door of the inn open. After a short moment of the sounds of footsteps on hard wood coming thought the main dining room, the swinging door burst open; nearly hitting Alibert's table. Dale looked down at Alibert and rolled his eyes.

"I told him he'd overwork himself…" Dale nudged the table with his spear to jolt Alibert awake. "Hey Alibert, it's morning. We should get going."

Alibert lifted his head towards Dale, eyes still half open laced with grogginess from a lack of enough sleep. He sat up slowly, and stayed motionless for a moment; trying his best to grab onto the reality of morning. Then as soon as he realized what it meant, he shot up from his chair wide-eyed and ran for his shoes.

"Whoa there!" Dale said nearly being knocked over by the chair flying across the room.

"Sorry Dale. I hadn't realized what time it was."

"It's not that long past nine. I brought a friend who would be great help at finding Yugo. Especially since he wandered into the woods." Dale said pointing towards the other man in the room.

"Hi, I'm Lobo. The blacksmith…" Lobo said extending his hand to shake Alibert's.

After spinning around to get his shoes and coat on, he shook Lobo's hand with a half-smile. "Right. I've seen you around town a few times. Thank you so much for helping. I'll repay you sometime with meal on the house. You too Dale."

Lobo shook his head. "That won't be necessary. I'm just doing what any common citizen would."

Dale's eyes lit up with the mention of food, particularly some he didn't have to pay for. "Lobo, it's offensive to turn down food from a chef. We'll have to take you up on that offer some time, Alibert."

"Right. But first, let's go find your son…" Lobo said, blowing off Dale's excitement. "I thought we'd start by searching along the river. It's the biggest source of fresh water around."

Alibert ushered the two out the door, and locked it behind him. "Alright. But why bring the spears?"

"Just in case something comes up. Anything could be in those woods." Lobo said without a second thought.

Alibert's face grew with shock in how blunt Lobo was. His own son was out there. Why would he say something so abrasive?

Dale looked over at Lobo, also shocked. Back when they worked together, Lobo had always been blunt, and was rather introverted with his emotions. Dale noticed how uncomfortable Lobo's comment made Alibert and put one hand on Alibert's shoulder.

"I'm sure that he's fine. You said so yourself that he was a smart kid. We'll find him."

Alibert smiled up at Dale, feeling all of the grief of yesterday slowly returning. He knew Dale and Lobo were trying to help, but an ever-growing feeling of defeat crept up on Alibert. "Maybe this whole thing is futile. What if we're too late? How would I carry on running the inn without Yugo around?" He pushed these thoughts aside. He had to think positive. He had to be the one to keep hope alive; for both himself and for Yugo's sake.

The group made their way around the inn and started heading towards the spot that the river flowed into the woods.

/

Yugo and Fen packed up the bedroll, and extinguished the fire. After they were all packed up, Fen helped Yugo to his feet. "You're able to stand. That's a positive." Fen said making sure his bandages were snug against his leg.

Yugo winced a little as Fen tightened the wrapping. "Yeah. It only stings a little bit though."

"Well let me know at the first sign of it becoming too much for you."

"Alright mister Fen." Yugo said with a large grin.

That right there, seeing this small child happily grinning from something that Fen did. Those would be the hardest things for him to leave behind. Knowing he has done something right, and getting the instant un-filtered gratification from someone was part of why Fen chose to become an adventurer. He knew how there were countless people across the world who would be less fortunate than himself, or need help in whatever matters that they had.

"I am such an idiot! Why did I let myself get attached?!" Fan raked his brain for answers, zoning himself out long enough to almost come in contact with a tree. He put his hands in front of himself, and planted his feet firmly into the ground. Stopping just inches away from the tree, he looks over to Yugo who has started laughing.

"Are you sure you know the way?" Yugo said wiping a tear from his eye.

"Yeah. It's just a forest. I know my way around trees." Fen said huffing, slightly embarrassed at how he nearly made a fool of himself.

"And your way into them, by the looks." Yugo said chuckling.

Fen rolled his eyes and continued on their path. Weaving in and out of trees would prove far easier in the daylight. With only buds decorating most of the trees, the sun's light beamed against the forest floor warning any passersby to the roots and rocks that littered the woods. The sounds of birds chirping away around the treetops entertained the two travelers in their walk.

This whole encounter had been rough for Yugo, but he felt it was time to go back home. "I need to apologize for what I said to dad…" Yugo hung his head thinking about how worried Alibert must have been. "I won't complain about my chores for a whole month. Maybe that would make him feel better…"

/

Lobo, Dale, and Alibert had followed the river through the woods for almost twenty minutes when they stopped to rest on some rocks. Dale grabbed an apple from his bag, and handed it to Alibert. "Here. You haven't eaten yet. You need to eat something or else you'll pass out."

Alibert wasn't the most muscularly fit person in the group, but both he and his stomach couldn't argue with the hunger settling in. "Thanks." He said graciously accepting the offer.

Lobo had been quiet for the most of the trip. It almost seemed as if he was in another world as he scoured for clues. As far as they could see, there was no human footprints or sings of disturbance in the leaves thickly blanketing the forest floor. "Still no sign of him." Lobo called back towards the other two.

Dale sighed, and then yawned. "We can keep looking along the river. We'll find something eventually."

Alibert noticed how tired Dale was and said "You know you could go home. You've been up all night Dale. Lobo and I could continue looking."

Dale shook his head. "No. I am a part of this now, and I won't rest until we find him. It shouldn't be long now. Right Lobo?"

"If we're lucky…" Lobo said without looking up. Both Alibert's and Dale's faces scrunched slightly as Lobo's answer. Lobo stopped for a moment, registering how that must have sounded, and continued. "… we'll find him within the hour." It wasn't much better, but Dale knew how Lobo was with people.

"See? I'll be fine." Dale said faking a smile.

As Alibert sat on the rock, he leaded back slightly and listened to the birds chirping away, when a familiar sounds brought him to his feet. Alibert rushed off away from the river and towards the noise. Dale noticed him run off, and followed Alibert as closely as he could. Lobo saw Dale run off, and slowly made his way in that direction as well.

Alibert stopped right in front of a tree which looked like all of the others; half dead, beginning to bloom buds on its branches. Dale gave him a puzzled look as Alibert searched the branches all around the tree. Alibert made eye contact with what he heard, and started smiling. Dale looked up towards the branches and saw a small yellow tofu sitting on a branch.

"A tofu?" Dale asked.

"Not just any tofu. This is Az! Yugo's pet. AZ! Az, down here!" Alibert called after it.

Az noticed Alibert below him, and started to fly away, scared that Alibert had come to hit him again.

"Az, I'm sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have done that. But I need your help to find Yugo. He's been missing." Alibert tried pleading with the tofu, only to have his words ignored as Az flew away back the way that they came.

Dale stood behind Alibert completely confused as to why a grown man would be talking to a bird. "He's just a bird. They don't understand English Alibert."

Alibert started running after the bird when he saw it descend down towards the path, and land on top of Lobo's hand. Lobo held out his arm and made bird calls to the little ball of feathers. Az stared up at him, wide-eyed and chirping back to him.

"You can talk to birds?" Alibert asked puzzled.

"I just know a few bird calls. Were you trying to speak in English to it?" Lobo said petting Az with his finger.

"Whenever Yugo talked to him, it seemed to understand him for the most part. If Az is here, then Yugo mustn't be that far. At least, I hope."

"Then we're getting close! That's good news!" Dale said excitedly.

Alibert leaned in closer to Az and whispered. "I hope you can forgive me for what happened. I was mad, and shouldn't have thrown you out the window. I'm sorry. But could you help us find Yugo?"

Az turned towards him and gave a single chirp.

"Not sure what that means, but I'll take that as an 'Okay'" Alibert said smiling. "Fly above the trees and see if you can spot him."

Lobo held his arm up as Az flew far above their heads, and above the tree line. All three of the men stared intently at the bird as he spin around looking in all directions. After a few moments, it started chirping towards a specific direction.

"Huh. That's the way back towards town." Lobo said plainly. "Maybe we just missed him?"

Az came down and flapped his wings towards the same direction. "Lead the way Az!" Alibert said trying to keep up with the tofu.

/

"Listen Yugo." Fen said just as they were nearing the edge of the woods. "If you ever want to go out in the woods again someday…" Fen trailed off, not knowing how to correctly put his words.

"Yeah?" Yugo said staring up at him.

Fen knew he couldn't ask this kid to follow him on his adventures. He was too young, and the trails were far too dangerous. He was stupid to think he could just enlist someone else's child. He cared about helping others, but he knew that they would be gone as soon as he set out for the next town. He wasn't supposed to familiarize himself with the people he met. It would just make parting from them that much harder; And right here was a perfect example of that.

Fen sighed, and smiled at Yugo. "Please remember to bring a compass."

"Alright mister Fen." Yugo said, mentally telling himself to remember shoes too. His feet were aching almost as bad as the cut on his leg was. It wasn't crippling, but the pain in his leg would refresh in his mind little by little with every step he took. He was embarrassed to speak up about it to Fenrier since he spent all night taking care of him already. Yugo didn't want Fen to worry about his cut any more than he had already.

They crossed over past the last tree into the yard behind the inn. They both stopped as Fen leaned against a tree, alleviating the weight of his bag for a moment. "Is this where you live Yugo?"

Yugo nodded energetically. He started walking towards the inn, when he stopped mid-stride. He turned to his left to see a small ball of yellow feathers dive straight at his chest. He grabbed it and started hugging it, laughing. "Az! I am so glad to see you! I hope your day went better. I'll have to tell you and dad all about it! Is he-"

"Yugo?" Alibert called out interrupting Yugo mid-sentence.

As soon as he saw Alibert come through the trees, Yugo ran towards him with his arms wide open. "Dad!" He called out, tears starting to form in his eyes.

Alibert looked at his son running towards him and smiled; feeling all of the past day's stress fall from his shoulders. He knelt down holding his arms open, readying himself for the flying-hugs Yugo came to perfect through the years.

Yugo jumped towards his dad, only to be caught mid-air and spin around by Alibert. The two embraced each other as hard as they could; both laughing. Tears were running down both of their faces as Alibert's spinning sent them to the ground. Alibert landed in a sitting position, not letting go of his son.

Dale was smiling as he watched how happy the two were. He looked over to Lobo who he swore was smiling slightly. "See Lobo? That is what feelings feels like"

Lobo quickly corrected his smile, and turned his face away from Dale's. "I know what feelings are you idiot…"

Dale smirked at Lobo's attempt at playing it off. He knew Lobo was a very caring person deep down; he just rarely showed it, if at all.

Alibert broke the hug, and stared at his son. "I was so worried. I thought the worst might have happened."

Yugo looked down at the ground. "I'm so sorry dad. I didn't mean for anyone to worry. I just… I shouldn't have run off."

Alibert put his hand under Yugo's chin, raising his son's eyes to meet his own. "I'm the one who shouldn't have yelled at you. It was just an accident. It wasn't your fault." Yugo smiled up at his dad, and wiped the tears from his eyes, embracing him again. Alibert felt the bandage wrapped around Yugo's leg, and stared at it questioningly. "Wait. How did you do this? What happened?"

Yugo smiled at his dad, and held out his leg, offering a better look. "I hit my leg on a rock, but it's all fine now. Right when it happened, a man found me. His name is Fenrier. He helped me with my leg, he made a campfire, and even caught some fish earlier today. Isn't that right mister-"

Yugo turned around, pointing towards the trees where Fenrier was standing; only to have his gaze unmatched. There was no one standing in that direction. Yugo tilted his head in confusion as Alibert spoke up. "Well it seems like this imaginary friend of yours isn't there. Let's get you inside and cleaned up. You're all covered in dirt and mud."

"But… He was standing right there…" Yugo trailed off while his father picked him up; leading him inside.

Fen walked away past the trees, leaving the Yugo and the inn behind him. "It is better this way. You've done your part Fen. No need to linger." He knew this was the best for the both of them. He cast his gaze upwards to the sky, watching the clouds beyond the treetops.

Spring was definitely showing her face to the land of Emelka. In a short few months, the trees will have their crowns of leaves bestowed by Spring herself. The fields will be flooded by an abundance of colors coming from the variety of flowers. Each of the flowers would dance in their own performances, in an attempt to appease the vast blue sky above them. Springtime was a very joyous season for Emelka.

[Author's Note: I apologize for how long it took to write this last chapter. I was trying to find a way to finish everything up. This story has already gone twice as long as I first envisioned it to be. I want to thank you all for fueling my story along the way. This wouldn't exist without you all.

I hope you either add me to your Follows, or keep a lookout on the horizon for my username in the near future as I contemplate writing another story. Due to my studies, I am unsure of whether I will make a new one or not. I already have the setting, half of the plot, and a gaggle of characters all in line for the new story, so if I chose to follow through, the first chapter could be up in as soon as two weeks.

Lobo belongs to my friend Nimue. Dale and Fenrier are mine. Yugo and Alibert belong to Ankama.

Ever since I first uploaded my story, I have seen an influx of stories being written about the Wakfu fandom. It makes me very happy to see a rather young fandom starting to form. Keep up the good work with spreading Wakfu to others.

If you have any questions, comments, or requests that you wished to remain private, please feel free to message me. I will check this site frequently.

Farewell for now, Jon1305]