The Heart Of Alchemy

Yong has Rights

Yong, despite his age, was not an idiotic child, nor was he destructive by nature. I mean, sure he's blown up a few barns with his fireworks, and set his clothes on fire a few. . . hundred. . . thousand times, but those were all by accident!

But did that stop Princess Rapunzel and Eugene from making him wait in the study while everyone else searched for Varian? Of course not! And even though they told him he could search with Hugo--and was-- before the royal advisor and whatnot told him that he was a child and shouldn't be helping search for a dangerous criminal. If Varian hadn't taught him better, Yong would've shown the man why he was Varian's apprentice. Besides, it wasn't his fault he'd gotten separated from Hugo, THE HALLWAYS WERE A FREAKING MAZE!

And so, here he was--most definitely not pouting--while a cup of hot chocolate was being left cold. (He would not treat the royalty with satisfaction for treating him as a lesser person. He refuses!) Inside of a room he'd completely forgotten the name of.

And to make things worse he has a babysitter now, who was awkwardly trying to have a conversation with him.

"So. . . Do you like to blow stuff up?" The babysitter asked. Lance, if he can recall.

Yong scoffed before crossing his arms. "No. . . well, a bit. But it's not like that!" He raised his hands defensibly. "It's just that it's beautiful."

"Beautiful?"

"Yep,"--Yong couldn't fight the smile growing on his face--"beautiful. Sparks fly and fires glow with a burning passion. Metal sometimes flings off course, but no one gets hurt. Well, no one gets hurt most of the time."

Lance chuckled. "Sounds like a lot of fun, Firecracker."

Yong couldn't help but grin a bit at the nickname. Usually, he'd only let Varian or Hugo or Nuru call him that. The fact being that his village dubbed him the human bomb on a count of his love for explosives and physical. . . appearance. (But they aren't like that, Yong reminded himself.) And while he still was upset at the fact he needed a babysitter, he found the older man charming, in a sense.

(I don't think he's like that either.)

A sudden slam of the door caused Yong to be thrown out of his thoughts. Lance must've experienced the same reaction,  as his shoulders slumped with presumably relaxation upon seeing who it was. Sadly, it wasn't Varian like who Yong hoped for, but the clenching fists from the older boy easily made Yong want to hug him. So, of course he did just that.

Lance must've been shocked by Yong's actions, as he let out a squeak with widening eyes.

Meanwhile, the boy who came in had instantly mellowed at the hug. He wrapped his slender arms around Yong, who only squeezed tighter, and let out a softening breath. Yong could feel tension leaving the older boy's  body. A sense of relief washed over him. Last time the older was feeling like this was when he'd returned and saw. . . the incident happen to Varian.

After another few moments, Yong seized the hug to an end. "So," he began in a voice so quiet that Lance wouldn't be able to hear them, "you doing gooder than before?"

The other let out a half-hearted laugh. "That's not even a word."

"But it made you happy for a moment, didn't it?"

The older paused for a moment before continuing on, gently placing a hand on Yong's head and ruffling his hair, "Yeah, you did, Firecracker."

Yong smiled, throwing his fists up into the air, shouting "I made Hugo happy!" repeatedly as he marched around the room. Lance relaxed a bit seeing that Hugo wouldn't try to kill any of them, and smirked. He was about to join Yong when he felt an icy dagger being thrown through his chest, and instantly backed off.

"That's what I thought," Hugo sneered a bit, glaring at Lance. He then turned his gaze back to Yong.  "Did you have any luck finding Goggles?"

A sudden puff left Yong's mouth as a pout began to take over his smile. "He wouldn't let me leave the room--" jabbing a finger towards Lance "--because I'm a "child.""

"But you're 12!"

"I know, right?!"

Hugo must have taken note of Lance slowly inching his way to the door. "And you're probably the one who is supposed to be watching him, where are you going?!"

Lance froze as he saw a certain shadow become bigger. He put his hands up in defeat. "Now, Hugo-"

Hugo smirked as he drew closer to Lance.

"Hugo, buddy-"

The sound of a dagger impaling the door made him shut up. The blond slowly walked closer to Lance, a pained smile etching all across his face. And upon reaching the older man, Hugo grabbed his shirt and pulled it closer towards him.

"Listen here, Alrnwaldo," he began, "Varian is Demanitus know where after running off into a ginormous palace that's probably full and secret passageways and death traps, when you're telling me that we can't let a child with a mind as curious as Varian's own, as well as being the master of hide and seek, search for someone like Varian, all because he's 12?!" By the end, Yong could hear huffs of anger and voice seething with every word from Hugo.

"Well, I can't recall any death traps. But if there are some, and you said that he's like a mini Varian, then Firecracker over there probably shouldn't-"

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Hugo words rang through the room, most likely the entire palace as well. "WHY I OUTTA-"

A breath of silence washed over the room's tension. Yong saw something shift in Hugo's demeanor, and his body instantly went rigged. Yong was behind him, so he couldn't see what was going on, but the gasp from Lance was enough to tell him that it was worrisome.

Slowly, Yong reached his hand out to Hugo in an attempt to see what was wrong. Key word: attempt. Hugo's hands whipped to his head, slender fingers getting themselves tangled into his blond locks. Yong could hear irrational breathing, as if fear was lacing through his mind.

"H-Hugo. . .?"

And Hugo turned towards Yong with eyes glowing a faint white light; the same ones as Varian. His head lifted to endlessly gaze into Yong's eyes, who felt his breathing stutter.

And all hell broke loose.

Aaaaaaand I'm gonna stop it there! Mother of Arceus, I forgot how much I enjoyed writing this fanfic!

As of now, my goal is to update anything once a week, so for this week my friend told me I should update this. Last night. It was only 200ish words and now it's 1000+ ALL WITHIN A SINGLE SPAN OF A DAY! Let's just say. . . I tend to complete my school work earlier than other students, so when the teacher gives us class time. . . well, you get the idea.

Have a wonderific day/night! 😊

~ Brooklyn