The end...? (Ranger's apprentice/ Brotherband fan-fiction)

Chapter 25

For a moment, everything was chaos. Everyone started talking all at once. Will stared at Evan, his jaw dropping. He had no idea how he was supposed to react to this. He turned to face Halt.
"Is this true?" he asked. Halt nodded, a strange look in his eyes. Will turned his back towards all the gathered people, staring out over the water. He had a brother. And that brother was the one who had hurt and captured his friends. He didn't know whether to be happy or sad or angry. He couldn't find a different word to describe his feelings besides 'confused'. He felt confused.
A small hand touched his leg. Will looked down, and smiled at the little girl standing besides him.

"Hi there, Evanlyn," he said. She met his gaze solemnly.
"Daddy is a little angry," she said instead of returning his greeting. "Maybe you should go to him, Willie." The ranger lifted the princess into his arms and returned to face reality. Again his jaw dropped. The king of Picta was standing there, yelling his lungs out to Evan, just like Horace, while Eden and Celia attempted to calm them in vain. Evan ignored them, instead accusing Halt about something that happened thirty years ago. Halt was caught in the middle, looking a little sad, while Pauline was trying to comfort him. Alyss tried to talk to Evan, to calm him down, also in vain. Erak was looking from one person to the other, clueless as to what this whole business what about.

"Maybe you're right, Evanlyn," Will mumbled slowly. Then he instructed her to cover her ears. She happily did as she was told.

"ENOUGH!" he then roared. His voice echoed across the beach. All faces turned towards him in shock; nobody had expected this sudden outburst from him. "Can someone please tell me what on earth is going on here?" he asked. "For some reason this all seems to be about me, yet I know nothing!"
"Good job, Willie," Evanlyn whispered in his ear. Will couldn't help but chuckle.
"This is the story..." Halt sighed, but Evan rudely interrupted him.
"No! No, no, no! I will not watch as you stand here trying to talk it all right, because it is not right!" he screamed hysterically.

"Shut up!" Will screamed back just as loudly. Evan looked at him in shock, but he couldn't care less at that moment. "I want to know what's going on, and someone is going to tell me the truth, now, without all those useless accusations!"
For a moment, everything was silent, while Will furiously looked from one to the other. Eventually Evan took the lead.
"It is very simple," he started in a small but defiant voice. "Halt first led those murderers to our mother, and then he took you from me."
"You were six years old!" Halt protested. "I could hardly have a six year old take care of a newborn baby!" Evan opened his mouth to reopen the discussion, but Will stopped him.
"Whoah, stop. Start over and this time tell me what exactly happened," he ordered. "And this time leave out the accusations!" This time Halt answered.

"You already know the story of what happened during the battle, with your father," he stated softly. Will nodded acknowledgement. He didn't even have to avert his gaze to see that his so-called brother wanted to protest. He raised his hand to prevent him from doing so. Evan indignantly crossed his arms over his chest. Halt continued: "You also know what happened to your mother." Again Will nodded, as he felt that he was starting to choke up. "I've also already told you how I then took you to Redmont, where someone would take care of you. As might be clear by now, that isn't the entire story." Evan snorted, but nobody took notice of him. "Directly after the fight ended, and I had buried your mother, it wasn't just a baby crying," Halt looked at Will for a moment, "but a small kid came out of his hiding place in a hidden cupboard." Now he looked at Evan, who refused to meet his gaze. "As I realized that you two had nobody to take care of you, I decided to take you with me. You, Will, didn't have much to say, but Evan here refused to come with me." A hint of a smile tugged at his lips. "But as I just said, leaving a baby with a six year old seemed both impossible and irresponsible to me. Evan still refused to come with me, and there was no way I could force him, without tying him up, which seemed a bit over the top. So, I only took you to Redmont, Will," Halt concluded. "And that is exactly what Evan has accused me off all those years. I assume that this is also the reason why he kept me as a prisoner, while letting the others go."