A/N: Because Faith just got obsessed with FusedShipping somehow. Also because I needed to dump my angst before I go perform my marching band show for the last time ever.
As for why this is for Corinne? Well, she is an awesome writer. Do I need a reason other than that?
But hey, if you're as much of a FusedShipper as her, this is for you guys too! Not just her!
I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V.
Enjoy!
You Belong By My Side
It was only supposed to be a normal school day. Ray was not expecting to see a group of her classmates beating up another—much less the new transfer student on his very first day. There were four of them repeatedly kicking the poor boy, who was hunched over on his knees like he was trying to protect something. She would have just left it alone and gone off to find a teacher, but then one of the bullies—the tall boy with short black hair and olive-green eyes—had the nerve to call the boy a freak.
She had stopped in her tracks after hearing that word. It's what everyone at school called her, for being able to talk to her cards. A crazy little freak that had too active of an imagination. They'd bullied her until they got tired of it and just decided to ostracize her. Not even her own father believed her when she said she could see them, or that she could feel when they felt sad or happy.
Ray clenched her fists, her eyes narrowed angrily at the four bullies. "Hey! Leave that boy alone!" she shouted.
The tall one turned and sneered at her, his olive-green eyes glowering with hatred that was mirrored in Ray's own. He stood several inches taller than Ray, and used that advantage to lean into her face. "Aw, the freak's getting protective of the new kid! No wonder he's one too, freaks gotta stick together after all!" His three lackeys nodded in agreement and laughed.
Ray took a deep breath, her fists still clenched, as she tried to keep her cool. She'd already gotten into a fight this year over a similar matter, she couldn't get into another one or else she was sure her father would try sending her off to a psychiatrist to deal with her "problem", that had been an ongoing threat for as long as she could remember. Then she unclenched them and folded her arms across her chest, rolling her eyes at the older boy. "So it's 'freak' again, huh? Get an original insult, idiot. Oh, wait, you don't have any original ideas, isn't that why you force those 'friends' to write your essays for your classes?"
The boy went red in the face, and even raised his hand to slap her, Ray steeled herself for it and everything. But instead he just let his hand fall harmlessly back to his side and he laughed at her. "Doesn't make it any less true," he retorted, still laughing. "C'mon guys, let's just leave these freaks alone." He waved to his friends for them to follow him, and soon enough, Ray found herself alone with the transfer student.
The boy's uniform, which had to be brand-new, was now covered in dirt, footprints, and—she was pretty sure there was some blood, too. She couldn't see his entire face, but there was a bruise already forming on his cheek by his right ear. His silver hair streaked with light green, which had been flat earlier, was now flattened against his head.
They really did a number on him, Ray thought bitterly, knowing all too well the pain he felt right now. She knelt next to him, offering a hand to help him up. "Those guys are gone. You alright?"
The boy shook, slowly sitting up, and his arms shifted to reveal the card in his hands. In his lap appeared a dark-green pile of slime with a frog's face—the sight made her stifle a gasp, she'd never seen any monster that close to a human other than her before, and all at once she felt the tug at her heart that this card had been abandoned for a very, very long time.
"There, there… those mean kids are gone now," the boy said, a strained smile making its way onto his face. The monster in his lap croaked and he chuckled a little before rubbing its head comfortingly. "You're not alone anymore."
"Is that—you can see them too?!" Ray half-screeched, thankful that no one else was around to hear that.
The silver-haired boy looked up at her incredulously, his eyes wide and jaw half-open. "You—you mean—I'm not the only one?"
"That's what I should be saying! Do you have any idea how many people think I'm crazy because I say that Duel Spirits are real?"
That had softened the look on the boy's face, into something of pained recollection. "…I know just how you feel." He went quiet after that, staring at the card he'd rescued from the garbage can. Then he rubbed the bruise over his cheek a little, wincing at the sting. "Um. You're the one that chased off those guys?"
"I wouldn't say 'chased off', but yeah. I heard them call you a freak and I just…" She trailed off, subconsciously rubbing the back of her hand. "…I'm Ray. Akaba Ray."
He smiled at her—a toothy grin that inexplicably made her stomach flip-flop and her heart skip a beat—and took her hand. "I'm Zarc. No…" His grin faltered for a moment, then returned full strength. "No family name. But that doesn't matter! I'm so glad to meet you, Ray!"
Years passed, and the two remained close despite entirely different lifestyle choices. Where Zarc wanted to be someone that entertained countless people with Duel Monsters, Ray wanted to research Real Solid Vision—and other technologies—just like her father did. This alone should have separated them like it did to plenty of high school sweethearts—the only education expected for Zarc was that he know how to Duel, and unless they'd been living under a rock their whole life, everyone knew how to do that. Contrast that to Ray, who was expected to obtain a high-level degree from a university to even think of having a job like her father.
Yet they remained together. When she did not have school, the two spent nearly all their free time together. She'd always made it a point to show up to any and all of his Duels before she started university, why stop now? And if she couldn't make it, she would watch it on television—and even then, she would still always be the one cheering the loudest.
She was there the day everything changed, the day when the way Odd-Eyes Dragon destroyed its opponent had accidentally torn apart the opposing Duelist's shoulder. She was there when the crowd cheered Zarc on regardless, and asked for more. More violent Duels were entertaining? This was not the reason her father had made it his life's work to put Duel Monsters to Real Solid Vision, and it certainly was not the way that Zarc wanted to put smiles on everyone's faces.
…or so she thought.
He came to her once the paparazzi let him be, found her in one of the rooms within the stadium where the next Duelists usually waited, but she was all by herself. Her normally bright-blue eyes were narrowed in concern, and an uncharacteristic frown was on her face. The sight made Zarc's face scrunch up in worry, so he went to sweep her off her feet—that always put a smile on her face—only to find his affectionate gesture swatted down. He didn't understand why. "R-Ray? What's wrong?"
She looked up at him—she hadn't been crying but she was teary-eyed. "You hurt him, Zarc. Didn't you see all that blood?"
He looked away after that, pulling Odd-Eyes Dragon out of his Deck. "I… Odd-Eyes didn't mean to. But…" He put the card away, looking back at Ray and smiling as bright as he ever did, and pulling her tight into a hug. "The crowd loved it, didn't they? That's all that matters!"
I didn't love it, she thought sadly, but didn't voice that thought. Instead, she returned the hug and kissed him on the cheek. "Yeah. They did. But… maybe you could be more careful next time?"
He laughed, and promised he would do just that to keep the smile on her pretty face.
Broken collarbones, arms, legs. Dislocated hips and shoulders. Concussions—those were frequent. Fractured ribs—also frequent.
Zarc had not kept his promise. His Duels, which had once brought so much joy to everyone due to the bond he had with his monsters, now brought pain in the imitation of happiness. The innocent smile of a boy who would let himself get beat up for a card was almost completely gone, replaced by the cold one of someone who enjoyed inflicting pain. He was not the man Ray had fallen for, not anymore, he'd fallen too far into the darkness to come back.
Yet, she still had to try. He was the only one who understood her, and she was the only one that understood him. They belonged together—she had to save him from the will of his audience. And if she failed… she didn't know if she could stay by his side anymore.
She decided to start the conversation after he won big in a tournament; his opponent in the final round had to be carried out of the stadium on a stretcher, having cracked his head against the wall separating Duelists from the audience. Rather than wait for the press to leave him alone, she wormed her way through the crowd, ignoring the cheering from the crowd—it was wrong, how could they encourage this?—and grabbed a hold of Zarc's hand, beginning to drag him off.
"Huh? Ray, what're you—"
"We need to talk," she explained quietly, already trying to drag him back through the crowd of reporters and fans, most of whom were giving her nasty glares."
"But—"
"Now," she emphasized, almost hissing at him with the tone of her voice.
The young man's face scrunched up in confusion with a touch of anger—what could be this important?—but knew better than to argue with his girlfriend, offered the reporters a quick apology and asked them to wait an hour or so until he could answer their questions, and followed Ray off into a side room—the same one where, nearly three months ago, he'd promised to not Duel violently again. After making sure the door was bolted shut, Zarc scowled at her, his arms folded over his chest. "What the hell, Ray? You know those reporters aren't gonna leave me alone after this…"
The violet-and-pink-haired young woman looked at the floor, her shoulders sagging. He really didn't know what was wrong… "Zarc… don't you remember the promise you made me, three months ago in this very room?"
"I…" His face scrunched up as he racked his brain for the answer. "I… said I'd be more careful when I Dueled?"
"You did, you promised. So then why do you keep hurting all of your opponents?"
He opened his mouth to argue, shut it, and huffed as he leaned against the wall. "I tried, Ray, but the crowd wouldn't smile! I had to make them happy somehow, you just have to deal with it!"
"I have to accept you hurting people for fun?! There's nothing that can make that right!"
He slammed his hand against the wall, opting not to lean on it anymore. "I'm only giving them what they want! What's so wrong with that? Everyone has fun with my Duels except you, apparently!"
Ray covered her mouth to stifle a choked gasp, trying to stem her tears before they started forming. She knew that he'd fallen too far into the darkness, but this was even worse than she'd imagined. He actually enjoyed hurting people? He didn't see that it was wrong? "Zarc, you… you can't keep doing this. What if you go too far? What if you kill someone?"
"I won't," he said firmly, "so just drop it. We'll talk later, I have to go meet with the press."
She caught his arm before he could walk out—she wasn't done just yet. "What about your monsters? What do they think about this?"
The confidence in his eyes wavered for a split second, before the cold anger took them over again. "They enjoy my Dueling as much as ever, thank you very much."
"Are you sure?" she bit back, her grip on his wrist tightening. "That's not what I hear. I feel them hurting, I hear their anger, I see the pain in their eyes when you Duel. Yet you say they're as happy as ever?"
SMACK.
The movement was so sudden, it caught her so off-guard that it knocked her off her feet, even though he didn't hit her that hard. It didn't even leave a mark. It hurt more because she never expected he would ever hurt her, even after all of what had happened. Ray was so out of it that she missed the hasty apology and the look of utter regret that Zarc made at her, because she didn't say another word to him as she ran out nearly in tears.
She was there the day the world fell apart, when Zarc fused himself with his four dragons and unleashed a horribly one-sided offensive against every person in the world. The pain she'd felt from his dragons was no more—only hatred towards the humans that made them fight for their own amusement. Now they worked in tandem with the young man who had been forced down the path of darkness, to make sure humanity paid for it.
She was there the day her father figured out the way to end this—to use the force of nature's will to survive, channeled through his Real Solid Vision system, and separate the Supreme Dragon King forever. She was also the only one he told the price for using the four cards he worked day and night on—that whoever activated the cards would be split apart as well. And while he insisted that it was his fault this all happened, Ray could not help but feel that she was the one to blame. If she'd only stayed by his side, maybe she could have rescued Zarc.
For while Akaba Leo created the means for Zarc to destroy the world, Akaba Ray had given him the reason. She'd abandoned him after that day, only coming to his Duels when her father had wanted to see how his system was working at the professional level. She'd abandoned Zarc, who had known nothing but abandonment his entire life. Yes… without a reason the means were harmless. It was her fault, not her father's.
Which was the very reason why she stole the four cards as soon as they were finished and ran right to Zarc, stopping only to slow her father down by dropping rubble in his way. It was not ten minutes later that she found herself atop a crystalline structure, staring the monstrous dragon in the face—Zarc's face, half-hidden within the dragon's skin, his eerie yellow eyes glowering at her.
"So… you finally came to see me? After all this time?" he hissed at her, loud and booming.
Her heart hurt, seeing him up close, hearing his voice for the first time in a year. Nothing could have prepared her for this… She swallowed, clenching the four cards in her hands in an attempt to steady herself. Her Duel Disk was already active, it would take but a second to throw the cards in and end it all. So then why didn't she?
"You intend to beat me? Me?! Don't make me laugh, Ray."
She broke out of her frigid poze, and shook her head. "I don't intend to fight you. I intend to save you." She held up the cards and offered a strained smile at the boy who'd fallen so far. "Zarc… I regret so much that I've done. But with this…!"
She slid the cards into her Duel Disk and held her arm up, feeling the power pour into her very soul. She heard Zarc curse her name several times, heard her father cry out for her—why didn't he stay away?—and saw the light shining from the bracelets that appeared on her outstretched arm.
Ray knew no more after that.
…
…
I'm so sorry, Zarc.
…
…
"YEOW!"
"Oh shut up, you big baby."
The tomato-haired boy rubbed the fresh bandages over his knees and winced again. He had no idea that the Real Solid Vision system was going to give out right as he performed his last trick, and he'd fallen and scraped both of his knees on concrete. Yuzu had sighed, retrieved the first-aid kit, and treated them. Yuya was always hurting himself if he wasn't being a complete fool, and she worried about him sometimes for this. Yuya was just happy to spend time with her, even if he hurt while he did.
…
…
I hope someday… in another life…
…
…
"This isn't right… wh-why did this have to happen?"
"I don't know…"
The black-haired teen held her tightly, his grey eyes uncharacteristically dark as he tried anything he could to ease her pain. The violet-haired girl continued sobbing into his shoulder, clutching him like a lifeline. The invaders had carded their parents, and now Ruri had no idea where her brother was—he'd gone off to fight and hadn't come back yet. If Shun lost… she just couldn't stop thinking about that. Yuto couldn't stop thinking about it either…
…
…
…you can be…
…
…
"But Riiiiin!"
"No more 'buts', Yugo, I'm coming with you!"
The blue-haired teen scowled, his yellow bangs flopping into his eyes before he pushed them back again. His companion, a girl with sea-green hair and amber-orange eyes, smiled triumphantly as she pulled her coat on. Rin had just won an argument—again—this time to go with Yugo to pick up the very last piece for their D-Wheel from a dangerous side of town. She couldn't trust him to not get into a fight like he did the last several times. Plus, he needed someone to watch his back sometimes. Yugo didn't want her coming along because he didn't want her getting hurt, but knew better than to try to push the argument any further.
…
…
…right by my side…
…
…
"…That dream again…"
"…I feel like I'm… missing something…"
On opposite sides of Academia, two students stared up at the moon out of their windows. The boy, with pink hair topped with purple, frowned at the sky, his purple eyes narrowed in frustration. The girl, with bluish-purple hair and green eyes, had just about the same expression on her face. Selena had the vaguest image of a person her age in her head, that she couldn't place at all, or even tell what he looked like. Just that he was a boy. Yuri had woken up crying again, which always confused him to no end since he had nothing to cry over. Stupid dreams…
…
…
…where you belong…
…
…
A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed! Please leave a review!