A/N: THIS IS WHY I CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS, MY MUSES WILL TAKE THEM AND MAKE THEM AS HORRIFYINGLY ANGSTY AS POSSIBLE.

*Sigh*

So, if you guys are totally unaware of this, last month, A-1 Pictures and Crunchyroll released a six-minute-long short called "Shelter", using Porter Robinson and Madeon's song of the same name as its music. Because it was so short, I decided to watch it.

My muses fell in love with that song. The past several things I've written, I've been listening to either it or a piano arrangement on endless repeat. Well, the more I listened to it, the more I thought about the lyrics. The more I thought about the lyrics, the more my muses tried to obscurely connect them to some fandom that I'm in. They decided that it fit FusedShipping somehow, and this ended up happening.

AU, where the price for saving the dimensions from Arc-V and from Zarc is Ray remaining fused, everyone forgetting about the Bracelet Girls, and Ray forgetting about the Yu-Boys.

Prepare your tissues guys.

(I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V or Shelter.)

I could never find the right way to tell you
Have you noticed I've been gone?

The smile on Yuya's face has never been wider before as he soaks in the cheers of the crowd around him. He's done it, he's finally done it! Father and son, working in tandem with their monsters, as they fight. And he's bested his father in the Entertainment Duel of the century. This is the sort of Dueling he'd fought for throughout the interdimensional war, the sort of Dueling where everyone is smiling, even the loser.

And his father is certainly smiling—ear-to-ear, just like Yuya—as they shake hands before the crowds of fans swarm them both and they have no chance to say anything else to each other.

Yet…

As the day drags on, Yuya can't help but feel his smile become more and more forced. He's surrounded by some of his closest friends—Gongenzaka, Sawatari, Ayu, Tatsuya, Futoshi—and his family to celebrate one of the biggest moments of his life, yet he can't say that he's happy.

Something is missing, he decides, as he laughs at a joke his father's friend, Hiiragi Shuzo, makes. There's a seat next to the man at the table that's empty, and Yuya stares at it. He feels like there should be someone there—a girl.

Something important.

He doesn't know what, and he wishes he knew why.

Cause I left behind the home that you made me
But I will carry it along

When the war ends, the Lancers and their allies are hailed as heroes across the dimensions. None more so than in the Xyz Dimension, where the end of the war means their world can finally begin to heal. Everyone knows the names and faces of Yuto, Kurosaki Shun, and Tenjo Kaito. They can't go anywhere without someone recognizing them, they can't avoid the endless statements of gratitude, and they can't bring themselves to tell them that they were completely unworthy of their thanks.

Yuto in particular feels so guilty about this. Finally back in his own body after so long, his only contribution to defeating Academia was that his cards had been used by Yuya.

He can't really remember anything from after he first headed to the Standard Dimension to chase after Shun, and Shun doesn't remember the reason he'd left their home to begin with either.

Something is missing, Yuto thinks, as he holds up an old photograph—one of the few personal belongings he still has. There's a girl in the center, but the picture has been torn and rained on, making it impossible to see her face. On either side of her are Yuto and Shun, both surprised as the girl pulls them close. He can't remember this picture ever being taken.

Something important.

But he can't focus on remembering. He has to keep moving forward.

And it's a long way forward, so trust in me
I'll give them shelter, like you've done for me
And I know, I'm not alone, you'll be watching over us
Until you're gone

Not long after the war, Yuri is deemed unfit for the general population. Seven years of social isolation and another seven of being treated as a weapon rather than a human being does not go away in an instant. He still hungers for war, lives for the sight of the hope fleeing from the eyes of his prey just before he cards them, keeps trying to listen for their screams, even though the war's been over for a year now and he knows it. As such, he's placed in a cell with white walls and white sheets and white pillows and a white ceiling and a white floor. His arms are bolted together in a white straightjacket—a recent addition, as he'd attacked the nurse that had brought him food last week. The bolts are sometimes released when he's all alone and when he's slid his meals through an opening in the wall.

He has his cards, sometimes. The only source of color other than his own body in this room. Once, he finds a card that isn't his mixed in with them—Moonlight Cat Dancer—and his head hurts so much he screams and thrashes about so violently the doctors have to sedate him before he bites of his own tongue. He never sees the card again.

When he doesn't have his cards, he stares at the ceiling and imagines it in color. Purple, just like his old bedroom. And the walls, they should be purple too. That's a far more pleasing color than white. Purple is the color of royalty, the color of Fusion, the color of his strength.

Sometimes, he imagines a different shade, more of a blue than a royal violet. Those days he chants a name, though he never remembers what it is when he snaps out of his trance and sets about to whatever task the doctors want him to do that day.

The doctors have no idea what the name "Selena" means either.

Something is missing, Yuri thinks as he shuffles his Deck—the task for today is to Duel a certain doctor they think might be able to cure him. As though he needs to be cured.

Something important.

But Yuri doesn't care. All his life he's been missing something, he's grown used to the feeling. Longing for something long gone is for fools, so he doesn't think about it.

When I'm older, I'll be silent beside you
I know words won't be enough
And they won't need to know the names or our faces
But they will carry on for us

Yugo grins ear-to-ear as he holds the Friendship Cup in his hands, listening to his fans scream his name. He's wanted this for as long as he can remember, and it's finally his. It's not as impressive as it could have been—Tops-Commons relations have drastically improved since the end of the war, so a Commons winning the tournament isn't seen as some world-changing event. But still, it's finally really happened! In just one day, he'll be able to have a Turbo Duel with Jack Atlas!

He's so ecstatic that he doesn't mind the endless wave of reporters, asking him all about his life and his cards and his D-Wheel. He answers them all happily and proudly—he'd either found or fought tooth and nail for the cards he used, and he'd rebuilt the D-Wheel himself after the first one had gotten destroyed during the war.

That's when one of the reporters asks about the sidecar attached to his D-Wheel, and all of Yugo's excited adrenaline tapers to a complete halt as he stares at the aforementioned object. Now that it's been pointed out… he never remembers attaching it to his D-Wheel—much less obtaining one in the first place. In a daze, he walks over to examine it. He thinks he can see someone sitting in it for a moment, but then he blinks and the figure is gone, and he can't help but start crying in the middle of the arena.

Something is missing, he thinks, as someone offers him a handkerchief to dry his eyes on.

Something important.

His heart aches as he tries his best to remember, but there's nothing he can do.

And it's a long way forward, so trust in me
I'll give them shelter like you've done for me
And I know, I'm not alone, you'll be watching over us
Until you're gone

Ray knows that everything about her existence in this world is wrong. She remembers her last act in the original dimension, and then she remembers seeing Zarc's smiling face again before he vanishes and she collapses under her own weight. Then there's a massive gap in her memories until she wakes up in what she's told is Maiami City, under the steely gazes of a purple-haired woman in a dark-magenta business suit and a teenager with red-rimmed glasses and a red scarf.

Her father is in prison now—she's told it's because he spearheaded an interdimensional war that left so many people dead and even more homeless or traumatized for life. She insists that they have to be wrong, that her father could have never done anything like that, until the woman introduces herself as Akaba Himika and the boy as Akaba Reiji and she realizes just how wrong everything is.

Reiji tells her that he found her in Academia, in Fusion, passed out in a room all by herself. He says that her—their—father had sacrificed the lives of so many people to revive her, and she just can't picture her father doing something that drastic, yet it has to be the truth because she knows that if the world is split, then she should be too, yet she's here. He also says that without her return, they likely could not have defeated Zarc once and for all.

She decides not to stay in Maiami with her not-family. Instead, she goes to Academia, to help the students—the child soldiers—readjust to regular life. It's the only thing that's right, since these children would have lived normal lives if Leo hadn't forced them into war. She toils day after day, the fact that she only lives because countless lives had been sacrificed never far from her mind.

Something is missing. She knows this more than ever when she dreams—for she dreams of boys that look like Zarc, grown up after the war. She knows the dreams can't be true because Zarc is gone, she remembers his final disappearance and this time there was no machine to revive the dead to save him.

She dreams of becoming a great Entertainment Duelist alongside a boy with red eyes and green-and-red hair, and celebrating when he finally defeats his father in an Action Duel.

She dreams of rebuilding a city of smiles alongside a boy with grey eyes and black-and-bluish-purple hair, always under watch of an older boy with yellow eyes and dark teal hair.

She dreams of comforting a boy with purple eyes and purple-and-pink hair, stuck in a prison of white.

She dreams of riding alongside a boy with aquamarine eyes and blue-and-yellow hair, as he wins a tournament called the Friendship Cup.

Something important.

But life goes on, and she can't live in regret all her life.

Oh, it's a long way forward, trust in me
I'll give them shelter like you've done for me
And I know, I'm not alone, you'll be watching over us
Until…

Zarc wanders through the void for years, searching for his missing pieces. He's finally found them, finally become one again, finally has the power to finish punishing all the humans that had driven him into the darkness. But before he can do anything… she appears again. His body boils with rage—unforgivable, UNFORGIVABLE!—at the sight.

There are four of her, slightly younger than he remembers. If he thinks about it, he can easily recall their individual names—but he doesn't, regardless of the body, they're all still Ray, and that's all that matters to him. Ray, his light, his hope—his enemy, his betrayer.

They try to talk to him, they try to fill his head with lies of spreading smiles with Dueling. But he knows better, he listened to her before and it never worked that way. The crowds had just demanded more and more realistic Duels—and she had just abandoned him as a result. Duels with smiles are nothing but lies, he's learned throughout his suffering.

But the Duel drags on an on and he grows frustrated. How has he not beaten them yet? He's always been the stronger Duelist; no matter how many times they Dueled, Ray always lost. The four girls that bear her face should be no different, so then why were they able to hold their own? Why, why, why? He's at his full strength, all four of his dragons on his field, yet they continue and continue to hold on.

He loses and he goes berserk. It isn't right, she shouldn't be this strong!

"You lost because your cards don't trust you," the Ray from the Synchro Dimension says to him.

"Duel Monsters don't want to be used as tools of war," Fusion Ray says.

"They want to make people smile," Xyz Ray adds.

He curses at them as the darkness inside him burns, and lashes out when they try to get close. He hates her, he has ever since she abandoned him, yet now she wants to help him? She should have done something way long ago. It's been too late for years, and she knows it.

They each hold up a card—the ones Ray had used all those years ago to split him apart—and he laughs; the world is already split, it won't work again. They can't stop him this time—

"We don't want to split the world," Standard Ray says quietly. "We want to save you."

They play the cards and he feels his soul being torn apart just like it had been before—but instead of cursing her name like he'd done before, he remembers.

Yuzu and Yuya, bright-eyed kids, as Sakaki Yusho tells them the wonders of Duels with smiles.

Ruri and Yuto, battle-scarred teens, clinging to the same ideals as their world falls apart.

Rin and Yugo, curious teens, spending years to piece together a D-Wheel that would be their chance at freedom.

Selena and Yuri, the outcast children, enjoying Duel after Duel with each other until their memories of each other were wiped.

It's not a lie, he realizes as his world fades to white. He can still picture Ray's face—but it's muddled in his memories. Fading. He clings to it with all his might.

This is what I've been missing.

He smiles one last time.

"Thank you…"

A/N: I WARNED YOU IT WOULD BE SAD!