Work Text:
Entrainment
Author’s Note: Enjoy the story and R&R.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V series.
Pairing: Yuya x Allen.
Summary:
All aboard the Pendulum Limited Express.
“Are you all right, Allen?” Yuya rustled next to him, his shoulder colliding with Allen’s.
“I’m warm, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Supplies were…in short supply. Another group of refugees arrived at the mountain lodge hideout today, and they ran out of blankets to go around.
Yuya and Allen gave up theirs to a family more in need of the blankets than they were, and thus were both under Allen’s poncho, literally neck and neck.
A poncho for two. It was an awkward spot to be in, but it got the job done. Two heads are better than one, Sayaka reasoned at mealtime.
Three, Yuya corrected, aware Yuto was listening. “Allen, do you have any family?”
“The Resistance is my family.”
“I know that. What I mean is –”
“I know what you meant!” Allen snapped, his tone noticeably gruffer than when they first met.
The correlation between Allen’s attitude and Academia’s actions in the Xyz Dimension was direct.
Stop. He doesn’t want to talk. You’re merely provoking him, Yuto warned his counterpart, his tone noticeably softer and calmer than Allen’s.
Blind rage wouldn’t do anyone any good right now, Yuto determined. Though given the number of Academia soldiers Kaito absolutely bodied in blind rage, some could argue the Clover Branch Duelist’s equally remorseless method got results.
It satisfied a certain cross section’s appetite for revenge against the hunters, at the bare minimum. Allen himself wouldn’t be automatically opposed to thinning the wolf pack’s ranks, even if it required the Resistance use the tools of their adversaries to gain the upper hand. They were at war, after all.
An eye for an eye. A card for a card.
Or many of them for one of their own. The trolley problem (minus the problem).
Academia forced them into this metaphorical tunnel. It was only fair they be run over by the oncoming train that was the Resistance.
Yuya quit pressing. For five tense minutes he sat straight as an arrow staring straight ahead, regretting he’d brought it up.
What an idiotic thing to say to a survivor of war. If Allen had family, they’d probably been carded, exactly like Kaito’s.
What a terrible, insensitive thing to say!
“I had a sister.”
Yuya blinked. “A sister?”
“If you could call her that.”
Was she his sister or wasn’t she? Were they on bad terms?
“What do you mean ‘If you could call her that’? Are you not related or something?”
“Sorry. Yes, she’s my sister. It’s just…She was super headstrong, you often forgot she was a girl. And she was so independent, she expected her brother to be independent too.”
“You’re very independent, Allen.”
“Anna was always stronger. Angrier. And in the end, Academia still got her.”
Yuya had chugged into territory he shouldn’t have. Even so, he kept pushing.
“You say she was angry?”
“Like, all the time, even before Academia invaded! She had an explosive temper and wouldn’t let you out of her crosshairs if you ticked her off!”
“Oh, that’s where you get it from!” Yuya tried lightening the mood a little.
“It was an asset. She took down a huge contingent of Academia soldiers before the Obelisk Force cornered her!”
“She must’ve been an amazing Duelist.”
“There’s that. But it was also the cannon.”
“A-a cannon?”
“I wasn’t kidding about the crosshairs, Yuya. She blasted them to kingdom come! Not all the damage to Heartland was because of Academia’s machine army!”
KABOOM! Images of buildings blowing up exploded through Yuya and Yuto’s common mental space. While Yuya didn’t know what Allen’s sister looked like, Yuto did, therefore Yuya had access to the memory: Kozuki Anna, defiantly standing up to Academia on her own, her heavy cannon clutched underarm and underhand, firing smoking yellow spiral projectiles with enough power to hobble the advances of the attacking Antique Gear Chaos Giants or flat-out destroy the weaker ground units she targeted.
Entire city blocks levelled by the Antique Gear Chaos Giants falling on them…or Anna recklessly unloading ammo into the streets.
The aggressiveness reminded Yuya of his mom.
“I take it she wouldn’t be overjoyed a stranger from the Standard Dimension is spending the night sharing her brother’s poncho then?”
“You dodged that bullet, Yuya,” Allen snickered. “Well, bullets!”
On a Pendulum Scale of 1 to 10, how lucky was he Anna’s cannon wasn’t pointed at him?
“You’re really…okay with this?”
“Yeah. When am I ever going to be in this sort of situation with a Lancer again? Academia might card us tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that!”
Whenever they ventured out, there was a significant risk they wouldn’t come back. Allen had lost comrades during routine ration runs.
“I won’t let any more people be sacrificed, from the Xyz Dimension or Academia! I’m going to put a stop to this my way! With smiles!”
“Smiles, smiles. Do you just repeat that till the other side gets tired of you and surrenders?”
“I mean it, Allen! Trust me!”
Allen tilted to his left slightly. His lips were on the brink of touching Yuya’s. “You’re asking a lot. To place all our hopes in the son of the man who abandoned us.”
“Tosan didn’t abandon you! He –!”
“Yuya, I’m over it already. One glimpse of your Entertainment Duel, my heart was already made up. I know Sakaki Yusho couldn’t have left us on purpose,” Allen admitted. Shun saw through me right away.
“Allen…”
“Odd question, though…What’s your shoe size?”
“My shoe size? Why?” Yuya’s eyes hustled to his socks.
The ruffian. He was gauging whether they matched so he could entrust Yuya his rollerboots.
Would he accept them? The symbol of his feelings?
“We’re about the same, I think.”
“That’s…” Allen dragged out.
Spontaneously, Yuya rested his hand between the tracks of Allen’s fingers under Allen’s poncho.
The skin on Allen’s cheeks rebelled, turning signal red.
Yuto remained silent.
“Thank you, Allen. For putting your trust in me.”
Allen’s heart rocketed out of his chest, on a nonstop fare aboard the Pendulum Limited Express.