Chapter Text
“Yuya, you really don’t have to be here.”
“It’s fine! I want to help.”
Reiji frowned, looking concerned. He always had that sort of look on his face since the reset — wasn’t it time for him to relax yet? Yuya picked up the box on the table before Reiji could, winking at him.
“See? This is good training, anyway,” he said. “Now where do you want this?”
Reiji looked him over a moment longer, and then sighed.
“Since I feel as though I won’t get rid of you otherwise,” he said, shaking his head. “Phoenix-san would like all of the boxes of paperwork stacked outside the laboratory. There’s already a stack out there that people are sorting through. You won’t miss it.”
“Yessir!”
Yuya couldn’t salute while holding a box, but he bobbed his head in an almost-bow. Reiji sighed again. Then he waved Yuya off, and went back to flicking through the papers still scattered over the desk.
Yuya hefted his box and headed out towards the next room.
“I can’t believe you wanted to come back here,” Yuto said.
“Holy geez, this place is creepy! What is this, a B horror movie??” said Yugo.
Yuya just laughed a little. The laugh was mostly, however, to assuage some of his own nerves.
The Doktor’s old laboratory was still just as freaky as it had been the first time he’d come here and had to face off against the possessed Ruri and Selena. The ceiling was so high that the honestly ridiculously sparse lighting couldn’t reach it. The only real light came from the big glass tubes full of some unknown liquid. The room wasn’t empty, though — a bunch of Reiji’s LDS Elites were around, pulling down lab equipment or breaking down consoles. There were some people in suits who must have been sent from Synchro helping out. A few of Reiji’s Elites and some Synchro workers were clustered near the tubes, shaking their heads and discussing how to best dispose of the chemicals and the incubating parasites still inside. Yuya shivered, and hurried out into the hall.
Sure enough, there was a large pile of boxes stacked alongside the wall, and some kids between his age and maybe as old as nineteen were sorting through pile after pile of papers. Some of them were wearing Academia uniforms, but a most of them were in casual wear. A few were even in riding suits, and he noticed Masumi in her LDS uniform arguing with Hokuto.
Edo stood off to the side, frowning and drumming his fingers against his arms. A light hum of chatter ran through the hall along with the shuffle of paper. His eyes flickered to Yuya as Yuya set his box down with the others.
“Yuya!” Edo said, eyes lighting up. “I didn’t know you were here.”
“I just showed up,” Yuya said. “Sora said you guys were breaking down the lab and I wanted to see if I could help.”
Edo looked tired when he smiled, but he gripped Yuya’s shoulder and his hand in a warm greeting.
“That’s incredibly kind of you,” he said. “I know this isn’t the sort of place you’d enjoy being.”
“Feels like it was a long time ago,” Yuya said. “I’m fine.”
“Yuya, don’t lie,” Yuto scolded. “You almost had a panic attack when we walked in here at first.”
“Yeah, so did Yuuri,” said Yugo.
“Shut up, Fusion,” Yuuri hissed.
To his credit, Yugo did not snap back at the rude nickname, and even Yuto drew back apologetically. They were all still trying to handle how to mix their memories, and Yuuri’s were quite often some of the worst. Yuuri had become much more prickly than the smooth, assured figure that Yuya had faced off before, and Yuya suspected it was because he hated the fact they all could fully see everything he’d been through.
“Talking to the others?” Edo said, and Yuya stirred.
“Oh, yeah, sorry,” said Yuya, blushing. “I always forget no one else hears them.”
Edo waved off his apology, shaking his head.
“It’s all right. I’m sure it’s a lot to get used to. And you coming to help even through that — we really appreciate it.”
“Well, I definitely needed something to do.”
“Did anyone else come with you?”
“No...Yuzu said she’d rather not.”
Edo nodded, his lips pressing together with understanding. He gripped Yuya’s shoulder again. Yuya tried to smile, more for Edo’s sake than his own. He was taking on a lot of responsibility, trying to fix Academia. He had help from the Synchro Council and from LDS, and even a little from Heartland even though they were still getting their feet under them, but it was a big job by himself. Most of the adult teachers had either been arrested or fled after Leo disappeared from Fusion, and Edo had returned from Heartland with his supporters to demand they begin work on reparations — so it was really just Edo and his crew trying to fix everything .
“Did anyone find the Doktor?” Yuya asked.
Edo grimaced.
“No,” he said. “I suspect he’s gone into hiding now that no one will fund his research. We don’t want him to have anything to come back to when we do find him though.”
Yuya glanced out over the mess of stuff all over the floor while students flipped through page after page.
“Why not just burn all of it right away?” he asked.
“I’m worried there might be...surprises left behind. I’d rather not be surprised.”
He folded his arms and tightened his jaw.
“Also, we still don’t know how to dispose of the parasites. Hopefully something in here will have countermeasures. If the Doktor still has any of his parasite cards, wherever he is, he might be able to come back and use them against us — and at the moment, the only way we know how to stop them is to card the user.”
Yuya shivered, and he felt Yuuri tense up somewhere in the back of his mind. Yuto and Yugo did not respond. It took Yuya a moment to compose himself.
“Well, that would definitely suck,” he said. “So what else can I do? Reiji won’t give me anything.”
Edo chuckled.
“I’m sure he thinks you need a break.”
“ He needs a break. He’s practically an old man already.”
That got another chuckle out of Edo.
“Well, there’s a storeroom in the back of the lab that Grace and Gloria are working on cleaning out,” he said, nodding back towards the lab. “I’m sure Grace will be happy to see you.”
Yugo made a gagging sound in the back of his head, and Yuya tried not to laugh.
“I’ll be happy to see them too. I’ll get going then.”
He started to walk away, but Edo reached for his shoulder.
“Be careful in there, all right?” he said. “There’s some chemicals in the back we haven’t identified. Get Gloria to give you a mask.”
Yuya shivered a bit, and wondered silently why there wasn’t a single reliable adult in this world who could actually do something for once.
“Will do,” he said, and he headed back on into the lab.
Reiji was still hunched over the desk, his eyes peeled back by his fingers on his temples, looking like he was about to have a migraine. Yuya almost went over to check on him, but didn’t want to distract him. Besides, he’d probably just tell Yuya to go back home again. So he headed past the LDS Elites who walked past him, still discussing something that needed to be broken down. He looked around for some sign of the storeroom that Edo had mentioned.
From an open door in the back, he saw a familiar shock of silver hair as a tall woman came out hauling a crate of files.
“Do we have to talk to Grace? She makes me nervous,” Yugo said.
“You just don’t like that she always gives us a kiss when she sees us,” Yuto said.
“It’s uncomfy!!! Why does she do it???”
“I think Fusion’s just upset that he’s not getting a kiss from the person he wants it from,” Yuuri purred.
Yugo shrieked at Yuuri, and had they the means, it probably would have turned into a fist fight.
Yuya let them bicker, sending a reassuring wave towards Yugo. He jogged over to Grace just as she hefted her crate to the ground. She sighed and stood up, wiping sweat from her brow with her glove. She had one of those air masks over her mouth, like Edo had said.
“Hey, Grace,” Yuya called, waving.
Grace’s eyes immediately lit up, and she yanked the mask from her mouth as she spun towards Yuya.
“Yuya, darling!” she squealed.
Yuya was immediately smothered in a big hug that smushed him right into her chest, and he was absolutely positive she was doing it on purpose. She held him back by the shoulders then so that she could give him a kiss on the forehead.
“Hi,” Yuya said, blushing. Yugo made another gagging sound while Grace giggled.
“It’s so good to see you!! I thought you’d be busy with league work,” she said. “Glori!! Yuya’s here!”
Gloria appeared from the room behind them, carrying her own heavy box and grunting. She shot a glance at Yuya, but waited until she’d set her box down to turn towards him and shoot him a brief nod.
“Good to see you,” she said. “What are you doing here?”
“Helping,” Yuya said. “Edo said you guys might need a hand with the stuff back here?”
Gloria glanced him up and down, as though taking stock of him. Then she shrugged.
“I guess it couldn’t hurt. Put this on, though. It’s dusty back there. And I think something must have spilled because it smells like shit.”
She passed Yuya a face mask, and he pulled it on over his mouth, hooking it behind his ears.
“Don’t overexert yourself, darling,” Grace said, pinching his cheek. “It would be awful if you pulled something and couldn’t perform your Entertainment Duels! I’m so looking forward to coming to your next match.”
“Don’t worry, I’m tough,” Yuya said with a small laugh. “So what needs to be done?”
The storeroom was way bigger than Yuya had imagined, and like Gloria had said, it definitely smelled like shit. It was big enough for about five rows of metal shelving, and while the first two were completely emptied, the last three were still almost full to bursting with stuff. The Doktor clearly hadn’t been a very organized man. Boxes were stacked on boxes that were full to bursting with files or old tools. Rusted medical equipment was stuffed on the top shelves, and bottles of both labeled and unlabeled chemical components and medications were stuffed in every available corner.
Yuya helped Grace and Gloria go through each box one at a time. If it was just full of files and papers, they dragged it out and put it on top of the rest to be moved into the hall later. If it had chemicals, They carefully put it outside in a different pile for Reiji’s and Synchro’s scientists to figure out how to dispose of. Old tools and equipment was placed in yet another pile for the Elites to break down and take to the scrap heap.
It was difficult work, and Yuya’s muscles ached, but it was distracting. And that’s what he and the others really needed right now. The other three slipped more fully into Yuya’s consciousness for a bit so that all four of them were adding their strength together to make it go a little smoother, and their voices faded as for a few moments, at least, all four of them became a single person. They weren’t very good at doing that, but they could manage it for a few minutes at a time, and it really helped getting things done cause there were four people’s worth of strength and energy in there.
Yuya reached up to the top shelf for the last box. He’d just gotten it into his hands when the metal shelf creaked. Yuuri’s consciousness snapped out of them for a moment from shock.
“Yuya, get back —”
One of the shelf’s supports snapped. All four of their minds split again and for a moment, Yuya was completely immobilized from the burst of confused and frightened thoughts that all exploded through his mind all at once.
The shelf collapsed, and the box crashed down to the floor, bursting open and sending its contents flying. Something shattered and Yuya stumbled, tripping over his own feet and falling down. His hand fell into something wet, he almost choked with the shock, and in the confusion and shriek of thoughts all throughout his mind, he didn’t think twice when he reached up and grabbed at his mask with the wet hand, dragging it from his face and inhaling a sharp tang-y scent full force. He immediately choked on it and started coughing.
“Yuya!”
“Yuya, what happened?”
He felt...very dizzy. What was that smell? Someone got him by the arm and pulled it away from his face. He felt someone scooping him up as though he weighed nothing, and then he was out of the dark store room and seated on the floor, still coughing, his vision blurring. He still couldn’t quite disentangle his thoughts from the other three and it was making it impossible to comprehend what was going on around him.
“Yuya, can you hear me? What happened?”
“Breathe in and out, darling, in and out.”
Yuya tried and he choked. He coughed and hacked again, too rattled to answer.
Yuuri, who’d detached first and was more coherent than the other three, shifted up to the front, and Yuya’s lungs seemed to clear — though it was really just that he was not quite feeling his body while Yuuri was in control.
“We breathed something in back there. I don’t know what it was,” Yuuri said, still coughing. That was about all he could handle, and he slipped back again, and Yuya came back to the front. He tried to focus on the world in front of him, but all he could see were blurry shapes.
“Yuya, I’m taking you back to LDS,” he heard Reiji saying. “Keep trying to breathe steadily. You’re going to be all right.”
Yuya only nodded. He wanted to say that he was fine, it just smelled really bad, but he coughed again, and it was all he could do to let Reiji and Grace both lift him up, and hurry him along towards the jump point.
I’m fine, he kept thinking. I’m fine. I promise.