AN: I started writing this back after episode 98 came out, cause dang would I love to see these two forced to work together(or any kind of interaction that doesn't involve them trying to kill each other). Had to tweak some things after episode 99 came out.

There were a number of things that Kurosaki Shun expected to do in his life. But carrying the unconscious form of someone who'd twice tried to end him, on his back, through the ruins of his homeland was not among them. It didn't even come in on the bottom of the list.

And yet there he was, making his way through the ruins of Heartland, with one Sora Shiunin on his back, arms draped loosely over his shoulders.

It certainly wasn't because he wanted to, definitely not; no he was doing it because he'd been asked. After the Lancers had descended upon the Security building he'd encountered a frightened Reira, clinging desperately to Tsukikage, who begged him to help Sora. Although he loathed the idea of helping the Fusion brat, he had saved Reira from Obelisk Force and from what he'd heard from Crow, had gone to help Selena and Yuzu, so he at least owed them that much.

Sora had turned up on his own, saving him that amount of trouble, though it was clear he was in a great deal of pain. And with the state of the control room, it was no wonder; the place had been completely and utterly destroyed.

It was only after breaking into the room where Akaba Reiji and Roger were dueling that everything went wrong. Roger tried to flee, activating something which ripped open a wormhole, and flung more then half of them into another dimension in the process.

An incoherent mumble came from his back and he shot a small glance back at his semi conscious passenger.

"So are you awake?" he asked.

The only response was another mumble before Sora's head hit his shoulder again.

Shun sighed, "I guess not."

Sora groaned as he opened his eyes, the smell of smoke, oil and ash tickling his nose. The last thing he could recall was hearing Roger screaming about 'taking them with him' and the roaring sound of a machine and screams. He could hear Yuzu screaming as she was ripped away from them.

"Ah, Yuzu, Yuya!" His head shot up quickly as he snapped awake. Slowly, Sora took in his surroundings, mainly the head of green hair in front of him and the dirty purple jacket within his field of vision. "What. The. Hell? Put me down, put me down right now you piece of-!" Sora trailed off into an unintelligible scream as he lifted his right arm to try and hit Shun's shoulder, only for a wave of blinding pain to wash over him. He clutched his arm in pain, gasping and stuttering.

"What did you do to me?" he asked. "I can't move my arm. You broke it didn't you?"

Shun snorted as he came to a stop, with Sora squirming about as he was, he was liable to fall off if Shun kept moving. "As much as I'd like to break your arm for what you did to me, no I didn't."

"Then why can't I move it? Why does it hurt?"

Shun was silent for a moment before he set Sora down on some debris, he was going to have to deal with this issue before they continued on. He didn't say anything as he began to inspect Sora's arm, much to the latter's dismay.

"Let go of me, what do you think you're doing?" Sora tried to squirm away when he felt Shun's hands against his aching shoulder.

There was a sickening pop and a flash of pain as Shun gripped his shoulder and gave it a very rough push. A slew of rather colourful curses, many directed at Shun, escaped Sora's mouth as he doubled over, holding his arm close. He was so busy cursing him out that he didn't even notice that Shun had removed his scarf and was tying it around his arm and the back of his neck.

"Are you quite done, or have you more names to call me?" he asked, straightening up. "Your arm should hurt less now."

"What did you do?" asked Sora, blinking back tears of pain.

"Your shoulder was dislocated, I put it back. I wouldn't suggest you try to use it for a while."

Sora looked down at his arm, resting in the makeshift sling, it did hut a bit less now.

"Now, if you can walk, let's get moving."

Sora scowled, holding his sore arm close to his chest while he used his free hand to hold himself steady. "I can't believe I'm reduced to this," he grumbled.

Sora had insisted he could walk on his own and had tried to follow after Shun when he threatened to leave him behind, for as much as he disliked the guy he did want to find his friends. Unfortunately, he was in a lot more pain than he realized and after getting only a few steps had dropped to his knees, holding his sides in pain and barely able to put weight on one of his feet.

Unable to walk more than a few steps, Sora found himself back where he'd been when he woke up, upon Shun's back.

"Where are we anyways, this place looks like a dump."

"What's left of my homeland, Heartland." The reply was short and curt and Sora was pretty sure it was said through clenched teeth.

"Oh." Sora drifted back into silence, keeping a tight grip on Shun's shoulder so as not to fall off. He stomach twisted as he looked around, taking in the devastation that lay about them. He'd never actually been to Heartland, or even the Xyz dimension, but he'd heard second hand tales from those who had about what had occurred there. Now he was beginning to wonder about them. This didn't look like glorious conquest at all, it looked like hell.

A pit formed in his stomach as another thought entered his mind and he instinctively held onto Shun tighter, was this what the Professor had in mind for all the dimensions, for Standard? The idea of Standard being reduced to this, to rubble and a deathly silence, it made him sick.

"Why are you helping me?" he asked after a bit. "I mean, I tried to kill you, twice. I'm Fusion."

Shun grunted, hefting Sora against his back slightly. "Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this because I was asked."

"So given the chance you would have just left me to die then." That wasn't a reassuring thought.

Shun sighed, "But, you did save Reira, and you tried to save Yuzu, so I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt for now." He looked back at him, "But if you do anything to abuse that, I won't hesitate to take you down."

Sora gulped, "Got it."

Exhaustion began to fall over Sora again and he leaned against the back of Shun's head with a sigh.

"Kurosaki?"

"What?"

"It probably doesn't mean much, coming from someone like me but I'm sorry. For all of this."

Shun was quiet, that was certainly not something he expected to hear out of Sora. After a few moments he felt Sora slump against his back as he fell asleep, face buried into his hair.

"Thank you, Shiunin."