My first (planned) multi-chapter submission, yay! Set after the World Duel Carnival, various visits from an unexpected meetings commence between Yuma and and unexpected guest. This is the first.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.
They'd been meeting on -and-off for about two weeks.
It started when Yuma found a surprise guest in his room seated upon the floor, absorbed in the various souvenirs scattered about. The boy had a very familiar face, or rather, a very familiar mask.
"Tr-Tron…?" the black-haired boy stammered out. He had not heard anything of the Arclights after the events at Heartland, and thus assumed they'd returned to their true home. Clearly, he was mistaken.
"Oh, Yuma!" exclaimed Tron, unaware of his presence prior to now. He giggled slightly, adding, "Did I surprise you?"
"Yeah, I thought you guys had went back home," Yuma explained. He detected a slight change in Tron's voice from how he remembered it; though still obviously child-like with a playful tone, the contempt it formerly held was gone, becoming gentler in comparison. Noting this, Yuma inadvertently found himself smiling back at Tron.
"We did go back home, actually…" His voice trailed as his attention did, fiddling with one of the room's many artifacts. After a few moments, Tron returned to the conversation at hand.
"I opened a portal to come here directly. Chris, Thomas, and Mihael are indeed back home." Noticing a slight look of confusion on Yuma's face, he clarified, "IV and III, Thomas and Mihael."
Understanding donned on Yuma's face. "Oh, right! I'll have to get used to their names." Though still a bit apprehensive of the braided child before him, hearing signs that life had returned to some degree of normalcy at the use of given names brought a warm feeling to the teen, genuinely happy for the family, especially III… Mihael. "So, Tron –"
"Please, 'Byron,' if you would."
"Yuma knew this was going to take some getting used to. Still, he corrected himself. "Byron, why did you come here?" It was a blunt question, but it held no ill-intent or hostility, just pure curiosity.
So much like Kazuma…
"You don't beat around the bush, do you?" mused Byron. He paused for a moment, growing more serious as he prepared to speak. "I came to finally thank you." Behind that mask, his golden eye cast a strong, clear gaze, a gaze fixed firmly upon Yuma.
"You didn't have to do anything other than defeat me during our duel, yet you showed me compassion. At risk to yourself, you reached out to me… Just as Kazuma did years ago…"
The appearance of such a child-like form in heavy reminisce was a bit foreign to the dark-haired teen, and he was unsure if it was all right to interrupt his thoughts. However, a response was in order, and he proceeded to provide it.
"You don't have to thank me, Tr —Byron," he smiled. "I wanted to see you and your family smile again, and besides… we're comrades now."
Laughing heartily, Byron stood from the floor. That after all the trouble he caused, somebody could be so kind and forgiving… He was fascinated by the other's effortless acceptance of all that had transpired.
"You really are quite a remarkable kid," he observed.
With the laughter that preceded the words, Yuma was not completely certain whether they were genuine or sarcastic in tone. Seeing the expression on Byron's face, however, led him to believe the former. As he opened his own mouth to speak, Byron quickly disappeared into a portal – presumably back to his sons – without any further conversation.
The room's remaining occupant couldn't help but wonder if that would end up being his final time seeing the Arclight patriarch. And contrary to what he would've felt weeks ago, that possibility left him a melancholy taste.