Yuya stood outside the Professor's room. After all this time they were finally here. Reiji had warned him of all he knew, but they were still going in practically blind. There was no limits to what awful things Leo had waiting in store for them.
Yuzu
Yuya clasped his pendent as he thought of her.
I will save you. No matter what.
With a deep breath he pushed open the door. Red eyes quickly scanned his environment, following the purple carpet leading to the throne where—wait Serena sat?
"Serena?!" She sat with a book in her hands and legs slung over the side.
"Yo," She flipped a page without even looking at him. "Took you long enough."
Yuya paused as he cautiously analyzed the situation. Sora had mentioned something about possible mind-control affecting the bracelet girls.
Just then, behind him he heard the doors swing open again.
"So you just have to go ahead and do it. There's really no point in waiting around if you have a crush," Three girls with the same face entered the room, chatting like they were simply walking back from school.
"Yuzu?!" Yuya ran up to the group, almost ignoring the other two once he caught a glimpse of her. "You're ok!"
"Hey Yuya," She gave a quick wave before turning back to face the girl with feather earrings, "That sounds easy enough as it is, but what if you get rejected?"
"Is that when you knee them in the stomach?" The other girl added, looking ready to follow through with her suggestion right this second.
"Are you really Yuzu?" He couldn't stop the bubbling panic that something could be wrong. After all this time preparing for a fight, it felt unnatural for everyone else to be so casual and relaxed.
"Technically, I believe we're all Ray," Serena interrupted. "But I think you're asking about brainwashing instead, and I can at least explain that. When I was returned back to Fusion, they tried putting this bug in my ear, so they'd be able to mind-control me. For some reason it didn't work though, so I pretended to follow along, freed Yuzu when no one was looking, and trapped the Professor."
"How did you guys fight off all the soldiers?"
"Oh once Yuzu got us out, the three of us finished them off pretty quickly." The one that had talked about kneeing people in the stomach gave a sly grin. "I don't think we'll be having any trouble from them again."
"So what's left to do?" Yuya scrunched his nose. He didn't mind the lack of problems they had now, but he felt more confused and discombobulated than ever before.
"Yuzu said you have my Yuto inside of you, so I'd like him back thank you very much. Rin though can leave once she finds her Yugo."
"He should still be in the Fusion Dimension though, so I bet you won't have to look hard," Yuzu added. "That aside, I think we just need to find the others, deal with that Yuto business, and then we can go home."
"Home," Yuya's face lit up like the sun as he repeated her. God nothing felt better than doing just that.
"Wait a sec!" Serena shot out of her chair like a rocket and came in between the two of them. "As the newly self-appointed Professor, I can't let you leave until you undergo some strict guidelines. Academia found a way to keep your Berserk side in check, and if we want to keep the dimensions as they are, you'll have to follow them fervently."
Yuya tensed up at her words. While he was thankful that it was possible to control his anger, there had to be a price. The only question was if he could afford it.
"What do I have to do?" Red eyes burned with determination not to mess things up again.
Instead of answering, Serena solemnly pulled out a candy bar from her back pocket. "Have a Snickers. You're not you when you're hungry."
A.N. For the YGOME16 over at AO3
