Whoop...look at that! Three stories in a little over twenty-four hours...but this is a little one-shot collab with Shimmering-Sky that features a cute little story of Zarc and Ray.

You might as well consider my channel the "Zarc and Ray Island of Love and Happiness Amidst a Sea of Sad and Tragic Zarc and Ray Tragedies". No, seriously, there needs to be more FusedShipping happiness. XD I challenge ANYONE ELSE to write a HAPPY or LOVEY-DOVEY FusedShipping fic outside of my collabs!

*crickets chirp* And what makes this even more ironic is that my earlier stories and oneshots are actually pretty dark and tragic. XD And what's even worse...is that this is basically the canon version of Owari and Kaishi actually getting along. THAT IS BASICALLY WHAT FUSEDSHIPPING IS!

*more crickets chirp* Guys...anyway, enjoy it and here are Sky's words:

Hello, fellow FusedShipping trash—I mean fans. I really hope you guys enjoy this, Corinne and I both worked real hard on this. Actually, funny story, she proposed the idea for this the day I was working on my "You Belong By My Side" one-shot, and because of that I initially turned her down, finished my thing, and then the offer was still up so this became a thing. Perfect timing, am I right?

Zarc was many things in Ray's eyes, and unfortunately, being on time for their little "afternoon escapade" wasn't one of them. She huffed in irritation and tapped her foot against the cobblestone pavement, checking the time on the clock tower that ticked and tocked across the streets.

2:27 pm. It was a good twelve minutes since their promised rendezvous, and he was still nowhere in sight in the city square. Just where was he?

"Come on, come on..." Ray muttered to herself, peering around the crowds from her position near the far end of the square, swerving over to peer over a bridge that revealed more layers of streets and roads below it. She squinted her eyes and scoured the area once again.

Perhaps he had to deliver an errand, or maybe participated in an unexpected duel...she hoped he didn't get himself in another fight with the local street gangsters again. Their last encounter with them was a rather unpleasant one, one that she hoped she wouldn't ever experience again.

But that was the least of her worries. The clock then chimed, marking the half-hour.

Fifteen minutes late, now. What on earth was Zarc doing? He couldn't have forgotten, they'd just been talking about it yesterday...

The sound of heavy footsteps and panting behind her made her spin around—sure enough, there was Zarc, hands on his knees as he keeled over, completely out of breath.

"P-phew...finally made it..." he muttered, tilting his head up and offering her one of his signature (and cute) ear-to-ear grins. "Sorry I was...late...something came up..."

Ray rolled her eyes at his antics, and helped him sit down against the concrete railing of the bridge. It took him several good moments to catch his breath, during which time Ray noted that his knuckles were badly scraped—his left hand was even bleeding.

Her eyes narrowed in concern. "Zarc, just what did you do?"

"Huh?" He stared at his hands, surprise flashing across his face. "Oh, I didn't realize I was bleeding."

"What were you doing?!"

"Bit of a...long story," Zarc panted. "I was walking down the street when I noticed some teenager dueling a little boy."

"Oh, that explains a lot of things," Ray interjected, knowing just how much Zarc loved dueling, whether he was a bystander or a participant.

He gave a mock glare in return. "Well, I did want to stay and watch, but then the teenager suddenly advanced and attacked the boy while in the middle of the duel, quickly overpowering him with brute force and then running off with a few of his cards, leaving the poor kid lying on the ground, crying."

Ray sighed; she knew where this was going. It certainly wouldn't be the first time Zarc got himself into a fight over cards that didn't even belong to him. But...she really couldn't blame him. Like herself, Zarc was also born with the power to see Duel Spirits, and with that came the ability to feel what they felt. That power had gotten them both in trouble more times than she could count—mostly because no one ever believed them.

"Let me guess...you chased after the teen and fought him for the cards. You beat him, which made the teen angry, and got in a fist fight with him. Judging by the fact that you don't look too beat up, you won that as well." She sighed again, and slid her purse off her shoulder, digging through it for the small first-aid kit she carried around (per her father's wishes). "You really can't be doing this, Zarc. One of these days, you're gonna tick off someone you can't beat."

He grinned sheepishly, offering up his bleeding hand. "You know me too well. But—come on, if you were there, you would've done the same thing! That poor kid's monsters were terrified!"

Ray raised an eyebrow at this. "Really?"

"Yeah, I could still remember their cries..." Zarc dropped his gaze on her, now pulling a card out of one of his pockets in his pants, the memories replaying in his head as he clutched it with his injured hands. "If I wasn't there in time, who knows what would've happen to this little guy."

Ray leaned over to see which card he was holding exactly, pausing when she heard a small whimper resound from it when she came too close.

It was Gem Beast Ruby Carbuncle.

The creature itself was curled up in Zarc's lap, whimpering as Ray stretched out a hand to pet its head. Once it realized she wasn't a threat, the spirit quit trying to back away from her, letting her scratch underneath its chin.

"What...what happened to make him so scared?" Ray asked. The spirit bit down on her finger after that; it didn't hurt but still startled her.

Zarc chuckled a little. "Ruby's a 'her', actually. I made the same mistake earlier." His lighthearted tone slipped away as he looked at the card. "That teen...he was gonna rip her card apart. That's why I beat him up."

"...Oh," Ray said quietly. Tearing apart a card...that would have definitely killed Ruby Carbuncle.

That is...unforgivable. Ray clenched her fists, angry at how someone could be so heartless or careless with a Duel Spirit.

Zarc sensed her anger, and so did Ruby, curling up even tighter against the boy. He sighed in return. "Yeah...who could even think of hurting this little guy?"

"Well, I forgive you for being late this time," Ray mumbled lowly, now knowing that he had full justification for it. "But what are we gonna do with this little guy?"

"I was planning on giving him back to the little kid, but when I returned to the spot of the duel, he was nowehere to be seen or found." Zarc concluded, absentmindedly scratching one of Ruby's ears, earning a purr from the benevolent spirit.

"Then we have to find him!"

Zarc looked up at her in surprise. "Y-you sure? But what about your father—he's totally not going to be okay with us running around the city, we were supposed to just be at the mall!"

She winced; that was a bit of a problem. Her father was sometimes a bit too protective of her—not that she could blame him, but sometimes she wished he would just let her be. "I...I'm sure he'll understand!" Except they both knew he wouldn't—Leo didn't believe at all in the idea of Duel Spirits. "This is way more important!"

Zarc opened his mouth to argue, then sighed and shut it. He knew he wouldn't win an argument with Ray. Instead, he looked down out Ruby Carbuncle. "You hear that, Ruby? We'll get you back to your friend in no time!"

The little spirit perked her ears and chirped in joy, before clambering up onto Zarc's left shoulder from his lap. The boy chuckled from this, rising from his spot.

Now, if they had any idea of where the boy lived.

"Alright...now, where do we start?"

Ruby sniffed the air, and pointed off into toward the area from where Zarc had arrived from, indicating that her home was in that direction.

"Good! Lead the way, Ruby!" Zarc cheered, letting the spirit jump off his shoulder. So excited to get home, the spirit immediately bolted from their position on the bridge, vanishing into the crowd.

Zarc's eyes widened in surprise. "Crud—not so fast! Ray, we gotta hurry!"

"Yeah!" she agreed, and both of them started running as fast as they could to catch up to the excited Duel Spirit. She couldn't get too far ahead since Zarc still had her card, but since she wasn't Zarc's card, he couldn't tell exactly where in the city she was.

It took them half an hour of worming their way through crowded streets to find Ruby Carbuncle sitting on the mailbox right outside a house, staring up at it. The house...wasn't anything special. It was two stories, and painted the same dull white as all the other houses in the neighborhood.

But it was Ruby's house. That meant it was special.

"So this is her home...well, at least the hard part is over."

"Not exactly..." Zarc walked up to the Duel Spirit, who turned to him and chirped merrily. "Where is your owner?"

Ruby tilted her head to the side, inclining her ears and poking around to try and sense where her owner was. Zarc and Ray looked around as well.

It was then that they all heard it...the sound of someone crying.

Sitting on the porch of the house was a small boy with dark, teal-colored hair. His legs were pulled up to his chest, and his head was buried in them. That didn't stop either Zarc or Ray from seeing the tears on his face.

He must really care about his cards, Ray conceived, a warm feeling swelling in her stomach. She just knew it was a good idea to find who the card belonged to; anyone that would get this upset over losing a card was more than a worthy Duelist.

Ruby hopped down from her perch on the mailbox, chiming happily as she bounded over to the boy's side. He stiffened and wiped his tears off his face. "R-Ruby?"

Zarc smiled at the boy and held out the card. "Here you go! Sorry for taking so long to get it back to you!"

The boy looked up at Zarc, and his eyes lit up with utter joy when he saw what was in his hand...

"RUBY!" The boy exclaimed, grabbing the card of the Duel Spirit from Zarc's hand, keeping it close to his chest. "You're back!"

Said spirit bounded towards her owner, eventually leaping and landing on his shoulder with a happy chirp. Ray and Zarc smiled at the scene.

The boy laughed before turning his head back up. "Thank you for bringing Ruby back to me."

"Ah...no problem," Zarc said, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm just glad you're happy."

The boy grinned and jumped up, squeezing his tiny arms around Zarc's waist. The teen held his arms up, eyes wide as saucers. No one...well, other than Ray, no one had ever hugged him before. It was...strange.

Ray, sensing her friend's unease, tapped the little boy on the shoulder. "You're very welcome for bringing you your card back. Could you please let go of my friend? We're supposed to go do something that, um...that big kids do, now."

"Oh, okay!" he chirped, letting go of Zarc.

Zarc gave a knowing look at Ray, to which she smirked lightly. He then turned his attention to the boy. "By the way...what's your name?"

The boy beamed in return. "Johan. Johan Anderson."

"Alright, well, Johan...it was nice to meet you," Zarc replied, halfheartedly nudging Ray who was giving small tugs on his shoulder. As they started to leave, he glanced at the boy one last time. "And give Ruby my regards."

"Oh, I will," Johan answered, happy that he had his card back. Ruby chirped back at Zarc, which translated as a "thank you" for returning her to her owner.

With that, the two of them left, waving at the boy and spirit until they were out of sight. Now that that was settled, they had a new problem on their hands: what they could do together. They'd spent almost an entire hour trying to return Ruby Carbuncle to her owner, and that left them with not that much time left to do what they were going to do.

'If only I didn't have to be back by five...' Ray thought disdainfully. But her father just had to be strict on days when she wasn't participating in some tournament or at a school event...

"Um...we could...we could go card shopping," Zarc suggested as he scratched his chin. "Didn't you say you needed something fresh after you lost in the Millennium Cup?"

"...That's...not half bad of an idea," Ray agreed. She needed to fix the massive hole in her strategy, then she would be just as good as Zarc, and they could entertain everyone together, rather than he being the only one that was successful.

"Alright, then, let's go!" Zarc smiled, taking her hand (to her surprise) and then running back to the square, with her trying to keep up with him so as to not literally get dragged behind.

It took them only a few minutes to arrive at their favorite game store, one that offered any sort of board game, puzzles, toys, and especially both common and rare Duel Monsters cards. And for the past few weeks, it held a special offer of cards, and there were a few that had caught both Ray's and Zarc's eyes since then.

They soon arrived at the front of the small shop, looking up to see the bright "Kame Game" sign shining in the sun.

There was an even newer display in the window, one that consisted of a bunch of Spellcaster-Type and Dragon-Type monsters. Zarc's eyes lit up, his face pressing against the glass like a child looking into a toy store.

Ray rolled her eyes. "Zarc, you dummy, we're going inside. You don't have to make the window all dirty with your face."

"Oh! Uh...right!" He laughed half-heartedly, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry, I just...got really excited. I hope the new 'Magician' monsters I've heard about are in!"

"You mean like Astrograph or Black Magician?" Ray quipped, nudging him in his side.

"Eh, I don't know about Black Magician, but yeah, I really hope they have Astrograph!" Zarc exclaimed, entering the game shop with her. "Rumors claim that it has some really awesome effects, and that it works really well with decks that have Dragon-Type monsters!"

"So it can work with your four dragons," Ray laughed in return. "Well, looks like we won't have to wait any longer."

She and Zarc walked up to the counter, with the shopkeeper sweeping the tiled floor behind it, his back turned towards them. He had gray hair that was spiked up in the back, a handkerchief resting at the top of his head. The rest of his attire consisted of dusty overalls and a white undershirt.

Upon hearing the bell ring, he turned and noticed the two visitors, smiling. "Well, what do we have here? What can I do for you two youngsters?"

Zarc didn't answer as he immediately went over to the display and began scouring it for an Astrograph Magician. Ray sighed at his antics. "Sorry about him, he can get a little crazy when it comes to cards."

The man chuckled. "I'm quite used to that. Can I help you with anything, then?"

"Um..." She looked around the store. Most of these cards were brand-new, with no Duel Spirit attached to them yet. There were a few floating around, though, but she didn't think any of them would fit in her Deck. "Do you...have anything special that would work with a Ritual Deck?"

"Rituals, hmm... I don't get a lot of customers who want them...let me check in the back."

"Okay," she replied. While the old man went to check out her request, she turned her attention to Zarc...who was holding at least a dozen packs from the rack.

"Zarc, we can't buy all of them. We don't have enough money," she reminded, grabbing her wallet from her pocket.

"Oh, come on, these are all the ones that might have Astrograph Magician," Zarc moaned, placing one of the packs in her hand and revealing the image of the magician on it.

She studied it, listening to see or find the Duel Spirits that dwelled inside. "Well, we can probably take three or four, but not a dozen. Just go with your gut on this one...or you can ask the old man about it."

"Ugh...fine, you're right," he whined, reluctantly returning most of the packs to the display. "We did come here to get you cards after all..."

"I'm sure one of those packs'll have Astrograph Magician," Ray said, leaning over to ruffle his hair a little. That always put a smile on his face.

Before Zarc could say anything else, the shopkeeper came out with a box in his hands. "Good news, young lady! I think I have just the cards you're looking for!"

Ray beamed upon the news, she and Zarc rushing over to the counter as the man placed the box down, opening up the flaps to reveal large, neat stacks of Ritual cards inside.

"Will this help for what you're looking for?" The shopkeeper asked calmly, and Ray nodded vigorously.

"Yes, it will! Thank you so much!" She replied joyfully, scouting the stacks for cards that could work with her Deck. There were a few that caught her eye, such as Gishki.

In the end, she settled on a few generic Ritual Spells plus a copy of "Ritual Santuary" (that was a card she hadn't seen before), plus a handful of monsters she'd been looking for for a while. She placed cards and Zarc's four card packs on the counter. "Alright, how much is all of this?" Ray asked.

The shopkeeper hummed for a good few moments. "That would be...four thousand yen."

"...Oh." Ray's shoulders sank; she only had three thousand yen on her, and Zarc had nothing. And they still needed at least a thousand for food later.

Zarv noticed their dilemma and shrugged sheepishly, about to remove two of his packs. The old shopkeeper noticed their problem and smiled warmly, waving his hand.

"But, you know, I can see that you really want to get these cards, so just for you two, I'll cut the price in half. Two thousand yen, okay?"

"Really?" Ray was in shock.

Zarc withdrew his hand, jumping happily. "Yes! Thank you so so much!"

"Uh...yeah! Thanks!" Ray added. She couldn't believe their luck. Any other card shop, and they probably wouldn't have gotten everything.

The man chuckled. "Just promise me you'll take good care of those cards, alright?"

"We will, definitely!" Ray agreed solemnly, never even thinking of mistreating the shopkeeper's gracious gift. "Thank you!"

As she paid the money, Zarc grabbed all the packets at once, being beyond happy. "This is great! Now we can practice for the tournament. Plus, we maybe might meet some new friends..."

Ray chuckled at his excitement, she and Zarc walking out the door with their gifts. "Maybe." She waved at the shopkeeper. "Thanks again!"

As soon as they were out the door, Zarc fiddled around with the wrapper of the first pack. He almost cursed because it wouldn't open properly; he didn't want to bend the cards fresh out of the store, but he managed to get a small tear in the top, and soon he had all nine cards in his hands. A quick glance-through revealed no Astrograph Magician, but he did get a few cards he slid into his Side Deck. The second and third packs went too; still no Astrograph.

He eyed the last pack almost with disdain. "I grabbed all the wrong packs, didn't I, Ray?"

"I wouldn't say that, you still got a bunch of cards you can use," she replied. "Besides, you still have that pack left to open, don't you?"

Yeah...can't hurt to try!" He then started to work at the last one, keeping his hopes up that his desired card would be inside...

Come on, Astrograph, please be in this one...

The top was torn open, and he took them out, one by one. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight...

He looked at the ninth card...

"YES!" Zarc shouted, jumping around happily, holding the copy of Astrograph Magician he'd been looking for. "I've got one! I've got one!"

Ray smiled warmly at him; they both found the cards they wanted. This was really shaping up to be a good day...

But she was not expecting Zarc to suddenly catch her in a bear-hug, repeatedly thanking her for buying him the packs.

"Z-Zarc! Too tight!"

Zarc realized that he was pretty much suffocating her. "Oh, sorry. Got a little too excited..."

"Ha, it's fine," she replied, straightening her shirt. "Anyway...we still have our other errands to run, and maybe an hour left till dad goes searching for us."

"Hunting me down is the correct terminology." Ray shook her head, but knowing her father, Zarc was right.

"All the more reason to get moving, then."

"Did we have to buy so many bags?" Zarc groaned, carrying a stack that towered almost above his head and certainly blocked most of his line of sight.

"Hey, you wanted to carry them all yourself. Do you want me to help?" Ray asked, offering a free hand.

"...No, I've got it," he decided, shifting around the bags so he had at least a two-inch area to see through. "I'm strong! No need for you to strain yourself!"

"You're awfully nice today, Zarc," Ray observed.

"Thanks. I'm a usually nice person."

"Alright, don't flatter yourself," she laughed, becoming his seeing-eye girl in case he would ever trip or fall on something.

"Eh, you know I'm right." He smirked a coy smile at her, then turning his focus on the bags that started to tilt above his arms. "Whoa!"

"Careful!"

"I'm always careful!" he countered, wrangling the bags back under his control. "See? I'm all good."

Ray rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say."

After a few more minutes of walking, they found themselves at Ray's house...where they would have to part ways.

"...At least we're five minutes early," Zarc said, plopping three-fourths of the bags down. The remaining fourth was his. "Your dad shouldn't chew me out for once."

"Probably." Ray walked over to her groceries, winking at Zarc. "Well, I had a great time together, even if it didn't go exactly as we had planned."

"Well, that's the great thing about life...you never know what surprises await around the corner. It's an adventure that way," he replied, smiling his normal and impish grin.

"Indeed. Well...I guess this is see you later." She reached down to grab the groceries, but it was then that Zarc grabbed her shoulder, turned her towards him, and hugged her again, not like the one before. She was surprised at how gentle yet firm he was this time, almost as if he wouldn't ever see her again.

"Thank you, Ray. I really did enjoy our time together. We should rendezvous more often."

"An-anytime, Zarc." She hugged back, not wanting to end their embrace just yet.

But all good things had to come to an end, and they reluctantly drew apart, but not before Zarc left one more surprise for Ray: a kiss on the cheek.

And then, they departed to their own ways, Zarc off to his home, leaving Ray in front of hers with a parting farewell. She blushed and waved back, smiling widely before picking up her groceries and walking inside.

"Thank you as well, Zarc."

YAY! Sky's muses, TAKE IT AWAY!

S-S: Ah, this was fun. You know what else is fun? Listening to my muses' thoughts on this.

Rudolph & Piano: Yay, we did something for once!

Faith: *Obsessive laughter* FUSEDSHIPPINGISTHEBESTHNNNNNNN!

Lucy: WHAT THE DUCK IS THIS?! WHERE'S THE ANGST, WHERE'S THE TRAGEDY? THIS ISN'T A STORY! THIS IS—THIS IS BLASPHEMY!

Meri: There are no scissors, 0/10.

Muse-Jack: There's a surprising lack of fire, too. I would've set something on fire if I was there.

Shade: I, for one, think that this is good... for a story produced by Rudolph and Piano, that is. It is far from the work of art that was "Missing".

Joseph: *Happy gasp* I GOT MILK! TREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! I'M GONNA WEAR A MATTRESS TOMORROW! WEEEEEEEE! *Begins singing "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan*

Z.Z.: *Mischievous laughter* Oho~how this happiness gets ruined so easily...

S-S: ...So yeah. This is what I have to deal with constantly. Also Z.Z., you're not and never WILL be a muse, get out of here.

Me: Yep...so that's it! Till next time, this is CTA and Shimering-Sky out! AND GOD IS RIGHTEOUS!