I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V!

So this idea rushed into my brain as soon as I saw 116. I'm thinking of expanding it if you guys like it enough but for now its my thoughts on how the first three Bracelet Girls, Ruri, Rin, and Selena, were brainwashed. So a three-shot I guess beginning with Ruri's abduction to Academia. I hope you guys enjoy!

Clipping the Wings: Ruri

Why me?

The question kept appearing in Kurosaki Ruri's mind. Why was she spared, taken to Academia in fact, when the rest of the people in Heartland were carded without a second thought.

Why was she so special? What gave her the right to keep on living when she had to watch so many other people die during the attacks on her homeland, some at which to save her life. Why didn't this Fusion User, that sickeningly looked so much like Yuto, card her as well? Why did he instead target her precisely, waited until she was away from the Resistance, and hunted her down like it was some sick game that he appeared to be fully enjoying, only to capture her in the end?

"Why me?"

"I don't know. I just follow orders."

That wasn't the response Ruri was hoping for. If anything, it only made Ruri dislike this Fusion clone of Yuto even more. He was walking in front of her, leading her somewhere. His crimson cape flowed behind him, sometimes almost hitting Ruri who was walking, more like being pulled, behind by a simple chain. It reminded Ruri of a story her parents told her as a kid of a woman who went insane in the woods and killed any living creature she found, leaving behind a trail of blood in her wake to let people know she was there.

"Is that what all you Fusion folk are like? Just mindless soldiers just sitting around, waiting to be ordered to do something? I pity you all. I really do."

The tighten of her cuffs made her know that she must have hit a nerve with this guy. That or he was in the mood to watch her cry out in pain again when they did tighten, a lot.

He didn't stop moving when she screamed but he did glance over his shoulder at her. His violet eyes seemed to have widen at her pain in mad glee but that was quickly gone as soon as it appeared when he seemed to have remembered that he wasn't supposed to hurt her. So, with a sigh, he pushed a button on his duel disk, and the Solid Vision cuffs around her wrist loosened up once more.

"Don't categorize me with those weaklings. Here at Academia, we have a ranking system." He told her matter of factly, eyes turning back to the path ahead. "Red being the lowest, Yellow the middle class, and Blue being the highest. I'm sure you are used to seeing those colored soldiers in your homeland, yes? Well from what I've been hearing, with there being so little of you left, they just needed to send Reds now to finish up the job, hmmm?"

Are you calling the people of Heartland weak? Was what Ruri wanted to ask but instead questioned, "so where does that place you then?" She gestured to his purple uniform.

"Me? Well I guess you can say that I'm in a special kind of class. The ones given the title of purple were hand picked by the Professor himself to be his right hand enforcers."

"The Professor?" Ruri remembered this guy talking about him when he first showed up. He said that he wanted to save the trouble of making a mess and just bring her to him before Ruri challenged him to a duel to escape. "You keep talking about this "Professor" of yours. Who is he?"

"Hmmm, well in simplest terms, he's the leader here at Academia who for some reason requested you personally to be founded and captured."

Now that surprised Ruri. "But why me?"

"Who knows but he was so hell bent on finding you first to make sure that nothing bad happened to you that he wouldn't attack Heartland until you were located."

Ruri froze in her steps at that, causing the guy to also stop and turn to face her. "What's wrong?" He questioned, not out of concern but quite the opposite actually.

"You mean to tell me that...Heartland...my home...was attacked...because of me?"

"Don't give yourself too much credit." He rolled his eyes at the statement. "The Xyz Dimension was going to be invaded, that everyone knew. It was just a matter of when that's all. You being the when of course. Still," his predatory eyes studied her, almost like they were trying to pierce through her, "I don't see what's so special about you. You look like any other normal girl to me. But I'm not here to judge. If the Professor finds you special, then I guess I have to too."

He then gave her chain a little yank with a smile on his face to get her moving once more. "With that being said, we do have a meeting to get to. So come along now, don't be shy. We do, after all, as our special guest, want to make your stay here as enjoyable as we can make it!"

Somehow, Ruri really doubted that.

…

Before the days of war, Heartland was a place build to do pretty much do everything for you. With its advanced technology, walking was a thing of the past with moving sidewalks everywhere and with elevators and escalators, even going up a simple set of stairs was irrelevant.

Academia, however, was quite different. Sure, from what Ruri has seen, their technology was amazing, that she couldn't denie. However, instead of using it to make life better for themselves, they used it for military and teaching purposes.

She also learned very quickly that this castle of a school building, which she also came to learn from her kidnapper, was a lot bigger on the inside then out. If Ruri had to guess, it took around ten minutes at least for them to reach their destination which was some kind of throne room.

"I should have figured that you folk would have a Monarchy."

"You say that like we have a King or Queen. No, if I have to call it anything, I think of Academia as a Dictatorship."

Ruri learned very quickly from this guy that, while he was a total sadistic and more then likely a psychopath, he was very fact based on life. Still…

"If that's so, why do you stay here then? That sounds horrible."

"Hmm…" He placed a hand on his chin, like he was actually thinking about it. Ruri, for a split second, thought he might have questioned why he was here but that hope was destroyed when he smiled that wicked smile at her. "Why? Well to be completely honest, I have literally no reason to be here. I'm just here because it's fun! I do need some form of entertainment in my life, after all."

Ruri could only stare at him, horrified at his answer. "You're sick."

He laughed at that. "Maybe but at least I'm not the one in chains, now am I?" He didn't even wait for her to reply as he turned to face the throne. "Professor, I have brought you the girl as you requested. Her wrists might be a little bruised from her struggling but other then that, completely unharmed as you wished."

"Excellent work, Yuri." A deep voice echo throughout the room, surprising Ruri until she noticed that they weren't alone in here. Standing behind the throne was a tall man from what she could make out. The rest of him she couldn't see with his body being hidden behind the throne and it didn't help already that the room was pretty dark to begin with. "I expected nothing less."

"Naturally."

"Now I like you to leave us be. I wish to speak to her alone."

"Of course, sir." Yuri did a bow and with one last smile from him to her, he left the room through the giant metal doors, closing them shut being him to make sure she wouldn't make a run for it.

Now, for as far as Ruri could tell, it was just her and this Professor now and that made Ruri gulp at first. At least with Yuri, she could sometimes imagine him to be Yuto to calm her nerves but now she's locked in a room with a total stranger who she assumed was the person who ordered the attacks on her homeland in the first place and made her fully realize the reality of her situation.

The tension in the air was so thick that you could cut it with a knife until the Professor spoke.

"What's your name, my dear?"

Ruri didn't answer. She didn't trust herself to speak.

"Oh yes, how rude of me. I shouldn't ask such questions without introducing myself first. The people of the Fusion Dimension know me as the Professor. However, as you probably guessed, that isn't my real name. My name is Akaba Leo and you may call me that if you so wish."

"...you people keep talking about these "dimensions"." Ruri noted right away. "Yuri called my homeland, Heartland, the Xyz Dimension and you just called now called this place, Academia, the Fusion Dimension."

"Yes, I figured you wanted some answers to why I brought you here and more. Allow me to explain. Our universe is divided into Four Dimensions. Your homeland, the Xyz Dimension, is home to the origins of Xyz Summoning while here at the Fusion Dimension is home to the origins of Fusion Summoning, a summoning method that I believe you and your folk weren't familiar with until recently, am I correct?"

"Yes until you sent your soldiers to destroy my people."

"Please understand that I mean no ill will to the citizens of Heartland."

"Then why then?! Why did you order Academia to destroy Heartland?!" Ruri cried, closing her eyes since she couldn't hold back her tears and anger anymore. "Heartland was a wonderful place filled with smiles that came from dueling. Nii-chan, my best friend Yuto, and I dreamed about becoming Pro Duelists together so we could continue to spread those smiles to the future generation of Heartland. But ever since you attacked my homeland, dueling has been turned into nothing more than a tool for war! I had to sit back and watch as my Nii-chan, Yuto, and the rest of my friends and loved ones fight for not only their lives but for the rest of us survivors who are just trying to live another day with grim expressions on their faces as shells of their former selves. This wasn't how our lives were supposed to be! We are just children that were forced to be a part of this to keep on living! But more then that, this isn't how dueling should be! Dueling should be used to make people smile, not to destroy them! So please," Ruri was full on crying now, begging on her knees even, "if you have some kind of heart deep down, please stop your attacks on Heartland. Please, you can have me, but don't hurt them anymore. Please…"

"My...don't we have an emotional one on our handsss, professssor."

Ruri froze with tears slowly running down her face. That voice...there was another person in here. But didn't Akaba Leo say that he wanted to speak to her alone? Then again, she shouldn't be surprised since this was Academia and they weren't to be trusted.

Speaking of the Professor, Leo let out a sigh. "Doctor, I was hoping not to make your presence known to our guest so soon."

"Forgive me, sssir, but it doesssn't appear that ssshe'sss going to lisssten to reassson after what ssshe hasss ssseeen and sssaid."

Stepping more into the light appeared to be an aged man who appeared to be bald with long white hair at the back of his head. His eyes were wide open, making him almost look like a reptile in Ruri's eyes that it sent a shiver down her spine.

Once again, Leo let out a low sigh. "I was hoping that it wouldn't have come to this. I would have liked to have talked this out but it appears she's going to be as troublesome as Selena."

"It'sss better to be sssafe than sssorrry. After all, look what happened to Ssselena when you let her do whatever ssshe wanted even with a bodyguard."

Just what are they talking about? Ruri wondered as she slowly took a few steps away from them in fear. Ever since that Doctor guy appeared, Ruri could have swore she felt something evil about him, something not human almost.

"Very well, processed with plan B. I can't take anymore chances with our time being so limited."

"As you wisssh, sssir."

The sound of a duel disk being activated was the only warning Ruri had before she felt something next to her and soon was crawling up her leg. The teenage girl let out a shriek from surprised as she glanced down and her eyes widen at the sight. It looked like some kind of red parasite with six legs and a long tail that was trying to dig its way into her skin almost but was being blocked by her clothes.

Ruri screamed as she struggled to get the thing off her but with her hands bound she couldn't do much. She could only watch as the parasite soon figured out that it couldn't dig into her pants and made it way to her bare arms. She tried shaking her body, hoping the parasite would go flying off but it held on by her foreskin. Ruri tried everything she could but the parasite just wouldn't fall off her body and soon made its way to the back of her neck.

Ruri breathed heavily from fear and just trying to get her breath back after screaming so much. She could feel that thing breathing down her neck, literally, as its claws dug into her skin. It hurt at first and Ruri could have swore that it drew blood but the worst pain in her life came when the parasite, after searching around, seemed to have found a vein in the back of her neck and stabbed its tail into it.

Ruri felt her body going limp at that as she collapsed to the ground, not knowing that the parasite was slowly making itself right at home on her body.

And then everything went blank as the parasite took ahold of its first host: the bird that would never fly again.