I own nothing. Warning, may contain Out of Character moments.

There was only silence as Yuya helped his Fusion counterpart recuperate from his brush with Yuzu. But instead of asking whether he was okay or not, the entertainer's mind was preoccupied with the events that had transpired. Yuzu, the girl he has known for most of his life, had just made a serious death threat without a hint of hesitation. She was abrasive at times sure, but never at all like this…

"Why are you so surprised? Did you expect them to give up their personal vendettas so easily? It's actually a miracle that you managed to make them tolerate me at all." Yuri said as he worked on restoring his posture.

"And that's all you're getting out of us!" Yugo shouted. The Standard Vassal responded with a mean glare, one that both He and Yuto didn't think he could give, causing the motorist to shut his mouth and back off. Yuya took a deep breath to regain himself before turning to his Fusion counterpart, realizing that he was also falling into an aggressive mood.

"Still, that doesn't give Yuzu the right to threaten you like that. If everyone just ran around doing that, things will get worse far before they could get any better."

"He has a point… Things would've been different if we just talked instead of trying to fight each other." Yuto said as he faced Yugo.

"Well maybe if you didn't call me Fusion things would've been different! Or if that asshole over there thought about what he was doing!"

"Enough! What's done is done! Let's just drop it and move on!" Yuya shouted. Calm down… Calm down… The entertainer took another deep breath and began thinking soothing thoughts, more anger would just make the situation uncontrollable. The entertainer looked at the Fusion Vassal and turned to him for any words, this was about him after all.

"What do you think about all this?" Yuya asked. The soldier took only a moment to sort his thoughts and bring forth an answer… Though it wasn't what they expected.

"Honestly speaking… I'm still trying to piece together why someone like you is interested in someone like her. Why would you chose someone like her? Do you have a some kind of masochistic tendency?"

Yuya could only turn and move away in embarrassment, feeling a screech trying to break free from his throat. The other two Vassal could only stare in disbelief as the soldier only waited for the others to break the silence. Fortunately, someone did.

"Out of everything that just happened, THAT'S what you're concerned with!?" Yuto asked, still trying to process what Yuri just said.

"I knew it! He's not normal! You were just threatened to get the shit kicked out of you! Aren't you a little scared!? I know would be!" Yugo shouted.

"The encounter was uncomfortable sure, but nothing that I haven't dealt with before."

"By dealt with you mean?" The rebel sounded wary when Yuri spoke his answer, thinking that the Fusion Vassal's words contained a subtle threat. The motorist seemed to have also caught the implication, his right hand more than ready to turn the Fusion Vassal's face a darker shade of black and blue.

"I can assure you that it doesn't involve anyone you know." Yuri answered calmly.

"And you expect us to believe that? After everything you did?" Yuto asked, unconvinced that his counterpart wouldn't involve their friends in his schemes. He heard his Synchro counterpart cracking his knuckles, no doubt planning to give a 'warning' to the soldier they hate so much. And though he was not too fond of physical violence, Yuto was more than willing to allow the motorist to teach Yuri a lesson.

When Yugo took a step forward, a hand grabbed his shoulder and stopped him from assaulting the Fusion Vassal. He turned to see Yuya, looking particularly disappointed at both him and the rebel.

"Hey… Uh… When did you get back from freaking out?"

"Just a minute ago. You know this will only give him a reason to do something bad, right?" Yuya answered, still gripping onto his counterpart's shoulder.

"And what makes you say he won't be up to no good if we leave him alone!? Have you thought about that!?" Yugo countered. His answer was only met with a plain stare, meaning that his reasoning was about to fall flat on his face.

"That's chance compared to certainty. It's like… If I gave you two boxes and you opened only one of them, would you know if the second box contains the same item as the first? I'm bad at math, but I'm pretty sure the odds of you getting it right are really low." Yuya replied.

"Your analogy is like Schrodinger's Cat where they put a cat in a box with a poisonous pill. One must guess whether the cat is dead or alive without opening the box. While chances are logically fifty – fifty, the participant won't know the fate of the creature until the box is opened. So technically both instances exist at the same time." Yuri commented.

"... Was the cat okay?" Yuya asked, sounding a bit worried.

"It was a thought experiment. Obviously they couldn't use real animals, many individuals wouldn't approve." Yuri replied.

"So we won't know if he will be an issue in the future until it happens? That's not a good way to deal with things Yuya. Are you sure you're not letting your new-found feelings for Yuri get in the way of your judgement?" Yuto asked, getting the discussion back on topic.

"And you're not letting your hate get in the way of yours? Don't get me wrong, I still have many problems to settle with him... But I'm not going to let my grudge blind me when I could clearly see something different about Yuri. I let anger get the better of me several times and nothing good came out of any of them… Wasn't it the same for you? When was the last time anger got you anything meaningful?" Yuya asked, words heavy with thought.

Yuto was pensive and began reflecting on his part in the interdimensional war, a time filled with only rage and hatred. He fought and dueled, defeating and carding all those who brought ruin to his home. The sorrow of losing comrades, the fury towards Academia, the pain of remembering the peaceful past… The tears shed when he lost Ruri. The rebel raged and battled onwards to find her, leaving card after card in his wraithful wake. But no closer was he to satisfaction and happiness, it only drove him deeper into abyss called despair…

Yugo felt similarly, though it wasn't as strong. He rarely got angry… Except when being called Fusion… Which forced him and Yuto to fight, becoming enemies with each other, and resulted in the rebel fusing with Yuya… On second thought, the Synchro Vassal agreed that everything could've went A LOT better if he didn't punch first and asked questions later… But still…

"Can't I get a little revenge in? Maybe a good punch to the jaw?" Yugo asked, still feeling the need to punch his Fusion counterpart.

"Even a little bit is too much, it doesn't take a lot to trigger a game of revenge. Once that first domino is knocked over, it's going to go the distance and won't stop until everything's in chaos. Lives will be ruined, people will suffer, and neither of you will be any closer to the finishing the game. And I'm not about to let ANY one of you destroy your lives and get pulled under by this sort of thing. Not you, not Yuzu, not Yuri, no one."

The entertainer stopped his little explanation and stared at the motorist and rebel, waiting for some sort of rebuttal. But after a while, they both gave a heavy sigh and simply looked at the Fusion Vassal, eyes filled with uncertainty.

"Don't think this makes us friends…" Yuto grumbled.

"And just to put it out there… We still hate you." Yugo said, folding his arms.

"You both sure know how to make a guy feel welcomed." Yuri replied dryly.

"Don't push it…"

Yuya gave a satisfied nod knowing that he stopped a potential disaster. Though he still wished he gave this kind of talk when the girls were still around, giving them some food for thought. He supposed that time will come eventually…

And that was Chapter 10 of Act 1. I'm still tired, so I'll keep this brief.

What do you think about all this? Is Yuya's argument compelling enough? Do you get what I'm getting at?

If you have any other questions, comments, or concerns, just send it in and I may get to you if I have the energy.

So with that said...

Until next time. T1.