A/N: And now for me to actually do a chapter of this based on a request! Thank mcdinh for this one!

Well, I actually had the idea myself before the request was made, I just never got around to it.

Either way, this is short yet sweet. Enjoy~!


Mother

"Droite-san, is everything alright…?"

Amber-colored eyes snapped open. The violet-haired woman shifted around, removing her hand from her face. She silently scolded herself; she was supposed to be on guard duty, yet she'd drifted off at some point. Droite rubbed her eyes and looked at the young girl before her. "What was that, Aria?"

The girl's lavender eyes looked almost worried. "I wanted to know if you're alright… you hadn't said anything in awhile…"

"I fell asleep," Droite replied to the girl she was supposed to be patrolling with. "Closed my eyes to think about some things and drifted off."

"O-Oh," Aria muttered. "Well… I didn't see anyone while you were, asleep."

Droite peered out of the broken window they were camped out beneath. She didn't see any of the invaders, and their bright clothing stuck out at night, so either they suddenly got good at hiding, or there really weren't anyone around. She hoped for the second option; as exhausted as she was now, she wasn't sure she could Duel the way she usually did.

"…What were you thinking about?" Aria asked quietly, fiddling with the hem of her skirt.

Droite's heart twinged before she worked up a reply. "I… I was thinking about my family. My husband and my son… they're alive, but they're part of the refugee group at the stadium. I haven't seen them in nearly half a year… and, tomorrow is my husband's birthday…"

"I see… that makes sense…" Aria went back to fiddling with her skirt, and Droite chided herself for being so inconsiderate. The girl had watched both of her parents get carded before her eyes, and was very lucky that the green-eyed stranger that occasionally showed up at the Duel Lodge had decided to help her and her sisters get to safety. Meanwhile, Droite hadn't lost her family to this war—many friends, good friends, yes, but not her family.

Movement outside the window caught Droite's eye. She waved at Aria to keep quiet and very carefully peered out the window again. The movement was caused by two people—children, judging by their height—that were dressed entirely in black. Black was not one of Academia's colors, but she couldn't let her guard down because of that. Especially not since she and Aria were supposed to be the only ones on patrol in this area. "Stay here. I'm following them."

"But—we're not supposed to split up!"

"I'm following them, not fighting them, I'll be fine."

Reluctantly, the pink-haired girl let Droite go. The woman pulled her scarf back over her face and followed the two figures—young boys, she'd come to realize—around the corner, whereupon they went into… the ruins of a candy shop? If the two boys were with Academia, why on earth would they need to go into a destroyed candy shop? It'd most likely already been looted for anything that could safely be grabbed and then some…

Against her better judgement, she drew closer to the shop. She heard them talking, along with the sounds of them rummaging through the debris in there. Either this was a pathetic attempt at a trap, or those boys were actually looking for something to eat. After a few minutes, one of the boys shouted happily—and Droite's heart skipped a beat, because the voice sounded like Yuto's. That couldn't be it, though… he was stuck on the other side of the city…

She was standing in front of the door when the two boys turned to leave. The sunken door frame blocked their view of each other's faces, although she saw one of the boys power on his Duel Disk—it was not one of Academia's models—and that same boy, with his voice lowered, demanded, "Who's there?"

That… that's impossible, she thought, ducking her head under the door frame and lowering her scarf again. By some sort of miracle, the two boys in front of her were indeed her son and one of his friends—Reizo, the boy from the Standard Dimension. She stared at her son incredulously; she had to be dreaming now, there was no way he walked all the way over here only with Reizo to back him up. "Yuto? It's… really you?"

"M-Mom?!" he exclaimed, equally surprised as her. A split-second later, he teared up and lunged at her. She caught him and held him tighter than she ever had before. It didn't matter how, but she had her baby boy back and that was all that mattered. "I-I thought, I thought you were gone," he sobbed into her shoulder. "I mean—I always hoped—I missed you, Mom!"

With that, he couldn't speak any more through his sobs. Droite rubbed the back of his head reassuringly. "There, there, let it all out. I'm not going anywhere…"


A/N: …Man, writing this when you guys know what happens to Droite really hurt…

Still, I hope this was still an enjoyable read. You got to see a little bit of Aria, who's only made one appearance in Rebirth thus far (although she will be making more appearances soon, don't you worry), and of course you got to see more of the reunion, from Droite's side to boot.

Please review!

(I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V or Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.)