Dark Mist caught the Dark Number before he could completely fall limp. The man, who he paid no attention to, quickly knocked him out of the air, catching Black Mist back in his arms.

"Who are you?" Ed demanded, clutching him close.

Dark Mist got up slowly so as not to alarm the man. "I'm just here to help. I knocked him out so I could talk to you."

"What do you want to talk about? I don't have much time since the other one is on-"

"My friend is taking care of him, so we have all the time we want. Look, my friend and I want to stop the both of them, but we also don't want either of them to die, so we need to get them as far apart from each other as possible." He shrugged. "Maybe we can even talk to them?"

Edward relaxed some, slight confusion creasing his brow. "Are you sure this will work?"

"We don't know, but it's worth a shot. I'm thinking of going with 12, and my friend is going to stay with this one." He gestured to Black Mist.

"He's a dangerous one, I know. To be in the presence of someone else is a huge danger unless I'm there with him. Otherwise, he would have to be tied up, and that's not going to help anyone."

"I know." Dark Mist grimaced. "But he's willing..." He was clearly worried about Astral because he knew that this man was telling the truth. "Are you in? You could stay with him to make things easier."

"I'm in." Ed nodded. "Where is your friend?"

"He'll come in when he's dealt with 12."

~.~.~

Astral pursued 12 as his corrupted body seemed to twist and dance out of his attacks. Of course he would be so flexible; he was a trained Agent, taught to use magic and physical fighting to capture Prisoners!

"You can't catch me like that, young one!" 12 laughed, his gray and muddy orange eyes glowing dangerously. "You aren't nearly as trained as I am!"

Astral finally landed a kick, which he used to pin 12 down. "Just calm down, okay?" he breathed. "Look, I'm not trying to hurt you too much, but you need to reel this in, okay? Just don't think about your brother for a while, okay? Calm down and don't let this darkness consume you too much, okay? Just breathe."

The white, black, and purple seemed to fade back into light blue, and the eyes dulled down a bit. Soon, the sane 12 stared back at his double, his gaze no longer cold, but rather somewhat scared.

"There you go!" Astral grinned. "I'm from another world called Valkyrian. My friend and I have started traveling around worlds, and this was the first one. When we learned about what's going on, we came up with a plan if you want to hear it."

12's eyes narrowed, the frightened nature disappearing. "A plan? If this is about keeping me from capturing 96, then I would rather not hear it."

"Well, it is, but I happen to know better than anyone that you don't want to send him back to that place," Astral persuaded easily. "Deep down, you really want to help him fit into this society, and you think that killing any and all dark beings is complete bullcrap, right?"

12 stared back with wide eyes. "I could get killed if those thoughts escape, you hear me?" he hissed. "I will have no part of this!"

"So you would rather have your brother killed than try to help and change the system?"

This stole any words from the Agent's tongue. His mouth opened when he started to talk, but no words came out. Finally, he said, "What is your plan?"

Astral smiled. "My friend and I thought that we should stop your brother, but we don't want either of you killed, so we decided that keeping you two as far apart from each other as possible would be the best plan. I will be staying with your brother to help him change as much as possible, and my friend will help you change the ways of this society."

12 pursed his lips and gently pushed Astral off of him. "A noble plan, but we would have to go through the Light Forces, my Leader, to change anything, and to be quite honest..." He paused, gaze dulling a bit, and then he looked back to Astral. "To be quite honest, they are not open to any change in their ways."

"My friend can help. He says he thinks he's has contact with them once, and he's very persuasive."

12 thought for a moment and sighed. "Very well. I'm willing to try."

"Good! Come with me."

He and 12 made their way to the house, where Dark Mist was waiting with Edward out in front. Astral covered up the black cut as much as possible with what was left of the bandages before even getting close, claiming that he didn't want anyone to see that disfigurement. Then, they met up with the others. 

"All good?" Dark Mist asked, eyeing 12. 

"All good," Astral confirmed with a smile.

"Great!" Dark Mist grinned at 12. "Looks like we'll be doing something potentially life-threatening."

"More like something that will cause our certain death," 12 joked, "but I'm willing to try. Who knows, maybe after many years, they will change their views."

"Let's get this done before Black Mist wakes up," Edward interrupted. "His recovery from knock outs is incredible."

The others nodded and separated. While the others were leaving, Astral and Dark Mist shared one last hug and a small kiss.

"Don't fall apart on me, now," Dark Mist joked. "I'll have a hard time bringing you back to sanity."

Astral laughed, snorting a bit. "I'll try not to, but it's a risk."

"Here, maybe if you have this, the partial off balance won't happen." With a flick of his wrist, he produced his Number Card and gave it to his lover. "Now hurry along, love. We don't want to keep them waiting."

They kissed again and separated, Astral clutching the card close to his chest as he caught up with Edward.