Iroha woke up feeling sore all around her body as she looked to see Astral sleeping next to her, holding her hand in his as she blushed and managed to get a good look up close, his pale blue lips looked soft and almost made her want to kiss him, the markings on his face were beautiful she wanted to trace them but she couldn't move her arm due to the pain, what was more interesting was how peaceful he looked sleeping.

Iroha smiled before resting her eyes again and staring out the window where a family of white doves made their home in her window sill as she got up carefully to head to the bathtub as she removed the bandages to see how badly she was injured as she saw the numerous cuts from the wolves after saving Astral and the bruises from her Dark Zexal, the simple thought of the fusion brought a cold feeling to Iroha as she stopped the running water, undid her hair and stepped inside of the tub.

The hot water feels heavenly, and she suddenly realizes how achy she feels. So when she's cleaned up, rather than let the grime sit in the tub with her.

She sinks down, wincing as her knees crack and her legs shake. Surviving a deadly duel on the near brink of death is not fun, the hysteria of what happened with Astral now wearing off and leaving her feeling tired, sore, and confused.

Iroha takes hold of the hair charm and squeezes it tightly.

The silence is deafening, Iroha pulls her knees up to her chest and hugs them.

She wants to ask Astral to come out of the key and talk to her, but she's naked. Does she care if he sees her?

They've now shared a body, and he's naked all the time, so why should it matter? If she keeps her legs up and pressed tight to her chest, will there be anything to see?

Even the whole ordeal with Vector, the one person to be her first date was the worst to overcome. He lied and nearly killed her but she doesn't want to see him anymore after the whole ordeal and that was final.

"Iroha?"

She turned her head gently to see Astral with a worried look in his eyes as she didn't care to even cover herself, the bath salt made the water cloudy so he couldn't see her naked body.

"You can sit in the bath if you want." She said with a sad look in her eyes, Astral floated in the water and looked relaxed when he felt the warm water around him but noticed Iroha staring at her own knees as he saw the bruises on her back.

He reaches for the soothing cream and applied some onto her back as she yelped before withdrawing his hand before applying it back on gently. "I want to forget him." She cried as Astral knew who she was talking about.

He hugged her in his arms before letting the water drain and wrapping her around a towel as she got dressed in pjs so she could relax in bed, they received a text from Tsuruno that she went back to Kamihama and Felicia Mitsuki, the magical girl she met was going to stay with Iroha to protect her from Ray or rather Vector incase if he tried anything.

Iroha laid on the bed where Ponta and Cloud Kitten were cuddled up before she winced in pain as she laid on her side as Felicia came inside and saw Iroha in pain.

"Don't worry, I got some ice!" She said as she let it sit at Iroha's side and cooling the pain off before Astral went back to Yuma to let the boy know Iroha was okay.

Iroha fell into a deep sleep and her muscles relaxed in the comfort of her warm bed as Felicia sighed, she felt really bad for Iroha and Astral after witnessing the Dark ZEXAL.

Felicia has been hunting down witches since the deaths of her parents and now she's hunting down Vector for bringing so much pain to her new friend.

"Just you wait Vector, I'll kill you!" She promised herself before taking a walk outside before she saw someone battling Yuma with a number card 96 but something felt off as Felicia transformed and jumped high into the air and slammed her hammer into the monster.

"KATTOBINGU!!" She shouted as the monster was destroyed as the person fainted as the awful feeling disappeared and the dark aura was gone just within seconds as she transformed back and gave the odd number card to Astral as he absorbed it but got a deadly vision of Earth being destroyed and Ui in some sort of crystal.

"Astral?" Felicia asked the spirit as he looked at the blonde magical girl as he pats her head saying that he was okay but lying wasn't his type of doing even if it was to protect Iroha from danger.

Felicia broke up a fight between Bronk and Yuma with the help of her hammer and threats as they quickly became quiet before the end of the day when Felicia told them to make up or they would earn new bruises.

"Make up already!!" She said in her magical outfit and hammer ready to smash something as they made up not long before Yuma was hit by a nearby skateboarder as the key came off and landed near Felicia.

"The key!" Then Felicia felt something change in the air as she growled and saw black ooze pouring out of Yuma's deck as Yuma scrambled backwards from the ooze before they saw Astral struggling with the black ooze.

"Astral!" Felicia called out the spirit as black tendrils shot at Yuma before Felicia stepped in front of Yuma before swinging her hammer and destroying them.

"Why you-! Stay away from Yuma!!" Felicia said with anger and rage laced within as she held her hammer in both hands as the dark spirit Astral look-alike began to laugh like a maniac which made Felicia off the edge. "Who the hell are you?! What have you done with Astral?!?"

Felicia was beyond pissed, she moved in with Yuma when she said she had no relatives with her, she considered Astral and Yuma her brothers. "Where's my big brother?!?" She asked once more.

"Foolish child~. You may call me 96~." The dark spirit, 96, said as he gave a sadistic smile which made Felicia even more angry. "Wipe that smile off your face!!" She threatened to 96 as questions raced through Bronk. "Felicia, you said big brother like a family figure, right? Where are your parents?" Bronk knew he regretted asking a question like that when Felicia then began shaking.

"Mom...Dad...They were killed by a witch! And I wanted to hunt down the same witch that killed them, but when I heard that people started getting hurt here I couldn't just stand around and let them get killed." She said with small tears in her eyes.

"Felicia..." Yuma softly called out her name before 96 scoffed at her story before sending black tendrils at Bronk who held the key that was next to Felicia as they saw a barrier around them before Astral spoke up.

"Y..Yuma..give your Utopia...to Bronk..now.." Astral managed to speak with the little strength he had before a yellow arrow fired at the tendrils as they saw who fired the arrow.

"Iroha?!" Felicia yelled out in confusion wanting to know why the injured magical girl arrived at a time like this as she held her bruised side with one arm and the other had the crossbow pointing at 96 as his grin grew wider.

"Hello little Peony~. It's so nice to meet you finally out here~." Iroha knew the dark spirit from her dreams within seconds before she saw a tendril shooting at her as it stopped inches away from her face as she saw Astral struggling.

"Astral!" She called out to the light spirit as she felt his pain and he vanished from her, she began panicking at his sudden disappearance of his presence, she felt like crying but she couldn't do so as she was swept off her feet by the tendril in front of her which she forgot about.

"Aahh!!" She cried out in pain as she was held by the dark number before feeling the squeezing pain from her bruised side. 96 chuckled at her pain as he saw the tears form in her eyes before wiping the tears away and smoothing her hair with one hand.

"Now now~. There's no need to cry my flower~." He purred as she moved her face away from the dark spirit who only growled and got ready to duel Bronk and Felicia for the number card as Felicia pulled out her Duel Disk and D-Gazer and got ready to duel the dark spirit to free her friend and brother.

"Duel!" She shouted before pulling out a card from her deck. "I summon Moo-Moo Gunsman in Defense Mode and place one card facedown.

'Mom...Dad...help me win!' Felicia thought as she saw her monster on the field.

Moo-Moo Gunsman ATK : 1800 DEF: 1600

Then Yuma who was controlled by 96 drew a card and summoned Gagaga Magician on the field in defense and ended his turn.

Iroha had to get out the dark spirit's grasp and help with the duel but his grip was too strong for her in her state.

Bronk summoned a monster from his hand in attack position and let Felicia summon another monster onto the field and attacked Yuma's monster and Yuma directly with Moo-Moo Maiden of Spring.

Moo-Moo Maiden of Spring ATK: 1700 DEF 2000

"I activate the Overlay Unit and use Moo-Moo Gunsman and Moo-Moo Maiden of Spring to bring out my ultimate monster! Number 35: Moo-Moo Beatrice of Agitation!" Felicia shouted as her monster nuzzled her cheek as she patted its side before she placed another facedown and ended her turn.

Number 35: Moo-Moo Beatrice of Agitation ATK 2600 DEF 2100

"And that's not all!" She shouted as she summoned her hammer. "I get a boost if I was in my magical clothing! I can attack you directly!" She shouted as she ran up and swung her hammer into Yuma as a huge pain erupted into his ribs and dropped his life points down to 2100.

"USO! I thought that would finish him and free Yuma!" She thought as she willed her hammer away and ended her attack.

Then 96 smirked before playing a trap card that gains 800 Life Points he lost for the amount of cards they have in their Graveyard and it adds up to Felicia's graveyard with only two for the Overlay Unit and he gained back 1600 Life Points which added up to 2600.

"No big deal! Beatrice can smash that stupid smile off your face!" Felicia shouted which only made him laugh louder before holding Iroha in front of him and Yuma as Felicia growled.

"Let. Her. GO!!!"

Iroha bit down on a tendril but that did nothing but brought the dark spirit to wrap one around her mouth like a gag as he pressed down on her side which made her scream in pain.

Deep down, Astral tried to escape the dark number but the grip was too strong for him to escape, he could feel the same for Iroha, her energy was fading as Iroha blacked out in the tendrils as 96 held her limp body in his arms, admiring how lovely she looked before moving his finger to trace her lips as he felt a sharp stab in the side.

Astral was fighting back to stop his darker half movements on Iroha as he struggled to free himself before Yuma told them to finish him off before Felicia attacked Yuma directly with her number card as she smiled before Astral emerged and held Iroha with both arms being careful of her bruised side and absorbing the number back into himself.

"Astral..." Felicia felt the tears arriving as she dived forward and hugged the spirit and Yuma in a tight hug as tears fell from her eyes and onto the ground.

"I'm so happy that you're both okay. I don't wanna lose anyone else because of me!" She said sobbing as Astral saw Iroha smiling at him before helping her to her feet as they walked back to her place where she saw a letter attached to her door as she took the letter and opened it when she got in her bed.

It was from Vector...she decided to read it to herself and continue ignoring him.

Iroha, I am very sorry for lying to you, please don't be mad at me anymore. I want us to be together once more, please forgive me for my actions.

-Vector

Iroha tore up the letter and threw it away in the nearby trashcan and checked her messages with Vector texting her so much, she blocked his number so she wouldn't hear anymore from him as she thought back to Astral.

She placed her phone next to her before sighing. "No, I learned a lesson about love and I won't make the same mistake again. What's the point of love when all it does is hurt?" She asked herself before picking up her phone.

She texted her friends and decided to have a get together and told them about Vector and the awful things he did to her, Yachiyo agreed to have a get together the next day as Iroha got ready for the get together.

She met her friends at the bus station and began walking to a cafe where Iroha and Vector had their first date, and Yachiyo felt like she hit a sensitive spot before she asked something she regretted asking.

"Was this where you and Vector had the date?" Iroha turned to Yachiyo with cold eyes and asked her a question. "I'm sorry, who's Vector?" She asked as everyone got chills.

'What did this asshole do to her?!' They all thought at the same time as Iroha smiled before Rena spoke up. "Iroha! Vector may have done this to you because he is a no good Barian, forget about him, focus on why we're here! Have fun!"

"You're right! I should just forget about Vector, from now on, he doesn't exist!" She said with a smile as the girls all had fun before a familiar voice made Iroha freeze in place. "Iroha-chan! Why haven't you answered my texts?"

She turned around to see Vector with a smile that "Ray Shadows" would have as she turned around before Kaede asked her. "Is that Vector?" Iroha ignored the Barian call her name. "Yachiyo, did you pack some bug spray? Because there seems to be a mosquito following us." Iroha insulted Vector as he looked like he was a kicked puppy. "Iroha-chan! Why must you be hateful? Didn't you love our first date?" He asked as she felt him grab her arm and two officers came over.

"Is everything okay? Is he bothering you?" He asked as Iroha nodded as the police told Vector to step away from her and he did which he gave a look to Iroha saying like it wasn't over.

~~~~~Mokyu~~~~~

The girls spent the night at Iroha's talking about how much fun it was before Felicia spoke up about the beach. "Maybe we could invite Yuma and the others to the beach with us, we bought new swimsuits." She said as Iroha nodded as they all went to sleep to get ready for the beach as Iroha fell into her dreams.

(Begin Dream)

Iroha was in a dance studio dancing to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata with every move perfected before feeling hand grasp her own and pulled forward to see Vector holding her close but she got out of his grasp and glared at him as he managed to dance to her and held her waist before twirling around and around as he held her down on the ground.

He caressed her hair with a loving look in his eyes before caressing her bottom lip with his thumb as the scene changed to a dark world full of crystals and the only light around them was outside as Vector's human form was changed to his Barian form as he grabbed her wrists and held them down before changing his form and kissing her lips as she yelped.

She squirmed in his grasp as she struggled for air before her lips were released from his and she heard his voice. "I love you Iroha-chan." He said but Iroha snapped out of her daze before shoving him back.

She wiped her lips with her hand before he danced with her again in a castle of ruins and his outfit changed to look like an emperor. "I told you, leave me alone!" She shouted before she began to run but was held back by black tendrils that were very familiar to her.

"Hello Little Peony, miss me~?" the ooze emerged as 96 before Iroha was changed into the same black dress from the first dream as she was pulled by the dark spirit who held a joyful expression. "Let's dance my flower~!" He said as Iroha tried to pry her hands away but she felt trapped in darkness.

Just when all hope seems lost, Utopia appeared with her XYZ monster Giovanni and attacked the two sadistic villains as Iroha was held up by Utopia bridal style as the dress faded into petals and replaced by a white dress with thin straps on each of her shoulders as she saw Astral in front of her and holding something small.

He kneeled down and almost spoke out loud for her to hear but the sound of Tsuruno waking her up as Astral nodded.

(End Dream)

Iroha shot up and hit her forehead with Tsuruno as the girls and Yuma and his friends winced at the contact before Irona got dressed and ready for the beach as they all walked down before meeting up with Momoko, another friend of Rena and Kaede as she waved for them.

"Let's get this started!" Momoko said as she tossed the volleyball up and they began playing as Astral viewed how wonderful the beach looked before he saw Iroha in her swimsuit, his cheeks were a bright red as she looked at him and smiled.

"Hi Astral." She said as the volleyball came her way before sending it back at Momoko with a serve she had learned in PE before tending her wrist after a hard serve as Astral saw her wrist turning red before holding his hand over her wrist as it began to glow and the pain was gone as she blushed before kissing his cheek and he felt the warmth from her.

Tonight, he will ask for a dance with her, just a dance for once, what he remembers of a memory, the males would ask their first love to dance if the spouse or mate is willingly to do so.

He would explain the memory he remembered to Iroha is he got a chance to ask her alone without any disturbance in their way.

"Miss Tamaki? Can I speak to you alone?" Astral asked her as she nodded and headed somewhere they couldn't be heard as Astral took a deep breath and let it out.

"Would you like to have a dance? Alone, in the key?" He asked as he blushed before Iroha smiled before nodding and heading back to the beach before bumping into a boy with long blonde hair with a wing extension and piercing blue eyes as he helped her up before she got the same feeling like from Vector as she thanked him before heading back to the girls and getting some cold treats before she saw Vector and a dark feeling came back.

She planted her cold treat in his face as it stuck there. "Not interested Vector." She said coldly before they all left the beach and got dressed in some clothes and headed to Iroha's place as they all saw her parents with smiles as she embraced them.

"Mom! Dad!"

"Iroha!" They all hugged before she began talking her days and forgetting about Vector as the girls talked with the parents and Astral saw how loving the parents were to their daughter and thought of taking human form and greeting himself one day.

Iroha then waved her parents goodbye and told them to have a safe drive on the way back as she smiled at the thought of her parents alright and away from harm.

"U-um girls, Astral asked me to dance with him, alone, well, what do you guys think?" She asked her friends as they agreed to the dance Astral asked her as she smiled and went over to the gardens where she waited for Astral as she received another text from Ray and she ignored him as she sighed.

"What's the point? I'll just get hurt again." She said placing her phone on silent.

If there's a prize for rotten judgement,
I guess I've already won that
No man is worth the aggravation
That's ancient history, been there, done that

She had a coat on and thought back to how Vector revealed his true self to her before tossing out the letters from him and the various burning of flowers in the back from him, she gave the sweets to Felicia.

(Who'd You think you're kidding
He's the earth and heaven to you
Try to keep it hidden,)

Iroha walked by her friends as she took a small walk to Yuma's place for Astral as she continued looking at the missed calls from Ray as she shoved her phone back into her pocket as her friends walked with her.

(Honey we can see right through you
Girl you can't conceal it
We know how you're feeling
Who you thinking of)

Iroha then turned to her friends as she shook her head and had an unhappy face on her face before turning around and walking as they shrugged and continued walking after her as Astral was behind Rena as he whispered in her ear and nodded at him.

No chance no way I won't say it, no no

(You swoon you sigh why deny it oh oh)

It's too cliche I won't say I'm in love
I thought my heart had learned its lesson
It feels so good when you start out
My head is screaming "Get a grip girl
Unless you're dying to cry your heart out

(Girl you can't deny it
Who you are is how you're feeling
Baby we're not buying
Hon we saw you hit the ceiling
Face it like a grown-up
When you gonna own up that you got got got it bad)

No chance no way I won't say it, no no

Then Iroha saw herself in a reflection before plastering a smile but shook her head and continued walking to Yuma's place.

(Give up, give in, check the grin you're in love)

This scene won't play I won't say I'm in love

(We'll do it until you admit you're in love)

You're way off base I won't say it
Get off my case I won't say it

She walked up to the door and thought it through before turning to her friends and nodded at her to do it.

(Girl don't be proud it's okay you're in love)

Then she sighed and smiled before ringing the doorbell and smiling as she saw the flower left for her as she smiled and sniffed it.

At least out loud I won't say I'm in love

What she didn't know was that Vector was watching her from above on a rooftop of a person's house with a blank look as Kari let her in so she could talk to Yuma as he let her upstairs as Yuma let her into the key as she looked around to see the ship that took her to Sargasso well cleaned and decorated with glowing blue flowers as Astral floated next to her.

"Hi." She said blushing as he gently took her hand before her dress changed into a beautiful blue one with small butterflies as she blushed before Iroha turned to see Astral standing there, as a human in a light blue-ish tuxedo and his hair pulled back into a low ponytail.

"May I have this dance Iroha?" He asked as she blushed and took his hand in hers as they dance to the music playing in the background as Astral swept her off her feet with one arm before holding her close to him as they stared at each other lovingly before sealing it with a kiss before a marking appeared over her heart.

The image was of a pink heart within a blue flower and the vines tracing outward as was Astral's marking glowing before they exited the key and iroha said goodbye to Yuma as she headed back to her house and laid in bed as she held Astral's hand in hers before falling asleep.

Vector watched the entire thing as the tears spilled from his eyes, he will make Astral suffer for having a bond mark on Iroha and himself for that.

He wanted Iroha as his wife, tending to their future children and having a lovely life with him but no, he had to suffer loneliness because of his stupid mistake of lying to her had to ruin everything!

He left her to sleep as he looked back with one last glance before smirking at a plan that would get her to love him.

All he needed was a little persuasion to get her to his side...

Just a little help from the shadows...