Astral's hands shot up before he could even think about bringing them up. His fingers curled around Sanji's wrist, tightening on contact. With trembling arms, he managed to fend off the attack. Just barely.

Sanji snarled. "Why do you refuse to die!?" he shrieked, releasing his arm forcefully from Astral's grip.

Astral flew up, barely dodging the next swing of the knife. Dark just found it amusing.

Where Light Side lacks in fighting skills and strength, he makes up with speed, agility, and fast reflexes. He chuckled and snapped his fingers. There, now the boy will remember everything. This is sure to cause tension.

Sanji suddenly snatched Astral's wrist and pulled him down. He pinned him to the ground and kept him there. He raised the knife. "Die!"

Astral's eyes widened. Surely, Dark wouldn't kill him like that. He snuck a glance at the reflection. He was grinning, not concerned at all. He just snapped his fingers, and Sanji plunged the knife into his chest.

~.~.~

Darkness. That was all he saw. Nothing but darkness. That is, until he opened his eyes, which met with the eyes of Dark. They seemed to glow in the darkness.

He snickered. "I decided that a little friendship turmoil would spice things up," he said before Astral could say anything. "More of the fun for me!" He giggled.

Astral tried to talk, to come up with a comeback, but Dark clamped his hand over his mouth.

"Ah, ah, ah," he sang. "No talking, Light Side. You need to recover." He snickered.

Astral struggled to free himself from Dark's grasp. He stopped after a while when the reflection made gas go into his mouth and nose. His last thought was:

Why does this refletion keep putting me to sleep...?

~.~.~

Silence. That was all he heard. He opened his eyes. At least Dark wasn't hanging over him. There was no one.

Yuma probably went home, he thought. I would not be surprised... It wouldn't surprise him if everyone started avoiding him.

He shook his head. I shouldn't think like that! This reflection has caused enough mental and physical harm to everyone! I must fight back. How, though? Astral couldn't think of any weaknesses of Dark's, but Dark knew all of his. It was disturbing.

That's because he doesn't have any weaknesses, a strangly familiar voice said to him.

Astral sat up, ignoring the sharp pain in his wound, as a female appeared. She looked just like him, right down to the mismatched eyes. He knew who she was. Asi, the girl who used to talk to him in his dreams before he opened the mirror, now floated before him. She looked a little faded, and she wasn't flickering anymore. Obviously, she was a figment of his mind, telling him something. When she spoke, she had a distinct echo in her voice.

"What do you mean?" Astral asked. "He doesn't have any weaknesses?"

Asi shook her head. No. At least, not the obvious ones, Astral.

Astral was confused. "Not the obvious ones? What does that mean, Asi?"

What I mean is he doesn't have any mental or physical weakness, and words have no effect on hin. But -she pointed one finger up to emphasize her point- he does have one. It has to do with emotions. He feeds off of your fear, anger, sorrow, every negative emotion ever. He gets stronger.

"Are you implying that I must try not to feel any negative emotions?"

That's exactly what I'm implying. Asi's image started to fade. I know you'll find a way, Astral. I'll see you later! With that, she faded with a small giggle. If she wasn't his kin and already dead, she would be someone Astral fancy.

Astral looked over to the doorway when he sensed someone there. He saw a woman at the door. She had orange hair with kind eyes. He could only guess that this was Yuma's mother since she didn't look at all concerned. She walked in and sat on his bed.

"Hello. I'm Yuma's mother, Mirai Tsukumo," she greeted him with a smile. "You're Astral, right?"

"Yes, I am Astral," he answered. He was pondering Asi's words while Mirai examined his wound. She was talking to him, but he didn't catch her words; he was so deep in thought.

He had never been good at hidng his emotions, and as far as he knew, neither were his ancestors. Harder still was hiding all of those overwhelming spouts of negativity, which only seemed to happen whenever his reflection was around with his smug grin and knowing eyes. Still, if it was a way to fight back instead of cowering in fear, he would try.

No. Just trying wouldn't do for him. Astral made a promise to himself to completely block every negative emotion he had. If possible, every emotion. He would wear a stone mask to prevent anyone and everyone from seeing what was going on inside.

Yet, Dark would see through it. Since he was part of Astral himself. Dark would be able to know what was fake and still be able to feed off of the emotions inside of his stone mask. No, simply blocking wouldn't do.

I will have to completely lock it up, Astral concluded. Every emotion ever. My secrets. Everything I hold dear. If I lock it up into a secret place, even too secret for my reflection, I may be able to fight back. It was a plan, at least.

"Astral?" Mirai's voice cut off his train of thought.

Astral shook his head to clear it. "Yes?"

She looked at him with mild concern. "Are you okay? You spaced out for a while there."

Astral nodded. "I'm fine. No need to worry."

When should he start, though? Obviously, it had to be soon if he wanted to stop Dark.

Mirai got up and smiled at him. "Take care, Astral." She walked out of the room.

Astral watched her leave. He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. How do I lock my emotions, though? He knew it wasn't going to be simple, but just thinking about it. He tried for a while, but stopped with no results when his head started to hurt. He got up to get a book to relax.

He went to a bookshelf that Asi obtained, so naturally, it was old. It was sturdy enough, though, to hold all of the books acumulated over the many generations.

Astral grabbed the first book his hand grabbed. The Enemy. An apocalyptic novel. He had always liked those books, so he took it back to his room and opened it. Though he'd red The Enemy countless times, it was still an enjoyable read.

~.~.~

Night. Dark looked into Light Side's room to see him asleep, his body light pulsing on and off like a computer that was asleep. A book was tucked under his arm. He watched for a while longer to make sure Light Side was, in fact, asleep.

Dark pulled his head out of the doorway. It was going to be another fun night, he just knew it! He had to go deeper into Heartland City, though, which was just fine. Just as long as he heard those pleasant screams again.

He exited the house and looked around. The stupid humans had been busy while he slept, cleaning the beautiful red life from the streets, leaving it just plain and dull. Oh, well. He would paint them red again soon.