By the afternoon of the following week, Astral had completely wiped his face free of emotions. What he had to do now was to lock them IP before the reflection did something drastic and destroyed all of his hard work. That task would prove difficult, especially around people. People always managed to influence emotions from everyone.

Astral was reading The Enemy when the door opened. It was Yuma, and he looked dead serious.

"Astral, he..."

Astral picked up on the tone, his eyes widening slightly. "He struck again?"

Yuma nodded solemnly. "Right in the middle of Heartland City."

This is not good... Astral could feel the anger and fury bubbling up; he had to struggle to keep it down. Just when he got a hold of it, too! "When?"

"Last night."

"Last night?"

"Light Side, you look stressed," Dark, who suddenly appeared behind Yuma, teased. "Do you want a turn to have fun?" He giggled.

Astral took deep breaths so as to keep from blowing his top. It was much harder around the reflection since he always got so frustrating. Dark only laughed.

"Why so angry?" he sang. "Holding it in won't help you. Letting it out will!"

No, it will help you, Astral thought bitterly, but he quickly rushed that thought aside. Thoughts like that wouldn't help him one bit.

"It's all thanks to you, Light Side!" Dark continued. "We look almost exactly alike. If the humans didn't know better, they would think you switched colors!" He chuckled and floated closer to Astral, trailing his nails along Yuma's shoulder. "They'll be coming to get you, or at least attempt to, and you can't do shit!"

"Who's coming?" Yuma asked, dark anger clear in his voice.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Astral and Yuma made no move to open it, but  the reflection did. He opened the door with a dramatic flourish to reveal the police. He made sure to hide behind the opened door to remain clear out of sight. After all, once he opened the door, he didn't have much time to go into the wardrobe.

"Is this the one?" one police asked a man, who they brought with them. The man looked scared but incredibly determined.

"Yeah! This is the one!" He pointed to Astral. "He killed them all! Tortured them and killed them!"

Astral remained as calm as possible. Freaking out wouldn't do any good. "I do not know what you are talking about," he said blankly. "I never left the house, and you have no evidence as far as I can see. I also have no trace of blood on my hands."

"You're still the one! I saw it!"

The police woman raised her gun. "Your sentence is death!"

Astral's eyes widened. He shot a quick glance at Dark, who was grinning like an idiot.

Don't worry, Light Side. This is just a test. If you can't defend yourself, I won't let you die. I still need you alive.

They started shooting. Out of pure instinct, Astral swept his arm out. A reflective shield formed where his arm sweeped, bouncing the bullets off and killing the people in front of him. They crumpled to the floor.

Dark clapped his hands slowly, grinning. "Well done, Light Side. I didn't think you had it in you to consciously kill humans. Not bad."

Astral was completely surprised. He looked at his still glowing arm, gaping like a fish out of water. Yuma was also very much speechless.

"You're both gaping like a pair of idiots!" Dark laughed. "I'll just let you guys mull over this recent developement!" He giggled and went into the wardrobe.

~.~.~

So, Light Side has discovered his powers. Dark made his way to the mirror and plopped in front of it. He bit his thumbnail. How do I deal with this?

He grinned. At least Light Side couldn't really use them well enough. From his expression, it was the first time using them. That was good.

~.~.~

"Astral, what was all that about?" Yuma asked in surprise.

"I don't know..." replied Astral, who was still very much surprised. "This is the first time this happened."

Yuma nodded, narrowing his eyes slightly. "I see."

"Yuma, I think you should go now," Astral suggested.

"Why?"

Astral looked solemnly at Yuma. "Something may happen between me and the reflection. I do not want you to get caught up in it."

Yuma frowned. "I can't do that, Astral."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't leave you to him. We gotta make a plan between us to stop that guy!"

Astral sighed. Yuma was right, but if they made some kind of plan, it would be exactly like telling Dark the plan.

"Yuma, we cannot make a plan. That would be like telling the reflection our plans."

Yuma nodded and took this thought into consideration. "I see your point."

"Then leave this to me, please."

Yuma nodded and sighed. He could tell that Astral wouldn't change his mind about this. Maybe, just maybe, he could help in some way.

~.~.~

Astral looked out the attic window as the crowd slowly grew. It consisted of police, reporters, journalists, and some random people. He had gotten used to staying inside now since that was the only think he could do besides reading, but the crowd bothered him. They were trying to get in.

He considered getting out, but the police had guns, and others had rifles. He wasn't quick; they would shoot him down before he got anywhere! Yuma couldn't even visit because of the immense crowd blocking the entrance and even banging on it. That left him with only the dreaded reflection for company. Then again, Dark didn't come out much except for  at night, and he couldn't do anything to stop him, which didn't sit well with Astral.

Astral could hear them talking out there.

"When's the murderer coming out?"

"Why don't we just hurry up and knock down this door!?"

"Idiot! That guy might be waiting at the door as we speak!"

"It's worth the risk!"

More voices started shouting louder and louder. He covered his ears so that they wouldn't take the full force of the screaming voices. Why did people have to yell at the people they were talking to when they were inches away?

Astral felt someone behind him, but he didn't acknowledge it, for he was completely sure that it was Dark. He didn't want anything to do with the reflection at the moment.

Suddenly, a fist knocked in his head.