Fishy, fishy, fishy, come swim in my sea.

Chapter 16: Calm before the storm

Shark, holding Yuma very close to himself, led Rio and Vector into the front room of the Mansion. Shark, Rio and Yuma hadn't said a word to Vector since Yuma had recovered consciousness. This had Vector very scared. He'd just fixed things with them, were they really angry at him for something he'd done in a past life, after his human mind had been warped by Don thousand? Then he realised how dumb the question was. 

Once all the Barians were gathered, Rio and Yuma launched into an explanation of the events they had both seen. Shark adding his own recollections after his sister had told him hers. Vector, who had stood against a wall near the door, felt smaller and smaller by the minute.

"But why didn't Yuma wake up after remembering his first death?" Duman asked with concerned interest.

"Utopia." Yuma stated looking a little shaken, which was understandable, "He and this cosmic being thing wanted to tell me something."

"What?" Shark asked.

"They wanted to explain how together they stopped Don thousand corrupting my will." Yuma explained, "Something about blocking the will of the over number 100 number he had tried to give my soul. Then they explained that when Astral defeated Don thousand it wasn't just his memories that were scattered, in the form of the numbers cards."

"What do you mean?" Rio asked sounding confused, "What else happened?"

"His very essence was spit in two." Yuma answered, "Into order and chaos. The order part, or Astral, returned to Astral world, the chaos part was sent trough space and time and became bound to a human, that became a Barian, then me."

"Wow." came Alito's voice from a corner, "That's rough."

"There was one more thing." Yuma said, the other Barians looking at him with mixtures of interest and concern, "They told me that Astral, by his nature, can't change on his own. However, chaos by its nature, is change, is growth, and it can evolve. Then the people of Astral world found away to replicate the process, and thus Barian world was created."

"And our people evolved faster then Astral world," Duman stated recalling information from the books that he'd read, "so they grew to fear us, then Don thousand made it worse."

"Yes," Yuma said, "but he feared that Phantom...no I would unravel his plans, so manipulated Vector into killing me again, then wiped every single one of your memories of me, and because I was reborn human I remembered nothing. But Don thousands plan didn't work in the end."

"You can say that again." Girag grunted, "You basically single handily saved each of us, teaming with our leader to take down that evil deity."

"But you sound troubled." Mizar pointed out before Shark could.

"You guys are being so supportive," Yuma began, "which is great, but despite what all of you are saying about not picking a side, I don't think I have a choice. Then remembering all of this, and by the minute, remembering more and more of my first life. Its just so overwhelming."

"That's why we aren't forcing any of this on you." Shark said, "We understand. Besides I don't want you to make the mistakes that I did."

"Thank you." Yuma said again. Then Shark stood up, his eyes turning cold as he glared at Vector. Vector tried to make a break for the door, but Shark had him pinned in choke hold before anyone could blink, using his powers to cross the room in less then a second.

"As for you," Shark hissed, causing everyone to jump to their feet, "you are a sadistic bastard. I know it happened in the past. But if you even so much as look at my sister or Yuma in the wrong way, I will rip you fucking throat out with my bare hands and force fed it to you. You will NEVER take either one of them from me again. Understood?"