Confusion

Chapter 2

It was strange how his calm face soon changed to alarm and even panic. How fast was he able to sense!?

"At ease, 12," the calming voice soothed, resonating through even Dark Mist's mind. "You are feeling things. Nothing is here."

"But–!"

"Agent 12. The mission comes first."

Astral relaxed from his tensed position. "Fine." He closed his eyes and breathed in.

A few moments passed, and nothing happened. An eternity later, they were transported one by one, from tip to center. When it was Astral's turn, he quickly opened his eyes and looked to the window, catching Dark Mist's eyes. Both of their eyes widened; Astral's then narrowed in rage and hate.

And it stung.

Dark Mist wasn't used to Astral looking at him as if he should die, but when he remembered that this wasn't his Astral, he got over it. 

Might as well go back to him, Dark Mist thought as he made his way back to their hiding hole. He took the same method back to the small alley, hiding in the shadows and making sure he blended well. When he got back, Astral was still asleep.

"Astral," he whispered some, shaking his boyfriend. "Wake up, I have information."

Astral opened his eyes and innocently looked up at him. "What?"

"I found some stuff out." He sat beside him and pulled him close. "Turns out that people don't like Dark Numbers or dark beings at all. They kept talking about how the 'Dark Number' was a bad person and such and that the Agents, who I presume are the guardians of this place, are going to catch him."

"Really?" Astral snuggled into Dark Mist. "Then you should hide more than I should. I wouldn't want you to get caught for some reason or another."

"So should you! You know what happens if we get separated! So, if we want to keep both of us safe, we both need to be careful."

"Yeah, but what will we do about my lookalike?"

"He left to some other world."

Astral's eyes widened. "They're world hoppers?"

"They might be. People have been talking about how they've caught other 'criminals' in other worlds." Dark Mist sighed, blowing air through his nose. "There were twenty-three others when he left. And when the other Astral sensed me, some sort of voice, which sounded like many by the way, called him 'Agent 12'."

"It must be some sort of code name," Astral responded. "If there were more of them, then it must be some sort of organization."

"That's what it felt like."

Astral yawned a bit. "We should sleep now. It's really late."

"Okay, yeah. Let's sleep."

~.The Next Day.~

Dark Mist went out again to explore in hiding. Using the same method, he snuck from place to place, unseen by everyone that walked by. More importantly, however, he was looking to see if there was a way out of this world, to get back home. Ginyugoku didn't exactly tell them how to get back! Of course, he assumed that GG was working on a way, but for now, he just needed to find one himself. Maybe the headquarters he found would lead him to a teleportation device.

So, that was where he was headed. Once he got there, he snuck into the building, which was void of anyone. That was expected; all of the "Agents" were off looking for the prisoners that escaped, so for now, he was in the clear.

As he was poking around, however, someone came in and gasped. Little did he know that this place still had staff working to keep things running, guards to keep this place safe, and unfortunately for Dark Mist, this one happened to be a guard!

"You!" the human spirit exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at him. "You dare come back!"

"Wh-what?" Dark Mist managed to stammer out in his surprise. "What do you mean!?"

"You know damn well what I mean, Dark Number!" The man took out a communication device and called in reinforcements, all of whom seemed to poor out of any hidden door. "Grab him and don't let him escape again!"

The many guards quickly pinned him down to the floor, while Dark Mist protested as much as he could with as little violence as possible to prove he was not the one they were looking for, but of course, that worked against him.

~.~.~

Astral woke up to see Dark Mist gone, but that was no surprise to him for the moment. He knew that he was probably just out scoping the area, so Astral sat and waited.

And waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and–

Too much time passed. He could feel something was wrong, so Astral quickly searched around their hiding place in case he just probably moved to somewhere else to be more comfortable, but he wasn't there. Panic began to overwhelm him.

Where are you, where are you, where are you?! Astral frantically searched, venturing out of the hiding place recklessly. He searched the immediate area; nothing.

"Hey, I know you!" someone shouted.

Astral whirled around to face the stranger. It was a super light blue, to the point of being white, spirit with black eyes and black markings all over his body. Astral had never seen this person before; how could he know him?

"You're Agent 12, aren't you? Yeah, I recognize you! How come you're back so early?"

"I...what?" was all Astral could utter in his confusion.

"Did they take too much of your memory again? I remember that happened a few Cycles ago; that's how I found you last time! Well, come on. I'm sure the staff can help like last time."

The person took Astral's hand before waiting for an answer, leaving the being even more confused than last time. That confusion failed to drown out his panic, so he started pulling away, but the man didn't let go. His grip was iron!

"Don't worry, I know where to go, 12." The man smiled at him. "You'll be in good hands. I promise."

"Let go!" Astral demanded. "Let go of me!"

"Man, your personality really changed when your memory is lost. You're normally so calm and collected. Some even call you cold!"

There was literally nothing Astral could do about this. He was about to get dragged away to who-knows-where all because he looked like some stupid Agent! In his mind, he cursed.

He could already feel the partial off balance creeping up on him.