DISCLAIMER: Fanfics are like LEGOs, y'know? Even when you build something out of them and say "I made this", you know that you didn't make the blocks. In plain English, I'm saying that this is my story, but not my characters, settings, etc.

Will Vandom's beeping alarm clock had tormented her ever since the beginning of her school days, but it'd done nothing to prepare her for the verbal admonishments she'd been receiving for the last month or two following the increase in her powers delivered through the Heart of Kandrakar. And while it'd been genuinely useful at times to be able to communicate with machines, there were times when, like a bad dream, sh wished she could just wake from it all.

Being a super-heroine wasn't all it was cracked up to be, especially when the mantle was given you when you were still young enough to have to live with your mom. Correction, with your mom who had no idea what the truth of the matter was and who couldn't be told that one was actually helping save the world - and a lot of other worlds - when you said you were studying math. Living with your mom who was always busy, never having proper time to spare, never really wanting to understand what life was heaping onto you. With your mom who was dating your history teacher. Will had made peace with the fact, yes. But it was still just one more thing that drove a wedge in between the two of them.

Then there was her father's return. It'd been all those years, and suddenly there he was again, trying as hard as he could to act like nothing had changed. For the umpteenth time Will wished to herself that she could just look into his mind, check everything out and see if he was being honest about getting back to being a part of her life. Her mom seemed to be accepting if not enthusiastic, but naturally two people who'd been through what they had would have issues to sort out.

...and like so many children with parents like that, Will found herself being used as the battleground for whatever went on between them.

Things had become way, way too complicated lately. Okay, she had powers and so did her friends. Okay, they had another world to try to save, and they'd actually managed to do it. That had been a chore, but it'd been satisfying, in that she'd risen to the challenge and that they'd won. Unfortunately, it looked like that whole thign was just practice, an appetizer for one whopping HELL of a main course. All sorts of things happening seen and unseen on other worlds and right there on the homefront. With an exasperated sigh, Will wondered once again exactly why she decided to keep on going with all of it.

Because the alternative is being dead, she thought to herself, ...and that would kinda suck.

Actually, she hadn't thought that to herself, but rather her own voice had spoken to her in her mind. Right about the time she realized that, too, the Heart began glowing pink, and before she knew it Will was sitting on her bed next to a flawless double of herself, a double smiling at her like all was well with the world.

"Hey", Astal!Will said, "why the long face?"

"Oh, y'know..."

"Yeah, living in your mind, I guess I do."

"I didn't know you could come to life by yourself", the original said with a curious look.

"Neither did I until just now." The astral double shrugged, still smiling. "Live and learn, huh?"

"I guess so." Will sighed again. "So... tell me this. If you're me and I'm you, how come right now I'm in the dumps and you're looking like you're on cloud nine?"

"Simple", Astal!Will replied. "We're focused on different things. You're focused on all the gloomy stuff, like dad, mom, school, danger, that stuff."

"Okay, so what're you focusing on?"

"A few things. But mainly, that I... We... You..." Astal!Will held her chin thoughtfully. "I'll just use 'you'. Because I know what's more important right this minute."

"What's that?"

"That you're honest, smart, very pretty..." Astal!Will leaned closer then, and gave her twin a warm kiss on the lips, prompting a faint blush. "...and doggone it, people like you." A wink. "Keep that in mind, okay?" And with that, she vanished, returning to the Heart.

"Y... yeah, I will."

Suddenly, the day wasn't looking so bad.