Before he knew what he was doing, Richter pressed his lips against Emil's, which caused the smaller boy to gasp in shock. Soon enough, Emil had eased into the kiss and wrapped his arms around the older man's neck, pulling him closer.

Richter broke the kiss gasping, forcing himself to remember what he was doing. This isn't Aster, this is Emil. What am I doing? I swore to Aster that no matter how many years went by, I'd still love him and be his. He let go of Emil and turned away from the blushing boy, confused.

"Richter, w-what was that for?" Emil asked, rubbing the back of his neck shyly.

"I think Alice left. It should be safe now." Richter dodged Emil's question and walked closer to the street, wanting no less than to forget what had just happened. "Emil, I need you to just forget about what just happened."

"Forget about it? What do you take me for, some kind of toy? You can't just pull something like that and then push it aside!" Emil's laugh that followed was a low, malicious sound that echoed throughout the alley and dug deep into Richter's mind.

"Emil? Are you okay?" Richter turned towards him, shocked at his sudden outburst.

Upon looking at Emil, Richter immediately noticed that those beautiful jade eyes had turned into a stunning crimson red and that he now stood tall, as if all of his fears were forgotten.

"Am I okay? Besides the fact that you couldn't care less about anyone other than yourself, I'm just great!" Emil shot a glare at Richter, practically burning holes into him with his eyes.

"Emil! Calm down! What's wrong with you?" Richter flinched at the accusations being thrown at him, knowing that the truth is far more complicated than that.

"What's wrong with me? Let's see, you keep thinking that I'm that damned Aster! Wake up to reality, Richter! Aster's dead!" He replied crossly, deliberately trying to bring back bad memories.

His words burnt Richter more than any fire could ever hope to. "Emil, you're not acting like yourself! Don't bring Aster into this, you know nothing about him!"

Memories of Aster flooded through Richter's mind, how they used to stay up all night trying to find out the truth behind Ratatosk or how they would gaze fondly into each other's eyes and bask in the glory of being together.

"You can't even deny that! You kissed me only because you thought that I was him! I'm not acting like myself, huh? Well that's because this is the power of being a Knight of Ratatosk!" Rage coursed through the Ratatosk Mode Emil, smoldering his very being.

"No! Richter isn't like that!" Emil shouted at himself, breaking through the control of his 'other' self as he held his head between his hands.

"Emil!" Richter yelled, holding onto Emil's shoulder. "Keep control! Don't forget who you are!"

"Thank you Richter, I-I'm fine now. Let's hurry and get to the Research Academy." Emil let go of his head and pushed against the redhead's grip.

Richter hesitantly let go of Emil, but eyed him uneasily instead. "Are you sure you're up to it? I could bring you to an inn if you need to rest after all that?"

"N-No. I'm fine, really." Emil flashed Richter a smile before heading off towards his destination. "Come on, we should hurry in case Alice comes back."