One – Chapter 11

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The next day at school, Astral was, as expected, even worse than the day before. But with Yumas permission for a constant transfer of energy, the alien managed to control himself far better than he had a day earlier.

As long as they were in class, they could hold hands under the table most of the time to transfer the energy needed and doing the lunchbreak, they would disappear to the boys' bathroom for the first 10 to 15 minutes, before joining the others in the schoolyard.

At the end of the school day, Astral agreed to have a couple of duels with Bronk and Caswell, but as the sun began to set, the group parted, and each went their separate way home.

All in all, the day had been far more successful than the previous one, despite Astrals need to transfer energy, continuously growing.

When late evening turned into night though, trouble started stirring. Astrals energy levels grew exponentially, and there was only roughly half an hour between each needed transfer.

Predictably, Yumas body couldn't handle it very well, and so neither of them got much rest through the night.

The next morning, Yuma was feeling sluggish and his head was pounding painfully. Yet, he still got out of bed, dressed and made his slow way downstairs, followed by Astral who's uniform wasn't even enough to hide the glow emanating from him anymore, if anyone kept their eyes on him for more than a few seconds.

"Morning grandma" Yuma said, yawning, as he sat down at the table, where Haru had set a bowl out for him.

"Yuma!" she exclaimed when she saw him "how is it you look? Didn't you sleep at all last night?!".

"Huh?" Yuma responded slowly, glancing down over himself as though he didn't understand what the old lady was on about.

"Not your uniform, you idiot" Haru then said "your face. And your hair! Are you sure you're fit to go to school today?".

Yuma nodded, as he started eating. "I'm fine grandma, just a bit tired. I'm going" he replied and

Haru sighed. "If you are certain. But you're coming straight home young man. I don't want you getting yourself sick again" she said, before turning to Astral, who was standing behind Yuma, constantly twitching, eyes locked on his lovers back.

"Hello Astral. You seem… radiant, today. Did you have a good night?" Haru asked him and Astrals head snapped up to look at her, as he shook his head.

"I see, so both you and Yuma haven't slept. I wonder if you kept eachother up. You know, if that is the case, I might have to separate the two of you" the old woman commented, but a split second later, Astral had flown across the table and landed only a few feet away from her, pose threatening.

"You will NOT separate us, do you hear?!" he said, voice hard "Yuma and I are staying together, no matter what!".

Haru, startled by his apparent animosity, drew back a few steps, but then steeled herself again and said "don't worry Astral. Yuma is old enough to decide his own day rhythm, so I would not step in and force anything on either of you anyways.

I am simply saying, Yuma needs to see to his school too, and if you are keeping him from being able to do so properly, then maybe you should take a look at yourself and figure out how you can change that".

With that, she flipped away from him and back to the kitchen table, where she started working, ignoring the blue being who'd just openly threatened her.

Yuma glanced up at him as Astral flew back to his side, landing right behind him once more and crossing his arms over his chest as he did, fingers constantly tapping the sleeve of the uniform jacket.

"What was that all about?" the young man asked, but Astral didn't answer, just turned his head away and Yuma felt too tired to ask further.

All the energy which his body had been absorbing all but constantly for the past 24 hours, had taken a toll on him.

So where before it had energized him, now it had had the opposite effect and Yuma knew it wasn't over yet. With a low sigh, he returned to his food…

At school, things got completely out of hand. Only one third through the first lessons, Astral had been so uneasy, that Yuma had had to ask if they could go see the school-nurse because the exchange student wasn't feeling well.

This of course, resulted in all of their classmates' attention being locked on them, including that of their friends, which made Astral jump out of his seat after which he stood, hands clenched at his sides and breathing rapid, as several of the lights in the classroom inexplicably exploded, so that shattered glass rained down over several of the students.

In the end, Yuma had been allowed to escort Astral to the school-nurse and the class had been moved to the auditorium, until the electric wiring of the classroom could get properly checked.

Of course, Yuma and Astral didn't go to the school-nurse, as they both knew it wouldn't do them any good, but instead they headed outside, sticking to the shadows beneath the buildings, to avoid being seen.

Yuma figured it was best to, at least for a bit, remove Astral from any potential items that could be affected by his out-of-control energy, before he caused severe injury to someone.

"Astral, we've barely even gotten here and already you're this bad. How do we handle this?" Yuma asked, back turned to the other and arms protectively crossed over his upper stomach and lower chest. Not quite a hostile pose, but definitely a defensive one.

"I… I don't know" Astral replied, voice harder than usual because of the show of willpower he had to muster, in an attempt to control the energy swirling inside him.

"Well, we definitely can't separate, that's for sure" Yuma commented then, still not looking at his partner.

"No, most certainly not. If we were to separate now, I would…" Astral responded, but then his voice faded away and he fell silent once more.

"Hey, that's not happening, got it?!" Yuma replied, now turning to look at him again, though he didn't lower his arms.

"But we have to go back to class soon, and when we do, you must to be able to control your energy. We can't have every lightbulb on the school explode" he then continued.

"I… I can't…" Astral said, voice now lowered slightly, but tense with energy none the less.

"Well, we HAVE to find a solution! Don't you even have an idea?" Yuma asked, and Astral shook his head, wrapping his arms around himself as though in pain.

Yuma was frustrated, and it could be heard clearly on his voice.

He knew that it was Astrals time empowering his own emotions, but he couldn't fight them and in an angry tone he said, before he could think it over "I'm as wrecked as you are, you know? I'm suffering under this too!".

As soon as the words had left his lips, he instantly regretted them, but anger was still seething inside him and even as Astral tensed up, as though he had been whipped, his demeanor didn't soften one bit.

It was true! He WAS in a whole lot of pain and completely wrecked as well, not being able to sleep because of the energy constantly swirling around inside him.

"So… you want us to stop here?" Astral asked anxiously, locking shiny, wide eyes on Yuma.

"Just say the word and I… I will retreat back into the key and you won't have to suffer any more at my hand. Just… say you want me gone".

Yuma was angered even further at this and his heart was hammering painfully in his chest as he said harshly "If I tell you to leave, you will die. And so, by extension, I would be taking my own life!

I don't want to die Astral! Even if YOU seem perfectly content with doing so!".

At his words, Astrals eyes widened further and with a cry of pain, he collapsed to his knees, both hands clutched over his chest.

"Stop! Please, STOP IT Yuma!" he cried out, and as he did, Yuma was tossed against the wall of the nearest building with a loud thump.

As he slid to the ground, groaning in pain and rubbing the back of his head, Astral fell forward on his hands and knees, head lowered, eyes wide and shining and his whole body glowing brightly.

Had it been nighttime, he could have lit up the dark like a miniature sun, but luckily it wasn't, and school was still in session, so no one else was in sight on the grounds.

Astral was gasping as though he had trouble breathing properly and once Yuma was able to focus again, his head was pounding.

"Aw man…" he groaned "what the hell just happened to me?".

He'd felt as though a giant fist had punched him straight in solar plexus and then tossed him aside like a rag-doll and his whole body was aching.

But when he heard the sounds from Astral, it almost felt like his heart stopped, as he panicked and rose, tottering slightly, rushing back to the others side and collapsing to his knees beside him, quickly placing a hand on his back.

"Astral! ASTRAL!" he called out, but Astral couldn't answer, only heave for breath as tears streamed down his cheeks beyond any and all control.

"This is bad" Yuma thought to himself, realizing that he caused it.

"What can I do to fix what I just broke?". He didn't know.

But across their link, which seemed relatively unharmed despite what he'd just done, he felt overpowering pain rush towards him from his partner.

Pain, which there was no way Yuma would ever have been able to bear on his own. And so, he figured, maybe Astral too, couldn't handle such an amount of it.

Wrapping his arms around Astral, he closed his eyes and focused on communicating with the other without sound.

"Astral, I'm so sorry… I… I didn't mean it. I know you don't want to die either. I can feel your will to live!

But this thing that's happening to you right now. You can't bear it alone.

Come on, share your pain with me. Let me help you.

I know I'm just human. I'm not good enough for you, not enough in any way, but there is no one else, so please… Let me help you bear this" he said across their bond.

"Yu… ma…" came the answer, dimmed and echoing with anguish. "I… I can't… fight, any longer… I'm… losing… myself… Please…".

This was his cue, Yuma knew. Astral needed him more than ever and not just in a physical way. He needed Yuma, to keep him from falling to pieces.

"All that I am, is yours, partner" Yuma replied, opening his mind as fully as he possibly could, to their bond.

"All that you are, is part of me. I long to be whole… once more" Astral responded and moments later, they shone in blue and red mist, and as the colors fused into one, ZEXAL III emerged in their place.

Startled, Yuma quickly rose, his eyes darting all around them, but luckily, no one seemed to be present.

"How… did we just fuse?!" he asked, confused, but Astral responded instantly.

"My energy levels. They are at such a critical state, that I am creating a sphere field in my nearest surroundings. This explains the lightbulbs as well" he said, and Yuma frowned.

"That… actually makes a lot of sense" he replied. But then he realized their new situation and yelped.

"Oh man! We can't go back to class looking like this! What do we do?! Oh man, oh man, oh man!" he cried out, panicking slightly.

But Astral, once more, was there immediately.

"Do not panic Yuma… We are supposed to be at the nurses' office at the moment, right? Which means, no one is expecting us back immediately.

Give me the rest of this lessons-block in this form, and I will try to control my energy for the rest of the day. Please. This is already helping, though slowly" he said and Yuma sighed.

"Alright Astral, but we can't be seen! Maybe… we should go for a flight session? That would use up some energy, wouldn't it?" he asked and Astral nodded. "It would" he agreed.

"So, it's decided then! Let's high five the sky!" Yuma responded and with that, they took off, flying high enough for them not to be seen from the ground…