I teleported back to my house to pick up Shadow, since I didn't want to leave her all alone. She looked happy to see me, gladly climbing from one of the chairs to my shoulder. Then, I walked in the direction of where Kite said he lived. When I found the large house, I knocked at the door, being answered by a little boy; Shadow leaned down and meowed at him.

"Hi," he greeted sweetly, "I'm Hart." She's the girl that Quinton showed us to, his thoughts confirmed, she seems pretty nice. I smiled down at him and replied, "My name's Star. Would you mind taking me to Kite?"

He grinned, "Sure; I'll show you where my brother is!"

I was a bit surprised that he was Kite's little brother; they hardly look like each other. Nonetheless, I followed him with Shadow still on my shoulders.

Hart led me to one of the many doors in the house.

"You'll find my brother in there," he informed me. I nodded as he ran off in a different direction before opening the door. It was a lab with a large supercomputer in the center, with Orbital at the keyboard as Kite watched. I tapped my foot on the floor to get their attention, and Kite turned around to face me.

"I didn't know you had a cat," he mused as he spotted Shadow. And it seems just like her.

"Her name is Shadow," I introduced as I walked up to him. Shadow climbed into my arms as I held her to Kite. He put out his hand to her, mentally introducing himself. She looked at him and his hand before rubbing her head on it. "She likes you," I commented as he lightly stroked her back in turn.

I looked up at what was being displayed on the computer's screen. I saw numerous playbacks on the duel with Mizar being shown. Kite seemed to notice and turned his back, looking at the screen again; it was after Tachyon overdid it with the Rank-up. When Kite, Yuma, and I were falling from the sphere field, and I materialized Yinlong.

"That part has me pretty confused," Kite informed as he thought, How can she make a duel monster come to life? Quinton told me something about her having powers; is this it? Is this the limit of her power, or is she even stronger than she appears? And if she is, just how powerful is she?

I ignored Kite's clamoring mind as he kept pondering over those thoughts. Magician of Black Chaos appeared next to me, curious about the Barian god.

I wonder why Don Thousand wants the emperors for tributes, he pondered. I remembered the longing I saw in his eyes when I envisioned him.

Could he have been evicted from his real home? I asked him. He thought for a moment before nodding in response; That could be it.

What exactly is she hiding? A prominent thought stuck out of Kite's mind to me, as if he was literally asking me. I saw him attempting to look me in the eyes; he wanted to know what I hid under my hair. As a response, I silently lifted my head, exposing my eyes. He stayed in his usual position, but his head clearly expressed his shock at their depth and dullness. He walked up closer to me, trying to brush my bangs away; I kept moving out of his reach.

"Don't be afraid of me," he whispered to me, "I just want to look."

I only shook my head and responded, What I hide, no one else has seen; it hurts too much to show. He staggered in shock at my telepathy.

I was about to explain, but I was stopped by pain coursing through my head that made me fall on my knees. I went down far enough to be sure that Shadow could get down safely. I clenched my teeth, clutching my head as I faintly heard Orbital stutter, "M-Master K-K-Kite, massive energy is spiking from the girl..." Scenes of Alito's Barian form dueling Yuma's Zexal Morph started charging through my head. The duel appeared to be taking place in another Barian sphere field. The two should have been arch enemies, but they were dueling as if they were close friends. The last thing I saw before the vision disappeared into black was Alito summoning his Over-Hundred Number.

"... can you hear me?" I faintly heard Kite's voice as he faded back into view. I heard him think, What could've happened back there? I'm pretty sure that an energy spike and a blackout aren't normal, so what happened? I was able to find that I was sitting down, my back against the wall.

"I am sure she can now, Kite," a familiar voice chimed, "Now we know what Byron meant by her having powers."

I managed to focus my vision enough to see properly, and I felt two familiar minds behind Kite. I was able to recognize Hart's blue hair as he held Shadow for me, standing next to a man. When I got a good look at the man standing there, I recognized him: Dr. Faker.

Hiding my eyes, I glared at him sharply as I managed to struggle to my feet. "So these are your sons, Dr. Faker," I mused, "If I recall correctly, they were always on your mind." Faker's mind scrambled for a reason how I knew; Vetrix didn't tell him I was there. "Well then," I continued, "I suppose they didn't tell you, did they?" I lifted my head to reveal my eyes; Faker flipped through his memories to find a match. The only one even close was a glimpse of me from the expedition. "Yes, it was me," I confessed, "I was the phantom girl you saw five years ago; I witnessed you betray your comrades. I even tried to save them; the only reason I couldn't was whoever set the trap." Everyone in the room was staring in shock as I kept my gaze locked on Kite's father. After a few seconds of utter shock from everyone, Faker hanged his head and broke the eye contact.

"Believe me, I understand the consequences of my wrongdoings, miss. But I did it all in order to help my young son. A Barian promised to save him if I collected Numbers and destroyed Astral World. However, little did I know that a Phantom had seen the betrayal. We all had previously believed that your family was gone; apparently not."

"What do you know about my family?" I asked as Hart returned Shadow to me. Faker gestured for Kite to do something on the supercomputer. She doesn't know the whole truth yet, I heard from Dr. Faker. Kite quickly went to the computer's analyzer, in which was a tube of red liquid. Just by looking at it, I tensed as my left shoulder began to sting. Holding onto Shadow, I revealed my shoulder through the neck hole. I found that a small puncture wound was in my shoulder, not far from the scar. I quickly covered it back up, seeing in their memories that they took a blood sample while I was out. Kite was working on the analysis as he thought, Pretty soon, we all will know her ancestry. A DNA file was immediately shown after the scan was complete. A family tree appeared on the monitor with me at the base. As my parents came up on the screen, it ended with all of us in shock. It read that both of my parents were dead, and that I shouldn't be alive.

"That's impossible!" I burst out. "Of course I'm alive!" It seemed that the Tenjo family agreed with me on that. Kite thought this through and concluded, "Perhaps someone doesn't want people to think you or your parents are alive."

I remembered the three scientists from just before my eighth birthday; it must've been them. Kite's father nodded at him and asked me, "Are your parents even still around?"

I sadly shook my head, "Probably not; even if they are, they'd be unapproachable anyway. With their dead-hearts, the two of them are evil now." Kite slightly cocked his head at me, obviously confused. "I want to tell you," I informed, "But the memory still haunts me; probably just as much as Mizar haunts Yuma."

As Dr. Faker left, I felt Hart's mind close to me as he tugged at my shirt. I looked down at his worried expression as he asked, "Did something happen?"

That's right, Kite mentally face-palmed, I didn't tell him yet. I sighed as I explained, "Hart, there's been an incident..."

That night at my house, I wasn't able to get much sleep. From the Shadow Realm, many messengers came in from Yuma's deck. All of them were bringing reports of serious nightmares; not even Utopia was safe. They all seemed pretty worried, and I figured that Shark's monsters weren't very pleased. I was pretty worried about Astral; if not even Utopia's safe, Astral might be having a bad night, too.

I laid on my bed with my eyes closed, willing myself out of my body until I was free. Even after so many years, it surprised me that I could still phantomize as I stood. I looked into the mirror to see myself in my usual garb in this form: an ankle-length, short sleeved lavender dress. I avoided looking at my arms and how scarred they were. Not many know this, but I have so many scars that my skin looks cracked to the point of shattering. I didn't like this, but according to the Numbers, this was the only way to visit Astral in the key. So, leaving Shadow sleeping in her bed, I left the house, floating to Heartland City.

I hovered above the city, picking out familiar minds and ignoring ones I didn't recognize. Within seconds, I was able to single out Shark and Yuma, very close to each other. I quickly flew in that direction, tracking them to a towering, white building with a flat roof. That had to be the hospital they were in. I followed their minds to one of the many windows and phased through it.

I was able to see Shark as he was lying in his bed, breathing steadily. Thankfully, he appeared to be asleep, unable to see all the scars littering my arms. I phased through the curtain separating him and Yuma, who looked to be in a nightmare. I saw it all: being thrown to the sphere field wall, getting electrocuted, and collapsing as Mizar's taunts echoed through his mind. He was terrified to the point of almost waking up as I entered the key, sticking out from under his pillow.

The inside of the key was very peculiar as I hovered inside it, to say the least. Everything - the sand, the sky, even particles that flew out from the ground - was a shade of blue. A hovering golden ship stuck out from the cerulean background, with a mind and a lot of spirits inside it. I instantly knew the mind was Astral; the spirits were all the Number cards. I floated to the center of the ship, where Astral and the Numbers were.

As I phased into the ship, I saw a small, pale blue sphere field with a flickering Astral inside. The position he was in appeared to be lying down with a hand on his chest. His eyes were closed, but I could tell that he was conscious. He was recovering from the effects of Mizar's Barian sphere field, from what I could see in his thoughts. I placed my hand on the field and let my power pulse through it, giving the field a purple tint. My pulsing power seemed to help Astral heal, and he slowly opened his eyes.

Astral was both surprised and curious as to how I was in the key. How did Star get inside the key? What is she wearing? What are those marks that are all over her arms? The whirling questions in Astral's head began to overwhelm me.

"Hang on," I whispered to make it stop, "I'll tell you." Astral's stream of questions came to a screeching halt at my words. I had to tell him about it, so I sighed and used my telepathy to tell him. To start, my people are actually called Phantoms now; I phantomized to get to the hospital and into the key. The reason why is on account of the concerns of Yuma's monsters for both him and you. This dress is what I always wear when I phantomize; the Arclights know that. All over my arms are just a fraction of a long eight years' worth of scars. In case you don't know, I've had to endure abuse for half of my life. Once I finished, Astral was staring at me in shock and wonder as he lay in his recovery field.

Yuma never informed me of this "abuse" he told me, Is it common among humans?

Abuse is a cruel and heartless wrongdoing; a relatively common crime, but woefully secret.

Why is that?

There are various reasons for its secrecy, Astral. I hid it because I'm a Phantom; if I told anyone, my parents and I would all be killed. I figured that a long time had passed during our little conversation. "I have to go Astral," I sighed; Astral turned his head back face-up and took mental note of my words. This world has many concepts, but Star has shown me one of the most common, cruel, and elusive concepts of all. "You can say that again," I mused at his thought as I left the key.

More time must have passed than I thought; it's morning now. Yuma isn't around - strange - and the curtain's open. Shark's sitting up in his bed, reading some kind of book; he didn't notice I was there. I silently floated over to him to see what he was reading. I peered over his shoulder, seeing that the book was about my people. The page read about powers Great Mothers can acquire, and the rarest and strongest kind is Shadow.

Shark turned his head, seeing me next to him. Oddly enough, he didn't look surprised; he flipped to a different page. He turned the book to me so I could see what the caption read:

Phantoms are secretive, spiritual entities that have the ability to phantomize, or have their spirits leave their bodies. This power allows them to enter places that people normally cannot at certain times. The Phantom can wear anything physically; when phantomized, their attire remains largely the same over their lifetime.

Shark was smiling next to me when I was done reading the page.

"Quattro's older brother told me a thing or two about you having powers, Star," he informed, "I'm guessing you're phantomized."

I nodded, "I wish that I could wear something that covered my arms." He looked at the marks on my arms and thought, Star's broken from the inside out; no wonder she finds trust so hard to find. "I'd better get home, Shark," I told him, "Who knows what Shadow does when I phantomize." He nodded in understanding, and I flew back home.