If you haven't read Millie_Astral's Finding Darkness trilogy, you should go and do that before reading more of this story.

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 himself 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 place. 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 awake and worried.

"Astral," he whispered, getting his attention I have news."

Astral turned his head and with relief looked up at him. "What did you find?"

"I found some interesting stuff." He sat beside him and pulled him close. "Turns out that people here 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 me. I wouldn't want you to get caught."

"So should you, you know what will happen if we're separated for to long. So, if we want to keep both of us safe, we both need to be extra careful."

"Yeah, but what will we do about my look a like?"

"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 different worlds." Dark Mist sighed. "There are twenty-four Agents in all. And one of them sensed me, he looked just like you. 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's more then one of them, then it must be some sort of organization."

"That's what it seems like."

Astral yawned a bit. "We'll worry about it in the morning."

"Alright."

As the sun started to set Astral and Dark Mist got themselves comfortable enough to 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. Of course, he assumed that GG was working on that. Someone must have noticed their absence by now. But until they were found, he was just going to have to find away to get them home 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, he saw all different kinds of gadgets and gizmos. However, someone came in and gasped. Little did he know that this place still had staff working to keep things running, and guards to keep this place safe, and unfortunately for Dark Mist, this person 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!" "Dark Mist felt hurt, this person saw him as something evil. The man took out a communication device that looked similar to a walkie-talkie 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 looking around the area, so Astral sat and waited.

And waited and waited and waited.

Too much time passed. He could feel something was wrong, so Astral quickly searched around their hiding place in case he moved to somewhere else 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 an extreme 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 the 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, and Dark starting to stir.