#I can't help but think that Astral was happy to see that Yuma was ready to fight to stay with him

[astralhope]

Rank 54: The true king of Numbers!!

[sunny-bunnys-blog]

More headcanons that can tie into my AU but it's all about Astral because I have been hyperfixated on the blue child for about a decade and I need him in my life(⁠*⁠´⁠ω⁠｀⁠*⁠)

Astral is VERY good at sneaking off on his own because he's so quiet. Sometimes he'll wander off on his own by lagging behind whoever he's with and they won't notice until ages, it's gotten to the point that someone always has to keep an eye on him and grab him if he wanders off (Yuma tries to put a bell on Astral but he always rips it off)

Astral feels extremely guilty for dragging everyone else into his issues and occasionally thinks that they all would've been better off without ever meeting him, but he's never told anybody this because he's too scared that they would confirm his fears.

He also tends to mourn his loss of innocence/childhood. whenever he sees Yuma with his family or Kite/Kaito with Hart/Haruto, he can't help but feel jealous because he wants to know what it feels like to have an actual family. When he finds out that Don Thousand is his dad, he legit cries because he finally knows what it's like have a family who loves you unconditionally.

and on the topic of Dad Thousand!

Don Thousand always treats Astral even when he doesn't ask for it, he's just so happy to have his son back that he'd be more than ready to kill to make sure he doesn't lose him again

Astral can't sleep without a plushy or at least something to hug when sleeping. He enjoys the feeling of hugging stuff because he couldn't touch anything for a while and it makes him feel safer, this leads to his friends getting him multiple plushies

His birthday is November 3rd!

He's not a fan of cold weather despite being born in a cold month so he goes out as little as often in winter

[astralhope]

(I apologize in advance for the length of this reblog and for my probably nonsensical ramble. I'm very sorry)

It's been ten years since I properly watched the finale, but I was thinking about this recently, and I think that this shows that Astral is ready to use extreme methods and play the part of the “bad guy” if that means helping Yuma. He didn't like to do it, but if that's the price for getting Yuma on his feet again and bringing back his energy, so be it, even if this would have brought the risk of making everyone hate him, of making Yuma hate him.

Simply asking Yuma to duel against him probably wouldn't have worked, since it was through duels that Yuma had lost most of his friends, so Astral needed a way to make sure that Yuma would duel against him. Because there was a very high chance that, after everything that had happened, Yuma would have never dueled again, and Astral didn't want him to give up his favorite thing and his Kattobing. He knew that saying that would make Yuma fight him with all his strength, and in that way, he would have remembered his love for dueling and their promise, and that was Astral wanted, even if that would have hurt both of them in the beginning. And it's bad, of course it's bad that Astral had lied to him, even if his intentions were good, but I think that this was the only way he could think of to help Yuma (even if the method he used wasn't the best).

In that so out of character phrase you can see how much Astral was ready to go against the person he was until now (because Astral would have never hurt Yuma on purpose like that), to risk everything they had built until that moment for a chance to bring back Yuma's energy. He put up an act and lied for the first time in order to duel against Yuma because he wanted to shake off the sadness that was weighted on Yuma's heart during that same duel (that's why, during the duel, Astral urged Yuma to remember their promise and also why he dropped the act when Yuma understood what Astral was trying to do).

Most of Astral's choices were made for Yuma's well-being, and this one is not really different, even if, again, the method wasn't the best, and I'm sure that Astral wasn't happy at all about lying to Yuma, even if it was his idea. All of this, the lie, the act, the duel, Astral had done that because he cared about Yuma most than anything, and he couldn't just leave Yuma in that state.

(I don't remember the Kazuma's scene really well, but I don't find hard to believe that he had pushed Astral in that choice. And when Astral asked Kazuma if he was okay with him breaking Yuma's heart, I can't help but believe that Astral's heart was breaking as well)

I have to admit that it still hurts me that Yuma really believed Astral's words after everything they went through together, since the way Astral had acted in that scene clashed against how the way Astral acted until that moment (especially because some time before Astral had said to Yuma that he wanted to leave behind the proof of his existence in Yuma's memory) and the fact that Yuma wasn't very suspicious about all of this is weird to me, he should knew Astral better than anyone, but it is also true that all the events that have led to that situation were still heavy on his heart and mind, so I understand why Yuma hadn't been able to see it until the duel (take this paragraph with a grain of salt because I don't remember if in the episode Yuma really doubted Astral's words, so please correct me if I'm mistaken. I also want to make clear that I'm not criticism Yuma in any way, it's just that it makes me sad that he really believed Astral would have done something like that).

And about Vector, I still think that the two situations aren't really comparable and that if Vector wouldn't have force the hand while Yuma and Astral were forming Zexal, Astral wouldn't have been corrupted, and that all that situation wasn't just Astral being mad at Yuma because Yuma had lied to him (I mean, it was mostly that, but there were other stuff as well that I think we should take in consideration), but this is an argument for another time, because I have already ramble enough, I haven't rewatch Sargasso yet and I can talk about one anxiety-inducing argument about Astral only one at time 'cause my mind can't take more than one at once.

I'm very sorry for the long ramble, I hope it makes sense somehow, and I know that I should have rewatched the episodes before speaking... but the ending is just too painful for me to watch. Sorry again for all of this.

as an Astral lover, genuinely curious about people’s take on this

cause to me, I am kinda baffled by the sheer audacity of Astral pulling this insane manipulative lie ( no matter how “good intentioned”, it was still a lie, and a manipulation. Cause we learn later he it was just a trick to ensure Yuma dueled him and got his “kattobingu” spirit back )

It just seems so??? Out of character???

And especially after he had such a literal conniption regarding Vector's similar tricks and manipulative lies ??