Love and Family

Plot Summary- Zane and Aster begin planning their wedding and new life. But planning a wedding is hard enough—and then Zane's parents come to make things all the more hectic. Can they get through it smoothly? Or will a family secret destroy everything?

Note- Although I'm sure it was obvious, I feel the need to point out that in the last chapter when Ollie was speaking French, I had to use a translator to figure out what he would say. I apologize if anything was inaccurate as I do not speak fluent French. Thanks :)

Disclaimer- I do not own Yu-gi-oh GX or its characters.

Chapter 12: Love and Family

Aster's POV

I fell to the floor; the thump wasn't heard over the sounds of Ollie's gun and Rissa's screams. My mind is pure chaotic for a moment or two. I can't think or act, I'm just still—allowing whatever might happen to happen.

But when I didn't feel pain or didn't black out, I realized I hadn't been shot. How was that possible? I was going to die. No way out this time. I had accepted that and braced myself for the final blow, but it never came. Unless…Zane, oh god!

I looked up and gasped. He was standing tall and open; ready to take the bullet that was meant for the two of us. He was just as confused; so much so he had to look down to make sure he hadn't been shot. He wasn't—he was perfectly fine. Rissa's screams ceased and she was looking past us with disbelieving horror—when I turned my head, I saw exactly why she had this look.

Caroline was doubled over—trying to stop the blood that was flowing from the gunshot wound. Ollie had turned the gun on his creator; he shot his mother instead of us.

Caroline glared at Ollie and for the first time; I saw the monster deep inside her. There was no love or hurt over what Ollie had done; only anger and hatred. She didn't see her son—she just saw an enemy. Another person in her way. That's all Ollie ever was to her—a pawn in her life.

Ollie aimed the gun again, this time aiming for her throat. He wasn't ever going to help her—it was the exact opposite—he wanted to kill her. I got on my feet quickly. It didn't matter that seconds ago Caroline wanted us dead—it wasn't our place to execute her.

"Aster, no!" But it didn't matter, we were both too late. I was close enough that when the gun went off again, blood was splattered on my clothing. I looked away on impulse but I had seen what happened. Caroline couldn't even scream—her body fell to the floor in silent agony. I didn't look back—I didn't want to see her die and remember seeing my father's body.

Zane walked forward and put a hand on my arm. Ollie saw this and pointed the gun at Zane. Whatever fear I had of seeing Caroline dead was gone—my attention was focused on the crazed man holding the gun.

Somehow, he was just as scared as we were. I could see it in his eyes. Even with his mother's blood on his face and our lives in his hands, I had never sympathized with Ollie more than I did now. Killing Caroline wasn't justifiable by any means—and a part of me hated him all the more for it. Then I remembered that the very life she had given him was destroyed by her too. Her abuse and obsession for control made a demon out of him. While I believed people chose how they reacted to things like abuse and that Ollie had different choices; could I really hate him for wanting to be rid of that evil once and for all? Hadn't I been in a similar situation with the D?

"Ollie honey, can you please put the gun down?" Rissa spoke in a careful, soothing voice. Like an aunt would. "None of us want to hurt you. Aster just wants to get the key off of her so I get out of this…"

His eyes narrowed; unsure as to whether or not he could trust Rissa. "She's right." I said in a shaky voice.

After a tension-filled moment, Ollie lowered his weapon. Not letting go completely—but lowered it enough that I felt safe to move. Against my desires, I leaned down and tried to search Caroline's pockets without actually looking at her. Zane leaned down and produced the key after concluding that I couldn't do it with the trauma I had just seen. He helped me up and we unlocked Rissa's chains.

The moment she was free, she wrapped her arms around Zane. Her voice cracking as she spoke. "Dear god, Zane, I thought I was going to lose you! I thought I was going to lose my baby…"

"I'm fine. Are you okay?" He held her close. Not so long ago, he was afraid he was going to lose his mother and grandfather all at the same time. Even if he didn't vocalize it, both Rissa and I knew exactly how terrified he had been.

"I'm okay." I hesitantly turned away from the family moment to the one across the room. Ollie was on his knees besides Caroline's body. The gun right next to him. His hand caressed a lock of his mother's black hair away from her face. The grief in his face was impossible to miss. All I dared to look at was her face but in death Caroline seemed…completely different. In life, she was always so angry and tension-filled. In her, I saw nothing but a vile storm destroying everything in its path. Now she was like lake water—calm and at peace. Her face was pretty—almost like an older version of Louisa—but was hidden behind the dark veil of her terrible personality.

And despite this, I wouldn't mourn her—nor would Zane or even Rissa. The one person who really wished she hadn't died—was the person who pulled the trigger.

()

There was no way we were going to be able to leave England that night. It was nothing short of a miracle that we were able to leave France. Thankfully, the funeral was pushed back to the evening, so we were able to leave tomorrow morning with no real problems.

Ollie was turned himself in at France but would be transferred back to England to face trial. Louisa stayed with him and called us after our flight to tell us everything.

"With your testimony, it will probably be a case of self-defense—manslaughter at worst. But along with what he did to you guys—he's probably going to spend the next couple years in a mental institution and then they'll move him to an assisted-living home for awhile. It's not going to be easy but—maybe at some point he could have a normal life." I heard her say as I leaned my head on Zane's shoulder. He nodded carefully so to avoid my head.

"We've made our statements and we're willing to communicate through the Japanese police but… It's been a hard couple days and my grandfather's funeral is today."

"My condolences- especially since I have a funeral plan now. I just can't believe…Ollie could do that. He hated my mother but I never thought…"

"Just be glad it's over with. That's the only the only good thing that really came from all this." He said. I looked up from his shoulder and saw that Rissa was returning from the restroom. Zane said his goodbyes and closed his phone.

She smiled weakly. "How is Ollie?"

"He's not going to prison more than likely— but it's going to be a long time before society will even think about giving him back his membership card." Zane sighed and rested his hand on my leg. I couldn't help but notice that we were being more public about our relationship than we normally were. I guess when you survive death glaring you in the face—you tend to forget your own rules.

"Zane? Rissa?" We all turned our heads to see Sam pacing towards us. Rissa's eyes seemed to light up at her husband despite everything that had happened.

I allowed to remember how exactly Rissa came to be in this mess. The letter. I was far from mad about it; in fact, I knew if it hadn't been for Rissa, Zane and I wouldn't even exist, let alone be in love. However, I couldn't let the lies go back and forth between them anymore. Just like Rissa always deserved to know how much my mother had affected Sam; Sam deserved to know why he and my mom never could be.

"Rissa, you have to…"

"I know…" She told me with a sigh. "And I will, just…not right now, okay?"

I nodded in agreement, and allowed my fiancées parents to embrace each other. They seemed to forget that they had been arguing. They kissed and hugged freely, never once considering that other people might be looking or perhaps not even caring. They laughed and cried; seeming perfectly happy despite all that had happened.

I looked to Zane—he was smiling. And I knew exactly why. His parents were obviously happy with one another—and being a part would have made them miserable. So I guess seeing them happy—even for just a split second—again, made him happy.

And seeing him happy well—that was more than enough to make me happy.

Zane's POV

My mother did tell my father the truth. Naturally, he was pissed but they decided to let the past be the past. They were far from ready to forgive each other but with time I knew they would. In the meantime, they would just continue being in love and take the time to work on their relationship.

The day after my grandfather's funeral, there was a local party at a bar to celebrate his life. This was specifically written in my grandfather's will stating that his life was something to celebrate, not mourn. Many of my distant relatives were star-struck by Aster, while others appeared to be so use to Syrus and I being big duelist they never gave Aster a second thought.

I had got caught talking to a few of my cousins while my mother introduced Aster to some of our other relatives. What was only suppose to be fifteen minutes ended up being two hours apart; two hours too long for me to be away from my fiancée as far as I was concerned.

After awhile though, I saw him walking over to the bar with an annoyed look on his face. I squint my eyes and saw that somehow he had spilled his soda on his shirt. An idea sprung in my head too great to refuse.

I excused myself from my current conversation and walked over to Aster, who was using napkins to clean the wet spot off his shirt. With my wine glass in hand I leaned against the bar next to him. "Well, well, someone's looking a little pissed."

"Not pissed just…" He paused and stared at me intrigued. He smiled when he realized where exactly he had heard me say that. "Reenacting our connection night? Are you actually trying to be romantic?"

"Do you like it?"

He shrugged, but his smirk told me something else entirely. We were by no means moved by the usual acts of romance. Flowers and poetry wouldn't go very far in each other's books. But I knew he liked it when I did things like this. "It's just really surprising—no offense, but I didn't think you had a romantic bone in your body."

I pretended to be hurt which made him laugh. "I can be very romantic if encouraged a little—you just don't go for romantic."

He leaned forward and whispered in my ear. "And what would you call making love on a Greek beach exactly?"

"Fun?" I shivered at the seductive tone in his voice. He pulled back and rolled his eyes, his hand gently shaking the empty glass he had. "I'll buy you one, what do you want?"

"Oh, so this is the part where you get me drunk off wine so you can pry every little secret out of me, right?" He said, taking the napkins away from the stain and setting them on the bar. "Sorry, fool me once, shame on you."

"Well, you're just not making this romantic thing easy are you?"

"Aster!" My mother pushed through the crowd and extended her hand to Aster. "Come on, I have some friends from college I want you to meet."

I suppressed a groan—I didn't want him to leave again, I wanted his attention for myself. "Actually mom, Aster and I were…"

Aster waved his hand. "It's alright, we always have later…I have something I want to tell you!" He shouted as my mom pulled him into the crowd. I sighed to myself. Well, at least my parents liked my fiancée.

Being alone made me remember the last real conversation I had with my grandfather—when I had told him who Aster was. How even considering Shiloh Phoenix's past with my father and his sick condition, all he had wanted was for me to be happy. There were times when I knew I made him proud like the little league games, and there were times when I disappointed him like when he confronted me about being Hell Kaiser. But no matter what, my grandfather had always been there—supporting me or telling me I was idiot.

So since I was alone, I raised my glass for him. Hoping that from now on, I would only make him proud.

()

After returning to my parent's home, Aster and I walked the beach for the last time. As the waves crashed against the sand, I couldn't help but be reminded of our night out here—the last time we allowed ourselves to have fun before Caroline tore everything a part. I knew tonight we wouldn't have a repeat performance and I was okay with that. I enjoyed the quiet, relaxing atmosphere all the same.

"I can't wait to get home—I'm so tired, I'm surprised I can still walk straight." His hands were deep in his pockets—refusing to leave as it would seem. I nodded in agreement.

"I think I've had my fill of my parents for…a long time. I love them but sometimes I'm thankful I live in a different country." Aster chuckled and looked out to the ocean again. He looked so…happy. I really couldn't put my finger on what exactly made him feel that way but as long as it was there—I was too.

Then he took a hand out of his pocket and grabbed mine. He didn't look me in the eye as he spoke. "You know, your mother told me something very interesting…"

I raised an eyebrow. What did my mother have to do with this? "She did?"

"Yeah—see, she's been doing research about same-sex weddings and….I guess a lot of times, both people will propose…" He started taking his other hand out of his pocket. My eyes widened as he got down on one knee. His hand opened to reveal a ring I haven't seen in a very long time; the engagement ring my grandfather gave to my grandmother.

"How did you get that?" I was sure the ring would be buried with my grandfather along with his wedding ring and watch. But here it was, being held over my ring finger.

"Your grandfather gave it to your mother—I guess she was suppose to give it to you but…well, you already had her ring so she gave it to me…We spent most of the night planning this."

"Oh, so that's why my mother kept dragging you around at the party…" I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "I can't believe her, my mother can be too much sometimes."

"Are you going to let me do this or not?" Aster said sternly—implying that he was doing it whether I was going to let him or not. I nodded and allowed him to continue. "Look, I'm not going to tell you that I love you or that I want to spend the rest of my life with you because well…It's redundant. You know it already and you're not the kind of man who needs to hear it over and over again."

Well, I guess it was always good to know that your fiancée knew you. "What I will say is that—I'm not an easy person to spend forever with. I think the time we've been together is proof enough of that. But I'm grateful that you can accept me for who I am and still love me enough to ask me to marry you so… Now I'm doing the same. Zane, will you marry me?"

"No— " Aster looked up and gave me a sideways look that made me laugh. "I'm just joking, I've already said yes haven't I?"

He chuckled and placed the ring on my finger, I was surprised by how well it fit. "Did my mother get this resized?"

"No, you and your grandfather just have a similar size." He said, standing up and kissing me on the lips. "You know, July's going to be here before we know it and we haven't done a thing other than pick the date and venue."

"Well then; I guess we have a lot of work ahead of us."

We had a lot ahead of us—our entire lives to be exact. Not so long ago, I was certain we were both going to be killed and I would never get the chance to enjoy the kind of life I wanted. Now, it seemed impossible for life, death or otherwise to stop us.

And if they did; let them try. I was going to marry him come hell or high water, and damn anyone who tried to stop us.

That's the end of Love and Family! I should have the next chapter of Live and Learn up fairly soon along with the last 'And' story Black and White which will be about Zane and Aster's wedding. Along with that, I'm planning on working on a few other couples (Jaden/Jesse, Jim/Kenzan, maybe a Chazz/Syrus fic?). I'd as always like to thank my wonderful, supporting reviewers and hope they've enjoyed this story as well as the others! Thanks!