Rim: As I promised, the next chapter of Aster has been completed for the weekend. Yes, I know it took me long enough to get it down, that's only because of circumstances…as some people know. Well, I guess I shouldn't keep everyone waiting for this, so here we go. The next chapter freshly typed up and shipped out for your reading pleasure.

-oooooo-

Tyson stared out the airplane window, staring out over the view. In half an hour, the two of them would see everyone from Tennessee once again. It had been about three years since the incident, though they all kept in touch with each other up to now. It would be like old times once more. Not just that, he and Kenny were going to have to tell Max's mother what was going on. She had a right to know that Tala and Kai were still alive, but how was the question on his mind. Something happened three years ago, neither was willing to tell or speak of.

Glancing over to his left side, Tyson eyed his cousin who was practically folded in half. Had he known that his cousin was air sick, he would have booked seats near the bathroom. Traveling by plane never bother Tyson, he supposed that he was more excited about the trips ahead to be bothered by something as inconvenient as spewing up his digestive system.

"How are you holding up?" Tyson questioned his cousin, rubbing Kenny's back, who groaned in misery. "That doesn't exactly answer my question."

"Shut up…" Kenny whimpered, closing his eyes to stop the vertigo tossing him back and forth, threatening to heave up anything that was left in his stomach.

"You should have told me that you got air sick easily," Tyson said, continuing to rub his cousin's back. "I would have got us seats by the bathroom, so you could just die in there, instead of beside me."

"Shut up…" Kenny muttered. "If I didn't feel like I'm going to throw up my digestive track, I would kill you."

"In that state you can't kill anything," Tyson stated. "Just think, we have about half an hour, give or take before we land. If you can hold on until then, I'll let you kill me for it."

"I'm going to hold you to it," Kenny mumbled weakly. Tyson chuckled, turning his attention back to the outside. His thoughts wandered back to what could have happened to Tala and Kai. When he kept thinking about it, pieces stuck out of place, and some didn't fit with the story. How was it that the bodies were supposedly found in a ditch, nobody did an autopsy to figure out the cause of death, and how did Kai and Tala's family know to come get the bodies. Who contacted them?

Considering that line of thought how was the rest of the family in Russia notified about the deaths? Nobody but probably Boris had access to that information. Did the police ransack the house for evidence and information about how to contact the family to bury the bodies? Or was it that during the time Tala and Kai were missing, they contacted who they needed to come get them, and then it was all covered up by the police saying that Tala and Kai's bodies were found in a ditch dead? One of the biggest questions in Tyson's mind was why weren't they informed.

Three years passed for him and his cousin without word of that they survived. It wasn't like Kai, and it sure as hell wasn't like Tala to let them think something like this for so long. The first chance Kai would have gotten Tyson would have known that the two of them were alive. What happened to them to make calling impossible? Where were they all this time?

'Maybe they were in a position where they were cut off from the outside world,' Tyson's brain commented. Frowning, Tyson analyzed the thought in his mind, detaching his feelings from it, to think clearly. If he was going to be a psychiatrist in the near future, things like this would be necessary.

The first thing he needed to think about was what occurred. From what the reports he heard from Judy were, Boris went crazy and shot his wife, a maid, Tala and/or Kai, then himself. The possibility that both were shot was highly probable, however one of them could have been not as gravely injured to move their bodies from the house, dying in a ditch later from blood loss. The problem with that scenario was that if they were both shot, Boris would have made certain that they would never have been able to survive it.

The man had already shot and killed his wife and a maid. Why would he make a mistake by thinking the two were dead, then turning the gun on himself? Boris would have made certain that Kai and Tala were both dead by pumping more bullets into them; only afterwards committing suicide. Boris wasn't the type of man who was calm one minute, then a raging lunatic the next. He had reasons behind what he did, what they were only three people knew, two of which weren't speaking of it currently.

So Tyson was going to have to set that note to the side, and go back to the murder case itself, with a side note that Boris had a reason to kill his wife and try to kill Tala and Kai, instead of he went insane. Kai once told him that Boris took Tala in after his parents died. So it was a high chance that Tala was the victim of the shooting, Kai not being around, since for a while Kai was with him anyway then left to go find Tala. Kai must have arrived when Boris was going to kill Tala, and saved him. Either Kai killed Boris, or Tala did so before Kai arrived.

Tyson remembered that Judy said there was a trail of blood leading outside then disappeared from the area when she first announced the news of the murder. At the time, everyone figured that Boris dumped the bodies into the ditch then came back home and killed himself. Since Kai and Tala were still alive, Tyson had to reconsider that clue meant Kai came, dragged Tala from the scene, laying low somewhere since Tala was more than likely injured. So Kai must have made the call, their relatives covering up what happened, and taking Kai and Tala in until just recently.

Thinking about it from a logical stand point, if Tala was injured, and it would cause trouble for Max's mom, Kai would not go to her. If Tala wasn't as injured as Tyson thought, it could be taken wrong by the police in the area. Seeing as how the townspeople treated the two like black sheep, Tala and Kai might have been imprisoned for murder without hearing their stories. When it came down to it, the evidence against them was more on emotions rather than evidence of the crime. Now the real question here was what sort of situation were they put in when their "bodies" were supposedly taken back to Russia?

Tyson blinked as the seatbelt sign flashed overhead. Coming out of his thoughts, Tyson put on his seatbelt, looking over at his cousin. Kenny was still folded over. "Hey, you're going to have to sit up."

"If I sit up, I'm going to throw up," Kenny whined.

"We'll be on the ground in a few minutes, you can hold up until then, can't you?" Tyson questioned.

"No," Kenny stated.

"Well I'm going to need you to sit up, so we can put your seatbelt on," Tyson smiled sympathetically. "We'll be on the ground in no time. Then you can strangle me, stab me, or hug me all you want."

"I doubt the last one," Kenny commented, slowly sitting up from his folded up position. Tyson took his time to help his cousin with the seatbelt, though eyed his pasty faced cousin for a sign that he was going to blow at any time. Leaning back over into his seat, Tyson looked as they were slowly beginning to descend.

"I can't wait to see everyone," Tyson smiled.

"I thought you were nervous," Kenny said.

"Yeah, for telling Max's mom about things, but other than that, I can't wait to see everyone, even Lee." Tyson made a face; thinking about the guy who had stole Mariah away from him. Kenny gave a weak laugh at the statement.

"You never change sometimes."

"Yes I do," Tyson smiled. "I think that over the last few years, I've gotten to be wiser in lots of ways."

"You know that Max and Zeo aren't going to think that," Kenny smiled.

"Well, I will make them see that I've grown up," Tyson promised.

"I agree. You really have come a long way Tyson Kinomiya. It's scary sometimes to think about who you use to be, compared to who you are now. You still have your ways, but I think things have made you stronger," Kenny announced. "We've both become stronger, and I hope that I can continue to be stronger in the future to stand by Tala no matter what happens."

"When he tells you what happened three years ago?" After the dinner with Michael and Tala, Kenny told Tyson what happened, and the promise Tala made him about the secret he and Kai kept.

"Yes," Kenny nodded.

"Once we know, I think it might change everything," Tyson voiced.

"I think so too, that's why I want to be stronger for the future, when that change comes," Kenny agreed. Tyson silently agreed with Kenny. At the moment his situation with Ozuma was a small matter, when Kai came forward and told him everything, how was it going to affect the situation? Tyson would have to be ready for anything. The remaining minutes that they remained on the plane was kept in silence. Or rather Kenny trying to keep his stomach in place instead of on the floor of the plane.

When the plane finally landed and Kenny was safely in the airport's bathroom hurling up anything else that possibly was eaten in his lifetime, the nausea settled. Tyson waited outside the bathroom with their luggage, awaiting his cousin. Scanning the area for a sign of their friends, Tyson eventually spotted the huge sign that was being held up by a blonde bouncing up and down rapidly. Tyson laughed amusedly at the green haired young man beside the blonde, trying to calm him down.

"Max! Zeo!" Tyson waved from his spot by the bathroom to get their attention. Both heads' snapped into his general direction, Max's eyes lighting up as he shoved the sign into Zeo's hands and rushed at Tyson head on. Tyson back up against the wall preparing for the impact.

"Tyson!" Max said, people turning to look at him, as he pounced on Tyson. "Buddy! It's good to see you again! It's been like ages since we seen each other, look at you!"

"Get off me Max!" Tyson laughed, trying to pull the blonde away. "It's not like we've been out of contact for more than a few months, let go."

"No way! So where's Kenny? I don't see him with you," Max looked around for the brunette. "Did he stay in Massachusetts? I was really looking forward to seeing him."

"He's in the bathroom hopefully not dead," Tyson replied.

"Dead, why? What did you do to him Tyson Kinomiya?" Max voiced.

"Nothing! He's airsick!" Tyson said.

"I was feeling better, until I came out to screaming," Kenny said, standing beside Tyson, the color in his face had returned for the most part, but his stomach still felt queasy. "It's good to see you, Max, but please don't hop all over me, I don't think that I will be able to take it."

"Stomach still feeling like a bowl of Jell-o?" Tyson wondered, tilting his head to the side to stare at his cousin.

"Please don't mention food around me," Kenny begged. "I don't think my stomach can take any mention of anything right now."

"Poor Kenny," Zeo shook his head walking up. "It's nice to see you both again. How have things been going for you two?"

"Oh just fine, you haven't changed much, except you cut your hair!" Tyson said, noting the shorter ponytail his green headed friend was sporting. Walking up to Zeo, Tyson ruffled his hair, getting a protest out of Zeo. "And I'm still taller than you. You definitely need to grow more."

"Oh thank you very much, I'll keep that in mind the next time I'm growing," Zeo frowned at being teased. "We haven't been here more than five minutes together and you're already starting up. You never change."

"Yes I have," Tyson announced.

"What is Tyson proclaiming now?" Tyson turned his eyes to the red head walking up with Emily; following behind the two were Jordan and Mariah.

"Well, if it isn't Johnny McGregor," Tyson smirked.

"Tyson says he's changed," Max beamed.

"Oh god, the world is going to come to an end," Johnny stated in horror.

"Oh yeah, keep laughing it up funny man. I want you to know, I happen to be very smart and mature now. Not only that, I do well in school and I have a scholarship. Just you wait, I'm going to be your psychiatrist in a few years when you're going bald, and Emily's left you for some hot young tennis player. You're going to be depressed, fat, and on welfare, then you will see," Tyson laughed. "Who's going to be laughing then? Me with all the money, whose going to put you on a boatload of anti-depressants, or you whose going to be taking the anti-depressants?"

"Me, because you are never going to get out of school because you're dumber than a log," Johnny said. "Who in their right mind would give you a degree in anything other than stuffing your face?"

"What the hell did you just say to me?" Tyson glared.

"You heard me," Johnny retorted.

"And they get started," Jordan giggle, hopping over to where Kenny was with a smile, before throwing her arms around him. "Kenny! I'm glad you came with Tyson! I'm so happy to see you again."

"It's nice to see you too, Jordan," Kenny greeted. "You look well, how have you been getting along?"

"I'm fine, what about you? You're in college right now, aren't you? Did you have a fun trip here, you look sort of sick. Do airplanes make you airsick?" Jordan asked.

"In fact they do," Kenny announced.

"Are you in school right now?"

"Tyson and I go to the same college in fact with my other friends," Kenny responded.

"That must be loads of fun," Jordan thought with a large grin on her face. Kenny had to admit that seeing her bubbly face was a lift of spirits. Chuckling mentally at the memories of three years ago coming back to him, he found it ironic that her clinging to him no longer was bothersome. She was like a little sister that hadn't seen her big brother in a long time.

"It's fun when I'm not being pestered to death by my Kane, or drove up a wall by a few other friends of him," Kenny said, returning Jordan's hug and thinking about Oliver and Robert. "Right now, I'm working on getting a bachelor in English. And Tyson plans to get a degree in Psychology, if you can believe that."

"You would never expect something like that out of Tyson of all people," Zeo commented, turning his eyes on Tyson and Johnny looked ready to bash each other over the head with the luggage. "Especially when you see him like this."

"No kidding," Max nodded, releasing Tyson to watch the banter between Tyson and Johnny continue. "Either his patients are going to be happy to be cured to stop going to him, or he's going to become his own patient."

"Are you trying to start in on me too, Max?" Tyson questioned.

"No sir, I'm just a bystander," Max held up his hands with a friendly smile. "You can go back to glaring down Johnny I'm not saying a word."

"You better not," Tyson commented, glaring at Johnny once more.

"Now, now, let's not start this up so soon," Emily said, stepping in between the two friends who were glaring at each other. "I know you missed each other, but save some for later when you're all alone. Then you can molest each other with insults all night long."

"You know, for some reason, the way you said that…it's just not right," Mariah commented, stepping forward. "Tyson, it's good to see you again, and you also Kenny."

"It's nice to see you too, Mariah," Kenny nodded a warm welcome to her. "You seem to be in good spirits."

"Yep, I never felt better," Mariah grinned.

"Lee's not with you?" Tyson said, smiling warmly at his former crush. "And it's good to see you too, Riah. How has life been treating you?"

"Just fine, you know, Lee and I were planning on getting married in another year or so, I hope you're going to be down for the wedding. You're still not mad that he took me away from you, are you?" Mariah cocked her head to the side, her eyes playing with mischief.

"No, I'm fine with it now. Your happiness is all I've ever wanted," Tyson informed.

"That's sweet of you to say," Mariah said, hugging Tyson.

"Well, now that we've got our greetings out the way, and it's just like the old times when we were still a bunch of kids who had nothing better to do than hang around beyblading, how about we head back to let Kenny and mister professor in psychology here get some rest before we party," Johnny smiled.

"Someone tell me he isn't driving, because I would rather walk," Tyson voiced. "I don't want to be witness to any hit and runs, or running elderly people off the sidewalks into the street."

"You want to start with me again?" Johnny glared.

"Enough I said, I swear I don't know how you two managed to be friends," Emily shook her head, pushing them towards the airport exit.

-oooo-

"Kenny?" Tyson placed a hand on his friend's shoulder from where Kenny was standing at the window, staring out blankly at the scenery. The brunette immediately responded to his name being called, turning to look at his cousin, noting the worry in his face. Kenny allowed a smile of reassure to cross his face.

Tyson sighed in relief that dark thoughts weren't settling in the brunette's mind. When he first told Kenny about the change of plans with coming back to Tennessee for Zeo's birthday party, he was certain Kenny would decline. After all, this was the place it all started, to be brought back here during this time in there lives was both a step of courage and a step of risks. There was no guarantee that it would be too much for either. However Kenny proclaimed if he couldn't get over this hump in his life, he wouldn't be able to discover what Tala hid from him.

Coming back almost meant they would face Judy. No matter how prepared they were to tell her everything, they had no clue how she would react to the news. Before telling anyone else, they needed to clear things with Judy first. Max, Zeo, and the others would only complicate matters more with questions they (Tyson and Kenny) would not be able to answer. At least when they told Judy, she could calmly assess the situation, maybe give them her own feedback and opinion.

"What do you think she's going to say?" Kenny asked, breaking through Tyson's train of thought.

"Hm?" Tyson blinked.

"Judy, what do you think she's going to say when we tell her?" Kenny repeated.

"About Tala and Kai?" Tyson remarked. "I'm not sure, I guess if I were to think about it, she's going to be happy to know that they are alive. Secondly, she think we're joking and that we're still not coping with the lost. Then again, she might go in shock and won't be much help to us. We're all putting our personal experiences and feelings into this, which gives us a biased theory."

"You really do sound like a psychiatrist at times," Kenny chuckled. "In other words, what you're saying is that we have to put aside our emotions in order to figure this out."

"And you're sounding more like a writer all the time," Tyson teased. "I say we go over this with Judy the minute we can get a hold of her to talk alone."

"If our aunt will let us go so soon," Kenny sighed, thinking about how they had not been able to refuse their aunt's offer to stay with her and their uncle on their small trip back into town. Had it not been for feigning fatigue, Kenny was certain she would have poked and prodded and yapped their ears off. "Every time I see her, it's like I'm a prized cow."

"Hey, hey, don't let her hear that, she might treat you like one," Tyson laughed, walking over to one of the empty beds in the room, and flopping down on it. "I'm so tired, if Zeo's birthday wasn't Sunday, I would sleep two days away and not care."

"I know the feeling," Kenny stretched, just as there was a knock on the door, following a blonde head popping into the door. The two cousins were about to greet Max when they noticed the female face smiling at them.

"You boys don't mind if I come in do you?" Judy asked.

"No, no, not at all, we were just talking about you. Funny you would come see us," Tyson said, beckoning the woman into the room. Entering, Judy closed the door behind her, studying the young men.

"It's good to see you both, you look well," Judy smiled. "How have you both been?"

"We can't complain," Tyson said. "We're making our way through life as best as we possibly can. I even decided that I want to try for a degree in psychology."

"Max was telling me," the woman reported as her brows lined with worry. "Is this a decision you considered because of what happened three years ago?"

"Actually it is," Tyson admitted. "I wanted to do something in order to help others like Kai and Tala. I still want to do that, but I really do like psychology on my own. I'm not forcing myself to go through it. I would never make a good psychiatrist if I did, right?"

"It's good that you know that," Judy agreed, turning her attention to Kenny. "And what have you decided you wanted to do concerning the past."

"For a while, I didn't know then I thought about writing," Kenny thought. "It's really helped me get through things. Both Tyson and I have moved on, and found new loves despite things."

"I'm happy for you both," Judy smiled.

"But, we have a small dilemma, Judy," Tyson added in. "We need your opinion on it, but we're going to need you to put aside your emotions for a while in order to help us with it."

"This sounds serious." Judy took a seat in the empty desk chair, eyeing the young men before her that survived through what happened to be the roughest obstacle in their lives up to now. What more could have possibly happened, which they could not deal with on their own? "All right, I'm listening, what is it?"

"We both have told our boyfriends at least half of what went on here three years ago. Of course, they're not the problem we're about to bring up now. We have several questions we were wondering if you could answer about the past," Tyson started, his eyes never leaving the woman who was probably wondering what was going through their minds.

"I suppose so, but I told you everything about it Tyson," Judy blinked. "There's nothing more that I left out when it came to what happened. The maids put out the report, the police arrived to find Boris, his wife, and a maid murdered. A trail of blood leading outside uncovered that he dumped Tala and Kai's bodies in a ditch…both were dead."

"Did you see the bodies when they were brought back to town?" Tyson asked.

"No…I didn't…" Judy shook her head. "Tyson, if you and Kenny believe they are still alive, it's not a healthy train of thought to sink into denial and delusions."

"We're not delusional," Tyson argued. "We have our reasons for asking. When you hear what we have to say, you will understand. You don't have to take our word either we have other witness, that can not possibly be delusional, if you analyze our case as such."

"All right, since you are a psychology major, let's hear your analysis on the situation," Judy sighed. "What else do you have to ask?"

"You didn't see the bodies, nor did you give the autopsy?" Tyson questioned.

"No, a doctor from another hospital gave the autopsy, I was too emotional distraught to properly perform it," Judy remembered. "I was a mess that day. It's not every day two young men that were once your patients are killed by the very man that took them in. It doesn't happen in small towns like this very often."

"So you didn't see the bodies, and you just went along with the autopsy of the other doctor. Even when their relatives shipped the bodies back to Russia, you didn't confirm their deaths," Tyson said. "I understand what you're saying, but you're a doctor before anything else. It should have been your job to give a second medical opinion, since this is your jurisdiction."

"I suppose it should have been," Judy sighed. "I just didn't want to see them lying there in bodies bags. I would feel guiltier for not being able to do anything for them. And then I kept thinking about you and Kenny. It broke my heart in half."

"Who contacted the family?" Kenny wondered.

"I suppose…the police did," Judy thought. "They were in and out of there for days getting evidence and things."

"But some relatives arrived a day and a half after the incident, don't you think it's strange, when they begun the investigation the next day of discovering the bodies. Nobody knew they were dead before their relatives came. Only after the relatives came were the bodies discovered, given an autopsy, and shipped off to Russia within twenty fours of it happening. For some reason, I think they just happened to hear about it at random. Considering the size of the house, I would think the police could possibly gather that sort of information in two or three days of the crime," Tyson voiced.

"Tyson…what are you getting at?" Judy looked back and forth between the two cousins, her brows furling together.

"What we're getting at, is that they didn't die as everyone thinks. The town was given a fake autopsy report while Tala and Kai's relatives shipped them off to Russia secretly," Kenny declared.

"That's--" Judy started.

"They're alive," Tyson interrupted.

"You say you're not delusional then what do you call this conspiracy theory?" Judy gaped. "I know you wish they were really alive, but you have to move on."

"We did move on then no more than a month ago we were surprised when people we thought were dead showed themselves at my house. After three years of silence, we are proven wrong about their deaths," Kenny said softly, staring the woman dead in the eyes. "We wouldn't bring this up otherwise, you know that."

"It's impossible," Judy voiced.

"No it is," Tyson countered. "They are alive."

"We can give you their work number, numbers to friends' who can vouch for us…Tyson's irate boyfriend who is pissed at Kai, my boyfriend who has sat down with Tala and talked with him. If you want, we can take pictures when we get back and mail them to you as proof. We know you might have a hard time believing it, but it's true, Judy," Kenny urged.

"But…how…" Judy wondered.

"That's what we don't know either. They haven't said so much as what happened to us since they came back. Just recently, before coming here, I got Tala to promise me that he would tell me when I returned from this trip. Tyson and I wanted to at least piece some of the puzzle together on our own, to lighten the load they had to tell us, but there's not much here," Kenny sighed.

"I'm sorry," Judy apologized. "Maybe I should have done the autopsy. I could have uncovered the truth, and then you two wouldn't have to suffer like this."

"It's not your fault," Tyson assured. "You had no way of knowing they were really alive. Just recently, I noticed the inconsistence in the events surrounding three years ago."

"You have come a long way, Tyson," Judy smiled. "You're going to make a fine psychiatrist someday. Would you mind telling them to call me when they get a chance, it's still the same number as three years ago? I would love to hear their voices."

"I'm sure they wouldn't mind obliging that," Tyson nodded as a thought hit Kenny. In all the time of this conversation, he nor Tyson still knew who came to pick up the two. It's not like it mattered now, but for some reason, he couldn't see just anyone pulling off their disappearing act so successfully.

"Judy…" Kenny spoke.

"Yes Kenny?" The woman turned her head to see him mulling over a thought. "What's wrong?"

"Just to humor me, who came from Russia for their bodies…?"

"Their grandfather, Voltaire, which was a shocked because he never wanted anything to do with either of them before. I met him once in the past, and it was clear that he washed his hands clean of Tala's parents a long time ago, since Tala's mother married against his better judgment. It was the same with Boris, who was Tala's mother's older brother. Why do you ask?" Judy inquired.

"Kenny?" Tyson frowned.

"The reason they didn't call or let us know…" Kenny answered. "if what Judy says is true...then we've solved a piece of the puzzle, Tyson. All we need now is Tala and Kai to confirm my suspicions." If what he was considering was the case, Kenny feared what it meant to find out the truth. It might take everything he and Tyson had to lead them out of the darkness once more.

-oooooo-

Rim: Oh look, I finally finished it. With some time to spare. I kept my promise and now I'm away to melt my brain with meaningless activities.