Aster opened his eyes and turned towards the girl. She had not noticed anything and was in a deep sleep. He looked back at the window, perhaps, it was simply a reflection of a car passing by, just in case, he choose to sleep facing the other direction. That night, he slept quite uneasy. He could not remember when was the last time it had happened, but it seemed a long time ago. He saw his dad in his office being hit by a large object, however who hit him, was not visible, instead a silhouette of a man surrounded by a white aura. The scene changed to the boy stepping inside the plane that would take him to the United States and realizing the white mist had completely covered it.

He opened his eyes, and noticed Jade's green eyes staring at him, her face, a few centimeters from his.

"You began to move so much, I thought you were having an epilepsy attack!"

"Wha-What?" the boy asked out of breath.

"Where you having a nightmare?" she asked concerned.

"I...I..." Her intense gaze made him a little uncomfortable.

"It's nothing."

The girl did not seemed convinced but dropped the topic. She turned around and continued sleeping in the sofa. Aster looked at the ceiling. Last time, he was convinced he had gotten rid of what he had learnt was The Light of Destruction. He remembered when he smashed his mother's ring, which surprisingly his father never asked about again. He was not entirely sure why the Light of Destruction was targeting him specially, or if his dad ever noticed it... he was not sure what exactly was The Light of Destruction. Was it a person? A spirit? An abstract concept?

The house was completely silent and dark. In another times he would have rushed to his father's bedroom. He took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. He was not sure what he saw, perhaps...it was nothing. Yes, nothing, focusing in the ticking clock he fell asleep.

The airport looked bigger than Aster would have imagined. The constant flow of people coming and going, couples and friends reuniting after spending who knew how much appart. He looked at the board. His flight to JFK Airport from Domino International Airport was scheduled for 10 p.m. D returned and handed Aster, Sartorius and Serena their boarding passes. He talked with the flight assistant about his upcoming flight to return from JFK to Domino and choose to reserve it.

Aster held his small purple carry on in which he had placed his duel disk and his deck, he would not take any chances in losing either of those things. He turned towards Jade who was reading the different flights.

"You've ever went in a plane before?"

"Yes" she answered "I've been to Italy with my parents."

"Oh".

He scanned looking for the flights from Domino to Rome. He counted two, one of them which, at the moment, was boarding.

"All right!" Mr. D chimned in "My flight to return has been scheduled and I was able to buy it with a discount!" he looked at Aster.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to return? I'll try to fly every month or so."

"Yes, yes" Aster answered without much thought. The boy bit his lip; honestly, he would have prefered Mr. D staying with him longer, at least until he was fully settled in.

"All right!" Mr. D clapped his hands. "I think it's time we get going!"

Aster turned once more towards Jade, Miles and Ruth. He hugged the three of them at once, while Miles patted his head and wished him good luck.

"You'll always know where to find us Aster!" Ruth said looking into his eyes. Her green eyes, just like Jade shone with much kindness. Aster doubt he would find people as generous as the Trembleys had been. All those times Miles had agreed to keep an eye on Aster when his dad was busy, how the family greeted him with open arms, and without any judgment or rush for him to leave after his dad's funeral. His only link to Domino City and is life before his father's death, now in seconds of separating for who knew how long. He looked at Jade who in her hands had a piece of paper and handed it to Aster.

"I don't know if will meet again but..." she said. The boy looked at it: it was a photo of them smiling in front of one of the rollercoasters at Kaibaland. He turned it around, scribbled in a shiny pink pen it was written:

Kaibaland. October, 1996.

Remember me with joy.

Jade T.

"Jade…" he hugged her "Thank you!"

He held the picture in one hand and his carry on in the other. From the corner of his eye he saw D standing next to him.

"Ready?"

"Ready".

Aster stepped inside without looking back.

He sat by the window seat next to D who instructed him to put on his seatbelt. He placed both of his hands by the seats side and stared at the front looking at the passengers walking across the hallway, glancing at their boarding passes and checking the seats. He saw Sartorius' hand peeking from behind his sit.

"Comfortable? It's going to be long…" He threw a small book in his lap. "Just in case you get bored, I found it at the bookshop today."

Mr. D, who had not buckled his seat belt, turned around to check on the brother and sister.

"How are you doing, Serena?" he asked her.

"Good...good".

"First time flying, as well?"

"Yes" Aster heard Serena answer from the sit behind him.

"It's going to be fine...accidents in planes have a small chance of occuring" Mr. D assured the three of them. The boy gulped. He remembered his recent dream of the plane being completely covered by a white mist.

"No accidents will occur, I guarantee that" Sartorius answered as if he had read Aster's mind.

"Good night passengers and welcome to flight 2936 to JFK Airport in New York City, with stop in Los Angeles. This is your Captain speaking and I inform you we are about to begin our flight, please fasten your seatbelts."

Aster held his breath, he glanced at D who followed the capitan's instructions. The plane began to move in high speed until it began to ascend in the sky, the night sky completely surrounding the plane. Aster wondered if that's what felt being inside a rocketship, except, with gravity. Back at Domino, he had heard about Kaiba Corp's contest of a lucky child who would have their cards launched into a rocket. Aster found it quite...uncessesary...His thoughts of space and duel monsters was interrupted by D.

"Now, it's time we relax" Mr. D slightly pushed his seat's backrest and closed his eyes. Aster was left wondering how he had managed to fall asleep so fast. He followed with his gaze a blonde stewardess who approached with her food trolley.

"By your face I can notice it's your first time flying…" she commented. Aster was about to ask how she could tell but she served him orange juice in a small plastic cup. The boy placed the cup in his small table and glanced over at the book which Sartorius had dropped to his lap before: an american comic book. He doubt Sartorius would read something like that...he shrugged and began reading; as Sartorius had predicted: it would be quite a long flight.-

D had only woken up when the stewardess served dinner. After a while, the lights of the hallway were turned off, the flight attendants handled each passenger a blanket and a small pillow. Aster took a look at his seat. It was very uncomfortable, how anyone expected him to sleep on that? He followed D, steps: slightly pushing back his seat, covering himself with the blanket and trying to fall asleep...while sitting. He changed positions resting the pillow between his shoulder and his head against the window, still uncomfortable. He sighed, and gazed at the window.

He wondered how much time it had passed since he departed. It felt like forever, he tried to glance down, but of course, he couldn't see anything. How far were they? He turned around. Both, Sartorius and Serena had their eyes closed. He felt everyone around him was sleeping instead of him, which made him rather anxious.

He turned again towards the window. What was Jade doing at that moment? He imagined her sleeping in her pink room and her many pillows. He thought of Miles having a small cup of tea after dinner, like he always did; while Ruth was already in bed reading one of her books. It was a comfortable thought, enough to put him to sleep.

Aster watched from the taxi window the high rise buildings. Sartorius pointed at a an art museum and commented how he would definitely go there. Next to Sartorius, Serena had fallen asleep, while Mr. D chatted with the taxi driver. The radio was softly playing, but the boy was not paying much attention to it. The city looked very crowded. Suddenly, the car stopped in front of a white building with glass doors, it looked like a hotel, but Aster was surprised to find it was an apartment complex.

However, the penthouse was rather large, each person had their own room, and the whole house connecting to the main room, a large living room with a balcony. Yet, Aster found it rather plain, compared to how luxurious the entrance looked. It had very few furniture, and had white walls.

Mr. D approached the shelfs and began looking at the walls. He commented to Aster that by the first week, they would make it feel like home.

"There's a photograph I like, of workers sitting on a grinder, I think it was taken here! It would look very good on the living room". He told the kids that each could chose their room, and decorate it as they wished.

Aster noticed a small video player resting on the wooden coffee table. While they all went to pick their rooms the boy decided to play it.

Maximillion Pegasus appeared on the screen sitting in his office.

"Aster-boy!" The video greeted him.

"If you are watching this, it means you have arrived to your new apartment. I hope you enjoyed your flight"

Mr. D sat next to Aster and watched the video.

Pegasus continued.

"I left some information in the living room drawer: maps, contact list in case of emergency and the leasing on the apartment…" Pegasus shook his head.

"That is not relevant for you, but if Mr. D wished to look at it…"

"Back on the important stuff: tomorrow you'll meet Edie Wilde at 10.00 at the Industrial Illusions arena. Get ready, and don't forget to sleep!"

The video ended.

Aster turned to Mr. D.

"Eddie Wilde? That guy we saw on the tv that time?"

The man nodded.

Aster had the smallest room, although he liked it that way. He rested on the bed looking at the ceiling, his luggage laid unopened and he had placed the picture Jade had given him by his nightstand. The room felt strange, unfamiliar but he felt excited. He imagined how the Arena would look like, Eddie Wilde´s voice, what he would tell him. He had only seen him once on a TV screen. Was he tall? Why had he abandoned Dueling so suddenly, when he was at the top of his game? Yet, he had agreed to train Aster. Before he was able to order his thoughts, he had fallen asleep.


Guys, I'm back! So sorry for the long pause, and the short chapter. I came the US to work for an intership. With work, doing activieties with other interns, while at the same time dealing with lots of anxiety about moving abroad, breaking up with my boyfriend...And now, the Coronavirus!

Thankfully, I was able to return to my home country and manage an arragement were I can still work from home.

Stay safe everybody and respect the quarentine,

Love,

Agos :)