Alexis treaded lightly around the grassy area next to the harbor, her eyes scanning the place for Aster. He had said to meet him near the lighthouse, but he hadn't specified exactly how close to it he would be. When she spotted the lighthouse itself, she couldn't prevent the flush that spread over her face from the physical reminder of the things that they had done there together that night.

Get your mind out of the gutter, Alexis! You know that that was not the right way to start a relationship. I need to get to know Aster a lot better before I can even consider us being anything more than friends, and I can't do that if we end up spending more than half of our time together rolling around in bed. Not that we even needed a bed… Alexis mentally scolded herself.

Just when she was starting to worry if Aster had somehow forgotten about their scheduled meeting today, Alexis felt a light tap on shoulder that made her yelp in surprise. She quickly spun around to find Aster standing there with a mischievous grin on his handsome face.

"Where were you!? I kept looking all over around here and I never saw anything!" Alexis demanded.

Aster pointed to a large weeping willow tree not far from where the beach started. "Much better cover from the sun over there. And it will give us some privacy. Come on." He said as he motioned with his hand for Alexis to follow him.

Alexis followed Aster over to the tree somewhat apprehensively. If he thought that nobody would find them here, did that also mean that he was hoping to satisfy another type of appetite that lunch could not? He had proved that he had no objections with having his way with her by the lighthouse, but surely he wouldn't hope for the same thing here in broad daylight? Maybe she was getting paranoid, but the problem with Aster was that he was just so hard to predict.

Aster pushed a section of tree fronds aside to make a passage for them to enter through. "Ladies first." He offered with a smile that advertisers for whitening toothpaste would have killed to use.

As Alexis stepped timidly behind the curtain of willow, she finally spotted the lunch that Aster had mentioned in his note. A large blanket was spread over the ground. Next to a picnic basket were dozens of casual snack items. Potato chips, candy bars, packs of crackers, and two cans of soda were piled around the center of the blanket.

"Sorry that it's not anything fancier. Since I sort of planned this on a whim, the fastest way to get enough food was to just use the vending machines in the main Academy lobby." Aster admitted sheepishly.

"I don't mind. I think that this is…really sweet of you, Aster." Alexis said, blushing a bit from her compliment.

"Sweet, huh? And to think that just the other day you wanted me to go back to Pro Leagues for good!" Aster teased Alexis.

"Aster, I've already been through this with you. You proved that you were a decent guy when you went out of your way to help save the Slifer dorm. And I wanted to say thank you for that today. It really meant a lot to everyone. And to me." Alexis said gently.

"I didn't really do that much. Just got in touch with the man at the top. But I'm still glad that I could help you, Alexis. That was the whole idea." Aster said. Truthfully, he knew that he probably never would have bothered if he hadn't met Alexis the night before and started to develop feelings for her. But he wasn't going to let her know that specifically.

"Why don't we have lunch now?" Alexis suggested a little too quickly. The warmth that she felt from Aster's confession behind his motivation for helping to save Slifer made her feel like her heart would leap right out of her chest.

Once they sat down, Aster frowned a little when he saw that Alexis had chosen to sit all the way on the other side of the blanket and out of arm's reach from him. What was she afraid of? That he would try to initiate sex right here during the middle of the day?

"Why not have a seat over here next to me? Don't worry, I don't bite…hard." Aster joked.

Alexis felt her face heat up again at hearing the emphasis Aster had put on the last word of his sentence. Had he meant for it to sound as suggestive as it did? Either way, she couldn't bring herself to refuse Aster's request. He had once again turned it into a battle of the wills, and she wasn't going to back down from it.

Aster smiled triumphantly at his small victory as Alexis sat down next to him. But more than that, he wanted to reassure her that he did possess some self-control and was not a total pervert who was always trying to get some action like he had at the lighthouse. Even so, the urge to run his hands along the bare skin of Alexis' long, luscious legs was overwhelming and it took nearly everything he had to keep himself in check.

Once they started eating, Alexis decided to ask the question that had been at the back of her mind ever since he Aster had returned for the whole dorm fiasco.

"I meant to ask you this earlier, but I had almost forgotten with everything that had happened this morning. Just why did you agree to duel for Crowler and Bonaparte to get rid of Slifer in the first place? I mean, I can't see them being able to offer you anything that would make missing some duel time in the league worth it." Alexis asked curiously.

"But they did. Bonaparte told me that he had contacts with someone from the Underground dueling circuit that had clues about the person who murdered my father, and that he would get me in touch with him if I won the duel. Otherwise, I would not have even bothered to come back." Aster explained in a somber tone.

Alexis was stunned. She had not expected to hear something like that. But at the same time, it made perfect sense. The way Aster had stared her down at the arena. She had felt how strong his battle aura was. As if it could reach out and consume her and anyone else that stood in his way. His reason for fighting was even stronger than their desire to protect Slifer Red. Aster was strong because he was fighting for someone, not something. She suddenly felt angry. That disgusting little man had played on Aster's grief and love for his father just to further his own ridiculous agenda. And she was pretty sure that it would have all come to nothing even if Aster had managed to defeat Jaden again.

"You do know that that was probably just a big lie, don't you?" Alexis asked Aster bluntly.

"I do. It's not like someone like him would have had any clout like that." Aster said.

"Then why?" Alexis pressed, struggling to understand.

"Because I have to at least make myself feel like I'm trying to do something about it. Otherwise I'm afraid that I'll forget everything…" Aster trailed off, almost to himself.

For Aster, his biggest fear was that if he did not constantly try to find ways to keep his father as a part of his life, he would gradually become less important to his and anyone else's memories over time. Of course, he would never forget his father. But as the years passed by, his memories would feel less and less real and more like he was viewing a slideshow than anything else. And once he died himself one day, those memories would die with him. Nobody would remember or care about the kind-hearted man that had designed duel monsters cards just to make others happy. The man who had sheltered Aster from this cruel world for those precious few years with the type of love that only a parent could give. More than anything else, Aster feared time itself. It was always pushing forward, bringing about the ultimate end for everyone whether they liked it or not. And there was no way to escape or cheat it. His field spell card, Clock Tower Prison, had always felt like a grim reminder to Aster of this fact. The same went for the trap card, Eternal Dread. It's effect of speeding up the effect of Clock Tower Prison by moving its time further with placing counters on it seemed to symbolize Aster's fear of time passing too quickly. Ironically enough though, the "Eternal" part of the card name could not make any sense of dread last forever when you considered that everyone was bound by mortality.

And!? Alexis thought to herself in frustration once it was clear that Aster was not going to elaborate on what he had meant.

"Enough about me for now. Let's talk about you. Tell me, what's your family like?" Aster asked as he abruptly changed the subject.

"Okay, I guess. Since you already know about Atticus, there's really just Mom and Dad. My Dad's an investment banker, and Mom works out of the home as a designer for some fashion company. The details never really interested me, to be honest. They're good people, but they can be a bit overbearing about some things. They're big on the more traditional values. You know, honest work, religion, marriage…" Alexis explained wearily. For as long as she could remember, her parents had been obsessed with the idea of her and Atticus settling down straight out of high school with the perfect "soul mate" so that they could hurry up and start families of their own and fall into their parents' perfect ideal of the "happily ever after life" that they believed everyone should want to follow. Especially for Alexis since they believed that more than anything, women were more obliged to get started sooner due to their limited time range for a pregnancy in life. Trying to explain her dreams of dueling or teaching was always a wasted effort on Alexis' part.

Aster had noticed how Alexis' less-than-enthusiastic tone had become even more pronounced once she had said the word, "marriage". He had never really thought too much about it before since he never considered it as a real possibility since he hadn't felt serious about anyone in that way before. But the idea of marriage itself seemed appealing since he saw it as another way to have a real biological family for himself again.

"I take it that you are not the type of girl who is enamored with the fantasy of having some prince come to sweep them off their feet and give them their fairytale ending. Am I right?" Aster asked amusedly.

"You are right about that. But Mom and Dad were high school sweethearts. They think that just because things worked out so wonderfully for them, everyone else should want to do the same. Atticus has his own way of rebelling against them and they seem to have pretty much given up on it for him as a result. But they won't ever let up on me. The only reason they even let me come here was because they thought that it would be therapeutic for me after Atticus disappeared for awhile back then with the whole Abandoned Dorm incident." Alexis explained.

"How foolish. Don't they know that even when something as perfect as their dream happens, it can disappear in just one instant. Destiny can be crueler than some people know… Besides, things are different in this day and age. Thirty is the new twenty and so on going upwards. Lots of people like to wait until their careers take off or are happier remaining single. Parents should not try to force their dreams on their own children." Aster said bitterly. His own parents had had their own happily ever after taken away from them when his mother had died in a car crash not long after his first birthday. There were no true guarantees of anything in life since life itself was so fragile to begin with. At least that was what he always told himself.

"I needed to hear something like that. Good to see that you're a practical one." Alexis said wryly.

"Yup. It's one of my best traits. So, that's enough for family. What about friends? Did you have a lot those growing up?" Aster asked.

"Not really. Sure, I hung out with a lot of people during elementary and middle school and went to events and things. But they weren't really what I would consider as friends. I guess that I didn't really have any until I started school here…" Alexis admitted to herself thoughtfully. For a moment, she thought fondly of Jaden, Zane, and all the others in their little group and what they had gone through together. With them, it was never about what or who was the most popular thing. They always faced their problems together, had new adventures, or just simply appreciated another lazy day off from classes by the lake. They were a team, almost a family in a way. But what Alexis couldn't seem to figure out was how Aster fit into her whole friend equation. He wasn't with them all, but he still felt important to her in a way.

"What about guys? I know you don't agree with your parents, but were you ever interested in anyone before?" Aster asked carefully.

"Of course not! Guys are jerks about that anyway." Alexis answered a little too quickly. In truth, she sometimes wondered if she did feel something for Jaden. But that had only become even more confusing once she had met Aster. There was no way that she was going to tell him anything about her feelings right now when they were already confusing enough to her.

"Ouch. You decided that awfully fast. It's a good thing I'm a patient man…" Aster said thoughtfully, once again failing to elaborate further.

"I didn't mean that you were a jerk! I just-" Alexis said in embarrassment.

Aster chuckled. It was so much fun to tease her like this. "Don't worry, I get what you mean." He reassured Alexis.

Xxx

About a half hour later, Aster and Alexis were getting ready to leave.

"I got class now, so I guess I'll see you later. What are you going to now? Work on that Charity Ball again? Sounds like you got everyone excited with that. They all want to go now." Alexis said.

"What about you? When you say, "everyone", does that include yourself as well, Alexis?" Aster asked bluntly.

"Well, sure. It does sound fun from how you described it. But why do you ask?" Alexis asked curiously.

"Well… I might want to bring a date." Aster said with a sly smile.

Alexis did not know how to respond for a moment. How to set the boundaries straight with Aster? She had already said that she wanted them to just try being friends, but had Aster even really took her seriously?

"I…don't think that's such a good idea, Aster." Alexis said hesitantly. But at the same time, a small voice in the back of her mind was asking her why she did not want to do it.

Aster's face fell a little at Alexis' response. But he quickly pulled himself together. "Is it me?" He asked her seriously.

"No, it's not you! I just…don't think that I'm ready for that…" Alexis said.

"Not ready for that, or not ready for that with me?" Aster pressed, refusing to let it go.

"I don't really know right now, Aster…" Alexis admitted. She was at least being partially truthful with this answer.

"I see. But don't worry, we still have plenty of time…" Aster said reassuringly. But Alexis could not tell if he was only referring to the ball or not…

AN: Man, I meant for this to be totally fluffy, but they ended up getting into some pretty deep topics. Lol Next time will cover a certain anime event. I wonder if you can guess what it is. Thanks for reading, and extra thanks and an imaginary cookie if you leave a review!