Aster stood next to Alexis on the deck of his yacht as they got ready to say their goodbyes for a few hours. Alexis was going to make a brief stop back at the girls' dorm to get and put a few items away before returning to spend the night with him. It was Sunday evening now, and they were back on the island after their weekend together. After their first date on Saturday, they had returned to Aster's place for a few hours before it was time to leave for his second duel of the weekend at the Kaiba Dome. They had taken most of that time to work more on their school project together since Aster had promised Alexis that there would still be plenty of time for their schoolwork. In between their work, they went for a swim in his luxurious outdoor swimming pool. (And at Aster's insistence that he needed it to "relax" before his duel, they even managed to slip in a quickie before they got out of the pool). Not long after that, they left for the stadium, making sure to follow the same unobscured method of arriving separately and sneaking Alexis inside. After the duel (which had ended in another victory for Aster, of course), they stopped in town to grab another carry-out dinner from one of Domino City's more expensive Thai restaurants. Then after enjoying their dinner together once they returned to the penthouse, Aster and Alexis proceeded to engage in another long night of passion together.
Sunday turned out to be a little different than the day before. Since Aster had no duels scheduled for the day, Alexis had initially thought that he would want to spend the day repeating their last two nights together. However, she had been wrong. After breakfast was over, Aster took her to the movie theater in town. He explained that there were usually a lot less people coming for the daytime showings, and he had been right. The theater had not been crowded at all and what few viewers there were didn't bat an eye at Aster since he was wearing his disguise again. After Alexis had stood in for him to get their tickets, they went to see a movie that had been at the cinema for a while now, so they were the only ones in the auditorium. That meant they had been free to talk and joke around during the movie as much as they liked. (They did also end up spending a good portion of the movie engaging in a make-out session, though.) Once the movie was over, Aster took Alexis to the lake area by the duelists' sports bar they had went to for their first date. He rented them a couple single-person jet boats that were only big enough to sit in and they spent some time chasing each other around the lake since no one else was around. Then after that, they headed back and spent the rest of their time left playing Duel Monsters outside in the backyard. Alexis tested out her new fairy deck that Aster had bought for her yesterday, and then they eventually started using random decks against each other, including ones with the worst possible monsters that they could use just as a joke. Aster even brought a picnic lunch outside for them while they dueled since they were only using the cards and not their duel disks. They dueled 31 times and Alexis lost 31 times against Aster, but she still had fun simply trying lots of different cards and seeing how far she could get against him. When it was all said and done, they had spent the whole day together without having sex once. But Alexis supposed that even Aster Phoenix needed a break for rest from that sometimes.
But now the weekend was just about over, and it was time to start getting ready for another week of school. But before that, Alexis still had something she wanted to do first.
"Aster, I wanted to say thank you for this weekend with you. I've had a wonderful time and it's been great being with you outside of Duel Academy." Alexis said sincerely.
"You don't need to thank me, Alexis. I wouldn't have it any other way for you. And the weekend's not quite over yet. We still have tonight…" Aster said, adding a seductive edge to his voice with his last sentence.
"But I want to thank you. While we were in the card shop, I managed to buy this while you were looking at some other things. Here, I want you to have this." Alexis said. She handed Aster a small, wrapped package.
"Alexis… You didn't have to get me anything. I already told you that just spending time with you is more than enough." Aster said.
"I know that, but when I saw this, I just couldn't help myself. Won't you just open it? Please?" Alexis insisted.
"Alright." Aster relented as his curiosity got the better of him.
Aster slowly unwrapped the small package to discover a deck case. It was one of the custom-made designs that could only be bought from that card shop. The color of it was a simple sky blue, but what made it stand out was the design of two white angel wings, one on each side of it.
"It's nice. But what made you choose this particular design?" Aster asked curiously.
"Well, at first I just picked it since you had already bought me that fairy-themed deck with Archlord Zerato and Sanctuary in the Sky and it seemed to fit in with that purchase to help remember our first date better. But then I realized that it also reminded me of you, in a way." Alexis confessed.
"Oh? Let me guess? Am I your angel from heaven?" Aster teased Alexis, causing her to smile in embarrassment.
"I guess I could call you that. But the wings also fit you because they symbolize freedom. You're always doing what you want in your life and never letting anything be an obstacle for you. It's not just how successful you became as a duelist either. You have never given up on your own goals in life for a moment as far as I can see. Whether it's trying to avenge your father or stopping the Society of Light, or even just working to help kids who ended up like you by getting involved with things like the Charity Ball. And you never gave up on me either. I probably wouldn't even be here right now if you didn't have the courage to do what you did by stopping my duel with Chazz because you were brave enough to follow your own instincts and not worry about how impolite it would look to interrupt like that. You're amazing, Aster, and I'm so glad that I've met you… I mean it." Alexis said softly.
No, you are the one who has saved me. How can I even begin to explain it? That you are my angel. No one else has ever made me feel this way… Because of you, I'm not alone anymore. Aster thought to himself. But he couldn't make himself say the words. Not just yet, at least.
"So, will you take it? You don't have to use it for your deck if you don't like it. I just want you to have it." Alexis said.
"Yes, I'll take it, And I promise that I'll use it for every single one of my duels from now on. That way I'll always know that you're right there with me every time. This means more to me than anything else you could have gotten for me, Alexis. And…I'm glad I met you, too. Thank you." Aster said softly. He gently took the deck case from Alexis' hands. After that, he drew her into his arms for a slow, gentle kiss.
Xxx
Atticus Rhodes walked out of the main Duel Academy campus building. It was Monday afternoon now, and he was relieved to be free from his classes for the day. Ever since last year, it had been a bit of a struggle for him to keep up with how much he had missed. After disappearing from the Abandoned Dorm and going missing for so long, Atticus was forced to have to repeat his second year of high school just to make up for everything he had missed. Being possessed by a twisted nutcase who liked to duel using shadow games and hop into other dimensions whenever he wanted to certainly hadn't done him any favors when it came to leaving more free time. But more schoolwork or not, he was still glad that the whole mess with the Shadow Riders was finally a finished chapter in his life. Even though it hadn't really felt like his life to begin with while Nightshroud had been in control.
Just as Atticus was almost all the way down the path leading past the main gate, someone stopped him.
"Atticus! Thank Ra I finally caught up with you! Where the heck are you going, dude!? Did you forget that we were supposed to meet up at the library to work on our project?" A tall, blue-haired Obelisk boy with glasses asked as he caught up to Atticus.
Akira Taisho had been assigned to be Atticus' partner for the annual school project. Atticus had hung out with him a few times this year before, so he knew that Akira was mostly a good guy who could be trusted to do his fair share of the work. Normally, Atticus would be all for getting started on his extra schoolwork as soon as he could (even though he would prefer lounging around the beach with his guitar or surfing) because of how behind he was. But today was different. There was something weighing on his mind lately and he wanted to try to investigate a bit to confirm his suspicions before he tried doing anything else today.
"Akira, my man. Do you mind meeting up a little later? Like, two hours tops? I haven't seen Sis in a while and I want to make sure that she's at least getting on better with the books than me these days. She's been a bit out of it. So, I'm going to make a quick pit stop over at Blue Dorm version F first just to see how she's holding up. I promise I'll catch you at the library later." Atticus said apologetically.
"Well… I guess it's okay as long as we actually do it sometime today. I'll wait till later. But you are way too overprotective of that sister of yours, dude. Girls got their little secrets and they like to keep it that way, y'know? So, I think you're probably worryin' for nothin'. But hey, what do I know? It's not like I have a sister. Or even a girlfriend, for that matter…" Akira said, sighing dramatically a bit at the last part of his speech.
"Maybe you would if you follow my teachings, Akira. The Master of Love knows every trick, after all!" Atticus bragged as he pointed to himself.
"Uh, sorry, dude. But I think I'll pass on that…" Akira said awkwardly.
"Alright. Maybe another day then. But I gotta go now, so I'll catch you later, dude!" Atticus said hurriedly.
"Text me later, dude!" Akira practically shouted after Atticus as he jogged off.
Xxx
As Atticus headed for the girls' dorm, he thought back to what had happened yesterday evening. He had been heading back to his dorm after leaving the beach when surprisingly, he had run into Alexis. These days, he hadn't seen his sister that much. But he had chalked it up to her being busy with schoolwork and trying to stay away from the whole Society of Light mess. But after what he had witnessed yesterday, he realized that there was something else going on that she was keeping from him.
Begin flashback:
"Hey, Lexi! Where are you heading at this hour? And do my eyes deceive me, or are you actually wearing something besides your uniform after school!? That is one snazzy outfit there! Got a hot date to get to?" Atticus teased. He was trying to keep it light, but at the same time, he was dying of curiosity.
Alexis was wearing a light blue sleeveless sundress and white sandals. A very un-Alexis-like ensemble. Sure, she wore lots of different outfits at home, but dresses were rare for her. And this was the first time Atticus had ever seen her wearing a casual outfit on the island. She basically lived in her school uniform to not attract anymore unwanted attention from her male admirers. The fact that she was breaking this rule (and with a dress of all things) suggested to him that there had to be a boy involved in this. There was simply no other explanation to him.
Alexis rolled her eyes good-naturedly at Atticus' question. But at the same time, she was unable to suppress the slight flush that colored her cheeks.
"Of course not. I just thought I'd try wearing something that covers my legs a bit more occasionally. There are enough perverts around as it is, and I was getting sick of it." Alexis said.
"So, where are you going then?" Atticus pressed.
"To the beach, obviously. I just wanted a few minutes alone to watch the waves at a time when there's less chance of running into other people. And the sunset is really beautiful tonight." Alexis lied.
"And you need your backpack for that?" Atticus asked suspiciously.
"I was planning on studying a bit while there's still light." Alexis answered as she quickly added in another lie on the spot.
"Well, okay, I guess. The beach is my favorite hangout, so I can understand why you'd just want a little chill time here. But speaking of hanging out, I feel like we haven't done that in ages. And I haven't seen you around after school lately, even with Jaden and the gang. I know you don't like it when I pry too much, but is everything alright with you, Sis?" Atticus asked.
Alexis softened a bit at Atticus' concern. "Yeah, everything's fine, Atti. I've just been busy with homework too much lately since everything kind of got backed up with all the Society of Light stuff that's been going on. I guess I've just been kind of nervous lately with how many people got sucked into that. It's weird because I know a lot of them in my dorm and they're just so…different now." She explained, not needing to fake how she felt about what had been going on at girls' dorm.
"Yeah, I totally get ya there. Feels like I can't even count on my hands the number of Obelisk guys I know that I can even still have a normal human conversation with. You do know that you can always talk to me about these things or anything else, right?" Atticus asked seriously.
"I do know that, and I will if I ever need to. But thanks all the same, Atti." Alexis said with a warm smile.
"Okay. Just wanted to make sure that you know your Bro's always got your back, Lex." Atticus said affectionately.
End Flashback
About twenty minutes later, Atticus walked carefully down the hallways of the Obelisk Blue girls' dorm. Despite the fact the over half of the dorm's population were now members of the Society of Light, security was disturbingly light. He had been able to simply walk through the front door without attracting any attention. Or maybe it was intentional on their part if they believed that no one would pose a threat to them anyway.
"Atticus! What are you doing here? As much as we like seeing you, you do still understand that this is the girls' dorm, right?" A female voice asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.
Atticus turned to face Mindy and Jasmine, Alexis' two friends and probably the only other students here besides her who had not been taken in by the Society.
"Hey! It's my two BFFs! Glad to see there are still some ladies around here who are too smart to fall for that bogus cult stuff! As well as beautiful, I might add!" Atticus greeted, turning on the charm a bit.
Mindy and Jasmine swooned with a pleasure for a few seconds at Atticus' words.
"Yeah, Jasmine! No need for the third degree! He's on our side!" Mindy scolded.
"Hey, I only asked why he was here!" Jasmine retorted in a slightly defensive tone.
"Now, now, girls. No need to quarrel. I wouldn't want such lovely skin to get wrinkles from getting upset so easily. And to answer your question, I'm here to see Lexi. Is she here?" Atticus asked.
"Alexis went to the library about a half hour ago. But she should be back soon if you wait a little longer." Mindy answered.
"Great. Think she'll mind if I just wait in her room?" Atticus asked.
"I guess not. Want us to walk you there?" Jasmine offered.
"That'd be perfect." Atticus said gratefully.
After a short trek upstairs and down a few doors, they reached Alexis' room. But before Atticus could go inside, Jasmine spoke up. "Alexis always leaves straight after dinner and we don't even see her again until the next day." She said quietly.
"Yeah. She tries to pretend that nothing is going on, but when we checked her room a few times late at night, she's gone. I think she goes back to the Slifer dorm at night, but she just doesn't want to tell us because she's afraid she'll hurt our feelings since she already told us that she had moved back here now. But I don't blame her with all this Society of Light business." Mindy said worriedly.
Atticus frowned for a moment. That did seem like a plausible explanation. But for some reason, he got the feeling that there was something else going on here. But he had to make sure.
"Can't say I blame her if that's the case. Anyways, I'm just gonna chill out in here for a few until she gets back, so I'll catch you gals later, okay?" Atticus said, trying to sound as nonchalant as he could.
"Okay! See you later, Atticus!" Jasmine and Mindy said. They then waved goodbye and headed back towards the stairway.
Once inside Alexis' room, Atticus sat down in the large armchair in the corner. Just as he was about to put his feet up and get comfortable while he waited, his eyes landed on the backpack laying on her desk chair. It was the same backpack that she had had with her the other night when they had run into each other on the beach.
Even though he knew that this was wrong and that he had no right to be snooping like this, Atticus couldn't help himself. Leaving his place on the armchair, he walked over to Alexis' deck and carefully unzipped her backpack, hoping that its contents might give some clues as to just what his sister might really be up to these days.
As he started removing the items to examine them, he didn't find anything out of the ordinary at first. Just her usual schoolbooks and other studying material. Then there was a spare school uniform and underwear along with her toiletry bag. But then he found something that nearly made his eyes pop out. Among the other clothing items was a black, lacy lingerie set.
What the hell!? Atticus thought to himself in disbelief. For a moment, he wondered if he was in the wrong room somehow. But he knew he was right. The backpack had the little attached leather tag with "A. Rhodes" emblazoned into the design in purple cursive lettering. It was the same one he had gotten her for her birthday last year after he had returned to Duel Academy.
With growing dread, Atticus started dumping the rest of the contents of the backpack onto the desk chair. There were two magazines of some trashy women's brand that you usually found in the checkout at the supermarket. But what alarmed Atticus were the types of articles titled on the front of them: "10 Ways to Drive a Man Wild in Bed" and "What Men Want in Bed". Just what was his sister doing!? Hooking!? Because he couldn't imagine a student at Duel Academy who would even know how to get less than half this far with a girl, especially his own sister.
It was the last item that was truly the last straw for Atticus. Nestled in the corner was a small bottle of birth control pills. Birth control pills. For. His. Sister. Had the world turned flat?
Trying to stay calm, Atticus started carefully putting everything back, trying to make it look as if he had never even set foot into the room. Then he got up and left, carefully shutting the door behind him.
Before he could even think any further about what he had just seen, a voice interrupted Atticus' thoughts.
"Atticus Rhodes! Just what do you think you're doing in the girls' dorm!? I thought we wouldn't need to repeat our little talk from last year!" Miss Fontaine scolded Atticus angrily, her hands on her hips.
"Miss Fontaine! I'm so sorry! But believe me, it's not like that at all! I came here to see my sister. Mindy and Jasmine showed me to her room. That's all, I swear!" Atticus insisted nervously.
Miss Fontaine's expression softened at the mention of Alexis. "Well, I'm afraid I haven't seen her myself a lot these days. I guess I'm losing her among the sea of white…" She said somewhat sadly.
Upon closer inspection of her face, Atticus noticed dark circles under Miss Fontaine's eyes. Clearly, the Society of Light's influence over most of her students and her lack of ability to do anything about was causing more than enough stress for the teacher.
"I'm sorry, Teach… I wish I knew how to help you with that. It just makes me more worried about Alexis. Have you noticed anything different about her lately? She hasn't been herself these days and I'm kind of worried." Atticus said.
"Your sister was falling a bit behind in her schoolwork not too long ago. It's taken a bit of time, but I do think she's gotten back on track with her project and catching up on her homework again." Miss Fontaine explained.
"School project? I thought she missed the deadline for that. At least that's what she told me last time. Who's her partner?" Atticus asked curiously.
"When we had our student-teacher conferences, I told her that Aster Phoenix was the only student left not doing the regular project and that she should ask him if he was willing to make the time for it. Based on what they have been turning in to me, it seems to have worked out well for them." Miss Fontaine said.
Suddenly, it all clicked into place for Atticus. He didn't want to believe it. But at the same time, it made sense all too much. However, he still needed to make sure.
"Well, that's good at least. Maybe I'm worried about nothing. I think I'll head back now. I'll try to talk to Sis again tomorrow. Thanks, Miss Fontaine!" Atticus said rather hastily. He had a plan to try to confirm his suspicion, but he had to start fast.
As he was almost to the front door, Atticus' phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out to see that Akira had left him a text.
Akira-Are u still coming!? I've been waiting like an hour now!
Atticus-I'm really sorry, but something came up and can't make it tonight. I'll make up for it bigtime tomorrow. Promise! Catch u later, dude!
Akira-Bruh…
Xxx
After waiting patiently along the side of the girls' dorm for about ten minutes, Atticus finally saw Alexis come back. However, he didn't say anything to let her know he was there and let her walk past him into the building. The plan was to find out for sure just where his sister was spending her nights when she left the dorm for the night. Based on what Miss Fontaine had told him and what he had found in the backpack, it was looking more and more like Aster was involved in this. He didn't want to believe it, but at the same time, it made sense. From what Atticus had heard, Aster had something of a reputation around the Pro Leagues when it came to girls, so if there was any guy on campus who would be benefiting from those items his sister had, it was him. Whether he was actually dating Alexis, Atticus didn't know. But he was about to get some answers tonight.
Sure enough, about an hour later, Alexis emerged cautiously from the front door, the same backpack in tow again. Making sure to wait until there was a fair distance between them, Atticus proceeded to tail her.
Like Atticus thought, Alexis headed to the beach. She then followed it all the way down to the harbor near the lighthouse.
Atticus' heart sunk as he saw Alexis head straight for the one yacht parked at the end of the harbor that he knew was Aster's. Before she had even finished climbing up from the ramp, the door to the inside opened and Aster walked out onto the deck.
Alexis' face immediately lit up into a huge smile. A kind that Atticus had never seen from her before.
"You took your time. I was almost starting to get worried…" Aster teased with an amused grin on his face.
Atticus watched in horror as Aster drew Alexis into his arms and started kissing her. The kind of kiss that he never thought he'd live to see his sister willingly take part in. Alexis had her arms wrapped around his neck while Aster's were secured tightly around her waist as they made out shamelessly with each other right there on the deck. Atticus had to fight the urge to throw up as one of Aster's hands slowly travelled downwards, stopping to give Alexis' butt a squeeze, earning a slight moan from her. Atticus felt sick. Just what did this pervert think he was doing to his sister!?
The torture finally ended as Alexis pulled away from Aster slightly, trying to catch her breath.
"Aster, you know we have work to do first! Don't try to make me forget!" Alexis scolded Aster lightly with a ridiculously giddy smile on her face despite her words.
"Oh, don't worry. I know. I just couldn't resist that for a few minutes. Come on, princess. Let's go inside. I don't want you catching a cold out here. Even though we'll have plenty of heat soon enough…" Aster trailed off suggestively.
Giggling softly at Aster's words, Alexis took his hand and followed him inside of his yacht.
Once the door was shut behind them, Atticus simply stared dumbfounded at the entrance, still not quite believing what he had just saw. His little sister had a boyfriend. And he was the worst possible guy that she could have chosen for herself here. He had to do something about this…
AN: So, now Atticus knows what's going on. XD Next chapter, he's going to confront her about it after she gets back. BTW, here are some details about earlier chapters that I've forgotten to mention before: The idea that Aster is an Obelisk Blue came to me from the second Yugioh Tagforce game on the PSP. When it gives the list of characters in the beginning for you to choose as your partner, Aster's dorm is labelled as Obelisk Blue. And that little restaurant on the beach from chapter 3 is also based on a location on the beach in the Tagforce games for GX. And ironically enough, Alexis actually uses a fairy deck in Yugioh GX Duel Academy for the Gameboy Advance that sort of resembles Aster's from his first duel with Archlord Zerato and Sanctuary In the Sky. Although that game was before season 2, I'm pretty sure.