She spends much of the weekend reading up about heart conditions. It's a foolish thing to do in many respects. There's nothing that she's going to be able to look up online over the course of a few hours that won't have occurred to Atticus, Zane and whatever doctors he must have seen. Still, she endeavors to do so. If she's being optimistic, she reasons that there must be some hope out there, somewhere, to be found, something that others will have overlooked. Maybe, if she chooses to be cynical, she'll tell herself it's that so when the inevitable happens, she can't blame herself for not having tried anything.

There's a surprising amount online, but her hope flutters away quite quickly. The end prognosis is more or less always the same. Heart failure doesn't have a happy ending. At best, and she doesn't know enough about Zane's condition to be able to say if it's even a possibility, there's a transplant. The waiting lists are impossible though, and she isn't sure how far along Zane would be. So she looks for alternatives.

It's no easy task when she doesn't know the details of his condition. Most of what she finds revolves around extending life expectancy. It can mostly be boiled down to healthy eating, a balanced diet, getting some decent exercise, avoiding things like coffee and alcohol… She spends hours doing research. She takes a few notes, doing what she can to organize her own thoughts and make some sense of things.

Her friend had been in a pathetic state, and his living quarters hadn't been much better. He's not going to be able to improve if he's living in a dump, that much seems obvious. She needs to speak to Atticus about that. It seems to her that her brother must have thought of all of this. From what she's gathered, he's been doing this for a number of years now. Everything he's said makes her believe that Zane Truesdale has given up on life, or thereabouts. What she wants, needs, to know now, is whether or not that's a personal choice of his, or if he's simply ran out of time and lacks the ability to do anything about it.

Her legs are stiff from sitting by the time that she pushes herself up away from the desk. The woman has a destination in mind. She's heading back to Zane's apartment. She needs to speak with him. That much she's decided on.

There familiar jingle of her phone interrupts her.

It's her brother. He's sent her a text. She raises an eyebrow, curious. It's only a few words: "A friend's coming over to see you. Don't worry." Atticus is the sort of person whose attempts at reassurances, generally have the opposite effect. Now, Alexis doesn't exactly expect trouble, but equally, she knows that this isn't quite going to be a regular visitor. For a moment, she dreads that it might be Chazz. She's not too sure when he became chummy with her sibling, but usually it's a bad mix.

She's only managed the beginnings of a text when the doorbell goes. Apparently, it was less of a warning and more of a fait accompli, with a text sent as an afterthought so that he can technically claim to have given her some warning. She rolls her eyes, making a mental note to scold her older brother later, and heads to answer the door.

She opens it, and finds a face that she both recognizes, and doesn't. In truth, if it weren't for the silver hair, she's not entirely sure that she would have been confident in her assessment. She's seen the face enough on television to know who it belongs to. Yet, right now, he appears more relaxed, gentler as he's hidden behind a pair of glasses. It's not the dynamic look about him that he usually sports when he's dueling on the pro circuit. It is him though. With a shake of the head, she brings herself back into reality, having to do a double take to convince herself that she isn't currently either dreaming, or hallucinating.

She's met with a cocky smile which seems more familiar:

"It's been a while."

"Yes… It has." Is all that she can think to answer.

"You going to invite me in?"

She blinks a few times before obliging. She steps to one side, allowing the man on past. She closes the door behind him, but doesn't lock it. It's been a long time, but that doesn't mean that she doesn't trust him. She watches him quietly, as he makes her way into her apartment. She imagines that it's rather modest by his standards, although has nothing other than her own suppositions to base such an assessment on. After a few moments, he glances back over his shoulder. Still, she can't help but stare at him.

It takes her a few moments to regain some sense of herself. With a shake of her head, the woman brings herself back into reality. She's invited him inside – well, accepted him in at any rate – that gives her at least some obligations as a host. If nothing else, she reasons that offering him a coffee will be something normal enough to ground her a little.

"Do you want something to drink."

"Yes. Thank you."

She makes him a coffee. At least it doesn't require much effort, because her mind is beginning to kick into overdrive. She's beginning to piece a few things together, or at least thinks that she might be. Alexis doesn't voice her thoughts, at least not quite yet, but before the new arrival has had a chance to explain himself, or even offered to do so, she's got a feeling that she knows just why he's here. The woman doesn't push her visitor though, waiting and hoping that she won't need to. From what she can remember of him, he tends to be pretty direct. Often too direct, even.

Alexis can't help but stare at the man, as she struggles to recall the last time that they had been together.

"What is it?" He tilts his head to one side, puzzled.

"You look different to on TV."

"It's the glasses, right?" There's a warm and friendly smile on his lips. "I've needed them for a while now. My agent will tell you, that at my age, glasses are a turn-off for some of my fans. So I use contacts. Give it another ten, and it turns around. They are a good disguise though."

He looks more natural like this. Though it does definitely take some getting used to. She tries not to dwell on her old friend/acquaintance's choice of clothes, and instead focus on just what's brought him here in the first place. She hands him a coffee, inviting him to sit down in the small area which doubles as a lounge for her. He mouths a "thank you" before settling down. As she settles down herself, Alexis takes note of her visitor taking in his surroundings.

"Nice place you've got."

"Thank you."

"I guess, you can imagine why I'm here."

"I have a few ideas."

The man smiles back at her. Something of an understanding passes between them. She drops some of her guard, sensing that there's no danger here.

The coffee is still too hot to drink. They might be here for a little while.

"So… Zane..."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I thought you two hated each other's guts?"

"That? Oh, we made up years ago. The rest after that was just for show. Agents, you know?"

She can just about recall a few of the old duels that had been on television some years ago. How long ago had that been? Zane had been away from the public eye for something approaching ten years now. She remembers those duels that she had watched. Back in the day, they had never failed to draw a card. She knew nothing of the personal feels between the two men, having lost touch with both. The rumor mill though, had declared them to be passionate enemies, never to be seen in a room together least it turn into a fight. To hear the contrary was a surprise, but perhaps not an unwelcome one. She finds herself remembering just how long the two had supposedly wandered round, lost in that wretched dimension together. Perhaps, that had been enough for them to bury the hatchet.

"Did Atticus tell you what happened?"

"Yeah." Aster nods only once. "Sounded rough. Sorry to hear about it."

"Rough?" She raises her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"I know what it's like when he's having a bad day."

That's all he says, and instantly she understands. She wonders if Zane is any more tolerant about his other friends tending to him, than he seemed to be with her. There must be a point, she reasons, where even her stubborn childhood friend, mustn't be in a state to care. So long as someone is there with him, meaning that he isn't actively dying, or at least not by himself, surely he can't be all that bothered.

"How long have you been looking after him?"

"I'm not sure you can call it that." Aster muses with a slight smile. "-But I saw him come close to falling over one night backstage after our duel. I did some digging…"

"Atticus told me there isn't much to be done. At least not long term."

"He's just been waiting it out for a while now." Aster lets out in a sigh. "I don't think there's much to be done . I set him up with this cardiologist, he only goes for his prescriptions."

"He can leave the house?"

"Most of the time. You must have caught him on a really bad day..."

"He could barely stand."

She doesn't even want to think back to seeing him in that state. She manages to avoid her mind wandering back simply by focusing on the here and now.

She's still not entirely sure why Aster has felt so obligated to pay her a visit. She certainly hadn't requested it. Despite his assurances, she can't help but wonder if there's some sort of an alternative motive at play here. She can't think of any that he might have. Especially since Atticus seems to trust him. Alexis wrestles with herself for a few moments, torn between curiosity and politeness. Eventually, she caves.

"I don't get it. Why'd you come here?"

"Well, I wanted to see how you were doing. Your brother seemed to think you were kind of shaken."

"I… I guess I was." She isn't afraid to admit that much. "I just want to help him."

Aster's gaze softens as it rests upon her. Again, she gets the feeling that he genuinely understands her. For a moment, she actually regrets not having spent a little bit more time with the pro-duelist when they were younger. She hadn't had an awful lot of time for him back then. He'd rubbed her, and quite a few others, the wrong way. Now, she wonders if that had just been a bad first impression. If it wasn't. Then, he's matured an awful lot in the space of a decade. He puts down his cup, looking into it for a few seconds.

"You can try. I'm certainly not going to stop you." He speaks after a few moments. "You know it isn't going to be easy though, right?"

"Is anything with Zane?"

A smile passes between them, a quiet understanding. Alexis relaxes a little. It's nice to have another ally.

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