Chapter 1
"XANA's been being awfully quiet lately," Jeremy informed his two male friends as they waited for Yumi and Aelita by the cafeteria.
"Yeah, I know. Why do you think that is?" Ulrich asked.
Jeremy shrugged. "I'm not sure, but-" He was cut off by a call of, "Hey, guys! Sorry we're late!" Yumi ran over to the group of guys, panting when she and Aelita stopped in front of them.
"Where have you two been?" Jeremy asked as he looked from one panting girl to the other.
"Somewhere," was Yumi's simple reply. "Let's just go to lunch. I'm starving." The black-haired girl casually entered the cafeteria with Aelita.
The guys stood there for a moment, then decided to follow the girls in.
"Hey, Ulrich, who's that?" Odd asked when he noticed an unfamiliar person sitting at a table, alone.
The girl he was referring to looked utterly bored. Her straight red hair was layered, the longest part reaching her waist, although that wasn't easily seen because her hair was currently held back in pigtails by a couple of white ribbons. Her eyes, which were a pretty grayish-blue color despite the fact that everyone else in this damned show has black or brown eyes, were currently focused on an open book she had sitting on the table next to a tray of untouched food. She was wearing a pleated black miniskirt, a plain white T-shirt, and a pair of black boots, all of which only added to her natural badass appearance. She looked like she would be taller than Yumi by at least two inches when standing, making her even more intimidating to all of the short people at the school.
"That's the new girl, Layla Dougherty," Yumi answered before Ulrich could say anything. "She's been in all of my classes so far today."
"Maybe we should go sit with her. She looks lonely," Aelita said when she saw the girl.
"Yeah," the others agreed.
All five of them quickly got their lunches and walked over to where Layla was sitting.
"Hi, Layla," Yumi said, smiling brightly at the redhead, who merely looked away from her book and stared at the black-haired girl. "Do you mind if we sit with you?" Yumi asked after a few moments of silence, getting a bit freaked out by Layla's cold stare.
"Not at all. It's not like I own the table." The girl was tense, and Yumi realized the reason for that only when Layla's gray-blue eyes wandered over to the others.
As she and her friends sat down, Yumi began to introduce her companions to the untrusting new student. "Well, these are my friends, Ulrich, Odd, Jeremy, and Aelita. Guys, this is Layla, the girl that transferred here from a school in the United States."
A few nervous hellos could be heard from the people sitting at the table, and Layla relaxed ever so slightly. She gave Yumi's friends a small smile while closing her book and saying, "It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise," Odd said, feeling more comfortable now that the redhead didn't look like she was ready to claw someone's eyes out. "So, why'd ya come over here to Kadic Academy?"
Layla's expression grew cold once again, her icy gaze focused solely on Odd. "For reasons I'll probably never tell you." That being said, everyone fell silent and began eating their food.
"Oh, look at the time. I have to be going now. It was nice meeting you, Layla," Ulrich said before rushing out of the cafeteria in order to escape the tension Odd's simple question and Layla's vague response had created.
"Yeah... Same here... Bye, Layla." Jeremy followed Ulrich quickly.
It took about three minutes for all of the people to make up excuses and disappear, leaving Layla all alone once again. The girl sighed and got to her feet.
"Why didn't they just say, 'You're creepy, so I'm leaving'? Wouldn't that have been more simple?" she asked herself while grabbing her book and walking out of the cafeteria.
After a few more minutes, it was time for Layla's next class, so that's where she went, all alone...
The day passed quickly, and soon, classes were over.
"I'm on my way, Jeremy," Layla heard Ulrich say as he ran into the park, oblivious to the girl walking slowly past him.
The red-haired, ice-cold badass ignored this occurrence despite her curiosity and continued walking to her room. She stopped just before reaching her door, though, seeing as a small dog was standing in her way, barking its little head off. She cocked her head at the animal.
"What do you want?" she asked. The dog simply barked one more time before turning and running off. "Hey! Wait!" Layla instantly followed the creature.
The redhead was led down to a boiler room filled with some sort of poisonous gas. The dog stopped by the door that led into the room and began barking once again.
"What? Is there something in there you need?" The girl's gray-blue eyes widened in understanding after a moment. "Your owner." She had no idea who this dog belonged to, but she went into the gas-filled room, covering her mouth and nose with her hand, anyway.
The gas filling the room made it hard to see, but Layla eventually found the person she was looking for when she tripped over their legs.
She got to her knees after hitting the floor and went wide-eyed once more when she saw- "Odd."
The tall, pale girl tugged on the unconscious boy's sleeve, trying to wake him up, but her efforts were all futile.
"Damn it, Odd," she muttered after a few seconds before easily throwing the blond over her shoulder and getting to her feet.
Her vision began to grow blurry as she headed for the door, but she kept on running.
The dog stopped barking when Layla came out of the room with Odd, only to start barking again when it noticed a large figure heading toward them through the fog.
"What's wro-" She was cut off by a blow to the head that sent her to the floor, nearly knocking her out.
She dropped Odd when she hit the ground, then winced and got to her knees again, quickly looking back to see who had hit her. She growled when she saw Jim. Something wasn't right about him... And his eyes... They looked...strange...
"Jim? What the hell are you doing?!" the girl questioned as she stood and turned to fully face the P.E. instructor.
All she received in response to this question was a grunt and an attack. Jim's fist was heading for the redhead's face. She dodged with ease, then turned and attempted to slam her foot into the older man's stomach. Her eyes widened yet again when her leg went right through her opponent.
"What the hell?!" Jim grabbed her throat before she could get away from him. She struggled violently as she was lifted into the air, kicking at her attacker and clawing his hands.
The dog was biting Jim's leg now, trying to make him let go, but all the man did was tighten his grip on Layla's throat and kick the dog away.
The redhead, getting a tad bit pissed off, growled and slammed both of her feet into Jim's face, causing him to drop her. She quickly flipped backwards and landed on her feet.
Deciding that it'd be better to run than fight, she threw Odd over her left shoulder again, tucked the dog securely under her right arm, then turned and ran.
As Layla sprinted through the building, she noticed that there were teachers and students passed out everywhere. The entire school was completely silent.
The redhead ran out of the building, beginning to slow slightly now that the poisonous gas she had breathed in was taking effect.
Jim was right behind her. She could hear him coming.
But the weakness in her limbs and her blurry vision forced her to slow to a walk, giving her no choice but to go hide somewhere until help arrived.
Layla went into the science building and eventually found a place to hide. She ended up in an empty classroom, sitting behind a desk that kept her hidden from anyone looking through the door.
She pressed her back against the wooden surface, put the dog down beside her, and carefully set Odd down between her legs, wrapping her arms around the unconscious boy so he wouldn't fall over and alert someone to their presence. Then, she squeezed her eyes shut and prayed as the sound of footsteps gradually moved closer to the door. But before she could find out whether she had been found or not, she passed out, still holding Odd close to her in a protective manner.
Odd woke up a while later and looked around groggily. All he could figure out at the moment was that he was in a classroom in the science building.
As he slowly began to become more alert, he realized that someone had their pale, scarred arms wrapped around him and that Kiwi, his faithful doggy, was unconscious next to someone's equally pale and scarred leg.
The boy cocked his head at the legs that were resting on the floor to either side of his own legs, then noticed the long red hair spilling over his shoulders.
"Layla?" he said softly when he figured out who the hair and legs belonged to. The girl groaned and slowly lifted her head off of Odd's shoulder.
"I take it Jim hasn't gotten us yet. That's good," she said sleepily. It took her a moment, but she eventually realized that she was pretty much holding Odd hostage and quickly let him go, blushing ever so slightly. "Sorry," she muttered, looking away.
"It's fine. Thanks for saving me," Odd said, smiling.
"No problem. But now what do we do? Everyone else in the school is unconscious and Jim could still be waiting for us," Layla stated, looking back at Odd, no longer blushing.
"We need to call Jeremy and see if he needs any help," the blond boy stated as he got to his feet.
"Alright," Layla said with a nod even thought she was confused.
Odd began digging through his pockets, trying to find his phone. He stopped searching after a moment and looked over at Layla.
"I think I dropped my phone back in the boiler room," he told the girl, who simply nodded in reply. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a black cell phone.
"Use mine, then," she said as she held the phone out to Odd. The blond boy nodded and took the phone.
"Thanks." He quickly dialed the number, then began speaking to Jeremy. "Hey, Jeremy. Do you need any help over there?"
"Nope. Aelita has just deactivated the tower. I'm about to initiate a return trip," Layla heard Jeremy reply.
"But...Layla won't remember anything if you do that..." Odd stated.
"Yeah. So?" Jeremy asked.
"She..." Odd hesitated, then simply shook his head. "Never mind. Go ahead."
The return trip was started, and Layla soon found herself walking into Kadic Academy for what was supposedly the first time ever, totally oblivious to everything that had just happened.