Silent Depression
By: LeaMarie F. Metallium

Rated: PG

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko. If I did we would've seen a kiss between Yumi and Ulrich by now.

Odd walked back to his dorm room in silence. The yearly Kadic Academy New Years party had just ended, and as he was with most parties, he was happy it was over. There was nothing wrong with the party itself. There'd been plenty of food, good music, and tons of people. Odd had hung out with his friends, danced with practically every girl there, even though some of them were still mad at him for some reason or another.

The only thing that seemed to give a black mark to the party was the fact that besides his friends, who'd all been extremely caught up in their couplings, he'd had no one to talk to. Oh sure, he'd given Sissi the usual comments about her nose, but even that didn't cheer him up.

At the end of almost every party Odd had a dull, hollow, depressed feeling. It wasn't that the party was over, because near the end of them he couldn't wait to go back to his room and spend a little time alone. It was the fact that it seemed like no one really cared that he was there, usually totally alone. Several times he'd considered not going and seeing if anyone missed him. But in the end he always went, if anything so that he wouldn't be locking himself away in his room wondering what everyone else was doing. Or in case this time he'd actually have fun.

This never seemed to happen at the parties that just the five of them had, only the big school ones. When it was just the five of them he got more than enough attention, even if he wasn't the center of the attention. The girls, especially Aelita, would flirt with him while the boys play fought and fired off rapid smart-assed comments back and forth with him. No, those parties were fun. It was only the parties where there were more people that things got overly complicated. In fact he felt that as soon as the others started to slow dance he was lost in a sea of people, even if Yumi and Aelita would pull him into the occasional dance.

He opened his room door and walked in, not even bothering to turn on the lights. He knew his room by heart and turning on the lights would only serve to remind him that he was alone in the room. He changed into his night clothes and dropped onto his bed. Kiwee silently crawled up next to him. Like every time Odd came back from a party, Kiwee simply let Odd hold him until Odd fell asleep or he heard Ulrich coming back from walking Yumi home. It was at those times Kiwee would scoot down to the end of the bed, and let Odd pretend that he was already asleep so Ulrich wouldn't question him about the dance or why he left early.

"Kiwee?" Odd asked, causing the little dog to look up. "Do you think I should talk to someone about this? I mean is this normal?" Kiwee answered Odd with a soft bark and a lick on the hand. Odd smiled at the little dog's affections. "Thanks for trying to make me feel better. Night, boy," Odd replied letting himself drop off to sleep.

This story wasn't really meant to be good, only to let off a little stress. Sorry about Odd's out of character-ness.