One Letter
A/N: Alright, so this just randomly popped into my head and I've been working on it a lot. X3 If you guys want to read the other's parts then let me know. =3 I'll let you know the rest at the end, so read that author's note down there after the story! X3
To the story! X3
Today was a busy day at Kadic Academy. It was time for the spring exams and everyone, except for a certain blonde, was in their room studying the material for their upcoming tests.
"C'mon Kiwi, we're going on a walk…" Odd Della Robbia told his small dog, grabbing his leash out of the drawer he kept it in. He also grabbed a sheet of paper and made his way out to the woods surrounding the school.
Dear Everyone (I guess),
Those were the words written on the top of the paper. Once every few months Odd did this… His friends had gotten used to his random disappearances. They knew he'd always come back… Too much to live for, they assumed…
The letter Odd held was very short. It was typed and double-spaced for every line on the page. It looked more like a poem or a song than what it really was…
No one really knows what anyone else is going through…
We could have… You could have told us… Odd thought to himself. No matter how many times he read that letter he always felt and thought the same things… He always read it like the first time… The feelings were much stronger and hit him like a brick wall… Helplessness… Loss… Pain…
Whether their parents are supportive…
…
Or not…
Over-supportive or under-supportive… Considering who this was from it was probably the latter… Through a lot of the letter his friend's thoughts seemed scattered… Like he was trying to write to someone else…
The parents of his now deceased friend had known about something that they didn't… It could be what they'd found out that cool and rainy spring night…
=Flashback=
"He wrote us this…" Odd had whispered, Aelita and Yumi were too upset behind him to speak… They'd stuck to Ulrich's final wish…
"We should have known…" his friend's Dad had whispered, hugging his crying wife close after reading the letter.
"Wh-What do you mean?" Aelita asked them through the tears rolling down her cheeks.
"You wouldn't understand…" the man replied as he handed the note back to Odd. "It's addressed to you. Keep it."
=End Flashback=
He wished that they had elaborated, but they'd refused to tell and anytime one of them brought it up the subject was quickly changed…
They don't understand that one poke...
…
One jibe…
…
One small little joke…
…
Can kill…
Odd continued walking through the woods and toward the Hermitage… Was he the reason his friend had died…? Was that small statement there meant specifically for him? It couldn't be… Could it?
After the fight with Xana had ended the five friends had spent countless hours reminiscing about the good ol' days, joking, laughing, and cleaning the old house of Franz Hopper's. It had been great for all of them…
As time went by; though, things started to change…
Do they care? I really doubt it…
A few months after the supercomputer was shut down they'd all forgotten something tremendously important to all of them… They'd celebrated his birthday (and everyone else's for that matter) before, so why'd they have to forget now? Small things built and built… They'd created a wall that no one could get through around their friend… Three weeks after his birthday he'd committed suicide…
Parents… Friends… Classmates…
…
They can't know what I've done…
To this day it was still hard for Odd to know exactly what the boy had been talking about…What else had he done other than saving the human race from a computer virus? No one had any ideas on what he'd meant… His last days he'd barely spoken a word to anyone… He had claimed that he wasn't feeling well. Odd and Aelita hadn't bought it.
When Odd and Kiwi finally started walking into the Hermitage after standing at its gate for a good ten minutes Odd decided that once inside he'd lay down on the floor and stare at the ceiling. The entire house was a bit cleaner than before… They planned on painting once they got the money…
A secret hero… A child in disguise…
In the beginning they'd thought he'd been playing a joke. That it was someone else that had jumped off the Factory roof… He couldn't have killed himself, they told themselves. Sure, he wasn't the happiest person in the world, but he definitely wasn't one to become a statistic.
Kiwi began barking and Odd looked over t o see Sissi standing in the doorway.
"Hey…" Odd muttered, returning his gaze to the letter… and the ceiling.
The truth can set you free…
"We're all worried about you, y'know," Sissi told him, situating herself near him on the floor.
"I'm not going to hurt myself again. I won't be killing myself either. I've told you. I refuse to fall like that."
"I know you won't… I trust you. We all do, but we have a right to worry about you…"
Odd's thoughts were briefly brought back to the letter and came to something. "What do you think he meant by 'the truth will set you free'?"
Or bind you all the tighter…
"I'm not sure… Most of the letter is written like he's hiding something… Something that he doesn't want us all to know, but is trying to convey in an off the wall sort of way. Thinking that he's getting it out, but knowing that no one will understand.
Odd nodded and began petting Kiwi as he held the letter in the other hand. "I'm glad that you joined the group. It's kind of funny how these things work out," he said with a small smile.
She nodded and returned his smile. "Oh, Aelita wants us all to meet at the Factory around six. I guess she wants to have a little memorial party or something…"
"That's Aelita for you. I like the idea, though… I'll be there. I need to get back to Kiwi's walk. I'll see you later."
The truth needs to be a lie… For sanity's sake…
By this part in the letter Odd always knew that he had some part in his friend's death… Re-reading the letter like it was the first time was killer, but also quite necessary… All the emotions from that one night came flooding back to him. Lust… Love… Longing… Fear… Pain… The truth had to be bound tightly for his sake… He had to pretend the truth was a lie…
Odd had tried to talk to him, but he refused to listen and said that it had been a lapse of his better judgment. The kiss was a lie… For sanity's sake…
I was a hero…
Apparently in his books heroes couldn't be gay or bi or whatever the two may have been… He wasn't even sure… Had they both been momentarily bi and now he was straight again? No, he refused to believe that…
A Lyoko Warrior…
Did he doubt that he was one of them? Maybe he had… Odd wouldn't know… After that night he wouldn't look Odd in the eyes… He had done everything he could to avoid the blonde… He changed his schedule and made sure that Odd and him didn't see each other at all… He'd even switched rooms… No Xana to stop him and he even stopped sitting with them at lunch…
Had he really been that ashamed of that one kiss that it had pushed him over the edge…?
Protector of those around me…
…
They didn't know…
Odd left the house and continued Kiwi's walk. He knew that he should talk to his friends later about everything and all that he was feeling… If he didn't tell them how he felt he knew the guilt would eat him alive... Hopefully telling the truth didn't bind him like it had his friend…
Thinking back on what his friend's parents had said when Odd had shown them the letter made Odd come to an important conclusion. He had told them he and Odd had kissed and they must have made a huge deal out of it…
"Hey Odd," Yumi said as she walked closer, shoving something in her pocket. Odd did the same.
"Hey… Can you tell the others that I have something important that I want to talk about at our little memorial party later?" he asked as he bent over to pet Kiwi.
"You're not cutting again, right?" she asked with an arched eyebrow, scrutinizing his arms.
"No, I-"
"Let me see your arms," she told him bluntly, interrupting the blonde.
Odd rolled his eyes and then pulled up his sleeves and pants' legs to show her that there were no marks except for old scars.
Yumi all of a sudden came forward and hugged him tightly. "Good, I wouldn't be able to stand it if we lost you, too…"
He hugged her back and said, "I wouldn't do that…"
Once Yumi pulled away she said, "I need to go to the Factory… Aelita wanted my help to get ready…"
Guardian angels in human skin…
…
Watching and protecting…
…
Share with others the joys in your life…
"One more hug before you go?" he asked, his arms spread out and a grin plastered on his face.
Yumi shook her head and gave a small laugh. "Sorry Odd, but the Princess awaits and you can't leave her alone too long anymore."
His smile fell and he nodded, "Yeah, or else she starts thinking about him and crying. Then it takes forever to calm her down…"
Yumi nodded. "Don't keep stuff bottled up, okay?"
Odd smiled to show that he agreed and headed back toward the school.
Else you'll drift away…
Keeping things light and happy was harder than usual for Odd. Normally it came easily, but that was when his friends, all of them, were around… All of them hadn't been together for a year to that day…
When Odd returned to his room he laid down on the bed that had belonged to his best friend…
Never forget me…
-Ulrich Stern
"You'll never be forgotten, buddy…"
"We'll never forget you…"
"You're always in my heart…"
"We're always thinking about you…
A/N: the '*' are to show that there needs to be more space between that. XD I'm hoping that they stay. XD So, do you guys want me to do something where Yumi, Aelita, and Jeremie are each separately reading the letter? I'm already writing when Ulrich was writing the letter himself. =3 Almost done, too. XD Umm… This took me awhile to write because I wanted to convey stuff right. =3 Also, here at the end after Odd said something after the ending of the letter that was Aelita, Yumi, and Jeremie (not in that order, I think) saying basically the same thing as Odd as the four were all reading the letter at the exact same time. XD
Read and review!
~MoonlitxAngel