The Black Eyes of AI

"NOOOOOO!"

Yumi screamed until she thought her vocal chords were going to rip right out of her throat. Her eyes were on fire with the hot tears spilling down her face. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening. They always won against Xana. Always!

The human-like creature with large bat wings that glistened faintly with blood grinned maniacally as it held Ulrich by the collar of his shirt, another thing stained with crimson. His eyes didn't open as Yumi hoped, and he didn't struggle, or even twitch. He was unconscious and quite helpless, for Yumi could do nothing but lay there. Lay, weak and unable, watching Ulrich die slowly. She hated herself for being weak. She wanted to pull a gun out of her pocket like the heroes in crime flicks and blast the demon's brains on the wall. She knew very well there wasn't a fire arm anywhere on her person.

With a sadistic, blood-curdling laugh, the creature slung Ulrich into Jeremie. The blond boy barely had time to blink before he was on the floor with the breath knocked out of him. Again. Yumi thought she might've screamed again-- if she ever stopped-- but the screech of that...that thing drowned out any other noise. Her pained cry was lost in the static.

Odd, who'd been struggling with a giant, black cobra just moments before, finally stood up, tossing a bloody broken chairleg aside. The snake lay motionless behind him. Yumi gasped. She was astounded that he was even alive. He looked ashen, and livid-- furious to the point of madness. It was too much. It was all just too much to handle at one time.

Without hesitation, Odd rushed foward. The creature gave a wry smirk and merely moved to one side, sending Odd flailing and stumbling several more feet. He recovered quickly, standing up straight, looking tall even though he was short. Like a hero would. There were no heroes in real life. Their battle was a futile effort. In moments, Odd was screaming in pain as the vampire used its black talons to pierce into his skull, sending dark blood lines down the sides of his face. In moments-- everything was happening in mere seconds-- Odd would die. If nothing happened, he would die, like Ulrich and Jeremie. Yumi had no hope that they were still alive. Her shoulders were drooping and her hands shaking uncontrolably. Odd... Jeremie...

Ulrich.

Her heart was ripping from the seams that held it together. So fragile... She wanted to die. Why would the creature not touch her? It had stopped the massacre on the boys long enough to kick her out of the way, but after that, it had ignored her. Why? That was a question for everything that had gone terribly, horribly wrong tonight. Her Ulrich... Oh, the pain was consuming her entirely. She could barely see Odd's attempts to get free finally cease. The creature tossed its head laughing and threw Odd with the rest of the boys. This time Yumi couldn't scream. All she could do was whisper to herself, "This isn't happening... It can't. No. I have to... It can't be... It... It..." She watched as a gateway formed, a gateway into the virtual world known as Lyoko. She could recognize that, no matter how distressed she was. "No..." Slinging all three boys over her shoulder, the creature gave one last laugh that echoed in the silent room, then disappeared into the gateway. It closed instantly behind her. That was when Yumi heard the silence. The warm, inviting tranquility of the room where the recently-destroyed supercomputer was hidden. The last thing she heard in the placid air was a quiet gasp, and then it all turned black.

;A few hours earlier;

"So, you really think she'll talk to me? Actually, colloquially, and maybe even nicely?" Odd asked, quietly chatting with Ulrich in their room. Yumi was pretending to look up information on very advanced computers on her laptop, so the two boys had no idea she was actually in there just to be around them.

"Odd, I think you have lost your mind. How did you come to like her? We hate her!"

Odd hissed at the word Ulrich had put emphasis on. "We do not. You might, but I don't. Think about it; she's arrogant, flamboyant, beautiful, sarcastic, and she picks on people for the fun of it. In a way, she's like my twin! I don't know how I didn't see that until now..."

"Well, I do. You didn't see it because you weren't blinded by hormones. Yeah, sure, she's pretty and all, but listen to yourself! She picks on people because she's evil! You do it because it's funny."

"How do you know she's being mean? Did you ever stop and think about what she's feeling? Once?"

"Odd--"

"No. You won't change my mind about liking her, Ulrich."

Yumi sighed rather loudly. They'd been at it like that for over an hour, going around in circles over Odd's latest love interest. Amazingly, that lucky girl just so happened to be her rival, the whore who, even now, thought she could steal Ulrich away with her sensuous movements and doll-baby face, that vixen of a girl named Sissy. How Odd came to like her was as puzzling as why caterpillars turned into butterflies, or why a duck's quack doesn't echo. To her, it was one of those things that were the way they were because... they just were. There was no reason for unnatural phenominon. Ulrich, on the other hand, seemed to think like a scientist, like there was a perfectly good reason why Odd had fallen so madly in love with their enemy.

Just as Ulrich opened his mouth to start their argument all over again, Jeremie burst into the room. "We've got trouble guys. I can't find Aelita anywhere, but I just got a message on my computer saying that Xana is loose-- here, actually-- and death shall come quickly to us all." The bespecled boy said all of this in a casual tone, like he was chatting over a misplaced report or a school event coming up. Jeremie was like that. He only panicked when he was in front of the computer screen at the factory, and then even only a little. He knew how to keep his wits in a battle.

"Are you sure it's really him?" Yumi asked. It could be a false threat. This wouldn't be the first one.

"Maybe," Jeremie replied, "but being safe is better than being sorry. I say we check it out, even so. I got a bad feeling when I read it. You guys aren't doing anything important, are you?"

Odd's mouth dropped open. "Heck yeah, I'm doing something important! Do you know how long it took me to get Sissy to agree to see me tonight, alone? You guys go on. I'll catch up later."

"No," Yumi and Ulrich said at the same time. After a brief glance at one another, Yumi continued by saying, "Odd, we need you there. 'Death shall come quickly to you all.' What if this isn't just another invalid e-mail?"

"No," Odd shook his head defiantly, glaring at every person in the room. "You can't convince me to give up this night. I won't!"

"Odd," Jeremie said, "Please, seriously. For once, don't show your stubborness. Likely, it'll just be another bug set to throw us off guard for a while. You can be back before 9:00."

Odd sighed, still glaring though. "Fine. I'll go, but I won't like it. I swear, if you keep me over twenty minutes, I'll..."

"Okay then," Ulrich said, attempting to brighten the mood, "let's get going before Jim decides to show up. You know he always bothers us at the worst of times." Yumi and the rest nodded in agreement.

Out in the hallway, Ulrich caught Yumi's arm as Jeremie and Odd walked ahead. Yumi looked at him curiously. Ulrich loved romantic things, and secret kisses in dark corners were his favorite. He always somehow managed to make her feel...giddy. "Yumi, I think you know by now that I love you." Those words were a warm blanket over Yumi's heart. "A lot," he added after a second of thought. "I don't want anything to happen to us in Lyoko, say, if one of us... doesn't come back." He had to force those words out.

"You know we will. We always do." She smiled encouragingly. The firm stare Ulrich gave her was anything but warm or romantic.

"You should never say always, Yumi. Nothing lasts forever."

He leaned up a little and kissed her slowly, as if to reinforce his point. Yumi didn't want to think about not coming back from Lyoko, or worse, Ulrich not coming back. That was something that just didn't happen. It couldn't! Impossible. She pressed against him harder, telling him in words unspoken that he was wrong, that he would never be away from her, and that nothing could separate them.

"We better get going," she mumbled after a moment. Jeremie and Odd were both out of sight and likely waiting on them.

Ulrich nodded sadly. She couldn't understand why he was acting like this all of a sudden. He looked depressed. Or maybe just a little down. She smiled at him and nudged his arm a little bit, but his frown never moved. They walked on in silence.

It never occured to Yumi that a tiny, sixth sense could mean the difference between life and death.

-.-.-

More later. Woot! Tell me what ya think. -.-.-Shaku-.-.-