It started out as a typical day for Yumi Ishiyama. She was walking with her brother to school and putting up with his insane, asinine jokes that he thought were funny. She, however, found them moronic.

They were about to enter the wooded shortcut to their school's campus when a very loud crash came from behind them. The two siblings whipped around and saw a green car halfway through a building, and a black van speeding right towards them.

Yumi's reaction time was quick enough to shove Hiroki out of the way, but not quick enough for her to get herself out of the van's way as it slammed into her full force. It sent her flying through the air and rolling on the ground a little ways before skidding to a stop.

The van itself had stopped also. Hiroki paid it no mind, however, as he rushed to his sister and checked to see if she was still breathing.

"Yumi?" Hiroki asked with a thick voice. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes when she didn't respond to his voice.

Suddenly, a ringing sound came from behind him. He looked and saw his sister's phone laying on the ground. Upon going to it and picking it up, he noticed that it was Ulrich calling.

"H-Hello?" Hiroki said into the phone after answering it. He quickly went back to Yumi and held her fragile-looking hand in his own.

"Hiroki? What are you doing answering Yumi's phone?" Ulrich didn't seem to notice the stutter wasn't that of guilt, but of sadness and shock.

"Y-Yumi's hurt. W-We're in the forest. By…" Hiroki looked around for a minute, ignoring Ulrich's frantic questions of if Yumi was alright. "By some building called The Hermitage."

"We know right where you are, Hiroki." It was Jeremy's voice this time. He must have taken the phone from Ulrich, thought Hiroki. "Is Yumi breathing?"

"Um… just barely."

"I need you to hang up on us and call for an ambulance, okay?" Jeremy's voice was calm enough, but Hiroki could hear the slight panic being hidden away.

"O-Okay." Hiroki hung up on the genius and called one-one-two; the emergency number for Europe.

"One-one-two, what is your emergency?" A female operator asked.

"My sister got hit by a van and she's barely breathing." Hiroki's panic was starting to catch up to him as he told the lady on the phone. He couldn't believe that this was happening.

"Where are you, sir, and what is your name?"

"We're in the middle of the woods by Kadic Academy. Near some building called The Hermitage. My name is Hiroki." He felt a tear go down his cheek and he tightened his hand around his sister's ever so slightly.

"Hiroki!" He turned and saw Jeremy, Odd, and Ulrich running towards him.

"Sir," The lady on the phone got his attention, "is your sister awake?"

"No! She's passed out and barely breathing!"

"Alright sir, I need you to take a deep breath. I need you calm."

"Hiroki, I need you to move over a little bit, okay?" Jeremy told him calmly.

"Sir, is there someone there with you?"

"Yes, they're my sister's friends."

"Are any of them able to perform CPR?" The operator asked. Hiroki looked around and saw Jeremy checking Yumi's pulse. He figured that Jeremy would know out of the three that came.

"Uh, Jeremy?" Hiroki asked. The blonde boy turned his attention to him immediately.

"What is it?"

"The operator wants to know if any of you can do CPR." Jeremy nodded.

"Give me the phone for a minute." He handed the phone over the Jeremy. While Jeremy and the lady on the phone talked, Hiroki took a close look at his sister's face.

It seemed almost lifeless with her eyes closed and her skin paler than usual. He felt tears rise up again in his eyes, but this time, he didn't hold them back. He felt so helpless as he watched Jeremy perform CPR on his sister, knowing that he couldn't do anything to help. He let out a sob and pulled his legs to his chest as he sat against the trunk of a tree, burying his head in his knees.

It wasn't three seconds later of crying that he felt someone sit next to him and put an arm around him. He looked up surprised and saw Odd looking at him with a concerned expression.

"Come on, now. It's okay to cry. Yumi will pull through, she has to. She's a warrior." Odd told him. But Hiroki looked deeper and saw that he wasn't even sure himself. Before Hiroki could stop himself, he gripped onto Odd's purple sweater and buried his face in it before starting to cry again.

Odd simply let him, knowing that he would be like this if him and any of his sister's were in this situation. He rubbed soothing circles on the distressed boy's back as they heard the unmistakable sirens of the ambulance approaching them.

"The ambulance is here, I'll let you go." Jeremy said. Odd looked at the genius as he hung up the phone and pocketed it. He looked back at Hiroki and shook him a little.

"Hiroki," he said in a gentle voice, "the ambulance is here. Don't you want to ride with her to the hospital?" Hiroki looked up.

"I do, but I don't think I could handle it." He said with a watery voice. There were tears still flowing freely out of his eyes.

"I understand, and I know Yumi will too."

As the paramedics piled out of the ambulance, Jeremy and Ulrich walked back to where Odd and Hiroki were.

"Um, excuse me." They all looked over and saw a police officer approaching them. She had blonde hair in a loose ponytail under her hat. Her partner was over talking to the paramedics.

"Yes?" Jeremy was the one to answer. He seemed to be the calmest one there. Hiroki was crying, Odd was afraid he was going to break out crying any minute from the amount of worry, and Ulrich looked like he was going to explode from all the emotions that were running through him. He wouldn't be talking anytime soon.

"I would like to talk to the person who called one-one-two. Hiroki?" She looked directly at the crying boy still clung to Odd.

"He's really upset right now." Odd tried to reason. "Can the questioning wait until later?"

"I just have one question." She said. Hiroki looked up, and Odd wasn't surprised to see that his eyes looked bloodshot and as red as the color on the ambulance.

"Y-ye-yes?" He said between panted half-sobs. He definitely wasn't ready to talk to anyone and Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremy knew it.

"Did you see the driver?" The woman's question puzzled all of them. They didn't find the driver?

"N-no." Hiroki answered. "B-but no one… no one l-l-left the v-va-van." Hiroki was sobbing so much that it was hard to understand him.

"There's no driver in the vehicle. Are you positive you didn't see anyone behind the driver's seat as it-"

"You said one question." Odd said sternly. "This would be two. Ask him after he knows his sister is okay." The police officer nodded at the tone of Odd's voice. She knew that he wasn't going to back down and the glare he gave her sent chills down her spine.

"Alright." She said. "Is anyone riding with her?"

"You guys can go if you want." Odd said. "Hiroki said he can't handle it, and I'm staying with him." The others nodded and they boarded the ambulance before the other officer closed the doors.

"We can give you two a lift to the hospital if you like." The female officer's partner offered.

"Sure." Odd said. "Just don't ask questions."

"Alright." After both officers agreed, Odd helped Hiroki stand up and walk him to the police officer.

Seeing as the younger boy was still clinging to the purple-clad boy, he situated himself in the back of the car in order for Hiroki to sit next to him in the same seat comfortably. It was a struggle to get the seatbelt on, but he managed. The police officers seemed to let it slide, seeing that Hiroki had an infrangible grip on Odd's sweater.

The entire ride to the hospital was uneventful. The police officers were using their lights, but they didn't have the sirens on, and they were going about fifteen miles above the speed limit.

Odd, however, had other things on his mind as he rubbed calm, steady circles on the boy's back as he silently cried into his sweater.

Where the heck was the driver? It's all he could think about. He half contemplated X.A.N.A. But then again, the superscan didn't go off. But X.A.N.A.'s done this before. He's activated a tower then deactivated it by himself. Usually the demonic virus didn't play the same card twice, but he wouldn't put it past him to do it again. Especially if he thought he could really succeed.

Odd held back a sigh for Hiroki's sake and looked down at the black-haired pre-teen. His body was still wracking from his silent sobs, and he could feel his sweater becoming increasingly wet from his tears. He didn't mind, though. If it meant that Hiroki felt he wasn't alone, he would do this forever.

He felt like an older brother when it came to Hiroki, which meant he would do anything it took to help him out when he needed it. Odd always felt like a middle child when it came to the Ishiyama siblings.

In the ambulance

Jeremy and Ulrich looked solemnly at Yumi's unconscious form on the gurney before them. Ulrich wasn't capable of a coherent thought as he blamed himself for not being there to save her, and Jeremy was thinking along the same lines as Odd.

The superscan hadn't gone off since he got up, and he had his laptop with him the entire morning. Not one alert. His program to protect the superscan was impenetrable. X.A.N.A. couldn't mess with the superscan unless Jeremy himself took it off. Unless…

No, he thought, it couldn't be.

When they arrived at the hospital, he decided to check when he knew Yumi was in at least stable condition.

In the police car

Odd saw the hospital ahead of them. It would maybe take them five more minutes to get there with how fast they were going. He tightened his arm around Hiroki a little bit and hugged him to his chest.

"Almost there, Hiroki." Odd said quietly. He felt the younger boy nod against his chest, but it didn't stop the sobs that were still shaking his tiny body.

(Time skip to Yumi's hospital room)

Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, Hiroki, and Aelita, who had joined them shortly after they had gotten there, were all gathered around Yumi's bedside.

The doctor had reported to them earlier that she had three broken ribs, her right arm was broken, her left leg was fractured, she had a concussion, and she had to have a ventilator to make her breathe. She said it was lucky she had landed on grass, or the damage would have been more extensive, or worse; she could have died.

Ulrich was sitting on Yumi's left side, holding her hand, Jeremy and Aelita were sitting on the left side of the bed; Jeremy was consoling a still broken up Aelita, and Odd and Hiroki were sitting at the couch thing by the window of the room. Hiroki still refused to let go of Odd as if he were a security blanket. Odd still didn't mind, and he never would.

Yumi's doctor had asked Hiroki for his parents number, but the boy didn't move. Jeremy had to pull out Yumi's cell phone and found the house phone number and each of their cell phone numbers before writing them down for her.

"Hiroki, Yumi!" Ms. Ishiyama exclaimed tearfully as she burst into the room. It had been fifteen uneventful minutes since Yumi's doctor had called her parents. Akiko had tears running down her face as she saw her daughter lying unconscious on the bed. (AN: Apparently that's the name of Yumi's mom, but I can't recall an episode where her name is actually mentioned. I just got this off the Code Lyoko wikia.)

Hiroki kept clinging to Odd as if their lives depended on it, he made no move to go to his parents that had just walked in. He didn't even give a sign that he knew they were there, or that he was aware of his mother walking over to him.

"H-Hiroki, h-how did this happen?" Akiko asked her son. Hiroki, again, didn't even move. Odd figured he was in shock.

"Ma'am," Odd gained her attention. He knew the boy clinging to him wasn't going to be talking anytime soon. He just rubbed soothing circles on his back as he let the younger continue to cling.

"Y-Yes Odd?"

"From what I saw when I got there, an SUV had hit her. Ulrich had called Yumi's cell phone after it happened and Hiroki answered it and told us what happened. When we got there, the SUV was against a tree, Yumi was on the ground, and Hiroki was next to her." Odd said.

"What about Hiroki?" Mr. Ishiyama asked him. He had walked over during Odd's explanation. The purple clad boy felt the boy's grip tighten on his sweater, making him look down at the boy. Nothing had changed except his grip, so Odd continued rubbing his back and looked back up at the man in front of him.

"Hiroki's been like this shortly after we got there. He wouldn't and still won't let go. I think he's in shock." Odd explained in a soft voice. He didn't want to frighten Hiroki or make him think that he was annoyed by what he was doing.

"Odd," Jeremy said, gaining the cat-boy's attention. "Hiroki should probably get checked out by a doctor. If he is in shock, it could get serious if untreated."

Odd knew that Einstein was right, but he didn't want to get up or leave Hiroki. Being alone could make shock worse.

"Einstein, can you-" He was cut off, however, by fast pace beeps that echoed through the room for a short while, and finally, one long high pitched beep that seemed to put the occupants in a trance.

The feeling of dread set within the warriors and Ishiyama's. Hiroki had lifted his head to look at his sister. He barely noticed the doctors rushing in the room with medical equipment that he didn't recognize or know the names of. He barely noticed the doctors shouting things, he didn't hear as the doctor called the time of death.

"Yumi Ishiyama. Time of Death: 10:59 am."

The living occupants of the room were ushered out by the nurse. Hiroki was still clinging to Odd. He refused to let go. Aelita was crying into Ulrich's chest, and Jeremy had a blank expression. The Ishiyama's were crying and holding onto each other, and Odd was rubbing Hiroki's back; willing himself not to cry.

-XANA-

The warriors had been excused from classes for a week to mourn her loss. Jeremy was using the time trying to figure out how XANA could be behind it, Ulrich was staying in bed every day, Odd was taking walks in the forest, and Aelita spent her time at the Hermitage or going to Lyoko, only to get yelled at by Jeremy

Odd hadn't heard a word from Hiroki since that day. While at the hospital, it had taken his parents a few hours of trying to get Hiroki to let go of Odd before the young boy grew hysterical and had to be sedated. Odd had tried to call Hiroki several times, but only got his voicemail. Odd was about to try and call Yumi's parents to ask about Hiroki, but Jeremy jogged over to him with a grim look on his face. Odd sensed it was important and possibly relating to XANA and Yumi, so he put his phone back in his pocket.

"What's up, Einstein?" Odd asked.

"I figured out how XANA did it." He said. Odd looked shocked. "Have everyone meet me in my room." Odd nodded, then Jeremy ran off again. Odd watched the genius until he was out of site, then got out his phone and sent texts to Ulrich and Aelita. He nearly sent one to Yumi before he remembered the painful truth and he felt tears well up in his eyes. He shook his head and put his head in his pocket before running off to the dorms.

Once everyone was in Jeremy's room, the genius stood up.

"I… I know how XANA k-killed… Yumi." Jeremy said. He struggled to get the words out. "He didn't sabotage the superscan. He couldn't have. It was protected. He figured out another way."

"What way is that?" Odd asked when Jeremy hesitated. Jeremy took a deep breath.

"He sabotaged the wireless connection my computer and laptop have to the supercomputer. There was no way I could have known anything that happened on Lyoko during that time, much less a XANA attack."

The warriors were silent for a few moments, but it was broken when Ulrich's fist collided with Jeremy's wall on the Albert Einstein poster, unknown to Ulrich, exactly where Yumi had punched it once before. Ulrich walked out of the room, leaving a grim Jeremy, a crying Aelita, and a solemn Odd. XANA had taken a warrior. And he could easily do it again.

XANA/XANA/XANA/XANA/XANA/XANA

Thanks for reading this! I hope this version is better than the last! I really didn't want to end up writing five more chapters for the original, so I just wrote this. Tell me what you think!