Sunday morning came and Jeremie woke up early. By six he had showered, fully dressed, and had eaten breakfast. There was a knock at the door, so he lowered his attention from the news to answer it. " Ulrich, hey. Good to see you." Ulrich had cut his hair short, not passing his forehead. It was obvious he worked out every chance he had because he was very muscular, not ripped, but still pretty impressive.

" Is Odd here yet?" Ulrich asked walking through the front door.

" No but, any time now. Want some coffee?" Odd didn't show up for another twenty minutes. Ulrich answered the door and Odd was there. Parked in the driveway was his new car and he was still wearing his sun glasses. His hair was still the way it was so many years ago, just not nearly as long, or purple.

" Good morning Ulrich. So who called this meeting." He hugged Ulrich and walked in to see Jeremie in the kitchen, so hugged him too. Aelita woke up from the last door bell and was walking downstairs. They were just leaving when Jeremie looked behind him and saw his wife.

" Well be back soon, I promise." Aelita walked to him and hugged him digging her face into his shoulder. She seemed to be crying.

" I really don't want you to go but, I don't see an option around it."

" If it is xana, we could just shut him down again. We'll be back in an hour." She kissed him deeply and walked back upstairs, looked back at Odd which she didn't know why she did, then walked into the hallway. She hadn't seen in over a year, so it was nice to see him again. They all left in Odd's car because it was blocking the others in the driveway. The factory was a five minute drive and they were soon standing in front of it.


" Seems like yesterday," said Ulrich looking at the abandoned factory.

" Let's do this quickly so I can go to Fiji next week, and Ulrich can play on Saturday."

Ulrich shook head in disbelief at how many times he'd heard about it, shrugging it off knowing very well it was true from time to time. He walked to the steep ledge and saw that the ropes were still in place. Ulrich and Odd leapt of the edge, grabbed the ropes and swung, landing next the elevator. Too much like old times. Jeremie just slid down and walked over. That was when he saw a gun at the back of Ulrich's waist.

" Why did you bring a gun?" Jeremie asked him.

" Look I hope the blackouts are just a fluke like everyone else, but if it is xana, we might need it down there." Jeremie hated guns though he owned one that he kept in the top of his closet, but he knew Ulrich was right. If xana really is awake again then going to the factory is definitely a trap.

" Alright. Well here we go." Jeremie hit the down button and the elevator hummed to life then began to move. It stopped at the lab where Jeremie walked out and said, " I'll monitor from here when you turn it on, I'll do a quick system scan to find anything unusual."

" See you in a bit Einstein," said Odd as the elevator slowly closed.

Ulrich and Odd were silent as the elevator moved down toward the system's core. Their hearts were racing as the doors opened. They stepped into the core and saw the switch was still down and lights were off. " Turn it on and let's figure out what's going on topside." Jeremie's voice said over the intercom.

" Well the intercom's still up, go ahead Ulrich." said Odd, who didn't want to be the one the restart the super computer. Ulrich walked over and began to reach for the switch, and noticed he was hesitating. He shook off his fear for a moment then began to reach again, his hand shaking, and his palms sweaty. He gripped the handle and thrust it up. Instantly the room lit up and a loud humming filled the room. Jeremie was in the lab looking at the information move across the screen.

His scan took less than a minute but when it was finished he smiled and said, " xana's gone, readings normal, turn it off and let's go home."

" Told you, just a fluke," said Ulrich as he reached for the handle again. When he touched it he was knocked back and Odd saw a black smoke enter Ulrich's body. He was on the ground holding his head his body shaking.

" Ulrich!" Odd shouted moving towards his friend.

The entire thing took less than five seconds but for Odd, it never ended. Ulrich stood up and Odd saw what he feared he would see in Ulrich's eyes. The symbol was in his eyes, the eye of xana. Xana pulled the gun from Ulrich's waist and aimed it at Odd who stopped and pleaded , " Ulrich don't." Xana fired and Odd hit the ground hard. Jeremie jumped when he heard the gun shot and began to panic when he heard a second. He typed fast and pulled up a video screen of what was happening below him.

Jeremie gasped when he saw both Odd and Ulrich on the ground not moving. He sprinted to the elevator and pressed the button several times due to his panicked state of mind. The elevator arrived below and Jeremie ran over to Ulrich who was laying face down. He saw the gun in his hand with smoke still coming out of the chamber, and blood all around his body. He was dead. Jeremie flipped him over and saw that he was shot in the head.

" Jeremie," Odd managed to say across from Ulrich.

" Odd," Jeremie said as he ran over to his friend who was holding his hand hard against his shoulder. " What happened?"

" Xana's still alive. He possessed Ulrich then shot me, then shot Ulrich."

" Where is he now?"

" Gone, he's free again," He shook his head and said, " Good thing he's a bad shot, got me in the shoulder. What about Ulrich?" Jeremie didn't say anything just lowered his head so Odd wouldn't see him crying. It wouldn't matter Odd was tearing some too. Ulrich was dead, and xana was free to cause hell all over again.


A week later they held his funeral in a park that was near his house. Everyone he knew was gathered around his casket as a priest began reading lines from a bible. Xi and his brother Justin stood next to Yumi who was showing emotion. They had never seen their mother cry. Aelita was standing next to Jeremie, crying on to his shoulder. Odd was next to Sissi who was doing the same on to his. Some of the classmates from Kadic years ago were there. Ulrich's parents were there as well, his mother crying and his father trying to hold back tears as he comforted his wife.

They lowered his casket into the ground and the people walked away each dropping something on the casket as they walked by. Yumi, Jeremie, Aelita, Odd, Sissi and the kids were the last to leave the grave. Jeremie couldn't help but think it was his fault. Odd threw in a soccer ball, Jeremie threw in a split picture that was both their weddings, the left side Yumi in her white dress and Ulrich in a tux, Jeremie and Aelita the same on the right. Aelita threw in a video that she made years ago at one of Ulrich's soccer games. Sissi threw in a note that was written in bold letters saying, " Sorry about my obsession, Sissi."

Yumi threw in the smallest object but the most meaningful, she threw in a note like Sissi but it was written in Ulrich's hand writing and was twenty five years old.

" I wanted to do this next to you but the circumstances won't allow me. You know I'm not good with words so I figured writing it would be easier. Right now we're a country apart and it feels like half of me is missing. So when we see each other again, I want your answer to this question that I should of asked when we parted last year. Yumi Ishiyama, will you marry me. P.S. I hope I spelled that right."

Together the group walked away and made their way to their cars. " Yumi," Jeremie began not looking at her, " It was my fault, I should have never..."

" Jeremie stop," interrupted Yumi. " It wasn't your fault, or Odd's, or Ulrich's. Xana killed him. He would have went alone if you didn't go with him. If anything, you did the right thing. You guys were just protecting our families, making sure we never have to drag our children into this battle." That made Jeremie feel better, much better. She wasn't angry with him or anyone. She was angry at xana.

" Are you going to alright." Jeremie asked.

" I'll manage."

" If you need anything..."

"I know, I know. Thank you Jeremie. The kids will spend the rest of the week with me and then I'll send them back to the academy so you can torture them with physics." Jeremie managed a slight laugh and they hugged. Yumi started her car with Xi and Justin and drove off.

Justin was in the back behind Yumi and Xi was in the passenger seat. The car ride was uneventful. No one talked, though everyone had something to say. Xi and Justin were confused, how did their father die, she said he was shot but, why and where?

" Your not telling us something mom." Xi finally said, sounding almost angry.

" What do you mean?" Yumi asked, knowing very well what he was talking about. She was avoiding the question.

" You said he was shot. Why was he shot. Line of fire, pissed someone off. Why?" Xi asked, not noticing he was shouting.

" Wrong place at the wrong time, and we'll leave it at that." Xi just crossed his arms and leaned into his seat not satisfied with her answer, but knew talking to her would only bring about more questions.

" Mom, I'm hungry," Justin said from the back seat.

" Alright honey, well stop on the way..." but she never finished the sentence.

At that instant Xi looked over his shoulder at his mother and saw a truck was going to hit them and shouted," Mom look out!"

The truck hit them hard and sent their little car flipping to the side, all air bags deploying. They flipped five times before the car was about to flip for a sixth time then slowly fell and landed on the cars back. Xi opened his eyes and looked around him to see glass everywhere and could feel blood running down his face. He was dangling from his seat belt and could barely breath let alone keep his eyes open. He looked to his left and saw his mother. Her eyes were open, but she wasn't looking. She was dangling lifelessly next to him. Xi couldn't stop looking into her eyes. He knew what it meant. She was dead. He tried to turn his body to find his brother but he couldn't move his body, painfully finding out some of his rips were broken. He couldn't stay awake any longer and closed his eyes.