Code: Pulse
Chapter Two- And the Blood Falls
By: Silver-Serval
Disclaimer- Elle, Kari, and Taka Garasu are my characters. Aelita, Ulrich, Odd, and any other person in the Lyoko gang I mention belongs to somebody else. Not me. I realy hope you like it, and this chapter was mostly made in this way because I sorta had something I was angry at, so yeah... I really hope you like it! R & R!
In the cold hours of pre-dawn, three small and tired bodies raced across the undergrowth of a large forest. Their breath came in ragged gasps as the tried to out-run their adversaries. Odd Della Robia, Taka Garasu, and Kari Garasu dashed out of the dense undergrowth with around ten zombies after them. They continued to run, except now that they were on a road, more zombies joined the ever-growing pack behind them. Finally, Kari saw a building a few hundred yards away. They all gave a sigh of relief and charged ahead with full power. That was when Taka fell.
She gave a sharp cry drawing Kari's attention to her who immediately started back to help her. At the precise moment the zombies reached Taka, a black blur flew out of the forest and hit the one nearest to Taka in the back. Kari ran faster in fear that the black thing was after them too. When she reached Taka, Kari picked her up and began to run again. Soon the black thing was beside her.
This was when Kari saw what it really was and muttered,"Midnight..." The wolf looked up at its master and grinned impishly. Odd was on the steps when Kari ran up with Taka and Midnight. He looked at Kari as if saying,"Do I want to know? Kari grinned in reply. Odd shook his head as they all clambered inside and slammed the door shut in the readily appearing zombie's faces.
Later that night Odd was sitting beside the fireplace as Kari sat beside the wolf on the rug in front of him. Taka was asleep on the couch.
"So, how do you know that wolf Kari?" asked Odd finally.
Kari smiled,"Around the time XANA took control over the world, about six months before Taka and I met you, my sister Elle, Taka and I were out in a grove of tree looking for stuff to help Taka make a game with since she needed to make one for her English class. I was all alone because Taka had wandered over near the stream an Elle was making the picnic ready and all when I heard a howl. I began to follow it when I saw a cave in the wall on the hillside. I walked over and inside were dead wolves and this little live baby, except, at that time Midnight was much smaller. I decided to pick her up and that was when we sort of bonded. After I managed to talk my parents into it, they allowed me to care for the little girl. She ended up sleeping on my bed at night. She was like our little watch dog, but..." Kari's voice trailed off, allowing Odd to understand what happened.
"I'm sorry Kari." he whispered.
She sighed and punched him lightly in the arm,"Don't go sentimental on me Oddsworth. I don't want to have to care for you and Taka. She can barely walk right now."
Odd held up his hands in mock defeat,"I give, I give. No more guilt trip!" Kari laughed and put and hand on his hair to ruffle it. He just grinned and leaned into the touch. He was part cat anyway, so it was just fine with him.
Kari grinned and flopped back down by the fire saying,"So, you never explained where we were going earlier."
Odd sighed,"We're going after XANA. Ulrich and Aelita are still there with it and we sorta need to get there before they die like Yumi did..." His eyes immediately went downcast and his temper sullen. Kari sighed and began her long process of comforting the poor boy. All of his friends were either hurt or dead. Poor Odd.
-:-
A few hours later, Kari was slumbering deeply against the side of her wolf Midnight when Odd got up and began to move around. He walked into the bathroom at the back of the house and drug the contents of the medicine cab nit into the light, searching until a razor came into sight. Then with careful precision, he grabbed it and put the rest away.
Carefully, he then lightly cut the skin on his wrist. As it passed over it, it left a very thin, white line in its wake. He then relished the pain and welcomed more with open arms. He began to cut deeper until his left arm resembled slashed ribbons. Then he followed suit with the right arm. He watched the blood pool onto the floor until it resembled alake of his life force, and even then, he felt it draining away.
In interesting fascination, he watched in pool into an ever larger lake-turning-sea. Suddenly, his legs went numb. Then he couldn't feel his arms any more either, for as he looked down to where his hands would have been, they were covered in his blood. A sudden ache rose in his throat and he tried to fight back a groan as he suddenly knew he was going to die. Here he was with super-powers of a sort and he couldn't even call for help because... why? Why couldn't he?
"It's because you're afraid." whispered his conscious mind as he drifted off even more,"You're afraid that your new friends will hate you and scorn you. You don't want them to know because you hate feeling weak and even your friend Taka, the one you like, would scorn you. Maybe she'd even hate you. You are afraid. Confront that fear."
Odd shook his head weakly. He didn't want them to know because he just didn't, plain and simple. His conscious just smiled and whispered in his head,"Whatever." Then, the world spun as Odd quickly stood and fell. The blood that had just rushed to his head rushed through and hit his wrists which made him surprised he was still alive. Then right as the thought crossed his mind, he blacked out.
-:-
Neither Kari norTaka awoke when a sudden crash came from the bathroom down the hall. The only change in movement was the prick of a wolf's ear.
-:-
Far away, two girls and a boy sat by the pitiful fire they had just finished creating. One girl with short pink hair smiled and sagged against the shoulder of the brown haired boy next to her.The boy named Ulrich sat staring into the fire as memories of the night not too long ago pounded his brain.
He and Yumi had just stepped out of the scanner when three or four shots to their backside shoved them to the ground. Ulrich jumped up and spun around only to find XANA waiting. He then looked behind XANA to find Jeremy sitting against the wall with an old fashioned pen in his eye. Ulrich grimaced and turned his head to the ground to avoid the sight, but now that he had seen it, it was going to be engraved behind his closed eyes forever. A sharp blow was then delt to his head where he fell into unconsciousness. Yumi was the same. A fewdays later, they awoke to find themselves sitting next to a girl in atraveling prison. Withthis strange girlwas... AELITA!
After Aelita them as much info as she could, the newest girl told her story. It was not very pretty. Blood, gore, the near beheading of her sisters... Yeah, real pretty. About a year later, XANA came in, got Yumi, and went out. XANA didn't come back. Neither did Yumi... Anyway, the girl's name was Elle Garasu and she knew her sisters were with Odd, and you know what? They were coming to rescue them. Eventually...
After a quick jolt to his brain, Ulrich Stern awoke to the sound of the falling rain outside the traveling prison. The only sounds were Elle's quiet breaths, Aelita's sharp breathing, and the pounding thunder and lightning. Ulrich sighed and lay his head against the jolting wall and tried to fall asleep. His ploy eventually worked as he drifted off into a deep slumber.
-:-
Six lives crashed through the downpour of that night's storm. Kari Garasu and Taka Garasu asleep on the couch and floor of the be-damned house where their best friend lay dying on the floor. Ulrich Stern deep in his thoughts was being driven off to his unlikely doom. Aelita Stonesand Elle Garasu sleeping unaware of the strain in the world. And Odd Della Robia lying in a sea of his own blood as he continued on his way to death's door not even two hundred yards from where Taka and Kari slept.