Ulrich's POV
They exited the sewer quietly, not wanting to break the silence of the night or risk to be heard by Jim. They sneaked up to the boy's dormitory, for they wouldn't be bothered there and they still had a lot to explain to Ulrich and Odd. In the silence Ulrich was left to wonder everything he had heard.
My name is Ulrich Stern. I go to Kadic High. I don't do well at school and my dad is not pleased. I am a Lyoko warrior. I am great at martial arts. I fight with a sword. My job is to protect everyone from Xana.
It was a lot to take in. And it felt like he was just memorizing the words, not what they meant. He didn't remember any of this, but he needed something to believe in. He also needed more answers. Preferably about himself. What did he like to do on free-time? Who was his best friend? Did he have a crush on someone? He realized that thinking about these questions couldn't bring the answer to him but he couldn't help but repeating them over and over again in his head, as they went up the stairs as quietly as they could.
He only stopped when they heard footsteps coming towards them.
"It's Jim", Jeremy lip synced. They turned around and went under the stairs. They heard Jim's loud footsteps coming down the stairs. They could now see him. He had his back at them, but if he turned around, he couldn't miss the five of them. Jim stopped to scratch his head. Ulrich was now holding his breath. Then, slowly, the teacher yawned and left outside.
Ulrich heard the others letting out their breath and allowed himself to breathe again. After a moment of relief Jeremy took the lead and they went up the stairs once again, this time listening carefully in case Jim decided to come back.
When they finally made it to the room (Ulrich didn't know whom it belonged to), Aelita and Yumi slouched on to one bed and Jeremy sat on a chair in front of a desk, leaving Ulrich and Odd standing there awkwardly. The room was messy. It had two beds, two closets and two desks. It was obvious that two people lived there. One bed was made what you could almost say neatly, while the other one was just a mess. There were clothes on the floor (mostly green and purple) and in one of the closets there seemed to be a dog, which ran straight to Odd.
"Hello little buddy!" Odd said cheerily. This was only the second time Ulrich had heard him speaking. He had surprisingly high voice.
"Is that your dog?" Ulrich asked in the gentlest voice he could manage. He didn't want to frighten the shy boy. Odd looked at the dog and then at Jeremy.
"This is Kiwi. Your dog", Jeremy introduced. Kiwi barked in agreement.
"Is this my room, then?" Odd asked, looking around.
"Yup. That's your side of the room", Yumi pointed at the messier side. Odd looked at it in disgust. He sat on the bed stiffly and put Kiwi in his lap. After a moment he seemed to get more comfortable and crossed his legs in a lotus position.
"Ans this is your side, Ulrich", Aelita smiled at him and Ulrich looked at it interested. There were some samurai posters in the wall and stuff like books and cds lying around.
He would have sat on the bed, put it was already occupied by the two girls, so he sat next to Odd. He was surprised at first, but didn't seem uncomfortable.
"So, what would you like to know?" Jeremy asked, crossing his hands. Odd put his head down and focused on petting Kiwi, so Ulrich decided to ask first.
"I would like to know more about myself. Like... Do I have any hobbies?" Ulrich asked.
"Well... you like to spar with me", Yumi started. The others were quiet. Jeremy looked at him apologetically.
"Sorry, we're kinda busy spending so much time on Lyoko no one really has time for hob-"
"Video games", Odd cut him off. "You like to play video games." Everyone looked at him, shocked. He avoided eye contact and went back to petting Kiwi. Jeremy got his ability to speak back first.
"I- I thought you didn't remember anything." Odd's face crunched a bit.
"I didn't. I don't. I just... know." Ulrich thought about it.
"We play them together, right?" Ulrich said slowly and chuckled at Odd's surprised face.
"Y-yeah..." Odd mumbled, but didn't put his head down. He looked Ulrich in the eyes for a long time and Ulrich looked back. The surprise faded off his face and was replaced with confusion. Ulrich felt that warm feeling again. He had been close to this boy. He couldn't explain how he knew this. He just knew. He couldn't remember anything about himself except that this boy used to play video games with him.
The moment was disturbed by Jeremy coughing.
"It's been a long day. We should all go to sleep and tomorrow I'll try to find how to fix you guys." Yumi and Aelita mumbled in agreement and so they left Ulrich and Odd alone. There was an awkward silence. Ulrich couldn't forget the feeling he got around Odd.
"Can you remember anything else about me? Other that we played video games together?" Odd said in a quiet, almost nonexistent voice. Ulrich looked at him. He had pushed his knees to his chest and his shoulders seemed tense. He looked even smaller than usual, scared and so... out of character.
"I remember your laugh", Ulrich said after a while. He couldn't remember when he had heard that laugh. All he could remember was that the boy laughing like there was no tomorrow.
Odd looked up at him, but quickly shifted his eyes to the door. His shoulders eased up and the grip he had on his knees loosened.
"I think it's time to go to bed. See you tomorrow, Odd" He stood up and took a step towards his own bed, but Odd took him by the wrist.
"Th-thank you", he said in a nervous voice. Ulrich gave him smile and went to bed.
—
"Rise and shine, boys" Ulrich heard and the room was suddenly filled with light. For a sweet moment he didn't remember anything about yesterday. At that moment he just wanted to roll over and fall asleep again.
He opened his eyes and the moment was gone. He looked at the room he had first entered yesterday and there was three people, he didn't know.
"Time to get up, Ulrich, we have a lot of remembering to do!" said a black haired girl.
Yumi. A Lyoko warrior. I used to spar with her.
Another girl was waking someone up in the other bed.
And that's Aelita, waking up Odd.
He felt pleased that he remembered the conversations from last night and agreed to get up. Yumi threw him some clothes and that the bathroom was "that way". Sleepily, Ulrich stumbled to the corridor and just a few meters away there indeed was a room for showers. Ulrich opened the door only to find the room empty. He walked in and took a nice shower. He had just dressed himself, when Odd walked in. He could barely keep his eyes open.
"Gooh morninh, Ulrihh" he yawned and walked into one of the showers.
"Good morning, Odd" Ulrich laughed. "How did you sleep?"
"Honestly, not good. Maybe it's just that I can't remember the room... I've heard that some people have troubles sleeping in a room that's not their own", came the answer, half drowned by the water.
"Yeah, I've heard something like that too", Ulrich said putting some toothpaste on his toothbrush. Odd came out the shower quickly and fully dressed.
"Yikes! The water's freezing!" he whined and took out his toothbrush. For a moment they stood there, brushing their teeth, just like they always did. Ulrich spat out his toothpaste and waited for Odd to do the same.
"Hey, what can you remember?" Ulrich blurted out as soon as Odd had took the toothbrush out of his mouth. Odd thought about it for a minute.
"My name. And.. you. Parts of you. Like that you like video games." he finally said. "And you?"
"The same. It's odd isn't it? Somehow I can only remember you and no one else", Ulrich thought for a moment if he should tell about the strange feeling he had around him, but decided otherwise. He didn't know why, but he didn't want Odd to find out about it just yet. There was yet another silence.
"I didn't think you'd be this quiet" Ulrich tried to break the ice.
"What do you mean?" Odd seemed very interested.
I would be too, if it was me.
"I don't know... Somehow you just seem so lively and energetic and... very hungry", Ulrich chuckled at the sound of Odd's stomach rumbling. Odd laughed too. It was exactly as Ulrich remembered it to be. It made him feel like he just told the funniest joke in the world.
There was a knock on the door.
"That's probably Yumi and Aelita", Odd guessed and they left the bathroom together.
—-
"Here's today's plan", Yumi stated as they walked outside. "Jeremy is in the factory, trying to get your memories back and me and Aelita will try and get your memories running by visiting places you like." Aelita nodded in agreement.
"Odd you're going with me. Ulrich you will go with Yumi. Is that alright?" she asked in her usual friendly tone.
"Uh... Sure, I guess?" Ulrich didn't really want to be separated from Odd, but this seemed to be a good way to "get his memories running". So he left with Yumi to the streets, trying to spot anything he could remember.
—-
Yumi's POV
"And here's my house. I don't usually live at school, but my parents wanted to go on a vacation together so I'm staying with Aelita", Yumi babbled. They had walked for hours and she had run out of places to show to Ulrich. Nothing had brought back any memories. Yumi looked at Ulrich, hoping for some kind of expression on his face, but his face looked neutral. Or so it seemed for someone who didn't know the brunet. Yumi had known Ulrich for long enough to notice the subtle frown on his lips, his eyebrows in a slightly different angle than normally and his eyes narrowed just a bit. He was looking at the ground and poking it with his left shoe.
Desperate. He is desperate to find something. Anything.
That gave Yumi new strength to go on and he walked to a nearby music store.
"We made a band once, remember. I sang, Odd played the guitar, another kid from our class played the drums and you rocked the keyboard." There were multiple keyboards at sale and Yumi encouraged Ulrich to try playing one. He played the beginning of the song they had rehearsed almost flawlessly.
"Very good, Ulrich!" Yumi cheered.
"Thanks... Hey, Yumi? Can I ask you a question?" He said, avoiding eye contact. "What is our relationship? You and that blond earlier said that we're friends, but how good friends?"
"Uhh... You used to have a crush on me, and I sorta liked you too, but that only got us jealous of each other and we decided we'd be better seeing other people", Yumi said looking at the ground.
"What about now?" Ulrich persisted. "Do you still like me? Do I like you?"
"No", Yumi answered straight away. "No, we're just friends. We talked about it last week and you said that giving up on me made you realize that you're..." She blushed suddenly, but shook it off. "That you are gay." This was a surprise to Ulrich. He hadn't really have time to think about his sexuality but... he wasn't expecting this.
"I see... I guess we are pretty close then?" Yumi nodded in agreement.
"What about Odd? The other guy with memory loss?" Ulrich asked, trying to sound casual.
"What about him?"
"What is my relationship with him?" Ulrich was now studying cds that were presented on a table.
"You're good friends. Best friends, I would say", Yumi answered, waiting for a respond. All he got was a quiet 'I see' and that was the end of the conversation. She wanted to press on the subject, but got a text from Aelita. It said:
"Nothing new here. We're going back to school, see you there?" Yumi put her phone back into her pocket.
"Let's go, Aelita and Odd are waiting for us at the school."
—
Ulrich's POV
That doesn't seem right.
Ulrich and Yumi were walking towards the Kadic High. Yumi was babbling about some bushes that might jog Ulrich's memories, but he wasn't listening. He couldn't stop thinking about Odd. Yumi had said that they were 'good friends' or 'best friends'. But neither seemed right. That warm feeling... it wasn't just being 'good friends', so what was it? Best friends? That didn't seem right either.
Before he realized it, they were back at the school. Aelita and Yumi talked about what to do next and Odd moved next to Ulrich.
"Hi!" he said. He seemed bolder than yesterday. It reminded Ulrich about something, but couldn't remember what.
"Hi Odd, how was it?" Ulrich smiled.
"No good, I can't remember anything. You?" Odd asked hopefully.
"Me neither", Ulrich looked across the school yard. There was a black haired girl walking towards them.
"Who's that?" Ulrich tried to get Yumi's attention, but before she could answer the girl walked right between them.
"Hi Ulrich! Where were you yesterday? I couldn't find you anywhere", she said leaning towards him. He backed away from instinct.
"Oh, uh, hello, eh...?" He looked at Yumi who was signing something with her mouth.
"Sis... Sissi! Yeah Sissi! I was at... Yumi's place?" Yumi was signing rapidly and pointed towards Odd. "Odd... With Odd! I mean, yeah, I was there with Odd", he smiled at Sissi. She frowned, but let it slide.
"Well can I see you tonight then?" She asked with a wink. Ulrich didn't have any idea what to say and luckily he didn't have to say anything, because Odd came to save him.
"Why would he want to be with you? Even Kiwi would turn you down!" he said in a loud voice, making Ulrich, Aelita and Yumi laugh. Sissi walked away annoyed.
"I owe you one", Ulrich said, putting his hand on Odd's shoulder.
"If you insist, I'll eat your desserts for a week."
"Dream on, Odd!" It felt so normal, being like this with Odd. Yumi and Aelita were beaming, having their friends acting normal again.
Aelita's phone rang.
"Jeremy? What is it? Okay, we're on our way", she hung up.
"Yumi, we need to go to Lyoko. Ulrich, Odd, stay here, we'll be back soon. Oh, and don't tell anyone about your memory, okay?" And then they were off, leaving Ulrich and Odd alone in silence, once again.