A/N: Forgot to mention, this story will be beginning after episode 81.
So this is the shortest chapter that I have typed up, and I've found that the more chapter I write, the longer they get. So far I have another 4 chapters written, so you can be sure to know I play to update AT LEAST four more times, though I plan to finish this story.
The first chapter I posted last thurs./fri. and I said every week, but I'm doing it now because I'm leaving for a week tomorrow, and I didn't want to make you guys wait. *Sadie voice* Your welcome.
Sorry this is my least favorite chapter I've written, because I'm good with angst in my head, but not putting it into words. It gets better after this I promise.
Remember to review otherwise I won't know what I'm doing right or wrong.
The return to the past brought Ulrich back to his bed from this morning. He was already wide awake from just a moment ago being in the virtual world. Odd's alarm clock was blaring the boy's favorite radio station. Ulrich lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, waiting for his best friend to turn off the alarm.
"Odd." Ulrich growled.
No answer.
"Odd, turn off your-"he started, turning to face his roommate. Only he wasn't there.
Perplexed, Ulrich got up and turned off the alarm, and started thinking about where Odd could be. The last time this happened Odd was sleeping right next to him and turned off the alarm seconds after it began.
His thoughts were cut short when there was a frantic knocking on the door. Without giving the okay, the door was pushed open to reveal a fluster Aelita, with bed head and rumpled pajamas. She let out a relieved sigh at seeing Ulrich.
"Jeremy isn't in his room," she began. "I was in Jeremy's room talking to him-or at least supposed to be- but I was midsentence and there wasn't anyone there!"
To steady her Ulrich gripped her upper arm and spoke softly. "Odd isn't here either. He's supposed to be, but he's not."
They shared a confused gaze, Aelita's more panicky.
"Wait," Ulrich said suddenly. "Remember that time we thought we went back to the past but we were trapped in that bubble thing?"
"The simulation bubble?"
"Yeah!" he said excitedly, turning and beginning to put on his usual clothes, not caring that the girl was witnessing.
The girl's cheeks flushed slightly and she adverted her gaze while saying, "But none of them were on Lyoko at the time. I'm about ninety-nine percent sure that's impossible to do."
"But you're saying there's a chance?"
She shrugged but was calming down because despite the unlikely idea, there had to be a reasonable explanation to this.
"Go get dressed and we'll go down to breakfast. If Yumi doesn't show up like she's supposed to, we'll assume she's with them. If they all show up together, cool, if they don't, we'll skip first period and head to Jeremy's room to look for the thing on his computer," Ulrich finished, pushing the princess out of the room.
She nodded and silently thanked him for his leadership. She always felt a little frazzled whenever Jeremy wasn't around.
Ulrich ignored his food and almost missed Aelita taking the spot next to him as he stared at the cafeteria doors that Yumi should have appeared out of three minutes ago.
"Yumi's not here," he growled, pushing his food away as he now felt the anxiety Aelita was feeling.
The princess nibbled on her toast, thinking of other possibilities as to where there friends are. It was physically impossible for them to just be playing a joke, and she sincerely doubted XANA had found a way to teleport them into the supercomputer. Plus XANA usually didn't try the same trick again if it didn't work the first time.
After Aelita finished a small portion of her breakfast and she had convinced Ulrich to do the same, they made their way up to Jeremy's room. She sat at his computer chair while Ulrich leaned over her shoulder as if to make sense of the codes splayed across it.
"What's going on? What's it say?" he demanded.
"Hang on, it's searching," she replied patiently.
The computer quickly linked to supercalculator and began to search every pixel of Lyoko for anything out of the ordinary. Since the last simulation bubbles, she worked on a program with Jeremy to detect irregularities like them, much like the super scan.
As the two Lyoko warriors anxiously watched the screen for nearly ten minutes, and big green plus sign showed up on the monitor, confusing Ulrich and depressing Aelita.
"They aren't on Lyoko," she whispered before he could ask. "None of them are."
As his only idea and hope disappeared, the reality sunk in. Their friends were missing.
Aelita only hesitated a moment before typing in something else, and a folder with video files popped up. She glued her eyes on the contents, determinedly searching them.
"Please Jeremy, please tell me you connected it to the supercomputer," she said to herself.
Ulrich, through his downcast mood, asked, "Connected what?"
She responded, "The supercomputer settings don't go back in time, so whatever happens on there, stays on there. Meaning if the security cameras for the factory are connected to the supercomputer-"
"We have the recording of what happened at the factory!" Ulrich continued.
Aelita nodded. "And it might give us a clue as to where they are."
As she finished speaking, her mouse hovered over the video they were looking for. Hastily, they opened it.
It began with Jeremy on the phone with Yumi. He sat on the computer, with the elevator door in the background.
"Yumi? Yumi!" he cried into his microphone. "Are you still there?!" He started mumbling incoherently to himself as he ended the dead call with Yumi.
There was obvious panic on his face as Jeremy desperately typed on the keyboard. For five minutes they watched the genius work, Ulrich searching for some clue as to what happened to Yumi, when it happened. The elevator began to whirl, making the familiar noises of it being in use. The doors slid open, and both Lyoko warriors expected to see their oriental friend.
To their utter dismay, it was the police officer they knew Yumi was fighting earlier. With the gun in his hand, they could only assume what happened. Ulrich didn't think he could watch anymore. There wasn't some graphic scene to depict it but his imagination was vivid enough to come up with a scenario. Nonetheless his eyes didn't stray from the screen, praying there was an explanation.
Jeremy only halted his work to look over his screen, before sighing and continuing.
"What are you doing?" Aelita muttered, eyes already becoming glossy.
The genius' typing became faster and they watched the predator walk right up to him. With the muzzle of the gun right in front of the heart of their beloved friend, Ulrich and Aelita felt like they were living in a nightmare.
"MOVE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Aelita's tears broke free and she predicted the outcome.
Jeremy turned and gave what looked like a smirk to the specter.
The gunshot rattled in the ears of the viewers. Aelita closed her eyes at the last second, while Ulrich watched in horror as Jeremy slumped against his chair, lifeless. His heart was skipping beats. Death was always around the corner but it had never happened. Until now.
Just as the officer pushed Jeremy's dead body off the seat, the elevator begun to whirl again. They knew who it would be this time. Aelita went back and forth between using her hands to cover her eyes, muffling a sob, or whispering, 'no', over and over.
The officer took control of the chair and attempted to type but the computer kept denying him access, most likely because of Jeremy. The elevator door opened to show Odd, as he took in the same scene the two remaining Lyoko warriors saw. The specter let out a frustrated growl then noticed their last friend. The speed of the movement was amazing.
The gunshot went off before either Aelita or Ulrich could think about looking away.
They saw the bullet go straight into his throat. He made a choking noise as his back hit the elevator, and he slide to the floor. Odd blindly griped his neck and made another gurgle noise before his eyes went out of focus and his body ceased movement moments later.
Their attention was miles away from the video now. The supercomputer screen showed the return to the past begin and the video went black.
Aelita was the first one to slump. She slid down in the chair and her head lolled back slightly from passing out. Ulrich noticed but he felt like he was outside of his body. He sat himself on Jeremy's bed, trying to think about helping Aelita, but his own vision blurred and Ulrich slumped onto the bed.
Ulrich heard voices. They were familiar, yet unrecognizable. He wanted them to stop, but at the same time the voices brought him comfort that he was still alive.
His sight was starting to return to him now, and he didn't like it. His head was propped up on a pillow as he lay in the nurse's office. The bed to his right held Aelita, who he first thought was asleep, but upon closer inspection, her eyes were wide open and staring at the white ceiling, tears endlessly streaming down her face. Her face was as pale as a sheet.
Ulrich tried to remember something-anything-that would explain this situation. When he focused, he realized he could make out what the voices outside the door were saying.
"Where did you find them?"
"They were in Belpois' room."
"What time was that?"
The second voice turned thoughtful. "About an hour ago I found them, so maybe four o'clock?"
"And Jeremy wasn't in there?"
"No. Just Stern and Stones. It's really kind of strange."
"Do you know why they are in this condition?" That voice was sounding more distress by the second.
"No idea that's how I found them. Yolanda says they passed out from shock. Apparently their vitals are good."
"Hmm… thank you Jim. Let's get this over with."
The doorknob twisted and the speakers were revealed to be Mr. Delmas and Jim. Yolanda came out of her office in the corner of the room at the sound of the door opening. The principal nodded to the nurse and looked toward the two patients.
Immediately they noticed the teens were awake, and rushed up to Ulrich and Aelita. Jim and Mr. Delmas went to Ulrich's side of the bed while Yolanda worried over Aelita's tears.
"Mr. Stern, tell us what happened and where Mr. Della Robbia, Mr. Belpois, and Ms. Ishiyama is," the principal demanded.
Hearing those names, Ulrich felt something snap inside himself. Yumi was gone. Odd was gone. Yumi was gone. Jeremy was gone. Yumi was gone.
"Lower your tone," the nurse scolded.
"We need answers Yolanda," he said sharply. "Mr. and Mrs. Ishiyama have been calling all day."
He began to struggle. He needed to get away. Ulrich wanted to escape and hide and die. Over Mr. Delmas' yells and Jim's grunts to hold him down, Ulrich heard Aelita begin to sob his name. Her cries calmed him for a moment before his struggle became greater.
"Jim! Hold his legs!" called the principal. The gym teacher removed his hands from Ulrich's shoulders to comply just long enough for him to make an escape.
The warrior ripped himself away from the two men. He scrambled to the door, flung it open and booked it down the hallway. He wanted away from his princess' cries for him. He wanted away from the loud voices. He wanted away from what he believed wasn't real.
Ulrich's commotion startled Aelita out of her trance. Suddenly the video played again in her head. She tried to stop it, censor some parts, but for what she didn't physically see, her brain filled in with gruesome scenes.
She felt the gentle hands of the nurse attempt to counsel her. Strangely, she didn't accept the comfort. Aelita felt responsible. She was the one who deactivated the towers. She was the one who didn't get there fast enough. She was the one who killed her friends.
The tears wouldn't stop. The sobs were painful and her lip kept quivering.
Mr. Delmas heaved a sigh as Ulrich ran from the room. Neither of these teens was in fit condition to tell them the whereabouts of their friends, and the problem was that Mr. Delmas needed answers. The principal told Jim to turn in for the night, and if he saw Ulrich to send him his way, then sat in a waiting chair outside of the infirmary. Mr. Delmas listened to the girl inside's cries.
Ulrich found himself just barely inside the forest in the school yard. He leaned his back against the rough bark of the tree and slide down, trying to catch his breath. Desperate to keep his thoughts away from anything painful, he looked up at the sky.
How long were Aelita and himself out? It had to be at least six in the evening. The moon was peeking over the school as it rose, just staring at it made him feel a little calmer.
Then thoughts came from nowhere. Yumi, Odd, Jeremy. Over and over he saw their faces, their smiles, and felt rising guilt for every single time he let them down. Tiny moments that were mostly likely insignificant surfaced, one's that he had no idea how he remembered, sent to destroy him mentally.
Ulrich was wiping at his eyes before he knew he was crying. He growled at himself. He didn't deserve to cry. His friends would never get to cry again! Not to mention smile, laugh, or love.
The warrior swung his fist to propel his body to swing around and pound the tree he was once leaning on.
The pain felt good.
Ulrich planted his feet firmly into the ground and swung with his other fist, and was just as satisfied the second time. He switched back and forth between hands, making the tree shiver from the impacts. He didn't feel the pain, but the liquid that dripped off his knuckles was comforting. Once he brought his leg up to swing at the bark, but it wasn't the same feeling as being hands on was.
The teen didn't even hear anyone approach until they said something.
"Are you okay?"
Ulrich jumped got in a defensive stance, facing the voice. It was Sissi.
"What are you doing out here?" he snapped.
"Excuse me, but I can be wherever I want to be before bed," she retorted.
Sissi took in his appearance. Disheveled hair, rumpled clothes and completely bloodied knuckles. If she had seen him like this minus the blood, she would have said he had the rugged handsome look down pact, complete with a swoon. But her more dominate, kinder nature took over.
Sissi gaped at the blood and tried to get closer to Ulrich, but flinched when he made an almost inhuman sounding growl.
"Stay away from me," he snarled at the girl. Then he turned and left her with a pitiful look. She would have to have a word with her father, she thought as her long time crush stalked away from her.