Okay, so this chapter is sorta gory. If you don't want to read it, I'll put a brief summary at the bottom of the flashback/dream.
Yumi blinked blearily from where she sat slumped on the ground. Around her, the world seemed to shift hazily. She assumed she was dreaming.
"Hey Ulrich," Jeremie said, entering the room. "You said you had computer problems?"
Ulrich glanced at Jeremie, an odd look in his eyes. "Yeah, over there." He pointed at the computer on the ground.
"What's it doing down there?" Jeremie asked. Yumi realized that they were in Ulrich's dorm room. She realized that Odd was on a date. She remembered following Ulrich up here.
"I didn't even know you had a computer Ulrich, where did this come from? Is it a gift?" Jeremie sat down and began working on it. Behind him, Ulrich closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, they burned with a mix of apathy, pity, and loathing. He pulled out a knife and advanced on the figure working on the computer.
"Ulrich?" Jeremie turned around. His eyes widened at he put his left arm up, just in time to have Ulrich's knife embedded in it.
Jeremie's face drained of any color. His arm fell slack to his side as he gasped for breath.
He looked up at Ulrich, a bewildered look in his eyes. He began to struggle to his feet.
"U-Ulrich?" He stammered. He began to back away as Ulrich advanced.
Ulrich struck, kneeing him under the chin and coming down hard on his head. As Jeremie fell to the ground, Ulrich yanked the knife from his arm.
Jeremie collapsed on the ground, dazed. The tears from his eyes mixed with the stream of blood running down his head, and more trickled from his mouth. He gasped for breath, and began scrambling away from Ulrich, who lurched at him, landing an indirect stab with his knife on Jeremie's back.
Jeremie gave a shriek and a moan. Yumi could see that the blow wouldzxz, in time, be fatal, but it wasn't enough to kill him now.
Jeremie reached his uninjured right arm back and pulled the knife out. He was trembling, breaths coming in slow, ragged breaths. He, again, was able to get to his feet; years of fighting X.A.N.A attacks on Earth had given him the endurance to stand up, even under such conditions.
Yumi looked at Jeremie, white faced, tears and blood streaming down his face, haggardly gasping as he tried to draw breath into his punctured lungs, left arm badly gashed. She felt nothing.
Ulrich slid to the floor, and executed a reverse scissor-kick; instead of kicking Jeremie's legs so they would buckle, he kicked them so they would break.
Jeremie's trembling legs gave way, and he crumpled to the floor, the knife he was holding slamming into his right hand.
He screamed and tried to pull himself away from Ulrich. His eyes seemed to bug out in pain, as he tried to pull himself away with his good arm. Ulrich pulled out the knife out and kicked Jeremie onto his back.
"P-p-please," was all Jeremie could make out before Ulrich began relentlessly stabbing him in the chest.
Six times he stabbed, before the ragged breaths finally stopped.
Yumi blinked up at Ulrich, as if through a haze. She made her way over to Jeremie, clumsily feeling for a pulse.
None.
As his blood ran down her fingers, something snapped, driving whatever it was that was blurring her thoughts away.
Her eyes met Ulrich's, and he threw his knife, driving into her foot. Yumi ignored it and got to her feet. Ulrich hoisted Jeremie's lifeless body over his shoulder and bolted.
Yumi tore after him. 'This is wrong' she thought. 'This can't be happening! I have to fix this somehow."
She ran after him, through the sleeping dorms and out into the rainy night, ignoring the pain in her foot. All that was going through her head at the time was that she could fix this, if she could just catch up.
They ran through the forest.
Ulrich was gaining a lead on her as the adrenaline began to wear off and Yumi's foot began to throb. She still ran, even though there was no hope of catching him now.
She ran until she lost sight of them, and then she kept running, her tears mixing with the rain. She ran, the wind whipping her hair, lightning her only light.
Finally, her leg gave way, and she collapsed, sobbing.
"ULRICH!" She screamed. "HOW COULD YOU?" Tears streamed down her face as thundered crashed overhead. "I'LL KILL YOU! I SWEAR!"
She looked down at her hands, which were still wet with Jeremie's blood. "J-Jeremie," she whispered. "J-Jeremie," she said, louder.
"!"
.
For anyone who didn't read that part, Yumi watched, in a sort of stupor, as Ulrich killed Jeremie, then she was able to shake off the stupor, and chased Ulrich through the forest. Also, Ulrich had stolen Jeremie's body.
.
Yumi sat up from her dream.
They told her in wasn't her fault. Later, when she reported what had happened, the paramedics told her she had been drugged, so that she would not be able to fully comprehend what was going on.
It didn't matter. She had sat there while he killed Jeremie, and she had done nothing.
Yumi had never told anyone, but she had sworn to herself that she would protect Jeremie, no matter what.
They had all been in charge of protecting Aelita; Ulrich and Odd could defend themselves, but Jeremie, who was never in Lyoko, was always at risk.
Yumi had sworn that she would protect him, since everyone else felt Aelita was the only one who needed protecting.
Now he was dead, and Yumi had not only failed in protecting him, she had watched as he was killed.
Yumi had sworn, since then, to never stand by and watch as someone else was hurt.
She had gotten into a fair amount of fights this way, but she had become a better fighter. No one beat her in a fight anymore.
She had never told the details to anyone, especially Aelita. It ws all the pinkette could do to keep going each day, she would never be able to take the full details.
Odd, well, Odd didn't need to know. It would be too hard to retell.
The images still burning in Yumi's head, she went down to the gym, which was always open.
She began practicing fighting. She was pursuing a career as a bodyguard. It fit both her strengths and her will to protect. It was also a venue that she had interest in; she would travel with whomever she was assigned to.
She kicked and punched the bag, letting out her pent up emotions.
