Three
In the shadows, in the forest outside Yumi's college, a tall, dark figure was waiting.
Impatient he began pacing. He hated being here, it reminded him too much of things.
He didn't have to wait long. Soon another figure stepped out from behind the trees. Tiny and pale, so to seem nearly luminescent in the moonlight.
"You kept me waiting long enough," the first one growled.
A tinkling laugh greeted that. "You're too impatient," the female voice soothed. "You always have been."
"It's been years, how much longer am I expected to wait?" He asked.
"Wait for what? You can leave any time you want. You're not doing this for me…"
He glared. It was true, but that didn't make her infuriating slowness any more bearable.
His eyes fell away, not wanting to make eye contact. Instead they fell on the pink glowing amulet, that bound her. That binds her to me, he thought.
He fingered the blue ring that glowed faintly on his finger. He sighed. "I hate this… arrangement. Couldn't we have down this any other way?"
Her voice grew solemn. "Do you think, for one minute, that if there was an easier way I would have required you to do what you've done? I understand the hardships you've gone through, living away from your parents, living in discomfort, living without basic comforts, always on the run-"
She was skating around the issue. His glare silenced her, and she laughed again.
"Or is this about her? You told me you and her were 'just friends', and didn't mind leaving. Was it because you hurt her? I heard she needed lots of stitches and a month in a cast from what you did to her foot."
He snapped forward, as if to slap her. He stopped an inch away, knowing how futile this would be.
"Relax," she instructed. "Remember, she hates you, and always has. Remember that they used you. Remember that he was after Yumi all along."
A few minutes later the emotion displayed across his face had disappeared. It was that easy.
He was uncomfortable with how easy it was becoming, but before he had time to further think on it, she interrupted his thoughts.
"Good, now on to business. I've already showed all that needs to be done. Is there any questions that you have or comments that you wish to discuss?"
"You're a terrible mother. All these years have made their mark."
"I'll take that as a no. You know what you have to do, then?"
"I'm on it."
"Excellent. You know how much I count on you. But soon we'll be done, and won't that be a relief?"
He didn't answer, he was already calculating a strategy.
"I'll see you after," she said, before leaving.
Ulrich nodded. He spun the ring on his hand once more, before disappearing into the forest.
.
Odd walked through Yumi's college. She hadn't been in her room, which was understandable, what with it being eight already. But, she wasn't at breakfast, which Odd didn't find understandable at all. Odd still had a ravenous appetite.
"Hey!" He called to a passing girl.
She turned, giving him an appraising look, before laughing. "Dump the creepy girl, babe! Then we'll talk." She began to walk off.
"I'm confused, how can I dump you if you want to talk afterwards."
She didn't get it at first, then she bristled and stormed off. Odd sighed. Poor Aelita had been the recipient of many jabs over the years.
"You need to work more on your appearance," he told her for the umpteenth time. She nodded, which basically meant that she'd take a shower and run one load of laundry before giving up on it.
"Have you seen Yumi?" He asked a student.
"Check the gym," she said. Her eyes were sympathetic. "She always goes there to vent when she gets too down."
"Thanks!" Odd said, before heading toward the gym.
Inside they found Yumi, executing a series of hits on a poor punching bag.
"HIY-YAH!" She cried.
THWACK!
"Yumi!" Odd called over.
She stopped, panting slightly.
"Odd, Aelita! Come on over!"
The two made their way across the gym.
"Sorry, I should have left a message. I couldn't sleep."
"You've been here all night! Don't you sleep!"
She shook her head. "You really haven't changed since Kadic, Odd." She said, swatting at him teasingly. "You're the same lazy Odd we've always known."
"Ah, but what you call laziness, I call artistic genius!"
"You would," she muttered, grinning.
"So if you've been here all night, then you haven't eaten yet! Let's go get breakfast!"
The three headed off. "She get any sleep last night?" Yumi whispered to Odd.
"Not according to Elizabeth." The two had bunked at Odd's sister's apartment while visiting. "I swear, it's like she channel's him."
Yumi spared a sympathetic glance at Aelita. "You didn't give her any pictures, did you?"
Odd's eyes darted away from Yumi's, confirming her fears.
"It was only Mr. Puck! It wasn't Jeremie or anything."
Whenever Aelita got too down, Odd used to draw her pictures of Jeremie, her and Jeremie, the group together… They would initially comfort her, but they also brought her into deep bouts of depression, and Yumi knew it couldn't be good for Aelita to live like that.
"Well, Mr. Puck's bad enough. Ever since someone stole him, she's been down."
It sometimes felt like someone had it out for Aelita, but not the way XANA did. Someone seemed to be tormenting her, first her laptop vanished, then the pictures she and Jeremie took the first night she was out of the supercomputer. Next went Franz Hopper's diary, then bit by bit, all memorabilia from the Hermitage went missing. Then Mr. Puck.
Needless to say, this had a devastating effect on Aelita.
At breakfast, the three chatted about how things were going at their schools. Odd, as usual was the most chatty, then Yumi, with Aelita making an occasional comment.
"Yumi, would you mind if I brought some things of mine to your room?" Aelita asked. "While we're here, I feel they'd be safer there."
"Sure, do you have them on you?"
Aelita handed her things, a few computer chips and a small picture, over to Yumi.
"Be back in a minute," she promised, before setting off.
As she ran to her room, Yumi wished, not for the first time, that Aelita lived closer. Yumi hated the idea of jerks stealing her stuff because she was so easy to take from, and Yumi worried about her living alone.
She stashed the stuff on her bureau, and left the room, locking the door behind her. She wasn't halfway down the hall before she realized there was something left in her pocket, the picture, which she had forgotten.
She set back to her room.
.
Meanwhile
Ulrich hung on the wall outside Yumi's room. The dorm building's modern architect made it easy to scale without using any form of tools. Also, the building faced the forest, so it was unlikely that he'd be spotted. He heard Yumi enter the room. He held his breath, and a few seconds later, the door closed.
He quickly slipped into her room, and saw that she had left the information he needed in plain sight.
He began counting them, pocketing them, when he heard the key enter the lock. He whipped around to leave, when he tripped over a pair of shoes.
.
Yumi heard the sound of someone tripping in her room, so she gave up on her key, which had gotten stuck, and kicked the door down.
At first she saw an unrecognizable figure in the room. Then she noticed Aelita's stuff was missing.
Then she saw his eyes, and her blood ran cold.
He leapt out the window, shimmed down the wall, and raced for the forest.
Yumi followed hot on his trail, racing after him. Years of practice left him strong, fast, and agile, as had her years of training.
They ran through the forest. Years of practice and training had given both incredible endurance, and they tore through the forest for nearly an hour. Yumi's fury gave her an edge, and she was eventually able to catch up to Ulrich.
The two locked into fighting stances, and Yumi was soon able to gain the upper hand.
"I SAID I WOULD KILL YOU!" She screamed. "DID YOU THINK I WOULDN'T?"
She drove him into the ground, ready to land a finishing blow on the back of his head, when suddenly she was thrown off him, as if hit by an electrical blast.
Yumi leapt up from the ground, catching her breath. She whipped around to find herself face to face with a hooded figure, holding an electric field in one hand.
"One move," she whispered, "and you die. It's your choice."
Yumi froze. It had been so long since she had seen someone with an energy field, and yet, this was most defiantly not XANA's.
Tears welled up in Yumi's eyes. Blinking them away she turned to Ulrich, who was standing up.
"Why?" Yumi whispered, the tears refusing to go away. "Why? He was-was your-your friend."
Ulrich shot her a filthy look, before setting off.
The cloaked figure addressed Yumi. "Three minutes, then you can leave."
The two walked off. Yumi counted to 180, before turning and heading back to the school.
.
"Where were you?" Aelita flung herself at Yumi the instant she was back on school grounds. "I was so worried." Her eyes spilled over with tears as she hugged Yumi. "Where have you been?"
Yumi looked at Aelita. "Aelita, I'm sorry, someone stole your things. I-I tried to stop them, but they got away. I'm really sorry."
Aelita nodded. "Just so long as you're safe. I was so worried. It was like you went to your room and-and disappeared!"
Yumi pulled the picture out of her pocket. "Here." She handed it over. It was the one picture Aelita had kept safe from prying fingers, fingers, which Yumi now realized, belonged to Ulrich.
Odd walked over. "Who was it?" He whispered to her.
Yumi exchanged a glance.
"Ulrich," she whispered back.
