Back again for more adventures!
Warning: This episode MIGHT cause a few heart attacks and dehydration to a few people...at least, I hope not.
Great! Over 200 views and 10 reviews! In 5 chapters too! You readers rock!
So, I know you want to know more about the rest of the name thing and Lyoko Reign, but I'm gonna leave all hanging and guessing, so...desolée.
Fun fact: do you believe me when I say I came up with the whole "Layla's friends and the Newspaper names" plot just *poof!* like that? Well, I did.
REVIEW ANWERS:
Naruto Skura Uzumaki: I've played some Code Lyoko games, and I was actually wondering about the Skorpion and the Kamikaze...*lighbulb* I've got it!
Josh Xana: Glad you liked the last chapter and I'll check your story as soon as I have some free time.
SecretCodeLyokan: Yumi, be a pal and tell the claimer and disclaimer.
Yumi: Why me?
SecretCodeLyokan: I'd tell ya, but it could be a spoiler to some people...
Yumi: Fine, I get it. *clears throat* This person that calls herself SecretCodeLyokan Doesn't own Code Lyoko OR the right to write that stupid question in "Lyoko Interviews"...
SecretCodeLyokan: Lay it off, will you!
Yumi: You had no right to write that!
SecretCodeLyokan: I had, plus your reaction was hilarious! Anyway, please continue!
Yumi: Fine: she doesn't own "Angel Of Mine" by the Subdigitals, which is inappropriate in a way to this fic...
SecretCodeLyokan: *rolls eyes* Let me put some Subdigitals! It's Code Lyoko, after all! Plus, think of poor Ulrich...
Yumi: *grunts and blushes at the same time* she owns the plot and Layla, and also the fraking contracts which keep us here...
SecretCodeLyokan: You'd better watch your words or I might have to remind you you have to practise That Scene...
Yumi: *turns pale* Uh...I have to go *leaves*
SecretCodeLyokan: Well, onwards! Oh, don't worry: That Scene won't appear in the next few chapters (can't give you a number or it'll be cheating!) and it's appropriate to the K+ here, so no worries.
Code Lyoko: Case Of Delenda
*theme*
Episode 5: Lost And Found
(A/N: I'm kinda excited to write this chapter :-))
Take you far away
It's a funny thing to say
When I've never held your small hand
Her head layed on the desk and her long messy hair functioned as a curtain so that no one could see her face: it was a face a poet could have descirbed as "A pinkish valley, with two salty streams running through it, one on the left and one on the right"
She looked at the boy sitting next to her: he was trying to hold the tears, but the way he moved his pen and his hand suggested it was taking a lot of his energy; it was during those moments that the girl couldn't help but admit that he really cared for her friend.
She looked at the classroom for half a second, before retracting her eyes and letting them shed tears once again: the whole world seemed weird to her, unreal really, because there were some facts (such as this one) that you could hide so easily that life keeps going on, trees keep losing leaves, students keep complaining at the blackboard...but, even though it looked easy, those people hiding the fact that a member of the human race had literally fallen forever were struggling to let their lives race 'back to normal' again. And when I say 'struggling', it's ten times more difficult for them, since the body would be never retreaved and they could never say how she died.
It was like a clock, in some way: everything goes well, until one of the gears starts creaking and behaving strangely for some reasons that the owner doesn't know, until the clock-fixer takes a look at it and 'forces' the truth of its behaviour out of the metal piece...what happens next can't really be associated to what would happen to them if everyone knew.
"How do you cope?" she asked shakily the dark-haired boy. He stopped writing and looked at the girl, a bit surprised she had finished the exercise despite her depression; he then looked back at his paper and sighed.
"I convince myself it's a dream" he squeezed his eyes shut, as two tears slipped his face. "That it's a bad nightmare and when I'll wake up, none of it happ...".
"Mr. Dunbar, is there a problem?" Mrs. Meyer asked. He shooked his head, but it's too late: the tears were already rushing down his face. He raised his hand and asked to go to the bathroom.
As soon as the teacher acconsented, he slowly made his way to the door, face down, people whispering when they say his tears. He was probably going to stay there all day and cry like a girl. She knew it.
And to think this chaos started on a clear and peaceful night...
"Hey, Layla!" Yumi barged into her best friend's room and walked towards her bed, where the girl was humming to the music blasting through her headphones.
It took a second and a half for the Japanese girl to figure out her next move: she yanked the headphones off the orange-haired girl's head, much to her surprise.
"Hey!" Layla tried to get them back, but failed, and Yumi threw them-MP3 and all-on the other bed.
"Qu'est-ce que tu veux, Geisha?" The headphones-less girl asked.
She showed her a letter. "Gotta give this to Ulrich, but I can't go with curfew coming up..."
Layla took the letter. "Got it: I give it to Ulrich without getting caught while you rush home" she said, smiling.
Yumi smiled back. "You're a real friend" she said.
The American girl examined the letter as though it was a precious artifact.
"So, is this a rare love confession by letter I'm holding, like the fake one he received from Sissi two years ago?" She asked in a French accent. (A/N: Well..they are in France, after all, only she did a heavier French accent...got it?)
Yumi blushed. "No; it's just something I'd like to tell him now and my phone's dead and he's probably busy, so talking's out of the question and..."
Layla put her hand on her shoulder. "Relax, Geisha, don't make millions of excuses: je te crois. (A/N: Yeah, she's gonna speak a bit of French from time to time; anyway, she said "What do you want, Geisha" [the Geisha part you know, but whatever; and yes, I still identify Yumi as "Geisha"] before and "I believe you" now, FYI)
Now, go home and I'll take care of your letter".
Yumi left the room, tears in her eyes because of the letter. But it has to be done. She thought, going down the stairs...
As soon as she was gone, Layla crept in the boy's dormitory and pit the letter on Ulrich's drawer; then she left, quick as lightning, wondering what the letter said.
Ride along with you
It'd be a funny thing to do
When I wake up, you'll be here too.
Another tear slid down her cheek; it hit her notebook without a sound, without even a faint *plink!*.
She wiped it away, sighing deeply: she'd never knew this could happen to HER so soon...
Layla looked distractedly out of the window and immediately saw him: a small figure, walking out of the Science building, probably kicked out of the class for his behaviour.
She had expected him there. After what happened, this would probably be the side effect...he was too distant for her to see him clearly, but she knew what he was thinking and what he was doing.
She looked sadly as he pelted an innocent tree with a few stones (probably) on the ground and saw his lips move, as if he was mumbling something; he then kicked something else on the ground in despair (or was it frustration?) and sat on the stairs, hands covering his face.
Layla had never saw him like that; then again, she had known all of them for a short time, even though the way everyone talked to her it seemed they had known each other since X.A.N.A. woke up.
Layla looked again at the boy, who was now probably crying silently, maybe even more than her...
Kicked out of first period. For saying "What!" sharply. Seriously? Ok, not a smart move to say that to your teacher, but still...
If only you were here. He thought.
He put a hand in his pocket jacket and retrieved the letter she had wrote to him; he opened and stroked the perfect cursive written on it, as if he was somehow also stroking her cheek while doing so.
Of course, when he first read it, he made sure it was her handwriting, to avoid further embarassments like last time; but now, the more he read it, the less he wanted it to be from her. And the more he thought about it, the more he wished she was still here so he could apologize.
The first thing he noticed once he jumped into bed after his shower was that piece of paper on his drawer: it was a pale green and it had his name on the envelope; when he recodnized the perfect cursive, he nearly jumped.
He grabbed it from the drawer and examined it: the writing looked authentic and he swore he could smell her hand soap on it, mixed with the one of another girl: she probably sent a 'messenger' to deliver it...
Now, the million-dollar question was, what did she wrote to him?
He opened carefully; but he had barely touched the paper inside, when his roommate immediately grabbed the thing and looked at it, smirking.
"So, who's this pretty lady sending love letters to you, eh?" Asked Odd seductively, slurring on 'lady' and 'love'.
"None of your buisness!" The brunette answered, snatching it back before the blonde-and-purple teen had even finished reading his name on the envelope.
Ulrich kicked his shoes off and laid on the bed, his hands raising the open envelope before his eyes.
Odd stared at him for a few seconds, then sleep got the better of him and he changed into his pajamas, before laying ln his bed and turning off the light.
Ulrich managed to get his coat off, before his hands slipped the letter out and he immediately sank in the words.
When he finished, he was...well, shocked, confused, maybe even slightly irritated. (A/N: Fooled ya, Ulumi fans!).
He read the letter again and again, praying that his eyes had tricked him or that the faint light from his bedside lamp had mixed up the letters, but, much to his disdain, there was no mistake; he sighed.
Then again, what were you expecting? His inner voice asked. A confession?
No. He answered. But I wasn't expecting this.
"Ulrich, I'm really sick of this.
Don't ask me of what, you know it: everytime a guy approaches me, there you go and interrogate me on everything he asked me and my answers.
I remind you I'm not your girlfriend, not your property and even less my guardian! You're my best friend, I know you care about me, but this has to stop right now! Get it?
We'll talk more in the morning.
Good night,
Yumi"
The brunette read the letter again and tucked it back in his shirt. He put one of his hands in his hair and kicked a stone on the stairs.
"What the heck did you meant by 'this has to stop'?" He asked aloud. "I was just wondering if the boys were asking you out" he tightened the grip in his hair and yelled in frustration
"Oh, Yumi, if I hadn't said that stupid thing, you'd still be here..." He started to cry once again in pain.
"If only I told you before everything, that day at the Desert Sector, in the Boiler Room, before the dance...I should've just told you!" Tears ran down his cheeks, and landed on the ground without a sound, like Layla's.
Classes had ended for the day, and Ulrich hadn't done anything but sulk; sulk because of the letter, sulk because of his grades slipping like usual, sulk because he felt as if his life was slowly falling to pieces...
He spotted Yumi, William and Layla at the park bench. His friends ran to join them, he just walked slowly.
"Sorry, William, but we promised Odd..." Layla told the dark-haired boy.
He frowned. "Well, I need to go: you've all went when I was Xanafied!"
"I didn't; and Jeremy said he'd rather I stay in my Navskid, since I have some sixth sense when it's about that code panel"
"Well...oh, forget it: fine, I'm signing out!"
Yumi patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, William: next time, I promise you I'll sign out".
Layla and the others smiled at her gesture: it showed that she was starting to trust him a bit more and sweetening her approach. You can guess, though, what Ulrich's reaction was because of that letter: a frown.
"Yumi, we need to talk" He spoke up, since they were all hardly noticing his presence.
Yumi sighed, knowing where this was going, and stood up, following the brunette to a tree not far away.
"I have a bad feeling about this" whispered Layla, as they watched the both of them stare at each other, not knowing where to start.
"Maybe it's that letter he received last night..." Odd said.
"Dear God, let's hope he didn't make another mistake!" Aelita exclaimed, since she had been told the whole letter story by Yumi (who had heard the whole story by Ulrich) (A/N: isn't weird that, in "Swarming Attack", Ulrich told Yumi by mistake he loved her and, a year later, she still has no clue? I mean, how idiotic is that?)
"Ah, l'amour..." Layla sighed, as everyone turned their heads to avoid the two lovebirds' gaze, apart from her.
A few seconds passed, in which the Japanese girl and the German boy just stared at each other in utter silence, not knowing what to say. Then, Ulrich attempted to break the ice by saying the most obvious thing:
"So, about that letter..."
She crossed her arms. "Ulrich, I was serious: you bug me one more time and I'm going to hit you so hard your screams will be heard by my grandparents!"
He sighed. Ok, that wasn't his best move, but at least he got the message. Now...what did he have to say? The truth? "Yumi, I'm sorry, it's just that I'm jealous of all the guys that ask you out necause I love you..." Nope. Not a smart move.
What to say? Well, his mouth decided to speak for him before he could stop it...
There's no time now to explain
Oh no
Been sent on a mission
'Cause I've got a vision right now
He realized now. He should've apologized and then shut his mouth. He should've. Instead, everything goes out of the window because of his stupid mouth and the stupid part of his brain which really like to see him suffer...
"Listen, I'm sorry, it's just...I was worried you were going to go out with the wrong kind of guys..."
When he realized, by her red face, what he had said had pressed the wrong button, it was too late...
"With the wrong kind of giys, huh?" She stared at him, the look in her eyes making him feel smaller.
"Well, uh..."
"Let me translate your message: you think I'm a brainless girl who would go out with the first person I see? You think I don't know how to take care of myself?" Her voice was getting louder and angrier.
"I'm just concerned about you, ok?" He, too, was starting to yell. "I'm your friend, Yumi..."
"Exactly!" She looked in his chocolate eyes with a stern look. "You're not my father, or my older brother or my boyfriend! Or any person who has any authority on me! And I'm not a damsel in distress! I know how to take care of myself!"
"Well, then, I'm just a friend to you, huh?" Ulrich crossed his arms.
She tapped his chest with her index finger. "Didn't I made myself clear last time?" She snapped.
"Maybe you made yourself too clear, even to yourself!"
She turned around. "Just shut up, will you?"
"Then tell me: what do you think of me? And be honest"
That was the same thing he asked her when they had the fight about Emily. Yumi couldn't help but notice that detail. She held back tears and murmured:
"As a friend...just as a friend; but, now, I don't even think we should be friends anymore!" She ran away.
Layla, who had heard everything, facepalmed.
What the Hell, Yumi? She thought. What were you thinking, Ulrich?
As Ulrich was walking back to the bench, a beep erupted from Jeremy's laptop. He opened it and sighed.
"Bad news, guys" he said. "X.A.N.A.'s accessed to Lyoko Reign and is trying to drain its power"
"How do you know?" Asked Odd.
"I implanted a security alarm of some sort last night" the genius explained.
The bell rang. Ulrich stood up from the staircase and dried his tears, as students poured from the science building.
Layla, from her classroom, stood up and walked towards the courtyard, drying up the streams on her face as she walked out.
I need to talk to him. She thought. I probably won't do much, but it's worth a try.
Ulrich walked away from the Science building and looked at the watch on his phone: five minutes until next period. He sighed and walked away, thinking of yesterday's X.A.N.A. attack, his eyes Speouting new tears.
"What's X.A.N.A.'s plan?" Asked Aelita.
"He has drained half of Lyoko Reign's power to create something" explained Jeremy.
Everyone minus him and William were in the Skid, navigating the Digital Sea in utter silence, Ulrich and Yumi probably sulking in their Navskids.
Just as Layla was about to brake the ice, the Sea turned bright red.
"I'm releasing you!" The pinkette announced. "And beware of the Suckers!"
The four Navskids saw the Sharks approaching them.
"Ok; Layla, Yumi and Ulrich will fend off the Sharks; I'll stay and protect Aelita" Odd said.
"Are you out of your mind!" The three of them shouted.
"What! Now you don't want to pair up with me?" Yumi and Ulrich shouted at the same time at each other.
"Enough!" Layla yelled at them. "You can argue later about your senseless problems; right now, we have some monsters to fight!"
Layla plugged her headphones on her MP3 and closed her eyes, as "Angel of mine" started playing.
Little Angel, beamin' down your smile
Little Angel, could it be a sign?
Little Angel, you're my beauty queen
Can you brake the code and get us out of here?
"Yumi..." She murmured, opening her eyes and looking at a distressed Ulrich walking sadly towards his next class. "If only you were here..."
Little Angel, trapped inside this dream
Little Angel, you're my precious thing
Little Angel, keep me from the pain
Can you come to Earth before I go insane?
Angel of mine!
Angel of mine!
Angel of mine!
After a few minutes of chasing Sharks around and destroying them, Yumi, Ulrich and Layla returned to the Skid.
"All clear, Princess!" Announced Layla, calling back two Sharks she had materialized.
Aelita nodded. "Let's go to Lyoko Reign" she recovered the Navskids and she started moving again towards their destination.
"So, what's the big deal with you two?" Asked Odd. "You haven't spoke to each other since we called you to the Factory; well, apart from when I told you to chase the Sharks..."
"There's nothing wrong with me!" Snapped Yumi.
"You're saying I'm the braindead here?" Ulrich retorted, angrily.
"Well..."
"If you just let me explain..."
"What? That you don't trust me?"
Layla was getting more annoyed by the minute...
"Can't you two just kiss and make up already?" She spat.
Odd chuckled. "They'd love to do that!"
"Shut up, Odd!" Both teens yelled at him. Layla just grunted in frustration
"Ladies, gentleman, Odd, we've reached our destination!"
Layla thanked the Lord that Aelita had interrupted them right before this argument could go any further.
"Opening the entrance..." the pinkette put her hand on the pad, which scanned her handprint and opened Lyoko Reign's "door".
When they arised from the Sea, they got the shock of their lives.
"Jeremy!" Aelita gasped. "Lyoko Reign is full of holes! If I try to get to the draining tower and deactivate it, I might fall in the Digital Sea!"
Layla couldn't stop thinking of the brunette, crushed beyond repair. She was halfway towards her class when she made up her mind and headed to another. Like she was expecting, sitting near the closed door, was the boy she was looking for; in his handswas a familiar object
"Ulrich?" She nearly whispered, but was interrupted by another voice calling his name.
"Guys, I think I know what X.A.N.A.'s doing!" Jeremy said to the four Lyoko Warrirs. "He's trying to build a backup power source"
"Not fair" Odd complained. "We hardly know where the original source is, and now he's creating a copy?"
"Odd, focus on something more important!" Aelita said. "Think about it: if Lyoko Reign gets destroyed, the connection of Lyoko's Sectors will be too"
"Meaning?"
"If we need to go to another Sector while being on another, there's no way we can use the Way Tower to go there or the Transporter to go to Sector 5; X.A.N.A. would probably use this weakness to his advantage"
"I think the tower connection would blow up, too!" Added Layla. "The screen I checked last time said something about those towers being the Lyoko Towers' energy source; though I highly doubt X.A.N.A. would destroy them..."
"But he could programme other towers from the data!" Yum realized. "Towers that wouldn't deactivate by the Code Lyoko!"
"What about that tunnel leading to Switzerland?" William said from the Lab. "That gets destroyed as well!"
"We have to stop him!" Aelita said. "I've located the tower, but I need someone as backup..."
"I'll do it!"
"No, I'll do it!"
Both Yumi and Ulrich looked at each other, startled.
"Ulrich, someone has to make this sacrifice..."
"That one's me!"
"But why you?"
"Because..." He paused for a few seconds. "Because it was my fault we even fought in the first place; it's my fault you got envolved in all of this; it's my fault you got hurt many times..."
"Ulrich, it wasn't alway..."
"It was my fault I made you mad several times, it was my fault I forgot your birthday..."
Yumi thightened her grip on the nun-chuks.
"Ulrich..."
Yumi didn't know what to say; but was there really something to say? Something that will change his mind?
No: if there's something she knew about him, it was that he was as stubborn as her, sometimes; and this was one of those times.
She sighed. "Alright; but I want Aelita to energize everyone out"
He smiled. "I knew you'd understand"
She smiled back. And I knew you would say that.
Ulrich was hiding his face in his knees, crying quietly, so that the students passing by wouldn't notice him: if there was something he hated, it was the gossip about him, and he didn't want rumors to start about his crying.
He sat up again and dried his eyes, looking at his bag; he grabbed and dug through it, until he finded what he was looking for; a ray of light coming from a nearby window shined on the metal object in his hand, making it look prettier than it originally was.
Hope. There was only one meaning for that light.
He opened and closed the precious treasure he held, smiling sadly at it. Hope that she's still out there...alive.
"Ulrich Dear!" A high-pitched voice chirruped.
He frowned, when he saw the person whose voice belonged to.
"Go away, Sissi!" He snarled.
"Why? Did Yumi finally left you?" She looked around and dramatically held a hand over her head. "Oh, my dear Ulrich, I told you she wasn't right for you"
He stood up, looking in her eyes. "Don't say another word! Don't even talk about her like that!" He opened the object in his hand.
The black-haired Miss Perfect smirked at the object. "And what is that ugly metal thinggy? A gift from that freak? Wow, she has no taste at all..."
Her words were cut short when he swished the 'thinggy' and it came spinning towards her. Sissi screamed and ducked just in time, while Ulrich recovered his most precious possession once it came back to him.
Layla had watched the scene, and was both shocked and happy of what happened to the spoiled girl. She ran towards the brunette, holding down his hands to avoid him from throwing the 'metal thinggy' again, while Sissi and her cronies ran in class.
"We need to talk, Ulrich!" She said, sternly. "This is getting out of control!"
In the corner of my eye
You were shining way up high
Your reflection makes me feel weak
Yumi watched as the boy she loved and hated and her best friend ran towards a red tower nearby, jumping and avoiding voids in the ground separating them from their objective, her heart leaping into her throat everytime Ulrich seemed to miss his footing.
"Ne t'inquiète pas" Layla patted her shoulder. "Ulrich has dealed with worse"
She smiled, but it didn't last long: a scream reached her ears.
"Ulrich!"
"Go! Go, Aelita!"
He had pushed the pinkette just as another piece of flooring fell beneath their feet; he had managed to grab the edge of the next pannel just in time, but who knows how much he would last.
Yumi ran towards him, grabbing his free hand and pulling him back to land.
"Now I'm the one saving you" she joked.
"Thanks"
"That's what best friends are for" she shrugged, but those words hurt her inside.
Suddenly, the ground under them shook and it started to fall...
Ulrich felt himself being pushed and the tassel fell, just as Aelita entered the tower.
"Yumi!"
Tryin' oh so hard
To keep the memory apart
Then I'll wake up and you'll be free
He looked at the edge, sighing in relief when he saw his crush holding on with one hand.
"Yumi, take my hand!" he yelled over the earthquake noise. She reached for the brunette's hand, and he pulled her up, even though the roof seemed to trying to squash her.
Before everyone knew it, she was avoiding every single piece of the blue floorthat seemed determined to fall with her on it.
"Aelita; hurry up! Yumi, hold on!" William was screaming in Jeremy's microphone, holding his head with both hands.
"Jeremy, I..." Aelita looked at the screen in front of her. "It won't work; there's a bug or something in the Digital Sea, I can't..."
"AELITA, TRY!"
She lowered her head. "I repeat: there's a bug in the Digital Sea; someone needs to go to the Skid and..."
"Aelita!" Yumi had heard everything. "The Skid could crumble at any moment with us in it in the Digital Sea, if something hits it! We can't risk losing four lives!"
Suddenly, Layla had a vision. When it ended, she fell on her knees. Odd helped her up.
"Yumi, don't!" She screamed. "It's not worth it! Let me go in your place!"
"What do you mean?" Odd asked the hyperactive girl, holding her by the waist.
Layla looked at him, then at the ground. "I had a vision..." She murmured. "She's going to jump..."
There's no time now, to explain
Oh no
Been sent on a mission
'Cause I got a vision right now
Ulrich looked at the Japanese girl with wide eyes: "You're going to WHAT!"
She looked at him, sadly: "It's for the world's safety..."
"What about your parents, and Hiroki, and the others, and...me?"
Did he actually say that? Her eyes lit up at his words.
"You need Aelita and I can't risk losing both you and Odd; and Layla doesn't need to join her friends real soon..."
Layla was starting to cry. (A/N: since we're on Lyoko, there were no tears) "Don't!" She screamed. "I lost my first best friends; I'm not losing you too!"
Yumi looked at the hybrid and the orange-haired girl.
"I'll take the Navskid, if you want..." She said, sadly. "But you know it won't change anything: X.A.N.A. is trying to destroy this place and I'll probably get crushed anyway in the Sea".
Layla cried on Odd's shoulder, while he patted her back with his long tail as best as he could and gave the older girl a sad smile.
"Jeremy, you're smart, you'll figure out something, I'm sure"
Jeremy brushed his tears away. William slammed his fist on one of the arms of the chair.
"Yumi! You just can't..."
"I made up my mind!" She yelled back. "Sometimes, you need to make sacrifices; William, never forget me, always remember your friend" William sat in a corner and cried quietly.
Yumi was about to walk to the edge, when a hand caught her arm.
"Yumi, please don't go!"
Little Angel, beamin' down your smile
Little Angel, could it be a sign?
Little Angel, you're my beauty queen
Can you break the code and get us out of here?
She gently pulled her arm free. "Ulrich" she smiled sadly. "Never forget me, understand?" She handed him one of her fans. "Never!"
He took it and held it tightly in one hand, the whole Reign crumbling in the background.
She wanted to tell him. He wanted to tell her. They both wanted to confess, to hug, to kiss, to tell each other the truth about their feelings...but time was running out, and Yumi thought Ulrich would never cope with that thought in his head.
She kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Goodbye, Ulrich" she said softly. He held her hand and stroked her cheek gently, before she went towards the edge...
She sighed, imagining the disturbed Digital Sea was the Swimming Pool, imagining she was on the trampoline...she took a deep breath, raised her arms to form a 'T' with her body, and jumped.
Ulrich burst out of the scanner, rushing towards each and every one of them as they opened: Layla, Odd, Aelita came out...Yumi didn't.
He awaited, tears in his eyes, as his scanner opened once again...the smoke disappeared, revealing nothing but a metal object on the ground.
He picked up the fan, his hands trembling as he opened and closed it, quickly. Then, as Jeremy was asking if the extra materialization worked, the brunette burst into tears, clutching the fan tightly.
Little Angel, trapped inside this dream
Little Angel, you're my precious thing
Little Angel, keep me from the pain
Can you get to Earth before I go insane?
Angel of mine
Angel of mine
Angel of mine, mine, mine
Oh, little angel...
Layla brought Ulrich into the forest and made him sit under the tree.
"Listen, Ulrich, I know you're heartbroken-and don't you dare deny it!-over Yumi, but you should keep your anger in control: she would've never wanted you to slice Sissi with her fan; she gave it to you for another reason"
He looked down at the fan, still in his hand. "It's just...everything seems so fake" he said. "Everyone thinks she's on a school trip or on a family trip, and Jeremy tries to bring her back, but there's no way!" He yelled those last words out loud.
Layla looked at him, pity and sadness flowing inside her.
"Ulrich" she sat near him. "Yumi loves you; that's why she gave her the fan and she jumped: to save you and humanity, to make sure you never forget her"
Unfortunately, he wasn't convinced. "Then why was her last moment on Earth a stupid quarrel because of our stupid 'just friends' pact?"
Layla hesitated for a second, before she looked in his chocolate eyes.
"You didn't know she would jump; you both didn't expect it to be your last argument on Earth; it's simple and there's nothing to be ashamed of" she held his hand and squeezed it. (A/N: AS A FRIEND, REMEMBER THE PAIRING. No UxOC in this story!)
"She made her own choice to jump; you would've done the same for her"
"Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that she'll never come back!" He stood up and walked away, tears glimmering in his closed eyes.
It was when Layla stood up too that it came to her: a short vision filled her memory, showing her a screen; and on that screen there were...
"Ulrich!" She held a hand to her head and the other she reached for the tree, to try and stop her head from spinning. "I-I-I think I know how to bring her back!"
Ulrich stopped walking and turned around.
"You're serious?" He asked, his voice filled with hope and happiness.
She smiled weakly. "There's a data pack, in Sector 5: it has all the records of the Digital Sea; if I could just get the right data, maybe I could get your lover girl back" he gently punched her shoulder when she said the last words.
"Stop saying that!" He joked. She laughed.
"Tell Jeremy; we'll all go to the factory later" she said.
After school, everyone gathered around the manhole, where Layla was waiting.
"You're serious?" Jeremy asked her, wide-eyed. She nodded, smiling.
"Here's the plan: Ulrich and I will go to Sector 5-don't worry, Jeremy, Aelita taught me how to recodnize Lyoko files last time-and Aelita, Odd and William will stay in a Sector: something tells me X.A.N.A. is probably going to attack". Everyone nodded and went down the manhole.
Layla and Ulrich landed in Sector 5 and waited for the door to open. The girl could see he was very impatient.
"Calm down!" She said. "You look like as if a bomb was going to explode at any second!"
"It might explode if I'm not in the Arena in less than five seconds" he joked.
Finally, the door opened and the two of them ran through the corridor to catch th elevator.
"Uh, guys?" Jeremy had the three Lyoko Warriors' attention. "Layla was right: X.A.N.A. activated a tower in the Desert Sector"
"Well, luckily, we're here" said Aelita.
"It's 19 degrees west and 50 degrees north"
"Follow me, boys"
They ran to the tower, guarded by two Megatanks and a Krabe. (A/N: Does it sound familiar? *wink wink*)
"Princess, take cover and shoot Energy Fields when necessary; me and William will clear the path for you" the hybrid told the pinkette.
She nodded and watched as Odd shot the Krabe and William Supersmoked to a Megatank.
"Layla, have you finished?" Ulrich tapped his foot, impatiently.
"Relax, it's gonna take a while: you think X.A.N.A. labels these things?" She said back, sliding through files and data packs.
Ulrich looked at three Mantas, who were starting to hatch. "Jeremy, could I have a boat to fish with?"
"No can do: Layla's got the commands, remember?"
"Right!"
The Mantas hatched and immediately started shooting at the orange-haired Warrior. Ulrich blocked several lasers with his katanas.
"I'm nearly done..." she said. "Keep blocking the lasers"
"What...do...you...think...I'm...doing...now?" He asked, sarcastically, blocking more lasers.
"AGAIN!"
Ten weird little Kankrelats had materialized in front of the tower.
"Why 'again'? " Asked Aelita, peeking from the rock she was hiding from.
"This is the fifth time those thinggies appear" said Odd, firing a Laser Arrow.
"Well, why don't we just run past them?" Suggested William, attempting this task himself.
Unfortunately for him, the weird Kankrelats exploded the moment he was in the middle of them, sending him back to the scanner immediately.
"Argh!" He grunted, reaching for the elevator button.
"Aelita, run!" Odd looked at the pinkette. "Go to the tower, before those Kamikaze appear again!"
Aelita nodded and ran to the tower; she rose to the upper platform and put her hand on the appearing screen.
AELITA
CODE LYOKO
"Tower deactivated!" She announced.
"Let's hope X.A.N.A. didn't do anything dangerous" said Odd as he materialized back in the scanner.
"Jeremy!" Layla exclaimed. "I found it! I'm sending you the data now!"
"Ok, guys" Jeremy said, opening the file Layla had sent him, while checking the TV News. "The tower's deactivated and I'm checking the news for anything suspicious, while you get back to Earth..."
Ulrich cleared his throat.
"Yeah, Ulrich, I'll analyze the data too" the genius promised, smiling.
Everything was ok: X.A.N.A. hadn't caused anything that required a Return To The Past, Jeremy was able to analyze the data and, hopefully, retrieve Yumi, so that he could also cancel all the wall of lies the group had built to mask her abscence.
They waited in front of the scanner, Ulrich in front of them to greet her first...the scanner opened...and a fainted Yumi fell from it.
Ulrich quickly caught her before she hit the ground and kneeled down gently, with her body resting on his lap and an arm holding her head up.
Everyone held their breath...and Yumi fluttered her eyes opened!
You can guess everyone's reaction: they all cheered, Aelita hugged Jeremy, Layla hugged Odd, tears in her eyes, William jumped high in the air...And Ulrich...
Ulrich was crying from happiness; the Japanese girl lying on his lap looked both confused and happy, but that didn't matter much: it mattered that she was alive, unhurt, and in his arms...She looked at him and smiled, tears starting to fall down her cheeks.
It was at that moment that Ulrich wanted to tell her; he wanted to say that he loved her, that he wanted her to be his girlfriend, that he would be happy if she somehow returned those feelings...Yumi wanted that too, she was waiting...
But what's the use of waiting now, and on this moment of happiness? All that mattered, as I said before, was that she was here; he wouldn't dare spoil that moment going straight to the facts and, deep down, she knew it too; she had waited until then, she could still wait.
Even though he didn't tell her, Ulrich did the next best thing: he hugged her tightly, as a friend, as a crush, as an admirer, as a brother...
She didn't know the precise reason he had hugged her, but she hugged him back, as tight as she could, both of them crying of happiness.
Was she really his friend? Or was he in love with her? They didn't care: all they cared was that they were together again, in each others' arms, and whatever their feelings for each other were, they would still hug.
Hands up those who cried!
Layla/Aelita: *raise hand*
SecretCodeLyokan: There, there...
Layla: It was so...*breaks into sobs*
SecretCodeLyokan: Ok, ok...now, in the next chapter...uh, what was the next chapter?
Aelira: *blows nose* I-I don't remember...
SecretCodeLyokan: Oh, well, anyway I wanted to give big news to everyone: I live in Italy and, after three long years-guess what?-CODE LYOKO'S BACK ON TV!
Lyoko Gang: *high-fives* Hooray!
SecretCodeLyokan: Yeah, my prayers have been heard and, on Monday, CODE LYOKO MARATHON! Expect some mega updates, pobably due to my inspiration boost and my happiness!
Lyoko Gang: Evviva! Si ritorna in Italia dai nostri fan!
SecretCodeLyokan: Special thanks to Rai Gulp! *hugs him* I forgive you!
Rai Gulp: Sorry, SecretCodeLyokan, for breaking your heart three years ago...
SecretCodeLyokan: You'd better be! So, now, 'till the next episode! Ciao a tutti!
Rai Gulp/Lyoko Gang: Ciao! A presto!