Title: Broken Promises

Warnings: More relationship drama, minor language, etc.

Rating: PG-14

A/N: And here's the next chapter!

~Yumi~

William lay there on the floor, screaming in pain whole holding his arm. His arm was bent back the wrong way and his face was red, his eyes brimming with tears that wouldn't flow down his cheeks. I looked over to Ulrich, now unconscious, lying on the floor. He had gotten a black eye from when William caught him off guard in the fight and punched him, but his face looked calm, like he was…

"Ulrich!"

I whipped around, hearing Yolanda calling Ulrich's name. If she's calling his name, then maybe he wasn't supposed to be out of bed… But that wasn't Ulrich, I thought, recalling the events that just happened. It was XANA still possessing him… Maybe we didn't get rid of him. Maybe he just dug deeper into Ulrich's mind and… Oh, Ulrich! Tears rolled down my face as I watched Yolanda come into the room.

Her eyes were wide as they lay upon the scene in front of her. The broken door on the ground plus William on the floor holding his broken arm in pain, Ulrich laying unconscious on the ground, and me crying, standing in the corner closest to the door.

"Yumi?" she asked, her eyes still wide. "What happened here?"

I blinked away more tears, keeping my eyes level with the ground for a moment. I don't want Ulrich to get in trouble if it wasn't him in the first place... William will understand. I took a deep breath. "Ulrich came in and he and William had a fight…" I said. "Then Ulrich… He got punched in the face and thrown across the room, which broke the door off its hinges, knocking William to the ground and breaking his arm, and Ulrich hit his head on the ground," I lied, hoping that I did the right thing for the brunette.

All that came out of William's mouth was a defiant squeak. He was too much in pain to argue.

Yolanda hurried to William's side and looked at his arm. "Ooh, yeah. That's broken. Come with me, William. I'll need to treat that." She helped William to his feet and then he walked out the door, still holding his arm. Yolanda then hurried over to Ulrich and picked him up gently. "I don't know what's wrong with this boy," she mumbled under her breath. Then she looked at me. "One minute, he wakes up from his coma, and the next, he's getting in fights and going back into the coma."

I wiped the tears away from my face. "Wait. Ulrich was in a coma?"

"Yes."

"Why did no one tell me this? What happened?" I shouted.

Yolanda sighed. "Right after you had visited him, he had fallen to the ground pretty hard, knocking his head again, and slipping into a coma. Then today, he just wakes up and gets himself hurt."

"Was it my fault?" I asked her in a small voice.

She smiled. "No, I'm pretty sure he had a splitting headache of some sort and fell. He'll be awake in a week, I'm positive."

I looked at the ground, pondering what Yolanda had just said as soon as she left the room. I hope I did the right thing… I thought to myself, looking back up and staring at the broken door. I know for a fact that wasn't Ulrich. I saw XANA's mark in his eyes. I have to tell Jeremy.

I wiped the remaining tears from my face and ran out of William's room. The thought of William made me sick to my stomach and I pushed him away, mainly because I was worried that he was permanently hurt and that he wouldn't heal. But I knew deep down that he would get better, just like Ulrich would.

The thought of Ulrich made me smile, just a tiny bit. I remembered all the good times we had had, and all the awkward. I smiled wider, my tears drying up as I came to Jeremy's door, which was closed. With my common courtesy habits, I knocked on the door. "Jeremy? You in there? I have to tell you something, and it's urgent."

There was a muffled reply and I opened the door, coming in the room to see Jeremy fixated in his chair, his eyes glued to the computer screen. As soon as I entered, he swiveled around in his chair and faced me. "What is it, Yumi?"

Out of breath, I paused a minute trying to catch it, holding up my finger. I straightened up after a moment and looked Jeremy straight in the face. "Jeremy, XANA is still possessing Ulrich."

He almost fell out of his chair. "What?!"

"XANA is still possessing Ulrich!" I repeated, more loudly this time. "And he's in a coma. I'm pretty sure XANA's behind all this."

Jeremy tapped his chin with two fingers. "Hmm… This is odd. The supercomputer isn't on anymore, since we returned to the past before we turned it back on… So how did XANA still grip on to Ulrich's mind?"

"That's the same thing I'm wondering," I said, sitting down on Jeremy's bed that he still rarely used. "I was hoping you'd have the answer to that."

Jeremy shook his head. "I don't have the answer, and even if I did, I wouldn't know how to explain it. It seems way too complex, even for me."

I sighed and looked out Jeremy's window. "I just hope Ulrich will be okay…" I paused for a moment before gasping. "Oh! I forgot to tell you that Ulrich broke William's arm."

"What?!" Jeremy shouted.

"Okay, I was in William's room and we were…talking." I began to blush. Jeremy raised an eyebrow in question, but I cleared my throat to continue. "And then Ulrich burst in, breaking the door down and getting in a fight, which broke William's arm. But when I touched Ulrich's arm and tried to yank him away from William, it was cold. Really cold. Like ice."

Jeremy tapped his chin again. "Hmm… It could be that Ulrich's polarity was modified so that XANA could get him to do inhuman things."

"English, please?" I said with an arched brow.

"Technically, XANA made it so that Ulrich's body would be able to do anything one of his specters could do," he told me.

"Right. And then right when he broke William's arm, he passed back out into a coma. What does it mean? What do we do?" I asked him.

"What it means is that XANA is keeping Ulrich from pushing back to the surface; keeping him under his complete control. What we need to do is visit Ulrich every day in the infirmary and keep an eye on him. That's what we should be doing. We need to monitor him, just in case he goes on another spree in Ulrich's body," he said, pushing his glasses back up higher on his nose.

I sighed again and stood up. "I guess I'll go watch first. Tell the others about this, would you?"

Jeremy nodded and smiled at me. "I will, Yumi. Don't worry about it."

I smiled back at Jeremy and headed out into the hall. I walked through the halls leading to the stairs, looking down the staircase first before walking down them. I don't know why, but I just did. I saw a girl walking away from the infirmary and frowned. I had never seen her before. She had blonde hair with a gigantic purple streak on the bangs, and was wearing a bright blue jacket with slim black jeans.

The girl turned towards me and smiled at me, waving. I frowned deeper but waved back. I didn't exactly want to be completly rude to someone who I had just met. She seemed to know me, though...

William!

I hurried down the stairs as soon as she was gone, turned the corner and opened the infirmary door. I was greeted by surprised looks from Yolanda and William. His arm was now in a bright, white cast that looked as thick as a Labrador's tail. Yolanda had been busy at work, monitoring Ulrich's vitals, and constantly checking in on William. I then looked over at Ulrich. He looked peaceful at first glance, but looking closer, you could see the strain set upon his face by something; or someone.

I growled inwardly. How dare XANA take possession of my best friend? How dare he put him into a coma like this? My fists clenched up by my sides, but I released them almost instantly, glancing again in William's direction.

"Hey, Yumi," William said with a smile.

I waved to him. "Hey."

Yolanda then came over to me and pulled me aside slightly. "Yumi, you may see them both today, but I am restricting you from being around Ulrich. We can't have him waking up and wandering off again," she whispered.

I nodded. "Sure thing."

She smiled at me and proceeded to walk out of the room, leaving me alone with the two boys. The brave, kindhearted boy who was my best friend, and the other, who was my…boyfriend. I frowned and looked at my feet. I didn't want William to be my boyfriend. I just wanted to make Ulrich jealous… It seemed to work, though, because he looked almost at the crying point when I left… I hope he doesn't hate me for that… Then, I looked over at William, who smiled again as I looked up.

"Come here, Yumi," William said.

I walked over, glancing once in Ulrich's direction, before sitting down on the edge of his bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked me.

"I could ask you the same thing." I looked down at my feet. "But I'm fine."

His eyes became concerned. "No, you're not. What's wrong?"

I whipped around to face him. "You honestly have no idea? Ulrich just burst in your room and broke your arm in a spontaneous rage, and you're cool with it?"

He frowned. "No, I'm not cool with it. I'm pretty damn angry, that's what. I just wanted to know what was on your mind."

I sighed and looked back down at my feet. "I…I'm just worried about Ulrich is all… No one told me he was in a coma, and no matter what Yolanda says, I still feel like it's my fault..."

William's gaze hardened and he looked away. "Why do you think it's your fault?" he asked flatly.

I didn't notice it. "I just went to see him the minute before he collapsed and I feel like it was my fault that he did. You know, all those mean things were exchanged around the room, and I left him there. The strain on him from those mean things were probably zipping around his brain. He was hurt, and I should've taken everything back…" I began to cry again, looking over at William. "I just wish I could."

William's eyes turned towards mine and they softened at the sight of me crying. "Hey, it's okay. I'm sure it wasn't your fault, Yumi." He smiled. "I really wish I could hold you now, but…" He motioned his head towards his broken arm.

I giggled softly. "Yeah…"

Then, I froze up. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement come from Ulrich's bed. I whipped my head around and saw Ulrich sitting up in bed, his eyes still closed.

"U-Ulrich?" I stammered. William peeked around me and looked in his direction.

"Ulrich? What?" William said, his tone hard.

Then, Ulrich's eyes opened and I gasped. They weren't honey-brown like they usually were.

They were a dark red.

A/N: OAO What does this mean? XD Anyway yeah, next chapter blah blah blah. Working on the next one in a few minutes. Stay tuned!