Blast Into The Past
Chapter-10
Fire Alarm

Shiny black locks of hair fell into her face as she strolled over to the bathroom sinks. She reached her hand, and turned the fusset to the left. Receiving no water, she gave out an annoyed grunt.

"Stupid, cheap, school…" She grumbled as she stepped over to the sink next to the one that wasn't working.
Turning this fosset, she received the same result. No water.

Giving up, she threw her hands in the air, and walked out of the bathroom. And she marched straight towards the principles office. As she walked on threw, the secretary stood up and opened her mouth to say something, but once she realized who the girl was, she sat back down and looked away.

"Daddy," She burst into Mr. Dalmas' office. "I hate to tell you, daddy, but the water isn't working in the girls bathroom!"

Mr. Delmas looked up from his paperwork to look his daughter down. He raised an eyebrow slowly and gave her a glare.

"Sissi, you know not to burst into my office," He stood up from his seat. "Now what's this nonsense about no water in the girls bathroom?"

"It's true, daddy. I tried both sinks, and no water came from either of them," She complained.

Mr. Delmas frowned at her for a few moments, and then lifted the phone piece from the cradle. He dialed seven numbers quickly, and Sissi listened in closely to his conversation.

"Jim," Mr. Delmas spoke. "Sissi said that the water has been turned off in the ladies washroom. Did you know about this?"

"Actually, Mr. Delmas, I have had a couple people complaining about a water problem. I was just going to check on it in the attic when you called about it."

"Okay Jim," Delmas grinned weakly at his daughter. "Tell me if anything's wrong. Okay. Goodbye Jim."

Sissi watched closely as her father slowly moved his arm out and laid the phone on the censer.

"Well, it seems as if you were correct, Sissi." He smiled. Sissi grinned back at him and ran her fingers through her sleek, black hair.

"Now get back to class, Sissi. Everything will be taken care of from here."

---

"Ulrich?" Yumi stopped in her tracks as Ulrich did. "Aren't you coming?"

Ulrich moved his head to look at her, and Odd who was just a few steps ahead, now stopped. Ulrich grinned at the both of them, but the grin soon faded.

"I have too… Ugh… Talk to Sissi… about Natsumi…" He stuck his hands into his pockets, and turned his face into a discussed expression.

"Oh well that's great," Odd threw his hands in the air, and then smiled back at Ulrich. "That's just as bad as having to teach a pumpkin Spanish. The only difference is a pumpkin actually has something in it."

Laughing softly at Odd's comment, the raven haired teen decided to add a comment of her own.

"Oh yea, and what exactly do you have inside of your thick scull, Odd?"

Odd raised a brow and crossed his arms. Yumi had just caught him off guard with that one.

"Hey, who's side are you on, Yumi?"

The girl gently shook her head at Odd, and let out a soft giggle. She blinked as she turned back towards Ulrich.

"Well have fun, Ulrich, huh? It's about time you had some." Her eyes sparkled as she stared into Ulrich's soft brown eyes.

"Yea," He gently nodded as he frowned. "But I can almost guarantee it's not going to be any fun. Nothing that has to do with Sissi Delmas is."

"Heh, But that's not true" Odd turned away. Ulrich and Yumi both gained blank looks on their faces as they both raised just one eyebrow at their tall haired friend.

"Its 'fun' making 'fun' of her, isn't it, Ulrich dear?" He laughed.

Ulrich let out a laugh as well, and then turned away from Yumi who didn't take her eyes off of him.

"Your such a dork Odd," He smiled as he looked away. "But I'll see you guys later," He turned the corner of the hallway, and was out of Yumi and Odd's sight.

---

Jim walked to the last hallway on the top floor and opened the door to the staircase which lead to the attic. Placing his hand on the doorknob, he felt a slight burning sensation on his skin. Almost in an instant, he knew that there was a fire on the other end of this door. He knew this because he had been a firefighter for a mere week… Though, he'd rather not talk about it.

Slowly, he opened the door, making sure that his face wasn't in the opening. Sure enough, smoke poured out from the staircase, and Jim slammed the door back shut. His mind was racing with so many questions and concerns, that he didn't know what to do first.

Turning his head sharply, he spotted the fire alarm on the wall across from him. He turned his hand into a hard fist and slammed it threw the thin glass which kept him from the fire alarm. Grabbing the lever, he pulled it down and heard the alarm ring in his ears.

But even though the school was warned, didn't mean his job was done.

---

He turned the corner sharply just in time to see Sissi turned around shutting the door behind her. The boy stopped in his tracks, and faked his best smile.

"Sissi," Ulrich called her name, as he took a few more steps to stand in front of her. Sissi picked her head up, and when she saw Ulrich she smiled and gazed at him.

"Can I talk to you real quick?"

She slowly nodded, "Of course, Ulrich."

"Okay…" He dug his hands into his pockets. "Remember last night when you saw me and Odd, and we had that little girl?" He asked, shifting his eyes back from her to the ground, to the walls. Nervous wasn't even beginning to explain his feelings.

"Yes, I remember," She folded her arms across her chest. "Your little sister, right?"

"Yea," He took his hand out of the pocket and scratched the back of his neck.

"Well… She's going to stay here for a few nights… Do you think you could talk to your father, and-"

"Ask him if she can stay here with you?" She raised an eyebrow, and her blue eyes sparkled. Ulrich's arm fell back down to his side, as he sent her a confused look.

"That is what you want, isn't it?"

"Well… Yea. It is. But… You want something in return,… Right?"

He tried not to think of what she might want in return. The girl who's dedicated her entire life to make him fall in love with her. More like annoy him, he thought.

"Well yea," She grinned at him. "But I'll have to think about it. Until then, your free."

Ulrich smiled at her. 'She's up to something' he thought to himself. But he pushed the thought to the back of his head, and he nodded.

"Well-"

Ulrich lost his place when the fire alarm to his right began ringing loudly and annoyingly. He looked at It in a reflex for a second, and then looked up at the sprinklers. Why they weren't shooting out water, he didn't know. He looked back at Sissi. She had her hands covering her ears.

"What's going on!" She yelled, trying to be loud enough for Ulrich to hear.

He did hear her, but chose to ignore the question. Instead, he grabbed her by the wrist, and pulled her down the hallway after him as he ran. He knew something was wrong, now. Xana is after Natsumi, it's the hour that she's alone, and the fire alarm is going off. The only thing that rang up into his mind was that Xana had begun a fire, in an attempt to kill off Natsumi.

And Ulrich wasn't about to let that happen.

"I have to get to my room," He yelled as they ran down the hall. "You get out of here."

He pulled her around the corner to the point where they could see the exit door. He let go of her arm, and without even looking her in the face he turned away towards the hall that lead to his room. Leaving the girl speechless and breath taken.

But as he turned he was grabbed by the arm himself, by Jim.

"Ulrich! Are you deaf!" Jim practically screamed at Ulrich. Ulrich just looked up at the big guy, his face clearly shocked. "Come one, your leaving the school!"

Jim then wrapped his thick fingers around Ulrich's slim wrist, pulling him behind him like Ulrich had just pulled Sissi. As Ulrich was being pulled by Jim, he watched his fellow students push past them in a frantic hurry to get out of the burning school.

Though Ulrich hadn't seen the flames yet, he smelt burning, and smoke pouring from some of the hallways. Ulrich grinded his teeth, and tugged on his wrist like he wanted it back, and out of Jim's grasp.

"Jim," Ulrich yelled. "Listen, I need to go-"

Ulrich stopped as Jim pulled the brunette past a hallway that was covered with flames. The sight was the most morbid thing Ulrich had ever seen. She orange flames covered the walls, and debris fell from the ceiling. He saw black silhouettes and heard the screaming of the people behind the flames that were either stuck and or afraid.

Jim, seeing what Ulrich had seen as well, pulled Ulrich in front of him. He pushed Ulrich out the exit door, rather roughly, and sharply turned to run through the flames.

Though Jim didn't mean too, he had pushed Ulrich to the point where he stumbled and fell to his knees. Not bothering to push himself back up, Ulrich took in deep breaths and let his head fall.

Xana had never gone to such extremes to go after someone. Why did this someone have to be so fragile and helpless? Natsumi was just a little girl, and probably more scared then anything in the world at this moment in time.

He had to get back into that school…

"Ulrich!"

The boy heard a familiar voice yell his name. Lifting his head up rather slightly, he saw Odd and Yumi rushing towards him. When the two arrived to Ulrich's side, Yumi dropped to her knees beside him, asking if he was alright.

Odd on the other hand knew that he was, and didn't bother asking. Instead, he asked if Ulrich knew the whereabouts of Natsumi.

"Is she still in our room?" He asked, in a concerned tone. Ulrich looked up at him, with a determined face.

"Yea, Odd. She is," The boy spoke just a little louder then a whisper. "Which means," He rose onto his knees, and then just one. "I need to go back in."

"What?" Yumi and Odd both spoke in a unison. Odd's was much louder then Yumi's, but Yumi had more concern in hers.

"Are you crazy, huh? Even if you did get past the teachers at every entrance, there's no way you could get passed the falling beams and other things!" Odd shouted in a hushed tone.

"Odd's right, Ulrich," Yumi spoke. Ulrich looked at the Japanese beauty, straight in the eyes. "You'd be killed, no doubt. Leave it to the firemen, it's their job, right?"

"Are you guy's serious?" Ulrich squinted his eyes at Yumi, and then slowly moved his gaze to Odd. "This isn't the fireman's job, this isn't Natsumi's job, and it isn't the teacher's job. It's our job and responsibility to throw back at anything Xana throw's at us," Ulrich rose up to his feet. "But this is up to me. I'm going to get Nats out of there…"

Ulrich turned towards the school. "Nothing else matters."

Odd gasped, "Do you even know what your saying? Your talking crazy! We need to go de-activate the tower Ulrich!"

"Ulrich…" Yumi whispered.

Though he pretended he didn't hear Yumi say his name, he did. He closed his eyes and tried to kick the image of her from his mind. Suddenly, Ulrich felt a warmth in the palm of his hand. Opening his eyes, he looked down, to see that his hand was being held by Yumi's.

He turned his head to look at her, and to see the fresh tears in the brims of her beautiful and bright eyes.

"… Be careful."

Ulrich grinned weakly at her, and tried to ignore the fact that his cheeks were incredibly red with blush.

"I'll be back," He whispered as he put a hand on her shoulder. Slowly he moved that hand down her back and pulled her closer to him, for a hug. He then took his other hand and wrapped it around her waist.

"And that's a promise…" He whispered in her ear.

He ended the hug when he let her go to smile at her for a minute, and then Odd who was smiling back.

"I'll take care of the teachers, bud." Odd grinned slyly. Ulrich nodded, with a grin on his face as well.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

---

Odd and Ulrich both peeked their heads out from the corner, to see the teacher standing guard at the door. The teacher was unrecognizable however, knowing that neither of them had classes with him.

Odd pulled Ulrich back behind the wall by grabbing his shirt collar. The two boys just stood looking at each other, blank looks plastered on both faces. Until finally Odd's lips curved to a smile, and he dropped his warm hand onto Ulrich's shoulder.

"Be careful, man."

Ulrich slowly smiled back, and raised an eyebrow at his friend. Odd the nodded slowly, and turned the corner to create a diversion to make sure that Ulrich could get into the school unnoticed.

Odd knew this wasn't going to be too difficult. Not for someone like him. Someone who spent his hours in detention more then he did sleeping. With all honesty, he wasn't the least bit worried about whether he could do it or not. His worry was all being used on something else, something more important.

And that was the fact that his best friend was risking his life. More then he usually did. He was going into a burning building, a building that was falling to pieces as the children on the grass spoke.

"Hey, teach," Odd walked up to the teacher. The man turned to raise a brow at Odd, and place his hands on his hips.

"Can I help you young man?"

"Why yea, you can."

Peeking over his shoulder, Odd spotted Ulrich making his move to the door. Odd slowly moved his head back towards the teacher,

"I was-"

"Young man!" Someone from behind Odd yelled. Odd turned his entire body sharply, to see Mrs. Hurtz chasing after Ulrich, who was running at full force towards the school.

Odd crossed his fingers for luck, knowing already that Ulrich would get into that school. He was too close not too.

And diving threw the doors, Ulrich proved Odd right.

He was inside the school.

---
A/N

Sorry it took so long for this chapter. I'll try and get the next one up as fast as possible. I hope you liked the chapter, I worked hard on it.