Hiding Away

A/N: Okay, so I'm not positive about how many more chapters there will be in this. XD I said five or six yesterday (or four or five… O.o") and I'm actually not positive. I really want to get to work on Silence and Insanity. XDD Hope you all read that one, too. X3

Anyway, enough of my nonsensical babble. XD Onto the story!

Ulrich ran forward, pumping his legs and arms as hard as they would go. It was late afternoon, probably about an hour away from sundown, and Ulrich wanted to get a safe distance away from any humans so he didn't get the chance to hurt them. He had thought about going to the factory, but then if Xana attacked his friends would be in more danger than if he was at school. He couldn't do that. He ran for the Hermitage and was surprised to find the door open.

-Anthea-

"You're going to have to explain to those kids how you got here, you know," Takeo told Anthea as the three adults waited for the children to return.

She crossed her arms against her chest and leaned on the wall. "I know I will… They know my daughter, I can tell… I'm just not sure how they'd know her…"

"What do you mean?" Akiko asked looking in Anthea's direction as she tidied Yumi's room.

"It's complicated…" she stated as the kids entered the room with three different weapons.

-Leona-

"Let's go get something to eat, okay? Maybe that'll help…" Leona whispered to Odd. They'd been sitting in there for close to thirty minutes now. Cheering him up wasn't the easiest thing to do.

"I'm not hungry…" he said. "If you want to you can go…"

"Odd…" she whispered as he stood up and walked to the door.

"I'm alright… I just want to be alone for now…" he said as he left the room and headed toward his and Ulrich's room.

"How much more trouble will the adults cause for us…?" she asked herself as she left the room. She made sure that the door was locked before walking away.

"Leona, have you seen Ulrich?" Herve asked her as she made her way to the cafeteria.

She shook her head. She bit her lip and looked up at the ceiling. "Odd was telling me about how he wanted to be locked up somewhere…"

"That's what William told me. He said he was worried about Ulrich and that we need to find him since he's hurt," he replied as Emilie walked up behind the two.

"Then we need to sniff around and hurry with it. Sundown is in an hour," she stated as the two turned toward her.

-Aelita-

She typed on the supercomputer, trying to work on her program. Her fingers and body trembled at the thoughts that had crossed her mind earlier that day…

Xana might still have control over Ulrich… I have to make sure that the others are safe… she thought as she typed away. She knew that him being in William's pack had erased the mark from the back of his hand. She wasn't so sure that it had taken all the effects of the mark off of Ulrich. She wanted to make sure that Ulrich wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else.

"Aelita, are you alright?" someone asked behind her.

She spun around and saw Jeremie standing there. He didn't look good. He'd lost the toughness in his stance. Confidence had been replaced with worry, fear, anxiety, and drowsiness. "I'm just worried… I want to make sure that Xana can't do that ever again… If he has any way to attack us through Ulrich then I'm working on getting rid of it…"

He leaned against the wall and slid down so he was able to hug his knees to his chest. "Aelita…?" he asked, his voice cracking.

She walked over and hugged him tightly.

"It wasn't all a dream, was it…?" he asked as the realization of everything that had happened over the past few days crush against his consciousness.

"No… It wasn't…" she whispered hugging him tighter. "We'll all get through this, though, okay…?"

The tears began racing down his cheeks. Soon, Aelita joined him.

-Yumi-

She stood in front Ulrich's and Odd's door. She was hoping to talk to Ulrich and apologize for her behavior earlier. She knew that he didn't have any control over his actions and shouldn't have been so harsh. It was uncalled for. She held up her hand to knock and then the door opened.

"Hey Yumi," Odd said as the door swung open. "If you're looking for Ulrich he left awhile ago. William, Leona, Herve, and Emilie might know, though."

"Are you alright, Odd?" she asked as they both walked away from the room together.

He nodded. "Just a little shaken up from all the fighting… Everyone keeps saying that it's to be expected, but I wish that we all didn't feel this way…"

"The group therapy and the individual therapy stuff starts tomorrow… You should go," she stated as they walked aimlessly through the school.

He nodded. "I think that just about everyone that was in that battle is going to be going…"

"I'm not. I might in support of Ulrich, but not really for myself… I know that what we did was the right thing. I'm not really all that bothered about it. I mean, we're like the heroes you and Ulrich always want to be…"

He shook his head. "I want to be a hero that doesn't have to kill people…"

"A hero is always going to end up killing someone at some point, Odd…"

-Ulrich-

"You can't just hide from your problems like this, Ulrich," William told him. "Hiding yourself every time that you transform isn't the answer to what's going on."

"Then what the hell is the answer? Did you lose yourself and end up killing an innocent student? I don't think so! I don't need to hear all this from you! You have no idea what that feels like!" he yelled at them as he paced through the broken family room of the Hermitage. "My dad went through the same thing I am once and he nearly killed my mom. It took his entire pack of twenty to subdue him! What will you do when the four of you aren't strong enough?"

"Your dad was a fully grown werewolf when that happened. You're still a teenager and aren't as strong as he was at that point in time," Emilie stated walking toward him.

"We're a pack and packs stick together," Herve stated, following Emilie.

"The therapy sessions start tomorrow and we'll all go together along with your friends, Ulrich…" Leona told him gently.

He shook his head. "I can't face people there… I killed an innocent students and it might happen again…"

"Keep thinking that Ulrich and it'll be the truth. You killed someone, yes, but it definitely wasn't your fault," Emilie told him.

Ulrich ran as fast as he could away from the four and toward the factory. He needed to hide himself from anyone and, whether he liked it or not, the factory was now the only place he could accomplish that.

A/N: I'm happy. X3 My mom got my sister's old laptop from my dad and so now I can use it to write up stories instead of having to wait for my siblings to get off the other computer! ^o^

Read and review! X3

~MoonlitxAngel