Author: TippierCoffee

Disclaimer: I do not own—nor do I claim the rights to—any of the characters from the show Codename: Kids Next Door. All credit goes to rightful owner: Mr. Tom Warburton.

Ps. Their age in this fiction is thirteen (going fourteen) and they're in seventh grade.

Enjoy :)

A/N: 2014 continuation from 2012

Friday, December 21st

"There are no new news in the case of the two fourteen-year-olds who went missing yesterday, around four P.M. Both students were last seen by their friends by the gates to Hendrik Middle School, before parting for the bus. According to testimonies, they both seemed a little odd, insisting on walking home instead of taking the bus. Their friends kept trying to get the two teens onto the school bus, to no avail. In the end, the two fourteen-year-olds convinced their friends they were walking home. That was the last time anyone ever saw- or heard anything from Wallabee Beetles and Kuki Sanban. Parents are hopeful the young teens are at least together wherever they are, watching out for each other.

"Wallabee Beetles, better known as Wally, has blond hair, green eyes and is approximately hundred-and-sixty centimetres tall. He was last seen wearing brown hiker-style winter boots, blue jeans, and an orange duvet jacket with brown faux fur covering the hood.

"Kuki Sanban has long black hair and autumn coloured eyes, and is also approximately hundred-and-sixty centimetres tall. She was last seen wearing a purple duvet coat, which reaches just above her knees, as well as black jeans and Bordeaux winter boots.

"If anyone has any information about either- or both teens, please contact the hotline number shown in the bottom. Both Wally's and Kuki's parents are very worried, and just wish their kids home in safe condition."

Their empty seats kept drawing the attention of their classmates. Some were whispering secretly to each other, trying to come up with theories about what might have happened and where they were. Some thought maybe Wally and his friends had planned something, then someone else pointed out Wally would still be there if that was the case, and then someone third pointed out that Wally had ditched his friends in favour of hanging out with Kuki and her friends. Some were even whispering about that threat Simon had given Wally, and apparently some had even gone as far as tipping the police off about that incident. Whoever it was had done it anonymously, probably out of fear Simon would come for them, if he knew who told. Nathan and Lou were already busy at work, harassing anyone within their reach, asking if it was them.

Teachers didn't call Wally's or Kuki's names either any more. They probably didn't want too much attention being drawn to the fact that they were gone, already too aware of the students who had started walking around in fear. If Wally and Kuki had last been seen outside the school, they might as well have been taken there. Right outside the gate. Many had decided not to go anywhere without being in groups of at least four, and it seemed everyone hurried more to the bus when it came these days, not wanting to miss it.

Wally's and Kuki's parent tried to get together as often as possible to support each other. They mapped places each of their child enjoyed going, giving it to the police at a constant. Every place the police came to showed no signs of their kids, however. It had become so bad, both sets of parents had been asked to finally find out a piece of clothing from either of their child which the police could present to the blood hounds.

The police took the clothing with them to the school gates. What they ended up finding sank the hopes of finding Wally and Kuki even further.

"Breaking news in the case of the two missing fourteen-year-olds, Wallabee 'Wally' Beetles, and Kuki Sanban. After spending yesterday looking over every place either teen frequented the most, with no luck, blood hounds were finally ensued today. They were presented with a piece of fabric from either teen, the dogs running off in the same direction, until they came to an old playground near the park. It is a secluded playground, which isn't being used much more, and the City Council has spend many times talking about if anything should be done about it.

"At the play ground, inside a pipe maze with so-called igloos, the two young teens' bag packs were found in one of the igloos. To make matters worse, the trace seems to run cold from there. When the blood hounds are encouraged to search on, they simply whine and scratch on that one igloo where the bag packs were found, comments one officer. Once again, we urge you. If any of you have any information about either- or both teens, please contact the hotline number shown in the bottom of the screen.

"Wallabee Beetles has blond hair, green eyes and is approximately hundred-and-sixty centimetres tall. He was last seen wearing brown hiker-style winter boots, blue jeans, and an orange duvet jacket with brown faux fur covering the hood.

"Kuki Sanban has long black hair and autumn coloured eyes, and is also approximately hundred-and-sixty centimetres tall. She was last seen wearing a purple duvet coat, which reaches just above her knees, as well as black jeans and Bordeaux winter boots."

The camera cut to the two sets of parents who stood outside the school gates, each holding a picture of their missing child for the camera to see.

"We just want our children home safely." Said a devastated Mrs. Beetles. "Please. Whoever you are, if you are the one who took our kids, please… Please return them home safely. They are missed dearly."

Vicky's skin colour was returning more to normal at last, but her glow still seemed so weak. Neither Kuki nor Wally had any idea what had happened to her, why she had rushed in the way she had. She had said something about Nicholas being made a saint, and them watching it, so even though they'd spend those four days in a row with him, Kuki had a feeling time was about to fast forward to that day. Except, Vicky had showed up in tears. Angry and out of control, exposing them to Nicholas, who looked horrified and betrayed as a result. It must have been quite the shock, to see that his "angels" had turned out to be ordinary children.

Kuki's body had finally found its proper temperature by the time she woke up. Something smelled good within the cave, and when she opened her eyes to inspect, she saw Wally roasting fish which Vicky had no doubt found for them. Where Vicky was, Kuki didn't know. Maybe she was out finding wood or food for them, so she wouldn't have to wear out her magic resources so much. No need to unnecessarily wear herself out too much when she was the one who was supposed to send the two of them home again.

Kuki sat up catching Wally's attention. He gave her an uncertain smile, something lingering in his eyes that looked like guilt. Guilt about what, she didn't know. All she knew was he hardly met her eyes before he went back to his task, focusing on nothing but the fish roasting and sizzling.

"Hey." Kuki said.

"Hey." Wally replied, not returning her gaze.

"Where's Vicky?"

"Dunno. Probably finding more food, or wood. Doubt it though. She was blabbering something about Santa, and wrong place, and my fault. As if I'm the one who got us here in the first place."

"Yeah, what was that she was freaking out about so much yesterday?" Kuki asked.

This seemed to make Wally stop dead in his track, his cheeks being sucked in, his eyes darting back and forth, looking to the ground as if he would find anything there worth finding.

"Well…" He finally chewed, now focusing more than before on the fish. "It's… A little complicated, really… I…" a sigh escaped him, then a groan as his hand found his hair and ruffled it. "I need to tell you something."

His eyes finally found hers, fear now flooding them rather than lingering in the background. His chest rose and fell faster for each moment he looked to her, and his face went a little paler when he swallowed a lump in his throat. He was just about to open his mouth to speak up again when Vicky arrived at long last, her face pale, her lips blue. When she'd been nothing but a light the day before it was odd to see her reduced to this. A freezing icepick if anything.

"You're back!" Kuki cheered smiling to the elf who sat down to heat herself by their bonfire.

Kuki was a little surprised it even kept burning on top of the cold ice-covered ground. Then again, it was likely some magic spell Vicky had put on it to ensure it would stay that way.

"Where'd you go?" Wally asked, trying not to let out a sigh of relief that he had gotten off the hook for now.

"I was looking for something." She muttered. "But I didn't find it. I might leave in a moment to look again."

"What were you looking for?" Kuki asked, tugging her cover around her and sitting up.

Wally offered her the first fish which had finished frying. She tried to no avail to make him take it himself and when she realised he was giving it to her, she thanked him for it with a blush.

"I was going to take you to Santa's place, but it doesn't seem to be anywhere near here. So now I'm trying to figure out where, or when, here is."

"You don't know where we are?" Wally barked, the walls vibrating.

"And whose fault do you suppose that is?" Vicky spat, giving him a vicious glare.

"You're blaming me?" Wally's eyes went wild. "You're the one getting us through time, aren't you?"

"Well, it's your fault all of this happened!" Vicky cried. "If you hadn't been mean!"

"Shh!" Wally hissed, casting his eyes wildly to Kuki.

"What. You haven't told her? Then allow me." Vicky looked to Kuki, then stepped closer to her. "Allow me to show you what kind of person Wally really is, Kuki."

Before Wally could intervene, or Kuki could blink, Vicky had pulled Wally closer to Kuki. Vicky then touched a hand to Kuki, and all of a sudden it felt like Wally had his memories drained and the entire room was sent spinning. They were being sent through a rainbow of light, sucked father in. Not like time travel, either. This felt more like actually being turned inside-out, having your head emptied, then being turned right-side-out. When they finally landed there, Wally couldn't move, nor could he speak. He couldn't even feel his body, and he could hardly see Kuki's. But Vicky. Vicky was there, glowing a dim hue of white, her eyes burning with tears, her body trembling. She and Kuki looked to another Wally. A Wally from not far away in the past. Visible, scraping a light with bored eyes, trying to tune out the other three guys.

Nathan, Lou and Simon stood by Kuki's table, Simon holding a red marker. A candle lay scattered by their feet, ruined beyond recognition. The visible Wally darted his eyes to them, then looked back to the candle in front of him. Simon's candle. The invisible Wally, however, looked from the scene, to Vicky, to Kuki. He wanted to yell, to do something, But there was nothing there. It felt as though he could as well just be gone. Like he no longer really existed. Everything was light making him dizzy, making him tongue-tied. Things kept swinging between focused and unfocused. Kuki looked a lot better off. Like Vicky was concentrating more on her, to make her more comfortable.

"What should I write?" Simon mused, his voice echoing in the memory.

"Buddha is fat, isn't he?" Lou offered.

"And he looks like a baby." Nathan joined. "What is up with that diaper-wear he has?"

The three of them laughed lowly, memory-Wally failing to ignore them. Present-day-Wally felt his stomach drop all over again, like it had back then.

"How about this:" Simon started writing as he spoke. "Kuki is a big, fat Buddha baby."

Both Nathan and Lou laughed out loud, but neither memory-Wally, nor present-day-Wally found it funny. Memory-Wally looked up just in time to see Lou snatch the red marker pen, when Simon was done with it. His hand moved as he wrote in big letters on the table, then the three of them laughed out loud again.

"Hey Wally, you should come see this." Nathan called, making memory-Wally look up at him.

Present-day-Wally felt like calling out to himself, as if he could stop his own actions in the past. It had already happened, there was no changing it. No matter how much he wished for it, or how many times he thought about what he could have done differently, this had already happened. He could never take it back. All present-day-Wally could do was cast his eyes to Kuki, trying not to cry when he saw her hurt expression. Her eyes followed memory-Wally as he got up from his seat and walked over to the table, casting a glance to the words. Present-day-Waly once again felt his stomach mimic what it had done back then. It dropped. So low it might as well just have been swallowed up whole.

Those words in front of memory-Wally's eyes. Those words which present-day-Wally wanted to forget existed. Those words that had hurt Kuki so deeply. They were clear as ever, burning bright and red, standing out in the blur. Drawing attention to themselves.

Kuki is a big fat Buddha baby.

FREAK!

The world seemed to stand still when Kuki finally looked at present-day-Wally who had closed his eyes, trying to ignore the pathetic chuckle he'd given his so-called-friends back then. It wasn't funny. It was cruel. Not even to protect yourself should you laugh, not even half-heartedly. But Wally had done just that, and now Kuki was seeing it. Seeing all of it.

"Wally…" her voice barely reached him, so distant, so hurt.

He wanted to say something. Anything. Nothing came to mind. Not even the explanation why this had happened, why he hadn't spoken up about any of it. He was pathetic. He was a coward. He was too worried about his reputation. As far as friends went, Wally would never be a great one. That was what he felt like right now. Because if he really were Kuki's friend, he would have told her long ago. Would have told the entire class, instead of messing up things, as per usual.

Everything faded again, as they got sucked back into the rainbow vortex, and Vicky glowed dimmer than ever, and Kuki was crying and screaming, but Wally couldn't hear her. Couldn't hear anything but the whooshing sounds, until everything went white, and both Kuki and Vicky disappeared when he landed hard in the snow.

End of chapter twenty-one. I hope you enjoyed it.

Criticism and/or advices on improvement is/are highly appreciated and welcome :)

~*~TippierCoffee~*~