Title: Envy

Warnings: Underage drinking.

Rating: PG-13

Author's Note: Woo, a shorter chapter. I really like the dynamic between Ulrich and Aelita because I feel like it can be portrayed in a lot of different ways and I love that. Of course, this is mostly focused on instances on where Ulrich would envy Aelita, but still...lol. The second part is shameless self promotion/a resurrected fic idea. I wrote one fic titled The Lost Boys featuring Yumi and I wanted to write one called Briar Rose featuring Aelita but lost inspiration halfway through. But I still liked the parallel so I made sure to squeeze it in here.

Thank you once more to those who have followed, favorited, and feedbacked this fic. I love hearing what you all think and knowing you're enjoying it. :) Also holy cow! There's only FIVE chapters left, where did the time go?

20. He never said it aloud, but he envied Aelita.

That first winter was bitingly cold. The wind swept in from the north bringing the smell of ice and the promise of snow. The nights were long and the days were shadowed by the low slung clouds that hung heavy overhead. He hadn't experienced a winter like that in years.

"You look like a marshmallow," Odd told him, smirking. Ulrich ignored him as he shrugged a heavy coat on over his sweater-and-shirt-and-undershirt. "This is mild compared to where I live."

"Well we don't all live in the arctic," Ulrich bit out.

"I don't live in the arctic," Odd grumbled.

"You live in Norway," Ulrich reminded him. "I visited you there. It was cold and I think it was snowing in July…"

"That was rain, you idiot," Odd snorted.

"Snow," Ulrich persisted.

"Whatever, Ricky. Here, I'll fix your scarf." There was still a twitch of a smile in the corner of Odd's mouth, a subtle glint to his eyes as he adjusted the scarf for better wind protection. "There. Come on, breakfast time! I'm starved."

"You're always starved," Ulrich grumbled. But he followed the other boy out of the room and down the stairs. "Great," he groaned, seeing the courtyard covered in a thick layer of snow.

"Ulrich! Odd!" They turned back to see Aelita descending the stairs. She was bundled up in a dark green winter coat, hands hidden in pink knit gloves. "Why are you just standing there?"

"Ulrich's working up the courage to brave the big bad cold," Odd teased.

"Shut-up," Ulrich growled, elbowing him. Odd laughed and darted outside.

"Brr, its cold this morn…" Aelita trailed off. He looked over to see her eyes wide as she stared out over the courtyard. "It snowed."

"Yeah," Ulrich grumbled.

But she was already halfway down the front steps of the dormitory. She squealed and laughed as Odd tossed a snowball at her halfheartedly. Ulrich leaned against the brick and watched his friends throwing clumps of soft white at each other. Odd got a handful in Aelita's hair and she retaliated by dropping a handful down the back of his shirt. He howled, dancing around and trying to get it out and Ulrich couldn't help but laugh.

Aelita pulled off one of her gloves, stuffed it in her pocket. He watched as she scooped up some snow and ran her bare fingers over it. "You'll get hypothermia doing that," he warned her. She looked up at him and smiled wide.

"I don't care. It's snow."

Reluctantly he pushed himself off the wall and went over to her. Odd was still trying to get the last of the snow out of his shirt. He pitched his voice low as other students began to appear. Milly and Tamiya joined Odd in another impromptu snowball fight and soon Thomas and Sebastian and Heidi were in on it too. "I don't know why you're so fascinated with it. It's not like there wasn't an ice sector in Lyoko," he said softly.

She looked around nervously. She still wasn't sure about mentioning it by name. Jeremie's paranoia had rubbed off on her. "There was ice," she said. "Never snow. I'd forgotten what snow was like. It's beautiful and soft and fun. It's like a whole other world out here, Ulrich." Her voice was soft and her eyes gleamed as she stared at the white drifts.

He stared at her for a moment, then looked at the snow again. He still couldn't see it. It still just looked like cold mush that would make his shoes and socks wet and leave his feet freezing. He sighed and grabbed her by the waist, dumping her into a thick patch of snow. She squealed and looked up at him, surprise evident in her eyes when he settled onto the ground next to her.

"Then I guess you should learn how to make a snow angel," he told her. He laid back, shuddering as some of it managed to slip down his collar despite the scarf. He hated snow. "Then we'll move onto snow men."

She laughed as he taught her the proper way to make a snow angel.

. . … . .

"Peter and Wendy," Yumi said. She shrugged at the looks the others gave her. "What? I liked the idea of living on an island where you didn't have to grow up."

"I don't know, it seems a bit…immature for you, Yumers," Odd said.

"It is not!" Yumi protested. She glared at the blonde. "Well then what's your favorite childhood story?"

Odd shrugged. "It's a toss-up between Cinderella and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

"I get Alice but Cinderella…?" Ulrich asked.

"It was appropriately gruesome with the heel-chopping. Plus she had evil stepsisters and I had evil sisters so I could relate."

"Odd, I'm sure they didn't make you a slave," Jeremie reasoned.

"Obviously you haven't met my sisters," Odd grumbled. "So what about you, Einstein? Do you have a favorite story from when you were a kid? And don't say it was your first computer manual, even if it is true." Jeremie narrowed his eyes. "Oh my God, it was, wasn't it?" Odd snorted.

"Leave Jeremie alone," Aelita scolded.

"Come on Jer, you had to have liked one story as a kid," Yumi enticed.

"As a matter of fact I was very fond of The Prince and the Pauper," he sniffed. "At the time it seemed more realistic than a flying boy or a silly girl following rabbits down magic rabbit holes but of course, as I grew older, I realized it was just another fairytale."

"You suck the fun out of being a kid, Einstein," Odd groaned. He leaned against Ulrich and shook his head at Jeremie. "Sometimes I try to imagine you as a little kid but I just can't picture it," he lamented.

"Odd," Aelita warned. "Leave him alone. After all, I haven't got a favorite fairytale either." She shrugged. "In fact I don't think I know any."

"What?" Odd demanded. He sat up straight and looked like he had been electrocuted. "You don't know any?"

Aelita bit her lip but shrugged and shook her head. "Not that I remember," she admitted.

/

He wasn't sure what possessed him to do it, but he turned up outside her door after Odd had fallen into a deep snore. Aelita opened the door looking confused. She was dressed for bed in an oversized blue shirt and a pair of pants that had owls on them. "Ulrich?" she asked. Her eyes wandered the empty hall and she pulled him inside before anyone spotted them. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he replied. He shifted from one foot to another before holding out the book he'd dug out of the bottom of a suitcase in the back of his closet.

"What is it?" she asked. She took the old book from him, studied the cover and flipped a few pages slowly.

"It's a book of Grimms' Fairy Tales," he told her. "My, uh, my housekeeper used to read them to me." She looked up at him curiously through pink bangs. "You said you didn't know any fairytales, now you can relearn them."

"Thank you," she said. She smiled brightly at him and then hugged him. "But I think you'll have to read them to me."

"What? Why?" he asked.

She laughed and held the book open for him to see. "They're written in German, Ulrich. I can't read German. Or speak it."

"You could learn…"

"I thought fairytales were supposed to be read aloud," she countered. Her eyes were dancing and he felt himself giving in. She seemed to sense it too because she smiled sweetly at him. "It'll be like a bedtime story."

"Fine," he sighed. She hugged him again before skipping lightly to her bed and jumping on it. The mound of pillows and stuffed animals bounced as she landed but managed to stay on.

"This will be so much fun!" she exclaimed. She burrowed under the pink comforter and grinned at him. "What's your favorite tale?"

"Rumpelstilzchen," Ulrich replied.

"Okay, let's start with that one. And don't forget to show me the pictures!" she ordered. He laughed as he lay on the bed next to her. She curled up, head against his arm, and watched his fingers move slowly over the words as he translated them hesitantly.

It took eighty-seven days to get through Volume One and one hundred twenty-three days to get through Volume Two, reading one story each night after curfew. Occasionally Odd woke and asked him where he'd been but usually drifted back to sleep before he could come up with a convincing lie. Once or twice Jim caught him leaving Aelita's room (Aelita would offer him a sweet smile and remind him about their next (nonexistent) tutoring session) and Jim would give him the Evil Eye until he was back in his own room (but he wouldn't say anything).

On the two-hundred-eleventh day after he had started reading the tales they were all seated around one of the cafeteria tables eating breakfast. Ulrich looked up as Aelita joined them. "Briar Rose," she announced, taking a seat next to Jeremie.

"What?" Odd asked.

"I don't understand," Jeremie added. Yumi gave her a blank look from where she was nursing a cup of something caffeine filled.

"My favorite fairytale is Briar Rose," she elaborated. "The one with the princess who pricks her finger and sleeps for a hundred years."

"Oh, Sleeping Beauty," Yumi said. She nodded in recognition. "I always found that one boring."

"Really?" Aelita asked. She looked at them all and Ulrich gave her a reassuring smile. "I think it's pretty interesting," she said.

"Interesting or not it's still just a kid's story," Jeremie said. "Now, onto matters of reality…"

Aelita looked disappointed as Jeremie began to talk about a new computer program he was trying to install that would warn of an incoming X.A.N.A. attack before it happened. Ulrich may not have enjoyed it as much as she did, but he could see the appeal (and the parallels). It was the first time he thought that maybe she wasn't as naïve as she appeared.

. . … . .

Most times he envied her freedom.

She was essentially living out his dream of a fresh start: no family, no expectations, no anything. It was a dream come true and she didn't seem to recognize it. She'd scold Yumi for teasing her brother, tell Jeremie to call his parents more, write lengthy emails to Odd's family which was her family now (Ulrich still isn't sure how Odd pulled that one off), and pester Ulrich into answering the phone when his parents called.

She had a childlike wonder as she took in this world she'd forgotten about.

Aelita was all wide eyes and bright smiles as she experienced life on Earth. The first time she'd had ice cream she'd yelped at the coldness and then proceeded to eat hers and half of Jeremie's. Her discovery of nail polish had been a colorful one where she'd painted her nails every color she could and then attempted to paint his and Jeremie's (she succeeded with Odd). Odd introduced her to music and it was like a switch had been flipped where she had to own every CD or MP3 she could get her hands on.

It went on and on. Almost every day she would tell them about something oh-so-ordinary that she'd discovered and did you guys know strawberries burst like that? And did you know rain feels different every time? It was like watching a toddler exploring the outside world, he thought with an amused smile.

(Maybe he was more envious of her innocence, her naïveté, but he would never admit it.)

. . … . .

The stairway door creaked open with a rusty wail. He looked up from whatever it was he was drinking and saw the small silhouette standing in the doorway. He lifted the flashlight beam and shone it on her and watched as she lifted an arm to shield her eyes.

"Watch it," she snapped.

"Sorry." He dropped the beam and she picked her way across the broken machinery and loose wires until she sat on the cold concrete next to him. "What are you doing here, Aelita?"

She took the bottle from him and tilted it from side to side, listening to the liquid slosh against the sides. "You're an idiot," she told him fondly. The flashlight made the sparkles on her nails shimmer.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, you do realize we have the super computer and scanners monitored electrically, don't you? In case someone tries to turn it back on."

"Oh." He remembered Jeremie mentioned that a while back. "Yeah, yeah, I remember now." He hesitated. "Does anyone else know…?"

"About your little excursions here?" Aelita asked. He nodded and she shrugged. "Probably, but not from me. I've been monitoring the systems, but it was Odd who told me to look out for you, he had a suspicion." Ulrich snorted and adjusted the flashlight. Aelita sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. Strands of blonde hair tickled his nose and he wrinkled it in annoyance. He could still smell the chemicals two days and three washes later. "You aren't the only one who misses it," she murmured after a moment.

"What?" he asked.

"Lyoko," she whispered. "You don't know how much I think about restarting it, of going back one last time. To say goodbye…"

"Ai, he's gone. You know that," he said gently.

"Yeah, I know," she replied. She sat up and looked at the bottle of vodka again. "Does this stuff really help?" Before he could respond she took a swig from the bottle and then another (bigger) one.

"You shouldn't drin-"

"Keep talking, Ulrich," Aelita snapped. She hummed and took another sip of the vodka, feeling the warmth flowing down her throat. "This stuff is pretty vile," she told him. "Where did you get it?"

"Different places," he said. She nodded and handed him the bottle. He took it and set it aside.

"You should really stop," she told him. "Stop coming here, stop shutting everyone out, and stop drinking." She stared at him with green eyes eerily reminiscent of Odd's. Her blonde bangs hung in her eyes as she stared him down. It was disconcerting, the blonde-and-green, he wasn't used to her newly dyed hair. "Others are noticing. Ulrich you almost got a detention in Hertz's class. What if they found out you were drunk?"

"I wasn't."

"You were." Her arms crossed over her chest and she narrowed her eyes at him some more. "Odd said he tried to talk to you about it."

"He did," he agreed. His head felt cloudy and he wondered if it was the vertigo or the alcohol. Sometimes he couldn't tell anymore. "I don't have a problem."

"Of course not." The sarcasm dripped from her voice but he mostly ignored it. "Drinking's not going to make whatever it is go away," she told him softly.

"Ai…"

She sighed and he felt her head heavy on his shoulder.

. . … . .

After the ceremony they gather in the hotel room they all rented. Much to Jeremie's annoyance and Aelita's confusion he'd brought Sissi along to the room. Yumi had already returned to Paris, needing to work in the morning. In the morning he would be accompanying his family back to Germany and Sissi would be heading to England. Jeremie would be on his way east to Reims to stay with his family until school started. Odd would be returning to Norway for a month before joining him in London.

He was jarred out of his thoughts by shuffling footsteps. He looked up to see Aelita maneuvering herself through the room to the small balcony. She slid the door shut behind her. Ulrich sat up and stepped over Odd and barely avoided Jeremie's arm hanging off the small sofa. He slipped out the sliding door.

Aelita was leaning against the balcony wall. She looked away from the stars when he joined her. "I didn't mean to wake you," she said softly. The wind played with her blonde-and-pink hair.

"You didn't," he replied. "What are you doing up?"

She heaved a sigh. "Just thinking." She didn't look as exuberant as she did in the past. "Tomorrow everything changes."

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Ulrich?" He looked at her. "I'm scared."

"Why would you be scared?" he asked, surprised. Aelita had been many things over the years but he hadn't known her to be scared often. "Ai?"

"What if we lose touch? I know Odd's family is my family but they're not. I don't know them. I don't know Norway. Kadic is my home. You guys are my family. You and Odd and Jeremie and Yumi and even Jim and Sissi and Emily and…and what if tomorrow it all ends?"

Her shoulders shook and he pulled her into a tight hug. Her face burrowed into his shoulder. "Ai, nothing like that's going to happen."

"You all have families that love you, homes you grew up in. I have nothing anymore." Her breath hitched.

"You do too, you just said so. We're your family, Aelita and we love you. We'll be there. Don't worry. You can visit us in Scotland whenever you want and you can visit Jeremie and Yumi in Paris and Odd's family adores you, you know that."

She nodded but he had a feeling she didn't believe it fully. They stood like that for a long time: him being reassuring and rubbing her back, her sniffing and nodding. And for once he didn't envy her even a little.