Hey! Sorry for the delay on this one! Between work, catching on AoT and being really busy with the new patch on FFXIV, I haven't had much time to myself to write so this one was rushed to at least get it out!
Call to Action: Chapter 5
"What is SHE doing here?"
Aelita blinked in response, looking over her shoulder in confusion for someone else in the room.
"Me?" she asked, pointing her finger up at her face. The girl who was currently leering at her moved closer to Aelita and looked down her nose at her. She was taller than Aelita but not by much with ginger hair cut just shorter than Aelita's. Aelita noticed that besides her height, the girl in front of her was more in shape than anyone else in the room, something that intimidated her a little.
"You've got some nerve coming here." she spat causing Aelita to flinch. As Aelita struggled to find the words to respond with, Kale tapped the girl on the forehead with the palm of his hand.
"Leonie." Kale firmly said, looking the ginger in the eye before walking past her, "It's not her."
Leonie looked Aelita up and down once more before her face shifted in horror, realizing her mistake instantly.
"Oh my god! I am so sorry!" Leonie cried, grabbing Aelita's hands in hers and bringing them up to her face. Aelita looked from her to Kale then back and smiled.
"It's alright, no worries!" Aelita awkwardly laughed, not sure if what just happened was real. She didn't get a chance to follow up before the door behind them swung open, revealing Goss, Hugh, Yumi and Odd panting in the doorway with Ulrich standing behind, seemingly fine.
"Aelita!" Goss panted, placing his hands on his knees to catch his breath, "You okay?"
"I'm fine! Wha- Wait, did all of you run all the way here?!" Aelita gasped, noticing her friends struggling to catch their breath.
"Yeah, we sure did Princess." Odd responded, getting a somewhat strenuous grasp on his breath and entering the room before slumping against a wall and sliding down it. Clearly. he wasn't in as good of shape as he thought.
"I told you we were just getting my wallet." Kale said from the other side of the room, holding his wallet in his hand.
Goss marched across the room and towered above Kale, placing his hand on the smaller man's shoulder and turning him away from the others and began to talk in hushed tones.
"So..." Ulrich whistled, placing his hand on Odd's shoulder who looked up at him with a forced smile, earning a grin from Ulrich at his buddy's lack of stamina.
"OH! Right!" Hugh almost shouted before walking over to the three other people in the room, "This is Lucy, Ren and Leonie!"
The groups eyes fell on the trio that were mentioned, Aelita had already interacting with Leonie but not really paying much attention to the others.
Ren leaned against a desk as he studied the group. He was roughly the same height as Odd with short, dark hair which was shaved at the sides. His face was quite young but his studious eyes were filled with silent judgement. After he thought for a little, he gave a wave and a smile.
"Hey, nice to meetcha!" he grinned, his eyes closing when he smiled. Something about how he spoke and smiled made the group feel uneasy but they just pushed it aside as nerves. Once they had all said their greetings, one of the girls stepped forward and smiled.
"Hi! I'm Lucy! Kale's older sister!" she beamed, tilting her head with an open smile. Ulrich took one look down at Odd and from the look on his face, could tell the blonde was smitten. Lucy was tall with long dark hair that reached her lower back, her eyes bright blue and skin pale. Odd looked her up and down and figured the only word that could be used to describe her was beautiful. Aelita looked at Lucy, then to Kale... then back at Lucy before back to Kale again.
"I'll tell you later." Hugh whispered to Aelita, noticing the confusion on the Pinkettes face, "And last but not least, Leonie!"
The ginger gave a short wave before looking at the group and turning to Aelita.
"I'm so sorry about all of that! I got you confused with someone else!" Leonie said, blushing from embarrassment. Shaking her head, Aelita gave her a smile and reassured her it was okay.
"So wait, what happened?" Goss asked, rejoining the conversation while Kale had moved to the large window and looked down over the dance floor.
"I got her confused with Ta-" Leonie started before catching herself, instantly looking over at Kale. He was currently looking out the window onto the dance floor and upon hearing Leonie, turned to look at her and shrugged in response which she knew was his way of saying 'I don't care'.
"Tell the story if you want. I've got something to take care of before I go." Kale simply stated, walking past the group to the door, "I'll be back in 10."
Kale left the room and closing the door as he did, leaving the others in silence for a few seconds before Lucy spoke up.
"You look almost identical to his old girlfriend." Lucy simply stated, her bluntness almost identical to her brother.
"Taelia." Leonie spat, anger stitched onto her face, clearly she didn't like the girl at all.
The moment the name was mentioned, the ex Lyoko warriors froze in place. Taelia, the girl who they confused with Aelita when she was first materialized and who, if not for a return trip to the past, would have been the reason they lost the super computer.
"No way..." Ulrich muttered, running his hand through his hair.
"You know her?" Lucy asked, tilting her head at the brunette.
"Yeah, we met her once. She wasn't very nice." Odd finished for Ulrich, finally standing after his breath returned to him.
"Yeah, she was nice at first," Ren shrugged, speaking for the first time since his greeting, "But then she went all pyscho and messed him up even further!" he chuckled, earning him a jab in the ribs from Leonie, who stared at him in anger.
"Messed him up?" Odd asked but stopped when Lucy moved forward and put her hand on his shoulder.
"Look, this stuff is best kept private. It's not our place to bring up old memories, especially considering we just met." she said, patting his cheek before turning to walk to the large window over the dance floor.
Odd's placed his hand on his cheek where hers was just seconds and felt the corner of his lips turn upwards into a faint smile which didn't go unnoticed by Ulrich.
Minutes passed before Goss's phone rang. Picking it up, Kale's voice could faintly be heard over the phone, Goss responded with 'Alright' before hanging up.
"Kale's waiting outside, shall we go?" he asked, looking at his roommates plus Aelita and Yumi. The group nodded and were about to leave before Goss was stopped by Lucy who tossed him a bunch of keys.
"There's no way you're all walking home after running here, tell him to take the van." she smiled, waving them off and returning to look out the window. Nodding in response, they said their goodbyes and made their way downstairs and back into the booming music of the nightclub. Walking through, Aelita made sure to stay in the middle of the group, hoping to avoid the problem she had while entering. Once they made it outside, they saw Kale leaning on the wall, a cigarette in his mouth and looking around at the buildings.
"Yo, Kale." Goss called once they neared him, tossing him the keys. He looked down at the bunch of keys in his hand and nodded, recognizing the keys.
Following Goss to where the van was parked, the group climbed into various seats with Kale and Ulrich sitting in the front. Starting up the engine, Kale looked in the mirror and reversed out but stopped for a second to look down a nearby alleyway. Ulrich followed his eyes, squinting his eyes to better see down the alley, he noticed trashcans and boxes mostly but squinted harder when he noticed something large on the ground. He was unable to make it out before the van took off, leaving the alleyway behind and Ulrich shrugging it from his mind.
The drive home was filled with the low music from the radio and chatter in the back of the van, laughs every now and again interrupting the conversation. It wasn't until they were driving past the street their house was on that Ulrich looked over at Kale.
"Where are we going?" Ulrich asked, looking out the window.
"I still have to go shopping." Kale shrugged, pulling up to a red light. He put on the handbrake and rolled down his window, listening to the chatter in the back as he pulled another cigarette and popped it into his mouth. While he was doing this, Ulrich noticed how the hand he used to light the cigarette was redder than the rest of his skin and the knuckles were white. Mentally noting it, Ulrich looked over his shoulder and smiled at Odd doing a silly face, obviously intertwined in whatever story he was currently telling.
Eventually they arrived outside a store as they all climbed out of the van. Locking it, they made their way inside and done what they had originally set out to do. Shopping.
Loading bags into the boot of the van, Goss closed the door and smiled.
"Talk about an eventful first day." he laughed, leaning against the van while waiting on the others who were walking slower.
"It was... interesting!" Yumi laughed, looking over as Ulrich, Hugh and Kale walked up towards them, Ulrich and Hugh laughing while Kale nodded along with whatever they were saying.
Odd and Aelita were the last to exit the store, drinks in hand and chatting casually as the others waited. Ulrich found himself in the back this time while Yumi sat in the front passenger seat opposite Kale.
"You two walked to ours, right?" Kale asked her, putting his seatbelt on and rolling his window down a little. Yumi nodded in response as she looked over her shoulder at Aelita who was chatting casually with their new friends.
"I'll drop you guys home after we get the groceries back to our place." Kale said, his voice as monotone. Yumi smiled in response before looking back over at Aelita then back to Kale.
"Is it because she looks like Taelia that you were nice to her?" Yumi quietly asked, not wanting the others to stop their conversation and overhead them. After turning the keys in the ignition, Kale popped a cigarette into his mouth and began reversing out of their current parking spot. The silence that followed the question filled Yumi with fear that she may have crossed a line with him but was relieved when he spoke.
"I guess." he responded finally, simple and flat. Yumi let out a sigh of relief, happy she hadn't upset him. The rest of the ride home was silent in the front while the back was filled with laughs and chatter, the music barely able to be heard over the group. Once outside the house, Goss, Ulrich, Hugh and Odd exited the van with the groceries in hand and closed the boot.
"So, are you two busy tomorrow? We could all hang!" Goss asked, gesturing to Yumi and Aelita.
"Yeah we can hang, it'll be fun!" Yumi smiled, shooting him a thumbs up followed by Aelita's own thumbs up.
"You'll be joining us too Kale, won't you?" Hugh called from behind Goss, a grin plastered on his face.
"Remember, you said you'd help me in the backgarden tomorrow." Kale pointed out, looking over at Goss and Hugh who both groaned.
"Oh come on, can't we do it next weekend? We have to celebrate our new friends!" Hugh said groaning, using his new friends as an excuse to get out of manual labor. Kale rubbed his scar while deep in thought before shrugging.
"I'll do it in the morning, you can all go have fun."
"You sure? We could help out?" Ulrich asked, poking his head out from behind Goss as well.
"It's alright, no worries." Kale nodded to the German. They finally all said their goodbyes and went inside as Yumi, Aelita and Kale took off in the van towards Yumi's apartment. The drive was silent for the most part with Yumi giving directions on how to get there before they found themselves sitting on the street outside. Waving them goodbye, Kale took off down the street as Yumi and Aelita watched the vehicle turn the corner and disappear. Making their way into the building and up, Aelita leaned against the wall as Yumi fished the keys out of her pocket.
"What's up Schaeffer?" Yumi asked, glancing at the Pinkette out of the corner of her eye.
"Goss and Hugh are so nice and friendly," Aelita began, following Yumi inside once the door had opened and closed it behind her, "But he's so strange." she finished, gesturing her hand to the wall.
"True but hey, at least he's handsome! You sure must have noticed!" Yumi laughed, patting her friend on the back and walking past her. Aelita rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless. She missed this, just being with her best friends and having Yumi who was like a sister to her, so close.
"You're one to talk, making googoo eyes at Ulrich!" Aelita laughed, pointing a finger at Yumi who felt a blush creep up on her face.
"Oh shut it, Schaeffer!"
Parking the van back in the lot, the brunette made his way to the front of the Nightclub before turning right and walking down to the alley he stared at before leaving.
Leaning against the wall was Lucy and Leonie who with a small wave, greeted him as he got closer. Handing her keys back, Kale wordlessly walked past them and into the alleyway as they followed closely behind. Hovering over the shape on the ground Ulrich tried looking at earlier, he tapped it with his foot.
"Come on, get up." Kale sighed, reaching down and hoisting the shape up. When the light hit him, Leonie and Lucy looked at each other in confusion before looking at Kale.
"Who's that?" Leonie asked, moving beside Kale and looking up at him.
"Some jackass who punched me inside." Kale said, fixing the man's shirt before moving him to the entrance of the alleyway. The man's face was bruised and there was blood caked into the sides of his head, the man blinked slowly and finally his eyes moved up to Kale and he pushed him away, panic on his face and began to run away. Lucy, Kale and Leonie watched as the man ran away, looking over his shoulder every now and again to see if the trio was following and soon disappeared from sight.
"I wish you'd stop doing this." Lucy sighed, looking up at her brother whose eyes hadn't moved from the last place he seen the man. Tearing his eyes away, he looked at his sister and shrugged.
"I'll stop doing it when I have a reason to." Kale responded, looking down at his hands in the light, noticing specks of dried-up blood on his knuckles. Saying their goodbyes, Leonie and Lucy left in the same car while Kale walked to his which was still sitting on the side of the road he had originally left it on before climbing in and leaning back in the seat. Catching his eyes in the mirror, he stared at himself for a few seconds before starting up the car and making his way home.
Once home, he made his way inside and up to his room, locking the door after he entered and laid on his back on his bed, lazily looking at the pictures on the wall, his eyes heavy.
Taking one last look at one of the pictures on his wall, he drifted to sleep. His last thoughts of the photo on the wall of him standing beside a girl with short, dark red hair, both of them smiling.
I'm excited about what I'm going to be doing with this story from here on out between the friendship of Aelita and Kale and the romantic stuff I have planned for Ulrich and Yumi/Odd and Lucy! I haven't decided on pairings yet but I'll figure it out as I go! All I know for sure is there will be conflict and heartbreak! But anyway, that's all I can disclose for now so I'll see you guys next time!