Chapter 3 – The Pact

Many miles away, a young man was sitting as his computer processing the orders at his job. "Thank you, have a nice day…" He hung up on the person he was speaking to. Suddenly, a faint stream of static buzzed on his screen. He jerked back a bit and tapped on the screen, nothing.

His supervisor noticed and approached him. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, I think something's wrong with the power?" The supervisor tapped the screen a few times just like he had and again, nothing happened. He just gave the worker a shrug and went about his work.

Meanwhile in the boxing center, another worker was writing labels to put on boxes for shipping. Placing a tag on the box in front of him, he moved over the computer to check the next on the list. "Xana Schaeffer… Kadic Academy… France…" He went about his job as normal and slapped the label on the box and sent it away.

As the bell rang, the students slowly emptied out of the final classes for the day. Out of the classroom last, were the four Lyoko Warriors in the lower grade. The warriors slowly went their ways to the dorm without speaking so much as a word to each other. The last couple weeks had turned from a nice calm to a nightmare they couldn't wake up from. Whether he was doing it to taunt them or if there was a strategy, it didn't matter, Xana was relentless. Just the day before, Odd had been arrested for sexual assault on another student. The day before that, Aelita was expelled for cheating and plagiarizing. It seems like anything they did, it got them either expelled or arrested and every time they would have to launch a Return to the Past. But no matter how many times it was done, they would never forget the looks of disappointment on everyone else's face. They could always erase the damage done to their future and reputation but never the damage done to them and it made them feel like pariahs and outcasts in their own minds.

William Dunbar however, was a different story. It seemed that no matter who's lives where ruined and no matter how many times the return trip was made, he was never targeted and he had no idea why. The only theory he could come up with was that Xana was mocking him, telling him that he wasn't worthy of his ire. He glanced over at Yumi who was slowly putting her books away. It was as if all fight in her had just complete faded and nothing made her smile anymore, and it make him incredibly angry. He wanted to do something to help but Xana just continued to ignore his existence.

With classes over, everyone had returned to their dorms including Odd and Ulrich. Ulrich was remained lying down in his bed staring up at the ceiling. Odd was sitting quietly petting his dog Kiwi, who was quietly whining. Although he couldn't speak, Odd kind of suspected his best buddy knew something was wrong. "I know your upset buddy… I am too…"

"By the way, I heard Cristine was looking you." Ulrich spoke up.

"No way. I'm not getting accused of rape again." Odd remained silent for a while. "I heard Jim was looking to get you back on the team."

"Nope… Not getting accused of taking steroids again…"

The two just remained there in silence for several more minutes. "Ulrich…?" The brown-haired boy turned to look at him. "When did our lives start to suck so much?"

"Do I even need to answer that question, Odd?"

The blond-haired boy looked down disappointed. "I was hoping you would say something mysterious and I would suddenly wake up and find out I was in a coma."

"This is not a dream, Odd…"

"I know…" He turned over and laid down on his back just like Ulrich.

At the Ishiyama residence, Akiko was busy making dinner when she heard the door open. "Yumi, is that you?"

"Yeah…" She responded quietly.

"I'm making dinner."

"I'm not hungry…" The girl passed by and walked upstairs into her room.

Akiko frowned. "I see…" While she was happy her daughter seemed to break her habit of leaving early and coming home late, it was obvious something was wrong with her. Before her excuses for her behavior would usually be 'I'm with my friends' or 'I have a boyfriend'. Now the only things she ever told them was 'I just don't feel like it' or 'I'm just tired.'

Shortly after, her husband Takeho walked in the door. "Akiko, I'm home."

"I'm making dinner."

"Great, should we wait for Yumi to get home?"

Akiko frowned again. "She's upstairs… She is skipping dinner again…"

"Again…?" He sat down at the kitchen table.

"Takeho… I'm worried about Yumi…"

"We always are."

"No, now it's just…" Akiko stopped she was doing and just looked out the window. "Before I was always worried of losing our Yumi, but now it feels like we've already lost her… Now the only thing she does is go to school and sleep all day. She doesn't even talk about her friends anymore…"

At that moment, their son Hiroki walked in. "Is dinner ready? I'm hungry!"

"Just about Hiroki."

"I saw Yumi going upstairs, should I get her?"

Akiko shook her head. "Just leave her…"

Hiroki said nothing for a few seconds. "Mom… Why is Yumi not fun anymore…?" None of them could give a meaningful answer.

Meanwhile at the factory, Jeremy was hard at work on the Supercomputer on his new project. Behind him, the elevator door opened and Aelita stepped in. "How's it going Jeremy."

"Alright, shouldn't be too much longer before they are done."

"I am just glad you liked my idea enough to put off the Skid for it."

"Liked it? I can't believe I never thought of it before! Relying on the Superscan is such a hassle when I am the only one who can see it and now that Xana can attack us without towers, we really need this."

"I can't wait to see how they come out."

"Yeah, we can only hope this will give us some breathing room in our lives…"

Aelita sighed and looked down in disappointment. While she and Jeremy seemed to be better than the others, it was still hard being treated like criminals every week. Granted, the two of them technically were criminals with all the illegal things they had done in their fight against Xana so it was easier to deal with. "So, what do we do about the others?"

Jeremy stopped typing for a moment. "To be honest, I don't know…" He turned his chair back to look at her. "The entire reason we bonded in the first place was to save you while keeping Xana at bay. Now that you're free, it feels like Xana is the only reason we are together anymore… It's become less some less something we felt we had to do and now more of an obligation."

"I was willing to sacrifice myself to keep Xana sealed away forever but you refused. Now it's our duty to ensure that mistake doesn't end all of humanity…"

"Aelita, no!" He got out of his chair and grabbed Aelita's hands. "Aelita, you're not a mistake. Despite everything that has happened, I wouldn't change a thing. It may have been selfish of us to put one life over the lives of many but that was our choice to make. Let us be the ones to bear the burden for that choice."

"Then let me bear it with you!" She screamed with tears in her eyes. "I hate seeing you all like this because it makes me feel like everything was for nothing! What was even the point of saving me from Lyoko we can't even enjoy what we have…?"

"Aelita…" He reached forward and wrapped his arms around her. "I promise you; we won't let this all go to waste…"

The next morning, a large mail delivery van was pulling up to Kadic Academy. Jim saw the van and approached the man in the driver's seat. "So, anything we need signing off for?"

The man looked at his clipboard. "I've got a big delivery for a 'Xana Schaeffer'."

"Oh, him. I'll go get him."

"No need…" Jim turned around and Xana was already there. The boy walked up to the man in the vehicle and took the clipboard to sign it before handing it back.

"Pleasure doing business with you Mr. Schaeffer." The man walked into the back and pulled out a rather large box. "You might need some help carrying this one. I don't think someone your age can handle this one."

"I got it!" Jim called. He stepped up to the man and who dropped the box into his arms. "Oof…" He groaned. "What in the world did you buy that is so heavy?"

"Chips, wires, circuit boards… You know…" Though he wished to not tell the human, it would be better for him to just keep things vague enough to satisfy him.

"Yeah, sounds about right. Reminds me of when I worked as an Electrician in the military." Jim stopped. "But I'd rather not talk about it…" Xana just looked at him impassively, clearly not amused by Jim's famous phrase.

Down in the boy's dorm, Ulrich was returning to his room from breakfast when he heard a voice. "So, Schaeffer, what do you plan to do with all this stuff anyway?" It was Jim's voice. Ulrich quickly pressed himself against the wall and glanced around the corner. There was Jim carrying a large cardboard box with Xana unlocking the door to his room.

"I'm working on a large-scale project; it will probably take a few months." Hearing Xana talk so openly about something felt kind of strange. It was obvious he had no clue he was there. "I'd prefer to keep it a secret until it's closer to completion Mr. Morales."

"Nah, just Jim is fine."

Xana has unlocked his door and opened it for the gym teacher. Sadly, Ulrich couldn't see inside from the angle he was hiding from. "I'm expecting a few more shipments over the next couple weeks so I would appreciate if you could assist me more in the future Jim."

"Anything you need Schaeffer, I'm just glad to help such a hard-working student." With that, Xana closed his door.

"What in the world…?" Ulrich asked to himself.

"Stern!" Jim called out. "What are you doing just idling around in the halls?"

"I, uh…" He was trying to figure out an answer. "I was just going back to my room to pick up my bag."

"Really…?" Jim gave a look like he didn't believe it.

Ulrich then decided to take a stab at a question. "So, what were you carrying Jim? It looked heavy."

"NONE OF YOUR BEESWAX, STERN!" He yelled. Ulrich just frowned at Jim's selective hypocrisy. Oh, Xana was good… Sucking up to Jim and the teachers in a way without sounding patronizing. Now while everyone is on their butt about every little secret, here he was probably building some super-weapon in his dorm and the teachers couldn't care less. It was about time they called their first meeting in a while.

"You saw Jim carrying a box to Xana's dorm?" Jeremy asked. They were all gathered in the woods that covered most of the campus so Xana and Sissi wouldn't disturb them.

"Yeah, with more to come. Says he is working on some large-scale project that will take him a few months to complete."

"So Xana 'is' working on something…" Jeremy thought for a moment. "It must either be some kind of weapon or he is building his own Supercomputer."

"He can do that?" Odd asked.

"Remember, Xana isn't like us. While the Supercomputer may seem advanced to us, it's basic knowledge to him."

"What I want to know is how he is getting all these parts?" Yumi asked.

"Probably stole them, knowing Xana…" Ulrich answered.

"It wouldn't exactly be hard for him." Jeremy continued. "He may be human now but he still has the mind of an A.I. which means it would be simple for him to hack into a database somewhere and have himself placed on an order list. I've seen him with a laptop on more than one occasion in the library so I know he has the hardware to even without a Supercomputer."

"There is just one problem, how is knowing all this going to help us? It's not like we can do anything to stop him. He already has Sissi and practically every teacher under his thumb already."

"He is a suck up is what he is." Odd spoke up.

"He may be a suck up but it's clearly working…" Jeremy added. "He feels no shame as long as he gets his way in the end."

Everyone just sat around for a while longer not saying a word. "Well, I guess it's about time we get to class…" Ulrich was back to speaking in that let down voice they had become used to hearing.

"Same… We'll see you later Yumi…" Continued Odd in the same tone.

"Yeah…" Yumi too.

"Wait!" Everyone stopped and looked at Aelita, who hadn't spoken a word all meeting. "I… I brought you all something…" She reached into her bag and pulled out some tickets. "The Subdigitals are playing at the fair this weekend and I managed to get us all-access tickets for the weekend."

"Aelita…" Ulrich tried to respond before he was interrupted.

"NO! I hate this and I hate what this is doing to us!" She put her hands together in front of her chest. "What is the point of life if we can't enjoy it? Ever since Xana came back into our lives you've all stopped enjoying yours."

Everyone looked amongst themselves. "Aelita… It's just…" Yumi tried to find the words. "What's the point if it's all going to be ruined when one of us is going to be discovered with a weapon… Or drugs…"

"THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!" She screamed. "You've become so used to Xana ruining anything fun you could possibly do that you have stopped trying!" Jeremy just stood by watching everything unfold, they needed this and Aelita was the only one who could do this. "Where are the brave warriors who put their own lives on the line just to save what they thought was an A.I.? Where are the strong humans who didn't care what anybody said about them because their friends were more important?" Aelita finally began to calm down a bit. "You've all lost sight of who you are and now only care about passing life by… Instead of focusing on the look of disappointment on everyone else's faces, look at the disappointment on your own faces…"

At this point, Jeremy finally stepped forward. "If you are not willing to fight for yourself, then what reason to you have to fight for each other…?"

Ulrich, Odd and Yumi paused. What were they doing? Despite facing death numerous times, it never broke them before. So why now are they letting Xana get to them when he isn't even trying to kill them? "I… I…" Yumi stuttered out, before she suddenly collapsed to her knees. "I just can't stand it!" She yelled now sobbing. "I hate seeing that same look in my parents eyes every time I go to sleep! The way they would tell me I dishonored the family name and how they are ashamed to have me as a daughter!" She covered her face with her hands. "I know they don't remember any of it but I do!"

Next, Odd looked down in shame. "For as long as I can remember, I always hated how nothing I did would ever disappoint my parents… But now… All I here from people is how worthless and neglectful they are for letting me turn out so bad… It was one thing for me to wonder if they actually cared but now to hear everyone tell me they don't." He began to clutch his fists. "It just makes me so angry that everyone believes I am a good for nothing delinquent and that my family is the reason!"

Aelita then looked at Ulrich who had his head tilted forward and his eyes closed. "Ulrich?" Aelita made a motion with her arm as if offering something.

Ulrich turned around and looked away from the group. "What do you want me to say? That my father is disappointed in me or that everyone believes I will get nowhere in life? I get that all the time and frankly, I've stopped caring…"

"Then tell us Ulrich, what is hurting you?" Aelita ran up to Ulrich and put a hand on his shoulder. "Please…?"

Ulrich then crossed his arms over his chest and began to shake. "I'm scared of becoming a killer…" Aelita removed her hand and took a step away. "It feels like the longer we go on, the more I just stop caring, you know? What is the point of trying if anyone already thinks I am a disappointment?" He turned back around and looked at the others. "Don't lie, you all think I'm just dead weight with all the problems I cause, don't you?"

"Ulrich, no!"

"Whenever there is a disagreement, it's my fault. Whenever Sissi causes us problems, it's my fault."

"But how does that make you a killer?" Odd finally spoke up.

Ulrich tensed up and turned his head away. "Because sometimes… I wonder… If I should just leave them to die…"

Yumi finally broke out of her mood and shot up. "Ulrich, how could you ever think that!?"

"If nobody cares about me, why should I care about them?"

"We care about you Ulrich!" She rushed over to the boy and grabbed his head, forcing him to look at her. "Don't you ever think that you don't have people who care about you! I don't care what your dad says, or what the teachers say, you're special to us… Special to me…"

Ulrich's face went red as he looked into Yumi's eyes. "Yumi…"

"I love you, Ulrich!"

Everyone else's jawed dropped and Odd was becoming giddy. "Oh my god, she said it!" He whispered to Jeremy and Aelita.

"Yumi, but I thought…?" Ulrich tried to ask but was interrupted by the older girl.

"I was wrong, Ulrich. I was wrong to try and blame you for everything and I was wrong in not respecting your own feelings. I always hoped you would one day break this jealously habit of yours because I thought you were just being selfish. Do you actually believe that no one cares, enough that you would leave them at the mercy of Xana if given the chance?"

Ulrich tried to look away in shame. "I've considered it… On more than one occasion…"

Yumi reaffirmed her grip and forced him to look at her again. "Then I'll be there to set you straight. Even if your dad throws you out and the rest of society throws turns on you, I don't care. I will always be by your side to remind you that there are people who care about you."

"But what about your parents? Surely they wouldn't approve of you being with a failure like me…"

"I don't care! You've always been there for me even after I treated you like garbage. My parents will never truly understand what you and I have been through." Then, a realization finally hit her. She pulled away from Ulrich and looked at everyone. "No one does, except for you guys…"

Jeremy stepped forward. "We've all been through a lot and seen a lot. Those mental scars will likely never fade away and we have to live with that." The boy leaned his head forward before pushing his glasses back up. "No kid should ever have to go through what we have. That is the reason I continue to fight. To ensure nobody else is forced to share this burden."

"As do I!" Aelita spoke. "My father started this and we will finish it, together! The existence of Lyoko, Xana and everything else must die with us and us alone!"

"We cannot allow disagreements and doubts to get in the way like this anymore. So, what do you guys say?" Jeremy held out both his arms. "Let's put all of this behind us and start over. A clean slate where there is no more distrust and no more fighting…"

Aelita followed suit and locked her left hand with Jeremy's right. "If you ever need someone to talk with, I will always be there to listen, no matter how small or insignificant… I don't want any more secrets between us."

Next Odd stepped up and grabbed Aelita's other hand. "Since we are being honest with each other, I just thought I'd let you know Jeremy that I copied your history test." Jeremy didn't say anything at Odd's joke, he just smiled.

Next was Yumi, who grabbed Jeremy's remaining hand. "You're right, we can't let stupid stuff like this to get in the way anymore."

Odd and Yumi held out their free hands to Ulrich. "I don't…"

"Ulrich." Yumi interrupted. "You don't have to be alone anymore; you can always tell us when something is wrong. We will be there and we will listen…" Saying nothing, Ulrich stepped forward and completed the circle.

"Now, I want you all to close your eyes…" Aelita instructed. They all did and didn't speak a word to each other. The only thing they could hear was the sound of each other breathing. "Now repeat after me, 'I am not alone; I have someone who loves me.'"

"I am not alone; I have someone who loves me." They all repeated.

"'I won't hide my feelings anymore because I have someone who will listen.'"

"I won't hide my feelings anymore because I have someone who will listen."

"'We will never abandon each other, no matter where we go.'"

"We will never abandon each other, no matter where we go.'"

"'We are not defined by our mistakes, but by what we choose to learn from them.'"

"We are not defined by our mistakes, but by what we choose to learn from them."

"'We will stand real tall because we are stronger after all…'"

"We will stand real tall because we are stronger after all…"

Aelita began to cry. "I'm so happy to have met you all…"

The five teens all looked upon each other holding hands in a circle. Jeremy eventually decided to break the silence. "Now, what do you say the five of us enjoy the rest of the week, together." The others laughed a bit hearing Jeremy of all people say that, but that just showed how serious he truly was.

For the first time in a long time, the five warriors genuinely enjoyed life. Every day up until the date of the fair, the five of them spent doing something together not giving a single care about Lyoko or Xana. One day, they even banded together to go see a movie. It was terrible but they all had fun laughing in amusement. Of course, Xana continued his daily attacks on their personal lives. One time he had apparently hacked into the school's system and changed everyone's grades while framing Jeremy for the action. Delmas chewed him out like usual and threatened to expel him but Jeremy just sat there with a smile on face as the Return to the Past wiped over them. Next cycle, they went about their day as if the return trip never even happened.

When the day of the fair came, they agreed to be happy regardless of what happened. "If there is a Xana attack, that just means we get another day at the fair!" Odd had told them. He was right, just because Xana tried to ruin something doesn't mean they couldn't enjoy it the second time.

At the fair, Jeremy took Aelita along to the various stalls and found a darts game offering a giant stuffed bear. Try as Jeremy might, he just couldn't hit the balloons. Disappointed, Jeremy stepped away only for Aelita to get the top prize on her first try. She of course, handed the same giant bear to Jeremy instead. "I won it so I get to choose who keeps it." Jeremy just gave her a deadpan look but agreed anyway.

Odd had sprinted right to the food to the amusement of everyone else. Whatever savings he hadn't spent at the theater days before, he spent it here. It was only about 15 minutes later when they saw Odd running to the bathroom followed by a the sound of him vomiting. "You'll never stop being so scrawny with that attitude Odd." Ulrich joked.

Odd began to yell from the bathroom. "I'm not scrawny, I'm-" He began to vomit again. It was all in good fun as they asked how he was feeling when he came out. "Remind me to never buy fair food again."

Late in the afternoon, they ran into the Subdigitals who were preparing for the show. "Hey everyone, how's it going?" The band's drummer asked the group.

"Better than ever Chris." Aelita responded.

"Wonderful. Since you're here, you feel like taking part in the show today? We have a small break we can fit you in."

Aelita looked at Jeremy who was giving her a thumbs up. "I would love to Chris."

So once the time came for the band to go on break, they announced a surprise guest would take their place during the break. "Ladies and gentleman, introducing the youngest DJ this side of France. Aelita Stones!" The girl came on stage a took a bow before going about her work. The crowd cheered and hollered at her music. In the middle of the crowd, the four friends were also dancing to the tunes.

"Wow, I don't think I have ever seen this side of you Jeremy!" Odd joked.

"If this is something Aelita loves doing, then I might as well enjoy it too." Jeremy responded. Yumi smiled at the claim as it was known that Jeremy had trouble supporting of Aelita's personal life in the past. He always felt Xana was number one priority but now, it didn't matter. He had complete trust in her to know when to have fun and to take things seriously. That was what their new pact meant, complete trust in each other.

Later, Yumi had dragged Ulrich along to the ferris wheel. If they were going to take their relationship seriously, they needed to do more away from the others. The two of them just sat in their seat for a while, unsure exactly how to proceed. Eventually, Ulrich was the one to break the ice. "So Yumi, I have a question…"

She looked at him. "What is it Ulrich?"

"When you said you don't care what your parents think anymore, did you really mean that?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because… I would hate to get in the way of your relationship with your family. My family is a lost cause but yours love you, I don't want to ruin it…"

Yumi looked away and tried to think. "I do care what they think, they are my family after all." She quickly turned back to him. "But if I am forced to choose between them and you, I will choose you Ulrich… I don't care if they disapprove or believe I am ruining my future, that doesn't matter to me…" She then leaned in close and rest her head on his shoulders. "Because you are my future Ulrich…"

"Even if I end up a drop out with no job?"

"Then you'll just have to trust us to make sure that never happens… Nobody left behind… That is why I fight, to uphold my honor and values as a person even if it costs me my life…"

The two sat there unmoving for a while. "Hey Yumi…"

"Yeah…?"

"I'm sorry…"

Yumi leaned back up and looked at him. "You have nothing to be sorry for. Everything that has happened between the two of us is in the past now."

Ulrich looked down in disappointment. "No, not that…" He reached over and grabbed the girls' hands. The two stared into each other's eyes while red in the face. "I'm sorry I was too stubborn to say this before but… I love you too Yumi…"

She blushed harder. "Ulrich…"

"You were right, I was a jealous and selfish jerk. Any time I saw you with another guy, I always assumed the worst without thinking about how you felt. I should have trusted you from the very start that there was nothing going on between you and William and I should have given you space to be yourself instead of just thinking of you as my girl."

"Ulrich, you have no idea how long I have waited to hear you say that…"

"I understand now, this is what Jeremy and Aelita were talking about. No more lying, both to each other and ourselves. These last few days have been the happiest days of my life and I never want it to end, but I know it will eventually." He let go of her hands and slammed his fist into the palm of his other hand. "We WILL defeat Xana and we WILL put an end to this once and for all. That is why I will fight… Not for myself or to satisfy my father, but to make sure the world is a safe place for all of us."

Down on the ground, Odd was looked up at them feeling a bit sad. "Man, now I feel kind of left out."

Aelita came up from behind and put her hands on his shoulders, poking her head out over one. "You don't need to have someone personal to fight for. You are you and only you can choose what to do with your life."

Odd thought to himself for a moment. "Then… I will fight for all that is awesome in the world! To make the world a place people want to live. No matter what happens to us, I will be there until the very end to show people there is always something good to look forward to!"

"That is a wonderful purpose Odd…"

Sadly, the day had eventually come to the end. As the sun began to set, the five friends began to walk home. "I've got some news for you all." Jeremy spoke up. "Aelita and I have been working on a secret project. While it won't help us defeat Xana, it will give us a great boost to our ability to respond to attacks. No matter the situation, no matter where you are, someone will be able to find you."

"Sounds great Jeremy." Yumi replied. "Can't wait to see the results."

"They should be done sometime in the next week, Aelita and I will head back to the factory after school on Monday to continue our work…" Jeremy suddenly stopped himself. "That is… If you don't have anything else to do Aelita?"

Aelita smiled that Jeremy was concerned about her own schedule. "Of course not, I want this done as soon as possible."

As the group neared Yumi's home, it was time to break off for the night. "Well, everyone… I'll see you tomorrow at school."

"And we'll be waiting for you." Ulrich replied with a smile.

Once Yumi had entered her home. She leaned up against the front door, put her hand to her chest and took a sigh of relief. "You look happy today." Her mother noted. "Did you enjoy the fair?"

"More than you can ever know."

"You want to sit with us for dinner?"

"Of course!" She quickly walked up to the table and sat down. When her parents inquired about what happened at the fair, she was glad to explain everything… Leaving out the details about Lyoko and Xana of course… She had no reason to lie to her parents about her personal life and felt no need to hide her feelings about Ulrich and her friends. Afterall, they were reborn and had nothing to hide from each other anymore…

When I said that writing ahead was giving me a clearer picture of how I wanted this to go, this was the chapter I was talking about. Now despite how this chapter appears, I have no intention of making this a romance-heavy story. This story is about the Lyoko Warrior's relationship as a whole and will stay that way.