Broken Heart

Chapter 3: The Mysterious Message

Yumi's P.O.V.

I woke with a start. Looking around, I saw nothing but black. I did not understand. What is this strange darkness? Did someone turn the lights off?

Suddenly, I understood. I was dead, yet I wasn't. It was exactly like my dream. If that is true, then I must be… In the pyramid! That was were I was in the dream. But that would mean that the attack was real. There was someone next to me…

With a jolt, I remembered. It was Ulrich. I remember that one of the two clones attacked him. Is he okay? Or is he here?

I tried to look around one more time, looking for Ulrich. But I knew he wasn't there. He wasn't meant to learn about this prison, not yet anyway. I could only hope that he had found the diary. "Of course, if I learn that he read another entry, I'll kill him," I thought.

I chuckled mentally at the thought of a dead person killing someone who's alive. Then again, I was always one to joke about my relationship with Ulrich. It was a hobby, one could say.

Suddenly, I felt two people entering Lyoko. So, Ulrich had found the diary. That was good. I'd be out of here very soon. But I'd better tell him where the pyramid is.

But, try as I could, I was unable to tell him. Then again, maybe it doesn't work that way.

Ulrich's P.O.V.

I stepped onto Lyoko for the first time in five years. Looking around, there were no changes, except that there were no X.A.N.A. monsters around, because we were attacking, not counter-attacking, at this moment.

"So, we're hitting them in there blind side, eh, Ulrich?" Odd asked jokingly.

I merely nodded, since I was busy searching for the pyramid. It was all that mattered to me, like an obsession. All I could think about was a chance to go back to that night. When I go back, I swear that Yumi will not be killed.

That was all that was in my mind. In fact, I was so preoccupied with the thought that I failed to see a Block attack me. I was hit in my side, hard.

"Ulrich, you're down to 80 life points!" Jeremie said.

"Thanks for the information, Jeremie, but it's okay right now." I said calmly, drawing my sword. "Triangulate!"

Upon saying that, I began encircling the Block with a triangle. Suddenly, I leapt onto it's head and stabbed it in one of it's eyes. I didn't say Impact that time. I didn't need to. It was an old habit, one that was unimportant for the here and now.

Suddenly, I glanced up at the sky. I didn't know why I did so, yet what I saw was definitely what I wanted to see. A huge, red arrow pointing at the ground. I motioned for Odd to look up at the arrow before talking. "What do you think?"

"It's probably a trap. I mean, come on. It's too easy!" Odd said.

"You could be right, but I want to be certain. Jeremie, check the location of the red arrow to see what is there." I said.

"The structure is similar to the pyramid seen in Yumi's diary if you were to age it five years. There's also something else. Seems like pulsations, but not like ones from an activated tower." Jeremie said.

"Not like…" Odd said, confused.

"The ones from an activated tower, yeah. It seems to build, sometimes two or three pulses at once." Jeremie said.

"It's the pyramid, I know it is. Let's go, Odd." I said, motioning for him to follow. "I have a feeling that X.A.N.A. won't want us to get to the pyramid, so stay sharp."

"Whatever you say, Ulrich. Anyway, it's not like we'll be killed in real life if we're killed in Lyoko." Odd said.

"Don't you remember that it's possible to eliminate that?" I asked, with slight anger in my voice. I was very touchy about such things nowadays.

"Yeah, yeah. Save your anger for any of the enemy that come along, not me." Odd said, with a hint of carelessness in his voice. Immediately, I jumped on top of him, landing a fierce punch to the face.

"Hey, cool it, Ulrich! This is what X.A.N.A. wants!" Jeremie said.

I took three deep breaths and managed to calm down, a little bit.

"Anyway, I told Aelita to head for your location. If the pyramid is anything like the towers, you'll need her to deactivate, or perhaps activate, it." Jeremie said.

"Good. We could use the company." Odd said, and muttered, "Just so Mr. Overanxious doesn't decide to attack me again."

I heard that, but shrugged it off, though my hand crawled a little closer to my sword. Deciding that it would be a bad idea to kill Odd because of a personal mistake, I told him to be quiet.

Finally, after six hours of walking, we finally made it to the pyramid. Aelita was already there. I immediately charged at it. Before I understood what happened, I landed hard on my back.

"Ulrich, Odd, it's a containment shield. You'll need to break it." Jeremie said.

"Will do." I replied, drawing my sword and rushing at the Containment Shield. Again, all I accomplished was a painful fall.

"You'll need to attack the Shield in synchronization. Ulrich, you attack left. Odd, take right." Jeremie said.

We did so, and managed to dent the shield. The process continued, until finally, the shield exploded. Instantly, I felt as though my heart cart wheeled. Here it was, what I had wanted for so many years! In spite of myself, I broke down into tears. But they were not the sad tears that I had shed for five years. They were happy tears. That fact alone brought more tears to my eyes.

Sensing my anxiousness, Aelita immediately began the process to go back to that night. It was the only time that could work. I would have five minutes extra. Only five. If they pass, then I will have to witness it all over again. I desperately thought back to what I was doing five minutes before the attack…

I was with Yumi, getting ready to leave the dance. That was definitely it. And the only way to prevent the attack is to go another way.

Once it was successful, Yumi will be alive. Whether it means I will have to live five more years or not, I do not care.

Suddenly, the whole world was engulfed in a white light. When I could see, I was standing next to Yumi, leaving the dance. Although I knew that it would waste time, I hugged Yumi. I cried into her shoulder.

I can only imagine how it looked to bystanders, a tenth grader (A/N: Ulrich is in tenth grade in this fanfiction) breaking down and hugging his girlfriend, when he had, apparently, been standing next to for ten minutes. Then I got down to business.

"Yumi, I need to tell you something. We have to go another way today, or at least time it so that we're not on our street in four minutes. Our lives depend on avoiding our street within four minutes." I said.

"Oh.. Kay." Yumi said, confused.

"Let's go through the park, it's much safer at this time." I said.

Looking at me confusedly, Yumi agreed.

We walked through the park slowly. But I was also looking around and at my watch. If the trap had us as the target, they'd hunt us down, and the park is the most logical refuge. Sure enough, I saw the two clones looking around for us.

"Yumi, on the count of three, run toward any concealment you can find." I whispered.

"Concealment from what?" she asked.

"Those." I whispered, pointing toward the clones. "Ready? One… Two… Three… Run!"

With that, we ran toward concealment, both making it. But our movement attracted the clones. I remembered my vow not to let Yumi die, and spotted two rocks. I picked them out and ran out of the bush I was hiding in. I threw the rocks both of them, and shouted to attract their attention. Sure enough, they turned toward me. They opened their mouths. Both were full of decaying teeth.

They ran at me, and I gave Yumi a thumbs-up before darting away, causing the clone to miss me. I ran around the park, panting. And, as I knew would happen they caught up to me. I kicked the bigger one, who retaliated by swatting me into the wall.

The two clones approached, and I realized that I would be taking Yumi's place. But I was wrong.

Yumi had, instead of going home, gone to the police station. Just when the clones surrounded me, the police arrested them. I let out a quick sigh of relief. But I knew that it wasn't over.

Sure enough, there were six clone attacks on us in the past few weeks. But none threatened either of us severely. After having the strongest clones arrested, X.A.N.A. was playing it safe, attacking using weaklings. However, the tactic was poor, to say the least. The attacks help make Yumi and myself even stronger and more able to communicate wordlessly. Of course, it also worked in Lyoko.

We made about three trips to Lyoko, all of which were heated encounters. Because of the failure of his campaign on Earth, X.A.N.A. wanted to make sure that we were unable to go to Lyoko. He set up walls surrounding the towers. But none of it worked. It was obvious that his war was over. We made the decision to free Aelita and destroy Lyoko once and for all. But we knew that it wouldn't be easy.

Throughout the past weeks, only weak clones have attacked us. But we knew for certain that there was an entire army of clones who were on par strength-wise with the ones who had attacked Yumi and me that night… Actually, twice on the same night, one could say. The thought of fighting a hundred of those in the real world, where we would really die, did not appeal to me at all. Especially since the pyramid was destroyed.

Jeremie had scanned for any sign of the pyramid in Lyoko, and it had vanished. Apparently, it only works once. This meant that those who died in this battle would really die. Blood would be spilled. And how ironic that it should occur in the same factory that we use as headquarters.

A/N: Now I have reached a critical part in this story. I finished the section on Ulrich trying to bring Yumi back. Now, I need to decide whether to put the battle in the factory as a sequel or as a chapter.

If it will be a chapter, it will only be Ulrich's point of view. However, if it will be a sequel, each chapter will show a different character's reaction to the same events.