This one's dedicated to CBIzumi and Imagination Queen.
Two chapters left now. Also, my 106th reviewer and someone else random get the next dedications.
S'all.
-12-
-Soft-
Aelita's P.O.V.
Drifting, slowly. To what, I didn't know. My mind was weighted, focused on nothing. I couldn't feel… I couldn't do anything… only be there… and wait… Waiting to die, waiting for everything to just go away. I didn't care what would happen to me next. Perhaps I'd go somewhere else, or maybe I'd stay in the flower field forever. Or maybe, I'd simply… stop being… though I could barely comprehend that last option.
Whatever it was that would happen, death was inevitable. I knew this, and I accepted it. There was nothing worth being alive for anymore, anyway.
And all I wanted was for the process to hurry… because, this was painful. I was numb physically, but in my heart… It was… so very, very… painful…
But then you were there.
I felt so happy, such pure… euphoria, to feel you there with me. You have a very distinct feeling, one that I had almost forgotten. So… warm, so sweet, so honest and sincere.
But there was another feeling that I barely noticed; the fear that you'd come to hurt me again.
But you didn't.
And you said things. Things that I had wanted to hear. Things that I had needed to hear.
And I knew… that I didn't want to die… I wanted to be… with you…
Odd's P.O.V.
Tap tap tap…
"Ugh, no mom… just five more minutes…
Wait… no, I'm not at home, and I'm not in the dorm…
Where the hell am I!"
Tap tap tap…
It was cold there, really cold. And there was something heavy and kind of warm and kind of soft was draped over me. And something was tapping… on glass, it sounded like.
The muffled sound of a girl, or rather, two girls, both voices laced with amusement were shouting at me. "Open your eyes!"
I did.
And I'm not sure what was more surprising; the fact that I was in the garden shed, or the fact that a sleeping girl was on me, or the fact that the giggling faces of Milly and Tamiya were staring down at me from behind the windows of the shed.
And then I remembered.
Oh, shit. Yes, I remembered, alright.
"Rhiné… hey… wake up," I said softly, shaking the girl with my free hand. My other hand was trapped along with my arm under her body, which I was suddenly aware was completely numb.
"Wh…what?" she asked groggily, opening one eye. That eye was apparently immediately glad to see me. "Odd!" she exclaimed, suddenly fully awake. She flung her arms around my neck all too quickly, and I felt myself blush.
"Um, Rhiné."
"What?" she asked from behind my head.
"We have an audience," I commented, even more mortified to see that the faces of the two younger girls had gone from mild giggling to full blown hoots of laughter.
"So?" Rhiné asked, all too indifferently.
"Come on, Rhiné, I've got to go to the hospital… and you do too, your mom probably wants to know where you've been," I said, standing, trying to mask my embarrassment. I walked over to the door and let Rhiné out, and then myself.
"Well, aren't you lucky we found you before Jim did?" Milly asked proudly, claiming my thanks with a sugary-sweet and disgustingly amused grin that stretched all the way across her little, ten-year-old face.
I rolled my eyes. "Sure, we're lucky. Don't tell anyone about this, okay? Please?"
Milly looked as if she were going to shoot back a witty insult, but Tamiya stepped up and cut her off. She smiled politely and said, "Don't worry, Odd, we won't tell anyone."
"Thanks," I replied, giving her my best "I-owe-you-one" look. Then, Rhiné and I started walking off to the hospital.
We were silent most of the way there, until Rhiné randomly said, "You know… I wouldn't have wanted to accidentally stay the night in a garden shed with anyone but you."
I looked over at her, one eyebrow raised. We both burst into laughter.
As soon as we stopped laughing, I said, "Yeah, you know, it's the same for me."
She grinned, and took my hand.
And, though we never spoke after that, the rest of the walk to the hospital was the best thing that had happened to me in a very long time.
Yumi's P.O.V.
He's so cute when he's asleep…
I was sitting on the edge of Ulrich's bed, already up after spending the night in his dorm. It had happened by accident… I didn't mean to end up here all night. And I knew my parents would want to know where I had been when I finally got home, but that was the least of my worries right now.
After the incident at the hospital, Ulrich and I had gone back to the dorm to talk for a while. And we did, for a long time, actually. I hid when Jim had come by the dorm to announce curfew, and, after several antagonizing minutes of him questioning Ulrich about Odd's whereabouts, he left, and I came back out. Ulrich and I were just going to talk some more, about… everything, but it ended up with me asleep on his shoulder. I think I remember him asking me if I was awake, and then when not getting a reply, pulling the sheets up around my neck.
And I think… I think I remember him kissing me… on the cheek, goodnight. But I don't remember. Maybe that never happened. You never know with Ulrich, anyway.
I awoke when it was still dark out, to find him stretched out on the floor. I had wondered whether or not to wake him up. Finally I had decided against it, and left him sleeping there. I put his blanket on top of him, and then waited for him to wake up.
He looked so innocent, so worriless asleep. Sometimes he would smile; sometimes he would grunt inaudible words. He was so perfect.
I had just been sitting there, admiring him, for an amount of time I didn't know. And then, somehow, my thoughts drifted away from Ulrich… far away, to Odd.
And the way he looked at me.
It felt… so strange… I didn't like it. I knew Odd liked me, but… this was different… it was as if he was angry with me for being with Ulrich. No, more like he hated me for being with Ulrich. And I knew it was because of Xana… or, at least, I thought it was. I hoped it was.
But what if it wasn't?
And what if he had killed Ulrich that day in the factory? He damn well could have, if I hadn't talked him out of it. But what if he had killed Ulrich anyway? I would never have been able to forgive myself… much less get over Ulrich's dea…
"No. I won't think about that."
I hoped then, with all my heart, that Odd wasn't trying to kill anyone else… but I especially hoped, in a selfish sort of way, that he wasn't going to come after Ulrich anymore.
I sighed, and returned my attention to Ulrich's sleeping form on the floor, which was beginning to wake up. His eyes opened first, blinking, and then seeing me. Using an arm to prop himself up, he gave a weak smile.
"Hey."
I returned the smile. "Hey."
He looked down at the sheet wrapped around him, and then back up at me, not questioning it.
"I'm gonna go brush my teeth," he mumbled, getting onto his feet and stretching.
"Okay," I responded.
He walked over to the door, and opened it. As soon as he had gone, my thoughts raced back to Odd.
"What if he had killed him…? Really, what if?"
I rolled this question around in my troubled mind several times, and a lump began to grow in the back of my throat.
Without another thought, I ran out the door, and spotted Ulrich walking down the hallway. Seeing him, I ran in his direction, and flung my arms around his neck from behind. He gave a small yelp of surprise, which then became a soft, confused laugh.
"Um, hello to you too," he said.
Jeremie's P.O.V.
"Excuse me, sir?"
With a start, I jolted my head up and whirled around to see a woman in a pink nurse's outfit looking at me.
"Sir, were you here all night?"
I looked down at Aelita. Yes, I was there all night. And now my eyelids felt stiff from having cried myself to sleep.
Switching my gaze back at the nurse guiltily, I shrugged my shoulders. The nurse just sighed. "Well, next time, leave when visiting hours are over, okay?" With that, she exited the room silently.
I looked back down at Aelita. Taking her hand, I let out a long, heavy sigh.
'Please come back…'
My heart felt just a little bit heavier.
'I need you here with me…'
She wouldn't be able to do so many things now that she had probably dreamed of when still in Lyoko, and it was all my fault. My eyes welled up with tears.
'Aelita…'
They began to fall.
'I love you… I'll always love you… forever…'
Acid. That's what they felt like.
"I will love you forever, Aelita. There will never… be anyone else but you…" I whispered.
'Come back… I need for you to hear me… I need for you to know… what you mean to me… please…'
I closed my eyes. I remembered the day I had first met Aelita, back when I was just learning about Lyoko. I remembered her smile, and feeling so stupidly insane; how I thought I must be even more pathetic than I had thought beforehand; when all I knew was that I was a nerd. But now I had… this crush on… on a computer program! That was even worse. I would have loved to talk it over with Odd or Ulrich… but I couldn't. That would be far too embarrassing. And they would have laughed at me anyway. So I kept it bottled up, secretly wishing I could just… speak to her face-to-face. So I told everyone that the reason why I had to materialize her was because if I didn't, she'd be deleted along with Xana and Lyoko. It was the right thing to do. Save an innocent and stop evil. And that wasn't a lie… just… a half-truth. The other half of the truth was that I also had feelings for her. And those were the feelings that truly fueled my determination. I believed she was special. She wasn't just a computer program to me. She was real.
And then I remembered all the times I had thought it was impossible to materialize her. After all, you can't make something human out of something virtual. But I kept a blind faith based on… well, my love for her. And, of course the facts: it was obviously possible to make a human virtual, so why not vice-versa?
So I had kept on trying, and then… it worked. It did. It was possible after all.
And then she was taken away from me again, only able to come into the real world for small periods of time, in case Xana were to launch an attack. I was so heartbroken, so discouraged after that. Impatient with Xana, and especially myself, all that kept me going was seeing her smile at me.
And now, it was selfish, but I wanted to see that smile again so… badly…
Something brought me out of my thoughts. A noise. Something had changed in the room… what was it?
Her heart monitor! Was it? No, it couldn't be.
"Jeremie…"
No, her heart monitor really was beeping faster. And she had just said my name. Or maybe she hadn't, and I had just gone insane.
"Jeh… Jerem…ie…"
It… it couldn't have been me! Eyelids fluttering, Aelita's body had re-animated itself… she was…
She was awake.
I caught my breath. "Aelita?"
"Jeremie…"
I put my ear down by her barely moving lips.
"Jeremie…" she breathed again. "What… what does forever feel like?"
I gulped, and turned my head so I could look into her partially open eyes, which were and filled with tears, like mine had been.
"Wh…what?" I asked.
"You said you'd love me forever… what does that mean?"
"It…" I stammered, still in shock, barely believing what was going on around me. "It means that no matter what happens…I'll always…you know… love you…"
Her tears began to fall, softly, rolling down from her beautiful, dark green eyes, into her hair. "You will?"
I gulped. "I will."
She squeezed more crystal tears out of her eyes, and drew in a small breath. "You… you promise?" This was the face of someone so afraid of being hurt, of being lied to. And I couldn't have expressed how much I hated myself for having hurt her like I had before in words or pictures or actions or…anything. She was so innocent, so sweet, so trusting. And I had broken her trust…
It was all I could do to try to come up with a response that sounded half as sincere as I felt. "I promise… I mean… I really do promise, Aelita…"
"Then… this is what forever feels like?"
My throat tightened with the pain of a lump. I swallowed it. "Aelita… this is what… beyond forever feels like."
