Disclaimer: Aww c'mon! Do I really have to say I don't own it again?

Claimer: I own everything that doesn't appear in Code Lyoko. Except for Amaya, Agrona, Storm, Mystic, and Shadow.

To those who reviewed, thank you so much! And to those of you who reviewed Sweet Memories, thank you all too!

Notes: Well, not much notes this time... so I guess I'll just let you read. Aren't you the lucky ones? LoL!

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Ch. 7 The Light of Day

"Why? Amaya, you can't bring him back," Jeremie reasoned. Amaya glanced at the computer.

"Maybe I can find out what caused him to fall into the void," she said. Yumi sniffled.

"He was hit by a crab. It knocked him into the void. I tried to reach him but I just wasn't fast enough," she said weakly.

"Okay," Amaya looked down at the ground. "If you say so." But the gears were turning in her head already. She'd find a way to get her friend back. Xana already claimed her parents; she wasn't going to let him take her friends. The four of them sat in silence for a while before Odd spoke.

"Let's get back to school. I bet Jim's looking for us," he said quietly. Jeremie said goodbye to a teary Aelita and turned off the computer. Amaya helped Yumi up and linked arms with her. The four of them walked out of the factory and would be happy never to go back there again.

When they got back to the school, it was five o'clock and time for dinner. Amaya asked Yumi if she'd like to stay the night. Yumi called her parents and they agreed, refraining from asking their daughter why she was so upset. The four of them walked into the cafeteria, none of them having much of an appetite. Sissy sashayed over to them.

"Ulrich, I need to talk to you dear!" she said, looking for him. "Where is he?" Jeremie jammed his hands in his pockets and hung his head, a tear slipped down Yumi's cheek, Amaya wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder, and Odd glared at Sissy, not saying a word.

"Where is he? I need to talk to him!" she demanded. She placed her fists on her hips. "Well?"

"If we knew where he was, he'd be with us," Odd grumbled, shoving past her roughly. Sissy gasped in shock at not only the fact that Ulrich was missing but that Odd didn't say something comically insulting about her and wasn't smiling. She had always thought he had a permanent smile on his face.

"Wha-" she began, but Amaya cut her off.

"We don't know where he is, okay. So back off," she replied moodily. Another tear slipped down Yumi's face. Jeremie took her over to where Odd was sitting with his head in his arms, which left Amaya standing with her fists at her side, glaring at Sissy.

"Even if we knew where he was, we wouldn't be telling you. And get over him. He doesn't like you, and he never will," she told Sissy, ice and malice hanging off of every word. Sissy stood there, gaping at Amaya as she walked over to her friends. Her bottom lip protruded in anger as she glared at the group.

Where was Ulrich? What were they keeping from her? Whatever it was, she didn't care. She just wanted to find Ulrich and figure out what was going on.

"Some friends they are... hmmph.. they don't even know where he is!" she murmured a bit angrily to herself as she walked down the hallway and outside.

"Ulrich!" she called out into the early night air. "Ulrich dear, it's me! Sissy! Where are you?" No answer. Urrg! Where is he? She heard dead leaves rustling around on the forest floor. She smirked.

"Ulrich, c'mon out! I know you're in there! You don't want to get locked out here and have to sleep under the sky, do you?" she called. She stared intently at the mouth of the forest, waiting for him to come out. Instead of Ulrich, a baby horse came bounding out. (A/N: when she said "sky" he came out.) The little colt jumped around her in circles.

"You're one of those horses Ulrich was dancing with earlier, aren't you?" she asked, hesitantly reaching out to pet it. Sky whinnied and continued to leap around her. Sissy rolled her eyes.

"Can. You. Take. Me. To. Ulrich?" she asked the colt, pronouncing each word slowly. The colt jumped around her once more and took off into the forest.

"Hey! Wait!" Sissy called, running after him. She ran through the forest, following Sky. When the sound of his hooves stopped, she stopped running and walked into a clearing. Her eyes widened at the sight before her. Five big horses were milling around, some grazing lightly at the grass, the wolf Ulrich was dancing with was laying on her side, causing her to look like someone had shot her and she had just fallen over, and a rather long snake was on top of a shed-like thing.

"Oh, this is madness!" Sissy cried. With a shriek, she ran out of the clearing and back into the school. Her fear quickly turned to anger as soon as she saw Odd, Jeremie, Yumi, and Amaya.

"Where the hell is Ulrich? I know you know where he is so tell me!" she demanded angrily. Odd looked up and glared at her, rage, pain, and sorrow in his eyes.

"I'd love to see you find him," he muttered darkly before standing up so abruptly he overturned his chair. He stormed out of the cafeteria, muttering dark curses to himself.

"Amaya, I'm going to go lie down," Yumi murmured, wiping the fresh tears from her face. Amaya nodded and watched Yumi leave.

"I'm going to go talk to Aelita for a while," Jeremie whispered. Amaya nodded again and watched Jeremie walk out of the cafeteria.

"Well?" Sissy barked impatiently.

"Do me a favor, and go suck off a monkey," Amaya sneered. Sissy stood where she was, staring at Amaya's retreating back, fuming and spluttering with anger and rage.

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Yumi stood outside the door to Ulrich's room. She opened the door slowly, new tears running down her face, and stepped inside. She walked over to Ulrich's bed and laid down on it. She hugged his pillow close to her and breathed in his scent deeply. She nearly smiled when she saw the red stain on the pillowcase.

Ulrich and Odd were doing something goofy or another and had both Yumi and Jeremie laughing hysterically. Yumi, who was holding a glass of juice, fell over, spilling the contents of the juice all over the pillowcase. That juice stain never came out.

A new wave of tears washed over her face as she really realized that she would never see Ulrich again. He was lost in the digital void forever, and there was nothing she could do about it. She missed him already; his laugh, his smile, his seriousness, his chest. Wait! His chest?

Well, he is awfully sexy, she told herself. She remembered once when he took his green over shirt off leaving him in nothing but his wife-beater (you know that tank top? that's what I call it). Damn he was good-looking. But now, she had nothing left of him. Yumi buried her face into his pillow and sobbed into it, wishing he was there to comfort her and tell her everything is alright.

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Amaya walked outside and looked around. She glanced over at the forest to see Odd kicking a tree with his hands shoved in his pockets. She walked up behind him, not saying a word. But Odd seemed to notice her presence.

"He was my best friend. Always there for me not matter what. He helped me study, made me laugh when I was down. He stuck by my side and kept my secrets without even teasing me about them. I've known him for what seems like my entire life," he said, staring at the ground with his back still to her.

"I know how you feel. Literally. My parents were murdered, as was my grandmother. I've had no friends up until now," Amaya whispered.

"I can't say you're wrong, cause you're not. But I still miss him more than anything," he said, turning around to face her. His eyes were somewhat red and his cheeks had barely visible tear stains on them.

"We'll find a way to get him back. I promise," Amaya said. She looked at him with sympathy in her emerald eyes and held her arms open. Odd hung his head and slowly walked over to her. He hugged her tightly, burying his head into her shoulder.

"I still can't believe he's gone..." he murmured into her shoulder. "It just doesn't seem possible. He's always been.. so careful in there." Amaya hugged him back, closing her eyes. The leaves rustled behind them and when they turned around, Agrona was standing there with her head down and her tail tucked between her legs. She slowly made her way over to them and stopped in front of Odd. She reared back and stood on her hind legs, resting her front paws on Odd's chest. She licked his face gingerly, as if trying to say, 'Sorry about your friend.' Agrona fell back onto all four paws. Odd fell to his knees and threw his arms around Agrona's neck.

"Thanks Agrona," he whispered, ruffling the wolf's fur. Agrona licked Amaya's hand before walking back into the forest. Odd stood up next to Amaya and watched the enormous wolf disappear into the foliage.

"Miss me much?"

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Yumi was still in Ulrich's room, on his bed, crying into his pillow when her cell phone rang.

"Hello?" Her nose was congested from crying so hard and she sounded like she was sick.

"Yumi? It's Odd. You'd better get outside. You need to see this," he sounded frantic, disbelieving, and excited all at once.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Look out the window." And then he hung up. Yumi threw her cell onto the bed and ran to the window. Sure enough, it was something she wanted to see. It was Ulrich.

But there was something funny about him. Even in the night, his skin looked darker. Like he had spent five hours in a tanning bed. She pushed the thoughts of him being a Jamaican robot in the back of her head and tore out of the room. She flew down the stairs and out of the school, right over to Ulrich, Jeremie, Amaya, and Odd.

My dear fans I'm sorry you had to wait so long and I'm sorry it's so short. But I'm having a bit of a writers block V.V so just bear with me please. I'm working on the next update but be pre-warned... it will probably take a while for the next chapter. I'm soooo sorry in advanced. I'm also working on the update to Livin' It Up, but that may take a little while also...-- i hate writers block... well thanks for reading! R/R please!!