I'm warning you all now. The rating was upped from K to T specifically because of this chapter. I highly suggest you do not read it, and instead pretend that this chapter never existed and the ending was happy and everyone survived. Yes, someone dies.

Chapter Ten: In Death Do We Part

For whatever reason, Yumi hadn't answered her cell phone. Natalie was forced to run to her house, if she wanted to get there in time. She was crossing the street right in front of the school when, out of seemingly no where, a car came hurtling down the street. Natalie stood still in the middle of the street, shocked into submission for the moment, until she saw the headlights. They seemed to be glowing an unnatural malevolent yellow, but that wasn't all. The light clearly showed the strange eye that was X.A.N.A.'s sign. With a yelp, she leapt to the side. She hadn't realized just how fast the car had been going, and it ran into her leg. There was a painful crack, and Natalie was thrown to the side of the street. Somehow, through the pain, she was still awake. Had she looked at her leg, she would have seen that her calf was bent double, the bone broken in two.

The car, much to Natalie's relief, rounded a corner, acting as though it had never seen, or hit, her. Her heart skipped a beat when the familiar yellow headlights came back around the corner, and she screamed as the wheels went from black top to grass. Her scream was cut suddenly, and violently, short.

"Aelita!" The samurai shouted once more. "Jeremy, what happened to Aelita?"

"I'm here," came a breathless voice. "We must hurry, we don't know what X.A.N.A. could be up to." The pink haired girl appeared from behind a tree. The boys nodded. All three ran forward.

It wasn't long before they came to the tower. Much to their surprise, there were no monsters guarding it.

"Hey, this makes it easy," Odd said happily. Aelita, on the other hand, wasn't so sure.

"Jeremy, what's going on? Are there no monsters in the area?" The voice that replied was shakey.

"N-no," Jeremy replied. "I'm not getting anything. What's going on?"

"Maybe X.A.N.A. decided to give us a break?" Ulrich asked half heartedly.

"I don't think so," Jeremy said. "Let's hurry and wrap this up, guys. I want to see what X.A.N.A. has been up to."

Finally, Yumi came back from lunch at home. She walked past the ditch next to the road in front of the school, then took a step backwards. There was something in the ditch. Kneeling down, she turned the limp form over and gasped. It was Natalie, a very white, motionless Natalie. She felt the girl's neck, trying to find even a trace of a pulse, but she couldn't feel anything. She was dead. She looked up just in time to see a wall of white light that flashed over the area.

The group again found themselves at lunch, minus one person.

"Where's Natalie?" Odd said, panicked. "What happened? Why isn't she here, too?"

"Don't worry, Odd," Jeremy said. "I'm sure there's nothing…" He was interrupted by the sound of Ulrich's cell phone ring. Ulrich took it out and looked at the caller ID, surprised to see it was Yumi.

"Yumi, what-"

"She's dead, Ulrich! I'm not sure what happened, but she's dead!" It sounded like Yumi was sobbing. All three boys could hear her voice.

"Yumi, calm down. Who's dead?"

"It's Natalie. I-I was coming back home from lunch, and I found her dead in a ditch."

"X.A.N.A.," Jeremy hissed. "That's why there were no monsters! He'd already done what he'd intended- Kill Natalie!" While Ulrich tried to soothe Yumi, Odd stood up suddenly. His eyes were wide open in complete disbelief. Jeremy gave him a look of worry.

"Odd, are you-" Odd completely ignored him. At that moment, Jim walked by. Odd stopped the over weight Physical Education teacher.

"Jim, have you seen Natalie?" He asked.

"Natalie?" Jim replied with a confused look. "I don't believe there's anyone by that name enrolled in this school…" Odd didn't wait to hear more. He ran, out of the cafeteria and to his room. Jeremy sat, stunned. Everyone had forgotten about Natalie? What was going on?

He sat at the table, even as Ulrich finally got up from the table and left. It was just as he thought… If anyone died, returning to the past could not bring them back. Worse, if return to the past was activated, the person is completely forgotten…

Jeremy finally climbed to his feet and returned to his own room, to break the news to Aelita and to grieve. She'd been his very first friend, after all.

This is the last chapter. There will be no more until I start the sequel during the summer vacation. I am bringing Natalie 'back from the dead', so to speak, and it will take place within the new season. For now, I wanted to give a few reasons for my killing Natalie off.

For one, this is a prologue to the T.V. show, and Natalie is not in the T.V. show. Also, it explains in the first episode how the returning to the past cannot bring back someone who has died. Natalie's death was used to give a picture to this, to show how they know. Also, it wasn't just on a whim that I was going to kill off Natalie. I had been planning to do it since I started writing this fic, which may be why I took my time finishing it. Now, though, it's done, and I hope you've enjoyed the majority of Anything But Ordinary.