Chapter 2---Afraid of the Dark?

Odd could hear water, dripping slowly with several seconds between intervals of silence. His head throbbed and his jaw ached like he'd been slapped. Hard. The cold surface he seemed to be on was most uncomfortable.

He knew how he had come to be there. A very pretty but much too evil vampire girl had squeezed his head like a melon. At that time, fainting was beyond him. All he could think about was the excrutiating pain he was having to endure. Then, very abruptly, the pain was gone, leaving Odd to fall to the floor barely conscious. Through the black specks blinding his vision, he had seen a bright hole forming in the air. The world he saw through that hole had caused him to black out instantly. Lyoko.

While he was still trying to convince himself to wake up from this horrible nightmare, Odd tried to recall the things that happened just before the vampire creature decided to go all anal on them. The cobra. That was the scariest thing he'd ever done in his life, and he hardly even remembered doing it.

"We were sitting at the lunch table when the giant snake first made its way through the halls. The day was like any other, except for the fact that people would die today. People I know; people I love."

Yumi's short story was pretty good, but Odd really thought she needed a bit more action and violence at the part when the snake simply squeezed him to death. His idea of a good story involved people getting ripped in half and eaten by anacondas, not hissed at and constricted. His twenty minutes were almost up, and in the next five his friends would finally realize that nothing was wrong and Jeremie would tell him he could leave. Listening to Yumi repeat her tragic tale was beginning to get boring. The next part was when a guy named "Timmothy" gets swallowed whole. Definitely not enough blood in the story to satisfy Odd.

There was no chance that Odd could've seen the morphed, bat-like girl any sooner than when she streaked from the shadows and sent Jeremie flying clear into the opposite wall. Needless to say he was on his feet, ready to give a fight. The red symbol of Xana was painted on the creature's forehead. She was actually the prettiest creation Xana had come up with yet, despite her dark, purple skin and bony bat wings. Odd admired pretty girls, even if they had fangs four inches long and black talons that could stick him like a roast pig. The vicious snarl on her lips and the way she took pleasure in seeing Jeremie sprawled out on the floor was enough to turn him off completely. This was a creature of evil, Xana's creature. Nothing could make him admire that for long.

"What the--?" was as far as Ulrich got before he, too, was knocked to the floor. He quickly flipped the vampire over with his legs, though. Had she not had wings to catch her fall, she would've smacked into the floor as hard as Ulrich. The brunette got out of striking range by rolling over to where Odd stood. Yumi was tending to Jeremie as best she could. Hopefully that thing would not notice until she was stopped.

"We need a weapon," Odd said, glancing at Ulrich.

"Yeah," he replied, nodding with enthusiasm, "I don't thing there's any way we can beat her if we don't have anything but our bare hands to fight her with."

"I don't like the idea of hurting a girl, Ulrich." That suprised Odd. After she'd beaten up on two of his best friends, he still felt some pity for her.

"Just don't think about it," Ulrich said flatly. The creature was swooping toward them again. "On three."

"Three!"


Odd jumped as high as he could to put something between the vampire and Ulrich. Had he waited any longer in counting, Ulrich likely would've protested that he be the one to jump. It was unlike him to do crazy stunts though. That was Odd's job. The creature frowned in a moment of shock, giving Odd the chance to grab her by the waist and pull them both to the floor. They rolled around for a few seconds, but the advantage of surprise didn't last long. The girl had Odd pinned to the floor. It was his turn to be surprised. She wasn't using her talons at all. It was almost like she was using this time to mess with them.

Ulrich's foot collided with the creature's side, making her eyes widen before she slumped forward and released Odd. Now Odd was the one pinning her to the floor. "Stupid bitch," he growled, "This is for screwing with my evening!" His fist on her jaw sent her head around more than ninety degrees, but she twisted it back around slowly, grinning insanely, and slid it back into place with a terrible popping sound. Odd barely had time to jump back out of the way of those long, black, knife-like nails.

"Odd!" Ulrich yelled, "Behind you!"

Turning slowly-- that felt so cliche to him; it was something silly movie characters did when the audience knew there was a big danger behind them-- he made his eyes follow up the huge mass of black scales and across the wide head of a cobra twice as big as he. His heart pounded against his chest so hard he thought it must be ready to break through. The giant snake was reared back in a striking position. Odd had less than a second to move.

Groggily, Odd forced himself to sit up. The air around him was thick, dry, and his body was coated with a cold sweat. The only thing he could tell about this chamber was that the walls were black. Or maybe that was just because everything was black. The place felt...familiar. A tingle in the back of his memory told him that this was a Tower in Lyoko, but that was impossible. No one could go to Lyoko straight from reality. They had to be virtualized first.

Yet there was the gateway. That was not his imagination, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself it was. Somehow, they'd been directly transported into Lyoko from reality.

Had Yumi not abandoned trying to help Jeremie for lending Odd a hand instead, he would likely have died. Her shoulder pushed against his and sent them both flying away from the snake's bite, barely in time. Odd didn't need to think to get up. Yumi took longer, though. He quickly darted to the other side of the room where he could distract the cobra away from the older girl.

"Come on now, you fucking overgrown worm," he said, smiling even though their situation was beginning to look hopeless, "Give Daddy some sugars!" If Odd had to choose one thing he was the most proud of, he would say without a doubt his creative use of language.

The snake turned toward him, moving like lightning. Odd knew if he didn't come up with a plan soon, he would likely never get his chance to talk to Sissy. Ulrich was quick with his wits, but Odd knew how to improvise. Together they were unbeatable, but the two had percs of their own at their disposal, too. As the cobra slithered toward him-- faster than he'd ever seen a normal snake move-- he grabbed the chair that Jeremie normally sat in. Everything was riding on how well Odd could predict the snake's movements. This time, it didn't wait to strike. Its fangs came toward Odd so fast that the snake actually blurred, but not so fast that he didn't have time to sling the chair into its mouth. His precision was dead on. He adjusted a bit by moving to the side some. While the seat part of the chair blocked one fang, the other cut the chair leg off at a diagonal, making a sort of spear. The metal hissed as the acid from the bite ate part of it away, but that didn't slow Odd one bit. With an angry cry of desperation, he forced his entire body weight into ramming the spear into the snakes body. More than once he did this, for the thing only thrashed and, blinded by pain, struck at nothing.

When Odd turned around, he saw Ulrich standing some feet behind the vampire creature. His lips moved in a soundless "No," as the creature pushed off from the ground, swooping above the supercomputer. Still laughing, the thing crashed down, creating an explosion that knocked all of them to the floor. Lying there, staring up at the ceiling, hope bloomed in Odd's mind. That explosion would kill the evil vampire. They could fix the computer when Jeremie woke up, go back in time, and he would get to see Sissy like he'd wanted to for the past few weeks. His shoulders shook with a happiness that felt strangely foreign.

When he stood, though, the evil girl stood several feet in front of Yumi, holding Ulrich by the collar of his shirt. He was unconscious. The chair leg was still in Odd's hand. If the snake could die, then so could she, right? Surely it would be no different than killing the crabs or wasps. When he looked down at the weapon, though, he wanted to scream. In the malestrom of stabbing the snake, Odd had not wanted to open his eyes for fear of seeing something he did not want to. He hadn't thought that what he saw now would happen, yet there it was: blood as real as his own, fresh and dripping from the chair leg. Unlike other creatures Xana had come up with, which all seemed to be robots of some sort, the snake was very much alive. Had been alive. It lay still now, curled up in a corner of the room.

Disgusted with himself for both not being able to kill the vampire and for very likely sealing their fate to an agonizing death, Odd tossed the improvised spear onto the floor where it clattered and mixed with the sound of the creature's blood-curdling laughter. Odd's eyes widened momentarily at the sight of Jeremie, awake and running toward the creature in an attempt to save Ulrich, but his effort looked useless, pointless. She turned, like she knew Jeremie was behind her, and tossed Ulrich into his blond friend. In seconds, Jeremie and Ulrich were both out of the game. Strangely, Odd realized that the she-demon hadn't really noticed Yumi except for when she tried to interfere with the rest of them. She was still huddled in the corner, mumbling to herself. Odd's mind raced with ideas, something- anything to help them get out of this. None would work, and he knew that. In one last desperate attempt, Odd rushed forward.

He thought he saw a wry smirk form on the vampire's lips just before she moved to the side. Odd smiled himself, for he must've looked like a fool, streaking past her and unable to stop running. He was surprised at how quickly he managed to slow down. When he turned to face her, to face death, he gulped. He had to look ridiculous. She was nearly five feet taller than he! The girl stepped toward him like an executioner. Odd did not try to move. He gave her an apologetic shrug just before she moved her hand out to clasp Odd's head. Woozily, Odd realized he was screaming. Slow, agonizing pain oozed through his body like poison. He wished he could black out from the pain, but it seemed that was the only thing keeping him awake. A slow, nonmemoriable death- all because he was too soft-hearted with girls to kill one. He could feel the warm trickle of blood down his cheeks. It was almost soothing.

And then it was gone, so suddenly that Odd thought he must have awoken from a dream. He could feel himself being slung over her shoulder, along with Ulrich and Jeremie, but he could not move to save his life. The vampire started to move her hand strangely, all the time laughing in that maniacal manner, and a hole opened up to admit a view into the virtual world of Lyoko. Blackness was a sweet salvation for him.

Odd heard a grunt beside him, then a shakey voice, hoarse and dry, asked, "Odd...? Where are we?" It was Ulrich.

Odd opened his mouth to speak, and wished he hadn't. He felt dizzy and feverish, and talking wouldn't help that. He told himself to grow a thicker skin. Their condition was not very good at all. "We're not at the uptown cafe, that's for sure." Ulrich didn't laugh at his joke. "I think we're in Lyoko," he said after a few minutes of silence. He couldn't even see where Ulrich was, but he could hear him very close by.

"Lyoko? How's that possible? Did that...thing shove us into the scanners?"

Odd placed a hand on his forehead. Such a wonderful evening, completely devastated by Xana. He hoped it was Xana. If not... No, the creature had Xana's symbol painted on her forehead. Sissy would hate him now, thinking that his little arrangement was a joke to embarrass her. He laughed bitterly. Odd had never liked irony. "No, she created a gateway after you and Jeremie were knocked out." Listening to his own words, he realized that Jeremie was either still unconscious, or not even in the same room. Odd said not a word about him, though."This is total chicken shit... Do you know how bad off we could be right now? If I ever see Xana in person or meet the virtual intelligence here in Lyoko or whatever, I swear I'll kill him. I'll rip him apart with my bare hands if I have to."

"Odd... Don't say things like that." A hand lighted on Odd's shoulder. Ulrich aparently had no problem seeing in the dark.

"Why not? This isn't the first time he's nearly ruined our lives for good. The only difference now is that he succeeded. You were awake when the creature blew up the supercomputer. If we truly are in Lyoko, we have no way of getting out or going back in time. Whatever happens from now on really will happen."

"That's no reason to go all psycho-murderer on me,"Ulrich said, his frown showing by the way he spoke. Odd wondered how Ulrich kept his calm no matter what their situation. He only seemed to be jumpy when Yumi was around. That was another thing: Yumi wasn't taken through the gateway, and neither was Aelita for that matter. If nothing had come after them after the creature made the gateway, then there was still a small hope that one might come to their rescue. Aelita knew almost as much about the supercomputer as Jeremie.

"I'm not a murderer," Odd murmured. Not yet, anyway. He certainly felt the urge to kill after the damage Xana had caused this time. He closed his eyes. Even in the darkness he could see the room spinning. Anger or no anger, he was still queasy.

"Right," Ulrich sounded convinced. "I know you're not." Their friendship tied trust around them like actual ropes, binding them together. Odd gently touched a place on the side of his head and winced. His injuries were still there.

That brought another thought to mind: Feeling real pain in Lyoko was impossible. Sure, once you got out of the scanner you were pretty beat up, but never while actually being in the virtual world. He touched his temples again, just to confirm his suspicions. A cold shiver rippled through his body. They were really there. Real in Lyoko; pysically real, not merely vitualized. "Ulrich, you know I'm not one to be pessimistic, but I don't think we were virtualized here."

"What?"

"Don't sound so surprised." Odd gestured for Ulrich to keep his voice down, but the loud groan that came from Ulrich as he went on was no quieter than the last comment. "We were transported here directly from a space in the real world, ergo we are still 'real,' regardless of the fact that we are in a computerized world. I can still feel pain; seeing as how you're suddenly quiet, I'd say you can too."

"But how? It's... Well, I don't think it's impossible, but it was certainly something that I knew we couldn't do. I guess we thought..." Ulrich trailed off, not wanting to voice their ignorance.

"That Xana couldn't do it either." Odd said bluntly. He laughed softly. It seemed he was doing that a lot lately. "Stupid... Everything is just stupid... Why didn't Jeremie know about his? Hasn't he been tracking Xana's every move? If he didn't see it, what about Aelita? And us! We're in here all the time. Why didn't we see something unusual? Why--?"

"Odd, stop it." Ulrich had both hands on Odd's shoulders now. He blinked at the darkness and swallowed fear and anger both. "You're frustrated, and I can understand that, but brooding over something we can do nothing about will not change anything. We need to do what we can."

Odd nodded. He would not cry. Crying was for girls and little babies.

Out of the corner of his eye, Odd saw a light. It was dim, but strong enough to illumine the face of a pretty girl their age, dressed all in white. She was coming forward slowly. The light was a literal ball, glowing about an inch above her outstreatched hand and making a slight hummm sound. Something nudged into Odd's side, and it didn't take a heartbeat to know that Ulrich wanted his attention. Odd leaned over ever so slightly, and listened closely to Ulrich's whisper. "Xana's minion. You escape. I'll distract. Quickly, but wait for it." Odd understood most of his friend's message, but he did find himself frowning at the part about Ulrich distracting her. He had no right to argue though. It was Ulrich's turn.

They watched the girl until she came within arm's reach of them, just enough to where she could brush either with the tips of her fingernails. She smiled happily. For some reason, she reminded Odd of a nurse. Nurses had the same kind, gracing smile that she had, the kind that was plastered on their face with no warmth at all. They knew they were there to help you, but to do so they put you in pain, and they did it to everyone every day as a routine. The girl even had her red hair up in a bun, with a tiny white bow tied around it, just like a nurse he once had to see. Needless to say, Odd hated hospital visits. That particular woman had more acid in her than a nuclear power plant and enough meanness to put Adolf Hitler to shame.

"Odd," she said brightly, nodding to him. "Ulrich." Not nearly so cheerful for Odd's companion. "I hope you are both most comfortable. I'll be the one seeing you today." Her eyes darted toward the floor. No, not the floor. The glowing ball only gave off enough light to show her face and the hand that held the ball up, but Odd had the suspicion that she was carrying something unpleasant in her other hand. Comfortable? The girl must be blind! He was sitting on a rock, of all things, and she wanted him to be comfortable. Ulrich's loud snort mirrored Odd's thoughts. She continued her speech like a programmed robot, "I must ask you not to run away. The last one tried that, and, you see... He did not fair quite so well." Odd and Ulrich looked at one another, but there was nothing they could do if Jeremie had tried to escape before they woke up. "Odd," her voice regained the bright, enthusiastic quality she was giving only to said boy, "I'll see you first. Come right over here, please. Oh, and I am called Flow." Odd stared up at her and made a point not to do so much as blink.

"Maybe I should go first," Ulrich said, feigning cuteness. He did that sometimes, when a lot of girls were around. Odd had always thought it was a habit Ulrich didn't know about. It proved to be a useful quality, though. Despite Flow's earlier distaste for Ulrich, she smiled at his wide brown eyes. Times like this made Odd wish he didn't have bright, icy, gray eyes.

"Hmm, all right then. Ulrich, sit." She pointed to her right. Ulrich stood up. Odd had no idea what he was going to try, but he hoped it had nothing to do with being Flow's lapdog. He watched, still unblinking, as Ulrich walked calmly in front of her.

"Where are we?"

Flow looked startled, and her smile faltered for a second, but she masked her features again just as quickly. Odd might've imagined it. "Do be a good boy and keep quiet until I'm finished." Stuborn girl.

"Are you alive?"

"I thought I told you to politely be quiet. Now, if you'll please sit d-"

"Do you know who Xana is?"

Odd thought her jaw must be aching for all the smiling Flow was showing off. Her face looked contorted into some twisted form of happiness, pain, and hate. Ulrich stared at her defiantly. Odd was looking for a way out.

"This is the Black Tower," she said suddenly. Her smile fell slowly, until her lips were a thin flat line. It was the angriest look Odd had ever seen on a human face. "Most prisoners we deal with are not as far along as you seem to be, my pretty brunette, and I was hoping I'd have to deal with you last. Yes, prisoners. Don't look so shocked, Odd. You both already know more than you should. It shan't take you much longer to fit all the pieces together."

Odd thought his heart would pound straight out of his chest. Ulrich hadn't given him a signal yet. He could barely make out the lithe form in front of Flow, but he knew Ulrich was there. Not too much longer and-

"I told you not to think about running away, did I not?"

His mouth felt suddenly dry. He found himself wetting his lips in anticipation, and he tried not to think about running. There was no way out of this room that he could see, and no way to tell which direction the nurse had come. Flow couldn't read his mind...could she?

"Look, Fleur, Flay, whatever you're name is- all we want is to get back home and-"

"I don't think so. You probably want to run back home to little Yumi, no doubt." Odd saw Ulrich shake with that comment. "Do not worry. It will all be over soon. You won't need to protect the world, my dear, if there isn't a world to protect." The sick feeling returned as Odd tried not to look at Ulrich or Flow. The red-head's sweet, fake smile formed on her lips again, only now it seemed twice as haunting. Ulrich fell to his knees, shaking his head. No real world? Odd thought. Surely not... It was a bluff. It had to be! He watched anxiously for Ulrich to stand up. What the hell was he waiting for?

"So...you do know who Xana is?"

"Why yes. I do."

Odd watched the scene before him in slow motion, though it happened in mere minutes. Ulrich first tried to snatch the ball of light from her hand, but he yelled out in pain and withdrew his own hand after the very second it came in contact with the light. There was a reason it was floating over Flow's hand and not in it. Not only was the nurse surprised, she was downright taken aback. She leaned back so far away from Ulrich that she fell flat on her ass and actually bounced several times, sending the ball flying off somewhere else. There was a loud clangor of objects hitting the floor, but Odd ignored that. It was all he could do just to surpress laughter. Ulrich was not laughing. In another heartbeat, he was bestriding Flow with both hands on her neck. The poor girl was making a gurgling sound. "Run, Odd," Ulrich panted. Another, smaller clatter said Ulrich was fumbling with the objects that were strewn about the floor.

"Ulrich, you can't--!" Odd's hand fell. This was too much. He couldn't watch a girl die by his best friend's hand. He couldn't-

"I SAID GO, ODD! NOW!"

Odd sprang to his feet before thinking. He was running head-on into the blackness before thinking. In fact, the thought of thinking about anything else besides not thinking was beyond him. He didn't care that he ran into a wall, nor did he care that the wall did not have any cracks or knobs he could use to escape. He simply felt his way along until the wall suddenly gave way to a corner. He allowed himself one last glance back at Ulrich, though he couldn't see a thing in the darkness. It was not Ulrich's voice that filled his ears.

"Go ahead and try, my doll." Oh, that sickly sweet voice sounded so awkward in the dark and musty atmosphere of the chamber. He could just see the body of the poor guy she'd mentioned before, bloody and very much dead at her feet, and she with that happy smile on her face. How Odd loathed irony. It could not have been Jeremie she was talking about. "Running will only lead you to more heartache. It would be so better if you gave up now. Really; all you have to do is walk back over here. I'll even go easy on your friend."

Quelling fear, Odd replied to Flow in a rather smug manner, "It was nice meeting you, and all, but I think I'd rather believe you are a figment of my imagination. You do have a strange resemblance to a nurse I once had to see when I was little. Take my advice and don't harm Ulrich. Believe me, I will find out, and I swear I'll come back for you when I do." Odd had to dash down his newly found corridor to stop Flow from seeing him shudder. He was amazed that his voice hadn't cracked once during his tiny threat. He felt very much like a canary telling the cat that he would eat her instead of vice versa. If he looked at it that way, the threat simply sounded silly.

He stopped running because the last thing he needed was to run into a wall and knock himself out. Instead, he walked none too steadily in the darkness with his left hand pressed hard against the stone, silently hoping for a light, or a person- anything that would take his mind off the many things that seemed plague it. Three more corners he turned, until finally, after God only knows how long, he saw a tiny speck of light at the end of yet another hallway. Odd felt a tiny hope, and pushed it down before it could blossom. Better to not hope at all than believe and be disappointed. He was losing his sense of humor.

Not even Odd could have enough humor for what he found in the light at the end of the tunnel.

-.-.-

Any better? I tried to make this chapter a bit longer. Hope you're enjoying this. Tell me what you think! -.-.-Shaku-.-.-