Thanks to Rycr
for pointing out… things…
and this part (I don't know if it's finished or not) is dedicated to my biggest fans. Thanks guys!
Happy Reading!
Part Three: Remembrance
Chapter Twenty-Three: Comfort Zone
Someone knocked softly on Aelita's door. Aelita wasn't sleeping, but this unexpected knock almost scared her. She quickly bounced out of bed and answered the door. "Oh, hello," she murmured in surprise.
Yumi nodded, tears running down her face. "Can you sleep?"
Aelita shook her head. "I've been thinking about… things…"
"Oh," Yumi's face fell. Aelita pulled Yumi inside the dark dorm room and turned on the soft light in her room.
Yumi turned around, surprised that Therese hadn't said anything about her unexpected visit. But, the bed was made and it didn't look like anyone had slept there. "So she's not back yet, huh?"
Again, Aelita shook her head. She was missed Therese. Therese had been the sister she never had, even if she did take Odd. Someday, Aelita thought to herself, she will find true love like Odd and Therese did.
Yumi cleared her throat, eager to break the awkward silence. "I had an interesting dream not too long ago."
"Oh?" Aelita stopped twiddling her fingers. "Is that why you came? Is it about the hermitage or the factory or…"
"Not quite, Aelita."
Yumi began her story from as far back as she could remember it. And she didn't finish until the wake-up bell rang at six o'clock.
Chapter Twenty-Four: For the Record
Odd joined his buddies Ulrich and Jeremie at the breakfast table. His hair was ragged, his eyes had huge circles underneath them, and his face looked more pale than usual.
"Odd, you look horrible!" Jeremie said in shock, as if nobody at Kadic would even dare to walk outside in such a state.
"Lighten up, will ya?" Ulrich hissed at Jeremie.
Odd brushed the two of them aside with a swipe of the hand. "It's okay. I'm sure she'll turn up somewhere." He sighed dejectedly and laid his head down on the table in failure.
Yumi and Aelita appeared at the table not long after. Yumi stared hard at Odd. She was about to say something, but decided against it and sat down quietly.
Jeremie murmured a distant "hello" to Aelita and started searching through his backpack furiously. "Where is it?" he muttered angrily to himself.
"Where's what?" said Ulrich through a mouthful of cantaloupe.
"My notebook- and don't talk with your mouth full."
Ulrich chewed slowly while being the brunt of Jeremie's joke. It didn't matter because he heard Odd laughing for the first time since yesterday. But yesterday felt like weeks ago.
Jeremie pulled out his notebook with as much glamour when Arthur pulled the sword from the stone, but nobody seemed to notice him. He frantically flipped through the pages and landed on one with a bang of his fist. "Aha! Found it!"
"Found what?" inquired Aelita.
"The page," he said matter-of-factly. He began to read the page thoroughly.
Ulrich peered across the table and tried to read the notebook. "Is that your journal? I have a journal too, but…"
"Stop talking with your mouthful! Now you're getting cornflakes all over my reports!"
"Well," he swallowed, "what kind of reports?"
"They're reports of all our adventures to LYOKO, complete with XANA attacks. I tell what the problem is on Earth, what the problem is on LYOKO, who gets virtualized, important things, and then I name the missions various things. It's a good reference for when I draw parallels for each time-"
"You even have the report for when I was in the forest and I totally used the over-board to crash into the tower and I kicked the butts of five monsters and de-virtualized Yumi all at the same time?" Odd perked up excitedly.
Jeremie eyed Odd over his glasses. "Yes," Jeremie's lips tightened. "I called that one 'Odd's Stupid Idea.'"
Everyone, even Odd, laughed at that. "What?" Jeremie was being serious. "It's true!"
And they finished their breakfast quickly so they could go to class.
Chapter Twenty-Five: History Class
Odd, Jeremie, and Ulrich were sitting in history class listening to a boring lecture on the art of sword fighting and its history.
"When two people are about to fight, it's just like in karate. They give each other respect by bowing before the first thrust is given. Does anyone know gives the first thrust?"
"The defender," Sissy raised her hand and called out before the professor had a chance to call on her. Sissy's new tactic to get Ulrich's attention was to be intelligent, and she hoped he was paying attention. She looked behind her and saw that he wasn't.
"Very good, Sissy," the professor responded. "The person who accepted the challenge of a fight gets to go first. After that, it's fair game. Now what happens when the fight is over?"
A history buff named David raised his hand quietly. When the professor nodded, he gave his answer. "Well, the duel is over when one of the fighters cannot fight back. If the winner is merciless, such as back in the old days, the winner will keep fighting until the loser dies. If the winner is merciful, he will help the loser or maybe he'll help the loser commit suicide."
The professor nodded again. "Thank you, David. That's exactly right. Can-" The bell rang and the students filed out the door.
"There's no homework tonight, students!" the professor called. Ulrich shouted with glee. He had absolutely no homework tonight.
"Do you find it interesting that we are talking about sword fighting while we're learning about the peaceful artistic age?" inquired Jeremie.
Odd shrugged. "No."
Jeremie hummed and hawed, and let the matter drop.
Chapter Twenty-Six: Ulrich's Freedom
History was the last class of the day. It was only the second day of school, Ulrich remembered, being he had so much homework last year at this time. He enjoyed his freedom, albeit temporary. It seemed like forever since he had time to himself. Perhaps he would read a book, go outside for a walk…
Ulrich just arrived in his dorm room by himself when he heard his mobile ring. He picked it up gingerly, and when he answered it, his worst fears were confirmed.
"Oh, Jeremie, do we have to?" Ulrich whined while smoothing out his hair.
"Yes, Ulrich, we have to. It's XANA we're talking about here. This isn't your chemistry homework!" Aelita shouted, "Hey!" in the background while Yumi and Jeremie laughed.
"Fine," Ulrich lost the argument. "I'll be right there." He hung up his mobile, straightened his black tee, and strolled outside the empty dorm.
Chapter Twenty- Seven: The Notebook
Jeremie, Yumi, and Aelita crowded around the notebook that had appeared at breakfast. Jeremie was staring at the page, trying to figure out what went wrong with the last return to the past.
"You know, I think it's XANA's doing," Yumi walked away from them to comfort Odd who was sulking on the wall opposite of them.
"I know- but what did he do? Let's work out the details." Aelita watched intently as Jeremie scribbled down in the notebook:
EVE-10 goes missing.
Therese follows Aelita to factory.
Virtualized: Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich.
Found EVE-10. Deactivate tower. Return to the past.
Returned to one hour before tower is activated.
What went wrong: I have no clue.
"Jeremie, you're beating yourself up over this. We'll get it, I promise." Aelita closed the notebook quietly in his hands. Ulrich opened the elevator doors and motioned for the rest of the gang to follow him.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Painful Transfer
All four of them were virtualized. Ulrich cracked the small of his back and his neck while Yumi twisted around to get all the cricks out of her back. "Geez, Jeremie, that was painful!" Ulrich cried.
"Tell me about it," said Odd as he rotated his left arm back into the shoulder socket. "I think our scanners need to get replaced."
"We are not replacing any scanners," Jeremie groaned. The vehicles appeared but the gang didn't go on them. "What are you waiting for?"
Yumi went up to her over-wing and touched it gingerly. "How do we know that these won't crash on their own?"
"Just get on them!" he yelled impatiently. "What if XANA launches an attack on Earth?"
Aelita asked, "Where's EVE-10?"
"He's devirtualizing towers in the ice sector. Now go!"
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Monsters
There the tower stood like a grand watchtower over the forest land. It glowed a deep hue of red. It was a temple which block monsters and krabes swayed in the ancient dances to which their ancestors were under XANA's control.
The monsters turned slowly to see the three vehicles approaching them. The monsters wasted no time to follow out XANA's orders: kill the Earthlings. Kill the Earthlings. Kill the Earthlings!
But no matter how many times the monsters fought, they never could win. And those monsters that survived but didn't carry out the mission- it was rumored among the monsters that XANA was merciless.
Luckily, not one of them survived. The monsters had allegiance to XANA, but paid loyalty to their own selfish desires.
Chapter Thirty: Missing
"Aelita's deactivating the tower, Jer," Yumi called up to the calm skies in the forest sector. "Do you-"
Ulrich came up behind her and put his arm on her shoulder. "I need to talk to you, Yumi."
Yumi looked around to see if Odd was in earshot. He wasn't- in fact, he wasn't anywhere to be seen. "Ulrich? Where's Odd?"
Ulrich turned around and using his tiptoes to see if he could find his friend. "No clue," he admitted.
"Guys? What's going on down there?" called Jeremie.
"Uh, nothing!" lied Yumi as she pulled Ulrich closer to her face. "We can't let Jeremie know that Odd is missing! He'll kill us if he knows we weren't paying attention to him. After all, he might've committed suicide or something!"
Ulrich nodded silently and went to board his over-bike. "I'll go left and you go right," he pointed at the fork that went slightly to the left of the tunnel. Yumi nodded this time and sped off on her over-bike.
Chapter Thirty-One: A Sign
Odd had to just get away from his friends. They meant well, but his head was throbbing with all that was going on. Therese had gone missing, but nobody even really noticed. He loved Therese- why was she taken away from him?
So onward he traveled: past the tower and into the heart of the woods. It felt good to sit in the silence. A sort of calm came over Odd as he rested on a fallen log.
He looked around at how empty the forest was. Empty, but beautiful. Desolate, but calm. He could live out here forever…
When he opened his eyes from his little catnap, Odd saw Ulrich and Yumi were hovering over him. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Why did you run off like that? You had us worried!" Yumi scolded with a smile.
"Am I in trouble or are you just messing with me?" Odd asked because of the mixed signal he received from Yumi.
"Just don't tell Jeremie you ran off by yourself- he'd have our heads!" Ulrich added.
Odd was about to respond, but he forgot what he was going to say. Something silvery shone in the corner of his eye. He turned around slowly.
"Why is Therese naked in that bubble?" he pointed as Yumi and Ulrich gasped.
There she was, Therese Patterson, with eyes closed and a peaceful smile. She was naked, but her long blonde hair covered her most sensitive parts while flowing freely around her. She had her arms crossed so the hands touched the opposite shoulder. Therese was in her full glory and even more beautiful by the silver bubble that enclosed her.
"So that's where she went!" Yumi whispered aloud. Ulrich noticed that it wasn't like the orange-glowed orb that XANA kept Yumi in once upon a time. Nonetheless, he felt brave enough to stroll up to Therese.
Odd noticed that Ulrich seemed entranced by this shiny new object, so he raced past the samurai and touched Therese first. As he did, a soft yellow light surrounded him and the bubble. The next moment, she was gone and so was the light.
"Odd! You have 200 life points!" Jeremie was in shock. "What did you do?" Whatever Odd did, it held the secret for keeping the gang on LYOKO longer.
"Therese!" Odd whispered as he tried to choke back the tears.
"Jeremie! It was Therese! She was in this bubble- and Odd touched her- and she's gone!"
"Oh that's a good one guys…"
Ulrich spoke next. "It's true! It was as if she were sleeping or something. And she didn't have any clothes on…"
"Hang on… de-virtualization!"
Chapter Thirty-Two: Questions
Aelita and Jeremie was a captive audience to all three sides of the story. Yumi saw Therese simply in a silver-tinted bubble. Ulrich saw a beautiful girl sleeping and the soft light. Odd experienced touching Therese and feeling the warm, soft light. Jeremie and Aelita stayed back at the factory while the three warriors went back to their rooms to get rested for whenever XANA would attack next.
Jeremie mused. "I have a feeling Franz Hopper took our dear friend." Aelita looked at him sideways while scanning the notebook.
"During the return to the past, Jeremie?"
"I know it sounds crazy, but trust me; why else would touching Therese help Odd instead of hurt him?"
Aelita closed the notebook. "So if she's on LYOKO, where would she be on Earth? Truly, people are looking for her. We can't keep returning to today; we might destroy the super computer!"
Jeremie slumped in his chair while rubbing his temples. "What bugs me is that I can't figure out how she got there or why she is there."
Aelita patted his shoulder. "I'm sure we'll find out eventually. I'm just glad she's okay."
Chapter Thirty-Three: Ulrich and Yumi
Yumi and Ulrich sat on one of the benches outside the dormitories. There was hardly anyone walking around at this hour on campus, so they had the privacy they wanted.
"On LYOKO," Yumi started.
"Yeah, about that…" Ulrich faltered for the right words and he nervously patted his thigh. "Well, how long as it been since 'the incident'?" he asked, his voice so low it was almost hard to hear him.
She brushed her sleek black hair behind her ears. "A year and a few months," she guessed.
Ulrich took her hand. "I bet you still feel bad-"
Yumi glared at him and took back her hand. "I tried to forgive and forget it myself, Ulrich."
"Oh, that's not what I meant…" he groaned. He sighed and started over, "What I meant to say is- who's the new girl?" His eyes followed the pretty red-head that walked by.
Yumi was stunned. She had thought he was going to say something else- but what would she say? Nothing. Not until I can convince myself that William won't need me anymore.
She glanced over at the girl. "I dunno," she tried not to sound bitter, but instead sounded like she just didn't care.
Ulrich shook his head as if trying to get her out of his head. But he couldn't keep his eyes on Yumi. Yumi finally stood up and began to rant.
"If you're going to say something, just say it already!" she yelled.
But then Tamiya Diop, a black freshman, ran up to them and in a breathless voice asked, "Where's Milly?"
"I dunno," replied Ulrich. "Why?"
"Because a student died, and I need to borrow the video camera to tape the other's reactions!"
Ulrich's eyes popped open. "Who- who would that be?" Yumi closed her eyes, but her worst fears came true.
"William Dunbar." Tamiya spotted her friend in the distance and ran over to her, forgetting all about Ulrich and Yumi.
Yumi fell back on to the bench, her normally white face getting paler by the second. She broke down on Ulrich's shoulder and sobbed forever.
Chapter Thirty-Four: Moving On
Yumi had never been to a funeral before. The whole day was like in her dream; some parts blurry, some parts crystal clear. She saw how many people were there. She saw how many people really cared about William. She saw how many people believed that he was getting stronger.
She admitted that she hadn't seen him in weeks; she had been busy with other things. She felt dirty, like she was cheating on him by thinking about Ulrich. But now there was no William. However, there was still Ulrich.
Ulrich was at William's funeral, too. She noticed how depressed he was about this- or was it now he was going to win her heart by the way he never dreamed of? She saw him praying at the side of the open casket. She wanted to comfort him, but she decided against it.
He left and wiped the tears off of his cheek.
Ulrich hadn't cried since his mother's funeral. And he didn't want to be seen crying again. He never really cared for William; but he cared about him. There was a difference.
The face inside the casket appeared the same way it did since his only visit to the hospital. The only difference was that this one wore a formal suit instead of a hospital gown and lifelines.
Ulrich started to tear up again. He hid his face by pretending to pray, although he himself was a witness that there was no God. If there was a God, He sure wasn't a merciful one.
As he left William's side, he noticed that Yumi was right behind him. Even in her sadness, she was still stunning.
Yumi placed the white rose she held tightly on the plan brown casket. She was the last one to do so, and the undertaker was getting angry that she was forestalling his work.
"Ahem!" he cleared his throat loudly.
Yumi was startled and quickly thought of something to say a hurried goodbye. She touched his casket and whispered, "You'll be in my heart always, William, no matter what."
She hurried off the burial plot and when she got to the main road, she began to walk quite a-ways to where Ulrich's car was parked.
Chapter Thirty-Five: Aelita's Observation
"It's September 17th. I am worried about Odd. He acts like everything is okay, but he hasn't been himself. There are no more jokes, no more music, and certainly no more sparkle. But it gets worse. Nobody seems to notice Therese is missing, and we certainly don't want to raise any alarms over it. It has been 15 days since her disappearance. It has been 15 days since William's death. It has been 15 days since we went to LYOKO.
"Jeremie is convinced there is a connection, but I do not see one. After all, Yumi told me this past summer that people die without XANA around. Speaking of Yumi, I am wondering if she is okay.
"She hasn't been sad over William's death. I bet she's waiting for Ulrich to ask her out. I think she should wait a while longer before going with him. The dance is just days away, and if I were her, I would just not go. But I'm not.
"Ulrich has been keeping an eye out for this feisty young red-head. He told me the details- which I'm impressed because he never tells me anything- but he doesn't know her name. I'm glad personally that he's moving on- why can't I?
"Love, Aelita.
"P.S. - I still love Odd, and I won't ever, EVER move on."
Chapter Thirty-Six: A Second Meeting
"Fool!" XANA's voice thundered as it shook the world around him.
The white cloud across from him emitted no sign of surrender. "You were so close to winning with your invisibility magic trick," he mocked to the red cloud.
"It was no magic trick; if I recall, I managed to kill three students," XANA boated.
Franz Hopper, the white cloud, didn't care. "And yet, my daughter and her friends manage to beat you and your pathetic army of toy monsters. I think this is a sign of your weakness, my friend. You can give up now and I'll be compassionate with you."
"Ha!" XANA bellowed as he began to circle Sector-5. "You are foolish indeed. You could never destroy me!"
"Do you want me to destroy you?"
"How would you manage to do that, Franz Hopper?" ridiculed XANA.
The white cloud moved opposite of XANA. "I created you, I can find a way."
A chuckle from XANA, and then, "Well, if you destroy me, then you destroy your precious daughter as well. I have no problems with that."
Franz Hopper laughed now. "So, speaking of this duel, you're ultimate plan is to make me destroy Aelita? That's the equivalent of giving me a notice that you're going to jab me in the shoulder! You are pathetic!"
"But I-" The clouds stopped moving.
"Oh, my favorite was kidnapping that Therese girl who came into the factory… and then instead of giving her a virus and killing off the gang, you manage to make her like a life token! XANA, you are a riot!"
XANA was beginning to fume. Franz continued, laughing all the while, "Oh! And then you kill off her parents so people will be looking for the factory and the gang and then I'll be finished! Well guess what? So will I! And I don't mind dying."
The red cloud said nothing and floated into the walls of the sector. But before he left, he shouted out, "These peaceful days are over, Franz Hopper! I, too, am prepared to win and die!"
Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Truth, Revealed
"Ulrich, are you still going to the dance?" asked Yumi quietly at lunch. "My, uh, parents want to know."
"Yup," he said cheerfully as he opened up a packet of ketchup to put on his bland chicken patty.
Odd was next to speak up. "Yeah, he's going with…oomph!" Ulrich had elbowed Odd in the side without even stopping his smile at Yumi.
Yumi didn't say anything and sipped her iced tea. Odd cringed in silence, fearing that Ulrich would elbow him once more.
"Are you going?" Ulrich asked, trying to make conversation with her. Aelita, who just arrived at the table, responded with a hearty "You betcha!"
"And you, Yumi?"
"I guess I was…" She got up and left quickly.
Jeremie noticed that she did not take her tray. "God, I hate when she does that!" he complained, while everybody who remained at the table laughed.
"Yumi, wait!" Ulrich called. He just caught her as she was about to go into the restrooms near the entrance of the trail into the woods.
She was clearly irritated, but stopped anyway. "What?"
"I want to clear something up."
She eyed him. "I'd like to hear this one."
He took a deep breath and began. "I was going to ask you again to the autumn dance that day that William… I mean, when William…"
"Okay, I get it. He died. Get on with it," she was irritated.
Ulrich tried to get his train of thought back. "Well, I thought it would've been mean to ask you to the dance at William's funeral. I was going to ask you to be my girlfriend. But I've been thinking…"
Yumi cringed. It was always one heart-shattering thing after another.
"Well, I don't know if there's an easy way to put this. I don't know if I love you anymore. You've been tearing me apart since middle school. I've finally moved on."
Yumi tried to choke back the tears and just said, "I've got to go," as she hurried into the girl's bathroom.
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Love Hurts
Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita walked out of the cafeteria together, headed for the dorms before classes resumed again for the day.
"Boy, Odd, Yumi seemed pretty upset," Jeremie noticed.
"You'll never guess who he's taking to the dance!" Odd gleefully responded.
"Um, not Yumi…" Aelita replied.
"Correct! He's taking some mystery red-head. I've looked her up in the yearbooks, but the only other person with even close to red hair is Milly. But she's from around here, apparently," Odd rambled on.
Aelita had to know, "Who are you going with, Odd?" She blushed and averted her gaze.
Odd seemed taken aback. "I, uh, uh…"
"Would you like to go with me to the dance?" Aelita murmured excitedly and then quickly added, "But if you haven't moved-"
"Aelita, I've moved on. Therese is gone, but not completely. Anyway, I'd love to go to the dance with you."
The pink-haired girl did a skip-hop and hugged him tightly around his waist. He stopped walking. "Uh…" Maybe he did like Aelita after all…
She ran off to the left calling, "I have to go to class, guys! Thanks, Odd!"
Odd waved, "See ya, Princess."
He turned around and saw Jeremie's jaw open and his brows furrowed. "Princess!" Jeremie screamed.
"Yeah, that's what I always called her."
"You've really pushed the limits this time, Odd," Jeremie said through clenched teeth. His balled up his fist tighter and tighter.
Odd looked like he was about to say something, but Jeremie didn't let him even begin. He punched Odd in the mouth, causing some blood to spurt out.
Jeremie realized then what he had done. He had never caused harm to another person before; in fact, he didn't even mean to do it. It just sort of happened.
And Odd didn't throw a punch back. He was just in shock, touching his lips tenderly to check for traces of blood. Jeremie ran without waiting a second longer.
"At least I've moved on, Jeremie!" Odd called after him as the purple-shirted and bloody-mouthed boy trekked to the nurse's office.
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Aelita and Jeremie
"You did what!" squeaked Aelita. "How could you?" her voice was pleading. Tears welled up in her sparkling green eyes. Jeremie felt so terrible for making such a happy girl feel so bad.
He didn't say anything, wondering if it would be best if he never even came to her room later that evening. But it was just eating him up inside. He shook his head solemnly. A single tear fell down his cheek.
She led him on to the bed and sat him down firmly. She wiped the tear from his cheek gingerly. "Please don't cry, Jeremie. I'm sure your feelings just got the best of you," she half-smiled so a cute little dimple showed.
Jeremie sniffled and tried to talk again. He looked at the shy girl in a soft pink nightgown. Her hair was wet and she smelled like his mother's rose garden in the summertime. Reflecting off of the desk light, her eyes appeared to have the effect of the ocean in the summertime. She was so…
"Aelita! I love you!" Jeremie exclaimed as he kissed her firmly on those soft pink lips.
Her eyes closed and she softened under the spell of her first kiss.
Chapter Forty: Pillow Talk
"Okay, this is getting way out of hand," sighed Yumi as she collapsed on the bed where, just hours earlier, Aelita got her first kiss.
Aelita frowned. "I agree. I have no idea if Jeremie really hates Odd." She sat at the foot of the bed Indian-style.
"No clue. Does Odd even really love you?"
Aelita gasped and slapped a hand to her cheek. "I never even thought about that! What if he doesn't and he's just doing it to make Jeremie mad?"
"I doubt it. Do you know anyone who likes getting beat up? I sure don't."
"I don't love Jeremie! Why can't he just move on?"
Yumi closed her eyes and wiped her hair from her face. "Moving on sucks. I don't blame him."
"What do you mean?"
"Today, Ulrich told me he's moving on from me. From me!" She sighed despondently. "I thought he loved me…"
The two girls contemplated the complications of love while sitting solemnly under the soft glow of Aelita's desk light. And after awhile, they both fell asleep on the same bed, having no dreams because if you aren't in love, you don't have any dreams.