Warning: Rated 'M' for horror-genre violence, adult situations and adult language.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Certain characters have been adapted from 'The Stand,' by Stephen King, and he is the copyright holder of these.

Certain characters are based on 'Hikaru No Go' by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

Brief references are made to a character from 'Watership Down,' by Richard Adams, and he is the copyright holder of this character.

Sunday

Odd woke up and jumped out of bed. He looked over at Ulrich's bed, and saw the boy laying asleep there. Sometime during the night, Ulrich finally made it back to their room. But Odd couldn't afford to spend any time now to find out what Ulrich was up to yesterday. The sun was just coming up and he had no time to waste. He quickly showered and dressed, then went out searching for Sissi.

Odd found her walking out of the Principal's Residence with her father. They looked dressed up, like they were going out to a party or something like that.

"Sissi!" Odd called out to her.

Sissi turned his way when she heard him call, and startled briefly. She then turned to her father and said something to him, then ran to meet him halfway.

"Odd!"

"Sissi!"

When they met, he grabbed her by her shoulders and looked her over, as if he were checking her over for any injury or damage.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Yes, now," she replied, "I, I want to thank you saving me. I don't think that I would be here now if you hadn't done what you did."

"Look, I've got some weirdness going on in my life right now, and somehow you got pulled into it, and we really need to talk, in the here and now. Can you?"

Sissi shook her head, "no, Daddy and I are going to church. It's a special day for us and we need to go. And given what you just said, it might even be more important now than it would any other year."

Odd was surprised that Sissi even knew where the church was, let alone let herself be seen there. As if Odd were anybody to sit in judgment in that area.

But, he said, "as soon as you can get back and get free, we need to talk." He patted her shoulder and let her go.

"Yes, we do," she said as she left, "and hopefully you won't be wearing that purple cat suit when we do!"

That afternoon, Sissi returned to her dorm room. Her father had asked her to stay for another evening but she politely declined. From the way her father looked after the service today, the Principal Suit was creeping back onto him, and the arrival of Mr. Hopper only confirmed her suspicions.

After she deposited her things on her bed, she went to look for Odd. She opened her door to leave just as Odd was starting to knock on it.

"Ah, hi," Odd said.

"Hi," Sissi replied.

They walked out of the dorm building together towards the woods. Just a little ways in, they came to a park bench and sat down.

Sissi started, "okay, Odd. What's going on here? What were you doing in my dreams last night? Do you know anything about the dream I had the night before? What is it?"

"I honestly don't know, Sissi. Nothing like this has ever happened to me in my life. Now, I'll admit that my life's been a little strange for a couple of years, but nothing like..."

"Does this have something to do with you and Ulrich and the rest of your gang?"

"Yes, I think it does. Ulrich had a similar experience to mine on Friday night. I'm assuming you met the man in the cornfield and the old woman?"

"I met Mother Abagail, if that's who you're talking about. I never met a man. But a man's voice coming from the cornfield did scare me when I was on the road to her house."

"That man is something you want to stay well away from, if possible," Odd told her emphatically. He then continued, "anyway, the old woman, Mother Abagail, you said? Well, she told me that there was a storm coming. And she told Ulrich that we would be fighting that man in the cornfield again and soon. If you've met the old woman, then you're mixed up in this with the rest of us somehow."

"I don't want to be mixed up in anything! I want things to go back the way they were! I'm not ready for anything like this!" Tears started to form in Sissi's eyes as the panic rose in her.

Odd took her hands in his. "Sissi, in the dream I meant what I said. I swore to keep you safe and not let anything happen to you. And there's something else I wanted to tell you in the light of day."

He paused a moment, the continued, "I'm sorry for the way I've treated you these years. It was childish and I regret it. Please forgive me."

"Is this so I will set you free of your vow?" she asked him.

"Whether you free me, keep me bound, or do nothing at all doesn't matter. If you tell me to bug off and never have anything to do with me ever again, I will still keep my pledge. Even if you hate me forever, I will keep you as safe as I can for as long as I can. I scared myself when I saw what I saw, and that, along with a boy's arrogant foolishness, made me take that vow. But here and now, before you, God and Everybody, it seems like the most sensible thing I've ever done, or will ever do, in my life."

Sissi stared at Odd, as if this were the first time she ever saw him. The entire time he had spoken to her, he had held her hands in his. At some point, he had slid off of the bench they were sitting on, and was kneeling on one knee before her.

"I do," she simply told him.

In that moment, there was a click! and it seemed that something settled down on Elizabeth Delmas. I wasn't like a chain, it wasn't like a collar. It was more like a blanket that you wrapped up in on a cold winter's night, one that made the cold wonderful.

In that moment, she knew she would be spending the rest of her life with the man kneeling in front of her. And if what happened the last two nights and today were any indication, it was going to be a wild ride.

A smile lit his face, bright as the rising sun in the morning. She smiled back, and they both got up and walked on into the forest. It was time for Odd to explain Everything.

What she learned that afternoon rocked her. She thought it was going to be a wild ride before he told her anything, and now she knew more of it, she realized that wild just didn't cover it.

But how was she going to explain it all to Daddy?