Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko.
Pairings: None really.
Warnings: Mild language
Title: Forever Doesn't Always Mean Forever
Chapter: Six - Life
Point of View: Ulrich
Author's Note: Hey, long time no read, right? I'm sorry everyone but I've been so busy. No excuse though. The only thing I can offer is this measly excuse of a chapter and I hope you all won't be to angry with me. Please enjoy.
I'd been gone awhile. More than a week and I missed them, so much. Yumi had given me a picture of her and Maurie before I left and I had taken it and made copies. So I had one in my wallet and one sitting on my desk in my apartment, next to the computer.
"Hey Ulrich!"
I look up from the books I was pretending to study and glance at my roommate, Wesley. "Hey Wes," I reply. He goes over to the fridge and grabs a soda, offering me one but I decline.
"What are you working on?" he asks.
"Term paper for Professor Jenkins," I reply. He nods and turns on the tv in the living room.
"You still haven't told me how your trip home was," he says, coming back in to get a bag of chips. He glances over at the picture and raises an eyebrow at me, I shrug in return. He doesn't need to know everything in my life. "Cute picture. Who're they?" he asks.
Trust Wesley to not know when to drop something. Kind of reminds me of Odd in that respect. "None of your business," I tell him.
"Come on, who are they?" he pushes, picking up the picture frame and studying their faces. "The little girl's adorable," he added. "Kinda resembles..."
"Give me that." I snatch the picture back, dumping it in a drawer and slam the advanced physics book shut. I was insane to take that class anyway, Odd was always the one good with physics.
"Where're you going?" Wes calls as I pull on a jacket and grab my keys.
"I don't know. Out. Away. I need air," I snap. He steps to the side as I storm out the door and take the stairs two at a time. I need to clear my head, focus on the present, focus on now. On the finals that are creeping up slowly, rearing their ugly heads, just like the Krabes we used to fight when we were younger.
Back at Kadic, back when we were all together. Before I left. Before... I shake my head again, this is ridiculous. I'm acting like I've been sentenced to death, I haven't. I have a beautiful fiancee waiting for me back home, a wonderful daughter, friends, I'll have a college degree. Everything's perfect, everything's set. My whole life is one giant chessboard and with one false move I could topple off the edge or be side-swiped by a knight.
I wander through the streets, fingertips brushing against wet, icy, fences and light poles. I pull my jacket closer with my other hand, I should've grabbed a scarf or gloves, maybe a heavier jacket. But it's March, it should be Spring, should be warmer. Should be, should be, should be.
I'm wandering aimlessly now, I have no direction in mind. Left turn here, straight ahead, dead end, turn back. The park is where I end up. One of the few parks in the city with a lot of foliage, I always felt at home with the trees. Maybe it has something to do with my childhood, before I went to school at Kadic, when I still lived with my parents in Germany. I shrug, no use wondering.
I start out on a trail but quickly change course, heading down the next one that intercepts it, then the next, then I leave the trail completely, wandering though the shrubs and across the wet grass. I know from past visits that there's a lake in the middle of the pond, on weekends it's usually crowded. Little kids with motorized boats, artists painting, couples picnicking... I sigh and eventually find myself by a small stream that feeds the lake. I sit down on a boulder, not caring if it's wet or icy, and lean against the tree behind me.
Life.
It's full of surprises, that's what everyone tells you. It can turn on a dime, it can be a roller-coaster ride, it can be a placid lake in the middle of the night. Life is constantly evolving, constantly changing. Life is a mystery, that's what all great so-and-so's say. Well, my life certainly is a mystery.
I pull out my wallet and look at the picture I have of Yumi and Maurie in the silver moonlight. I trace their faces, their smiles, their eyes. They're both beautiful. I know I'm lucky to have them, I'm not stupid enough to think it was anything but luck that got us through the years together.
I close my eyes and sigh, falling into a form of meditation that used to help me relax before a fight or game. Seven seconds. Breathe in for seven seconds, hold that breath for seven seconds, breathe out for seven seconds. One fluid motion, it comes as naturally as...well, as breathing. I'm falling into the rhythm, drifting slowly when a blast of music assaults my ears. I sit up quickly, fumbling with my phone until I flip it open and put it to my ear.
"Hello?"
"Ulrich, it's me. It's Odd."
I swallow, leaning forward and grip the phone a little closer. "Odd? What is it?" I check my watch. "It's two in the morning," I add.
"Ulrich, you need to get out here. Something...something happened."
"Happened? Odd?"
"Just hurry up, okay? Book a flight or whatever. Call me with the details, I'll get you at the airport."
"Odd!"
The dial tone is my answer and I curse, snapping the phone shut. I guess this is the roller-coaster, change-on-a-dime part of life. Damn it.
Author's Note: It's short but it took me so long to write, I'm not even kidding. But blah. Please review.
Starr
