Okay, you should all be incredibly happy with this chappy because it is over three thousand words! That makes up for the long wait, right? I hope so! Sorry about that, I just ran into some problems. I spent a long time trying to get this part just right. Please don't kill me for what Jeremie looks like, I think it's pretty cool. This chappy is dedicated to whoever thinks they deserve a dedication. If you don't think you deserve one, it's probably because YOU HAVEN'T REVIEWED! So do a review, and maybe the next one will be for you. To all those who did review, I thank you. It really helps. Anyways, I left you at a cliffy last time, so here we go!
(Macas P.O.V.)Flashback
"What the hell?" He says. "Aelita's coming back now, the tower's deactivated. There's another dot on your screen, but it's not a monster. I looks like another player. It might actually be XANA." He says.
"No Ulrich. I can see him. It's not XANA."
"Did XANA get some kind of henchman?"
"Yah. And his name is Jeremie…."
End Flashback"What? What are you talking about?"
"Jeremie is here, I can see him right now." Jeremie is standing near a tree, smirking at me. He has a skintight black jumpsuit on, and flexible armor overtop of that. The armor has a black breastplate, dark red shoulder pads, and a red abdominal section. The section outside the abdominal is pitch black and goes all the way around his torso, connecting with the shoulder pads in back. He's got black gloves and boots on as well as a red belt. His face has two markings, both black, striped on his cheeks. But it's his eyes that are the most striking feature. No longer their normal color, they've become pure black. Not warm black, like Yumi's eyes, but empty and cold.
"So, Macas. We meet again. How nice it's just me and you. We're both basically rookies, so this should be an interesting fight."
"Come on Jeremie, you don't want to fight me." I say backing away.
"Oh, I think I do. Besides, how else could I win? Oh, of course, you could surrender. Submit yourself to XANA's will, I'm sure you'll find it much more rewarding, as I have."
"No, I don't believe that. Jeremie would never join XANA, not the Jeremie I know…."
"Oh, but you've only known me for a couple of days. You have no idea what I would or wouldn't do."
"Maybe not, but everyone else does. Gleaning information from their reaction, I'd say they are as surprised as I am." I could hear Ulrich gasp when Jeremie said he had joined XANA. Then Jeremie changes. His eyes become blue again, the markings on his face turn red. He looks like he's struggling with himself. He looks up at me with desperation.
"Macas! I didn't join XANA, he's controlling me! I broke free for a second…." He turns back and then good again.
"Can't hold him off much longer. Your CD is hidden in my room, even XANA doesn't know where. Aelita will know. Tell her I love her, and I'm sorry…." He turns evil again.
"Jeremie! Fight it! XANA couldn't control me, he can't control you!" Jeremie turns good again, but it looks like he's about to faint.
"When you find 'The Destroyer,' use it on me. I'd rather die than serve XANA." Jeremie falls to the ground and turns evil again. He stands up and dusts himself off.
"I guess there's nothing left to do now but kill you…." He walks out to the middle of the path and turns to me. "One last chance. Join me now, or I'll toss you into the digital void." I back away some more, trying to find a way out of this.
'Uh, Ulrich? What are Jeremie's weapons?"
"Uh, I'm not sure. The last time he was there, the computer generated a random character." I envision Jeremie pulling out a pistol, faster than the normal eye can see. I quickly bring my sword up, just in time to block the shot.
"Okay, I think I found out his weapons. He's got a pistol that fires lasers." Jeremie smirks. I see another vision, except he fires multiple rounds. I bring my sword back up and block all the lasers, but just barely.
"Make that an automatic pistol." He smirks again. Even faster than before, he starts firing shots, at least ten a second. I block some, dodge some, but I'm hit a couple times. As soon as he stops, I notice something else.
"Oh shit, make that two automatic pistols. I'm definitely going to need some help."
"Sorry Macas, all our characters have to recharge for an hour before we can go back. Unfortunately, you're on your own with thirty life points left." I feel pressure on my throat, Jeremie is holding out a clenched hand. I can't talk, not a sound. If it was physically possible to breath on Lyoko, I'm sure I couldn't. He pulls his fist in, and I come flying in towards him and skid on the ground. I quickly get back up, and he laughs.
"You're always so ready Macas, I like that about you."
"Unfortunately, you know me only as well as I know Jeremie. You barely know the first thing about me." I direct my speech to XANA because I know it isn't Jeremie that's controlling that body.
"On the contrary, I know a lot about you. XANA has researched your past, he knows everything about you."
"Oh really? There's some things you can't learn by research."
"Like what?"
"Like what did my father make me do when he took me out of school?"
"He made you a drug delivery boy." I step back startled.
"Macas, he heard you tell your story. He knows everything about you that I do." Ulrich says.
"Well then, I'm just going to have to stump him with something that even you don't know." I pretend to think for a moment. Jeremie lowers his pistols, and I jump into action. I lunge forward with my sword aiming for his head. With lightning fast reflexes, he pulls out his gun and puts it my throat, at the exact same time my sword comes down to his head. We stand there for a second, his gun at my throat, my sword tip just a millimeter away from his head.
"Well, it seems we're at an impasse XANA." I say smiling.
"It seems it would be so. But I can also just pull my trigger and blow you away. It would be so simple." He says with a smirk.
"But you forgot one thing."
"What's that?"
"I can see your attack before it happens. One brief vision, and you're dead." Jeremie scowls.
"So, what now? I can stay here forever, I don't get tired. You're only human, you do."
"Not in Lyoko I don't. And when I die, I just go back to the real world, you wouldn't. So I suggest one thing."
"What's that?"
"We lower our weapons and walk away. This is a fight for another day."
"Deal." I slowly pull my sword away from his head while he takes his gun away from my throat. I step back and retract my laser sword back into the handle putting it away. As soon as I do, I get another vision of Jeremie shooting at me. I try to react quickly enough, but I'm too late. A bright red laser, brighter than normal, hits me in the stomach, throwing me back and devirtualizing me. I feel my body fade into wireframe and then vanish completely. I wake up in the scanners immediately feeling nauseous. I stand up and it worsens. I keel over and nearly start losing my lunch. I clutch my stomach and that's when everyone else walks in.
"Macas!" Yumi kneels by me and puts a hand on my back. I start coughing up blood, and I feel myself hit the floor. The last thing I remember is everyone crowding around me before everything goes black.
(Ulrich P.O.V.)
When Macas started coughing up blood, it was obvious something was wrong. Odd and I grabbed him, he was unconscious, and started carrying him outside. As soon as we do, Yumi and Aelita look him over.
"I can't explain it, he's just… sick." Aelita says.
"His breathing is shallow. Whatever happened, it's not good." Yumi says.
"Well, he was having problems with getting sick when he went to Lyoko before. But that was minor stuff, it's part of the return trip." Odd says.
"Well, either way we need to get him to the infirmary. Odd, help me carry him." I say. We each take one of his arms and lift. We carry him that way all the way back to the school. As soon as he's in the infirmary, Dorothy shoos us out. We wait patiently in the hall, all of us not wanting to vocalize the thing that had plagued our minds since Lyoko.
Jeremie…Nurse Dorothy walks out and we all stand up.
"I'm not entirely sure what's wrong with him. All I can tell is that he isn't well. His pulse is erratic and he's not breathing well. His blood pressure skyrockets and then plummets. He keeps coughing up blood. I've never seen anything like it before."
"Can we see him?" Yumi asks.
"No, I'm afraid no one else can see him. I'll keep him here in the infirmary for now, but if he gets any worse he'll have to be transferred to the hospital." We thank her and walk away. No one seems to be going anywhere, so I head for Jeremie's room. It's the place where we always had our meetings. We walk in and immediately Aelita collapses in tears. Odd puts an arm around her and sits her on the bed. Yumi seems to be on the verge of tears, so I put my arm around her waist and pull her close to me. She lays her head on my shoulder. I decide it's going to have to be me who asks the question.
"Aelita, Jeremie talked to Macas on Lyoko. Do you know what he said?" She looks at me sadly.
"No… but it doesn't matter. He was controlled by XANA."
"For about thirty seconds, he broke free. He told us three things. First, he was sorry. Second, he loves you." Aelita looks at me with tears in her eyes.
"And third?"
"Third, XANA doesn't have the CD. He hid it before he was taken. He only said that you would know where it was." She looks at me strangely.
"But… I don't know…."
"I think if it was that easy, XANA would have found it. Think, did he give you any clues or riddles that you couldn't understand?"
"Well… there was one…."
"What was it?" I ask gently.
"He said 'My old computer holds many secrets.' I never knew why he told me that, or why he kept his old computer." I walk over to the closet and open it. Inside is his old computer which he stopped using long ago. It's only the main computer, the monitor is on his current one.
"So… what do we do with it?" I ask.
"Well, you might want to turn it on." Odd says. I push the button on the front, but nothing happens.
"It has no power supply. You need to plug it in." Aelita says. I walk over and pull a spare power cord out of Jeremie's closet, it's basically a computer store in there. Following Aelita's instructions, I plug the cord into the back and into the wall. I take one of Jeremie's current monitors and attach it to the computer, and grab a spare keyboard from the closet.
"Okay, let's hope it doesn't explode." I press the button and still nothing happens. "Okay, Aelita, come take a look at it. I'm stumped." She walks over and does a couple of things, mostly just checking plugs and stuff.
"I don't know, let me take a look inside it." Odd grabs a hammer and hands it to me.
"Very funny Odd." I toss the hammer onto Jeremie's bed and grab a screwdriver. I unscrew all the screws from the cover and it comes off. Aelita gives a gasp and I look inside. There's a bunch of stuff inside, just loose.
"Wow, Jeremie isn't very organized." Odd says. Aelita pulls out some of the items. I think Jeremie put it there because he thought no one would bother it. It's mostly just sentimental stuff, but right in the front is a CD case. I take it and open it. Inside is a CD with John-Pierre Delmas written on the front in permanent marker.
"Yes! It's the CD!" I put it in my pocket for safekeeping. Aelita pulls out the rest of the items and looks inside.
"Oh, it's that simple?" She plugs a wire back in and presses the button. The computer whirs to life, the monitor boots up. Aelita types a little and an audio file comes up. She plays it for all of us to hear.
"This is the computer of Jeremie Belpois. I keep it locked away and unplugged for a reason. This is where I keep all my most valuable and dangerous programs and files, along with other items of sentimental value to me. I strongly suggest anyone to put this computer back before they cause serious damage." The recording stops.
"So Aelita, what has it got on it?" Odd asks. She types some more and scans through a list.
"First and foremost, my materialization program. Then some backups of his most recent developments on my anti-virus. Then the marabounta program, along with some others. I think mostly Jeremie was just trying to keep everyone out of his computer, but there is some dangerous stuff in here."
"You can look at it later, right now we have more important things. Like dinner." Odd says. He gives Aelita a hand up, (she had been sitting on the floor) and we head for the cafeteria.
We don't talk very much during dinner. I don't say anything, only one thought keeps running through my head.
Our numbers have dwindled to four. Who will be next?After dinner we go to the infirmary to see Macas.
"No, I'm sorry." She says.
"Is he any worse?" Yumi asks.
"No, but he's stable. His heart rate has become more constant, and so has his blood pressure. Only now he will twitch involuntarily every now and then."
"Has he woken up yet?"
"He regained consciousness for a second, but then passed out again. Maybe if you're lucky, you can see him tomorrow. But for now, you need to-." Dorothy was interrupted by a loud noise inside. She rushed back in and we followed her. Macas has having convulsions on the bed. Dorothy quickly takes a needle and injects him, he relaxes again. Yumi turns to me and starts crying on my shoulder. I pat her back and watch as Dorothy does the nurse-like things. What's really amazing is how Macas opens his eyes. He looks at us with concern in his eyes.
"XANA… virus… Jeremie's lasers… fighting him…." He manages to choke out. His eyes roll back in his head, he passes out again. This time, he seems to have fallen into a deep sleep. His chest rises and falls in steady rhythm. Dorothy takes his pulse and blood pressure and tells us it's returned more or less to normal.
"Do you know what he was talking about? Something about Jeremie's lasers?" We all shake our heads immediately.
"I think he might have been delusional." I say. Dorothy asks us a couple more questions, then shoos us out of the room again. We walk out into the hallway and sit down.
"What do you think he meant?" Odd asks.
"I don't know. Except Macas was infected with a virus, and is fighting either XANA or Jeremie."
"Come on, I want to go to the factory. I think I can check this out." Aelita says.
"No way. Today has been stressful enough. First the incident with Jim and Mr. Delmas, then we find out Jeremie has been controlled by XANA, and Macas has been infected with a deadly virus that is trying to kill him. It's nearly 8:30, enough time to get everyone to bed." Odd says firmly. We go our separate ways, I take Yumi home, while Odd takes Aelita back to her room. As Yumi and I walk back to her house, we are mostly silent. I think we prefer to be left with our thoughts for the time being."
"Here we are Yumi. Goodnight." I say as we reach her house.
"Come on in Ulrich, it's nice to have you over."
"No, I couldn't. I have to get back."
"Oh come on, please?" She looks at me with puppy-dog eyes.
"Oh okay. You know I can't resist the face."
"Exactly." She grabs me by the hand and pulls me in.
"Mom, I'm back." We walk into the kitchen.
"Oh hi Yumi. Why are you back so late? Oh, Ulrich, it's nice to see you."
"It's nice to see you too Mrs. Ishiyama."
"We were late because one of my friends at school suddenly collapsed. We took him to the infirmary, he was sick. I just stayed to make sure he was alright." Yumi explains.
"Oh, is he going to be okay?"
"I hope so. Dorothy said he was just sick."
"Well, I hope he gets better. So Ulrich, how are you doing?"
"I'm doing just fine."
Except that one of my friends was just seriously hurt by XANA….
"That's good. Stick around for a while, I'm making some cookies."
"Okay sure. I just have to be back by curfew."
"Don't worry, you'll be back in time."
"Come on Ulrich, let's go up to my room…." Yumi says. I follow her and wave to Mr. Ishiyama as I walk up the stairs. We walk into Yumi's room and she sits on her bed.
"So, you wanna talk about me and my needs?" She says.
"Say what?"
I thought that was something only married people do!"Uh… sure, I mean yah, if you want to, but uh…." I stutter but stop when Yumi starts laughing.
"I'm just kidding." I give a fake scowl and sit down.
"Actually, how is your mom doing? I mean after, well, you know…." I say completely serious. Yumi becomes serious too, noting my reaction.
"Well, okay I guess. I think she misses Dad though. I do too…." She leans closer to me and I put my arm around her protectively.
"It's okay Yumi. What about Hiroki?" She sniffles and thinks for a second.
"I'm not sure. He's been a lot more quiet lately, I don't know what's going on with him. I can barely get him to talk to me."
"How about we go and see what's up with him?"
"Yah, okay. Sure." We stand up and walk hand-in-hand to Hiroki's room and knock.
"Hiroki? Are you in there?" There's no reply so I open the door a crack. No one is in there.
"Hmm, where is he?" Yumi asks herself.
"Let's go ask your mom." We walk downstairs to find Mrs. Ishiyama pulling the cookies out of the oven.
"Oh, you're just in time, the cookies are done. Not we just have to wait for them to cool a little, then enjoy."
"Hey Mom, do you know where Hiroki is?"
"Oh, he's in his room."
"No he isn't, we just checked there."
"Are you sure?" She takes one of the cookies and takes a small bite. "Mmm, delicious. Here, try one." She offers us a plate, we each take one. I take a bite out of one, it's warm, gooey and delicious.
"We just checked a second ago, he wasn't in there. Unless he was like hiding underneath his bed." I say, taking another bite.
"Hiroki? Hiroki, come down and have some cookies!" Mrs. Ishiyama calls up the stairs. I run up to check again while Yumi and her mom check downstairs. I look through each of the individual rooms, but he's not in there. I open the door and look around his room. It looks like the room of a normal ten year old boy. Posters on the walls, a game console attached to a small TV on a table. Except the Japanese style bed, I looks like my room did nearly six years ago. Looking at his bed, I spot a piece of paper neatly folded in half. I pick it up, it's a note from Hiroki. As I read the note, horror dawns on me. I quickly run down the stairs to find Yumi and her mom sitting at the table talking.
"He wasn't anywhere I checked." Yumi says.
"Me neither. He must have snuck off to a friends house." Mrs. Ishiyama says.
"No, he didn't. I found this on his bed." I hand her the note, and Yumi reads over her shoulder. I see their eyes widen and the note falls from her hands. The note flutters down and lands softly on the table.
"How… how could he? How could he do it?" She whispers.
"He'll find a way. Unfortunately, that means we have to find him and stop him. Yumi, let's go. Mrs. Ishiyama, please stay here, I have a feeling you'll only make it worse." I say and Yumi stands up. We run out the door and towards the park. Mrs. Ishiyama just sat there, not looking at the horrible note which read:
Dear Mom and Yumi (and I'm sure Ulrich will get dragged into this by Yumi),
I'm sorry. Ever since Dad left, I can't live with myself.
I feel alone, left out. Nothing brings me happiness.
I've decided the best way to end this will be to end my life.
Please don't try and stop me, I want to be left alone.
My body will be in the woods, please give it a proper funeral.
If you see Dad, tell him I hate him for leaving.
I left this note because I can't bear to say goodbye.
So I'm saying it here:
Goodbye, I love you very much.
Hiroki
Well, I can't wait to see how many flames i'm gonna get on that one. Tell me what you think about this, it's just an idea i'm trying out. Next chapter, I will fully explain Hiroki and his reasons, trust me. I hope some of you stay with me on this, pretty much the rest of the book is going to be pretty sad and dark. Next story will be a little lighter with a little more romance. Don't kill me for the pairing that's coming up. Oh crap, I'm basically telling you the rest of the story! I"m stopping now before I say something I regret, and I will leave you with some more stupid, mindless, weird and random quotes. (Warning: If you have a habit of taking things too literally, don't read the quotes. They tend to make no sense).
"This quote is every bit as ingenious and smart as the author himself." -me
The answer to the unknown question is now officially FISH. -me
Politics. Polymany; ticslittle blood seeking creatures. -someone smarter than me
The truth never hurt anybody, unless it's in the form of a rock. -my friend
The only way to conquer your fear of drowning is to become a fish. -me
I want to die like my grandpa, peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming in the backseat like the others.
Last night I was laying in bed looking at the stars... then I wondered: "Where the hell is my ceiling?"