Once again, I apologize for my lack of updating. I will try harder, I promise. So, here is another chapter called Reminiscing. Mostly filler, but the action will start up again really soon. Just know this: 3 Chapters left!
(Odd P.O.V.)
"Odd…." I hear someone say. "Odd…." I roll over and put the pillow over my head.
"Mmm… go away Ulrich lemme sleep…." I mumble through the pillow.
"Oh thank God you're okay." I hear someone say. This time it registers to me as a female voice. I sit up slowly and rub the sleep out of my eyes. It takes a second for my eyes to adjust to the light, but eventually a girl comes into view, standing in front of me.
"A-Aelita?" I mumble.
"Sorry to burst your bubble Odd, but no." I shake my head and she comes into focus.
"Mmm, hey Yumi. What are you doing here?"
"Well, considering the incident you had yesterday, and the fact that Ulrich didn't answer his cell phone, I think I have every right to come and check on my friends." I look over at Ulrich, who is still sleeping. I look over at the clock and take a second to realize what the numbers are. 2:56.
"Yumi? Why the hell did you wake me up at three in the morning?" She laughs.
"Odd, it's three in the afternoon." Now I'm awake.
"Woah, I slept until three? That has got to be a record…."
"Nah. But I'm surprised Ulrich didn't wake up before now." I grab my pillow and toss it over at him.
"That'll-" I start to say but stop. Yumi caught my pillow in the air. "Hey!" She smiles at me.
"Watch this." She walks over and kneels next to his ear.
"Ulrich… oh Ulrich…." She says in a soft, seductive voice. "Ulrich… I'm so in love…." Ulrich starts mumbling in his sleep. "Oh Ulrich, I'm so in love with… Odd…" He shoots straight out of bed and looks around. I can't tell what is on his face because I'm laughing too hard, and so is Yumi. Ulrich just glares at us while we're laughing. He looks at me, and I put my hands up in defense.
"Hey hey hey! This was all her idea!" I point accusingly at Yumi, who shakes her head.
"Oh no Ulrich, he put me up to it! He threatened to hurt me unless I did it!"
"He did WHAT?" At this point, Yumi can't stand it anymore. She just lies on the floor, laughing.
"Ulrich, you are WAY too gullible." I say between bouts of laughter.
"Oh shut up Odd. You feeling okay?" I beam a big smile.
"Yup! I'm all hunky dory!"
"Seriously Odd."
"Yah, I'm okay. A little shaken up, but okay. What happened?"
"Well, we were going to use a program from Jeremie's old computer to help-"
"Yah, yah. I know what part. What happened after I got stuck?"
"Macas woke up and worked for an hour or so on something that would bring you back. But he was missing something, something that only XANA had." Yumi says.
"So, how did you bring me back?"
"We got a message from someone outside the computer giving Macas the information that he needed. Or, it looked like it. We took a vote on whether or not to use it, and it came up a tie. Two for, two against."
"So how did you decide?"
"What would you have picked Odd?"
"Well, I would rather die because you guys tried and failed, instead of-"
"-you dying because we didn't do anything?" Ulrich finished.
"Yah. Exactly. So, judging by the fact that I'm here, you decided to use it?"
"Yeah."
"Where did it come from?"
"Well, XANA is the only one that could have sent us a message through the supercomputer." Yumi mentions.
"Why would XANA want to save me?"
"I don't think he did it. I think Jeremie broke free and managed to get it to us."
"Well, I hope it was him, and he sent us some good data. I don't really feel like exploding into a billion molecules right now." Ulrich smiles.
"No, I don't think so." I clap my hands and smile.
"Okay, who's up for some grub? I'm starving." Yumi smiles and we go down to the cafeteria. Good thing it stays open later on Saturdays. I grab some food and sit down. Macas and Aelita are there, just hanging out.
"Hey guys, what are you doing here?"
"We figured the first place you would go when you woke up would be food. So we came here." Macas says.
"I am way too predictable."
"Yup. Ulrich, I have to thank you." Ulrich looks surprised, and he manages to stifle a yawn.
"For what?"
"The CD. I took it to Mr. Delmas. Given the circumstances and with Aelita and Yumi's help, I'm off the hook."
"Really?"
"Yup. Aelita explained how the CD got tampered with, Yumi gave her testimony that it wasn't me who hurt her. I think it might also have to do with the fact that Jeremie is gone. He doesn't want to traumatize us further."
"So why are you thanking me instead of them?"
"Cause I've already expressed my thanks more times than I can count." He smiles.
"That's great Macas." I say and start eating. Mmm, food is always better after a near-death experience. Trust me, I know. I've had them a lot of times.
"Uh… Odd? Can I uh, talk to you outside? Please?" Aelita asks me nervously. Ulrich puts his hand on her shoulder and gives her a reassuring look. Aelita nods and walks out the door with me. We walk over to the bench that we usually hang out at. I lean against the tree and Aelita sits down.
"So, what's on your mind?"
"What-what you said to me. Before you got into the scanner to save Macas."
"Oh." I say and kick myself mentally as I remember.
Flashback"Just do it! We can't lose Macas, not if the prophecy is true!" I step into the scanner. The doors close behind me.
"Aelita, if this doesn't work, I want you to know that I think I love you." I hear her gasp, but say nothing more.
End Flashback"I've been thinking a lot about what you said, and how… how I feel."
"Aelita…."
"Hold on Odd, I need to say this. I'm sorry if it hurts you, but I don't think I love you." I smile.
"It's okay Aelita. I've been thinking a lot as well. I thought about it the whole time I was stuck. I've never had a crush before. Until now. I'm glad you had the guts to say that first, because I don't love you either." After a moment, I realize that is still kind of harsh.
"I mean, not like that. I love you as a sister, as a best friend. I realized that after I said I loved you, the feeling… it went away. Sort of. I still want to be your friend. Can you forgive my stupid actions and be my friend?" She smiles with pure joy.
"Of course Odd. I just have one question for you."
"What's that?"
"Can you give me a hug without it looking like we're together?" I reach down and pull her into a big bear hug. I swing her around and around as she laughs.
"Is that good?"
"Great." I put my arm around her shoulder in a brotherly way and we walk back into the cafeteria.
"Hey guys." I say, Ulrich looks at me worriedly, and then at my arm which is still around Aelita. I hastily remove it.
"No worries guys, we're not dating." Ulrich lets out a big sigh of relief.
"You guys had me worried. So, why the sudden change of heart?"
"I dunno. I just realized that I didn't love Aelita the way I thought I did."
"And now?"
"Ah, just love between cousins." I laugh.
"You know, if anyone had heard that, there would be some pretty strange rumors going around." Macas says. He looks around, luckily there was no one else in the cafeteria. "Not to take matters away from this, but we have other things to worry about."
"Like?"
"Jeremie." Everyone goes silent, reminiscing.
Wait a minute, did I just say reminiscing? Dude, I'm using cool words!
"Hey Macas, not to break the solemn moment, but what does reminiscing mean?" He gives a sigh. I'll bet Kiwi he's thinking 'Odd will be Odd.'
"Reminiscing means to remember things, like to reflect on past events. Why?"
"Cause I just thought of it. And I used it correctly!"
"Odd, you surprise us every day. But sorry for the interruption Macas. Do you have anything in mind?"
"Not a thing. Xana is controlling Jeremie. Jeremie would have to break out of his own free will. I can't control what Xana does, and possessing him ourselves wouldn't do anything. Anyone have any thoughts?"
"You're the genius Macas." Ulrich says. "Well, you and Miss Einstein over here." He nods towards Aelita. Aelita just shrugs.
"I don't have any ideas. We can only hope Jeremie will break out himself." After that, the group kind of disperses. I walk over to the vending machine to grab some chips, Ulrich and Yumi walk off with Macas somewhere. I grab my chips and look back, Aelita is sitting at the table with her head in his hands. I hurry back and sit next to her.
"Aelita… are you okay?" She doesn't respond.
"Aelita? Please talk to me." She still doesn't look at me, she talks through her hands.
"Go away Odd."
"No. As your friend, I consider it my duty to find out what's wrong."
"Be my friend and go away."
"Than I won't be your friend. I don't care, I'm not leaving until you talk to me."
"Then you'll be sitting here for a long time." She says.
"So be it. But it will help to talk. It seriously will."
"You're persistent, aren't you."
"I guess so. I'm not sure what persistent is, but if it means I don't go away then yes."
"I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about anything. Just leave me alone."
"Aelita, do you know what this is? This mood you're in? It's called depression. When you're very sad, and you don't feel like it's going to get better, your depressed. And it's not a good thing."
"Why not?" Aelita looks at me for the first time. She wasn't crying, but she looks like she wants to.
"Because sometimes when people get very sad, they don't want to live anymore. So they try to kill themselves. It's called suicide."
"That's horrible!"
"It is. And what's sad is that lots of times, kids succeed. They kill themselves. No matter how much they think that no one cares about them, someone always does. At least enough to feel sad that they're gone. That's what's so sad. So we need to get you out of depression. The absolute best way to do this is to talk about whatever the problem is. So please Aelita, just talk to me. Tell me what you're feeling."
"O-okay. I'm scared."
"Of?"
"What's going to happen to Jeremie. What Xana could do. We almost lost Macas to him, and nearly lost you while trying to save him." She breaks down and begins to cry softly.
"Don't worry Aelita, it will be okay." I hold her close to my and she cries. Any other day, I would be blushing like mad, but it's different now. Right now I feel pity for Aelita. She's been having trouble with her emotions, considering how long she's been human. I only made it worse.
"Aelita, we will get Jeremie back. And no one else will get hurt. I promise."
"Thanks Odd," Aelita sniffles, "you always make me feel better."
"That's what friends are for." I hold her close to me for a couple more minutes until she stops crying.
"Are you feeling better now?" I ask her. She sits up straighter and smiles at me.
"Yes Odd, thank you."
"So… what do you want to do now? I mean, it's Saturday, we have all day to do anything."
"I don't know." At that moment, my cell phone rings with some grave news.
"Odd, Xana attack. Yumi was the target. Bring Aelita to the factory quickly." Macas says. I relay the news to Aelita and we rush to the factory. Whatever Xana did, it can't be good. Especially if it hurt Yumi. I do not want to see the look on Ulrich's face right now….
Hold on! Before you hit that review button, I want to say something. I warned you beforehand that you shouldn't expect the pairings in this story. I am the writer, and I have the authority to change pairings at any time I feel the need. I could even put Aelita with William if I wanted (twitch twitch). So sorry to all those OddxAelita fans, but this isn't a OxA story. Now that I have said that, you can go ahead and tell me all about how the OddxAelita pairing was cute and I should have stayed with it yadda yadda yadda. Go ahead, flame me.
Now, onto other things. That whole talk w/Aelita about the suicide was kind of a spur of the moment, I just kept on writing. For anyone who reads this story, even if you don't have a screen name, I want you to review. Just say if you liked the Aelita thing, didn't like it, hated it, or just didn't care. Trust me, the hardest part is just hitting that review button.
Just for the record, I was going to upload this a couple of days ago, but the document manager was on the fritz and I couldn't. It's not my fault.
I have decided that for the rest of the story I will give you a preview of the next chapter. So if you have read all my babble so far, you are rewarded with a sneak peek of the next chapter.
(Macas P.O.V)
Next to the ground, on the outside, the science building has power outlets. And three of them are crackling with visible amounts of black energy.
"Macas! Get away from those!" Yumi yells, but it's too late. In the blink of an eye, one of Xana's ghost assembles itself from the energy within three outlets, and tries to possess me. I fight hard to keep my consciousness, my sense of self. Pain is erupting throughout every cell in my body, making it hard to stay conscious. I fight harder.
Hurray for previews! And now I will leave you with a quote:
368. It's funny how I am blatantlymaking fun of you, yet you are blissfully unaware of it.