(A/N) This is for all of you! I have been working myself to the bone to get this chapter out. I've tried my best to get back into the flow of it, but I don't think I did. Because I'm so strained, I think the characters may have gone a little OOC. Please forgive and inform me if so.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Unleashing Valor

By: Tellemicus Sundance

What's Left Unheard

The carnival grounds were crowded. Should anyone have said that to him, Odd would've collapsed from laughing at the grotesque understatement. It looked to him like people from all over the country and even more tourists had arrived. Odd couldn't walk down the path of the fairgrounds in straight line had he even wanted to.

Stuffed unceremoniously into his pockets were tickets from various games that he'd all ready played and for rides he had yet to enjoy. He carried a ridiculously large teddy bear in one arm with a corndog and a soda in the other. From the grin on his face, one would think he'd finally found his true calling in life.

"Having fun, Odd?" asked a familiar voice behind him.

"A lot more than you know, Yumi," he answered as he turned around.

Yumi and William, though not carrying any obvious prizes, had tickets as well. William had what looked to be a ketchup stain on his shirt. Then he saw it. Tucked under William's arm was what seemed to be a picture or a poster, Odd couldn't tell.

"What'cha got there?" he asked motioning to William.

With smug, if small, smile, William brought it forward. It had a magnificently painted mountain cliff with a wolf howling at the moon. It was a very beautiful painting.

"Pretty cool, huh?" William asked, seeing Odd's expression.

"Yeah," he admitted.

"Oh, come on, Odd," Yumi said, grinning. "It's not like you've never seen art before."

"Sure," he said offhandedly. "But when all you see is billboard art and cartoons, you tend to lose your appreciation of it."

The pair nodded after a moment. It was true. Then Yumi suddenly looked up and around, looking for someone. "Where are the others?"

"Like I'd know? I left early," Odd said, grinning. Turning around, he added, "I'll see you guys later!"

As their blonde-purple haired friend ran off, the two of them felt a chill run down their spines. One glance at the other told them that they both felt it. A sixth sense told them that they were being watched.

Dinner was a picnic in the park. A simple affair of sandwiches, chips, and juice had left them all content for a while. They sat in the shade of an oak tree near the lake in the park.

Yumi sat with William with her back resting gently against the trunks of an oak tree. Odd had joined up with again at the concession stand. Since it was far too crowded at the carnival, they made their way to park for a little peace and quiet.

Or as quiet as one could expect with Odd. He sung to a song from a new CD player in the branches of the tree. Though they were doing their best to ignore him, Odd's voice was beginning to wear on their nerves.

It was as they were about to return to the carnival that they saw him. Ulrich was standing down by the lakeshore, skipping pebbles on the water. Usually, Yumi would've tried to ignore him. But after that fight with that little warrior last night and her discoveries earlier, she found that she had come across several questions for him.

William was talking but she wasn't really listening anymore. Even though she tried, she couldn't keep her mind on the present. That warrior kept breaking into her mind and taking her back to those few seconds of when they'd spoken. It quickly became apparent to William that Yumi had other things on her mind.

Kissing her lightly on the cheek, William smiled slightly at catching her embarrassed stare. Knowing he had her attention, he said, "Heh, so…what's on your mind?"

"Nothing," she said. The last thing that she wanted was to tell him about her encounter. "It's nothing."

But he saw through her. "Something happen last night? What was it? You can tell me, you know."

She glanced at him briefly. I can't hide anything from him, can I? She nodded slowly. I hope this goes well. "I went for a walk last night and I found our warrior friend in that old factory."

"And?"

"I guess he must've been training there. I've…I've never seen anyone train like that before. It was as thought he was practicing for a dance lesson. Anyway, I tried to unmask him, but he…kind of blew me away."

She paused as she took a breath. Her face had turned red slightly despite her best efforts. William looked at her with a quizzical stare. "I tried to find out a few things about him, but he wouldn't tell me anything."

"Well," Odd suddenly said from above them. "Of course, he wouldn't!"

Glancing up, they saw their friend smiling down on them like they were a pair of foolish children. "He doesn't want to get swamped by the media when you start telling everyone!"

"Maybe," William said, offhandedly.

He had noticed that Ulrich had stopped skipping stones and was listening to the conversation with utmost interest. "But I'm not so sure. I mean, don't you think that this guy could be some psychopath trying to get the attention of a pretty girl from behind a mask?"

"No," Yumi said, looking away. There was an almost noble quality that Yumi had almost sensed from the boy last night. He wasn't there for fame and fortune, of that she w as sure.

Hearing the tone of her voice, William returned his attention to her. She was still hiding something he could tell. It annoyed him that she was doing that to him. When she's ready, he growled to himself.

Standing suddenly, Yumi said, "I'll be right back."

William watched her as she walked down toward the shore and Ulrich. Odd returned to listening and singing his music. Because of his friend's loud and off key voice, William couldn't hear what was being said between his girlfriend and her former best friend.

Ulrich sat a rock outcropping and dangled his bare feet into the cooling water. His shoes and socks were behind him on the rock. The warm evening fall sun beat down on his shoulders and back but he didn't even notice.

"Ulrich," Yumi said, stopping behind him. "We need to talk."

Glancing at her, he nodded. Then he began to picking through the pebbles that were within his immediate reach. Casting a stone, it bounced off the surface four times before finally sinking.

"Nice one," she said.

"Thanks."

After a hesitant moment, she said. "Why did you go to the theaters with Sissi?" To this day, she wasn't sure why she didn't ask him what was really troubling her.

"I didn't," he said fiercely. "She blackmailed me."

This caught Yumi by surprise. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she asked guiltily.

"You didn't let me," he said indifferently. "You wouldn't have listened anyway."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"Are you?" he demanded, forcing himself to look out across the lake. "You've had all week to talk to me and the only things you've ever said are 'I hate you' and 'Leave me alone.' That's not being much of the friend I knew four months ago."

"Me?" she almost shouted in anger. "Who are you to talk? You've barely said two words to anyone since you returned! Besides, you were a lousy friend for leaving!"

"That wasn't my choice," Ulrich growled. Maintaining his gaze on the lake, he threw another pebble, which only bobbed twice.

"I seem to recall having saved you," he said quietly. "I do believe that the only thanks that I've gotten in return from you was the cold shoulder."

"How do you expect me to thank a person who has been missing for two months?" Yumi demanded. "What do you want anyway? A hug and kiss and eternal forgiveness?"

"That would do splendidly for starters," Ulrich said with the barest of smiles. "But, no, that's not it."

"Then what!"

"Is there a problem here?" William asked icily as he walked forward next to Yumi.

"No, there isn't," Ulrich answered indifferently. He finally turned to the Yumi. His face was devoid of all emotion, except the cold external shell they'd come to recognize.

Turning somewhat hotly towards William, Yumi growled out, "William, now's not the best time. I'm trying to have a private conversation here."

"Sorry," he said, grinning slightly at her. "It just looked like you needed help."

"The old Yumi wouldn't need help unless she asked for it," Ulrich said in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

"So I've changed," she snapped angrily, facing him again. Why won't he ever give me a straight answer anymore? "And I've changed for the best!"

William tried to gently nudge Yumi back toward the their tree or even the carnival, but she pulled away quickly. "In a moment," she said as gently as she could manage. Nodding after a moment, he turns and leaves.

Kneeling down, Yumi selected a particularly flat and smooth pebble. As she looked at it, her anger evaporated. Facing Ulrich again, she handed him the pebble.

As he took it, Yumi noticed something she hadn't much earlier. Ulrich now had thick calluses on his hands. He no longer had the somewhat scrawny arms anymore; they were far more muscular and threatening.

"Why can't we be the same friends we were?" Yumi asked quietly, staring at the lake water.

"Because," Ulrich said, equally as quiet as her. "…you have changed… for the best."

Staring at the ground, Ulrich turned and walked away slowly. Yumi returned to William with a sad and confused air about her. As he stepped on to the path, Ulrich brought the pebble that Yumi had given him up to his face. Closing his fist, he gripped it tightly. He would keep it forever.