New Beginnings Part 2

Anna plops down on her bed, sighing contently.

"Nice, soft bed…" She mumbles.

"How does such a tiny body put away three quarter pounders?" Akira asks, sitting on her own bed.

"I have a high metabolism. It's a curse really, I'm always hungry. Brother sometimes jokes that we're the incarnation of Gluttony…" Anna sits up to look at her. There's a squeaking under Akira's blankets. Anna tenses up. Akira slowly pulls the blankets away, revealing a small rat. She shouts in shock, moving away immediately. "Miki!" Anna grabs the little rat. "I-I'm sorry… She must have gotten out of her cage…"

"Aren't animals forbidden here?!" Akira shouts, rather angry now.

"Y-Yea… I think so… But… She's very attached to me… I didn't want her to grow sad and die from missing me…" She holds the rat close and stands up, finding a terrarium-like cage on the ground. "She must have fallen out when the closet fell. She's harmless, I keep her teeth short, she's up to date on her shots." She places the rat inside and locks it up. "It's ok, Miki. I'll give you something to eat later."

"No! Absolutely not! I'm not letting that rat stay here!" Akira protests, so loudly it can be heard all through the old building.

"P-Please… she needs me… I promise she won't get in the way… Look at her…" Anna lifts the cage up, the little rat is grooming herself. "She's so cute!" Akira stares at the rat, she sighs heavily, out through her nose.

"Fine. But if that pest eats my things, I'm sending it out with the rest of them." She warns.

"Don't worry, she's really smart, I trained her well." Anna tries to explain. She sets the cage down on the desk.

"Then what was she doing in my bed?" Akira asks loudly.

"Probably looking for crumbs… or maybe she likes your smell…" Anna explains softly.

"Hmm." Akira sits back down on her bed. "You know that brother of yours? Shiro and I are considering him for our band… He plays guitar rather well." She says, trying to strike up a conversation, knowing that being roommates, they have to get used to each other.

"Oh, yea! He's been practicing since he could strum. Dad taught him everything he knows." Anna's shyness seems to have melted away.

"What about you? Can you play Guitar?" Akira asks, trying to learn more about her.

"Not really… I never got into it like he did." Anna admits. Akira nods. Meanwhile, Shiro finishes packing his overnight bag and plops on his bed to rest a moment before calling his parents.

"I'm still so sore…" He mumbles.

"What was it like on Lyoko?" Dimitri asks. Shiro sits up.

"It felt so real… I mean, you could tell you were in a video game, but, it was like VR, except you could move anywhere you wanted."

"I wish I could join you guys… Maybe I can ask Dad if he could send me in with you guys. I can show him how to do it. He's very smart, I'm sure he can handle it."

"Oh, and I can't?" Shiro teases playfully.

"Nope!" Di teases back.

"Ouch… That hurts." Shiro giggles a bit, then looks down at the ground.

"Is something on your mind?" Di asks.

"I guess you could say that…" Shiro says softly.

"It's Anna, isn't it?" The strawberry-blond haired boy asks.

"H-How did you know?" Shiro asks, blushing softly.

"Because you just admitted it." Shiro glares. Dimitri just smiles coyly.

"Yea… ok… I have a soft spot for her. She's just so adorable." Shiro admits.

"And you watched her inhale almost a pound of meat without struggle." His roommate points out.

"So what?"

"Ro, you barely know anything about her, yet, and you're already crushing this hard on her?" Dimitri asks. He has a point. "Love at first sight is only a thing in stories."

"I guess…" Shiro pulls his legs up onto the bed in a crisscross position. "I can't help it though… There's just something about her…"

"Give it some time. Crushes don't last long, actual feelings will last longer."

"Yea…" Shiro sighs and stands, pulling out his phone, placing it to his ear.

"Hey, Shiro, do you want us to come pick you up? It's gotten rather dark." A voice says on the other end.

"Yea, that'd probably be a good idea. Is dad home yet?"

"No, I think he's still at the school. You could try calling him."

"Ok. Thanks. See you soon." He hangs up and calls another number.

"Hello?" Another voice asks.

"Hey, dad? Are you still at school?" Shiro asks.

"Yea, just finishing grading a couple of Health essays. Are you guys ready to go home?" Ulrich asks.

"Yea, but I don't know if Kira is, so take your time with grading." Shiro says, sounding a little selfless.

"Ok. I guess meet me in my office when you guys are ready."

"Ok, see you soon. Bye." He hangs up, grabbing his bag. "See ya tomorrow for gym class, Di."

"See you then." Dimitri says, waving. Shiro steps out of the room and downstairs to Akira's room and knocks.

"Yea?" He hears from the other side. He steps in.

"Ready to go?" He asks.

"Oh crap. No. I forgot." Akira admits, getting to her feet. She steps to her closet and starts pulling a couple sets of clothes out, most of it black or red. She grabs a bag and stuffs the clothes in haphazardly. Anna just watches, a hint of sadness in her eyes. Akira steps up to her brother with her messy bag.

"See ya, An." Akira walks out with her brother, shutting the door. Anna sits down on her bed, staring at the floor.

"What's your thoughts on Anna now?" Shiro asks his younger twin.

"She's… how can I put this kindly…?" Akira trails off. "I've got nothing." She shrugs.

"I don't think she's that bad. She's sweet!" Shiro declares. "I think she's brave too, I mean, she protected you, you said so yourself."

"I guess…" She says softly.

"You just don't want your first impression to be wrong, don't you?" Her twin questions.

"It's not that!" She protests.

"Then what is it then?!" He shouts back questioningly.

"I don't know, ok?!" She huffs and starts speed-walking, pushing the doors open to the point they practically slam. Shiro's hands ball into fists, his anger rising even more.

"BELLE!" He calls out, a forbidden word to them, but he doesn't care right now. He chases after her. She stops, turning suddenly, face red from anger.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Their shouts drawing attention.

"THEN STOP BEING A BRAT!" He shouts back at her. She growls and turns to keep walking, he grabs her arms. "Stop, ok? Talk it out. You know you can talk to me, about anything."

"I don't even know what to even talk about, god dammit! I don't know why I hate her so much!" She starts crying. Shiro pulls her into a tight hug, she cries into his shoulder. "What's wrong with me…?"

"I don't know… Whatever it is, give it time to figure it out. Everything will be ok." He tries to reason with her.

"Mhmm…" She breathes in deep, trying to calm herself. Her brother's embrace definitely helping. She sighs. "I think I'm good now…" She says quietly. Shiro let's get go.

"Come on, let's go meet dad." They continue on to the gymnasium office.

Anna had heard all the shouting outside and watched the scene unfold. Once things calm down, she solemnly pulls out her phone and calls a number, it rings a couple of times.

"Hey, Anna. How'd your first day go?!" A cheerful voice asks.

"I think… I don't really belong here…" She mumbles.

"Why not…? What happened?" He asks.

"M-My roommate hates me… She snapped at me earlier because she thought I was following her, but I was just trying to go to my next class… So… I went to the nurse and asked if I could lay down. She let me… My roommate's brother invited me to play a video game and I helped her in the game, but she still seems to hate me… I don't even know what I did…"

"Maybe you should tell on her to Principal Delmas. That's not acceptable at all! Do you want to come home? I can fly to pick you up."

"I… I don't know yet… I don't want to make Gio leave… He's being considered as a guitarist for a band, but I know that if I leave, he'll want to come with…"

"Hmm… Then maybe just give it time. You know, I had a roommate when I went to Kadic. But he and I became close eventually. Every situation is different, but patience may still help. I still think you should tell though."

"Maybe tomorrow. It's late."

"Have you talked to Gio about it?" Her father asks.

"No… I'd rather my brother didn't end up in prison." There's a laugh on the other end.

"Good point. Anything else on your mind?"

"Oh yea, my chemistry teacher seems a little weird, I think he might be scared of me. I blame you!"

"You probably should. I was quite the mischievous rebel back then."

"Who? You? Never!" Anna giggles. "I'm gonna get ready for bed, ok?"

"Ok, sweetheart. It was great hearing from you. I love you!"

"I love you too! Goodnight."

"Night!" She hangs up, sighing. She stands up, grabbing a towel, pajamas and body-cleaning products, leaving to take a shower.

Akira and Shiro now are riding with their dad back home.

"How did try outs go for your guitarist?" He asks.

"They went ok." Akira mumbles just loud enough for him to hear.

"We have a couple in mind. Moreso this one named Gio. You should have heard him. He was amazing!" Shiro explains.

"That's great!" Ulrich comments.

"Yea! Turns out he's new here, just moved here with his sister Anna. She's so adorable." Shiro's smile grows bigger with mentioning Anna.

"So annoying you mean…" Akira mutters.

"She ate three quarter pounders though, which is nuts!" Shiro continues as if he didn't hear Akira's comment.

"Sounds like a Della Robbia alright." Ulrich mumbles.

"Huh?" Shiro didn't quite hear him over the engine and road noise given that Ulrich is facing away from him rather than Shiro being able to talk in his ear.

"Oh, nothing." Ulrich answers. "They sound to be so much like Odd… Maybe I can ask one of them what happened with their Dad, if they're willing to talk about him. Did something happen…? Did we do something wrong…?" Ulrich pulls up to his house and parks. The twins get out and grab their bags, heading up, their mother waiting at the porch.

"How was school today?" Their mother asks

"It was great!" Shiro exclaims.

"It was ok." Akira replies softly.

"Hi, Yumi." Ulrich gives her a quick kiss, whispering. "We need to talk, just each other."

"Ok…" She kisses him back. "I stopped after work to buy some popcorn. Maybe we can watch a movie after you guys get settled."

"Awesome! Thank you." Shiro hugs her tight. Yumi gives him a tight hug in return.

"I missed you." She pulls a reluctant Akira in for a hug. "Both of you." She lets them go. "Go on ahead." The twins walk inside the house. Ulrich and Yumi too walk in, going to the kitchen.

"We have two new students." Ulrich starts.

"Oh yea?" Yumi searches for their two large popcorn bowls.

"Their names are Anastasia and Giovanni…" Yumi finds the bowls and grabs them. "Della Robbia." She pauses, setting the bowls on the counter slowly.

"What…?" She turns to look at him. She sees how stern his face is. She knows he's not messing with her. "How…?"

"I don't know… I thought I'd never see a Della Robbia again. And now here are his kids. Sissi confirmed it. Turns out Odd married his old flame Samantha, probably anyway. I mean, Samantha is a common name."

"Right…" They're both silent for a moment. "I can't believe it… Odd is… and he had kids too…"

"I even have his phone number, but he's not answering me."

"Maybe give me the number. He won't recognize mine."

"No, but he might see the area code and just shut you down, but it's worth a try." He hands her his phone. She looks for the number and types it into her own phone. She puts it to her ear and waits. It rings.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Odd? It's Yumi. I know it's been a long time, but-"

"I'm sorry…" The line goes dead.

"Hmm…" She clicks her phone off the call and sets it down. She rests her hands on the counter top, leaning over it. "What did we do wrong, Ulrich…?" Yumi starts to tear up. Her husband pulls her into a tight hug.

"I don't know… But I'm going to find out somehow. Even if I have to go to Italy myself and drag him back here." He kisses her head. "Let's get to work on that popcorn, ok…?" She nods, wiping her tears.

"I just miss him so much… I miss Aelita…" Her voice cracks, more tears flow. Ulrich wipes her tears away himself.

"It's going to be ok, Yumi. We'll get our answers. We sadly can't bring Aelita back… but we can at least get some closure about Odd. I'm sure of it." She looks up at him and smiles softly, embracing him, her arms under his, wrapping up to his shoulders, her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. She listens to the steady rhythm and breathes in and out with his own. She soon pulls away and gets to work on the popcorn, Ulrich helps her.

Anna finished her shower and is in her pajamas, now brushing out her dirty-blond hair. There's a gentle knock on the door. She stands from her bed and opens the door, Dimitri stands in front of the doorway.

"Hey, I was wondering, since you're the only one here, why don't we go back down to the factory and work on our character appearances? What do you think?"

"U-Uhm… I-I guess we can… But… won't we get in trouble if we're caught…?"

"Not if we're careful. I just read there's a passage to the sewers through a door in the gymnasium. The Gym teacher is already gone, I know that for a fact, so we should be good if we can sneak out of here without my dad catching us. He sleeps in the dorms too, we have to be quiet. Everything will be ok. You don't have to if you don't want to, I just thought maybe you'd like to design your character a bit more."

"I-I'll try…"

"Ok! Get yourself ready then, I suppose." She steps back into the room, slips on her shoes and a coat.

"Ready…" She steps out, grabbing a key and locks the door. She follows Dimitri through the halls. They keep silent as they go. As they walk, Dimitri peeks around the corner just to see, seeing Jeremie walking with papers in his hand, looking them over, he's not paying much attention not his surroundings. Or that's how it would seem… And Dimitri knows it. He gestures for Anna to move back fast. They step into a closet. Dimitri opens the door just a little to watch as Jeremie goes by. He turns down the hall they were just in.

"This doesn't make any sense…" They can hear Jeremie speak softly. His footsteps become quieter. Dimitri quietly pushes the door open slowly. It creaks a bit. Dimitri stops, biting his lip, hoping and praying Jeremie didn't hear it. Nothing seems to happen. He pushes the door open more, peeking around it to find his father is all the way on the other side of the hall. He gestures for Anna to move to the other corner. She does so without making a sound. Dimitri steps out, carefully closes the door. It creaks to a close and he follows Anna. He then leads her out completely of the dorms and straight to the gymnasium. They find the red door and find their way to the sewer.

"Here we go… Thank gods." Dimitri says with relief. "Come on, I memorized the sewer path." He starts walking. "So, what do you think of Kadic so far?"

"I-It's ok…" She says softly.

"I'm sorry you're stuck rooming with Akira. She can be rather moody sometimes. I hope you don't take it to heart too much."

"N-No… It's fine…"

"No, it's not. There's no excuse for it. You're new here, you're bound to be shy. My mother was new here at one point. She was bullied a lot because of how timid she was. It didn't help she'd wake up screaming in the night due to bad dreams. You'll learn to adjust and open up a little, I'm sure. Akira's just being a short-tempered brat."

"I've… actually been like this for a long time…" Anna admits.

"Oh? How come?"

"I… um…" She pauses, sighs. "It doesn't really matter…" Dimitri stops and stands in front of her so she stops.

"Yes it does, because you matter, Anna." He says very confident sounding. She bites her lip and looks down, tears up a bit.

"Um… I've… always been bullied… E-Ever since I started school… Victims of bullying often become one of four things… someone confident who stands up when pushed down… someone who becomes a bully themselves… someone who craves attention and pity… or someone who becomes scared of the world… And… just wants to disappear from it already… That's why I asked Dad if I could come to Kadic… He used to go here, and any time he talks about it, he seems very happy… I want to find happiness too…" Dimitri stands in front of her, kneeling a little to look her in the eyes.

"You can find that here, I promise. It'll just take time, but you'll find it. Please don't give up. There's still so much in this life that needs to be explored. You can do it. I don't know if you had any friends in the past, but I'd like to be your friend. I'll speak for Shiro too and say he would like to too. He was talking about you when we got back to our room. Good things, I promise. You have Shiro and me. We won't abandon you either. That's a promise too." He steps back a bit and holds out his pinky. "I pinky promise." Anna smiles softly and wraps her pinky around his, he does so in return. "Things will start to brighten, I'm sure of it." He turns. "We're not too far from the factory now. Let's keep going." Anna smiles a little more and catches up to him. They continue on their walk to the factory. "I'm not going to ask either what all you've been through. I know bullying can be a real problem. I was bullied myself, and still am from time to time, all because of my hair, people think I'm a girl, and… other things… But I won't get too far into detail. I don't want to depress you further. Just know, you're not alone. Together, we can get through this." Anna beams up at him and nods. "Oh my gosh, she's so adorable…"

While working together on their Lyoko "avatars", Dimitri having been scanned with Anna's help, there's a noise just outside the room, down in the scanners area. Dimitri gets up to investigate, Anna follows after him, going down in the elevator rather than the ladder. They see a dark, smoke-like mass forming right in the center. Both of them scream. Dimitri pushes the button several times for the doors to shut and for them to go up. The dark mist shoots at them, the door shuts just in time.

"What the hell?!" Dimitri questions loudly. The door opens to the computer level. He saves what he was working on on the computer, but sees an alert on another screen that he didn't notice before when working because he was too focused. "What?!"

"What?!" Anna asks.

"I have no idea! It's something to do with a tower in the game. That red tower you mentioned I think?"

"What does that have to do with anything?!"

"I don't know! I didn't notice it before!" The dark mist had used the opening for the ladder to float up onto their floor, a glowing red strange mark pulsing on its head. Anna recognizes the mark.

"That mark! It was on the monsters in the game!"

"How is it here!? Could it just be some sort of hologram for the game then?!" The dark mass floats towards them. Dimitri turns and runs at it, punching it in the gut, but it feels like something at least. It's not just air, but it's not solid either. "Uhhhh." The mass attacks him, wrapping it's… Hands? Around his neck.

"No!" Anna grabs Dimitri's bag by its straps and flings it over at the mist, it doesn't let up. She thinks of one other solution. She runs to the computer and tries to find a way to shut it all off, but can't find the power switch. She turns and runs over to the elevator, knowing it has to be somewhere nearby. The mist leaves Dimitri and flies after her, tackling her. She screams out from shock and fear. Dimitri is in a coughing fit the moment the creature leaves him, but he gets up, hearing her scream. He gets an idea and runs to one of the cables and cords piles. He grabs one, separating it from another and pulls it over, it sparking. He places it to the creature. The creature makes a disturbing, inhuman, loud noise before becoming more shapeless and flying off. Dimitri tosses the cord and breathes in and out, his heart racing. Anna is completely still from shock.

"Anna? You ok?"

"No…" She starts crying, placing her hands to her face.

"Me neither… What the fuck?!" He regains himself and helps her to her feet, both of them are shaking. "I think, the only way for this to stop is to deactivate the tower on Lyoko."

"No! We need to turn off this computer! We can't handle this, we're just kids! Not even in high school yet!" Anna shouts, face red from crying, which she's still doing. "This is too much…" She tries wiping her tears, sniffling.

"Then… I guess we should just turn it off… I thought maybe this would be fun, but we're in way over our heads, aren't we?" He asks. She nods a little. "Alright." He starts for the lift again. "Um… Could you come with me…? I don't… I don't want to go by myself…" Dimitri says nervously. Anna nods and walks with him back into the elevator. He presses the button and it starts going down. They're silent as the elevator squeaks and creaks. The door opens and Dimitri walks forward. He presses a button and it reveals a lever. He pulls the lever and the entire thing shuts off. "There we go." He turns, looking at her. "I'm so sorry for putting you through this… I didn't think that any of this would have happened…"

"It's ok… You didn't know, so it's ok. Now we know." Anna says softly. Dimitri smiles a little.

"Let's go back…" He steps back in and presses the button. Anna can feel sadness radiating off him. She closes her eyes. It's silent except for the usual creaks and squeaks. They step back into the computer room. Dimitri grabs his bag and Anna helps grab what all was scattered.

"I'm sorry…" Anna says.

"It's ok, you were trying to help. No harm done, except I might have bruises on my neck… Do I?" Dimitri asks, lifting his head up so she can better look.

"No…" She replies quietly.

"Thank goodness… I don't want to have to explain them to anyone." He places his bag over his shoulder, adjusting it a bit before going back to the elevator.

"I'm sorry…" Her voice trembles a bit.

"You don't have to apologize. What's done is done. Nothing broke, so it's all good. Even if something did, I wouldn't be mad at you."

"No… I mean… with the computer…"

"Oh… well that's not your fault either. I'm more disappointed than anything. Here I thought it might be a cool game to play with my friends… You said that monster had the same symbol on its head that the other monsters had?" She nods.

"I remember because it looked like an eye…" She explains.

"Right…" He sighs. "That was scary…"

"Mhm…" She hums in agreement.

Akira and Shiro are getting ready for bed, brushing their teeth to get rid of the popcorn shells out that became wedged in there. There's a popping sound behind them. They both look to see what happened, a plug outlet in the hall in front of the bathroom door. Akira curses under her breath and spits out the toothpaste, she rinses her mouth and goes to find her dad.

"Hey dad?!" She calls down.

"Yea?!" Ulrich calls up.

"There's something wrong with this plug outlet!" She calls back down. There're footsteps and soon Ulrich is coming up the stairs. She leads him to the smoking outlet.

"Huh… Ok then. That's a call to Jeremie." Ulrich says. He pulls his cellphone from his pocket, soon placing it to his ear.

"Yes?"

"Yea, hey, uh, there's a plug here, it's smoking up and completely blown."

"Ok? When did it happen?"

"Just now I think."

"I'll come over."

"Are you sure? It's late. What if Dimitri has another nightmare?"

"I'll be sure to let him know I'm leaving and if he needs me, he can call me. I don't want you to spend a hundred dollars just to be told you have a short circuit."

"Ok… See you soon then." Ulrich hangs up, stepping up to the plug, there's a familiar feeling to him, he shakes his head. "It couldn't be. There's no way. It's been over twenty years. I'm just freaking out over nothing." He stands up. "Finish getting ready for bed and head downstairs, ok? To give Jeremie room to work." The twins nod. Shiro spits out the toothpaste in his mouth and rinses it out, drying his face before walking with his sister downstairs. Yumi steps out from the kitchen.

"What's going on?" She asks.

"One of the plugs short circuited. That's been happening a lot today." Akira explains.

"Really?" Yumi asks, eyebrow raising.

"Yea, after school when I went to my room, the plug next to her closet popped too. I think it startled her and she made the closet drop on her."

"That's… Weird." Yumi glances over at Ulrich, who too is looking over at Yumi. They're both thinking the same thing. They both nod at each other. Yumi looks over to her twins now. "I know you two just brushed your teeth, but how about some ice cream?"

"Oooh, I won't say no to that!" Akira's immediately excited.

"Ok! I'll put it in the fridge to thaw."

"You know you can just use the microwave?" Akira mentions.

"I know, but it will melt too much, then it's not as good." Yumi points out.

"I'd still eat it."

"Of course you would, ice cream junkie." Shiro pokes fun at her. "I wouldn't say no to some ice cream either though, so…"

"Alright!" Yumi smiles happily and steps back into the kitchen, she opens her freezer, grabbing a couple tubs of ice cream. She sets them on the counter gently to shut the freezer door before opening the fridge door. She sets the cartons inside, shutting the door. "Also, if you eat ice cream too soon after brushing your teeth, it'll taste weird. We don't want that, right?" Yumi asks.

"I guess not…" Akira speaks softly. Ulrich gets a call on his cell phone again in just a few moments.

"Yea, Jeremie?"

"I-I can't find Dimitri!"

"What?!" Yumi and the twins look over at Ulrich when he shouts. "Ok. Calm down, ok? Maybe he went to take a shower? Or went for a walk?"

"But he knows there's a curfew! He wouldn't go walking this late at night, especially since there's Coyotes! I already tried his cellphone, but it went to voicemail immediately!"

"Alright, alright. Go check the showers first before you start panicking. He has to be somewhere!"

"What if I lose him?!"

"You're not going to lose him! Get a hold of yourself and use that brain of yours, Einstein!"

"O-Ok… Ok…" There's shuffling, another door is opened. "Dimitri?!" He calls out. There's more shuffling.

"Maybe he should call the police?" Yumi suggests. Ulrich puts a finger up, gesturing basically for her to keep quiet so he can hear.

"He's not here! I don't know where to look?!"

"Take a deep breath and think, ok? Calm down, clear your head. Where does he often go?"

"I-I'll call you back!" The line goes dead. Ulrich sighs, ending the call.

"Dimitri is missing." Ulrich states.

"I figured that." Yumi replies. The twins look to each other, sharing similar worried faces. Ulrich steps over to his kids.

"It's going to be ok. He'll be found, I promise."

"How can you promise something you don't know for sure yourself…?" Akira asks.

"What if he was kidnapped?!" Shiro suggests, starting to cry. Akira wraps her arms around him, nuzzling him, trying to comfort him.

"He could be in someone else's room for some reason." Ulrich thinks aloud. "Has he ever mentioned doing that when you're gone?"

"Not really. He doesn't have any other friends than us." Akira answers for Shiro.

"We just made a new friend today though." Shiro points out, his voice cracks a bit.

"Who? Anna?" Akira asks. Shiro nods. "Ha! No. Besides, boys aren't allowed in girl's dorms and vice versa."

"That's true…"

"Where could he be…?" Yumi asking no one in particular.


Indeed, where could he be? But, we know the answer to that, don't we? I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Feel free to leave a review if you so wish and I hope you'll join me for chapter 3. If you have any questions, leave them in a review or PM me if you can, I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

See ya!

-TGB127074