I know it took me forever to write this. But I got caught up in school work and finishing my comics that I didn't have time to write it. But I got chapter 5 done. I dedicate this story to Icesythe. You got what you wanted.
Kevin Shook
10/7/06
Chapter 5
It had been two weeks since XANA's triumphant return. The city of Paris now devastated by the attack. Thousands had died. Thousands more had died just from the mess he left behind. After that day, he was silent once more. Two weeks. It was a clever tactic. Let them know he was back, and then just leave again. He was taunting them.
Back in Virginia, Jeremie and Aelita were able to convince the pilot of a private jet to take them overseas. Immediately his response was no. Ever since the attack no plane had left the ground unless told to do so by the leading government. All over the world, no commercial airlines would fly anywhere. But Aelita and Jeremie were determined to leave. Aelita gathered a large amount of money gained from her search engine and paid the pilot. Once he got the clearance to leave, he agreed. Jeremie and Aelita wasted no time in boarding up their home and heading off.
The wind blew gently through the mountains. Making soothing sounds as it does. It is snowing lightly. The snow covered ground tracked with footprints and tire tracks. In the middle of the snow covered clearing sits a large two story home in it's solitude in the mountains of Germany. Snow is plastered to the vinyl siding of the house. Gray smoke is billowing out of the second chimney on the left side of the house. A bright yellow glow shines from every window on the bottom floor of the house. In a large room in this house, a dark haired woman sits on a couch placed next to a fireplace. There is a fire going and she has surrounded herself with pillows. She reads from a magazine labeled "Teacher's Aid Plus!" in Japanese text. She pushes her shoulder length hair out of her face and lets it rest behind her ear. A tall dark haired man walks into the room from a door to the left of the fireplace. "Yumi?" the man spoke softly. The dark haired woman looked up at him. She flashed a faint smile and responded. "Yes Ulrich?"
"I just wanted to thank you for coming all the way up here from Japan. I know the terms of this visit are a little grim, but it's still nice anyway. You know what I mean?" Ulrich said with a shaky voice.
"Yes, I do. And it is nice. I just wish it hadn't been XANA that reunited us. All those people that had died…" Yumi's voice trailed off.
They sat there in silence. Not because they had nothing more to say, but because they felt ashamed. They felt responsible for all the deaths that took place. They felt it was all their fault. They had shut down the supercomputer knowing there was the possibility that XANA could return. Knowing that someone else could stumble upon the factory just as they had. Well someone had. And XANA did. XANA was back. They didn't know if he could be stopped. They didn't know how much power he had. But they had no choice. They were responsible. Thousands of people died because of them. They had to do what they could to prevent more people from, dying.
"I'm back Ulrich-dear!"
Their train of thought was interrupted by the shrill voice of Ulrich's wife. She was returning from the airport with Jeremie and Aelita. Another dark haired woman walked into the room next to Ulrich and kissed him on the cheek. "I picked up Aelita and Jeremie from the airport. They're in the main foyer." She informed him with a smile.
"Well then Sissi honey, why don't you invite them in here?" Ulrich asked her in a low tone, almost whispering.
"Ulrich, they're covered in snow. They need to get all that stuff off; I don't want it in my house." She said, also whispering.
Yumi sat there watching the married couple bickering in the doorway over the invitation of the guests. Yumi sensed that it was about to progress itself into a heated augment. Sissi sensed this as well. She stood up on her toes and kissed Ulrich in mid-sentence. Ulrich kissed back. The argument was over, Sissi had won. Yumi smiled a little as she watched the two making out in the doorway like a couple of teenagers, but she cried inside.
"Um, excuse me?" Aelita had poked her head through the doorway leading to the main foyer behind the two. "We're dry now. Can we come in?"
Sissi, now embarrassed because she was making out with her husband and the fact that she had made a big fuss over some snow, let them in. Aelita giggled a little as she passed Ulrich and Sissi. With her face still red, Sissi walked across the room to another doorway leading to the kitchen.
"Sorry about that." Ulrich said as he watched his wife leave. "She's an interior decorator, so she is a little crazy about foreign substances on her furniture."
"I heard that!" Sissi shrieked playfully from the kitchen.
Aelita turned to Ulrich. "Well. You two seem happy." She was smiling, but there was a slight tone of sarcasm in her voice.
They all sat down and started to talk. Sissi had returned with a tray of sandwiches and sodas. It had been quite a while since they last talked. They all started the conversation. At first it was just little small talk that you force yourself to say just to have something to say. Then they just started sharing stories. They shared stories of good times and bad. They reminisced on past experiences they had shared together. Then the topic shifted to Yumi.
"So Yumi, are you married? Or seeing anyone?" Aelita asked kindly, not knowing the situation.
Ulrich and Sissi looked at each other with worried expressions spread across both their faces. Yumi was staring down at her empty plate. A tear rolls down her face and lands on the plate. Aelita sees this and her face softens to an expression of sympathy while she silently curses herself for bringing it up.
"I was married…" Yumi started with an unsteady voice. "He wanted kids. I'm infertile and can't bare his child." More tears roll down her face, "The divorce was finalized four days before XANA's return!" she went silent, her shoulders shaking. Sissi stood up and walked across the floor over to Yumi. She sat down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Yumi threw her head into Sissi's chest and began sobbing uncontrollably. Tears spilling from her eyes in streams. Sissi held the hysterical Yumi. She looked around to the rest of them but said nothing while Yumi cried.
"Jeremie I can't sit here and watch this. Tell her!" Aelita said as she prodded Jeremie with her elbow. Sissi and Ulrich both looked up and stared at them.
"Tell her now." Aelita said once again, this time with a tone of authority in her voice. Jeremie sighed and gave in.
"Yumi, I don't know if this will help you in any way to know this, but, you're not the only infertile person in here right now."
Yumi had quieted down by now. She just looked at him with a confused look. Her face was covered in tears, her mascara running, her eyebrow lifted and waiting for an explanation. Jeremie continued speaking.
"Aelita and I are both incapable of having children as well as you. I wouldn't be surprised if Ulrich is impotent too."
"We, um, haven't exactly been trying to have children." Sissi informed him now red in the face again. Ulrich was now concerned and wanted answers. "How can we all be incapable of having children?"
"XANA" Yumi whispered.
"Well, no, not exactly. It's along those lines but it's not XANA's doing." Jeremie stated.
Yumi now looked at him with an anger in her eyes. "If it's not XANA then what is it! What would possibly want to wipe out our reproductive systems?" Yumi was now screaming at him.
"The supercomputer." Jeremie said dully.
"What?" Yumi yelled at him again.
Jeremie, now sick of being yelled at , launched into explanation. "The supercomputer was powered by a nuclear battery. Do you remember? The radiation was not properly contained due to a design flaw in the structure of the computer. We all suffered prolonged exposure to this radiation and have lost the use of our reproductive functions."
"So it was XANA. The whole time he was activated, he was slowly killing us." Yumi said, devastated by the truth.
"I didn't want to mention this, but, there is a chance one of us could develop cancer." Jeremie said with a hint of worry in his voice. He knew it would be him. He had always spent the most time in that factory out of all of them. He had always been the one to walk right up to the supercomputer itself and shut it down or activate it. He had changed the nuclear battery.
"Cancer?" Sissi lifted her head with a jolt as she said this. She jerked her head over to Ulrich and let the look of worry return. Ulrich was silent. Yumi was silent. Aelita moved closer to Jeremie and held him as if holding on for dear life. She knew too. Sure, she had turned it off once, but she knew it would be Jeremie. They had never discussed it before. It never needed to be said between them. The silence engulfed the room. All of them thinking about the worth of their lives. The fire still cackled in the fireplace. The faint orange glow dancing upon their faces. Something hit the side of the house. They all assumed it was a small branch from the tree in the backyard. Sissi drew a breath as she was about to say something, but the doorbell suddenly rang, cutting her off.
"We weren't expecting anyone else." She said as she was looking out the window searching for an extra car, but found nothing.
"Well then dear, why don't you go see who it is?" Ulrich said, still not really aware of what was going on as he was lost in his own thoughts.
Sissi disappeared into the foyer to answer the door. They were all still sitting there, dead silent. Silent until the shrill scream of Sissi rang through the room interrupting their train of thought.
Alright. Tell me what you thought. Did I supply you with a boring chapter? Or an intersting and informative one with all the necessary drama? I wanna know! Once I finish something else, I will go on to writing chapter six. So enjoy this for now!
