Author's Note: Hello, sorry I've been so absent! I'm going to try and finish this story up, hopefully I can accomplish this without watering down everything I had planned. Happy reading (:
The students at Kadic Academy were becoming antsy with the summer quickly approaching. They impatiently waited for the sun shine through the clouds as rain poured outside their classrooms. Asa was quietly sowing in the room, trying to getting the remaining features of her outfits done before the Fashion Show. A smile appeared on her lips as she thought about the excitement that competition brought her.She loved the thrill of judges looking over her designs and the anticipation of her name being called as the winner. She also couldn't wait to hear Ulrich's response to finally being able to see her designs in person. She always sent him photos but they do little to compared to seeing with his own eyes under the bright lights. Every diamond and rhinestone glimmers all the glitters sparkle just the right way and the world itself looks darker once they vanish behind the curtains.
"Asa? Asa, are you in your room again?" Ulrich's voice snapped Asa back to the word around her and her fingers stopped their stitching in time for her to turn around and see her brother standing in the doorway, a smirk on his face.
"Hey Ulrich, what's up?" She asked, placing more pins into the dark fabric.
"How long have you been down here?"
"Uh since like nine I think. I ate breakfast and came right down to finish the designs." Asa sat up from her seat and walked over to a tall mannequin and began to place the fabric around, making sure it fit the way she wanted it to.
"Well its lunch time, we all got our food and noticed you weren't there. Come and eat." Ulrich said, stepping to the side to let his sister through.
"Yeah okay, I'm coming right back though." Asa sighed as she pulled the pins from between her lips and placed them back in their rightful drawer.
The siblings began walking through the hallways having their usual conversation as they made their way to the lunchroom.
"I still don't see why you have such a big problem with me wanting to date William." Asa sighed, already tired of their squabbling.
"Because, like I've said before he isn't a good guy. He has done things that you wouldn't agree to."
"Oh and I'm sure you're not going to tell me a single thing he's done because its all part of your big secret?"
"Well, yeah. I hate keeping this from you but I need to, I'm sorry."
"You're always sorry Ulrich but you do nothing to fix it." Asa grabbed her tray as they entered the cafeteria and began to pile food onto it. She sighed heavily as Ulrich continued to apologize and try to reason with her to not pursue William.
"Well too bad, until you can give me a solid piece of evidence as to why I shouldn't try with William then I'm going to try. Speaking of which, I'm going to try right now and go have lunch with him. Bye." Asa waved back Ulrich's protests as she began to head towards William who was sitting all alone.
"Hey, are you going to eat?" Asa asked and she took the seat across from the boy.
"Oh hey, didn't see you there and yeah I was going to but my stomach isn't feeling up to it now." William shrugged with a light laugh as he stared at his full tray.
"Oh, any plans for the weekend?"
"Not really, I have to go to the doctor's after lunch to get checked up on and then I'll most likely rest or hang out if you'd like." He smiled at the girl as she tried to hide the blush on her cheeks.
"Well I'm going to finish up on my designs for the Fashion Show if you can make some time to com help me."
Across from the cafeteria Ulrich sulked and slowly ate his lunch. Aelita and Jeremie were talking about more ways to free William from X.A.N.A's control while Yumi silently ate while Odd shoveled food into his mouth.
"Oh Jeez Odd can you actually chew your food?" Ulrich asked as he watched plates stack up beside his roommate's tray.
"I am chewing!" Odd grumble out between swallows of food. Ulrich sighed and tried to eat more as he watched his sister continue to swoon over his nemesis.
"Ulrich I'm sure Asa will be careful and hopefully soon we can free William once and for all." Aelita said kindly putting gentle hand on Ulrich's.
"Yeah but she's already been in danger since she got here and it seems like she's a main target for attacks. I just don't get it." Ulrich hissed, putting his fork down and handing his left over food to Odd.
"Yes that does seem strange but maybe X.A.N.A can see that she is related to you and is trying to distract you from defeating him?" Odd pitched in, happily accepting more food onto his plate.
"That could be it, what do you think Yumi? You've been silent since we all sat down." Jeremie asked, drawing the group's attention over to the silent Asian.
"Huh? Oh I don't know, maybe." Yumi claimed, half-heartily. The group slowly fell silent as lunch time drew to a close. Slowly the students began to empty their trays and leave to do their own things, Asa headed back to do her sowing while the group went to Jeremie's room. Ulrich and Odd sat on Jeremie's bed as Aelita and Jeremie tried out different plans to try and solve their crisis, the room was oddly silent as Yumi leaned against the wall staring at her phone.
"So Yumi what's going on? You've been weirdly quiet like all day." Ulrich asked, trying to draw the girl's attention.
"Nothing is going on. I'm just going to head out, message me if you need me." Yumi walked out of the room, leaving her friend's silence.
The girl walked through the halls of Kadic Academy trying to find William, she desperately needed to talk to him and he wasn't replying to any of her messages or calls. She found herself walking through the park and was surprised to see him sitting on a bench and looking up at the sky. Her mind flashed back to the countless conversations they would have under trees about the world around them as they grew closer and closer. Yumi's heart ached for those moments as she slowly approached the boy. As she got closer her began to notice how he didn't look different or out of the ordinary. She knew he was being controlled by a super virus but from where she stood he just looked like a regular middle school student just enjoying their weekend.
"Uh, hey William, mind if I sit down?" She asked, her body trembling.
"Sure Yumi, I saw you've been calling me a lot, why?" He asked, his gaze never leaving the sky even as the girl sat beside him.
Asa stretched her arms and sighed relief as she finished up the first of three outfits. Confidently she hung it on the mannequin and admired her work. She went back to begin the second outfit as her phone let out a light ding.
Hey wanna meet in the park for a bit? The girl let out a squeal of delight as she saw the message and quickly cleaned up her mess before heading to the park to meet up with William. Another message appeared letting her know to meet at the usual spot which was a bench under one of the trees. Asa quickened her pace as she neared the tree, the bench coming into view. The smile drained from her face along with her blood as she saw William and Yumi standing under the tree. William had his arms around Yumi as her eyes closed and her lips pushed together awaiting a kiss. Asa's blood began to boil as she regained her stride and confronted the two.
"What's going on?" She said loud enough to draw their attention but not loud enough to yell.
"Oh hi Asa, I didn't see you there." William tried to defend himself as Yumi smirked and began to walk away. Asa huffed and pushed past the boy and followed the girl.
"Yumi, wait up!" Asa called but it feel on deaf ears as Yumi continued on her path. Unknown to two the group changed location as were now standing by the vending machines enjoying some sodas. They all looked up as they heard Asa continue to call out Yumi's name.
"Oh hey I wonder what's up with that? Asa looks really mad too." Aelita pointed out right as Yumi turned on her heel.
"What?" The girl asked, glaring at the brunette.
"Mind telling me what I just saw?" Asa asked, barely coming up to the girl's shoulder.
"I guess William just isn't into you as much as you thought he was. Look I know he seems charming him and I used to date actually so I know when he really likes someone." Yumi sneered at the girl.
"What is going on? Why is Yumi talking like that?" Jeremie wondered aloud as the group continued to watch the fight unfold.
"Really? You think that is news to me? William already told me, he told me all about you and all the things you told him. Ugh you act so superior to everyone when you're the most outcast of us all. Whatever I'm out of here." Asa turned with tears in her eyes headed away from everyone only looking back to see the group surrounding Yumi, not trying to even come close to Asa.
"Ugh Yumi is such a..such a…ugh." Asa grumbled as she furiously worked on her ext design, ignoring the numerous dings and buzzes her phone was making. Asa hissed as her finger caught the needle of the machine and she instinctively brought it to her mouth as she searched for the first aid kit.
"Hey, uh, sorry about what you saw earlier." The girl froze as a voice entered the room. With a groan she turned to find William fidgeting in the doorway.
"Why are you here?"
"You didn't answer any of my messages, I got worried."
"Oh now you worried about me?" Asa felt the words spilling out of her mouth faster than she wanted.
"I'm sorry really I am. Yumi came and talked to me and she just reminded me of all these emotions I used to feel for her, I promise I wasn't going to kiss her. I really like you Asa and I don't want any secrets or anything to stand between us." William walked towards the girl, putting his hands on her trembling shoulders and trying desperately to look into her eyes. Asa met his gaze as William wiped a tear from her eyes.
"Promise you won't keep anything from me?"
"I promise."
"Yumi really what did you do?" Ulrich asked, anger flashing in his eyes.
"I did what we all should have done! Now maybe Asa will stop asking questions and won't be near William anymore." Yumi replied.
"That was not the way to do that." Ulrich stormed off, leaving the rest of the group to interrogate Yumi.
Ulrich made his way towards Asa's workshop, hoping to find her alone. As he entered the room his jaw fell as he saw William embrace her their lips locked.
"So much for your master plan Yumi." He muttered as he turned and left his sister in the arms of danger.
After their kiss Asa and William broke away so she could work but William stayed behind to keep her company. She giggled at his jokes as she began to stitch together new pieces of fabric.
"Wow you are really talented, these look amazing."William claimed as he examined Asa's work.
"Thanks I've always loved doing this since my grandma first taught me cross stitching. I used to make flowers on pillows and towels then moved up to making my own clothes."
"Wow, that's awesome. I never really heard Ulrich talk about your family I don't think even Yumi knows anything."
"Yeah, Ulrich really never felt at ease around our parents. Its probably because our parents were constantly at each other's throats most of our childhood. Then I got accepted into a school in New York and Ulrich stayed. What about your family?" Asa asked, turning her attention away from the machine to look over at William. Suddenly the machine stopped working just as the lights began to go out.
"What on Earth?" William asked as he grabbed his phone and turned on his flashlight.
"Guess the power has gone out, looks like I'm done for night." Asa giggled, also turning on the flashlight on her phone.
"Well wanna stay down here till everything turns back on?"
"Hm, we could but I'd rather find Ulrich and see how everything's turned out since."
"But Ulrich didn't even try to check on you. He instantly went after Yumi, they all did."
"Yeah but I still should check on him."
"Maybe call him or something?"
"That's a good idea." Asa dialed Ulrich's phone and William watched her expression change as it continued to ring.
"No answer?"
"As usual. They're so dodgy sometimes." Asa sighed as she slid down the wall.
"Yeah? I guess they really don't tell you anything?" William said, sitting next to her.
"No and every time I ask they just say 'sorry we cant tell you, it's a secret.' Like how bad can one secret really be?"
"They really didn't tell you? So how can you trust them if they don't even trust you?" Asa stared at William and sat quietly processing his words.
On Lyoko Ulrich, Odd and Yumi dodged enemies while Aelita tried to attack as many as she could without being hit. Slowly X.A.N.A's creatures fell as the Lyoko warriors raced towards the glowing red tower.
"Man this was really easy. The tower wasn't even active for that long!" Odd exclaimed as Aelita entered the tower.
"He's right, normally there would be more than a few cubes and William would've showed up." Yumi said, glancing around for any hidden enemies.
"Doubtful, William sure was busy when the attack started." Ulrich growled as he leaned against a digital tree.
"What?" Odd asked, sitting next to his friend.
"Ugh really don't want to relive it."
"Come on tell me." Odd looked at Ulrich with pleading puppy dog eyes.
"Fine! I went to find Asa alone and instead there was William, kissing her."
"Wait they were kissing?!" Yumi's eyes widened in shock.
"Yeah so thanks Yumi for driving her right into William, and possibly X.A.N.A's, arms. Great plan."
"Seriously, if William is still under X.A.N.A's control then why does he care so much about Asa? Do you think this is part of a bigger plan?" Odd asked, his voice no longer light.
"I'm not sure but we should try to keep Asa as close as possible. If X.A.N.A is planning something then we need to stay on our toes." Jeremie's voice rang through their heads as the tower's light changed from the deep red to a light silver.
Ulrich and Odd walked slowly back to their room, waving goodbye to the others.
"Well at least we can go to bed at a reasonable hour this time." Ulrich yawned into his hand as they passed by numerous doors. The two finally came up to their cream colored door, thankful to finally be able to rest.
"Uh, what's this?" Odd asked, grabbing a piece of folded paper that was taped to their door.
"What's it say?" Ulrich peered over his roommates shoulder to read the note.
I know EVERYTHING!
"Oh no." The two said in unison, they pulled out their phones ready to dial the numbers when their screens lit up.
"Seems everyone got the same note." Ulrich swallowed, fear and worry swirling in his heads.
"So what do we do now?"