I've been planning the later part of this chapter for a long time. Things are really starting to fall apart now...or come together? Depends on your perspective, I guess.
William's pov
"You know, you're really starting to piss me off!" I exclaimed.
"The feeling is mutual!" Ulrich replied.
We were in hour 40 of our agreed 48 hours, and everyone was getting on each others nerves. Honestly, it felt like I couldn't breathe in here, like people were breathing down my damn neck. Ulrich, Odd, and Stacey were especially bad. Odd and Stacey were trying to cheer everyone up and keep things lighthearted, but if anything that made things worse. Why did they think they had to cheer us up? They came off as fake and artificial in an environment like this. I hated nothing more than artificiality.
Ulrich was another thing all together. I don't even know what it was. Something about the way he acted, the way he talked, the frequency of his voice. It made my eyes twitch.
There was the outside world to worry about. Why was I just sitting here where I couldn't do anything?
"Hey guys, let's all just take a deep breath-"
"Shut up, Stacey!" Ulrich and I simultaneously snapped.
"Hey, she's just trying to help." Odd defended Stacey. They had been spending all this time right up next to each other and playing video games and holding hands. Did they know they were a couple? Someone really should have told them.
"Listen, Odd, I'm getting real sick of your shit!" Ulrich snapped.
"WELL I'M GETTING REAL SICK OF ALL OF YOUR SHIT!"
We all froze and looked in the direction of the person shouting. It was Aelita. Aelita had been pretty much quiet up to this point...and she very rarely cursed or shouted like that. She looked around at the faces looking at her. Then she took a deep breath and began to speak.
"We are all friends here. We only have 8 more hours. Let's all just...go to sleep or something. Then when it's night, we can all go outside and breathe the night air and have some alone time if we want. Now calm down and go to sleep." Aelita rolled over and pulled the covers up over her head.
"No." I said. "I'm leaving right now." I climbed the stairs, opened the door, and closed it. Nobody tried to stop me.
The outside air was so refreshing. The Sun was high in the air. It was about 3 pm Monday afternoon. And...it was finals week. None of my classes were having finals today. The finals were scheduled based on subject. Today was electives. I didn't have any electives except Jim's class and he wasn't holding any finals. Tomorrow was math...probably. Forget Morgan, if I flunked my final my parents would actually murder me. Plus, lucky me, with all the things going on lately, I didn't study at all for anything.
How were the rest of them going to take their finals? I knew at least Odd had some electives this year. Whatever. It didn't matter. Right now I had to worry about me.
I made my way to Kadic. We hadn't brought our phones or computers with us. We didn't bring anything Morgan could have used to track us down. That also meant nobody from outside could contact us and we couldn't contact the outside world. It was suffocating to be cut off like that, with only a few people to spend time with. It wasn't that I really couldn't stand them...it was just that being confined with anyone would make you hate them eventually. I guessed...And also, they still didn't really treat me as part of the group. I mean, I got that I was the enemy for a while but...that wasn't my fault. They accepted Stacey more quickly than they accepted me.
There weren't many around on campus. Most of the students were taking tests. They went until about 5 pm. They were long tests. The few who weren't taking a test were studying for other tests. I went to the cafeteria. Rosa was there. She was serving comfort food in order to help comfort students. It was something the class representatives had come up with. If I had to guess, I'd say it was Odd's idea. So there was mac and cheese and mashed potatoes and crepes and croissants and cheesecake and ice cream. Wow, they really went all out with it. There was also salmon and veggies for those who wanted something healthier..."brain food." I took a tray and slid it across the counter, looking down.
"Haven't seen you in a while. What's with the long face, William?" Rosa asked.
"Huh?" I looked up at her. She had clear concern on her face. Was it that obvious that I was upset? "Oh, just a lot of things going on." I waved it off.
"Yeah, yeah." Rosa nodded. "I know what you mean. What with finals, and the murders. I'm proud of you kids. Keep on keeping on even with all that."
Her words crackled through my brain. Murders? Just...just what had we missed? Was Morgan attacking the human population?!
"Murders?!"
"Wow, yeah, you really must be out of it. Milly and Tamiya wrote a really nice article about it." Rosa said. "And here, have an extra helping." She scooped more food onto my tray."
"Thanks, Rosa..." I mumbled. I picked up an issue of The Kadic Herald and sat down at a table. I shoveled food into my mouth, paying no attention to how it tasted or what it was. It didn't help me feel any better.
The article was about a series of murders that had been occurring all over Paris in the last two days. Which...was the same amount of time as we had been in the shelter. Morgan had killed Taelia, hadn't she? And now she was killing others. There were at least a dozen victims so far, and all of the autopsies were the same. Doctors had absolutely no idea what the cause of death was. It was like they just stopped breathing. There were signs of struggle sometimes, but no injuries. There were no foreign chemicals present or any health anomalies. There was also a colorful band-aid on each victim's forehead. It wasn't covering up any sort of injury. It was a calling card or something. There were never any witnesses, and police were trying to find the culprit, but they hadn't had any success yet. This was a similar cause of death as the massive death at the office building in town a few days ago, but the band-aids were new. Plus, these were individual murders instead of one massive death. Some people thought something supernatural was happening. Conspiracy theorists were having a field day. There was a group online that made parallels between these murders and a series of murders in the American northwest in the late 70s and early 80s. The killer went by the name of Feather, and had been apprehended and imprisoned, but she escaped and was never heard from again.
I held my head in my hands. This was such a mess. We left for two days and Morgan was on a killing spree. It didn't matter if it looked sorta like this other person, I knew it was her. Why was she doing this? Why wouldn't she just die? But if she had killed Taelia...the one with all the training...did we even have a shot? We had to.
A groan resonated from deep inside me. Now what would I do? I guess I needed to get the guys. I didn't really want to go back there but Morgan was obviously on the move and we couldn't just be sitting ducks. We had to do something. Or would it be better to stay hiding so she couldn't find us. She hadn't seen me...as far as I knew. Maybe I could go to Jeremie's room and get him his laptop and we could figure something out. There wasn't time to be petty or annoyed or anything, people were dying here.
I got up. If I acted quickly I could get Jeremie's stuff and get off campus before Morgan got out of finals. I knew she had some sort of elective. Still, I had to hurry. I didn't know exactly what kind of observation she had. I walked quickly into the boys dorm, to Jeremie's room. I opened the door. Everything was the same. Morgan hadn't trashed the room or stolen anything, at least. I grabbed his laptop.
"You didn't think you were going to get away with that, did you?" I heard the door close. I closed my eyes and grit my teeth. I was dead. I was just dead.
"Morgan..." I said.
"You know, if you wanted help studying for finals, you could have come to me, instead of raiding Jeremie's room for notes." She said.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked.
"It's what father wanted." She said. I turned to face her
"You're doing all of this for your father? But he's manipulative and horrible, and-"
"Let me rephrase." She said, putting up her hands for me to stop. "Because I want to. Everything I'm doing. I'm doing because I want to." She sighed. "And at one point...you wanted to, too."
There was a flicker of something...genuine, in her eyes. Genuine emotion, genuine longing.
"No, I didn't. Xana got inside my head and changed me." The darkness at the edge of my mind I tried to ignore was getting aggravated. I didn't like being near her. I needed to get away but I didn't see how I could get past her. "Whoever it is you're after, it isn't me! It never was!" I yelled.
Morgan just stood there a moment, looking like she had taken a physical blow to the chest. Then she said something in an uncharacteristically small and high voice.
"Kiss me, William."
"What?!" That was one of the last things I was expecting from her. She spoke a little more boldly.
"Kiss me, William, and I'll call off the attacks."
"What?! Hell no."
"Then...just give me a hug, something to remember you by. One last taste of how things used to be...then I'll be satisfied. I'll go back to Lyoko and I won't bother you again. That's all I wanted, things back the way they were." She leaned back on the door. "But that's impossible now...so I'll cut my losses and go home. But first...?" her emotion was genuine, I could feel it. I...I pitied her. I couldn't believe it but I actually pitied her. Maybe she was just doing what any of us would do in her situation. Maybe, if she had a chance to start over, she could be...a better person. She could get redemption.
"Sure." I said, and opened my arms. Her eyes widened.
"Are...you sure?" She asked, cautiously. I nodded. She lit up like a Christmas tree and embraced me. And I closed the hug. She was only about an inch shorter than me. There was pressure from her embrace, but she didn't feel soft or smooth...she felt tingly, like I was hugging something that was vibrating, and it was warm, and...she smelled like smoke this close up. And this felt...familiar, like it was calling to something way in the back of my head...like this had happened before.
And then I felt a stab in my neck.
Well, that's what I got for being optimistic.
It started immediately, burning inside my head. She...injected me with something...poison? Was I dying? Shit...shit there was so much more I wanted to do...Everything was burning, and my body was seizing up. Was she electrocuting me?! I doubled over and curled up on the floor in pain. I couldn't see, but I could hear.
"It'll be ok. It only hurts for a minute. Just relax and remember." I heard Morgan as if from very far away. What...what was she doing? Oh god...what did that mean?! Was she possessing me?! No! I didn't want to go back! I didn't, I wouldn't! Please don't, anything but-
And then, at once, everything relaxed, and I remembered. I remembered meeting Morgan...I remembered falling in love with her of my own free will. I remembered sparring with her. I remembered the Lyoko Warriors being assholes. They were just storming into our home and trying to take it. All of humanity was kind of horrible when you thought about it. Xana and Morgan took me in and made me feel important and useful and powerful in a way nothing on Earth could. Morgan was funny and thoughtful and...she could kick my ass and look hot doing it.
The Lyoko Warriors took away everything from her...from us. And they had to pay for it. I would do anything for her.
I opened my eyes, and everything was sharper and clearer. I could see better than 20/20. I could hear the tiniest of noises and discern each individual sound and decipher what it was. There was an overlay on my vision, augmented reality, it was called. It was like a computer in my head. I could get all the information of the internet just by willing my mind to do it. I could call and text from here as well as communicate with Morgan. I could make electricity and technology do whatever the hell I wanted. Though I had to admit, I wasn't as creative about it as Morgan was.
Well, technically it wasn't me that could do all of those things, it was the spectre that Morgan fused with my body and put at my command. I still had my human senses. I could smell and taste and touch. I could also do that thing Morgan could where she knew what everything was made of even if she couldn't actually experience them. It was the best of both worlds, really.
I looked up at Morgan. She was looking down at me expectantly, a faint smile on her face. I smiled back up at her, acknowledgement that I did remember. Then I smirked and kicked her legs out from under her. She wasn't expecting it, and I was just as fast as her, now, so she fell directly on top of me, her face almost right up against mine. She was very light, it was almost like she didn't exist. But I knew she was there, I could feel her vibrating lightly against me. It felt...really good.
I closed the distance between us and kissed her. You know how poets use then metaphor of electricity running through your body? Well it was a little more literal here. I held her closer. I wanted this to last forever...she was so amazing, and she was mine.
And then I was gently pushed away. Morgan broke the kiss, although it seemed like she didn't really want to, either. She was hesitant. She chuckled and got up, off of me.
"We're about to launch a war, my dear. We'll have time for that later." Morgan said, a little playfully. I smiled and nodded, a little disappointed, then got up off the ground.
"I'll help in whatever way I can."
"Go back to where the Lyoko Warriors are hiding and act like yourself. Bring the laptop. Keep in communication with me and report anything of interest. Tell them anything you like about the state of things over here except what happened in this room. Understood?"
"Understood."
"Then you are dismissed." Morgan said. "Glad to have you back." She smiled. She didn't smile that often, Xana did just about everything he could to take it away from her, and I understood why. Still, when she did smile, it was glorious. Her whole face lit up.
"Glad to be back." I responded.
Half an hour later I knocked the secret knock Stacey made us learn if we ever wanted to get back in the shelter. A few seconds later, the door opened. It was Yumi.
"Oh, hey there." I waved.
"Hey there yourself, you were gone for 2 hours. Where were you?!" Yumi demanded. Aw, they were worried about me. How cute.
"I was at Kadic. I picked up Jeremie's laptop." I showed her. "And...um...I have some bad news. I better come in." I said. Yumi saw the serious look on my face, and now she was concerned. She opened the door wider to let me in, and I infiltrated my enemy's base.
Time elapsed since last chapter: approximately 2 days
Time elapsed since chapter 1: 2 weeks 4 days
Morgan and William, reunited at last...yay? Let me know in the reviews if you think William actually fell in love with Morgan of his own free will or if Xana manufactured it? I'm curious to see how it comes across. Leave a fav and a follow to see more, and a review means so much to me. Thanks so much guys and have an awesome day!