In Our Darkest Hour… Part 3: Dreamscape

Dedicated to Mylinda, Molly, and Mariah

Chapter Thirty-Two: The Train Station

All she could see was a grey sky, an overcast day, a miserable afternoon. The long moan of a train whistle brought her back to Earth. She stood at the top of her little mountain on the stairs, ready to conquer the world.

The hustle and bustle of all the commuters at the station roared louder than all the trains combined. A bearded grown man pushed her out of his way. She fell to her hands and knees, but saw a thin hand outstretched in front of her.

"Do you need help, my lady?" the hand asked curiously. Looking up slowly, she saw flashing green eyes under trimmed straw-colored hair. His nose was his most predominate feature (after all, it was extremely pointed), but she tried to notice his smile instead. It was a nice and ready smile.

She took his hand and got up to dust off her petticoat. "Thank you, sir. Some people…" she trailed off angrily.

He shrugged. "Can I help you to your train, my lady?"

"Well, actually, yes. I mean, I'm not riding a train; I'm waiting for someone to come off. But I wouldn't mind having an escort to the platform," she blushed as she flirtingly twisted her floor-length skirt.

The man with the bright green eyes, without a word, offered her his arm, and away they went down the stairs.

"So, what is it that you do?" she asked conversationally.

"I am in school to become a doctor, but I just came back from fighting in the war," he nodded solemnly. "When you are in a war, you see many things that you would rather not see."

He grew silent, his smile faded. "I- my brother was in the war… but he never came back," she added.

Her escort paused and eyed her carefully. "Then who is it you are coming to pick up?"

She had to pause. Why did he care? She struggled under the pressure, "My fiancée's mother," she gulped and avoided his eyes, "She's elderly, and…"

His face turned into one of incredulous belief. "How old are you, my lady, that you can get married? I took you to be no more than fifteen, sixteen at the most," he eyed his companion from her red hair to my leather boots.

"I am seventeen." She was trying so very hard to keep her cool. However, the young man never let go of her. He offered her an empty bench while they waited for their trains to come in.

"Thank you, sir," she replied indifferently, smoothing out her skirt. He never stopped his gaze as he asked, "Do you love him?"

She thought about the question, and after a moment's silence, she responded, "I do not know. I thought I did-"

"Then why do you still want to marry him?"

"I guess I'm expected to."

"I bet you would be happier if you didn't marry him, right? You would travel the world or go to university or flirt with other boys."

She chuckled. "If I weren't marrying him… oh dear, I would do something first before all of that nonsense."

"Oh?" his eyes lit up with the expectation he would gain insight on the further workings of the female mind.

"Yes. I would marry you."

Chapter Thirty-Three: New Room

"Good morning, Jeremie," smiled the white-haired physician in his pristine white lab coat. He glanced at the clock as Jeremie fumbled around for his glasses. "Or should I say, good afternoon!" The doctor chuckled at his own joke.

Jeremie grumbled. The room was different: there was a different smell and look and feel and aura to it. Instead of smelling like ammonia and cotton, the room was fresh as a daisy. There were flowers in a single vase under the closed window; the cloudy day even cheered up the room a bit. The doctor sat on the foot of the bed and smiled gently at Jeremie.

"Doctor, what day is it today?" asked Jeremie in the politest way he could. He felt stronger for some reason.

The old man who had no creaks in his bones jumped and clapped. "It's my favorite day in the whole world- Friday!" And just as quickly as the quirky man stood up, he sat back down as if nothing had happened.

Jeremie sat up and his back cracked in seven different places. But it didn't hurt. It was as if the presence of the doctor alone was making all seem right with the world. "Well, I meant what day is today- er, the date, I mean."

"It's November 27th, but it's strangely warm outside for such late autumn," the doctor mused as he glanced out the window to the grey cityscape.

Jeremie had a wave of nausea that nearly knocked him backwards. He regained his balance; the doctor looked concerned. "Jeremie? Are you alright?"

The young patient shook his head. "I, uh, don't feel well at the moment. Maybe I'll be better soon." The doctor scribbled something in his stack of papers that he held tightly to his chest. "Nausea and whatnot."

The doctor nodded and wrote something down. Absently he added, "You know, you remind me of someone. You're… special. There's something different about you," he raised his jovial emerald eyes to meet Jeremie's icy blue ones. Jeremie's heartbeat skipped a pace.

Desperate to avert the topic from himself, Jeremie asked, "Doctor, if you don't mind, could you dial this phone number for me?"

Jeremie recited the number carefully, and held up his bandaged hands in a thankful gesture. The doctor placed the phone's receiver on the shoulder of Jeremie's sea-green hospital gown.

"Hey, Ulrich, it's Jeremie."

"Hey, buddy! What's up?"

"I just wanted to call up and wish you a happy birthday," Jeremie smiled at the doctor.

Ulrich was silent on the other line. "You- remembered."

Jeremie assumed at that point that the others in the group forgotten or that they were planning a surprise for him. The bed-ridden boy simply murmured, "Of course I did."

"Well, I have to go to class. I'm already late," and Ulrich hung up the phone. Jeremie heard the dial-tone and relaxed his shoulder. The receiver fell down into his lap so the doctor could return it to its proper place.

The doctor stood up. "Is there anything I can help you with, Jeremie?"

"Actually, yes. You never told me your name."

"Well, my name is on my tag. See? It says, 'Dr. Hopper.'"

Chapter Thirty-Four: The House of Anguish

"I expected, as a doctor, to be able to cure all things, and to make the sick well again. I was expected to shape the young into the old, and to carry the old on my back until their passing. I made expectations of myself to eliminate all suffering, eliminate all pain.

"I have failed myself. I have instead inflicted suffering and pain on myself and my family. If I could turn back time, I would have never gone to the train station… I would have never come back from the war.

"Only seven of the one-hundred-man division I was a part of came home alive, fewer still came home with all of their parts. As a medic, I saw little action and risked even less.

"I witnessed God's mercy, God's sorrow, and God's absence. Clarence, my best friend, miraculously survived a bomb on his trench. However, he was brought to me when shrapnel cut through his left leg. I had no alternative but to amputate.

"I ignored the screams- I had no choice. I would've cut off my own leg if it meant I would never see his face twisted so… oh, it is too awful for words. The whole thought is unbelievable.

"I thought the amputation was a success, but Clarence came down with a fever. His suffering chiseled my soul further and further every day. The clear sweat pouring down his forehead, the smell of infection, the crying of the night… it's still real in my mind.

"Clarence passed away silently, but I knew he didn't die quickly and painlessly. I let him down. I let God down- I should have gone in Clarence's place.

"But God let me survive; for what reason I am unsure of. These moments happened all so fast… the red-haired girl who wanted to marry me, my schooling that emptied my pockets faster than I could put money into them, and my life in general.

"My wife had an infant son not long after we were married. We tried so hard to give him a wonderful life, but we always fell short. I felt like I was depleting him of a childhood (that is something you can never get back).

"It was on a Saturday night when, in our bed not long after my son's birth, my wife and I lay talking about the recent news in the city. And then it happened: her eyes rolled to the back of her head, her body shook violently, and her mouth formed the letter "oh" sound as if she were in mid-thought. The shaking stopped.

"She screamed louder than my son usually did. I tried to calm her down, using all of my powers as a doctor. It didn't work. She shrieked, 'They're crawling, they're crawling over me! Make it stop!' Her last words. She tried to brush off the 'crawlers,' but she never finished.

"She died not in my arms. She died not as an old lady at peace with the world. She died not unlike Clarence, in pain and in suffering.

"The hardest thing I ever had to do was to give up my son. I let the orphanage take care of him; I was too poor and miserable to take care of me. His little face was in a restful slumber when I last kissed his forehead. I never saw him again.

"I prayed for solace, but whenever I received it, I washed it away. I didn't deserve solace when my son would never know his parents. I didn't deserve to be at peace when my wife could never be at peace. To this day, her ghost haunts me wherever I am, reminding me how worthless of a man I am."

Chapter Thirty-Five: Dead Girl

Odd groggily woke up as he sat leaning against the wall in his dorm room. His eyes eventually stopped being bleary to see Aelita in the same position she was in for the past twenty-something hours: stiff as a dead man, but breathing regularly on Ulrich's bed.

He desperately wanted to go back to sleep, but he just couldn't- not with Aelita just lying there like that. He glanced at the clock and scooted off his bed to stand and stretch. It's only 3:00, he mused to himself. I could've slept for another hour!

The door creaked open and Yumi, who was holding two cans of grape soda pop, tiptoed inside. She saw Odd and smirked, "I guess I can start my shift early, huh?"

"I guess so, but what am I going to do for another hour?"

She shrugged and put the cans on Ulrich and Odd's shared desk. "Sleep?"

"Ugh," he groaned. "Don't remind me." He sat back down and took off his purple t-shirt. "It's so ungodly warm in here," he muttered.

Yumi tugged at the collar of her grey and black long-sleeved shirt. "Yeah, it is. Did it just get that hot in here, or what?"

Odd thought about it and stared at the clock, then Aelita. "Who cares? All I care about is Aelita, but she's not waking up."

"XANA must've taken a lot of energy out of her when she was in that chess game. Maybe he took her memory too," Yumi sat on the bed next to Odd and ran her fingers through her silky black hair. Odd got up and sat next to Aelita's head.

"She's dead, isn't she? I mean, other than the breathing thing- she's dead. She's a dead girl," he whispered as tears formed at the edges of his eyes.

Yumi rolled up her sleeves to provide temporary relief. "She's not dead, not yet. But if she lasts much longer like this, she may not make it…" Yumi trailed off.

Odd brushed Aelita's soft pink hair with his fingers; a single tear fell on Aelita's forehead and ran off onto Ulrich's dark sheets. Shuddering, his bare back hunched over, making him seem smaller than he was. Yumi stood up and began to exit the door.

Absently, she mentioned, "I'm going to find the birthday boy. I'll be back at 4."

Chapter Thirty-Six: Happy Birthday

She didn't need to call his cell phone. She knew exactly where Ulrich was. She didn't run, either. She knew that he was going to be there for awhile. After all, it was his favorite place in the whole world: the forest.

Sure it wasn't home, but it was place that could give him peace of mind away from everything and everyone. And there he was, looking to the sky in one of the lower branches of a mighty sycamore whose red leaves had nearly fallen to the ground.

"Ulrich!" Yumi called out as she ran to him. He perked his head up at the mention of his name. When he saw who it was, he rested his head against the trunk's rough bark.

With her head start, Yumi found it incredibly easy to use her momentum to climb up the trunk to one branch under where he sat. A slight breeze swayed the unsteady branch. "Ulrich!" Yumi was becoming irritated with him very quickly.

"Ah, what do you want?" he asked sourly. "Are you here to remind me of how crappy my day is or how crappy my life is?"
"I came to remind you that there are people back at Kadic who need you right now."

He looked at her and swung his legs over to face his body towards hers. "Oh? Is it my turn to babysit the vegetable?"

"What's your problem?" Yumi was feeling desperate.

"My problem is that I'm sick of wondering when I'm going to end up dead or psycho because XANA's winning a war that's out of our control."

Yumi flared her black eyes at him and was ready to slap him. "I came to remind you that, even though it seems bad right now, things will get better. And that people love you."

His face softened. Yumi was falling head over heels for him, again. "I love you," she whispered under her breath, as she jumped from her branch and onto the hard ground.

She walked away slowly, the wind lapping at her shoulders. "Wait!" She turned around, and Ulrich was hopping from branch to branch until he too landed on the ground. He hop-skipped over to her.

Yumi didn't say anything; she stared at her tennis shoes and avoided looking at, and falling in love with, him. "Yumi, I-" she heard him say.

"What?" she couldn't help sounding bitter; he was her first love… but he moved on… She looked up, she dared to look up. She fell into that trap which so many girls did whenever they laid eyes on Ulrich.

He held her hands in his. "This whole visit… Thanks. You being my friend has been a wonderful birthday present. Now come on, we have to go back to Aelita and Odd."

He dropped her hands and marched on ahead of her.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Final Touch

Odd was alone with Aelita, his princess. The sun was setting through his window, casting strange yet beautiful colors over her peaceful face. Her body seemed tense, however; Odd lightly touched her arm in hopes of relaxing her.

She didn't budge. Odd sighed, wondering if this was the last time he could hold her and touch her. He shuddered to think of what could happen.

He lay next to her, her petite body fitting perfectly into his slightly bigger one. As he fell asleep- he didn't want to, though- he hummed a tune, creating the words as he went along.

We might be worlds away

We might be seas apart

But it comforts me inside

To know we can see the same stars

I wish we could be together

Far apart? No, never

My heart belongs to you somewhere

For now and now forever

We're separated by heaven

You're my angel near and far

But it comforts me inside

To know we can see the same stars

The last words trembled out of his lips. He slipped quietly into a deep slumber as he listened to the faint heartbeat of Aelita fade into silence.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Far, Far Away

The red cloud grew larger and larger as it loomed in the sector-5 sky. "I win! I win!"

The white cloud, who was considerably smaller but not weaker, grunted. "You win nothing."

"The princess is dead! The princess is dead!"

"She isn't dead… not yet. She can still make it," the white cloud was becoming uneasy.

The red cloud thundered, "You give up too easily, Franz. Is that because your army deserted you?"

The white cloud vanished angrily as the red cloud laughed alone in the abandoned sector.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Progress

Dr. Hopper and Jeremie got along famously. Jeremie loved having the doctor as a grandfather-figure, and the doctor lived for Jeremie.

Within a week of their first meeting in the ICU, Jeremie's hand bandages came off. The surgical scar was visible, but faint; his hands were weak, but mobile. It was progress, if anything.

Still, Jeremie was lonely. He hadn't heard from his friends in at least a week. Christmastime was quickly approaching, and more than anything he wanted to be with his friends- who were his only family.

Jeremie was contemplating this sad thought when the doctor came in. "Jeremie, you haven't been feeling well, I see on your charts."

"No," the patient said distractedly as he swung his legs over the bed to face the tiny window looking over the vast city.

"Has something been bothering you?"

Jeremie thought of LYOKO; he thought of XANA and Aelita and Franz Hopper. He thought of the factory and the lab. He thought of Yumi's motherly touch, of Odd's quirky sense of humor, of Ulrich's realistic outlook on life. He missed everything that was once a part of him.

But Jeremie couldn't let the doctor know that. "I… I've been thinking."

"Yes?" The doctor made himself comfortable on the foot of the bed.

Slowly, Jeremie began, "What happened to me?"

The doctor stared at the wall blankly; he sat in silence. Jeremie continued, "That night."

Dr. Hopper's voice was barely above a whisper, "Do you believe?"

"In what?" Both doctor and patient didn't look at each other.

"That there is another world, a world that is connected to our own. And everything we do affects this other world, and everything it does affects our world. That there is a parallel universe in-"

"-another dimension," Jeremie finished as he slowly turned his head to look at the amazed doctor. "I believe. I believe in all of that and more."

"You know about-?"

"LYOKO? And XANA? Yes… but how do you-?"

The doctor stood up abruptly and backed away from Jeremie as if Jeremie were about to curse the doctor. "We never had this conversation," he muttered hurriedly as he ran out the door into the hallway, leaving Jeremie lonelier than ever.

Chapter Forty: Dream of the Sea

The dark, calm ocean was always my favorite landscape. To view it just before I went to sleep always put me in a peaceful and serene state of mind.

The large yellow moon would cast strange shapes and reflections in a kaleidoscopic pattern. It was a light dance that tempted me to get out my flute and start playing along with the soundless ballet.

But when the stars were playing instead of the moon, the ocean seemed bigger and darker and all mine. It was my own little escape plan from my despairing life, even if imprisonment was inevitable.

Tonight was especially exquisite. I had a wonderful feeling that compelled me to go outside and play with the stars and fireflies on this warm night.

Before I knew it, I found myself crawling out of my bedroom window trying not to wake Francesca and Serena. I thought, as my second foot landed on the dew-ridden grass, that Sunshine (my infant sister) cooed an "I want to go with you," but I ignored her.

I didn't stop looking at the stars though. I kept on running and running towards the ocean, determined to catch my own wishing star.

My feet hit the warm water, and I stopped abruptly. I looked at the stars one last time (I thought I could see my brother's eyes in the constellations), with as much contempt as Satan when he was kicked out of heaven. I could never have a wishing star…

But I could have my wish come true.

Chapter Forty-One: Fatal Outcome

Jeremie awoke with a start. Time inside the hospital walls tended to stop and go as it pleased, with the intention of driving those inside it insane. He could only guess what day it was, and he could only fathom whether or not it was morning or afternoon.

Or maybe he didn't wake from his own accord. A soft female voice murmured his name. He looked over and sat up a bit at the same time. It was a pretty brunette nurse, young and thin.

The nurse came in, with the hardly-seen Olivia right in her tracks, but shut the door quietly.

"Where's Dr. Hopper?" Jeremie demanded nicely.

"He's… he's taken the day off. I'm Dr. Phillips; I'm on call for him today. Have you been feeling better lately?"

Olivia bit her lip nervously and eyed Jeremie. The nurse, ignoring the volunteer, asked again. "Have you? Be honest."

"No," Jeremie declared, his voice raising, but his soul depressing. "I've been unable to eat for awhile now. But my hands feel so much better out of those bandages."

Olivia looked away. Jeremie thought he could see tears in her eyes. "Why?"

Dr. Phillips drew a deep breath. "It seems that you are sicker than we thought, Jeremie. You have a fatal kidney disease."

Time stopped again. "I'm going to die?" he squeaked as he clutched his loose hospital gown.

"You have less than a year; but if you get a transplant- then you can live for a good while longer."

Death, at such a young age! The walls grew taller, surrounding him. Dr. Philips' face became fuzzy and pale. Olivia's eyes were large and crying for him, crying at him. His world became black.

He opened his eyes and everything was back to normal. "I- I can't be," he stuttered, "I'm alive! I'm alive!"

Dr. Philips muttered something about finding an organ donor and quickly left. Olivia, however, stayed; she held him and hugged him until he cried himself to sleep.

Chapter Forty-Two: Rise, O, Rise

The room was a sight to behold. It was dark save for a single dim lamp on the desk at the base of the room. Yumi was curled up on top of the desk next to the lamp. On his bed, a shirtless Odd was laying face down in his pillow. Ulrich was blocking the door by doing a combination of sitting and slumbering.

He heard a shuffling; his dark eyes flung open. If someone was outside and they demanded to come into Ulrich and Odd's room, all four would be suspended for having girls in a boys' dormitory.

But the shuffling wasn't coming from outside. He stood up slowly. Odd was still snoring and Yumi looked sore, but she wasn't trying to be comfortable. It had to be Aelita.

Sure enough, Ulrich approached the bed with caution and saw that Aelita was squirming in her sleep. "Shh!" commanded Ulrich as he tried to silence her little moans with his hand.

Aelita stopped squirming. Her chest heaved twice before resuming to normal breathing. Her eyes flashed open.

"You're alive!" Ulrich yelped softly in surprise. Aelita didn't say anything at first, as if she were trying to remember who he was.

"I'm- alive?" she asked cautiously, her voice not above a whisper.

"Yes! More than ever! You've been out of it for awhile now," he rambled on excitedly as he hugged her.

Aelita looked hurt and confused still. "I wasn't… there?"

"Where at?" Ulrich kneeled at the side of his bed so he could be closer to Aelita's soft voice.

"There… at the train station, in the bed with the screaming girl, with the baby, in the ocean?"

Ulrich was baffled. Her words sounded like code to him, but he was determined to figure it out. "What did you see?"

"Oh it would take hours to explain!" she exclaimed exasperatedly. "Are you sure you want to listen to it all?"

"Yeah. I want to know if you saw what I saw when I was in my 'coma'." He laid in bed next to her, face to face, so he could hear every word, every dream that came out of her mouth.

So sorry for the delay, but I was hospitalized for two weeks after I wrote this part of the story. I am also in a wheelchair, so it's very difficult for me to get downstairs to use my computer and write more Legacy. However, I will not abandon my biggest fans, and I shall write more and more every chance I get.