In Our Darkest Hour: Part 5: The Depths of Night
dedicated to Stephanie, Molly, Jessica, and especially my reviewers
Chapter Fifty: The Newcomer
Yumi didn't like Allie. She was not as bright and sunny as Odd, though they looked nearly identical. Allie was secretive, awkward, and somewhat dark. Yumi was convinced that Allie had a secret, a horrible secret, which made her this way.
And maybe it was the fact that Allie attached so easily to Ulrich instead of the others. What about Aelita, who was starting to come out of her shell? What about Jeremie, who needed a friend in his misery? What about Odd, her own twin brother? And what about me? Yumi wondered. What's wrong with me?
Allie sat two desks in front of Yumi in this period's art class. Yumi noticed that Allie was deeply engrossed her work, very serious and silent. But because she was so interested in Allie, her teacher noticed that she had not even picked up a pencil to start today's drawing.
Yumi could see- sort of- what Allie was doing. She was carefully but efficiently using oil pastels to portray what Yumi assumed was a king. The king was tall and handsome, young and blonde, fearless and merciful. He bore a gold-dented crown, not very ostentatious or full of gems, and a silver sword instead of a scepter. Yet Yumi knew he was a king by the blank stare in his sky blue eyes and the faint pride that swept over his lips.
Allie stopped in mid-stroke and turned around slowly. She locked stares with Yumi; Yumi, abashed, looked at the floor hurriedly. Allie raised a golden-brown eyebrow, shrugged, and went back to painting her king.
Odd woke up in the middle of Professor Roanoke's speech. She didn't seem to notice that he had been asleep at all. Next to him, Ulrich was slowly nodding off to dreamland as the teacher monotonously described trigonometric functions.
What was more surprising was Jeremie, who sat in front of him, snoozing happily, his face hidden underneath crossed arms. "Psst, Jeremie!" Odd hissed as quietly as he could. Jeremie would not budge.
Odd wrote something on a piece of paper, wadded it up, and tossed it on his friend's desk. Still, Jeremie would not awaken.
Desperate, Odd took his sharpest pencil and thrust the pencil as hard as he could into Jeremie's back. Jeremie shot upward, trying not to scream.
He turned around quickly with fire in his eyes. Odd pointed to the wad of paper on his desk. Angrily, Jeremie tore it open and his face softened as he read it.
Jeremie, what do you think of my sister?
Well, Odd, I think highly of her.
You don't think she's… strange? Dark? Ugly?
What makes you say that?
Nothing. I have a problem.
With Allie?
No.
Odd couldn't tell him the truth. Allie was different than he remembered. What she said… about LYOKO… about the stars… about how Armageddon was near. Instead he wrote
Do you think other people know about LYOKO?
Jeremie sat straighter in his chair. Odd could tell that this question was either logically hard to comprehend, or that Jeremie was stumped. After a few minutes he wrote
Honestly, I'm not sure. Sometimes I feel like I'm all alone with this huge dark secret… and I may never get rid of it. It's as if I'm chained to LYOKO, if not its destiny.
Odd crumpled the paper back up and stuffed it in his bag. Somewhere deep in his heart, he felt just like Jeremie did. He wondered if everyone else connected to LYOKO felt that. He avoided Jeremie's eyes, fearing that he may say something he was going to regret later.
The bell rung about seven minutes later and the three friends met in the hallway outside the classroom. Aelita joined them soon after. Her face fell when she saw Odd and Jeremie avoiding each other's gaze. Ulrich simply appeared tired.
"What's going on?" she demanded. "I swear, if you two are fighting again…"
Odd slowly met her intense stare. "We're not fighting," he muttered wearily. "Trigonometry sucks."
She rolled her eyes and pivoted out of the circle of friends, her dark pink hair bobbing as she walked away. Jeremie spoke up first. "Odd," he began slowly, "What do you mean, 'other people know'?"
Odd rubbed the back of his neck. "I… I… was just thinking that's all. Ulrich, with his dark brown eyes, ogled at him. "You? Thinking?"
Odd's heart wasn't into the game. He was ready to get the secret off of his chest, let everyone know Allie's secret. That way, he wouldn't be the only one to know.
"Never mind," he grumbled as he walked down the hall and out of the academic building.
Chapter Fifty-One: Magic and Gateways
EVE-10 glanced around the familiar landscape. The mountains reached high to the perfect, cloudless blue sky. The few trees swayed in the cool, calm breeze. The towers stood erect without being surrounded by the red clouds of XANA. Yet, there was something not quite right about it.
A sharp headache bolted through EVE's head. He clenched his sea-green hair and collapsed on the ground, writhing in pain.
Jeremie was half-awake in French class, but Allie woke him up. She gasped as if she had just had a horrible nightmare or vision. Her eyes grew wide and she clutched her desk with wide knuckles. Jeremie tried not to stare; Allie seemed to not notice him. With that same blank stare in her eyes, she got up quietly from her desk. The teacher didn't notice her until she walked out the door, zombified and still silent.
"Alana Della Robbia! Where do you think you're going?" he started to yell; but when Jeremie decided to follow her, he gave up and continued rambling in French.
Alana walked for another several meters and stopped. Her shoulders tensed, she slowly turned around and met Jeremie's eyes. Her eyes seemed scared, but they didn't have that faraway look in them. He was about to speak, but she quickly ran down the hall and out of the science building.
It was time to go investigate in LYOKO.
Aelita found herself back in LYOKO, back in the mountain sector, quicker than she had hoped. Ulrich stood next to her, anxiety sweeping over his dark features. EVE-10 was holding his head in hands as if he had a massive headache. Odd walked around a few paces in front of them.
"Do you guys see anything?" Odd asked Jeremie and Yumi through the sky.
A pause. "No, but I'm sure there's gotta be something around there," sighed Jeremie. "I'll check for an activated tower."
Odd walked back over to his green-haired friend. "You know, I think EVE is a girly name," he said conversationally. Ulrich narrowed his eyes; the boy had a headache and he didn't need Odd to make it worse.
Aelita chuckled. "XANA could be taking over the world, and all you can think about is his name?" she pointed at EVE-10, who smiled faintly.
Jeremie interrupted them. "Well, do you have a better solution?"
"I like Everett myself, personally," Odd suggested. "But of course-" Jeremie tried to keep the topic focused.
"I don't think that this problem has to do with that new program I'm working on…" Jeremie hummed above them as Ulrich began to pace.
Aelita cleared her throat as she went under the tree where Everett sat holding his head and groaning. "Jeremie, EVE… er, Everett… is getting worse. We have to help him!"
Yumi's voice beaconed like that of an intercom. "Ask him what's wrong. Make him tell us everything!"
Everett sat up straighter, his sea-green hair nearly covering his amber eyes. "I was patrolling the area and then I decided to try a spell from the book. And I saw a girl and I felt like I was being torn into bits…" he rambled.
"What spell? What book?" Aelita encouraged him.
"I tried to call back the dead," Everett murmured. The air fell silent. "It's a spell called 'Karris Ko-Marhee' which translates to 'Death No Longer.'" After a long pause, he continued. "It's from that book I got a while back."
"Who did you try to call up?" Yumi cringed, her thoughts flooding back to William, to Mariah, to Ulrich's mother…
Everett kept his voice low. "I tried to call back a guardian, you know, a protector of LYOKO. And it didn't work. I called upon a guardian, but she was still alive. She seemed unwilling, frightened, and yet…"
Yumi tried to make him keep going. "Jeremie's looking at the code right now, Everett. Now, why does your head hurt?"
"The guardian… it was like I had seen her before… she was a part of me, and the spell- I must've said a part wrong- forced her to become a part of my soul. And because we live in two different worlds…"
Aelita interrupted him. "I didn't feel any different."
Jeremie gasped. "Allie!"
Odd jumped at his sister's name. "She's the guardian?"
Jeremie quickly replied, "I meant to say 'Really?' And I found the error in the code… well, it's more like extraneous code…"
"So can we come back now?" stomped Ulrich. "I'd like to eat dinner soon- I'm starving!"
"Okay, guys… this is going to sound weird, but face the copse…"
"What's a copse?" all four friends in LYOKO replied at once.
"The trees. Face the trees. Now, walk straight into the thickest tree," commanded Jeremie.
Though Odd was walking he couldn't help but wonder, "Hey, Einstein, this better not be a cruel physics experiment…"
Ulrich walked a little faster than the rest of them, and right before he hit the tree, he hit the air. It was solid, like a wall made of stone or steel, and the impact of which he hit it made him stagger a few steps backwards. Ulrich stood in amazement at the wall as Odd, Aelita, and Everett all hit the wall right after one another.
"What is that thing?" asked a stunned Aelita as she rubbed her head from where she hit the wall.
"That's what I'm wondering. According to this computer code, this is a gateway. With the right key, I assume, the wall will open or something. I've never seen anything like it," he admitted.
Yumi continued, "Then it's settled. Everett's headache was a false alarm, and now we have to find this so-called key. I guess you guys can come back now." Jeremie typed in a few keys disappointedly as Yumi said quietly to him and him alone, "Why did you say Allie was the one Everett accidentally called upon?"
"Why? Are you jealous that he didn't call you?" he replied bitterly and hurriedly. "What's your problem anyway?" He cleared his voice, trying to make his tone less sour, "I've noticed that you don't get along with Allie."
She hissed, "Allie is not my friend because friends don't hide secrets."
"Oh? And how do you know the rest of us aren't keeping secrets from you?"
She opened her eyes wide and fell silent. "Well, I'm not keeping any secrets from any of my friends. And I don't try to take away other people's boyfriends."
"Tell me about it," he said distractedly as he thought about Odd and Aelita. But then he realized she was talking about Odd's sister. "Ulrich and Allie just click that's all. Besides, you and Ulrich were never going out."
"So? I like him and that's all that matters. It doesn't matter if likes me back because he will always be in my heart." Jeremie faced her and smiled genuinely. "And I'm not just saying that because of William."
She heard Ulrich clear his throat behind her. "Well, that's very nice of you," he smiled as she turned around. But he didn't say another word as he turned to leave the factory to go get dinner.
Chapter Fifty-Two: Grandfather
Aelita had to go alone to Dr. Hopper's office. She had to know for herself why everyone was acting so strange. It all started after that weird new girl came, she pondered. Allie, Odd's total opposite, had caused the disharmonies between her friends; and she was making Yumi angrier than usual.
Dr. Hopper met with her willingly as it was hardly ever that he saw his granddaughter, ever since he found out he had descendants. Still, Aelita wondered if she should burden her grandfather with such a headache as LYOKO. Then again, it was her own father that created it. It was her own father that robbed her of a childhood.
"I have a problem, and I come to you for answers," she told matter-of-factly. He nodded and clasped his hands together, eager to listen. She continued, "This is going to sound very strange, but I'm going to have to start at the beginning. In order to know the context of my problem, you have to listen from the very beginning."
He interrupted her, "Is this about LYOKO?"
She gasped. "How- how did you know?"
He turned his chair so that it faced the east wall, in which with a turn of the head he could see both Aelita and the view of downtown. "Your friend, Jeremie, asked me if I knew." He fell silent. "And I knew."
"Do you know about what happened… to me?" she shrunk in her chair.
"What happened?" he asked distractedly, looking out over downtown Sceaux.
She cleared her throat and told him of that day when the authorities tried to take her and her father away. How they ran away into the towers. How she never saw her father again, but she knew he was there. How she met Jeremie and the gang, and came to Earth again. How she felt…
"Like an alien. Like you didn't, and don't, belong," he finished her thought quietly.
She didn't respond; he knew that was the answer.
"Aelita, there is a philosophy which I believe in. It says that we are all connected to everyone else. We, yes, all of us, are connected to the rocks, the trees, the birds, the fish. We are connected to each other's destiny. I'm connected to you, you are connected to me, I am connected to Jeremie, and so forth… You also have to believe that we are connected to LYOKO."
"What? All of us? Surely myself, and Jeremie… but you? But Allie?"
His emerald eyes flashed brilliantly under furrowed eyebrows. "You have no idea how I am connected to LYOKO. If I told you, it would take hours, even days- and that's nonstop." He paused. "Who is this 'Allie'?"
"Her real name is Alana, and she's weird. She has a secret, and nobody likes her because she won't tell her secret. It's like she has no friends."
He cleared his throat. "You think that her secret is about LYOKO?"
"How many people know about LYOKO? I can count them on my fingers." She reached out her hands to prove a point. "And Allie isn't one of them."
Dr. Hopper closed his eyes. "Aelita, your problem isn't with Allie. It's with the fact that you do not think outside of the box. For someone with such a unique background as yours, I am disappointed you have such a one-track mind." He smiled gently. "But, if you are wondering if Allie is part of the destiny of your world, you should ask her. That's what I would do."
She stood up quickly, smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, grandfather. It was good to talk to you."
She was about to close the door when he shouted, "Aelita! Wait!" She stopped and turned around, thinking she forgot to take something. He ran up to her from behind his oak desk. "If for some reason I do not live past forever, there is an envelope in my desk. It's in the locked drawer," he handed her a small silver key. "Only you are allowed to read it."
Once more she nodded and whispered her good-byes as she left the hospital to go back to Kadic Academy before nightfall.
Chapter Fifty-Three: An Unexpected Asset
Odd could hardly fall asleep. Usually, he was out like a light as soon as he hit the mattress; tonight, there was something that was bothering him. Every time he closed his eyes, his sister would appear. Her blonde hair flowing behind her, like Therese's… God, how he missed her.
But there was no time to mourn over Therese, not while XANA was fiercer than ever. Would XANA ever quit? Was he doomed to fight XANA forever? The thought depressed him, so he tried to go to sleep and forget about it.
And then his cell phone rang, taking him from his restless night. "Hello?"
"Odd, I'm sorry to wake you…" Jeremie said quickly.
"Actually, I wanted to thank you for doing so," Odd replied honestly. I can't tell him that I was dreaming about my sister. "It's been a long night."
Jeremie laughed. "Well, it's about to get longer. Get down to the factory, we have a situation."
"You want me to wake up Ulrich?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at Ulrich's wide-open mouth.
"Sure, the more the merrier. Just hurry up, will ya?"
Ulrich couldn't believe that XANA would activate a tower at 1:00 in the morning, but, as Odd bluntly put it, "It's XANA; he can do anything he wants to."
Jeremie had circles under his eyes when he greeted them at the elevator. His eyes had a notion of urgency in them; it was a sign that he should not be asked questions, nor should anyone question his authority. Odd and Ulrich didn't say another word until they were both in LYOKO.
"Ooh, the desert! I haven't been here in awhile!" exclaimed Odd in an attempt to make Ulrich laugh. Ulrich smiled. But after a moment there was no word from Jeremie.
"Um, Jeremie?"
"What?" he hissed.
"What are we doing here?" asked Ulrich.
Silence. Odd shrugged and began to walk away from Ulrich. "Where do you think you're going?"
Odd kept walking and shouted back loud enough for all to hear, "If Jeremie won't tell me why he dragged me out of bed at 1 AM, then I'm gonna find out myself!"
Aelita and Yumi were in the mountain sector, waiting for Everett. "Yumi," Aelita whispered to her friend. "Do you know why we're here? Isn't it strange that Jeremie would drag us out of bed to just stand here?"
"You're right, that doesn't seem like Jeremie at all. But, when Everett gets here, it will be all okay."
"But what if Everett never comes?"
Yumi frowned. "Where else would he be?"
In Carthage, sector-5, Everett was in the middle of something. He knew that Jeremie was trying to call him back into the forest sector, but he just couldn't go now. The spell was almost complete. Almost.
Jeremie was making him lose his concentration… Do'maris, Supka, O'metta, Alanian, Karis, don Sepa… Do'maris, Supka, O'metta, Alanian, Karis, don Sepa… not now, Jeremie… Do'maris…
A white cloud appeared over him, similar to the one he saw in the vision he had. The spell had worked! The spell had worked!
With a flash of lightning, the cloud opened like a curtain, like a veil. And from it emerged a beautiful girl in a long blue hooded cloak. She had blonde hair, like the girl in the bubble, but she carried a spear as a seasoned warrior would.
"You're the one from my vision!" And then he had to know, "Are you the one from the dead, are you the one that has come to save LYOKO forever?"
As she was about to speak, the world shook as violently as a thousand earthquakes. A red cloud, larger than the white one, swept in like a vicious storm over tormented waters. The girl didn't scream, but she looked terrified. "Save yourself!" she whispered to him.
As he ran out of the sector's inner core, he noticed that the girl was just standing there, watching the blocks around her shatter and crumble to the floor. Her world shatters, yet she is brave. He was amazed, but kept on running until he reached a portal, a tunnel that lead to another tower in another sector.
He looked back once more; the girl in the blue cloak was gone. He jumped in so he could finally find Jeremie.
When he emerged, he found himself choking on orange dust. Odd and Ulrich ran past him unknowingly. He dragged himself from behind the rock and called out to the runners.
They stopped, turned, and saw Everett on his hands and knees, coughing dust and spitting every few moments. "Well, well," smiled Odd, "you seem to get into as much trouble as Aelita. I should start calling you 'Princess.'" Everett smiled and closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, he was in the mountain sector. He was also on his back, looking up at a sky of Yuri, Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita's heads. They too were joking about how much trouble he got into, but it was unanimously decided that sometimes Everett did it to himself.
As Everett was helped to his feet, he had to ask, "Why did Jeremie call you to LYOKO- again?"
"Good question, Everett!" yelled Odd, so Jeremie would get the hint. "I wonder why myself!"
The sky growled. "I'm telling you, there's something strange happening. Or maybe it's going to happen. Or maybe it's…"
"Or maybe you're crazy," Odd shouted back. "Something strange always happens- here, Earth, to us… you aren't used to it by now?"
"Shut up, Odd…" warned Ulrich as he jabbed his friend in the side.
But Odd refused to be silent. "Why can't you just- monster!"
Aelita speculated, "Wait a minute, that's not even a verb…"
"No! Monster!" he pointed as he shot at an ominous-looking tarantula that came from what appeared to be nowhere. Yumi flung her fans, and Everett tried to make a comet.
"Jeremie! What's with all the monsters? There's not a tower for miles!" yelled Ulrich.
"What are you talking about? There's a tower right by that tree!" The tarantula exploded, and all the friends looked to the largest tree, which also happened to be the nearest one.
"Um, no?" Yumi responded dumbfounded. All she saw was a tree, not a tower or anything similar.
"So is anyone going to go into it?" Jeremie hinted. "Aelita? Everett?"
Odd smiled. "Isn't that the wall? That's the wall, isn't it?"
Ulrich teased him, "Yes, that is the wall. The wall is that." Odd playfully punched him in the arm.
"Come on guys, let's go. Someone deactivate the tower, and let's get out of here," Yumi warned them. "I have a bad feeling that if we stay too long, something bad will happen to us."
"Oh, you and everybody else," quipped Odd. "Alright, someone go deactivate the tower… but XANA made it tricky so now you have to look for it. And if you don't find it, you die!" Ulrich laughed at Odd's joke, completing it with a "duh-duh-DUH."
Aelita gasped. "The key! We need the key to get to the tower!"
Everett smiled. "I think that's the smartest thing anyone's ever said all day."
Aelita nodded happily, but Jeremie wasn't at all on the same wavelength. "But until someone finds the key, we can't open the gateway-slash-wall-thing. And if we can't open it, then we can't deactivate the tower. Which means that XANA is planning something big… really big…"
"Really, really, really big?" joked Ulrich.
"That's a supersized, extra-large, humongous, gigantic problem, then, huh?" chuckled Odd, who got a high-five from Ulrich.
"Come on, this is serious. Who knows what XANA is up to? It could be the end of all humanity as we know it!" Aelita pleaded.
Odd rolled his eyes, "Not you too…"
"Holy cow! There's a manta over there! They don't live here…" pointed Everett excitedly.
The rest of the gang watched in amazement as a lone manta soared the sky just over a low mountain not too far off in the distance. "Should we catch it?" asked Yumi.
"No, because someone else is doing that…" Ulrich squinted his eyes and saw a lean figure in a blue gown of some kind. "…am I going crazy? First, I can't see this tower, and now I'm seeing OTHER people fighting monsters that don't belong in this sector?"
"I see her, too," Odd said slowly. Aelita murmured a "same."
The figure threw a long stick-like object at the manta. The manta dived down past the gang's vision, and the figure chased after it. "That's her… that's the girl I called up!"
"Wait- but I thought you said it didn't work because you accidentally called up an alive person?" Yumi questioned Everett.
"No, I mean… well, I called up someone from my vision and it worked! But I thought she died in the earthquake."
Odd shook his head. "I don't think I'll ever be able to understand him- ever."
Aelita tapped her cheek thoughtfully. "So we can ask her to help us fight off XANA?"
Yumi smiled, "That's great! And I bet there's more people like her. I can't wait to meet her."
Jeremie devirtualized them before they could have a chance to even think otherwise.
Chapter Fifty-Four: Angel Eyes
At breakfast the next morning, the gang was sleepy. Aelita rubbed her eyes between each bite of corn flakes. Yumi yawned before every slow sip of chocolate milk. Ulrich didn't loosen his death grip on his Styrofoam cup of coffee. Odd fell face-first into his bowl of froot loops.
Jeremie didn't admit that he was tired, though he looked plumb exhausted. "Good morning," he said stiffly. Something troubled him, Yumi noticed, but she dared not to ask. Instead, she grabbed Odd by the hair and repositioned his face to the table rather than his bowl of cereal.
Allie came soon after, arching her eyebrow at her strange brother. "I'm not going to ask."
"You shouldn't," Yumi growled under her breath. Ulrich looked up and nodded politely at Allie. Allie smiled at him as she sat down.
"So, you guys look like you went to watch the stars. I'm glad it was cloudy out last night."
Yumi eyed her evilly. "How would you know how it was last night?"
Allie's face didn't change expressions as she responded coolly, "Because I have a window in my dormitory. And I looked out of it. There were clouds." Yumi muttered something into her chocolate milk.
Jeremie looked at Allie, who quickly met his gaze. "Good morning, Jeremie," she said quietly. He smiled and continued to pick at his orange. "I, uh, heard about your problem."
He looked up slowly. "What problem?"
"About your… disease. My roommate told me."
"Who's your roommate?" asked Aelita conversationally.
"Sissi, who seems rather nice. Except for when I moved into her room. She doesn't seem to like it when I invade on her personal space."
Yumi coughed. "Not many people do like it when you invade their personal space."
Allie glared at her, ignoring that snide comment. "And we discussed many things."
"Let me guess: makeup, chemistry, and Ulrich?"
"Let me tell you, Aelita and Jeremie: Sissi isn't that bad, once you get to know her. I don't know why people don't like her. You shouldn't judge someone before you get to know them."
"Sissi is a terrible, rotten, Ulrich-stealing bitch."
"Of course, someone would say that Sissi is a terrible, rotten, Ulrich-stealing bitch. But they too are terrible, rotten, and bitchy."
"And don't forget self-righteous and conceited."
"Or maybe people who don't like her are jealous that Sissi is a pretty, smart, and witty girl who is also popular."
"Why would anyone like a girl that steals Ulrich?"
"Now, Jeremie, some people would say that no one likes a girl who steals boys. I know that Sissi is fond of Ulrich, and many others are too. But you have to remember, no one likes a girl that's too big of a sissy to say what she really feels to his face."
"I am not a sissy!" Yumi jumped up from the table. The cafeteria grew silent as Yumi, bleary-eyed and shaking, stood up next to Ulrich. "I am not too much of a sissy to say that I love him. It's him who's the sissy because he won't say that he feels the same way. And I know he does. So just- hands off!"
Allie stood up, too, facing Yumi with just as much aggression. "Would you fight for his love? Or would you just wait for him to pick me over you?"
"I knew it! I knew it!" Yumi shrieked. "That was your big secret, you little dumb bitch!"
Allie stormed towards the door. "Let's take this outside, prove to your love that you are weak. Let him know that I, Alana Della Robbia, will not take no for an answer!" Yumi followed, with the rest of the cafeteria behind her.
Odd blinked milk from his eyes. "Wait a minute, did my sister just insult Yumi in front of a large crowd?"
"I can't believe it!" Jeremie laughed as he got up to join the crowd. "Two chicks are fighting over you!"
Ulrich got up to follow him, finishing off the last of his coffee. "I know, right? Every guy's dream."
When Ulrich got outside, he managed to push his way to the front. Aelita reminded him that it would be best for all if the fight was stopped before it started. And who better than the trophy, right?
But the fight was in full swing, Yumi pulling at Allie's long hair. Allie swinging punch after punch at Yumi's ivory face. Yumi kicking Allie in the stomach. Allie spitting blood onto Yumi's shoes.
Sissi was across the circle from Ulrich. A chubby girl whispered into her ear and pointed at him. Sissi frowned at him dejectedly. He looked away, but as soon as he looked up, Sissi was right next to him.
"Let me guess, you're enjoying this?" she pointed at the fight. "Because I sure am not."
He shrugged. "Well, I don't feel like getting hurt today. I mean, I tried to stop it… or at least I wanted to."
Sissi harrumphed, and Ulrich continued. "Besides, they called me a sissy! Why should I help someone who insults me in front of everybody?"
At that moment, Allie stumbled backwards. People started to cheer Yumi's name, and Allie looked beat. Sissi narrowed her eyes and stomped into the middle of the circle.
Ulrich watched in amazement as Sissi cussed out Yumi, helped Allie get up, and punch Yumi in the stomach all within moments of each other. Yumi doubled over and landed hard on the ground- knees first. Sissi walked away with Allie in one arm and Herve on her other side. The crowd dispersed, no longer chanting the victor's name.
As she walked by Ulrich, he could her say, "You know, Herve, I really despise it when they use my name as an insult. An insult! Can you believe it?"
Ulrich walked over to Yumi's house after first period. He had to know how she was feeling. After the fight, he reminded himself, not about him.
He rang the doorbell, and a grim-faced Ms. Ishiyama opened the door. She led him to the living room and immediately left.
Yumi lay sprawled on the couch in not much more than a silk patterned bathrobe. She held her stomach with one hand and an ice pack on her forehead with the other. He approached her closer and she opened her eyes gently.
"Hey," he said softly, sitting on a small portion of the couch. "You don't look too bad after that."
She smiled and sat up slowly, and he noticed that both eyes were black and blue around the edges. "Thanks, I guess."
He rubbed his neck nervously. I hope she won't get the wrong impression. "You fight well."
"Even for a girl?" she asked snidely. "And I must say, Ulrich, you are a very good spectator- but you make for a lousy prince charming. I was hoping you would stop the fight."
"Me? But I thought… wait, you didn't want to fight her?"
She shook her head and put the icepack on her forehead once more. "I can't resist a challenge, you know that."
He grinned, glad to have the old Yumi back. "Well, I'm sure it's going to be pretty awkward when you come back to school."
She cast her eyes on the rug next to the couch. Ulrich thought she was about to say something, but nothing came out. A few minutes passed silently.
"So who do you like?"
"Hm?"
"Me? Or her?" she had loathing in her voice.
He responded by running out of her house, not shutting the door… not looking back… not facing his fear.
Chapter Fifty-Five: The Key
The next week, both Allie and Yumi were back in school. Yumi's black eyes had healed nicely, but Allie, who came back from her Aunt Clara's house in Paris, still had a prominent scar near her temple. Neither one mentioned each other's existence, and whenever possible, they avoided each other like the plague. And most of all, they didn't speak to Ulrich and they didn't speak about him.
Aelita and Odd met in Jeremie's room after classes that day. It was raining out, so Ulrich would be training at the gym. Yumi would most likely be at home, and Allie would be as far away as possible.
"Do you think that this is the end of our group as we know it, Jeremie?" asked Aelita. She tugged a strand of pink hair behind her petite ear while adjusting her position, sitting cross-legged on Jeremie's bed.
Jeremie, who sat comfortably in the chair, didn't respond. Odd shrugged from his lounging spot, leaning against the frame of Jeremie's bed.
Aelita sighed and looked out at the rain-driven sky. "If we can't work together, we can't get rid of XANA."
"I know," Odd agreed glumly. "I miss how close we were, back in the good old days."
Jeremie yawned as rain softly hit his window. "You know that gateway in the mountain sector? How it needs a key? Well, all we need to do is find the key to…" he trailed off.
"To bring us back together?" asked Odd eagerly. "To stop XANA?"
"Both. I have a gut feeling that the key is closer than we think," replied Jeremie thoughtfully. He twisted his chair around in a full circle before continuing. "But we don't have much time."
Aelita nodded. "My grandfather is rather old. We'll have to find the key before he passes on."
Odd added, "And we're all going to be graduating within a couple of years. So we'll need to get the key before then- obviously."
Aelita kept going, "We'll need to get the key before XANA kills us all."
"Armageddon," whispered Odd.
Jeremie sat on the edge of his chair, intently looking at Odd's suddenly pale face. "It's all making sense to me," he continued.
"What?" Jeremie mustered after a few baffled seconds.
Odd didn't look at him. "My sister, yeah, she told me that Armageddon was coming. She told me that something terrible was about to happen. She told me that she knows."
"About LYOKO?" cringed Aelita. So many people knew, she thought. Why do so many people know? No one should know… no one should have to suffer like we do.
Odd nodded and a single tear ran down his cheek. "I'm going to lose her, aren't I?"
Aelita reached down from the bed and hugged him lightly. "Don't say that, please. We won't lose anyone."
Jeremie looked away from Aelita's embrace. "I wouldn't be so sure." The other two listened with heavy hearts as they learned about the status of their dear friend.
When he was finished, they sat rigid and sadly for another twenty minutes, not saying a word.
Chapter Fifty-Six: Blood Brother
"Okay, extend your arm," the blonde nurse replied softly. "Clench your fist really, really hard… that's good!" She ran her finger with a pink-painted nail over Yumi's arm.
"Is this going to hurt?" winced Yumi as she eyed the needle on the counter next to her. She was sitting in what appeared to be a school desk in a stark-white room somewhere in the hospital.
The nurse tied a tight rubber strip around Yumi's upper arm. "Keep squeezing, okay? And no, it doesn't hurt that bad. We're just seeing what your blood type is. It will all be over soon."
"What do you mean, 'that bad'? Does it hurt? Tell me!" Yumi demanded. She was fearless in mostly anything, but she had no idea what a blood test involved.
The nurse didn't answer and rubbed alcohol on Yumi's forearm. It felt cool to the touch. Yumi closed her eyes to calm herself down. Relax, and it won't hurt a bit, she told herself.
Something pinched her, at least she thought it did, but it didn't faze her. "Are you going to stick me or what?" Yumi asked angrily through closed eyes.
The nurse laughed, and Yumi opened her eyes to see the needle and tube which was filling with crimson blood. "Oh," Yumi muttered sheepishly.
Five minutes and a bandage later, Yumi jumped out of the seat to join her friends in the waiting room. She was the final one to be tested.
"Man, that was nerve-racking," she slammed herself down onto a lounge chair next to Odd.
"Yeah, but I fainted, so I'm not really sure if it hurt or not," Odd added, clearly embarrassed.
The gang of friends was quite the bunch, comparing the colors of their bandages while making fun of the strange assortment of magazines on the end table next to Allie. Jeremie and Ulrich were watching a trivia show; Jeremie answered the intelligent questions first while Ulrich responded eagerly to the pop culture questions.
Time flew by, and finally Dr. Hopper motioned for the teenagers to follow him. The chatterboxes lined up single-file and passed by the confused older patients who were waiting for the results of their blood work.
All six teenagers piled into the small office and Dr. Hopper shut the white door softly behind them. Distractedly, he opened the manila folder and dumped out a small stack of yellow papers on his desk. He sat down behind it and rubbed his gray temples as if he were experiencing some sort of headache.
The teenagers grew silent and waited for Dr. Hopper to talk. "As you probably are aware," he began in his strangely powerful voice, "you six were asked to have a blood test. This determines what type of blood you can receive as well as give.
"Also, your friend and my patient, Jeremie," he nodded at the glum, blonde, and pale boy who stood on the far left, "was diagnosed with a fatal kidney disease. He has to get a new kidney soon, or he will die.
"Why you? You are the ones he chose that would be willing to donate a kidney to him. He said that any of you would do anything for him. And he hopes you will.
"I know nothing of these results, but if one of you is indeed compatible, the risks of infection and disease are high in young people as yourself. I will not be doing the transplant; I will send you to a specialist. And the charge will be completely out of my own pocket."
The teens looked nervously at each other. Odd was taking deep breaths, Allie was trying to comfort her brother, and Aelita was digging her toe into the ground. Yumi noticed that Ulrich and Jeremie were the only ones who were stone faced.
"Let's see the results, shall we? Jeremie, your blood type is AB, which is pretty rare. We have to see which one of you is also AB, alright?
"Yumi Ishiyama…" Yumi inhaled louder than she anticipated, yet all eyes were focused on her. What would she do if she was the only one? "… incompatible."
She breathed a sigh of relief, but Jeremie eyed her evilly. "Ulrich Stern…" Dr. Hopper continued as Ulrich stood rigid and stone-faced behind Jeremie's shoulder. "… incompatible."
"Aelita Hopper… incompatible." Aelita looked as if she were about to cry. Yumi wondered why, but she was too focused on Dr. Hopper's voice.
"Odd Della Robbia… incompatible." Odd looked nervous; heck, we all are nervous, thought Yumi. No one was compatible with Jeremie, and we would lose Jeremie forever.
Dr. Hopper cleared his throat. "And Alana Della Robbia… compatible." Allie hugged Jeremie tightly as the rest of the teenagers silently cheered from where they stood.
And suddenly, Yumi didn't hate Allie anymore.
Sorry about the wait, guys... the next one will be up quicker. Thanks for your patience! Happy Reading!