He Who Calls
Chapter 10
"Adopted?" asked Aelita. "I knew about you, but not about William."
"Well," said Milo. "It started when William and I were still living on the streets in Portugal at ages 10 and 11. We'd been adopted before and had been educated, but the foster families were never good so we ran away."
"William was Portuguese?" asked Yumi.
"No, he's American. His family moved to Portugal and he ran away there. But that's not the point. When we were ten, William liked this girl named Bella. But she was already with another kid named Eric. William was going to try to break them up for good, but I tipped off Bella. So he tried a few pranks to make them mad at each other, but I told them what was a trick and they stayed together. William got angrier and angrier. Until he killed Eric." Milo's words were hypnotic. No one looked away. No one made a sound. They were alone in the library. "We found Eric's corpse on the roof of a building, with a slash across his face. William was the only one who knew how to handle a blade. He didn't even deny it. He just took Bella as his girl. Against her will. So I learned how to fight and I found William's blade stash. I was good enough to get him away from Bella. She hated him, and she had really loved Eric. And then I swore to her I would never let William kill anyone ever again. A promise I've managed to keep. When the Dunbars adopted William and moved to France I thought I'd seen the last of him. Then I got exchanged to a French school so I can get used to it. My family moves here next year, they just wanted to send me first to check it out. That, and I wanted a first rate education and they knew it."
"So the Salian family adopted you?"
"No," said Milo. "Salian is my name. I remembered it from when I had a family. The Blacks adopted me. So technically I'm Milo Salian-Black, but on my birth certificate it says Milo Salian."
"So my murder wasn't the only crime you stopped," said Aelita. "You stopped Bella's abduction. Where is she now?"
"Adopted," said Milo. "Hopefully living quite happily."
"Why did you want to save her so bad?" asked Jeremy. "You were putting yourself in front of William when you knew he was capable of murder."
"Eric was my best friend, she was his girl, and I didn't like William," said Milo. "He offered me the opportunity to join him. He offered it again the day I stopped him from pushing Aelita over the edge of Lyoko."
"So I was dating a murderer?" asked Yumi, revolted. "I let him anywhere near me with his bloody hands?"
"You didn't know," said Aelita. "None of us did. We'll pass the story on to Odd and Ulrich. You don't have to tell it again if you don't want."
"Thanks," he said, and smiled. "You are the best, know that?" She blushed.
A little while later, Ulrich and Odd had been told William and Milo's story. Ulrich was going to Yumi's room to see if she would go to the dance with him tomorrow. She didn't answer the door, but he could hear sobbing and the door was unlocked, so he went in.
"What's wrong?" he asked as he sat next to her on her bed. She was crying quite hard.
"I was dating a killer, Ulrich," said Yumi.
"Do you want to date a friend?" he asked, looking her in the eyes. She almost smiled.
"That would be nice." They kissed, and then quickly broke apart, blushing. "See you at the dance," she said. He walked out.