Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah

Fox Kitsune: No one guessed right…hehe, but that's okay, I hope you had fun guessing! Anyway, thanks for all the reviews last chapter. If anyone was wondering, I started writing where it said "Ulrich examined the wall sporting the window"…yeah, I didn't write much but whatever. SO, hope everyone enjoys!

aZn DrEaMeR xD: …Just read. Too tired to write anything else.

Whoever Said School Couldn't Kill?

Chapter 4: Reunited, and It Feels So Bad

Owls hooted in the distance, a warm, inviting sound, since the sound of the storm had now diminished. The sky still held a few clouds, while the moon shone brilliant and full, the wind only slightly howling now.

Couples strolled down park lanes, holding hands and staring at the sky, wrapped in jackets, smiling happily. No one knew of the students trapped in Kadic Jr. High, fighting to stay alive…

X

Yumi was still wrapped in Ulrich's arms, burying her head deep into his shoulder, while Odd had his hand protectively on her shoulder. Yumi never was scared, or, never showed it at least, so this sudden display of fear threw everyone off, even if they were dealing with a murderer.

By this time, people were yawning and trying to keep themselves awake, either by poking and pinching themselves, or each other. Sure, they were fighting for their lives, but everyone has to sleep.

Emily stepped up and told everyone they needed to wake up and stick together, that was the only way they'd ever survive. Everyone tried their best to stay awake, but fatigue was setting in.

Everyone grouped off for a few minutes and tried to stay awake, and the Lyoko gang was left alone to talk about a few things.

"Who could it be? It can't be Xana…" Yumi asked, finally cheering up a little more and prying herself away from Ulrich (though she didn't want to).

Odd shrugged. "I can't believe this is happening…it's like a horror movie brought to life…"

"We need to figure out who it is…it has to be someone who goes to this school, because the murderer knows everyone's name…" Ulrich said, staring at the floor.

"True…I bet it's Sissy!" Yumi said, her eyes glazing over with anger.

"You know Sissy could never kill anyone…she'd be complaining of getting blood on her new outfit," Ulrich pointed out.

"That's true. But I still ponder about who it is," Yumi said.

The person who was behind all this was the person Yumi had never thought twice about.

---

"We're locked inside," Sarah said. "I'll go look for the key so we can get out of here, and hopefully save your friends or something. While I'm doing that, go make yourself comfy,"

"Thank you!" Aelita smiled at her as she walked off, shivers running up and down her spine.

"Make ourselves COMFY? HERE!" Jeremie whispered furiously.

"Jeremie!" Aelita swatted his arm. "That's not nice. It was probably only for Halloween. I'll go ask her later."

"Haha," Jeremie rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, Aelita."

"I'm sure that's the case!" Aelita growled.

They heard panting behind them, and a cold hand rest on both of their shoulders.

X

Yumi's head lolled back and forth, and she fought to keep it upright. It had been a very scary-and long-day for them, and despite the murderer and their friends dying, fatigue was setting in.

"Gosh! No matter what we do, it's hopeless!" she sighed, slapping her cheeks, trying to stay awake.

"Maybe we should feed whoever it is some food from the cafeteria…that should put them out!" Ulrich said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood, with no effect on the troubled girl.

Odd looked at his best friend. "Hey! I like the food!"

Ulrich sighed and opened his mouth to say something, but didn't have the chance as a breath-taking shrill filled the air.

"Did you hear that?" Yumi practically yelled, her head turning so fast it was a surprise she didn't get whiplash.

The other students all got up and ran towards the noise, which happened to come from the kitchen.

The Lyoko gang, or the three that composed it at the moment, were the first to the scene. Yumi turned away, tears of sadness and disgust filling her eyes. Ulrich gripped on to her and Odd's eyes grew big.

Splattered everywhere was the crimson liquid that had once made up Herb. Knives were in abundance, stuck to the floor, broken strings attached.

"What happened?" Sissy shrieked, not worried about her dead "follower" at the moment, but more importantly her life.

Odd, the master of horror movies, spoke up. "It's a classic. Sharp knives are tied to the ceiling and when someone walks into the room, the trap is triggered, and the knives go hurling down upon the helpless victim…"

Everyone looked sad, but only few cried. The murderer had struck again!

X

Aelita shrieked, and Jeremie hollered in surprise.

They both turned around, to see Sarah, breathing heavily.

"I'm sorry!" she apologized. "I just wanted to tell you I found the key,"

"Great! Let's get out of here!" Jeremie said happily.

"It's dangerous out there!" Sarah warned. "Be careful. I'll come with you."

"No, it's o-"

"Thank you!" Aelita interrupted him, jabbing the boy's ribs unnoticeably.

Sarah looked uncertain, glancing between them. "Um- I'll get my coat!"

She ran to the closet a few yards away, flung it open, and took out a worn-out coat, and jogged back to the back door. After a few turns with the key, she opened the door.

"Come on. I'm not sure how we're supposed to go inside though," Sarah admitted as they walked out the back door of the room they were in, ending up in a series of hallways.

"That's okay…we'll figure out something," Jeremie said hopefully.

Aelita nodded with a small smile, indicating that everything would be okay.

She was still scared, and she knew why. Sure in Lyoko she had to battle Xana and his monsters, but this was more real than anything she had ever faced in her life.

Jeremie saw her grief-stricken and scared face and grabbed her head, lacing their fingers together.

She smiled inwardly, but it soon faded, and they followed Sarah from the room…

"Please do not worry…I'm sure everything will be okay…"

Jeremie stopped walking. "Why is it that you seem to know everything that is happening?"

Aelita wanted to show him he was being rude, but she was curious as well.

X

Among the blood and remains of Herb was a bloody note, folded into a small square. No one wanted to go grab it, so Odd stepped over the puddles of blood and…other things, and picked it up.

He cleared his throat and returned to his friends. "Ready?" he asked meekly. No one in the crowd opposed but no one seemed happy to hear it.

He stuttered over the words.

"Well, see what happens when you venture out on your own?

The same will happen if you choose to fall asleep-you might not wake up!

You say, "Why?" and all I do is laugh. It's a fun little game we're playing!

Another one down, and soon, everyone will end up this way.

I'd stay on your toes if I were you…

But it's always fun to play a game of chase!"

Odd dropped the note, and it splattered into a pool of blood. He was shaking all over, and it wouldn't stop.

"What are we gonna do?" he finally muttered.

Their burning desire to live had died out, just like a candle's flame…

X

Aelita, Jeremie, and Sarah were busy trying to find a way in the school, when Sarah finally thought of something.

"Guys," she said, pointing up. "Air shafts?"

Jeremie looked up as well, adjusting his glasses and he weakly nodded. "It might work…"

Aelita nodded, it was a chance, even if slim. "How do we get up there?"

They began to pile objects around, first an old chair with a broken back, then an old, dusty dictionary, then a few other books and various objects.

"I'll climb up…" Jeremie volunteered. Aelita grabbed his head and steadied him as he climbed on the high chair and reached the ceiling. He pushed up with all his strength and the air shaft moved.

"Ok…I guess we'll just…crawl around until we find out which shaft leads to inside the school?"

Aelita nodded, a thought entering her mind. "You know...don't you think they would've thought of this?"

Her question appeared rhetorical, for no one answered it and Jeremie pulled himself inside of the ceiling tunnel.

"Come on. It's fine…just a bit dusty," he said, then sneezing so hard his glasses flew off his nose, only being held on by his ears.

Aelita nodded, and carefully climbed up the chair as well, grabbing Jeremie's hand as he pulled her in. Then Sarah followed and joined the other two teens in the shaft.

"Ok…which way should we go?" she asked, peering both ways carefully, squinting her eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Jeremie looked as well, then thought of the school's layout and chose to go right. He led the way, followed by a shaking Aelita and Sarah was bringing up the rear.

They crawled through the small tunnels, guessing ways to go, sometimes getting turned around or hitting dead ends. It was about twenty minutes later when Sarah finally spoke up.

"Wait Jeremie," she whispered venomously, and he stopped. "Do you hear that?"

Aelita was jumpy, and she and Jeremie strained their ears to hear. But they didn't hear anything. Jeremie shrugged and kept crawling.

Twenty minutes later they were still crawling through the ducts, trying to find their way around. It was then that Aelita looked behind her and noticed something-well, someone missing.

"Jeremie?" she asked, hoping to get the genius' attention. He stopped and turned back to look at her.

"Yes?"

"Where's Sarah?"

Jeremie's head jerked back, and he noticed the girl missing. He looked around, but didn't get to answer, because they heard the sound of someone crawling after them quickly.

Aelita screamed and strained her eyes to see who it was. The person was wearing all black, but besides that it was hard to see anything.

"Run Jeremie!"

It was obvious that this person had every intention of killing them. Their gleaming knife said it all.

Jeremie pushed Aelita in front of him, separating his secret love from the murderer that they had heard only little about.

Aelita crawled as quickly as she could, and she could hear Jeremie behind her. Her heart was racing, and she didn't even look at the way she was going, she just went as quickly as she could.

The person behind them was catching up to them, and they could see a cloth mask covering his or her features, and a bloody knife gripped securely in their left hand.

"Run all you want, but you will die!" the voice rang out, catching up to them to the point where the knife nicked Jeremie's heel. He cried out in pain, and despite his arms and legs turning to Jell-O, went faster and faster.

…

Aelita didn't know what happened next-it was all a blur. She only remembers hearing the sound of her heavy breathing and staring up at the overhead lights, the Lyoko gang gathered around her.

"What happened?" she asked, sitting up and looking around. The students of Kadic were hunched around her, staring at her.

"Aelita! You're alright!" Yumi exclaimed, hugging her friend in a death-grip. Aelita smiled and hugged her back.

"You were running through the vents, and fell through the one above us-I guess it was loose or something. Then you hit the ground and blacked out. Einstein is here as well."

At the sound of that, Aelita looked around and saw the genius sitting on a nearby chair, shaking uncontrollably.

"Jeremie!" she cried, running towards him.

"What happened to you?" Ulrich asked, wondering why they would be running so quickly.

"The murderer was chasing us!"

Everyone around them grew quiet, until the only sound was their breathing. Then, they heard the sound of someone in the vents above them, and a brunette girl fell to the floor.

She rubbed her head and looked around. "Where am I?"

"Sarah! I'm glad you're okay!" Aelita said happily, smiling as little as she could.

Odd smiled in her direction, trying to pry his eyes from her. She's beautiful.

But Jeremie glared at her, a very pissed look in his eyes…

X

Fox Kitsune: Gomen nasai for the very long wait! I hope everyone enjoyed and if they're any questions, please review and ask! Also, the chapter title doesn't mean it felt bad for the Lyoko gang to be reunited, but the students and killer being reunited. Haha, funny thing is, the first half of my part, I was listening to Shunichi Miyamoto while writing it, and the second half, I was watching Fear Factor. Lol.

aZn DrEaMeR xD: Hm. Direct your praise to Sav (Fox Kitsune) she wrote basically everything. I wrote almost nothing! We'd most definitely appreciate critiquing.