Til Death Do Us Part

Chapter 5: Wanted

"How the hell does she know so damn much about me?" Odd grumbled while paying for his food in the lunch line. He admitted to himself, he felt a little remorse for how he acted towards Mannie not so long ago, but who was he kidding? She sounded completely insane. The other students around him and the cafeteria worker stared at him, and he looked around then dashed off towards a table, embarrassed. Had he been talking to himself out loud again? He really needed to work on that.

"Odd there you are!" He heard Ulrich's voice and looked up to see his friends surrounding him, then they took their seats around him, silently thanking The Lord that Sam wasn't there. Weirdly enough, since Mannie had whirlwinded herself into his life, he hadn't really wanted her around him. "When you weren't in our room, I could come to the conclusion that you'd be here."

"You know me, can't keep me away from food." Odd took a big bite of his hamburger and the others laughed quietly. "So Avril where were you today? Ulrich was practically dying without you there." Ulrich's face lit up red and Avril giggled, grabbing his hand.

"I had a doctor's appointment, I told you all that the other day!" Avril looked at Odd. He seemed in an off mood, and when they had approached him at the table he seemed to be deep in thought, which wasn't a common occurrence. "Are you okay, Odd?" She asked him frowning.

"Yeah, I've never seen you think so much in your life." Jeremy crossed his arms leaning back in his chair.

"It's just since Mannie started acting like she actually...knows me.. I've just been so confused."

'Mannie...' Avril sat there in thought. 'Ah yes, that blonde girl.' She remembered to the night before, she had had a dream about Mannie, but she was about 30 years old, give or take a few years. Avril closed her eyes and thought back to the dream.

She saw her lying in a hospital looking very pale covered in many bruises with many IV machines hooked up to her wrist. She also saw a blonde teenage girl that was a mix between aforementioned Mannie and her good friend Odd. The girl was sitting there crying, holding onto her mom's hand. "Mom...I miss you so much, I wish you were here to talk to me. I have so much I want to tell you." The girl sniffled and rubbed her nose. "Damien even asked me on a date, and I had to ask Dad for help on what to wear. We both know how that would go..." The girl looked over to the door, which opened and revealed a more mature looking Odd holding a smiling little baby boy who was Odd's almost identical twin.

"Hey Aria, how's Mom doing?" Odd went to stand next to his daughter admiring his wife. The girl sighed, a painful look in her face.

"Still the same..." She whispered, feeling tears coming to her eyes. She stood up and grabbed her younger brother, walking out the door. Odd watched his daughter leave with sad eyes, and took her seat, taking his wife's hand. He listened to the quiet humming of all the machines she was hooked up to and traced the side of her face with his right hand.

"I love you, Mannie..." He whispered.

Avril reopened her eyes and nodded. That Mannie girl was obviously here for a reason, and she felt as though she had that dream for a reason. She was supposed to help Mannie with whatever mission she had, no matter what it was.

"Avril? Avriiiil heeeelllooo!" Yumi was waving her hand in front of Avril's face and Avril jumped in her chair, completely forgetting where she had been.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry. What's up?" Avril tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"I was asking if you wanted to go dress shopping with me for the dance." Yumi smiled, and Avril nodded.

"Oh yeah! Of course! Just let me know when." Avril smiled, standing. "Listen, I've gotta go. I'll be back later though." She bent down and gave Ulrich a quick kiss on the cheek to which he blushed and ran out of the cafeteria leaving her plate practically full. Odd shrugged and dumped her food on his plate.

"More for me." He grinned as he started to slurp her spaghetti. The others rolled their eyes, and Ulrich watched his girlfriend run out.

'Where did that all come from...?'

Mannie lay down on her fluffy silver comforter on her stomach, huffing. This would be hard when the whole world was against her. At least her mom remembered her and was as sweet as she could recall. Mannie's hair was tied up in a high bun on her head and she was dressed in PJ's. She had just wanted to go to sleep and figure out a plan to win Odd over, but sleep wasn't coming so easy to her. It was only about 7 o'clock though, so why exactly was she even trying to go to sleep? She pushed herself up onto her knees and sighed, looking around her room. It was exactly as she had it before, minus a few pictures of her used to be best friends, which surprised her. Mannie had expected for it to be different, like everything else.

"Mannie, you have a visitor!" She heard her mother, Celestine, call from downstairs in her sweet sing song voice. She jumped off of her bed and ran downstairs to the kitchen where she saw an old friend sitting on one of the stools at their island table, tapping her fingers on the counter.

"Avril?" She asked aloud, and the girl turned to look at her. Avril once again had long black hair with a single bright purple streak on both sides and radiant purple eyes. She sported a black leather jacket, a red v-neck shirt and some skinny jeans with black velvet booties. "Y-you remember...?" Mannie asked quietly looking around for her mother, who had apparently retired to her room. Avril shook her head, smiling a sad smile.

"I wish I could say I do Mannie, but I don't." Mannie's icy gray eyes stared her down, and then she suddenly grabbed at Avril's wrist and pulled her upstairs to her room. Mannie crossed her arms, and paced as Avril took a seat on the girl's giant king sized bed. "Nice room." She looked around. The walls were painted a deep brown, and the carpets were white as snow.

"So why exactly are you here if you don't remember?" Mannie asked, finally stopping pacing, she turned to look at Avril who gave her a sad smile.

"I...had a dream, I believe it was about you and Odd.." Avril whispered. "Like, in the future or something." Mannie's gray eyes widened and she rushed to sit over next to Avril.

"Wh-what happened in it?" Mannie asked her taking her hands.

"Well I saw an older version of you in a hospital room, an older version of Odd who was carrying the cutest little baby boy, and a teenage girl; I believe her name was...Aria?" Mannie felt her chest tighten at the mention of her children and felt tears coming to her eyes. Oh, how she wanted to hold them in her arms... Mannie sighed, and Avril saw some tears trailing down Mannie's face. "Are those...your children?" Mannie nodded and slowly looked away from Avril, feeling her heart clench.

"If I tell you something, do you promise not to freak out on me like Odd did?" A few more crystal like tears fell from Mannie's eyes, and Avril smiled.

"Believe it or not, I'm not as dense as he is." Avril giggled to herself and saw a small smile coming from Mannie's face.

"Well, where do I even start..." Mannie told her everything. From her own high school life and college, to getting married to Odd, their two kids and finally getting hit by the van on their way to dropping Aria off at school. "XANA somehow got hold of my subconscious, locked it in Lyoko with him and is making me have Odd fall in love all over again...within a week."

"How is that even possible..? For someone to fall in love in a week?" Avril sighed, falling back on Mannie's bed.

"I don't know, but I can see deep down inside him that the feelings are there. I just have to figure out a way to awaken them."

"Well, what was it that made him fall in love with you in the first place?" Mannie pursed her lips, and tapped her chin deep in thought. "Oh! And there's a dance in 6 days! We can totally spruce you up and make him fall for you." Avril jumped up off of her bed. "If a week is all we've got, there's no time to waste! I'll get Ulrich in on this and when we're done with you Odd won't be able to keep his hands off of you!" And with that, Avril was out of Mannie's room and down the stairs. Mannie walked to her window and saw the raven haired girl climb into her car and drive back off in the direction of Kadic.

'Maybe there is a silver lining after all..' Mannie smiled and laid down on her bed, climbing under her covers. 'I think I know what I can do to start this all.. I just have to hope it'll all work out.' She closed her eyes and sleep quickly overtook her being.

It was 10:05 PM and Odd lay in his bed, shirtless and in boxers. Kiwi was curled up at his feet and his hands were resting above his head. He kept thinking about his conversation with Mannie earlier, and he just could not get it out of his head.

'Because in the future you will be a record producer, you'll have two beautiful kids and be an amazing father, have a daughter named Aria who is the worst morning person and sleeps like a rock like her father and she has a little purple spot in her hair, right here. You'll have a son named Kody who only stops crying when he's in his daddy's arms and is a bottomless pit like his daddy. And I know for a fact since I've come you can't stop thinking about me, or staring at me because I've seen it in your eyes.' Odd remembered the look in her eyes as she spoke to him. Even though he didn't believe a word she said, she definitely believed it. He heard his phone going off again but ignored it, knowing it was Sam. 'I mean it can't just be a coincidence that she knows the two first choices of my future kids' names... I haven't told anyone that.. Not even Sam...' Odd closed his eyes and soon, he was off to sleep.

Everything was hazy, Odd saw himself standing in a room full of people sitting in rows. To him, it looked pretty much like a wedding. White flowers covered the seats, white drapes hung across the windows, and a crystal chandelier hung from the middle of the ceiling. There was a white carpeted walkway with roses all over the floor that separated two sides of seating, his family and friends, and some more people from school, and some that he didn't recognize. He knew it must have been a dream because there were numerous people running through him. On the right side in the front row, he saw his mom and dad sitting next to his four sisters, and then there was himself standing and conversing with Ulrich. There was a priest setting down a bible and flipping to the appropriate page, and then the lights dimmed, and all the mindless speaking quieted down. Ulrich, Jeremy and William all stood next to him and he could tell that he was nervous, it was written all over his face. "Here Comes The Bride" started to play. 'This wouldn't be my...' Aelita came from the door in a beautiful baby pink dress, then Yumi and finally Avril all filed down the middle walkway as finally, there were gasps among the crowd. He turned and saw her, Mannie walking down the aisle of people, escorted by an older man with dark hair up to meet him by the podium. He had to admit, she looked perfect. She looked just as nervous as he did, but had a smile on her face as he lifted the veil.

"You look amazing.." He heard himself whisper to the girl who's already blushing face turned even more red.

"We have gathered here today to join this man, and this woman in holy matrimony…" Odd couldn't take his eyes off of Mannie, there was just something so enticing about her that made his heart pound. He watched as the priest went through the whole ceremony. "If there is anyone here who objects, please speak now, or forever…hold your peace." The room was dead silent, minus a few soft cries from Odd and Mannie's mothers. As the priest was once again about to speak, they heard the main entryway doors open and the one and only Sam was standing there in a black gown and veil.

"I do." She had a smirk on her face and she crossed her arms. "I object." Odd turned to look back at himself and Mannie who had a dangerous glare on her face. She started to take a few steps forward but Odd grabbed her arm and shook his head. He looked down at some men in the crowd who nodded and grabbed Sam by her arms as she started to scream. "No Odd! I can't let you do this, you don't belong with her!" The doors shut, but you could still hear her muffled voice, yelling. "YOU BELONG WITH ME, I WILL HAVE YOU!" There was whispers coming from everyone sitting in the crowd, but Odd looked back up at himself and Mannie who were obviously having a playful conversation of their own. The priest cleared his throat as everyone hushed and he carried on.

"The rings please." A handsome little boy, who Odd recognized as his cousin, Blaze, brought up two rings on a black velvet pillow. "Do you, Odd Della Robbia take Manuela Diazdeleon to be your lawfully wedded wife, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, til death do you part?" He saw himself pause as a grin crossed his face and reached down to grab Mannie's ring and placed it gently on her finger.

"I do."

"And do you, Manuela Diazdeleon take Odd Della Robbia as your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, til death do you part?" Mannie's eyes glistened with tears and one ran down the corner of her eyes and Odd reached up to wipe it away, then Mannie looked down and grabbed Odd's ring and placed it on his finger. She looked back up at him with a smile.

"I do, 'til death…do we part."

"You may now, kiss the bride." And the cheers in the room erupted as Odd grabbed his new wife and gently placed a kiss tender on her lips.

Odd's eyes shot open. The sun was shining bright, and he felt his forehead glistening with sweat. He looked over at Ulrich's bed and saw that it was neatly made, meaning he either never came home last night or left extremely early. Odd checked his phone and saw that it was 7:30 AM. He groaned and fell back down in his bed; he still had 30 minutes before even needing to wake up for school.

Day 2

Days Remaining: 6

Mannie had woken up early and hopped in the shower. She was determined today would be the day she would at least get Odd's attention. He had always been attracted to her, and she knew that even this Odd was by the way that he looked at her. After finishing, she toweled down her hair and hurried back to her room, and entered her walk-in closet. She pulled out what she thought would be the perfect dress and lay it down on her bed, and put the shoes she had picked out down on the floor underneath it. After tapping her chin deep in thought, she smiled and nodded running back into the bathroom, almost slipping on her rug, but she luckily caught herself on the counter. She sighed at her klutziness but then let her hair down from the towel and blow dried her hair. While waiting for her flat iron to heat up, she started on her make-up. She lined her eyes in black with some navy blue eye shadow on the crease of her eyes and white on the inner corners that made her eyes pop. After straightening her hair she went back into her room and threw on her dress, which was a tight white dress that had no sleeves, but started at her neckline and stopped a little below her bum, but had a lacy overlay that went a little further down, about mid-thigh. For shoes, she had decided on some sandal wedges that were white and lacy. She took a step back and looked in her full length body mirror and nodded, happy with her look. 'Today, I will win my husband back over… if it's the last thing I do.'

"And then he asked me if I was going to be eating the whole thing, and I was like do I look like someone who could eat a whole-… Oh hey Odd! You're looking very…"Aelita turned to see the blonde teen walking over to them, with a sullen look on his face.

"Please, don't start with me right now." He grumbled, sitting on the bench, arms crossed.

"What's the matter with you? Kiwi wake you up from your beauty sleep or somethin'?" Ulrich asked him while ruffling his hair.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny. And where were you last night?" Odd glared at his friend, batting his hands away, and Ulrich gave him a cheeky smile.

"Doing something you only could dream about doing. Speaking of which, I left you alone so you could have some time alone with Sam." Ulrich elbowed him and Odd rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, well I don't know about that since I don't even know if I wanna be with her anymore." Ulrich looked at him with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"You have GOT to be kidding me. You don't mean to tell me that we-"

"Wow… she looks amazing." Odd heard Avril breath and he looked over at her, then to what she was staring at, and his jaw dropped. There was Mannie. If perfection could take the form of a person, it would most definitely be her because he had never seen anyone so beautiful in his life. She was walking towards them and the wind was blowing her hair back. She literally looked like a model on the runway with how fierce her steps were. Time seemed to slow down, and his eyes went up and down her body as he gulped.

"Odd.. I think you're drooling." Aelita giggled as she looked at her friend, who shook his head coming back into reality. As Mannie walked past them, a smirk came onto her face as she noticed the look on Odd's face.

'I'd have say that that was a success.' She made sure to keep her face forward and her head held high until she got past them. The bell rang for first period, and everyone made their way to class.

"And that students, is how the reproductive system works." Mrs. Hertz finished up her speech and smiled as she saw her students writing down their notes. "Now there won't be any homework tonight," She heard cheers coming from students but she put her hands up, shushing them. "but make sure to study because we will have a big test coming up tomorrow." And then came a few groans. "I expect you all to pass with flying colors." Odd sighed out loud and looked down at his worksheet from the day before.

'I doubt that is gonna happen, I don't get all this biology stuff. Why do we gotta know about all this anyway? We breathe and we poop, what more is there to it?' He pursued his eyebrows and sighed out loud again. He felt something softly hit the back of his head and he slowly turned with a glare covering his face to look at his friend Ulrich. "WHAT?" He whispered harshly.

"Do ya mind? Some of us are trying to study." Ulrich whispered back, smirking. Odd rapidly turned back around and rolled his eyes.

"You know Odd, Mannie passed yesterday's worksheets with flying colors. Maybe she could help you study." Odd heard Avril's voice as he looked back to Mannie who was almost sitting diagonal to him, her eyes looking over the papers. There it was, the 100 written in red on her papers. He scowled.

'It's not fair! Beauty and brains?' The bell rang for class to end, and he saw her stack her papers together and put them in a black folder, then she placed the folder into her tote and stood up, leaving the class. He caught himself staring at her retreating form again, and then shook his head. 'Get it together Odd! I will not let this girl have any powers over me! I am the ultimate ladies man after all.'

The rest of the day passed by with no real drama. He had successfully avoided Sam through most of the day, though he had to turn his phone off because her calls and texts were becoming increasingly more and more obsessive and annoying. But she did manage to find him and chew him out after lunch, stomping away angrily. He had been looking forward to seeing Mannie in P.E., but no such luck. She had apparently skipped, but that wasn't what worried him. He barely knew this girl, and was growing some sort of attachment for her. He never allowed himself to feel attachment for people, especially girls. Well, minus his small group of friends of course. But his mind kept pulling him back to the dream from the night before, how completely stunning she looking in her wedding dress and how she had completely blown him away that morning. This was all just a physical thing, right? He was just lusting after her. That was all it had to be.

"47, 48, 49, 50." Odd dropped the weights on the floor of the gym, and wiped his forehead. It was about four in the afternoon and he had decided to sneak in a workout before dinner. He mainly just wanted to be alone and think, and knowing his friends, none of them would think to find him in the gym working out. He grabbed his towel and swung it over his shoulder after taking off his muscle shirt and poured his water bottle all over his face in an attempt to cool himself down. He left the gym and started to make his way back to his dorms, he would take a shower and then attempt to study. As long as he was attempting, he would be getting something accomplished. As he was walking down the hall, something caught his attention. It was in the music room, there was a guitar being strummed, and an angelic voice humming a tune that he was vaguely familiar with but he couldn't exactly place his finger on it. He placed his ear on the door to get a better listen, but then lightly pushed the door to open so he could see who it was humming. And there she was, the girl he had been searching for all day, sitting on the edge of the stage strumming a black guitar.

"You know I'd fall apart without you,
I don't know how you do what you do.
'Cause everything that don't make sense about me,
Makes sense when I'm with you." Then it clicked. The lyrics to a song he had been working on for quite some time, but once again, he had never shared this with anyone.

"Like everything that's green, girl, I need you,
But it's more than one and one makes two.
Put aside the math and the logic of it,
You gotta know you're wanted too." He had been so caught up in the fact that she knew the lyrics to his song, that he hadn't realized that he started to quietly sing along with her, and that she was now looking at him.

"'Cause I wanna wrap you up,
Wanna kiss your lips.
I wanna make you feel wanted,
And I wanna call you mine.
Wanna hold your hand forever,
And never let you forget it.
Yeah, I, I wanna make you feel wanted." She sang the last word on her own and sat down the guitar next to her and had a small smile on her face.

"How did you find the lyrics to that song...and know how I wanted it to be played? Have you been going through my room? Stalking me?" He asked her, taking a defensive stance. Mannie giggled slightly, patting the spot next to her signalling for him to come sit down. Odd apprehensively took a few steps forward, and then took a seat next to her. She sighed, easing the tension between them.

"Would you believe me if I told you that you sang it to me on the first night of our honeymoon? And every night since then of our anniversary I made you sing it to me." Mannie smiled to herself as she looked over to Odd. "Look, I know you don't believe me about this whole thing but XANA sent me here and-" Odd's face suddenly turned to look at her.

"Did you say XANA?" He asked her incredulously. She nodded slowly, then it hit her.

'I must not have entered Lyoko in this version of the world. Whatever this place is...'

"So then you've been to Lyoko." He whispered.

"Oh you haven't the slightest idea. I shut down Lyoko...well at least we thought I did, and then about 15 years later, XANA decided to go rogue and attack me and my family, and well, now I'm here." Odd stared her down, his deep brown eyes searched her gray ones, as if he was trying to find something. He then sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"Look, I'm not gonna say I believe you and I'm not gonna say I don't. You obviously believe this little story of yours, and you obviously need help with whatever it is you're trying to accomplish, so..." Mannie looked up and saw the familiar look of playfulness running through his eyes.

"So?" Mannie asked him, and he turned to look at her with a smile on his face.

"So, if you help me, I'll help you."

"And what is it exactly that I'll be helping you with, Mr. Della Robbia?"

"Well... I mean, I know you're pretty smart...and I wouldn't exactly call myself the brightest molecule in all of the atoms, but... would you help me study for the Biology test tomorrow?" Odd asked her, putting on the most charming grin he could possibly manage. Mannie felt her heart melt, and she smiled.

"How could I say no to that?" Odd cheered and put his arm around Mannie's shoulders.

"Well then, milady, let me guide you to my humble abode and we shall let the studying commence."

And there is Chapter 5! I have to say, I'm quite pleased with it. The song in this chapter is called 'Wanted' by Hunter Hayes, but I prefer the cover by Alex Goot. It's a duet, and if you listen to it, it's how I imagined the duet between Mannie and Odd being sung. I wanted to add some more stuff in, but I figured this would be a good place to stop! Next chapter, there will be some drama between Mannie's family and Lyoko, don't think I've forgotten about them, because I haven't!

Well, thanks for reading and please review if you want me to update faster.