My eyes open again after a long while. I felt…weird, invaded, something like that. Like someone else was in me. I look down at my hand and eye the scar on it. It was changing colors from light red to black. It was becoming a mark, branded into my hand.

My eyes settle on the boy in front of me. The same brown-haired kid with green clothing is lying there, very still. His sides are heaving. "Well? Are you going to finish him off?" asks the voice in my head. I jump. "Wha-what?" I stammer. "Kill him."

"Why?" I ask. "Why kill him?" "BECAUSE!" the voice booms. "HE IS YOUR ENEMY! GET RID OF HIM AND NOBODY WILL DARE MESS WITH YOU!!" My eyes narrow. "I'll do what I want with him!" I spit crossly, bending down to pick up the boy. He looks up at me.

"Please...no more..." the boy begs, his face a lighter tone than before. I note that he's red all over. I shiver inwardly, but run out of the big wheat field to the 'school.' "Jeremie...the infirmary...please..." he stammers. "Before Xana gets you..." "Xana? Who the heck is Xana?" I demand, but the boy is asleep now, sides still heaving.

I stumble and fall to the ground, ripping open my shoulder on a steel barb. The red stuff comes out freely. People scream and run as I try to get to my feet, but I fall once more. Aelita pushes her way through the crowd. I look up at her. "Aelita...help me..." I pant. "Please...don't kill me..."

"Odd! Yumi!" she calls. Two other students, the ones I saw before I passed out, run to us. "Hurry! Ulrich and Jeremie have to get to the infirmary!" she cries. The boy winces. "Geez, Jeremie, what'd you do?!" "There's no time!" the other girl yells at him. "We have to get them there, now! Before they bleed to death!"

I struggle to my feet, dimly aware of the stabbing feeling in my shoulder. The girl supports me, looking grim. We make slow progress through the halls and the big empty space that kids call a 'courtyard.' "Jeremie...don't close your eyes...don't fall asleep...you can't...just keep your mind on anything else..."

"YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT!" the voice yells at me. "Are you Xana?" I ask, wary of its answer. It sighs a bit. "I guess you could say that I'm Xana." "Why are you in my head?!" I demand. "Because I want to help you. I'm only here for that." "That boy said...we had to hurry, before you got me. What does he mean by that?" "He's an enemy, remember? He doesn't want me to speak to you."

"Are you talking to yourself?" asks the girl, as we round another corner. "Uhhhh...no," I reply. "I'm talking to a voice in my head that calls itself Xana." "XANA?!" she cries. "Of all things, it's XANA that's in your head?!" I nod. "Is that a problem?" "DEFINITELY!" she cries, pushing open a door.

A lady in white looks at me and glances at that hurt boy who is on a cot. "We need to call an ambulance." She escorts me to a white bed. "You just rest there for a moment." She turns to the girl. "Thank you, Yumi. Odd already left. What happened to these two?" "Well, uh...Ulrich got into a fight with another student, and Jeremie fell onto a garden stake."

She makes this 'tsk' noise at me and sighs, picking up one of those scary noise-makers. I cover my ears as she pokes at some buttons on it, but the ringing never comes. "We need an ambulance for two Kadic students...one of them is unconscious and the other is bleeding profusely...he may have a torn ligament...uh huh...ok...I understand. Uh huh. Bye." She turns it off as I lie back against a pillow and wait.

A loud wailing noise makes me fall out of my cot. I guess I had dozed off for awhile. There was a white patch of cloth over my wound, and the other boy was still asleep. "Wha...what's going on?!" I demand. The nurse smiles at me. "It's just the ambulance siren, Jeremie. Nothing serious." "What's that boy's name?" I ask, pointing at him.

"It's Ulrich. Don't you remember?" "No," I answer honestly. Someone else also dressed in white runs in. "These the kids you phoned about?" "Yes," she answers. "He's still unconscious even after twenty moments. The other one seems to also be suffering from retrograde amnesia, or perhaps even partial global amnesia." The man seems stunned. "Global?"

"Perhaps."