Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Code Lyoko.
Chapter 17
Jeremie dropped the cellphone defeatedly on his desk, shaking his head.
"It didn't work?" asked Odd, sprawled out on Jeremie's bed.
"William decided to butt in," said Jeremie. "They need to be able to yell without someone interrupting or either of them walking away."
"I suppose we have no choice," said Aelita, leaning against the desk. "We send them in tomorrow, then?"
"We don't want them making it worse," agreed Jeremie. "And I'm exhausted from trying to keep up with them."
"What did you expect?" asked Odd, grinning. "It's Yumi and Ulrich. Prouder than two peacocks."
"Wonder if that'll change once they come back," mumbled Jeremie thoughtfully.
"Nah," replied Odd, shaking his head. "Having Aelita doesn't make you any less of an egghead."
"You know, Odd," said Aelita mischievously. "after tomorrow you'll be the only one not in love. We oughta set you up with someone."
Odd was horror struck at the thought, and he stood up only to fall on his knees in front of her. "Oh, Princess, I beseech you, have mercy!" wailed Odd, clasping his hands together. Aelita giggled and Jeremie rolled his eyes.
"I was only joking, Odd," assured Aelita, patting his spiked hair. He threw his hands up in the air and pretended to kiss her toes.
"A thousand praises bestowed upon you and your prince!" cried Odd. Jeremie couldn't hold back a chuckle at the sight.
"You sure you're not going to get lonely, Odd?" asked Jeremie. "I'm sure we could find you a nice girl...how about Sissi?"
Odd crawled on his shins to Jeremie's chair and clasped his hands together again. "Oh, Einstein, I bes--"
"Joking, Odd," Jeremie cut him off.
"A thousand praises bestowed upon you and your princess!"
"The Prince, the Princess, and the Fool," kidded Aelita. Odd raised an eyebrow.
"Make that nine hundred and ninety-nine praises for you," retorted Odd wryly. "I deserve Knight, at the very least!"
"Anyway, we all know our stations?" asked Jeremie, thoroughly amused by the scene.
"I was born for this part!" declared Odd dramatically. Aelita burst out into laughter, but managed a nod.
"Good." Jeremie let out a sigh of relief, anxious to get these lessons over with. He and Aelita both felt they had gotten sufficient revenge, and with all the time they used to spend planning, they could now use for finding the antivirus. Or, for spending a little "quality time" with each other...Jeremie felt himself blush at that thought.
"Uh oh, I can see I'm wearing out my welcome," said Odd teasingly. "I'll leave you two alone to—oh, how do you guys put it? Oh, right—work."
Odd strolled out, humming a random tune, leaving behind two embarrassed, but not unhappy, young geniuses. The last he saw as he closed the door on his way out was Aelita edging towards Jeremie, and his hand covering hers on the desk.
Yumi glared at the hard metal doors of the elevator. The twenty seconds it was taking to get to the lab seemed longer than usual. Odd was the only thing that stood between her and Ulrich, and only because she had purposefully placed herself on the other side of the eccentric blonde. Jeremie's emergency call better have been for a good reason.
"You're finally here," greeted Jeremie, not looking up when the doors opened. Aelita was standing next to him, studying the calculations on the monitor.
"What's the problem?" asked Ulrich.
"No problem," said Jeremie, shaking his head. "I'm going to install some upgrades into your Lyoko forms. I need you on Lyoko to do that, though."
"All right," said Odd, smiling. "Coming, Princess?"
"Jeremie is still fine-tuning my upgrades," explained Aelita.
"Head to the scanners," instructed Jeremie.
Yumi pressed down on the elevator button, avoiding Ulrich's gaze at all costs. Whatever happened, she would not be entranced by his warm eyes. She wasn't going to fall for his strong build. Or his tender smile, or the way his hair fell in his face, or—
Snap out of it! Yumi shook her head slightly, still staring straight ahead. Odd made a beeline out of the elevator towards the scanner in the middle. Yumi took the one on the left, Ulrich the one on the right, and the last thing she saw was him. Looking at her. With the Look all over his face.
"Transfer, scanner, virtualization," Jeremie ran through the procedure with ease. He waited until the very last minute to cancel Odd's virtualization.
Ulrich bent his knees instinctively and landed on his feet. He warily scanned the desert plateau they were on, and noticed the great lack of purple next to him.
"Jeremie, Odd didn't make it," called out Ulrich.
"I know, there was a glitch in the process," Jeremie lied smoothly. At this point Odd emerged from the old green elevator into the lab.
"Should we wait up for him?" asked Yumi, keeping an eye out for any looming danger.
"No, the system is all bugged up," replied Jeremie. "I can't bring you two back, either. There should be a tower forty degrees north of you. Make sure you don't lose all your life points. If you do...you're gone for good."
"Aye aye, captain," said Ulrich, saluting the sky. "Any chance of you sending our vehicles?"
"I haven't got the resources to bring them up," Jeremie informed them apologetically. "You'll have to go on foot."
"Is Xana sending us a welcoming committee?" asked Yumi.
"It's all clear for now," assured Jeremie. "But be careful all the same."
Ulrich shot a sideways glance at the geisha beside him, but she stared resolutely forward as she darted towards the northern tower, with him not far behind. They reached it in minutes and fell through without a problem. Yumi silently claimed one side of the platform as her territory, leaving Ulrich to resign himself to the other.
"Jeremie, how long do you think it'll take to bring us back?" asked Yumi, examining her fan absently.
"I...signal...losing...comm--"
Jeremie pressed his tongue against the back of the roof of his mouth, making static-like sounds. After a few seconds of this he turned off the microphone.
"Last resort, don't fail us now," said Odd solemnly.
Ulrich watched his legs swinging over the edge of the platform, over the bleak black hole beneath him. He could feel Yumi's presence only feet away, but forced his lovestruck brain to think of something else. Soccer, he thought. Roaring fans, the adrenaline, scoring the winning goal, the crowd going wild, cheers coming from the...cheerleaders. Like Yumi. Needless to say, she did look good in the rather snug uniform. Ulrich felt his heart beat just a bit faster and jerked his head to the side, peering at her out of the corner of his eye.
Yumi watched the windows of coding fade in and out of place in front of her. It might have fascinated Aelita when she spent a year in this world, but it might as well have been Greek for all the interest it held for Yumi. Besides, the young man behind her wouldn't get out of her head.
Why was he going to mix it up with William? Did he think that would change anything between them? If he wasn't so hotheaded—he wouldn't be Ulrich. Still, she couldn't be pulling his butt out of the fire every time he was about to do something unbelievably stupid. Getting into a fight was reckless and dangerous and...exactly the kind of thing Ulrich would do if it meant keeping her safe.
That's no excuse, barked the still angry part of her mind. Think about something else. Dad. He's back, and Mom and Hiroki are happy. A lot happier since the night he...Ugh.
"I guess we're still not talking, then?" Ulrich decided the silence had to be broken. Yumi tensed but said nothing. Ulrich sighed and turned around, still sitting, to face her back. "Come on, Yumi."
"You and William are the biggest idiots I've ever seen," Yumi muttered under her breath. Ulrich caught only "You and William".
"Oh, you're still mad about that?" asked Ulrich sheepishly. Yumi turned her head only.
"What do you think?" asked Yumi coldly.
"You wanted him to leave," reminded Ulrich.
"Preferably unscathed," finished Yumi. Ulrich frowned.
"Sorry if I was going to bruise Pretty Boy's handsome face," retorted Ulrich with a huff, shifting away from her. Her jaw dropped and she jumped to her feet, glaring a hole into the back of his head. "I can't believe you're defending him."
"Defending him?!" spat Yumi. "Do you know what you're saying?"
"All I know is that you didn't seem to mind all that much when he was ogling you," snapped Ulrich.
"Oh, right, let's forget all about the absolute ball you had making out with Sissi!" yelled Yumi. "You've got a lot of nerve, I'll give you that!"
"I told you, there's nothing between me and Sissi!" Ulrich felt his voice raising, but didn't care. He didn't remember when he had risen to his feet, but there he was, scowling with her face-to-face. "If you want to pout because I'm too much of a gentleman to punch her lights out, go right ahead!"
"And if you decide our entire relationship meant nothing, be my guest!" responded Yumi. "Damn it, Ulrich, why is it so hard for you to understand that I'm not in any way attracted to William?'
"Maybe if he wasn't attached to you it'd be easier!" shot back Ulrich.
"At least I'm not slobbering all over him!"
"You think I slobber all over Sissi?" asked Ulrich incredulously. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, I was telling the truth whenever I said I despised her? Did you ever once wonder whether or not I really did think she is an airhead, a snob, a spoiled brat? That I'm not as in love with her as you think? That I could very well be in love with you? Oh, but no! Not when you can fantasize about Pretty Boy Dunbar! Not when I've spent the last year and a half pining for you!"
"That's ridiculous! You've got every girl on this side of France swooning over you while I'm the one always saving your sorry arse on Lyoko and Earth! And you wanna know why? No, of course you don't! Not when you can have perfect, beautiful, pain-in-the-neck Sissi!"
"You think she's better than you? You can't be serious!"
"You obviously think so!"
"If I did why would I have gone out with you?" asked Ulrich, more frustrated than he had hoped to become.
"Beats me!" answered Yumi, struggling to restrain herself from whipping out her fans on him. "I don't know, to make another girl jealous?"
"If there was any girl I'd ever want to make jealous it would be you!"
"So you kissed Sissi to make me jealous? That's a pretty dumb reason!" retorted Yumi.
"No! Ugh!" Ulrich growled, wanting to punch something, anything, just to let out the fury she was building up in him. Why did she always make these things so difficult? "I didn't want to kiss her at all!"
"Then why did you?"
"For the last time, I didn't!"
"How long are they going to keep this up?" asked Aelita, her eyes widening at the string of words coming from the speaker.
"With Ulrich and Yumi it's hard to tell," answered Jeremie. "But they've got to run out of insults sooner or later."
"You don't give them enough credit," said Odd. "I'm sure they'll be going at it for a few more hours."
"You think they'll mind if we leave them there overnight?" asked Aelita, grinning.
"If you call throwing us off the roof minding it, then yes," answered Odd.
"Let the chips fall where they may," said Jeremie cryptically, leaning back in the chrome chair as he listened to the ranting.
"Yumi, if you know what I've been putting up with over the last few weeks you'd know I'd never kiss Sissi of my own!" shouted Ulrich, more to himself than to her.
"It can't be any worse than the living Hell I've been put through!" retorted Yumi. "But I still didn't kiss William!"
"Will you just let it go!" yelled Ulrich. He was past frustration, he had hit boiling mad. How was he supposed to convince her he was telling the truth?
"One guy asks me to hang out with him and you flip out!" replied Yumi bitterly. "It's like you don't even trust me!" She wanted to give Ulrich a black eye. She wanted to throw her arms around him and never let go. She wanted him to go away. She wanted him to stay where he was forever. What was he doing to her?
"Yes, because you trust me so much!" said Ulrich, making every syllable drip with sarcasm. "Yumi, I don't give a damn about Sissi! Don't you get it? I'm in love with you!"
"I love you, too!" shot Yumi.
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
Aelita's jaw dropped with Jeremie's and Odd's. She stared at both the boys, then had no other choice than to bury her head in Jeremie's shoulder to stifle the giggles. Jeremie looked up at the ceiling, muttering "Hallelujah." Odd was writhing on the ground with laughter.
"We did it!" Odd cheered, holding his sides.
"Wait a minute," Jeremie held a finger up and listened intently. He groaned. "Oh, come on!"
"You're the proudest, most stubborn girl I've ever met!" said Ulrich furiously. "Why won't you listen to me?"
"Because you won't listen to me!" snapped Yumi. "I told you, I..."
I'm in love with you!
I love you, too!
Her expression went slack at the same time Ulrich's did. Did she just...? Did he just...? They just...He loved her. He said it himself. Well, yelled was a more appropriate word, but the words were still there. Ulrich Stern was in love with her.
Ulrich's mind cleared instantly. Any anger he was feeling, whether it was directed at Yumi, William, or Sissi, disintegrated immediately. Bliss took over. Yumi Ishiyama was in love with him.
He took a step towards her and grabbed her shoulders, peering thoughtfully into her eyes. Yumi felt her knees shaking, tried her best to steady herself, and failed abysmally. Ulrich was still staring at her, but he wasn't saying anything. She was fairly certain her voice had abandoned her.
"You said you love me," Ulrich bluntly broke the silence, running one tingling virtual finger down the side of her face.
"S-so did you," croaked Yumi, wincing at her cracked voice. Ulrich nodded. "Did you...mean it?"
Ulrich would have laughed had the situation not been so serious. She was actually doubting if he loved her? Loving her was as natural as breathing to him! And yet, she had that same look on her face that she had on the night her father left. Scared. Vulnerable. Like he could break her with his next words. He chose not to use words, but actions instead. Ulrich pulled her shoulders to match his and clamped her in a fierce hug. She was trembling, but he didn't notice.
"Oh!" was all Yumi could say as, byte by byte, she disappeared in his arms. Her wireframe faded into nothingness, and there was nothing Ulrich could do about it, because the process was simultaneously happening to him.
"And they lived happily ever after," said Jeremie, listening to the whirring of the scanners below. He closed out the devirtualization program and grinned.
"Way to ruin the moment, Einstein," commented Odd. "They were just about to kiss, you know."
"They should at least be able to feel it," argued Jeremie. "Lyoko takes away touch, remember?"
"And how do you know that?" asked Odd coyly. Aelita and Jeremie turned pink but didn't answer. "I'm surprised my teeth haven't rotted out considering the sweetness I have to put up with!"
"Well done, everyone," said Jeremie, ignoring Odd's remark. "We've officially achieved the impossible."
"Jeremie, you're a genius," replied Aelita warmly. "This was a great idea."
"Even though it was already used," said Odd, smirking.
"You're one good plan," retorted Jeremie. "I thought it was worth a second try."
"We should probably go," Aelita intervened. "and give the couple some privacy."
Jeremie logged off and took Aelita's hand, rubbing his thumb over the back of her palm. Odd pretended to gag until Aelita reached up and gave a sharp yank to his pointed hair. The three ascended via the elevator, relieved that they had finally accomplished their goal.
Ulrich was too eager as he crumpled into the scanner. He shot up and would have sprang out, except he banged his head on the still opening scanner doors. He coughed on the smoke and paid no mind to the throbbing in his forehead, racing towards the scanner across from him and just barely managed not to trip on the opening to who-knew-where that was inconveniently placed in the center of the room.
Yumi was on her knees when the smoke cleared. She smiled meekly and shakily rose to her feet, with Ulrich ready to catch her should she fall. He slowly and deliberately brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, relishing the sensation. He heard a rumbling from above and ignored it. The rest of the world could wait.
"Are you all right?" asked Ulrich.
"Yeah, I'm..." Yumi wasn't sure there was a word to describe how she felt. She gasped when she felt Ulrich's hand cup around her jaw. The truth slid easily from her tongue. "I love you, Ulrich."
Ulrich beamed and leaned in to kiss her. It had only been a few days since he'd done so, but it felt like an eternity. Yumi's arms quickly snaked around his neck, as if trying to satiate a hunger for him. Ulrich's knees buckled as her scent threatened to overwhelm him, but against all odds he stayed steady. Yumi hesitantly pulled back, gulping in oxygen.
"Love you, Yumi," said Ulrich hazily. She pressed her head into his shoulder, and he stroked the back of her hair. "You have no idea how good it feels to say that."
Yumi felt a shudder tingle up and down her spine, but ignored it. "H-How long have you wanted to say that?"
"You know how long we've known each other?"
"Yeah?"
"Take away about a week."
Yumi sighed. So she didn't have to go through all those lessons. He'd loved her all along. And Aelita and all of her teachers had known it.
"You didn't tell me sooner because...?" asked Yumi,.
"Like I needed my best friend laughing off my confession of love for her?" asked Ulrich. "Besides, it only got harder when William showed up."
"But...I love you," said Yumi, thinking how he was the obvious choice compared to William.
"I didn't know," replied Ulrich shyly. He pulled back to look at her. "Please tell me this isn't some dream I'm about to wake up from."
"If it is, I hope I don't wake up," said Yumi. Ulrich beamed and kissed her again, longer than last time.
Yumi curled up in his arms and listened to his heartbeat. It was a rapid beat, one that made her smile. Right now, the whole of France could be on fire and she wouldn't care. Her world was finally at peace.
A/N: All right, I'll admit this wasn't the most romantic confession I could have come up with. I really need to stop trying to be funny...