Chapter 28

Where is My Mind?

The sun rose over the streets of Amines. Frank stood on the balcony of his apartment. He glanced out onto the golden sun as it rose into the air; he heard the sound of birds chirping as they flew about with their morning activities, gathering food and building their nests.

Frank whistled a little as he pulled two items out of his pocket. In one hand was a bible, the other an S&W 23 tarus revolver. He set down the bible and walked inside. The apartment was run down, a sign of the shanty hotel he had rented for the past few days.

He laid the gun on the bed as he reached into his back pack and pulled out his second little toy. A sawed off double barrel shotgun. He loaded it with the only two shells he had and placed it in the duffle bag. He pulled out the box of 9 mm's and loaded his revolver with six shells. He reached under his pillow and pulled out his third weapon of choice. A berretta M9. He placed three magazines in his pockets and walked over to his dresser. On the dresser were the remains of last night's alcohol.

"What a good day it's going to be," Frank said as he finished the bottle of alcohol that was on his dresser.

He put the revolver in its sling around his ankle. He placed the M9 in its sling and threw the bottle in the trash. He looked around the room to make sure everything was good and cleaned. He didn't want to leave any evidence of where he was or what he was doing.

He picked up the bible and opened it to a page with an envelope in it. He pulled out the envelope and placed it in his pocket. The heat was already sweltering and Frank was already having trouble breathing. He wiped the sweat from his brow and walked to the door. He closed the door and made his way to the elevator.

He walked up to the clerk and turned in his key. He paid for the room with the last of his money; he wouldn't be needing it anymore.

Frank stepped out into the heat wearing his dress pants and jacket with a white t shirt underneath it. He squinted at the golden sunrise in his face and breathed heavily.

"Today is a good day for redemption."

Yumi woke to the sound of her alarm clock. It was her usual chirping bird alarm; the sound of a robin always seemed to sooth her when she was awoken form a deep sleep. Any other noise like a blue jay would just scare the hell out of her. One thing she didn't like was to be pulled out of a deep sleep.

Yumi rolled out of bed and stretched for the ceiling. Yumi felt the cool air from her room's air conditioner on her skin. She slept in a thin white night gown. She usually wore pajama bottoms and a under shirt to sleep. But in this heat she just left them off. It allowed her to breathe under the covers at night. Even though she had an air conditioner in her room it still got pretty hot at night in her room.

Yumi laid on the floor and began her daily morning routine: 50 sit ups and 40 pushups. She liked to stay in shape; the number of years fighting on Lyoko had helped tone her body into a body any woman would want. In fact she was quite proud of her physique. She was in a way the health nut of the group. A while back she made the decision she wanted to be a doctor. It was something about helping people she felt she had a calling for. Any time a member of the gang was hurt or sick she could help recognize what it was right away. Or treat their wounds. Her best was the time Ulrich fell down the stairs and scrapped his arm and face real well. It wasn't a pretty sight for her but she found she enjoyed it, or, at least, the fact that she was able to help.

Yumi walked to her dresser and grabbed her underwear and clothes for the day. She walked into her bathroom and turned on the shower. She slipped off the night gown and stepped into the shower. As the cool water hit her she stood wondering something. It had been a few weeks since the gang turned on the computer and Xervix appeared. But it wasn't his arrival that concerned her. It was the fact that the RTTP program was deactivated. Why was it shut off? She wondered as she applied soap to her arms.

After a few minutes Yumi turned off the water and stepped out of the stall. She grabbed her towel and began to dry herself off. She began to put on her clothes when her cell phone went off. She walked into her room and put her shirt on. She grabbed the phone and looked at the message. The text was from an unknown number…. She opened the text and read the message.

Get to the factory at 8:00 pm tonight. The truth will be revealed.

Yumi looked at the message and stared at it. She texted back to whoever it was. There was no response. Yumi texted Jeremy about the message; there was no response.

"They must not be up yet," Yumi thought as she walked downstairs for her breakfast.

Yumi walked downstairs to the usual family crowd. Hiroki was playing his PSP, Dad reading his newspaper and their mother preparing breakfast for them.

"Looks like they still haven't figured out the super virus deal we keep hearing about," Yumi's father, Takeo said.

"I heard that because of it, all countries with nuclear weapons have had the bombs deactivated until the virus is destroyed or traced, in case it turns out to be terrorists," Yumis mother, Akiko said as she poured Takeo a fresh cup of coffee. "Think you better tell them dear?" She whispered.

"Alright," Takeo said as he stood up. "Yumi, Hiroki. Your mother and I have an announcement to make." Yumi and Hiroki both looked up in confusion. Hiroki started to sweat a little.

"Your mother and I are going on vacation… I got us tickets to Cancun, Mexico."

"Really! Wow nice one guys," Yumi said.

"That's all? I was scared for a minute," Hiroki said.

"Why were you scared dear?" Akiko asked.

"I was worried you were going to say we had a little brother or sister on the way," Hiroki said.

"Hiroki!" Takeo said as his face showed his expression. Anger and embarrassment. "Go get ready for school." Hiroki got up and ran upstairs real fast. Yumi grabbed herself a bottle of Gatorade from the fridge as she got ready to leave.

"When is your trip?" Yumi asked.

"The first week of June. So in about four weeks or so. We'll make it up to you guys I promise," Takeo said.

"Well I got to go. Ulrich and I are going to go hang out at the mall tonight. I'll be home by ten, I promise," Yumi said as she hugged both her parents and ran out the door. Her parents waved at her as she shut the door.

"You know… it might be nice to have another kid," Akiko said as she leaned on Takeo's shoulder.

"I do miss having the sound of young feet running through the house."

Travis sat in the corner of the room as he watched the clock on the wall click 8:00am. He couldn't sleep last night due to the jet lag that had occurred when they arrived, yet for some reason George and Jessica were passed out and sleeping like crazy.

Travis had all the intel packed in the suitcase. The agent that the French Intelligence was sending them was due to arrive in a few hours. Yet something was troubling him. If Waldo Schaeffer came to Amines to hide out and made it out of the country successfully, what became of him? According to Waldo's journal it said that according to his calculations that the organization might have captured him by now. If that was the case, was his kid safe? Or was little Aelita in the possession of Mal-Tech? Something just didn't feel right, something felt wrong about all of it.

Travis opened the blinds to the window. It was already a hot and stagnant day. Travis walked outside of the room and breathed in the warm air. He hadn't slept in a few days… in fact he hadn't slept in a few years. He glanced down at the colored ring on his left hand… as his mind slowly glanced back.

Travis stood outside the doctor's office. He was waiting for news. The news he had wanted to hear for so long… the news that would change the rest of his life….

The doctor's door flew open as a young brown haired girl walked out. She wore a yellow shirt and sweat pants. She had small freckles and a thick pair of glasses. She was at first glance a nerd. But after you looked past all of the clothing and the glasses, she was actually quite a cute girl….

"Her name was Wendy… and she was my fiancée...," Travis thought in the back of his mind.

"Well?" Travis asked.

Wendy shook a little as tears formed in her eyes…. "I'm not… pregnant," Wendy said

Travis's heart…. His soul sunk. He felt shallow and pale. He slowly hugged the crying Wendy as she sobbed.

"I… I really thought this time. I thought we had proven the doctor wrong when he said I couldn't…," Wendy said as her eyes sobbed more and more.

"We…. We'll just have to try again." Travis said.

"WHAT'S THE POINT? IT'S NOT GONNA HAPPEN AND IT'S ALL MY FAULT," Wendy yelled at the top of her lungs, "We have tried for years Travis…. Years and nothing. It's never gonna happen."

"Don't talk like that! You have been wanting this more than anyone," Travis said.

"…No, I'm not ready. I'm just not ready," Wendy said.

"Don't sit there and do that. I'm getting tired of that. I'm tired of you locking me out; I'm tired of you running to your stupid video games. I'm tired of you hiding. I love you, don't you get that? But sometimes I wonder if this relationship isn't one sided," Travis said.

"I love you too… but."

"But nothing Wendy. I'm tired of you doing this. We have almost broke up twice now because of it. Enough is enough," Travis said.

"TAKE ME HOME!" Wendy yelled. The whole hospital floor was silent as the patients and staff looked in the direction of the arguing couple.

"…Sure… I'll take you home. So you can shut yourself off in your imaginary world."

The drive home was quiet as Wendy wept a little. Travis's face was bright as blood. His face showed no emotion but inside, his heart was ripped in half. They had met in college. She went to Washington State University while he was in town on a vacation. They hung out once and then went to create a long distance relationship. Their relationship was rocky at first, mostly because Travis was Wendy's first relationship. But they soon got engaged. However after the engagement they still had the same issues… some wounds don't heal, Travis thought in his mind.

"I love you," Travis said. There was no reply from Wendy. She sat in the seat and looked out the window.

"I'm not trying to start a fight but maybe you have an addiction to video games. I mean remember that one year in college you had so many issues. Maybe we should consider it," Travis suggested as he noticed a black van coming up behind him.

"It's no use. I'm so lazy, so stupid. How can you love me? How can I love anyone?" Wendy said.

"When you're not hiding it you do. You just need to quit being so shy. I mean that's what hurts me the most. Is when you think you're so terrible towards someone," Travis said. "Yeah, there are times you hurt me a lot. I mean times where I feel the pain. But when I see your face, hear your voice, and think about how much I love you... The pain goes away."

"But my question is do you love me?" Travis asked.

The van pushed the rear bumper of the car a little as it sped up to pass Wendy and Travis.

"You asshole!" Travis yelled as he flipped off the van. The van got in front of them and slowed down. The van slowed down so bad Travis had to hit his brakes hard.

Travis veered into the other lane to avoid hitting the van… in time to see an oncoming truck.

Everything seemed to slow down for a few seconds as Travis looked over towards Wendy… the same sympathetic look in her face. She had no idea what was about to happen…. Travis leaned over to try and cover her up… but it was too late.

The truck smashed into the small Ford head on. Glass shattered as the dashboard slammed into Travis's side. He felt a sharp sudden pain in his side as the car crumbled up like a tuna can. The force and angle of the truck flipped the car over on its side. The roof collapsed instantly as Wendy screamed as loud as she could. Travis felt a sudden pain in the back of his head as the car landed on its roof. His face was slashed and torn. He screamed in pain as he looked toward Wendy… she was still looking out the window…. She looked back towards Travis as Travis saw what she was looking at. A large semi barreling down upon them. Its brakes squealed as it tried to come to a stop. But it was still closing in.

"WENDY!" Travis yelled as he reached for her.

The car shook violently as Travis was jarred again by the collision. The car flipped over the cab of the semi and slammed onto the ground with the force of a small bomb. The rear section tore away, revealing the interior of the car. All Travis heard afterwards was a loud pinging noise.

Travis woke up hanging upside down. His whole body ached from pain. His arm was broken and his face was scratched and torn. His left eye felt funny for some reason till he noticed his vision was seeing two different things at once. He felt for his eye but felt a small ball on a string. He felt it as it hurt worse than ever… then his heart raced as he realized what it was.

His eye was hanging out of its socket.

Travis screamed in pain and fear over what he had discovered. He calmed down a little as he realized what he had to do. He slowly picked up the eye ball, still attached, and slowly forced it into his socket. Travis cried out in agony as he blinked repeatedly. Travis could see a little out of his left eye. It was fine.

Travis forced his door open as he realized how bad he was hurt. He had a broken hand and leg, and was having trouble breathing. Blood trickled down his face and onto the pavement as the hot spring pavement welcomed him with tough open arms. Travis slowly crawled on his stomach around to the other side. He then realized something was wrong.

"Wendy," He murmured. Travis slowly made his way around to the passenger side. At that time he felt some one walk up to him. He couldn't hear what the person was saying. He just knew he was trying to help him. Travis pushed him aside as he made his way to the passenger side door.

"Buddy, stop. You need to sit down," the truck driver said as the driver of the truck and a few other motorists came to help.

"WENDY!" Travis yelled. "Where is Wendy?"

"Sir," the driver said.

"I don't care about me," Travis grunted. "Where is my fiancée?"

Travis released the driver as he waddled towards the passenger side door. He got down low to the ground and peered inside. His eyes adjusted to the darkness from the inside of the car. He saw Wendy sitting in her seat still.

"Wendy," Travis murmured.

…

"Wendy, please, not now. Don't ignore me."

…

"Wendy, quit blowing me off."

…..

"Wendy?"

….

"Wendy!" Travis said loudly, "Wendy!"

Travis grabbed her shoulder with his only good arm, and shook her with all his might.

"WENDY!" Travis yelled at the top of his lungs. Travis began to cry as he realized what was wrong with Wendy.

"NO! NO NO NO NOOOO!" Travis yelled as the other motorist tried to pull him away from the car.

"NO, WHY! YOU WERE MY EVERYTHING! I DID ALL THIS FOR YOU. DON'T LEAVE ME!" Travis yelled.

"SHE'S NOT DEAD, SHE IS ONLY SLEEPING!" Travis said with tears in his eyes.

"We were gonna get married! We were going to have children," Travis said as he looked into the eyes of the truck driver.

Travis's senses were now dead. He felt no pain. No anger. No sadness. He just felt hollow now.

Travis screamed into the air as loud as he could. The arriving policemen were startled by the sound he made. Travis screamed as loud as he could, so that his voice would reach the heavens. He wanted god to realize that what had happened was more of a pain to him than death.

Travis sat in the hospital bed as other FBI agents visited him and gave him their well wishes. But he just stared at the wall. He was nothing now. He didn't blink, he didn't breathe, he was gone from the world.

"I'm…..Sorry Travis." George said as he held Travis's hand. "I'm sorry it happened."

Travis said nothing as he stared at the wall.

George got up to walk out when finally Travis spoke.

"Three weeks," Travis said.

George turned around. "What?"

"May 3rd. Wendy's birthday. That was when the baby was going to be born…. Wendy was three weeks pregnant when she died. The doctor was wrong."

Seven months later.

Travis laid on the couch surrounded by a large army of empty beer bottles. The apartment looked like it had seen better days. The dishes were piling up in the sink; the laundry was sitting on the floor; the fridge door was open. All the food inside had gone stale and old.

Travis looked dirty and scruffy. He had grown out a full grown beard which was filthy and grimy. He has seen better days.

He slowly sat up and looked around. He didn't care how he looked or how the apartment looked. He just didn't care anymore. He slowly made his way into the bathroom which was surprisingly still clean. He closed his eyes as he remembered the face he had seen so long ago. The face of his fiancée dead. The funeral was bad enough. Her parents blamed him for the accident, claiming that Wendy could have and should have done better. And that her blood was on his hands.

Travis made his way out of the bathroom when he heard a knock on the door. Travis hesitated for a few seconds as the knock came a second time. Travis finally made his way over to the door and opened it. He saw the familiar and friendly face of George Knight. His partner in the bureau.

"Hey stranger. How's the leave?" George asked.

Travis didn't reply. He just stood there.

"Mind if I come in?" George asked.

Travis said nothing as he stepped out of the way. George walked inside the apartment as his nostrils smelled the foul smell that had echoed in the apartment for months. He was disgusted at the site he saw. His best friend was literally in pieces. George felt a swell of sadness for the pull soul.

"Travis… man…. I know you're probably still hurting but you know enough is enough. It's time to move on," George said.

"I can't," Travis said.

"Look, it was a terrible thing, I know. You were in love with Wendy, I know, but enough is enough, she would want you to move on," George said.

"I CAN'T MOVE ON! SHE WAS EVERYTHING TO ME!" Travis yelled.

"DO YOU THINK SHE WOULD WANT YOU TO LIVE THIS WAY?" George yelled.

"I… I don't care," Travis said. Travis suddenly felt a sharp pain in his gut. He kneeled over from it as he realized that George had punched him in the gut.

"YOU IDIOT! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? She wants you to live happily," George said. "I'm sorry it happened, I really am. But do you think she likes watching this from heaven?"

"She didn't love me... she didn't know what she wanted," Travis said.

"Bull man. You two were engaged. You were going to have a kid. So she had trouble expressing her feelings. So what? You knew what those feelings were," said George.

Travis paused as he listened to George. His face drifted slowly to the good times he had with Wendy, and all the joy she had given him.

"Is this how you would want to see her again? Would you want her to see you like this? In pain and agony?" George asked.

"I… I guess not," Travis said as he slowly sat down.

"It's just that the last time I saw her alive... I asked her if she loved me…. She never answered."

Present.

Travis sat at the desk looking through all the files. He flipped through the files for Aelita. He pulled out a small digitally enhanced picture; it showed what Aelita would look like at the age of 13. Long pink hair, curly, glasses and the same innocent look on her face as her picture when she was four.

Travis glanced at her birth records. His skin crawled and his heart stopped as he realized what her birthdate was.

"May… 3rd. 1982.…" The same year as when he calculated the birth of his first child.

Travis breathed heavily as he glanced back at the photo. What was it? Why did this case matter to him so much? Was it how Aelita reminded him of Wendy? Or that she was born on the date his first child was to be born?

Travis put the picture in his right jacket pocket. He would need it if they ever found her location and had to see if it was her or not.

"Morning Travis," a voice said as his hotel room door opened. Jessica stepped inside as Travis turned on the light on the desk.

"Hey," Travis said. "How did you sleep?"

"Like a baby," Jessica said. "You?"

"I never sleep. Too many nightmares."

Odd and Ulrich stood outside the cafeteria as they normally did. Jeremy was in the shower and Aelita was on her way down. William was still asleep and Sissi was getting a bottle of orange juice. The heat was terrible outside. Odd was wiping the sweat from his brow constantly. He couldn't stand the heat at all.

"I mean why is it out of all of the rooms in the school our air conditioner doesn't work?" Odd asked.

"It doesn't bother me that much," Ulrich said.

"Why doesn't it? I mean I toss and turn at night and you just lay over there," Odd asked.

"Because I go shower every night. And I don't dry off so when I put my PJ's on the water soaks into the clothes and keeps me cool at night. Besides Jim said he is going to install a new air conditioner in our room today anyways," Ulrich said.

"It's about time. Any sooner and I was going to go steal one from Theo," Odd said as Sissi walked over.

"I mean it was wrong for them to have us wait a whole day for it," Odd protested.

"Odd… our air conditioner just died yesterday," Ulrich said.

"Still. My family pays a lot for me to come here. I expect their money's worth," Odd demanded.

"Is your family rich Odd?" Sissi asked.

"Well my mother is an artist while my father is retired from the army," Odd said. "They get some money from my father's retirement."

"Wait! Your father is like what? 45? Why is he retired?" Ulrich asked.

"He can't say. Something about a project in America. But he met my mother on that project."

"My parents met during a James bond movie… that's all I got," Sissi said as she drank from her bottle.

"Um... I don't want to say about my parents," Ulrich said.

"I know, buddy," Odd said.

"What?" Sissi asked.

"We'll tell you later. It's kind of personal," Ulrich said.

"…Ok." Sissi said. Ulrich and Odd fought down their relief.

Jeremy and Aelita made their way outside. The heat was already bearing down on them. Jeremy was still wet from the shower, but now he was slowly getting wet from the sweat. Aelita wasn't as hot as she had been. She actually felt perfectly fine, although she was still quite tired. She felt as if she had just gotten out of bed. She was tired and stressed out. But the news Jeremy had told Aelita was enough to get her feeling better.

"So this weekend we're going to stay at your parents'?" Aelita asked.

"Well they want us to. But... I don't know," Jeremy said.

"What do you mean?" Aelita asked.

"Well I need to get to the factory later and work on the super computer. I want to find out why the RTTP program stopped working. And we need to keep an eye out for Xervix," Jeremy said.

"No, we can go tonight. We both need the break Jer," Aelita said.

"But we can't. What if Xervix attacks?" Jeremy said in defiance.

"Jeremy. We both have been doing too much. I'm ill from something and you're too tired to stay awake in school," Aelita said as she turned around and grabbed his hands.

"You're all I have left in the world. I have nothing. I don't want to lose you Jeremy. I… I...," Aelita tried to say it but the words couldn't come out.

"...Aelita. If it means that much then we will go spend the weekend at my parents'. If it helps you feel better, then it's worth it," Jeremy said.

"Um Jeremy…. Can we go on another date like we did the other night?" Aelita asked.

Jeremy paused. His face was showed the expression of a protective friend. But deep down inside he was screaming for joy like a little school boy. He felt like he wanted to go run on top of the factory and scream for joy! But for the moment he played it cool and calm.

"Sure we can. We will go next week. Deal?" Jeremy asked.

Aelita's face shined with joy. "Deal."

"So how about we head over to the factory as soon as Yumi gets here so you can get to work on the computer," Aelita suggested.

Jeremy's face shined even brighter with joy. "Deal," Jeremy said.

Chapter 28 is up. i decided thier would be a little backstory on Travis since i have a lot of people asking me what his deal is and all. also a little set up for the next fight. thier final fight in france i guess you could say. its not much i know but it should hold you over till the next chapter