Jeremie: Part 6

Jeremie turned around in the computer chair and wiped his brow. His body shook as the adrenaline loosened its hold on him, returning him to normal. He'd been feeling tense and worried all through the mission to save Ulrich. He pushed himself from the chair and waited for his friends to make it up to the computer lab. He wasn't sure if it all had worked out correctly. Aelita had deactivated the tower the exact moment that the countdown timer had hit zero. It was highly likely that Ulrich was gone to them.

It was then that he heard the elevator moving up and he looked around to see it open and reveal Ulrich's grinning countenance.

"You've lost, Einstein," he said, the small crackle of Xana present in his voice.

The three exited the scanners and instantly knew that something was wrong.

"Where's Ulrich…?" Odd asked hesitantly, voicing the question everyone was thinking.

"Maybe he's just upstairs with Jeremie, and they're both waiting for us," Aelita quipped, knowing in the back of her mind it wasn't true. They'd lost their best friend forever.

The three headed up to the computer lab and were met with what they expected but hoped wasn't true.

Ulrich had murdered Jeremie.

Aelita turned away, tears stinging her eyes. She had to cover her mouth to help keep the bile from burning its way up her throat. They'd lost not only Ulrich and Yumi, but now Jeremie was dead. It was too much for the pinkette to take and she tore her way from the room and out of the Factory.

"We're screwed, Odd. It's inevitable that the three of us are going to die," William said, stepping toward Jeremie and giving him a once over.

"Not exactly, William. I have a plan, but I'm going to need you and Aelita's help with it. We can save ourselves, I know it…" Odd whispered, heading out of the Factory, William following closely after.

Alright, so Aelita's out with helping, but maybe I can find someone else that's good with computers. Herve would be the next choice, but he might ask too many questions…. Think Odd! The blonde thought to himself, sitting on his bed and glaring at his roommate. Aelita was basically solely focused on bringing Xana down. Her entire instinct of self-preservation was gone. Killing Xana was all she was focused on. William was the only other person that could help him, but even that was iffy. He needed someone that he could fully trust. He needed Ulrich back, but that wasn't going to happen. There was no way that Xana was going to let the brunet go, and Odd was just going to have to deal with what he had on hand at the moment.

He quietly slipped from the room, and he made his way to Herve's room and knocked.

"State your business," came his muffled reply through the wooden door.
"Uh, I need your help with something. It's important, Herve. I know I haven't been nice to you in the past, but this is a life-or-death situation," Odd answered, his voice wavering slightly.

The pimply-faced, onyx haired boy came to the door and opened it with a look of utter shock. "You want my help with something? Why not ask Jeremie?"

Odd quickly answered like he didn't know of Jeremie's death yet. "I can't find him. I just need this one thing, Herve. I'll never bother you ever again if you can at least attempt to help me with this.

Aelita typed furiously at her computer, deleting or editing code until she knew it would work. This had to work. Her and Odd were the only ones left, and they needed to fight their hardest to survive.

Pain welled up in her heart, and she quelled it. She couldn't afford to feel anything but determination. She couldn't allow herself to be upset. She needed to get this done as soon as possible before Ulrich had a chance to kill her. She finally understood how Jeremie felt when he was trying to save her life, and she silently thanked him. She allowed a single tear fall from her eye, and then she started typing with renewed determination.

Ulrich was a good person. He never wanted to hurt any of them, and she needed him right now. He was close to Yumi, and he needed them as well. He probably wasn't even aware of the things going on right now. She hated what he was forced to become, but she didn't hate him.

He blinked slowly and sat up. He couldn't tell where he was. He didn't know exactly who he was anymore…. Memories flowed through his mind, and he didn't know if they were his or not. He was a thought that had been discarded he reasoned. Yes, that was the only thing he could be. A passing thought that had been discarded. He could see exactly what was going on outside of this head he was trapped in, and he could tell there was a school. They were walking through a school.

"You are something unwanted, but you are needed here. Fight for your place back…" he heard a calming, gentle voice say.

He looked around him and started running. He didn't know where he was going, but there was a definite destination.

"Thanks Herve. Let me know when you need to test it, okay? I need it soon," Odd said, waving the onyx haired genius and smiling as he exited his room.

Odd made his way down the hallway, and he went to Jeremie's room first. He opened the door with the key that Jeremie expertly hid, and he sat down at the computer. He knew he knows nothing about computers, but he's good at figuring things out and finding things that need found. To this thought, he quickly found a program that would completely eradicated Xana from Ulrich, but it wasn't complete yet. He burned the files to a DVD and attempted to call Aelita.

On the third try, she answered. "What do you want, Odd?"

"Listen, we need to find a way that we get Jer's computer when they find out that he's dead as well. They'll search it, and guess what they'll find. We'll be screwed. I've found a program on here that is for ridding Ulrich of Xana, and I burned the files to a DVD. Help me, and I'll give it to you," he answered, hanging up before she could protest.

Things were moving in the right direction, but he wondered how long he could keep it that way….

A/N: I'm just not really motivated to write this anymore, but I'm going to finish it. Reviews will help. If you don't like this story, tell me so.

~MoonlitxAngel