Chapter 11: This and That

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Aelita was staring aimlessly at her feet. "The pulsations are strongest here." She moved slowly forward, hands outstretched. It shouldn't even be possible to hide such a large tower on these narrow forest paths.

She continued her pace, the desperation to save their currently 'Lyoko Absent' friend progressed. It was dangerous to let anyone square off with XANA too long and they could all knew that, as they kept searching.

It was this aching feeling in their guts and chests that had Ulrich slashing at trunks and Yumi peering upward at the treetops and occasionally tossing one of her fans. There was nothing there… there wasn't even any monsters.

The tower has to be somewhere else. Maybe my program is malfunctioning…

For the most part they didn't reply except for Aelita. "The pulsations are strongest right around here." But with all their jumbled-ness she couldn't find the source. She kept walking.

You can't see the tower though?

Aelita gasped softly causing Ulrich and Yumi to halt what they were doing to watch her brushing her fingers over the air. "I think… I think I found it Jeremie." She lie her hand flat watching as it suddenly vanished.

Hurry Aelita.

She pushed forward, trusting the familiar sensation, despite the fact: she couldn't see the tower.

She was comforted to find the inside was visible and went forth to complete her task.

The cell phone rang and rang.

But no one picked it from its place on the floor and no one answered it.

It was several small inches from a pair of yellow shoes, which no longer held their owner up as the remainder of electricity sparked and frizzed off his trembling form. His fingers jerked with small spasms, his form sprawled out as he had fallen.

His heart was beating erratically in desperation and his breathing had picked up pace. It felt like he was choking, even as the hand had moved away and the majority of agony followed.

He could feel Sissi warmth against his back but didn't know what to make of it. She wasn't shaking like him, as he peered up at their attacker with one open eye. Xana was gathering more energy to his open palm.

It was as simple as that.

Odd could feel his heart throbbing in his chest and the breath caught in his throat. The coughs rose-- it was all fine and dandy if he didn't move but the action made his back arch and made the muscles spasm shortly beneath his skin.

He couldn't think how bad it was, his thoughts had been smothered by primitive instincts of: fight or flight. Though he could do neither. He wished he knew if Sissi was alright but how could anyone think of that when they felt like this.

He was past the point of understanding anything but: that electricity is going to kill me. That was assuming his aching heart didn't fail first.

His friends would find the tower in time.

A loud buzzing had grown in his ears. It drown out the sound of the ringing mobile and sound of his own heart.

His friends would be in time to save him.

The flickering threat drew closer but he couldn't find the proper nerve control to try and shield himself, as his vision began to blur.

They had to be.

Aelita touched the panel.

Code:

Lyoko

The codes on the surrounding walls began to fall.

Tower deactivated.

Xana's host went limp and they slumped sideways to the floor.

For Odd though, even with the immediate threat gone, his vision was still going black.

Even with Xana gone his condition wasn't fairing. His last strands of consciousness snapping loose with the faint realization that they must of made it in time. They must of…

And a familiar white light washed over him.

--

It was SO annoying.

Seeing him.

He remained slouched over that trashcan probably debating whether he would hurl again or not. Then, suddenly his fingers jerked against the rim as if he was suddenly startled by his own position.

It was weird and uncalled for-- the way he suddenly threw himself back from the bin. It was like it had given him a nasty bite and he was now struggling to put distance between him and it. His arms hugged around his front and his shoulders shook with what Sissi could only assume were coughs. She wasn't sure if she should be concerned or not.

It was really weird but she was still mad at him and worrying…

She saw his shoulders slump and his feet sliding out from beneath him.

Sissi was already on her feet, even if she was yet to realize it. She was moving closer, feet thundering beneath her but it wasn't the only pair of feet she heard. There were more and they were moving just as fast if not quicker then herself. She saw them coming across the grounds-- the whole group of them.

"ODD!" At least one of them proclaimed though she wasn't sure which.

She was almost there, they were almost there.

But she reached first.

Odd collapsed backwards against her legs before she could even ask what was wrong. His friends probably knew or why else would they come running so suddenly? Sissi frowned down at the unconscious boy, once more she was being left out of the loop.

XANA… It was a name she heard from each on occasion-- something to do with their secret. An enemy? The anger in Odd's tone when he struck her yesterday explained as much. What did any of that have to do with the current situation though?

Nothing…

She wanted to be mad.

Mad at Odd for fracturing her nose, mad at the group for keeping secrets, mad at Xana for existing (whoever they maybe), and… mad at herself… for not being good enough for the people in front of her.

She couldn't be a part of the worrying group of friends: Aelita, the frantic pink haired girl; Yumi, who pulled the motionless boy away; Jeremie, who had two fingers to Odd's throat; Or even Ulrich, who glared her down, disgusted.

She wasn't welcome among them as they whispered to one another. They may have not said 'go away' or 'get lost' but they might as well. She swallowed hard, "what's going on?" She tried to demand with her usual sternness but the tone fell short of perfection.

Ulrich was still staring at her hard-- as if it was all her fault.

It made her shift with discomfort before her hands curled into fist. They had reason to hate her, she got that, but how could they even think to blame her for this? She had no idea what was going on except that Jeremie seemed to be checking Odd's vitals, which wasn't a good train of thought. As if they expected the purple boy to be dead.

"He's just… unconscious."

But he wasn't dead and Sissi could hear the sighs of relief and feel the unspoken questions hanging in the air.

The sad thing was, that most of those questions, were hers.

Odd heard voices.

No big deal, he'd been hearing voices his whole life.

The only problem with these ones-- they seemed to be in his head.

"I can't," Up and down, the volume fluttered. "Find anything wrong." Feeling was tingling back into his limbs and slowly his senses were sharpening back to awareness. He pulled his hands to his face and sluggishly wiped the sleep from his eyes.

Warily he sat up and curled his back as he stretched, a large yawn rising to his lips.

"How are you feeling?"

Odd blinked dimly at the familiar voice. He looked down at the white sheeted bed he was laying in. It was rather strange, he wasn't quite sure how he got there. Shifting he glanced towards Yolanda and pulled a smile. "Wonderful, just a bit hungry. You wouldn't happen to know if it's lunch yet?"

Was Sissi…?

He shook the question out of his mind, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

And where were the others?

"I think it just started but your going to have to see the principal first."

Oh, right. So Sissi--

She had thought the worse but waited nevertheless and man had Elisabeth waited for a long time. So when the purple boy managed to stroll out of the room so calmly she had her doubts of whether he had ever been hurt at all.

"DELLA ROBBIA?!" His back stiffened immediately and she found herself facing him when he spun around.

"Sissi!" She didn't get a good look at him before she was nearly toppled over. The breath tighten in her chest the moment she felt his arms hook around her middle and felt his front so close to hers. The hug had caught her so off guard that for a moment she didn't know how to react.

Odd Della Robbia was hugging her. Why? They weren't even friends.

She shoved him backwards. "Don't touch me scrawny."

Why was he still smiling like that? "I'm still angry at you." He was still grinning. "You fractured my nose." Why was she smiling too? She forced a scowl back onto her face. "You ruined my day!"

Then he did the most surprising thing yet or said… "I'll tell you our secret, Sissi."