Code Twilight: Silent Void Chapter 19: With Every Moment, a code lyoko fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, Linkin Park, or any of HoboLovers characters. I do own Musa, Cascada, this story's plot and any other character that isn't part of the previously mentioned.

Special thanks to xanadead for the skiing info.

With Every Moment of Peace, There Are Those of Pain

Soft snores were sounded through out the main room of the girls' suite as eight sleepy teenagers slept off the remaining night and some of the morning. Actually, make those seven sleepy teens since one plant A.I. was already awake with the morning sun.Cascada's eyes roamed across the dimly lit room, trying to distinguish which entangled limbs belonged to her and which belonged to one of her friends.

After stopping by the old cabin to revert to their normal forms, the Lyoko gang had all completely fell out right in the middle of the room. It was a miracle that some of them had even made it to the couch or one of the big comfy chairs. Odd and Musa, on the other hand, were the unlucky two whom collapsed right in the middle of the floor, out cold. Sometime during the remaining night or early morning, Cascada noted, someone must have seen them all out there and covered them all in blankets. "Probably Sitara," the plant A.I. thought as she slowly pried William off of her. "At least he's finally getting some sleep."

Once the task of removing the surprisingly heavy sword wielding warrior was over, Hikaru found herself stepping delicately through entanglements of the others sleeping limbs. Once she was free, from the sleeping version of twister, she looked back at her friends, a small barely noticeable but still there smile on her face. "My family," she thought fondly. After staring silently for awhile, she noticed that none of them had changed out of the cloths that they had been wearing last night before the tansformation. Wanting to get the questionably clothing that she had borrowed from Lucas off, Cascada headed towards the bathroom. Thankful that the scanner was able to fix her sprang ankle otherwise she would have woken up half the hotel by now.

She silently closed the door, making sure it was locked just in case. The strawberry blonde turned on the shower, letting the room get nice and steamy before stepping in. Once she was done, she stepped out, wrapping herself in one of the hotel's soft and fluffy towels.

The girl wiped the fogged up mirror with the heel of her hand before leaning in, pushing locks of damp strawberry blonde hair off to the side. She stared at her forest green eyes, trying to look for something but sighed frustrated after a few moments when she found nothing. "What the hell was Odd talking about?" she muttered to herself before leaving the bathroom and walking to her room to get dressed.

Once that was done, Cascada found herself bored. It was still early and none of the others had awoken from their deep sleeps. Her hands twitching with the need to do something so she walked towards the kitchen. She was surprised when she found stuff like milk, eggs, and other stuff in the fridge but none the less, it gave her an idea of something she could do.

Taking out the needed supplies, the plant A.I. opted to fix breakfast. She had never done this before nor had she any idea how to but she wanted to try. Prying Jeremy's laptop away from him, she turned it on looking up information on how to cook breakfast.

"It can't be that hard," she murmured to herself.

William stood in a black abyss, wondering where he was. He knew he was dreaming but that didn't bring him much comfort.

"Wouldn't you like to know," a voice teased.

"Who said that?" the shaggy hair teen asked aloud. The voice sounded male though it was hard to tell where it was coming from.

"You should know by now Willy boy." The boy scrunched up his brow. The voice sounded familiar but he couldn't exactly place it. "Maybe I should give you a hint," they said before something began to appear and form before him.

Dunbar narrowed his eyes. "You…"

Animals are known to have the best sense of smell so it was really no surprise when Odd and Musa were to first to be awoken by the smells coming from the kitchen. The two awoke and stumbled into the kitchen both shocked awake when they saw Cascada cooking. The end of the world was near.

"Hey," the plant A.I. greeted as she flitted from one side of the kitchen to the other.

"Ugh…hi?" the two younger teens said still not believing their eyes.

"We really didn't get to have dinner last night so I thought I could fix breakfast," Hikaru said over her shoulder by the stove.

"Do you even know how?" Odd asked as he took a seat at the table. He was answered with a glare over the shoulder by Cascada that immediatly shut him up.

"Well, it smells good," Musa said truthfully.

Soon the smell of cooking breakfast awoke the others and they all came shuffling into the kitchen surprised when they found the strawberry blonde making breakfast. They were soon joined by Sitara who, though still sleepy looking, had a look of absolute happiness on her face for whatever unknown reason. She smiled, waving to everyone as she took an empty seat next to Musa.

"Well here it is," Cascada said carrying several plates on her arm, briefly looking like a waittress as she sat a plate of delicious looking food in front of them. Once she had given everyone one, she sat down in her seat with her own plate before her, sitting between Yumi and William. She was about to take a bite of her food when she realized everyone but Sitara, who was looking around the table confused, wasn't eating. "What's wrong?"

"Is this…edible?" Jeremy asked looking at the perfectly fine eggs but looks can be deceiving.

"Are you questioning my cooking skills?" the plant A.I. asked, eye twitching angrily.

"Before today you didn't even know you had any cooking skills," Ulrich pointed out. "And I am so not going to be your guinea pig."

"Is that really the reason? Because I haven't cooked before or is it because of something else? I bet if Musa cooked it you guys wouldn't be questioning its edibility!"

"That's because we would already know how edible the food was," Jeremy said. "She has the same taste buds as Odd; the same Odd who thinks pizza with anchovies, marshmallows, and chocolate chips is delicious!"

"Hey," the eccentric blonde protested. "It is delicious."

"Well we all know my taste buds are far from theirs," Cascada said crossing her arms. "So why don't you all just stop complaining and eat the damn food before I shove it up your-"

"Sitara seems to like it," Yumi pointed out as the mute happily ate her breakfast. She looked up when she heard her name confused before giving Cascada thumbs up.

"HA!" the strawberry blonde shouted triumphantly. "She likes it!"

After seeing that the mute wasn't about to be poisoned by the food, the others hesitatingly took bites of their food before their eyes widened. "This is really good, Cascada," Aelita said while taking another bite.

"Yeah! Way to go sis!"

Musa cheered. The plant A.I. grinned triumphantly as she watched Jeremy take a bite. "It's not that bad, I guess," the boy murmured which was as good of a compliment as she was going to get at the moment.

Hikaru turned to William who hadn't spoken at all. He was pushing his food around his plate absentmindedly, his eyes looking far off and distant. "William?" Cascada asked placing a hand on his arm. The boy jumped looking around the room almost frantically before he realized where he was and relaxed.

"Did, did you say something?" he asked his girlfriend.

"I was about to ask you how you liked your food when you got that distant look in your eyes. Are you okay?" she asked worriedly, keeping her voice down so the others wouldn't over hear.

"I'm fine and the food is good," the boy said waving her off before shoving a forkful of eggs in his mouth ending the conversation. Cascada shook her head before returning to her breakfast. A few minutes later, Sissi walked in.

"Where did all this food come from?" she asked confused.

"Cascada cooked," Odd said after swallowing a mouthful of eggs.

"Oh," the principal's daughter said quietly.

Cascada got up from her seat and walked over towards the microwave where there was a plate of food before handing it to the unsuspecting girl. "Here, that's for you."

"Did you poison this?" Sissi asked in disbelief.

"It's too early for that stuff. Now just eat," Cascada said waving her off. Sissi for once, did as she was told and ate the food, surprised just as the others had been when she realized that it was really good.

The group continued to eat in silence until Musa's phone rang. She answered it looking surprised until she agreed to something before closing her phone. "That was Chris. He said that he wants to see us later."

"I was hoping we could finally go skiing," Yumi sighed.

"We still can," the wolf A.I. said. "He doesn't want to see us till around five o'clock and it's ten thirty right now so if we hurry up and go we can get a few hours in."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Ulrich said getting up, the other boys doing the same.

"We're going to get our stuff. We'll meet you guys in the lobby," Odd said as the guys walked out.

"See ya," Aelita waved as Cascada cleared the table. She deposited all the dishes into the sink about to wash them when Sissi stopped her.

"I'll do them," the younger insisted which surprised the plant A.I. but she nonetheless shrugged before walking to her room to get ready.

It took the boys less than half an hour to get ready and to go down to the lobby. They saw a few of their classmates awake and going in and out from the hotel. Finally, Musa, Cascada, Yumi, Aelita, and Sitara came out towards the elevator dressed ready to go.

"So," Cascada asked as they walked towards the slopes. "Does anyone know how to ski or snowboard?"

"It's really simple," William said speaking after being quiet for so long. "If you want to go faster keep the skis straight, if you want to slow down make a wedge with them. If you want to stop you hop about 2 centimeters in the air and then turn, digging your edges into the snow."

Musa and Odd had confused looks on their faces. "We'll snowboard!" they said simultaneously before running off to rent some. William shook his head.

"I'll ski," Yumi said. "I think I still remember how to. What about you Ulrich?" she asked the brunette. The boy blushed, murmuring something. "What was that?" Yumi asked.

"I can't ski," the boy muttered a little louder.

"Then I'll teach you," the Japanese girl smiled. The boy nodded, grateful.

"I think I'll sit this one out," Jeremy said.

"Figures," Cascada scoffed.

"What's that suppose to mean?" the computer whiz asked.

"Nothing, honestly," the plant A.I. said innocently. "I'll think I'll snow board. What about you guys?" she asked looking towards Aelita, Sitara, and William.

"I'll stay with Jeremy," the pink hair girl said causing said boy to blush.

Sitara pretended to get into a skiing position saying that she wanted to ski and William shrugged. "I'll ski," he said.

"Then let's go get the stuff," Cascada said leading the way towards the rental area. They passed by Odd and Musa who had already gotten their boards; Odd's looking strikingly similar to the one he had on Lyoko and Musa had a dark blue one with lightning designs.

After everyone got all their stuff they got onto the ski lift, riding up to the intermediate's slope. Yumi and Sitara helped teach Ulrich the basics while Cascada, Musa, Odd, and William had a race down the hill. It was a tie between Musa and Cascada.

While the others were off skiing, Jeremy and Aelita were sitting in a nearby ski café drinking hot chocolate while the boy was on his laptop. "What are you doing?" Aelita asked.

"Now that we have the parts," Jeremy said not looking up from his laptop, "we can start working on the virtualization devices."

"How long will it take you?"

"Well, if I go straight to the cabin instead of going with you guys to meet Chris then I could get one done and get the others copied by the scanner by tomorrow."

"That's great!" Aelita said. "Are you going to ask Musa and Cascada for help?"

"I can do it myself," the blonde said a little bit harshly.

"Well I was just suggesting," the pink hair girl sounded slight offended.

"I know, I know, it's just, I want to do this by myself," the boy said softly. Aelita's eyes softened as she nodded, understanding.

"I'm tired."

"I'm tired too."

"Onii-san! Carry me!"

"You're too big."

"You're so mean!"

The Lyoko group and Sitara were returning from their ski and snowboarding activities. They were all tired as they made their way back to the hotel. "Man, we still have to see Chris," Odd groaned.

"We'll change and then head over to meet him," Yumi said.

"I'm going to the, you know," Jeremy said not explaining further since Sitara was there.

"I'll go too," Aelita said. "If Chris just wants to do another recording then you can just do one of the songs that don't need me to be there."

"Hai," Musa nodded before turning to Sitara. "Do you want to come with us? It's kind of boring but I don't want to leave you by yourself." Sitara nodded as they rode up the elevator to change.

Once everyone was done and Jeremy and Aelita had left, they headed towards the room they were in when they were recording earlier. When they got there, they saw Chris, Ken, and Ozzy waiting outside.

"Great. You're on time," Ken said looking over them. "Who's she?" she asked pointing to Sitara. "And where are Aelita and Jeremy?"

"This is Sitara, dad," Odd said. "She's our new friend and Aelita and Jeremy are both kind of sick so they're in their rooms," he lied.

"Well I guess that's what we get for pushing this last minute," Ozzy sighed adjusting his glasses.

"Pushing what exactly?" Cascada asked skeptically.

The three men looked at each other before turning back towards the kids. "Press conference."

Musa's P.O.V.

If the devil was human I bet he would take one of the forms of the three men who sealed my fate and forced me up here. "Kuso. I don't do so well with crowds," I whispered to Odd as we stared into the vicious and waiting to tear us to pieces faces of the press and media.

"We've performed before in front of people," Odd whispered back while waving enthusiastically at the crowd as the photographers took photos of us.

"Of course but our performances are like one sided conversations. Unless we stink horribly, you hardly even remember that the audience is even there other than the deaf rendering cheers. This on the other hand," I said gulping "is like your dad, Chris, and Ozzy sending us to the sharks in bloody water."

"I think I get the picture," Odd said cringing slightly at the mental image I had instilled in his head.

"Why were we only informed of this now?" Cascada asked next to me. The basic lineup of the table we were sitting at from the left was William, Cascada, an empty chair presumably for Terran, me, Odd, Ulrich, and then Yumi. Sitara was safely with Ken and Chris. Lucky girl. At least she'll come out of this in on piece.

"Ozzy said this was the only time he could get some of the top music channels here and that it's good for our publicity," William informed calmly though I know he would rather chew his arm off than be here. We all would.

"So…many…lights…" Ulrich murmured.

"Is he going to be okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, just bad stage experiences," Yumi said.

"Okay everyone," Ken said walking to the front of the raised platform we were sitting on and addressing the mass of people, "we'll begin the questioning and answering part of our program today followed by a performance."

"WHAT THE HELL?" I and probably the other members of the band thought judging by our reactions to that tad bit on news. We hadn't known anything about a performance!

"So," Chris said stepping up. "Who wants to begin?"

A small woman with black rimmed glasses and pixie like face with her hair pulled into a bun raised her hand as Chris nodded at her. "Yes, I'm Maxine Gales of Euro-Remix. I was told that Terran Yuki would be here but it appears he is not. Care to explain?"

"Terran Yuki has been getting over a cold but I assure you he is own his way as we speak," Ken said answering the woman's question. "Now, if you may, let all questions be directed towards the band," he said stepping off stage with Chris and leaving us to fend for ourselves. We were so dead.

Several reporters raised their hands at once, yelling for our attention. Odd was crazy enough to pick a tall wry looking man with bleached tipped spiky hair. "T.J. Carom from Music Beat Magazine. According to my sources you have played songs from anywhere from metal, to rock, to gothic, to j-pop. Is that right?"

"Yeah," Odd said about to say more before he was cut off by T.J.

"How do you plan to keep a specific listeners group with such a vast array of genres?" Odd was stomped and I could tell. Luckily, big sis Cascada came to save the day.

"That's the point," she said levelly. "We want a vast array of music, something that anyone can listen to and relate too. It'll not only make our style of music different compared to others, it'll open us to many different listeners." T.J. nodded writing this all down.

"I have a question, Tammy Clark from What's Happening Trans-Euro Online Magazine" a cherry red died hair woman said.

"Go for it," Cascada shrugged looking totally at ease. Oh how I wish I could have her totally indifferent personality sometimes.

"This is for the two supposed Japanese speakers of the group," Tammy said looking between me and Yumi. What the hell did she mean by "supposed"? "If I'm correct Yumi Ishiyama is of Japanese nationality while you," she said looking at me, "your nationalities are unknown. The only thing to give a hint of your nationality is your name but those can be easily changed."

"What are you saying?" I asked not liking where this was going.

"I'm just saying that it's kind of insulting and confusing to your future fans that you pretend to be of a certain nationality."

"So just because I speak another language which may not be my own I'm insulting someone?" I asked incredulously. "I really don't see that point of view. I'm doing nothing to insult the Japanese culture. Actually I have great respect for its art, food, music, and history. I don't feel like giving you more personal reasons but the Japanese culture is very close to my heart. I use the language because I can. I'm not trying to pretend to be something I'm not." Yumi smirked at me, telling me without words that I had said all the right things.

"Next?" William said.

The woman from earlier, Maxine Gales raised her hand. "If I'm correct to understand," she said looking at Odd, "your father is the Ken Della Robbia, a great artist in his time and now one of the biggest producers today." I could see Ken face palm himself from all the way across the room. That couldn't be good.

"Yeah," Odd said sounding slightly unsure. "He is my dad but-"

"Do you feel that the reason why your band is here is not because of your talent but because of your father's position?" I think what happened next surprised us all.

"You're an idiot for even thinking that." I'll just tell you now. That definitely wasn't Odd. Probably thinking Cascada? Nope. It was…

"Ulrich, what are you doing?" Odd whispered.

Stern didn't listen to him as he stared Maxine. "Odd is one of my best friends. He may be a goofball and idiot-"

"I think they get the point," Odd muttered.

"But he never takes the easy way out with something he cares about, his music included so you even insinuating that we got here merely because of his dad is an insult to him and I won't take it," Ulrich said staying true to his last name: Stern.

I held a new respect for the usually quiet but sarcastic member of the group though with the whole "I won't take it" part he made it sound like he and Odd were lovers or something. I'm really beginning to wonder…they are roommates…

"Oh! Oh! Pick me!" a blonde woman who had a hyper air around her shouted.

"Uh…sure?" I said as more of a question.

"Okay, so you are all young and probably thinking that these are the best years of your lives. Is there any romances happening in the group?"

"If you mean couples, then yeah," I said unsure if what I was saying would later cause us trouble.

"Great!" the woman smiled writing this down. "But what would happen to the band if the couples broke up? I could only guess that it would be pretty awkward."

"I supposed it would be," I said "uh, Ms…"

"Jessica Greene," the woman said.

"Yeah, Ms. Greene. It would be awkward but we're taking things as they come. If something like that ever does come up then we'll handle it together but I would hope that even if we did fight we wouldn't let it affect the music."

"On the matter of relationships," T.J. said sounding bored. "What is yours, Ms. Utada with Terran Yuki?"

"He's a really nice guy and we've decided to be friends but other than that I'm already taken," I said as Odd happily squeezed my knee under the safety of the table.

"Oh, really?" Tammy said. "Mind telling us with whom?"

"Is that all you really want to talk about?" a voice said from the audience as Terran made the crowd part for him like the Red Sea. He walked towards the platform we were on and took his seat next to mine all the while having his head turned in the general direction of where Tammy Clark was. If you didn't know that he was blind you would totally think that he was staring holes at the woman from behind his glasses. "Really," he said in a bored tone, "if those are the only questions you can think to ask than your little web page must be nothing more than a little gossip column."

It was amazing how he cut that culture criticizing woman down half a size. After that the question and answering part went smoothly. So smoothly that I actually became bored. It seemed that the only reason why three fourths of the people who were here was because of Terran. Apparently, he didn't make many public outings and any magazines would pay thousands to get a decent photo.

While Terran answered another question I stared at the people. My gaze soon fell upon Chris, Ken, Ozzy, and Sitara. Chris and Ken were looking somewhat exhausted though I don't know why. They weren't the ones being berated by a group of blood thirsty reporters. Ozzy was doing whatever while punching numbers into a calculator. Nerd. Sitara was more interesting to watch. For some reason she was blushing and hiding behind her bangs. Was it because of all the people? No. She wasn't looking like that earlier until…until Terran arrived. Suddenly, the memory of a broken Terran Yuki CD came to mind. "She has a crush on him," I thought. Things seemed to get so much more interesting.

End P.O.V.

"Okay," Ken said stepping back onto the platform, "the question and answering part of this program is over so to end it we'll have the band play one of their songs."

The present members of Evanescent Dreams and Terran Yuki walked over to where their instruments had been set up. "We'll do the song that we practiced at our last rehearsal," Terran said and surprisingly Odd agreed without a fight.

Musa sighed relieved. "At least they're not arguing," she thought as she slung her guitar over her shoulder before playing a guitar riff followed quickly by the others.

Terran: What do I do to ignore them behind me?
Do I follow my instincts blindly?
Do I hide my pride from these bad dreams?
And give in to sad thoughts that are maddening?
Do I sit here and try to stand it
Or do I try to catch them red-handed?
Do I trust some and get fooled by phoniness?
Or do I trust none and live life in loneliness?

"It's like playing at a funeral," Odd thought watching the melancholy expressions of the reporters.

Because I can't hold on when I'm stretched so thin
I make the right moves, but I'm lost within
I put on my daily facade, but then
I just end up getting hurt again by myself,Odd: Myself!

I ask why Odd: but in my mind, I find
Terran: I can't rely on myself, Odd: myself
Terran: I ask why Odd: but in my mind, I find
Terran: I can't rely on myself

Odd: I can't hold on Terran: to what I want when I'm stretched so thin
Odd: It's all too much to take in
Odd: I can't hold on Terran: to anything, watching everything spin
Odd: With thoughts of failure sinking in

Sitara couldn't believe it. Here he was Terran Yuki. She had always wanted to see him but the few shows he ever performed lived at were sold out in a matter of minutes. Yet, here she was, her friends playing in a band with him. It was so unimaginable.

"Enjoying the show, little lady?" Ken asked smiling as the girl nodded enthusiastically making her curly hair bounce up and down on her shoulders. "Well that's one person," he sighed turning back towards the band.

Terran: If I turn my back, I'm defenseless
And to go blindly seems senseless
If I hide my pride and let it all go on
Then they'll take from me until everything is gone
If I let them go, I'll be outdone
But if I try to catch them, I'll be outrun
If I'm killed by the questions like a cancer
Then I'll be buried in the silence of the answer by myself, Odd: myself
I ask why Odd: but in my mind, I find
Terran: I can't rely on myself, Odd: myself
Terran: I ask why Odd: but in my mind, I find
Terran: I can't rely on myself

Odd: I can't hold on Terran: to what I want when I'm stretched so thin
Odd: It's all too much to take in
I can't hold on Terran: to anything, watching everything spin
Odd: With thoughts of failure sinking in

Terran: How do you think,

Her body hurt. All of their bodies hurt.

I've lost so much?

"This is really disappointing, coming from my best general and three of my most praised assassins," their leader sighed in disappointment as he watched his subordinates wither on the floor in pain. "What do you have to say?" None responded. They couldn't.

I'm so afraid,

Three of the four girls laid on the floor together, the fourth further away. While still biting their lips to stop themselves from screaming in pain, since that would only make things worst, the three's hands twitched slightly, moving.

I'm out of touch

Their hands connected, squeezing each others with every shock of pain. The pain hurt but it was bearable as long as they were together.

How do you expect,

Esen looked at the three with jealousy in her eyes as she lay by herself with no one to comfort her. "Why?" she thought. "Why does everyone else have what I want?"

I will know what to do?

"Really," their leader sighed, "do you really think that I like punishing you?"

"Hell yeah, you bastard," one of the three girls groaned out.

"I'm glad I've haven't been labeled as soft then," the leader chuckled before sending out another wave of pain.

When all I know is what you tell me to!

Don't you Odd: know?
Terran: I can't tell you how to make it Odd: go
Terran: No matter what I do, how hard I Odd: try
Terran: I can't seem to convince myself Odd: why
Terran: I'm stuck on the outside

Ozzy grimaced slightly as he felt a migraine coming on. There was only so much banging and screaming he could handle. Whatever made him join the music business? His gaze settled back on the band. That was right…

The band ended and was surprised when they found their entire audience of shark like reporters clapping enthusiastically.

"That's a good sign I guess," Yumi murmured. Soon Ken called the program to an end and the reporters filed out though some were a little resistant about leaving and had to be forced out by security. Once the reporters were gone, Odd turned to Terran.

"Hey," he said sounding unsure. "Look I just want to, you know, apologize about what I said at our last rehearsal. It must be kind of hard for you being blind and all but the way you carry yourself it's kind of hard to believe," he said with a nervous chuckle.

"Whoever told you I was blind?" the white hair boy asked with the same emotionless tone he had used with the reporters.

"You did Terran-kun," Musa answered. "Don't you remember?"

"No and I would prefer it, Ms. Utada if you refrain from using –kun at the end of my name. If I'm correct, it's a term used for close acquaintances such as friends and we are not such."

"But I thought-" the girl began before she was cut off by an angry Odd.

"Hey! You don't have to be such a jerk though I don't know why anyone would want to be friends with you. We were only trying to be nice," the cat warrior growled defensively.

Yuki didn't respond as he turned around to leave, surprisingly bumping into Sitara. The girl crashed ungracefully to the floor from the force of impact. Terran seemed to stare down at her from behind his dark tinted glasses before continuing on and leaving the room.

"Odd's right," William said helping the fallen girl up. "He is a jerk."

"You okay?" Cascada asked the mute but found the girl staring at the boy leaving. The plant A.I. could have sworn she saw something in the girl's eyes; something akin to sadness and pity. Before any of the others could ask whether the girl was hurt, she took off, running out the doors that Terran Yuki had just walked out.

In Hotel's Lobby

She breathed heavily looking around the crowded room. It was no use he had already left. The mute girl sighed disappointedly as she plopped down on one of the big comfy chairs of the lobby. She was startled when one of the hotel's employees walked over to her.

"Are you Ms. Sitara Deangelo?" the man asked. The girl nodded. "A young man wearing a red scarf asked me to give you this," he said before he handed over a crudely wrapped package and then walking away.

Curious, the girl wasted no time in opening it. She was surprised, to say the least when she found a new copy of the Terran Yuki CD that Musa had broken a while ago. A note was taped to the back, written in hurried messy writing. "Thank You," was all it said but it meant so much to her.

"Sitara!" she heard Musa yell worriedly as she and the others ran towards her. "Why did you run? Are you okay?" the wolf A.I. asked worriedly. The mute nodded, tucking the CD away in one of her coat pockets without the others seeing it. "Well, okay," Utada said not sure whether or not to believe the girl but decided she had no other choice but too.

"So now that that press conference from hell is over," Ulrich said, "what do you guys want to do?"

"Let's go back upstairs," Odd suggested. "I'm tired. We can just hang out up there."

"Sounds like a plan," Ulrich shrugged. They took the elevator up to the boys' room where they found Aelita and Jeremy cuddling on the couch.

"Aw! So kawaii! Anybody have a camera?" Musa grinned as the two computer nerds of the group pulled apart with blushes on their faces.

"So you guys are done?" Cascada asked.

"No," Jeremy said rubbing his neck sheepishly. "Aelita made me take a break," he said before looking closely at his friends, "but I think you guys are the ones who look like they need a break. What happened?"

"Press conference from hell," Cascada sighed as she and the others took their spots on the couch or the floor by the T.V.

"Let's see what's on," Odd said using the remote to turn the T.V. on. Most of the channels were ones where you had to order from the hotel. As they flipped through the channels Aelita made him stop.

"Hey look," she said as Odd turned back to the channel which showed news.

"Lycoris Incorporated, one of the world's leading multi-manufacturing companies, will be having its first charitable fund raising party since the death of its former CEO, George McArnald," the anchorwoman said. "The event is expected to bring in ambassadors from many different cultures as clients and it is to be a big hit. To be performing at the event are new comers Evanescent Dream, a band led by Musa Utada and the son of music producer Ken Della Robbia, Odd Della Robbia. The band is also joined by Terran Yuki, an over night sensation. In other news…."

"Did anybody else notice that they only said Odd's and Musa's names?" Jeremy asked.

"What's up with that?" Ulrich asked.

"It wasn't like they had anything to do with that," Aelita said defending her "cousin" and her sister. "Besides, they do the most work out of anyone here."

"Guys," William said. "You may want to see this," he said pointing to the screen.

"Last night," the same anchorwoman continued, "Lucas McArnald, son of the late George McArnald, founder of Lycoris Incorporated, was found dead in his kitchen by one of his cleaning maids. Police are investigating the scene right now and all they found was a letter say this: 'I kept my promise, hon. I beat them to it. You already have everything you need. I have faith in you.' Crime investigators are trying to decipher the message for any hidden message and to see if they can come into contact with anyone who may have seen McArnald before his death. At this moment, this case is being labeled as a suicide unless police can find anything that could state the contrary. Mike, back to you."

Sitara looked confused as she watched her friends all wear melancholy expressions. Did they know this Lucas? Surprisingly, Musa and Cascada were the only ones who didn't look affected.

"Well," Musa sighed, "who wants to watch a movie?"

"How can you be like that after, you know?" Yumi asked.

"Be like what?" Cascada asked.

"Aren't you feeling sad?" William asked.

"About what?" the wolf A.I. asked, a confused look on her face.

"About Lucas's death," Aelita said.

"Should we be?" the two A.I.'s asked and their friends noticed that the two were truly confused.

"Could you excuse us for a moment?" Jeremy asked Sitara. The girl seemingly understood that they needed to be alone and went to the kitchen once she was out of distance, Jeremy continued. "Do you two…understand death?"

"It's like being deleted, right?" Utada asked.

"Yeah, like falling into the digital sea," Odd explained.

"Then what's the big deal?" Cascada asked. "If he's just deleted then can't someone just undelete him by finding his digital code and reprogramming it back into the database?"

"Cas," William said. "When someone dies, they don't come back." The room was silent as realization slowly dawned on the two artificial beings. It seemed they still had a lot to learn about Earth.

Dunbar sighed as he entered his room. Lucas's death had totally ruined everyone's mood. It was also hard to believe that Musa and Cascada didn't understand death. "But I guess that's to be expected. They've only lived on Earth for a year," he thought.

"Oh how wrong you are. They know more about death than you may think."

"Shut up," the shaggy hair teen growled mentally.

"You know I won't and you can't get rid of me, not until I say so."

"Why do you have to be so annoying?"

"Why don't you just listen to me?"

William breathed in deeply, leaning on his dresser. He looked up at the mirror that was attached to it. "Because I'm not you!"

Staring back at him wasn't William's reflection. Instead, it was someone similar looking yet very different. "Deny it all you want, but you are me."

"I am me! Not you, Leon."

So this chapter was slightly lighter than last but it still had its element of darkness to it. I think this may be my longest chapter for this story yet. It would have been longer but sometimes when I begin to write too much my writing begins to seem crappy so I decided to stop but much was revealed in this chapter!

Terran was so cold in this chapter, well, colder. I feel sorry for him though you guys may not since according to my poll alot of you guys who voted said he was going to die... Did anyone else think it was out of character for Cascada to make breakfast? If you did, give yourself a pat on the back! You'll know why as the story goes on.

Um...nothing more to say so...PLEASE REVIEW!!