Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko. I do own Musa, Casacada, this story's plot and anyone else who wasn't in the show.
Surprise, Surprise: When Things Can't Seem to Get Worst…They Do
The return trip usually somehow made things right, taking away any damage, any physical pain there was just as long as it stayed a hair's width away from death as its blinding white light swept over it. If it was dead, then it couldn't be fixed and the universe found some way to equal the balance that the forced rewinding of time caused. But this…this was different.
Aelita closed her eyes in an effort to stop her throbbing head and she felt physically drained; Ulrich literally felt as if his body was made of lead; Yumi's headache could rival Aelita's any day; Musa and Odd sat curled up on different ends of the couch, their faces pale and clammy, a trash can in between them in case they had to empty their stomachs though that seemed impossible since they already did so twelve time before; Jeremy, Cascada, and William were no where to be found though it was apparent that the computer whiz was in the cabin's lab working diligently to fix any overlooked problems of the devices. Cascada seemed to have retired to her room, locking her doors to everyone, and William, well, they knew for sure that he was alive. As to where he was or what he was doing, none knew, though it wasn't like they could do anything lying around the boys' suite in their current conditions.
"Oh man!" Odd moaned covering his head with a nearby couch pillow. "Why me? Why me?"
"Why you?" Musa moaned snatching the pillow away from him and covering her own head with it. "Why me?!"
"Why the hell do we feel like this?" Ulrich muttered turning his head towards Aelita.
"Side effects," the girl said simply, thinking and speaking too much seemingly a little overwhelming for her at this point.
"Oh man!" Odd moaned again clutching his stomach as he curled deeper into himself. "This is worst then going around in the transport orb or getting a hangover!"
"Shut it!" Yumi grumbled impatiently throwing a pillow at the blonde. "You're making my headache worst."
The group sat in agonizing silence, their aches and pains seeming like they would never end.
CODE TWILIGHT
"Okay, you ready?"
"I don't think this is a good idea Hiroki."
"Stop worrying, Johnny and relax. This is fool proof," the Japanese boy replied punching in numbers on the phone.
"I don't know. Your sister will probably be mad at you for this" the other boy said unsure before he was silenced by his friend as the phone began to ring.
"Hello? It's me, Hiroki; I need you to come quick. It's an emergency!"
CODE TWILIGHT
Cascada needed to get away and forget, leaving the confines of her room. She had spent too much time thinking about what had happen earlier to her before the return trip, going so close to depression. So, what was the plant A.I. to do when she felt like she wasn't in the mood for drawing? Shopping, bringing startled and surprised Sitara and Sissi along for the ride.
"Hikaru!" Sissi said impatiently though she didn't dare to raise her voice higher than it was now. She didn't wish to be on the receiving end of an already angry Cascada. "I agreed to go shopping with you but I didn't agree to be your dress up doll."
"Shut up, brat, and put these on," the plant A.I. said handing the girl a pile of clothes before pushing her towards an open dressing room.
Just at that moment, Sitara came out of another dressing room, looking slightly flush as she showed of the powder blue knee length dress with hood, black leggings, and matching blue boots. Cascada circled around the mute like a predator would its prey. She stopped in front of the timid girl tapping her finger against her chin.
"The design is good," she mused aloud, "but…there something wrong…"
"Perhaps you should go with warmer colors. Her skin tone seems perfect for such colors," a familiar voice suggested behind Cascada. The green eye girl spun around to the same woman she had ridden in the elevator smiling back at her.
The plant A.I. was about to say something to the woman before she turned around to face Sitara. "You're right," she murmured going over to the rack where she found the dress and picking out one in orange. One the way back, she picked up a few accessories. "Here," she said once she returned handing the bewildered girl the pile of items before she was sent back to the dressing room.
"Very good choice," the woman smiled. "I knew I saw great talent in you."
The girl just shrugged. "Fashion is a form of visionary art and visionary art is my expertise."
"Really?" the woman chuckled before she realized something. "I haven't introduced myself to you have I? Maria, fashion designer at your service," she said extending out her hand.
"Cascada, underestimated boarding student," the blonde said shaking the woman's hand.
"Maria!" a voice exclaimed. "Guess what! There's a sale at a store- Cascada!"
Before the plant A.I. could even figure out what was going on she found herself in a back breaking hug that could only belong to one person.
"Hi…Mrs. Dunbar," she gasped.
CODE TWILIGHT
Ken Della Robbia had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Everything for the party seemed to be going well except for the fact that he hadn't found any costumes for the band to wear. It was a masked ball after all. The band had to look great but it was hard finding a decent costume designer who would make so many costumes in two days time. Well, there was one, but he wasn't sure whether or not he should call. The last time they had spoken together…they weren't on the best of terms.
"Understatement of the century," the man snorted to himself. He had to figure something out. This was the band's first big gig and as their producer he had to make sure the band was sending out a good impression and letting them go out dressed in any thing other than the theme of the party would be a big no.
Speaking of the band, he hadn't seen any of them lately. He knew they were kids and needed times to relax but he thought with a musical slave driver like Musa they would at least be practicing till their fingers were numb by now. He sighed. He would give them the day off today. Tomorrow he would make them practice from sunrise to sunset.
He yawned, leaning back on his own hotel bed, ready to take a cat nap when a curt knock on the door was heard. "Why me?" he sighed once again before getting up. "Coming," he called out to the person who was still knocking on the door.
When he opened the door, the dour expression on his face turned into an amused grin. "Hey, Old Timer," he chuckled leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest.
The man at the door didn't look too happy at the nickname he had years ago been given. "I which you would stop calling me that Ken. You know I'm no older than you."
The music producer smirked. "Kind of hard to tell with all that gray you got there," he pointed out at the man's hair, making the other man frown deeper. The man had graying brunette hair cut neat and short. He wore a beige trench coat over a grey suit, looking every part like the workaholic businessman that he was.
"Humph. We all can't be care free like you Ken," the man said pushing past the producer and into the room. "Even when we used to work together you never took anything serious."
"What can I say?" Ken shrugged. "I try to live life to the fullest. You should try, my friend. I bet you'll find out that it's actually good for your health."
"Don't talk about health," the man replied sternly before sighing, his defensives dropping slightly. "It took much longer than I thought to get here."
"Well you're here, now, and that's what's important," Della Robbia said patting his friend on the back. "Before we continue our little trip down memory lane, you mind if we get some food? I'm starving!"
"You're not going to leave to go to the bathroom only for me to realize that you snuck out leaving me with the bill again are you?" the man asked.
"No," Ken said offended, leading the man out of the room while continuing to chatter about other topics all the while crossing his fingers behind his back.
That was the thing about the Della Robbia men. Their motto was to always find a way to get a free meal.
CODE TWILIGHT
"Aspirin, Pepto Bismol, I love thee so!" Musa sang, for once in her life, out of tune. The rest of the previously ill Lyoko gang were also in a better mood now that their pain had been dulled immensely by taking some medication but they found something out: artificial intelligences needed anywhere from double to triple the amount of medication of what a regular person took for it to work effectively and even though that amount wasn't harmful to the wolf A.I. it did have its effects.
"Whoa, Muse, calm down," Odd said holding his girlfriend by the shoulders.
"Well at least you have an idea of how you were drunk," Ulrich chuckled.
"I wasn't this bad was I?" Odd whispered to his friend as he watched Musa have a…interesting conversation with a plant.
Ulrich raised a brow. "You kissed William," he said.
"On the cheek!"
"Whatever," the brunette chuckled.
"I think we should get some coffee into her," Yumi said, "I think the hotel's restaurant has some leftover from breakfast."
"Sounds like a plan," Aelita said leading the group out.
CODE TWILIGHT
His fingers ached so much he could barely bend them but he continued, putting his well being on the line just to check and recheck and recheck again his calculations. He had already failed and messed up once he couldn't do it twice. For a brief moment, his hands stopped typing, one of them raising towards his shirt where a light blue pendant hung on a silver chain underneath his shirt.
He could have helped his friends but fear stopped him. That was no excuse to him. His friends dealt with fear all the time but still, they were able to fight. What about him? What about Jeremy? He was afraid. Afraid of so many things. He was weak, he decided, and he hated it. He hated even more that there was nothing that he could do about except for continuing typing, hoping that this time he wouldn't screw up.
CODE TWILIGHT
Emma Dunbar was many things: a loving mother, a devoted wife, optimistic, energetic, and sometime slightly crazy, but there was one thing that she was not and that was oblivious.
She had noticed the slightly less bright look in Cascada's eyes the second she had pulled away from hugging the girl. She cared deeply about the girl not only because she was her son's girlfriend (and hopefully, future wife) but because as unlikely as it seemed, she saw a great deal of herself in the blonde. Their outer appearances seemed to always portray something totally different from what they were really feeling in an attempt to hold everything around them together. Yes, Emma Dunbar was many things but ignorant was not one of them.
Maria blinked as she looked from her friend to the girl, Cascada, before her and her friends that appeared from the dressing room.
"You know this girl?" she asked Emma with a confused expression.
"Of course!" Mrs. Dunbar said with a wide grin, one arm still wrapped around the plant A.I.'s shoulder. "This is the Cascada I was talking about."
The fashion designer gasped, "So your little Willy's amante, lover," she said seemingly unaware of her word choice. Cascada blushed, once again or maybe it didn't in this case, it helped, to have a multi lingual sister.
"Maria!" Emma gasped. "They're not lovers! There only teens! Right?" she said looking at Cascada with a look that said she better answer yes.
"She's right Ms. Maria," Hikaru said for once fearful of someone else's, Mrs. Dunbar, wrath.
"Oh, my apologies and just call me Maria," Maria laughed sounding like wind chimes. She turned her attention towards the other two girls behind Cascada. "And who are these two?" Before anyone could see how it happened, Sissi was in front of the woman.
"Oh my gosh! Maria! I am your biggest fan! I have most of your clothes from last season and even a few timeless accessories that my mother had. I thought I saw you at the hotel where we were staying at but I wasn't sure but now I am and-"
"Bella, calm down," the fashion designer said a little startled by the girl. "What is your name?"
The principal's daughter looked like she could die and go off to wherever she belonged to when the woman asked for her name. "Elisabeth Delmas, but everyone calls me Sissi unless you want to call me Elisabeth. I have no problem with that or maybe-" the girl was stopped when Maria placed a finger against her mouth, silencing her.
"Elisabeth is a beautiful name," she said smiling leaving the girl in a daze before turning to the other girl who had yet to speak. "And what is your name?"
"Sitara Deangelo," Cascada replied for the caramel eye girl. "She's mute and very shy."
A surprised expression fell on both Emma's and Maria's faces before they both glanced at each other. Without any warning, they glomped the poor girl. "So cute!" they cried, squeezing the poor life out of the girl. "What every parent dreams of! A child that can't talk back to them!"
Cascada cleared her throat, stopping the two women from squeezing her silent friend to death. The two women looked sheepish as they let go of the girl. "So…" Emma began, "Where are my darling son and the others?"
"I think back at the hotel," Cascada said before she was interrupted by her stomach. All eyes turned to her as she pushed down a blush of embarrassment. "I guess I'm hungry."
Maria laughed. "I like a girl with an appetite. You seem to be perfect for my son. Now, let's go back to the hotel, we can get something from the restaurant there if you three are finished shopping."
"Of course," Sissi said finally coming out of her daze. The plant A.I. shrugged. There was really no point on turning down the offer. Besides she doubt she wanted to miss and experience with Maria and Emma.
CODE TWILIGHT
William stood on top of the hotel's roof, unnoticed. He had been up there, undisturbed for hours. He didn't notice the numbing effect the biting cold had on his jacketless form. He stared unseeingly at the sunset, as the sky darkened, the sun setting like a dimming flame. This would have been a great scene to take a photo of, or write a poem about but the shaggy hair teen wasn't thinking about that. He was thinking about something else.
"A penny for your thoughts?" the image of Leon asked from a metal air vent jutting out from the roof. The boy didn't respond. The male A.I. sighed looking down at the ground before looking back at his counter part with a firm expression on his face. "Look, we both know what the other is thinking, no matter how much you try to deny it. I know everything about you. Your hopes, dreams, wishes, ambitions, everything. You can't hide from me."
"I can try," the boy finally spoke.
"Yes, you can try," Leon agreed, "but that path only leads to more problems that would not have risen if you only listened to me."
"I'm not your puppet," William said still staring off at the diminishing sun.
"If I wanted you to be, you would, but I'm giving you a chance to make your own decisions. You have all control over your body except for the times you let your rage blind you."
"I don't need you counseling me."
"Then what do you need?"
"To be me."
"What is you?"
"Not being you."
"And exactly what am I? A loving brother? An obedient son? A faithful love? If you don't wish to be me then you'll have to break all the ties you ever created with everyone you've ever known."
"Be quiet," William murmured.
"Live only for yourself. Be selfish!"
"Shut up," the teen growled clutching his head.
"Retreat to the same darkness that Xana had put you in. To the cold emotionless machine you were, that you are!"
"I said, SHUT UP!" William yelled falling to his knees, hands still on his head, sparks of angry red electricity flaring up. "Shut up," he whispered.
The image of Leon knelt down in the air ducts metal surface coming face to face with his other half. "Do whatever you want. Don't be me for all I care. Just know this, if you don't accept this, me," he said waving a hand at himself, "then you don't accept any of the other bonds you formed here on Earth. Any way, any perspective you look at it through, it all leads back to me. You wouldn't be here otherwise."
The roof was once again silent, save for the sound of the chilling wind and the sound of a lone tear dropping onto the roof.
CODE TWILIGHT
Odd, Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich managed to get the slightly drunk wolf A.I. down to the hotel's restaurant without incident. It actually seemed that Musa was beginning to sober up. Since they were already down here, they decided to get a bite to eat
They sat in a booth, looking at their menus until their waiter arrived. "I don't know what to get," Odd said looking like he was seriously in a dilemma. "Should I get the ten cheese pasta or the orange chicken and rice?"
"The orange chicken," Ulrich said. "I am not dealing with you sitting on the toilet all night complaining because you got yourself constipated. The stench probably wouldn't go away for days."
"Well in that case," Odd said as the waiter arrived, "I'll have the orange chicken and the ten cheese pasta."
"You seriously want a beating, don't you?" the brunette murmured to his friend.
"Love ya too good buddy," Odd grinned cheekily.
Once everyone had ordered their foods, they began talking. "Okay," Musa said. "I say after we eat, we go find Jeremy, Will, and Cas so we can rehearse."
"Don't you think that can wait till tomorrow?" Aelita asked.
"You're going to ruin your voice if you keep up with these hard core practices," Yumi added.
"Fine," the wolf A.I. sighed.
"Hiroki!" a voice shouted sounding panic. Yumi's eyes widened at her brother's name. The tone the person had used to say it had sound so pain stricken. Without even thinking, she got up from the booth and ran towards the voice.
"Yumi! Wait!" Ulrich called running after her, the others not too far behind.
They found the geisha warrior at the main entrance; her feet seemingly stuck to the ground as if concrete were tied to them. She stared, with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open, at the entrance because there in front of her stood both her parents, looking frazzled and worried.
Mrs. Ishiyama caught sight of her daughter before running over to her and gripping her into a tight hug. "Oh Yumi! You're okay! I was so worried."
"Mama," Yumi gasped for breath, her arms still hanging limp at her side. "Why are you two here? Together? I thought I told you that Hiroki and I were taking a school trip."
"Is there some kind of problem here?" a toneless voice asked. Yumi was able to turn her head slightly in her mother's embrace to see Cascada looking coldly at her mother. The two weren't on the best of terms since their last meeting. Sitara and Sissi were standing behind her, looking unsure of what was going on with two other women behind them. She recognized one to be Mrs. Dunbar but the other had a slight familiarity to her even though she was sure that she had never met the woman.
"Whoa! Looks like a party and we weren't invited," Ken's voice chuckled as he and a very familiar man came up behind the group that was behind the expressionless plant A.I.
Ken looked at the group before his eyes widened in something that was close to shock, surprise, nostalgia, and uncertainty as his eyes fell upon the woman who Yumi was unfamiliar with. "Maria," he seemed to breathe out.
"Ken," the woman nodded curtly at the producer her eyes holding the same emotion as his.
Musa watched as the scenes played out. It was only right for Yumi to act surprise. Her, at the moment, separated parents showed up looking like they had just awoken from a nightmare without any explanations. She understood this. What she didn't understand was the reason why Odd and Ulrich had went stiff, all of their defensives up.
Ulrich looked at the frowning graying brunette that was standing next to Ken.
"Ulrich," the man said tonelessly staring the boy down.
"Dad," the teen managed to ground out, his hands tightening at his side.
"Egen!" the woman cried as she, just like Yumi's mother had wrapped her arms around the blonde happily.
The blonde looked awkward as he patted the woman's back. "Hey mom."
And things just keep getting complicated from here.
OMG! I live! I thought I would never get this out with finals and everything. Summer vacation is here! Well technically I still have a week of school but you don't really have to go unless you have to or need some stupid service hours like me. I only have three I think...I hope...ugh...troublesome.
Took me awhile to finish this, couldn't figure exactly how to get to the end. There were alot more emo momment then I thought there would be but oh well. I am classified as the emo of my group of friends for a reason I guess. So, where you expecting Ulrich's dad and Odd's mom? I have to say, I did kind of give an obvious hint on who the woman in the elevator with Cascada was. I think it went a little like this:
"Well. That was...odd." - Cascada, Finders Keepers
You know, looking back, maybe that wasn't obvious ; Oh well. But I did kind of forshadow somewhere in the last two t four chapters about something like this happening...I think...ugh, I'm confusing myself. Not good.
So, most of the gangs parents are here. I don't think that I'll have Jeremy's parents come though. That would be a little too much. But he might get a call from his dad for advice.
Wow. It's really windy here but I guess I do live in the Windy City, and yes I know it's not really called that becasue of the wind but the supposedly long winded politicians we have. Speaking of politics...Obama for president! Sorry, had to do that. Buh-bye Clinton! Though I think it would be cool if they team up.
Ugh. I'm talking-writing too much.
Nothing more to say so...PLEASE REVIEW!