A/N: Hey! I made it on time this week! (seriously, that is a big deal for me) Okay, this chapter is a bit iffy in my view. I don't know, because I can obviously never have a reader's view on it, so as usual, you get to tell me! I tried to give everyone a fair go in this chapter, except Abby, who gets a pretty big part in chapter 6! I also attempted a little TINY bit of 3x4 and SOME 2x5. Mostly just crushy stuff that will evolve into something that is actually real. Okay, no more drabble from me. READ, I say!

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Kids Next Door Mission...

Operation: F.O.R.G.E.T.

Fragments

Of

Recovery

Gradually

Enable

Team reunion

Chapter 5- New Life, Same Emotion

"And if we know the legnth of this side of the triangle is, say, 23.5 inches long..."

Wally could not care less about pythonius'... whoever the stupid mathemactician guy was. He had his head rested on top of his hands, and right now, the pen-lined desktop centimeters away from his nose seemed like Disneyland compared to Mr. Kilkenny's math class. To say it was boring would be an insult to the other classes Wally had under the same label (which, of course, was most of them- okay, all of them. Except gym) and the last thirty-four minutes had been spent thinking up ways to sneak a TV and gaming console into the classroom, and trying desprately to remain awake to avoid another strike on his permanent reccord. Then, for about the hundred-thousandth time this period, Wally looked across the room at the girl of his dreams. Kuki Sanban was sitting up higher than Wally (then again so were ninety-five percent of the class) and half-listening to what the teacher was droning on about. The other half of her mind was obviously wandering, as she had a glazed look over her eye, and her foot absent-mindedly bobbed up and down inside its black sneaker. The lack of attention was either due to boredness or complete loss of direction in the class master's ranting. Two of the most common causes of classroom trancing. It happened to Wally a lot, though he tried hard to keep alert and not slip into that state, because things always happened when he was in the half-consious drowsiness, things that disturbed, saddened and confused him to no end. Thoughts swirled, and Wally grew sick to the stomach in anticipation. It was happening again. Kuki sitting there, like a goddess, she seemed to be glowing... The belt disappeared, the headband too, and suddenly she felt closer to his heart than ever. And he wasn't seeing her in her seat, no pen or textbook was in sight. It had all been replaced by a mountain of stuffed toys. Red and orange, pink and blue... He felt the familiar foul-tasting lump rise in his throat, and fought to keep it down long enough to escape the shrinking walls of the classroom. Before he, or anyone else in the room knew it, he was in the boys bathroom, wretching up whatever was still happily digesting in his stomach.

Flushing the bile down and heading over to the water fountain to wash the acidic taste out of his mouth, Wally wondered whether he should bother to return to class at all. He decided not to. Between his sick stomach, his dislike and loss of direction in class and what he knewe would come next, he decided it would be better, for student, class and teacher, to just 'sit this one out.' He left the bathrooms and walked down the corridor, the sterile, white-washed walls and echoing emptiness, it adding to the spaced-out feeling Wally was experiencing. Pushing open the door with a half-hearted shove with his back, Wally walked out into the overcast schoolyard. He knew that it could happen at any minute now, and it seemed to help when he could be outside. Taking a place under a tall oak tree beside the football feild, he let his head tip back until it hit the sturdy trunk of the old Oak. The thick green foliage blocked out most of the sunlight, leaving only a scattered golden dapple above him.

Then, it happened.

Wally slipped silently out of conciousness, eyes falling shut and mouth slipping open slightly. It was not by choice, but fighting, as he had learned the hard way, only mae it worse.

"Numbuh 3? Numbuh 3! Are you okay?"

I was searching, searching desperately for something- no, someone, among the rubble and debris of a battle.

"W-wally... I'm here..." releif and fear struck at the same time, and my heart missed a beat trying to cope with it all.

"Numbuh 3! Kuki, are you hurt?" I scrambled over to her, cutting myself on the sharpened junk. Her breathing was pained but steady. I hauled her out with every muscle that still worked. I was so tired, but I could never remember why. Before I could stop it, the ground was slipping backwards, taking Kuki with it. I grasped at her sleeves her arm, her shoulder, anything that was in reach, but every attempt slipped through my fingers, and she was only dragged further from me. Everything went black, and another scene lit up behind my eyes.

"Wally!" The voice was angry, desperate and above all, disappointed. The sheer emotion in their words cut deep into me.

"What did you do? Wha- oh, please, no! NO!" This time, the voice wasn't directed at me. It was pained, and as it always did, it wanted me to help it though i didn't know how. "Help me, Wally, help us! We need you back... please!" I tried to respond, but words evaded me. I felt the pressure of hundreds of lives in my power. I felt like there was something I had to do, but it was just out of my reach, like Kuki...

And after that, Wally woke with a start, sweating and gasping for air, as always. He felt alone, but little did he know that there were four other teenagers that were feeling the same way. Maybe not at that exact moment, but sure enough, they felt it.

Hoagie POV

I didn't want to fall asleep. I knew what sleep brought with it. But I couldn't control it. Three nights in a row this had happened. Three nights in a row I had sat here thinking that I was insane. And, finally, it happened.

As soon as my eyes were shut it started, and as soon as it started I wished it was over.

I was sitting there, in a damp, cold, unfriendly room. There seemed no way out. She sat in the corner, only a little way away from me. Hugging her knees to her chest, she sobbed into her arms desperately. I couldn't shake the feeling that she shouldn't have been like that. The feeling that if she had lost hope, so had everyone else. I opened my mouth to speak, trying in some way to comfort her. But she cut me off, flinging her hand out to grab my arm.

"Promise me you'll get us out of here, Hoagie," she breathed, her voice wet with tears. I tried to say something, but the words tangled themselves up in my throat. She persisted.

"Please. Hoagie, tell me you'll get us out. Promise me that you won't let us die here. I need you to promise. Please, promise me," she pleaded, desperate now. Again, I got the feeling that she shouldn't have been so hysterical. I felt sick. Sick with fear, because whatever could break her could break anyone. Sick with emptiness; I could not for the life of me shake the feeling that we had to be somewhere else. And most of all, sick with rage. Whoever, whatever had made her, this beautiful, down-to-earth, flawless girl cry like this was going to feel the pain that she was right now. I inhaled deeply, attemping to mask the shake in my voice.

"I promise."

Nigel POV

The bell rang out loudly, startling me slightly. I had almost lost complete focus in Science, which was not like me. I hurried to collect my books and avoid the path of the stampeding students that were bursting out of classrooms on both sides of the corridor. After reaching my locker and grabbing my lunch, I set off outside to the benches near the oval. That was where I usually ate lunch, with Abby and Kuki. They usually bought their lunch, so I waited there until they had passed through the line. As I neared the shade-covered area under the oaks, something caught my eye.

There was someone sleeping under the tree.

I dropped the plasic container that held my lunch and jogged over to him. He looked disturbed, not like a peaceful afternoon nap. He looked like he was having a nightmare. I bent down and shook him lightly by the shoulder. He stirred, but didn't wake. Lowering myself down further into a crouching position, I shook again, this time a little harder. At last, his eyelids began flickering, his mouth twitched, and he sat up with a start. He looked up at me, with my eyebrows raised for his reaction. He looked startled.

"Numbuh 1...?" he mumbled.

"What?" I asked. He stared at me as if he hadn't said anything.
"What did you say?" I asked again.

"I- I didn't say anything.." he replied groggily. It was my turn to frown in confusion.

"Hmm, I could have sworn I heard you say... never mind." I probably imagined it. There was silence for a while. Awkwardness took over.

"Are you okay?" I said, breaking the silence. He seemed thankful for the conversation.

"Yeah mate, Ah'm foine. Just a little.. tired, Ah guess," he got up, stretched and began to walk away.

"Wait! What were you doing out here?" I called after him. He just kept walking as if I hadn't said anything at all. I ran after him and blocked his path.

"Seriously.. Wally, is it? What was going on down there?"

He looked me in the eye, as if sizing me up, or trying to judge my character through just looking at me.

"Listen, man. Ah dunno who you are, but just leave me alone, okay? Ah'm foine." I knew he wasn't, but I bought it anyway.

"Okay. I'm sorry, I just wanted to make sure," I said apologetically. He sighed.

"Don't worry. Ah think Ah'm just a little groggy. Uhh, Ah don't exactly loike math." He dodged my questions, only increasing my suspicion.

"I guess I'll see you around then, Wally," I said, stepping aside to walk back to the benches, where I could see Abby and kuki already sitting down. As I left him behind, I just heard him say one more thing.
"Yeah. Ah'lll seeya... Nigel." I didn't recall telling him my name...

"Hey, Nig! Where you been?" Abby greeted upon my arrival. I told them about what had happened. Abby wasn't too worked up over it, stating simply that 'Wally sometimes found math too much to concentrate on.' Kuki, however, was more concerned.

"He was in the same class as me," she said, "He just ran from class with his hand over his mouth. No-one really knew what happened after that. From what I've heard, it's happened before." Her mouth was turned in a small, worried frown.

"When I found him, he was just sitting there... it was less sleeping an more of a sort of trance," I said, my voice creeping down to an almost whisper for some reason.

"Well, for Wally, he was most likely just zoned out again." Abby still blew it off as nothing out of the ordinary, but I knew what I saw, and what I saw was wally sitting against the tree, mouthing something, brows furrowed as if searching for something, jaw clenched and breathing shallow and quick. If it had happened before, it was definitely not nothing. I opened my lunch, tucking in to my ham and salad sandwich. As I ate, and talked with Abby and Kuki, something came back to my mind; when he woke up, he had said something... 'number 1.' Why would he say that? And, more importantly, I almost responded...

Kuki POV

I sat with my legs crossed impatiently in my math class, absent-mindedly letting my eyes wander. Usually, I would be paying attention, but today, I was just too tired to bother. I had spent the previous night lying in bed, reluctant to fall asleep after the nightmare. The nightmare that seemed to catch me on the very night that I stopped worrying about the last time. I was running, running on a never ending surface, faces staring back at me from over the edge. And for a split second, I could pin down that person's identity. And before that second was over, it was gone. That was the real nighmare. I felt like I wasn't the real me, like I was a cover, like I was trapped. Is my mind really my mind? Then, I wake up, sweat-covered and wishing never to fall asleep again. Next thing I know, I'm in class, zoned-out like some failing delinquent. When Wally ran out of class with his hand over his mouth desperately, I was brought back to attention. That is not normal. And when Nigel told us what he saw under the tree, it only pushed me further to find out why. Was he having the same dreams as me? I didn't know, but I was going to find out. I didn't know if it was just my overexhausted mind or not, but Abby and Nigel seemed a little sleep-deprived as well...

Hoagie POV

Brrrrrrring.

I left my advanced Chem. class just in time to catch Joe in the hall. Great.

"'Ay, Hoagie. Can you lend an old friend a hand with somethin' after school today? I could really use an old hand," Joe Balooka was always trying to get in with me, just because we were apparently 'old friends.' Well, all I could remember of him before high school is one day when I helped him out of a situation involving the school nurse and some rather unpleasant pie when we were both about thirteen.

"Ah, sorry Joe, no can do. I've got a.. family thing tonight," I lied. Tonight, I was planning to sit in my room until an ungodly hour working on a new project of mine. It didn't matter if I was tired. I would still be even if I did try to get some sleep. Insomnia is a cruel and unforgiving monster. I may as well get something productive done in that time.

"That's too bad. Okay, I'll get someone else to help out," he said, maybe taking the hint that I was less 'booked out' and more 'unwilling.' He stalked off down the hall, sending some juniors scattering to clear the way. Joe wasn't exactly the most friendly person I knew. I sighed and headed off to the cafeteria.

I grabbed a plate of... chicken? and headed over to a table to sit down. I usually ate in the AV club room, but today was one of the few days that I had nothing better to do. After sitting there for a few minutes, I began to succumb to boredom, and got up with my lunch to go find something to do. I headed outside, and, as usual on my 'nothing' days, I thought about joining Abby and her friends. I began to walk over there, to the interlocking trees that sheltered the benches from the sun, but, following my routine, I chickened out. There was something about the long, dark hair, the cool, in-control air about her and the laugh. The laugh that sounded like an angel's that made me think that no guy, let alone me, was worthy of her. So, I joined a game of six-square on the basketball court. That was always fun, especially as I am the King of the game! Ha ha, why am I not a comedian?

A/N: Here you go! Hoagie is crushing on Abby! These two are my fave KND pairing, so I just had to start them off before Wally and Kuki or Nigel and Racchel. Sorry if you like them, they will be involved, just, I want 2x5 to be the main pairing in this fic, by an inch. Tell me what you think; am I going on too much about the dreams? Are sector V too close after decommisioning? Please tell me what I'm doing wrong, because I keep getting the feeling that I am... okay, it's eight fifteen on a Sunday night, I've got a bowl of apple crumble and ice-cream sitting here for me and I am going on again aren't I? BYE!

-Numbuh 25