Odd 1/3.
Almost two months had passed in Kadic since Odd's discovery about Aelita. Their friendship had reached a new height with all the time Odd had spent by her side, fulfilling his promise of helping her through her suffering. Aelita had kept her word, working her hardest to overcome her horrible habits, eating every meal with the group like she once used too. After a few weeks of their secret, Aelita had decided to tell the rest of her best friends about what she had been going through with Odd standing by her side, helping her fill in the blanks and being her general support. The rest of the gang stood by her and offered their unconditional support, especially Yumi.
It was currently turning into the Christmas weeks in Kadic, with lights being hung up all throughout the school and a giant Christmas Tree had been set up directly in the middle of the courtyard, much to the pain and dismay of Jim who had the pleasure of setting the tree up and preforming daily maintenance upon it, checking for any signs of swaying or breakage. The group of 4 sat in their usual spot in the canteen on a late Sunday evening, missing one of their normal members.
"So, Odd isn't joining us?" Yumi asked, burying herself into her coat, trying to keep whatever heat her body was radiating, in.
"Nah," Ulrich said, lazily flicking his eyes up to his dorm window and then back to the table, "He's still glued to that game I think." he finished, his tone borderline angry.
"You guys have another argument?" Jeremie questioned, leaning on his elbows on the table.
"It's not like I ask much," Ulrich sighed, leaning back in his chair, "I just want a good night sleep and all he does is stay up super late, talking to his friends and keeping me up."
"It sounds like you're his mother!" Aelita giggled, her face lighting up at picturing Ulrich trying to mother the ever rebellious Odd.
Ulrich pointed his finger at her.
"I'd like to see you talk some sense into him! Lately his world has been games and online friends and nothing else, when he isn't playing, he just talks about it and waits out his day until he can get back on and talk." Ulrich sighed, letting his held slump onto the table with a thud, the tiredness clearly getting to him.
"It sounds like you're jealous of his online friends a little bit!" Jeremie teased, the steam of the cup in front of him fogging up his glasses. The table shared a joined round of laughter, even Ulrich cracked a smile.
"Should we go up to him and check on him?" Yumi suggested, "We could try to get him to come to town for a bit?"
"Yeah! That sounds like a good plan! Day out!" Aelita squealed, grabbing her jacket from the back of her chair and zipping it up, quickly ushering the others to follow suit. Smiling, they all followed her out of the canteen and towards the dorm.
Ulrich trailed after slightly, his mind replaying their argument this morning over and over.
"Good morning sleeping beauty!" Odd teased from his seat at the computer without looking over his shoulder, hearing Ulrich stir from his sleep.
Ulrich threw the blankets off him and stood up, stretching out his back, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Whoa man, you look rough!" Odd laughed, turning in his chair to face Ulrich who just growled his response. The bags under the German's eyes as clear as daylight.
"Well, I didn't manage to sleep well at all last night, what with you being up till stupid AM and talking all night, I didn't manage to sleep very long." Ulrich growled, moving to his wardrobe and opening it, taking out some clothes, "Speaking of which, did you even sleep?"
"Why don't you mind your own business?" Odd shot back before turning back to the screen. Ulrich just stared at the back of Odd's head in confusion.
"A minute ago he was laughing, now he's angry?" Ulrich thought, holding his clothes in his hands, reaching for his shower supplies.
"I'm going to shower." Ulrich said flatly, reaching for the handle. Odd shrugged without looking back.
"Nice to know." Odd said sarcastically. Ulrich screamed internally at his roommate. What was up with him these past few weeks?
"Whatever, ass." Ulrich said before slamming the door behind him.
As they approached Ulrich and Odd's dorm, they heard Odd's voice shouting. The moved close to the door, pressing their ears against it.
"Come on Alex!" Odd yelled, "Pay attention! You were meant to be watching backside! Why can't you keep the occasional flanker off us? Now we're down one dps and healer!"
Ulrich, Jeremie, Yumi and Aelita shared a look of confusion but proceeded to enter the room.
"Hey Odd." Ulrich said casually, moving to the back of the blonde's chair that was positioned in front of the PC Odd's parents had sent him last week, early for Christmas.
"Oh, hey guys!" Odd said, moving one side of the headset he had on top his head, to the side.
Ulrich leaned on the back of the chair, watching Odd play. The others stood to his side.
"So, what's up?" Odd asked, his attention once again focused on the game.
"We're going to head into town for a little bit, you wanna come with?" Ulrich questioned, his eyes flicking between Odd and the game.
"Ehh, not right now, I'm busy." Odd replied flatly, clearly more interested in his game than spending time with his best friends.
"Odd please… You haven't left the room properly in ages, just come with us?" Ulrich pleaded, his voice sounding desperate.
Muffled voices came from the headset.
"Odd, tell your boyfriend to piss off and concentrate on the game!"
An eruption of laughter came from the headset, making Odd smile.
"Like he'd be so lucky!" Odd responded with laugh, glancing sideways at Ulrich, "Isn't that right, good buddy?"
Odd didn't get an answer before the door slammed behind Ulrich, storming out of the room.
"Wow, it was a joke…" Odd said, completely removing the headset and staring at the door.
Silence hung over the room before Odd went back to concentrating on his game. Minutes passed with Yumi, Jeremie and Aelita still in the room as if Odd had forgotten about them. They watched as all five of Odd's friends on screen had died and only Odd remained. They heard sounds from Odd's teammates through the headset as they pressured him on to win the game for them. Odd's brow began sweating as he ducked and weaved under the hail of bullets coming from the enemy team before he popped up and fired three shots from his characters revolver, killing two people skillfully, one with two body shots and the other with a head shot. As he lined up for the third shot, his screen went blank. He slapped his monitor.
"Hello?!" Odd almost yelled, his anger flaring. A cough came from his left, his eyes slowly traced the wall to its owner. Aelita stood with the plug in her hand, spinning it by the cable.
"Aelita?! What the he-" Odd cried before being cut off by the pinkette, whose face held an angry scowl.
"Guys, could you give us a minute?" Aelita asked, pointing to the door, looking at Yumi and Jeremie. They both nodded in acknowledgement and left the room promptly.
"We'll be in Jeremie's room when you need us!" Yumi called as she closed the door behind Jeremie and herself.
"What's gotten into you?" Aelita asked Odd, sitting on Ulrich's bed, folding her arms and crossing her legs.
"What do you mean?" Odd responded, standing up and stretching his back out, glancing at Aelita.
"You've been neglecting your real friends and spending more time locked in your room?" Aelita shot, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Odd. The blonde shifted under her gaze.
"Have I? It doesn't seem like I spend that much time up here…" Odd trailed, glancing at the floor in shame.
"Odd, you helped me through so much these past few months. I don't want to see you become addicted to something as silly as this!" Aelita sighed, gesturing to the PC that had slowly become cold due to it's sudden shutdown.
"I don't spend that much time up here, do I?" Odd asked, his feet shuffling uncomfortably.
"You do. Ulrich isn't getting much sleep, you haven't been very nice to him at all lately… Or any of us. You're not spending nearly as much time with me or the rest of the group as you have the past few weeks." Aelita huffed, folding her arms. Her annoyance clearly showing.
Odd let out a sign and frowned. He lifted his arm to rub the back of his head.
"Yeah, I guess I did get a little carried away with the game thing…" he trailed off before looking at the door, "Tell you what… Lets go into town and Hot Chocolate is on me!" Odd smiled, tapping his pocket. Aelita smiled but shrugged.
"That's the spirit, but first, you need to find a certain someone and apologize!" Aelita said, tapping Ulrich's bed for emphasis.
Ulrich had made his way from the dorm into the open and quickly walked towards a familiar spot, he sat on their usual bench in the courtyard, one leg stretched out, the other pulled up to his chest. He lazily looked around the grounds of Kadic, occasionally smiling at people he recognized as they waved at him. The cold air cooling him down and making him more relaxed than he had been all day.
"Hey Stern!" a voice sounded behind him causing him to jump. Ulrich turned in his spot to find the owner of the voice.
"Oh," Ulrich said with a smile, "Hey William!" he greeted with a smile.
William had taken a seat beside Ulrich, dropping the bag he was carrying onto the ground with a thud, clearly filled to the brim with whatever William had decided to show an interest in this month.
"What has you out here on a cold day like this?" William asked, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees and cupping his own face with gloved hands. Ulrich sighed and sat forward.
"Odd's been out of sorts, he goes from one new thing to another in days, shows no interest in hanging out sometimes, ignores us all and it's just so weird." Ulrich explained, throwing William the occasional hand gesture, "He's never been like this before."
"Hmmm…." William trailed, reaching for his bag. Opening it, he pulled out a rather thick book and began flicking through it, "Anything else?" he asked. Ulrich tilted his head.
"Now that you mention it, he's been having insane mood swings lately." Ulrich continued, recalling a few times during the past few months, including this morning, where Odd's mood drastically switched within a few minutes from happiness to anger and other various emotions. William tapped the book he held in his lap.
"Give this a read." William suggested, passing the book to Ulrich. He glanced over the page and his eyes were drawn to its title.
Depression and Bipolar disorder.
"Why do you have this?" Ulrich asked, passing the book back to William who shook his head and pushed it back into his hands.
"You keep it for the time being, it might help," William smiled, zipping up his bag, "And because, I was doing study for an assignment due the first week back after break but I feel like you might benefit from this book more than me at the moment, just make sure to drop it back to me at some point!"
William waved his goodbye with a smile as he walked towards the Library. Ulrich stared after him and smiled, he never would have thought that he and William could bury the hatchet and become such good friends but he was glad they did. His attention soon returned to the book he held. Opening it back on the page he had previously been looking over, he began reading the entry until he got to a part he found interesting.
"Bipolar Depression is the name given to the Depression experienced in those who had also been affected by Bipolar Disorder. This is, in and of itself, is harder to cope with and overcome due to the fact it is classed as two separate disorders." Ulrich read in his head, he closed the book with a thud and was left with his thoughts.
"Odd isn't depressed or bipolar," Ulrich thought, "Right?", He can't be. Odd is too upbeat, right?" His mind racing with the possibility of his friend suffering from either of the disorders.
He didn't get much more time to think about it because once he looked up, his eyes set upon Odd making his way towards him.
Sorry for the delay, I've just been considering give William and one or two others side paths, maybe a chapter each, not specifically showcasing a disorder, but maybe how they helped one of the Lyoko Warriors in some small way, I'll see about that anyway. But anyway, before I end this off, I want to say thank you for the support on this series so far, I've received quite a few PM's, favorites, follows and reviews and it really warms my heart to know that people are relating and understanding what I'm trying to do. I really am thankful for all of you who have view this story. I'll see you at some point midweek with the second half of Odd's branch! See you then.