Chapter 2: How People hope

Hiroki Ishiyama hated his life.

From his birth he was living in the shadow of his big sister, Yumi. Even though his parents did not intended to pick favorites, to him it seemed very clear who they preferred as child. At his own, unique way he had tried to get their attention, but it hadn't worked. And all those times he was just kidding with Yumi around, he just wanted to make their sibling-bond stronger, even if it most of the time resulted in small fights. And we're not even talking about school. His very best in class was almost always getting a C, his teachers didn't seem to like him and his best friend Johnny had a crush on his big sis. He started to believe Johnny only was hanging around with him because of that crush. In short, his life wasn't that great.

And then the invasion. Why did it have to start in his classroom? Why not another's? Maybe he could have fled if it started somewhere else, he could have warned someone their school was in danger and he could have helped someone. Instead, a hole was blasted in their wall, the class had been separated in two groups and were the groups surrounded by creatures that looked like crabs and blocks. The only moment when he breathed in relief was when he noticed that Milly Solovieff still was physically alright.

He sometimes compared the invasion with an apocalypse. In which the artificial intelligence called XANA started it, in which his monsters were compared to the well-known zombies, and with humanity as the survivors looking for a cure. Well, almost all of humanity. He was shocked when he got to know that simple, dumb William was working for XANA all those time. And he didn't like the fact that William once was hitting on his sister. He had balled his fists, but hadn't done anything else but glaring – that had been enough to show his anger.

The first day Sissi thought of a rebel, and it was time to become that rebel who challenges XANA.

Hiroki walked around in the open air at the grounds of 'Kadic Prison', where he normally would run on the course for his PE teacher, Jim. Too bad this was the only terrain where the 'prisoners' were allowed to go, and it was guarded very heavily. In every corner of the terrain waited a Megatank, every forty feet was a Blok on guard duty, and in between were Krabs walking around. Some Hornets kept an eye on them from the air. The buildings was the terrain of the many Kankrelats. It didn't help that most of the prisoners would betray their rebelling friends for a bit more food or medicines. Almost everyone was feeling ill or sick, and not everyone could be treated well or had the will to fight the illness. Three weeks ago, Johnny had passed away by a simple fever. They were lucky XANA let them bury their dead ones. Now he was thinking about it…

Hiroki put his hands in his pocket, and touched the package in his right pocket for a second. It was still there, and as long as he got it, he had the chance to be caught with it and be killed if they would properly search his 'room'. It was risky and dangerous, but if he could help people with it, he would gladly take the risks.

Eventually, Hiroki found who he was looking for. He tapped on her shoulder, and she turned around to face the young Japanese boy. Milly Solovieff breathed in relief when it was just Hiroki, and she sent him a shy smile. Hiroki smiled spontaneously, even though they didn't really have a reason to be smiling in this misery, and he thought his cheeks were getting red. They could smile for hope, Hiroki knew, but just a few still hoped for a better future, with Hiroki himself being one of those few.

"Hey, how's it going?" he asked her. He asked her twice a day, at the beginning and end of the day, even when it got very annoying, but he really wanted to know. She could always get sick, and so could Hiroki. Some people were starting to follow him, just because it was rumoured he couldn't get sick while others had been ill twice in these five months of hell. But after a while, they would just leave him be, because he Always reacted a bit grumpy. They didn't now what Hiroki did in his free time, and sometimes during the nights.

Just when Milly wanted to answer, she sneezed. "Just what I was afraid of," he said, and Milly ttried to smile at him. She didn't look very healthy either.

"Don't worry, Hiroki, it'll be over soon." Hiroki nodded, not very convinced. You could very well die, Milly, how can I not worry? She could just as well sink through her knees and share the same fate as Johnny and her best friend, Tamiya. Now the two only had each other, and they didn't want the other to be left alone in this cruel world.

"Meet me in ten minutes at the old chemistry classroom. You know where it is?" Milly nodded, and Hiroki already knew it would take a little longer for her to get there because of her fear for XANA's monsters. Hiroki smiled again at her, "Okay, I'll see you there," and he walked past her. In another situation he would appear strange. But at the moment, it was strange to have a conversation that took longer than a few minutes. Where were the times when conversations took longer than an hour? Hiroki sometimes even missed detention time with Jim.

Before he went to the od chemistry classroom, he needed to go to his room first. He'd better take enough with him, if Milly were to ask for more. He didn't worry about being seen, since he's done this many times before. With the thought that he, the loudest boy from his year, walked around successfully stealthy, he opened the door to his room. Well, 'room' was a word too big for the space. It was just a small space, five feet to five feet, and especially uncomfortable. The door wasn't even a real door, just a rug hanging for the entrance.

Hiroki walked in his space, and counted the tiles on the ground. Two up, one to the left, beginning at the western corner. He took away that tile and a small space appeared – filled with the same packages as there was one in Hiroki's pocket. He took one out if the space, and placed the tile back where it belonged, and put the package in the other pocket. He felt safer now he had one in both pockets with the same weight, along with a smaller chance to get caught for being suspicious. When he was sure it couldn't fall out, he took off to the place what once was called the chemistry classroom.

Once he had climbed up the stairs, he was being less careful – he knew not much monsters were walking around on this first floor, because they just couldn't get to the top of the staircase. With the exception of Hornets, who could fly, Tarantulas, who had the legs to actually be able to climb the stairs, and William, who simply was human. While he walked to that classroom, he remembered the day and reason why he started to give survival packages to those who really needed them.

September 24th, three months after the invasion. Hiroki was trembling when he was taken to the Captain of Punishments (Herve Pichon) by two Bloks. First, it were two Kankrelats, but he had reacted that those were weak, so he ended up being guarded by two Bloks instead. Before he was pushed into the building, he saw how Johnny, Tamiya and Milly were watching. He would have smiled if the Bloks weren't pushing him.

And now, he was standing in front of the door of the traitor, the person who let many people, of all ages, die or punishes them, just like he did with his two oldest friends a few days ago. He was pushed inside, and noticed the door locked itself automatically. The two Bloks were way too big to fit in the door, so they waited outside. The traitor's room wasn't much bigger than the prisoners', but it was very different. Pichon had a real bed, a chair and a small table, with pen and paper. Hiroki became jealous of him, just because of this room – most prisoners didn't even have a real mattress.

Herve looked up. Hiroki saw the traitor had a black eye, and he also seemed very tired. He probably also didn't have much time to comb his hair this morning. His eyes may look like he worried about something, but he probably wasn't. He stood up, and Hiroki did one step back, unintentionally. You just couldn't trust Herve Pichon anymore, from the moment he decided to serve the tyrant, who was hiding inside of William Dunbar.

"No Kankrelats?" Herve wondered, and Hiroki shook his head. He had decided not to say a word in front of the traitor. If somebody should be hanged, it should be that traitor Pichon. 'That traitor' came closer to him, and Hiroki panicked when he felt the wall in his back. Herve, who didn't seem to care, just shrugged.

"Kankrelats, Bloks, doesn't matter – they're just as dumb as the one controlling them." Hiroki was surprised by this comment. You should think he would be praising his colleagues, if they even could be called colleagues, because the monsters were nothing more than slaves to XANA, including William. He raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"They'll never come in here, because they can't or won't, and they certainly don't have ears, so we can have a private talk on our own without anyone hearing it." Out of all situations Hiroki thought up, this one wasn't part of it: Pichon wants to talk, without anybody else listening. To Hiroki, it didn't make sense, and Herve sat down on his bed. The Japanese boy stood still, pressed against the wall, didn't want to sit on the chair, that close to the traitor. He did not trust Herve. Then, Herve smiled, as if he read Hiroki's thoughts. It was a very strange sight to see the nerd smile.

"Just sit down. If it were a trap, you would've been caught when you entered the room." Hiroki let the words sink in, before he slowly made way to the chair. He still did not trust it. He gasped in relief when he eventually sat down on the chair. It had felt like ages since he last sat down on a chair, and he enjoyed it. He'd never thought he would miss a simple chair, but it had been possible.

"About XANA," Pichon started, and Hiroki panicked again, while the traitor was looking at the door, "I don't trust it. William seems to be everywhere at once, like the monsters. It is good at being a tyrant, no doubt about that." It was interesting to know what the bad Herve Pichon thought about his master, but he probably knew he was taking a big risk here – Hiroki could just as easily tell his friends, and the news would spread very quickly, so even William/XANA got to know and he would be hanged for treason. That's what happened to the Gauthier siblings. Why should he even tell somebody? It's much easier to keep silent than saying your thoughts in this world.

"What I'm trying to tell you," Herve continued, "all of XANA's monsters and lieutenants have a lot of advantages the prisoners don't. We get more food, water, medicines while they try to survive inhuman situations…" Hiroki wanted to shout he's part of the problem, but he didn't. Instead, he told the so-called traitor something else.

"Took you long enough to notice we're dying! We are dying, damn it, and the only thing you do is leaning back and watch innocent people die!"

"That is a lie," Herve said, trying not to get angry.

"No, it's not! You kill so-called traitors, but they were innocent! Heck, you even manage to give the traitors their weaponry! I bet you hid yours somewhere in this room." For a few seconds, an uncomfortable silence hung between the two ex-Kadic students, before Herve started to talk again, as in Hiroki had never screamed to him. He probably could do this due to William/XANA screaming at the boy all the time. The tyrant wasn't know for being nice to his human followers.

"There are some white packages hidden in the bookcase in the chemistry classroom at the first floor. In those packages, you could find some basic stuff to survive, like food, medicines, clear water. There are brought more of it every second Thursday, and I'm taking all out of it the next day, and I give them away, in the form of visits to me. The only monsters who could get there are Hornets, Tarantulas and William, because they can't be hindered by the stairs. Even though you don't see them, still be careful there." Hiroki looked at him, surprised.

"And why do you tell me?" Herve shrugged.

"You look like a smart kid to me, who knows what to do with it and when," he threw one of those white packages at Hiroki, who caught it, and stood up, "use them well." Herve opened the door, and finally Hiroki could escape the traitor, who didn't really seemed a traitor anymore. He noticed the Bloks were gone, too, and instead of returning to his friends, he walked up the stairs, to the first floor Herve had told him about.

As silent and careful as he could, he walked through the corridor. If he was caught, he could get a really bad punishment, and a few wounds that couldn't heal without the help of medicines. For a moment, he made some noise, and which were mere seconds in reality, seemed to take hours. When he finally dared to move again, he walked a bit faster to the chemistry classroom, until he stood in front of its door. He still didn't trust it. What if it is a trap?

If it were a trap, you would've been caught already, a small voice in his head said, and Hiroki opened the door, an quickly closed it again. The classroom looked exactly like it did when he came here to get the last lesson chemistry of the year. He walked to the bookcase, carefully opened it and smiled when he saw the white packages in there. Herve hadn't lied, which meant he probably wasn't a computerloving traitor. So Hiroki didn't hesitate anymore and took the packages to his small space so he could hide them under the loose tile he found a while ago.

Next day, it was rumored the Captain of Punishments escaped the prison with his friends, Sissi and Nicholas.

Man, those were good times.

He didn't hesitate when standing in front of the door of the classroom. He entered immediately without standing too long in front of the door – he knew that if that happened, he sure would be caught. And, to his surprise, Milly was already in the classroom. He just stood still when Milly ran up to him and hugged him. It took him a moment to register what happened, and then hugged her back. He didn't know why Milly was sobbing now, and he didn't need to know at the moment, but he was sure he would let her smile if she got such a package. But in the meantime, he enjoyed holding Milly like this.

Yeah, maybe deep down inside Hiroki might have some small feelings for her… alright, he was hopelessly in love, which is the biggest reason why he would want her to have one. He would've given her a package anyway.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, noticing that Milly was trembling.

"In the h-hallway… T-Taranttula… It almost s-saw me…" That explained a lot. Under the older kids, she was known as the weakling of the school, but the fact that she actually dared to come here, told otherwise, and Hiroki – who was one year younger than Milly – found this 'weak' a great character trait. She shows her fear, so she shows her true self. Many macho-men are also afraid, but they don't show it, because they know they'll leave him if he shows weakness. Those are friends because of lies, while the whole school knew Milly had a lot of fears. Her friends care about her, even with the fears, a relationship which isn't built up with lies.

"Calm down, Milly," he said, "it's all gonna be okay." That was the moment when Hiroki noticed how fragile she was, like all others. The world they now lived in could make the most brave men cry, could make people not eat things that come out of the sea anymore (Krabs). And Hiroki was one of those until he could increase his confidence. Milly could be placed at the top of fragility, even though she's more scared than others.

I need to protect her, Hiroki thought, or else she'll die soon. And thus, he swore he'd protect her at all times from XANA, its monsters and William, whatever might happen. She couldn't do it alone, he knew, and needed someone to take care of her. And since Johny and Tamiya were now at a better place, Hiroki had to do it, and with pleasure.

"I got something for you," he said when he released her, and he took one of those packages out of his pocket, "This is all you might need: extra food, water, medicines. You could heal, and I hope you'll hide it from the monsters," Milly's eyes widened, and looked at the package as if it were a bomb.

"I can't take this," she said, giving it back to him. Hiroki now noticed that she still was trembling – it wasn't from the temporary scariness, but from whatever she was suffering. He shook his head.

"Just take it. You need it more than me now." He pushed it back in her hands, and now she didn't give it back to the Japanese boy. She put it in her pocket, silently, and looked back up at him.

"What if we get caught?" she asked. Hiroki put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"We won't ever get caught," He said, walked to the door, opened it and he walked through the corridor, stealthily, to which Milly followed his example. It went better after ten/twenty feet, and it grew more silent in the corridor. Just twenty more feet, and then they reached the stairs, safe from the dangers the first floor held. Like, something that aimed at Hiroki but hit the wall instead, missing his head with just a few inches. He turned around and faced two Tarantulas that definitely weren't there in the first place. Without thinking, he grabbed Milly's arm and started running. The monsters followed, and when Hiroki stood on top of the stairs, he stopped. He had no choice – there were two Bloks and a Megatank waiting for them. They were closed in. if he could, Hiroki would hit himself for being so inattentive!

Behind him, he heard footsteps, and he could already guess who it was, even without turning around. William, who heard noise coming from the first floor, where he had a room for himself, with the chemistry classroom two doors at his right. Man, I'm stupid, Hiroki thought, finish me quick, but let Milly be – she's done nothing.

"Got you," William said with his xanafied voice, and Hiroki hung his head.

Busted! I hope all of you guys have had some great Christmas and New Year. What's William gonna do? When will Milly realize Hiroki's feelings for her? Who do you think we'll see next chapter? I've yet to reveal two POV's of the stort. Leave your guesses in reviews - or don't tell them at all, if you don't want to review. You'll read it in chapter three: How it continued on the 9th of January! On with the reviews:

Absinok (Thanks, thanks, I really needed Jim to help them. The Warriors (+Herve, Sissi and Nicholas) are being hunted down and have a chance to be killed as well. I mentioned Aelita in the trailer (first part), though not by name, same with Odd, Herve, Nicholas, Sissi and Hiroki)

See ya next time!

-DutchWriters2