Chapter 13: He came

Apparently 'once' came a lot earlier than expected.

Nicholas still lay down in the same position as he had fallen yesterday. A feeling of unease crept up his spine at the awakening moments. Images of yesterday showed themselves again to the redhead, images he was sure he would never forget. And he also felt like he was being watched. Nicholas might not have heard anything, it didn't mean nothing was out there. The feeling grew – it grew that big he thought someone was sitting at his head, staring intensely at him.

Eventually, he lifted his head and opened his eyes, and he knew his fear was now at a new peak. The last time, he already thought he's had everything and that nothing could scare him more than that. He was startled by the stranger (who wasn't really a stranger) sitting at his head. Nicholas didn't know how long this person had been sitting here, or if this could count as an act of stalking. The stranger smiled at him, got up and walked past him. "Mornin'" he said, a bit too cheery.

"Good morning?" Nicholas answered, and he shook his head. Impossible, suspicious, scary. This shouldn't and couldn't be possible. This is a dream, Nicholas told himself, there is no other explanation. This has to be a dream. Nicholas eventually sat straight up, and kept watching the suspicious 'stranger'. This boy turned around and faced the redhead, with an expression of misunderstanding on his face.

"Say, Nicholas, are you alright? You look as if you're seeing a ghost!"

"Because I am," he responded at his time, surprised by this person's choice of words – seeing a ghost! – "How did you… You're supposed to… Are you… I thought you were…!" Nicholas stuttered very hard, and never really managed to finish these sentences. Luckily the boy could help him finish them, because he knew exactly what Nicholas meant.

"…dead?" Odd finished, "yeah, me too." Nicholas shook his head again. He still didn't believe it was possible for Odd to walk this earth again, not after Sissi's detailed story about how Odd came to his end in the boarding building. Odd noticed the doubt and surprise and fear and he walked closer to him again.

"I can't help it I'm back," Odd said, "Even I don't know how this could be possible! One moment I'm in Kadic trying to keep a Megatank away, then the next one I'm falling out of the air between the stuff you've left. I've brought it with me, if you'd want to know." He placed his finger against his chin. "And if you were wondering, no I don't know how I knew the stuff was yours. Should've been intuition." He shrugged and without further explanation, he walked away from Nicholas again. This was, again, surprising and shocking for the redhead. He watched Odd willingly leave him, and Nicholas stood up. He's got to be kidding right now! Once a jerk, always a jerk, Nicholas thought.

"Ho, wait up!" Nicholas managed to keep his voice low – you'd never know, "Where are you going?"

"To Sissi," Odd answered and he pointed to the west. "she's there somewhere, busy with her rabbit."

"Rabbit?" Nicholas wondered. Why would Sissi be busy with a rabbit?

"Yes," Odd responded, still being somewhat serious, "With the rabbit I caught. People's gotta have some breakfast." Nicholas didn't know what surprised him more – Odd killing an animal and cooking it, or eating warm meat for a change. With these words, Odd walked away again. Odd had been the odd man out as long as Nicholas could remember, but now Nicholas didn't understand his behavior anymore. After three steps, Odd already turned his head back to him, a bit irritated.

"Hey, you coming or not? I will leave you if you don't dare to follow me," he said. Nicholas didn't need any more motivation to walk behind Odd, to Sissi and the cooked rabbit she would be eating, while a lot of scenarios crossed his mind. Because this imposer couldn't possibly be Odd. The one most probably was the scenario in which 'Odd' only needed to look like the original, to trap them and bring them to William, so the possessed wouldn't have to worry about Nicholas and Sissi anymore.

Eventually, they reached the campfire Odd made and he saw Sissi eating her rabbit - 'Odd' must've spoken the truth. To Nicholas, it now was clear that Odd didn't want to separate them, but what came next? Sissi noticed Nicholas and she waved at him, when he noticed at the same time she was a lot happier now 'Odd' was here. He sat down next to her, while 'Odd' was good with leaning against a tree.

"How do we know you're not a fake?" Nicholas bluntly said. He saw a second rabbit dangling above the fire, but because he was cautious, he didn't yet take it, even if it was very tempting. Sissi looked at him as if he'd say something very rude – seriously, just one question couldn't hurt, could it? Odd didn't move, so maybe he had expected the question.

"If you don't want to believe me," he began, "trust Sissi instead. When I say something that didn't happen on the invasion day, she'll
tell you. So, Kadic was being sieged by the monsters when we were in Mrs. Hertz' class…" and Odd told this memory in the smallest details, as if he was reading this from a book. Nicholas looked regularly at Sissi, and her facial expression told him 'Odd' was telling the truth. "…and then the Megatank busted in, 'cause the barricade just hadn't been strong enough, I guess. I was looking around me for something, anything that could serve as a weapon, until I figured out students weren't allowed to wield weapons. And I also didn't find anything useful against this annoying bowling ball. And I decided to try and stay away and not get hit. If you haven't seen a Megatank shooting his laser, you wouldn't know how much I worried about my life – which was a lot more than I've ever cared before. I did well, if I can say so myself, until one deciding moment. I stumbled and fell flat on my stomach. There was no time to get up or even realize the Megatank was charging up. At that moment, one thought crossed my mind. I'm done for. Then, I closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to see it coming and I fell that distance in the XANA-tic forest, in something that once was known as Paris." He stopped talking at that point, but now the memory was completed, it left more questions then it answered questions.

"Just like that?" Nicholas wondered, and he raised an eyebrow. Odd nodded, repeating Nicholas' words.

"Just like that. I don't need to tell you I've landed in your stuff and I've heard Herve." He better hadn't said that, because now Nicholas was more reluctant as to keeping 'Odd' in the group.

"You've seen him!?" Anger could be clearly heard in his voice.

"Hm. I've heard him, I didn't see him," Odd nodded to the rabbit, "Are you gonna eat that or not?" How could Odd think of food when he's heard Herve? Nicholas didn't know if him hitting the ground – very hard, he hoped – had damaged his brain or something, but Nicholas was worried about his best friend, even in his last moments.

"And you didn't help him?"

"Nope, didn't help. About the rabbit…"

"Quit talking about the rabbit! And why didn't you help?"

"Because I'm no fool. I realized I would be doing more useful stuff by bringing yours back to you. I might have helped him if we were someplace where I could take 'em easily… but only a fool would consider taking down two Tarantulas – and possibly a Krab – out here. Besides, Herve had chosen to sacrifice himself so you could live, and I respected that decision. Anything else to say?" Nicholas wanted to, but he found himself closing his mouth after a few seconds. He seriously didn't know how he could answer this lecture from 'back from the dead' Odd, who nodded to the rabbit again. "When are you gonna take your breakfast?"

"Aren't you hungry?" Nicholas asked, and Odd shrugged.

"I can go 'round without it." Carefully not to get burned, Odd took the rabbit and handed it over to Nicholas. "You're probably more hungry than I am at the moment." He was still warm when Nicholas took a bite from it, and he knew one thing for sure: it tasted better then the endless stream of berries and edible plants he's eaten since the department from Kadic. If he could eat like this forever, he'd swear he'd never eat vegetables ever again. It was nice to eat something warm that wasn't plants or fish. And it tasted better than he thought it would.

"Alright, now the important announcements," Odd suddenly spoke up, "Where exactly do you guys plan on going?" Nicholas opened his mouth to say something, but had to close it again. Where were they going? Herve always made the plans, including their travelling routes. They had no idea where they were, but they were sure they couldn't be outside of France. Sissi also wanted to answer, but she too found herself incapable of saying anything. Odd raised an eyebrow.

"Let me guess – Herve decided where to go, right?" Sissi and Nicholas nodded, and Odd sighed. Without Herve – and without Odd himself – they wouldn't last a day or two. Time to get into action.

"You're already free for… what, two or three months? Well, we're just outside of Paris now, not too far away from the river. I suggest to search it and follow it upstream until we reach the old factory. Any questions?"

"Why the factory?" Sissi wondered.

"Why, 'cause it's a safe place. Well, the safest place in Paris there is, as safe as it gets at the moment. Jeremy's been there ever since this invasion of XANA happened. I'd be surprised if he wasn't. I know Aelita's there, and so are Emily and Jim. If Yumi and Ulrich are smart enough, they'll be heading to there as well. Now I've seen it, we could call it a gathering point for refugees, because it sort of is."

"And how can you be so sure we've got to go upstream? Why not downstream?" Odd looked at Nicholas. The boy was way too suspicious. It wouldn't hurt him to trust people from time to time. Or to do this all-time.

"I don't know this just 'cause I needed to know this for geography. I have walked the bridge to the factory hundreds, if not thousands of times, in many circumstances. Isn't it logical I would know which way to go in order to reach the factory after logical thinking?" they stared at each other for a minute, until Odd gave up on it. And Sissi noticed something.

"Odd, have you even eat something?" she asked him – she'd seen he prepared just two rabbits, and he didn't even think about eating them himself. Odd looked at Sissi, hurt.

"Off course I have!" he almost shouted – that was the Odd Nicholas knew, "I prepared myself a breakfast including two rabbits, a bigger bird and some berries. You were just too tired to even know I was here, eating, all along." With these words, that conversation was also closed. They silently packed their stuff, and because Nicholas still didn't really trust Odd, he tried his best to postpone their department. By this action, he discovered another quality in Odd.

"Hurry up!" he tapped with his feet on the ground and looked impatiently at Nicholas, "You know I will leave you out here." And still he stood stubbornly between their stuff, and Odd shrugged, "Good, do whatever you want!" And Odd turned around, and walked away from them. Sissi didn't know whether she should stay with Nicholas or follow Odd.

Eventually Nicholas sighed and picked up his stuff. Unbelievable! he thought, he's here for half an hour, and we can't miss him anymore! The two of them hurried in the direction Odd had walked, as to catch up with him, to find him waiting for them 100 meters further, and they left again once he told Nicholas he knew the redhead would be coming along anyway. He had no idea how long they've been walking when they reached the river. Odd gave them a small break, but he himself didn't participate. Instead, he he studied the dark water. Nicholas noticed Odd looked at the water with the same suspicious look he normally gave the blonde…

Nicholas shook his head and turned to Sissi, who sat next to him again. "Do you trust him?" He nodded to Odd, who sat on his knees on the shore, staring intensively into the water. At first, she didn't want to answer, because she didn't know what to answer, but she also knew she couldn't leave Nicholas too long without an answer.

"Er… I don't know, maybe… I think I do…" Nicholas pinched his eyelids together, and looked back at Odd.

"Really? Because I don't."

"Nowadays, you don't trust anyone except me," Sissi said, and Nicholas nodded.

"Hey, I'm just careful!" he told her, "but tell me, didn't you notice he acts quite different? Like he's not himself?" Now Sissi also watched Odd for a few seconds, and the boy at the shore hadn't moved an inch, while he normally was always filled with energy and couldn't sit still. She turned back to Nicholas.

"Maybe a little bit…" Nicholas' eyes widened.

"Maybe? I'm sure of it!"

"And how do you know?" Sissi asked, "How is he different, in your eyes?" Contrary to what Sissi first thought, Nicholas didn't need to think too long of an answer.

"He can cook. If he could do this before, he would've told Rosa, even if he were just doing to come closer to his precious food, and so he could eat even more. Besides, how in the world could he have caught a rabbit and cook it when his only equipment is his own hands?" Sissi opened her mouth to say something, but she didn't get a chance to say something. "And he's so concentrated! If I didn't know him, I wouldn't be asking questions about this behavior. And have you even seen him smile? I don't think this is the Odd Della Robbia we know. This person is a cook, serious, concentrated…"

"…and certainly not deaf," Odd said, standing up and walking back to the two friends. He leaned against a tree, and smiled weakly, "When you're discussing something and don't want me to hear it, you'd better talk a little softer. And, in the meantime, while you were discussing my awesome qualities, I've scanned the river for any dangers and came to the conclusion the whole river is secure and monster-free."

"The whole river?" Nicholas wondered – from his position, he could've never checked the whole river!

"Yep. The whole river is secure, from source to sea." He turned his head to the sun, and then back to Sissi and Nicholas, "Hm… just like I thought. We need to go." He started to walk again, and now the two others jumped into action, predicting he'd be doing that again, and they followed him to their destination: the factory.

It turned out to be a long, exhausting day. The only break they had was the break at the river, and since they hadn't stopped for a break. If they were hungry, they could eat from the berries Odd had gathered for this cause. He also had a bottle of one liter water when they were thirsty. During the journey Sissi and Nicholas consumed all, and Odd touched nothing. For them, it took an eternity before Odd told them this was the place they would stay for the night. Sissi and Nicholas dropped themselves on the ground of exhaustion, but Odd called them up again.

"Hey, it's not evening yet!" he said, "We're not yet done!" Nicholas lifted his head and looked at Odd.

"Whaddya mean, not done? We're here, aren't we?"

"We're here, yes," Odd confirmed, "but we need to do a lot. We need to put the stuff somewhere safe, and we surely need to built a shelter… and we can't end this day without a dinner! So, yeah, were not done and need to do a lot before you can rest. So get up and do … something useful!" Moaning, they two of them got up – some muscles were aching, and they didn't even know they had that much. Odd nodded, satisfied.

"Great. I'll go hunt and cook and, if needed, defend, you take care of the rest." And Odd walked out of their sight. Nicholas, still suspicious of everything Odd knew and did, decided to get after him. Yet, there was one small problem: he didn't know where Odd went, or where he could be. Oh, nice! Nicholas started to think up scenarios surrounding Odd's 'disappearance'. He didn't continue, and turned around to go back to Sissi, but suddenly he was eye to eye with Odd. He wanted to scream – seriously, how could he do that? – but Odd placed his hand on his mouth, and the sound was dampened.

"Stay low," Odd demanded, and he walked past him as if nothing happened. Even though Nicholas didn't trust Odd as much as he trusts Sissi, but he wen to sit down on his knees, following everything Odd did as the invisible viewer.

So, Odd continued his path until he bowed down to tie his laces, even though he didn't have laces. From that position, he jumped up as not to get hit by the red laser he just could avoid. He landed on the ground, and quickly picked up a stick to block the lasers from the Kankrelat. This one, and three others came closer to Odd. When Odd came into action, Nicholas didn't know what to think. Neither did he know how to describe these seconds of action, should he ever try to rephrase it, but all those four monsters were soon pieces of metal lying all around Odd and his stick. Odd himself wasn't hurt, and didn't even look tired.

Nicholas saw a fifth Kankrelat crawling behind Odd. Nicholas didn't hear it, which must mean the sound was dampened. It wanted to fire a laser, but Odd was faster – he threw the stick, and it hit the Kankrelat right in the eye, making it explode in thousand little pieces.

"They always come in groups of five. They've been following us for over two hours, 't was about time they were disabled," Odd said, getting the dust and pieces of metal off of him, "Sissi doesn't need to know what happened here. If she does, she might worry even more." And he left a confused and surprised Nicholas, to continue hunting. Then, Nicholas himself returned to Sissi. It's better not to tell Sissi, he knew, and agreed with Odd; she'd only worry. And they wouldn't be going anywhere if she worried too much.

I did it! I updated! Yay! *runs away when being followed by an angry crowd* Hey, I can't help it 'bout Odd. He keeps coming back, you know! So, what are your theories concerning Odd? Do you think he did survive, or is this just a set-up 'cause XANA doesn't trust the traitor's friends? And to be honest, I myself really don't know... Anyway, next chapter will be posted when I find the time, maybe even a bit earlier than expected (but don't count too much on it). I can't really pin-point a day, but with a bit of luck and work after these mid-terms (starting tomorrow) I'll give you Hiroki and Milly the 3rd of April. On with the reviews:

Bluedog197 (Nice theory you've got, thank you and how do you think it'll end, and who do you think will survive?)

See ya next time!

-DutchWriters2