Chapter 14: He saw

Warning: you've been warned, for this one and the next one, just to be sure

Now Hiroki was hungry. It took a lot of energy, trying to escape, and because he couldn't seem to sleep, he could have solved this problem with eating. It's a pity they weren't given a chance to grab some food since they were locked up separated from the other prisoners. They were still in Kadic and in open air, but separated from the others, on a place where once the cafeteria stood. Since the siblings Gauthier died there, the prisoners now tend to call it Gauthier's End, or the End for short, instead of the cafeteria. They also called that because anyone who was brought there, never came back. And it seemed Milly and Hiroki were the next in line.

Him longing for food, water and a warm blanket was big, but another sort of desire might be even bigger. He turned his head to Milly, who stared to the outside world around the fence. Their piece of ground was just 4/4 meters and not even real earth, or mud – it was an uncomfortable cold floor.

"Milly?" the redheaded girl turned to the only friend who survived this prison. With one look she noticed he wasn't all that good – even worse than he already was. He trembled from head to toe, and she saw his forehead was all sweaty. She maybe wasn't a doctor, but she did know the symptoms for an average fever. And at places like this, an average fever could kill.

"Yes, Hiroki?" he scratched his throat.

"Do you have an answer for my question yet?" Milly almost burst out in anger – why did he want an answer so badly?

"I've asked for time," she shouted out, "not for a stalker! Why do you even care so much about that question? We might as well die here!"

"I know," he said with a small voice, "and that's why I want to know. I have to know how you think of me, or else I'll think about it forever. I want to know what you think, so I'll be able to die peacefully." Milly hoped he didn't mean that, the dying part at least. For a while, she was in thought, in some fantasy world: the sun shone bright on a world in which the virus called XANA was defeated, or never had been in the first place. She's become a mother of two children, of which the oldest – a girl- had the name of Tamiya, her dead best friend, and the youngest was a rebel with good thoughts. Milly didn't know which role Hiroki played there, but in her fantasy he survived and how he wore a prosthesis where once his right hand was cut off.

That was when she realized someone said her name for the third time. She turned to see a boy older than her standing there in front of the fence. She knew for sure he could be trusted when she didn't see the Eye anywhere on him. In his hands, he held a light blue blanket – very precious, a blanket, in a period where it's cold and people grab whatever they can to keep themselves warm. Without any explanation, he threw the blanket over the fence, and Milly caught it. Before she could say any thankful words, he was already gone. In the distance, she saw a traitor – the main reason why he came close, probably. Milly turned back to Hiroki, who smiled to the boy – he didn't even notice – as if he knew the blanket -thrower.

"Who is he?" Milly asked.

"Miguel Navarro," he answered, "he was in my sister's class before all this happened." Hiroki sighed, "I wish there were a way to return to the past and forget all of this even happened, or prevented without us remembering." Milly nodded.

"Yeah, that would be nice." Both didn't know of such device already existing, maybe multiple of those, with the first discovered in the old factory, and they would never know. Instead, a shiver ran down Hiroki's spine and he looked at the blanket Milly got from Miguel Navarro with desire in his eyes.

"Milly, I'm cold," he said in a whiny voice, and Milly put the blanket around him. This felt nice. This felt good… Milly rubbed her hands over Hiroki, to keep him a bit warmer. He was a good friend, to good to let him go. He hid his stump under the blanket, but Milly knew how it looked like – dirty, bloody, suppurated. Also a bit green and it looked contagious, Milly thought. She knew nobody who would do this for their friends: accept them as they turned into because of some accident, a virus or some illness. She realized she was sitting against Hiroki like that for a while now, and she prepared herself to pull back.

"Don't," Hiroki requested, "it's warm." So Milly didn't move and stayed next to Hiroki, only to get up when a traitor threw over two pieces of bread and a bottle of water. Hiroki ate one bread and a half, and he also got the bottle of water for himself. Milly didn't complain: Hiroki was ill, maybe even sick, so she didn't mind. They didn't talk very much, and they were occupied by their own thoughts. Hiroki couldn't think straight, and was quickly left thoughtless and asleep. Milly, at the other hand, thought of many things: Hiroki, his family, her family, Tamiya, Johnny, Yumi, William… Eventually these thoughts left her alone, and she fell asleep in that position, Hiroki still embraced by Milly…

They woke up in a roughly manner when someone pulled them away from each other the next morning. First they didn't know what was happening that morning, until everything happened in a flash. Milly was puled away from Hiroki and she screamed, waking Hiroki. When he noticed Milly was pulled off of him, he got up as fast as he could to help her. He hadn't count on William standing behind him with the zweihänder. One hit with his gigantic sword was enough to knock out Hiroki and separate him from Milly. They were too good friends, XANA found, and he could use that.

Hiroki woke up after a second in a closed room. Once it served as a classroom, but without that, it just was a room with no meaning. He just was dumped on the ground Hiroki, he noticed. He lifted his head (despite the killer head-ache) and saw a redhead standing in front of him, next to a chair. For a second he thought it was Milly, but it couldn't be her. She was a senior, and seemed more confident than Milly. Eventually, the girl had seen Hiroki had woken up, and she helped him to get up.

"Are you okay?" she asked him. Hiroki nodded, and she helped him walk over to the chair so he could sit on it. The chair was, like almost everything around here, uncomfortable, but it was better than nothing. The girl went to sit opposite of him, on the ground.

"How are you feeling?" she asked. She was rather friendly, but he didn't know if he could trust her – the memory of William hitting him hard on the head was still fresh in his mind. He looked at her, not trusting her completely.

"I've felt better and worse," he answered – this would have to do. She nodded.

"Me too," she said, surprising him, "this isn't exactly a great life. I'm only helping because my brother dragged me into this bullshit. If he hadn't been here, I would've fled long ago." that was new: a traitor who betrayed her own kind because of her stupid brother. He'd never heard something like that. Still, something deep within him told him she could be trusted, that she spoke the truth.

"What exactly happened?" she wanted to know, "how did you almost escape." Exactly a question William wanted an answer for. And she was still a traitor – against her own will, but still a traitor. Hiroki told her his story: how he knew something was wrong, how XANA had glitched, how Milly apparently had spent the night with him, how they almost escaped because of something so unclear Hiroki couldn't describe it properly. In the meantime, the senior listened very carefully, and at the end, she questioned.

"So… you just saw a chance? Nothing else?" Hiroki nodded. He really just had seen a chance. But because of that chance he was in the middle of a questioning.

The door burst open and a mad William stormed in. It seemed like the Eyes of XANA could jump out of their sockets out of anger. He pushed the girl out of his way and walked straight to Hiroki, immediately jumping up to help her, but he didn't get the chance. Hiroki was caught by William and pressed against the wall, by a sudden power from William's part. He hanged from the ground for a few inches, keeping up by the vessel.

"What did you do with the cables?" he shouted in his distorted angry voice. Hiroki tried to free himself with his hand.

"Nothing… 't was a glitch…" Hiroki looked at William, after which him being surprised increased. The bags under his eyes seemed to have almost disappeared, and he looked less tired. That already raised some questions. How came William looked so well when he hadn't a few days ago? XANA strengthened his grasp on Hiroki.

"I don't glitch!" the servant snarled. Hiroki still tried to get free out of his grasp.

"And I can't make 'em…" The girl stood up and walked towards her 'master'.

"He's telling the truth!" she yelled, "He doesn't know how to make glitches, he only has one hand left and everything points to an unexplainable source, so far. We need to…" XANA was contradicted. He did not like that. William suddenly let go of Hiroki and walked towards the girl. With a quick motion and a loud 'crack' he snapped the girl's neck and ended her life. Hiroki watched in awe, and got scared. He had seen people die a fast dead before, but never that fast.

William walked back to Hiroki, grasped the boy by his hand (his left wrist actually) and dragged the boy with him. The only thing Hiroki could do was try to follow him as good as possible. Because the way William was walking meant that if Hiroki stumbled, William would still drag him, lying or walking.

They soon reached the outside at the End, with nobody around. Only two Bloks, one Tarantula… and Milly! But William didn't let him come any closer to her, and he stopped the Japanese. His eyes looked penetrating at Hiroki. The Tarantula stood ready to shoot.

"What did you do to the cables?" William asked, without letting go of Hiroki.

"I already told you, nothing!" Without turning his eyes away from his prisoner, he heard the Tarantula fire, responding to XANA's order. This was also confirmed by Milly yelling and a worried Hiroki trying to come closer to Milly. William firmed his grasp on Hiroki's wrist, so he wouldn't run off to his girlfriend.

"What did you do to the cables?" William insisted. He only has to ask five times to see Hiroki beg for Milly to be freed. Every time he had answered he hadn't known what happened, kept saying the word 'glitch', and he begged for Milly to be let go, because she only followed his plans.

"Please… just let her go…" Hiroki begged again – he was only standing because William kept him up. The possessed grinned evilly; Hiroki wanted her to go? He'd help her a little. If the Japanese was lying, that could be his punishment. If not, it would learn him to never do such thing again. He let go of Hiroki and walked to Milly. Because of this sudden motion, Hiroki fell. He got up and the two Bloks came his way, the Tarantula not having to shoot anymore with William advancing to Milly. Both soon realized what was going to happen.

If Hiroki hadn't seen the ropes around her wrists, he would've yelled at her to run. She pulled as hard as she could, but it had no effect. William came close to Milly, too close. Just a little while, and he would be left behind as the last of friends…

"Hiroki!" Milly shouted when William was almost close to her.

"Milly!" he shouted back. Just a few feet…

"Yes," she shouted, "Yes, I wanna be your…" that's where she got cut off. Literally. William held up his sword and with one hit, it was over with her. Hiroki fell to the ground, and tears flowed over his cheeks. The memory of her head flying through the air wouldn't be forgotten. And there he was, crying over Milly. He was weak. He was broken. He was all alone.

He wanted revenge, but was too sad to think about that right now.

Just one day over date... not bad! You've been warned, but this warning also counts for the next ones with Hiroki, Yumi and Ulrich, just in case. What's William gonna do now? Will Hiroki get his revenge? And Yumi and Ulrich, will they be able to save Hiroki? Next chater will be posted right on time, on the 10th of April - got two weeks no school, so I'll be able to be on time. Well, on with the reviews:

Bluedog197 (Smart thinking... not gonna say if you're right or wrong, it would ruin the 'surprise')

Whaaaaaaaaat (Hm... didn't think of that one theory popping up... good reasoning, and thanks!)

See ya next time!

-DutchWriters2