Chapter 7: Sauna

"All people want is someone to listen."—Hugh Elliott

"Adversity does teach who your real friends are."—Lois McMaster Bujold

So, how to get proof, Odd thought to himself as he skateboarded back through the sewers. As sure as Odd was, he wouldn't be able to convince his friends that Lyoko-Gabby was the real Gabby without proof of some sort. But how was he supposed to prove it?

He could try to get her to confess; it could be the easiest way, but at the same time it would be the hardest. Gabby wasn't going to just out and say it. Odd would have to trick her into it. Or just blindside her.

Odd groaned. This was going to be impossibly difficult.

~ $*GABBY*$ ~

Three days later, Sissi was still in the Infirmary being comforted; I, however, and most fortunately, was not. At the moment, I was sitting on a park bench reading a book and trying to relax; I'd finished all my homework, and it was still early.

Except that Odd seemed to have other ideas. At first, I ignored him; it sometimes caused him to go away.

But it didn't today. Instead, he scooted closer to me and said, "Are you the real you?"

I sighed and closed my book, moving to the edge of the bench, and glared at him. "The real-what the hell are you on about, Odd?" He grinned at the confirmation-the exact same words I'd used before.

"Well then, I think we need to have-"

"Odd, I don't know what you're talking about," I interrupted, opening my book back up, but still watching his reaction carefully. He blinked, then scowled at me; we both knew I knew, and I'd just showed him so, but I wasn't going to play along with him. "You're sounding even more stupid than usual. I'm clearly the only me there is."

Odd glared at me some more, but he relaxed back into the bench as he thought of how to respond. "Well... if you're the only you there is, then you must be you; therefore, since you are you and the real you... we still need to have a talk."

I shook my head at him. "I don't know what you're talking about, Odd. But that's not going to happen. And now that we've established that, leave me alone so I can read." I went back to my book, but Odd didn't move.

Clearly, he was not very pleased by my ignoring him, though. I could hear his teeth grinding, and when I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, he appeared to be focusing very hard. Huh, maybe the grinding was coming from the rusty gears in his head? His peanut brain probably wasn't used to so much hard work. I rolled my eyes and returned focus to my book, but it was gone.

It appeared that Odd's brain had come up with some bright idea, except that the bright idea was actually not very bright and consisted of him running in the opposite direction as quickly as his feet would carry him with my book.

For a few seconds, I debated just letting him go. I'd already read that book; it wasn't even valuable.

But then I decided I had to: I couldn't just let him get away with stealing from me. Again. And anyways, I had a promise to make good on.

"ODD!" I screamed, jumping up from my seat on the bench and feeling my feet take over as I sprinted after him, as if they'd known all along that I would. Clearly, I was created to chase Odd down and strangle the life out of him.

Odd had a plan in mind, that much was obvious. As if he knew exactly where he'd wanted to go from the onset of the chase. I powered on behind him, and I was gaining, thanks to all my runs. I could hear Odd gasping for breath, and I thought vaguely that he should probably be in better shape, considering all the things he did in Lyoko.

We reached the school buildings, and I almost lost him in the hallways; but his footsteps echoed in the emptiness, leading the way.

I ended up in the boiler room. The door shut behind me with a creak; Odd had slipped out of sight behind me and waited for me to show. How nice of him, I thought bitterly. I folded my arms and scowled at him.

"Give me back my book, Odd," I demanded. He smirked and held out empty hands.

"Must've dropped it in my mad rush. Sorry!"

I huffed and resisted the urge to punch him in the face. "Odd..."

"But hey, since you're down here, maybe we should get to know each other? I know exactly what we can talk about; it's called-"

"Uh, I don't think so," I interrupted, glancing around the boiler room sourly; Odd was still standing in front of the door, but there had to be another way out. And there was: I spotted a second door, which obviously didn't exit to the school, but there wasn't any other other way out.

"Oh, come on!" Odd groaned as I stuck my tongue out at him and headed for that door. "Just admit it! You've been fighting against me and my friends since you first got here!"

I snorted and paused to glare at him. "I've been fighting you since I first got here. And that's only because you almost broke my nose!"

Odd turned red and glared back. "That's only because-Gah, you know what, that doesn't matter right now. Why can't you just admit it? You've been going to Lyoko and-"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Odd," I snapped for the last time, reaching the door and turning the knob as Odd started to follow, looking frustrated. But the door was locked, so the only entrance was still behind him. I turned back to him and glared. "Odd, let me out of here."

Odd shot me a confused look. "What are you talking about? That door doesn't lock..." He moved past me to the door I had just tried, and I took advantage of the opportunity to get back to the door we had originally entered by. But now it was locked too. But... Odd hadn't locked it, had he? No, I would have seen him, right? Yeah.

But then, how was the door locked?

Odd seemed just as confused as I was, and I couldn't decide if that pleased me or made me more worried. I was the new one; he was supposed to be the one who knew how to get around. "I just don't get it... neither of these doors even have locks! Maybe... maybe something is blocking them from the other side?"

"Odd, we just came through that door! You really think that in the ten seconds between you shutting it and me trying to open it, something blocked the door?" I asked him, a skeptical expression on my face, my arms folded across my chest.

"Hmmm... now that you put it that way..."

I rolled my eyes at him. "All right. Forget about how. There's another way out, right?"

Odd chuckled nervously and looked anywhere but at me. Then he said, "It has to be X.A.N.A.!"

I gaped at him like he was crazy. "What in fuck's name is X.A.N.A.?" I asked. Thinking back, I vaguely remembered him saying it before, like it was a person or something. But what kind of name was that?

"Well, see, X.A.N.A. is a-"

"Ugh, you know what? It doesn't matter! Odd, get me out of here!" I glared at him, but he just shrugged and pulled out his cell. Halfway through the number, he stopped and grinned at me.

"Nope!" he said, putting the phone back into his pocket. "I'll call for help after we talk."

"I don't think so," I grumbled, pulling out my own phone. Odd grabbed for it, but Aelita pick up before he could get it. "Aelita?"

"Gabby? What's wrong?"

"Aelita, your dumbass friend Odd trapped us in the boiler room. We can't get out," I told her, shooting Odd a glare as he continued to try for my phone. "Do you think you can get us some help?"

"The boiler room? But those doors don't even have locks..."

"So I've been told," I muttered, kicking Odd in the shin to keep him at bay. "Help?"

"What were you doing down there anyways?" she asked, sounding somewhere between suspicious and amused. "You and Odd-"

"Aelita! Help? Please?"

Aelita sighed, but said, "All right, all right. Help now, questions later. Can I talk to Odd real quick?" I scowled but held the phone out to Odd, who was still gripping his leg with a pout.

He took the phone and said, "Hello?" He sounded guilty. Aelita said something, and Odd replied, "It wasn't like that! ... I'm just trying to prove my point... Just help us out, okay? ... I'll try. Bye." He hung up the phone and glared at me.

I ignored him and tried the doors again, unwilling to sit still and let him question me. He sighed and sat on the ground.

"I know what you're trying to do," he grumbled, pouting at me now. I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Just tell me the truth, all right? It is you on Lyoko, right?"

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Even if it was, I wouldn't tell you!" Odd looked ready to pull out his blond hair; I grinned evilly. He definitely knew the truth, but if it was a matter of getting me to say it, I was going to hold out for a long time.

He had just opened his mouth to say something when I felt my body go weak: my father, pulling me away. Within seconds, Odd was up and in front of me.

He slapped me.

My muscles surged back to life as anger filled me; I slapped him back. "What the hell was that for, Odd?" I yelled.

Odd laughed and said, "You're making me frustrated on purpose!"

"So you slap me? Odd Della Robbia, you-"

I was interrupted by a loud clang, which seemed to echo around the room, followed by a hissing sound. Both of us turned to look at the source: a pipe had ruptured. A small bit of steam was leaking out.

"Did Aelita say how long it would be before they got us out?" I asked nervously, forgetting my anger in favor of worry. Odd already had his phone to his ear.

"Aelita? Where are you?" He had paled considerably, and his look got slightly more grim as Aelita spoke. "A pipe just started leaking... so if you guys could hurry it up a little... All right." He hung up and looked at me. "I hope you can take a little heat. They might be a little while."

I stared at him for a minute, uncomprehending. Once I figured out what he was trying to say, I groaned. "You mean I have to wait in a leaking, locked boiler room and wait for help with you?"

Odd smirked. "Well, yeah, that's the general situation. And I figure, since we're stuck in here anyways, we might as well talk to pass the time. And I know just the subject!"

I huffed and glared at him. "If you mention this Lyoko place or X.A.N.A. or whatever else, I'm gonna punch you in the face, Odd!"

"Fine, fine," Odd said, shrugging and placing his hands in front of him as if he were surrendering. "Well, assuming you really don't know, I guess I can tell you. If you actually don't know, you won't remember once this is over anyways, after Jeremie takes us back. And if you are lying, at least you'll know more about just whose side you're on." With a smile, Odd casually leaned back against the wall, as if nothing was amiss.

I sighed and shook my head at him. Odd was so impossibly thick headed sometimes. And anyways, I was kind of curious about the X.A.N.A. thing. "Okay, fine. Assuming I'm telling the truth and don't know what the hell you're talking about, why don't you start at the top? What's Lyoko?"

Odd grinned as if he'd somehow won, and pushed himself off the wall to stand more in front of me. "All right. Lyoko is a virtual world in a supercomputer designed by a man named Franz Hopper, who is actually Aelita's father." I gaped at him as he started talking about the five sectors and how cool being virtualized was and all the awesome things that he could do as his Lyoko-self.

I was glad that I never had tried to tell anyone what was happening to me; if I didn't know that he was telling the truth about Lyoko, I would have thought he was completely insane. He sure sounded like it. He paused as if he knew what I was thinking, which he obviously did, as he then went on to say, "I sound completely insane, huh?"

I snorted and smirked at him. "You think so? Okay, so that's Lyoko. What the fuck is X.A.N.A.?"

Looking pleased that I hadn't just given up on him, Odd continued: "X.A.N.A. is a computer virus, basically. Except he's not your average computer virus. See, X.A.N.A. thinks and reasons for himself. And of course his goal is to destroy our world." He paused at the skeptical look on my face.

"A computer virus whose goal is to destroy the world?" I repeated. As much as the rest was unbelievable, this was more so. In reality, however, I suppose it shouldn't have been. After all, my father was somehow pulling my mind from my body to fight in this crazy virtual world that Odd was telling me about; if I said that, I would sound crazy.

"Yup. I can't really explain how he does it, but basically, there's these towers that can be activated to contact, and in X.A.N.A.'s case, control things in the real world. Like Sissi, for example. Or that," he added, jerking a thumb towards the ruptured pipe and bringing me back to the situation at hand.

It was getting hot.

That dizziness tried to overtake me again, my father desperately trying to pull me to Lyoko. But Odd was having none of that. He punched my arm none too gently, scowling.

"You know what I'm talking about, right? You... you're working with X.A.N.A. Fighting with him. Why?"

I snorted, but inside, I wondered why too. "Odd, how could I possibly believe such a ridiculous story? You're asking me to believe that you go and save the world in some crazy virtual program by battling a virus that can control people. Not only are you stubborn as a mule and an obnoxious jackass, you're fucking crazy!"

Odd glared at me. "Well, I'm not the only stubborn one! Why can't you just admit it?"

It was getting hotter and hotter. Everything seemed to be getting hazy with the steam, and I was already coated in sweat; my shirt was soaked.

"And you know, it's not cool to judge me when you don't even know me."

"I'm only judging you because you judged me."

"When?"

"At breakfast that first morning! When you asked me out! You didn't know me, and yet you asked me out just like that! Let me guess, you thought I was pretty, knew I was rich, and judged that I'd fall for you right away and be a good little obedient, stupid girlfriend?"

Odd blushed. "That's not—" All my frustration at him snapped.

"Don't lie to me! I know you did! They all do! They stereotype me as one of those airhead heiresses and think they can take advantage of me, but I'm not stupid, and you can't use me like that!" I was on a roll now, and Odd stared at me with eyes the size of dinner plates while I ranted at him for the next two to three minutes. I finished, panting and scowling at him furiously before wiping sweat from my brow and sitting gracelessly against the water-covered wall. Instead of taking a hint and leaving me alone, however, he sighed and sat down next to me, leaning against the wall and looking at me with a weird expression.

"I'm sorry."

I gaped at him. "Wh-what?"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have judged you. I did think you were pretty. I did know you were rich. And I might have thought that you would fall for me easily like girls usually do. And I was thinking about the fact that I've dated every girl in our grade and then some, making you the only one I haven't dated. And I might have mentioned to Ulrich the first day we saw you that you couldn't possibly be smart. And I'm sorry."

It was absolutely silent for a minute.

"God, it's hot," I muttered, looking away from him so that he could see my face. I think the shock and heat was getting to me: tears were pooling in my eyes, and I wasn't about to let Odd see me cry over something like this. Not something that was forcing my whole world to shift suddenly: from Odd being the asshole to Odd being... sensitive to my feelings. It was confusing, and something to analyze.

But certainly not when I was about to be boiled alive trapped in a boiler room that wasn't supposed to lock.

Odd had his phone out, but it was covered with condensation; it only last a minute of hurried conversation and a grim look before it shorted out. Mine was in no better condition. We both sat in defeated silence for a long while, me still fighting against the pull of my father. Every time I started to slip away, Odd punched me in the shoulder and told me not to faint on him. It was getting hotter and more full of steam. And hard to breathe through it all. Finally Odd shifted to look at me.

"Hey, Gabby?" I scowled at him questioningly, not daring to let him see that I might be reconsidering our whole relationship. "I don't know if they're going to make it before we..." he trailed off and I pursed my lips, understanding his meaning perfectly. He sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I got you stuck here. But... if I'm going to die here... I'm glad it was with you."

I stared at him in surprise for a minute before opening my mouth to tell him he was being retarded, we weren't going to die like this, and that his apology was accepted, when-

"Well, Miss Bursley, I think you're good to go. Make sure to come back or get someone to help you back if you feel dizzy or have any headaches, any of that sort. Any nausea."

I stared at the nurse in awe for a second before nodding slowly. Collecting myself, I turned and walked down the hallway, checking my watch. 7 o'clock in the morning.

It appeared that Aelita and the gang had been victorious. And now it was back to that morning. And I had a choice to make.