It started with sitting at the desk and rummaging through drawers. For a moment, he felt like he was still in his room, but those weren't his hands shuffling through papers. He wasn't in the dorm either; judging by the furniture arrangement and the spaciousness, it seemed like an office, reminiscent of Delmas's office. Everything around was blurred yet sharp, as if he were reliving a memory, although subconsciously, he knew it wasn't his own.

- You can finish this year, but I don't want to see you here next year. - he said, but it wasn't his voice; it was much deeper and raspier, as if it came from the throat of a longtime smoker.

When he lifted his head, he saw a brunette sitting in front of him, but he didn't know who he was; his face was distorted and blurry. He extended a hand holding brochures, but they too were unclear, and he had no idea what they might be about. The boy took them, saying something, unsure of what.

And then he woke up.

The day didn't seem promising. His throat felt rough, and swallowing caused an irritating pain. He sat with a groan, hunched over, hiding his face in his hands, shielding tired eyes from the intense light. He allowed himself to stay in that position for a while, taking advantage of the solitude to avoid any stupid questions.

He stood up only when another alarm echoed in the room, reminding him of upcoming classes. His back ached from constant tossing in bed, and stretching didn't help. He lazily made his way to the bathroom, grimacing at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were circled, skin deathly pale, his hair refusing to cooperate, and his facial muscles wouldn't allow a smile. However, the irises gleamed cheerfully, as if wanting to assure that everything was fine. It wouldn't be the first time he lied to himself.

He didn't have time to eat at the cafeteria; instead, he grabbed a few snacks from the vending machine and dragged his feet towards the gym. Normally, he wouldn't care about something as trivial as Jim's class, but he promised Ulrich to play soccer, and he couldn't be late. On the way, he attracted the attention of a few girls, something he was used to, but this time, he wanted to disappear. He felt awful, looked awful, and hated it.

- Well, hi, Jeremy two. - Ulrich greeted him, throwing a ball his way, which he barely caught. - Ready to face the master?

- What? Why Jeremy two? - Einstein asked, somehow hearing him from his place on the bench.

- Because he looks like a zombie. - Stern laughed before they both glanced at the blond, finishing his modest breakfast, barely paying attention to them. - Played late again?

- Yeah. - mumbled Odd, tossing the ball towards the net with a half-hearted attempt.

It was a lie.

Alright, a half-lie.

It was true that lately, he spent most of his nights gaming and catching up on overdue shows, but not because he wanted to. He simply couldn't fall asleep. When he got bored of that, he lay in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to come, usually around four in the morning, and even then, he forced himself to rest.

This routine led to a point where he either slept three to four hours at most or not at all, no matter how exhausted he felt. Tonight wasn't an exception, except that the stupid dream left him more fatigued than not sleeping at all. Ulrich couldn't know that with his earplugs in, nothing but the morning alarm would wake him, and the blond didn't want to mention it; he had already brought trouble upon him in the form of complaining Yumi.

- Alright, team, warm-up time, let's go! - Jim's loud voice echoed in his head, leaving behind an annoying headache, making his teeth itch.

- Get ready for defeat. - Ulrich smiled, but the boy didn't share his enthusiasm.

Odd Della Robbia hated many things, and among them, running took a high place on the podium. He quickly realized he ate way too little for such an effort with so little rest.

After less than five minutes, he had to stop, fearing his heart would jump out of his throat any moment. He managed to walk a bit and sit under the bleachers while the rest of the students continued circling the gym. Some people noticed him, but he didn't pay attention, too focused on looking at the floor and regulating his breath.

- Are you okay? - it was Aelita, her pink sneakers appearing in his field of view.

- You know you can't escape our bet this way, right? - Stern joined them, but quickly abandoned the joking tone when he understood something was wrong. - Hey, everything okay?

- Yeah, I just... - he raised his head to look at them, and suddenly, nausea overwhelmed him. Blinking became a Herculean effort, and all the energy seemed to leave him at the moment the world swirled before his eyes.

This time, he was running through the woods. No, not running, he was escaping, and whoever was chasing him was close, he could feel it. He turned right and started pushing through dense bushes; he hissed and looked down as a branch painfully scratched his skin.

The rustling of leaves nearby made him start running again, though the image was blurry, and he stumbled several times on his way. Whoever he was, had serious vision problems.

When he finally reached his destination, he forcefully opened the gate and ran into the building, which looked very familiar but was too blurry for him to be sure. The image of closing doors was the last thing he remembered.

When he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of a worn ceiling and the characteristic smell of disinfectants. He didn't have to look around to know where he was, but he had to focus hard to remember why. With a groan, he sat on the edge of the bed and noticed that he was still wearing shorts and the most disgusting t-shirt he had in his closet.

Green was never his color.

- Everything okay, Odd? - Yolanda asked, almost immediately handing the boy a thermometer, which he took without a word.

No, everything wasn't okay if he ended up here, but he tried hard to refrain from sarcastic remarks. An ally in the form of the school nurse was very much to his advantage, and he preferred not to ruin that.

- Yeah, everything's fine. - he finally said. - I fainted, right?

- Yes. - she replied, her tone, as always, serious yet calm, pleasant to the ear. - Do you have a headache?

Like hell.

- No. - he assured, forcing a weak smile. - I don't think I hit anything. Anyway, it's nothing; I often faint when I don't have time to eat breakfast.

Total lie, but he couldn't tell her that it was the first time he passed out without Xana's intervention. It had never happened to him before, but he also never skipped meals before exertion, so the conclusions were evident.

You also didn't have sleeping problems before, a quiet voice in his head spoke up, but he decided to ignore it.

- Do you sleep well? - speak of the devil. - You woke up for a moment, but you didn't respond to my questions and went back to sleep. You were also squirming a lot. - she said, taking the thermometer from him and glancing at the result. - Fortunately, you don't have a fever.

- No. You know how it is, teachers give a lot of work, plus exams and such. I guess I stress too much. - he confessed; he might as well use the situation to his advantage, right?

- I'll talk to the principal about it. - she promised, but he was aware that she took his words with a grain of salt; no wonder, everyone in this school knew that the last thing Odd Della Robbia cared about was homework. - I'll also give you an excuse so you won't get into trouble.

- Huh? What time is it?

- It's ten. - the woman handed him a note, which he took with a small smile. - There you go. Eat something and rest. - he politely thanked her before heading to the exit. He stopped a step before the door when he heard his name and looked at her over his shoulder. - Your friend Jeremy asked you to call him when you wake up.

He nodded and said goodbye once again. In the corridor, he grabbed his phone and glanced at the notifications. Rolling his eyes at seeing dozens of messages of similar content from more or less close people asking about his well-being, he couldn't be surprised, but most of them really could spare him the trouble. One of them, however, caught his attention as a familiar combination of purple and green flashed on the screen.

- Everything okay? - he read the message from Alex, sent about an hour ago.

If he remembered correctly, he didn't see her in the room (not that he was looking, of course), so either he didn't notice her, or the news in this school really spread quickly. Judging by the amount of spam, he bet on the latter.

- And what, you worried about me? - he replied before returning to the home screen to call Einstein; as he pressed the receiver, he saw another notification. He raised his eyebrows when he noticed it was her again.

- Sure.

He waited to see if she would add anything more, but no; just a short acknowledgment of his statement. He bit his lower lip to suppress the wide smile creeping onto his face and replied with a simple:

- Cute.

Then he finally called Jeremy.

- How lucky you are awake. - he didn't even have time to greet when the agitated voice of the boy sounded in his ear. - You need to run to the factory, and fast!

- Is it urgent? - he grimaced at the thought of navigating through the sewers in his current condition. - I was just about to go...

- It's very urgent, Odd. - he said, using his 'no time for jokes' tone. - Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita are at school, escaping from the specter.

- Why don't you virtualize them?

- Because they were already virtual.

- What? At the same time?

- Xana hid the signal of the second tower behind the first one, and William wasn't available. - he explained, and the boy clearly heard regret in his voice; he must have felt guilty for not thinking this through. - There were too many monsters to...

- Alright, Einstein, don't panic; we'll manage. Did you call Alex?

- Yes. The specter is only chasing the girls, but just in case, I told her to stay away from the park. Please hurry; William is already waiting! - after these words, he hung up.

The blond's eyebrows raised only to drop again right after.

- William? - he muttered under his breath, but there was silence on the other end of the line.

Of all the warriors, he had to end up paired with him? This day was some kind of nightmare.

- Where were you?! - Dunbar pounced on him as soon as he reached the room with the supercomputer. - How long can we wait for you?

- I came as fast as I could. - he shrugged; he couldn't tell them that he had to grab something to eat, or he wouldn't have made it to the factory. - How's everyone else?

- Not great; the specter is hot on their trail. - Jeremy announced, and his tousled hair from constant running his hands through it showed that he was worried about Aelita. - Run to the scanners.

- Sure, unless Odd has more important plans.

- Speaking of plans, where were you this morning, knight? - he sneered, pressing a button.

The brunet crossed his arms over his chest and shot him a disdainful look.

- I happened to be taking a test, sleeping beauty.

- A test you wouldn't have to take if you hadn't screwed up the class. - he observed, smiling maliciously.

Dunbar clenched his teeth and turned away.

- Prick. - he grumbled under his breath as he entered the scanner.

- Dog. - Della Robbia hissed, and he was sure that in different circumstances Dunbar would probably hit him, which made the situation even funnier.

They virtualized in the desert sector, amid tall rocks, near the tower. It was a pretty good hiding place, but unfortunately, their luck ended there.

- Let's get to work. - William muttered, peeking out from behind a rock to assess what exactly they were dealing with. - Five Tarantulas.

- Five Tarantulas?! - Odd exclaimed. - I thought Xana was supposed to be weak.

- Is that too much for you?

- I was more concerned about you. - he teased, amused to see him clench his fists; the first sign that he was starting to get annoyed.

- As if I needed you for anything other than deactivating the tower.

- If you didn't need me, you would have cleaned up in front of it a long time ago, right? - he provoked, and a wide smile appeared on his face.

- Odd, stop! - Jeremy protested, tired of listening to their exchange.

- You're right; it's like beating a dead horse. - he laughed.

- Who the hell do you think you are, huh? - the brunet growled, daring to push him at the moment he wanted to show heart and graciously stop teasing him. - You're no better than me, rat!

- William, don't listen to him! - Einstein intervened, trying once again to calm them down, but in vain; he was beginning to lose his temper because of the two of them. Since when did Odd take Ulrich's place in getting on William's nerves?

- But I am better at something. - Della Robbia raised an eyebrow. - At least I passed.

He knew it was a low blow, but he couldn't help it. Dunbar was so funny when he got annoyed.

- Stop throwing it in my face already! - he shouted. - You're such a...

- Fuck, guys! - Jeremy's sharp tone finally caught their attention, especially since he almost never cursed. - I remind you that you're on a mission, not in kindergarten!

- Fine! Okay, okay. - he capitulated, jokingly raising his hands. But right after that, he locked eyes with the brunet and furrowed his brows. - Bet I'll kill more than you?

- In your dreams!

Before he could react, the warrior activated his supersmoke and headed towards the enemy, leaving the boy behind. Odd rolled his eyes, silently watching as the dark-haired boy attacked the nearest monster, only to move above the second one, hitting it straight in Xana's eye.

- Jeremy, send me my board. I'll help him before he falls on his stupid face. - he snorted, but there was silence. When he didn't see his vehicle anywhere after a few seconds, he placed his paws on his hips. - Jeremy? - he snapped with reproach, but there was no response. He looked towards the tower; William managed to kill three Tarantulas, but the remaining two were too close for him to avoid. Since he had his gauntlets, he didn't need to be as precise as he used to be, but he still had to hit Xana's eye, and he couldn't do that without the right height. - Einstein, what's going on?

- Ulrich called. - he finally announced, ending the silence. His voice trembled with concern, and Odd already knew that he was not bringing good news. - Aelita disconnected from the others. They split up in the park, and no one knows where she went! Her phone is not responding, and the others can't find her anywhere.

Suddenly, he remembered his dream from earlier in the day, where he was running through the forest, particularly the moment when he noticed pink shoes on his feet. He could be mistaken, but he thought he had seen such shoes on Aelita in the gym before he passed out. Thoughts raced through his mind, and the unease grew the longer he dwelled on it. He reasoned with himself that it was nothing significant; the girl was the last thing he saw before losing consciousness, so it wasn't surprising that she appeared in his imagination. Odd wasn't someone who normally bothered with something as insignificant as dreams, so why the hell did this cross his mind?

- Calm down, Einstein. - he said, deciding not to mention his gut feeling. It was stupid, it meant nothing. - Send me my board; I'll try to get to the tower.

- That won't be necessary. - William declared, and when the blond glanced in his direction, he saw the dark-haired boy leaning confidently on his own sword. Odd looked around, not even trying to hide his surprise, but there were no monsters anywhere he could see. - How about that? Are your legs hurting from waiting for so long?

- They are. It took you quite a while. - he replied, but this time, he wasn't being malicious; he was actually impressed. - Good job. - He smiled, momentarily surprising Dunbar before returning the gesture.

Odd started towards him, but suddenly, he froze, and a feeling of pure terror filled his chest. His intuition told him that something bad was going to happen; his whole body screamed to run, though nothing was happening; it didn't make sense. He staggered backward, his breath quickening, eyes widening, and when he realized it wasn't just ordinary fear, it was already too late.

A scream pierced the air, and Della Robbia vaguely realized that it was him screaming. Shortly after, he fell to his knees, a shiver running through his body, and he curled up so that his forehead almost touched the ground. It was worse than last time; a burning pain tore through his chest, and worse than that was his head. He couldn't focus on anything; his teeth seemed to crack under the force he clenched them, and if he could, he probably would have cried. Everything around him was so bright and loud, and everything hurt.

Einstein jumped in his chair, frightened, looking at the screen as a loud sound pulled him out of his thoughts.

- Odd? William? What happened?

No one answered, and worse yet, three new monsters appeared around the tower. The boy watched the moving red icons, and a second later, William's avatar took on the same shade. The fingers of the eyepiece hung over the keyboard as he recorded what had just happened.

No.

No, no, no, NO!

- Sorry, Jeremy, really. - Dunbar's voice snapped him out of his stupor as the boy burst into the room like a storm. - Odd surprised me, and then that damn block froze me, and...

- It's not your fault. - the blond mumbled, squeezing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

Besides, even if William had behaved irresponsibly, Jeremy had much more important things on his mind now. Odd was left alone in Lyoko and couldn't move, let alone fight. All the warriors were already virtualized, and one of the girls had to be caught by the specter, and deep down, he apologized to Yumi for that, but from the bottom of his heart, he prayed it wasn't Aelita.

- Now what? Do we hide and wait?

- We can't. - he hissed and tore off the headset, unable to listen to his friend's painful sobbing any longer. Despite that, the blood-curdling scream still echoed in his ears, pushing tears of helplessness into his eyes.

- So what do you suggest? Because if I'm not needed here, I'll at least help them. - William offered, but Einstein's outstretched hand stopped him from running back to the elevator.

The boy raised his eyebrows, waiting for what the blond had to say, but the truth was that Belpois himself didn't know what to do. Odd was suffering; Jeremy had never heard him like this before. Even during the last specter attack, it wasn't as bad as it was now, and Jeremy was sure that Odd wouldn't endure twelve hours on Earth. No, he couldn't do that to him; and since he couldn't devirtualize Odd, he had to find someone he could send to him. And there was only one person who could do that.

- Go get Alex. - he declared, his voice soft but determined. He knew he was making the decision on his own at this moment, and he realized that it might be wrong, and the consequences dire. But at this moment, it was a small price to pay for the lives of his friends.

- What? Are you sure? You know that Yumi...

- I don't care what Yumi says. We have no choice! - he clenched his jaw before taking a deep breath and putting the headset back on. - Odd? Odd, can you hear me?

He heard, and at the sound of his voice, the warrior curled up even more. His breathing was shallow, and a tremor ran through his body as he tried to force himself to produce a sound. He could do it; he could, just give him a moment...

- Odd, I know it's difficult, but you have to hide. The blocks don't know you're there, but it's only a matter of time before they notice you. - he barely managed to look over his shoulder, and though everything around him was swirling, he saw that Jeremy was right; there was a tower across from him, and if any of the monsters shifted even slightly to the right and looked up, they would notice him. - Hold on, we'll send you support soon.

No, wait, he wanted to say, but all that came out of his mouth was a hoarse groan. He managed to crawl a bit further, even though the image blurred every time he lifted his eyelids; but he could do it himself, he could. He just needed... just a moment of rest.

- Go get her. -the echo of Jeremy's voice sounded in his ears as he lost consciousness.