Pain

Chapter 11: Resolution

Authors Note: I really do hope that you will think this last chapter is of similar if not exceeding quality to the last chapter. This story deserves a good ending, not fluff, so I will try my best to give it what it needs. Sorry also for taking six months to do this. I published the last chapter during Christmas break, and then second semester happened and time flew. Not an excuse, just a reason. I've learned, if I want to write more fanfiction, which I already have more ideas about, that I should have more than the first chapter written before I start posting.

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko

Tap Tap Tap

Ulrich sat at his desk, tapping his pencil absentmindedly against his desk.

Tap Tap Tap

Odd could tell he was too distracted, worrying about Yumi, to pay any attention to the Chemistry teacher at the front of the class

Tap Tap Tap

Ulrich glanced at the clock every 30 seconds, annoyed by how time never seemed to pass.

Tap Tap Tap

He looked at his notes. Blank. Crap, he thought to himself. He'd have to copy them off of Jeremy later.

Tap Tap Tap

He looked at the teacher. She was saying something, but he couldn't focus his ears enough to hear what it was.

Tap Tap Tap

He looked at Odd. Odd looked at him. He could see the concern in Odd's eyes piercing into him.

Tap Tap T…

The bell rang, and Ulrich was out of the door with Odd in tow before anyone else had time to react. It didn't matter, Ulrich was determined. He cared about Yumi, she was his friend, and he loved her, even if he wasn't in love with her. His distraction caused him to run straight into Jim's back, who turned around, surprised.

"Hey! Just what do you think you're…Oh, Ulrich! You look tired, is everything okay?"

But Ulrich didn't hear him, he was already gone, bolting past him. Eventually he found himself in the infirmary, scaring Yolanda slightly as be burst in the room shouting "Is Yumi okay? Has she woken up yet?" Yolanda took a moment to recompose herself before responding. "All her vitals are normal, besides some increased mental activity. She should be fine, but if she doesn't wake up by tomorrow morning she may have to go to the hospital." Ulrich gulped. He was consumed by nervousness, as sadness and guilt wrenched his face. Yolanda noticed this and, in an attempt to comfort him, told him "If you are done with your classes, you may stay here if you like." Ulrich choked out a thank you and sat down on the bed across from Yumi. He sat in silence for a few minutes when the door opened and Jeremy walked in.

"Hey Jeremy, what's up?" Ulrich said solemnly.

"I thought you might like to know what's going on with XANA on Lyoko."

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Odd and Aelita have been on Lyoko, deactivating towers. But every time they manage to deactivate one, a different tower activates. The towers are the gateway to the outside world, and I've been looking into it, and from what I can tell, XANA's not reactivating the tower, the supercomputer is moving the energy elsewhere. It seems there is still one open connection that can't be closed from inside Lyoko."

"Yumi." Ulrich said, after a beat of silence.

"Exactly. I have no idea what's happening inside of her head, but whatever it is, we can't stop it. My best guess is that Yumi's conscience and XANA are battling for control, because every time XANA has had full control, we've been able to shut it down."

"So what you're saying is there isn't anything we can do?"

"I'm saying we'll just have to wait and see."

Ulrich sighed. He didn't like waiting. He didn't like not being able to do anything to help. It made him feel so useless.

"I'm going to head back to the lab, and I'll let you know if anything changes." Jeremy said, getting up. Ulrich waved goodbye as Jeremy closed the door behind him.

He was tired. He had spent all day running around, tower after tower. How's that Jeremy? Are we good? He would ask. Nope, new tower is in the desert sector, he'd get in reply. Finally, after four hours, the group decided that XANA wasn't doing much in the way of attacking besides whatever was going on with Yumi, and that if their efforts were going to be in vain, they might as well get some rest. And thank god they decided that, because he was tired. Yet, he found his feet carrying him away from the dorms, away from his bed, towards the infirmary, towards the other man. He opened the door quietly, and looked at the other man, who looked back at him. "Hey Odd"

"Hey Ulrich, how are you doing?" he said as he closed the door behind him.

"I'm okay. I heard you've been running around Lyoko all day."

"Yeah, even XANA's given up sending monsters after us, so we decided sleep was probably a good idea. I'm still human, as it turns out." Ulrich chuckled at this.

"You should get some sleep, you know" Ulrich said to him, concerned.

"I could say the same about you, you've got bags under your eyes the size of Scotland." He retorted.

"Oh that's not very big." Ulrich replied.

"Come on, you need sleep, and you know it."

"Yeah, but…I can't just leave her, you know?"

"Well I'm not leaving you, so let's either sleep here or in our dorm."

Ulrich mulled over his options, before laying down on the bed. Odd laid down next to him and wrapped his arms around him, nuzzling his nose into Ulrich's back.

"G'night." Ulrich said sleepily.

"See ya in the morn…'" Odd said back, falling asleep mid-sentence.

He really can fall asleep anywhere Ulrich thought to himself, before he too succumbed to sleep.

Yumi stood next to the…thing…whatever it was. Black and viscous and bubbling, it was probably XANA's physical form. She had been fighting it as best as she could, but she was beginning to wear down, and she knew she had to change tactics. Maybe I should give a passion filled speech? She thought, I bet it won't expect that. The image amused her, and she had nothing to lose, so she gave it a shot.

"Listen, XANA, I know you're not exactly human, and I don't think you used to be either, so you probably don't know what it's like to have feelings, or love people, or you know, human things. These people you keep trying to kill day in and day out are my friends, and they mean the world to me. I know I've made mistakes, I've done some really stupid things that I wish I hadn't, but I'm only human, and those people, Ulrich, Odd, Jeremy, Aelita, they're still my family, and I love them. I'm not going to let you hurt them, or take them away from me anymore, you hear me? It's time for you to let me go, you scum!

Hoping her words would at least distract it, if not but for just a moment, she threw her fans at it with all her might, and to her surprise, they didn't pass right through it. The shape absorbed them, and began to shake. Cracks started to form, and light began to shine through the cracks. After a few moments, the entire thing blew up, sending chunks of black slime everywhere. Eww she thought, wiping it off of her face.

Hearing a noise, she turned around, she saw the figure that had accompanied her through her…journey? Whatever this was. The same figure that had gotten darker and darker as she got closer to fighting XANA was now whiter and brighter than she had ever seen. She knew that it was her way home as she reached out and placed her hand on its surface.

The first rays of the morning sun were starting to pour in through the window in the school infirmary when Yumi opened her eyes. She saw Odd and Ulrich spooning on the bed next to her and sighed. I should probably get back to my dorm she thought, as she started to sit up. She was standing up, off of the bed when she heard it creak. She stopped and looked at Odd and Ulrich, hoping they didn't wake up. She knew Odd could sleep through anything, but Ulrich was an incredibly light sleeper. Her fears turned out to be true when, a few moments later, Ulrich's eyes fluttered open. Seeing Yumi standing up, he jumped to his feet, waking up Odd in the process, who started to complain until he saw Yumi.

"You're up" Ulrich said, a little awkwardly.

"Yeah, I am" Yumi responded.

"Are you okay? You gave us all quite a scare"

"Yeah, it was…a bit of a trip…" Yumi said, trailing off. "Can we talk for a minute?"

"Yeah, sure." Ulrich said, sitting back down.

"Look, I know there's some tension between us, but if you can find it in your heart to, I'd like it if we could put everything behind us. I've made some mistakes, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't regret them, but I have consequences and I think I'm finally ready to deal with them. You and I aren't going to be a thing, and nothing I can do can fix that. I broke your trust, I can see that now, and the only thing I can do is apologize. So, I'm sorry, I really am. I'm so, so, unbelievably sorry, and I hope you can accept my apology, and maybe sometime down the road, we can be friends again."

Ulrich couldn't find the words to respond so he simply stared at her, expressionless.

Suddenly, Ulrich's phone rang. He quickly pulled it out of his pocket and pressed it against his ear.

"Jeremy, this isn't really the time."

"The tower deactivated itself a few minutes ago, XANA seems to be in hiding. Whatever happened with Yumi, XANA's taking some time to regroup. We should be safe for now."

"Awesome, thanks Jeremy." Ulrich put his phone away and looked back at Yumi. "XANA's resting. Whatever you did, it must have hurt."

"It better, I put my damn heart into it." Yumi said, laughing lightly. "Anyways, I'm going back to my dorm to get some more sleep before class starts. You should too."

"More sleep? I'm in!" Odd interjected.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan." Ulrich said, as Yumi started for the door.

Back in their dorm, Odd and Ulrich were back in bed, holding each other in their arms.

"This week has been crazy" Odd whispered, causing Ulrich to chuckle lightly.

"Yeah, but I don't regret anything." Ulrich whispered back.

"Me neither."

There was a slight pause before Ulrich whispered "I love you" in Odd's ear, before falling asleep.