Chapter 6---The Coma

Ulrich watched the two people before him with a block of ice clogging his stomach. Bart whispered something in a low voice to Flow. He did not look urgent; in fact, he looked more amused than anything. Flow nodded and turned to leave. Ulrich didn't want her to leave just yet, though. He still wanted to know something before he avenged Cherri. "Flow," he called after her, "Who was the only other person to survive Senoczine?" His heart pounding sounded loud in the silence after his words echoed.

Flow turned slowly, eerily-- her flickering eyes and fake smile giving her a mad look--and said, "Me." And then she left. Her steps were quick.

"That...was not funny in the least," Bart said, streatching and flexing his fingers. His dog-like face looked as rabid as when Ulrich had first seen him. "I suppose you'll want to kill me now. Seeing as how you've been in Lyoko before, I don't think I should go easy on you. Normally, I'd let the weaker opponent have the first hit, but this time I--"

Ulrich jumped down from the crate long before Bart was finished chatting. His mind was racing. Bart looked startled to see Ulrich come at him as fast as the brunette did. Good, Ulrich thought. Very good if I can get surprise as an advantage. He won't last long with his guard down. Half a second later, when he reached Bart, he drew his fist back and punched the madman harder than he'd ever hit anything. Bart was sent staggering backward several feet before he knew what hit him.

"Good to see you've got spunk, kid," Bart murmured darkly. His aura seemed to change before Ulrich's eyes, swarming with wrath and a keen taste for blood. A strange thing, auras. The lab's light faded, leaving the two shrouded in darkness. Somehow, Ulrich thought he could see better in the dark now than he could before. It must've been the peppermint substence that Cherri made him drink. He felt so much stronger, too. How long that would last was a mystery. "Lady Luck is your prostitute," Odd had told him once, "Use her like he whore she is." At the time, Ulrich had thought Odd was just trying to cheer him up. They had lost the soccer game, after all. But right now Lady Luck didn't seem like such bad company, and Odd's silly proverb made a little more sense.

"Luck, I hope you're with me on this one," he said quietly. Bart eyed him sideways, curiously. He wasn't fazed at all.

"Crazy hot-heads like you make the world so much more interesting. I was hoping I would get to rid Lyoko of you. Flow takes too much pride in her job. She never does as she should, like me. I fight my own battles." Bart began circling Ulrich like a leopard stalking a wounded animal. He was the one wounded, though! "Whenever she sends for Xana's little creations instead of fixing something herself, she actually makes herself more vulnerable. Like you are right now. But I take it you've fought plenty of battles, is that right?" Ulrich nodded, stepping away from Bart slowly. He wasn't about to be ambushed, especially by the likes of him. He couldn't help the adrenaline pumping through his veins, though. He had to push the urge to wrestle Bart to the floor to the back of his mind. Bart stopped circling him. "You're a samuri when you come to Lyoko, so why don't we make this battle worth its time?" His smile was visible even in the darkness.

The next moment, Ulrich felt a strange sensation in his hands, almost like they were numb- a prickly feeling. His fingers automatically coiled around the hilt of a katana, silver blade humming and virtualizing before his eyes. He swished it several times to make sure it wasn't just a mirage, then ran his thumb across the blade lightly. A small bead of red appeared the instant his skin came in contact. Not only was the sword real, it was pinpoint sharp. He tried to hide his surprise. When he looked up, he saw that he was not the only one with a sword. Bart's weapon was from Europe, though, a two-handed blade and twice as thick as Ulrich's small katana. If that was how he saw fair, then so be it. Ulrich put quite a bit of faith into his Japanese steel. He took a slow stance, one that would keep him ready for anything.

Bart ran forward faster than Ulrich predicted, but not so fast that he couldn't keep up with him. The blond man looked almost clumbsy with a sword in his hands, but strength was a key factor in this fight. Bart was not weak. He came onto Ulrich with a full-frontal clash of steel that sent them both skidding toward the shallow pond. Luck. Maybe luck would keep him alive if his skill didn't.

In retaliation, Ulrich ducked low as his katana slid away from Bart's sword. He made a strike at Bart's ankles, but the taller man moved his blade quickly to the other side, negating Ulrich's attack completely. With barely a pause for breath, Ulrich jumped backward and onto his feet, ready for the next blow.

They danced like that for some time. Ulrich didn't know how long they'd been at it, but one thing he did know was his own condition. He felt like he was playing on God-mode in some video game. His stamina was perfect, his health was perfect, his fatigue- what fatigue? He felt like he could run around the world and back again. The only problem was he was dueling against another God-like player, locked in a never ending battle because both characters were as good as they were going to be. And the battle would end. Ulrich's strength would wear down eventually, unless if the peppermint elixir left him feeling like that forever. Somehow he doubted that. Lady Luck seemed to be late for the party.

His feet were suddenly immersed in icy water. That did not slow him down, of course, but it did take his attention away from Bart for a second. One second would be all the blond man needed to gut him, but the water must've taken his attention from Ulrich as well. Soon they were both swirling in tiny drops of water like rain. Ulrich's shirt was starting to get wet, and worse, cold. The water was freezing. He faintly wondered how he'd survived the swim through that water. No matter now. He needed something that would trip Bart off his back long enough for him to...to finish this. His mind started working like a calculator.

Bart tried to push Ulrich one way--deeper into the water; his height would make him able to move faster by a hair--but Ulrich's speed with a smaller sword helped him to lead Bart in another direction. Inch by slow inch they moved out of the water and to the crates. Ulrich had barely missed getting beheaded, but the instant he knew he wasn't, he jumped onto the crate backwards, steady as a rock. He couldn't help but grin at Bart's confusion stark and plain on his face.

Despite the simplicity of his plan, the confusion was exactly the result Ulrich wanted. He'd jumped onto the crate for no other reason than to warble the dog-faced baffoon. His assumption was correct as well; Bart was stunned for longer than a few seconds. Long enough for Ulrich to take a deep breath and thrust his katana through Bart's stomach. Bart was stunned for more than one reason, now. His sword falling to the floor signaled the end of their skirmish. It was over. Ulrich wanted to cry. He wanted to shudder and close his eyes, but he forced himself to watch as he pulled the bloody weapon free. The slick, red liquid that coated the katana dripped slowly onto the floor and the crate. It poured much faster from its owner.

"Well...kid," Bart managed to blurt out, "You beat me. Much...faster...than I thought you could...too. Damn brat..." With that, his eyes glazed over and he leaned forward, letting go of his last breath. Both weapons dissipated, as did Bart himself. Was he just devirtualized Ulrich thought, staring in wonder as the blood around him faded too. He never thought about that. He did seem to stay in Lyoko a bit longer than he did when he was devirtualized, but... He glanced over to where Cherri should've been laying on the table. There was nothing there to suggest the horrors that had taken place only minutes earlier. He was a bit surprised at how fast everything was over. A pair of hands clapping from the exit as the lights returned made his eyes sharpen again.

"Well done, my boy, very well done." Flow was not clothed in her usual white lab coat. Now, she wore a knee-length, black skirt with a blood-red top that revealed nothing. Around her shoulders was a long ebony cloak that glittered when the light hit it. The strange glowing ball of light was floating above her left hand, and in her right was a leash. Ulrich couldn't stop his eyes from wandering to the other end of that leash. He hadn't expected to see the dreadful vampire thing that had first brought them here again so soon, yet there she was, perched on her heels like a faithful pet. Flow's smile still seemed too friendly, but Ulrich definitely wouldn't hesitate to kill her. Not even as much as he did for Bart. She was at the top of his list. "Two birds with one stone," The red-head continued, "You really don't know how much you're helping us out, Ulrich. You should be proud."

"You're not going to lament them at all?" Ulrich whispered quietly. Dangerously. He wanted her to think he was dangerous.

"Why should I? They were both useless anyway. Anyone who does not see through the same eyes as Xana must be dealt with, and you, my fine specimen, have done just that. Ulrich, I don't know if you knew this or not, but you actually have much the same views as Xana does. You two would get along very well. The same with your other friend--Jeremie, I believe his name is?"

"What do you mean? I'm nothing like Xana! And neither is Jeremie!"

Flow was silent for a long time, then. Her smile faded into nothing, a bland look, and Ulrich was forced to stare back at her haunting eyes. When she was through thinking, her smile returned, twice as wicked as before. "Oh, Ulrich, but you are like Xana, in many more ways than one. Maybe not as much as the other, but in some ways, more. You'll be joining him shortly." She started toward him, Vixeinya crawling on all fours by her side. Ulrich tried to process all the information at once, and ended up being even more confused. Jeremie was alive, though. That thought he registered plainly. He watched half-heartedly as Flow threw the glowing ball into the air. It grew larger as Flow chanted something in a high, sing-songy voice. Larger, until its brightness made Ulrich wince and shield his eyes with his arm. Brighter still, and then it was too much. As something warm encircled him, Ulrich felt his consciousness fade.

He was in a dream. A dream of a dream, or something like that. He was everything, and nothing at the same time. He was anything he wanted to be, and yet again something so distinct and petty that it seemed his dream was not a dream at all. It was...strange. But he'd felt it before. It was the world of computers, the world of virtual reality: the world of Lyoko. He didn't breathe, but he could think. His mind was racing, as it often did when he was in a tight situation. But he wasn't there, so how could there be a situation?

There was someone calling his name, distantly, but close, like everything in Lyoko. It was loud and soft, far but so very near. The dream he was in seemed to be a paradox itself- there, but not really there. Then, a face, a person appeared in front of him. He knew this person, knew her from another life. Someone else's life. Yumi. He had loved her once. Or did he love her still? He couldn't remember.

"Are you all right?" she asked, touching his face with her silken hands. She smiled when he nodded. He thought he nodded. He must've done or said something, though, because she laughed and wrapped her arms around him, gently stroking the back of his neck. "You're all right..." She said, faintly. Nothing in the virtual world was faint. Her words were. This was not right. Panic--another emotion; something was wrong, very wrong--seized him by the throat. He could not breathe, but that should not matter! Breathe- he needed to breathe, but he couldn't. The tight restraints of being virtualized would not let him. Yumi's hands were not stroking his neck, he realized with a wide-eyed look of terror, they were gripping it. She was strangling him, and none too lightly. He tried to kick her away, but he could not move. Everything was nothing.

Yumi was crying. "I'm sorry, Ulrich! I'm sorry!" She had him pushed against the floor now. A floor that should not have been there. He could feel his pulse slowing down. A pulse that should not have been there. "Please! I do love you, I DO!" She practically screamed at him. He could see when he should not see, and he saw her perfect teeth clenched in anger, in pain. He saw her eyes. And they were were not sane. "Damnit, Ulrich, why! Why why why fucking why? You had a choice! You didn't have to side with them! You didn't have to give up what makes you human!"

What makes you human? he thought with a bitter laugh inside his head. The world around him was melting away. A world that was not a world, a world that was his world. What was it that I gave up for you, my love? I can't seem to think...correctly...

"YOU IDIOT! You gave up your love, the one thing that surpases death! You gave it up to that bastard! You're nothing now! Nothing! Nothing! NOTHING! NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING--"

...And then there was silence. He could still see Yumi's beautiful lips screaming the word "nothing" in his face, and he could still feel her hands choking the life out of him. But then again, he could not see. He could not feel. He wasn't even there anymore. It's just like she said: I have no love. He managed to gasp in another breath. Oh, God, what have I done? Yumi smacked his face hard. She smacked it again. He felt no pain. He only saw her pain. Don't, Yumi- please don't! I can change! Help me! I can't do it alone- Yumi did not stop. She dug her nails into his neck, panting breathlessly as he was. Her hands were soon drenched in his blood. I can change! I can... I can... But I can't... He could not breathe anymore. He stared up at Yumi, though. She sighed in relief, sweet relief, being ridden of some horrible burden. She laughed at his dying form. He could not hear anything. His ears were stuffed with cotton. His limbs were numb, and cold. His mind was fading, the one thing that was real in this world.

Or was it? What if...what if this wasn't Lyoko? Had he been in the virtual world so long that he thought this strange new reality was that reality? What was reality? No. This wasn't happening... What if...this was the real world? Impossible, but... So this was what Bart had felt like, staring up at the person who killed him, letting go of his last breath, and letting go of life. He was not in Lyoko. He remembered everything now. The Black Tower. Flow. The agreement. The betrayal. Jeremie refused. He did not. Jeremie's death at his own hands. His life, handed back to him by the gracious ruler, Xana. For a price. His love, ripped away mercilessly. Aelita, dead. Odd, dead. Yumi. Killed Flow. Conviced him to leave Lyoko. Brought him back to this world. She tricked him. She paid him back for betraying her in the first place. With terrifying realization, he knew he was no longer in a game. He knew he could no longer spring about as if death meant nothing, for "death comes to all; to those who wait for it, to those who run from it, to those who welcome it with open arms. You can't cheat death."

Who had said those words? Him? Could he have said that inevitable truth himself? Maybe in someone else's lifetime. The memory floated across his fading mind like a leaf on a pond, leaving ripples of other memories in its wake. So many things, flooding back to him. And he still felt nothing. He was nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing...

"Ulrich!"

Ulrich's eyes opened wide. He saw Jeremie's worried face in front of him. He felt Jeremie's hands on his shoulders, squeezing them lightly. Jeremie was not dead. He could see; he could feel. And his friend was not dead. Jeremie sighed and relaxed a bit when Ulrich pushed himself up. "I was beginning to think you were never going to wake up, despite what Flow said." The blond boy flashed Ulrich a weak smile, then threw his arms around him, knocking them both back to the floor. "Did they give you Iscuss?" Jeremie whispered, still hugging Ulrich. His arms grew tighter when Ulrich hesitated to give an answer.

"No; at least, I don't think so. I don't really remember much of...anything. What is Iscuss? They gave me something called Senoczine, but not that." Jeremie leaned back away from Ulrich, eyes wide with horror. Ulrich noticed Jeremie's glasses were missing.

"Ulrich, I don't know how to tell you this except bluntly. You're going to die, and quickly. How long ago did they give it to you? Gosh, I wish I had saved some of that Lopec they gave me. Then you might not have to die, then. How are you feeling now? Is there a timer in your head? Do you feel dizzy?"

"Jeremie, hold on a second--I'm not going to die!"

"Yes you are, the--"

"I know what Senoczine is, and it's not in me anymore. Or, if it is, it's been cured. So don't panic, okay? My brain doesn't think as fast as yours does, so fill me in on what all this shit does."

Jeremie looked down, still unbelieving. He probably thought Ulrich was crazy and blabbering nonsense. But he sighed and made himself stare back at Ulrich's eyes. Ulrich took a few deep breaths, making sure he was alive. "Since you know what Senoczine is, I'll bet you know what Lopec is. Oh, before I even start there, these are special potions that only exist in Lyoko. They're all really just real-type programs that Xana created. Anyway, Lopec is--"

"Wait!" Ulrich said, louder than he meant. Jeremie had already confused him again. "'Real-type program'? What is that? And how the hell do you know all this?"

Jeremie blinked and looked like he was considering something. "I'll tell you why later," he said, and then he abruptly tried to continue filling Ulrich's head with more knowledge. Jeremie didn't want to tell Ulrich how he came about his information, did he? Ulrich listened, but with only half his attention. The other half he used to sort out reality from dream-world. He hadn't seen Yumi since Vixeinya destroyed the supercomputer! Why did he suddenly feel her fingertips on the back of his neck? He surpressed a shudder. "Lopec is a blue liquid used to strengthen the body and rid it of any harmful diseases or poisons. It also stops the time bomb that goes off in your heart when Senoczine is coursing through your body. Strangely, Xana gave it the taste of peppermint. I still can't understand why Xana would make a curing potion, but he did. It can cure anything, as far as I'm concerned. I learned that on my own, since they gave me some after testing Iscuss on me. I examined it very closely."

"That's what I drank to stop the Senoczine then. Lopec," Ulrich mumbled faintly. Jeremie didn't seem to hear him.

"Iscuss is a dark, fuschia, jam-like substance than sends the person who takes it into a virtual coma. When they gave it to me, I had a strange nightmare of a completely different dimension. While I was there, I saw glimpses of a 'future-that-could-be'. I won't go into the details. Was that something like what happened to you just moments ago? As far as I could tell, you definitely were in a coma."

"Yeah," Ulrich muttered, "I was in a world that wasn't really a world, and I'd given up my love, or something like that."

Jeremie nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, yes. But don't mind the details. Everything that happened to me was strange, and certainly not pleasant. Just try not to remember any of it. You'll be better off that way."

"But...Jeremie, what if this is another dimension? What if you're not real, and what if I'm not real either? What if I'm just in another part of the coma? What if--"

Jeremie raised his hand and smacked Ulrich hard across his face. The sting woke him up, all right. Ulrich tried to look back at Jeremie angrily, but the blond boy's anger was sincere. He was looking at Ulrich with a stern, angry-mother-scared-to-death type look, but more dark, less mother. "Ulrich, I spent an entire week thinking about 'what ifs' when I was very young. My parents finally took me to the hospital, where they purposfully put me to sleep. I woke up, and my parents then told me that I'd been asleep for a month. I couldn't remember anything- not how to walk, or how to eat. Most importantly, I couldn't remember thinking about all the things in life that were a mystery, the unknown. I didn't think 'What if' anymore. It was like starting life all over again, though. That was an entire month of my life, wasted, all because of my stupid curiosity! And, if not in the same way, you know that my curiosity has still gotten me in trouble a number of times, and I'm not going to let you fall into that same trap that I did! Do you hear me?"

Ulrich stared back at Jeremie, stunned. He'd never heard an outburst like that from him. Ever. How much frustration had he been put through to snap like this so easily? Ulrich did stop thinking about 'what ifs'. He trusted Jeremie with his life. He closed his eyes and tried not to think about anything. Jeremie must've taken that the wrong way. "Ulrich...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I--"

"No, really. I'm fine, Jeremie. Thanks."

Jeremie nodded and leaned back against a wall. It was the first time Ulrich had the chance to look around at his new surroundings. There was one chair in their tiny space, a rickety old thing that looked ready to fall apart. Bars lined up perfectly behind him, and three solid, stone walls trapped them in something like a prison cell. How long has Jeremie been here? And me, not here two minutes, already losing my wits. Jeez...

"I learned all of this from Flow." Jeremie said, breaking the silence. He winced, rubbing his forehead. "When I first got here, there was some sort of poisonous gas in the room that gave me a very bad headache. I never learned what that was, or what it did to me. I heard someone talking to me, and at first I thought it was Xana, because they were speaking of the Towers and creations and such. But then I realized it was a girl. I think Xana was using her as a puppet to talk to me instead of coming in here himself. Anyway, something went wrong. I could tell that by the vibe in the room when someone else entered. I think... I think they killed the girl. I didn't get the chance to find out. But she screamed, and then someone else asked me if I was 'Ready for my turn.' That's when they gave me Iscuss. It has a sour, metallic taste--like blood--if you ever need to recognize it in a tea or something. After that, I passed out and dreamed of another reality. When I woke up, you were here, beside of me. I've spent the past fourty-five minutes trying to wake you up. I thought you were dead."

"Well, I'm not dead, and I'm glad to see you're not either. We need to find a way out of here."

Jeremie rolled his eyes and frowned. "Don't you think I've already tried everything that could possibly get us out? It's impossible!"

Ulrich laughed. "I've really missed you Jeremie. But, you know that attitude never got you anywhere. I figured you would've learned that by now too."

"Haha, very funny." Jeremie said sarcastically, but he smiled, so Ulrich smiled back. "Oh, where is Odd?" He asked, getting suddenly serious again. "Please don't tell me..."

"He's on his way to rescue me," Ulrich said carefully. "I wonder how he's fairing in this crazy Tower..." Jeremie nodded in agreement. All they could do was sit and wait for something to happen. No ideas came to Ulrich. Lady Luck had left him, hopefully to go see Odd. If anyone could get them out of their mess, it would be the spunky little kitty cat and good friend Odd. The silence was a bit depressing, but it was better than talking about things they couldn't help aloud. They waited in the quiet dark. Jeremie mumbled an agreeing,

"I wonder if he's even still alive..."

Somewhere off in another part of the Tower, Odd felt a boost of inspiration. Trixie looked up at the huge grin plastered on his face and frowned, but Odd could've cared less. Ulrich was alive, and so was Jeremie. He would get them both out of Lyoko. Nothing could stand in his way.

But, then, a seven foot vampire with ten foot wings and nails sharper than blades might just slow him down.

-.-.-.-

Thanks for the reviews, and Merry Christmas Eve Eve! I'll try to get a new chapter up and revise this one before 2006. Love the darkness, muahaha. -.-.-Shaku-.-.-