Ulrich awoke from his dream, cold sweat dripping down from his forehead into his eyes as he bolted upright. He took a deep breath, calming himself. He sighed and closed his eyes. It was only a dream, he thought. A dream he only knew all too well in reality. His father's calls plagued him every day, and had just begun invading his dreams as well.

He looked at the clock. 2:14 AM. He'd done this earlier.

Creeping quietly out of bed, he hoped furtively that he wouldn't wake Odd (even with his tremendous snoring).

Odd didn't know about these nightly excursions. No one did, and Ulrich didn't plan on letting anyone know. He didn't want to ruin their happiness.

He quietly stepped into a pair of shorts and some socks, opening the dorm room door as he grabbed his shoes. When it had shut silently behind him, he sat down against the wall to put on his shoes, grateful that Kiwi hadn't bothered to bark.

After he'd gone down a few flights of stairs to reach ground level (he didn't dare use the elevator) and made sure the side door was unlocked, he started jogging. He slowly built up speed as he ran towards the small forest near the academy, trusting his unnaturally good night vision to guide him. Maybe it was his training on Lyoko that had caused it, he wondered idly, sprinting now. But soon all thought faded from Ulrich's mind and he concentrated on the beat of his heart and the ragged pattern of his breathing. Leaving all troubles behind him, he fell into the nothingness in his head and the tingling numbness in the tips of his fingers and ears.

He ran a path through the woods he had forged himself—trampled plants and packed dirt that wove through the trees and made a large loop through the center of the forest back to the school's campus.

His feet knew that path well, and in about a half hour he had reached the edge of the trees. He slowed to a brisk walk as he crossed the schoolyard, adrenaline still pumping, but the numb feeling fading. Finally, his feet dragged as he reached the side door, his anxiety returned, but dulled.

He crept back to bed, tugged off his shoes and shorts, and fell into an exhausted sleep.

…

"CRAP!" Odd yelped, jumping out of bed. "We're gonna miss breakfast, Ulrich! Get up!"

Ulrich groaned, opening his eyes slightly, glancing at the clock. "5 more minutes, Odd." He closed his eyes again, knowing that it would be worth it to catch another hour's sleep today, even without breakfast. "Save me a muffin, will you?"

"If there are any left when I'm done with them," said Odd breezily. "But don't you have a test to study for today? I think you told me to remind you."

U

Ulrich's eyes snapped open. The science test. He hadn't studied the night before. He quickly rolled out of bed, grabbing his jacket, pants and shoes. Brushing his teeth would have to wait. "I'm right behind you," he called after Odd, grabbing his textbook and notes.

When they arrived at the lunchroom, Odd scrambled to get a tray and join the last of the late sleepers in the breakfast line. Ulrich immediately took a seat next to Jeremie and opened his book.

"Cramming for Mrs. Hertz's test today, Ulrich?" asked Aelita sweetly.

"Yeah," he replied. Then, a bit desperately, "Will you quiz me?" The rest of the meal was spent with Jeremie firing questions at Ulrich, his stammering answers, Aelita's kind corrections, and the ambience of Odd's chewing.

When there was five minutes left of breakfast, Odd asked, "Did you even eat anything, Ulrich?" Ulrich shook his head.

"Have something to drink at least, then," Aelita suggested, pushing a glass of orange juice towards him. Ulrich chugged it down, then quickly continued to skim over the last pages of his notes. All too soon, the bell rang.

As his friends slowly wandered out of the cafeteria to the vending machines, where they normally met Yumi in the morning, Ulrich began to walk to Mrs. Hertz's classroom. He caught sight of Yumi joining the others, and she gave a slow wave, which he caught out of the corner of his eye. He kept walking.

Ulrich could barely stand to see Yumi these days. She had promised good times ahead, and that had been proven to be true—for everyone else. For Ulrich, things had just gotten worse.

While the others adjusted to life with out Lyoko smoothly but gradually—even Aelita, with the loss of her father—Ulrich had a hard time giving it up. Lyoko had been way for him to become the person he truly thought he was—a hero and a warrior. It had helped him to forget all of the troubles in his own life, if only for a few moments, in order to save many others. It was a distraction, and kept his spirits up. He and his friends were closer than any time before, as they fought together to keep the world—and each other— from falling apart. When they shut down the supercomputer, all of it had been taken away.

So many things had gone wrong after that. His grades had dropped, even with the extra studying he packed in. He couldn't sleep, and his performance on the soccer team suffered as well. The others seemed distant to him, and he couldn't shake off the feeling of helplessness that weighted down his arms and legs and constantly fatigued him. When his grades had dropped so that he was almost failing all his classes, his soccer coach had reluctantly kicked him off the team, and the principal had called his father.

Ulrich had never heard his old man so upset at him. He had shouted angrily at him in German on the other end of the phone, with Ulrich agreeing or disagreeing at the appropriate times in muted tones. His father had threatened to send him to a boarding school back home, but Ulrich had begged him not to. He couldn't have handled that, for distant though Yumi and his friends were, he couldn't part with them. His father had relented, and Ulrich had been allowed to stay as long as he brought his grades back up.

He had studied harder than he ever had before, and managed to raise his grades up so that he was in an average range. However, his father had not allowed him to rejoin the soccer team, as he thought it would distract him from his studies. Ulrich struggled to keep his scores constant, and spent all free time buried in his books and notes. The others offered to help, and sometimes did, but Ulrich was left alone most of the time. His melancholy mood had continued to linger.

His father called daily, normally to yell. Words were his father's favorite weapon, and unfortunately for Ulrich, it seemed he had a lot to scream about. Everything he did was wrong. If he brought up a grade, it wasn't high enough. If he completed a project, it wasn't good enough. Soon, Ulrich could hardly stand it.

He was only able to catch a few hours sleep each night, sometimes only every other night. His hands shook constantly, so he shoved them in his pockets to keep anyone from noticing. He couldn't eat, and when he managed to force down an entire meal in one sitting, he couldn't keep it down. He jumped whenever someone's phone rang, and dreaded the nightly calls.

His body seemed heavier than normal, even though he had lost weight. He couldn't smile anymore, and didn't have the energy to even snigger at Odd's snide comments about Sissi. He dragged himself from class to class in a daze, walking slowly as though each step took great effort.

When he started having nightmares during his scant hours of sleep, he had started running.

…

A/N: So there you have it! My first chapter. Please R&R and tell me what you think of it. I'll add another one when I can, school just started. (But reviews help my motivation!) Thank you to all of you who read this!