NS - Hey guys, Noble Scotsman here with an all-new combined story with the talented and gifted writer, ShadowOdd! We both worked really hard to make this finally come to bear, and we've been planning to do it for a long time, so I'm sure we'd both be really appreciative to get any advice or reviews in general! So, without further ado, enjoy the first chapter of Secret of Hope!

SO - Hey guys! I hope you enjoy this story done by Noble Scotsman and I! Hopefully you guys like it and leave plenty reviews but mostly, enjoy our story!

Chapter 1

Beads of sweat formed on the head of Odd Della Robbia as he tapped his pencil against the desk nervously. He doubted that his hand had ever moved so quickly, or that his brain had worked so hard in such a short amount of time. He stole a glance at the clock; 3:26 PM, meaning he had 4 minutes left to finish his final Christmas exam.

Running his hands through his hair, he quickly glanced over his shoulder to see how Ulrich and Aelita were doing. Ulrich had finished already, his exam folded at the top right of his desk, signaling that he was done, and was currently attempting to arrange his test supplies into a fortress, using a broken pencil and a spare sheet of paper as a flag. Ulrich glanced up, seeming to feel Odd's jealous gaze pass over his face, and shot him a smile, winking and flashing two thumbs-up before setting back to improve his fortress of school supplies.

On his left, Aelita also had her exam folded up on the top right of her desk, and was sketching in her art pad. From the looks of the drawing, Odd guessed she had finished more than half an hour ago; taking a mere twenty minutes out of their allotted hour to answer all of the questions. Looking up briefly from her masterpiece, she caught Odd's eye and smiled at him, then tapped her watch in concern. He grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, turning back to his exam, smiling softly at Aelita's concern. He glanced at the clock again; 3:27 PM! He only had 3 minutes left! His eyes flashed down to his paper, eyes narrowing in a challenge to the final question as he began to mumble the question aloud.

"In World War II, roughly how many casualties occurred on a daily basis?" he read to himself, his mind going blank at once. "Ahh! Who the hell knows or cares about this!" he screamed internally as he ran his hands through his hair again, glancing back at the clock unconsciously as he did so.

"One minute left!" Jim called from his desk at the top of the classroom, his head barely visible over the comic book he was poring over. Odd quickly wrote down the number he thought might be closest to the answer, scribbling nearly illegibly so that the teachers would have a harder time narrowing down his answer (and, therefore, a better chance of scoring higher!) before sighing and settling back in his seat as he waited out the remainder of the last minute.

"OK! Time's up! Put your papers on the top right of your desk and you can all leave once it's been collected!" Jim roared as he started to collect papers, the students filtering out of the gym in ones and twos. Odd saw Sissy clutching her head as she stumbled out, and his spirits immediately soared.

"I guess she had a tougher time that I did, huh?" he laughed, leaning back in his chair.

"Della Robbia," Jim said, towering over him. "Passed the final, I hope?" he asked, taking the exam from his favourite student, ruffling his hair fondly as he shoved him towards the door. "See you next semester, kid!"

"Yeah! Merry Christmas, Jimbo!" Odd replied, grabbing his bag and supplies and leaving the classroom. As he walked outside, waiting for Ulrich and Aelita's tests to be collected, he was greeted by the sight of one of his best friends.

"Yumi!" Odd waved as the tall Japanese girl turned her head to smile, recognizing the familiar colour and hairstyle of her best friend. As he approached, her phone rang, and she picked it up, rolling her eyes at Odd as she did so. He shrugged in understanding and joined her.

"Nice ringtone," he teased, baring his teeth in his familiar goofy smile.

"Oh, shut up," she said, flicking her hair to one side.

"No, really, it's…." Odd said, holding up a finger for emphasis. "…unique?"

"Hello?" Yumi said, answering her phone as she ignored Odd. "Oh! Yes - I know… I will! Have a good holiday, then! Give Nan and Granddad my love!" Yumi said before hanging up and shoving the phone back in her pocket, Odd smirked, gesturing to her one-handedly.

"So you finally convinced them to let you stay then?" he asked, shuffling his shoes in the snow, trying to stay warm, and she nodded, smiling.

"Yup! I just told them Aelita wasn't going away this year, and she really wasn't in a good spot, so I asked to stay with her and they said yes!" Yumi beamed, Odd beamed and shook his head in admiration.

"So that means we're all staying in Kadic for Christmas!" Odd smiled. Suddenly, he heard the doors behind him open, followed by the familiar sound of his best friends' voices.

"…And all I'm saying, Ulrich, is that if you had used your eraser as a barricade instead of a drawbridge, it would've added more support!" Aelita said emphatically, gesturing energetically to make her point. Ulrich rolled his eyes as he ran his hand through his short brown hair,

"I think my fort was perfect just the way it was!" he protested, Yumi raised her eyebrows as they reached her and Odd.

"Did I miss something, or…?" she asked Odd, but he shook his head.

"Not really. Ulrich was making a fort with pens, pencils, etcetera while some of us-" he said as he pointed to himself, "-were still busy doing their exam!" he complained, drawing a laugh from his friends. Ulrich wrapped his arm around his best friend and roommates shoulder, winking at him good-naturedly.

"Don't be so upset good-buddy, not all of us are as academically gifted as you are. Guess what? They're serving your favourite food in the canteen today!" Ulrich said, bringing on a round of cheering from Odd as the "academic genius" threw his hands in the air.

"WOO! Spaghetti and meatballs here I come!" he cheered excitedly as they began walking to the canteen with the others, all of them laughing happily.

It was December 15th at Kadic Academy of the Arts, and the snow carpeted the ground, causing snowball fights to break out now and then as the students walked between finals. Today was the last day of testing, though, with History and Art being the final subjects. Everyone except Jeremie had come to school today, both stressed about and relieved that finals were nearing their end. Now that they were over, though, students were ecstatic, and some of them had started a spirited game of "kill the coach" by pelting Jim with snowballs. As fun as this looked to Aelita and Ulrich, Odd was on a mission, and they reached the cantina in record time, despite the snow.

As the group walked to the canteen, Yumi looked up at the snow that was falling gently from the sky, marveling how something so small could cause so many people to change their outfits and don their warmest clothing. Yumi continued looking up at the sky, smiling at how beautiful it was, before walking straight into something. With a start, she fell backwards into the snow, and Ulrich hurried over, a worried look in his eyes. As he helped her sit up and dust off the snow, Yumi noticed she had walked into someone, causing them to fall into the snow too. Smiling apologetically, both she and Ulrich stood ready to help the other girl to her feet.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?! I'm so sorry!" Yumi said worriedly, retracting her hand as a lean, handsome boy helped her 'victim' to her feet, brushing off the snow with delicate, elegant strokes of the back of his hand. Now snow-free, the girl turned to Yumi, her face apologetic

"It's not your fault! Don't worry!" the girl smiled, re-adjusting her bag on her shoulder, Aelita stared at her before speaking up,

"I've never seen you around before! Are you new here?" Aelita asked, the girl nodded and smiled,

"Yes! Today is my first day! Well, moving here, I know school ended for the Christmas break and there's going to be not many students here but my mom and dad thought it'd be a good time for me to get to know the school!" the girl replied to Aelita with a smile,

"Well, in that case then! Welcome to Kadic academy! I'm Aelita Stones!" Aelita said introducing herself, the girl smiled.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Emily Autumns!" Emily replied happily. During this exchange, the rest of the gang had taken the time to take her in. She was roughly about 5'5, shorter than any of them, and her skin was pale but in the way it made her glow. Her eyes were a deep shade of hazel, and joy and happiness seemed to dance within them when she held someone's gaze, and she had a single freckle under her left eye. Her hair was blood red, which, although dyed, somehow suited her perfectly. She wore a woolly white hat over her hair, a red bauble bouncing merrily, a white cardigan over a red and white t-shirt, faded blue jeans, and, per Christmas regulation, she wore white and brown warm woolly shoes. Although throughout the gang there were many different reactions, there was one thing they all agreed on; she was very beautiful. Shaking his head as his friends fell back to reality, Ulrich, who had been transfixed by Yumi's beauty while watching the snow earlier and had resisted the paralyzing powers of this girl's charm, spoke up.

"Hey, I'm Ulrich," he said, extending his hand to her, locking eyes with her. She smiled as she shook his hand, but saw something faintly hostile beneath the friendliness in his eyes. It was a hurt-my-friends-I'll-hurt-you kind of look, but she accepted it and smiled even more warmly, melting the chill in his eyes.

"Nice to meet you Ulrich!" she replied, turning to the boy next to him.

"Odd… Odd Della Robbia!" stated character smiled as he shook her hand, lopsided grin plastered onto his face as he energetically welcomed her.

"Is that your real name?" she quizzed, curious. Laughing, he turned his head, looking for someone to answer for him.

"Let's see…Ah, I know. HEY, JIM! THE KITTENS ARE OUT OF THE PRINCIPLE'S OFFICE, CAN YOU COLLECT THEM FOR ME?!" he hollered across the courtyard to Jim, cupping his hands to his mouth. Aelita smirked, covering it with a hand, though. Mr. Delmas's new kittens were infamous for being impossible to catch after they had gotten out. Even at this distance, she saw Jim physically start as he registered their request.

"DELLAROBBIA! IF I EVER CATCH WHO DID THIS, YOU'RE GOING TO BE IN A WHOLE LOT OF TROUBLE!" Jim hollered back, beginning his futile search. Odd grinned, shouting back.

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE, BUT THANKS JIM."

"NO PROBLEM DELLAROBBIA. I'LL SEE YOU IN DETENTION."

"PROBABLY!"

Turning back to Emily, he raised an eyebrow. "Did that answer your question?"

"Absolutely," Emily said, leaning in suspiciously. "I'm not sure how I feel about your being friends with a bear man, though…"

"He's sweet, once you get to know him."

"Like a teddy bear?" Yumi smirked, joining the conversation again. She stepped forward, shaking Emily's hand. "Yumi Ishiyama!" she beamed. "Sorry for knocking you over before."

"Nice to meet you, Yumi! Don't take this the wrong way but…Japanese?" Emily questioned, finger on her chin, Yumi instantly grinned, but behind her she heard Ulrich make a sound of annoyance, something along the lines of "tch!" Yumi shot him a dirty glance mingled with amusement before turning back to Emily.

"I'm surprised! Most people assume I'm Chinese!" Yumi smiled, taking an instant liking to this girl. Emily just smiled back at her.

"Well it was nice meeting you guys! I better get settled in then have a look around!" Emily smiled, looking around at the gang.

"No problem! If you need us or any help just come find us! My dorm number is 213 on the second floor!" Aelita smiled. Emily nodded her thanks.

"Alright! See you soon!" she beamed as she waved, walking away. The gang smiled as they turned to the canteen, Odd pantomiming someone dying of hunger as they did so.

"So…hungry…" he groaned, falling to his knees.

"Oh! Wow! Look here! It's Odd's portion of food! He's not fit to eat it… I must devour it for him…poor soul!" Ulrich said, falling to one knee as though in a play and holding an invisible plate. "What a waste!"

"How could you!?" Odd said, faking tears.

"It's for your own good, my most esteemed good-buddy."

"Why, thank you your most esteemededness."

"You're very welcome, your most high esteemednessiness. Would you care for some wine, good sir?" Ulrich said seriously, gesturing to an invisible bottle of wine. "It's best in country."

"Oh, naturally, my fine fellow. I'll just have-" Odd continued, his lordly accent in full swing as he strutted arm-in-arm with Ulrich toward the canteen.

"Enough," Aelita said, cutting him off. Odd and Ulrich fell about laughing, entering the canteen just as Jeremie was exiting.

Aelita sighed. That girl was pretty…she thought, looking at Odd. What if Odd has- wait! Was that jealousy? No…It couldn't have been…"

"Jeremie?" Yumi called, bringing Aelita back to reality as their genius friend smiled at them. "Care to stay while we eat?"

"Why not? I've been working on modifying some quantum entanglement program traps placed around Lyoko to trip XANA up so as to help towards fully destroying him. My theory is that if we can isolate him, we can destroy him."

"Yeah, yeah…" Odd yawned, pushing past him. "Tell us all about it once we're sitting down. I can't fall asleep standing up…Though your nerd talk makes me want to…"

Jeremie rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'll save you seats."

"ROSA! Good evening! I hope you're keeping well!" Odd said, brightening as he came face-to-face with his favorite lunch lady of all time. Although used to his attempts at using flattery for food, Rosa loved how happy and energetic Odd was all the time, and, unwilling to admit it, she had grown fond of her favorite student.

"Yeah, yeah!" she laughed, "Here, have a double helping! Merry Christmas Odd!" she said as she piled more food on Odd's plate then the poor tray was made for.

"Thanks Rosa! You're the best!" Odd beamed as he carried his tray to the hot drinks machine.

"Odd's hungry as always, huh?" Rosa asked Yumi as she slid her tray up, Yumi smiled, and Ulrich stifled a rather unmanly giggle.

"Always," she said with a perfectly straight face.

"Always," Ulrich said, backing her up.

"Well, I would say a growing boy needs extra food but I don't think he's growing anytime soon!" Rosa laughed, her laughter spreading to Ulrich, Yumi and Aelita as she did.

"I heard thatttt!" Odd said, his sing-song tones drifting over from the hot drinks machine. Laughing, they all gathered their food and sat down beside Jeremie.

"Hey guys! How were finals?" Jeremie beamed, taking a sip of his hot chocolate. Odd had clearly started to rub off on him, even replacing the drink of life for a genius like Jeremie, coffee, with hot chocolate.

"Fine! How was your day off?" Ulrich teased, literally poking his best friend with a spoon. Jeremie rolled his eyes, brushing the spoon away.

"Not bad," Jeremie said folding his arms with a smile. "If you want, I can tell you all about the quantum entanglement program I've been working on with Aelita recently."

"That's awesome Einstein…" Ulrich began, looking at Odd.

"…But no thanks, Einstein," Odd finished, shrugging.

"Maybe another day?" Yumi said helpfully.

"Don't worry," Aelita said, putting a protective arm around Jeremie. "They're just jealous.

The gang laughed again, which was quickly quietened by the beeping of Jeremie's computer. Pulling it out, he flipped it open, his face hardening as he looked at it.

"Xana…" Jeremie whispered, the others nodding seriously.

"But I only got done with one helping!" Odd pouted. Jeremie rolled his eyes as he stood up.

"You can have mine later," Jeremie promised, rubbing the bridge of his nose nervously.

"Aargh! I can do this!" Odd said, standing up. Flabbergasted, the gang watched as Odd stuck his fork straight into the middle of his spaghetti and meatballs and spun the fork viciously, creating a massive swirl of Italian.

"He's not… Tell me he's not…" Ulrich said in disbelief as he watched Odd stick over half of a whole of dinner in his mouth, chew furiously, and swallow. Grinning, he threw his head back and washed it down with hot chocolate. Smacking his lips, he stuck out a hand to Ulrich expectantly.

"Trophy, please."

"You…are disgustingly amazing…" Ulrich said, Odd shrugged, repeating the process, finishing the remainder of his meal within ten seconds.

"It's what I do!" Odd said when he was able to talk again. Finally, the gang walked out of the canteen and began running as soon as they were outside.

"Guys, be careful, the ice is very slipp-" Ulrich said as he slipped and began sliding across the ground – unfortunately towards the nearest tree. He closed his eyes, bracing for impact, but slowly opened his eyes as he felt himself stop.

"The ice can be dangerous if you're not careful..." a voice said calmly, stabilizing him.

"Ah, right. Thank you," Ulrich said, looking at his savior. Standing side by side were two students, the boy who had saved him and a girl, who Ulrich could honestly said were by far the most beautiful people he had ever seen. There was nothing dramatic about either of them, but they each wore subtly beautiful clothing, very plain, wintry colors, which matched their hair perfectly. Though they were about the same height as Yumi, the boy maybe being a little taller, they were very different from the Lyoko warriors. They seemed to emit an air of elegance, and their bearing, while non-confrontational, deliberately warned anyone foolish enough to oppose them not to.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine…" Ulrich replied, his eyes trying to etch their features into his memory. Both the boy and girl had snow white hair, though his was streaked with black while hers had teal intertwined into it. Their clothes were nothing overly fancy, the boy wearing dark trousers and a light sweater over a partially unbuttoned shirt, the girl wore a hooded sweatshirt that stopped at her elbows, and a long sleeve that came out under it and continued to her palms, and the same kind of dark trousers as the boy. The only visible sign of status was the ring the boy wore on his finger, a dark metal decorated with celtic designs etched in silver, with a sapphire acting as the center piece. A design seemed to be etched on the surface of the sapphire, most probably the house crest of the boy, but it was too far away for Ulrich to see.

The boy said nothing, simply nodding in satisfaction. Embarrassed, Ulrich stepped forward, offering his hand.

"Ulrich Stern, you both must be new?" Ulrich asked, something about them making him want to know more about them, and to refrain from using phrase like "you guys".

The boy considered him for a second, and Ulrich thought he saw something like approval flicker in the boy's eyes before he stepped forward to grasp his hand in a firm, steady grip. "Mikhail," he said, smiling as his voice washed over Ulrich, dulling his senses with its excellence. Fazed, he turned his head to the girl, her violet eyes catching his immediately. The boy may have a gem on his finger, but Ulrich had a hunch that the real jewels were this girl's eyes.

"Anastasia," she said, inclining her head slightly in Ulrich direction. Just like the boy, her voice was soft and soothing, perhaps the most melodic voice he had ever heard.

"Um…" Ulrich said, wanting to say something, but Mikhail spoke up, cutting him.

"I apologize, but we have somewhere to be, and I suspect you do as well," he said, gesturing behind Ulrich to where his friends were standing. "We'll talk again soon. Until then…"

The boy and girl walked away, their step as lithe and quiet as their bearing, and just as elegant. Turning back to his friends, Ulrich shook his head, trying to dispel their voices from his mind. Jeremie was tapping his chin thoughtfully as he studying their retreating backs.

"I wonder…Are they brother and sister, or a couple?" he pondered aloud.

"Who knows… but they're both the most beautiful people I've ever seen…" Aelita said staring off after them. That's an understatement… Ulrich though, though he didn't say it aloud. Something in Yumi's eyes told him it would be a bad idea.

"Anyway, let's get to the factory!" he said hastily. The gang nodded and took off in the direction of the woods, not realizing they were being watched.

"How interesting…" Mikhail said from the shadows of the main building where he leaned against a pillar, unaware of the students, both male and female, transfixed by both his and Anastasia's beauty.

"Mm," Anastasia said thoughtfully, unwrapping a lollipop. Turning, they both headed across the courtyard.

"Are you bored?" Mikhail asked, his blue-grey eyes piercing through the winter palor as he brushed a snowflake off of Anastasia's perfect skin. She nodded, leaning her head against his shoulder and closing her eyes.

"Aren't you?" she said softly.

Together, they headed through the snow towards the offices of Kadic Academy.

SO - I hope you enjoyed! Leave a review and we'll hopefully have chapter two done soon! Bye!

NS - Like Shadow said, I hope you all really enjoyed it! We've seriously added a lot of new characters to the story, I think four OCs or so by this point, but I hope that makes it even more enjoyable to read! Please, please review! I love you all - Bye!

Note - What the abbreviations at the end and beginning stand for, and just some quotes we thought were funny from when we were writing the chapter!

SO - ShadowOdd ("My O key is so loose every time I press it it just explodes off the key board!")

NS - Noble Scotsman ("Classic.")