All I Want

                                    

                                          
His blue eyes slowly blinked open and took in the sight of the cable-dense computer ceiling. Jeremie sat up and found the others crowding him. "Well, how are you feeling?" Yumi asked.

                          
"Uh, strange," Jeremie mumbled, "I remember talking to Odd, Sissi, and Ulrich, and then after that, nothing. Just a big black hole."
                          
"XANA took control of you," Aelita said.
                          
"He destroyed all of Franz Hopper's CDs. Apparently, he had a problem with his notes," Ulrich sighed.
                          
"Whew," Jeremie sighed.
                          
"What do you mean, whew? It's a disaster!" Odd exclaimed.
                          
"No, it's not. After the train station, I stopped here last night and copied the data onto a restricted area of the supercomputer. I'm the only one that can access it."
                          
"You're a genius, Jeremie," Aelita smiled.
                          
"Still, there's one thing I don't get. Why couldn't XANA possess us, but had no problem possessing you?" Ulrich asked.
                          
"No idea," Jeremie said.
                          
"Maybe Sissi was right about going to Lyoko," Ulrich suggested.
                          
"But Jeremie's been to Lyoko," Yumi argued. Everyone swam in their own pool of guessing. "I have another theory. Apart from you, we're all used to fighting on Lyoko. Maybe fighting XANA's monsters gives us some immunity."
                          
"Yeah, I remember you told me you went to Lyoko, but you've never fought on Lyoko," Sissi said.
                          
"But then, how do we protect me?" Jeremie said. Sissi and Odd exchanged wide grins.
                          
"I might just have the answer," Odd said. Moments later, Jeremie stepped out of the scanner completely out-of-sorts. He readjusted his glasses and wobbled out the big tube. Odd and Ulrich followed afterward. "Well?"
                          
"That's the last time I set foot on Lyoko!" Jeremie exclaimed.
                          
"What? Just because of a few Mega-tanks?" Ulrich smirked.
                          
"It's just really not my thing! I'll never crack it!" Jeremie grumbled as he walked to the girls who were waiting in the elevator. "You know, I think I'd rather be possessed by XANA than go there again. I'll just look out for ghosts, that's all."
                          
"Well, how did he look?" Aelita asked.
                          
"He looked... how do I put this tactfully?" Odd said.
                          
"Ridiculous," Ulrich muttered.
                          
"That's the word." Everyone, besides Jeremie, laughed as they boarded the elevator. They rode it up to the top and headed for the school. "I just hope Jim isn't too upset with us missing gym," Odd sighed.
                          
"Don't worry. I can smooth things over with him," Sissi said in a flaunting tone.
                          
"Hmm," Jeremie mumbled, "We have to be careful, Sissi. I know you're the principal's daughter, but the teachers might get suspicious with you helping us all the time."
                          
"Don't worry, Einstein." She patted him on the head. "Everything will be fine. Besides, whatever I come up with isn't too far off from the truth. My leg is still tender."
                          
"Hey, what happened to your cane?"
                          
"Our blonde possessée over here broke it," Sissi answered Yumi. "Doesn't matter. That attack gave me a few ideas to work on. The next fight with XANA isn't gonna be easy for him." She grinned excitedly after smashing her fist into her palm.
                          
Later on that day, Sissi sketched in her room when she heard a knock on the door. "Come in," She said. Her eyes never wavered from the pages. Her handwriting was neat but still showed haste. "Hmm, it would have to be here instead of over here."
                          
"Sissi, could I talk to you?" said a familiar voice.
                          
"If this is about dinner, Odd, you can have my potatoes," Sissi murmured.
                          
"Thanks, but it's not about that. Although, now you can't take what you said back," Odd smirked. Sissi rolled her eyes, but she didn't turn away from her writing. "I just wanted to talk."
                          
"About what?"
                          
"About why you broke your cane," Odd said. Sissi's hand froze. She slowly turned around and faced the blonde sitting on her bed. A soft smirk hung on his face and he leaned his head on his hand. The Dragon Queen glanced at the floor, sighed, and returned to her writing.
                          
"You know what, I don't want to talk about it."
                          
"Aw, come on, your highness. You know you can trust me."
                          
"Do I know that?" Odd frowned and crossed his arms. Sissi sighed, "Odd, I just... why I broke my cane is... personal."
                          
"So personal you can't share it with your friends?"
                          
"You weren't my friends until a few weeks ago. I'm still figuring out this 'true friends' thing."
                          
"Right, but one thing that true friends do is trust each other."
                          
"Oh shut up!" Sissi suddenly stood up and faced him. "With the amount of gossip and rumors I hear, I can't tell you everything! Everyone has secrets! Yeah, I know you guys are good people, but I'm not!... I'm not." She finished quietly and slumped to the side of her bed, sitting on the floor with her knees tucked into her chest. Odd sat next to her.
                          
"Why?"
                          
"Because... because if I was... I would have had true friends from the beginning. I... I broke my cane after you guys 'kicked me out' of the group," Sissi shook slightly, "I cried my eyes out then. There was no one in the world that could give me what you guys had. I was more alone back then than I ever had been. And for what? Because I just wanted to be in a little group that never... never wanted me. I just thought that I could change or do something to be a part of your group because...I was alone. Even with Herb and Nicholas, I was alone. The moment I went to the hospital, all of my friends left me and never wanted to talk to me. They didn't think a cripple was 'cool'. They'd smile at me but talked about me endlessly behind my back. You know the saddest part is that I knew that would happen, so it didn't surprise me that I was alone. "
                          
There was a long pause. "I just wanted... real friends, Odd." She rested her head on her forearms. "And I couldn't even get that."
                          
Silence killed the life in the room. Then an arm slung around Sissi's back. She pulled her head out of her hole and looked at Odd's smiling face. "Don't worry about us, Sissi. Just because you don't have any friends doesn't mean you're a bad person. And you're not alone. Buuut you gotta admit you were hard to deal with in the past."
                          
"Thanks," Sissi grumbled.
                          
"But that's in the past. You have to move on. Do you remember when we first came together?"
                          
"Kinda, the blasts back in time kinda fogged my memory."
                          
"Well, I was the new kid, Yumi was alone, Jeremie was a shut-in-"
                          
"Was?"
                          
"Ha, ha, good point. Ulrich was the popular kid on the block. But we became friends over Lyoko, and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! I'll say this about XANA, he may try to destroy the world, but he did create us."
                          
"Us?"
                          
"Lyoko warriors," Odd smiled, "And that friendship isn't going anywhere." Sissi stood still. Her watery eyes widened as her mouth slightly dropped. "What? Did I make the Dragon Queen speech-?" Before he could finish, Sissi wrapped her arms around Odd's torso. Sissi shook a few times but smiled warmly as she hugged him. She released him and wiped her small tears away.
                          
"Thanks, Odd. Hehe, for a court jester, you're a good advisor, too," Sissi smiled.
                          
"Hehe, well, you know," Odd chuckled as he bolted up to his feet. "Anyways, it's getting late. I'll let you get back to your work. See ya!" He rushed out the door without another word. Sissi tilted her head to the side but only shrugged. Must be meatballs at the cafeteria or something. But she felt the warm smile on her face as she got up from the ground and started sketching her idea again.
                          
Continued...