Author's Note: I do not own Code Lyoko.
This story is from Yumi's point of view rather than Ulrich's. I updated to fix some grammatical errors as well as punch up the story a little.
Also I would like to thank everyone who read this story, 100 hits in less than a week for me it is a record. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story.
By A Prayer
I sat in the waiting room of the police station with my parents. My heart was breaking at the sight of Ulrich being escorted by two officers with handcuffs bound around his wrists. I cried into my hands as my mother began to hold me close telling me it will be all right.
My father scuffed and crossed his arms, "I knew that kid was a bad apple."
I shouted, "Dad, shut up. You never got to know Ulrich. How can you say that about the boy I love?"
"Yumi, I am your father and I know what is best for you. From now on, you are to stay away from that Ulrich Stern!"
"Dad!" was all I could say before we were approached by an officer. He was wearing a brown suit and had a manila folder full of papers in his hands. He told us to follow him and we were led only a couple of doors away from the waiting room. He walked inside to turn on the light switch before we entered. Closing the door behind him, he told us to take a seat.
As he sat down, he said, "My name is Officer Tim Harrington. My partner and I found your daughter and Mr. Stern that terrible night a month ago."
My father spoke, "Why are we here exactly?"
"You are here because your daughter is the key witness to a crime where we believe Mr. Stern is the perpetrator and since she is a minor, we cannot hold an interrogation without her parents being present."
My mother was speechless, it was hard enough on her knowing that I was raped, but now I was involved in another crime. My father was silent, it was the kind of silence I hated from him.
"All we need from your daughter is her account of the crime."
It was my turn to speak, "But I don't need to be here or Ulrich for that matter. This is all ridiculous." I slammed down my left fist on the table and winced in pain. My mother comforted me once again.
"Unfortunately, we have to hold Mr. Stern until your account is given. The victim cannot speak for obvious reasons, so you are the only one who can clear his name."
I looked at my parents. My mother nodded whereas my father just stared in my eyes. Gazing down at the table, I sighed, "I will start from the beginning…"
It was two days after I regained consciousness and night was settling in. I was envious of everyone for they could live their lives while I was stuck in a hospital room. Since I was out of my coma and a special case due to the reason I was admitted into the hospital, they transferred me into observation room twenty-six. This room was meant for a single patient and allowed for Ulrich and me to have some privacy if needed. It was also a few doors from my old room, observation room twelve. Besides the bed, I had a TV, the nightstand holding all the hospital monitors, a personal bathroom, and the table where Ulrich would place his flowers.
He has been so romantic. He had visited me everyday after school bringing me a new vase full of roses. I right now have three and tomorrow, I will have four. Most of our time was spent just hanging out and relaxing, though we did make out now and then. He always tried to find some little excuse to stay overnight, then I would convince him otherwise, even though it always hurt to see him leave. I was thankful this was only for two more days and then I can rejoin everyone at Kadic.
Soon I wondered what to do as I realized that boredom was creeping in. With Ulrich gone and every hospital magazine read, I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. After a few minutes, there seemed to be nothing good on until I turned onto a news program.
"This is Morgan Fairaday with the ten o'clock news here on channel five. This was the scene outside the Courthouse of Paris two days ago where three male suspects were convicted of raping a fourteen year-old girl. The critical piece of evidence that persuaded the jury was an audio-recorded testimony from the boyfriend of the girl. The judge wouldn't have allowed this, but since it was a case involving minors, he felt that he had no choice…"
A thought crossed my mind, "Ulrich? He did that for me?"
My attention turned back to the news program, "…we are sad to report that today one of the suspects has escaped police custody…"
The blushing that was on my face turned pale as these words sunk in, "…earlier this afternoon, he and his accomplices incited a prisoner riot aboard the transport bus that required the officers to respond with lethal force. Seven prisoners including the two accomplices were killed before the riot was quelled…"
My lungs stopped working as the shock washed over me, "…the man known as Jimmy Giovanni escaped the prison transport by dropping from the back hatch of the bus going at thirty-five miles per hour. He is currently at large, if you have any information leading to his arrest, please call 911."
I turned off the TV as the remote quivered out of my hand. I couldn't believe that one of those…monsters was back on the streets. My eyes felt heavy, the time was eleven and the fear I felt was lost under a wave of exhaustion. So I snuggled up to my pillow and decided to tell Ulrich about this tomorrow when he visited.
Ulrich was in my dream. We were at the academy behind the science building. He leaned me against the wall kissing me over and over again. He pulled away giving me his cute smile, "You feeling better, Yumi?"
"Now that you are here, I am." I blushed before continuing, "Ulrich, I am sorry for what happened."
"You don't need to apologize, Yumi. It wasn't anyone's fault, but the guys who did this to you."
"Ulrich, I was wondering if…no, look out!"
He turned around too late as they appeared and raised their guns toward us. He pushed me out of the way as they opened fire. Three holes poured blood out of his body as he collapsed on the ground. I cried by his side and cradled him in my arms as one of the dark figures that shot him came closer. I tried to get up, but my hands were suddenly shackled and I found myself on all fours. I struggled and resisted, but they was too durable. Then I was in the middle of a dark street, but not any street…it was the street. Everything tinted red as the three guys approached.
The scene replayed itself in my head as my unconscious body in the real world began to twist and turn. They began to examine me with their eyes as my shirt was ripped open and my pants pulled to my knees. My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest when they pulled out their members.
The sly guy spoke up, "Usual positions, people."
Jimmy slid under me and the sly guy went behind. Tiny's foreskin pressed up against my tightly shut lips. I shook my head mumbling, "No!"
He pressed harder getting passed my lips and teeth, I was sucking on his entire shaft as he thrusted harder and harder. Jimmy was pounding me constantly as he used his tongue to play with my breasts. The sly guy thrusted me toward him repeatedly as his shaft dug deeper into me.
Jimmy propped his head as close to my ear as possible, "You have a nice tightness. You are one lucky girl."
I awoke suddenly and found myself on the floor grabbing my neck as my airways constricted. I began to thrash around on the ground as my increase in heart rate caused my ECG to beep wildly alerting the night shift to my urgent medical condition. They held me against the floor in an effort to restrain me as a doctor injected me with a needle. I felt sleepy as I thought of Ulrich during the last few seconds and I calmed down.
It would be several hours before I would awake to find some nurses standing over me.
"What happened?" I asked, my voice straining.
The doctor spoke up, "You had a panic attack, so we gave you a sedative to calm you down. We scheduled some Cognitive Behavioral Therapy sessions for you."
"What is that?"
"A hospital therapist will identify your fear and help you overcome it by slowly exposing you to it until you are no longer afraid."
I sighed and leaned my head against my pillow feeling that it will be no help. My first session would be in seven hours, which was slightly past noon. They gave me back my clothes for the therapy session feeling the hospital gown was a little degrading. At the session, I was glad to be assigned a female therapist, but I didn't know why.
She looked up from her papers, "Ah, you must be Ms. Ishiyama. My name is Abigail Mable, your assigned therapist." She extended her hand toward me.
I shook her hand, "Yes, I am Yumi Ishiyama."
"Please have a seat on my lounge chair and we can get started."
We spent two hours explaining my situation and she jotted it all down in her notes as I was recalling the events that happened. Once I was done, she stroked her chin.
"It sounds like the dream you had was repressed fear that developed while you were in the coma. Now that you are conscious, it seems to be coming to you at a subconscious level."
"But what do you think this fear is?"
"In English and without all the therapist mumbo jumbo, you are afraid of men."
I said disgusted, "What? No I am not."
"Your dream is a clear indication of this fear."
"But Ulrich is a man and I am not afraid around him."
She insisted, "Your dreams say otherwise, I think we are done for now."
"What? Like that?"
"This is the preliminary session where we identify your fear. The next few sessions are where we help you through it."
I sighed trying to hide my disgust for I was in complete disbelief at the apparent lack of professionalism that this therapist was displaying. But something about what she said got to me, I wasn't afraid Ulrich, but other men were terrifying. Regardless, I went back to my room and waited for Ulrich to arrive. I spent the next couple of hours pacing trying to think of what to say or how would he react.
Before I knew it, he would be coming in a matter of minutes. I had butterflies in my stomach. I took one step forward and I suddenly felt strange, my muscles were cramping up at my waist. I felt myself become lightheaded and lost my balance as the pain continued to increase. Ulrich walked in to find me curled up on the floor.
"Ulrich…" I strained to speak.
He dashed to my side shouting for the doctors to come. He stroked my hair and comforted me until the doctors arrived. They nudged Ulrich out of the room as they began my diagnosis. When they hoisted me back into bed, I saw his eyes looking through the small window on the door and he looked on me with concern. After several minutes, they found what was wrong.
It was the same doctor as this morning, he jotted something down on his clipboard as he began to speak, "Twice in one day, you are certainly an interesting patient."
I rolled my eyes, "Please doctor, this is no time for jokes. What have you found out?"
"We determined that your muscles around your…posterior have cramped up due to physical stress. Were you doing anything like heavy lifting before you came to the hospital?"
"No, I wasn't." Ulrich held me close knowing I needed comfort for we both knew the source of this problem. It was the forcefulness given to me from that night.
"But I was resting for two weeks, so why is it acting up now?"
"Though you are right about resting, the damage was still there and now that your muscles are active once again, it is starting to affect you in the here and now."
Ulrich spoke up, "So, what do you recommend?"
The doctor sighed before giving us his advice.
Minutes later, Ulrich walked slowly out of the hospital's supply room feeling the guilt weighing on him as I pulled up next to him in my new wheelchair.
He almost cried, "I am sorry, Yumi. I wished that I fought better, then you would still be…"
"Ulrich, you can't blame yourself for what happened. You said so yourself days ago, remember? Besides this is only temporary, I will have to use this for about two weeks and then my muscles will be back to normal. Come on…you want a ride? Sit on my lap maybe?"
He didn't say anything as we both walked back to my room, his eyes were filled with a sadness that scared me. But I knew Ulrich and he would get over it. He lifted me onto my bed and kissed me on the cheek, "I'll see you tomorrow, Yumi."
"Good bye, Ul…" He stepped out, closing the door behind him. All I could think about was Ulrich and the pain he was in. I mentioned this the next day in therapy and Abigail suggested that Ulrich accompany me to all future sessions for he might be the element in curing my fear.
After my session, the hospital released me and my father took me home. I had to explain to everyone about my wheelchair making my mother cry as both my father and Hiroki were dead silent. This silence prolonged over dinner. Afterwards, I was carried up the stairs and placed in bed. The dream I had worried me greatly. Ulrich covered in blood and dying in my arms, this would be another field day for my therapist.
I told no one of my dream and kept silent. The morning came and I rejoined everyone at Kadic. My wheelchair was the first thing everyone noticed and the gossip began to circle around. No one knew about the raping except for my family and my friends, I was thankful that the media didn't disclose my personal information to the public.
"Hello, Ulrich dear!" Said the one voice I didn't want to hear.
Ulrich faced her, "Sissi, I don't have time for this."
"Time for what? To explain why Yumi is in a wheelchair, I am sure everyone is dying to know."
"Shut up, Sissi! Come on Yumi, we are out of here."
When we were out of earshot, I began to speak, "Ulrich, we have to come up with some reason as to why I am in a wheelchair. It is only a matter of time before everyone finds out the truth."
He sighed, "You're right, we'll think of something."
Though it would be five days before we actually thought up our excuse, we were too bogged down with studying for the finals to do anything about it. Luckily, no one found out the truth and we were able to spread our lie. Everything was staged and we waited by the vending machines for Sissi to come by.
Jeremy signaled by pushing up his glasses and Odd started our little play, "So Yumi, you never really told us why you are in the wheelchair?"
"Sorry, I have been kind of shy about it for it is embarrassing. I was carrying some stuff up to my room and tripped on the last step. I was clumsy and this is the price I had to pay."
Ulrich placed a hand on my shoulder, "We all hope you get better, Yumi."
Jeremy placed a hand on the other, "Yeah Yumi, we are all here for you."
My friends huddled around and gave me comfort. I saw a glint of Sissi's smile before she walked away. When she was gone, they backed away from me.
Aelita smiled, "Well with Sissi's gossip, the school will stop staring at Yumi."
I smiled, "Yeah, now we can finally start living our lives again."
Jeremy rubbed his chin, "Well anyway, we got class. See ya, Yumi."
We waved goodbye to each other, though Ulrich stayed behind and wheeled me to class. It wasn't necessary, but he insisted even though he was going to be late to his own class. Before going, he kissed me on the cheek. I felt better for he still loves me and he was getting over his guilt. With this new feeling of hope, classes seemed to fly by and Aelita was right for people stopped staring at me when I traveled down the halls.
The end of the day finally came and realized no one was coming to pick me up. My father had a late meeting and my mother had several errands to do, but luckily it wasn't that long of a trip. One street after another, I brought myself closer to home. Then I heard a branch snap, I felt a shiver go down my spine as I looked around.
"Hello?" I said through the eerily vacant suburban street.
A cold wind blew as loose leaves flew across me. A feeling of dread consumed me as I pulled on the wheel-grips in an effort to run away. I barely heard anything over the clatter of my wheels, so I couldn't hear him come up behind me.
His arm wrapped around my neck making me come to a complete halt. I struggled against his forearm and hit it again and again and again, but it wouldn't budge. I tried to scream, but he dug his arm deeper cutting off my air. Then he pushed a rag on my face, I inhaled the chloroform before I realized what it was.
My eyes felt heavy as my assailant whispered, "I have you again, my dear. We are going to have one hell of a time."
"…Jimmy." Were my last words before I blacked out.
It would be hours before I awoke again. I still felt a little numb and my mind was groggy, I raised my head and saw the dimly-lit room before me. It was big, dank, filled with boxes. No surprise that it was a warehouse. It looked abandoned for some time though by the layer of dust that was around. Turning my head to the left, Jimmy was relaxed on a couch watching some TV.
I tried to move, but he chained my chair to the floor and he tied me up. Fortunately, my attempt to move didn't catch his attention. I searched the pouches on my chair hoping he didn't find it. I stretched out my hand and grabbed my cell phone. Bringing it to my ear, I dialed Ulrich's number.
I whispered, "Hello, Ulrich?"
"Yumi! Where are you? Your parents said you weren't home and we have been looking everywhere."
"Ulrich, I am in a warehouse. I don't know where, but…NO!" I screamed as Jimmy ripped the phone from my hands.
"Yumi…Yumi!" Ulrich shouted out into the warehouse.
Jimmy brought the phone to his ear, "I am sorry, but Yumi can't come to the phone right now, she is tied up at the moment."
I could barely hear Ulrich yelling over the phone. Jimmy laughed, "Yes…yes…that is me. You want to see your little bitch of a girlfriend, come down to the Loco Co. Warehouses by the docks, number twenty-eight. If you get lost, follow the screams and no cops or your girlfriend gets one in the head."
He hung up the phone, "That should get his attention now, shouldn't it?"
"Why do you want to bring Ulrich here? You have me and you could have raped me if you wished without anyone knowing. So why?"
"Simple. Thanks to your friend and his testimony, my friends are dead. Four weeks ago, I had everything: Money, a job, a decent apartment, two friends, and a long list of raped women. That was until both you and your Ulrich came into our lives. Now all I want is payback."
I struggled against my bonds as if it would do me any good, he stepped closer to me.
"You are my unfinished desire, all the girls I ever raped got my load swimming around in them before I would leave them to die. So now all I want is the last thing he sees in this world to be me fucking the brains out of his girl…" We were face-to-face, I turned away and closed my eyes, "…and trust me…, "He grabbed my head and turned it to him, "…I am going to make it last."
My heart began to race, my pupils shrunk, my lungs began to constrict, and I screamed in my mind, "No! Not now!"
My panic attack overwhelmed me, my body banged against its restraints as Jimmy stood up away from me. Images of being raped passed through my mind as the attack prolonged. He was going to rape me, there was nothing I could do to stop him, he was going to rape me.
"I had about enough of this shit!" He shouted and backhanded me across the face. My attack stopped as I drifted between conscious and unconscious. I never felt so powerless in my life, he slapped me hard and I couldn't even raise my arms to defend myself. After a moment of silence, He lifted my chin with his hand.
"Good girl, you know…I do like this wheelchair. Where did you get it?"
I opened my eyes and spit in his face, "You and your friends gave it to me."
He backhanded me again, "Shut up! I am tired of hearing you talking. I prefer to hear you scream."
He pulled out a knife and cut my bonds, then my shirt before tossing it across the floor. He brought his face close to my breasts, "Hello girls, remember me?" He smacked his lips and began to suck on them.
"No!" I screamed. I couldn't fight back, my arms felt like clay. He continued as he threw a hand down my pants and began to play with me.
He whispered into my ear, "I love it when a girl can't fight back. Even with your ropes undone, there is nothing you can do to stop me."
"Yumi!" Ulrich shouted from the door.
Jimmy turned away from me, "Well, kid. You arrived sooner than expected. I was hoping to have a little more time with your girlfriend."
"Let her go!"
Jimmy inched toward the couch, "No! You see I still have things I would like to do to her before I am done. I was a little worried that you wouldn't show, but I am relieved to see you here."
"I don't care what you think, let her go!"
"Why? Is she that important to you?"
"Yumi is my world."
"Then I can't wait to see it shatter before you." He said as he leaned over the couch and picked up his gun, pointing it at Ulrich.
Ulrich bit his lip, "Shit!"
Jimmy moved to my side still holding the gun at him, "You see, boy. This is all part of my plan and now you…"
"Run, Ulrich! Forget about me! Run!" I shouted as loud as I could.
"Shut the fuck up, bitch!" Jimmy shouted and slapped me again. This time my chair fell over and I crashed to the floor. He ignored me as he walked toward Ulrich.
"I have been waiting for you to join us…"
My eyes flickered once again as I felt like I was falling asleep, but then I saw the knife that Jimmy threw away earlier. It glinted in the light as if begging me to pick it up. With a mix of anger and fear, I began to crawl toward it.
"…I feel relieved I can avenge my friends…"
I stretched out and clenched it firmly in my hand, "…and they would want this I am sure…"
I crawled closer to Jimmy as he finished, "…and now it is time for you to die!" He cocked the hammer back as he aimed.
"I am not powerless!" I shouted and stabbed him in the foot. He yelled in pain as he fired toward the sky. Ulrich rushed over to him and began to wrestle control out of his hand as I stabbed him once more, this time in the leg. As Jimmy fell to one knee, Ulrich gained control of the gun and pointed it at Jimmy.
Before he could think, he fired the gun. The first bullet went in the chest and so did the second and the third. The fourth went clean through his stomach, I was starting to raise from the floor when I saw it coming, but couldn't stop it. The bullet pierced into my left shoulder as the fifth pierced through his head.
Jimmy stared blankly at Ulrich as he saw his plans dissolve before him and fell dead on his side. Ulrich stood there shaking, his mind was catching up to his body and he realized what he had just done. The gun fell from his limp hands as fear spread through him. I thrashed around as the pain worsened.
"Ulrich! It hurts…it hurts…" my screams broke through his fear.
"Yumi…Yumi!" He dashed to me and knelt at my side, "Oh god, what have I done?" Tears welled up in his eyes when he looked at the blood spatter across his clothes and my face.
I begged, "Ulrich, please. Get me to a hospital."
"Hold on, Yumi. I'll get you there." He looked at my wheelchair and realized it would take too long to free it and he couldn't stand to see me in so much pain. Looking back at me, he took a deep breath and hoisted me into his arms. He ran as quickly as he could to the hospital, He knew where it was and it was thankfully close by.
I was rushed into the emergency room as Ulrich waited in the lobby to fill out some papers. The surgery didn't take too long, they extracted the bullet, cleaned the wound, and stitched me up. Ulrich told the truth on the papers about the attempted crime, the police soon came and got our statements, then we were let go.
The next day, we went to the therapy session and explained this to Abigail, though we dulled it down a lot especially the part about the murder. As my therapist, she was amazed at the amount of progress I made overcoming the ordeal. Though as a person, she was worried about the danger I was in. This day was also good news for my scheduled checkup gave me the all clear, I no longer needed the wheelchair.
Ulrich and I went on a date to celebrate for we haven't had one since…that night. We decided to keep it simple with dinner and a movie. This was more to calm Ulrich's nerves for he was still coming to grips about murdering someone. I made sure that he got plenty of neck rubs because he did save me after all. After the date, he escorted me to my door and kissed me goodnight. The feeling of warmth from kissing him was indescribable. When the door closed, I giggled like a little girl and ran up the stairs to my room.
However it went away in the middle of the night from a call by the police about Ulrich being arrested upon his return to Kadic. The forensics team found Ulrich's fingerprints on the handle and trigger of the gun, this was enough evidence to call for his arrest. During his interrogation, he mentioned my name and so I was brought in to be interrogated.
I creaked back and forth in my chair waiting for Tim Harrington to return. It has been over ten minutes since I finished giving my account of the crime. Our boredom was finally broken by his return.
He smiled, "Excellent news. Due to new evidence, Mr. Stern will be released immediately. Hopefully further evidence will not incriminate him."
Before my father could say anything, I intervened, "I hope so too. For Ulrich is my boyfriend, whom has been exonerated of this crime and can continue to see me as I wish, isn't that right...Dad?"
He looked at my smug smile and sighed in defeat, "Very well, you can see him as long as something like this doesn't happen again."
"Deal!"
Once Ulrich was out of the handcuffs, he hugged me as hard as he could. He gave a deep, passionate kiss. We would have made out, but my parents were watching and we were in a public place. Regardless, we were both happy for we were together again.
The next morning, Ulrich and I made out in the park to relieve the tension from last night. He paused and leaned back with a small frown on his face.
I raised an eyebrow in concern, "Is everything all right?"
He smiled, "Yeah it is. I was just thinking of all that has happened this month and I…" I pressed a finger against his lips.
"Let it go, it is in the past and we should be focusing on the future. I am not in a wheelchair anymore, the aweless trio is gone, and we have each other. We'll just keep going to therapy sessions together and everything will work out, you'll see."
He smirked, "When you smile like that Yumi, I know you are right."
I blushed for he made me feel so special. He looked at the ground with a smile before gazing straight into my eyes.
"So, are you afraid of me?" he asked jokingly.
I kissed him on the lips, "No, not even in the slightest."
He leaned in for another passionate kiss. We knew that we had to meet up with everyone for our next term schedules. I think our friends could wait, we haven't had a moment's peace for a month and this peace was hard-fought and won. As our kiss prolonged, the same thought went through our minds, "The future looks bright, indeed."
Another end to another story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Review if you would like or not if you prefer it. Any which way you decide, I wish you a good day(or night). This is the Dark Future signing off and lastly...
May all your Futures be Dark.