#(her attempting to confront jeremie and also herve and nicolas being Absolutely Terrified because What The Hell)
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Code: July Day 8 - Sissi
Yeah now I'm just flat out going out of order because I don't have the energy to fight my whims just to stay chronological and I've wanted to write this one for a bit
While rewatching this episode it struck me there wasn't actually an RTTP at the end of it everyone involved still remembers the very last take. It was almost definitely a plot hole/writer oversight/meant to happen but cut for time/implied but I just leaned back and went "well. that could've been a problem."
...
"...Elizabeth?"
Sissi grunts, screwing her eyes shut and mashing her face deeper into the pillow. Her head is pounding, her eyes sting, and all of her limbs feel like lead--she definitely slept wrong and doesn't feel like dealing with this right now. "It's Sissi," she mumbles.
"Elizabeth, it's me."
Her eyes shoot open. Oh. Oh, that's her father's voice.
What's he doing in her room?
...Why isn't this her bed?
Sissi gasps and sits up so fast she nearly bowls over her father, who'd been leaning over her. She looks around in a panic--this isn't her room at all it's the infirmary she can see Yolanda rifling through a cabinet in the back why is she--
A wave of dizziness sends her back to the bed with a groan, and she squints her eyes practically shut as the pain behind her eyes turns sharp.
Her father returns to leaning over her with that same worried, tired (he's always tired) look, and she feels him gripping her wrist. "Please, don't strain yourself."
"Wh-what am I doing here," Sissi croaks. Her throat feels raw, like she's been screaming.
"You were passed out in the boiler room," Yolanda supplies, crossing the room and sticking a cold plastic device on Sissi's finger. "Stern came to get me, and I called Mr. Delmas."
"Ulrich...?" Her heart jumps for a moment (so he did care, at least a little!) but then the memories start trickling back, posing a bigger concern. "Wait--he was there, I remember! He was...he said..." The harder she tries to think about it, the worse her head gets, and she whines quietly instead of finishing the sentence.
"...Her oxygen levels are fine, and her blood pressure's evened out." Yolanda takes the device off of Sissi's finger. "Nothing seems to be wrong. Elizabeth, dear, when was the last time you ate something?"
Sissi doesn't even think to protest the name, because now that she thinks about it...she really doesn't know. "I...the last thing I remember is getting up this morning..."
That's not entirely true--it's bits and pieces, like a half-remembered nightmare, except was it really a nightmare if she felt like she could fly, with more energy than she's ever had? If she had that kind of power, Ulrich's club would have to listen to her, she wouldn't need the stupid--
Another gasp. "Daddy? Where's my Walkman?"
"Hm?" He looks a bit baffled at the question. "Oh, it seemed to have fallen. It's completely destroyed--I'll get you another one?"
"No!" The wail antagonizes Sissi's raw throat, but she doesn't care, trying to sit up again (and this time wisely leaning on the pillows for support). "Th-there was a minidisc in there I'd recorded on--I was gonna tell you--I heard Jeremie and Aelita talking in the hall last night and he was going on about how she wasn't really Aelita Stones and she wasn't even a human and--"
Her father sighs, shaking his head. "Yolanda, has anyone else come in lately babbling like this? I should get the pipes in the dormitory building checked..."
"No, sir, no more than usual. I think it's a good idea, but if there was a leak in the building, more kids would--"
"It wasn't a gas leak, Daddy, it was real!" She pounds her fists into the bed. "I heard it! I had proof! They were gonna tell me everything!"
"Elizabeth..."
Her father squeezes her wrist and she grinds her teeth because she doesn't want him to comfort her right now she wants him to listen to believe her she wants to cry angry tears because she'd been so close and what had happened and why had she been in the boiler room with a pipe standing over Ulrich like a maniac and why had he been so NICE to her when her head had gotten funny and she'd slumped to the floor and--
She doesn't resist when he gently pushes her shoulder until she's back down into a horizontal position. She shuts her eyes tight again, trying to keep her lip from wobbling and the rock in her throat from getting out and it's like her whole body's been wrung out like an old towel.
She feels his hand brush her hair away from her forehead. "I have to go now." Because he's busy, he's always busy, he's always been busy-- "Be good for Yolanda, all right? We can talk when you've had some time to recover."
"I love you, Daddy," she whimpers.
"I love you too, sweetheart."
He leans down to kiss her on the forehead, and it loosens the knot in her stomach just a bit, even as she hears his shoes clicking away from her.
...
There's a knock on the door. Yolanda glances over from where she'd been examining her shelves of supplies. "Come in?"
It had only been a few minutes since her father had left, but Sissi was wide awake now, and already starting to hate being in the infirmary for seemingly nothing. But...her head's still hurting, she's still kind of dizzy, and the last thing she wants is to fall on her face in front of half the school. She's sitting up now, crossing her arms and staring at the door as it's cracked open.
"Um...is Sissi still here?"
Her eyes widen, and she sits up straighter. "Ulrich?!"
"Hi." Peeking around the door, he gives that awkward, crooked little grin of his, along with a tiny wave. When Yolanda nods at him, he opens the door fully and steps inside, one hand in his jacket pocket. "I wanted to see how you were doing."
"Oh, I-I'm fine now." She immediately feels her stomach doing flips because he's talking to her, oh god, and with his voice so soft like that, get a hold of yourself. Something about his gaze cuts through her, though, and she ducks her chin a bit. "...My head hurts a little."
"I can imagine," he says, with a huff that's almost-just-barely a laugh. He glances over to Yolanda. "Can I talk to her for a sec?"
Yolanda nods. "I have to go and get a few things out of storage, actually. Make sure she stays in bed? I don't want her falling."
"Sure thing, Doc."
Ulrich gives her a cheeky little mock-salute and Sissi has to swallow a giggle that would definitely make her look stupid. Yolanda takes another few seconds to write a list, then leaves, shutting the door gently behind her.
Ulrich watches her go, then turns his gaze back on Sissi with an intensity that nearly stops her heart. His face is suddenly all harsh edges and seriousness as he leans on the side of her bed.
"I mean it, Sissi, how do you feel? Anything you can tell me."
"U-uh...Well, like I said, my head hurts, and I'm dizzy, just a bit...and my arms feel kinda..."
"Yeah?"
"...kinda like they're loaded with weights." Sissi winces, lifting her arm and stretching out her finger. "And now that you mention it, my shoulders ache pretty bad."
"What about your eyes?"
"They're a little stingy, I guess...?" She bites her lip. "Ulrich, what happened? I remember you were in the boiler room with me..."
"You don't remember anything else?"
"The last thing I remember is my alarm going off this morning."
Ulrich stands up straight, looking away from her and staring into the wall hard enough to burn a hole in it. She wonders, moreso than usual, just what's going on in his head.
"...Forget it," Ulrich mutters eventually.
Sissi blinks. "What?"
"It--you were just following me around, tripped down the boiler room stairs, it wasn't much of a thing."
Sissi doesn't want to feel it, not at him, but anger bubbles up in her chest. She sucks in a sharp breath through her nose. Does he think she's stupid? "You're lying," she says. "Why did I have that pipe? Why were you on the ground?"
"I said forget it, I don't know what you're talking about." Ulrich turns away from her completely, stuffing both hands deep into his jacket pocket.
She bristles, but when she speaks, her voice is terribly small. "You...you know what actually happened to me, don't you? I know what I saw."
Ulrich huffs, marching towards the door. Her fists clench.
"Ulrich! Just what is going on?!"
"See if I help save you again next time," she hears him grumble, before he disappears out of the infirmary--too fast for her to ask what he meant by that.
Sissi groans, flopping back onto the bed. He knows. There's no way he doesn't know. And she knows she wasn't imagining that scene in the boiler room. So why won't he tell her anything? Why is he keeping so many secrets? She's only kind of tolerating all of it because it's him and she wants to keep talking to him, and--
And there's something in her chest, an envy so easy to mistake for the other kind eating at her that she forgets it's there most days, but she feels it when she really looks at him and his club. A sort of...regret, a longing, an opportunity wasted, please let's talk this out, please let me explain, I only wanted to help you, I thought you were going to die and when people are in danger you tell the adults and they fix it why is what I did so wrong why won't you why--
"Elizabeth?"
Sissi startles. She hadn't even heard Yolanda come back in. "Yeah?" It comes out a little too snappy, and she realizes her whole body is stiff as a board.
Yolanda raises an eyebrow. "What's the matter? Did Stern agitate you?"
"Stern always agitates me," she mutters, closing her eyes again.
#code lyoko#codejuly23#i have more i want to add onto this#(her attempting to confront jeremie and also herve and nicolas being Absolutely Terrified because What The Hell)#but i might do it on ao3 or smth
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