I claim no rights to Code Lyoko.
"The Tale of Taelia"
Aelita scratched Kiwi gently behind the ears; when he wasn't munching on her CDs, the little dog was actually very cute. She leaned over him to turn the page of the yearbook on Ulrich's bed and giggled at the goofy haircut Jean-Baptiste had the year before.
"Ha!" cheered Odd gleefully, looking over her shoulder. "I forgot he had the bowl cut!"
"Bet he's glad he grew it out," commented Ulrich, trying to see upside-down as he sat opposite Aelita on the bed.
"Thanks again for showing me this, guys," said Aelita, rubbing Kiwi's stomach. His tongue lolled out the side of his mouth in a silly expression that made her laugh again. "It's been hard trying to get everybody's names down. I feel kind of stupid, actually," she admitted sheepishly. "I've been here for two weeks and I still haven't managed to remember half the kids in our class."
"Don't worry about it," assured Ulrich. "You've had to get used to way more than the average new kid, and I doubt after a long day of classes anyone else goes to fight an evil computer virus."
Aelita grinned and returned her gaze to the pictures in front of her. Claire was wearing far too much makeup...Melanie had the bad luck of wearing a sweater that perfectly matched the background, giving her the appearance of a floating head...Thomas had his eyes bugging out with a wide, stressed grin...Her eyes stopped on a girl who looked oddly familiar. "Who's that?"
Odd leaned in and slipped Kiwi a dog biscuit. His face twisted into a look of sheer delight. "Hey, Ulrich, you remember Taelia, don't you?"
Ulrich's jaw dropped and he grabbed the yearbook, turning it in his hands to see it better. "Oh, man."
"She...she looks a lot like me," noticed Aelita, pushing Kiwi off her lap. "Pink hair, green eyes...you said her name was Taelia?"
"Yeah..." murmured Ulrich distractedly, his eyes glued to the page. "She doesn't go here anymore, she only stuck around for a few months."
"You two seem kind of...surprised," Aelita decided that was the only fitting word.
"Well, we, ah...sort of forgot about her after she left, and besides the attack we never really talked to her," said Ulrich, punching Odd in the shoulder in hopes of ridding the boy of his maniacal grin.
"Attack?" Aelita asked blankly.
Odd immediately plunged in. "Once upon a time there was a young blonde Einstein who fell in love with a beautiful pink-haired girl from a virtual world called Lyoko." Aelita blushed and averted her gaze to the wall. Odd only saw this as encouragement. "But alas, one day a wicked girl by the name of Taelia flew in on her broom to Kadic Castle and stole Einstein's naïve heart...and got him arrested."
"Odd, that is not how it happened," snapped Ulrich. Odd raised a critical eyebrow, and the brunette added defensively, "You're oversimplifying it."
"Jeremie...fell in love with Taelia?" asked Aelita slowly.
"Never seen him act like it before," confirmed Odd solemnly, before granting her a mischievous grin. "I wish I could have taken some pictures."
"You only think she was evil because she shot you down," retorted Ulrich.
"I was not trying to pick her up!" replied Odd indignantly. "I don't steal girls from best friends."
"Only from total strangers," said Ulrich. "Might wanna clean up your dating ethic all the same, though."
Aelita began tuning out of the bickering and grabbed the forgotten yearbook, a frown forming on her lips. Taelia had a grave expression on her face in the picture, her eyes dull. She didn't even attempt to smile. Aelita flipped back a couple pages to Jeremie's picture: a shy, awkward grin with eyes brighter than they were now. A year of late nights and few meals made a difference, she realized. Looking back at Taelia, her frown returned. Stole Jeremie's heart?
"Aelita?" Odd called out. "Come back to Earth!"
Aelita jumped and glanced up at her friends. "Sorry, I um...So, was there a reason Jeremie, er....liked her so much?"
Odd gave a devious smirk. "Let's just say she reminded him of someone." If possible, his smile widened even further. "You oughta ask him to tell you the story, maybe I'm not doing it justice."
Ulrich punched Odd in the arm. "So you wouldn't steal an Aelita look-alike from Jeremie but you'd do this to him?" he hissed, so the pinkette wouldn't hear.
Aelita stood up, determination warring with reluctance. "Yeah...I think I will ask him. I'll see you guys at dinner."
Jeremie's pulse raced as he heard the door knock. He had a pretty good idea who it was; Aelita visited his room several times a day with questions and excitement about things that were perfectly normal to him but very much a novelty to her. The way she bounced up and down yesterday after seeing a centipede on her windowsill was nothing short of adorable, and Jeremie was pleased to find himself as the person Aelita came to.
He answered the door and stepped aside to usher the girl in. Her green eyes lacked the sparkle of curiosity they usually held, and he wondered if something was wrong, but her greeting hug washed away all bad feelings as he held Aelita close. The year-long wait was worth it for moments like this, when there was nothing but her warmth and smell.
"Hey, Princess," Jeremie murmured softly into her hair. He regretfully pulled back, though he kept his arms around her middle. Aelita didn't seem to mind when he touched her, in fact she made it a point to hold his hand between classes and sit at his side at lunch. He could understand how overwhelmed she felt by her new existence in the real world, but secretly hoped that wasn't the only reason she clung to him.
"Hi, Jeremie," Aelita whispered. How was it Jeremie's hugs were so much warmer than those of her other friends? She let him guide her across the room to his desk.
"I just know I'll have the antivirus soon," Jeremie began enthusiastically, sitting down in the computer chair and bringing up the codes. "Just a few more days, I think, and then we can finally shut Xana down." He glanced up at Aelita—he knew she was just as sick of the virus as the rest of them were—but she had that same distracted look on her face. "Is everything okay, Aelita?"
"Hm?" Aelita jumped and blushed; she still wasn't sure how to be tactful about uncomfortable subjects, and the only way she saw to get answers was to be blunt about it. "Well, um...Odd and Ulrich were showing me last year's yearbook...and I saw this girl...Taelia." Jeremie's worried expression tensed as he flushed a deep rosy red. "They, ah...they told me about her and...and you."
Jeremie's blush worsened as he averted his eyes to the desk. She must think I'm such a fool! he mentally berated himself. He could easily imagine Odd's laughter and Ulrich's smirks as they recalled the young genius's blunder. Confusing the new girl for Aelita hadn't just been a simple case of wishful thinking, he could've killed them all! Jeremie had been hoping to prevent her from ever finding out about his severe error in judgment.
Aelita smiled in spite of herself. It fascinated her how a few simple words could affect her best friend this way. The interest quickly faded into fear; was Jeremie's anxious grin confirmation of his attraction to Taelia? This did not sit well with Aelita. It had always felt like Jeremie was...was hers. She didn't know any other way to put it. While Jeremie had failed to get past his blushing enough to explain relationships, Aelita had gathered enough from Yumi and the Internet to assume they were something resembling a couple. Didn't he think the same?
"It...definitely wasn't my smartest move," Jeremie admitted sheepishly. "I, um...I wasn't thinking. I saw her and I thought I'd finally..." Jeremie's cheeks, if possible, reddened even further. "well, you know."
Aelita took a moment to think; so maybe Jeremie didn't just "like" Taelia, he was actually in love with her. She understood enough to know there was a significant difference between the two. And she'd read about the concept of a true love, though not in depth. I saw her and I thought I'd finally...well, you know...Considering all the people in the world, it would be very difficult to find a single person perfect for another individual. "Love at first sight" was another phrase Aelita had come across but not researched--
No! Aelita stopped herself in her analysis of Jeremie's words. Jeremie was careful and calculating, he wouldn't allow himself to fall in love with just any girl. At most it had to be a short-lived infatuation...but even that displeased Aelita. Somehow she didn't approve of Jeremie harboring any special feelings toward this Taelia. Besides, what made her better than Aelita? Aelita knew him better, she certainly cared about him more, and believed Jeremie cared about her the same way, seeing as he'd dedicated all that time protecting her from an evil virus.
Jeremie nervously raised his eyes to Aelita's, but she seemed to be looking right through him. He watched her expression change from concerned, to conflicted, to...angry? He didn't recognize the emotion on the angel's face at first; Aelita was rarely anything but cheery and inquisitive. "A-Aelita?" Jeremie called out cautiously.
"Yes, Jeremie?"
The hard tone Aelita answered with was, again, foreign to the genius. He rose out of his seat and set his hand lightly on hers, curled in a tight fist on the desk. Only on the most seldom fatal Xana attack did she behave this aggressively. "Are you all—"
"What happened to Taelia?" Aelita tried to ask as nonchalantly as she could, but there was still a stony edge to her voice.
The blonde raised his eyebrows; was she worried Taelia knew their secret? There was no danger of that, the group could always count on the mind-erasing prowess of the jumps back in time. "Rumor has it she was taken in by some distant cousins."
A hint of a smile flickered across Aelita's lips. Jeremie hadn't cared enough to get the whole story. "So...you two weren't close."
"Well...no," Jeremie answered, wondering what was provoking this many questions about a girl of relatively little importance. Aelita's fist loosened under his hand. "Don't worry, Princess, she's not going to tell anyone what happened."
Aelita pulled her hand back from his and folded her arms over her chest defensively. "What happened?" she demanded, fixing the boy with a hard glare. Her knowledge of human intimacies was limited, but Aelita had hoped that at the most Jeremie merely admired this girl from afar.
Jeremie took a step back out of instinct; right now the pinkette reminded him of a caged animal set loose and ready for vengeance. "What do you mean?"
"What happened between you and Taelia?"
"Huh?" Jeremie couldn't find a response, the emerald fire in Aelita's eyes was not something he was used to. "Taelia and I...we...wait..." Jeremie stepped closer to the girl, trying to find any answer the features of her face might tell that her words wouldn't. "What did Odd and Ulrich tell you?" he asked sharply, taking a gentle hold of her arms.
"There was an attack..." Aelita began. "And you...you fell in love with her..." She trailed off as Jeremie's jaw hung low. His grip on her arms slackened and he stared at his shoes, mouthing something inaudible to her. "Odd told me to come to you," she continued, her envy blending into worry that Jeremie was upset with her.
"They didn't tell you...anything else?" Jeremie asked, glancing back up at her, looking indeed angry, but perhaps not towards her. She shook her head dumbly. "Aelita, sit down." The pinkette obeyed and he kneeled next to the computer chair, taking one of her hands in his as he did so. "Do you remember when you were trapped in a guardian?"
"Yeah." Aelita could vaguely recall the time she spent in the golden globe, keeping her from her friends and the activated tower. It was only thanks to Jeremie's resourcefulness that she'd escaped.
"Well, I had made another attempt at your materialization the night before." Jeremie's wide eyes were probing into hers, already making her doubt her convictions. "I was worried when I couldn't contact you...and that day we had a new girl in class."
"T-Taelia..." Aelita stammered lamely, biting her lip.
"She looked so much like you, I was sure she was you. I thought I'd finally materialized you, and you'd lost your memory."
"Oh," was all Aelita could come up with. Jeremie squeezed her fingers and offered a kind smile, but that didn't stop her from feeling stupider by the nanosecond.
"And then Xana attacked...I'd been trying to make her remember us, but I'm sure she thought I was a stalker," Jeremie chuckled; it was easier to laugh about now, and his good humor wasn't entirely ruined by the fact that he'd have to kill his two best friends tonight. "Even when I tried to save her from a possessed suit of samurai armor." Aelita smiled as she made the connection: Jeremie hadn't been flirting with Taelia, he thought he'd been protecting her. "And she still called the police when I took her to the factory."
"So then...you and she weren't..."
"No," Jeremie answered confidently. It had been a very brief, one-sided love that he'd just as soon forget in order to focus on the girl in front of him. "The Return came just in time, she moved a few months later, and that was the last we saw of her."
Aelita's grin was tempered only by her embarrassment. How could she have doubted her savior, her best friend? "I'm...I'm sorry, Jeremie," she murmured meekly, casting her gaze to anywhere else besides the knowing pair of bright blue eyes.
"It's all right, Princess."
To be honest, Jeremie was rather flattered by the almost territorial claim Aelita was making on him. He was hardly going to argue that his heart belonged to anyone else. Feeling bold, he touched his lips to the back of her hand and stood up. All the self-assurance in the world couldn't keep the blush from spreading on his face, however. Aelita giggled and rose with him, deciding her own display of affection was in order as she gripped him in a hug.
Seeing the time on his digital alarm clock across the room, Jeremie slowly pulled out of the embrace. "We'll miss dinner if we don't get to the cafeteria before Odd."
Aelita nodded and grasped his hand possessively as he lead her to the door. Jeremie hadn't confirmed specific feelings for her, but at least he was more than willing to deny any for other girls. For now, that would be enough when it came to her shy genius.
I wrote this a few months ago and finally found it again. Still hate the title, but it's better than the original "Mine!" I may rewrite this later.