Dream of Me

By: Leelei

Disclaimer: I don't own Code:Lyoko

Author's Note: All right, no more setbacks –I'm finally going to get this story published whether I am sick or not! So here it is, my beloved little JxA epic. Please enjoy: )

And also, I wanted to mention that I have no idea what malls are like in France, so I had to plug in a few American stereotypes, Je regrette!

Chapter 1

Ice cream. It was so soft, so cold, so smooth. It slid off the spoon and into her mouth, gliding easily over her tongue as it chilled her teeth. With a long, lingering taste, she swallowed, her spoon already prepared for another bite. The taste was practically heaven-sent –how could there possibly be any more flavors needed after this? And it was so strange…the contents of the cup were so light, yet the frozen substance was so filling. But she knew that. She had always known that. After her mother had introduced her to it, ice cream was nearly a ritual dessert in her household during her childhood life. It was just the obstacle of remembering it.

But this was the first time in several years that Aelita had tasted ice cream. It floored Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and even Jeremie to realize that they hadn't introduced –or rather re-introduced- the once virtual girl to such a wondrous treasure from the freezer. In fact, Aelita could only recall that the last time she had actually tasted ice cream was the night before her father had virtualized her.

"Done already, Aelita?" Yumi asked, glancing at the pink-haired girl's empty cup before biting into her ice cream cone. "I think you've beaten Odd!"

"No way!" Odd cried, his cheeks puffing out as he shoved the last huge bite of his ice cream cone into his mouth. "No un eber beats me!" he mumbled through his packed mouth, bits of cone flying out in front of him.

"Yuck! Odd, close your mouth!" Ulrich chastised him, standing up from the bench next to him and moving over to sit on the other side of Yumi, his own half-eaten cone still in hand as he blocked it from the bits of cone with his napkin.

Aelita smiled at the occurrence. "I guess ice cream was easier to remember than I thought."

Jeremie, sitting next to her on the bench within the mall's food court, leaned forward to notice her empty ice cream dish as he sipped from his milkshake. "Would you like another one?" he asked after letting go of the straw.

"No, thank you," Aelita answered, keeping her smile for him. "I'm so full, I couldn't bear to eat another bite!"

"Hey, it's probably almost time for you guys to be getting back," Yumi commented, finishing up the last of her cone.

"Yeah, and remember we're taking the long way to walk you back to your house first," added Odd. He and Yumi looked over to Ulrich who hadn't even finished his ice cream. "Come on, Ulrich!"

"What? I'll be done in a second," Ulrich retorted. "I like to taste my food, Odd, not just inhale it."

"Honestly, as soon as you realize what it is, what's there to taste after the first bite?" Odd joked. "Do you keep forgetting what you're eating, Ulrich?"

Ulrich simply narrowed his eyes at the comment and continued eating as the rest of the group suppressed their laughter at his expense.

"Don't worry, Ulrich," said Jeremie between his giggling after a glance at his cell phone for the time. "We still have a few minutes before we need to go."

As the boys and Yumi began a new conversation, Aelita's attention shifted to another. Two girls, about her age, maybe a year or two older, were sitting at a table across the room. They were talking, laughing, and playing with their cell phones for a while, but by then Aelita noticed that the one girl facing her direction had kept glancing over to her specifically. Aelita swore that, out of the corner of her eye, she even saw the girl pointing at her.

The two girls picked up their purses as they stood and gathered up their trays lightly littered with food wrappers. Then Aelita noticed that they passed all of the trash cans nearest to them and walked directly to the one just a few feet away from her.

After discarding the trash and their trays, the one girl rolled her eyes. "Oh, I just hate it when girls die their hair such drastic colors, then match their eyebrows to it to make it look natural. It's just so tacky!" she gushed rudely to her friend, making sure Aelita heard every word.

"Yeah," her friend replied. "It's like, grow up, okay? That's not your real hair color."

Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi all turned their attention to Aelita when they noticed her staring at the two girls. Also, Odd had just happened to hear their brash remarks. "Oh, that's real sound advice coming from a girl that's got roots growing out to Marseilles!" he shot back to them.

"Ew, I wasn't talking to you!" the first girl replied cattily.

"Good, I'm sure my ears will thank me for saving them from the torture," countered Odd.

"You're weird," the girl shrugged him off with a furrowed brow as she and her friend each clutched their purses to their shoulders and walked off, nearly in unison.

"Hey, thanks!"

"Wow, who were they?" Ulrich asked in disgust.

Yumi sighed. "Don't bother knowing them. They used to be in my class until they switched schools a couple years ago."

Ulrich snickered. "Thank god. The last thing we need at Kadic is two more Sissi's with PMS." Yumi and Odd laughed.

Jeremie looked over to Aelita. The young girl had a blank expression on her face as he watched her slowly reach back and lift the hood of her pink sweater over her head. "Aelita?" he asked, watching her actions.

"Yes?" she quickly looked over to him, dropping her hands after covering her hair.

"Are you okay?"

Aelita immediately smiled again for him. "Of course, Jeremie. You don't have to worry, I know not to think about what those two girls said. I'm just a little cold…that's all. Too much ice cream."

"Oh, well, okay," the blonde boy replied. "I just hope you understand that what they said was completely wrong, and that they're just two ignorant-"

"Jeremie," Aelita cut him off. "I understand. It's okay." She smiled again and he managed to change his attitude and return the gesture.

"Hey, let's get out of here," Odd announced to the group as he collected the wrappers and napkins from them and threw away all of the garbage into the trash can. "I'm beginning to remember why we try not to come up to the mall anymore."

"Thank you, Odd," Aelita said, looking up to where he was standing near her. "For what you said."

"That's okay, Aelita. Putting that girl in her place was my pleasure!" Odd's smile beamed at his accomplishment. "And besides, friends always stick up for each other."

The rest of the group stood, Jeremie smiling again as Aelita took his hand when he offered it to her, and grinning even wider inwardly to himself as she continued to hold it while they all walked through the mall. Nearing the exit, though, they passed the entrance to the movie theater within the building. Posters and other propaganda from the production company covered the outside glass and walls of the theater, all promoting the next big movie that had opened during the weekend.

Aelita stared at it as she continued to walk with Jeremie towards the exit. She couldn't recall being in a movie theater. Although, she knew that she had to have been because she remembered watching a children's animated movie on the screen. I must have been too young at the time to replay it completely, she thought. The new memory urged her to drop Jeremie's hand and run back to the theater, but she ignored it and continued walking with her friend, her vision still panning across the cinema as the group passed it by.

As she and her friends walked through the streets of Paris back to Yumi's house, visions of the cartoon movie kept replaying in Aelita's mind.

Hooray, I'm so happy to be posting another chapter fic again:D I hope this first little part has sparked your interest. I know it was short, but some of the phrases and actions in it are crazy important for all of the foreshadowing within the fic. Chapter 2 should be up shortly, but in the mean time, please leave a review: )