She ran through the forest tears streaming down her face. Clothed barley in her ripped clothes. She stumbled and ran into a trail. People where gathered round, despite it being night.
"Are you all right? We saw a blast!"
She stared at them with growing terror. Suddenly she cried out and ran from them. Her arms pulled around herself, she ran down the road, catching stunned stares by people on the sidewalk. Someone asked if they should call 911, but Jessica was out of there before they could even pull out a cell phone. They didn't know the danger that they faced just by being near her. How could they?
Even though she knew it was wrong Jessica felt herself being pulled down the path even farther. It was if she was on auto-pilot, as if something was waiting for her at the end of the trail. There were sirens in the background and she knew it had to be a fire truck responding to the fire death pit that was blazing only a couple hundred feet from where the trail began.
After a good 10 minute walk the girl saw what she had been "looking" for. Actually it felt like she had just returned home after being gone for about 5 months. The sign read Kadick Academy. The girl could have shed tears of joy if she wasn't trained to hold in her emotions.
Her black hair was a mess and the red highlights were a little disoriented. Her jeans were ripped in the knees and her arms where scratched to pieces. There was a bump on the back of her head and she also had bruised ribs. These where only new little "parting gifts" from her attacker and they were bond to get worst. She needed help and the only people she would be able to trust are at this school.
A pain shot through Jessica's head and she hit her knees hard. As a second wave came she let out a moan. This was stronger then she had ever experienced. It was clouding her vision and she almost let it take her when she heard a voice call out to her.
"Hey- are you okay?" There was concern and panic in the boy's voice. Slowly Jessica lifted her head to see three boys and two girls where looking at her as if she was a demon or something that had just discovered their secret.
"I think so- I just." She tried to pull herself off her knees but she had no energy. That's when she felt the strongest pain in her life explode in her skull. Without meaning to she let out a pitiful moan and curled up into a fetal position on the ground. All she could do was feel the pain and it was so bad she forgot about the people that were watching her.
"Make it stop- Please!!!" The cry from the girl seemed to snap Ulrich back into reality. He didn't know who she was or what she was doing out in the forest but it was certain that she was in pain. He bent down on his knees low enough that he could see the girls face. Tears were flowing from her eyes and for some reason it made his heart break.
"Do you want to go to the hospital?" He could read the answer in the girl's strange violet eyes. There was panic and fear. It was obvious that she didn't want to go.
"Why don't we bring her to my room, it might not be as obvious she's new if she's in my room" Aelita said looking at Ulrich.
"Yeah, we really don't have any other choice do we?" He looked Jessica a little more closely and he could see all of her bruises. He made a mental note to talk to her if she was willing to. When he looked back at her face he could see that she was looking just as intently at him as he was at her. Something seemed to click in that five seconds but Ulrich didn't know what it was.
"Do you think you can walk?" Odd asked breaking the silence that had followed. Ulrich pull the girl into a sitting position. With a quick nodded of the head Jess tried to pull herself up on to her feet. It hurt but she wasn't going to show that weakness.
"Where are we going?" Her voice they noticed was soft and very raspy as if she hadn't had anything to drink in a few days. Then she noticed the open manhole. "Did you guys come out of there?" Confusion washed over the girl. Where they running from someone too?
"Were going where it's safe to talk, were going to the dorms at the school." Jeremy smiled at the girl. It seems that the only one who had seen her injuries was the boy with brown hair and kind eyes.
"Before we go I have one question for you. Who are you?" Yumi spat out. Her mood was shot because XANA had tried to eliminate her for the umpteenth time when they were just in Lyoko.
Ulrich shot Yumi a look that said clearly leave her alone until they got to the room.
"My name is Jessica- I can't remember why but I think that I've been here before." Something about this forest was familiar almost as if it was her home. Home where was that? There was a noise in the background almost like a snarl. Turning the group looked into the forest. There was nothing out here that should be able to hurt them but it had been a while since XANA had attacked them outside of Lyoko.
Ulrich, Yumi and Odd were on high alert .Jeremy just stared at Aelita and Jessica was deciding if she'd be able to hold off another attack tonight. It would be too much if her attacker was the one behind it but if he wasn't then she might be able to hold the person back long enough to let the others escape.
"Where do you think you're going with her???" It came out like a snarl. As the group looked around they were unable to see who the person speaking was. It sounded as if the voice was echoing in the forest.
"Kieren!" The response was a whisper. It had been so long since she had last seen him. In fact in the deepest corner of her mind she had thought he was dead. Hadn't she seen his dead body the night she was taken?
"Jessica!" The owner of the voice seemed to come out of nowhere. He was the same height as Ulrich with short brown hair and blue highlights his eyes were an icy blue and they were turned on the group in what could be considered a threatening look. Then his eyes turned to Jessica and they softened.
"I thought you were dead." The words were spoken with a softness that was almost unrecognizable.
"I thought you were. You seemed to have been gone for so long that I thought you were never coming back." Jessica crossed over to the boy and gave him a hug. It was hard to miss that they fit together in a perfect way hip to hip, chest to chest.
"Kieren what about my family?? Are they alive or did…" Jessica had her answers in the look of his eye. She was alone, her family was gone and now she had to find away to stay out of the public's eye. If they thought she was dead no one would come looking for her but the truth be told she didn't know how long she had been gone for.
Her head was swirling, as all of the thoughts seemed to make themselves known. The darkness was creeping up on her. This time she couldn't fight it and she felt herself fall as the darkness claimed her like a greedy child, an unspoken name on her lips.
Just before she hit the ground Kieren reached out and grabbed her. It was pretty obvious to him that they needed a safe place to bring her. Ever so gently he picked her up bridal style. Gently he pushed the hair out of her face.
"Let's go to the factory and we can run some tests." Jeremy led the way to the factory. He shared a look with the other warriors. They nodded not being able to pass up on helping someone in trouble. He was followed by Kieren and then the others. Once they were there Jeremy lead the way to the scanners. After much coaxing from Jeremy and Aelita Kieren place Jessica into the Scanner and the test begun. Everything seemed fine for the first couple minutes until the super computer began to beep.
"What does that mean?" Odd asked as the computer began to go haywire with numbers. 451425454245185415457454512165784516549741245148421684549542195823852013597695498451416894235158866456889046290642072485222757689058592358935782468067780256780385769728909624498762968528347276923476927676235178050464094676479046790647467624834746824679046493568692685247418714542315495744795278218952188958792062186899527465
"This is so weird- I don't think that I've ever seen this before." Jeremy began typing into the computer. The hum of the scanner caught everyone's attention. "The computer is sending her into Lyoko! Come on… it won't stop. "
"Send us into Lyoko. We'll be able to get her back safely." Ulrich looked at Yumi and Odd. Even though they have been to Lyoko a more times than they could count this was the first time they would be rescuing someone other than Aelita.
"Okay guys head to the scanners." Jeremy typed the code into the computer. As the door to his scanner closed Ulrich couldn't help but think I will protect you from now on Jessica.