I want to thank everyone for all the sweet reviews I've been getting on my others stories so much! Thanks a bunch, guys! Your reviews are really worth looking forward to!
"Jeremié, he is a disaster! Are you sure you programmed him correctly?" Yumi exasperated, tugging along a confused clone of William.
"Oh, come on, Yumi. I'm sure he's not that bad," he eyed the polymorph as he sipped on his hot chocolate.
"All of my classmates and teachers are on to him. How do you expect him to keep up for a few weeks when he can't even last a day?"
"But I am keeping up. I'm standing, aren't I?" the clone mused, earning a collection of weirded-out glances from the whole group.
Yumi pointed at him, "You see what I mean?"
"Okay, okay!" Jeremié held out his hands in surrender, "anyone has any ideas what we can do? I mean, we can't just get rid of him. Need I remind you that it will take a while to get the real William back and he can't just disappear from the campus,"
The group all looked at the ground morosely and thought.
"You're the brains here, Jeremié," Ulrich piped in.
"I don't have an answer for everything, you know,"
"What if we train him?"
The group looked towards Odd, bewildered.
"What?!" he yelled.
"He's not a dog, Odd. He's a polymorphic image of a human being."
"I don't mean sit, fetch and roll over, Jeremié, I mean human stuff of course," Odd began listing on his fingers, "Eat, sleep, and work at the same amount a normal student would and not a computer program would. Also how to communicate when needed and we'll also teach him how to stay away from trouble. Easy!"
"He does have a point, Jeremié. We could take turns during free periods and holidays so the weight doesn't fall entirely on Yumi," Aelita crossed her arms in agreement.
"Uh, does everyone agree with this idea then?" Jeremié scratched his chin, aiming his question mainly at Yumi who didn't say a word.
"I don't see why we can't try," Ulrich muttered, happy to help with getting William off of Yumi's shoulders – clone or not.
"It's settled then! My magnificent plan is a go!" Odd called out.
The group glanced towards William then back to each other.
"So who's first?" Ulrich asked.
"Definitely not me," Yumi stepped out of the group circle with her arms crossed.
"Yeah, we have pencak silat practice anyway," Ulrich mused in, also stepping out.
"How about you, Odd? It was your brilliant plan after all," Jeremié targeted.
Odd choked out a forced laugh as he jumped out of the circle, "Right, right, I, uh. I can't. Azra gave me a second chance. I'm not screwing it up this time!"
Jeremié raised an eyebrow then turned to look at Aelita, slightly upset.
"I was hoping you would help me with some fragment decoding, Aelita, but..."
"Why can't you do it, Einstein?"
"Just as much of a reason as you can't do it, Odd" Jeremié cut back.
"It's alright Jeremié," Aelita laughed, "I can help you after William and I's study date tomorrow,"
"Uh, right," Jeremié looked away as the others began to laugh.
"Studies don't have dates though," William noted.
"Exams do though, and you have a huge one to pass, Romeo," Ulrich called out as the others continued to laugh.
"Who's Romeo? What's his exam on?"
"Life," Yumi said as she passed the clone on her way to the school gates, "I'll see you later at practice, Ulrich. Good luck, Aelita,"
The group waved at Yumi as she left then began to walk back towards the under-arches.
"Well, I'm off to my room. I have a lot of calculations to do now, what without Aelita to help me,"
"And I'm off to get ready for Azra," Odd ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, "I'm telling you, she's the one,"
"So was every other girl you went out with," Ulrich stated.
Odd huffed and began to walk to the dorms with Jeremié, "You're just jealous,"
"I never liked 'Turkish Delight' chocolates," Ulrich muttered to a giggling Aelita.
"William! I need to talk to you, pronto!" Ulrich, Aelita and William turned around to a charging Sissi.
"Here we go," Ulrich mumbled.
"I knew something was wrong as soon as you came back. Why are you even hanging out with these losers anyway?"
"Hanging? We're not hanging," he looked to his sides at Ulrich and Aelita as if to make sure they weren't.
"Yes, that," she motioned to the three of them, "that is called hanging, William,"
"No, I'm called William. This is Ulrich and this is Aelita,"
Sissi groaned in anger and curled her hands into fists.
"Why are you so calm around Ulrich?! Normally you would be tearing each other apart!"
"I wouldn't tear Ulrich. He's made of flesh, not paper. Therefore, it would be difficult to tear him apart,"
"Oh, you know what I mean, idiot! Tell me something I don't know!"
"Okay. Ulrich is part of a group made up of Aelita, Jeremié, Odd and Yumi and whenever the world is attacked they go to a world where they fight an evil virus called X.A.N.A and-"
"Woah, okay there, calm it, William," Ulrich cut him off with a palm to his mouth as him and Aelita laughed awkwardly.
"Morons," Sissi scoffed, walking away from them.
"That was close," Ulrich sighed, "This guy needs a lot of training, especially on what he can and can't say."
"I guess I'll start now. The sooner the better," Aelita began to tug William along towards the dorms.
"Alright, good luck, Aelita. I'm off for pencak silat practice," he waved at her and started for the gym.
"Okay William, we have four hours until you need to get to your room," Aelita said, closing the door to her room.
"Why? What's happening in four hours?" he stood awkwardly at the entrance as she moved towards her bed.
She snickered, "I should probably start with the school rules with you,"
Aelita sat on her pillows and motioned for William to sit at the foot of her bed. Luckily, being a program meant that he'd have an amazing memory, meaning he'd learn quickly.
"Alright, listen to me William. I need to teach you a bit about life and I really need you to cooperate, okay?"
Surprisingly to Aelita, he nodded without any questions.
The pair had spent their four hours quite productively as Aelita managed to teach William quite easily about human speech and etiquette – and also the school rules.
"That's enough for today; I'm leaving the rest for tomorrow. It's almost ten o'clock," Aelita glanced at the clone, an eyebrow playfully rising, "What happens at ten o'clock?"
"All students on campus must be in their rooms on their respectable dorm levels; boys on the second level and girls on the third level,"
Aelita raised her eyebrow slightly more until the clone gave her a smile.
"There we go. Seems we need to go through emotions a bit more tomorrow. You can't look like a robot all the time, right?"
William nodded, slowly rising from her bed. Aelita moved the pillows around her to the side and felt him standing up. She reached out for his arm and told him to wait. The pair stayed silent for a moment in her room and William sat back down, confused.
"So you're programmed with personal thoughts, right?"
He nodded.
"Are they Jeremié's own insertions or... William's?"
"Mine, of course,"
That tells me a lot, she almost snorted.
"So, Ulrich's a great guy, huh?"
"Of course,"
"Doesn't seem like something William would say,"
"I'm sure William thinks Ulrich is a great guy. I'm just projecting those thoughts,"
Aelita watched him confusedly – she didn't remember anything about the clone using the real person's deep thoughts. In fact, how did Jeremié manage to get William's thoughts if he's under X.A.N.A's control? She would think that would be like trying to break through a few hundred firewalls. Curious, she prodded on.
"What do you think about... Aelita?"
"I don't think. I am just a polymorphic projection,"
"What does... William think about Aelita?" she tried, slightly embarrassed.
"William thinks that Aelita is incredibly talented at everything she does, from deactivating towers to mixing sounds. He thinks that she should never give up in her search for her father, and she should stay strong when fighting X.A.N.A. He thinks that she should not blame herself for what happened during his first virtualization. He thinks that he is incredibly idiotic for what he did to her and the group, and that he wishes for her to forgive him."
Aelita clutched onto the bottom of her jumper-dress, breathing slightly harder with each sentence the clone said.
"He thinks that it's really nice of Aelita to have programmed a navskid for him even though he is forced to destroy the ship all the time. Sometimes he thinks that he wishes the Lyoko warriors would stop helping him because of all he has done to trouble them all,"
"No..." Aelita mumbled under her breath, "That's not-"
"William thinks that Aelita will be able to defeat X.A.N.A, and he hopes that she and the group can free him because he doesn't really like it where he is now."
She watched his straight face as her cheeks were burning up and her eyes began to sting and water.
"William thinks-"
"No, stop. Just... stop," Aelita walked up towards her door and opened it, the back of her throat clenching, "Go to your room, it's already past the curfew and... I don't want you to get in trouble," she watched the floor as he left her room in silence.
She shut the door almost too forcefully and took a huge breath as she leaned against it. She tried to clear her head, but not hearing footsteps walking away, she continued to choke up. Someone was tapping on her door. Aelita opened it ever so slightly and saw the clone there, standing with a complete straight face.
"Goodnight," he stated, his voice completely monotone.
Aelita watched him walk down the hallway. The etiquette she taught him was probably used at a bad time, but how would projections understand how others felt – they were just a programme. She shut her door again and went straight to bed. Not that she would get any sleep. Not after that.