"Aelita?" Jeremy's mid puberty voice echoed through the empty halls of Kadic Academy. He was slowly pacing in a straight line to her room. The hall seemed to have no end, to him, like with every step he took her room got farther away. It was always the same whenever he had horrible news to tell her.
It seemed like she had been getting a lot of unpleasant news lately. It had only been 3 months since Aelita had found out that she like the other four was a human and that Franz Hopper was her father. He had disappeared on Lyoko, what she used to think was her home. She had wondered how something she adored so much could betray her. Whenever she had "sulked" she always went to Lyoko, her "home," but Lyoko wasn't truly her home. Where would she go?
Jeremy had reached Aelita's door, the one thing that separated him from walking right to her and taking her in his arms and kissing her full on the lips. He smiled and wished he could do that then removed the thought from his head by remembering he had to tell her bad news. He knocked. "Aelita" he asked " are you in there?" He knew it was useless to ask. She had been in her room most of the time with Kiwee, Odd's dog.
Kiwee had been very cooperative. He would sit in her lap and fall asleep as she pet him subconsciously, thinking about what would become of the world now that X.A.N.A. was free. Odd had let Kiwee stay with Aelita since she seemed to need him more than he did. Besides if it was anything that got Jim off of his back Odd was all right with it.
Jeremy knocked again. Aelita heard him but did not get up. She didn't want to talk to anyone. No one could even begin to understand what she was going through. None of them had their life stolen away from them by their own father. All their parents supported them and loved them. Aelita had often wondered what it would be like to still have her father with her, to have him still on earth and not on Lyoko.
Jeremy opened the door. He was greeted by the smell of oil paints. Since Aelita had found out she was human she'd been painting a lot. Most of her paintings were dark and gruesome. One big one that was hanging on her wall was of an older man screaming by what looked like a tower on Lyoko but it was dark except for a white aura around the tower. The aura was the only thing that separated the tower from the black background. It had exquisite detail and shading. It looked as if the man was being devirtualized and he wasn't happy about it. It was at that time the darkest of her paintings.
Aelita looked up and saw Jeremy standing in front of her. She hadn't seen him since the day before. During the last three months X.A.N.A. had only attacked once. He was still getting used to his newfound freedom and more important his newfound power. The five of them knew it would only get worse. They knew the stars would fade and smiles would cease to show and eventually the sun would stop shining but not as long as they were still there to stop X.A.N.A. as long as they were there X.A.N.A. would still have to work to gain his evil throne. The five of them would never let him have it willingly. They would always be there to stop him. They each made vows to each other to stop him at all costs. They all knew that they were risking their lives for the good of mankind. They told each other as long as they were fighting X.A.N.A. that death was a chance they had to take. They all knew it was true but still they were all scared to die. Scared for the other four when they weren't around.
The two relationships that were blossoming in the group were falling apart at the seams. Ulrich didn't look at Yumi the same way and he just wasn't the same. He didn't act the same way and he didn't touch her the same way he did before. When their hands touched it wasn't such a spark, it was more like a short circuit. With Jeremy and Aelita it was like there was nothing anymore. It wasn't like anything had started with them but it wasn't like it wasn't there. They seemed to distance themselves from each other. Jeremy was busy with finding Franz Hopper and Aelita was busy sulking and painting. It was like there was nothing there but truly there was.
Aelita hid her face. She knew how much it hurt Jeremy to see her in grief. Jeremy down next to her on the bed and Aelita tried to wipe away her tears. She didn't have time. Jeremy's hand grabbed her wet and slippery chin lightly and pulled it up until her mint chocolate chip eyes met his cerulean eyes.
Aelita noticed he had the nicest shade of baby blue eyes behind his thick glasses. She forgot about her father, she forgot about X.A.N.A., she forgot about everything but who was in front of her right then at that moment. She just stared him straight in his eyes. It seemed she was lost in his deep beautiful blue eyes. It was like she could read his very thoughts and yet she felt lost like she could never get back. She loved that feeling.
He noticed her tears and wiped them away with his pinky finger. He hated to see her any way but happy. He loved her even more when she was happy and at that moment he wanted to hear his favorite sound in the world. He wanted and needed to hear it. Her beautiful and cute and lovely and the best sound she could make, her laugh. It could make the world go round, it could make people love, not hate and most of all it could make him do anything for her. He would kill for her, he would steal for her, he would die for her, he wouldn't deny her anything. He needed and wanted to hear her laugh and smile. he would've done anything to hear her laugh but he knew from the moment that X.A.N.A had escaped from the super computer that her laugh and her smile would be rare, more rare than a black pearl in the desert.
Before X.A.N.A. was free Aelita was happy and optimistic and she laughed all the time. She'd even laughed at Odd's jokes occasionally even though they were more corny than funny. She'd enjoyed every moment of everyday and she cherished it like a great kiss that one never forgets but that had long changed. They had all changed in some way.
Over time Ulrich got quieter and quieter. Then he stopped talking all together. He was usually the tall dark and handsome type. He could get any girl he wanted, even though all he wanted was Yumi. He was still dark and he was never very tall but his handsomeness seemed to fade as if overnight. He used to be approachable but by then no one dared approach him. No one knew what he was thinking for his face was a solemn mask of nothingness. Not even Yumi knew and she knew him best. Their relationship suffered. His smile, like the most rare pearl, could be found as often as a thought in Odd's head, even when something was funny. But by then it was lost to the world. Nothing would ever be funny to the five of them again. That's why Odd gave up being funny.
Odd, surprisingly, changed the most drastically. He cut his hair shorter than Aelita's and dyed it black. No one expected that, it just wasn't Odd. but after his parents were killed by X.A.N.A. right in front of him and his brother he went into grieving, he wasn't himself. He was no longer the hilarious one because humor wouldn't and couldn't ease the pain for their pain went to deep and he was no longer the daredevil because everything he took to help "ease" the pain made him too depressed and lazy to do anything but mope around and think of nothing but X.A.N.A. and the world ending. He was practically useless to the group, all he did was sleep and eat and "experiment" in his room. Yumi was almost the same.
Yumi had just let herself go. She didn't look like she usually did. She didn't care anymore Ulrich wasn't looking at her the same and she didn't care for William the same way. She stopped brushing her hair and doing her homework. Whenever someone asked her anything she would snap at him or her to leave her alone. Her parents thought it was due to love. It wasn't love that was fueling her, it was hate, hate for X.A.N.A, and hate for Ulrich for ignoring her. All she did was wait for the phone to ring, for X.A.N.A to attack. She was throwing her life away more and more everyday. X.A.N.A. had that effect on everyone.
Jeremy didn't change much. He just got more dedicated. Just like when he was trying to devirtualize Aelita. He spent all of his time in his room or at the factory trying to find Franz Hopper. He barely slept and when he did he would wake up every hour to continue. He was always near electronics if he wasn't on his computer in his room he was on his laptop. He lost steam fast but he told no one. He was losing hope too, but he didn't let anyone know. He would try to find Franz Hopper even if it killed him. He would try to find Aelita's father for her.
"Aelita," Jeremy whispered caringly as he looked into her beautiful eyes, "what's wrong?"
" There's no hope Jeremy," she sobbed as she pulled her chin away, "X.A.N.A. has won. He's free and all because he got the keys to Lyoko from me." Aelita'd been kicking herself lately for letting X.A.N.A. "win," as she saw it.
"No, Aelita it wasn't your fault," he said for about the 100th time, but he never got tired of saying it. "X.A.N.A. outsmarted us. There was nothing we could do. He found our one weakness. We wanted so bad to get your fragment to make you whole that we were blinded to what happened, and what could have happened."
"Oh Jeremy" Aelita replied admitting something she'd never told him before " I don't know what to do. No one knows how I feel. None of you will ever know what it's like to have both of your parents ripped cruelly away from you. I feel so alone. I'll never be the same."
" Aelita," Jeremy started as he put his arms around her "you're never alone. We'll always be here for you." He wanted to say "I'll always be here for you" and he wanted to tell her how he felt about her. What he didn't know was she already knew and besides it wasn't the appropriate time. None of them could afford to have feelings getting in the way. He couldn't tell her how he felt until X.A.N.A. was destroyed if X.A.N.A. ever was destroyed. It seemed like there would never be an appropriate time at that moment.
Jeremy remembered why he had come to find Aelita. He needed to tell her bad news about Franz Hopper, about her father. He figured it could wait a least until the next day. After all school was going to start up again soon and Ulrich and Odd would be coming back soon. He figured he would tell them all together, unless Aelita asked, after all he was her father, she had a right to know.
"Is there any news of my father?" Aelita asked slowly. It was like she had read his mind. To Jeremy those seven words were a truth serum, pulling the words out of his mouth with a powerful force more powerful than his resistance. He swallowed hard and got ready to tell her the news.
" Oh Aelita" he started slowly as he hung his head "I've searched everywhere on Lyoko and there's no sign of him." Jeremy explained, " I'm sorry. I've done all I can do, but I'll still try."