As Aelita laid in her bed she couldn't help but think about her relationship with all of her friends. She was happy to no longer be confined on Lyoko and to finally be able to live her life like a normal teenager. Her thoughts shifted to Jeremie.

Jeremie was smart, kind, a bit awkward but was still a wonderful friend to have. She knew he had romantic feelings for her and at first she thought she did to. Yet in the end all she could see him as was like a brother though she never told him outright, fearing that it would destroy what they had now.

Odd was again another male that was, in her eyes a jovial loveable brother. His humor always managed to bring light to the group even through dark times and there were indeed dark, dark times recently. Yet behind any pain he was feeling was his humor that made it all go away even if it was temporary. Shockingly though, Odd had matured over the years especially now that his girlfriend Samantha Knight transferred to Kadic High.

Aelita had to admit she didn't like the idea of having her in the group due to her history but as time went on, her and Sam became great friends and even was well trusted enough by the group to be a new addition to the Lyoko warriors. Her outfit on Lyoko was solid black tights and a mask that covered her entire face except her eyes making her look that of a ninja. She had two 2-foot daggers that were used for combat and included was a 6 pointed throwing star. She was fast at attacking enemies and was precise in her attacks in every deadly way.

William and Yumi needless to say were both similar in more than one way minus William's impulsiveness. William having been rescued by none other than his rival for Yumi's heart...Ulrich Stern. Aelita remembered that event that had happened over a year ago like it was yesterday. Both herself and Ulrich were the only one's left on that mission that hadn't been devirtualized by William. But this mission was to solely rescue William from Xana and the group had voted Ulrich to be the one to do it. Jeremie had upgraded Ulrich's katana that if was used correctly would separate William from the specter possessing him. But like always William was a hassle and Ulrich was giving all that he had against William with fear in his mind that if he failed that Aelita would be left at his mercy and Xana's. But to everyone's surprise the Xanafied William had made a very costly mistake. He swung his large sword at Ulrich's head and Ulrich ducked then took his katana and split William in half.

The specter flew to the right before disappearing while William flew to the left being devirtualized. From that moment on both him and Ulrich became even closer to everyone's surprise, especially Yumi's. They hung out regularly and even sparred for fun from time to time yet it was still evident that William's desire was Yumi.

During a conversation she and Yumi had, Yumi had stated plainly that Ulrich was the one she wanted to be with while William was like more of a brother to her like her relationship with Jeremie. But this for some reason gave her a spark of jealousy yet she kept it hidden behind a warm smile. She wasn't sure why she felt it so she just shook it off. After all Yumi and Ulrich were her friends and obviously liked each other yet recently Ulrich and herself had talked more often and it appeared to everyone that Ulrich had seemed to had lost interest in his quest for Yumi.

Ulrich had changed somewhat yet his personality remained intact minus that now he was not shy and was actually more social than he used to be when the group first discovered Lyoko and Aelita. Aelita frowned while staring up at the ceiling. There were also bad quality changes Ulrich had as well partly due to the fact his parents had been killed by Xana after he materialized his monsters and sent them into the city. A silent tear fell down her cheek at the memory that was only seven months ago.

An older brother of Ulrich, Martin Stern, that none of the group had known about except for Odd took over the house in order to support and be closer to Ulrich. Yet after their parents' funeral it took Ulrich some time to accept it. We all had tried to be hopeful that a return to the past would fix it, but it didn't. Since then, we had not gone on Lyoko due to the fact that Xana's attacks had seemingly stopped abruptly.

Ulrich had started wearing darker attire as well as dye his own hair black; we all assumed it was his way of mourning. From his action, many girls began taking notice of this to Yumi's (and secretly my) disappointment. Though she thought the new look made Ulrich ten times more desirable (and me) she didn't like the fact that girls would flock around him everyday flirting with him in front of the group. None of the others seemed to mind it (minus Yumi and Aelita) but what they did mind was the fact that Ulrich picked up smoking in which his brother would buy him and share with him.

One day I pulled him to the forest and expressed my concern.

FLASBACK:

"Why are you doing this Ulrich!" Aelita yelled at him.

"Geez Aelita I thought I was the one with the choice. None of you complain about William when he does It." he replied coldly.

"He's 18 for one, and seeing you do it hurts us...it hurts me." she says looking at the ground.

Ulrich looks down hurt by her words.

"I-I didn't know you cared so much..." he said barely above a whisper.

"Are you doing this because of the death of your parents?"

All he does is turn his head away, a silent tear running down his cheek. Aelita wraps her arms around Ulrich and Ulrich does the same to her and cries onto her shoulder. From that point on, her and Ulrich became closer than thought possible; their close friendship soon seemed to become something more after Ulrich revealed his vulnerable side.

END OF FLASHBACK

Aelita smiled, Ulrich had trusted her enough to be even more open with his feelings and after that day they hung out more and talked more but in secret in an attempt to not cause rumors or have the group thinking they were dating or screwing each other behind their backs. Aelita enjoyed their constant flirting and but wondered where all this would take them and she was sure that somehow bad things would come from it. Yet she thought of it being possible if they were falling for each other. She quickly shook off her fantasy of that knowing it would break Yumi's and Jeremie's heart. Aelita turned to her side and fell asleep dreaming of the tomorrow yet to come, maybe she could talk to him about this.