A/N: I recently watched all of Code Lyoko and liked it. Decided to write a story. I have pretty much all of the story figured out, just not the number of chapters. I should warn any readers: this story is pretty angsty at times. Especially this chapter which should have the most angst. Thanks for reading.

The B Team

It had all gone wrong.

Despite what Jeremy had thought, it was no ordinary Xana attack. This time the supercomputer had possessed a police officer with a gun. While Ulrich, Yumi, Odd and Aelita were on Lyoko trying to deactivate the tower Jeremy was at the computer providing assistance.

As he sat there speaking into the microphone he never even saw the possessed officer as he was shot in the back of the head. His head fell down on the keyboard and soaked it in blood. The others were under fire from enemies and asked Jeremy to help them but there was no response. Both Yumi and Odd were quickly devirtualized but Ulrich managed to keep his life points to defend Aelita.

When Odd and Yumi appeared back in the scanners they went to look for Jeremy because they thought he must be in trouble. They had no idea how right they were. When they made it up the officer was waiting for them. Meanwhile back on Lyoko Ulrich had defeated all of the enemies but one and had cleared enough of a path for Aelita to make it into the tower safely. Sighing in relief he didn't even put up a fight as the crab devirtualized him.

When he got out of the scanner he headed up to see if the others were alright and if they needed any help. He was shocked to see the officer standing over the bodies of Yumi and Odd. They were lying on the ground and neither was moving…or breathing.

Ulrich's scream of pain and fury alerted the officer to his presence. The teen boy charged at the possessed man. The gun shot a bullet right through his right arm and then his shoulder but it didn't stop him. He slammed right into the officer and knocked him off his feet.

The possessed man quickly kicked Ulrich off and then pointed the gun right between his eyes. Ulrich flinched and closed his eyes but right before the trigger was pulled the Xana sign left the man's eyes and he collapsed on top of him. Pushing the body off the brunette limped over to the computer.

Ulrich could hear Aelita's voice coming from the earpiece. She was trying to tell Jeremy she had deactivated the tower. Pushing the body aside slightly Ulrich pressed the enter key. "Return to the past…" He said collapsing to his knees right before the bright white light covered the earth.


Time had reverted to that morning before the attack. Aelita was standing in her usual spot in front of the vending machines where she and her friends always met. But she was worried as none of her friends were there yet. They were all supposed to have been there already except for Ulrich who would show up a minute later.

She could do nothing but bite her lip and look around expectantly until Ulrich showed up a minute later. "Ulrich!" She walked over to him a few feet before he reached the vending machines. "Do you know what happened to the others? The trip back in time should've put them right back here. Yet I was all alone."

Aelita then got a better looked at Ulrich and while he looked perfectly fine physically she could tell there was something wrong by the look in his eyes. "Aelita…" His voice was heavy with emotion. "I'm sorry."

"What's wrong Ulrich?" The pink-haired girl asked worried. "What went wrong? And where's Jeremy?"

At this point Aelita could see actual tears forming in her friend's eyes. "Xana…he possessed a man with a gun." Ulrich explained. "I-I don't know what happened exactly but when I got back everybody was lying really still. H-He shot them Aelita. I think…I think they're dead."

"No!" Aelita shouted. "That's impossible! You must've seen it wrong Ulrich! They're not dead! He can't be dead!"

"Aelita I saw a hole…" Ulrich gulped. "I saw a red hole that went through Jeremy's head."

"You're lying!" She screeched covering both ears with her hands. Tears were now running down her face. "You're lying to me! Jeremy is alive! He has to be!"

At this point Aelita's screaming and crying was drawing attention from nearby students. The gym teacher Jim saw the commotion and jogged over toward them. "Stern! Stone! What's going on?"

"Aelita's not feeling well Jim." Ulrich quickly answered. "I think I'm going to take her to the infirmary." He grabbed her by the wrist and headed toward the nurse's office.

Jim was slightly taken back by Ulrich's quickly reply and action. "Well…okay. But I don't want to hear about any funny business!" He yelled at the two as they hurried off.

Ulrich knew now he had no choice but to actually take Aelita to the infirmary as Jim was sure to check later to make sure they had gone. It had been the only idea he could think of and even now he wasn't sure what he should do. He didn't know of a way to make Aelita feel better and all he wanted to do was start crying himself.

A few minutes later they arrived at the nurse's office. The nurse had only just opened her doors and no one else was inside. She was holding a cup of coffee and yawning when Ulrich came in pulling Aelita with him.

"What is it this time Ulrich?" She asked. "Not trying to get out of class again are you?" It was then that she noticed Aelita was sobbing.

"It's Aelita." He answered in a hollow voice. "She doesn't feel good. And to be honest…neither do I." He sat down on the white bed used for sick patients.

The nurse thought she spotted tears in Ulrich's eyes too before he suddenly turned away. "A-Alright then. You may stay."


An hour later Aelita and Ulrich were still in the nurse's office but Aelita had managed to stop crying. Instead she just sat there cradling her head in her hands making small, indistinguishable sounds. Suddenly the door flew open and the gym teacher Jim rushed inside looking irritated.

He turned toward Ulrich and Aelita. "Stern! Stone! Where are your three friends? None of them have been to class today. I've already checked their rooms but none of them were inside. Did all three of them skip and leave campus?"

Ulrich opened his mouth but no words came out. Aelita on the other hand could speak. "They're gone…they're gone!" She kept repeating.

"Gone?" Jim asked. "Gone where?" He leaned in close to Aelita thinking she'd spill any secrets. Ulrich worried what she might tell him in her distressed state so he spoke up before that could happen.

"They left…last night." He lied. Jim turned his attention from Aelita to Ulrich. "They went into the woods late last night. It was a dare, but Aelita and I didn't go with them. They said they'd be back in an hour…but they never came back."

"What?" Jim asked alarmed. "Are you serious?"

Ulrich nodded. "Aelita's been worried ever since." He gulped. "You'll find them won't you Jim?"

"You should've told me or one of the other teachers sooner." Jim gritted his teeth. "Come with me." He told the two teens. "I'll need you to tell your story to the principal first."

The gym teacher forced the two to come with him to the principal's office. Once there Jim had Ulrich repeat his story while Aelita stood there silently. Once Ulrich had finished the principal turned to Aelita. "Is this all true young lady?"

The pink-haired girl turned to Ulrich who gave her a look pleading her to go along with it. She then turned to the principal. "…yes sir. That's what happened."

"Well I understand that your upset but I assure you we will find your cousin and his two friends." The man nodded. He then gave Jim instructions along with some of the other teachers and made some phone calls. Turning back to the two he felt a twinge of pity. "Stern why don't you take Stone back to her room for today? She seems rather upset."

Ulrich nodded. "Yes sir." Grabbing Aelita by the hand he took her out of the principal's office as quick as he could. When they were outside Aelita pulled her hand away.

"I don't want to go to my room!" She told him. "I need to go to Jeremy's room. He'll be there!" She then made a break for the dormitories.

"Aelita wait!" Ulrich ran after her.

She ran into the dorms on the boys' floor and headed for Jeremy's room. Ulrich was right behind her when suddenly his path was blocked by Sissy. Ulrich came to an abrupt halt and barely managed not to crash into her. "Sissy! Get out of my way!"

"Not so fast Ulrich." She crossed her arms over her chest. "The buzz around school is that Jeremy, Odd and Yumi have disappeared and my bet is that you know what happened to them. Spill."

"That's none of your business Sissy, now move already!" He tried to get past her but she spread both her arms out filling the thin hallway and effectively blocking him.

"I'm not giving up that easy. I know you and your little gang are always up to something and this time I want to know what. You're not getting past until you tell me where they are!" She declared.

Ulrich didn't have the time for this and he was more than a little distraught. Sissy's taunts were only adding anger to that list of emotions. "You want to know where they are? Well they're DEAD!" He screamed at her.

"D-Dead?" She stuttered out in surprise. By the time she blinked Ulrich had sidestepped her and ran after Aelita.

The pink-haired girl had already reached Jeremy's room. Ulrich ran inside and closed the door behind him then turned to see Aelita staring at Jeremy's computer. "He…he's not here."

"Aelita…he's gone."

She suddenly turned to him. "Even his body?"

"If Jeremy and the others died their bodies wouldn't have returned with us during the return to the past." Ulrich explained. "They would've just disappeared."

Aelita wiped a tear from her eye. "How would you even know that?"

"I asked Jeremy about it once." He admitted. "In case the worst situation imaginable happened. But I never imagined it actually would…"

"I-I never even got the chance to say goodbye…" Aelita cried. Suddenly she went over to Jeremy's desk and started pulling open all the drawers. Finding what she was looking for she pulled out a small but sharp blade Jeremy kept. Then she pointed it towards herself.

"Aelita no!" Ulrich grabbed the distressed girl and tried to wrestle the blade out of her hand.

"Let me go Ulrich!" She shouted at him. "It's my choice!"

"NO!" Ulrich knocked the blade out of her hand. It fell to the floor and landed underneath Jeremy's bed. "I can't let you do that Aelita. Jeremy would never forgive me."

Aelita fell to her knees and her small fists pounded the carpeted floor. "You don't understand Ulrich! I loved Jeremy! He was my whole world. He brought me back to the real world and did everything he could to take care of me. Without him I'm nothing. I don't want to live when he's dead!"

"But he'd want you to live." Ulrich all but whispered. Still, Aelita heard it. "Jeremy worked tirelessly and did all he could to bring you to the real world and I don't think he'd want you to throw your life away just because he was gone. He'd want you to live."

Aelita turned to look at Ulrich with the most pitiful look on her face. "But Ulrich…I love him."

Ulrich brought her head to rest on his chest and hugged her close. "I know you did Aelita. And he loved you too." And for a while they just stayed like that. Aelita sobbing while Ulrich did his best to comfort her and himself. But he knew no words to make her feel better. He could only hold her and wish the pain would stop.


Hours later it was evening and despite their pain both teenagers were hungry after having skipped earlier meals. "We should get something to eat." Ulrich suggested.

Aelita turned away. "I'm not hungry."

Ulrich stood up and stretched. "I know, but we have to keep our strength up." His companion didn't reply but allowed herself to be dragged to the cafeteria. On their way there they ran into Jim who in an effort to keep them up to date informed them that their friends had yet to be found but all efforts were being made. Ulrich thanked him quietly.

Conversation was abuzz in the cafeteria mostly because of the disappearances. Luckily no one approached Ulrich or Aelita despite them being included in quite a lot of the gossip. Sissy sat at her usual table with Herb and Nicholas. She stared concerned at her love interest but did not go over to talk to him.

Ulrich was doing his best to eat but Aelita was just staring at her food. Her male companion noticed this. "You have to eat something Aelita."

"What difference will it make?" She asked glumly. "We're the only two left. In a few days Xana will attack again but there's no way we'll be able to beat him."

"Yeah. You have a point." Ulrich gritted his teeth. "But I won't just give in that easily. Not after what Xana did to my friends. I'll pay that monster back if it's the last thing I do." Aelita was curious to observe Ulrich clenching both his fists under the table.

"What are you going to do?" She asked.

"You say there aren't enough of us to hold Xana off right?" Aelita nodded at this. "Then I guess we'll have to recruit some more Lyoko warriors." The pink-haired girl turned her head to see that Ulrich was glancing over toward Sissy's table.


A/N: Reviews are appreciated. Next chapter won't have as much angst, but it'll still be there. Also for anyone curious I will go into Ulrich's feelings over Yumi later. It just didn't fit into this chapter. See you next time.