This was inspired by the series "Strung Along" on AO3 by brawltogethernow for the Detective Conan fandom, and I just had to try it out for Code Lyoko.

When each person is born, it is with strings attached to their hands, invisible to everyone except those the strings connected to. A child will, for instance, have one connected to their mother and one to their father. At least, they should.

Ulrich Stern was a rare example of someone born without a string connected to one of their parents when both biological parents were still involved in his life. He had a string to his mother, but not one to his father. This, of course, was a closely guarded secret, as it would be downright shameful to admit that father and son did not have this connection so essential to their lives. Ulrich wondered if the string didn't show up because fate had known how his father would treat him. There was a theory he'd heard once, that abusive bonds refused to form as a protection mechanism. His mother and he were connected by a thin string that was a deep blue. Ulrich was certain the color had more to do with his mother's depression than with him. Not that he'd ever mention that.

Sometimes, Ulrich would wiggle his hands and stare at the strings that were just barely there. They were colorless until the connection formed, and until then could be seen in a way similar to that of a heat wave. Ulrich had his mother's string on the second to last finger of his right hand, just above where Eli's sat, only somewhat thicker. His housekeeper's was on his left index finger.

The pinky of his right hand had a string on it, just waiting to flare to life. It was already a wider string, he could tell, and he knew the pinky finger was often associated with love. Of course, there was a great deal of controversy about this, and it varied from country to country, but still. It was nice to know he had one.

Another string of around the same width sat on his second to last finger on his left hand, which made him want to groan half the time. That finger was often associated with rivalry, though it was usually of the friendly kind. Right now, his left and right middle fingers and right thumb were empty, as were the left thumb and pinky. There were two more on his right index finger.

So he had three out of seven so far. Given that he wasn't even twelve, that wasn't horrible. As people were born there would be more anyway. A string couldn't show up for a person who didn't even exist, after all. Ulrich had always been a more introverted person anyway, he didn't really mind. Plus, it wasn't like you weren't allowed to hang out with anyone else just because there wasn't a string there. People had actually created and destroyed strings before. It was rare, but it happened. Often, a 'superficial' string would appear upon the right thumb, a dull gray in color when people connected for short periods of time, perhaps as roommates or project partners, so long as they considered themselves 'connected' in enough of a way to create a string. If the connection persevered, a 'true' string was created on another finger. More often, the grey string would simply dissolve as the people moved on.

Ulrich had had five temporary strings, with kids at school and the kid who lived next door for a couple of years. He watched the last of the strings dissolve as he was driven to Kadic Academy for the first time. Sissi's string was perking up, and, he noticed, one on his right index finger grew conspicuously more active, as though it was being tugged. This was a sign that the person whom it connected to was nearby.

Every school allowed time for students to find their strings, because all schools were aware it was pointless to try and teach children when they wanted to know who the hell was connected to that string that keeps twitching. At Kadic, it was also used to determine room assignments. Who better to share your room with than someone fate had picked? As such, when they arrived at Kadic, most kids were milling around trying to find their strings.

Ulrich left his parents behind and walked quietly through the courtyard towards the cafeteria, then took a turn into the school building, following the string to a classroom. He found the boy, younger than most, he noted, with large glasses and short blond hair talking excitedly to a woman in a lab coat. He was moving around excitedly, which was probably why the string had been moving so much. As Ulrich stopped in the doorway, the string lit up like a firework, becoming sky blue. It drew the attention of the boy, making him stop talking mid-sentence to gape at his hand, then follow the string up to Ulrich, who simply held up his hand to show the string, eyebrow raised. The boy appeared unable to speak. The teacher chuckled.

"I see you've found a friend then. We can continue this talk later. Goodbye Jeremy." The boy just nodded, seemingly dazed. Ulrich walked into the room to allow the teacher to get out.

"You're- you're-" the boy waved the hand with the string on it as though trying to express something. Probably incredulousness.

"Ulrich Stern," Ulrich introduced himself, somewhat amused at the boy's antics.

"I- right- I'm Jeremy Belpois," Jeremy bounced on the balls of his feet. "It's nice to meet you!"

"You look young," Ulrich almost didn't think about the implication behind the words, but realized how tactless it was when the boy withered into himself, looking downtrodden.

"I skipped a grade?" he said it almost like a question. Ulrich just nodded.

"So I guess this means we're roommates."

"Actually..." Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed. "I'm supposed to get a single so that I can study... it's part of the deal my parents made." Ulrich couldn't help the grin that came to his face.

"We both get our own rooms? Even better. No offense, but I didn't actually want a roommate."

"That's fine," Jeremy said quickly, clearly wishing to please his new friend. "Unless you think that you'll be meeting anyone else today?" Jeremy cast a quick glance at his own hands, and Ulrich ventured a guess that none of his strings were moving either.

"No. You're the only string that's going to activate today," Ulrich shrugged. "Let's go."

"Okay!" Jeremy, very pleased, immediately agreed.

"I do hope you're going to assert yourself some," Ulrich commented as they entered the courtyard. "No way am I making all the decisions." Jeremy just smiled nervously before glancing down at his hand.

"My parents are coming," Jeremy said. "Do you want to meet them?" he asked nervously. Ulrich glanced at his own hand. His mother's string had barely flinched, meaning his parents had likely sat down somewhere and were probably talking, and not interested in where he was.

"Sure," Ulrich shrugged. Jeremy grinned, grabbed Ulrich's arm and dragged him where Ulrich presumed the strings were leading him.

"Jeremy!" a woman's voice called.

"Hey mom, dad!" he waved. "I've found one of my strings!" he said excitedly, waving Ulrich's hand along with his own as Jeremy's parents caught up to them. Ulrich merely shook his head in amusement. Kadic didn't seem like it would be too bad, at least.

SoFSoFSoFSoFSoF

Jeremy Belpois had been born with all of his strings already firmly attached, which was actually pretty rare. At least, everyone thought so. Usually, when a young child got another string, it was fairly obvious. The creation of a string caused a pulling sensation that thrilled some children and scared others, so usually children were very vocal about it. If nothing else, they usually played with the newest strings for a while after getting them (how this was possible was still under heavy debate, but the end of the strings could be touched if one wished to touch them). Jeremy had never shown any of the signs. When he was old enough, he cheerfully told his parents all about the little invisible strings that were on his fingers, As well as the two attached to them and the one attached to his grandfather.

His parents weren't concerned until Jeremy reached school age. When Jeremy had skipped a grade they had thought he would find at least one bond there, but this was not to be. Jeremy managed to be a successful loner, for the most part, only occasionally getting bullied, but he was very lonely. Not only was he younger, but he appeared to be the only one in his entire grade who didn't have at least one string hanging around. Not in the whole school did he find one of his bonds.

To make up for this, Jeremy obsessively studied the strings that decorated his fingers and searched to find everything this could mean. The internet was a godsend. He looked up every story he could on the strings and the bonds that formed them, read every scientific journal he could understand, even getting his parents to explain some before he was old enough to really understand the scientific speak.

Jeremy knew a lot about the so called 'Strings of Fate' also called the ribbons of affection/love, tails of knowledge, soul mate detectors, lines of connection, bonds of fate, and so many other things. They were on nearly everyone, with very few exceptions. In fact, people with no strings used to be considered demons, and had been sacrificed in many societies. Recent studies had discovered this was one of the signs of a sociopath or extreme mental disorders.

Despite the extensive studying, there was little actually known about them, though it was believed to be a psychic phenomenon of some sort- being connected to the brain, which allowed for the brain chemistry to be created, etc.- but that answered very little. There was a reason that many societies had lived, breathed and died by the strings attached to their fingers.

Jeremy had three attached to his 'familial' finger. These were the only three that had activated at all. He had another string on his lucky finger which was the left hand finger nearest the pinky. The only fingers with strings on his right hand were his index finger, which had two, and his pinky, where there was a lovely thick string that had been so still he could barely believe the person was alive.

That wasn't to say the other strings were very active, but there were twinges that people had found correlated with incidents in the life of the other. He was pretty certain that all his other strings had felt how horrible the last day of his second week of school had been, the day he had been moved up a grade and he had been bullied badly. His parents had picked him up immediately after school, his grandfather even visited, having felt the twinges across the strings. He too, had felt twinges ache across his strings, as well as excited bounces that portrayed a positive change. These incidents couldn't be subtle, they had to have a huge emotional impact in order to resonate. This occurred most often in young childhood, and sometimes was used to age the strings that one couldn't actually know the age of otherwise.

The only one that had never moved was the one that he often wished would move the most. The pinky, specifically but not exclusively the right pinky in men and the left pinky in women, was believed to be associated with romantic love. This was not guaranteed, but it was found that most heterosexual couples reported that these were the fingers that they ended up, which was why they were also the most popular ring finger across most countries. His ring finger only told him they were alive, because the string wouldn't be there if they died. That was his only answer.

When his parents told him they thought he should go to Kadic, he eagerly agreed, hopeful he would find one of his strings. Still, by that time, he really had given up hope on finding any of them. He'd spent many a time staring at them, thinking they were moving. When he finally felt a string moving, he simply didn't believe it. He ignored it.

Instead, he went looking around the school, and found the science teacher, Mrs. Hertz, who eagerly talked to him about the science they would be learning. It was so exciting he barely noticed the movement in his string...

...Until it burst to life. Jeremy didn't believe it for a minute. He stopped talking entirely, mind frozen as he looked at the string now full of color.

The string, a lovely sky blue, connected him to a boy who was probably a whole year older than him. The boy raised his eyebrow at him, holding up his hand to show where the string connected. Jeremy couldn't deny that he had freaking dreamed of this moment, and it hadn't been anything like this. Mrs. Hertz said something he didn't catch, and Jeremy just stared at the string and then at the boy as he moved closer.

"You're- you're-" he wanted to express his happiness at finally finding one of the people he was connected to, but he couldn't find the words.

"Ulrich Stern," the boy appeared to be amused by his stutters.

"I- right- I'm Jeremy Belpois," he finally introduced himself. Now that the shock was wearing off, he couldn't control his excitement. "It's nice to meet you."

"You look young," Jeremy couldn't stop his reaction. Of course Ulrich wouldn't want to be saddled with some kid younger than him as one of his strings.

"I skipped a grade?" he didn't want his newest bond to fail because of his age. Ulrich only nodded.

"So I guess this means we're roommates."

"Actually..." Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck, hoping that Ulrich hadn't been looking forward to sharing a room. "I'm supposed to get a single so that I can study... it's part of the deal my parents made." He was relieved to see the grin on Ulrich's face.

"We both get our own rooms? Even better. No offense, but I didn't actually want a roommate."

"That's fine," Jeremy said quickly, glad that they were both happy. "Unless you think that you'll be meeting anyone else today?" Jeremy cast a quick glance at his own hands, where none of his other invisible strings had so much as twitched.

"No. You're the only string that's going to activate today," Ulrich shrugged. "Let's go."

"Okay!" Jeremy, very pleased, immediately agreed.

"I do hope you're going to assert yourself some," Ulrich commented as they entered the courtyard. "No way am I making all the decisions." Jeremy knew they'd settle into a routine and he'd probably actually get a bit bossy. He felt a tugging on his hand and glanced down to see that his parents' strings were activating.

"My parents are coming," he said. "Do you want to meet them?" Jeremy asked nervously. Ulrich glanced at his own hand, then shrugged.

"Sure," he said. Jeremy grinned, grabbed Ulrich's arm and dragged him towards his parents.

"Jeremy!" his mother called.

"Hey mom, dad!" he waved. "I've found one of my strings!" he said excitedly, waving Ulrich's hand along with his own. Jeremy honestly didn't think he'd ever been happier. Several other people were feeling the warmth of his joy bubbling across their strings, as well as the more sedate relief that Ulrich was experiencing.

Since I know you'll probably want to know:
Ulrich and his mother: Prussian Blue
Ulrich and his housekeeper: Forest Green
Ulrich and Sissi/Eli: Champagne Pink
Jeremy and his mother: Dark Moss Green
Jeremy and his father: Flame Red
Jeremy and his grandfather: Dodger Blue