I know it's been awhile, but I've been very busy between college and work and whatnot. I don't know when and if this story will be updated again. Read the author notes at the end for more info.

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Life was different now, there was no doubt about that. The sun seemed to shine brighter, the grass seemed to be greener, and the sky seemed larger. Everything was still as the hours of the early morning ticked by soon to be shattered by the chatter that followed Kadic Academy before breakfast. For the moment, however, it was peaceful. Most everyone was still asleep at this hour. All, that is, except for one.

From within a dormitory room on the girls' floor of Kadic came a soft, hushed whimpering. Only those with an acute sense of hearing would have only been able to pick up on the sound: the sound of quiet sobbing. Inside the room, a pink-haired adolescence laid in her bed, eyes up as if looking at the ceiling. Her eyes, however, looked distant as though she were thinking about something, or someone, and a visible trail of tears dribbled down from the corner of her red, puffy eyes staining her cheeks.

"Daddy," she murmured over and over again as she recounted that last mission she and her friends had taken over three months ago. The mission to a digital world known as Lyoko had been a success in most every event. They got rid of the many replikas scattered around the network as well as finally defeating their arch enemy, XANA, who had numerous times tried to end each of their lives. They were successful in all those areas, but, in the girl's eyes at least, failed miserably at one thing.

Saving her father.

In order to run the program necessary to get rid of XANA, her father, Waldo "Franz" Schaeffer, had to give up his own life. His daughter had premonitions during the nights before that fateful day, but in the end could do nothing to stop her father's death. She felt utterly ashamed of her failure although deep down she knew even if there was a way to stop her father from dying, he wouldn't have allowed her to do so. He was as determined as she and the others were to stop XANA - even if it meant their lives.

A sudden but quiet knock was heard at her dorm room door. With another sniffle, the girl sat up in her bed and did her best to wipe the tears from her eyes. While her face may have been dry, it was evident to anyone who saw her that she had been crying. She again wiped her eyes for good measure as she threw the tangled blankets off her legs and got out of bed.

"Aelita?" came a boy's whisper from the other side of the door. "Are you awake?"

"Yes," Aelita Schaeffer (although known to the school as Aelita "Stones") replied in a hushed whisper. She opened the door to her room to reveal Jeremie Belpois standing on the other side. The boy had been the one that had stood right beside her through thick and thin and had saved her from her virtual prison.

"How are you?" he asked, although one quick glance at her told him she was far from excellent. He could tell immediately she hadn't slept well and that she had been crying.

"I -" she sniffled a bit, holding back the tears that were threatening to fall. She didn't want Jeremie to see her like this. "I'm…" she couldn't hold it in any longer and she realized that she couldn't lie to him. The tears that were fighting to free themselves finally won the battle. "Oh Jeremie!" she sobbed.

"Shh," Jeremie tried to soothe her as he stepped into the room. With his foot, he closed the door, hoping that the sound of it shutting wouldn't wake up anyone near by but he didn't dwell on it. Seeing his pink-haired angel in such a state of distress troubled him greatly. He was never good with social relations or anything which made it even more awkward for him. Awkwardly, he put his arms around Aelita in an effort to try to comfort. The girl turned into and wept on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Aelita," he apologized softly. "I wish there was something I could do to bring him back."

"Me too," she whimpered under her breath.

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As the morning wore on, many of the students at Kadic began to rise from their slumber and get ready for their day. None of them had the slightest awareness of the evil that had been extinguished from their so-called "safe world" and were blissfully unaware of the risks that five of their peers took upon themselves.

Across town, an alarm sounded, waking Japanese student Yumi Ishiyama from her restless sleep. With a loud yawn, the girl tried desperately to rub the weariness she felt from her eyes but to no avail. Nightmares had plagued her in her sleep for weeks now and no matter what she did, she couldn't escape from them. All of them had involved many of her near-death experiences at the mercy of XANA.

Snap out of Yumi! she scolded herself as she made her way to the bathroom. Without even looking at her reflection in the mirror she threw ice cold water on her face, hoping it would wake her up but all it did was make her shiver - or maybe that was the lingering affect of the dream. With a sigh, Yumi pulled off her nightclothes and stepped into her traditional black pants and top. Sure it was predictable but she had had enough surprises in the past few years to last her a lifetime.

"Yumi? Are you up?" came her mother's voice from downstairs.

"I'll be down in just a second!" she called back down. Stealing a glance in the mirror she saw just how appalling she looked. Large, dark semi-circles had formed under her brown eyes reflecting just how little restful sleep she had gotten in the past few weeks.

I don't understand, Yumi thought to herself as she took a comb and began attacking the rats' nest residing in her hair. XANA's been gone for over 3 months now. He can't hurt us anymore. So why am I still having nightmares about his attacks?

Even while still battling XANA, she had never had as many nightmares about him as she was having now. Sure, she had the occasional bad dream, but all of her friends and fellow "Lyoko Warriors" had had them at times. Who wouldn't after all they had been through? But, for some reason, this was different. They were almost nightly occurrences now. What's more, the content was much more vivid than in years past - she felt as though she were reliving events (regardless of whether or not they had actually occurred) all over again. She feared going to sleep anymore; she didn't want to relive those times she came inches and seconds from death.

And what was worse was that these nightmarish flashbacks had recently started to haunt her in her waking moments. Often times without warning, Yumi found herself back under the mercy of XANA, moments from what seemed to be imminent death. However she always seemed to "snap back" to reality just before some sort of painful death came to pass.

"Yu-mi!" came her mother's voice once more.

With a sigh, Yumi finished combing out her hair before setting her brush back in its proper place. She gave herself one last glance in the mirror and shook her head. If something didn't get better in the next few days, she was going to have some serious issues with, not only her schoolwork, but functioning normally in general. With a quick turn, the girl slowly made her way down the stairs to where her worried parents and annoying little brother had already began to eat their own breakfasts. Yumi knew her parents were worried that something was going wrong, but what could she tell them? Even if XANA was no longer a threat, she and her friends had to keep Lyoko a secret. If someone was to get some information about Lyoko or anything relating to it, it could prove to be a great difficulty for all of them - Aelita in particular - to lead normal lives without any sort of government investigation. Not something any of them wanted to deal with at the moment.

"Ah there you are," her father said, his face half-hidden behind his morning newspaper.

"You're breakfast is getting cold," her mother scolded. "And you and your brother are going to be late for classes if you don't get a move on!"

"I'm sorry mom," Yumi apologized, taking her seat at the table. She glanced down at her breakfast and realized how much she didn't really feel like eating. She realized at that moment how physically nauseous she actually felt and the sight of food only seemed to aggravate her condition. "On second thought, I'm not really hungry."

"Are you feeling alright dear?" her mother asked, obviously concerned. Her father's eyes became slightly visible over the newspaper. It wasn't like their daughter to skip breakfast.

"I'm alright," Yumi lied, something she thought she'd never have to do once the supercomputer was turned off. "I'm just a bit nervous…um, you know, big math test today."

Neither her mother nor her father said another word. Apparently the lie satisfied them both, although Yumi wasn't sure they were totally convinced. Her younger brother Hiroki opened his mouth to say something - no doubt going to make a comment about her being in love - but a quick glare from her silenced him. She was surprised at herself but instead of letting it show, she soften her glare. "Hurry up…we're going to be late."

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Within the cafeteria came the sounds of laughter, silverware clanking together, and other sounds one would expect to hear in an average lunch room. Students gathered together to converse with one another about various topics as they tried to scarf down their breakfasts before classes began. Stragglers and those who overslept rushed into the building at various times, hoping to get something to eat before the line closed and the food was gone.

Off to the side, four unlikely friends sat in their usual spot, talking about whatever popped into their minds. Aelita and Jeremie sat beside each other while their friends Odd Della Robbia and Ulrich Stern sat across. Odd was rambling on about something or other as Aelita sat in the corner in silence, no doubt reflecting on her father's death. Underneath the table, out of their friends' sight, Jeremie gently stroked Aelita's petite hand. She turned and glanced at him managing to flash a tiny smile, but as soon as it had left, she again turned and stared blankly out the window.

"So, what are you guys doing after classes today?" Jeremie asked unexpectedly after the small group had fallen silent.

Ulrich shrugged slightly. "I have a Penchak Silat practice for a few hours tonight." he supplied. "But other than that, I don't know."

"You've gotten boring Ulrich," Odd joked, elbowing Ulrich lightly in the ribcage. "What's wrong, nothing to do now that Lyoko's gone?"

Aelita sighed and Odd immediately knew he said something he should have. The memory of her father being destroyed right in front of her eyes was still a fresh wound and Odd knew instantly that he had just picked at it. "I'm sorry, Aelita" he said soberly, indicating that he was sincere.

Aelita smiled although it almost came across as forced. "Its alright Odd. I know you didn't mean anything by it. Its just…I don't know. Its hard for me to think about Lyoko without thinking about my father."

Odd remained silent as the group finished off their morning meal. No one really had the drive to say much of anything else anyway. Quickly he polished off his meal as well as what was left from that of his friends without so much as offering a word. None of the three sitting around him said anything about his eating habits as he demonstrated his perfect imitation of a human vacuum cleaner.

Lyoko's absence hasn't affected Odd's appetite, Jeremie mused as he watched the blond-haired boy finish up what was left on the remaining tray. With a satisfied sigh, he wiped the mess off of his face and leaned back in his chair. "Mmm...that was good."

Looking behind Jeremie and ignoring his best friend, Ulrich glanced up at the clock that hung up on the far wall. "Hey, Yumi should be getting here any time now."

He scooted his chair backward and stood up, grabbing his tray. Odd and Jeremie followed suit but Aelita remained in her daydreams, not noticing anyone else around her.

"Aelita," Jeremie said softly, touching the pink-haired girl on the shoulder. In her reflection on the glass, Jeremie could see her eyes coming back into focus as she blinked her eyelids rapidly.

"Huh?" she asked, turning around and looking at the others. "Oh, I'm sorry." she said slightly embarrassed when she realized that they were waiting for her. Jeremie just smiled in reply.

Without another word, the small group put their trays away before heading outside into the courtyard. A few clouds were scattered in the sky, occasionally blocking out the sun. It looked to Ulrich as if it may rain at some point in the day. He hoped not. A rainy day always made it sloppy and impossible to get to class without some article of clothing getting extremely wet; most often that ended up being the lower half of his pants and his shoes and socks. There was nothing worse than having to sit through a long, tedious class with a soaking wet pair of socks. Or, at least that's the way he saw it.

Glancing out across the courtyard, Ulrich saw Yumi and Hiroki slowly making their way toward the gated entrance of Kadic. By the looks of it, the two of them were arguing over something or other and it was enough to get Yumi furious. As soon as the two of them made it into the gates, they immediately parted company. Yumi stormed over to the small group.

"Uh, hey Yumi," Ulrich greeted her. "Is something wrong?"

The obviously-angry girl shook her head in reply. "Oh its just my stupid brother up to his usual evil."

Ulrich raised his eyebrow but said nothing seeing how angry Yumi actually was. Whatever Hiroki said or did must have been pretty bad to get her all fired up like that, Ulrich thought to himself but didn't say anything aloud. Glancing over at the girl, he saw she was already starting to calm down and forget whatever it was that was bothering her in the first place. Good, he thought. He hated to see her upset.

He turned back to the group around him as they began chatting about their classes. Odd was doing his usual complaining. Jeremie and Aelita spoke up every now and then and began speaking in some foreign English language. When Ulrich turned back to Yumi he noticed she was silent and withdrawn. She stared out through the gates of Kadic, though she wasn't exactly looking at anything; staring through things was more like it. He could tell immediately something more than Hiroki's torments were bothering her. He studied her turned face, trying to make sense of what he saw there, but Yumi was very good at covering up those types of things and he found himself unable.

Besides, she was too complex a person for anyone to tell what was troubling her by just looking at her for five minutes. He'd have to get straight to the source; he would have to talk to her privately.

Yeah. Sure. Like it was that easy.

Ulrich knew from experience just how stubborn the raven-haired girl was. She was like himself in some respects - neither of them ever wanted to tell others what was bothering them. He then shook his head. It would never work. He decided to drop the subject after debating it out in his head. When she was ready, she would talk to him.

To bad Odd didn't have the same ideas.

"Hey Yumi, you okay?"

The girl turned her head and looked at him. "Just fine." came the curt reply. Ulrich cringed. Here it came.

"Really? You look like something's bothering you." Odd said obliviously.

"I'm fine!" Yumi all but shouted back. This of course, got Jeremie and Aelita wondering what was wrong. Whenever she said that she was fine, they all knew that something major was going on in her life or hassling her.

"You sure?" Jeremie asked. "Odd's right for once. It looks like something is bothering you."

Oh man, why can't they just leave her alone? Ulrich wondered to himself.

"I'm positive! Now can we please just drop it already?" she asked, trying her best to cover up both her anger and the look that she was troubled.

Odd opened his mouth to say something but an elbow in the side courtesy of Aelita quickly silenced him. "So, anyway," she started as she stood between Jeremie and Odd. "Yumi, are you going to join Ulrich today after class for training?"

Everyone knew that Aelita was trying to quickly change the subject and Ulrich was glad. Odd's prying could cause major disaster and any chance Ulrich would have to talk to her later. Distraction, in this case was good. Very good.

Yumi turned and looked at Aelita. "Yeah. I mean that is if he doesn't mind." The anger was already beginning to leave her face.

Ulrich shrugged as she basically asked him for permission. "Of course I don't." he replied. "Its not much of a practice without someone else there."

Yumi nodded and tried to smile, but found herself unable. The nightmares were still plaguing her mind and no matter what she seemed to do, she couldn't get her mind away from them.

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Ok guys, I don't know when this will be updated again. I'm uploading this for a fanfiction contest on Lyoko Geniuses as a WIP. I'll try to write it but no guarantees!