Chapter 2
"Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Belpois, so nice to see-" their manager, Alexis, began, but stopped abruptly when she saw their children. "Oh, what do we have here?" she questioned, indicating both Antea and Waldo.
"Alexis, meet our son and daughter" Aelita said, gesturing towards them. Both of them smiled nervously, looking almost directly down at their shoes, and waved hello to her with shaking hands.
"Don't worry guys," Alexis said, noticing their shyness, "I'm a good friend of mommy and daddy."
At these words, they both lifted their heads, and grinned in a friendly manner, losing their shyness as a result.
"I remember! Mommy says you are one of the kindest people here!" Antea chirped happily.
"Daddy says you are the nicest manager they ever met" Waldo chimed in.
"Really? Do you mean it?" she asked their parents, with surprise.
"Uh, well, um…" Jeremie looked to Aelita for support, and she nodded her head, encouraging him on. "Well, I might have mentioned it… a few times…"
"All month… all spring…" their children chimed in, giggling amongst themselves.
Jeremie smiled nervously, hoping that their manager did not notice. Their manager smiled back,, thanking them, and mentioning that they could visit her kid whenever they wished, as she was off from school that day. The Belpois then thanked her, and went back to their stations, and continued working as computer technicians and multi-purpose programmers. It was an enjoyable work, and both of them loved their job, even though they might come home some days, still talking in computer code with complicated words.
In fact, both kids could remember one time when they were arguing over the aerodynamics of France's planes.
~Flashback~
"No, they are perfectly fine, and they are hydraulic enough as it is!" Jeremie argued, trying to get Aelita to see that Air France's fleet was good enough in standards.
"I disagree! The hydraulics is off by a monumental factor. I wonder how the technicians failed to notice that." Aelita countered. "The wings are off by 6.247238 degrees, and the calibration is terrible."
Jeremie was silent for a while. He mulled it over, thinking over her words. Finally he spoke up, and said one word.
"Touché"
Aelita good-mannerly hugged him, as it was their way to end an argument. They gave each other the "baiser amoureux", and they went out for a day near the coast, as it was close by, and they were on their day off.
~End Flashback~
"I'm going for some coffee." Aelita said, a few seconds after their manager left. "Does anyone want anything?" she asked Jeremie and the kids.
"Can I have some Snapple… or maybe Gatorade… or maybe some apple juice?" both children asked.
"Sure, I'll go get it." Aelita said, smiling. "Anything for you?" she asked Jeremie questioningly.
"Um, water would be fine. I'll have to get back on the programming codes on the F-114 jet."
"Alright," she said, with a nod. "One Snapple, a Gatorade, a can of apple juice, and a bottle of water, coming up." And with that, she walked briskly off to the cafeteria before telling both Waldo and Antea to stay with their father.
Aelita walked down the long corridor. 'Kind of reminds me of the Factory', she mused. Going past the white-painted double doors, she turned left, and went to the juice vendor near the cafeteria walls. She entered the money, and pushed the button for Snapple.
Suddenly, she started shaking uncontrollably, jerking violently occasionally, and she did not know why. Feeling a ripple go across her body, she tried to take her finger off of the button, but with much difficulty. Her vision was getting blurry, and the world was beginning to fade. As sudden as the shaking had begun, it stopped, and slowly, she got the items from the vendors, as to complete the objective she was there for, and stalked away without a word, going through the corridor again.
He felt himself breathe, for the first time in years. Looking around, he saw nobody at the cafeteria at the time, which meant there would be no witnesses. The girl… she had grown since he had last seen her. It was difficult to penetrate her mind and possess her, as she had a strong will, but he eventually got past it, sneaking until he had full possession.
True, she had some immunity from him, being as that she was on Lyoko for a long period of time, but it had been over a decade, and the immunity started to fade away. Aelita would be perfect for his plans. He had longed to get revenge on the Lyoko Warriors for some time, after they had destroyed the majority of him, leaving him weak within the internet.
Over the thirteen years he had been inactive within the internet, he was slowly regaining strength, though it was not enough to re-create monsters and activate towers on Lyoko. He needed to possess someone, within close range of the supercomputer, and was off-guard for a little while.
Waldo…and Antea… XANA saw that Aelita and Jeremie named their kids that. Searching through her memories, he discovered that they were named as a tribute to Aelita's long-gone parents. Looking more into her memories, he discovered that they had named two of their dogs after Jeremie's relatives.
XANA felt her subconscious stirring. Soon she would be awake again, as he did not have the energy to suppress it. Shrinking back into the recesses of her mind, he waited until her guard was down again, keeping himself busy by going through her memories again, starting the day after they had "killed" him.
Aelita shook herself awake, glancing down at the bottles in her hand, and wondered aloud how they had got there. Shaking it off and deeming that she was must have not remembered the events due to lack of sleep, she continued down the hall, not knowing what had happened…
