Lily woke up on the snow colored ground. She twitched her fingers slowly, trying to reawaken her body. Slowly Lily lifted herself to her elbows and knees and was able to look around. Golden creatures walked around aimlessly while William jogged over to her side. His eyes were full of regret and placed both his hands around her shoulders.
"Careful getting to your feet, your injuries are still healing." William slowly coax the young girl to stop fidgeting so much as she laid against a cold wall.
"Injuries?"
"Yeah, Odd attacked you with arrows and then...then..." William avoided Lily's eyes and looked towards the ground. Lily cupped William's face in her slender, pale hands and forced him to look at her.
"Then what?"
"Then X.A.N.A made me stab you with my sword, right through your spine." a tear slid down William's face and he crumpled into Lily's chest, claiming he was tired of hurting everyone.
"How long was I asleep?" Lily asked, stroking William's back.
"A few days, he refused tp plan anything until you woke." the two laid beside the wall, William crying into Lily's chest and she softly calming him down. It was a peaceful time until they got another call from X.A.N.A. William dried his tears with his sleeve and held out his hand for Lily. Her back was sore but she still took his hand and got to her feet. The two jogged towards his study to hear about the latest mission he was bound to send them on.
"Please don't hurt me again." Lily whispered as William's eyes began to dim and his face grew solemn. She hoped her words had gotten through to him but she didn't hold her breath as they jumped on top the manta ray and flew towards the Mountains again. The scenery was almost the same as the last time, it was calm and peaceful only this time there were two giant, orange creatures beside them. They had three large legs and a circular head that held the same symbol that glowed in William's eyes.
"Alright guys, here come William with a few crabs." the intangible voice sounded through the region and Lily found Aelita running towards them flanked by the purple creature and the girl with the pale face. Behind the three was a boy in brown and yellow following them, Lily made out two silver items clutched in his hands as he ran.
"Go and do not fail this time." William ordered, dropping Lily off close to the tower. She quickly nodded her head then sprinted for the tower. She crossed Aelita who seemed to just let her pass through the tower's wall without a fight. Lily was in the center of the tower when Aelita came into view.
"Wait, before you type in the code listen to me." Aelita grabbed onto Lily's wrist and held the girl in place.
"Um, okay." Lily quietly listened to Aelita explain how her friends could save the silver-haired girl from X.A.N.A and possibly save William.
"How is that possible? I can't run from him on this island." Lily's eyes grew wide as Aelita explained that she could run from X.A.N.A.
"Its a place called Earth and its wonderful."
"I think I've heard of this place, William has told me."
"Yeah, William is from Earth and we can take you there. You just have to trust us." Aelita released Lily's wrist and extended her hand. Lily looked into Aelita's green eyes to see how peaceful and true her words were.
"Alright, I trust you." Lily took Aelita's hand and the two ascended to the second level of the tower.
"Ok Jeremie, we're ready." Aelita's voice was soft and kind as she spoke to the invisible voice.
"Okay, I'm devirtualizing the others first then I'll launch the anti-virus on, um, what's her name."
"Oh I forgot to tell you Aelita, I got a name. Its Lily, like the Earth flower." Lily smiled at her new friend and she heard a light giggle come from the pinkette.
"Alright, so now that the others are on Earth I am going to start the anti-virus. Are you ready Lily?" the invisible voice asked and Lily looked over to Aelita, her hand tightening its grip as her eyes filled with fear.
"Don't be afraid I'll be beside you the entire time."
"Ok, I...I'm ready." Lily closed her eyes as sweat began to bead on her brow. Her hands began to shake and she felt Aelita draw closer to her, wrapping her arms around Lily's trembling shoulders. There was a light burning that starting in Lily's feet and made her twitch them uncomfortably. Slowly the heat rose to her knees and waist; it crawled up her stomach towards her head and down the length of her arms. The heat was light and didn't seem to hurt her, as soon as the heat arrived it was gone.
Lily fell to her knees when the heat vanished and she took a quick gasp of breath. Her shoulders were still trembling and she found it diffictuly to get to her feet, even with Aelita's help.
"Don't worry Lily that was the hardest part and now for the easy one, divirtualizing you." the voice sounded and Lily looked over to see Aelita already vanishing. Her eyes widened with fear and tried to grab onto her friend before she completely vanished. Her hands were empty and Lily found herself alone in the tower. Lily was about to exit the tower and run towards William when her feet began to tingle and felt oddly light. Lily's eyes looked down to see the faint outline of her silver boots as they slowly faded away. Lily let out a strangled scream when her legs vanished next and her hands became see through.
There was a light swishing noise and air blasted through her silver hair as Lily fell to her knees. Her hands came into contact with chilled metal that shocked her eyes opened. Two doors opened in front of the frightened girl to reveal a blinding bright room. Lily covered her eyes with her left arm as someone knelt towards her, blocking the harsh light. Pink hair was the first thing that came into Lily's vision and a smiled formed on her face as she wrapped her arms around her friend.
"Aelita! i thought you vanished!" Lily cried into her friend's shoulder as the others began to materialize around her. There were two males, one with brown hair the other with blonde that had a purple dot in the center and a woman with short black hair.
"I was just materialized on Earth, that's where we are."
"Wait, we're on Earth?" Lily's eyes widened again as she got her first true glimpse at the small room. There were three large tubes behind her that connected to various outlets throughout the metal room and there was a closed metal door opposite of the four teenagers.
"Yup welcome to Earth princess." the blonde spoke out an enormous grin on his face.
"Princess? That's not my name." Lily looked at the boy with confusion which only caused him to laugh out.
"I'll explain on our way to see Jeremie." Aelita helped Lily to her feet and they all made their way towards the second floor. Aelita quickly explained as much as she could about Earth and where they were, Lily listening intensely. Suddenly the door opened to reveal a large room filled with monitors that circled a hologram. In a large chair sat a boy a few inches taller than Lily, he had blonde hair and blue eyes that hid behind his glasses.
"Hello Lily, my name is Jeremie." The boy extended his hand as the group wandered closer to his chair. Lily slowly shook his hand as the others began to introduce themselves. The girl in all black was called Yumi and the boy next to her with the brown hair was known as Ulrich. The hyper active blonde that called Lily princess is Odd and of course Lily's first friend on Earth is Aelita.
"So what should we do with her, she can't exactly live in the factory." Ulrich pointed out.
"I'm way ahead of you. I already have Lily enrolled in the school as my cousin from Greenland. You don't mind do you, Lily?" Jeremie looked over to the silver-haired girl as she stared aimlessly at the monitors.
"I'm sorry did you say something?" Lily turned her attention to the boy with the glasses as he let out an agitated sigh.
"Just in case someone asks Lily you are from Greenland and you're Jeremie's cousin ok?" Yumi placed both of her hands on Lily's shoulders and stared into her eyes. Lily gave a slow nod before releasing she had on different clothes. She yelped out in shock at the sight of her altered clothes. They still had a silver, black and blue color to them but they were different. Her boots were replaced with smaller shoes that had an arrow on the side of them and she didn't appear to have any leggings. Her blue skirt ended mid-thigh and had a silver trim around it instead of being plan blue. Her shirt had one long sleeve that was black and outlined in sliver, the other side was shorter but still had the sliver outline. Lily lifted her hands towards her hair and felt it reach just below the center of her back. It was straight and felt soft in her hands and when she looked at it, it held its snowy color.
"Wow," she breathed out as she continued to examine her outfit.
"Your outfit looks good and I do like long hair on a girl." Odd admired, his comment was immediately taken back as Yumi slapped her hand across the back of his head.
"Where will she board?" Aelita asked as Odd rubbed his head.
"Well there was a room that could fit two people into it, I hope you don't mind Aelita but I was able to put both of you in that room." Aelita's eyes widened with anger and she was about to yell at the boy when Lily flung her arms around the pinkette and let out a giggle of joy.
"Yay I get to room with you! Wait what does that mean?"
"It means that we are going to share the same room, which I guess won't be so bad since you are new to Earth." Aelita gave the girl a light smile but threw a glare at Jeremie when Lily looked away.
"Well let's go get everything situated before too many questions get raised." Ulrich claimed as they all got into the elevator and headed towards the school.
"So are we heading to, um, what's it called again? Sch..sch...it started with a sch." Lily focused most of her brain on trying to figure out the word as everyone let out a laugh upon entering the area.
"Do you mean school, Lily?" Yumi offered.
"Yeah, school!"
"I honestly don't know anyone that is so happy about the word school." Ulrich groaned as they entered the dorms.
"So is this the school?" Lily asked, putting her ear against each of the grey doors.
"No this is the dormitory. This is where you'll sleep and get dressed and all that stuff." Yumi explained as they headed towards Aelita's old room.
"Ms. Stones, may I speak with you?" a rough voice sounded behind the friends and they all turned to see a big man wearing grey sweat pant and a red sweater.
"Yes Jim?" Aelita greeted the man with a sweet smile.
"I didn't know if you know but you are going to have to pack your things and move to a different room."
"Yes I was just recently told, we were just on our way to gather my things."
"Oh very well. Hey who is this?" Jim walked over to Lily and the girl tried to copy Aelita's smile but her lips faltered and she felt fear grip at her chest.
"This is my cousin Jim." Jeremie said, placing a hand on Lily's shoulder.
"Oh right the new girl from Greenland. Well missy my name is Jim and I'm the gym teacher." Jim held out his hand, it was three times the size of Lily's and had hair all over the back of it. Lily looked closer and could see that his palm was soaked with sweat and he had a strange scent around him. Nonetheless Lily put on a smile and shook his hand, wiping the sweat away with the back of her shirt.
"Its very nice to meet you Jim."
"Yeah well its, um nice to meet you to. Jeremie I hope you'll teach your cousin all the rules and you can pick up her schedule in the front office in the morning." Jim then dismissed himself and walked down the hallway, leaving the group alone.
"Well let's go get your stuff Aelita." Jeremie said, leading the group down the hallway. They came across the grey door and Aelita slid her key into the lock and opened it to reveal a small room. Lily looked around and noticed there were only a few things inside. There was a mattress with a dresser then a desk across the room next to a closet. Slowly the gang brought out boxes and began to fill them with the little items they could. The whole process took about five minutes and soon they were heading towards the other end of the hallway.
"Alright here's our new room, Lily." Aelita claimed, holding up a golden key that fit into the lock perfectly. Excitement bubbled inside the girl as the door slowly slid open. There were two beds against the walls and a closet that was next to a big dresser. Both beds didn't have anything on them and felt stiff when Lily jumped onto one them. Dust flew into her mouth and she coughed lightly as Odd joined her. They both giggled lightly as they began to jump mindlessly while Aelita and Jeremie unpacked the few boxes in the room.
"Well we'd love to stay and help but we have to get to practice. I'll see you guys tomorrow, goodbye!" Yumi called out as her and Ulrich left the room.
"Practice?" Lily asked, looking at the purple dressed boy.
"Yeah they're into Pancak Silat, a fighting style." Odd explained.
"I want to try it!" Lily claimed, a determined look on her face.
"Maybe you can tomorrow, it is getting late." Jeremie said, stretching out his arms as he yawned. Aelita agreed with Jeremie as she pushed Odd and Lily off the bed so she could make it. Aelita pulled out a few black sheets that were stashed in the closet and put them on the mattress. Lily watched, fascinated at how Aelita folded the sheets under the mattress so they fit nice and tight.
"Well we better go get some dinner before they run out." Odd called out, clutching his growling stomach. Aelita had just finished the beds and agreed, the four of them exited the room and headed towards the cafeteria.
"So what is this?" Lily asked, poking the red covered thing in front of her with a silver fork.
"Its called spaghetti, try it!" Odd pointing his fork towards Lily's face before he dug it into his own food and took a bite. Lily eyed the food curiously but took a small bite. The food, spaghetti, was actually really good and Lily found herself eating the entire thing. The group enjoyed their dinner with small talk, Aelita and Jeremie switching places when they had to explain something to Lily. It was her first day on Earth and Lily was already enjoying it.
'So this is why William cried every time Earth was mentioned.' she thought quietly, still eating her dinner.