Aelita met the others in the courtyard the next day, just before lunch, she was feeling particularly happy and smiled broadly at them.

"You're in a good mood." Commented Ulrich as she caught up with them and they continued their walk to the cafeteria.

"I managed to fix most of the computer's hardware last night," she said, "We can access the supercomputer and Lyoko again now."

"Has Xana trashed the place while we weren't there to keep an eye on him?" Inquired Odd, sniffing the air as the smell of baked potatoes wafted over.

"No, everything's quiet." She responded, dismissing a nagging voice in the back of her mind. "In fact all I need to do is let a few diagnostic programs finish and if all goes well, I'll be able to hit the return to the past tonight."

"Does this mean that I don't have to do my homework?"

"I'm going to head over there in a couple of hours to watch the results come in." Aelita continued, ignoring Odd. He always commented about homework that he didn't have to do or had had to do twice because of a Xana attack. "Do you guys want to come with me?"

"No chance," said Yumi, with a short laugh, "I'm going to be in trouble if I don't get some work done for Ms Hertz and those two," she indicated the boys, "have gone and landed themselves in detention all afternoon." Aelita raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Ulrich.

"Don't ask." He responded, "It was Odd's fault." Aelita was saved the need of asking anyway as they reached the doors to the cafeteria and Odd jumped up the steps.

"Well, I'm off." She said.

"Hang on," said Yumi, with a frown upon her face. "I thought you said that you were going later."

"Well… I'm going to visit Jeremie first." Aelita felt herself blush a little, but Yumi's frown softened into a smile.

"Go on then, we'll see you later."

Aelita smiled back, before turning away and setting off at a quick pace. As she went, she heard Odd's call from behind her.

"Hey! Can I have your portion?"

[*]

In the hospital, Aelita had sat and recounted at length how she had done fixing the computer to the unconscious Jeremie that lay before her. She didn't know if he could hear her at all, but it made her feel better to think that he could; and if he could, she liked to think that it made him feel better.

"…and I initiated the connection, and it worked!" She finished, before voicing something that had been bothering her, "I'm sure that you'd be proud of me- or at least… I hope." She paused; it was hard to know what Jeremie thought of her. Every time that she thought she knew, something else had come along and filled her with doubts. It was those doubts that had resurfaced now; but there was another nagging feeling in the back of her mind, telling her that something was wrong.

She shook her head to clear it and pushed that nagging thought to the back of her mind; she would worry about it later, for now she just wanted to sit here by Jeremie.

[*]

It was already mid-afternoon; Aelita had stayed far longer than she had originally intended, yet she was still reluctant to leave. She stood and stretched for a moment, feeling light-headed as colours swam before her eyes, before she decided that it was finally time to go.

She was in the process of reaching down for her bag when it happened, a single noise that made her heart seem to stop. She straightened suddenly and saw that the machine which issued a friendly, intermittent bleep now seemed to be screaming a single, harsh, constant tone. Reacting automatically, Aelita's hand slammed into the assistance button and it was mere seconds before she heard footsteps pounding down the corridor.

The door slammed open as several men and women piled through it, they ran over to Jeremie's body and blocked it from view, shouting out rough orders. Aelita had simply frozen in place, her feet rooted to the ground as one of the doctors slammed his fists into Jeremie's chest. The room was a riot of noise, with voices shouting and the harsh constant scream of the machine; but Aelita stood oblivious, held as though her feet were attached to the floor. It was only when a gentle voice spoke in her ear and a soft hand took hers that she allowed herself to be taken from the room.

[*]

Aelita now found herself on the soft seats of a nearby waiting area; a cup of hot chocolate was cradled in both hands, it was so hot that it was held inside two cups to stop her hands from burning. She looked down at its surface, the colour reminded her so much of the mountain rocks of Lyoko; they were exactly the same shade of brown. 'That was where Jeremie risked his life to save me.' She thought and felt her throat burn suddenly and forced herself to look elsewhere.

The corridors were cold, clinical and practically bare; apart from the notice boards that were placed at strategic points to catch the eye. Aelita tried reading some of the posters on the nearest one, but after several attempts she found herself taking nothing in. Her thoughts kept returning to Jeremie, it had been some time since she had left his room and she had not seen any of the doctors that had entered since; either they were still in there, or they had forgotten about her.

Footsteps echoed down the long corridor; but Aelita ignored them, it was unlikely that they were coming for her. It was only after she heard them very close that she looked up.

A young doctor was walking hurriedly towards her, a harried look on his face. Aelita instantly recognised him as one of those that had come to Jeremie's room and stood up expectantly as he approached. The young doctor stopped before her and mouthed silently; apparently unable to speak.

"Is Jeremie okay?" Aelita asked him and it pained her to see the look on his face as he lowered himself down to her height.

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this," he said slowly, "but he didn't make it… We tried our best, but he died."

Aelita simply stood and stared and the doctor's expression, it was serious and sad and at once she knew his words to be true. Her throat burned and tears welled up in her eyes; but even so, disbelief filled her mind. The hot chocolate fell to the floor without her even noticing and it splashed her leg, but the pain didn't register.

The doctor turned around and called for one of his colleagues. As he did so, something took over in Aelita's mind and powered her legs into movement. She ran through the corridors; then broke into a sprint, leaving the stunned doctor in her wake as she fled the hospital.