This one is still kind of short, I was on a time crunch though. I haven't had much time to work on it this week and I wanted to update ASAP the next chapter will be much longer and hopefully up by the end of the week. I hope you like my story :D

Jeremy may have accepted that Aelita wanted to help William by having him help then, it was a part of Aelita's nature. However the last time William went to Lyoko, he caused many problems, and now, he wasn't the same-Jeremy could feel it.

It wasn't the same difference one would assume, which would be the dark haired being more responsible and wary, but underneath the layer of a suffering boy, underneath the layer of a two-bit Casanova, underneath the layer of a hot head, underneath all that William was and appeared to be-there was this dark presence.

Xana was dead, his symbol no longer implanted in William and yet there was this uneasy feeling around him, that is why the group stayed away from him. It was if Xana had damaged his aura, the others wanted no part in that- Xana was gone and they were supposed to be ordinary kids now. Not forever cursed with the evil AI like William was, the only one who was immune to this feeling seemed to be Aelita-it was either that or she was fine with dealing with it.

This tension along with the fact that Jeremy felt guilty about treating William so poorly, covering it up in his head by reasoning that if William had just listened things wouldn't be like this, was the reason for the uneasy side long glances the blonde was giving William the whole way to the factory. At each glance he was greeted by Aelita's frown and a distraught William who was lagging a few steps behind her.

The High from recovering pieces of his old self had officially worn off and now all William could feel was Jeremy's eyes warily watching him, all he could see was Aelita silently defending him, and all he could think about was how bad he felt about taking advantage of Aelita's kind and naïve nature-maybe even creating some potential problems between her and Jeremy- in order to ease his guilt about causing Franz Hopper's disappearance.

Franz Hopper…

The mere thought of the name inspired William to break free of his fears and go through with this, after all if it wasn't for Franz Hopper he would have never gotten so close to being a Lyoko warrior as he had, and he would be within Xana's grip. As long as he could find that man, as long as he could see the person who had brought some of the happiness back into his life reunited with her father, then maybe, maybe, he could have the courage to not regret anymore.

A life without regret, William smiled at the thought, he could be a part of the group once again, maybe even win Yumi's affections. After all, he hadn't really lost, not yet. Happiness and even a little surprise returned to William once again as he realized this part of him had never left. Optimism is something he would need if he was to ever recover Franz Hopper and hopefully with that man William would also recover the rest of the person he once was.

"Head for the scanners" Jeremy's voice broke through the haze of his thoughts making William realize that they were at the factory where Jeremy now sat at the super computer bringing thing up on the screen William couldn't hope to understand. Instead of trying to decipher them, which most likely would have just angered Jeremy, William went to the scanner room leaving Aelita and Jeremy to operate the super computer

William felt himself tense up at the sight of the scanner, but he climbed into it nonetheless consenting in a voice he hoped sounded brave that he was ready. He heard the faint chorus of Jeremy's 'transfer scanner virtualization' through the walls of the scanner, blinded by the flash of the light. Had the scanning process taken this long the first time? Of course not, the first time there wasn't this ever present fear finally halted when he landed on the symbol of Xana within the fifth sector.

"I'm sorry but I can't virtualize you directly into the network" Aelita's voice sounded from outside the virtual world. William tried not to get sick to his stomach as the room stopped spinning and waited for the door to open so that he could continue.

"In sector five there are tunnels of information leading from the core, up until recently it was necessary for me to block the information so the others could go to a different. However the new program should allow you to penetrate these tunnels, where we believe Franz Hoppers digital code is." Jeremy explained doing his very best to keep it simple. William worked his way through the puzzle of a room that was empty due to the absence of Xana's monsters, listening carefully to what Jeremy had to say- Including a very worrying 'should'.

"What happens if something goes wrong?" William couldn't help but ask, finally reaching the elevator he jumped on as it flew past.

"Then your digital envelop along with human data will most likely be overwhelming to the tunnels and you'll turn into data" Jeremy didn't sound too worried about this, obviously confident in his program.

"Nice to know" William finally reached the end of the sector in front of the information bank

"I'm here, now what?"

"I'm sending you the over wing you should be able to enter the tunnels at any point, but leave the over wing behind so you can get back afterwards" William obeyed hopping on the over wing when it arrived and flying straight for the nearest tunnel hoping that if he did this fast than he wouldn't have time to be afraid.

Entering the data tunnels was a sensation that he guessed would be close to death, the very few senses Lyoko allowed where dulled and yet there was a sharp pain every time he touched one of the data envelops, and yet he did anyway. Opening and searching through the data of each one he encountered. All night he searched high and low while Aelita and Jeremy searched from their end, his search finally was put to a stop when Jeremy told him that it time for classes before materializing William.

William felt his body feel limp as he fell out of the scanner trying to catch himself with the side of the scanner he gave them a weak smile.

"How far did we get?" Aelita frowned at William's question.

"We got through about 1% of the data last night" Jeremy answered him also visibly upset over this fact. William patted Aelita's head.

"Hey, don't worry about it-the next 1% might be a clue to your father right?" Aelita smiled once again letting her cheerful personality shine through. Once again once again felt un believably warm. Not only had he made Aelita smile and was also another step closer to Franz Hopper-to the group, but he had also managed to escape from Xana and his dreams for the night.

The rest of that day wasn't much different from the last, the group treated him with the same cold indifference and his teachers like he was made of both dense rock and breakable glass, but he was getting used to it. Aelita accepted him, taking on the role of his best friend and younger sister.

William was even getting a strange protective feeling over her. This feeling worsened as the days passed and no trace of Franz Hopper was found; now it was more than finding the creator of Lyoko and himself, it was about preserving her smile. The smile he was sure could save a dying man, it had saved him after all.

As each day passed he could see her smile leave for just a bit longer, now he understood why Jeremy was so wary of him. William could break her just as easily as not finding Franz Hopper could, it didn't take him long to figure out that Aelita blamed herself for what happened to William. Of course she didn't say this but it was in her nature, and each time he was insulted or ignored, a look of what he had initially thought was a look of pity and worry was a look of a guilt that should not even existed.

This realization did nothing to help his compulsive need to protect the pink girl as if she was his little sister, no, as if she was his savior. William found himself looking more frantically day by day, eventually not giving his body even a minute to recover before he looked to the next data bank. He had originally been fine with it taking time and was indifferent to what the envelopes held within but now as William looked through the data he felt his heart sink every time Jeremy said it was useless. It even got to the point where he read Jeremy's manual and virtualized himself on Lyoko when Aelita and Jeremy were eating or sleeping. Saving all the data he found to the super computer so Jeremy could look at it later.

Each time the other two arrived at the factor William was already there searching, it worried them that he was doing this to himself but they didn't stop him for fear what the tired, desperate boy might do. It was a day like any other when like always the scraggly looking boy was searching through the tunnels, powered by the hope of finding his old self and the fear of losing Aelita's smile forever. The smile that had saved him, the smile that kept him going.

William had to protect that smile, and those where his exact thoughts when he collapsed out of the scanner unconscious. 'I have to protect that smile' Aelita and Jeremy with the help of a reluctant Ulrich took him to the infirmary. The nurse shook her head once she was done examining him.

"He needs to go to the hospital his heart beat is too slow" Aelita felt herself crying on behalf of the unconscious barely recognizable William as they took him to the hospital she insisted she go too and of course Jeremy went as well, he couldn't let her blame herself for this. However that was impossible to prevent as Aelita continued to create reasons why it was her fault that their friend was in this condition.

Jeremy tried to comfort her telling her that it was just as much his fault as it was her's, after all it was his program. Aelita had managed to stop crying as the doctor's assistant came to reassure them.

"Mr. Dunbar will be fine; he is just exhausted and a bit malnourished. However he is lucky to have friends like you, a little longer and he would have, well things would be different from the way they are now" the assistant reassured them.

"Can see him?" Aelita asked standing up still very obviously upset over the whole situation and quietly blaming herself. Jeremy put his arm around her reassuringly as the assistant gave them the go ahead to see him. The sight they were greeted with was considerably gruesome. The teen was hardly visible beneath all of the tubes and the wires hooked up to him in various places, the heart monitor next to him was truly cruel indeed showing an unsteady heart beat. Aelita let out a gasp turning her head from the sight, feeling more and more at fault with every beep from that accursed machine.

After a while the doctors shooed them out telling them to go home and get some rest, that night Jeremy and Aelita worked alone in silence. A silence usually filled with a chorus of 'how about this one's and 'don't worry we'll find him' s from William. The latter was usually mostly a reassurance to himself, but also a precaution to protect Aelita's smile.

That night William slept for the first time in two weeks, of course he was greeted by the numbing feeling of his night mare. Even in his unconscious and weak form William didn't ask for Xana's help. Even as he was greeted by gruesome of images of no one caring that he was gone and Aelita's smile disappearing because Franz Hopper was never find. Eventually Xana saved him without even being asked to. William found himself on Lyoko, only now after spending so much time on Lyoko did he realize that this wasn't Lyoko, just the watered down distorted version his mind recreated.

"Aren't you going to ask why I brought you here?" Xana asked tilting her head to the side, it was a simple gesture but humane enough to send shudders flowing through William. He had forgotten how hard she made herself to hate in his dreams. It scared him to see the evil Ai who had him in its clutches for months to appear as a human girl and a beautiful one at that. On top of that, she always saved him from his night mares.

"Seems you lost your fight, how boring-it's no fun to own a empty shell" Xana was obviously trying to get a rise out of him, her red eyes danced wickedly, she took his silence as a challenge. William was snapped out of his thoughts, even more unsure. By principle Xana should scare him and does, but now she just seemed like a mischievous child.

Perhaps…lonely as well?

William shook his head; Xana was an AI, a robot, virus, and an evil one at that. It wasn't capable of any feeling at all, and yet the girl in front of him clearly showed emotion. He hated it she made him think about everything; question everything he believed to be true. Around Aelita he felt warmed and numb from his thoughts, only focusing on Franz Hopper-he felt more like himself. Around Xana he felt cold and at the same time unbearably aware of his surroundings, but at the same time as he was losing himself a new person was growing inside, maybe a better person. Either way William still had no Idea rather or not he was having a nightmare.

I really don't have many comments about this chapter, other than it was really interesting to write. At the same time I feel so pitiful when I feel everything they're feeling, DON'T CRY AELITA! QAQ