"Okay, so in chapter twenty-four of the story-"

"Whoa, wait," Aelita interrupted. "You got to chapter twenty four?"

"Actually, I got somewhere in the seventies before I dosed off," Odd said. Aelita gave him a look. "What? I speed read, nothing wrong with that."

"Okay, so theory?"

"Yes! Okay, anyways, in chapter twenty-four, there's a mention of a monster on this virtual world, called a 'guardian.' Now this monster doesn't attack anyone, but rather it traps them. Yes, it traps its victims and puts their bodies into a type of suspended animation."

"Okay, and?" Aelita asked. "What about it?"

"I'm getting to that," Odd said. "Now, the bodies are in suspended animation, but the minds, the victims' minds are still active. And what the guardian does is penetrate the victims' minds and creates an illusion. A false reality in their heads. And everything in this reality would only exist and work because the brain simply believes it does."

"So you mean to tell me that we're trapped?"

"Yes, we could very well be trapped in a guardian right now. Everything around us would be fake, our own reality completely altered. And I have no doubt that if the guardian could go that far, it could also interfere with our memories," Odd finished.

Both were silent. They stared at each other for a bit, not knowing what do to with their knowledge.

"Hey, done with detention so early?" William put his arm around Aelita and pulled her close to him. Odd's body quickly stiffened at William's presence.

"Um, yeah," Aelita said, pushing herself away. William's never done that before, she thought to herself.

"What you doing there, Della Robbia?" William asked, his voice a bit harsh.

"I was, uh..."

"He was talking," Aelita said. "To me, he was talking to me, about a..."

"A thing," Odd added.

"Yeah," Aelita said. "A thing. Tutoring stuff."

William gave Aelita a once over before grabbing her hand and began to pull her away. "Come on, let's go get dinner."

"Hey!" Aelita exclaimed. She retracted her hand away from William and stepped away from him. "Do not grab me."

"What? What's wrong with me grabbing your hand? Huh?" William said. "I thought we were friends."

"If someone tells you not to grab them, you should respect that." Aelita gave William a cold look.

"What the hell Aelita? Has this dude," William pointed to Odd, "been telling you some stupid shit to make you act like that?"

"I, er, um," Odd stammered.

"I make my own choices and if you can't respect me or my friend then just go away!" Aelita shouted. She turned around to face Odd and motioned for him to follow her.

"What friend?" William shouts from behind. Aelita paused.

"I'm your only friend!" he continues. "You're a lame punk that nobody likes. And don't even count Della Robbia. He shouldn't even count as a person."

Aelita tightened her fists into balls and clenched her teeth. Anger swelled within her body. Oh, she'd love to mess up William's face in many different and creative ways, but before she could even turn around, Odd was leading her away towards the dormitory.

"Lyoko, guardian, trapped. Remember, we need to focus on that," Odd whispered.

Aelita moved away from Odd, circled around a bit, before finding a trashcan. She proceeded to kick it multiple times until her foot began to throb with pain. She then leaned against the dormitory building's exterior wall before sliding down into a sitting position.

Odd sat down beside her. "You shouldn't be doing that."

"I know, I know," Aelita muttered.

"I don't mean to bring him up," Odd said. "But William. You didn't tell him about the story, did you?"

"Of course not," Aelita answered. She looked at Odd. "Why?"

"Nothing, nothing." Odd surveyed the area around them. "But the story."

"What about it?"

"How much of it did you read?"

"I read to about chapter ten. I guess I'm not as much of an achiever in speed reading like you," she said before rolling her eyes at him.

"Okay, so I mean, the characters-"

"You mean us?" Aelita asked.

"Well that's the thing," Odd said. "I mean, I had the flashback and all, and it felt so real. But when I read the story and how it described Odd, well I guess me, it didn't sound like me at all. It was like they were describing my roommate Ulrich, but with my name instead. And then the character Ulrich, he's nothing like the Ulrich I know. The character is all distant and quiet, but the Ulrich I know? He's loud and girl crazy, and... It just doesn't match up."

"I know," Aelita said. "My character doesn't really match up with me too. I mean, I'm not trapped in some virtual world..."

"The character does get out in chapter twenty-five..."

"Wow, spoilers much?" Aelita paused before getting back on topic. "And compared to my character, I'm more...eh..."

"Deliquent?" Odd offered.

"I was going to say bad ass." She glared at Odd. "But whatever. Sure."

"So yeah, do you see what I mean?" Odd said. "It doesn't match up well."

"But you said the guardian could mess with our minds. Change our memories and stuff," Aelita said.

"But to this degree? I just don't know Aelita."

Aelita stood up. "I can't believe this!"

Odd got up as well. "Aelita, I-"

"How can you still be questioning this?" she exclaimed.

"Well, a scientist always has to be skeptical of-"

"That's bullshit!" Aelita shouted. "You felt the same thing I felt. That's evidence enough that something's out of whack here."

"Aelita, there are so many loose ends. Like, if we're are actually in a guardian, then why would that story even exist? Why would a captor be so sloppy as to let something like that through which could trigger the prisoners out of their ignorance? And who is this Jeremie guy the story mentions so often? We don't know anybody named Jeremie!"

"You said guardian could mess with our minds, maybe it made us forget about Jeremie!" Aelita paced around. "I don't know why the story's here. Some guy on the internet sent it to me, JoseBlip or whatever. Maybe the guardian doesn't have great security? I don't know! But come on!"

"Aelita, it just can't be real."

"Can't be?" Aelita nodded her head. "Or maybe you just don't want it to be real."

"What?" Odd asked.

"You agreed with me up until when you pointed out that your character was different than you. And now you're all 'skeptical'. Bullshit. You don't want it to be real, because if it's real, that means you're not really smart or really a good kid, but a girl crazy slacker."

Odd looks down. "Aelita, I-"

"What?" she asked, feeling entirely done with the conversation.

"Okay, yeah. Maybe I don't want to be that kid. I like me and I feel real. Who knows if this world around us is real or made up. It looks real and it feels real. It's an okay world, and there's nothing wrong with it. I just don't see why we need to have some fix to change it."

Aelita laughs. "Wow. Wow, you know, I thought you understood. Hell, I even considered you a friend. But no, you don't care. No one ever cares. Always been that way. Everybody's willing to be an ignorant little pig as long as they don't suffer any consequences."

Aelita walked toward the dormitory. "Have fun in fantasy land." She entered the building and began to ascend the stairs. "Because I'm getting out."

She ran into her room and slammed the door behind her. Fine then, she thought to herself. If he won't listen, then I can always try with the others. She walked over to her computer and brought up her school email account. Thank god for the student directory, she thought as she copied down Ulrich and Yumi's school email addresses.

Back outside, Odd lowered his head. He didn't mean to upset her. He just didn't know what to do anymore.

"Joseblip," he muttered to himself as he entered the dorm building to go to his own room. "Why does that seem familiar?"

AN: I don't know why, but all of a sudden I'm just uploading so much. Sorry for the multiple chapters in such fast frequency.