It's time to keep going with this mini series. I personally enjoy this and I didn't expect I would get far but we are still here. As you will see in this chapter, I'm going to introduce another character that will play the big role in a long run. We will see how it goes. Enjoy.

Nightmare

Same thing repeated over and over again every night during last two weeks. He was levitating in the air watching what was happening in front of him. Pink haired girl being down on her knee, mantas attacking glowing sphere, voice from the sky telling pink haired girl to launch the program but every time she was unable to do so. Every time sphere got destroyed. Every time evil laugh spread across the sector. And every time he was unable to prevent that from happening. He was well aware that he was dreaming so he stopped trying to do anything and decided to see if there is anything to do in order to avoid it. Nothing came to mind. Once again he appeared in destroyed city. Same city, same place, same events. Same execution. Four teens tied to the metal poles. Dark creature sitting on his throne while crowd of people watched the sight in front of them. XANA won and he had William standing by his side. William and XANA. They came up victorious from this war. Warriors lost. And now world was under their control. But this time something was different. XANA didn't execute them. It seemed like they were waiting for something. Or someone.

"Sorry if I kept you waiting" female voice said coming from the behind the stage. She stepped on the stage and looked at the crowd. She was wearing some kind of black coat that had a hood on it and it covered her head. She was also wearing pair of black boots. "I had to take care of some things in the area.

XANA turned around to meet the newcomer "We were waiting for you my queen. Will you do the honor?". XANA offered her the torch that was lit with some strange black flames but she looked past him. Directly at the spectator of this whole thing. "I will" she said to XANA "But I need to do something first".

He couldn't move any part of his body. She saw him. She actually saw him. He looked at the stage again but she wasn't there anymore. It was like she disappeared. But suddenly he heard someone breathing behind him and he turned around. And there she was. Right behind him. That person didn't seem familiar but no matter what he will remember her eyes. They were cold. Full of pure evil. And that evil smirk. It sent chills down his spine.

"Shhhhh" she said with the same smirk and pressed her finger on her lips. He wanted to ask her who is she and what is she doing with XANA but was unable to do so. She grinned again before kicking him of the building. After being kicked of the building he looked up at her again and saw that she was still pressing her finger on her lips "Shhhh".

It was the last thing he heard before falling in darkness again.

End of nightmare

Odd woke up and immediately sat up while trying to catch his breath. Like every time he was covered with cold sweat but unlike other times this time it was covered in it even more. He swallowed his saliva and looked at his roommate.

Aelita was sleeping peacefully on her bad. No matter how bad his nightmares were she never woke up because of him. He lay back down and consulted his friend.

'Franz?' Odd called out for him 'You there?'.

He heard a chuckle in his mind 'Do I still need to you remind you son? I'm in your head'. Franz couldn't believe how many times he needed to remind Odd of that. 'What's on your mind today?'.

'That girl from my dream. She wasn't there before was she?' Odd asked him with a sigh 'She probably wasn't. What do you think that means?'. The fact of XANA having an ally really worried him.

'I'm not sure to be honest. We never saw her before so that means she is probably just some stranger' Franz answered him but he was still thinking about other possibilities 'Or we are still going to meet her in the future'.

Odd though about that and it made sense. At least a little. 'Okay Franz, thank you'.

'Anyways, how is that program going?' Franz asked him to change the topic. Odd chuckled at this and Franz realized that he forgot the same thing Odd did earlier 'Right, I forgot'.

Odd kept looking at the ceiling 'What about Anthea? How is she doing?'.

'What can I say? As the time comes closer she is getting more and more worried because-' he was unable to finish his though.

'Because she is afraid of price we will need to pay. I know' Odd finished for him 'I'm afraid too, don't get me wrong but-'.

'But you know it needs to be done' Franz told him and sighted 'Listen son. I will need you to stay by their side after this is done. Since I won't be able to do so'.

'You know I will be there for them. I promised you that years ago' Odd said and remembered that day when he got caught in this mess 'We had great time during those 3 years Franz. Didn't we?'.

'Of course we did son' Franz reassured him 'You know, this might sound strange, but you became like son to me during that time. And I'm really sorry because I won't be there with you anymore after we are done'.

'I know Franz, I know. Thank you for being there during those times. I really mean that. Aelita is really happy to have you as a father and-'.

"Odd?" he heard Aelita calling him and he turned his head towards her.

"Good morning princess" he told her with a smile "Did I wake you up?".

She shook her head and returned the smile "Nope, you didn't. Is everything alright?".

"Everything is okay" Odd reassured her "I was just thinking about stuff". He still didn't feel comfortable with telling her about her father and luckily for him she didn't ask him about 'his little friend inside his head'. "Everything okay with you princess?".

She thought about it. There was one thing but she didn't want to talk about it. Well not right now at least "Y- Yeah, everything is great. Perfect".

He nodded and got up "That's good to hear. Anyways I was planning on going to the recreation room with Yumi, Ulrich and Jeremy after breakfast. Wanna come with us?".

"Sure" she nodded in agreement "I don't have anything else to do since we got few days without schoolwork". She got up from her bed and walked towards the closet and picked up her showering supplies "I'm going to take a shower first".

"I would gladly take a shower too but since our good friend Jimbo messed something up there is no water in boys shower room. He raised his arm and smelled his armpit "Ugh, I'm starting to smell bad. I hope Jimbo fixes that until tonight". Aelita nodded and walked out of the room.

Now that he was alone he could peacefully continue his conversation with Franz. 'Where was I? Oh right. Does Anthea have any idea if she could work anywhere after we bring her here?'.

Franz was quiet for few moments before answering 'She doesn't know if she will be able to live normal life again after being stuck here for such a long time. But if she could she would gladly work nearby where Aelita is. Do you know if someone is looking for employees around there?'.

'Well I'm not sure to be honest' Odd answered him honestly 'But I know we are lacking staff here on Kadic. Maybe she could work here. Closer to Aelita'.

Franz was puzzled 'You could do that for her?'.

'We did it for Aelita didn't we?' Odd said optimistically 'We will do it for Anthea too. She will get back on her feet as soon as possible'.

'I will talk to her about that. Thank you Odd' Franz thanked him and went quiet.

'Of course'.

Few minutes later Aelita returned from the shower and picked up her clothes to dress.

"I will wait for you outside while you dress up" Odd informed her and proceeded to walk away but Aelita stopped him.

"Odd wait" she said and blushed "You don't need to walk out every time I need to change my clothes. I just feel bad for sending you to wait in the hallway every day". She looked at him and noticed that his shoulder tensed a little. 'Did I say something wrong'.

"It's okay Aelita. I don't mind waiting outside" he told her as he turned towards her "Listen princess, I know that girls need some privacy while they are changing and I perfectly understand that. Actually, I respect that. So I'm still going to wait outside. See you in a minute princess". Odd walked out and leaned against the wall. 'What was all of that about. Did she- She wanted me to stay?' he thought to himself and immediately slapped himself 'Bad thoughts Odd, bad thoughts'.

After some time she walked outside.

"Ready to go princess?" he asked her and bowed to her. She chuckled at that and nodded "Come on than". They started walking out of the dorms and towards the cafeteria. While they were walking Aelita glanced few times at him. She wanted to talk to him about that night from two weeks ago but she never got a courage to do it. Once they arrived she tried to do it "Odd listen I-". But her stomach growled preventing her from doing so.

"I know I know, you are hungry" Odd told her with a smile "Let's go it first than we will talk later". They walked inside and saw others already being there and they were laughing at something. "Ulrich being a comedian again" Odd said and shook his head "He is stealing my job".

Two of them got their food and walked towards their table. "Hey guys" Odd greeted them as he sat down next to Ulrich "How is it going good buddy? Stealing my job again?".

Ulrich placed his hand on his chest and faked surprise "Oh my god Odd, I would never. You know that you are the only comedian here. And I'm just a moral support to the comedian". They laughed at that joke.

Odd grinned and shook his head "Whatever you say good buddy". He looked at Aelita just as she was giving Jeremy peck on the cheek.

"Good morning Aelita" Jeremy told her with a smile.

"Good morning Jeremy" she tried to return the smile "How are you?".

"Well I could use some more sleep but I will make it" he said and rubbed his eyes "And I wanted to talk to you about it".

Others leaned in to the center of the table "Okay Einstein, spill it".

Jeremy made dramatic silent moment "I think I finally found a way to bring William back". He saw that others wanted to interrupt him so he raised his hand to stop them "And that's not all. Two more things. I'm nearly finished with creating anti-xana program. And that program Odd and Jason worked on is nearly finished as well. You can proceed".

Loud cheering could be heard echoing through the entire cafeteria. Other students looked in their direction what possibly could cause such joy. Jim wanted to walk over and silence them but he didn't do it. They seemed really happy.

"You are awesome Einstein" Ulrich said and patted his shoulder.

"You are miracle maker Jeremy" Yumi said and and hugged him tightly.

Tears started appearing in Aelita's eyes "I- I can't believe it. I'm going to see my father again".

Odd looked at her with sad eyes 'If she only knew'. He tried to place his hand on her shoulder but before he could do so she jumped at Jeremy hugging him tight.

"Thank you Jeremy" she whispered in his chest "Thank you so much". He returned the hug and kissed her forehead.

"Always Aelita. Always".

Without thinking what she is doing Aelita pushed away from his chest and looked him directly in the eyes. Next thing she knew was that she kissed him. For the first time in few weeks. It was passionate one, but not to passionate. After she was done she pulled away and looked at the ground while blushing "Sorry, I don't know what happened".

Jeremy took her hand and kissed it "Don't worry about it Aelita. You were just following your heart".

To their surprise whole cafeteria cheered up for them. Mister and miss Einstein finally did it. Everybody waited for it to happen for a long time. Loud whistle was heard coming right behind them and they turned around and saw Odd getting ready to whistle again. Next to him Yumi and Ulrich were clapping and shouting. Even tho he felt embarrassed Jeremy was smiling. Aelita was smiling too even tho her blush didn't go away. But she could still fell her heart hurt because of Odd. For a moment she totally forgot about him and about what she wanted to talk to him. He looked like he was happy for them. He was even cheering up for them as hard as he could. But she still felt bad for him.

Another clap was heard coming towards them as the voice said "Congratulation my friends! Congratulations!". They turned around and saw Jason walking towards them.

"Jason? What are you doing here?" they asked in union. He was the last person they expected to see right there right now.

"Well I just got myself a job here at Kadic" he told them and his smile grew wider "I'm now working as Jim's assistant. And now I will be able to cover you while you need to be somewhere else". He looked at Jeremy and Aelita and placed his hands on their shoulders "I'm really happy for you two. Good luck".

"Thank you Jason" both of them said at the same time and chuckled.

Jason looked at Odd and noticed something that others probably missed. Even tho it lasted only for a millisecond he noticed it in his eyes. Spark of sadness. He knew that Odd knows about their future but that still doesn't make it easier now.

'I will talk to him later' Jason though to himself and sighted. "Oh and by the way, mister Delmas said that new student is coming right here right now".

"New student?" Odd asked him.

"Yeah. Some girl from the States. Needed to move away from her city and now she is here" Jason explained and sighted "She lost both of her parents last year. Poor girl".

And as soon as he said that, Delmas walked inside the cafeteria followed by brunette girl behind him. She looked like she was the same size as Aelita, she was wearing orange jacket, red t-shirt, blue pants and black shoes.

"Students!" Delmas shouted to get everyone's attention "We have a new student with us today!". He turned towards her "Why don't you introduce yourself to everyone?".

Girl simply looked in front of her and at everybody and nodded "Hello. My name is Lila Mason. I'm coming here from United States. I really hope we will get along".

Whole cafeteria greeted her and walk to her and offered their help so she could fell just like she is at home. Everyone besides Odd.

Even tho he wanted to go and help her adapt to new surroundings and new people but there was something about her that sent chills down his spine. Like some dark aura was forming around her and he didn't like that at all. Jason noticed his behavior and walked towards him again.

"Something wrong Odd?" he asked him concerned since Odd only acted like this when he felt something was wrong.

"I don't know Jas" Odd answered him honestly "But something about this girl gives me chills. I don't like that". He hoped that Jason would notice it to but that didn't happen.

"She lost everything Odd" he told him "You just need to meet her better, that's all. Give it time".

Odd though about that but he still wasn't feeling okay with that. He can't trust her yet. Not completely at least.

This is it for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed and until next time, peace out.