A/N: I hope y'all liked the last chapter! This one is running late but Happy Labor Day!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Code Lyoko, all rights belong to the original creators.

Sittin' In A Tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Recap:

"I think X.A.N.A. is somehow controlling her."

"Do you now?" Came a sweet voice from behind them. Dark hair caught the desert's dry air, moving it to the side. "What makes you think that, Lita?"

Odd turns, pointing his arrow at the girl he'd gotten to know. "Dahlia."

"Dally…"

Chapter 23: Down the Rabbit Hole

The dark haired girl smirks as she stepped before them. "Looking for me, or X.A.N.A.?" Her eyes flashed red, making Aelita take a step back.

With Aelita's step back, Odd took a step forward, looking over the girl he hadn't seen in days. "Dahlia…" He reached a hand out to her, but the virtual girl simply looked at it. His hand dropped back to the side, "I was worried after Yumi attacked you… You're okay?"

A chuckle escaped the girl before she looks to him, "I healed myself. Lita isn't the only one who can use the towers. It is a handy skill when you're-" her words faltered and her hand touched the weapon at her side. "You need to leave."

"No," the pinkette says a little too quickly. "We need to talk."

Green eyes widened slightly.

…..

"You spoke to her?" Ulrich asks. "Why weren't we given a heads up? Ya know, turn around?"

Jeremie sighs as he took a sip of his milk before going back to typing furiously on his laptop. "I didn't want to alert her that we were listening to her." He pauses, "Mostly X.A.N.A., if we tipped him…her…" he sighs, "it off, then we wouldn't be able to finish the program. You know X.A.N.A. would keep us busy to the point we'd even drop dead."

Odd opened his mouth before closing it.

"When are we meeting her again?" Yumi asks as she sat down with her tray. She fiddled with her food before pushing it away.

"Can I have your tacos?" The blond grins as he reached for the tray.

The Japanese girl shrugs, "It's your funeral. I doubt those things are edible."

Odd happily scooped her tacos up, while Urlich grabbed the juice. "Delicious in my book!" He grins.

"Tonight," Aelita finally answered. "Odd and I are going to go." She dips her spoon into her pudding before taking a bite, "Jeremie, do you think the anti-virus will be functional before X.A.N.A. figures out what we're doing?" She sounded uncertain, concerned that X.A.N.A. would figure out what they were doing before they could finish. "I just want to be ready for anything."

Jeremie smiles lightly, "If I keep working on it, I should have it done within the next couple of days, but with your help I-," he blushes slightly, "WE, could have it done by tonight before meeting your cousin in Lyoko."

She couldn't help but blush at the emphasis he'd left on 'we'. "I think I might be able to help after math class."

Their friends chuckled softly, "C'mon Romeo, just kiss her already!" Odd urges before getting up.

"Whoa, wait!" Ulrich looks to his roommate. "You just crammed six tacos into that black hole you call a mouth, and you're headed back for more?"

Odd grins, "Nope! I'm headed to work on my demo so I can show it off to-"

"Dahlia?" Yumi demands, seeming slightly miffed. "You do remember that she's the enemy."

Odd's eyes narrowed slightly before he grins, turning his annoyance into a smile, "Hey, no one objected when you and Ulrich got together."

"Ulrich and you," corrects Aelita as she got up and walked around the table to throw her food away. "Maybe you need to work on your English homework?" She suggests with a light laugh.

The group gave a light laugh as he sputtered.

Jeremie jumped up, quickly packing up his laptop.

"Whoa Einstein, where's the fire?" Odd asks, thankful for a change in subject. "Is it-"

"I think I'm onto something, but I need the computer in my room." He said as he tossed his trash and started to leave.

"I'll come with you," Aelita smiles, following after him.

Yumi stood, "I better get to History, we have a test today and I promised William-"

"He's back?" Ulrich asks, almost as if it was an outrageous thing to hear the teen's name anymore. "I thought he moved off to…elsewhere."

She shrugs, "He's back, and I think he wants to help us. Maybe he can." She suggests, uncertain.

"You think that's a good idea?" Odd slowly sat back down. "Last time he was in Lyoko…well X.A.N.A. took control of him, remember? He was even controlled out here and was constantly kidnapping Aelita." He reminds her. "He gave her up to the Scyphozoa way too many times."

The group became quiet as the words sunk in. William had done a lot of stuff that had almost outed them to the world, but at the same time, after he joined the group, he helped them. At least, he did, until X.A.N.A. used the Scyphozoa to gain access to him. He'd automatically turned into one of X.A.N.A.'s minions before taking Aelita. Even using the "return to the past" sequence hadn't helped bring him back. It had been nearly impossible to get him back from Lyoko, but they did it.

"We better talk to Jeremie and Aelita before we bring him back in…" Ulrich says softly. "Has he remembered anything?"

She shook her head. "He asks questions at times, but chalks it up to weird dreams…"

"Then I don't think we should." Odd says solemnly. "He's too much of risk. We could lose our shot to save Dahlia."

The other two couldn't help but agree with slight nods.

…..

"She's late," mutters Yumi with crossed arms as she stood behind Jeremie. "Shouldn't she have an internal clock or something?"

"Maybe she had an errand to run," Ulrich said with a chuckle. Currently the brunette was sitting against the wall, doing some homework he'd had left over. "She told Odd and Aelita that she'd make it, so give her a chance to get here," he grins and looks to the dark haired girl, "and come help me with this like you promised."

Jeremie laughs lightly, "He's right, Yumi. It's only three minutes passed midnight, she'll be here."

In Lyoko…

Odd couldn't stop himself from pacing around. He was excited and anxious to see Dahlia again, but he couldn't help but have his doubts. What if something was wrong? Jeremie said it was only three minutes after midnight but why did it feel like she was taking too long? Did X.A.N.A. take over? Or maybe she'd been telling the truth about being X.A.N.A. and she just couldn't stop her evil nature as the program that had to take over the world? What if-?

"Odd?" Aelita frowns. She'd sat down, watching him for the last half hour as he paced around and around and around, "Is something troubling you?"

He couldn't stop his frown before sighing and putting his hands on his hips, "I just… What if something happened? I mean…can she control when X.A.N.A.'s taking over…?" He bit his lip. "What if we can't save her…?"

"But what if we can?" She asks with a small smile.

He gave her a small smile back. "Thanks."

Steps were heard, causing them to look up. "Jeremie, is she here?" Aelita asks as the quickly stood up.

"Well, I think so but her icon is different…" He gasps. "Be on your guard. Aelita! Go to the tower!"

Odd readied himself. "Is it… Is it X.A.N.A.? I knew it! I knew something was wrong!" He cocked his arrow shooter aiming for the possible

Yumi and Ulrich headed to the scanner room, ready to go in to protect Aelita at all costs.

"Just be ready," Jeremie warns him. "She's closing in on you fa-"

The words cut out. Odd's golden eyes widened when he saw her. It was obvious that that wasn't Dahlia, but it was someone entirely different. The times that Odd had ever seen her angry, her eyes had been red, but this time he could almost make out the black mark's that were X.A.N.A.'s sign in her pupils. Maybe Aelita and Jeremie's assumption was right. Maybe X.A.N.A. was a virus that had infected Dahlia's system which caused her to make so many different things happen. Her eyes weren't the only thing that looked different. Her hair had changed color from black with a white streak to completely white, and on her outfit was the insignia in red.

"How did this happen…?" Odd couldn't help but ask aloud before dodging an attack from a large sword. The sword seemed to fly back to the possessed Dahlia's hand where she charged forward. "You think you'll take my pawn so easily?" She demands, her voice slightly distorted. "You think I will give her to you without a fight?" The sword raised above Odd's head.

"Accelerate!" In a split second Ulrich was there, blocking the swing with his own katana. "Jeremie, do it now!"

"Inputting code now!" Jeremie calls out into his mic as his fingers furiously typed to bring up the anti-virus. "Processing!"

"Any time!" He yells before being kicked to the side.

X.A.N.A. Dahlia growls. "You'll never win." She looks to Odd and smirks. "She belongs to me. She'll always belong to me."

"Complete!"

Suddenly the girl froze, her body digitized before she screamed. The distorted scream forced the code Lyoko warriors to cover their ears. Even Jeremie had to pull off his headset in slight pain. "What's happening?" He demanded, trying to get his voice over the scream. "Guys?! What's going on?"

Odd stood up, his ears covered as he tried to head over to Dahlia. "What…what are you doing to her?!" He yells to Jeremie. "Why is she-".

A/N: I hope y'all liked it! R&R!