What is Life?

Jeremie popped the cricks in his neck before typing again. Sissi typed along on her laptop while Aelita oversaw Jeremie's calculations. Jeremie and Sissi already hypothesized that were other replicas besides the four they knew. They had been destroying them by using Jeremie's Teleportation program which allowed the team to be virtualized into the real world from the replicas to destroy their supercomputers. Though they had a secret weapon in mind, Jeremie explained that destroying the replicas would weaken XANA. Aelita questioned the apparent secretive nature between Sissi and Jeremie.

"One," Sissi listed off, "Ever since XANA used the memories of your snow cottage to trick you, I think he listens to our conversations."

"How?" Aelita asked.

"He uses electricity. Until we can put XANA to bed, I want to keep everything under wraps," Sissi said. "So for right now, we're using the time to destroy the replicas and work on our... other project."

"Right," Aelita nodded. "Would the project... you know, interfere with any... other activity?" Sissi rose her eyebrow with a wide smirk. "I mean, you know."

"Don't worry," Sissi said, cracking her knuckles, "If Einstein gets any ideas of trying to skip out on your concert for the Sub-Digitals, he'll have to deal with me." Jeremie pulled at his apparently hot brown turtleneck collar. Sissi yawned, stood up, and stretched, "Well, I think we should get going."

"What if-"

"You have the program on a restricted part of the computer." Sissi rubbed Jeremie's shoulders. "Relax, Einstein. Your brain needs a break."

"Alright, alright. I'll take a break," Jeremie griped at Aelita's light giggling. They left the computer lab and walked back to school. The afternoon sun trickled through the forest leaves of pre-autumn as Jeremie asked, "When does William come back from his break?"

"About a week, why?" Sissi asked.

"Did he tell you where he was going?"

"No, you?" Jeremie shook his head. "Why would he keep it a secret?" Jeremie and Aelita glanced at her with deadpanned faces. Sissi's eyes jumped open. "That little..." She scrambled for her phone and called William.

"H-H-Hello?" William had such a tremble in his voice that it almost didn't sound like him.

"William," She said calmly, "How are you doing?"

"Oh! Sissi! I'm fine. What's up? Is... you know who on the move?"

"Why are you saying you know who? Aren't you in your house with your parents?"

"Yes! Of course. I'm just making sure that they don't overhear. Thin walls, you know," William replied hastily.

"That's interesting because I'm looking at your location from the computer lab and it says you're at the coastline. Care to explain?" Sissi grumbled.

"Okay, listen, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but Sam and I-"

"William, she was lying," Jeremie shouted loud enough for him to hear.

"Oh... darn it!"

"So," Sissi smirked, "How's Sam?" There was movement over the phone.

"Why don't you ask her yourself," Sam replied over the phone. "Do you have to torture him like that, Sissi?"

"You know me: always playing around," Sissi grinned.

"Is that why you haven't gotten with Odd yet?" Sam could feel Sissi frown. "Alright, that was a low blow. I'm sorry. But could you stop messing with William? Isn't he your friend?"

"The ones I'm close friends, I treat the harshest. You should know that."

"Right, how can I forget," Sam sighed.

"Alright, I'll leave him alone... for now. Have a nice time. Oh! And Sam. There is one thing I... don't want you to do while William's there," Sissi whispered something over the phone that Aelita and Jeremie couldn't make out. Suddenly, Sissi laughed and pulled the phone away from her ear while Sam shouted.

"SISSI! I SWEAR WHEN I SEE YOU I'M GONNA F-"

Click!

"What was that about?" Jeremie asked as Sissi put her phone away.

"Don't worry about it," The Dragon Queen smirked, flipping her hair back.

Later on, the Sub-Digitals concert came right into view. Sissi was working on another project when Aelita stormed into her room. "Ah! Just the person I wanted to... wait, what's wrong?" The pink-haired girl had small streaks of tears down her cheek. Sissi's eyes darkened. "What did Jeremie do?"

"Nothing, it's just... he's going to be a little late to the concert," Aelita sighed. Sissi blinked, got up, and walked out of the room with her cane in hand. "Sissi, what are you doing?"

"I just want to talk to him," Sissi said too sweetly.

"Sissi, what are you gonna-"

"I just want to talk to him." Sissi opened Jeremie's door. The genius was obliviously typing away. "Perfect." Sissi walked in and rose her cane high above his head. .

"No!" Aelita blocked Sissi's blow with her arm "What are you doing?"

"I just wanted to talk with him," Sissi calmly replied.

"By hurting him!"

"It's called non-verbal communication. Try kissing him, he'll understand."

"What's happening?" Jeremie asked as he finally turned around.

Aelita sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose. "Sissi was about to hit you with her cane."

"I still can," Sissi said.

"NO!"

"Jeremie, why on earth are you not going?" Sissi demanded.

"I'm gonna go. I'm just going to be a little late."

"And Yumi and Ulrich will go out before we graduate," Sissi retorted, "Why are you so stupid sometimes?"

"Look, I promise I won't be long. I just have to finish up the last touches of-"

"Jeremie you're doing it again!" Sissi shouted. "You're using XANA as an excuse for skipping out on the important things in life! Let me ask you this: if we win or lose against XANA, what do you want to remember when it comes?"

Jeremie furrowed his eyebrows. "And don't you want to live in a world where we don't have to fight XANA forever?" he shot back.

"Enough both of you!" Aelita shouted. "I just wanted some encouragement for this concert but now I'm more worried than ever." She ran out of the room with tears in her eyes. Sissi grumbled under her breath as Jeremie rubbed his neck.

"Alright, look," Sissi said to Jeremie, "Why don't I help you with the calculations, but I'm setting a timer so we know exactly when to leave, got it, Einstein?" Sissi pointed at his brain.

"Okay, okay. I should tell Aelita," Jeremie sighed. Sissi ruffled his blond hair.

"That's better," She smiled. "Now get going. I'll look at your calculations." While Jeremie ran out, Sissi jumped into the chair and started typing away.

She must have done a long blink because Sissi looked around when she and Jeremie were done, and it was dim and dark. Then the timer rang. "SHOOT! We finished right on time!"

"Huh? Wha?" Jeremie shook out of his focus.

"We have to get going," Sissi said, saving everything. "Come on!"

"You have the tickets?"

"Yeah, come on!" They ran out of the dormitory and rushed to the concert hall under the night sky. "Dang it! She's gonna kill us."

"Sissi, thanks for helping. I couldn't have-"

"Thank me when your girlfriend doesn't kill us both," Sissi panted with a smile. "Or at least you."

"She's not my girlfriend," Jeremie panted.

"Ugh!" Sissi stopped running. "And when is that going to change? You know, I don't know what you two are. Are you just two people that kiss each other once in a while? What is it?" Jeremie stayed quiet while Sissi called Aelita. "Hey, Princess?"

"Sissi? What's going on?"

"We're half-way to the concert. Sorry, we're running late," Sissi said.

"Actually, you're a little early. Thanks," Aelita smiled.

"Don't mention it. Don't worry, I have your boyfriend in tow," The Dragon Queen smirked at Jeremie's blushing face.

Aelita blushed but said, "Well, make sure that he comes ready with an apology waiting for me." Sissi's jaw dropped while Aelita giggled and hung up.

"What did she say?" Jeremie asked.

"Uh... I think I'm rubbing off on her too much," Sissi muttered.

Regrettably, they had to cut Aelita's concert short because the Sub-Digital's manager, Milly, and Tamiya went XANA-fied. The team narrowly de-activated the tower and did a Return to the Past to Aelita's concert night. The pink-haired girl was getting prepared when Sissi and Jeremie walked in. "Hey," Sissi smiled.

"You guys made it!" Aelita smiled.

"Of course," Jeremie smiled, "There was no way Sissi was gonna let me miss it a second time."

"You know, I... I'm sorry for snapping at your guys like that. It was crazy to do this stunt," Aelita said.

"Well, Aelita. Sometimes we have to be a little insane to get the most out of life," Jeremie replied. He glanced at Sissi and smiled, "And sometimes, we have to live a little to do our work right. Because life is more important than anything XANA can throw at us."

The Mechanist smiled warmly and ruffled Jeremie's head when the manager came in. "You're up, Aelita."

"Knock'em dead, Princess," Sissi winked.

Sissi's eyes bore into the metal piece while Odd sat with Kiwi. "Are you sure it's okay to have him around here?" Odd asked.

"It's fine. I removed all the loose parts, picked up any nail or metal, and removed the chemicals. Besides, if he does anything, you'll keep an eye on him," Sissi replied. The dog walked to her seat and jumped into her lap. "Aww, Kiwi. I know you want to play, but I have to work on this." The dog didn't seem to care. He just sat in Sissi's lap, breathing slowly as he slept. The Mech-head rolled her eyes. She didn't have the heart to move him and simply refocused on her invention.

"What are you working on this time? It's been taking a while," Odd asked.

"Something," Sissi replied. "It's kinda hard to explain. Basically, if it works, it should be a suit of armor."

"With those small long wires?"

"You'll see," Sissi smirked over her shoulder. She got a flash of Odd's frown. "What's the matter? You're... quieter than normal."

Odd was silent for a moment before he finally said anything. "You know Sam and William are dating, right?"

WHRREEEEERRR! Sissi quickly caught the small spinning saw she dropped on the desk. Kiwi bolted to her bed, trembling in Odd's lap. "Sorry, Kiwi!" Sissi apologized.

"Are you okay?" Odd asked.

"I'm fine! I'm fine."

"That's not the reaction I was expecting."

"Well," Sissi spun around in her chair, "I didn't know you knew." Odd rose his eyebrow. Sissi looked away. "What I mean is-"

"You knew about it, didn't you?"

Sissi sighed, hanging her head, "Yes, I didn't want to worry about it because I didn't-"

"It's okay, Sissi," He replied with a grand smile. "I'm fine. Sure, I was bummed out for a moment, but I understand why."

"So... you're not going to kill William?" Sissi asked.

"What? You really think I would be that upset?" Odd smirked.

"Well-"

"I'm fine. Besides, there are tons of girls ready for the old Odd charm."

Sissi crossed her arms and smugly smiled, "You mean the same charm that got you slapped, barked at, and dumped?"

"What can I say? It's tough for a guy," Odd shrugged. Sissi rolled her eyes.

Then she thought for a moment. About two years had passed since the group first discovered the supercomputer and about, or close to, one and a half years past since Sissi was on the team. After Sam left for the coast, a jack-in-the-box revelation came to Sissi. She should have noticed it sooner. Odd and she were together for long periods of time, and the fact that they hadn't seen him so distracted on other things should have alerted her. But it didn't. His grades were up, but that could only happen if one thing was removed. But why would he remove it? Sissi paused as her head tilted to the side, and she narrowed her eyes.

It didn't make sense. Of course, none of the others would have picked up on it except her, but that was only because he talked about his other dates for the majority of their time together, at first anyway. Something was off.

So she asked, "Odd? Why aren't you dating anyone?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Well, after Sam started teaching me skateboarding, I don't recall you ever going out with anyone anymore. It's weird."

Odd shrugged, "Can't a guy just take a break for a while?" Kiwi slowly made his way back to Sissi's lap like nothing happened.

"Yes," She said, petting the dog, "But you're not a normal guy."

"What are you really trying to get at, Your Majesty? Hmm?" Odd smirked. Sissi shook his head. "I don't know. After Sam, I focused on other things."

"Like?"

"Lyoko, school, my newest video for the school. Don't worry, I didn't make fun of you," Odd promised.

"You better not," Sissi fussed. She picked up Kiwi and set him down while she got up. Cracking her back, she stretched her limbs and got her cane again. "We better get to the training grounds. Jim's not gonna want us to be late."

"Tell me again why we kept with this brutal training?" Odd asked.

"Because without it, I can beat you up whenever I want," Sissi said, raising her fist at him.

"But you could do that anytime!"

"I know, but I still want a challenge," She smirked. Odd nervously grinned as they walked out of her room.

Continued...