(Monday October 10, 2005)
The scream died on her lips as she woke. Slowly breathing she tried to calm herself, the nightmare hit a little too close to home this time. Had she and Odd been any slower on Lyoko then Ulrich and Yumi would have…
Aelita looked around in panic, taking in the dark of her room. It seemed X.A.N.A. had his way of getting to her without activating a tower… through her own fear. Terror was not good, X.A.N.A. may not have the physical ability to strike out at the group without activating a tower, but he could mess with them mentally. What better way to do that then to try to eliminate one of the group than to break their spirits?
She swiftly threw the covers off herself, threw a t-shirt on, and walked out her door.
Jeremie woke to the sound of light but incessant knocking on his door. Reaching for his glasses he trudged over to his door. He was fairly certain it had to be Odd trying to get him to help with some half-cocked music video idea… which could wait until morning.
"Odd if this is another damn stupid music vid I…" The words swiftly died before they got halfway out of his throat when he saw his princess.
Now to say that Jeremie had a slight weakness and uneasiness when it came to Aelita could be a bit of an understatement. He could have moments of drastic overprotection when it came to her, order her to do things to keep her out of danger or that might place her in danger. He could even admit he could go overboard at times and seems to forbid her from doing ANYTHING outgoing just out of fear. However, the sight of Aelita clearly fighting back tears and looking worried to death was reason for him to actually be concerned.
"Aelita," he whispered hoarsely voice clogged with worry, "Whats wrong?"
She looked at him, her mouth moving but not forming any words. A slight choke came out before she launched herself onto Jeremie. Burring her face within his shirt whimpering softly.
Stumbling back half a step, Jeremie quickly steadied himself before giving a brief-and honestly in his opinion not well done- look around the hallway. Seeing it bare of anyone, he pulled Aelita inside before shutting the door. "
"Aelita," Jeremie repeated this time a little more firmly, "What's wrong?"
A half-choked answer was mumbled into his chest, "X.A.N.A… Ulrich… Yumi… I was too slow."
The bi-speckled genius took a moment to consider her words. At first, they seemed like nothing but rubbish, then it hit him. Yumi and Ulrich had been trapped in a sauna more or less by X.A.N.A a few weeks back and had nearly been steamed cooked alive. Aelita had barely made it in time to stop it. It wasn't the first time they had come close to death but… it was a little more gruesome in manner than how X.A.N.A normally operated.
"Aelita, everything's alright. We're here, we're safe."
Jeremie just held Aelita, his angel-his love if he was to be honest with himself- until her cry subsided into soft whimpers. Finally, after a few minutes of gently rocking Aelita in his arms he felt her sobs turn into gentle breathing.
After waiting a few minutes to make sure Aelita was in a was in a deep sleep Jeremie gently picked her up and carried her to his bed. Easier to let his Princess sleep and worry about Jim in the morning, he thought, then to wake her and risk getting caught out this late.
Jeremie smiled before laying a gentle kiss on her forehead.
He grimaced as he looked at his computer, he could get back to work on looking for an antivirus or… he reached into the storage space under his bed. He could use a little sleep himself.
He pulled out an extra blanket and laid down opposite of Aelita, 'So close, yet so far left to go'.
Various thoughts and ideas went through his head before he drifted off to sleep listening to Aelita's soft breathing. As for Lyoko's princess, for once in a long while she slept through the night.
I know I haven't written in a while but I'm going to try to make an effort to try to publish more.
Also I know this isn't my usual stuff but… I'm feeling Nostalgic.