A/N: Wow!!! I got like 25 reviews in the past four days! Thanks everybody! You never guess what happened to me in the night. I had a dream about this story (no joke). I guess it shows you how dedicated I am to the plot. Thanks again. You all are wonderful!

thesuperdot: Well, here it is! Thanks for reviewing.

Kree the wolf: Yeah, I read your story. It's pretty good. I like how you gave Ulrich a past. Anyway, thanks for your kind words.

Yumi-Ulrich4ever: I love your name. Thanks for reviewing.

renayumi04: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Your thirst shall be satisfied.

J(at)lyoko: Sorry, you're not right. Dan's friends are dead. This chapter will explain everything. Thanks for your deductions.

Thing Two 90210: Okay, Yumi wasn't OOC. She's mature for her age and when a friend of hers tries to take his life I can't see her doing anything else other than trying to prevent it from happening. Dan doesn't like getting into other peoples' business but if he's determined to do something he will do it (no matter what/who is in his way). Lastly, yes, Jessica would have moved if she knew Dan was at Kadic but she didn't. Thanks for reviewing.

Purplegirl13: I can't wait to read your story. You seem like a good authoress. Thanks for the info!

Princess of Lalaland: Dan is troubled and sensitive. In the last chapter he snapped. I sorry you think that. Thanks for reviewing.

Fullmetal Angel Alchemist Girl: I have a feeling that you're from the CL forums. Thanks for coming by. Your words are very much appreciated.

Aelita6349: That is one of my personal touches to the story. It makes it a little more humorous. Thanks for reviewing. Also, the POV thing will be fixed sometime in the future. Don't worry.

Doggiegal: Thanks for the words. I'll try to keep you entertained.

specialsnowflake: WOW, all 30 chapters in one day? Thanks for doing that. I know this is a monster of a document so thanks, again.

Disclaimer: I did a whole bunch of Christmas shopping this weekend but one thing I couldn't get was the rights to the show. However, I did get Dan's and Jessica's rights. Hehehe…

Inside the building behind the glass mirror---

The dance ended an hour after it was stared because of all the commotion that Dan made. Naturally, the whole school knows about it since pretty much everybody was there. I have no idea how he's going to live at Kadic now since the entire student body knows that he has a fake arm.

That's the reason why we're here. I don't know why he did what he did but he still needs support. Jessica is with us as well. The sores around her neck are gone but she can't stop staring at him through the mirror. I guess she misses him.

Odd tried to ask her questions about Dan but she wouldn't answer them.

Before Jessica was taken to the infirmary she called somebody named Professor Helen. Minutes after the call, a van pulled up beside the gym and some men in lab coats carried the unconscious boy to the car. I asked if we could come and they agreed once we mentioned that we were his friends. In the car, the men took his arm off and checked his vitals. Jeremie had to do some explaining with how he made a device that could shut his limb down. To say the least it was very creative.

I looked at my cell phone. It was around 4:30 in the morning. The gang, Jessica and I were sitting in chairs trying to sleep but Odd's snoring kept everybody up. He was completely relaxed and spread himself out over two chairs. I would have given my own right arm for some ear plugs.

Even though we didn't dance the night away we were still very tired. I cradled Yumi in my arms and let her use my chest as a pillow in the hope that she would be able to sleep but every now and then she shifted positions because of the constant noise that someone was making.

"I don't see how you can sleep in the same room with that guy." She said half awake.

"It amazes me too." Jeremie commented getting up from his self-inflicted concussion induced slumber. Odd let out another loud roar. "Okay, that's it! I can't take it anymore!"

Without another hesitation the reserve computer genius pulled out the chair that was supporting Odd's feet. They plopped on the floor and the snoring seemed to cease.

"That's more like it." He said returning to his chair. Just before he was about to sit down Odd's mouth opened and allowed another annoyance to escape. Jeremie's face flared red with anger, "ODD, WAKE UP!!!"

At the end of that sentence Odd jolted to life. He looked around the room confused yet wide awake. "Uh? Is it morning yet?" My purple haired friend asked.

"Sure, now just stay awake from now on." He demanded.

"Um, okay." Odd replied a little dazed.

However, before we could rest soundly the door crept open and in walked a man dressed in a white lab coat with a folder in his hand. He flipped a switch next to the mirror. Instantly, some soft harmonious music began to play over a PA system. Yumi let out a sigh and she slipped deeper into my torso, smiling.

"Dan should be awake soon." The man stated and closed the door, "Until he does let me clue you in on what's going on. My name is Professor Helen. I work for the Reed Corporation here in town. We made Dan's prosthetic arm if you didn't know.

As you may or may not be aware of this but Jessica and he grew up together. However, an incident happened four years ago and when he wakes up I'm going to share with him the truth of what happened."

Jessica stood up as if she had been called to do so. "Yes, that's right. You can talk about it now, Jessica." The professor looked into the adjacent room, "Well, it looks like he's come to."

Professor Helen left the room and we looked at Jessica confused.

"So, you weren't allowed to talk about it before?" I asked.

"Yes, that's right." She replied resuming her previous role of studying Dan's movements. "I couldn't mention it to anybody outside my immediate family."

"Why not?" Odd asked.

"It's a long story and by the looks of it I think Professor Helen is about to tell it." Jessica said.

I looked through the glass and saw Professor Helen on the ground with Dan's foot strategically placed on his neck. "Um, should we do something?" Yumi inquired.

"I wouldn't worry about it." Jessica answered, "I know him too well. He won't hurt him." She sighed. I listened in on their conversation.

Inside the room---

"You better have a good reason." I said walking back to my chair. Professor Helen picked up his metal folding seat and sat back down. He passed me the file.

"Take a look." He said. I opened the folder and rummaged through its content.

There were many different kinds of report in the folder. Dental records, eye exams, hospital visits, etc. It was Jessica's entire medical history.

I thought out loud confused, "I don't get it. What does this have to do with what happened?"

"Well, most of that is just background info. If you'll turn to the orange tab, that's were it begins."

I turn to the first page that was beyond the bookmark. It had two large red ink stamps. One read "Top Secret", the second "Declassified". The later one was signed and dated with today's date by somebody whose signature I didn't recognize. I was intrigued by this phenomenon and glanced at the next several pages. They all shared the same fate.

I altered my attention back to the first page. It showed an X-ray of a Jessica's skull with a large white area that consumed a good chunk of the top portion of her head.

I've studied enough X-rays in my life to know what it meant. She had or has some kind of brain cancer. At the bottom of the picture was a date. It identified the picture as being from August of four years ago.

I stood up in shock. "That's impossible. She couldn't have had cancer back then. That summer she acted perfectly normal!"

"A lot of people who have cancer don't know that they do, Dan." Professor Helen stated crossing his arms, "We're lucky that we found it when we did."

I sat down and shook my head in disbelief. "I had no idea."

"That's only half of it. Look at the next few pages." I did and the sound of pages being flipped echoed off the walls.

Several different neurosurgeons analyses and conclusions filled my eyes as I absorbed the information. I still don't know how this was all connected but I was confident that I would find out soon enough.

"So her dad had her see a lot of doctors about it."

"Yes," the professor continued, "Her father sent her to see numerous doctors once he discovered the bad news. To summarize what followed, all the doctors said the same thing. It was too risky to surgically remove the cancer and Chemotherapy would kill her because it covered such a large area. The only other option left was to have her live out the rest of her life which would have been at most until the end of that year."

"But that obviously didn't happen, did it?"

"No, it didn't. Her father through a business contact reached my office and explained his dilemma. The previous year we had struck a contract with the United States Department of Defense in cybernetic development. It just happened to be coincidence that we were also studying the medical application of the synaptic link when he talked to me.

I felt sad for the little girl and her father so I brought the matter before the committee that oversaw our research. They agreed to help.

After we made the deal, my research team and I began to think of ways to save Jessica's life. A month later, the first week of October, we had made an experimental implant that would be able to help."

I interrupted Professor Helen with a question, "Wait, the first week of October she started to act really strange. Could that have been the cancer?"

"Possibly. What was so strange?"

"She just wanted to get physically close to me. It seemed completely out of her character. I didn't really understand it."

The scientist took a few second to think then concluded, "Hmmm, I…don't think the cancer would do that. If anything her motor skills would have been the first to suffer." The doctor turned at the mirror, "Maybe you should ask her that yourself."

"She watching?!" I proclaimed ecstatically.

"Your friends are too." He motioned lazily towards the reflection. "Anyway, I'll continue. The device we made linked into her cerebral pathways and intercepted her brain activity. Accordingly, the device would emit small amounts of low-level radiation into the affected parts in conjunction with sending signals to her brain telling it to produce natural resistances. This made it so that her cancer would be treated around the clock and on two different fronts and yet not be as lethal as Chemo.

It worked perfectly but something happened on the day of the massacre."

"Like what?" I inquired.

"Well, to state it simply it worked perfectly; too perfectly. The cancer was completely eradicated by the day of the massacre. However, the device went a step further. It took preemptive measures to make sure that the cancer wouldn't come back.

It wasn't until after the event happened that we discovered the flaw. It was designed to do that but not to this extent. Somehow the device manipulated her brainwaves to view people around her as causes and well, you know what happened.

After it occurred we lost our contract with the U.S. so we had to come here."

My mind stopped thinking for once in my life. This was extraordinary. The whole time I…I—I was…wrong. She was found innocent because…she was. My anger towards her vanished.

"So you're saying that she didn't kill them. It was this…malfunction?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

"Politics, red tape; it was classified, top-secret government information. It was so sensitive that even the court transcripts couldn't mention it.

Believe me, I wanted to tell you and so did Jessica but if we did then you know what would happen. We knew that if you found out you would be killed so we purposefully made Jessica move away from you.

At first we made her move to different schools. About a year ago, she wanted to come to Paris so we let her. I guess we were wrong to think that you wouldn't come after her."

"That's the understatement of the century." I said matter-of-factly.

"The only reason why the committee declassified the documents an hour ago was because so many people found out about the 'dance' incident yesterday and are already asking questions. Well, that and the politics in France are also a little different. They're more lenient. You should be thankful."

"Is that all?" I asked to make sure that it was.

"Yes, that's it." The professor added, "But I want to say two more things: First, there is going to be an assembly tomorrow at your school to explain this whole deal so you won't be asked too many questions.

Second is that if you hadn't hit her on the head with your left arm like you stated in your testimony then she, her parents and anybody else who came through that door would probably be dead now.

As advance as that device was, it became very weak that last day because it had been used so much.

Dan, what I guess I'm trying to say here is that you're a hero."

A hero, me? Is that even possible? I looked down at table surface and began to ponder that thought.

"Would you like to see your friends?" Professor Helen asked.

"Please." I pleaded. A minute later, the four filed into the room and gathered around me.

"Your arm is repaired and will be in your dorm room shortly." Professor Helen informed me. "Jeremie, don't you go near it." He said in a serious tone as he closed the door. My former best friend wasn't among them.

"Hey, Dan, you all right?" asked the brown haired boy.

"Yeah." I replied in a soft voice, "It's just a lot of information." Odd yawned. "Thanks for staying up. What time is it?"

"Almost 5 in the morning," Jeremie answered. I nodded. The angry I once held against him disappeared. I was actually glad, now, that he did stop me from making a terrible mistake. Oh, what a mistake it would have been. "Hey, Dan, don't take this the wrong way but why did you start choking Jessica?"

"A year ago I decided that I would kill her if she wasn't repentant for what she did. However, now that I know she didn't kill them I suppose I owe her and you guys an apology. I'm sorry for deceiving you; I didn't expect it would have to come to that. I can understand if you guys don't want to be friends anymore." I refused to look at them for I wasn't worthy to be called their friend.

"Don't say that, Dan. We're your friends no matter what." Yumi encouraged. "Well, are you ready to go? Ulrich will stay in your room tonight." Ulrich gave a concerning look and Yumi nodded to him. He nodded back.

Yumi and the others are so forgiving. I truly appreciate them staying with me.

"Thanks. Yeah, let's go." I replied. We then walked out of the building and went to our dorms for what was left of the night.

A/N: Did I mention that the next chapter will be the last?