A/N: I must say, I like writing this story. The whole idea just intrigues me. I'm sure that you'll agree with me. Anyway, on with the reviews!

renayumi: Thanks for the compliments and thanks for reviewing. Enjoy.

Yuri Nishidera: You are going to like this chapter. That kiss is the main reason why I made this story. Thanks for reviewing.

Janika: I'll help you out, don't worry. About the surgery thing and cell phones, it's just with Tristan. I mean he's the only one who has such a thing. If you liked the last chapter then you'll love this one.

Chineschic: Sissy is annoying and always will be. Don't worry I get back at her in this chapter. You will love this. Don't worry about Tristan, I'll reveal a few things every now and then about him but for the most part I'm going to save it for the end.

RaptorK Beta: Thanks for the tip. I'll be sure to change that later. Anyway, the bandana cover a scar from the 1st electrical incident (I said so in ch. 2). The implant isn't exactly in his head either. I'll explain more at the end of the story.

Little Vili: Yeah, I like it too. I thought it was a little predictable. Believe it or not but that scene was the main reason for writing this story. I just had to think about it then write about it.

thesuperdot: Nope not in this story. He might in another one (hint, hint) but not today.

Jlyoko: I hope for this story to be about 9 or 10 chapters. It depends on what I want to write about. Anyway, yeah Ulrich does break down. Nothing is what it seems with Tristan, let me assure you that.

An older and more annoying Sissy strutted towards "Ulrich". She continued, "It's important."

Both Ulrichs were already familiar this tactic and responded in the same way. "No it's not," they spoke in unison. Upon hearing each others voice, they turned to one another.

Sissy stopped and studied the children behind "Ulrich". One of them looked almost identical to the object of her affection. The other appeared like she was related to Yumi.

"Ulrich", "Yumi" and Tristan wondered it their secret would be revealed. It would spell disaster if it was, especially to a person like Sissy. Tristan immediately thought of ways to divert the conversation away from the younger kids and to rationalize their presence. However, he never got the chance to speak.

"Oh, how adorable!" Sissy shrieked. "I didn't know you had a little brother!" She then slithered over to the younger Ulrich. "He's sooooo cute!" she exclaimed, pinching his left cheek.

"Will you stop that?" he tried to say, whipping his arm out and knocking Sissy's grip on his tender face into the air.

Sissy giggled at his reaction. It was typical of some kids his age. "Not even interested in girls yet, huh?" She giggled. "This is priceless."

"Oh, I like girls, just not ones that are full of themselves!" he responded, rubbing his cheek which hosted a rather large pinkish pinch.

"Sissy, what do you want?" the older Ulrich declared, sternly. The pestering of his younger self was getting on his nerves. He wanted this time to be fun for them, not torturous. The fact that she was even in his presence at this time after the show angered him even more.

She responded that she needed to talk to "Ulrich" in private. Then she entwined her arm with his and dragged him away from Yumi and outside the double doors like a romantic couple.

Outside, Sissy informed "Ulrich" that she had removed "Yumi's" clothes from the "Return to Corp" rack and put them on her dressing mirror. Then she followed him here. The catch was that if "Ulrich" didn't give "Yumi" up this instant then she would be forced to pay for her entire wardrobe which would be equivalent to about three months worth of salary.

She continued her blackmail, "…and if you tell Yumi and she calls Doreen then I'll make sure that she won't be in the next few shows since my dad has a voice in the college board and can easily do some…disciplinary measures. I'm sure you know how that'll affect her."

Two years ago, a modeling agency was formed in Paris and asked Principal Delmas, the principal at Kadic High at that time, if they could host a screening for potential models at the high school. He agreed and let them do their try-outs. When all was said and done, three students from the school were on the list for the next show. "Yumi" and Sissy were, of course, two of the three. However, in order to continue modeling the girls had to keep a "B" average and stay out of trouble.

When Sissy and the rest of the class of 2011 graduated, her dad was promoted to the Disciplinary Committee for the college that the gang and Sissy currently attend. What Sissy said was true and he could and would do that for his daughter.

"Ulrich", was stunned that she'd go this far to get "Yumi" out of his life. She knew that "Yumi" had always been the love of his life ever since he joyfully told her that they were a couple many years ago. They had gone out on countless dates with and without her intervening yet she still couldn't get the point. "Ulrich" had told Sissy as many times as there are stars in the sky that he will never fall in love with her.

"Ulrich" scanned his surroundings. They were the only ones outside. "Sissy, I've been waiting a while to do this. Looking back, I should have done this a long time ago…."

The girl couldn't be more thrilled with his response. Sissy was so shocked that she almost fell backwards off the cement hand rail that she was sitting on.

"So, that means that you'll…," Sissy began but stopped because her next few words made her speechless.

"Ulrich" finished her sentence, "It means that YOU need to take a hint and leave Yumi and me alone!" He was red in the face. This was by far the worst Sissy attack that had ever happened. Never before had she done something that would actually inflict serious harm and either "Ulrich" or "Yumi". She had to be stopped once and for all. Unfortunately, the only way to do that was to knock some sense into her, literally.

"Ulrich" drew back his arm just like he had thousands of times in Lyoko with his sword and thrust it in the dead center of Sissy's face, right between the eyes. The force of the hit was so intense that she flew off the railing rather than falling. His class ring which he always wore as a reminder of his accomplishments made an imprint on her skin. The last "1" in 2011 looked like an "L" since he hit her from an angle.

Two garbage cans with plastic bags of junk broke her fall but couldn't do anything for her face. She was temporarily unconscious from his explosive anger. "Ulrich" took advantage of this time and left the scene.

"Yumi" met "Ulrich" halfway in the hallway before the corner. She had seen this scene all too many times and knew how to handle it. She asked, "So, what is it this time?"

The punch left "Ulrich" with a mental sickness. He had never before punched anyone, even when he got fouled in soccer and the referee made a bad call. His anger was justifiable but it just didn't feel right for him to do that.

An emotionally torn "Ulrich" replied, "I don't want to talk about it." He then tried to walk around "Yumi" but she stopped him.

The girl understood "Ulrich" more than he knew. She could tell by his actions that something big happened and she didn't want him to deal with it alone. "Ulrich, please, you promised me that we wouldn't have any secrets between us."

The older Ulrich gave in and told her the whole deal. "Yumi" was sympathetic to him but not because he felt guilty for what he did but because he finally stood up to Sissy. She hugged him and then led him back to the others.

Odd and Jeremie had found their way back to the group. With the change that the younger Ulrich gave Odd, Jeremie bought a candy bar called "Einstein Crunch" and Odd purchased a newspaper and a small snickers. He didn't get anything for the others because they ran out of money.

The fact that Odd was actually reading stunned his roommate. It was completely out-of-character for him. He asked, quizzically, "Odd, why are you reading a newspaper?"

The paper-reading person doubled the pages over to see him. He replied, "Lottery numbers. It was 98 million last week with no winners."

"That's not a bad idea," Tristan commented, "assuming that nothing you do will affect the numbers."

"Odd," the older Ulrich said. Ever since his friends' death "Ulrich" had always had a soft spot for him. Whenever people discussed him even in the slightest terms he got very defensive. "Yumi" was holding his hand for support, it was shaking.

The spiky-haired kid turned around and looked at his older roommate. He set the paper down and walked over to him. His emotions weren't as troubling as his friends' but he knew that this must be very troubling for him from what Tristan told them. "Hey buddy," he said nervously, "…I guess it's been a while."

There was no more than three feet between the two. "Ulrich" didn't know what to say. He was just stared at him and let his emotions do the talking. Odd also broke the silence and greeted "Yumi". She responded with, "Hi, Odd. It's nice to see you." Then, "Ulrich" let go of his girlfriends' hand and embraced his friend. His eyes became teary as he inhaled the all too familiar smell that was so distinctively Odd. He had very much missed his friend.

"Yumi" smiled at yet another display of "Ulrich" emotions. For some time she had encouraged him to be more social and open with his feelings. Secretly, she hoped that this day would bring some much needed closure for him.

"Ulrich" stayed like that for about a half minute. He didn't want to let Odd go again but he had to. When he did Odd told him, "I was told about what happened to me. Don't worry, Ulrich, we'll make sure that won't happen in my time."

"Jeremie" sat next to his beloved "Aelita" in her hospital room. They talked about anything that was on their minds. That is, everything that "Aelita" hadn't experienced yet. Even though the older Aelita had taken far more trips to the real world than her younger self she still had only a finite number of experiences.

"So what's it like in Eiffel's tower?" she asked.

"Jeremie" laughed at her naïve-ness. Her lack of knowledge and innocence were two things that he fell in love with. He had always enjoyed correcting her and teaching her new things. The genius replied, "It's not Eiffel's Tower, Aelita, it's the Eiffel Tower and the view is spectacular."

She laughed at her own ignorance. Then "Jeremie" joined her. As the two enjoyed each other company they heard people talking outside the door.

"I guess the others are here," Aelita said. Jeremie concurred. They exchanged good-byes and the older Einstein exited the room.

The younger Aelita was sitting on the floor next to the room's entrance. Her knees were pulled tightly against her chest and her arms were wrapped around them. She was startled when "Jeremie" came out.

"Oh, hi Jeremie," she spoke softly.

"Hey, how are you doing?" he asked.

"Okay," she answered, "…I think."

"Hey, don't let this bother you. We're going to help you. Everything will be fine, you'll see," he reassured her.

"Tristan said that I should be the next to see the older me," Aelita confessed. She knew that a hospital was a place where people go to die so to hear that her older self was here frightened her.

"Jeremie" helped her up and she went in the room. Then he joined the others.

Aelita closed the door gently, not wanting to disturb her older self if she were asleep. Quietly, she stepped over to the edge of her bed.

Her older self's eyes opened to see her. A smile appeared on "Aelita's" face. She wanted to tell her so much about living and life in the real world, the experiences that she had with "Jeremie" and the others, experiences that she hoped one day that her younger self would participate in too.

Aelita's older version reached up and touched her hand. The wire from the glucose drop followed her and also touched the younger one's body. This scared her and she stepped back quivering in fear.

"It's okay Aelita. It doesn't hurt," the older one said.

"W-what is it?" she asked, curiously.

Not wanting to get into medical terminology that she wouldn't understand the older girl replied, "It helps me stay awake."

She pointed to another one and asked, "And that one?"

"It monitors my heart beat."

"This one?"

"It makes it so I don't have to get up to go to the bathroom." Her older self could see the fear in her trembling knees. She spoke, hoping to calm her nerves, "Aelita, don't worry. Everything is okay."

However, her younger self couldn't understand why she said that. Everything was not okay. First, Odd might die. Second, the threat of X.A.N.A. was still there and worse than ever. Third, they still needed to get back to their own time. On top of that this whole mess could be attributed to her selfish want of being materialized. The younger one started crying.

"Aelita, what's wrong?" she asked then coughed.

That cough startled her younger self. To her it meant that she was dying, for only the sick and dying cough. Knowing that Odd might die was one thing but to be in her own presence when her future self died, she couldn't bear it. The emotional girl ran out of the room crying like a little child.

She found her way to the Jeremie who first discovered her and buried her face in his chest.

"Jeremie, I want to go home, back to our time," she chocked out of her tear-pouring face.

"Aelita, what is it?" Jeremie asked, embracing her. She told him that her older self was dying and she didn't want to be there when she actually did and that the cause was because of her desire to be materialized. Tristan assured her that there won't be any serious problems until later that evening and that it wasn't because of her that "Aelita" was suffering. However, due to her lack of knowledge his statement didn't help her.

In his experience, there was only one thing that could calm Aelita down and that was to spend time with Jeremie, alone. Tristan pulled out his wallet and took out a plastic card and a flat plastic bag no bigger than one square inch. He handed the card to the younger Jeremie who accepted it.

Tristan instructed him, "Take this. It's my universal I.D. card. It works pretty much like the debit cards of your time except you don't have a pin number." He then pealed off a layer of plastic from the bag and put the pressed the remainder on the top-side of Jeremie's right hand. "This is a salt solution that is unique to my body. Without it the card won't work. This will last for twenty-four hours." Tristan finished pressing and took off the patch.

"What is this for?" Jeremie asked.

"There is a carnival in town around the tower," his friend replied, "I want you to take Aelita there and have both of you have the time of your lives tonight. My card pretty much has an unlimited balance."

"I doubt that," "Yumi" replied.

"Come on, Yumi, what could they possibly spend THAT much money on?" Tristan refuted.

"You obviously, don't know anything about girls," she replied in an all-knowing tone.

"Ulrich" butted in, "No, he just doesn't know you." Surprisingly, there wasn't any reaction to from the older companion.

"Well, whatever," the generous man declared, "Get going you two, the night is young."

With that, the two exited the hospital and went to the carnival.

The younger gang took turns seeing the older Aelita. First was Odd. Aelita had missed his sense of humor and quirky jokes. Making her laugh again wasn't very hard and cheered her up to the point of which that she almost forgot she was infected with a virus.

Ulrich came in next. She told him that Yumi loved him dearly. He was sick of people making jokes about him and her and asked "Aelita" to not reveal anything more to either him or Yumi. Ulrich wanted to figure things out on his own and change the subject.

Yumi was told that Ulrich would be the love of her life. "Aelita" ignored Ulrich's plead because she knew it was for the better. She answered all of Yumi's questions about Ulrich and everything else that was on her mind.

Unfortunately, Jeremie went with Aelita to the carnival and couldn't see her. She understood this and hoped that some time during this trip she would get to talk to him.

The others with the exception of Jeremie left the hospital and went to the college dorms that they everyone but "Yumi" lived at. "Jeremie" insisted that he be with "Aelita" just in case the virus progressed and they'd have to return her to Lyoko.

"That went well," the older Aelita said.

"Except for your younger self," Jeremie replied.

She giggled. "Yeah, I can't believe I was that…clueless."

"I can," he responded scooting his chair closer to her bed, smiling.

She sat up and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks for staying, Jeremie," she said as his face turned a light red. No matter how much time they spend together Aelita always had a way of making Jeremie feel special and vice-a-versa.

"Jeremie, what's that?" she asked pointing to a little red dot on his chest. It was blood. He spotted another drop of it on his pants and another on the bed rail. Then there were several on "Aelita's" hospital gown. Finally, he traced the red stains to their origin: her nose.

Quickly, Jeremie grabbed a near-by tissue box and handed a few to her. She clogged her nose with them and "Jeremie" cleaned up the other drops.

"Is everything okay?" he asked. "Aelita" nodded.

"Do you think you can hold out until the night?"

"Yes," she responded, "If anything I'll do it for my younger self. She needs the younger you right now." "Jeremie" agreed.

The nose bleed was a sign that the virus was progressing. It had three stages. The first, were nose bleeds. Some time later, the second stage would affect her vision and eventually she'd become blind. The third stage occurs when "Aelita" goes through fainting spells and later becomes complete unconscious. Nobody knows what happens after that but the gang could imagine that it wasn't good. The amount of time between the stages has varied in all of her previous trips to the real world so there was no telling how much time she had left.

A/N: for those of you who don't know J&A is my favorite couple to write about so expect a nice scene with those two in the next chapter. Also, do review. I do like hearing from people. Until next time, may you kiss you future bf/gf soon.