Summary: No X.A.N.A, no Yumi, Odd or Ulrich. Just my version of Lyoko, and it's people. Aelita is the 'royal outcast', until a certain human boy comes along. J/A forever!
Disclaim: I own all of Lyoko's original inhabitants, the language, and such. I don't own Lyoko, Jeremie, or Aelita.
Now, on to chapter three.
"I don't like it."
Frustration bubbled inside Aelita's stomach and she glared at her mother in silent rebellion. The queen frowned, but, for once in her life, Aelita didn't look away.
"You have put too much trust into that boy, Aelita. He could be dangerous."
"Dangerous, Mother?" Aelita echoed, her voice wry. Whispers of the elders behind the two grew, but the Princess ignored them. "Jeremie is a stranger, yes, but he is still young and a person. He is a human, true, but that does not been he should be without friends."
"Friends, Aelita," The Queen said suddenly as she dismissed the elders. "Friends only. I don't understand your contention with that human."
"Mother, there is something strange about Jeremie I must discover," Aelita said suddenly, frowning. "Something…"
The Queen's face went blank then gained a very strange expression as she looked at her daughter. "You can feel, can't you? Yes, Aelita, don't look at me like that. I see you: ever since he came here, every time someone touches you, you flinch. Except for that boy. Why, Aelita? Why do you not mind this Jeremie touching you? It is indecent- unless, of course, you are more like Silica than I thought."
Aelita's eyes glowed slightly, but she scowled, her shock forgotten "You as well?" She stood, suddenly furious. "Why is everyone so desperate to believe that Jeremie is to be my boiden?" To her surprise, the Queen closed her eyes in a sign of disdain.
"There...there is a prophecy, Aelita," she began softly. "In the first chronicles of Lyoko." She closed her mouth suddenly, and hung her head.
She would say no more.
Aelita's eyes went wide, and her vision went black.
10101010101010101010
"Aelita? Aelita, what happened?"
Pale fists hit the wall as Aelita spun, her back now to a very concerned Jeremie. "Secrets! That's what's wrong! Secrets and whispers!"
Jeremie placed a hand upon her shoulder. "Princess, you're talking in riddles."
For a moment, confusion displaced her fury, and Aelita looked around at the blond young man watching her. "Talking in riddles?"
Jeremie shrugged. "I can't understand what you mean with all of the 'secret' talk. I was talking about why they half-carried you in here. I thought you said your people can not faint."
"I didn't faint. I de-loaded."
"You what!"
Aelita gave him a look reminiscent of Relika being sarcastic. "De-loaded, Jeremie. My vision dies, and mind and body shut down."
Jeremie tried to digest that, then gave up. "You never said why you're so angry."
"Jeremie, she knows. Mu Mortra. My mother. She knows about the day we met –or at least what happened. She knows I can feel." The boy's mouth fell open.
"Taste and smell?" asked Jeremie, his voice suddenly rising to squeak of surprise.
Aelita shrugged and sat down on the resting chair to her right. "I can not know. She didn't mention them, though that means very little." Jeremie nodded.
"Like all mothers," he remarked dryly, then sat next her, and took her hand. "Don't worry, Aelita." Aelita looked at him, blinked, and stood suddenly, pulling back.
"She doesn't trust you, Jeremie. I don't know why, but it's as if it as something to do with a prophecy." She scowled. "A prophecy to do with me. One I never knew."
Silence followed this, and Aelita turned to look at the human boy behind her. He was staring up at her, blue eyes, as well as the 'glasses' covering them, were shining in the natural light of the resting room. A very strange expression was on his face. For a moment, Princess and human stared at each other, Aelita's heart pounding, Jeremie's mind strangely blank, his breathing shallow. Then Aelita understood, and she sank to her knees, her face in her hands.
"Goddess and Glory," she whispered. "They were right. What am I going to do?" Then, as Jeremie watched, astounded, as a pink light surrounded her, and she vanished.
10101010101010101
Where was she?
Jeremie ran about the empty halls of the fortress, his mind spinning. What had made her disappear- how did she disappear! Why had her eyes been so bright and strange when she was staring at him? He tried to recall her behavior in the past few weeks, but it only confused him.
FLASHBACK- (six days ago)
Aelita sat with her back to him, her legs crossed in tailor style. A soft pink glow surrounded her.
"Aelita?"
She didn't answer. Jeremie slowly walked around, and saw that her eyes were closed, and her hands rested in her lap. She was meditating. Jeremie smiled slightly, and sat on a nearby stool to watch. She was extremely beautiful when she was calm. Well, the boy told himself, blushing. She's always beautiful. A little voice in the back of his brain said, slyly, you've got it bad, Einstein. And you don't even know it. Jeremie had snorted and shook his head, ignoring the comment. It was just a simple fact, Aelita's beauty. There was no way he could've fallen for her in such a small amount of time.
Quite suddenly, two books lifted free of the shelves around the room, and began floating, glowing the same pink as Aelita. The rest of the books, a small box, and a bottle followed, and began to spin lazily in circle about the Princess's head.
"Uh-oh," Jeremie muttered. He stood, and shook Aelita's shoulder gently. "Princess? You- WHOA!" Suddenly Jeremie felt his feet leave the ground, and he began to hover over Aelita's head. He fought and wriggled, but it did nothing. For many frustrating minuets he called Aelita's name, but the Princess was too deep in meditation to hear. Suddenly a burst of laughter came from the doorway, and Relika entered.
"Need help, human?" She asked calmly, grinning up at the boy. Jeremie simply glared at her, and Relika winked. "Don't worry," she told him. "This is easy enough to fix." She knelt in front of the meditating Princess, and placed a finger to the hanging jewel at the center of her forehead circlet. "NIRTA!" she bellowed, and immediately Aelita's eyes snapped open. She glared at the witch in front of her.
"What, Lika?"
"Look up, and you'll see what."
Aelita looked up, and she gasped, then moved out from under the still floating Jeremie. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Jeremie!" She cried, and immediately the pink light faded as the human, and the other odds and ends, drifted slowly to the floor. "It's the third time that's happened, and I don't know how it does it." The next second, Aelita took his hands in hers and looked at him earnestly. "Are you quite alright, Jeremie?" Jeremie simply nodded, strangely aware of how warm her hands were compared to the skin of the others in Lyoko. He felt a blush creep up his face, and he saw Aelita's eyes begun to glow slightly.
"Okay, you two, enough with the staring contest."
Both Princess and human jumped and glared at Relika, who grinned evilly, winked again, then walked out the door. Jeremie sat down in the chair, still breathing heavily.
"I am sorry," Aelita said softly, and the sad look on her face seemed to tear horribly at his heart.
"It's okay."
Aelita smiled. "Thank you."
END FLASHBACK
A smile grew on the young man's face when he remembered that incident, and Aelita's reaction. Then his smile faded, and he began to search for Aelita anew. Turning a corner, he found himself at a dead end. A single door-portal stood to his right, and Jeremie, beginning to become quite worried, entered.
He gasped.
The room was like a paradise. Vines and plants grew up through the cracks in the checkerboard floor and walls, and two pillars of white stone stood, topped with firelights. A single window opened up onto an outside world that Jeremie had only seen once. Almost used to the strange dimensions of the world –which to Jeremie's teenage mind made him think of a video game- the bizarre idea of the virtual reality hit him again. He blinked, then sat down hard on a small stone bench behind him.
"Ithlan loth luve, con lotra tonya sor/Enya col yala, soya ta nor/…"
Jeremie's head snapped up. A voice, soft and sad, drifted toward him, the words strange and flowing. The tune was eerie, and it made the hair on the back of Jeremie's neck stand up. Suddenly, he thought he saw something white flit through the vines and such around him. He stood, and followed the sounds of the song.
"Ithlan my boiden, teen ya lo sari/ Inra con sala, tos luve…"
Then he saw her, standing with her back to him and staring out at the window. The song was now just a soft hum that seemed to muddle Jeremie's senses, and he almost tripped over his own feet.
Aelita whipped around, one hand to her heart, then saw who it was, and smiled slightly.
"Jeremie…how did you find me?"
The young man shrugged. "I wandered a little while. What were you singing?" Aelita's eyes glowed slightly, and she stared at her feet.
"Just a lullaby my mother used to sing to me when I was upset. It's very old."
For some strange reason, Jeremie felt an urge to hug her. He settled for tilting her face up to his, blushing slightly as he did so. "Is there something wrong, Princess?" The girl simply shook her head.
"I was just thinking. I like in here," she added, gesturing to the room around them. "It's been my-" she smiled wryly "-'haven' since I was a underling." She paused, then touched his hand. "Forgive me for running off. I was a little over-whelmed." Jeremie smiled.
"Don't worry, Princess. I just wish I knew how to do that." Aelita laughed, and the mood lightened. They stood at the window discussing everything from languages to school. Finally, the summons gong boomed, and Aelita sighed.
"Will you stay here, Jeremie?"
Jeremie shrugged and looked around him. "As long as I don't get in trouble, yes. It's very…different in here than the rest of the place." Aelita nodded.
"I'll see you later then, Jeremie," she half-whispered, then, on impulse, stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. Eyes glowing, she slipped past Jeremie and left.
Jeremie stood there for some time, one hand to his cheek, a brilliant smile on his face.
Aren't they cute? Lol. Well, that's the third chappy for you. The next one shall come soon. If you want a translation to the lullaby, ask in a review, and I'll e-mail it to you. Adios!