Jeremy rubbed his eyes and leaned back into his chair, staring at the alarm clock right by his computer. Aelita had warned him enough of the consequences if he stayed up later than he promised, and he wasn't banking on facing said consequences later during the day.

3:14 am

Jeremy groaned. His friends were really going to lay into him in the morning, when they see how sleep deprived he'll be. He could picture it happening, the entire group waiting on him tomorrow in the school grounds. Aelita will definitely lead the charge and demand he sleep more. Odd will goof around as usual, and Yumi and Ulrich will be the Sympathy to his Plight, Ulrich more so. Yumi did tend to side with Aelita on these matters.

If he stayed up this long, he might as well continue. If he slept now, his friends would still be able to tell that he lost sleep based on the ever-present circles under his eyes. He also ran the risk of a X.A.N.A attack while his program remained unfinished, a highly calculated risk as X.A.N.A hadn't reared his evil head in some time, a few weeks in fact. Might as well go big or go home.

Jeremy wearily jumped back into his beta program, long waves of green data encompassing the screen while another open tab ran a scan through Lyoko for any activated towers. The computer hummed and whirred quietly, an ambient opposite to the malicious AI's chaos. Jeremy's work quickly became a blur of code as he progressed through the night. A few hours and it could be done.

"Just a little while longer." He whispered to himself.

Code Lyoko

Ulrich tossed and turned, fumbling this way and that trying to block out the 8-bit music blaring out of Odd's Gameboy. Face down, face up, facing the wall, pillows couldn't block out the noise any way he tried. "Odd!" He yelled. "Can you please turn off that game and go to sleep?"

Odd shuffled to face Ulrich, eyes flicking quickly to the Gameboy. "But I've almost defeated the final boss!" The Gameboy's lights flash for a few seconds, while sad 8-bit bass plays. Odd hummed in disdain and glances up at Ulrich. "I was going to defeat the final boss." He mutters. "Now look at what you did." He complained while waving the Gameboy through the air.

Ulrich sighed in exasperation and turned to face the wall. "You can fight that boss later. We have an actual monster to fight, remember?"

Something thumped carelessly to the floor, with a small utter of a "fine." Odd rustled over in bed to face his own side of the wall and after a few more grumbles came from him, he fell silent.

Ulrich settled into the covers happily, he could finally gain what little sleep he could get left for the night. He tucked one arm under his pillow for support and,

"Do you think that Einstein's still working on his program?" Odd whispered, shuffling to face Ulrich again.

Ulrich groaned and balled his fists. Anymore questions and he'll end up exactly like Jeremy. "You know Jeremy, of course he's still working on it. And if he isn't, he's already fallen asleep on his keyboard, again. Now go to sleep."

"Alright, alright." Odd placated. "I'll go to sleep." Odd shuffled around to face his wall at last. "Good night." He murmured into the darkness.

"Night." Ulrich replied.

Code Lyoko

The following morning, everyone waited outside for Jeremy as Ulrich timed him from his watch. "If he runs, it might be a record." He said. Yumi and Odd peered over his shoulders to glance at the watch.

Aelita stood to the side, arms crossed, and her brow furrowed. "I can't believe he's done this again." She simmered. "He knows he needs his rest, so why does he blow it off?" She said while pacing behind the others.

Yumi shrugged. "It's perfectly like him to do this Aelita, it's not like this is the first time."

"Yeah, Aelita." Ulrich added, still keeping time on the watch. "Jeremy's just concerned about X.A.N.A."

"And speaking of the boy genius," Odd cheerfully added, "here he comes now!" Pointing to the distance. Sure enough, Jeremy was running, his small frame tripping every once in a while. As he got closer, the group could see that he was grinning broadly from ear to ear, the smile could have split his face in half, nonetheless it was a good change for the week.

"I did it!" He yelled across the grounds. "The program I was working on was a success!" He cheered. Upon reaching the group, Jeremy grasped Aelita's hand into his own and spun with her in a dance, laughing. Aelita, shocked, laughed with him, her anger melting away. After a few spins, they slowed to a stop, both blushing.

"It won't do that much against X.A.N.A," Jeremy said to the others, "but it could give us a big break in the future." He broke into a yawn, covering it with the back of his palm. He rubbed at his eyes to soften the stress of fatigue, and found Aelita's stern look staring back at him.

"Jeremy Belpois, did you get any sleep last night?" Aelita asked with worry. "You look like death." She cupped his face into her hands, and looked him over. His eyes shined bright and alert, but the dark circles under his eyes exposed just how tired the genius truly was.

Jeremy shrugged with a few shifting glances and scratched the back of his neck. "It's really not that bad." He said, taking Aelita's hands into his own.

Ulrich chuckled at the sight. "She's right Einstein, you look like you belong in the morgue."

"Or a crypt!" Odd pointed out. He raised his arms and shaped his hands into claws. He faced Yumi and growled comically. "OooOooh. I vant to suck your blood!" The group laughed together in response.

"I'm not a vampire." Jeremy said with another suppressed yawn, "But I feel like one." He eyed the concern of his friends, each worried enough for their own reasons. "Trust me," he said, "I'll be able to sleep 'till next week if I can set up the program after class."

"Let's just hope you don't fall asleep in class today." Odd said, placing an arm over Jeremy's shoulder. "I give you about 5 minutes of the first period before it's lights out."

"Oh Please." Yumi said with a roll of her eyes. "With his IQ, the teachers would be happy to finally have a break for once."

Jeremy snorted at that comment with a smile. "Come on." He said, leading Aelita to the school by the hand. "Before someone ca-"

"You five! Get to class immediately!"

The group turned simultaneously to find Mr. Delmas marching towards them, pointing to the school's entrance. "Now, before you're all marked late!" He yelled.

The Lyoko warriors faced each other, burst into laughter and ran for the school doors, eager for their afterschool activities.

Hi, everyone. I wrote an update saying that I wasn't going to continue the story, but considering the quarantine, I have nothing to do, so instead of moping around I've decided to update the story, chapter by chapter, eventually leading back into the story. That includes re-writing certain scenes and erasing unnecessary plot points. It will take a while though, because I don't really have a schedule when it comes to this. I'll also post this story on Ao3, mainly because I use that site more now