Ulrich saw Aelita first, walking towards them with a blonde woman. He sat up straight, stretching out his back. He turned to Yumi and Odd.
Yumi was lost in a magazine, if lost could mean that she was barely skimming through the pages over and over. Ulrich leaned by her side to look at the pages, and remarked that she was on page five again. He nudged her attention away from the magazine, pointing at Aelita as she drew closer with the blonde woman.
Yumi closed the magazine and threw it carelessly at the coffee table, glancing at Odd's slightly dysfunctional nap.
His legs were drawn up from the floor, barely on the edge of his chair, and he leaned his head against the corner of the wall, his hair bent at an odd shape. He had snored, though it was a bit quiet with his head somewhat nodded down.
Yumi grabbed the side of her chair and swept Odd's legs off the edge of his seat. He woke with a start, glaring at Yumi after she hummed in mischief. Her smile waned quickly.
Aelita finally came close to talking distance, gesturing to them while talking to the blonde woman. "Here they are." She said softly.
The blonde woman blinked behind her rounded glasses, her blue eyes shimmering with sadness. She scanned the group, blinking again in confusion. "Such a small group." She said. She blinked again, and shook her head. "Forgive me. I'm a touch rattled by all this." She apologized.
Ulrich and the others stood, awkwardly shuffling their hellos to the woman.
Aelita nodded behind her. "This is Susanne, Jeremy's mom."
Principal Delmas woke up in his office with a debilitating headache. He glanced around his office, thankful that the lights were off. He stood, stretching his tired limbs and checking his watch.
He unstrapped the watch and placed it on his desk, sighing. For some strange reason it had short circuited, stuck on 4:10.
He glanced up at the clock above his door. It was about five, so all the students should have been out by now.
He cracked his door open, flinching at the bright light from his secretary's office. When his eyes somewhat adjusted, he was a bit surprised to find that his secretary wasn't sitting in her seat. At this time she usually received calls from other schools and disgruntled parents.
He walked out, putting a hand to his temple. It felt like a spark in his brain had gone haywire, just electrocuting everything. he walked out of the secretary's office, planning on raiding the infirmary cabinets for some Aspirin if he needed to.
As if an almighty being had pitied him, Yolanda turned a corner, with Jim at her heels, holding a few large boxes.
"Honestly, Jim, if it's too much for you, I can take it." She said.
Jim shrugged slightly, the box shifting on his torso. "It's okay, Yolanda. This actually reminds of-"
"Mr. Delmas!" Yolanda exclaimed. She ran forward to the disoriented principal, Jim muttering absently behind her.
The principal nodded his head dimly. "Yolanda, do you have any spare Aspirin?" He asked.
The nurse stopped walking and stuck her hand in the highest box in Jim's grasp. The box lowered, and Delmas could see Jim smile fondly behind it.
Yolanda pulled out a clear plastic bottle, popping it open, and handing the principal two of the small pills.
Delmas swallowed the pills without water, patting the dust off his hands.
The nurse blinked. "Mr. Delmas, what are you doing here? I thought you evacuated the school." She said.
"The school?" Delmas asked. The principal recollected his scattered thoughts, vaguely recalling a moment where he asked the secretary to put him on loud speaker.
He was pretty sure he had evacuated the school to a safer, nearby location.
"Ah yes. Have all the students been collected by their parents?" He asked Yolanda.
The head nurse shrugged. "I left the building to get the children's medication, in case we need them. If they left, I'll be calling parents to pick up the medicine."
Delmas nodded, feeling the headache lessen minimally. The dull throbbing still addled his thinking.
"There is one student, though." Yolanda continued. "Jeremy Belpois. He's been sent to the hospital."
"Mrs. Belpois!" Ulrich yelled, thrusting his hand out in a formal gesture.
The rest of the group cowered behind him, afraid of any riling anger that was going to come from the mother.
Jeremy's mom paused, and took Ulrich's hand with an embarrassed smile. She shook it once. "Please, just call me Susanne."
Ulrich blushed, and guided Susanne to the seat nearest to the group, a chair Odd randomly pulled from the wall so she could face them.
She sat, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, her glasses bumping up when she touched the ends. She looked down at her lap, then at the group, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd and Aelita all holding hands. She smiled with tears in her eyes.
"We're all worried aren't we?" She said.
The group nodded in silence together, resuming the anxious silence they had before Susanne's introduction.
Barely a minute had passed before a rather tall doctor emerged from the large swinging doors and glanced at his clipboard.
"Belpois?" He said clearly.
Susanne and the other's jumped up, walking towards him almost as one.
The doctor made no move, his face blank by the many years of hospital work. He gestured to the mix of the group. "This way, please."
X.A.N.A made his way through the sectors, taking the time to admire the digital sights of Lyoko before diving into the digital sea. He hit the section of the forest region where Jeremy would enter the code SCIPIO for the warrior's trip to Carthage, X.A.N.A'S home.
He flew off the edge, diving into the digital sea. The digital abyss took his data, recognizing his form and slowly shifting it into Carthage. X.A.N.A sat quietly sifting a piece of himself in the forest sector, ready to pull the rest of him back out of Carthage when he wanted to.
X.A.N.A eased his way through Carthage, designing a new layout for the the Lyoko warriors to enjoy. The A.I took his time, comfortable knowing that it could take some time to manage a few things, knowing the data he wanted was sitting right where he wanted it.
Though, he would need to keep William on guard for as long as possible though. The brats were quick when it came to retrieving data.
A few sentries here, a "surprise" attack here, and maybe the Scyphozoa could frighten them a little. As long as the task at hand was settled, X.A.N.A could "splurge" himself, as the earthlings have said on the internet.
X.A.N.A made his way to the platform, calling up the translucent screen with all of his home data. He re-coded his files, although he necessarily didn't need to, considering that he had long escaped the confinements of Lyoko. X.A.N.A accessed Jeremy's files, separating them from the others, preventing anything from fusing with another.
He set a code up on Jeremy's file after taking the precise sequences he wanted, burying the file in a wave of decoys. He left the screen, following the walls of the celestial dome to it's south pole. He entered the chamber of Lyoko's core, glaring at the heart before he could even see it.
As he neared the final platforms, he bent off into the digitized atmosphere, facing the core of Lyoko and it's new, horrendous layer. He transferred the precise data he wanted, surging as much force he could behind the data, trying not to electrocute himself.
Slowly, the new layer of the core took in the files that X.A.N.A put up to it, absorbing the streams of code and glowing with a stronger yellow color.
X.A.N.A left the heart of Lyoko, disgusted, but satisfied.
Jeremy laid on the bed like a rag doll, frail. Immobile. He didn't even look like he was breathing.
Susanne and Aelita both took a side to Jeremy, holding a soft grip on his hands. The others scattered around them, taking spots as close to Jeremy as possible.
Ulrich and Yumi stood next to each other, occasionally grasping the other's hand. Odd sat in the chair directly in front of the bed, his hands clasped together, concentrating on Jeremy as if willing him to wake up.
Susanne had her free hand on the side of Jeremy's face, caressing his cheek with her thumb.
"He'll be out of it for a while." The doctor said. "He'll be a bit groggy when he wakes up though, so try not to take everything he says so seriously."
"Thank you." Aelita muttered to the doctor.
He nodded his head and left the room, closing the door behind him.
The attention drew back towards Jeremy. His hair was tousled wildly, a bit frayed around the ends if someone took a closer look. The I.V drip stood out blatantly on his right arm, the dark etchings of his burns contrasting greatly with the white patch connecting the I.V with his skin.
Patches of gauze dotted along his arms, and Aelita could see some of the bandages curl around his torso. His chest rose and fell with very light and quiet breathing, the most audible sound overtaking the room being the heart monitor.
It's slow steady beeping calmed Aelita gently, and she followed each beep with a stroke of the clasp on Jeremy's finger.
Her gentle hold on his hand had no return, the soft yet reliable grip Jeremy had when he had first toured Aelita through Kadic's neighboring streets was empty, his hand sitting simply in her palm.
Aelita soon fell out of step with the heart monitor's steady pulse, wiping away the tears that gathered in her eyes.
Footsteps neared and faded from the door occasionally, a doctor or nurse making their rounds through each of the rooms. A nurse sometimes walked through the door, checking in on the group and monitoring the I.V drip.
After a few minutes, she had left, leaving the rest of the group as they were before. A knock hit the door, and a shock of brown hair passed through the frame before Susanne recognized her husband.
"Michel!" She exclaimed. She covered the few feet to embrace him, and he hugged her tightly. The embrace lasted for a second before Jeremy's dad pulled back, glancing at Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd in surprise.
"They've brought Jeremy here." Susanne explained, bringing him to the side of the hospital bed.
Aelita nodded to Michel in silence, bringing her attention back to Jeremy.
His brows furrowed as if he were solving on of Lyoko's many problems, and the heart monitor beeped a fraction faster. His breathing hitched, and his empty grasp on Susanne's and Aelita's hands tightened, desperate.
Odd jumped up from his chair and followed Ulrich and Yumi closely to the bed.
Susanne placed her hand on Jeremy's cheek again. "Sweetheart. It's alright, I'm right here with you."
If Jeremy heard her, he didn't respond, breathing rapidly while wrapped in a nightmare.
Aelita shared a concerned glanced with the rest of her friends. The doctor didn't say anything about nightmares.
Jeremy moaned pitifully, terrified of whatever his subconscious was projecting to him. He flinched sharply from something, and he snapped awake with a sudden gasp. Susanne quickly took control, sitting closely in front of him, but carefully abstaining from touching him.
"Here." She said. "I'm right right here, honey. Just focus on my voice."
Jeremy rapidly glanced around the room, and his mother watched carefully. He shook violently, bringing the railing of the hospital bed to a small tremor.
"Breathe in for me sweetheart?" She asked him. "Breath in." She instructed.
Jeremy closed his eyes, drawing a long but shaky inhale. He paused, wincing at his strained ribs.
"Alright," Susanne said. "Exhale. Slowly."
Jeremy nodded, slowly releasing the air he contained, ending with a soft sigh.
"You're doing marvelous. Now, can you repeat that four more times for me?" Jeremy's mom asked with a sweet voice. She turned to her husband. "Stand by there. Be ready to press that button in case something happens." She whispered.
Aelita and the others stared at the small prodigy, very concerned. Jeremy was very aware of his surroundings, and absolutely not groggy. His shaking had lessened, but it was clear that he was incredibly anxious. He had opened his eyes again, and although he was slightly calmer, there was still a trace of uncertainty in his eyes.
"Can you find five things you can clearly see?" Susanne asked Jeremy.
He nodded, and his gaze darted across the room, analyzing everything he could see.
"Th-the chairs, the cabinet, and the vase on top of it. The, uh, T.V. set, and the I.V drip." He listed.
"Four things you can touch?" Susanne instructed next.
"The bed covers." Jeremy said. "The smooth railing, the pillow behind me, and-"
He moved his hand down to his neck, tracing the patch of gauze covering one of his many burns. His mind traced back to the Lyoko, and the Scyphozoa attack.
How much had it taken? What did it take? And most importantly, what would X.A.N.A do with it?
He could see that they noticed his thoughts had wandered, and he blinked back to attention.
"The gauze." He finished softly.
Susanne held her hands together, staring at Jeremy with concern. She opened her mouth to speak, but Jeremy spoke before her.
"Mom. Can I have a moment alone, with my friends?" He asked her .
Susanne hesitated, nodding after her husband had placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Okay, honey." She accepted. She embraced Jeremy softly, and Aelita let go of his hand so he could hug her back. The embrace lasted longer than Susanne's hug with Michel, and Jeremy had smiled for the first time since the scanner.
"Alright." Michel chuckled. "We don't want to keep the friends waiting."
Susanne sighed, and finally pulled back. She left the room silently, with Michel by her side.
The door clicked shut behind them, and Jeremy quickly turned to the others. "Fill me in."
Michel closed the door behind him as he and Susanne walked out, and he stood by the the door frame as Susanne sat in the chair by the wall.
"He was terrified." She stated simply. "He was lucid, but terrified."
Michel stared at her, arms crossed. "What do you mean?"
Susanne stood, lacing a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "The doctor said Jeremy would be a bit 'groggy'. Not the best choice of word, but you know what he meant."
Michel nodded slowly, glancing at the door. "And he wasn't all the least bit 'groggy.'" He sighed.
"Being electrocuted is fatal all on it's own, but Jeremy wasn't scared of that. He was looking for someone." Susanne said quickly.
"Wait, you think someone did this?" Michel asked. He took up her hands and held them close.
"Aelita said it was a stray wire." She said. "If that's true, he should have-" She held a palm to her mouth, pausing for several seconds. "He should have dropped immediately after."
"Susanne." Michel said. "We don't know where the wire was. For all we know, it could have been on the floor."
"Or in someone's hands." Susanne said.
Michel stared at her incredulously.
Susanne pointed to the door. "Those markings are clear signs of over-exposure. A damaged wire would only have so much electricity pouring through it." She paced a few feet. "He has Lichtenberg figures, Michel. That's high voltage." She said.
Michel stood silent, a shade paler.
"This wasn't an accident." Susanne said, her voice wavering. "This was tor-"
A sob broke through, and she covered her face with her hands. Michel quickly gathered her up in his arms, holding her tight.
"We'll figure this out, okay?" He whispered while swaying her softly. "He's here with us right now, right in that room." He glanced at her. "He's safe."
"You just stood there." Odd said. "And then I asked you to say something, and you said something like, 'I swear Odd, keep doing that,' and I asked what you meant, and you just collapsed."
Ulrich nodded. "Then we brought you and Mr. Delmas to the school as fast as we could."
Upon hearing the principal's name, Jeremy flinched sharply, the bed's metal railing shaking with a low dull sound.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Jeremy, the principal is not X.A.N.A."
"I came really close to dying today, okay?" Jeremy snapped. "I don't know what you guys saw, but when a computer A.I is holding you a few feet above the ground, slowly crushing in your rib cage while pouring electricity through it, while possessing the principal, the subconscious is going to take that information at 'face value.'"
Jeremy paused, eyes watering, and he drew up his legs and rested his head on his knees.
"Jeremy." Aelita said, glancing at the others.
Yumi and Ulrich stood a foot away from the bed, shocked at Jeremy's outburst. Odd had taken his seat again, his expression just about the same. He opened his mouth, but whatever joke he was going to utter died on his lips. He glanced around the room awkwardly.
Jeremy sat silently in his bed, until the sound of sobbing came through the other side of the door.
"We'll figure this out, okay?" The muffled voice of Jeremy's father said. "He's here with us right now, right in that room." His dad paused. "He's safe."
Jeremy stared guiltily at the door.
Yumi was the first to break the awkward silence, stepping closer to the bed. "What now?" She asked.
Jeremy slowly glanced at the group, his eyes darted from object to object. He glanced at the cabinet, slowly trailing it to the heart monitor. His eyebrows furrowed.
"Congrats, Yumi. You got his gears turning." Ulrich said, placing an arm on Yumi's shoulder.
Aelita haphazardly swatted an arm at Ulrich. "Shh, he's still thinking."
Jeremy blinked his attention to the I.V drip in his arm, then he swung his legs over the bedside after he lowered the metal railing.
"It's going to take a lot of improvising," He said. "But I need to check the supercomputer."
"Another hospital breakout?" Odd quipped. "What kind of sci-fi story is this?"
"That's a funny question, considering we fight an evil computer monster." Ulrich replied.
Jeremy pushed himself off the bed, groaning as the burns strained from his movement.
"Don't exert yourself, Jeremy." Aelita said.
Jeremy waved a hand at her concern. "I'll be okay." He walked over to the shelved cabinets, picking out some sanitized napkin packets and band-aids, while keeping the I.V drip close. He ripped the napkin packet open, resting it on the table. He carefully peeled back the vacuumed tape from the I.V needle, slowly removing the syringe, and placing the sterile napkin on top of the tiny wound.
He unwrapped a band-aid and placed it on top of the needle puncture, pushing the I.V drip back to it's usual spot.
"We're going to have to do this quietly, and efficiently." He said. He glanced back at the door, where his parent's conversation had gone back to a simple murmur.
"But first, someone's going to have to take some time distracting my mom and dad.
Guess who's not dead yo.
Me.
Obviously, I knew that.
Oh my god, I'm so sorry it took so long for me to type this. Testing and laziness don't mix well at all.
I need coffee.
Edit***
I've re-edited some parts of this chapter.
Please review what you think so I can work on the fic and know what and what not to write.
Have a good day!