Paris, France

Jeremie's POV

I woke up slowly to the vague sound of my phone ringing. I moaned a bit, as I found the energy to get up and answer it. I reached down my bed side, and grabbed for my glasses. I put them on my face as I opened my eyes.

I picked up my phone, and pressed the talk button.

"Hello?" I said, groggily.

"Jeremie? Is that you?" I heard my uncle's familiar voice say. That's when my brain jolted awake.

"Oh, Uncle Mark! How is Kaitlyn?" I said, almost automatically. Looking around, I noticed that Odd and Ulrich were gone. That's when I checked the time, and it was nearing 7:00am. The stuff that we had gotten out last night seemed to have vanished.

"Kaitlyn is doing great, Jeremie. She had a bit of a concussion after taking a blow to the head, but she is doing great nevertheless. However, that's not why I called you. Joplin is literally destroyed, even the school that she attended. We had to take her to a Hospital here in Cassville, which is a bit more than an hour away. But nonetheless, I figured I'd call you to let you know that Kaitlyn may be attending Kadic after your Summer Break. I've already talked to your Mom and Dad, and they agreed to put in a good word for her so she can attend on a scholarship."

I felt a big smile come to my face, hearing my voice jumping in happiness as I said, "Oh wow, that's awesome news, Uncle Mark. I'd love to see you guys again. It's been so long."

"We'll definitely make that happen when we come; which will probably be after Kaitlyn gets discharged from the hospital. Probably in a few more days," Uncle Mark said. "She's tough, but after discovering her dead cat, she succumbed to the symptoms of her concussion. She'll be okay."

I sighed in relief and happiness. "Thanks for letting me know something, Uncle Mark. I appreciate it a lot."

"Anytime, Jeremie. Well I have to go now. I will probably see you before I talk to you again," Uncle Mark said. That was true. I and he rarely talked, unless something serious was going on with family, or sometimes he'd pop up and just wanted to talk. This was a rarity.

"Okay, bye for now!" I said, and hung up my phone.

I quickly got ready, and headed downstairs. I couldn't wait to tell everyone the awesome news. I was finally going to be seeing my cousin for the first time in forever. Next to Aelita's materialization, that was another dream I had long dreamt about. Kaitlyn going to school with me.

Before my friends, I didn't really have anyone. So I would so often talk to Kaitlyn. It was sometimes a lonely affair, since she and I lived in different time zones. Some nights we would have to schedule times to call each other if one needed the other. One time she got mad because I called her when she was supposed to be in bed. I only wanted to know what to do about Sissi when she annoyed me too much. Mom gave me an earful.

"Hey!" Yumi called worriedly. "Hey, Jeremie!"

I looked up at her. "Yes, Yumi?"

"Is Kaitlyn okay?"

"She's okay, she survived the tornado with a concussion and minor dust inhalation, but she had lost her cat. He meant the world to her. He was with her since she was seven."

Her frown popped to an excited grin. "That's great news that she survived!"

"And that's not all, but first, let's rally our friends."

"Odd and Ulrich are in the cafeteria."

We walked together inside the lunchroom. Odd was eating twice his weight in food—such a surprise he wasn't gaining that much—and Ulrich was just eating his croissant. I got my portion and joined them. "Hi, guys."

"You're in a good mood," Ulrich noted.

"Diff sumfing happenk?" Odd asked through a mouthful of food.

"Kaitlyn is going to come to Kadic since the school in Joplin had been destroyed. I haven't seen her in a long time."

Odd dropped his fork, swallowing his food. "You mean to say that your cousin is going to come here?"

I smiled. "Yep, that's right, Odd. I got the phone call this morning from my Uncle Mark. He and I hadn't talked in a while because of our time zones, but it was great to hear from him again." I was about to dig into my cereal.

"So how are we going to keep it a secret from her?" Ulrich asked.

I put down my spoon. "I have no idea yet. But if worse comes to worst, then we'll initiate her into our group."

It was a mutual understanding. We didn't want Kaitlyn to become suspicious because of our little secret.

Meanwhile…

Cassville, Missouri

Kaitlyn's POV

I looked at a picture of Phantom when he was a kitten. He was so cute with big round eyes. It reminded me of Beast Boy from Teen Titans at times. Tears rolled down my face. It felt as if my organs exploded into this sticky mess. I just couldn't bear it. He had been chopped in two by something, but by what was a mystery. I just hoped he didn't suffer for long.

"Honey?" Ma asked.

"You okay, Kaitlyn?"

"J-Just missing Phantom, is all…" I tried to wipe my tears to help make me feel strong.

My Mom and Dad came forth to my hospital bed, as they bent over to hug me.

"I'm sorry this had to happen, Kaitlyn. Phantom was a good cat… But he's not suffering anymore. It was just his time." My mom said as she hugged me.

I sniffled and sobbed, as I hugged my Ma. I didn't know what I was going to do now that my whole hometown was destroyed. My heart felt like one big melted emotional mess.

"However…That's not why we came to see you." My dad said, with a smile on his face. Oh gosh.

My mom smiled as she joined my dad's side. "We were going to wait until you were feeling a little better to tell you."

I cocked a brow, as I put my picture of Phantom down. "What's going on?" I asked.

"Well, Cookie Foot, we talked with Uncle Michael and Aunt Natalie, and we've decided to move to France to start a new life once you are better."

My heart exploded. "We are?"

"And we are getting you a scholarship so you can attend Kadic. You'll get to see your cousin Jeremie again."

I nearly jumped off the bed. "I haven't seen that boy in a long time." Then I heard Ma cough in an "ahem" way. "Hey, I use that boy as a term of endearment. It would be great to see him again. Maybe we could catch up properly."

"As soon as the doctors say you are better, we will start our move. We are gathering funds to help get us flight tickets, and the government wants to give you this." It was a box. "Open it."

I opened it up. "It's a laptop, with a dirty flash drive."

"It has all the files that you had on your previous mainframe. Plus a few extra things."

I smiled. "Thank you, Ma. Thank you, Dad."