At some point Cassandra drove her friend away from Lyoko in very rude fashion; suddenly devirtualizing him with his own sword. William was not sure if it had been something he had said or just that Cassandra could not deal with his training anymore, but he was offended. While part of him wanted to get back to knowing her, part of him was just fully fed up with this girl's behavior. But at least Jeremy was not making any remarks about it even when he returned to the lab. Instead, the computer genius just asked, "Is she seriously like that to even you?"
"I take it that she doesn't trust me anymore or something. Something must've happened after we were separated in this world. And she just loves pushing others away from her for her reasons," William told.
"Do you know those reasons?" Jeremy asked out of pure curiosity.

For a moment William pondered how much he could tell Jeremy.
"I do. And it was not a nice story," he told. "And it took a lot to get it out of Cass anyway. Can't tell anything else to you, sorry."
Jeremy nodded. "Okay." Then he turned back to the supercomputer and kept on typing something. William moved forward to see what the text was, only to find that he understood nothing of the gibberish on the screen.
"What are you doing, anyways?" he asked.
"I've been working on a way to get to the internet via Lyoko. We can fight X.A.N.A. as long as we have Lyoko, but in order to defeat it, we must destroy it. And as X.A.N.A. is in the internet nowadays, that's where we must head to," Jeremy explained.
"Okay... So, is it difficult?" William asked.
"Let's just say that I've been working on it ever since the beginning of this school year," Jeremy noted.
"Wow..."

For the first time he remembered being in the factory, he took a good look at the lab; the previous times he had been too busy to check out the surroundings. But in the end, there was not much to be seen besides the supercomputer itself.
"You know, if you don't have anything to ask, you can leave. I'll be doing ok here," Jeremy noted.
"Are you here alone often?" William asked.
"Yes. I've spent many nights here, working. It's been like this since we began this fight," Jeremy noted. "That was over a year ago, before you came to Kadic."
"That long ago? How come have you managed to keep this as a secret?" William asked.
"Return to the Past has been what keeps this hidden when X.A.N.A. attacks go very bad. And we keep a low profile," Jeremy told. "Only now we have found lots of trouble doing this in secret alongside school."
"Which is why you let me join," William noted.
"Yes," Jeremy confirmed.

William tried to figure out any other questions, but those concerning being on Lyoko he did not think Jeremy could answer; he had already figured out that the spectacled boy never went on Lyoko.
"Well, I guess I'll be going. See you later, Jeremy," William said.
"See you later," Jeremy said, sounding absent-minded; he had been absorbed by his work. William exited the factory, thinking about Cassandra and how the girl had reverted back to her old self.

Or had she?

Suddenly the questions crossed William's mind. Had Cassandra really become the same as she was before they learned to know each other?

No, she has not. The old Cassandra would have never let me come that close. She would have never even thought about teaching me anyways!

Cassandra Delorien was not who she had been at either point of their relationship. She was something in between, hating and withdrawn, yet caring and close to him. Suddenly William knew that he did not fully know Cassandra anymore. He had to relearn to know her, the new her, and learn to understand the way she acted.

There had to be a meaning behind the sudden devirtualization!

William was at the bridge when he realized that. He wanted to go back to the lab and ask Cass, but he was certain that the girl would not tell him when Jeremy was listening.

I will have my chance...

At night

William snuck past the patrolling Jim to the park and to the sewer. He had seen Jeremy go to his room, which meant that no one was at the factory at this hour. He could go and talk with Cass in privacy.

At the lab he walked to the supercomputer. The screen was lit, and a program was open. It was best left alone, so in order to not mess anything up, William just picked up the microphone and asked, "Cass? Cass, do you hear me? Cass?"

There was only mumbling coming from the girl; she was fast asleep.
"Cass?" William asked. He was startled by the sudden alarm that went off. Another window opened up on the screen, showing a red pillar and the mark that William had seen on the monsters on Lyoko. He had no idea about what was wrong.
"Ehh... Cass? Cass, wake up!" William shouted. "Cass?"

Cassandra muttered something as a response, but William was positive that the girl had not woken up. An odd voice came from behind him, and the boy turned to look there. A shadow came at him, and his frightened shout was certain to wake Cassandra up.

At the same time Jeremy had woken up to the alarm of the Superscan and proceeded to call everyone, but he could not reach William. However, Cassandra was already awake when Jeremy contacted her.
"I hear a shout coming from the lab. Someone was there, but after the shout I haven't heard anything. I'm on my way to the Arena now," she told.
"William is not answering the phone, but everyone else is coming. Be careful, Cassandra," Jeremy told.
"Of course," Cassandra said. The window closed up and Jeremy rushed out of his room to meet others in the park.

On Lyoko, Cassandra had reached the Core zone. The countdown was on, and she unsheathed her sword. Creepers moaned somewhere close by, but they and the female warrior were not alone. Someone else was there.

Cassandra took a deep breath, holding her sword up in front of her. Someone was approaching, and the girl peeked around the corner. She saw a black-and-white figure.
"William, damn you," Cassandra muttered. "What are you doing here anyways?"

She lowered her sword and walked past the corner to the corridor William was approaching. Something was not right. As far as the girl knew, William was no computer whiz who could have virtualized himself on Lyoko. Also Jeremy had only told that William had not answered the phone, nothing about virtualizing him. If Jeremy had not virtualized the boy, then who had?

A Creeper activated the key before the countdown ended, and a Scyphozoa appeared. William did nothing to avoid it. He just stood.

Cassandra's eyes widened when the Scyphozoa took her old friend into its tentacles. The girl hesitated no more. She sprung into a dash, her sword widening. The Creepers roared and started to shoot at her, but she ignored the bolts; they all missed her anyway. She jumped and cut the tentacles, then proceeded to deflect lasers back to the monsters that shot them. William fell to the ground as the Scyphozoa left again.
"Cassandra! What's going on?" Jeremy's voice shouted.
"The Scyphozoa got William, but I rescued him – again! No need to worry, but backup would be good," Cassandra informed. "The Creepers are many in their number!"

William groaned as he stood up. Cassandra turned to look at him in relief, starting a sentence of expressing how glad she was to see him ok, but she was interrupted when her blood ran cold. The eyes that looked back at her were not dark; the pupils had been replaced by X.A.N.A.'s marks. A Creeper hit its mark, but Cassandra did not care. All she saw were the eyes that now held the mark of her enemy.
"Jeremy gimme the backup now William is Xanafied," Cassandra said as fast as she could. William raised his sword and pointed it at her. The girl just stood and stared in horror. The nightmare seemed to recur. Maybe this was just a nightmare too?
"Cassandra, cavalry is here!" Odd's voice shouted. Cassandra barely heard him.

She could only stare at what she had dreaded yesterday.

/Code Lyoko (c) Moonscoop, Cassandra Delorien, Riverain and the rest of its original characters (c) Me/