Cassandra stared at the screen. It had been months since she had joined the Lyoko Warriors, yet her nightmares had not stopped. William had grown powerful, more powerful than she had expected him to, even though he still lacked skills at strategy. She was not sure if he could defend himself against the Scyphozoa yet. She had not been able to say that he can at any point, and she suspected that it was because of her own fear. The Scyphozoa was the most dangerous of the monsters in her opinion. It made her feel frightened.

The single thought about it made her heart pound in fear. It was an awful thing to think about.

The Dark William had to never become a reality. She had to make sure it never happened.

William was there once again, trying to get through to Cassandra. After many lessons of Italian and many sessions of helping the boy in the swordplay club, the girl hated to admit to herself that the black-haired boy was cracking her shields. He had a kind presence, no matter how much his persistence on getting through to her annoyed her. She was afraid of what she feared she had started to feel; she must not feel so, she must not. She knew how much her parents would hate it, how much they would hurt both her and William if they found out. It was not right.

How could she deal with this?

Cassandra wanted to wait. There would be time when William's skills would be put to a test, but this would not be the right time for that. He was not ready yet, she thought. The right time would be sometime in the future, not now. William still had a lot to learn, she knew. Or at least she wanted to know it that way. She did not want to meet the day when she would have to let go.

William's time would be later. Now they had to deal with the current issue: X.A.N.A.'s continuous attacks and how to handle them with Yumi unable to skip lessons unless it was an emergency that required Return to the Past. The timer which had been set for the Japanese girl every single time whether to get out of the class or to it in the middle of the mission put a lot of pressure to everyone, not just Yumi. It was Jeremy who had to keep an eye on the time when everyone else was on Lyoko because no one else could tell whether it was time to materialize Yumi or not. It was an additional inconvenience which they did not like and which was only stressing them all.

They were lucky that they had not just one but two additional Lyoko Warriors in the group to help them now at these difficult times.

Back in Riverain, Cassandra had acted at some point to get acquainted with the boy more, but now it was completely different. They knew each other now. She did not know if William had fallen for Yumi for good and if the old love, Cass, was now yesterday's news. So much time had been lost after X.A.N.A. had come to free her, and the girl feared that she had lost what she had risked everything for. Her freedom had cost her the only person in her life.

It was not fair. It just was not fair. But Cassandra swallowed her tears once again and continued to live on in the virtual world.

She had to, for she could not return.

Could she ever return?

She did not know. William insisted that she could, but the boy did not know everything about her situation. She could not bear to show him the deepest of her wounds. It would lead to more trouble than good, and she did not want to cause any trouble to the person she loved. No matter if he loved her back anymore or not. She loved him, and only that mattered to her now.

She did not want to hurt him by dragging him any deeper into her personal dilemmas. Her nightmares on Lyoko were enough for that aspect, and they dreaded her enough.

Cassandra knew she had hurt William enough already. Had the nightmares and their threat not been about him, Cassandra knew she would keep him away from being tangled to them. But sadly X.A.N.A. wanted him and only Cassandra among the Lyoko Warriors knew just how serious it was.

An alert. X.A.N.A. attacked the Heart of Lyoko. Cassandra closed the screen reluctantly and got up. She did not want to meet anyone in this mood. Someone touched her shoulder suddenly without any warning, and as Cassandra turned to see who the hell had managed to sneak behind her unnoticed, she screamed.

As other Lyoko Warriors rushed to the Heart of Lyoko, William was the first person to notice that Cassandra was missing. She was supposed to be there, yet she was not. What was wrong this time?

It was not the time for wondering in frustration; William rushed past Odd and Aelita to get to the top and stop the Creepers there. Ulrich was there first, thanks to his Supersprint, but William was not that far behind.

Cassandra was not needed, so most Lyoko Warriors suspected that the girl had calculated so. However, when Jeremy looked for her to say his share on teamwork, he did not find the girl. This worried William; something was wrong, and he did not hesitate to voice it, "I think we should look for her. Something must be wrong if Jeremy can't find her."
"Do you really think it's necessary?" Ulrich asked. "She isn't very glad about being helped, you know."
"I know that, but... Something's wrong. Disappearing completely like that now... it doesn't make sense to me," William said. "It's not like she trusts my skills enough to not be scared of Scyphozoas, so it doesn't make sense that she'd just suddenly decide that she's done with this all and disappear so that no one can reach her."
"William is right. We should at least see the tower if there's something," Aelita said.
"Go there. I'll open up a shortcut there to the wall behind Odd. It should lead to her tower, if her opening code is right," Jeremy told. "There! Go before it closes- I'll try to pinpoint her last location."

The area around the tower was usual; there were no traces of anything being out of ordinary. Inside the tower there were no marks of anything unusual happening except for one thing: Cassandra's sword lay there. William took it to his hands, trying to find any traces of anything. There were none; only the fact that the sword was there without its owner was a sign of something ominous.
"Jeremy, Cassandra's sword is here. Any progress there?" Aelita said.
"Not yet. I've managed to track that she left the tower around the time of the attack, but I haven't finished tracking yet," Jeremy informed.
"She'd never leave without her sword. Something has happened," William said, looking up from the sword. "Jeremy, can you tell where she went first? We must go after her!"
"William, don't fret. I'm sure Cass is fine," Odd tried to calm his friend down.
"I don't think so. As far as I know, her only means of protecting herself is this sword," William said.
"Go, I doubt she has much time. First, turn left and keep going until I tell you to turn," Jeremy told.

William and Odd did not hesitate to leave and Aelita and Ulrich followed them. William did not know where the sense of urgency came from, but he knew he had to get to Cassandra as fast as possible.
"Turn right! Her tracks stop to the room at the end of the corridor!" Jeremy told.
"Copy that, Einstein," Odd said as the foursome turned.

The corridor ended and the Lyoko Warriors found themselves from a small room. Cassandra was on the opposite side of it in fetal position, her hands on her head. She was covered in some black shroud, and she certainly looked terrified when she looked up and saw the Lyoko Warriors. Seeing the group seemed to make her more terrified, as she screamed, "Get outta here! IT'S A TRAP!"

The group looked around themselves to see any possible threat.
"Didn't you hear me? Get out of here!" Cassandra shouted. "GO!"
"Why are you there?" Odd shouted.
"I'm immobilized, I can't move!" Cassandra shouted back.
"I don't see any threats on the screen," Jeremy noted.
"Let's go to her together," William said. "It's safest that way."
"Let's go," Aelita agreed. Careful as they walked, they approached the girl who seemed to have given up shouting at them.

William kneeled next to Cassandra when they got to her.
"I told you to get out of here!" Cassandra said. "It's a trap, and you're walking right into it!"
"We're not leaving you behind now that we came this far for you," William snapped. "What happened?"
"I.. I dunno. I was going to get out of the tower to join you at the Core of Lyoko, but I was attacked from behind... I woke up here, and I couldn't move," Cassandra told frantically. She did not tell about the attacker even though she knew well enough who it had been.
"We'll carry you away from here, if that's what it takes," Odd said as he settled himself to the girl's other side. "We'll lift you first, maybe that'll break your immobilization." He took hold of Cassandra's arm and William followed suit. "One, two, three, now!"

The combined strength of two boys lifted Cassandra up and the girl suddenly realized she was free of the dark shroud on her. The sudden freedom of movement gave way for trembling in fear as she leant to Odd and William.
"Thanks guys..." she gasped. Her head now free to turn, she looked around the room. The dark spot she had expected to see was nowhere to be found.

The Dark William's apparition was not there; it had left when the Lyoko Warriors had come. This had been a warning.
"Can you walk?" Odd asked.
"Y-yeah... I think I can," Cassandra said and let go of her fellows. Her feet supported her weight, but the fear made walking feel something too difficult.
"Get back to the tower. It's better that you, Cassandra, don't go there alone," Jeremy told.
"S-sure... If there's someone willing to escort me there, be my guest," Cassandra said and gave a hesitant smile.
"I'm willing," William noted. "Oh yeah, Cass, I found your sword. You probably want it back." He handed the saber to the girl who took it with relief.
"Thanks. Where was it?" she asked.
"In the tower," Odd told.
"So it didn't disappear when I was attacked... Good, I feared for the worst," Cassandra said.
"Well, I was going to meet Yumi after this mission, so I could already leave, if you don't need me here," Ulrich said.
"I'm sure we can handle it without you," Odd said.
"Alright then. Materialize Ulrich," upon Jeremy's command the samurai Lyoko Warrior disappeared.
"Let's go," Aelita said.

They walked through the room again without anything happening. However, as Cassandra took the last look at it before going further into the corridor, she saw him smiling and leaning to a wall there. The evil grin frightened girl and she hurried up into the middle of the small group, close to William. She resisted the will to lean to him to seek some reassurance from his proximity, but William noticed just how close she had dared to come.
"Are you ok, Cass?" he asked the her.
"I'm frightened, but still alive and all. So, I guess I could say I'm okay," Cassandra answered timidly.
"I disagree," Odd said. "If you're frightened, you aren't ok. Are you sure you don't need anyone to talk with?" He earned a glare from the girl. She did not want to talk with anyone, especially not this flirter. She would have liked to talk with someone, but she did not want to tell about the attacker, so it would not help.
"I could stay with you for some time, actually. I don't have much to do now that the school day is over," William noted. "If that's fine."

Cassandra pondered.
"If it's fine with others, I won't mind you being here with me," she said.
"If you can be there without anyone monitoring Lyoko, there's no problem with that," Jeremy said.
"We'll just stay in the tower, so no need for monitoring," Cassandra noted.

When they reached the tower, two more Lyoko Warriors were materialized and two others jumped to the tower.

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