Yumi huffed in annoyance. She had hoped that after Cassandra's appearance William would have concentrated on the Lyoko-bound girl rather than her, but she had been dead wrong. As they had talked about how Cassandra had suddenly pushed William away after starting to befriend him in Riverain, it seemed that William was already forgetting the girl, leaving her behind, especially since the girl did not actively teach him anything anymore.

Yumi felt a bit sad for Cassandra; the poor girl was still in love with William, but it seemed that William had stopped loving her. The boy had moved on already even though Yumi could not blame him. After all, forced or not, Cassandra had stopped communicating with him. Yumi just wished William would give her another chance.

As the black-haired boy chatted very zealously with her once again about love, Yumi knew that it was probably a wish wasted.

Cassandra shuddered as she exited her battle trance. The nightmare William had grown more detailed ever since the real one had arrived on Lyoko the first time, and as the real William had grown more powerful, so had the Dark version of him. It was frightening. She had not forgotten how the copy of the Dark William had snuck up on her in the tower and even though she had seen him never after that, she feared that the copy was still out there. No one had reported having faced him, let alone beaten him.

In the meantime, as William had explained how Miranda Croaker, a classmate of theirs at Riverain, had tried to get between Cassandra and his slowly growing friendship, the others listened. It had turned out that this Miranda Croaker seemed to be jealous of the attention Cassandra got from Mathieu – and later William too. She had even tried to get William, who was not as stubborn as Mathieu, to hang out with her instead of the swordswoman, noting that the new-comer deserved better company than the nasty girl.

Yet Cassandra was no longer as nasty as she had used to be towards William and slowly towards others too. Yet the girl had started to become warmer and less emotionless after William had joined the swordplay club. No one dared to guess what had actually happened to her, but they all had concluded it was because of William. Perhaps his interest towards swordplay and what Cassandra said about it all had sparked some friendliness and even happiness in the girl. Before, no one even in the swordplay club had been that interested to actually talk with her, so finally meeting someone who was interested must have made a huge difference in the girl's life. After all, having someone to talk with made anyone happy.

And even if it did not, it made Cassandra happy. As her fear crept under her skin, she had finally seen light, a reason to risk everything. Perhaps she could escape her family once and for all.

As it had turned out, she had escaped them in the end with a high cost and ended up a prisoner of her fear on Lyoko. The source was far away, but the emotion still held her.

It still held her, and the girl knew it. As the weeks and months passed and she fought as a Lyoko Warrior, she became more and more aware of that she had been the prisoner of her fear in the first place. Her fear, not her parents or X.A.N.A. Fear had kept her from forming friendship with anyone before William and now that fear kept her on Lyoko, away from human life. She did not even know if her parents thought of her anymore after all these months. Actually, it was already a year after her escape to Lyoko. Probably she was long forgotten and could easily attend Kadic, but she could never be so sure.

Her fear told her not to be so sure about that. Anything could happen and then she would, once again, be hurt. She did not want to risk it. She wanted to avoid get hurt now that she had learnt to understand that she was not supposed to get hurt by her parents. She wanted to avoid the pain and losing what had made her able to escape: her love, William.

Even if it meant staying on Lyoko under the mercy of X.A.N.A. and nightmares of the Dark William forever.

She would not let herself wind up hurt by her parents again. She was sure of that.

No matter what even William would tell her to do.

Another X.A.N.A. attack was launched, this time via a tower. As a herd of Xanafied dogs did its their best to hold the Lyoko Warriors down, only Odd, Aelita and William managed to get past as Jeremy, Ulrich and Yumi were forced to shut themselves into the cafeteria.
"Cassandra, do you copy?" Aelita asked as the group reached the computer lab.
"I do. What's the situation?" Cassandra replied.
"Xanafied dogs attacked us. Jeremy, Ulrich and Yumi stayed at the school while the rest of us got away," Aelita told.
"No one using the supercomputer on Earth then?" Cassandra asked.
"Exactly. I'll launch the delayed virtualization process so that three of us can get there," Aelita answered.
"Going blindly into the battle? I have a bad feeling about this," Cassandra noted, worried.
"We can beat everything X.A.N.A. throws into our way, can't we, William?" Odd said cheerfully. William nodded, saying, "We can pull this through. It's not the first time we go blindly in."

Cassandra looked over her shoulder. Even though the Arena kept spinning without any corridors opening, the thought of the Scyphozoa and the Dark William's copy somewhere out there frightened her.
"This would be an ideal situation for a trap by X.A.N.A.," she said, turning to look at the others again via her visual to the supercomputer. "That's what worries me the most."
"Come on, Cass, put a bit more confidence in William. He's much more skillful than back when he first came on Lyoko!" Odd noted.
"First of all, don't use that name," Cassandra said, immediately angered. "Second, I never said I was not confident in William's skills or that I was worried for only him. X.A.N.A. could get us all if it's successful, either devirtualizing us or using a Scyphozoa against us. No matter how skillful we are, we all still can be caught."
"Cassandra is right. X.A.N.A. can get us if its traps work," Aelita said solemnly. She knew exactly what Cassandra was talking about. "Odd, you should know that well enough after all the times the Scyphozoa has caught me. Let's get to the scanners now before the time runs out."
"I'll stand by and hope nothing comes and kills me before you get here," Cassandra said and closed the window as the three Lyoko Warriors rushed to the elevator and left for the scanners.

Just a minute later

Odd, William and Aelita dropped to the Arena. Cassandra was waiting for them, examining her sword. It was unusually spiky.
"Wow, I've never seen you use spikes," Odd noted. Cassandra glared at him before turning back to look at her sword, her thumb running on the blade and its spikes. William got the idea; something was wrong.
"What's with your sword?" he asked.
"I don't know, and that's what worries me," Cassandra said and bit her lip. The feeling that had crept to her gut made her nervous. "Something's not right at all and I have no idea if it's caused by something out there or... if it's within me." The corridor opened. "We must get going." She started to run and the others followed, ready to look for the key.

In the meantime, the dogs tried to dig a tunnel to the cafeteria when they could not reach the window.
"This doesn't look too good," Ulrich said, stressed out but ignoring frightened fellow students who had been eating when the dogs had attacked. "Let's hope they don't get in."
"I think they won't get in. The structures should be that solid," Yumi said.

Jeremy had sat down and tried to connect to Lyoko to help the others by providing tactical information. Unfortunately, his laptop was not advanced enough to tap into the more advanced parts of the supercomputer, but he knew he could establish an audio connection with at least Cassandra if he was able to open the map and see what was going on.

He also tried to keep his mind off his own situation by concentrating on the situation of those who were the only ones who could help them.

The spikes were not only in Cassandra's sword; the room of the key was covered in them!
"Now what?" William asked.
"The key is on the ceiling," Cassandra noted. The way up there was covered in spikes.
"The only one who can reach them is William," Aelita said.
"That'll be tricky," William noted. "I've never used my levitation power is such a hazardous area."
"There are no alternative choices," Odd said. "If I could fly, I'd go."
No alternative choices, huh? a malevolent voice chuckled in Cassandra's head. I could provide you one if you wanted. The mint-haired girl turned to look over her shoulder again, the spikes intensifying on her sword. There was no one there.
"What is it, Cassandra?" Aelita asked.
"Nothing," Cassandra replied sourly. She tried to make the spikes smaller, but her efforts had little effect. She wanted to run away more than stay and fight the spikes – or whatever was out there, waiting to get her. Luckily William's careful levitation was proving to be more successful as he had avoided spikes or blocked them with his sword to avoid deadly contact.

William reached the key and the spikes started to disappear, allowing him to drop back down unharmed. However, there was a gap between them and the opened corridor.
"Can we all jump over this?" Odd asked.
"I don't think so," Cassandra said. She had never been good at jumping.
"I'll create a path for us," Aelita said. She closed her eyes to use creativity. A bridge started to form.

Creepers moaned behind them, and the three unoccupied Lyoko Warriors turned to look at them. There were five of them.
"Laser arrows!" Odd shouted and started shooting. Unfortunately, the Creepers followed suit and shot back as one of them blew up. William used his sword to protect Aelita from lasers while Cassandra deflected lasers purely for her own defense. Even though she had spent a lot of time with them on missions, the girl had not learned that much teamwork skills to help them out. She was one of them, fought for the same goal and did the same things as the others, but rarely helped anyone out if not necessary. She still was a loner, it had turned out.
"The bridge is ready, let's go!" Aelita said and threw an Energy field on one Creeper, destroying it.
"Cass, cover Aelita, I'll handle the Creepers!" William told. The girl nodded to him and quickly took his place between the Creepers and Aelita, deflecting lasers as they retreated to the bridge. William sliced the remaining two Creepers with ease and followed the others.

Cassandra did not do teamplay on her own initiative, but calculating as she was, she knew that she had to work with others to achieve the common goal. Protecting Aelita was the most important thing when the mission was to deactivate tower, that was clear without even calculating, since the pink-haired girl was the only one who could deactivate the tower and finish the mission. The others were just sidekicks helping her to get there.

The spikes got stronger in Cassandra's sword. Something was getting closer.
"We must be real careful," she said. "Something's coming."
"How do you know?" Aelita asked.
"I just feel it," Cassandra replied, remembering the voice in her head. "It's something awful."
"Let's keep our guards up then," William said and moved to the front. If anything was to attack them at the end of the corridor, he would be the one facing it first, protecting the others. Odd went next to Aelita while Cassandra, hiding her fear, was the last one. When they stopped near the end of the corridor, the mint-haired girl could not help looking over her shoulder for whatever threat that could be out there to get her – get them. There was none but it did not relieve the girl. Something was coming at them at high speed, she felt.
"I can't see any threats aside from Creepers. Let's go," William said. Somehow, he had subconsciously assumed some sort of a role as the leader even though he had the least experience. Perhaps it was just that they did not have anyone informing them about attackers, so he was the one who took control and responsibility. He was the oldest and, in brute strength, the strongest, so it felt natural that he took the lead and, if necessary, the first hit.

Without a word, they reached the room of the tower. Creepers started shooting, and soon Odd and Aelita shot at them behind William and Cassandra who blocked the lasers. As the monsters scattered, Odd and Aelita ran from their protectors to get a better aim. Cassandra and William ran to meet the monsters head on with their blades, William staying close to Aelita. Cassandra lured the monsters away from the others, wanting to take them on away from others to avoid bumping into her fellows.

Odd was devirtualized by lasers. Cassandra reflected the next lasers at the monsters who had made the purple cat warrior disappear. Spikes intensified, maiming the Creepers in front of her. When the monsters died and their moaning stopped, Cassandra heard something weird coming from the corridor behind her.

As she turned, a black ball came at her. Cassandra smacked it and then saw that the ball morphed into a human form that punched her to the ground. Cassandra quickly found her clattering sword despite of dizziness and prepared to fight but saw the attacking figure now going towards Aelita and William with a Zweihänder.
"William! Aelita! Look out!" Cassandra cried out in a more humane horror than she had expected to feel.

The two Lyoko Warriors noticed the new attacker immediately. Aelita cried out in fear and held her arms up in a futile attempt to protect herself from the deadly blade. William acted, his sword meeting the attacker's. He immediately realized he was being overpowered by the weight of both swords and the sheer strength of the attacker. He fell to his rear and moved his left hand to his blade, trying to balance the weight. Aelita destroyed the Creepers that threatened them while Cassandra got up.

Everything took a blacker shade and a battle in the back of her mind was creeping closer, but Cassandra did not mind. The spikes intensifying, becoming sleeker, becoming longer, she dashed and impaled the attacker with a black suit and black hair. That much she could register. She had no idea that her eyes had gone completely black as she could not see it. However, William saw it and gasped in horror.

The attacker turned, revealing a face that looked a lot like William's face. Now Cassandra knew who it was; it was the Dark William's clone! The clone smirked.
"You can never escape me," he said with a menacingly low volume and laughed as he disappeared. Cassandra fainted and fell, her spiky sword hardly making any sounds as it hit the ground. Aelita, having noticed the mysterious attacker's defeat, had already entered the tower.
"Cass!" William shouted and tossed his sword aside to get to his friend. "Cass, can you hear me? Cass?"

Cassandra heard her friend's voice from somewhere far away, up. She sensed that she had fallen very far down into the dark inside her. So far down that she could hardly hear the Dark William laugh. It was an empty space, like a sanctuary of nothingness. She could hear everything but could do nothing about it. As long as she could hear anything, it would be a prison, not a sanctuary.
"Cass, please, wake up! Answer me!" William asked desperately. Cassandra raised her hand, noticing now that she was lying in the nothingness. A strong hand took her hand, but to her shock the girl noticed that the hand was not covered by a white and black glove but a dark gray half-glove. Cassandra could see a spiky wristband and tried to shake her hand away from the grip. Yet it was already too late for that, as the hand dragged her up on her feet. Cassandra used the momentum she got and plummeted up towards the real William's voice. The dark hand lost its grip, its owner laughing somewhere in the darkness.

Cassandra opened her eyes which revealed the blue colors of Sector Five and William's worried face. Aelita called William somewhere on the left of Cassandra. William turned to look at the pink-haired girl to acknowledge her call and then turned back.
"Cass? Can you hear me?" he asked. Cassandra nodded and opened her mouth to ask, "What happened to me?"
"You fainted when that dude who attacked us was devirtualized," William explained. "He said something about you being unable to escape him, and your eyes... they were completely black! Like no iris or white! Just pure black!"
"Black?" Aelita repeated. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I am!" William noted. "Does that mean something?"
"I don't know, but I doubt it's normal," Aelita said, worried.
"Lemme get up, will you?" Cassandra asked. "I'm sick of lying around on the ground."
"Sure," William replied and, even though not asked to, he helped Cassandra to sit up. "How are you feeling?"
"Dizzy," Cassandra answered shortly. "So, you said that the attacker said something that I can't escape him?"
"Yes," William said. "Do you know him?"

Cassandra pondered. She did not want to tell William just how much she actually knew. She did not want to admit how afraid she truly was.
"I think he was the one who snuck up on me when I was in the tower," she told. "But now that he's gone, he should not cause trouble." Unless you become him or X.A.N.A. creates another clone, she continued in her mind.
"How can you be so sure he's gone?" Aelita asked.
"I impaled him. He disappeared and won't come back," Cassandra said stubbornly. "I doubt he has a stable form that lets him come back after a devirtualization."
"I can run a check on the map when we get to the lab," Aelita noted. "Odd, are you there?"
"I am," Odd answered. "Einstein called and said that they're OK. The dogs ran away, so no Return to the Past needed."
"Good," Aelita said. "William, let's devirtualize each other."
"Uhh.. Cass, can you make it to the tower without us?" William asked, worried about her friend.
"Of course I can," Cassandra replied with unusual calmness. She was too tired to snap at her friend who meant well. The fight inside her head had become very dull but it tired her still. To prove her capability of walking she got up on her feet only to stagger as she did so. William reacted to it immediately, catching her before the girl would fall.
"Wait, where's my sword?" Cassandra suddenly asked.
"It's on the ground," Aelita told. Cassandra turned her head to finally see the awful spikes. The wristband came to her mind. Is this a warning?

With careful movements, she picked her sword up, the spikes disappearing into black smoke as soon as she lifted the light blade. It was a warning, she was now sure of that. The words surfaced from her memory, taunting her. She was the prisoner of her own fear.
"I will escape. Damn you if you stand in my way," she muttered so quietly that William could not make out her words.

When the Dark William was far away, but an image in her mind, it was easy to act strong and brave even though she was shuddering inside. The fight was not over.

No, it was just starting.

William devirtualized Aelita so that the pink-haired girl could get to the supercomputer and scan Lyoko while he helped Cassandra to get to the tower, unaware of just how afraid the girl was and what she truly was afraid of.

William's fight had started the moment he had fallen on Lyoko's surface the first time months ago, but only now Cassandra's true fight had begun. They just did not know it.

Oh, they had no idea what they had ran into today...

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