Cassandra rushed through Lyoko. The William with black and white suit followed him, gaining on her with X.A.N.A.'s marks on his eyes. The Scyphozoa had succeeded at getting him while he had succeeded at disarming Cassandra after Xanafication.

Familiar laughter erupted from around the corner as the Dark William appeared in front of the running girl, stopping her. Cassandra was trapped between two versions of her love. She looked at them both.
"Which one will you choose? If you save him, you'll have me. If you destroy me, he'll become me," the Dark William said, grinning.
"If those are the choices," Cassandra said evenly, "then I know what to choose." She took the heavy Zweihänder from the real William, devirtualized him and struck at the Dark William, hoping to finish him off as well. She made a direct hit. The Dark William laughed, "YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE ME!"

Cassandra let the Zweihänder drop to the ground. It was too heavy for her. She had managed to defeat the threat but for how long could she do that? When would she fail and drag William into her nightmares?

She did not know even when she woke up, realizing it had been just a nightmare.

Jeremy called her to help with saving the Core of Lyoko. Cassandra rushed to meet the others, only to witness William being knocked to the ground by a Creeper, then trapped away from the others.
"William, look out! The Scyphozoa!" Jeremy shouted. He received only a cry from William before the supercomputer informed him that the Scyphozoa had caught the Lyoko Warrior. "Everyone, William was caught by the Scyphozoa!"
"I'm trying to get through!" Aelita said, trying to concentrate on her Creativity, only to be shot to devirtualization by another Creeper.
"NO!" Cassandra and Jeremy cried out. Jeremy watched helplessly as the Scyphozoa finished its work. Cassandra ignored the Creepers and Yumi's work to get to the key. She had to find William and stop him. "Jeremy, guide me to William! He needs to be stopped!"
"Don't go alone, Cassandra!" Jeremy said.
"Somebody, come with me!" Cassandra told. Ulrich sprinted to join her.
"What can we do to stop him?" Ulrich asked.
"Anything! We must devirtualized him!" Cassandra said. She felt the nightmare begin in her head and she prayed that the Dark William's clone would not appear on them.

The Xanafied William encountered them in a tight corridor. He raised his Zweihänder.
"I'll handle him," Ulrich said.
"No, we must work together. The last time was hard already, we must think of something," Cassandra said.
"What plans can we make without him hearing us?" Ulrich asked.
"I don't know," Cassandra said, horrified by the evil grin on her friend's face. The nightmare fight in her head had begun and suddenly she was frozen inside.

Spikes appeared. The corridor darkened. Cassandra tried to think. There had to be a way to beat their powerful opponent.
"Supersprint!" Ulrich shouted and dashed at his rival.
"Ulrich!" Cassandra shouted. She watched helplessly when William smacked the samurai away with his sword. The katana fell in front of Cassandra. William devirtualized Ulrich. Cassandra wanted to cry to the samurai, "Don't leave me!" However, it was already too late. She was all alone against William. If she failed, she could doom everyone.
"What are you gonna do now?" William asked, laughing like an evil maniac.

Cassandra had no idea. She looked at Ulrich's sword, then at her own which was getting spiky. The room was even darker now. Cassandra looked at William, his evil grin and Zweihänder. It was all about one hit. How could she beat brute force with agility and cunning in a place like this?

Cassandra picked up the katana. Maybe dual-wielding would help. She looked into William's eyes.
"What are you gonna do? You think your fallen comrade's sword will help you?" the boy laughed.

Cassandra did not say a word. The darkness was taking over and the back of her head was a battleground. Without a thought, she dashed to attack her Xanafied comrade. William seemed surprised, but she did not care; she did not even care that she was suddenly moving faster than she was supposed to. Her consciousness had gone comatose, letting the body move almost on its own. The nightmare had eaten her and she only fought like a drone.

William fought with sheer force, certain that he would be able to defeat the drone-like girl. Yet Cassandra dodged attacks, blocked something, attacked numbly but with deadly precision. In the small corridor, William had trouble staying untouched by the blades. When reduced into a drone outside by the nightmares which had consumed her mind's understanding of time and place, Cassandra's fighting became more ruthless and precise than ever before. Holding William's body in its hold, X.A.N.A. felt something that was as close to fear as it had ever got.

Cassandra made a cold slash at William's shoulder. The Xanafied boy looked at in horror and noticed then that the girl was already walking away from the ending battle. He tried to make a final attack, but it never reached Cassandra.
"Good work, Cassandra. Follow my instructions and I'll lead you to the elevator," Jeremy said. Cassandra did not answer. "Cassandra? Can you hear me? Where are you going?"

Cassandra said nothing as the nightmares kept on happening while her body made its way to the shortcut. She walked through the wall, took her sword and attacked the closest Creepers which were attacking the Core of Lyoko while Yumi, Aelita and Odd fought their brethren further away from her.

The Creepers moaned and shot at her, but with two blades she could both attack and defend at the same time. When the katana slashed at the monsters, the sabre blocked lasers and the other way around. The nightmares were now fading yet Cassandra was still a cold killer machine fighting her way through all the Creepers she reached.
"That really didn't feel good," William complained as he walked into the lab. "What's going on?"
"You got Xanafied. Cassandra devirtualized you," Ulrich told. "The others are now trying to get rid of the monsters at the Core."
"Did I devirtualize you?" William asked.
"Yes," Ulrich said and shrugged. "I wasn't fast enough." He waited for Cassandra's remark on that they should have attacked together but it never came.
"I'm worried about Cassandra. She became very weird after she attacked you," Jeremy said.
"What's wrong with her?" William asked, worried by Jeremy's words.
"She doesn't answer me nor say anything. She's doing things she wants to do with no thoughts about teamwork anymore," Jeremy said. A Creeper disappeared with Odd and Cassandra next to it. Odd complained about Cassandra stealing his monster. "See? She's clashing with Odd now!"
"I don't think that's anything new," William said.
"I swear, this is different. Like now, she's just going away without a word! Something's wrong with her," Jeremy said.
"Well, there's nothing we can do, is there?" Ulrich noted.
"No. We can only wait until the attack is over," Jeremy sighed.

Aelita destroyed the last monster. Cassandra stopped at the sight of that.
"Hey, what's with you, Cass?" Odd asked angrily as he came to the sword-wielder. Cassandra did not answer.
"Hey, what's with your eyes?" Odd asked, noticing that the girl's eyes were dark.

The evil laughter in Cassandra's head was intolerable. Inside her head, she was pushed to the ground, helpless and defeated. She had lost the fight.

The swords slipped out of her hands and she fell on her back, unconscious.
"Cassandra!" Aelita shouted. "Jeremy, she lost her consciousness! What's wrong with her?"
"I'm trying to figure it out. There seems to be nothing wrong with her," Jeremy answered.
"Cass..." William whispered. What's wrong with you?

Cassandra looked at William. He was leaning to a tree, reading something. There was something about him that made Cassandra's cheeks warm, yet she could not figure out what it was.

She knew that she would only hurt him if she got that close to him. She would get hurt as well.

It was no use. Cassandra turned her back on him and left to kill her emotions. All of them.

Laughter echoed in the darkness. The Dark William was on the loose within her psyche. It was far too dark to see him. Where are you, coward?

A sudden jab and more light. The darkness was ripped open by light blue.
"Cass! Are you ok?" Odd asked. His voice pierced into Cassandra's head.
"Shut up and don't use that name," Cassandra growled.
"Are you ok?" Odd repeated.
"SHUT UP!" Cassandra shouted and shoved her fellow away from her, then sat up. All the voices and movement hurt her head. "Just shut up, all of you."

The girl sat up, staggering. She saw the Heart of Lyoko. Was this where the fight had led her? No monsters... So the attack is over, is it? Something in her told her that she had prevailed against the Dark William yet lost to him. It was a bizarre feeling.
"Cass?" William called. It was the real William, Cassandra noticed.
"What happened?" Cassandra asked.
"You battled me when I was Xanafied and then went to help the others," William answered.
"Okay."
"What happened to you anyway?" William asked.
"I dunno."
"Surely you have some idea," Ulrich said.
"I don't."

William and Ulrich exchanged glances. They both saw that there was nothing Cassandra was willing to share with them. As frustrating as it was, they had to stay in ignorance.

Cassandra wanted to make sure that they would always stay that way.

Always.

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