Chapter 7:

Aelita took the opportunity of her friends shocked reaction to Jonas's seemingly calm, cool and collected manner, to sneak to the back of the room and climb the ladder up to the boiler room and, from there, to the factory floor where she made it just in time to catch the man as he stood in the doorway, looking out at something.

"Jonas?" She asked, causing him to turn to her and smile as she ascended the stairs to stand with him. "What are you doing?" She added, looking around herself to find what it was he had been staring at, only discovering that night had nearly fallen in all the chaos of the last several hours.

"Just – admiring the view." He admitted before turning back and she realized that he was looking at the stars, which caused her to look up as well.

She could certainly understand his fascination with the lights, as she too had grown fond of watching them since her materialization, only recently realizing what had been taken from her after the men in black had forced her and her father to seek refuge on Lyoko.

"How long?" She asked randomly, causing him to hum slightly in question, without taking his eyes off the sky and she turned to look at him again, noticing the almost sad air about him. "How long has it been since you've seen them?" She revised understandingly, causing him to smile before looking at her.

"A very long time." He admitted quietly, leaving her to meet his eyes for a moment as they shared an understanding. However, something else hit her while they stood there watching each other, his eyes – theywere – familiar.

"Why do I feel like I know you?" She asked quickly, causing him to laugh.

"I have that effect on people."

"Don't give me that." She berated sternly. "You seem so familiar, but I don't know – why?"

"It's probably better that it stays that way." He proclaimed kindly and she was about to respond when movement outside caught their attention and they turned in time to watch several black forms climb onto the bridge and zero in on them.

"No – not now," Jonas complained quietly as he took a step back causing her to follow nervously.

"What – who are they?"

"No time for fifty questions, go back down to the lab, right now." He ordered sternly, leaving her confused and lost as he moved to stand between her and the human-like forms descending on them, which she quickly realized were see-through.

"They're specters." She proclaimed as she came to this understanding and prepared to fight herself, but Jonas wasn't going to hear it.

"No, Aelita these are not your average Xanafied wisps of smoke, now go to the lab." He ordered again before one of the creatures charged them, forcing him to run to intercept it, grappling with the thing's sword as it tried to cut him in half.

"Jonas," She said worriedly as he was pushed back from the attack.

"Go now!" He commanded in such a stern and angry voice that all she could do was obey; quickly using the rope to swing back down to the lower floor and landed in front of the elevator, which she could hear coming up again, likely with Jeremy and the others on-board.

However, before she could reach it, another specter phased out of the ground just in front of her, where it quickly prepared it's swords with a soft shing.

"Aelita!" She heard Jeremy call in a panic while she backed away from the creature only to walk directly into a steel beam that gave her nowhere to go as the specter's swords sliced through the air toward her and she couldn't help but scream in terror while she raised her arms to defend herself.

However, moments before her inevitable death, a pair of strong arms lifted her away from the scene just before the sound of steel hitting concrete echoed through the room.

"Aelita?" Jeremy called again as her friends rushed to her aid and she looked around to discover Jonas had been the one to save her. "Aelita, are you okay?" Jeremy added in a panic, moving in to grab her face softly, as if worried he would never see her again.

"Yes, I'm fine." She insisted sternly, trying to right herself and stop her shaking in an attempt to get back in the fight she was aware was still going on.

"Yeah, well he's not." Odd pointed out and she quickly looked around to discover Jonas holding his side in clear discomfort, even though he was smiling at her again.

"You're hurt," She said worriedly and rushed to move his hand so she could see how bad it was, however he wouldn't let her.

"Aelita, it's okay, I'm fine." He insisted.

"You're not fine." She countered sternly, still trying to pry his hand away, but he seemed to have the strength of ten men plus one. "Let me see!" She ordered loudly causing him to flinch before sighing dejectedly and finally moved his hand.

However, the blood that she had expected to see was missing from the afflicted area, in fact there didn't appear to be any wound at all, not even a nick in his clothes. Instead, there was only the shimmer of partials as they rearranged themselves back into their normal position.

"I knew it." Ulrich proclaimed when he saw it too and pulled her away as the five of them gathered into a group to defend their position. "He's a specter."

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