Chapter 10:

The five of them talked quietly among themselves for a few minutes, bouncing ideas around for what they were going to do about this new development, eventually leading to Yumi having to return home to face her family, who were likely ready to ground her until she was 50.

In the end, it took a little over half an hour for Jonas to wake up again, over three times as long as his first power nap, which made them wonder if something was wrong. However, this time around he was woken by the sound of his watch beeping, which caused everyone to look at it as he opened his eyes.

"Meh," He proclaimed simply as he lifted his wrist to see what it wanted, but didn't seem that excited by the message.

"Something wrong?" Aelita asked kindly as she walked over to kneel down next to him and he smiled once again, something she was beginning to realize came just as naturally to him as it did to their Odd, which she found admittedly refreshing, given how much he had changed over the years, she was glad he hadn't lost that.

"I'm just running out of time." He explained, causing the others to walk up quietly.

"What does that mean?" Jeremy asked again as Jonas used the beam behind him to pull himself back to his feet; a process that seemed to wane on him more than it should have, almost like he wasn't accustomed to feeling fatigue.

"It's just that I only have a limited amount of time to complete my mission before the –" He petered off slightly as he said this before sighing and looked away again as he stuck his hands in his pockets. "Never mind," He added dismissively.

"Hey," Ulrich complained sternly as he walked up to him. "How do you expect us to help you if you won't tell us anything?"

"I don't expect you to help me." Jonas admitted simply.

"Then let us." Odd suddenly put in, causing the older man to look at him quickly. "If I know myself; and I do – I wouldn't be putting my life on the line for some flimsy little thing. Either our friends are in danger, or the world, or both. And if that's the case, I wouldn't risk going it alone, I'd swallow my pride and take all the help I could get."

"Pride has nothing to do with it." Jonas countered calmly. "The fact that I don't remember this happening proves that I've already changed the course of time. So I'm now altering your timeline, a timeline I have no business interfering with. The less I change your lives the better prepared you'll be."

"That doesn't sound like the Odd I know." Ulrich pointed out truthfully, causing the older man to sigh once again.

"You're probably right; I'm not the person I once was." Jonas admitted, causing them to go quite again. "Fifty years of war can do that to you."

"Fifty years?" Aelita repeated as they all looked up in shock of this sudden admission. "You can't be that old." She continued truthfully, causing him to smile again as he looked at the ground.

"Just like you shouldn't still be 13?" He countered kindly, leaving her to close her mouth as she realized what he was referring to with that statement. "No, I'm not this old." He continued calmly. "I should be in my 40's by now, but I've been trapped in the digital world for almost 20 years."

"What?" Jeremy stated in horror before walking forward to get in his face. "No – that's impossible. If you were stuck on Lyoko I – would have gotten you out."

"I have no doubt about that." Jonas admitted sadly, causing the genius to back up a step.

"Wait – I'm not –" He started before the man reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder supportively.

"No," He said simply. "You're not dead."

"Then – why wouldn't I help you?" Jeremy countered quickly, determined to make him answer his questions, regardless of the consequences, which left Jonas to look at the ground again for a moment as if deciding what to tell them and what to leave out.

"Screw it," He finally proclaimed after some thought and looked back at them. "Let's go down to the lab – I'll tell you everything."

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