Chapter 18:

When Jonas finally opened his eyes again it was nearly night again and everyone was there to greet him.

"Hey," Aelita said with a smile that lit up the world as she watched him come around.

"Aelita?" He asked in shock, reaching up to touch her face in an almost loving manner. "Aelita come back; please come back," He begged, causing her to grab his hand as she tried to comfort him, realizing that he was confused into thinking he was in his own time.

"Jonas," She used his code name in an attempt to get him to understand, which caused him to pause briefly. "Jonas, its okay, just breathe for me and remember what happened."

"Jonas?" He repeated questionably, before looking around at the others who had gathered nearby, finally focusing on Odd; which seemed to bring back his memories, for he then quietly looked back at Aelita as he gripped her hand a little tighter, "This isn't my time is it?"

"No," She said kindly, leaving him to take in a deep breath as he closed his eyes again in a clear struggle to accept her words, before moving to sit up.

"I'm sorry," He offered and she smiled again as she reached out to help him remain sitting, considering that he was obviously still be very weak.

"It's okay."

"How do you feel?" Ulrich asked next, leaving the man to look at him quietly.

"Like a million bucks," He joked lightly, before attempting to get up, only to wince in pain and quickly stopped the movement, "On second thought – maybe it's only ten." He corrected leaving them to laugh as they tried to help him into a more comfortable position.

"Jonas," Aelita started again while she reached out to take his hand once more, causing him to look back at her, "We know," She finally admitted leaving him to sigh and look away.

"Xana?" He confirmed and she nodded. "I'm sorry, I – I couldn't tell you, I didn't know how you would react."

"Unfortunately, that will still depend on what the story is," Ulrich pointed out truthfully and Jonas nodded in approval before looking up at them again.

"Xana actually approached us," He started simply, "When Tryon's time-loop backfired he was trapped in his computer with very little of himself outside the system. Eventually he came to Lyoko and contacted Aelita and me. He had a plan, and it would work – but we needed to team up."

"He was our enemy, but even he could see little value in a time-trapped world," He continued quietly, "We knew very well that once it was all said and done he'd go right back to his original plans, but – it was our only chance. It was to save the world."

"I can't think of many better reasons for teaming up with an evil virus," Ulrich admitted, causing Jonas to smile slightly.

"But how did he get inside you?" Jeremy added leaving the man to look at him in shock. "When I possessed you with a new specter I realized Xana was still in your body. So, the purpose of the original wasn't to keep you alive in this timeline, it was to protect you against Xana."

"He's killing you?" Aelita put in sadly, when a minute of silence followed this reveal, and he quietly turned to look at her again as she squeezed his hand a little tighter, "Isn't he?" She finished kindly.

"Yes," Jonas confirmed simply.

"Then why don't you kick him out?" Ulrich demanded, knowing ever well that while other humans were susceptible to Xana's influence, the five of them were stronger.

"As I said, a lot of Xana was left behind in the internet," Jonas explained quietly, "He wasn't strong enough to survive on his own."

"So you –" Yumi started as she realized what that meant, but couldn't find the words to continued, however he seemed to have them.

"That's right," He agreed nervously. "I let him live my body," He explained painfully, clearly finding it difficult to talk about this. "The one time we could have finally defeated Xana for good – and I saved him."

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