Chapter 24:

"Aelita, Aelita," Jeremy's voice suddenly called out and she looked up from where she had fallen to her knees, to find that the time bubble had dispersed and all was normal again, which could only mean that Jonas had succeeded.

"Aelita, are you okay?" Jeremy tried again, as she looked back at the ground and cried, "Aelita," He added worriedly, "Please, get to the tower. Let me bring you back."

"Okay," She answered softly after a minute and got to her feet to phase through the wall of the structure that had been only a few feet away the whole time, finally allowing her friend to bring her back into the real world.

"Hey, Princess," A familiar voice said when the doors opened and she looked up to see Odd standing worriedly on the other side, "You okay?" He asked kindly and she couldn't help but throw herself into his arms as she cried for all she had lost.

…

"So – that's it? He's really – gone?" Ulrich said in shock, once she had relayed what had happened on Lyoko and he quietly let himself slide to the floor as she nodded in confirmation.

"I don't understand," Jeremy fussed in his chair, for once unable to bring himself to look at the computer before him, "Why would he do that, why wouldn't he –" He tried to continue but found himself unable to.

"At least we know that his mission was successful," Yumi put in dryly. It was true the knowledge that their future was still intact should have really made them happier than what they were, however the group couldn't help but feel it had cost them too much.

"Can't you find him?" Ulrich proclaimed demandingly as he got back to his feet and rushed to Jeremy's side, "Can't you bring him back?"

"There's no way," Jeremy relented sadly, "When you guys are on Lyoko your bodies are stored in limbo, while your minds become the avatar. To be swept away in the digital sea, is to have that mind torn apart. There would be so many pieces, I'd –" He explained before closing his eyes and used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe away his own tears. "I'd never find them all," He finished quietly.

"It just feels so wrong," Aelita exclaimed suddenly and they turned to look at her again, "He gave up everything and no one will ever know."

"We will," Odd pointed out; however, it was at that moment a tone from the computer caught their attention and Jeremy quickly looked around to realize that the hard drive which was still connected to the interface was doing something he hadn't authorized.

"What – no!" He yelled in horror.

"What is it?" Ulrich demanded as they crowded around to see what was wrong.

"A Return to the Past has just been activated," Jeremy explained, as he frantically tried to stop it, but it was moving too fast – it was already out of his control, "Its parameters are set to focus entirely on us."

"What does that mean?" Odd added, only for Aelita to answer as she finally understood what Jonas had meant when he said she wouldn't remember.

"It's going to wipe our memories," She explained sadly. "We're not going to know any of this ever happened," She proclaimed causing her friends to look at her in shock, right before a brilliant white glow lit up the room and consumed them in its light.

…

In the courtyard of a school under the name of Kadic, students exited the cafeteria in order to head for their next classes, though for some it was hard to hide their enthusiasm as it was their last day before a three-week holiday began.

Though in the case of five particular teenagers; family visits, camping trips and whatnot were the last things on their minds, which made their conversation anything but normal.

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Yumi asked as they converged on their usual bench to talk privately among themselves for the rest of their lunch hour, "What if Xana attacks?"

"We haven't seen anything of him since he escaped the supercomputer," Jeremy proclaimed as he pulled out his laptop in order to type on it for a bit, checking several scans to see if they had located the evil virus yet, but no luck.

"Don't even think about it," Odd suddenly piped up with a big smile as he moved to sit on the back of the bench, "I'm not letting you out of this. We need a vacation, and we already agreed. You two get the first week," He proclaimed, pointing at the two girls in their group, "And we get the second," He added motioning toward himself, Ulrich and Jeremy.

"Odd, you know I can't go, I have too much work to do," Jeremy complained.

"That's the whole point," The other kid quailed dramatically, "Vacation is a time to LIVE, not work, and I'm not taking 'no' for an answer, either you go with them or you go with us. So, pick your poison."

This left everyone – excluding his current target, of course – to laugh loudly as they realized their fun-driven friend wasn't going to let it go.

"Alright, I'll go," Aelita agreed, causing the teenager to hoot with victory and for Jeremy to look like he'd just swallowed a bug.

"What?" He demanded quietly.

"Actually –" Yumi put in again. "Suddenly – I really do feel like I a need a vacation."

"Yeah, same here," Ulrich admitted.

"So, it's settled," Odd announced happily, and everyone nodded before turning to Jeremy for his answer, causing the genius to sigh as he closed his laptop in defeat.

"Alright, fine – vacation it is."

Believe it or not, I wrote this entire story in Three Days... I won't lie; I'm feeling pretty good about that.

Though it did result in some really short chapters, mainly because this was a "experiment" on my part to test chapter length in my stories, I'm trying to find a good medium for future refreance, as some of my other stories had chapters nearly hitting page numbers in the 20's

I know readers like that, but I also know there's such a thing as there being 'too much information'. I've become a firm believer in the idea that a Chapter should "end" where a "Commercial" should start, otherwise the tense atmosphere I work to create is lost, due to not safely stopping the flow.

I'm sorry if this dulled the experience for anyone, that was never my intention. But I would have never learned anything had I not taken that risk and I deeply appreciate all for you for putting up with me this long and helping to make my writing better and more enjoyable.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed the ride.