I awoke around 9:30 pm. I slowly sat up in my bed and looked around the dimly lit room. Aelitas bed appeared to be vacant. 'Where could she be?' I think getting up from the bed and stretching my back. I finished stretching and changed into my robe and collecting my shower stuffs.
I slipped out of the room and into the nearby bathroom. I headed to the far back left corner of the shower area and set my things on the metal rack hanging on the shower head. I turned the cold handle and water shot out of the nozzle spreading across the tiled floor. I disrobed and let the gentle spray of warm water flow over my tired body.
I washed my body stopping at my legs. Though Aelita had been checking my arms she had forgotten about the possibility of me cutting anywhere else. I looked at my thighs, which were riddled with scars of different length and depth. I sighed heavily and finished my shower at a faster pace.
I sighed and dried myself off with my towel, being careful around my thighs. I put on my robe and grabbed the rest of my shower necessities and headed back to my room. I walked quickly to my room and locked the door. I looked towards Aelitas bed again and noticed she still wasn't there.
I changed into a pair of black jeans, my purple and black hoodie, and a gray Black Veil Brides shirt with my black doc martins. I grabbed my dorm room key and decided to look for Aelita. I quickly, but quietly, walked out of my room and walked towards the stairs.
'Maybe she's in Jeremies room.' I think and head up the stairs. I walk quickly, trying to remember which room was his. Eventually I made a decision on which room his was and knocked lightly on the door. There was no response. I sighed 'I'll check Odd and Ulrichs room; they ought to know if Jeremie is there.'
I walked over to their door and knocked softly, just as I did to Jeremies. There was no response. I put my ear to the door and couldn't hear anything, not even Odds snoring.
'This is really weird. Are they in the forest maybe?' I think heading downstairs and outside as quiet as possible. I make my way quickly to the nearby forest.
'I hope everything's okay…I wonder where they are…..how do I know if they're even in the forest?' I think as I walk farther. Suddenly I could hear the sound of mechanical footsteps. I stopped and looked around for a moment. 'Where is that sound coming from?' I think as I continue to walk.
Soon enough I find a clearing through a set of trees and stop as I see a large light brown cockroach looking creature. It turns around on what appears to be a manhole and I hear the mechanical steps again and realize it is making that sound.
It turned towards me and I froze. 'Would it hurt me?' A red ball of energy started to form from its eye and I took a step back. The ball of energy grew and I stood there confused.
Suddenly the creature was thrown from the manhole cover is it was lifted up. I ducked down as the monster flew overhead and into the forest. I looked in the direction it went and a red beam followed it, barely missing my cheek.
"Jade? What are you doing here?" I turned around to see Yumi at the entrance to the manhole.
"Oh, uh, well…I-"I was cut off by the sound of Yumis phone buzzing. She fished the phone out or her pocket. She pressed the answer button and put the receiver up to her ear.
"Hello? Jeremie? Yeah they're not in the sewers but I haven't seen any. No. I did find Jade though…..Are you sure? But-Okay I'll bring her." She hung up and put the mobile device in her back pocket. "Come on Jade. I have something to show you." She motioned for me to follow her.
I followed her into the sewers and she led me through the sewer system until we came to another manhole. She climbed up and lifted the cover peeking over first, then opening it and climbing out. I followed, unsure of where she was taking me.
"This way." She called. I turned around to see the opening to a factory. She walked inside smiling.
"Yumi, are we allowed to be here?" I ask watching her walk up to a rope that hung at the end of the platform we were standing on.
"Don't worry. It's abandoned. Trust me." She said smiling and sliding down the rope. "Come on Jade!" She called swinging the rope back to me.
I caught the rope and looked down at Yumi who was waiting at the bottom. I adjusted my grip on the rope and slid down it. I felt wind blow my hair back and nervousness in the pit of my stomach, but all in all, it was an amazing feeling.
I reached the bottom and planted my feet on the ground sending a small jolt of pain throughout the balls of my feet. I ignored the pain and let go of the rope. I smiled at Yumi and she led me to an elevator that was open and waiting for us.
We entered and just as Yumi pressed the button to close the door a large red beam shot through the doors hitting the back of the elevator car, leaving a large black mark. Yumi sighed with relief as she realized we were both unharmed.
"What was that?!" I asked staring at Yumi wide eyed.
"Don't worry. I'll let Jeremie explain." She said as the elevator came to a stop. The doors opened to reveal a giant computer looking machine.
"Wow, what is this place?" I ask looking around. A computer chair and monitor suddenly move towards is, Jeremie sitting at it.
"This is what we like to call the factory. Welcome Jade." He said smiling at me. I smiled back and realized the others weren't there.
"Where is everyone else?" I ask looking around. I suddenly heard the sound of the elevator and turned around to see Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita.
"Jade?"Aelita asked confused "What are you doing here?" She stepped out of the elevator and approached me.
"Trust me Aelita I have no clue why I'm here. I was in the forest and I saw this weird cockroach thing that tried to hurt me, but Yumi showed up and she brought me here."
"Hey Jeremie is Jades character card ready?" Odd asked walking over to Jeremie.
"Not exactly. I need maybe two hours to work through everything before I can be sure if it's ready to be used or not. I'm not sure if it'll even work. I mean your guises character cards weren't programmed like hers. Yours were automatically created when you went to Lyoko for the first time and-"
"Yeah yeah Einstein we have no clue what you are saying; now if you could repeat that in a way we could understand that would be great."
Jeremie sighed and turned to us. "The character card won't be fully ready for a few hours, and there's the possibility that it might not even work." He clarified.
Odd pondered this for a moment before frowning. "So what you're saying is that, we won't be able to tell her anything?" Jeremie nodded, "And we are going to have to return to the past so she won't remember any of this, right?" Jeremie nodded again and Odd sighed turning to me.
"Sorry Jade." Ulrich said with a frown. "But I guess we'll have to wait to show you what we're talking about."
"Wait, what? I'm not even sure what's going on! Someone please explain all of this to me!" I said confused.
"Sorry Jade but that would be a waste seeing as we are about to return to the past and would most likely have to tell you it all again tomorrow." Aelita sad putting a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
Jeremie turned back to the computer and typed something quickly. "Alright everyone ready?" He asked holding his finger above the enter key. There were several nods and conformations form the group before Jeremie gave me a sad look.
"Sorry Jade. Return to the past now." He said pushing the key. A bright light suddenly appeared and engulfed everything around us. And as quickly as it all had happened the memories were wiped from my mind completely.