La di da di da di do. Edits and stuff. This chapter's now a little inconsistent with quite a few chapters- particularly 4, 5 and 6- but I'll fix that once I get to editing them. Oh, and sorry about the enormous delay in editing- I was in France for a week and a half, and that kind of set me back.

YAYYYY more reviews! And even some faves. Heeheee...you seem to like this crazy drabble. But, BUT, that's just the beginning. Here, we get to the fabled meat of the story. I hope this chapter is as good as the others are- it's been kinda hard getting Jer where I need him to be in the plot.

Just to comment on the anonymous review- reading over, Odd does seem to be on crack at some points. If anything, it's just me overdoing his character. I like acting crazy and unpredictable. Of course, he won't be appearing for the next few chapters, so it's not much to worry about. And I kind of toned it down in the edits-ness.

So, enough talk outta me, let's start the chapter. Or something.

Disclaimer: All your Code Lyoko are belong to Moonscoop. Not little Carthy. So sad.

Chapter 3
Day One: Of Decisions, Shadows, And Crazy Teacher People

The feeling of returning to the past was familiar to Jeremie- after all, he had been through it a thousand times. A flash of light, a brief, odd sensation, as though he were floating, and then a sudden thrust back into wherever he had set the computer back to, as though he had been sleeping on that spot and had just woken up. This time, however, the sensation was rather longer, although he couldn't really judge time in this state. He wasn't really aware of himself, or any of his senses, just that light, floating feeling…

And then the ground. Grass-softened, but still uncomfortable. There was no thud or landing, it just came into existence beneath him.

He didn't open his eyes. Sight just seemed to happen. As soon as it had registered in his abnormally smart brain that the trip was over, he jumped up from his seat with a start and looked around wildly, scanning his surroundings. Quite safe, far as he could tell. He was in a small patch of grass, part of a strip between a wide concrete road and a tall concrete wall. The wall seemed familiar. Very familiar, yet somehow...not.

He was somewhere in the past, he knew that much. He'd seen the white bubble way too many times to further question what it meant. He didn't remember ever being in this spot, an oddity, as the return trip usually set him back to somewhere he'd been before. But, this was no matter to him. The only thing he worried about for the moment was that he was in the past, XANA, in his tower activation, had seized control of the Return to the Past again, and he had to somehow get back to the factory, find the others, and deactivate the tower.

But first, he had to find out where he was. He began to walk a little, keeping one hand on the wall, following it until, he predicted, he found a sort of door or corner or something interesting. After a moment of walking, the stone turned to metal under his hand. He looked over at it, curious, and his eyes widened. His hand was on what he definitely knew was the Kadic front gate.

But, as he looked though the gate and peered inside the campus, he began to seriously doubt his assumption.

Sure, it looked a whole lot like Kadic. All the buildings looked the same, and were in the same spots. But while they were all still beaten with age, they looked slightly less so, as though several years had been lost to them. The grounds were the same as well, but there were trees where no trees should have been, missing benches, and vice versa on both counts. Set in a corner was the Science building, which was the most startling of all- it was missing an entire floor. Instead, there were some steel girders at the top, and the whole building was surrounded by construction equipment.

Looking over in another direction, Jeremie saw something that definitely shouldn't have been there- a house. It stood many yards from the gate, tucked away behind the school's forest. It was a perfectly ordinary house in every way. It was medium-sized, a pale green color, and sturdy-looking. The only thing that seemed abnormal about it was the fact that Jeremie, student there as he was, had never seen anything like it at the school. Not even any ruins.

Was this really Kadic? Jeremie shuddered again at the thought. To be entirely sure, he twisted his neck up to read the plaque he knew was on the post outside the gate. It was there, as always- Kadic Academy, founded 1905, blah blah blah. Just the same as it always said. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or even more unnerved by this. Sure, he couldn't deny now that it was Kadic, but…something was very wrong.

Jeremie took another look inside the gate, staring at the scene, wondering. Just as he did, a tone rang- the bell from a clock. The grounds, at first deserted, flooded with students instantly, all running, crashing into each other, and jostling around to get with their friends before the class bell. There was only one problem with the scene- Jeremie didn't recognize a single face out of any of them. Sweat beaded on his face. How far back had he gone? At least five years, he supposed, but…no, he thought, that was impossible.

He glanced over at the road, as though that would give him an answer. Oddly enough, it did. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a sodden, discarded newspaper in a gutter. The newspaper, he knew, could never lie. He ran over to it, snatched it up, brushed some mud off the front page, and read the date at the top.

Monday, June 6, 1994.

It took Jeremie a full five seconds to realize that he wasn't breathing. He dropped the newspaper, choked on a gasp, and crouched down on the grass, clutching his neck as if for dear life. His mind was racing, introducing a thousand thoughts at once and very limited resources with which to sort through them. June 6, 1994…no, no…that, that couldn't…it was impossible. Impossible…yet it was happening.

The weight of it hit him all at once. He'd just been sent back twelve years, way beyond the regular capabilities of the Return to the Past. As long as he had used the program he had only ever been able to set back a week or less; further reversal was prevented by the program's inborn safety parameters. So why…? He thought for a second. When the answer came to him, he wondered why he even had to think. XANA. Beyond controlling the return program, he could have used the tower's energy to strengthen it substantially- and, most likely, target it at him only. He'd gotten rid of him, trapped him. He shuddered, unwilling to accept it.

As soon as he had worked through this revelation, another crashed in. The date he had entered, June 6, 1994…he'd heard it before. In fact, he'd heard it too many times, echoed over and over on an old tape in a forgotten diary, always followed by a steadily increasing number. It was the day that the supercomputer's creator, Franz Hopper, had reversed for over seven years in order to work on his creation. The day XANA had broken free. The day everything went wrong.

An odd excitement began to well up inside him, a surge of adrenaline that shouldn't have been there. Maybe it was the shocked thrill of entering the day where all these important things had happened, or the restless feeling that came with entrapment, or maybe he was just going crazy. He enjoyed the feeling for a second, the fact that just for that moment, he didn't have to care about what he had to do next. But then it was over. And he had to do something.

He stood up, rubbing his neck, and looked down at himself. His laptop bag was snug on his shoulder. He was sure it had some notes on XANA in it, along with a picture of his friends, some stray Euros, and his laptop. His cellphone weighted down one pocket, while the other had assorted trash- some candy, paper clips, and more random Euros. None of it could meddle with time. He groaned.

With some difficulty, he tried to determine what to do next, but his brain, perhaps recovering from the jolt, seemed to be filled with thick fuzz. He began to wander away from the gate. Should he stay at Kadic, try to find answers there? Or go to the factory, see what was there… Or should he just stay in his little spot, stay out of the timeline, do nothing? Oddly enough, the third seemed to be a valid option. The soft ground, the promise of sleep, seemed to him all too inviting.

Before he could make a decision, however, one was made for him. There was a loud creak, and a shadow loomed behind him. He turned around, and squeaked in the back of his throat.

Someone from inside the campus had opened the gate, stepped out, looked around, and noticed him standing nearby. His eyes locked dead on his. Jeremie was shocked to see him- for more than one reason. Not only was he very large and scary, he was also very familiar. Very, very familiar. Mostly because of the red track suit, the headband, and the bandaid across one cheek.

"…Jim?" he said, in a tiny voice the man couldn't hear.

"Huh- hey!" He ran toward him and grabbed his shoulder, to prevent him from escaping. "What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be at school or something?" He was scrutinizing him, trying to detect fear. He found lots. Lots and lots.

"Uh…" Jeremie had to think fast. If he said the wrong thing, he could end up trying to explain his situation to a truant officer- and he wasn't exactly sure how he would do that. So, in a burst of inspiration, he blurted the first idea that came to his head. "Uh, yes! I…I'm a shadow student! I'm supposed to be shadowing here today, but, well, the gate was closed..."

Of course- a shadow student. They were prospective pupils who came for a day to 'test-drive' a school, see if it fit their expectations or needs. They didn't happen very often, but they did happen- there had been one a month earlier in his own time. It was a bit of a weak excuse, but he hoped that it would work. His face stretched into a nervous smile.

Jim- or this past version of him- glared at him for a second, raised his eyebrow, sighed, and finally spoke. "Oh, really, well then… sorry about that, mister-"

"Belpois," Jeremie said. He had no time to think of a psuedonym. "Jeremie Belpois."

"Mm hmm, well then, Mr. Belpois-" He released Jeremie's shoulder, and pointed towards the gate. "Get yourself on campus, and don't let me catch you wandering back out here, or you may not find yourself wandering back in! You get what I'm saying? Looks like you do. Forward!" He pushed Jeremie ahead with his other hand.

"Uh, yeah, thanks!" Jeremie ran along the wall, through the gate, and onto the Kadic campus. At least now, in terms of terrain, he knew where he was going. He stopped in the middle of a clearing- one so familiar, and yet so alien- to think. Ok, so he knew what he was going to be doing now- or, at least he knew the better alternative to being punished by Jim. But he couldn't just wander around all day to make Jim happy. He'd have to make sure he really was a shadow student, at least, according to their computer systems.

This led him to another frantic thought- Did the school system even have computers in 1994? He hoped they did, or his plan wouldn't work. He walked over to the nearest tree, sat in its shade, took out his laptop, and set to work.

It was hard. Very hard. Jeremie was used to modern computers, and the computers that Kadic probably ran on- large, clunky ones, he supposed- would probably be alien to him. Before this came up, however, there was another problem- wi-fi internet didn't exist yet. Eventually, he ended up using a dial-up service from his cellphone (which, amazingly enough, had limited service, though the date was just a mess of blocky pixels). Next, he had to find an access point for the school systems- another difficult task. But, after that was taken care of, it was simple for him to hack in, create a fake ID for himself, and set up a fake list of classes by picking a homeroom and running with it.

He didn't know how long it had taken him, but he was sure it wasn't too long. Thanks to XANA, Jeremie was very good at speed-hacking.

He checked his watch- 7:55. Five minutes to first period, he knew instinctively. English, according to the homeroom he'd stuck himself with. And now, all he had to do was ask someone where first period English was. Hurriedly, Jeremie stuffed all his stuff away, picked up his bag, and ran toward the crowd- a crowd of total strangers.

He wasn't sure who to ask. They all looked the same- that is, they looked away from him. Jeremie stopped and stood on the side, looking hopelessly lost in his own territory for a moment. Finally, necessity got the better of him. He ran into the crowd- and charged headfirst into someone.

He fell back onto the ground, right onto his bag. "Oh, uh, sorry, sorry!" He jumped up, waving his hands around, as if that would make it any better. "I wasn't looking, and I-"

"Hey, calm down, it's no big deal." The kid he had bumped into wasn't hurt at all, just a little surprised. It was a boy around his age, with long, scruffy brown hair and eyes of a similar shade. He was wearing a light green t-shirt over jean cutoffs, which stopped just below his knees. He had a calm, easygoing look about him, and an equally calm smile. His voice was just the same, with the barest hint of an accent that Jeremie couldn't identify. "Stuff happens, y'know?"

"Y-yeah…" Jeremie nodded his head a few times. "Stuff does happen."

"Yep. Hey, wait a minute..." He scratched his head. "I've never seen you around here before. Are you new? It's really late in the year for new students, but-"

"Uh, no, I'm a shadow student," Jeremie interrupted, now a bit more comfortable with his façade. "I'm sorry I ran into you. I just wanted to know where the English class was...they said I should go there."

The boy laughed. "Okay, now it all makes sense! It's over that way-" He gestured toward a building that Jeremie had never been inside- "But you don't have to be there yet, the bell hasn't rung. Neither do I- that's my first class, too. Guess you ended up tagging along my homeroom, eh?"

"I guess so." He shrugged.

"No, you know so, or at least you do now." His smile never left his face. "So, uh, what's your name, kid?"

"Jeremie." He didn't see any reason to tell him his last name.

"Cool! I'm Chris. Welcome to Kadic, Jeremie." The boy held out his hand. Jeremie took it, uneasily. Chris…he knew that name from somewhere, vaguely. But, whatever it was, it had nothing to do with this kid. It was a very common name, after all.

Barely a second later, the bell rang, provoking a stampede of children from all across the square. Chris twitched, as though he were resisting the urge to join the fray, but stayed with Jeremie for another moment. "Well, you coming? I could take you to the classroom, if you want."

"Y-yeah, of course, let's go." Jeremie began walking towards the building, but Chris took off running, grabbing Jeremie round the shoulder on the way and dragging him onward.

They ran down the hall, and turned a sharp corner into an empty classroom. Chris ran for a seat one row from the back, hit the chair, and threw down a book on the desk. He reclined on the seat, raising its front legs up off the floor. "Best place in the whole house." He was silent for a heartbeat, and then pointed vaguely at the seat next to him. "Well? You need a place to sit, don't ya?"

"Uh, sure, thanks." Not knowing what else to do, Jeremie walked down the rows of desks and sat next to him. It was awkward for a moment, but not for long- one by one, other students began to filter in and make chatter in the room. A few of them waved to Chris, who would wave back and introduce Jeremie. He found it sufficient to simply wave sheepishly at whoever was staring at him.

Soon, the entire class was seated. Many students were chatting to one another, others doodling on their notebooks, others doing last-minute homework for other classes. Looking around, Jeremie noticed the curious absence of a Kadic staple- cellphones. He was glad he hadn't taken his own out. He also found that there was something else missing…something very important.

"Uh...where's the teacher?" Jeremie asked, glancing over at Chris, who was looking in another direction, but snapped to attention at his question.

"Oh, the teacher? She says she comes in when she's ready to teach. That's what she told us, anyway. Or…she could just be late. Who knows." He shrugged.

"Oh, uh, okay." Jeremie looked to the side. He wondered what kind of Kadic teacher would have a philosophy like that. It seemed a bit lenient- and Kadic teachers, after all, were known for their overbearing strictness.

"You're kinda shy, aren't you?" Chris was still looking at him. Jeremie shrugged. "Eh, that's alright. You'll loosen up later on. You'll see, you'll make plenty of friends. Even more if you actually come here. We're nice people. Most of us." Absentmindedly, he glanced over his shoulder. "Where is…"

"Where is who?" Jeremie tilted his head to the side.

"Huh?" He snapped his head back instantly. "Oh, did I say that out loud? Sorry. I'm just looking for a friend of mine. I haven't seen her yet today..." He glanced to one side, and then another. The worry in his eyes was all too tangible.

"Well, maybe she's just sick or something." He didn't know what else to say. He looked up at the door.

"Yeah. Sick. Probably." He sighed, and glanced to the side again. However, a moment later, he looked up again. "Oh, here comes the teacher."

Jeremie didn't have any time to answer him before the door flew open. Through it stepped a woman that, considering her age, could only be the teacher. But she wasn't really that old- in fact, she was quite young, perhaps in her late twenties or early thirties. She was somewhat attractive- she had very long black hair, flowing to the middle of her back, and oddly large, light hazel eyes. She was wearing a sweater and slacks, which seemed a bit out of place, considering the weather. She had a cool smile on her face, a confident one, one that reminded the whole room that she was in control. Jeremie had never seen her before.

The other students knew her well, though. Very well, it seemed. As soon as she came in, many of them began to wave and shout at her. "Hey, Medea!" "How was your weekend, Medea?" "What are we doing today?" "Is that a new sweater? It looks awesome!" Jeremie didn't say anything, but instead stared, wide-eyed. Calling a teacher on first-name terms? It was unheard of- well, other than Jim, but that was another story. But this teacher, this "Medea", didn't seem to mind. In fact, she seemed to love it- she beamed back at all of them as she tossed her bag on her desk.

"Sup, everybody?" Her voice was very lively, but yet had a calm, down-to-earth feel to it. She gave them all a quick wave. "Looks like you're trying to flatter me today. Well, I wouldn't be so quick with the compliments. I still have to give you an education, because I kind of have to eat this week." She laughed at her own joke, and then turned towards the board, ignoring the chorus of halfhearted groans. "Kay then, everyone get out your books."

Chris opened the book that was on his desk, and stared at it for about five seconds before he took a double take and realized that Jeremie was there. He stood up and raised his hand, but didn't wait to talk. "Hey, Medea, we got a shadow student here. His name's Jeremie. Just thought you oughta know, okay?"

Jeremie put his head on his desk in embarrassment as twenty-eight heads turned to look at him. The twenty-ninth, Medea, was looking at Chris, a bit bewildered, but still smiling. "Ok, Chris, thank you for that. And I see we've got someone absent as well…" She eyeballed an empty seat in the back. "Kay, got that. So…" She snapped her attention towards Jeremie, and arched an eyebrow. "Shadow! Another player for the crazy parade, I see. How's it going?"

Jeremie opened his mouth, then closed it again. He wasn't really sure how to respond. "Uh…good, I guess…" His head sank into his desk, muffling anything else he might have said.

"'Good'. Hm. Nobody's fun the first day." She shrugged. "Well, Jeremie, welcome to Kadic anyway! I never really got any notice about a shadow coming in, but, you know, it'll come in the mail sometime next Tuesday. You know how computer systems are." She giggled. The rest of the class laughed with her.

"Ah, well, that's okay. Yeah." Jeremie laughed silently to himself, remembering the hacking he had done barely twenty minutes before. "Thank you, Miss...Mrs..."

"Oh, none of that. Just call me Medea." Her mysterious smile never left her face. "Medea Delmas. Now where were we? Oh yeah. Get out your books and turn to page 124…"

Jeremie was only in shock for a few seconds, but in those precious seconds, class had begun. Medea Delmas, he could see, was not only a kind and sociable teacher, but a rather good one. He couldn't quite comprehend it. He was used to teachers being strict, intolerant of mistakes, on a completely different planet from the students. But this teacher was like one big kid herself- if a bit smarter, and slightly more controlled. Sometimes, she would let the lesson stray into casual conversation- something that Jeremie had never seen happen in any of his time at Kadic. However, Medea didn't let it completely interrupt her lesson. When she thought that the class had had enough, she just went back to teaching. Even if she was midsentence.

The children clearly liked her a lot. Chris, along with several other students in nearby chairs, kept whispering small tidbits about her to him throughout the class. He had figured out many of them, but still, it was good to have facts confirmed.

"Pretty, isn't she?" one guy directly in front of him teased. "Well, don't get any little fantasies cooked up. She's been married for years."

"And you'll never guess who, either," another one behind him added. "Jean-Pierre Delmas, principal of this whole place! Wild, huh?"

"The principal?" Jeremie tried to act shocked, even though he was hardly surprised. "Is that even allowed?"

"Allowed? I guess so," Chris said, shrugging. "They've been here for ages. You know that little green house down in the woods? Well, maybe you don't, but anyway, they live there. Apparently, it was some wreck owned by the school before they came along, and they just decided they wanted to live there. Fixed it up and everything. Crazy, but true."

"Well, that's nice, but...one thing still doesn't fit. I've seen the principal. Isn't she a little...well…young for him?" He compared his mental image of Mr. Delmas- grey-haired, suit-wearing, rule abiding- with Medea. It didn't fit. He couldn't even picture them standing next to each other.

"Oh, nah. He may look pretty formidable, but they're only three or four years apart, I think. Besides, they have a really good marriage. They even have a daughter- she just turned two."

Jeremie didn't have to guess who that was.

"Yeah! Her name's Elizabeth, and she's so cute- the sweetest thing alive!" one girl gushed. The girl sitting next to her giggled. "Medea calls her Sissi. She brings her into class sometimes…but I guess she's with her dad today." Both girls pouted and rested their chins on their desk.

"Oh well, that's cool," Jeremie said. He looked towards the front, and pretended to concentrate on the lesson. "I like Medea. She's a lot more lively and understanding than most teachers I've known."

"Don't get used to it," Chris cut in, frowning. "The other teachers, well…" He let out a low whistle.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yet. We're lucky to have her first. She kinda, y'know, motivates us through the rest of the day." He leaned back in his seat again, smiling.

"Oh, do I?" Chris looked up, startled. Medea was standing right by the edge of the table, looking somewhat triumphant. "If you're so surprised to see me, Chris, then you haven't been paying attention to the lesson. Funny how that works, huh?" She smiled.

"Uh…" Chris immediately straightened his chair. "Yeah, sure, Medea. We were just telling Jeremie about the school." Chris looked over at Jeremie. He nodded. "That's important, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah, I guess I can't argue with that. Nice school, after all. Good, solid stone architecture." She turned toward one wall, and appeared to examine it closely. "Yeah, there's a crack there..." After a moment, she turned around. "Shouldn't you be paying attention to the lesson?"

"I would, but you're not really teaching." A few people in the back of the class laughed.

"Oh yeah. Sorry about that. Got carried away." She looked towards Jeremie, who appeared, if anything, uninterested. "Don't worry, we're not this crazy all the time." She walked back towards the front of the classroom. "Ok, then, so-"

Her sentence was cut off by a loud tone- the bell. Several students cheered. She looked up at the ceiling with a frown. "Bell. Always cutting off my lectures…but, no matter. You're all free to go." She gestured towards the door. Several students dashed out, while others stayed and packed up their books. "See you guys tomorrow, do your homework, all that teacherly stuff…oh!" She waved at the back table. "Hope you like Kadic, Jeremie! We're not nuts. Really."

"Uh, okay." Tentatively, Jeremie got out of his seat. Before he could move anywhere, Chris grabbed his shoulder and took him off into the wild blue yonder that was the path to the next class.

The other three classes of the morning were more or less quite normal. Jeremie did not recognize any of the teachers. Their temperaments ranged from slightly friendly to somewhat boring to downright nasty, and none of them seemed to pay much attention to him beyond general recognition. Throughout each class, Chris and other students kept him up to date on obscure facts about each of them. He didn't absorb any of them- except that, for some reason, Mr. Duffy had once bungee jumped off the main building. He wasn't too sure that that was true.

Whomever Chris's absent friend was, she didn't show up all morning. Many times during class Jeremie caught Chris gazing longingly at the door, looking disappointed with each minute it stayed shut. Must be one good friend of his, he thought each time. He didn't think too much of it. It was none of his business, really.

Often, he wondered why, when there were so many other things he could be doing, he was wasting his time where he didn't belong. What did he care about any of the finer points of life at Kadic in 1994? Wasn't one Kadic bad enough? Why hadn't he run from the school as soon as he could, or snuck off as soon as Jim was out of the way? He should have been more resourceful with his time- perhaps it could have been used to finally find a way home. No matter, he thought to himself. As soon as the day was over, he was going to get as far away from Kadic as possible and get to the bottom of whatever had happened to him. Do something worthwhile, more relevant.

However, time seemed to be going far too slowly that morning. Even after about seven eternities, it was only lunchtime- not class, but still on Kadic grounds. Everyone was running from their fourth period to the ugly little box that was the cafeteria, right past Chris and Jeremie, who at that moment were standing in the middle of the campus square. Chris looked around the nearby area, grimaced, and then turned to Jeremie. "Hey, it's lunchtime. The food sucks, but at least they don't tell you how to eat it. Or if you have to eat it." He laughed. "You can sit at my table. There aren't many other people there…well, actually, it'll just be you and me today, but that's alright, right?" He smiled, even more widely than he already was smiling.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever you want." At this point, Jeremie didn't quite care how the day went, as long as each second got him closer to the end of it.

"You need to work on your assertiveness. But, I'm not complaining. Come on." He ran off towards the cafeteria box. Jeremie sauntered onward behind him.

The cafeteria was no different on the inside then it ever was or would be- tables, serving line, food, everything a cafeteria should have. The two boys got in line, received their food- it was apparently some sort of 'casserole', served with spaghetti and a small carton of milk- and then moved to the side to let everyone with a clear destination go past. Jeremie, who was in no real hurry, let Chris go ahead and do his scan of the lunchroom. If that was what he wanted to do, it was fine with him.

However, he didn't exactly expect him to actually find someone. About halfway across the room, he did a double take. His eyes lit up, and his face brightened instantly. "She's here!"

"Huh?" Jeremie snapped to attention.

"Come on!" He charged down an aisle. Jeremie followed him. The two of them ran past many jam-packed, noisy tables, none of which looked like they had any room for two. So, Jeremie knew exactly where they were going- a table near the edge of the box. It was the emptiest table in the place, deserted save for one girl, presumably Chris's friend. She was looking down at her food, poking it with her fork, but not eating it.

Chris got to her first. He threw down his food at the seat opposite hers and grabbed the edge of the table, leaning over her. "Hey! Where've you been? I've been looking for you all day, you missed a whole lot of class…are…are you alright?"

"Yeah. Didn't feel too well this morning. I'm fine now, though." Her voice was low, calm- and somehow, shockingly familiar. Jeremie arched an eyebrow, and took a step back.

"Well, that's good. I was kinda worried for a bit there…" Chris looked off to the side, and doing so, remembered that Jeremie was there. "Oh, hey, look who I picked up! We've got an extra tablemate for the day." He gestured up at Jeremie with a wide smile. He gave a nervous smile back, in a simple attempt to look friendly.

"Hm?" Her curiosity was finally aroused. Cautiously, she looked up from her food and locked eyes with Jeremie. As per the mechanics of eye-locking, he had to stare back- and for the first time, he got a good look at her. His heart stopped.

She was small, with a lithe, elfin figure, minus the ears. She wore a yellow top, matched with a neat pink jacket and a darker skirt. Her eyes were a light, bright green, and her short, vivid pink hair formed a sort of disheveled halo around her face. This face held the expression of someone whom, having previously been quite bored, had found something mildly to their interest. It couldn't be denied now. This was more than familiarity- too much more. He knew her. He knew her very, very well.

Wordlessly, the girl looked Jeremie up and down, scrutinizing him completely in a split second. Then, finally, her analysis taken, she took a deep breath, and spoke.

"Who…are you?"

No guesses who she is.

-Carth