Ham ham ham ham ham ham ham. Chapter is edited. I really had to add a lot to it (3K words), which explains why it took so long. Sorry. (Remember, this is still inconsistent with Chapters 5 and 6, and will be until those are edited. Maybe 7, too.)

Wow. I was seriously not expecting this much of a response...you're all awesome. Srsly. And I reward you with...another chapter! Yay!

Since LyokoTitan is an anon, I'll answer his/her question here. I'll have two chapters where we go back and see how our friends in the present are doing. But not this one. The first one is...Chapter 8, I think. (I've got it all planned out. It's weird.)

Again, thank y'alls! Here's the next chapter. I managed to write most of it on my last trip (all except the last two or three paragraphs), which is good. And then I edited it right at home, which isn't quite as interesting.

Disclaimer:COW COW COW I do not own CL COW. I don't own any cows either. My dad did, though. He lived on a farm…

Chapter 4
The Scientist's Daughter

Clang.

Jeremie dropped his tray on the ground. His casserole, thanks to the power of gravity, flew up off the tray and splattered his calves, not to mention the nearby floor. A few heads turned at the noise, but he noticed neither them nor the mess- he was busy staring at the girl, reeling, trying to take it all in. It couldn't be true. It had to be true. It was. "Ae...Aeli..."

"Huh? Uh…" The girl glanced down at the spilt food, back up at Jeremie, and then down again. She turned her head and conspicuously cast an incredulous look at Chris, as if to say silently, who is this, why is he following you, and does he really have to sit with us today?

Jeremie noticed the gesture, and then, looking down, noticed the food. "Uh…" His eyes grew wide. "I'm sorry! I'll clean it up, um, napkins, napkins…" Panicking slightly, he grabbed some napkins from the nearest kid that had them and began scrubbing sulkily at his shoes and the floor. The kid scooted his seat a few inches back.

"Er…" Chris looked uncertainly over at his friend. He gave her a wan smile. "A-accidents happen all the time, I guess." He shrugged, and then looked down at Jeremie. "Need any help?"

Jeremie shook his head. He didn't look up.

"Ok, uh, if that's what you want. But, anyway…" He stood up, and pointed at the girl, who stood with him. "Jeremie, this is Aelita Hopper. Aelita, this is Jeremie. He's a shadow, and I just, well, picked him up for the day." He laughed. "That's alright with you, right?"

"Yes, it's…alright. No reason it isn't." Her response was a bit uncertain, but it guaranteed Jeremie a place to eat. In an attempt to keep with niceties, she looked down at him, eyebrows raised, still a bit defensive. "Hello."

"Uh…h-hi." Jeremie nodded meekly. The area was clean now, save for some suspicious stains on his shoes, so he stood, threw the napkins in the nearest trash can, and picked up his tray, now half-empty. "N-nice to meet you." He smiled nervously at her. Her expression twitched, as though she wanted to say something or change emotion, but it came to nothing.

There was a tense silence. Chris, who appeared to be deathly afraid of such things, broke it.

"Um, so...wanna sit down, guys?" He sat back in his seat, as if leading the way for the others. Jeremie nodded again, walked over to the seat next to the one Chris had taken, and sat down. Aelita followed suit- she sat down in her seat across from Chris, picked up her fork, and began eating, all without a word.

Lunch was a bit of an awkward situation. Jeremie tried as much as possible to stay out of the way of his tablemates- to sit, eat what was left of his food, and attract as little attention as possible- but with this new development sitting just diagonal from him, this was a bit hard. Perhaps he should have figured out that Aelita, in her past life, could have attended Kadic- her father had worked there, after all. But actually sitting this close to her, watching her exist, breathing the same air- it was a bit too much to swallow in one sitting. It took quite a bit of self-restraint not to look directly at or talk to her, and even more to try and shift his focus back to his larger problems- such as the fact that he was meeting a past Aelita in the first place. It didn't work, but he tried.

Aelita and Chris didn't seem to notice Jeremie's turmoil- they were too busy doing their own thing. In Aelita's case, it was eating. This Aelita, Jeremie couldn't help but notice, was acting curiously different than the incarnation that he had come to know. She was quieter than he was used to, and seemed rather cold- or perhaps only shy, he reminded himself. Chris, who was the farthest thing from shy as far as he could tell, was talking to her incessantly about anything that seemed to come to his head. He hardly stopped to breathe or eat. Jeremie couldn't help but be somewhat impressed, albeit a bit jealous.

"Well, it would've been better if I'd known you'd stayed home," he heard him say to her some time into lunch. "I would've tried to go see you after school, of course…but now that's not really necessary. At least, I think it isn't. You are alright now, right?" He smiled nervously at her.

"Hm?" She looked up at him, pausing halfway though a bite. "Oh, right. Yes." She nodded, then lapsed back into silence.

"Well, good! It's good that you're alright…and here…learning things…" His voice faded a bit, then snapped back to form. "So, anything you wanna do after class? Catch a movie, go for pizza, maybe both?" He smiled again, a bit more confidently. "Hopefully there's something good out…"

"Huh…maybe. I'll have to check to see if it's alright." She gave a small smile for a fraction of a second, interrupted as took another bite of casserole. When she was done, she put her fork down, and then, without warning, glanced over at Jeremie, who was poking his food at that moment. She arched an eyebrow at him.

"Hey, what is i-" Chris looked in Jeremie's direction, and with a start, realized he was still there. "Oh, right! Sorry about that, Jeremie, kinda forgot about you for a second." He beckoned him closer. "Wanna join in?"

Jeremie looked up, somewhat red, and shrugged, moving his chair a little closer to the two. Chris beamed at him. Aelita didn't, but she did lower her eyebrow, which relieved some of his stress. Not all of it. Just some.

"See? That wasn't too hard, was it?" He gave a short laugh. "Course not. So, uh, where are you trying to escape from?"

"Eh?" Jeremie cast him a confused look. He knew perfectly well what he was trying to escape from, but considering Chris didn't, the question was a bit out of context.

"What school are you at now?" He appeared immensely satisfied with his own joke. "You know, the one you're trying to escape by coming here?"

"Oh? Right. Uh…" He racked his brain for a good answer. "Collège Mouscadet. It's over east some way." He pointed in a direction he hoped was east to emphasize his point. He hadn't made the school up- it was the public junior high school near where his parents lived. Would live. Maybe already lived.

"Over east? How far over?"

"I don't know how many kilometers, but it's about a three-hour drive."

"Oh, I see now- it's not the school, it's La Ville Nowhere you're getting away from." He clapped him on the shoulder. "You still don't have me beat, though. I live up in the UK-" He pointed to himself- "and distance-wise, that's really getting away."

"Woah, that is far," Jeremie said in a falsely-over-impressed voice. "I kind of thought you had a bit of the accent."

"Well, yeah, sort of…" His voice tensed a bit, and he rubbed his forehead. "I've been working on improving it."

"It's not a bad thing, it's just…there, you know? No need to worry about it." He smiled. It was clear that he was bored with this aspect of the conversation. Unconsciously, his eyes slid toward Aelita. A spontaneous thought struck him- if he was going to get her to talk, now was the opportunity. He turned and smiled at her, hoping that he didn't look goofy. "So, uh, Aelita, where do you live?"

Aelita, who had been busy drinking her milk, set her drink down. She didn't look up at either of them as she spoke. "Down the road, not too far from here. I'm a day student."

"Huh, really? That's…nice." His smile grew larger. His face was starting to hurt.

"Mmhm, yes, it is." She nodded. It was clear that this was all the talk that she was intending to do at the moment. So, Chris saw fit to do the talking for her.

"It is kinda nice, you know?" he said, leaning back in his seat. "I mean, an actual room, maybe some variety for breakfast…yanno? But, yeah, she lives nearby with her dad. He's a teacher here, so I guess it makes sense for her to-"

A loud bell rang across the school grounds, cutting him off. Lunch was over. Everyone was standing from their seats, eagerly lining up to dispose of their uneaten food, and then leaving with slightly less enthusiasm- their next destination was class, after all. Aelita was the first of the table to rise, tray in hand. "It's…time to go."

"Alrighty, then." The two boys followed suit, and together they disposed of their trays and exited the cafeteria. For a moment, Jeremie entertained the idea of bolting as soon as he hit the ground, but somehow, he had the feeling he wouldn't get too far. Besides, in the irrational back of his mind, he didn't want to leave just yet. Things- and people- were happening, and, most of all, something was nagging at him. Something that Chris had reminded him of during lunch. Something important.

"Uh, Chris…" He turned toward the other boy, who had been trying to engage Aelita in conversation again. "Sorry for interrupting whatever you were doing, but what class do we have next?"

"Huh? Oh, it's no big deal." He threw his hand up in resignation. "Next class? Science, I think. Then…well, I don't remember, but the point is, we're going to Science."

"Oh. Okay, thanks." A chill ran down his spine. If his memory wasn't failing him (which it rarely did), Science class in 1994 meant one thing in particular- the one thing in the past or present that he really wasn't ready for.

He shivered ever so slightly as he and the others approached the labs.

Aside from the missing floor, the Science building was exactly the same as Jeremie had remembered. The three of them had even entered the same classroom where he usually had class in the present day. Chris sat down at one table, near the front, while Aelita sat next to him at the one across from it. Jeremie took this to mean he should sit next to Chris on the other side, which he did without any objection from either of his new companions.

Slowly, the rest of the class filed in. Like the first English class with Medea, the Science teacher was late, or at least absent when they came in. The students were taking proper advantage of the teacherlessness- they were talking, laughing and throwing things at people. Jeremie glanced at the door just as a tall, dark-haired boy came in, sauntered down the aisle, and sat down in the only empty seat- the one next to Aelita. They glanced at each other momentarily, but did not interact beyond recognition.

A movement in the corner of Jeremie's vision caught his attention. He looked down at the seat beside him, and recoiled in surprise. Chris was glaring over at the boy, wearing an expression that could only be described as antagonistic- his eyes were narrowed to slits, and his omnipresent smile was gone, replaced by a dark scowl. The boy was only ignorant for a moment or so; when he finally looked up, casually as ever, and met Chris's gaze, he arched his eyebrow, rolled his eyes, and then looked back down. Chris gave a small, discreet nod, then looked back at the front of the room.

Aelita, who had been looking toward the front the whole time, had ignored the entire scene. Jeremie, who hadn't, stared over Chris in mild confusion. Whoever that was, he told himself, Chris must have really hated him.

His stomach gave a twist, and he stared, with many of the rest, up at the empty desk in the front of the room. He knew what was coming, but at the same time, he had no clear idea what to expect from it. Questions welled up in his mind, but he swallowed many of them before he could make any silly assumptions. To distract himself, he focused only on being invisible, unnoticed. He twitched. It wasn't working.

After a few moments, the light chatter was rudely interrupted when the door flew open with a loud bang. Almost simultaneously, every single child sat right at attention, staring straight ahead, not making a single sound. Jeremie hardly had time to conform before a man, presumably the teacher, marched through the door. He stopped at his desk, put his bag down on the surface, and then looked up, making eye contact with all of his students.

He was tall, large and imposing, even from a distance. He wore a white lab coat over a brown sweater and khakis, which appeared to be the uniform for most science teachers. He was very fuzzy, with a full head of grey hair, and a slightly darker beard and moustache to go with it. Separating these two features was a pair of round, thick, slate-grey glasses, which obscured his eyes entirely. Jeremie knew him instantly. That face was too easy to remember.

Franz Hopper.

Lyoko's creator. Aelita's father. The man he'd waited far too long to meet.

Without any sort of change in expression, Franz Hopper scanned his class, his head pivoting like a lawn sprinkler as he stared from face to face. The students appeared intimidated, confused, but said nothing. Jeremie tried to copy their facial expressions, holding back any sort of nervous grin. In the back of his mind, he wondered how Aelita reacted to this sort of thing, but decided it wouldn't be worth the risk to turn his head.

Just after his gaze passed over Jeremie, he stopped, and did a double take backward. His eyes, or rather, his blank grey slates, locked on him. His eyebrows narrowed. Sweat broke out on Jeremie's forehead- the one sign of stress he couldn't hide. This was exactly what he'd hoped wouldn't happen.

"Who is this?" His voice was slow and powerful.

Nobody spoke for a moment, least of all Jeremie. Finally, a chair scraped to his left, and he heard Chris's voice. "It's Jeremie, sir. He's a shadow student today-"

"Okay. Thank you." There was another scraping noise- Chris had sat back down. Slowly, carefully, Franz walked around his desk and down the center aisle, stopping where the young boy sat. His eyes never left him for a moment. "Jeremie."

The nervous grin slowly escaped and wormed its way across Jeremie's face. A thousand questions filled his mind, but he swallowed them, since most of them were about the supercomputer. "Y-yes?" he finally stammered.

Franz's eyebrows relaxed, changing his expression from anger to something like indifference. "Welcome to Kadic."

"Huh? Uh…t-thank you." He nodded rapidly.

Franz raised an eyebrow, but did not comment further. Finally, he looked away from him, and walked back toward the front of the room. "Well, then. As you all remember from yesterday…"

The students, who had been staring at this scene for the past few moments, turned back toward their teacher and took out their notebooks. Jeremie, having no notebook or reason to listen, dropped his head on his desk, breathing a sigh of relief. Chris was one of the few still staring at him; once he was sure that he wouldn't be noticed, he reached over and poked him in the back. "You alright?"

"Yeah. Sure." Jeremie lifted his head, readjusting his lopsided glasses. "That was…weird."

"He doesn't do that to everybody. He's probably in a bad mood or something, and you just got a blast of it." He spoke in a whisper that was barely audible. "That's Mr. Hopper, by the way. He's wicked smart and an alright teacher, but…he doesn't really get out much, if you know what I mean. Tiny bit warped in the head. Oh, I nearly forgot." His low whisper dropped even lower. "Y'know Aelita, right? Remember how I told you her dad was a teacher here?" He tilted his head in Franz's direction.

"Oh, so he's…" His eyes widened in feigned shock. Taking the opportunity, he looked over Chris's shoulder, catching the first glimpse of Aelita he'd got since her father had entered the room. She was looking at her paper, taking notes, much like everyone else save for two. Her facial expression captivated him, however- it appeared confused, perhaps a bit apprehensive. As he was watching, she took a quick, indiscreet glance up at her father, arched an eyebrow, and looked back down. His eyes relaxed. "Wow."

"Yep. Nothing alike, huh?" Chris's voice pulled Jeremie back to the world of the living. Suddenly self-aware, he blushed, and turned his head away.

"Uh, yeah. Agreed." He rested his head on the table again, and stared vaguely frontward.

If Franz Hopper was 'warped' or in any sort of bad mood, he didn't show it any further in the lesson, which was about the table of the elements. Unlike Medea, he was strictly on task- he stuck to his subject, showing very little hint of a character or personality anywhere in his lectures. It was rather mind-numbing, but somehow, Jeremie found himself hanging on to every word. Maybe it was Franz's harsh, shuddering voice that kept him awake. Or the memory of their short encounter earlier in the lesson that frightened him into attentiveness. Maybe a bit of both. Either way, that Science class, first few moments aside, was just that- a Science class.

The hour dragged by so slowly and with such tension that when the bell finally rang, the room cleared in an instant. Jeremie was one of the first to leap out of his seat, but was kept behind by Chris, who was waiting for Aelita to put her books away in her bag. Franz remained at his desk, calm in contrast to his departing students, not even bothering to give them a goodbye. Finally, the three of them were ready to leave, and headed towards the door.

As they walked, Jeremie was vaguely aware of Aelita turning her head to face her father, staring for a few seconds, and then turning away. Rather stupidly, he turned his own head as well. Upon first glance, Franz was still looking in Aelita's direction, his expression unreadable. However, as he noticed Jeremie, he locked eyes with him once more, his mouth a thin line. With a tiny squeak, he turned away again.

Chris had only seen Jeremie's side of the situation, and was very amused by it. "Oh, come on. Sure, Mr. Hopper's a little intimidating, but he's not that scary."

"Yeah, I know," Jeremie replied. "But that way he…it was like he really hated me." He glanced to the side for a moment, but then recovered. "But, maybe you're right. I guess I could just chalk it up to him being crazy."

Chris shrugged. Aelita, whom Jeremie didn't even realize was listening, tilted her head over Chris's shoulder, looking at Jeremie- not glaring, just looking. Jeremie flinched as he noticed her, realizing what he had just said.

"O-of course, not that crazy, I mean…uh…sorry. I didn't realize…" He felt his face heating up.

Aelita's face twitched, then formed a sort of small, apologetic-half smile. "It's alright. I get what you're trying to say." She turned back forward, and the smile gradually faded, replaced by the indifference that usually colored her face. Chris cast her a sort of worried look for a moment, but this was gone rather fast as well. Soon enough, his amiable chatter, Aelita's short responses and Jeremie's awkward silence colored the walk back to the main complex.

The rest of the afternoon was much like the morning- full of teachers and classes that Jeremie didn't recognize. It was a bit different, though, because Aelita was with them. She still seemed rather distant and reserved, but she was there in any case. She usually sat at another table, while he and Chris sat together- and through this, Jeremie noticed something rather curious. When a girl sat next to Aelita in sixth period, Chris didn't care. But when a boy sat next to her in seventh, he glared at him, just as he had done in Science. The boy didn't notice, but Jeremie did. It was confusing- and a bit unnerving.

But teenage social scuffles were the last thing on his mind that afternoon. For once that day, his surprise at Franz's actions had been genuine- why had he made that scene in Science? Why did he seem so angry at him? Even if he was in the wrong time period, he hadn't done anything to him. Perhaps it really was just him being crazy, he thought. After all, the man was building a giant supercomputer- it'd be right for him to be paranoid.

Slowly, very, very slowly, the day came to an end. As the last bell rang and Chris ushered him outside, Jeremie couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. The long, boring day was finally over, and now he could focus on his bigger problems. Or, at least, he thought he could- but Chris had other plans.

"Hey, want us to walk you to the gate?" Chris looked at him like he'd fallen asleep. "You gotta go now, right?"

"Huh?" Jeremie's train of thought snapped unhappily off its course. "Uh, no, that's alright, I can find-"

"Oh, c'mon. You're a newbie, I'm not just gonna leave you to get lost." He smiled. "Besides, we're going that way anyway. Aelita needs to get home, after all." Aelita, who remained silent, simply nodded.

"Uh…" It was no use. With someone as pigheaded as Chris, it would be impossible to refuse. "Okay. Thank you."

"Awesome!" The three of them broke away from the large crowd of boarders in the Quad area and followed the few day students down the path to the gate. They disappeared rather quickly, leaving Jeremie, Chris, and Aelita the only ones left standing. There was an awkward silence for a moment.

"Sooooo..." Chris was definitely afraid of quiet. "Jeremie. Didya like Kadic? How does it rank?" He turned toward Jeremie, who groaned in his mind. There went his chance to make an excuse to leave.

"It's..." He tried to find a satisfactory answer. "Pretty okay, I guess. Some weirdo teachers here and there...but it's high on my list."

"You got that right." He laughed. Aelita just kept looking to the side, seemingly determined to remain silent. However, after Chris's comment, her head turned slowly toward them, her eyes coming to rest on Jeremie. She sighed. Jeremie hoped that he hadn't gone red.

"Uh...Jeremie. I want to apologize for my father's behavior in class today." It was the longest, if one of the only sentences she had said to him all day. "I hope that did not negatively affect your opinion of Kadic..." Her voice trailed off, and her gaze wandered away. Jeremie was beginning to notice a habit.

"Huh? Oh, no. You don't have to feel sorry about that." He smiled what he hoped was a warm smile at her. Her expression didn't change.

"That's true." She looked up at the sky, and smiled to herself. "I hope he's alright now. He seems…" She lapsed into silence. Chris looked over at her, a hint of worry in his eyes. Jeremie could have taken the chance to run, but somehow, curiosity kept him on the spot.

"She doesn't seem to like talking much," he said, quietly, so Aelita couldn't hear, but loud enough to snap Chris out of la-la land. "Does she have something against me?"

"Eh? No, no, of course not." His smile returned instantly as he spoke. "She's just a little shy around new people. Even me, sometimes. I don't really think she had many friends before she came here…but, once you get past all that, she a pretty alright person. Awesome, actually." He smiled a bit larger than usual.

"I'll take your word for it." He smiled back. "She doesn't seem mean, in any case."

"Yeah, no way." He raised his voice. "So, like I was saying, I really recommend Kadic. Classes may suck, but I was glad to go." He glanced over at Aelita, who was still staring up at the sky. Jeremie couldn't see his expression, but he did notice when, after a second, he did a double take. "Oh, hey- Medea!"

"Medea?" Jeremie only had a second to be confused. Chris whirled away from him, and began waving a bit too enthusiastically at the trees behind him. Aelita turned as well, so he figured he'd better follow suit. Sure enough, as they had said, the raven-haired woman was standing right on the path, perhaps going to the green house she presumably lived in. She'd noticed Chris's shouts- she turned round, beamed at them, and waved back. Then, to Jeremie's surprise, she ran down toward them. Not walked. Ran.

"Hey, Chris! Aelita! Um...other kid!" She skidded to a halt at their feet. "How're you all doing?"

"We've been alright since 9 AM, Medea," Chris replied, laughing. "You?"

"Well..." She stared at the sky, finger on her chin. "Okay, no flying elephants...I'd say my life is just fine." She laughed to herself. Jeremie couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "How about you, Aelita? I didn't see you in class this morning. You okay? All well?"

"Um…yes, of course, Medea!" If Jeremie hadn't been looking at Aelita as she spoke, he might not have believed it. Her voice was louder, happier, and more confident, and her expression and posture had changed to match. "I just didn't feel too well this morning, but I'm fine now. How's Elizabeth doing?"

"Oh, Sissi had a bit of an upset stomach last night, but you wouldn't know it today. She doesn't look sick at all. Maybe it's something going around…anyway, I was just going to pick her up from the front building. She's been there all day, so…yeah, nothing interesting happened in class today."

"Aw…" Her face fell a bit. "Well, at least I didn't miss a visit from her. Will she be coming to class anytime soon?"

"Maybe in a few days, after the test on Thursday."

"That's wonderful! But, if it's alright, can I come see her once you've got her back home this afternoon? If you have any papers to grade or anything, I could babysit her-"

They continued on in that vein for some time. While Jeremie didn't mind their talk much, Chris grew bored of it rather quickly. In a short time, his smile faded, and he rested his chin in his hand. "I don't get why they're so obsessed with babies," he mumbled under his breath. "It makes her happy, I know, and Elizabeth's cute and all, but really..."

Cute? Sissi? Jeremie didn't quite want to put those two words next to each other. In his mind, nothing was farther from cute than the spoiled, snobby, overly-loud present-day Sissi he had come to know. He couldn't quite imagine her as a toddler, much less a cute one.

Very shortly, the females' trail of gossip wore thin. Around this time, Medea, for no particularly apparent reason, looked over at the boys. Her eyes lit up upon noticing them. "Oh yeah, that's right, there's other people here! Cute people, too. Don't know how we ignored them. Sorry bout that, Chris and, uh..." She looked over at Jeremie, hand on chin. "Sorry, I forgot your name."

"Jeremie."

"Oh yeah!" She laughed. "So, how do you like Kadic? Good? Bad? Are we normal enough for you?"

"I don't think any school can be called 'normal'." He smiled- Medea's mood was infectious. "Yeah. Kadic's okay. There are some very strict teachers, though..." He had half a mind to take this back, seeing as he was talking to a teacher. Then again, Medea didn't seem much like a teacher outside the classroom, and really, what did it matter to him?

Happily, she didn't seem to mind too much. "Yeah, there's a few here and there. But, y'know, the strict ones are actually the ones that really care about you. At least that's what they say...I dunno. People say things, and then never bother to prove them." Her gaze wandered towards the campus. "Hm…don't you think the front building looks a bit too...brown?"

"Brown?" This was the last question he'd expected.

"Yeah, it's too brown. I think it needs some red. Right there, to brighten it up." She pointed toward a random corner of the building, and smiled.

"Some red, hm?" A shadow loomed over them. Medea whirled around, and the children looked up. They had been so absorbed in the teacher's non-sequitur train of thought, neither she nor the children had noticed that anyone else had approached. It was the school principal, Jean-Pierre Delmas. Jeremie's eyes widened again.

Medea, being married to this man, was obviously very happy to see him. Her eyes lit up as she replied. "Sure, some red, to make it stand out. Yanno what I'm saying?"

"Not...really."

"Huh…okay, I'll start over then. Hi there, Jeannie, what are you doing over here?"

Jeannie? Jeremie had to fight down a laugh. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chris and Aelita doing the same thing. He composed himself sooner than they did, enough to risk a good look at him. Although in terms of recognition he looked the same as ever, he'd clearly had some years stripped off him. It was now easier to believe that someone as young as Medea was his wife. His hair was brown rather than grey, as were his moustache and beard, and he was maybe twenty or thirty pounds lighter. He wore the same suit as he always had in the present, if in a bit of a smaller size. Oddly, he was smiling. As long as Jeremie had known Mr. Delmas, he had rarely seen the man smile.

"Well, it's been twenty minutes since you said you'd come for Elizabeth, so I just figured you'd gotten distracted a little." He laughed a little, and glanced over at the children. "Looks like I was right."

"Yeah, looks like it." She skipped closer to him, leaned over, and kissed him on the cheek. "I was just talking to some students. It's their fault. Except not." She beamed.

"Heheh…well, I think you'd better go get her now," he replied, amused. "I left her in my office, and I'm not too sure I want to have it cleaned again."

"You left her alone? Geez, you suck as a father. Ah, well, off to survey the mess." Medea skipped up the path away from the gate, followed more slowly by her husband. As she left, she turned her head back, waving at the three left behind. "G'bye, guys, see you later! Hope you liked Kadic, Jeremie!"

"Wait, Jeremie?" Mr. Delmas stopped abruptly and turned around, looking at Jeremie. "Huh…I don't recognize you. Are you the shadow student?"

"Uh…" Jeremie was taken a bit aback. "Yes, yes I am."

"Ah…I see." His voice grew more businesslike, more easily associated with the older man Jeremie was familiar with. "I did get a notice about you, Jeremie, but you really should have remembered to come to the front office to introduce yourself, get your schedule, things of that sort. Surely they told you to do that when you got your information letter."

"Uh...yes, sir, sorry, sir." He nodded his head several times.

"Alright, then. Well, in any case, I, like my wife, hope you enjoyed Kadic." Unlike Medea, whose wish was enthused, his seemed rather automatic. With a parting wave, he continued walking, making steady pace behind the woman skipping ahead. The three were left alone once more. Aelita, having nothing else to say at that point, stared to the side again.

Once he was sure that Mr. Delmas was out of earshot, Jeremie shot a bewildered look at Chris. "Jeannie...?"

"Yep." He started shaking with laughter again. "She calls him that all the time, in front of teachers, students, parents… strangers... I can't tell if he hates it or loves it, but he's never told her to stop."

"That's…kind of creepy." There was a short silence- the first in a long time, which he took perfect advantage of. He picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder, trying to make it perfectly obvious that he really needed to leave. "Uh, well...My parents said they'd be around the corner from here, so…I gotta go."

"Aww, really?" Chris looked genuinely disappointed. "That blows."

"Yeah, it's unfortunate. Sorry. Uh...thanks, guys. For everything." He smiled as convincingly as he could.

"Oh, no prob, Jer!" Without warning, he caught him in a headlock and gave him a noogie. "Hope you come here next year. Drop by even if you don't go! I'll be looking for you."

"Uh, I will. Thank you!" Somehow, lying through one's teeth wasn't that painful anymore. Because he felt it necessary, he took one final look back at their pink-haired companion. "Uh…bye, Aelita."

She didn't respond, but just gave him a smile and a small wave. He smiled back, waved one last time, then walked out through the gate into the outside world. He turned the corner, looked down the street, and breathed an immense sigh of relief. He was free. No more Kadic. No more Chris. No more past Aelita.

He ran down the sidewalk, trying to put as much distance between himself and the old school as possible. Now that all the foolishness was over, he could use the limited remainder of his day to focus on more pressing matters- such as, say, the fact that he was trapped twelve years too far back in the timestream. He sighed. Though he was in this desperate situation, he, though not exactly considering himself fortunate, had to admire some of his luck. Unlike most people faced with situations such as this, he knew what he was doing and where he was going. They would be trapped beyond any hope of escape, but he knew exactly what might help him get home- knew not only where it was, but exactly how to use it.

After a time, he came across a small, otherwise nondescript stretch of road which wound alongside the banks of the Seine River- a river all too familiar to him. In the middle of the river, connected to the mainland by a bridge, stood a painfully familiar sight- a small island, upon which lay the old, abandoned Renault factory. It looked just as abandoned as it did in his time, if with slightly less graffiti, but, as he knew, its insides held secrets greater than its dilapidated walls would ever dare to hint. Sometime in the past, used to manufacture cars. Sometime in the future, the house of Lyoko and XANA. Right now…hopefully closer in function to the latter.

Jeremie stared at it a moment. A smile wormed itself across his features.

"Home at last, Belpois. Home at last." Without a second thought, he ran towards the bridge, holding onto the hope that the other side could help him.

Jeannie. Pronounced like 'Johnny'. I am evil to Jean-Pierre, aren't I?

Like that one review said, cliffhangers are evil. But I have to do them. See y'alls next time.

-Carth