Hi, everyone! Hope I didn't take really long. Really, really hope.

But, I do have two bits of bad news- and in the chapter before the fun starts. Next month is- da da da duuumm- NaNoWriMo! I'm planning to do this, and will probably spend a lot of my spare time writing it. I'll defnitely try and find time for RTTP- it just gets too good after this- but just be aware of that. Kay? Kay. Second bit is that this story may, as it was fated, become noncanon next Saturday, when "Médusée" (or "Wrong Exposure") airs in France, an episode where Jean-Pierre will be shown a picture of Franz Hopper, according to spoilers. Aside from Chris's age (he was actually about eight in 1994), we've been doing pretty well so far. Ah well. I'm still finishing it no matter what.

Still, now, I give you Chapter 12. Feast your eyes on its doom.

Oh, and stay tuned after the chapter for a leetle surprise…

Chapter 12
Day Six: Forever Dawn

Jeremie was still in shock mode when he woke up again. The first thing he noticed this time was not the abrupt snap back to reality, but the sweat that coated his face, and his hyperventilating.

He didn't know why he was in panic. Okay, so Franz had reversed time…a little earlier than usual. Explainable. He was sick. He probably didn't want to work. But then, why didn't he just take the afternoon off and sleep or something? It didn't make sense.

Probably thought it'd go away, he finally reasoned. But wouldn't it just happen again? Is health affected by returns to the past? Ah…

He was too excited to sit anymore. He leaped up, fell over, got up again, laptop bag chafing at his shoulders, and ran across the strip of land, in the gate, and onto the campus. He knew it well enough, he didn't have to look where he was going. All he had to do was reach the classroom, maybe then he could calm-

Flump.

Jeremie bumped into something brown, squishy- and definitely human. Stifling a squeak, he bounced back, brushing himself off. "Sorry, sir-"

He stopped dead mid-sentence. Franz Hopper was looking down at him, evidently the person he had just bumped into. He looked a lot healthier than he had the previous revision- perhaps the return to the past had helped. Still, his health made him look sharp, and he was looking down at Jeremie, an eyebrow cocked.

They stood in silence for a long time. Finally, slowly, Franz spoke.

"It is a bit unusual to see a child out on the campus at this hour." His eyes narrowed. "Especially one that I…have never seen."

The sweat on Jeremie's face ran cold. Before he knew it, he was babbling. "Uh, uh, sorry, sorry, I'm-I'm just a shadow student, y'know, guess I got the time kinda wrong, but, yanno, better earlier than later, right? Right? Hahaha…" He froze in a hopeful smile. Franz's eyebrow remained arched.

"…I see. Well, welcome to Kadic." Without another word, he pushed by Jeremie and continued on. Maybe it was only the wind that seemed to carry a small whisper after him… "He's good."

Jeremie stared after him for a long, long time.

Then, suddenly, his consciousness returned. Class. Trying to put Franz out of his mind for the moment (rather hard, once you've seen those creepy eyes of his), he whirled around, and kept running.

BANG. Wooden pole. He wonder whether he'd prefer this to Franz Hopper.

Jeremie couldn't tell why he couldn't concentrate that morning.

Mostly, it was because he couldn't concentrate long enough to figure out why. He only remembered to make his existence a reality three minutes before the first bell rang. When the classroom had filled, Medea had to call on him five times (and poke him in the head about seven times) to get his attention in order to learn his name. After this small display, several children nearby tried to poke him, but they got no reaction. He just kept staring into space.

Maybe the shellshock that he might never go home finally got to him. Maybe his run into the pole had given him a concussion. Maybe he was just going a little crazy. Who knew. Definitely not him. He lasted through two classes like this.

"Hey! Hey!"

Jeremie looked up, a little sleepily. A pink blur was standing over him, which suddenly resolved itself into Aelita. She was staring at him with a puzzled look, almost mirroring Franz's. "Uh, class is over."

He blinked a few times, and nodded, in the other direction. Aelita just shrugged, and walked off. It was a few seconds before Jeremie realized she had even been there. Mumbling incoherently, he gathered his things and started out the door. As he walked out, a familiar object was caught in his peripheral vision- an object that was staring right at him.

Jeremie whirled in Franz Hopper's direction, eyes locked in what he hoped was a killer stare- but to be honest, he looked more worried than threatening. "Don't you have a class to teach?"

"Maybe." He stared at Jeremie for all of ten seconds, and then made a show of intense interest in a small tree nearby. Jeremie was all too happy for his distraction- he began to walk, hopefully discreetly, in the other direction. He was now more confused than ever. Why would this loony old man…

"How long have you been here?"

"Just today." Jeremie turned his head, placing a look of cool disinterest, even if his nerves were shrieking shriller than Ulrich's singing in the shower. (The fact that he only ever sang 80's rock ballads made it even worse. But that's a story for another day.) Franz Hopper had not moved, but even from a distance, he looked quite a bit more smug. They were clearly trying to out-cool each other, and it was unclear who was winning. "Isn't that right?"

"Really," Franz replied. He didn't seem to believe it. "Ah." Then, to Jeremie's surprise, he walked right up to him. He was a lot taller than he remembered.

"You're quite a bit more intelligent than you let on." His eyes narrowed. "And a bit more informed, as well."

"Ah-" His throat froze up. Franz laughed a little, and walked on, humming a small tune to himself. Jeremie, having nothing else to do, stared after him. He was becoming more confused by the second.

"Ah vous dirai-je, maman…"

Jeremie's next two classes were spent in slightly more awareness, but quite a bit more deep thought.

Why, he wondered, was Franz following him? But, as far as Jeremie knew, he had hardly even interacted with the man for all his time here. And still, the man seemed to think of him as a sort of 'threat'. Why? What had he ever done to Franz, besides exist?

Everyone, everyone in this bubble of time, acted exactly the same in each and every revision. Every one, except Franz, and himself. Perhaps that was the suspicion. That he had taken a bit too much advantage of the fact that he was alone in the effect of the timestream's meddlings.

Ring. Lunch. Jeremie tried to hurry to the cafeteria, keeping his eyes perpetually downcast, trying not to catch anyone's eye. Maybe if he didn't look like a threat, Franz would leave him alone. Maybe...

"Keep your eyes up. You might run into something."

He gasped, a little too loudly, and did look up, to see Franz standing right in front of him. He was laughing quietly to himself as he watched the small boy struggle mentally.

"You-" He thought for a minute. "You know it's a crime to follow people around like this."

"I only follow people if there is a significant reason to do as such." He made a small nod.

"Still, I uh- I could report you to the principal- I could- report-"

"Oh, really? That's a problem to you?" He turned his back to Jeremie, staying silent for an agonizing moment.

"You know, I never much liked that girl either. Considering the things she's done in her life. However, I did not expect to see her in the infirmary covered in blood…especially when it wasn't her purpose." A smirk crossed his unexpressive face. "You're not as innocent as you appear, Jeremie."

Jeremie could do nothing but mouthe soundlessly. He had completely blocked all memory of that revision from his head- all fixed, never happened, and inexistent. Mostly because of what he had done to that girl, but somewhat because of what that girl had been about to do- and what Chris had almost done.

"There's-there's no way- you could have-"

"True. And yet, here we are." He threw his hands into the air. His eyebrow motions suggested that he was rolling his eyes.

"Heh. Heh heh." Jeremie's face hardened into a sneer. "You don't seem too innocent yourself."

"You're absolutely correct." Rather absentmindedly, Franz began walking away again, still talking as he walked. "Why are you here?"

Jeremie was frozen for a split second before running off after him, one of Franz's steps being three of his. He tried to make up a story on the fly. "Because…well…I- I just am, you know? Things take people places, and stuff, and I'm just here. I'm not going to hurt you or anything, you know, I'm just a kid, so…"

Franz stopped. Jeremie skidded to a halt behind him, to prevent running into him again. He waited for a response from the old man, but he made none. Not even a indiscreet grunt.

"Uh…" Jeremie decided to take another path in the conversation. "Uh, I, uh, met your daughter. Aelita."

Franz slowly turned his head in Jeremie's direction, pivoted away, and did a double take. He arched an eyebrow.

"Ah, uh…she's…a really nice person. Okay, so maybe the pink hair is a little weird, but it's kind of, well, an expression of individuality, you know?" He knew he was babbling. He couldn't help it.

"Ah…really," he replied. His face didn't change. "I should ask her about that." This seemed satisfactory for him. He began to walk away again.

Somehow, Jeremie didn't think that his departure would bode well. He began running again. "Uh…uh, HEY!"

Franz stopped again. Jeremie was getting a little tired of starting and stopping. He opened his mouth, but even after stopping him, found that he had nothing to say.

The old man noticed this, and laughed, just a little. "What?" He shrugged, and looked in another direction, towards a tree. "Tell me, Jeremie, do you think I'm crazy?"

Jeremie was still speechless. He was moving his mouth, making wild accusations that he couldn't seem to say. All that came out was one, rather retarded "Gaaaaaugh." Franz took a few deep breaths- this was a clear sign that he was trying very, very hard not to laugh.

"You're absolutely correct. I'm a lunatic. And you're a lunatic, too. Everyone on this whole damn earth is a lunatic. That is why we are sane, you see. Understand?" He didn't wait for an answer. "I'm sure you do. Well, you know why? We're insane because we're humans. We have logic, that's our gift, but we also have things that can't be explained. Like our emotions. Logically, they're clues from the days we walked on all fours, to help us see the difference between good and bad. But in other ways…

Take love, you see. We all know what it is, but we can never define it. Love can make us all do very insane things. We can sacrifice ourselves. Or someone else. Or even the entire world." Jeremie's breath caught in his throat for a moment. Franz didn't notice, and babbled on.

"None of those things are logical, little boy. And yet…they just keep on happening. You gotta believe em to survive. Not everything in life is logic." He smiled, evilly, maniacally. His fists shook.

Jeremie suddenly figured out what to say. And this time, he could easily out-cool Franz. He took a deep breath, and shrugged. "I know this a bit too well, old man." He tried to give an evil eye, which was a bit easier for him, because his glasses were actually transparent. "Heh. You seem just a bit worked up. Maybe you should go, lie down for a couple days…"

"N-n-no! No!" Franz's look of terror was only fleeting- and then he composed himself. He laughed some more- a bit more of a manic habit now than an actual expression of an appreciation of humor. "Ah…no. It's really…not worth it." His glasses slid down his face. Jeremie got only a second's glimpse of a pair of sad, weary green eyes before he pushed them back up.

Before anything else could be philosophically debated, a sudden awareness of time hit Jeremie, as it often does in the strangest of situations. "Uh, I, uh, have to go to lunch," he interrupted, smiling wanly.

"'Kay." Franz shrugged. "But, I advise you to hurry."

No crap. Jeremie booked it out of there as soon as he could. He ran over to the lunchroom, which, by odd coincidence, was only a few yards away- and then, the bell rang. Students streamed out of the small trailer that held the sacred lunch, nearly knocking him over. Lunch was obviously over.

"Oh, and I forgot to tell you. Lunch is over." Franz's small laughter was somehow audible over all the shouts of the Kadic students. Jeremie groaned, hoping he could hear as well, and stomped across the campus, towards his next class.

Which he just realized was Science.

Huh.

Maybe Science that day was bad. Maybe it wasn't. Franz was calling on him quite a lot. Okay, a bit more than quite a lot. Try, every single little question. And maybe those strange little smirks he was throwing Jeremie, maybe those weren't intentional. Or, even better, maybe the old man really had gone to the dogs long, long ago. Either way, Jeremie was banging his head on the table quite a bit that hour. Franz, however, seemed to be having fun- he was a bit more chipper, and even said goodbye to the students once the class ended. Many of the kids were very confused.

The rest of the afternoon was really fairly normal, aside from the fact that now, everyone was staring at him. He tried his best to ignore it. It worked, mostly- the afternoon passed extremely quickly, and before he knew it, he was walking out of the last class. The gate was only about twenty yards away…if he hurried, he could make a break for it-

"Going so soon?"

Jeremie had only run about half a foot when he stopped dead in his tracks. Franz Hopper was behind him again, by some crazy feat of physics. He turned towards Franz and stared at him incredulously.

"Look, whatever you say about that psychological stuff, you're still a pretty sick mind doing pretty sick things." He groaned, more for effect than anything.

"And, what's it to you?" he replied, with a hint of mocking.

"Uh…" For a moment, Jeremie toyed with the idea of telling Franz he was from the future, all about his struggles with XANA- but he didn't know what frame of mind Franz was in, or how he would take the news at this point. He ultimately decided against it. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

That little laugh again. "Good boy. I don't know what you think you have to do with things that are my business…and my business only." His voice grew stern, and then, just as quickly, became very, very sad. "But, I know…it is very late. And I am very tired. Perhaps I should take your advice. Perhaps…I should go to bed, for awhile." He sighed, almost in defeat.

Jeremie was confused for a split second- and then he understood the metaphor. His head reeled again- between discouraging it, and not changing anything, or recommending it- and potentially preventing the supercomputer's completion. No XANA, no supercomputer…no Aelita. No friends.

"Well…maybe not. Maybe you should stay up a little longer. Besides, you might need time to-" He caught himself before he could say 'fix that Lyoko wall-off thingy you talked about.' Because, he reminded himself, he wasn't supposed to know about that.

Franz's eyes narrowed, and Jeremie wondered if he saw through it. "Who knows. Perhaps." He turned his back on Jeremie. "Good day."

Jeremie let him leave. He was tired of talking to him anyway. As he left, he breathed a sigh of relief. No more crazy person. He made a break for the gate before Franz could change his mind-

"Ah…"

Jeremie stopped, about a yard later. Aelita was there, under a small linden tree two yards away, staring right at him. She looked a bit afraid, as though he were a wild animal that might attack. Then, slowly, her eyes trailed off, in another direction- and then snapped back to him.

"Uh…" His face grew hot, and he looked at the ground. "H-hello, uh, Aelita…uh, beautiful day, isn't it?"

Aelita ignored him. "What was my father saying to you?"

He blushed even deeper. "Uh…nothing, nothing, I don't even know, y'know? I mean, the guy's absolutely bananas, I mean, no offense to you cause he's your dad, right? Am I right? I mean, you're not bonkers, well, I don't know, since I've never talked to you in my life…" He laughed hysterically, not realizing he was waving his hand in the air. Aelita raised an eyebrow.

"Huh. Very well. Goodbye." Without waiting for an answer, she walked away. Jeremie looked after her. There was something different about her, but he couldn't figure out precisely what. Maybe it was the way that her head hung low over her chest, or how she was clutching her arm, moving her fingers nervously. Had he done something to upset her? He sighed, and continued walking, some depression beginning to creep up on him.

Someone nudged him hard in the ribs. This woke him up. Turning sharply, he saw Chris shuffle past him. He was also noticeably disturbed, but a bit more dramatically. His face was buried in his hair, and he was sniffling into his arm. He weaved back and forth, completely lost in himself. Jeremie stared after him, wide-eyed. Why…?

"Aelita…"

It was only a mumble, but it solved the puzzle for Jeremie. He'd bet one seventy-fourth of his soul that there were a group of girls sitting somewhere now, laughing over the perfect destruction of someone's life. The girls. The confession.

"You know, I never much liked that girl either. Considering the things she's done in her life."

Dammit. Jeremie didn't feel like walking anymore. Forlorly, he looked up. The sky was a bit too blue today…

A buzz cut across his hearing, and a bubble of light spread out over the horizon. A time revision bubble. So. He looked up at it, and smiled at it, like it was an old friend. And, in a way, it was.

Woo! Did all that psychological stuff make your brain hurt? It made my brain hurt too. Well, to remedy your brain hurting-ness, I will make it numb with a special surprise- your daily recommended dose of every fanfiction reader's favorite little guilty indulgence, that is, sugary, sweet, cavity-inducing fluff! I hope you all like it.

And now, Carthy Productions brings thou-

Side Story
At The Park

It was a beautiful day at Forrest Elementary Park.

It was a very nice park. It had swings, slides, monkey bars, see-saws, everything. And, on a beautiful day like this, it was swamped with children, none of which were above the age of five. This was mostly because not only were they not in school, their exhausted parents didn't feel like keeping them inside on such a nice day. Especially since they'd be bouncing off the walls in any other case.

In fact, there was only one parent who wasn't sitting on a nearby bench, drinking coffee and debating about the meaning of life.

"WHEEEEEEE!!"

Medea slid to the bottom of the long, curly slide, laughing, genuinely amused. Just a second later, there was a soft flump – her daughter, Sissi, had landed on her. This drove Medea off the edge- she collapsed into the wood chips, squealing in hysterics. Eager to copy her mother, Sissi laughed as well, and rolled off her mother's back.

"Haha…ha…" Medea stood, brushing the chips off herself. "Man, I haven't done that in ages. Wanna do it again, Sissi?"

Sissi stared at her for a moment, her little brain trying to find something to focus on. She found it. "Daddy! Daddy!" She pointed behind Medea, supposedly at her father, who was, like most, swallowed in mudanity, on a nearby bench, drinking coffee and all that.

"Yes, it's Daddy, isn't it?" Keeping her smile, she turned to her husband. "HIIII DADDY!"

It was unclear what Jean-Pierre Delmas thought of this. For one thing, he was stifling a laugh. For another, he had just dropped his coffee cup, and didn't notice that the spilled coffee was staining his shoes.

Medea cocked an eyebrow at him. "I guess that means hi. Well, how about that slide, eh?"

She turned around. The place where Sissi stood was now vacant- she was wandering off in the general direction of the swings. Her eyebrow unarched, and she sighed.

"Huh. No more slide. Ah well. Time to see what the calvary's up to." She walked, nonchalantly, over to the benches. Nearby adults stared at her, including her own husband.

The man in question was looking up at her, smiling, but slightly bewildered-looking. "I, erm…saved you some coffee." Jean-Pierre handed his wife the other cup, which sat safely on the bench.

"Mm," she replied. Sipping the coffee, she sat next to him, leaning on his shoulder. This was more for the satisfaction of seeing him blush than anything else.

"Aa-ah, yes." Jean-Pierre cleared his throat. "You know…someday, Elisabeth won't want you to play with her like that anymore…"

"True. But for now, Jeannie, she's two years old." She giggled. "Besides, you never seemed to be bothered when I played with you."

"Shut up." He made a show of pouting at her. "Ah…you're, well, endearing, Medea. Different. Able to let go of your inhibitions. That's what makes you, well…beautiful."

"You've told me that twenty-eight times, Jeannie-"

"And I mean it every time." He smiled at her, a very genuine smile.

"Well, try rewording it every once in a while." She gave a small 'hm'. "Swings are weird."

"Why?"

"Cause they are. Yanno, they move by the momentum of swingin' legs?" She moved her finger in a circle. "How does that work? And what if it goes too far, ne? Would the little kid just go right over the-"

"Huh. Maybe." Jean-Pierre's smile remained, soft and warm- he was enjoying this a lot more than he let on. "What do you think?"

"Well…" The conversation sort of went out on a tangent from there.

The swings themselves showed no signs of going over the top, or moving at all. It was a slow day at that end of the park. But one girl crouched, just behind the seesaw, to peek at something that, for the moment, intrigued her completely. A boy was sitting on a swing- not swinging, just sitting, and staring off into space. His mousy brown hair was clipped short, and his large, equally brown eyes had just the slightest touch of sadness to them. He wore a simple t-shirt and shorts, which somehow hinted at more high-end origins.

She knew what she was going to do about this. Without a moment's thought, she jumped up from her hiding place and ran over to the swings, skidding to a stop in front of the boy. He arched an eyebrow.

A wide smile spread across the girl's face. "Hi! My name is Sissi. Will you be my boyfriend?"

"No."

It was clear her world had just been shattered. Tears welled up in her tiny eyes, and she ran from the boy, screaming as much as she could. The boy didn't react.

"MOMMMMMYYY! DAAAAAAAADDY!" She skidded to a stop in front of the bench where Jean-Pierre and Medea sat, not even bothering to hide her tears. Upon hearing her, both leapt up, looks of fear on both of their faces.

She pointed a finger towards the swings. "He- he won't be my boyfriend!" Sissi collapsed on the sidewalk, weeping hysterically. Medea and Jean-Pierre exchanged ridiculous looks. Finally, Medea bent down to her daughter, patting her on the head.

"Awww, don't worry, Sissi-pie. Maybe he just isn't interested in you yet. Who knows, maybe he could take you to senior prom someday." She turned her head to her husband for a moment, and mouthed something like "not in a million years". This was a bit too much for Jean-Pierre- he collapsed on the bench, shaking in silent laughter.

"Either way, just go and have fun. Who knows, we might get you a treat later."

Sissi's eyes lit up immediately. "Ice cream?"

"Uh, sure thing." She laughed a little, and then clapped her on the shoulder. "Get out of here!"

Sissi laughed, and skipped back off to the playground, as though her little crying spell had never happened. Medea stood back up, stretched her arms, and swung around to face the swingsets. Sissi had gone back over to the small boy, and was kicking his swing. He seemed to elicit no response.

"Heh heh heh. Idiots." She swung around, and skipped back to the bench, sitting aside her husband. Jean-Pierre was still leaning over one of the rails, fighting back more laughter.

"Now, where were-" She stopped dead mid-sentence. A small, tinny sound was gathering in her ear. She swatted at it, hoping she was only being plagued by a bee or something- and then she looked up.

An enormous, white bubble of light was looming over the horizon. It grew rapidly, swallowing the entire city behind the park. Oddly enough, nobody else seemed to notice it. It was emitting the tinny sound, splitting the sound layer. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped.

"THE HELL?" That was all she got out before her thought processes stopped. The bubble hit her full in the face. A momentary floating, a feeling as though she was being kicked in the head-

And then, it was gone. Not just gone, but never there.

And she woke up.

No guesses who that little kid was. No guesses at all.

Hope you all liked it. I can't wait to write the next chapter...DUN DUN DUN DUN...

-Carth