…wow. First story-resembling thingy in, like, two years, and it gets 100 reviews. 107. Wowza. Wowza wowza wowza. Thanks everyone I LOVES YOU. I'm pretty much surprised how deep and psychological the story got, and that you like it that way. I'm sorry if some of you can't make sense of it. (The only thing I really planned to make unique was the grammar skillz.) I just threw it in to keep you guys happy while I stalled time. Of course, if you liked that and then you hate what's next, I'm a bit screwed, ne? Well, thanks. A lot.

And thanks to Andrew for telling me about that paradox! Well, regardless of what Jeremie had said, Franz would have kept going anyway. But thanks, thanks a lot…you just helped me patch up a big plot hole. Bigger than you know.

I'd also like to welcome someone to the RTTP project- Stonecreek, who does not have an account here, at least to the most of my knowledge, but will be my beta from now on. A beta is someone who reads over your stuff before you post it and tells you where to improve and stuff. He's good at what he does, and…yeah.

Oh, almost forgot! I'm going to need help from one of you guys for part of the next chapter. If you think you can speak/write in fluent/good/enough French, say so in a review. I'll PM you with more details.

That was a very long introduction. But I'll torture you no longer. Enjoy the show, my duckies. Oh, and check my profile. You might like it there.

Chapter 13
Day Seven: The Emancipation

For the first time in a long time, Jeremie felt calm.

Okay, so he was still in the deep past, and quite stuck there for the time being. So he was thoroughly confused by Franz's philosophical conjectures. So the grass was getting a bit itchy in places not meant to be itched. But, at the very least, he was okay.

He laughed, just a little. He had no idea why. He lay on the ground, just giggling. Maybe it was the madness finally creeping up on him, he wondered. Maybe it was the nice, warm feeling before one freezes to death. But, what the hey. It was happiness.

He got up, humming nonsense to himself, using whatever dignity he had left not to skip onto the campus, and just walk like a normal human. He almost blindly repeated the process of registering himself for the day (and therefore accidentally leaving out his last name), and then sat under the tree, letting giggles escape every now and then.

Somehow, it had just hit him that he had free reign over the day. He could do anything, and at the end, it'd be all erased. He laughed. Maybe he could graffiti a wall. Or throw things over the fence. Or leave. Or…eh, maybe not. Better to keep a low profile. He wasn't the only master of this day, after all.

Riiiiiiing. He watched, patiently, as the students filled the campus, talking, laughing, oblivious to him, unaware that there had been seven years since the last time they woke up. Unaware that this time might not exist in several hours. He scanned the crowd. Old Kadic was surprisingly ugly.

His eyes stopped to linger on a familiar shade of red. She was leaning against a tree, untampered by the revisions, twirling her hair, supposedly waiting for a friend. Chris. Jeremie shook his head, to get that name out. He just kept looking at her, eyes never trailing from her face. Sure, he was in a pretty good mood. Maybe he could have some fun today. Some fun involving this pink-haired beauty.

He'd follow her around all day.

Feeling confidence swell inside him like a cheap balloon, Jeremie stood, and tried to walk calmly over to her, though he had a feeling that he could be unconsciously marching. He kept reminding himself of the same things- stay calm, talk to her like a normal human being. Girls like confidence. Girls like confidence.

"Who the hell are you?"

He began to sweat. Just a little bit.

Finally, he approached her. She was looking in the other direction, and hadn't noticed him. He took a deep breath, and began to speak.

"Uhm…" No response. He must have been too quiet. He unconsciously tugged at his collar. "Uh…hi…"

No response…and then slowly, silently, she looked up, uninterested. "Hm?"

"Well…" He tried to focus on his hands- no collar tugging, no shaking. He took a deep breath, and spoke as calmly as he could. "I'm a shadow today, and I, well…do you know where the English class is? Just…wondering…" He smiled in what he hoped was a sincere, organic way.

"Hm." Her eyes widened a bit, and she looked at him with slightly renewed interest as she sized him up. She smiled, but only for a second. "That building. First door in. The one with all the corpses in it." She laughed at Jeremie's momentarily shocked expression. "I kid, I kid. Sorry, I just couldn't resist."

"Eh, it's okay, I guess…" He shrugged.

Aelita nodded in reply, a bit lackluster- and then she looked up, eyes brightening. "Chris!"

Jeremie turned around, and saw Chris, walking across the square. When he heard Aelita, he started running. When he saw Jeremie, he ran faster. Within seconds, he was skidding to a halt at her side, smiling brightly. Jeremie had hardly seen him smile since the first or second revision.

"Hey, Aelita, what's kickin?" He was talking to Aelita, but he was looking at Jeremie. It was clear he wanted an explanation.

"Ah…nothing. Some kid just wanted directions is all. Shadow. You know." She shrugged, and her eyes began the long trek back to nowhere.

"Oh, okay." He smiled at Jeremie, but his eyes gave a look that said something like, 'Why are you still here?'

"Y-yeah…yeah." He was now a bit unnerved by Chris's presence. He smiled at the two, wanly, and then his courage ran out. "Uh, uh, thank you!" He turned and walked, calmly, towards the school buildings. He was resisting urges to run.

He almost thought he could hear a whisper behind him, too quiet to tell the gender. "Interesting kid. Interesting."

The morning was, oddly enough, a more enjoyable experience than Jeremie had had lately.

Maybe it was because he had finally talked to Aelita on an equal level again. He didn't sit next to her in any classes, so as not to incur Chris's wrath, but he did sit behind her whenever he could, and tried to talk to her when the teacher's back was turned. This didn't quite work very well. Teachers are not quite as deaf as one might think.

Lunch came a bit too quickly. As quickly as he wished it came in his own timeline, on an ordinary day…except with a bit less to look forward to.

"Are you following us or something?" Chris twirled his fork in his spaghetti, not noticing that he already had all of it there.

"Well, you seem to know what you're doing." Jeremie laughed. He had sat closer to Chris and Aelita today, to Aelita's indifference and Chris's confusion, and was trying to engage them- well, the better-looking half, mostly- in conversation. It was working, a little. "So, uh…"

"Heh. I guess we really haven't introduced ourselves, eh? I'm Chris, that's Aelita-" he gave her the most fleeting look- "-and you?"

"Jeremie." He stuck his fork in his slop, lost his appetite, and looked up again. "So, uh, why are you guys here, anyway? At Kadic, I mean. Is it good, is it…"

Aelita opened her mouth, but Chris got there first. "Yeah, it's pretty cool, a few weirdo teachers here and there, but, yanno, all schools are like that, eh?" He laughed. "But for us, it's kind of forced. My uncle's the…well…he works here, somewhere…" His eyes trailed a bit. "But her dad's-"

"My dad's the science teacher." She didn't look up.

Jeremie stared for a moment, unsure how to continue, and then a thought struck him. "Oh, him? You mean Mr. Hopper, right? I heard about him."

"You did? How?" Aelita's interest seemed to be piqued- she stole a glance at him. Chris's forehead twitched.

"Well, from the other kids, you know? They say he's uh, no offense, but…" He tugged at his collar. "Uh…"

"Crazy?" She laughed, moving her plate as not to snort into her glop. "Yeah, I guess he's a little..."

"You kidding? He's awesome!" Chris was once again shooting his mouth off. "I mean, he's, like, really scary-looking, and a bit of a psychopath- s-sorry, Aelita…" He looked uncertainly at Aelita, smiling nervously. She just shrugged. He took that as an approval, and continued. "But he's really cool! Right, Aelita?"

"Mmm." She laughed a little to herself. "Medea seems to think it's funny to hit him."

"Hit him?" Jeremie tilted his head in confusion.

"Yeah. She'll walk up, hit him for no reason, like, as a joke, and then run away. But then again, she's crazy too. In a more fun way," Chris added as an afterthought.

"Oh, uh, okay." Jeremie smiled. "Just wanted to know, I guess."

"Probably did." Aelita smiled, and looked out the window. "He's a bit silly, true…but we're family. We're there for each other. After all…" She smiled, weakly. "We're all we've got, really."

"N-no, that's not true, Aelita-" He reached to clasp her hand. Then, Aelita realized what he was doing, and he pulled back. He scrunched up, and looked at the ground, face noticeably reddening. "I-I mean, I'll be there for you, right?"

Aelita looked confused for a second, and then laughed. "Um, okay. I guess I forgot about friends."

"Y-yeah." He looked up, even redder, but slightly happier.

Jeremie discreetly stood up, mumbled "Sorry, bathroom" and ran out of the lunchroom. If he'd stayed another minute, he probably would have made a comment.

Franz Hopper never failed to confuse Jeremie.

Today, he chose to completely ignore him. Through the entire hour-long Science class, he didn't call on, speak to, or even look at Jeremie. He, personally, didn't mind this. It was a bit of a break. Though, as he pretended to listen, it gave him a chance to notice more things about each class. Like the second revision, Franz had chosen to talk about computers that day. Remembering that day, Jeremie kept his mouth shut. Not that anyone would listen anyway.

But something really was different. Whenever Franz would look in Aelita's general direction, his eyes would linger on her for a moment, and his face would twitch, almost in regret. Then, he would continue teaching as if nothing had happened. He couldn't make heads or tails of it, but he didn't mind.

The rest of the afternoon was, as always, exceedingly boring, and very, very slow. The three of them didn't interact much during the rest of the day, but at the end, they found themselves in the woods, standing together, with nothing to do. This was slightly less than coincidental.

"So…" Chris looked at Jeremie uncertainly. "Day's over, eh? That means you gotta go, right?"

"Not necessarily. My parents won't be here for another half hour. I can hang around." He shrugged. It was somehow easier now to lie on the fly with a straight face.

"Oh…really. 'Kay then." He stood for a minute, staring at him.

"Hmm…Chris," Aelita said, sounding hopeful, "Is it okay if I go to the Delmas's place? I really wanted to see Elisabeth again-"

"Oh, uh, oh, kay…" His face scrunched up a bit- it was clear that was the last thing he wanted to do. He was still looking at Jeremie. "Are you…?"

"Uh, no, it's okay, I'll just wait here."

The comment had its anticipated effect- his face calmed instantly. "Okay, that's okay. We-hell…" He made a show of checking a nonexistent watch. "I, uh, just remembered I promised my uncle I'd help clean out the gutters. So, uh, bye." He was out of there in an instant. Jeremie and Aelita were now alone. A bead of sweat came on Jeremie's face.

"Heh. Thought he'd never leave." She laughed, that small, still, unenthused laugh. She turned her back to him. "Well…I guess I should go. Have a nice day."

"No- wait, wait!" He turned his head towards her. "Actually I…I think I'd like to go there. That's where that English teacher lives, right?"

"Uh, yes." She nodded. "Her, her husband, and her daughter. I think she's there right now."

"Okay, good. I wanted to…ask her something."

"Fine by me." She walked in the house's general direction. Jeremie followed after her, happy to have some time with her at last. Maybe it was his mood, but the woods leading to the house seemed to be lovelier than ever, sunlight streaming through their leaves in just the right, perfect way.

It's strange, Jeremie thought, walking along, smiling genuinely for the first time in a long time. It's one of those moments when you just feel lucky to be alive.

"Well, everyone's loony in their own way, right?"

Medea laughed loudly. She was standing in her kitchen, leaning against the counter, an unopened box of macaroni and cheese in front of her. Sissi was tugging against her pant leg- she obviously wanted the contents of the box.

"But you're loony in a good way." Franz tried to give a smile, but it seemed a little forced. He was leaning on the other side of the counter, tense and unfocused. He sighed. "I seem to be losing my grip on reality, bit by bit."

"Well, all I can do for you is keep you away from sharp objects. Speaking of objects- yes, Sissi, I'm making it for you right now." She smiled at the toddler, and opened the box. Very, very slowly.

"I'm being serious, Medea," Franz replied, almost mockingly- and then his voice grew weary. "You're the one who understands these kinds of things. Do I seem to be doing the right thing? You know…" His sorrowful tone grew even more so. "…for Aelita?"

"Franz, I'm a human. Don't warp me into a goddess." She sighed, discreetly letting go of the box. "'Sides, she seems plenty happy to me, and she doesn't hate you, if that's what you're afraid of."

"I certainly hope so."

There was a tense silence for a long time. Even Sissi stopped her tugging.

"Medea."

"Hm?" She stood up straight, intrigued by his dark tone.

"I think it's time that Aelita and I…moved on. To a new place. Somewhere we can get a breath of new air."

Medea stood shaken for a moment- and then her mouth began working again. "Eh? Not that I'm stopping you or anything, but nothing's happened for you to need to leave. You've only been here, what, five years? You're happy, Aelita's happy-" She stopped. "When are you leaving?"

"A week. A month. A few years. Maybe…an hour or two." He laughed sarcastically to himself, a wicked smile crossing his face. "I know everything you said to me. It's just…" His muscles tensed. "Am I doing the right thing? Taking her away?"

Medea froze. "I'm…not quite sure I get what you mean."

Franz shrugged. "Fine by me." His head pivoted towards an open back door. "You keep your soda outside, right?" He walked towards said door. "I'm going to get one. I'll leave you some time to think." Sure enough, he disappeared out the door.

The raven-haired woman turned down to her daughter, who had been clinging to her in silence the entire time. She looked back.

"Loon." She gave a lopsided smile. "Now, how about that macaroni and cheese?"

"Ice cream?" She smiled, widely.

"It might taste like that if you concentrate hard enough," she replied. Laughing, she took her daughter in her arms, and swung her around, their shouts merging almost as one.

"Hey! Wait up!"

Aelita really could walk fast if she wanted to. The house was just visible in the distance, and just a tiny bit closer to it was a small pink blur. Jeremie was running as fast as he could, but as you can imagine, he wasn't exactly built for such nonsedentary work.

"For whom?" she replied, almost sarcastically. She stopped, allowing Jeremie to catch up a bit. "Our reasons for coming here are separate, after all."

"Uh, yeah, I know…" He tugged at his collar again. "It's just…nice, you know? Walking along, and stuff…"

"I suppose it is." She didn't seem to want to talk to him much. "Uhm…Jeremie…"

"Eh?" He arched an eyebrow.

"Nothing. Nothing." She smiled, and kept running towards the door. Jeremie smiled coyly, knowing she wouldn't see, and ran to catch up once more.

The laughs faded slightly as Medea set Sissi on the floor. More enthused now, she ripped the box open, and set some water to heat on a nearby stove. She hummed as she watched bubbles popping on the surface, a tune only she knew. Sissi laughed as she tried to look and see as well. Medea held her hand back as she was about to place it on the hot coils.

Thump. She looked up for a millisecond, and then turned back to the pot. She took the box that was in her other hand, and poured in the small white noodles. Smiling, she looked back at her daughter. "Want to add the cheese?"

"Okay!" Sissi laughed hysterically as she was lifted up by her mother, and given the small bag of powdered cheese. She proceeded to throw it out the open window.

"Erm…okay." Medea set Sissi down. "Maybe I should get a new box, then…"

"No…" Sissi didn't stop smiling. "Macaroni and NO cheese!" She laughed.

Medea smiled. "Well, okay, then. But it might not taste all that good." She turned to stir the noodles, more for effect than anything.

There was a small breath of sound, one blended perfectly with the wind outside. Sissi heard it. She looked opposite her mother, confused for a moment, and then forgot it had ever happened.

It came again, louder now. Medea snapped her head up, looked around, and finally yelled, "The sodas are over there, you dingbat!"

There was a loud crash, and Franz poked his head into the doorway. "I knew where they were. See?" He held up a small Sprite.

A bit confused now, Medea arched an eyebrow. Leaving the pot to simmer, she walked a little closer. "…'Kay, so it wasn't you that…huh." She shrugged. "Whatever."

"Certainly." Opening his soda, Franz stepped in the door, and walked closer to Medea, rather imposingly. "Well…do you have an answer for me?"

"For what?" She tilted her head to one side.

"Ah…never mind." His glance trailed off.

She held a straight face for a moment before sneaking a snigger. "C'mon, Franz, I was just kidding. I just didn't think about it at all is all." She shrieked in hysterics, holding on to the counter for support. Franz looked away, so she wouldn't see him rolling his eyes.

As she was laughing, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Sissi was still standing behind the counter, by the stove, transfixed by something in the opposite doorway. She was completely motionless, not daring to move a muscle.

"Sissi? What's the matter?" Curious, she looked up at the doorway. Her pupils widened.

"Is that a…"

A thick fog of black smoke hung motionless in the air, like the smog from a fire. But there was no burning smell, or hint of a fire at all. It was just there. Franz didn't see it; he was busy with his soda. But Sissi saw it. And Medea saw it.

"Funny," she wondered aloud, stepping slightly closer. "What the hell is-"

Swush.

…

"Admit it. I won."

Jeremie bent down on his knees, fighting to stay upright, panting. Aelita stood above him, showing no signs of fatigue.

"I'm just not used to this, okay?" He made a pathetic attempt at a sneer.

"Whatever. Just…go in and ask your question." She shrugged.

"Maybe I will." He stood up…and allowed himself one glance in her eyes.

A glance that lasted a few minutes.

Aelita stared back, a bit bemused. "Well?"

"Uh, yeah, sorry." Seeming as normal as possible, Jeremie flung the door open. "Hey, Medea, we're here!"

…

…

Well, whaddya know.

I missed.

All that preparation. All that loathing. All those cups of coffee, and I missed the freaking target.

Oh Franz, my dear father, why does death elude you so easily? All I had to do was show you how much I cared for you, and everything would be alright between us. But now…I am weak…so weak once more…your tender care has been wasted.

Your damn sweet love, daddy.

Baah.

…

…

Black shrouds do not have the best of depth perception.

…

…

This really should be terrible.

But…somehow, it isn't.

Things are never what they first appear to be.

This could actually be…a secret blessing, just for me.

…

…

One down.

My first.

It feels so wonderful.

…

…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

It was this scream that greeted Jeremie's ears as the door was opened. It definitely was the farthest thing from what he had expected. It reverberated in his eardrums and numbed his brain. He could hardly think for a whole minute, and assumed the absolute worst. Behind him, Aelita trembled, eyes wide in fear.

"Me-Medea?" he screamed at the scream. Without thinking, he grabbed Aelita by the arm, and dragged her along as he nearly flew across the hallway to the kitchen. The noise was over, but the sight was still to come.

It's hard to use words to describe just how shocked he was.

Medea stood in the middle of the kitchen, bolt upright, almost as solid as the furniture, as though some dark malevolence were holding her there. A funny, gagging noise sounded from her throat, and she was trembling slightly. Her face was a mask of nightmares- eyes open, shocked, unblinking, face drained of all blood, mouth gaping. There was almost a funny feeling in the air around her, as though she weren't there, and could not be sensed.

Then, very suddenly, she gasped, and went rigid as a board. Her eyes rolled back into her head, leaving disgusting, white holes where brown warmth had once been, and she collapsed. A trail of blood sprayed from her mouth as she fell, flying quite a distance and splattering Aelita. Her eyes went almost as blank as Medea's had been. On impulse, Jeremie grabbed her around the shoulders and hugged her towards himself, shoving her head into his chest, obscuring her view of the woman.

There was a distinct crack as Medea hit the floor. It was clear that several bones had been broken. Her beautiful black hair was disheveled over her face, hiding the nightmare, and her sweater was stained by the spray of blood.

She was quite clearly dead.

"N…n…" Jeremie couldn't find a voice to describe it. It was the first time he'd seen a dead body, and it wasn't all that pretty. A thousand scenarios flooded his mind, none of them making any sense, all of them chaotic in the relative still.

He felt Aelita strain against him, trying to get away and see. A sharp pain struck in his mind. He looked down at her head, pity crossing his face. "N…no…no…no, don't look, Aelita…." He calmly began to stroke her hair. "You don't need to see…you don't need…to see…"

A tear rolled down his face, more for Aelita's sake than anyone else's. She calmed down, and lay limp, but muffled whimpers could still be heard from the space between her face and his shirt. Whimpers he could hardly bear to hear.

"Yeah, that's right…it's okay…it's okay, Aelita…everything's going to be oka-" There was a small rustle of noise. Jeremie's head jerked up, holding Aelita still tighter, as if that would protect her from anything. A grey head of hair rose tentatively from behind the counter, followed by a face, preceded by a large pair of glasses. Franz Hopper.

"G…God." His voice was trembling. He was about to slink back down when he noticed Jeremie. Both his eyebrows rose- it was clear that his eyes were very wide, wider still when he saw Aelita.

"Is…is she…" His eyes lingered on the bloodstains on her jacket.

"She's alright," Jeremie replied, almost in a monotone. "I…I couldn't let her see it…I just…" He hung his head, and looked to the side.

"She's dead…isn't she?"

Franz stood to his full height, and walked around the counter to Medea's body, staring at Jeremie the entire time. Finally, he knelt down beside Medea, and lifted her hair. He recoiled in shock.

"That looks like dead to me." He shook his head. "I don't understand…she was perfectly fine before…" He sighed, and stood. "Why…"

"…Mommy?"

His already shocked brain now went numb. He spun in the direction of the voice- there, standing in a corner, was Sissi. She was completely still, though clearly alive and unharmed. At least, until you saw her eyes, blank, dead, staring at the remains of the woman who, barely five minutes before, had laughed with her and tossed her in the air.

Under Franz and Jeremie's shocked expressions, she walked closer to the body, and knelt beside it. She appeared too scared and confused to cry, just calling, hoping that at some point, she'd respond. "Mommy…mommy…"

"Sissi! NO!" Aelita screamed in terror, struggling against Jeremie more furiously than ever. He fought to keep her in place, but she refused to relax.

"It's okay, Aelita. She'll be okay." Shaking, Franz knelt again, and placed an enormous hand on Sissi's tiny shoulder. "Don't worry, Sissi. Mommy will be…okay…"

The small girl stared at her mother, making minute calculations about what to do. Finally, she looked at Franz, with a very straight face. Her eyes didn't change from their haunted look.

"A…black bird." She pointed at the ceiling, and was silent.

Even Aelita stood stunned at these words. They seeped through the spongier parts of Jeremie's brain, trying to find sense, but eluding it constatntly. His arms loosened from around Aelita's chest- she was still held fast, but she could move her head. Slowly, her eyes became visible, wide, cold, and stunned.

"We…" Jeremie felt the conclusion rise in his mind, didn't want to think about it, knew it was true. He turned Aelita's head away once more. "We'll have to tell Mr. Delmas…eventually." He looked at the ground, hair falling in his eyes. "It's not like…we can keep the truth from him for very long."

"…true." Franz nodded, as much as he could when his head was as low as it was. He stood, leaving Sissi by the body, and walked slowly, zombielike, past Jeremie into the front hall. Just as slowly, Sissi stood, and walked after him. He didn't notice.

The three remaining didn't move. Jeremie was in shock. He could hardly believe this. Today was supposed to be great. Perfect. Why did this woman have to die? Come to think of it…why did she die? She was alive and well in the other revisions…alive long after…

Aelita was in shock. Now that she could see the body, she did nothing but look at it. All attempts by Jeremie to pull her back were met with steely resistance. Eventually, he gave up, and settled instead for merely quietly stroking her hair, to calm her down.

Medea was dead, of course.

There was a sound of a door opening in the hall, and a familiar voice was heard. "Hey, I- oh, hey there, Franz. Look, I really need to talk to someone."

"Jim."

"You see, young Chris and I were cleaning out the gutters together, and we found this rather large live weasel, and we need someone's opinion on whether or not to-"

"Jim."

"Hey, hey, what?"

There was a pause. When Franz's voice came back, it was shaking. "I need you…to go get Jean-Pierre. And bring him here. Right now."

"Wh-"

"Don't ask questions, Jim. Just go get Jean-Pierre. Tell him…tell him it's important."

"Now wait a minute, Franz, what's going on here. You look like someone just…died…"

A different voice piped in- high, quiet, and haunting.

"Mommy…mom…mmy…"

There was a very, very long pause.

"I…I'll get him right away. And…and I'll tell him…that it's important. Thank you, Franz. Thank you."

-Carth