I'm sorry It's been such a long time; but I kind of lost the will to write. It's back now... mostly.
It might be two or more weeks before the next chapter; I've just seen the end of series 4, and it was a good ending, but I'm worried that my ideas might simply stop; and, for the moment, they have. But we shall see; and either way, I will finish this. I won't say any more on the subject of the end of series four because I know it hasn't been broadcast everywhere yet (I don't know where it has been broadcast).
To all those who asked about the fire alarm, read and find out.
It was in the process of leaving the cafeteria that they were ambushed. They had barely taken two steps out of the door when Jeremie and Aelita were set upon by two girls; girls who they knew, girls from the year below them, girls who had been lying in wait behind a nearby bin for their targets to approach.
The moment Jeremie had seen two things rushing towards them he had instinctively stepped forwards, expecting some form of Xana attack and ready to defend Aelita; but it was not so. One of the girls carried a camera, the other a microphone. It was the school reporters, Milly and Tamiya.
"Jeremie, Aelita!" Milly cried, as though she had not been expecting to see them. She was the smaller of the two, with bright red hair tied back into two small, low pigtails. "We've been looking for you."
"Oh really?" Jeremie answered dryly, he knew what they were up to; they would do anything for a big news story, a 'scoop' that they could put in the school newspaper; not that it was much of a newspaper, more like a gossip column, not that he'd ever say that to their faces of course.
"Yes, we heard you two had been taken into the principle's office, what was it about?" She promptly pushed the microphone into Jeremie's face, and the camera was focused upon him; fortunately he had experience in dealing with this before.
"It was nothing important." He lied; unfortunately he was prevented from making up a reason for them being there as Milly shot in straight away with another question.
"But we heard that Jim caught Aelita in your room at two in the morning. Is it true? What were you doing?" She asked it enthusiastically and Jeremie cursed inside his head; she had known all along, typical. There was also an embarrassed twinge somewhere inside his mind, people had been talking about them and he knew what they'd probably been saying.
"That's none of your business!" Aelita said irritably, stepping forward; finding both the camera and the microphone pushed into her face almost instantly. "Maybe you two should try seeking out the truth rather than simply spreading foul rumours and gossip."
"Hey!" Tamiya joined in. Lowering the camera she came to Milly's defence, who had been visibly upset by what Aelita had said. "There's no need to be so rude about it, what's your problem? Are you trying to hide something?"
"Just leave us alone." Was Aelita's only response, and she promptly took hold of Jeremie's hand and gave it a sharp tug; he got the message quickly and they both began walking quickly towards the dormitories, leaving the two reporters behind. He knew the need to leave, Tamiya was beginning to become suspicious of them, and that was never good; a vague suspicion, even about something as insignificant as this, could lead to discovery of the factory, the supercomputer or even Aelita's false identity; and that would be a complete disaster for the whole group.
"Hey!" A voice called from behind them. It was Tamiya, but neither of them stopped walking. "Is it true that you two are going out with each other?"
The question struck Jeremie by surprise even though he had been half-expecting it, or something like it, to be said given the circumstances. He felt Aelita quickly release his hand; he had barely noticed that she was still holding it till now. He glanced in her direction and saw that she hand placed both hands firmly in the pockets of her dark red dress. She had also taken that chance to look at him, and their eyes met for a moment; a short, uncomfortable moment which seemed to stretch to several minutes, before both quickly and deliberately looked away, staring in opposite directions.
When their eyes had met Jeremie had felt a strange distance between them, emotional rather than physical, and he knew that he wanted them to be closer. He had also noticed that Aelita was blushing… no, more than that; her cheeks were glowing red such that he was sure they would radiate heat. The information caused his stomach to squirm in a familiar manner that was both uncomfortable and not so at the same time; and he realised as he had looked away that he had been blushing too.
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They reached Jeremie's room in silence and Aelita stood back as Jeremie unlocked the door. Though neither had spoken during the short walk, both had been almost completely occupied with their own thoughts.
Aelita's own mind had been focusing on Tamiya's suggestion that the two of them were more than friend's, she knew that many people thought that this was the case but it still surprised her to hear the opinion expressed so frankly. She had difficulty imagining herself and Jeremie as a couple, even though she was sure it was what she wanted; but did he want it as well? The way he blushed when their eyes met seemed to indicate so but she still couldn't get over her own doubts; Jeremie was a difficult person to figure out, sometimes it seemed that he liked her but at others… well, Aelita didn't really know what he thought of her and the thought of asking seemed too embarrassing.
Jeremie opened his door and gestured for Aelita to enter first, breaking the train of her thoughts. She muttered a 'Thanks'; still feeling an uncomfortable distance between the two of them; and entered the room.
Jeremie's room was much the same as it always was; fairly tidy were it not for the scattering of computer related books, magazines and paper full of handwritten notes and prominent in the room was a large amount of expensive computer equipment, which had probably not been turned off in the last year. Aelita was unsure why she had even entered; she knew that she had to go to her room to collect her own school things before the bell rang, it would've given her a few quiet minutes to think. She also wanted to have a shower, even though there wasn't enough time to do so; Jim had woken them up so early that the Principle wasn't even ready and they had had to wait in his office for him.
She had known these things and yet she had followed Jeremie to his room all the same, and now she watched him quietly as he took his old green bag and began piling objects in; books, papers, pens and his laptop, something he never went anywhere without. Something in the back of Aelita's mind told her that she ought to say something, yet it wouldn't tell her what to say, so she cast around for a subject and her eyes fell on a pair of objects on the bed which had not been there last night.
"Hey, what are these?" She asked, picking one up to examine it. It was a shiny metal cylinder, like a drinks can, but longer and much heavier; one end was rounded, dome shaped, but the other had a conical, red plastic cover, the tip of which was formed into a ring which seemed large enough for someone to place a finger through.
"No! Wait!" Jeremie cried suddenly and Aelita froze; she had just placed a finger through the ring and was about to attempt to pull the cover off. She turned to look at him, surprised; it wasn't like Jeremie to shout at her like that, unless she was about to do something really stupid. It was a moment before she realised that opening the lid of a strange container probably wasn't the smartest thing to do; so till then she satisfied herself with a puzzled look in Jeremie's direction.
"You might not want to do that." Jeremie said calmly, a strangely relieved look on his face. He walked over to her and picked up the other object from the bed, identical to the one Aelita was holding, and held it in front of her face. "It's something I made to help us fight Xana."
"What is it?" She responded; still confused, though now she held the object carefully in one hand.
"A smoke grenade." Aelita's expression turned into one of comprehension as she realised, to her embarrassment, that pulling the top off of one of those would've been a very bad thing indeed. Jeremie nodded, a wry smile appearing on his face.
"Where did you get these from? Did you make them?"
"Yeah, it's pretty simple." Jeremie grinned, as he always did when he was explaining something that was in fact quite complicated. "I just figured that we don't really stand a chance against Xana's spectres or people he's taken control of; so if we've got one of these with us we might be able to confuse them long enough to escape."
"Good thinking." Aelita said happily, smiling back at Jeremie; causing his grin to grow even further. "Does it work?"
"Well, I haven't had a chance to test them yet, it's difficult to do so." He responded, becoming more serious. "The first chance we'll have is when we have to use them for real. So…" He dropped the grenade nonchalantly into his bag, held at his side by a single shoulder strap.
They stood and smiled at each other for a moment, Aelita moving the second smoke grenade around in her hands, trying to imagine throwing it at an oncoming spectre. How like Jeremie it was to be so inventive, she thought; it was one of the things she liked about him, and something she owed her life to many times over.
"STONES! BELPOIS!"
Aelita span instantly to face the door and, just as she expected, Jim was standing in the open doorway with a triumphant look on his face.
"Do you two not remember what the Principle just told you?" He asked; his voice unnecessarily loud.
"But Jim, we're allowed to be here." Jeremie responded, perfectly calmly. "Students are allowed in the dormitories during the daytime, and we don't have to be in lessons yet."
Now it was Jeremie's turn to look triumphant, whilst Jim looked crestfallen; it was clear he had been hoping to catch them up to no good.
"Well…" He said slowly and quietly; clearly trying to recover himself, he never did like being outsmarted by students. "You two should be off to class now anyway, the bell will be going in five minutes; and if you're late you'll be in trouble."
"Well, we wouldn't be running late if someone hadn't woken us up so early in the morning." Aelita blurted out; and instantly regretted it, as Jim's attention refocused onto her.
"Well, well…" Jim began; but paused, looking straight at Aelita. Aelita felt rather small; to have Jim staring down at you with such a focused look was quite unnerving. Then she realised; he wasn't looking at her, but her hands.
Aelita moved quickly, but Jim was faster; and before she could begin to conceal the object, he had plucked it from her grip and was examining it closely. Next to her, Aelita felt rather than saw Jeremie take an aggressive step forwards.
"What is this thing?" Jim asked; suspicion evident in his voice. He turned the smoke grenade this way and that, and even shook it next to his ear. "What's inside it?" He queried, almost as though he was asking the object rather than the people he had just taken it from; before he did what Jeremie and Aelita had both been dreading.
They just had time to cry out in unison, "No Jim! Don't!" before Jim slipped one of his large fingers through the ring and pulled hard on the plastic cap.
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Once again they found themselves in the same dull office, once again in a huge heap of trouble. They sat in hard wooden chairs in the middle of the room, once again facing the Principle's desk; Jeremie glanced at Aelita beside him to see that she was once again staring at the floor, such that he couldn't see her expression.
There were differences from the last time though; firstly the Principle wasn't there, well he would be, but only after he had dealt with the rest of the school. The man standing guard over them wasn't Jim the PE teacher, hovering behind them with his Neanderthal-like slouch, but a younger man who stood tall and straight by the door and who proudly wore a clean police uniform; and through the window behind Delmus' desk, Jeremie could see one of the bright red fire engines still parked with its crew of fire-fighters reeling in unused hoses.
The door opened and Jeremie turned to the a very harried looking Delmus and Jim enter the room; Jim's clothes and face were covered in patches of black, not surprising seeing that he had been looking at the smoke grenade closely when it went off, though Jeremie realised that he and Aelita hadn't escaped the dormitories completely clean either.
The Principle marched aggressively into the room, holding a plastic bag which he slammed down on his desk with a metallic clang. Jeremie flinched, as he realised guiltily that the bag must contain the remnants of the smoke grenade, recovered by the firemen. Jeremie had never seen the Principle so look so angry, normally he was a strict but friendly man who was perfectly peaceful; but today he looked potentially violent.
Jeremie swiftly returned his gaze to the floor. If he had not been so frightened he would've reflected that the smoke grenade had worked rather well, almost too well in fact; after no more than two seconds it had left them completely unable to see something that was not right in front of them.
"You may wait outside." Delmus said; it took Jeremie a moment to realise that he must be talking to the police officer, a moment during which he realised that his voice sounded strained.
There was the click of the door as the officer exited, and a long silence followed; during which no one spoke. Jeremie assumed that Delmus was using this time to calm down, but he didn't want to look up to check; it was safer to simply continue staring at the floor.
"You two have broken school rules for the last time." Delmus finally said; both Jeremie and Aelita looked up at this dramatic announcement, to see the Principle sitting in his chair with a face more serious than they had ever seen. Jeremie felt something tighten painfully in his stomach. "The production of dangerous items in the school is the gravest of offences, and as such from this point onwards you are both suspended from this school. I will be calling your parents and, in Miss Stone's case, De La Robbia's parents."
"But sir." Jeremie spoke up; and instantly faltered as Delmus' scowl turned towards him; but Delmus did not shout him down as he had feared. This was something that gave him just enough courage to continue. "Sir, Aelita had nothing to do with this; she didn't know about it until this morning."
"Even if that is true," Delmus responded, "then there is nothing I can do about it now. The rules you have broken mean that it will not be I to punish you, but the Board of Governors."
Jeremie felt his heart sink; it had been a last ditch effort and he had known it wouldn't work, but he had still had some hope. Now though, he felt completely defeated, even after all they'd done against Xana; he couldn't see a way out of this. It surprised him, therefore, when Aelita spoke.
"But sir." She said, her voice sounded uneven. "Odd's- Well, that is… my Aunt and Uncle are on holiday at the moment, so you won't be able to reach them."
"Oh, is that so?" Delmus said sarcastically, "Then I suppose we'll try right now, just to be sure." And he rifled quickly through a few pieces of paper on his desk, before seemingly finding the one he wanted. He placed this one on top of the others and read something off it, before taking up the phone receiver and dialling.
Jeremie knew what Aelita was trying to do, and he prayed it would work. If it did then it might just by them enough time to escape to the factory; from there they could launch a return to the past and stop this from ever happening.
"Hello?" Delmus said into the receiver, "Hello, this is Principle Delmus here from Kadic Academy; I'm calling regarding an urgent matter to do with your niece, if you could call the school the moment you get back, thank you."
Jeremie had to restrain the urge to leap into the air and shout, as Delmus replaced the receiver. Instead he satisfied himself by shooting a quick glance at Aelita, who was looking extremely relieved.
"It seems that they are out, and I got an answering machine." The Principle said; a hint of annoyance detectable in his voice. "However, I will be trying again tomorrow so-"
Delmus was cut off at that moment as the door burst open and half a dozen people poured into the room, which instantly became filled with the noise of everyone trying to talk at once. There was a young man in a black suit carrying a clipboard, who sprang into the room first and began trying to engage the Jim in conversation, shaking his hand vigorously; a woman entered, whom Jeremie recognised as being the school secretary who wore a harried expression and began talking to the Principle, shaking her head; the third was a bemused looking woman with purple hair sporting a pink scarf, who slid into a corner of the room by the principle's desk and said nothing; and the last three were all uniformed police officers, one of which had previously been guarding the door, who were all talking to each other apparently equally confused.
During the chaos, Jeremie exchanged a confused look with Aelita; the whole situation seemed like madness.
"QUIET!" Delmus' voice rose above the noise, shouting louder than anybody had ever heard him do so before; yet it seemed to work as the whole room fell into silence. He stood above his desk, and Jeremie would admit that he looked more a figure of authority than anyone else in the room could. "What is going on here? Who are you?" he demanded of the man in the suit.
"Ah, yes, introductions." The man said, seemingly absent-mindedly; "I'm Detective Inspector Jones and…" He paused, looking at Jeremie and Aelita, "Are these them?" He looked quickly at the clipboard he was carrying.
"What?" Delmus' voice had calmed, he now looked simply confused.
"Yes! They are! Excellent!" exclaimed the Detective triumphantly, looking up from his clipboard with a smile on his face. He stepped into the corner of the room and pulled the young woman with the pink scarf forward, so that all could see her.
"Right then." The Detective's voice became suddenly very serious, as he spoke to the woman. "Miss, do you recognise either of these two?" He asked indicating Jeremie and Aelita.
"No." The woman responded simply, still wearing a bemused expression.
"And you two," The Detective suddenly turned to Jeremie and Aelita, "Do you recognise this woman?" They exchanged another quick, confused glance before shaking their heads.
"What is this?" Jim asked from the corner, but the Detective completely ignored him.
"Well then, allow me to introduce you. These are Jeremie Belpois and Aelita Stones…" The Detective indicated them as he said their names, "…and this…" he pointed to the young woman, "…is Mrs. De La Robbia."
I'll see what I can do about getting the next chapter here soon; but stuff has a habit of happening.
Oh, and I'm aware that 'Detective Inspector' is not a french sounding police rank; this guy is on loan from the London Metropolitan Police as part of an officer exchange program.