Summary: Jeremy was never told about the rich family he used to live next door to before he moved eight years ago. Not even that the prestigious family housed an Alice. Now this boy has to transfer to Kadic, where things might get a bit too virtual for his liking. Luca Nogi is way in over his head. What does Lyoko have in store for him?

A/N: This fic is rated T for Teen, due to darker themes, harsher violence, slightly more mature themes, bad language, and fake men slash. You've been warned beforehand (:

PS. This takes place sometime in the Second Season, so don't expect things to get extremely exciting with the whole Aelita growing wings and their outfits getting upgraded and stuff - they might, but they might not. Just warning you so you're not disappointed.

Story until now: Luca's been accepted into the group, despite the gang knowing nothing of his mysterious past. Now it's time for the truth to come out - from both ends of the story.

Code Lyoko Again

Chapter 2 - Enter Luca Nogi

"Luca-Pyon~ Natsume~"

Luca Nogi looked up from his rabbit, whom he had been stroking for the past five minutes. Mikan Sakura approached him, smiling, and holding something to her chest.

"Hey~ Guess - what - day - it - is - to - day~"

"The day your mouth zips up and stays shut?" Natsume replied. She scowled.

"No! It's Valentine's Day!" She plastered a smile on her face again. "And, as you know, on Valentines Day, a girl has to give out chocolates, right?" She turned to Luca first.

"S-Sakura, you made chocolates?" She nodded.

"Yup! I worked all last night on them!" She handed him a small wrapped chocolate in a box - not too big, but enough to make Luca's heart pound. "This one's for you!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Of course!" She then turned to Natsume.

"I got one for you too, Natsume!" Natsume opened an eye lazily.

"Remind me again why I would want to eat a chocolate made by you, Ugly."

"Wha-! You fox!" she yelled. "Hmph! I don't know why I even bothered to make chocolates for you! But here, take it, in case you see some common sense and accept what I was nice enough to give you." She threw the chocolate box and it hit him on the side of his face. He sat up, the box falling to the desk. His face was dark with silent fury.

"W-Who else did you make chocolates for, Sakura?" Luca asked quickly, trying to keep the peace. Mikan turned to him, smiling.

"All of my friends! You, Natsume, Hotaru, Inchou, Koko, Kitsuneme, Permy, Anna, Nonoko, Mochu… Oh, and Hotaru and Mr Narumi as well!"

She began to laugh.

"Luca-Pyon, this Valentines Day has been really fun, hasn't it? Next year, you and Natsume and Permy won't be with us… You'll be in the middle school division with Otonashi and Tsubasa and Misaki. But I won't give up on you guys!"

"Sakura…"

"This year… it's gone by fast, huh?" She giggled and gave him a hug. "But Luca-Pyon, I'm glad I could share it with you guys. And you're happy too, right?"

Luca opened his eyes and sat up groggily. He couldn't shake off this feeling of wanting to go home, even though he kept telling himself that feeling this way was only making it harder to let go and move on.

Alice Academy had been his home for too long. It felt bizarre to just throw all his memories away like they were old newspapers.

It had been two days since Luca Nogi had transferred, and he had to say, it wasn't as bad as he'd thought it would be.

They were all so nice… When he'd first arrived at Alice Academy everyone had been intimidating and cruel.

Here, his new friends were nice. Really different to everyone he used to know. But they were friends.

This morning, he woke up in the one place he'd never pictured himself sleeping in… The bedroom of Jeremy Belpois.

Jeremy was sleeping at his computer, causing Luca to crack a smile. One thing he had learned from his short stay at Kadic.

Jeremy had a habit of using the keyboard as his pillow.

"Wake up, sunshine," he grinned, shaking Jeremy's shoulder gently. Jeremy stirred uneasily.

"Unghh…" he groaned. Luca patted his shoulder.

"Doing another all-nighter?" Luca guessed. "Are you researching Kyoko?"

"It's Lyoko, actually," murmured Jeremy, stretching. "And yeah, something like that… I'm trying to give my friend an antidote."

Luca frowned.

"Which friend? And what do you mean, antidote?"

"Long story short, if we shut down Lyoko, Aelita might disappear forever." Luca stared at him.

"What? But…" He sat down on his bed. "Man, this is crazy. Would anyone mind explaining to me?" He looked Jeremy in the eyes. "It's been two days since I arrived here and travelled to Lyoko. You guys haven't told me anything."

"…All right. We'll tell you everything at lunch."

XXX

When they got down to the breakfast table, Ulrich was sat watching Odd devour a banana with a disturbed look on his face.

"What's up?" Luca asked, taking a seat.

"Odd… All he's eaten this morning is three bananas," Ulrich filled them in, taking a sip of his apple juice.

"Just bananas? And only three?" Jeremy looked surprised.

"I'm taking a diet," Odd commented, unpeeling his fourth. "It's the way I roll, Jeremy. I can't help feeling that I've been over-eating lately."

"Lately?" Ulrich remarked. "You've been over-eating your whole life." Odd shot him a look.

"Ha ha, very funny. I have a theory - if I stop eating as much, my metabolism will slow down and I'll stop appearing so svelte. Do you get it? I'm tired of people saying I'm scrawny!"

"Who said that recently to put you on edge?" Jeremy asked, taking a bite of his croissant.

"Jim! Last night he caught me sneaking out of my room to go the bathroom and he said that I needed to watch my step, otherwise I'd trip right over my own scrawny ankles! I mean, what brought that on? Honestly, Jim is so freaking unfair to me!"

"Don't let it get you down," Jeremy said, patting his friend's arm. "I don't think your theory's gonna work anyway, Odd. It'll just make you even thinner." Odd let his mouth hang open.

"So I've been eating like a mouse all morning for nothing?" he whined. "That's so unfair!"

"Well, there's still some food left there, if you wanna grab some more," Luca offered. Odd grinned and punched the air.

"All right! I'll be right back. No one steal my seat while I'm gone~"

He stood up, grabbed his tray and wandered over to the breakfast queue again.

"You know, sometimes I wish he'd get a stomach ache, just to teach him that eating isn't everything in life," Ulrich remarked. Luca laughed.

"I think that'd only make him noisier," he replied. Ulrich cracked a smile.

"You know, Luca… I think we're gonna get along great."

XXX

"So, is Ishiyama… Is Ishiyama a year above us?" Luca asked Jeremy. He nodded.

"Yeah… We met Yumi when we first discovered Lyoko cause she and Ulrich had a bit of a feud going on then, and… Well, you get the picture. We met, and she just happened to crop up there at the time. From then on, we all became fast friends."

"That's another thing you haven't told me yet… How did you guys all meet? When did the supercomputer get discovered? By who? Who was the first to travel to Lyoko, and how'd you fight those… those things?"

"Like I said… I'll explain it all at lunch."

The gang were in their Chemistry class, led by Miss Hertz, who was in a particularly evil mood today, snapping at even the slightest disturbance. And theirs was no exception.

"If you two feel that there's something to talk about, why not let the whole class know, hmm? Then maybe once it's out of your system you can concentrate on the lesson!"

"S-Sorry, Miss," Luca stammered, face flushing. Angrily, she sniffed and turned around to continue writing on the whiteboard. Jeremy began writing down something on a piece of paper torn from his jotter. Luca looked over and saw a load of symbols he didn't understand.

"What's that?" he whispered.

"Last night I was researching Precognition - I promised Odd I'd take a look at it," Jeremy explained. "I think I might've cracked a formula that I can program into his Lyoko form to give him the "Future-Flash" power again - with added bonuses I'll explain to you when I break the news to the others at lunch. So I'm just writing it down so I have some definite notes on the formula to bring into the factory after school."

"Sounds like you're a real brainbox," grinned Luca. Jeremy flushed a bit.

"Well, you're not exactly an idiot either," he replied. "I mean, at Alice Academy they used to teach you guys way more advanced stuff, right? You should be really bright."

"I am… But still, I'm terrible at the kind of stuff you thrive off, like all this computer techy-junk. Makes no sense to my puny mind."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Jeremy said, cracking a smile.

"Well, maybe I'm being a bit harsh on myself, but whatever… You've learnt a bit about me today, but there's still so much I need to learn about you guys." He turned away and stared out of the window. "…I don't feel like I fit in with you guys just yet. You all seem to get each other so well, and I'm still struggling to understand the slang cause it's been so long since I've spoken in French. I really don't think I'll be able to be the friend you guys want, after all."

Jeremy turned round and watched the empty space next to Luca's chair, feeling sad. It wasn't fair that Luca felt so defeated, and he wished there could be some way to help him.

"…Luca… It's only been two days. You might not realise it right now, but something clicked between you and us guys when you entered the factory. I was still uncertain of what to do at the time - should I let you in cause you were my roommate and you'd discover the truth sooner or later anyway, or should I keep pretending and let you try and live a normal life? But the second you walked through those doors, I knew letting you into our group would be the right thing to do." Luca stared.

"… You know, I never imagined in a million years that I'd have friends like you guys - My friends back at Alice Academy were nothing like you all are." He smiled faintly. "You know, I have a best friend… He knows me better then anyone."

"Really?" Jeremy cracked a smile. "That's great. My best friend's Aelita - I know how it feels. It feels great to have someone understand you the way they do."

"Uh huh. His name's Natsume… Natsume Hyuuga. I met him when I was eight, before I came to Alice Academy, when I was going to a normal school and trying to be a normal kid. Nothing worked though. My whole life I was running away from the government or kidnappers, or people trying to take me away from my family for experiments. My mom stopped them, though. She was amazing… But she locked me up, like a bird in a cage. I was smothered with her love and protection, so I had no freedom and couldn't have fun like a normal kid. Then I met Natsume, and things started to look up. He had a little sister, and her name's Aoi. She became blind, though… She lost her sight because of a mistake. A mistake someone did, but we couldn't save her, me and Natsume… We couldn't protect her from the mistakes." His face grew sad.

"Luca…" Jeremy bit his lip, slightly afraid at how vulnerable Luca suddenly looked. Luca shook his head, and continued.

"No, no, things weren't all bad… I met a lot of people once we got there. Fun people, that made us change for the better. We'd lost hope, you know. But there was a girl that picked us up off the ground and helped us stand up again." Jeremy cracked a smile.

"Ahh, a girl. I can see where this is going."

"Shut up. Anyway, this girl… Her name's Sakura. Well, her proper name's Mikan Sakura, but I could never call her that. She was so nice…" For a moment his eyes glazed over, as if he was reminiscing a thousand memories. Then he snapped back to attention. "But she disappeared. Someone took her away from us. And that same person is the one who sent me here, to Kadic. I didn't want to come here, you know - I had to be there for Natsume, cause he's sick and he's not gonna get better. And the person who took me away from Alice Academy… He could hurt Natsume. I couldn't let him do that, but I knew he'd only hurt him more if I didn't go. So… I had to. I had to come here."

His knuckles were white, and trembling slightly.

"I didn't want to go, Jeremy. I didn't want to leave Natsume in the hands of people who could hurt him. But I had to. I knew what they were capable of… They hurt me too. But I had to leave him by himself, so that there was the off chance that they left him alone. I couldn't throw that chance back in his face. If I did… Then…" He stopped abruptly, feeling a growing sense of horror as tears built up in his eyes.

Jeremy squeezed his arm.

"Luca… I don't know your situation, obviously, but… I think you should just try your best and keep on the good side of this person, because if you do… Maybe you'll get to see Natsume again."

"It's very disrespectful to call someone by their first name in Japan," he said quietly. Jeremy tensed.

"I-I'm so-"

"But," Luca interrupted. "But… I think, if Natsume was here… He wouldn't mind it."

Jeremy smiled, feeling suddenly happy.

"I'm sure that he knows how you feel, Luca. He'd want you to stop stressing out over the person who's making you unhappy, and he'd want you to have fun again. I know that can't be easy… But, I'll try my best to help you out, Luca. I'll help you have fun with us, and we'll try to become friends you can depend on. And one day, maybe you'll share the full story with all of us."

XXX

"Okay," Luca said, sitting down at their table next to Odd, who was eating cheesy pasta. Jeremy took a seat opposite, beside Ulrich. "Tell me about Ryoko."

"It's Lyoko," Ulrich corrected him. Luca shrugged.

"See? I know even less then you thought I did. So elaborate."

"Elaborate?" Odd grinned. "Dude, are you from the eighteen-hundreds or something?" Luca frowned.

"Shut up. I'm still learning the slang cause it's been almost nine years since I last lived in France."

"Okay, so, you wanted to know about Lyoko?" Jeremy put in quickly, to keep the fight from continuing. Luca nodded.

"Yeah. I've told you about my life, Jeremy. So tell me about all of yours. This secret little life you guys lead."

"You make it sound so cool," laughed Jeremy. "Well, it was about a year ago now. I was checking out the abandoned factory by the school and happened to find a few tunnels leading to the school. I found it strange, so I thought I'd look around some more. Then, I found the Supercomputer, and started it up. Aelita appeared right before my eyes!" Luca leaned forward.

"She was in the computer?" He breathed. Jeremy nodded and continued the story.

"Yeah, she'd lost all her memories and didn't know what was going on, or why she was there. She couldn't even remember her name. I didn't know what to do, so I named her Maya and promised I'd help her out. But before I knew it, Xana started launching attacks."

"Around the same time I transferred into their class and started hanging around with Ulrich because he's my roommate," Odd added, sticking a piece of pasta in his mouth. "He wasn't enjoying my company, to tell you the truth. I don't see why, really, I mean, I was awesome, even back then…"

"It's cause you had a rubbish hairstyle back then," Ulrich remarked.

"Really? I don't think I ever saw his old hairstyle," Yumi grinned, approaching their table with a tray. She took a seat beside Ulrich.

"You guys are all making fun of me," frowned Odd, stabbing another piece of pasta with his fork. "Well, whatever. My old hairstyle aside. Those two," he pointed first to Ulrich, then let his finger stray to Jeremy, "used me as a guinea-pig." Jeremy looked sheepish, while Ulrich shook his head.

"Nu-uh," he corrected. "We didn't use you. At least, it wasn't intentional. We were originally going to demonstrate on Kiwi."

"They were going to sacrifice my dog to Lyoko!" Odd wailed. He was soon distracted from his misery by his pasta and continued eating. "And Sissi followed me, cause Ulrich missed a date."

"Since when were you and Sissi dating?" Yumi asked, raising an eyebrow. Odd stifled a laugh.

"Ohoho, looks like someone's getting a little J-E-A-L-O-U-S," he snickered. Ulrich threw him a dirty look.

"We weren't ever dating," he assured her. "Sissi was in love with me, but the feelings have never been mutual."

"Pff- like Yumi believes that," Odd grinned inwardly. Luca stared, transfixed at Yumi.

"I-Ishiyama… How did you meet everyone here?" he asked. "I mean, you're in the year above us… right?"

"Y-You don't have to be so formal with me, Luca," she smiled. "You can just call me Yumi. And… Well, I met Ulrich at the gym. We were taking a martial arts class, and… well, that's how we met, really." She tapped her chin in thought. "Now that I think about it, I don't think I had any friends before I met everyone else. We all just became close after stopping one of Xana's attempts to affect the real world, and since then we've all gotten on great."

"I see," he said, nodding. He let a small smile cross his face.

"Aww, Luca, you look so cute when you smile," grinned Odd, slapping him on the back. Luca blushed.

"Hey, shut up!" he retorted.

"Anyway," Jeremy continued. "Xana's attacks were stronger then us, so we had to form this team to stop him from invading Earth and roaming free. Unfortunately for a whole year we couldn't get Aelita out of Lyoko, because we couldn't find a way to de-virtualize her here on Earth. But, after a while, I found the right program… And that's why Aelita's here today."

"Um, actually, Einstein… Aelita's not here," Odd said. They looked around. Aelita was no where in sight.

"Hmm… That's weird. Have any of you seen her?"

"Um, Jim wanted to talk to her about the state of her room, or something," Ulrich said, frowning. "At least, from what I heard. I was just leaving my room when I heard Jim breathing down her neck."

"I hope he doesn't give her a hard time," Jeremy sighed. Luca nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it must suck to know your girlfriend's being yelled at." Jeremy blushed bright red.

"Wh-What? Aelita's not my girlfriend!" he spluttered. Luca looked confused.

"…Really? I'm not trying to judge or anything, but you guys kind of had that vibe-"

"No no no no no," Jeremy said quickly, recovering. "No, there's nothing going on between Aelita and I. Honestly."

"I don't know, Einstein," Odd grinned, milking Jeremy's discomfort. "You and Aelita have really been feeling the heat lately. I wouldn't be surprised if you guys were engaged already!" Jeremy's face flushed so much it looked like someone had struck a match next to him.

"Okay, guys, stop teasing him," Ulrich said, raising an eyebrow. "Lets just all agree that Jeremy and Aelita haven't confessed yet and leave it at that."

"What is there to confess?" cried Jeremy, burying his head in his hands. "I knew it! Even Ulrich has turned against me!"

"Leave him alone," laughed Yumi. "Stop taking the piss. It's not every day you get to see romance blossom the way we are…"

As the group continued to laugh and joke, Luca's mind only became more curious.

These people are… treating me great. They're being kind to me, laughing with me, talking to me… But that's just the catch. This is all too perfect.

Luca felt dread in the pit of his stomach.

What does the Elementary School Bastard have in store for me…?

XXX

"Hey, Aelita!" Jeremy approached Aelita, who was walking down the hallway with a distraught look on her face. She looked up.

"Oh, hey, Jeremy." She tried for a smile, but couldn't wipe the scowl off her face.

"What was Jim saying?" he asked. She shrugged.

"He told me that I needed to keep my room in a better state then it was… Said even though I was allegedly related to Odd doesn't mean I have to arrange my room the way he does, and so on… it just ticked me off a bit. I mean, how are you supposed to express yourself if you're trapped in a world where following rules is the key to survival? It sucks." He patted her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, Aelita. Following the rules is just like a number given to us on a register. The state of our room doesn't make us any better or worse then the next person. Just remember that the next time Jim makes a crude remark. Okay?"

She gave him a small smile.

"'Kay."

"Now, during Chemistry I managed to jot down a formula I think I can program into Odd's system to give him the precognition again. I want to run by it after school, although the others probably have other plans… Do you wanna come." She nodded.

"S-Sure!" He glanced at her.

"Hey, you're acting a little weird, Aelita… are you feeling okay?"

"Y-Yeah. Just daydreaming," she replied quickly. He frowned.

"Well, if you're sure…"

"Of course I'm sure!" she straightened up. "Now, lets go grab some lunch. I'm starving. Odd hasn't taken my share, has he?"

"Not as far as I know - But I came in after him so I'm not sure." Jeremy cracked a smile. "Well, I'm off to my room again. They're at the usual table."

"'Kay. Thanks!" She waved to him and made her way to the cafeteria.

Luca waved as she wandered over to their table with a tray of pasta.

"Hey there," Yumi said as Aelita sat down beside her.

"Hey," Aelita replied, giving Yumi a small smile.

"Was Jim hard on you?" Ulrich asked. She shook her head.

"Not too bad… I'm just tired. Tired of having to follow the rules and be the good little girl all the time." Yumi patted her shoulder.

"You're really down," she said, surprised. "Are you all right?"

"Not really," Aelita admitted dully. "But I will be. I just feel kinda depressed."

"Depressed is a strong word," Ulrich said. "Probably more monotonous then depressed."

"Nu-uh," she sighed. "Depressed. I'm sick of everything today." She rested her head on the tabletop, shoving her pasta in front of her. Odd immediately stole a piece of pasta from her plate with his fork.

"It's just short-term boredom," he said through a mouthful of pasta. "Don't let it get you down. It'll blow over by tomorrow morning and everything will be just fine."

"I sure hope so," she said. She eyed her pasta. "Strange. I thought I had more then that."

"Guess your eyes were deceiving you," Odd grinned quickly, covering up the disappearance of half of her meal.

"So, how long have you been on Earth, Aelita?" Luca asked, trying to ease the tension.

"About a month or two," she said thoughtfully. "It was hard to get used to things at first, but I got the hang of everything quickly so it's alright now."

"I'm glad," he said, smiling. He looked down and clasped his hands together. "…You know, everybody… I know that I don't really fit in with you guys. You all click so well, and I haven't got to that point yet where I can let myself go and smile in front of all of you whole-heartedly. But I hope, one day, I can forget about everything and just be friends with you all."

He closed his eyes, feeling her within him.

"Luca-Pyon! Luca-Pyon! Come see this! I drew this picture today! I know it's not very good… but it's me and my grandpa. I worked hard on it, so I really hope I can show it to him one day…"

"It's beautiful, Sakura. I mean it." Genuinely.

"Oh, it is not! You're just saying that to be nice!"

"No, I really do mean it - I'm sure your grandfather will love it."

"Hey! That was really mushy, Rabbit-Boy!" grinned Odd, slapping him on the back. "Man, of all the stuff to spew… that was pretty poetic, considering you're always convincing me you don't know the language well."

"I never said that! I said I don't understand the street-lingo well. And what do you mean, Rabbit-Boy? What the hell's up with that?"

"Well, I believe you have rabbit ears on Lyoko, so what better-fitting name then Rabbit-Boy?"

"How about my real name? Luca Nogi. It's short! It's not that hard!" He threw his hands up in the air. "It's not like I haven't been called that before… Or at least, something along those lines! I'm not about to tell you what it is, before you open your mouth, cause then you'll just laugh at me and call me it all the time like all you people do! It's guys like you that really make me sick!" He stopped ranting, huffing. The others were giving him strange looks.

"You slipped into Japanese just then," Yumi stated. He felt his face burn red. "I understood most of what you said though." She paused. "Do you really think that?" He felt guilt build up in his chest.

"O-Of course not… I was just frustrated. I'm sorry…" He put a hand to his forehead. "It's just… I keep freaking out. All my friends are in trouble, and I… I just want to go back to Japan." She squeezed his arm. When she spoke, it was in Japanese.

"I obviously don't know your situation, Luca, but what I do know is that if your friends are really your friends… they won't want you to feel so frustrated and upset. They'll want you to try and forget the bad times, and remember the good times instead. So you can't let them down, in that sense. You have to remember, they'll want you to be happy."

He words really broke into Luca's heart. Her voice was softer as she spoke in her mother-spoken language, a lot more relaxed then her harsh French tone. And what she said was almost enough to make him bawl. He knew what she meant, and was genuinely touched that she was keeping it private by speaking in their most comfortable and secret language. But he couldn't believe them, no matter how much he wanted to. She had no idea what hell he'd been through only months before. None of them did, not even Jeremy. He couldn't comprehend that, and neither could she. He'd seen the rough side of hell he didn't want to face ever again if he could help it.

"I'm sorry. I can't." He clenched his fists. "I can't… I can't relax and have fun and forget about the fact that Natsume's all alone, possibly even being hurt by the Elementary School Principal…!"

It all came tumbling out then, in stammering, distraught French, urgent, shaking Japanese, and even at some parts in a mixture of both in the same sentences.

About how he'd been kept under surveillance since childhood, how he'd met Natsume Hyuuga, the first Alice he'd ever encountered, and his funny and adorable sister Aoi and their father with his gentle smile, how Aoi had fallen ill and set the village alight, how everyone had cruelly blamed Natsume and they'd left for Alice Academy… How he'd met a funny and kind girl named Mikan Sakura who'd let his worries go, and her cool and calm friend Hotaru Imai, and all their other friends in Class B. How the war had destroyed them, and how now he was struggling to pick up the pieces.

The whole time the gang listened, only understanding half of what he was saying, but Yumi most of all was listening intently, eyes on him the entire time. When he finished, their faces were riddled with entirely different expressions.

Jeremy had a troubled look on his face, as he knew all about this from history class, and didn't want Luca to feel more uncomfortable then he already was. After seeing the boy looking so defeated, a new light had flickered inside of him. He'd seen that look a long time ago, when his parents had been fighting. Although they got along fine now, his childhood had been full of angry cries as his parents fought in front of him, and those were memories he'd rather forget. He clenched his fists. Luca wasn't the fighting kind, clearly.

Ulrich seemed thoughtful. In all this time, he'd never thought Luca's life would have been quite so tragic - he knew the guy had come with some anger, from the way he'd lashed out at them during his first time to Lyoko… but he didn't expect that. He ran his fingers through his hair, inhaling deeply. This would take time to soak in, he knew that much.

Aelita seemed deeply saddened. She herself had never known what it would be like, having being created as a program for Lyoko, to lose people you truly care about, but she knew it must hurt a lot. She'd seen the way in films the characters would be heart-broken as they lost their loved ones, and could only imagine the kind of pain Luca must've been going through. And yet, he was so kind that all he seemed to care about was how much his best friend Natsume would be hurting. She bit her lip, keeping her gaze steady so tears wouldn't fill her eyes. The last thing Luca needed were people crying over him.

Odd, on the other hand, merely looked sceptical. If all that Luca was saying was true… He went to a school for elite kids. Why the heck would a guy who hated his guts stretch so far as to send him all the way over to France and have him board as Kadic? It all seemed way too far-fetched to him. It would make more sense if the shifty guy fired Luca out of a cannon and forgot about him, rather then enroll him at a completely normal school that could threaten to expose all his plans… There was something fishy about this agreement the guy had made with Luca, he knew that much.

And Yumi was digging her fingernails into the palms of her hands, shaking her head softly, murmuring Japanese quietly, face full of disbelief, horror… pity. She ducked her head, trembling in her seat. Although his words were muddled, shaky and stumbling from one language to another, his sad past revealed in this light was enough to make her eyes well up with tears. She could feel his pain, burning deep into his chest like a wildfire, tearing through his system until he looked up and glared. His eyes were glazed over with unshed tears.

"Don't feel sorry for me," he snarled, wiping his eyes with his blazer sleeve. "I don't need pity. I need to reclaim victory."

"Good, cause I don't feel sorry for you." All eyes swung towards Odd. As Luca's face hardened, Odd lifted his hands in surrender. "Hey, hey, take it easy, tiger. I'm not pitying you… cause you know something?"

"What?" scowled Luca.

"You're really dumb, you know that?" Luca gritted his teeth, eyes flashing dangerously.

"What… What the hell did you say?" he growled.

"Because," Odd continued, ignoring Luca as he murmured irritated Japanese under his breath, "You're completely useless! You should've been even more alert then. Don't you realise that guy wanted you to go? He's got something planned." Odd folded his arms, brushing off the dumbstruck stares from the rest of the gang. "I don't know how, cause if you ask me this guy sounds like a dumbass, but somehow he knows about Xana. Someone must've told him before we all met. And now, that guy is after something Xana has… Why else would he choose Kadic Academy to send you to, of all places? I've seen better. This one's practically falling to pieces, and yet he chose this out of all the elite schools in France. He's taking advantage of you!"

Jeremy sat back, hand on his chin.

"You know, Odd, I think you may be onto something… But I don't suppose we can jump to any conclusions until we're absolutely sure what that guy's true intentions are."

"Fine. We'll leave it for now, though," Luca said, sighing. "I'm pretty sure lunch break will end any minute now, and we still have a big plate of pasta in front of us."

XXX

"So, you'll need special training on Lyoko to become as skilled as we are," Odd told him on their way to Maths. "And a lot of it, too, cause we're currently awesome." Luca rolled his eyes.

"And modest, too, it would seem," he retorted. Odd shrugged.

"I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a bragger. But whatever. I didn't offer you help to have you throw attitude in my face. I offered you help so you'd take it and actually be useful."

"I already am. I mean, I had you in the palm of my hand on the last mission," Luca teased. "If I did experiments to see if my pheromones worked on different types of monsters, think of how useful I could be if I had them under my control! I could command them to stop attacking us, or better yet, get them destroying each other!" Odd looked puzzled.

"But wouldn't that backfire? I thought Xana's monsters were robots," he said quizzically. Luca frowned.

"I thought they were animals - really strange animals, admittedly - but still, animals." Odd stuck his bottom lip out and shook his head, crossing his arms.

"Nu-uh. Robots." Luca's eyes narrowed.

"Animals."

"Robots."

"Animals."

"Robots!"

"Animals!"

"ROBOTS."

"ANIMALS."

"RO-!"

"What are you guys arguing about?" Jeremy asked wearily. Luca sighed.

"We're debating whether Xana's monsters are robots or animals," he explained.

"Hmm… Well, technically, they're programmed into Lyoko, so they're more like little bugs."

"See? They're animals," Luca said triumphantly. Odd crossed his arms over his chest crossly.

"Well, actually, by bugs I didn't necessarily mean it in that way-"

"Aha! I still have a chance!" cried Odd, stabbing a finger in Luca's direction. Luca scowled.

"Whatever. I'm going on ahead, I don't wanna be late for maths."

As Luca walked away, Odd grinned deviously.

"He really can't stand me, can he?" he laughed. Jeremy sighed.

"Maybe it's because you always seem to be trying to wind him up, or because you disagree to everything he's said so far and don't believe all he's saying?" he suggested. Odd shrugged.

"Hey, it's not my fault he sounds like an excuse Xana would've cooked up," he said breezily. "I'm just staying on my toes. Animal Instinct, you know?"

"Right. Cause that totally makes sense against the guy with the Animal Pheromone," Jeremy pointed out. Odd nodded vigorously.

"Exactly! For all I know, Xana could be trying to lure me in and kidnap me by seducing me with Luca's Animal Pheromones of doom! And you expect me to not be at least cautious?"

"Of course I don't expect you to let your guard down if you individually feel uncomfortable," Jeremy sighed. "But at least try and act a little friendlier to him until you actually have proof that he's being controlled by Xana. You don't know yet, so think of how bad you'll feel if he really can be trusted." Odd lifted up his hands in mock surrender.

"Okay, okay, Einstein, this pep talk has spiralled out of control, clearly. I know my place, so I'm not going to go around accusing him of being Xana. I'm just not gonna let my guard down around him until I know for a fact he's under Xana's control."

"Fine. Just remember - we all trust him."

As they entered their classroom, Luca took a seat next to Aelita, while Jeremy sat next to Ulrich and Odd sat on his own by the window.

Luca could feel the glare of Odd's stare on the back of his head as he bent over his maths book. Something about that guy seemed really off to him. He didn't seem to like Luca at all, but he couldn't put a finger on what he'd done wrong. He sighed inwardly as the teacher began explaining their lesson plan and tuned in on the lesson.

XXX

The end of the day drew near, and Yumi's class had been quite a confusing one at least. For one thing, she was pretty sure William Dunbar, the class bad boy, had been staring at her for quite some time, and she was beginning to grow suspicious. What was so fascinating about her? Did she have something on her face? Some pasta stain from lunch on her shirt?

She couldn't help but seriously wonder if he was beginning to figure out something was wrong with the way she kept abruptly leaving classes to thwart Xana attacks, and how she distanced herself from the rest of the class - if they got sucked into the drama, it'd be all her fault and she'd be unable to stop it.

As she bent over her history book, unable to concentrate, she felt the burn of William's gaze on her back and couldn't help but feel slightly violated. What was so interesting about her back, huh? Why not her face? Was he one of those creeps that would be interested in her body just because she didn't flash or where tight clothing on a daily basis?

She shot a questioning look at him, wondering if he was going to smirk, or look ashamed, or just glare back at her. But he did neither. He flashed a smile and then turned his attention back to the lesson. She frowned, unsure of whether to be grateful or confused.

What was this guy's deal, huh?

Suddenly, her phone buzzed. Checking to see no one had noticed, she hurriedly checked her text messages.

One message received from: Ulrich.

She frowned. Was there a Xana attack she needed to help take care of? Gingerly, she opened up the message.

Happy Thursday.

She sighed inwardly. Ulrich had created a habit of texting her during lesson time if he had nothing better to do. And, being in Maths, she could only imagine how bored he'd actually be.

She quickly typed a text back.

Happy Thursday yourself.

Pressing the send button, she let a small smile cross her face. She'd been feeling troubled that entire lesson with the way William kept staring at her, but with that one text message it was like her troubles all washed away.

A few minutes later, her phone vibrated again.

Happy Thursday to you~

She smirked, before tapping in a reply.

Pfft, dork.

XXX

When Ulrich opened the door to his room, the first thing he caught sight of was Luca hugging Kiwi. As soon as Luca realised Ulrich was there he dropped Kiwi fast and stood up, face flushed.

"Ah, um, well, y-you see-!" He hung his head. "…I'm sorry. I just can't help myself… And, well, since you guys know my secret already, I figured I didn't have to be as sneaky about it. So…"

"Nah, don't worry about it," Ulrich said, sitting down on his bed. "I won't tell." Looking slightly more relieved, Luca sat next to him.

"Hey, Ulrich… Yumi's your best friend, right?" he found himself asking. Ulrich looked surprised but nodded.

"Yeah, that's right. Why?"

"Has there ever been a time when you wanna help her out but she keeps pushing you away?" He blurted out. He bit his lip, instantly regretting asking. Ulrich blinked.

"…Huh?"

"S-Sorry! Just forget I asked," Luca replied quickly, blushing. Ulrich sighed and sat back.

"Well, there's been quite a few times… But I'll say with all honesty that it's not enough to stop me trying."

"You mean that?" Luca asked. Ulrich nodded.

"Yeah… I do. Honestly." Luca sighed and flopped back.

"I suppose it's different though, what with Yumi being a girl, and all that."

"Nothing wrong with that, right?" Ulrich said, a little too brightly.

"Well, I figured that you guys liked each other… you know, in that way," Luca said. Ulrich blushed to the roots of his hair.

"A-Are you kidding me?" he cried. "You're actually joking, right? Me and Yumi… We're not in that way!"

"Okay, okay," Luca said, smiling. "I know how you feel. I had a friend like that, too."

"Sakuna-something, right?" Ulrich frowned. "I think you've mentioned that name once or twice."

"Sakura," Luca corrected. "Her name's Sakura… Mikan Sakura. Yeah, she was my friend. I think I liked her more then just that as well." He put his hands behind his head and sighed. "She went missing, though. No one can say where she went - but we all have a pretty good idea of who took her away."

"This guy who sent you here, right?" Ulrich frowned. "Your history… it really sucks. I mean, you've been to hell and back." Luca shrugged.

"That might be true - but I've had a lot of good times as well, and I think that's a lot more important."

"Oh yeah? Tell me." Luca smiled softly.

"Well, there were a lot of celebrations at Alice Academy… There still are, of course," he explained hurriedly. "Well, you get the picture… We had a huge festival, and every year, Sakura would ask to dance with me - I accepted, of course, and each time we shared that one dance…" His eyes glazed over with memories. "She always wanted to dance with Natsume, as well… but he always said that he'd rather drop dead." He stifled a laugh. "Natsume… was always Sakura's true love interest, I know that much… but they never got the chance to tell each other how they really felt before she disappeared. I know he regretted it, which was why he started to distance himself from the rest of us. We only wanted to help - but he was broken. He couldn't listen to us anymore. He could only hear her voice…" He bit back tears and carried on. "After a while, things began to fall apart. They all pushed him too hard… made him go on too many missions… He could die any day now."

Ulrich stared, a cold feeling setting in his chest.

"…What do you mean, die? He's only a kid, our age…" He stared at his hands in shock. Luca sighed sadly.

"Well, with Alices… there are different shapes, life-forms… There's a type that disappears when you grow up, and there's a type that you have your whole life, but it isn't very powerful. There's also a type that's very powerful, but you can only use it in short amounts - that was Sakura's Alice shape. And Natsume's… well, his is the final Alice shape, the Life-Shortening one. He has as much power as he desires, and can use it at any time, but it's killing him every time he uses it. That's one of the reasons I really didn't want to leave him all alone. I just… I didn't want it to be goodbye forever."

Ulrich rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Look, Luca… I swear, Natsume will be absolutely fine. He will. I promise. You'll make the guy pulling your strings happy, he'll take you back, and you'll get to be with him again. I know it."

Luca let a tear stray down his cheek, but his face stretched into the biggest grin he'd conjured since arriving at Kadic.

"So do I," he said, stretching out on the bed. "One day I'll see Natsume again. And Sakura, too. She'll find her way back to us. And when she does, the first thing I'm going to do is play Cupid and hook them up. Life will get a lot easier from there."

"But you still like this girl, right?" Ulrich asked. "Why are you trying to get her together with another guy?"

"Cause I'm like you." He sat up. "Ulrich, although you keep denying it, I can kind of tell that you like Yumi. It's the same with me and Sakura, except I didn't sit idly by. I went out, and tried to show her I loved her. But if, after continuously trying, you know she won't love you back… the best thing is for her to be happy, right? Especially with your best friend. Y'know?"

Ulrich paused.

"I get what you're saying, sure… But me and Yumi - we aren't anything special, you know that?"

Luca cracked a smile and slapped Ulrich's back.

"Of course I do, buddy."

{ Chapter Two - Enter Luca Nogi / End }