AN: Hey guys, sorry about the wait on this chapter! I suffered a bit of a writer's block the past few days, and haven't been able to write anything! But finally, Chapter Six is up and things are definitely taking an interesting turn in this one! Now I'm taking my own personal liberties with the series, if you haven't quite noticed. But now we can finally get the plot moving!

Once more, thank you so much for the support for this story! I'm glad everyone is enjoying it so far! And I hope that you enjoy this new chapter as well!

Chapter Six: A Breath of Life

No time for goodbye he said
As he faded away
Don't put your life in someone's hands
They're bound to steal it away
Don't hide your mistakes
'Cause they'll find you, burn you

- Three Days Grace, "Get Out Alive"

Though he tried to hide himself from the others, it was nigh impossible when they shared all the same classes together. He knew neither of them would be interested in the concoction he was brewing within his intelligent mind, but Jeremie felt an almost sense of paranoia when he sat in his secluded corner of the classroom while Ulrich and Odd entered at an almost robotic pace. Since this morning, Yumi's message of plea replayed over and over within his head; all morning Jeremie had arranged equations and options within his mind to see what could prove to be most vital in bringing Yumi back to the real world.

He had begun running out of ideas when he received a new message from Yumi prior to Mrs. Hertz's class: The factory, Jeremie.

That was all he needed to be told.

He tried planning everything out - Ulrich and Odd would have no reason to pursue him if he were to leave the classroom, so they were no threat unless they discovered his scheme. No, his problem would be concerning Aelita since he knew she had taken roost at the factory. Jeremie thought he had wasted all his options until his brain came to pinpoint the idea of Kiwi. It was risky, and would only serve to not only make the gang even more upset with him, but he knew even Odd would hate him for it if the blonde-haired boy ever found out. And as Jeremie remembered well, Odd was the only one who didn't outright hate him for what he did. Disappointed in him, yes, but not hated.

Once the idea came to him - use Kiwi to lure Aelita out of the control room long enough to do what he needed to do - Jeremie had everything set. He would leave class halfway through in order to dognap Kiwi, and put his plan to the test.

During the lecture, Jeremie's eyes continued to wander over to Ulrich and Odd, whose bodies were completely hunched over. Their heads seemed too close together - something had happened, that Jeremie got the impression of. He hoped it didn't concern Yumi or else... No, don't think like that, Belpois, he reassured himself. Yumi's fine. I'll try and run the Supercomputer's programs and then...

And then what? He had considered the idea many times. He didn't have a plan beyond trying to get in touch with Yumi at the factory. He didn't have a completed program, and he had no doubt that neither did Aelita. There would be no way to bring Yumi onto the Earth's plain without a program to reconfigure her structure. Jeremie even considered protesting against Yumi's word, but the last time he turned his back on her resulted in the current situation. She needs you, Belpois. Don't chicken out.

At the halfway point of the class, Jeremie raised his hand, feigning a sick look on his face. "Mrs. Hertz, I don't feel so well. May I go to the infirmary please?"

The gray-haired teacher sighed, readjusting her glasses, and turning her back on the class to resume her lesson. "Yes Jeremie."

Keeping himself composed as he left the classroom as quickly as possible, as soon as he was freed from the judging glances of Odd and Ulrich, Jeremie ran for the dorm building. Jim was nowhere on sight on the campus, which allowed for easy access to slip in and out with a compliant Kiwi in tow.

"That's a good puppy, Kiwi," Jeremie murmured as he disappeared into the sewers. "Just a little bit longer, and you'll get to run all you want, okay?"

Kiwi's response was a single sharp bark from his place within Jeremie's bag.

His scooter gone, Jeremie walked towards the entrance that led to the factory's location. He removed the manhole cover, careful to make sure there were no unexpected guests, and quickly fled to the inner interior of the decrepit building. Once at the elevator, he released Kiwi from his imprisonment and hit the Down button, sending the little dog to the second floor level.

With the plan set in motion, Jeremie hurried to find the second entrance that would allow him to enter the control room from the stairs. As he quietly crawled down the shaft that led to the control room, Jeremie had to swallow his sharp intake of air as he caught sight of Aelita at the Supercomputer. It was brief, as her attention was turned towards the elevator shaft where Kiwi began insistently barking.

"Kiwi?" she murmured, approaching the elevator doors that opened, displaying the small abandoned dog. "What are you doing here? Where is Odd?"

While Aelita had been distracted by Kiwi's sudden appearance, Jeremie began a quiet descent down the stairs and using all the leg muscle he could muster, he hit the button to the elevator as soon as Aelita was firmly inside.

"Jeremie?!" she gasped as the doors closed, sending her Up. Jeremie ran for the power controls for the elevator, and quickly shut the mechanism down after counting the seconds to make sure he perfectly timed that Aelita was let off at the first floor and not continuing her ride in the creaky elevator. He wanted her delayed, but not stuck.

Sighing with relief, Jeremie reclaimed his place at the chair of the Supercomputer, quickly observing Aelita's progress of the materialization program (she's much farther on it than I am, he silently applauded) before minimizing the window and pulling up the IM on the computer. Yumi was already logged on and had sent him a message: Jeremie?

I'm here, he typed her back. What do I need to do?

The response was quick: Follow these coordinates I'll send to you.

Jeremie knew he should've questioned how exactly Yumi had gotten such specific keys to enter, but in that moment all he saw was the light - Yumi would come back. That was all that mattered.

Once she realized Jeremie had ceased control to the elevator, Aelita began to dial Odd's number on the cellphone she had been given in case of emergencies. He's gone mad! She tiredly paced as Odd's phone rang twice. At her feet ran Kiwi, mimicking Aelita's increasing frantic behavior.

Finally, after the fourth ring, Odd answered. "Aelita, you almost got me kicked out of-"

"It's Jeremie!" she said too loudly, practically screaming into the phone. "He's at the factory! He's stopped the elevator!"

"Jeremie what?" Odd's voice was nearly at scream-level as well. "Okay, okay, hold on, I'm coming down!"

"What about Ulrich?"

"I can't get back into class. It'll just have to be us who go. Hey, is that barking?"

"Odd, hurry!" Aelita ended the call, biting on her bottom lip as she tried to calculate what her next move was. The stair passage! Having spent enough time in the factory (and whenever she needed to take a break from the Supercomputer), Aelita took to exploring the facility and memorized every nook and cranny beneficial to her. She knew Jeremie too must've taken the secret passage to get into the control room, and that was exactly the same passage she took.

Leaving Kiwi behind as a footnote to Odd, Aelita near well copied Jeremie's exact footsteps, trotting like a cat sneaking upon its prey. Once she reached the overview, she watched as Jeremie was frantically typing in codes into the computer.

She became horrified at the implications of this. Was he destroying the process she had made on the materialization program?! She would not let him do so! "Jeremie, stop!" she cried, making her way down the stairs.

Though he started at her voice, Jeremie did not cease his typing. "Aelita, you have to understand-"

"The only thing I understand is that you sabotaged your way to get into here!" she snapped. "Jeremie, I had forgiven you once, but this... this is unforgiveable!"

Jeremie swerved in the chair. Aelita realized just how mad he looked - his eyes were completely shrunk to mere dots, and he seemed to be trembling. "Aelita, you don't understand! I can bring Yumi back!"

She didn't understand what he was saying to her. "You can't bring Yumi back! The materialization program, it's incomplete!"

"Yumi's helping me! She's giving me the commands to complete it!"

"Yumi..?" Aelita went back to the Yumi they had encountered on Lyoko. "Wait Jeremie, don't listen to Yumi! It's not her!"

"Of course it is!" he sniffled. "I'm almost done, Aelita! You have to give me this chance to make it right!"

"That's not the real Yumi, Jeremie! I know it sounds like the real Yumi, but trust me it's not!"

Jeremie smiled, almost looking like he was holding back a laugh. "Trust you? I want to trust you, Aelita, but I don't feel worthy of it. Just let me do this, okay?" He swerved again to face the computer, resuming his frantic typing. "It's almost complete. Soon Yumi will be back on Earth, with her family..."

Aelita's hands tightened into fists. She almost felt on the verge of tears, the situation was so stressful for her. Not to mention the sight of Jeremie had definitely knocked her momentum back. "Jeremie, listen to me," she said in a low voice. "It's Xana, it has to be. He's impersonating Yumi to get you to do something for him."

"Nonsense, Xana isn't that capable of doing such a thing."

"Jeremie, he brought back Yumi."

Jeremie stopped typing to look over his shoulder.

Swallowing hard, Aelita began to explain. "On Lyoko we encountered Yumi. It shouldn't have been possible, but it was! We think that Xana may have managed to recover her codes when she fell into the digital sea, and made her a form in order to manipulate us. If you keep on listening to what Yumi is telling you-"

"There is no active tower."

"There was one when we went to Lyoko, but it deactivated itself." Jeremie raised his eyebrow. "I know it sounds farfetched but Jeremie, Xana has unlocked greater abilities. You're just playing into his hand."

A defeated sigh came from the chair. "Aelita, I made a huge mistake when I ignored saving Yumi... There may be a chance..."

"It's too much of a risk, Jeremie. You don't have to do this."

"But we don't know until we try it!"

It was then that Aelita realized just how profoundly impacted by everything Jeremie was. His hand was the one that made the selection, his brain that made the choice - Aelita, over Yumi. His choices had played a part in everything they had gone through the past few months. He definitely had regrets over letting Yumi be terminated, there was no doubt about that. But Aelita began to see just how much Jeremie was suffering and how well on the breaking point he was. He no longer had friends, no one to turn to, and it was because of what he did.

If she still needed to cry, she didn't want to do it for herself - she felt the need to cry for Jeremie as well. Slowly, cautiously, she began to approach him, arms held out from her body. "Jeremie, I'm sorry. For what we did..."

"No Aelita, you were right in getting rid of me. I just caused trouble."

"It was a mistake-"

"A colossal mistake-"

"We can make it better." She was nearly there. Her fingers gently touched the fabric of the chair...

"AELITA!" Odd's voice boomed above their heads. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

Aelita jerked back, as did Jeremie, but because his fingers had still been resting on the keys, torn between finishing what he started and just ignoring his effort all together, he accidentally pressed down, unintentionally entering the final codes needed to complete the process.

"NO!" he cried out, reaching across the keyboard to grasp at the monitor, watching in horror as the program uploaded.

Aelita ran beside him, clapping her hands to her mouth. "Jeremie..."

"It was nearly completed..." he whispered back.

"What is going on here?!" shouted Odd as he stomped over to them, releasing Kiwi from his tight grip. "Jeremie, what're you doing here?!" He came around the opposite side of the chair, eyes narrowing at the screen. "What did you do? What is this?"

Jeremie released his hold on the monitor, sinking against his chair in defeat. "I... I shouldn't have..."

Frustrated by the lack of answers, Odd whirled the chair so that Jeremie was directly facing him. "What's going on here, Einstein? What're you doing here?"

Jeremie bit his bottom lip. "I was trying to help..."

"I can hear the scanners starting up!" cried Aelita who rocketed for the stairs to lead her down into the scanner room.

Odd looked from her to Jeremie and then back at Aelita's retreating form, deciding that investigating what exactly Jeremie had cooked up for them now was leading too. He followed the pink-haired girl down the stairs, dropping into the scanner room. All three scanners were humming. Odd gazed at all three of them, his legs shaking.

What had Jeremie done?

"It's this one, Odd!" Aelita cried, pointing to the middle one.

Odd stood beside her, gritting his teeth together. "I definitely don't like the look of this, Princess."

Aelita wrung her hands together, suddenly feeling an unpleasant chill go down her spine. From the corner of her eye, she saw Odd shiver as well.

For what seemed like an eternity, the scanner continued to boot up the new program, humming patiently as it did so. Finally, it began to shut down and the doors slowly opened. Aelita and Odd jumped back, eyes wide as saucer plates. Aelita had to suppress a scream that bubbled within the base of her throat.

What stood in the midst of the scanner was neither Yumi nor anyone they knew, at least as far as appearance would suggest. However, they knew the being that stood before them quite well.

"Hello Aelita," he crooned.

"Xana," Aelita gasped.