I sincerely apologize for the extremely long wait, while I've said that personal life is a higher priority than FanFic, I only have myself to blame this time. I've tried to make this chapter absolutely perfect in every aspect, but I've learned that I need to loosen up. That's all, and now continue reading. (Another reason is that I've been recently watching every single episode of Glee on Netflix. Unconfirmed if I'll do any stuff with that show, it's so damn perfect on its own. Yet another reason is that I've found myself sucked into the realm of Tumblr and its PJO and HoO art/fandom. Still not sure if I'll do anything with that.)

Hello everyone! The fourth chapter is now up. With Sero discovering the Hermitage and its links to Aelita and Lyoko, he wants to know if the group hid anything else from him. Meanwhile, XANA is desperate to find a tower to activate and wreak havoc on the Lyoko Warriors. Can the gang do anything to help slow down XANA's attacks so they can fix the return program? Read on to find out!

-Jish- Here is a list to some of the questions you have asked:

*Hiroki's age: If we go based on how France's education system works, Hiroki would be at most 15 years old, but only if my version of Kadic (A Lycée school.) also had the Troisième grade (Age 14-15.) and the Quatrième grade (Age 13-14) for any events preceding Sero's enrollment to Kadic, Since this is happening in an altered 4th season.

*Hiroki knowing about the group's relationships with each other: While it isn't explicitly mentioned, I would say the relationship stuff happened before Sero came to Kadic. Now that I think about this, I wonder if I should a few branch-off stories possibly explaining some events I've established in my previous story and this one. Any thoughts on this?

*Sero&Hiroki: I'll just say Sero was being a bit of the 'Big-Brother' who would show their younger sibling around school and stuff, but definitely no attraction between the two.

*Hiroki, Johnny, & the girls: I think Yumi explained it well enough, Hiroki wants to do anything to find that special girl in his life, and Johnny was just tagging along for the ride.

Well, that's enough explaining for now, Here (finally!) comes the fourth chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko in any way. I only own Sero.

(Jeremie's P.O.V, First person.)

[Approx. 5:45 AM, Sept. 2nd.]

My body and mind got wrapped in a horrible reoccurring dream, a dream that started in late May and repeated once every week or so. The dream was always the same with something new added each time, but I felt forced to repeat it to my mind's whim. It started with pure black surrounding me, a voice that I couldn't recognize all around me. The voice sounded both disappointed and accepting, but the words were always zoned out as the darkness moved away. The darkness eventually became the brightly lit forest of Kadic, with the main building complex within sight. I just wanted to sit there and wait until my alarm clock or someone else would save me, but my feet continued on their invisible path to the cafeteria. My body walked to the cafeteria door, blocked by Jim. He simply looked at me, but the stern look in his face was absent, occupied by another emotion, forgiveness maybe? My mouth opened up, but I couldn't stop the words that my dream-self said.

"Jim, do you know where everyone is?" The same words poured out of my mouth from the earlier times. Jim simply sighed and looked at the dorm buildings. 'This is just a dream. Wake up! Wake up!' I said to myself, the words failing to escape my mind. I continued walking to the dorm rooms, trying to hold back my emotions. Everything cut to black and quickly came back to me. I was in front of Ulrich's and Odd's door, my hand moving to turn the doorknob. 'Wake up Jeremie! This isn't real!' My body ignored my pleads as the door opened, showing a completely ransacked room. But what struck me as new was that this time, there were a few drops of dried blood here and there, like Ulrich and Odd were defending themselves from a vicious attacker. My body fell on its knees and almost wept, but dream-me never let out a tear for the two. Darkness quickly enveloped me again, fleeing shortly to show Aelita's closed door.

'Come on Jeremie! This is a dream! Dream's aren't real or predict the future! This is all fake!' I nearly yelled to myself as I opened the door to the same scene as Ulrich's and Odd's, except that Aelita's computer was turned on. I walked towards it, the screen showing every tower in Lyoko activated. Dream-me nearly cried again for Aelita, but the overwhelming black covered me before I could move. The darkness fled for the last time, showing Sero's door, barely open, with the open gap seemingly absorbing all nearby light. I was completely frightened at this point, this was the main new part of the dream. The last dream stopped at Aelita's room, save for the computer. My hand moved towards the door. I couldn't take it anymore. 'WAKE UP!'

I bolted up, drenched in sweat. I got scared at the new addition of my dream, but the addition slightly confused me too. Am I afraid of losing everyone? I looked at my alarm clock, which said 5:58 AM, Sept. 2nd. I was about to get my clothes of the day when I saw something by the computer which I didn't notice last night. There were four large books across the table with a paper on top of the center two books. I started to read the paper.

'Dear Jeremie,

I know about the building in the woods and that it has to do with Lyoko. Tomorrow at breakfast, I want you and the rest of the group to tell me everything else related to Lyoko you didn't say when I joined. While I was there, I found these books that could help us with that vehicle you want to make for the Digital Sea.

From your boyfriend,

~Sero

P.S, We need to talk at some point. By ourselves.'

Multiple emotions and thoughts went off inside of my head, but two thoughts were the easiest to figure out:

1. Sero found out about the Hermitage and probably felt betrayed about us not telling him, but in all honesty it was the group's fault. We only told him what he needed to know when he joined, so the Hermitage and Franz Hopper never came up in conversation.

2. Sero wants to talk to me about something. My mind couldn't figure out what he may want to talk about. I'm not sure if I should interpret me not knowing as a good thing or bad thing.

I sighed as I looked at the message, wishing it didn't happen at a less convenient time. I put the paper back on the books as I got myself ready for my shower. The books could wait after classes.

As I walked to the gang's usual lunch table, I saw the entire group eating except Ulrich and Odd, who already finished the two's food. Sero was talking to Aelita, who was wearing a new silver necklace with what looked like mood rings attached to it. Yumi was also in on their conversation, saying a few things now and then. William was listening to the three talk, but he focused more on his food. I didn't see Hiroki at the table, instead he was at his own with Johnny and three other kids who I didn't know. Sero noticed me walking towards the group and smiled slightly, which I returned with my smile. I sat down by him and joined in the group talk.

"So what did you guys already cover about the Hermitage?" I said, looking at Sero and Aelita. "The only thing we didn't explain was why we never told him about Franz Hopper and the Hermitage, mainly because he wanted you to tell him." Aelita replied, pausing slightly between her sentence to eat her food.

"All I want is to hear it from you." Sero said, moving his hand towards mine, causing me to blush. I just stared at our hands touching, embarrassed until I could gather myself up to speak again. I moved my hand from his so I could refocus on the conversation.

"W-well, the main reason was that when you joined, we only told you what you needed to know first, which didn't include the Hermitage or Franz. After that, it just never came up in conversation so we basically forgot about it." I answered, gaining sudden interest in Aelita's new necklace. "And where did you get the necklace Aelita? and why does it have two mood rings on it?" I added on. The silver chain and the vibrant color of the rings surprisingly matched Aelita's everyday clothing.

"Oh this? Sero found it in my room at the Hermitage along with finding the Digital Sea books and a personal book for me. The rings were from my parents." Aelita replied, fiddling with the rings. After a few bites of my food, I was suddenly caught off-guard by someone tapping my shoulder.

"Hey Jeremie, can we have that talk now?" Sero said to me with a small piece of concern in his voice. My mind was frantically searching for a reasonable response in front of the group that wouldn't embarrass me. I blurted out something that sounded between a "yes", "umm okay", and "oh-my-god-I'm-so-nervous-right-now-please-help-me ". I guess I got lucky with my response since Sero didn't look at me weird. As we stood up and walked out the cafeteria, Ulrich and Yumi shot us a look, as if something was going on. Sero led me near the park's entrance, away from anyone who could hear our conversation. Once Sero was happy with where we were, he looked at me. Those blurred green irises, his possibly permanent scar from XANA, stared into my eyes, never moving.

"We need to talk about our relationship, if we still had it since Odd's incident." Sero said, his voice lacking his usual hope. My mind took a step back to figure out what was happening. Was I really that oblivious to not know until this point that he wanted to talk of our love life? I didn't know what to say; if I acknowledged it, then Sero would think that I didn't try to do anything about it. If I didn't acknowledge it, then he would think that the situation is much worse than it already is. I guess this is why people sometimes say that love sucks. Did Albert Einstein ever had to deal with this kind of question? If I messed up here, my relationship with Sero could be over.

Then I remembered something my parents taught me "actions speak louder than words." I did something that words couldn't save me from. I pulled Sero into a close embrace, wanting to rebuild our powerful connection. As if Sero was expecting it, he accepted the affection, holding me just as hard. What happened next was slightly unexpected. I heard Sero start to sob, feeling some tears hit my shoulder. I also felt my pent-up feelings being released, letting just as many tears out. I don't know how long we were doing our emotional release, but when we finally ended the hug, I had a pending text from Aelita asking if I was okay. I started to text my reply.

"I am now." I sent the text to her, putting my phone back into my pocket. Sero looked back into my eyes, but this time he had more happiness radiating from him.

"We'll figure this out together Sero. We just need to sort ourselves out first before something rash happens." I said to him, holding his left hand. Sero blushed slightly at my touch, ruined by the sudden text to both of us. We opened our phones to the same text from Aelita.

"Tower activated in the Forest Sector! XANA's attack is unknown ATM. Ulrich is staying behind."

"I'll stay behind Jeremie. Now go before XANA gets a chance to do any damage." Sero said, giving me a quick peck on the cheek. We gave each other one more quick hug before we went where we had to go.

AN: And that's the end of chapter four! I am very sorry for the long wait, but FanFic is starting to take more of a backseat in my life right now, so inspiration and motivation are quite slow right now. I will say that chapter five will be done faster than this one.

Review, favorite, follow. Every bit helps me write out the story!

EDIT: I now have a poll up! Please go check it out.