"Aelita, please, wait!"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" She screamed, running down the hall as both the fair-haired boy and Japanese woman raced after her.

"Aelita, I was just trying to help! I'm sorry!" He begged for forgiveness, but she discounted his pleas with tears spilling from her troubled eyes.

"I trusted you! You promised you wouldn't tell, Jeremie!"

"Aelita, Jeremie was just trying to protect you!" Yumi called out to her, trying to defend Jeremie. Still, the betrayed pinkette heeded no attention to their words. She rushed to her room, ready to lock herself away, but Jeremie grabbed onto her wrist and stopped her.

"Aelita, please!" As soon as he latched onto her arm, she screeched and tossed herself against the door, panting heavily. When she looked at the boy genius that she cared deeply for, instead, she saw the evil criminal who she wanted only miserable things to happen to.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" she ordered.

"Aelita…" Jeremie stopped to realize what he had done, looking at her tormented face as she clutched her wrist. "Aelita, "I'm sorr-" but the door slammed in his face before he could finish. He rubbed his aching nose that had been smashed into the wood frame of the door.

"Go. Away." Her cries stifled from the other side of the door, and Jeremie sank to the floor, exhaling deeply.

"Great," he sarcastically said, hanging his head between his knees. "What have I done?"

"This is my fault, Jeremie… not yours. I shouldn't have forced you to tell me."

Jeremie sighed. "But you're right, Yumi. It had to be done. We can't help her if we keep everything hidden." Yumi propped against the door, letting her body slide down to meet the side of Jeremie. They exchanged pitiful looks and both sighed in unison.

"This is a mess," they agreed.

"Maybe you should let me try and talk to her, Jeremie. Go back to your room, see if you can crack Hopper's diary. I'll wait here until she's ready to talk."

Reluctant, Jeremie nodded his head and slowly stood himself up. He dropped his hands inside his pockets and lugged his feet down the hall, exiting into his room. Yumi brushed her midnight hair out of her face and tucked it away, pressing her ear against the door. She could hear the silent sobbing of Aelita. It sounded as if maybe she was trying to cover it up with the suffocation of a pillow, but she wasn't very skilled at hiding it. This had become a sound that she, unfortunately, had become all too familiar with.

"Aelita?" she gently spoke, scratching her knuckles against the grooves in the hardwood. "Can I come in?" The tears ceased, but there was no answer. Yumi waited for a good moment, listening to see if she could at least hear Aelita's footsteps pattering against the carpet, indicating she was walking towards the door; but there was nothing. Yumi sighed and turned her back against the door again. Seconds passed, then minutes, and then hours. A texting conversation with Ulrich on her cell phone kept her occupied. He asked what she was doing, and Yumi wondered how far she should go to answer his question.

Just waiting on something, she typed, but then quickly deleted. If she said that, he would ask: waiting for what? Maybe if she answered his question before he could ask it. Waiting outside Aelita's door, she entered, before quickly hitting the backspace key on her mobile once again. If she said that, he'd ask why. If he asked why, well, she couldn't lie to him. But the last thing Aelita needed was one more person finding out against her will. If only she understood they were just trying to help. Yumi decided to go with the classic: Nothing much, you?

A few more moments passed and her pocket began to vibrate. Ecstatic, she pulled out her cellular, thinking that Ulrich responded. Turned out it was just Jeremie, demanding that she come to his room. Just as she stood up to oblige his request, the door released and she fell backwards onto Aelita's floor.

"You wanted to come in?" She solemnly asked; her pupils directed at the pink carpet of her flooring.

"Yeah," Yumi leered before standing up to brush herself off. "I wanted to talk to you about earlier."

Aelita strolled over to her bed and sat down, grappling Mr. Puck against her chest. "Go on," she said. She was still livid, Yumi could feel it. She didn't feel welcome in her room, but hopefully she could try calming her down.

"Aelita…" Yumi started, before going to sit on her bed. Aelita shot her a sudden glare, telling Yumi to stay as far away from her as she could. She quickly stepped away and folded her hands behind her back. "It's my fault," she sighed. "I harassed Jeremie and ended up forcing him to tell me. He didn't want to. He was so afraid you would be angry with him."

"Well I am," the pink-haired girl quietly snapped, playing with the fragile limbs of her doll.

"But you shouldn't be, Aelita. He is just trying to help."

"Yeah well now we are all in danger because of it. I don't call that very helpful."

"Aelita, don't you see? With you keeping this inside, you're only hurting yourself more. You're letting him roam around at his own will, free to do this to other people. But with you telling someone, you can get help, and we can make sure he gets the punishment he deserves."

Aelita darted her eyes towards Yumi before redirecting her regard to her tattered little goblin. He tossed Mr. Puck aside and sighed. "How?"

"We could go to the police," she suggested.

"I don't think that would work. I think this guy is in charge of the police."

Yumi sighed. She wasn't exactly sure what to say. "Aelita, please don't be mad at Jeremie. You know he really cares about you. I just think that, as a guy, he can't really understand what you're going through."

"Why does him being a boy make it any different?"

"Aelita, do you… do you really know what happened to you?"

"Well it's like a XANA attack…only scarier. And it hurt. At least on Lyoko things don't hurt."

"May I sit down?" The ethnic woman asked, nudging her chin towards the bare spot on Aelita's bed. She nodded, inviting her to join her side. Yumi sat down and smoothed out the wrinkles in her sheets before turning to face Aelita.

"Aelita," she started. "You are a girl."

"Yes…"

"Do you know what makes you a girl?"

"Well… I've got longer hair than boys, even though it's still pretty short. I've also noticed I have a larger collection of fat on my pectorals."

"Uhh… yes, but there's more to it than that."

"There is? What?"

"Oh boy." Yumi scratched her head, trying to figure out where she was going with this. "Umm… we have different body parts than a boy does. I don't know if you've noticed or not, but you've got a hole in between your legs, right?"

"Uh…" Aelita titled her head downwards. "Well, yes."

"Well, a boy… they don't have a hole like that. They have something else. I guess it's kind of like… a pole. It goes… um… it uh…"

"Yumi, why are you hesitating so much?"

"Sorry, this isn't exactly something that comes up in normal conversation."

"Oh, I see."

Yumi straightened her posture and took a deep breath. "Okay," she said. "Let me start from the beginning. As a girl, you have an opening between your legs… it's called a vagina. That's what makes you a woman. You also have a special organ called a uterus, and a special chemical released throughout your body called estrogen. All of this is what makes you different from a boy, and is what causes you to have longer hair and such."

"A… vagina?"

Yumi closed her eyes and smiled slightly. She was almost blushing from the awkwardness of the conversation. "Yeah."

"So then what does a boy have?"

"Er, well… I don't know as much about boys as I do you or myself. Instead of a hole in their legs, they have sort of… a pole. It's called a… er… a penis. Instead of estrogen, they have what's called testosterone. It makes their hair shorter; their body isn't as slim or curvy as ours, and so on."

"I see," Aelita repeated as she stared at Yumi and sunk her chin into her fists. Her eyes were wide, her little brain retaining as much information as possible. "This is all very interesting."

"Uh-huh, sure. Okay so… let's just say that a man and a woman fit together like a puzzle piece. Because you've got the hole, and the pole… and uh… I'm sure you can figure that out. That's called sexual intercourse. Some just call it sex. Intercourse is the more proper term, you could say."

"What's it do?"

"Well… it's what makes humans. People usually have intercourse to reproduce, start a family, make a baby, you know. Sometimes they do it just for fun, or because they love each other. It's not always about having a child."

"Because they love each other? So does that mean you and Ulrich have had intercourse?"

"Wha- what!?" Yumi's eyes nearly popped out of her face, her cheeks brightening a red brighter than crimson. "I… um… we… no! No. We haven't. That's um… it's… we're just friends!"

"But you still love him, right?" Aelita was confused as to why Yumi was reacting so strangely.

"Okay miss curiosity, that's enough questions." Yumi looked away and sighed, knowing that the light hearted conversation was about to go downhill. "Aelita…"

"Yes, Yumi?"

"What that man did to you… it's a type of intercourse."

Aelita's heart sank. "But… I thought you said it happened between people who loved eachother."

"It does, usually… but... Aelita, what happened to you is called rape. It's forced intercourse."

She lowered her head. "Oh. Is it supposed to hurt?"

"Yes. It does. Before the rape, you were what we call a virgin. Someone who hasn't had intercourse before. It means that hole is tighter, not as open as someone who has had intercourse. Which means it's going to hurt more the first time that a guy puts his… um, thing, inside you. You probably had a lot of tearing in there. That's probably why you were bleeding so much."

"Oh."

"Here might be a better way for you to understand this… Aelita, virginity is something most people consider special. You know that robbery is a very bad thing, right?"

"Yes, of course. Stealing is wrong."

"Right. And people who rob are bad people, yes? And deserve to be punished?"

"Of course."

"But, those that are robbed don't necessarily do anything to deserve it, right?"

"No, why would they?"

"Exactly. Aelita, this man stole your virginity from you. You were robbed. And so you need to understand that it's not your fault. You didn't do anything that caused you to deserve this, okay? So please don't feel ashamed, and don't be so afraid to tell us. As your friends, we are here to help you. We love you."

"Does that mean you're going to try to have intercourse with me?"

"Okay, I really should've been more clear on this. I mean like, married couples. Boyfriends and girlfriends, you know."

"Oh."

"Don't worry… the blanks I'm leaving will quickly be filled in on your own. This stuff will start coming naturally to you soon enough."

"So what is a uterus? You said I had one of those."

Yumi sank her head. "That's… that's something else I needed to talk to you about."

"What? Is something wrong?"

"You remember how I mentioned reproduction earlier, right?"

"Yes."

"Well… when a woman has intercourse with a man, it creates a baby. That baby human is housed inside a woman's uterus for nine months until it's time for the baby to come out. The time that the baby is inside the woman is called being pregnant."

"Why did you need to talk to me about that?"

"Aelita… because you've had intercourse… even though you didn't want it, it's still possible that… that you could be pregnant."

"You mean… I have… a human inside me?"

"Well, you might not. But I think we need to have you take a test and find out."

Aelita rubbed her hands against her abdomen, a feeling of anxiety locked in her throat. She fearfully looked at Yumi, still not quite understanding what was going on. She trusted that someday she'd grasp the situation, but for now, she was still confused.

"But… how can this be possible, if I'm not really human?"

"Well… that's a good question. Because you were raped, it means you have a vagina. Which means you probably have all the other female parts too, and I'm sure they work."

"So… is that… the thing Jeremie was talking about? On Lyoko?"

"He thinks so. Oh, no! Jeremie!"

"What?"

"I was supposed to meet him in his room! He said it was important!"

"Oh. Well, can I go with you?"

Yumi smiled at Aelita, offering up her hand to help her off the bad. "You're not too mad at him?"

She smiled in return. "No, I can't be. You're right… he was just trying to help. I should thank him, if anything. But… can we please keep this a secret from Odd and Ulrich for now? I don't want this getting around… and… to be truthful, I don't quite trust Odd. He's always bribing Milly with stories."

"I understand. Come on."

"Well, Jeremie?" Yumi said, slowly letting the heavy door creak open. "What's so important?"

Jeremie sat at his computer, his head low, postured slumped, and his arms folded. The glowing from the screen illuminated his face in the darkness of the room, as the sun had long since set beneath the horizon. He slowly turned his chair to Yumi and Aelita, surprised to see the pinkette standing next to Yumi.

"Aelita," he perked up.

"I'm… I'm sorry about earlier."

"No, Aelita. I'm sorry. Especially for grabbing your arm like that, when…"

"It's okay… you were right. You were just doing it because you care about me, and I'm grateful for that."

Jeremie heaved a sigh of relief and smiled, standing up and walking over to Aelita. "So… does that mean you will let me help you?"

"Yes. But… let's not tell Odd or Ulrich just yet. Please?"

"Okay. I promise for real, this time."

"Alright, you two can have your moment later," Yumi playfully teased. "What was so urgent that you called me here for?"

"Um, well, I called you here over an hour ago."

"Sorry, I was trying to help Aelita understand her situation better."

"Well…" Jeremie said, sliding his hand into his wrinkled pockets and walking back over to his computer. "I think this will help her understand even more."

"What's that?"

Jeremie took a deep breath and aligned his glasses. "I managed to decode Hopper's diary."

"What? That was fast."

"I know. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it'd be, but… I had a little help. From the man himself."

"You mean… you've been in contact with him?" Aelita quietly questioned. Jeremie nodded his head.

"Indirectly, yes. You remember Sector 5, of course, and how it's the heart of Lyoko?"

The two girls nodded their heads.

"Franz Hopper also lives inside Sector 5… along with XANA. He's a… prisoner, if you will. He has been sending me data to crack it, and I went to the factory earlier to use the supercomputer so I could open it. I needed a lot of power. Surprisingly enough, XANA remained quiet."

"That's shocking, he usually doesn't like when we play with his toys."

"Mmhmm. We can only make contact with him when he needs to reach us, though. Normally he remains in hiding from XANA."

"So… what made him come out this time?" Yumi kept her inquisitive gawk locked on Jeremie as she sat down on the sinking comfort of his mattress. Both women were listening intently, although Aelita felt almost afraid of what she was about to find out.

"He wanted to help Aelita."

"Huh?" Aelita gasped, her eyebrows shelling upwards.

"Franz Hopper was the creator of Lyoko. He documented everything that happened before, during, and after the creation of the supercomputer, the scanners, Lyoko… even XANA."

"So, then you can find Aelita's anti-virus!" Although Yumi was excited, Aelita knelt over on the bed, clutching her stomach. She felt it roiling again as the fretfulness and tension that collected in the room overwhelmed her brittle body.

"Yes. But, that's not all…before Franz virtualized himself onto Lyoko, he lived here… on Earth."

"We already knew that…"

Jeremie stared at the screen of his computer for a moment, his eyes closed as he collected his thoughts. Silence filled the room, making Aelita more uneasy. Would he just spit it out already? Jeremie sighed, and once again, spun his chair to face Yumi and Aelita.

"Franz Hopper was a part of something called project Carthage. It's why Sector 5 is nicknamed Carthage on the computer's interface. Lyoko was created as a staging ground of sorts, and XANA was meant to destroy this project. I don't know much more than that, but, someone was angry with him for wanting to do this. Franz was not alone, you know."

"Huh?" Yumi gaped. "What do you mean?"

"Well, he had a wife...her name was Anthea."

Anthea… Aelita thought to herself. Why does that sound so familiar? She held her head in agony as it began to throb. Cheerful laughter, giggling, and the calling of a mother's name echoed throughout her mind. She grunted at her throbbing temples.

"Do you like him, sweetie?"

"Oh, thank you mummy!"

"Aelita, make sure you stay near the house, darling…"

"Mummy, look at my giant snowball!"

"Aelita," Yumi asked as she patted her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine. Continue, Jeremie. Please."

"What became of Anthea, Jeremie?"

"She was kidnapped. Men started pursuing Franz after they found out what he was doing… and, well, they got to Anthea first. Leaving Franz and his little girl alone."

"Wait, little girl? And… what men?"

Jeremie turned his head to Aelita, glowering directly at her. Deeply and intensely, his look jabbing into her soul. She glanced back at him, her pupils locking with his, slight terror coursing throughout her veins. "Men dressed in all black," he described. "With sunglasses, even at night time. Government agents, maybe…"

"But… I…" Aelita stuttered, her mouth drooping open.

"What about the little girl, Jeremie?"

"He virtualized her onto Lyoko at the same time as him."

"And… did she become prisoner of XANA, too?"

"No. She stayed on Lyoko." Not once did Jeremie take his eyes off of Aelita.

Aelita said nothing. Stutters and chokes escaped her mouth, but nothing of any legibility. Just random vocalizations. Yumi grabbed both sides of her head, shaking.

"This is too much, Jeremie. So then… Aelita…"

"Aelita." Jeremie blankly stated, getting up from his chair and walking over to her. There was no emotion in his voice, neither happy nor sad. He appeared stern, yet also caring. Concerned and fearful. He squatted down in front of her.

"I'm… not…?" She dismayed, shaking her head in disbelief.

"You are the daughter of Franz Hopper…and the same men that took your mother are now after you."