Chapter Two
Glimmer of Hope with a Joke or Two
Anger. Pure, unbiased Anger.
That was really the only word you could use to describe Aelita's feelings as she made her way towards the abandon factory after breakfast this morning. Her hands were balled into fists that shook a bit at her sides. She gave everything and everyone a death glare that was keeping Odd and Ulrich a few steps behind her as they followed.
"You need to relax princess. I'm sure he just fell asleep at the keyboard again. You know him; he likes to have his battle with sleep every night." Ulrich suggested to her. Aelita puffed up her chest a bit as she then took a deep, calming breath.
"Yeah I know... It's just that he always answers my texts and calls when I get him to wake up on time." Aelita told them as she then swung down the rope and headed towards the elevator. Odd and Ulrich joined her as she hit the down button.
"Well, then be mad at him, just take it easy alright. He's been working hard on various things to fight against XANA. You know Einstein... His fingers are almost always attached to a keyboard nowadays." Odd tried to joke to her to get her to smile.
"Still..." Aelita started to say as the elevator door open onto the lab. To this day, Aelita hates to describe what she saw and what she thought on what they found.
"JEREMIE!" She yelled out, her voice filled with worry and fear. A small blond boy laid spread eagle on the floor, his glasses lying on the ground separated from his limp form. Various alarms were flaring around on the computer screens. Aelita ran to Jeremie's side, ignoring all the screens as Ulrich and Odd ran to the screens for her. Tears began to roll down her face as she reached out a hand towards Jeremie.
Not him… Not this! Oh let him be safe and alive! I could not last a day in this new life without Jeremie! No mother, a father trapped in the digital sea… Jeremie and the others are all I have now. Don't let this be the end of it all! Please not Jeremie!
Her hands shook a bit in fear as she reached his brown turtleneck shirt. Her hands began to send the good news to her of his chest moving up and down. Relief began to fill her fearfilled mind as she thanked whatever being above is watching them in private.
"He's alive!" Aelita yelled back to the boys, a weak smile on her face. She moved to kneel next to his head. Gently, she picked up the head filled with the greatest mind of Kadic Academy and laid it in her lap. She leaned over and scooped up his glasses, laying them on his face.
It was not much longer after that his eyes fluttered open and looked up at her. She wiped some tears away as she smiled at him. Still here… Jeremie was still here with her. Relief never felt so good to the pinkette.
"Well, good morning! It's about time you woke up! You gave me quite a scare..." She spoke softly to him. He raised an eyebrow up at her and pushed himself up to a sitting position. He rubbed his head as he looked around. An eyebrow raised on her face as Jeremie look to his hands, opening and closing them.
"Hey, are you feeling alright?" Aelita asked him, worried. Jeremie frowned and turned towards her. His face bore one of confusion. One filled with an unknown fear. A look he never had on his face before. Lost.
"W-Who are you? W-where am I?" Jeremie eventually asked, confusion in his tone. Aelita eyes widen as she remembered saying the same thing to him when he turned the supercomputer back on. A time when she believed herself to be all digital and not human. A set of questions that Jeremie would never ask before.
"Er, Aelita...you better come see this..." Ulrich said worried from the screens. Aelita got up as Jeremie got up as well. She pushed his looks of wonder around the lab to the back of her mind as she moved to the screens.
"Oh, what is it this time..." she mumbled to herself. She looked over at the various programs as everything came into place. One standard Superscan of a now deactivated tower in the ice sector. Another that clamor her attention the most. It must have been the one Ulrich wanted to point out to her.
A wire framed form of Jeremie's head rested next to some zeros. The program flashed red as Aelita gasped in horror. The window that only popped up when the terror of XANA known as the Scyphozoa claimed the memory or even planted something into someone's mind by force.
"Er, Atilla..Anita...er, you. What's wrong?" Jeremie asked as he walked over next to her. He blinked his eyes as he look at the screens, rubbing his head. He soon took noticed of the boys and frown at them.
"And who are you two?" Jeremie asked, a look of confusion still clear on his face. The two boys blinked, not really understanding what was going on around here.
"Er, I'm Ulrich and that's Odd... don't you remember us?" Ulrich asked him, an eyebrow rose up towards his friend. Odd had a similar look to him.
Jeremie was about to say something when Aelita spoke instead.
"Ulrich...it's not his fault...it's XANA. Somehow he managed to take away all of Jeremie's memories last night." Aelita spoke to them. A look of shock filled the two boys faces as Jeremie just kept looking confused. His own eyes darted under his glasses between the screens and the three that had gathered around him. A hand rubbed his chin, just as it always had. If not for the soft alarm, Aelita would have sworn he was back to his old self.
"Um, What is this place? Why are we even here? What's all that on those screens? Wait...it that supposed to be me?" Jeremie asked as he turned towards the group. They all turn and looked at each other, not knowing where to even being with everything.
"Well… Let's start with the basics. Your name is Einstein. You're really smart, the best at our school. This is your secret lab where you like to experiment with a virtual world called Lyoko. We are your friends and fellow scientists who are currently working up a plan to kidnap our latest test subject named Sissi Del-OUCH!" Odd began to explain to him. But a swift hit to the back of his head from both Aelita and Ulrich stopped him.
"Don't listen to him at all. He likes to pull pranks all over the place. Odd is... well, his namesake of odd." Ulrich told the blonde boy that believed all of Odd's words with a nod of his head. Odd grumbled as Ulrich glared at him to stay quiet.
"Your name is Jeremie. Jeremie Belpois. You're our best friend at school and everywhere really. Your nickname is indeed Einstein for you really are the brightest of our grade as well as all of the school at Kadic Academy. " Aelita gently explained to him.
"My name is Aelita. I have now gone through so many last names… but I go by Aelita Stones now. You discovered this place here about two years ago. It was you who turn on the supercomputer that lays two floors below us. It was you who awoken and free me of the virtual digital world called Lyoko that is in the Supercomputer. It is because of you that I'm here on Earth and had my memories return to me from before I was sent to Lyoko." Aelita kept going as she reached out and took his hand. A hand she was trying to send her feelings of trust and love to his hand in turn.
Jeremie blinked and pulled from her grasp. He reached up and held his head as his eyes screwed up in pain. He let a soft growl of pain loose as he began to shake. Ulrich hummed and folded his arms. Aelita turn to see the brunet boy nod his head as if to know what was happening. It took Aelita a minute to remember a distant XANA attack that robbed Ulrich of his memories and he had flashbacks to them that got him from Kadic to the lab.
"I-I-I remember that… a bit. It's like I'm seeing flashes of things. Like I'm watching them all from a vast distance. A memory that could be mine but feels like it might not at the same time. I remember my name at least. Not to mention that nickname you gave me Odd." Jeremie finally spoke as he seem to relax. He wiped his head of sweat as he shook it.
A soft beep came from the screen as Aelita turn to it. A new small window appeared and had a percentage of 4 on it. Aelita rubbed her chin in thought. It had open when Jeremie said he believed them…. A small percentage of… his memory!
"Seems we have an uphill battle to climb to give Einstein all of his memories back huh Princess." Odd said as he got to the same conclusion as Aelita. Jeremie raised an eyebrow up at that name.
"Oh, that's my nickname. I'll explain later as right now we need to call our other friend Yumi to come meet us here. Good thing today is Sunday and there are no classes. Without your memory you would stand out at school. Last thing any of us need is them carting you to the Hospital or something." Aelita explained to Jeremie. Ulrich soon grabbed his phone and gave Yumi a call.
"Hey. We need you in the lab…. Yeah I know it's our usual day off but this is… well, different. Hurry on up. Oh, and bring any photos or something of Jeremie and us…. I'll explain when you get here, I promise me or Aelita will explain….. Well, let's just say XANA dealt us a major blow just last night." Ulrich spoke into his phone. He kept the last line away from Jeremie's ears to keep the questions away about XANA.
(Oh what a twist to things XANA has dealt the Lyoko Warriors in removing the memories of our beloved Einstein. Can the gang bring them back to him in time? Will XANA take advantage of this forgetful Jeremie to attack them? What will happen when they have to bring Jeremie back to Kadic? Find out next time I update! I swear to you all I will do my best to update this story more. I'm terribly sorry it took so long to post an update to it! Best regards, Xanta)