Jeremy and Franz were both looking deeply into the monitor in front of them, baffled by the results of their earlier tests.

"I don't believe it!" Jeremy yelled in anger, calming quickly after his sudden outburst. "All our earlier estimates showed a high likelihood that this would work, or at least show promising results, but from the tests it looks like our work won't be very helpful at all."

"It wasn't a total loss." Franz said, looking to Jeremy from where he was seated. "With this data, we will be better able to work out a true solution in the future. If we had succeeded, we wouldn't have learned anything. It takes harsh and utter failure for someone to truly grow. I repeated the same day over 2000 times, and each time I made progress, it would end up being a failure, but did I quit?"

"No... But that's not the point. The sooner we beat X.A.N.A., the sooner things can be normal, the sooner we can all enjoy our lives on peace..." Jeremy turned away from Franz and faced the elevator. "I think I'll head back to school... I need some time to think."

"Okay, just don't forget that we need to run the alternative program tests later today. We may just be on to something with this one." Franz saw the emotion in Jeremy's face as he looked towards him, a deep longing shrouded by a cloud of doubt emitting from him.

Franz smiled and said: "Just have faith, Jeremy, if you don't believe in yourself, you'll never meet the great potential you have inside you."

All Jeremy did was turn back and smile before entering the newly opened elevator, his expression lackluster compared to what Franz was hoping for.

As the elevator rose, Franz stared at the doors, speaking very softly. "God, help him through these tough times. With all the things he's had to live through, all the stress at such a young age... I just hope he can make it through this. All I ask is that you help him stay strong through this, for his own sake..."

Franz final words echoed through the lab like voices repeating after him: "...for his own sake...". Franz turned back to face the monitor and slowly began to work again, even with how occupied his mind was with other matters.

—

"Herb?" Ms. Hertz asked, taking class roll.

"Present."

"Nicholas?"

"Present."

"Sissi?"

"..."

"Sissi!" Ms. Hertz yelled, slamming her ruler on the nearest table, looking directly at Sissi, lounging with her headphones in.

Sissi fell back from her poorly angled chair, her habits of leaning in her seat showing today.

"Present!" She yelled, pulling her headphones out as she stood up.

Ms. Hertz looked very irked by the principal's daughter, although this wasn't anything new. "Sissi, why do you even bother coming to my class if all you're going to do is listen to music?"

Sissi began to open her mouth, preparing a response, but Ms. Hertz cut her off. "Don't answer that... Let's just move on. Ulrich?"

"Present."

"Odd?"

"President!"

Ms. Hertz gave Odd a deathly stare, showing to him in the most direct way that she wasn't in the mood.

"Aelita?"

"Present."

"Jeremy?"

Silence. A few people looked around, noticing that the blond was absent from his seat.

"Ulrich, do you know where Jeremy is?"

Ulrich had to think fast, Ms.
Hertz was one of the harder teachers to fool when it came to absences.

"Umm... He's in the infirmary. Last nights mystery meat really got to him."

Ms. Hertz looked at his with a hint of disbelief, but Ulrich didn't break a sweat. "Oh, alright. Just tell him to bring a note to me when he starts to feel better."

Unexpectedly, the door opened to reveal Jeremy standing there, attracting the attention of everyone in the room.

"Well, Jeremy, I guess you're feeling better?" Ms. Hertz asked.

"Umm... Oh, yes, much better. I just needed to rest for a while." Jeremy said, walking towards his seat.

"Okay, class, today we begin our review on cell Mitosis and Meiosis." Ms. Hertz started to draw something on her board, but Odd, Ulrich and Aelita turned to face Jeremy.

"So, how did the tests go?" Aelita asked, whispering as to avoid any unwanted attention from their extremely irritable teacher.

"Yeah, did it work? Will this one defeat X.A.N.A. once and for all?" Odd asked, speaking a bit louder out of habit.

"Mr. Della Robbia, would you mind explaining what the phases of Mitosis are to the class?" Ms. Hertz said, annoyed with his continuous lack of interest.

Odd turned ghostly pale for a moment, regaining his wits quick enough to come up with a typically smart answer. "Phase 1, phase 2, phase 3..."

Ms. Hertz pinched her forehead, a growing headache raging in her mind. "Odd, just please be quiet and listen for a change."

As she continued her lesson, Jeremy whispered something to his friends: "We'll talk after class."

Wow, two days ago we broke out all time record in views, reaching over 200 in one day! That's amazing, and thank you to all of the loyal fans! Sorry got a kinda short post, waiting for the action to pick up on this episode. Make sure to review!