Chapter 3: Wake up in a new world

- Kadic was in flames. A bomb had just fallen on top of the building. Luckily, it had been already evacuated. Still, it hurt so much to see her ancient home burst into flames. She felt a pair of hands on her shoulders trying to comfort her. Aelita grabbed one of them and gently stroke it:

- Jeremy, we need to stop this before it's too late.

- Jeremy? I think you're mistaken. Jeremy's in front of you.

- Aelita looked down and saw a blood-covered Jeremy dead on the ground. She started to panic just as she saw the other warriors' bodies around too. She then looked up to the strange figure that was touching her and saw a xanified Tyron, looking at her with maniac eyes and the XANA symbol on his forehead. Tyron suddenly grabbed her by the neck and started to choke her. Aelita couldn't breathe. She was going to pass out.

- But then she woke up. She tried to catch up her breath, confused if what she saw was real or not. It couldn't be. It couldn't. Her friends were okay. Sure, now they were babies, but they're safe. And XANA was trapped in a turned-off supercomputer. As long as no one turned it on, everything would be fine.

- But what about her father? What if the men in black killed him? No, no, they wouldn't, they wouldn't dare. But how was she going to save him? He was just a little girl now. She could do nothing. She was afraid of using the supercomputer, she was all alone, she couldn't fight XANA. She needed help, but from who?

- Someone knocked her door.

- Aelita, may I come in?

- The door opened, it was Mr. Delmas with a tray of food and a glass of water.

- Hi princess, how did you sleep?

- Not so well.

- Don't worry, I'm here for you. For everything you need. Here, I brought you breakfast.

- Aelita took the tray and devoured all the food. She had never been hungrier before. This is how Odd felt? It must had been an effect of the long-time jump.

- Now, Aelita, I need you to explain this to me. I hope you can give me an answer.

- Jean-Pièrre handed Aelita an envelope with a letter inside, which she started to read.

- I know my brother had a lot of secrets. I know he was involved in a lot of problems in the past, but I didn't know those past ghosts still haunted him… and you.

- Aelita was shocked by what the letter said:

- "Dear brother, if you receive this letter, it means Aelita and I have disappeared. I've made mistakes in the past, trying to do good and being tricked by maleficent people. That's why I came back to Boulogne, that's why I asked you to be a teacher, I was running away from those bad guys. I lied, Anthea's not dead, she was kidnapped by the same people that's after us though. I don't want the same to happen to Aelita, so we'll disappear, at least for a long time.

- In case we return, it may occur in strange circumstances, so I want to warn you. You may not believe it at first, but it will be us.

- I love you, please take care of yourself and Elisabeth.

- Your brother, Waldo."

- So you knew me after all this time -whispered Aelita.

- What did you say?

- Oh, nothing, I was talking about my father. He turned himself to those men, just to protect me.

- Oh Aelita, I'm so sorry -said Delmas while hugging her.

- Aelita started to cry on his jacket, while Jean-Pierre had tears on his eyes too.

- Don't worry, you'll stay with me, you'll be an excellent big sister for Elisabeth. Finish your breakfast and we'll go to the police sta-

- No! Not the police! Those men could know I'm here if police start investigating.

- But, but how do you plan on saving your father?

- I won't. He'll be fine, as much as that hurts me.

- I don't like the idea, but I'll respect your choice. My god, you've grown so much, two days ago I was holding you and now you sound just like an adult.

- Aelita laughed inside her mind, if just he knew she was almost 20 (more if she counted the years on Lyoko).

- The two of them then went out of the room and entered in Delmas office, just to be greeted by a 3-year old Sissie with an angry face.

- There you are my queen. Why are you angry?

- You left me alone!

- Oh, but I didn't want to wake you up, sweetie. Say hi to your cousin, she's going to stay with us.

- Yeeeaah!

- Aelita laughed, it was the first time she liked seeing Sissie. She actually saw her cute in this state. What would the others be doing right now? All Aelita could do was theorize, she would have to wait at least 10 years in order to see them again. Well, maybe she could see Yumi or Jeremy, but it would be weird to go to their houses without a reason.

- In the meantime, at the Ishiyama's new French house, the Ishiyama's were still moving all of their things to the new place. Meanwhile, a 3-year old Yumi was drawing on the floor.

- Hey, Yumi. What are you drawing? -said a happy, although tired, Mrs. Ishiyama.

- The little one handed her the picture. It was a black dot with two circles around it and with a stick on one side and three on the other.

- Oh, this is… what is it Yumi?

- I don't know -said unpreoccupied Yumi, while taking another piece of paper and starting to draw a butterfly.

- Well, it kind of looks like an eye. I think you've watched too many cartoons, sweetheart.