"Code: Insomnia"

By cdc100

Summary: Jeremie is having fits in his sleep. Aelita wants to know what's wrong with him and he insists that nothing is wrong. Find out what happens.

Disclaimer: This is a work of pure non-profit fan fiction. Code Lyoko is the property of Antefilms, Moonscoop, France 3, Canal J, Cartoon Network, Tania Palumbo and Thomas Romain. Please support the official release.

Note: I don't know if I'm spelling Jeremie's name right. I've seen it spelled, "Jeremie," and "Jeremy," so just bear with me. If anyone thinks I should change the spelling, send me a review.

Chapter Five

"Outside Help"

Yolande returned to Kadic with a companion – a rugged looking man with long, dark hair. Much like her, he was impeccably well-dressed, wearing dark slacks and dress shoes, a white dress shirt and a dark red tie. Under his left arm, he carried a pair of secondary layers – a jacket that matched his slacks, and a white labcoat like Yolande. With his right, he carried a briefcase.

"Is there anything about his symptoms you haven't told me already?" he asked, in a deep, husky voice as they walked.

"No, not that I can think of."

"Alright."

"I appreciate you taking the time for this, Marc. You have no idea."

"You don't have to thank me, Yolande. I'm happy to help. I just hope I can."

"Marc, I've seen some of the things you've done both on and off duty. I'm not exaggerating when I say I think that you may be the best man for the job."

"Maybe not the best."

Yolande shook her head

"You've had far more experience with this kind of thing than I have. I don't have the specialized training you've had. Besides, I thought you wanted to start doing more work with children and young adults."

"I do. I just wonder if handling this situation in-house is the best way to go."

"Normally, you'd be right, Marc, but in this case, it was more a matter of convenience than anything else. We have a student experiencing some sort of psychological issue and I just happened to know your record. Not only wouldn't I be doing my job if I didn't talk to you, but I also wouldn't be doing the smart thing or putting my faith in you. It's better than having to search for someone who can handle this."

"That's fair. I just hope your faith isn't misplaced."

As the duo walked by, several students stopped what they were doing to look at them. Among the onlookers were Sissi and her goons, and of course, Milly Solovieff and her cohort, Tamiya Diop.

Milly and Tamiya gaped at the pair.

"Tamiya, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

(A/N: Milly Solovieff – Mirabelle Kirkland)

"If you're seeing what might be Yolande's fiancé, then yeah."

(A/N: Tamiya Diop – Barbara Weber-Scaff)

The other students also couldn't help talking amongst themselves.

"Who does that look like to you?" asked one male student.

His companion shook his head.

"The end of all hope that anyone has of landing Yolande, that's who."

Another boy spoke up.

"You said it, dude. None of us stands a chance against a guy that cool."

"I know," said the first boy. "He's like…a cool breeze over the mountains."

A group of girls whispered amongst themselves.

"Oh my god. Is that Yolande's fiancé?!"

"So lucky!"

"I don't know. He looks like he could be a serial killer…"

"Really? I think he looks like a rockstar."

"No, I think she's right. He looks like he could be some deadly assassin or something."

"You're all nuts. He looks pretty normal to me. But whatever he is…he's…breathtaking."

While Yolande and her companion continued toward the principal's office, said office was occupied by both Jim and Mr. Delmas. Delmas sat behind his desk while Jim stood nearby, fumbling with the lighter in his pocket.

"Sir," said the P.E. teacher, "I…hope that you think I handled this right. I'm not entirely sure what it is about this situation, but…"

"Jim, you don't have to explain yourself."

"I feel like I do."

"Jim, I know how you feel about these students."

Jim shook his head.

"Yeah, I like working here, sir. The kids can be kind of a pain in the neck; some more than others. But I put up with it because they're our future. It's the job of every teacher."

Mr. Delmas nodded.

"Precisely."

"But sir, that's not what I'm talking about."

The principal looked at Jim and frowned. At this, Jim continued.

"I think this may have been the first time in my life that I've felt like a student was in trouble, and I had the power to help them."

Mr. Delmas nodded.

"You felt you had to do something. I understand. I think you did the right thing in getting involved."

"I know how the kids think of me. I'm just the P.E. teacher who yells at them when they're breaking the rules or acting foolish. I've always thought of it as just the price I pay for putting them on the right path."

"You're hard on them because you see their potential and want them to live up to it. What makes you think I wouldn't understand that?"

Jim continued gently opening and closing his lighter.

"This might just be my first time out of my element in this job, sir. I can handle rules being broken or arguments or just about anything kids get into with each other. But I don't know how to help a kid out of their own mind."

Jim sighed.

"I don't know. Maybe I'm overthinking it."

Mr. Delmas leaned away from his desk.

"Jim, didn't you once tell me you worked in a psychiatric hospital?"

"Well, I…"

"I know you would prefer not to talk about it, but it seems apropos, given what we're talking about. Wouldn't you agree?"

Jim shrugged.

"You're not wrong."

"I'm sure this feels more than a bit too familiar to you because of that. Though you may not have encountered it here before, this sort of thing happens on campuses all the time. As teachers – academics, if you will – it's easy enough for us to say that this falls beyond our purview. Our job is to give the students here the tools they need to succeed in life."

Jim nodded, and his boss continued.

"But you can think of this situation as a subtle reminder of our other duties. When parents send their children here, it creates a bond of trust between ourselves, the parents and their children. Effectively, they put their children in our hands. You feel the same way as I do, Jim. Our responsibility lies not only in a student's education, but also their wellbeing. Students need to be capable of depending on us when their wellbeing is at stake, even if their problem lies beyond our expertise. If you need me to simplify that for you, our job as teachers is to help our students in whatever way we can. There is no ethical dilemma here."

Jim looked back at Delmas.

"So, I did the right thing here? What I should have done?"

"I would have thought that went without saying, Jim. But if it's what you need me to say, then yes. You did the right thing."

Jim gave a small smile.

"I'm glad to hear you say that, sir."

He leaned back and looked out the window behind Delmas.

"So where do we go from here? You think this guy Yolande's talking about can help?"

"I can't be certain of that, Jim. I don't think anyone can. If nothing else, this should be a learning experience for all of us."

After a few moments, the two men could hear footsteps outside the office door, followed by a soft knock.

"Come in," said Mr. Delmas, standing from his desk.

The door opened, and in stepped Yolande, followed by her companion. As Yolande led the man in, Jim and Mr. Delmas got a good look at him. He was tall and fit, with a short, neatly groomed beard and long dark hair that reached his shoulders. The man approached with measured steps, looking between the two men. From the new arrival, Jim felt a calm intensity…or an intense calm; he couldn't make up his mind.

"Mr. Delmas?" asked the man.

"Yes," said the principal, rounding the desk and extending a hand. "And you must be Dr. Moreau."

Yolande's guest grasped the principal's hand and shook politely.

"Marc, please."

(A/N: Dr. Marc Moreau – Keanu Reeves)

"It's a pleasure, Marc. Before we begin, I hope you'll accept my apology for asking you to come on such short notice."

"I was actually going to offer you one for having to come in the first place. I can't imagine this is an ideal situation for any of you."

"You've got that right," said Jim.

"Would you care for a refreshment of some kind, doctor?" asked Delmas.

Moreau shook his head.

"I had a late breakfast a short while ago. I think I'll be fine."

Delmas nodded.

"Well, to business, then."

"Yes," said Moreau. "Yolande informed me about the situation, but I'd like to run through the whole thing again, just to make sure I understand everything. That alright by you?"

Delmas shrugged.

"Whatever you need, doctor."

"And for your benefit, I'll tell you a bit about my expertise, so you know who you're working with. As Yolande may have mentioned, I practice both medicine and psychology, and while I'm not exactly specialized in them, I have had good results with patients in the fields of pediatrics and child psychology."

"From what Yolande said of you, you are the man for this particular task," said Delmas.

"Well, before we know for sure, let me continue. If I understand correctly, Jeremie one day started to experience what sound to me like night terrors."

Moreau turned to Jim.

"Mr. Morales…"

"Jim. You can just call me Jim."

"Alright, Jim. I understand you were one of those on-scene when the incident occurred. You described Jeremie as being incoherent when he woke. He had no memory of a nightmare, or any clue what he was doing out of bed?"

"Right. After he woke up, he seemed calm, but confused. But before that…well, I've never seen anything like it, doctor. He seemed panicked. I thought he was awake at first, but I think it was when he didn't respond to his own name that I started to think otherwise."

"And then…one of his friends woke him up. Aelita, was it?"

"That's right," said Jim. "Somehow she managed what no one else could."

"And then after that, Yolande took charge. You and Aelita walked him to the infirmary and the two of them stayed overnight, with Aelita staying as an extra set of hands in case anything else happened."

Yolande approached Moreau.

"I didn't think it was a good idea for him to return to his room at that point."

Moreau faced Yolande as she spoke, then turned back to Delmas.

"From what Yolande tells me, this is a cause of some concern for you all."

Delmas nodded as he retrieved items from his desk.

"Jeremie Belpois is one of our best and brightest students. It's not an unsafe bet to even put him at the top of the list on both counts."

"His P.E. scores could be better," said Jim. "But beyond that, I agree."

Moreau acknowledged their statements with a small grunt.

"I need a physical copy of his student file. I could also use copies of those pertaining to anyone close to him."

Delmas first fished out one file, then he pulled out a few others.

"It's a relatively short list, doctor. Jeremie has a small group of friends he spends his time with."

Moreau picked up the various files and looked through them. Once finished, he closed the folders and looked over at the other adults.

"Mr. Delmas, is that refreshment offer still on the table?"

"Of course. Is there anything in particular you want?"

"Water would be preferred, but coffee would work too."

Delmas reached under his desk for a bottle of water and presented it to the doctor, who gratefully took it.

Jim stretched and addressed the doctor.

"You're the doctor and all, so far be it for me to question your…you know, your procedure or anything, but if you don't mind me asking, why the sudden need for water?"

"Hydration helps keep the brain functional. I like to think it helps the thought process. Call it a hunch, Jim, but after looking at these students of yours, I just get the feeling this might be more complicated than it appears."

Moreau took a few sips from the bottle and addressed the staff.

"Do you mind if I ask a few questions about these friends of Jeremie's?"

"I'm not sure what we could tell you, Doc," said Jim. "But what do you want to know?"

"About how long would you say they've been friends?"

"Well, I would say going on a couple of years now. Aelita is the newest one in the group. She started attending here at the beginning of this year, so I guess a bit shorter for her."

"Just at a glance, they seem like an odd collection, though I'm sure I'll understand them better once I've had the chance to talk to them. You'd be okay with me doing that, of course?"

"As I said before," said Delmas, "whatever you need."

"Good. It will be critical to Jeremie's treatment that I get information from the people he's around most. I will also need to run a physical examination on Jeremie for my notes. I'm sure I don't need to tell any of you this, but a person's physical and mental wellbeing often go hand in hand. In order to get to the root of the problem, I'll need to look at both facets."

He took another small sip of water.

"Back to his friends. Can you tell me a bit about each of them?"

Delmas looked down at the files as he spoke.

"Ulrich Stern is a contender for Kadic Academy's star athlete. Jim can attest to his athletic ability, as well as his popularity among the students. However, he doesn't have the best academic record. He passes - just not with what you would call 'flying colors.' Odd Della Robbia shares a room with Ulrich. He's something of a practical joker and it's not an exaggeration to say he has the worst grades out of the group. Yumi Ishiyama is a year ahead of the bunch, and is also one of the more popular students. In terms of grades, she does fairly well. Aelita Stones is nearly tied with Jeremie for the best grades in the group as well as academic prowess in the whole school."

"And these five are always together?" asked Moreau. "There aren't any other people who hang out in this group?"

"That's a bit of a complicated question," said Jim. "There are a few people they talk to as a group, but not exactly friends. First, there's William Dunbar. Then there's Mr. Delmas's daughter, Elisabeth. We call her Sissi. And she's always with Herve Pichon and Nicholas Poliakoff."

"I'd like copies of their files as well. They might be dead ends, but I don't want to discount them just yet. Have any of the group's teachers other than Jim noticed anything strange from the group?"

Before Delmas could answer, Jim spoke up again.

"They've done a few things that warrant a detention, but I wouldn't say it happens a lot. You might also want to know that…well, it could just be me being suspicious, but they always seem like they're up to something. It would probably bug me a lot less if I had any clue what it might be."

"Your suspicions are understandable, Jim. And certainly not unfounded. Yolande's mentioned quite a few of the things that you're in charge of around here. I can't imagine being in your shoes. But I've often found that keeping secrets is just a thing that kids do. It's almost like a requirement for them. And even the worst ones tend not to be very dire, or even all that interesting. Still…just because it's not interesting, doesn't mean it's worthless. I'll keep that in my notes."

Moreau turned to Delmas again.

"What can you tell me about Jeremie's parents?"

Delmas looked at Jeremie's file as he spoke.

"Father, Michael Belpois and mother, Rachel. Upstanding people. And from what I know, they care very much about their son. Michael was actually once a student here himself, and it's because of him that Jeremie was enrolled here. I have only interacted with them a few times myself, but it was enough to tell that Jeremie came from a loving home."

Moreau looked down at the folders again.

"Before we go any further, I think I had better go ahead and get the physical examination done. If nothing else, I'll get a chance to talk to him a bit before his psychological evaluation. I'll need the infirmary."

"It's all yours," said Delmas. "Yolande can assist if needed."

"Much obliged. Once I've looked him over, I'll come back to you with a game plan."

"Is there anything you'd like us to do in the meantime?" asked Jim.

"I understand you wanting to help, Jim. And if you can, you'll be the first to know. But for now, just let me worry about this."

To Be Continued…