She ran.
Mouth agape in a wordless wail, she ran, the cracked ice of Sector 5 crunching underfoot. The sound of lasers coupled with the sight of them whizzing past her peripheral set her adrenaline on overdrive.
She leapt deftly over a small wall, letting out a soft grunt of effort as she landed on the other side. Lasers bit into the space where she'd been only seconds before. Peeking back over the wall, she watched as the monster rounded the corner from the direction of the tower.
She was no stranger to monsters, but this was one unlike any she'd ever seen. It was massive, and each step it took sent tremors through the ground. Its long tail swung wildly to and fro, the blade at the tip glinting in the faux light. When it realized its prey was no longer in sight, it screeched in anger, digging its sharp-edged claws into the sector.
Her eyes grew wide in horror as more of them materialized before her, seeming to have been summoned by the call.
"Aelita!"
Jeremie.
"Help me!"
She screamed, shooting up in bed. She was drenched in sweat, her fists aching from gripping her blanket for who knew how long. It was that dream again.
No, nightmare.
What did it mean? And why now?
Usually, when Aelita dreamed, she saw memories. But something had changed. A feeling of great dread settled in the pit of her stomach. The only time she could remember having a prophetic dream was of her father in the Celestial Dome, right before he -
A loud knock sounded from her door and she jumped, pulling the covers closer to her face.
"I'm getting sick of you screaming!" a snide voice called from the hallway. Aelita recognized Sissi's voice. "It's been every night for the past week!"
Aelita glanced out her window. It was still the middle of the night, the full moon shining brightly. She snagged her phone out from under her pillow. It was two in the morning.
"I'm sorry, Sissi," Aelita mumbled, putting her phone back.
"Take some melatonin or something to knock you out. It works for me." There was a brief pause before Sissi added, "I don't want to have to tell my father about this."
Aelita had to admit that while Sissi could be annoying, she did try to help — in her own way, at least. She respected her for the attempt.
"Sorry," Aelita repeated in defeat. "I-I'll give it a try." If there was anything that could stop these nightmares, she'd snatch it up in a heartbeat.
"Good." A brief pause. "Good night," Sissi continued, her voice softer than it had been before.
Aelita waited to hear Sissi's door close before she finally relaxed. She flipped onto her stomach and let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in.
She sighed defeatedly into her pillow, knowing by now that she wouldn't be falling back to sleep. Regretfully, she pulled her phone back out and opened the group chat.
Aelita: Any1 awake? (sent less than a minute ago)
Jeremie: Yep (sent less than a minute ago)
Abandoning the warmth of her bed, Aelita padded softly across the carpet to her door. She glanced both ways before exiting, ensuring Jim wasn't on patrol. When she made it to Jeremie's room without incident, she let herself in.
The glow from Jeremie's desktop illuminated the room. Finishing up what he had been working on, he turned toward the door as she closed it behind her. Jeremie readjusted his glasses. "What's up?"
"Couldn't sleep…" Aelita began with a heavy sigh, sprawling out on Jeremie's bed.
He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. "Aelita, my sheets are getting wrinkled."
"Not like you were going to bed anyway," she stated with a sly smile.
"I might've," Jeremie countered with his own smirk. Then turning serious, he added, "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No," Aelita replied hastily.
He watched her steadily. "Should you talk about it?"
Aelita sat up in the bed, leaning against the wall. "I hate it when you ask emotionally intelligent questions," she teased.
"It's becoming more frequent, no?" Jeremie asked with a small wiggle of his eyebrows.
Aelita threw his pillow at him, knocking his glasses askew. "You're spending too much time with Odd." His smile softened as he chuckled softly and corrected his glasses.
She took a deep breath. "I've been having nightmares."
"Again? I thought those had stopped?"
"They have. Had," she corrected. "These are different, Jeremie."
"Different how?"
"They're like the one I had right before…" Aelita's voice faltered. Jeremie stood from his chair and sat next to her on the bed, partially to hear her better, partially just to be nearer to her.
"Like the one you had the morning we defeated XANA?"
"The morning my father died."
Silence followed as Jeremie took Aelita's hand. They stayed like that for a little while, just comforting each other with their presence. He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand in a light circle. "What's in these nightmares?" he finally asked.
"They're horrible," Aelita breathed. "On Lyoko, every one of them. New monsters... I'm always running away from something," she added, her green eyes staring into his blue. "What if…" She broke off, looking away.
"Aelita…" Jeremie warned, wanting to resist such a thought.
"These feel so real," she urged.
Aelita felt Jeremie's gaze on her for what seemed like forever, like he was searching for something. After a moment, he let out a breath. "I believe you."
She looked quickly up at him, her surprise evident. She wanted to question him, to make him clarify what it was he believed, but all she said was, "Okay."
"Do you want to check? The supercomputer."
At first, Aelita thought she'd spoken the words, but it had been Jeremie. She opened and closed her mouth several times before settling on the most pressing matter. "Should we tell the others?"
"It would only be for a few minutes at most. I don't think we'd need to tell them right away," he added, giving her hand a little squeeze. "Besides, if anyone has the right to turn the supercomputer back on, it's you."
She smiled.
~ JEREMIE TITLE CARD
"Remind me again why I shouldn't smother Kiwi while Odd's asleep?" An exhausted Ulrich laid on a bench in Kadic's courtyard with one arm thrown over his eyes, shielding them from the light.
"I think you'd lose your best friend if you murdered his dog," Yumi replied with a hint of humor in her voice. She stood leaning against the bench's backrest.
"I can make new friends," Ulrich muttered as Odd walked up to the pair. He pushed Ulrich's legs off the bench with one foot and slid into the seat. Ulrich groaned at being moved and sat up to stare daggers at Odd.
"You aren't talking about my cute little diggity dog, are you?" Odd asked.
"Your 'cute little diggity dog' peed all over the foot of my bed last night. I had to sleep on the floor!"
"Aw, that's just Kiwi's way of saying he missed you," Odd said with a dismissive wave of his hand. Ulrich rolled his eyes.
"God, I missed you guys." Yumi turned and hugged the boys over the back of the bench. Ulrich's cheeks turned pink at her touch.
Not one to miss an opportunity for teasing, Odd replied, "Yeah, Ulrich must have missed you too. You should have heard the way he spoke in his sleep! I didn't think he would survive your semester abroad, I really didn't."
"Odd!" Ulrich hissed sharply, smacking his friend in the back of the head. "Shut up!" Both Yumi and Ulrich were blushing now, and they avoided looking at each other.
Odd turned in his seat so he could look up at Yumi. "But seriously, it's good to have you back. Add two Einsteins to this mix and the Lyoko Warriors will be united once again!"
"Without the Lyoko part," Yumi cut in pointedly.
"We'll always be the Lyoko Warriors." Ulrich glanced up at Yumi. "It's just part of who we are now."
Yumi made a small noise with a nod of her head. Odd flopped dramatically onto Ulrich's shoulder, the back of his hand to his forehead.
"What are you doing?" Ulrich grumbled, pulling away from Odd as much as he could.
"When are we going to eat? I'm withering away!" Odd groaned.
"After all these years I would've thought your metabolism would be normal by now," Yumi laughed.
Odd shot up on his feet. "I'm still growing! If you couldn't tell," he added, moving to stand next to Yumi for a size comparison. His forehead was now level with her nose.
She shoved him away playfully. "You're lucky you did, or I would've told you your hair didn't count."
"Cut that too," he chirped, pointing at his hair with a giant grin. "But seriously, can we go now?"
"You're willing to abandon the two lovebirds?" Ulrich chimed in, smirking.
Odd waved dismissively. "They're probably just cuddling, they can join us later."
Yumi elbowed Odd in the ribs, causing him to double over with a grunt of surprise. "Moron," she teased with a smirk.
Odd straightened, rubbing his sore ribs. "Oh, speak of the geniuses," he uttered. With a majestic bow, he greeted the approaching duo. "Thank you for gracing us with your presence, your majesties."
Jeremie's eyes were trained on his phone as they joined the group. "Hm? What's that?" Jeremie asked, obviously distracted. Meanwhile, Aelita appeared not to have slept in days, prominent dark circles rimming her eyes.
"Hurry up! I'm literally starving over here." Odd took Jeremie and Aelita each by the hand and proceeded to drag them to the cafeteria. They both let out small grunts in surprise.
"Leave some for the rest of us!" Ulrich called after their rapidly retreating forms. He stood, and he and Yumi followed at a leisurely pace.
"Did something seem off to you about Aelita and Jeremie?" Yumi questioned as they walked.
"Not really," Ulrich replied. "Why?"
"Well for one, Jeremie didn't correct Odd's use of the word 'literally'."
Ulrich hummed thoughtfully but didn't respond.
The five reconvened at their usual table with loaded trays.
"...because if Aelita's a princess, you'd be the prince," Odd chattered away through mouthfuls of food. "But then I guess you aren't married so you wouldn't necessarily be a prince…but politics. You're definitely a prince, just from another kingdom."
Ulrich sat across from Odd looking disgusted. "How do you eat, breathe, and talk all at the same time?"
"It's called talent, good buddy."
Jeremie was scrolling through his phone under the table. Yumi looked between him and Aelita, growing more concerned with each passing minute.
"Aelita, Jeremie," she interrupted Odd's rambling. "What's going on? You two have been very quiet."
They both jumped at the sound of their names, Jeremie knocking the underside of the table in the process. "Ow," he muttered, but said nothing more, deferring to Aelita. Ulrich and Odd exchanged looks of confusion.
"Aelita?" Yumi prompted. She reached across the table to take her friend's hand. "You look tired. Is it the nightmares again?"
Reality seemed to set in for Aelita and tears welled up in her eyes. Her lips trembled as she looked up from her untouched food to Yumi's caring expression. Odd and Ulrich both set their silverware down and looked on in concern. Jeremie, however, was still lost in thought, his hand to his chin as he resumed scrolling through his phone.
"I can't do this anymore," Aelita sobbed, drawing the attention of the students from the surrounding tables. Yumi's brows contorted in pity.
"Hey! Mind your own business!" Odd called out, rising partially from his chair and glaring at anyone looking at their table. The other students turned back to their own breakfasts. Sitting back down, he asked Aelita, "Do you want to talk about it, Princess?"
Aelita pulled her hand back from Yumi to wipe the tears from her face. "It's variations of the same dream," she began tentatively. "I'm always running. Running away from a new monster on Lyoko. And every one of them…" Aelita broke off, her eyes darting from one person to the next. "In every one of them, someone is lost."
Odd's brows furrowed in concern, but Ulrich and Yumi's expressions remained unchanged. Odd opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Ulrich.
"I've had nightmares like that too," he replied. "New monsters and stuff that I'd never seen before. I honestly just chalk it up to past trauma from fighting you-know-who."
"But these are different!" Aelita interjected. "Up until now, my past dreams of Lyoko have always been memories."
Ulrich shrugged. "That's just how dreams work, Princess. They can be things from the past or present, but they can also be things our minds throw together just to see how we'd react."
"I know they're terrifying," Yumi added, and Aelita turned to her. "And I am sorry that it's happening to you, really I am. But don't you think that returning to campus with the new school year could be causing your subconscious to conjure up these dreams?"
Jeremie looked up from his phone now, his face as white as a ghost. Quickly, he cleaned his glasses and put his phone away.
After a moment, Aelita sighed, her shoulders drooping. Truth be told, she kind of figured that the rest of the group wouldn't believe her.
Abruptly, Sissi appeared at the foot of the table.
"I said 'mind your own business,'" Odd said by way of greeting.
Wordlessly, she placed a bottle of melatonin gummies in front of Aelita. With a "hmph" and a flip of her hair, she walked away. The group stared after Sissi in incredulous silence, but none of them asked about the bottle.
"So Ulrich," Odd broke the awkward silence. "Are you gonna eat that?" He pointed at Ulrich's croissant.
Ulrich glanced down at it in surprise, like he didn't remember grabbing it. He tore off a small chunk for himself and threw the rest at Odd.
The pastry bounced off Odd's face before dropping onto his plate. He shrugged before eating it, the whole exchange causing the group – even Aelita – to laugh.
Too soon, the breakfast period was over and it was time to head to classes. Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi stood to put away their trays. Jeremie stood to join them, but Aelita caught a corner of his shirt.
"Jeremie," she whispered conspiratorially. He sat back down and leaned in close. "Are we still on for the factory after classes?"
With an expression Aelita couldn't decipher, Jeremie replied, "Yeah."
~ AELITA TITLE CARD
Jeremie and Aelita quietly made their way into the park, surrounded by the sounds of birdsong and the crunching of leaves underfoot. The sun was slowly setting into the horizon, bathing the forest around them in a soft orange glow.
Jeremie pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking for anything new. Aelita eyed him curiously from the corner of her eye. It was like a religious thing, this new smartphone. How it had captured the general public like a rat trapped in a maze. She counted herself lucky that she didn't feel the need to rely on it so much.
Coming up to the familiar surroundings, they slowed to a halt. Aelita crouched at the manhole cover and touched the edge, fingers tracing the overgrowth that had grown over it. "Wow," she breathed finally, a sad smile on her lips.
"It's been a while, huh?" Jeremie replied, hands in his pockets. Aelita turned back to look at him.
"Yeah…" she mumbled, voice melancholic. "It's almost sad seeing it like this."
Jeremie glanced around his feet. Finding two sticks, he knelt down beside Aelita and handed her one. Together they chipped away at the edges until they could pry it free.
Faces staring into the dark abyss of the sewers, Jeremie glanced back up at Aelita with an adventurous smirk. "Ready?"
Aelita nodded with determination, being the first to set foot on the ladder after all that time.
She waited for Jeremie to finish his descent. He reached for the scooter that wasn't there and quickly withdrew his hand in embarrassment. They'd long since removed their scooters and skateboards from the tunnel, not thinking they'd ever be back here. Aelita gave him a knowing smile and took his hand, interlacing her fingers betwixt his. Jeremie's cheeks turned pink.
They walked in silence for a short distance, their minds in different places. Aelita chuckled to herself.
"What's funny?" Jeremie asked, glancing at her as they continued walking, hands swinging lightly between them.
"Do you remember that one time Odd brought Kiwi down here, and the dog immediately jumped into the sewer water?" she giggled again. Jeremie smiled in remembrance.
"That was great," he laughed. "Ulrich was so mad! I'm sure there's nothing quite like the combination of wet-sewer-dog and Odd's feet."
"He's always been the strongest Lyoko warrior," Aelita noted in agreement.
Picking up on Aelita's jovial mood, Jeremie recalled, "There was also that time Yumi and Ulrich were fighting over the phone, and Ulrich pretended to lose connection in a 'tunnel.'" He made air quotes with one hand. "But when he came up the ladder to the bridge, Yumi was standing there!"
Aelita's laugh brightened the passage. "I mean, he wasn't exactly lying. He was in a tunnel."
They reached the ladder leading to the bridge. Stepping back, Jeremie motioned Aelita ahead. She climbed with ease and smiled down at him before proceeding to push the manhole cover aside. She walked to the edge of the bridge to look through the suspension cables at the water below. The sun rested on the horizon, but the water below her was dark. There was a soft clang behind her as Jeremie dropped the cover back into place.
The pleasant memories seemed farther away the closer they got to the factory. A trip down the old cables, a silent elevator ride, and they were there. The room before them was cold and dark.
"Are you alright?" Jeremie gently asked when Aelita made no move to exit the lift.
Of course she wasn't. But instead of voicing her thoughts, Aelita simply nodded. She walked over and flipped the switch on the wall. There was a hiss of steam and the whirring of mechanical parts as the mainframe rose from the dead.
Jeremie joined her by the wall. They watched the two cylindrical towers comprising the supercomputer fill the room before them. When it was done, an oppressive silence descended upon them.
They walked forward, stopping in front of the lever. Aelita shivered - in anticipation or fear, she couldn't tell - and Jeremie wrapped one arm protectively around her shoulders.
"Are you sure we should do this?" she asked, looking up into his face. Just when did he get taller than her?
"I trust you." He stared back into her eyes. Resolved, Aelita reached out to grab hold of the lever. Jeremie rested his hand over hers.
Together, they flipped the switch.
A steady hum filled the room as the lights on the panel in front of them flashed to life, followed by a blast of air that blew their hair toward the ceiling. They both quickly patted it back into place, glancing over at each other before letting out some uncontrollable giggles.
Full of vigor now, they turned and raced to the elevator, their laughs echoing throughout the chamber.
"I win," Jeremie huffed, out of breath with his hands on his knees.
Aelita was also breathing heavily, but she was more accustomed to spurts of physical activity. Still, she was surprised that Jeremie had managed to beat her to the elevator. Aelita reached around him to press the button and input the code.
The doors opened one floor up, revealing the scanner room where they'd been so many times before. Aelita hesitantly stepped forward before turning her head back to Jeremie in uncertainty. With a nod full of confidence – and a thumbs-up – Aelita felt a bit better. She stepped into the room, the elevator doors closing behind her as Jeremie continued upward.
Aelita made her way forward, skirting around the outsides of the scanners. She placed her hand against them, tracing their surfaces and grooves. She had always been amazed by this technology. Aelita wondered that if things had been different, would her father have allowed her to help build them?
Thinking about her father now, Aelita's gaze dropped to the floor. Her mind was racing.
Up in the control room, Jeremie strode up to his chair with purpose. He placed his hand on the seat and hopped up. The chair spun around the panel, taking its usual place in front of the three monitors. His earpiece rested on the keyboard. He reached for it, but hesitated before picking it up, frowning.
Of course there was a part of him that never wanted this – never wanted all the stress, constant battles, and injuries that filled their days – to ever happen again. He shook his head as if he could shake his doubts away. And then without further delay he snatched up the earpiece, placing it in his ear. Jeremie cleared his throat before pressing the 'ENTER' key.
The three monitors booted up, followed by a loading bar on the main screen. He waited patiently as it filled, cleaning his glasses of stray eyelashes. When the screens finally loaded, the holomap behind the controls rebooted as well. Jeremie looked between the monitors, letting out a noise of surprise.
Down below, Aelita jumped upon hearing his voice over the intercom. "What's wrong, Jeremie?" she asked, her voice raised a bit louder than normal so he could hear her.
Jeremie fell back into the familiar rhythm, typing away at the keyboard. "It's nothing. Only Sector 5 remains from the aftermath of the multi-agent program. But that's okay," he added, several boxes and programs popping up on screen. "That's where we wanted to look anyway."
Aelita nodded as the open scanner let out a hissing noise. She turned towards it, seeing the fog rolling out of its base as it reset.
"I'm starting up the virtualization process," Jeremie's voice boomed overhead. "Are you ready, Aelita?"
With a deep breath, she entered the scanner. "I'm ready."
"Transfer, Aelita-"
The doors closed and the fog rolled away. The internal lights had always blinded her, but she never let it bother her too much. The hum was growing louder.
"Scanner, Aelita-"
Aelita closed her eyes as she felt herself floating, the air flowing around her.
"Virtualization!"
~ ODD TITLE CARD
"Aelita, can you hear me?" Jeremie's disembodied voice resonated through the circular room.
"Loud and clear, Jeremie." She stood from the crouch she'd landed in.
Starting forward, she took in her surroundings while readjusting to the lack of sensation from virtualization. After months without trips to Lyoko, Aelita had grown accustomed to her body on Earth. She was disoriented, and wondered if she'd felt this way the very first time she'd been materialized.
But no. Aelita didn't just feel disoriented, she felt uneasy.
"Jeremie, something's different."
"Hm? What's that?" He paused in his typing. As soon as he'd seen Aelita successfully materialized, he'd started up a few diagnostic scans to identify other potential damages from the multi-agent program.
"Never mind." She was being paranoid.
When running from monsters or racing to trip a key, she'd never been able to appreciate just how vast Sector 5 was. There were plenty of tight halls and low ceilings, but there were equal amounts of sprawling chambers whose walls she couldn't see the tops of. It was like walking through a city; a city made of white and blue skyscrapers.
She wasn't stalling, she was simply admiring her father's architecture.
All the same, she made it to the edge of the sector rather quickly. She stepped onto the elevator platform that would take her to the Celestial Dome. The elevator zipped up and around the sphere at the heart of Lyoko. She noted, with some sadness, that the data tunnels once leading to the surface sectors of Lyoko were gone.
In the factory's control room, the diagnostic scans finished running. Jeremie leaned back in his chair and folded his hands in front of himself. The scan was clean. So what was that strange signal he'd picked up on his phone during breakfast?
Aelita screamed from Lyoko. Panicked, Jeremie scooted to the front of his seat and began typing.
"Aelita?!" he shouted. She hadn't lost any life points and there was no indication of monsters. "Aelita!"
Her scream devolved into sobbing and Jeremie understood. He deflated back into his chair. Of course returning to the site of her father's death would be painful, traumatic even. Maybe Yumi and Ulrich were right after all and Aelita's dreams were the result of past trauma. And he was probably making something out of nothing with that signal he'd noticed. Jeremie felt a strange combination of relief and disappointment in what they had, or more accurately, had not found on the supercomputer.
He sighed. "Aelita, I'm bringing you in."
He set the materialization program in motion, tossed his earpiece unceremoniously onto the keyboard, and started down the ladder to the scanner room because he was unwilling to wait for the elevator.
Jeremie stood in front of the scanner. With a hiss, the doors parted revealing Aelita. She looked so small in that moment with tears pooling in her eyes and trailing down her face.
"Jeremie."
She said his name like she was pleading for something, like she was asking him to take the pain away. She reached for him and he pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back in small, comforting circles.
~ YUMI TITLE CARD
Yumi's plan for her afternoon:
Finish classes
Work on homework in the library
Read for fun somewhere outside (it had been a beautiful day)
She'd accomplished the first two items with relative ease.
After classes let out, Ulrich and a begrudging Odd joined her in the library. Ulrich at least got out a textbook, but neither of them achieved much of anything, instead coloring a comic strip Odd had been working on.
Boys.
As for her third task, well - the trio left the library and made their way to the last patch of sunlight remaining at the edge of the forest. Yumi sat against one of the trees and pulled out her book, squinting at the words displayed on the pages.
Meanwhile, Ulrich pulled out a hacky sack, waving it mischievously in front of Odd. Of course, he was quite skilled from his years playing football. Odd was less so, but he made up for it with speed and his absurd flexibility.
The pair laughed frequently, teasing each other genially whenever one of them missed. About 15 minutes into the boys' game, Yumi gave up on trying to read, watching them over the top of her book.
Ulrich took possession of the hacky sack and started a spontaneous game of keep away, fending Odd off with his arms while keeping it in the air. It was impressive, to say the least. But like all great empires, his reign soon came to an end when Odd pushed him a little too hard. The blond proceeded to then kick the hacky sack into the woods in revenge.
"Aw, come on!" Ulrich complained from the ground before standing and tackling Odd in turn. Both of the boys tumbled unceremoniously near the edge of the park, letting out small bits of laughter as they struggled.
The sound of branches cracking underfoot alerted the three, and they snapped their attention in the sound's direction. Aelita and Jeremie exited the forest path, Jeremie with the hacky sack in hand. Aelita's eyes seemed puffier - if that was even possible. Yumi's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Hey," Odd grunted from his position pinned to the ground. Ulrich rolled off him and scrambled to his feet, while Odd straightened and brushed stray leaves from his hair.
Jeremie lifted the hacky sack like it was a prize. "Missing something?"
"What were you two doing in the woods?" Yumi asked, her gaze intense. She closed her book with a snap.
Misinterpreting her question, Odd whistled suggestively. Yumi turned her glare on him before looking back at the two in question.
"I know you are both too smart to be coming from where I think you were," Yumi continued, daring them to contradict her.
Jeremie groaned in annoyance and tossed the hacky sack in Ulrich's general direction. "Well I guess we don't need to worry about finding a way to bring this up," he muttered to Aelita.
Confidently, Aelita stepped forward. "We turned on the supercomputer."
For a moment, the others gaped at her. Odd and Ulrich exchanged glances, but Yumi - if she could - looked even more furious.
"You did what!" Yumi shrieked. Aelita's momentary confidence dissipated.
"Yumi," Ulrich warned, putting a finger to his lips. Odd stuck a finger in his ear and rotated it, having been deafened by her outburst.
Quieter, but with decidedly more malice than before, Yumi demanded, "Explain yourselves."
And so Jeremie did, providing a summary of their afternoon.
"Of all the bull-headed –"
"Lay off, would you?" Jeremie interrupted. "There was nothing there anyways. No harm done."
"It sounds like they had good enough reason; to be honest, I believe Aelita," Odd defended.
"You could've at least told us first," Ulrich threw in, arms crossed.
"Uh. Is this a bad time?"
William stood just outside of their haphazardly-formed circle, hands in his pockets.
Upon hearing his voice, Ulrich rolled his eyes. "Don't you have anywhere else to be?" he grumbled, shooting daggers at William. The ebony-haired teen returned the daggers to Ulrich, but otherwise ignored him.
"How long were you standing there?" Aelita questioned.
"Long enough." William shrugged and continued. "I need to talk to you. It's about Lyoko."
"We don't want to talk about that with you," Odd said with a coldness to rival Ulrich's.
A ping sounded from Jeremie's bag. Kneeling to the ground, he pulled out his laptop.
Speaking directly to Aelita now, William continued. "I've been having these weird dreams."
"Sometimes a dream is just a dream," Ulrich grumbled under his breath.
"Weird how?" Aelita asked.
Night had now fallen, the darkness bringing with it a brisk chill, the stars above peeking out from behind low-hanging clouds. When Jeremie opened his laptop, he had to squint until his eyes adjusted to the brightness of the screen.
"There were these monsters I've never seen before," William explained softly.
"What were they like?" Aelita's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Large claws, spiky tail. Almost like a scorpion."
Aelita let out a gasp, covering her mouth in horror.
Though no one was paying any attention to him, Jeremie's face was identical to Aelita's. On his screen, with no identifiable source, were two words:
"Hello, Jeremie."