A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you're all having a nice day. As a major Lyoko fan, I always thought that William was done dirty by the rushed ending of the show. I thought there should have been more time to set him up as a good guy, or at least allow him a role in the final episode to complete his redemption. For all my fellow William fans, look no further than this fanfiction. I want to explore William's thought process since going to Lyoko and flesh out his role in the final battle against X.A.N.A. I'll admit, i'm not a very experienced writer. So I want to just post this first chapter and see what you all think of it. Also planning to post this on Archive of Our Own.

At Kadic Academy, William Dunbar let out a yawn as he rose from his bed, arms stretched out. He rubbed his head as he took a deep breath and looked at his surroundings. From a nearby lamp, a black goo of sorts emerged and gently placed down it's light bulb.

"No...NO! NOT AGAIN!"

He screamed, as the black specter dove towards him and went into his ears. The teenager's body flickered like static as he covered his ears, falling to his knees as he sobbed.

"NO! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

William squeezed his head so hard as if he were trying to squash a pumpkin, blinking like there was no tomorrow. His screams did little to block out the voice in his head.

"Did you truly believe that you are rid of me forever? You are my servant. You have spent months hurting your friends and you will continue to do so."

"I...will...NEVER serve you again!" William panted.

His body continued flickering as he walked towards a mirror, seeing the Eye of X.A.N.A. flicking in and out of his pupils. Control over himself slipping away.

"Enough of this. You will bend to my will and do as you are told because it is in your very nature to obey."

"P...Please...Please don't do this..."

William couldn't do this again. His heart and soul couldn't take yet another possession. Not when he had just regained his freedom. He tried to beg, but it would not save him from the inevitable.

"I am a flawless program, and you are only human."

William let out one last scream before his will faded away.

Or so he thought.

William Dunbar once again rode out of bed with a scream. The nightmare had ended, but the terror had not. He put his hands to his face as he sobbed to himself.

Why couldn't I just listen to Jeremie? Why did I have to storm right into that freaking jellyfish?

The last thing he remembered months ago was being entrusted with the secret he had long wondered about his friends. About his crush, Yumi Ishiyama. William had always been a troublesome boy. He was kicked out of his last school for posting love letters all over the place, and even got a restraining order placed on himself from that crush.

Heh. I was an idiot even back then.

He was no less theatrical at Kadic, and William had plenty of time to reflect on his actions. Only now did he realize what made him end up in the evil A.I.'s clutches. William had thought about all the possibilities that he could've been recruited earlier, and perhaps been given earlier instructions on the dangers, how he first learned of this mess.

One day, he had snuck out of detention to find Yumi being attacked by their P.E. teacher, their science teacher, and around a dozen students. After that, he woke up back at his deck in detention as if nothing had happened. As if it had all been dream. Then one day he learned that in fact wasn't a dream at all. Yumi had sat down with him on a bench in Kadic at one day and bluntly told him both her secrets, and why she voted against him.

And her reasoning wasn't wrong; it was worse than that. She was right.

While he had stopped short of planting love letters all over Kadic, his theatrics hadn't toned down. Yumi had told him about the time she had literally bumped into her on his skateboard just to talk to her. William had always loved to think of himself as a "Ladies man", but what kind of man was he when he couldn't leave a girl alone after she had told him "No" bluntly and repeatedly? His parents had wasted no time in lecturing him, but still William persisted in his routines.

I guess I got what I wanted didn't I?

Finally, Yumi and her friends had taken him to the abandoned Factory and told him everything. They had been fighting a virtual A.I. that sought to destroy humanity, and they had been doing it all by themselves. That was where they had been sneaking off to all this time, and according to Odd Della Robbia, he once drove one of X.A.N.A's monsters down an elevator. William smiled at the thought, allowing himself some reprieve from his self-pity.

On his very first mission to the virtual world, William hadn't taken the situation seriously. He laid into those brown creatures called "Creepers" with near zero effort with his massive claymore. He felt confident that he could take on anything, ignoring all the warnings he had from Jeremie Belopis and charged right that jellyfish creature called the Scyphozoa. After all, it hadn't moved an inch and only had some tentacles. What could go wrong?"

Everything, William. Everything went wrong that day because you were so self-righteous. So hot-headed and ready to prove yourself to Yumi.

William couldn't help but let out some more sobs as tears went down his cheeks. Under the evil A.I.'s control, he hurt his friends repeatedly. One time, he nearly killed Jeremie at the Factory and "slaughtered" Yumi and her friends on Lyoko repeatedly. All he wanted to do was just have some fun. He just wanted to help. Instead, he nearly doomed the entire world and everyone he knew with it.

"William?"

William looked up to see Aelita Stone -or, Aelita Hopper, as he now knew- opening the door. She was still in her pajamas, a look on concern on her face. Out of the group, Aelita was by far the person he knew the least. Yet perhaps the most he could related to. She walked over to his bed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Aelita asked as she put her hand on his shoulder. William stared up at her. Yumi and Ulrich had literally rushed him into a hug when they had finally freed him from X.A.N.A.'s clutches, but he had no illusions that the group would be so forgiving of him after all that happened. Still, he would take any chance he would get.

"What's there to talk about Aelita?" William asked her, his voice quiet but filled with clear sorrow. "Any chance I had being in your group, or being on Yumi's good side, died that day when I ignored you and Jeremie in Sector Five. Aelita...I'm so sorry. I was so stupid and-"

"Hey. Hey." Aelita sat down on the bed and put her hand on William's arm. "Look, you're not the only one's who has done stupid things William. We're teenagers. You were caught by the Scyphozoa once. I was caught dozens, I repeat dozens, of times." She punctuates the number for emphasis.

Dozens of times? How on Earth are you still stable after getting grabbed that many times by that thing? William didn't say the thought aloud, the surprise overtaking him.

"I even went to Sector Five alone once when X.A.N.A. plagued me with visions once. It was stupid, it was impulsive, and I could have simply stopped the visions by deactivating the tower. I risked my life that day, all for answers to something that wasn't obtainable."

William shook his head at her. "That's different. You were desperate for answers. I was in over my head, and the consequences after that were so much greater than whatever you did that day." He looked down at his hands as if expecting to see blood on them. "I was X.A.N.A.'s tool, a pet. I nearly killed you all."

"And so did I, more than once." William's eyes grew bigger. "Sometimes when the Scyphozoa grabbed me, it used me to destroy sectors. There were times when Yumi, Ulrich and Odd nearly plummeted to our deaths because of me. William, you're not the only one who's been used by X.A.N.A. I don't blame you. Neither does Yumi. Not Odd. Not Jeremie. Not even Ulrich."

Aelita brought up a tissue and wiped the tears off of William's face. He stared at her face, trying to muster up words.

How were they being so calm about this? How did to take for them to get to this point? How much misery and pain did they have to endure? Why is it so hard for me to accept that this wasn't my fault? How can I move on from this?

"It would be hypocritical to hate you for doing things you couldn't control William. And for the record, it wasn't just you and me that were caught by the Scyphozoa. Yumi was one time too.So we can add her to the list of 'ouch, I got grabbed by a squirmy jellyfish' too."

William's head spun at the thought of that thing wrapping it's tentacles around Yumi. He imagined himself slicing off all it's tentacles with his giant claymore if he were there. In fact, that was exactly what he would have done.

"So you see William? You're not a bad man. You made mistakes, but all of us have too. But you can't let it get you. Don't let it stay on your mind. Despite everything that's happened, you're still our friend. Come on, sit with us for lunch this afternoon. Jermeie's been working on his Anti-X.A.N.A. program."

"That soon?" William's eyes grew wide as the words spurted out of him. She just smiled at him. That smile. He thought of her briefly like an angel. Her pink dress, her eagerness to forgive. He could see why Jeremie had called her the "heart" of the group. William could even see the look that Aelita had when Jeremie did that. They were going to kiss and make out, he figured out quickly. It was only a matter of time. He was happy for them.

"Of course. William, the moment you stepped into that scanner and committed yourself to fighting X.A.N.A., you became one of us. There's no going back from that. Let's talk about it together. Besides...I think we need all the help we can get." By the tone of her voice, William took see that she had a heavy burden on her shoulders. He allowed himself to wonder if she too were suffering from nightmares.

For years, they've been fighting this X.A.N.A. monster. I've only been at it one day and I've been reduced to...this.

"Aelita...I'm sorry. For everything. Not only for not listening to you, but throwing you into the Digital Sea. For attacking your friends, and-"

"Don't beat yourself up over this" Aelita interrupted. "And if you do...I'll tell you about the time Jeremie mistook another girl for me and almost got himself arrested." William couldn't help but let out a chuckle from that tale. Instantly, he wanted more, but Aelita gently closed the door on him and left him to his thoughts. Taking a deep breath, William got up out of bed and got dressed, thinking to himself.

If Jeremie really is building up this Anti-X.A.N.A. Program or whatever it is, he can make sure X.A.N.A. never hurts me again. But...

X.A.N.A. could do anything, he remembered. His memories during his time as X.A.N.A.'s pawn were very limited, but there were some plots he remembered. X.A.N.A. had instructed him to toss Aelita into the digital sea after he lured her into Lyoko by launching a meteor at Earth. He could kill them all. Aelita, Odd, Jeremie, Ulrich, and even...

No. No more.

William Dunbar would not stand by and let this world fall into ruin, even if Yumi and the others appreciated his aid or not. He couldn't just do nothing and let them take on the thing that had enslaved him. Used him. His eyes had the fierce determination on them that flashed when he first entered the scanner that day. He clenched his fists.

If you think i'm going to just run away like a coward and let you win, X.A.N.A. You have another thing coming.

I'm coming for you. For everything you did, We're going to make you pay. You'll never hurt another human being again.

You will never hurt her.

A/N: Gods, I love Aelita. She's always so kind and bubbly, but also naive and vulnerable. I totally could see her and William bonding over their shared possessions and trauma by X.A.N.A if a true season 5 got made. Should I decide to continue depending on reception, I'm planning to have him have these heart-to-heart talks with the other Lyoko Warriors before we get to the action. Don't hesitate to critique or comment. A novice writer like me could use it.