Aelita was sitting on her bed, looking at the ceiling and scratching Maya's ear, who was peacefully sleeping on her chest. She recalled the memory of the event earlier this day and thought what would happen if she stayed quiet, or didn't move.
Would they...undress me? She thought when she recalled the feeling of the guy's hand almost grabbing her underwear down.
Surely they would. I can't protect myself. Aelita thought again and sighed. She looked at the alarm clock, displaying it was only 6 in the evening. The dinner is till 8.
She picked the cat up, woke her up, kissed her head, and placed her down on the bed. Standing up and stretching her arms, she grabbed her coat off the hanger and walked out of her room.
From the time she got back from the shopping, she had seen no one. She at least hoped that Odd would be out because she really wanted to hear at least one joke, but of course, she wanted to see Jeremie the most.
Walking out of the dorm building and looking up, there were gray clouds approaching the town, and it began to get colder. She buttoned up her coat right to her neck and resumed her walking.
"Miss Schaeffer!" She heard, stopping in her tracks. Turning around, she saw Jim walking towards her, but he wasn't angry.
"Yes, sir?" Aelita responded as he came close to her, stuffing her hands into her pockets.
"Be back till 9, because the snow could make it dangerous to walk," Jim said. "When I was your age I stayed out in a snowstorm."
"Snowstorm?" "I'd rather not talk about it," Jim said. "Okay, be safe."
Aelita nodded, surprised that the teacher didn't want a pass, and she continued going towards the forest, where she was headed.
Jim was always really strict with everyone, except her. She can't remember a time when he was angry with her like Aelita was the nicest person in the whole school. Yes, she was nice and had good marks in every subject, but she was far from being the nicest one to be treated specially than everyone else.
Soon enough, she came to her destination; the sewer entrance, which was beginning to overgrow with weeds. She kneeled down, and grabbed the handle on the cover, feeling the cold run into her fingers. She stepped into the hole, climbing down the ladder.
It was slightly warmer in the sewers than it was outside, which was surprising. Her shoes weren't the best for the sewers and the weather outside in general, because they were getting wet.
/-/-/-/
The doors opened, revealing the supercomputer on, doing some calculations. She walked closer to it, noticing the blankets hanging on the chair.
Jeremie left them here? Why? Aelita thought, taking down her coat because it wasn't cold in the laboratory as it was outside. She hung the coat on the chair and sat down.
The calculations that the computer was making were for some kind of vehicle. One looked like a skateboard, but without the wheels, the other one was a motorcycle with just one wheel, and the last one was...she didn't know what was it.
Minimizing all of the windows, she opened another program called "Big Fat Cheese Head", which was really easily accessible from the desktop, and set the timer for 2 minutes. Pressing Enter, she immediately heard one of the scanners open a floor lower.
She stood up, walked to the hatch, and opened it, revealing the ladder that the others used way too much. Climbing down, she mentally kept count of the seconds remaining. Once she was down, she walked right toward the opened scanner and stepped inside.
She was quite fast, and the timer still haven't reached the end, so she just closed her eyes, getting ready to be virtualized to Lyoko.
She was fully aware of the self-virtualization program, she and Jeremie made it one night, but it was never used. Frankly, Jeremie was almost always ready to send them to Lyoko by himself, but also that no one except her and Jeremie knew about it.
And now, the door closed, and the inside light turned on, indicating the transfer began.
---/LYOKO/---
Aelita fell down on the platform, immediately looking around. There was no one since XANA couldn't possibly know that she was coming.
The girl walked around, seeing a neutral tower not that far from her.
Even though she won't tell this to anyone; she loved Lyoko. It was a place where you could live and not care about the outside world. There weren't any responsibilities, curfews, not even rules. It was a free world.
And after the event that happened earlier, she knew at that moment she wasn't free. She isn't free even in school. She can only be free here.
And, she was special; Aelita Schaeffer-Hopper as she was known could just randomly disappear, and no one would care, they wouldn't probably notice. But Aelita the girl that got brought back to the real world firstly known as an AI, would be probably missed by the only four people knowing her real past.
Aelita slowly walked to the edge of the platform and sat down. She chose the ice sector because there was always a dark sky in it.
Her legs were freely hanging down, as she stared at the Digital Sea.
"Dad." She began. "I miss you."
She knew her dad must be somewhere in Lyoko, alive, but may be unable to move.
"If you need help, just tell me," Aelita said. "I know you can hear me, and I won't be mad. You saved my life."
Something strange happened to Aelita...she began crying. In Lyoko. She wasn't paying that much attention to the cries, which weren't even possible in Lyoko, she just hoped that randomly, her dad will jump up, and allows her to hug him, even if only digitally.
"Dad. I'll do everything I can to get you back to the real world." Aelita resumed, wiping her tears. "I know it is possible, it happened to me."
Aelita giggled, remembering how she came back to the real world after Jeremie successfully devirtualized her.
"My friend, Jeremie, was the one that materialized me back onto Earth, and it was the best thing that happened to me," Aelita said, now slightly smiling. "I enrolled in school, which I think I attended before we stepped inside Lyoko. I found amazing friends. And...I found someone I love."
Aelita didn't even know how she said it aloud, maybe being alone in the sector, just hoping she was talking to her dad made her ease.
"Jeremie is a great guy, Dad. If you would see him, I...I think you wouldn't mind that I like him." Aelita finished and closed her eyes.
She knew that her dad was there, she just knew it.
"AELITA!!!"
She opened her eyes, seeing she was still in the same place as before. The sound, the voice...it was Jeremie.
"Aelita, Aelita!!" She kept hearing.
"Jeremie?" Aelita said, not understanding why she was hearing his voice.
"Oh, thank god you are alright," Jeremie said.
"How...How did you find me?" Aelita asked, hoping Jeremie won't be mad. She knew that he didn't like her being alone in Lyoko.
"You weren't in school, and the snowstorm came, so I went looking for you," Jeremie said. "I was in the Hermitage, and then went here, and I am glad that you are okay."
Aelita smiled, hearing that Jeremie wasn't angry. There was a moment of silence as Aelita kept looking at the Digital Sea, hoping her dad will come out soon.
"Can I...bring you back?" Jeremie asked.
"Yeah, bring me back," Aelita replied, wiping her eyes again as she felt some tears coming out. Soon, she began disappearing into a cloud of pixels, and in a few moments, she was back in the scanner. As soon as it opened, Jeremie stood in front of it, waiting for her.
"You got me worried," Jeremie said, opening his arms for Aelita, who gladly walked into his embrace.
"I'm sorry." "Don't be," Jeremie said, rubbing her back. "You probably had good reason to go there, and I trust you."
"But, I should've told you. You would be at least here." Aelita said. "And you would know where am I."
"Yeah, that's a valid point, but..." Jeremie pushed Aelita slightly away from him just to look into her face. "You are okay, and that's the main thing."
Aelita nodded and smiled. He really was a great guy. He understood her really easily.
"You mentioned the snowstorm," Aelita said. "How bad is it?"
"Well, if we walk out of the factory, we will reach the sewer hole in about a day or more." Jeremie chuckled. "It's snowing really hard."
"And Jim? Did he see you leaving?" Aelita asked as Jeremie shook his head in response. "So...we could stay here."
Jeremie nodded, and let go of Aelita, to let her walk towards the elevator, him being slightly behind. They both got inside the elevator and rode it up to the laboratory.
"Do you want to continue watching the movie you began?" Jeremie asked as they walked out of the elevator. "Or watch something else?"
"Just cuddle...?" Aelita asked, grabbing the blankets from the chair.
"O-Okay." He agreed, turning off the monitors while Aelita laid the blankets out.
Once he closed everything for the night, he turned around, just to see Aelita, laying on the blankets, and having one already on top of her. She was smiling, and, by the face, she was waiting for Jeremie to lay beside her.
Jeremie laid himself down, not right beside Aelita, but the girl moved closer to Jeremie, laying her head on Jeremie's chest just to look him in the eyes.
"I didn't even ask you about the principal," Jeremie said, allowing Aelita to adjust the blanket so it would cover both of them.
"He told me about a program I am in, and also about my name being changed," Aelita said. "You did all of it, didn't you?"
"Yes," Jeremie said. "But I know I should've asked."
"No, you didn't have to. That's my name and they can know it." Aelita said. "But that program did surprise me. In a good way."
"Yeah, I thought about it and hoped that they'll accept you in it. You should've gotten some money out of it, and they always offer you free days from school every now and then."
"Oh, do they?" Aelita chuckled. "Well, then we could go on a trip sometime."
"Us?" "Yeah, just the two of us," Aelita said. "I would like to go on a hike with you."
"I'm not that much of a sports person," Jeremie said, making Aelita giggle.
"I'm aware."
Jeremie suddenly felt not just a blush coming to him, but also a strange feeling, something that wanted to pull him closer to Aelita...just a little bit closer than they were now.
They both just looked into each other's eyes, and Jeremie slowly lifted his head, coming closer to Aelita. Soon, without even properly recognizing what he was doing, he was just a few centimeters from Aelita's face.
"Jeremie," Aelita whispered, blinking twice just to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
"I..." He began, looking at her lips and back in her eyes. "C-Can I...kiss you?"
Aelita gave him a slight nod, not believing what she just heard. He...asked it...
Jeremie slowly began closing the gap, his lips almost touching Aelita's. And then, Aelita finished it. They both closed their eyes and let it happen naturally...
The kiss was fairly quick, but full of emotion. Soon, they pulled apart, looking at each other.
"Wow." They both said, blushing.
"Aelita...I like you."