"Are you sure we have everything?" Jeremie asked. For some reason, he let Aelita search his suitcase early in the morning. Not that he had any other chance, she would do that even outside, in front of the school while they would be waiting for Jeremie's father.
"Yes, you do have everything." Aelita chuckled. "And even if not, the necessary things are there for sure, so you'll survive."
"Okay, but..." "No buts, we are going," Aelita said, pushing him out of her room. "You said your dad will be here around 8, and it's already past that."
Jeremie sighed, and, being the gentleman he sadly always failed to be, grabbed both his suitcase and Aelita's bag, so she wouldn't look like an asshole in front of everyone and especially his own father.
Just outside the dormitory, they were met by Yumi, who had almost her eyes closed.
"It's cold, couldn't you be faster?" Yumi said, shaking. Aelita chuckled and hugged the girl, Yumi returning it.
"Be safe." They both told each other, followed by a laugh. Yumi turned to Jeremie, who sighed.
"Are you sur-" "Yes, I am. I remember the exact lines, I know how to locate the tower, and yes, we will call you." Yumi said. "But no worries, I'm sure XANA just wants to be alive, not trying to destroy the world."
"I highly doubt that," Jeremie said, and walked away, leaving Aelita and Yumi alone for some time.
"What's up?" "He seems...too tense," Aelita said, both looking at the Einstein walking away from them. "From the day we found that my dad is alive, he is like this. And it just got worse when we told each other our feelings."
"Do you think..." "I doubt that he is unsure about a relationship. Maybe he's scared, but I won't push him." Aelita sighed. "After all, the man should ask the girl out, right?"
Yumi nodded, recalling the bet they placed on them two days ago.
"Okay, go, everything is fine," Yumi said, waving at Aelita, who was already coming closer to Jeremie.
I hope. She added to herself. She had second thoughts about offering to be fully in charge while they were gone, but seeing how much Jeremie put himself through to get Aelita here, and, heck, without him, Lyoko and the supercomputer, she and Ulrich wouldn't be almost best friends. So she decided to put up with it, at least just this once.
Her phone suddenly buzzed, making her startle from her thoughts and take it out of her pocket.
Ulrich <333333
what u doing out in that cold??
u will catch smth
dont worry :))
ill be finewhy arent u asleep?
cant
actually, i need to talk to you
4sure
when?
the sooner the better
so...now?
okie
Soon, she saw Ulrich running towards her, wearing a sweater and a coat in his hand. As he came to her, she couldn't even say a word before being wrapped in the mentioned brown coat.
"It's cold," Ulrich said, as Yumi smiled, and wrapped it tighter around herself.
"What did you want to talk about?" Yumi softly asked.
"Uhm...well...I..." Ulrich began, stuttering. "I...what would you want to do on our date?"
The question clearly startled Yumi as that would be the last thing she thought would be spoken.
"Oh..." "Now, I know you, I know what you would want, but...I must be sure." Ulrich said, nervously. "I want to do perfectly."
Yumi just smiled, slight red appearing on her cheeks. She took Ulrich's hand into hers and looked at him.
"Firstly, I want to keep this coat, it's fluffy," Yumi said, as Ulrich immediately nodded, looking like he wouldn't care if she emptied his whole closet. "Second, what about a picnic? Or a meteorite shower watching?"
"There is a meteorite shower today?" Yumi nodded, as Ulrich smiled, happiness radiating around him. "Okay, I...Yumi, could I pick you up today at 7 to go watch a meteorite shower with me?"
Yumi loved that Ulrich wanted to do this properly, there was no doubt. But one part of her immediately wanted to tell him yes the moment he mentioned 'date', but the other one wanted to see him flustered.
"Gladly, I'll be ready." Yumi smiled, and let go of his hand. "And thanks for the coat!"
"For you, everything," Ulrich mumbled as he watched Yumi slowly walk away to the forest, knowing she and the two Einsteins had something going on with guarding Lyoko.
/-/-/-/
Aelita couldn't help but become worried. Not because of Lyoko, but because of Jeremie slowly reaching for his laptop every now and then. He said he won't do work...but she knows him well enough that he will.
"I couldn't help notice." Jeremie's dad, Micheal, said, obviously implying at Aelita. "But your hair doesn't look dyed."
"Yes, my hair was pink from my birth," Aelita said, remembering the few pictures she had with her. "It probably came from my mother."
"Ah." Micheal stopped asking since he had a quick 101 list of things not to ask Aelita, and the first one was not to mention her parents. Safe to say Aelita wasn't that happy when he showed it to her.
She looked over at Jeremie, who was already typing on his laptop. Aelita sighed, and leaned onto his shoulder to feel him beside her, and also to see what was he doing.
On the screen was a chat box between him, and Franz Hopper, her father, along with a couple of windows opened. She quickly read the messages.
Franz Hopper: So that would be it, but are you sure the modules are right?
Jeremie: Yes, just before Aelita's materilisation I repaired even the functional ones.
Jeremie: Just...if I may ask...I have our friend, Yumi, guarding the supercomputer at night, so...could you notify her before doing it?
Franz Hopper: Yes, of course. That's no problem from my side.
Franz Hopper: Technically, I should be asking Aelita for permission to use the interface.
Jeremie: Because she technically inherited everything from you?
Franz Hopper: Yes, because Lyoko wasn't a military project, only Carthage was.
"What's Carthage?" Aelita whispered loud enough for Jeremie to hear, and for Micheal to not.
"A project that your father worked on after he finished Lyoko, but Carthage exists also in Lyoko; Sector Five," Jeremie whispered back, showing her a map of Lyoko, and pointed at the center where a sphere was.
"I always thought it's just a connector, but it's a whole dedicated sector where the heart of Lyoko lives, and the only sector inaccessible by XANA." He continued. "And your father wants to run the first materialization tests on himself tonight."
"Without us?" Aelita jerked up, making Jeremie's dad almost drive off the road. "So sorry."
"It's okay. What happened?" He quickly asked.
"Our friends have finally found the key to a buffet, so they are going to have a small party." Jeremie quickly said, lying with every single word.
"Ah, okay." And the talk was over. The two looked at each other and chuckled silently. Aelita leaned back on Jeremie's shoulder, and the boy closed every window on his laptop, closing the lid afterward.
"You are right, I should keep everything out of my head at least for now," Jeremie said, putting the device away next to him.
"That's the Jeremie I love," Aelita mumbled, taking Jeremie's jacket he had placed on top of his bag, and covering herself with it. Jeremie didn't mind, at least Aelita was warm, and it was fairly nice in the car.
It was obvious she was going to fall asleep soon. The benefit of having his left hand covered with the jacket made him able to take Aelita's hand into his and just stay like that. Aelita didn't pull away, in fact, she moved to be laying in Jeremie's lap, which was probably comfier for her.
Soon, she was asleep, smiling as her hair randomly covered her face. He can't get enough of her, she was far too beautiful for him. But Aelita did love him...maybe Aelita sees something unique in him.
The moment when he realized someone was staring was when his father turned the radio off.
"I-" "I'm not sure if we should have put you two in different rooms," Micheal said quietly, not to wake the girl up. Jeremie blushed but was thankful that it wasn't visible that much.
"Jeremie, you are not a child anymore, but please, think before doing anything, okay?" His dad finished, implying that they'll probably share a room anyway, but he is going to ask Aelita about it since he doesn't want to do it if Aelita doesn't agree.
That girl changed him. And he was glad.
/-/ Evening, Laboratory /-/
Yumi typed in the code to lock the elevator, since she wasn't so sure if it was just them who knew about it. Taking a seat behind the large screens, she saw a message, that was waiting to be answered.
Franz Hopper: Good Evening, Yumi. I was told you'd be guarding the supercomputer at this time, and Jeremie told me to notify you when I start to perform some tests. Please reply if I can or not.
She quickly pressed a button to reply, the supercomputer automatically detecting her avatar, and she typed in a message.
Yumi: yes, of course, mr. hopper, you can do tests
Franz Hopper: Glad to hear that! I will message you if necessary.
Then the displays began showing many things, and Yumi did not understand a thing. She decided that since her date with Ulrich was at 7, and it was almost 6, she would stay for at least half an hour before calling it a day with Lyoko.
Out of a sudden, her phone began ringing. She took it out, displaying Aelita's number and her profile picture Yumi set on her contact.
"Hi Aelita, how is your future family-in-law treating you?" Yumi joked, hearing a giggle from Aelita.
"It's nice and cozy here. And they are too nice I would say." Aelita said. "Good to know where Jeremie's niceness came from."
"Yeah." "Anyway, did my father contact you?" "Just before you called, and he just said that he is going to do some tests," Yumi said, looking again at the displays. "And you? What were you up to?"
"Oh, only unpacking and getting to know everyone," Aelita said. "And...I may or may not have seen something. You and Ulrich are going on a date today?"
"Yeah." "More information required." Aelita joked as Yumi laughed.
"He asked me where would I like to go on a date, to which I was surprised," Yumi said. "It was the nicest thing. And basically then just set a time, and now...I'm in the lab, but I'll leave to go prepare for my date."
"Good luck. And I mean it; I want to see you two together when I come back." Aelita giggled. "Have fun, Yumes."
"Back at you, 'Lita," Yumi said and hung up.
For a long time nothing new happened, the calculations on the display were still going. She was actually really happy for Aelita since now she can talk to her father, if just with a chat box.
But everything nice can't last long, right?
The moment she decided that she was leaving, the display showed XANA's logo slowly disappearing, and the percentage next to it was going down. What's more, it has changed color from red to white, as if it were neutral.
Did...we beat XANA? Yumi thought. But what made her jump up from the seat was the window with scanners opened, and one was selected and in use.
She quickly made her way to the hatch, and climbed down the ladder, since it was much faster anyway. She walked to the scanners, in fact seeing one being in use.
Did Franz virtualize a mouse or something accidentally? Yumi asked herself, when suddenly the scanner stopped working, the unlocking mechanism for the doors was heard, and the door slowly opened itself.
Out came too much smoke, almost the same amount when Aelita materialized for the first time. When it was gone, it made Yumi almost faint.
In the scanner sat a girl, looking at her.