Author's Note: Well, I didn't quite manage the next day upload, though I did upload the last chapter faster than I thought I would, so maybe it counts? Anyways, here's the next one. For context, it happens sometime after the events of Episode 55: Tidal Wave. Hope you enjoy!

Yumi hesitated before Aelita's door. Breakfast was almost over, and neither she nor the others had seen any trace of Aelita. The girl closed her eyes and let out a small puff. Then, she rapped on Aelita's door.

"Who is it?" Aelita's voice came from within. It was level and subdued.

"It's me, Yumi."

There was a moment of silence.

"Come in, Yumi," her voice was still quiet.

Yumi turned the knob and swung the door open. Aelita sat at her desk with her left leg drawn up to her chin, her arms held together and wrapped around the uplifted leg. She stared at the lines of code in front of her. Yumi wasn't sure if she was really looking at the screen, though.

"Breakfast is almost over," Yumi hoped to elicit some response from the pinkette. "Class will be starting soon."

"I guess I lost track of the time," Aelita continued to stare at the screen.

"Are you alright, Aelita?" Yumi laid a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.

Aelita turned her head and looked up at Yumi then turned away.

"I haven't been 'alright' for a very long time, Yumi," she sighed. She rested her cheek against her knee, her face turned away from Yumi. "I don't know if I'll ever be 'alright'."

"Hey," Yumi walked around the girl and knelt down, taking the pinkette's chin in her hand and lifting her eyes to meet hers. "You know we're here for you, right?"

"Even after… everything I did?" Aelita looked away.

"Even," Yumi rested her arms on her legs, still crouched. "Now, what's the matter?"

Aelita shook her head, her bangs a mess as they fluttered like pink ribbons.

"I'm worried I'm losing my grasp on Lyoko, or Xana is growing stronger," she chewed her lip. "Or both."

"What makes you think that?" Yumi frowned.

"The Digital Sea. Xana was able to raise it, submerge Lyoko," Aelita's frown deepened. "I wasn't able to stop it."

"That's not your fault, Aelita," Yumi stood up and leaned against Aelita's desk, looking down at the girl. "What could you have done about it?"

"I told you, all of you," Aelita met Yumi's gaze. "My purpose was to serve as the Memory Core of Lyoko – the regulator of its interconnecting subsystems and sectors. The void between Lyoko and the Digital Sea is one of my domains."

"Yeah, well you can't be in two places at once," Yumi shrugged.

"Actually, I can," Aelita turned back to her monitor.

"What?" Yumi's eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not like your Aelita was," Aelita dropped her knee and rested her hands on her thighs. "She could only ever manipulate Lyoko while within it. I'm a bit different."

"Like Xana?"

Aelita's eyes widened for a moment before she regained her calm. She gave Yumi a wary glance.

"Not exactly," she measured her words out. "I'm sort of… in between the two. Xana can't fully manifest in the real world but can influence it through the towers – a sort of… safety measure, you could say. Anyways, whatever she controls here isn't always under her direct control – that's why Xanafied people and animals aren't all that bright. Xana's control over them is more… subconscious in a way." Aelita leaned back and closed her eyes. "For me, it's the opposite. Once I took control of this body, my control over Lyoko left my conscious control. I'm still in control, but I'm not always aware of what I'm doing."

"So it's like… breathing, kind of?" Yumi didn't quite understand.

"Kind of," Aelita opened her eyes again. "But harder to focus on. Much harder. I can think faster when it comes to computations. Recollect memories better. I've even been able to sense what's going on in Lyoko."

"Like when Xana first attacked the Core?" Yumi raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," Aelita drew in a deep breath. "But these feelings have been happening less and less. Not to mention they've started to become unreliable."

Aelita shook her head and rubbed her palms against her eyelids.

"There is so much to do," Aelita's voice was muffled behind her hands. "And so little time to do it in."

"The curse of being an Einstein," a smile tugged at Yumi's lip. She patted Aelita on the back. "Don't wear yourself out, okay? Not until you've had breakfast, at least."

"You're right," Aelita shook her head and stood up. Her sadness fell from her face, replaced with the cold mask she had always worn. Then, almost to herself, she said, "I can't let my feelings get in the way."

With a smooth motion, Aelita snatched up her backpack.

"There's still some time left before class to get breakfast," Aelita turned to face Yumi. "See you later?"

"Of course," Yumi shrugged, pushing herself off the desk and walking out of the room with Aelita.

"Much as I hate tell ya, Aelita, eat up quick," Rosa shoveled the last helping of scrambled eggs onto Aelita's plate. "Class'll be starting up soon, and you won't wanna be late!"

"Of course, Rosa," Aelita nodded. She walked away with her plate.

Sitting down, Aelita began picking at her food as best she could.

"Well, look who finally decided to show up!"

Aelita perked up, surprised by the sound of Odd's voice. Her eyes followed Odd as he sat down in front of her, his tray as full of breakfast leftovers as it could be.

"Odd," Aelita raised an eyebrow. "How many servings have you had?"

"Not enough!" Odd dug into his food, sparing no time for manners.

Aelita rolled her eyes and continued eating hers. She chewed the sausage as well as she could, wincing at the sensation of the grease and oil oozing out of the mulched meat and the accompanying flavor.

"It's a shame Rosa doesn't make more of her healthy meals," Aelita swallowed the chewed meat with a shudder. "Like on Nutrition Day."

"Hey! You take that back!" Odd jabbed a fork in Aelita's direction. "Don't ever say that again! Rosa's cooking is great just the way it is!"

"Watch it, Odd!" Aelita snapped as she dodged a small drop of gravy that had flung itself from Odd's fork.

Odd only jammed the fork into his mouth with a petulant and indignant scowl.

Aelita cleared her mind of frustration and shook her head. She resumed eating.

"I'm not insulting her cooking," Aelita said between bites. "I just wish that the food she made was less…"

"Delicious?" Odd said in the middle of his bites.

"Excessively greasy and full of fat," Aelita forked her last sausage and held it up. As if to illustrated her point, fat glistened and dripped from it.

"That's what makes it so good!" Odd shook his head, stuffing a new item of food – Aelita wasn't even sure what it was – into his mouth.

Aelita ate her own food with less enthusiasm. After a time, however, Odd broke the silence. He stopped in the middle of his meal, much to Aelita's surprise, and looked over to the pinkette.

"Hey, Aelita?"

Aelita glanced up at the sudden question.

"Why are you always so grumpy, anyways?" Odd rested his cheek on his fist, still clutching his fork. "I mean, I get that you're supposed to be, like, the opposite of our old Aelita and all," Odd couldn't help but take another bite out of his meal and talk with his mouth full. Aelita gave him a flat look. "She's love, and you sadness, and all-"

"Remorse," Aelita's voice was almost a whisper.

"Same thing," Odd shrugged.

"No, they're really not," Aelita shook her head. Her eyes drifted down and her fists tightened. Odd tilted his head. An obvious question. "Sadness is only a part of remorse. But remorse is much more than that." Aelita closed her eyes. "It's also loathing."

"Loathing?" Odd mumbled through his food. He tilted his head and swallowed. "How?"

"Odd," Aelita sighed. "Have you ever felt regret about anything?"

"Sure, I guess," Odd shrugged. He gave a little smirk. "I mean, I'd be hard pressed to think of anything.. and… all…"

His attempts at lightening the mood faltered as Aelita fixed her eyes on him.

"And what did your regret make you feel? Make you want to do?" Aelita's eyes pierced through him.

"Um, it made me feel sad I guess," Odd shifted in his seat. "Made me wish I'd done things differently, y'know. Like I was so stupid for not realizing where I went wrong."

"That's what makes it remorse," Aelita nodded. "Sadness at what has happened," her eyelids drooped, eyes dull. "At what could have been," her eyes widened, a fierce light shining through. "And anger – disgust at yourself, at whomever was responsible." Aelita clenched her fists again. "Regret is the remorse you feel towards yourself, your own actions. What I am is that, and more. I am Aelita's remorse at the world. At what it could have been. Of how it should have been."

"Oh," Odd pursed his lips. "I hadn't realized. I didn't mean to sound so…"

"It's not your fault," Aelita rested her forehead in the palm of her hand. Odd seemed surprised by the gesture.

"How could you have known?" Aelita straightened up. "You wanted to know why I was so cold and aloof?" Aelita's gaze hardened as she met Odd's. "It's because I remembered being betrayed. By someone I loved - someone I trusted. More than anyone else. I didn't just not trust you." Aelita broke her gaze. "I didn't want to trust you."

The bell rang. Five minutes until class started. Aelita sighed and stood up.

"I guess we should head to class."

Aelita began to walk away when Odd grabbed her arm.

"Hey, Aelita," the girl looked down at Odd. It was hard to take him serious with the grease and gravy stains along his mouth, but his eyes were sincere. "You know, you're a lot like Ulrich. He didn't really want to trust other people, either."

"Odd, why are you telling me this?" Aelita shook her head and pulled her arm away.

"Look, if you need someone to talk to," Odd gave a smile that might otherwise be revolting given his meal, but at the moment came off as comforting. "I'm a surprisingly good listener. Just ask Ulrich. Now, if you'll excuse me," Odd turned back to his food, fork and spoon in hand. "I've got three minutes left to finish my breakfast!"

Aelita blinked in surprise before shaking her head in wonderment and walking away. Out of all the Lyoko Warriors, Odd was the one who seemed to surprise her the most. And as she walked away, she felt as if something had lifted off of her. Thinking back to her long talk with Odd, how silent he had been when he needed to be, Aelita smirked.

"Well, Odd," she glanced back at the seated boy as she left the cafeteria. "I guess you are I good listener." She closed the door behind her. "Who would have thought?"

Aelita's cheek was nestled into her left hand as her eyes stared ahead, half-closed and blank, as Ms. Hertz continued her lecture. Her right hand rapped her pencil against her notes, the papers muffling the impacts.

The lecture had something to do with subatomic physics, but the content was so rudimentary for Aelita that she had lost all interest. Being a part of a quantum supercomputer that interfaced with the brain on a neural level, it would seem, gives one more than enough reason to know the ends and outs of how it worked.

She gave a lazy glance to her right where Jeremy sat, more tilting her head with her hand than actually looking. It seemed Jeremy, too, was rather bored, though he on occasion jotted down a note or two. So at least he was listening.

Aelita turned her head back forward and drifted off into other thoughts. The events of the past week filled her mind. Since Xana had destroyed the tower and Aelita had been forced into revealing more information, she'd noticed an improvement in relations with her allies. Jeremy no longer seemed sullen and wary – though that could just be because he'd learned his Aelita was still alive. Odd and Ulrich were a bit less cautious, and Yumi was a lot less suspicious and even borderline friendly.

Aelita let her mind drift to more casual thoughts. Recounting the recent mission in the Mountain Sector, Aelita let a hint of a smile give a lazy tug at the corner of her lip. She and Yumi had made a good team. Well, at least until Aelita had to devirtualize the other girl to prevent her from falling into a rapidly rising Digital Sea.

"Now, since we are reaching the end of class," Aelita perked up as Ms. Hertz tone underwent a sharp change. "I have the results from the last test. First up, Kelly…"

Ms. Hertz began to methodically move from one student to the next, handing them their paper, announcing their grade, and sometimes throwing in either a sharp rebuke or mute praise. Aelita straightened up in her chair.

"So, uh, how do you think you did?" Jeremy asked. He seemed tentative in asking his question. Not all wariness had left him it would seem.

"No better than you, I'm sure," Aelita shrugged. "I can handle computations and memorization better than most, but when it comes to conceptualizing I'm in the same boat as everyone else."

"Oh, I didn't know that!" Jeremy's eyebrows shot up. He scratched his head. "Huh, I guess that would make sense. Fascinating. I wonder..."

Aelita gave a slight smile. Give him time and Jeremy grew on you pretty quick. It was no wonder her counterpart had been so smitten with him.

"Odd Della Robbia! D-," Ms. Hertz gave the boy a hopeless look. Odd let out a cry of jubilation at the news his grade was not an F. Ms. Hertz shot him a sharp glare. "If you spent half the time on the questions as you did drawing cats, you would no doubt have a better grade." Ms. Hertz gave a wry frown. "Barely."

"Ulrich Stern, you're almost as bad as your friend," Ms. Hertz turned to the brunette sitting next to Odd. Aelita leaned over at the teachers next words. "D. Croutons and futons are not subatomic particles," the class erupted into giggles, as Ulrich took back his test, sullen embarrassment written across his face. "You may think you're being quite clever, but I would leave being the class clown to your friend, Odd."

A small frown arced Aelita's face as Ms. Hertz moved past. She looked between the aged teacher and the withdrawn, silent Ulrich.

"Poor Ulrich," Jeremy leaned over next to her. "I wish Ms. Hertz would go easier on him. At least he tries to make good grades – instead of copying my homework." Here Jeremy gave a pointed glare at Odd, who remained ignorant of all indignation.

Aelita murmured agreement as her eyes remained fixed on Ulrich.

"Hey, Ulrich, you comin'?"

Ulrich glanced over to Odd as they exited the classroom amid the stream of students leaving on their way to lunch.

"Yeah, sure," Ulrich shrugged, holding his slouched posture. He wasn't in any mood to pretend. "Go on ahead. I'll meet you there."

"Okay! But don't be too long!" Odd waved goodbye. "Rosa's making lasagna today."

"Oh, hooray, lasagna," Ulrich muttered.

He shoved his hands into his pockets. His right hand brushed against the crumpled paper ball that was his test. His scowl deepened. The other students walking past him gave a wide berth as he walked in the opposite direction.

As the boy walked, the crowd of students dissipated as more made their way to the cafeteria. After a few minutes of walking, the hallway was clear. Turning the corner, Ulrich leaned against the wall and yanked out his test. Unfolding the crumpled mess, Ulrich glared at the still readable scrap. He closed his eyes and slid to the floor with a grunt.

"I'm so stupid!" Ulrich crumpled his test against his forehead.

"No, you're not."

Ulrich's eyes widened at the sound of Aelita's voice.

"Aelita?" Ulrich looked up to his right where Aelita stood at the corner of the hallway. His scowl returned and he looked away. "Come to make fun of me, too? What, you didn't get enough laughs in class?"

Aelita's footsteps drew closer. Ulrich glanced aside at her.

"I meant what I said, Ulrich," her face was serious. She rested a hand in the wall. After a moment of hesitation, seeming uncertain before she sat down beside Ulrich against the wall. The brunette's eyes followed her with petulant indignance. They slid away once she was situated on the cool tile floor.

"May I see it?" Aelita's tone was soft, quite different from her usual demanding tone. It was a nice change. Ulrich sighed and handed the crumpled page over, not even bothering to look as Aelita unfolded it, the paper crinkling as she picked apart the folds.

"I don't know what you think you'll find," Ulrich huffed as Aelita's eyes roved the wrinkled paper in silence. "I can't even name a bunch of stupid particles!"

"The most well-known subatomic particles are the electron, neutron, crouton, and futon," Aelita read aloud.

Ulrich scowled at her. She held his gave, unwavering. She handed the paper back.

"Ulrich," she said as he snatched the paper back, crumpling it back into his pocket. "You aren't a genius, but you're not stupid either."

"Oh, yeah?" Ulrich snapped. "Tell that to my grades."

"Ulrich!" Aelita sighed and took a deep breath, frustration burned in her eyes. "When you wrote that, you meant to write electron, neutron, proton, and photon, didn't you?"

Ulrich glared at the far wall.

"Well?" Aelita leaned in.

"Okay, so what if I did?" Ulrich's eyes blazed at Aelita. "That's not what I wrote, so what does it matter?"

"It matters because you're not telling the teachers your problem," Aelita raised her chin, her gaze meeting Ulrich's with equal will.

"I'm pretty sure they know my problem," Ulrich snorted and cross his arms.

"They don't," Aelita snapped. Her voice hardened. "And you know it."

"I know what?" Ulrich sulked against the wall. But his defiance had become more cautious, almost worrying.

"Ulrich," Aelita's voice softened. "You have dyslexia."

Their eyes continued to clash, but at this Ulrich's gaze wavered and he turned away.

"So, what if I do?" His voice was full of misery. "What does it matter to you?"

"I don't know," Aelita slumped against the wall. Ulrich turned back to her. The small pinkette seemed vulnerable despite her advantage over him. "But you've sacrificed so much for your friends, for Lyoko," her voice softened to a whisper. "And even me. It's not fair to you."

"Says the girl who kept, what, like, fifty secrets?" Ulrich's voice was harsher than he intended.

Aelita chewed her lip, and Ulrich regretted his careless words.

"Aelita-"

"No, you're right," Aelita shook her head. "And take it from someone who's kept a lot of secrets – and regretted most of them, sometimes it's better that the truth comes out."

"I guess."

The two sat there in silence for a long time. A clock hung on a nearby wall. Halfway through lunch.

"Ulrich?"

"Yeah?"

"Why haven't you told anyone? Your friends, I can understand, but your teachers? If anyone should know, it's them."

Ulrich sighed and sagged his head.

"It's my father," he closed his eyes. "'There's no excuse for poor grades and poor performance, Ulrich!' he always says." Ulrich clenched his fists. "Not that you'd know anything about-"

Ulrich snapped his mouth shut, realizing what he had been about to say, and who he had been about to say it to. Aelita was silent, then she spoke.

"You're right, I wouldn't."

Ulrich looked to her in surprise. Her eyes were downcast like his. Her shoulders, like his, were slumped and her back curved away against the wall. A few strands of pink hair dangled in front of her eyes.

"My…," she squeezed her eyes shut, took a breath, and opened them again. "Franz Hopper was always good to me. I loved him. I thought he loved me. He never pushed too hard. He was strict, but always kind. If I wanted to learn piano, he would teach me. If I wasn't good enough at something, he'd say 'Next time, sweetie.' I guess that made it hurt all the more."

"I can't even imagine," Ulrich shook his head. "My dad's always been hard on everyone – me, most of all," his arms shook from clenching his fists. "My mom practically has to take meds every morning just to deal with him. Sometimes I wish-" Ulrich held his hands out, gripping the air in front of him, then his arms fell back to his side. "I probably sound like a psychopath." Ulrich clutched his forehead in his hand.

"No more than me," Aelita whispered. Ulrich glanced over in surprise. When he met her gaze, the Lyoko Warrior was shocked to see tears building up in her eyes.

"Aelita?"

She looked away as a teardrop skidded down her cheek.

"Ulrich," she wiped the teardrop away. "Do you remember when I told you all that Xana killed Hopper and I managed to take the keys before she could?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"If Xana had killed him, she would have been able to retrieve the keys before I could have."

Aelita's words were spoken in a whisper, but the weight of them sank into Ulrich like the weight of the sky must have sunk onto Atlas' shoulders.

"Aelita," his eyes widened with… what? Horror? Shock? Sympathy? "You're not saying…"

"Yes," she burst into tears. Her next words were muffled as she hid her face behind her hands. "I had every memory of my life. Every. Single. Memory. I remembered everything. I told myself I needed to stop Xana from getting the Keys of Lyoko, but I didn't care about them. So what if Xana was loosed on the world? It wouldn't be my problem."

"Aelita," Ulrich reached out his arms. "Xana would have killed him anyways-"

"Don't you see!?" Aelita jerked away from him with a swipe of her arms. Her eyes were red and moist gazing into his. "That makes it all the worse! If I'd just wanted him dead, I could have left it to Xana. It would have been easy for her to do. But it wasn't easy for me! I had no form to strike with, no body to move, yet I did it, because it had to be me that did," Aelita curled up into a ball against the wall. Her voice shrunk to an almost inaudible whisper. "Because I wanted it to be me…"

This time, Aelita didn't jerk away as Ulrich rested a hand on her shoulder.

After a while, he said, "I… guess you don't want the others to know about this?"

Aelita shook her head.

"If… if that's all right," she whimpered. "You probably think I'm a monster."

"You're not a monster," Ulrich worked his jaw as they sat side by side. "What you did... What he did to you... It doesn't make it right - none of it is right... but..."

Words failed Ulrich. She had come to comfort him, but now their roles were reversed. It reminded him of the old Aelita, their Aelita. With the world what it was, it was nice to have a princess to save now and then. Still at a loss, Ulrich glanced up at the clock and then to Aelita.

"Do you," Ulrich glanced aside. Not sure if these were the right words. They sounded too normal. But maybe Aelita needed some normal. "Want to go get some lunch? Odd tells me its lasagna day."

Aelita let out a weak puff of laughter.

"Sure, that sounds… nice," she wiped the tears off her cheeks.

The two stood up together. Aelita stood still for a moment, eyes closed and taking deep breaths. When she opened her eyes, there was no trace of vulnerability. Her face was cold and emotionless once more. She must have noticed Ulrich's expression.

"I have Aelita's memories and a physical body," Aelita explained. "It lets me… feel other emotions that I shouldn't be able to. In a way. But the cost is that I feel my real emotions, my grief... my disgust... my remorse, all the stronger." She straightened her shoulders. "It helps to know how to control them."

"Hey, you won't find me complaining," Ulrich shrugged. He gave here a light-hearted smirk "Think you could teach me?"

"Sure," Aelita returned it with a small simper. "Why not?"

Her face reset as she looked up at the clock. Ulrich followed her gaze. Quarter 'till class.

"Shall we?" Aelita tilted her head down the hall.

"We better," Ulrich nodded. "Otherwise, Odd won't leave us anything to eat."

With that, the two made their way down the hallway, towards the cafeteria. And for once, Ulrich realized he didn't feel as bad about his secrets – and his family life – as before. Some people, he realized, had it far worse.

Aelita stepped into her room and yawned. Today had been a taxing day on her emotions. Still, she booted up her computer and sat down. She had work to do.

The pinkette stared at the code that blinked up on the screen, ready and waiting.

Her hands didn't move over the keyboard. Instead, they propped up her chin in thought.

She stared some more.

The outside world delivered a soft breeze against her window. It rasped her the glass pan with a gentle shudder.

She kept staring.

There was a knock on the door. She shook her head and looked over.

"Yes?"

Yumi's voice called out from the other side. Aelita jumped out of her chair and rushed to the door, a subdued mix of joy and anxiety.

"Hello, Yumi," Aelita's voice was cautious. "Did you… need something?"

"Not really," Yumi shrugged, hands behind her back. The taller girl glanced over Aelita at the computer. "I'm not interrupting you, am I?"

Aelita glanced back.

"No," her pink bangs fluttered back and forth with her head. "Not really. I wasn't really getting that much done anyways."

"Mind if I come in, then?" Yumi inclined her head.

Aelita stepped to the side and held out an arm. Yumi stepped thru the door, pulling out a rectangular box from behind her. Aelita recognized it on sight.

"Go?" She shut the door behind them.

Yumi sat cross-legged on the floor, setting the box down in front of her.

"If you're up to it," Yumi smirked.

Aelita slide down onto the floor, feeling what she thought might be eagerness.

"Ulrich, told me about what you said to him," Yumi said as she began to set up the board.

Aelita's heart skipped a beat. Her eyes widened. Yumi didn't notice. Instead, she shook her head. And continued.

"I can't believe he had dyslexia this whole time and never told anyone," she rolled her eyes. "I swear, he keeps almost as many secrets as you do. First his vertigo and now this."

"Oh, right," Aelita breathed a puff of air.

"Still, I wanted to thank you for what you did," Yumi looked Aelita in the eyes.

"It was nothing," Aelita felt a light blush creep up. A new sensation for her. "It wasn't fair for Ulrich to have to deal with it alone on top of Lyoko. And… I've learned that some things are better out in the open."

Aelita pursed her lips as Yumi placed the final pieces. They chose their colors.

"Yumi," Aelita asked as they played out their first moves. "Do you trust me?"

Yumi sighed onto her hands as she leaned with fingers crossed over the board.

"I don't know," Yumi admitted as she made her move. "But you're telling the truth now, and that's all that matters."

"Of course," Aelita nodded. "The truth."

On the outside, Aelita seemed contrite and calm, but inside a familiar fear wormed its way thru her heart.

Post-Author's Note: Well, that's it. Fun fact: it's quite possible that Ulrich did have dyslexia (or something similar) in canon. He did make a similar mistake as the one made here, plus there have, it seems, been other hints towards it. And while we might expect such an answer from Odd, we all know Ulrich isn't a dummy, even if he's not an A student. Not sure where it was pointed out to me, though such has never been confirmed to my knowledge. Anyways, all reviews are welcome. I hope you've enjoyed, and until next time with Revelations Part 2.