#jerna

It started out as a regular night at Kadic. You could just make out the soft snores coming from Ulrich and Odd's room. The only thing absent tonight is the soft clicks from Jeremie's room. Exhausted from skipping sleep for the past few days, Jeremie was fast asleep in his bed.

Yep, all was calm and peaceful. Even Jim was fast asleep in his bed. But is all changed when a cloud of black escaped from Jeremie's computer. It quickly hit the mute button on the computer so it's target stayed asleep. The cloud moved silently as it loomed over top of the sleeping blonde. It reached out and crawled up and in the boy's ears and nose. He struggled to keep it out, but soon let it in...he had very little resistance to XANA's spectre.

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Jeremie blinked his eyes as he looked around. His typical dreams of codes and dancing to Aelita’s music were soon replaced by a thick white fog. He tried to move, but he was being held tight against an invisible wall. His arms were bound high above him. If anyone could see him, he looked like a prisoner in an old dungeon somewhere. He had a funny feeling who was behind this change to his dreams, but he still waited patiently for the cloud of black form in front of him. A tall, faceless figure formed... It had a black and white suit. A large white eye of XANA logo were the front pocket should be. A small mouth opened up and smiled at the bound boy.

"At last....we are alone....no one can come to your rescue." The voice escaped the figures lips. It reached a hand out and caressed the blonde's face. Jeremie flinch his face away from it's cold touch.

"Aww... don't be like this... I've been waiting for this day...a chance to have you here in my grasped." The voice chuckled at him. Jeremie looked defiantly at the figure.

"XANA! What could you possibly want from me.... I'm just the boy behind the controls.... why do you keep targeting me over the others?" Jeremie asked determinedly.

The suited figure chuckled at him. "Haven't you figured it out yet? Tell me my dear boy, what have I've been after?" The figured asked. Jeremie knew the answer without having to even think about it.

"Your trying to kill us all! You want to take over the world! You want-"

"I'm doing it all for you!!" The figure interrupted Jeremie. A long empty, painful moment slipped in between them. It moved closer to Jeremie, as if to look longingly into his eyes. Jeremie blinked his eyes in shock. He been some of those targets...He had been close to death a few times...But had he really? Had the spectre's held back their power to him? Have the monsters back off when Jeremie was close to death?

"B-b-but...your an AI and I'm just a human! Why or how could you..." Jeremie asked, flabbergasted. His mind raced with how bad of an idea this all was. He knew it must be a trap by XANA… but what was that weird feeling buried deep within his own heart that dared him to think otherwise?

"I don't fully understand it either... I know that I want you to be by my side. I want you to live as I destroy the rest of your kind. Your the evolved one… The Genius. I want you and I create the next great leap in the evolution of humanity! All that will remain will be our love. A boy and his computer...until the end of time." XANA said as he rubbed his arms.

Jeremie closed his eyes, as if to forget all that XANA’s specter was trying to tell him. His mind screamed that it was all wrong! That this must be a trap of somekind..but he canot deny the fact that he had been drifting away from the others…. Even Aelita seemed distant to him. He looked once more onto the face XANA offered to him.

“This…This is all so wrong! You can’t just destroy all of humanity…just to be with me? There must be another way…” Jeremie tried to explain to him.

“NO! There will always be others like that Pink girl that will steal your heart from mine! I cannot allow that to happen!” XANA yelled at him. Jeremie flinched at the sound of his yelling.

Sighing, XANA glided back over to the bounded boy. “ Forgive me, my time grows short within your mind. The others will discover us soon….” XANA said as he reached up and rubbed Jeremie’s hair.  XANA sighed and looked within Jeremie’s eyes.

“Consider what I have confessed, please. Consider us over them. Turn your back on Humanity and join me…” XANA whispered as he leaned in close. Instinctively, Jeremie leaned away from XANA’s cold digital body.

“I…Can’t…I…won’t…” Jeremie mumbled a bit. As if to clear him mind from the thought of them being together.  

“Here…something to help you choose me….” XANA whispered once more . He leaned in and softly kissed Jeremie.

At first, he was shocked at the loving kiss. His mind yelled at him to pull away…to see the trap that laid before him…but his heart wanted more. His mind tried to pull him away, but instead he moaned and began to kiss XANA rougher. After a few seconds, XANA pulled away. Jeremie was set free from his bonds and collapsed onto the ground. Jeremie looked up as XANA soon faded away, a small smile on his face.

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Jeremie bolted up from his bed, sweat pouring down his face. He panted as he looked around, expecting to see that spectre in the waking world. He rubbed his eyes as the sun filtered through the window, welcoming him to a new day.

“Ugh…what a nightmare! Or… what if it wasn’t ?“ Jeremie mumbled to himself as he tried to understand what had happen. HE got up and began to get dress for the day.

A soft alarm came from his computer as he buttoned up his plaid shirt. He walked over and gasped. It was a message from XANA. HE read it and began to slowly back away from the screen as his ear beat a mile a minute. Jeremie closed his eyes and closed the message as he ran away to the park to clear his head. The message still ringing in his mind and ears.

My dearest Genius…

I hope my intrusion into your dreams have showed you what lays beneath this veil of codes. I pray that the next we meet will be a more joyous occasion.

Until we meet once more, I pray that you consider what I have confessed. I hope you let that biological heart of yours show your brilliant mind the truth I felt from that Kiss.