It took a long long time, but it is here.

Despite his confidence, Odd did not manage to get himself sent to Kadic academy until the following year. In the meantime, Ulrich, Yumi, and Jeremy had worked on bringing William into the fold, no more subtly than they had done with each other. There were rumors of course, there always were, but in the end none came close to the truth. Not surprising, given there were only four of them present and bonds of more than two were considered rare.

William didn't seem to be bothered with any of that. In fact, he flirted shamelessly with all of his bondmates, to the point where it often caused them a great deal of exasperation. None of the rest of them seemed to be as openly affectionate as William, but he didn't mind. Other people tried to flirt with William too, actually, and though William took it in stride he rarely flirted back. Which as Yumi commented once, was a good idea for the sake of his health.

By the time Odd did get to Kadic, things had begun to smooth out between them, a rhythm was established, but there was a piece missing. Aelita, wherever she was, was not there. A misstep on the stairs, a missing instrument in a symphony, the rest felt incomplete without her. She was meant to be with them, and they felt her absence keenly. Unfortunately, Jeremy's research hadn't been very fruitful and they were beginning to lose their patience, what little of it they had.

While Ulrich buried himself in studying and soccer, Yumi in martial arts and her family, Odd and William in flirting and pranks, and Jeremy in his robots, there was an underlying thrum of need. The need to be complete. They needed Aelita. Somehow, with each passing day in Kadic Academy, they felt as though she was near them, almost beside them. They could feel her. It wasn't anything solid, not something any could quite pinpoint. It was like a very daunting game of hot or cold. Her absence became a gnawing wound to them all, and though they pretended to ignore it, it demanded their attention.

It was Odd who finally managed to convince them to go exploring around Kadic.

"If she's around here somewhere, then maybe she's hidden around the academy? How will we know if we never check?" He said, tone encouraging. It was lunch time on a Friday afternoon almost a month since Odd had transferred into school. The others exchanged looks.

"I don't know Odd, that doesn't sound very likely," Ulrich said, barely glancing up from his comic.

"Yes, because we're all very likely. We are a very likely bunch of soulmates," Odd said dryly. Ulrich flinched and Yumi sent Odd a dirty look.

"While we may be an… unusual batch of soulmates, I'm not sure that Aelita is just hanging around somewhere waiting for us to wake her up. People don't normally fit in closet corners."

"I don't think it particularly matters either way," William cut in, giving Jeremy an apologetic smile. "Doing something is better than doing nothing, isn't it? Even if we're just doing something to make ourselves feel better?"

More looks were exchanged, Yumi and Jeremy seemed to be having an entire telepathic conversation though the others knew they weren't actually. Ulrich put down his comic book with a sigh, running a hand through his hair.

"If Jeremy's okay with it, I'll go," Ulrich said grudgingly. Odd nearly tackled him to the ground. "Jeez, Odd! I said I'd walk somewhere not that I'd like to be tackled somewhere!" the others looked over in fondness as the two wrestled good naturedly on the ground.

"Since we have no other leads, I suppose it couldn't hurt to follow our bond intuition," Jeremy finally said.

"If you boys are all going, then I'll have to go to prevent you from getting into too much trouble," Yumi said. She gave a huff, but the corners of her mouth twitched upwards. And so it was determined that they would go exploring that evening once school was over.

"So, where do we start?" Ulrich asked once they'd gathered after class at their bench.

"Well, since it's nearby, why don't we start with the gym? I mean, that's one of the places I've felt the strongest sort of connection," William pointed out.

"As good a place as any," Jeremy agreed, adjusting his glasses. They headed to the gym, casually walking around and slipping into the gym's side door. They spread out once inside, searching for the feeling that intensified far too slowly. They converged in the equipment room where the feeling began to curl just a bit tighter.

"What's behind that door?" Odd asked, pointing at the door that had always been latched, nestled into the back wall.

"I always assumed it was an office or something," Yumi said, even as she reached forward to undo the locks. They protested against the force of her hands at first, tight from disuse, but gave way when she put even more pressure on them. They released with a harsh sounding clack! She went to pull the door open but William pulled her back.

"We should probably not crowd around the door if it hasn't been used for a while. we might have to force it." he said. Moving forward, He laid his hand on the knob, twisted, pulled. The door made several ominous creaking sounds before it finally gave way, swinging open and causing William to stumble back into Ulrich and Jeremy. Behind the door was a long hallway which curved quickly downward into the dirt and dark. Moving in, cautiously, they all felt that hum of intent in their minds growing stronger.

Ulrich leaned over and flipped a switch on the wall. The sound of a generator below them kicking reluctantly to life could be heard as lights began to flicker on. Some of the lights flickered and burned out, but most seemed to still be working. They kept walking in, their feet kicking up dust that caused several of them to sneeze. Reluctantly Odd pulled the door just short of closed behind them.

Their footsteps echoed as they walked, hesitantly pulling up shirts and breathing into sleeves to prevent further sneezing. Unnerved by the empty place they found themselves unable to speak, the abandoned hallway making them fall into an oppressive silence. The only thing that drove them was the steadily growing pull in their minds telling them they were heading in the right direction. The hallway ended in a door that had a rusty handle. William grabbed the handle with his hand covered in his sleeve and pushed as he thrust himself into the door. It popped open with a grinding, screeching sound that made them all cringe. Its release opened up the hallway to the sounds of lightly running water, and the five of them relaxed infinitesimally as the oppressive feeling finally lifted from their shoulders. Jeremy made a humming sound.

"This probably runs to the Seine," he said absentmindedly.

"Most water around here does," Odd agreed with a snort. Jeremy scowled at him but said nothing. They began to follow the flow of the water. There wasn't a lot; there hadn't been any rain in the past week. It was a relaxing sound, and more of the tension dissipated from the group as they walked. By the time they reached the end of the tunnel they were buzzing with anticipation. They could feel their souls reaching for the last of their number and they could not deny it.

"She's here, she has to be," William said.

"Do you think she's just sitting somewhere waiting for us?" Odd asked with some humor.

"That's… a good question, actually," Yumi answered. "I mean, where could she be in the state she's in and still be alive? I mean…" at a loss for an explanation, they all turned to Jeremy who gave an exasperated sigh.

"I don't know! And we won't know unless we look, will we?" So saying, Jeremy turned to the ladder and was the first to climb up. He reached the top quickly and after studying it for a moment he gripped the handle just above him, pulling it. It jerked open with minimal fuss, and Jeremy pushed it fully aside and ascended. The other's shrugged to each other and followed.

"I know where this is!" Jeremy said when they'd all climbed out of the passage. It came out on a long bridge that went from the main road to a large building.

"It's the factory right? The one they abandoned but they can't tear down for some reason?" Ulrich asked as he looked over at it. The factory was not actually all that deteriated yet. It had been about twelve years or so since it had been abandoned, and the building showed itself to have held up fairly well to the years. Though there were obvious signs of decay the building itself did not appear to have collapsed in any places or to be suffering any obvious damage apart from weather wear.

"Yes, it isn't that far from the school," Jeremy said. "Strange that she should be so close, and all of us but Odd came here purely by chance."

"Perhaps not so strange," Yumi replied, absentmindedly rubbing the hidden names on her wrist. Odd took her hand off her wrist and into his own as he smiled.

"I think it's destiny," he declared as he swung Yumi's hand between them. She shook her head and huffed a laugh but did not let go.

"Of course it is," William agreed, taking Ulrich and Jeremy's hands and dragging them forward. "So we need to look around! We're wasting time!"

Together they crossed the bridge and headed to the nearest entrance. Surprisingly, the doors seemed to have disappeared at some point and never replaced. It opened to a large room that had the haphazard look of being abandoned, now useless tools laying in some areas, wood and metal pieces dumped in corners. There was only one area that seemed to be any use at all, and that was the elevator just across and down a floor from where they were standing.

"Is the only way down to use the ropes?" Ulrich asked, looking a bit uneasy.

"Why, are you afraid of heights?" Odd asked, all curiosity. Ulrich blushed furiously and muttered something unintelligible in response. Yumi gave his arm a squeeze but didn't say anything else.

"I think it might be," Jeremy said apologetically. "I mean we can look around if you want to but…" Jeremy trailed off.

"I feel like we almost don't have the time," William admitted. Without waiting for any of them to say anything more, he grabbed one of the ropes and slid down to the floor. The others followed him down.
They went into the elevator almost reluctantly, and Jeremy took control of the buttons. Restless energy filled them all as they descended, causing them to twitch in anticipation. They could feel her, closer, closer. They saw the different rooms as the doors opened, the odd computer chair, the large tube container looking things, and finally, a large room full of wires and circuit boards, perhaps.

"It's a super calculator," Jeremy said, the only one who had any idea what it was. "It's not on right now, though." Jeremy reached forward towards the lever that served as a power supply. It felt like she was there, right there, all but a touch away. They all crowded around Jeremy and watched as he flipped on the super calculator. It lit up, and as the computer turned on the room seemed to come to life. More though, for the first time, they felt their bond come to life.